Happy DNA Day: DNA Day Food and Activity Ideas

Happy DNA Day everyone!!!  Today, April 25th is the day we celebrate the discovery of DNA's double helix structure by James Watson, Francis Crick (and lets not forget Rosalind Franklin!) in April 1953 as well as the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003.  Although, they weren't really finished.  We still keep learning fascinating things about ourselves through the study of genetics, and it is more complex than we ever imagined!  

PS. Did you know that if you put all the DNA in your body end to end, it would measure approximately 200 billion kilometers? Sound familiar?

Blueberry Peach Smoothie

I am so glad spring is here!!  Or rather, it was here, then it went away, then it was back, then it snowed, then it was back... I was informed that with the snow this week, Kentucky has had snow seven months in a row!  Snow from Halloween to Easter sounds more like the northern winters I am used to, but hopefully no more winter weather is coming our way.  

Almond Cake with Almond Amaretto Filling...and (more) R

My second go-around with the statistical program R was, well, a challenge.  I had hoped it would get easier, but the truth is, it is like writing in a totally different language.  I know what I want the program to do, but making it do that involves hours of super frustrating trial and error.  Nonetheless, ten hours later, the homework assignment was completed, and it even worked!  It worked in a such a way that the professor didn't know just how I got it to work and that I had to spend a good hour proving that it worked, but it worked all the same!

Growing Hearts Platter

So...I may have a bit of an obsession with trees as decorations.  You can find them sprinkled around my house--in the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen--you get the idea.  Maybe it has something to do with the hundreds of family trees I have drawn as a genetic counselor over the years...by the way, do you have your family health history recorded?  If not, this is a great tool to do so.  In any case, I was of course drawn to this pattern on one of my recent ceramics endeavors, and I have aptly named this project the Growing Hearts Platter.

Caprese Macaroni & Cheese

So, it's April.  How exactly did this happen?  What happened to March (and February for that matter)?  Someone once told me that time seems to go faster as you get older because a year is a smaller fraction of your life than it was when you are younger.  I now absolutely believe that is true. So, right, April.  Nearly every class assignment that I have this semester is due this month.  Of course, I started off the semester saying that I WAS NOT going to put everything off until the last minute.  I was going to work ahead.  Yeah...right.