Oh Brother!

Last weekend I went down to Kansas City to visit my brother and his family. I always have a fun time with them, but don't get to see them very much. I was looking forward to my weekend with Patrick, Kim, Bailey, and Jaden, and I was not dissapointed.

On Friday night Patrick, Bailey, and I went to the Royals game. They were playing the White Sox, and we were able to see Ken Griffey Jr's first at bat as a White Sox. He got a hit, so for the next few innings his batting average was 1000 - not too shabby. I am glad that Bailey enjoys baseball. I made her promise that we would go to a game at least once a year for as long as she lives in Kansas City, and I'm holding her to that promise.

On Saturday morning Patrick, Kim, and I headed to Boulevard Brewery for a tour. It was heavenly. I am a big fan of Boulevard Wheat, so I was excited to find out more about the brewery. I discovered many things on the tour. I was excited to find out that Boulevard is an environmentally friendly brewery, and they strive to have a small carbon footprint. I found out that the grain they use is from Iowa, practically making it my civic duty to drink their beer. Perhaps most importantly, I discovered that there were free samples at the end of the tour. The three of us discussed it, and decided that it had to be noon somewhere, so we tried a few. I really enjoyed all of the samples that I had.


Upon returning from the tour I taught Patrick and Kim how to make humus. I didn't know that they were fans, but they may like it even more than me. Jaden and Bailey were a great help, they measured and added the ingredients to the food processor.

After a hearty snack of humus Kim and I spent the afternoon shopping. After continually being disappointing by the rudeness of the sales associates, we headed off to get pedicures. While we were having our toenails painted Jaden, Bailey, and Patrick washed my car, which was a great surprise.

Post pedicure, we picked up everyone else, dropped Bailey off at a birthday party, and headed to pizza. I got to sit by Jaden at dinner and we had a great time together. Jaden was so much fun to talk to, I think she's going to love kindergarten this fall.

After dinner we picked up Bailey and headed to the Starlight Theater to see their production of the Music Man. Unfortunately it was very hot for the first act. We were all dripping with sweat. Luckily it cooled down a touch in the second act. I enjoyed the play, but was excited to sit in the air conditioned comfort of Patrick's car.

I headed home on Sunday morning. It was a full, fun weekend. I can't wait to do it again.

Not so bad

At the end of June I was able to say that I had not used my car once to get to work. I am not able to say the same thing this month; however, I did much better than I would have assumed. I only worked 15 days in July, and I only used my car 5 of those days. Given my crash, I am very happy with using my car 33.3% of the time.

I'm going to celebrate by getting a new bag for commuting, and maybe a used road bike.

Back in the Saddle

Today was a big day for me; it was my first day back bike commuting. Craig, my commuting buddy showed up at about 6:15 and we were off. It took a little bit longer than usual, as I'm leery of going too fast. I am sure I'll be back up to speed after a few more rides.

Pie one on

Sometimes I obsess over trying new recipes. I'll read it in a magazine or a cookbook and won't be able to stop thinking about it. Such was my experience with Blueberry Pie from the July & August issue of Cook's Illustrated. I love blueberries, and the instructions were clear and concise. I started dreaming about making the pie.

On Saturday I went to Costco with Kathleen. There, in the produce section I found what I needed - a huge package of blueberries. Kathleen estimated that there were about 10 cups of blueberries in the package. Due to constantly reading the recipe I knew that that was more than enough blueberries for the pie. I bought the blueberries, went home, and got to work on the crust.

The pie crust seemed simple to make when I read about it. I suppose it would be if I had a large enough food processor. I struggled through the dough making process and now know to prep the dough in two batches.

After fighting with the dough I decided to call it a day and finish up on Sunday. I didn't work up my pie making energy until about 5. I did not think that would be a problem. Then I did the math and realized that by the time I assembled, baked, and let the pie rest for four hours I would be in bed. Tasting the pie would have to wait until Monday.

I finally got to taste the pie today. I'm usually a cereal or a granola bar for breakfast type of girl, but this morning I was all about the pie. It was delicious. It is fresh tasting, and the filling isn't runny. The crust even tastes good (but it certainly does not look pretty).

The problem with trying out new recipes is that I end up with more than I could possibly eat. Luckily I have a wonderful friend and neighbor that volunteers to help me eat baked goods. I filled a few paper plates with pie and walked down to Todd's house. He gladly accepted my pie, and plans to eat it for dinner.


I'm looking forward to perfecting my pie making skills, as well as trying my next recipe obsession - creamy tomato soup without the cream. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy Hour

On Friday I headed out to happy hour with a group of people I used to work with in underwriting. They were a great group to work with, but for some reason we rarely get together. We always say we will do something, but we never get around to planning anything.

Beth changed that. Her husband and kids were out of town, so she suggested happy hour at El Bait Shop. I spent a lot of time catching up with Beth and Allyson.

Panith and Cindy were out too. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to either of them. I guess that means we'll have to go out again soon.

Before heading home I got a chance to play some Silver Strike (a video bowling game), reconnect with Scott (who I had not seen in 4 years), and have some blueberry beer. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night.

Zoo Brew

Last night I checked out Zoo Brew, a summer happy hour event at Blank Park Zoo. I was excited to go to Zoo Brew, after all, I love animals and beer. How could Zoo Brew be bad?

It was not be bad, but it was sad. I hadn't been to the zoo in about 20 years. In my memory the zoo has spacious enclosures for the animals, similar to Disney's Animal Kingdom. It turns out my memory was wrong.

The animals were in very small areas. The tiger was kept in an area about half of the size of my back yard. Luckily we headed out early in order to grab some food before checking out the new Batman movie.

I really like Zoo Brew in theory, but in practice, it wasn't as fun. It was sad and depressing.

Best sign ever

The Taco John's in Sheldon really needs to think about what they put on their sign.