Blog, Blog, Blog

Fail!

2009-07-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

I failed to read 4 books last month. Summer just isn't when I get into reading. And we spent a week sleeping/living on the floor of the living room because of the heat, which just wasn't conducive to reading.

So... I'll restart that one in the fall.

I've also failed to lose weight. So, it seems I'm heading back to WeightWatchers next week. I HATE WeightWatchers, but I know if I just show up to the meetings the shame will get me to lose weight. Anyone want to go with me? Wednesdays at the Midtown YWCA.

I failed to finish the gift I started for my friends Angela and Andy who just had a little baby boy. Maybe it will be a Christmas gift.

Fail. Luckily have still have two more years to meet these goals...

Gooseberry Falls

2009-06-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

CJ, Jeff and I went to Gooseberry Falls yesterday.
CJ posing for the camera:
Jeff posing:

If you've never been to Gooseberry Falls, it is a really great State Park. To park at the Falls area is free and you (and the kids, or whomever) can climb around both the Upper and Lower Falls. There are no barriers and they suggest you don't swim, but Jeff did and loved it. Below the Lower Falls there is plenty of space to swim and play in the water. And you can hike down to Lake Superior or up the river. There are a lot of campsites, but they fill up fast.

CJ and I had a chance to hike around, but it was raining and not the most beautiful day. Here's and action shot of CJ:

So off the list, a Minnesota Tourist Attraction and another State Park.

Giving Blood

2009-06-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

I was unable to give blood last week when the Bloodmobile came. I had meetings all day and was unable to get free for the hour or so it usually takes. So, today I headed down to the American Red Cross to give blood.

If you haven't given blood, it is very easy and very painless. The interview portion takes longer than the blood taking portion and you get free snacks. The American Red Cross has convenient giving locations in St. Paul and Minneapolis and tons of Bloodmobiles.

First Solo Backpacking Trip

2009-06-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

Friday night I took my first solo backpacking trip at St. Croix State Forest. Because it was my first, I kept it short and easy with one overnight and a total of about 4 miles of hiking.

Things went good and things went bad. First, I forgot my camera and my wildflower book. I've been carrying my book of Minnesota wildflowers with me and identifying new ones. I saw tons and tons of flowers that were so cool, but had no way to look up what they were or take a picture of them.

Second, I forgot to print off a map. This was not good. Because I didn't have a map, I ended up camping at an absolutely amazing site, but it was on private land. From the map, I can now see that 1/4 of a mile more and I would have been at the site I was trying to find. I didn't get in trouble, but I feel bad.

But it went really well. I didn't get lonely, mostly because I had Jeff. It was hard to keep him nearby as there was so much to explore, but generally he was a good boy. He had a really hard time sleeping at night and every noise had him on notice. He finally settled down after I let him out to go potty at 4:45 am.

Next weekend I'm up for a much more adventurous trip. I leave the cities on Thursday night and head to Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. Thursday night I'm car camping, but Friday and Saturday will be at two different backpack sites. I'm a little nervous, so if anyone wants to join me, let me know.

Other updates:
a) I'm back up to my starting weight, so I haven't lost anything. I'm pretty bummed about that, but I'm going to start exercising more and get back on WeightWatchers AGAIN.

b) I'm going strong on 4 books a month still, I finished American Born Chinese this week and it is super fantastic. If you are into graphic novels, read it. It is really funny.

c) I broke the "no buying cookbooks unless previewed at the library first" goal, but I had to . I JUST HAD TO! See, this fantastic cookbook called Cooking From the Heart: The Hmong Kitchen in America just came out. The library hadn't procured any copies yet, but there was already a waiting list. I NEEDED it. And it is wonderful. I highly suggest it to everyone.

d) We planted a bunch of Day Lillies and other perennials last weekend, checking one more goal off my list. They look great.

Conversion Complete

2009-06-09T19:30:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for your patience. The conversion is complete and all content and comments were saved thanks to the miracles of modern technology.

