My other blog's a future blog

Going out with a whole lot of class

2011-12-08T20:09:00.001-05:00

For Sean's last stop in town, we headed to Seattle's oldest fine dining restaurant, Canlis (which is amazingly still in the Canlis family after 60+ years). Built on top of a hillside overlooking Lake Union, Canlis is known for its amazing service and atmosphere. If you aren't pleased by the service here, you are impossible to please (or maybe you don't like following a dress code). Andy and I had actually eaten here once before but not since they got a new chef who shook up the establishment and started serving some more modern dishes. Although we enjoyed a lot the last time around, I would definitely say the food was more memorable and delicious than last time.

As guests of Sean (aka Mr. Big Shot), we were served a fixed menu. For a couple of the course, they brought two of us one dish and the other two a different one, so we got to try extra dishes.

Here's the roundup:

Sweet potato two ways: soup with cranberry and cinnamon and sweet potato chip topped with shrimp and cranberry

Risotto with a duck egg and white truffles (OMG-YUM!)
Young Beets with Sheep's milk yogurt sherbet, pumpernickel, and blueberries
Smoked Sockeye Salmon with Yogurt, sorrel and lobster coral / Hamachi two ways: sashimi and tartare (these were two of the top dishes---the smoked salmon melted in your mouth, and well so did the hamachi....Mmmmm)
Foie Gras with a rabbit rillette served with warm brioche (fancy pants, rich but delicious)
Chicken: Prosciutto, salt-baked celery root, and matsutake mushrooms (Andy's favorite dish of the meal--this was not your average chicken dish)
New York Strip Steak - 28-day dry-aged with carrots, curry, and cauliflower / strip steak with black truffles and deliciousness (loved this---some of the best beef I've had)
Pineapple with White chocolate, passion fruit, and coconut
Crème Fraîche Custard with Oatmeal streusel, Granny Smith apple sorbet / Mille-Feuille (Banana caramel, peanut butter, and dark chocolate cake) (I skipped the peanut butter dish---luckily this was another split course---the custard was amazing and the apple sorbet had so much flavor)
peanut butter truffle / rosewater raspberry macaroons

As with the other two restaurants we visited, the head chef at Canlis, Peter Franey, seemed really nice and genuine (though less West Coast relaxed than the other two). I asked Sean and the photographer if all chefs are nice, and they both very quickly and unequivocally said NO! Maybe it's a Seattle thing!

Rustic and Homey

2011-12-07T07:57:00.000-05:00

For our second stop on the Seattle Food Tour, we headed to Sitka & Spruce in Capital Hill's Melrose Building. I had never been to the Melrose Building and was excited to find a cheese shop, a butcher, a bar, and more located in the same space as Sitka & Spruce. The atmosphere is open and fun and really chill. I was worried that after eating at the Willow's Inn, I would be disappointed by all other meals (for the rest of my life??), and while the meal we had Sitka & Spruce does not live up to the amazing 21-course dinner at the Willow's Inn, it was lovely in a totally different way. The food is rustic and served family style, but is still creative and fun.

Most of the food comes from the chef's farm on Vashon Island, and the menu is constantly changing. I definitely want to go back and would like to try his other spot, the Corson Building.

Here's what we ate:

Bread with butter and duck pate-ish
Alsace style sausage
Sauteed leeks with egg and mustard (this was super delicious)
smoked manila clams with roasted beets
Salmon with some sides...can't remember b/c the rabbit was so good...
Rabbit with chard and potatoes (loved loved this...so flavorful and amazing)
Hot chocolate and cookies (Mexican wedding, almond, buckwheat with cocoa nibs, chocolate chip, ginger) (super fun, and I loved the almond cookies which happily did not have any almond extract in them)
persimmon bread with goat cheese sorbet (Sean was a big fan of this...I was too full of cookies to enjoy it)

After dinner, we spent some time talking to the super nice chef (how did I get here??), Matt Dillon (not that Matt Dillon!) and found out that he is a big Haruki Murakami fan (he was reading 1Q84). He even has a Murakami tattoo, but I didn't get to see it!

But wait there's more...

2011-12-04T19:33:00.001-05:00

I am positive I can't do this dinner justice in a blog post, but I have to try. Okay, before I start though, if you have the means, stop reading this post and go book a room (the only way to get dinner, except under unusual circumstances) at the Willow's Inn. You will not regret it. You can read this post after you book a room.

The Willow's Inn is not in Seattle...it's on the most accessible San Juan Island-Lummi Island, which is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from Seattle including a very short ferry ride. For us, getting there added to the fun and excitement of the meal, especially the ferry ride, which was on a boat that held about 20 cars. We were right in the front, so I felt more like a captain than a driver. We arrived in the dark so I can't tell you what the view was like, but I have it on good authority that it is lovely. The Inn itself is cozy and had a nice fire going. We enjoyed pre-dinner cocktails while we waited for dinner to begin.

Here are the courses that were served to us during this amazing meal. Keep in mind that the menu we got only listed 5 courses (in bold below), so all of the other courses (yeah, all 16 other courses we surprises!!).

Smoked salmon served in a still smoking wood box
Salmon roe "crepe"
Black cod with homemade sauerkraut served on a potato chip
pickled oyster (served in a bowl of frozen rocks)
kale chip with black truffle and pumpernickel crumbs (this was fantastic)
veggies with hazelnut "dirt" and herb dip (the presentation on this was lovely---served in a basket)
light cracker with edible flowers (and other greens)

celery root with horseradish mousse (delicious)
grilled oyster (the best oyster I have ever had)
organic grains with pickled mushrooms
herring roe with kelp (traditional Native American delicacy)
fresh king crab with bread crumbs, kale, and a mussel foam
bread with amazing grass fed butter (seriously folks, grass fed butter tastes amazing...so much better than regular butter...it was my downfall b/c I kept eating it and was so incredibly full by the end of the night)
pickled smelt
cabbages with apples
herb chicken jus for the bread (this was a little like crack)
slow roasted beef cheeks with cauliflower and celery
aged goat cheese with pumpernickel toast
pears with walnut ice cream, toasted walnuts, sugared lemon verbena leaves (if I saw this on a menu, I would never order it...but it was amazing...the walnut ice cream was so delicious)
roasted chestnuts with hot apple cider (spiked)
flax seed caramel

Another fun twist---in addition to wine pairings, they also offer juice pairings. As the DD, I was all about this and was very happy with my decision (Andy and our friend Heather did the same, while Sean wine'd it up). With our five scheduled courses, we got cucumber, carrot, granny smith apple, huckleberry, and elderflower juices, and they were all delicious. I am not sure if this comes across as a good idea, but it was really fun and definitely added to the meal.

During the dinner service, the whole team (waitstaff and chefs, including the amazing head chef Blaine Wetzel) serves the food. Although it is clear that Blaine is the head chef, they really do work as a team and the atmosphere in the dining room reflected that.

In an amusing turn of events, after a long, lovely, leisurely dinner, we ran out of the restaurant as if yakkity saks was playing. The ferries only run once an hour, and once we realized we were getting close to the 10 pm ferry, we started getting antsy. We paid our check and literally ran out of the dining room. I may have driven faster than the posted speed limit. And in the end, we got on the ferry with almost 10 minutes to spare!

I am sure I could go on and on, but I think that's enough for now.

Culinary Craziness

2011-12-01T19:14:00.002-05:00

Whew---what a week! After indulging in a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with friends, I picked up our friend Sean who flew in from hipster mecca Williamsburg (Brooklyn) for some serious eating. Because he works for the book-ish Art Culinaire magazine, part of his job is visiting restaurants around the country and doing profiles of them. With only a little arm twisting, we got him out to Seattle to see what the PNW has to offer. It was great to catch up and hang out...and I am not complaining about the fantastic food we ate either! He (and his boss) selected three amazing yet very different restaurants: the Willow's Inn, Sitka & Spruce, and Canlis. My plan is to do a blog post on each, so I am going to focus this post on the restaurants we took Sean to prior to his official business.

After flying in Friday morning, we headed to the Junction to walk around our hood. Sean picked up a mini cupcake from Cupcake Royale and then we grabbed turkey and havarti sandwiches and chocolate croissants from Bakery Nouveau. Next, we walked around Capital Hill stopping at Elliott Bay Books, stopping for a quick taco snack at Marination Station. For dinner, we headed to our new favorite pizza place Bar del Corso. We had a pizza with chantrelles, speck, and caramelized onions that was out of this world. Oh yeah, and their fried risotto balls are heavenly (or maybe evil good).

Saturday started at Top Pot doughnuts, followed (not immediately!) by our first time at Uneeda Burger. After taking Ramona for a walk in Fauntleroy Park (in a desperate attempt to burn enough calories to be hungry again), we headed to Mashiko for some sustainable sushi (and my first geoduck---which I think makes me an official PNW-er!).

Up next---the best meal I've ever had...

Indiana is devastated by Oliver's departure

2011-08-19T14:47:00.010-04:00

For those of you who don't know my brother, he is ridiculously creative and funny. After visiting us in Indy last summer, he determined (rightly so) that similarly to many indie rock bands in Japan, Oliver is HUGE in Indiana. When we moved back to Seattle, we received a series of post cards documenting the impact of Oliver's departure from Indiana. For those of you who don't know, the backstory behind the third postcard relates to our former next door neighbors in Indy. Let's just say that they were crying in their tea bags the day Obama won Indiana and the presidency. Then, the day Obama signed the health care act into law (Obama-care if you will), they turned their everflying American flag upside down and left it that way until Memorial Day. Yup, they flew their flag upside down for more than TWO MONTHS because we were expanding health care coverage!

2011-08-05T17:28:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I haven't been so great about keeping up with this blog! It's been a busy month with our stuff arriving (no, we are not completely unpacked yet) and my parents visiting. August is going to be busy too---we have a trip to the Oregon coast, a visit from Andy's mom, and a wedding. Then, September comes in with a roar with another wedding and Andy's first day of school.

We are still loving our house. It's really great and in amazing condition. According to our next door neighbors, the original owners (who were here until 2003) had weekly cleaning tasks that included wiping down all of the windowsills and mopping the garage! Apparently, the walls in the dining room had mauve fabric on them for a while!

I thought I'd post a few pictures of our kitchen, partly because I just spent a long time cleaning it today and partly because I want to show off the new, more appropriately sized knobs. Oh yeah, and I am thinking of replacing all of the appliances. The oven is really small, and I need to be able to make copious amounts of cookies!! Any thoughts on whether stainless appliances would look okay with the 1950s style cabinets?? We may be upgrading to a taller, slimmer fridge in order to accomodate the wider oven, which in addition to more $$ means stainless may be the only option. I can live with our current appliances for a while (although the ~25-year-old dishwasher and I frequently have words). Andy and the microwave aren't on good terms because the beeping sounds it makes are incredibly loud. It really is crazy loud---it's not good to be standing next to it when it goes off. Not sure who needs that...

Here are the old, large, white ceramic knobs:

And here are the new, smaller, metal knobs:

My tiny wall oven

House!

2011-07-08T17:23:00.010-04:00

So, we've been slacking about posting pictures of the new house....partly because we didn't have our stuff yet. With our stuff finally moved out of a warehouse in Indianapolis and theoretically moving westward, I am finally motivated to post some pictures of our partially furnished house.

Our bedroom with our 1950s/60s bedroom set

The Hallway (check out our kickass floors!)

Our elevated an seemingly small oven

Our 80s-tastic mirror by the front door

In lieu of having lots of personal belongings, I have been spending time on Etsy and the West Seattle Antique Mall shopping for 1960s glasses. We have this glass cabinet that needs cool glasses on display. I found amazing Seattle World's Fair Glasses on Etsy (set of 4, apparently, there are 8 of them total...hmmmm...). I found some more cool glasses and pretty turquoise bowl at the West Seattle Antique Mall.

Seattle Worlds Fair Glasses

The glass cabinet in all its glory

Indiana and Yellowstone glasses

Indiana is known for....wait for it...a turnpike!

