Category: Recipes + Food

Two takeaways

By , November 2, 2018 4:02 am

Two takeaways from my Chicago to Cleveland back to Chicago trip yesterday (that are only useful if you plan to ever use these airports):

  1. DO NOT park at Lot H at O’Hare in Chicago.
  2. If you use Uber or Lyft to get picked up at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, you have to go to a special “Ride Share” area. That is not marked anywhere in the airport (that I saw).

One day work trips that involve air travel are exhausting. I should plan overnight trips to share the travel over two days rather than all in one.

And now for a way too long typical travel story…

I left my house at 5:00 am yesterday. I got to the remote parking area and was confused by signs that told me to take the first left for Lot E, even though I never turn there for Lot E. I should have trusted my gut. I ended up in a lot I didn’t know about, Lot H.

I got there, saw I could park there, and there was hardly anyone there (a warning sign) and went in. And dropped my credit card while using the drive through kiosk. Sigh. (I found it.)

I waited at the bus stop for a ride to the airport. And waited. And waited. I thought about leaving and driving to Lot E because there’s usually lots of buses there. I finally called parking help and they told me a bus comes every twenty-four minutes.

At O’Hare remote parking, you usually take a bus to the People Mover tram at Lot E and take that to all terminals. But the tram is not in operation Monday through Friday through the winter, so the airport is relying on buses to get from parking to the terminals (and between the terminals). SO UNLESS YOU WANT A LONG WAIT, DON’T PARK IN LOT H. Lesson learned.

I stuck with it because I am dumb. I got to the airport and Cleveland just fine.

Then in Cleveland, I used Lyft for the first time. I was feeling anxious about it, but got tips from Mica the day before and thought to myself, “how bad could this be?”

I ordered my ride and waited outside the arrival area. Then quickly realized my driver was going someplace else. And I could not find signage for where to meet him ANYWHERE. I called him and he said I had to to get to a walkway and go to a special pickup area, so I went up to the departure area and found someone who explained to me how to get there. The driver had to wait for me for five minutes and I felt like an arse. But he was nice about it.

Also, it was raining the whole time and I got to walk to my ride in the rain, yay, great. Ha ha, I had just been hoping NOT to do that.

I used Lyft two more times during the day and had a hiccup each time where the driver’s app showed me on the opposite side of the street, even though I put in the exact address of where I was. What’s up with that? So yeah, more walking in the pouring rain. Whatever, I won’t melt.

Side note 1: I ate at Melt Bar & Grilled, which was the highlight of this trip! It was even better than I remember.

Side note 2: is it normal for Lyft drivers to talk to you during the whole ride?I know a lot about Mark, Robert, and David now. Granted, I’m pretty chatty.

And now, more on why you shouldn’t park in Lot H.

Oh, but first, let me mention that my hour-delayed flight home was so turbulent they couldn’t bring the drink cart out. My stomach felt like it was on a roller coaster. I tried to laugh about it, but, ugh, I felt hot (my fan didn’t work) and nauseated.

I was so glad to get off that plane and to see that our gate was right by an exit, yay! And right where I needed to be to pick up my Lot H bus!

But yeah, the problem is that the Lot H bus only comes every twenty-four minutes, right? So I talked to other passengers as I watched them get on Lot E bus after Lot E bus. I made friends with the traffic attendants. We joked around and they told me they wished all passengers were as fun and patient as me (ha, I tricked them).

Then a bus showed up and had a sign that it was going to Lot H and E. The bus driver started arguing with the traffic attendants about how Lot E people get mad at her that they have to drive though Lot H first (not sure why she wanted to argue with them).

So she went to Lot E first instead. Sigh.

But first, we had to stop at every terminal at O’Hare (I was at the first stop at terminal 1). Then after we dropped all the Lot E people off, she told me about the crazy passengers yelling at her. (I feel bad people are so rude to her – it’s not like she designs the routes.)

While riding the bus it occurred to me that I never got a parking ticket at the lot that morning. Was I so distracted by dropping my credit card that I missed it? Would I have to pay a huge lost ticket fee?

Then I got to my car and the door wouldn’t open because I’ve been ignoring the indicator on the dashboard telling me the battery is dying in my key fob. I used the valet key to open the door and was worried the car wouldn’t start because it’s a pushbutton and I have no idea what the hell to do to start it with a dead key fob (I now know). Thankfully, it started.

And thankfully, I hadn’t missed a parking ticket – that lot just has you use the same credit card to get in and out. Phew.

And thankfully, there wasn’t a ton of traffic to get out of there, and I was home by 9:00 pm.

Silly stuff like this is why I love smaller airports (like Milwaukee!) This is typical O’Hare travel, especially now with the tram down Monday-Friday. It just sucks I got home a lot later than I wanted to on a Thursday night, when I have to get up early on Fridays to teach. So the third takeaway is:

3. Try not to travel on Thursdays, or too late into Thursday evening. Or get a sub for my Friday class.

There were many positives from this trip – I got to use TSA Pre✓ and all I was carrying was a backpack and purse (it’s so nice not to worry about where my luggage will go). And my flight being delayed an hour isn’t that bad – I’ve had much worse! I think my flight was delayed three hours on my last business trip home.

But yeah, definitely not using Lot H again. (Or ignoring my low battery key fob signal!)

I didn’t pee my pants!

By , October 22, 2018 6:40 am

We had a fun weekend with Anne and Terry! It was so nice of them to make the long trek (almost seven hours) from Columbus to see us! Okay, really to go to El Famous. Then spend some time with us, since we happen to live nearby.

(They actually came out here to spread some of their dog Heidi’s ashes at her favorite preserve from when they all lived here, but it’s light-hearted to joke about them coming just to eat at El Famous, right?)

