Forks and Needles

I'M MOVING!

2010-06-08T13:28:00.002-05:00

Hi all!

I'm bored with Blogger, so I'm packing up my posts, photos, and comments, and moving to http://www.forksandneedles.wordpress.com.

The Wordpress premade themes are prettier, and it seems like you can do a lot more stuff. Goodbye to Blogger!

I've imported my old posts to Wordpress, and I think it went well. There is some odd formatting in some of the old posts, but I don't know if I'll go back to fix them. What's past is past.

Forward!

No Thinking or Resting, only Doing

2010-06-07T15:10:00.004-05:00

When I'm by myself, I like to stay busy. Well, I like to keep busy when other people are around, but they usually want to talk or some other silly stuff, so it slows down my need for busy-ness.

This past weekend, Porkchop was gone, and is still gone doing nonsense like this:

Yeah, she's at Disney World. She drove down with her older brother and his family. I declined the invitation because I really do dislike Disney World. Also it's June. In Florida.

So, I've been keeping busy.

On Saturday, I biked to the Tower Grove Farmers' market and hit up the free yoga class. I also picked up some strawberries for jam-making and green onions. After lunch and a supply run for canning lids and sugar, I made four jars of jam (sorry for the poor photo quality; all pictures were taken with my phone camera):

After making the jam, I had to do clean-up, which I do not enjoy. And then it was out to the garden for pruning and tying tomatoes, and then to the community garden for weeding and scoping out work for Sunday.

This is the star tomato plant in our backyard garden:

I have high hopes for this quick-growing plant!

Sunday, I awoke bright and early and started the day with making tea...compost tea. Our tumbler has holes that allow compost juice to collect in the base. You just unscrew the cap, dump it out, and mix it with water (1 part compost juice to 10 parts water). It is highly nutritious for plants, and can be one of the most foul things ever.

Our compost is kind of ripe at the moment, and the compost juice stunk to high heaven. I'm not a delicate person, but I thought I was going to lose my breakfast. The slugs didn't help, especially the dead slug floating in the juice. While I was mixing up the tea, I thought it was the most disgusting thing I had ever smelled. (Note foreshadowing.)

So, my work in the community garden started with weeding the tomato bed and hauling in compost tea for it (two trips down the alley carrying one of those pails that holds 40 pounds of cat litter). The day progressed to working on the potato bed. I added the second tier and filled it with as much dirt as I could before my back started protesting:

I then staked and tied as many tomato plants as I could using my stakes from last year, as well as some that I found lying around the community garden. After that, I planted green and black beans. Finally, I ended my day with installing a fence in the cucumber bed. The little sour gherkins are desperate for something to climb! And, who knows, maybe the big cucumber plants will use it too. Nothing fancy, just fencing left from last year:

In between all of this work, I did a lot of weeding. In total, I spent about four hours in the community garden.

I'm still impressed by the squash plants. HUGE!

And the cantaloupe vine already has flowers!

After garden work, I did some clean up around the house. This included dumping a bin that Porkchop had filled with leaves and left in the basement doorway (yeah, I'm looking at YOU, Porkchop!). The bin had filled with water and was even sprouting some sunflowers from the bird feeder seed. So, this bin had been sitting around for at least a month, growing fouler with each passing day. When I picked it up, dozens of mosquitoes flew out of it. Great - not only was it sprouting sunflowers, it was breeding mosquitoes. I drug the bin to the back corner of our yard and dumped it. And the stench that arose was THE most horrible smell EVER. EVER!!!

When I went out in the yard to do other stuff, I would get a whiff of the smell and hope that no one else could smell it. Our neighbors already think we're strange, and I don't need another mark against me. But, honestly, who could NOT smell that smell? Even with a nose swollen on the inside from allergies, I could smell it with no problem. Ugh... On the bright side, the leaves should be a wonderful addition to the compost bin (after they've dried out some and are less stinky).

Once the outside work was taken care of, I settled inside and poached a chicken. Using the stock and the dark meat, I made chao xa ga (Vietnamese version of chicken congee). For the past month or so, I've been craving a simple chicken and rice dish that my mom used to make, but I wanted it to be a little different. When I saw this recipe, I knew it was what I had been tasting in my head. The whole process took quite some time, but it was well worth the effort.

With the rest of the chicken, I made a pesto-ish chicken salad that I had for lunch today. I also froze two cups of shredded chicken and 8 cups of chicken broth (and that was after using 9 cups for the recipe!). If you're looking for good poaching directions, I suggest this post. Seriously, use a whole chicken that was raised locally...don't buy cut up parts at the big grocery store. After driving through Tyson country in Arkansas, there is no way I can buy that crap ever again. Ever smell a commercial chicken house? It's filth. Pure, unadulterated filth. Chickens are not meant to be raised in that manner. Now that I think about it, commercial chicken houses smell even worse than the gross leaf bin did.

Anyway....I also had a special treat yesterday from the Mud House: an iced caramel latte (decaf) and a piece of gooey butter cake. The cake had cherries in it from trees in our neighborhood. Nice! Now I want to plant a cherry tree for sure!

That's it! Have a great week!

If It's Summertime, It's Allergytime

2010-06-02T19:06:00.007-05:00

Every summer I try to deny that I have allergies, and every summer I feel like itchy, congested crap. Alas, I broke out the Allegra too late, so I stayed home today and did nothing but read and accidentally leave on stove burners (sounds like fun, but it wasn't).

Summer brings the allergies, but it also brings the good things. Like lots of strawberries:

For a Memorial Day gathering, Porkchop and I made ice cream using our backyard strawberries. Porkchop pureed the berries, and I cooked up the custard base. When it was combined and churned into creamy goodness, it was the best ice cream ever. Seriously.

This year I tripled the number of sugar snap pea vines, so I've had quite a few to gather. I never get sick of these treats:

Last Friday, I took this photo of one of our backyard garden beds:

After the sun and rain of the weekend, these plants have doubled in height. Yesterday I had to remove the plastic top because the center tomato plant was pushing against it. I'll have to post more recent photos soon.

Porkchop's potatoes are doing fantastically well, too, with lots more growth since this photo:

At the community garden, the squash have really taken off. I planted butternut, delicata, and kabocha squash. This is the kabocha, which already has flower buds on it!

Unfortunately, many of the tomato plants are struggling at the garden. I hope to dump some compost on them this weekend in an attempt to jumpstart their growth. The community garden tomato plants are so far behind mine, and they were all planted at the same time.

Speaking of the community garden, it's a monster to manage. I spend 2-3 hours a week weeding it, and by the time I'm done I don't have the patience to do more important things like staking the tomatoes or building a cucumber trellis. So, I will prioritize this weekend and put weeding at the bottom of the list.

While walking home from the community garden on Sunday, I spied this tomato plant growing by my neighbor's steps in the alley:

It is growing in a 1" strip of dirt, and I don't know how it's surviving. It's even producing flowers! I hope no one pulls it up because I want to see how it fares.

Other Fun Things
Sunday afternoon, Porkchop and I went on a little fishing trip with Suzi and Dale to a pond outside of Nashville, Illinois (Dale's hometown). It was quiet, cool, and green, and the perfect antidote to the muggy St. Louis weather.

Here is Porkchop posing with one of her catches:

And here I am with my first and only catch:

I hadn't fished in more than 20 years, and Suzi and Dale's dad gave me excellent instructions. Even though I only caught one little guy (note that all caught fish were released), it was a fun time.

Some Old News
The bar on the corner that was becoming the bane of our existence shuttered last month! However, it was not a result of our protest petition. Instead, it seems the bar operator wasn't paying rent and was perhaps intimidating the building owner (the woman in her 70s who used to run the place). The granddaughter of the building owner surrendered the liquor license just to get the tenants out. While it's sad to hear of these circumstances, I am quite happy that the bar is closed. Our corner is quiet again, and I don't worry so much about the people walking outside our house.

In late April, we took Keetah to the vet because of some "inappropriate urination" and her recent weight loss. It turns out she is now a hyperthyroid, kidney insufficient cat. The good news is that the thyroid medication is working great, and Keetah has put nearly a pound back on (she had lost about 4 pounds!). Her kidney levels are holding steady, too. So, as the vet told me, Keetah isn't going to drop dead any time soon. Whew!

On that note, have a good night and a great week!

Weekend Night Sounds

2010-04-16T22:18:00.003-05:00

It's Friday night, which means in a couple of hours, our block will look and sound like this:

This place is essentially two doors down from us. It's annoying, and the atmosphere outside the bar often feels unsafe. The bar used to be a sedate place where neighborhood drunks went, but due to a change in ownership, it is now hopping.

It's a complicated situation with the liquor license, and I don't want to give full details here because it's boring. A few folks in the area are working on a protest petition, and I sincerely hope we're able to get the liquor license revoked.

But on to more fun things...

We've been doing a lot of neighborhood cleaning/gardening activities recently. Last Saturday was the cleanup blitz, and we worked on our alley with six other people. We picked up a lot of trash, raked up a ton of leaves, and generally made things look neater. On Sunday, we attended our community garden organizational meeting, and are gearing up to plant things tomorrow.

Yes, planting day finally! We will be planting in the community garden and in our own backyard.

Actually, we've already planted some things at our place. Here are radishes, spinach, and sugar snap peas:

This photo was taken last week, and things are much bigger already. We also have onions and beets coming up in this bed.

In the other beds, we have a ton of volunteer plants: self-seeded tomatoes, squash, peppers, and other unknown things. I've been pulling up these volunteers because I already have seedlings that I want to plant, and it is really quite sad. I decided to leave a couple of tomato plants, and today I found them chopped off!! Damned cut worms at it already!! Or maybe squirrels...grrrr.

We have so many unknown squash plants coming up, this year I will remember to not put squash seeds into the compost bin!

Our most interesting volunteer is this guy:

At first I thought it was cabbage, and then cauliflower, but it is now much taller and has broccoli-looking things forming. This plant, and two others that I pulled out, are growing from leaves that I had composted (in situ, maybe). It is really quite strange. I remember getting broccoli in the fall through Fair Shares, and I remember it having leaves and some stalk associated with it. I'm letting this one grow just for fun. If I get some broccoli out of it, even sweeter.

Speaking of sweet, we have a million strawberry flowers!

Okay, not a million, but very close. We let these plant run loose and haven't been cutting the runners off. I'm surprised we have so many flowers.

And check out these flowers:

Blueberries! Very exciting.

Other food stuff...

Last week I mixed up some olive oil dough from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and Porkchop made us mini pizzas using the dough:

This is mine and is pesto and sundried tomato (actually ovendried because these are tomatoes we grew last summer, dried, and froze). We enjoyed these pizzas so much, we had them two nights in a row.

This week has been all about beef brisket. We had Suzi and Dale over for dinner on Sunday, and I cooked an 8 pound brisket using this Smitten Kitchen recipe (we also had mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, fresh baked bread, and pound cake with strawberries picked last summer and whipped cream). The brisket was delicious, but there was SO much of it. If you combined all the previous times in my life that I've eaten brisket, it would be less than how much I've consumed this week. We have 1 and half pieces left, and I do hope Porkchop takes care of those.

I've also been baking a lot of my favorite whole wheat banana bread. This is the second Friday night in a row I've made it. But, this loaf is for tomorrow's community garden planting.

I can't wait to start having fresh vegetables again!

Randomness...

Porkchop found a perfect switch in the yard:

She and her switch are not to be messed with.

Keetah is the most photogenic of all of us:

It's too bad my head is in the corner of this picture. Otherwise, it would be perfect.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Things from the Past Month

2010-03-28T20:37:00.003-05:00

We've had some good times since I last posted. I'm saving the best for last, but from earliest to latest is:

Watching Antiques Roadshow with Keetah and Porkchop. I don't know why I look so joyful, so excited in this photo...maybe because I had a Monday night free to sit on the couch and watch people's junk turn into treasures. (Antiques Roadshow = my all-time favorite show.)

Getting donuts from the Donut Drive-In. Sometimes, you need a good donut and some chocolate milk.

Going to the zoo after eating donuts!

Playing scrabble with Keetah. She's a tough competitor.

Getting a new bathroom (sort of). A before picture, minus the sink and medicine cabinet:

The bathroom after all of Porkchop's hard work:

A million times better! I actually enjoy being in the bathroom now (you'll note the bathroom is tiny; the new sink and cabinet make it seem much more spacious).

Knitting Little Sister's Dress for my college roommate's baby.

My college roommate gave me the mug below when she went to Wyoming. It's weird to think I've had this mug for over ten years, and that my roommate now has two kids. Whenever I use the mug, I think of my old roommate. Today, I used it for tea while enjoying a piece of whole wheat banana bread (my favorite banana bread recipe - the whole wheat adds a perfect nuttiness).

Best News of All

My eye stopped twitching!

It happened nearly a month ago, a little after my last post. Early on, I was worried about telling people, thinking I'd jinx it and then be stuck twitching again.

Maybe it was coincident, maybe not....But the night it stopped twitching, I was popping popcorn on the stove. When the test kernels popped, hot oil spattered up on my face, even though I was shielding the pot with a lid. The oil hit my face, including a spot near my eye. I yelled from the pain (but then went back to popping).

Later that night, my eye twitch started sputtering out. When I was getting ready for bed, I thought perhaps it had stopped. So I checked the mirror and was elated to find it was true!! But sure enough, it started again. And then stopped again.

While the constant twitch has stopped, my eye and surrounding muscles seem to be healing still. There are still bad twitch days, like last week when my mouth twitched for two days. And there are times when my face has the pins-and-needles sensation you get when blood rushes back to a foot that has fallen asleep. Yesterday, the entire area around my right eye, including my forehead, twitched a few times, which was quite disconcerting.

I am so thankful the constant twitching stopped, and continues to remain stopped. I'm especially glad that it stopped before my Botox appointment! Since I had my twitch for more than a month, I expect it will take at least 3 months for my face to feel normal again.

Thanks for all of your thoughts while I was a twitchy mess!

Pervis Kicked our Butts

2010-02-24T21:40:00.003-06:00

This week marks a new 6-week period of classes at the Y. Last time we took a step class, and this time we decided upon step & sculpt.

And, it's just what I needed.

Not for the exercise value so much, but the entertainment value. However, we definitely got a bigger workout than we bargained for!

Our instructor, Pervis, is a total hard ass.

She's very particular about how you do things, and she'll work with you until you get it right (which is great). And she expects people to count, but you have to do it the right way. Our last instructor was totally laid back and didn't care what the heck we did.

And, dang, Pervis has muscles. We were doing bicep curls with a resistance band, and I could barely stretch it up past my elbows. Pervis could pull it up to her shoulders! She totally showed us up. My arms already feel like concrete, but I bet Pervis doesn't feel a thing.

At the end of class, she asked our names and shook our hands.

So now there's no turning back. We can't not go! We shook hands! She knows our names!

Falling like a Brick

2010-02-23T21:08:00.005-06:00

Our neighborhood is never boring. Whether it's collisions at the intersection by our house (at least two every month), people crashing stolen cars and then helicopters looking for the fleeing driver (last week), or someone being arrested for pooping in front of Save-a-Lot (a couple months ago), there is always something happening to keep things interesting.

This evening as we drove home, we saw this scene on our block:

A crap ton of bricks fell off the top of this building! When we drove by, the police tape wasn't up, so we think it had just happened. I hope no one was hurt! There are always at least a dozen people hanging out in front of the Family Dollar/Nails 2000/Rent-A-Center strip.

Also, what you don't see is the vehicle that was damaged from a fender bender in front of Save-a-Lot. Oh my gosh! Two accidents at once!

Two Thumbs Down on Three Monkeys
I've always been interested in trying Three Monkeys on Morganford, and I had my chance on Saturday. Porkchop didn't want to go to Local Harvest, and I didn't want to go to St. Louis Bread, so we compromised on Three Monkeys.

But we wish we hadn't. While it's true that we ordered items that the restaurant isn't exactly known for, we still shouldn't have felt sick afterwards. Three Monkeys is supposed to have good pizza, but we went for wraps. Porkchop had a Turkey Club, and I had a Crab Cake. We both had french fries.

Despite the "light" description, the wraps were heavy. And the french fries tasted like they had been marinated in grease and then fried in grease and then drizzled in grease. French fries don't have to taste like that!

Ugh! We both felt siiiiiiiick right after eating (and we only ate half of our wraps).

Eye Update
Thanks to everyone for your concern and kind thoughts! It is still twitching....boo!

So, I don't know if I've written this before, but my lower eyelid spasms every second, sometimes more. It never stops. It's there right when I wake up, and it goes until I go to sleep (I think it probably happens during my sleep too). Also, something I haven't mentioned before...sometimes my mouth twitches as well.

Based on this information, the eye specialist I saw this morning said I probably have right hemifacial spasm. If you looked at the link, you'll see that I might (or probably: most likely) be looking at a lifetime of this spasm.

This afternoon I had an MRI to see if there is something pressing on my facial nerve. Most often, it's a blood vessel. Unfortunately, the vessel is often so small, you can't even see it on imaging.

This is all very hard to take. I really don't want to have this forever, nor do I want it to get worse. I have Botox scheduled for March 18, and I hope it works. However, I don't want to have Botox forever! I just want my non-twitching face back.

There is a support group for people with hemifacial spasms. Reading the welcome message was comforting, but also disturbing. It has played havoc with my emotional well being. It has started to control my life, my emotions, and my thoughts. My vibrant smile has turned to a frown.

Murrr....

Self Study

2010-02-15T19:50:00.005-06:00

Besides knitting on a secret project, watching the Olympics, and working on school work, Porkchop and I fit some fun things into the past weekend.

We kicked it off with dinner Friday at Thai Basil Spice, followed by enjoying some wine and the Olympics opening ceremony. The ceremony pretty much sealed our desire to move to Canada. Plaid-clad punk fiddlers? kd lang performing the closing song? Slam poetry celebrating diversity? I want to move there!

Saturday was full of grocery shopping and watching Porkchop's hockey game. Oh, and people watching from our house! The Mardi Gras parade was Saturday, and people in our neighborhood (about a mile from the parade) really got into it. It was great to see people walking around decked out in beads and fun hats. Quite a few floats went down our street on the way to the parade, so we got to enjoy some of the parade without being crushed by drunken revelers.

While I normally stay home for Porkchop's Sunday morning hockey game, I went this time. I'm glad I did because Porkchop had the most awesome goal! She was on the goal line - so parallel to the net - and was able to launch it in the top corner as she spun around! Everyone was super impressed.

After the game we lunched at La Dolce Via. Even though they were out of the tortas and I had to settle for an egg scramble, it was super delicious. Here I am living it up with a cup of decaf coffee and a slice of their zabione. Yum!

Sunday evening, we made jumbalaya using Emeril's recipe. We increased the amount of vegetables (1 onion, 1 green pepper, 1 celery stalk, and a can of diced tomatoes) and give it two thumbs way up. It tasted much better than it looks here:

So...my eye is still twitching. I'm trying to accept it without letting it control me. It's very svadhyaya (self study). The twitch has made me become self aware of my efforts and limitations. While I can't control the twitch, I can control my feelings about it. In short, I'm trying to not get stressed out because of it and waste energy on it. The hardest part is going to work. Work makes my eye twitch, and the twitch gives me a headache, and the headache makes it hard to work...and then it's an endless downward spiral from there. Ah well, I'm still trying to remain hopeful that it stops soon.

