-- I won't be able to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, and I'll miss seeing my Frankfurt friends and reading German magazines and visiting the Palmengarten and eating a LOT of baked goods. To ease my pain (just a little), I baked up a batch of Brezelbrötchen -- pretzel rolls. I wish they had turned out a little smoother and glossier (I think I should only boil one or two at a time, because I get flustered and -- I think -- leave them in the water too long), but they're very tasty. And if you're a fan of Trader Joe's peanut-butter-filled pretzel bites, just imagine a warm Brezel roll with almond butter. Oh wait, you don't have to imagine. Amazing.

-- I had the almond butter Brezel roll for dinner before heading out for my second Team Challenge run. I promise I'll write more about Team Challenge tomorrow or Friday, but for now I'll just say that I've really enjoyed the training runs. I'm not a super speedy runner, but I am more conditioned than several of my teammates, and being a strong runner in the pack is a nice change! July was a really rough running month for me, but I got my mojo back in August and am more in love with it than ever.

-- The cats are lovable and annoying in (almost) equal measure. That's averaging over both cats. Beany is probably 80% lovable, 20% annoying (and that goes to about 95%/5% as long as she stays indoors), while Birdy is... well, the opposite? But she's only seven months, and Beany wasn't the most charming when she was young, either. Birdy's sort of a jealous cat and doesn't like it when I give Beany a lot of attention. But it's not what you'd think -- she'll come over and try to steal Beany away from me. How dare Beany cuddle with me and not her!

I'd say there's something of a tomato situation at the moment. I drove up to Sandstone today, so I brought all the ripe tomatoes up with me to boil down into a plain sauce (then I can freeze it in muffin pans to make pucks I can thaw individually and season as I want them). I might roast the pear tomatoes or make oven-'sun'-dried tomatoes.

The cats survived the trip up here with very little fuss. I've learned to put them in separate carriers and then face the doors towards each other in the back seat of the car, so they can see one another (reassuring) but won't freak out and start fighting. Usually there's a lot of yowling on the way, but I just sang along to my iPod the entire trip, and they were quiet. Or I had the music up too loud to hear them! (Just kidding -- I didn't.)

Speaking of the iPod, I set it to shuffle through all the songs, and I realized that A) I have a lot of music on there that I don't really want to hear most of the time (and that's of the hand-picked artists/albums I put on there in the first place) and B) there are a LOT of lyrics stored in my head. Like, I couldn't recite most of these songs word for word out of the blue, but start the song playing, and it all comes back. Surely that brain space could be used for remembering foreign languages, no?

Two summers ago, I was all about the homemade. I made bread from scratch every week, started making my own yogurt, etc, etc. That was the height of my make-iness, but I've been feeling the urge again. The main goal of whittling down the contents of my pantry, fridge, and freezer has been to get through all the various fake meats and bread-y type products so I can make some of my own. I've come a long way in the past few years, as far as making food from scratch goes, and I'd like to stop buying packaged protein sources and so on.

I've made quite a dent in what's in the freezer (I think there's one Boca patty, some Morningstar burger crumbles, a Trader Joe's Italian meatless sausage, and just a couple odds and ends left), so today I went ahead and made seitan sausages/brats. I wanted something that could be thrown on the grill, and I knew that this recipe (for the fauxsages, scroll down) had turned out well for me before. I changed the spices -- replaced the oregano with chili powder, the basil with cumin, nixed the fennel seeds, and used half a teaspoon garlic powder instead of real garlic cloves (added it before seeing the cloves on the ingredients list!). I also made eight smaller sausages instead of four (steamed them for the same amount of time, though), which seems like a better serving size to me. They're great!

I thought about trying to make buns, but there was no way I was going to turn the oven on in this heat. Instead, I made tortillas with this recipe. [Link fixed now -- sorry!] Well, I changed that one, too. Instead of two cups AP flour, I used 1c whole wheat bread flour + 1/2 cup AP flour + 1/4 cup spelt flour + 1/4 cup buckwheat flour + 1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten. (I added the gluten because I was worried that the spelt and buckwheat flours might make the tortillas too brittle.) They ALSO turned out really well! I made a wrap with both the sausages and tortillas, and it was top notch. I expected my tortillas to resist the folding and rolling, but they were very supple and even held everything together when I cut the finished wrap in half.

The above was my lunch yesterday -- a pressed sandwich with hummus, red peppers, tomato, red cabbage + beet salad, onion, and honey Dijon. The pepper, tomato, cabbage, and beet all came from the garden! It's been good to me this year.

The sandwich kind of exemplifies the ways I've changed with regard to food. Well, first, there's the fact that I grew so many of the components myself! I was not a gardener growing up (although my mom was), so the fact that I can consistently grow huge tomato plants is sort of a surprise. Well, it has a LOT to do with the garden's location (sunny!) and the good dirt/humus I've brought in.

But even more than that is the fact that I wouldn't have touched this sandwich five years ago. Honestly, I think the only thing I would have willingly eaten was the bread. Possibly red cabbage, raw and sparse in a lettuce mixture. Thank goodness my palate has matured! I just couldn't have dealt with the sweet/savory/vinegary combination that this sandwich had. I remember trying to eat a brie and cranberry (or something similar) sandwich about six years ago, and I couldn't come to terms with it.

These days, I think anise (think black licorice) is the only flavor I'm not on friendly terms with. So I don't like stuff that's loaded up with fennel seeds, but I can still enjoy it in a curry. It always seems silly to me when grown men and women pick things out of their meals at restaurants (except excess slices of raw onion -- I think we all get a free pass on that one, for our fellow human beings' sakes). Do you have any foods or ingredients that are just no-can-do for you?

-- Oh, hey there, internet blog site. I've been neglecting twelve22 about as much as I've been neglecting my garden. The garden, though, still rewards me with amazing produce. I've yet to figure out how to get the blog to feed me. Seriously, though, the tomatoes started ripening at the beginning of the month, and there's just no stopping them now. I made a sauce entirely from garden ingredients today: tomatoes, red bell pepper, red onion, thyme, oregano, and parsley. Salt and pepper were the only other ingredients, and it was amazing. I had some of it on top of vegetable pasta shells for dinner tonight -- the photo above was taken with the camera balanced on a drinking glass, because it was so dark and stormy (hence the unusual angle).

-- I was also equally impressed with this cooking effort, so it's a double photo post today. My parents gave me several potatoes that they grew in their garden up in Sandstone. I sauteed some red onion from the garden with mustard and coriander seeds, curry powder, and a bit of extra cumin. I added most of a diced tomato from my garden (a Great White, which is actually yellowish and has the strangest texture: very meaty and dry-ish, but it cooks wonderfully) and let that all mingle for a bit. When I'd finished boiling the potatoes, I added them to the pan and did some in-pan splitting and mashing. I'm pretty sure it was the best curry-based dish I've ever made.

-- It's been hot AND humid around these parts lately, which makes running less than pleasant. We had a short reprieve at the end of last week, and I was able to run my fastest ten miles to date. That was very reassuring, because I was starting to think that I'd just become really awful at running, but I'm pretty sure the weather is actually to blame. The weekend after next is Ragnar, so let's everybody hope for a nice cooling trend, eh?

-- The cats continue to be amusing. When Beany was younger, she used to spend a lot of time alone in the basement, which I referred to as 'doing her experiments'. There's less of that now that she's older, but Birdy has picked up the slack. Her favored method of scientific inquiry, however, seems to include testing the reactions of everyday objects with water. Namely, the water in the cats' bowl. Last week, she concluded that a catnip toy becomes far less desirable when saturated with water (although she made sure to carry it around and drop it at various points around the house to test this theory). This weekend, I returned from an errand to see a plastic bag floating in the oddly-pink water of the cat dish. So now we know that Gu Chomps will dissolve completely in a bowl of water, even if they're wrapped up and placed on the counter. My furry little scientist.

-- I read The Great Gatsby last week, for the first time ever. I know, right? I got one of those English degrees that was more about writing and poking at words than about reading... stuff. At any rate, I'm glad I never touched it in high school or college, because I wouldn't have appreciated it. I really enjoyed it, though, and it set me off on this vague mission to read everything on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list. Vague in that I have no deadline for myself, nor much drive to actually follow through. I thought that, since I'd just read #2 on the list, I should start from the top and work my way down. But, hey, who put Ulysses at #1? That's going to take me forever. Sigh.

-- I think I mentioned a while ago that, to save a bit of money, I'd decided to eat from the freezer, fridge, and pantry. I still have to buy a lot of fresh vegetables, fruit, and dairy products, but there are plenty of carbs and protein to be found in the house already. I actually made a list of (most) everything, to help me keep track of what's on hand... and for the satisfaction of crossing it out when it's gone. I was resigned to using the frozen sandwich thins when my Tobies bread ran out, but they really weren't cutting it -- I broke down and bought real bread. But I'm still making progress -- there's actually room in the freezer, now!

-- To answer Katie's question about the little wrap in my breakfast photos the other day: there was apple butter inside. And as far as my poached eggs go... well, there are a million poaching tutorials on the web. I don't do anything special, and they definitely don't always come out looking good. Just make sure the water is really hot and boiling well; it seems like if it's not hot enough, the egg white is much more likely to spread out.

-- I've used my new Bialetti Mukka Express to make cappuccinos a few times now. I use almond milk when it's just for me, but I find that even using half the called-for milk and the full amount of water/coffee still comes out too milky for me. And I thought it didn't get the finished cappuccino hot enough, but I really let it steam and froth yesterday, and it 'successfully' scalded my mouth on the first sip. Ouch. I think I'll save it for making cappuccinos/lattes for other people; my little Melitta drip cone is much faster and easier to use when it comes to making coffee for myself.

-- Ack, almost a week has slipped by without my noticing -- or updating. Sorry about that. I had started to write a post about time management, but it got too long and uninteresting to bother with. It will have to suffice to say that my perfect daily schedule would run about eighteen hours long (work, running, blogging, chores, errands, creative stuff), and that's not counting time for eating or pausing to sit for a minute. Instead, my life tends to follow the pattern outlined in this Hyperbole and a Half post.

-- I discovered how easy it is to make polenta/grits this week. I've made the firmer kind of polenta before, but I don't really care about it one way or the other -- but when it's made with more water, it's almost like a savory oat bran. I love it topped with poached eggs, because it's sooo good with the egg yolk mixed in.

-- I've run over thirty miles less this month than I had by this point in June. Granted, I was training for my first official half-marathon in June, whereas July has included a taper, a week-long rest (post-race), and generally sporadic running due to an achy foot. The pain of it is that my brain got used to all those endorphins, so now it's about ready to chew its way out to go looking for some on its own. Not a great feeling.

-- The only upside to not running as much is that I sleep a lot longer. This has happened several times when I've had to back off on my running. I don't know the exact science behind why my body would want to stock up on sleep when it's burning fewer calories than usual, but I like to imagine it's because when I'm racking up a high weekly mileage, my brain thinks we're constantly on the run from tigers. Too dangerous to sleep!

-- I made raspberry jam with my homegrown raspberries. I picked and froze them as they ripened, so I had plenty for making jam. I used a 'Less Sugar Needed' pectin and followed the recipe that called for Splenda, but I used stevia. It came out just as I like it -- lots of fruit flavor, not too sweet.

-- My mom made a lemon cheesecake the other day, and she brought over a few pieces for me. I don't really have anything else to say about that, except that it's good. As good as it looks.

-- Yesterday, I bought a pair of Vibram Five Finger Sprints. Weird shoes, right? I'd been hearing about these, along with barefoot running, for a while now, and I basically thought it was all a bunch of nonsense. But I've been having pain in my joints (especially my hips) when I run lately, and it wouldn't hurt to train myself to land more on my forefoot than my heel. At the moment, I'm only walking in the Vibrams, but they're pretty cool. Perhaps I'll review them more in depth once I've played around with them some more.

-- Chris and I have been listening to the Dan in Real Life soundtrack on repeat (well, he gave it to me because there's a cover of an Elvis Costello song, and I've been playing the album over and over in my car), and a couple of nights ago, we rented the movie itself, even though we'd both seen it before. I remember liking it the first time, but I was really impressed the second. A lot of the acting is quite nuanced, and, well, the soundtrack is great.

-- I was finally able to see/hear the Minnesota Orchestra perform Beethoven's 7th Symphony tonight. I can't talk extensively about classical music, but the 7th is my favorite of Beethoven's symphonies and just generally one of my favorite things to listen to. It was a great performance -- definitely better than the LSO recording I have in my car. The only downside is that when I do listen to it in the car, I turn it way up, so hearing it live -- even from the fifth row -- was actually less of a full-immersion listening experience. Definitely worth it, though.

-- Last night, Chris and I grilled pizzas. It's something we'd talked about doing, and yesterday's heat made it seem like a good idea. I was pretty dang excited, actually. I used this recipe to make the dough for the crusts, and I can heartily recommend it. It was easy to work with, rose well, and it smelled amazing while it was on the grill. I had seasoned it with garlic powder and oregano, but I'm pretty sure it would be indescribably delicious if a person left those out and topped it with cinnamon sugar before putting it on the grill. Grilled dessert pizza? The one in the photo above was Chris', but you can see mine here. It had homemade sauce, onion, green pepper, zucchini, eggplant, corn, black olives, and a bit of feta. We WILL be grilling pizzas again!

-- So, I moderate all the comments, because I get so much spam, and I had Movable Type set up to e-mail me every time a comment came through. Great, except that the ratio of spam to actual comments is about 60:1 -- and MT puts all the REAL comments into its spam folder, so it wasn't even alerting me about those! After months of apathy, I finally decided to go into MT's settings and turn off the e-mail alert, and when I did that, I realized I can use Captcha to weed out the bots. How did I not know this before? What a dummy. So now spam comments = 0. Except for the real comments, which MT is still convinced are spam.

-- I enjoyed the round of Q&A we did a while back, so if you guys have questions, I'd love to do it again. Running? Eating? Cats? Life? I'll answer your questions! Just leave 'em in the comments.

-- p.s. I'm pretty sure Chris would like you to know that that is a Steve McQueen shirt he's wearing.

-- If I sit in the kitchen, Birdy has to come to make sure I don't eat anything that she might want once I've finished. In a move straight out of the cat behavior handbook, she ran in from the other room today and immediately threw herself on the floor and fell asleep. She was actually more soundly asleep right before I took the photo above, and it makes me think it must be exhausting to be a cat.

-- A horrible, no good squirrel stole the last apple off my apple tree this morning. I saw him carrying it across the yard, so I ran outside, and he dropped the apple in order to run up the big ash tree. The only sensible things to do was to lob said apple at the squirrel, which I did, although I didn't hit it. I'd like to think that the sight of the little apple sailing through the air and into the alley at least made the scene that much funnier. If I can't have homegrown apples, comedy will have to suffice.

-- After my half-marathon on the 4th, I was feeling a bit burnt out on running. So I took last week off and dove back in yesterday, feeling pretty renewed. I even registered for the Minneapolis Duathlon 'Fun Course', which is a 1.5-mile run, 11-mile bike, and another 1.5-mile run. It seems like just the thing to get a feel for a multi-sport event, and it sounds like it's casual enough that I can ride Yellow Bike (a 1974 Schwinn 10-speed) without feeling like a chump. My main training focus, though, is for the Great River Ragnar Relay, which is about a month and a week away. Hills, speed-work, and multiple runs in a day. Fun, right?

-- When I signed up for the duathlon, I decided I would make up the cost by spending less on groceries. There are some things I need to get on a regular basis (produce and dairy, namely), but I have a lot of redundant pantry and freezer items, so that's where saving will come in. I like to have options and follow my whims when it comes to food, so I wind up buying new stuff (fake meat, bread, etc) before I've used up the old. I actually went through everything today and made a list of what I've got, so I'll be able to look at the big picture and put together meals. And then, once something's gone, I can cross it off the list. I like doing that.

Things I Do Not Like:

-- Cats on the kitchen counter. I had to rearrange everything to (hopefully) keep Birdy off, which meant putting the microwave on the counter instead of its separate cart. I do not like that, either.

-- Running shoes that are too small. It rained here on the morning of the 4th, which was when I ran my first official half-marathon. Wet feet + tight shoes = more friction = goodbye pointer toenail, for the second time in as many weeks. I didn't knowingly buy shoes that were too small; I bought the same size Saucony Triumph7 as I wore in the Triumph6. They felt fine in the store, but running 10+ miles in them is another story.

-- Exploding bike tires. I'd just put some air in the tires of my Continental, and the back one burst while it was still sitting in the driveway. I swear I didn't go over the maximum psi, but I guess I've learned to not even get close. My morning bike ride was ruined. I put on horrible sunscreen for nothing.

-- The Day Star (aka the sun). Also heat and humidity, more generally. I've haven't really been bothered by these things since I moved back, but that's because I never ran during the summer before. Now that I do, I just want a string of overcast days in the 60s. I've hit something of a wall when it comes to my running motivation, and I think that's 85% because of the heat.

Things I Do Like:

-- Growing gardens. Despite the heat, we've actually had pretty decent, regular-ish rainfall (which doesn't help with the humidity), which has meant I've had to do very little fussing with the garden. I added a handful of new photos to my Garden 2010 flickr set, so you can see how things are doing. The cabbage plants are particularly impressive, as is the rhubarb. I've been picking and freezing raspberries, and I have almost enough for jam, now.

-- Air conditioning. My house doesn't have central air, and I don't even have any window a/c units in place. I don't really mind being warm. But my parents have been up at their cabin, so the cats and I went over to their house for a few hot days. I didn't even have to turn the thermostat down from its 'away' temperature when I got there, because it was already such an improvement upon what I'm used to. The lower level, where I slept, stays really cold even without a/c, and there's something about sleeping under two big duvets in the middle of summer that's so wrong it's right.

-- Cuddly cats. Cuddly with each other, cuddly with people. Birdy was so glommed on to Chris the other evening that it was silly. They follow me around during the day. If I'm in a room, so are they. They aren't allowed in the bedroom, but they sleep nearby, even when I was at my folks' place. They have the best qualities of a dog without all that dogginess.

-- Finding the perfect shoes on clearance. I spent much more time running in my too-tight shoes than I should have, because I didn't really have the extra $100+ to just go out and buy yet ANOTHER pair of new running shoes. But I stopped into Running Room last weekend, because I was in the area, and they had a pair of my old shoes (the Triumph6) on clearance in the size I needed. I've been taking a break this week, but when I get back to training on Monday, I'll no longer have pinched toes!

-- I've been getting spam comments up the wazoo, lately. I thought, Hey, maybe that's the internet's way of telling me to update. It's probably not, but whatever gets me typing, right?

-- One of the blogs I read (Heather Eats Almond Butter) mentioned this brownie fudge stuff, and I had to try it out. Packaged brownie mix + pumpkin puree + oven = something edible? Yes! I really like it. Really. I still have a lot of frozen pumpkin downstairs (from last year's garden), so it's handy to find a new use for it. I suppose the fudginess of the result depends on the mix-to-pumpkin ratio; I used a smaller box mix (not the family-sized one) and less pumpkin, and I would say the finished item is more like fudgy brownies than brownie-fudge. But, you know, it's chocolate-y, so I've spent more time eating it than thinking about it.

-- Adorable cats are adorable. Birdy is just over five months old now and weighs 5.5 pounds. Beany will be four years old in September and weighs 7.5 pounds. She's a little cat, and she spends so much time chasing Birdy around. She's noticeably slimmed down since Baby Cat came to stay.

-- I've been having a creative explosion in my brain, lately. I made a little ring-bound notebook for grocery lists, found some iron-on transfer sheets and made a coin purse with the Minneapolis skyline on it, sewed a bright yellow trunk bag for my bright yellow bike, and went to Paint Your Plate with Alex and her sister and painted a mug. I should really take some pictures of all those things (well, I WILL take a picture of the mug once it's been fired). Because I've been so inspired lately, I checked my biorhythms, thinking they must be at their peaks, but no -- I should be stupid and lazy and clumsy right now. (I don't really give biorhythms any credence, but it's like reading a horoscope...)

-- The Twin Cities really got hit with storms last night! We had about five or ten minutes of hail right where I am (the garden made it through without damage) and the loudest cracks of thunder I've ever heard. South Minneapolis (I live on the north side) had flash flooding, and a lot of the major freeways were stopped due to standing water. Crazy times. The cats and I hung out in the guest room, which I tidied up recently. It tends to collect junk that I don't want to put away, so I keep it closed up most of the time. But whenever it's clean, I think it's such a nice room.

-- I bought a road bike yesterday! As soon as I saw this 1974 Schwinn Continental, I had a feeling it was going to be the right bike for me (I've been looking for a little while now). It's just so yellow! I believe Schwinn called the color 'Cool Lemon'. In addition to just getting used to riding a road bike, I'm going to have to learn how to use friction shifters, which seem to be to manual transmission as index shifting is to an automatic car. More skilled required, and a bit fussy, but people who use it swear it's better. I feel the need to shower Yellow Bike with gifts. I might make it some yellow panniers.

-- This morning was the Time to Fly 10k. I was looking forward to effortlessly beating my previous 10k race time, but a downed tree on the course pushed back the start time by almost an hour. By the time the race began, the sun was out and HOT, and my breakfast was quickly losing its staying power. And the humidity! It was like running in a sauna. I shaved off a minute or so from my Get in Gear 10k time, but I was several minutes slower than my personal record for the distance. Next Sunday is the Red, White & Boom half-marathon, though, so I'm just focusing on resting up and being ready for that one.

-- Half-birthday times! This past Tuesday (the 22nd, obviously) was my half-birthday, and it was probably one of the best ones I've ever had. Chris gave me flowers, and we went to Valley Fair for the day. It got me wondering why I didn't have half-birthday celebrations when I was growing up; my birthday itself was usually sort of a bust, friends-wise, because it's so close to Christmas, and everybody was busy or out of town. Never mind that it's so cold as to rule out most fun birthday-type activities. But Tuesday's roller-coaster-riding and soft-serve-eating made up for it.

-- In case you were wondering, the best chocolate chip cookie recipe is the one from Vegan with a Vengeance. It calls for an entire cup of butter (two sticks), but I ALWAYS substitute one half-cup of butter for the same in applesauce. They're soft and chewy without being greasy. Sometimes I think I want a Tollhouse-recipe cookie, so I make them, and they're just gross in comparison. I made a batch of the VwaV cookies for father's day.

-- Alex and I went to the newly-opened Cafe Kem yesterday for frozen yogurt. Both the east and west coasts seem to understand the awesomeness of self-serve froyo joints, but people here in the middle of the country are being slow to catch on. Cafe Kem is no 16 Handles, but it's definitely a step in the right direction. The froyo itself was great -- the original tart flavor actually tasted like yogurt, which I liked. See my creation here. I went with Fruity Pebbles for the crunch factor, except they weren't actually crunchy. Still, though. Self-serve froyo in Minneapolis!

-- My Road ID arrived on Monday. See here. I ran with it yesterday and totally forgot I was wearing it, so it's comfortable enough. And I definitely feel safer having some emergency info with me. I've got several dollar-off coupon codes, if anybody is thinking of buying one for themselves. (And, yes, it says 'Run! Zombies!' at the bottom.)

-- My raspberries are going bonkers. I've currently got about two cups in the fridge, and I really need to get out there today to pick again. They're good as-is, but I think I'll combine them with the (wild) mulberries Chris and I picked earlier this week and make jam. Mmmmmullberries.

-- I was struck with a ramen craving yesterday. I always make my own from scratch (basically just using vegetable bouillon and soy sauce to flavor the soup, with extra spices added to the sauteed veg), but the big Asian supermarket near me stopped carrying packages of ramen-style noodles. One has to buy the 'single' serving packets and throw away envelope of sodium. I added Gardein beefless tips with my veggies, and it was very, very good (I've got a Gardein review up my sleeve, FYI). So good that I had this for dinner last night and made it again for lunch today.