In the next few days I will be adding more links and tweaking the design. Feel free to make comments about either.

Today

2009-05-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

Walked 4 miles.
Biked 5 miles.
Huzzah!

Lots Done on Vacation Week

2009-05-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

All last week, CJ and I were on vacation near Park Rapids, MN at my parents' cabin. With a week off, I was able to work on my 101 things.

First, CJ and I went on a bike ride on the Heartland Trail with friends. It was an 11 mile ride, and that goes toward my 1000 miles.

Also toward my 1000 miles were a couple hikes, including one at Itasca State Park. One more park toward my 20.

Itasca State Park has a huge Minnesota Tourist Attraction: the start of the Mississippi.
That's one more tourist attraction for the year, and a very cool spot. CJ and Jeff walked across the Mississippi, but my batteries died on my camera at that moment.

Another great tourist attraction we visited was one of the huge Paul Bunyon statutes in the state.
Pretty cool, right?

Additionally, I drank a few new beers and two new wines. I failed to eat a meatless meal last week. And I read two books. All pretty good.

Two New Goals

2009-05-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

Quick update on my goals.

I removed 'Hike the Superior Hiking Trail' and added 'Go on 10 backpacking trips.'

I also added 'Attend a burlesque show' because it is something I always wanted to do and needed to add one more goal to get to my 101.

8 Miles

2009-05-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I backpacked 8 miles. And they were the longest 8 miles of my life. Dear jeebus, they almost killed me.

On Friday, Tammy (whom I'd never met) and I headed down to Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest in the pouring rain. After losing our way for a short time, we ended up at the Reno area of the forest where we met up with the Minneapolis/St. Paul Backpackers Meet Up group.

Luckily, they were much more prepared than we were. They had a large tarp set up. We were able to set up our tents under the tarp and then move them to their permanent spots. From there, we headed into "town" to the bar.

Our first campsite, in the morning after the rain. Photo by Tammy Ren.

I chose this trip for a couple reasons as my first backpacking trip. It was marketed as "easy", and "just a few hills" and "4 miles the first day and 2-3 on the second." LIES. ALL LIES.

In the morning, we shuttled some cars and started off on our hike. It had rained the whole night before and we ran into quite a bit of mud our first half mile or so. But what's a little mud? Nothing.

Then we came to our first "easy little hill." Yeah. 300 feet or so up hill. Up a steep hill. Up a frickin' mini-mountain if you ask me.

Then we did 3 more of them! I almost died like 12 times. I'm out of shape. Seriously out of shape. I would walk 20-40 feet up the hill, then need to rest. It took me forever to get up the hills, but going down the hills was almost worse. I was slower than everyone going down, but not by much, but my legs and feet killed as I went down. By the last down hill, my legs were trembling as I walked down.

But, it was all worth it. Here is one of the views we saw on the first day. Notice how high up we are, I hiked that high 4 times.

photo by Tammy Ren

When we finally made it to the campsite. After 5 hours of hiking, I was beat. I forced a smile, but 5 minutes earlier I was on the verge of tears and the verge of vomiting. I'm not joking.

Photo by Tammy Ren

Camp was great. By the time I got there, the fire had been started and people were just beginning to set up. I was totally beat, but got my tent set up. I was afraid I wouldn't get up if I sat down. We had lunch, then dinner and sat around and enjoyed each others company.

Everyone on the trip was awesome. People stayed with me the whole time, even though I was slow, and were very encouraging. I learned a lot of tricks and tips. Heard great stories of other places they have been and people they met. And learned some great places in Southern MN/Northern Iowa/Western WI I need to check out.

After a terrible night sleep, we were up again in the morning. I knew it was to be an easy day. One down, one up, and the rest down. Perfect. I knew I could handle it, even though my body was sore and I was tired.

The next day, we saw more pretty views.

