Homegrown Missouri food

Finally, spring is here! We can open our windows, plant our beans and potatoes, and light the grill! My mouth is already watering for Missouri strawberries and blueberries. It's almost time for Rhubarb pie and sugar snap peas.

Here in mid-Missouri we have lots of options for eating fresh, ripe, local produce all through spring, summer and fall. Perhaps the easiest place to find the harvest is the Farmer's Market. There are two markets in Columbia:

Columbia Farmers Market

• Saturdays 8 a.m.-12 p.m. (Apr-Nov)
• Mon. & Wed. 4-6 p.m. (May-Oct)
• Behind the ARC on the corner of Clinkscales and Ash Streets

Boone County Farmers Market

• Saturdays 8 a.m.-12 p.m. (Apr-Oct)
• Mon. & Wed. 4-6 p.m. (May 12-Sept)
• Parking lot of the Health Department Building, 1005 W. Worley Street

There are other ways to get local produce as well. CSAs (Community-Supported Agriculture programs) allow members to invest in the farm at the beginning of the growing season and then reap the harvest throughout the spring, summer and fall. Typically a CSA membership provides you with a weekly supply of food. By supporting a farm this way, members can give farmers the start-up funds needed to plant and grow, and members both share in the bounty when the weather is good and help take the fall if there is drought or crop damage. Pierpont Farms is an active CSA in Columbia.

To have the most fun, pick your own! There are many places in mid-Missouri to pick fruits and veggies, including Sunny Acres Farm, Pick-n-Pick and Grown in Paradise to name a few. Here's a great site that lists area U-pick farms: http://www.pickyourown.org/MO.htm. Terra Bella farm has a season-round stand and offers farm tours.

And, finally, to truly appreciate the source of your food, plant the seeds yourself. Create a garden in your backyard. If you don't have the yard space for this, you can obtain a plot through the Community Garden Coalition or Big Canoe. The latter also offers the option of working in already established gardens for food.

Of course, the most convenient place to get food is the grocery store. The Root Cellar offers locally grown food throughout the growing season, and you can get some local produce at Schnucks. You can also find local milk, eggs and cheeses at a variety of stores including Clover's and HyVee.

Graduate Education Week 2008

In 2006, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed a proclamation declaring that the state would designate a week every April to celebrate the accomplishments of graduate students and raising awareness of the benefits of an advanced degree. This year’s Graduate Education Week will take place from April 14–19 and Mizzou is hosting a variety of events to mark the joyous occasion:

Getting into Graduate School: the Basics & Getting into Graduate School: Making Your Application Stand Out

Tell all of your friends who aren’t in grad school to attend these two events, held on April 14 and 15 in Memorial Union S304 and Memorial Union N222/223, respectively. These seminars will help prospective graduate students to better understand the benefits of an advanced degree and how to get into graduate school.

Graduate School Open House

Come see where all the behind-the-scenes graduate school action takes place on April 17 from 3-4:30 p.m. in 210 Jesse. Learn who’s really responsible for tuition waivers and graduate student insurance—it can’t hurt, right?

Adventures in Education

This fun event, held from 9 a.m.–2 p.m. on Saturday in Jesse Hall, includes interactive exhibits put on by graduate students that engage kids in the exciting world of advanced education. Exhibits this year include Colors of Chemistry, where kids can make their own slime, African Masks & Fabric Printing and What Happens When Cells Freeze? There will also be FREE tiger stripe ice cream!

Other events on campus

In addition to the Graduate School’s Adventures in Education Fair, there are other (non Graduate Education Week-related) events across campus on Saturday, April 19. The School of Veterinary Medicine will also be holding an open house that includes a petting zoo, the Budweiser Clydesdales and a scavenger hunt. Additionally, there will also be a Physics & Chemistry Open House that will include fun experiments for kids, demonstrations of science equipment and recipes for cooking with chemistry!