-- One of best things about working from home (and one I take for granted by now) is the fact that I never have to wake up to an alarm. Except today. At 5.00am. So I could get up, eat breakfast, and get down to the lakes in time to be running by 6.30. Not for a race; I just didn't want to run in the heat of the day. I did 14 miles today, and it was good. I realized on Wednesday (when I did a quick 5k) that I prefer a relaxed long run over a fast-paced 3-5 miles. Especially now that I listen to podcasts. I don't have to think too much about the fact that I'm running; I just do it.

-- I need an extra day in the week. I'd even take just a few more hours every day. I'm pretty sure I could steal those extra hours back from the internet, which is probably something I should do. Then maybe I'd have some adventures that I could tell you about, instead of just going on about running the whole time. Or maybe I'd just clean the house.

Ahoy! I was busy doing 'stuff' in the 'real world' this weekend. Hardly had a chance to check my e-mails, much less update the ol' blog.

-- Birdy is turning into a real cat now. When she was only little, the vet commented on how perfectly formed she was (you know, for a cat). I don't know about that, but she does seem to have that cat-model-esque round face, at least in that photo I just linked to. In this one, she just looks like Jabba the Hutt.

-- This weekend, I tried the veggie Philly 'cheese steak' from the Hard Times Cafe (made with seitan). I'd been meaning to order it for a couple of years now, and it was good, but it didn't really deliver on all my anticipation.

-- Chris and I stood in the rain in a pub's parking lot to watch the England v US World Cup game. Well, we were mostly under a tent. Still, I think it might have been the first football/soccer game I watched in its entirety on TV, and I did so in adverse conditions. Bonus points for that, I think.

-- I discovered that there's a Greek / Middle Eastern restaurant just two miles from my house. And they make giant falafel sandwiches for under $6. This is very good news to me, as you never know when the falafel-pita craving will strike.

-- I ran ten miles yesterday, and because the weather was so ideal (mid-60s, overcast, short rain spell -- my perfect running weather), it felt like no big deal. I often wish I could go back ten years and show past-me what she'll someday be doing, and this is a more-than-perfect example of that. Crazy.

-- I've been listening to Stuff You Should Know podcasts during my long runs, and it's completely changed things (for the better). I've become much less dependent on music when I run (I even did six miles on Friday sans iPod), and listening to amusing people talk about interesting things really helps pass the time.

-- My rhubarb is still going bonkers, so I grabbed a cookbook and went to town. I happened to open Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess, which has a recipe for rhubarb polenta cake. I don't like reprinting recipes, but somebody's already done so here. I halved the recipe and baked it in a 6" cake pan (with a removable bottom), and I thought it turned out wonderfully. Here's a photo of what it looked like inside.

-- Yesterday, I tackled the hilliest portion of the half-marathon route I'll be running in July. I only did 7 miles yesterday, not 13.1, but it was definitely the most challenging part of the course. There's one hill that I often drive over, and I always say that my car gets tired going up it. It's hard to feel like you're even moving when the incline is so steep, but at least I know what to expect now. And running down the other side was pretty fun.

-- Are you a weather-checker? I am; I think I started my weather.com addition when I moved back to Minnesota. It always baffles me how people can move through life with no idea what the week's weather has in store. Of course, I also don't really trust the forecast, which is why checking it so often is important. At the moment, I'm hoping it will decide overnight (or perhaps in the next hour, if it's feeling kind) that tomorrow morning will actually be dry and clear.

-- Cats outside! Birdy, who has had a (literally) sheltered kittenhood, took some time to get used to being outside. The grass is just so grassy, and there are things that move and wind that blows. She's got the hang of it now, though, and it seems like she's already learned to stand still while I put her harness on. Annoyingly, Beany went up the tree this afternoon, and she made it down on her own, but she managed to leave her harness up the branches somewhere. Very clever, Beany, except that you don't get to go outside without it.

-- I've been saying for the last three months that I really need to mop my floors (whoops, did I just admit how long I go between mopping the floor?). I finally got around to doing the kitchen floor on Friday, and while I was scrubbing away, I was thinking about how great it would be to have two mops and two pairs of mop shoes. It always seems that by the time I get to the second half of my house, the cleaning implements are no longer so clean themselves and do a poorer job. (Maybe if I mopped a bit more often that wouldn't be a prob-- nah, that'd never work.) Two mops, two pairs of mop shoes, and a really nice mop bucket. I have big dreams.

-- I'd also really like a push broom. Oh man, imagine all the stuff I could sweep outside! My half birthday is coming up this month...

-- I added new photos to my Garden 2010 flickr set. It's starting to hit its stride. The veggies are still small, but they're past that 'brand new' stage, and the perennials are crazy big. I think the previous owners of this house must have put in the lilies and irises the spring before I moved in, because they used to fill just a tiny corner of the back yard. In the past few years, I've split them multiple times and transplanted them in other parts of the garden, and they've filled in the space like it's their job. Which is it, I suppose.

-- Apologies for running off for so long! An entire week. Shame on me. I was busy being on boats and camping for the first time ever and generally having a good time.

-- Today! Today I ran a half-marathon. When I set out on my long run last week, I managed only nine miles (I'd been aiming for a minimum of ten), because I hadn't prepared well enough and chose too hilly a route. I returned to the lakes today (and with more fuel in the tank), and it went really well. So put a tick mark next to 13.1 miles. I had to run around Calhoun twice (along with Harriet and Lake of the Isles, once each), and I wound up passing it in my car later in the day, and I very nearly shook my fist and hissed at it. Calhooooun! You thought you could best me!

-- Right after my run (like, as soon as I finished stretching), I had a Thermos-bowl of cold oats (oatbran and rolled oats mixed with yogurt and soy milk and extras), and when I got home and bathed, I made the veggie sandwich of my dreams (above). Actually, it was darn good, but it wasn't my dreamwich. The best veggie sandwich would need to have roasted red peppers. Possibly fried eggplant. (3 Squares in Maple Grove used to have an awesome veggie sandwich with thin slices of breaded eggplant, but no longer. Their avocado sandwich is pretty stellar, though. And they've got sweet potato fries. So, you know, get yourself there if you're in the area.)

-- Alex and I met up for coffee and donuts in the afternoon. Daytime friends! (She went freelance a couple of months ago.) The plan was Wuollet's in Uptown, but they had nary a chocolate-covered donut. As I told the girl working there, I did not run as far as I did this morning to NOT have a chocolate donut! So Alex and I went to the Kowalski's supermarket across the street, where they had Chocolate-Iced Old-Fashioned Donuts. Capital letters necessary. And would you know, there was a Holiday gas station right next door, and Alex and I share a love for their coffee (strange but true). We really hit the jackpot. They didn't just have a selection of flavored creamers; they had them ON TAP. We freaked out a little and enjoyed our perfect coffee and donuts outside. Wonderful.

-- My ankle still isn't 100%, but I went for a test run on Sunday, since it was feeling pretty good (hence my pre-run breakfast in the photo above -- Ezekiel sesame toast with Sunbutter, half an orange, and my daily multivitamin + allergy pill). My foot held up alright, but the humidity! I wasn't prepared for it. I had planned on a five-mile run, and as I approached two miles, I really felt like stopping, but I pressed on. I do a lot of, 'Okay, well at least make it to X miles,' as I run. So I had to at least make it to three miles, and then 3.5, and I was DEFINITELY going to stop at four, but once I'd got that far, I figured I might as well go the last mile and finish what I'd set out to do. I was looking forward to mitten weather the entire time. I don't know how you guys in Florida do it!

-- Still on the subject of my sore foot, I bought some athletic tape today. I've got a couple different ankle braces, but I feel like they always force my foot into a strange position that makes the pain worse. As an experiment, I tried a 'mini' ankle-taping this evening, by apply two strips under the arch and two around the back of my ankle. It was a little bit amazing: instant stability and much more comfort, without having my entire ankle wrapped up. I'm going to bike tomorrow instead of running, but I'm hoping the tape will do the trick on my Friday run.

-- It's been hot here. And so humid. We're talking temperatures above 90F and 80%+ humidity. Not exactly what one is expecting from Minnesota in May. My house gets warm, but I don't really mind, as long as I'm just sitting around and working. Give me shorts and a fan, and I'm comfortable. Because Birdy was born in January, I keep imagining her total confusion over the current weather; she's never in her life known it to be so hot (not, I suppose, that Beany spends much time thinking back to past summers). To amuse myself, I put an ice cube in the cats' water bowl. Birdy's almost got it!

-- Ants! I've long maintained that my front yard is really just a big anthill, and 'tis the season for sugar ants to come into the house. Do you have any favorite ant remedies? I've never had cayenne pepper do anything, but garlic will sometimes repel them. I don't really want to put out poison trap thingies, because the cats are bound to play with them. I should get a pet anteater and keep it out in the yard; nip the problem in the bud. Where can I adopt an anteater, and what are the Minneapolis laws about keeping exotic animals?

-- Here's an interesting (yet inconsequential) either/or question I thought of the other day: Would you rather be a talented athlete who loves to stay active and fit or have a deep understanding of finance and a passion for investing? I'd have to say the first, because I already like running and biking, although I wouldn't mind being speedier at both of those. And I don't have many expensive tastes. Except that I insist on using a brand new toothbrush every day. Just kidding! But if I could (and it weren't an environmental disaster), I would. Probably.

-- Today I biked almost 21 miles. My ankle is still a bit sore, so I've been sticking to cycling this week, and I wanted to try something ambitious today (Fridays are usually my long run days). I went all the way down to the south side of Lake Calhoun and had my second breakfast, which was coffee and a cinnamon pretzel my mom made this week. I wouldn't usually drink coffee halfway through a workout, but sometimes these things are required. I'm really looking forward to being able to get a lighter bike, because mine wasn't built for 20+ mile trips. But it was still a fun ride!

-- Beany nearly caught a rabbit the other day. I let her out in the fenced backyard (with her harness, but without a leash), and she and I realized there was a rabbit at the same time. She took off after it and actually had it cornered at one point, but my shouting and efforts to trip her up let the bunny get away. I have no particular fondness for rabbits (being a gardener and all), but I wouldn't want one to die on my (or my cat's) account. Plus, it was as big as Beany. What did she plan on doing with it? It's like cats don't even think things through, sometimes.

-- I went to the beach yesterday! I usually scoff at the idea of Minnesota lake beaches, but it was perfect weather yesterday, and Chris had the day off, so we packed up some towels and laid around for a while. I decided that the boon of a lake beach is that it's surrounded by leafy trees (see here), whereas most warm sea beaches would just have scrub and spiky plants. And there aren't any jellyfish.

-- What will you be up to this weekend? Ann is coming over tomorrow for brunch at Emily's Cafe and then some socializing with the Tiny Cat (who is really more just Small Cat now). I predict that Beany will throw herself at Ann while Birdy watches suspiciously from a distance.

-- Just another day of beautiful sunshine and warmth, here. How boring. NOT! Ack, I love it. At some point in my adult life, I became a hot-weather convert. Probably around the same time that I started working from home in an unairconditioned house. High temps aren't so bad when you can wear shorts and tank tops to work!

-- My ankle has been giving me some trouble for about a week, so I made the decision to bike instead of run, at least until Monday. I get pangs of jealousy every time I see or hear about somebody running, but it been fun to get out on my bike. Yesterday I did a ten-mile out-and-back to Wirth Park (see how green!), and today I did about a nine-mile loop around Northeast and the U of M. The funny thing is that my ankle has felt markedly better since my bike ride yesterday -- more than just not running can account for. Using my internet-gleaned medical knowledge, I came to the conclusion that the tendon pain in my foot/ankle was perhaps caused by overly tight calf muscles, and the biking happens to work them in a different way, relieving some of that tension. This is why people tell you to cross-train!

-- It was a momentous day in the garden today. I planted out my warm-weather veggies, including tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, peppers, and eggplants. I also pulled up and ate the first radishes with my lunch. I still need to get zucchinis planted and find more bell peppers that I want to try... and I planted only four tomato plants. That's entirely too reasonable a number for one garden; need to fix that.

-- In the past couple of weeks, Birdy has learned how to rub up against my leg to get attention and affection. It's very sweet. Like Beany, sometimes she just wants to be picked up and carried around while I do things. I had to remove an obnoxious Birdy from my person the other evening, and she let out an alarmed squawk, which got Beany all worried. What had I done to her kitten, now? Somebody recently mentioned having to introduce two cats to each other when she moves to a new apartment, and I said, 'Ah, just throw 'em in together!' But I think I might have a slightly rosy view of cat friendship.

-- One last thing: I currently have a 2007 Specialized Crossroads Sport bike (in gold), which is a super comfortable cruiser hybrid. It's the perfect bike for neighborhood rides or trips to the store. I'm looking to buy a different bike, one that will do better with distance and speed, but I have to sell the Crossroads first. If you're in the Twin Cities or metro area and are in the market for a well-kept bike, I'm hoping to get $200 for it (I originally paid $375, and it's in great shape). If you're interested, leave me a comment with your e-mail address (the comment won't get published; I'll just e-mail you). Thanks!

-- Second Spring, anyone? We had a really nice April, but May got off to a very chilly and damp start. The sun has returned, now, and the temperatures are very agreeable. I sat on the patio after breakfast today, which was slightly bittersweet. When I started my morning patio routine last summer, Booty always joined me, because he just wanted to sit in my lap and enjoy the sunshine and breeze. I did wind up letting Beany out today (with her harness, but no leash), and she behaved herself, although she still required more attention that Booty ever did.

-- Yesterday was the Northside Street Race 5k, right in my neighborhood. I'd entered it ages ago, and I was determined to have my ankle feeling good enough to run it. I did (finishing in 28:23, according to my Garmin, which isn't my best time ever, but it's good given the conditions), but I think I bought myself another week off running for doing so. Grr. I'm hoping I'll be able to bike to burn off my energy; a non-running Anna is a restless and irritable Anna, otherwise.

-- Erin, a friend from school (we've known each other since we were five!), and her boyfriend, Brent, were in town this weekend, so I met them for lunch at Brasa. The restaurant is always well reviewed, but they're pretty meaty, so I've never been. But! They have a wide variety of vegetarian side dishes, so their three-sides-and-a-bread meal was a perfect choice. I went with crispy yuca (!!!), yams (good, but nothing special), a romaine/mozzarella salad (tasty), and cornbread. I'll definitely be going back there, and it was fun to catch up with Erin. Hooray for friends and food!

-- There was a coupon this week for two-for-one cartons of grape tomatoes, so now I have a lot of tiny tomatoes to get through. They're so good, though. And I like that I can leave them on the counter (as opposed to slicing tomatoes, which I put in the fridge after slicing), because tomatoes taste so much better at room temperature. The fake chicken on top of my salad was a couple of Gardein's buffalo wings with most of the sauce patted off. They're not kidding with the spiciness on these! I usually don't mind a bit of heat, but I thought they were just right without most of the sauce. Yum.

-- In an annoying turn of events, I wasn't able to run the race I was signed up for tonight. My foot started hurting (for no reason I can recall) Tuesday night, so I made the responsible decision not to push it by running tonight, because I've got a 5k on Saturday. The annoying part is that I only signed up for the race on Tuesday afternoon! It was the TC One Mile event, and packet pick up was going on when I stopped into Marathon Sports to buy new shoes. They had a few last-minute slots available, so I thought, 'Heck, why not?' and paid up. I still got a shirt and socks for my registration fee, but now I'll feel like a fraud whenever I wear the (admittedly, really cool) technical tee. At least it was only a mile race; it's not like wearing a marathon shirt when I've never run one.

-- I don't know if these things are actually related, but I haven't been out running since Monday's 10k, and I've been sleeping really well these past few days. Which isn't to say that I've NOT been sleeping well lately; I just haven't been getting as many hours of sleep. I'll go to bed at midnight or shortly thereafter and wake up at 6:00, say. I don't feel particularly tired during the day, so I don't mind, but it's like I've gone into catch-up mode while taking a break from running. I think I've gotten 8-ish hours of sleep the past couple of nights, and I took a nap yesterday. Maybe it's the (crummy) weather.

-- Speaking of the weather, it hasn't felt very late-spring-like this past week, but it's supposed to get sunnier and warmer starting tomorrow. I might be daring and put out my warm-weather veggies. I can't get over how huge the perennials are already, although they're definitely ready for some sun now. My lilacs are totally spent, so I have to prune them up before the city gets on my case about them hanging into the alley. Today I pulled up five huge stalks of rhubarb to make rhubarb ice cream tomorrow. I'll report back on the results. I'd also like to try to make grape ice cream from last year's grapes in the freezer. You never see grape ice cream, right? But when I was fifteen and worked at Dairy Queen, we would blend together the grape Misty syrup with the softserve, and it was pretty amazing. I've got a good feeling about this.

-- It's been a couple of days since I posted, so here's a photo of sleeping Birdy to make up for it. I don't think I mentioned this, but I bought a bag of party-favor water guns on clearance ($1.24 for six of 'em!), because I needed a way to put Birdy off digging in plants and chewing on flowers. The aim on the little guns is ever so slightly off, so the first time I used one, I accidentally got Birdy right between the eyes instead of on her chest. I felt bad, but there's been no plant-digging since, and now all I have to do is show her the little green water gun, and she stops misbehaving.

-- I went to a Twins game with my parents and Chris yesterday, and it was the first time any of us had been in the new stadium. If you didn't know, we've had a dome for our baseball games in Minnesota for quite a while, so the return to an open-air field is kind of a shock, especially when it's damp, chilly night in May. And especially if you insist on eating softserve despite the low temperature. Still, though, it was a fun evening. There are some photos on my flickr, if you're interested.

-- That's about it, really. I guess I didn't update for two days because I haven't had much to say. Somehow, being busier and more social in real life leaves me with less to talk about. I bought some new running shoes. I tried a new flavor of Edy's (praline frozen yogurt, on Alex's recommendation). I ran 10k (6.2 miles) in under an hour on Monday. I found a Liberty of London for Target top on clearance, and it was actually one of the only items from that collection that I didn't think was horrible, so I bought it. Yep. That's everything.

-- Downtown Minneapolis was so shiny yesterday! I spotted some window washers up at the top of one building, but it seemed like they'd all been polished up nicely. I went on a mini tangent about the heights of the buildings in this photo here. I like Minneapolis.

-- On Friday, the day of my ten-mile run, I had a couple small extra snacks, but my appetite wasn't really different from normal. Yesterday, though, I had a big breakfast (three, actually, but it was 1. some Greek yogurt, 2. peanut butter toast and banana, and 3. a third of a side of hashbrowns, so that's really just one breakfast spread over time), but by noon, I started to feel really nauseated. Not hungry, just queasy. It wasn't until I had a bowl of cereal in the afternoon -- refilled a couple of time -- that I realized I was starving. And once I had dinner, the feeling finally went away. I haven't noticed this on any of my long runs up until this week, so I guess at least I know what to expect in the future.

-- Once I was feeling less bleurgy, Chris and I rented Zombie Land and proceeded to enjoy one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I might just have to buy it and count it as a business expense. I think being a genre (horror, supernatural, etc) editor is a good fit for me, because I don't really get bored with zombie stories; they're less about original plotlines involving the zombies themselves and all about the survivors. All the actors in Zombie Land were great. Woody Harrelson's line, 'I'm not great at farewells, so, uh... that'll do, pig,' kills me, just thinking about it.

-- I've just been assuming that Birdy is a fairly social cat, because she gets along with Beany, she's cuddly with me, and she's affectionate with Chris, as well. But I realized that I haven't had many other people over to the house since I got her, and now I'm starting to wonder. She's been very coy and nervous the few times my mom has been here, which I would normally put down as Birdy being able to sense that she likes to tease animals, but I can't be sure. Hey you -- want to come over and play with a three-month-old kitten? It's guaranteed cuteness.

-- Lastly, something I keep forgetting to mention. I'm running the Time to Fly 10k on June 26th, and it benefits the Children's Cancer Research Fund. Usually I just run for the glory (and the free shirts!), but this time I'm trying to raise some money. If you think you could spare a few bucks, I'd really appreciate it! You can donate here. It would really mean a lot to me to have your support!

-- Guess what I did today! I ran ten miles! It was horrible and rainy out, but I really wanted to fit in my long run before the weekend, so I turned up my determination to eleven and decided to run in the chilly rain. I always get so nervous and excited before long runs, and today's had a very race-day quality to it, because I set everything out the night before and then drove down to the Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis. I was only 'scheduled' to run nine miles, but I was pretty sure I'd go for ten if I could, and by mile eight, I knew I had another two miles in me. Ten is definitely a milestone, and I'm almost positive that if I had to run a half-marathon next weekend, I could.

-- Since there's a Whole Foods near where I ran, I decided to stop in afterward. (I brought a fleece and skirt and flip flops, so I wouldn't have to wear my soaked clothes, and I thought I looked surprisingly refreshed for having just run around three lakes.) The idea was to treat myself by bringing back lunch from the salad bar, and that's what I did... but the truth is... I don't like the Whole Foods salad bar. I always think I do, but you know what? None of that food has any flavor. It all just tastes of oil. And the curried cauliflower was PACKED with horrible fennel seeds, but other than that, it was bland. What a waste of money. Please learn from this (for once!), Future!Anna.

-- I was thinking about guilty pleasures earlier, which led me to the TV programs that I find surprisingly enjoyable. There's quite a collection of sitcoms I wouldn't have guessed I would like, but I do. The list includes Community (this week's episode was brilliant), Parks and Recreation (very similar to The Office, only I like the characters a lot more), and Cougar Town (the guiltiest pleasure of all -- but I can't help loving it!). On the flip side, I've decided I really will not waste another minute of my life watching Glee. I wanted to like it, but I can't stand any of the characters, the plotlines, or the singing. I watched the premier of this latest season, and the filtering (or autotuning?) of the voices was so awful that I promised not to inflict any more of that series on myself. I know everbody loves it. I don't.

-- It's the weekend, people! Ack! A (fairly large) house centipede just ran past the coffee table and under the sofa. I actually cried, 'Ay-ai-ai-ai-aiiii!' and ran across the room. Thank god I was then able to get it with a broom, or I would have had to burn the entire house down. Anyway, I hope your weekends are off to a less creepy-crawly start. Got any good plans?

-- No salad for lunch today! A Boca burger sounded good, and I finally opened the bag of Newman's Own Organic's cinnamon graham cracker letter... thingies. They came with that package I got way back on my birthday. (By the way, did you know you can see all my reviews here? I really ought to put a link on the sidebar.) They are awesome, and I've been trying to put my finger on what they remind me of. Something delicious.

-- Beany is cute and cuddly and everything, but did you know she's pretty much fearless? I mean, stuff sort of scares her, but her reaction is usually to run towards it to see what it is. And when neighbor cats come calling, she doesn't disappear under a piece of furniture, she protects the family. I egg her on and tell her what a brave cat she is, and then she spend the next half hour strutting around like a hero.

-- I had to make a trip to Target this afternoon for printer cartridges, but I obviously didn't head straight for electronics and then make a clean getaway. Instead, I found hats on clearance for $3.75! It's a bowler hat! I was trying to channel my inner Jeeves, but I think I accidentally slipped in a bit of Alex from A Clockwork Orange*. I took that photo with my phone, by the way, so I could send it with a text, but then I hastily Photoshopped out the background to use it as a profile picture. In case you care.

-- Oh, I didn't post yesterday, which means I can tell you about my speedy 5k! My final time was 27:37 (working towards 25:00), which averages out to 8:55/mile. I really like training both for distance (July's half-marathon being my main goal at the moment) and for speed (I'm running a super local 5k next weekend, but generally, I just keep trying to improve my 5k time). Every mile added to my long runs seems to shave time off my 5k's, and every dramatic jump in pace in those short distances helps me pick up the pace marginally when I'm going farther. The Garmin has helped hugely in making progress on both fronts, but I went out sans gadgets (no music, even!) this morning, and it was a nice break.

