Sounds Like Canada

Winter 2012 Foods

2012-01-28T22:34:00.022-05:00

I realized that recently I haven't posted much about food. How can this be?!
So as I've done in the past couple of months, I'm giving you a list of recipes and links that we've liked since the 2nd semester started. All of these were successful, though not always by the same standards.

Dilly Stew with Dumplings from the PPK.

This was a combination of things I love: rosemary, biscuits, dill, and creamy stew. The roux makes it seem like it has cream in it and the biscuits, carrots, and potatoes soak it up while they cook. John was skeptical of this recipe because apparently he "doesn't like chicken n' dumplins" (what kind of southerner is he?!), but he loved this. We both did. Served with a salad, I didn't feel bad about eating several creamy-coated dumplings.

Italian Seiten Sausages with Tomto Sauce. The sausages are from the PPK and are also in her Vegan Brunch cookbook.
Sometimes John and I just have pasta with jarred sauce for dinner, sometimes with a few added veggies like mushrooms and zucchini. And sometimes it falls so flat as to be unappetizing. But this dinner was really great. The Italian version of the PPK sausages is wonderful and spicy with the right amount of red pepper flakes and fennel seeds. We fried them separately in a pan before adding them to the top of this jarred pasta sauce with zucchini and 'shrooms. All the flavors worked together so well, and the sausage turned out just right. Yes, the involved several steps and a bunch of ingredients, but most of the cooking just involves steaming them and walking away. Two thumbs WAY up for this meal.

Peanut Butter Swirl Pancakes from Oh She Glows.

These were my reward for losing 2 pounds since Christmas. I have a ways to go before I meet my ideal weight range, but it's do-able. Last time I lost a bunch of weight, about 2 years ago, I limited dessert to once per week - and then I made a point of eating something awesome, like cupcakes "for my students." So these pancakes were the treat recently. I made them on a Friday night for breakfast-for-dinner, and they turned out well! The first couple of swirls I made were too big because I cut too big a hole in the bag. But when I needed a second batch of the swirl, the hole was smaller and the designs were more manageable. Also, who knew that peanut butter combined with applesauce turns into peanut butter frosting? That's exactly what it tastes like. Add a few chocolate chips to this and you'd have actual dessert, aka, My Usual Method for Making Pancakes for Dinner.

Orange Cranberry Lentil Quinoa Loaf and Mashed Potatoes from Daily Garnish.
First, the mashed potatoes weren't from DG - I made them up. And they were decidedly not vegan, with a couple tbs butter, a splash of milk, and about 2 tbs Greek yogurt (I know people always say it tastes like sour cream in these contexts, and I doubted them until this week. Delicious!). They were perfect with this "loaf."
The nut loaf did not behave at all like a loaf when I cut into it, but we didn't really care. It's delicious and full of good-for-you foods. I think if I were to make it again (and I probably will), I'd make it in a casserole dish and just call it a casserole rather than fooling with the loaf pan. Do not skip the salsa on top. We spooned on more after serving it - the salsa really takes this up a notch.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles from the PPK
Can you tell I'm in love with the PPK as of late?
A couple weeks ago, hell froze over when all 25 of my students turned their assignments in on time, stapled, and with shockingly few mistakes. I don't think this has ever happened, so I rewarded all 26 of us with treats. This cookie recipe is a whole lot like the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes in the PPK's cupcake book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Instead of chocolate extract I subbed some coconut extract. With a 1/2 tsp of cayenne, these were even spicier than the cupcakes! They went over well with my students and I had a couple to share with my beloved office mate afterward. Also, like most PPK baked goods, they only take one bowl. I'll definitely make these again.

Pad Thai from Eat, Drink, and Run
Finally. I have wanted to make Pad Thai for years as it is one of my favorite foods to order at restaurants. It's oily and indulgent, great for a night when you want to have something like restaurant food without having to leave the house or order take out. I followed Shelby's recipe but omitted the shrimp, and I wished I had upped the tofu to compensate for it (I also at fish sauce, because we still have some. Once it's out, I will quit eating it). This recipe is delicious and it made us want to make Pad Thai all the time.

Lasagna Cupcakes from Framed Cooks
A friend of mine posted this recipe on Facebook a while ago and John and I immediately started drooling at the thought of lasagna cupcakes. It turns out, wonton wrappers make excellent lasagna layers! I had a couple of hiccups while making these. First, they made fewer than the recipe indicates, and I ran out of cheese. Conversely, it may be that I put way too much cheese in each one. They were also greasy and indulgent, like the Pad Thai. Alongside a salad I could almost pretend it was a healthy dinner! They'd be great party food. If you click the link, note that the author of this recipe also has one for macaroni and cheese cupcakes. That would be seriously good party food for our next potluck.

Last but not least, we made this super flavorful Mushroom and Leek Soup from Closet Cooking. We made it once in Fort Wayne and it was a big hit with my parents, too (obviously we are a mushroom-loving group of people). Roasting the cauliflower adds so much flavor. It's perfect for a chilly winter night.

Here's to a cloudy Groundhog Day! It turns out that Canada has their own groundhogs for the occasion, and Wiarton Willy did not see his shadow. Spring is immanent, I'm sure.

"Random Girls Weekend in the Desert."

2012-01-22T20:35:00.010-05:00

For a while now, the universe's policy is to only let me present papers in pleasant, small towns no one's heard of (unless you live in Warrensburg, MO, in which case, it was nice to visit you!). And Kansas City. Oh, and New Orleans. I guess this is a recent trend.

And this year, the trend continues. I got a paper accepted to the Frederick Loewe Symposium on American Music at the University of Redlands, in Redlands, CA.

However, this time, there is one key difference:

The night of Sargibso's graduation from IU, after many rounds of Sink the Biz.

Fabulous picture from his wedding 5 and a half years ago.

I get to visit Sargibso and my brother! Redlands is only 65 miles from Los Angeles, and I get to make a whole thing out of it!
This is only a preview post since the conference isn't until March and I'm really excited about it. I applied to a lot of conferences this year, and I'm so happy that this one has accepted me. Besides getting to see everyone I know and love in L. A., I get to leave the snowy tundra of southwestern Ontario and go to warm, sunny California. My choice to apply was only somewhat strategic. I also get to present with a bunch of people who like talking about 20th century American music. Sargibso is going to go with me for the conference itself, and she gave me the title for our trip: "random girls weekend in the desert." Because that's where Redlands is.

Win and (dorky) win.

Abby's Favorite Blogs - January 2012

2012-01-20T20:45:00.007-05:00

A picture-less post! Brace yourselves.

Reading blogs is one of my absolute favorite ways to, among other things, kill time, find recipes, and get motivated to run. But my blog reader has changed a lot since the early days of my blog reading habit. My collection has gravitated toward less omnivore/baking and more vegan, everyday food, and several running-themed blogs. At the moment I subscribe to 114 blogs, some of which I read every time they post, and some I skim to see if I want to file away their recipes. I affectionately refer to them as "my stories."

Here are some of my favorites that I've added within the last year or so, in no particular order.

Cheaper than Therapy
Marie, who writes about running and sarcasm, lives in Indianapolis and her posts make me laugh every single time I read them. She recently had a baby, so her format has changed somewhat. I get the sense that before her pregnancy, she mostly posted about her running mileage and beer. She also has a great ability to make fun of other blogs, especially the healthy living variety. I heard about her blog via another fun running-and-humor theme site called Eat, Drink, and Run, written by a woman named Shelby who has a talent for making entertaining illustrations out of MS Paint (<-- seriously, click that link for a funny post), and who also mostly posts about her mileage and beer. These two are my favorite running related blogs, though I also immensely enjoy BrieFit (she and the other running blogs are some of the only people I know from the internets that I think I would actually want to be friends with in real life). And last but not least, I also like Peanut Butter Runner, since Jen's activities make my exercise routine seem so modest, and reading it always makes me want to run or go do some yoga. Or get a golden retriever.

Young House Love
I've written already about how A Practical Wedding is making me so happy these days. Another in my "DIY" reader category is Young House Love, that Carla initially sent to me. These people are inspiring because I know how little money they spend decorating their house. That, and their ideas are both functional and aesthetically appealing. They also have a chihuahua and a pretty cute toddler. I would probably never attempt most of the projects they tackle (like putting in their own giant tile backsplash or knocking a whole through their dining room wall to create an open floor plan). But I like to get smaller-time ideas from them (like these Christmas ornaments) and they've got a good sense of humor about what they do.

Two other food-and-health related blogs I like:
Oh She Glows and Daily Garnish, both of which I found out about Kira, who is still my ultimate source for finding cool blogs.
Oh She Glows (Angela Liddon) makes a lot of delicious vegan food, including a lot of less-bad-for-you desserts out of stuff I usually have on hand. She also takes some fabulous pictures when she travels. And she lives in Canada! We share a love for Bulk Barn, I think.
Daily Garnish (Emily Malone) writes about her adventures as a new mom, running, and developing vegan recipes that I almost always love. John and I make her food all the time and we're rarely disappointed.

And finally, two others unrelated to food:
Cabin Porn, that I first saw on Facebook just this week. Gorgeous pictures of cabins I wish I could live in or at least hang out in for a while. John and I like the especially modern/postmodern ones. So cool.

Socrates Pondering. This one is written by my cousin Corey who currently teaches English in Korea. He posts things about his travels there, or other issues that occur to him. And by him, I mean his cat, Socrates, who writes the blog in the first person about "his friend," Corey.

Last but certainly not least, a quick shout out to my cousin, Halley, who recently started blogging about cool vegan restaurants in Chicago at Chi City Vegan. Why can't I move to Chicago and eat like that all the time?

So that's what's relatively new on my feed reader.
What about you, Internets? What are your favorite blogs? I'm always looking for new ones!

I like bags.

2012-01-16T19:56:00.003-05:00

I'm currently looking for a new day bag. My regular bag has become something of an eyesore and I'm looking to upgrade to something more professional. Given my proclivity toward stuff, I've spent the better part of a day looking for bags that meet my requirements. I have three simple needs (read: wants).

1. Laptop ready
2. Relatively small
3. Look professional

I've had a lot of bags in my life. Some were big, others small, some backpacks, others messengers. When I go to conferences, I usually switch to an old soft leather attache case that has room for my macbook (in an incase sleeve). After I stopped conducting all the time, I switched to a backpack for my then new laptop. Now that I'm in the latter stages of graduate school, I need less room for stuff, and I'd like something that set me off a bit from my students while still having more personality than your standard briefcase. Having said that, I'm not sure if I want to give up the comfort of a backpack. Basically, I want a bag that is a lot like George Clooney: high quality; good looking; stylish; and well-built.

See what I mean? (source).

I've narrowed it down to three bags. Each meets my size and laptop requirements, and each has its own pros and cons.

(Source)

1. Incase Compact Backpack
The Incase backpack offers several features I love. It's slim and sleek, and has enough room for what I have in mind (book+laptop+charger). I trust the brand and it's relatively cheap ($80). On the other hand it's still a backpack, and I'm not sure it looks that professional. While certainly a step up from what I currently have, I'm not sure I would use it a conferences or (hopefully) job interviews while wearing a sports coat or suit. The guys over at Carryology, a blog devoted to bags (yay!), mention it in their list of favorite versitile backpacks. It's a fun, well written blog, and especially useful if you're into outdoor stuff like hiking.

(Source)

2. Tokyo Backpack by Lexdray
One of the most all around impressive backpack I've seen so far the Tokyo Backpack has loads of great features such as locking zippers, numerous pockets, a great laptop sleeve, and includes a rain cover. Carryology gave it a rave review (with a few minor quibbles) and really made me want one. Having said all that, $450 (that's four hundred and fifty dollars in US currency) is a lot to pay for a bag, especially one that's made of synthetic materials and manufactured in China. I'm not saying that nothing good comes from China, just that I would like to know that my money is going toward well treated workers who can browse the internet for bags as easily as I can. I would probably use it every day, though I'm still not convinced of its conferenceability. What? That's a word.

(Source)

3. 2Unfold Laptop bag by Hard graft
This is the real deal. High quality Italian leather with wool lining, this bad boy looks like a really neat bag. It can be treated as a shoulder bag big enough for gym clothes, a laptop, and a book, or it can hold a 13" Macbook Pro (my next computer) and fold over on itself for a smaller footprint. I found one lengthy video review as well as another short review by Carryology. As mentioned in these reviews, this bag can be turned into a backpack, but the video review makes me extremely skeptical that I would ever choose to do that. It also has a really cool aesthetic and I'm sure I would be the only kid on the bock with one. Did I mentioned that this thing is $600? While that's a lot of money (read: shit-load), I would probably have this bag for the rest of my life. I suppose the question is whether I would always have a 13" computer. Probably, but who knows what the future holds?

So there you have it, my current bag wishlist. All in all, I might get myself the Incase at some point, and ask for the 2Unfold for Christmas or graduation or something. Ultimately, I don't spend a huge amount of time at conferences, and I could totally use the backpack for most of my regular life.

Iron Strength

2012-01-14T15:58:00.015-05:00

I wanted to write in more detail about the Iron Strength work out I've been doing as part of my New Year's resolution to incorporate strength training into my running/exercise routine. Carla sent it to me just after New Year's and I've been doing it 1-2 times per week since then. Like I said before, I can only really do less than half of it.

The routine alternates between upper body and lower body exercises, with squats, push ups, lunges, arm curls and the like. You can watch a very even-tempered young woman named Meghan perform the whole thing on Runner's World while the doctor who designed it explains each move. Her contented facial expression made me think the whole thing might not be as torturous as it sounded, but I was wrong. It's much harder than that woman's face lets on.

I think this is called "Rows from plank."

I'll list the cons first.

It made me so sore the first time I did it that I could barely walk the next day. In fact, the act of sitting down was extremely painful, and it took a few days to recover. Ultimately this is probably a pro, though, because I think it's effective.
It's long and doesn't emphasize stretching much. I know it's a strength routine, not a yoga class, but I can only devote so much time to it on the off days from running and I prefer to stretch a little more. So I usually add my own.
The biggest con is that, because of my wacky motion sickness issues, I can only really do some of it anyway. Single-leg plyometric squats are definitely out, as are the Mountain Climber, lunges, sit-ups, and "Legs Down. " That still leaves 4 of the seven sections for me to do.

Trying to look happier about it. I LOVE rows from plank LOL!!!!!!

