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Originally posted in UC Davis Student Affairs Blog | I Live UCD.
One of the coolest things about attending a research university is participating in studies yourself. I’ve done my fair share of psychology research both as a research assistant and participant but this time around I got to utilize my taste buds for the Food Science & Technology Department.
It was my first time at the new Robert Mondavi Institute. The study was in the sensory building over by the water tower.
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I was quite excited about this study because I loved the acai gelato I had at Icekrimsi next to Varsity Theater and the acai Jamba I had during their $1 promotion. Plus, instead of being compensated with experimetrix units I would receive a $10 gift card!
I sat at this cubicle along side others just in case they want to have multiple participants at once.
First I had to rate a variety of acai juice bottles with different labels. After I was done with each bottle I’d switch on the green light to let the experimenter know I was done and they would slide me a new bottle.
Second I just tasted a bunch of juices by themselves without the bottle. I was given a cup of water to cleanse the pallet in between.
Third part was tasting the samples accompanied with a bottle. & voila – got my $10 jamba juice gift card that I shall be using to buy more acai smoothies
My roomie received a Target gift card for the same study.
You can sign up for the study yourself here.
In the center of all the new buildings is the Good Life Garden. I follow them on Facebook and heard about their lavender harvesting event that conveniently started right after I was done with the study. I absolutely love lavender – our apartment bathroom is lavender themed, I use a lavender pillow mist sometimes. Mmmm!
They have a ton of veggies growing here, alot of which I’ve never seen outside of a supermarket so it’s really neat to see how things in their natural state.
Some of the herbs were also available for harvesting. This basil is perfect for homemade margarita pizza!
Gardener Arlene gave us a tour of everything that was up for picking.
I lovvve bay leaves in my spaghetti!
This thyme smelled super refreshing.
My favorite type of lavender is the Spanish one but they all smell so good.
Rachel! Thank you so much for this wonderful post. Your photos are beautiful and your commentary is so fun. I saw you out at the garden and knew you were up to something cool, but missed a chance to speak with you. I look forward to reading your future entries. You do great work…Student Affairs is lucky to have you!
Aww thank you so much Katie! Comments like yours really are encouraging
I look forward to more events at the Good Life Garden keep up the wonderful work 
I loooooved reading this post Rachel!! Great job on posting the vibrant photos as usual. Let’s put our gift cards to use when you come back to Davis. Roomie love <3