* I've never seen A Clockwork Orange, and I didn't get very far when I tried to read it, but I've always read that title as noun-adjective -- a clockwork that is the color orange. No, it didn't make sense to me, but that's how I saw it. And just in the writing of this post, it suddenly flipped to adjective-noun, and I was all, 'Ah HA! A clockwork orange!' It was like a linguistic optical illusion -- I could see the vace instead of the faces. So now it makes more sense, syntactically, although I'm still not sure what the meaning of a clockwork orange is.

-- I'm in a big salad phase right now. This seems to happen in late spring / early summer, which makes sense. Last year, it was when my lettuce and spinach in the garden was going crazy. I read something in Runner's World (I think) recently, which said that acid builds up in the body during a workout, and that greens help neutralize it. So I'm telling myself that I'm just super in-tune with my body, since all I crave for lunch after a run is salad, but I think it's probably just that time of year.

-- Birdy is getting bigger. I was holding her above my head yesterday (as you do), and I had to rest her belly on my hand and let her legs dangle down. And I was reminiscing how she used to be able to just sit on my palm. I'm curious to find out how big she'll get when she's full grown. Beany, meanwhile, is slimming down from all the extra rough-housing and chasing.

-- I'm finding it very difficult to concentrate on writing this post, because I put a bunch of newer photos in the screen saver folder on my iMac, and it's playing right now. I'm not sure how many donzens of times I've seen these photos (the ones I added were in my 2009 Annual); watching them on the big computer is still neat. This photo looks particularly good on the iMac screen. Ooh, a (picture of a) donut.

-- Speaking of donuts, I recently joined DailyMile, since my Ragnar teammates use it. It's a fun tool for tracking runs and other workouts, and it breaks down your stats in a number of ways. One of those is the number of donuts burned, and I like to think about using that as a serious figure. In the past couple of weeks I've burned almost 25 donuts. I'd better get started catching up!

-- Mondays are for running five miles, but yesterday morning's grey sky had me feeling a bit 'meh'. So I mapped out a new route starting from my house (I had my Garmin to do the accurate measuring bit while I was out) to change things up a bit. I ran my fastest five miles ever -- 48:08, for an average pace of 9:37 minutes/mile. Running faster 5k's is starting to pay off! I wonder how fast tomorrow's will be...

What a weekend! I'm not sure the cats even recognize me anymore, because I was out and about so much. (That's a lie. They're both currently lying on me and purring.)

-- The photo above is of Alex's breakfast sandwich from the Wilde Roast cafe in Minneapolis. I very much enjoy that place, although it took forever for our food to arrive this time. They gave us a two-for-one voucher, though, before we even had a chance to ask about the delay. A fine example of turning what could have been a negative customer service experience into a very positive one!

-- Earlier this morning, Chris and I went for a run by the river (in NE and downtown Minneapolis, over the Stone Arch Bridge). It was the first time in a long time (and, like, the second time ever) that I'd run with somebody else, and it was fun. I like to think how obnoxiously athletic we must have looked, running along in our (accidentally) matching Adidas shorts. And talking during a run is nice, but I like being able to wear headphones, so I don't have to hear how loudly I'm breathing!

-- Saturday night (I'm going all out of order, here) involved fondue of the cheese and chocolate varieties. Guests were supposed to bring a dipping item, and I wanted to make something that I could do in a sweet and savory version. So I made half a batch of the 'crescent roll' dough from the old Betty Crocker cookbook and turned half of it into mini cinnamon rolls (I nearly squealed when I saw how cute they were after baking) and the other half into savory scrolls. That version had oregano and thyme from the garden, minced garlic, and chopped black olives. I thought they both turned out very well!

-- After brunch today, Alex and I went to watch the May Day parade that Heart of the Beast Theater puts on every year. There are lots of papier mache masks and giant puppets and jollity and randomness. Powderhorn Park hosts the post-parade festivities, and I had my heart set on finding softserve, but it wasn't meant to be. It was just as well, really, as it had gotten pretty chilly and very windy by that point. But sometimes a person just wants softserve. (Sometimes?)

-- I'm digging Kashi Go Lean cereal again. I'd gone off it for a while, because I got tired of its flavor, but I discovered that sweetening my soy/almond milk with a bit of stevia makes everything better. It made a good post-run second breakfast this morning, with thawed cherries and peaches.

-- Wednesdays are my 5k days, which is the shortest distance I run, so it's my time to train for speed. I had three days off after Saturday 10k (thanks to that bruised shin, which is fine now, thankfully!), so I was expecting to hit the parkway today and feel like a million bucks. Instead, after a fairly quick first mile, I was left feeling like I had nothing in the tank. I was thisclose to stopping after two miles, but instead I veered off course a bit to trick myself into finishing the final 1.1 miles. After I finished (with a decent time, but slower than last week), I realized my lungs and throat were on fire. I'd been admiring the newly-cut grass on the boulevard by my house, and they were still mowing further along. Allergies, much? Geez.

-- I've been having strong, nostalgic pangs for La Crosse, Wisconsin (where I went to college). I couldn't wait to get out of there by the time I graduated, and I've only been back once since then, but I wouldn't mind spending a few days there right now. It was/is always very pretty in the spring, and it would be fantastic to go for a run down Cass Street and see all the big houses and nice gardens. Hmm. Alumni should get free lodging in empty dorm rooms.

-- Purring kittens, blooming lilacs, sunny porches, sprouting radishes, giant rhubarb, pleasant bike rides, lazy mornings, pumpkin pie, cups of tea, baby brassicas, half-price LPs, homemade yogurt, running races, sewing projects, mint cookie ice cream, funny parents, magazines. Some of my favorite things.

-- Look how shiny and white my porch table is, now! I really like it. And not having a tablecloth on the table makes the room seem bigger... or at least slightly less crammed with furniture (there's what you can see in that photo above, plus my armchair, another tray table, and a smaller end table on the other side). The sun was shining this morning, and I sure was glad that I have such a nice porch to sit on.

-- I bumped my shin Sunday night, and it wasn't harder than usual (I run into things all the time, it seems), but it definitely hurt more than I was expecting, afterward. In fact, it kept me from running yesterday, which I wasn't at all happy about. Visions of my fractured ankle from this January were going through my mind, and I was sick with the thought that I could have done some real damage and would have to take weeks or months off to heal. Luckily, it's almost back to normal now (must have just been a deep-down bruise), so I can get back to my regular schedule tomorrow.

-- Also on the topic of running, I've agreed to be on a team for the Great River Ragnar Relay, and I'm super excited. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after June's half-marathon, because I might wait until 2011 to train for a full 26.2 miles, but the Ragnar should be fun and crazy. Especially crazy. And it seems like one of those things that bonds team members like glue, once you're in the thick of it. I haven't met the rest of my team yet, but thanks to Ann for getting me in touch with a captain!

-- I planted all sorts of brassicas yesterday (well, not all sorts -- just broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage). My strawberries, blueberries, and apple tree are all blooming at the moment (annoyingly, so are the dandelions). I guess it's part of being Minnesotan, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Late-summer last year was great, we had a warm November, winter was short and not too bad, and spring came early. What's the catch?

-- I recently realized that I still have loads and loads of pumpkin puree (from last year's crop) in the freezer. I made a pumpkin version of my muffin tops, but that took only half a cup, so today I made a crustless pie. I'd printed out Susan's recipe quite a while ago, so I was happy to be finally trying it. I used buckwheat flour instead of rice and a 1/4 cup egg whites (since I'm not vegan), and you can see that the texture of mine is very different from hers (I also had to bake for 10 extra minutes before the middle was cooked). It's actually quite similar to regular pumpkin pie, I would say, but next time I'll use a different flour, as buckwheat has too much 'grit' to it. I ate a piece plain this evening, and I thought it was a bit too heavy on the nutmeg, but then I realized that it just needs some whipped cream to balance it out.

-- I bought a new box of peppermint tea today, and I performed the task that's one of my greatest kindnesses to Future!Anna: I tore apart all the two-by-two Celestial Seasonings bags ahead of time. It takes about two seconds to do them all at once (you don't even have to take them out of the box), but if I leave them attached until I use them, I swear I spend hours of my life tearing them apart and getting them caught on things.

-- This morning was dedicated to the Annual Cleaning of the Porch. I've been sitting out there for a while now (hooray for warm springs!), but I've been tsking and judging myself every time I do. Cleaning means taking out all the furniture, vacuuming up all the hair drifts and cobwebs, scrubbing the floors (they're painted white and get pretty dirty over the winter), washing the armchair's slipcover, and then putting everything back where it belongs. In addition, I also painted the top of the table I have out there white. It's the table we used to eat at when I was growing up, so it's had some wear and tear, and my mom had sponge-painted it a while back. Now it's fresh and clean, and I don't have to put a tablecloth on it (which is good, with cats).

-- Speaking of cats, the current score is Birdy 0, Bath 3. I'm not sure which will happen first: improved balance or learning not to sit on the edge of the tub.

-- I used up the last of a jar of maple syrup (making more muffin tops), and there were pretty sugar crystals at the bottom. They tasted of sugar, too, in case you were wondering.

-- Beany and Birdy have started to collaborate when playing; they stalk ants on the porch or chase the same toy around the house. (Although, generally speaking, Beany is a very polite cat and will let Birdy steal toys from her.) I'm waiting for the two of them to start operating as a single, elite predator, and then, when they inevitably turn on me and I find myself cornered with nowhere left to run, I'll murmur, 'Clever girls,' and wait for the attack.

-- When I make tea, I turn on the electric kettle, put a teabag in my mug, and then add the right amount of sugar. The teabag always has to come first, or I'd be forced to think about drinking hot sugar-water. Erg.

-- My resolution not to let soy milk boil over (when making oatmeal) in 2010 has not been going so well, lately. I had figured that the only way to avoid this was to reform my behavior and stop getting distracted while the saucepan was on the stove. It's recently been pointed out to me that I could just use a bigger pot. Genius!

-- Fact: The Archer Farms (Target) brand frozen blueberries are the best I've had. Every other brand I've tried (including Trader Joe's) has seedy, gritty berries. I made a special stop at Super Target the other day, in order to get more frozen blueberries, and I grabbed a bag of frozen cherries as well, thinking they'd be a fun treat. Nope. Good quality, but not as tasty as the blueberries. They'll be good for smoothie making, though.

-- I ran a fast (for me) 5k (3.1 miles) around the neighborhood yesterday and 5 miles this morning, and it was absolutely perfect running weather both days. I haven't had to work at convincing myself to go for runs lately; the thought of being outside on sunny, cool mornings is all the motivation I need. I'm feeling very well prepared for the 10k this Saturday; I know I can go the distance, so it's just a matter of fueling properly and doing what I need to to get a time I'm happy with.

-- I had to pick up some groceries later in the day, so I took my bike out for a spin (the first time this season). It felt really good to be cycling again (especially after getting the tire pressure way up there with my new bike pump); my legs are pretty strong from running, but biking definitely works a person's thighs and bottom in a different way! I used my Garmin (it has a bike setting), and it was fun to be able to see my speed and mileage as I went.

-- I had to clip Birdy's front claws today (they were like tiny, sharp daggers), so I did so when both she and Beany were sleeping on my lap. Birdy didn't mind it and didn't seem the least bit interested, but Beany wasn't quite as laid back. I'm not sure if she thought I was hurting Birdy, but she definitely didn't like that I was messing with 'her' kitten.

-- I think Minneapolis is such a good-looking city (well, as far as cities with predominantly international style architecture go). I'm sure there's an element of 'thinking your own children are the cutest' going on, but I can't help feeling happy when I catch a glimpse of the city from a good vantage point.

-- I watched Coco Before Chanel last night. It seemed like various esteemed internet individuals gave it high marks, and I think they were right to do so. There's something I can't quite put my finger on when it comes to foreign films (I'm talking mainly subtitled French and German films that I've seen in the past few years). They're just so simple and contained, in a way, but very good. Not the usual over-the-top-ness of Hollywood, and free from the trendiness that seems to dominate the American indie scene. Perhaps that has to do with many of the films I've seen (Coco avant Chanel, Das Leben der Anderen, Die Fälscher) being set in the recent-ish past instead of present day. I dunno.

-- The bad part of my long runs is that they leave me sore for a day or two afterward. It's to be expected, and it's only sore muscles, not actual injuries, but I want to get out and run now (Saturday morning, as I write this). It's so sunny and fresh outside! I've been waking up earlier to get my runs in while it's still cool, and I'll have to keep getting up even earlier as it becomes summer. Alex commented about the July 4th date of my half-marathon, and that was actually one of my biggest worries about picking that particular race. It starts at 6:30, though (egad!), so it shouldn't be to bad, temperature-wise.

-- You know what's the best feeling? Realizing it's only Saturday evening (I wrote this post in pieces) when it feels like a Sunday. A whole bonus day of weekend! And it should be a good day, too. I've been striking the perfect balance between being social this weekend and also having selfish 'me time'. Today, I brunched it up with a great group of people (and had a plantain pancake!), did a bit of this and that, and then returned home in the evening for dinner and relaxing. Tomorrow, I'm planning to bust out a couple quick miles, read the paper, play in the garden, and then I'm heading out for coffee with Julie. Lovely.

-- Oops, another yogurt picture on the blog. I really like making my own yogurt, and I love my homemade kamut 'Smacks', but it makes me realize how quickly I go through both those things. A batch of yogurt lasts only three or four days; the puffed cereal is gone after five (that's making a smaller batch, because it's easier to store that way). I don't mind the making part, but it can be a hassle to remember to do it before it's too late (ie, when I want to eat something and realize I'm out).

-- On the topic of baths: I tried listening to a podcast the other day, but the problem is that I most like to lie there with my ears under the water. Basically, if I'm going to be in the bath, I want to be IN the bath, so reading a book doesn't work either. Cat-watching is okay.

-- Running: I did seven miles today. It was crazy windy (25mph NNW, with gusts of 30mph), and I was sorely tempted to put off the long run, but then I told myself that if it's windy on race day, I'll have to go with it. The run was definitely harder than usual, and I felt like I was hardly moving forward at times, but in reality, my pace was only barely off last week's.

-- Birdy is getting almost too big to balance on one hand. That is all.

-- How perfect does homemade yogurt look in an old jam jar? So perfect. I usually wind up with just over a quart of yogurt when I make it myself, so I put 3/4 of it in an applesauce jar and the other 1/4 in this. It would be ideal if I could eat it right from the jar, but the heaps of puffed cereal I like to add would never fit. (Those are tinned peaches in the background, by the way. Just in case you were wondering.)

-- Birdy fell into the bath again, but only her back half. I don't usually like baths, but I've had two in the last couple of weeks, just because it's seemed like a relaxing thing to do (maybe sore running muscles are subliminally making me do it). The thing is, baths are so boring, but I've discovered they're much more interesting with cats around. Will they fall in? When will they fall in?

-- I made a new batch of Banana Cran-Bran muffin tops (that's the original batch in the photo, but it has the recipe) today. Except after I stirred the dry ingredients in with the rest, the batter seemed much runnier than the first time. I'd used maple syrup instead of molasses, and it was thinner, so I thought that might be the problem. I baked the first tray (I only have one muffin top pan, which has 6 cups, so I have to bake the batch in two rounds), and they looked just fine, but a bit flatter than the first time. That was when I realized I had forgotten the bran. It was only my inspiration for making them in the first place, after all! I added it to the second pan, and luckily I know people who won't mind eating a Banana Cran-Notbran muffin top.

-- Running! Look away now if you couldn't possibly care less about running. Because I was busy/away this weekend and Monday morning, I had to wait until Tuesday to run. Usually, two days is the longest I go without a run (and sometimes not even that, if I decide to run at the weekend), and I could definitely tell the difference when I got on the treadmill Tuesday morning (boo, rain). My body was so happy to be running again! Who'd have thought.

-- In more running news, my Garmin Forerunner 305 arrived today. I remember reading about these little GPS units in Runner's World UK back when I started, and I knew they were for 'real' runners. I ran on a treadmill and never further than 5k, so I would never need a Garmin. (Not, of course, that people who run 5k or less aren't real runners, because they are, as was I, but the judgment we pass on ourselves is always the harshest.) So getting this feels like proving to myself that I am a real runner. And if that weren't enough, I signed up for my first half-marathon today! It's on the Fourth of July, and I'm looking forward to it. Oh, me? I'm just in training for a half-marathon. No big deal.

-- Flowers, flowers, everywhere. I got this Easter lily after multiple people decided it was too smelly (and/or that they were allergic to it). I like it. And last year's amaryllis that I forced is blooming again. It feels very springy in my house, with all the flowers.

-- And since it's been so mild lately, I thought I might as well plant some seeds this afternoon. I put in the usual cold(er) weather stuff. Kale, chard, peas, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and beets. There are so many garden areas now that it's a bit overwhelming trying to get a start on any one section, yet I still found myself thinking, 'Hm, if only I had more room for all this lettuce seed.' I should just spread it out in the empty lot across the alley, where they tore down a house this winter. 'No, officer*, I don't know anything about all this lettuce that's growing wild here. But since I've got this salad bowl...'

-- Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so I went up to my parents' cabin to spend the day with her. I had made macarons as part of her gift, and we went to the Mystic Lake buffet for brunch/lunch. The food selection was so-so (better if one were a meat eater and was looking to eat a great volume of food), but they had a softserve machine, so that pretty much took care of my happiness. As I said on flickr, it's been thirteen years since I worked at Dairy Queen for the summer, but I can still do the DQ Loop. Minnesota needs more self-serve fro-yo/softserve places.

* I like the idea that a cop would have to investigate the case of the guerrilla lettuce.

-- Hello friends! Birdy says hello, too. The cats aren't big into personal space these days. This morning, Birdy was sleeping in the middle of a cushion on my lap, and Beany wanted to cuddle, too, so she just settled herself right over Birdy (it looked a bit squashy). Later, when Beany was in her usual anti-work position (like this, only she was stretched out from left to right), I would have said there was no room for another cat, but Birdy came over and stacked herself on top. At this very moment, I'm trying to type with both my arms buried underneath the cats. No personal space for them OR me, I guess.

-- This evening, I mapped out a six-mile run for tomorrow morning. It makes me nervous just to look at it. For some reason, last week's five miler seems an awful long time ago. But Monday's four-mile run went ridiculously well, so I'm hopeful. I just have to give myself permission to back off on the pace and relax. More on how it goes tomorrow, I expect.

-- Okay, but seriously? Birdy is getting bigger. This is not going to work in a few more weeks. I had to free my right arm from under Beany to take that photo just now. Don't worry; in the five minutes it's taken me to upload it to flickr, the cats have managed to make themselves even more comfortable.

-- After several weeks of eating homemade yogurt, the plain store-bought stuff tastes suspiciously bland. I trust that there actually are cultures in there, but how are you supposed to know if it doesn't have that tang?

-- Where has this week gone? I'm pretty sure that tomorrow should only be Wednesday, not Friday. I've got a fun weekend planned, and next week, my second round of acting and French classes begin! Between that and running and social goings on and the upcoming garden season, I'm running out of hours for non-work activities! What about my me-time? When I eat ice cream?

What to tell you today? How about a few updates on all the usual stuff.

-- Running: No running today, because it's rainy and windy (and because I don't have to run all the time. That meant I could have my 'old' pre-run breakfast, which I've decided is too heavy these days. I needed that coffee to pick me up, considering how grey and dark it was/is outside! BUT! Yesterday was a fine morning, and I went out for a four-mile run. It was great. Running outdoors has really helped me pick up the pace, even though I expected the opposite. My last mile yesterday was probably one of the fastest I've ever run; I was annoyed at having to wait for so many cars at the intersection (luckily the only 'real' intersection I have to cross, thanks to the parkway), so I really pushed it the last half mile.

-- Cats: Birdy has been taking amoxicillin for her red, floppy ear, and I'm pleased to report that it's no longer floppy! The vet said she might have been 'pulling' it down because it was sore, but I'd never seen a cat move her ear like that on purpose. Perhaps he was right, though, because it went back to normal pretty quickly. Thank goodness. I paid for two pointy ears when I got her at the humane society! Birdy is starting to understand what 'c'mere' means, and she continues to be a cuddly cat, both with me and with Beany. They are both most excellent.

-- Food: I finished off my puffed rice 'Smacks', so I made a new batch with puffed kamut. It's even crunchier than the rice was, and I really like it! I also finished off the last of my last batch of homemade yogurt. I usually hold some back to use as starter for the next round, but I bought a quart of plain Dannon Naturals to eat over the next few days and then start homemade yogurt anew. My homemade stuff was getting sort of grainy (but not bad -- too much acid, I guess?), so I'm happy enough to start over again.

-- Other stuff: I watched The Thin Man last night, which I'd been wanting to see for several months. How can I become more like Nora Charles? I reckon I need to A) stumble into a large inheritance, B) start wearing much more fabulous dresses, C) up my alcohol tolerance by a factor of ten, and D) work on my snappy one-liners. So, you know, basically learn to be a different person. My hair's the right color, though.

-- Last night, I had dinner at Evergreen in Minneapolis, my favorite place for mock-meat Chinese food. (Somebody please remind me of the similar place in St. Paul that I'm supposed to try, because I forget its name every single time.) I don't usually 'do' leftover Chinese food, because it's not something I really want to eat more than one day in a row, but the orange mock-chicken was just so good. I cooked up my usual mix of green veggies and dumped in the leftovers, and it was the perfect meal. Yum.

-- I don't let the cats sleep in bed (or go in the bedroom at all), and by some stroke of luck, Birdy has picked up on the whole nighttime = sleeping thing. When I woke up yesterday morning, the cats were sleeping on the back of the sofa, as per usual, except that Beany was curled up at one end, and Birdy was curled up on top of her. My head nearly exploded from that much cute so early in the morning. I wanted to take a photo, but Birdy jumped down to greet me before I could get the camera. Later in the day, she fell into a full bathtub. It was an eventful day in the cat department.

-- I did a little bit of garden clean-up the other day, including digging the leaves out from around my herbs. My oregano pulled through the winter, as did the thyme. The thyme, you guys. I have so much of it; it's ridiculous. I should hack it back and dry bundles. The chives are pretty tall already, and the mint is growing too. And the rhubarb is up. What a spring.

-- I put a link to the 2009 Twelve22 Annual that I published through Lulu at the end of last year. I mentioned it here once before, but sort of just in passing, so if a little book of photos and the like might be your cup of tea, check it out. Pleasethankyou.

-- Happy Passover! I'm not Jewish, but I was rummaging around the cupboards before dinner, looking for something starchy to try to settle my stomach, and I found an unopened box of matzo mix. How could I not make matzo ball soup? So I did, for the first time ever. I made a simple veggie broth with Better than Bouillon concentrate, and it could hardly have been any easier.

-- My stomach needed settling because I've had very mild but persistent heartburn ever since I ate lunch. I think it's probably a case of too many cups of tea, because I can't think of what else it would be. I don't get heartburn very often, and it never sticks around this long. Waaa. I keep thinking, 'More water!' No. 'More pretzels!' No. 'Try more water!' The matzo did help, but only for a bit. Sigh. It'll be gone in the morning.

-- According to my running schedule, I only ever have to run three miles on Mondays, but today I wanted to try for four. I've been doing my long runs at the gym, on the treadmill, so that I won't have an excuse (too cold/too sunny/too cloudy/too windy), but I'd like to have some experience running longer distances on the ground before the Get in Gear 10k. So that's what I did today. Four miles around my neighborhood, and faster than I would have done it at the gym. Running has SUCH a large mental component. If I set out for two miles, I'm tired after two. If I aim for four, that's what I can do.

-- How exciting is it that it's light outside after dinner? It's like gaining a whole new segment of day for doing useful things. I went to Target this evening, to look for the cute little multi-card reader that their website says is in stock at my location. Well, I couldn't find it, and I'm not sure the girl working at the electronics counter knew what a card reader was. Sad. I've had my current USB card reader for over five years now, but it's got to the point where I have to carefully hold it a particular way as I open files, or the connection will be broken. I suspect all I really need to fix it is a soldering iron. And to not be afraid of soldering irons.

