Life in Photo: A Journal

General Life Update

2011-08-30T14:09:00.003-06:00

We're suing our former tenants in Nashville because they jacked up our house and ran off with a bunch of our appliances. It's stressful.

We went to Kaua'i in Hawaii for a week with my family. It was gorgeous. We went on a boat cruise and saw a ton of dolphins (photo above). I almost threw up on the boat and I'm pretty sure my face was green for the last hour or so of the trip. Still, it was worth it.

I'm having surgery on Thursday to FINALLY repair my fistula. It's happening at Hopkins. I will never go to GBMC again as long as I live. I hope this will be the end of this entire medical ordeal and that I can finally move on with my life.

I've been listening to the latest Bon Iver album on repeat for pretty much the past week. It makes me feel contemplative and ready for Fall.

We celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary last week. We went to Woodberry Kitchen and had an amazing meal, as always.

I don't eat gluten anymore. In fact, I don't eat grains or legumes, except on rare occasions. It's made my life a lot better. I no longer have any GI issues and I have a lot more energy. My mood is generally better as well.

Hurricane Irene came and went and didn't cause us any annoyance other than boredom at being stuck in the house all weekend long. The lights flickered a few times and our basement got damp, but we've certainly experienced worse during powerful thunderstorms in the past.

Yup, that's about it.

The Sweetest

2011-07-18T19:37:00.006-06:00

Steph's sister, Danika, just made my day by posting this photo on her Tumblr blog and writing,

"For Adina and Steph (get ready for sappy comment), my two favorite little owls and the best couple in existence."

And then she tagged the post "#flawless human beings #okay no one's really flawless #but they are the closest you'll find "

Not going to link to her page in order to respect the privacy of her blog, but c'mon, how sweet is that?! Awesome sister is awesome.

It's true, my relationship with Steph is pretty stellar and we are perfectly matched. Relationships are a great deal of effort and we work hard on ours. Even with daily life drama and extra crap that gets thrown in the mix, I reflect daily on how lucky we are to have each other and to have created the relationship that we share.

Oh, so goopy. So much ooey gooey goop.

I'd like to say that I'm going to post on this blog regularly again, but it's probably not going to happen, so as the great Mike Bernard would say, "Oh well, no point". Mike is full of great sayings. I'll share one. His full review of Cafe Hon is, "I've crapped better salads than that". C'mon, how can you not love him? It's impossible. I dare you to try.

If you would like a more regular glimpse into my life, I would suggest viewing my photo feed on Instagram.

Go here: http://statigr.am/deaners82 and click on "My Photos". You'll be able to see my entire photo feed.

Random thoughts and thanks

2011-05-20T14:39:00.010-06:00

Sometimes I hear strange noises coming from the depths of the backyard at night. The sound is blood-curdling. I always assumed that it was the sound of an animal being attacked. I try to put those gruesome thoughts from my mind and just fall back asleep. But today, via the strange power of the interwebs, I discovered that the sound is actually that of a barking fox. Check it out-- it's a terrifying sound to hear when you're tucked into your bed at night.

If you've been following my Flickr photos lately, you've perhaps noticed that most of the photos I've taken lately have been with my iPhone. I've become addicted to Instagram, a photo editing and sharing app for the iPhone. I love that I can connect with people all over the world and share photos and editing techniques with them. It's crazy. This morning I was at the dining room table eating my melon, and someone in Japan, whose photos I really admire, complimented my photos. It's nice to know that even though I am stuck at home recovering from surgery, I still have a way to be creative, and to share and interact with people who have similar interests. The photo for this post is of my typical morning, which always involves cold-pressed iced coffee. I took this photo on my phone using the Camera+ camera, and edited it using the MagicHour app.

Steph went back to work today, so I've been home by myself this afternoon. I've been feeling anxious about being alone today. My options are limited as far as what I'm able to do. I sleep a lot. I wander around the house and the yard and take photos with my iPhone. I edit photos in bed. I flip through magazines halfheartedly. Sometimes I watch stuff on Hulu, but sadly even paying attention to something for 30 minutes is a stretch at this point. Having Steph here for the week was nice because I always had someone to talk to and I never felt lonely or even that depressed. Now it's just me and my thoughts and it's difficult not to wander down the path of feeling sorry for myself. When she was here, it felt kind of like a nice staycation where I just happened to take sitz baths three times a day and pop dilaudid. I almost forgot about the huge crater of an open wound on my butt.

On the plus side, I've been feeling so much love. I have incredible friends and family. My mom had her own medical scare this week and was hospitalized for a few days, so she was unable to come out to Baltimore to help care for me, but we have been talking every day on the phone and it's been really nice. Steph, of course, has taken phenomenal care of me. I received lovely and truly thoughtful gifts from Andrew, Chad, Kathy, Rich, Erin, Matt, and Anabel. My grandmother has been visiting and bringing us dinners. Jess and Mike have visited and brought me mocha coconut frappuccinos. Every time I would start to feel down, the phone would ring, a gift would show up at my door, or I'd receive a new sweet e-mail from someone in my inbox. It makes such a difference and I am forever grateful to have these incredible, generous, and loving people in my life.

A cute animal! And then I go into detail about my medical issues...

2011-05-12T11:27:00.001-06:00

Here we have a photo I took of an adorable sheep at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival over the weekend.

HA! Now that I've sucked you in with a cute animal picture, I can reveal my diabolical plan, which is to gripe about my medical problems and upcoming surgery.

Yes, I am having surgery tomorrow morning. Dear reader, as you may recall, I was hospitalized for a week in January with a MRSA infection. Said insidious infection decided to form a terrifically painful abscess on my left buttock. After my release from the hospital, I cared for my surgical wound as directed by my colorectal surgeon. It did slowly heal, but I noticed that instead of staying closed, it would open again about once a week. We developed a routine. Every week, it would close. All would be well for about a glorious day or two. Then I would start sweating through my pajamas at night. I would get fevers throughout the day. I had absolutely no energy. A searing pain would travel across my left buttock. And then, the abscess would pop open and we would start the dance all over again. I've been trapped in this cycle since about March.

After determining that this was not par for the course with an abscess, I visited my surgeon again. He informed me that the abscess had either 1) always been a fistula, or 2) healed incorrectly and become a fistula. Surgery would be necessary. Which brings us to today, the day before my surgery.

I'm a curious person. I like to know what's going to happen to me. This means that I've done research on the surgery and sadly, I'm pretty clear as to what it involves. Basically, I am going to have a huge, gaping open wound on my ass for about 4-8 weeks, depending on the size and depth of the fistula. If you want to know what a fistulotomy involves, and what the open wound looks like after surgery, please refer to this photo. It is graphic. Don't say I didn't warn you. This is actually one of the smaller ones I've seen. The surgeon lays open the fistula, clears out the infected gook, and then you go on your way with an open wound that needs to heal from the inside out. In the case of this photo, a seton (plastic tube) was inserted to keep the wound from closing over again. I may or may not need that. No way to tell until they go spelunking in my butt cheek and see what the hell is going on in there.

I've never had surgery before. Sure, the surgeon cut into my abscess to drain it, but that was just under a local anesthetic. For this procedure, I will be totally under. That's a difficult concept for me to grasp; I don't like to feel out of control. I hate the idea of someone cutting into me while I'm just passed out on a steel table. I'll have no idea what happened until I wake up and someone decides to inform me. The loss of control is a big personal issue for me. Also, I've seen Steph have surgery, and she does not react well to anesthesia. I'm afraid that I could experience a similar reaction, as I generally do not respond well to drugs and tend to be allergic to almost everything.

Truly though, the most daunting aspect of this entire ordeal is the recovery. It's supposed to be slow and painful. I have a high pain tolerance, but when I'm rendered immobile I become really whiny and cranky, probably more so than the average person. I expect to be feeling sorry for myself a lot and crying. In fact, and to those who know me, this should indicate the seriousness of my personal crisis, I even asked my mother to come and visit and help while I am recovering. I generally need to get to a pretty sorry point before I ask for help with anything. It's one of my worst qualities. I love my mother, but I really did not want to bother her and ask her to come out from Arizona to help care for me (not to mention the very real possibility that she is going to have to do wound care on my butt, which is taking our relationship back about 28 years). When my Dad was sick, one of the worst parts for me, as a caregiver, was seeing how much it shamed him to need the kind of physical care that he did. I didn't mind doing those kinds of things for him, but seeing him crying and ashamed to be needing help in that way, it broke my heart. I don't want to know that I'm making the people I love feel that way. It was difficult for me to admit that I was going to need help. It helped to think that not only would she be helping me, but Steph as well. I really don't want Steph to be any more overwhelmed than she absolutely needs to be.

I considered not even doing the surgery (this thought was brief, don't worry), but then I realized that having fevers every week and not being able to go out and live my life the way I want to is not a long term solution. And make no mistake, my quality of life has taken a dive. I've tired all the time. We had to cancel plans to go up to Philadelphia a few weeks ago because I knew I couldn't sit two plus hours in the car. Plus, the longer I wait, the greater the possibility that the size of the fistula will increase. And the longer my immune system is compromised, the greater the chance that I'll pick up some other nasty infection. Thankfully, once the surgery is over and done with, there is a 95% chance that I will be completely healed and there won't be a recurrence.

I know I've neglected my blog. I'd say I'm going to be better, but it's doubtful that I'll be out taking pictures in the next few weeks. Maybe if I'm up to it, I'll just write some posts without photos. I'd like to apologize in advance if I am whiny and annoying.

I look forward to closing this chapter of my life and getting back to camping, kayaking, photography, and canning.

Oh yes, in some of the best news ever, Jess and Mike got engaged on Sunday. They've already asked me to photograph the wedding, and of course I said yes. Jess is also being so sweet to me and has asked me to help her plan the wedding. She's making it seem like she wants the help, but I think it's really just a ploy to give me something to do while I'm laid up in bed after surgery.

Photo Extravaganza

2011-04-15T20:23:00.003-06:00

Just an FYI that all my photos can be viewed on Flickr, until I find the time, motivation, and skill to develop a personal photography website.

Cherry blossoms are one of my favorite flowering trees. When they bloom, it truly feels like spring has arrived. We shared a lovely picnic at Sherwood Gardens today with Jess and Mike.

I developed a fever this evening, but the morning and afternoon were just about perfect.

Lemon Drop Martinis for Game Night

2011-04-04T12:38:00.006-06:00

Andrew and Chad hosted a game night over the weekend. We all played Bananagrams and got our asses handed to us by Erin (apparently she spends a lot of her free time playing Words With Friends). Andrew made Mac & Cheese with Buffalo Chicken, though he tweaked the recipe a bit-- he just used grilled chicken instead of breading the frying the chicken, and I had the idea to make a crushed Ritz Cracker topping (mixed with about 3 tablespoons of the hot sauce/butter sauce). Kathy brought over Ina Garten's Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette. Instead of arugula, she used spinach. This is one of my favorite salads. Kathy served it for Thanksgiving as well. For dessert, Andrew made a decadent Nutella Cheesecake.

I contributed by making Lemon Drop Martinis.

I found a recipe that looked about right online and then starting messing with things until I got a result I liked. Here is my final concoction:

- 1 1/2 oz of lemon flavored vodka (we used Hangar One Buddha's Hand)
- 1/2 oz of Cointreau
- 1 tsp. of simple syrup
- 1/2 oz. of fresh squeezed lemon juice
- sugar for the rim of the martini glass

To rim your martini glass, use a wedge of lemon and run it over the rim of the glass. Then roll the edge of the glass in a small plate of sugar until you get the desired amount of sugar stuck to the glass.

