Finals and a new obsession

   Winter quarter's finals felt chaotic but, looking back, they weren't all that bad. To tell the truth, during winter quarter I really only focused on my Primate Behavior class and that continued into finals week. I know that I'm paying a ridiculous amount of money for my education and I should absorb every ounce of information thrown at me, however, last quarter Archaeology did not catch my interest and Transformative Action came too easy to me. But Primate Behavior, I will cherish that class forever.
     For my final paper in that thought provoking class, I decided to research and write on a topic only briefly mentioned in class: what is the function and trigger of bimaturism in adult male orangutans? Before I explain this topic know that it fascinates me so much that I plan to do more independent research and continue to develop the paper. Adult male orangutans come in two different phenotypes, one appears juvenile while the other develops secondary sexual characteristics such as fatty cheek flanges, a throat sac, long hair, and extra weight. Although the these two types appear completely different, they can be the same age. It seems that there can only be a few "mature" males in a given area so there must be a reason for this. Many anthropologists and primatologists speculate that too many males in a given area leads to too much aggression and risk amongst them so other males remain juvenile-looking in order to avoid aggression and survive longer. Eventually every male will "mature" and develop the extra traits and this fact made me wonder what determines which individual will develop over others. So I did the research and it appears that  no one really knows what or why. Well, I'm determined to find out and I would like to do field and lab research on the topic in the future. It would be incredible to work with orangutans and learn about them and their bimaturism. Maybe if the reason and trigger is discovered it would shed some light on human maturity, diversity, and evolution. I can only hope!

Here are some pictures of orangutans for your enjoyment :)

Snow in Santa Cruz?

On the morning of February 26th, 2011, it snowed in Santa Cruz, California. 

Now I know the photo above looks like a piece of hail but, it was the only "snow" I could find that didn't melt right away. It was silly to see everyone come out of their California apartments barefoot and in their pajamas while it was "snowing". I'm 20 years old and  it was the first time I had ever seen snow fall out of the sky. Events like this make me want to go to the east coast all bundled up in coats and gloves. I want to take a trip to New York, Boston, or D.C.!

Garden Food: Part 3

I'm still catching up on all these Garden posts! Three weeks ago we made a giant pot of minestrone soup, pesto pasta, and salad. This week we made lentil chili tacos with avocado, and salad with three types of edible flowers!

Another meal from the Garden: Part 2

Fridays are the highlight of my week. Not because it signifies the beginning of the weekend, but because I get to eat the best meal of my week! I've decided that, this summer, I will plant leafy greens and some root vegetables. In addition, I will try to convince my parents that some egg-laying hens make a good investment. Mom, if you're reading this, can we get some chickens and make a little coop in the backyard? Pleeeaaasee?

Garden Food: Part 1

I did not realize how difficult it would be to keep up with a blog.

I have an accumulation of photos to post on here but not enough time to do it! I don't even have enough time to get all my reading assignments finished! Lately, migraines have taken up a lot of time that could otherwise have been productive. Migraines hurt and I want them to go away!

On a lighter note, I was able to enroll in the Human Functional Anatomy class today. Ten units for a single class, this is going to be quite a bit of work, but I'm excited. We get to dissect real human cadavers which is not really an experience you come across everyday. I would really like to enroll in Culture through Food but I need to take a French class too so I might have to skip out on the Food class unfortunately. But I love food! At my gardening internship we make/get to eat some of the best food of my life. Its all straight from the garden and makes me feel so healthy and self-sufficient. The experience of growing your own food is a very empowering one.

A majority of the food we make at the Garden comes straight from the garden. I love harvesting salad each week for lunch then coming back the next week to see everything that I had picked grew back! All the food is vegetarian and mostly vegan and so delicious! 

The Weekend in Review

I've been out and about lately so I haven't been around the computer to update this blog thing I've got going here. Time to catch up:

Friday

My first day of my internship started this Friday. An internship is required for my Transformative Action class so I decided to find one that involved sustainable gardening since it has been something I have been interested in for a while. The internship is at a community demonstration garden called Terra Gnomea, three houses away from the beach. It is a hidden little gem in Santa Cruz that makes a great difference in the community.