-- I think I'll do a cat-centric post tomorrow. So stay balanced at the edges of your seats for that.

P.S. -- Right after I posted this, I decided I was fed up with the heartburn, so I dissolved 1/2 tsp baking soda with 1/2 cup of water and glugged it down. There was a moment when I thought I was going to be sick (which would have solved the problem, I suppose), but then voilà, heartburn gone. Simple is best.

Ack! There are too many things I want to post about! I did so much during my computerless weekend (until now, obviously), so I'll tell you about the interesting bits here. Other, non-weekend-related stuff, will have to wait for its own post(s).

-- After I got the box of VitaTops to review, I started to really enjoy incorporating them into my meals, so I was sad when they ran out (well, I have two chocolate-y ones left). I was going to order their Super Sampler (and I'll probably still do that, eventually), but I got a case of the I-can-do-that's and wanted to try to make my own muffin tops. I used the muffin top pan that had been gathering dust for the past few years (I wiped it off, first) and created Banana Cran-Bran muffin tops. Recipe here. I came up with the recipe by altering one on the package of wheat bran, so the first time I made them, I used all whole wheat flour, as it called for. They were not good (my WW flour might have been a bit stale, too), and I threw them away. But instead of giving up on the recipe altogether, I tried it again with all purpose flour and buckwheat flour (that's why the color looks a bit unusual). Amazing! I love buckwheat flour, and the banana + molasses = the perfect amount of sweetness without any refined sugar. I might use honey next time and see how I like that.

-- I went to Victory 44 last night; it's right in my neighborhood (and there isn't much else!), so I can't believe it took me this long to try it. My dining partner and I went for wine and dessert, which meant that we split their dessert selection platter. It was decadent, and it was good. The music was entirely too loud, but that's the only nit I can pick. I'm looking forward to visiting for lunch some day to try their 'real' food. If you ever find yourself in North Minneapolis, check it out.

-- I woke up this morning from an overnight sugar crash. I was starving hungry and had a terrible headache (and no, I wasn't hungover; I had only one glass of sparkling! German! white wine). And the craziest thing happened. I thought to myself that what would really make me feel better would be to have a light breakfast and then go for a run. I could almost taste the cool morning air from my bed. So that's what I did: ate a piece of almond butter toast, strapped on the ol' running shoes, and hit the parkway. And, would you believe it, I ran the fastest two miles I've ever run. Felt great afterward.

-- While I'm on the subject of running, I should mention that I ran this exact same loop on Wednesday and felt terrible the entire time. I think, from now on, pre-run breakfasts will be light (but calorie-dense) and will NOT include coffee. I had tea with my breakfast this morning, almost an entire cup, and it seemed to sit much better.

-- Today marked the first post-dinner evening constitutional of the season! I love going for a leisurely walk after dinner, so I was very happy. Tulips and other early-spring bulbs are starting to come up all over my neighborhood, and the lawns are already looking greener. It's spring!

-- Tonight I managed to fit just about all my current foodie loves into one meal: guacamole, seasoned sweet potato 'fries', lots of green veg, pinto beans, and kombucha. I could eat a giant bowl filled with oven-baked sweet potato, with guacamole on top. It would be like my own personal version of poutine. Avocado and beans (separately) in particular are really appealing to me right now. I think it's a sign that I'm not getting enough fat in my diet. Will try to amend that.

-- I brought Birdy to the vet today for her free post-adoption check up. The vet, who told me to watch Beany because she was 'going to turn into a biter' (WRONG!), had only good things to say about Birdy. Apparently, she is a very well-structured kitten. After the check up, while we were waiting in the room for paperwork to be printed, Birdy climbed into my arms and settled down to keep an eye on things while feeling safe. And when we got home, well, you've never seen such a tiny cat so happy to realize she was back where she'd come from. She leapt at Beany, full of excitement, and then they curled up together. It's luff.

-- I've had an annoying eyelid twitch for most of this week, so I'm planning on taking this weekend off from the computer. Well, there's some stuff that has to be done (checking my e-mail, moderating comments, etc), but I'm going to stick to the very barest of minimums. I'm sort of excited about it, actually. What will I get up to? How extraordinarily productive will I be? It's supposed to rain tomorrow, which is a bummer, but perhaps it will inspire a calm state of mind and get me thinking about Important Stuff. Whatever that may be.

-- Alex commented on the last post that she was turned off smoothies after her first job at a juice... place (stand? hut? cafe?). Well, my first job (at 15 years old) was working at Dairy Queen for the summer. And I'm still madly in love with soft serve. I actually miss making the perfectly-formed DQ cone (that's the only thing I miss about working there, I should add). What was your first job? If it was in the food industry, did it ruin anything for you?

-- What a beautiful day! I walked down by the river, right at the edge of downtown Minneapolis in the late afternoon, and it was perfect walking weather. The sun was warm, but the air was still a bit cool. Because I don't spend much time on foot downtown, doing so today made me feel like I was in London -- crossing over rivers and seeing big buildings, etc.

-- My pals at MPR are working on a new project, and if you're in Minnesota, maybe you can help. They say: MPR News is launching a new series on our changing food culture and the fight against obesity. As part of the series we're asking people to share photos of what's inside your fridge. We'll post the best pictures on our Web site, documenting the different diets and eating styles that are represented among Minnesotans. You can see what we have so far and submit your picture here.

-- I finally got a foam roller for my IT band! I've been having some pain in my right thigh, not when I run, but when I get up after sitting/lying for a while. And when I stand still for a stretch of time, like at the kitchen counter, I get a slight pins-and-needles sensation. I know runners often have problem with the IT band, and rollers are one of the only ways to stretch it out. I gave it a try this evening, and holy dogs -- it hurts! But everything felt warm and blood-flow-y afterward, so I think it's a good thing.

-- I'm so pleased with myself over this ice cream. I had whole milk and half-and-half left over from my first (and semi-failed) ice cream experiment, and I knew I wasn't going to use them before they went bad (I use skim milk for yogurt and tea, and I put almond milk in my coffee). So I stirred 1.5 cups whole milk, 1 cup half-and-half, and one small box of instant vanilla pudding in a bowl for a few minutes, and then I dumped it in my ice cream maker. Ridiculously easy and SO good. It sat in the freezer for about an hour after it finished churning, which meant it was the perfect froziness when I was ready to eat some. And it was still light, so I took a photo (FOR YOU, ALEX).

-- If one could create a 'word cloud' for my blog, but with entire phrases, I'm pretty sure 'pleased with myself' would loom large. Of course, every time I say that I'm pleased with myself, what I really mean is that I'm pleasantly surprised with how well something has turned out. I'm not really that chock full of self-confidence, complacently chuckling over my abundant talent all day long.

-- But speaking of being pleased, my second batch of yogurt made in my thrifted Salton Cosmopolitan yogurt maker came out even better than the first. I used half a cup of yogurt from the first batch as my starter culture and let it cook overnight (at least ten hours, in the end). I'd almost forgotten about it by the time I stumbled into the kitchen this morning, so that was an exciting discovery. I expected it to be thinner than the first batch, since the culture generally gets weaker every time you use it, but it's actually much thicker than the first time. Success!

-- Beany and Birdy continue to get along better and better. When they walk by each other now, they'll usually stop and bump noses, and then Beany give Birdy a few licks on the head. Affection the other way around usually isn't accepted, however; Beany hisses if Birdy tries to get too close on her own. I imagine Beany is just trying to keep the balance of power tipped in her favor. They were doing a lot of play-chasing earlier today, and I saw Beany streak by more than once with Birdy in hot pursuit. What will become of the household when Birdy weighs more than two pounds?

-- I know a lot of people routinely eat fruit with cottage cheese, but it's always seemed savory to me. Yogurt is for sweet stuff; cottage cheese is... well, cheese. But I'd run out of veggie sausages for my breakfast this morning and had cottage cheese instead, and I'll admit that it was pretty good with strawberries. Reminiscent of strawberry cheesecake, if you will. Because cream cheese is definitely one cheese that goes with 'sweet'.

-- A lot of progress was made today on the 'Beany and Birdy become friends' front. Beany's still a little bit nervous about the whole thing, but she'll forgive a lot if she's being cuddled. She actually licked Birdy a few times! And they were really, properly playing together when I got back from my acting class. The main problem there is that Beany dedicates herself to the task at hand (she's crouched and waited hours to catch mice, before), whereas Birdy has the attention span of, you know, a kitten. So while Beany is waiting for the next bout of chasing, Birdy is tra-la-la-ing into the next room, having forgotten they were playing a game.

-- I watched the first episode of 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution' on Hulu tonight. I was expecting to be able to rail against the obnoxious nature of reality programming, but it actually wasn't bad. I mean, it has the manufactured drama that makes my skin crawl (ridiculously edited reaction shots and so on), but it avoided my biggest pet peeve: repetition. It's as though reality television learned everything it knows from the public speaking professor Jessie and I had one summer in college -- tell 'em what you're going to say, say it, and then tell 'em what they've just been told. I really wanted to like the American version of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' -- it's an interesting subject, after all -- but I can't stand wasting time hearing about what's coming up after the commercial break. If you have to plan a teaser for every segment, just so people won't wander away, there's probably something fundamentally wrong with your content (or you're severely underestimated your viewers).

-- I'm going to go scald some milk now! My biggest difficulty with making yogurt at home is finding a decent chunk of time to get it ready and then let it cook. But if I do the prep right now, I can set it going overnight! What an exciting life.

-- I made a taco salad for dinner, and it was delicious. To make the shell, I oiled (sprayed with Pam) and salted both sides of a high-protein tortilla, draped it over a metal bowl, and stuck it in a 350F oven until it was crunchy (5-10 minutes?). It's not exactly restaurant style, but it's a heck of a lot healthier, and I still enjoyed it. Of course, now I'm thinking about the taco salad that Little Angie's in Duluth makes. It might be time for my annual trip up there.

-- True to my word (well, eventually), I tried making my own Smacks today. Well, I used puffed brown rice instead of puffed wheat. In a saucepan, I melted a tablespoon of butter and added 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp honey, and 3 tbsp maple syrup (I would've used all honey, but I was running low). Once it was bubbling, I added a splash of vanilla (maybe 1/4 tsp?), a dash of salt, and 1/4 tsp baking soda. I figured that Smacks are basically a wheat version of caramel corn, so I based my ingredients very loosely on caramel corn recipes I've used in the past. After mixing in the soda, I poured the syrup over the entire 10-cup bag of puffed rice (in a bowl, of course), tossed it to coat, and then spread the rice out on two baking sheets. Into the oven for ten minutes -- the first five at 350F, the next five at 250F. It gets crisper once it starts to cool, which it should do completely before you put it in a storage container. If it's still warm, I'm guessing it would form condensation and go manky quickly. The result is lightly sweetened cereal; if I would have used half the bag (or doubled the syrup), it would've been a bit more like Smacks.

-- I added a few more Birdy photos to my pet set on flickr. She and Beany aren't friends quite yet, but Beany's slowly relaxing. In response to people who've asked where the name 'Birdy' came from: I decided a while after getting Beany (and thus forming a B-y theme with cat names) that my next cat, if it were a boy, would be called Bertie (as in Wooster). The obvious alternate for a female cat was 'Birdy', which is said the same way with an American accent.

-- After I answered the question about quinoa a while back, I thought I really ought to make some again. My dinner tonight looked a bit blobby, but it sure was good. I sauteed onion, veggie bacon, and kale, and then tossed in a serving of cooked quinoa and some spices. And I made another little batch of chunky guacamole, which eventually got mixed together with the quinoa blob. A case of tasted-better-than-it-looked.

-- I transferred my homemade yogurt to one big jar today (the maker has five little cups that total a quart, but I usually have an entire cup, ie 8 fluid ounces, as a serving). It turned out well. When I was making my own yogurt the summer before last, I would skim off the extra whey, so that the yogurt would be thicker, but I just stirred it in this time, because I've been thinning my yogurt out with almond milk, anyway (I like the texture). So it's perfect now!

-- The co-op I went to yesterday had Whole Grain Milling yellow popcorn in their bulk bins, so I bought some to try. It popped really well in my microwave bowl -- nice, big pieces, unlike the other stuff I had (which I think was Jolly Time, not Jiffy Pop, as I said before). And Whole Grain Milling is Minnesotan, so bonus points for that. And they make amazing corn chips. And pancake mix. Yum.

-- What else? Oh yeah, I adopted a tiny kitten today. More about that tomorrow. There are a few pictures on my flickr page right now, if you can't wait. Spoiler alert: she's cute.

I've got the usual bits and pieces to share with you, but I wanted to talk a little bit more about Booty first. Thank you all so much for your thoughts and nice words; I'm really touched that so many people cared about my little mustachioed cat. It's nice to think about you guys all over the world keeping memories of him, even as tiny as they might be, in your minds.

Booty had seemed impossibly skinny for a couple of years, but it was really in the last few weeks that he started having more trouble. I started reading a bit about end-of-life care for pets, and I came to the conclusion that Booty was still Booty, and he wasn't in any pain or distress. Given the choice, I knew he would rather be alive than not, and as long as that was the case, I felt it was right to allow nature to follow its own course.

In the end, I feel incredibly lucky. He went quickly, and I'm blessed with the peace of mind that comes with having been there for him but not having to make the decision for him. Because his general decline was gradual, I'd thought many times about his eventual death, and I wanted so much for it to happen at home, not at a vet's office. So I'm very relieved about that.

On to some other things:

-- I made hot not-crossed buns yesterday, but I'm not very pleased with them. The flavor is spot on: a nice mix of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and citrus. But the texture just isn't right, possibly because I subbed half the white flour with whole-wheat. This bun here is the one I want. Grabby hands.

-- What I did succeed with today was making a fantastic dinner. The sweet potato fries were amazing, and I should eat large quantities of avocado more often. It would make my coat silky, I bet.

-- I went to the gym this morning and ran four miles (woohoo!), and then I went to the co-op before heading home. They had a few things marked down because their expiry dates were today, so I got two tubs of organic cream cheese for 55 cents each. That stuff'll be good for a while yet. And it was 55 cents!

-- Speaking of good deals, Alex and I had dinner yesterday evening at the Perkins in Seward. We've been there only twice, but it's quickly become a favorite. We both asked for salads with loads of veggies and were presented with the Biggest Salads Ever. Considering Perkins doesn't really 'do' vegetables, these salads were pretty unbelievable. And we were charged for 'side' salads with a few add-ons. Total price? $4.50 per salad.

-- I started some yogurt 'cooking' in my newly thrifted yogurt maker about six hours ago. I checked it just now, and it's already set pretty nicely. I'll let it go another two hours, just for good measure, but I'm very happy. That's the best seven dollars I've ever spent on a yogurt maker.

-- Lastly, back to cats. It feels very strange with just Beany and I in the house. A large part of that is my expecting Booty where he should be but isn't. I hear things that sound like him moving around. But it's also just a bit odd on its own; I don't like leaving Beany alone when I go out, and it seems mean to shut her out of my bedroom when I sleep, since she has nobody to curl up with. Mentally, I feel ready to bring a new cat into the house (I had a long time to think about it as Booty aged), but I also feel guilty about it, worried that people will think I'm just replacing Booty. It's a tough call.

-- I might try to keep this post short, because it's suddenly half past midnight. I swear that the hours between, say, 9:00pm and 1:00am go wayyyy faster than the four hours between 2:00pm and 6:00pm.

-- I went for a two-mile run today, wearing the shirt I got for running the 100% Irish 5k last Saturday. It seemed like the right day to do so. It was so sunny and gorgeous -- the perfect day for a quick two miles.

-- I spent some time inspecting my yard this afternoon (SO many of my perennials are up already!), and then sat in the sun with Booty. He's not been doing well lately, so it was nice to get some fresh air with him and let him sit in the sun, on my lap.

-- I made some sugar cookies and gave almost all of them away. I like to make them more than I like to eat them. I was just going to do the round cookies, but when I pulled out my box of cookie cutters, I found the set of woodland animals from Ikea, which I had totally forgotten about. I finally realized that what I thought was a strange whale was actually a snail, so I made a few of those, and I did a fox, too, for good measure. Love it.

-- At the thrift store today, I found a Salton yogurt maker. Sort of like an older version of this one; it only has five cups and is long and narrow, rather than round. All the parts seem to be there, and the instruction booklet was even included, so fingers crossed that it still works. It was only $7! It's really easy to make yogurt without a machine (just in the oven), but I like the idea of having a gadget that will keep the steady temperature that yogurt needs. And, you know, seven bucks.

-- My community ed French class ended today. Just when I was starting to get the hang of it! I might have to sign up for the French II class that's being offered during the spring session; I'm pretty sure I haven't learned the entire language yet. But I know how to say that I like a variety of fruits and vegetables (and that I don't like meat), so that's pretty much the basics covered.

-- I wish American supermarkets would stock amazing (yet cheap) packs of hot crossed buns this time of year. I want some. I think I'll resort to baking my own, for once, so I'll have to remember to pick up everything I need when I go grocery shopping. It feels like it's been ages since I went (I think I actually picked up some stuff on... Saturday). There's no kale in the house! No bananas! Everything is horrible. In another couple of months, I'll have kale on demand in the backyard, but I think I'd need to move to a very different climate before I can grow my own bananas.

-- I was surprised by all the free post-race food loot yesterday. I knew there was going to be shamrock cookies, but there were also bottles of water, mini bagel things, potato chips, and Nut Rolls. I split the cookie with my mom and took a couple other things, including the little bagel bite, which I had with my dinner tonight. Pretty good! But then, if it has raisins in it and is topped with cream cheese... it's probably going to be good, no matter what.

-- I tried out my new ice cream maker (this one) today and made chocolate pudding ice cream. It was semi-successful. Instant pudding made with whole milk and half-and-half is pretty dang amazing, but it would have been better if A) eaten right after churning or B) turned into pudding pops. Once it had been in the freezer for a number of hours, it became hard as a rock and almost impossible to eat with a spoon. Better luck next time.

-- I've also used my other new kitchen 'gadget' twice now: this microwave popcorn bowl. It works really well! The instruction say to pop 1/4 to 1/3 cup of kernels at a time, but I used only two tablespoons, as that's all the popcorn I wanted, and it still worked like a charm. Very few unpopped kernels, and you don't have to use oil. The only downside is that the popping corn in my cupboard (JiffyPop, I think) doesn't pop into very large pieces, not like traditional microwave popcorn (I noticed this when I've made it on the stove, too). Do any of you guys have a brand recommendation for bigger popcorn? Extra points if you've tried and like any local (to me -- MN, WI, etc) producers. I'll definitely be growing some in my garden this summer!

-- When I was growing up, I had a real aversion to tomato-y things. I went through a phase where I would squish out as much of the tomato sauce from a piece of pizza as I could. I liked ketchup with my fries, but only then just a tiny bit. And forget about actual tomatoes. That's all changed now, of course, especially my application of ketchup. I don't think eating it with eggs is all that odd (because ketchup + fries --> ketchup + hasbrowns --> ketchup + eggs), but sometimes I stop as I'm drizzling it over a pile of sauteed green veg and laugh at myself. Broccoli and ketchup, eh? It's good.

-- We've been having miserable weather lately, sun-wise, but the temperatures have been very mild (in the 40s!), and the snow is melting pretty quickly now. I'd forgotten what the surface of roads looked like, or how wide my driveway is (since my piles of shoveled snow narrow it considerably in the winter). I brought the garbage out this morning and then had a look around my back yard. There are things! Growing things! I even had to start my Garden 2010 set on flickr today. Quite a few of the hardier herbs seem ready to pick up where they left off, and I was pleasantly surprised to see my (wild) blueberries already growing.

-- Did I mention that I bought myself a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker? And that it arrived a few days ago? I think this will be the weekend to finally make the pudding ice cream dream come true. The only trick is deciding what flavor of pudding to use. I'm thinking stick to the basics: chocolate, but with double chocolate Newman-O's mixed in. Oh boy, oh boy.

-- I'm running a 5k tomorrow! I've just checked the forecast, and it's no longer calling for rain, which is a relief. The race shouldn't really be a big deal because A) I'm not very fast, so it's not really a 'race' in the usual sense of the word and B) I run 3+ miles fairly routinely. But I'm still excited and a bit nervous. Mainly because it starts at 9:15am. That's still sleepin' time! I might have to fall asleep before 2:00am tonight.

-- I had a really, really nice weekend. In fact, I pretty much achieved a perfect Saturday: I woke up, showered and got ready, went out to brunch at the Seward Cafe, sat around and chatted for four hours, drove to Edina to meet up with Rob (who's in town!) and Heather, and we drank coffee for quite a while. Heather had to head home, so Rob and I walked two doors down from the coffee shop, and I had falafel for dinner. That's a perfect Saturday. Eating and then sitting around having interesting conversation until it's time to eat again.

-- I ordered the buckwheat pancake with fruit and yogurt at the Seward Cafe. The last time I got it, the yogurt was in the middle of the pancake, with the carefully-sliced fruit artfully fanned out around it. I brought my SLR this time to get a better photo, but when I got my plate, the fruit and yogurt had been slung on top haphazardly. It made me laugh. It was outstandingly delicious, though.

-- On Sunday, I went to Half Price Books and found two Elvis Costello CDs for under $5 each (Spike and The Juliet Letters). I've amassed so many of his albums in such a short time recently that I haven't been able to fully appreciate them all; I've listened to Blood and Chocolate a couple of times all the way through, for example, but it hasn't really sunk in yet. It's the obsessive side of me kicking in (wanting to have every album I come across), but there are worse things to obsess about.

-- I've been exclusively using my Bialetti to make coffee in the mornings, but when Alex made the best coffee ever in her French press, I decided to give my own another chance. I've always followed the rule of using two tablespoons of grounds for every cup of coffee (which I think is technically considered to be six ounces of water, not eight) and using water that hasn't yet come to a boil. But yesterday (and again today), I dumped in three tablespoons and turned the kettle off as soon as it boiled. So good.

-- I do not like when Beany appears to be keenly watching something under the baseboard heater, as she was doing a moment ago. On a similar note, one of the guys in my acting class said he saw a rat in the school theater we gather at. A rat! I wish I would have seen it too.

-- Today I did my three-mile run outside. It was very grey and cloudy, and I had to run into the brisk wind during the first half, but I still finished just under my usual pace and didn't keel over, so it was a success. My first 5k of the season is on Saturday, and I'm excited! I even bought a copy of Runner's World (the UK edition, because the US issue was all about weight loss), which I will now return to reading.

-- Look at Beany, bravely trekking through the snow. The weather was SO nice today that I had to let her out. She didn't seem to take notice of the snow, but I suppose that was because she could pretty much just walk along on top of it. She also went up and down the back path a few times, until she realized she'd stepped in a puddle. This seems to be a cat thing: she was walking along the damp path, looked up ahead and noticed there was puddling, and then looked down to realize that she was already standing in water. Much distasteful lifting of paws and awkward rerouting ensued.

-- Speaking of thaws and the resulting puddles, late winter is just a bad time to get your car washed. I treated mine to a gas-station car wash that left it very shiny indeed, which meant that I had to drive on tip-toe all the way back home. That was yesterday, and when I went out to the supermarket today, an oncoming van splashed into a pothole and threw dirty water right across the hood of my car. Heart breaking! So even though I knew it was completely ridiculous, I grabbed a sponge, a bucket of soapy water, and a towel when I got home and wiped it off. Completely normal.

-- Also completely normal? That guy who was wearing short sleeves while chipping away ice from a parking lot today. That's how we do it in Minnesota!

