Vegan Pi

Brugge 8/21/08-8/23/08

2008-10-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

I totally fell in love with Brugge (Bruges) so this is going to be a long post. I got into the city in the early evening. I was absolutely starving, so after dumping my stuff at the hostel I found a cheap place to get a cup of pasta (3 euro, and it was a big cup). I took that over to Market Square and just sat and ate and soaked in the feeling. It is OLD. It looks old and it feels old. I love it! Something about Brugge was different than the other cities I visited. Amsterdam had nicer canals. Brussels had fancier buildings in it's main square (Grand Place). But I loved being in Brugge.
All the Brugge pictures are here.

chocolate! and fries!
I had my first Beligian chocolate here. I stopped at a lot of the little chocolate shops, there are a lot since it is a touristyish town, and got 3-4 pieces at a time. It was great to sit in a park or square and eat my chocolate and people-watch. I did a lot of sitting and just being while eating chocolate. Really good chocolate too!

I also discovered curry fries here. This is the best sauce I've ever had for fries! Soooo good. The fries are in a cone, they put the sauce on them and give you a tiny little fork to eat them with. These were amazing the next morning after a night of drinking!

friends and beer!
I met a brother and sister from Perth, Australia after dinner my first nite and spent the rest of my time in Brugge with them (as well as my first day in Brussels). They were a lot of fun. We did a tour of Brugse Zot brewery. Which, of course, involved sampling both of the beers there, and maybe the lighter one needed a second taste ;)

Brugge is where my beer drinking for the trip got underway. The first night I had 3 beers (a free one at the hostel, then a wheat beer and a fruit beer at a bar). The second day we did the brewery tour=3 beers. Dinner was another cup of pasta with 2 beers. Then we went to a different hostel to hang out and had at least 3 more beers. Oh, then to De Garre, a pub, where I know I had a big and a small beer, but it might have been 2 small beers after the big one? It was all so good!

the sights!
Of course we climbed the Belfry tower (that's where the first pic was taken from).

Underneath the fancy Crown Plaza hotel are some old church foundations so we went down to have a looksy at that. There was a full-out dining room set up down there!

*warning*don't read this if you are religious or get offended about religious stuff*
We saw Jesus at the Church of the Holy Blood. Sorry, no pictures of the little vial of congealed Jesus (well, okay it was only his blood). That was quite nerve-wracking since none of us are religious and weren't quite sure how to act in front of Jesus. We got in line and watched to learn. You drop some money in the donation box, then go up a couple of stairs. A dude in robes is standing behind Jesus, you put your hands on the glass covering the vial and "pray" then mumble a thanks to the dude in robes (or tell him cheers like the Aussie boy did!) and cross yourself if you know how (I don't). The dude in robes gives you a pamphlet about Jesus and you walk off the other side. It was sooooo hard to not laugh. And Jesus looked gross.

Where Jesus lives!

Amsterdam 8/19/08-8/21/08

2008-09-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

I only ended up in Amsterdam because it was the cheapest place to fly into. Immediately I almost got run over by a bicycle...turns out I didn't look both ways before crossing the bike lane (which I didn't even see until I was in it). After that I was much better about watching for bikes and enjoyed seeing them all over the city.

I wandered the first day. Ate a cone of fries and just took in the city. I went to the Torture Museum which was quite interesting and I saw a floating flower market on one of the canals!

This is the back of it.

The next day I did a walking tour and met a few Americans (girl from Iowa and 2 guys from CA) so I spent the evening in the coffeeshops, bars, and Red Light district with them. It was a ton of fun. Quite a different culture than what I'm used to!

Here are all of my Amsterdam photos.

Carved in the paint in a bathroom stall.

Reykjavik 8/18/08-8/19/08

2008-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to visit Iceland since at least 9th grade, if not before. I'd been checking flight prices regularly since 9th grade at least! I flew Iceland Air to Europe specifically because they allow a free stop-over of up to 7 days. I only stayed 1 because of costs...I wasn't going to be there long enough to be worth renting a car and I didn't think I wanted to spend more than 1 day in the city.

Reykjavik photos are here!

I met a guy from Colorado on the bus from the airport into the city. At 7am after an overnite flight! We explored the city together. 1 day was enough for Reykjavik. It was an interesting city, but not much to see. Walking along the ocean was beautiful though and we spent a lot of time hanging out on the rocks near it and walking up and down there. The food was good, I found a vegetarian restaurant to eat lunch at and had a really good soup for dinner. Everyone was super nice.

I definitely want to go back to Iceland. Maybe spend a few weeks backpacking around. It is still the #1 place I want to visit!

