Si's Kitchen

Cheesy Potatoes made Easy

Today I decided to make a childhood favorite: cheesy scallop potatoes. I recently purchases some individual casserole dishes and I was itching to try them out. This dish is so simple.all you need is:
Potatoes
Cheddar cheese
Chicken broth
Salt, Pepper, chopped garlic

1. Wash and thinly slice your potatoes.
2. Slice your cheddar cheese or by already sliced cheese.
3. In [...]

Green Curry Red Snapper

I pan seared red snapper in 2 tablespoons coconut oil with chopped onions and ginger. Seasoned with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Added green curry sauce and served it with brown rice. This was my first time cooking fish in coconut oil. It turned out really good.

Sizzling Green Beans

Fresh cut green beans and red potatoes sizzling in olive oil and garlic with crushed red potatoes. Add vegetable broth, cover, and simmer to desired tenderness. This is a healthy dish I like to call delicious!

Hambone Soup

Today I made Ham Bone Soup

Step 1
Boil a small sized bone in ham for about 2-3 hours until meat falls off the bone. Remove meat from stock and put stock in fridge to congeal.
Step 2
I sautéd sliced small red potatoes, garlic, and finely diced onions and sweet peppers in garlic.
Step 3
I added my chopped ham, [...]

Cambodian Cooking Class

Today I went to a Cambodian cooking class in Siem Reap at the Tigre De Papier Restaurant. Here is Donna giving you a video recap:

Donna and I went to a Thai cooking class just a few days ago in Koh Chang so we were eager to compare the similarities and differences between the two.
We were [...]

Koh Chang Thai Cooking School

Today I took my very first cooking class and it was in Thailand. The Koh Chang Thai Cooking School is located on Koh Chang island and the head chef is Nam. She was very knowledgeable on traditional Thai spices and foods.
http://www.kohchangthaicooking.com/

Our class was 4 hours long (9-1) and between the two of us we cooked [...]

Spicy Salami Mushroom & Rice Soup

This recipe is part of my quick-n-easy cooking tips. All these recipe’s use easy, already prepared ingredients. All I do is teach you how to mashup, or blend them together, into something tasty in less than 15 minutes.
Ingredients
1 can/box of cream of mushroom soup
1 bag of Birds Eye multi-grain blend with spinach, tomato, & onion
Cubed [...]

Quick & Easy Greens

Here is an easy way to make Greens (Collard & Mustard). Most people either love them or hate them. I grew up on them so I am in the LOVE category.

Travel

Southern Az Wines

After living in Arizona for over a decade I decided to finally visit the historic town of Bisbee and do a wine tour of Southern Az. Me and some friends made the 3.5 hour drive south. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Glacier National Park

This blog is about Glacier NP but before we get there, it all begins in Idaho. My good friend Donna (see Cambodia/Thailand Trip) owns a cabin on Lake Pend Oreille and invited me up for her 5 for 5 swim to raise money for the Aogaah Foundation in Cambodia. Their goal (Donna and Kate) was [...]

NESA 2011

I just returned from the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) National Emergency Services Academy (NESA) at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. I attended the Mission Aircrew School (MAS) Intermediate Pilot & Observer track. My goal was to successfully complete observer training and to gain my wings. The week was extremely challenging but also very rewarding. On July 30, [...]

Angkor Wat Archeological Park

Angkor Wat Archeological Park is a region near Siem Reap, Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire. The Angkorian period was from ~800 to 1400 ad. While in Cambodia I visited 4 of the temples including Angkor Wat. The first temple I visited is called Banteay Srei. It is a 10th century [...]

Koh Chang Thai Cooking School

Today I took my very first cooking class and it was in Thailand. The Koh Chang Thai Cooking School is located on Koh Chang island and the head chef is Nam. She was very knowledgeable on traditional Thai spices and foods.
http://www.kohchangthaicooking.com/

Our class was 4 hours long (9-1) and between the two of us we cooked [...]