Fill a martini shaker with ice. Add ingredients. Shake vigorously for about 15 seconds. Pour and serve.

Extra points if you place the glass is the freezer for a few minutes before making the drink.

Many thanks to Andrew and Chad for hosting a great game night and for having us as their guests for the weekend.

Oh yeah, and Anabel likes to eat paper.

It's over 70 degrees today and it's Opening Day for baseball. I don't really care about Opening Day because the Orioles have sucked for many years now and generally I think baseball is kind of boring, but it does seem like a pleasant day for a game. I think we'll grill tonight and eat outside on the deck.

You & Me & Spring

2011-03-25T14:47:00.001-06:00

No matter where we go, it somehow always seems we're the ones who are having the most fun. I love that about us.

Blogging confession...

2011-03-22T14:41:00.004-06:00

I confess that I haven't really been blogging so much on this blog because it's a lot easier to "blog" on Tumblr. Tumblr is like the Twitter of blogs. Most posts are very short and many have no writing at all, just photos of gifs. It's sort of a stream of consciousness kind of blogging. Mostly I just post silly TV related stuff and pictures of cats and goats. That's what I'm into people and you need to just deal with it.

Anyway, here's a link to my Tumblr blog .

Steph ran another race this weekend, the Winter Pickle. It was a trail race at Ridley Creek State Park in PA. She beat her time goal and I'm super proud of her, of course. Here's a photo I took of the trees in the park while I was waiting for her to run to the finish line.

Blog neglect is a shameful crime

2011-03-21T14:28:00.005-06:00

Crap, I've been neglecting my blog again. It's been almost a month since I posted. Well, to be fair, we have been very busy.

For example, we went to Scottsdale to visit my parents, brother, and my sister and her family. I got to meet my baby nephew, Kolby (that reminds me, I really need to mail out his birthday present), we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens (GORGEOUS), and visited the amazing Heard museum. It was hard to leave the sun and return home to 30 degrees muddiness. I can see why the rest of my family defected to Sun Valley.

Ever wondered what the inside of a cactus looks like? Well, now you know. Not what I was expecting, for sure...

I guess I thought it would be wet, like the interior of a succulent.

It was great to spend time with my family, see a different part of the country, visit new places, eat lots of yummy food, and relax a bit.

Longwood Gardens Orchid Extravaganza

2011-02-24T15:51:00.003-06:00

After our lovely brunch at Terrain, we all drove over to Longwood Gardens to see the "Orchid Extravaganza". It was a blustery day, so we didn't explore much of the grounds. The gardens in the conservatory were so beautiful! I had not been to Longwood since I was a teenager, so I had mostly forgotten what it was like. The banana trees and the succulents were my favorites. I'd love to return in the spring when it's warmer and the flowering trees are blooming.

I took many photos, all of which can be seen on my Flickr page...

Chad's birthday brunch at Terrain

2011-02-23T17:02:00.004-06:00

We went to Terrain over the weekend to have brunch at the cafe in honor of Chad's birthday. We were quite a crowd-- Chad, Andrew, Kathy, Rich, Erin, Matt, and baby Anabel were all in attendance. Our gifts for Chad have not yet arrived in the mail, but he did get some Amazon.com gift certificates, some fibers related books, an awesome cat t-shirt, and a head scratcher from China that looks like a whisk.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAD!!!

Get in the car, Diane! (our blooming Witch Hazel)

2011-02-15T16:25:00.005-06:00

Last winter, our Dogwood tree in the front yard (unnamed) died a senseless death. The Snowpocalypse killed him.

I learned about Witch Hazel when Andrew and Chad took me to the Morris Arboretum one winter. They are one of the few trees that bloom in the winter. Their blooms are a welcome sight, signaling the end of winter and offering blooms during an otherwise dreary time of year. Witch hazel is used a lot for skin care, as the leaves and bark are astringent, but I wanted one purely for ornamental purposes.

Over the Fall, we headed over to our favorite Baltimore nursery, Valley View Farms, to pick out a Witch Hazel. We chose the last of a lovely red variety and named her Diane. I don't know why we chose that name or even which one of us called her Diane first. All I know is that we spent a good amount of time giggling with each other and screaming "Get in the cart, Diane!", and "Get in the car, Diane!". What can I say; we are easily amused and we like to spice up everyday household errands. Sometimes it's fun to verbally abuse your plants.

I was concerned that the shock of being transplanted would cause Diane to not bloom this year, so I've been following her progress with much anxiety. I was quite pleased to see the beginnings of blooms unfurling yesterday, and today some of the buds have completely opened. SO EXCITING!

In other news, I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm crazy. I was outside at 5:15pm (prime dog-walking time in our neighborhood, so a LOT of people saw me), wearing pajama pants and a sweatshirt with the hood up over my head, sitting on the ground and taking macro photos of this tree in my front yard. I got a few strange looks. Diane understands me though and that's all that matters.

Fret not, I have not forgotten my tales of the hospital blog post. I promise it is forthcoming. I've started writing it, but it's just so involved and my energy level is still not anywhere close to 100%. 5 rounds of antibiotics will wear a person out.

(Click on photos to enlarge the image)

Home from the hospital, a quickie

2011-02-03T09:01:00.003-06:00

Greetings! I spent five nights and six days in the hospital last week, which was scary and humbling. I am now recovering at home, and once I get enough energy, I'll do an in depth blog about my hospital experience. But for now, I just wanted to check in and make a quick list of a few things I learned about myself while in the hospital:

1) I have a very high pain tolerance, even higher than I thought.
2) I am allergic to EVERYTHING. If you give me a drug, the chances that I'll have an allergic reaction to it or that I'll experience one of the rare side effects of that drug are very high.
3) I have amazing friends. They're even more amazing than I thought, and I already felt pretty lucky to have them.
4) If a surgeon offers to put you under to do surgery, you should take that opportunity instead of being afraid of anesthesia and insisting that they just use lidocaine and drain your abscess at the bedside.
5) Steph is a saint. She never left my side and for five nights she slept in a chair in my hospital room. She watched everyone and everything like a hawk and advocated for me when I was unable to do so for myself.
6) I have small veins that like to blow, thus necessitating a billion IVs and eventually a PICC line.

Photo Steph took of my IV drip in my hospital room, taken with my iPhone.

On Challah, fun with friends and cameras, and being Jewish

2011-01-24T12:36:00.003-06:00

I present to you these completely unedited photos, interwebs, because sometimes I think it's important to see how things look straight out of the camera. I took these with my point and shoot camera, a Canon S90. Andrew and Chad came to visit this weekend, and we all had a great discussion about how many cameras one should have. Steph doesn't understand why I NEED multiple cameras and lenses. Andrew and Chad understand that it's necessary to have at least one point and shoot, at least one DSLR, and a variety of different lenses for different shooting situations. And this is why we are friends.

Having Andrew and Chad here was wonderful. It made me so happy to be with them. Last week was a particularly difficult one, and it felt good to relax, eat, and laugh a lot. I made a challah to have with our roast chicken on Friday night, and it turned out great. I used my mom's recipe, which was very easy to follow. As I was kneading my dough, I felt very connected to my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother, all expert challah makers in their own right.

I'm reading a book right now called Living A Jewish Life, because I feel very disconnected from my Judaism and I want to think about ways in which I can incorporate Jewish customs and rituals into my daily life. I watched Shoah, a 9 hour documentary about the Holocaust, over MLK weekend and it got me thinking about how important it is, on both a personal and historical level, to carry on Jewish living and traditions. Most of the people interviewed in Shoah have already passed away and soon the last living Holocaust survivors will be gone as well-- a frightening thought. I think about how important Judaism was to those in the Holocaust and now, only 2-3 generations later, for most Jews who are not Orthodox, Jewish living is not a priority or even something that we think about. So yeah, connecting with my religion and heritage is something that I am exploring right now.

The other photos are of flowers Steph got for me as an early birthday present and to cheer me up. I am especially enamored with the white flowers pictured. I'm not sure what they are, but they are very unique and beautiful.

Wow, this post is all over the place. Oh well, my blog-- I do what I want!

Reality Check

2011-01-13T12:46:00.006-06:00

I've been taking and editing a lot of photos with my iPhone lately because I don't have a decent camera bag and so it's annoying to lug around my DSLR. I am hoping to get this bag, the delicious navy striped one, for my birthday. There are so many great iPhone camera and editing apps out there, but I find that I usually stick with Camera+.

Here are some recent iPhone photos. The cocktail photo is an Old-Fashioned I had at Woodberry Kitchen last week. It was supposed to be made with Rye, but I requested Woodford Reserve instead because I'm on a total bourbon kick right now. For the arrow sign, I was playing around with depth of field. I took that one at Red Tree in Hampden. A photo of Louis napping was, of course, necessary to include. He's so cute it's unbearable.

Remember yesterday when I said my plants were living but not thriving? Yeah, well I kind of feel that's an accurate description of me right now too. I think I, along with many other people from what I can tell, am experiencing some sort of post-Holiday winter slump. It feels like Spring is so far away. I want to spend more time outside, but the wind and cold bite at my face. I constantly daydream about camping and kayaking. I have a lot of work to do, but I am having trouble finding the motivation to do it. I need to work on building a site for my photography, but I feel completely overwhelmed by the task. Jess lent me a book months ago and I haven't even read the first page. I haven't been sleeping well.

But I also feel guilty about feeling crappy. I have a good life, I can't control the seasons, so I should just muddle through. Apparently children get shot outside of grocery stores now, so part of me feels like I have no right to complain . Of course, I know that's silly. Life is about balance and everyone has positive and negative thoughts. Not every day, week, or season is going to be fabulous.

I just want to put this out there into the web world: I read a lot of blogs, and no one wants to be negative, and so it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone is living the good life but you. These people are going places! They have nice things! Everything they cook is perfection! I know that my blog can seem that way too sometimes. Well, right now I feel pretty shitty and last night I had a major poached egg fail while making dinner. This morning I woke up to cat vomit on the stairs. That's day-to-day reality. People aren't looking for reality. That's why we watch TV, read books, and surf the web incessantly. We're looking for something to aspire to, to take us out of what we feel is the monotony of our lives. Days and weeks pass and sometimes nothing exciting happens. We all want to put our best foot forward, and cat vomit is no one's best foot.

I am a happy person; I am a positive person. I look at things carefully and often and I usually find a lot of joy in them. I think that's why I love photography so much. I enjoy recording the world as I see it. There is a negative, darker side to that aspect of myself though. It means that I am constantly cleaning because I see every little speck of dust. Sometimes I get a sort of stimulus overload and need to spend an entire day doing nothing because I've overwhelmed myself by looking at and thinking about my personal environment so much.

I guess sometimes in order to see the good in the world that you want to see, you need to step back, close your eyes, and take a nap from it all, give your eyes and brain a break. I think animals that hibernate in the winter have the right idea.

The one where I get a new winter hat

2011-01-12T15:04:00.004-06:00

We got our first real snowfall last night, so I thought I'd post an appropriately winter-themed photo.

Steph knit me this hat as a Christmas present. It has owls on it! She used this pattern, free on Ravelry. The yarn came from our trip to Boston last year for my birthday, I believe from Newbury Yarns.

Let's see, what else...

1) Check out Chad's blog, full of his iPhone photography. Inspiring stuff.

2) I hate snow and I'm starting to hate winter too. You can't really camp in the winter and that makes me sad. My skin is dry and it gets dark too early. Snow is not fun as an adult. It equals mess and work. It's pretty when it's falling, but then it becomes ugly and needs to be removed. Those are my complaints of the day.

3) On the positive side, I received a TON of cookbooks for Christmas, both from my mom and Steph's mom, and I am super excited to start trying out new recipes. My goal is to cook at least 2 new recipes a month.

