Road Trip: Raleigh/Durham and Nashville

As I said yesterday, the first stop on this southern adventure was Raleigh/Durham. We flew in Monday midday, and from there our most gracious host and her adorable human showed us around Durham. He (now we're talking about the human) took us to a quarry for a relaxing afternoon of swimming and riverside lounging.

Lady!

Then we got on our way early the next morning for our first looong drive to Nashville, with a stop in Knoxville for our first barbecue experience.

If you're ever in the Knoxville area -- Sweet P's BBQ. This was the best brisket we tried the whole trip!

Pulled Pork and Greens yummmmm!

Then on to Nashville to visit my college friend Chris! Being the huge country music fan that I am, this was clearly an important stop on our trip. On our way into the city we stopped at Cummins Falls, the 8th largest waterfall in Tennessee. As you may recall from my Thailand experience, I looooove waterfalls.

Finally the seven of us rolled up to Nashville in our minivan, a bit dazed from the long ride but ready for some fun. Chris took us out Broadway, the city's main going out street. Neon lights, country music -- both old and new -- coming from every open door and window, and people everywhere!

We started at a more pop-country cover band that played us Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy upon Gustavo's request (funny story about how one time not too long ago he and I and six cowboy backup dancers performed that song in front of all of Fletcher...). Next stop was a more old school country bar. As per always, our enthusiastic group of seven brought the dance party and had a great time until way too late o'clock.

Next morning we started with a run around Centennial Park (running!!!!! Just two miles for me -- gotta start back slowly slowly), followed by arepas because always arepas. Then we drove downtown to walk around along the Cumberland River and see what there was to be seen.

In the afternoon we toured the Grand Ole Opry. I was into it because, again, I love and have always loved country music. And I think everyone liked standing on the stage and seeing the dressing rooms.

After a few beers at Yazoo Brewing Company, that evening we went back to Broadway to yet again sing and dance the night away -- different bars, different bands, but same fun country southern vibe. Nashvegas I am a fan!!!

Next stop: New Orleans!

Road Trip!!!

School has ended and internships have not yet started, which means that my friends and I are 100% focused on all fun times all the time! And what better way to intensely bond and get our fill of one another (as if that's even possible), than a 8-day road trip!?

The route: Raleigh/Durham, NC  ➨  Knoxville, TN  ➨  Nashville, TN  ➨  Birmingham, AL  ➨  New Orleans, LA  ➨  Jackson, MS  ➨  Memphis, TN  ➨  Kansas City, KS.

Seven people, one minivan, eight days, 1,904 miles, 4 amazing barbecue experiences, and too many live bands to count.

The cast: We make quite the eclectic crew.

From left to right in this picture (in front of one of Elvis's cars in Graceland) we have:

• Peter, the trip planner extraordinaire, hailing from Kansas City;
• Tim, who wins at everything (except a certain race up a certain very steep set of stone steps...we'll get to that story later), from upstate New York;
• Julie -- aka JK -- our DJ extraordinaire from LA;
• Gustavo, from Caracas, Venezuela, who is quite literally the nicest human being in the world;
• Rose, the only person who might rival Gus for the Nicest Human Being title, all the way from New Zealand (via Hawaii), who is pretty much just awesome as; 
• Katherine, coming from Germany, who is sadly sadly tragically done with school and not coming back to Boston in the fall;
• And me of course! You all know all my things already. 

We rented a minivan (aka Big Blue Moon), and stayed with friends all along the way. We ate so much barbecue and saw amazing live music almost everywhere we went.

Stay tuned for a series of blog posts on our Southern sojourn. It was excellent!

Post-Finals FUNemployment

Well well well, I'm happy to report that post-finals funemployment is treating me gloriously. I wake up every morning to no class to go to, no required reading, no meetings to attend, no problems sets to agonize over. I wouldn't want to be funemployed always (at that point it would just be unemployed), but for a brief concrete period of time I am so in. Also, many of my friends are sticking around for a bit post-finals, so I have all my favorite people to hang out with!