Thailand Excursion

Today Donna and I navigated our way by boat, car, multiple minivans, and a ferry to Koh Chang Island, Thailand.

Donna has done an amazing job finding cool places for us to stay. We are are at a guesthouse that is on an estuary sitting on stilts allowing the tide to flow in and out beneath [...]

Cambodia 2011

This is for my mom, aunt Dottie, and friends like Dee, so they can follow my adventures (Hi to you all!). I am having a great time in Cambodia. My phone doesn’t enable me to do a full blog on my trip but I will post more pictures and videos when I get home. Here’s [...]

Italy 2011

Here are a few pictures from Italy. I had a terrific time eating and drinking with my good friend Jen.

Photography

Photo of the Month: June

My day at Angkor Wat was enhanced when a group of monks showed up. I chased them around trying to get a great shot. This is one of my favorites from that day.

Favorite Bird Photo

My friend Randel, who I met through the astronaut selection process, loves photography and we started to share some of our favorite photos. I love pelicans and it just happens that his favorite bird photo is also a pelican. I have always loved the way they fly in formation and dive bomb for food. They [...]

Photo of the Month: May

This photo was taken on the San Antonio River Walk. I stopped in San Antonio on my cross-country drive. What a terrific city. Me and my friend Diana did a boat tour. The sun’s rays were coming through the trees perfectly as I snapped this photo.

Photo of the Month: April

Here is an MRI image of my brain. Medical test are just one of the many cool parts about interviewing for the astronaut program. It was great learning more about my body and my overall health. I learned that my brain is “Grossly Normal”…and I’m hoping that’s a good thing!

Photo of the Month: March

The photo above is my natural hair. For most of my life I got my hair chemically straightened and never knew my natural hair was actually kinda nice. Hard to believe…but true. Now that I have had curly hair for about 5 years I wanted to compare it to the straight hair I use to [...]

Photo of the Month: February

I needed to get orthotics and had x-rays taken of my feet. I thought this photo of my feet was unique and interesting. I wish I had video taped the doctors explanation of why orthotics would be useful with all my physical activities but so far my feet feel great.

Photo of the Month: January

Come on…you knew I was going to pick a NASA photo, Right??? It was one of the best professional experiences of my life and this photo sums up my childhood goal of wanting to be a Space Shuttle Commander. I had always seen the road to being an astronaut through a military lens and flying. [...]

Photo of the Month: December

Horseback riding in Ometepe, Nicaragua. Lucerious is my horse and we are riding along the beach of Lake Nicaragua.

Videos

Rome 2011

Golfing with the Geese

Golfing with the Geese from psyan on Vimeo.

Favorite Aviation Photos

Here is a video album of my favorite aviation photos. All the photos were taken by me. I really enjoy aviation photography and I hope you like the album. I’ve been trying out Animoto and so far I like it.

Peruvian Rain Forest and Grubs!

My best friend Diana will eat anything. That’s just one of many reasons why she is so great to travel with. During our South American jaunt we stopped in the Peruvian Rain Forest where Diana put her survival 101 skills to use. I entered this video in a contest and you can see what I [...]

Health & Fitness

Warrior Dash 2011

My good friend Lisa talked me into doing our first running event together. It is called the Warrior Dash. It is a 3.4 mile run with about 12 obstacles along the way. Our only goal for this event was to finish. Here is a recap of the event.

Superstition Hike 4/10/11

We decided to go on a longer, more challenging, superstitions hike. Over 1/3 of this hike involved climbing over and scrambling around river boulders. The total hike length was around 14 miles and it was a 9 hour hiking day.

Superstitions Hike 3/27/11

Went on a hike in the superstitions today with my friends Donna, Greg, and Steve. It was a lot of fun but also very challenging. We had to swim about 100 yards in the end to finish the hike. The swimming part was a surprise to all of us and I am definitely not a [...]