Both photos by Tammy Ren

Total mileage was about 8 miles, technically. But that is as the crow flies. It doesn't count all the up and downs we did to get from point to point.

It was a great trip. I know I'll be doing a lot more backpacking because I had so much fun, even if the trail did kick my ass. I learned how out of shape I am, but also how far my body can carry me.

Due to this trip, I may change one of my biggest goals, which is to hike the Superior Hiking Trail. I know now there are so many wonderful places to backpack in the state, I don't want to limit myself to the SHT, which some points are up to 7 or 8 hours away from home. I've got to think on it.

*All photos used with permission from Tammy.

Read 4 Books A Month

2009-05-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

The month of April has come and gone and I was more than successful in reading 4 books. I guess part of that was due to my new love for graphic novels. I read 6 graphic novels last month and one memoir.

Of the six my favorite was Blankets by Craig Thompson. It is the story of a boy growing up in a very religious household. It does a great job of portraying his childhood, into his teenage years. It is an honest look at religion, sexuality, friendships, and life. Really wonderful.

I also read The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper. What a great memoir. Cooper tells the story of growing up in Liberia in the privileged class and having to leave for the United States when unrest takes over Liberia. It was interesting, emotional, and smart. I'm not one to like memoirs normally, but this one was truly excellent.

I have a few books ready for next month. I'm going to read Sigurd F. Olson's The Singing Wilderness for MNRead, a bi-product of MNSpeak. I'm part way through the bizzaro The Gargoyle. And sitting next to my bed is the graphic novel Palestine.

The Opera

2009-04-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

Last week, a dream came true. I won a free ticket for The Barber of Seville on Twitter from the Minnesota Opera.

I went to the show this afternoon, and it was fantastic. I had a seat on the main floor, 10 rows back, to the left of the stage. I felt they were really good seats, not the best, but really good. I could see all the facial expressions and all the action.

Everything was amazing, and I'm still sort of reeling. The Barber of Seville is probably the most famous opera of all times. Looney Toons used it, as have other cartoons, sitcoms and commercials. The Overture is known to most of us, as are other parts like, "Figaro, figaro, figaro!" The voices were all beautiful, as were the sets and costumes. The production was funny and contemporary. And the acting was spot on. It was excellent.

My only disappointment was that I couldn't take advantage of their outstanding offer of half price season tickets for next year. I really wanted to do it, but I just don't have the money right now, but I will be attending again. It was wonderful.

So, that marks off "Attend the Opera" on my list and one of my live musical performances.

Updates and Such

2009-04-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Not a lot going on in the last two weeks in terms of the 101 goals. I did volunteer a bit last weekend and I restarted my 4 books a month for 6 months goal. I finished The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper. It was outstanding.

Here's some more updates on select goals:
Attend 3 dance performances: I'm hoping to attend my first this Saturday. Anyone want to join me at the Southern Theater?
Attend the Opera: I won a ticket to the Minnesota Opera's The Barber of Seville. I'm super excited.
Attend 20 live music performances: We are going to see Mates of State this weekend, one of my favorite bands.
Watch 50 Documentaries: I wonder if 50 is enough? I love documentaries so much I have a hard time NOT watching them.
Finish Fireplace and Get/build bookshelves for every book: my dad came out last week and did some measurements for both of these. We are getting closer.
Organize desk at work: DONE! I had to move cubicles, so I was able to clean up my desk.
Donate 100 hours of my time: I've got a bunch of volunteer activities lined up for the next month.
Find 20 new letterboxes: I hope to go letterboxing this weekend.
Visit 20 new State Parks: I think I'm heading to Wild River State Park this weekend for a nice hike with Jeff. It will also increase my mileage for my 1000 mile goal.

So, yeah, I'm working on things. And I still need to come up with a final goal...

Pea Risotto

2009-03-30T16:32:00.001-07:00

Pea Risotto was for dinner tonight for Meatless Monday, with a some sauteed mushrooms.