What exactly have I been up to, you might wonder? Biking, rock climbing, reading, playing catch, friends-time, dancing, playing softball, and snacking.

Walden Pond from my bike ride on Sunday.

Let me tell you about my week -- feel free to live vicariously.

I started Monday early with a 22-mile bike ride to Bedford and back on the Minuteman Trail. Then in the afternoon I met a friend in Harvard Square for frozen yogurt followed by frisbee in the park. I am happy to report that I can now throw a frisbee both backhand and forehand, and about 4/5 times it goes where I want it to! Then finally, most of Fletcher convened in a backyard in Cambridge for a rather epic summer evening barbecue. I want summer nights for all the time always!

Tuesday was nowhere near as warm, but just as active. We had yet another barbecue (this time at school), followed by a solid game of catch, followed by a first- v. second-years softball game. The bad news is that my experience with softball is incredibly minimal. The good news is that a) my dad taught me how to throw and catch as a kid, and b) I recently watched A League of Their Own. So basically I was all set.

In a spate of spring cleaning last week, RoommateRachel and realized that we'd acquired five containers of real maple syrup over a year of pancake parties. There is only one solution to this "problem:" another pancake party! So I had people over on Wednesday morning to eat allll the pancakes -- inputs included bananas, blueberries, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Yummmm.

Then yesterday afternoon I was ready for yet another bike ride -- this time to the Arboretum via Marky Mark (BUXC you know what's up!). It was bright green grassy, pink tree blossom-y, and fields of yellow tulip-y. Lovely.

So basically, my week has been awesome. The plan for today is to go rock climbing, then eat southern food, then dance the night away at the final Los Flecheros concert.

Cake of the Week: Orange Chocolate Bundt Cake

In celebration of finishing a rather epic math-y exam (blerg numbers and the letters that represent numbers!), my friends and I decided that a celebration of the cheese and chocolate variety was in order.

KatieHat was hosting this party — she convened the critical cheeses, baked some brie, and opened her apartment to all the exhausted students exiting the exam. Obviously I was in charge of the cake, as "Mollie-cake" has become a thing here at school (and we mean that entirely in the dessert and not drug sense).

I chose this Orange Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe because 1) it looked (and was) delicious; 2) the fruit makes it feel just a little bit springy hooray; and 2) it appeared to be reasonably transportable. It's very orange-y (4 oranges worth of zest and one o juice!), and I looove the dark chocolate chunks in the cake.

KatieHat lives a couple miles away, so after letting it cool out of the pan for about 30 minutes I popped it back in and wrapped it in a plastic bag, filled my backpack with ganache ingredients, hopped on my bike, and one-handedly steered my way to Medford with a cake tucked under my arm and my muscles screaming by the end (this is no angel food cake -- bundt cakes are dense!).

When I arrived I made the ganache. I made a traditional ganache (not the one in the original recipe), so it was just half heavy cream, half semi-sweet chocolate. Just a heads-up, it takes a while (like an hour) to cool to a drippy enough thickness.

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake

Adapted from SmittenKitchen
Cake Ingredients: 

• 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 1/4 cup grated orange zest (from 4 large oranges)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 3/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks

Ganache Ingredients: 

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 heaping cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.
3. Mix together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Fold in the chocolate chunks. 
4. Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.
5. For the ganache: heat the cream in the microwave or on a stovetop until hot but not boiling. Add in chocolate chips and let sit for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let the ganache cool (you can do this in the fridge if you're in a hurry) until it's thick enough to not just run off the cake when you pour it. Drizzle ganache over the cake. I had some ganache left, so we put it on the table for people to add additional chocolate to their individual slices. 
6. Yum. 

