Oink. October 13, 2009

Back from el FOT in Prescott-like-biscuit, AZ.

There is much that could be said. For now, suffice it to say that David, Zachary and I all came down with symptoms of the flu on Friday. Like, all of them. Fever, chills, sore throat, cough, headache, aches. And when you have symptoms of the flu, by definition you also have symptoms of swine flu. Oink.

Do I think I have H1N1? Probably not. It is strange to me, though, because I’ve never had the flu that I can remember in my entire life. The term “flu” has always been enigmatic to me because I’ve never experienced it. I’m doing much better now, and just have a residual cough and some fatigue.

Anyway, because of the H1N1 scare, the university’s “don’t come to work sick” policy and the 5-7 day contagious period, I’m working from home this week. In my pajamas, which really isn’t too bad of a deal at all.

Eating seasonally. August 18, 2009

I’ve been enjoying the creativity and new experiences that come with eating seasonally. “Well, we have a whole bunch of tomatoes right now. What should I do with them?” I don’t have enough to can for salsa or spaghetti sauce (which is my hope, eventually). Because I’ve been focused on eating what comes out of our garden and what’s available at the farmer’s market, we’ve had basil pesto, pico de gallo, and now bruschetta. I’ve never made any of these things before, and they’ve all been amazing.

The bruschetta is up there with the pesto on one of the best things I have ever made. I wish I’d taken a picture of the pesto, but I think it didn’t even make it out of the food processor. I ate half of it before Charlie even got home, and we polished the rest off with dinner.

I’ve recently introduced butter into my cooking. I know, how unusual. I never liked the taste of butter while I was growing up. Maybe we just always had low quality butter at home (sorry, Mom), but it just never tasted that good. That, combined with the saturated fat issue, and I became more of a margarine person. (Only the NO TRANS FAT type, of course, for those who think margarine is the devil. We can have this debate at another time.) Anyway, Charlie refused to give up his butter, so we always had some in the house. And now that I’ve tried cooking with it a few times, the margarine is gone.

Last night when I was cooking up the bruschetta (with lots of butter, oh my), Charlie was like, “Who are you? Where is my wife??” And the buttery bruschetta was totally amazing. BUT, not something that we should eat every day. All in moderation.

More and more cooking. August 17, 2009

I just signed up for a cooking class! Whoohoo! I am so obsessed with everything involving food.

It’s a basic Knife Skills class that is a pre-req for all the other chef-taught cooking classes at our local career center. I’m pumped. PLUS I get to take it for free as a university employee. PLUS Robin’s going to do it with me!

With good knife skills, cooking becomes an art and a passion. Begin your culinary journey with a good foundation – safety, knife types and knife maintenance. Then practice the basic cuts all chefs know while making Sweet Corn Chowder, Chicken Fajitas with Pico de Gallo and Guacamole and Sopapiallas. Come hungry to learn – and eat! Knowledge has never tasted this good! This class is a prerequisite for all Chef’s Table classes.

I <3 Julie and Julia. August 17, 2009

I think this is my new favourite movie. We saw this Saturday night and there were so many similarities between our lives and the ones in the movie. (Especially meltdowns in the kitchen.) Plus, it’s about cooking! What’s not to love??

Excitement! August 11, 2009

Robin and me after our long run on Sunday. We match!

So on Sunday night we went to bed at a decent time and were trying to get to sleep when we heard a truck come down our street. Like, a large truck. It sounded like a garbage truck. Then we saw lights flashing through our windows, kind of like what you’d see with lights from a cop car. Then we heard the beeping sound of a big truck backing up. Obviously something was going on, so we went to investigate. It was a fire truck.

We peeked out the front door and saw firemen running around our yard, and coming out of our backyard. There were neighbours standing around outside, so Charlie went out to get the scoop on what was going on. There is one house in our neighbourhood (unfortunately directly across from us) that college students live in. Either they’re renting it or somebody’s daddy bought it and let the kids live in it for a few years. Anyway, they constantly get on my nerves because they drive across their lawn and destroy their grass instead of asking their buddy to move their car, and they park in front of our house. Anyway.

Apparently they had started a camp fire in their back yard, and then left. The neighbours a couple houses down must have looked out their back windows and been like, “Uhhh…their yard is on fire.” They went down to the house to make sure it was under control, and there was no one home. They called the fire department, but when they arrived they didn’t know which house it was so that’s why they were wandering around in our back yard.

The fire fighters knocked and tried to find somebody in the house, but eventually they just went in. I don’t know if it was open or if they busted the door in, but they went in with axes. About that time the college students come driving down the street. There was some obvious hesitancy on their part as to whether or not they would stop or just keep on driving. They did eventually stop and got out to talk to the fire fighters. a) They were burning lumber, which is apparently illegal inside the city limits. But no one would have known or cared if they b) hadn’t left a fire burning unattended. The fire fighters handed them a shovel and said, “Put it out, boys.” Stupid, stupid kids.

Things that keep us entertained on trips to southwest Missouri. August 11, 2009

This is probably our favourite place to laugh at on the whole trip.

Uhhh, wait. Where am I?

The front tires of this car extend out about 20 feet.

Creepiest business graphic evar.

The Star Trek church.

I'll take a dozen!

Charlie is pretty sure this is the street in Joplin where Mr. Meredith grew up.

Oh, and we did visit Charlie's Grandma, too.

Happenings. August 4, 2009

The garden as of 7/23.

Garden pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/nettinfinity/GardenProjects#5366211462537551714

Shelter Gardens

http://picasaweb.google.com/nettinfinity/Summer09#5366211810023687858

A few more summer house projects: http://picasaweb.google.com/nettinfinity/SummerHouseProjects#5366211852521420242

The worm condo. Now we’re just waiting on our worms!

Front porch day. July 13, 2009

Before

After

See the process: http://picasaweb.google.com/nettinfinity/FrontPorchGoodbye1950sHello1930s#

It was a long, good day. It was funny to see how a project like this brought all the neighbours out of the woodwork. Everybody walked or drove by and said, “Looks great!” “Great job!” “Congratulations!” At one point, when the porch was about half taken off and there was lumber everywhere and windows hanging off the house, one of the neighbours drove by and said, “It looks better already!” The sad thing is that it did.

We were lamenting with our next-door neighbour about the painted green brick, and she replied, “Well, anything’s better than it looking like a tar-paper shack!” Yep.

Poconos. July 2, 2009

What a funny name.

Whenever I mention that we’re going to the Poconos, Cindy laughs and conjures up this visual:

Apparently when she was getting married 20 years ago, the bridal magazines were full of advertisements for the Poconos with a picture like this.

This is not where we will be staying in the Poconos.

Still working. July 2, 2009

Purchased slate tiles for the backsplash in the kitchen. Here I’m sealing some of them and making some into coasters for our new end tables.

Coasters! With non-slip backing on the bottoms.

And here’s what the house looks like now. Pictures taken to show my family and grandparents.

Tomorrow we’re flying out to Phillie and going to NJ for a few days and the Poconos for a few days to visit with family and relatives. Pictures and stories to come.