It's good to know that you can drive from Jackson to Seattle in one day

2011-07-01T19:31:00.007-04:00

We have a history of running out of patience towards the end of our drives, so it's not a major surprise that we decided to go straight from Jackson Hole to Seattle on Sunday. We didn't leave super early either, hitting the road about 9:30 am. We got to our new house just after 11 pm. Ramona was not amused for the last few hours of the ride standing up and giving us dirty looks periodically. But when we got to the new house, she seemed to know right away that she was home!

In Wyoming

Really guys? Still in the car?

Since then, we've been visiting with friends, exploring the woods behind our house, hitting IKEA, ordering a new couch, buying a used elliptical (to help balance out the dangerously delicious Bakery Nouveau).

Our IKEA-furnished living room

The woods behind our house

Seattle!!!

2011-06-27T17:58:00.002-04:00

i am posting from the phone, so this will be short and sweet. for some reason it will not let me add symbols or capitilize...annoying. anyway, we decided that taking two days to drive from jackson was entirely too reasonable. instead we did it all in one day arriving at our new house just after eleven last night. ramona was super pleased. pictures and more details soon.

Snow After the Solstice

2011-06-25T18:13:00.013-04:00

With Andy and Ramona taking a post-hike nap, I thought I'd take this time to blog about the last couple of days. We drove through most of Wyoming yesterday ending up in Jackson Hole. We decided to spend the weekend in our dog friendly hotel (a ski resort building built in the 1970s while mostly updated still has some amusing 70s touches like this weird fiber optic chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the lobby).

If you haven't been to Wyoming, there are two things that stand out: 1) the natural beauty and 2) the impressive lack of people. The whole state has about 500,000 people, and after driving through Gillette, we were shocked to learn that it was the 4th biggest city in Wyoming!! This wasn't our first rodeo, so we made sure to stop for lunch in Casper (the 2nd biggest city in Wyoming). We found this great little coffee shop on yelp in a bizarre little strip mall. The skies were threatening, but we decided to eat outside so that Ramona wouldn't have to wait in the car. Our food definitely exceeded expectations: my tuna melt was light and flavorful and the cold couscous sald that accompanied it was just plain delicious. Andy's ham and bean soup was not your typical cafeteria fare containing three types of beans and high quality ham. Perhaps this was more information than you needed, but I do love food!

Most of our driving was on US highways and we saw some spectacular scenery.

Driving in Wyoming

We drove through Shoshoni National Forest where Ramona encountered her first snow of the summer (but not her last...). We got spectular views of the Tetons especially as we got closer to Jackson.

For dinner, we checked out the Snake River Brewpub (no pets on the patio, so Ramona had to wait in the car). We both got beer and burgers and left incredibly full but pleased.

Andy with his beer sampler

Today, we headed into Teton National Forest for a dog-friendly hike. The plan was to end up at an alpine lake and even let Ramona swim, but snow got in our way...at first, snow periodically appeared on the path, and then the whole path was snow covered, and when we decided to turn around, the snow was thigh deep! It was a beatiful hike with mountain views plus forest, and we were bummed not to finish, but we definitely made the right decision. We were only about halfway to the lake, and the snow was crazy deep! We were not expecting to encounter so much snow in late June.

This was near the beginning of the snow covering the trail

Deeper snow farther along

Three of us on the way down

Views of the Tetons along the hike

On the way down, we stopped and ate the box lunches we brought with us. They came from a bakery called e.leaven that oddly has locations in Jackson Hole and Chicago! The sandwiches were delicious and huge and came with yummy homemade (!) potato chips and a brownie. This place is definitely worth checking out whether you are in the Windy City or near the Tetons.

Driving Across South Dakota

2011-06-24T00:28:00.009-04:00

***Advance Warning: I am going to bury the lead.***

We got the heck out of Mitchell without stopping for even a glance of the Corn Palace. Driving westward, we stopped for a tasty lunch at Rapid City's Bully's Blends. Afterwards, we entertained ourselves by wandering around Rapid City checking out the president statues that dot the town.

Here I am with my presidential obsession

We then checked out the touristy casino trap that is Deadwood. We were glad we stopped but have no plans of returning (unless accompanied by Sol Star, Calamity Jane, or of course Swearengen).

The Gem Saloon in Deadwood

We then headed to Spearfish to our hotel in time for Andy's phone interview. Ramona and I checked out the town while he wowed the seven-person interview team. Next, we drove to Black Hills National Forest for a 6.5 mile hike up to Mount Baldy. It was a nice (though not spectacular) hike through Ponderose Pine and Aspen trees. Much to Ramona's surprise and entertainment, we saw a number of deer and cows. We (Andy and I...not our obtuse Ramona) spotted a fawn sleeping by the trail!

Andy and Ramona along the hike

Ramona among the Aspen trees

Ramona at the summit

A teenage cow we met along the way

After the hike, Andy checked his voicemail...and it was the principal of the school offering him the job!! Amazing! What a fantastic couple of days. We are off to Jackson Hole tomorrow---we are going to spend a couple nights and hike and/or recreate all day Saturday!

The First 900 Miles

2011-06-22T22:28:00.008-04:00

Well...if I had to sum up the last two days in a word, it would have to be over-the-top!

A quick recap of the last two days:

We moved out of our house.
We drove 900+ miles.
Andy had a preliminary phone interview for a job and scheduled two interviews (one is a second phone interview with the same school for tomorrow)!!
We sold our house!!
We visited an old friend that we hadn't seen in 6+ years.

As you can imagine, the last two days have felt more like three or four. It's hard to believe that yesterday morning we woke up in our Indianapolis house and this evening, we are 900 miles away in Mitchell, SD and have sold that house!

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Tuesday, June 21st
So, after the movers came and took away all of our stuff, we left Indy around 3 pm yesterday and decided to drive west and see where we ended up. We drove past numerous flat corn fields and blew past our initial goal of Bloomington, IL. At some point while I was driving, our realtor left us a message letting us know we had gotten an offer on our house!! So we decided to stop for the night in the college town of Iowa City, where we knew we would have internet access. We faxed our counter offer back and went to bed.

Corn field in Illinois

Wednesday, June 22nd

From Iowa City, we headed off to Des Moines to meet up with my friend Sarah [we met in college at Environmental Science Field Camp in Montana.] She suggested meeting at La Mie for coffee and yummy pastries. If you are ever in Des Moines, we highly recommend this place. We drove onto Ledges State Park, which numerous websites claimed to be the best hiking in Iowa. We didn't explore the whole park, but for Iowans sake, I really hope that this is not the best hiking that Iowa has to offer. I must say that it was really nice to stretch our legs and hike around though. While on our short jaunt, we got the call about the second counter offer, and we decided to take it! Hurray for only owning one house!!

Cool-looking barn in Iowa

Andy and Ramona enjoying Iowa's best hiking

We stopped for the night in Mitchell, SD, the home of the world's only "corn palace". Andy, Mike, Ryan, and I actually stopped at the corn palace on our drive out to Seattle the first time. Let's just say we were underwhelmed. There was surprisingly little corn and it wasn't all that palace-like.

Tomorrow, it's onto the Black Hills and some more hiking!

Route

2011-06-21T08:25:00.003-04:00

Here's our tentative planned route for our drive across the country. We plan to hike as much as possible along the way! I am sure it will change somewhat as we go.

Tuesday, June 21st

3 hours to Bloomington, IL (at least)

Wednesday, June 22nd

5 hours to Des Moines: Ledges State Park

(hope to visit with my friend Sarah from IU!)

3 hours to Sioux City, IA

Thursday, June 23rd

7 hours to Rapid City, SD: Black Hills National Forest

Friday, June 24th

9 hours to Jackson Hole, WY

Saturday, June 25th

Shoshone / Bridger-Teton National Forests

Sunday, June 26th

6 hours to Boise, ID

(visit with our friend Cynnie!)

Monday, June 27th

8 hours to SEATTLE!!

Last Day in Indiana

2011-06-20T08:01:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow is the big day---the movers come and we head northwest back to our home! We have to drop off Oliver today at Andy's mom's today. She's watching him temporarily while we drive across the country. Andy will fly back and pick him up in a few weeks.

We are going to miss our crazy orange kid

We are both really excited to be heading back to Seattle, but we are definitely very sad to be leaving our family and friends here (ahem, we demand visitors!!). A quick list of Indianpolis favorites that will be missed (hmmm....they are almost all food...):

1. Chocolate milkshakes from Traders Point Creamery

2. Goose the Market: especially the Goose sandwich and the bacon of the month club

3. frites and carbonade from the Brugge

4. The Monon trail

5. being around the block from the Broad Ripple Farmers Market (our picture is still on the front page!)

6. the Broad Ripple Brewbub (sick 'chos bro)

7. WB Pizza

8. Yats

9. Pizzology

Luckily, we have these favorites to look forward to!

I'll post our planned route tomorrow and updates from the road as we go.

Bringing back the blog for the trip

2011-06-12T08:27:00.004-04:00

Facebook has really ruined blogging for us, but I really enjoyed it when we moved across the country last time, so I am brining it back. For those that missed our first trip accross the country, it starts here.

We leave next Tuesday for Seattle. It's my fifth(!) time moving (and driving) across the country. It's Andy's third time moving and fourth time driving. It's also the first time I'll be doing it without my faithful Civic. I sold it last week to our friends Doug and Becky, so it will live on for hopefully another 125,000+ miles!

Andy planned our route---it's going to have numerous stops in National Forests for hiking including a couple nights in Jackson Hole.

Here's my Civic on our last drive from Indiana to Seattle

An Evening with Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert

2010-10-01T21:49:00.004-04:00

Last night, after much anticipation (I seriously have been excited since I found about about this almost a year ago), we went to see Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert speak at Clowes Hall. It was part of the Indiana Humanities Council's Food for Thought. It was a great event---completely sold out---kudos to Indianapolis for bring them here.

They ended up talking for about two hours (which, according to this blog, is an hour longer than they agreed to-awesome!). The chemistry between the two is great---they obviously enjoy spending time together. They both seem like genuinely good-hearted people. Also of note, they were drinking local beer Sun King while on stage (which was set up not unlike Between Two Ferns).

The format was great. First, the two chefs took turns grilling each other with tough questions. Bourdain asked Ripert why he voted off likable Tiffany from Top Chef when Kevin only cooked a sirloin steak. He also grilled him about his negative comments about Gordan Ramsey. Eric Ripert, who seems ridiculously nice, was definitely squirming. But when it was his time, he made sure to make Bourdain sweat some too, asking him how he felt like he could judge chefs when he really didn't have much great chef experience.

Next up, the two just chatted about various topics like sustainable seafood, traveling, and the local, organic movement. Anthony Bourdain didn't pull any punches with negative comments about Alice Waters no less. His points were very valid---mainly that although she's had a positive influence and is important, really she is too extreme. He told a couple stories about interviews with her where she was asked how people could afford organic food...her responses were...well, maybe they could just buy fewer cell phone minutes or one less pair of nikes. With kids eating chicken nuggets and fries all the time, maybe we can move towards move fruits and vegetables in general and then work on the local and organic part. He also pointed out that it's hard to eat local foods in winter on the upper peninsula of Michigan for example.

For the second hour or so, they took questions from the audience. My favorite response came when someone asked what things bother them when they eat out. Ripert doesn't like being served spoiled food (can't really argue with that). Bourdain had more complaints. First on his list, the existence of Olive Garden. He shares my hatred of the "Italian" chain restaurant and suggested that it would be a lovely sight if they were all on fire. There was some great commentary about McDonalds too. Ripert kept referring to Ronald McDonald as "that evil clown," and Bourdain shared his favorite ways to trick kids into hating McDonalds (to counteract all those ads). One option is to convince them that Ronald is a child abductor. Also during this Q&A session, we learned that if Eric Ripert weren't a chef (of one of the best restaurants in the world), he wouldn't mind being a park ranger.

Best of Indy (part 2)

2010-06-20T21:00:00.013-04:00

I'll keep this one short and sweet but had an entry to add to my list.