-- I was setting up my automatic estimated tax payments today (I already filed my 2009 return ages ago and got my refund), and as I was filling in the amounts for my MN state income tax, I actually had a pang of, 'But that's not enough!' As in, how can that measly amount possibly cover my share of what it takes to keep the state running? Not that I have extra money to be paying them, but I did feel a bit bad. I should sponsor a loon* or something.

* That's the Minnesota state bird, in case you haven't brushed up on your MN trivia lately.

-- Recently, all my at-home dinner planning has gone like this: 'Okay, a huge pile of broccoli, asparagus, and kale. What goes with that?' Last night, I sauteed everything with onion, shiitake mushrooms, and a couple slices of fake bacon (and had a cranbran VitaTop on the side). Tonight I sauteed the green veg with onion, chickpeas, and black olives (with Ezekiel sesame toast on the side). I season everything with soy sauce, nutritional yeast, cumin, and chili powder. If I were allowed to use only two spices in cooking (not baking), I think they'd have to be chili powder and cumin. Until somebody else suggests something, in which case I'll change my mind.

-- Katie asked about the races I've entered. I've only ever run one 5k, which was the Race for Life in London. That was in 2006, and it was the reason I started running in the first place. I think I saw an ad for the race on the Tube and decided that it would be a good goal to aim for. I continued to run on a treadmill after that, although I stopped when I moved into my house. I joined the gym in December 2007, I think, and started running again, but then got plantar fasciitis and switched to yoga and elliptical for a long time. Last winter, I was determined to get back to running for real and enter races, but... I didn't. So right now is the first time that I'm back to routinely running 5k (3.1 miles) on the treadmill since 2006. Entering the races has definitely given my motivation a boost, especially since I'm now training for a 10k!

-- Yesterday, Alex hosted the be all and end all of Sunday brunches. Rainbow pancakes. With -- wait for it -- edible glitter. It's definitely bizarre (and awesome!) to eat something so vibrantly hued, but it really didn't take very much gel dye to color the pancake batter. Everybody's Sunday was enriched. And Alex, you should let me come over some time and take photos of your house. We can have a special house-tour entry.

-- You know what? I feel great. It's been sunny (well, not right now, because it's 11:30pm, but generally... during the day), I've been running, I'm on track with work, I have amusing friends, I get to wake up tomorrow and eat oatmeal and do a runner's yoga download. Things aren't too bad.

-- It's that time of year again: primroses are only $2 at the supermarket. How could I possibly resist that? I couldn't. We're still a long way off from seeing primroses growing outdoors in this part of the world, but I'm taking their potted presence as a guarantee that spring will eventually arrive.

-- I went into the supermarket for a box of Honey Smacks. I left with Honey Smacks, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, juice, and kombucha. I'm like some sort of weird, reverse impulse shopper who can't stop herself getting the healthy food as she passes by.

-- I had a dream the other night that I went outside, and the herbs in my garden were starting to grow (also, the snow had melted, I guess). I also recently had a dream where I was in Japan and another during which I lost a friend's identical-twin infant (who doesn't exist). The garden dream, though, was almost certainly inspired by the fact that last year's potted amaryllis has started growing again (I hid it away in the basement for a couple months to force it). When I told Julie about the dream, she said, 'Aw, you had a spring dream!' That's what happens when you live in Minnesota.

-- I picked up a copy of Daniel J. Levitin's The World in Six Songs today. I loved his first book (This Is Your Brain on Music), so even though this one seems to have mixed reviews, I'm looking forward to reading it. In fact, I think a successful Saturday tomorrow would include much reading, Glenn Miller records, and perhaps a bit of kitchen organization. It doesn't take much.

I'm going with a loose breakfast theme today.

-- I've gone through several different oatmeal variations over the past few years, but this is how I've been making them lately: I cook about 1/3 cup oatbran in 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/3 cup water (roughly). I add a packet of stevia, a few shakes of cinnamon, several drops of concentrated coconut flavoring (I got this last weekend, and I want EVERYthing to taste of coconut now). After about four minutes, I turn the heat down and add a quarter cup of beaten egg whites, while stirring. I let it cook for another minute or so and then dump it in a bowl, add a tablespoon of almond butter, artfully arrange the banana slices, and top with a couple spoonfuls of pumpkin flax granola. Complicated much? But I love it.

-- To answer Jessie's questions on my last post, there's a layer of cream cheese on my toast/English muffins before I put the jam on top. I'm not a HUGE fan of plain cream cheese by itself on toast, etc, but it's magic when paired with jam. The sausages are Morningstar brand breakfast links. I prefer their products over Boca, although they don't score as well in the protein department (for the burgers, that is). If you can get your hands on Quorn's 'chicken' tenders or turk'y burgers, stock up.

-- I was a loyal PG Tips drinker in London. It costs the same to get a box of Yorkshire Gold or PG Tips here, though, which seems like an injustice, as I reckon PG Tips should be cheaper. So, to stick it to the man, I feel like I should spend my $4.99 on Yorkshire Gold. Given the choice, though, say, if somebody from the UK were visiting in March, I would like an enormous box of PG Tips.

-- Right now, I switch between having oatbran and English muffins for breakfast. And I recently stopped going to the gym Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday and started going Monday-Wednesday-Friday instead. This has been a blessing, because now I can alternate between my two breakfasts every day of the week. I can't eat oatmeal on days that I run (too sloshy + not enough staying power), but I don't like having to wait two whole days to have it again. Problem solved. Crisis averted.

-- Two of my top moments in any given (average) day: 1. Sitting down with my breakfast and coffee in the morning while I listen to the radio. 2. Crawling into bed at the end of a long day, with my flannel sheets all warm from the heated mattress pad. That I'm conscious for very little of the time between those two events (er, in the right order, that is) is like a bonus.

I had the absolute pleasure of visiting the Casket Arts Building today. It's one of the renovated factories in NE Minneapolis that now houses artists' studios. I wasn't there to check out any available spaces today, although I would love to someday have a studio-office here. The shot above is of the common area on the second floor. I'm so head-over-heels in love with the light (here's the same space from a slightly different angle) that I would gladly take photos of the building all day long. For free.

Anyway, today I've got a bevy of answers for the more house-related (and general lifestyle) questions I got. There was quite a lot to talk about, so click the extended entry for the questions and answers.

I've had a nice day -- my run this morning went really well, so I took the plunge and registered for three races this spring, including a 10k, which is going to take some training (I generally run 5k or less when I go to the gym). It definitely feels great to have something to shoot for, though! Sometimes, between waking up later in the day and going to the gym, I wind up not having a real lunch (just a Luna bar or something after I run), and that means a meal gone missing that would usually contain a lot of veggies. So I bulked up on my green at dinner tonight -- broccoli, asparagus, AND kale. So good.

Anyway, time for part one of the questions and answers! The second part will be the questions pertaining to the house and my living situation and other such things, so tonight's Q&A is sort of a grab bag! I'll put everything in the extended entry, so click to read my answers!

-- I was going to go to REI before dinner and then stop at Trader Joe's to pick up some food; I'd been thinking about their tomato bisque. But then I decided to wait until tomorrow for REI, which meant I could just stay at home and proofread (zombies!), but I still wanted that soup. So I thawed out some tinned crushed tomatoes I'd frozen (not IN the tin, of course; I'd used half of a 28oz can in another recipe) and made a simple soup, and the secret to making it good was the tablespoon of cream cheese I stirred in. And because I'd made tomato soup, I had to make a grilled cheese to go with it. I'm kind of in love with this photo. So much that I'm not too modest to say so.

-- One drag about being awake later in the night is that I just had the urge to go out and remove all the rubbish from my car (gum wrappers, receipts, etc). But it's dark out and winter, and I should just wait until tomorrow. (I will.)

-- Oh, actually, before my REI-before-dinner plan, I was counting on making a quick trip there after I went to the gym. But I forgot my wallet, which meant that not only couldn't I go to the store, but I also couldn't get a coffee. So I just headed home. Which turned out to be rather fortuitous, as I pulled into my alley right as a UPS truck turned onto my street. I got to my front door (via the house, from the garage, which is out back) right as the UPS guy was ringing the doorbell. Good timing! (The parcel was a package for review, in case you were wondering.)

-- I have not seen a single minute of Olympics coverage, because -- yes, I'm going to say it -- I don't care. And because I don't have a TV. I love that there are athletes who do amazing things and achieve their dreams and that the world tunes in once every four years to acknowledge their skill (or mock their costumes?)... but I really couldn't care less about watching it. I know -- I'm cold and heartless. Oh well.

-- Thanks to the Olympics being so important, though, all the shows I usually watch on Hulu are airing repeats. That means that I went in search of something new to watch, and I found Being Erica. After watching an episode, I realized my mom and I once happened upon it on TV, but I called 'boring' and asked her to change the channel. But that was before I knew it was Canadian and had the actor who played Eric in Wonderfalls. Excellent.

-- Only one person has commented with questions so far. Are you all really so incurious? Have I just been so thorough in what I write as to leave nothing answered? I will be forced to make up questions and pretend that other people asked them. Don't make me do that! Here are possible categories: vegetarianism, living abroad, owning a house, gardening, zombies, running, running from zombies (not really), cats, oatmeal.

-- Sometimes it seems like I take pictures of the same meals over and over and over. Because I do (well, not THE same meals, obviously). I should work on not doing that so much. If it makes any difference, I was out of my usual plain yogurt today, but I found a (not expired) cup of plain Greek yogurt in the fridge, so that's what I had. What? It makes no difference to you at all? It's actually really boring?

-- Alex's professional site is go! The site is so uniquely* her, so if you like what you see there, you're sure to get on well with the lady herself. You can see the many services Alex provides, if you like; basically, if something in your life needs to be more awesome, she's your woman. Hire her! So she can afford to drink coffee with me!

* Something can't actually be so unique; it's either unique or it's not. I'm educating through misuse.

-- I wanted to listen to some music this morning, but nothing on my computer immediately sprung to mind as being quite right, so I put This is Glenn Miller on the turntable. As soon as it started playing, I had that 'why do I ever STOP listening to this?' feeling. It's perfectly laid back while not being evening music, like a lot of the mellower stuff I have is. I listened to it while I reorganized my freezer, and that was how I spent my Valentine's morning.

-- In the afternoon, I went over to my parents' and helped my mom decorate sugar cookies. It was sort of perfect: I wanted to decorate cookies, but I didn't actually want to eat any, nor did I have anybody to immediately pass them off to. But she's bringing them to work tomorrow, so I got to have the fun without the consequences (consequences = cookies, in this instance). Although I bought the animal-shaped cookie cutters from Ikea yesterday, so it's only a matter of time before I need to try those out.

-- The above is a crop of this photo, taken at the Palmengarten in Frankfurt. That has to be one of my favorite photos that I took in 2009, for the texture and and contour of the leaf, the water droplets, depth of field, and the contrast of the black background. It has nothing to do with today, but I didn't have any photos I felt like using for this post!

-- It's been very exciting watching my friend Alex get ready to strike out on her own as a freelancer (I will link to her professional site if/when she gives the okay, so you can pay her money to make your life better), and the positive energy has been infectious. I started working on my own professional site to drum up more freelance projects, but it's a bit nerve wracking. Even though I'd be sticking within the realm of what I know (editorial and design work), it's scarier to do so with only my name to back me up. But I've got to pay for my imaginary office-studio somehow.

-- I finally caught Beany's cat laugh on 'tape'. I'm sure other cats do this, but she's the only cat I've ever known to make this noise while leaping in the air. She is a happy cat.

-- Soft serve was achieved today at Ikea (and it surpassed even the dreamy expectations I'd had for it), and I found the boxes I needed for the kitchen. It was a fairly quick trip, but because it's right next to the Mall of America, I got stuck in a huge queue on my way in (off the freeway). I seriously hope that The Day Before Valentine's has been declared the new Black Friday, because if that's the usual number of people who go to the MOA on a regular Saturday, that's just insane. Maybe people were carrying out their patriotic duty (to shop) this President's Day weekend. I bet that was it.

-- I've had a string of failed meals lately. It started with the breakfast above: I recently bought some Kashi instant oatmeal packets, and I added too much water; the blueberries I thawed were too seedy; the raspberry yogurt had a strange texture (I almost always buy plain yogurt and flavor it myself, and nine times out of ten, when I decide to 'treat' myself to a pre-flavored yogurt, I think it's too sugary or otherwise weird). Then I tried to make bread rolls for my dinner, but the yeast must have been dead, and the soup I thawed to go with it was disappointing and watery. (I scrapped that meal entirely and started over.) And the pumpkin soup I tried concocting this evening wound up in the bin. So, you know, it's not all kitchen successes all the time, here.

-- On the topic of food and failure, I just realized that I completely failed to eat any real, non-breakfast food today. I woke up late, had my usual Ezekiel English muffin meal, ate a Luna Protein bar after running (these are new, and the cookie dough flavor is ridiculously good), had yogurt and cereal in the afternoon, and dinner was oatmeal. I DID, however, blend spinach with apple juice and drank that with dinner. It's much better than it sounds.

-- I've been waking up late because I've been staying up just as late, for no particular reason. Even though I'm sleeping the same number of hours, the waking time seems to fly by much more quickly. I keep getting to about 11:00pm and thinking I haven't done much (objectively, I can see that I've been doing exactly as much as usual), so I haven't come up with anything to write about here.

-- I'm very excited that it's the weekend now, though. I've got a few plans, including meeting Alex at Ikea to get $1 soft serve and stock up on Swedish organizational devices. It's no secret that I love ice cream (and eat it almost every day), but soft serve is in an entirely different category -- an awesome category! I'm not sure that my fantasy dream house would have a dishwasher (loud and smelly), but it would definitely have a soft serve machine tucked away somewhere.

-- My latest out-and-out obsession is with having a studio-office in one of the great converted buildings around town. I've been trying to figure out how many more freelance projects I'd have to take on to swing the rent (answer: more), which actually isn't exorbitantly expensive. And I'd be sure to be SO productive in a brick-walled, high-ceilinged space with huge windows, many houseplants, Wings posters, a big table, floor lamps, an easy chair, and an electric kettle. For example. And I could invite people to my office and pretend to be a PI. This is a genius plan.

-- I was going to go to the gym today, but then I spent about 45 minutes shoveling, instead. We didn't get as much snow as the east coast, this time around, but we haven't had much melting action since it started snowing in December. Heaving a snow-filled shovel allll the way to the top of the bank is getting less and less fun. But it's not so bad, really.

-- Beany wanted to go out after I finished shoveling (and was heading back out to take photos). She can't hold in her tiny cat brain that it's cold right now, so she goes out and then wants to get right back inside. I think it's a bit scarier for her now that the snow is so much deeper than she is tall; she was much more curious when she could still see above it.

-- Just a minute ago, I was wanting something small to eat, so I looked in the cupboard and realized I hadn't opened the Snack Toast I'd bought in Sandstone. I get this stuff from time to time, though not for a while, and it was on sale for cheap -- and they had the blueberry flavor, which I'd never seen before. Crunchy!

-- I went to bed at 1:00am last night, and I woke briefly at 5:00 to the sound of my neighbor shoveling. I used to wake up at 5:30 when I worked in London, but the thought of somebody being awake and outside at 5:00am seems unfathomable when you fell asleep just four hours earlier. Luckily, I drifted off again pretty quickly (although not before having to get up and take away TWO different toys from Beany, who had apparently also decided it was morning).

-- I made a very good wrap today that included pickled beets that my uncle made. Sometimes I like to think back to child-me and imagine the shock and disgust she would have over the things I enjoy eating now. It's particularly good if I've put together an entire meal of previously undesirables. Like Sunday's lunch: tofu + kale and whole wheat toast with hummus. Well, I probably would have eaten the toast. Dry.

-- I've never understood how people can exercise first thing in the morning. Not only am I starving hungry when I wake up, but I also have no energy for running if I haven't had a good meal in the last couple of hours. I can even tell a difference when I eat oatbran for breakfast instead of what's in the photo here (because the English muffin, etc has more protein, I guess).

-- Elvis Costello played a new song at the show last Thursday, and I listened to the rebroadcast on Sunday, and now I can't get the song out of my hand. It's fantastic. And not yet recorded in a studio, I guess, so I can't just listen to it whenever I want. I hope it's a taste of what's to come with his next album.

-- I had leftover macaroni and cheese and some black beans in the fridge. Put your hands together, and you've got something delicious... assuming you had first put the macaroni in one had and the black beans in the other. Because I'm trying to say that it's a good combination.

-- There's a Logitech program that turns your iPod Touch (or iPhone) into a remote touchpad that you can use to control a computer. It's going to take some getting used to, but I'm excited to try using it while proof-reading, as resting my hands on the laptop for hours hurts my wrists. Even if it turns out to be not so practical, it's still kind of awesome.

-- I got new pillows today! If I wake up tomorrow without my sinuses trying to burrow to freedom via my ears, it will change my life. It's ridiculous how itchy the inside of my head gets while I'm sleeping. Does this happen to other people? I suspect the real solution is to lie on my back and not breathe through my mouth while I'm asleep, but I also suspect that that will never happen.

-- Here's a random survey of absolutely no consequence: What sort of coffee do you order when you're out? I almost always get a small, decaf Americano, and I add my own splash of half-and-half. Sometimes, if I'm feeling fancy, I'll ask for a single pump of sugarfree vanilla, but then the coffee tastes too good. Usually, I like for it to balance on the line between okay and decent, because then I won't drink it too quickly.

-- One of my favorite things to eat in the afternoon is yogurt, usually with cereal (and fruit). There are a lot of things I enjoy eating, but there's something about yogurt that makes me feel very peaceful afterwards. Maybe it's something about the dairy -- there's not a lot of other dairy that I eat (besides ice cream, which is so sugary it shouldn't count).

-- I don't have a TV, but I do have a big iMac, so if I'm at home, I usually watch something on Hulu in the evening. Pretty much all of the shows I like are on Hulu (with the exception of How I Met Your Mother, although I can watch that on the network's website), so I'm used to watching programs at least a day after they've aired. Even before I got rid of my TV, I'd lived with a digital recorder since 2005, so it's been a while since I had to worry about watching something when it aired. Since I'm at the cabin, which has normal (satellite) TV, I was able to watch Bones at 7:00 on Thursday. Oh my gosh, the pressure! I was convinced it would start before I could tune in, so I couldn't stop looking at the clock.

-- Another drawback to watching television like a normal human being is that you have to watch so many commercials! I'm used to seeing one ad during the commercial break, that's all. And, you guys, the McDonald's Big Mac snack wrap thing? That is one of the most disgusting ideas I've ever heard (as far as food goes). I don't eat at McDonald's (I hardly ever eat at fast food places, just because it's not my thing, but I very purposefully don't eat at McDonald's), but what other people do is their business. However, if you've had one of those wrap things -- especially if you ordered it thinking it was a 'snack' or some sort of healthy alternative -- well... I'm very disappointed in you. That might make me a huge snob, but at least I'm not a Big-Mac-wrap-eatin' snob. Shudder.

-- One of the neat things about cable satellite TV is that the cable networks syndicate shows. Three episodes of Bones in a row? Yes, please! Also, is That 70s Show ever going to seem less funny? I mean, a lot of Friends episodes seem a bit tired when I watch them now (maybe that's because I've seen them too many hundreds of times, though), but That 70s Show is holding up really well. Perhaps it's because it was 'dated' to begin with.

-- I met up with an 'old' friend today, somebody I studied in Scotland with. We were both super excited and had a great time reminiscing, and we realized that we'd never seen each other on American soil. There's something wonderful about getting together with somebody who shared such an important part of your life with you; I can tell my other friends stories from my time in Scotland, but none of them really knows what it was like. Too bad he lives in Duluth, which is about three hours from the Twin Cities, so I can't hang out with him as much as I'd like. We're going to try to go snow-shoeing sometime, though, if he can find show-shoes for me to borrow. That's the sort of thing they do up north.

-- You might remember (although I hope you have more important things to store in your memory) that I was staying up until 1:00am most nights a while back. But then I went to Frankfurt, and the time changes reset everything, so it was more like 11:00pm for a while, then midnight, and I've been back to 1:00am for almost a week now. I don't really care when I go to bed (although I prefer staying up late to waking up too early), but I can't turn off the light even a minute before I'm ready to fall asleep, or I'll toss and turn. The strange thing is that, even if I wind up eating breakfast at 9:50 in the morning, I'll be hungry for lunch about an hour and a half later. I had a late-ish start today, so I had a slightly-smaller-than-usual breakfast. Waffles are good.

-- I had my first acting class last night, which was a lot of fun. And tonight was my second French lesson. Community ed is amazing. I'm also sort of impressed by how much easier it is to learn French at my current age than it was to start learning German at twelve years old. I'm sure a big part of it is having already learned a foreign language and being familiar with the process. But you're supposed to get worse with languages as you get older (and I'm sure there's a wall to hit somewhere here; it's hardly as though I've already conquered the French language). Maybe that year of Montessori kindergarten has just been lying dormant all these years, waiting.

-- Alex asked what sort of cereal was in my last post, and the answer is Honey Smacks. I was going to try making my own when I finished with my last box, but then I ran out of enthusiasm for that project. So more refined sugar it is. I only eat Smacks with yogurt (well, once I had some for dessert), because eating a bowl as actual cereal would just be a rush of sugar and then a big crash.

-- I suppose I had better pack for the cabin now. And fold all that laundry over there. And do the last of the dishes. And maybe tidy up a bit. Thank goodness it's only 11:30 at night -- plenty of time yet to be productive! Weird.

-- Beany must have the best life ever. She has a warm house to live in, gets to cuddle with her favorite person (me) even when it's inconvenient for that person, she has a ridiculous assortment of toys, she gets to go outside when it's nice (but doesn't have to sit out in the cold or worry about getting hit by cars), and she gets to lick out the bowl when I've finished with my yogurt. Yep. The best.

-- I'm excited to go to the cabin this week, even though it's going to be cold out (but I'll be indoors, so whatever). It's my mini holiday, except I plan on getting some work done, because I might as well. But I now have three books to read: Dawkins' latest, Proust Was a Neuroscientist, and Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia, which I just picked up from the library today (it was on hold for me). Reading!

-- I found out this afternoon that Elvis Costello will be appearing on the February 4th performance of Prairie Home Companion. They're screening it live at cinemas across the country (I think across the country), but I swooped in and got myself a fifth-row ticket for the actual performance. Hooray! I've come to the conclusion that, when going to shows you're really excited about, it's almost better to go solo, because you can get a better seat. I assume he (Elvis) will be playing some of his new bluegrassy stuff, since that fits in with the tone of PHC. I got that new album for Christmas and am loving it much more than I expected to.

-- Oh, I'm also hoping to do some drawing while I'm at the cabin. I'd love to do another downloadable something, like the paper house pack. Would you still be interested in paper houses, even now that the holiday season has passed? They wouldn't be wintery; I'd like to have one with a little garden, and perhaps a school house. Who doesn't like useless papercraft, right?

-- My Barney Butter (ordered off Amazon.com) arrived Saturday afternoon, and I was away Sunday and Monday, so today was my first chance to have it for breakfast. It's so good. I've also been experimenting with adding egg white to my oat bran (I stir it in once the bran is almost done, then stir it over the heat, so it can cook). The egg flavor is definitely in there, but it makes it taste like French toast!

-- Speaking of French, today was my first French class through community ed. I studied German in school, of course, but the majority of my friends took French, and I've always wished I could speak that language better. I think I'm going to excel in this class, because French really plays to my strengths -- namely, my tendency to trail off when speaking out lou...

-- My new point-and-shoot camera (a birthday present) takes video, and today I uploaded about a minute of how Beany and I play. I've been trying to explain this particular 'game' to people lately, but I'm not sure it's always clear what a strange cat Beany can be. I like how Booty is in the background and wanders off at the beginning of the clip and then returns at the end. Continuity. And I think my favorite bit is Beany following me off at the end. The way she looks up at me to see what we're going to do next kills me.