And the pros:

It's hard (also a con, I know). I feel really challenged by it every time, but it's not so hard that I dread it or give up completely.
I can do it at home with a yoga mat and my weights.
The online videos are pretty helpful and I feel like I know exactly what to do for each section.
Since I can do it at home while listening to NPR on the interwebs, I can customize it and omit things that make me sick, or do fewer reps of things that I'm not ready for. And even though I can't do about 3 of the 7 exercises, the other 4 are hard enough to make up for it, in my opinion.
Certain parts, like the "rows from plank" (good God), have already gotten easier, and that progress encourages me to do it again.
Someone posted a pdf of the whole work out in the RW comments, so I just open that when I want to do it rather than writing it all down myself or watching the videos. If you'd like a copy, I can email it to you.

After a couple of the work outs I've made this tasty fruit smoothie:

The giant bag of frozen strawberries from Costco: it makes winter bearable.

Combine in a blender and serve:
1 frozen banana, cut into chunks
5 frozen strawberries (or more if they're small)
1 cup almond milk, or non-dairy milk of choice
2 tbs peanut butter
2 tbs ground flax seeds

I like stuff (by john)

2012-01-12T19:45:00.002-05:00

I like stuff. Call me materialistic, but stuff can make me unreasonably happy. Introduce a bonus element such as a low price or high quality and I get damn near ecstatic. Example? This Christmas Abby's brother and sister in law got me a Kindle and I basically stopped talking anybody except to show them features I discovered on the Kindle. I literally took it with me, everywhere. Like a child.

One of the ways I express my love for stuff is to tell (read: pester) Abby how cool stuff is. Abby, being the loving and supportive fiance she is, politely suggested that I start writing about stuff rather than regale her with my latest interest (read: obsession). She pointed out that rather than tell her about reviews of stuff I've already bought and used, I could tell the world. Just to be clear, that last bit places the blame for all of what follows squarely on m'lady's shoulders.

Another way I express my love of stuff is to read reviews about stuff I need/want. This means not that only will I be reviewing boring things you probably don't care about, I'll be linking to other blogs about those same things. It's a network of useless of information. I mean, at least Abby's posts are about food or exercise, things that most people use, or could use. My posts will instead discuss stuff I either want to own, already own, or just stuff I'm thinking about. You're welcome.

A Practical Wedding

2012-01-12T17:19:00.016-05:00

As a Christmas-and-engagement present to myself, I bought a copy of A Practical Wedding: Creative Ideas for Planning a Beautiful, Affordable, and Meaningful Celebration. It's by Meg Keene, who created A Practical Wedding the blog while planning her own wedding a few years ago. After reading a post on her site today I decided to write something here about the book.*

I can't remember how I stumbled onto A Practical Wedding, but I'm glad that it's one of the first wedding-related media I found. Meg and the other writers present a sane account of a variety of wedding issues, along with stories from couples planning their weddings and "Wedding Graduates" who share what they've learned. She's a proud feminist and I admire the way she writes about LGBTQ couples (just when you thought a hetero wedding couldn't be any more complicated).

While we're pretty excited to be engaged, John and I both have reservations about wedding planning. So many people we know are happy for us, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. But in the short time we've been engaged, I've already gotten a small sense of how many expectations come with wedding planning. Meg covers a lot of the issues that concern me, and she does it with compassion for all parties involved. She also discusses something she calls the Wedding Industrial Complex, and the perceived need to have OMG EVERYTHING at your wedding, but to also make it as personalized as possible (read: spend money). This book devotes a whole chapter to the history of the modern wedding (which I obviously love), and points out that many traditions that we may consider super important are less than 50 years old. Her point is not to abolish wedding traditions, if, say, you really love the idea of walking down the aisle. She just means that if you don't want an aisle at all, your wedding can still be meaningful. The same goes for favors, a unity candle, a white dress, a sit down dinner, or fancy chair covers.

Unless you really like fancy chairs, in which case, go for it. That's the tenor of the book, more or less, and I find it helpful as I start to think about wedding plans. John and I want our wedding to have some very traditional elements, but it's nice to have some guidance on how to sort out which traditions are important to us. For example: yes, we're having attendants, but they won't be divided by gender (in fact, we're having one big ol' group of them, and we're calling it the Fellowship of the Ring. I know).

The book the blog also deal with difficult topics, like how to grieve the fact that, for whatever reason, you may not have both parents with you to plan your wedding. She has stories of couples planning their wedding while one is severely ill, or when a parent dies close to the wedding date. While I'm grateful not to be in that situation, it is interesting to read accounts of people who overcame them, and to think "if those people can plan a wedding while their dad had cancer, then surely we can do this without making ourselves crazy."

Some other general guidelines from the book and the website:
- "I will not remember what my wedding looked like; I will remember what it felt like."
- If, at the end of the day, two people marry each other, then your wedding was a success.
- One and done. As in, make a choice and stick with it. Second guessing will make us all nuts.
- Your wedding guests are "grown ass" adults (unless they are, you know, actual children) and it's ok to treat them accordingly.
- Where you spend money matters more than how much you spend, and spending money is a political act.

So that's my 2 cents. Our wedding will probably be a fairly frequent topic here, but this isn't a wedding blog. Obviously, it's a stuff-we-eat-and-happen-to-do blog, and I don't want to ruin that incredibly consistent theme by letting the wedding take over. Just a wedding-related post now and then.

*Meg posted these ads a couple days ago on A Practical Wedding and gave permission for people to use them on blogs, websites, etc, as ads for the book. As usual, I'm not receiving any kind of compensation for this post and I payed for the book myself.

What's New

2012-01-07T10:23:00.008-05:00

I love Christmas, as I'm sure you know. But I also love the first couple weeks of January when I get to detox from all the Christmas eating, margaritas, and decor. It's a good time of year to try new things and to get everything in order for the start of next term. So here's some of what we did this week.

My prize for participating in the 12 Days of Gym Christmas came in the mail!

The card reads: "Abby! Congratulations for your outstanding effort during 2011's 12 Gym Days of Christmas!"

That was a nice pick me up, since like I told a couple of people, I was in a race with myself over the holidays to see how fast I could gain 5 lbs. Let's just say I won. But this button was a good reminder that I did a lot of good things to take care of myself during December, and I can keep doing them. Now I need to find a place to prominently display my prize.

For instance, I've tried a couple of healthy recipes last week.
This first one John and I sort of made up. It was supposed to make tacos, but when we forgot to buy tortillas, it became a "burrito bowl," a la Q'doba.

Black beans, red peppers, an onion, a jalapeno, and cilantro cooked together until the beans break down. We topped it with more cilantro, some cheese, and the awesome Frontera (Rick Bayless) salsa.

Next I made the Back on Track salad from Oh She Glows for lunches this week. One change from her original recipe: red quinoa instead of wheat berries.

I ate it over a bed of spinach and topped with an avocado, but you can just eat it straight. It's really flavorful and full of good vegetables. My hope is that I can find a few more recipes like this one to take as school lunches this term.

This last recipe isn't exactly a health food, but if you keep to a moderate portion of cheese per serving, then it's not too bad. It's Lasagna Soup from Closet Cooking. We subbed a pound of mushrooms with 2 tbps chopped sage for the sausage, and it was delicious. It also made a big batch, so we have that on hand for a few more dinners.

And since it's still January and this is a blog, let me state a few goals I have for this year.

Make it through the Iron Strength routine Carla sent me from Runner's World. I did less than half of it last week and I could barely walk the next day. Strength training is conspicuously absent from my running training, and I hope that doing it will help me avoid injuries and physio this year.
Dress like a grown up in public. Since I'm done with coursework, and I have an aversion to make up anyways, I tend to just throw on whatever's (mostly) clean for the few occasions when I do leave the house. This is probably a good excuse to buy some grown up shoes so that I don't just wear my old Nikes everywhere...right?
Buy a bike. I want to spend my Christmas money on a bike so that I can actually try a triathlon this year. I know nothing about bikes, but I want to learn before I make any purchases. Nothing fancy, since I'm not trying to actually compete. But something I could ride around or to school, and for an amateur triathlon.
Running specific: go below a 60-minute 10K. I know I can do this. My goal is for it to happen at the Forest City Road Race this spring. I'd like a 5K PR also, but the one I got this fall is pretty good and I'm not going to set that as an actual goal until next fall.

A Very Fort Wayne Christmas

2012-01-01T19:47:00.013-05:00

This year we spent Christmas in Fort Wayne with my parents. I took a bunch of photos, which I will present here mostly in chronological order, starting with Christmas Eve when I took some tree bokehs.

Dad, John, and I started Christmas Day with a dog walk.

The woods where we walked them were really pretty in the light. You don't have to get up too early for pretty morning light in December.

Double suspension.

Toby was thrilled to go back to the car at the end of the walk so that we could go home and open presents.

John and I got a bunch of fun Christmas presents, including these microphones for something called "Merryoke." Each microphone plays a series of Christmas songs for you to sing along to, and an "elf voice" button that transposes your voice up two or three octaves. Very entertaining for us, sort of frightening for the dogs.

John looks like a weird elf in this picture, with his merryoke mic.

After present opening and breakfast, Dad gave us a little archery lesson in the backyard.

It was a relaxing holiday and we're sad that we have to go back to work. But we'll be back in Indiana a few times in the next year for some very exciting wedding planning.

I hope you had a great holiday and a Happy New Year!

Niagara Engagement Vacay

2011-12-31T21:12:00.012-05:00

WOOT! We're engaged! Several of you probably knew that we were headed to Niagara for vacation, but the engagement plan was in the works the whole time. Here's the long version of the story.

John and I decided a while back that he should get an awesome...thing when we got engaged, since I got a beautiful ring with a pearl that my mom brought back from Japan over 40 years ago (another story).

With historic items at the Niagara Historical Society Museum.

After a lot of discussion, it was decided that we would go on an awesome vacation to Niagara on the Lake, which would serve as the setting for us to actually get engaged. We had a wonderful time there in April and we were excited to go back.

John with other historic items in the War of 1812 gallery. The Niagara region in Ontario was the site of a lot of War of 1812 action. And you know what that means - 2012 is a big year! An issue for a separate post, I'm sure.

We arrived in NOTL in time for some afternoon touristing and wine tasting. Our first stop was the historical museum, where we saw (among other things), a small table made in Paris during Rameau's lifetime.

We stopped at this gazebo on Lake Ontario for some pictures (part of John's plot).

He reviewed his notes while I snapped a few shots, and then he awkwardly said, "Hey...it's time." And proposed.

That night we had dinner at the Ravine Winery Bistro, concluding with chocolate pot de creme.

Ravine was our favorite dinner of the two, though we also had a very nice meal at Strewn Winery. We tasted wines at both Reif and Stratus wineries. I think Stratus, the relatively new place with a modernist design scheme, was our favorite over all, though Strewn is arguably a better deal for their inexpensive, delicious wine. We fit in a 3 mile run along the Niagara parkway on a chilly cloudy morning, followed by fabulous diner breakfast for $3.50. This vacay was a good example of how you can take John anywhere - an upscale winery restaurant, followed by a cheap diner, and then episodes of Seinfeld at the hotel at night.

The vacay was the perfect start to our Christmas and a fun place for us to get engaged. By Friday morning we were itching to call our friends and family to announce the engagement, and we headed to Fort Wayne just afterward.

2nd Annual Shu'Pippen Family Christmas Photo

2011-12-31T20:59:00.005-05:00

Let's just say I've spent a lot of time this Christmas break widening my butt and not much else.

Here are some belated Christmas that John and I took with the camera timer. Just like last year, they are about 75% goofy, 20% serious, and 5% accidental.

The official winner:

The nice ones:

"Like a loaded gun."

2011-12-25T20:29:00.011-05:00

Last week John and I went to Niagara on the Lake for a wine country vacation. We told some people we were just going there to have a little relaxing time to ourselves before traveling to my parents' for the holiday.

But secretly, we also went because we decided to get engaged. It happened under that gazebo on Lake Ontario, but it was rainy and grey that afternoon. We went back to snap some sunny pictures when the weather improved the next day. The one below is from a few moments before he proposed.

John had the ring for a couple months before he proposed. He said it was like having a loaded gun in the house.
I have lots more to say about all this, and I'll write multiple posts about the trip. But for now, omg. We're engaged. Woo hoo!

Birdhousing

2011-12-17T15:41:00.007-05:00

Merry Christmas! I have lots more Christmas stuff to write about. In the mean time, my mom finally got to open this present we made for her, so I can post these pictures of its progress. I hope everyone reading this has an excellent holiday!

This year for Christmas we decided to DIY my mom's gift: a simple, IU-themed birdhouse. We bought all the supplies at Michael's, just an unfinished birdhouse, some simple red and white paint (acrylic, designated for the outdoors), a couple of sponge brushes, and one fine-tipped brush for the details.

Also pictured: a gin and tonic. Not required for painting, but it couldn't hurt!

We picked a house without too many sides or weird angles, and plenty of room for a big IU logo on the back.
John and I took turns painting it while watching TV. We would only work on it a few minutes each day, applying another coat every couple of days.

First, the white sides.

Then the roof.

And last, the trim. It's not pristine, and there are a few places where you can really see our amateurish painting. But it's charming that way, I think. And it'll look nice hanging outside.

The IU looks especially homemade, but it was fun, and it's for my mom, after all. I give this DIY project a solid A.

Merry Christmas, Mom!

Chocolate Pretzel Fudge and Peanut Butter Fudge

2011-12-17T15:22:00.008-05:00

John and I have had a marathon of Christmas potlucks this year. For the final holiday party before we leave town, I decided to try two very simple fudge recipes I've come across recently. Neither involved a candy thermometer, boiled sugar, or a "soft ball stage," all things I'm unfamiliar with.

I think my mom and I tried to make fudge once when I was younger, and it was a real disaster, so I've stayed away from fudge recipes ever since. But these two are pretty simple. All you need is a double boiler - and really, all you need is a bowl and a pot to use as a lazy man's double boiler.

The chocolate fudge recipe is from Martha Stewart and it involves putting chopped pretzels in the chocolate mixture before it sets. The sweet-salty combo is delicious. You can get the recipe from Martha Stewart's website here.

The peanut butter fudge recipe is from Annie's Eats. Her instructions ask you to melt everything n the microwave. I haven't mentioned this here, but our microwave croaked a month or so ago and we haven't replaced it. Instead, we bought a used toaster oven on the cheap ("El Toastito"). So in order to melt everything for this recipe I just used a double boiler again and it seemed to work fine. It's pretty hard to screw up melted butter, peanut butter, and sugar.

That is one intensely rich plate of fudge.

Organic Works

2011-12-17T15:00:00.010-05:00

Last week John and I discovered a relatively new coffee shop/vegan-gluten free bakery in London and we decided to check it out.*
Organic Works is on Wellington and Horton, a good location for us. John and I are always looking for a new place to study outside the apartment and off campus. Changing locations like that can really clear my head. This cafe is a chain, but it looks like they only have stores in Ontario, and it still has a local feel. The store has a large display of cool Christmas ornaments and tons of other decor items, as well as a grocery section with meatless and/or gluten free foods. On top of all that, they bake muffins, cookies, loaves of bread, and scones fresh daily, along with sandwiches, soup, and a coffee bar.

