Its Spring Break (but I don't get a Spring Break)

I'm writing this a bit late... again. However, its Spring Break! But I don't get a Spring Break, so I guess there isn't a reason to be too excited about that. Except the campus is really quiet right now without all the undergrads running around and that is quite nice. ...WOW I sound old haha!
To redeem myself of sounding old and crotchety- let me tell you about what I've been up to! This past weekend was FULL. Friday was my friend Aahoo's birthday, so we went out to celebrate her birthday. We went to Giggling Squid, which is an AMAZING Thai restaurant. I was happy to check it off of my bucket list and am happy to have a good Thai restaurant to suggest to friends or take visitors to! We also went to a club that I haven't been to yet, Madame Geisha, and one of the floors was playing music that was popular when I was in 6th grade. So of course, I had a great time! I have talked to a few friends and we are going to attempt hitting up every club in Brighton. Why clubs, when pubs are more my style? Simply because there are more pubs in Brighton then there are days in the year and the amount of clubs is significantly smaller! This will be great, especially during the summertime since there are clubs along the beachfront :). Saturday was St. Patrick's Day. Commonly incorrectly referred to as St. Patty's Day in the States. Its St. Paddy's. Who would've guessed??? ....I found out after being laughed at by Brits. The day started with watching the last 6 Nations rugby game- England v. Ireland. England ANNIHILATED. And then the day continued on with multiple pub crawls. Another fun fact about St. Patrick's Day in the UK- Its WAY bigger in the States than in the UK. Over here, its just like any other day (so of course there is a ton of drinking, but not more than the usual). Finally, Sunday wrapped up with a free tour around Kemptown which is just east of Brighton. I'll be doing another tour of Hove in a few weeks, which is just west of Brighton. Its really nice to get tours from a local and see areas that I otherwise wouldn't have seen!
I'm happy I made the most of this weekend. Next weekend I'll be working through it again. And then I'm going to the Alzheimer's Research UK conference for the first half of next week. Want to hear about what's going on with work? Well, nothing new. But also, I need to start being more careful about what I say about work from now on. Apparently, intellectual theft is an issue and I've been warned to keep things vague. So from now on, the lab updates will be a tiny blip of the blog post.
I've finally tried all of the classes at the gym that I've wanted to- Last week I tried spinning for the first time. It was great! But really intense. And the saddle was quite uncomfortable. But its something I'd like to keep up with!
One thing I've been really happy about this week is all the new, good recipes that I've tried. I want to share them with you! Shrimp Tacos, Ethiopian Lentil Stew, and Vegetarian Chili! All so delicious and so easy. I've been unintentionally eating really Vegan and Vegetarian lately. But with a pantry full of quinoa, lentils, beans, seeds, and nuts, it's actually quite easy to supplement meat. I would also like to share this recipe for Coffee Cake Mug Cake. Please let me explain- this is a recipe for making a cake, in a mug, in the microwave. This recipe was quite good. Especially for a microwaveable cake. So you see, I've turned this whole "no oven" thing into a situation that still allows baking. It has taken lots of searching, and lots of unworthy recipes, but I've of course found a way to make desserts for myself. A lack of oven won't keep me from enjoying cake!