-- When stores started having those self-service registers, I really resented them. I had worked at a little supermarket when I was in college, and there was no way I was going to scan my own groceries without getting paid for it. But my local grocery store installed four of these 'fast lane' registers, and I don't think I've used anything else since. I often just have to pick up a few items, and it really is so much faster to ring them up without having to wait in a line. Plus, I like doing things I'm good at, and I reckon I'm pretty good at scanning barcodes and keying in numbers -- I was professionally trained back in college, after all.

-- The Vikings were victorious yesterday, and I headed home from the cabin this morning. I got back around 1.00pm, after making a few stops, and managed to keep myself busy until the sun had gone down. I don't really like taking photos after dark and with lamps on, but this is what (part of) my living room looks like in the evening.

-- I stopped at an outlet center on my way home, and then I went to Subway for lunch. I am 99% sure that I have never, ever ordered food at a Subway (having not been to one since I was little and didn't do my own ordering). The feeling was very much the same as when I get confused and embarrassed at shops in Germany. I don't speak fast food!

-- I also went to Michael's (with a 40% off coupon) and bought a 36"x24" canvas, onto which I will Mod Podge my map of Canada (technically, it's a map of the highways of Canada and the northeast United States). A little jar of Mod Podge was $6, so I passed, knowing for sure that I already had at home either the exact same stuff or, at least, a bottle of white glue that I could water down. I'll let you guess which of those two I was able to find. Oh wait, there's a third option: neither. Arg.

-- So instead of Mod Podging, I finished piecing together the front and back of the new quilt for my bedroom. I was going to sandwich it all together tonight, but it's so big (a queen size) that I'll have to rearrange some furniture in the living room to be able to spread it out. Tomorrow. The cats are already SO EXCITED to help.

-- While I was away, it seems a new set of spammers found my blog. I moderate every comment, of course, so I just had to delete a bunch of pending comments instead of worrying that they'd already been published. What I find perplexing, though, is that 90% of the spam comments go into the normal 'pending' folder. Actual comments, however, almost always get filed away in the spam folder. And Movable Type doesn't (as far as I know) have a 'See What You're Doing? Now Do the Opposite' button. Oh, how I wish I had such a button for everyday life!

-- Also, an aside to my Twin Cities readers: I only heard from one person about getting together! Don't be scared! I was only kidding about needing you to protect me (I'm a pretty good scratcher).

Today was extremely full of good things. Here are some of them.

1. The peach jam I've been using was nice enough, but I was very happy to have a new jar of Mountain Fruit Co. raspberry jam for my English muffin today. (The table was also nice and tidy this morning, because I put all my necessary junk -- crosswords, journal, pen case, paper, etc -- in a basket, finally.)

2. I wore a dress I got on my birthday (it was $3 in Old Navy's clearance!). I obviously liked it enough to get it, but every time I had tried it on at home, I decided it wasn't what I wanted to wear out. But when I put it on today, it was suddenly super comfortable and pretty.

3. I went to the tax man. After two years of miserable tax appointments, I am very, very happy to say that I'll be getting a big refund this year! I practically went broke trying to pay my estimated taxes based on my 2008 income while earning significantly less in 2009 (not very clever, I know), but it was worth it to not have to OWE this year. Hello, savings account!

4. I treated my car to a celebratory car wash in honor of my tax refund. And not just the basic one, but The Works. With tri-color foam and everything. It was magical. I'm pretty sure everybody noticed how clean and shiny my car was on the drive home. It'll just take one more trip out in the slushy streets to get it dirty again, but it was nice to at least remove a layer of grime mid-winter.

5. I got a shelf to put in my bedroom closet, and it really helped me find a home for a lot of shirts. Organizing the bedroom still has a looong way to go, and it's like a ridiculous, nonsensical puzzle. I go through clothes, put them in piles, and some of them disappear into drawers. Then I go through everything again, put them in new piles, and more of them disappear. I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing, but it seems to be very methodical, and I'm liking the results.

6. Reading all the lovely delurking comments was excellent. I visited the sites of everybody who left a link. It was interesting to see what you guys all blog about -- lots of crafts and some foodie stuff. I'm not sure I would have been able to guess what the 'demographics' were for twelve22 in that regard; I used to be all about crafts and now... sort of a bit of everything. So, thanks to everybody who commented! Please do so again!

7. This isn't so much a good thing for today, but perhaps it could be a good thing of the future! It seems like there are at least a few fellow Minneapolitans (and St Paulites, hiss -- but this is for you, too) in this neighborhood of the blog world. I'm thinking of organizing a friendly get-together -- next week, maybe? -- either dinner one night or lunch next weekend. Local suburbanites welcome, as well. Drop me a line at anna.torborgATgmail.com. If it's a group thing, it's way less scary in a person-from-the-internet-is-going-to-kidnap-me way; we just have to make sure the goodies outnumber the baddies (and I can't run at the moment, so somebody will have to be prepared to protect me, if things get rough).

8. One last-y last good thing. I couple people mentioned my mug in last post's photo, and while it would be funnier for me if I made people continue guessing who was on it, I'll just say. It's a This American Life mug, which shows the succession of hosts into the future. It starts with Ira Glass (you can see it a bit better in this photo) and goes through various human hosts, a brief stint by a talking cat, and then a robot. You know, once humanity falls to our evil robot overlords. Best mug ever? Yeah.

Some lists for you today.

1. Food items that I wish I had a free, lifetime supply of (part of what could be a much longer list!):
-- Zevia sodas
-- perfect, tiny Honeycrisp apples
-- Whole Foods Soy Crispettes (cheddar)
-- Newman's dried mixed berries
-- Barney Butter
-- Mountain Fruit Co. jam
-- Yorkshire Gold tea
-- Nature's Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola

2. Recent occurrences that wouldn't have happened if I weren't a home-owner:
-- The new drawer organizer I bought fit perfectly in the space I had, and it made my day.
-- I listened to a friend's story about her broken oven, and when she apologized for being boring, I had to admit I found it all rather fascinating.
--I keep getting excited when I think of uses for my new vacuum: the mattresses! upholstery! the car!

3. Things I'm currently proud of:
-- I have my tax man appointment tomorrow and am 95% ready (have to double check my interest income).
-- I've been taking it easy with my injured ankle, even though it's tempting to test it, and I really want to get back to running.
-- I'm making progress with my big house overhaul, slow as it is, instead of just sitting around and wishing I'd start.
-- I'm blogging regularly.

4. Things I would like:
-- For Booty the Cat to magically gain three or four pounds.
-- For the world to just take a break from disasters for a while. It's too much. The reporting is heart-breaking.
-- For everybody reading this who has a blog to leave a comment, so I can check out your blogs, especially if you've never commented before. (You can comment if you don't have a blog, too.) Apparently today is National Delurking Day? I didn't realize that until I checked just now (but I think there are probably a few dozen 'official' delurking days).

P.S. -- I thawed out a piece of my birthday cake today. It froze amazingly well.

-- Minnie spent the night here yesterday. I made her a squeaky pillow (I'd found a plastic squeaker in the hall closet when I cleaned it) and baked dog biscuits, so I think she had an alright time. I don't think I ever explained Minnie's departure, but my parents adopted her from me in February 2008. They already had a dog that Minnie loved, and she's really a dog's dog. And I'm a cat person. So everybody was/is happy in the end.

-- I went through the clothes in my closet this evening. Well, a first pass. I think I'm going to have to go back when I'm feeling a bit more brutal, because there were several items I know I should part with, but I'm just having doubts at the moment. Honestly, I'd rather store something in a plastic bin down in the basement than have that moment where I see something cute and think, 'Oh, I used to have a [shirt/skirt/etc] just like that! Darn.'

-- Getting back to Minnie, I thought it was pretty funny how the cats behaved while she was here. They're often quite skittish at my parents' house (although that could just be because Sasha, the other dog, barks and barks and barks), even though they're fine at the cabin, so I know they don't mind being somewhere new. So maybe it's just because they were on their home turf, or maybe they even remember when Minnie lived here, but it was just no big deal. We all sat on the sofa together. When I gave Minnie her canned dog food this morning, Booty really wanted some (the cats only get wet food after [my] dinner). So he just stuck his head in the same bowl. Those crazy animals.

-- And speaking of animals, there's a new Radio Lab here, about the minds of animals. And if you've never listened to Radio Lab, and you're the sort of person who likes interesting stuff (with a science-y flavor), check out all the episodes. I particularly like the ones about music, and my friend Alex likes the episode about death.

-- I realized that finishing my big house clean-up would be a great excuse to have a small party. Like a second house warming. And maybe I can put out some of the choicest pieces of culled junk for my friends to take (assuming I find anything that fits that category). And make a cake. Presumably, setting a date for such a party would give me a deadline for the overhaul, but I don't know that I'm THAT committed -- going through every room could take some time. It's so tiring making decisions about what to keep and what to discard; I have to take lots of breaks.

-- I made bread yesterday, because I'd been thinking for days how good some toasted, homemade bread would be for breakfast. Last night, after finally doing what I needed to do to make that a reality (that is, having baked the bread), I realized I didn't want toast for breakfast. No way. I'm totally committed to oatbran and Ezekiel English muffins right now (not all in ONE breakfast, of course). So I had some toast for my afternoon snack instead. Problem solved.

-- Every few months, my next-door neighbor calls me to ask a question about the children's book she's written and is trying to get published (not by me). This is the only thing I can remember her ever calling about (which is fine), yet every time she says, 'Hi, it's your neighbor, _____,' I get that sudden called-to-the-principal's-office panic (not that I was ever called to the principal's office). What have I done? Did I shovel my part of the sidewalk the wrong way?

-- I've been trying to get several books ready for print, which means lots of time spent finishing off covers. I generally do just the front cover of a book ahead of time, for catalogues and such, and then do the full cover -- spine and back -- nearer to print time. So that's what I was doing. And as I finished with the third cover, I realized that all those current books are horror and/or fantasy. And I had a private cackle of glee, because how awesome is it that I design covers for those sorts of books?

-- I recently figured out how to make iTunes fetch album artwork (yeah, yeah, yeah -- I hadn't actually TRIED before), and I just used the little Apple remote to make my iMac play music, so now it's displaying the album cover. Classy. I haven't figured out, though, how to make my iPod sync up and fetch the new artwork, short of first deleting the music from the iPod and then reloading it (which would be a pain, since I don't have my entire library on the iPod).

-- Having the album artwork on my iPod is important, by the way, for when I'm at the gym. Because when I casually choose a new song as I run, I want people to glance over and think, 'Hey, she's listening to The Jam while she works out. She's so cool.' Then they will not notice my red face or judge the speed at which I'm running. Everybody wins. Especially The Jam.

-- I miss the gym and the rich fantasy life I have regarding what goes on in the minds of everybody there. Is my ankle better yet?

-- Sometimes I can't decide what to have for my afternoon snack, and when oatmeal pops into my mind, I think, 'Oh, can't have that -- that's what I had for breakfast.' It just seems wrong to eat the same thing twice in one day. Luckily, I did not have oatmeal for breakfast today! My snack oatmeal was particularly good, too. Yum.

-- My ankle is feeling a bit better today. It doesn't really hurt much anymore (although, that's exactly what I would have said a week ago, right before it got a lot worse), but it's still slightly swollen and feels a bit 'funny'. I was adding new songs to my 'running' playlist, which meant trying to imagine running, to see if each song was high-energy enough, and I could tell that my ankle wasn't up for even imaginary running. And that's the latest in AnkleWatch 2010.

-- I did some stuff with weights and my arms this morning, and I'm already starting to feel it. That's not so much down to my killer workout as it is to the feebleness of my arms. I wish I weren't so afraid of the great unknown that is the weight machine section of my gym. I miss the gym (not really). I miss running (yes, really). Sad face.

-- I tried sleeping with the wave sounds last night, and I'm not completely sold on it. The pros are that A) I don't have a fan blowing (at the wall, this time of year), which I'm sure kicks up dust that irritates the inside of my head and B) the clock radio is on my nightstand, which means I can turn the noise off when I wake up without having to get up first. So I can lie in bed until I'm ready to face the world. The main con is that there's a loose connection somewhere inside the clock radio, and you have to get it set up just right so that there won't be any static. And even then, I keep listening to hear if there's any trace of static... instead of falling asleep. I would say that I slept decently last night more in spite of the waves than thanks to them. But I'm going to give it another shot. And maybe try to fix the connection, at some point.

-- And finally, the Zevia soda winners! I used random.org to generate three numbers; the first was the 'grand prize' winner, and the second two were the... other winners. Annnnd, the winners were BreAnna, who will be getting an entire case of Zevia soda -- a four-pack of each amazing flavour; Dawn and Christine will each be getting a mixed six-pack, with one can of each variety. Winners, I've e-mailed you for details. Thanks to everybody who commented! I hope you can find Zevia wherever you are and give it a try. Seriously worth it!

-- I went for a walk yesterday, because it was just so beautiful outside (I took this photo on the parkway at the end of my block). Unfortunately, it was also really cold (just under 10F), so I didn't even make it a mile from my house before I decided to turn back in consideration of not freezing my legs off. The sun felt nice, though.

-- I still haven't gone running since I hurt my ankle; I thought I might today, but it was a little sore when I woke up. I haven't started going too stir-crazy yet, but it's been over a week since I ran, and I'm missing it. The effects of running regularly are sort of like what I imagine a successful course of ECT must be like: I can still think of the various worries I had before, but they just don't make me anxious anymore.

-- Before I set out on my walk yesterday, I pulled on an extra pair of Smart Wool socks, so I was wearing one medium-weight pair and one heavy-weight. (If you know Smart Wool socks, you'll know that that's some serious some-wearing. If you don't know about Smart Wool, and if you've ever had chilly feet, you really should check them out. They'll change your life.) Of course, I forgot I was wearing two pairs of socks when I got back, so I wore them the rest of the day. I also found a really nice North Face stocking cap when I was looking through boxes for something else, so I wore that all evening yesterday. My house is the fashion capital of North Minneapolis.

-- Since the New Year is always a chance to spend two and a half weeks being organized and productive, I made a little weekly planner PDF for myself to print out. I keep a daily journal (mostly a record of what I've done, after the fact) and have a year-at-a-glance calendar on my fridge, but I like having a disposable sheet to organize my thoughts and tasks. Since it was already all PDF'ed, I thought I'd make it available, if anybody needs something similar. This is a lo-res jpeg of the colour version, so you can see what it looks like. You can right-click and download the colour PDF here or go for the basic black-and-white version here. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

-- Don't forget to sign up for the Zevia give-away! You've gotta be in it to win it.

-- Whew, what a week! Tuesday was my birthday; Wednesday was spent finishing up the last of my presents and then wrapping them; Thursday was Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family; Friday was Christmas with my parents; and yesterday was Christmas/Boxing Day with my dad's side. That's a bit too much holidaying!

-- I had one of my best birthdays ever this year. My cake went together without much fuss (that's it above, and here it is pre-cutting -- it's 'German Coconut', with filling/icing made using this recipe; the coconut cake itself isn't worth making again), and then I spent the day with my mom, eating good food, getting massages, and finding ridiculously good deals at Old Navy. AND I received two packages with products for review -- Zevia Sodas and Newman's Own Organics. More on that at a later date.

-- One of my birthday presents was a little Sony point-and-shoot. I had an Olympus that I really liked until it mysteriously stopped working after six months. Now I can take photos when I'm out and about without having to lug around my SLR, which isn't always convenient. And the new camera takes nice photos.

-- It started snowing on Thursday and didn't really let up until Saturday evening. And then it snowed a bit more today. Since the cats and I had packed up and were at my parents' for three days, that meant I had to shovel all the snow this morning. Luckily, thankfully, some kind neighbour had done my front path, so I only had to worry about the back path and the driveway. It took about an hour, but it was sunny, around 20F (which isn't too bad, don'tyaknow), and I had a new Elvis Costello album on my iPod. Snowy.

-- The bad news with the snow was that I had to hop through it while packing up the car on Christmas Eve, and I managed to hurt my ankle. I didn't even land on it very hard or twist it much, but I knew I'd landed wrong as soon as it happened, and it's been bothering me ever since. It's nearly back to normal now, but it gets achy every few hours. I've been slightly distressed, because I've been enjoying running lately, and I don't this to mess it up.

-- Christmas itself was very enjoyable. My dad's side of the family usually celebrates in the afternoon/evening, but the gathering was pushed to Boxing Day, due to the snow. So my parents and I (and the cats and their dogs) did our usual thing in the morning (presents, brunch) and then lazed around for the rest of the day. I read comics and drank tea out of my new favourite mug, which I got from my aunt on Christmas Eve (which is when my mom's side of the family gathers). Perfect.

-- Even though I only turned one year older last week, it seems to have had a dramatic effect. After I got home yesterday, I kept thinking about how I could assemble and use my new vacuum in the morning and then clean the floors with my new slippers. I think I might have had my most excited reaction to opening that particular gift. I hadn't even asked for them, because how could I have ever imagine such perfection existed?

-- Happy Sunday! I don't go to the gym very often on the weekends, but I had running dreams the past two nights (not running away dreams, which are more frequent, annoyingly), so I packed myself up and got on a treadmill today. And it was pretty awesome. One of my strange running habits is that I 'chew' half a piece of minty gum the entire time. It keeps my mouth and throat from drying out, which is really bothersome otherwise. And the mint makes me run faster. (Not really.)

-- It seems like there's been a lot of hype about 'the week before Christmas' this year. Or I've noticed it more, at least. There have been more big sales and people saying, 'What are you doing the week(end) before Christmas?' Maybe it's just because the holiday is on a Friday this year, but so help me, if Christmas starts to take over the entire week beforehand (and, thus, my birthday), I will start my own personal war on the holiday.

--Speaking of Christmas-week rivalry, I've been monitoring the forecast and have started a competition between my birthday and Jesus' supposed birthday. At the moment, he's got about three degrees on me, but I have SUNSHINE. Nobody's going to notice 25F versus 28F, but that sun won't go unappreciated. Take that.

-- I was thinking the other day about super powers, except not the usual kind (flying, time-travel, invisibility, etc). More like mundane super powers. Some of my top choices are as follows:

1) The ability to blink and be dressed in the morning. I hate having to get out from under the covers and then pull on a sweatshirt, etc. Those fifteen seconds that my arms are uncovered are the worst.

2) The ability to magically transport my kitchen garbage to the bin outside. Even better would be the ability to turn all my trash into pure energy, which I could then use to power my home.

3) The ability to broadcast my thoughts through the radios of other people's cars. Then I could say, 'Thanks,' or, 'Whoops!' or, 'For the love of god, drive faster!' And scare the crap out of people.

-- Okay, that photo is actually of yesterday's breakfast. There's nothing like a Sunday morning.

-- Alex and I distributed gingerbread cookies to her happy coworkers today. Everybody was particularly excited about the MPR station map cookies I made, which was a relief. It could have gone either way: kitschy and funny or lame and pathetic. I did it with the former in mind.

-- Generally speaking, people just love a Minnesota-shaped cookie. It's a delicious state.

-- I used the box that my MacBook came in to transport the cookies (in the three layers). As somebody said, 'That's the second best thing that can come in a MacBook box!' I kept the first. (A couple of years ago; I didn't just get a new laptop or anything.)

-- I packed my gym bag and brought it with me, so I could have a run after my cookie elf duties. New socks! New gym shorts! New shirt! New headband to hold back my bangs! It should have been the best gym day ever, thanks to my Target shopping this weekend, but I forgot to pack one key element. Let it suffice to say that I had to stick to incline walking instead of running. And it wasn't my shoes.

-- This afternoon, I didn't have very much yogurt left for my usual snack, so I mixed in some applesauce. It wasn't bad, but it was very strange. Is it dairy? Is it fruit? Unidentifiable!

-- I finished watching the first season of How I Met Your Mother (I stretched it out to three whole days!). I was saying yesterday that it was laughable to think of the characters as being my age, both because of the way the behave and the obscene amounts of money they seem to drop on a whim. But I was listening to the actor commentary tonight, and I realized I could imagine a group of my friends sounding pretty similar. I guess real people are just less fake.

-- When I came home today, the cats were asleep on the sofa. Booty greeted me, but Beany kept sleeping, even though I called her name about five times. It wasn't until I moved my desk chair that she woke up; I guess that's what it took to alert her to the fact that her environment had changed. I like to think that's because my voice just wove itself into her subconscious. She probably dreams about me nagging her.

Some odds and ends that don't deserve their own posts:

-- I don't really get a runner's 'high'. Instead, after a good run, I get runner's exhaustion, where both my brain and body are just about as relaxed as they possibly could be. It's just as good as a high, I would say, because everything just seems quieter. I do, however, get a slow drip of delicious endorphins throughout the day, so I wind up being inexplicably content with life.

-- Honey Smacks are pretty great. I don't think I could eat a bowl of them for breakfast (might as well eat a candy bar, for all the sugar they're covered in), but I do enjoy them. I'm tempted to buy plain puffed wheat (or rice or millet -- or combine them all!) and try to make my own with actual honey or agave or something a bit less HFCS-y.

-- I've got a couple free passes for a particular movie theater, and I'm greedily thinking of using them both on my own. I don't go to movies very often, because I get bored sitting around, but my casual perusing of recent movie listings has made me realize something. When I watch a movie on my own (usually on an airplane), I more often than not gravitate towards foreign or independent films, the kind that leave me thinking afterward. But I'd never want to see that sort of movie with somebody else. I don't have any conclusions to draw from that, except to point out that I also listen to public radio while I'm alone, but I can't imagine having it on if somebody were over (even if we weren't speaking).

-- I rarely raise my voice with my cats (although Beany does sometimes need a bit of yelling at when she's 'knowingly' done something really, really bad), and I never hurt them, yet somehow they're really obedient. I mean, obedient for cats. Booty sleeps on the sitting part of the sofa half the time (and on the back of the sofa the other half), and if I want to sit down, all I have to do is politely say 'excuse me', and he moves. Clearly I exude calm, assertive energy, or whatever it is that makes cats think you're in charge (control of the food supply, probably).

-- I eat ice cream most nights of the week, because I've found that doing so is one of the keys to a happy life. My current flavour of choice is Edy's (Dreyer's in other parts of the country) Mint Cookie Crunch. Since I go through a carton of it every week or so, I'm well aware of its place in the freezer case at my local supermarket. So imagine my horror when I cracked open a new container the other day to realize I'd bought Mint Chocolate Chip by accident. I blame the stockists. And if you're thinking there can't possibly be that much difference between the two flavours, you're mistaken. Mint Cookie Crunch is like the magical love child of Mint Chocolate Chip (which is okay, except for the horrible chocolate chips that just get all jammed up in your teeth) and Cookies 'n' Cream. I can't actually think of anything that could make it better than it already is. I suffered through two days of the impostor mint ice cream before admitting defeat and going back for the real deal.

-- Beany is such a funny cat. Sometimes she leaps straight up into the air because the urge strikes. And if I stand at the window and call, 'Beany, Beany!' in an urgent voice, she dutifully comes running, already excited about what must be outside. She was the one who spotted our bunny friend outside today, though -- that's what she's watching above. Every time I empty a roughly cat-sized container of something, I put it on the floor for Beany. She's so predictable.

-- I finally finished the knitted fox I started making years ago. Literally years ago; I made the first 1.5 pieces while I was still living in London. I lost interest until a few weeks back, and it didn't take long once I really made an effort. The pattern is from Lucinda Guy's And So to Bed. The only problem is that it's grey and only slightly smaller than Beany, so I had a bit of a boggle earlier today when I looked into the living room and saw two Beanys by the coffee table. I'll have to lock it away. But I'll try to take a photo first.