Lazy

2008-09-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

I've been lazy lately. It is kinda hard to get back into a routine after having 4 months off work. I'm still bringing my breakfast and lunch to work. Still mostly cooking dinner. Still not snacking on unhealthy stuff much. I'm definitely not going to be keeping a chart of it here like I thought I would :)

I'm not back in an exercise routine. I did make a deal to go running once a week with Batman's roommate. We both get bored running alone. So that is once a week. Maybe I can work it out with J to go another time a week. That would be twice a week. Then 2 times a week I can do stuff at home...pushups, pullups, crunches, squats, etc. I'm thinking about joining a gym near work for when it gets colder out, I can get it fully reimbursed so it would essetially end up being free. I need to check it out though, it might be overrun by students (they would just think I'm one of them). Or I'll start riding my bike to work, at least until it gets too yucky outside.

I am cooking and knitting and doing more of that stuff. I would like to get back into the swing of blogging. I was doing great with my last blog that I had until a year and a half-ish ago. I never really got into it with this one. I'd like to change that.

So coming up with be a series of posts about my europe vacation. It will motivate me to finish going through my photos mostly and I won't post so much that it is boring for you! This can get me back into blogging, then I'll share all the other stuff that I keep thinking I should blog about.

PBnJ

2008-09-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

This week I've had pb&j for lunch every day. Healthy? Sure. Boring? Not at all. Some days were crunchy pb, some smooth. I've had 3 different flavors of jam throughout the week. Who am I kidding, they are boring.

I decided with a new job and all that I would try to eat as healthy as possible. Fairly easy since I'm vegan, but there is a surprising amount of vegan junk food out there.

My hopefully achievable goals:

eat breakfast, preferably something healthy - yogurt, banana, bagel on occassion
pack a lunch, trying to include a fruit and a veggie - just to make sure I get some
make dinner more often than eating out - when I cook it is healthy
one "unheathy" snack a day -- this need restrictions :)

Snack Restrictions:

it can be 2 small snacks
granola bars count in this unless included as part of a meal, they aren't really that healthy
total should remain under what I judge to be equal to a cupcake with a 1/4 cup of soy ice cream (that is a standard dessert for me)
I get to decide what counts as a cupcake/s'ice cream serving...1/2 Ritter Sport+2 mini cupcakes counts...a whole candy bar at work and a cupcake at home doesn't count

And since I'm a nerd, I'm going to make a table to track it all weekly, and then maybe a master one with points or something for long-term tracking. I can't help it, keeping track of the details of my life is something I've always done. I'll just keep track of weekdays...I don't really eat meals on the weekends. We'll see if I stick with it for more than one week.

Healthy Eating Wk 1 (9/8/08-9/12/08)

Date	Breakfast?	Pack Lunch?	Lunch Fruit?	Lunch Veggie?	Cook Dinner?	1 Snack?
9/8	Yes-cereal	Yes-pb&j	Yes-grapes	Yes-grape tomatoes+carrots	Yes	Yes
9/9	Yes-bagel	Yes-pb&j	Yes-grapes	Yes-carrots	No	No-2
9/10	Yes-s'yogurt	Yes-pb&j	Yes-grapes	Yes-grape tomatos	No	Yes
9/11	Yes-s'yogurt	Yes-pb&j	Yes-grapes	Yes-carrots	Yes	No-2.5
9/12	Yes-s'yogurt	Yes-pb&j	Yes-grapes	No (I ran out)	Prob not	??
Total	5	5	5	4	2	2?
Grand Total for week	23

The Great Outdoors

2008-09-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

I mentioned back in April that I was going hiking this summer. I had planned on doing all 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Since I'm already back, obviously I didn't make it that far!

I do need to add up my total miles, but it is somewhere just under 300 miles hiked on the trail this year. I did it in a few pieces. Here is a summary which might actually tell more than my hiking blog (veganhiker.blogspot.com)

5/13/08 - 5/26/08
14 days, 140 miles - Harpers Ferry, WV to just past Duncannon, PA.

I'd only been on 2 overnight backpacking trips before starting. My pack was about 30 pounds and I hadn't used any of my equipment. Amazingly I got into hiking shape really quickly...I did an 18 mile day on the 4th day out, on that day I met Gobbles and Maytag, who I hiked with until I went home. There were a ton of frustrating moments while I figured stuff out. Lighting my stove, pumping water, how much water to carry and how to attach it to my pack, and shopping for food in small towns. Blisters were a huge problem and it rained a ton so I hiked lots with wet feet. I also got lonely which I didn't expect. Even hiking with Gobbles and Maytag I was lonely. After 2 weeks I got a ride to the train station and came home, fully intending to go back out.

A stream in Maryland.

My pack with my water bladder on top of it. I could live out of that pack for a week as long as there was a stream or somewhere to get water.

