Happy 2012!

For the last several years, I have made a habit of attending the American Astronomical Society meeting held the second week of January. It is a great way to dive into a new year. In addition to presenting a poster about whatever research I have done recently, I also get to attend talks about dozens of interesting topics. Each winter meeting is a chance to see friends and colleagues from years past – Mudd, San Diego, a summer here, an adviser there. The conference is traditionally held in one of four cities, on a rotating basis: Austin, Long Beach, Washington DC, and Seattle. This year’s meeting was particularly special for me because it was in Austin, as was the first meeting I attended back in 2008!

Since I live in Las Cruces, one of the highlights anytime I visit a big city is eating food. Thai food, Indian food, whatever flavor of Mexican food is there… so imagine my surprise when I began searching for restaurants to visit and stumbled across one called Casa Chapala.

Mom and me at Casa Chapala for my 17th birthday

You see, while growing up in Richland, my favorite restaurant was unquestionably Casa Chapala, in neighboring Kennewick. A bean burrito, or sometimes chicken! With rice and beans on the side! This was the best. For pretty much every birthday between 1990 and 2003, you could find me at Casa Chapala, wearing a goofy sombrero and eating complementary fried ice cream for dessert.

In 2004, I began college, and ate there when I came home for winter break. Same story in 2005. Then in 2006… I learned the owners had moved away. To somewhere in Texas. (Because clearly Texas didn’t have enough delicious Mexican food.) I was devastated.

Now, back to 2012. As it turns out, two friends from high school recently moved to Texas in the last six months (thanks, stalkerbook! er, facebook!). One to Austin and another to the Dallas area. So I had the best idea ever: eat lunch with both of them at Casa Chapala.

So after a long conference, brain overloaded with astronomy, I walked two blocks to the restaurant and reunited with two lovely ladies and their significant others over lunch.

Mari, myself, and Laurie: orchestra pals reunited!

As usual, Casa Chapala did it right. Still one of my favorite restaurants.

Mexican Food

There is a spectrum of Mexican food in the western United States. I strongly suspect it exists in the entirety of North America (particularly Mexico, for obvious reasons), but my empirical evidence is somewhat limited.

But wait, how complicated can it be? Tortillas, chips, beans, rice, meat, salsa, cheese, and you’re done. Pretty much all Mexican food is combining these in slightly different ways, and perhaps throwing in some cilantro or chiles or avocados for good measure.

That’s what I thought, too, until I tasted otherwise. I can’t fully explain it, but there is a definite difference between “New Mexican” food, California Mexican food, and Northwest Mexican food. Surprise: all of them are delicious! (We’ll leave chains such as Taco Bell and Chipotle out of the discussion for now, as they are constant across regions, and are arguably a separate genre of food entirely from traditional restaurant-style Mexican.)

Here’s what I’ve observed so far.

Northwest (mostly based on WA): Heavily influenced by tomatoes and tomato paste. Unique way of melting cheddar cheese with tomato-based sauces on/next to entrees. Characterized by smooth rice and refried beans, mild spice, and tomato salsa that is neither too chunky nor too blended. Green tomatillo salsa is an option. Chips are served warm, thin, and crispy. I grew up with this style of Mexican food, so it is my reference.

California (mostly based on southern): Often influenced by fish, and fish tacos in particular. Salsas tend to be “pico de gallo” style, or in other words, chunky with lots of cilantro. Delicious, creamy guacamole is prevalent. Rice and beans are likely to be healthier, and cooked with mild but distinct spices. Jalepenos are the preferred way of adding spice if desired. Chips vary, but are often thicker and salty, to pair with guacamole.

New Mexico (based on Las Cruces): Chile is king – the state question is “red or green?” Everything is smothered in red or green chile sauce, which is often full of meat or cream and melted cheese. Spicy isn’t an option; it’s a requirement. Salsas tend to be watery with some roasted chile chunks and lots of kick. Enchiladas are stacked instead of rolled, and offered with an egg on top. Chips are very deep fried and best eaten with chile con queso.

These three regional variants aren’t enough to define a true spectrum, however. So, when on a road trip from California to Washington, I ate at a Mexican restaurant in Oregon. Darned if it wasn’t an exact mashup of what I classified as “Northwest” and “California” Mexican food! Similarly, when I visited Arizona, I was amazed to find Mexican food that epitomized a crossover of “California” Mexican food and “New Mexican” food.

Clearly this calls for more experimental followup. I’ll get back to you on that.

Advent(ure)

I am such a good, consistent blogger. (Not.)

I seem to have missed Thanksgiving, but it was awesome, as it usually is. Even just a short trip to Seattle reminds me that the world is bigger than my daily commute and that family is one of the most important things. It is a fitting way to start the Season of Advent.

