Category: LiveJournal

Happy 4th!

Hope folks who celebrate Independence Day today had a great day! Despite having to leave judiang and elsaf, I had a great day.

Elsa made us French toast today, which was very yummy. She even did fancy-dancy strawberry garnish & powdered sugar. (She made ’em with month-out-of-date milk, but I blame Judi for having month-out-of-date milk in her fridge in the first place! As the three of us aren’t dead, I suspect there was nothing wrong with it after all. But Judi, don’t forget to pitch the milk with the pink label!)

This morning was mostly just getting packed (and discovering stuff I forgot to pack) and reading and watching Harry Potter behind-the-scenes shorts from Judi’s On Demand service. Rather relaxing. Then Elsa and I went to the Little Branch Cafe for lunch. I had an (overpriced) toasted cheese sandwich (with tomato), which was very tasty. Judi joined us briefly, before heading back to get ready for her party.

It was quickly time to part company, however. Elsa drove back to Michigan, Judi took a cab to the train station to get to her 4th of July BBQ, and I walked to the El to get to Midway. Things were smooth getting there and getting through security and I had time to read while awaiting my flight. It left on time, arrived on time, and I wound up sitting in the first row by a window, so I was third off the plane. 44th bag out of the baggage claim, but that’s OK. I had my bag back. I even remembered, sort of, where I parked.

A short stop for Taco Bell on the drive back, and I returned home to discover someone shooting off nice fireworks at the edge of town. They were even visible from my backyard, so I spent some time watching them. They went on for at least 45 minutes (though with pauses between). Top quality fireworks – one step down from what the nearby towns use, I’d say.

The cats are glad I’m back, and I’m glad I’m back with my cats. Thanks, girls, for a great weekend! To friendship! And revenge!

A toast to friends… and revenge!

Today was yet another fun-filled day with my girls, judiang and elsaf. And, as this trip has been, it was another food-filled day. We started at the (last day of the) Taste of Chicago, moved onto Spanish Tapas, and ended with Super 8.

My takings from the Taste:

  • Vegan Samosa from Arya Bhavan

  • Pralines and Cream (ice cream) from Lagniappe-Creole Cajun Joynt

  • Slice of Gluten-Free Pizza from Connie’s Pizza

  • Italian Lemon Ice from Franco’s Ristorante

  • Bourbon Chicken (in a wrap) from Oak Street Beach Cafe

  • Peach Cobbler from BJ’s Market & Bakery

  • Crab Rangoon from the Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine

  • Churro (vanilla filled) from Churro Factory

All of the above were taste portions except the Churro. Elsa, alas, wasn’t feeling hungry, so she gave us her tickets. Judi and I ate like queens. 🙂

Once we returned to Judi’s flat, I headed off to the pool to read. It was chillier than yesterday, but the water was warm still. Once Elsa & Judi joined me, I got in and enjoyed the warm water. Alas, the pool suffered a major child infestation, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

For supper, Elsa drove us to Tapas Valencia. We had quite a few plates.

  • Salmon Curado – cured salmon with dill sour cream

  • Alchofas con Crema – marinated artichokes with creamy white wine vinaigrette

  • Champinones – stuffed mushroom caps

  • Empanada de Buey – puff pastry filled with beef tenderloin

  • Pato Confitado – duck confit with mushrooms and apples

  • Patatas con Alioli – robust garlic potato salad

  • Gambas al Ajillo – grilled shrimp with garlic lemon butter

  • Crepe Rellena – crepe with goat cheese, spinach, pine nuts and apples

  • Mejillones con Guindillas – fresh black mussels sauteed with guindilla peppers served with a white wine sauce

We did it in three rounds, each picking an item during the round. And then we each picked a dessert. I wound up ordering what I think I ordered the last time Judi and I came here. Crema con Chocolate, which is basically creme brulee with chocolate. All of the food that I ate today was wonderful (except the mussels, but that’s to be expected. I don’t like mussels.)

After a short stop back at the flat, we headed off to see Super 8 at the Icon theater. This place is hoity-toity with VIP films with leather seats. We went to a regular flick, however, but still had reserved seats. Reserved seats! And an air hostess telling how to escape in case of fire and where the oxygen masks drop from. We ain’t got theaters like that in Ohio.

When we got back, Judi, Patty (her Pomeranian) and I took a night time walk around the Field Museum. Patty really enjoyed herself. And so did Judi and I.

Alas, tomorrow, Elsa and I need to have to leave Chicago. I have kitties awaiting my return. But I believe we’ll have a bit more yummy food before the day is over.

Murder for Two

Today was another great day hanging out with judiang and elsaf. We started off with Dim Sum at Three Happiness in Chinatown. Yum!

After we returned from brunch, we went to Judi’s pool and spent some quality time reading & wading. Very relaxing.