We've already been several times.

John tried the "bread and spreads," where you get two little piles of warm pieces of bread and two of their spreads. I'm pretty sure he chose the avocado and chickpea spreads (not unlike hummus).

I've tried the chocolate chip scone and the pumpkin muffin, both pretty good. They also have some of the best decaf around, on par with decaf from the Black Walnut, one of our other favorite local coffee/bakery joints. John can also vouch for their veggie pizza, which he raved about.

It's a great place to study, especially because of the free wifi. They have a great amount of space with lots of big tables - perfect if you need to work with a giant musical score like I do. I took the picture of the breads and spreads above in one of the window seats that are more like booths. There is also a section with a couch and armchairs on the opposite side of the room, not pictured.

I think Organic Works and I will be seeing more of each other soon.

*Like always, this ain't no fancy, big time blog. I was not paid or compensated in any way for this post, I just think it's a cool place. The end.

12 Days of Gym Christmas Recap Part 2

2011-12-14T18:01:00.008-05:00

On Tuesday I finished the minimum requirements for the 12 Days of Gym Christmas. You can read about Days 1-6 and the general premise here. I ended up writing down what I ate for days 6-12, including one day when I didn't exercise, but just felt like writing it down out of habit. Here's my log for the second half.

December 8: Walked 1.8 miles from school to home, plus 25 minutes of stretching afterward and 16 push ups.

Food: bowl of cheerios with (dairy) milk, 2 bananas, thintini with avocado. Apple. PB cliff bar. Bowl of Thai coconut soup with tofu, 1/2 avocado. 1 tortilla. 1 tbs (serving size) of milk chocolate chips. 1 bowl of cheerios with (dairy) milk. 1 banana with 2 tbs pb. Glass of milk. Tiny glass of Holly Nog.

Green machine smoothie, 1/2 gone.

December 9 (day 8 total): Ran 3 miles, speed work with negative splits, finished in 28:40.

Food: Green machine smoothie, handful of almonds, 1 blueberry bagel, 1 banana with 2 tbs pb, 1 apple, 1 avocado with a tortilla. Tea. 1 chocolate chip cliff bar. 1 handful pretzels. 1 bowl of Thai coconut soup with 4 cornbread biscuits. 1 bowl of cheerios with dairy milk. 1 cup of strawberries.

I have just enough space in The Christmas Room to unfold the yoga mat and do my at-home yoga/strength routine with the magic of Christmas all around.

December 10: Off day, just resting.

Food: bowl of Harvest Crunch cereal with dairy milk; cornbread biscuit. Blueberry bagel. Potluck: 3/4 egg salad sandwich; deviled egg; 3 chocolate covered cream puffs (amazing); 3 carrot sticks with 1 tsp or so artichoke dip; 1 tangerine; 1/4 oz chocolate; 1 apple; banana with 2 tbs pb; bowl of Carla and Dave’s Superbowl Chili; 1 cornbread biscuit; 1/3 cup or so of (dairy) milk.

I've included Dec. 10th because it was the night that IU beat formerly #1 ranked Kentucky in a pre-season basketball game. Y ou can watch the video here. Awesome!

December 11: (day 9 total) ran 3 miles in 31:17.

Food: blueberry bagel with 1 tsp butter; apple; green machine smoothie; piece of toast with most of an avocado (some parts were bad and had to be thrown out). 1 small gingerbread cookie at church coffee hour. Handful of pretzels. 1 D’Anjou pear; 1 hershey’s kiss. 6 or so stuffed mushrooms with fig goat cheese and feta. 1 Beer. Dinner at Church Key: a whole bunch of curry fries and a spinach salad with goat cheese and butternut squash. Pretzel bread. Glass of red wine.

December 12 (day 10 total): 45 minutes of yoga and strength training, including 17 push ups (woot!).

Food: blueberry bagel with butter, tea. Green machine smoothie, a few pieces of roasted yam, 2 oz of (real) egg nog. 1 D’anjou pear. 1/4 oz chocolate. 6” tortilla with 1 tbs pb. Awesome Mexican Salad, same from last week (so good!). Also, two brownies and a 1/4 rocky road bar from Meg at Sweet Beach. Bartlett Pear.

Awesome Mexican salad before the toss. I could easily eat this once a week all year.

December 13: (day 11 total): 3 mile run, plus stretching and foam rolling.

Food: green machine smoothie; roasted potatoes with rosemary and left over Mexican salad; 3/4 rocky road bar from Sweet Beach. Tangerine. 3 almonds. Several bites of John’s cranberry-lemon muffin at the Organic Works vegan/gluten free bakery. Small glass of (dairy) egg nog. Piece of whole wheat toast with 1 tbs pb and 2 tsp strawberry jam. Bowl of Superbowl Chili with 5 mini cornbread biscuits. Small glass of milk; another slice of pb/jelly toast.

And after the toss.

December 14: Day 12 total! 45 minutes of yoga/stretching with 19 push ups and physio exercises.

Food: green machine smoothie; handful of almonds; final bowl of Superbowl chili; decaf coffee and giant chocolate chip scone at Organic Works bakery/café; cup of fabulous caffeine free tea also at Organic Works; bowl of Jamaican cook up rice. Probably another evening snack.

I'm happy to say that 12 Days of Gym Christmas has enabled me to lose 3 pounds over the last 4 weeks (including the end of November, of course). It's been fun to have another kind of goal for fitness at this time of year, besides just "keep running without a race on the calendar." Here's a big fat THANK YOU to Djillian for starting it! I've also enjoyed reading everyone else's updates in the comments of her blog. 12 Days of Gym Christmas has helped me get moving after spending hours at the kitchen table, writing about George Crumb:

Holly Nog - Alternative Milk Review

2011-12-12T12:45:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago I read a post on Oh She Glows about a smoothie made from (soy) Holly Nog.

Then I saw the same Holly Nog at our grocery store and decided to try it.

The color is a little darker than regular egg nog.

And I think it's a winner! No, it does not taste exactly like egg nog, but it's pretty good. The flavor is remarkably similar, but the texture is much thinner than real egg nog - which makes sense, since this is only 60 calories per serving. John and I have a carton of real egg nog right next to this in the fridge, because sometimes you just want a couple ounces of the real thing. But I am pleasantly surprised to say that this is nice, too. I haven't tried making a smoothie with it yet, but I'm sure that's on the horizon. I'd give Holly Nog a solid A; it's better than an A-, but not blowing-my-mind-worthy of an A+.

Holiday Decor

2011-12-07T09:57:00.013-05:00

Here are some of the things John and I put up around the house for Christmas this year. Obviously I love Christmas, but I tried to keep it reigned in so that it doesn't look like Christmas threw up on our apartment.

On the kitchen table:
A square vase I got with a great coupon, filled with the sparlkley balls I've had for years. I think those balls came from a $8 package at Walgreens in Bloomington one year. I also took some red ribbon and tied a bow around our rosemary. It's already in a white pot that I found on our porch over the summer, so it's practically a Christmas decoration already. The thyme plant next to it doesn't look as Christmassy, but it's best not to go overboard when decorating your herb garden for the holidays.

In the "den," aka, "The Christmas Room where it's Christmas All the Time."

Before...

And after.

This year I have tons of wrapping paper supplies that my Aunt Becky gave to me during her moving sale, including a roll of brown paper. Our presents are taking on a "brown paper packages tied up with string" look.

John added his GQ so that Leo could look up at us from beneath the tree.

Last week, as John and I sat watching old episodes of Community, we started cutting snowflakes out of pages from my Office page-a-day calendar. Now they're proudly displayed on the window. I only made a few, but John kept cutting and produced a few...avant-garde snowflakes.

The cyclops and the 4-square ones are John's. The one on the bottom left with the (accidental) little TIE fighters is mine.

A couple days after we finished decorating, Winter showed up and decorated the back yard. It didn't stick around. Just a little snow every week is enough to make things feel Christmassy for now.

12 Days of Gym Christmas Recap Part 1

2011-12-01T22:21:00.006-05:00

This year I'm participating in Djillian's 12 Days of Gym Christmas (you can read more about it here and on her blog).

I've decided that in addition to exercising 12 times from now 'till Christmas, I will write down what I eat for each of those 12 days. It won't be a consecutive log of food (I don't work out every day), and it's mostly for my own entertainment. So here's my recap for the first half.

December 1.
Exercise: 30 minutes on the stationary bike, 20 minutes of stretching that included 13 push ups (boo ya!).
Food: bowl of cheerios with milk; 2/3 cup cheerios without milk; apple; orange; "thin-tini" with an avocado; banana; peanut butter cliff bar. Quiche for dinner (spinach, mushroom, feta), bowl of cheerios with milk again; 2 oz egg nog; one sip of 2 oz egg nog + 1 oz rum (gross!); 1/2 bowl of gingersnap oatmeal from cheap healthy good (pictured below...also gross, but my fault. Didn’t mix spices right, tasted weird).

December 2: Ran 5 miles.

Food: green machine smoothie (based on Kira's recipe here but without protein powder or frozen berries, and adding 2 tbs peanut butter) , slice of leftover quiche, bowl of cheerios with milk, Bartlett pear, chocolate chip cliff bar. Christmas potluck: second slice of quiche, big hunk of a veggie/cream cheese biscuit…thing someone else brought; 1/2 cup beans and rice; 5 crackers and cheesy dip; 8 parogies (sp?) with potato and cheese; can of diet root beer; 4 grapes; slice of apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

December 4: 45 minutes yoga/strength training including 14 push ups and some exercises from physio last summer.

Food: green machine smoothie, thintini sandwich with Gardein meatless breaded chicken strips (must stop eating these, very greasy but tasty), mayo and spinach; apple; 1 square of fudge with pretzels; 3/4 cup pasta with marinara sauce, mushrooms, and zucchini. Bowl of cheerios with milk; Bartlett pear; banana with 2 tbs pb.

December 5: Ran 3 miles.

Food: green machine smoothie. Lots of water. 4 almonds. Blueberry bagel with butter; 11oz can of mandrin oranges, syrup drained off; handful of pretzels; tea; 1 stuffed grape leaf; amazing Mexican salad with 3 cornbread biscuits from Vegan Brunch (did I eat a bowl of cereal that night? Probably but I didn't write it down).

December 6: 45 minutes of yoga and 15 push ups. Also, physio exercises from last summer.

Food: green machine smoothie; thintini with peanut butter; apple; lots of water. Leftover Mexican salad. Party at Grad Club, so 1 piece veggie pizza (so good!), probably 10 or so cheese cubes, 8 crackers, 5 red pepper slices with about 1 tsp dip, 1 triangle of spanikopita. 1 pint Mill Street Organic beer. Tea. Chocolate chip cliff bar. Bowl of cheerios with almond milk. 1 cornbread biscuit.

December 7: Ran 4 miles, stretching and foam rolling.

Food: bowl of cheerios with banana and almond milk. Tea. Green machine smoothie. Thintini with an avocado, mashed on top. Two 6” tortillas. Peanut butter cliff bar. Banana. Bowl of Thai soup with coconut milk and veggies. Bowl of cheerios with (dairy) milk. 1 left over cornbread biscuit.

This is the first time I've logged my food and I'm sort of surprised at how much of the same thing I eat day after day, and just how much I eat in general. It's helpful to look back through these days since I'd like to adjust things to help me loose a couple of pounds before Christmas actually gets here. I know this time of year makes it hard to eat well, since there is at least one potluck every week (still 3 potlucks to go before Christmas). But it's also helpful to see the times when I made good choices. For instance, after the potluck with the apple pie and ice cream, I did NOT eat a piece of cake offered to me later that evening. I'm grateful to Djillian for having the 12 Days of Gym Christmas, though, since it helps me keep both the exercise and the indulgent food in perspective. The first 6 days of this flew by, and I hope to officially finish well before the 24th.

I know this sounds crazy, but I kind of love running in the winter (as long as it's not too icy) so I'll keep running past the 12th day. Maybe a few extra days of Gym Christmas will help make up for the...extra baked goods I consume at each potluck.

What about you? Is this the time of year to indulge and rest, or do you try to maintain some exercise during the holidays?

Christmas Craftiness

2011-12-01T21:54:00.013-05:00

If you know me well then I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I am extremely coordinated and adept at turning household objects into pure gold through the art of crafts.
For example, see this post about the melted snowman cookies we made last year. Right?

Right. I am in no way crafty by nature. But this year I read several posts on Young House Love that made me want to MAKE SOMETHING OMG! I decided to try the ornament painting that they explain this post. Glass balls + paint = discovery of my savant talent for ornament making. How hard could it be?*

Note the Tudors intro in the background.

I would give this project a B+. It went ok - I didn't get paint everywhere and they more or less turned out like I planned. Still, I used WAY more paint than I should have, and they took forever to dry (some never really did and have a little pool of paint in the bottom. I'm over it).

The gold one turned out best by far.

Some of the smaller ones I just put in this little glass square vase I bought for $1 at a thrift store.

All the supplies were from Michaels: two packs of glass ornaments (one smaller than the other, but with more in the pack), an four containers of the cheapest possible paint. I'd say the glitter was more frustrating to work with because it moved slower, but it ultimately looks best on the tree. You can see how large my problems are. The glitter is moving to slowly.

Before my stint in painting I also tried something simpler: putting cloves into oranges in a pleasing fashion.

It mostly worked! I'll give this one an A-, since the one that says "Joy" didn't really come across. But it was fun and easy. I bought a bag of cloves for about $.45 at Bulk Barn and then used a big safety pin to poke holes in the orange. It smelled delightful and added some color to the table, but they eventually got moldy so I had to chuck them. Still, a cheap and easy way to make our kitchen smell nice.
What about you? Any homemade decor for the holidays, or do you avoid crafts in general?

*Famous last words.

November Foods 2011

2011-12-01T18:46:00.010-05:00

Instead of a bunch of separate food posts, here's a round up of recipes we tried and enjoyed this fall.

First up: Vegan Broccoli Cheese Pasta Bake from Daily Garnish.

It's amazing how blended tofu turns into a creamy sauce for this dish. You can use pretty much any shaped pasta and whatever green veggies you had on hand, though broccoli works extremely well. Our only complaint was that this didn't reheat very well the next day. The tofu on the pasta gets kind of hard, even though it was totally creamy the first time. But if you're feeding a large group, I would recommend it.

Next: Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup from Giada (Food Network).

My friend Katie sent me the recipe for this and I knew we'd both love it. It's basically a lot of sweet potato and broth, but then you mix in marscapone and it turns into magic. I think subbing almond milk and some Earth Balance would be a good way to make this vegan, and I almost tried it (but then I wanted to buy the cheese, so...you know what happened). We will definitely make it again.