Best Sandwich
The Goose from Goose the Market. The sandwich has prosciutto di parma, basil, fresh mozzarella, and extra virgin olive oil. I keep craving it...it's so simple but so perfect. The store itself is outstanding with lots of local products (meat, dairy, produce, etc.) as well as imported cured meats and cheeses. Also, they have a nice beer and wine selection and gelato and espresso drinks. Oh yeah, they have a baco n of the month club (hint to Andy: my birthday is in July...).

Best of Indy (part 1)

2010-05-16T12:40:00.001-04:00

This very well may end up being an ongoing post subject, but I thought I'd take the time to post a few of my favorite things in Indy. This list is subject to change as I try new restaurants (yea!).

Best Coffee
Hubbard and Cravens: The atmosphere of the Monon Coffee Company is better, but H&C's coffee is definitely the best in the city. They are a little snobby about it but with good reason. I've never actually been to their Pennsylvania Street location, but the Broad Ripple one seems like a good place to hang out and get some work done. For whole bean coffee, I also like Harvest Cafe Coffee (Farm Fresh Delivery brings it to my door!).

Best Mediterranean
This category has a number of entries because Indy has a lot of good mediterranean food. Best hummus: Khoury's for sure. Best spanakopita (perhaps my favorite Greek item): Hella's Cafe (watch out for belly dancers on weekends). Best gyros: definitely Sam's Gyros. The best buffet goes to Mediterrano (seriously this place is awesome). Great all-around: Santorini (Greek) and The Bosphorus (Turkish, we just ate their last night, and their zucchini pancake appetizer is super yummy).

Best Sushi
I think the nod goes to the relatively new Tomo. It's in a shopping center that includes a Walmart and is located right next to a tanning establishment, but somehow they overcome that. After you walk through the door, you instantly forget that they are located in a cheesy shopping center. Their presentation is amazing, and the volcano roll is like sushi crack. Honorable Mention: H20.

Best Indian
Most definitely Shalimar.

Best Italian
Ambrosia is my pick for the tastiest and most authentic Italian in the city.

Best Burger
Boogie Burger has the tastiest burger in the city (their onion rings kick ass too). Also worth mentioning 96th Street Steakburgers (also available in the Indy airport), Traders Point Creamery (Zionsville) and Bub's (Carmel).

Best Pizza
Pizzology in Carmel is the best overall (though I must confess that I haven't tried Napolese yet), but for delivery, WB Pizza wins. They don't do anything too fancy (though they have a nice selection of toppings including sun dried tomatoes, prosciutto, and broccoli), but it's just damn tasty.

Best Milkshake (in the world)
Seriously, the chocolate milkshake at Traders Point Creamery (made with chocolate milk and chocolate ice cream) is not just the best milkshake in Indy or the Midwest, it's the best milkshake in the world.

A Culinary Tour of the Willey Family (in one day)

2010-04-19T18:59:00.005-04:00

It occurred to me today (while sitting in a mandatory "new hire" training class) that yesterday was an autobiographical day for food in my mom's family. With my parents visiting, we had three meals that are completely dependent on where Willeys lived. [Willey is my mom's maiden name and my middle name....Willey women are occasionally impatient but damn can they cook!]

Breakfast: sourdough pancakes; origin: Newfoundland/Nova Scotia
While chronologically northeastern Canada comes last in our family history, breakfast comes first in a day, so we'll start with sourdough pancakes. While living in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, my aunt and uncle sent some sourdough starter as a Christmas present for my brother (before I was born). The starter has been split numerous times, and I make pancakes (and only pancakes for some reason) with it regularly. Traditionally, blueberries are used, but yesterday we had blackberries and raspberries (Indiana-grown from last summer). Sourdough pancakes differ from traditional pancakes in at least three ways (other than their clear superiority): 1) they are sour (obviously), 2) they are thinner and denser than regular pancakes, and 3) you never ever eat them with imitation maple syrup. These were the only pancakes we ate at home and I had no idea they weren't "normal" pancakes until I spent the night at friends houses. Nova Scotia in particular is very important to our family---check out our blog entry from last summer for a glimpse of why.

Lunch: taylors ham; origin: New Jersey
Both my parents grew up in the Boss's home state (my mom moved at age 12, more on that below), and for the Willeys at least, Taylor ham was a staple. What the heck is it? I am not really sure. Here's what wikipedia has to say. All you really need to know is that it is made of pork and is delicious. While not required, it is recommended that you eat it with mustard. Taylor Ham is not local and fresh (sorry, Jamie Oliver)...it is processed meat, but it reminds me of summer and my grandparents and the beach, and every bite is just full of happiness. (Indiana folks, it is available at the Fresh Market---or our house---if you ever want to try it).

Dinner: tortellini en brodo; origin: Italy
To put it simply, tortellini en brodo is an Italian beef soup with tortellini. But that doesn't begin to cover it. What can I say about tortellini en brodo? I think it's been my favorite food since I first tasted it. After making the soup, you cook the tortellini in the broth, so the pasta and soup flavors meld together in the perfect blend. I generally only have it once a year (around Christmas), but our farmer's market was selling local oxtails, so my mom and I had to buy them! My mom's family learned to make it while living in Italy in the 1960s (my grandfather worked for Esso and was sent there for 4 years). Those four years in Italy gave my family so much, not the least of which, were recipes.

Good Poems

2010-04-17T08:09:00.000-04:00

So I Run
by
Will "Da Real One" Bell

As I travel backwards through time I search to rescue all my heroes
And I find myself in the underground railroad
Standing side by side with Harriet Tubman
As she decides to go whether go left or right tonight
As the barking dogs approach from the south
I rub the clothes from a thousand slaves on my body
And I hand her a flashlight
And I run

I run til I get to Jackson Mississippi and it’s June 11 1963
And I ‘m standing in the bushes with this white man in front of me
And so I peak over his shoulders I can see what he sees
“look out!”
And from a distant car I can hear the shouts, “you better run!”
So I run
I run til I get to the spring of 1963
And I’m in Birmingham Alabama
And I’m peeking through a church basement window
4 little girls—4 little worlds
And I notice that I’m standing next to a box
And I can hear the sudden sounds of a tick tock
So I open it up and cut the red wire to the bomb to make it stop
And I can hear them coming from up the block
And they’re screaming: you better run,
So I run
I run til the get to the night of February 21 1965
And I found myself standing backstage at Manhattan’s Autobaugn ballroom
Trying to explain Malcolm that the enemy has sent four of his goons
And I explained that yes,malcom we know change is going to come
But it don’t have to be this soon
So I took a few of Malcolm’s security people and we just cleared the whole room
All of the sudden the CIA showed up screaming
You better run
So I run
I run til I get to April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee
And I’m down in front of the Loraine motel with Dr Martin Luther King
And shots begin to ring
And I just don’t want to lift every voice and sing
So I scoot back
And I cover Dr. King with my own body
As we hit the floor
And I hear the scream across the street again
You better run
So I run
I run til I find myself standing in the middle of an intersection in Las Vegas and it’s September the 7th in 1996
The day TuPac was being followed by an entourage
And eyewitnesses and everybody claimed not to see it
So I ran alongside the passenger side and pulled tupac out
So sug knight was the only one to get hit
Then I heard that scream again
You better run

The Ball, the Rim, and Him
by
Al Letson

Shhhh
Do you heart that?
That ball (beat)
Bouncing on asphalt
Ringing in the emptiness of a small court somewhere near here
One boy one ball one dream one hoop.
Shhhh
Listen slowly stepping up to foul line
I am metal rim whose orange paint has chipped or faded years ago
I am hoop then bal the ball then hoop
Then aim extend small jump release
And the ball flows through the air defying gravity and the rim innnnn
He scores!
Take it from the top he round his back through his leg without a glance
behind his back
pass it to a man on his side
His man run down the court takes the ball to the left
Takes the ball to the right
Sees him out the corner of his eye
Then pass
Touching the ball like an ancient relic from Africa
He hears voices of legends from before him
Speaking his name saying “join us. Join us from the sky. Like superman does. like a plane does”
One step two step up up up double pump
Slam!
Hang on the rim
Looking down at mere mortals
Here the rims orgies shiny and new
Here were fallen street ballers
Hiding the drugs they sold or used
Higher than high school A’s or F’s
Here with Jordan, King James, Shaq, and Kidd
Here the complexities of life are all made simple
Here it’s all about the ball the rim and him
And then and then and then and then
with a little bit of reluctance he lets go
Of this small circular piece of Olympia
He lets go
And falls back to us
The un-understanding masters
we don’t know
We don’t know what it feels like to fly with the gods
But wether he’s crossing robbers on the ground
Or killing naysayers in the air
None of that matters man
None of that
Just the ball the rim and him
Shhh
Do you hear that?
That ball (beat)
Bouncing on asphalt
Ringing in the emptiness of a small court somewhere near here
One boy one ball one dream one hoop.
Shhh

Let's Go Bulldogs!

2010-04-04T21:42:00.003-04:00

We are very excited about Butler playing in the championship game tomorrow! It would be extra special if they won it by beating Dook. Let's go Butler!!

LBJ Presidential Library and Museum

2010-03-24T16:58:00.004-04:00

During my recent trip to Austin,* I took an hour or so to check out the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum which is located on the University of Texas campus. As many people know, I was mildly obsessed with LBJ in college. I find him to be fascinating and a tragic hero. [I do admit he was also basically a jerk and that he bears some (but certainly not all) of the responsibility for the Vietnam War].

I had never been to a presidential library and was certainly impressed. The exhibits were interesting (including a 7/8 replica of the oval office as it was when he was there). On the elevator up to the 10th floor to check out said oval office replica, I overheard a man say to his companion: "I never knew that Johnson did so much for the country." His presidency was so completely entangled with the Vietnam War (and perhaps rightly so) that his impressive and lasting accomplishments (the civil rights act and voting rights act, medicare and medicaid, and head start to name a few).

Enough of my soap box, the most entertaining part of the museum was the Humor of LBJ exhibit, which consisted of an animotronic LBJ leaning on a fence telling stories. The youtube version is below or you can check out the official version here.

*If you haven't been to Austin, I definitely recommend a trip, particularly if you like music of any kind.

Smarmy Flowers

2010-03-11T17:49:00.003-05:00

I feel like need to share my negative experience with ProFlowers. I ordered flowers from them (actually after having trouble with 1800Flowers not delivering my order....I ordered flowers on one of those peak flower holidays...flag day or something and there was a mixup). Anyway, in the process of ordering from ProFlowers, I inadvertently signed up for some Easy Saver Rewards program. I did not intend to do so and did not realize I had until I noticed a charge for $14.95 on the credit card bill. It had actually been there for a few months before but I hadn't realized it due to the unspecific nature of the charge (I figured it was something related to travel or something...I definitely must inspect my credit card bill more closely).

I called Easy Saver and canceled my account and they refunded my money. Really, they were quite nice. I haven't gotten the refund yet, but assuming it shows up, I have no beef with them.

After doing so, I contacted ProFlowers to tell them that I thought their practice was smarmy. Their response was:

"I would like to apologize for any confusion you may have had over the enrollment process with our partner company." and then "In conjunction with our partner, Easy Saver Rewards, ProFlowers is offering a $15 gift code off your next order as an incentive for signing up in the $1.95 30-day trial to the Rewards Program."

So, to make up for the fact that I was pissed about their reward program that cost $14.95 a month, they offer to RE-ENROLL me in it without ever disclosing that it is $14.95 a month.

I was flabbergasted! (and told them so, no response yet)

If you dislike smarminess, I suggest you avoid ProFlowers

This seems like the best way for the Indiana legislature to spend their time

2010-03-05T18:04:00.002-05:00

Every day, I turn to Andy and tell him how unsafe I feel on my way to work because I am not allowed to keep my gun in my car while I am at work. It is just such a hardship for me. It is certainly the most pressing issue for me.

Apparently, that is how the majority of the Indiana legislature felt on their last day of the session because that's what they spent their time on.