4) I want this, like BAAAAD.

5) I think I want to start a Tumblr page, because all the cool kids are doing it. It would mostly be an outlet for me to post photos of cats and goats. You may think that's sad, but I think it's AWESOME and you can't convince me otherwise.

6) I've given some serious thought to my love for owls, and I think the root of it is The Labyrinth. I loves me some David Bowie in that movie. As a child, I rented The Labyrinth on a weekly basis. Remember when you had to actually GO to the VIDEO STORE to rent movies? And you HAD to return them within 2-3 days?! CRAZY TIMES!

7) I have over 600 photos to look through and edit, so thus ends this blog post.

First visit to Terrain at Styer's in 2011

2011-01-11T20:00:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year!

My goal for this blog in 2011 is to continue posting on a regular basis and to switch over to Wordpress so I'll have more artistic control over the layout of the site.

Steph's sister came to visit us for a week and was with us on New Year's Eve. I made paella, Jess and Mike came over, and we ate a lot of food and all played Wii karaoke. Danika left to go back to the Cape last Friday and the house is quiet now without her. I miss her, but I enjoy having my study back. We spent the weekend putting away our holiday decorations and cleaning.

I haven't had any coffee in two days and my brain feels all fuzzy. Argh...

While Danika was visiting, we took her to Terrain at Styer's. I know I post about Terrain every few months or so, but it's just such a beautiful and special place. I love visiting at least once each season. I always leave wanting to fill our house with plants, but then I remember that the cats destroy every plant we bring into the house. I am currently working on keeping a few ferns and a hibiscus alive(brought in from the porch, where they lived during the summer), and am having mediocre results. They are living, but not thriving. The cats have only knocked them over twice, so I suppose that's a plus.

A few photos from our day trip to Terrain. Even in winter, lots of plants-- Amaryllis, Paperwhites, and terrariums filled with gorgeous baby Begonias and African Violets.

Pear Dutch Baby Pancake

2011-01-09T13:13:00.003-06:00

We had this for breakfast on Christmas morning. I like to make it for special occasion breakfasts because it's Steph's favorite. It is perfect for 2-4 people. Any more than that and you'll need to start using multiple pans, which is a total pain. Here is the recipe I use, which I adapted from Martha Stewart.

Pear Dutch Baby (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Serves 2-4

* 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 Bosc pear, peeled and cut into thin slices
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (or cinnamon, in a pinch)
* 3 large eggs
* 3/4 cup milk
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet (or oven-safe pan) over high heat. Add butter. When melted, add pear slices. Cook until softened and lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in cardamom, and remove skillet from heat.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients, except confectioners’ sugar, until smooth. Pour over pear mixture. Bake until puffed and brown, about 20 minutes. Slide pancake onto a serving platter. Serve immediately, cut into wedges, with confectioners’ sugar sifted over the top.

The pancake sort of deflates the longer it's out of the oven (this photo was taken moments after I took the pan out of the oven). Don't be concerned-- that's totally normal. Experiment with different fruits and spices!

Merry Christmas, from us

2010-12-26T17:02:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone out on ye olde interwebs had a lovely Christmas weekend. It looks like ours may be extended, as it is currently snowing. We'll have to wait and see...

We spent the weekend cooking, napping, cuddling with the cats, visiting with friends, and reading.

Happy Holidays!

XoXo,
Adina, Steph, and the kitties

Trip to The Filling Station & Misty Valley Farm Stand

2010-12-20T10:47:00.002-06:00

A mere 20 minute drive from our house, there is a magical little corner of Maryland, located at the intersection of Falls & Shawan Roads. Here you will find The Filling Station, an old gas station turned into a pocket-sized coffee shop, and Misty Valley Farm Stand. In the spring and summer, Misty Valley sells all sorts of local produce. For Fall they have a variety of gourds, apples, and cider. The winter is especially magical though because they sell the absolute best Christmas trees. They have a huge selection of trees, wreaths, and garlands.

Jess and Mike asked me to shoot their Christmas card portrait, so we all braved the cold, including little dog Charlie, and set out to purchase some swags, wreaths, and garlands, take some pictures, and get some delicious hot coffee (I am partial to the Mexican Hot Chocolate with 2 shots of espresso added).

It was an especially cold and blustery day, but I was very pleased with the end result of the photos.

Surgery update (& some cat photos)

2010-12-15T12:44:00.002-06:00

Steph had surgery yesterday to remove the cyst on her eyebrow. It turned out to be a bigger deal than we had hoped. For one thing, there were two cysts, one on top of the other, instead of just one. The plastic surgeon had to cut into the muscle to remove it and today her eye is pretty much swollen shut. She looks pathetic, like she was in some hideous bar brawl. In a week she'll return to get the stitches taken out, and the biopsy will come back in 7-10 days. Hopefully they got everything out of there and they won't need to go back in to take more gunk out.

She's pretty depressed because the surgeon told her she can't do any exercise until January 1st because there's a risk of developing a hematoma. She's not supposed to have her head go lower than her heart or do anything that will increase her heart rate. She had planned to run the Dreaded Druid 5 Miler on Saturday, so she's bummed about it. I know she had really been looking forward to that race.

She wanted to go to work today, but I said there was no way she was going in with vision in only one eye. We'll see about the rest of the week. I've already had to stop her from trying to put away laundry and from lugging a space heater out of the basement. She is a horrible sick person. I've heard that people who work in health care are the worst patients and I definitely think that's true. It's impossible for her to just sit still and let her body rest. She says she feels guilty about resting and doesn't want to be a burden to me, but I tell her that it's much more of a burden to have to follow her around and watch her like a hawk to make sure that she is actually resting and not being a little baddie. If she would just sleep all day and watch TV like she's supposed to, I could go about my business and not worry that she's undertaking some major project. She's silly. I love her.

I came upstairs today and found that Louis had made himself a little fort and was hiding under some pillows. He's petrified of the vacuum. Enough surgery talk. Time for some cute cat photos!

Miracle on 34th St. Lights

2010-12-14T12:39:00.002-06:00

Baltimore is a strange, quirky city. Every year in the neighborhood of Hampden, all the houses on 34th St. in one particular block put on an enormous Christmas light display. It's called the Miracle on 34th Street. We headed over to Hampden one night recently to walk the block and check it out.

Lots of families were out to see the display and there was even a Santa Claus on a Harley. It's a fun Baltimore tradition to walk up and down the block to see how the houses have been decorated that year. I don't shoot a lot of pictures at night usually, so it was a nice change, and I had fun playing with my camera.

More photos are on my Flickr page.

Christmas Cheer

2010-12-10T13:29:00.003-06:00

I grew up Jewish and it wasn't until I was in my late teens, when my mom remarried, that we had a Christmas tree. And even then, it wasn't MY Christmas tree. It was really for my Catholic step-sister. All the ornaments were hers and the tree was decorated to her liking. Still, it was a tree, so I was happy. I loved coming downstairs and being hit by the smell of pine and smoke (from the fireplace in the family room).

I've always had a longing to celebrate Christmas, even as a child. One year I went outside and decorated a Japanese Maple tree in our yard with foil. My mother was really angry and made me take it all down. I guess she thought Christmas was about being Christian and Jesus and stuff (or she didn't like that I was wasting foil-- who really knows). It can be a religious holiday, but I don't think it's that way for most people. For me, Christmas is about having some brightness and cheer during the cold, long, dark winter.

Of course, a lot of this Christmas thing probably stems from my obsession with having an absolutely idyllic home life. I'm willing to accept chaos and bullshit outside in the real world, but when I come home I want things to be beautiful, warm, and inviting. Christmas is all about having a warm, cozy, and inviting home, and I am all about the same. I'm happiest when the house is spotless, there's the smell of food cooking in the kitchen and I'm sitting in the living room, wrapped in a fleece blanket and reading the New Yorker or Bon Appetit. I have lots of theories as to why I'm like this, but this is a blog, not a therapy session.

I remember my first Christmas tree. We were living in the absolute crappiest apartment in Newark, Delaware. We were still in college. I guess I was 20 and Steph was 21. The apartment had a flea problem and the giant fire you could see burning in the oil furnace scared the crap out of me. We bought a Christmas tree that was way too big for the place and a ton of cheap, gaudy ornaments. On Christmas day we opened presents and wore santa hats. It was kind of perfect in that romantic, poor college student sort of way.

We haven't had a real tree since the cats came into our lives. I'm afraid they'll climb it and all hell will break loose. This year we're experimenting with artificial trees and it seems to be going well. We have a small white feather tree, a white artificial tree filled with owl ornaments, and a tinsel tabletop tree with vintage mercury ball ornaments. Also, we have indoor lights, outdoor lights, my collection of ceramic lighted trees, boxwood garlands outside, two outdoor wreaths and a door swag. We may have gone a little overboard this year with the decorating. One of the great joys of being an adult is the opportunity to celebrate whichever holidays you so choose.

Here are a few photos of our holiday decorations. I still need to take pictures of the outdoor stuff. More photos can be found on my Flickr photo page.

Good neighbors give you 100 year old canning jars

2010-12-09T16:50:00.004-06:00

Can canning jars be sexy? I believe the answer is yes. First of all, have you seen the Weck canning jars? Just to receive an empty jar would be a gift in itself. I have a small one filled with Red Himalayan Salt and it is my pride and joy. They are so beautiful that they would be hard for me to give away. They are like the Salma Hayeks of the canning world, all curves and beauty.

Our neighbor, Betsy, has been cleaning out her basement for what seems like two years. As elderly people tend to do, she likes to talk about her imminent death and how she wants to clean up her house before she dies so as not to trouble her bereaved offspring in the future. She is always unearthing treasures and giving them to me because she is pretty much the best neighbor around. She gives me cool vintage stuff and juicy neighborhood gossip, so really I could not ask for more. She happened to mention that she had found some REALLY OLD Ball canning jars in her basement. I practically fell over with excitement when she offered them to me. So she gives me these jars and I do a little online research and it turns out that some of them date back to about 1910. They are 10 years older than our house!

I've decided that they are too valuable and cool to use for canning (I'm afraid they could break-- who knows how many times they've been used), so I'm going to use them to store pantry items and maybe for decorating around the house and the garden.

Winter Playlist

2010-12-02T17:40:00.007-06:00

(written Thursday November 2nd, posted Friday November 3rd)

I'm feeling anxious because I'm missing so much fun stuff tonight. Ann's screening at the Creative Alliance, the lighting of the Washington Monument in Mt. Vernon, the lights on 34th Street in Hampden, not to mention the errands I should be doing this evening. Instead I've elected to stay home with Steph, feed her, provide her with warm compresses for her cyst, and keep her nice and drugged. I don't feel guilty about staying home, it is definitely the right thing to do, but I'm having a hard time sitting still, so I hopped on my computer and made a iTunes playlist for winter.

Some of these are obvious winter songs, while others simply remind me of winter for one reason or another.

Today I read that, historically speaking, December 5th is the day of the year when the most amount of cities in the United States see a snowfall. Interesting little tidbit.

Coming soon: Our neighbor gave me some VERY old Ball canning jars. I photographed them today and will do a post about them tomorrow. Right now I'm doing some online research to determine whether or not I can still use them for canning purposes.

Welcome, Winter

2010-12-02T13:42:00.003-06:00

There was a significant amount of frost on the car this morning at 8am, so I've decided that it's officially winter. I, for one, hope this winter holds in store much less snow than the last.