This was good, really good. I didn't follow a recipe, but it is similar to this one, but I like shallots more than green onion.

If you didn't want to do it meatless, it would be really good with bacon or with seafood.

White Food

2009-03-28T10:47:00.001-07:00

White Food: Ugly, impossible to photograph, boring.

Last night I made a very simple fish dish that tasted very good, but was totally not photo compatible.

White fish, with a colorless sauce, with white rice. Dear, dear, dear, how boring.

But it was good. I saw Bittman do it on PBS, so I replicated it without having any measurements.

Take a nice mild white fish and pan fry it quickly in olive oil making sure not to over cook it. We used wild caught Dover Sole (you should always use wild caught fish. Farmed fish has none of the nutritional benefits associated with fish like Omega-3s and is generally bad for the environment.) Make sure to season it generously with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, make the sauce, I used a couple tablespoons of butter melted. Add a tablespoon or so of capers, a tablespoon or so of red wine vinegar and two tablespoons of honey.

The sauce is very runny, which was perfect with the rice. The whole meal (we had rice already made) took about 7 minutes.

Learn the Music of a Composer I Like

2009-03-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

Learning the music of a composer I like is proving to be the most rewarding and interesting of all my goals. I started off by putting a call out to my twitter friends asking for composer recommendations. I got quite a few and started going to the library to get music from them.

I don't steal music. That means, I don't get things from the library, put them on iTunes and keep them. I delete the music when the CD goes back to the library. If I don't pay for it, I don't keep it. That said, I found music I liked and wanted to go out and buy it. But CJ told me he has a big box of Classical Music somewhere in the house. I shouldn't buy anything until he finds it.

Well, I've been waiting for over a month for that.

Meanwhile, knowing he did not have any opera, I started listening to it. And I LOVE IT. It is dynamic, beautiful, heart wrenching and amazing. While I like all classical music, opera is my favorite for sure.

So far, I've bought 5 operas. Between them and the new Decemberists, that's all I listen to. I've done research about opera and find it fascinating.

So, I think, in the end, I'll be choosing a composer who did Opera also for this goal. But I have a lot of exploring left to do.

4 Books a Month FAIL

2009-03-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

March was to be my first month of reading 4 books each month for 6 months. I failed.

But things started out really good. I read Kurtis's great book Mudville within the first 3 days of the month.

But things went downhill from there. But not from lack of trying.

The first book I tried to read was What is the What by Dave Eggers. It is an interesting story, I guess, but I just couldn't get through it. I would read one or two pages and put it down. I'd bring it on the bus, but just stare out the window. I just didn't get into it.

But, I didn't just give up on it and move on. It took me two weeks to finally give in, all the while I could have been reading something I liked.

Second was Watchmen by Alan Moore. Same thing. It just wasn't interesting to me. It was actually super boring and I didn't care what happened.

So, next month I try again. I just picked up The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper for the MNSpeak Book Club. I've read the first couple chapters and it is great. I'm ready to head to bed right now to read more. I will likely make sure the book gets finished in April so I can count it for them (they are my goals, I can cheat if I want.)

Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park

2009-03-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Awesomely both of our wireless routers died today, so I had to quit work early due to it. Since sitting at home without Internet wasn't an option, I decided to head to Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park.

Jeff and I hiked around for an hour and a half. It wasn't that great. The trails were very icy, covered with snow. That made it very slippery and difficult to hike on. But, the trails themselves are nice. It is a very wooded area near a river. We found the "hidden falls" which were frozen and very pretty. There is a bit of elevation change, which would be nice if it wasn't all icy. Jeff enjoyed himself quite a bit.

So, 1 of 20 new State Parks down and another 2.5 miles covered.

