Tag: judi

The pause that refreshes…

I’m sitting in the three-season room of mom & dad’s cottage at the Lake. Alas, elsaf‘s already left for the weekend, but judiang‘s still here and getting ready for the day. (I think the day will entail the two of us being here at the Lake and doing squat. Sounds good to me!)

The weekend began on Thursday when Judi flew in from Chicago. I picked her up and drove us to Piqua (a bit norther than necessary to get to my house) for a late lunch. We went to El Sombrero. Tasty tasty! Then we popped into Home Depot so that I could return the bathtub drain which (despite the recommendation from the Home Depot bathroom lady) was the wrong size, plus a pair of bullnose corners which I didn’t need after all. Then we zipped over to the tile section and looked for 5 more matte bullnose tile for my shower area. (The contractor thought it would look better going from the floor to the ceiling, so I was half a foot off on both sides in what I had picked up.) They had 7, so I picked out the cleanest 5 and we headed to my house.

Judi got to see the progress in the bathroom. Thursday was pretty much plumber day, so it didn’t look a whole lot different at the end of the day as it looked at the beginning, but I did have a working tub (sans fixtures) AND shower (for the first time since the house was built). Yay! I sent Judi next door to mom & dad’s house to nap since there weren’t construction people banging on things. (Oh how Lucy & Linus would have loved for me to do the same for them! Poor kitties!)

While they were working and Judi was napping, I played a little World of Warcraft and then stuffed my bike in my car (since we were going bike riding at the Lake when Elsa arrived). When the contractors were done, I returned to the folks’ to pick up Judi and then ordered pizza for supper. I had a coupon for free delivery – yay!

As the folks headed over to my place, Judi and I walked over to the gas station to pick up some chips and some pop. However, when I got there, I realized I hadn’t brought my ATM card, I’d brought my credit card. Whoops! We walked back to find mom & dad watching HGTV on my big ass TV, I apologized, and then Judi and I walked back, this time with my card.

Once we had chips and pop and were back at my house, I received a call from Aunt Becky saying work suddenly had gotten busy and she’d be a little late. And not to wait for her to eat. (Dad called out “We won’t!” It is his sister after all. Heh.) The pizza arrived soon after the call, so we ate and watched HGTV and then Suzie Orman. I’d decided to order the new steak ‘n’ shroom pizza – Angus steak, mushrooms, onions, special sauce, cheese – and a deluxe. And for dessert, a peach dessert pizza. The pizzas were all nice and tasty.

When Becky arrived, I put Penn & Teller: Bullshit on and the girls and I got to playing Pinochle. We learned an important lesson – don’t let Judi bid during the first round. We started out 590 points in the hole thanks to her. Despite this setback and a few other dumb plays by both of us, we managed to beat Becky and Mom in the end.

After the game, Judi and I headed off to the Lake. We arrived after 11pm and immediately put the A/C on. Then we vegged in the three-season room which was cooler than the cottage. By the time we headed for bed, it was cool enough in the cottage.

We slept late and didn’t get off until nearly lunchtime, but rather than go to the grocery on empty stomaches, we stopped into the lunch/breakfast cafe Haus der Eleganz that’s across the street from Wagner’s. I ordered a vanilla steamer and a chocolate muffin. Judi had a double-shot hazelnut soy latte and a carrot muffin. It was tasty and Judi was absolutely delighted with the shop inside the cafe. (What, they don’t have those in Chicago?) She even took photos! Heh! We decided that we must have lunch there on Saturday with Elsa.

We picked up stuff at the grocery and returned home. After a bit, I made a fire and we roasted hot dogs. Tasty tasty! We vegged while waiting on Elsa’s arrival. And when she arrived, we hugged and she joined in the vegging.

For supper, I grilled corn on the cob and a marinated patio steak (as I’d done a couple weekends before for mom and dad) as well as pineapple. We sat out at the picnic table and had a very pleasant supper. We vegged at the fire for awhile until it was time for Meerkat Manor, which Elsa and Judi watch. We then watched some more Bullshit and eventually got off to bed.

I’m going to start the fire for lunch, so will post about yesterday later on.

Bathroom Progress

There is progress!

I has a tub! (It’s not hooked up, but I has!)

I has tile floor! (I shouldn’t walk on it yet, but I has!)

I no has toilet (yet). Tomorrow, hopefully!

I have uploaded a boatload of photos on the job thus far on my gallery. If you’re curious, go have a peek. I’ll keep adding to it as the job continues.

Last night, I stopped drinking fluids around 6:30pm. I went next door to mom & dad’s around 10 to take a bath & pee. Then I returned home to geek on the PC (and finish updating my new iPod*) and eventually go to bed.

At 4:30am I woke up and I had to pee. Bugger. So I got dressed, went outside to my loving neighbors (who left the back door unlocked for me), snuck into the house, went to the bathroom, and returned home. Only to then not be able to fall asleep again. After a bit, I finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (I really liked that book!). Then around 6:30am I got up. Blech.