FRIDAY!

We met at El Famous on Friday night, hence all the jokes about them driving so far just to eat there. We offered to let them spend the night since we ate around 8:00 pm, and it seemed cruel to make them drive back over night. Ha ha ha, we so funny.

We went back to the house, and stayed up late chatting! (Note: late for me is anytime after 10:00 pm… but this “late” was past midnight!)

SATURDAY!

Anne brought us a delicious and beautiful sourdough loaf that she made! We had some of that with breakfast, along with hashbrowns, vegan sausage, and eggs. Totally NOT things that bother your stomach when you take a fitness boxing class after eating them muah ha ha.

While Anne and I were at Fitness Boxing, Steven and Terry went to Milwaukee to get donuts from, you guessed it, Holey Moley, and to get coffee from Hawthorne Coffee Roasters. Even though I had Holey Moley donuts two weekends ago, and um, donuts last weekend, I was STILL excited to have a donut when I got home from boxing. I was thinking about it while I was teaching.

We stopped and got Starbucks on the way home, and remembered to take a photo. Phew!

THEN WE GOT HOME AND THE BOYS WERE STILL IN MILWAUKEE WITH OUR DONUTS.

Ha ha ha. We were glad they were having fun together. Just also excited to eat our donuts!!!

I made our fettucine alfredo recipe for lunch (and messed it up, again, sigh – I suck in the kitchen) and we had donuts as dessert.

Then we decided to do a fire, and take some cutesy not-posed-at-all photos, and watch Tales of Halloween (very gory), and drink a little wine to get in the mood for the haunted house.

When Anne and Terry visited last February, we went to an escape room that is run by the guy who does the Dungeon of Doom in our town. I suggested to Anne and Terry that they come back in October for the Dungeon of Doom, and when Anne visited in August, I suggested it again.

Of course, all week, when people asked what we were doing with our guests this weekend, I kept saying “They want to go to the Dungeon of Doom! I don’t know why, it looks so scary!!!” Anne, Terry, and Steven reminded me it was MY idea. Oops. Ha ha ha.

Just looking at the website freaked me out! I was worried it would scare me so much I’d have nightmares, or pee my pants (while there). Ha. Ha ha. Eek.

I invited Jen and Troy, thinking the more people we had, the less scary it would be.

The Dungeon of Doom opened at 6:00 and I read there could be long lines so we got there around 5:15… and were the second group in line… and it was cold and really windy while we waited outside. Oops, sorry guys.

Steven, Terry, Anne, me, Jen, & Troy

Then we got inside and realized it was cash only. I didn’t buy tickets online since we were planning to get there early. I happened to have cash (anniversary money from my parents, thanks!) but everyone else didn’t and I felt bad they had to use the ATM. Anyway, the more you know, if you go.

They had “characters” walking around spooking you while you paid and stood in line to start. They’d sneak up on you and get right in your face!

There was quite a bit of that at the start – people in your face, breathing right down your neck. It was annoying, especially when they did it for so long (one guy did it for what felt like a minute to me!).

But after that, we were in the maze that is the haunted house, and it was harder for the characters to do that because there was less open space, AND, they had advised us not to get separated, so we were holding hands in a big chain, and I think it made it harder for the characters to get between us, muah ha ha. So, more people DID make it less scary!

And it really was one big maze. We almost always knew where to go (Steven lead the way), but had NO idea where we were in the thing! We went through many themed areas – a circus, a derelict old house, a hospital, a butcher shop, you get the idea. It was really dark in there – we could hardly see at times, so the scary props weren’t too frightening, yay! I wasn’t scared by the characters (I just laughed at them!), but the air compressors and loud air horns/etc freaked me out, especially when they blew right on me.

Our favorite parts were the sensory type experiences – going through a tunnel that feels like it’s turning on itself, slanted floors, moving walls, soft floors, leaning over to get under big padding or walking through it, etc. There was even a “buried alive” experience!

I was impressed by the actors playing the different characters. They’d jump all over around the props in the rooms, and climb on rails on the walls (so you’d approach a hallway and there’d be one of the characters elevated on the wall, facing you, eek!). They seemed very energetic. We all wondered if they were able to stay that way all night (did they get breaks?), and if they lost their voices from their scripts (whether it was talking or screaming or screeching or whatever).

It was well done! Kind of steep pricing at $35 a person for “peak” weekend (it’s normally $30), but we were in there over an hour and all enjoyed it, and the adrenaline rush. And I never felt that scared! I just laughed and tried to be curious and enjoy it! They have a cheaper “blackout” event in November where you go through the whole thing with NO lights at all, and they give you one glow stick per group. Ha, no thanks!

So, regarding the blog title – I never peed my pants out of fear! Ha! Woo hoo! Success!

We got pizza and hung at our place after and played a little of Five Second Rule. And spent some time laughing at Steven’s pose in the group picture from the Dungeon of Doom. Ha ha ha.

It was a fun day and night with lots of laughs and joking around. And our two groups of friends (only the ladies had met previously) seemed to get along well!

SUNDAY!

We had pancakes and eggs Sunday morning, and hung out and chatted a bit before Anne and Terry took off, a bit after 10:00.

Then Steven and I were lazy AF the rest of the day. We took a nap, watched three movies (Pacific Rim UprisingOcean’s 8, and 7 Days in Entebbe), and did a few chores. It felt good to be so freaking lazy. I can’t remember the last time we sat around all day like that!

RANDOM CAT PICS!

Apollo and Starbuck hung out with us most of the weekend, and Khali even came out from under the bed a few times!

Drive then rush, rush, rush

By , October 15, 2018 12:17 pm

This got too long so I am breaking my weekend recap in to two posts!

