9-24-2011

I know I post too much about both running and my peppers, but it was really pretty and sunny today, so my favorite things I did all day were going running in the sun (no pictures) and hanging my peppers to dry in the sun.

9-23-2011

So as much as I complain about this place almost all the time, I'm a born and raised Cleveland person. I think anyone who's lived here for any extended length of time has strong opinions on the city both good and bad, but in the end the good must outweigh the bad or else we would all live somewhere else. In any case, the late Harvey Pekar is unquestionably the iconic person from Cleveland with strong opinions, and someone that this city can be really proud of. To this end, I was incredibly proud and totally blown away when I found out that an illustration drawn directly from something that I painted made it into one of the last novels he wrote before his death. I found out months ago, but couldn't talk about it until it was published, then slacked on actually picking up a copy. Well I got my copy tonight and I'm really excited about it. Cleveland.

Speaking of things to be proud of in Cleveland, we went to one of my favorite places to get food tonight. Yeah, even after traveling across the ocean to one of the premier culinary centers in the world, I'm still super happy about going to a divey bar and getting fancy vegetarian hot dogs. Cleveland.

9-22-2011

That's pretty much exactly what it looks like, though I will point out that the guy in the corner came in pushing a woman in a wheel chair, ended up begging us for money, then left with the woman walking and pushing her own wheel chair.

None of that is as interesting, adorable or delicious as the bear muffins that Nicole made for dinner tonight. Are bear muffins vegetarian? Because I'm sure that barbecue isn't.

9-21-2011

I remember I posted a picture of all out autumn leaves from this same spot last year (10-18-10), but fall is just starting to start to get ready to start again this year, and I thought that this was worth stopping to look at on the way home tonight.

9-20-2011

It's been over a week, but I'm still blaming jetlag for coming home and taking naps before running. I'll probably be jetlagged until next summer.

9-19-2011

I bet you money that my family is crazier than your family.

9-18-2011

Yeah, I have a sewing machine and I know how to sew. I also now have new jeans that are the right length.

9-17-2011

Wow, yeahh...we're definitely back in the Midwestern United States when there's chubby girls unironically dressed up as cowboys at the gas station. I can't save plane ticket money fast enough.

While we're here though, we might as well have fun right? So today, Nicole thought it would be fun to finally go try Flip Side for cheeseburgers. 'Cause she likes meat and stuff. After all the Cheeseburger Touring that we've done, I'm pretty picky, and have a lot of experience to compare places to. So at first, I wasn't too impressed and felt like we've already been to (a little too) similar places...then quickly changed my mind. Flip Side might not be the most original place that I've ever been too, but they have a cheeseburger with wild and fried mushrooms with a truffle mayonnaise. We already know my opinion of truffle anything.

I will say though, I probably post about mushrooms a little too often. It's hard not to when I keep having strange experiences involving mushrooms. For example, we came across these today. At first, I optimistically hoped that we came across a free chanterelle garden, but upon closer inspection recognized these as jack-o-lantern mushrooms. They aren't kill-you-poisonous, but they'll definitely make you sick if you eat them. Supposedly they're bioluminescent too, but they didn't glow when we tried to see it. On top of that, Nicole found this little giant puffball mushroom growing in our yard today. Unfortunately it was too old to eat. See, strange experiences involving mushrooms.

I don't think I've posted about Ingenuity Festival on here before because I've been out of town/avoided it the past few years because it tends to be really hyped up and actually pretty lame. Well, we decided to go at least for a little bit this year. It's supposed to be about technology and art doing exciting stuff...but yeah...it's pretty much as artistic and technological as girls with Christmas lights and sparklers. The best part of the whole thing is that they have it at an abandoned subway line inside of a bridge that you can't access the rest of the year. See, bridge. The first time I went, I was super excited about looking down while standing on grates out over the river. This time for some reason even that wasn't quite as exciting. On top of that, we went to see a band that I like. Typical of this festival, the space was awesome (other than the horrible acoustics), but the setup was horrible. They put chairs (full of tired old people who just wanted to sit down apparently) in the front, and left standing room for people who don't even like music to watch from the back. This was literally the singular only lone individual girl that was dancing and looked like she was having any fun at all. In any case, since I went and shot it, here are some pictures from the set.

Spinning keyboard
Lights
More lights
This is the stage
Throwing stuff
Yelling face
Another angle

To save the day, we found a bunch of fair food stands to save the day. It's pretty sad when the best part of an art and technology festival is eating junk food, but to be fair eating junk food is more fun than most activities. This reminded me of Europe. The most interesting parts are the parts that you can't get to. I know I've posted this tripped out punk rock dude on here before because I see him various places dancing by himself for hours at a time. He likes to party. Party!

9-16-2011

Now that I'm back home I have to consciously seek out things that I like about being here and not just think all the stuff that I miss from Paris and London. Clearly, Melt is something exclusively 'merican that makes me happy. Take that, Europe.

