Exciting News!

Can't believe I almost forgot to mention some super exciting news in my update posts today....
Drew's brother Alex and his fiancee, Jess, set a wedding date! They are getting married July 16th, 2010 in Madison, WI- we are soooo excited and happy for them.
And the REALLY exciting part is that Drew and I are both in the wedding!!! Drew will be his brother's best man and I will be a bridesmaid! Woo hoooooo!!!!! I'm sooo pumped, I've been dancing around the house and singing my made-up "I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a yellow dress" song every since I found out. = )
I really feel so honored and blessed to be asked to be in the wedding. Thanks for asking me Alex and Jess!

2 Desserts: Icebox cake and Mississippi Mud Cake

This past weekend we went to a cabin in Lake Arrowhead, CA with some friends to celebrate the 30th birthday of our friend Marianne. I got to bake the birthday cake! When her husband requested that I make something chocolate I decided on this Mississippi Mud Cake from "Hostess with the Mostess". Not sure if one cake would be enough for everyone, I decided to make a second and thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to bake the icebox cake that I had been eying on Smitten Kitchen for some time now.
Both cakes we delicious, easy to make and went over very well.

*Notes of the recipes:

Mississippi Mud: this "cake" is less of a cake and more of a fudge dessert bar. Didn't seem to bother anyone. :) FYI, be warned. If you want more of a true cake I would suggest substituting a basic chocolate cake or brownie recipe in for the cake layer. I also decided on putting the pecans on top the cake (and added mini chocolate chips as well) instead of in the cake.

Icebox Cake: Simple and easy to make. I decided to add mint extract in place of the vanilla extract for a chocolate mint icebox cake. Surprisingly easy to cut (after the first piece which was a little more difficult). Tasted like a cross between an oreo and a thin mint.

June and July 2009, part 2: pictures

Here's what we've been up to in June / July 2009 in pictures:

Drew Graduated with his Ph.D. in physics from Caltech!

We went to see a LA Galaxy game!

We cooked a delicious French / Indian fusion dinner with our friends Pinkesh and Zeesh. Photos: Zeesh cooking, spices.

Maxwell. :)

June and July 2009, part 1

Ok, we've got some catching up to do. = )
In a sentence, the last couple months have been life changing and bittersweet.
We've been dealing with with tragic loss of three separate students at Caltech who committed suicide over the last couple months, one of whom was a resident in the dorm for which we are the resident associates. It say it has been hard on us and for the campus in general would be an understatement. That said, there is a ton of support being offered for us and rest of the Caltech community right now and that has been very helpful- just this afternoon we were talking Maxwell for a walk on campus and we noticed that they were having drop in conseling at the campus coffee shop. I feel like, for the most part people are communicating particularily well right now, taking time to discuss these events / work through them, and that is great. For Drew and I personally these events have really pushed us to reexamine our priorities and remember whats really important in life. I'm not exactly sure what the end result of this will all be, but as we process are a realizing that the little things that used to matter so much to us, and stress us out, just don't seem as important anymore. Having a clean house, being a couple minutes late, being "right", and having the approval of others just doesn't matter. Simply put- People matter. More on that latter.