The Graduate School encourages you to get involved with Graduate Education Week, if only to give yourself a pat on the back for contributing some great research to the world of advanced education!

Spring break close to home

Okay, I admit it. I envy those of you who will spend spring break (March 22-30) on a sunny island somewhere a tad closer to the equator. I really do. But what about the rest of us, who, for various reasons, are stuck in Columbia for part or all of spring break? Assuming Mother Nature is in a slightly better mood in a month, we can have some fun, too. Now's the time to make your local spring break plans.

Visitmo.com is a great place to start hatching ideas.

Here are a few possibilities:

• For some outdoor exposure, visit one of Missouri's beautiful state parks, float the Current River or go mountain biking in the Ozarks.
• St. Louis: There are plenty of things to do in the state's largest city, aside from going up in the Arch. Check out the Botanical Garden, the City Museum, art galleries, the zoo (free!) or riverboat casinos, to name a few.
• Tour Missouri's wineries.
• Branson: I admit I have not had a Branson vacation myself, but people do come from all around for the shows and attractions in that quirky southern Missouri city.

Of course you'll find many more ideas out there. There is fun to be had for the rest of us.

True/False Film Festival

Local Film Festival February 28 – March 2

The True/False Film Festival returns to Columbia for the fifth year on “Leap Day Weekend.” This festival, begun by the owners of Columbia’s Ragtag Cinema, showcases thought-provoking documentary films from other festivals (including the Sundance Film Festival) and films that haven’t yet premiered anywhere else.

Individual Tickets on Sale February 28

As of January 7, festival-goers had the option of purchasing a “Simple,” “Lux,” or “Silver Circle Patron” Pass. These passes allow purchasers to view all film screenings and entitles them to a number of other perks, depending on the level purchased. The passes quickly sold out, however, so you’ll have to settle for purchasing tickets for individual shows starting on the first day of the festival. Read a little about the films that will be screened at the festival here to decide which you want to attend. Happy watching!

How to Turn a Bad Day Around

I’m currently in the throes of a bad day, so I thought I’d look into this topic today. This article, via eHow, outlines exact steps to take to turn your bad day around. If you ever find yourself on campus all day without the option of just going home and calling the day a loss (as I have been inclined to do before), maybe these steps will help you. I’ll even work through them as an example to see if they help me. Here goes:

Don't try to fight your bad mood.

No problem here. I’ve already accepted this fact.

Tell the people that you work with so they will know not to bother you.

I don’t know about this one. It seems obnoxious to announce to everyone that “I’m having a bad day. Stay out of my way!”

Think about what happened to put you in this bad mood.

Locking my significant other out of the house and the dog in the house. Failing a quiz. Numerous meetings that require me to trek all over campus.

Try and remember what makes you happy.

Naps.

Take a long lunch break or a walk around the block to think things over.

Too cold out. And I have heels on.

When you leave for lunch pretend like you are leaving for the day, so when you come back it's like a whole new day and mood.

Well, this one just sounds silly to me. Let’s disregard it.

OK, there are some tips to help you turn your own day around. I feel somewhat better just writing about my own bad day, so perhaps writing therapy should be added to the list. Here’s hoping that you’re able to turn your bad days around in the future!

Learn about A Presidential Candidate's Stance on an Issue

OK, I’ll admit that I’m not as knowledgeable about the various presidential candidates’ platforms as I should be. This isn’t entirely because I’m lazy, though; it’s at least partially because I get incredibly tired of the issues being covered again and again in the 18 months leading up to the election. Now that Super Tuesday is fast approaching, however (February 5, everybody), I guess it’s time to get up-to-speed on the candidates’ exact stances. Good thing I have CNNPolitics.com, a comprehensive site for reading up on candidate’s views. The site also has detailed information about each candidate, primaries and caucuses and debates. Other sites to help keep you on top of things include PresidentialElection.com, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Ignore Myths About the Cold and Get Exercising

Here's a little post (via Lifehacker) that dispels common myths about exercising in the cold (anyone ever heard that cold air is bad for the lungs?). This is a great post because it takes away every excuse I had to give up exercise once the cold weather hits. Even though I have a gym membership, I’ve been running outside recently and I’ve been surprised by how great I feel—not just because I’m exercising, but also because I get to shake off a little of the cabin fever to which I’ve grown so accustomed. If you generally hibernate indoors all winter, you might want to try it, too.