-- And on the topic of 'finally', I also finally roasted the pumpkins from my garden. I grew three, but I think I mentioned that one of them was rotten inside. It was easy to tell when I picked it; it was much lighter than the others. I carved that one for Halloween, but the others have been sitting around looking autumnal for weeks and weeks. But I want to decorate for the winter holidays, so the pumpkins had to go. This is what the big one looked like chopped in half. I roasted the pumpkins, then peeled them (pretty easy once they're cooked), then mashed them with a potato masher, and THEN I pureed the mash in the blender. I got eleven cups of puree from that one and five from the smaller pumpkin, so sixteen cups in total! I've been draining it through cheesecloth for a few hours, though, and I've removed about 2.5 cups of liquid already, so it won't be quite that much in the end. Once it's drained, I'll freeze it in one-cup portions for baking.

-- I've got total day confusion. Last night I felt like I should be getting ready for the week to begin, and I have the same feeling right now. I keep remembering that tomorrow is only Sunday, which means I've been celebrating every half hour or so. Sundays are the best!

-- I made some good headway on my to-do list today. I had to go out in the afternoon to buy a radiator key (I love Ace Hardware) and pick up a few groceries, and I really had my heart set on a store-bought cookie for my afternoon snack. The supermarket was all out of their individual bakery case ones, so I wound up buying a package of Pepperidge Farm chewy chocolate chip cookies. Even though I enjoyed them, they were so (too) sweet and insubstantial feeling; I was sure I'd have a sugar crash after about an hour. But no -- I was fine until dinner. Hooray.

-- Then, come dinner-time, I was all set to have a big baked potato with cottage cheese. But my potato was green; I'm sure it wasn't green in the store a few days ago! Luckily, I had 1.5 smaller sweet potatoes (I only need half of one the other day), so I almost had what I wanted. Maybe it's the running or the changing of the seasons, but I've been craving more carbs and protein and less raw veg, and I'm going with it. I have however, also been wanting loads of broccoli cooked until it's falling apart, which I've been eating at both lunch and dinner the past few days. But raw veg is making me feel a bit bleurg right now. Go figure.

-- I've been trying to bleed my radiators, but I have a feeling this could take weeks. Air seems to escape for about thirty seconds, and then nothing happens. No leaking water, and the tops of the radiators still stay cold when the heat it on. If I wait and try again, I can get more air to come out, but only ever for about thirty seconds. Curse you, radiators that I otherwise love! (I only have two old-fashioned radiators; the rest of the house has baseboard radiant heat.)

-- I watched a History Channel program on Ben Franklin last night (on Hulu), and I learned about, for the first time, the glass armonica. Holy wow! That's the best thing I've ever seen.

-- One of my at-home chores was to tidy up the guest room, which had become cluttered with various homeless bits and pieces. It wasn't a huge task, but I was glad to get it done, because it meant I could leave the door open to let air flow in there (it's one of the rooms with the old-fashioned radiators, so it's been chilly). I keep a bedsheet over the guest bed, so the cats won't get hair on the quilt and pillows, but twice I discovered Beany curled up UNDER the sheet (she loves being under blankets). And then, when I was in the living room, I heard a crash and discovered that she'd climbed on top of the big cabinets in there and knocked down the one model horse I have on display (my favourite, of course) and broke one of its legs. Why? She's a bad, bad, wicked cat.

-- I've had the most vivid dreams the past couple of nights, the kind where the events and feelings linger with you the whole day. I think it might be due to taking Benedryl before bed. I get most allergy-y at night, and I also like the knocking-out effect of Benedryl, but I might have to go without tonight. Not because of the dreams (which were actually nice, and I'm feeling rather wistful about them), but because it makes me feel sluggish when I'm trying to get ready for the gym after breakfast. If it's not one thing, it's the other.

-- A couple people commented recently about my zipper tutorial. I'm not sure what happened, but the 'Continue reading...' link managed to bust itself; even though I could see that it was still there in the 'extended' part of the entry, it wasn't displaying. So the tutorial was moved to the main body of that post, which should still be at the same address as always (which is here). I should make a special button for it on the sidebar, as it's far and away the most frequently followed link to this site. People love learning how to put in a zipper! For now, you can just search for it by using the new search feature.

-- And I really like that feature, by the way. I mean, I've always been able to search my own entries through Movable Type, but it's nice that other people can too now. I tested it out by searching for 'cats', but it turns out that I mention cats in almost every post, so it didn't really prove anything.

-- I realized today that my itchy finger stopped itching. I don't think it's itched for two or three days now. Gone as quickly as it arrived. What was that?

-- I found a plugin and related widget to manage links on the sidebar, so links are back. As I was tagging links so they'd automatically fall under the proper category, I was realizing how many blogs are sort of multi-purpose. A bit like this one, I guess. Even though certain blogs are under 'crafty', they're just as likely to be 'foodie', maybe. It's either a sign that certain bloggers have been around long enough to garner an audience that's interested it whatever they say... or that they've been around long enough to cease to care about 'focus'. I never claimed to care in the first place!

-- I think our streak of warm, sunny November days will come to an end tomorrow. It was nice while it lasted. I caught the sunset above a little while before I started making dinner. The short days get us all every year (and it's disappointing to not have the light to take dinner photos), but they're not so bad when the light bit has been particularly bright.

-- I came back from running errands today to find the cats all snuggled up on the sofa. They always get along, but they don't really have much reason to get close until it starts getting cooler outside. Then they ramp up the cuteness. Beany is like a real-life Japanese cartoon, no? So happy!

-- Why does it take forever to build up endurance for running, but then if you, like, eat a leisurely breakfast and get to the gym five minutes later than usual, you've lost it all? I've also realized that the 'reward' for doing well during a run (while in the process of rebuilding endurance) is having to run even further the next time. Sounds like punishment to me! Clearly, I have a love-hate relationship with running. Except by 'love', I mean 'casual interest'.

-- Speaking of the gym, though, ever since I started going again, I've been sleeping an obscene number of hours every night. Obviously, I've just jinxed it, but it was nice while it lasted.

-- Since Beany's Cat-A-Wheel is currently stationed next to the end of the sofa, sometimes she sits inside and we play a game not unlike 'chicken'. I rest my chin on the arm of the couch and we stare at each other -- rather intensely -- until her pupils completely black out the irises of her eyes. That's always the point where I back away, because I know what happens when she goes all saucer-eyed, and I rather like having my face attached to the front of my head. In one piece.

-- One of my fingers is itchy. A lame thing to complain about, I know, but it itches! I've inspected it and can see no cause (apart from the constant scratching). I tried cortisone cream, to no avail, so I think the next step is a string that I'll tighten every day until the offending finger is no longer a concern. It's not like it's a thumb or pointer or anything.

-- One more cat story. They're not usually allowed in the bedrooms, but every so often I'll let them in when I wake up, so we can loll around and have a cuddle. I must have accidentally done this two days in a row, because every morning this week, Beany has been waiting expectantly outside my door when I open it. I haven't let her in, because I don't like to encourage pushiness, but I wish I could use her memory for useful things. I have a cup of coffee every morning; can't she learn to make it for me?

-- So, the internet claims the Zeilgalerie has been around since 1992, but I never noticed it until this year. Maybe it was always behind a particularly large bit of the scaffolding that seems to migrate down and around but never leaves the Zeil, which is the main drag for chain-store shopping in Frankfurt. I'm glad I went in, though, because it's a stunning building. I come from a land where we put rollercoasters inside our malls, and I was still impressed. It's a bit dizzy-making, though. [I noticed a few days later, as Janet also pointed out, that this is the 'MyZeil' mall, and it did actually just open this year!]

-- I went to get dinner for take-away this evening at the same local kebab place I had my falafel sandwich the other day. That was the only other time I'd been there, but the same guy was working, and he remembered to speak to me in English (by his own volition; I didn't refuse to speak German, or anything). Makes a person feel like a regular. I'm probably one of very few Americans wearing a stripy scarf and constantly carrying a Kleenex, though. Memorable.

-- I've been sharing my hotel-apartment with Mister Legs, a spider with a tiny body, but with probably a good three-inch leg span (at least!). He hung out by the curtains for most of our time together (on the ceiling), and then one day appeared in the corner of a room, then a different one, and now... I'm not sure where he is. I'd be more comfortable if I DID know, but I'm feeling surprisingly nonchalant about it. That is, until sometime in the future, when I realize he's RIGHT... BEHIND... ME! (I saved you the trouble, Rob.)

-- I wasn't so impressed with the hotel breakfast at first (and I didn't have the time when the bookfair was on), but I've been going every day this week. Partly because I can have a tiny glass of orange juice AND free coffee, but also because the lady brings me a perfectly soft-boiled egg. They have never before been a part of my life, but now I'm considering staying here just for the eggs. Or maybe I'll hire her to be my live-in egg chef. Or maybe I'll just start making my own. Part of the enjoyment is the luxury of them simply appearing five minutes after I sit down, though.

-- I have kept absolutely no sort of schedule while I've been here, as far as when I sleep. Actually, apart from the few nights when I woke up at 3:00 in the morning, I've usually slept until 6:00-7:00am most days. But I'm pretty sure that lights-out has ranged from 10:30-1:30. That's not really of any interest, except that it's about a quarter after 10:00 right now, and I'm thinking, 'Hm, I could go to bed in just a little while. Or stay up for a few hours.' It hard to know if you're tired without some sort of reliable routine!

-- After staying indoors yesterday, I was ready to get out and make the most of my Wednesday. I went to Mainz and Wiesbaden and really did have a pretty good day. I finally made it to the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz; I guess I've only ever been there on Mondays in the past, when most museums are closed. It was interesting, and now I know that they keep their Gutenberg Bible collection in a giant vault. With some biiig doors.

-- I'd been looking for a camera bag for some time, and I hadn't been able to find a ready-made one that was just-right enough to justify spending money, but I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to make my own, with all the padding and zips I'd want. So when I saw this one in a camera store in Mainz on Monday, I was tempted to buy it, but everybody knows it's dumb to buy something in Europe if the same thing is sold in the US (it's always more expensive here). Some internet searching led me to believe that that particular Crumpler bag is actually only sold in Germany, though, so I excitedly purchased it this morning (in white, and NOT for 50 euros, thankfully). It's just what I wanted -- something made for a camera, with no extra 'bag' to weigh me down, yet with enough space for my wallet, keys, etc. Perfekt.

-- I also had a much less stressful conversation with the camera shop salesperson, as I first asked if I could try out the bag with my own camera and then apologized for my German being so horrible (in German, of course -- I might sound like an idiot, but I did study the language for seven years, so it's not like I can't speak at all). He simply said, 'Kein Problem!' and that was that. He still had to put up with my butchering, and I had to ask him to repeat things, but at least my crapness was out in the open. A life lesson, that.

-- Wiesbaden sure is a pretty town. It's hard to know where to start; there's a lot to look at. Mainz and Wiesbaden are situated on opposite sides of the Rhein, and I think Mainz will always be first in my heart. I had the absolute delight of chatting with somebody who's currently living in Mainz (though she's originally from further north in Germany) while I was at the bookfair, and when we were talking about the area, she gave a little eyeroll when she said, 'Wiesbaden' -- just as I would when talking about 'St Paul'. Like, 'Man, those guys are weird over there!' Maybe it's just because I come from a river-divided metro area, but I find mock rivalries like that very funny and charming. Wiesbaden, indeed.

-- I bought some organic applesauce the other day, and when I had some for the second time this evening, I had to check the ingredients. It's made of only apples, but the texture is so unlike any applesauce I've ever had; I would have sworn it contained... agar or something. It's just a bit too smooth and silky. I had to stand in the kitchen and perform scientific evaluations of it by the spoonful, straight from the jar. You know me: anything for science.

-- Bookfair is over! Holiday is go! Hey, everybody, let's get sick! Dang it. I still headed into Mainz today for a nice walk around and a look at the shops. I need more money, is what I've decided. I don't know why Rob won't play the lottery with me (now you have to imagine me with a jabby stick, with which to further annoy Rob).

-- I had this Apfel Kolatsche for my afternoon snack, and it was a bit decadent, if you ask me. But why come to Germany if you're going to agonize over every pile of sugar and butter you put into your body, right? The base wasn't really sweet, and it had apples on it, so it was pretty much fruit on toast. And I hear streusel is packed with vitamins. You might remember that I'm particular about plates and dishes (but not in an obnoxious way -- oh no!), and while the tea cup I've been supplied with is rather nice, the one water glass in the cupboard seems a bit dodgy. So I've been drinking water from a newly-empty yogurt jar. Bonus -- just add the lid, and it becomes a travel mug!

-- Speaking of yogurt, I became overwhelmed with choice at the Biomarkt this afternoon. I finally settled on date+nuts (I can't remember what kind of nut, and I'm sick, so I can't be bothered to get up and walk fifteen feet to the kitchen). A special flavour for autumn! I also grabbed some veggie Schnitzel and veggie Frankfurters, the latter of which tastes almost exactly like a tofu-dog, except with a different sort of smokiness. Not bad.

-- The unfortunate thing about being in Germany is that I become an idiot. My grasp of the language is so poor-to-mediocre that even when I can stumble my way through the first two-thirds of a conversation, I wind up completely bombing after thirty seconds and have to end with a wide-eyed, confused (and mostly terrified) look. And, of course, everything I do manage to say doesn't make me sound like a genius, either. I get a little better every year, but spending only 1/26 of my time in Germany (and a good portion of THAT in an English-speaking fair hall) doesn't exactly keep me sharp.

-- And since I mentioned the fair, I might as well say that it went alright. It was very slow, but I met some new folks and had a few good walk-by's (people stopping at the stand without a meeting). But mainly I thought Big Thoughts and learned a lot that I wouldn't have otherwise done had I not gone. And, I hate to say it, but I might have had a bit of useful networking after-hours (I have traditionally not been a schmoozer). One big do was up the top of a posh hotel, and I remembered to bring my camera this year. Not a bad view, eh?

-- I expanded my group of Frankfurt friends this year when I got invited along to dinner with several people who work for various image libraries. I know, right: what are the odds of me getting along with men and women who've chosen to work with photos for a living? But they were indeed a lovely bunch of people. I also spent time with friends from previous years, including Gwyn, whom I never once made a sandwich for, despite his inviting me along to various enjoyable dinners. To make up for my lack of gratitude, you should visit the very best open access picture library and engage in some image-based commerce.

-- Time now to make myself a cup of tea and focus on killing germs (whilst lounging in a suitably on-holiday manner). To the kettle!

I've been busy tending to all the things that don't really need doing around here. I used to be one of those people who would start packing two weeks before a trip, but these days I seem to wait until the last minute. Instead, I've been doing a bit of sewing in my spare time.

I rearranged the living room, as you know, part of which was swapping a bookcase for a bench to hold my turntable. Now one doesn't have to magically know where the buttons are as one reaches under a shelf to play a record (although that did keep people from wandering into my house and messing with my vinyl). Look how festive, with the pumpkin. I have to put the grilles back on the speakers, but they need to be de-cat-fluffed first. Speaking of, Beany quite successfully snuck into every photo I took of my living room this morning. But then I had to redo this one, by which point she'd fallen asleep elsewhere.

One of my sewing projects was this quilt, which developed from a few needs -- the need for something better to keep cat hair off the back of the sofa, the 'need' for something autumnal, and the, well, desire to not finish a patchwork project that I'd started a while ago. I had cut and pieced together some strips, planning on making a throw blanket, but I quickly grew bored with it So it wasn't TOO much additional work to turn it into a long, narrow, sofa-back cover.

I also have been working on dresses/tops here and there recently. I made this one a few weeks back, although it's probably my least favourite of the Japanese patterns I've tried out. You can read my various complaints on flickr, but mainly it just comes down to it being too 'cute' for me. I like this one much more, though. I think I have fairly narrow shoulders, in relation to my other dimensions, and both of these recent dresses fit 'just so' with the sleeve placement -- better than most store-bought clothes, and I'm not even having to tailor it to myself. Obviously, I like to wear dresses over jeans; I think people generally fall into two camps (love it or think it's stupid), but you can politely keep it to yourself if you're not a fan.

I suppose that now I've run out of things to sew, I should start thinking about packing. Although I still don't have the perfect camera bag...

-- If you've been wondering where I disappeared to, you can blame Lost (as I am doing). Where there used to be a neat little timeslot in my evenings for updating, it now seems like the perfect opportunity to squeeze in another episode.

-- I rearranged some furniture the other day, so now the sofa is in front of the small living room window. It always seems wrong to block a window, even if it's only the bottom ten inches or so, but it's really the only wall I can put the couch against. As wrong as it might be to put furniture in front of a window, it's even more wrong to put it in front of a door. I moved my big bookcases out of the living room for the first time, and put them in the piano room. They sort of dominate, but at least the room feels less like a glorified hallway now.

-- I roasted the smallest of my butternut squashes on Monday -- I've missed the smell of roasting squash! The butternuts will probably wind up being eaten in various savoury dishes, but I'll puree the pumpkins for pies and bread.

-- We've had nothing but gloomy weather lately (with the pleasant exception of today), and there was pretty solid rain on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday morning, I was lying in bed when I became aware of a dripping noise somewhere above me. It sounded like droplets of water falling into a little puddle. As the day went on, the dripping stopped, but one of the seams in the sheetrock ceiling became discoloured along the edges of the tape, and there was a small but definite water mark. I used a big needle today to pierce a hole between the two pieces of sheetrock, in case there was standing water up above, but it seems dry now. Not at all ironically, this is happening right where there was a crack in the original ceiling (you might remember we replaced it after I moved in). Sigh.

-- Anyway, enough with you guys. I have Lost to watch!

-- I was struck with a need to make gingerbread yesterday. I'm sure something must have set it off, but I'm not sure what. So in between doing other things, I whipped some up this morning. I used this recipe, sorta, except with a handful of changes. I only did half a batch (one loaf pan), subbed in strong coffee for the stout, did half oil and half applesauce, omitted the cardamom -- oh, and I didn't actually boil the molasses mixture, but the coffee came straight from my Bialetti, so it was already hot. I also put in half a cup of raisins (whatever had been telling me to make gingerbread in the first place also wanted raisins in it -- weird, right?), but unfortunately, I tossed them into the flour mixture before I stirred it in with the rest of the ingredients, so I didn't realize how thin the batter would be (very thin!). Needless to say, the raisins all sunk to the bottom, and a lot of them stuck to the pan after baking. Whoops. The flavour combo (of the raisins that DID stay in the gingerbread), though, is just as I had hoped. I'm putting it in the 'win' column.

-- So, Rio gets the 2016 games. I can understand why it's exciting for a country/city to host the Olympics... the attention, the boost to the economy, etc. But I find it hard to believe that anybody LIVING in a candidate city thinks it's a great idea. I mean, obviously, lots of people do, but all I remember about the campaign for the 2012 Olympics in London was complaining. Stratford, which is the main location for the London games, was between where I lived and where I worked in London, and I am soooo glad to have got out before the craziness hit. But, you know, good for Rio.

-- I discovered this TV show that I think might really take off: Lost. Have you heard of it? Ha! I've been steadfastly refusing to watch for the past five years, or whatever (actually, I did try watching it when it first premiered but couldn't get into it). And I had been tempted to check it out when they put it on Hulu, but I wasn't ready to travel down that rabbit hole. Well, I finally bit the bullet, and it's sucked me in. I'm a Mac user; I'm watching Lost -- what's next on the list of popular culture that I've been denying myself? Will I go out of the house wearing leggings and no skirt? (Answer: NO.)

-- Back to the gingerbread: it's funny how, as it was baking and the aroma was filling the house, I skipped over autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving and immediately jumped to feeling Christmas-y. Molasses and ginger are powerful ingredients! I still can't believe we got gypped of pleasant, mid-60F weather, though. The high today is in the 40s. I might as well start singing Christmas carols, I guess (as if I ever stop).

-- I went up to Sandstone today with a couple of friends, hoping to get our 'October Fest' on. Well, they clearly stuck with the 'c' and kept it two words to denote the lack of true Oktoberfest spirit, because it was kind of a let down. But we had A) tasty diner lunch, B) a walk around the town, C) a look at the Hinckley flea market, and D) a visit to Tobies for bread purchasing. Oh, and we got to see my parents' new propane tank!

-- We checked out the old Sandstone school again, because I recently learned that it's being offered for $55,000, although there will be a couple million bucks' worth of renovations required. You can see through the window how the paint is just peeling away. The hardwood floors in the classrooms and gymnasium have buckled, and the entire third story is covered in insulation (on the floor), from an attempt to cut heating costs to the rest of the building some time ago. There's mold everywhere inside and (probably) many leaks. So, pretty much a wreck, but it's so beautiful from the outside. Sigh.

-- I was sitting on my sofa earlier this evening, and the lilacs just outside the window were filled with shouting sparrows. I hadn't really noticed how loud they were until they all suddenly stopped. I guess a hawk must have flown by, because it was as though somebody had just pulled the plug. Except for one little extra peep, and then some shushing. (I may have imagined the shushing.)

-- I can't remember what my last item was going to be. But I'm very pleased that tomorrow will be Sunday. The newspaper comes, which means I can peruse the ads and get the answers to the last few clues I missed from last week's crossword. I can drink coffee and do whatever I want all day long. Which is more or less true about any other day of the week, but it's better when it's on a Sunday.

-- When I went to my parents' yesterday afternoon to pick up the rose plant, I'd been instructed (via e-mail) to take some of the zucchini bread 'butts' that were wrapped up on the counter. (The middles had gone to work with my mom.) I don't know if other people do this, but that's how we refer to the semi-undesirable, leftover part of anything. Like a cigarette butt, I guess. Just don't go to Red Lobster and complain to the waiter that you've been given 'crab butts', when really Dungeness crab legs are just a lot smaller than snow crab's. That's one of my clearest memories of eating out as a child. (It wasn't me who did the complaining, of course.)

-- I've been doing laundry all day. All day. As I brought a load up an hour ago, I realized I'd put the first one in twelve hours previously. Okay, so I haven't been very attentive to switching machines and bringing stuff up, but that's still a long time. I'm bored with it. But my sheets will be so cleeeean tonight!

-- Halfway through my laundering marathon, a man from the gas company came by to do a routine safety check of the meter. As I was leading him downstairs, I suddenly became very conscious of how I duck every time I pass under the point where the high stairwell ceiling becomes the regular basement ceiling. Then I thought that it was probably silly to do so; I'm not THAT tall. But I checked later, and I definitely would bean the top of my head if I didn't duck. There's no point to my telling you this, but these are the valuable experiments that working from home affords.

-- I took two Benadryl last night before I went to bed, and I slept blissfully, from about 12:30 until... 9:00? I can't remember; I had a Benadryl hangover. I'm tempted to do the same tonight, but I have to leave for the Sandstone Octoberfest at 9:30 tomorrow, so I should wake up at a reasonable time. Both friends I'm going with said, 'Sure, 9:30! I'm an early riser! No problem!' This is a very strange reversal of roles for me, suddenly being the one who wants to sleeps in (especially when I made the schedule). I'll set my alarm for 8:00 and therefore wake up at 5:30. Considering that, I suppose I should probably go to bed soon.

-- I've finally got a rose bush for my garden! My mom picked this up on deep discount -- a Sven shrub rose, one of three hardy cultivars produced by the University of Minnesota. The others are Ole and Lena, obviously.

-- Yesterday, I ate the second (of two) apples that grew on my tree this year. Even aside from the expected bias towards one's own garden produce, I have to say it was an amazing apple. I can't wait for more apples next year!

-- Jean's lists (in the comments on yesterday's post) reminded me that I would also take language classes if I could afford it. Heck, I'd take half the community ed classes if I had the money. Not only would a be rich (in this hypothetical reality), I'd also be frighteningly skilled and well educated. Intimidating.

-- I made Susan's baba ganoush today. It uses less tahini than a lot of recipes, but I think it's amazingly smooth and rich -- but I would recommend starting with half the salt and garlic called for and adding more as you want it. I didn't weigh my eggplants, but I used two medium ones, which I thought should be enough, and it's off-puttingly garlicky, even when I don't have to be around anybody else. I think I'll blend in some silken tofu to take it down a notch.