Why do people need guns all the frickin' time? If you are heading out to the woods to hunt (overpopulated) deer, by all means bring a rifle, but why do you feel safer with a gun in your locked car while at work?!?

At least Marion County didn't pass that guns in parks plan.

This Just In: The Post-Tribune Covers the Environment!

2010-03-01T22:19:00.003-05:00

Okay, this isn't breaking news at all...it's something I've been meaning to share for a while. The Gary Post-Tribune actually pays attention to the environment in Indiana....I recommend you check it out. Here's an editorial by the Porter County editor entitled 'President Daniels' would likely ravage environment. There are frequent stories about environmental issues (often penned by Gitte Laasby) like this one.

Super Bowl

2010-02-12T08:54:00.007-05:00

All season long, a group of us have been getting together to watch the Colts games. Although I am not a huge football fan, I think at this point I have switched my loyalty to the Colts (sorry Steelers fan family members). We got together with friends in Seattle to watch some games too, so I've been paying attention to them for a while now plus it's nice to have something that brings the city together so much.

We were definitely disappointed and I must say shocked by the outcome last Sunday, but all in all we had a good time (until the last few minutes of the game at least). Even Oliver hung around the whole game, undeterred by the two toddlers running around. We definitely found the social cat we were hoping for (he's sitting on my lap as I type this). We rearranged the living room for the event to make sure everyone could see the game, and we of course had inappropriate amounts of delicious snack-y food.

An important play no doubt

Who let Kerns hold Ava?

Ramona in her new Colts shirt

The food spread

my horseshoe cookies which were delicious but not lucky

Oliver

2010-01-19T21:22:00.003-05:00

We decided on Oliver...Ollie for short. It just seems to fit him. (We're keeping Wayne as his middle name). He's such a love. Today, when I got home, he grabbed my hand with his paws (no claws) and made me pet him (I had stopped temporarily). He seems to be getting used to Ramona...he still growls at her but is willing to hang out in the same room as her. It's only a matter of time until he figures out that she'll play with him.

Name indecision

2010-01-19T06:05:00.002-05:00

Update: we're not sure if Harvey suits him...now we are thinking Oliver...what do you think?

If you are so inclined, put your choice in the comments: Harvey, Oliver, or Wayne.

Meet the Newest Stuckey-Spalt

2010-01-18T21:56:00.006-05:00

We really didn't intend to get another cat so quickly, but then we just kinda sorta ended up at the Indianapolis Humane Society, where we met this adorable little guy. He came with the name Wayne, but we think that Harvey suits him better. He's really sweet and loves to be petted. He's not so sure about Ramona yet, but we think that they will end up being pals. He had actually been adopted twice and returned twice (apparently, he bites when he gets excited and that doesn't go over well with little kids). We are used to feisty cats.

Wild Indiana

2010-01-17T10:00:00.001-05:00

I've held off posting this because I bought some copies for gifts and hadn't yet distributed them. One of my coworkers recently published his book, Wild Indiana, which is a guide to the best natural areas in Indiana. If you like hiking (or just checking out nice scenery) and you are a Hoosier resident or visitor, you must check out this book. Mike has visited most of the parks, forests, and nature preserves in the state and has chronicled his favorites. He is a great writer (I should know---he frequently peer reviews my work!). His writing is simple and to the point but has enough detail and style to keep you interested. If you like nature and you ever come to Indiana, check it out! It is available on amazon or locally at Big Hat Books in Broad Ripple---buying it here has the double bonus of supporting a local author (and all-around cool guy) and a nice independent bookstore (with a very friendly owner). I also have an inside connection and can get you a little bit of a deal (that still gives Mike a fair cut). For all of you Hoosier natives that live outside the state, spread the word with folks back home!

Good News

2010-01-09T09:48:00.002-05:00

I got some good news at work yesterday! I've been invited to sit on a national panel related to risk assessment. I don't want to provide details here on the blog, but I am really excited. It's not a done deal yet because I haven't gotten all of the approvals, but it should be a fantastic opportunity for me.

Sydney

2010-01-02T15:11:00.002-05:00

It sucks to share this news, but since I've blogged about Sydney's lymphoma previously, it seems to make sense to share that we put Sydney to sleep on New Years Eve. She seemed happy to the end. We are both really sad, and I in particular am having a hard time starting out 2010 without my cat of 14 years. We are really glad we decided to take her with us to NC, where she lived out her final week in a queen-like manner, lording over her personal studio apartment (above my parent's carport) with frequent visitors stopping by (including my brother who gave her milk a few times a day). She was a fantastic cat and is missed.

Giraffe Lab

2009-12-10T20:48:00.003-05:00

Andy and I have been very amused by December in our chocolate lab calendar (yes, we have a chocolate lab calendar...well...actually two).

Good Pumpkins and Bad Pumpkins

2009-10-31T14:57:00.005-04:00

In honor of Halloween which features one of my favorite seasonal foods/decorations, today's post is my two recent experiences with pumpkins.

We'll start with the bad side. Andy and I carved our pumpkin last night, and in case you have delusions about our artistic abilities, we equal about a 1st grader if you add our talents together. It didn't help that I couldn't find our pumpkin carving knife (it must have been a victim of the move...though I don't know what we did last year (the historic election has clouded my memory of Halloween 2008). The result was this wonky and sad jack-o-lantern, (perhaps) made worse overnight by nibbling squirrels.

Now for the good news. A friend from work passed along what just might be the perfect fall cookie, and I'm spreading the word.

Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose baking flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. With mixer, beat butter in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg, canned pumpkin, and vanilla. Beat well. Add dry ingredients and beat until well blended. Drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes.

These cookies are fast and easy and result in perfect little bites of pumpkin bread-like cookies. This recipe actually calls for 1 cup raisins and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, but neither my friend nor I ever add those (the horror of ruining these cookies with raisins!). She likes to make them into football cookies, so she makes them in an oval shape and then adds white icing to look like the laces. The icing is a simple confectioner sugar/milk icing. Last time I made these, I just sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top before baking. Next time, I think I am going to mix up the spices a bit to make it more of a pumpkin pie seasoning with ginger, but I love the combo of vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon in the original recipe.

Giant Corp or Indie Organic?

2009-10-24T10:25:00.004-04:00

In my weekly update from the home of the best chocolate milkshake in the world, Traders Point Creamery, there were links to a couple websites that provide info on who owns different organic labels. I thought I'd share for anyone else who is trying to make their money and their mouth more organic. I admit some are obvious (Prego Organic for instance), but I actually didn't know that Kashi was owned by Kelloggs.

Nutrition Wonderland (!) provides a list of orgos owned by big folks like Heinz and Pepsico as well as a list of independent ones. The Cornucopia Institute has this chart:

Fever in the Finals

2009-10-02T17:51:00.006-04:00

In case you hadn't heard, Indianapolis's WNBA team, the Fever, is in the finals! They are tied with Phoenix 1-1 in the best of 5 series. If you live in Indy, I highly recommend you go root on Tameka, Katie, Tully, and the rest of the gang at one of the home games, either Sunday at 4 pm or Wednesday at 7:30 pm. They are incredibly fun. They were in danger of leaving the city, but it sounds like their trip to the finals has saved them for the moment. They really are an asset to the city. Unlike many NBA teams, they play the game as a team because they really like it not because they are getting paid lots of $$$. C'mon Hoosiers, support your Fever!!

Sydney

2009-09-25T21:05:00.003-04:00

We got some sad news this week. Sydney was diagnosed with lymphoma. We are still figuring out treatment options, but it looks like we are measuring our time left in months. The good news is that she's home (she was at the vet for 3 days this week) and is as feisty as ever. Plus, she can eat whatever she wants, so she is pretty stoked about that! She is less happy about the pills we have to give her...so far, we've done one. Let me tell you...not fun! I am really sad (Andy is too of course) b/c she's such a kickass kitty cat. And because she's been a part of my life since I was 16! Seriously, she's been my cat longer than I've been an adult.

Mitch Daniels is "Preposterous"

2009-09-19T09:37:00.003-04:00

Below is an e-mail I sent to Mitch Daniels. This is the first time I've written to Mitch. I was motivated to do so by his decision to call a decision by the Indiana Court of Appeals "preposterous."

Governor Daniels,

I have been very impressed with many of the things you have done as Governor of our great state. There have been many times when I have disagreed with you, but reasonable people can disagree about policy issues and still feel that the best interests of the state are being watched over.

However, your comments last week about the Indiana Court of Appeals' rejection of the voter I.D. law crossed the line. Disagreeing with the decision is one thing, but the state's highest public official referring to a decision by our second highest court as "preposterous" is the most irresponsible statement I've ever heard from the Indiana Governor's office. Undermining our state's judicial system is at the very least unbecoming of the office you hold, and at worst a violation of our constitution. You have lost the respect and trust of many Hoosiers with this irresponsible remark, and I only hope that you have not done permanent damage to the image of our judicial system.

I hope in the future you will be more reasonable with your comments and remember the weight your words hold thanks to the power of your office.

Andrew Stuckey

Indianapolis, IN

Labor Day in Pittsburgh

2009-09-15T22:10:00.008-04:00

Following Joe Biden's lead, we headed to Pittsburgh for Labor Day weekend. This marked our second annual Labor Day Pittsburgh trip, and once again, Pittsburgh impressed. We visited several of our favorite haunts including the Strip District and PNC Park (MLB's most beautiful ballpark for its worst team). We also checked out some of what else Pittsburgh (and the surrounding area) had to offer.

After enjoying coffee at our favorite goat-themed coffee shop, Crazy Mocha, we headed to the National Aviary, which is nestled in West Park on the north side. We visited with penguins and a variety of tropical birds and decided that Stellar's Sea Eagles are cooler than Bald Eagles. All in all, the National Aviary was a nice find and a recommended visitor spot. On Sunday, we headed a little over an hour southeast of Pittsburgh to see one of the most famous private house in America: Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. It's pretty much badass. Check it out. We also stopped by Ohiopyle State Park, which was crowded and poorly marked but scenic and highly entertaining. We hiked a ways and then sat and watched rafters get stuck on the rocks. Last neither chronologically or in our hearts was a trip to Primanti's Brothers, where as food network viewers may know, all sandwiches include slaw and fries.
Of note as well were the two conventions converging on the Pittsburgh Hilton during our stay: The North American Festival of Wales and the National Football Leage (for the kickoff celebration in Pittsburgh). We heard Welsh spoken on the elevator and watched the NFL folks set up a stage on the Point. Up next for Pittsburgh: the G20 Summit! Pittsburgh's got it all!

Organizing for America

2009-08-20T18:26:00.002-04:00

Some of you may know about the Organizing for American National Health Care Forum that took place today. I haven't had a chance to watch it all yet (since it occurred during working hours), but I did have a relative there, first hand, to report back! That's right---my dad was one of the couple hundred people there live!

It will be available in its entirety tomorrow on the Organizing for America website, but I did find this you tube clip. You can spot my dad at the 0:18 mark of this clip.

Assorted

2009-08-10T21:39:00.002-04:00

A few assorted items I've come across in the last week or so:

1) Legendary Indianapolis coffee shop The Abbey has closed. According to my Indy food email (The Dish, thanks Smith for cluing me into this), the owner has taken a personal chef job in Texas. It never was quite the same in the new location, and for some reason we didn't go there much after we moved, but it was a favorite spot on visits before we moved here. Abbey, you will be missed---sorry we didn't come as much as we should have.

2) My Tobey Maguire bashing must be put on hold! He has taken up a cause near and dear to my heart, petitioning Congress to improve school lunches! I'll shut my mouth for a while (now if he could only stop making Spiderman movies).

3) I am really unsure about this one, but I read that CBS is bringing back Let's Make a Deal with host Wayne Brady. I have announced my love of this show previously and was dismayed to learn that the Game Show Network has stopped showing it (big jerks!). I don't think a new version will in any way replace this loss. A lot of the charm of the old show is the 1970s prizes (a fridge with a tape recorder! $25 worth of fanta! fur coats!) not to mention Monty Hall.

