-- Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I made two batches of (differently spiced) seitan sausages to bring to my uncle's tomorrow. I always use this recipe from Susan, and it's gotten good reactions from vegetarians and non-veggies alike. And since I was in meat-alternative-makin' mode, I cooked up the bean/lentil/bulgar mixture above and turned it into burgers. Once the beans were cooked and slightly mashed, I just started adding stuff to the pot (veggies, spices, oats, an egg -- you know, whatever) and crossed my fingers. I baked the resulting mixture in patties, and they actually turned out! That's my super technical approach to cooking.

-- I've been working on two house/furniture projects this week that I'm really excited about. The first is this super fancy glass-sided bookcase. Totally awesome and hugely expensive, right? Except that it's actually the top of my hutch, which used to be in the kitchen. I just added some feet that I got at Home Depot (about $10 for all four) and painted + attached the doors that belong to it. I still have to find a board that fits the top, but I'm already enamored of it. It's almost as good as a lawyer's bookcase (and it has a light!). I was badly in need of more shelving for books, so I've moved my comics/graphic novels here, along with Japanese sewing books and stuff I am currently/will be reading.

Since the top of the hutch is obviously no longer on the base, I hung a shelf over it instead. I've had that shelf for about as long as I've had my house, but it's been in the basement all this time. I had to remove a chintzy little 'railing' around the edges and paint it bright white, which took some time, but it was worth it, since it felt like I had a new piece of furniture for free. Here's a shot of it straight on. My poor lipstick plant (on the right) has been going through some rough times lately.

-- Here's a meal that I ate. Twice this week. Raisin Bran, Cheetos, and broccoli. Hey, sometimes the things you want to eat don't necessarily 'go' together! Someday, I should try eating cereal for every meal and see how long it takes until I don't want it anymore. It's the best.

-- If you're a US-Thanksgiving-celebrating-type person, I hope you have a great holiday tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing family! The Black Friday hype has been unavoidable this year, especially since Target is Minnesota-based, and there's been some resistance to their opening at midnight. Other stores are also opening late-early (Kohl's is, like, 11pm, and I think Toys 'R' Us is at 9pm), and I don't mind saying that I think this is disgusting. Disgusting. I won't be surprised when Black Friday becomes Black Thursday in a few years, and shopping becomes the focus of Thanksgiving. I get how competitive retail is and that everybody is trying to make a (bazillion) buck(s), but I just have to shake my head at this. Sigh.

But forget about that! Just stay at home with your loved ones and have a happy, long Thanksgiving weekend!

-- I've been running my grandma (my dad's mom) on more errands lately, and she always does her grocery shopping at Byerly's, which is fancier than the supermarket I usually go to. They have a really amazing bakery (it's where I got this bear claw last month), so I snagged a 'maple stick' yesterday. It was basically a cinnamon roll that was twisted instead of rolled, and it was so, so good. I was looking forward to the maple-iness, but actually the maple icing on top was the only thing I would have changed -- too sugary-sweet for me.

-- You know how you can become a Master of Wine? I want to become a Master of Apples, except I'm not sure such a thing exists. It would involve intense training and studying, and at the end, I would be able to bite into a slice of apple and tell you what variety it was, whether it was grown organically or conventionally (although, please, Masters of Apples only eat organic), which state or country it came from... and what kind of rootstock was used for the graft. Okay, maybe not that last one. (Although now I wonder if it does matter. Flow of water to the fruit, etc, etc.) So, people of the internet, where can I get a master's in Apple Science. And do they offer full scholarships?

-- Because all I eat are sweet things (I know you know that's not true), I made some cookies the other day. I used an oatmeal cookie recipe, but I tweaked it a bit and used Bob's Red Mill 5-Grain Cereal instead of rolled oats. That was all I had on hand, and it gave the cookies a much more interesting (in a good way) texture. I halved the amount of sugar called for in the original recipe, and I like how a lot of the sweetness now come from the add-ins. Click on the full post to see the recipe.

-- My grandma and I were having lunch several weeks ago, when I mentioned that I really like old linens. So when I took her to the hairdresser's the next week, she'd pulled together a big bag of stuff for me to take. Included were several items her aunt (my great-great-aunt) had crocheted, like the doily above. There's also a small tablecloth with an amazingly delicate crochet edging. She gave me this quilt (the one folded up in that photo), which HER grandmother made (and which I'm currently sitting under -- do you ever think about your great-great-granddaughter someday using the stuff you make?). The fabric is in good condition, but the batting is really lumpy, and I'm considering taking the layers apart (it's only hand-tied, not 'properly' quilted) and replacing the batting.

-- I hit the halfway point on my NaNoWriMo novel! And then some (I'm currently at just over 26,500 words). I'm not sure if it's actually the halfway point yet, plot-wise, but that doesn't matter. At least I have a plot this time around!

-- I had a few tomatoes from the garden in my fridge, and they were starting to get pretty soft -- no good for slicing, anymore. I was going to thaw some sambar that's in the freezer, but then I realized I could use up those tomatoes, and that was how this bowl of curry-tomato-kale soup (with roasted cauliflower on top) came to be. I've still got a couple little tomatoes that aren't mushy; I think November 8th is probably a record for me and garden tomatoes!

-- I gave Henny a bath today (fact: there has never been an easier dog to bathe, ever), which made me realize that I've never told you about This Cute Thing That Henny Does. When I take her out of the bathtub, I put her in the middle of a towel and then fold both ends over her, so she's all wrapped up. I start by drying her head, and when I get to the scruff of her neck, she decides to help out by licking the water off her front legs/feet. Every time. I love it.

-- I will admit that this is a pretty good view to look out at in the morning. I mean, not that a Minneapolis alleyway isn't also the kind of picturesque setting that inspires lofty goals, but there's just something about a marshy field and some trees. I packed up my entire collection of pets and came up to the cabin earlier this week, and we've just been enjoying the weather and nature and junk since then.

-- Birdy, classic emoter that she is, screamed like I was putting her in a bat costume (wait, no -- that, she didn't actually complain about) as soon as she was locked in her travel crate, but she quieted down once we were on the road. There was still frequent meowing, but more in an 'I would like to register a complaint' type of way than 'death is imminent'. She hid for a while once we were up here, but then she discovered flies in the cabin (thanks to the weather, not any uncleanliness of said cabin). If there's one thing Birdy is good at (and there is only the one thing), it's catching flies. At one point, I looked over to see her sitting in the middle of the floor, and the next second she had clapped her front paws together, a fly trapped between them. Cat magic!

-- I didn't have any fruit to put in my cereal the first morning I was here, so I had a pumpkin muffin my mom had made, along with a couple of fried eggs. And yesterday, I went to the local cafe for lunch, where I had my standard one (blueberry pan)cake, one egg, which is a bargain at $2.75, considering the one pancake is heartier (and better!) than a short stack from Perkins. The cafe always has old-fashioned daily specials, like tater-tot hotdish and various meat formations (kielbasa, meatloaf, etc) served with mashed potatoes and gravy. I would like to open a low-brow (I mean that in a loving way) diner like this that serves vegetarian versions of these things. Something that's neither trendy/classy (like, say, Real Food Daily) or gritty/punk (a la Hard Times Cafe). I'll put that on my list of sister-companies in my hypothetical vegetarian dining empire.

-- Henny and I went to St. Croix State Park yesterday, which, unbeknownst to me, all fell over during some storm. I haven't been able to consult the internet yet to find out when or why. (A storm on July 1st is to blame, the internet says.) We weren't able to do much hiking, but it was still a nice day to spend some time outside, surrounded by (disappointingly horizontal) nature. I was going to make fun of Henny for standing up on this little log to get a better view, but then I realized that she'd effectively doubled her height, so... fair enough.

-- Yesterday was the start of NaNoWriMo, and I'm participating yet again. I'm so easily convinced to sign up that it doesn't even take convincing, just an accidental mention of the event. I'm trying something new and totally radical this year: I have come up with a PLOT, and I outlined it ahead of time. Whoa. I'm terrible at plotting, and since Rob seemed to decline offering up one of his plots, I went ahead and hit up my old frenemy Mister Wm. Shakespeare. So, and this is revealing more about my NaNoWriMo project than I ever have before, I will tell you that I am writing a Minnesota-based, post-apocalyptic novel that is based, very loosely, on The Tempest. Except no magic. And no zombies, either (that's less of a caveat on Shakespeare's works and more on the post-apocalyptic oeuvre). Turns out that having some direction in writing is really helpful, because I'm killing it on the word count!

-- I get pangs of longing for Germany all the time, but never as much as I do this time of year. The Frankfurt Book Fair was last week, and I wasn't able to attend, but I think my body (or maybe just my subconscious) knew it was supposed to be over there. Well, if I can't be in Germany, I can at least eat pastries like I am. I stopped at the fancy Byerly's bakery after a hair trim today, and I spent several minutes trying to choose something while my mouth literally watered. I settled on a bear claw, which was awesome and perfect. Very almond-y and citrus-y, and I think the filling was fig + almond, although it might have been raisins, not figs. I couldn't have asked for something better even if I WERE in Frankfurt.

-- Look! My US map! I finally remembered to take a photo. I have several boards like the one I painted this on; they were extra shelves to something at Pier One, and I got them for a dollar a piece. You never know what will come in handy someday, right? Here's the map on my bedroom wall. When I looked at that image on my computer, I realized I've never shown you the other poster there -- I would have centered the photo differently, otherwise! I was getting overwhelmed by things (house stuff, running, work, etc) early this summer, and I started telling myself that 'all you have to do today is try'. That might sound kind of depressing (not very 'shoot for the stars'-y), but it's actually really helpful if you're the kind of person that becomes paralyzed with perfectionism. So my new philosophy is that just making an effort on any given goal is far better than putting it off again and again. I made that poster as a reminder.

-- I cooked up one of the Quorn roasts I got when my local natural foods store was going out of business. Fake turkey sandwiches for everybody (me)! I need to make some cranberry sauce... or maybe thaw out my rhubarb preserves. Hmm. Interesting idea. Whenever I think about how far the veggie-'meat' industry has come, I remember the Tofurky my family cooked one of the first Thanksgivings after I'd gone veg. It was truly awful. But now, not only are there multiple options (Tofurky, Quorn, and Celebration Roasts come to mind), but they're all awesomely delicious.

Oh, all right, I'll post an update on this here blog thing. I don't think I've been up to very much lately, though. I spent my weekend reading and prepping the south side of the house for painting. Here's a top tip: don't use bleach-y house cleaner (the type of thing you hook up to a garden hose) on a windy day. Yuck.

On Saturday, I made boxed macaroni and cheese -- the kind that has the little squeeze pack of real cheese goo. All through cooking it, eating it, and storing the leftovers, I was thinking about all the vegan mac'n'cheese that's still in the freezer (and which, really, I find to be more delicious). But I hadn't had the 'deluxe' boxed stuff in years, and sometimes you just want what you want.

Annnnd... that's all. Did you have any fun adventures this weekend? Accidentally mist yourself with toxic chemicals?

-- No more leaves for my big tree. Ash trees lose their leaves early in the autumn and are late to get them in the spring. LAZY! But I managed to get them all raked up, since I was worried it was going to rain this weekend (it didn't, but it did rain a little earlier today), so that's taken care of. Now for the maples to shed their leaves in one big whoomp, so I can start all over again.

-- There are several small suburbs just over the western Minneapolis border, and I've always been confused about their boundaries, so I looked up some city maps just a minute ago. Very informative. Not just about the city lines, but about the fact that I really love maps. I didn't realize that was a thing with me, but I guess it is. (I still haven't taken a photo of the US map I painted since I started it! Must remedy.) My bedroom is kind of (very) mappy -- I just got this Ork poster in the mail, and, of course, there's my map of Canada and the northeastern states. There's just something that's 'right' for me about maps.

-- I guess this looked like a good spot to Birdy. The cats love that they have access to the guest room now, since I've been working in there. (I changed the quilt on the guest bed but haven't changed the sheets, which is why they don't match.) I was looking at Beany earlier today, while she was flopped like this, and I was thinking about how much she clearly loves being a cat. If it's possible for a cat to revel in being one, that's what Beany does. She is the ultimate feline (except for her shameless pursuit for affection). Birdy, on the other hand... I think she might be more suited to doghood. She's kind of clumsy and not very good at jumping, and she would make a much better, say, chihuahua than a cat. I think that would make Henny very happy, too.

-- I altered the collar on my Liberty (for Target) shirt last week. This was what it looked like before, and I just couldn't deal with the ruffles. It was fairly straightforward to pick apart the seams, remove the ruffles (in one piece), and then top stitch the collar to close it up. And now I'll wear the shirt much more often! I also made a 3/4-length sleeve t-shirt this past weekend, which I've yet to photograph. I'll add that to the list of things I've made that I must document soon.

-- These are the cooked apples I made when I also made applesauce. I did them the same way but added brown sugar and cinnamon, and I stopped cooking them before they turned to mush. Basically, it's like apple pie filling, and I've been adding it to my yogurt most days. I've also made a couple of wraps, either with peanut butter or cream cheese. They're really good! When I did my double batch of yogurt, I only had one large container for it, so I put the rest in empty stevia containers. Too bad they're not glass, but I love their little green lids.

-- My mom and I pruned my ash tree yesterday, and it's funny, but it seems so much bigger now that there are fewer branches. It's because we took off the lower ones, of course, so the trunk seems a lot taller. Beany climbed it a couple of times this evening, and I think she was impressed. I had all the pets outside with me as I raked, and the gusty wind + crunchy leaves whipped Henny and Beany into a frenzy. Birdy was freaked out, but those two loved it. There was actual chasing back and forth!

-- I've made quite a few items of clothing this year, but I'm really just a t-shirt person. I more or less live in Target's 'boyfriend' tees, because they have the perfect v-neck and fit (I think maybe they're supposed to be really loose-fitting, but I have some in size small, and they're not too baggy and not skin-tight). So I used one to make a pattern last night, and I'm beyond thrilled that I got it right on the first try! I've already cut out a couple more, and I'm so excited to try different neck lines (boat-neck) and sleeve lengths and a fancy hood. I'm not used to my DIY patterns working when it comes to clothes, but this is the most useful pattern I could have come up with. Yay.

-- French fries! I've been wanting a big pile of 'em, so I cut up two medium-small Russet potatoes from the cabin garden and made some. They were seasoned with salt, onion powder, and paprika (baked for 30 minutes at 425F), and they totally hit the spot. I rounded the meal out with fake turkey slices and a mini soy ice cream sandwich; they make me marvel at how far the vegetarian offerings have come. I remember the first time I found fake 'chicken' nuggets (in 2003, in the Lake District) -- I was so excited, but they were flavorless and mushy. These days, it seems like I can pick up pretty much any veggie/vegan product and be fairly sure that it's going to be tasty.

-- I broke a three-week running hiatus with a three-mile run this evening. Whenever it's been more than a week since I laced up my running shoes, I start to feel like I was never a runner in the first place. But I reckon even just three miles isn't too bad after an extended break like that. My lungs were feeling rough, but word on the street is that allergies were bothering people today. I actually woke up in the middle of the night with my nose running, something that's never happened before. I thought I might be coming down with a cold, which was why I went for a run in the first place ('cause sometimes that's what you need when you're lethargic and have had a headache all day?). Either way (allergies or germs), I feel perfectly fine now.

-- Remember when I bought a second yogurt maker (for only $2.50!)? I wasn't sure what I would do with two of them, but I guess the answer is make twice as much yogurt. It's actually really convenient, since I buy a half-gallon of organic milk, but each maker only holds four cups. In the past, I've just done a second batch once I've et up the first, but this way, I only have to re-pasteurize the milk (and clean all the bowls) once. Yes! I knew there was a reason to have two yogurt makers, one that doesn't have anything to do with hording.

-- Seeing how I was on a making-stuff kick with the yogurt, I used a bunch of apple-orchard apples (Haralsons) to make apple sauce. I left the peels on (it all gets pureed, anyway), so the sauce is lovely and pink. I also chopped some up and cooked them with brown sugar and cinnamon. I might have to get some vanilla ice cream and go to town with that stuff.

-- Last day of September! Time always feels like it's flying by, but this month slipped away especially quickly. I've been eating my freezer meals lately (usually just one a day); maybe it's a winter-approaching instinct, but I keep wanting to hoard it all, which is silly. The freezer is packed. Today I had a jar of the chili, along with some Pirate's Booty (or Veggie Booty, or whatever it's called). And I started working on a new paper house project. It's something I meant to do last year (and didn't).

-- I'm not really big on pills (on the rare occasions that I feel like I need to take pain medication, I usually wind up not having any in the house), but I do sort of rely on diphenhydramine (Benadryl) to keep me asleep in the mornings. I didn't take any last night, and even though I went to sleep around 12:30, my eyes popped open at 5:00. Not at all tired, but I didn't want to be awake, and I knew 4.5 hours of sleep wouldn't keep me going for long. I managed to just about drift off again by 6:00, but Birdy started scratching on the basement door and crying. She must have heard me tossing and turning, because the cats usually don't make a peep downstairs. Relaxation fail.

-- This photo of Henny is out of control. The quality isn't great, but she's just like some ridiculous cartoon chihuahua, with her big, round eyes and happy face. We had been playing this game, which left her in a good mood. Afterwards, she pulled out all the toys from her toy basket and then chased the cats around for a couple of hours. It's not a bad life for a dog that nobody else wanted.

-- I recently went to Big Lots for the first time. I always thought they just had furniture (since that's what's usually on the front of their ads), but I took a closer look at the circular last week and decided to check it out, since there's a location only a few miles from my house. I came away with a few random things (new dish drainer! interdental brushes!) and noted a few more for the future (Crawford's custard creams!). They had an impressive selection of Bob's Red Mill products, and I snagged a bag of 5-grain hot cereal. I usually make oat bran or cream of wheat, so it was a welcome change to have a bowl of rolled oats ('n' things). I also finally tried coconut butter (the chocolate kind), which is tasty.

-- And on the topic of reduced-price food stuffs, I went to my local Fresh and Natural supermarket today for three things (wheat gluten, shredded coconut, and yogurt) and came away with a carload. Because they're closing that location! I was torn between sadness (it's the natural food store I visit most often) and elation (40% off everything!). It was a confusing time. Here's a photo and a list of everything I bought. The total came to $155, but it was 'only' $95 after the discount, and that includes two big bottles of the vitamins I take every morning (usually $20/bottle) and laundry detergent. It's all stuff that will keep and that I use anyway (except for the gluten-free mixes, which I got for my mom and the Soy Dream ice cream sandwiches, which I got because... I wanted them). I love a good going-out-of-business sale.

-- I boiled a big hubbard from the cabin garden and wound up with 3.5lbs of mashed squash. If it had been butternut or pumpkin, I would have made soup with it, but it didn't have quite the right flavor. I mistakenly thought I could mix some with cottage cheese and egg whites and make little 'pancakes' in a skillet (the mash was very firm when it was cold from the fridge), but that totally failed. Except that it was delicious -- it tasted a lot like those terrible-but-good cardboard boats of cheese-y potatoes that you see in the freezer section. So I used the rest of the mash the same way: 1400g mashed squash, 600g cottage cheese, 190g egg whites, about 1.5tsp salt (or to taste), a pinch of black pepper, and a tsp each of onion and garlic powders. I spread the mixture in a 9x13 baking dish and popped it in the oven at 350F for about 30 minutes. After it chilled overnight, it was easy to cut it into pieces (like I did with the macaroni and lasagna), which I froze individually.

-- Three even smaller pieces of news: 1) I've now finished twenty-four books in 2011. I only finished one in August, so I'll include it when I do September's reviews. 2) Speaking of going-out-of-business deals, the fabric that I used to make my most recent dress (which is fancy) was 80 cents a yard at the Mill Ends closing clearance. Including the zipper, the dress cost me less than $4.50. If it's ever sunny again, I'll take a picture. 3) Birdy is cute.

-- Look, the house is painted! Oh, whoops, a little bit of the house is painted. Dang it. Why you gotta be so tall, house? Still, I love seeing the new color with the bright white window trim. It's a pain cutting in around all those edges, but it looks fantastic. I made a flickr set for my house exterior shots, which led to me looking at this photo of the garage pre-scraping. I think I must have blocked that from my memory.

-- Excuse the horribly dry grass (it's autumn now!), but here's a photo of that same corner of the yard that I mentioned yesterday. The grape vine was much more leafy and lush earlier in the summer, but you can still see how much the cherry bushes grew and gave me some privacy.

-- I accidentally had potato soup for lunch and a baked potato for dinner. Pretty unusual for me, since I'm not even a huge fan of white potatoes, but 'tis the season, right? Speaking of seasonal produce, I had an ORGANIC HONEYCRISP APPLE this evening. I saw the conventional ones (which I didn't want) at the supermarket earlier in the week, and they'd stocked the organic ones when I went today. Never mind that they're twice the price of the conventional honeycrisps and so massive that a single apple costs $2.50. I wait all year for these, and the one I had tonight didn't let me down. I don't even know how an apple can be so delicious.

-- I spent several years being very 'meh' about the holiday season and all its various gatherings/celebrations. I've been warming back up to it over the past few winters, and I'm feeling slightly out of control this year. It's not even October yet, but I want to put up lights and listen to my Christmas in Sweden record and eat too many cookies. I hate people who get all prematurely excited about winter! I am a disappointment to myself.

-- In addition to all the potatoes I brought back from my parents' house yesterday (with which I made the potato soup), I also came home with this slice of gluten-free cake. I think it's just a box mix, but my mom added chocolate chips, nuts, and cinnamon. That last one made it taste like a snickerdoodle! I had it with my afternoon tea, between scraping and painting the house.

-- After I posted last night, I sewed together the skirt of the dress I'm making and attached it to the bodice. It really changed the way the whole thing fits, since the weight of the skirt pulls the top into shape. I sewed in the zipper this evening, so now I just have to hand-sew the back lining into place and then hem the skirt. That's going to be a huge pain, though, because the skirt is so full -- and because it's on the bias, it stretches and settles differently, so it's not just a matter of trimming/hemming up an equal length all the way around. Hmmm.

-- I've been watching this pumpkin for about a week now, trying to decide when to bring it in. I wanted to give the sugars a chance to fully develop, but I was also worried about would-be squash thieves, since the pumpkin was sitting on the alley side of my fence (still part of my property, where my hostas were until I transplanted them this year). [Incidentally, I found this photo when I searched for a shot of the alley side of my fence just a minute ago, and I couldn't believe it was taken this year! I'll have to take a photo from that angle before the leaves fall off the plants, because that corner is completely grown over now.] Anyway, I picked the pumpkin today. It's a big one! (The stem is huge, which makes it look smaller without something to give perspective.) To think I was calling the pumpkin vine lazy earlier in the summer.

-- Like a mentioned, I took advantage of the rain-free day to start painting the house. Like I haven't been doing that all summer long. The garage is finished (more or less, but let's say it is), and the windows on three sides of the house are DONE, but I haven't actually applied any new paint to the house itself. Today I scraped and sanded and primed the back of the house, up to the tops of the windows, which is as high as I can reach with the smaller ladder. It took forever. I ran out of time to slap on a coat of paint, so it's just white primer for now. I was putting stuff away in the garage and caught a glimpse of the house through one of the little garage windows, and all I could see was the primed part. It would be weird if my little yellow house were white for real! I can't wait to see it with the real color applied. Finally.

-- I haven't had oatmeal in a long time! Actually, I still haven't, since this was Cream of Wheat. But I think of most hot cereals as oatmeal, even though I eat rolled oats only pretty rarely. I would have had some today, but the canister in my cupboard should really be thrown out, they're so old. Anyway. Cream of Wheat for lunch, because it's no longer too hot outside for such a thing. I blended spinach and apple juice together, which is my trick for getting Vitamin Green when I'm not having something savory for a meal.

-- I bought the Butterick 4919 pattern about a year ago, and I started sewing it yesterday. When I work on sewing projects, I usually do so in the evening, and it was midnight before I realized I should maybe think about going to bed sometime in the nearish future, instead of just doing 'one more step' yet again. I've got the bodice finished, and I keep attempting to try it on, but it's pretty impossible to get a good fit without the zipper... or the skirt. So I can't tell yet if I'm going to like it. But I hope I will.

-- I made a big batch of potato soup, using potatoes and onions from my parents' cabin garden. I'm so pleased about soup weather. I like summer and all, but I love soup, and the two don't go so well together. It seemed dark earlier than usual this evening, thanks to cloudy skies, and it made me feel all Christmas-y. I hate to rush along colder weather, but I'm excited for decorating.

-- Just as I finished watching Mad Men on Netflix, they came to my rescue and made all of Felicity available for streaming. I watched most of it when it originally aired, but that was... thirteen years ago, so... anyway, it's held up really well (at least the first two episodes have). By the way, I only do streaming on Netflix, so this whole Quikster thing is a big yawn. As are the changes to Facebook. I should start keeping track of which friends freak out every time there's a change to Facebook; for some reason, it would be really amusing if it were always the same people getting outraged whenever something changes. And yet, the sky, it has not fallen!

