Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Today was Aaron's 27th birthday. We celebrated all weekend long (in between paper writing sessions). The weather was FINALLY spring like. It even got up to 70 on Sunday and we went for our first bike ride around the lake. Aaron had a tough time with how fast I was going. Someone hasn't been working out enough over the winter.

The outdoor Farmer's Market has started up again and Saturday was a huge race in downtown Madison to benefit the UW athletic program (it is called crazy legs and 17,000 people participated!).

Happy birthday, Aaron! Hope 27 is a good year! With me graduating and plans to buy a puppy, I think it will be.

Diet Variety: Black Eyed Peas

I have been thinking about black eyed peas since January 1st, when everyone was posting recipes of black eyed peas and greens (for good luck in the new year). I remember the same thing happening last year: I contemplated black eyed peas for months, but I never made anything with. I have really been craving beans and lentils lately, so I decided it was time to actually buy some black eyed peas and fulfill my belated New Year's good luck.

I'm happy to say I have pretty much broken the habit of using canned beans. It is cheaper and less wasteful to buy dried beans, especially in bulk. When I want to make beans I buy a big bag of dried beans from the bulk containers and cook them over the weekend in my slow cooker (which is actually a pretty fast and hot cooker). Once they are cooked, I use the beans in multiple recipes during the week and usually freeze some, too.

The black eyed peas have been a nice change from the beans and lentils we typically eat. The recipe I originally planned for the black eyed peas was a soup with collard greens, but I decided to use them up in burritos as well. They are a lot like pinto beans and go great in Mexican themed dishes.

I have avoided almost all Mexican food since spending last summer in Mexico. I think we bought corn tortillas once and they were just sooo stale tasting I never used them up. I don't recommend (or normally consume) the super big, white flour, processed tortillas because they have weird ingredients and aren't half as good as fresh tortillas. BUT sometimes I make exceptions because big delicious burritos are lacking around Madison and you have to make them for yourself!

Now please enjoy this out of focus intragram of my black eyed pea/kale/sweet potato/mango salsa burrito (searing the outside of the burrito in a hot pan is the key to deliciousness).

Easter Hike at UW Arboretum

Happy Easter and happy spring! We are finally getting some nice-ish weather in Madison. It rained last night but the sun was out today. Our gym is closed on Easter, so it is a good day to do something outside to get some exercise. When we first moved to Madison we took a hike at picnic point on Easter. I can't remember what we did last year, but lets just say going on hikes is becoming an Easter tradition for us.

We decided to go to the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, which is free and has tons of trails to explore. With all the snow melting, I told Aaron he should probably wear some boots, but he didn't listen. When we came upon little rivers running over the trails he had to jump over.

It was a great day to be outside. We saw a rabbit, sandhill cranes, and some wild turkeys.

Didn't make it over this one. 

Diet Variety: Radicchio and Fennel Salad

Our time in D.C. was filled with a lot of eating out. It was fun and we had a lot of good food, but I missed my green smoothies and was definitely feeling weighed down by all of the oil and richness of the restaurant food.

Going into the trip I was expecting I wouldn't feel so great eating out for every meal, so I made sure the days before we left were filled with tons of raw veggies. This radicchio and fennel salad was perfect because the two main ingredients are foods that we rarely eat (well radicchio is often included in our salad mixes, but we eat those less and less lately). I love mixed greens and spinach, but its nice to change things up once in a while.

I keep a draft email with our grocery list and weekly meals. At the bottom I have a list that says "Eat more of these" followed by a bunch of greens and salad things I obviously read in an article a long time ago. Radicchio is on that list, so it must be good for you. Its bright purple color gives a hint that it probably has lots of antioxidants. 

Fennel is a great source of fiber, folate, and vitamin C. We typically only eat it in its seed form, but the bulb is delicious, soft but crunchy, and a little sweet. It was a nice contrast to the bitter radicchio. 

Another great thing about this salad is the radicchio and fennel are hearty enough to stay crunchy and fresh days later, so you can enjoy the leftovers (the lemon in the dressing kept the apple from browning). 