Strange Offerings

2010-02-10T21:41:00.002-06:00

While taking out the trash this past weekend, I found this little collection by our back gate:

Kind of weird, right? It's a little skillet and a basket of three ornamental gourds. Our back gate is recessed from the alley, and you really have to look to notice the walkway by the garage. My possible explanations are:

Someone knows I dabble in in situ composting and that I cook, so they left these as presents.
Someone found these by a dumpster and stashed them in our walkway, and they plan to pick them up later.
We have a super strong squirrel residing in the area that has a penchant for fall decorations and cookery items.

This afternoon, I saw this post on 101 Cookbooks about chocolate puddle cookies. Not wanting to do classwork tonight, but wanting to do something productive, I made them:

In real life, they look much more like the photo on the 101 Cookbooks blog. I substituted pecans for walnuts, and wow, are these cookies delicious. Rather brownie-like and super tasty. This recipe is a keeper.

On Monday of this week, I had an acupuncture appointment in an attempt to relieve my eye twitch. After the appointment, I had a mini-breakdown and called in sick for the day (the great thing about working in a School of Social Work is that most people are super empathetic and understanding). I was able to schedule a massage for the afternoon, and generally tried to de-stress and stop thinking about my eye. The massage was incredible. I was so lucky to hear about Garden Walk Massage off of Lafayette Square; my therapist saved my day. I feel so much better, but unfortunately, my eye twitch is still with me.

This morning I had an eye exam and found that I can rule out eye strain. My vision is still just fine. However, I do have some sort of eyelid margin disease in which my eyelids are coated with oily particles and bacteria. This explains why my eyelids always feel irritated and itchy, so it's good to get that taken care of with antibiotic drops and eyelid scrubbing. But, it doesn't explain the twitching.

Alas...

A Case of the Twitchies

2010-02-04T08:49:00.005-06:00

My right eye has been twitching for more than a week.

The day it started, it was big jerking twitches. Now it has settled into a subtle twitch-twitch, twitch-twitch.

If I didn't know me, I'd think I was shifty-eyed and up to no good. A louse, a rat.

It's driving me to my breaking point. Last night I went to bed at 9:30, and while I awoke fully refreshed, the twitching was still there.

It slowly wears me down. By this afternoon, I will have a headache and my eyes will hurt.

I made an appointment with an eye doctor person, but it isn't until February 17. Two weeks! In two weeks, I will have pulled out all of my hair and started hitting myself as a distraction from the twitchies.

Anyway....

Here I am last Friday, getting ready to enjoy the Fountain on Locust's brownie in a cup (thanks to a gift certificate from Suzi and Dale!). For comparison, I'm also pictured with Porkchop's dessert: the world's smallest ice cream cone (in butter pecan). (P.S. This picture also shows my tilted duster in action. Unfortunately, it's too dark to see my clapotis in action, but it's there too.)

People can keep their semifreddoes and panna cottas and tortes and whathaveyou because the brownie in a cup is perfection. It's a made-from-scratch brownie topped with vanilla ice cream (imported from Wisconsin), made-from-scratch hot fudge sauce, real whipped cream, and homemade candied orange peel. So, it's essentially something I would make at home. The brownie is blissfully free from that icky industrial-brownie taste, the hot fudge is delightfully fudgy, and everything else is just plain-and-simple delicious.

I would like to eat one everyday. And if my eye continues to twitch, maybe I will.

Give us the Cookies!

2010-01-26T13:14:00.005-06:00

Here in the Midwest, Girl Scout cookie time has hit. We've ordered from a faculty member's daughter, the daughter of someone who has an office near me, and the daughter of Porkchop's boss.

I'm a pretty easy target for Girl Scout cookies because I went through the travails of cookie-selling myself. Well, I should amend that statement because if a Girl Scout has already sold a hundred boxes, she doesn't really need our help. Nope, I have a dear place in my heart for those Girl Scouts who are having a hard time selling. They're the ones who need our help.

You see, when I was a Scout, depending on the number of boxes you sold, you received a cookie badge sized accordingly. With the exception of one year, I always had the smallest badge. And, I was always the only one in my troop to have the smallest badge.

Do you know how that feels? I didn't really care about the number of boxes I sold because I knew my parents donated money to my troop throughout the year to cover costs. But I still hated feeling like the cookie outcast. And since you put the badge on your sash or vest, every other Scout knew that I was a cookie loser.

I had a hard time selling for the following reasons:

We didn't have any relatives in my town. Our relatives in Oklahoma weren't really the cookie-buying type. Well, they probably would have ordered a lavish amount of boxes, but they wouldn't have paid up when the cookies were delivered.
My mom worked from home and my dad's workplace was small. I could count on the library staff for 15-20 boxes, top.
My parents didn't have many friends. The friends they did have all had kids in Scouts.
I was shy and suffered social anxiety, and it was really hard for me to go door-to-door in our neighborhood and have people say No, I don't want your stinking cookies.

There was only one year in which I achieved the 50+ boxes sold cookie badge. However, it was only because my dad put us down for about 30 boxes. Still, I felt pretty proud to sew that badge on my sash.

I told all of this to a co-worker who said she wasn't ordering from our faculty members' daughter because she (the co-worker) tends to eat an entire box of Thin Mints in one sitting. The faculty member in question is from Korea, is very quiet, and probably won't send her daughter door-to-door. I told my co-worker, look, XXX probably isn't going to sell any boxes outside of our office, that's the reality, and I don't want her to feel bad.

I think my co-worker is reconsidering.

I love the Girl Scouts, but I do wish they would reconsider the cookie incentive stuff (I think the incentives are a bit more complex these days). I mean, come on, the organization is supposed to help build girls' self-esteem, not make them feel bad because no one wanted to buy cookies from them.

School Days

2010-01-18T20:38:00.003-06:00

Start tomorrow for Porkchop and me!

For me, I'm taking another online class. This time, it's Summative and Formative Evaluations. Judging from the textbook, it's about evaluating online learning systems. The textbook cracks me up because the illustrations look like something that an ironic comic artist would do...it's all clip art with word balloons inserted. The only difference is that I think the textbook author is serious with her illustrations.

More excitingly, Porkchop starts teaching a printmaking class at a local community college! But, I think she is more irritated than excited because the art department at said college seems to be run by the two most scatterbrained people around. Porkchop gave them a completed application twice, told them which sections she could teach multiple times, and has yet to receive her employee number, ID card, and keys to the building where her class will be. Oh, also, the printshop is full of woodshop materials that were supposed to be moved before classes, but the saws and planers are still by the printing presses.

Since today was my last day off for quite some time, I took it kind of easy. After taking Porkchop to work, I went to the Y and swam laps. This was my first time lap swimming for about six years! It went pretty well, considering my long absence from the pool, and I decided a half mile was okay for today. I finished my Y trip with some whirlpool and sauna action.

Swimmers need to eat, so when I came home, I made a bacon and cheese omelet, which was eggs-cellent (I've been waiting all day to type that!). With our new little Calphalon skillet, I can make perfect omelets. Look:

I was so impressed with the omelet-making, and I think the skillet might work well with crepes.

I was still hungry after the omelet, so I made this strawberry-banana bread using frozen berries that we picked over the summer. The only change I made was to substitute 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for white flour, which is enough to fool you into thinking that the bread is healthy. Oh, and I didn't have pecans, so no nuts for us. The bread is delicious, and I totally recommend the recipe.

In other cooking news, I made a yummy chicken curry tonight using the Splendid Table cookbook. I'm also on a spaghetti kick lately, and I can't wait to try this tomato sauce recipe (only three magical ingredients!).

All for now. Have a great week!

In These Cold Times

2010-01-04T13:52:00.003-06:00

I look at Madison weather to make me feel better. But, it's currently about the same temperature there as it is in St. Louis, so I had to expand my weather search to Minneapolis.

Yeah, it's a lot colder in Minneapolis. Compared to there, it's downright warm in St. Louis.

Only, it doesn't feel warm.

This morning was a long, bitterly cold walk from the Metro to my office. It was one of those cold walks during which your nose first freezes, and then your snot unfreezes and leaks out your nose onto your face.

Tomorrow, I think I'll carry a tissue with me. Because it isn't cool to arrive at work with snot frozen on your face.

Yesterday afternoon, we hit the hot tub at the Y. It was delightfully warm and relaxing, and not too crowded.

Some people go to the Caribbean for a break from the cold. Us, we'll go to the Y and ride the lazy river a few times.

Well, Hello 2010!

2010-01-01T14:26:00.004-06:00

We ended 2009 with a big food bang at the new Brasserie by Niche. Porkchop and I agreed that it was the best meal we've had in a long time. I can't say enough how perfect it was!

We started with an order of gougeres, which were addictively cheesy and warm and yummy. I went the 3-courses-for-$30 route and shared my small plate of seared sea scallops and roasted beets with Porkchop. Also perfectly done and super tasty.

But, the stars were our main courses. Porkchop had a well-done New York strip with pommes frites. The steak was tasty (even though I'm not a big steak fan), but the fries were out-of-this-world delightful. Next time, we'll order a big plate of those.

Before I write about my entree, I want to preface by saying that, since I started eating meat again over three years ago, I've only ordered beef at a restaurant once (and it was a burger that I totally regretted ordering). So, it was a bit of character for me to order the braised short ribs, but I'm so glad I did! The meat totally fell off the bone and melted in my mouth. The accompanying pureed potatoes and roasted carrots were also perfect. I didn't even need to season my potatoes.

For dessert, I went with the profiteroles, and Porkchop ordered the lemon tart. Again, perfect. For drinks, I had a glass of Riesling, and Porkchop had the Duchesse de Bourgogne (Flemish red ale! Yum!).

So, I definitely recommend Gerard Craft's latest venture!

After stuffing ourselves and changing into pajama pants when we came home, we made new goals for the new year. But first, here's how I did on last year's goals:

Plant my own vegetable garden! CHECK.
Can my own food! CHECK.
Figure out my career. WORKING ON IT. I started a Masters program, which counts for something.
House maintenance: paint inside, paint the foundation, finish the drylocking in the basement, put up that additional downspout, fix up the backyard.... NEEDS WORK. We only painted downstairs; the rest of the items still need to be done.
Learn how to knit Fair Isle-style. INCOMPLETE.
Do more baking! SORT OF.
Secret project with Porkchop. STILL IN PROGRESS.

I'm okay with my progress on last year's goals. I'm not going to beat myself up for not taking up stranded knitting or not drylocking the basement.

Here are this year's goals:

Be more flexible and less controlling. I'm working on being more open to others' ideas about how to do things. And I'm trying to not let things like slightly open drawers and cabinet doors bother me (But I still can't stop closing Porkchop's dresser drawers! Open drawers drive me crazy!).
Do more neighborhood things. I'm secretary of our neighborhood association, but I want to do even more and meet more area residents.
More regular exercise. I started the ball rolling today with joining the local Y! Porkchop and I even signed up for a step class together! I'm looking forward to swimming regularly again and taking advantage of the hot tub, sauna, and steamroom.
Bake more with whole grains. Yeah, I need to cut back on the white flour.
Stranded knitting! See last year's goal.
Practice Spanish. This will be the hardest goal for me to accomplish, I think, especially since I remember more French than Spanish.
Save for trips and a new computer.
Be more positive at work. This past year, I gave into some negativity, and I want to kick that in the ass.
Be better with house maintenance. See last year's goals.

Finally and most importantly, I want to spend more time like this with my family:

Okay, time to start working on things!

Have a great 2010!

Working from Home is the Best

2009-12-29T09:23:00.003-06:00

I'm working from home for most of this week, which is awesome. There isn't a lot to do at the moment so I take breaks to do things like mop the floors and update my blog. I might also handwash some sweaters.

Yes, it is an exciting life.

Our Christmas trip to Arkansas went well, considering that my sister is still living with my parents and is self-medicating with Klonopin. There is some tension there. And, while I want to help all parties involved, I also don't want to touch that situation with a 300-mile-long pole.

Present-wise, it was a great Christmas. My mom limited my sister to just a few new, purchased gifts for everyone. If you remember last year's presents, you know this is a Good Thing.

Porkchop surprised me with all of my presents, but particularly this set of new cookware:

The full set is from Porkchop, and the bonus soup pot is from my parents (which I had asked for). You know what this means? We get to retire our set of pots, which Porkchop's mom received on her wedding day 30+ years ago. Those pots still have a lot of life left in them, but I am happy to have our own adult pots. I've already used some pieces of the new set, and they are fabulous.

However, when we were gathering up the old ones out of the cabinet, we became a little sad. Retrieving the small one-quart pot, Porkchop said, "Oh, little pot, I'm going to miss you!" And I said, "I'm going to miss it, too!"

It is hard times when you get teary-eyed about a little one-quart pot. Oh, but that pot has cooked many a Ramen noodle for Porkchop, and we made many a simple syrup in it for sweet iced tea.

My other super-surprise gift from Porkchop was this little tea-brewing cup:

Under the cat's chapeau is a strainer for loose tea. It is perfect! I first saw it in an art museum gift shop in Minneapolis, but didn't want to buy it there. Sadly, when we came home, we couldn't find it online. Porkchop persevered, though, and it was eventually posted on a Japanese market site. I love my little tea cup and can't wait to brew some tea in it.

On my end, I surprised Porkchop with this hat (the shoes are from my parents):

The hat is loose because Porkchop doesn't like tight hats. It is lined with baby alpaca so that the Cascade doesn't scratch her ears. I used this pattern.

The past couple of weeks were a hat marathon. I made Porkchop's hat, and then hats for her older brother, sister-in-law, and niece.

The brother's was a basic watchman cap using this pattern:

The sister-in-law's was a star-crossed slouchy beret (Ravelry link):

The niece's hat is my favorite, and I really want to make another for myself. I used the basic Kim's Hat pattern (Ravelry link) in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. It's a great pattern because you can make all sorts of variations and add your own touches.

I made the garter brim variation with earflaps, I-cords, and tassels. I added some purl rows for ridges on the hat, and I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out.

Here I am modeling it:

It's a little small on me, but it fits the niece well. It's a bit loose, so hopefully she can use it for 2 or 3 winters.

All for now! I should probably go "work" some before I pick up lunch at Pappy's for Porkchop and me.

It's That Time Again...

2009-12-23T10:25:00.002-06:00

Keetah says Happy Holidays to you!

The other day, I was looking through my posts from three years ago for a recipe, and I noticed that at this time in December 2006, we were baking orange-almond shortbread, orange-chocolate biscotti, chocolate crinkle cookies, and pretzel rods.

Guess what we baked last night? Orange-almond shortbread, orange-chocolate biscotti, and chocolate crinkle cookies. We're taking the pretzel rod supplies to my parents' house and will make them there.

Last night's baking extravangza was exhausting, and I burnt half of the shortbread. Sadness.

This evening we leave for Arkansas, and I'm sure good times will ensue.

I've been knitting things, but they're secrets for now. All I can say is that I'm not finished yet!! Knitting stress!

On Being a Non-Traditional Student

2009-12-18T15:54:00.002-06:00

I took five and a half years to complete my undergraduate degrees. Then I worked for a few years while Porkchop earned her MFA and MA. When I felt it was a good time, I applied for Feminist Studies PhD programs and was accepted to one (out of four to which I applied). I went for it, and it ended up being the worst 9 months of my life. So I quit, and we moved to St. Louis, where I started working as an office person again.

After a few years of working, feeling like I wasn't doing anything to improve myself, I found an online Master's degree program via Mizzou that sounded interesting. It has real-world applications, won't take too long to complete even as I work full-time, and won't put me too much in debt.

I never would have thought that this online program would be so much more difficult than the PhD program that I was in, but it is!

As a PhD student, I could read some books and articles and then piece shit together and call it a paper. And I generally received As. For, um, theorizing and making arguments that had no impact on the real world.

In my first class in my online program, I've done more real world work than I did in all my other classes combined. I've designed and conducted interviews, observations, and surveys. And since I built most of my assignments around my neighborhood association, I've talked to many area residents about what they want out of the association and their concerns about our neighborhood. I feel like I'm actually doing something!

With my final project done and graded, I just need to package my report in a more user-friendly format and present it to our association members. (The final project I submitted for class had to be in a very specific format, and I think I can improve upon it for public distribution.) I think my findings can help the association board (which includes me) to improve our membership numbers, as well as participation and volunteer rates.

Yes, I'm much prouder of my final grade of a 98 in my online class than I am of any of the As I received in my PhD seminar classes.

I see myself completing the degree in a few years. And then maybe when I'm 50 I'll start working on a PhD again. At the rate I work, I might be able to finish it before I'm 70.

Knitters Shut it Down

2009-12-11T15:52:00.003-06:00

Last month, the much-anticipated coffee/beer joint Foam opened after more than a year of waiting. Last night was billed as "craft night," so Porkchop and I went with projects in hand (knitting for me, card folding for her). Including us, the crafters totaled a mere five, but it was still enjoyable. The other three were also knitters, and one lives only a few blocks away. It was great to meet some new knitters, even if they are in their early 20s and made me feel rather aged. Anyway, we shut down Foam in awesome knitterly fashion, and I hope Foam continues the craft nights.

This Foam thing might be dangerous. It is only a block away and open until 10 on weeknights. Soooo easy to take the short walk and spend money on yummy drinks.

A Life Changing Event

2009-11-20T21:08:00.002-06:00

This is me before my life changed today:

I'm at the Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis, sipping on Assam tea and awaiting my order.

And this is what changed my life:

The Savory Waffle.

Or, the most perfect piece of food ever.

This is what it is... The waffle is made of ginger, sweet potato, and chevre. It's topped with cranberry quince, sage butter, an egg, bits of bacon, and pecans, and the plate is dusted with powdered sugar. Maple syrup is served on the side. Oh, and everything is local food.

I ate this waffle sloooooowly because I didn't want the perfect taste sensation to end.

P.S. We're in the Minneapolis area for Porkchop's hockey tournament. But who cares about hockey when there is the Savory Waffle?

Introducing Patricia Pettymeyer

2009-11-09T09:28:00.005-06:00

Patricia enjoys lounging on unmade beds, especially if the electric blanket is still on. She also likes sitting in open windows, eating the occasional blade of grass, and chasing catnip toys.

Her dislikes include dogs, small children, and loud noises.

(Porkchop likes to call Keetah different names, but Patricia Pettymeyer has stuck. Sometimes I like to change the last name to Prettymeyer.)

(PS I edited the spelling of Patricia's last name because I realized the original spelling - Pettymire - is probably an invention of my southern-tinged accent.)

It's Scary, Really

2009-10-27T21:47:00.003-05:00

How quickly October has passed! It seems like I was just feeling better from my little virus, and then I was sick again for a week with stupid allergies, and now it is today and less than a week left in this month. I know it's always the same old lament, oh woe, there isn't enough time, but really, WTF?

Besides being down with allergies, I've also been working away on my class stuff. In October alone I conducted two interviews, did two observation procedures, and conducted a survey, as well as wrote all of these up in reports. In November, I get to do more of the same for my final project. It's actually rather fun!

Other things in October....

Apples! We didn't pick any more, but we purchased a big bag from Eckert's and canned apple butter and apple preserves:

The apple preserves (on the right) are nice and lemony and nutmeg-y. The apple butter (on the left) is very fall-like with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, but it didn't get super thick. If you like applesauce, you would like our apple butter. I do, but next year I might try a crockpot recipe to see if it gets thicker.