Picacho Peak Hike 2010

I have lived in Arizona since 1994 and I have never hiked Picacho Peak – that is until now. Picacho peak is just west of I-10 about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. The summit sits at 3374 feet above sea level. It appears to be partly a debris flow overlain by lava flows. Picacho means [...]

First Walk in Germany

This morning I went for an exploration walk around Stephan’s village. Just a few steps out the door and I am in the country. It’s hard to describe just how beautiful the landscape is here. The weather so far has been perfect! Stephan’s village is in the background. Checkout my runkeeper.com map below to see [...]

New Hiking Program: RunKeeper

Today I started using a new program to track my hiking. It’s called My Runkeeper. I hiked South Mountain Preserve and was really happy with the results. Below is the route map I hiked. You can also see statistical data on start and end time, how far we hiked, our pace, and how high we [...]

Hiking South Mountain Area

For the past couple of weeks I have been hiking South Mountain Preserve. The preserve consists of over 16,000 acres and is considered the largest municipal park in the country. There are over 51 miles of trails for horseback riding, hiking and mountain biking. For the past month I have been hiking the Mormon and [...]

Spirits

My friends have decided to utter their spirits (Wine, Beer, and any other alcohol). Since I am not a big drinker I probably won’t have a lot of utterz. However, I think you will enjoy my friends unique tastes!

The Colony

The Colony Revisited

Tonight I am watching The Colony with friends who missed the last two episodes. It is weird seeing it again. I had to buy the DVD because I didn’t have it. It’s funny to see yourself on the cover of a DVD people buy. The best part is that I was 40 when the cover [...]

Article in the Arizona Republic

I have an article in the AZ Republic today talking about me being on the colony. Totally cool!

The Colony

If you are interested in information about The Colony please see the Discovery Channel Colony website or my public facebook page Sian Proctor. If you click the like button on my facebook page you will automatically receive updates when I post new information about the show.
I created a Cartoon Guide to The Colony while on [...]

NASA Astronaut Selection 2009

NASA Quilt

My good friend Dee surprised me with an early B-day present. It all started in 2004 when I spent a summer at Kennedy Space Center. While at KSC I picked up mission patches starting with Mercury and ending with Challenger’s last mission. I knew I wanted to make a quilt but didn’t have the equipment [...]

Final Results from NASA Astronaut Candidate Application 2009

Dear family and friends,
As you know my journey to become a part of the 20th Astronaut class has come to an end. On June 22nd I received a call from Astronaut Sunita Williams. She was really nice as she informed me that I didn’t get selected and encouraged me to try again.

Me with Sunita [...]

Call From NASA

Dear Family and Friends,
At my age I don’t expect really cool birthday gifts but yesterday I got the best belated gift ever, a call from NASA. To recap the situation, NASA conducted 2nd interviews with 40 individuals from the original pool of ~120 candidates. I went on the first interview but didn’t make the second…at [...]

My NASA Astronaut Interview

These last few days have been some of the best of my life. I interviewed for my dream job and in the process I got to meet some amazing people. What more could you ask for? Interviewing for the Astronaut Program isn’t just about the interview. It begins with meeting your astronaut candidate group. These [...]

Day 1 at NASA

This morning I got on a plane and headed to my Interview at Johnson Space Center for the NASA Astronaut Program. I am really excited to be here and also in shock. I feel like harry potter when he finds out he’s a wizard and says, “I can’t be a wizard, I’m just harry!” [...]

NASA Interview!!!

Dear Friends,
I got my interview with NASA. It is January 14-16. (BTW – I jumped up and down and ran all over my campus hugging my colleagues!) There is no way I could have done this alone. I want you to know that each one of you has had an impact on me and my [...]

Astronaut Update!!

This week was like any other except that my boyfriend called from Prescott, Az to inform me of a letter from NASA. “What do you want me to do with it?” he asked. I was in North Carolina at a Sustainability conference and wasn’t due back into the valley for two more days. “Open it!” [...]