-- Lunch included toast with raspberry jam that I made last year (from homegrown raspberries, of course). Today, I picked the last of the grapes outside. I was going to let them dry up on the vine, but then I tasted one this weekend, and it was ridiculously sweet. It should have been embarrassed at how fake grape-y it tasted. So I picked the rest, turned them to juice, and (hopefully, if it set) made jelly. I also picked apples from my tree for the FIRST TIME. You didn't get them all this year, squirrels!

-- To everybody who commented on the last post but didn't check again for a response (I know I rarely do on other blogs): I DID cut off the moldy part of the cheese and use it, but that was for something else, and there was none left over for cheese on toast. To Rob: You're a menace (a funny menace).

-- I decided to ask the internet why Beany chews off Birdy's whiskers, and apparently it's a thing mother cats do to their kittens to A) keep them from wandering off (since they can't receive as much sensory input from the world around them) or B) remove the scent of food from their faces. So basically, I've decided that it's Beany's fault that Birdy is super clumsy and a bit codependent. I don't suppose she can be blamed for the sound of Birdy's voice, though, which is Birdy's most annoying feature.

-- Does everybody realize that the equinox is on Friday? Who signed off on that?

-- More cheese on cinnamon-raisin toast. This would have been really good with the sharp white cheddar I'd bought a while back, but when I took it out of the fridge, it had gone moldy! They need to sell cheese in blocks sized for single people who are only middle-of-the-road when it comes to their feelings for cheese. I mean, I know I could go to the fancy store and have them cut a small chunk, but a whole trip for an expensive piece of something I don't really care that much about? I can't be bothered. You know what lasts until you've finished the container? Peanut butter.

-- Speaking of nut-based spreads: the internet has got to get over Nutella. I'm almost as bored with the foodstuff as I am with people being in love with it. Hazelnuts are dull. Super sweet chocolate is boring. You know what is always good in a non-cloying, hazelnut-less way? Peanut butter.

-- Let's see, what else can I complain about and then compare to peanut butter? Perhaps I'll just leave it at that. Instead! I took Henny to the vet today for her shots, and she was a champ. Our local pet hospital is close enough to walk to, and everybody there is great. Unsurprisingly, Henny was pretty nervous about stranger holding her (and sticking her with needles, etc), but as soon as we left and started walking home, she was back to being pleased with life. Did I already link to this video of Henny 'playing' with the cats in the backyard? She's been so happy lately.

-- I've been eating Kashi GoLean for almost every breakfast for probably over a year now. I was thinking the other day that I should really try to buy it in bulk, to get a better price, but it's actually not always cheaper on-line, in multi-packs. I went to Target for groceries today, though, and it was $2.99, with a buy five, get one free deal. So now I have six boxes of Kashi GoLean. It won't actually last all that long, but, well, it seems like overkill. Now if only I ate more non-perishable-ish foods I could stock up on...

-- One of the things I liked about cold-weather running was that I could wait until the afternoon to head out, instead of having to tie on my shoes first thing in the morning. It's not so much the waking up early that I don't like; I just really enjoy rolling out of bed and having my bowl of cereal before the day starts. But I've been going for some long runs lately, which require something small but substantial as fuel, so I have half a monster cookie about an hour before I start. My mom made these, and I don't really know anything about them except that they have granola and about a hundred different things mixed in. But no flour, I think. Anyway, looking forward to a cookie when I wake up makes the morning running seem like less of a hardship.

-- I mentioned that I taught Henny how to lie down on command while we were at the cabin, and here's proof. She's a complicated little dog, but she's not dumb; once I figure out how to make her feel comfortable with whatever's going on, she catches on quickly. It's been almost exactly a year since she was rescued from the puppy mill (bought at an auction by the rescue agency), and she's really come a long way since then.

-- At the (best) thrift store in Hinckley last week, I got a Salton yogurt maker for $2.50! It's more or less just like my other one, which I don't think I've ever taken a photo of. There's been some debate (in my head) about whether or not a person needs two yogurt makers, but it's unthinkable to pass it up at that price. Even if I never use the two simultaneously, it's nice to have one in case the other breaks (they ARE nearly forty years old, after all). And I love the little white-glass jars. Those alone -- as drinking glasses or for storage -- are definitely worth more than $2.50!

-- Whew! After I posted on Wednesday, I hardly left the cabin until Saturday, when I came back home. I was busy proof-reading and doing non-internet-y stuff. I had made a trip to the Hinckley thrift store (probably my favorite thrift store ever) on Wednesday, and I found a couple of paint-by-number boards without the paint. I had actually brought up several tubes of acrylic paint and some brushes (for a different project that I never got 'round to), so I made up my own number-key and worked on them in the evenings. Also in the photo above are the sun prints I made with various flowers and things that were growing around the cabin.

-- The Sandstone supermarket had cans of baby corn on clearance, so I snatched one of those up and added it to the stir fry I made today. After my big cook-and-freeze-a-thon, I realized I didn't have anything in the stir fry category, which was a shame. I picked up a box of Quorn 'chicken' cutlets last week and mixed them with a bunch of veggies and a teriyaki sauce. The noodles are what I use when I make ramen for myself; I bought divided (lunch-box style) containers by accident, but they wound up being handy for keeping the noodles and stir fry (needlessly) separate.

-- And for dinner, I made zucchini fritters with some yellow zucchini from the garden. I think I more or less followed the recipe as written (except I didn't need all that oil for frying, since I used a non-stick pan), but I also added some shredded sharp cheddar. Very good! Actually, they were amazing when paired with a bite of Oxheart tomato, also from the garden. And the corn came from the cabin. Yay, late summer.

-- What a nice day, eh? I think there was some extra sky today, and the clouds were kind of cartoon-ish. I can't decide how I feel about the cool-down over the past few days, though. On one hand, it's so, so great to run when the mornings are only in the mid-50s. On the other, I don't want to stop wearing shorts! Boo. Maybe we'll have a nice, long autumn this year.

-- Two things I've realized from watching Mad Men on Netflix: Ann-Margret was in Bye Bye Birdie. She looks a bit crazed even when she's not rolling around in baked beans (a la Tommy, the movie). Also, I learned the correct way to pronounce jai alai. I was previously familiar with it in only a crossword-related setting. (It's a favorite with crossword setters.)

-- I noticed Birdy staring out the window earlier tonight, so I peered out, too (she's not ALWAYS staring at a blank spot on the wall, after all). There was a great big raccoon sitting on the fence, eating grapes from my vines! I don't mind about the grapes (there are still so many out there, and I'm not going to get around to picking the rest of them), but it was bizarre to see such a big creature in the yard -- it was about the size of all three of my pets put together. I turned off the lamps inside and turned on the outdoor light, and it didn't seem to mind; eventually, it hopped off the fence and moseyed right up the back path, towards the house, before veering off and climbing over the fence. It was like having a small bear in the garden -- its movements were very ursine, too. So that was the big excitement of the evening!

-- Cheese on cinnamon-raisin toast. I remember thinking Rob was crazy when he ate cheese melted on a cinnamon-raisin bagel, but it really is delicious. Better with sharp cheddar. I was a quick convert to this combination, but there's a list of things I refused to enjoy (which Rob liked/s) for longer: hummus, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, etc. But he still refuses to admit that pumpkin pie is amazing, so I think I rate as the bigger person in this instance.

-- I was at the supermarket today, and they were out of store-brand 'Benedryl' (25mg diphenhydramine). Each empty slot had a little piece of paper explaining that there was a problem with the supplier and that they hoped to restock soon. So I turned to the PM pain-killers, and there sat a bountiful supply of store-brand 'sleep aid' (25mg diphenhydramine). If I had had pen and paper, I might have replaced the slips of paper with ones that said, 'Turn around.'

-- When my mom and I went to the state fair, we saw a calf being born! The fair has a 'Miracle of Birth', which I've walked through many times, but I've only ever seen cute little pre-made animals there. My hairdresser asked if it was hard to watch (what? -- what do you talk about when you're getting your hair cut?), but it really wasn't. It's just kind of crazy how a baby cow 'suddenly' appears, eyes wide open.

-- Aw, beanballs! Of the six different kinds of meals I made and froze, this was the only one that I hadn't actually tried. So I thawed one out today, heated it up in a skillet, and poured mushroom gravy on top. Really good! On my little kitchen fridge white board, I made a list of all the meals I froze and how many there are of each, since it's not like I go down to the basement to peer into the freezer very often. Handy!

-- Tomorrow, I'm going to the Minnesota State Fair. I'm very excited about this. When I woke up on Monday morning, I told myself that there were only two more sleeps before the fair (the whole 'sleeps' thing didn't exist when I was a kid, as far as I know, but it makes me laugh). I don't usually get so excited about the fair, but I'm all pepped up this year. And I'm going with my mom. If you have/had a dull, boring mother you don't really care for, you should consider asking for a refund.

-- For about a week now, I've been wanting a nice piece of cake with chocolate frosting. Not from-scratch cake, though -- box cake. I spent so many minutes at the grocery store, looking at all the varieties of chocolate cake (too many!), until I spotted angel food, which I instantly knew was what I wanted. I didn't know it until I saw it. And, of course, it was really just a vehicle for chocolate frosting. I made only half the box mix in a loaf pan, one which isn't very long, but it has extra tall sides. The angel food rose so dramatically, though, that it reached the roof of my toaster oven, and I was worried it would spill over. But it was all okay in the end, and I got my piece of cake (with sprinkles!).

-- At the end of every evening, I pick up Beany and the cats' food dish, and Birdy runs ahead to go downstairs, which is where they spend the night (she loves it down there). Then I open my bedroom door, and Henny gets herself situated in her pup tent, which I zip up before I get into bed. It's nice that everybody knows what the routine is and seems happy to go along with it. I feel that it reflects highly upon my character, this pack of nicely-behaved pets. Their flaws are their own faults.

Yesterday was very grape-flavored! I picked a ton of grapes on Sunday and turned them into juice, so I was left with the dilemma of what to DO with all that juice. I was going to try David Lebovitz's grape sorbet recipe, but I wanted to temper the grapiness with dairy. So I flew by the seat of my pants and mixed three cups of juice (remember, this is homemade, unsweetened, very potent stuff) with one can of sweetened condensed milk (whatever size those shorty cans are) and about two tablespoons of lemon juice. It was already cold from the juice having been in the fridge, so I poured it into my ice cream maker and let it churn. And it's probably the most successful end product to ever come out of that maker! I think if I made it again, I'd add up to a cup of half-and-half or whole milk -- something to mellow out the flavor even more. It's pretty rich (both sweet and tart), but very good.

I also made not-Jell-o! I went to the co-op to look for agar to try to make a version of these gumdrops, but they didn't have any. They DID have unflavored vegetarian gelatin substitute, however. (If you weren't aware, gelatin is made from the hooves and stretchy, stringy bits of animals. You're welcome.)

I got two packages, thinking I'd make fake Jell-o with one and try the gumdrops with the other, but I think gumdrops are out of the picture, now. The Jell-No is so delicious -- definitely my favorite of everything I've made with the garden grapes. For the record, I used 1.25 cups of juice, .75 cups of water, about a tablespoon of stevia, and the packet of fake gelatin. It's so grape-y that it almost tastes artificial! I can't comment on the texture of real versus fake Jell-o, as I haven't had the former in about a decade, although I think the vegetarian version is less 'gummy' (if it were bread, I'd say 'less glutenous').

Hooray, grapes!

-- Look what I made! Okay, maybe I just planted the seeds and gave them some water. There are a lot of still-green pods on the plants, but I took these black-eyed peas from pods that had dried up. I assume that's the way to do it, as they look exactly like dried beans you'd buy at the co-op. I'm really excited about these; they seem like a staple food that I shouldn't be able to grow myself. What's next, a field of wheat? Unlike my soybeans, which still haven't flowered, the black-eyed peas have been growing really nicely, so I think I'll plant even more next year.

-- You know how I've been bad-mouthing my squash vines, saying that they're all show and no fruit? (No? Well, I have been.) I was really surprised to see a pumpkin on the vine, and right behind it -- another (bigger!) pumpkin. And another further along the fence. Suddenly pumpkins! I kept saying that in my head and laughing, because it makes me think of 'Suddenly Salad', which I see at the supermarket (I'm not actually sure what it is -- something you put on lettuce, I guess*). I always imagine somebody freaking out at the sudden appearance of a salad. 'Oh, shit! Wait, it's just a salad. Whew.'

* Oh, it's for pasta salad. That makes more sense. Those things can really sneak up on a person.

-- I'm starting anew with the chest freezer in my basement. There was a bunch of stuff in there that I shouldn't have frozen (asparagus) that was way past its use-by deadline, so I got rid of it. (I hate wasting food, but when it's stuff I don't want to eat, whatever -- but I discovered two baggies of pumpkin puree that I would have used, had I known they were in there! Sad.) Now I'm on a mission to create meals that I can freeze. Today I made chili, using the Classic Black Bean and Veggie Chili recipe from Appetite for Reduction. Isa is, once again, a genius. Love it. My only change was to use only one Tbsp of lime juice, and I omitted the agave (I don't usually add sweetener to chili; it makes it taste like BBQ or sloppy joes to me). I had one serving for dinner tonight, and I put five jars of it in the freezer.

I also made BBQ veg with notdogs. I usually do veg+tofu, but I didn't like the tofu on offer today. Once upon a time, I used a recipe for this sort of dish, but really it's just vegetables and tofu (or veggie dogs, in this case) with BBQ sauce. Actually, I sauteed the veg and seasoned it (cumin, garlic powder, salt), then put it in a baking dish. I added the chopped-up veggie dogs and half a cup of BBQ sauce and baked it all (covered) for 30 minutes at 425F. I made little dividers with tin foil, so I've got four servings in the freezer (and one in the fridge for tomorrow), and I imagine I'll eat them with brown rice or similar.

My problem with freezing meals is that I always get excited about stocking up, so I cook and freeze whatever it is, but then that's all I want to eat for the next week. But I plan to make (in the next few days) vegan mac 'n' cheese, enchiladas, lasagna, and pilaf with beanballs, so if I've got a bunch of different delicious things, maybe they'll last longer. I'm hoping that the real magic of this plan will be that I won't have to buy fresh veg quite as often. I go to the supermarket a LOT, because so much of what I eat is produce, and when it's fresh, there's only so much you can buy at once. This way, I still get the vegetables, but I don't have to worry about them going bad, AND I know how they were prepared.

-- Last October, I had a really great idea to combine cream cheese and sharp cheddar to make an amazing grilled cheese sandwich. I haven't repeated it very often since then (just don't eat many grilled cheeses), but I made tomato soup the other day, and this was the logical accompaniment. It's still good, in case you were wondering. And as proof that grilled cheeses always travel in pairs (totally not a thing I just made up), I had another one at a restaurant the following day -- with a ton more cheese and fried eggs inside.

-- I've been using Photoshop for... hmm, well over a decade now, I guess. So imagine my embarrassment at only recently discovering the white/grey/black sampler tool in the levels window. Actually, I'm not as embarrassed as I probably should be, because I'm too excited about it. It's not perfect, of course, but it's a heck of a lot easier than manually adjusting the colors when the white balance is off.

-- One of the fun but tough parts of Ragnar is the food. After breakfast at Perkins on Friday, I was left with what I'd packed for myself in the van. I had one fake ham sandwich, two peanut butter sandwiches, an apple, a banana, a little box of orange-flavored raisins (LIKE CANDY!), a bag of baby carrots, zucchini bread, a granola bar, and a lot of Chex mix. That actually makes it sound like there was a fair amount of produce involved, but it FELT like I was eating a bunch of junk food the entire time. I enjoyed the peanut butter sandwiches, but it was nice to get back to the land of fruit and veg (and COOKED food!). I got an amazing cantaloupe on Sunday, and it was really tempting to eat it all in one sitting.

-- I love apples so much. I usually buy organic Pink Ladies, although the organic Granny Smiths I get from time to time are also excellent (I like a good dose of acidity in my apple flavor). I've rarely found conventionally-grown apples to be as good as organic ones (and apples like to soak up the pesticides, too, blech), by the way. I really do eat an apple a day, which is why I never go to the doctor (well, that and the high cost of health care)!

-- One of the first times I ever ate at a restaurant with Rob, it was an Italian place, and I remember him saying that one should never order spaghetti on a first date. No matter how hard you try to eat it gracefully, you're bound to end up looking foolish at some point. Other foods to avoid the first time you meet a possible romantic interest: sushi, tacos, sloppy joes. You get the picture.

-- The Great River Ragnar Relay is this Friday and Saturday! I am thrilled and preemptively exhausted. I took a nap this afternoon because I was feeling a little tired and figured I should bank sleep hours while I can. In case you don't know/remember, the GR Ragnar is a 192-mile relay race from Winona, MN to Minneapolis. There are twelve people on a team, and each team member runs three legs. We start Friday morning and finish Saturday afternoon, no stopping. I did it last year, and for some reason I decided to sign up again. So if you don't hear from me for a few days, it's just because I'm running in some little town in Wisconsin at 3:00am.

-- I took Henny P for a walk this evening, and we actually got in the car and drove two miles away to do so. Between running in the mornings and walking Henny, I get SO bored of the routes starting from my house. It's not quite as bad with running, because I can do a longer route and get away, but Henny can't do more than two or three miles, especially if it's warm out. So even though it almost seems to defeat the purpose, I drove two miles along one of my usual running routes, and we started from there and did a two-mile out-and-back. She seemed excited about the new smells, and I didn't go crazy, so I think it was worth it.

-- Some evenings, I realize that I don't have to run in the morning and can thus take a hearty dose of Benedryl and sleep really well that night. And that realization is quite a thrill. Simples pleasures, people.

-- My friend Brandon (who says he's never Googled me to find my blog -- wonder if that's still true?) is a window washer during the window-washing months, and he talks about how he has to consume endless calories after a day of work. I spent all of today (from 9:00-4:30) painting my garage, and that's sort of how I feel. Not more hungry than usual, in my case, but every break I took was just a matter of eating something to fuel the next few hours of manual labor. I got some big spinach wraps the other day, and I made myself a bean-and-veggie wrap (not pictured above; that was from a couple of days ago) after I ate breakfast and put it in the fridge for lunch. Then I didn't have to fuss with fixing food when I stumbled in from scraping and sanding, and it's a scientific fact that wraps taste better if they've had some time for the flavors to mingle.

-- We had a big storm this evening, during which there was a bright flash of light (not sure if it was only lightning, or if there had been a power surge that made the lamps glow more brightly), followed by a huge clap of thunder and a few seconds of powerlessness in the house. It came back on right away, but the internet was out for a couple of hours. I had to listen to a podcast and trim up some quilt pieces I made several years ago (I never did anything with them because, obviously, they needed trimming up). I was going to type up a new post in Word and make a joke about that being how the pilgrims updated their blogs, but then the internet issue resolved itself. Not before I finished with those quilt pieces, though.

-- I think I spent most of my life being a bit, 'Meh, soup, whatever.' (With the exception of packaged ramen, except even then I always took just the noodles and left the broth in the pan.) But over the past few years -- I suppose ever since I started making soup from scratch -- I've become a big fan. To the point where it's upset me that I haven't been able to eat soup all summer long. I buckled today, though, and made some ramen (from scratch and with broth these days). I was sweating while I ate it, but I didn't mind.

-- I tore out my pea plants today. They had been steadily dying from the bottoms up, like they do every year, but they were still producing new pods at the tops. It had got to the point where they weren't going to be of much use anymore, so out they came (easier said than done, as the neighboring asparagus beans were rather attached to them -- har, har). There were a few good pods left, so I picked them and put them in my pocket, immediately imagining myself forgetting that they were in there until much later. Would you like to guess what I just discovered in my pocket? So predictable.

-- I've been brainstorming ways to use grape juice. I'm not really into drinking juice, and I definitely don't need any more jam. I mixed 1.75 cups of the (quite potent, unsweetened) juice with a heaping spoonful of stevia and an individual pot of Greek yogurt and froze the mixture in my little popsicle molds. I like it! It's tart and rich and very grape-y, but not in a purple-flavor kids' grape way. The only problem is that I get so paranoid about them dripping on me, because you know that stain would never come out.

-- One of the not-quite-successful grape concoctions was saltwater taffy. After spending some time contemplating the interesting vs. disgusting odds on grape juice cake (IT STILL MIGHT HAPPEN), I decided that candy might be a better bet, so I found the taffy recipe in my (mom's) Betty Crocker cookbook (that I stole from her). I boiled it all up and got ready to pull it, although I was starting to feel skeptical at that point. I actually did manage to pull it until it was light purple and taffy-looking, but as it cooled, it started to turn into hard candy. My thermometer is pretty cheap, and it obviously got too hot while it was boiling. The end result is candy that's soft enough that you want to chew it but hard enough that you DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT chew it. So grape juice cake is going back on the drawing board.

* I should mention, in case everybody is prepared to give me grape-related recipes, that my grapes are small and have big seeds. They can't be eaten whole (they'd be too tart, anyway), so turning them into juice is really the only sensible thing.

-- Given all the awesome things I've done in my life so far, I really shouldn't be as pleased with myself as I am for cooking some pinto beans. I got the dried beans from the co-op quite a while ago, and every time I thought about cooking them, the timing wasn't right -- needing to soak for eight hours and then simmer for an hour or more. But I finally got around to it and simmered them in some vegetable stock, and wouldn't you know it -- they turned into real beans. I froze most of them, and tonight a 'refried' some (just heated them up and half-mashed 'em) for tacos.

-- Things are strange in the garden this year, and my squash plants are a good example of this strangeness. The vines are HUGE, and they're putting out a ton of flowers, but they all seem to be male flowers. I've spotted a couple of female flowers, early on, but none of the squash ever develops. Maybe it's something to do with the soil and the nutrients the plants are getting, but it's not like I've changed anything. My summer squash (various types of zucchinis) have been the same -- massive plants and next to zero fruit. The cukes are totally different, though; I've never had such nice cucumbers growing in my garden. Anyway, I almost don't mind that the squash vines are purely decorative this year, because they do such a good job of climbing the fence and giving me some privacy in the yard.

-- Back in April, my mom and I cut down a small birch tree on their cabin land, with the intention of turning it into a walking stick. I stained it right away, but it took until this past week to get around to varnishing it. Once I'd done that, I was finally able to attach the medallions I've been collecting, and I'm really pleased with how it all looks. The one in the photo above is (obviously) from Mt. Hood -- a nice pewter 'medallion' that's really different from the others. I put medallions from Minnesota state parks on one side and the ones from out of state on the other. There are actually a few Minnesota parks I should have got (I skipped getting a medallion for Interstate this past week, dang it!), but I wasn't sure how they'd all look once they were actually on the stick. I like it, though. It's like nature-nerd bling. Now I just need to make a wrist strap.

-- I made another baked potato, but I managed to cook it properly this time. I don't know what the deal was with the last one and its not wanting to bake all the way through, but this one was more obliging. The peel was extra crisp and delicious. But I still prefer sweet potatoes.

-- I finally redeemed a voucher I got for Christmas, for a massage and facial at a spa a little ways away. The lady asked what my (face) skin care regimen is, and I told her that I use a cleanser and moisturize, which is true. She inspected my face with a magnifying glass (I think -- my eyes were covered at that point) and declared my skin to be pretty good. I didn't tell her my real secret to healthy skin: running. A dose of vitamin D and a ton of sweat, to get rid of all the bad stuff. Mainly the sweat.

-- Speaking of running, I went for a run twice today. I did a quick two miles early on, because I was tired but had put off running yesterday with a promise to myself that I'd go in the morning. And then I did five miles after dinner, and I'd like to say that I was doing a two-a-day to prepare for Ragnar (next week!), but really it's just because I want to sleep in tomorrow. I've been sleeping really well lately, thanks to Benedryl, but I don't run well if I've taken it the night before. But not taking it means waking up early and feeling itchy inside my skull. So a two-a-day is a small price to pay for a leisurely morning.

-- My friend Chris has a bit of free time before he leaves for adventures (culminating in another adventure: teaching in China), so we went to Interstate State Park, aka the most awkwardly-named state park ever. It's about an hour away from Minneapolis, on the St. Croix River (there's a Wisconsin state park on the other side of the river, hence the name). It's gorgeous and geologically interesting (sandstone bluffs AND basalt potholes!), but it's unfortunately situated with a highway running through the middle of it. If they could just reroute that little annoyance, it would be a perfect park.

-- The pothole area of the park (and, to be clear, Minnesota is known for its annually-occurring road potholes, but these are geological ones, created by the gigantic river that used to flow through the valley) was really like a massive playground, providing you're okay with your kids climbing over igneous rocks. They've carved a lot of steps into the stone -- there are a LOT of steps in this park, when you include the trails through the bluffs. I keep thinking there's something wrong with me, because my legs are sore, but then I realize that I ran six miles this morning and followed it up with almost four miles of stairs (okay, it wasn't all stairs). So a little aching is probably normal.

-- You know how I love everything Minnesota-shaped? Well, guess how much I like gigantic Minnesota-shaped things!