But after that, we zipped off to Navy Pier to see a new musical, Murder for Two. It had a cast of thousands played by two men. Well, not thousands, but several. And lots of piano playing. It was quite entertaining, very funny, and the piano playing was brilliant.

After the excellent show, we went to Riva, a hoity-toity seafood place at Navy Pier. Great service, great food, and decadent desserts. I couldn’t make up my mind on what to have, so I had a set of 4 small plates. Grilled shrimp, crab salad, pappadew peppers (blue crab & Brie in peppers & fried in a ball), and artichoke beignet (artichoke & cheese also in a fried ball). All were tasty with the artichoke winning and pepper balls in second place. Then dessert was also a combo – Chocolate Fantasia. This was chocolate gelato, chocolate flour-less cake, and chocolate mousse. All very yummy. And the chocolate ice cream had salt in it just added to the intensity of the flavor. Oh, and I also had a mojito. We won at supper.

We had pondered staying there to watch the Saturday fireworks, but then later decided that seeing them from Museum Campus would be almost as good (and less crowded). So we returned to Judi’s flat and watched another episode of Game of Thrones.

But soon it was time for walking to Museum Park. Judi wanted to make sure I was safe walking in her big city at night, so she came along as my protector. We stopped by the planetarium and waited. The fireworks, as usual, were impressive.

Once we returned home (with a slight detour) we watched another Game of Thrones (5 eps down, but we don’t think we’ll get ’em all watched before we leave Monday).

Yes! We have Whoosh!

It’s a sad state of (geek) affairs when you discover that your friend, who’s in the bedroom just over there, is up because she posts to Twitter… And thus our day began.

judiang, elsaf and I went to the Little Branch Cafe for “a not as expensive as supper” breakfast. I had a breakfast croissant which had egg, cheese, and bacon. It came with a few hashbrowns and some fruit, of which half was melon. I let Judi eat the melon.

After breakfast, I decided to head off on a half hour walk, whereupon I discovered that Judi lives closer to Lake Michigan than I do to the Stillwater River. (Well, I should have figured that since I can see the Lake from her balcony.) It was a pleasant walk (breezy & cloudy) and they’ve really made Museum Campus a lovely place to walk.

Elsa and I then headed off to Whole Paycheck, er, Whole Foods to pick up necessary items for our day in. See, it was supposed to get up to 98F with a heat index of 105F today. I bet the Chicago weathermen are embarrassed! But we didn’t know they’d be so far off the mark and planned lunch & dinner at Judi’s place.

Poor Elsa experienced sticker shock after she picked out 2 racks of baby back ribs for grilling for supper. First time I’d seen her do a double-take. As nice as it would be to have a Whole Foods near where I live, I doubt if I’d be able to afford to shop there much.

Once we returned, Elsa got the baby back ribs in the crock pot, then broiled the chicken boobies and I made the salads upon which to place said chicken boobies. Lunch was tasty. Then we had a relaxing afternoon of reading, computing, and more reading. I took a walk to the park where Judi walks her dog, Patty, and sat reading for awhile. Then, sure enough, Judi walked Patty and the three of us returned to the apartment.

And then we got to the title of today’s post. See, Judi hasn’t had a chance to use her grill yet this summer. So she cleaned it and tried to light it for finishing off the ribs. Only it wouldn’t light. If only we had a long match, she said. “You got any spaghetti?” I asked her. She showed me to the spaghetti, which I couldn’t keep lit long enough to light the propane, so I asked for tape and then taped a match to spaghetti.

After a few attempts (which kept getting blown out by the wind), I finally heard a whoosh! Yes, we have whoosh! But then it went out. By then, the grill’s lighter started working again, so Judi got it going again. Where the fire lasted longer… and then went out. But the fourth castle stayed up! I mean, huge tracts of land! Grrrr, I’ve been hijacked by a Monty Python movie!

Anyhoo, the grill eventually burned strongly and we got the asparagus and the baby back ribs grilled. Along with baked potatoes and pineapple upside-down cake (that Elsa had made this afternoon), we had a fabulous supper! And after supper, Elsa and I got another episode of Game of Thrones watched. (Alas, we won’t get all 10 watched before we leave on Monday.)

Tomorrow, our Saturday tradition of Dim Sum for brunch will continue. And we have tickets to a show at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. And I’m hoping we’ll get to see fireworks at Navy Pier, too!

Taste of Chicago 2011

I’m back in the Big City again! I drove to Columbus and then flew on to Chicago, whereupon I took the Orange Line to get to judiang, who walked over to meet me. We dropped my bags off at her place then went to the Little Branch Cafe for lunch. I paid over $13 for a chicken sandwich, but the ciabatta bread it was on was almost worth the cost.