Canada's Ocean Playground

2009-08-06T18:00:00.011-04:00

After leaving Maine (where we did see finally the sun on the drive back to the airport), we headed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. My Aunt Joan and Uncle Charlie gave us the amazing wedding present of a trip to Nova Scotia. Due to a lack of vacation time last summer, we cashed it in this year. Joan and Charlie, who live in North Carolina, own a house in Prospect, a small fishing village outside of Halifax. As graduate students at Dalhousie University and for a while after, they lived there full time, without hot water no less! Their new house, built after Hurricane Juan made landfall in 2003, is quite the upgrade from the drafty cottage that used to occupy its space (or so I'm told).

I don't know where to begin. The trip was amazing for so many reasons. I have heard about Prospect my whole life from Joan and Charlie and other family members. It always seemed like this magical place, and finally getting to visit was wonderful. [I know I am using a lot of superlatives, so bear with me.] It was great because Joan and Charlie were excited to show us the place that they loved, that helped shape who they are. On top of that, it was so relaxing. We actually did a whole lot on the trip, but we didn't worry about time or plans. We hiked and swam when it was nice out and visited Halifax when it wasn't. In between, we ate copious amounts of delicious seafood (and Charlie's famous country ham).

We arrived Tuesday and took a short hike along the coast and then headed back for some homemade smoked haddock chowder (yum!) followed by a walk through the village.

Wednesday was a bit foggy, but after fortifying ourselves with sourdough blueberry pancakes and country ham, we went on this amazing hike that started at the house, wandered through the heath, and ended along the rocky shoreline. When the sun came out, we headed down to the protected bay and jumped in the chilly water.

Thursday, it rained, so we headed into the charming harbor city of Halifax for a land/water cruise of the city and a visit to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which featured an interesting exhibit on the Halifax explosion. [While there, we lamented how little we Americans are taught in school about our friendly neighbors to the north.]

Friday started out with a drive to THE tourist spot of Nova Scotia, Peggys Cove. This nice thing about this tourist spot (other than the fact that it is beautiful) is how quaint it still is. There is no McDonalds and the like just a few gift shops, art galleries, and a restaurant. Plus, there are still resident fishermen. On the way back to the house, we stopped for a lunch of clams and chips, which were the best I'd ever had. That afternoon, we headed out on another gorgeous hike, where Andy's keen eye spotted a pilot whale just offshore. Afterward, with a strong wind blowing, Andy managed to jump in the water, but the rest of us steered clear. For dinner, we splurged on crazy delicious fresh lobsters and mussels.

Our plans for the sunny Saturday involved more ocean view hiking close to the house. The ocean put on a display for us with waves crashing against the rocks. We took another short swim in the afternoon. I must say that I was pleased that I proved hardy enough to swim in Nova Scotia (even if I didn't stay in long).

Sunday came, meaning it was the day to head back to landlocked Indiana and away from the beautiful shorelines of Nova Scotia. We had a fantastic trip, getting our (temporary) fill of hiking and seafood (lobster, smoked haddock, fresh salmon, not 1 but 2 types of smoked salmon, scallops, clams, and mussels). Plus Charlie introduced us to a new beer, Keith's ("those who like it like it a lot"), which Andy took an instant shine to. Most of all, we had an unforgettable time visiting a place we came to love.

Portland, Oregon's Namesake

2009-08-04T20:56:00.009-04:00

Sunday, we returned from a week-long exploration of the northeastern Atlantic coast. First up was a short stint in Maine. We flew into Boston and after a brief detour in the tacky tourist spot of Salem, MA (Andy's teaching The Crucible this year and was hoping for some cool photo ops), we headed north to Vacationland.

Sunday was a foggy day of wandering and tasty eats. We started with breakfast at Hot Suppa, which pleasantly filled our tummies with blueberry pancakes, bacon, and porridge (yes, Andy did order porridge and bacon). We lunched on a lobster roll on the waterfront followed by some of the ever present Maine ice cream. Ice cream and lobster are everywhere in Maine; you'd think that there was a state law requiring that you sell one of the two (if not both). Note: I am not compaining! You can buy lobster rolls from street vendors in Portland! We celebrated my birthday a night early with an amazing dinner at Street and Company. We both had grilled lobster (in the shell) over linguine tossed with olive oil and garlic. It was amazing!

Monday, we headed to Acadia National Park. We drove through a number of seaside towns on the way, including the LL Bean-dominated Freeport, stopping along the way when we spied a sign for old fashioned donuts. Acadia was, as advertised, beautiful, but we didn't see as much of it as we would have liked....due to the crazy fog. We loved the Gorham Mtn/Cadillac Creek hike but sure couldn't see anything from the top. On the way back, we stopped in Bangor (but didn't run into Stephen King) for dinner at the Sea Dog Brewery. Also notable on this day was this hot dog sign outside of Bar Harbor.

Coming soon...part 2 of our trip: Nova Scotia.

No More Mix

2009-07-22T19:55:00.005-04:00

As previously posted, our trip to Seattle was great. That said, we did see something disturbing: the replacement of the Green Lake location of our favorite Seattle ice cream place, Mix, with a much more corporate (if relatively environmentally friendly) Ben & Jerry's. We hoped that the original U District location had survived, but alas, after some internet searching, the whole operation is kaput.

Mix was a marble-top ice cream place where you add your own toppings. Unlike Cold Stone, there was no singing and they were never were stingy with the mix-ins (though I found the dudes that worked at night were more generous than the ladies in the daytime). I tended to get "healthy" frozen yogurt and then add cookie dough, twix, and other assorted items. I liked to get Mix and then walk over to Green Lake and eat it in front of all the runners.

Mix, even though you were 2,249 miles away, you will be missed.

Ramona Crosses the 'Ultimate Line.'

2009-07-20T16:30:00.000-04:00

Of all the bad things Ramona has done since she was a puppy, until Sunday she had never gone into the basement. We had never allowed it, and as far as we knew, she did not even comprehend of the possibility. We were outside doing yard work and I came inside the back door to see Ramona trotting through the basement toward the steps. She had done it! She had crossed the 'ultimate line.' She does not seem to have done anything she shouldn't down there (cat box, extra tennis balls, trash can all seemed unmolested), but it is still not a good sign.

Coast to Coast

2009-07-18T09:55:00.008-04:00

It's high time that the picture of my blue foot be removed from the top of our blog, so I'll take this opportunity to blog about our recent trips.

First, we spent the week of July 4th in my home state of North Carolina for Kathy's wedding. We started the week at Wrightsville Beach...

and then headed back to Carrboro/Chapel Hill for the wedding, which was beautiful, happy, and fun, like a wedding should be.
Next up, after being home for a total of 3 days, we took a trip back to our most recent previous home, Seattle, for a quick visit with friends.

We visited old haunts and restaurants including Chinooks (for alder planked king salmon that melts in your mouth), Circa (for brunch, where Andy started the day with a Mannys and a coffee), and Maneki (for some traditional Japanese). We also checked out a new favorite of Shawn and Heather's, the Lunchbox Laboratory, which specializes in truly amazing hamburgers. Check it out, Seattlites!

It was fantastic to see everyone (and meet baby James), but I left with a feeling of homesickness. Our trip was influenced by the fact that I've had a rough time at work recently (mostly because Indiana environmental policy is moving in the wrong direction, even as Obama is pushing EPA forward). Nevertheless, I just can't help but feeling like Seattle fits who I am so much better that anywhere else I've lived, at least as an adult. There are lots of things I love about Indy, and I certainly love being so much closer to family, but I keep feeling this tug westward. We'll see how I feel as time passes...I may post on this again.

For the meantime, though, I am going to focus on our final July trip, Maine and Nova Scotia!

No More Swirls

2009-06-15T20:50:00.014-04:00

With Andy out of town*, I decided to tackle a long delayed home project....painting book room. We bought paint for three rooms last April but only ended up painting two. So, opening the paint can (technically plastic jug...) was like a surprise b/c I had more or less forgotten the color we had chosen except that it was blue.

Painting took most of yesterday and nearly turned me into a smurf...but I am happy for our house to be swirl-less.

Before

After (it's not quite as bright as the pictures make it seem)

*at the National Forensics League (the other NFL) National Tournament. Go Ben Davis!

Music Video Shoot on the Monon

2009-06-07T14:14:00.004-04:00

Not surprisingly, the Monon Trail is one of my favorite dog-walking spots. Yesterday, Ramona and I headed out. There's a nice spot north of Broad Ripple where you can go off into the woods and walk beside a creek. Most days, it's uncrowded and Ramona can run free.

Yesterday, I noticed there was a group of people dressed all in white right the south entrance to the wooded trail. So, I stayed on the Monon and decided to head in at the north end. I let Ramona off leash and we were walking along, when all of a sudden I noticed that there were about 8 people all dressed in white Tyvek suits with these odd white cones on their faces, and some of them were carrying what looked like objects from an old timey sci-fi movie. I got Ramona back on her leash before she noticed them (sometimes it's great she's so obtuse). Then, I noticed a camera man and quickly realized we were in their shot. I hopped off the trail (with Ramona) and heard someone yell "Keep Going" to the white-suited folks, one of whom apologized to me (I apologized back). There was a song playing this whole time. Finally, they yelled "Cut," and the suited folks let me by. The production team apologized to me, and I asked what was going on. It turns out they were shooting a music video!

In my bewilderment, I neglected to ask what band it was for. As I was kicking myself on the way home, I realized that I recognized the song but couldn't place it. After talk to Andy, we named off the Indianapolis bands we know and like: Red Light Driver (didn't sound like them), Loretta (broken up), Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos. Andy put Margot on, and 15 seconds into the first song, I said, "this could be it!", and then it kept going, and I excited declared that the song I'd heard was definitely "A Children's Crusade on Acid." So, I am totally disappointed that I didn't talk to them more, but I psyched that they were filming nearby!

What's Six Years of Benzene Releases Among Friends?

2009-06-04T18:27:00.003-04:00

BP announced that it had been releasing known carcinogen benzene into the air for the last SIX years. Check out this post from the Huffington Post: BP Has a Deal it Hopes We Can't Refuse. Their argument reported in the Gary Post Tribune article about not causing harm to human health or the environment is particularly frustrating given the amount of time it takes for cancer and other chronic health problems to develop.

Jay Bennett

2009-05-31T14:56:00.002-04:00

I am a little behind the news, but I was sad to hear that Jay Bennett passed away last weekend. I appreciated what he added to Wilco, and I saw him play a couple times solo, and though the shows were a little weird, they were fun and memorable. He will be missed.

Anything You Can Do, Elijah Wood Can Do Better

2009-05-30T09:37:00.004-04:00

I don't like Tobey Maguire. For all those "he was good as Spiderman" people, I might as well share that I really don't like Spiderman. I never have...it has as much to do with how annoying of a character Mary Jane is as anything else, but I digress.

We watched The Good German last night. I generally like Steven Soderbergh, I am a fan of The Cloon, and I like Cate Blanchett a lot, plus the movie is shot in black and white with lots of old timey touches, so I figured I was safe. Then, the movie starts, and Tobey Maguire is "acting" all over the place. He's horrible, worse than usual, and I worry that I'm not going to make it through the movie. "Maybe he'll get killed." I genuinely believe that any role played by Tobey Maguire would be better suited for either (if not both) Topher Grace (frustrating since he also appears in the Spiderman franchise) or Elijah Wood. Andy and I spent much of Maguire's screen time naming actors that would have been better: Andy's dream choice was of course Ryan Gosling, I suggested Shia LeBeouf and Adrian Brody (who Andy declared too old even though he's only 2 years older than Tobey). Heck, there's a pretty good chance that Justin Long would have been better. Luckily, McGuire ended up not being onscreen for the whole movie, and I was able to make it through, but his scenes were painful and distracting. I'll admit that I am okay with Maguire's preformance in Wonder Boys, since he is playing the one role he's capable of (much like Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted).

By the way, The Good German ended up being just okay. It's worth a watch, espeically if you are into old movies, but it's by no means essential viewing.

(Another) Fox Guarding the Hen House?