Need a little push to get you out the door? Try joining the Columbia Track Club, which has group runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. If running isn’nt your thing, try the Columbia Bike Club or just walking on one of the city's many trails.

Things to do when it's cold

It has been dastardly cold in Columbia over the past week. In my attempt to stay positive about the season, here are some things to do in Columbia when it's rediculously frigid:

• Warm up with a cup of coffee and lunchtime or evening music at the Cherry Street Artisan.
• Bake cookies or – better yet – bread to warm up your house and your tum.
• Rent a movie and heat up some apple cider. Order a pizza while you're at it.
• Bowl! Try AMF lanes on Providence or save a few bucks and hit T.A. Brady's if you can do without beer or accurate scoring.
• Learn to knit or crochet.
• Fill up with a good meal and a live jazz pianist at Murry's.
• Clean out your closets. Drop off some extra winter gear at the Wardrobe or the Salvation Army.
• Of course there are always the bars. Check out Vox Magazine to see what bands are playing around town.
• Settle in with a book from the New York Times Best Seller List.
• Plan a garden for the spring.

Energy Vampires

Here’s a statement of the obvious for you: it’s cold outside. If you can’t tell just by looking outside, you can certainly tell by looking at your energy bill. Although cold weather brings higher gas prices, you can attempt to offset the increase by unplugging some of your most energy-inefficient household appliances when they’re not in use. Here’s an interesting article (via Lifehacker) that points out exactly how much energy your “energy vampires” use.

Here’s to staying warm on the cheap this holiday season.

Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival

As Halloween approaches, many people are thinking about costumes, haunted houses and…pumpkins! What better what to celebrate fall and Halloween than with an official pumpkin festival? The Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival draws in thousands of visitors in the second weekend of October (that’s October 13 and 14 this year). Festival-goers can enjoy the numerous craft vendors, petting zoo, pony rides, food booths and—of course—pumpkins galore and a variety of pumpkin activities for the whole family. So get out and make the 30-minute drive from Columbia to charming Hartsburg to have a bit of your own pumpkin-related fun this year.

Photo courtesy of flickr user dangerding.

Comfort food ready when you are

When the leaves start to turn, my instincts start calling for comfort food. Ahh, chicken and dumplings, potato leek soup, beef stew... Where's Mom when you need her? When you're a grad student, you can't sit around for 2 hours while the soup simmers on the stove. Enter the slow cooker. One of the marvels of the slow cooker is that most the things you'd make in it can't really cook too long. In fact, as long as there's enough liquid in there, meat just keeps getting more tender.

My favorite slow cooker trick is putting in frozen meat in the morning, usually with some water, and at the end of the day I have perfectly cooked meat to add to a dish. (Of course roasts and other large meats need to thaw first, though.) A few times a week I throw in a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts with about 1/3 cup of water, and in 4-6 hours I have meat to add to enchiladas, chicken pot pie, or even just to serve over rice with a garlic ginger sauce. (My slow cooker might be fast — it usually takes only 4 hours for chicken breasts, frozen or not.)

A little experimentation, and you can turn almost any comfort food recipe into a slow cooker recipe. You generally have to cook dried beans a bit before adding them, and it can be a good idea to brown some meats in order to seal in the juices. Onions are great if sautéed in butter first, and rice and pasta should be cooked separately on the stove.

Crock-pot.com has some recipe suggestions as well as a good selection of slow cookers.

Enjoy!