The State of Mollie: May 2014

I don't even know where/how to start. I feel like a re-introductory post is in order, as I completely dropped off the face of the internet earth about a month and a half ago. So hello! I'm Mollie. I'm a super-intense grad student, part-time baker, sometimes runner, all the times reader, and full-time all things enthusiast.

Alright now that we've handled that, I'm thrilled to report that I survived my first year of grad school and am officially half-way done! It went by so fast, but at the same time I'm amazed at how much has happened in the last nine months. I have learned many many things — about the world, about how to think (turns out we call this "analysis" when we're feeling fancy), how I think, and how to better work with others (in grad school almost all work is group work). 

I made a music video, got a job as an editor, and performed a swing dance and a silly country song. Also I've made amazing friends — it continues to blow my mind how nice and smart and motivated and awesome everyone is.

Conclusion: the state of school and friends is good. I may have had my doubts back in the fall, but turns out grad school is fun and I love nerd camp. 

Now on to running. Oooohhhh running. This is part of why I haven't been blogging — first not to jinx myself when things were going well, then out of sadness when they all fell apart. So I'll give you the short version and then fast-forward to the end. I started marathon training in January, with my eyes on running Boston in April. It was a very rough (i.e. cold) winter for running, but I had a friend from school to train with and all was going relatively well.

Then, out of nowhere the week I returned from Colombia, my knee started hurting. So I stopped running and went to physical therapy like the good athlete I am, hoping it was a short-term problem that could be fixed in time for me to still run the marathon (diagnosis: patellar tendonitis). One month later it was no better and maybe worse, so I went back to the doctor at school, got an MRI (holy space machines!!!), and now find myself back in PT with the diagnosis of IT Band Syndrome. Same s*%$ different day, huh? (But for reals, here's a post from 2012 about how to fix it.)

Obviously I did not run the marathon (though I did go out to cheer!), and am currently not doing much at all — just some yoga and occasional climbing. Maybe next year...

Conclusion: the state of running is non-existent. Blerg. (On the bright side it's not incurable.)

Ok to bring things back to a positive note, next up let's talk about the State of Mollie: future edition! I am currently lounging about Boston/Somerville for 10 more days, doing not a whole lot and loving every minute of it. Then I will go on a 8-day road trip to the South — Raleigh, Nashville, New Orleans, Memphis, Kansas City — with friends from school.

Then I will move back to DC for a summer internship. All the Peregrine coffee and rooftop grilling and weekend hiking and Shenandoah rock climbing will be mine!!! (Oh and some work too, but whatevs.) And then I will meet up with friends in Europe and travel in (probably) Greece and Turkey. Everything is amazing.

And that concludes this State of Mollie. Look forward to more frequent blogging in the next couple weeks!

Colombia: Mud Volcano!!!

Day 5: 

Well I certainly wasn't expecting to find myself sitting topless in a lagoon with a Colombian woman scrubbing mud out of my ears, but that's how today ended. I'm not even a little bit upset about it.

Our last full day in Cartegena started innocuously enough. I decided that after 5 days sans exercise I needed a run, so I headed out at 7:45 am hoping the days of buses and planes and taxis and hiking and hammock-sleeping hadn't maliciously meddled with my joints. I'm happy to report that though sluggish and slow, everything was overall ok! Until the heat really started to hit me a couple miles in. I was running along the beach. The breeze stopped. And all of a sudden I was inside an oven with now way to escape. I paused at a stop light, felt light-headed, focused hard on existing for a few seconds, and then headed home through the heat.

But within 15 minutes of returning to the hostel, after inhaling some watermelon and drinking a liter of water, my body temp was back closer to normal and I was happily sipping Colombian coffee and munching on toast with pineapple jam.

We spent a lazy morning wandering around the walled city, buying necklaces and paintings, and checking out Cartegena's modern art museum.

Ok so next up on the itinerary: Mud Volcano!