Porkchop also made the most delicious apple pie using this recipe:

This is totally my favorite apple pie ever. I'm not a big apple pie fan because I think most are too sugary and rely on cinnamon too much. But this one doesn't use cinnamon, uses a lot less sugar, and has strong lemon notes in it. And raisins! Love! I've requested it for Thanksgiving. By the way, I reserved our turkey today, even put down a deposit on it. Which felt kind of weird.

When we went to Eckert's for apples, we also picked up a few mums, two pumpkins, and ornamental corn. We also purchased ornamental gourds at the farmers' market.
I love our little gourd buddies:

Over the weekend, I made these pumpkin spice cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese icing:

I made them mini size, which is a good thing because the icing is really powerful. I took these to our neighborhood meeting last night. After having to rig up this contraption to protect the sweet little cakes, I see why people buy those cake carrier things:

How many times will I have to construct this sort of thing out of foil and plastic wrap before I break down and purchase an honest-to-goodness carrier?

Have a great week!

What a Feeling...

2009-10-13T12:19:00.003-05:00

To have the pain and pressure relieved from my lower back for at least a few hours!!!!! I have not felt this for years...at least a dozen.

While I've always accepted the uncomfortableness in my lower back as just the way things are, I finally saw someone about it when it started to hurt when I walked. I'm too young to be in pain while out for a stroll!

It turns out that I have instability in my lower back due to a vertebra in my sacrum not fusing completely (also known as spina bifida occulta, which isn't uncommon). My L-5 vertebra (the one right above my partially fused S-1) also sits up quite a bit higher than one normally should. And I have some curvature in there, and my poor L-2 vertebra has borne the brunt of all of this. While most of my lumbar vertebrae look like happy puffy marshmallows, L-2 is kind of crumpled and sad looking.

This morning I saw the sports medicine guy again, and he did some lovely massage (as opposed to the painful deep tissue acupressure last week). But, the best part is the stretching table that he uses. He's able to do a circular motion with my lower body while my upper body stays flat, with the flexion point exactly where my lower back is tightest.

It's awesome. I would like to feel like this forever.

This is What Happens When You've Been Together for 9 Years

2009-10-10T16:33:00.005-05:00

You wear the same socks and don't discover it until you're in line at the DMV:

(For the record, my Adidas-clad feet are the larger ones. Porkchop wanted to make clear that hers look bigger due to the perspective. Porkchop's feet are wee little things, while mine are giants. Also, you might ask why we even own the same socks. I don't have an answer for that one.)

We took yesterday off work because it was the day after our anniversary (yay, nine years!), and we wanted to do fun things. Porkchop's definition of "fun" meant making me get my Missouri driver's license. I had delayed this task because I usually have a big problem with the vision tests. My eyesight is 20/20, but one of my eyes is placed a bit wonkily, which makes the vision machines a pain in the ass to use. I usually have to close one eye and read half the line, and then switch eyes for the next half. And the DMV employee is usually trying to rush me and won't let me take my time, and then I get flustered and embarrassed.

Getting a license in a new state makes me nervous because I dread the vision tests so much. On the way to the DMV, I wanted to throw up.

But, what do you know! The vision machine at the DMV location we went to didn't give me any problems! I even warned the employee that it would take me a moment because of my eye, and then I didn't have any problems! YAY!

The DMV branch was in an awesome mid-century modern building that is round and shaped like an upside-down funnel. There's also a rockin' mural inside. Here I am at the vision machine with part of the mural:

After the DMV and a few other errands, we went to lunch at Onesto. Yum! We've tried a few new-to-us places recently:

Sen Thai Asian Bistro: Located downtown, this was a great place for dinner before the Blues home opener. While the Blues lost, dinner was a winner. Okay, Porkchop's yellow curry was a winner. My BBQ pork could have used a lot more flavor.
OR Smoothie and Cafe: I grabbed lunch at the Central West End location one day while I was still fighting my virus. With ginger-apple-beet-carrot juice and a tofu wrap, OR Smoothie and Cafe was exactly what I needed.
The Shaved Duck: The curlicue frites fried in duck fat are awesome, as is the pulled pork sandwich. The flamenco guitar action going on made things a little loud, but otherwise everything was most enjoyable. We will definitely be going back!

However, my favorite meal of the past couple of weeks was one we cooked a few days ago. Cranberry-almond pilaf, cider-braised butternut and delicata squash, and baked tofu. Yum:

Tonight I'm cooking chorizo and black bean soup. Yum, yum, yum. I began today early with a few hours of planting new plants in a median not far from our house. It's good to get out with neighbors and work on things! The median had housed rose bushes, but they fell prey to disease. The new plantings will look great next year: coneflowers, black-eyed susans, butterfly milkweed, prairie clover, and few other plants. I'm looking forward to a hearty soup tonight after so much hard labor.

Have a great weekend!

Getting my Mojo Back

2009-10-04T19:34:00.003-05:00

Finally, finally, I feel close to normal. I actually want to do things and get out of bed! Yay!

The change happened late yesterday afternoon after I did a lot of breath of fire in a kundalini mini-set. Coincidence? Maybe not. Breath of fire makes my teeth tingle, so who knows its potential.

Yesterday morning, I barely even wanted to go to the farmers' market! But we pushed on, and I picked up a couple of pumpkins. Later in the afternoon I cooked them and made some pumpkin puree.

So, when I awoke refreshed and ready to go this morning, I made this pumpkin bread recipe. Yum! I came out with 6 muffins and 3 mini loaves:

After Porkchop came home from hockey practice, we roasted the pumpkin seeds. Triple yum! We kept the seasoning simple with salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. I could eat these pepitas all day. Here are the seeds ready to be seasoned and roasted:

Since I was home for two and a half days, I made some knitting headway. Last week, I ripped out the Icarus shawl that had been sitting around unfinished for over a year. Now I'm using the yarn for a Clapotis. Yep, I've finally jumped on the Clapotis bandwagon!

This afternoon I finished the increase section and dropped my first stitch! Here's a close-up, which shows the yarn color better too:

Have a good week! Stay well!

I'm Bad at Being Sick

2009-09-30T10:45:00.002-05:00

After two days of exhaustion, an early morning session of sweaty chills yesterday, and a day of a low-grade fever, I found out that I have a little upper respiratory infection going on.

It sucks. I don't like the feeling of being tired when I haven't done anything. I'm at home from work for the second day, and I wish I could do things to capitalize on being here. But instead it's nearly 11 am, and I'm sitting on the couch, unshowered and umotivated.

Blah.

Fast Times on Jefferson Ave

2009-09-27T19:18:00.003-05:00

This has been a strange weekend.

Yesterday bummed me out because it seemed the world was against me. I didn't go to yoga at the farmer's market, and then the YogaToday download that I purchased wouldn't play correctly! Then I went outside to take out the Sungold and Black Krim plants that weren't doing so hot, and I realized that the southern army worm issue had escalated into an infestation!

The past couple of weeks have been heartbreaking; every nearly-ripe tomato we had housed one of these gross worms. Ugh! I would check a tomato, hoping that it was clean, only to see the tail end of a worm disappear into it.

I realized the plants were all half dead, so I ripped them all out. Sadness! Now I have a pile of green tomatoes in our kitchen window.

This is in honor of one of our last ripe, clean brandywines. Although odd in appearance, it was super tasty!

I finished clearing out the tomato plants today. And I found that a parasitic wasp had valiantly done its duty on this villainous horned worm:

But back to yesterday...it stormed all afternoon, which meant a bike ride was out of the question. And the internet was out of commission! This double rainbow nearly made up for it all:

But last night, I found myself at the strangest place... the St. Louis Mills Outlet Mall. Porkchop wanted to practice hockey stops on her left side before today's practice, so I went with her and walked around the mall. It was exhausting. The Mills is HUGE. And there are all sorts of things that I find jarring...an indoor skateboard park, a glow-in-the-dark putt-putt course, loud people...I could go on.

Besides the horned tomato worm, today has been much better! I had a morning meeting at Mississippi Mud to review our neighborhood association's website. And then Porkchop and I walked to Benton Park Cafe for lunch. In the afternoon, I dried our last batch of Sungolds and Fox cherries:

And then two crazy things happened. First, a guy was urinating across the street from our house behind Save-a-Lot. This is just a minor crazy thing, but it riled me up a bit. Second, another guy plowed into a car parked in front of our house and sped away!! We ran out the door, but couldn't get his plate number. The bikers at the corner bar were all over this shit and chased after him, but were unsuccessful in finding him. About 10 minutes later, the police arrived. And then, as if it had been rehearsed, a woman in a pickup pulled up and asked, "Did this just happen? Was it a red car? Well," she continued as we eavesdropped in suspense, "it's parked by my house." The police took off, and then a police van arrived shortly thereafter. While the police captured the car, apparently the driver is still at large. But, still, neighborhood justice!

Lastly, fall is here! Even though it was 85 today and I still have melons ripening, I want to wear sweaters, drink cider, and walk through fallen leaves. October, here we come!

Grammarians Against Apostrophe Abuse

2009-09-11T08:55:00.008-05:00

This is my new favorite t-shirt!

Because the iPhone camera leaves lots to be desired, I'll transcribe the text for you: Apostrophe's! Extra apostrophe's! Use 'em for plural's! One dollar!

It makes me happy. And it's from the Natalie Dee website (but drawn by someone else).

P.S. Tonight we go to Porkchop's 12-year graduation reunion (they missed the 10-year mark). It will be a small group, but it's large enough for me to be nervous. New people! Ack!

Things we're Doing

2009-08-30T21:33:00.000-05:00

Keetah is snoozing on the doormat, Porkchop is reading Harry Potter (I know! Weird, right?!), and I just finished my class reading for this week.

That's right, I'm back in school!

I'm officially enrolled in MU's master's program in educational technology, with an emphasis on learning systems design and development. The first class is all about doing needs assessments, and then future classes will be about website design and development and learning theory. My goal is to get into the e-learning sector. We'll see what happens.

The program is all on-line, which might seem sketchy to you, but seems great to me. For one thing, if someone annoys me, I don't have to read their posts! And I don't have to attend 3-hour-long seminar classes. Brilliant! Sign me up! (Oh wait, I'm already signed up.)

Also, since it's through MU, I get to take advantage of a Tuition Settlement Scholarship. It's a long story about one of our fellow students suing the school for charging tuition disguised as "educational fees," when it was written into the university's charter back in 1839 that in-state students wouldn't be charged tuition. All this means is that I will receive $550 a year while taking classes. Woot.

Birthday Things
Porkchop turned 30 last week (as in August 21)! We had cake, lunch, opened presents, went to the zoo, grilled shrimp, and went to see The Time Traveler's Wife (better than I expected).

The cake was super delicious and from The Cakery (PS: their cakes freeze really well. We're currently enjoying a freshly defrosted piece):

I suppose Porkchop's favorite present is her iPhone:

I will begrudgingly admit that the iPhone does come in handy. Like when we're lying in bed and want to look up something on the internet, but we don't want to retrieve the laptop from downstairs. Now we just reach for the iPhone. So depending on how you look at things, it's either convenient or it encourages laziness.

Other Things
Over the weekend, I baked the tomato-corn pie posted on Smitten Kitchen. Can I say YUM! I love the biscuit crust (Porkchop made our crust)!

Last night was our neighborhood association's movie night. Just a few months ago, we never would have imagined that we would be hanging out watching Labyrinth with one of neighborhood's alderperson, but since I'm now the secretary for the association, that's exactly what we did!

I'm glad we're getting more involved with the neighborhood and meeting the people we live around (By the way, on the street behind us, there are three queer residences and there was another queer couple watching the movie. It seems we unintentionally moved into the gayborhood).

The movie was held in the front yard of one of the public schools that was recently closed. The closure of so many remarkable public school buildings saddens me so much. Here is the outside of the front entrance:

Apart from the A/C unit, how cool would it be to go to school with these gargoyles?! I looked around inside, and the school was pretty awesome. Amazing wood floors and built-in wooden cabinets and closets in the classrooms, and stained glass. Plus, this school is only four blocks from us! Now kids are being bussed who-knows-where.

Also attending movie night was the Fire and Ice Cream Truck!

A neighborhood couple turned an old fire truck into an ice cream truck, but they don't sell your normal ice cream. They sell Serendipity ice cream, Gus' pretzels, Fitz's sodas, and other local tasty items. You can also find the truck around the Arch grounds.

Well, another weekend has passed too quickly!

Check out These Melons

2009-08-12T22:16:00.005-05:00

Besides tomatoes, I really wanted cantaloupes to grow in my garden. So far, they've proven slow and difficult to set. I think I'll be lucky to get a half dozen.

We ate this one last week:

It was a green meat melon, and deliciously sweet.

We have another cantaloupe and a honeydew coming along nicely on the vines:

And we have three of these little guys, too:

At this point, I'm not sure what kind these are; maybe the golden-on-the-outside, green-on-the-inside. I'm a bit worried about these because the vine is growing straight up the trellis, and I think the melons might not be supported adequately.

We also have a couple more butternut squash growing. This one is my favorite because it's so bulbous:

This is our current butternut squash family:

I might be a bit obsessed with the butternut squash.

In non-garden news, Porkchop and I went to Chicago a couple of weekends ago for an ice hockey tournament. Here's Porkchop suited up in her new team uniform:

And here she is on the ice (look for the red helmet):

Porkchop's team played really well, but didn't win any of the games. However, they held their own and Porkchop scored a goal in the second game! Pretty good for someone who hasn't played in a few years!

Porkchop's new team is a B-team, and since I'm used to watching C-level teams, I was surprised at the speed and physicality of the play. I actually watched the entire games instead of reading when Porkchop was off the ice! Of course, this sort of play meant Porkchop was checked and knocked down, which made me nervous.

After our Chicago trip, we finally finished painting the first floor. Ugh, I don't want to pick up a paint roller for long, long time!

We finished just in time for a series of visitors: Katie and Beth stopped by while visiting from Minneapolis, I have a friend coming in this weekend, and then my family comes for a short stay the weekend after that.

This Friday is Porkchop's 30th birthday! We both have the day off, and we plan on doing fun things around the city. For example, buying a bunch of shrimp and brining and grilling them. Yum!

Have a great week!

New-to-Me Restaurants

2009-07-29T11:57:00.003-05:00

In my previous post, I forgot to mention a couple of restaurants that I tried recently.

First up, Crêpes in the City (Yelp link because it looks like they haven't renewed their domain name!). This place has been open for around a year, I think, but I never had a chance to go until I was serving on a jury last week (forgot to mention that, too. Also, Porkchop served on a jury recently as well.). Anyway, this meant I was conveniently within walking distance of the crepes.

And the crepes are so delicious! I would walk several miles for them! I had the Mediterranean (tomatoes, olives, artichokes, mushrooms, etc.) on a whole wheat crepe. The crepe was huge and packed with filling, and utterly lovely. I chose the whole wheat batter from the list of five possibilities (regular, herb, whole wheat, espresso, and chocolate, if I recall correctly). Batter choices! Nice!

Before, Rooster was my favorite crepe place. Now...I think it might be Crêpes in the City. Of course, I'll have to go back a couple of times to sample more...especially the dessert crepes.

Second, we had Sunday brunch at Benton Park Cafe. This cafe is super close to our house, but we just hadn't made it over there until now. They were packed, but since we sat outside, we didn't have to wait for a table. I had the California omelet, and Porkchop had the South of the Border burrito. We both had the loaded potatoes on the side. Thumbs up on everything! Tasty and good-sized portions! Oh, and they serve a slice of cumcumber in their water, which is all sorts of refreshing.

Put Up or Shut Up

2009-07-28T20:56:00.006-05:00

Porkchop and I should be painting the office nook tonight, but instead we're resting. Of course, "resting" means that Porkchop made the most delicious dinner of local bratwurst with apples and onions, mashed potatoes, and roasted (homegrown) delicata squash (well, I did the squash, but it wasn't much work). And then we did dishes, picked tomatoes, and Porkchop did some paint clean up.

Here is the painting as it stood Sunday morning:

Woo! Bright colors! The colors in the two rooms are actually the same, but they look a little different. These rooms have now been touched up, and Porkchop put the first coat up in the bathroom - a lovely dark chartreuse which looks pretty darned good.

While painting this weekend, we also canned sweet pickles. A lot of them:

That's about 7.5 lbs of cucumbers. And they made 10 pint jars. Canning in progress:

Did I mention we made pickles?

That isn't the only canning we've been up to. Two weekends ago we went blueberry and peach picking:

We took the fruits and made blueberry-lime jam and peach butter:

I think we have 8 jars of the blueberry lime, and maybe 5 of the peach butter (which is amazingly delicious, oh yeah).

We've also been putting up tomato stuff: oven-dried tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and tomato-basil dressing (which we also use as a pasta sauce). Oh, and I canned two pints of crushed tomatoes over the weekend. I also have designs on the butternut squashes ripening in the kitchen window. Last week I made a super tasty bisque with a squash, so I intend on making up and freezing a couple of batches. To get us through the long winter, you know.

Going back to tomatoes, we're in a bit of a lull right now. The cherry tomatoes and sungolds are still coming in, but I've picked the green zebra, black krim, marvel stripe, and brandywine clean. Now a second wave of baby tomatoes has started, and I can't wait for them to grow and ripen!

Here's the last black krim...it's a bit naughty looking, don't you think?

Oh, and the tomatillos are starting! Here's the first one:

What else...

We bought school supplies for a couple of neighborhood kids:

If you're in the neighborhood, I encourage you to do the same! The info is here.

That's all! Have a great week!

Nesting Dolls, Birthday Weekend, and Other Things

2009-07-11T15:51:00.007-05:00

Okay, first up, who wants to order a set of nesting dolls?

Porkchop is an excellent nesting doll painter. For example, here's a set she made recently for friends of friends:

I don't have pictures of these folks, but believe me when I say these likenesses are amazing. Let Porkchop know if you want a set! Email her at porkchoppress (at) gmail (dot) com for pricing and other details. Sets aren't limited to 5 dolls, just so you know.

Birthday Weekend
Along with celebrating the birth of our great nation last weekend, we also celebrated my turning 31! We left Thursday afternoon for Madison, where we stayed with Porkchop's friend Patrick, who is starting the MFA program at the UW this fall. After a late night at the Weary Traveler, I had a hard time waking up for my breakfast date with old friend and former co-worker Darcie (who contributes to the Craftology 101 blog). I wasn't as bright-eyed as I wanted to be, but we still had a great time catching up and enjoying our Marigold breakfast. The next time I see Darcie, she might be living in Denver, which is all sorts of exciting (our breakfast also marked Darcie's last day at our former employer - woot!).

After breakfast, Porkchop and I left for Minneapolis. The day was perfect for driving...sunny skies, low humidity, a cool breeze, and Twilight on CD. Twilight was perfect for driving, but I don't recommend listening or reading it otherwise (Also, guess what's worse than the book...the movie! We watched it last night, and I can't believe how horrible it is!).

Upon arriving in MPLS, we went to Katie and Beth's apartment, which is actually two floors and the size of a house. It was our first time to visit K and B in their new city, and I'm so glad we made it up there. Being around K and B is like having my batteries recharged. We laugh, we talk about things, we have fun doing nothing. During one of our dinners, we talked about how, out of our 9 years of friendship, we only lived around each other for 1.5 of those years. So, those must have been really formative years because we're still good friends.

