Chicken Biryani, Makhani...and Pimples

Tuesday

Jenna, Chris, Nick and I got bored and ended up doing one of the hardest puzzles I’ve ever done...not that I’ve done too many puzzles, but it took the four of us about five hours to finish it.  It was Van Gogh’s Wheat Fields Under a Clouded Sky.

The “clouded sky” part took FOREVER.

Wednesday 

This day was originally going to be Cook Indian Food Day but became Buy Indian Food Ingredients Day once we looked at the weather and decided we’d rather see an outdoor play while it was pretty than in the rain.

So, a group got together and walked to the food Co-op on Main Street.  Ingredients were bought and the cashier refused to sell beer to a now-legal Eric because he thought an out-of-state license was sketchy...while everyone else found it hilarious, Eric did not.

Then we went and saw “All’s Well That Ends Well” by the duck pond, which I thought was pretty good.  It got really cold as soon as the sun went down and Dario, the Solar guy from Portugal, felt really bad and gave me his jacket to cure (as he put it) my “chicken pimples”.  Chicken pimples >> goose bumps.

A picture of the play that someone else took:

Thursday/INDIAN FOOD DAY!

For my part of the meal I had to grind up some cashews to make a paste, but there wasn't a nut grinder to check out at the front desk; instead, they suggested using a hammer and the cutting board, so off I went.

I'm sure my neighbors love me now.

Chris displaying his super knife skillz.  My fingers are thankful.

Eric came along and helped us make rice...we'd only done it in normal pots and pans and had no idea how to use a rice cooker.  He then proceeded to make chicken curry.

Nick came to visit, bring coffee, and otherwise do absolutely nothing, though I don't think more people would've fit into the kitchen anyway.  Of course if I'd just biked more than 20 miles I doubt I'd want to cook, either.

Everyone enjoying (or pretending to enjoy?) Chickens Biryani, Makhani, and Curry.  I made Makhani and was pretty pleased with the result, especially as I'm not the greatest cook...

Rob and Keara dropped by, but Keara's a vegetarian and there was kind of an oops/awkward moment.

Then some of us got ice cream at the Pickle Barrel for dessert, and because we're either idiots or masochists, we decided to do another puzzle.

Puzzle pile of doom!

This time we set a bedtime of midnight and left the puzzle unfinished in the hallway.  I haven't actually learned of its fate yet, but Johnny, the RA, assured us that it would probably be fine because the custodian was very lazy.

This school has the worst sprinkler systems ever.  I could write a paper on it, but basically it is bad because

1.  They are sidewalk waterers.  Enough said.

2.  The grass gets watered both during the middle of the day - when the water will evaporate - and during the evening - which leaves grass prone to mildew, disease, etc.

3.  They give a small amount of water to each patch daily, ensuring that the root system sucks.

4.  The system has no regard to whether it is currently raining or has recently rained.  They're on every day rain or shine.  Seeing as a week ago Bozeman was at 300% of their average rainfall for June, you'd think that maybe they would tone the watering down a little...

As for the REU'S, it's become our new hobby to think of reasons to hate the sprinkler system.  We're strange people, I guess.