ON TO DESSERT!

Numero 3: Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows from the PPK.

These. are. amazing. I made them for a get together at Bryn and Djillian's house, and they were gone well before I left. I think next time I would make them a little smaller, since some of them were quite large. They are only slightly more involved than a regular cookie, in that you have to roll the peanut butter part into balls and then cover it with the chocolate to make one giant ball, but really, it's pretty fool proof. I'm looking for another excuse to make them because, seriously, these are the best cookies I've made all year.

Four: Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

This recipe isn't on the PPK site, though they do have three other cupcakes up there. I suspect that if you google it, you could find the real thing. They have corn flour and almond meal in them and it gives them a little bit of a gritty texture. The cayenne pepper also gives them a little kick - nothing strong, just a bit - because apparently that's what Mexican hot chocolate tastes like. I've made a couple other recipes from this book, but these are by far my favorite.

Cinque: (Vegan) Pumpkin Pie Brownies, also from the PPK.

I baked these a little longer than the directions called for, and I'm not sure if it made a difference. The final direction is to chill them for an hour and a half before serving, and at that point the pumpkin layer on top was fully set and DELICIOUS. I love these brownies! One of the taste testers said that they have the consistency of a cheese cake. I kind of went on dessert overkill last week, so I froze individual servings of these brownies. I'm optimistic that they will still be good after being frozen.

Six: Mashed Potatoes with Sage and Rosemary and White Gravy from Daily Garnish.

Not a dessert, but I did serve these and the brownies along with a few other items on American Thanksgiving. We had a couple friends over for a casual meal and these potatoes were a hit. They have mashed apples in them that add the perfect amount of sweetness. We will probably make them again at Christmas!

And finally, chocolate dipped shortbread cookies.

This recipe is from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and I first made it the day after we got El Mixo 3000 from Costco (we've been through so much since then, El Mixolito!). Unfortunately I baked them a few minutes too long and they were a little brown. Normally this wouldn't stop me from eating them or giving them away, but they were for a church fundraiser, and they're supposed to look nice so people will buy them. So I did what anyone would do - combine a little melted chocolate with a little milk, dip 'em, and cover them with Christmas cheer. Done and done. I think they sold well!

That's that for fall foods. I'm so proud that this list even includes two non-dessert recipes. It's that time of year again. I have lots more Christmas stuff to write about. In the mean time, it's after December 1st, so crank up the volume on the Christmas music!

Cherryhill at Christmastime

2011-11-22T22:02:00.013-05:00

John and I live near this mall in London called Cherryhill.
Let me back up: London calls things malls that I would just call a strip mall with an inside, since it's cold. There are two larger malls that I think of as actual malls. Cherryhill is more like an indoor strip mall aimed at senior citizens, many of whom live in our neighborhood. It's got everything a senior person - or any person - might want (pharmacy, groceries, liquor store, travel agent, bank, post office, public library branch), and once you're there, you don't have to wear a coat or worry about slipping on the ice.
Come to think of it, Cherryhill has just about everything I want within walking distance. It was perfect last year when we needed groceries during the Big Snow of 2010. When I say it's popular amongst seniors, I'm not complaining or criticizing. It's a cheerful place, especially in the coffee shop where a lot of people seem to have long-standing meetings with their friends. We love having a library branch so close by so that we can request books and dvds to pick up there. John once overheard an amazing line from an older gentleman while waiting in line at the library.

Elderly Patron: I need a new library card.
Library staff: Can I see your old one?
[Patron hands her the card, she examines it.]
Library staff: Wow, I've never seen one this old!
Elderly Patron: I got it when I came back from West Germany.

In a way Cherryhill seems like what a depiction of a charming "period" mall from the 80s would be like - you know, like Pioneer Village, but a mall. It's basically one long hall way with a food court at its center that features almost no chain restaurants (not even Tim Horton's). The annual Christmas decorations are easily my favorite thing about this place.

During the holidays they set up about 4 different displays of animatronic people and animals that move and look cheery.

They represent the way different social classes might celebrate Christmas. The poor fruit sellers, the guy warming his hands over the burning trash (or is that some other material I don't recognize? Why is he burning charcoal in that pushcart?). Note the light under the can - it looks like it's really burning.

You've got your bourgeois/upper-class carolers.

Last year someone put a picture in each of their carol books of a man wearing overalls but no shirt (completely not obscene). Their expressions turned from "singing joyfully" to shock when they bowed their motorized heads to look at the picture. The pictures weren't there long, but I thought it was a pretty fun, harmless prank.

I think Mary looks an awful lot like the curly-haired woman selling apples.

And of course you've got your standard manger scene.

These kids throwing snowballs and skating are pretty cute, but I have to admit that sometimes these figurines used to creep me out.

That little boy with the snowballs has a way of turning his little animatronic head in my direction right when I walk past, as if he's eying me as his next target.

Less creepy than last year's sheep heads worshiping the snowy Jesus.

In general though they don't give me the creeps as much as they signal the start of Christmas in our neighborhood, and for that reason I've started to really love the Apple Lady, the Kid Who Falls on the Ice, the Manger Camel. You can't look that friendly camel in the face and argue that it's too soon for Christmas decor.

Books for Fall 2011

2011-11-18T18:39:00.007-05:00

Instead of a list of foods I made this week (mostly grilled cheese) or a list of random events that happened to me, I thought I could confirm my nerd status by making a list of things that have been going on in my brain parts. Here are some books I've been reading. As you'll see, they obviously relate to each other in a logical and inevitable way.*

1. Dialectic of Enlightenment, Max Horkheimer and T. W. Adorno (originally published 1944).

Adorno and Horkheimer (or "Hork," as I call him in my notes) were 20th-century critical theorists. My advisor put the first chapter, "The Concept of Enlightenment," on my fall reading list, since I'm studying Rameau, the 18th-century music theorist (and the two obviously go together...*sarcasm*). In a way it was a really obvious thing for me to read in regards to Rameau, since they deal with the Enlightenment values that effected his theories - and I'd argue, as others would, that we still practice and teach music theory in a very Rameauian way. He's stuck with us like not many else have. So I've decided to take a social/cultural angle and study him, specifically the idea of Nature as something Enlightenment scholars wanted to master through rationalism. Dialectic of Enlightenment deals more with the idea that Enlightenment is a totalitarian phenomenon that commodifies our thoughts and our sense of self, and that enlightenment culture eventually led to the Holocaust. The more radical aspects of their theory aren't what interest me so much, but I am intrigued by their idea (similar to Foucault's) that when we "know" a thing, such as Nature, we dominate it. You could say Rameau did something similar, since he was obsessed with finding a natural source for tonality as we know it - the corps sonore.
The Dialectic is among the hardest things I've ever tried to read, but I would say that this translation by Edmund Jephcott is more readable than others. I'd recommend it, if this is the kind of thing that floats your boat.

Enough. I'm sure you're thinking, "Save it for the diss."

2. The Nutcraker and the Mouse King, E. T. A. Hoffman (1819-21).

After I looked into the Nutcracker performances in Toronto, I learned that E. T. A. Hoffman wrote the original story. That kind of blew me away, since most of what I know about him I learned from IU's trippy production of Tales of Hoffman a few years ago (could you do a non-trippy version of that opera? Maybe, but it'd be boring). But then I realized that it makes total sense for him to written the Nutcracker, since it's plenty weird itself.
If you're into reading Christmassy things this time of year (as I'm wont to do), I would recommend this story. It's not very long, maybe 10 short chapters, and it was readily available to me through the UWO catalogue. The story is stranger than the ballet, though the book jacket and wiki tell me that the ballet is actually based on Alexander Dumas's "watered down" version of the story. Clara in the original story is named Marie and she's only 7 - which I know doesn't conflict with every production, since sometimes Clara is pretty young and not en pointe. But the story is really a coming of age, and little Marie definitely has some adult feelings for the Nutcracker doll when she realizes there's a prince trapped in there. I won't give everything away, but some highlights:

there are actually multiple battles, and Marie cuts the bejeezus out of her arm in the first one, so everyone thinks her fever made her hallucinate the whole thing.
there's a crazy story-in-the-story that explains how a princess is the one who originally gets turned into a nutcracker by the Mouse Queen; Drosselmeier and an astrologer travel all over trying to find a cure for her condition. Then they meet his cousin, whose son is involved in breaking the curse. Through a series of events, we learn that the younger Drosselmeier (son of his cousin) is the one trapped inside the little Nutcracker that Marie wants to save. Eventually, as in the ballet, they do make it to a land of sweets even more elaborate than any ballet production (obviously), including a sea of rosewater that has sparkly gold dolphins in it. Crazy.
All the romantic weirdness between Marie and the Nutcracker/Prince does explain the way some productions portray their weird relationship, since he's her Godfather, but he's sometimes in an awkward competition with the Prince for her affection.

Short and sweet, and I'd definitely recommend reading it if you've only ever seen the ballet, like I had.

3. Christmas Customs and Traditions, Frank Muir (1975).

I'm one of those obnoxious people who have to restrain their Christmas spirit until it's almost seasonally appropriate. This year I decided to temper my outward enthusiasm for Christmas by by reading a book about its history, and a brief search on the UWO catalog led me to this one. I don't know much about Frank Muir, but in preparation for this post I stumbled onto a blog dedicated to Muir fandom, so check that out if you'd like to know more.
I realized recently that this book combines a lot of my favorite topics: history, early Christian rituals, the Church's appropriation/adaptation of pagan rituals, all combined to be Christmas-specific. Muir covers a lot of the figures that you may associate with Christmas, like St. Nicholas and St. Stephen (you know him from the Good King Wenceslas carol), as well as Wenceslas, traditions like wassail, the boar's head, and the Yule log. He also describes lesser-known traditions like the Lord of Misrule, whose job it was in the Middle Ages to keep the party going from Halloween to New Year's, lest winter depress everyone, or the Mummer's Play that involved Santa Claus narrating a dual between a Knight and a Turk during the Crusades. I'm only about half way through it so far, but it's great for bedtime reading.

I'll spare you the other stuff I'm reading, since it's mostly for my proposal preparation and not for fun. These three are the most memorable of the semester so far.
What about you? Anything you'd like to suggest for my reading list? Or anything that shocked you when you read it? Or was wildly different than your expectations?

*spoiler - they don't.

12 Gym Days of Christmas

2011-11-12T13:36:00.004-05:00

For a couple months now I've been toying with the idea of registering for this half marathon in Indianapolis in May 2012. My good friend Carla will be running and has offered to run the actual race with me - an opportunity I don't want to pass up. But I have some reservations about it, and I wanted to write a pros and cons list here (because, you know, my amateur running hobby is endlessly fascinating). If, after reading this, you have some wisdom to share, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Winter running is fun, especially when the long runs are only 5 miles.

Pros:
- Could get advice and support from Carla and other running friends while I train.
- Could run the race with her, so I wouldn't be bored.
- Running that much would mean I would get to eat more, especially dessert, and that's fun.
- Sense of accomplishment.
- General badassness.

Cons:
- Huge blister issue that I have yet to resolve. I've done all the things people suggest (non-cotton socks, changed shoes, used bandages, used body glide or similar product), but they are pretty God awful. I'm not sure if I could actually run further than 7 miles with them that way.
- Long runs take a long time, even if I stayed at only 3 runs per week. The long run would kill a major part of the day, and I feel busy as it is.
- Related to that last one, my big task for next term is to write my dissertation proposal, and I want to devote as much time to that as possible. Between the funding and immigration issues that effect my timeline for the rest of the degree (topics for another post), I don't want to add anything to my schedule that would inhibit my progress. Not that I'm going to quit running and become a (even bigger) hermit, but a half marathon would require a lot more training than I'm used to.
- Adding more mileage than I ever have in the dead of winter, lots of miles in the snow or on the treadmill (which I try to avoid for anything longer than 4 miles, for various reasons, my motion sickness being the main one).
- More running requires more of the things that running demands: stretching, foam rolling, strength training and cross training. It's not that I don't enjoy those things (although yoga and pilates are off the table because of motion sickness), but it's all more time. It's not just the run.

In general, I feel the cons outweigh the pros. My plan instead will probably be to train for a 10K in the spring, such as the Forest City Road Race, or even the Really Chilly 10K in February. I think with that much time I could try to break my current PR for the 10K and go below 60 minutes, while increasing my mileage more gradually. Then maybe I could consider the Fort For Fitness half-marathon in Fort Wayne next September. That might be an easier one to train for, since Ontario summers are running-friendly.

Having said all that, I do feel the need to sort of shake up my routine ever so slightly for the rest of the calendar year. With no more races ahead of me until 2012, it can be a little hard to want get out the door to run.

Enter: The 12 Days of Gym Christmas.

My good friend and UWO colleague, Djillian, created the 12 Days of Gym Christmas as a way to stay motivated for working out as Christmas approaches and the opportunities to indulge in fatty/sugary (re: awesome) food are more abundant than ever. The goal is to work out in some form (gym and cardio not required) 12 days between Dec.1-24; no more than one session per day can count, but it's up to each individual to define what that session will be. Djillian gives a 12 Days of Gym Christmas button to whoever completes it! Win win (win). My plan is to record my weekly progress here as part of my normal once-a-week posting routine. Twelve workouts in that span of time is fairly normal for me, but it is nice to have a little extra enthusiasm to work out at the end of the term and during the holidays, since if I'm going to skip a work out, this is the time of year I'd do it. And I'm hoping to more than just run during that period, so I may try things like the stationary bike, elliptical, or strength training that I'm normally not good about doing.

I know it's only November, but Happy Early Christmas Season! If you have any thoughts on holiday workouts or distance running, please hit me up in the comments!

How the Universe gave me a burrito and a cold.

2011-11-04T16:28:00.010-04:00

For this week's post, I've decided to make a list of lessons I learned, and things the Universe dumped on/gifted me this week.

1. A cold.

2. Autumn colors.

3. The ABT Nutcracker with Mikhail Barishnakov (just picture him in tights, or click here.). John says it's too soon for Christmas-related anything, so I secretly got this version of the Nutcracker from the library and watched the first act while he wasn't home. Ultimately, though, he figured it out and looked at me in disgust. Whatever, John. What a scrooge. As Dave said, I love pizza, so why would I only eat it one month out of the year? It's past Halloween. Time for Christmas!
I've been looking at the National Ballet of Canada website to see if we could go see the Nutcracker there, but it's kind of cost prohibitive. The cheapest, worst seats would still cost about $100 and then there's the issue of getting there and parking. If only Toronto were a little closer, or I guess if only London/Western had decent enough ballet to put on their own Nutcracker. That's one thing I really miss about IU - going to see good ballet productions at the music school, especially the Nutcracker.