Anyway...without writing a novel, here's a bullet point summary of what we did:

Visited farmers' markets!
Walked around Mill Town. Pictures below are us at some mill ruins and watching a boat go through a lock:

Ate good food! We enjoyed the following restaurants, all of which focus on organic and locally produced food: Birchwood Cafe, Spoonriver, Seward Community Cafe, and the Craftsman (where K and B treated us to a birthday dinner). We also enjoyed delicious ice cream from Izzy's (mmmm)! At Izzy's:

On July 4th, we made pesto potato salad for a potluck hosted by K and B's friends. After eating, we walked over to Powderhorn Park and watched the neighborhood firework display. Everyone from the neighborhood watched the fireworks! It was so wholesome and Mayberry-ish, only the neighborhood was really diverse. It seems some people in MPLS think Powderhorn Park is a "rough" neighborhood...these people need to visit our neighborhood in St. Louis, and then we'll see if they still think Powderhorn Park is rough!
Went to the Mall of America. Hey, everyone does it.
Helped Katie buy a used 10-speed (actually a 12-speed).
I finished one of my Facebook Making Things project for a friend who lives in MPLS (actually K and B's friend, and my friend by association). It's the sev(en)circle from the Assemblage blog. I was using stash and scrap yarn, so I made the loops different colors, and I really loved the end result:

I think that's it for MPLS! Super fun times!

Our 10-hour drive home on my birthday wasn't so fun, but fortunately we had Twilight for entertainment.

Porkchop gave me super great gifts! My favorite is my new lunch bag (this is a bad pic):

My tiffin and water bottle fit in it, and it's neoprene so my water bottle doesn't get anything wet. I also received this pack of 5 Envirosax and the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. My first loaf just came out of the oven! It doesn't look like the pictures in the book, but maybe it will still be tasty.

Garden Things
Upon our arrival home, I found a baby melon in the garden!

There are a few more little guys out there, which is very exciting.

We also found that our potato experiment didn't turn out well. St. Louisians will recall the crazy rains we had earlier this summer...these rains broke our potato plants and made them die early. We had hoped for the best, but this is our yield from our garbage can:

Murrr. Another garden lesson for us.

On a happier note, Porkchop came home a bit early on Friday and finished our strawberry and blueberry bed!

So awesome!!

Have a great weekend!

Six Month Review

2009-06-30T15:01:00.004-05:00

The 64/40 Construction Countdown sign displayed 6 Months 0 Days this morning, which means it's time to check in on this year's goals. Here's the list with comments in bold:

Plant my own vegetable garden! Done!

Can my own food! Started with jam!

Figure out my career. In progress! I'm applying to a part-time masters program...more on that when I'm actually taking classes.

House maintenance: paint inside, paint the foundation, finish the drylocking in the basement, put up that additional downspout, fix up the backyard....this list could get quite long. Um, hmmm. Currently picking out paint colors for the first floor. House maintenance is hard.

Learn how to knit Fair Isle-style. It is so time to do this. There are still six months left to do this.

Do more baking! I've fallen behind this past year sadly. Sort of.

Secret project with Porkchop. Maybe more details later. Still in planning phase.

In other news, check out my nautiloid!

It's going out to a friend as part of my Making Things 2009 project on Facebook.

Proudest Gardening Moment

2009-06-27T12:15:00.002-05:00

Tomato success!!!

Our first Sungolds! YAYAYYAYAY!!!

I let a couple get a bit too ripe, but the others are firm and juicy and sweet. *yum*

I also picked some more pole beans this morning.

What else?

We made smoothies for breakfast, I'm making roasted garlic and rosemary bread, Porkchop's working on a corn chowder, and we're enjoying delicious sweet iced tea. It's extra delicious because Porkchop thought I said "around a cup of sugar," when I actually said "around a half-cup of sugar." It reminds me of the iced tea my Grandma Freeman made when we were young, only our tea isn't as sweet.

All in all, it's a good day for the hottest freaking day of the summer.

If it doesn't settle down to the high 80s tomorrow, I will be so sad.

Have a great weekend! Stay cool!

Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough

2009-06-25T19:27:00.003-05:00

Who isn't listening to Michael Jackson right now??

Porkchop received a couple of voicemails with the news this evening. It's amazing what happens while you're going about minding your own business.

Michael Jackson had a weird, troubled life, and it's unfortunate it took the turn that it did. That said, MJ's songs are part of my childhood soundtrack, and I can't help feeling a little sad (Porkchop is a lot sad, maybe, but trying to not show it).

Soon after my family had cable hooked up, my mom signed us up for that crazy new station called MTV.

And then our lives changed.

My brother and I spent quite a few hours reenacting videos like Beat It and Billie Jean, and of course don't get me started on Thriller! Since our town's newspaper wasn't so great, we subscribed to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and we anxiously awaited to receive the issues which contained the MTV schedule for the Thriller video. Our mom made sure we turned on the TV at the right time!

I wasn't a big fan of Michael Jackson in his later years, but Porkchop introduced me to the Jackson 5 discography, and I now have the backing vocals of ABC and other hits engrained in my head.

Have you ever seen Porkchop dance to the Jackson 5? It's awesome.

Other Things

I'm enjoying working on this:

It's the nautiloid pattern from Knitty, and it's so fun to knit!

What else?

Just a couple more days until we have some ripe cherry tomatoes!! So exciting!

Using a gift certificate I received recently, we dined at Trattoria Marcella last night. For the $12.20 we paid after the certificate, it was a good meal. I would have been a bit disgruntled otherwise; not due to the food so much as to the service. For example, we sat and sat, and although we received water and yummy hot bread with a cannelini bean dip, there was never mention of our server. Servers walked around all about us, but no one approached. Finally, a guy showed up and explained there had been a "mix-up." We received our food in a timely manner, but our server seemed like he couldn't care less about us. My seared tuna was tasty, as was Porkchop's shrimp and rigatoni, but I didn't really feel welcomed at the restaurant or well cared for, and the food wasn't so astounding that I want to hurry back.

All for now!

rip rip rip

2009-06-24T10:03:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, some very special yarn caught my eye. After searching for the perfect pattern, I decided to go at it on my own.

But nothing was working, so I decided upon a little elongated garter shawlette pattern.

I finished the shawlette over the weekend, and feel rather meh about it, so now of course I've found the perfect pattern for the yarn: this slipped rib scarf.

I purchased two skeins of the special yarn. One skein is knitted up in the shawlette, and about a quarter of the other skein is knitted up as a scarf that I abandoned when I started the shawlette. So...I see some ripping in my future.

What's a Yogini to Do?

2009-06-18T21:51:00.003-05:00

For yoga this evening, I went to my beloved YogaToday after perhaps a 10-day absence. My, my, how things have changed!

New layout, new features, and a new pricing structure. Yep, we finally have to pay!

I've always said I would pay for YogaToday videos, but now I actually have to make the decision. Pony up the money, or find something else. (They will have one free video a week, but that can mean you're stuck with a novice class with Neesha, as I was tonight.)

Adi and Sarah are my favorite instructors ever - better than anyone with whom I've had an actual class. So...I might just do the $9.99/month unlimited subscription.

I know! Crazy! Spending money!

In other yoga news, I'm rather close to achieving mayurasana. I dreamt about it last night, and awoke inspired. More practice, more practice.

Have a great Friday!

Garden Goodies and Lessons Learned

2009-06-16T22:22:00.003-05:00

All of this rain is helping our garden plump out nicely.

Like these pole beans! (And what might prove to be the last of the sugar snap peas.) Pole beans are kind of crazy.

And these tomatoes:

My attitude toward labeling plants is label, schmabel, you'll know what it is when it grows. So, unfortunately, I can't remember what these guys are! Super choice, maybe.

I'm pretty sure these are black krim:

And I'm hoping these are sungolds:

Also, check out our first pepper!

I'm thinking jalapeno, perhaps.

Finally, here are some squash buddies:

Butternut and delicata, no confusion here.

So, as you can see, there are lots of good things happening in the garden. However, we've also had some minor difficulties. It's all a great learning experience!

Here's what I'll keep in mind for next year's garden:

Start pruning tomato plants early, even if the plant seems too small. Otherwise, you'll end up with sprawling plants with a million stems.
Investing in some fancy tomato ladders might not be a bad idea! Our stakes are working well, but the sprawling nature of our plants has us improvising with sticks and other things. Sometimes it works, sometimes the stems collapse.
Start the squash trellis early, and use thick material. I started ours too late, and the thin bamboo doesn't seem to work well. Tonight I pulled up our lettuce (which was getting bitter anyway) so that the squash and melons have more room to spread out.
When people say that you need sandy soil for root crops, listen to them! My beets and carrots are nonexistent because the soil is too thick, and my onions are flat! I'm considering pulling things up this weekend and mixing in some sand. I really want beets!

Flat onions! Not good!

Also, I might relent next year and label what we plant.

Good night! Keep on growing!

In a Jam

2009-06-09T21:46:00.003-05:00

This past weekend saw more jam-making with rhubarb-ginger jam. Ah, rhubarb...

How I miss Wisconsin for its plentiful rhubarb! A friend of ours had a whole mess of rhubarb in his yard, so we were never in short supply. Unlike here, where there is only a smattering of rhubarb in the farmers' markets (in the ones I've been to, anyway).

So, the jam started with making candied orange peel last week.

It uses a ton of sugar, but it's worth it. The dried stuff is good for baking, but I enjoyed it most right after removing it from the boiling water and rolling it in sugar. When the peel still has liquid in it, it's like eating one of those garish candy orange slices that you buy at Walgreen's, but only a billion times better because it's real. When I first tried the orange peel, it was like a big carnival in my mouth - so much flavor! Yum!

But, don't worry, I didn't eat all of the orange peel. I reserved the rest for the jam, which also used ginger and crystallized ginger. The rhubarb hung out in a big bowl of sugar for a day, and then I cooked it all up. Since this jam didn't use powdered pectin, I had to cook it for a while over high heat. While doing so, I suffered my first canning injury when some of the hot hot hot jam spattered onto part of my toes not covered by my Keens. Ow.

In the end, I came out with this:

Two pints and one half pint. Yep, 2.5 lbs of rhubarb, 5 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup of orange peel, and 4 oz of crystallized ginger, and this is all I have to show for it. Well, it is quite tasty, so that's a good thing.

All for now! Have a great week!

Veggie Things

2009-06-03T20:51:00.005-05:00

I've been stressing out about my tomatoes and other garden things, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Porkchop spotted these guys today:

Maybe I will have tomatoes for real this year!!

I also love looking at this little delicata squash and its unpictured mate. Correction: this is just the ovary...not an actual squash. Let's not get too excited.

Our squash plants are NUTS.

On the tomatillo front, so far there is only a single real one:

But I'm not too concerned, as tomatillos are known to have lots of empty husks, and then BAM, you're drowning in the suckers.

Speaking of BAM, this week's Fair Shares pickup was huge: ground beef, tortilla chips, sundried flour tortillas, salsa, cheese, collard greens, bok choy, broccoli, zuchinni, yellow squash, garlic scapes, chives, eggs, lettuce, and strawberries. And we bought a little bag of Billy Goat potato chips, which holy crap, that was the best $2 we've spent in a long time.

I Didn't Know Beans

2009-05-30T21:14:00.002-05:00

Grow so quickly!

We planted our pole beans at the beginning of May, and they are already taller than the trellis and are blooming. See:

Bean flowers!

Meanwhile, the sugar snap peas are finally coming out. It has taken forever. I can't wait to enjoy these guys:

Today was a work day for me. I pulled out junky plants from the yard and pruned the tomato plants. The tomatoes really shot up in the past two weeks, and they are totally out of control. I'm hoping the pruning restores some order without hurting them (I took off quite a few branches).

Our squash plants are in desperate need for their trellis supports. Although we intended on installing these today, we were both too tired from other things. So, tomorrow, tomorrow.

After cleaning up and making dinner, we went over to South Grand and enjoyed dessert at the Gelateria. My dish of chocolate and coconut was delicious, and I plan to stop by a lot more often this summer.

A snack of gelato called for a walk in Tower Grove Park, which was packed with families holding events in the pavilions. And understandably so as the weather was perfect.

I hope tomorrow is just as nice. Porkchop is playing in an ice hockey scrimmage (yay!), and I imagine I will do more garden and yard work (it really is never-ending).

Have a great Sunday!

This is what 28 pounds of Strawberries look Like

2009-05-26T21:17:00.004-05:00

These are some of Porkchop's homegrown strawberries:

And these are the 28 pounds of strawberries we picked at Eckert's on Saturday:

We froze a lot of our strawberries:

And made jam out of the rest:

For our first canning venture, we made three varieties: plain old strawberry jam, lemony strawberry jam, and strawberry-balsamic vinegar jam.

Strawberries, strawberries, strawberries! I really don't care to see another one for a few days. (Sad, eh?)

Saturday was a day full of strawberry picking and processing, and going to Porkchop's brother's place for a birthday SingStar party. Unfortunately, I was completely exhausted by 11 pm, so we had to bail out early.

You'd think we would have slept in Sunday morning, but no, we rose bright and early to clean house some before leaving for Porkchop's parents' place outside of Rolla.

Our plan was to camp in her parents' yard (don't laugh, they live in the woods!). The rain cancelled that, so instead we put up our tent on their wraparound porch. Impressive, eh?

So, don't laugh when I say that we didn't even spend the whole night in the tent! That's right, we were too chicken to camp on a porch!

First off, Porkchop's mom's cat scared the crap out of us by sneaking up and clawing the tent. Then there was a seriously scary sound coming from the creek area behind the house. It was either a couple of crazy wild turkeys, or a mountain lion screaming. Finally, critters kept coming up on the porch and making noises. Raccoon or opossum, Porkchop grew tired of waking up to their thumping around. So we went inside for the rest of the night and stole back outside in the early morning. Listening to the rain was so pleasant as it hit the porch instead of the tent rain fly.

Monday went by too quickly, and we didn't find ourselves back in St. Louis until after 8 pm. Once back, we had to deal with more strawberries (didn't have time to finish them on Saturday). And today was exhausting because everyone at work needs something RIGHT NOW. Ugh! I'm having a little drinky-drink at the moment to relax (don't worry - not a habit of mine).

Tonight I harvested lettuce and radishes from the garden, and realized that I have a big slug problem! I would put out beer to drown them, but the rain won't stop long enough for this method to be effective. Yuck.

For dinner, I made this beef curry recipe. Yum! It would have been better had I cooked it for the full two hours, but I didn't read the recipe very closely before starting and didn't plan for a 2+ hour dish! Anyway, 1 hour meant it was still quite tasty (and I don't like beef that much).

All for now!

Recent Food Things

2009-05-20T21:21:00.003-05:00

Hello, I'm finally writing about food again...

Tonight I made two new-to-me dishes: tamarind orange glazed tofu and roasted kale. The tofu received two thumbs way up from Porkchop and me. The kale...was a different story. Porkchop took one taste and declined the rest of her serving. I was rather intrigued by it and couldn't stop eating it. Roasted kale is like a kale cracker, and kind of reminded me of papadum (a stretch, I know, but that's what I thought of while eating the kale).

The roasted kale was mainly a good way to use up the huge thing of kale included in our Fair Shares pick up. I love my vegetables, but I'm not the biggest kale eater.

On another note, we received beef stew meat in our share...any suggestions for it? I'm still not a big beef eater, so I've never ventured into beef stews.

BBC Asian Cafe
Last night we tried this little eatery in the CWE. It has recently reopened since being closed for a remodel, a renaming, and a menu retooling, but since we never went to the original restaurant, I can't make a comparison. All I can say is that my unagi crepe was pretty darn good. Eel, avocado, cheese, and some spicy-ish sauces. Unagi is one of my favorite foods, so I was quite happy! Porkchop had a crepe with chicken, basil, and a creamy sauce...rather standard.

The red bean milk tea (sans boba for me) was pretty good too. However, I felt silly drinking it because it was served in the Biggest Chalice Ever.

Unfortunately, the summer rolls were a huge disappointment. The noodles were a big mushy mash, and the wrapper was super gummy. Overall, they didn't pack a lot of taste, save for the fresh mint leaves.

Of course, after experiencing Banh Mih So #1, it's hard to have other spring/summer rolls.

All in all, alright, but we probably won't go back unless there is a compelling reason.

La Dolce Via
Is back! Okay, they reopened a few months ago, but yay! They're back!

We stopped in a couple of weeks ago for dessert.

Yum, yum, yum! I had the flourless chocolate hazelnut torte, which was kind of like eating a giant Ferrero Rocher candy, only a million times better. Porkchop had a piece of the Elizabetta cake: vanilla sponge cake infused with sweetened lemon juice, layered with lemon curd, and frosted with lemon cream.

I've said it once, I'll say it a million times, if you've never been to La Dolce Via...GO!

I'm Amused

2009-05-19T10:14:00.002-05:00

The title of today's staff and faculty meeting is "A Busy and Productive Summer."

I love that our meeting is titled! Seriously, I am amused to no end by it.

I can only hope for similar scintillating follow-up titles. Maybe "Fall: A Time to Reflect upon our Harvest of Grants" or "A Long and Lonely Winter as Everyone goes on Vacation except Me."

This isn't Supposed to be a Monthly Blog

2009-05-17T21:42:00.003-05:00

Time has just gotten away from me lately. I can't believe it's mid-May, commencement is over, and temperatures are climbing towards the 80s!

We've packed a lot into the last few weeks. This weekend we went to the Tower Grove farmers' market (basil, strawberries, and pain au chocolate), worked on the yard A LOT both days, missed out on a patio set on Craigslist (dang it), and I went a Rehabber's Club tour of some recently finished properties and works-in-progress in our neighborhood (also on the tour was a woman who was head of the student Senate when I was at Mizzou...very strange). Also, we cooked! A lot! Lemon-basil chicken with orzo and asparagus, waffles and bacon, grilled porkchops and potatoes, curried chicken-mango salad (for a work potluck tomorrow), and vanilla pound cake.

The garden is starting to take off. Here are the two big beds this morning:

(Porkchop and Keetah are also in the photo. See if you can find them.)

Porkchop's potatoes-in-a-trashcan experiment is also going well:

Wow, I am hitting a wall of tiredness, so I have to hurry the rest of this post.

Our biggest excitement of the month was flying out to Portland to see our friend Kathy before she moves to Peru (she leaves very, very soon!). While we were there, our friend Sabrina flew out from New York for the reunion trip (Kathy, Sabrina, and Porkchop were all MFA students at Wisconsin together...I was a tag-along).

Portland was beautiful and the company was fantastic! I haven't smiled and laughed so much in a long time. Oh, and our accommodations were vintage midcentury modern - truly fantastic.

In addition to spending a couple of hours in Powell's and hitting the PSU farmers' market, we went to the beach:

(Sabrina taking Kathy's photo.)

And we took a drive just east of Portland along the Columbia River Gorge. Pretty and pretty windy:

Along the scenic road, we stopped at quite a few waterfalls. All spectacular in their own way. This one is Bridal Veil Falls:

The whole area was covered in moss - very neat! And soft.

The day trip culminated at a fish hatchery where we saw a 10-foot, 70-something year-old sturgeon. It was huge!

Other highlights of the trip include eating crazy-good french fries and poutine at Potato Champion, and the world's best waffles at Waffle Window.

Seriously, you can't go to Portland without hitting the Waffle Window. It shares a kitchen with a larger cafe, but WW itself is just a little half door around the corner from the main cafe. You order your waffle at the window, and then there's a special section in the cafe where you can eat.

