John's Birthday and Ollie's Visit

This weekend was definitely the best of the summer so far, especially because we got to dog-sit for our friend Gwen. Her very sweet and well behaved dog, Ollie, came to stay at Auntie Abby's house for three nights.

 I took him to Gibbons Park and we walked the woodsy trail there. It was fairly damp that day, so Ollie wore his camp-raincoat.

John and I also took him to an empty ball diamond very near our house so that he could play fetch and run around. This dog cannot get enough fetch. He ran some of my speed work out this afternoon and he was pretty wiped after the second repeat. I let him sit out of the second two, not wanting to give him heat stroke. But when we got home, he rolled his orange ball over to my foot, as if to say, "I'M READY! FETCH!"

Thanks for the update, Facebook. 

John's birthday started out with a game of fetch with Ollie, followed by diner breakfast at Prince Albert's Diner, a local institution. 

We also hit up the Western Fair Farmer's Market before coming home to watch Die Hard and try out the mojito jello shots I made. This was my first time making jello shots, and I have to admit, it was great. They're really easy to make and truly did taste like a jello-y mojito.

For dinner we went to Milo's.

I tried to get a reflective shot of John doing a funny dance, but he always spots me right when I get the camera out.

Mean while, I had arranged for several friends to set out some party supplies and food at the house. John loves to be surprised, and as hard as it was to keep all of the party planning a secret, it was so worth it. I think he thought he was having a nightmare at the moment when they jumped out to surprise him. His scream was high pitched and epic. So worth it. 

I made IPA lemon bars from the Beeroness for the party and they were much better than I expected. I'm not a big lemon dessert fan, but these were really buttery and delicious, with just a hint of IPA.

Our friends generously brought more beer and snacks, and we sampled various bottles for a few hours. John said he doesn't think I can top this year's birthday, but I was going for something big because, holy crap, he's 30 now! John is old! 

Almost Here

Kind of a lot of things are about to happen. I'll present them in a convenient (lazy) list format. But first, here are some things that happened recently: 

1. We went to Gen Pop, a dance party/fundraiser that my friend Matthew organizes. It benefits an LGBT youth group in London. This month, Gen Pop took place on Good Friday,* so they hid Eggs filled with chocolate and condoms all around the venue for guests to find. I found three!

2. John and I have continued to work our way through the Appetite for Reduction. Here's the caesar salad with smokey, roasted egg plant on top (how does she make the dressing taste so good?!):

We also made this chipotle chili with sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. I know it sounds like an odd combination of things, but this chili was delicious! It's great with any kind of corn bread, obviously.

3. On Holy Saturday, we had an Easter brunch at our house with friends from school. I took this picture of the table before everyone arrived, so it's an incomplete representation of what we ate. Not shown: crepes, eggs, crumpets, and lots of Bailey's in coffee. I also started to make a drink composed of Bailey's, a splash of cream, and a splash of whiskey. I know, I know, there is whiskey in Bailey's. But a touch of it on the top of the drink kind of turned the rest of the flavors up to eleven. I call it: the Irish Russian. Like a black Russian, but with Bailey's and whiskey, instead of vodka.

Side note: after brunch, we went to see The Quartet. Music student friends, have you seen this movie? It's charming. Several of the characters reminded me of voice professors at Indiana. 

4. For lunch this week, John and I made this salad with chickpeas, lentils, tahini, and feta from Smitten Kitchen. Two thumbs way up. I made a second batch of it today. Tomorrow we're going to brunch at Matthew's house and I'm bringing blackberry gin fizzes (also from Smitten Kitchen) to drink. I'll test the recipe and report back.**

5. It's April, and yet this was our weather this week: snow, as fast and hard as snow can fall for about 15 minutes. It was a total white out while I waited for the bus. Fifteen minutes later, it was bright and sunny. As one of my friends posted on facebook last week, "Go home Spring. You're drunk." 

6. Back to our original topic: lots of exciting things are about to take place. My area exam (a defense of my dissertation proposal) will take place between May 6th and 10th, but that means a lot of writing and editing in the next week. I only have time now to write this blog post because I've spent a lot of the day trying to determine exactly when Newton's theories gained traction in France (the actual content of my dissertation proposal is the subject of another post, one that I hope to write after my proposal is eventually accepted and the problems have been hammered out). Once I've submitted it to the committee, I'll have lots of time to grade final exams, make delicious foods, and do research for my RA-ship (for which I actually get paid by the hour - hooray!). But until then, I have a lot of Rameau work waiting for me. So by extension, my ABD status is also almost here. 