-- On the way to the park, Chris spotted a sign for 'Scandinavian Donuts', so we stopped there on the way back, after our hike (so many stairs!). It was the Lindstrom Bakery (I took a photo of the sign, for reference), and the Scandinavian Donuts in question were a lot like what other bakeries call Old Fashioneds -- a fried cake donut with a crisp crust and soft interior. Okay, so VooDoo in Portland makes the best raised (yeast) donut I've ever tried, but Lindstrom Bakery -- hands down -- has the best cake donut ever. I got a glazed one and had it with the perfect cup of coffee (super hot and not too strong). It's forty-five minutes away, but I can't rule out making a trip there just to get another donut, some day. The town (Lindstrom) is Very Scandinavian, and every shop has a sign describing its wares in both English and Swedish. For cute.

-- Annnnd... just to round out this post with some Henny news: When we got back to my house, I heard some scrabbling, so I went into the living room to investigate. Henny had trapped herself under a low shelf, one which has a stack of magazines and a box of yarn under it in order to keep her out. Who knows how she wiggled under/back there or how long she had been trapped. She seemed awfully excited to see me (and/or be freed), though. I let all the pets out into the backyard after dinner, which has become the routine. The cats try to ingest as much grass as possible as quickly as possible, and what's funny is that Henny sat around with them, nibbling at grass, too. Not really eating it, but making an effort, since it seems to be what the cool kids like. Then she gleefully (so gleefully) chased Birdy around the yard, since the outdoors doesn't have any sofas for a cat to jump up on.

-- I went up to my aunt and uncle's cabin this weekend, and Henny came with. I always enjoy going up there for summer holidays, when various members of my extended family are all there, but it was also fun to just hang around with my aunt and uncle. They showed me some of their favorite spots, and we took a nice boat ride to the bar that lets you dock and walk up. Henny joined us, and she was very well behaved while we sat there (not that she's bad very often, and certainly never in a 'making a nuisance of herself' way). It's surprising, but she really likes being on the boat. See?

-- The nighttime lows have been in the 60s recently, and it's hard to explain how happy that makes me. Oh, wait, no it's not: It makes me really, really happy. In general, I prefer the summer over the winter, but I do miss sleeping under blankets. It looks like the current weather trend is supposed to stretch out through the end of next week (well, that's as far as the 10-day forecast reaches), which means we might have highs in the upper 70s for Ragnar -- quite a difference from the mid-90s we suffered through last year!

-- I picked some grapes today. Six cups' worth, or about a pound and a half. That was only a small portion of the grapes growing on my biggest vine (there are two others, whose grapes aren't ripe yet). I'm trying to make raisins with this batch, although I'll believe it's possible only when I see it. I put the grapes on two trays of my dehydrator, let it run for six hours, and then started taking the seeds out (the instructions recommend this half-drying and then seeding, so avoid dripping juice). I only seeded one tray, however, because it takes FOREVER, and I wasn't going to spend another hour on the second tray if it turns out this whole raisin thing won't work. (I put the seedy ones in the fridge for now.) I hope it does, though. That'd be neat.

-- I haven't made a tofu scramble in a while! Well, I mean, I hadn't made one in a while before today. I tossed in broccoli, peas, and zucchini that were all from the garden, plus some roasted cauliflower that wasn't. And I had half a Holy Land pita with guacamole that I made yesterday -- such good guacamole! I didn't just cheat and mix avocado with salsa (which is what I do most of the time); instead, I mixed avocado, diced tomato, green onion, cilantro, lemon juice (which is why it didn't turn brown overnight), and garlic salt. Taking the time to make it that way is like the difference between a supermarket tomato and a garden tomato. Unbelievable.

-- And for dinner, I made a baked potato with broccoli and cheese. Also very good. I wouldn't usually bake a potato when it's so hot outside, but I put the window AC in the guest room window (I had taken it back out of my room, since it was getting cool enough at night that I didn't need it). So the rest of the house can roast while I sit it my tiny, refrigerated room. Anyway, the potato didn't want to cook all the way through. After all the time in the toaster oven, I still wound up traipsing to the basement, plugging in the microwave, and nuking it for a couple of minutes. Worth it.

-- We had some crazy storms come through this afternoon. Super windy and rainy and thundery. The pets were already in the guest room with me, but Henny gets nervous with all the noise, so she had to sit on the bed with me (I was working on my laptop). Eventually, the storms moved on their way, and she was able to relax a bit. So cute. I don't know why Beany wasn't part of the pet fest.

-- Jeannie asked for hummus recommendations, so I figured I'd share my thoughts in a post, in case anybody else has other suggestions. Obviously, since I just went to Holy Land, I have to say that I like their hummus. I'm not sure how widely available it is, though -- you can get it at most supermarkets in the Twin Cities, but I don't know about outside the state (or metro area, really). Other than that, the brands I see most often are Sabra, Tribe, and Athenos. That's probably the order I'd recommend them in. Sabra is usually a little more expensive than the other two, but I also think it has a better texture (smoother). Tribe sometimes seems a little watery. Oh, there's also Cedar's hummus, which I know I've had before, but I doubt I could tell it apart from any of the others. Sabra might be a good place to start, though -- I usually get original or red pepper (in any brand).

-- I found myself with a gift certificate to Holy Land today, and I had no problem spending it. I think they sell their hummus and pitas and the like in a pretty wide range of supermarkets now, but the main deli is just a few miles from my house. I stocked up on said hummus and pita, and I grabbed a spinach pie for my dinner -- cooked on my panini press. I also got a few date cookies, which are an infrequent favorite of mine. The ingredient list is pretty simple, but it does contain vegetable shortening, which has some 'bad' fats in it (but no trans fats). The shortening makes the cookie part so light and crumbly, though, and I love them. I figure three a year isn't really going to hurt me.

-- Mostly, I've just been eating tomatoes on toast, with cream cheese and basil. (Soon I'll be eating tomatoes on pitas, with hummus.) It's so ridiculously good. The bad news is that I only have one (small) ripe Oxheart left, and everything else outside is still green. Nooooo. You're such a tease, garden.

-- I keep a daily journal, which is basically just a list of what I did every day (no 'Dear Diary' type stuff). I started in 2008, but I stopped keeping my log in the middle of last year. I picked it back up in December, using the same Fabriano journal (which is usually the perfect length for a page a day), so I'll be out of pages at the end of the month. Not wanting to start a new Fabriano mid-year, I just bought a Moleskine notebook for the remainder of 2011. The amazing thing is that I ordered it on Amazon yesterday afternoon, since it was cheaper than in a store, and it actually arrived in less than 24 hours (I used my 'free' Prime two-day shipping, so it should have got here on Saturday). Wow!

-- I really don't understand how the first homegrown tomato of the summer manages to be so delicious. It's kind of like the way we forget how long the days get in the summer and are surprised every year; the amazingness of a homegrown tomato always comes as a shock. I had picked a couple of Oxhearts a few days ago and then let them finish ripening on the windowsill, so I sliced into the first one today. My traditional First Tomato of the Summer meal is pretty basic -- just a sandwich or toast, something where the tomato can really shine. This year, I had toast with some cream cheese, the tomato, and basil from the garden (plus salt + pepper). Perfect.

-- I set the dehydrator to work today, but I'm pretty sure I picked the worst possible day to suck the moisture out of fruit, considering how crazy-humid it's been. I have two trays of orange slices and three trays of fruit leather (I wound up doing Rhubapple, since the apple would cut the sourness of the rhubarb without having to add sugar), and I'm starting to worry about them finishing before I have to go to sleep. They've already been drying for 7-8 hours, which should have been enough, but they're not quite there, yet. Curses. Will they finish drying in the next two hours? What a cliffhanger!

-- The weather this evening was about as nice as a person could ask for. I sat outside with the pets (see here and here) and just enjoyed the fact that I was neither too hot nor too cold. I don't let the cats outside very often, but I've made an exception the past couple of evenings, and Beany has been surprisingly well-behaved. She ran up the tree tonight but came back down after a minute or two, all crazy-eyed -- too much nature. She spent a few minutes hunting a tennis ball after that, and then came over and let me pick her up and bring her inside.

-- I think eggplants are being a little overly-confidant with the crazy spikes that grow on their stems -- nobody wants an eggplant that bad. Also, they're kind of a tease; why be ridiculously purple if you're just going to stab people when they come over?

-- I went to ALDI today to get the food dehydrator that I saw in their Sunday ad. Only $20! I had actually thought about dehydrating various things several times over the past few months, which is kind of my guideline for buying stuff like that. If I haven't thought to myself how much easier X would be if I only had Y (multiple times), then I don't actually need Y. I just picked a bunch of rhubarb, so my first plan is to stew that down and make fruit leather. I got a ton of blueberries on sale at the supermarket, and I figured that if they were really seedy (as they sometimes are when they're super cheap), I'd mixed them with the rhubarb and make 'blubarb' fruit leather. Unfortunately (not really), they're extra delicious, so I won't be doing that. But I really like saying 'blubarb'.

-- This dinner of Jen's made me want some kale today, which is appropriate, since kale-based meals are apparently what I'm known for. Maybe it's my German blood, but I do love the brassica family. I roasted cauliflower, and it took will power not to eat the entire thing straight from the pan afterwards. I added some of it to my kale (and peas from the garden) and had it with the rest of the tofu I made the other day. Also, what's up with champagne mangoes? It's like a candy manufacturer's version of the fruit, except for real.

-- I was updating some of the mosaics for my flickr collections, and one of the random arrangements it came up with placed this photo of Booty and Beany on the porch chair next to this photo of Beany and Birdy on the porch chair. They were taken a little over a year apart, and the second is from almost exactly a year ago. Thank goodness there's been no further pet turn-over since then.

-- I started watching 'The Office' (the American version) a couple of years ago (during season five, I think), and even though I liked it enough to keep watching, I never bothered to go back and see the first several seasons. Well, I made doing so a summer project and finished it up recently. I was struck the other day that, given Michael Scott's personality, there's no way he wouldn't have been trying to joke around with the cameramen the entire time (it's shot documentary style). I'm glad he didn't, of course, but I thought it was funny that the character managed to 'play by the rules' in that one way.

-- I got the BBQ out for the first time (this summer) yesterday, and I made some tofu and vegetables. I was silently laughing at myself as I made the marinade for the tofu. I mixed together soy sauce and white wine vinegar, and then I opened the door to the spice cupboard and just started adding things. It was exceptionally good tofu, in the end, but this is why I rarely post recipes. Experience (and it doesn't take a TON of experience -- you just have to mess around a lot) has given me a feel for how much of any particular spice to use, so I never think to measure anything. The vegetables were steamed in some tin foil on the grill; it wasn't the most amazing way to prepare them, but it was nice to not do any cooking inside.

-- Yesterday morning, I biked to my nearest Whole Foods, which is nine miles away. The amazing thing about that trip is that I can do the entire thing on bike paths. Not bike lanes on the road, but separate, dedicated paths. I can get on the path at the end of my block, and I get off when I'm right behind Whole Foods. I got lunch and ate by Lake Calhoun.

-- Today is Henny's 4th birthday! I didn't realize what the date was until dinnertime today, so there were no wild celebrations, but I did take her on a good walk this afternoon, so maybe that counts. This is her first birthday that wasn't spent in doggie prison (the puppy mill in Oklahoma), so I'd say her life is on an upwards trajectory. Although it would be nice if the neighbors who are setting off fireworks would give it a break tonight. On account of her special day.

-- I've always been a morning runner, but the thought of rolling out of bed and into my running shoes has been really unappealing lately. (I blame it on the Benedryl I take before bed, in order to keep my allergies under control while I sleep.) I've also been dealing with aches and pains and the fact that I took most of June off from running, so my endurance has taken a hit. But I bargained with myself this morning that if I didn't go out right then, I'd fit in a run sometime after dinner. And for once, I actually kept that promise! It was a nice run, too -- I did five miles after some clouds had rolled in, and there was a good breeze going. And the endorphins sure are sweet (especially after you get addicted to them).

-- I went to a different supermarket from my usual recently, and I found the new Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif bars. Clif also makes Luna bars, and I've had several of the new-ish chocolate-coconut Lunas, but I prefer the taste and texture of Clif bars. They're tasty. I think peanut butter Clifs are still my favorite (and they're easy to find), but I do like coconut an awful lot.

-- I fiiiiinally updated my house drawing to include the front porch. You may scoot back from the edges of your seats. I also added a drawing of my basement, which was a lot easier to make. Many fewer walls. The front half of the basement/house (with the laundry stuff) is the original 1917 part, and the back half was added in 1952, I think. There's a building permit for the addition tacked onto one of the beams in the basement... just in case an inspector comes by to check it, fifty-nine years late.

-- I really need to do a book-related update. I finished a few books in June, but there was also another in May that I didn't write about. I think. I fairly sure there was, anyway, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I spent today proof-reading for work, and when I took a little break in the afternoon, I went outside to sit in the hammock and... read a book. Silly. It's a good example of why I've made a point to read for pleasure, though. I spend so much time reading for work that I can forget about fun-reading, but it really is a totally different beast.

-- After seeing marbleized nail polish on Pinterest, I tracked down a YouTube channel that has a bunch of video tutorials for the process. Taping the skin around each nail was the fussiest part, but I was surprised how well the effect came out. Some nails are better than others; it took me a while to figure out that one of the polishes dried too fast in the water, which made creating a marble pattern really difficult. It's such a cool look, though; I'm excited to try it again with other colors.

-- It's nice to be back home with the pet friends again. Henny was beside herself when I picked her up from my parents' place on Wednesday, and she's been extra well-behaved since then. She hasn't even barked at the people who are out fixing the drip edging on my roof. And Birdy has been super cuddly (Beany always is). Somewhere along the line, she decided that other people are scary, so if I'm out of town, she doesn't have anybody to visit with (she hides in the basement when 'strangers' come over). She can be rather fickle in her desire for affection, so I'm enjoying it.

-- My peas were blooming before I left for Portland, and I was able to pick quite a few when I got back. These are all snow peas, but I'm also growing sugar snaps and (I think) regular peas. The plants are getting to be taller than their tepee now! I also picked some cherries from my Nanking cherry bushes, but there's still a ton more ripening. This is the first year I've actually had fruit on them, and it's kind of funny. Looks like a tiny tomato, is the size of a cranberry, and tastes like a mild cherry. The raspberries are also coming into season in my yard. There were a few ripe black raspberries the other day, but everything else is just easing into it.

-- Okay, clearly if I leave writing blog posts until the end of the night (as I usually do), I won't get around to it. I guess I've just been tired and/or reading more in the evening, which doesn't put me in a write-y mood. So here's an update in the morning.

-- I went to Half-Price Books the other day and saw that there's a brand new ALDI in the same strip mall. I think I've been to a US ALDI only one other time, so I checked it out. My first thought was, 'Whoa, this is just like a cheap German supermarket!' and it only took me another split second to remember why. I have concerns about super cheap food (or suspicions, rather -- why is it so cheap?), but other than that, I rather liked ALDI. When I was living in the UK, I would be baffled by the enormous selection of products when I came back to visit in Minnesota. There's something nice about not having twenty-five versions of the same thing to choose from. Anyway, I bought a bag of frozen tortellini at ALDI and had some for lunch the other day -- something I hadn't had in a while (tortellini, not lunch).

-- As I mentioned, I also went to Half-Price Books that day. Sometimes I go there looking for something specific and actually pay the full-half-price, but usually I just shop their clearance section, where everything is $2.00. I typically find four or five books that I can't wait to read and then just make myself leave before I add anything else to the pile. Mostly non-fiction. I don't understand people who don't enjoy reading -- but I get not having time to read (although I'd bet that there's often TV or internet time that could be sacrificed). Books are chock full of information I can deliver straight to my brain! I'm greedy for knowledge.

-- When I first started vegetable gardening, I was so careful to space things out appropriately, following the directions of seed packets. Now I just chuck as many plants into the beds as I can, and I think they do better for it (it certainly keeps the weeds down, anyway). I planted a lot of peas in and around the tepee I made, and I've never seen them grow better. They've been able to help each other grow up the supports instead of just flopping over in the dirt, and the dumb, rainy spring suited them well. They've been flowering and growing peas for about a week now, so I expect I'll find myself in a pea glut pretty soon. Here's a wider photo of one veggie bed, with the tepee on the right.

-- A few (four?) years ago, I started a tradition of making cookies for my dad for Father's Day. I think I made little spritz cookies the first year, then chocolate mint ones the next, and then I upgraded the cookie jar last year and made small chocolate chip cookies (using my favorite recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance). I got the idea for this year's cookies a couple of months ago, so I was excited to finally try them out. Boston Cream Pie Cookies (and a better photo of the cookies themselves here. For the cookie part, I used Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar's Swiss cookie recipe -- it's a very light shortbread, a homemade version of those cookies that come in the round tins. I made the filling using the 'Oreo' creme recipe from the same book, but I replaced part of the powdered sugar with the same amount (one packet) of vanilla pudding mix (Cook and Serve, not instant -- don't know if it matters). I wanted a hint of vanilla custardiness for the Boston Cream Pie aspect. I made the sandwiches and then dipped the tops in melted chocolate. Perfect!

-- When I saw these homemade pizza rolls on Iowa Girl Eats, there was no question that I'd have to try making my own. I cooked up some onion, peppers, and zucchini with tinned tomatoes and seasonings, and I wrapped them up in egg roll wrappers with shredded cheese. Just like real pizza rolls, they exploded a bit in the oven, AND they lightly burned the roof of my mouth. So, two thumbs up for homemade pizza rolls. Now I want to try making mini crunchy burritos with the wraps.

-- Here's a cat story: I started locking them in the basement at night, because they were being too noisy (both when I was trying to fall asleep and early in the morning). When Booty was still around, I used to put him and Beany in the basement, but he would shout and complain, so I didn't do it regularly. Beany would just as soon sleep on the sofa at night, and she'll try to dodge me if she realizes I'm coming to put her downstairs, but she's a stoic and doesn't make a peep once she's down there. Birdy, on the other, thinks it's GREAT! She runs down on her own when it's time. Every other thing about her is naughty, so this one instance of good behavior is amusing.

-- Those donuts in my freezer are still good when thawed, in case you've been wondering. Eat, eat, eat. I'm almost done with my basement drawing, so maybe I'll scan that in... some time.

-- Because we had a break and the weather was nice yesterday, I spent many hours working on the garage -- scraping and sanding and painting. The good news is that the new flat paint I got (I originally bought a gallon of satin, but I hate the sheen) is covering almost perfectly in one coat. The bad news is that after all those hours of manual labor, I just wanted to sleep all day today (but I didn't). The worse news is that this weekend is scheduled as the get-as-much-done-as-possible stretch, and I'm already exhausted. Also, it'll probably rain. But since my parents are helping, maybe I'll learn that I've been holding the scraper by the wrong end, and it's actually super easy! And fun!

-- I got a big old bucket of organic mixed lettuce and spinach yesterday, so I'm looking forward a lot of salads in the next few days. I'm thinking of getting an order of falafel from the place near me and making some amazing Greek-ish salads. Tonight, though, I sauteed onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and Gardein beef-less pieces and mixed them with BBQ sauce. There was also tomato, carrot, pickle, green onion, and cilantro mixed in with the lettuce.

-- It's new roof day! The Dumpster (for the old shingles) was dropped off right at 7:00am, and the workers showed up around 7:45. They've been here for over twelve hours, now, and I think they might be packing up for the day (there's still a small portion of the garage roof that needs shingles). I don't know how they work -- if it's been the same guys out there this entire time or if they go in shifts -- but it's made me feel very lazy while I do my inside work. The pets were really freaked out, especially during the noisy tearing-off phase, but Birdy finally came upstairs after five hours, and they haven't seemed too disturbed since then.

-- I spotted Lucy Knisley's drawing of her apartment/studio (see here), which was inspired by Julia Wentz's similar drawings (like this one), and I immediately wanted to make one of my own house. It was a lot more work than I anticipated! It's fairly to scale, except that the front of the house (with the living room and piano room) could be lengthened a couple of 'feet'. The living room is definitely more rectangular than it looks in the drawing. The middle of the house got really convoluted, with all the little closets and parts that jut out, but it's pretty accurate. I've posted so many photos of my house, but I think it would be hard to guess exactly how it's laid out, so it's nice to be able to share this. My bedroom closet is especially weird and hard to describe -- there are a few notes on those closet areas on flickr, and you can see the drawing in more detail there, too.

-- This has been the general theme of my dinners, lately. It's like I look in the fridge and say, 'YES. All of it.' I worked my way through a bunch of fresh fruit recently (just have pineapple and grapes, now), and I finally finished the locally-grown asparagus I got the other weekend. I'm really into baby carrots and the 'hummus' chips from Target, probably for the crunch factor. Why make up my mind when I can just have a little bit of everything?

-- Charlotte pointed out that I haven't mentioned the cats recently. That's mainly because they just do their cat thing, day in and day out. I'd gotten a can of cat food (they usually just eat dry kibble) the other day, and it's been amusing to watch Birdy eat it. She's usually such a little piggy, but she eats the tinned food very slowly and methodically (not that I can puzzle out the method in question). She drops certain pieces on the floor, next to the dish, and comes back to them later and just generally takes forever. It drives both Beany and Henny crazy.

-- I've been blogging about grammar over at the Snowblog for the past few weeks (that link will show you just my grammar posts). I've had a lot of fun writing about rules, and it seems like people are enjoying it. So far, I've covered compound sentences, addressing+referring to people, and semi-colons. I've got a few more posts in the queue, but if there are any pressing grammar questions you'd like me to answer, head over there and leave a comment.

-- I'm going to have a table at tomorrow's art crawl in St. Cloud, and I whipped up some dog treats to go with the other stuff I'll be selling. I made these dog 'donuts' for my parents' dogs at Christmas, but my packaging is better this time around. I used almond bark for the icing (not the healthiest option -- I'd like to find 'yogurt' coating if I ever make these again), and they smell sooo good as a result. I came extremely close to tasting one for myself. There's nothing not-human-friendly, and they're vegetarian, but there's no sweetener in the biscuit itself, so I'm sure they'd be unpleasant. Henny loves 'em, though.

-- Other goings on: I'm growing a lot of legumes this year. Green (bush) beans, soybeans, black-eyed peas, asparagus beans, snow peas, and snap peas. My elephant ear has its first leaf. I biked up to the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park again. Dams always make me think of mid-century film strips about industry, so that Hipstamatic photo seems particularly apt.

-- Over the past few days, I read through all the posts on this comic-blog, Saucesome. If you eat food and/or have ever thought about trying to be kinder to your body/self, it's a good read. Taco salads make a lot of appearances, and I'm very easily influenced when it comes to what I think I'm 'craving'. So I made a taco salad for dinner last night, and it was awesome. I used Morningstar crumbles to make the taco 'meat', and it also had sauteed onion+pepper+zucchini, raw corn tossed with cilantro and salt, tomato, green onion, avocado, carrot, and baby lettuces. I put some salsa on it, too, and it was a flavor party. Missing the awesome fried-tortilla-as-bowl, but still plenty good.

-- There's a heat advisory for the Twin Cities, which started yesterday (Monday) and extends to tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Henny is all, 'FINALLY! It's nice outside.' We went for a walk this morning, before it got TOO warm, but Henny still decided she'd had enough about a quarter mile from home. I picked her up (perk of having a miniature joke dog), and she seemed quite happy to be carried the rest of the way. She was very uncomfortable about being held when I first got her, and I don't blame her -- it's weird for a full-grown animal to be carried around by another one! But she's used to it now. I say 'pick you up' before I do so, and she assumes the position (which includes hunkering down and leaning over... sometimes so much that she topples on her side). It's got to the point where if we're somewhere she doesn't want to be (like when she wants to leave the dog park), she goes into 'pick you up' mode to send me the message.

-- I decided to spend as much of Memorial Day Weekend off-line as possible, which I was mostly successful at. I biked to the farmers' market on Sunday and got Minnesota-grown asparagus, and I sliced up a few stalks for on top of my pizza that afternoon. I've been really into pizza lately, for some reason. This was just a cheap cheese pizza that I put vegetables on. The trick is to saute everything first (and flavor with some salt and oregano and garlic and thyme, or whatever) so that it's already cooked through when you put it on the pizza and throw everything in the oven. All I used to eat when I was growing up (pizza-wise) was plain cheese pizza, but the cheese is the first thing I'd lose, these days. Too boring.

-- On Saturday (going out of order, here), I ran five miles in my 'normal' trail shoes instead of the Vibrams. The grass along the parkway is getting too long to run through comfortably, especially when dandelions pop up (they get stuck between the toes of my shoes!). I'm registered for a trail half-marathon in a week and a half, but I'm not sure I'm properly trained up. Well, I KNOW I'm not properly trained up -- the uncertainty is in whether I can run the distance at all without wanting to quit halfway through. I'm going to try ten miles tomorrow, and if that isn't awful, I'll be fine. I don't care about my race time, but I would really like to run this one, because it should be pretty cool.

-- A while ago, I pulled out 2.5lbs of rhubarb stalks and cooked it down into compote. Yesterday, I pulled out what wound up being about 10 cups, chopped. And you wouldn't really know it, looking at the plants in the garden. Cra-zy. The leaves are huge this year, too. This stalk/leaf is from the 'strawberry rhubarb' plant, which has always been the smaller of the two. Looks big enough to me. There are a few other new photos in my Garden 2011 flickr set.