We booked a bus tour through our hostel for about $20 each, since the mud volcano is about 30 minutes outside the city. Honestly, we had no idea what to expect. We arrived at a gray-ish cone in the middle of nowhere that looked like a volcano if a child were to draw a volcano, overlooking a huge lagoon. We were shepherded into changing rooms and instructed to wear only our bathing suits, hand our cameras to a boy to document the experience, and leave everything else in a locker.

We climbed the volcano's stairs in our bikinis, the wind howling around us, giggling at the absurdity of it all -- an absurdity that only intensified when we arrived at the top and looked down into what was quite literally a pit of mud 10 feet across about 15 feet below the lip of the volcano.

The few Colombian men in charge of this experience waved us down the precarious mid-splattered ladder. I watched KatieHat slowly sink into viscous gray mud and then float, guided by the locals' hands, to the center of the pit where they began to massage her back and legs and arms as she lay on top of the mud.

Umm ok my turn! I backed down the slippery stairs and sank into the comfortably  warm and pleasantly smooth molten mud. My masseur told me to relax, and I was shocked at how completely buoyant the mud was! The massage lasted maybe five minutes (sure whatevs, it cost $1.50), and then he guided me to the side and told me to stand up. It worked! The tour guide on the bus told us that being in the mud volcano (which is 300 feet deep!) would feel like zero gravity, and she was right! The rest of our group (about 12 total) one by one joined us in the pit, and the camera boy snapped pictures from above. We slip-slided around like baby otters, or the Orc being born in Lord of the Rings, or like three girls in a warm and buoyant mud volcano bath of ridiculousness.

I'm not going to lie guys, it was a weird and awesome and unique experience that I highly recommend!

After maybe a half an hour, we one at a time climbed back up those slippery steps. A guy at the top used his hands to essentially squeegee the mud off, then sent us down the volcano stairs like a line of slow-moving Swamp Things to make our way to the lagoon.

So there we found ourselves. A woman with a plastic bowl in hand guided me into the lagoon, sat me down in water just over a foot deep, and started washing me like a baby in a bathtub, using the bowl to pour water over my head and scrub the mud out of my hair and ears. I squished my eyes shut and went with it -- she appeared to be doing a good job. Then she took off my top! Little waves crashing against my belly button, she washed out my top and put it back on me, then did the same with the bottoms. Unexpected, but ummm sure ok, me and my 12 new best friends are just going to have this experience together I guess!

We emerged out of the lagoon feeling clean and refreshed and a little bit baffled by the serious events that had just occurred. Clearly we bought egg arepas (again, Colombia = never not eating fried corn things) and then took the bus back to the city.

Our last night we went to a fancy restaurant/bar on the wall and then the next morning we walked all around the city one last time.

Now I'm back in the cold and work-heavy world of Boston and siiiggghhhh I miss Colombia!

Colombia: Beaching in Tayrona National Park

Day 3: 

"Queso! Chocolaaaaaate! Queso!! Chocolaaaate!! Queso!!! Chocolaaaaate!!! QUESO!!!"

At around 7 am, a woman shrieking those words with increasing volume slowly jogged me out of my hammock-sleep into a waking state of pure confusion. I like those things. Where am I? Who is yelling that? And why? In the words of Jessica, "I was happy because I love cheese. But then mad because I didn't want to be woken up. It was a confusing morning."

Luckily KatieHat had the wherewithal to unfold out of her hammock and explore the situation -- the woman was selling fresh bread/pastries filled with ham and cheese, tomatoes and cheese, or chocolate. Hello breakfast!

We were sleeping in hammocks near the beach in Tayrona National Park (here's the previous post about how we got there). I must say, though it sounds awesome and I'm glad we did it, sleeping in hammocks is the worst. You can't be flat! You can't turn on your side! Napping in hammocks is awesome, but sleeping sleeping? Nope. Just something to keep in mind...

