see.green

Happy St. Patty's Day.
Chicago has a special way of celebrating St. Patrick's Day and that is by polluting the river...
OK, not really polluting.
They dye the river a bright green color EVERY year, this tradition has gone on for over 40 years!
This year the festivities commenced on Saturday 3.13.2010
There was a big parade and the bars opened at 7AM! People dressed up in funny costumes and roamed the streets wearing green smiles from their green beer!
I missed out on the green river but made it out in time to enjoy a green beer.

Mike's green river pic.
Apparently the dye is a special "family" secret blend of all natural dyes and ingredients. The powder form dye looks like orange tang before they pour it into the river.

St. Patty's Day ALSO happens to be a very special little girl's birthday.
Happy Birthday Ms. Lola Happel!!
This picture was taken last year when she was just 3 years old.
She is now an elegant young 4 year old!!
We love you!

see.down.home

It is approximately 1,047 miles from Chicago to Gainesville, Florida.

Today... for she (at least) it feels like a million miles.
When do we miss home?
Birthdays, holidays, normal days that end in "day", but most when we lose a family member.
Today, my mom's brother Scott Womeldurf, passed away.
Scott lived a "fast" life with some mistakes along the way but I remember him most at our family's river house in Ocala a.k.a. "The Scrub". Uncle Scott would take us fishing and let me shoot guns, use the axe, and clean fish...
Soon, my family will gather at "The Scrub" to remember Uncle Scott.
Yes, today... home feels like a million miles away.

see.tofu.part.2

Yes... it is another blog posting about Tofu.
We eat a good amount of it around here. Recently, I was talking to a beginner vegetarian friend about all the delicious things you can do with this somewhat mysterious product.
So instead of rambling on and on I'm just going to show you one of our favorite and easy tofu dinners.
Tofu Stir-fry.

When I buy Tofu it looks like this.
For tofu stir fry, I take it out of the package (the day before), toss it into a tupperware, and stick it into the freezer for about 24 hours.
Freezing and then thawing tofu changes the texture... I'm not sure why... it just does.
Take the tofu out of the freezer, let it thaw or run warm water over it.
Press with paper towels to get ALL the water out and chop!

Not so scary huh?

My 2 favorite things about tofu:
1. it is the ultimate mimic... it can be sweet ("soft" tofu is very good in smoothies) or savory or spicy and always yum!
2. unlike meat... I NEVER worry about contaminating anything... I can cut fresh veggies on the same cutting board with the same knife without the fuss of worrying about germs.

I like to coat the tofu cubes in a mixture of flour, corn meal, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, ginger powder... pretty much anything I have in the kitchen.

Once they are all coated, I heat up some oil and pan fry until golden brown and crunchy.
When the tofu is ready (remember brown and crunchy), remove from the hot pan, set aside and stir fry up the veggies.

One of my personal favorites... bok choy.

And never throw away broccoli stems! You can eat them!! Just slice off the hard exterior... you can think of this as skin and chop up! They are good and you get a lot more out of your broccoli bunch.
Once your veggies are nice and hot, add the tofu back into the mix and finally add the stir-fry sauce of your choice.
My favorite stir-fry sauce: 3-4 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar, dash of toasted sesame seed oil, 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon corn starch and fresh minced ginger and/or garlic.

Enjoy!!

see.study

How to get a master's degree from a prestigious school and stay up-to-date with Florida Gator Basketball...
Step 1:
Read complicated books for hours and hours and hours

until the commercial break is over and then switch to
Step 2:
Stream live Florida Basketball games on Mac
Alternate from Step 1 to Step 2 depending on game play.

I timed his arm in the air like that for almost 5 minutes!!
Determination :0)
For the blog record... it is Friday night and March (apparently March is a big deal in College Basketball)

see.blowin.in.the.wind

A few weeks ago, I wanted to take my soap making to a new level: Laundry Soap.
Yep, homemade liquid laundry soap.

The process of making liquid laundry soap is JUST like making bar soap with a few additional steps.
You begin by heating all the oils to the same temperature about 110 degrees.
And allow the lye mixture to cool to about 110 degrees.
Pour oils and lye together and mix.
The mixing can take about 20 mins.
There is where you find a trusty assistant so you can relax for a little while.
Keep mixing until you reach the texture of honey.
Then you pour into your soap box, cover and wait about 24 hours.

The soap is now similar to a semi-hard cheese.

Cut into blocks.
This is where the real work begins.

Grate the bars of soap with a cheese grater.
This almost fills a large stock pot!
Add water to stock pot and bring to a boil.
Simmer soap for a while (I am aware that 'a while' is not all that specific) BUT the truth is I am not sure how long to simmer the soap. I simmered for too short of time and had to reheat 2-3 additional times.
Eventually your soap will end up looking like homemade beer.
Cover and let cool.
Soap will be ready to use within 18-24 hours.
Use just like store bought laundry soap.
Note: this recipe is very fussy to make. Although our laundry came out VERY clean with a clean and bright smell, it only works well when washing whites in warm to hot water. I am now searching for better homemade laundry soap and when I find it, I will report.

see.we.wait

About two years ago Mike got his acceptance letter from The University of Chicago.