-- I discovered that all my old blog archives, which I thought I'd lost, have been safely tucked away on an external hard drive this whole time. So I've been reading through the early years, from when I was at college. I've never kept a pen-and-paper journal, so the blog is the only written record I have from that time. It's bizarre, the extent to which that person seems so similar and vastly different to who I am now. And because it was open to the public, I didn't write the kind of overwrought, apt-to-age-poorly kind of stuff I would have written privately. I actually come off seeming a lot more awesome than I remember having been. Neat.

-- Nature's Path blueberry NotPopTart = good; kale chips = good; fresh watermelon = good. Therefore, lunch = triple good. I have no idea what the rule of thumb is for picking out a good watermelon, but I always look for one that's dark green and has the smallest possible yellow 'belly'. In my mind, that means the melon got superior sun exposure and developed more sugars compared to its pale siblings, but I should stress that that's entirely based on the science that lives in my brain and perhaps not real-world science. But I'm pretty good at picking perfect watermelons, all the same.

-- Two words I often say in my head but respect myself too much to ever utter aloud: supadupe(s) and ri-dinky-donkulous [var: ri-dinky-donkey-ulous]. I'm sure there are others.

-- Henny is a happy dog when she's outside. I often refer to her as Henny P. (I'm not sure if the 'P.' is short for 'Penny' or 'Pigglesworth', which is the first half of her double-barreled last name (Pigglesworth-Torborg, obviously)). I sometimes think of her as HP, but I can't use that in conversation, because those letters have been co-opted by Hewlett Packard and that boy wizard. Anyway, Henny has started filling her pup tent with Important Things (she's always brought her finds to her dog pillow, which is now in the tent). I'm kind of curious to see if she'll keep putting things in there until she no longer has room for herself.

-- After shot! As a reminder, this is what that wall looked like post-scraping, pre-painting. This project is going to take forever if I wind up doing it all myself, and I realized today that there's not much I'll be able to reach on the house without a ladder. It's exhausting to think about. I just need to take a nap.

-- It's a shame that Nutty Guys' service is so abysmal (so much that I'm not even going to link to their site), because the food is actually really good. I'm still working my way through the fried peas (like wasabi peas without the wasabi), which are so oddly tasty. Like the green bean 'chips' that Whole Foods sells. Tastes like green vegetables AND junk food? Weird.

-- I ran a ton of errands today and wound up driving back home through the tornado damage from Saturday. Wow. The park that I often run through has been obliterated. Huge trees knocked over everywhere. As somebody who is quite fond of trees, I just felt ill seeing them all down. And this is half a mile from my house. I don't know if it's 'survivor's guilt' or just the knowledge of what so easily could have been, but I feel really strange about the fact that my house/street was entirely missed by the tornado. Lucky and grateful... but strange.

-- I've been eager to start painting the house, but the weather hasn't been cooperating! We finally had a rain-free day, so I spent the late afternoon/evening scraping and painting the east side of the garage. I started there for the simple reason that it's what I look out at from the kitchen (the only part of my house/garage that I can see from inside, in fact). I really like painting, but I DO NOT LIKE all the scraping that has to precede it. So much scraping. So much. This is what the wall looked like when I finished scraping -- kind of a nightmare. I was able to get the trim painted and slapped a coat on the wall, as well, so it's looking a ton better now. I hate stepping away for even a minute when I'm in the middle of the process, as if my neighbors will instantly forget that I'm scraping and painting and instead think that I've let the place go to ruin.

-- This is Henny inside the travel house (pup tent, if you will) I got on clearance in Sandstone. I put it together for her yesterday, just for the fun of it, so now she spends a large part of the day napping in there before I usher her over to her Little House (pet carrier/kennel) for the night. I make the cats sleep in the basement now, because they were acting like jerks at night. Beany would rather not, so I always put her down there first, and Birdy has come running after us the past few nights. They're really well-behaved once they're down there, and I no longer have a Birdy-themed alarm clock at 5:00am.

-- Cake. I've come to the conclusion that, although I sometimes actively crave a piece of cake, it's not something I want very often. I think it's a sugar thing; the level of sweetness I prefer has gone way down over the past few years. Just thinking about candy bars makes my head (and teeth) hurt. Still, I have to say that my mom is good at that whole cake-making thing.

-- I feel a little bit like I've lost my blogging mojo (which tends to run on the low end of the spectrum, anyway). Maybe part of it is that this is my eleventh year of blogging and my fifth spring/summer in this house; it seems like I wind up repeating myself when I talk about the garden and things. I should have adventures and write about them. Or start telling my deep, dark secrets. Or... maybe just the adventures thing.

-- Here's a monster I drew last night. I stalled on my drawings for the animal book (I've done 45, and I'd like to have at least 60), just because I slipped out of the habit of drawing at the kitchen table. After dinner last night, I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wanted to make something scary/ugly. Except, you know, I only have my style to work with, so it's cute, too. I left it on the table, and it was waiting for me there when I sat down to eat breakfast this morning. Heh. Fierce widdle monstuh.

-- Oh! On June 10th, I'm going to have a table at the St. Cloud art crawl, selling prints and sewn items and such. I plan to bring everything that's in my Etsy shop, and if I'm lucky, I won't return with much of it. If there's something you've had your eye on, you might want to grab it now, because I'll put the shop on holiday at the end of the month, so I'll know what I'll have available for the art crawl. I'm still so in love with those paper ribbon magnets. I should make more of those!

-- Yes, this is exactly what it looks like -- a (mini) pretzel bagel. They come with a little packet of coarse salt, so you can add it yourself. When I was rounding a corner at the supermarket, they caught my eye, and I wondered if pumpernickel bagels were now a thing (they probably are), and I then I realized that they're pretzels. I didn't really have to think twice -- into the cart!

-- I'm having a hateymoon with the cats. It's a lot like a honeymoon, in that it's a relatively brief period marked by heightened and slightly unrealistic emotions, except that instead of feeling like I'm in a cloud of warmth and adoration, I'm instead seething with annoyance at everything they do. Birdy shouts and me and knocks things over in her clumsiness. Beany insists on lying on my shins (when my legs are stretched out on the sofa), which I can't stand; if I try to get her to go away, she engages extra gravity cat mode. At least they've been fairly compliant with basement times at night, because Birdy was really starting to get on my nerves with her whole dawn = time to wake up routine.

-- Right now is my favorite time of the year for the garden, I've decided. When I got back from the cabin (I was only gone three days), the lilacs were suddenly all leafed out, as were the raspberries, and everything is looking really lush. The weeds are growing, but they haven't started trying to take things over yet. The rain and lack of hot-hot sun make the yard so green. Although... I also really like it when the vegetables start to look wild in their impressive growth. So I might later say that that is my favorite time of year for the garden.

-- I was on the fence about going out for a run this morning. I was feeling (a little) tired and (a lot) lazy, but the laziness was turning into petulance and filling me with nervous/annoyed energy. So I figured a short run would be good for me, and I decided I might as well try to make it a quick-ish one. Well, 3.1 miles later, I'd set myself a new PR for the distance. I haven't been doing ANY speedwork, so I figured I wasn't capable of getting anywhere near last September's 5k PR, but I beat it by 42 seconds. It's all thanks to the Vibrams, I'm sure. They're quick and light and have helped me build some good muscle in my calves. But I can sure feel today's speed in my tired quads now!

-- I usually aim for some sort of cohesion with my meals, but sometimes I just give up on that idea and eat a random combination of things I like. (This meal always comes to mind for the random category.) I'd thawed some homemade vegetable soup, to which I added pasta. I needed more green, so I steamed broccoli and then sauteed it with soy sauce. And why not throw some slices of veggie bacon on the side? Dinner is served.

-- I had to do all the laundry today. My least favorite part of the whole process is dragging the laundry basket out from my closet and making sure I've grabbed everything that might have fallen out. It's not that it's difficult or that there are spiders in there, just waiting to jump on my head; I simply don't like it. It's as though it's too mind-numbingly boring a task to bother with. But I soldiered through those thirty seconds and now have a bed covered in clean clothes. Which I'll have to put away before I go to bed. Maybe that's my least favorite part.

-- I made a small batch of bagel sticks for my mom for Mother's Day, and I kept the two that came out ugly. I put lots of dried cherries and apples in them, which meant they wanted to fall apart a bit. I usually bake something for Mother's Day, but she's been doing a ton of work-related cake making lately, so I figured something non-sugary might be the way to go. I also made a crocheted flower pin, but I forgot to take a photo. D'oh. As a wise friend once told me, if you don't take a picture, it didn't happen.

-- My neighbors' front lawns always look nicer than mine (theirs aren't as exposed to the sun, and they all water regularly), so the only time I can get a good holier-than-thou-ness going on is when both my next-door neighbor's lawn and mine have gotten pretty long, and I'm the first to get out and mow. Ha ha! I am superior in all things yard-maintenance! I win! People were breaking out their lawn mowers for the first time this weekend, and I cut my grass yesterday evening. Cue self-satisfaction. Next-door neighbor was out this morning. Well, that was a short-lived triumph.

-- I dug these biscotti out from the back of the freezer; I think I made them for Christmas cookies in 2009. Amazingly, they still tasted just as good as when they were fresh. I always use the biscotti recipe from the Veganomicon as a starting point. The milled flax gives it a great texture. And I tried a new method of brewing coffee today. When I was at the supermarket last week, I spotted some coffee 'teabags', which were just regular coffee inside... you know... tea bags. Well, I have empty ones (for loose-leaf tea), so I thought I'd give it a go. The result was pretty good, if you like weak diner coffee (I do).

-- Sometimes when I run my hand through my hair (if my head itches or something), instead of smoothing it back down, I'll pull it straight up. Then I forget I've done so. Then, sometimes, I go outside. Not very often, thankfully.

-- I couldn't tell you why, but I was looking at this photo I took of Frankfurt, and I was inspired to rethink my bathroom design. I know it doesn't make sense. But I decided to embrace the dumb brown-ness of the room (I hate those tiles so much) and go with a neutral color scheme instead of trying to bring in the shades of blue I wanted (see here and compare to the new). I'd still much rather have a white vanity base and a nicer light fixture above the sink, but the new look is still a big improvement -- there's a different rug that you can't see in the photo, of course, and the whole (tiny) room looks much nicer in person.

The back of the wall cabinet had all sorts of water marks on it (from wet toothbrushes, I think), so I covered it up with a piece of wallpaper leftover from the piano room. When you look into the bathroom from that room, you can see both instances, as in the photo above. I knew I would have to get a new shower curtain and window curtain, which almost stopped me from bothering at all (money, ugh), but I stopped at the thrift store before I got banh mi yesterday, and I found exactly what I was looking for with the low, low total of $5. High five, me.

-- To celebrate having had a great eight-mile run this morning, I went to the Vietnamese/Thai BBQ place a few miles down the road and got a mock duck banh mi for dinner. Whenever I have something new like this, my reaction after the first time is, 'Oh my god! I must eat this for every meal from now until forever!' I don't, of course, but I pine away for the food in question until I'm able to have it again. And after that second time, even though it's still really good, I'm more like, 'Okay, I may have overstated the frequency with which I need to consume this particular piece of cuisine.' So it was with banh mi. Still awesome, but no longer on a foodie pedestal. Also, the raw jalapeno (which I can usually tolerate) had started to turn red, and the single bite of it I ate burned my entire face off. Literally. (Not literally.)

-- The cats are going on probation. Their antics woke me up half an hour after I went to bed last night, and I discovered that they'd stolen some yarn AND that Birdy had found something I'd crocheted and immediately put it in the water dish (and then took it out and put it on the floor). They woke me up again at about 5:30am with their stupid cat games and cat noises. I almost never make them spend the night in the basement, but that's where they'll be until they learn to not be such jerks.

-- I think it's possible that I don't have a third thing to say. I keep getting to the end of the day and realizing I still haven't written my post for the books I read in April, though, so I hope I'll get to that tomorrow. Happy weekend, friends!

-- This is Henny's collection of shirts and sweaters and things. I keep everything in a Samsonite train/vanity case that's been around for a while. You can find similar ones on Etsy here (some are exactly the same!). I think it belonged first to a great aunt of mine, and then my mom kept her make-up in it in college, and I used it when I was little as a home for all my Barbie accessories. It only recently came to live at my house, and it's kind of amazing how it still smells exactly the same as it did when I was a kid.

-- The other day, Henny was sitting outside and saw a squirrel on the fence. It was the first time I'd seen her really notice a squirrel, and she was slightly interested but quickly got bored. Then, when I was making breakfast this morning, I heard something from the living room and saw Henny pawing near the floor, between the base of the cat tree and the wall. I slid the tree out a couple of inches, thinking she'd trapped a toy in there, but I didn't see anything. She went right back to pawing when I walked away, though, and suddenly a centipede ran out. I took over from there, but she was pretty keen on hunting it down. Little dog knows her limits when it comes to the size of her prey.

-- Speaking of hunting down, I've been trying to locate the source of a funky smell in the living room. It's hard to say exactly what it smells like, and I haven't been able to narrow down its location at all. I washed all the blankets today, and then I tackled the curtains. Because the cats peek outside when they're closed, the edges of the curtains get spots of hair on them. I'll go at them with a lint roller from time to time, but I've been putting off laundering them for... a good three and a half years, at least. Gross. But it's because I knew I would have to first hem them up (I originally did so with the iron-on tape that Ikea provides, but it was coming unstuck in places), then wash them, and then iron them. A process that was at the top of my Boring Things To Not Do list. But I did it today, like a proper adult. Still haven't found the smell, though.

-- I had a nice moment with Henny just a bit ago. She's been sleeping on her pillow (on the floor) more often than the sofa lately, and sometimes she looks so little and sad down there. So I walked over and gave her a pat, which she didn't bother looking up for. Then I picked her up and put her on the sofa with me, and she settled down right by my side, no big deal. Even though I know Henny trusts me, she's still so skittish in most situations. Having her be so blase and, 'What? Oh, you,' is quite a nice feeling.

-- I'm running more or less exclusively in my Vibram Five Fingers Sprints now. I had a great six miler in perfect weather this morning, and during the return trip, I came up behind a woman walking a wheaten terrier. I've unintentionally startled people this way before, since I'm running on the grass in shoes that don't make much of an impact. But I was surprised that I managed to catch the dog off guard. It looked my way right as I was about to pass them and did an honest-to-goodness double take while it jumped a few inches into the air. I felt bad, but it was pretty funny at the same time.

-- Sunday is May Day! April was full of showers, indeed. I've been looking forward to the Minneapolis May Day parade for months now; it feels like the start of people spending time outside again. We're supposed to have decent weather on Sunday, but tomorrow will be (another) grey, rainy, blustery day. I'd like to knock out a few sewing projects, because my crafty mojo has been low recently. What are you doing this weekend?

-- CAKE! I made the bad decision (delicious, but bad) to get my mom the Junior's Cheesecake recipe book/magazine last year, so now we must live with the consequences. Such as cheesecake between two layers of (gluten free!) carrot cake. Okay, so it's a pretty tolerable consequence.

-- The Henny that I know and the Henny that goes out into the world are very different dogs. One of the biggest joys over the months of patience has been watching her learn how to be happy and silly, but she's still so nervous around other people that I'm the only person who knows about it. She sleeps in her 'little house' every night, and she'll voluntarily go in at bedtime, but she's so excited to get out in the morning. Here's a video of our morning routine. It's a nice way to start each day.

-- I've been more diligent lately about setting the custom white balance before I shoot. Mainly because I realized that the paper towel roll is a convenient white sample (you take a photo of a blank, white something to tell the camera what 'white' is in a given lighting condition). It makes a big difference for photos like this one of the pineapple. The evening light comes across as really red with a generic WB setting. I still wind up tweaking the balance in Photoshop, but I'm starting from a much nicer place.

-- The past two days have been really lovely, weather-wise. I ran in my Vibrams both days, and I got out this afternoon to lay down some plastic sheeting in the garden. Two years ago, I put down landscape fabric and mulch by my vegetable beds (see here), and the grass worked its way through pretty quickly. It was annoying, since I mulched the area in the first place because the lawn was so patchy there. It's what I would consider a 'permanent' bit of landscaping (in that I don't want to plant anything in the mulched space), so I pulled up the old fabric and put down plastic instead. And since it's supposed to rain tomorrow (bah!), I ran out in the evening and got new wood chip to finish it off. As much as I don't like the idea of covering up earth with plastic, I'll be so happy not to have grass and weeds popping up all over the place.

-- Oh, spring. Would you just go ahead and spring, already? It snowed for quite a while this morning (it's all gone now, of course), and I had to break out the heavy-duty eye rolling for all the comments on facebook. If you live in Minnesota, you have no right to act surprised or outraged by a little snow in April. Later in the day, though, I got dressed for a run, stepped outside, and then stood on the back step for thirty seconds before heading right back in. I'm so over running in this weather. It wasn't even snowing at that point, but I need something other than grey skies and cold winds to help my motivation. Bah.

-- This morning, I saw that the post on the Flickr Blog was about Fennec foxes, and I said to myself, Huh, and I was just thinking about Fennec foxes! But then I realized that I have a chihuahua, so I think about Fennec foxes most days. (There's a silly legend that chihuahuas are descended from the foxes, and even though I don't believe it, it's like a thought-ear-worm with me.)

-- I've been doing some sewing to sell (at an art crawl in June), which means taking the time to trim my seam allowances. I always feel bad throwing away all these scraps (and the bigger-but-still-useless pieces leftover after cutting out a pattern), but I don't have anything to do with them. Except make the world's heaviest and most uncomfortable pillow. I wish you could melt down fabric and reuse it.

-- Henny is cuddled up next to me right now (instead of down by my feet or on her pillow), because i was petting Beany earlier. A sure-fire way to get Henny to come over is to shower a cat with affection. I wonder if they know I'm just using them to take advantage of the dog's jealousy. Here's a video of Henny doing cute things. She's a silly miniature dog.

-- Veggie turk'y burger with carrots and broccoli (seasoned and cooked with soy sauce) + hummus + BBQ sauce, throw it in a pita. Such a good combination!

-- The insurance adjuster was finally able to come out and look at the hail damage on the roof. Now I just have to sit around and wait to see what they come back with. Henny barked a few times when the guy showed up, and Birdy magically disappeared (into the basement). I was showing the adjuster the water damage in my kitchen, when I noticed that Beany was shamelessly throwing herself at the guy's legs, looking for affection. Isn't it funny how different pets can be? Beany has always had zero stranger-danger, and she seems to assume that everybody who visits is doing so to see her. She's my real-life Nermal.

-- Along with the walking stick medallions, I picked up some iron-on patches from the state parks we visited the other weekend. I wanted to make a canvas tote bag to put them on, and when I found the dark brown cotton, I immediately thought of the hiking 'logo'. So I made a stencil with adhesive window film, and tada. I thought it came out pretty well. The fabric paint medium says to wait seven days before heat setting, though. Seven days! Who knows what I'll be doing in a week? Pshh.

-- I think this might be one of my favorite iPhone photos yet. Henny is a good explorer, even though our local dog park is pretty boring. The upside is that there are rarely any pesky dogs cluttering up the place, so Henny is free to sniff around without interruption.

-- I started watching Grey's Anatomy on Friday (streaming on Netflix), and it's just been a blur of surgeries and romantic drama since then. I'd always had less than zero interest in the show (too much hype?), but it's hooked me now. I'm actually a little disappointed that it's still on the air, as I much prefer watching episodes back to back instead of waiting entire weeks for the story to continue. I'm only on the second season, so I've got a ways to go, yet.

-- Boring running stuff: Connie asked about running in the Vibrams, especially the calf pain. When I first got my pair, I did about half a mile on the path by my house, and I definitely felt it the next day. That was before I had shifted from a heel strike to a mid-foot strike, though. For about eight months now, I've been striking with the middle of my foot, even while wearing regular, heel-heavy shoes, which I think has built up my calves. So that plus the fact that I'm only running on the grass in Vibrams means that I've had no calf pain since I started using these shoes a few weeks ago. I'm still taking it fairly easy on my IT band, but I've found it slightly more comfortable using the Vibrams, I think.

-- Yay! My medallions arrived yesterday. As I mentioned before, we cut a birch walking stick for me last weekend (it's currently drying, and then I'll stain/varnish it, drill a hole for a wrist strap, etc), and I'd bought three medallions from the state parks we visited along the North Shore. I went to Hike America on Sunday afternoon and was delighted to discover that I could order medallions from the parks I'd visited in December + January. The bronze-colored one is from Lake Mead, and the two round ones are from Malibu Creek State Park, in California. That's where M*A*S*H's outdoor scenes were filmed, and I'm pretty excited about that M*A*S*H medallion!

-- Speaking of things I got in the post, I received an order from Nutty Guys over the weekend. My mom had given me a Groupon (or somesuch) gift certificate, and I immediately associated the site with the bad experience Jess had with them. I placed my order, and a week went by before I was notified that it had shipped (which meant it arrived while I was out of town, and the box sat in the rain). That's not so bad, but I'm used to faster turn-around from on-line companies, and it's certainly not the 'Fast Shipping' they have in big letters on their front page. My mom is still waiting for her shipment and has had trouble getting them to communicate why this is. If you don't really care when you get the stuff you've paid for, though, the food is good. I made this salad with giant corn nuts and fried peas (like wasabi peas without wasabi) on top -- I really like the peas. And the yogurt covered cranberries are extremely tasty.

-- I made this chocolate peanut/almond butter a while ago, and a bit of homemade maple syrup really brings out its flavor. I might make maple peanut/almond butter when this stuff runs out. It's been so grey and windy and blah outside the last couple of days. Not much in the way of rain (which I suppose is good, considering that the Mississippi has eaten the paths in my neighborhood in its post-thaw hunger)... I want some precipitation or sunshine -- one or the other!

-- Henny P went to the vet today to have her bald spot looked at (it's a lightly-callused patch on her right hip/thigh). I can't remember how long she's had it (definitely a few months, but was it there when I first got her?), and the vet ruled out fungus and mites, so she's got some antibiotics to take, in case it's bacterial. It was the first time we'd been to this neighborhood veterinarian, and they were so sweet and gentle with Henny. And gave her a ton of cat treats.

-- My mom and I took a little birthday weekend trip (her birthday is/was today!) up along the North Shore. We drove all the way up to Grand Portage, which is the northern-most point of Minnesota along Lake Superior, but we didn't have our passports, so we couldn't visit Canada. The weather was pretty ideal for this time of year; it could have easily been snowing, but instead it was sunny and in the 50s.

-- When I got home, I discovered that my daffodils were in bloom, which is exciting. I had chucked the bulbs from an indoor garden into the ground last year, and it's really fun to see them coming up now. I also noticed that my lilacs are starting to grow leaves, the grass is greening up, and I actually had chives from the garden in my salad today. Also, my tomato seedlings are growing well, and they should be in good shape about a month from now, when it'll be time for them to go outside.

-- I've started running in my Vibram FiveFingers Sprints. I've had them since last summer, and I did my fair share of walking and hiking in them while it was warm out. I've been feeling a little burnt out on running lately, since my IT band still isn't 100%, but wearing the Vibrams has made me excited about it again. I'm really lucky to have grassy 'paths' to run on; I would not recommend wearing FiveFingers to run on pavement (although people do). The argument for wearing 'barefoot'/minimalist shoes is that we evolved running barefoot, but we did it on real earth, not roads.

-- As we drove north this weekend, my mom and I stopped at a few different state parks to have a look around and then collect a walking stick medallion. I first discovered these last December, when I was at the Hoover Dam, where I bought one for my mom, since she has a nice collection of walking sticks at the cabin. I found another one when I went to Malibu Creek State Park in California. I decided that I wanted to start collecting them for myself, too (we cut two walking sticks for me from my parents' woods this weekend), so I was really excited when my mom sent me a link to Hike America and their order-able medallions. I grabbed one for Malibu Creek (plus the M*A*S*H one, since I did hike to that site) and one for Lake Mead. I wonder how many medallions is TOO many medallions for one walking stick.

-- I was going to say that tofu and broccoli go really well together, but then I realized that, in my opinion, tofu goes with everything. As does broccoli. Broccoli was one of the five vegetables I tolerated when I was a kid, you know. I wonder if there will ever come a day when I feel like I've had too much of it.

-- When Henny and I visited my friend Julie, she said something about how Henny is so adorable that I must love her more every day. That's pretty much true. After dinner tonight, I was able to get her to sit by saying 'sit' quite a few times in a row. I still think there's a 80% chance it was a fluke, but maybe not. She's not a dumb dog, after all.

-- It's probably just because I've been watching both M*A*S*H and Psych recently, but I feel like there's a connection between the characters Frank Burns and Carlton Lassiter. I mean, they're both the straight man who actually winds up being funny because of his adherence to the rules, but there's more than that. It's probably in my head. Who else has been watching M*A*S*H and Psych side by side and can comment? What, nobody?