Oh yes – Happy Advent! The season we all tend to skip over in a rush to have Christmas.

Personally, I enjoy waiting to put up the Christmas decorations until we’re well into December, and I prefer to celebrate Christmas when it is actually Christmas: December 25 – January 5. That puts me in the minority among Christmas-celebrators, but I really don’t think seasons should be rushed. People don’t wish you “happy birthday!” until your actual birthday, or perhaps a few days before. Churches don’t celebrate Easter early, because it’s still Lent. And try as you might, you can’t make it summer in April.

Seasons of all kinds are an invitation to live in the present moment. You simply can’t create them on a whim – the right amount of time must pass first. It’s an adventure, because you aren’t in control. Which of course brings us to the present season: Advent. Adventure.

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas or church seasons, I invite you to take some time and enjoy the many different kinds of seasons you are celebrating, here and now.

Summer reflections

How would you like the NSF to fund an all-expenses-paid* eight-week trip to India, where you can work on research similar to what you’d be doing at home this summer anyway?

Yeah, that’s pretty much how I felt when I saw this opportunity existed.

(OK, so this is only for US astronomy graduate students. How convenient – that’s me!)

As you know if you’ve been following this blog, I was lucky enough to have my husband along for this adventure, which we embarked on quite soon after getting married. We did of course have to pay out-of-pocket for his plane ticket and other expenses.

But can I just say what an awesome summer it was?? My particular research project wasn’t as relevant as I’d hoped, but the list of potential projects for next summer looks quite good. And research notwithstanding, just the experience of visiting India was outstanding.

So, have a look at what it was like last summer. Read my cultural essay. And if you’re an astronomy grad student, seriously consider applying for this program! I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

*Technically, our food wasn’t paid for. But food is much cheaper in India than the US, unless your grad school diet is 100% top ramen.

Edit: since originally publishing this post, there has been some discussion via email among the astronomy grads at NMSU as to the merit of this program from a research perspective. I readily admit that there are better ways to spend your summer if your sole pursuit in life is accomplishing research. I further concede that as a graduate student, my main priority is research toward a PhD. However, I like to think there are other important things in life, and that one of those things is gaining a wider perspective by stepping outside of your comfort zone. Perhaps I am deluding myself, but I don’t want to live in a world where we isolate ourselves in favor of grinding out as much work as humanly possible. We are too easily divided when one individual cannot comprehend another’s perspective, and I believe experiencing wildly different cultures firsthand can help. For me, a summer in India was a beautiful way to combine three things close to my heart: exploring the world, having my husband along for the journey, and yes, continuing to study astronomy. Other, “better,” more research-heavy programs in other countries may well exist. Whatever your goals and priorities, I encourage you to seek out ways to broaden your horizons through travel.

Kitty photoshoot

If all is well with the felines, not too much can be amiss among their humans.

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I think Lily and Sirius would agree that life is good.

Lately our weeks have been full yet fulfilling; our weekends lazy yet adventuresome. It’s a fine mix. Mike began a new job in Las Cruces at Sunspot Solar Energy, and he is also starting his own consulting business on the side. I am enjoying my second year of the astronomy PhD program at NMSU and continuing to play viola. I also recently expanded my musical horizons into electric violin when prompted by some musicians at church! It is remarkably easy to produce a good sound, but challenging to correctly place my fingers and transpose on the fly. Don’t worry, though – my heart is still in the viola.

Some other highlights from the past several weeks…

• I celebrated my 25th birthday and Mike helped me throw an awesome pool party with pizza and ice cream cake for all my astronomy grad student friends.
• I passed my fifth “cume” exam. My PhD program requires students to pass six exams in your first 2.5 years (there are 4-5 exams each semester). You keep taking them until you pass six. Only one to go!
• Our good friend from camp randomly drove down to visit us for a weekend after I heard he was in Albuquerque for a few days. We played lots of Settlers of Catan, and went to White Sands.
• Mike and I attended a retreat weekend with our new church family at a truly bizarre camp run by Nazarenes north of Ruidoso, called Bonita Park. We had a good time, punctuated with a lot of strange reminders about both Episcopalian demographics and how progressive my Christianity is.
• We drove to Tucson over a long weekend to visit Mike’s grandmother on her 93rd birthday. We had a lot of fun with Mike’s parents, aunt, and uncle (who flew in from Holland!). We also squeezed in lunch with some of the folks who run the summer program in India that I participated in, and visited briefly with Mike’s friend Simon.

And now you are all caught up on our lives! Next weekend, Mike and I will celebrate six years of being together, just a few weeks shy of six months married. The Time, It Flies.