Tomorrow, judiang flies in! I’m not taking her straight to the Lake however. Since the contractor’s running a day behind, I might stay over until Friday. I’ll see how things go tomorrow. But no matter, I have entertainment for the Gods of Rrrrrrrragnarrrrok Judi. Mom & dad and Aunt Becky are joining us tomorrow evening for some Penn & Teller’s Bullshit watching, munching of Indians Pizza, and playing cards. (Only one of those options will not include my dad. I’ll let y’all guess which one.)

elsaf arrives Friday and we’ll definitely be at the Lake by then. Apart from some point in time where I’ll grill corn on the cob (Friday night, probably) and another point in time (Saturday evening, definitely) Elsa will grill Yet Another Glorious Meal, we don’t have any firm plans. We’re hoping to get some bike riding in. I think it’ll be fun to ride around the park a bit. 🙂 Judi assures us she’ll remember how to ride a bike. She’d better! 🙂

*My old 60GB 4G iPod finally snuffed it the other day. I tried everything they suggested on the Apple site to no avail. So, knowing I needs my music for working in the house, working in the lab, etc, I ordered another one. I got a refurb 80GB iPod Classic. It arrived yesterday morning. For grins, I have purchased Blink for it. And, for equality in Scottish Doctors, I converted That Circus Episode of Doctor Who into iPod compatible video and stuck it on there too. And I’ve got all my MP3s and many Sylv photos on it. Yay iPod!

*sniff* My Chicago Trip is nearly at an end…

Before I get too far into my post, a quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY to drake57!

So, yesterday (well, I haven’t been to bed yet, so I’m still thinking today is Sunday) after our nap and a bit of geeking we headed off toward Navy Pier. We popped into a couple of bookstores (Borders and a used bookstore) so that I could look for more Lois McMaster Bujold books – no go on the ones I’m looking for.

We arrived at the movie theater right when the 5:00 showing of Wall*E was beginning, but we wanted a bit of a rest from the walking we’d been doing. (No, we didn’t walk all the way from judiang‘s place – just from the Borders.) So we had drinks and some spinach & artichoke dip at the lounge were the bowling alley is. (This bowling alley’s in the same building as the theater – and the lanes are on the second floor. Seems such an odd place to put a bowling alley.) Dad called while we were lounging, so I talked a bit with him and mom. (They’re in Minnesota visiting Amy & Rachel. Like me, they go home tomorrow – Monday.)

A few minutes before the movie, we finally made our way to the theater to discover lots of people were going to see it too. We wound up in the center of the very front row. And it was actually a great place to watch the movie. We both loved it and the cartoon before it. And we saw several trailers that we enjoyed. Though I think I’ll be giving Beverly Hills Chihuahua and The Pink Panther 2 a miss.

After the movie, we continued our walk to Navy Pier. We first put our names in at Bubba Gump’s, but it was an hour waiting. So we walked on down the pier and decided to try the barbecue place, Joe’s Be-bop Cafe. They had a 5 minute wait, so Judi left to cancel our name at Bubba’s and we were seated at Be-Bop’s. We decided to take our time eating in order to sit most of the night before the fireworks, then get up to watch ’em. We timed it perfectly (with some thanks to the waiter who took forever to get our desserts to us).

So, for starters we got popcorn shrimp (since we missed out on the bucket o’ shrimp thingy from Bubba’s). Tasty, tasty! Then Judi got the rib tips and I got the half yardbird (bbq chicken). Although their barbecue sauce was better than Robinson’s (which I sampled at Taste), it still wasn’t to my liking. Still, the rub & sauce on the bird (what little there was) was excellent. I liked their jalapeño corn bread, their spicy baked beans, and the baked tater too. I also had an amaretto sour there. Judi and I both agreed that it was better than the one I’d had at the bowling alley lounge. Dessert was “sumpin’ chocolate” which was basically chocolate overload cake with chocolate ice cream and hot fudge. Wow. I wasn’t able to finish the thang.

We paid for the meal and then Judi led the way to a good spot for fireworks watching. Although it was only a 10 minute show, it was really cool to watch. They even had smiley face fireworks! I hadn’t seen those in years! (First time I ever saw them was at St Paul, MN during Taste of Minnesota.) We all ooohed & ahhhhed as we watched.

My phone tries to take a video of the fireworks… Not bad, phone!

After a return to Be-bops where I looked for a souvenir for Taylor (my cousin who’s looking in on my kitties while I’m away), we headed off for the 29 bus to take us back to Judi’s place. We managed to get on the third bus and even got to sit for the entire journey. Then we watched the series finale of Doctor Who. Judi’s already posted her WTF. I rather enjoyed it myself. (Hmmm, reminds me of last year’s finale.)

We both slept in today and were ready by 10:30 to head for Chinatown. Yes, it was our traditional jaunt for a dim sum brunch. We went to new Three Happiness (as always) and had a nice assortment of dim sum. We even had leftovers (see, we needed that third person, elsaf!) We also went to a store in Chinatown so that I could get Taylor’s souvenir. (I didn’t care for the Be-bop choices the night before.)

After we returned home, it was swim time! I took my final swim in Judi’s pool, and as always, it was refreshing. And I had finally talked Judi into taking me to the Field Museum (though I had resolved to go on my own if she didn’t really want to come – it’s across the street fer gosh sakes!) I printed off $5 off coupons so we’d save some money going to the Mythical Creatures Exhibit. But it turns out I didn’t need it cuz the lady at the front desk let me in free (paying only $8 for the exhibit) since I’m a school teacher. Judi got a discount as a Chicago native, but she had to pay $15. Heh.