-- I learned today that the clusters of seeds in a roasted eggplant will seriously very nearly make me heave. I don't even like thinking about it. I am a bit weird about seeds (not the seeds that you plant, so much); even a blob of semi-dried tomato seeds on a cutting board is a bit off-putting. Most seeds are alright, but it's when lots of little ones gather together that's the worst. I don't know what it is, really. It makes me think of insect eggs or spores or... bleeeeaurg.

-- At some point during the day, I realized I was going really slowly -- both driving and walking through the supermarket -- and then I figured it was because I only got about five hours' sleep last night. Why wake up at 6:00, brain, if we only went to bed some time after 1:00? This is not helpful. I did get an almost two-hour nap in this afternoon, which would explain why I'm awake without problems right now. I really don't mind staying up late (as opposed to not being able to fall asleep -- I ususally fall asleep really easily), but I reckon I still deserve a decent number of hours' sleep.

-- On a related note, I would estimate that 75% of the naps I take involve sleep paralysis now. I think it's a self-perpetuating thing; I worry about it happening, so it does. I know exactly what's going on when it happens, so it's like the lamest kind of lucid dream ever. I could just stop taking naps and avoid it altogether, but then what's even the point of working from home?

-- Happy autumn, one and all! I was hoping for more rain today, but no such luck. (I mentioned the rainy forecast on Sunday and was puzzled by my friends' disappointment. Then I remembered that they don't have gardens and so aren't obsessed with rain the way I am.) I DID decide to bring in the first pumpkin, though. There are two more still ripening on the vine, bigger than this guy. But how perfect, how orange! I'm not a seasonal/holiday decorator, really, but I'm feeling festive this year.

-- The sun came out for a bit this afternoon, so I got some shots of my refashioned shirt. I started with one way-too-big, long-sleeved polo, and a t-shirt of a similar make and model, both from my college wind symphony and band days. I removed the sleeves, lined the placket and collar, took them in on the sides, and then reattached the sleeves. The (grey) t-shirt now effectively lines the polo and can't be removed; it'll be a good, heavy shirt when it starts getting cooler out. And when it does, I can pop the collar and show off the Liberty print I used for the details. I haven't decided if I'll put buttons back on the placket; it's not as if I'd use them, anyway.

-- I tried going for a walk today (as I do most days) when the sun came out in the afternoon, but some sort of city pumper truck was going down the parkway, watering the new patches of dirt they've installed (and, presumably, grass seed). But they were more effective at wetting down the pavement and forming puddles that I regrettably (and not intentionally) stepped in. So I was cross about having soggy jeans and shoes, which seemed to fill up with grit (I hate grit!) and make my walk miserable. To top it off, I only got about five hours of sleep last night, which really hit me as soon as I stepped out the door. So I cut my walk about halfway through, came home, and had a quasi-nap.

-- I have so many projects right now. The usual work stuff, but mostly just personal things: sewing, writing, tinkering. Actually, I have more plans for projects than actual works in progress. I blame inertia. I would shake my first, but it's easier to let it remain at rest.

-- Another picture of Booty and me. He's my outdoor buddy. When I was getting my afternoon snack + tea ready, I asked if he wanted to go outside, which he did, so I let him out before I finished gathering everything up. He was still waiting on the step for me when I opened the door again, and he very excitedly followed me back to the patio. Being outside is good, but sitting on a lap outside is the best.

-- I had a piece of chocolate bread this afternoon (as you can see), and I put just the smallest amount of dark chocolate peanut butter (Archer Farm's brand) on one half. I've been meaning to try this for a while, thinking it would be good, and it was. Really good. As if there were any other possibility.

-- I discovered a mini catalogue for Joules Clothing in my nightstand (the catalogue had come in an issue of Country Living or some-such that I got last time I was in the UK). I think it's fair to say that I want every single article of women's clothing that they sell. I flipped through it last night, thinking I might see if there were anything I could try to make myself, but it's the sweatshirts I like the best. Still, I did a bit of refashioning this evening, and I wound up with something I'll show you tomorrow (if there's enough light to photograph).

-- I keep forgetting to mention this, but I've had two Clif bars recently NOT microwaved, and they were the perfect level of chewiness. The one I had a while ago that nearly broke my jaw was obvious stale, because these were fresh and were really quite nice. So I take back what I said about Clif bars being too chewy. They are now utterly flawless.

-- I had a very thrifty outing this afternoon. I finally finished a roll of film, so I brought it in for one-hour developing. While I waited, I went to Sears (the ONLY department store left in the sad, sad local mall) and tried on clothes, but I didn't buy anything. When I picked up my photos, I paid for them and walked out of the store and then had a look. The contrast was really low; they're all muddy and washed out. My first thought was that I could probably fix the problem if I scanned them in, but that kind of made having prints totally pointless.

I hadn't got more than five feet out the door, so I went back into the store, where I was immediately intercepted by the manager. I tried to explain what was technically wrong with the photos, but I guess contrast isn't something they can control (this was only a CVS, after all). Awesomely, however, I got a full refund AND kept the prints. THAT is customer service! Still sort of defeats the purpose of having shot on film. Not sure I can be bothered to take the negatives somewhere else. Oh well.

-- Last day of summer, last day of summer! Quiiiiick, you've got thirteen minutes (CST) to finish doing summery things!

-- Some nice clouds earlier this evening! Since my house is only one story and is surrounded by other houses, I never get to see any great sunsets, but I was pretty happy with pink clouds. I don't suppose anything will ever compare with the views I had on the Thames, but too much beauty can ruin things. (The first two were sunrises, the third was a sunset.)

-- I paid a visit to the newly opened coffee shop in my neighbourhood this afternoon. They don't have a website (I'm tempted to offer to remedy that...), but they've done a great job fixing the place up. I really hope this is a sign of things to come for my little North Minneapolis neighbourhood -- the coffee shop was preceded by the opening of a fancy barber shop just down the street, as well as a little corner store. I couldn't help thinking of things to recommend, though -- playing music or having a microwave so people can reheat their coffee, say. I'm still waiting to become a professional opinion-giver. I had a really good one this weekend, but I can't remember it now.

-- I toiled in the sun after dinner today, moving the perennials from the corner of my yard to the side, so that I could plant two cherry bushes (Nanking Cherry, to be specific) that my mom had bought before deciding she had no place to plant them. I'm super excited and hope they grow quickly because A) cherries!! and B) they will obscure my view of the ugly alley with its ugly garages and ugly conversion vans.

-- I made Minnesota-shaped apple shortbread this evening. I haven't yet tasted them, but they look AWESOME (as if there were another option!), and I'm pretty sure they'll be delicious. I'm still sad that the cake shop (where I found my cookie cutter) was out of apple essence/extract/oil/whatever, but I carried on and mixed in chopped dried apple. I will give a full report tomorrow, after I've done some scientific taste-testing.

-- Happy Sunday, everybody. You've still got an hour and ten minutes left in CST to enjoy it. Well, less, once I've actually posted this. Hm. Happy Monday, then. I managed to have late nights both Friday and Saturday, but not because I was doing anything; I just wasn't tired enough to sleep. It's definitely a vicious circle: a couple nights of lying awake make a person nervous that it'll happen again, upping the chances that it actually will. So I'll update instead of even thinking about bed.

-- I had a nice Sunday in St Paul (downtown, no less -- it IS possible!). The Twin Cities really are good for having interesting stuff to do and nice people to do it with. And I had a tasty portobello sandwich (really a burger, as it was on a soft rye bun) before listening to ridiculously talented young people perform (flute, viola, voice) in Mears Park.

-- I was looking through old digital photos and found two of my backyard, taken the day I had my final walk-through before closing. Here and here. That was in the middle of December, but it's still incredible how barren it looks, considering this is what it currently looks like (mmmmmm, neatly trimmed lawn). When I had my tomato party, we were talking about my ash tree, and I was saying that that (and a tiny corner of perennials -- the reddish area behind my mom in that first photo) was the only thing in the yard when I moved in. I've put a lot of work into the gardens in the last three years! Hard work, too. Whew.

-- I dried some apple slices in the oven this morning, to be used in some cinnamon apple shortbread cookies I plan to make. With my Minnesota cookie cutter, of course. (I picked the apples here.) I also boiled down some tomatoes for sauce, so I was very happy to eventually leave the house, as oven+stove+warm day did not make for the most pleasant temperature indoors. It was still 83F the last time I checked, which is pretty close to as hot as it ever gets (inside) during the summer. What's up with that, September?

-- Time now, I think, to go read This Is Your Brain on Music. I started it a while ago and was very enthusiastic, but then got distracted for no good reason. It's full of amazingly interesting little bits that make a person annoying to be around, as that's all one wants to talk about after having learned said bits. Sort of like anything they mention on Radiolab. (But watch out for that parasites episode. It's hard to stop thinking about hookworms once you start.)

-- Okay, this looks more like dinner than the last photo, right? But it was breakfast! No, not really. It was dinner. I'd been thinking about making eggplant parmesan for a while, and when I found myself in possession of both fresh mozzarella and shaved parmesan, I sort of HAD to make it. I didn't use a recipe; I just layered sauce, breaded eggplant slices, cheeses, basil, and tomato. It tasted very nice, but the skin of the eggplant was really tough! I usually cook it with the skin on and have never had a problem, but it was impossible to cut this time. I wound up having to sort of peel it away from the rest. Not ideal.

-- When my mom was over the other day, she noticed the morning glory that's growing in a crack on my patio. I had already known about it, and I pointed out the volunteer tomato plant that was growing a bit further down, also in the patio. It's like I can't STOP things growing around here. It's a good problem to have.

-- I saw The Time Traveler's Wife today, and I thought it was pretty good. I read the book when it came out, and I can't remember it well enough to know how closely the movie followed its plot, but I enjoyed them the same amount. It's a clever story and an intriguing idea, but it doesn't seem (to me) to strive to be anything bigger than what it is. I like that.

-- Speaking of clever, my friend Alex has launched a new site called The Uncommon Cube. It's about cubicles and workspaces and is really very interesting. And there's a short interview with yours truly about working from home. Go! See! Be amazed by the mighty cubicle. I have promised to send tens of hits her way, so don't let me down.

-- After many months of searching for (and by 'searching for', I mean 'thinking about') a Minnesota-shaped cookie cutter, I have found one! I'm not even sure why I like the idea of Minnesota-shaped cookies so much, but I do. Obvious Minnesota cookie flavours would be apple, maple, or loon. You can taste the spots!

-- It looks like breakfast, doesn't it? But it was yesterday's dinner. I ran errands with my mom in the afternoon, so I had my afternoon snack (zucchini cake!) later than usual, meaning I wasn't that hungry for dinner. Oatbran to the rescue.

-- Maybe the whole breakfast for dinner thing threw me off schedule, because I realized when I crawled into bed that I'd forgotten to update. I usually like to do it late-ish to late in the evening; I feel like I have to have structure to my nights, or I wind up wasting time just watching shows on Hulu or surfing the web. Both are fine pursuits, of course, but it's a sort of boredom that breeds boredom -- I wind up succumbing to inertia and never get around to doing any of the things I want.

-- Speaking of structure, I've been going to the coffee shop a few times a week in order to make sure I get enough proof reading done (easier to do without the distractions of home). And I've even been looking forward to the colder months, when I can get back into the routine of going to the gym in the mornings (a life-saver when daylight hours are few and it's too frigid to get outside and do things). I'm feeling much more positive about the changing of the seasons, in general. Last winter wasn't so bad, and although we had a really nice summer this year, I keep hoping for cooler temperatures already. I know I'll regret saying that in a few months!

-- There's a discount bakery somewhere near my parents' house, and my mom visits every couple of months. One time, they had chocolate bread (with chocolate chips!), and I very much enjoyed the loaf I was given. But then it was gone. And the bakery, they did not have the chocolate bread (with chocolate chips!) again for a long, long time. But then they did! So now I do, too. Hooray.

-- Through a series of links, I found myself at Cake Wrecks, and the third cake on this post actually made me laugh out loud. And I laughed more and more as I read each of the numbered items under the photo. I'm looking at it now and laughing all over again. I might print that out and put it on my mirror so I can see it every morning (not really), and I'll never again be sad.

-- I brought in another eight or ten pounds of tomatoes today. The German Striped hadn't been ripening any for a while, but I got loads today, including four that were well over a pound each (two were over 1.5lbs). They'll probably become sauce to freeze, as they're so fleshy.

-- I had a really happy day today, thanks for asking. It was warm and sunny, which was pleasing, but as I was taking a walk around the Seward neighbourhood (I had been proofreading at the coffee shop), I was thinking about how it's supposed to cool down and rain tomorrow, and that's something to look forward to, as well. Then a bluebird landed on my shoulder. Wait, no. But I DID see a hedge that had been shaped into a giant, dodo-esque bird. It was amazing.

-- I made some mighty fine pancakes this morning. First, I sliced and cooked a McIntosh apple (in a pan, with some cinnamon sugar on top), then I used my Whole Grain Milling multi-grain pancake mix (I usually just mix it with enough water to get the right consistency). I arranged the slices on the pancakes once I'd poured them onto the skillet, and voila. The multi-grain mix is lovely in a bland sort of way, so the tartness of the apple went really well. Two thumbs up.

-- Last night, as I was doing the dishes, Beany came over to stand by me. She does this. Because I had most of my weight on one foot, the very edge of my heel was off the ground. Just the very edge, mind you -- not even half the heel. Well, she must have purposefully placed her foot there (which is something she would do), because when I shifted my weight, I could feel a fuzzy toe underneath. I didn't even really step on it, but she ran off, all upset with me. As if *I* had put her foot there! Honestly.

-- I mowed the lawn today, in anticipation of having people over tomorrow. It had gotten rather long, and it's still very lush from all the rain we got a while back (and the mild weather since). When the grass is dry and scraggly, mowing it is a chore; it's just something I have to do to keep it looking less awful than it otherwise would. But when it's green and healthy, it's kind of the most exciting thing ever. It goes from being a bit wild to looking perfectly manicured, all with a few (dozen) passes of the electric mower. It's a lot like the first few strokes of a roller when you're painting a room and get to see what it's going to look like. So easy, and such a difference.

-- Beany alerted me to the presence of a fuzzy bunny rabbit in the backyard yesterday evening. I've seen a couple rabbits recently, but there's been no garden damage. In fact, this particular one was hopping through the (long) grass, expertly uprooting weeds and eating them. It deserves some sort of medal for that. You can see the tassels of my corn field (er, six stalks of corn) through the window.

-- Having finally bought more soba the other day, I was able to make spaghetti for lunch today. I've written about this before, but I love soba noodles so much more than regular wheat pasta. Why doesn't it come in other shapes? My veggie bolognese was made with Morningstar mince and some of the tomato sauce I made yesterday, which is the best I've ever made. Hooray for me. AND my grape jelly/jam set up. I win.

-- I decided to invite some friends over to distribute tomatoes and show off my garden (somebody needs to see how amazing the lawn looks, never mind all the plants), so I'm looking forward to that on Friday. I get a bit anxious about hosting events, worried that nobody will show up, but I'm trying to be a more devil-may-care about this. After all, I've been assured that my pal Alex will be in attendance, and we're scheming to make tomato-flavoured drinks. Awesome or awful? We'll be the judge!

-- I had a Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif bar today, and the peanuts tasted very 'off' (the rest of the bar tasted fine). Just my luck -- it was probably the one Clif product to actually have a recalled peanut in it and not get pulled off the shelf. I'll have the peanut poisoning now. Okay, not really -- but, still... disappointing.

-- Happy September! I'm not sure what this feeling is, but it's almost like... excitement... about autumn.

-- I've got some odds and ends to mention today (tonight, I suppose -- almost tomorrow!). I snapped this photo right after I watered the plant on my kitchen table; it took a while to soak in. I think it's some sort of rubber plant, although it doesn't look exactly like what an image search for said plant turns up. I've had it since I was in college, and it's managed to hardly grow since then (new leaves grow and old ones fall off, however). Although... I bet I have a picture of it somewhere. I might have to look for that later.

-- I spent another pleasant day at 2nd Moon, and I managed to (re)finish (re)proofing the book I had just finished working on when my MacBook died. I felt I deserved a pain au chocolat for my effort, and it was definitely a delicious reward. I popped it in their microwave for fifteen seconds, so it was all warm and melty. (Fifteen seconds in a microwave seems to be a thing with me.)

-- After work, I went to the dollar store (for plastic bags and a giant car-washing sponge), and I was reminded that I've been meaning to make a stick+string style toy for the pet cats. So I got out the box of dowels (no, really) when I got home and whipped one up with some jute twine and ribbon. The cats approve. I had Beany running around for over a quarter of an hour (I got bored before she did). It's good practice, what with mousing season coming up in a few months. Awful, but true.

-- I'm totally loving Ai's flickr photostream -- and blog here. It's so inspiring to see great photos of food that are similar enough to what I eat to seem tempting, but different enough to be intriguing and novel. I find myself suddenly craving udon.

-- I've bought my plane ticket and booked a little flat for my time in Frankfurt this year (I'll actually be staying just outside the city). I'd spent so much time mulling over the different options that it feels like a huge relief just to have settled on something. And it'll be a very satisfactory something, I think. I can't wait to get myself to a Bio-Supermarkt and nom some German veggie cold cuts (they do exist!).

-- I like to stay up late and then think about my pals in the UK waking up early; maybe we're awake at the same time, but on different 'days'. I think I might have to head to bed now, though. Have to fit in a few games of solitaire, or I'll never get a good night's sleep.

Huh. Turns out the internet is full of people who like talking about Star Trek and computers. I would have never guessed. You geeks.

Just a last word or two about the MacBook debacle, and then I'm done with it. First of all, I DID figure out the two-fingered tap thing. I didn't realize that I hadn't even turned on single-finger tapping (shouldn't that be the default? I thought it was!), and once I did that, I was given the option for secondary clicks. All is right with the world.

Secondly, I have a back-up system in place for my iMac; I was just lazy and hadn't got round to getting the MacBook to back itself up as well. I figured I didn't keep much on my laptop -- and I didn't, really, but it was definitely enough to be painful once it was gone. Anyway, speaking of back ups or the lack thereof fills me with self-loathing, so we shall now draw that line of discussion to a close.

On to happier topics -- Swiss cake rolls! Little Debbie ones, in particular, and ones pilfered from my parents' sweet jar (at the cabin), specifically. Some junk food delights from my youth really haven't held up for me over the years, but I have to admit these were pretty good. Shockingly sweet, but, you know -- good. I have to accuse them of Wagon Wheel syndrome, however. I'm a Swiss roll deconstructionist (more literally than philosophically -- I nibble the chocolate off each end, then eat the rest of the chocolate before unrolling the cake, eating it as I go), and I'm pretty sure it used to be easier to remove the chocolate coating, as it was more substantial.

I spent today alternating between proof reading and sewing (and eating Swiss cake rolls, although that happened just the once), and while the proof reading wouldn't make for interesting viewing, here is the shirt I made. It's a pattern from a Japanese book, made from fabric I thrifted for two bucks. I knew from the start that using this silky, rayon-blend (probably 100% rayon, actually!) would drive me nuts -- if you even glance at it, it slips into a puddle on the floor. And if it's already on the floor, it spills into the next room. I swear I would spend ten minutes carefully pinning a piece, only to pick it up and have all the pins fall straight out. Practically.

But I like it, I've decided. It actually looks its least billow-y (tent-like) in the photo I linked to (which was taken in the overcast, evening light; my apologies); I took it in an inch on both sides before I hemmed the bottom, and it's still just a bit too big (I know it's supposed to be a loose, easy fit, but it's a bit much). I think the next time I make a pattern from this book, I'll go with the smaller size and see how that works. I really like using the patterns and 'instructions', though. It's somehow SO much clearer than English-language patterns!

Okay, one last computer thing (it's not related to the MacBook, so I'm allowed). I was thinking about the uselessness of the voice command feature on OS X 10.5, but when I was turning off my iMac last night, I realized its perfect function. I'm not sure if this is actually a command, but if it were, I could finally say, 'Sleeeep,' a la Dark City, pass my hand in front of the screen, and have it blink off. I mean, that's already what I do every night, but I'd feel more powerful if I didn't have to press any buttons first.

Hello, there! It's certainly a summer's day here, but even the hot sun doesn't feel too bad outside the cabin, with the breeze blowing across the yard. Some bits and pieces:

-- I bring a cooler full of food when I visit the cabin, so nothing from home goes to waste while I'm away (and to save money, generally). I found a little tin of Heinz beans in my cupboard at home, so I made myself a fairly traditional veggie fry-up for lunch, mushrooms and tomato included. I guess the eggs were scrambled instead of fried, but it's still pretty good for the middle of America.

-- I went outside last night to try to catch a glimpse of the Perseids meteor shower. I'd heard it would be best between 3:00 and 4:00am, but I settled for 11:30pm and saw a few little fizzly ones and a brighter one streak across the sky. Perhaps even more impressive was just the night sky itself. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I hadn't gone out at night before (although it HAS been overcast a lot of the times I've been here). It's not like being a million miles away from civilization here, but it's far enough away from the cities to make the stars stand out. It's hard to even pick out any constellations when there are so many stars! I'm no astronomer, but I think I saw the Milky Way directly above -- does that seem right?

-- I suspect the woman who works at the deli in the supermarket here (where I internet from) is not a trained barista, because my Americano was wincingly strong. But, like a potent cocktail, it seemed less and less shocking the more I drank. I'm actually hovering about two inches above my seat, now. In related (supermarket) news, did you know that Chris' Fairway was home to the 'Best Bagger Champion' in 1992, '93, '94, and '96? I assume they've won more since then, but that's all the further the poster goes. Say, did you know there was such a thing as 'Best Bagger Champions'?

-- With my most recent crop of cucumbers, I made Alton Brown's bread-and-butter pickles. They're pretty good, although you shouldn't be tempted to sample them before they've had a chance to sit in the fridge for a good long while. Warmish cider vinegar is exactly as bleaurg as you'd think.

-- What else, what else? That might be all. Check out those black bear salt and pepper shakers in details, though.

Things I like: French Meadow's 'Woman's Bread' (the next best thing to my own homemade bread, which I haven't been bothered to make lately), peanut butter, jam (but not PB&J), coffee, and warm apple sauce with raisins. That's what I had for breakfast yesterday. I mainly stuck to yogurt for breakfast while I was at the cabin (well, yogurt + donut, sometimes), which I like, but it was nice to come home to my usual fixin's.

I normally have one cup of coffee + almond milk with my breakfast and then a cup of tea in the afternoon, but I somehow wound up drinking almost five cups of coffee (plus one cup of tea) yesterday -- three of the five were decaf, though. They didn't seem to affect my ability to be tired right on cue last night.

I can't believe it's August already. I know, I know -- time, flying, etc -- a tired subject. But it's true. According to my photos, my first tomato was ripe on the third of August last year. I'm not even close to that this year (except for a couple of 'yellow pear' cherry tomatoes), but I did find these bell peppers today. I didn't even realize there were any growing on the purple plant yet!

I keep my pepper plants caged in with chicken wire (protection from squirrels), so I really have to make an effort to move the leaves around and check for fruit. I went to the trouble today and was rewarded. They're pretty small, but that's okay -- I can't believe how purple-y they are. Speaking of purple-y things, my eggplants (one Japanese, one regular) are doing really well this year. The plants themselves are much bigger than they have been in past years, and there are lots of eggplants growing.

I also wanted to share this photo of my new terrarium. I've wanted to make one for ages, but it wasn't until I was walking around the woods at my parents' cabin that I realized I finally had a source of moss. I got the jar at the Hinckley flea market, put the terrarium together, and brought it back with me. So now part of the Sandstone forest is in my house. I like getting a good lungful of the damp, clean air inside the terrarium -- it's like the opposite of getting stuck in a cloud of secondhand smoke. So nobody ruin it for me by saying there are millions of spores or something floating around in there.