2009-05-11T10:29:00.004-04:00

IDEM has just released their new Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Legal Counsel. Who is it? Why, it's David Joest, a former registered lobbyist for Peabody Coal. The Post Tribune article provides similar info but (not surprisingly) is more critical. It's another frustrating day for an environmentalist in Indiana.

A Message from the CDC

2009-05-05T21:31:00.002-04:00

With Indiana reporting 12 new cases of swine flu (ahem, H1N1 flu), I thought now was the perfect time to post this button from the CDC.

The Brothers Bloom

2009-04-29T21:51:00.003-04:00

A fellow film-fan and I were talking this evening about how little we were looking forward to the summer movie season. While I am anticipating Funny People and Public Enemies, there is also a bunch of crap I just don't need (see exhibits a, b, and c). That's why I was pretty excited to find that the movie gods have finally put two of my favorites Mark Ruffalo and Adrian Brody together in The Brothers Bloom.

Public Service Announcement

2009-04-21T17:56:00.003-04:00

Because of what I do, please frequently ask me what they are supposed to do with their burnt out compact fluorescent light bulbs (or CFLs). By now, most people have gotten the message that you don't want to just throw them out (due to the small amounts of mercury they contain).

The easiest way to dispose of them is to take them to any Home Depot store (here's their store finder). They have partnered with EPA to start a CFL recycling program. You should also be able to take them to your local municipal waste collection, but you should investigate when they are open (you can start at EPA's website or here).

So, what do you do if you break a CFL? Here's EPA's take. You don't need to call a Haz Waste crew (though I do have my 40-hr Hazardous Waste Operator training up to date), but you should take some precautions.

...it's just like a mini-mall...

2009-04-11T15:18:00.004-04:00

This has been spotted various places, but in case you haven't seen it, it is certainly worth two minutes.

And if it tickles your fancy, this spooky remix is pretty solid.

National Champions!

2009-04-07T21:13:00.001-04:00

New Blog

2009-04-07T21:10:00.002-04:00

Check out Graham's Portland blog (PDX Lost & Found)...it has been added to our friend's blogs list.

How Many Tys Does it Take to Win the National Championship?

2009-04-04T13:20:00.005-04:00

I'm really hoping the answer is three.

1. Tyler Zeller (looking much tougher than he usually does)

2. Tywan Lawson (on the left)

and of course
3. Tyler "Pyscho T" Hansbrough

Obama's bracket hasn't worked out as well as he hoped. That's okay by me because his champion is still in the mix. I definitely enjoyed the decisive win over Oklahoma last weekend.

I am definitely nervous about tonight's game. Can Carolina beat all of the remaining teams? Definitely. Are they the best team of the bunch? Probably. Does that mean they will win? Certainly not. Last year's debacle was proof enough that even a really good team can collapse.

I am not counting out Villanova---they have some great guards, and we are going to be on top of our game to keep up with them. If we manage to get by them, I think I may be more nervous about Michigan State than UConn....mostly for psychological reasons. We beat MSU earlier in the year in this same venue by 35 points, so I should not be nervous, right? Well, for one, MSU was without key player Suton. For another, Carolina might get lazy, assuming this game will be easy. MSU has gotten much better over the season, and we could be in trouble. But enough talk of the still hypothetical title game. We have to beat a great team to even get there.

Unfortunately I am not going to get to see all of the game tonight because we are going to see Minneapolis rockers The Hold Steady tonight. I suspect I may be hanging out in the bar, and I think The Hold Steady would be okay with that.

Cold Tail

2009-03-29T14:23:00.004-04:00

Now that life is settling down again, I'm back to blogging. I must say I am glad to see March is ending. These past couple months have been rough. March certainly isn't going out like a lamb, though; as I write this, snowflakes are falling.

Thursday, we got a scare. Andy stayed home from work and partway through the morning, Ramona started acting really strange. She was extra clingy, and her tail wouldn't wag. Those of you who know Ramona know that she is an extremely waggly dog, so it was a pretty extraordinary situation. When I got home from work, she tried to wag, yelped in pain, and more or less fell down. All in all, it was terrible! BUT there's good news. Her ailment, it turns out, was a temporary one known as cold tail (more info here). It turns out this is fairly common in hunting dogs and is generally caused by overexertion, frequently in cold water. We had taken Ramona to the creek on Wednesday for her first water of the year. Apparently, she overdid it. Ramona was back wagging the next morning and was up to 100% by Saturday.

Obama picks Carolina

2009-03-18T18:37:00.005-04:00

President Obama filled out a bracket and picked my Tar Heels.

In other Obama-related news, check out the new Obama-themed German frozen food product.

***Sorry for the lack of posting lately...life has been a little crazy this month.

Dubs

2009-02-10T21:15:00.003-05:00

The University of Washington introduced a new mascot. The Huskies have their 11th Malamute (um...). You know you want to follow that link...there's video of a puppy!

The Road to Ft. Awesome

2009-02-07T08:21:00.008-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since our big move. At this time last year, we were driving like crazy heading from Santa Fe to Carrboro in record time. Perhaps this is somewhat cheap, but I really enjoyed reading these posts again and thought I'd share them with any who didn't seen them the first time or just want to take a second look.

Crossing the Border

Backtracking
Grand Vegas
The Hoover Dam

High Desert

What's so great about the plains, anyway?

Hoosiers Again

Cat Out of the Bag

While I am not itching for another cross country trip, I must admit that reading these posts is making me antsy for some outdoors to explore. Our weather has improved (the high today is 55!), but we're not yet to hiking weather.

74-47

2009-02-05T17:57:00.003-05:00

I know that it's not nice to gloat about team's losses, but when Duke scores fewer than 50 points in a 27-point loss, I can't help but be gleeful. Did I mention that Duke lost? By a lot? They did. Last night. So did Wake Forest. By a lot.

But wait, there's more. Indiana won!! Their first Big Ten win of the year. There is a lot of hope surrounding Indiana basketball. We went to a game a couple of weeks ago, and the crowd was fantastic. Though it was fairly annoying that the middle-aged lady sitting next to me kept yelling "Miss it!" when Minnesota had the ball and "c'mon Tom!" (referring to Pritchard in this case), I definitely appreciated her enthusiasm. IU is on the way back up. We are through with the nonsense of the last few years, and we can move forward. This win, while not important in terms of IU's record, was needed for the pyche of Indiana fans. Also, Duke lost!

New Website

2009-02-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across this website that seems like it could turn into something amusing:

indydouchebags.com

I don't really care for the automatically playing music on most pages, but the general concept is pretty awesome.

The Best of 2008

2009-02-02T11:20:00.000-05:00

As advertised, here are my top ten songs of 2008.

10. "Cherry Tulips" The Headlights
9. "In the New Year" The Walkmen
8. "You Don't Know Me" Ben Folds (feat. Regina Spektor)
7. "Dig, Lazarus, Dig" Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
6. "Always a Friend" Alejandro Escovedo
5. "Walcott" Vampire Weekend
4. "Drive On, Driver" The Magnetic Fields
3. "Punches" Colin Herring
2. "Buildings & Mountains" The Republic Tigers
1. "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" She & Him

Looking over this list makes me realize that working so much in the second half of the year has severely cut back on the attention paid to my music collection. Three of the songs in the top ten are from artist I have only heard that one song from (The Headlights, Nick Cave, and The Republic Tigers). I guess I've heard other Nick Cave, but not from this album, and we saw The Republic Tigers open for Nada Surf, but I haven't investigated them further.

Also, since Josh requested, I'll talk about one more new band. The band that I am into most right now (though I just found out about them about 6 weeks ago, so they didn't make the list) is called Titus Andronicus. It's kind of like a cross between the Thermals & Bright Eyes. And that's a winning combo. Check them out!

*As I'm posting this, I see that Titus Andronicus is playing in Bloomington on Monday, Feb. 9th. That will be tough, but I may try to go...

Commercial From 1981

2009-02-01T09:06:00.001-05:00

One of my students directed me to this unfortunately named diet product from the early 80s.

Last Year's Songs

2009-01-29T19:10:00.001-05:00

I've been so absent in my blogging that it has taken back to back snow days for me to get around to posting on the music of 2008. Using the same criteria as last year, here's what Lazerbeak (my ipod) tells me I've been listening to:

25. "Say Back Something" - Tapes 'n Tapes (22)
24. "23" - Blonde Redhead (22)
23. "Girls Who Play Guitars" - Maximo Park (23)
22. "You! Me! Dancing!" - Los Campesinos! (23)
21. "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe" - Okkervil River (24)
20. "White Winter Hymnal" - Fleet Foxes (24)
19. "Always a Friend" - Alejandro Escovedo (24)
18. "Rooks" - Shearwater (25)
17. "Are You Lightening" - Nada Surf (25)
16. "Falling Slowly" - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (25)
15. "Bodysnatchers" - Radiohead (26)
14. "Paper Planes" - M.I.A. (26)
13. "Buildings and Mountains" - The Republic Tigers (27)
12. "The Modern Leper" - Frightened Rabbit (27)
11. "No Sunlight" - Death Cab For Cutie (27)
10. "Old Song" - AM (27)
9. "Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors" - Editors (30)
8. "Big Kid Table" - Thao Nguyen (31)
7. "Tamacun" - Rodrigo y Gabriela (31)
6. "Dig, Lazarus, Dig" - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (32)
5. "Northwestern Girls" - Say Hi to Your Mom (34)
4. "Cherry Tulips" - Headlights (34)
3. "Punches" - Colin Herring (37)
2. "Walcott" - Vampire Weekend (40)
1. "Drop Me Off" - Pela (41)

That's all for now, my top ten of the year forthcoming.

Big Snow

2009-01-28T21:10:00.004-05:00

Central and southern Indiana got drilled with snow over the last 36 hours. Elizabeth claims it's the most snow she's ever been in, and I think it may be the case for me, as well (excluding ski resorts). Indianapolis got right around 12 inches of snow. It took the two of us around three hours combined to dig our cars out. School was canceled in Wayne Township today, and has already been canceled tomorrow. I think this is the first time they've canceled school in three years.

Ramona seems to be the big winner in this deal. She loves the snow, and has been begging to go outside (which she never does). She particularly likes losing her tennis ball then spending 10 minutes plunging her head into the snow looking for it. I have to admit that it's pretty cute.

A New Day at EPA

2009-01-27T21:29:00.005-05:00

I know my last post was about Obama's promise to return science to decision-making, but I can't resist a second one. Today, I received an EPA newsletter that included the poem below written by an EPA scientist, who seems even more excited than me about the new direction. This poem was in an official EPA newsletter that included these topics: "Summary of National Forum on Vapor Intrusion" and "Reducing Subsurface Hexavalent Chromium to Harmless Trivalent Chromium Through Injection of Ferrous Iron."

An Ode to Science at EPA
By Mike Gill*
"We will restore science to its rightful place......." - President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009

Now that Barack is on our side
Let's rethink those apps for pesticides
Again, it's all about compliance
Enforcement, clean air, and yes, it's SCIENCE!

This President, he makes no bones
About our health, clean water, and homes
He knows that citizens are his clients
Not industry, no! It's about the SCIENCE!

That's right, Obama knows the score
About kids and bugs and bunnies, for sure
No longer do we have to act in defiance
When we make our decisions based on SCIENCE!

* Mike Gill
ORD Superfund and Technology Liaison
US EPA Region 9 / SFD-84

Bringing Science Back

2009-01-20T19:24:00.002-05:00

We have a new president!!!!

Today was very exciting. I took a half day and came home to watch it all live. My favorite part of the speech: "We will restore science to its rightful place." Yea for science!

Contact Your Senator

2009-01-19T15:14:00.000-05:00

Attention all Hoosiers! Please consider contacting your state senators about some legislation in the works. It will be a disaster for a state that already ranks 49th in the environment and has this official position on global warming.

Senate Bill 79 would create an oversight board to ensure that Indiana can't have laws stricter than the federal government. This is BAD! Federal laws are intended to be broad and cannot cover all state-related issues. Indiana is so far behind on the environment already; we do not need to move even farther behind.

