My class and our cakes

Some recent creations

Our baking unit is in full swing.  The nice thing about it is that we each get to make our very own stuff (unlike with the cooking techniques when we made most things in groups).  Below are my pie, a cranberry pear, and my cake, a genoise four-layer cake with chocolate ganache.

Guess where I spent my Sunday afternoon

...the Meadowlands!

That's right, a friend of Dave's came through with two free tickets at the last minute and my weekend was made.  We beat the 49ers 29-17, and the Giants defense kicked butt (there was a safety, when is there ever a safety?) which means that Dave's fantasy team did too (he's got Big Blue's defense on his team).

This one's for you Dorothy...

Yes, I have been a royal slacker as of late with respect to this blog. But, that is only because I have been super busy with culinary school. I wish that I could write more (and I promise to soon), but, for now, I leave you with some shots of me in action.

This Iowan life

Some photos from my time in Iowa, sorry it’s taken me so long to put them up (I also, in my haste, managed to delete some of my favorite shots from the camera just now, so I am a little upset with myself).

The view out the car window during most of my daily rides between counties.

Breakfast at the Chrome in Algona


The door to the Algona Campaign for Change office that I help set up.


To see the full album, click here.

On the campaign trail

I have been meaning to post for days now, but there never seems to be time. Most mornings I wake up, go for a run (I had to temporarily suspend my break from it as food in the heartland leaves me needing to burn off some calories) or do some yoga in my room, get picked up by Brian between 8:30 and 9am, and then we're on the road or making calls and doing data entry until around 10 or 11pm every night.

Last Friday was Brian's last day off until Election Day, so we took a break from work and went to nearby Lake Okoboji.

Weekends are devoted mostly to going door to door, and that is exactly what I did for eight hours on Saturday and three on Sunday. I was a little intimidated by the idea of knocking on strangers' doors, but after a few you get used to it, and I really only had one or two bad experiences. You meet a lot of nice old ladies, as well as Obama supporters who want to talk your ear off because they think that you're able to convey ideas directly to Barack.

One door I knocked on had a sticker on it that said, "The owner of this property is armed. There is nothing inside worth risking your life for." No one answered the door after one knock; I didn't wait around to knock again.

The past week has been quite the roller coaster ride. I've had really uplifting moments, and I've had really emotionally fraught ones as well. I think that I am still processing a lot of my thoughts and want to have more time with them before I can come to any strong conclusions. I will say that the Obama staffers I have worked with so far are some of the hardest working people out there. At the same time, I sometimes find myself frustrated with the disorganization that comes with people who are not as experienced with campaigns (and who are all very young) running the show. That's all I'm going to say for now.

Oh, and if you didn't catch Michelle Obama's speech tonight, try to find someone who DVRed it (Dave did). I for one teared up on numerous occasions.

"Yes we can!"

Ain't that America

Sunday afternoon I arrived in Des Moines, Iowa. Unable to connect to the one bus a day to Fort Dodge, I was placed in the care of a lovely Des Moines native (and hardcore Obama supporter) with whom I stayed the night. She is a grandmother 11 times over and we spent the afternoon and evening chatting about her grands as well as watching the Olympics.

Yesterday I boarded the bus to Ft. Dodge (via a transfer at the Flying J truck stop). The Des Moines Greyhound station is a slice of America that I have not experienced, perhaps ever. I could barely hear the newscast being broadcast on the wall-mounted TV over the sounds of the arcade-style shoot-'em-up video games (to which I contributed a quarter when a fellow passenger asked if I had one so he could play).

They always say Iowa is flat, and they are right. Out the window of the bus all there is is corn, corn, and more corn, as far as the eye can see.

I was met at the Ft. Dodge bus station by my friend Brian who is the Field Organizer for the Obama campaign here in Kossuth county. Last night we attended the Kossuth County Democrats Executive committee meeting.

Today is my first full day on the campaign. Let the adventure begin.
(I'll try to post some photos soon, no time right now.)

Tourist in my own city

Last Thursday, Dave, Kae and I went on a mini tourist adventure. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and then had pizza at Grimaldi's followed by ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. I had heard good things about Grimaldi's, but I am always skeptical of things that seem over-hyped, not to mention the fact that waiting in line for pizza seems unnecessary in a city where good (line-free) pizza abounds.

For once, I was not disappointed. The pizza was delicious; the ice cream was pretty awesome as well.

That same morning, my father and I had lined up for tickets to see the Shakespeare in the Park production of Hair (which Dave, my parents, and I went to see that evening). It was a very New York summer day.

Who are the pee-ers in your neighborhood

This morning, on my way out to walk the dog, I noticed a stain on our doormat that was not there last night. In addition, there was a small yellow stain on the floor next to the mat. On closer inspection (involving a quick sniff check) I realized what it was: urine.

WHAT?

Were Kuma to pee on a neighbor's doormat (which, for the record, he would never do) I would be mortified, and would, of course, leave a note with my number offering to pay for cleaning or a replacement mat. Furthermore, we only really have one "neighbor," as there is only one other apartment on our floor. We met them the other day, a nice-seeming middle aged couple with a beagle, but I am in no position to knock on their door and accuse them of a pee and run.

This is definitely a first in my New York life.

Beard-o

(Warning: the end of this post contains a disturbing photograph, parental supervision is advised for children under the age of 13.)

While we were on vacation on the west coast, Dave decided to humor me and not shave for our entire one-month trip. I had never seen him with anything more than a few days' worth of weekend stubble, so it was a lot of fun charting his evolution, over time, from clean cut banker to laid back mountain man. I must admit, I grew quite fond of it.