Look at this crazy bug I found on my peppers. I has a line for a body.

It took a few days, but we finally unpacked and presented the cats with their presents. They got a prawn, a catnip ball, and a teddy bear guard from Harrod's. We have spoiled cats.

We also unpacked and hung our new knocker that we got in Notting Hill. The fox doesn't have a name yet, but he/she is older than both of us.

9-15-2011

Just like Sienna, you're probably wondering "what in the world is that crazy thing Nicole is holding?!?" We'll I'll tell you. It's a Giant Puffball Mushroom, and I'm super excited that she found it. They're edible, but right now I'm stating a disclaimer that this post is not instructions or a guide, and I'm in no way responsible if it inspires you to eat something dumb that makes you sick. That being said, here are some details. First, you have to cut it in half from top to bottom. It should be solidly dense (kind of like styrofoam) and white all the way though. It's important to do this because if it's yellow or brown it's spoiled and if you can see the shape of a mushroom cap, it might be poisonous. The next thing is to peel off the skin and cut out and bad parts, then cut it up into slices. I also chopped up a bunch of habaneros since I have so many peppers that I don't know what to do with them all. Cooking like this was pretty much pepper spraying my entire house. Nicole cooked it in a more traditional way with just butter and salt. It tasted good like a mild, soft cheese like mozzarella, but warm and not melty. Mine was unnecessarily hot, and if even ate it with the fried pepper bits for good measure. As with everything else, my favorite way that we cooked it was pan fried with parmesan cheese and finished with truffle oil. Truffle oil makes everything better.

9-14-2011

This book was loaned to me in Paris and I'm very excited to read it. I haven't even started it yet though because I decided to just go running instead.

9-13-2011

I was quite happy to find that my peppers were healthy and not dead after my trip. I was also glad to see that Mushroom was healthy and posing in nice light.

9-12-2011

Yeah, I spent close to 20 hours sitting around on trains and planes between Londres, across a big ocean, and through some more airports to get back home. Do you really expect fun and exciting pictures of me trying to sleep uncomfortably?

9-11-2011

We've been in so many train stations and looked at so much art in museums that it's all running together at this point. I do know that we went to see the grand and illustrious London Bridge. The thing I liked the most about it was the sign. Specifically the dragon on the sign. Look, another fancy random church. And another boat discovery. I guess you can sleep on this boat. It would probably be more comfortable than our hotel beds. Nicole looks mysterious. Where could we be going other than looking at more bridges How about to go look at the Globe Theater and to look at another bridge. A very Modern bridge. Yeah, we're looking at more art at the Tate Modern. Modern art. I actually "get" this one. It's not hard to get this one. Ohh, after the museum, since we already had one bottle for our checked back, we might as well find it some company right? I would love these ones, maybe I could opt for something a bit more expensive? Yeah...if I spent that much on booze, Nicole would probably push me down these stairs.

So by total chance, our end of vacation day was the same as the Thames river End of Summer Celebration Day. I don't know why anyone would celebrate the end of summer, but I figured it would still be fun anyway. This year's theme was Korean people (I'm serious...people were acting like they've never seen a Korean person before). Now even if I've never seen a Mexican person before, I know better than eating "Authentic Mexican Street Food" from a little blonde girl in a truck that looks like this. Instead, to go with the Korean excitement, we chose an authentic kimchi cheeseburger. Made by white people. I think white people should stick to making things like vegan cupcakes. That's totally authentic white people food. Jamaican jerk chicken on the other hand is probably better this way. I don't care who made it where or how authentic it is or isn't, the cured meats this guy was selling was literally one of the best things I've ever eaten in my whole life. I found coloring and got bummed out I didn't know about it until our last day in town. Yawn. We saw Lil' Wayne and I had fun taking more people pictures. Some how, no matter where we go, Nicole and I always end up finding stuff like this going on. Which is good because I like street performers. Now this whole trip, whenever Nicole would wander off or get separated, I would threaten to get a leash for her. She mostly would give me dirty looks and think I was kidding. I wasn't.

Did I mention that we liked walking along the river? We ended up here a lot. It was WAY too cold to end up here. I would have been a sad crying baby if someone made me go into the fountain. Look at this guy, and this lady, and this guy too.

Awee, sadly our trip is coming to an end. We took our last Underground ride then returned our Oyster cards back for a refund. It's ok though because we can still just walk to a pub for my last fish and chips and roast with yorkshire pudding. The last night of the fair. I'll miss you, London and your giant eye. Since tonight is the End of Summer Festival thing, and as Nicole so poignantly pointed out "they don't have Fourth of July here," we got to end our vacation with fireworks before taking one last look at the fancy buildings everywhere.

Oh! One last thing! Our hotel was two doors down from where Winston Churchill used to live. Yeah that's totally voyeuristic and borderline creepy taking pictures in people's windows like that, but what are they going to do? Extradite me?