4. A rejection to a regional theory conference, but also, the motivation to revise my abstract on George Crumb.

That's the Agnus Dei from the Makrokosmos, a piece I wrote about a while back. This paper is on a song cycle, but it has a fun graphic score like this one. This rejection stung a bit more since I feel like I've been struggling to catch up on work ever since SMT last week, and that's been compounded by getting sick. Meh. Can't win 'em all. I still have a bunch of other conferences to apply to, and my abstract is getting better over time, so maybe I'll get on somewhere else.

And finally (because 5 is a nice round number),
5. Delicious butternut squash black bean enchiladas.

Peeling and chopping butternut squash is such a pain, but so worth it. This recipe takes a little time to put together because you have to roast the squash, but once you've done that, it's pretty simple, and very tasty. Definitely different from the enchiladas I've had in the past, but the flavors work well together. These didn't come out very...photogenic, so no picture. But if you click on the recipe you can see the ones on the original site and they're pretty good.

Here's to next week being a little more cheerful with a little less cold medicine!

SMT 2011 - Minneapolis

2011-10-30T21:10:00.004-04:00

This weekend was the 2011 conference of the Society for Music Theory. You can read about the previous two years' conferences here: 2009 parts one and two, 2010.

I didn't take a single picture this year, but I thought I'd share this old one from Nashville/2008, along with some non-academic highlights of the conference.

1. Minneapolis seems pretty cool. It was sunny and about 50 degrees, and there was a farmers market right outside the hotel on our first day. You can walk forever in the skyways without having to go outside - a useful plan, given their winters. Like always, I wish I'd seen a little more of the city, but there are only so many hours.

2. Here's my favorite line from conversation that two anonymous theorists had over dinner:
Theorist A: I went to ______ a while back and it lasted forever, like 2 hours.
Theorist B: Two hours for that?! You could have watched all of Jurassic Park!*

3. I went to the Yale reception to hang out with my friend Tim, who gave a great Schubert-related paper. In some kind of ninja moment, he moved to shake hands with a person across the table and the blade of his hand virtually sliced through the stem of a wine glass, knocking a total of two wine glasses in opposite directions, and spilling wine all over both of our pants. By then I'd had enough wine not to care, and they were dark jeans, so no harm done. Just a lot of laughing.

4. I got to hang out with a lot of my favorite people, a lot of IU folks (like Jason and Victoria), and my new UWO friend Katie, a masters student in my program. Now I'm twice as excited for next year when the conference is in New Orleans, jointly with American Musicological Society (AMS) and the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM. John is calling it AMSMTEM, and the rest of us are calling it the Trifecta (though the Holy Trinity would be more regionally appropriate). I'm hoping my good friend Mark will be able to attend that one, since this conference was a little lonely without him - even though Tim tried to make up for it by putting candy corn in my water glass during the keynote.

5. I got to spend a lot of time with the thoughtful and enthusiastic Committee for the Status of Women and its associates. I'm the student rep for that committee now, and I think the CSW discussions are some of the most useful parts of the conference for me. Thank God, too, because the meeting is usually from 7-9:00AM.

*Also funny because one of the theorists looks so much like Sam Niel.

St. John's 5K and River City Rat Race 2011

2011-10-16T20:50:00.008-04:00

I've run two races in the past 7 days.
First, the St. John's 5K put on by my church. It's a fundraiser for their weekly meal program. The race itself is small and I was right in thinking that might enable me to win either my age group or some other prize.

This was a really encouraging race for me. I won my age group (17-35 or something similar) and I was the second female over all to finish. I also made a significant PR - 27:23! That's a drop of about 50 seconds, and I was really pleased with it. I'm at a point now where I don't feel like I need to hold back on the start of a 5K; I can kind of just run the whole thing pretty fast (for me, at least).

Then on the 23rd I did a the River City Rat Race 10K in Fort Wayne (where I took no pictures). John accompanied me to the start, and then met me at the finish at the Old Fort, Fort Wayne's replica of the historic fort buildings from the War of 1812. This race was definitely one of the strongest I've ever run, and I finished in 60:35 - a new PR.
Several things about it went well, in that I warmed up properly, my blisters held out until near the end, and I timed my meals so that I didn't get heartburn (kind of a common problem for me, but one I'm learning to fix). Also, the race went really close to my parents' house, so they came out and cheered just before the 4 mile mark, and that was awesome!

I'm trying to focus on those things, and the fact that - HELLO - I got a PR, but I left feeling fairly disappointed. My official goal for this race was to PR (anything below 61:13), but my unofficial, secret, obsessed-with-my-time goal was to go below 60:00. It even seemed like that was going to happen, since I accidentally went out too fast, and I ran mostly 10 minute miles after mile 2. Volunteers called out times at each mile marker, and it looked something like this (my thoughts at the time are in parentheses):
Mile 1 - 8:55 (WOW! Too fast!)
Mile 2 - 18:change (ok, better)
Mile 3 - 27:55 (why am I running so fast?)
Mile 4 - 38:00 (this might end badly)
Mile 5 - 48:00 (ok, but my brain can't do the math to calculate what is happening, but this seems very consistent...just keep moving and you will probably go below 60.)
Mile 6 - 59:change, but I didn't really hear what they said.
Then two things happened.
1. I mistakenly thought I only had .1 left (like in a 5K) when I really had .2, and I thought that I could make it. I somehow stopped thinking of fun music in my head because I think I'm almost done.
2. My blistered feet hurt. a. whole. freaking. lot. There is one final dip, downhill/uphill, and then the finish line seems farther away that it's supposed to (see above). I am not mentally prepared for what now seems like a tiny hill.

My conclusions:
- I ran the best race I could for how I trained.
- The training schedule I made up for myself was actually better suited to me running a fast 5K, and that happened the week before.
- It may not have been reasonable to assume I could run a sub-60 10K, since I've never done one in practice, and my last 6 mile run was still 63:00 or so. See above about the training plan.
- I need to find a way to get rid of those blisters, because damn.
- More than any one other problem, I kind of gave out mentally. My attitude could probably have compensated for the blister issues, fatigue, etc, but I kind of lost my focus and then it all caught up with me. Once again I learned that running is so mental. If that's the lesson I get to take home from this race, then that's ok. I know what I want to work on.

...and I got a PR.
A couple of funny things I overheard:
One of the guys around me for the last 2 miles had a radio with headphones and called out "Touch down, Bears!!!" every time they scored.
A guy behind me for the 1st three miles seemed to know every volunteer and when we passed one of them, he said, "That's (so and so), his son plays football for IU....That must be sad to watch."

Despite my own issues, this race was really fun and well organized. It wound through mostly residential streets, and
a lot of people came out to clap and cheer on their front lawns. Plus, for $25 registration I got a sweet Brooks, long-sleeved technical shirt. It's probably the last race I'll do this semester (unless I find a holiday-themed one to run!), and I have lots to think about and work on during the next few months.

Ithaca and Fall Foods

2011-10-15T08:40:00.009-04:00

Last week John and I drove across the border to see eighth blackbird perform at Ithaca College in New York state. I didn't think to take any pictures of the gorgeous fall colors until we were almost done with the trip, but the leaves were peaking and the landscape there is very hilly. It was beautiful.

Road trip break to take a photo at Lake Seneca.

I spent a day working in the college library while John followed 8bb around and took field notes. We got to stay with our friends Djillian and Bryn who we know from UWO. Bryn is a theorist and he's teaching adjunct there. The scenery and the liberal environment reminded me a lot of Interlochen. And now, of course, I want to move to Ithaca.*

Totally switching topics, here are some awesome foods we made this fall.
Most of them are not actually fall foods in the sense of cinnamon, fall spices, and squash, but we ate them this fall.

These bars were from the end of the summer, technically, but we froze a few so their wonder lasted until fall. They are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, from Brown Eyed Baker. I've always drooled over her pictures but this was one of the first recipes I made from her site, and I'd say it was a success. People went crazy over these brownies. They're super rich, and I feel like they'd be fairly easy to re-create vegan-style, since the cookie dough doesn't have eggs in it anyways and it's going to be baked.

Next up, Jen's Lafayette's Red Velvet Brownies. Jen is a friend from Bloomington, and she's participating in Vegan Month of Food, or Vegan MOFO, and her fundraising dollars support Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, a Bloomington food bank. As a draw for her blog, Jen has created this elaborate True Grub theme, based on the plot and character's of True Blood, and it's hilarious. Also, these brownies were delicious - really chocolately, crisp on the outside, and gooey on the inside. A great balance.

And finally two more vegan dinners that I wanted to give a shout out to:

Texas Tater Tot Casserole from Meet the Shannons. Tater tots! Nostalgia! Yum.

And Butternut Squash Mac n' Cheez from Oh She Glows. We added broccoli to ours, and it was tasty, though I would say it's not really a lot like mac n' cheese. But it is delicious! I would make it again..

This fall is really busy, and I will probably keep the weekly blog posts simple until some of the big things are over. I hope you're enjoying the change in seasons!

*I know, I say that about every place we visit. I guess it's good that I feel that way, and not the other way around.

Lauren in Chicago

2011-10-04T22:28:00.008-04:00

We stayed with my aunt Becky during most of our trip to Chicago, but on the weekends we went into the city and stayed with my good friend Lauren.

On my birthday we got dressed up and went to a jazz club near her apartment where a woman named Big Time Sarah was singing with a seriously good band.
Before leaving I said, "Let's take a nice photo of us together, since we're all dressed up." I only have photos of Lauren from before college, and now from this summer. Just like when she came to Canada, we had a hard time taking a serious photo.

Made it. Whew.

It was so nice seeing Lauren's fancy (to me) Lincoln Park apartment. Her location is incredible. On my birthday I went running on a path along Lake Michigan, merely blocks from her apartment, with the lake on my left and the downtown skyline ahead of me. Of course visiting Lauren and spending time in the city with my cousins, aunt, and other friends makes me desperately want to move to Chicago.*
It's also nice to learn that, after visiting her, that she's the kind of person I can stay friends with, even though we don't have as much in common as we used to, we have tons and tons to talk about all the time.

*Wasn't it only a year ago I was saying I want to move to Atlanta? Well scratch that. Chicago for the win. Atlanta is awesome, but I'd miss the snow.

Chicago Birthday

2011-10-04T21:58:00.021-04:00

I was so excited when I realized that we would be in Chicago for my birthday. John says he knew right away what I would like - Mexican food and dinosaurs.

I did a five mile run along Lake Michigan that morning and then met John at Frontera for lunch. Frontera is one of Rick Bayless's restaurants and it had fabulous food. John asked me to order him a margarita while he went to the restroom, but by the time he got back, our server was only half way through explaining the margarita menu to me. I think the one I ordered had cilantro and cucumber in it, with a cilantro-salt rim. Delicious. I also ordered a chocolate empanada for dessert (pictured above), and they were kind enough to write happy birthday in chocolate sauce along the top.

Then we made our way to the Field Museum.

We saw some of the permanent stuff, like Sue the Dinosaur.

We also saw Whales: Giants of the Deep, one of the special exhibits (where they don't allow photos, unfortunately). I am apparently the last of my friends to know that whales evolved from a land-dwelling mammal that went back into the sea and eventually stayed there. It makes sense, really - how else would there be mammals in the ocean? Anyways, I was impressed.

We spend the majority of our time in Evolving Planet, where you get to walk through different phases of the earth's development. Naturally I loved the part with the dinos.

John posed so naturally with all of them.
I could have stayed at the Field forever, but they closed early on Friday so our time was a little short. We zipped through ancient Egypt and then it was time to go.
I wasn't sure John would top last year's present (Li'l Choppy), but he really out did himself this year.

Doggie Bath Time

2011-10-01T09:16:00.005-04:00

We were in Fort Wayne earlier this fall, and I decided to give my parents' two dogs baths in the basement tub (one at a time, of course). Obviously they were thrilled.

It takes a lot of energy to hold Toby down, since he constantly tries to escape and jump off the big freezer next to the tub.

First he acts like he'll just stand still and take it while you dry him off.
You can see where this is going.

At least one of us is clean at the end of it.

Florida

2011-09-14T22:38:00.007-04:00

At the end of our time in Chicago, we learned that my grandfather was very ill. He passed away before we got back, and so we ended up making a quick trip to Florida for the funeral before returning to Ontario. We mostly spent time with relatives and prepared for the service while we were there, and I was able to take a big pile of family photos with me, plus some ties for my brother. But the morning of the funeral, I went with John and my mom to Siesta Key, a near by beach with fabulously soft sand. It was a little bit cloudy, but that didn't stop us from being those people, doing yoga poses for the camera. Notice how refined John's form is in each one, while I can't really get my leg high enough to do Tree correctly, and I need to relax my neck in general.

All of the pictures of John holding me make my ass look enormous. But I like the ones where I'm holding him.

August, come she must

2011-09-12T21:47:00.005-04:00

How can summer be over already?

I think there's a fairly heavy post ahead, fyi.

John and I are back from Chicago. To say that it was fun would be only half of the story. We saw all kinds of stuff, got to spend time with my good friend Lauren, and helped my aunt make a big transition from her suburban home to something temporarily more unsettled.

My cousin Halley got married in one of the best, funnest wedding I've ever been to.* My aunt I ran a 5K that was quite possibly the fastest of my life. But it didn't really happen that way because I twisted my ankle around .6 miles and had to stop then walk for a while until I could go on. It turns out, adrenaline will help you compensate for a sore ankle.

John and I went to the Field Museum for my birthday - among my favorite birthdays! - and I definitely want to post about days like that. I still plan on doing that.

I partly didn't write anything on the blog while we were away because all the pictures ended up on John's computer instead of mine (lazy, I know). But there were other reasons. The biggest one is that I've been sick - a kind of sick that I don't really know how to articulate. It's like being motion sick. I clench my jaw at night, apparently a lot. When I wake up my head and jaw and neck ache and throb so much that I'm dizzy. And since I get motion sick extremely easily, that feeling translates into nausea that kills the whole day sometimes.** A lot of August was spent on my aunt's couch, waiting to feel well enough to do something. I went on a lot of walks around the neighborhood, since that seemed to help. But when I would feel better, the blog didn't make the list of priorities.
Now that I'm done with the comps and coursework, there's more or less no end to school. That sounds frightening to some people, I'm sure, but it's what I want. I like it. I get paid to read and to look for things on the internet to read and then write what I think about them and travel to tell people what I've written. It's kind of awesome. But it also means that "summer break" doesn't exist in the same terms it used to. Just because I took the comps doesn't mean I get to do 2 whole months of nothing afterward. I have homework on kind of a permanent basis. The motion sickness/nausea or whatever it is prevents me from doing much when I feel that bad, and when I feel well again, I know I need to make school a priority. I'm not sure that it will change any time soon, so I don't know what blogging will be like, but there are topics like the Field Museum that I want to write about, if only so that I have a record of what I thought about them at the time. John and I chaired the student conference at Western during August and that also deserves a post.

