Week 5: Famous Last Words

This week was pretty hectic. I had my first exam in Physiology of Microorganisms, which is one of the hardest classes of my last semester (woohoo senior year!) and I studied my butt off for it. One of my friends, who is extremely brilliant, helped me understand the pathways and mechanisms over the microorganisms we had learned about and nearly made my head explode from dropping so much knowledge on me. If it wasn’t for him, though, I probably wouldn’t have made the grade that I did (which was pretty great - no complaints)!

Unfortunately, at the same time this was happening, I was also starting on a paper for my capstone class about the characterization of a certain type of bacteria we had isolated, preparing for an exam in one of my hardest lab classes, AND battling a head cold that left me feeling like crap. Bright side to this is that I got a looot of sleep… but as a consequence, I neglected my reading and writing for this class. I was able to crank out a few stories, but I’ve been extremely underproductive in comparison to the last few weeks. Oh well.

Academically, this past week has been more productive in some areas than others. I did well on both of my exams and am feeling confident about my writing abilities for this paper (because it’s due tomorrow, hahaha). Outside of school, I caught up on a lot of sleep and missed working out because this week was so busy and I was sick.

But yesterday made up for all of that! I worked hard on Friday so that I could spend all of Saturday with my boyfriend. Cliche? Very much so. But worth it! We had originally planned on going ice-skating, but the rink was jam-packed with other couples and kids. Seeing as how we’re both not great skaters, we decided to go on a nature hike at the Sutton Wilderness Area. If you’ve never been and you live in Norman, go check it out! It’s a nice little secluded spot of woods for when you want to get away from the city vibe.




Lake in Sutton Wilderness Area
Image: Kb0kqa on Flickr

Then we came back to my place and I made roast beef. It was my first time making it, so I was really apprehensive, but it turned out delicious!

All in all, this week was ridiculously busy, but productive. Onwards with senior semester!

Here’s my recipe for the roast beef (super simple and delicious!)
You’ll need:

• One large baking pan (glass or disposable aluminum)
• One beef rump roast (1.5 - 2 lbs)
• 2 large baking potatoes
• 1 large yellow onions
• 3-4 celery stalks
• 3-4 large carrots
• Marjoram, Thyme, Parsley, Salt, Pepper, and minced garlic. 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Dice all the vegetables up after you’ve washed them and lay them in the baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt, pepper, marjoram, thyme, and parsley. Toss in the minced garlic. Salt and pepper the roast and then brown it in a skillet (with a blend of vegetable and olive oil - the smoke point is higher than if it was just olive oil).

Once the roast is browned, sprinkle all the green herbs and minced garlic on it and rub well. Lay it in the middle of the baking dish atop the vegetables and cover the pan with aluminum foil. Stick it in the oven for 45 minutes. Take it out and add 1.5 cups water to the pan, cover, and put it in for another 45 minutes - 1 hour. Take the pan out, uncover, crank the oven up to 400 degrees, and let cook for another 30 minutes (or until a meat thermometer registers the roast at 160 - 170 degrees.

This was super easy AND delicious! I love foods that you can toss in an oven and forget about. This is one of them!