Happy National Engineers Week! February 23, 2011

It’s National Engineers Week!  Hooray!

I’m always psyched about National Engineers Week.  And it’s not just because my company makes a big deal about it, giving us free coffee every morning and the occasional slice of cake throughout the week.

I’m excited for a lot of reasons.  It’s great to be recognized for our (the engineers) contributions.  Engineers do a lot for us.  As the t-shirt I won in a raffle at the company’s library says:  Science:  Engineers Make It Work.

One thing I’m really excited about is the outreach to students and the community that is an integral part of National Engineers Week.    There are some official events through eweek, but my company is also doing a lot of work to help get young people excited about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).  One of the great things we do in our department is invite students on lab tours and show them how cool science is!  And I like that, even outside of eweek, my supervisor encourages me and others to do community outreach.  I’ve gotten to help run bridge building contests, work with local teachers developing a new STEM education programs, talk to high school girls about engineering, and present cool nanotechnology to visitors at the Boston Museum of Science during NanoDays.

I believe it’s really important to get young people interested in STEM.  And apparently, President Barack Obama does, too.  I’m pretty sure every year, the U.S. President writes a letter to the engineers, and this year was no exception.  This year he wrote a letter encouraging current engineers to spark excitement in young people about engineering.

So, are you doing anything fun for National Engineers Week?  Are you an Engineer?  What type are you?  I’m a Materials Scientist and Engineer (it’s the engineering major with science as its middle name!)

Breakfast for my Valentine February 13, 2011

There’s something awesome about breakfast.  Besides it being the first (and most important!) meal of the day, the one you “break the fast” with, it seems to have some incredibly tasty options.  It’s basically like you wake up and get to eat anything you want.  You’ve got all those savory omelets and breakfast sandwiches.  And with things like French toast, waffles, and pancakes, you’re getting dessert first thing in the morning!

Back when we lived in Buffalo, my family and I would occasionally go to The Original Pancake House (these locations).  It was a delicious treat to go.  And we almost always got one of their specialties.  I was always a big fan of their Apple Pancakes.  Delicious, puffed dough with apples, cinnamon, sugar, and of course, a little syrup added on top.

When you have to move away from something as delicious as that, you look for a replacement.  Which is what my mom did.  I don’t know where she found the recipe, so I apologize for not giving credit to an originator on this.  It’s different from the pancakes we used to get at the restaurant, but just as delicious.  And so when my boyfriend requested breakfast this morning, I decided to bake them for him.  Happy Early Valentine’s Day!

German Apple Pancakes

4 Eggs
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

margarine or butter

2 medium apples, thin sliced

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1.  Heat oven to 400°F.  Place 2 round layer pans, 9 x 1/2 inch in oven

2.  Combine the eggs, flour, milk, and salt, and beat for 1 minute.

3.  Combine sugar and cinnamon in separate bowl.

4.  Remove pans from oven.  Place about a tablespoon of butter or margarine in each pan; rotate pans until margarine is melted and coats sides of pan.

5.  Arrange half of the apple slices in each pan; divide batter evenly between pans.  Sprinkle cinnamon+sugar mixture over batter in each pan.

6.  Bake uncovered until puffed and golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

We each get one whole pancake.  No syrup necessary

This isn’t really the healthiest of recipes.  But my excuse is that there are apples in it:  healthy.  Also, you don’t make this every day.  It’s a special treat!

I have a friend that has been posting much more healthy recipes that she finds and creates at her blog.

Let’s just say that, for holidays, it’s okay to overindulge?  Last year I made these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles for my boyfriend.  This year, he’s making them for me.  YES!

Stylish Blogger Award! February 12, 2011

Well, look at that.  Postgrad Agenda nominated me for a Stylish Blogger Award! I wouldn’t consider myself the most stylish person around.  But I think this award (which has been floating around the blogosphere for years, I think) is to recognize other bloggers and spread the word about new bloggers. I’m supposed to post 7 facts about myself, then nominate some other bloggers.

Facts:

1.  I took French in middle and high school.  I learned “Canadian” French because I lived so close to Canada.

2.  Even though I grew up living near a lot of good ski areas, I never went downhill skiing until a few years ago, because my boyfriend has skied all his life and encouraged me to join him.

3.  My height and feet don’t match.  I’m only 5’2″ but I wear size 8.5 or 9 shoes.

4.  Between high school and college, I’ve learned 4 programming/computer languages:  Visual Basic, C++, Java, and Mathematica (I think it counts as a language).  But I wouldn’t be a good programmer unless I went back and studied the language.  And even then, I’d probably only be good at “Hello World” level work.  But I wish I had kept up with it.

5.  I still have clothes in my closet that I wore during high school, possibly even during middle school.  They probably don’t fit very well, but I’m just really bad at getting rid of stuff.  If only What Not To Wear could come and make me get rid of the unflattering stuff.  Or, even just a friend with fashion sense and a strict “GET RID OF IT OR ELSE” policy.

6.  I feel bad when I don’t post a new blog post.  But I never know what to write about, and as a recovering perfectionist, I want every post to be just right before I post it…

7.  I love it when I find out friends are learning more about personal finance.  It makes me happy knowing that they’re taking control of their finances.  It’s especially fun because I now have friends telling me when they open a Roth IRA or that they’ve paid off a loan or something.  It’s fun to share in other people’s personal finance journey!

Well, that’s 7 facts.  Now who to nominate?  It’s tricky, because, as you can see from my blogroll, I like a lot of people’s blogs.  And I’m guessing a lot of people who follow here are personal finance bloggers, so you probably already know about most of them.  So I’m going to nominate some other people.

Elizabeth at On Tap for Today.  Love her blogging style.  And she lives in Boston!  With an awesome dog!

The Financialite.  She’s new to the blogosphere, but I like her posts.  Another Bostonian!

Aayesha at Flutter By.  She posts inspirational quotes, amusing anecdotes, and amazing pictures.  A third Boston-dweller!

Yes, I’m biased towards Bostonians.  I love it here  Even if it’s pretty much a snow village this time of year.