Since that time he has been working his butt off: reading tons and tons of books of which even some of the titles confuse me... what is grammatology anyway? and writing at least a book worth of papers.
Now... two years later he is waiting for another acceptance letter.
This time for the University of Chicago PhD program.
And when he is waiting... she is waiting too.
As soon as he turned in his petition for the PhD, he laid down some ground rules:
1. No one is allowed to check the mail except for Mike
2. Under no circumstances are we allowed to check websites where students post acceptance/rejection letter status
3. Whatever happens, we are going to be at peace with it
I, by the way, have broken rules 1 and 2. oops.
I can't help it.
It is funny to think that one piece of paper holds the decision for our lives for the next (at least) year if not more. If (and I like to say WHEN) he is accepted we will stay here in the frozen tundra of Chicago.
But for now we wait.
tick. tock.
SF Duck.

see.i.cicle

This Chicago winter thing has been a learning experience for me. I can't say it is something I have always wanted to experience but I'm here so I have listed a few things I have learned:
1. When Mike says "this is as cold as it is going to get because last year it only got this cold" I have learned not to trust his advice. Sorry Mike. It can ALWAYS get colder :)
2. You can not Google "black ice" to know the true meaning of what it is, hence the name "black ice". You truly learn about "black ice" when you are running for the bus and realize (too late) you are headed straight towards a plateau of black ice that was (just a day ago) unassuming snow and slide/fall/slip/crawl your way to the bus stop just in time for it to drive away (minus 1 wet cold new black ice victim).
For the record I have Googled the following winter topics:
ice storm
winter mix
sleet
lake effect snow
what does 12" of snow really look like?
snow survival guides
winter boots
cute winter boots
are there cute winter boots?
and...
how to weatherize old homes
3. icicles are pretty... pretty dangerous!
I cracked up when I first saw a car driving down the street with icicles attached to the bottom! I even called my mom to tell her! At first, I thought they were sweet and quite beautiful!

Until you look up!
Yes, that lovely jagged/sharp 2.5' long icicle is hanging over our neighbor's porch and back walkway.
Now that I have noticed them, I realize they are everywhere!
Yikes.
I believe "Number of icicle related injuries per capita per year" is in order for the Google next!

see.miles.turn.3

2.12.09
Miles turns 3!
It has been such a pleasure having Miles dog as part of our lives and he has been quite the trooper to put up with all our life adventures!!

I have known Miles since April 2007 and have been in love with him ever since.
When I first told Mike that we got a puppy (as a gift from my Mom and Sister), he was not too happy. He didn't want a dog. His disdain for little Miles lasted for about 3 seconds, after he met him, and as a compromise I named the puppy Miles Davis, after one of Mike's favorite jazz musicians.

How could you not love this little face?!!
Miles has lived in 5 different cities. Whew!
Gainesville, Melbourne, Oakland, San Francisco and Chicago!

Here he is in the Oakland Hills. We would hike these hills almost EVERY weekend for 8 months. It was so beautiful and we would hike for hours!!
Miles just liked being off leash and the wide variety of sticks!
Here he is on his first camping trip on the Yuba River.
Adventures in Golden Gate Park.
Including many many hours spent at the dog park across the street from where we lived!
Driving across the country!
When he came to California he flew (thanks again Jen)
This time, we all drove together!
Chicago!
For his last birthday, he had an all girl party (my pals) and he was given a pizzle which he gobbled up quickly.
(google: pizzle) if you are not sure what it is.
Note: I had NO clue I had gotten him dehydrated steer p _ _ _ s. Oops!

This birthday I thought he may like something a little more homemade :0)

I made him a doggie cake.
Ingredients: carrots, peanut butter, whole wheat flour, flax, honey, and an egg.

He was not sure what we wanted him to do. This whole eating cake off of a plate was a bit strange.

Dinner, cake, an entire day of uninterrupted window watching, play time with Mel, and very few naps = one sleepy Birthday Dog.
Here is to many many more Birthdays and as many Adventures together!!

see.snow

We finally got to share in the snow frenzy that is spreading across the North East Coast. The other morning we woke up to this!

and some of this...

So much snow!!!

Notice all the pictures are from my front door... I was letting the dog out and did NOT want to move any further!

Brrrr!!!!As you can see... we are Miles deep in snow!

see.pumkin

From Jan. to March of this year I have been and will be babysitting every Sunday morning. I met this family when I was unemployed as a means of additional income but now I just like hanging out with their adorable and sweet 2 year old!
I am only there from 7 to about 10 AM and then I head home to start my day.
The little boy's name is Miles (hmmm sound familiar?) and his parents are attending classes at their new church and needed a little help so I said 'why not?'
For Mike, the concept of getting out of bed any earlier then 10 AM on a Sunday is unfathomable so my babysitting gig is a little extra money and probably saves us from morning person vs. night person woes.
When I do get home around 10 AM, I am still energized from running around with a 2 year old and Mike is happy because it is late morning. So we usually take this time to have a nice breakfast together. My sister (she has 3 children) sometimes will call and say "hey what do young people with no children do for dinner? or hey, mel, are you just now having breakfast! it is 11 AM!?"
The answer is... yes we sometimes eat breakfast 1 hour before lunch time. ha ha

For breakfast this past Sunday: Pumpkin Muffins
A can of Pumpkin was an item we found in our 'care package' from Florida so we thought... why just have pumpkin at Thanksgiving time?
Mike's mom suggested we make pumpkin muffins, and so we did. Although we did not have spice cake mix, we just made do with what we had (and they came out so so so good)

I am completely smitten with a new website/blog I have found and it is where we got the pumpkin muffin recipe:
smitten kitchen
The woman is my hero, she is a lot of fun to ready, and very honest about her food. She messes things up, puts in the wrong ingredients, tells about great things that happen and terrible things that happen in the kitchen. Oh and she cooks in a itty bitty kitchen in New York. So if she can do we can do it!

Suger and cinnamon for the muffin top. Everyone's favorite part!

Mike made these and he is very particular about getting every single speck of ingredient mixed together. This drives me crazy. I am a hurry up lets get these things cooking- type.
So I take pictures to keep me busy.

Then I noticed Miles. He is staring out of the window AGAIN!
Since we showed him the window- he is here about 90% of the time.
No joke. And usually standing.
We have created a monster.

Muffin drop.

Muffin top.

Done.