Incidentally if you're looking for a somewhat satirical explanation of what it's like to be a PhD student in the humanities, may I recommend this detailed analogy between the PhD process and the plot to all three Lord of the Rings movies. It was eerily familiar.

7. Other things that are almost here: our wedding (in late June), and the greyhound we plan to adopt in August. We're going to look into adopting one from GRA Canada, a greyhound rescue just outside London. Some of the dogs they currently have aren't quite ready for adoption, but will be within a few months. That means that one of the dogs on this list could be our future dog! Not that I look at the list all the time or anything. I totally don't know the names of any of the adoptable dogs. And I also definitely don't have a potential list of names for our dog based on historic music theorists/Enlightenment philosophes.***

*I would try to give a deep, quasi-theological interpretation of attending a gay dance party on Good Friday (perhaps about "dying" to prejudice or fear of others), but you know....it's not that kind of blog. 

**Brunch, two weekends in a row. I know what you're thinking, and you're right - my life is hard.

***Yes, I do. 

Bloom Holidays

Happy Belated New Year! 

I have a lots of odds and ends to note here about our trip to Indiana for Christmas and New Years. Instead of writing a lot of detail, I'm going to list some things that happened. 

John and I finished Gym Christmas and I got 8 GYMGOs in all. A solid end to 2012, fitness-wise. We also did Iron Strength several times at my parents house, and did some fun runs with Carla and Tim Best while they were visiting town.

We made this sleigh for my mom for Christmas. John always calls her J. J. for some reason, even though these aren't her initials.

We put up a nice tree in London with lots of nostalgic ornaments. We have yet to take it down, since the semester started and now we're busy. 

We did a lot of sitting around with the dogs in Bloomington. 

We visited places we love, like Upland. 

And a relatively new place, Darn Good Soup. I love this place. Simple and hits the spot.

Mark came back to town and had a great New Year's Eve party at his apartment. 

John made this French silk pie from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook more than once.

John's sister Morgan rode the Greyhound 14 hours each way just to visit us. It was so fun to show her around Bloomington, and for John and Morgan to have some sibling bonding time.

On New Year's Day we had a brunch at my parents' house. Coffee, mimosas, bloody marys, scones, and left overs from the party the night before. Not shown: breakfast casserole, also from Smitten Kitchen.

We went out to the Vid so that Morgan could beat all of us at pool, and then to Rockits for late night pizza.

 Mark also took us to a new-to-us bar called the Rail, in an old train station. They have lots of fancy cocktails. Yet another example of how Bloomington has gotten cooler since I left.

Dad and I walked the dogs several times. He gave me his own version of the IU tour and pointed out where he used to teach, where his offices were, and which building had "the computer" in it, back in the 70s. You know, the computer. The only computer.

Bloomington got about 12 inches of snow while we were in town, and some frigid temperatures. So much for retiring in a warming climate.

Other stuff:

• many trips to Sahara Mart and Bloomingfoods, for chocolate, wine, and beer. 
• Dave and Carla came, and I managed to not take any pictures the whole time. We hung out at The Tap, made lasagna, and played Foodie Fight. All in all, a nice visit with them.
• We tried to continue the 80s movie streak by watching Red Dawn with my dad. We succeeded, until the VCR eventually ate - as in, really burned - the tape. I guess movies taped from HBO in the 80s only last so long.
• John and I sang in the church choir at First United Methodist with my mom on Christmas Eve, where Dean Richards from the IU JSoM is now the choir director.
• I made a giant pan of mac n' cheese as my vegetarian entree for Christmas dinner. I think I won the prize for best entree.
• I managed to keep from eating my face off until after my wedding dress fitting, where I learned that I still love and fit into my dress. Woo hoo!
• two trips to Indy to go shopping, and one visit to BARcelona with Morgan, John, and my mom. 
• Only 6 weeks until we go back for our Reading Week break, and a bridal shower that my aunt and cousin are graciously throwing for me.

I'll write again soon with some goals for 2013. 

Christmas Vacay 2012: Ann Arbor

Last year when we got engaged, John and I decided to take a trip to Niagara on the Lake, ON. We decided that a short trip at the start of the holidays is our new preferred gift to each other, and so this year we went to Ann Arbor, MI. It was also a convenient place to stop on the way south to Bloomington for Christmas. This was our second trip to Ann Arbor, as we visited it for Music Theory Midwest last summer. Even after two trips, I could definitely spend another weekend there sometime. There are so many restaurants I still want to try.

For lunch, went to Seva, one of the vegetarian restaurants in town. Here's their TLT (tempeh, lettuc, tomato, with cheddar and guac) and steamed kale on the side. Everything there looks SO good. And apparently my aunt Becky is friends with their owner! Small world.