FRIDAY!

Ugh, Friday was surprisingly hectic. My original plan was to teach and train (one on one), then swim, then run, then take a nap (because I get up at 3:50 on Fridays), then drive to Minneapolis, and go to packet pickup, then the hotel.

That plan got scratched. Apollo woke me up at 3:00, and I was worried if I took a nap I’d never recover, so I taught and trained, went home and packed quick, then hit the road. I figured I’d have loads of time in Minneapolis to do a shakeout run, chill, and even nap.

No.

The drive was mostly okay (although at one point the forecast showed snow and I felt worried because the last time I drove in it I crashed my car). Milwaukee is a COMPLETE clusterf*ck right now and I felt bad for the few times Steven’s had to drive through it the past two weeks. After I got through there, it was smooth sailing with miles and miles of gorgeous fall foliage.

Sample rest stop tree

I got really tired for the last two hours though. I stopped a few times, cranked the music, made it really cold, ate some snacks. Blah.

When I got to Minneapolis, I made an unplanned stop at The Herbivorous Butcher, per Steven’s suggestion. It’s an all vegan deli, with all sorts of vegan fake meats (that look like real deli meats),  cheeses, and other things. I ordered the Italian Cold Cut (they only have five things on the menu – seems they really wanted it treated as a deli). It was delicious, BUT WAY TOO BIG WHAT WAS I THINKING, and I could totally taste it on my run later. Oops.

The I Like You store (crafts from local Minnesotan artists) was next door and I had to stop in. They had a huge card collection and I wanted to spend ALL the time reading ALL the cards (and buying a zillion of them) but I didn’t.

I went to packet pickup after. I had a dumb Google Maps snafu that added some extra time, then when I got there, they said I wasn’t registered for the half marathon but for the 5K, and they were all out of my size of socks. Oops! They fixed it and got me signed up for the half, and gave me the wrong size of socks, and the flannel race shirt, which I opted out of (hobby horse registrants paid a discounted fee, and got socks, not the race flannel, but could choose to pay extra for it). That was nice of them to give to me when they didn’t have to do anything extra.

And BONUS! That flannel is a soft fleece material and amazingly cozy, comfortable, and warm, so I will  be wearing it every day until March.

I finally got to the hotel way later than I thought I would, and looked (on a map) for someplace to do a three mile shakeout run. After wasting time looking for a pretty route, I just ran from the hotel, which was quite pretty.

Then I hopped in my car to go on a special mission to pick up a Starbucks Minnesota “Been There” mug for Gina. She wanted to get one when she was in Minnesota in June, but I think they told her they didn’t have them yet? Anyway, success!

While I was out, my car buzzed that I was low on gas. Crap. I totally had forgotten to get some. And I only had my license and phone with me. I wondered if a gas station would take Apple Pay, but decided to go back to the hotel, get my purse, then go to the closest gas station… which did appear to take Apple Pay. Sigh.

Then I rushed to take a shower before my parents arrived, and changed hotel rooms (from a loud first floor room right next to the lobby/entrance to a room on the third floor). So much for R&R!!!

My parents arrived around 7:15 and we left right away to get food. I’d been dreaming about Pizza Luce  since I booked this trip, but was too full from my sandwich to go there. Sad face. I was NOT too full to try some vegan donuts, so we picked a restaurant closer to Glam Doll Donuts, and ended up at Christos, a Greek restaurant (my falafel was good but the tabbouleh had too much mint for my taste).

I almost forgot to look for vegan donuts on this trip. I’m not very dedicated to my Vegan Donut Tour, am I? Luckily, I did remember on Thursday before I left and found Glam Doll Donuts. And I saw they were open until 1:00 am on Friday night/Saturday morning, and figured that meant I didn’t have to worry about them running out of vegan donuts – they probably keep making fresh donuts all day… right?!

So we got there and I was super excited to see one case (of three) with TEN different vegan donuts to try! TEN!

I commented on how they didn’t have the “Vegan Marvelous Maiden” available (a sweet potato filling one I’d seen on their Instagram) and they brought one out for me! So here is what I got to try, clockwise from top left:

Vegan Gidget (Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut), Vegan Night Moves (Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits), Vegan Chocolate Starlet (Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles), Vegan Femme Fatale (Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing), and Vegan Marvelous Maiden (Sweet Potato Filling).

I also asked for the Vegan Pin-Up Girl (Bourbon-Infused Apple Fritter), but my parents got a regular apple fritter, and I think there was a bit of confusion and I didn’t get one (not a big deal).

I was SO excited to try these because they were mostly yeast donuts and those are my favorite type. I was especially excited about the raspberry one.

We got back to the hotel and I took a small bite of the sweet potato one and liked it. Then every other one tasted stale and blah to me. What a disappointment! I wrongly assumed they’d be fresher since they were open late. They were not. Maybe the sweet potato one was the freshest? The flavor of the raspberry and Hennesy ones were decent, but I really didn’t like the cake donut or the buttercream long john. Oh well! Fun to try!

State Date Name Flavor(s) Rating (0-4) Photo
Kansas 1/15/18 Mud Pie Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois 2/7/18 Do-Rite Chai Maple
Illinois 2/17/18 Holcomb Hollow Lemon Vanilla
Ohio 3/23/18 Holey Toledough Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin 4/1/18 Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter
Ohio 5/12/18 Brewnuts Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter
Minnesota 10/13/18 Glam Doll Donuts Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut, Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits, Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles, Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing, Sweet Potato Filling.

At that point it was 10:00 pm. And my mom was beginning to work on my hobby horse for the race (she signed me up as a birthday present, and offered to make my horse). She had the outline done, but still had to finish drawing it, color it in, and attached it to the dowel. It was kind of a long night! And we still had to finish attaching it in the morning! But it turned out fantastic and I can’t wait to show you… tomorrow!

