Re-Exploring the SERC Trails

 One of the parts about SERC that I've missed the most other than the people and my research, are the trails! I love to run and the trails around here are simply fabulous to explore! With gorgeous scenery too! Time to go exploring again!

Of course, I couldn't run by wintery marshes full of Phragmites without snapping a few pictures! I love the color contrast between the sky and the dead Phragmites. But have no fear the Phrag will be back in the spring, never fear! 

Continuing down the trail took me to the water's edge before I looped around. There's a set of wood stairs down to a tiny beach. The water is not crystal clear, but I think it's clearer than it looks because the sandy bottom murks it.

And my favorite part of the SERC is the Connection Trail of the Java Trail. It twists and turns through the forest, with a gorgeous view of the water.

Mocha Fudge

 Last night, I want to do some baking, and couldn't decide what to make until I remembered the White Chocolate Cake Batter Fudge I made in July. I decided to make some fudge. It's simple! It's sweet! It's delicious! Before I could the sweet results of my labor, I had to figure out what type of fudge I would make. After spending a while perusing the internet (there's no fudge recipes in my new baking book), I decided to make some Mocha Fudge!



Here's how to do it!

Ingredients 
½ c hot water

3 tbsp instant coffee crystals

½ c nonfat milk

2 c granulated sugar

2 tbsp butter

3 oz dark chocolate (or ½ c dark chocolate chips)

 Instructions
1) Line an 8”-square baking pan with foil, and lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray. 
2) In a large pot, combine the hot water and instant coffee crystals. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the coffee crystals dissolve. Add the milk, sugar, butter, and dark chocolate, and continue stirring over medium-low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted. Bring to a boil, and cook for another 10-15
minutes, stirring frequently, until a small amount becomes moldable when dropped in a glass of cold water. (It may take longer, depending on your pot and stove. If using a candy thermometer, cook until it reaches 234°F.)
3) Remove from the heat and the burner, and allow the hot mixture to sit undisturbed for 6 minutes (or until it reaches 110°F on a candy thermometer). After 6 minutes, stir vigorously until the mixture becomes thick and creamy and lightens slightly in color. Spread into the prepared pan, and allow the fudge to cool to room temperature before slicing into 1” squares.

These fudge pieces are basically dark chocolate and coffee. In a nutshell that means lots of caffeine! These would be so good to have during finals week. So I'll have to remake them during finals week! Making them would be a good study/writing papers break, and then I'd have caffeine to get through several late nights. 

Good Old Bay Cooking

Now that I'm back at SERC, I'm back to having access to a kitchen, which I love! For dinner on Friday, I started out simple with pasta, green peppers, and onions. Saturday I slept in late then started my day with scrambled eggs with Old Bay seasoning (one of the perks of Maryland) along with my Cheerios.

For dinner on Saturday, it was an unplanned carbo-loaded meal. I made some paprika covered onions which I mixed with some pasta sauce to top my cute bow-tie pasta. I also made some homemade fries! They were seasoned with Old Bay, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, with a dash of olive oil. Put in the oven for 12 minutes, flipped, then put in for 8 more minutes. They came out lovely seasoned and crunchy! Quite yummy! Can you tell that I've missed Maryland with their Old Bay seasoning! I don't actually know what's in it, but it's delicious!

Back to SERC !

I'm back at SERC for the week !
It's so familiar yet so strange. 
I'm back at SERC in the dead of winter. So many people from the summer are gone. The new building was completed at the end of last year. Most of the trailers are gone. The old building is being renovated. And it's still fabulous SERC !!!

The big move into the new Mathias Lab occurred at the end of the year. Now the new building is occupied by all the labs. It's a snazzy building, very modern. The building committee are aiming to get LEED Platinum, but the remodeling of the old building has to be completed first. Doesn't the new lab look beautiful? It's hard to believe its a lab building, it looks wonderful! I can even look past the slightly-childish looking amoeba lights and the small problems that were not completely thought through on the plans, because the rest of it came together fabulously!