Since there were only 2 more hours before they closed, we went right to the Mythical Creatures Exhibit. capriuni, we both thought of how much you’d enjoy that exhibit. 🙂 It was cool – some neat art, cool statues, a Chinese dragon as used in New Years parades, etc. No photos allowed, alas. Then we went to the George Washington Carver exhibit where we were both inspired by Carver and all that he did. I learned a lot from the exhibit – he was green long before it was the buzzword of the decade.

Leaving the Carver exhibit put us right in with the prehistoric beasties. Yay! I was able to take photos there of various skeletons. I’ve always been fascinated by mammoths and saber tooths and other such critters (why else would I waste my money on 10,000 BC?) We finished off the visit with some overhead shots of Sue, the T-Rex which I remember from when I was a kid and visiting the museum. (She’s shrunk since then, I swear!)



After we left the museum, we walked over to the ugly Torso & Legs Sculpture at the tip of Grant Park near Judi’s apartment. I took photos. (I’m really pleased with my phone’s performance as a camera this trip. Not too shabby at all!) The sculpture(s) is called Agora. There are 106 cast iron figures. And they’re ugly and creepy and rusting all over the concrete.


I made Judi come with me for ice cream at Marble Slab (me thinks she doth not protest enough) and we both got cones. I had white birthday cake ice cream and double chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. Yummy! We returned so that Judi could walk the pooch and we could veg a bit. Then we headed off to Gioco (a nearby Italian restaurant) for supper.

For starters, we had fried calamari. Yum! Then I had the pear and pancetta salad plus a side of polenta. Mmmm, best polenta ever – it was seasoned with mascarpone cheese and butter. It looked like a big pile of scrambled eggs, but tasted far better. Thanks to all of the bread and olive oil I’d already scarfed, I could only eat half. Judi happily ate the other half. Heh. Oh, and I had an amaretto sour there as well.

We waddled back and popped up to the penthouse to look over Judi’s fair city. Such a lovely view. Then we returned to make strawberry shortcake and watch the Confidential for the last ep of Doctor Who. We then watched Housewife, 49 while we ate our shortcake. It was a nice little movie. (I knew I’d like it – it had Stephanie Cole in it, after all.) I’ve pretty much been writing this post ever since. And I should head for bed. Tomorrow, *sniff* I leave. This trip has not gone completely as we’d originally envisioned, but I do think that Judi and Elsa and I had many pleasant times during it. Here’s to the next time when we three shall meet again. 🙂

The continuing story…

Yesterday, when elsaf and I finished watching The Bucket List, I woke up napping-judiang and the two of us walked to Taste of Chicago, armed with a large purse and a package of Saran Wrap. We had a to-go order from Elsa which the bag and cellophane were for. Once Judi and I had gotten and eaten our wares, we picked up items for Elsa and wrapped and stuffed ’em in the bag.

My Taste things for Friday were as follows:

  • Las Tablas – empanada

  • Harry Carey’s – chocolate chip cookie

  • Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs – rib tips

  • Abbey Pub – fish

  • Vermillion – mango cumin-dusted fries with chutney

  • The Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine – sesame beef on a stick

  • Canaday Le Chocolatier – mascarpone gelato

  • Franco’s Ristorante – lemon Italian ice

Today’s fare was a little less satisfying than Wednesday’s. The empanada was a little plain. The barbecue sauce on the rib tips was more ketchup than anything. The fish from Abbey Pub could have easily been from Van de Kamp’s. But I liked the fries – they tasted like samosa in a convenient fry shape. The gelato place had issues – first you had to wait forever in one line to deliver your tickets, then they gave you a colored stick and you waited in another line for your ice cream. And they were out of pistachio, which was my first choice. But I’d also been interested in the mascarpone ice cream, so that was OK. It was quite tasty, too.

Once back at the apartment, Elsa got to eat her late lunch. We then decided we’d have pizza delivered for supper. And I decided that, after the long walk, I wanted to go swimming to drop my core body temp a little. So, off to the pool I went. It was chilly, but not as chilly as the first night we swam. And it was very refreshing. I was only there for about half an hour, but it was what I needed.

Judi wanted more strawberry shortcake for supper’s dessert, but we needed strawberries. I talked her into trying peach shortcake since we’d have to go to the grocery anyway. Of course, when I say “we” it turns out it was “me.” They gave me a list of things to get and off I went with Judi’s wobbly grocery cart. As I was walking off to the grocery, I thought of how nice it is where Judi’s at that she’s got all these neat places to walk to. My town is so small, there’s not a whole lot of places to walk to. But Judi has quite a variety of walking experiences. One more reason to visit friends!

I peeled (??? we never peel ’em at home!) and sliced the peaches for peach shortcake, then got a conscripted cutting board (Judi didn’t know what the thing was, but we used it as a cutting board) out for the Gouda cheese and Toasted crackers we then snacked on. We sat and chatted while waiting for the pizza delivery.