25¢ POSTCARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By , October 9, 2018 6:45 am

We had such a fun weekend with Gina, Steve, and Luca. I felt like a kid waking up on Christmas each morning – so excited for the day ahead! I also very much felt like a mid 30s adult waking up each morning – exhausted from too little sleep. Ha! But more on that below…

FRIDAY!

Their flight from Dallas was delayed an hour, then baggage took a while due to the storms in Chicago, so we had a late first night. Like, dinner after 10:00 pm late, and going to bed past 1:00 am late, eek! We weren’t on a set schedule for the weekend, but man, those late nights EFF. ME. UP. For days. Worth it though (obviously).

Obvious Friday dinner choice

SATURDAY!

We chilled at the house a bit Saturday morning. Luca (well, everyone!) loved playing with the kittens and I’m glad they got to meet them when they are still small-ish, and super playful. It warmed my heart when they happily told me about the kittens sleeping with them at night, and later in the day, when Luca was excitedly telling Rachel story about them.

We had loose plans to spend Saturday in Madison and do local basic b*tch things on Sunday. Gina, Steve, and Luca have been to a few state capitals, and were interested in seeing the Madison Capitol. And we love going to Madison!

Our drive took us through Milwaukee, so naturally, we stopped at Holey Moley to take down a few donuts.

We (later) all discussed how we eat healthy the majority of the time when we’re apart, but when we’re together, it’s such a treat… that we have more treats. A LOT more treats than normal. Especially on a short visit like this! We’ll be more conscious of this in the future.

We got to Madison and walked a bit of the Farmers’ Market (I avoided the angry pepper man), and headed down State Street to window shop and look for a place for lunch. It was busy because of the Badgers vs Cornhuskers game, and it was fun to see the sea of red and black, and the interesting outfits, and behavior.

We ended up at Chen’s Dumpling House, which was DELICIOUS, but affected all of our stomachs, some immediately, and some later.

We got the scallion pancakes, vegetable dumplings, and red bean buns

So we tried to do a bit of shopping on the way back to the capitol building but I had to call it short to go use the bathroom. Eek.

But not before stopping to take some photos!

We walked around the capitol building a bit, seeing parts of a few floors, the observation deck, and inside the rotunda.

So… the blog post title. I had another “VEGAN CAKE!!!!!” moment this weekend. Some of our party (me and Luca) aren’t so great at inside voices. Or being quiet. And we were in some really echo-y spaces.

While we were walking down the stairs out of the museum, Luca was talking to Steven and Steven jokingly says to him “I see you still haven’t learned how to whisper.” Gina was behind them and heard it, then I came down the stairs behind her yelling “Twenty-five cent postcards! I should get one!” (I saw a sign about them in the museum). Gina started laughing and crying so hard she couldn’t talk. We had no idea what she was laughing about, because she was the only one who heard those two things. We all laughed too when she finally explained it, then enjoyed randomly yelling “Twenty-five cent postcards!” to each other all weekend. Ha ha.

After the capitol, we visited Rachel at the tailgate her company puts on to raise money for the American Family Children’s Hospital. Rachel’s told me about all the work that goes in to this event but I didn’t understand it until I saw it. Wow! Just wow. And they raised $62,844.29! I was so impressed, and proud of her.

I loved that she got to meet Gina, Steve, and Luca! I talk about them so much to each other!

We headed home after that. A pit stop for a bathroom break took us to an outlet mall where we found some killer deals at Bath & Body Works and a tool store. I am very proud of myself for NOT buying anything at Bath & Body Works.

We got home late and had another late dinner. Oops. We kept joking about it, saying we must be on “river time,” because we often eat late during our river trips!

Steven was inspired by our search for vegan ramen in Madison (I was too overwhelmed by the place we found to order there), and made an Asian soup. Then we had a very adult discussion over dinner about property taxes. We’re so fun!

SUNDAY!

We took it easy on Sunday, and focused on our list of basic fall b*tch activites. We ran in the local preserve while Steven and Luca watched The LEGO Ninjago Movie.

We got Starbucks on the way home from our run, and forgot to document it as one of our basic fall b*tch activities. Darn it.

Lunch was salad and leftover soup. Okay, and some tater tots. And a few of the “chicken” tenders we made for Luca. And let’s not forget those cookies bars we made Friday and munched on all weekend.

We hung out after lunch then went to Kroll’s Harvest Farm. We checked out the animals, got our cider (ugh, forgot a picture AGAIN!) then went through their corn maze. The corn maze was “horse” themed – the center part of it was designed as a horse head, and you read horse facts in the beginning. We were given a piece of paper with twelve spots on it to punch, then had to find the twelve stations inside – some just to punch the paper, and some with trivia based on what we read (there were two hole punches corresponding to the two answer options, and you picked one to use).

It was fun! And muddy. It had rained a lot before, and was sprinkling lightly during. But we found all the stations (in order!) and made it out, and all of our answers were right. We only googled one. Ha.

After that it was on to basic fall brah activities. Steve mentioned wanting to get some cheese curds and Steven said he HAD TO get them at the “Antique Cheese Store” (really, called the “Rustic Dairyland Antique Mall”). So we went there and they got their curds and were very happy.

Then we did something REALLY exciting. Went to Menards. Steve has never been, and Steven is there once or twice a week, and wanted Steve to experience it. I think Menards is great, but don’t always enjoy our trips there (because if I’m going or was sent, we are usually in the throes of a project), however, going with Gina, Steve, and Luca made it really fun and we were a bit silly and inappropriate. I wish they could come with us on every Menards trip!