The waffles are spectacular. Sabrina and I both had the huckleberry waffle - a fluffy waffle coated in pearl sugar and topped with huckleberry jam and syrup, whipped cream, and lemon panna cotta. The panna cotta really made the waffle - yum, yum, yum! I also enjoyed tasting Porkchop's waffle topped with ham, gruyere cheese, and maple syrup.

We loved seeing Kathy and Sabrina again, and we hope the next visit isn't so far away (okay, Porkchop saw Kathy last year, but I hadn't seen Kathy in a few years, and I hadn't seen Sabrina since 2005!).

Okay, I'm tired and I have to check my laundry. Have a great week!

All Tuckered Out

2009-04-26T19:27:00.005-05:00

Although we didn't do many things from the Weekend List, we accomplished quite a bit this weekend. And made more work for later (awesome!).

Things started off with working outside for a few hours Friday evening. We planted the remaining raised bed with tomatoes, peppers, basil, tomatillos, marigolds, and other flowers. Things continued early Saturday morning with planting squash and melons, clearing weeds out of the yard, and cleaning up the junky stuff on our neighbor's retaining wall. We took the afternoon and the evening off for leisure activities such as reading and watching baseball.

Oh, we also made our magical rice and chorizo dish...will have to post that recipe someday.

Here is the newest raised bed:

And here are the melon and squash, safely tucked away in toilet paper rolls. I lost one butternut squash to a cutworm yesterday, and I don't want to lose any more. I know we have a lot of melons and squash for the square footage of this bed, but I plan on growing them up. The next step for this bed is to add on to the trellis.

This morning we slept in a bit, made waffles, and then went back to work in the yard. This time we planted along the previously junky retaining wall. Lots of flower and herb seeds went in, as well as purple coneflowers.

After a lunch break, we went back out for more. And things took a turn for the worse. I was clearing some weeds out by the garage in the hopes of planting more conflowers. This turned into us clearing off dirt from the long-away forgotten brick border around the garage. Could look nice again, eh?

Unfortunately, we found this at the other end of the garage:

That's not just a shadow, it's a ginormous hole along the foundation of the garage!! Those bricks in the foreground? They have nothing supporting them underneath!

Fortunately, this answered our question of what to do with all the dirt and debris that we cleared off the brick border. Unfortunately, this thing gives me a headache. The slope and drainage is really weird in our yard, and I wish it could just fix itself.

This is how we left the abyss today:

We took out the bricks that were just hanging in midair, and we uncovered more of the hidden brick border. But, geez, we're tired.

So, is this a sinkhole or what? We're even more convinced that our house is above one of the area's many caves.

On a happier note, Keetah loves the outside so much! The whole yard is her all-you-can-eat salad bar:

Keetah was also busy this weekend doing some calculations and watching TV:

Such hard work! She has also been hanging out with Porkchop:

Buddies!

Have a good week! I am sort of glad for work tomorrow so that I don't get sucked into neverending yardwork.

The Weekend List

2009-04-24T09:40:00.002-05:00

Y'all, I am STOKED for the weekend! The only thing that could make it better would be Porkchop and me not working today.

Here is our list of possible weekend activities:

Plant things. This is a for-sure activity. Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and tomatillos MUST go into the ground tomorrow. We have had a sad development in our plant raising - it appears that the biggest tomato plants and many of the pepper plants have developed bacterial leaf spot. Probably because I didn't put a fan in the bathroom to allow for proper air circulation. It sucks. BUT, the squash and melons are sprouting like gangbusters. They are big and amazing, and I can't wait to plant them!
Bike ride! Also a for-sure activity. I want to bike somewhere for Sunday brunch, and Porkchop wants to bike downtown for a Cards-Cubs game.
Baseball game. See above. (I am dragging my feet on this one because I was just at a sporting event last weekend! And you know how I feel about these things!)
Earth Day festival at Forest Park.
Herb sale in Webster Groves.
Greater St. Louis Book Fair.
Make waffles. Because we received maple syrup in our Fair Shares pickup, and it would be a shame to not crack it open right away.
Eat more Salume Beddu's mostarda. This stuff is a revelation! It's described as an "Italian chutney," and it's full of dried fruit, mustard seeds, and chile flakes. It's spicy and not-too-sweet, and it's my new favorite thing. We also received this in this week's share. Fortunately, I'll be able to pick up more as needed once the Tower Grove farmers' market starts up (opening day is May 9!).

I'm sure I left off something! It will be a super-fabulous weekend! Enjoy yours as well!

A Semi-Frittered Day

2009-04-18T21:02:00.004-05:00

I am unsure how to feel about this Saturday.

There were outdoor plant-related things I wanted to do, but it drizzled throughout the day, leading to an idle afternoon. Rarely do I spend a Saturday afternoon reading and knitting, so it was kind of a welcome break. It's just hard for me to feel okay about sitting around.

However, with the work we did yesterday afternoon and evening, I don't feel too guilty.

Porkchop and I had doctor appointments in the early afternoon, and neither of us returned to work. It was too darn nice outside! Instead of going back to my drab office, we enjoyed treats from the CWE Gelato di Riso and then went home to do yardwork. Yay yardwork!

Last summer, I noticed that the hardwood mulch in the front flowerbed was....sick, not right, and gross. We could pick up large sheets of mulch; the individual pieces were stuck together with weird white stuff. For the past 8 months, the flowerbed was a blight in my eyes. In fact, I trained myself to not look at it because I hated it so much.

Yesterday after the doctor and gelato, I decided to finally get the mulch the eff out of here. It was more work than I anticipated! There was SO MUCH weird white stuff.

The stuff resembled a mixture of latex paint and mold. And, we think that's what it was! Our hunch is that the rehab people were painting the eaves and dropped a big paint bucket. Instead of cleaning it up, they just dumped a bunch of mulch on it. My theory is that mold then grew because the stuff couldn't dry out (or something like that).

Anyway, most of it is now gone! The bits that are left shouldn't pose a problem. After removing the grossness, we spread out new, healthy soil and compost. And we planted pretty little flowers, which we hope will stay alive and thrive.

I wish we had taken a before photo for comparison, but I didn't think about it.

Here is the work in progress:

The area in question is really small, but the new soil and compost make a big difference. We have two surprisingly healthy azalea bushes, and one that is struggling. We removed a lot of paint mulch mess from around it, so hopefully it will get better.

Keetah surprised us and came out on the porch to supervise our work!

This outing showed a lot of braveness on her part; she's very cautious in exploring new things. Her heart was pounding the whole time. Especially when she was on the steps and cars were whizzing by:

So, with all of the work done yesterday, I feel sort of okay about doing nothing this afternoon. However, we did need a break this evening. Since the rain had stopped, we decided to go for a little walk around our neighborhood. We ended up at the Map Room, where we enjoyed sparkling orangeade and snack-size cheesecake.

The people at the Map Room are super-nice, and they have a great selection of drinks and desserts. We look forward to going back! Indeed, once it is cooler weather again, I know I will be there for some spiked hot chocolate.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

FB Complaining (Or, Jesus!)

2009-04-16T10:18:00.008-05:00

Earlier this week, I finally joined Goodreads. I realized that I'm starting to forget what I've read, so I appreciate having a place to track my books.

But I know it will be only a few months until I stop updating my Goodreads account. Just like my Ravelry projects page, I imagine I will abandon it at some point.

With Goodreads, Ravelry, and Facebook, I'm starting to feel overstimulated and overexposed. And I don't even Tweet or Blip!

The main problem, I think, is Facebook. There are so many status updates, and many of them annoy me. But I can't just skip the annoying ones and move on! I read them and my blood pressure goes up...my forehead frowns and I sigh.

So now I'm taking steps to alleviate the problem. If you only post about what your kid is doing, I've blocked you. Whenever you publish a quiz result, I block that quiz application (Hey people, do you know you don't have to publish your quiz result! I take quizzes without publishing my results because although I find it humorous to learn my Crayola crayon color is cornflower, I know other people don't give a rat's ass, and I don't want to overpopulate their homepage feed.) If you post updates every 5 minutes regarding what's happening on the Apprentice, I'm blocking you.

I only wish I could block ALL updates from some people. Because I don't really care if someone with whom I haven't spoken in 12 years becomes a fan of Jesus, yet it still shows up in the sidebar highlights feed.

Which brings me to a tangential point....

Jesus and God have Facebook pages.

I would like to know who took it upon themselves to make these pages...because I don't think it was divine creation.

Isn't that a bit presumptuous? Did someone ask WWJD, only to have the answer be "create a Facebook page"?

(By the way, God has more fans than Jesus. By nearly 300,000.)

Sometimes I think I should create a new Facebook account. To start fresh with people who are REALLY my friends and with whom I've had meaningful interactions, and leave the other account for all those people I never spoke to growing up and who have now donned rose-colored spectacles with which they view the past.

I wonder if Jesus and God feel the same way. Of course, they're probably a bit more forgiving than I am, a bit more ready to excuse others' transgressions and whatnot.

Waiting, Waiting

2009-04-15T21:16:00.004-05:00

So, I'm waiting for Porkchop to return from a trip to Columbia. She and her brothers are there visiting their dad in the burn treatment center. You see, their dad had an encounter with some propane last night, and the result is second degree burns on his head and arms, along with a smattering of third degree burns. These are bad burns, but it could have been much, much worse.

It will take some time, but it seems like he will be okay. He might even go home tomorrow! Which seems crazy after looking at the photo Porkchop sent me of his bandaged head.

Poor guy. A bypass, a kidney transplant, stents around his heart, and now this. He can't catch a break.

Other Waiting
To me, spring is all about waiting...waiting to realize the potential of carefully laid plans.

First, we were waiting to go to Chicago with Porkchop's niece. We hit the Art Institute, the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, Mitsuwa Marketplace, and IKEA.

This was my first trip to the Field Museum, and I would like to go back. SO MUCH STUFF! My favorite section was the Plants of the World, especially after reading about how the glass and wax specimens were made. Amazing!

We saw Sue, of course:

And we saw the artists-in-residence...two brothers exploring their theory of a new optical reality. Which meant tracing things on curved paper. Like this:

Actually, it's a lot more complicated than just tracing. It's about splitting the focus of your eyes and capturing the "ghost image" on paper. It's pretty neat - there's an article and clip here.

Porkchop and I agreed the brothers strike one as being from the late 1800s/early 1900s. "We've got this new-fangled easel contraption..."

So, after Chicago, we were waiting on sprouts. And guess who peeked out of the ground late last week?

Spinach or lettuce (I can't tell at this stage).

And onions.

Then we were waiting on the Blues to clinch the playoffs. And guess what happened Friday night at the last home game? That's right! They won!

Porkchop and her younger brother were the happiest, especially after we got to shoot pucks down on the ice after the game.

Now I'm waiting to plant tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, and basil. And for our trip to Portland to see Kathy before she moves to Peru! So many things to await!

I also look forward to baking more fun cookies this weekend. Monday night, I made these chewy amaretti cookies:

Quite tasty, although the almond paste makes me feel weird, as in allergic weird.

Hope your week is going well...Keetah says hello to her friends!

Do Not Compromise

2009-04-03T10:16:00.003-05:00

The Iowa news started me thinking about a conversation I had with a co-worker after the VP debates in October. I was complaining about how Biden was being totally unclear and weak about the gay marriage issue, and my co-worker said something like, "well, it seems like there should be some sort of compromise. I mean, if there isn't gay marriage, maybe there could be something else."

I looked at her with mouth agape as she nattered on about how you can't always have the full deal at the beginning, but maybe compromise is the way to start.

Let me be totally clear: I WILL NOT COMPROMISE.

As long as one group of people can have a certain set of rights, I will not settle for something branded under a different name with different rights specified.

HELL NO.

It's easy to suggest compromise when you're in the group that has FULL RIGHTS!

A lot of people ask if Porkchop and I have had a commitment ceremony and are often surprised to hear that we haven't. Y'all, a commitment ceremony doesn't mean a damn thing without the legal rights that accompany an officially recognized marriage. We are committed to each other already - we don't need a ceremony for it!

I'm not going to settle for a stupid-ass ceremony that won't do crap for me except maybe allow us presents like a mixer. A mixer doesn't stand up in court! A mixer won't give us legal protection over each other or tax benefits or parental rights!

I am glad for Iowa, and now I'm super-pissed at Missouri and the federal government and lots of other things. ARGH!

As Iowa Goes...

2009-04-03T09:52:00.002-05:00

So goes the nation?

One can only hope! Yay for the Iowa Supreme Court ruling that the same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional!

I didn't enjoy living in Iowa, but perhaps we should have stayed. Stupid Missouri.

Chocolate Chip Cookies are Back!

2009-04-03T09:24:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I had the urge to make chocolate chip cookies, and I used the recipe my mom always did...the one on the back of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip package.

Unfortunately, the end result was nothing like I remember! The cookies I made were much too buttery and flat and generally not what I wanted. I still ate them, as did others, but I was so sad and disappointed.

Luckily, I can always count on the Smitten Kitchen to post exactly what I want. I made this recipe last night, and I'm so much happier! The cookies aren't flat, and the butter doesn't overpower the cookie-ness! Next time, I just need to make them smaller and I'll be back in childhood.

Smitten Kitchen writes that this recipe is much more akin to the original Toll House recipe, so I can only surmise that someone messed with the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip package. Stupids!

Anyway, I'm glad to have the chocolate chip cookie back!

Pay Dirt

2009-03-30T21:50:00.002-05:00

Porkchop and I skedaddled after work and put dirt in our remaining raised bed, put up more of the trellis, and planted things. Here it is at the end of the day:

The bed with the trellis has sugar snap peas, spinach, lettuce, and radishes. We will add more to the trellis as we plant beans and squash. The 3x3 bed has onions, beets, and carrots. Porkchop also put strawberry plants in pots.

Quite unexpectedly, our beds now contain around 50 earthworms. Over the weekend, we noticed that earthworms were starting to invade our basement! There were dried up bodies littering the floor, and 4 or 5 huddled around the floor drain.

So, while cleaning leaves from the area outside the basement door, Porkchop found the motherlode of worms. This is a mere fraction of them:

A bit blechy, but good for the garden!

Our Bathtub Runneth Over

2009-03-29T20:48:00.003-05:00

Holy shizzle, Porkchop and I transplanted sprouts yesterday, keeping the strongest and composting the weakest (a moment of silence for those plants), and this is what we ended up with in our bathtub-cum-greenhouse:

Here is the transplanting action:

For the past month, the garden has been at the forefront of our minds.

We're either staring out the back window at the garden beds, or we're in the bathroom staring at the plants.

We keep Great Garden Companions handy, able to recite passages and open the volume at exactly the right page.

Porkchop decides to plant some strawberry plants, and I add spinach to my greens list.

We buy a trashcan for growing potatoes.

We are going crazy with planning things!

Tomorrow evening, we're finally going to actually plant things! Carrots, beets, onions, lettuce, spinach, and peas!

The onion sets came into our possession this afternoon from our neighborhood gardening store. Like many establishments in our neighborhood, it was initially difficult for us to ascertain the status of the store. Is it open? Is it closed? Is it closed closed? What the hell, is this how it always looks?

We finally figured out that this is how it always looks:

In some areas, this would pass for an abandoned building, no?

But, signs of life cropped up a couple of weeks ago!

Plants! Live! (As opposed to the layers of dead plants that litter the area.)

Onion sets are $1.75 a pound here, and the guy has red, yellow, and white. In addition to onion sets, you can buy parakeets.

So, by the looks of these pictures, you wouldn't guess that we had maybe an inch of snow lying about this morning! I would have planted things today, but the air was a tad chilly. Instead we purchased more seeds and a couple of strawberry plants.

Let the growing begin! (please!)

Effing Daylight Savings Times

2009-03-09T09:18:00.003-05:00

I like it to be a little bit light out when I get up in the morning. And it was....UNTIL TODAY.

Stupid government changing the date of the time change!

This time change is always difficult for me, anyway, so I don't need it aggravated even more.

Yesterday, I felt like I had the biggest hangover ever. And the time! slipped away! so quickly!

It was 11:30 pm before I knew it, which means I'm starting this Monday with less sleep than normal!

Ah well, enough complaining.

Porkchop and I have started playing Mancala. That's one reason we were up so late. That, and we started watching Man on Wire at 9:00. A counting game and a vertigo-inducing movie...just what I need before trying to sleep.

Strangely enough, I didn't dream about either of these things. Instead, I had anxious dreams about dessert bars (as in desserts in bar form). I have no idea...

Busy as a Beaver

2009-03-07T20:51:00.003-06:00

This is how Porkchop's younger brother characterized me tonight, as I made hummus, this pita bread, and this baked falafel and yogurt and tahini dressing.

I was worried about the pita bread because it was so sticky and I had problems rolling it out. But, nonetheless, most of the pitas puffed up. Not perfectly, but still tasty...especially with the hummus.

By the way, I used dried chickpeas for the hummus and falafel, and I'm so glad I did. They are WAY better than the canned stuff.

So, our day started out bright and early with Keetah waking us up at 6:30 (an annoying habit she has developed). It actually wasn't so bad this morning because we intended to rise early anyway for yard work. Our goal was to install garden beds, and that's what we did.

Here's Porkchop with the first bed nearly finished (notice how the beds behind it are all super unlevel):

Here I am with the project finished (beds much more level, although we realize not perfectly level, with which we're okay):

We had to clear out so much swamp grass and chunks of concrete and other debris (a glass tube, wiring, fence collars, etc.). This is just a small portion of the stuff:

Needless to say, we'll be filling in the beds with some good dirt, compost, and manure. Because our yard is crazy underneath the swamp grass.

There's a lot more to do in our yard in terms of clearing out debris. Fortunately, we love yardwork.

We celebrated getting the beds in by going out for Sonic. Woo! After that, we hit Global Foods in Kirkwood and TJ Maxx, where I scored by finding Two Leaves and a Bud tea for cheap(er) and Dr. Kracker crackers (my favorite!). We were in Kirkwood to scope out the manure at O.K. Hatchery, where we also picked up some garden gloves for Porkchop and more marigold seeds. I LOVE O.K. Hatchery! It's packed with all sorts of good stuff, and there's no pretension anywhere. Just people picking up seed potatoes, bird feed, and cow manure.

OH, but our best find from this weekend are these cookies that Porkchop picked out last night from Jay International Foods:

SO GOOD!

No, We Didn't Run Away to Disney World Forever

2009-03-02T19:52:00.005-06:00

We've been back in St. Louis since Wednesday...Porkchop has been busy having another cold, and I'm still trying to wrap my mind around having to work.

[I can't get through a workday anymore without being tuned into Pandora. Otherwise, I feel like I'll fall asleep.]

So...to wrap up our WDW stuff...

Monday
Magic Kingdom day.

The worst day.

After riding Space Mountain and other things in Tomorrowland, there isn't much to do. The park gets crazy crowded by lunch, and it isn't designed to handle the number of people that pile in. You can't walk 3 inches without running into someone.

Save for the ice cream, the afternoon was not fun. But we stuck it out for the Spectromagic parade and the fireworks display. (Had we left the park after lunch, there was no way in hell I would have gone back).

Tuesday
A much better day.

We spent the morning at Disney Hollywood Studios, where we rode the new Toy Story Mania ride twice. It was a fun time of playing 4-D carnival-style midway games! By the end of the first ride, Porkchop was just 500 points ahead of me. Quite unexpectedly, I totally dominated the second ride and edged out Porkchop by around 30,000 points.

