Good Luck to Emily!

Hello people! How are you all doing? First of all Emily good luck with your defense tomorrow. I can totally understand when you say you get sick of seeing your thesis. You look at it so many times and then it starts getting on your nerves, isn't it? But I am pretty sure you are gonna do fine.
Gina, the watermelon salsa looks absolutely delish! I'd never heard of it before and I concur with how you feel about veterens. There was a short clip on ABC about a wall where the names of the dead were engraved and survivors talking about how it was, whether they feel guilty to survive- it actually brought tears to my eyes.
Memorial day weekend was good. Jamie really wants a mattress bad and I have been contemplating getting a new one too. So we went mattress shopping on sunday. We haven't found our perfect mattress yet. On the way back, we stopped at Whole foods and got this Izze drink( actually we really wanted salad spinach but ended up buying other stuff..aargh). This is flavored sparkling water. Rather tart I must say. I wonder what makes it that way. Nice to sip on while studying.


This is the spinach salad that we made. It was damn tasty. Using toasted sesame makes such a difference to the taste. You can actually taste them! We had strawberries, blueberries, celery, grapefruit and spinach in the salad. Dressing: Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, toasted almonds, pine nuts honey salt and pepper.

Jamie really knows how to kill time. She makes jewellary, bracelets- with thread- making knots of all kind, walking, and last but not the least she enjoys cooking. She made hummus. This was superb! I am sure you guys have heard of Wasa http://us.wasa.com/products.aspx. This is very crisp, whole grain bread. I really like it because of the umpteen toppings you can eat it with.

The recipe for hummus asks for

1 tbsp canola oil, 1/2 cup minced red onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, 1 tbsp minced fresh basil/1/2 tsp dried basil, same with oregano, 1/4 tsp ground coriander, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 tsp cumin powder, 1 can garbanzo beans, 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, salt to taste. The onion and the garlic need to be toasted a little. Blend it all together and voila!

I will talk to you folks later. Have a great day tomorrow.

Until then, over and out!

Smita