We ordered pizza for dinner (I had this amazing burger instead),

and had a fire.

Luca and I played Blokus, and after he went to bed, we played 5 Second Rule, which resulted in lots of laughs (and uncontrollable laughing and crying for me). I love that we have serious conversations together, but also have extremely goofy moments. I remember both, but the goofy moments hold a special place in my heart. I was laughing so hard at times that my face hurt!

MONDAY!

We left the house at 6:00 am Monday for their flight. I wish we would have had more time together! We did so much in two days, and the days felt long because we did so much, but it also went by so fast, sad face. Luckily I see them again in December! Woo hoo!

VEGAN CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!

By , October 1, 2018 6:25 am

We had a fun and productive weekend! Yay!

FRIDAY!

On Friday we took a lovely nap after work with the babies,

then went on a walk in our local forest preserve.

We received these cute custom ornaments from my second cousin Denise on Friday! I put magnets on the back so I can enjoy them until we have a Christmas tree (and you know they are going to be on my fridge all year long).

Dinner was a  Boca “turkey” burger (are these new? or had I just not seen them before? I really like them!), while we watched the HORRIBLE movie, Rumor Has It. Horrible. So. Bad. Icky. I don’t really care for Jennifer Aniston, so that didn’t help.

SATURDAY!

I forced myself to sleep in Saturday (meaning, not getting up when my body wanted to at 4:00, and again at 5:00), since we had plans to go out that night. I thought I had all this time before teaching (and did things like write a blog post and buy our A Star is Born tickets), then had a blog issue and was all of a sudden scrambling to get out the door! Oops!

I taught Fitness Boxing then did my speedwork for the week. Yay for doing it on its own, and not making it part of my Sunday long run because I’m lazy!

We watched part of season 2 of The Good Place with lunch, then I organized and tidied up the house a bit.

In the evening we went to Milwaukee with Bobbi and John. We took them to one of our favorite restaurants, the Palomino Bar, which has vegan versions of many of the dishes. We got fried pickles to share, and I got the hot fried chicken. Bobbi and John really liked their dishes, and it made me happy they did! (I never know when I take someone to a place where I like the vegan food and they order meat dishes.)

Once we decided to go to the Palomino Bar earlier in the week, I had been thinking about how I was going to get a slice of their vegan cake. I was suspicious when I walked in Saturday and the dessert cooler wasn’t there. The waiter confirmed they no longer have their vegan cake (they’d have it brought in, but not sell enough before it went bad). NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Steven was sweet and looked up a local ice cream place that had vegan options, Babe’s Ice Cream, and lo and behold, when I walked in the door I saw THIS SIGN:

I got so excited, I jumped inside and said (okay, yelled) “VEGAN CAKE!!!” really loud and about gave the server a heart attack. I really freaked her out. And felt bad. But also, very happy they had vegan cake. Sorry, lady – I was genuinely excited.

So I had a small slice of cake, and part of an ice cream sandwich, and some of Steven’s ice cream. The cake wasn’t as good as what they had (brought-in) to the Palomino Bar, but it was nice to have that option.

After that we checked out the “Kwaktoberfest” at Cafe Hollander. It’s was a Belgian twist on Oktoberfest, so… can I say that I went to my first Oktoberfest, or not? Ha. Either way, we tried a few of the beers and hung out, and had a good time chatting and joking. At one point, I was laughing so hard at Bobbi and John’s Super Trooper 2 impersonation that my face hurt!

We had such a fun night out! It was great to catch up, and drink a little, and be a bit goofy. And I love going to Milwaukee. It’s so easy to get around, and park, etc. Although, it did rain the entire ride home, like the last time we went to Milwaukee with Bobbi and John!

SUNDAY!

Being up late + drinking = I needed to get a bit more sleep on Saturday night. I got just under 8 hours and woke up too late to do a long run, so did a quick ride on my bike, ran errands, ate lunch and finished season 2 of The Good Place with Steven, then hung up some fall decorations, and did a few tidying up chores before we went toaster oven shopping.


I added the pumpkin banner and lights. My snis helped me pick them out (we were in separate Targets at the same time)!

Steven added this paper towel roll, battery organizer, and bag holder to our linen closet! These things were just loose on the shelves in there before. Yay for more organized shelf space!

I was pretty pooped when we got home. I did some food prep, blog stuff, sous chefing, and Sunday evening chores and that was it. We started watching Phantom Thread, but ugh, not sure I am going to be able to finish that one! Too slow for me.

RANDOM CAT PICS!

Steven sent me this picture of the cats Saturday morning, saying “that squirrel thinks he’s their friend.”

What squirrel?

Oh my gosh. Yes, he does think that!

Bobbi gave us a stash of milk/Gatorade rings for the cats. Ha. They destroyed half of them in a day.

If I fits!

Just a bunch of cat pictures

By , September 17, 2018 12:45 pm

My weekend was spent doing VERY important things. VERY.

Like photoshopping our friend Troy’s head on this body, then putting it on this machine. Ha.

This was a special request from his wife, Jen, to send to friends they play this game with.

And eating LOTS of these cookie bars that Steven made (he made them vegan by using an egg replacer).

And watching Steven hang up some things in the house. Go Steven go!

I hang things up using 3M strips, then when they fall down, we use real nails/screws

And spending time with the kittens on the hammock.

And napping with them.

This is how I wake up at night – Starbuck next to me, Apollo between my legs, Khali at my feet

And going to Jen and Troy’s son’s birthday party!

I wasn’t a lump for the entire weekend. I taught a class, did errands, did some chores, exercised, blah blah blah.

But I mostly just ate and hung with Steven and the kitties. And got about half of my to do list done. And that’s fine!