We've begun our holiday decorating. This year we're experimenting with having a small (artificial) tree. So far the cats have left it alone. Before we became crazy cat ladies, we always had a large real tree, but I think the temptation of that would prove too much for our little lovelies. Also, I hated watering it and vacuuming up the needles every day. If you want the scent of a real tree, buy some of these candles. They smell just like the real thing and burn for hours and hours on end.

I'm an equal opportunity holiday celebrator. I've always been fascinated by Christmas, even though I'm Jewish. As a child, I would put foil on our trees outside to "decorate" them for Christmas. It did not go over well with my mother. I love the celebration of winter and the warm homeyness of the holiday. Also, Hanukkah songs kind of suck and Christmas songs are awesome. O Holy Night makes me cry on pretty much a regular basis (especially the Josh Groban version).

There's been a little hiccup in our lives. Steph needs to have surgery later this month on what is hopefully a benign cyst above her eye. I am worried about it, much more so than she is, but there is nothing to do really but wait and see what happens. Because I'm morbid and obviously deranged, I've been looking up cyst removal videos on YouTube. I am both endlessly intrigued and disgusted by them.

Quiet days around the house

2010-11-23T13:49:00.005-06:00

After a very busy Fall, I am looking forward to hibernating a bit during the winter. Last weekend we barely left the house and it was wonderful. We caught up on laundry, I read the New Yorker (if you get it, you should definitely read the article about fermentation, by the way), Steph worked on her knitting projects, we watched weird movies like Babes In Toyland, and we thoroughly cleaned the house.

We did leave to have Sunday brunch with Jess and Mike at Woodberry Kitchen, which was amazing. I took some photos with my Canon S90, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

I made an effort to take some pictures around the house though, as most of the photos on my blog lately have been from when we were out and about.

Currently listening to: Sufjan Stevens, "Songs for Christmas" (I'm getting an early start on Christmas music this year)

Looking forward to: a very festive Joslyn Thanksgiving! Steph is making spinach squares and I am making the turkey again this year.

Pizza, and other thoughts on life

2010-11-17T15:39:00.004-06:00

1. While vacuuming this afternoon, I discovered that one of the cats had peed in my sneaker. Said discovery has really dampened my mood for the day. There has been lots of strife and drama amongst the cats lately, for reasons unknown. I won't bore anyone with the details (though there are many. hint: most of them involve urine).

2. I haven't really been taking a lot of pictures with my cameras lately. It needs to stop. I've let myself get into an impending winter funk that involves a lot of sleeping, reading Harry Potter, and watching Dexter on OnDemand. I've determined that these activities are a reaction to the upcoming holidays, and all the small and large decisions that need to be made in the near future. Example of a small decision: what am I going to get ____ for Christmas? Example of a large decision: the need to update wills and insurance.

3. I've been cooking a lot. Example? Here's a picture I took with my iPhone of a pizza I made the other day. It was delicious and included caramelized fennel, roasted cauliflower, garlic scape pesto, and goat cheese. Other delicious delights I've made recently include eggplant parmesan and lots of mushroom cobblers. In fact, I'm making another mushroom cobbler tonight. Jess and Mike are going to come over for dinner.

4. I'm just going to come out and say this, although I'm sure I'll receive a lot of hate mail about it. I think Glee has jumped the shark. It hasn't been holding my attention this season and the song choices have often been lackluster. I'm also seriously offended by their portrayal of both Kurt and Mercedes. Does Kurt have any personality other than his gayness anymore? NO! And why can't Mercedes have a storyline that doesn't involve her weight or eating habits? Blah.

5. I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I even bought a special Thanksgiving themed shirt from Threadless for the occasion.

Sufjan Stevens at the Academy of Music

2010-11-12T14:22:00.005-06:00

I downloaded Sufjan Stevens' new album, "Age of Adz" on September 28th, and according to iTunes, I have listened to it 51 times since then. Please note that this does not include the countless times I listened to it in the car. So yeah, I'm just a liiitttle obsessed with this album, and with Sufjan Stevens in general. Thanks to Blair for introducing Sufjan's music to me way back in 2004.

This concert was amazing, especially the live performance of "Impossible Soul", a song that is really more of an opus and is twenty-five minutes long. During the concert, Sufjan (I call him by his first name because we are besties. DO NOT QUESTION ME!) said that with this album, he wanted to strip away characters, geography, and narrative, melody, and even music. He wanted to get to what he called the "heart, the brain, the spine of the noise". Some reviewers have called this album self-indulgent, likening it to a musical masturbation session. Haters. I know very little about music or instruments. I focus on what sounds good and on meaningful lyrics, so I can only speak from that perspective. With that in mind, this is my favorite album. It feels raw, emotional, and like a piece of him, sort of like his other albums were novels and this is a memoir in progress.

A great night that will serve as a beautiful memory in my mind for many years to come. I took some videos of the concert (hand held, so somewhat shaky), which you can view on my YouTube Channel, here.

Baby Madness

2010-11-09T13:45:00.002-06:00

It seems like everyone around us is having babies lately. I've lost track of how many Mysterio Predicts baby t-shirts we've bought. Life seems like an endless schedule of baby showers and visiting new parents.

I feel left out of all the fun. I thought we would be working on our second baby at this point in our lives. In some ways, it was a blessing that it did not work out for us earlier. Steph has a much better job now, a job that will allow her to be a more present parent. We've gotten to do a lot of traveling and camping, and our relationship has really deepened and been strengthened in these past few years. Still, there is sadness there, an emptiness. So we are back to trying to add a new family member and hopefully we will have a very happy announcement to share within the next year.

It's scary to think that the thing you want most in the world may not happen for you, or that it won't happen exactly the way you had envisioned for yourself. It's especially scary when that thing is something that you are supposed to be able to do, your biological imperative. I admit that I feel pangs of jealousy-- having a baby seems so easy for everyone else (and it probably isn't, but no one really likes to talk about those things), not to mention free.

For us, it's clinical. You pick out a donor based on limited amounts of information. The sperm comes on dry ice, shipped from California. You get inseminated in the doctor's office. Maybe your partner is there and maybe she isn't, depending on her schedule and when you ovulated that month. You sit on a hard doctor's table with your legs up in the air for 20 minutes. You pay your bill. You try not to think about how weird and other-worldly the whole process is for you. You go home and you wait. You fend off well-meaning comments from friends and family asking you why you aren't pregnant yet. So romantic.

I am happy for our friends though, don't get me wrong. It's wonderful to see them grow into parenthood and to watch little versions of them sprout up before your eyes.

Countdown to Sufjan concert: 29 hours! SQUEE! (if we have a boy, maybe we will name him Sufjan)

Currently listening to: Jonsi, "Around Us"

Fall in our neighborhood

2010-11-03T13:12:00.002-06:00

I can feel winter creeping closer and closer. The days are getting shorter and the light is different. I'm starting the get that *meh* winter feeling. I decided I needed to take some photos of the foliage in our neighborhood before the trees were all bare.

I wish we had a maple tree. We had a swamp maple at our old house, but it's a crappy maple, as far as maples go, and it never really did very much in terms of fall foliage. At our house in Nashville, we planted a ton of gorgeous trees-- pin oaks, blue pines, serviceberry...I've really been missing our place in Nashville lately. I think it's because I'm tired of living in a 100 year old house and dealing with the kinds of issues 100 year old houses have. We did plant a witch hazel tree this Fall and I can't wait for it to bloom in the winter.

It's going to be a busy weekend. On Saturday we're going to be hosting a baby shower for Korrina and then on Sunday we're going to Ann's birthday party. The theme of Ann's party is "fruit". I love it.

Countdown to the Sufjan concert: 7 days!

Currently listening to: My Brightest Diamond, "Bring me the Workhorse" (she opened for Sufjan on his last tour, so I've been listening to her a lot lately)

Depressing November Playlist

2010-11-02T12:30:00.003-06:00

Quid pro quo.

Mostly for Julie, but for anyone else who wants a depressing playlist for a cold autumn day, here you go. Try not to fall into a pit of despair. Bwahahaha.

Oh yeah, and since this is technically a photo blog, here's a photo. DEPRESSION HURTS.

A very kitty Halloween

2010-10-31T13:34:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween! Stay safe!

Growing pains

2010-10-20T12:06:00.004-06:00

I was going through old photos on my computer yesterday afternoon and I came across this photo of an ornamental cabbage. Ornamental cabbages and kale hold a special place in my heart.

1) They remind me of my dad. My dad was big into decorating his porch with flowers and plants according to the season. He ALWAYS had cabbages and kale in the Fall and he ALWAYS left them out there well past their prime. By January they would be shriveled and slimy and generally gross. I liked to poke fun at him and give him a hard time about it. I miss him.

2) They're pretty and autumnal.

This particular photo was taken at our first house on Cedarcroft Road, the first house Steph and I bought together. I think I took the photo in 2006. I miss the pot in this photo. I'm fairly certain it broke during the move to Nashville.

Speaking of Nashville, I've been missing it lately. That tends to happen when I pore over old photos. We haven't been back in nearly two years. I'm not worried about the house-- I'm sure it's fine, but it would be nice to just check in before the renters move out. I'm not sure what will happen when their lease ends. I harbor this fantasy that we'll move back in, but I don't really see it happening. The most likely scenario is that we'll sell it, given that the market down there seems to have improved ever so slightly.

It's also fun to look at old photos because I can clearly see how much better my photography skills have gotten. I feel like I am kind of in a rut with that lately. I know I should be taking pictures every day, but I haven't been. Life has sort of gotten in the way. Not like that is a good excuse. You need to make time in your life for the people and things that are important to you.

I'm considering moving my blog to Wordpress. I want more control and it seems like an overall better platform. Just something I've been learning and working on and will probably happen in the next few months or so if I can get my act together. I feel like I've outgrown Blogger and need more creative control over all the design elements of my little blog.

Wow, this post is all over the place.

The steady beat of Fall

2010-10-19T12:36:00.003-06:00

Fall is a great time for nesting. Since September, we've done a lot of work around the house. We painted the entire kitchen (walls, ceiling, trim, and floors!), finally. It's so nice to not have five colors going on in there, all competing for attention. We also finally found some furniture for the dining room. Landscapers came and cleaned up the yard, and it's wonderful to look out back and see a freshly mowed yard and mulched beds instead of huge tree limbs that fell during various storms. They also fixed our DIY pebble path that went awry. We learned the hard way that you need to put weed blocker fabric under that shizzle. Ooopsies. Next time we'll know. Not like I think there will be a next time because hauling 5 tons of river rocks and raking them out in a path was not my idea of a good time. Pictures of all these finished products to come.

Meanwhile, while we toiled, Winston and Louis, as usual, were busy napping. They love Fall because the windows are open during the day, which allows for lots of squirrel watching. We have a resident squirrel who has a large nest in the Maple tree by the house. He likes to collect walnuts from the neighbor's tree, and then scurry across the power lines and along our rain gutters back to his nest. The cats are fascinated by this show. They watch him all morning and then promptly fall asleep for the rest of the afternoon.

As you can see, Winston likes to contort himself in strange sleeping positions. Louis prefers to curl up on my pillow on the bed, or nest under our down blanket. Here are some photos of squirrel watching and napping.

Apple Picking at Baugher's

2010-10-18T10:45:00.003-06:00

I have once again fallen behind in my blogging. Sigh. September and October were exceptionally busy months for me. Lots of parties to attend, babies to meet, and traveling to do. I've also been fighting with AT&T. Yesterday I printed out a 35 page bill so I could try to figure out where over $100 of crazy charges are coming from. Mind you, we have a set plan with unlimited data and texts and we never go over our minutes because both of us never use our phones to call people. Exhausting. Exciting, yes?