Pizza was from Connie’s Pizza. We ordered the special (sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms) in a deep dish crust. Judi was disappointed because they didn’t do the deep dish the right way (crust too thick) but it was tasty and satisfying. We put No Country for Old Men on while we ate and wondered just what the movie was about. I think we were all rather perplexed by the end of it. Still, the scene in the boot shop after the anti-hero returns from Mexico was laugh out loud funny. We also ate peach shortcake with ice cream (regular store-bought vanilla) while the movie played. Afterwards, Elsa and I watched the Edwardian Supersizers episode (the pilot for the series).

Unfortunately, although Elsa started out the day feeling better than she’d felt in a couple of days, she was feeling worse by the end. 🙁 Indeed, when she woke up this morning around 6am, she decided there was no way she could drive home. Judi got up around 6:30am and I followed 15 minutes later. We discussed several options. She finally decided on flying home today and flying back next weekend in order to drive her car back. She only took her essentials on the flight, so nothing had to be carried or checked. I paid for the cab ride to Midway because I didn’t want to drive there and back again in Elsa’s car in Chicago (a very unfamiliar place for me to drive). Judi got a wheelchair for her once we arrived and we walked with her and her chair pusher until she was outside security. We just received a text from her that she’s on the plane. Her bro will pick her up upon arrival.

It’s a shame she got to feeling so poorly once she was here. We did have a good time despite the troubles, but I know she would MUCH prefer to have NOT had the troubles. (Pain is really a bitch.) Get to feeling better, Elsa!

On our way back from the airport (using the El this time – less than 1/10 of the cost of getting there) we stopped at The Bongo Room for brunch. We both ordered the BLT Benedict – an eggs Benedict with applewood smoked bacon, spinach, and a tomato basil hollandaise sauce (though they were out of tomato) and hashbrowns. I also ordered a hot chocolate. It was very yummy! And we both preferred it without the tomato.

Judi’s now napping and I think I’ll do the same when I’m done with this post. Our plan is to get to Navy Pier for a late supper and fireworks watching. Perhaps we’ll catch a movie today too. Wall-E sounds like a good ‘un.

Interesting Times

OK, so yesterday didn’t go completely as planned. But I think we managed to make a good day out of what started out as a crappy day.

Poor elsaf had fallen on Saturday and has been nursing two rather large bruises while on vacation here. They ached when she moved, but she was able to function, able to walk to Taste of Chicago, able to cook us a magnificent meal. However, late Wednesday (1:30am Thursday in all actuality) she complained about some muscle cramping around where her chest bruise was. We’re talking honking great pain muscle cramping. We were hoping it would go away after awhile, but it never did. So around 2:30am, judiang called 911 and had an ambulance come. (Indeed both an ambulance and a fire truck came.)

Judi left with Elsa and the ambulance and I stayed with Lance. I couldn’t sleep at this point, so I watched FoodTV until it switched over to infomercials. Then I played Bejeweled 2 on my cell phone. Judi kept me up to speed with various text messages. EKG fine; x-rays fine; other than the bruise, Elsa’s healthy; etc. Then Judi called to tell me pack a bag for Elsa. Oh, and I’d be driving us back to the hospital in Elsa’s car. I asked her about getting Elsa’s car keys (people who don’t drive don’t often think about necessities like car keys, heh) so Judi returned to Elsa’s room to get ’em.

Eventually, Judi showed up. I had my purse and Elsa’s bag and yet… Elsa was right behind Judi. The threat of either Judi or I driving her car encouraged Elsa to check herself out. Heh. They had her on a heavy dose of Vicodin, so she was feeling little pain. Judi still had to finish her cases, which she did and then headed off to work. It was around 5am by this time. I finally fell asleep, but I had my cell phone set to wake me at 8am. Someone had to pick up Elsa’s prescription in the morning, and I figured Judi would be too sleepy to do it.

Turns out I was right. When 8am came around, I popped into Judi’s room to encounter Dead Asleep Judi. Don’t think you can wake her… 🙂 So I showered and stuff and returned to Dead Asleep Judi and managed to get her awake enough to find out (a) where the nearest drug store was and (b) which of Judi’s keys was to her front door. Then I headed off to Walgreens. And I was a block away when I realized that, although I had Elsa’s driver’s license, money, and HMO card (she gave ’em to me – I didn’t take ’em!) I didn’t have her prescription – whoops! I returned to the apartment, picked up the prescription, then headed back out.

The pharmacist was a nice fellow. He wanted to make sure that Elsa was able to take Vicodin since it’s a codeine derivative and she’s allergic to codeine. So I called Judi’s cell phone – no response. Then her home phone – no response. Home phone again, then Elsa answered. Awwwwwww. I felt bad for getting Elsa up, but she assured me that she’ll be able to take the Vicodin – she’d had it the night before without any allergic reactions. The pharmacist needed to find out of the HMO would co-pay the prescription, so I walked across the street to Jewel and bought some donuts. Then I returned to get the prescription, popped into Starbucks for a hazelnut soy latte for Judi, hot tea for Elsa, and a vanilla steamer for me.