A hen from the garden's chicken coup. They ate flowers from my hand!

"Terra Kitty", the garden's cute cat!

The garden has a green house, a chicken coop, a bee hive, a barn, and multiple garden beds! Everything is built from recycled materials and they compost everything! During my internship, we plan to build a "gray water" pond which is a way to filter and recycle water for use in the garden. We will be learning about seasonal plants and vegetables, how certain plants balance others' chemicals out, the importance of local plants and more! I am so excited to be learning about something new! The internship will be from 1-5 PM every Friday, but the first half hour will consist of a meal made with food from the garden!

We had rosemary potatoes; a salad with apples, blueberries, red bell pepper, and red onions; and a Moroccan chickpea dish with tomatoes, onions, and spices! It was all so delicious and vegan!

Saturday

My saturday consisted of running errands while Kevin tagged along. I bought a Groupon for American Apparel that would expire soon and I needed to redeem it, so I did. From the store, I purchased some amazing "winter leggings" that I highly recommend for the colder months. They are so thick and comfortable and would be perfect with boots and a dress or even as sweat pants! 

Kevin and I stopped for  lunch at my favorite Santa Cruz cafe, Café Delmarette. All of their ingredients are organic and locally grown so their business is great for the environment and the community. They make the absolute best scones in existence and I am in love with every sandwich they make. On Saturday I went there specifically for a certain grilled eggplant sandwich but it turns out that eggplant is out of season so I settled for a grilled chicken sandwich with sun-dried tomatoes, onions, mozzarella, and garlic aioli. Delicious!

Saturday Night

Kevin and I have felt like we have been spending too much money lately so we decided to find a cheap way to do dinner. So we decided to have a picnic! We made ourselves some sandwiches, packed some apples, apple sauce, and peanuts then walked a mile and a half to the beach to dine!

Sunday

Today I went to the Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival! I went with Laurel, Bryan, Marc, Ashley, and Sean! It was so crowded that it isn't surprising that we ran into all of our bosses and many friends at the event. What is surprising though is that 10 chocolate tastings was too many! I paid for the 10 ticket thinking I would still want more, but by 3 tastes I was on chocolate overload! I collected the rest of my "tastings" to take home for my housemates to devour. It was a little difficult to take pictures there since it was packed and my hands were full of chocolate.

Pizza and pasta night!

Tonight after our zip-lining adventure Kevin and I went to Kianti's pizza and pasta restaurant for dinner. We love Kianti's and highly recommend it any time you might be in Santa Cruz!

AMAZING cheesy garlic bread!

Kevin's grilled chicken and bacon pizza.

Kianti's Gormet Pasta: Sun-dried tomatos, bacon, artichoke hearts, and creamy pesto!

Ice Cream Date!

Saturday night became an ice cream night at Mission Hill Creamery! All the ice cream is hand-made from local organic products which makes me feel less guilty about eating it. All the flavors I sampled were absolutely delicious!

After tasting 6 flavors I decided on salted caramel and Kevin chose peanut butter-chocolate. But next time I hope to get their grapefruit sorbet!

Photo Scavenger Hunt Date!

When Saturday's zip-lining plan fell through my boyfriend, Kevin, and I decided to go on a little adventure around our city, Santa Cruz!

We began our adventure at Taqueria Vallarta for some delicious tacos.

While we were there, we made a Scavenger Hunt list of things we wanted to take pictures with.

So our pictures with the items on the list didn't turn out well but we took plenty of other photos.

We saw many victorian style houses that were so cute!

This sculpture is a Vietnam memorial called "Collateral Damage".

Kevin did a research report on it last year and the story behind it is pretty intense!

We found these stairs and they were just asking to be climbed!

At the top we found the Santa Cruz Mission!

It was really interesting because I'm taking an archaeology class this quarter and the mission is an archaeological site. 

An avocado tree that is 98 years old! Mmm avo!

This day was so fantastic! It really was an adventure! I loved how much fun could be had by exploring the town on foot. You have one expectation then find so many other exciting things! I think more scavenger hunt dates are in our future but next time we'll take better pictures :)