But I do need to get my ish together. I have two more free weekends until we have guests coming and I’d like my house to be “Grandma Level Clean” for them!

Eating my way through Madison, no biggie d

By , August 21, 2018 5:58 am

I’m a lucky gal – I got to see three of my girlfriends this weekend! I’ve been feeling lonely lately, and it was good for me to connect and share with them.

THURSDAY!

I’m starting my weekend recap with Thursday because Anne spent the night! She was in Chicago for a conference that ended that day, and instead of going home, she hung out with me and Steven (and our fur babies). I appreciate her traveling up from the city to spend time with us!

We got Chinese take-out and ate and chatted. I feel like we still have so much catching up to do! We email a lot, and text a bit, but nothing beats face-to-face time.

FRIDAY!

On Friday Anne came with me to the 5:00 am strength class, and we ran after. Then she left for Columbus. Sad face! But I’m grateful for our time together!

Apollo helped Anne with her towels

In the afternoon I drove to Rachel’s house. I got to meet her newest cat (!!!), Nala, and we hung for a bit then went to the expo.

We both commented on how they make you walk by ALL of the vendor booths to pick up your bib and shirt, but we both also ended up buying a few things (for ourselves and gifts) after we picked up our stuff. Ha! They got us!


A bell we knew we wouldn’t be ringing

We went to Fuego, a Spanish restaurant in Madison, for dinner. They have a full vegan menu, and a full meat menu too. We decided to get vegan stuff and split it all.

We thought the tapas were the best – guacamole and salsa, and patatas bravas (fried spicy potatoes). We got the chile relleno and paella for our main courses, and didn’t like them as much! The chile relleno didn’t have much flavor other than spicy, and the paella was deconstructed and had a huge freakin’ eggplant in it that tasted way too earthy to me! Gag! I enjoyed trying something new though, and the opportunity to have so many choices!

The paella – the best part was the crunchy bread dipped in the savory broth

Of course, we got drinks too, and cake (mango coconut) to celebrate Rachel’s birthday!

After checking in our hotel, we went to Dane Dances on the Monona Terrace rooftop, where Rachel’s coworker’s group (well, one of a few that he’s in) Orquesta Sal Sol del Mad was playing! I enjoyed their salsa style music, and thought it was fun when they covered a pop song – it made the song even better (or helped the song if I didn’t like it – I’m looking at you Ed Sheeran)! We danced until they ended their set then got a drink with her coworker.

And went to bed close to midnight! On the night before a half! But we were running for fun so I totally wasn’t concerned.

SATURDAY!

On Saturday we ran the half marathon, had an interesting experience at the Farmers’ Market, and shopped/ate on State Street.

We were planning on having ice cream for lunch <— adulting!, but when we walked by Ian’s, we had to stop in for a slice. Ian’s is one of the very few places I like to get pizza, because they have so many vegan options (surprise surprise, pizza isn’t very fun when you’re vegan, unless the place caters to that diet!).

My jaw hit the ground when I saw they had three vegan slices ready to order (I thought I’d have to wait for a custom order) and one of them was mac n’ cheese. While we had been standing in line, staring at all the ready-made pizzas, I told Rachel mac n’ cheese was what I would get if it was vegan. So, that they had it?! BEST. DAY. EVER. Dreams do come true!!! Here’s a horrible photo that makes it look completely unappetizing:

We shopped a bit after pizza (gah, so many fun shops on State Street!) then got rolled ice cream. We had walked by the rolled ice cream shop on the way back from the race and didn’t have enough cash with us to get any, so that’s when we planned to go back for lunch, because, again, adulting. It was my first time trying rolled ice cream and I liked it! Watching them make it was a lot of fun.

We headed back to Rachel’s after that. I hung for a short bit then drove home. I could tell I was going to be tired when we were riding back to her place and I sure was on my drive. Eek. Too. Much. Fun. (really, too. little. sleep.)

Since this post is recap style, I’m saying more about what we did and not really explaining how nice it was to be together for a chunk of time catching up, but also, hanging out and making NEW memories. We’re typically together for only a few hours and trying to cram in as much catch up as we can!

I admire Rachel – she’s got a lot going on, and she has her sh*t together, and goes after what she wants. She’s actually very good at adulting, beyond our initial plan to have ice cream for lunch. Ha. And talking personal and work things out with her this weekend gave me some insight. Yay, friend time!

I spent the rest of Saturday night hanging with Steven and the cats. We made dinner and watched an episode of Mad Men (we just started season six).

SUNDAY!

I was lazy on Sunday. I got up at 5:00 and fed the cats, then went back to bed until 7:00 (!!!), and ran errands from 9:00-11:30. Errands were frustrating and I kept telling myself “these are small things that don’t matter,” but I’m in a state where I’m just waiting for one small thing to make me crack and lose my sh*t and it almost happened but didn’t. Phew.

We had lunch together and Bobbi and her girls came over after to play with the kitties (and talk to us too, ha). It was fun sharing cat stories – their cat is our kittens’ mother! We want to socialize Apollo and Starbuck with lots of people so they aren’t shy/scared, so I keep inviting people over to meet them. Come on over!!!

They were pooped after playing with their visitors!

We took Data out for a walk in our yard in the afternoon. He’s still playing the floor is lava game inside, but seems completely fine outside, so we stayed out there for about an hour. When we came in, he didn’t immediately run back to the bathroom sink – he hung out with us for a few hours!  Is this progress?! It made me so happy to have him hanging with us again (he did go back to the sink at the end of the night). He has an appointment with the vet today – we are concerned he’s losing weight too fast.