A note for theatre junkies

If you're bored with downtown Columbia (or "The District", which I still think is kind of silly), and you love the theater, you might want to check out the Columbia Entertainment Company. It's a local theater group, and right now they're doing a production of "She Loves Me". That's the same book that "You've Got Mail" is based on, if you're not working on your PhD in Romantic Comedy. The show runs from Sept. 27 to October 14. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for kids and seniors.

Make a Life List

My dad recently finished a 500-mile bike race—an impressive feat, to say the least. In addition to being proud of his great accomplishment, this got me to thinking: what goals would I like to accomplish in my own life? Not broad goals, such as having a career I love and a family, but specific goals like completing a 500-mile bike race. What, I wondered, would I put on my own life list?

Having a life list inspires you to accomplish things you wouldn’t otherwise do—you may think snorkeling in the Great Barrier reef would be lovely given the chance, but if you put it on your life’s to do list, you’re more likely to take the action needed to realize that goal.

WebMD has a good article on setting attainable life goals and the benefits of doing so. Read this article from the New York Times to learn about the increasing popularity of “Life Lists” (and the impending movie about two cancer patients who set off to accomplish the goals on their own life lists).

After you’ve read a little about what life lists are and why you should have one, get to work on your own. I’m in the process of writing mine right now. I’ve also picked out which goal I’ll tackle first: running a marathon. So here’s to living life to to the fullest (and here’s to me completing that marathon next year)!

Photo courtesy of Flickr user wili_hybrid.

Tailgating Trivia for the New Football Season

It’s that time of year again: school is in full swing, the weather is (somewhat) beginning to cool off and football season has begun. It’s time to tailgate. Whether you are a football fanatic or a casual fan, tailgating is a tradition that few people miss—in fact, it’s one of my favorite things about fall and the beginning of a new school year.

So where did tailgating originate? According to The American Tailgater Association, the first tailgate occurred at the first football game between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869. Students gathered to eat, drink and socialize prior to the game. Bill Simmons, a columnist for ESPN.com, had a more humorous take on the origins of tailgating in a recent article in which he wrote, “Seriously, there had to have been one guy in the '40s or '50s who said to his buddies, ‘Hey, what if we show up early for the game, park the car, bring an Igloo of beer, and we'll just hang out in the parking lot, listen to music and make fun of each other until the game starts? ’ And everyone else was, like, ‘Wait, that's a great idea! That might work!’ Shouldn't this person be identified and properly deified? He's the Jonas Salk of drinking in public, right?”

It’s not as clear when the first tailgate at Mizzou occurred, but chances are it wasn’t too far after the first MU football game was played in the spring of 1890.

Thus concludes the short lesson on the history of tailgating. Now that you know, you’ll be able to more fully appreciate tailgating and its traditions during the current season. You can also read more about the history of MU football, learn about MU’s “green” tailgating initiative, or buy tickets to an upcoming Mizzou game.

Mizzou-RAH!

Orphaned in Columbia

When I walked into the Central Missouri Humane Society, I didn't plan on signing any adoption papers. I just wanted to check things out -- see what dogs were out there. I expected to see elderly dogs and, of course, litter upon litter of unplanned puppies. There were those, but the shelter was also crowded with sweet middle-aged dogs and eager-to-please "teenagers." And then a worker brought out a blonde lab mix they had nicknamed "Sugar." She gracelessly sauntered over to me, sat for 15 seconds of pats on the head and collapsed upon my feet, belly to the sky. "Where do I sign?" I asked. I adopted her on a Thursday, but we had to wait in agony until the following Monday to pick her up. That gave my four-year-old plenty of time to come up with her full name: Sunflower Dandelion Sugar Foote.

In the end, I walked out of the Humane Society with a dog and a heavy heart -- for the many dogs I had met who would wait for a home for weeks, and for the ones who would not make it out of the shelter at all. The Humane Society has limited space and resources. The dogs were doubled up in the kennels, and still every kennel was full. This makes for a loud, stinky place to call home. In some cities, Humane Societies have enough resources to be "no-kill" institutions. That is, they don't put animals down just because they can't find a home for them. But such is not the case here in Columbia.