But we were waking up to queso and beach sunrise and that pleasant early morning warmth you get in the summer before it's heat-of-the-day hot, so I was quickly over my uncomfortable night. We walked along the coast, exploring Tayrona's series of beaches: Arrecifes (no swimming) to La Piscina to El Cabo.

The day started overcast but by 11 am the sun was out in full force -- I napped on the beach while KatieHat and Jessica played in the water.

A man on the beach sold us egg arepas for lunch (us = never not eating fried corn things) before we headed back to Arrecifes to get our books. I read on the beach until the sun started to go down, then we headed back to our camp site to scrub off the layers of sweat and sunscreen before dinner.

Summer nights guys. They are the BEST. You know, when it's warm enough that you're comfortable in a dress but not sweaty at all and you can just sit outside forever? That's what I want all the time.

Day 4:

Queso lady woke us up again the next morning, as expected. The morning sunlight was beautiful, so I got up and meandered down to our beach to look at the waves (uhoh am I my dad???).

We went on an abbreviated beach walk before packing up our stuff to leave. Hiking out to the main road took about two hours and was difficult! Mostly because it's hilly and hot, but in a good way -- it was nice to get some exercise and hiking through the jungle, though sweaty, is pretty unique.

We collapsed into chairs at a roadside restaurant, downed a Coke, and then hopped on the local bus to Santa Marta, jamming to the sweet Colombian pop beats in the back seat (all Colombians think we're crazy all the time).

The bus dropped us off in the middle of somewhere but nowhere (i.e. in the town of Santa Marta, but just on some random street, not the bus station). We got in a cab and asked him to take us to the tourist direct bus to Cartegena (we had taken the local non-direct bus to get there), and luckily he knew where that office was!

They told us the bus was leaving in 40 minutes, so perfect! Time to find some lunch before we go! But then, even though it was just us, the bus was about to leave NOW! But comida? Banyo? The bus people looked at us blankly. Uno momento! KatieHat went next door to a "restaurant" that was essentially two guys with a box of fried chicken legs and whole potatoes. As she was pointing to the ones she wanted, I rushed in Banyo? One of the guys led me to their back room to use the bathroom, and I came out to KatieHat frantically counting out Colombian change -- one, two, three -- the amused, if not confused, guys joined us in counting out loud in English -- four, five, six! Ok go! 

Needs handled, we ran out to board the bus (which was more of a shared van), which soon filled up with fancy Colombians. We sat in the front row of seats, eating chicken out of a bag like the classy ladies we are, and then promptly passed out for the 4-hour ride back to Cartegena.

Colombia: Arriving in Cartegena and Traveling to Tayrona National Park

I'm happy to report that Colombia is not even a teeny tiny little bit like Boston at all -- it's 80 degrees and sunny, the food is spicy, the buildings, the clothes, everything is brightly colored, there are fried snacks everywhere, and there is no hurry for us to do anything: no papers to write, no readings to read, no slide sets to review. Well ok, there are those things, and they will welcome us with open arms (or a punch in the stomach) when we return to real life, but for now we're on spring break and it is absolutely glorious.

Towards the end of last semester, KatieHat and I committed to an international spring break together. Then a few weeks ago we sat down and scanned the internet -- Mexico? Ecuador? (Tortoises!) Italy? What about the Alps? Or maybe Argentina? Suriname? Do people even go there? (Not really.)

We finally settled on Cartegena, Colombia, based on the important criteria of cheap direct flights and beaches and summertime temperatures, the idea of which got us through some dark late-winter Boston days.

Day 1: 

We flew out of NYC early Sunday morning and arrived in Cartegena, a 500-year-old city on Colombia's Carribean coast, at noon. Despite three hours of sleep the night before, KatieHat and I checked into our hostel in the walled city and immediately switched our shoes for flip-flops and jeans for sundresses and ventured out into the streets.

Inside our hostel.