Back in late September, we went apple picking with Jess and Mike. We went to Baugher's in western Maryland. We used to go there when I was a kid. It's insane how built up that area is now. It's full of strip malls and fast food joints. I remember it being endless expanses of open farmland. It made me sad, but on the other hand, our house in Nashville is in a development that used to be a family farm, so I am not in a place to judge. I take these things more personally when they interfere with my childhood memories. Natural, I suppose.

Pictures from our apple picking adventures! We ate a lot of the apples we picked, and I also canned a few quarts of applesauce.

Visit to the Museum of Civilizations

2010-09-23T16:53:00.001-06:00

If you are ever in Ottawa, a must-visit attraction is the Museum of Civilizations. We spent over 4 hours wandering the museum and we still only managed to visit the first two floors. The museum is the most popular museum attraction in Canada, and with good reason. The architecture is incredible. It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. Located directly on the Ottawa River, the setting is breathtaking. The museum was designed by architect Douglas Cardinal.

The best part of the museum is the First People's Hall and the Grand Hall, both of which house the exhibit of Canada's Aborginal Peoples. The dome in the Grand Hall features a wonderful abstract painting called "Morning Star". If I lived in Ontario or Quebec, I would probably visit this museum on a monthly basis.

Definitely worth a return visit the next time we're in Ottawa!

Loonies & Toonies

2010-09-15T11:44:00.004-06:00

As we were staying a mere 1.5 hours away from the Canadian border, we decided to spend a night in Ottawa. Ottawa is an amazing city. First of all, it is insanely clean. Everyone rides their bikes or walks to work and in the winter they skate to work on the canal! The architecture in the city is beautiful. The people are friendly. It's just a great place and it made me want to explore more of Canada (this was my first time visiting our neighbor to the North). Instead of dollar bills though, they have loonies ($1 coins) and toonies ($2 coins). That is my one complaint about Canada: I do not like coins. But moving on...

We visited the ByWard Market, which is an incredible daily farmer's market. There are also various shops and eateries within the market. The produce was the best I had ever seen. And berries in August!!! Sign me up. We bought a small container of wild blueberries and they were like the fruit equivalent of crack. The produce was all local to Ontario and Quebec. Everyone in Ottawa speaks both French and English because part of the province is is Quebec, where French is the official language. The market reminded me so much of my time in Paris and in Aix-En-Provence. I wish they had more daily open-air markets in the United States.

We spent over an hour just walking around and ogling the produce, cheeses, breads, and pastries. We stopped for lunch and had some quiche and shared a few delicious sweets (the one pictured was a heavenly pistachio mousse pastry).

Even though we were only 3 hours away from the US border, it really did feel like we were in another country, which was nice.

Adirondack Vacation

2010-09-12T17:45:00.003-06:00

In celebration of our 9 year wedding anniversary, we went on a week-long vacation to the Adirondacks in New York. We stayed in Trout Lake, in the upper region of the Adirondacks. The setting was absolutely breathtaking, just unspoiled wilderness and clean, fresh air. It was quite relaxing. We made delicious meals and a lot of coffee, napped, swam and kayaked every day, took out the motor boat a few times, and I snapped a lot of photos. Our cabin was lovely - rustic, but comfortable.

Our favorite activity was definitely kayaking. We are hooked! As we live on the Chesapeake Bay, there are lots of local kayaking opportunities, so we decided that sooner or later we definitely need to get two kayaks and an appropriate roof rack for the car.

The vacation was wonderful and we will cherish the memories for many many years. I hope we'll be able to return to the area again next year.

Summer Icebox Cake

2010-09-10T12:26:00.002-06:00

Few things are as relaxing to me as flipping through cooking magazines in the evening on the couch, dog-earring pages of recipes I'd like to try. I subscribe to Cooks Illustrated, Bon Appetit, and Whole Living, but I have also been known to pick up other titles that catch my eye at Whole Foods. I found this icebox cake recipe in a Martha Stewart Living magazine earlier this summer. This Chocolate Banana icebox cake combines my favorite chocolate add-in: bananas! You can find the recipe here.

This recipe was easy to make, but be forewarned, it requires A LOT of chocolate. I chose to top the cake with raspberries instead of whipped cream because I felt the cake was already rich enough with all the chocolate. Plus, I like the combo of bananas and raspberries. I served this cake for dessert one evening when Jess and Mike came over for dinner. I would surely make this recipe again, despite the fact that I don't even care too much for chocolate. Generally I prefer fruit desserts. Also, it was nice during the heat wave to not have to turn on the oven, I must admit.

Photo (taken with my iPhone) of the final product.

Summer jaunt to Terrain at Styers

2010-09-09T11:37:00.002-06:00

We went to Terrain again with Andrew and Chad! We're pretty much going once per season at this point, which I think is a good rate. Fall is still my favorite time there though-- PUMPKINS! I'm so excited for our October trip.

As usual, we had lunch at the Cafe. It was especially delicious this time. They served us bread in a small terra cotta pot, which I thought was such a cute idea. I am going to try to recreate it at home.

After lunch, we wandered around the nursery and the store. Lots of canning books and supplies. I picked up this book, and am anxious to test out some of the recipes, especially some of the fruit leathers. I also FINALLY broke down and bought The New Terrarium. I love having indoor plants, but unfortunately the cats enjoy eating them and kicking the dirt out of the pots, so covered terrariums and ferns on high shelves are the only way to have plants in the house.

Of course it was wonderful to see Chad and Andrew. We have all been friends for a decade now and it is so easy and fun to spend time with them. I miss our college years when we lived down the street from each other and could more easily just get together to go to a concert or grab some ice cream. I hold out hope that one day we'll all live in the same city again.

All Delighted People

2010-09-08T13:32:00.002-06:00

If you have not purchased the Sufjan Stevens "All Delighted People" EP, you should correct this travesty and go download it right now. The video above is a live recording from a concert in Brooklyn. The EP version is orchestrally (yes, I just made up that word) epic. E.P.I.C. We're going to see him in concert in Philadelphia in November. The last time we saw him live was five years ago, in New York. We both cried a lot. It was just so moving and beautiful. Next to Leonard Cohen, it was the best concert I've ever attended (I cried at that concert a lot too). I'm such a sap.

A night in the city

2010-08-22T16:38:00.004-06:00

Every time we go to Washington D.C., I think, "Hmm, it's rather nice here, but I could never live here". I don't think I am a city kid. I enjoy VISITING cities, but I prefer to live on the fringes of a city or in a rural area. My dream is to own a farm and have lots of goats, sheep, and cats. In my dream vision of my life, I make goat cheese and honey, and spend my days pickling, canning, and baking bread. I digress...

So we spent a night in D.C. last week. I had been itching to spend the night in a hotel, so the change in locale was most welcome. About three times a year I get an urge to take a long bath, and a hotel is the perfect place to do so. We got a great last minute deal via Tablet Hotels. If you like to stay in boutique hotels as opposed to the big chains, I strongly suggest that you check out Tablet. We got a free upgrade, 4 free bottles of water, and a 4pm checkout because we are Tablet Plus members.

I loved the hotel. It had a mid-century aesthetic, which always makes me swoon. The view of Thomas Circle was amazing. The location is fairly central and we were able to easily walk everywhere we wanted to go. The bed was the most comfortable hotel bed I've ever slept in and the Frette linens were divine. That said, this is a hotel for the younger set. The bed is a low platform bed (which I generally prefer), the lobby plays techno music, and the lighting in the rooms is quite dim. For us though, it was perfect.

We took advantage of Restaurant Week and had dinner at Siroc. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals, especially the house-made pasta and the poached pear. I experienced some sticker shock over a $10 Hendricks & tonic I had ordered, but I suppose that is to be expected in a large city. Next time I'll just stick to tap water.

The next day, we met my parents for breakfast at Founding Farmer's, and then went back to the hotel to hang out (and Steph had to work remotely for a few hours). When it came time for lunch, we went on a tour of the D.C. food trucks, which I will discuss in my next post.

Pictures from the hotel, all taken with my iPhone.

Another camping trip!

2010-08-18T18:36:00.002-06:00

We went camping again! This time we stayed close to home and went to Elk Neck State Park for the weekend. Jess, Mike, and their dog Charlie, joined us. Elk Neck is close to the border of Maryland and Delaware, making it an easy 1 hour drive from our place in Baltimore.

The weather was quite cool for August, and the rain held off until we started to pack up our gear on Sunday morning.

I would rate Elk Neck State Park a 4/5. The grounds are beautiful and the sites and park are obviously well tended. There are numerous hiking trails-- we went on a hike to Turkey Point Lighthouse, which was great fun. The camp store is the best I've seen so far. We had a site in the Susquehanna loop that overlooked a marsh, which was picturesque. Negatives: The bathrooms were not clean. Not human waste unclean, but just old, moldy, and filled with bugs and frogs. Yes, frogs. In the shower. It was not a good thing. I am seriously considering buying a shower enclosure and water bag for camping so we can just shower at our site in the future. Camp bathrooms are definitely the worst part of camping, but you just have to overlook it in favor of having the pleasure of sleeping out in the woods and sitting by a crackling campfire at night. The sites, while spaced far apart, were on the smaller side. I would say that Keuka Lake in NY and Assateauge in MD still rate as my favorite campgrounds.

Hoping to get one more camping trip in before it gets too cold, maybe in October. I'd like to camp when the air is crisp and the leaves are turning.

Easy Homemade Bread

2010-08-12T12:53:00.003-06:00

For a long time, I resisted baking my own bread at home. I consider myself to be a competent and good cook, but baking is not my thing. I tend to improvise a lot, and most baking requires that you be exact in your measurements. But seriously, nothing beats homemade bread. You don't know what real bread is until you make it yourself. It tastes like bread from a french bakery, only better because it just came out of the oven.

One of the gifts Steph's mom gave me for my birthday this year was this great book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. If you want to make bread, but are intimidated by the process, then this is the book for you. I know Andrew and Chad have a copy, which they love. Jess is now so addicted to my bread that I bought her a copy as well. Spread the word and the love of bread, people!

What makes this book so great is that it teaches you how to make bread WITHOUT kneading. It is such an easy process. You allow the gluten to rest, which allows you to skip the kneading. You can make a huge batch of dough and leave it in the fridge for up to two weeks. Just cut some off the "mother" and bake it! As the dough matures, the flavor changes and develops. Right now there is a 6 quart container in our fridge filled with dough. I'm going to bake off a couple of loaves tomorrow for our weekend camping trip.

This photo is one of the first loaves I made using the master recipe from the book. Taken with my iPhone.

MEEEEOWWWW

2010-08-03T10:32:00.002-06:00

**Taken with my iPhone**

It's hard to get out of bed in the morning when I have this cutie curled up against me, looking at me with those big blue eyes. Also, he squees at me. He doesn't meow, but rather, squees. In case you're wondering what a "squee" is, it's like a squeak, only cuter and more pathetic. I feel like I'm breaking his heart when I get up and ruin his happy sleepy times.

The Precious

2010-08-02T16:42:00.004-06:00

Well people, I was going to wait for the white iPhone 4 to come out before upgrading my iPhone, but Apple had to go and ruin my life by not once, but TWICE, delaying the availability of them. At this point I think they won't even come out until 2011. My iPhone 3G had cracks in both the front and the back and so I was sorely in need of an upgrade. I say that like I NEEDED the upgrade. I guess, in the interest of full disclosure, I should state that my old phone still worked just fine. It was really out of consumer greed and a lust for Apple products that I bought the new one. That and jealousy-- Andrew and Chad already had theirs and whenever I saw them using their new phones, a dirty dirty feeling would rise up in my chest.

I won't bore anyone with a review of the phone, but suffice it to say that is it incredible. I've experienced none of the dreaded antenna issues and think it is far superior to the 3G that I had.