Steven was craving corn on the cob so we made that part of our dinner, and watched Avengers: Infinity War. And that was my Sunday, besides a few chores, and a lot of kitty time!

Random cute cat pics from the weekend:

We got this tent out of storage and it ended up being very popular!

Sloooooooooooooow down, and a scare

By , August 13, 2018 6:01 am

I had big plans for this weekend! Plans of doing ALL THE EXERCISE!!! Steven was out of town with his fraternity brothers, and I imagined myself filling free moments with running, biking, AND swimming.

But two things happened.

First, I had a headache most of Saturday. One that felt like it could turn in to a migraine. So after I finished work and errands for the day, I needed to take a nap – NOT spend time in the sun on my bike, or with goggles on my head in the water. Ugh.

SECOND! And this is a nice surprise – I want to spend as much time with the kittens as possible. Well, that part is NOT the surprise. The surprise is that having them is really making me want to slooooooooooow down. I hate having my schedule filled with back-to-back-to-back things and being busy, but I do tend to do that to myself. With the kittens though, I keep thinking about how they’ll only be little for so long, and I want to absorb all of it! Plus, this weekend, with Steven gone, if I left, I would put them in the guest bedroom, and I want them to be able to roam the house! So, yeah – another mostly chill weekend!

FRIDAY!

On Friday I ate an early dinner and ran after. Then spent forever on the phone with Starbucks to find out why someone didn’t receive an e-giftcard I sent them the day before. If YOU ever have this problem, call this number – 877-496-3731 – NOT the number on their website. Sigh, it took forever just to get that info (then they fixed it immediately, thankfully!).

I also did the fun task of going through old cards, letters, and postcards, and deciding which ones to keep, which to recycle, and which to scan. The use of the word “fun” is not sarcasm – this was FUN for me. Although it made me a bit sad, as some of the correspondence was three years old (oops, need to do this more often), and it made me think about how some people were doing better back then.

SATURDAY!

I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache and took medicine. Then woke up with a headache and took more. Then went on a run to see if that helped. Nope.

So I went to the Efit Games and felt bad to have a grimace on my face from time to time from my head pain. I didn’t want to be whiny about it, but I did let people know that was why I was feeling that way so they wouldn’t think I was just making a b*tchy face!

Efit trainers!

I wanted to go home and sleep right after, but I had scheduled Walmart Grocery pick-up. Sigh. Trying to be efficient bit me in the butt.

I still got a lot done that morning (see above where I mentioned back-to-back-to-back stupidity):

  • Got gas
  • Dropped off dry-cleaning
  • Did Walmart pick-up
  • Went to
    • Target
    • Bath & Body Works (I had free item coupons and got some birthday gifts)

      I bet you can’t tell what my favorite scent is!

    • Aldi
  • Okay, I got Starbucks too, hoping the caffeine would help my headache!

Traffic was a bit nutso. It seems like the county/cities are rushing to get road work finished before school starts or something, and LOTS of roads were under construction. Getting to Aldi was particularly annoying, as I got off one street because of construction, then the street I went to was randomly closed for a festival (???), then the only street left to take was under construction. Sigh. More headache medicine.

I was so happy to finally get home, put away groceries, make lunch, finish watching 17 Again, then take a nap.

Then it was another quiet night! I wrapped some gifts,

watched 50 Shades Freed (How could this movie be SOOO bad?! Oh! Because the source material is!!! Ha!), played with the kitties, saw a cat that looked JUST LIKE SNOW in the backyard (and felt sad), took Data outside to see how he liked that (he did), then tried to go to bed.

I heard horrible screaming from the guest bedroom after I put the kitties in there, and opened the door to tell them to chill out, and saw that Apollo was all tangled up in a cord and was being choked. I worked as fast as I could to untangle him, thinking I would have to run for scissors, but I was able to get him out.

Photo from calmer times the day before

I felt horrible, and spent too long thinking about how bad that would have been had I not been home to hear him. I put away all the corded toys and made sure the toys left out seemed “safe,” then talked out loud to myself telling myself not to waste time thinking about “what if” or to feel guilty, but that didn’t really work.

I tried to shift my mind to positive thoughts, like the beach vacation my parents and snis and her family are on, and that sort of helped, but I just felt sh*tty. I called my snis and was able to fall asleep (much later than I wanted) after talking to her about it.

SUNDAY!

I imagined I would sleep in Sunday but the cats had other plans! I woke up to what sounded like water running and felt super confused as I was the only one home. Oh. That was Data having a major poop accident in the bathroom. Sigh. Poor guy.

So early Sunday morning was spent on cat cleanup and feeding and playing duty. I also did some laundry, tidied up, and prepped produce for the week.

Then ran.

Then cleaned some more when I got back. And made lunch and tried to watch The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Netflix, but silly me, it was Crazy Kitty Time, and I couldn’t focus!

Watching Apollo be crazy

So we played for a bit, I cleaned some more, did some more laundry (CHORES!!!!!!!!!) then made this banana cake recipe, AGAIN, this time in cupcake form. This is my third time making this recipe and it’s delish. See upcoming Tuesday post about how I have gained weight this summer, muah ha ha.

Watching for Daddy to get home

Steven got home in the late afternoon and I spent the rest of the evening chatting with him about his trip, doing a few more chores, and watching that Netflix movie! I enjoyed the movie. I heard about it at the library, because they had a copy of the book and it said something on the cover about being a movie on Netflix. I picked the book up to see if I wanted to read it, but when I saw it was all back-and-forth letters, the format turned me off! I wonder if they ever actually get together (face-to-face) in the book (like they do in the movie). I am guessing the movie might have changed a few things (to make it watchable!).