Until then, I'm still here, working and writing when I can, and trying to figure out what to do about my health. Yes, I'm addressing it, and unfortunately it doesn't seem to have one, convenient solution. It's frustrating, but each day is a little different. Here's hoping tomorrow is a day with less time spent recovering, and more time spent doing the things that I love, like writing about music and food.

*My cousin Jessica got married this summer, too, but unfortunately I wasn't able to attend. I'm so sad I wasn't there, but I'm really happy for Jess!

**This is the short version of the story.

July Foods and the Room Switch

2011-07-29T16:05:00.014-04:00

July of 2011 was the only part of the summer that we spent in Ontario. I thought it would be fun to do an end-of-the sitcom, "what have we learned?" kind of post.
1. July is the only "hot" month in Ontario. So eat something cold.
By that I mean we had a week of temps in the high-80s to mid-90s and a fair bit of humidity. Our central air fought bravely, but it was stuffy in our apartment for a while. Our solution to this was to keep the oven and stove off as much as possible and expand "Salad Night" into "Dinner."

A caprese-style salad with mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and arugula.

We also made potato salad for lunches with this recipe and an amazing strawberry pesto pasta salad that I didn't photograph, despite its beauty.

Other salad favorites this month: Greek barley salad and this delicious, extremely simple chickpea salad. Those chickpeas are going to be on the menu again soon, and would be perfect to take to school or on a car trip.

When my parents were here, we decided to show off the fabulous Asian grocery store we've recently fallen in love with, United Market. We bought these red bean ice cream bars as a sort of experiment, and John and I LOVE them! They're so creamy (and full of sugar). It's a totally different context for beans and it's delicious.

The same company makes a lot of other flavors and now I want to try all of them.

2. When it's hot, get out of the apartment and go to the beach.
This one shouldn't take a lot of 'splainin. The beach is awesome and breezy. It's currently John's favorite place to take a nap.

Even though this July had the hottest day on record in London, ON, I managed to give myself frost bite by leaving an icepack on my hamstring and then falling asleep while watching "Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Isrealites." Please enjoy this picture of the back of my thigh, just above the knee. It stung for a day or two, and then went away, kind of like a sunburn. Giving myself frostbite on what was literally the Hottest Day Ever was one of those moments when I felt grateful for my now 8 years of higher education.

That red shape is from the ice pack wrinkles.

3. Say yes to rearranging your furniture.

The above photo was our bedroom, and now it's The Den. The ceiling fan in that room was a plus, but it also has eastern facing windows that allowed Mother Nature to wake us up really early every morning. The sun is so strong that I felt like I was getting a tan line from my pjs. It's also a small room, so we bumped into each other as we got dressed, and I whacked my leg on the bed pretty much all the time (because I'm obviously coordinated; see above).

And now our big, former living room is our big, current bedroom. No apologies for the unmade bed.

From the perspective of the bed. The curtains are temporary and make it look like a harem.

We are in love with the new arrangement, as all of the air conditioning/heat vents are now free and the air circulates better. We also have tons of room to get dressed and exercise in the space near our dressers. It makes sense to keep our living room in the smallest space, since we use it the least of any room, and we rarely have more than 2 people over at once. It actually makes the apartment feel bigger than before.
That pretty much wraps up July.
During August, John and I are spending several weeks in Chicago so that he can do research. I'll be doing school work, too, but from my aunt's couch, thus allowing me plenty of time for general fun in the city. If you have a recommendation for a Chicago activity/place to eat, please let me know! I hope to have some fun pictures and things to post here from that trip.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Sweet Beach - Port Stanley, ON

2011-07-29T11:08:00.010-04:00

As I mentioned here, I went with John and Lauren to our friend's new cafe in Port Stanley, Ontario: Sweet Beach.

Our friend Meg opened Sweet Beach earlier this summer. It's a really cute little place on William Street in Port Stanley. If you've ever been to Port Stanley, you've probably been on William St. - it's the one that leads straight to the main beach in town. Meg's location is fabulous, and the cafe appeals to people like me who would like a food option other than fries when they visit Lake Erie. The other big restaurant on the same street is Mackie's, which is kind of a Port Stanley tradition for a lot of people. They sell fries, fast food stuff, and ice cream. It's not there's anything wrong with that, but it's nice to have the choice of something else.

Here's Meg with their display case of delicious baked goods.

Meg has a nice variety of baked goods: muffins, cookies, ham & cheese croissant, etc. Lots of yummy stuff, and she bakes it fresh every day.

Chocolate silk cake.

Sweet date squares.

Sweet Beach has the only soft serve ice cream in Port Stanley and it is seriously some good soft serve. She also has a ton of mix-ins so you can order a Sweet Storm - their version of a flurry/blizzard kind of thing.

One of the perks of having a year-round place like this is the coffee - Meg has several kinds of organic, fair-trade coffee brewing daily, plus this row of pretty teas. You can also buy the coffee by the pound to take home.

John and I had such a good time visiting Sweet Beach and we will definitely be back!

Note: just a reminder, this ain't no fancy blog. I wasn't paid or given any sort of compensation for this post, I just like Meg and Sweet Beach a lot.

Lauren in Ontario

2011-07-29T10:41:00.010-04:00

In the second half of July, my good friend Lauren came to visit us in London.

Lauren and I have been friends since about fifth grade, and I'm sad to say that I don't have a scanner to show you some awesomely bad pictures from back then, because there are TONS: show choir, jazz band, our 8th grade trip to Gettysburg when I got the stomach flu and threw up all over the hotel bed we were sharing. Lauren and all the other girls in our room eventually got sick, too. Those were good times.

We stayed friends during college, even though she went to Pur-don't. Now she lives in Chicago and works for a health science company that does research on things like whether or not formaldehyde in wrinkle-free shirts can hurt you. Or how bad hair products are for your body. That kind of thing. Lauren is one of about 2 friends I have who "do science" instead of music, and I like to ask her sciency questions. For some reason I think it's like having the Discovery Channel on hand, though Lauren constantly reminded me that she doesn't automatically know everything about science just because she majored in it.

Home of the "chipnut": a peanut coated in potato, then fried and seasoned. Not as amazing as I hoped, but I'm glad I sampled them.

During her visit we did all the typical London things. You know - playing with sparklers on our porch. Then we headed down to Port Stanley, ON and stopped at Picard's Peanuts along the way. Picard's has most kinds of nuts you can think of, plus their chocolate-coated varieties, candy, jams, etc. It's a place that "has Abby's dad written all over it," as John said.

Then we drove into Port Stanley itself. We stopped at Sweet Beach, a new cafe run by two of our good Canadian friends, but it deserves its own post here. Next we walked around Port Stanley, something I've never actually done. Lauren and I stood next to this monument to take a picture, and then proved that we cannot stand still and take a normal picture without me laughing hysterically first.

John has the opposite problem. He can sit still for about 1 picture, and then he has to let off some steam being funny.

It was SO FUN to have Lauren come visit us. Plus we got to learn where the Amtrak station is in Detroit! She's the kind of friend who I can go a long time without speaking to, but then we talk again and no time has gone by. Plus, Lauren is easy to entertain. We are both excited to see her in Chicago in August!

Happy Dance

2011-07-16T09:56:00.001-04:00

Around mid-July I found out that I passed my comps! From what I can tell, the handful of people who read this probably knew a long time ago that I passed, but I wanted to post here about it anyways because HOT DAMN I PASSED THE COMPS!!!

John found out that he passed in the morning, and I didn't find out for about 5 more hours. I was a complete, nervous wreck after that. The thing is, we have different committees, so the fact that he heard didn't mean anything about when I might hear or whether I passed. I thought it might take another couple of months for my results to come in, and I tried to make peace with the idea of not knowing until September.

We ran a few errands (I finally got a new hamper! It completes the big furniture-rearrangment we did in the middle of July - more on that later), and then decided to go to Springbank Park for a long walk. Before we left the house, I obsessively checked my email one last time, and there it was!
"I've just sent a message to the Associate Dean informing her that your Advisory Committee has read and passed all three parts of your comprehensive exam. Congratulations!"

So we went to the park and John practiced using fast shutter speed while I jumped up and down.
Then we went out for ice cream that night to celebrate.

John's kindly holding my cup while I take a photo.

It's so hard to get John to take a normal picture.

OhthankGod. Wepassedthecomps. Whew! On to the directed studies and the proposal.

Beach Day - Bayfield, ON

2011-07-12T12:48:00.002-04:00

My parents came to Ontario to visit in July and we took them to Bayfield, ON, a beachy town we'd never visited before.

Bayfield is on Lake Huron, just north of Grand Bend and the Pinery. The town itself was cute (though I didn't take pictures), and it seemed more parent-friendly at least for my parents than Grand Bend.

We tried out our new beach umbrella.

On the other side of this pier is a marina where people park their boats.

Bayfield's sand on the beach was really nice, but the shore was really rocky. Everyone but me kept their sandals on to go out into the water because it was painful to walk on all the rocks. Someone recently told me that the rockiness comes and goes (weird!) so it might not be that way next summer. One we were out about 30 feet or so from the beach, the sand was really soft, and still very shallow. At that distance, the water only came up to my waist. The other big thing in Bayfield's favor is that the parking was free and it has public washrooms, though they were locked for the evening before we were ready to go home, so that was kind of a bummer. I think we'll definitely go back and maybe see some more of the town next time.

Fourth of July

2011-07-12T10:50:00.001-04:00

Today I realized that July is almost over and I still have an old post from the Fourth. So here we go!
Three years ago (!!!) on the Fourth of July, I went with John, Mark, and Sarah up to Fort Wayne.

We went to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo.

Here we are in the Australian part.

My parents took us to an IPFW donor cookout to watch the fireworks.

This year John and I went with my parents to the same cook out (and I missed Mark and Sarah a lot!).
They had some lovely desserts:

S'more-filled cupcake. A+.

Strawberry shortcake. A. Not bad, but not as outstanding as the s'more cupcake.

Dad decided he should try on John's new hat.

I think Dad briefly considered permanently taking the new hat from John.

Sort of distinguished, right?

Then he did his Australian accent for us, and I laughed 'till I cried. That's definitely my dad's hidden talent. It involved a lot of sounds like "Oooooi!"

Gratuitous Dogs Photos

2011-07-10T21:42:00.000-04:00

And now, some photos of my parents' dogs that John and I took in Fort Wayne. I won't even bother trying to string this into a narrative. We went to Fort Wayne. We took the dogs for a walk or two. I took a bunch of photos of them.

If you think I'm one of those people who's weird for how much they love dogs, you're probably right.

Really loving the shutter speed on the fancy new camera.

BARcelona and Three Sisters

2011-07-07T23:00:00.002-04:00

The title of this post sounds like the name of some kind of weird book. Or a Woody Allen movie.

Good story, Abby.

BARcelona is a tapas restaurant in Indianapolis, and we went there after Sarah and Tim's wedding with Carla and Dave. Carla took us there once before; it was the highlight of SMT last year...the culinary one, at least.

I have so many great pictures of Dave talking and Carla looking at him as if to say, "What?!"

We had white, then red sangria.

The next day we went for a very hilly run in Fort Harrison State Park, where three of us randomly wore green running shirts. Then over to the Broad Ripple neighborhood in Indy to eat a very late breakfast at the Three Sisters Cafe.

Serious discussion about who's everyone's favorite Food Network personality.

Three Sisters Cafe was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, the Guy Fieri show on Food Network. They have little markers on the menu for things Guy ate (see the highlighted "DDD" item here), including the thing I ordered: corn cakes with berry sauce and whipped cream.

They were so good. I can see why they were featured on TV. They're on the sweet end of the breakfast spectrum, and you can taste the fruit, but they're not overpoweringly sweet. The sauce was perfect. I would eat the whole thing again right now if someone offered it to me.

I love how similar Dave and Carla's expressions are in these photos. They are of one mind!

Here's Dave casting a hex on me, sitting across from him.

One thing I love about these pictures is that I went with the same people + Aisha to Three Sisters a few years earlier after running a 5K in Indy, and we sat at the same table. And we took similar pictures, only I was sitting where Carla is in the above ones.

Awesome, post-run hair.

I'm so glad we got to spend extra time with Carla and Dave. While I'm sad that they're moving so far away, but I'm also really happy for them to have jobs in Denver, and I REALLY WANT to go visit them there.

Summer Weddings

2011-07-07T23:00:00.001-04:00

The initial purpose of our summer road trip (see the other three posts about it here, here, and here) was to attend two weddings - one in Nashville, one in Bloomington.

The first: John's friend Tanner from TTU and his wife, Sara.

They got married at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville.

Tanner's dad is a high school band teacher, but he also plays in a really great band, and they played the wedding. They were amazing! John and I danced until my feet couldn't take it any more.

I wish we could have stayed later and hung out with Tanner and Sara some more, but it was really fun to see them get married!
If you'd like to see some of their beautiful pro wedding shots, click here for the photographer's blog. You know, if you live in Nashville and need a wedding photographer. Like you do.

Next: my former roommate at IU, Sarah Wangberg and Tim Climis, who got married in Bloomington in early July.

The day started with a trip to Upland with a few of my favorite IU people.
[I apologize for how blurry most of the pictures are from here on out.]

Then we headed to the choich.

Sarah looked beautiful in the dress her Mother. Hand. Made. Whew!

Her dad is a Lutheran minister, so he and the local clergy each did parts of the service.

Married!

The reception was casual and held at a local park pavilion with lots of family.

These aren't wedding-specific shots, just some pictures John took while we were at the reception.

I'm so glad we were there to see Sarah and Tim get hitched and to have a little IU party with our friends. These were only 2 of the 5 (five!) weddings we were invited to this summer. Sadly we can only go to three total. I'm really excited to see my cousin Halley get married next in just a couple weeks!

A Tale of Three 'Villes - Knoxville

2011-07-01T21:29:00.001-04:00

Our final stop in TN was Knoxville where we visited John's master's thesis advisor and her partner, who is also a musicology professor at UT Knoxville (you can read both their bios here).

Talking to Les in their spacious study. I loved their house!

They also made us a wonderful dinner of curried chicken, grilled corn on the cob, and cucumber salad. The next day, Rachel got up and made us all omelettes. As John said, they gave us the real executive treatment.
Here's Rachel with Frou Frou, their poodle.

The weather cooperated and we had both meals outside on their porch.

Frou Frou is really well behaved, and milled around the yard while we ate.