Dave shaved it all off today, but not without first giving me quite the surprise when I returned from putting the clothes in the dryer....

We laughed uncontrollably for several minutes, and then I couldn’t look him in the face until he finished the job. I can safely say that those five minutes of being married to Dave-with-mustache are more than enough to last me for the rest of our life together.

Precious cargo

Tuesday night I flew to São Paulo to pick up Kuma and bring him to the US. We arrived at Newark airport yesterday morning and, despite having been locked in his crate for 17 hours, Kuma seemed surprisingly unfazed as he came bounding out into the New Jersey sunshine and proceeded to take a very long pee on the grass outside the Continental Cargo building.

Yesterday we took him on a long walk through Riverside park to get him acquainted with his new surroundings. He seems to love New York already, and he's quite fond of his new bed too.

Hot, sweaty day

On Sunday I ran the NYC Half-Marathon. It was a little rainy at the start, but that, thankfully, cooled things off a bit. It was a lot of fun being able to run through Times Square with no cars or slow-moving tourists in the way, and Nike did a great job of spacing numerous live bands, DJs, and water stations along the course. There was even a spot with Brazilian samba dancers in full carnival regalia. My parents and Dave were there to cheer me on, as were my mother-in-law, Jenn, and Ilya. Dave's dad ran in the race as well. I'm happy I ran it, but I'm also looking forward to a much-needed break from running.

Pike Place Market

Once in Seattle we did some fun touristy things for the first day that we were there. We had a lot of fun on the Underground Tour and then spent some quality time at the Pike Place Market. Here are some shots from the market highlighting some of the foods that we enjoyed while on Orcas. Oh, how I miss the glorious fresh berries.

From Orcas sunsets to camp reunions

I have been silent for a while, firstly, because I was enjoying two weeks in my favorite place on earth: Orcas Island, and then because we have spent the past few days moving into our new place. Too many trips to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and the Container Store can really take it out of you.





Above are some photos from our time on Orcas/in Seattle. The sunset shots were from the balcony of the house we rented on Orcas, followed by a shot of Mt. Baker from the top of Mt. Constitution, the highest point in the San Juans. We had a special last-minute surprise visitor for our last few days on Orcas, which was amazing, and then while in Seattle she came with us to a barbeque hosted by Heidi and Adam, two of my friends from camp (the group shot was taken there).

Wrangell III: postscript

(Thanks to Dave for all the great photo taking in Wrangell)

Wrangell II: 4th of July

The day to which I had been most looking forward finally arrived with one of Lisa and Scott’s neighbors setting off some firecrackers which served as my alarm. We started the morning with a big breakfast and then were off to the parade. The photos speak for themselves so I will let them do just that. And, yes, the beard is real (just dyed for the occasion).

After the parade we stuffed ourselves with burgers and foot-long hot dogs (well the meat-eaters among us did) washed down with blackberry lemonades and followed by homemade pies and brownie sundaes. Once full, we sat down to watch the logging show. What follows are clips from two of the events: power bucking, in which a chain saw is used to saw off a cross-section of a huge log as fast as possible, and axe chopping, which involves chopping a log in half while balancing on it. Contestants were competing for a first place cash prize of $100 in each event ($75 for second, $50 for third); those who placed in a given event also earned points towards the $500 grand prize awarded to “all around logger.”

Following the logging show we made our way down to the dock for the highlight of the day, the log rolling show. When I was in Wrangell for the 4^th of July two years ago, Lisa competed in the event, but this year she sat and watched with the rest of us. Below is a video of the last roll of the day, for the championship. The woman who loses (in yellow) had been the undefeated reigning champion of the event for several years running until this year when she was dethroned by a younger contestant (in blue).

We ended the afternoon by participating in the egg toss during which the main street of Wrangell is lined with pairs of people for a far as the eye can see. The pairings are different for each round (i.e. mother-son, father-daughter) and contestants toss their eggs back and forth, taking a step back between each turn. Eventually you are left with just a few pairs whose eggs have not broken and they switch direction so as to have more space to step back. Dave and I participated in the husband-wife category. While we were far from winning, it was a messy, egg-all-over-everything end to a fabulous Fourth.

(p.s. The building you see behind me in the egg toss photo is that of the Wrangell Sentinel, Lisa’s former employer.)

Wrangell I: hiking the island

Reporting on my trip to Wrangell has been slightly delayed due to the lack of internet in my life over the past few days. So, here I am attempting to cram several full days worth of fun into a few quick posts.

On our first full day on the island, Dave and I completed the most ambitious of the three hikes we did while visiting Lisa and Scott. Passing by Rainbow Falls and continuing up to High Country, it took us two and a half hours to reach the top.

Some unexpected lingering snow slowed us up a little towards the end of our ascent, but thanks to our faithful companion Cyrus (Scott’s dog) we were able to follow in the paw prints of a seasoned veteran of the route.

The view from the top was spectacular.

Later that week, after Cyndi had arrived in Wrangell as well, Lisa, Cyndi, Dave and I completed a much shorter jaunt up Mt. Dewey, and were rewarded with this view of the town below.

Huskies (this one's for you Scott)

Today we drove back into Denali National Park to visit the Husky kennels there. I was in heaven. As you can see above, some of the dogs were quite happy to have the attention. Other dogs weren't as eager to interact...


And then there were puppies, glorious puppies!



Still other dogs weren't having any of the excitement.




After visiting with the dogs, we were shown a dog sledding demonstration. Afterward, the dogs were rewarded with bones...