Columbia has another shelter worth noting -- Columbia Second Chance. This one is a no-kill institution, and it relies entirely on volunteer foster families. You can check out the pets online or visit them at one of their regular stops at local pet supply stores. Second Chance has a day-long animal-centered event called "Paws in the Park" coming up on Sept. 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Stephen's Lake Park.

The shelters in Columbia also make getting a pet a great deal. For about $100, you get your pet, spaying or neutering, first vet visit and a round of shots. That ends up costing a lot less than a "free" pet would cost you. (The Humane Society also offers discount spaying or neutering for non-shelter animals.)

And if you're not in the market for a pet, both shelters are always looking for foster families -- often for puppies who are too young to be adopted. And there are other rescue organizations in Missouri, some who use volunteers to transport a needy orphan to a distant home where it can live out its days in peace.

So, I'll sign out like Bob Barker used to do: Remember to spay and neuter your pets!

Public Transportation in Columbia, Mo.

As a recently car-less citizen of Columbia, Mo., I have been thoroughly testing the public transportation in our fair city during the past few weeks. If you live near a City of Columbia bus route (or can easily bike to one — all the buses have bike racks), I would definitely recommend looking into using Columbia Public Transportation for your commute to and from campus.

Price

Especially now that gasoline prices are climbing, taking the big blue bus to campus is an economically sound choice. Students with a student I.D. card ride for half-price. Here’s the current breakdown of options for students who can show I.D. (Prices are current at the time of publishing; check the City of Columbia site for up-to-date prices.):

• One-way trip: $0.25
• 7-day student pass: $2.50
• 25-ride pass: $5.00
• 30-day unlimited ride pass: $10.00

Purchases for one-way trips can be made with correct change on any City bus, and all passes can be bought at Wabash Station during business hours.

Routes Near Campus

All routes but two in the Columbia system stop at Wabash Station, Tenth and Ash Street (the main location for transfers), which is a 15-minute (or so) walk from Jesse Hall. In addition, the red, gold, brown and orange lines all have stops somewhere on campus. All route information can be found online, and physical maps can be picked up at Wabash.

Myth Busting

Several thoughts were keeping me from taking the bus before, and now that I’ve done it, I realize that they were unfounded. Reliability was one issue, but in my two weeks taking public transportation to and from campus for work, the buses have never run more than five minutes late. They are clean, and I feel safe during the ride. In addition, the drivers are generally nice and helpful.

A Few Downsides

Perhaps because so many college students take their cars to school and never take the bus, the City Transportation system does not generate enough cash to keep most routes running after 6:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, or at all on Sunday. This can pose a problem for those who work late in the labs or need to meet on campus in the evenings for group projects. For this reason, many who live car-less in Columbia require a bicycle (don’t forget to register it) or a scooter.

For those (like me) who are new to public transportation, planning the routes to take and accepting the extra time involved, as opposed to taking a personal car, takes some getting used to. But with my mp3 player in hand, I’ve managed to acclimate myself to the slightly slower pace of the bus system.

More Information

• City of Columbia Public Transportation (including ParaTransit)
• MU Parking and Transportation
• PedNet: Columbia Pedestrian and Pedaling Network

Free 411

Many of you may be familiar with 411, a nationwide directory assistance number. If you’re familiar with 411, though, chances are you’re also familiar with the fees associated with dialing the digits—over a dollar per call, which can add up pretty quickly if you’re too lazy to reach for a telephone book, like myself.

Luckily, there's now a free 411 number you can dial from your home or cell phone: 1-800-FREE411 (1-800-373-3411). Unluckily, what makes it free is the fact that you have to listen to an ad before you’ll be given your query results. True, the ad is only about 15 seconds long, but you’ll have to decide whether the annoyance is worth the savings. Free 411 also claims to never share your information with telemarketers. You can learn more about the service at Free411.com.

