3-26-2011

I'm wrapping up the non-photogenic thing that's been consuming all of my time, so "here's what I ate today" pictures are in full effect.

Every weekend Nicole and I go to breakfast at least once. We normally try and hold out for Sunday brunch, but recently I've been really into this divey little diner by our house.

No one wants to see pictures of me sitting in a chair at my desk for hours, so you can pretend I was doing something exciting all day.

Then it was night time and Nicole wanted appetizers and Cheeseburger Tour (this is what happens when I lock us in the house and starve the poor girl all day). This stop on the tour was at Heck's Cafe, which has a cool outside-in-a-garden kind of vibe. They also have bunnies on the floor and lions that watch you eat. By far though, the best thing about Heck's Cafe are the miniature ketchup bottles that they let you take home.

3-25-2011

This picture is of that split second when you think you've actually bested the claw machine and won something. The pause right before the claw's limp grip drops the stuffed fox you want so badly and laughs at you for taking all of your hard earned quarters again. Tonight we went to see a movie, but I made us late for the showing we wanted, so we got to kill an hour playing arcade games. Nicole focused on the bouncy ball related ones where you win prizes. I however played the double screen, six(!) controller X-Men button mashing game and felt like I was ten years old again (this game is only topped by the similar Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game). Speaking of feeling like a pre-teenaged boy again, the movie we went to see was Suckerpunch. I'm pretty much reliving puberty all over again tonight. Game Over.

3-24-2011

I've been busy doing non-photogenic stuff after work, so I'm going to tell you something funny about my cat Sienna. She likes doesn't mind getting tossed for fun. When she was a kitten she really really liked it, now that she's bigger she...lets us do it for pictures.

3-23-2011

Fancy food with friends was honestly more fun than it looks like in that picture. It was also fun being back in the neighborhood that all my friends moved out of a few years ago. This house has a porthole. I want a porthole in my house.

I almost forgot about this smoking car that I saw earlier. Is it bad that I like seeing stuff like this?

3-22-2011

Remember the dog toy designs that Nicole has been working on since April of last year? One of my coworkers was nice enough to bring me this ad she found in a magazine. This is Nicole's reaction to seeing her toys for real for the first time.

P.s. have you ever been hit on by a creepy fortune cookie before?

3-21-2011

I'm accustomed to eating like an eight year old, and I'm definitely accustomed to eating too much grilled cheese, but I think it's somewhat cruel that Panera makes me publicly order off of the kids menu.

3-20-2011

Today is the first day of spring on the calender, and it's really starting to feel like it. We saw a den of snakes coming out of hibernation. They were garter snakes that liked to stick their tongues out.

Friday I posted about how the Yellow-spotted Salamanders (and Yellow-spotted Finger Nails) are starting to come out of hibernation to lay their eggs (that Google research is now making me think are actually Wood Frog eggs). Tonight we found tons of eggs (whoever they belong to) and tons of salamanders to catch. We saw Swimming salamanders, a swimming frog, this sitting frog, and that sitting frog. We caught everything, but the highlight was this giant Monster Quest sized salamander.

3-19-2011

So during yesterday's Swamp Thing adventure, I turned a pair of snow of boots into fish tanks. As I'm definitely planning to go back to visit the salamanders as much as possible this year, we braved the People of Walmart to get huge rubber boots. On the way, we were ambushed by a a group of Girl Scouts. Dessert Week is an excellent excuse for conceding and buying cookies. The real thing I was looking forward to all day was the Supermoon, the closest/fullest the moon has been to the earth in eighteen years. I thought that this was the Supermoon, but it wasn't full. So I waited around (ate cookies) all day, waiting for it. Finally I saw my first Supermoon. It was this super. Also super was Dessert Week which is now coming to an end. To conclude this epic journey of carbs and calories from various places, I thought that I would make Nicole something really special in the oven. This may be the very height of fine dining.

SUPERMOON!!!

3-18-2011

I know I post too much about food, specifically eating grilled cheese from Melt, but today they had something really fun. Look at this mysterious bucket. It's part of the Russian Roulette Frankenstein Melt where you pick four random cards and they take those ingredients to make your sandwich. The ingredients that I got were really good together, but the server was telling us about people getting weird stuff perogi, corned beef, turkey, and peanut butter sandwiches.