We spent some time wandering around in all the little stores downtown. I felt like we were acting very Canadian, as it was pretty windy, cold, and snowy, but John and I were so excited. "It's snowing! It looks like Christmas! This weather is fantastic!"

Bongs and Thongs, one of the charming Ann Arbor stores.

If we're close friends, then you're likely to receive a card from me from this stationary store, Rock Paper Scissors. 

West Side Book Shop.

John wanted to take an espresso break before we started tasting beer - obviously the real reason we selected Ann Arbor for vacation. We stopped in at Espresso Bar, whose espresso John raved about. I had some chamomile tea while we wrote a funny note to Sargibso. This place was one of several options for brunch that we considered. It was hard to choose, and I was thrilled with Cafe Zola below, but I could have awesome brunch there every day for a week without repeating a place. Ugh. 

Then it was time for the beer tasting to begin. Our first stop was Blue Tractor, a brewery and bbq place. 

We both agreed that Blue Tractor was the most consistently good beer we had. It also had a nice atmosphere and a good looking menu - I would definitely go back for dinner. You can read the list of beers on the photo below. I think my favorite was the Sudworth Bock, but I also liked the Bearded Pig Pilsner, which I think would be a great beer to have on hand at a party. One of the consistent characteristics that I generally liked was the crispness. Everything was very crisp, light, and had a nice finish.

The Wassail Ale was also really good and reminded me of the (Canadian) Great Lakes Winter Ale, with some nice warm spice. Neither of us liked the Mint Chocolate Stout, but I think that's because neither of us like chocolate and mint together. If you really like peppermint patties or those minty girl scout cookies, you would probably love this beer. I could tell it was a good beer, but really not for me. I also generally liked the Pitmaster Porter more than I expected (what is happening to me? I like dark beer now? I guess). 

The bar tender was impressed with my method of taking notes on a coaster.

We also stopped in at Ashley's, a bar with a ridiculous number of beers on tap and in bottles, not to mention a varied whiskey selection. This is a must-stop place for a beer lover. 

They gave us a pretty serious beer guide that started with info on various types of beers, and then page after page of available beers. 

I only ordered one beer there: Bourbon Barrel Wizard, from Short's in Bellaire, MI (no picture, so seasonal that they only show up in bars and maybe on site). This beer....where do I even start? It's like Kentucky Bourbon Ale, in that it's aged in bourbon barrels, but it's darker than that beer. The bourbon flavor is a lot stronger, too. Since it's such a strong beer (11% ABV), I just had the one. And I loved it. While we were there it made me think of that quote we learned in undergrad music history. I don't remember it exactly, but at some point, Schubert said something to the effect of, "But who can do anything after Beethoven?" That's how I would describe this beer. How could anything be as good as that? 

(It may have been the beer that made me led me to make such a comparison)

We also happened by a liquor store that sold these mini-Rogues. I didn't buy them, but look how cute! The Dogfish Heads next to them are regular sized beer bottles, just for scale. The Rogues would be like bombers for American Girl dolls.

Next stop: Jolly Pumpkin, where we ordered both the flight of 9 beers and a plate of cheese, olives, veggies, bread, etc. Perfect for that point in the day.

After visiting this brewery twice, my feeling is that the beer is somewhat inconsistent. Some of the beers I think are outstanding, but a lot of them are kind of meh. It's not about the sourness - the sour beers are generally my favorites there. I just don't think I'd go out of my way to buy them. The food, on the other hand, is amazing. I really want to stop in Ann Arbor sometime and eat dinner there on our way back from IN. Everything on their menu looks delicious and they have several vegetarian options.

More coaster notes.

In fact, I wish we'd eaten dinner at Jolly Pumpkin instead of at Sava (not to be confused with Seva). Sava was good but not great. The food was pretty good, and the restaurant had gorgeous decorations, but John felt his food didn't taste particularly fresh. Of course, it didn't help that I was pretty tired from walking around all day and drinking beer. 

Before hitting the road on Saturday, we worked out in the hotel gym and then went to Cafe Zola for brunch. Both John and I had savory crepes, a spinach and a mushroom crepe respectively. Their menu is pretty huge, with many things that caught my attention. That's fresh squeezed OJ to the right of my plate, and a basket of homemade breads just above it, with almond-hazelnut and herb butter. I would definitely make a point of going back to Cafe Zola.

After brunch we hit the road for Indiana where we're spending Christmas with my family. They have more snow than London, where we have none!  

Side note: I counted the walking around as a WALK IT OUT work out, and my run as a FIRST TIME, as it was my first run in Ann Arbor. That meant I got another GYMGO, my sixth! Only one more day of Gym Christmas 2012.