Mmmm, Dinner for real

2009-03-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

On the recommendation of CJ's parents, we went to 98 Pounds Buffet tonight. The buffet is, I thought, your standard Chinese buffet in Bloomington. But I had heard they had crab legs, and I love crab legs, so we went. We tried to go on Valentine's Day, but the line was out the door, so this was attempt two.

The first surprise was the number of Asian families dining. Awesome, right? It is always a good sign when Asian people are eating at an Asian restaurant you are about to try.

The second surprise was what was on their plates. What was on their plates? I wasn't quite sure, but I could tell it was seafood.

While the buffet has standard lo mein, fried chicken dishes with sauce, and ice cream, it also had some items I have never seen at a buffet. Luckily I'm a very adventurous eater. Too bad I didn't bring my camera.

The first new to me dish I had was crayfish. People were eating crayfish by the plateful. It was cooked in hot peppers, but no real sauce to speak of. They were really tasty, once I figured out how to eat them. Here's a picture from their website:
A second awesome item that I had never had before was crab stuffed oyster. It was really good, almost like a casserole on an oyster (which is good IMHO). Here's another pic from their website:
I also had some of these, but I have no idea what they were:
Some sort of dumpling I guess. I also had a whole crab. It was very interesting trying to get that open. I have had crab legs before, and soft shelled crab, but never a whole hard shell crab.

The interesting thing I had though, was chicken feet. Yep CHICKEN FEET. For some reason they don't advertise their chicken feet dish on their site. Here's a pic I took from Palace Chinese Restaurant's page (http://www.palacechinese.com.au/?action=YumChaGallery)
It was, um, interesting.
If you like the fat on beef or pork, you will love these. That is, if you can get past the fact they look like feet and you have to eat the meat off the fingers, which totally bend like fingers in your mouth. It is a very fatty texture, I think it is all cartilage. It was real tasty, but I don't like eating fat, and that's what it was like. And the fingers were a little bizarre. It was a very rich taste and was very good, I just didn't dig the texture and only ate one.

Overall, I would highly suggest 98 Pound Buffet on a Friday night. Bring your best appetite.

(p.s. there is also sushi, which was pretty good. Like Lund's quality and a good variety.)

Breezer Uptown 8

2009-03-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Today, I bought a bike. Specifically, this bike:
Pretty sweet, huh?

It has everything: internal gear shifting hub thing, kickstand, fenders, bell, lights that run on people power, the back rack and comfort. I also picked up a lock, a computer for it, and a net for the back rack.

Pete and I went on a bike ride today too. I'm incredibly out of shape, but made it 4.5 miles. This is my first of 1000 miles that I will be walking/biking/snowshoeing etc.

Meeting a "Celebrity"

2009-03-01T17:53:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I met the goal of meeting a "celebrity." I met Kurtis Scaletta author of Mudville at the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul.

Here's a pic, stolen from Kurtis's site, photographer unknown:
You can see CJ, David and me sitting on the steps.

Mudville is Kurtis's first published book. The book is targeted to Middle School kids. You can read all about it on Kurtis's site.

I read the book in a handful of hours and really liked it. Besides being about baseball and brothers, there are themes on race, alcoholism, and absent parents. The main characters have real world flaws and troubles, which I really liked. Kurtis does a good job giving the characters depth and their troubles relevant and real.

I feel honored to meet Kurtis and read his great book (my first of four this month and each month for the next six.)

Some Updates

2009-03-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

First, I finished my Community Ed class. Mollie and I took Crochet and it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot, but I didn't complete any projects. So, that's one off the list.

I also learned the "bubble stitch" in the class, though it is actually called a "bauble" or "bubble" stitch. It was much easier than I thought it would be, so it wasn't much of a goal. But that is another off the list.

I have been plugging away on the both the wine list and the documentaries. Since I love both, they aren't really challenges, but a fun way to pass the time. I keep forgetting to write down the wines I try when I'm out, so I'll keep adding the ones I remember to the previous post. I also have made a meatless dinner each week, but they are too boring to write about.