Please, please contact your senator.

Sorry for the political plea that is this post, but I had to do it.

Silent Film Era

2009-01-17T09:42:00.004-05:00

From The Onion

Man Gets Into Mess Usually Reserved For Stars Of Silent Film Era

January 16, 2009

BOWLING GREEN, KY—Stumbling around his study with a large metal bucket lodged firmly over his head, area accountant and father of three Michael Dewley once again found himself in a situation traditionally reserved for film stars of the early 20th century.

Dewley attempts to mail some letters last March.

Dewley, who works at a local investment firm and once mistook two men inside of a horse costume for the genuine article, got himself in his latest fix early Monday morning. According to sources, this is the fifth time in as many weeks that the 43-year-old has experienced the sort of bumbling mishap usually portrayed in silent American comedies.

"It's always something with Michael," said longtime friend and former business associate Phillip Bowman. "Either the poor bastard is getting smacked in the face with a plank of wood, or he's tumbling head over heels down a long spiral staircase."

Added Bowman, "I don't think I've ever been out with the guy and not seen him end up covered in feathers."

Over the course of his life, Dewley has reportedly fallen from a 20-foot barn ladder on seven separate occasions, slipped into a giant vat of fresh cream at least three times, and once, while vacationing with his family in Egypt, managed to stir a 5,000-year-old mummy from its restful slumber.

While the accidents were amusing and even entertaining at first, sources close to Dewley said that watching him repeatedly hammer his own thumb and hop around the room in excruciating pain has grown difficult over time.

"It used to be funny—you know, in a broad sort of way—but now I just feel bad for him," brother-in-law Peter Havemeyer said. "I mean, how many times can you watch someone get punched in the face by a trained kangaroo before it starts to get to you? Poor Michael. The man is just covered in welts."

Dewley's blunders have reportedly taken a tremendous toll on his physical well-being. In April, the 43-year-old was disfigured beyond all recognition after walking into a plate-glass window, while earlier this month, Dewley had to be rushed into surgery following a bloody encounter with a rolling-pin-wielding matron.

According to doctors at Greenview Regional Hospital, if Dewley trips on one more discarded banana peel or is struck in the face by one more malfunctioning Murphy bed, he runs the risk of suffering permanent brain damage.

"We've been banned from every opera house in town, and pretty much any hotel with a bellhop or, God forbid, a revolving door," wife Sheila Dewley said. "It's getting to be too much. Please don't tell him, but I'm seriously thinking of taking the kids and just leaving."

In addition to the strain they have put on his marriage, Dewley's mishaps have reportedly ruined his personal finances. Three small children, stacked in a teetering column and concealed beneath a full-length trench coat, sold the accountant nearly $6,500 worth of life insurance in November.

Making matters worse, Dewley was laid off from work late last week after mistakenly wrestling his boss's wife, a dignified woman in a large peacock-feather hat, to the ground.

"I heard they were going to have to sell their home and maybe move in with Sheila's parents," former coworker Robert Daverson said. "With everything that's happened, it's hard to even look at Michael these days. Especially when his pants fall down in front of large groups of people."

According to those closest to him, Dewley may have reached the end of his rope. He frequently breaks down at the sight of seltzer water and often experiences crippling nightmares in which he is chased by a giant bicycle horn. Friends are worried the unemployed family man may be on the verge of a complete mental collapse.

"Please make it stop," said Dewley, his legs slowly sinking in a patch of fresh cement. "I beg you, please, just make it all stop. I'll do anything—anything!"

As of press time, a strange shadow roughly the size and shape of a concert grand piano, was growing around Dewley's feet.

Coldest Ever

2009-01-16T09:51:00.002-05:00

I know I know, another post about the cold, but seriously, it is absurdly cold. The NWS says it's -7 with a -25 wind chill right now. Indianapolis Public Schools are canceled because of the cold. Many other schools were on a delay but really should have been called off. When your temperature increases from -12 to -10 during the 2 hours of delay, I am not sure how much good it does. Yesterday, it actually got COLDER during the delay (IPS was smart again and had no delay). One of Andy's students got frostbite yesterday, and today's worse. It is going to get "better," as it is supposed to get up to 7 today (as opposed to yesterday's 1).

All of this cold got me thinking (b/c really all I am thinking about is how cold it is), and it occurred to me that I have never been in weather this cold. I grew up in NC, and I can't remember a time where the high temperature was right around 0. I have lived in Indiana before, but it was never this cold. So, this is officially my coldest weather EVER!

I can't wait for tomorrow's high of 26!!!

Cold enough for ya?

2009-01-12T21:48:00.002-05:00

The temperatures this week are taking a nosedive. The low Thursday night is -8 F. On Friday, we may get up to 9 F.

I realize I live in Indiana, and that it is winter, but I really feel that the high temperature should get out of single digits, and I am quite disturbed by the National Weather Service's pictorial forecast. This image of "cold" is so distressing....a man struggling to keep upright against the bitter wind...as if I wasn't disturbed enough.

Poem of the Month

2009-01-06T21:28:00.002-05:00

Check it out! A poem by my Mom was featured by the North Carolina Poetry Society as the Poem of the Month for December.

What Next?

Woman
In the mirror,
Where did you come from? You
Seem so old, yet still you whisper
What next?

What was Morgan Freeman Thinking?

2009-01-04T19:07:00.001-05:00

This is an oldie (2002) but holds up well. This video is hilarious to this day. And it's hard to imagine what information Steve Azar has on Morgan Freeman that compelled him to do this video.

The embedding option on you tube has been "disabled by request" (harrumph!) so you'll have to follow the link.

Plus, check out this comment on youtube: "Great song...still love it to this day. Great video...how fantastic is Morgan Freeman. Great arms? How did I not notice those before, Steve?"

News Flash...Ramona likes the Beach!

2009-01-03T11:41:00.007-05:00

Part of our holiday trip to NC was spent in Wrightsville Beach (the site of our wedding!). It was Ramona's first trip to the ocean, and not surprisingly, she had a fantastic time. The weather was amazing (in the 60s and sunny), and Ramona crashed through the waves until we made her stop. She was a bit of a brat, refusing to fetch her new Christmas present of a water toy holding out for a tennis ball.

Into the waves

Back triumphant

Throw it again!!

Some sort of sea monster emerging from the water

Ramona in action

Merry Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T12:38:00.006-05:00

It's hard to believe Christmas Eve is here! Every year, without fail, I get this Better than Ezra song stuck in my head....which is definitely better than this bizarre version of Good King Wenceslas by Sufjan Stevens available here.

In celebration of Christmas Eve and Santa's imminent arrival, I thought I'd post some of my favorite Santa-themed wrecks from Cake Wrecks (and yes, I do check that site nearly every day).

Santa is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore

Santa is trying out a new look

Santa has had an accident (otherwise known as Suicide Santa)

Um....no clue what Santa is up to here...

The Gaudy Tree

2008-12-21T08:44:00.004-05:00

My parent's local paper (The Raleigh News and Observer) asked for submissions of unusual Christmas Trees this year for their Home section. A small fake, silvery tree known simply as The Gaudy Tree was my family's submission. Believe it or not, this tree was purchased in Italy in the 1950s and has been a part of Christmas in Willey* households for 52 years. Check out the feature here.

*my mom's maiden name (and my middle name)

In other news, the high temperature today is 8!! 8!! Right now, the wind chill is -15!

Truffle Cookies

2008-12-18T17:02:00.003-05:00

By popular demand, here is the recipe for Truffle Cookies, taken from Gourmet magazine in December 2000.

4 oz unsweetened chocolate
3/4 stick (6 TBSP) unsalted butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch processed)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (my mom leaves this out; I usually add some but not all 1 1/2 tsps)

Melt unsweetened chocolate, butter, and 1 cup chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave...that's how I always do it). Cool.

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt

Beat together sugar, eggs, and vanilla with a mixer until pale and frothy (about 2 minutes). Mix in melted chocolate mixture and then flour mixture at low speed until combined well. Stir in remaining cup of chocolate chips. Chill covered until firm for two hours. Preheat oven to 350.

Roll heaping teaspoons of dough into 1 inch balls with dampened hands and arrange 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake in batches in middle of oven until puffed and set, about 10 minutes. Cookies will be soft in center. Transfer to racks to cool.

That's it! Let me know if you have any questions.

A Pound and a Half of Butter

2008-12-13T20:30:00.002-05:00

Today, I translated 1.5 pounds of butter (that's 6 sticks) into a variety of Christmas cookies. Making and eating Christmas cookies is a major part of the holiday season for my family. We make dozens and dozens of cookies each year, and one of my favorite things is baking with my mom. We scoff at people who buy the sugar cookie rolls, and we are a completely cookie-mix-free family (the horror!).

This year, we are spending Christmas in Indiana (my first ever Christmas away from home!), so I can't make any cookies with my mom until after Christmas. But I can't wait that long, so I spent today baking. I made four types (plus an insane amount of Chex Mix---known as Nuts and Bolts in my family because we add Cheerios and Pretzels).

Meltaways
These are butter cookies with cream cheese frosting. I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like these cookies, and I've met several who are smitten with them, including Heather who made them for their Christmas party. These are a family recipe that my Grandma Alice got from a neighbor.

Truffle Cookies
These cookies contain three types of chocolate and only a 1/2 cup of flour (they would certainly be Ramona's favorite were she allowed to choose). They are a relatively new favorite but have become a staple. My mom, who is an amazing cook and baker, thinks these are hard to make because you have to let the dough sit in the fridge for 2 hours before baking them (impatience runs in our family).

Butter Crunch
Not technically a cookie as these are a toffee topped with chocolate. I always make some with nuts (I use pecans) and some without. Another family recipe. Every year, my mom, my brother, and I would make butter crunch that was far inferior to my Aunt Jackie's. Hers was always the right amount of crunchy, while ours was chewy enough to take your fillings out. Finally one year I asked her what the secret was. We had been following the recipe, cooking it until 'hard crack' stage at 285 degrees. She had a simple answer: "I cook it until it is the right color." Ever since, my butter crunch has come out perfectly (...except for the year that I wasn't patient enough to wait for the golden toffee color...).

Molasses Cookies
These are not a family recipe, but they have lots of ginger and cinnamon and taste quite Christmas-y, plus I love anything that has molasses in it. I still prefer my Grandma Ellen's Gingersnaps, but I made them for two reasons: 1) Andy really likes them, and 2) making cut-out cookies by yourself is decidedly un-fun (similar to Pancakes for One).

Our First Real Tree

2008-12-08T22:03:00.005-05:00

We decided to upgrade from our fairly lame fake tree to a real one this year. We snagged a 5 ft* Frasier Fir at our local nursery. It definitely feels more like Christmas is coming with our own real tree filling up our living room.

Sydney finds fake trees ever so boring.

An upgrade for 2008

I just couldn't pass up this ornament when we went to Target to buy a tree stand. I mean, c'mon, a hippo skiing! What's not to like? (Andy's reaction was one of horror asking if I was serious).

*The tree is taller than me, and I'm 5'8", so it's a very generous 5 ft.

Gay Marriage will Save the Economy!

2008-12-05T11:24:00.002-05:00

If you haven't seen "Prop 8 the Musical" yet, check it!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Check out Join the Impact or Human Rights Campaign if you think that everyone has the right to marry!!

Feast Week

2008-11-26T09:15:00.005-05:00

Well, it's almost Thanksgiving. Ramona heads to Camp Euphemism later today, Sydney prepares for some quiet time in the house, and Andy and I head to the airport. As we get ready to travel to NC for Thanksgiving, my thoughts turn to basketball and Maui. Both Carolina and Indiana are in the Maui Invitational this year (Carolina plays Notre Dame for the championship, while Indiana takes on Maui's own Chaminade for 7th place), and of course, last year, we spent Thanksgiving in Maui! Details of that trip can be found here, here, and here. I am very excited about traveling home in a few hours, but I must admit that part of me would rather be flying to Hawaii this evening.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I don't want to hear about anyone else eating salmon for Thanksgiving, so make sure to eat some turkey tomorrow!