We returned to await elsaf and discovered that Judi had access to HBO on Demand and the Game of Thrones series. We only started the episode and then headed out to wait for Elsa to drive in. When Elsa joined us, we watched the episode (well, Judi disappeared halfway through). We later decided to have supper at the Taste.

The Taste of Chicago has become a shadow of its former self. But there were still quite a few things to choose from. I bought 2 strips of tickets which, for me, translated to 6 “taste” items.

  • Pulled Pork Mini Sandwich from The Smoke Daddy

  • Home Run Ball (Sweet & Spicy Nugget Bites) from Loving Hut (a vegan joint)

  • Cheese Empanada from Adobo Grill

  • Jibarito from Sabor Latino (steak sammich with corn pancakes as the bread)

  • Pad Thai from Star of Siam (yeah, I get it every time)

  • Mango Kefir from StarFruit (an ice cream substitute)

Very tasty, all. And Judi got so much mustard fried catfish that she shared with me. Oh, and we got a free sample of Sierra Mist Natural, too.

We waddled back to the apartment and just missed the first rain. Since then there’s been several thunderous storms and lots of rain. Nice being inside instead of out.

Just one more thing…

A post of Short thoughts:

  • I was sad to read of the passing of Peter Falk today. (Read it first on Twitter from one of the webcomic artists I follow. But quite a few others on my Twitter feed mentioned it as well.) One of my favorite actors.

  • Well done, New York, on allowing gay marriage!

  • The folks and I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tonight, so only one more movie to go before the last movie comes out!

  • Last Friday night, the folks and I went to our first concert in Downtown Troy for the summer season. A fun Motown group called Touch.

  • Last Saturday was the Louisiana Boil at the Fishers. Gary even ordered 20lb of live crawdads for the boil. Well, they were live until I dumped ’em into the boiling water. Then they were delicious.

  • I’m registered for my summer survey course in Organic Chemistry taking place in mid-July. Should be fun!

  • Next weekend I’ll be in Chicago – woot! Here’s hoping judiang has a better trip home from the UK than her trip there was! Would be nice to visit her and her actually there to be visited. Heh.

  • Spending the night at the folks’ so I can go to the farmer’s market with ’em in the morning. I’ve eaten most of the cheese I bought last week.

So anyhoo, several thoughts there. Perhaps I’ll do a proper Tribute to Falk write-up later when I can organize my thoughts better. Maybe I’ll watch Murder by Death and The Cheap Detective in honor of the guy. Nah, I know… The In-Laws. I’ll bet dad would watch it with me. “Serpentine!”

Landscaping 2011

Last summer’s project was residing the house. This summer’s project was landscaping the front of the house. Although planned way back in April, Chaney’s Nursery was only able to get around today to do the job. The rainy spring really put them far behind on their landscaping jobs. But today they came, they saw, they landscaped the joint!

Before
Before
A before shot of the house, half an hour before the landscapers arrive.

Before - the front
Before – the front
Full frontal view (heh heh) of my house before the landscapers arrive.

They arrive!
They arrive!
And they’re off! They arrived around 8:30am and worked for a couple hours.

Tilling
Tilling
Tilling my dry soil in anticipation of planting!

Hard at Work
Hard at Work
I returned from a short walk around town to find them all still hard at work.

Prepping the soil
Prepping the soil
Before they can place the plants, the soil has to be just right…

Holes!
Holes!
Holes are dug & the plants are stuffed into the holes.

Waiting for holes
Waiting for holes
The other side awaits planting too.

Maple tree
Maple tree
My new maple tree. Will really get to “shine” when the old Bradford pear is removed.

Mulch
Mulch
Smells nasty, but always looks nice. Let’s hear it for (hopefully termite-free) mulch!

Finito - with stones!
Finito – with stones!
The finished look on this side of the house.

Finito 2 (this time it's personal!)
Finito 2 (this time it’s personal!)
The finished look of the other side of the house.

Finito 3D (except it's not in 3D)
Finito 3D (except it’s not in 3D)
And the full frontal (*snicker*) shot of the house, complete. Yay!

It’s the simple things…

Today was quite a lovely day. Firstly, there was the perfect weather. Secondly, I got to do some training in chemistry (yes, that’s lovely). Thirdly, I got to sit outside and read in peaceful surroundings.

Yesterday, I drove to Bloomington, IN, and checked into the Biddle Hotel inside of the Indiana University Memorial Union. Then I drove around looking for food and went to the Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse. I had a Reuben and a caramel Italian soda. The Reuben was OK and the soda tasty. I picked up a chocolate cupcake to eat back at the hotel.

The hotel is interesting. It looks like a hotel in the lobby and rooms, but when you get into the stairwell, it’s very much a dorm stairwell. Look, smell, and sound. Heh.