There was some Crazy Kitty Time during the second attempt to watch the movie, too. Khali wants to be in on the action too (by observing and swatting from time to time), which makes me glad. It feels like she is spending more time around us now that the kittens are here. 

Oops

By , August 7, 2018 2:33 pm

I’ve completely forgotten about my vegan donut goal (to have a vegan donut in each state) this summer. Oops! The last time I updated my donut chart was in May, in Cleveland!

I thought I would remedy that while close to Louisville – surely there has to be some vegan friendly bakeries.

And there are! But they were all closed on Monday, or opened too late on Tuesday (the two days I’m here). I saw one place opened at 6:30 am Tuesday, and when I called them at 7:30 am to confirm they actually have vegan donuts (because websites RARELY seem to say they do – you have to look for reviews or Instagram or whatever), they were already sold out! D’oh! I should have tried harder. Instead of going to get donuts at 6:30 am, I was running. Bad Kim.

Maybe next time. I have a horrible feeling I will be back here for work. Ugh.

I did check out a vegetarian/vegan restaurant – Heart & Soy. The food photographed well, but I tried a new-to-me curry dish and didn’t care for it. I especially didn’t care for it on my run right after. Ha!

Not related, but here are photos Steven sent me of the babies while I was (still am) gone!


Ha, this one (above) of Apollo makes me laugh so hard!

Who’s Beanzie?!

By , July 16, 2018 6:21 am

FRIDAY!

Friday started out awesome because I finally visited Bobbi’s pool for the first this season! Woo hoo! I didn’t run over, but hopefully I’ll be able to later this summer (I have a pool bag there with my suit in it and everything!).

After that refreshing dip (it was in the 90s!), Steven and I went to visit the kittens. We talked with a technician more and it turns out they want the females to weigh five pounds before spaying them. Safety first! They think that may be this week, but who knows! Mama cat got spayed that day… but she can’t go home until all the kittens do.

We ran a Kohl’s errand after, then made a late dinner and watched part of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. We had just watched the original the week before, so we were keeping the series going! The original is more subtle with the animal violence compared to the second one, and especially when compared to Jurassic World. We thought Jurassic World was so violent and disturbing, there’s no way we’re seeing the one that’s out now. (Keep in mind, we’re vegan and vegetarian for animal rights reasons, so we don’t stomach violence, even against dinosaurs, well.)

SATURDAY!

I woke up to rain Saturday morning but was determined to do my tempo run, so I went to the trail, which would slow me down, but shield me from some of the rain.

That morning, I prepped veggies for the week, and made this banana cake from an account instagram suggested to me. It turned out SO GOOD (I had to use a different cream cheese recipe due to not having Tofutti at home – I won’t use it again).

We finished The Lost World at lunch, then I took a 1.5 hour nap. WINNING! After my nap, I ran some errands (where I ran in to Bobbi & fam, ha), watched part of Spirit of the Marathon II, made dinner with Steven, and spent a lot of time prepping for a bike ride Sunday.

Gosh, rides are SO. MUCH. WORK. to prep for. Especially when you are traveling to ride/not riding from your house. Preparing for this ride was like preparing for RAGBRAI, since I was also driving quite a ways to ride, then riding a similar distance, and needing to make sure I packed everything (thing I almost forgot and remembered in the morning – Body Glide)!

SUNDAY!

But the prep (and early morning!) was worth it for the fun day we had! I picked xaarlin up at 6:00 am and we headed to DeKalb for the Biking with Beanzie event. It’s an organized (and supported!) ride offering several distances – 25, 46, 64, 80, and 101. Xaarlin is training for an Ironman, and I have a 70+ mile ride at RAGBRAI, so I suggested we ride together as a late birthday celebration for her!

We arrived after 7:00, signed up (and got a fun tie-dye shirt), set up our bikes, and got on our way. The long drive out there meant we were out of Chicagoland and most of our ride would be on country roads where it was safe for us to ride next to one another and chat (I wear a mirror so we can watch for cars and move over well before they got near… said mirror broke as I put it on in the morning but I rigged it on my glasses for the day).

I wonder if the sky inspired the color for the shirt?

So that’s what we did! Pedaled and chatted and stopped at the aid stations every ten to fifteen miles. And the ride flew by (we rode 67 miles)! I usually bonk or get annoyed with the noise from the wind in the last part of my rides, but that didn’t happen with xaarlin – I think because I was eating and drinking a lot more due to the event being supported, and our chatting distracted me from the wind noise. Yay!

I picked this event because it was on a date that worked for both of us, and had NO idea who Beanzie was or what the event was about! We kept seeing funny “Beanzie” directional signs on the course (which was very well marked) – Beanzie in different movie posters, or famous scenes, or as a famous person. And we kept wondering “WHO IS BEANZIE?!”

And guess what? I still don’t really know – it’s hard to find the origin story online. There was a printed recent article from a newspaper at the event that mentioned Beanzie is a guy’s nickname who liked to ride in DeKalb with friends and they had the idea to start this ride to benefit the Kiwanis Mission. So… there ya go?! Updated to add: xaarlin sent me some more info and I was able to find this! The group wanted a unique name for their ride so they used one of the founder’s nicknames.  

It’s definitely well done though! We both said we’d do it again. And I LOVED that we got to use the high school showers to clean off after the ride. I felt like a new person (and realized I did a REALLY bad job applying sunscreen, sigh)!

After we cleaned up, we ate at a local Mexican restaurant, then drove back to the city, then I drove home! It was a long day, but a lot of fun!

When I got home, Steven helped me unpack and put everything away, which took almost as much time as packing! Then we did some chores, ate dinner, watched part of Jurassic Park III (we’re on a roll) and called it a night.

I definitely feel ready for RAGBRAI after doing this long ride! Yay!

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