After several hours of musicology talk, we got on the road and drove up to Bloomington. We passed several of our favorite TN landmarks, like this one:
A a combination porn/adult bookstore, as-seen-on-TV outlet, fireworks store, and fudge store, presided over by this giant white cross.

Always my favorite place to stop on I-75.

A Tale of Three 'Villes - Cookeville

2011-07-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

After our goodbyes to Kira and Joe, John and I headed to Cookeville to see his conducting teacher/mentor from his undergrad days, Dan Allcott. Dan's always been so supportive of John, and me - even though he was never my actual teacher - so we love to visit him and his family.

As we drove along I-40 we saw a sign for Del Monaco Winery just 5 miles from the Cookeville exit, and we decided to pull off.

They had a nice tasting room, beautiful property, and friendly staff. Dan told us that the winery is THE place to have a wedding, if you live in Cookeville, and if you click here to see their pictures, you'll understand why.

We tasted several of their wines and you can read about them here. A lot of them were too sweet for my taste, but the chardonnay pretty nice. A lot of them would be good to drink while sitting out on their patio.

Their tasting room overlooks the production part of the building.

After some tasting and buying a bottle for our Knoxville hosts, we went on to Cookeville to hang out with the Capron-Allcotts.

Dan and his wife Susan made us a fabulous dinner of grilled pizzas and salad, and then we played with the family's new dog, Sandy.

Their son, Carter, posed some of his action figures for John to photograph.

Dan still imparts life lessons to John when we visit. This time we learned two important things, though I'm sure John can tell us more:
1) When pouring beer in a glass, you want it to have some foam because its more fragrant.
2) If the glass is warm, pour slowly. If the glass is properly chilled, you have to pour aggressively to get the right amount of foam.

The next few photos take a little explaining. The gist of the story is that Dan went to IU for grad school, and while there, his wife really fell in love with the Bloomington children's museum, Wonderlab.

John puts the dress frame-thing on Jacque (short for Jacqueline), their daughter.

After they moved to TN, Susan felt Cookeville should have something similar and so she started her own version of it: the Kiwanis Cookeville Children's Museum. This year they had a fundraiser called the Mad Hatter's Ball, where the Allcott's bought that dress frame-thing (can someone tell me the real name of it?) that John is putting on Jacque in the picture above.

As part of the fundraiser they also asked local artists to create a fancy hat for the auction. John is modeling the one they took home.

We were so grateful to the Capron-Allcotts for hosting us. It's always nice to visit them and to see the local changes around TTU and Cookeville.

Next up: John's-professor-reunion part 2 in Knoxville.

A Tale of Three 'Villes - Nashville

2011-06-30T15:39:00.000-04:00

Last week was the second half of our Summer Roadtripstravaganza Oh-11. It's less epic than last year's, but we've still gotten the chance to visit a lot of people we miss in Indiana and Tennessee. After a short visit to Memphis where we saw John's family, we made our way east.
Here are some random pictures I took along the way.

First we went to Nashville to visit my bff Kira and to see John's friend Tanner get married (that needs its own post, I think).

Kira's cat, Thelonious Monk, hanging out in the hallway.

Unfortunately we didn't get to spend a ton of time with Kira because she was the chaplain at this awesome church camp. But it was a nice, short visit.

Here's her other kitty, Duke Ellington. I love this picture because Duke looks like a cat-shaped pillow with eyes.

Also, Kira, I hope I have the cats' names right!

He seems to love having his picture taken, and put on a brooding face.

While we waited for Kira to come back from camp for a visit, her husband Joe took us to a cool restaurant called Bread and Company, not unlike Panera but local and nicer.

Joe and I studied the menu carefully.

Lots o' granola.

Joe and John both chose omelettes, something Bread and Co. is known for.

John's omelette - broccoli, tomatoes, and cheese (or some other veggie combo) with sourdough bread.

Joe regaled us with stories from his job as an anesthesia resident at the Vanderbilt Med Center.

While I wish Kira had been in town longer, it was really great to talk to Joe. Normally when I visit Kira and I talk 90 miles an hour and no one can get a word in. I always wish our visits to Nashville could be longer. John can't get enough of this face:

Frigidaire Pro

2011-06-14T14:39:00.001-04:00

Two weeks ago our apartment welcomed two new additions. First, the patio furniture:

Once the weather finally improved and John killed some of our neighborhood wasps, we started looking around for cheap patio furniture. After considering a set at JYSK (similar to this one but on sale for $40) we remembered that winter can last for up to 6 months, so there's no point in spending a lot on patio furniture. I almost bought two chairs and a small table from Wal-Mart that are exactly like the ones we bought, but then John thought to look on Kijiji (like Craigslist), where he found the set we have now for a whopping $15. Score!

That milk bottle has flowers in it. Duh.

We sat outside the next night and ate dinner on the new-to-us table. I plan on spending a lot of time in those chairs this summer.

Then, after a long process of talking to our landlord and calling repair guys and appliance guys, we got a new fridge! Our old one was so old that they don't make parts for it anymore, and it apparently really guzzled the electricity. It would trip the local breaker it was on and shut off until we realized and reset it. It's not ideal for times when we're traveling.

But then the new one arrived! First the guys came and removed the cabinets above the fridge, since the new one is too tall for them. I put everything out on the counter tops before they hauled it away. Watching them struggle to get it down the stairs reinforced to me that I don't want to get a couch because I don't want to have to move one in and out of this place.

AND BEHOLD!!!!!! OUR NEW FRIEND, FRIGIDAIRE PRO!
Aka, Blue Velvet.

Ooooooooooooooh!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!

I think we're going to get along just fine.

London Ultimate Club

2011-06-14T12:13:00.000-04:00

Hope you enjoyed my last, very rambling post about the comps. I'd like to write a more thoughtful post about the exam process, but for now I've enjoyed the chance to think about ANYTHING ELSE, so it will have to wait.

Meanwhile, this summer John decided to join the local ultimate frisbee club. He'll probably write a separate post about it later, but for now, I wanted to post some pictures I took at the game two weeks ago (again, trying to learn how to take action shots with the fancy new camera).

Most of these are in no particular order, and in some cases, the moment I captured was less triumphant than it looks. It was easy to take pictures that made the team look like they were doing something impressive.
For example, I snapped the next three pictures as John caught a frisbee close to where I was standing.

John spies the frisbee.

The frisbee approaches.

He makes the catch!

Unfortunately, the reason I was able to take such close pictures is that John caught it out of bounds. But like I said, it photographed well.

He was able to receive some good passes that were in bounds, though I'm not sure if any of the actual points were John's.

Note the cows behind the goal post. It's just like rural Indiana!

I've gone along to a couple of games, once just to be supportive and the second time to take photos, and I've really enjoyed meeting all his teammates. John registered as a free agent and was placed on the New Wednesday Team that normally wears powder blue.

The guy in blue with the leg brace is Chris, another PhD student on John's team. Their facial expressions make it look more like they're running from a UFO.

At some point the team name was "That's What She Said," but this year they've also considered calling themselves "NWT," "Layout Melroy," and "Stinson," or "Stinson's Mom," the last couple referring to two different members of the team whose names they like to shout.

Paul (?) makes a lot of photogenic catches.

It's been fun to see John play a sport since he's lost a ton of weight in the last year. It's like he gets another shot at high school gym class, except now he's leaner, stronger, and generally less awkward.

He gets a huge kick out of every game, and a good work out, since they run almost constantly for at least an hour.

Every week at least one teammate asks if I want to play (they're often short on girls and it's co-ed), and every week I say no thank you. I've played ultimate a handful of times, only one of which I enjoyed. I can run (at least I think I can), and I like to be active, but I've only ever really played me-against-me sports like swimming and running. I have no concept of the strategies they use and it just doesn't appeal to me. The good news is, though, ultimate frisbee is actually fun to watch - especially with the camera. The game pictured here went by quickly, but that might have been because everyone wanted to get to the bar to watch Boston vs. Vancouver in what I think was game 4 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Either way, it's been nice to meet new people and for John to put all his super fast running to good use.

The Comps: A Narrative Through Food

2011-06-11T11:34:00.000-04:00

I decided the week before our exams started that I wouldn't upload any photos from my camera. "It's the comps!" I thought, "No fun of any kind!"

That turned out only to be partly true. For the first two weeks, I worked about 7-8 hours a day, every day, and I wrote a LOT in that time. But by the end of the second week, I was physically spent and really stressed. My body figured out a new way to manifest that anxiety in my skin:

Nope, not a sunburn.

That picture doesn't really convey how red my skin was (and that's good, it's less gross). Basically, it looked like I had a sunburn on my chest (just above my tank top) and neck, but I actually had some kind of rash. You can also sort of see the irritated skin around the corners of my mouth. A doctor at UWO gave me some stuff to put on it, and after I kind of hit a bottom with my stress after week 2, it went away. That seemed like a big warning sign to me that my 8-hour a day method was not working out.

So I took some time away from the exams each day, I was more liberal with break time, and I still finished with a couple of days to spare for final tweaking and editing. I guess I won't really know how it went until I know if I've passed, but I know for sure that I couldn't have finished them at all if I'd continued that way for all 4 weeks.

Today I uploaded the photos I took on my point-and-shoot camera during the comps, and of course, they are mostly food pics. So here's a very random account of some stuff that happened during the comps and just afterward.

Our last pre-comps meal: cajun catfish, hot crash potatoes, and whisky glazed carrots (based on this recipe, but with WAY less butter).

At one point during the exam our friend Dana had a party, so I made some vegan chocolate cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and iced them with very non-vegan peanut butter cream cheese frosting that was left over from the Easter cake we made.

It was nice focus on something other than the exams and get out my cake deco kit. I was particularly proud of how the piping turned out on these! Also, I've had some hits and some misses with this cupcake book, but the basic chocolate cupcake recipe seemed pretty solid. I'll probably make these again.

Here they are perched on top one of my many piles of books for the comps. I ended up checking out probably 30 or so books and I initially stacked them in little piles in the living room.

Note the laundry, clean but not folded. That was the way of things during the comps.

Unrelated to the comps, John and I decided to get a small table to put some potted herbs on, and didn't find one we liked. Instead, we bought this new-to-us bookcase and figured it could do the job.

The herbs looked nice on it, and I realized that I could put my books for the comps on it. Win win! But that window doesn't give the herbs enough light, so they went to live in the kitchen/balcony. Still, the new bookcase is probably our favorite piece of furniture.

John and I planned all our meals for the comps in advance, including this little number: grilled cheese on bread from the farmer's market, and roasted tomato and garlic soup. Nothing like comfort food when you have to write 60 pages in 4 weeks.

Tuesday we had a brunch with a few friends to celebrate the end of the exams. It involved mojitos in some glasses I bought at Goodwill (score!).

I've also been experimenting with variations in iced tea, including this one with either mint or basil, plus frozen raspberries. I usually add 3/4 tsp of simple syrup. It's easily spiked with whatever alcohol you prefer!

So there you have it...a super random post about what we've been eating and doing for the past few weeks. I may write more about the comps themselves another time, but it's still hard to turn my brain off after thinking so intensely for 4 weeks. John and I have a lot of fun stuff coming up in the rest of June and later on in the summer that I will be sure to write about here. John and also joined an ultimate frisbee league, and I have some pictures to show off that I took with our fancy new camera (thanks, John's research grant!). Hope you're enjoying the summer so far!

Forest City Road Races 2011

2011-05-02T11:12:00.000-04:00

About a month ago John and I ran in the Forest City Road Races. He ran a PR in the 5K and I opted for the 10K.

For pre-race fuel the night before we made this vegan Pesto Gnocchi Soup from the Post Punk Kitchen. It was a great way to get some carbs that stuck with me for the race, and it made enough for leftovers. A+.

John and I both ran the 5K at Forest City RR last year, and the set up was pretty similar this time. The race leaves from Victoria Park in downtown London, home of the tamest squirrels I've ever seen. This one sort of looked at me as I walked by, and (because I'm weird) I said, "Hey, little buddy," and he ran right over, expecting me to have food.

Back to the race. The 5K started at 8:30, but the 10K didn't start until 10:00 - I'm guessing to allow people the chance to run both. It was sort of an inconvenience, but by the time John finished running we only had an hour to stand around, stretch, and for me to warm up.

The camera didn't exactly cooperate, but here's a picture of the 5K start. If you look hard enough you can see John's red hair on the right hand side.

The runners rounding the first corner. John was out of sight by the time I got this picture.

After about 20 minutes I knew it was time to head to the finish line on a different side of the park. John wanted to beat 23 minutes and I wanted to get a picture of him.

He was alone for a lot of the race - faster than the bulk of the runners, but not fast enough to be with the lead pack. It seemed like he was one of the first ones in - 30th over all, pretty good for a race this big. In the picture above he was gesturing to the crowd to cheer for him, and they did, especially after I yelled "GO JOOOOOOHN GOOOOOO!!!!" really loudly.

His time was just over 22 minutes, so he accomplished his goal. But now, like you'd expect, he really wants to beat 22 minutes. His time earned him 3rd in his age group. That place didn't come with its own award in this race, but I'm still really proud of him. It's a tough race to try to place in, the biggest in town.

It rained on the 5K runners briefly, but the weather looked like it would hold out until the end of the 10k. Not so. It sprinkled while we waited to congregate at the starting line. And with about 6 or 7 minutes until the start, it really began to rain serious rain. My feet were wet before I started running. The temperature felt colder than I expected (I think it was in the lower 40s with wind), so I kept the fleece jacket on that I planned to give to John to hold. I was definitely under dressed and wished I had some gloves. My hands were numb before we even started moving. It wasn't pretty. But what are you gonna do? I don't skip training runs because of the rain, and I sure as hell wouldn't skip a race that I'd payed for and trained for for months just because it's raining. Hail, maybe. Lightening, definitely. But it was just cold and windy and raining, so we ran anyways.

Despite the wind and rain, it was still manageable. I got a nasty side stitch in the first mile, but I slowed the pace a little and it gradually went away. There were a couple of hills, but the really tough one was in the last mile, and by then I just wanted to be done, so I kept moving. My goal was to set a new PR (my old one was about 64 minutes from the Halloween Haunting) and run a strong race. When I passed the 5K mark at 30:30, I knew it would be hard to break 60 minutes (the goal at the back of my mind), but that I could still set a new PR. We wound through campus and then Gibbons Park, one of my all time favorite running spots, and it was nice to run in such a familiar setting.
Somewhere in park I met up with this women who I talked with at the starting line. She and I knew we had similar time goals, and I drafted off of her for a little while before she started a conversation. We agreed to stick together and I appreciated her so much. She suggested we take the 9th KM easy so we could go fast on the last KM, and I agreed. She said it was important to her to stick with someone as much as possible, and I told her she was helping me a lot. And that's true - I was struggling mentally more than anything, my fleece was soaked and heavy, my shoes were filled with water, I was freezing, and my allergies picked up this week so I was also fairly congested. Not ideal conditions. But with a running partner it's easier to ignore all that stuff. I know I would have run a lot slower without her.
As we rounded the corner back to Victoria Park, we agreed to start really increasing the pace at a certain spot, and I lost her before the finish line. I looked for her afterward to say thank you, but I couldn't find her, and I was too exhausted to wander around much. John walked with me through the food tent and we sat down in another so that I could re-group and get out of the rain.