We saw as sign on a hole-in-the-wall full of Colombians for "vegetariano" and sat down for lunch. My non-existent Spanish managed to get me a fried fish plate, while Katie ordered the veggie option (a plate of rice and beans and cheese and egg) plus a guabanana (aka soursop) milk smoothie. We sat there grinning like idiots and agreeing that this is literally all we want in life at this moment and maybe forever and for always.

We wandered around the walled city (beautiful tourist-land), and started jumping up and down at the sight of the ocean (we are West Coasters => we like the beach). So to the beach we went!

Cartegena's beaches not particularly stunning, but ummm hello ocean I missed you!!! I immediately laid out my towel, plopped down on my stomach, and proceeded to do what I do best: read on the beach, nap on the beach, and beach hair.

Our third amiga arrived in the early evening and we went back out to the city to find dinner. Apparently the fried fish/chicken/carne asada plate that I had for lunch, with rice, fried green plantains, and salad is the plato tipico of Colombia, so I proceeded to eat that for pretty much the rest of the trip.

Day 2: 

The next day we were off on our first true Colombian adventure to Tayrona National Park!

Bus stations in foreign countries always amaze me. You walk in to complete chaos -- stalls hawking little cups of coffee or tea, sodas, a million varieties of cookies and chips, local pastries and unidentified candies wrapped in plastic, local families milling about waiting for the next bus to somewhere the kids silently sucking on lollypops or sitting at plastic tables slurping bowls of noodles or plates of beans and rice (depending on where you are), and buses and taxis of all colors and shapes and sizes in varying degrees of disrepair zooming in and out, loading and unloading their human cargo. But there is an orchastrated beauty to this madness. Without fail I have walked in, stated a destination, and been guided by some young man to exactly the bus I need, told where to pay and where to sit, and how long to wait until it leaves. I stand by the assurance that when traveling, other people know what I need and where I need to go far better than I do -- it's best to listen, follow instructions (or gestures, as I have rarely traveled where I know the language), and smile at everyone.

Colombia was no different. The bus, though nice, took significantly longer than expected (about 5 hours instead of 3.5). Luckily Colombians are very committed to fried snacks, so an Arepas con Huevos! man rocking quite the mullet briefly boarded the bus to sell us fried corn cakes filled with eggs about halfway though the trip. Muy delicioso!!! (Is that a thing people say? I do...) Also if you go to Colombia and see something that looks like a baseball-sized and -shaped fried something GET IT. It's potatoes formed around a bit of spicy ground meat and wrapped in dough of some sort. Aka the greatest ball of carbs ever.

The bus ride showed us the more real side of Colombia (as I said, the inside the walls of Cartegena is very nice tourist-land). As we drove, brightly painted one-story stucco progressed to dilapidated wooden shacks, showing the remnants of being once a brighter color of paint. Skinny horses and donkeys pulled carts alongside the cars, dirt bikes, and motorcycles (Katie: I am shocked and delighted that everyone on a moto is wearing a helmet! Go Colombia!) as people went about their business.

A long bus ride plus a taxi (that I was 80% positive would chug its way up those hills -- I don't know much about cars, but I know that they should not make noises like that) landed us at the gates of Tayrona National Park at exactly 5 minutes to 5pm, just in time to pay our entrance fee before the park gates closed for the day.

A long tired day of transportation ended in the most beautiful sunset hike -- through the jungle, up and over some hills, and then down along the beach. The day's heat subsided into what would have been pleasant summertime evening had we not been carrying backpacks, but a little sweat (or a lot) never hurt anyone!

We arrived at Arrecifes Beach and paid for three hammocks for two nights at Aviatur has Ecocabanas. (Turns out this was the higher-end fancy option and there are cheaper places a bit further down the beach, just fyi. But Avairur has nice bathrooms with tp and individual mosquito nets on its hammocks...so I don't regret our mistake.) We showered, sat down at the restaurant to delicious Colombian seafood, and fell asleep to the sounds of night animals and birds and waves crashing on the beach.

To be continued...