I love the dual cameras on this model. The photos are worlds better than the 3G camera took, so be prepared for more photos from my iPhone to be posted to my blog. The photo pictured here is the first photo I took with the new iPhone.

Oops...

2010-08-02T13:15:00.003-06:00

I've been neglecting my blog. Tsk tsk tsk. I did not realize until just now that it's been over a month since I posted. Well, time to put a stop to that silliness. Thank you, Julie, for bringing my attention to the matter.

Prepare for an onslaught of posts, people!

So, what's been going on in my life, you ask? Many social engagements and lots of cooking, to sum it all up.

We went to Erin's baby shower in late July. She is due to have a little girl in late September. She looks BEAUTIFUL! I love pregnant women. I think they are some of the most gorgeous women in the world.

Erin's mom, Kathy, put together the shower and it was so much fun! She decorated with Erin's old baby clothes and photos of Erin as a baby, which I thought was quite creative. As the shower was in Philadelphia, we also got the chance to spend some time with Andrew and Chad, which is always lovely, especially because it means a trip to the Korean Bakery
.

A few photos from the event...

The Majesty of Nature

2010-07-13T14:01:00.003-06:00

When people ask where we live and I tell them Baltimore City, I don't think they generally understand what that means. There are lots of areas of the city that are not endless pavement and rowhouses. We have an abundance of wildlife in our neighborhood. I regularly see bunnies, raccoons, possums, foxes, and a vast variety of birds. Our neighborhood is heavily wooded and there is a stream nearby, so it makes for a good wildlife habitat.

This afternoon I was in the kitchen and spotted a red fox out the back door. He was basking in the sun, eyes closed, taking a nice afternoon nap. I RAN upstairs to get my camera. I took a few pictures through the glass of the backdoor. I opened the door and it woke him up, but I did manage to snap a few, slightly closer pictures of him before he scampered away.

Magical...as long as he doesn't eat any of the neighborhood bunnies or cats. :-)

Camping in Keuka Lake, NY

2010-07-09T12:03:00.002-06:00

We went camping in Keuka Lake, NY for the long 4th of July holiday weekend. Keuka Lake is in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. Andrew's parents' grew up in Penn Yan, a little town by Keuka Lake. Joining us on this expedition were Andrew, Chad, and Andrew's parents (Kathy & Rich).

Camping! Wine tastings! Alpacas! Shopping and gorging on delicious food at The Windmill! Swimming in the Lake! Camp fires! S'mores! Shirley Temples!

It was a great time. I can't wait to go back. The more we go camping, the more I enjoy it.

Here are a few photos from the trip. The rest of the photos I took can be viewed via my Flickr stream.

Post long holiday weekend playlist...

2010-07-06T13:02:00.002-06:00

I love listening to WTMD because they play interesting, non Top 40 music, often by local or lesser known musicians. Also, they don't have commercials, so it is all music all the time, except for musician interviews and NPR news updates. Even if you aren't in the Baltimore area, you can go to their website and listening to live streaming audio from the station.

They have a feature show where they will showcase a playlist created by a listener. If I were to create a playlist for that show, this would be it.

I made this playlist this morning and have been listening to it on repeat all day while I tackle the mountain of post-camping laundry, bills, cooking, and cleaning.

Have a listen...

Weekly Farmer's Market booty

2010-06-27T09:27:00.005-06:00

Lots of goodies at the downtown Farmer's Market today. We got there at 8:15am and it was already hopping. We had planned to meet Jess, Mike, and Mike's parents there, but they took too long to get ready and I really wanted to get there as early as possible. We ran into Korrina and Benson (newly married and back from their honeymoon-- AND Korrina is preggers), baby Sebastian (Grace was working so K&B were babysitting), and Taryn. It was like a Hopkins Weinberg 5B meet-up.

This week will be an abbreviated home-cooking week, as we'll be heading up to the Finger Lakes later this week for camping with the Joslyn clan. I was very pleased with our bounty though.

A walk-through of our haul:

-Mushroom mix for pizza tonight
-Jess & Mike are coming over for dinner on Tuesday. We'll be having "garage steak" (some of the meat I get from my grass-fed, raw milk, super secret Co-op...that deserves its own blog post, so more on that later), fried green tomatoes, and grilled corn with feta and old bay butter. Sour cherries pictured are for a dessert of cherry pie.
-Peaches for snacking
-Currants for jam
-Zucchini with blossoms for Zucchini blossom quesadillas (Monday's dinner)
-Sunflowers and cosmos for cheer

For your listening and viewing pleasure

2010-06-24T14:45:00.003-06:00

I've had this song in my head all day. I really like the dancing in the video.

It sort of reminds me of the ballroom scene from my favorite movie, Labyrinth. When I was little, I used to want to BE David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. They are both beautiful in that movie.

MEEEEOWWWW

2010-06-24T10:58:00.003-06:00

Please go and watch this clip from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu. It will change your life.

And now I shall put on my crazy cat lady hat. Ahem...

As many of my TENS (!) of readers know, our cat Louis is deeply disturbed. No, seriously, he is. He has to take Prozac because he has such horrible anxiety issues. He was living in the wall of an apartment complex when he was rescued as a tiny kitten, so I can only imagine what horrors of life got imprinted on his sweet little cat brain. He also has FUS (Feline Urinary Sydrome), which means that he gets UTIs constantly because he has painful crystals in his urine. Our vet had us mixing Methigel (a urine acidifier) twice a day, Cosequin (a cell wall stabilizer) once a day, and prescription dry food in addition to the high quality wet food we had been giving him. STILL he was getting UTIs, pretty much once every few months. Last month we spent over $300 at one visit to the vet, which resulted in Louis having an allergic reaction to the Penicillin the vet prescribed him. His coat had also been looking dull and he was shedding a lot more than usual.

I did some research and found that the primary ingredient in Methigel is CORN SYRUP, and the prescription dry food we'd been giving him was pretty much junk too. We were spending all this money and time trying to help him, but it seemed like the best we were doing was simply staving off the inevitable UTI or GI infection for a few weeks or so. I read this book and this book on natural cat care.

We have since stopped all his medications, with the exception (for now) of the Prozac. I have started all the cats on a homemade raw food diet, made with organic meats and veggies. I enjoy making them their food-- it makes me feel like a good cat mommy. I've started giving them a daily multi-vitamin and a few supplements. At first, they screamed and refused to eat their food, and would cry and cry for their crack kibbles and addictive tuna. I also stopped feeding them large ocean fish. If I need to limit my tuna intake to 3 cans a week, why would I give my 10 lb. cat tuna twice a day? Mercury city. Now they seem to have accepted their fate. They all look shinier and healthier, and they are more playful. We are actually spending LESS money doing this, not even including the vet bills that I expect to not have to pay. Good stuff. Look at this happy kitty (Winston).

Steph and I are committed to eating organic food, and mostly local food as well (save for olives and avocados and such). Now the cats are eating the same way and I think we are all better for it.

I do want to learn more about homeopathy and such for ourselves and the cats. I am starting to grow wary of typical Western Medicine. As with the cats, I think the tendency is to alleviate symptoms and maximize the time in between flair ups, instead of treating the underlying cause of disease. On Friday I am going to have my first ever acupuncture appointment. I am excited but nervous about it as well.

Other stuff on my mind lately...

Foursquare: I am one check-in away from earning a free frozen cappuccino from City Cafe. YES!

Pinterest: This is a great idea and an incredible website. Excellent resource for inspiration about pretty much anything. Love.

Steph's 30th birthday party: I've decided on a date in October. I am torn between wanting to have it at the house (more intimate, cheaper, total control over all aspects) and wanting to have it at a restaurant ($$$, but won't have to worry about cleaning up the house/yard, setting up, cooking, or post-party clean up). I am open to thoughts and suggestions on the matter if anyone cares to weigh in. I am also looking for ideas for DIY decorations.

Upcoming Upstate New York Camping trip: Excited, but nervous about camping for so long. The longest I've ever camped was two nights and this will be for four nights. Eek!

Disgusting heat: It's been in the upper 90s here all week and it's foul. Last night I barely slept because I was so hot. The A/C is cranking full blast, but it's so hot that it just can't cool the house completely. I want to install an attic fan up in the attic (or rather, I want Steph to do it as she is our resident electrician), but it will take a few hours and it's probably over 100 degrees up there right now. Perhaps a good winter activity. We've been having dinners like watermelon and guacamole because it's too hot to turn on the oven or use the stove. The only thing that's been getting me through the week have been nightly sno-balls and the idea of going tubing on the Gunpowder River again this weekend.

Lady Gaga dance party

2010-06-22T12:57:00.002-06:00

I couldn't resist posting these photos of Steph, her mom, and her sister dancing to "Bad Romance". I wish I had been able to take a video. As you can see, Danika STOLE my University of Delaware snuggie from me that evening. Damn her! I am very attached to my UD snuggie. I know it is ugly as hell, but it is so warm and comfy.

Lobster boil at our cottage

2010-06-22T12:53:00.003-06:00

Our cottage had a really nice, fully stocked kitchen, and I was craving lobster, so we invited the family and Ellen's friend, Amy, over for a traditional New England Lobster Boil. We indulged in guacamole, lobster, boiled new potatoes, corn, and Steph's delicious blackbottom cupcakes. We got the lobsters from Mac's Seafood and they were fresh and delicious. I will admit that it pained me a little to put the suckers in the lobster pot (especially after Danika insisted on PETTING them), but I got over it in the end. The key is to NOT pet them, not name them, and not look them in the eye.

Quality time with Danika

2010-06-22T12:50:00.001-06:00

The three of us were able to spend some time just hanging out together. We went for a hike at Fort Hill, a short walk from the cottage where we stayed. We got lost in a creepy swamp, but it all turned out ok in the end. The marsh views were beautiful and we all had fun goofing off.

Party time

2010-06-22T12:47:00.002-06:00

We went to two graduation parties over the weekend. One was a party at Steph's family's house, and the other was a pool party at Jordan's house. I'm pretty sure this was the first time in my life that I've attended two parties in one weekend. Good times.

Danika's High School Graduation

2010-06-22T12:43:00.002-06:00

The reason we went up to Cape Cod was so that we could see Danika graduate from high school. She is a great artist and will be attending Mass Art in Boston, beginning in the Fall. Exciting!

The graduation was a pretty standard graduation-- lame speeches by administrators, happy teenagers, and sitting outside in the hot sun for hours and hours. We all got bad sunburns. Ouchies!

It was all worth it though to see Danika so happy. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen her smile so much.

Here are a few photos I took at the graduation ceremony.

Fun Times with Wildlife

2010-06-11T16:51:00.003-06:00

Greetings from Cape Cod, Massachusetts! We arrived at our cottage last night just after midnight. It was a LONG drive. Traffic in NY and CT was pretty bad. I think we are getting too old for this road trip thing. It was fun when we were 20, but now it has lost some of its appeal. I get tired and cranky and this morning I was so stiff. 10 hours in the car is just too much for me.

The cottage we are renting is lovely, quaint, and quiet. This morning I woke up early and saw a HUGE bird on the fence. At first I thought it was a decoy, but then I saw it move. I ran for my camera and went outside. I was able to get quite close to it. I sent the photos to Mike, as he is a bird expert, and he says it's a Red-Tailed Hawk. So cool! I had never been so close to such a large bird before.

My tummy has been acting up, so I am at the cottage resting while Steph has dinner with her family. On deck tomorrow is Danika's graduation ceremony and a party at Steph's parents' house.