-- I went to the supermarket on Sunday morning because there was a great coupon for ice cream, and I knew that if I waited, the selection would get picked over fast. But because I am a reverse impulse shopper (go in for the junk, leave with a bunch of healthy stuff), I also wound up with a bag full of fresh fruit that had been on sale. Yesterday I made a salad that was mostly fruit on some lettuce, and I repeated and improved it today. Lettuce topped with mango, grapes, shredded carrot, avocado, prunes, and almonds. And, just by chance, I had a raspberry vinaigrette in the fridge that was perfect.

-- I got a push broom! I had wanted one forever, which is silly for two reasons: 1. I could have just bought one as soon as I thought of it, and 2. it's a push broom. My dad got it for me the last time my folks were at Fleet Farm, and you couldn't ask for a better springtime gift. I immediately cleaned out half of the garage and swept the back path after raking. Awesome.

-- I call this Pile of Veggies with Fried Egg on Top. It's best if you don't try to understand the name; I'm very deep. After dinner, I took a bath while listening to Beethoven. It's one of my favorite things. Whenever I do something like that, I mentally compile a list of all the things that teenage-Anna wouldn't believe about current-Anna.

-- Also after dinner, I worked on sewing more underwear. I think I first got the idea from Amy at Angry Chicken, although it lay dormant in my mind for quite a while. She has some good tips in the post I just linked to, and I basically did what she did -- used a pair that I really like to create a pattern. I tweaked it after sewing the first pair, and that's what I've used since. I would suggest using a lightweight knit with some lycra in it, because you want a two-way stretch that's going to really, well, stretch. I can get one pair from a quarter yard (I actually used leftover fabric from Henny's red shirt for the first trial). That, plus the underwear elastic, runs to about $1.50, which I reckon is pretty good for a perfect fit. I had a third of a yard of the latest prints I bought, and I was able to make a little bra-top with the leftovers. I'm definitely going to try making a bathing suit this summer!

-- Lastly, here's a brownie on top of a chocolate chip cookie, baked in a muffin pan. With a miniature peanut butter cup in the middle. My mom made them, and even she agreed that the peanut butter cup may have been one step too far. Pretty darn good, though. I wish I could have shared one with Rob, because today was his birthday! Hooray!

-- This was a really good pancake, in case you can't tell from the dramatic back-lighting. I made it for dinner, and it really hit the spot. I had tossed in a few mini chocolate chips, though, and I've decided once and for all that I'm not really a fan of chocolate in pancakes. That's just too much sugar going on. But bananas (there were some slices cooked in, too) + pancakes = perfection.

-- After staying up late with some proof-reading last night, I gave myself the day off today. I spent most of it sewing, with mixed results. I finally finished the blazer/coat I cut out the other day, but it's too big. I need to completely disregard the sizing on patterns, I think, and just go by the finished garment measurements it lists instead. I also started on a pair of shorts but got discouraged halfway through. My big success of the day was creating a pattern for (under)pants and sewing up a couple pairs. I'm tempted to show you a photo, but it's just too weird. They look pretty cool, and it's not like I've been wearing them around, but still -- weird.

-- If I could pick only a few spices/flavorings to have on hand, I'd go with soy sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and BBQ sauce. I'll cook pretty much any vegetable in the first four and top it with the fifth. Tofu, too. Yum.

-- Henny is such a homebody. If we go anywhere, even on a walk, she's always so excited to be home again. And she likes me to be there, too. I've got at-home clothes and going-out clothes, which ensures that I'm not covered in cat hair when I'm among my fellow humans. Henny knows my at-home clothes, and you'd think she'd won the lottery when I change into them after getting back from running errands. The cats are indifferent. (Actually, Birdy always greets me at the door.)

-- This is a good example of why, when I have to, I find it hard to eat a low-fiber diet. Lentil + brown rice soup, raw carrots, kale chips, and roasted cauliflower. This is also why I go through fresh produce so quickly. I get excited and want to eat it all.

-- When the water heater was installed yesterday, the guy set it at 'hot' and explained that I could make it go higher by turning the dial to the letters, but he said he wasn't allowed to set it any hotter and I should wait to see if that would be warm enough. After two days of cold showers, I was excited to take a hot bath this morning, but I was very disappointed. Bath water should balance on that fine line between luxury and endurance. My water heater's 'hot' setting should be renamed 'tepid'; I need to turn it to R for 'regret'. (Actually, it only goes up to C.)

-- I finished a 'mere' two books this month (more about that tomorrow), but I have a rather ambitious goal for April of finishing all four books that I found in the Half Price Books clearance section yesterday. They're not particularly short ones, either. In total, it would mean reading 1667 pages, which (I shouldn't have calculated this) is over fifty pages a day. Okay, so, maybe two books is plenty.

-- My parents tapped some maple trees up at their cabin, and my mom boiled down the sap to my syrup. It's got a very mild flavor, almost like honey. Even though sugar is readily (too readily) available these days, it still seems special, in the sense that it's hard to create your own supply of sweet stuff. So I really like the idea of home-produced 'sugar', especially since somebody else did all the work. Word on the street is that my parents have collected 3+ gallons from their (huge) maple at home, so it'll be interesting to see how city syrup compares to country syrup. (FYI, the sap-to-syrup ratio is about 40 to 1, so 3 gallons of sap would be a little over a cup of syrup.)

-- I can't stop sewing for Henny. Now that I've got a good pattern and have used it a few times, it's so quick to whip up a shirt, and it's really cheap, too. This one, which she wore on our walk today, took me fifteen minutes to sew and about a dollar in materials. I figure I've got to revel in the cuteness of dressed-Henny while I can, because it'll warm up soon enough.

-- Do you remember when I said I had had the same lunch and dinner both days this weekend? Well, I extended that to having had the same lunch four days in a row and the same dinner three days in a row. That was partly due to wanting to eat baby carrots the entire time, but also because I ran out of green veg a few days ago. Part of my brain figures that if there's no broccoli, there's just no point in even making an effort. I finally made it to the grocery store, though, so I'm good to go now.

-- The new water heater was installed today. Do you know how many times you'll try to turn on a tap when the water supply to the house is cut off? A billion times. Henny was on alert during the entire installation (lots of noises from the basement); the only time she barks is when somebody is in the house. I was working on my laptop, sitting on the couch, and at one point I told her to c'mere and patted the sofa cushion. To my surprise, she actually did come over and jumped up to sit next to me. She knows what 'come here' means, but she doesn't usually join me on the sofa unless it's her idea. She needed some reassuring that everything was okay.

-- My least favorite part of making clothes is pinning and cutting the pattern pieces. Yawn. It took me well over two hours tonight to get everything cut out for the blazer/coat I'm going to make. This was a pattern that I bought last week to set aside for 'later', but then I found the perfect fabric for really cheap... and I'm interested to see how it all goes together. Watching the pieces join up to become something is pretty cool, but the cutting! And tissue paper just gets the cats all in a frenzy, which doesn't lend itself to orderliness.

-- This weekend, I ate the same breakfast both days (not a surprise), the same lunch both days (wrap + carrots), and the same dinner both days (pasta with tomato sauce + tinned green beans + carrots). The bag of baby carrots I have is so good (I'm sure you know how hit and miss they can be); I could eat them all day.

-- I dug around a bit in a remnant bin at the fabric warehouse yesterday, and I pulled out a great stretchy knit print, which was $2. I used this pattern to make a shirt (see here and here. I left off the interfaced band that's supposed to go at the bottom of the shirt and just did a small hem instead. The interfacing was a pain to work with at the collar, and I think it would have made the shirt hang really awkwardly at the bottom.

-- Choffy success. I used just a bit too much water the first time, which resulted in a really watery brew, but I made sure to measure out 6oz of water today, so it was better. Choffy is ground cocoa beans that you brew like coffee, and it has a very cocoa-y aroma with a nice, coffee-esque bitterness. A fun alternative.

-- While searching for fleece jacket patterns, I came across these by Shelby, a Finnish company. A couple of those jackets are exactly what I'm looking for, and I really like the women's trousers, too (it's nigh on impossible to find outdoorsy trousers with a long enough inseam). I think that, for now, I'm going to try to snag this Simplicity pattern when the 99 cent sale starts at Jo-Ann Fabrics on the 31st. For the record, aside from race shirts and homemade stuff (my two exceptions), I haven't bought any clothes this year. It's almost been too easy.

-- Still working on the drawings. I've slowed down a little bit, because my head has been filled with sewing lately. My mom and I went to the fabric warehouse this morning, and I grabbed some new knits for both Henny and me, along with a couple patterns from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I'd like to find a good pattern for a fleece zip-up, so if you know of one, do tell. Also, trousers/jeans without a really high waist or old-fashioned fit.

-- I went over to my friend Julie's this afternoon, and Henny (dressed in a new-new shirt that I haven't photographed yet, and which turns her into a certified cutesplosion) came along. I don't think it took her even five minutes to get comfortable (with the help of a dental bone), and she was charming and amusing thereafter. Who wants a visit from the miniature dog next? (I'll have to tag along.)

-- Little Beany-Weenie. She's the cuddliest. Henny requires attention (being let outside, etc); Birdy is noisy when she wants something; Beany just stands by quietly. But she's also probably the most affectionate, so she was happy to find me watching M*A*S*H without a dog on the sofa or a laptop on my lap. I have to remember how cute she is here for the next time she darts outside when she's not supposed to.

-- I went spelunking in the freezer this afternoon. Actually, I didn't have to spelunk; these were in the door, but they'd been there for quite a long time. So long that I thought I might have to throw them away due to freezer burn, but I thawed them out for a taste test... and they passed. My mom made them, and she calls blondies 'blond brownies', which somehow manages to be both a tautology and an oxymoron. I don't think these qualify, anyway; they were more like bar cookies. And now they're gone!

-- I just finished sewing what is probably the best article of clothing I've ever made. I'm really excited about it. I found some sweatshirt fleece I liked at the fabric warehouse, and I almost didn't get it, but then I remembered I'd picked up this vintage Simplicity pattern in Hinckley last year. I'll do a proper post about it tomorrow, once I've taken some photos. For now, I just have to resist using the leftover fabric to make a matching hoodie for Henny. (Don't worry, I'm not really That Person.)

-- Henny uses a step to get onto the sofa, but it's step-aerobics-style step, which means that it's a lot wider than it needs to be. I had been thinking about building a little box to take its place, but the fabric store had 4" foam sheets, and it's dense enough to serve the purpose. I had originally cut two squares and stacked them to make a step, although that's a little high. But I had them in place by the sofa when I went to start sewing this evening, and when I came back out to the living room (slightly bleary from a sewing-coma), the foam blocks had been tossed aside, along with a rug and cushions from the sofa. It makes me smile to know that Henny lets loose and goes a bit destructive and goofy from time to time (she doesn't actually destroy anything, just drags stuff around). I'm pretty sure the cats had a hand in it, too.

-- I made this for dinner two nights ago, and I'd completely forgotten about it, but man, it was good! The night before, I'd wanted brown rice for something but thought of it too late, so I made quinoa instead, and there was some leftovers in the fridge. I sauteed carrot and mushrooms in a skillet, added the cooked quinoa to heat through, and stirred in some green onions (also a bit of garlic powder, ground sage, and cumin). I topped it with Trader Joe's meatless balls, which I haven't been crazy about, but this time I cooked them in some Hain vegetarian gravy. Good food. I wish that gravy mix was sold in jars instead of packets. I could do with having a large supply.

--More snow for Minnesota! I refuse to say, 'Oh no, winter's back!' 'Cause, guys, this is Minnesota; in no way is this surprising. There must be four or five inches of new snow that fell today, and it did make driving quite a challenge while it was coming down. It might have been my fault, since I called the insurance people the other day to come inspect my roof after the snow had melted.

-- I made a green onion salad dressing to go with my dinner tonight, and it's good, but it has infected me with garlic/onion breath. Several hours after dinner, I was drinking some mint tea, and I thought it had a weird flavor, but I was really just tasting my own mouth. Hot. I think I'll go brush my teeth a few dozen times.

-- This weekend, a runner friend asked me what my favorite thing to cook is, and I think I stammered a bit and shrugged. As I was eating lunch today (pictured above), I realized that I think in terms of foods, not dishes. I can easily name some of my favorite foods: tofu, broccoli, sweet potato, avocados, apples, ice cream, etc. I know I've mentioned this several times, but I read Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries (and others) when I was first getting into cooking, and his remarks about understanding your ingredients and not relying on recipes have always stuck with me. A lot of what I put together would be hard to define, anyway (what would you call the tofu/carrot/broccoli in the photo above? a stir-fry?); I just take the foods I like and add to them the seasonings I like. Then I eat.

-- How incredible is everything in this Etsy shop? Dog clothes so nice that I wish I could wear them! Henny needs one of everything (except the dresses, because I have to draw the line somewhere). Size small. Thanks.

-- I've been drawing a few pages a day for Things I Know About Animals I Don't Really Know Much About, subtitle: Plus Some Lies. I've got 25 drawings done, and I'm aiming for 50 or 60. I keep my iPhone handy while I draw, so I can find pictures to refer to. There are a lot of animals I've never tried to draw before! And, not to say that every page is utterly hi-larious, but it's been a good exercise in figuring out how to get the most funniness out of the fewest words possible. I'm liking this project quite a bit.

-- I made the hot and sour soup from The Veganomicon yesterday. I used only about a third of the hot ingredients called for, but it was still way too much for me (and I wouldn't say that I'm a total wimp about spiciness). I strained it today and got rid of the broth; I'll use the tofu and veggies for other things. It's the first time I haven't loved an Isa recipe, but I blame it on the spice.

-- I ran the Get Lucky 'Triple 7k' (aka 21k, aka 13.1 miles, aka half-marathon) yesterday. I was expecting sunny skies, but it was flurrying when we started. Quite cold for the first couple of miles. I'm also trying to manage my IT band issues, so I had taped it at my knee (with KT Tape, which is great), and I also taped my ankle with regular athletic tape, just for support. I ran the race as a long run, which resulted in one of my slowest half-marathon times ever, but I was able to run with a pal (and future Ragnar teammate!), which made it pretty fun.

-- It's really gloomy today, and still too cold for me to want to sit on the porch, but I let the cats out. They haven't left that chair in hours. I was looking for a porch-cats photo from last year (here's one), and I realized that I adopted Birdy exactly one year ago. She's grown a little bit since then.

-- When I went to United Noodle yesterday, I mostly went there just to buy another log of veggie ham, because there's a huge Asian supermarket nearer to me, but they don't sell it. Well, United Noodle didn't have it yesterday, either, so I wasn't able to have green eggs and ham today. I made the green eggs by putting the raw egg in the blender with a huge handful of spinach. Then I just scrambled as usual. The taste and texture was slightly different, but not too much. They're so GREEN!

-- When I got the first disc of M*A*S*H from Netflix, having never really watched it before, I wasn't sure that I'd actually like it. I can't quite account for why I do like it, but I really, really do. It should fall into the category of pop culture which I call (and I'll admit that there could be a more succinct name for this) 'Stuff That People Find Hilarious Because They Were First Exposed to It When They Were Fourteen and Had a Zany Sense of Humor, and Now They Can't See It for What It Is Because They're Blinded by Nostalgia'. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy falls into this category, for example (I read it in my 20s and failed to see the charm). But even though Hawkeye and Trapper's clowning around is silly at times, I'm still utterly hooked. I want to bring a gin still and make martinis the next time I stay in a tent.

-- Little piggly-wiggly dog. On the topic of things I unexpectedly like: chihuahuas. Before Henny, I never voluntarily thought about them, and when the thought was forced upon me, I felt that chihuahuas were homely (in the US sense), useless little things. But now when I see one, I want to clap my hands together and say, 'Yayeeeee!' I search out photos of other chihuahuas on flickr and feel a kinship with other chi owners (the sane ones, that is). Henny has had such a leap in her comfort level and desire for affection over the past few weeks; as I type, she's lying alongside me, with her head on my leg.

-- The recent heat wave (40s and 50s!) is melting the snow very nicely, but I still couldn't believe it when I saw these bulbs poking through the dirt already. The ground is frozen! Okay, I guess things were starting to grow mid-March last year, but it still takes me by surprise. These particular bulbs were from a 'Spring Garden' planter last year; I put them in the ground after they'd bloomed and died back. I think there are hyacinths, tulips... daffodils, maybe. It'll be exciting to find out.

-- I drew this last night, after dinner. I have a notepad and my pens on the table, so I usually doodle a bit when I've finished eating. After I made it, I wondered if a goat has ever actually eaten a tin can (well, tried), or if that's just something that happens in cartoons. I imagined making an entire zine titled 'Things I Know About Animals I Don't Really Know Much About'. I drew six or seven more pages today, so I think I'll make it for real. I'm trying to decide if I'd rather have it printed through Lulu (instead of making them at home); it's more expensive, but the quality would be far superior. I like the idea of doing a presale and then ordering that many to be delivered to my house (which saves on the per-unit cost), and then I'd send them on to their final destinations with a custom doodle. Perhaps?

-- It's been odd hearing people grumble about daylight savings time, because if you're me, it's just the best. I've been going to bed at the same time (but it feels like an hour early) and waking up an hour later (but it feels like my usual rising time). An extra hour of sleep! But that's just because I'm incapable of sleeping in (so I need a time change to trick my body) and I don't have to get up with an alarm. Even bigger bonus: it's light in the evening now. I don't see how anybody can dislike that. It makes taking pictures of my dinner (above) easier, even when dinner looks more like breakfast.

-- I took Henny in to get her nails trimmed today. She gets really nervous about it, which makes me nervous, so I don't want to do it myself. The woman was able to take quite a bit off her back nails, but the quick is overgrown in the front ones, so it was a smaller trim for those. It was enough that Henny no longer tap dances everywhere she goes, and it's almost kind of spooky having a nearly-silent dog wandering around the house. Like a ghost. Or a ninja. Or a spider-shark.

-- And still on the topic of Henny, I've been trying to teach her how to sit on command. I can't even explain what a slippery task this is. Everything I've read on the topic of training nervous dogs seems to assume that they're normal dogs, just a bit timid. If I tell Henny to sit, she starts to fret, because she doesn't know what she's supposed to do. If I try to make her sit (the old 'push down the dog's bottom into a seated position), she panics and freezes up. What I've resorted to is sitting on the floor with her (with the cats locked in the basement), and I tell her to sit over and over again until she just happens to sit. Then I slide her a treat. Repeat. I hope we'll have a Helen Keller moment, where she'll suddenly link her behavior with the command and the reward. Making progress with Henny is a continual exercise in patience, but she's worth it.

-- I was going to use this photo of Birdy, but then I realized that the one above captures her personality a lot better. I was thinking yesterday about all the ways that Birdy is similar to Booty, most of them annoying. She's very vocal, and she's got a complain-y whine. Often, when I'm in the kitchen, she'll stand a few feet away and just meow and meow and meowwww until I'm ready to chase her out of the room. All she wants is for me to pick her up, but it's not always very convenient. When I do, though, she's not a typical over-affectionate cat, looking for pets and being shameless in her cuteness (*cough*Beany*cough*); she just wants to get close and put her head on my chest and be with me. I have to admit that that's very endearing.

-- I finished reading Alan Alda's first autobiography yesterday. My local public library is sort of rubbish if you're looking for a particular book, so I always go there hoping to be surprised. That's how I would up with Alan Alda's book. When I was about halfway through, I had Netflix send me the first disc from season one of M*A*S*H, which (would you believe?) I'd never seen in more than one-minute chunks. I quickly got through the first eight episodes, and now I have to wait for the next disc to arrive, since it's not streaming. It's a shame this box set is so expensive, because I could do with a staycation involving my tent set up in the living room and several days of intense M*A*S*H watching.

-- Food, food, food. I'll do my grocery week-in-review tomorrow, but I didn't really buy all that much this past week. My fridge looks a little more bare than usual, but I can't put my finger on what's not there that might usually be. It's a mystery. With regard to food, though, I like the change to Daylight Saving's Time, because it means that I'm allowed to eat earlier. Rather, I'm eating at the same time, but my body thinks it's earlier. I have early mealtimes, anyway, but there are certain things that just aren't allowed, like dinner before 5:00pm. I was wondering if I would wind up operating on a 23-hour day if I let my own internal rhythms take over, going to bed an hour earlier every night and waking up earlier in the morning, too. (Strange, as a little over a year ago, I was sure I'd mastered a 25-hour day.)

-- I went to the library again today (to get Alan Alda's next book, naturally), and I grabbed a few knittings books while I was there, including Pet Projects, which is a really nicely presented book of patterns for animals. There's a sweater that I started making for Henny this afternoon, and all I can say is that I'm glad she's a small dog. Knitting takes forever!

-- Ha, ha, ha! I was just now thinking that it would be nice if I could knit tomorrow while still getting work done, which led me to imagine having the MacBook computer voice read submissions to me aloud. What a bad idea that would be! Can you imagine how upset the authors would be if they found out? Especially if everything was rejected with the explanation that the writing seemed too robotic.

-- I might get back into the habit of making my own yogurt for a while. It's not much trouble, especially since I got the Salton yogurt maker last year (thrifted for $7!). The biggest hassle is repasteurizing the milk on the stove, but once you've done that, let it cool a bit, and stirred in the starter, the machine does all the work while you (I) sleep. A half-gallon of organic milk and a single cup of plain yogurt (to use as the starter) cost $4.60, which works out to a little over 50 cents for a serving of yogurt (1 cup). If a quart of store-bought organic yogurt costs $4 (sometimes less, sometimes more), that's twice as much. Worth the trouble.

-- Henny had a big day. She spent all morning chewing on a new bone (bleurg), and then we went for a walk in the afternoon. She's very good about walking just off to my right (which isn't something I tried to teach her, but she's got it stuck in her head now, which is nice), very rarely trotting ahead or falling behind. But as we got close to home, she seemed to know we had to turn down the alley, because she nearly darted in front of me to head down it. Later, at home, she spotted a toy, but it wasn't what she wanted, and I was very amused to watch her glace around the room for the right one. Little dog brain doesn't just react anymore; it remembers.

-- I had some of my new yogurt for lunch today with pink grapefruit. It sounds strange, but with a little bit of stevia, the flavors go well together. It was sort of an odd-combo lunch, though. I realized I wanted a sweet potato without enough time to properly roast one, so I cut it into chunks. I think it took maybe 20 minutes at 425F in the toaster over, although the pieces were already fork-tender after 10. The extra time just made them super soft and pillow-y on the inside. Amazing. Also, broccoli: has there ever been a better vegetable? It seems to be really good right now.

-- Lunch was a random gathering of things I like to eat. I ate it. Then I went for a run. And then I sat in a hot bath and ate peanut M&Ms. Oh, being an adult.

-- I made still more onion rings for dinner tonight. Except the breading didn't stick very well (they were too wet and made the bread crumbs clump up), so it's possible to say that I was, in some instances, just picking up pieces of cooked onion with my fingers and eating them. I don't care; it was still good. See again: being an adult. (Also: single.)

-- I love it when I finish a meal and think, 'Man, food's the best!' I cranked up the big oven last night and roasted an entire head of cauliflower (obviously I didn't eat it all, but I probably could have!), some broccoli, and a last few baby carrots from the fridge. I also made another batch of Appetite for Reduction baked onion rings. Breading them is a two-step process, and I made it ultra easy by putting the bread crumbs in a Zip-Loc bag, so I could just shake everything up after the rings came out of the wet dip. And since there was so much leftover breading, I stuck the bag in the freezer, and I should be able to use it again. I also heated up a Quorn 'turkey' burger and covered it in vegetarian gravy, but it couldn't compete with all the veggies.

-- On Friday, I ran fourteen miles in a steady 12+mph north wind. Long runs aren't as hard on my body as they used to be, but it still took until the middle of Saturday before I stopped feeling lethargic and a little bit off. I was trying to think of things to compare it to, similar activities that people could relate with, but really: it's like what you'd imagine running fourteen miles in a cold wind to be.

-- Alex went to Hawaii almost a year ago, I think, and she brought me back a little jar of pineapple jam. Like an appreciative friend, I cracked it open right... a couple of days ago. I go in and out of jam phases, and it's been a while since I've been in one. And even though I can go through 1.5 to 2 boxes of Kashi GoLean in a week, treats that aren't part of my 'regular programming' often sit around for a while. I forget about them. I guess that's how I can wind up thawing a piece of the previous year's birthday cake only weeks before I have to bake the next one. But pineapple jam is pretty good, for the record.

-- Now, what to do today, so I won't feel I've wasted a perfectly good Sunday. There are books to be read, kitchens to be cleaned, groceries to be bought... What has your weekend consisted of?

-- Soup! I made the Arabian Lentil soup from Appetite for Reduction, and that Isa is a vegan genius. I'm generally not very good at following recipes, especially when it comes to soup, but the only real change I made to this (besides adding some diced broccoli stalk and zucchini) was that I only put a tablespoon or two of lemon juice in at the end, instead of the 1/4 cup called for. It just tasted too good pre-lemon, so I didn't want to change it much.

-- With all the recent bread baking, there's been a little more bread eating than I'm used to. I thought I was kind of getting sick of it until I tried my whole wheat rolls with peanut butter. The combination makes me very nostalgic for something, although I can't quite put my finger on what. My best guess is when I was studying in Scotland and trying to eat cheap food while I traveled around: soft bread and peanut butter, obviously. But I have more vivid memories of eating jam sandwiches while in the Lake District. Good times.

