I was in Denver over the weekend; one of my good friends from grad school moved there a few months ago. She and I used to go for coffee several times a week, to the same coffee shop just up the street, blowing on our coffee and telling each other how much we really needed the caffeine this afternoon because… and venting about, first, coursework and finals, and then, advisors and papers and presentations and annoying instrumentation problems (for her) and bugs (for me), and finally, thesis work and job offers (for her) and the looming prospect of my finishing and not getting a job after all. Better than therapy.
In the last year her husband's changed jobs, they've moved, she's quit working, she's had her second baby now three months old… that's a lot! So we had a lot to talk about. It was great fun to watch her older son, who's nine months older, playing with MJ.
It was really a lovely visit; we went to the Boulder farmer's market and bought fun stuff to make for dinner. I learned a new way to make tabouli. Did you know that you don't have to soak the bulgur in boiling water? It's slower — about 45 minutes' soak vs. 15 minutes — but you can make fantastically lemony tabouli by soaking the bulgur in straight lemon juice, room temperature. Works best if it's more parsley-with-some-bulgur than bulgur-with-some-parsley. I think the ratio was 3/4 cup dry bulgur to 1/4 cup lemon juice for the soak, and then you add everything else. It's still better if it sits a while before consumption. I don't have time to write the recipe now — you'll have to google tabouli for examples.
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