Physics in Aspen

Sorry for this interlude, but I just wanted to make you aware of the post over at the 3rd coast. I could cut and paste it here, but this is easier: Physics in Aspen.

Seasons

one of the things i like about this country is that it has seasons. you may want to argue that there are seasons in israel too. we all learned in school that there are 4 seasons - fall, winter, spring and summer. that's a theoretical thing in israel. of course we have summer, and a mild version of winter, but the spring and fall are those 2-day seasons that don't really stay for long. i have so many "transitional season" clothes in my closet, that seemed like a great idea when i got them, but i never get to wear. the seasons are more pronounced here, and look a lot like in our first grade booklets of the seasons... the leaves actually change color and fall in the fall, everything blooms in the spring, it's cold in the winter (is -20C cold enough??) and warm in the summer.
there are some oddities, of course. like thunderstorms and rain -- when are these supposed to come around? you never see a drop of rain in the summer in israel, but here it's the most common thing. and of course, there's hardly any rain here in the winter, cause it's frozen, duh.

one of the things i like most, is to see the same place in different seasons. like the cabin in canada, that seems like it wears a whole different attitude when the winter comes, and puts on it's festival outfit in the fall.
here are a few pictures i took in aspen. they are of the same points, different seasons, and slightly different angle.






the views from ben's old office in ann arbor:


[i need some help with the canadian pictures. can anyone send me pictures of the view from the cabin's deck?]

Hummus!

One of the hardest thing to find here is decent hummus. I am not such a big hummus fan, since the stuff you get at the stores is usually loaded with garlic, and it's just not worth it. I can really enjoy a good bowl of fresh-made hummus,but it usually means going to Abu Gosh or interrogating the local (TA) joints about their ingredients. Another option is to make it yourself, or have your brother do it.
In the US, it's a total different story. Some people are lucky enough to live next to a fairly large israeli or other mid-east communities, and find decent hummus.

The do-it-yourself option relies strongly on the quality of ingredients. So here's what you need to do if you do your shopping at Meijer's or Jewel-Osco. It's a simple recipe that doesn't require long soaking or cooking...

Ingredients:
1 can of chick peas
1/3 cup of raw tahini paste
juice from 1/2 lemon
water
olive oil
salt&pepper
paprica (for decoration)


drain and rinse the chick peas in warm water. with two fingers, pinch each pea and remove the skin. save a couple of spoons of peas for decoration, and put the rest in a food processor.
turn the food processor on, and gradually add the tahini paste, lemon juice, and about 1/3 cup of water. add water to the desired consistency. hummus will solidify a bit in time, so if you don't eat it right away make it slightly more runny.
add about 2 spoons of olive oil (try to get high quality oil), some salt&pepper, and you're done!

for decoration: you know - spread on a flat plate, sprinkle olive oil, paprica, and some whole chick peas.

Beteavon!!



These are the ingredients I used; notice that we ate the hummus with crackers and not the traditional pita - good pitas are nowhere to be found around here...

[this post will be added to the recipe book]

Prize-winning contest!!!

in Chicago blog

chicago--aspen

in Chicago blog, the airport experience and the good time we had skiing (new)

It took us some time, we know

Finnaly it arraived.
We have the NY photos (and Huston..) here in the Blog.

It's 20 photos, so it is in a different page, 'cause we don't want to Jam the entire blog page.
You can see Our Pictures here in the link.

Comments are more then welcome......

When Hi-Tech fails you down...

Saturday... one of the best days in the week.

We had some time to do some of the garden work. you guessed it right, cutting down a tree (timber!!!).

here is the list of actions for someone who is not a lumberjack member:
1. Check "where the hell did i put that chainsaw..."
2. Look at the chain, and figure out it will not saw.
3. send your youngster to start cutting down small branches, while you fix the chain.
4. Take a drink, coffee or a beer (cause i wonder what took Odi so long...)

5. Take the chainsaw to the tree you are going to cut down.


there are many steps which i skipped, to make the long story short. eventually, when Odi came to the tree, all the big branches were down, and we only had to take down the stamp (which I can almost hug). we checked the chainsaw on the tree, and EVEN THE LEAFS LAUGH AT US! So we went for some Low-tech methods. for example:






The electric disc saw. who would believe some would use it for live wood...









Zoom in. A real MAN in action. Check out the army coat..

Going a bit more Low-Tech. Yep, we got the 2 men bid yellow saw. (It works better in the movies).












HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?




you guessed it right, the machete, bought in the USA. And yeah, it broke before the tree did (just the handle)





The Real deal. This saw is called the Safta Saw (Grandma saw). And why, you ask... She bought it. You can see the stamp. We had to saw all of that by hand.






VICTORY!

This picture was take 50 Cm from safta's house. a small wind draft, and we would be telling you a different story..







So we came out Victorious, but the mission is far from being over. we still have a 2 ton stamp laying in the garden. we "played" around with it, using the car, but we decided it's better to get a new chain for the chainsaw.(tomorrow?)

But the mission was good. no casualties. Not even safta's house, which is about 2 meters from this big tree.

Saturday activities...

finally, weekend!
time for some of my favorite activities:

my new scarf-to-be:

baking (see the improved recipe book, now with photos!)

making a big pile of mess in the kitchen sink, for Ben to take of :D

Electrostatic

in chicago

good things that happened this week[3]-end

1. temperatures crossed the 0(F) line (there must be something good about that, although i didn't find it yet)
2. i didn't freeze to death yet (you see, i found something good!)
3. corn bread (see recipe)
4. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (here)
5. MONK marathon
6. the cold, giving us a good excuse not to leave the apartment, and do items 2 through 5.

'it's COLD' in the 3rd coast

here

PhD motivation

i borrowed it from here