This morning, I went to the Maple room and picked up my bag with my packet, a copy of the college text that IU uses, and their lab manual. I had a blueberry bagel vit schmear. The admissions people talked with us first, then our chemistry coordinator walked us though the Chem 105 (and Chem 101) topics. I figured out that there’s quite a few topics I’ll need to brush up on.

We all walked over to Nick’s (an IU institution, apparently) for lunch. I had the fish & chips. Pretty nice. Once we returned, she covered the rest of Chem 105 and they realized that they could finish up tomorrow, so I should be able to go home early.

After the workshop ended, I wound up walking around the shops and restaurants near campus. I had decided on Thai food for supper, and there were a few Thai places to pick from. I eventually went to Siam House. The Crab Angel appetizer was interesting and tasty and the pad Thai was merely adequate. It had a nice spice to it. 🙂

I was stuffed after supper, so I returned to the hotel room and read my BeBook. And then decided why read indoors when there was such a lovely campus to read at. So my BeBook and I took a walk to People’s Park (I think is what it’s called) and sat under the trees and read. (Sadly, IU recently had lots of wind damage from a storm at the end of May and lost over 300 trees.) Near 8pm, I walked over to Hartzell’s for ice cream. They had dark chocolate and sweet basil ice cream, which was an interesting and tasty flavor. So I had it and some mint Oreo (made with creme de menthe) ice cream. And I sat & read my BeBook. A nice moment of bliss which was slightly spoiled with a bum who cadged $2 from me. 🙂

Anyhoo, now I’m talking to elsaf and judiang via Skype. So the bliss continues. 🙂

Relay for Life 2011 – Final Totals

I meant to relate this info about a month ago when I found out our results. But there ya go.

Anyhoo, if you were wondering how the UVMC Lab’s Relay for Life team did this year, I’ll finally let you know. Our team goal was $2500 and we actually managed to achieve it, and then some. Our final amount was over $2700! Woohoo!

Thanks, again, go out to those of you who’ve donated to Relay for Life and/or the American Cancer Society! I really appreciate your help and I hope next year, I’ll be more on the ball than I was this year. Heh.

Festival Season Still Continues

I had a relaxing first week off of school (lots of swimming at mom’s place, too much going out to eat).

On Thursday, the folks and I started rewatching the Harry Potter movies in preparation for the last one coming this July. We accompanied this with some Papa John’s pizza (which, to mitigate some of the impact, I walked over to pick up).

Friday, I returned so that we could go to the first summer concert in downtown Troy. Only when I got there, the folks had discovered it was also the night of the Art & Garden show at Lost Creek (which isn’t looking as lost thanks to all of the rain). We decided to go there instead. Turns out we made the right choice – I think the concert might have been moved due to the weather. And we did get rained on some at the garden show, but it was still nice. Mom got a few nice additions for her home.

Since we decided not to go late to the concert, we picked up Chinese food en route and then watched the second Harry Potter movie at their home.

The plan for today was to go to the Yellow Springs Street Fair. But first, we hopped over to the new farmer’s market in downtown Troy. It didn’t have a lot of farmers there, but mom found a new source for her free range eggs (from friends in Pleasant Hill, of all things!) and the maple syrup people might be getting some maple cream one of these days. Woot! I suspect the farmer’s market will grow as the season continues.

Yellow Springs, OH, is an interesting town. When the 1960s moved onto 1970, Yellow Springs didn’t. One of the shirts we saw (being sold by the community center or somesuch) said “Keep Yellow Springs Weird” which we all found amusing. The Yellow Springs Street Fair is a wonderful collection of craft (and food) vendors selling all sorts of neat things. That being said, the folks only bought 1 thing and I bought none (apart from a lemon shake-up which had been made with the most chemically tasting water I’ve had in years). Still, it was neat being at a craft show where it wasn’t full of American flags and OSU memorabilia. Mom commented that the show may be crowded, hot, and miserable, but it was always fun. I definitely agree. 🙂

Dad had hoped to eat at the Tavern in Yellow Springs, but there was an hour wait (at least). The second place we tried, same thing. And none of us wanted to eat street food since there really wasn’t any place in the shade to sit and eat. So once we finished seeing all of the booths (and I think we did see them all), we returned to our car and headed back. I suggested eating in Fairborn, and the folks agreed. And since I recommended Tickets Pub & Eatery, I also popped into the Bookery for my Doctor Who magazines. Heh.

So the fairs and festivals and art shows continue. And tomorrow I head to Indiana for training for my college-level high school chemistry class. IU has a hotel in their student union – ain’t that a kicker? They’re covering the cost for me to stay there Sun-Wed, which is nice. No idea what sort of ‘net capabilities that I’ll have on campus, but I’m pretty sure that off campus I’ll be able to find some wifi. 🙂