Elsa was sitting at the table when I got back and Judi was still asleep. When she woke up (around noon) it was my turn to sleep. I slept for a couple of hours, then Judi and I went off to the grocery in order to get supplies for our surprise supper for Elsa. On our way back to the apartment, we picked up sandwiches at Jimmy Johns for a late lunch.

We spent a relaxing afternoon goofing off. Then Judi and I picked up a few rental movies from the kiosk in her apartment complex’s market. (National Treasure 2, The Bucket List, and No Country for Old Men.) We also headed off to Target and then her new Best Buy store (on the other side of the Long Ass Bridge) looking for a Logitech Harmony Remote. Although she was sorely temped by the $420 model, I talked her into the $99 one (which is sufficient for nearly anyone’s needs).

Judi and I made supper – Judi made fried catfish from scratch, I made everything else. Heh. (Well, everything I made was pretty easy – either nuking or a short cooking time.) So, for supper, we started with a nice salad with bleu cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, an appetizer of baked crab cakes, fried catfish, Bob Evans mashed taters, green beans, and strawberry shortcake with Bailey’s Irish Cream ice cream. I think we did a very nice job – we’re no Elsa, but we dun good.

At 9pm, we turned on WGN to watch the Grant Park fireworks. Despite the cinematography sucking a few times, the fireworks were very cool. And if we looked behind us, we could see them reflected in the building behind us. Also, the booms we heard were from the live fireworks rather than from the telly. Heh.

We finished out the day with National Treasure 2. It was silly and fun. I was entertained. 🙂

We all slept pretty well last night. This morning, after Judi got up, I made French toast for breakfast. Elsa and I are now watching The Bucket List. Not sure what Judi’s doing. Later, Judi and I may go to Taste to get us eats and some stuff for Elsa as well. Regardless of what we do, I know we’ll have a good time, despite any other Interesting things happening. 🙂

Tasty Tasty Taste!

Food, glorious food! I think one of the most important things in going on vacation is all of the wonderful FOOD you get to have. And one of the best things about going on vacation with judiang and elsaf is that they’re as much Foodies as I am. So, we know how to have a good time AND eat lots of good food.

This morning, we started out by going off to Whole Foods, an organic grocery (seriously, there’s, like, carbon compounds EVERYWHERE there!) It was HUGE. And pretty impressive. Elsa was looking for ingredients for the phenomenal meal she was planning for us. So ingredients we bought. Judi, meanwhile, was nearly comatose with caffeine deprivation, so I sent her off to get herself coffee and me a vanilla steamer. She returned awhile later, perkier and with a hazelnut steamer. (OK, so she missed the word “vanilla” but the steamer was very yummy.) Apparently, she was looking all over for the Starbucks that she knew was in the shopping plaza, only to later discover she was standing in front of it. Now *that’s* what I call caffeine deprivation!

Once we bundled the groceries into the car, we drove back over the Long Ass Bridge (ah, I remember alryssa, tiger5, Judi and I walking over that once – I so much prefer driving) to return to Judi’s place. Then we walked over to the Taste of Chicago. Yum! (Although we don’t go over any Long Ass Bridges, it’s still something of a Long Ass Walk, but it’s still a lot closer than many people going to the Taste had to travel.)

So, with my handy Taste of Chicago booklet in hand, I shall rattle off the good things I sampled there (everything I bought was a “taste” portion):

  • Lagniappe-Creole Cajun Joynt – beignet

  • A Natural Harvest – tamale

  • The Breakfast Club – bite of Elsa’s tamale

  • Tamarind – Taiwan Shining Noodles

  • Kasia’s Deli – pierogies

  • Arya Bhavan – samosa

  • Wow Bao – a Kung Pao bao (steamed dumpling with kung pao filling)

  • BJ’s Market & Bakery – bite of Judi’s mustard fried catfish and bite of Judi & Elsa’s peach cobbler

  • Bobtail Ice Cream Company – chocolate – dipped ice cream cake on a stick (which was ENORMOUS for a sample-size. I’d be afraid to see the regular sized one!)

To save Judi and Elsa having to walk too much, I did most of the food gathering, but the advantage there is having bites of what I’d bring them to eat. Heh. Tomorrow we hope to tackle the other side of the taste – there’s at least 7 things I want to try tomorrow.

The walk back from Taste was warm (and long). So I told the girls that I wanted to go swimming. Elsa agreed and then we talked Judi into at least putting on her suit in case the water was warmer today. So we got in the pool (this time full of people, especially kids) and agreed that it was, indeed, warmer than last night. We stayed for over an hour in the pool and then sat on the lounge chairs for a bit longer drying off. It was very refreshing!

When we returned to the apartment, Elsa started working on supper, starting with the ice cream. Judi and I went to the market at her apartment complex to get a few needed items while Elsa cooked. It’s a cute little market which actually had everything that we needed (including lemons and batteries – and yes, you can make a battery from a lemon, but they don’t usually fit inside of garage door openers or radios).