After doing everything on our list, we left the park around 2:00 and rested at the hotel some. We rounded out the afternoon by playing miniature golf and taking senior class photos:

Porkchop looks cool here, but I won the game. 50-54...what's happening?! Am I becoming good at skill games, or is Porkchop losing her touch?

[I won't mention how I scored over 330,000 points on the Buzz Lightyear ride...compared to P-chop's 50,000-something.]

After golf, we used the Disney bus system to get to Downtown Disney for dinner. Since the waterpark by the golf place had already closed, getting to Downtown was a bit inconvenient. The only bus running went to Epcot. At Epcot, we had to pick a resort bus, take the bus to the resort, and then catch another bus to Downtown. In the end, we lucked out by choosing the Saratoga Springs bus, as there was a walkway from Saratoga to Downtown (no waiting for a bus, yay!).

Not so lucky was that we witnessed a woman fall off her scooter as she exited the bus! It was obvious that the woman couldn't steer her scooter very well, but no one expected her to fall off. As she rode off the bus ramp, she cut her wheels sharply, which caused the scooter to deposit her face-first on the sidewalk. And then the scooter fell on her.

I felt horrible for the woman and for the bus driver, who obviously felt quite shitty.

Anyway, where was I? We did some pin trading at Downtown Disney and had a good dinner.

Wednesday
The day we'd been waiting for! And not because we were leaving that afternoon!

No, Wednesday morning was our Segway tour at Epcot!

After I traded my broken Segway for a functioning one, it was super fun! We had around 45 minutes of training and practice indoors, and then it was off to the World Showcase. Since the Showcase opens later than Epcot, it became our playground as we zig-zagged through the columns at Italy, cruised through the Morrocco bazaar, and traversed the garden bridges in Japan.

Here we are on our Segways:

And here's a little clip of Porkchop riding hers (listen closely and you can hear me exclaim at the end as Porkchop gets a little too close to me):

The Rest of the Week
Blech. We returned to work right away, which wasn't fun.

But, we also returned to sprouting tomatoes! They're a little leggy, but otherwise okay. Oh, and the peppers are quite beautiful:

Other random things...

Friday night after work, I requested a chair massage from the "Chinese Exercise" place in the Galleria. I heard from a co-worker who heard from her dance instructor that, if you don't have time for a full massage, this place is pretty good. While my experience was just fine, Porkchop will tell you otherwise. To begin with, Porkchop didn't even want a massage, the woman there pretty much forced her to sit down. Then, after the woman had worked on P-chop for a few minutes, a guy took over and started punching her calves and quads. Finally, to top it off, the woman asked if Porkchop was my child and, I swear, proceeded to make fun of us in Chinese (newsflash: it's never cool to make fun of people, especially when they can't understand you). When we left, the woman told Porkchop, "I love you, baby."

Huh? We won't be going back.

On another topic, we received radish sprouts in last week's share, and they are amazing!! I love radish sprouts!

I also love the Mexican hot chocolate at Cafe Ventana!

I declare this the best hot chocolate in St. Louis. The cayenne pepper and orange zest make for an amazing drink. The beignets are also pretty darn good. A cinnamon sugar one came with my drink, and next time I'm going to try the chocolate one. Yum!

Greetings from Walt Disney World!

2009-02-22T15:01:00.007-06:00

Hello!

Porkchop and I are taking a little break from the day's activities to give y'all a little recap (because I guess we're so vain that we think others care about our Disney World trip). Anyway...

Friday Night
We landed in Orlando around 9:00 and made it to our hotel room shortly thereafter via the Magical Express. We're staying in the Pop Century resort again. This time in the 50's area (as indicated by the giant bowling pins flanking our building).

Although we knew we had an early morning ahead of us, we both had a difficult time sleeping (I dreamt of bugs in our bed and of being upgraded to a much more expensive resort, while Porkchop had a horrible nightmare that I traded one of my fancier Disney pins for a baby Minnie Mouse pin of much lesser value).

Saturday
Epcot was first on our agenda, and the morning went well with two Soarin' rides, Test Track, Living with the Land, and a Behind the Seeds tour. The tour was a more in depth visit to the hydroponic greenhouses than you get when riding Living with the Land. The highlight for me was seeing the trellis structures up close, as well as getting a better look at the tomato and eggplant trees.

I also enjoyed seeing vanilla and ginger trees, and sampling a cucumber grown in the greenhouse (a special Mickey head-shaped cuke).

After lunch and seeing the 3D show, Honey I Shrunk the Audience (snoozers), we hit the World Showcase and hit our tired wall. We struggled to drag ourselves around the lagoon and were annoyed by all the people who go to the World Showcase to drink overpriced beer. Also annoying were all of the people who thought that Porkchop, who was wearing a Disney themed nametag on her pin lanyard, worked for the park. This included a German man who wanted directions to the free Coke pavilion, some Asian girls who were looking for the Maelstrom ride in Norway, and a couple of kids who insisted that we trade pins with them. (WDW Pin Trading 101: Cast Members are obligated to trade you for whatever pin you want. Other guests may not be as accommodating.) We felt a little bad for the kids, who were genuinely excited by our pins, and each ended up trading them one of our nicer pins for... you guessed it, a cheap little baby Minnie Mouse pin! Porkchop is a prophet.

In addition to being exhausted, we both suffered from sore feet. Despite being a Disney expert and knowing better than to wear new shoes while traversing the parks, Porkchop donned her new Keens in the morning and regretted her decision early in the day. She likened it to walking on broken glass, moaned and groaned around the World Showcase, and nearly lost it when she found out we had to STAND through the 15 minute movie in Canada.

So, we limped away from Epcot early without seeing Illuminations. At the hotel, I snoozed while Porkchop watched a Blues hockey game. Despite our promises to go to bed earlier, the Blues game went to overtime and Porkchop nearly missed the disappointing end to the game (Final: Blues lose 1-0).

Today
This was a short day at the parks. We have an early reservation at the California Grill, so we scheduled Animal Kingdom for today. AK isn't as big as the other parks, so we can do everything we want by mid-afternoon. AK is my favorite park because of this, and because it's so shady. Seriously, shade is a must for me.

We started the morning big with Expedition Everest. Then it was on to Dinoland for a couple of rides, and then back to Expedition Everest to use our Fastpass.

Up next was a tea and snack break while we watched the Flights of Wonder show (an exciting time as one bird grazed our heads with its wings).

Afterwards, we pushed on to Rafiki's Animal Planet and then went on our two-week Kilimanjaro Safari.

Before lunch, we had our final Expedition Everest ride via another Fastpass. The final ride resulted in the best picture of Porkchop, her expression captured her authentic anxiety as we plunged down the side of the mountain (Porkchop doesn't like drops and usually puts on a fake face for the photo).

We wrapped up our day at AK with Festival of the Lion King. This time, the show included a fire handler guy who danced with a fire baton thingie.

So...now I'm just waiting for a tasty dinner at the California Grill!

Never a Prettier Sight...

2009-02-14T21:40:00.003-06:00

...as peppers sprouting!

I sit and stare at these little guys for minutes at a time.

Also great are the little basils:

Not so great is that I've been suffering from some strong allergies. Murrrr. A doctor at the urgent care clinic suggested that it's the jet stream bring up pine tree stuff from Texas. I have no idea if this is correct at all, but I do have tree allergies.

I hate being allergic to things like trees because I love trees! My physical reaction to tree pollen does not accurately reflect the love I have for trees. Please don't judge me based on my allergies!

Last night, I sneezed and sniffled my way through Coraline. Even though my mind was hazy with allergies, I recognized the movie as awesome.

I have no segue for this:

A 12 lb pork shoulder. Currently marinating in the refrigerator for all-day cooking tomorrow.

When I ordered pork shoulder from Fair Shares, I didn't realize it would be the entire shoulder! I expected 3, maybe, 5 pounds. Although my mind reeled when I saw it, I tried to play it cool.

If the cooking goes well, we'll be rolling in pulled pork (hmm, that's kind of gross imagery...anyway, we'll have a lot for freezing and many dinners to come).

New Record!

2009-02-09T21:41:00.006-06:00

Longest time without posting since I started this here blog!

Not exactly the sort of record I like...

What's Been Going On Since You've Been Gone
Not too far in the past, St. Louis received snow. A lot of it! So Porkchop and I invested in a snow shovel, and she graciously shoveled. Here she is hard at work in the backyard during the early morn' (please don't dwell on the jankiness of our garage - thanks):

Most recently, as in this weekend, Porkchop has been sick! And dogsitting her brother's chihuahua, so she spent most of her time like this:

Poor thing! Of course, she is refusing to go to the urgent care clinic to get real meds, so I can't feel too badly for her. The deal is that if she isn't better by the end of the week, she HAS to go because her sickness can't ruin our upcoming vacation. Yes! Porkchop wore down my resistance yet again and I have reluctantly agreed to a trip to Crazy World. I mean Disney World. Much as I dislike the place (why go to a fake place when you could go to a real place???), I am looking forward to a trip to ANYWHERE outside of the Midwest.

So, anyway, while Porkchop sniffled on the couch with the dog, I made cupcakes:

(P.S. I wasn't so feeling so hot on Saturday, either, but not as bad as Porkchop.)

They are yummy lemon cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting. Go here for the recipe.

Over the weekend, I also made a curry chicken dish with raisins and almonds; this sweet potato, corn, and jalapeno bisque; honey whole wheat bread; and this smashed chickpea salad. All of the linked recipes are pure tastiness!

On another note, a couple of weekends ago, Porkchop and I picked up a compost bin and seed starting supplies...all from Worm's Way. I'm loving the compost bin:

In addition to being a tumbler, it collects compost tea in the base!

We also picked up seed starting trays, heat mats, and a grow light. I am serious about this seed starting stuff this year! Yesterday, we started with pepper and basil seeds. It's a little bit early for starting inside by around a week. But if nothing happens with these seeds, I'll know to try again.

Pepper seeds can be hard to start because they need to be kept in soil at 80 degrees F. The heat mat seems to be doing well, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed still.

Anyway, I've also done a bit of my knitting on miscellaneous projects - my log cabin blanket and a random baby hat.

That's all!

Oh, wait, I meant to mention...

The Chocolate that has Changed My Life
I love good dark chocolate.

The 70% Madagascar Sambirano Valley chocolate bar that I received through Fair Shares makes my heart light and happy. This bar from Patric Chocolate blows everything else I've ever had out of the water. I can't wait to try everything else from this small shop in Columbia, MO!

This City Stinks

2009-01-26T22:28:00.002-06:00

No, seriously, the city stinks!

It's been stinking since yesterday and no one knows why!

It was especially foul this morning. I didn't think it could get any worse as when we drove past the Ronnoco plant on 40, and the stink mixed in with the burnt coffee smell. But! Then I got out of the car at work and nearly fell over from the grossness.

Blech!!

Maybe the snow and ice will clear the air??

And the Day isn't Over Yet

2009-01-23T15:47:00.003-06:00

Today I have done the following:

Moved the closing date of our mortgage refinance.
Scheduled the appraisal for the refinance.
Received and approved proofs for a FAQ booklet.
Reviewed, re-reviewed, reviewed again, and sent out press-ready files for a User Guide.
Performed a massive mail merge.
Supervised 4 students who are assembling a giant mailing.
Took an hour lunch.
Went to the library and checked out a book.
Breathed for the first time in a few weeks.

I'm totally ready for the weekend!

Our House Today

2009-01-20T14:14:00.002-06:00

Yay, flags!

Today, Today

2009-01-20T10:05:00.002-06:00

I cannot focus on work.

I can't sit still.

I'm happy.

I'm nervous.

I want to cry.

I want to throw up.

I'm proud to be an American again!!

A Day to Remember

2009-01-19T19:54:00.002-06:00

Not only is it Martin Luther King Day and the day before Barack Obama's inauguration (YAY!), it is also the day I give you this:

It's the yarn left from my Interlocking Balloons scarf!

I started this scarf November 7, 200-freaking-7, and I am indescribably relieved to have it off the needles.

For quite some time, I was convinced that this would be my perpetually unfinished object. I would work on it for hours, only to be disheartened at what seemed to be a lack of progress.

The lesson? Don't choose a scarf pattern that has a 44-row repeat and somewhere around 50 stitches per row!

Anyway...it's done. Now I just have to block it, and that, my friends, will require blocking pins (which I don't have).

Also today we baked honey whole wheat bread. Yum!

I spent a little bit of time this afternoon at Mississippi Mud House, and for dinner we had some cheap Chinese food. This is the time of my cycle during which I crave one certain thing and my brain won't shut up until I have it. The sesame chicken was most unhealthy, but nothing ever tasted so good.

Nothing, with perhaps the exception of dinner Friday night...

Acero (or, Total Deliciousness)
Porkchop helped a friend design wedding invitations, and I provided the letterpress printer hook-up, so said friend took us out for a very nice dinner at Acero. We all enjoyed the four course tasting menu (for a mere $25, one of the best deals in St. Louis), accompanied by a red wine, the name of which I can't recall.

I started my dinner with the chicken liver mousse crostini, which was totally perfect. I'm a secret chicken liver fan (I grew up eating chicken liver regularly), so I loved this crostini topped with the creamy mousse. For my pasta course, I had the orchiette with acorn squash and pancetta. Again, two thumbs up! However, I'm not quite convinced the squash was indeed acorn squash...it tasted rather butternut-ish (no complaint from me, of course).

For the main course, I chose the slow-roasted porchetta, mainly for the polenta accompaniment. The meat was tender and flavorful, and the polenta yummy and creamy. Finally, for dessert I chose the chocolate-pistachio bread pudding with espresso topping. It was good, but the bread pudding was a bit on the dry side. Not something I'd choose again.

In conclusion, I look forward to going back for another dinner!

What else...
I also finished my February Lady Sweater! It is blocked and ready for buttons! After finding some appropriate buttons and completing the deal, I'll post a picture.

Yesterday, Porkchop and I watched Slumdog Millionaire. It totally deserves the awards it's winning! Such a well put-together film.

Also, I can't forget... Happy Inauguration Day!

Noodles! And Other Things

2009-01-13T21:54:00.002-06:00

I have been to two more restaurants! This is a crazy, unexpected restaurant-eating week!

On Sunday, I met Porkchop and Suzi and others at Crown Candy Kitchen (P-chop and Suzi attended a wedding show on Sunday. For Suzi, not Porkchop.). So yum! I considered getting a sundae but decided on a hot fudge malt. Next time...the hot fudge sundae is totally mine!

Two things I love about Crown Candy Kitchen:

They've been open in the same location since 1913.
Their website lists a "Carmel Sundae." Totally St. Louis...try saying "caramel" around here and people look at you like you have three heads.

On Monday, my supervisor took me out to lunch. Amazing what trying to apply for a different job can do! We walked over to Bobo Noodle House and had a delicious lunch. The vegetarian pad thai was, hands down, one of the best I've had in quite some time. My supervisor's lemongrass beef was tender and livened up by the accompanying spicy noodle and cucumber salad. All in all, it's a good place for us Wash U folks!

Not So Good
I tried making potato gnocchi on Saturday.

It was horrible.

Instead of "little pillows of heaven," I ended up with mushy balls of what might as well have been mashed potatoes.

I don't know what I did wrong. And I don't know if I'll ever attempt it again. I'm usually not so quick to admit defeat, but the gnocchi mystifies me.

Two Restaurant Reviews and Some Complaining

2009-01-10T20:09:00.003-06:00

This week has been full out nuts at work. We have a humongous project mailing going out in a little over a week, and nothing is ready yet. I cannot even begin to describe how draining this month has been and will be. Let's just say that I woke up at 5 am stressing out about stuff and I couldn't fall back asleep for nearly an hour and a half. It's freaking Saturday morning, for crying out loud, I shouldn't be stressed out!

Blech.

I found a promising job posting last week, so over the weekend I was all about this:

Yeah, revising and updating my resume. During the week, I wrote a kick ass cover letter and yesterday I had the difficult conversation with my supervisor about how I was applying for a different position and could she act as a reference.

So, OF COURSE, right after this conversation I checked the job posting and found that it was no longer there!! ARGH!!

I didn't even get a chance to submit my stinking application, and I feel really deflated.

But at least my supervisor is aware that I won't hesitate to apply for other positions. I'm hoping this leads to at least a small raise and/or title change to truly reflect all of the activities that I do. I like most of what I do, and I want to be recognized properly for my work.

Anyway...

During the week, Porkchop suggested we go out to lunch. To Pappy's Smokehouse! I've been wanting to try Pappy's for a while, and I'm so glad we went there. We both had the lunch special with the pulled pork sandwich. The pork was crazy tender and moist - nothing dry or chewy about it! So good! The sauce is served on the side, and since I combined all three sauces on my sandwich, I can't write about them individually. But I did enjoy what I had. For my side dish, I had the sweet potato fries. Also quite tasty!

When we arrived at Pappy's, the place was packed and the line to order was long. Fortunately, it moved quite quickly, and many of the orders must have been take out because we found a place to sit right after ordering. The sandwiches were out quickly, and the service was friendly. The owner made frequent rounds to make sure everything was okay.

One of things I enjoyed most about Pappy's was the cross section of St. Louis lunching there. There were fancy corporate types pulling up in Mercedes, SLU students, office workers, and other people just looking for some good BBQ.

Our other restaurant outing was last night after I gathered myself together and stopped moaning about my missed job opportunity. I might have been eating of misery last night, but I still enjoyed Tower Tacos. My only complaint is that I ate WAY too much. You see, their hot salsa is actually killer hot, and I enjoyed soothing my mouth and stomach with the horchata...so I quickly developed a habit of eating a chip or two dipped in hot salsa and relieving myself with the horchata. For dinner, I tried a chicken and a chorizo sope. Sopes are thick tortillas with raised edges, and they were topped the meat, refried beans, and the regular lettuce and tomato. I liked the chicken, but the chorizo we get through Fair Shares has spoiled me, so I wasn't much of fan.

Next time, I'd like to try one of the more special dishes. And I'll definitely order the horchata again.

Okay, so this next photo doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the post. But it's my favorite photo from our Gatlinburg trip. It's Suzi and me, and obviously the world is being invaded by aliens:

Actually, we're just at the aquarium, in the tunnel running under the big tank.

A Thrown Together Catch-up Post and a Restaurant Review

2009-01-03T20:22:00.005-06:00

Porkchop and I are hanging out on the couch tonight, watching the Blues game. Well, Porkchop is watching and I'm doing other things in the vicinity of the TV (like writing this overdue catch-up post), allowing me to cheer and groan as appropriate.

Watching TV is totally different these days because of our new TV! I'm not very attached to things like TV, but I'm liking this new TV. At first, I was opposed to such a purchase, but when I learned the picture on our then-current TV would be even smaller due to the digital conversion box that we would need to purchase by February 17, I realized that it was time. Here's Porkchop with the new TV (see our old TV at the bottom...can you imagine the picture being even smaller???):

The day before Christmas Eve, I worked from home...a quite fortuitous decision I made only that morning. You see, I was at home in the afternoon to show a guy Porkchop's car. He came over with cash, and that was that! Anyway, this relates to the TV because the car sale paid for the TV.

The days leading up to Christmas were quite busy and filled with holiday activities, but I wasn't really feeling it this year. It all happened so quickly, and I had time only for a smidge of holiday baking. We made a single batch of orange-chocolate-pistachio biscotti this year. That's it!