I am starting the first month of my read 4 books a month for six months. I read a large chunk of "Mudville" today, so that counts as one. More on that later.

I didn't save $25 in February, but I'll save $50 in March.

I'm going to change a couple goals. I'm eliminating the "run 3 miles" since I also have "run a 5k" on the list. Those are the same things. I am adding something, but I'm not quite sure yet what it will be. Additionally, I changed the walking 500 miles to include biking and upped the amount to 1000 miles. I was counting miles on a treadmill, but I won't anymore count anything but outside miles now. I made this change because I will be getting a bike soon and it is more about being outside than straight up exercise.

Any ideas on a new goal to add? I'm not sure where to go with that one.

Onion Jam- Done

2009-02-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

I spent 4 hours today making Onion Jam. It is pretty damn tasty and something I really have wanted to do for a long time.

To see how it did it and the recipe, head over to Mmmmm, Dinner.

Onion Jam

2009-02-21T20:26:00.001-08:00

Tonight I made Onion Jam. Onion Jam is a great product, but hard to describe. It can be a condiment. It can be a replacement for onions. It can be a flavor enhancer. I plan to use it on top of pork and bread. I plan to use it in soups and tacos. I have lots of plans for it.

To make it, I used Nigella Lawson's recipe for Onion Jam as a basis.

To start, you need time. Lots of time. Additionally, you will need a heavy, shallow pan--it is essential. A v-slicer, like below, is very helpful.
The first order of business is to slice, very thinly, two pounds of onions. I used three large onions and the v-slicer to do it very quickly.

In your shallow, heavy pan, melt on very low heat a Tablespoon of butter mixed with 3 Tablespoons olive oil. Next, pile in your onions and pat them down into the pan.

Keeping the heat on low, add in half a cup of dry Marsala.

Again, pat down the mixture.
Sprinkle the mixture liberally with salt.

The next step is Nigella's. Take a couple pieces of tin foil and create a tight cover immediately on top of the onions.

Then, put the real lid on top of that.

I cooked the mixture for 4 hours. I probably could have only done 2, but I had the time, and what would it hurt? I did check it once an hour and gave it a good stir.

After 4 hours, it looked like this:

Bring up the heat to high and bring to a full boil. Boil off all the liquid and ta-da, you are done.

Of course, it is now 10:00 at night so I wasn't too hungry, but it was tasty. I had a little bit, with a little bit of salt, on a piece of bread.

I froze three small bags of the stuff. Apparently 1/3 cup equals the taste of 1 cup of onion. The rest I threw in the fridge. Tomorrow I'm going to top pork chops with it. Monday I may use it in a soup. I'm pretty excited.

Some Good Starts

2009-02-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was able to start in on a couple of my goals.

First off, CJ and I went to Hinkley Grand Casino. As trashy and depressing as it was, it is a Minnesota Tourist Attraction. We spent the night at the hotel and did a little gambling. Mostly, we watched Pay-Per-View movies in our hotel room. I'm checking this off as 1 of 10 tourists attractions for this year.

Secondly, I volunteered tonight for three hours for Second Harvest Heartland at their Best of the Best fundraiser in conjunction with Mpls St. Paul Magazine. I was a greeter and it was really chaotic and fun for the first hour and a half. The second half was pretty boring since everyone was already at the party. But, that's 3 out of 100 hours of volunteering.

Beer and Wine

2009-02-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Two of my goals is to try 20 new beers and 20 new wines. I realized that unless I keep tack of them somewhere, I'll never know which ones I've had. So I'm going to use this post as my tracking post. If you want to check back here to know what I've drank, you can. Otherwise you can just track my progress on the list to the right.

Wine:
El Portillo Malbec
Oko Cabernet Merlot (organic)
(3 wines I don't remember at wine tasting)
Pomelo 2007 Sauvignon Blanc

Beer:
Surly Mild
(2 beers I don't remember at wine tasting)