Get the recipe: Radicchio and Fennel Salad with Toasted Pecans

**The recipe says to use a mandolin to slice the fennel "paper thin." We don't own one, so Aaron just sliced it thinly with a knife. 

Policy Solutions Nationals- Washington, D.C.

For the past few days Aaron and I have been in Washington D.C. with the rest of my team competing in the Policy Solutions Challenge Nationals. Aaron came along for the ride because he hadn't been to D.C. before and wanted to check it out.

After the months of preparation we put into our paper and policy recommendations, I'm happy to say that my team took first place. I was confident in our ability to win and am happy the judges noticed our hard work and quantitative analysis!

Trophy in a bag.

We really enjoyed getting to compete and meeting students from other policy schools. The judges at the competition were important actors in obesity policy and asked great questions.

Although we spent a lot of our trip at the competition and working on our presentation, we were also able to see some of D.C. and of course, celebrate our win!

Aaron and I stayed at the W Hotel. The lobby is pretty sweet!

We were right across from the Treasury Department...

...and the White House.

Doesn't Aaron look like he loves D.C.?

Practicing!

American University Campus (they hosted the competition)

Cherry Blossoms

Air and Space Museum

No big deal, just some drones.

Mr. Lincoln

                                   

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam Memorial 

We ate a lot.

Motorcade leaving the White House.

Celebrating with La Follette alums who came to watch our presentation.

For more information about the competition and our policy suggestions, check out the La Follette School article.

Top of the Capitol Tour

Visiting the Wisconsin capitol building is always a must-do when we have visitors. It is a beautiful building and its best when you can go outside around the base of the dome and get a great view of Madison.

Last Friday my program hosted a social event at the capitol where we got to go on a special tour to the very top of the capitol dome. This tour is only available via senator request and luckily we have a student who works for a senator.

Mural at the top of the first dome.

                           

Our group stopped at the top of the first dome to look at the painting. There was fishing wire strung across the opening to protect the painting. It was put up during the protests two years ago when people were releasing balloons.

We headed up to the top of the second dome in groups of six, because the area at the top is pretty small. There were a lot of stairs and it was a gross day, so I was wearing my heavy rain boots. Not ideal for climbing a winding staircase when you are afraid of heights! I made it to the top though with only a little bit of a stomach ache.

Even though we couldn't see much because of the rain, it was so cool to be way up on top of Madison and look out over both lakes. If you can get the hookup, this tour is way better than the average capitol tour.

Read more about the capitol tour here.

One Barrel Brewing Company

So there is a lot of talk happening in Wisconsin right now about alcohol consumption because the UW Population Health Institute came out with a study saying that binge drinking costs the state of Wisconsin $6.8 billion per year. Apparently Wisconsin consumes the most alcohol in the U.S. Not really something to be proud of being number one for, huh?

The study was interesting to me because they estimated the cost using things like lost productivity and absenteeism from work. It is really similar to what we do for cost-benefit analysis (I wonder if they included any benefits).

The reasons people in WI drink so much are both cultural and legal (in my understanding). Cities control liquor licenses and they sell a lot of them. This means there are a lot of places to get a drink, so people drink more (hmm sounds like soda consumption...).

Anyway, I'm not complaining. There is always a new place to try and there is especially a plethora of microbreweries. This little one (a nano-brewery), One Barrel Brewing Company, opened this year in the Atwood neighborhood, which is right next to our neighborhood.

Things I like about One Barrel:
1) They sell other beer besides their own.
2) The stools are pretty and they have a bike on the wall.
3) They make frozen pizzas.
4) Aaron let me get one of their t-shirts.
5) They raffled off a wheel of gouda cheese during Packer games.
6) Their mascot is a little penguin.
7) If you bike there on a Thursday night you get a beer for $1 (just show your helmet).

So we can't really partake in number 7 because it is about a 15 minute walk away, although we have joked about bringing our helmets with us on our walk (but we won't cuz we are too honest). We've only been twice but its really cute.

Also, the beer is good and the staff are nice! That is all it takes for me to keep going back.