-- I've got a serious hankering for some real spring weather, but instead, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. I can't wait until it's warm, so I can go hiking and exploring. What are you looking forward to when the weather takes a turn for the nicer? Alternatively, do you have any awesome trips planning for this spring/summer?

-- Bread, bread, bread. Bread. That raisin bread recipe only uses half of the tangzhong that you prepare (in hindsight, it would be simple to just make half as much), so I used the rest to make whole wheat dinner rolls. Well, part whole wheat. I followed the same recipe but used 1 cup whole wheat bread flour and 1.5 cups white. And made twelve smaller rolls instead of six. And no raisins, obviously. They came out just as perfectly, and now I have So Much Bread.

-- My friend Julie came over this evening (and I forgot to have her take some of these rolls, arg!), and Henny did well. She barks and growls when strangers come in the house, but she stopped after a few minutes and then was happy to sit on the sofa with us. After a while, I put some kibble in her tree trunk, and she was relaxed enough to do her usual thing with it. All in all, pretty good! I want to be able to take Henny lots of places once it's warm outside, so I'm always looking for opportunities to socialize her right now.

-- I continue to love my toaster oven, but I don't think I ever mentioned which one I wound up buying. I got the Black & Decker CTO6335S. I went to Target with the intention of buying a model that was about $20 cheaper, but when I saw it in person, it just seemed really flimsy. Good for a college apartment, maybe, but not as a real appliance that would get a lot of use. The one I wound up with feels very sturdy and well put together, and it's nice that it has a digital display instead of dials. It heats up so fast that I can easily cook a (small) sweet potato in half an hour. Less than that, probably, but I like it when the potato has been practically cooked to death.

-- I have achieved a fauxhawk, so I can coast through the rest of my life, knowing that I've at least met that goal. I'm still loving the cut, by the way. After my run yesterday, I showered and put gel in my hair and then dried it halfway (ie, for about 45 seconds), just so it was going in the correct direction. I didn't wash my hair today; before Julie came over, I put some wax in to give it a little more style, and that was that. It's usually a little funny when I wake up in the morning, but wetting down the offending area fixes the problem. I was a chump for having longer hair all those years.

-- Two nights ago, I had a dream that I was eating a really good fake turkey sandwich. That's the only part I remember; even when I'm asleep, I'm most interested in what there is to eat. I made a point to get fake turkey yesterday, since I'm all for following one's dreams. It was pretty good, but the 'original' sandwich was on softer bread (this was Ezekiel, which is great, but not really soft) and had a slice of white cheese, which was really tasty. Like a less-processed American cheese, maybe (my real sandwich had to settle for a piece of wrapper cheese).

-- I got my hair cut. Big time. Here's a before and after. I was so sick of straightening it every time I washed it, and I'd started thinking about getting it all chopped off when I was in LA. I hadn't had short-short hair since I was about eight, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's going to take a little while for me to get used to seeing myself in the mirror, but I really like it. And, most importantly, I can create a fauxhawk with enough product. That's all I've ever really wanted. (That and the perfect fake turkey sandwich.)

-- While I was taking the photo of the cats, I noticed that Henny was peeking at me from behind my laptop. She seems happier more often, lately. Maybe it's because she finally knows how to get on the sofa, or maybe my energy with her is different, now that she's officially here to stay. She's gotten markedly better at coming over to me and then staying put, to let me give her a pat (instead of shying away when I reach out).

-- When I applied for Henny's license, her breed was listed as 'Chihuahua, Short Coat (Toy)'. I take offense at that -- Henny is not a toy! She's a real dog with a real job: to sit around and look adorable for my amusement. Sheesh.

-- My mom made raisin rolls using this interesting method. She sent one home with me, and after I took the photo, I sliced off about a third of it for later and ate the bigger piece with a cup of tea. And when I finished, I drummed my fingers on the table for about ten seconds and then ate the piece I had set aside. I'm not even a 'bread person' (especially not white bread), but this was awesome. I like how my mom included a little plastic cup of honey cream cheese, like she's running a real bakery. So the bread was my afternoon snack (which is something I always have), but an hour after dinnertime, I still wasn't hungry. I ate some baby carrots to keep up appearances; that way, nobody could say that all I'd had in the PM was white bread and ice cream.

-- The co-op had bison bones cut for smaller dogs, so I tried not to look too hard and got some for Henny. She's in love. Dogs get the greatest crazy eyes when they're given something meaty like that. Much in the same way that house cats are known for hunting tuna fishes in the wild, I'm pretty sure that bison are the natural prey of chihuahuas.

-- I went to the co-op today, since I had a gift certificate. So some of this is stuff I would have eventually bought, but probably not until I needed it (ie, not now). Part two of my grocery documenting: fake turkey slices, bulk pinto beans, silken tofu, bison bones (for the dog, bleurg), brown rice syrup, Quorn 'turkey' burgers, organic Pink Lady apples (x5), Clif and Luna bars, eggs, local honey, yogurt (x5), and blue corn chips. The chips are made locally and my favorite; I prefer the yellow ones, but they were out. I also got tortillas, but they somehow escaped from the camera.

-- I made some of that Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta for dinner. It has a great texture -- not mushy, like plain white pasta, but not mealy like whole wheat stuff, either. It tastes slightly different, I suppose, but I couldn't tell after it was covered with 'Eazy Breezy Cheezy Sauce' (recipe in Appetite for Reduction). The sauce is basically a quicker version of the vegan 'cheese' sauce that's used in the Veganomicon's Mac Daddy recipe, which I like way more than real mac 'n' cheese.

-- Henny's vet records came in the mail today (sent by the rescue organization). Included was her pedigree, so now I know that she was born on July 13th, 2007. She has an official name, but it's just the last name of the guy she was sold to (presumably the person who ran the puppy mill) plus her color (chocolate). That's almost as depressing as knowing she was number 115 before she was rescued from doggie prison. Oh well. I applied for her license on-line this evening, and she will henceforth be known as Henny!

-- I added two new items to my Etsy shop, including this horse, who's thinking about sunnier days. Have you taken a look at my shop yet? Have I pestered about it enough? I have quite a few ideas for items I want to add, but I'm hesitant to spend too much time making things if there's no interest. Prod, prod.

-- After I shoveled about eight inches of snow yesterday morning, another few fell over the course of the day. It was super sparkly snow, though, and it really looked like glitter after it had fallen. I was woken up at 3:40am on Monday, because my neighbor was shoveling his deck/path. I don't know him or his wife quite well enough to ask why they shovel so early in the morning (usually it's more like 5:00am, so this was early, even for them!). I can't really complain, though, because he always clears away my front steps for me. It's most perplexing. (Or it's just something boring, like he works the night shift.)

-- Why are there people on the Kashi 'Good Friends' cereal box? It seems like a bizarre but intentional straying away from their otherwise modern, fairly uniform branding. It was on clearance at my local co-op a while back, so I grabbed two boxes. It's got my favorite part of Kashi GoLean (the twigs), but I don't like it even half as much. After I finished the first box, I had to go back to GoLean for my breakfasts, but it's okay for on top of yogurt.

-- I had to bring my car back to the garage today. After a price-y new transmission and axle shaft, my poor Hyundai was leaking transmission fluid here and there. It wound up being a bad axle seal, so they took care of it free of charge. I ate rice pudding (that my mom made) for lunch while I waited. Good times. It's been crazy snowy here, but driving was okay until I got a block from home. The main streets had been plowed, but not the cross streets, so when I turned onto my block, my back wheels got stuck. I trudged home, got my shovel, and dug the car out. When I turned it on again, the CD started playing right as I pulled away, and it was the applause from a live album. More mundane events in my life need a cheering section, I think.

-- I've been thinking of getting my hair cut short. Like this (see also: from the side). Because I have dark hair that's pretty healthy, I won't get quite as much texture as those photos, but still. I haven't had it short-short since I was about eight years old (and was mistaken for a boy), so I'm equal parts excited and scared. I'm really bored with always having to straighten my hair right now, since it's not long enough to pull back. Hem, haw. Any tips?

-- Here's a video of Henny and here's another one. She's a very curious dog; her only real fears are of people and the Things They Might Do (which still winds up being a lot of nervousness). She's also a collector. When the mood strikes her, I'll suddenly find that she's gone around the house and transferred any movable, semi-interesting (usually cloth-based) items to her bed. She doesn't chew them; she just needs them for something important. You haven't lived until you've seen a tiny dog trot through the house with a bag that's as big as she is.

-- Leftovers! Henny and I went over on Saturday and had Chinese food with my mom (my dad was at the cabin with their dogs), and I got the leftover 'Homestyle Beancurd'. I reheated some of it with additional broccoli, but I wasn't 100% impressed with how it held up. The veggie roll was perfect, though, after twelve or fifteen minutes in the toaster oven.

-- I went to the library on Friday, which is a place where they let you take books for free, as long as you promise to bring them back. I wanted to look at books about basements and decks, because even though the internet is chock-a-block with such information, sometimes you just need it in front of you, in print. This Black & Decker book about attics and basements is a-one, as far as I'm concerned. As soon as I started reading it, everything just made sense. I should make an updated list of 'Things I Would Do If I Had the Money'; finishing off the basement would be near the top of the list.

-- I go to the supermarket a lot. A big part of my diet is made up of fresh produce, so it seems like I run out of apples or broccoli or bananas every couple of days. I'm thinking I might have a short-lived series of photos documenting what I buy. For the past several months, I've been a bit stricter when it comes to buying organic produce; I try to make it a priority with lettuces, strawberries (= buying them frozen right now), apples, and bananas. There are some 'junkie' or highly processed items that I like, such as the wrapper cheese and No Sugar Added tinned peaches.

Anyway, this is what I came home with from Cub yesterday: kale, organic hearts of romaine, stevia, cheese(like) slices, skim milk (for tea), organic chickpeas, tinned peaches, plain Greek yogurt (x2), one organic Ambrosia apple (I eat a lot of apples, but Cub didn't have organic Honeycrisps or Pink Ladies yesterday, so I didn't stock up), two flavored seltzers, pasta, and two boxes of Kashi GoLean (which I go through really fast).

I also got a block of Kemps Light Cookies 'n' Cream ice cream and organic strawberries, but I forgot to take them out of the freezer for the photo. Ice cream is another item (like the produce) that I find myself constantly running out of. Weird, that.

-- Hooray, I found the Carr's crackers I was looking for! These really should be called biscuits, though, due to their similarity to digestive biscuits. Slightly less sweet, but the texture is about right. I found them at my regular supermarket, which has a much more technical cracker organizational system than I ever knew about. When I couldn't find any Carr's products in the main cookie/crackers aisle, I nearly gave up, but they wound up being by the rice cakes + snack toast. In the cereal aisle. Should have thought to look there first, obviously.

-- Most of today was really grey and dreary outside. Mild, but foggy and gross. I wanted to take Henny for a walk, but it seemed too depressing -- until about 3:00pm, when the sun suddenly came out. So we went on our walk, and Henny was very happy about it. After we got back, I was sitting on the sofa with my laptop, and Henny jumped up (using her step) and came over to me to be petted. It was the first time she'd ever done that. If you have a pet who was never abused, try not to take that sort of thing for granted. The way our animals trust (or learn to trust) us is amazing.

-- It's not all dogs all the time. Although... there's not much new to say about the cats, now that I think about it. I have an oil space heater in the guest room (even though the regular radiator works just fine; sometimes I need that extra bit of warmth in the morning), and it's right by my desk, so when I go in there to work, Beany hangs out with me. And since I've been leaving my bedroom door open more often during the day, Birdy sleeps on my bed most of the time. I can't imagine it's any more comfortable than the other dozen places she could sleep, but I think it has a the allure of the forbidden (I don't let the pets sleep with me at night).

-- I reorganized my race board today. It's in the guest room. The bibs had been spread out, but I'd run out of room to add more. I've already got two races under my belt for 2011 (two half-marathons, at that!), but I have a lot of space to fill, now! My medals are hanging in my bedroom, so I can see them before I drift off to sleep.

-- I roasted the last two butternut squashes from last year's garden and made a batch of soup yesterday. About two kilos of cooked squash translates into twelve servings of soup, when it's done. I add the broccoli and fake sausage when I reheat it (ie, one bowl at a time). Someday I'll do something different (something curry-y, maybe), but I can't bring myself to mess with a good thing.

-- First of all, I (finally) created an Etsy shop! When I was deciding to adopt Henny, I knew I would have to do something to recoup her exorbitant adoption fee. So I made a new Henny-dog stamp, and there are several of those prints available, as well as a bunch of bookmarks, bird prints, and a couple of my Grow zines. I'm very ashamed of the photo quality (I'll scan from now on), but try not to let that put you off. At the moment, everything is either $5 or $8, which sounds pretty affordable to me! Think of it as buying a share of Henny stock (except for the part ownership thing). Please take a look!

-- When I roast sweet potatoes in my toaster oven, I let them bake until they basically lose the will to be potatoes anymore. (I cook a smallish sweet potato for 30-35 minutes at 425F.) There was actual sweet-potato caramel stuck to the pan when I took it out this evening. I'm not into adding cinnamon or sugar to my sweet potatoes, though. Cottage cheese is always good, and I'm going through a vegetarian gravy kick at the moment.

-- Last week, I self-indulgently read through the 50k words I wrote during NaNoWriMo. I hope I can muster up the determination (and plot) to finish the novel, because I actually really enjoyed going through it again. At one point, a character hinted at something, and I thought, 'Ooh, I wonder what it is! I hope I wrote it!' Clearly, NaNoWriMo was sort of a blur. I had written that particular part, though, much to my relief. I officially need an extra few hours every day, because there's not enough time to write consistently in between everything else I have to do.

-- I read Ruminations.com every couple of days, and there's always something to make me laugh. Aaron, the creator of the site, posts every two or three weeks, and I was really happy to read this: I do not possess the loneliness gene. It's true: I never get lonely. In fact, I'm happiest when no one is around. I prefer to drive, watch TV, and eat by myself. [...] When people use the phrase "It got so bad they were sleeping in separate bedrooms" to describe a failed marriage, I can't help but think, "That sounds awesome." I just like the way he puts that. Sometimes I feel like a misanthrope due to all the time I can happily spend on my own, but it's much nicer to think of it as failure to get lonely. And it's nice to know that there are other people out there who are also missing that 'gene'.

-- Right now, more than any curry and rice, my favorite thing to get at Indian restaurants in sambar and (ideally) medhu vada, although any sort of bread is good too. I'm in no rush to try making my own sambar, because it's so much easier to let somebody else (who knows what they're doing) fuss with all the spices. For four dollars, I got a pretty big container of the soup (three or four servings worth), and I had some for lunch today with leftover paratha from last night's dinner.

-- I let myself look at Tiny House Blog only every few months, because it makes me want to claw at my face, so strong is my desire to have a tiny house retreat of my own. There are few things in life that I want so much and so plainly as my own patch of wilderness and a small, simple house. The tiny houses speak to that simplicity, although in reality I'd want something bigger.

-- After a week-long break, I went for a run yesterday. My IT band has been playing up, but everything behaved long enough for me to get three miles in. Taking a week off made me drag my heels as I got ready to head out, though. Running seemed like such a bother, even though it was sunny and warm outside. My Pavlovian response to running is finely tuned, though; I literally had taken no more than five running steps outside before my mood skyrocketed as my brain anticipated the endorphins. Lovely, natural chemicals.

-- Well, it's official! Henny is now Henrietta 'Henny Penny' Pigglesworth Torborg. Well, except for all that name stuff; that's in no way official. But I signed the adoption form today, and she's mine for keeps, now. It will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody, I'm guessing, but it did surprise me when I realized I didn't want to give her up. When I decided to foster, I wasn't sure that I would ever want to have a dog of my own again; I was a confirmed cat person. And having grown up with a 110lb dog, I would have never ever imagined myself with a chihuahua. Never. It still seems ridiculous to me. But Henny makes my days happier and sillier, and I can't wait for it to warm up outside so we can have adventures together.

-- I made pizza tonight on a frozen crust that was leftover from when Rob was here. When I was a kid, there were a few years when the only way I would eat pizza was if I first squished out all the tomato sauce; I wasn't a fan. These days, that's my favorite part. I'm very apathetic about cheese in most situations, and I rarely put it on homemade pizza, but don't mess around with the sauce. Pizza bianca? NOT PIZZA.

-- I've had a bag of roasted peanuts sitting in my cupboard since December, because the nutrolls that I wanted to make were such a disaster halfway through that I didn't finish them. I don't usually eat peanut butter (I just prefer the taste of sunflower or almond butter most of the time), but I wanted to make peanut butter cookies, so I threw the peanuts into my food processor and let it to its thing for five minutes. It couldn't have been simpler, and the resulting peanut butter is so smooth and runny and perfect. It's even easy to spread straight from the fridge! (And the cookies got my grandma's seal of approval.)

-- Last weekend, I cleaned out the utility tub in the laundry area of my basement and did a small amount of cleaning. And today, I went back down there with a vacuum and rubber gloves and a hammer for smashing spiders pulling out nails. I took down some hanging shelves from the ceiling (the original owners used heavy-gauge wire and boards to hang shelves everywhere) and disgusting old curtains from the two little windows in that area. I got rid of a LOT of cobwebs and dirt and grit, and it's hardly terrifying down there at all now. In that one spot. Like, 16" x 8" out of roughly 1000 square feet of basement. And I only saw one (small) spider the entire time.

-- The cabin was a treasure trove of crackers this week. Apparently, my parents find it necessary to fuel their weekends away with plentiful snacks, because there were (from memory) two boxes of Triscuits (one regular, one olive oil and pepper), a box of Wheatables, graham crackers, regular Ritz Crackers, and Garden Vegetable Ritz. And a 'Carr's Entertainment Cracker Collection'. I inspected that last one because it appeared to be open to the cupboard elements (I'm very strict about resealing packages), and I was delighted to discover that it had both plain digestives and the excitingly named 'whole wheat cracker', which is basically a smaller digestive made from less-finely-processed flour. The Carr's website says packages of these crackers can be found at a billion (roughly) different stores near me, and I'm going to see if that's right. They're quite similar to my beloved Hovis biscuits, but available in this country (which makes them easier to eat).

-- I made my triumphant return to Minneapolis this afternoon, and I wanted nothing more than a nice, hot bath. I'm certain it has something to do with the timing of the radiators and the water heater, but sometimes I can run a piping hot bath, and others are very tepid. That was the case this afternoon, so I supplemented the (shallow) bath water with two kettles' and two pots' worth of boiled water, and by the time I'd done that, the hot water in the pipes had replenished itself, so I was able to top it off. It's like I never left the cabin! (Except my water doesn't smell.)

-- Henny's been getting a lot of blog-time lately, but I want to make sure I remember to mention the dog quilt I made for her. I pieced and quilted it last weekend and then brought it up to the cabin to bind, which went quickly, as it's only 40"x40". I knew I wanted to do a simple, random patchwork, and I wanted to use fabric I already had. When I lived in the UK, I was signed up for the Kaffe Fasset Fabric Club with The Cotton Patch, so I had a ton of Rowan fabric swatches that I've used here and there for projects. I think I just about used them all up for this quilt (plus a few other Rowan fabrics odds and ends I had), so it's a mish-mash of prints, but they sort of work together. It helps that there are similar colorways for different prints (and different colorways for the same print). Anyway, I like it, and Henny seems to approve.

-- It's been pretty cold this week. And not, like, 'Gosh, it's a bit chilly,' but as in the radio said Minnesota had the coldest air temperatures in all of North America this morning. Finally, we beat our Canadian foes! Since I'm at the cabin, I've twice let my car warm up for a few minutes (really only three, because I can't stand the thought of it idling out there for no reason). Maybe it's because it's been so gorgeously sunny, or maybe I'm just immune to winter weather now, but it hasn't felt that bad. I'm glad I don't have to run in it, though.

-- I'm pushing the boundaries of my preferred personal hygiene. The cabin has well water, and it's really rusty at the moment. We always bring up drinking water (tap water from home), but I can hardly bear to wash my hands with the cabin water right now, because it leaves them smelling so iron-y. Showering in it is out o the question. I'm going home tomorrow, so that's only three mornings' worth of unwashed hair, but still. Henny hasn't seemed to notice or care, and nobody at the supermarket has said anything. Thank goodness for deodorant.

-- Despite the cold air outside, the cabin has been toasty warm. It was actually a little too much yesterday, with the sun coming in the glass doors. Henny started panting, but she refused to budge. When I finally closed the blinds, she found the one strip of sunlight coming through and planted herself in it. Whatever, little dog. Don't come crying to me when your melted brains spill out your ears.

-- Whoa, it was light enough to take a picture of my dinner last night! That's crazy. (I eat dinner fairly early, but still.) I roasted a sweet potato and cauliflower in the toaster oven for dinner, and they were both out-of-control good. And then I cooked up some vegetarian 'chicken' gravy (from a packet) and put it on top. Awesome. Sunday will mark two full weeks sans microwave, and I have no intention of going back. My life has been way more delicious since I stopped using it. (I actually unplugged it and took it off the counter after a day, so I don't really think about it anymore.)

-- Rob left a comment on the accent vlog, saying I should guess how he would say the words. So I did. I can hear the spots where I falter pretty clearly, but I was lazy and only did one take (from my sofa yesterday evening). It's funny, because it hardly sounds to me like I'm doing an accent, but then I rewatched my original vlog, and it sounds very flat. Consider yourself privileged, because I never do accents in public -- or private. I don't think Rob's even ever heard me do an accent.

-- Poor Henny. She's never had a problem with any of the sweaters I put her in (not that there are many; she's a rugged chihuahua), but she isn't happy about this chunky pink one I knitted Wednesday night. I don't know what makes it so uncomfortable, but she rubs up against things to try to get it off. It's a shame, because she looks nice, and the sweater's got a cable running down the back and everything.

-- Henny is house-trained, but she's had a couple of accidents this week, because she'll refuse to go outside, so I get tricked into thinking she doesn't have to, and then she pees under the kitchen table. I don't want her to fall back into the habit of being carried to the door, so I had been making her walk on the leash, until I realized that she'll follow obediently if I'm just carrying the leash (ie, it's not attached to her). I find that I'm much more patient with her about these things than I would have expected, but that's probably just because she's so ridiculously cute most of the time.

-- Long before I got chia seeds of my own, I was intrigued by 'chia pudding'; basically, you just let chia seeds soak in a liquid, and they become... gelatinous. How could that be any good? But I like cocoa, and I like weird stuff, so I decided to give it a go. I used this recipe (with almond milk), and I have to say I enjoyed it. Sometimes I like eating a sugar-free pudding cup, but I definitely don't like all the chemicals (and the packaging). I don't need anything as rich as real, homemade chocolate pudding, and chia pudding is an excellent substitute. I had some with sliced banana today, and it was very pleasing indeed.

-- When you buy a house and have your very own washer and dryer for the first time, nobody will tell you that you have to put a lint trap on the end of the drainage hose. So, if the previous home owners didn't use one, you won't have one, and eventually the lint will collect and clog the utility sink drain and the water will back up and spill over and flood the basement and it'll be very perplexing until your mother asks if you have a lint trap and you say, 'A what-now?' and then you'll have to plunge the drain and pick out a bunch of slimy fibers with your delicate fingers. But at least then the sink will finally drain properly. You'd better remember to buy a lint trap at the store today, though.

-- I usually cook cubes of tofu in a skillet, but I've baked them in the oven the past couple of times. And instead of using soy sauce and my usual favorite spices, I've just pressed the tofu and then let it absorb a bit of white whine vinegar and salt. The first time, I tossed the cubes with some basil (from a jar), and the second time, I coated them with onion powder and nutritional yeast. I baked them on a cooling rack atop a baking sheet -- about 20-30 minutes at 350F, turning once or twice. I love how dry and firm the cubes get, especially once they've been in the fridge for a day or two. I've been eating them on salads, and I swear there have been a couple times I would have been suspicious if I hadn't prepared it myself; the texture/flavor is very similar to cold chicken. (Not, I'll admit, that I'm the greatest judge of what cold chicken is like -- a meat eater would probably say I'm crazy.) That part is a little creepy, but otherwise I love it.

-- Oh, hello. You weren't hoping to NOT want a piece of cheesecake, were you? I froze this Christmas dessert leftover and liberated it from the freezer on Sunday. That was also the day I had cookies for second breakfast. Sometimes you just want sugar and fat, no? I guess you might call it intuitive eating; yesterday and today, I didn't really have much in the way of sweets (besides ice cream, which has its own section of my personal food pyramid).

-- While I was admiring how beautiful and blue my snow-covered backyard is pre-sunrise this morning, I could help thinking it's going to be awesome when spring rolls around. The fact that I've continued to run outside this winter has made it seem like it's been hardly anything, but still. Four weeks of February, and then it's March, and March last year is when I started racing, and that was practically spring. And once it stops blizzarding, the adventures can begin!