I set the table (with Judi correcting me the whole time) and Elsa plated the dishes. The salad was heirloom tomato, fennel, tarragon, and bleu cheese with vinaigrette. I’m not a big tomato eater, but I enjoyed the salad. The main course was pork chops with brandied peaches, potato souffle, and broccoli with lemon. Oh my, the pork chops were wonderful! And the brandied peaches – yum! I enjoyed the potato souffle too and ate most of my broccoli. 🙂 Dessert was the christening of Judi’s ice cream maker (which Elsa had given her at Christmas) – Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream. Yum! I’d forced Judi to buy me a Lindt milk chocolate bar at the market, so I topped the ice cream with a square of that in each – yummy.

Elsa and I watched the end of the Navy Pier fireworks from their reflection in the apartments across the way – that was pretty neat. I have suggested to Judi that she & I go on Saturday to see them up close & personal. She agreed. 🙂 We’re now vegging on laptops while Judi works on cases for her job. Poor thing! Tomorrow, more Taste, some fireworks, and more fun!

Chicago 2008

It’s not yet 8am CDT and elsaf and I are already up. judiang‘s still a snoozin’. Guess it’s early for her. (Us Eastern time people, however, know it’s a decent “get up” time.)

Elsa and I have, once again, invaded Judi’s place in order to celebrate the Fourth of July properly – with Taste of Chicago and Grant Park fireworks. So yesterday, Elsa drove over from Michigan and I flew in from Ohio. Elsa arrived first (shortly before I boarded my plane), so she & Judi picked me up at the airport. After we left the parking garage, both of our GPS systems (both using Garmin software) told Elsa to go back into another parking garage in order to leave the airport! First Garmin has a deal with the Holland Tunnel, now it has a deal with O’Hare parking? Thankfully, the fellow at the gate believed us when we told him our GPS led us astray. No $2 for you, Garmin!

Once we left that second garage, Garmin behaved herself and got us to Judi’s place with little fuss. (Though Judi had a few suggestions for an easier trek to her place.) Once we got to Judi’s place, I dumped my bags and, although it wasn’t yet 5pm, we walked over to Judi’s favorite Thai place (in reality, a place with lots of types of Asian food) for supper. Turns out I was the only one who’d had lunch that day. (Quiznos at the Columbus airport.)

The place, Ma & I, was a very short walk from Judi’s apartment. And it’s across the street from the Marble Slab Creamery. In the warmer months (like now) they can open up the side wall to the street. So it’s like eating in an outside cafe, but you’re inside. 🙂 Judi and I both ordered pad thai (mine with shrimp, hers with chicken) and Elsa had lad nar. We also ordered some sushi – I got the ebi-Q maki (shrimp roll with cucumber salad, apparently) and the girls ordered sake maki (salmon roll). A very tasty supper all around.

When asked if we wanted dessert, Elsa deferred to Judi while I was trying not to be too obvious with my hand motions pointing to Marble Slab. But Judi had also come to that conclusion – we’d forgo dessert at Ma & I and head across the street for ice cream. Yum!

Marble Slab Creamery is like Cold Stone Creamery in our area. They’ll happily moosh up your ice cream choices with various nut and/or candy thingies. Or you can do as I do and go moosh-free with multiple flavors. They had coconut ice cream! Yay! I’d not had coconut ice cream since I was in Italy. So I got that and a double chocolate ice cream in a cup. Very tasty!

We walked back to Judi’s place while munching away at our ice cream delights. Then we vegged out for awhile, trying to get our various internet appliances onto Judi’s wireless router. (We had a password issue, which I managed to resolve – by typing a new password into her router.) Once we were well rested, however, it was time for the POOL!

We donned bathing suits and towels and things and headed to Judi’s private pool. Well, it’s not a private pool, but there’s rarely ever anyone in it when we’re there. And we were the only ones there most of the hour we were swimming (well, swimming’s too strong a word – playing in the water’s better). The water was very cold, but we all eventually got down to our necks. Some of us quicker than others. (Judi’s of the opinion that I should be a polar bear. Heh. I don’t think so!)

As it started to get dark outside, we finally braved the winds and got out of the pool. The towel felt so nice and warm when we got out. 🙂 We returned to Judi’s apartment and played with Judi’s crappy internet connection, watched BBC America and Food TV, and eventually went to bed. Today, Judi’s internet connection seems to be doing better that it was last night.

Well, Elsa’s just about done in the bathroom, so I guess I should get ready for the day. I believe the plan is going to the Taste for lunch (hopefully before it rains) and then having Elsa cook us a glorious supper. More details later. 🙂

OMGWTFBBQ!

Ah, sitting in the dark in the three season room with my fellow geeks as the Raccoon Family Chorus sings in the background. It doesn’t get much better than this! Oh wait, the geese are adding to the warbling chorus – I guess it does get better. 🙂

Today’s biggest priority was elsaf making her barbecue country spare ribs. We had few other plans for the day, so most of it was spent here at the cottage enjoying the beautiful weather and the wonderful wildlife.

I slept in the 3-season room again last night, this time in dad’s chair. And it was quite a good sleep except for the Raccoon Family Massacre that took place at 3am (well, there wasn’t a massacre, but the sheer amount of screaming that the little suckers did made it sound that way) and the Goose & Gander sing-along around 6 in the morning. Apart from those times, I slept until around 8am.

Although Elsa and I got up at decent times (and even judiang woke up & got up at a reasonable time!) breakfast was a little late due to Elsa being distracted by a nice entry she was writing for DailyKos. But once she was done, she made us French toast and sausage. Mmmmm!