Pizza Party

2010-05-25T11:19:00.003-06:00

Mike is away in Ecuador for work with Johns Hopkins University, so we have been helping Jess take care of Charlie. In return, she has been providing us with some very tasty dinners. Last week she made us pizza and ever since then I've wanted pretty much nothing but homemade pizza for dinner.

Here are two examples of my work. The first is a cheese pizza with tomato sauce and zucchini, and the second is a margherita pizza. Both of these were made with a multi-grain crust. Yum. Since these photos were taken last week, I've also made two pizzas with whole wheat crusts-- one with tomato, cheese, and mushrooms, and the other with pesto, goat cheese, spinach, and tomato. I prefer the multi-grain crust to the whole grain, so I think I'll stick with that one from here on out. I also bought a pizza peel via Amazon, which should arrive this afternoon. I got tired of burning myself while trying to lift the pizzas off the stone in the oven. Next I will try grilled pizza.

This behavior is pretty typical of me. I get hooked on a certain food and want nothing but that food for weeks or months. Apparently I've always had this quirk. My Dad used to tell me that when I was younger he packed me the same lunch every day for an entire year because I refused to eat anything else. One year it was peanut butter and celery, another year it was baked beans, and so forth. I'm a strange squirrel.

Buddies

2010-05-21T10:54:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we went camping in Assateague with Jess and Mike (and their dog, Charlie!).

The ponies did not disappoint! We saw many, from afar, and up close. One piggy bugger even came up to the trunk of our car and rooted through it looking for food.

Our site was right on the dunes by the ocean and gorgeous. We definitely came at the right time-- it wasn't too hot and we had no issue with mosquitoes. We never even needed to put on bug repellent. Next time we'll bring a shade canopy with us though. There is no natural shade and during the day the sun was pretty brutal. I got a nasty sunburn that is now peeling.

Charlie ate a bunch of sand and got sick, but he enjoyed the ride in the canoe when we all went canoeing on Saturday afternoon.

More photos from the trip are posted on my Flickr stream.

Back in the game...

2010-05-12T15:59:00.004-06:00

It's kind of insane how much I relate to the author of this article.

So yeah, I've decided to resurrect my blog. Because I can. Because I feel like it. Because it makes me feel good to write a little bit and to document my life in photographs. Because I'm starting to have an icky feeling about Facebook and I don't want them to "link" me, my interests, my past, present, or future to any advertisements. Because summer is around the corner and that means lots of time spent inside avoiding the sweltering heat and humidity of Baltimore. Because I want to. And there you have it.

Anyway, this article. It made me feel like less of an alien. I remember being a young kid, in the back seat of my parents' car on the drive to school, and just fawning over houses. Big houses, little houses. Cape cods, Colonials, Bungalows. I would think about gardens, windows, kitchens, bedrooms. I would decorate the spaces in my mind. I would think to myself, "When I grow up, I want to live there". I secretly believe all that time spent thinking about which house I would end up in, in Baltimore, is why the trajectory of my life, no matter how hard I fight it, always lands me back in Baltimore. Maybe I've been feeling this way, all slobbery over fate, because I've gotten in watching Lost in the past few months. My typical answer for why we live here, for why we returned here from Nashville, is that Steph loves Hopkins so much. But surely there is a greater reason? Maybe not.

HOME is a very important concept for me. My home represents who I am, what I care most about. I can't understand people who live out of boxes in their houses or apartments for years and years, or people who have no art of their walls. It baffles me when I go to someone's house and the walls are just a stark white. I tend to not get along with people like that. Some people are obsessed with their kids, their career, traveling, their car, their gadgets-- I am obsessed with my home. Most of the money we spend goes towards home goods and art. I could spend days pouring over shelter magazines. I don't care to go out too much. I like spending time with people, but I always feel slightly anxious, slightly off. I go home, put on my pjs, and breathe a sigh of relief. I love my bed, my sheets, my blanket, my pillows. I like to travel on occasion, but if I'm gone for more than a few days, I start to get cranky. I miss my bed, the cats, my stuff-- I miss the comfort of feeling at home.

I think I'm going to buy that book. I've been considering getting a Kindle. I love to read, but libraries and I don't get along (I get possessive of books once I read them), and we don't have space in the house for thousands of books. We've converted all our CDs over to the computer, so maybe the next step is to virtually store all our books as well.

Back home

2009-09-20T17:12:00.003-06:00

We're back from our vacation in Cape Cod. Wow...so much happened...I'm not even sure where to start. We spent a lot of time with Steph's family, which was surprising. I got to meet her mom, her younger sister, and her stepfather. Well, more later.

This is a photo from the jetty in Provincetown. We walked across it during low tide.

Chocolate Leg

2009-09-07T15:22:00.000-06:00

If you ever find yourself in the market for a life-sized chocolate leg, you can pick one up at the Naked Chocolate Cafe in Philadelphia. It will only set you back $90. It's good to know these kinds of things.

Lens Flare

2009-09-07T15:21:00.000-06:00

This is another photo taken in Philadelphia. It is of a church by the Sofitel, where we stayed, in Rittenhouse Square. I was experimenting with lens flare. I like the rays of sunlight, but not the blob of light. I am going to work on photoshopping the blob out of the photo.

Bar Ferdinand

2009-09-07T15:20:00.002-06:00

We took a two-day trip to Philadelphia and had the opportunity to have dinner with Chad and Andrew. We went to Bar Ferdinand in Northern Liberties. It was tasty and inventive, but I still prefer Mezze in Baltimore for tapas. These are grilled watermelon skewers with prosciutto and tarragon.

Boulder Field

2009-09-07T15:18:00.002-06:00

While we were camping, we went to the Boulder Field. It was huge and incredible. I only wish that I had worn shoes that were more appropriate for the occasion so I could have explored the boulders more.

Here is a photo of Andrew and Chad amongst the boulders.

Camping: Tent Debacle

2009-09-07T15:15:00.002-06:00

We went camping with Chad, Andrew, Kathy, and Rich in August. We camped for two nights at Hickory Run State Park in PA. It was great fun, although we did not come prepared with a proper tent. We started with a small tent that Steph used for herself when she went camping in the Grand Canyon 10 years ago. It barely fit our air mattress and it gave me a panic attack because I felt like the walls of the tent were closing in on me. So we took a little trip to the nearest Wal-Mart to purchase a tent that would fit our air mattress. We ended up buying a palace of a tent, as you can see. It made camping so much more enjoyable.

Louis and his Ugly Doll

2009-09-07T15:13:00.002-06:00

Louis LOVES this little Ugly Doll that we have upstairs on the couch in the den. He likes to use it as a pillow. He seriously is the cutest, sleepiest little kitty. When we were in Philadelphia for our anniversary, we bought another Ugly Doll so he could have one for downstairs as well.

Animal Menagerie

2009-09-07T15:12:00.000-06:00

This is my display of amiguruni that Steph has knit or crocheted for me. The turtle on the right is my newest addition. She made him for me for our wedding anniversary. Isn't he cute? I think next I'll ask her to make me a penguin or a lemur.

Eames Lounge Chair

2009-09-07T15:10:00.001-06:00

I have coveted an Eames Lounge Chair for quite some time. In celebration of our anniversary, we finally bought ourselves one. It is so comfortable and gloriously stylish. I love it even more than I thought I would. We also got new chairs for the kitchen, and another armchair for the living room.

Garden Haul

2009-09-07T15:08:00.002-06:00

Our vegetable garden has been quite successful this year. We had an excellent harvest of kale, cucumbers, and lettuce. Right now we are picking a TON of tomatoes and baby pumpkins. We also have some watermelons that are coming along quite nicely. Next year I want to plant butternut squash as well and probably less tomatoes (I have 8 plants this year).

Stupid Stupid Baltimore City

2009-08-08T11:55:00.002-06:00

The city is working on the water mains on our street. They've been "working" for about a month now. Every day they waste I don't even know how many thousands of gallons of water. It's like there is a constant river running down the street. They also block the street with their trucks and make it nearly impossible to drive anywhere. Also, every few weeks the water shuts off for a few hours or so while they place us on the temporary line. Ugh, so annoying. I came home one afternoon to see this huge geyser of water spraying everywhere. Hopefully they will be done with their "work" soon.

For Erin

2009-08-08T11:52:00.002-06:00

This photo is for Erin. After we checked out of our hotel in DC, we walked over to a little cafe for breakfast called Bread & Chocolate. I had a breakfast sandwich, which was fine, but I noticed that the "egg tuckage" was horrible and I thought of Erin.

Westend Bistro

2009-08-08T11:49:00.002-06:00

We spent the night in DC and visited with Melissa. We want to try to spend a lot of time with her before she temporarily moves to Israel in October! Her fiance, Amos, is in the Foreign Service and he is stationed in Tel Aviv right now, so she is going to join him there in October. The three of us went out to Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert. I had a roast chicken entree, which is pictured here. It was SOOO GOOD. It was moist and tender. The entire meal was exceptional. Expensive, but exceptional. If you are ever in DC and want to have a great casual dining experience and don't mind blowing some dough, check out Westend Bistro. We stayed at the Westin Grand, which was conveniently located a block from the restaurant. It was fortunate because when we left the restaurant, it was POURING RAIN, but luckily we only had to walk one block.

Bowling Adventure

2009-08-08T11:47:00.001-06:00

We went bowling with Lauren. She kicked our butts. Apparently she was in a bowling league as a child. Cheater! Steph and I sucked hardcore, but it was still a good time. We drank cheap beer in plastic cups, as one should do when bowling.

New Bathroom Light Fixture

2009-08-08T11:45:00.000-06:00

We bought this new light fixtures for the bathroom when we were at Home Anthology with Andrew and Chad. Actually, they aren't new at all, they are vintage mid-century modern. They are really supposed to be wall sconces, but we used them in the bathroom on top of the mirror. They are also supposed to be installed vertically, but they would not fit, so Steph installed them horizontally. They look nice and make the bathroom look so much brighter and more put together, I think.

Robert E. Lee Park

2009-08-08T11:43:00.002-06:00

We went for an early morning walk at Robert E. Lee Park. The trail is very pretty and runs right next to a large creek. Alex was going to come with us, but she had just come off of working a night shift and was exhausted, so she slept in her car instead. Aww, poor thing. Steph and I still had a good time though.

Leadbetters

2009-08-08T11:41:00.002-06:00

Every month now we go to Leadbetters to see Lauren play. We like it there-- the drinks are cheap and the atmosphere is very friendly. This crazy drunk chick wanted to sing "Me and Bobby McGee" with Lauren. It was pretty funny.

Fireworks

2009-08-08T11:39:00.002-06:00

For the 4th of July, we went out to McCormick & Schmick for dinner. It's a seafood restaurant right on the harbor. The food is just ok, but I knew the view of the harbor fireworks would be awesome. I took a lot of pictures. I used my large tripod, which helped with the slow shutter speeds I was using. Next time I will set up in advance of the fireworks though. I like this picture because it looks like some sort of deep sea creature.

Flowers from Alex

2009-08-08T11:38:00.001-06:00

Haven't blogged in a while, so I have a lot of catching up to do. Alex gave us flowers. She's such a wonderful and thoughtful friend. She came over for dinner and Steph made paella salad. Mmm, I think that's my favorite summer meal.

Explosion of green

2009-06-26T12:14:00.002-06:00

The vegetables are loving all the heat. The tomato plants are HUGE! I am especially proud of them because they are so tall, green, and plentiful. The feeling of attachment I have for them runs deep because I started those suckers from seed. I nursed them with water, sunlight, and the most foul smelling organic fish fertilizer liquid that you can imagine. They were just tiny little seeds and now look at them. Ah, the miracle of life. The plants are full of flowers and I've read that it generally takes 30 days from flower to ready-to-harvest fruit, so I'm pretty excited. There are even two small fruits that are growing-- they must be one of the earlier varieties that I planted. I planted all heirlooms, but I forget which kinds. Oh well-- I'll find out when I eat 'em!

