as much free time as i have, i don’t think i can keep up with writing my blog, stay on track with a goal of reading 75 (hefty) books this year, and writing my devil’s syrup dissertation 🙁 i think the book goal may have to take a backseat 🙁 🙁
#nerdworldproblems
when nate and i decided to move to rochester, i didn’t think of the implications of learning a whole new town map. the first few weeks after i started my job, i was lucky if i was able to just make it to work and back to austin. if i had to stop someplace on the way back to austin, say target or walmart, i had to plug the place into my map app in my phone and have it tell me how to get there.
this was annoying. this town wasn’t st. cloud! this town wasn’t st. joe, new london, willmar, even the cities to a point. this town wasn’t like austin, which even after being absent for almost 20 years i could easily navigate. this town wasn’t even fargo, which i knew sort of well enough to get to big landmarks.
i was driving my mom around a couple months ago and she said,
“i have no idea where we are! this isn’t st. cloud!”
“i know! right??”
rochester, while only 40 minutes from austin, was such a distant town while i was growing up. we went to rochester only a few times a year – we were more likely to go to albert lea on a regular basis – despite its proximity. and when we did go to rochester, we went to one of two places: fleet farm or tjmaxx. then once a year i would get to spend some time during the summer at my aunt colette’s house. we would go downtown and check out the fountains (and steal quarters) and maybe eat at bilotti’s for some awesome pizza.
and yet i knew nothing about this town. but now that i’ve been at my new job for a year (holy cats!) i feel like i can get around for the most part. sometimes i need to get to a place that i’ve never been to or seen as i’m driving past and still have to use my gps. but for the most part, i’m able to get around. give me another 15 years and i’ll have this town down pat. 🙂
this week we are FINALLY supposed to see some sun and above-70 temps!! i’m so excited. but the flowers in the yard are blooming as well as the ones on my concrete slab, so here are a couple pics i took tonight.
pops to embiggen.
i asked my brother, charlie, to tell me about his produce box he gets since he moved out to portland. he wrote me an essay! i had to share…
We get our box once a week now and what’s in it changes every week. Usually there are apples, oranges, various other fruits depending on what’s in season. We get a pound of pork chops, bacon, and hamburger each week. There’s always a leafy green, usually kale or cabbage. We get onions or leeks with it. Some potatos, sweet potatos, or somethig similar. Lately we’ve been getting pea pods and green beans. They’re delicious. That’s the basic structure of what we get every week. Last week we got apricots, lemons, and plums. Today I had my first plum in ages. It was tart and delicious.
About two weeks after I moved here I realized that the produce box and cooking our own food was going to be the norm and it made me happy cuz the food is so delicious. Ive learned more about food and cooking in the past few months than I ever cared about in my life. For the first time in years I’m excited about food again but I was eating fast food every day for the last few months in indy and I realize now that it was grooooosssss. The other big thing is that I’m excited to cook the food. I’ve never liked cooking but cooking fresh food with friends to eat a delicious dinner is worth and I finally see that.
We have been a bit creative doing things like stuffed pork chops or pesto or somethig but for the most part our meals are a main dish and a side. Usually pork or chicken and roasted veggies. I’ve cut a lot of sugar out of my diet and am eating a lot less carbs. I feel better than I have in years and it delicious!! Tonight we’re grilling out some pork chops and sausage.
I think I like the apples the best. I’m realize how good an apple a day is for you. Now I have an Apple every day and its all organic. But I have tp admit, having a pound of substance free Bacon is big contender with the apples. All the fruit is so juicy too! We have to eat them over the sink because they drip everywhere.
Eating fresh, organic food just makes me feel healthier, I’m more regualr (not that you wanted to know that lol), and have more energy. I don’t need as much and I don’t feel like a fat slob. My portions have just naturally decreased but I have more energy than eating at mickey d’s every day. I’ve lost 20 pounds so far with the help of my produce box!
The thing that I didn’t realize until I moved out here was that food in general is amazing. The burrito house has the best burritos I’ve ever had for 4 bucks! And its a good two-meal burrito. The food is awesone and cheap! Last night I got and order of cheese fries, steak bites and four beers for 20 bucks! I still can’t believe it!
Anywho, I love the food and having fresh organic food is def a lifestyle changer. If you want to know more, let me know! I could talk about it all day 😀
here’s a shameless plug for medium, twitter’s new thing. it’s basically blogs that are public, like twitter. the nice thing about it is that you can follow medium on twitter and they will post when a decent new one is published. and at the top of the posts? it’ll tell you how long it will take you to read the blog.
i’m calling it a twog – twitter blog.
there are editor’s picks, featured collections and posts, about things you didn’t even know you needed to know about! take the “best of” from blogs all over the webiverse and put them in one spot: medium. love it.
and when there’s a blatant spelling error on a post that’s been sent to twitter, the twitter masses will always be there to correct; case in point: a post on macarons (…or macaroons as it had been originally published). 
yeah i was an annoy twitter corrector. oh well!
so there is my recommendation and shameless plug of the day. it’s like if all your favorite bloggers posted to the same blog. if you want a really easy way to keep up to date on them, follow @medium and they’ll tweet when a picked post is published.
i have recently found the “galette”, which is a really fancy looking dessert that is easy peasy to make. i was looking for a way to use some pre-made pie crusts my grandma gave me like 3 years ago (seriously, those things were probably 5 years old – but frozen so not rotting). martha stewart came through, because i saw the fancy galette in her mag and decided to give it a go. it looked way easier than a pie.
roll out your pie crust dough and place it on a cookie sheet. i used parchment underneath so it would be easier to get off when it was done. pile on some fruit in the middle (you could also make this savory and put some mushrooms or meat in the middle). i also put a tablespoon or so of sugar/honey and a couple pats of butter.
fold it up around the edges and egg or milk wash the outside so when you sprinkle some sugar on it, it will stick. throw that bad boy in the oven at 350 for about 25-30 mins (check it – should be browned on the edges)
tada! fancy!
i’ve given some thought to the argument of how gay marriage affects the raising of children. i know i’ve said in a couple past posts that if people are so concerned about the degradation of the family, we should also focus on single parents, divorcees, etc. etc. before homing in on gay parents.
so what is the ideal parent situation? is it a mother and father, male and female? there are some cultures where children are raised communally and don’t actually have a specific mother and father in a sense. in “man-is-breadwinner” families, do children really know their father that well? are workaholic fathers and/or mothers who don’t help much with child rearing better than none? good grief, thousands of years ago, no one even knew who the father was! is it specifically different gendered parents who shape a person?
or is it having two (or more in the case of communal cultures) adults raising a child who have a healthy, loving relationship that the child can witness? is it the gender, or the relationship?