No chocolate pretzels, no chocolate crinkle cookies, no shortbread. Sigh.

There was, however, kugel. I made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen for Suzi's Hanukkah dinner, and it was delicious. Yum, dried cherries! And heavy. Including the baking dish, it weighed in around 10 pounds.

Porkchop worked a lot around the holidays, but she managed to crank out some tote bag presents for friends and family.

Here is Suzi's (it makes sense because she owns a gun (!!!) named Jack):

Here is my mom's (who always talks about the crazy squirrels in her yard):

And here's my sister's (who always wants to play board games):

Awesome tote bags, eh?

With the holidays over, I'm getting back into my regular routine. Today I did laundry and knitted on my FLS. I'm also contemplating what to do with the yarn our friend Patrick brought back from Argentina. Here's Patrick, the yarn, and me:

It's huge! And rather rustic. And nice. Ideas?

During his visit the week before Christmas, Patrick also gave us Spotted Cow beer, truffles from Gail Ambrosius, and a mate set. So nice! We also had terrific pizza while he was in town, so check out my review at the end of this post.

Speaking of visits, Katie of Katie and Beth visited us the day after Christmas. We had dinner at Pi and drinks at Bailey's Chocolate Bar, and I was surprised to see both places bumping. Obviously, I don't go out much on Friday nights, but I was glad to see local establishments doing well.

A total contrast was Banh Mi So #1 on New Year's Eve. It was just me, Porkchop, and a few other people. Of course, this might have been because the restaurant wasn't officially open. It was all rather confusing, but we ended up enjoying shrimp spring rolls and tofu curries. YUM! I love Banh Mi So #1!

Back to today...while Porkchop was at work, I baked bread! Yes, starting on my 2009 goals already! I made this recipe for roasted garlic bread, only I substituted rosemary for the parsley, which makes it tons better in my opinion. Oh, and I used butter instead of margarine because I think margarine is the devil.

I haven't baked bread in at least 10 years, and I've never had to shape it into a loaf.....but, I think it turned out awesome:

Next time, I will cook it a little bit longer because it could be crustier. But, all in all, it is delicious! And I'm excited about baking more bread!

The Good Pie
During Patrick's visit, we ate at The Good Pie, one of the newest pizza joints in St. Louis. This one's a keeper! GO THERE!!!

The pizzas are thin crust Naples-style and cooked in a wood-burning oven brought over from Italy. The ingredients are simple and fresh. I nearly cried when I had my first bite because this is the type of pizza I've been missing! The crust is thin and crisp, yet chewy inside, and the ingredients are high quality and tasty.

We tried four pizzas, and all were awesome. The margherita, the salsicca, the atina, and the mast'nicola. I loved all of them, but the mast'nicola was my favorite with the pancetta and pecorino.

The Good Pie also serves local beer, and I had a tasty porter from O'Fallon (I think...it was a long time ago).

My only suggestion is that they improve the signage on the outside. The windows are tinted so dark, we nearly didn't even try the door, thinking they were closed! They should at least put up an Open/Closed sign of some variety.

Anway, I can't wait to go back!

Year-End Review/New Year Preview

2008-12-31T10:32:00.006-06:00

I'm not a resolutions type person, but on the first day of 2008, I took stock and thought about what I wanted out of the year.

Here is that list with comments in bold:

Buy a house. I'm sick of apartments. Fortunately, my cigarette- and pot-smoking, loud-talking, door-banging downstairs landlady and her loud-and-constantly yawning and spitting boyfriend have kicked my need-to-buy-a-house ass into gear. CHECK! DONE!
Cook at least one meal a week that uses only locally produced food items. This will be easier when I can grow my own little garden, which means I need a house. CHECK. With Fair Shares, we have many all - or nearly all - local meals.
Recommit to recycling at home. Since St. Louis doesn't have curbside recycling pick up for everyone, I've become lazy about recycling. This is my dirty little secret. Fortunately, when it's just me living here, I don't have much recycling waste. But, anyway, we bought a recycling receptacle yesterday, and I looked up the guidelines for the drop-off recycling locations. My biggest waste is vegetable and fruit matter. When I buy a house, I'll be able to start composting. RECYCLING - CHECK! COMPOSTING - NEARLY CHECK. I hate to admit it, but I fell off the worm bin composting. BUT, we will set up an outside compost thingie in the next couple of months.
Replace current cleaning products with ecologically sound ones once current products are gone. GOOD PROGRESS. Our laundry detergent is always biodegradable now. In terms of cleaning supplies, we've switched to "greener" ones, but I really want to buy some of the locally made, non-toxic cleaning supplies available at Local Harvest. Sometimes I use borax and a lemon to clean, but not nearly enough. Porkchop didn't like the biodegradable dishwasher detergent, so now we're using one that doesn't contain phosphates (good, but I think it's still bad).
Knit garments beyond hats and scarves and hand mitts. On my way with the Tilted Duster. CHECK! Tilted Duster done, and I'm nearly finished with my February Lady Sweater.

These are my ideas for 2009:

Plant my own vegetable garden! I shared a garden last year, and while it was fun, I wasn't able to tend it very well and my tomatoes didn't do so hot. But we did have lots of chard. Too much chard. Porkchop and I made a list of plants (no chard) and supplies for our backyard garden, and I'm quite excited.
Can my own food! A friend of ours in Massachusetts (yes, you E Buz) has inspired me with her canning. For Christmas, I received the Ball Book of Home Preserving, and I can't wait to start.
Figure out my career. Really, I need to formulate some sort of plan for growth.
House maintenance: paint inside, paint the foundation, finish the drylocking in the basement, put up that additional downspout, fix up the backyard....this list could get quite long.
Learn how to knit Fair Isle-style. It is so time to do this.
Do more baking! I've fallen behind this past year sadly.
Secret project with Porkchop. Maybe more details later.

My motto for the coming year is "2009: Making it Mine." You can use this, too, if you like.

Happy New Year's Eve!

My Favorite Thing Today

2008-12-30T15:32:00.002-06:00

I am back at work and bored out of my mind.

Oh, there's a lot to be done with building out our new website, but I don't feel in the mood to write queries.

So I'm distracting myself with the green raisins in Trader Joe's Trekking the Himalayas nut mix.

I don't know how on earth these green raisins are so freaking good, but they are one of the best things ever.

All for now...

It's a Time to be Thankful, But...

2008-12-25T21:57:00.002-06:00

I don't want to complain about Christmas presents, but someone has to stop my sister.

For the past five years or so, our routine has been that my sister buys used clothing for us from a consignment or Goodwill shop (or simply plucks them from her closet), gives them to us as presents, and then we return them to our local Goodwill.

I'm tired of it for real.

This year featured a leather shirt with ruffles. Not only is it absolutely diametric from my personal clothing style, but it's a size or two too small.

I also received this snakeskin-print Guess shirt:

Unfortunately, I'm not into snakeskin-printed clothing.

There was more clothing, including this Western-inspired shirt given to both Porkchop and me. Size it's a Size One, neither of us can squeeze into it. Otherwise, I'd be sure to rock it around town.

Moving on...every couple of years, my parents like to give hats to me and Porkchop. Unlike other years, the ones we received this year are not twins. They are, however, in a similar style. Because we like to coordinate all the time, obviously.

Ah well, we did receive some lovely gifts. Maybe I'll write about those tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying the holidays!

FU UO

2008-12-10T13:15:00.003-06:00

Isn't it weird that a store selling Jesus action figures and loads of stuff about doing drugs and drinking and having sex draws the line at selling pro same-sex marriage t-shirts?

While the right-wing owner of Urban Outfitters has no qualms about selling all sorts of useless and tasteless crap, apparently making a profit while supporting the queers is just too much.

I've purchased a few things from Urban Outfitters in the past...but no more!

Oh, and keep in mind that the same guy owns Anthropologie...so don't shop there either.

With Legs Afire

2008-12-09T11:01:00.003-06:00

Oh my gosh, I broke out some step aerobics this weekend after not touching my step for about six months.

And my calves HURT...hurt as in I wake up in pain. When I was in down dog last night, my heels weren't even close to the floor, and pedaling them out was an ordeal.

It wouldn't be so bad, but I don't really have time to hobble around. Things are BUSY!

Besides injuring myself, this weekend was full of cleaning, cooking, knitting, and socializing. Sunday night, Porkchop and I made a super tasty dinner for Suzi and her boyfriend. We cooked up porkchops with black walnuts and apples, buttermilk mashed potatoes, and caramelized butternut squash. Yum!

After dinner, we convened a meeting of the Unofficial Gatlinburg Activities Committee. We and a few others leave on a little trip Thursday night! We're going to hang out in a cabin outside of Gatlinburg for a few days. And when I say "cabin," I mean a 3-story affair with fireplaces, a hot tub, and a pool table. We might take a trip to an aquarium, go snow tubing, and perhaps hiking, but hopefully there will be lots of lounging about in the cabin knitting and playing Scrabble.

I just have to decide what to take for knitting. I don't want to haul along my February Lady (which is just missing one sleeve) because it's too big, and what if the airport security people are asses and take away my knitting? I recently started a Spring Beret (Ravelry link), but I imagine I'll finish it before the trip. Hmmm...what to take, what to take.

Have a great Tuesday!

What was He THINKING?

2008-12-05T11:03:00.002-06:00

I had my hair cut last night after a month of forgetting to make an appointment (and when I did make one, I felt like crap on the day of the appointment and canceled).

Things looked okay at the salon, but when I looked in the mirror a few hours after arriving home, I exclaimed to Porkchop that it looks like my hair was cut with a bike chain.

It looks like my hair got caught in something, resulting in one of those bad emergency haircuts with a pair of dull scissors.

Blech.

So, anyway, back to finding a different stylist. This was only my second session with this guy, so I don't feel bad at all about ditching him.

My Thanksgiving Break

2008-12-01T21:52:00.005-06:00

The long weekend ended with this:

Snow! Today! (Yes, that's our house. And yes, we have two front doors. And yep, the neighbor's house is just like ours.)

The long weekend began Wednesday night when we drove down to Jonesboro and stayed with my dad. The next day, we three drove down to Little Rock to my brother's apartment. There, we met up with my mom and sister, who had driven down the day before. Since my brother was on call (tech support) on Thanksgiving, we stayed around his apartment and had a Honeybaked Ham Thanksgiving. Not bad, but not the best thing ever.

After lunch, we explored the area around his apartment a bit. He lives near downtown Little Rock and is quite close to the Arkansas River. A short walk beyond his apartment complex led us down to the river bank.

I walked along the river with a bamboo stick for a while. Because that's how I like to have fun. You can see downtown Little Rock in this photo:

Porkchop and me by the river:

Later in the afternoon, we went down to a lock and dam and walked across the river via a pedestrian bridge. Here's Porkchop at the midway point:

Thursday night, Porkchop and I shared a hotel room with my sister, who drove us a bit crazy. (And kept me awake until 2 am with her restless activity and midnight texting. Seriously.)

So, Friday morning we were tired heads, but we persevered and made chocolate gravy. After a breakfast of sugar and bread, we went to the Clinton library and an art museum. The library is very well done, and I wish I could have stayed there the whole day. Visiting the library of course reminded me of how well things were going at the end of the Clinton administration (job creation! a balanced budget!) and how the current administration made things into a dung heap. [Then, when I became depressed, I remembered how excited I've been feeling about the upcoming administration change. I can't wait to feel like an American again! I've been so disillusioned and disheartened for the past 8 years, I can't remember what it's like to say with pride that I'm from the US. Anyway...end tangent.]

Porkchop and I were both impressed with Little Rock - with the downtown, anyway. There are lots of little restaurants and shops, and it seems so friendly and accessible. And there's a trolley! And bike trails and at least two pedestrian bridges.

Friday night, we dined at Cajun's Wharf. Unfortunately, I wasn't hungry enough for a big dinner, but the gumbo was good. Next time, the grouper is mine!

My dad, Porkchop, and I returned to Jonesboro Friday night. Porkchop and I had to hit the road early to meet Porkchop's parents in St. Louis Saturday afternoon. Why did we have to meet them? Because of this little guy:

Oliver!

Oliver spent the night with us Saturday night, and Porkchop was beside herself with excitement.

Sunday evening came too early for Porkchop, as that's when we returned Oliver to his people.

Also on Sunday evening, we had an awesome dinner cooked by Porkchop's brother and sister-in-law. We had the juiciest, pomegranate-glazed turkey; sweet potato casserole; Swiss chard with pecans; a stuffing of pancetta, cherries, and goat cheese; mashed potatoes; and fruit tarts for dessert. We also played a lot of SingStar (well, I only participated in 3 songs...I listened to many more!).

And that brings us back to today! I had a dental appointment in the morning (yay! no cavities!), and I went to a chocolate tasting in the evening. My CSA sponsored a tasting with the owner of Kakao. The owner explained various processes to us, and we tasted a few truffles (a vanilla-dark chocolate one, a chai flavored one, and one made with Maker's Mark bourbon), caramels, dragees, and toffee. I also purchased some spicy hot chocolate, which I can't wait to taste.

Have a good week!

A Sad Trend

2008-12-01T13:25:00.003-06:00

Independent restaurants in St. Louis are slowly starting to shutter due to the "economic downturn."

The latest one is the Pitted Olive on Hampton.

The Pitted Olive was damn good, and I'm sad to see it close. Obviously, we didn't eat there enough (apparently, thinking about their food doesn't cut it...I was just recently thinking about their yummy pommes frites).

So much sadness for these independent restaurant owners...

Too Much Ravelry?

2008-11-25T11:39:00.002-06:00

I think I'm looking at too many patterns on Ravelry.

You're probably wondering if there can be such a thing.

But last night I dreamt I ruined a bag of yarn belonging to Ysolda Teague, whose patterns I often mark as a favorite.

Weird.

Chocolate Gravy for the Curious

2008-11-24T18:52:00.003-06:00

Here's a recipe for the Best Thing Ever:

Chocolate Gravy
2 c milk
3/4 c sugar
2 T cocoa
2 heaping T flour
1/2 t salt
2 T butter
1 t vanilla

Heat milk in a saucepan. While heating, mix together sugar, cocoa, flour and salt; stir in enough milk to make a smooth paste. Next, pour this mixture into the warm milk and stir over moderate heat until thickened. Add butter and vanilla. Serve over biscuits.

It's like brownie batter for breakfast - how can you not love it!

There's an interesting little bit about the possible origins of chocolate gravy at the bottom of this webpage. What I know about chocolate gravy is the following:

It's yummy.
My grandmother made it every Christmas and sometimes during the summer when we visited her in Sasakwa, Oklahoma. In later years, my uncle Johnny made the gravy.
There's a diner in Big Flat, Arkansas, that serves chocolate gravy once a year. This "once a year" always falls during the Freeman Family reunion, so everyone goes there for breakfast on that morning. [Note that I've never been to said reunion, but my parents have.] [Other note: Beth Ditto talks about eating chocolate gravy in this interview.]

Things Cut Close

2008-11-23T21:32:00.004-06:00

It's Sunday night, and I don't want the weekend to end. This is the first Sunday we've had at home together in a long time. Instead of packing the day full, we left plenty of time to hang out in our pajamas and fix a brunch of waffles and sausages. Then we went for a walk in Carondelet Park, did a little shopping, and made dinner (this chicken over rice instead of noodles).

I spoke to my mom earlier today, and she told me that all of my brother's work buddies were laid off last week. His company laid off 500 people nationwide, including 60 people at their headquarters where my brother works. All 60 people were in the IT department (my brother's department). My brother is super worried that he will be in the next inevitable round of lay offs.

I know of a few other people who are being directly affected by this recession. It's really quite scary.

Most of the projects at my center are funded through the next two years, but I'm still worried. It doesn't help when the Chancellor sends out an email announcing that the university's endowment has shrunk by 25% and that we probably won't receive raises this year and so forth.

But, meanwhile....

I've been knitting!

The February Lady Sweater is coming along well:

I also made the Star-crossed Slouchy beret for a coworker's birthday:

I made the beret last weekend. I casted on Friday night and finished it Saturday after our trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder house in Mansfield. While it was a fun little trip, it was freaking cold. On the way down to Mansfield, we went through a bit of snow! After visiting the museum and the houses (Rocky Ridge and Rock House), we spent the night at Porkchop's parents' house.

This week, we'll see my parents and siblings. For Thanksgiving, we're going to my brother's apartment in Little Rock. No, my brother isn't cooking - I think everything will come from Honeybaked Ham or a similar place. However, we will make chocolate gravy for breakfast on Friday! While making waffles this morning, Porkchop actually said something like, "chocolate gravy is what I really want." Music to my ears! Chocolate gravy is one of the Best Things Ever!

So, that's it! Have a great week! I hope you're not laid off!

Grumbles

2008-11-18T16:23:00.002-06:00

You know what causes me great chagrin?

People who create "tables" in Word by using only tabs. And maybe some line art.

People, use the real Table function!! And maybe real Borders!!

Microsoft has made this easy, so please stop inventing your own crazy-ass "tables"!!!!

I am Just a Speck of Dust

2008-11-09T14:34:00.003-06:00

This is the song currently stuck in my head. I am very much in love with it, and happy that Pandora plays it nearly every time I tune in.

My center is hosting a conference this week, so I've been dealing with some people who apparently don't share the belief that they are just specks of dust inside a giant's eye. I find these people quite difficult.

To stay sane, I've been working on my February Lady Sweater. Here it is Friday night off the needles for trying on.

And here it is today after a few lace repeats:

I'm trusting the designer and other knitters' posts on Ravelry about the sizing. Because the size I'm making sounds insanely small.

Today has been nice, even though Porkchop isn't here. I've been sitting around in my slippers and knitting and listening to music. The only thing that would improve this scene would be a hot chocolate.

Last night, I was craving a spicy hot chocolate from Bailey's Chocolate Bar. Such a bad craving! This hot chocolate is seriously one of the best things St. Louis has in its favor. However, we went over to Suzi's last night after dinner, which meant Bailey's was a bit out of the way. Instead, I stopped for a salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks. I'm usually not a big fan of Starbucks, but I have heard good things about this particular hot chocolate. And they are true! It is quite good!

So, the point is, I would take either a spicy hot chocolate or a salted caramel hot chocolate at this moment.

To switch topics, in yoga news, I am still working on my tripod headstand. This is from earlier this week:

I can now hold my bent knees straight up above my hips. I hear the rest - unbending my knees - is just "icing on the cake." However, this icing distracts me and I fall out. So close! Someday!

I think headstands are particularly difficult for me because I have to learn a couple of things: 1) to trust myself and 2) to concentrate when I'm worried about falling.

So...have a good week! I will be super busy with the aforementioned conference, which makes me quite sad. Have fun without me.

Another BOOOO Update

2008-11-05T09:23:00.002-06:00

The County voters defeated Proposition M.

Had the County voters passed the proposition, a half-cent sales tax would have gone into effect in the County, and it would have triggered a quarter-cent sales tax in the City (which was passed in freaking 1997, but was conditional on a County sales tax). All in all, the cost to County residents would be around $50 a year.

All of this would have allowed Metro to operate on its current schedule, merrily ferrying thousands of people to and from work on an effective schedule.

Now, bus routes will be cut, Call-A-Ride services slashed (can't drive yourself?, can't walk to a bus stop?, too bad for you now!), and waits for trains lengthened.

Because of this, I have two choice words for certain County voters.

The first one starts with F, and the second one starts with Y. Fill in the blanks.