C-bus House Donated to the IMA

2008-11-24T19:54:00.004-05:00

This isn't exactly breaking news, but I am pretty excited about it. The family of J. Irwin Miller donated their house in Columbus to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The house, designed by Eero Saarinen, will be restored and then opened to the public. For anyone who's not in the know, Columbus is known internationally for its architecture. Hope Zaharako's reopens in time for the opening!

Not Since 1964

2008-11-11T10:00:00.003-05:00

Everyone knows by now that Indiana has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964. And I am guessing everyone knows who that Democrat was. Most of you know that I have a minor interest in one Lyndon Baines Johnson, so it seemed like I would be negligent by not spending one post on this American president since I have an excuse to do so.

For those of you who didn't know me in college, conversations with me frequently went like this:
Unsuspecting Person: "Hi Elizabeth. How's it going?"
Me: "LBJ got screwed by the Vietnam War. He was meant to pass sweeping changes on the domestic side."
Unsuspecting Person: "Uh..." (backing away)

I wrote not one but two papers on LBJ in college (and remember now I was a science major). The first was called "A Legislator in a Guerrilla War: Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War" and the second was entitled "The Man vs. the Myth: How the Legacy of John F. Kennedy Affected the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson" (note that the actual file name for this paper is my great obsession.doc).

I am still completely proud of the fact that I managed to bring the Vietnam War into a presentation on mangroves in my Conservation Biology class (by the way, I am also fascinated by the Vietnam War and mangroves).

So, now you may be asking yourself...why was Elizabeth so interested in our 36th president? Many who studied that era would choose John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, or Martin Luther King Jr. I am not saying those three weren't important or interesting; they certainly were, but for me, the tragedy of LBJ's presidency is what draws me to study him.

He had many flaws and made many mistakes, the biggest of which was entangling us deeper in Vietnam. He badgered people into agreeing with him. His personality was...uh...challenging. Here's a quote I took from one of my papers. Joseph Califano, his special assistant for domestic affairs, stated that Johnson "could be altruistic and petty, caring and crude, generous and petulant, bluntly honest and calculatingly devious---all within the same few minutes." He picked up his beagle by its ears (strangely, he also named his beagles "Him and "Her").

On the other hand, he got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act passed. He started Medicare and Medicaid. He appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court. He passed legislation to fund public schools. His interests and his strengths were on the domestic side, but his legacy will always be the Vietnam War. Surrounded by Kennedy's advisors (he kepts most including McNamara well into his presidency), he led America further and further into a war we could not win and shouldn't have been fighting (my opinion there). The truth was he never wanted to go, but he felt like he had to. That does not take away his responsibilty, but it further illuminates the tragedy of Vietnam.

Blankets Are for Losers

2008-11-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

We saw this ad on MSNBC the day after the election, presumably when the cost of an ad on that channel went way down. These things pretty much rule.

Eat Your Heart Out John King

2008-11-07T20:09:00.003-05:00

John King may have had a magic map, but I am very proud of the "interactive" map from our election night party! (Thanks to Alma for forcing me to draw this map during my recent trip to Seattle). I made the decision to use smiley faces and frowny faces in lieu of the more traditional red state/blue state designations. Check out those smiley faces in Indiana and North Carolina!!

By the way, it looks like the final tally will be 365-173. If you haven't seen this yet, check out Obama's new website. He's not messing around! I am still fired up!

Yes We Did!

2008-11-05T16:50:00.002-05:00

I am happy today. I am proud of my country, and I am excited for the future.

I am also ecstatic that Indiana went for Obama! And that NC is super close and hopefully will swing that way too (at the very least, NC got rid of dead weight, barely North Carolinean Elizabeth Dole and brought in a new democratic governor).

I could probably ramble for hours, but I'll just say it's a good day to be a Democratic Hoosier Tar Heel!

Election Day

2008-11-04T06:37:00.002-05:00

Wow, I can't believe we made it. The polls are open in Indiana, and we are heading down to Greensburg to Get Out The Vote in a few minutes. I am still so nervous.

We're going to have so much free time when the election is over...here's hoping we are happy enough with the results to enjoy it!

VOTE!

The big 1-0!

2008-10-31T08:00:00.005-04:00

Wow, Andy and I met 10 years ago today. It's pretty hard to believe it's been that long. Here's a picture of us from around that time (actually about a year after we met).

Here's a brief time line of our relationship....

October 31st, 1998: We meet at a Halloween party in the Villas, the classiest apartment complex in Bloomington. Andy's "dressed up like the Cure" which means he has painted his fingernails black. I'm not in costume...and am the DD for my group. After talking to Courtney and John (who should have won a costume contest), Andy is dragged over to meet me...we talk for a long time about music and find out we are both giant fans of Ben Folds Five and Wilco and both hate Dave Matthews.
November 1998: We go out a couple of times...then I freak out...no communication for months.
April 1999: Realizing the school year is ending and his phone number is going to change, I call Andy. We go out a couple more times...then it's summer, and I head home to NC.
Summer 1999: We communicate via email and mix tapes.
August 1999: Back in Bloomington, we start dating for real.
August 2000: We break up...perhaps this could be described as me freaking out again.
August 2001: I move to Portland...
January 2002: 2,313 miles can't keep us apart!
August 2002: I move back across the country, and we move in together in Columbus, Indiana. At this point, we also "rescue" Sydney from my parents.
August 2003: Grad school time: we move to Seattle together.
June 2006: We get engaged and Ramona.
August 2007: After 5 years of 'living in sin', we make it legal and get married.
February 2008: We move to Indianapolis and buy a house. And here we are.

We Vote We Count!

2008-10-26T21:19:00.003-04:00

Andy and I voted today! We got to the satellite polling location about 15 minutes after it opened, and there were over a hundred people in line! The line moved pretty quickly, as the Marion County folks were well organized, and all in all, it took us about an hour to vote. According to this site, more than 27,000 people have voted early in person in Marion County! [also, check out NC---more than 1 million people have voted early so far!]

Filling in that circle for Obama felt really good.

Voter Fraud

2008-10-26T09:30:00.004-04:00

There's been a lot of talk about voter fraud lately. Republicans have been attacking ACORN for its problems with voter registration. It's true that some of their workers registered fake people, but it's also true that ACORN notified elections boards of these fake registrations. Plus, it seems unlikely that Jimmy Johns is going to show up to vote in Lake County. Democrats need to be more worried about states kicking new voters off the rolls, as is chronicled in this Rolling Stone article.

I started thinking about my ability to vote because my dad sent me an email telling me that I'd been getting robocalls at their house (against Kay Hagen who's running against Elizabeth Dole). I haven't voted in North Carolina since 2001 and have voted in THREE other states since then. So, I went to the NC Elections Board website and checked....and yup, I am still registered to vote there. I checked Oregon and Washington too, and Oregon has kicked me off, but Washington hasn't (Andy's still registered there too). Perhaps these republicans that are so worried about voter fraud should put more effort into states updating their voter rolls. (and no, tempting as it is, I am not going to try to vote in three states).

In other news, the Indy Star didn't endorse either candidate in the presidential election. The editorial board was "evenly split." Lame.

Early Voting in Indiana

2008-10-24T10:45:00.005-04:00

First of all, we went to the Obama rally at the American Legion Mall in downtown Indianapolis yesterday. It was fantastic. The IndyStar reports 35,000 people being there, and I can believe that. It was noticeably more well attended than the rally we attended at the same venue before the primary. There is an FFA convention in town this week, so it was fun to see all of the future farmers with their navy jackets declaring what state they are from. I saw two form Puerto Rico!

Included to the right is a picture from the event that Heather posted on their blog taken from here. We actually are in the picture; Elizabeth went to the trouble of circling us. She's rubbing her eye and I'm wearing shades and my white Obama hat.

After the rally I was fired up enough that I decided to go vote. Today is the first day you can vote at the satellite voting locations, so I went to the J. Everett Light Career Center.

The parking lot was packed and the line was long, stretching out the building and partway down the sidewalk. It wasn't quite as long as as some of them you see on the news, but it was encouraging none-the-less. I'd say that about 20% of the people there were African-American. The two kids in front of me were in high school, had been at the Obama rally, and were going to the Gwar show later that evening. I'm also pretty sure I saw a middle-aged lesbian couple. I feel safe in jumping to the conclusion that these were all likely Obama voters.

Now for the bad news: none of these people actually got to vote, at least not while I was there. They were having a computer problem. They were (paraphrasing here) unable to upload to downtown. Someone was coming to fix it, but it might be two hours before they were able to vote anybody. I had to pick up Paul at the airport, so I couldn't hang around that long.

But I did wait a little longer because there were three or four local politicians there greasing palms and making their pitch to voters as they waited in line (See Campo in the picture to the right). The first one I talked to was Michael W. Rodman, Democrat for Treasurer. He seemed pretty cool, goofy, just trying to seem like a nice guy while wearing an Obama button. He did not feel it neccessary to point out (as previously noted here) that he has a Graduate Degree in business vs. his opponent who has an undergrad theology degree.

Then there was Gabrielle Campo, who I didn't really want to talk to. She's the Republican that was slammed onto the ticket after Jon Elrod chickened out in his race agains Andre Carson. I will say this for Campo; she's much hotter than Sarah Palin. She also seems significantly more liberal than Palin, but not enough so that I (or the majority of the 7th district) would take her over Carson.

Finally, there was Steve Keltner. He's running for Indiana Senater. The incumbant repbulican is being challenged by a democrat who is in the hospital with a serious illness. So Keltner's pitch seemed to be, 'I'm not a Reblublican, and I'm not almost dead. Why not vote for me?' He was very personable and convincing with his pitch. The problem is that since I didn't vote, I came home and researched him a little. The "issues" section of his website seemed to not quite say anything substantial about anything I cared about. I'll have to do some more digging before I figure out if I'm going to float him my vote. He seems to be trying to obscure the fact that he's a Libertarian.

So that was my Politico Thursday...I'll have to try to vote early again sometime soon, hopefully with more success.

When I say "Hip Hop", you say "Harry"

2008-10-22T18:45:00.002-04:00

Time for a brief break from the election. Believe it or not, I've been thinking about blogging about this topic for some time now. It was The Soup that introduced me to Hip Hop Harry, which is like Barney except you know hip hop and apparently Australian.

Here's his water propaganda song:

I can't resist adding something a little election related...check this out.

Good News for Hoosiers Who Like Obama!

2008-10-21T23:04:00.003-04:00

Obama's coming back to Indianapolis! I am super excited since I was out in Seattle for his last rally a couple weeks ago.

Plus, a new poll came out today showing Obama up a couple points in Indiana and up nationally. There are so many polls out---it's hard to know if this means anything, but this article on salon.com is promising.

Don't get me wrong---I am still paranoid, anxious, worried, nervous, and frustrated but also excited and hopeful.

A Quick Tip for NC Voters

2008-10-20T22:55:00.001-04:00

Powell Endorses Obama!

2008-10-19T12:15:00.006-04:00

On Meet the Press this morning, Colin Powell endorsed Obama! Here's why it's important. During the interview, he talked about how this latest economic crisis was a final test for the two candidates, and said "Obama displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge." All in all, this interview was very inspiring, and it made me very hopeful. I feel that Colin Powell got screwed over by the Bush administration (though he certainly made some mistakes and is not without blame for his role in the Iraq war).

Here's a short clip of the interview where the endorsement comes (I highly recommend you seek the whole thing out---it's worth watching in its entirety).

Also, it may be the least surprising endorsement for Obama, but The Stranger's take is amusing and worth reading anyway.

Amazing Speech

2008-10-18T10:39:00.005-04:00

There's been a lot of talk about the impact of race in this election. My dad passed along this speech by the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka, which I thought it was pretty amazing. He also brings up a point that's been making me crazy this election. Obama's not a Muslim---he is a Christian. But so what if he were? There is nothing wrong with being Muslin or Arab, damnit!

***I'll try to post something non-election related soon!***