Baltimore Bound

2009-06-21T15:49:00.002-06:00

Chad and Andrew came down to Baltimore to spend the weekend with us. They drove down Friday night and we all went to Mezze, our favorite Baltimore restaurant. Mmm, tapas. On Saturday, it rained (of course-- it does not but rain lately), so it was a low key day. We went to a yarn store, a vintage furniture store, H-Mart, and out to brunch. We spent the afternoon at home relaxing-- we played Phase 10, chatted, and drank hard cider. After our enormous brunch, no one felt like having a real dinner, so we went to the diner at 10pm to get some food. Our waiter looked a lot like my brother and it freaked me out! On Sunday morning, we woke up to head over to the farmer's market. It's always so nice when we get to spend time with Chad and Andrew-- we've all known each other for so long that it is really low-key and comfortable. We're looking forward to seeing them again in August when we go camping together in PA.

Reading Terminal Market

2009-06-21T15:45:00.004-06:00

We spent the night at the Downtown Marriott in Philadelphia, which is directly across from the Reading Terminal Market. After we checked out of the hotel, we went over to the market to check it out and get some lunch. We got lunch from DiNic's, which is famous for their pork sandwich. Words cannot describe how juicy and delicious this sandwich is-- the pork is tender, the hoagie roll is fresh, the provolone is sharp and aged, the broccoli rabe is garlicky, and the pork juice drips off the sandwich. So so good.

Andrew is a Master!

2009-06-21T15:39:00.003-06:00

After I don't even know how many years, Andrew graduated with his master's degree in Environmental Engineering. YAY! To celebrate, he invited some of his friends and family out to Yakitori Boy in Philadelphia for karaoke and dinner. Luckily, we were able to make it up there to join in the festivities. It got off to a rocky start, with Andrew's Mom falling on the street outside the restaurant and dropping the cake (by chance it landed flat on the ground and still in the container, so all was well), but after that slight misshap it was smooth sailing. The songs people chose were great, the company was fun, and the food was tasty. I was really glad that we were able to take the time to come up to Philadelphia to be there.

(From the top: Matt singing "Paint it Black", Andrew singing I forget what, Erin and Rich (Andrew & Erin's dad), and Steph and Chad.

She's my cherry pie...

2009-06-15T18:55:00.003-06:00

Since practically the first day of Spring, Steph has been asking me to make her a cherry pie. It's her favorite pie. I keep telling her that she needs to wait for sour cherries to come into season, which usually happens in early July. But all the heat and rain we've had lately must have made the season come early, because I found sour cherries at the farmer's market this past Sunday. I was quite excited and I called Steph at work to tell her the good news. I made the cherry pie today using a combination of recipes. I use my mother's pie crust recipe, but I cut the water in half and substitute the other half with vodka (a trick I picked up from Cook's Illustrated). The vodka evaporates during baking, so the crust is still flaky and not tough at all, but the added moisture before baking makes the dough MUCH easier to roll out. For the filling, I used the recipe from the Williams-Sonoma Baking Guide. The pie turned out beautifully and it was super tasty as well.

Erin's blog makes me hungry

2009-06-08T21:19:00.004-06:00

Erin posted a photo of an omelet she made for breakfast on her blog the other day and ever since I've been craving an omelet of my very own.

I'm not a big breakfast eater, so I made an one for dinner this evening. Having breakfast food for dinner is always so fun. I made my omelet with a sharp local cheddar, local spinach, and tomato. It was freakin' delicious...really hit the spot. I also had a piece of pumpernickel toast (I got the bread at the Amish market last week) with peach jam (local, and good, but not as good as Andrew's jam), and a thinly sliced radish.

In slightly related news, do you see how fabulous and natural the light appears in this photo despite the fact that I took it at 10pm? It's because I bought a speedlight flash for my camera. Not only is the flash superior to the built in flash on my D80, but it also gives me the ability to bounce the flash off the wall or ceiling, thus making the light appear more natural. It has vastly improved the quality of the pictures I take in low light. I will have to post comparison photos so you can really see how much of a difference it makes.

A belly full of food and a heart full of happiness

2009-06-04T19:35:00.003-06:00

Today was a relaxing, rainy day. I like rainy days because I don't feel guilty about not getting out into the garden to do work! We went to the Pennsylvania Dutch Market, which was awesome. We had never been there before, so it was a new adventure for us. They have raw milk butter!!!! If only they had raw milk as well... The quest continues.

We ran some errands and then came home, and I made dinner while listening to Jeff Buckley. I roasted leg of lamb and asparagus, and Steph made a delicious salad. The greens came from our garden, and the asparagus was local. I feel like the asparagus at the farmer's market has been especially good this year. I think this may be the last week for it though, so I will need to stock up on Sunday and freeze some.

And yes, we let Winston sit at the table with us when we eat. He's so cute about it. We put that plate in front of him for the photo opportunity, but after we finish eating we usually give him a couple of small pieces of our meat or a bit of cheese. He is a spoiled little Prince.

Golden West Cafe

2009-05-29T17:32:00.003-06:00

Alex's friend, Danika, came to Baltimore this week, so the five of us went out to Golden West Cafe for dinner. The best thing about this place is that they serve excellent tex-mex breakfast food all day, like chorizo burritos. Their whole-wheat banana pancakes with coconut syrup are also delicious. We went here because Danika is a vegetarian and they have a lot of vegetarian options. Golden West is in Hampden, so it is pretty hipstery and quirky, like the rest of the neighborhood. Good times.

T-Shirt

2009-05-29T17:29:00.002-06:00

I loved the shirt on Woot Shirt today, so I bought it! It should be here on Tuesday. I am really into t-shirts this summer-- last summer I was all about the button downs, but this year it's t-shirts all the way.

Dining Al Fresco

2009-05-22T17:08:00.003-06:00

Our friends, Callie and Alex, joined us for dinner earlier this week. I grilled kebobs, and made local roasted asparagus and a rhubarb tart using locally grown rhubarb. We ate, laughed, talked, and drank wine. After dinner, I started a fire in our firepit and we sat around the fire and enjoyed the lovely evening together. It was an awesome evening.

A Detour to the Filling Station

2009-05-16T10:15:00.004-06:00

The Filling Station is the only place we go to buy coffee. I am extremely anal about my coffee and usually only drink the cold-pressed Drew's Brews (I have the beans shipped to me from Nashville) that I make at home. The coffee at FS doesn't compare, but it is just the cutest little place, so we try to go when we are out that way. The Filling Station is a small, old gas station that was converted to a tiny coffee shop. The mexican hot chocolate with two shots of espresso is my favorite drink. There is no indoor seating (the place is way too small), but there is plenty of covered outdoor seating. It is in Hunt Valley, right in the middle of Horse Country, so the area is gorgeous. There is a great farm stand across the street that sells fruits and vegetables in the Summer, apples and pumpkins in the Fall, and Christmas trees in the Winter.

Grill Time

2009-05-16T10:13:00.003-06:00

I love when it finally gets warm enough to use the grill. It's so much fun to cook and eat outside. For our first grilled meal this season I cooked up some Italian Sausages and some zucchini-- nothing fancy, just quick and charred. Yum.

Blast from the Past

2009-05-16T09:58:00.003-06:00

Life is strange. A few weeks ago, Steph was out at a club with Alex and Callie. First of all, Steph being out at a club (especially without me) is a very strange occurrence in and of itself. In the restroom, she happened upon my very first girlfriend, Lauren. Lauren and I dated when I was still in high school. I thought she was very cool because she was in college and had a car. She was also one of about 3 gay people I knew at the time. We dated for a few months and it was very intense, but it ended quite badly. We did not part on good terms at all. You know how young love is...all crazy, dramatic, and filled with jealousy. 11 years go by without her coming in to my life at all, until the night Steph runs into her in the bathroom at Hippo. She and Steph had a little chat in the bathroom and then went their separate ways. The next day I found Lauren on Facebook and sent her a message saying that I heard she met Steph and that I hoped she was well, etc...you know, pleasantries and such, but definitely opening up the door for further communication if she wanted. So now we are forging ahead again as friends and it has been a lot of fun so far.

Lauren is an aspiring musician and she is quite good. On Thursday night we went to Fells Point to hear her play at a bar called Leadbetters. Leadbetters is a total dive, but the drinks are good and cheap, it isn't pretentious at all (a rarity in Baltimore), and the crowd is very friendly. Lauren was awesome. We will definitely go to more of her gigs in the future. She is playing on the main stage for Baltimore Pride this year, so you should all come to that and see her play.

The lighting was crap, you know how I refuse to use a standard flash, and I didn't have my DSLR, so please excuse the grainy pictures.

New Camera Lens

2009-04-25T20:47:00.002-06:00

I got a sweet new lens this week for my DSLR, so I took some pictures of Winston to test it out. It is a Nikkor 50mm f1.8. I bought it from BHPHOTO, which is a fantastic online store. Mmmm...bokeh....

Enjoying the cool weather while it lasts...

2009-04-25T20:44:00.002-06:00

Late Friday afternoon and early evening, we spent a good chunk of time just enjoying the deck. It was beautiful outside. Little did we know that a disgusting heat wave would strike on Saturday! Ugh, gross...it was 90 degrees. Only 4 more days, and then it's supposed to be back to the agreeable Spring weather I so enjoy.

Steph spent some time knitting and just enjoying the glory that is our yard. It's so peaceful out there. We even saw two bunnies! They were eating weeds, so I didn't shoo them away.

Images from our garden

2009-04-25T20:40:00.002-06:00

I can't wait until I can use this basket to gather my fruits and veggies and cut flowers!

I am in the process of making a garden path border using glass bottles. It's turning out quite well! Yay for Freecycle, the source of most of the bottles I've used, as well as friends who have been willing to donate to my cause.

Hosta heaven...

The humans are dead

2009-04-20T17:55:00.002-06:00

We spent yet another lovely weekend in Philadelphia. On Saturday we went to the Tower Theater in Upper Darby to see the Flight of the Conchords.

They came out dressed as robots! It was a very funny concert. I do wish they had performed more songs from the first season of the show, as I have not yet seen most of the second season. They DID sing "Business Time" though, which is really the most important thing. Haha. If you aren't familiar with FOTC, check out some of their songs on YouTube. They are hilarious. You can also buy a DVD of the first season of the show, which aired on HBO.

Cat!

2009-04-08T16:34:00.003-06:00

Gratuitous cat photo ahead...

I am still recovering from making a garden path out of 4 tons of rocks on Monday. It took us about 6 hours to complete that project. Dude, you wouldn't think it, but rocks are heavy.

In other news, I want to go to this. Steph has a long stretch of time off that week, so I don't see why we shouldn't be able to go. I just have to find somewhere decent to stay, I suppose.

Happy Passover, Easter, or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate this week! It is weird to not be going to a Sedar. My Dad was the king of sedars. My grandparents used to have a Sedar when I was growing up, but now it's too much trouble for them and not enough of the family live in town to make it worth the effort. Sad. I feel depressed when I think about my family, recently. We used to all live close together and celebrate major holidays and such, but now we are all spread out and no one really wants to go through the hassle of being the one to host events. I have such fond memories of the holidays as a child. As for Easter, I find it intriguing. I have only been to an Easter dinner once, and it was in college. I'll take any excuse I can get to eat lamb. If I had children, I would dress them up in adorable Easter outfits and arrange an egg hunt, but alas, I have cats instead and they are not amenable to playing dress up. Silly cats.