Bryn Mawr Baking Endeavor Part 2 : Nutty Chocolate Clusters

The other dessert that I made at SGA house at Bryn Mawr were Nutty Chocolate Clusters! These nutty, crispy, chocolaty bites are the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

They are made with graham crackers, nuts, white chocolate, and drizzled with dark chocolate. I made quite a lot, the picture to the left only shows a portion of them. I love to share my baking adventures and these are no different, I took them into work and gave them to friends, though I did have a few myself, 'tis an ill cook who cannot taste one's own handiwork. And they are really easy to make too!

Ingredients
6 oz white chocolate
3 1/2 oz graham crackers
3 1/2 chopped nuts
6 oz dark chocolate

How to make
1) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, stir until melted.
2) Crush graham crackers in a plastic bag with a rolling pin until are small pieces. Stir the graham crackers into the melted chocolate with the chopped nuts.
3) Place heaped teaspoons of  the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
4) Chill the mixture in the fridge until set, which only takes about 10 minutes.
5) While the mixture is cooling, melt the dark chocolate in the same fashion as the white chocolate.
6) Remove the baking sheet from the fridge. Drizzle the clusters with the dark chocolate using a fork sweeping back and forth.

These little clusters are great! I love nuts, but sometimes get tired of just plain nuts, so these are a great change up from my usual trail mix.  They are delicious and the perfect size for sharing! I shared these with friends at Bryn Mawr and SERC!

Bryn Mawr Baking Endeavor Part 1 : Malted Chocolate Wedges

On New Year's Eve, I went into Bryn Mawr town to go thrift-store shopping. I had never been to the Bryn Mawr Hospital Thift Shop before, but decided to go investigating. I found a little gem on the bottom shelf of the book selection. A baking book! A $4 book with almost 400 pages of recipes. Delicious looking recipes. I could not wait to try a few of them out. But I was at Bryn Mawr, where the dorms only have tea pantries. So I had to make a reservation at SGA house (Student Government Association), the only place on campus with a student kitchen.

 I made two desserts from my newly acquired baking book.

The first was Malted Chocolate Wedges. I used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. And it has a graham cracker base.

Ingredients
Generous 1/3 cup butter
2 tbsp sugar dissolved in warm water
2 tbsp malted chocolate drink
8 oz graham crackers
2 3/4 dark chocolate
2 tbsp confectioners sugar
2 tbsp milk

How to make
1) Grease and flour a shallow 7 inch round cake pan.
2) Place the butter, sugar dissolved in warm water, and malted chocolate drink in a small pan and heat gently, stirring all the time until the butter has melted and the mixture is well combined.
3) Crush the graham crackers in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Stir the crumbs into the chocolate mixture and  mix well.
4)  Push the prepared mixture into the prepared pan and chill in the fridge until warm.
5) Place dark chocolate into a small heatproof bowl with the confectioners sugar and milk. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is combined.
6) Spread the chocolate frosting over the graham cracker base and leave to set in a pan. Using a sharp knife cut into wedges and serve.

These little bite-sized wedges were a lovely combination of creamy chocolate and crunchy graham crackers. It was a good way to start back baking after not being able to during the semester because of academia, research, athletics, and a lack of kitchen facilities in the dorms at Bryn Mawr. 

Back to the marsh-y homeland

This post is a few weeks late.
But better late than never!

I was back at SERC on November 2nd. It was a gorgeous crisp fall day! I set out in the early hours of the morning and spent most of the drive there in the dark. The sun had been up for just a wee bit by the time I got to SERC. Here's the sunrise over the long-term tree project! Beautiful!

 The Phragmites looked stunning in the early morning sunlight, even their dead stalked looked pretty in the fall weather!

The panels were off the chambers. They are taken off at the end of the growing season, usually at the end of October. It was much easier to access the plants within the chambers without the panels on! I didn't spend hours taking panels on and off, I just came took height measurements and was done.

Well I wasn't quite done because I lingered in the marsh for a while after I was done with the scientific research part, just appreciating the beauty of the marsh. The marsh in the fall is very different than the marsh in the summer! Yet fabulous in its own special way! I can't wait to see the marsh in other seasons. I'll be back at SERC in January, so I'll see it in the dead of winter then.