Google also recently launched a free directory assistance service called Goog-411, which can be accessed by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411. The service is completely automated and works with voice recognition software. This can lead to some misunderstandings, but with a little persistence (saying “back” a few times and retrying your query), you should be successful. It should also be noted that this service is still in the experimental stage and may not be available everywhere.

True, it might seem silly to compare 411 numbers when the phone book is free and doesn’t require any ad-listening, but it is quite a useful service when you’re on the run. There is word that AT&T is experimenting with free 411 calls, too.

See a Map of Local Craigslist Apartment Listings

Seeking new digs for next year? At MapsKrieg, you can enter one of Columbia’s area codes (I chose 65203) in the search box, and you will see a Google map of Columbia with all Craigslist rental postings marked. Click on one of the flags, and a nifty little box will pop up with all the Craigslist information, including pictures if the person posting included them.

Although the Columbia/Jeff City, Mo., section of Craigslist is still in its infancy, it’s definitely worth checking out before you commence your next quest for the best pad in town.

Via Lifehacker

Replacing Important Documents

Have any of you ever lost your passport? I have. Twice, actually: once, it was stolen in Mexico, and the other day I left it in a copy machine on campus (I did retrieve it from said copy machine three days later). Although most of you are probably more careful with your valuable documents than I seem to be, these things do still happen occasionally. Here is a useful list of procedures to follow when replacing important missing documents. It’s nice to have all of this information in one convenient location, because the actual replacement process is sometimes a significant hassle.

Not surprisingly, passports and birth certificates rank highest in the amount of time and trouble involved with replacement. Here’s hoping that you’ll never need this information, but hoping it’s useful if you do!

via the Consumerist

Budgeting for fuel on your summer adventure

Whether you’ll be hopping in the car to visit the family or to take the road trip you’ve been dreaming about since winter break, estimating your fuel costs with AAA’s Fuel Cost Calculator can help you figure out whether you’ll have money left over to splurge on something a little more fun.

Unfortunately, Columbia, Mo., is not on the drop-down list of starting cities, but St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield are, so you can still get a fairly good idea of your costs. For instance, a round trip from St. Louis to Chicago in my trusty Chevy Prizm would cost somewhere around $56.32.

via Lifehacker

This Summer, Why Don't You…

Because the semester is wrapping up and the last thing any grad student needs is study tips (they'd be too late at this point, anyway), here's a light-hearted list of things you should do regardless of your other plans.

…Take a Road Trip

Road trips are a great way to reward yourself after a strenuous week of finals, to get away for a weekend, or to celebrate an accomplishment. Plan a trip to visit one of the literally thousands of festivals around the country taking place this summer, and monitor the stops along the way with the cheapest gas using these five tips from LifeClever, a blog with tips for design and life.

…Organize your Workspace

Whether it is an office on campus, at home, or at another location, chances are it could use some organization. Use your workspace overhaul as an opportunity to make your working and studying hours more productive with these ten tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy from LifeClever. A good workspace could even have positive health benefits—see how to set up a healthy, usable workspace in this post from Lifehacker.

…Destress your Life

This one is particularly useful after a rigorous round of finals or comps. Although few of us are lucky enough to have time off from work and classes simultaneously, there are still things to do that can help you feel mentally refreshed and ready to take on another semester. Texas Women's University offers 52 Stress Reducers by way of this Lifehacker blog post. There is also a stress management clinic at Mizzou run by the Counseling Center and, of course, don't overlook the power of a little self-indulgence (spa treatment or massage, anyone?) here in town.

New season, new format

Welcome to Praxis: a blog for Mizzou grad students, published by the Graduate School. We’ve decided to try something new with Praxis — instead of creating a new issue of the online newsletter once a semester, as we’ve done in the past, we are switching to a blog format that will enable us to create quicker posts more frequently. We hope you enjoy the new format. We’re excited to keep giving you news and tips that will help you navigate the grad school experience at Mizzou.