-- Ooh, I thought I'd mentioned my homemade granola bars before, but I guess I haven't. I made a batch (using this as my recipe guide) for a running-community Secret Santa gift, and then I made more for family members. I realized today that the Jordan's Tropical Oats that Rob brought me in December would be perfect, as they already contain dried fruit and coconut, so I made some this morning. My main tweak to the recipe I linked to is that I use 1/4 cup brown sugar instead of a 1/2 cup. I would omit it completely (just for flavor), but I think the bars would fall apart. If you can think of a way to make the bars less sweet while still keeping the right texture, let me know. They're good, though.

-- I spent most of Sunday morning working on this dress. It came out pretty similar to the photo in the Japanese pattern book, but I'm not 100% in love with it. It'll do, though; now that I do most of my work in my guest room 'office', I'm also going to make an effort to wear comfortable dresses and leggings during the day instead of my usual at-home wear. A little something to make me feel like less of a slob, and this dress can be part of that. (The fabric is nice and drapey, and it was on sale for $1.50/yd!)

-- I took the photo of Birdy (above) through the arm of my sewing machine. She and Henny spent most of their morning playing and chasing, and I think Bird-o needed a little respite. You can see in this picture how Beany chewed off Birdy's whiskers on her left side. Beany has a habit of chewing her eyebrow whiskers off, especially when she's stressed, and this is how Birdy came back after their stay at my folks' while I was in LA. Oops.

-- I think I was in college when I passed by a Toys-R-Us store and realized that I could go in there, look around for hours, and spend hundreds of dollars on whatever I wanted. Except that I didn't want to, of course. It was one of those moments where I realized how different a person early-twenties-me was from kid-me. I thought of that again as I sat in a perfectly-hot bath Sunday night, doing nothing but listening to Beethoven on the stereo. Perfectly content. How our ideas of a good time change, eh?

-- I finally tried CalorieMate bars! Ai seems to have them for breakfast fairly frequently, so I was very excited to spot them at the Japanese supermarket in LA. Today was the day I opened one of the packets, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something like a SoyJoy bar, but they're actually very similar to shortbread cookies. I had the maple variety, and I was impressed by the balance of flavors; some bites seemed to have a bit more lemon, and there were tiny pieces of (wal?)nuts scattered throughout. There are two packets in a box, so I still have one left, thank goodness!

-- I nearly had a heart attack over Beany earlier this evening. Henny couldn't make up her mind about going outside (the pets were adorable and charming all day long and switched to patience-trying once the sun set), and Beany had tried to sneak out once or twice. She wasn't hanging out on the sofa with Henny and Birdy and me later on, but I didn't think much of it -- until I heard a cat yowling outside. I dashed around the house, looking for her, and I tried calling her, which will usually bring her running, but there was nothing. I threw on my boots and jacket and waded through the snow to look down the side of the house where the yowling had come from, and one of the neighbor cats was near the window well. I went back in and down to the basement, and sure enough, Beany was up near the window, busy protecting the house from the peeping tom cat.

-- I've mentioned it before, but in case you missed my explanation (or forgot -- I'll grant that you probably have more important things to keep track of), I started eating two small breakfasts this summer. I would run early in the morning, so I'd just have something to give me a boost and then another something to refuel me afterward. Now that it's not hot out, I run in the afternoon instead, but I still almost always have two breakfasts. The toast above was actually my first breakfast (those blueberries were amaaazing); the CalorieMate was second breakfasts.

-- One of my authors, Sean Cummings, has started a campaign called 'Save Publishing: Read a Book at Bedtime'. I volunteered myself as the designer, and we've currently got a placeholder up at the website, which links to the facebook group. The idea is that a lot of people read before they go to sleep; it's a tradition we start when we're read bedtime stories as kids. These days, there are so many distractions, and it seems harder to find the time for reading. So the campaign is about dedicating just ten minutes (or more?) to picking up a real, live book and reading before you go to bed. Disconnect from all the digital devices and moving pictures. Just read. As for myself, I started The King's Speech, after having seen the movie. Whereas that was a biopic, this is non-fiction, so I'm looking forward to seeing where the two differ.

-- I made these cookies intending to use the world's easiest PB cookie recipe (1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp baking soda) but with my homemade walnut butter. The dough was too sticky, though, so I wound up adding flour, and the results were interesting. Good interesting! Almost like a macaron shell, actually. I baked them in the toaster over, and as an experiment, I did the first tray at 350F and the second at 325F but with the fan (convection) on. The fan cookies are on the left -- they didn't get as dark, and they kept their dome shape better after coming out of the oven.

-- I went to the tax man today. I like going as soon as I can, because then it's over and done with, and I can feel superior for the next three months, as people fret about having not figured out their taxes yet. I had a huge refund last year (due, unfortunately, to having earned so much less), and this year I owe, but only a bit. It's always a gamble when you're self-employed.

-- Charlotte wondered in the comments why I don't want to use the microwave, and I answered, but I figured I might as well write it here, too. First of all, I hate how the microwave looks on the counter. It's different if yours is recessed, I guess, but there's nothing attractive about a metal box taking up counter space. My toaster oven isn't all that different, but it's slightly nicer -- and I'd rather have one boxy appliance than two. I'm also not a fan of the noise. I listen to the radio while I'm in the kitchen, and I just generally like my environment to be as free from aural clutter as possible. Lastly, I don't want to scramble my brain. I know. But it messes with digital signals around it! Generally, I just don't find it to be pleasing to the senses, so if I can avoid it, I will.

So far, I haven't been missing it. I would usually thaw frozen veggie burgers or similar in the microwave before throwing them in a pan, but I've found that they cook through pretty quickly in a skillet, even starting from frozen. I've roasted potatoes in the toaster oven a couple of times, and I always do two batches, just so I'll have some cooked potatoes on hand. (Potatoes + cottage cheese + green onions is a favorite of mine right now.) I'm sure I'll run into that one microwave-necessary item eventually, but I'm digging it, so far.

-- I got some chia seeds for Christmas, and I decided it was high time I tried them. I cooked about a tablespoon with the Cream of Wheat I made this afternoon, and I'll give them a thumbs up. They still had a little bit of a crunch (I imagine they'd be really good with overnight muesli/oats) and not much flavor that I could detect... but this was the tastiest bowl of Cream of Wheat that I've had in a while, so maybe they were secretly contributing to that.

-- I've set myself a loose chore schedule to try to keep things cleaner with fewer big tidy-ups, and today was my kitchen day. I had done some cleaning yesterday, though, so my aim this morning was to organize the food cupboard. Well, you know how these things go -- nearly every cupboard has now been gone through, and I switched which ones hold dishes, baking supplies, tupperware, etc. They look so excellently organized, so the months of frustrated confusion (nothing being where I expect it to be) can now begin.

-- I'm slowly trying to train Henny now. Well, get her to do things my way. The videos I post of her are always when she's relaxed and acting silly, so I don't really give a very good impression of how she usually behaves. Up until last week, letting her outside meant patiently following her around the house until she would stop to let me pick her up (usually under a table or chair, for extra inconvenience), and then I had to carry her to the back door. About a month ago, she started coming back inside on her own -- before that, I had to go out and pick her up and bring her in. On Sunday, I put a leash on her and made her walk with me to the door every time she went out, and ever since then, she's (haltingly, sometimes) just followed me on her own. No more chasing. I think she might be a little bit clever, underneath all the trauma.

-- I made beans and kale on Thursday, using a recipe from that new Isa Chandra Moskowitz book, and they turned out really well. My ideal method of eating anything, though, is from a bowl and with a spoon, so I made half of the leftovers into soup (froze the other half). I just added about a cup of veggie broth, about a quarter or a third of a cup of homemade tomato sauce (leftover from making the beans in the first place), and another teaspoon of hot sauce. I used my Christmas-present immersion blender to puree some of the beans and give the soup some substance. Delicious.

-- I am full of personal goals at the moment (finish a book every month, buy no new clothes this year, reduce my screen time), and I'm adding a new, short-term challenge: go two weeks without using the microwave. I would ideally never have to use it, but I'm not into getting rid of conveniences for no good reason. How many times is it just a convenience, though -- one I could easily work around with a bit of thinking ahead? That's what I'm curious about. Many of the things I thaw in the microwave could be done in the toaster oven, and I'll either start reheating tea in a saucepan or just use it or lose it before it gets cold in the first place. I usually zap potatoes to cook them, but it's easy enough to bake them in the toaster oven, as long as I plan for it. So it'll be an experiment.

-- I might as well explain one of the other resolutions goals I mentioned. No buying new clothes is pretty self-explanatory, right? I'm 'allowed' to make myself new stuff, though, which will help me decide what's necessary. I'd like some new winter-weight leggings, so I have to either make some (easy enough) or see if the wool tights I already have could do the job just as well. I picked up a new Japanese dress pattern book in LA, so I'm excited to work on some of those.

-- I made walnut butter in my new food processor (it's like a small appliance showroom over here), and I couldn't believe how easy it was. I added some maple syrup for sweetness and to thin it out a bit + a pinch of salt. It seemed a little dry by the time I got it smooth, so I put in a couple tablespoons of milled flax, which definitely added the oiliness it needed (and I love the texture/flavor flax adds to things). I made less than a cup of it, which is just enough as an experiment. I'm curious to see if I made 'peanut butter' cookies with it, whether they would taste like Russian Teacakes.

-- Salad! I love salads. They are a uniting force for awesome toppings, and I like lettuce, to boot. I bought Appetite for Reduction earlier this week (just because I love Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipes -- but I'm actually trying to get more fats into my food), and I made her Green Goddess dressing, subbing in green onions for the chives (because I love green onions, and they're way cheaper at the supermarket). It's great. Tangy from the lemon juice, but not vinegar-y. I get a little burnt out on vinaigrette dressings. I DID use vinegar (white wine vinegar) and basil and salt to flavor plain tofu, which I baked for 20 minutes at 350F, and it's my new favorite thing.

-- Actually, my new favorite thing is the toaster oven I bought today. Would you believe I'd never even used a toaster oven until I went to LA this month? It was instant love, and thanks to a Christmas gift snafu, I wound up with a gift card to Target (from Rob), which I traded in for a toaster oven of my very own. I used it to roast broccoli and heat up beans and toast bread for my dinner. If I can figure out how to make it heat up my cold tea/coffee, I'd never have to use a microwave again. (I've actually been wondering how likely it is that I could get myself to reheat hot drinks in a saucepan, for just that reason.) I can't wait to use it in the summer, so I can bake without roasting the entire house.

-- I do most of my editing work on my laptop, and I've always done so from the comfort of my sofa. Except it's not really all that comfortable after hours and hours, and since the sofa is where I crash in the evening to watch Hulu or Netflix, I feel like I'm stuck in the same place all day. So I 'made' myself an office in the guest room -- the quotes are because I just went in there and put my laptop on the desk. Not much to make. Well, I did find my extra laptop power cable and plugged that in, and then I set a plant on the desk. The result? Two very productive days, which isn't always easy right after returning from a trip. I like that it's a room that I don't otherwise use very much, and the cats love being in there. Logically, I should use the perfectly good iMac on the perfectly good desk in the living room, but it's just not the same. (I use it for covers and typesetting, though.)

-- I'm so glad the holidays are over. Not because I don't enjoy them, but because I get so bored of being inundated with 'Merry Christmas'es and 'Happy New Year!'s and retrospectives on blogs, etc, etc. I mean, I'm totally guilty of that last item, making me both cynical and a hypocrite, but I will acknowledge the fact that these things are more for the person delivering them than the people on the receiving end. I shouldn't even be admitting to thinking this, because I'm obviously a horrible grinch for rolling my eyes at all the generic holiday messages on facebook and twitter. Bah.

-- Tomorrow, I'm leaving the icicles behind and heading to Los Angeles for a while. That's exciting, no? It's been a challenge to fit everything I think I need into my suitcase. I'm still convinced that I won't have enough shoe options, and counting the ones I'll wear on the plane, I'll have six pairs to choose from. Only two of those pairs are running shoes.

-- I'm probably the worst matzo ball maker ever. They look alright (and they were delicious), but the scene before they reached the bowl wasn't pretty. Perhaps I'll spend some of 2011 learning how to make good matzo balls. Incidentally, it's been reported that my cousin's almost-five-year-old son calls matzo ball soup 'soup-ball soup'. I think that's what I'll now forever refer to it as in my head.

-- I dropped the cats off at my parents' house this afternoon, since that's where they'll be staying while I'm away, and it's been odd not having them around. Henny is still here, but she's not as meddlesome. I realized I can leave my open, half-packed suitcase in the middle of the living room floor tonight, because nobody will rifle through it or fill it up with fur.

-- Speaking of pets at night, Henny sleeps in her 'little house' (a crate). I keep the door closed during the day, so she won't just hide out in there, and she's always very happy to be let back inside for the night. She's twenty times as enthusiastic to get out in the morning now (seriously, there's tiny dog dancing and tap-tap-tapping all over the house). It seems to me that she should be less excited to go INto her little house if she's going to be that eager to get out again in the morning, but oh well. Whatever makes her happy.

So, I haven't been thinking much about resolutions, because A) at this point, 'resolution' seems to be synonymous with 'undefined goal I plan to bail on' and B) I don't have too many of those amorphous objectives (lose weight, eat better, be less of a jerk, etc). But I have been making a list of the things I want to do in 2011 -- you can call them resolutions, if you must, but I'm not going to.

Go skating in St. Paul. -- The rink is sponsored by Wells Fargo and has free skate rental for their customers. I wanted badly to go last year, but I had a fractured ankle. If I can just go once, then I can say I did it.

Go camping. A lot. -- I hope I can find friends who will be game for this one. People get so busy during the summer, but I think if I spread the word that I want camping buddies, I can (hopefully) get invited along on group trips. Alternatively, I just have to convince Alex that camping is where it's at, so we can have mid-week wilderness excursions. What if I make you a sparkly camping quilt, Alex?

Have more small shindigs at my place. -- How many times this year did I say I was going to organize a small get-together? Quite a few. How many times did that happen? None times. I get so bogged down by 'what if nobody comes?' worries, but I think I just have to keep things, small, casual, and relatively frequent. Starting with a donut buffet in January.

Drive down to La Crosse and stop along the way. -- Ideally this would happen in late spring, with a buddy. When I went down to La Crosse in September, I took the scenic route (following the Mississippi) for the first time, and there are interesting places to stop on that route. I'd also like to stay in La Crosse for a few days and go for a few easy runs while I'm there -- it's such a pretty area.

Run the Fargo Marathon. -- Yeah, I'm already registered for this. May 21st. I'm feeling fairly calm about it right now, partly because it's still a ways away (although training will start next month), and partly because I saw this year how straight forward it was to build up my mileage from 5k to a half-marathon. Every time I finish 13.1 miles, it seems unfathomable to run the same distance again, but I trust that I'll get there.

Run one race a month. -- I've done this since March 2010, sometimes running two races a month. I enjoy the events, and it gives me something to look forward to each month. In 2011, I'd like more of the races I choose to be on trails (versus roads).

Read one book a month. -- Okay, this one does sounds like a resolution I'll forget about pretty quickly. But there are so many subjects I want to read about, and I have a hard time fitting in reading that's not tied to my work. Perhaps if I spend more time communing with nature, I'll be able to set some of that aside for reading, as well.

The list could go on and on, but I don't want to overwhelm myself. The main idea is 'camp a lot, run a lot, and do cool stuff with cool people'. That doesn't sound like an awful idea, right? Right.

P.S. -- Obviously, I have NOT made a resolution to pair only relevant photos with blog posts. The top is Henny on my parents' sofa on New Year's Day, and the second is the donuts my mom made for breakfast that morning. My apologies if you were hoping to eat fewer donuts in 2011.

Yep, it's that time -- I have to take a look back at the year that was and think about all the dumb, fun stuff I did. It seems like a particular theme has been popping up in my life this past week: be grateful for what you have, because it is so much more than most people in the world could ever hope for. And that's not just because the new year is approaching; I've been stumbling upon this message in words written months and years ago.

In no particular order, here's what I'll remember about 2010:

Running -- That's not really a surprise, is it? I fractured my ankle last Christmas Eve, which meant I couldn't run all of January, but I eased back into it the following month. Not only did I run my first 5k race since London, but I doubled my distance to run a 10k the next month, and then I more than doubled it again and ran a half-marathon. Since March, I've run at least one race every month, and running has brought me health, happiness, and many new friends, to boot. I've run in the extreme heat (ugh), the pouring rain (blech), and the freezing cold (brr), but it's still been fun.

Cats -- Booty passed away in March, and Birdy came to stay a few days later. I'm so glad that Booty had a natural end, right here at home. I still get a little teary thinking about it; it was such an intense, intimate moment between him and me, something that I'll never be able to accurately describe to anybody else. But it also made my own transition to the addition of Birdy go more smoothly. Having a kitten in the house (she'll be a year old at the end of January) has been a crazy... in a mostly-good way. That fact that Beany basically adopted Birdy as her own made my life easier, because I have no idea how I would have dealt with all that energy on my own.

People -- Like I said, I met a lot of new friends through running, which is great. Having hobbies in common with somebody has never been enough by itself to let me 'click' with a person, because I don't really care for talking (in person) about things like crafts and cooking. But I can go on endlessly about running, and other runners are the only people who can tolerate that sort of thing.

I also enjoyed my time with Chris, even though we're no longer together. He introduced me to camping, and he's just a lot of fun to be around, in general. Trips to the beach, grilling pizzas, swimming in the Mississippi -- I'm glad we were able to share those things!

The Outdoors -- Even though I wasn't this way growing up, I've been fairly outdoorsy since moving back to Minnesota. But it wasn't until I went to St. Croix State Park this summer that I realized just how excited I am to be in nature. Being out on a woodsy trail with a river flowing off to the side just feels right to me. It fills me with the sort of energy and excitement that I imagine super-extroverted people feel when they... go to a club or a party or something.

All in all, it was a really nice year for me. There was nothing mind-blowingly amazing, but there doesn't need to be. It was a tough year for a lot of people I know, which helps me remember that, most of the time, good is good enough.

-- Cookies! I have nothing to say about cookies, other than that I've been eating many more of them than usual. I also like how it looks like David Bowie is reclining in giant cookies. That's... not glittery, but still pretty glam, I reckon.

-- I've been hit with some pretty hardcore wanderlust. I didn't travel much in 2010, with the exception of Las Vegas, which was really just a long weekend in a bizarro world (and one nice day at Lake Mead). For the most part, I'm okay with that, because I like being at home and in the Twin Cities. But my new tent has got me wanting to explore! Hiking and camping and seeing trees + mountains and sitting around a fire. It's rather inconvenient, what with it being the middle (...or the beginning) of winter. Bah.

-- Henny has this thing where she'll come back inside on her own, but I have to stand to the side of the door, or she won't come through. Because of all those time I slammed the door in her face as a funny joke (not true, obviously). It's better than the first few weeks I had her, which involved long games of slow chasing in the back yard. She's pretty reliable now, but she's been having problems the past two days. It's always hard to know what's going on in that tiny head of hers, but I think it might have something to do with the milder temperatures (above freezing!); she just doesn't want to come in. Luckily, she's coupled this regression with a new desire to cuddle, so I forgive her.

-- The cats: My dad got them a laser pointer contraption that has a little motor to move on its own (except it won't move 75% of the time, which renders it... a regular laser pointer). Both of the cats like it, but Birdy is determined to get that red dot. I'm fairly certain she's thinking about it when it's not around. It beats putting toys in the water dish, at least. In other cat news, if you throw snow on an escapee cat, she'll quickly decide it's better to be back inside.

-- Birthday cake, Christmas cookies... why not some cheesecake, too? This was left over from dinner on Saturday, and I had it after my ten-mile run this afternoon. You know what tastes really good after ten miles? Well, anything and everything, but especially cheesecake. On one hand, it felt good to get outside today after quite a lot of indoorsiness and sugar this weekend, but on the other... running in the snow is hard work! Even just a relatively thin layer of packed snow makes it more difficult (not unlike running on sand), but I'm hoping it'll just make me all the tougher and stronger by the time spring rolls around.

-- For lunch: eggs and cottage cheese and potatoes! (And lettuce and pineapple... not mixed together, though.) It's one of my go-to meals at the moment. I would have usually had broccoli on the side, but I have to get more tomorrow. I like to eat green veg at lunch and dinner, so it's weird to be out; for dinner, I decided that Whole Foods' green bean chips (fried and salted green beans) counted as a vegetable (they really don't). It was just as well that I wound up having a carby dinner, anyway; vegetables (especially raw) often don't sit well in my stomach after a long run.

-- I'll be spending a couple of weeks in Los Angeles next month, since my friend Alex is house-sitting for her folks while they're on holiday. First, I started looking at vegetarian/vegan restaurants in their area, which had me beside myself with anticipation. Then, today, I realized there are state and national parks not so far away, and that it's going to be (relatively) NICE while we're there (assuming the rain holds off and hasn't already washed everything away). I was practically breathless with my excitement. Obviously, I won't be taking to the trails by myself, but I think I can convince Alex to join me for a few hikes. I remarked to her that we make an odd couple, what with her fondness for sparkles and my desire to climb around in nature until my legs ache, and she appropriately sent me this scene from The Mighty Boosh. So accurate.

Did you guess that I'd make a gingerbread cake with cream cheese buttercream filling and bittersweet ganache on top? Then you were right! Here's a photo of the entire cake. I'm pleased with how it turned out, both flavor- and looks-wise. With one exception, I've only ever made 6" or 7" round cakes, because they're typically just shared with my parents and then brought home to freeze.

I had a lovely birthday with some fantastic gifts, including this mug with an illustration from the amazing Kate Beaton (I also got a print of her Great Gatsby strips). I also got a tent, which I wasted no time in setting up in the living room. I've been telling people that I plan on staying in the tent until the new year, and nobody seems to believe me. But I have been spending more time in it than a reasonable, adult-type person should -- I can't wait until it's warm enough to go camping!

Christmas was also agreeable, especially Christmas morning, which was spent with my parents and Rob; we both stayed over after the Christmas Eve gathering at my parents' house. Giant caramel rolls were consumed, presents were opened, and dogs were cuddled. Henny seemed excited and curious about the Christmas Eve crowd -- not at all frightened, as I was worried she might be. I think it helped that the air smelled of food, and she was happy to sit on my lap most of the afternoon and watch what was happening.

I hope you all had some wonderful holiday-times! Thank you for the birthday wishes!

-- Rob arrived in Minnesota this week, and on Thursday morning, he gifted me with all the treats I'd requested. Top priority was PG Tips (tea), followed by Revels (chocolate candies), Jordan's Tropical Crunchy Oats (which I irrationally feel are more special than anything similar I could buy here), Hovis biscuits, and Tunnock's Teacakes. The last in that list is what's pictured above, and if you've never had one, it's a (vegetarian) marshmallow on a buttery biscuit (cookie), all covered in chocolate. The package got pretty beat up on the way here, but I managed to pick one that was in pristine condition to photograph... and then decided it was too boring if you couldn't see some of the marshmallow. Smash.

-- A few weeks ago, I was going for a run, and I realized that the new streetlights they've installed on the path obscure from view the fire hydrant that I always used as my 'once I'm there, I'm done' point. I can, however, still see the big metal trash can that's on the other side of the street, but my brain couldn't come up with the right word in the moment. 'Oh,' I thought, 'now I'll have to use that... that... thunderpail.' I have no idea why or how that popped into my head, but I was immediately delighted. I think maybe I was channeling Minnie the Dog, as she always hated the loud noises those trash cans make when their lids are opened.

-- I wonder how many people who read twelve22 also check my flickr photostream. I tend to either read a person's blog OR look at their flickr photos, but there are a few where I keep track of both. I put more photos on flickr than I do here, of course, and sometimes I'm better about regularly uploading things to flickr even if I'm not posting here. I always worry about writing the same or similar stuff here and there (not that it usually stops me), but I figure that most people don't check in on my flickr unless I link to something. Do you?

-- I went for an eight-mile run this morning, although it was really more of a run/walk. Running in the snow, even when it's mostly plowed, is a lot more work than running on a clean path, and it's also less comfortable when I have to wear so many layers. Ever since my injury back in September, though, I've become a lot more forgiving of 'bad' days and less rigid in my expectations for myself. I always feel fantastic after a run, mentally and physically, and those effects don't depend on hitting some imaginary goal pace. I just have to get out there. I also realized today that I spent a fair bit of time this autumn worrying about whether I'd be able to run in the winter. I didn't think I could deal with the temperatures and conditions; I didn't think I was tough enough. So my realization was that I am doing it now. Funny how that can just happen.

-- I made cranberry sauce yesterday by boiling down a bag of fresh berries with a can of pineapple (including the juice). It's perfect for mixing in with yogurt, especially the full-fat stuff I've been getting. And it makes the yogurt pink!

-- I forgot to say anything here, but December 6th was my blog anniversary. How many years, you ask? TEN. I've been blogging for a decade. Since before most people knew what a 'blog' was. From college to crafts to... whatever it is I write about these days, it's been a while. Crazy stuff.

-- Rob is in town! He's here until Christmas (leaving that evening, in fact), and his visit will be part of a pretty fun month that I've got coming up. My birthday is in a week, with my birthday brunch with friends scheduled for this Sunday. Christmas Eve is at my parents' house this year, which is always a good time. And come January, I'm off to LA for a couple of weeks! Yay.

-- Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow. It had started snowing last night, and it didn't let up until... well, I think maybe 5:00pm this evening, but it was dark, so really I just stopped checking. Estimates of snowfall for Minneapolis are around 17 inches. Luckily, I shoveled off the back steps a few times throughout the day (so Henny could go out), because I otherwise would be literally snowed it -- I definitely can't budge the front screen door open. I don't suppose I'll be going anywhere for a while, which is fine with me, although I'm out of almond milk. Thank god there's still a couple days' worth of ice cream in the freezer!

-- I made this banner for Alex's birthday, which was yesterday. You can't tell, but the cardstock is pearlescent, and the fasteners I used have little 'jewels' on the ends. I originally saw the 'Keep Calm and Party On' banner at Urban Outfitters, but I figured I could easily make my own. (And it seems about time that a crafter stole an idea from them instead of the other way around.) I was still in a banner-making mood this morning, so I made this one for myself.

-- The past couple of times I've made scrambled eggs, I've mixed in cottage cheese instead of milk, and it's pretty great. I usually mix a whole egg with two egg whites when scrambling, which is what I did today, but they're much more orange/yellow-y than usual. I suspect it's from the coloring on the seasoned curly fries I had to use when I realized I didn't have any 'real' potatoes in the house. ...yum?

-- Henny was extra charming today. I spent almost two hours (!) wrapping gifts, and she had to check out everything I brought into the living room. She had several cuddles with me throughout the day (like, actually sleeping on my stomach while I lay on the sofa to watch Netflix), and once was curled up right next to Beany, who reached over to give Henny a few licks on her ear (awww). Right now, the cats have ganged up on Henny to keep her out of her 'little house' (crate). Beany is inside, and Birdy's on top. I'm going to remind them of this the next time I try to take them somewhere in a crate and they complain.

-- A while back, I stopped buying non-fat yogurt and switched to low-fat. This week, I said enough is enough and bought Stonyfield's Cream Top (ie, full-fat), and it is so good. Like a completely different food. I always buy plain yogurt and flavor it myself; often I just use cinnamon, but I really like using tinned fruit for flavor. I mixed this with crushed pineapple, and it was fantastic. Every now and then, I buy flavored yogurt as a 'treat', but I always decide it's too sweet for me.

-- I want to commit to doing twenty minutes of yoga at least five times a week from now until the 5th of January (when I leave for a two-week working 'break' in LA). I was very lucky to get through the Rock 'n' Roll half and the preceding training without injury, but I have to pay more attention to everyday stretching and flexibility if I want to continue on that path. My calves have been tight for over a month now, so I want to fix that.

-- When I was growing up, I couldn't stand the smell of wild rice. Of course, there were probably more foods that I hated back then than those that I loved, but luckily that's all changed now (for the record, I still am not crazy about anise/fennel and I don't see the point of raw celery, but I'll eat both without much complaint). I think yesterday was the first time I'd ever cooked wild rice for myself, even though the bag of it's been in the cupboard for about a year. I did half wild and half brown rice and cooked it with a cube of vegetable bouillon. Some went into the freezer for later, and the portion that I reheated for lunch today I mixed with carrots, broccoli, zucchini, and cashews. So, so good.

-- I ran a few errands this afternoon, including renewing my driver's license (I'll now be my doctor-verified 5'9" instead of my previously guessed 5'8"!) and mailing a couple items. One was a Netflix return, which I grabbed off my desk, and the other was a bill that I grabbed from the kitchen counter. Only, when I got back home, the bill was still sitting there. Which made me wonder, What was in the envelope I DID mail? I panicked for a moment, but then I realized it was just an unopened envelope addressed to the previous owner from a place that refuses to take a hint that she doesn't live here anymore (I've 'return to sender'ed their mailings before). Nothing like a bit of accidentally-posted mail to get the heartrate up, though.

-- Pumpkin pie! That's neither pumpkin nor, technically, a pie! I roasted two of my butternut squashes to make soup a week or so ago, which used two kilos and resulted in some leftover squash that I put in the fridge. We didn't have pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving (but we did have zuccotto!), so I decided that's what I wanted to make on Friday. Lo and behold, I had exactly the right amount of leftover squash (420g) to make the Libby's recipe. I used 1/2 cup sugar instead of 3/4 (can't tell) and pureed the cooked squash with some of the evaporated milk to get it super smooth. I baked it as recommended in the recipe... just without a pie shell. Yum.

-- I took Henny to an adoption event on Saturday (despite the fact that I really don't want anybody to adopt her), and she totally impressed me. The last time I went to one, when I brought her home to foster, she spent the entire two hours trembling at the back of her pen. She couldn't bear to look at anybody; she was completely closed off. This time, she walked up to sniff people's hands (!) and wagged her tail (!) and was generally adorable. There wasn't any interest in her, though (she was in a pen with a pug that people thought was sooo cute -- I do not get the attraction to pugs!). I guess nobody wants a dark-colored little pig dog. All the more for me to cuddle with.

-- I leave for Vegas early Friday morning! I've managed to not injure myself thus far, so there's less than a week left now. I'm just going to remain completely motionless. We had our send-off dinner tonight, and I got my Team Challenge singlet for the race, which has me all excited. As I was telling some of the other members, I have no real attraction to Las Vegas; I'm just excited about the race -- and the race expo, beforehand. I love me some running swag. I do like going on trips, though, so that's fun. I like packing a bag. And snacks. Love travel snacks.

I've been disappointed with coffee lately, and I think it's because I always drink decaf. I bought two of those 'sample' sized pouches at the supermarket -- one decaf and one regular -- and mixed them together to see how I tolerate half-caf. Since it's only a smallish amount of grounds to store, I grabbed a jar from my jar bucket and wound up with the bear-shaped one. And thus coffee bear was born.

-- I roasted two more of my homegrown butternuts on Sunday (for soup). This one was one of my three 'bonus' squashes that I had to pick before they ripened; they finished doing so indoors, obviously. Two of those bonus butternuts were the biggest of any that I grew this year. This one wasn't THE biggest, but it was 4 or 4.5lbs.

-- I went for a short run today, to see what the sidewalks/roads were like. The temperature was in the teens (Fahrenheit), but it 'felt like' 11F, according to weather.com. I actually layered up too much and had to take my fleece and mittens off halfway through, because that's the magic of running. During my long run last Friday, I had removed my fleece after two miles (and all I had underneath was short sleeves, unlike today), but I had to put it back on at the 7-mile mark. My core was perfectly happy, but my forearms were starting to go numb in the cold wind. Running is a silly sport, enjoyed by silly people.

-- I've been watching Dexter on Netflix, and I'm now on the second disc of Season Four. I had really been tearing through it, watching one or two episodes an evening and returning the disc the next day, but it took me half a week to remember to mail back the first disc of Season Four. I put on an episode tonight, and I realized that the show just makes me too nervous -- that's why I've started enjoying it less and less. Everything I liked about it originally is still great, but I just get too worried about him being found out. That's the problem with serial-killer protagonists. I've always said so.

-- You know how sometimes you go to three different places looking for a simple cake donut with chocolate icing, and you wind up settling for an old-fashioned, and it's over-fried with icing that's too sweet and not chocolate-y enough? I hate when that happens. Also, how dare any establishment selling donuts not have cake donuts? I'm looking at you, Target and Cub. Are cake donuts passe? I should have just gone to Wuollet's.

-- Yesterday was my last long run before the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon. I did twelve miles, and this is the first time I haven't run the full 13.1 at any point before the race itself. That was sort of the point this time around; I kept my weekly mileage low to reduce the risk of injury. When I was just starting to run again (mid-October?) after hurting myself at the end of September, the run coach for our Team Challenge chapter said, 'I'm not worried about you; you've done this before,' but I wasn't feeling anywhere near as sure. It's true, though. Once I was pain-free, building the long-run mileage really wasn't a big deal. I'm not going to set a personal record on this race, because I wasn't able to train hard enough, but I'll have a good time. I just have to be verrry careful for the next two weeks and not mangle any of my limbs.

-- This is what happens when I put food in the cat dish (which Henny can't reach). She's such a funny dog. I really need to clip her nails, but although she's smaller than the cats, her claws are bigger, so I can't just use a regular nail clipper. (Which is what I use on the cats' claws. Because they let me clip them.)

-- I finished off my butternut squash soup, but I'm still heavily in a soup mood. So the past few days, I've made single bowls to order -- tomato vegetable one day, and black bean twice now. I can't help feeling clever when they turn out really tasty, and it always makes me think about how much I've learned about cooking over the past four years. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it's all about trial and error and testing things and learning how different ingredients work.

-- Look at those paws! Birdy is very marbled, grey and orange, especially on her legs. She'll be ten months old in a few days, and I still feel like it's anybody's guess as to how big she'll wind up being when she stops growing. At the moment, she and Beany weigh the same (8lbs), but Birdy has a completely different frame. Beany is slight and compact; Birdy has a tail that looks like it belongs on a lemur. I adopted Beany when she was nine months old, and she didn't grow considerably once I had her (she did become less kitten-ish, though), so there's that. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if Birdy turns into a 15-pound whomper, given how lanky she is. Cats.

-- If I could have three greedy wishes, my first two would be to be able to sleep as long as I want and to be able to run as often and as far as I want without injury. (The third would be for tons of money, obviously.) I'm not one of those people who can stay in bed all morning long. My sleep patterns have been pretty good this year (2009 was terrible), and I'm glad for the usual 6-7.5 hours I get a night, but I could go for a nice 9-hour sleep from time to time. I thought I might try melatonin to see if it had any affect, and it does seem to help me fall asleep quickly (not usually a problem, anyway), but it doesn't keep me asleep any later in the morning. It has, however, turned the dreams up to eleven. I'm an active dreamer, anyway, but I can definitely tell a difference (or have convinced myself I can).

-- Some running things: Two and a half week until Vegas! I'm getting excited, and mainly for things that have nothing to do with the race's location. Namely, it's my first big race with an expo beforehand. Vendors! Samples! After my Monday-morning run, I decided I really needed a new pair of shoes, because I was starting to have little twinges in my feet that shouldn't have been there. I've been running in Saucony Triumphs all year long (a pair of Triumph 6's, then a 7 that ran small so was replaced with a new pair of 6's), but I decided to switch to the Asics Gel Nimbus 12. I wanted to go with a less padded shoe, but I am, in my heart of hearts, a half-marathoner, and I'm going to be training for a marathon starting in January, so I decided I need the cushioning. I went up another half size (so a full size larger than I usually wear) to be able to fit warmer socks in for the winter. Given that, they're only 10g heavier than the smaller Triumphs, so pretty comparable.

-- There are many German things I get pangs for; most involve an unhealthy dose of sugar and butter (sometimes with apples thrown in). But this morning, I really felt like one of the strong, bitter (and cheap) coffees I get when I'm in Frankfurt. If I were served a similar coffee here in America, I don't think I'd drink it, but it just seems right over there. So I made myself a stronger-than-usual cup in the Bialetti today, which was almost as good (okay, not as all as good).

-- I managed to get a full day ahead with my NaNoWriMo writing this weekend, and it's turning out to be a much-needed lead. I'm proofing a book that is over twice as long as the usual novels I work on, and I really need/want to finish it all this week, so that's a lot of reading every day. I keep worrying that I won't have the time or inclination to do my normal NaNoWriMo writing, but it's actually been flowing well when I sit down to do it. That's probably just a coincidence, but I like to think that the larger number of words going in through my eyes results in a larger number coming out through my fingers.

-- Henny doesn't really run away from me anymore, but she still kind of scuttles out of reach. She knows I'm going to get her (to take her outside or whatever), and I think she's okay with that, but the instinct to move away is strong . I was sitting on the sofa after dinner this evening, which is usually when she likes to join me on the couch, and she actually walked over and held still so I could lift her up. What's more, she left her regular spot at the other end and walked to the middle when I extended my hand, because she wanted pets. Then Beany joined us.

-- Yep, it snowed. It's a good kind of snow, because it looked all pretty coming down, and there's the novelty factor of it being the first snowfall of the year, but it's going to be warm enough over the next few days to melt it away. I took advantage of the winter-y feeling yesterday to decorate for the holidays (which was my plan, anyway), so now the living room is all fairy light-y, and there's snow outside. Cozy.

-- I mentioned on Thursday how NaNoWriMo was getting to me, and sure enough, I still had about a thousand words to write on Friday when I just gave up for the evening. So I had to write extra lots yesterday, but I couldn't really get out of the house to drive anywhere, so there wasn't much else to do. I wish I could have a day of inspiration and get about five-thousand words ahead of schedule. I have a week full of proof-reading coming up, though, so I imagine if I tried to add a write-a-thon day in there, I'd wind up stumbling down the street, moaning, 'Worrrrrdssss.'

-- I thought I was so clever when I made and froze twelve servings of butternut squash soup. All stocked up! Except that was four weeks ago, and I'm currently contemplating having the LAST bowl for dinner tonight. 'Stocking up' and 'soup' apparently don't go together when I'm around; if there's soup, I'm eating it. Luckily, I've got four more squashes from the garden, ready to be roasted.

-- I've been meaning to make my own peanut butter cereal for a few months now, but it took me until yesterday to get around to it. You can see my directions here, although I should mention that it's not exactly Peanut Butter Bumpers or anything. Just a lightly-flavored cereal. Still, good to cross that off my mental to-do list.

-- Right now, I can hear Birdy in the kitchen, playing with the water bowl. When I woke up the other day, her sock-shaped toy was floating in the water (as it is in that photo), so I said, 'Enough is enough, cat!' and threw it away. (I didn't really say that, but I thought it.) Somehow, repeatedly putting the same toy in the water dish makes both the toy AND the water dirtier.

-- NaNoWriMo is wearing me out. I mean, I'm exactly where I should be with my word count. But one of the things I like about running (no, stick with me, this is related!) is that if I wake up one morning not feeling super, or if it's windy and rainy, or if I just don't WANT to run, and I can shrug and decide to go the next day, instead. But with NaNoWriMo, I have to write every day. It only takes me about an hour to write the 1,667 word minimum, and I've settled into a routine with that, now, but it's still a lot of writing to do at the end of the day (I usually write from 8:00-9:00pm). I have too many endurance-related hobbies. (Yes, two is too many.)

-- I have decided that I'm feeling jolly this year, and nobody can stop me from decorating for the holidays early. So I might do that soon. I have never in my adult life enjoyed winter and cold and snow, but I'm feeling very 'bring it!' this time around. (That may just be because it's been a pretty nice autumn.) I want to get outside the year and do crazy Minnesotan things, and then come inside and be all cozy and warm and look at sparkly tinsel. And listen to Swedish Christmas songs. The end.

-- Wallets! The one on the bottom (well, the top of the photo) is what I've been using. I made the Minneapolis iron-on transfer, and it has a sort of plastic-y finish that I would normally hate, but it made the fabric nice and durable. Then, a week or two ago, I experimented with some silkscreening, except when I say 'silkscreen', you should imagine old nylons stretched over an embroidery hoop and a piece of iron-on paper. It was a little messy, but I got a few decent prints on fabric. And you know how I love anything Minnesota-shaped. The zipper pull is from a KidRobot collection; I'm a sucker for those things.

-- Henny was very entertaining today. She kicked off the morning off with this, and around 2:30pm, she started it up again and carried on that way for about an hour. She was pawing under the hutch in the kitchen, so I looked and found a cat toy beneath it. I held it out for her, and she took it and ran into the living room. This was a dog who didn't seem to understand the concept of a 'toy' just a week ago. In that video link, she paws at her pillow, and this afternoon, she managed to get inside the case and went crazy. I thought she would freak herself out, but she loved it. We went for a walk to help her burn off some of that energy, and she did great. It's incredible what a little time can do for an animal.

-- The insurance man came by today, and it looks like I'll definitely get a new garage roof, and the odds are good that they'll replace the roof on the house, too. He has to see if there's a match for the house shingles (in which case they'd just replace the missing ones), but he said the chances of that happening are low. I'll still have to pay my deductible, of course, but it's worth it for new roofs! (Question: Why is it not 'rooves'? Oh, English!)

-- On the way back up the alley with Henny this afternoon, I saw that there was another butternut squash that I hadn't been able to see before the vine died (the leaves covered it). Obviously, it's no good now that it's sat through several frosts, but that still means that the vine produced seven full-sized (big!) squashes this year. Wow!

-- I was over at my folks' for the Vikings game yesterday (sigh), and we had Indian food from Dosa King for dinner. (Warning: Annoying music on their site. Side note: Why are restaurant websites twenty times more likely to have annoying music/sounds that any other kind of website?) It was good, and I was glad to have leftovers for lunch today. My new strategy for Indian restaurants is to skip the curry and rice. I really, really like sambar, a spicy soup (in the little green bowl), so sambar + appetizers is my current game plan. My leftovers today consisted of half a 'vegetable cutlet', half a veggie samosa, and a piece of masala dosa. (Various chutneys in front.) My favorite part of dinner, though, was the vada -- a savory donut made from lentil flour. It was crispy-crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside. A definite repeat.

-- Today was a big day for Henny. She started the morning in a good mood and actually played... I was going to say like a dog, but it's quite a lot like the cats play. She started showing interest in the cat toys yesterday, but this was the first time she really played for minutes on end. And then, this afternoon, she went for her first walk ever. We went about a mile and a half, and it took over an hour. But she actually did REALLY well! It took forever because A) she was interested in all the smells, and I wanted her to enjoy the experience and B) she would get scared and stop whenever somebody walked by. But for the most part, she trotted along very nicely; it was as though the doggiest part of her brain clicked into place, and she understood the purpose was to keep moving forward. Little dogs can't go very fast, though!

-- Today was the first day of NaNoWriMo! There's an almost-daily write-in scheduled at the coffee shop just a few blocks away, and I happened to be headed there today, anyway. So I met a couple of other NaNo-ers, although I had more important (= money-earning) stuff to work. A lot of the writing I've done over the past few years was lost when my laptop unexpectedly crashed (no, literally -- it fell on the ground and then started having problems) last summer, which is a huge bummer for me. But it feels good to be getting some new words down. I just need to patch up the plot now. The end bit. Where all the stuff happens.

-- You know, when I was in Frankfurt last year, I bought some veggie frankfurters (and prepared them almost exactly as above, it turns out!), and I was a little disappointed, because they tasted a lot like the veggie hotdogs I often buy. But now I get these veggie hotdogs and think about how they remind me of the frankfurters. Nice!

-- I ran a 10k trail race this morning. Two races in two weeks? It's not something I would usually do (except that one time I ran Ragnar and then did a duathlon the next week -- that was kind of crazy), but they weren't very long races (for me -- 5 miles last week, 6.2 this week). And they were FUN. I'm officially in love with trail running, and if I had trails nearby that I could safely run (or trails nearby + a running partner), I'd switch over full-time. It's a heck of a workout, too; I don't usually get muscle soreness from running, but trucking up some of these hills really leaves you feeling it. Especially in the butt area.

-- Henny was amusing today. She had to spend the entire morning by herself, because I had the race and then met up with running friends for brunch afterward. I let her play outside when I got back, and she started getting silly, taking off in a chihuahua version of a gallop. I recorded about six seconds of it here; it was very funny to see, considering how reserved she usually is. And later, inside, she had a brief spell of naughtiness: wrestling with the cat tent, biting a rug, tearing a piece of paper napkin (don't know where that even came from) -- all within about thirty seconds. She wasn't actually trying to do damage, so it was good to see her feeling slightly rambunctious.

-- I think I've convinced myself to participate in NaNoWriMo once again. This will be my fifth year (and I've managed to finish the past four times), though they haven't all been in a row. I was hoping to flesh out the plot a bit before the writing began, but seeing as I only have one day left to do that... it's seeming unlikely. Who needs a plot, right?

-- The salad above SHOULD have been really tasty, but it wasn't. It was just bland. Disappointing, as I haven't had falafel in a little while and was looking forward to it. At least it was just a homemade salad; I get more annoyed when I go out to eat, and the entree is more boring than something I could have made for myself.

-- When I lived in London, I didn't really notice how many grey, rainy days there were. (There are a lot!) But we had a few days in a row here, with a cold wind to boot, and it seemed like it lasted forever. It's cooler now than before the storm came to town, but it's sunny again and feels rather nice outside. We had our first hard frost in the Twin Cities last night, which was the latest that's occurred in forty-seven (or was it forty-nine?) years. A nice autumn, to be sure! But I think we're going to pay for it in the new year. Brr.

-- It's funny how each past winter influences the way I feel about the coming one. For example, 2007-2008 was really tough, and I absolutely dreaded the end of summer that year. Each winter since then has been progressively better, and I dare say that I actually enjoyed this past one and felt a little disappointed when my cozy, dark evenings came to an end. So this year, I'm looking forward to all that returning... and wondering when I'm allowed to start decorating for the holidays, actually (not until after Thanksgiving, I reckon).

-- Since I'm doing this Low-Fiber Punishment Diet (not actually a diet, but a measure to get my digestive issues under control... it is like punishment, though), I made a bunch of white rice and threw some of it in the fridge. Today, after a long absence, BBQ Hotdog Rice made an appearance. I'll let you in on the secret recipe: cut up a (veggie) hotdog; put it in some rice; stir it up with BBQ sauce; microwave. It's better with brown rice, but 'better' is still a long way from 'gourmet' when it comes to BBQ Hotdog Rice.

-- It shouldn't come as a surprise to you that I knit a sweater for Henny. Or that I made Beany try it on first. Neither of them seemed to take notice of it, although it had a profound effect on both of their cuteness levels.

-- The Twin Cities has been part of this giant storm system hitting the Midwest (although I'd say it hasn't been SO bad here). The wind was crazy last night, and when I took Henny out before bed, I noticed that there were shingles all over the backyard. I filed a claim this morning, so it looks like this storm will get me a new roof (it's not SO old right now). I wonder if I can say the wind made all my windows old and crappy and file a claim on those, too. No?

-- It's supposed to freeze tonight, which will officially end the growing season for a lot of my plants. And I JUST picked the first zucchini of the season. Yeah, that plant wasn't too happy this summer. I also cut flowers the other day, which are still looking good. I should plant more mums and dahlias next year. I love going to the Palmengarten in Frankfurt in October, because their autumn flowers are so amazing -- much more special than spring/summer flowers, in my mind.

-- The smell of pumpkin innards makes me feel like I'm ten years old again. That whole scent-memory thing. I thought about doing something a bit fancier with the jack-o-lantern this year, something that would involve a linoleum cutter and shading, but I didn't have any great ideas. And I mainly just wanted to make a cat face. Done.

-- The whole low-fiber diet thing (due to digestive issues) is bumming me out, but it's had one bright spot: the discovery of Cream of Wheat. Like oatbran, but not. I've been making it with chocolate soy milk, and it's sweetly, blandly comforting. The other upside to the temporary change in diet is that I'm starting to feel a lot better. Phew.

-- This week just flew by! This weekend, I'll be running a five-mile race (for fun; I won't be pushing the tempo), and then... I'll be bringing home a foster dog. With any luck. What're you up this weekend?

-- Butternut squash soup! I roasted two of my garden-grown butternuts this weekend, and I turned them into soup today. I stick with a very basic 'recipe', which is basically: saute some chopped onions and garlic in butter, toss in the roasted squash and vegetable stock, and then blend it all until it's smooth. My two butternuts yielded around two kilos (about 4.5 pounds) of cooked squash, and I have twelve servings of soup now. Hooray!

-- As I was telling some of my friends the other day, my life has just been a comedy of errors lately. My car is having issues, there's a problem with the kitchen ceiling, Chris and I decided to split, my digestion has been giving me trouble, and to top it all off, I've been too injured to run. Luckily, that last one is resolving itself, so at least I'm getting a slow trickle of endorphins. Despite everything, though, I've been feeling fairly upbeat. There's no accounting for moods, sometimes.

-- Two restaurant recommendations if you're in the Twin Cities: Stanley's in Northeast, which I went to with friends after we got yelled at by the hostess at Gasthof for not having a reservation. Actually yelled at. But Stanley's was great; they have a nice veggie burger, and their sweet potato fries are good. Also, The View, on the north side of Calhoun. Alex and I went there for lunch yesterday, and it may have just been the fact that we were sitting outside in October, and it was sunny and beautiful, but I'm fairly sure the food had something to do with our enjoyment, too.

-- A public reminder to myself: Write about post-run routine and blog pet peeves. Not in the same post, though.

-- I've been having some digestion issues lately (UC-related, bleh), so I put myself on a low-fiber diet for a little while. You know what's no fun at all? Low-fiber diets. Everything I like is full of fiber! I think I've been missing Kashi GoLean the most, as I really look forward to that every morning. I've been having scrambled egg whites instead (with hashbrown potatoes and mozzarella in the photo above), which is tasty, but it's just not the same. I've been peeling fruit before I eat it (but the banana skin is the best part -- oh, wait...). I haven't been able to enjoy the kinds of bread I usually eat, all full of pieces of bark and pebbles, or whatever. White English muffins: does anybody actually enjoy those?

-- I still need to raise quite a lot of money for to