We rested and geeked until around 1pm when it was time for lunch (despite not being all that hungry for it). We picked up a grilling basket at the hardware store in Minster (Elsa needed two for the ribs and the folks only had one) and then went to Casadores in New Bremen. Elsa and I ordered lunch and gave a little to Judi so that she wouldn’t get hungry before suppertime. (She said she wasn’t hungry, but we fed her anyway – we’re cruel that way.) We picked up ice cream for the ala mode to our dessert for supper before we returned to the cottage.

While Judi and I read and rested, Elsa worked on her BBQ ribs and potato salad. The parental units showed up after a bit and brought the Market Day apple pie which I’d received as a free gift for my last order. (I thought it would be perfect for this weekend.) I started baking it right away.

More resting, reading, and chatting and even Elsa had some time to relax after a bit. But suppertime was looming, so I got to work on the fire for the grilling. Then I finished the lunch prep and set the table for supper while Elsa basted and then grilled the ribs.

Supper was wonderful. We all love that Elsa loves to cook. 🙂 She used the broth from the ribs to make a Japanese-inspired soup, which we started with. Then we had the ribs and potato salad. There was leftover foccacia bread and sour dough bread as sides as well. And I cut up the peaches we still had left and served them with a little sugar (and some fruit fresh) with a few blueberries for garnish. It was a lovely supper and photos from it are below the bird photos.

I shooed Elsa and the folks off to sit by the fire while Judi washed dishes and I dried & put them away. She’s a fast dish washer, but it still took us awhile to get everything cleaned up. Then we joined everyone at the fire for chatting and photo-taking. It was quite pleasant.

After a bit, Judi started muttering “pie! PIE!” so it was time to serve the pie. I was very pleased with the pie – when I cut it, it flaked just like an apple pie should. I served it with the ice cream and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Judi gave it a 9 out of 10. I said since it was free, it deserved a 10 out of 10. 🙂

More musing by the fire, and then some singing. We’re not as well-versed in camp songs as my sister or Rachel, so that petered out eventually. But then the baby raccoons started coming out of their tree and came over to see us. Elsa and dad took photos and Elsa’s posted some of the photos to her journal.

The folks headed off home and Judi and I tended the fire a bit longer. But then it was time to come inside and geek, so that’s what we’re doing.


Duckling Formation
Duckling Formation

The little ducklings swim toward the shore in a deceptively random “duckling formation.”
My Two Dads
My Two Dads

2 guys and a gal and their six ducklings. “Uncle Steve” is just like another father to these little ones.
Duck, Duck, Goose
Duck, Duck, Goose

Or in this case, “Goose, Goose, Duck.” It’s shame that, despite hanging out “together,” the geese all sit in the sun together and the ducks all sit in the shade together. So much for integration!
Mmmm, ribs!
Mmmm, ribs!

Elsa’s barbecued country spare ribs and potato salad. Yummy!
Pie!
Pie!

Pie are square. No, pie are round, cake are square!


Super Saturday!

Today was a busy day. And a great day too. After a night of little sleep (turns out the airbed for the cottage now leaks, so I wound up sleeping on the uncomfortable lounge chair in the 3-season room last night), I snoozed a bit on the sofa and got up around 8:15am. elsaf got up then too and started preparing her new electric griddle for making us pancakes for breakfast. After my shower, I nipped off to Wagner’s to get ice for the pop cooler and a shower poof for judiang. I returned around 9 to find our breakfast chef had disappeared mid-prep. (The plates were lovingly decorated with sliced strawberry garnish, but no pancakes were made yet.) Elsa was off in the shower. Heh.

Once she was showered, we woke up Judi with promise of blueberry pancakes and she, too, got all cleaned up for the day. My goal was to be on the road by 10:30am, and we managed it, even with me cleaning up the breakfast dishes. The goal was to head south to the Bookery so Judi could get her Doctor Who magazines, we could have Indian Fud, and watch Indiana Jones (at $7.25 for a matinée – gah! Gimme my $4 matinées from Piqua & Troy.) We accomplished the goal and included a stop at a used bookstore where I bought more Terry Brooks’ Landover novels and a stop at BestBuy where I bought dad the wireless mouse he wanted and decided to get one for myself. I’ll be interested to see if I use it much – I’ve become pretty used to my trackpad on my laptop.

We enjoyed the movie – it’s silly fun with some edge-of-your-seat action and really crappy science. But it played up to its silly science and was an enjoyable 2 hours. (I’ll still prefer the third movie because I loved the interplay between Ford and Connery.) Several of the trailers were entertaining too. I think we all agreed that Hancock will be our 4th of July movie when we’re in Chicago (where I’ll be wishing I was paying that $7.25 matinée price of today).

When we got back to the Lake, our guests for the evening were already here and enjoying nachos with salsa and guacamole. Aunt Becky and Deanna had come up for supper and to play cards. Mom and dad were also here for supper and cards (dad to avoid them, mom to play them). Even my Uncle Dean showed up for supper. I got to work on making the burger patties. Dad had already started a fire, so once the burgers were made, I could start grilling them and the hot dogs. I also grilled the leftover shrimp so that Elsa could have some – indeed, anyone that wanted to try the shrimp was able to. And it was just as delicious today as yesterday. Go shrimp!