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-04T22:41:00.002-06:00

Awesome!

But BOOOOO that Missourians made English the official language at public meetings. WTF??!! Stupid Amendment 1...how do these things even make it to the ballot?

Election Day Fever

2008-11-04T15:51:00.003-06:00

Last night was filled with restless voting dreams and Keetah woke us up at 5:20 with puking noises, so we went out to vote in the morning instead of after work. We got to the polling place at 6:20 and had what we thought was a short line:

But it still took a little over an hour (well, 45 minutes for Porkchop because of the stupid line system and preference given to people with last names J-R and S-Z...us A-I people nearly lost our collective shit at one point).

I was still very nervous before voting:

My anxiety was not released until I had my ballot in hand and had filled in the Obama/Biden circle.

Whew!!

After voting, I took Porkchop to work and then picked up a co-worker to work at a poll in North County (Pine Lawn). Our supervisor had recruited us to help, and although that sounds unethical, we were willing volunteers.

Said co-worker and I helped with curbside voting. If someone had a physical condition that prevented them from standing in line (3+ hours at one point), we would represent them by taking their ID inside and signing their name in the roll book. Then we would take a ballot to them outside and then turn it in for them.

I had to leave to pick up Porkchop at 3:00, and now we're home. While I felt like I should return to the polls, I also feel like I need a nap. So that's what we're doing now.

We have a long night ahead of us.

A Weekend of Good Things

2008-11-02T21:58:00.004-06:00

Porkchop and I biked over to Tower Grove Park this morning and rode around the entire park, enjoying the trees in their autumn glory. As you can see, I'm in short sleeves. This weekend was unseasonably warm and led to a nice bike ride (yay!), but also to bad sinus headaches (murrrr!).

In addition to bike riding, we partook of the following this weekend:

The wedding of one of Porkchop's cousins.
A Hallowe'en party.
Dinner at Suzi's.
The time change.

For the Hallowe'en party, I was a severed head, and Porkchop was my UPS delivery person:

Ale and Mark hosted the party. They always have awesome costumes (see here for photos of past costumes), and this year they were ghosts...very dapper ghosts. Here's Ale and me:

Have a great Monday! Remember to vote on Tuesday!

Oh, Right, I have a Blog

2008-10-30T21:32:00.004-05:00

Sometimes I put off updating my blog like I put off cleaning my desk at work. The result of both is a big mess.

So, mish-mash post covering the past couple of weeks! Yay!

I will start with just a couple of hours ago, when I spent ten minutes working on tripod headstand and very nearly achieved it! I was able to stay up with my legs out at an angle for a few seconds (without a wall, mind you). My excitement was so much, I totally fell over during half bound lotus standing forward bend, which made me laugh because my fall was so complete and comical.

Headstand is something I've been working up to for a while. I've been quite discouraged because bound headstand (which seems to be the most popular) is quite uncomfortable for me. I think my neck is proportionally too long, which makes my neck do all the work instead of my shoulders.

So, tripod headstand is the answer. But maybe I'll also work on Forearm Headstand...because it looks neat.

Jumping back to last weekend, my parents visited and we had a grand time. We went to the Fall Harvest Festival at the Tower Grove farmers market (the last outdoor market of the season - boo!), to the Hill for treats, and to Grant's Farm. While there, Porkchop and I did what everyone must do at least once...feed the baby goats!

I also took my parents to two restaurants I hadn't yet visited: Fritanga and Franco (because the Freemans only eat at places that start with Fr). I enjoyed both, but I'll probably go back to Fritanga first because it has sweet plantains (and it's cheaper and a bit more interesting)!

Now...weekend before that! This is such old news now, but Porkchop and I went to the Obama rally with my friend Jean. Old news, yes, but I want to post my photos and tell our story.

At first, we thought this would be as close to the Arch as we would get:

See the Arch? It's to the right of the bridge and to the left of that big pole thing.

Even though we were SO FAR AWAY, everyone's spirits were high and sometimes we would chant O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA. Then we became a bit concerned when we saw police officers with assault rifles who herded us out of the street and up on to a sidewalk. Then we became excited because we realized it must be the motorcade route. It was!! Obama and his pack came through, and Obama was smiling and waving through the SUV window. It was pretty neat. He was a mere five feet from us.

The line continued to move so slowly, but we made headway. Here we are back at the Metrolink station...finally.

And then we FINALLY made it near the Arch, just as Obama started speaking! I can pick out Obama in the crowd, can you?

We were far away, but we could hear everything clearly and even see Obama (sort of).

Speaking of Obama, OHMYGOSH, Election Day is nearly here!! I am so nervous, my stomach hurts. I have the pre-election jitters...I'm always terrified that something will go terribly wrong in the election booth and I'll accidentally vote for the wrong person. Seriously, my hands are already sweating and I want to throw up.

Okay, back to two weekends ago.

The day after the rally, Jean and I went to the Victorian Day of Mourning at the Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion, which is only about 6 or 7 blocks from our house. This means the Lemp Mansion (spooky...3 suicides and 2 deaths occurred in the house...I do not want to ever spend the night in the B&B that it now is) and the old Lemp Brewery are also near us. You can see the brewery from our house:

(This shot is from Cherokee, not our house (that would be crazy). Also maybe crazy is that I wonder if there is an entrance to the old caves under our basement. Seriously! There is an area under our basement floor that must be hollow because it sounds so different from the rest of the floor. Porkchop and I have both noted this. I wish there was a real entrance to the caves somewhere - I want to see them so badly! I mean, the Lemps built an auditorium, a ballroom, and a bathhouse in the caverns under their house. And there were roller rinks and beer gardens in other caves! That is some serious cavernage. This is an interesting story about the caves, although it's rather anecdotal and perhaps not true in some points.)

Okay, so enough rambling, have a great Friday!

Well, That Hurt

2008-10-26T19:50:00.001-05:00

I just cut my finger while scoring Xes in chestnuts. Supposedly, there is a special tool that will do this for you.

I recommend purchasing that tool.

Owwww....

I Have Two Options

2008-10-17T22:10:00.003-05:00

I recently finished a Foliage hat, and since I didn't try it on while knitting it, it turned out a little big.

I think I have two options with this hat.

One is to wear it like this:

The other is to block it, stretch it out a bit more, and wear it in the slouchy beret style:

Right? If it were looser and slouchier on top, it would be très fashionable.

Speaking of knitting, last night I purchased yarn for the February Lady Cardigan. I can't wait to cast on, but I'll most likely have to wait until Sunday evening. My friend Jean is coming over from Columbia to visit and catch the Obama rally, and some might think it a bit rude to say, I can't talk! Must knit!!

Also last night, I ate at a Chinese place I usually like, but this time I felt poisoned! Not food poisoning; my body just felt sluggish and gross all today. Instead of eating my leftovers, I tried to flush my system with pomegranate juice, salad, and an orange. Ugh, I haven't felt so gross in years. I started feeling better a mere two hours ago.

I look forward to again eating good things like these roasted beets that I made last week:

The solid colored ones were from my shared garden, and the Chioggia ones were from Fair Shares. YUM! This was my first time to try Chioggia beets, and they are DELICIOUS. Sweeter and more peppery than the other beets. Amazing.

The morning after roasting beets, Porkchop cooked bacon and scrambled eggs (both from Fair Shares), and I added in chevre (from FS) and leftover beets to my eggs. We also had slices of rye bread and apple butter (again, both from FS). I was in breakfast heaven.

Another food highlight was going to Niche with Porkchop on our anniversary last week. Actually, I was turned off by a couple of things. First, their 3-course fixed price deal is now limited to certain (er, the cheapest) selections. Second, our server raved and raved about a dessert - the Poached Pear Financier, but I was not impressed and therefore disappointed. While the licorice ice cream was awesome, the poached pear and the cake in which it was embedded were rather tasteless.

The good parts about Niche were the pepperdelle with braised lamb (so good!) and the Pacific cod. I debated about ordering the cod because...it's cod. How could it possibly be made amazing? Fortunately, it was amazing and served with a few different sauces: pureed squash, creamed spinach, and a red wine reduction. Porkchop ordered the roasted chicken, which was served with a super yummy polenta (among other things). All in all, it was a good night.

Other highlights of last week was Porkchop's brother moving out (yay!), and me going to see Katie and Beth while they were visiting in Columbia. It was Beth's birthday, and it was a very good day of eating at Uprise, having an ice cream cake, and just hanging out.

Currently, I am missing Porkchop while she's working at Six Flags. Stupid Fright Fest. I can't wait for the second weekend of November when Six Flags is over.

An Explanation

2008-10-17T10:12:00.002-05:00

In the previous post's comments, Porkchop references a giant roof-sized McCain-Palin sign.

We actually saw a sign like this on Fyler between Watson and Jamieson. It was HUGE. And on the roof. And they had a giant yard sign.

My only thought is, why?

Why do you need a sign that big? We have a tasteful little Obama-Biden yard sign...as do most normal people.

Anyway, if I lived near that house, I would definitely devise a route to avoid it.

On a related note, I hope everyone goes to the Obama rally tomorrow!! The last time I went to a political rally was in 2000. And it was a Bush rally! And Katie and Beth and I were protesting!

A Dear John Letter

2008-10-16T11:02:00.003-05:00

Dear John McCain,

You are a jerkface.

The more you smirk, interrupt people, and continue to spout off ridiculous erroneous statements, the more I'm sure I will be involved in civil unrest if you are elected.

You were a selfish scumbag before the campaign, and you are one still.

You make me throw up whenever I see your blinky-eyed, self-righteous, angry face and hear your petulant little-schoolboy voice.

With no fondness whatsoever,
Carrie

It's so Hard to Let You Go

2008-10-05T20:37:00.003-05:00

Over the past six years, we've accumulated three typewriters, all Smith Coronas.

A Sterling:

A Galaxie II:

And an SL 480 (electric!):

I took these pictures today for posting on Craigslist. Because, my friends, this is the first time I've taken them out of their cases in the time we've owned them. Sad, I know.

We picked up the first - the Galaxie II, I think - outside of Toronto on our Canada trip. I was just 6 months out of school and wanted to get back into making zines. On a typewriter! So original! I wanted to make something like Doris, but that never happened. Porkchop used the typewriter once or twice; it sat in a closet the rest of the time.

While at a church sale in Jonesboro, we found the Sterling for $5. It came home and sat in a closet, too.

Then Porkchop's grandfather gave her the electric one. It, too, has sat in a closet.

I was all ready to post them on Craigslist today, but then I put a piece of paper in each one and typed some garbled lines. The Sterling needs a new ribbon, but the funky sorta sans serif font on the Galaxie is quite clear.

And then there's the SL 480. It. is. awesome.

Not only can you do sub and super script with a touch of one key, you can also do bold type. For emphasis! Bolding on the typewriter means that the metal thingie strikes the paper 5 times. You can also do a variety of accent marks.

The typewriters remind me of my high school keyboarding class. Yeah, we learned on typewriters...electric and manual.

Anyway, I don't know if I can get rid of these machines just yet. Maybe I'll wait another 6 months.

When to Absolutely Buy Organic

2008-10-03T11:45:00.002-05:00

A member of the Sustainable Table group on Ravelry linked to this guide to pesticides in produce. When you can't get local, sustainably grown food, take this to the grocery store! It's also quite helpful if you're trying to eat more organic produce but are on a limited income and want to identify the most heavily sprayed items. There is even a handy wallet-sized card. The full data set is quite interesting (or sickening, maybe).

I Love Nurses

2008-10-02T23:18:00.003-05:00

This was the best part of the debate tonight...

Well, that and the cupcakes and playing Palin bingo.

Something that it is Really Irritating Me

2008-10-01T10:46:00.003-05:00

I am so tired of being around people who talk about marriage and have no idea they are speaking from a position of privilege.

When they talk about how relationships really change after marriage and the hard work necessary to maintain a marriage and blah blah blah, I just want to say, "thanks for making me feel like my relationship is a crappy hoax."

Apparently, according to these people, Porkchop and I must be stuck in the pre-marriage phase and therefore not really committed or serious about things. And, our relationship must not take any work at all because we're not married.

Marriage, my ass.

Also, next week marks the 8-year milestone for us.

Suck on that, people who make me feel bad.

That Just Beats All

2008-09-30T09:40:00.002-05:00

I was just perusing my statcounter (BTW, "how to cancel GAP card" is still the biggest hit), and I noticed a visitor from Wasilla, Alaska.

Wasilla, Alaska!

A town the name of which I wouldn't have given much thought previously. But now it sets off all sorts of alarms and bells and whistles.

Wasilla, Alaska.

Out with the Old, In with the New

2008-09-29T22:42:00.006-05:00

The past half week has been big...BIG!

Early in the week, I told Porkchop that we would buy a car on Thursday. So, I took the day off and we went out and found this:

It's a 2007 Nissan Versa hatchback! It has 43K miles on it, but we are happy with it, so please don't question the mileage (it was a fleet car from Enterprise, okay?). Also, we could afford it (well, sort of).

Porkchop's old crappy car is currently in the garage. Hopefully she will post it for sale soon! Who wants a leaky convertible with a big dent in the side and no AC and a driver's side window that doesn't work? Anyone??

After this car excitement, I stayed home for most of the weekend and did fun things like scrape the basement walls.

I also knitted. I finished the guilt hat, which used this pattern. I forgot to take a picture before gifting it, so imagine the pattern in this color:

Pictured is the Foliage hat, which is now nearly done.

Sunday night, Porkchop and I knitted together! So exciting that Porkchop is knitting again (and not twisting her stitches this time)!

Today was a very good day. Well, work was a bit exhausting, but after work was fun.

We had dinner at Pi (for a second time, and we've been pleased both times). I was crazy hungry when we arrived, and I ordered a Schlafly Pumpkin Ale and became nearly drunk off of 2 ounces. In my defense, I hadn't eaten in, you know, 5 hours, and it is 8% alcohol by volume. The beer itself was yummy, like a slice of pumpkin pie.

After pizza, we had Ben & Jerry's, and then we went to the Tivoli for a free showing of The Duchess. The movie is quite good and made both of us tear up. Murr.

Other good parts of the day were waiting for me at home. First, a thank you note from a friend and former co-worker who was visiting in St. Louis a couple of weekends ago. We had enjoyed a delicious brunch at Cafe Osage (in Bowood Farms) while we reminisced about the past and contemplated the future.

Second, I received this kick-ass broadside, which I had been coveting:

It's the Summer 2007 broadside from Silver Buckle Press. If you want one, you can get one here. Mine, however, came from our dear friend Kathy (blog here, and website here), who designed and printed it. Behind me, you can see our first housewarming gift from Kathy, which is part of her Maps series. (At least, I think it is, Kathy should correct me if I'm wrong).

So, all in all, a good day!

This week is going to be weird on campus because we are going into lockdown mode due to the VP debate. On Wednesday and Thursday, you won't be able to get on campus without a school ID. And, our school is encouraging us to work from home on Thursday, and to definitely not stay past 3 pm. I'm a bit torn because I want to see the fuss and the media, but I also want to take advantage of any offer to work from home. Hmmm...

Have a great week!

Well...

2008-09-22T21:23:00.002-05:00

This day kind of threw up on itself. It began with our director going all doomsday about the financial market stuff, and it just went a bit downhill from there.

But, other things...

Friday Night
Porkchop and I ventured to Forest Park for the hot air balloon glow. Oh my, we were so unprepared for the crowds. I can't believe that many people turn out to watch a couple dozen balloons light up! People were also lighting up there, if you know what I mean. In fact, I was so hungry when we arrived, I felt a bit drugged. Porkchop guided me through the crowds, the fiery balloons, the people taking pictures with the brightest flashes ever, the bagpipers...

When we arrived at the fried food stands, we bought one of everything, thank you very much. Egg rolls, crab rangoons, pork ke bob, a funnel cake. Ugh, but so good!

The best parts of the balloon glow were the fireworks and walking through Forest Park at night.

Saturday
On her way to Six Flags, Porkchop dropped off me and my bike at the farmers market. I picked up some goodies (butternut and acorn squash, a sweet potato, Yukon potatoes, tomatoes (regular and Sungold), apples, and a raspberry scone), and then I rode back to our house on Jefferson. Yay!

Saturday night, I cooked up some of my purchases. I made a pasta sauce out of the butternut squash (dice; season with sage, salt, pepper; sprinkle with olive oil; roast for 40 minutes on 375; puree with cream and water to thin) and I roasted the acorn squash and sweet potato (my favorite method of dicing and seasoning with chile powder).

Sunday
Was weird. Keetah woke us up at 7 with much crying; we determined she must have hurt her hind right leg, perhaps when Amanda bathed her on Friday. Getting up early was okay because we needed to get out to the airport to pick up our rental car. We're renting a car this week. You know, for funsies. Actually Porkchop's car isn't suitable to drive at the moment, so we intend on just buying a car this week. I haven't detailed all that is wrong with P-chop's car, but she did recently on her blog.

Blech. I am so tired of cars.

Knitting
Since we will have a big purchase this week, I'm putting off buying yarn for a while. So no February Lady sweater this week. The good thing about this is that I'm nearly done with the guilt hat...photos will be posted soon.

Knit Knit Knitting

2008-09-19T09:50:00.004-05:00

I am excited for knitterly things again.

This weekend, I intend to purchase yarn for and start a February Lady sweater. I wish I could buy yarn NOW and start knitting NOW.

I'm also still working on my log cabin stash blanket, and I've started a hat for a co-worker's toddler. The hat is being made out of guilt. I started a sweater for the baby shower and didn't finish it in time, and now - were the sweater finished - the kid would be too big for it. Since it's a guilt hat, it's being made out of very nice Dream in Color Classy.

I also look forward to making a couple more Sweet Baby Caps because they are so darn cute! This time, when I make the baby caps, I'll also make coordinating Saartje Bootees because they are also the cutest.

Oh, and there are so many other things to knit, now that the weather is cooling off a bit.

Cooking without Photos

2008-09-17T09:04:00.002-05:00

We really need to charge our camera battery; posts without photos are no fun for anyone. Especially when I spend a couple of hours in the kitchen and have no photographic proof.

So, you'll just have to believe me and imagine food in your head.

Last night I made this carrot soup recipe (only I added celery and a potato). For an accompaniment, I tackled aloo paratha with the guidance of these instructions. In my opinion, they turned out very well for my first attempt. The carrot soup and the paratha were quite tasty, perhaps because the carrots were from my shared garden and the potatoes were from the farmers market we visited in Wisconsin.

I've found that I do need to take a trip to an Indian grocery for things like mango powder, coriander seeds, and perhaps a more appropriate flour for the paratha.

Last week, Porkchop and I used our CSA butternut squash to make this bisque. Oh so yum! The recipe is on Oprah's website, but do not let that deter you.

Sunday night, we roasted our CSA chicken, along with our CSA potatoes and other vegetables. It was alright...I'm just not much of a "whole roasted chicken" person, and I find it difficult to find motivation or good ideas for cooking them. Let me know if you have any.

After the roasted chicken and vegetables, I made a vanilla pound cake (loaf-size, thankfully). It's quite good...especially with black tea. Yum.

Our food processor is starting to get quite a bit of use. I used it 3 times last night. Once for cutting the carrots, potato, celery, and onions for the carrot soup; once for mixing and kneading the paratha dough; and once for pureeing the soup. I like cutting vegetables for things, but I was short on time last night, so I was in total awe of the processor making such quick work (a minute maybe?) of all of those vegetables.