After work, we went searching in a swamp. Every year, as soon as the weather starts to warm up, it triggers the salamanders (this red phase one has a black tail) to wake up and make babies. Our area has special Yellow-spotted Salamanders that we've been going to see every spring for the last three years. Get ready for picture overload, because I think they look awesome and get really excited whenever I see one. Nicole thinks their little faces look like they're smiling. I think this frog looks suspicious of me for taking his picture. Plus the salamanders tend to crawl very slowly so they kind of pose for portraits. They even do group shots like this. This is a Red-backed Salamander. I think it looks like he's wearing glitter. Glitter all over its body. I was very excited about another sure sign of spring last night. Spring peepers and various other types of frogs with different patterns. This is a Wood Frog. Here's a frog swimming over a salamander. This might be one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken. Here's a picture with a blade of grass for scale. It's hard to belive such a tiny thing can make such loud noises with its little bubble neck.

After cleaning the swamp off of me, we went to the Arcade downtown to The Chocolate Bar. Dessert Week is winding down, but we had to find chocolate mousse before Nicole's birthday could really be considered complete. There was also more creme brulee.

3-17-2011

So when we're not loudly talking on our phones in the library, or inviting our relatives over to do our laundry on the weekends, even Asian people do Irish stuff on St. Patrick's Day. My participation in the event came by way of eating a giant pile of corned beef. My job just so happens to be down the street from one of the best corned beef places with the coolest cashiers in the area. Their counter looked like this the entire time we were there, and that's just the restaurant orders. Between the dine in and the deli side, I wonder how many cows they sold today. I think there's at least one cow's worth right here.

After work, Nicole and I went out to pick up the last of her birthday presents (above), and celebrate another night of Dessert Week. The dessert of tonight is raspberry creme brulee and martinis. I think martinis are about as socially opposite as you can possibly get from green beer. Nicole thinks they deserve the pinkie out salute and that creme brulee is just good.

So the present that Nicole got is a Nespresso Pixie espresso maker. She went to the store to buy some other version, but was surprised with this brand new model that they just released today. Fancy colors are a big deal. It was a birthday miracle. It uses these little capsules with confusing names to make coffee. Nicole also got this Aeroccino automatic milk frother. These machines combine to make magical lattes that we hope will work like methadone to ween Nicole off of her Starbucks addiction.

3-16-2011

When Nicole gets excited, she likes to knock over trees with her bare hands. I do my best not to encourage this behaviour since I like trees, but clearly she's pretty excited about tonight's dessert. We went out for Thai food with my parents. My father was very happy to show me what he's been doing with his fancy new iPad 2. Steve Jobs would be so proud. This is Black Sticky Rice Pudding and it's one of Nicole's favorite things (this is just what the internet calls it. The menu had a more authentic sounding name, but I can't remember what it was). Fortune cookies were a bonus dessert that Nicole is also very fond of. Then we had dinner with Snake Snake, but I won't post any other pictures because he's fond of eating gross stuff.

3-15-2011

Are you sick of Bearcubapalooza 2011 yet? Because we aren't. It's only Tuesday and we're still going all out. Today, "going all out" means buying tons of dresses. Like all of the dresses. For real. Then we ate all of the dessert. Because it's Dessert Week. Tonight's stop is Presti's Italian Pastry in Little Italy for cannoli. It looks kind of funny pluralized without an s, but "cannoli" means more than just one. I told you we ate all the dessert.

3-14-2011

Although Bearcub Birthday Extravaganza requires a week long celebration, the actual calendar date is today. So tonight we got all fancy for fancy food from Fahrenheit. These fried mushrooms with truffle oil were my favorite. Continuing Dessert Week, here are mascarpone filled eclairs. I know I post too many pictures of food, but get ready for even more because this week is just getting started.

3-13-2011

Today is day two of Bearcub Birthday Party All the Time Week. Today Nicole's family drove us to Pickle Bill's so Nicole could eat crab legs. Four buckets of crab legs. I ate "fameous" fried pickles. Nicole's mom just got eaten. We also drank champagne and made new friends. I kind of wish these people were my friends. Even though she already had the restaurant cake (above), Nicole also had a birthday cupcake at home. This brings up two points. First, the candles are indeed correct. Nicole is actually only turning one year old. Second, all this over indulgent dessert eating is actually part of a preordained event we're having called "Dessert Week." Yesterday it was the cotton candy, today cake(s), and every day for the rest of the week we'll be eating various other desserts. Why you hating?

After nap time, we went to see Tony Preto look pretty and play music. Blurry birthday shots and dance party all night. Why you still hating?