My hostess skills are constantly improving thanks to these Memorial Day weekend gatherings. However, I didn’t remember tomato and, to my uncle Dean’s dismay, deviled eggs. However, I doubt that deviled eggs will ever be part of my hostessing repertoire. Never liked the suckers, even though they’re pretty to look at. Thanks to the brownies that Becky brought and the sugar cookies and no bake cookies that I’d bought, we had plenty of sweet stuff. Everyone got their fill and then some.

After supper it was time for some Shanghai Rum. Elsa isn’t much for card playing, but she condescended to join us for the game. She picked up the rudiments to the game quickly, but Judi had smelled victory early on and fought hard for the final win of the game. Becky decided that we’d have to have a rematch later this summer when Judi deigns to visit again. Heh.

Folks headed out once the game was done and Judi cleaned the dishes with me drying them. She’s now slowly downing an amaretto sour while playing World of Warcrack on her laptop. Elsa’s also working on her laptop (and most likely NOT playing World of Warcrack). I’m writing this.

Tomorrow is Relax Day. Our only real task is to make supper – with Elsa making barbecued country ribs and sour cream potato salad. I’ll be baking an apple pie (from frozen) for dessert. Should be another fun & food filled day tomorrow!

The First Lazing at the Lake for 2008

Ah, the sun is getting lower in the sky, the song birds are saying “night night!’ to each other, the geese are going “honk honk” as they pass each other on the Lake. Yup, it’s Memorial Day weekend at the Lake, 2008.

judiang‘s sleeping in the 3-season room. I’m sitting out by the fire (a very nice one I must say) typing on this. And poor elsaf is driving here from Detroit. She just can’t seem to buy a break today. Her intent was to arrive around 4pm. But we’ve received 2 e-mails and a text message, each stating yet another delay. Poor dear. She last figured 9:30pm. Hopefully that time will stand.

Judi arrived at the airport around 10:30 this morning and my folks picked her up. Since we’re into the last 10 days of school, by contract I wasn’t able to take a personal day even though, with the seniors gone, I don’t have students in the afternoon. Not a problem, since the folks were willing to help out, things went just fine.

They dropped Judi off at the school around 11 and I immediately showed off my Airliner tablet and the SmartBoard software. She was truly impressed and got a few lessons on optics. (She now knows the difference between diffraction and refraction.) I also showed her the current design plans for the new school building and my own plans for my chemistry classroom/lab. Then I drug her around the school so she could see some of the folks she went to Italy with. We couldn’t find Marcia, but she saw Jacki, John, Tammy, and Marcia’s hubby Gary (who gave her a big hug). We had a turkey sub from Indian’s Pizza (Jeff’s wife delivers to us every other Friday), some Munchies, apple slices and Pepsi. Tasty tasty. Then I drove Judi to my home, fixed her dessert (Betty Crocker’s new 150 calorie microwave brownies – very very yummy! Especially with whipped cream.)

I returned to work after I got Judi all nicely tucked up on the sofa. My brain was pretty much fried by then, so I helped out in the office moving boxes and stuff so they wouldn’t be in the hallway during graduation. It wasn’t until 2:30 that MJ remembered there was a calligraphy job she needed doing for the valedictorians. No matter, I grabbed my calligraphy kit and was done with the certificates in time to leave around 3. (We have 6 valedictorians this year. Out of a class of around 45-50. Before people shout “grade inflation” I’ll tell you this: 19 of the students are receiving various scholarships from universities – the total amount offered to those 19 kids is nearly $840,000. Eight hundred and friggin’ forty bucks! Sheesh, I wanted to get $160,000 to give ’em just to round it up to an even million.)

When I got home, I read the two e-mails from Elsa describing her late start and late arrival. So I didn’t rush us out the door as I had originally intended. Still, we got to the lake by 5pm, where upon I got the fresh fruit cleaned up (strawberries, peaches, blueberries) and made us amaretto sours.

Around 6pm, I started prepping for supper. I was going to surprise the girls with marinated shrimp on the grill. Well, Judi was surprised. Elsa will have to wait til she gets here to be surprised. And there’s shrimp left over which I can grill tomorrow for Elsa. I also had veggies to grill and some focaccia bread for the side. The veggies I bought were yellow squash, vidalia onion, red pepper, turnips (well, why not?), button ‘shrooms and shitake ‘shrooms (another new grillee for me), and marinated artichoke hearts. I skewered the shrimp & artichoke hearts and grilled the veggies in our vegging grilling bowl. The turnips and shitake mushrooms were a good idea. I’ll be grilling them again! I had also bought pineapple for grilling, but forgot to prep it, so we’ll have it later this weekend.

The shrimp and veggies were very tasty and I’ll have to make that shrimp marinade again. (It was garlic, rosemary, salt, and olive oil.) Indeed, I think I’ll probably use that marinade on other things.

So after I cleaned up the kitchen, I decided to get the fire going again and go sit outside. And that’s what I’m doing. Yay for my folks’ cottage at the Lake!