The only passable picture he took after the race. John LOVES goofy pictures of me in situations like this. And I hate them.

My time was 61:13 on my watch, and the chip time was about 15 seconds later (I think), so I was pleased. I still feel like I can do better and break 60 - or go significantly under 60 - but that goal will have to wait. Better weather would help, but crappy weather is always a possibility, so I don't like using it as an excuse. This race definitely reminded me of how it can be easier to run in the winter than in the spring. I plan to run during the comps, only 2-3 days a week, and nothing longer than 4 miles. It's not a time to focus on running, obviously, but a 30 minute exercise session is supposed to be really good for you brain, and I know that it helps me clear my head and reduce stress. So I'll run, but without a race date set afterward. There will be more 5Ks and 10Ks, and I know that sub-60 time is within my reach.

As I post this, we have 2.5 days left in the comps! They are due on Monday and I have a lot to catch up on with the blog, so I'll probably do a comps-round-up post. John and I also have some exciting plans for the rest of the summer that I'd like to write about here, too. Hope you're enjoying the summer weather!

Niagara Mini-Vacation, April 2011 - Part 3

2011-05-01T19:13:00.000-04:00

Our second day at Niagara on the Lake didn't go as planned, but we made the most of it.

The forecast was for thunderstorms on day 1 and scattered showers with partial sunshine on day 2, both with temperatures in the 55-60 range. But the storms didn't behave like they predicted, and they sort of missed NOTL on day 1 to come back for round two later on day 2. There was a terrible wind storm from the front, and it pretty much knocked out power all over town for the whole day.

It's weird to talk about storms when I look at these photos, just like it was when we glanced out the window that day. It was beautiful! What's the problem?!

This tree and dozens of others hit power lines, fences, and in a couple of nasty cases, people's homes. It was not good.

We didn't see all the downed trees right away. Our first stop was to find some diner breakfast food in Virgil, a little spot between the Hilton Garden Inn and NOTL proper. The first place we saw had a sign for all-day, $2.99 breakfast, but their power was only half on, and their cash register was down. Instead, we went across the street to Silk's, who also had a $2.99 breakfast. Perfect.

I can only speak for their breakfast special, but it was just what we were looking for. Plus they had electricity, even though they were within walking distance of the first place we tried. If/when we go back to NOTL, we plan to keep that place in mind.

Though only half of the street we visited in Virgil had power, and the wind was so strong you could hardly open the car door, we pressed on, figuring it was a good day for inside activities like drinking wine.

Signs for wineries, popping up on every road.

Niagara on the Lake has a fabulous website where you can find all sorts of info about what to do there. They have a separate page for wineries, which they group by location. John and I spent some time reading reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor, as well as the wineries' websites, trying to get a sense of the range of prices, hours, and a feel for the place. We had a couple in mind before hand, and they were both on the free NOTL tourist map from the hotel. But we also just sort of stopped where it was convenient as we drove around. Like I mentioned, there are dozens. You could drive down almost any road and see a sign for multiple wineries. The highway signs start advertising them just as you enter Niagara.

I took the photos above while we drove along the Niagara Parkway, a strip along the Niagara River with a lot of B&Bs and wineries, and a 34 KM running/cycling path. This place is like runner heaven and I was sort of disappointed that we didn't get to try any of that out.

Since the weather was sort of nuts that day, some places were in better shape than others to have customers. We stopped at one place that was only sort of open, and the woman working there seemed to have a lot to take care of and she was only one working, so we excused ourselves and went looking elsewhere.

This picture pretty much sums up the day. Storm damage, wineries, and a pretty good experience, even if the weather was nuts. Our two favorite places were Reif Estate Winery and Strewn Winery, and unfortunately I don't have any photos of either one.

Reif was our first stop, and when we got there I wasn't sure it was open. There was a sign on the door, directing us to another entrance, as their main double doors were too vulnerable to wind damage. They didn't have power, and I was sure they were just letting us in to tell us they were closed. Instead, they pointed us toward the bar and a server came over to chat us up. He made an awkward joke that I can't remember and then said, "Go on, laugh! It's a crazy day! Just enjoy it." We really appreciated their attitude toward the whole thing.
We tried four red wines - the Magician (a shiraz/pinot blend, my personal favorite), a Shiraz, Pinot, and Meritage, and ended up buying the Shiraz to have with some spicy fish for our last meal before the comps start. Normally they give you one complimentary taste, and then the next three cost between $1-5.* They also have a $5 tour that we planned to take, had the power been on. When we purchased the wine, however, they didn't include any charge for the tasting, and I thought was pretty classy of them. Maybe it was because their power was out and it was a weird visit, or for some other reason, I don't know. We would definitely like to go back there next time we visit and see the whole place, since there was a lot that we missed in the dark.

I think Strewn was John's favorite. Again, when we pulled up I wasn't sure they were open, but there were probably ten cars parked out front. Just as we opened the doors, two women came out into the foyer area to greet us and said, "The power just came back on!" And John said back, "Obviously. We brought it with us." They have a restaurant and a cooking school with a huge range of classes and packages. It's something we'd love to try in the future. One lady asked if we were there for lunch and said that they weren't ready to open the restaurant at all, since they only just had power. But since we were just there to taste wine, they were happy to serve us, and a very nice lady showed us the tasting room.
Strewn had two sort of tiers of tasting. The first only features wines that are $20 and under, and the other side of the room has their reserve line, that they call Terroir. We stayed on the $20-and-under side of the room, but we did try one red Terroir wine blend that they call the Strewn Three and we bought a bottle of it on sale to take home and save for a special occasion.
My favorite of the white wines was the 2009 Barrel Aged Chardonnay, which we bought and plan to drink after the comps. Their wines are mostly very affordable and the tastes were only fifty cents, so it's a great place to visit for people like me and John.

Still, there were probably a dozen other wineries that looked interesting to us. Since the power was still out all over town, we decided to head home a few hours earlier than planned. But the wind was still so strong that the O. P. P. closed the expressway. We decided to kill a little time at an outlet mall near by. It was nothing to write home about, but not a bad way to spend time while waiting for the wind to die down. The power outage meant that we didn't get to visit as many little stores in NOTL as we planned, so between that and the wineries, we have plenty to do when we go there again. And since it's so close by and such a lovely place to visit, we definitely plan to take another trip to Niagara on the Lake.

*A note about wine tasting: the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO, or "Lick-bow" to my classmates) allows you to taste four wines at each winery in the province, so the fact that you have to pay per taste didn't really bother me as much. Even if we had to pay for them at Reif, it wouldn't have added too much to our bill. That is, unless you want to taste icewine, the local specialty, since it tends to cost a bit more. I've tried it before and am not such a big fan, so we didn't think it was worth the money. But the region does have an Ice Wine Festival that might be fun to check out, if you're into that kind of wine.

Niagara Mini-Vacation, April 2011 - Part 2.

2011-04-30T12:03:00.000-04:00

This is part of a 3-post series on our trip to Niagara last month. Here's part 1.

John and I knew we wanted to stay between the Falls and Niagara on the Lake, a cute town on Lake Ontario. Our hotel was the Hilton Garden Inn at Niagara on the Lake. I did a lot of searching around for B&Bs (there are literally dozens in the town and surrounding area) and other hotels, and we were glad to have chosen the Hilton Garden Inn. The dates of the vacation were strategic; we knew it would be either the last week of April or the first week of May. In order to be budget conscious, we wanted to go during the week, instead of the weekend, and to avoid May because it's the official start of tourist season. The prices for hotels and a lot of other things increase that week, and the same hotel room we had would have been $50 more per night after May 1st!
The room was your standard hotel room, and we enjoyed the convenience of the hotel's location. It was 16 minutes from the falls, easily accessed from the highway, and about 10 minutes from downtown NOTL, and all the wineries that surround it. I'll cover the wineries we tried in the next post, but seriously, it seemed like every road had a sign for at least 4-5 different wineries. We also picked up a pretty helpful map of NOTL and the area at the hotel.

Here are some pics of the town itself.

Lots of pretty stores and restaurants.

That's the swanky Prince of Wales Hotel and Lounge.

We had some time before our dinner reservation so we looked around for a bar and had a drink at Corks. They had a nice selection of beers on tap, including some local ones, and a lengthy wine list, featuring wines from the region. I would have been happy to eat dinner there. It seemed like there were a lot of options, if our original pick for dinner had fallen through.

I spent some time looking through restaurant reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor for a dinner place, and even though it had mixed reviews, we settled on the Olde Angel Inn - and I'm glad we did.

They had tons of great dinner choices, especially for a pescatarian like myself. The veggie options included broccoli/cheese quiche, and vegetable curry. Since I'm still eating fish, I went with the fish and chips, and I wasn't disappointed.

John had steak and onion pie (with puff pastry on top - mmmm), and he liked it pretty well.

One of the things I really liked about the Angel Inn was that the bar was full of people having a great time watching the hockey game, but we were able to sit in an adjacent room that still felt lively but was quiet enough to talk. It's sort of a pet peeve of mine: I HATE being the only people in a restaurant, but I also don't like it when it's so noisy that I can't have a conversation. This place had a nice balance, and the food came out quickly.

(That's what she said.)

One of several pictures that I thought looked like an album cover. Maybe this one is for folk music?

After dinner, John pointed out that we were only a couple of blocks from the lake, and that it'd be nice to take a walk there.

The shoreline there is beautiful. You can see one of the historic forts near by (this one is Fort George, I think? But maybe not?).

If you squint, you can see that tiny grey outline on the horizon - it's Toronto. I screwed with the lighting in this photo to make the city more visible.

Gorgeous biking/walking path.

Another album cover shot.

Niagara Mini-Vacation, April 2011 - Part 1.

2011-04-30T11:26:00.000-04:00

By the time you're reading this, John and I will be taking our comprehensive exams. They start May 9th and go until about June 6th. We get 4 weeks to answer 3 questions, 20+ pages each. It's daunting, but we're both trying to stay positive. It will be hard, but we can do it. We'll be busy, but not insane.
(I've written several blog posts in advance, so the thrilling one-post-per-week pace won't change during May).

John in the Falls parking lot. Check out the hotels up on the ridge. Niagara Falls-the-town is sort of like Vegas, but you know, tackier.

Several friends of mine have had babies in the last year or two, and so I've learned about the concept of a "baby-moon." It's what you do while you're pregnant to make the most of your just-the-two-of-us time before the baby comes along and your lives change so drastically. John and I decided that this would be a good time to have a "comps-moon" or a pre-comps vacation. Not that babies and comps are similar, but since there were only two weeks between finals and comps, we wanted to make the most of that time, get out of town for a couple days, and see some sights.
One of the great things about London is its proximity to touristy places, even though the city itself isn't really one of them (which is fine with us). Since it's too cold to go to the beach, we decided to try the Niagara region. Besides the falls, the area has a variety of wineries and cool places to visit. I'll break the Niagara posts up into three, since there were two days and a lot of pictures. Here goes #1!

Niagara Falls

The beautiful Falls Welcome Center.

The Ontario locals recommended seeing the falls, but that we would otherwise want to stay away from Niagara Falls itself. It's very touristy, sort of like Vegas, but really more like Branson, MO. Still, they've really spent a lot of money making the falls an easy, lovely, place to visit.

We started at the Falls Welcome Center, where John pretended to be a lookout. They have a few attractions there, like Niagara's Fury, and the Journey Behind the Falls. We opted to do the latter, since it wouldn't involve any motion sickness for me.

The Journey Behind the Falls is pretty simple - you get a poncho, and they take you down an elevator to some tunnels behind the falls, and you can walk around and look out.

The tunnels were mostly built in the 1930s, and I had the sensation while we were descending that the whole operation got more and more low-tech the lower we went under ground. The tunnels open up to portals where you can see the water rushing around. It doesn't seem like a water fall because of how the water sprays every where. It looks like it's spraying from all directions.

After 10 minutes walking around the tunnels, we went out to the special, Behind the Falls observation deck.

The lower level of the deck was so wet that I put the camera away. I was grateful for the poncho at that point, since we were able to walk right up to the falls, and they sprayed constantly. The temperature was also a solid 10-15 degrees F below what hit had been above ground, away from the falls, so we pulled our arms inside the ponchos for warmth.
Our feeling about the Behind the Falls trip was that it was fun and worth doing once, but I wouldn't pay to do it again. It's fun to see the falls from above, too, and I'm glad we went there.

After we'd had enough time up close with the falls, we headed back above ground to take more photos and walk around. The weather was supposed to thunderstorm, but we were lucky and caught the warm, sunny front before the storm.

Horseshoe Falls, a.k.a, the Canadian side.

The falls are pretty windy.

Falls come from Lake Erie, go past Niagara, down the Niagara River, and into Lake Ontario. They recede every year, and apparently they'll recede into Lake Erie eventually and disappear.

Honeymoon Bridge.

Easter Brunch for Dinner: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

2011-04-30T11:15:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago John and I had a small Easter potluck with some friends. He and I made two quiches (one of which you can find here - I LOVE this recipe), since pie crust comes in 2-packs, and I just don't bother to make my own. Other people brought mimosas, fruit salad, and a hash brown casserole (yum! I ate so much of it).

And we also made dessert. This is Smitten Kitchen's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.

Ugh. This cake. It's unbelievably good. Let me give you the run down: sour-cream-chocolate cake, with cream-cheese-peanut-butter frosting, layered between the cakes and the outside. Also, check out that fabulous frosting job John did. That's right - John iced this cake! And I think he's pretty good at it.

Still, the thing that takes this cake from a good idea to unbelievable is the peanut butter-chocolate glaze.

Full disclosure: that's only half a cake! We ate the first half at the party, and I put the other half back in the fridge for leftovers. As much as I would have loved to just eat the entire thing myself, we knew we had to get rid of it. So John brought the cake to the other TAs he had to grade tests with, and we passed off the rest to other friends. It's so rich that after a pretty thin piece my stomach said, "that was amazing, but please stop." Still, I'm so glad we made it! It's heaven for someone who loves the peanut-butter-chocolate combination like me. It's a little time intensive, but so are most cakes like this. Definitely worth having for a party, and dangerous without one.