6/6/08 - 6/8/08
3 days, ~36 miles, to Wind Gap, PA

J was planning on meeting me this weekend to hike so we decided to go out anyway. Her parents made transportation to and from the trail possible! I had planned on hiking further, but we happened to be out the weekend where there were 4 days straight of 100ish degree heat and I had a headcold and cramps. We did a nice 13 mile day to start. Then a brutal 17 mile day over Lehigh Gap, in the heat, without enough water. I felt like shit at the end of the day. The next day was supposed to be hotter so we hiked 6 miles to Wind Gap where her mom rescued us. I was pissed at myself that I didn't keep going, but I felt like shit and pretty much took a week to recover when I got home. It was a pretty area, we just picked a sucky time to do it.

Part of Lehigh Gap. There was also a rocky part and a part with some stunted growth and brambles.

Camp, although we tore it down and slept in the shelter due to threat of rain. I later learned how to better hang my hammock to keep out the water so the threat of rain isn't as much of a threat now.

7/18/08 - 7/25/08
8 days, 95 miles, Pawling, NY to Lee, MA

This was going to be a 3 week, 300 mile hike. My knee didn't cooperate. I was actually doing pretty good mood-wise on this one. I did a 10 mile day to warm up. Then there were a couple of HOT days, then the rain. My knee started hurting a bit after a few days. Then a bit more. Then really bad if I went downhill. It felt better when I got up, until the last day. I was near Lee so I came home. I didn't want to kill my knee. The hiking was good, I got into a nice zone. It was cool to see the thru-hikers, even if they did all pass me. And there were section hikers and stuff too...I hiked a couple of the days with Yahtzee. I had some very empowering moments during this week and was mentally much stronger. I grew as a hiker this summer and am sooo excited to get back out, hopefully soon!

View from Lion's Head. Elev. 1738 ft.

Dessert! Fresh picked blueberries from the top of Race Mtn. carried to camp in a water bottle. I ate soooo many blueberries that day!

Just in case you miss the raised train tracks...some hikers zone out enough that they might.

Tiny Red Eft. Guitar pick for scale.

I'm baaaack!!

2008-09-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

I've had a VERY eventful last 5ish months. I'll update on all of that later (with pictures!).

I just have to say...

how did I make it 24 years without being told how much better dried beans (post-cooking) are than tinned? Hmmm? Cookbook authors? Every cookbook seems to say that it doesn't matter whether you use dried or tinned beans. And my mom uses tinned everything so she didn't teach me this secret. I was going on the assumption that they were pretty much the same and it didn't make a difference which I bought.

It so makes a difference! I just made my very first batch of beans from a bag. I sorted out the 1 stone, soaked them all day, and then simmered them on the stove (in new water). When they were done I added a dash of salt and pepper. I am now sitting here eating them from the pot.

Oh, they are black beans. I was going to freeze half, but I think I'll only have half left by the time I get them out of the pot. It will be fun to hang out with me later...beans, beans, the magical fruit and all. :)

I'm a dried bean convert. I need freezer containers. And a few more types of beans since I'll eventually get tired of black. An extra bonus is the bags will produce less waste than all the cans of beans that I eat! Score one for the environment!

Really, I'll have pictures next time :)

Reading Update

2008-05-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Very interesting and very good. Gave me lots to think about and echoes some of my own thoughts on the human population. It's got science, p*rn, adventure and love, what more could you want? About a super-species of humans type thing (created by oryx and crake) that snowman looks after.

The Knife Man by Wendy Moore

The material was good and informative, but this book kept putting me to sleep. I realize I don't sleep a lot, but I rarely nap and very seldom does a book take me off to snoozeland. This one is about such an amazing man who led such a great life. The idea behind the set-up of the book is a good one, I like the chapter names and such. I was greatly underwhelmed by the writing or something. Oh, it is about a great anatomist/surgeon in the 1700s...John Hunter, the father of modern surgery.

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Nobody has a name in this book. I like that. It was really well written. The ending sucked. People start to go blind, the govt quarantines them, then everyone goes blind. Except one person. It is actually really good, even if I don't like the ending. I think it is being made into a movie right now.

Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass

It is a quick read...I read it in two sittings because it was so interesting. Really just a murder-mystery type book, but I read so few of them. Jellyfied women is found in a cave and the dude works at the body farm. Very well written.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephonson

It's weird, but I like it. Totally sci-fi, which I don't usually get into, but this one is more computery which appeals to my math brain. It is a pretty quick read and is attention-grabbing enough that I'll pull it out even if I only have time to read a couple of pages. It's about a hacker that makes friends with a courier and they are trying to find out about snow crash.

Last day at work...

2008-04-30T08:11:00.001-07:00

Oh wait, I don't think I announced on here that I'm leaving work.

HmHm, Today is my last day at my job. In 2 weeks I'll be hiking the Appalachian Trail. Go check out my hiking blog if you don't already know about it. This blog may get a few more posts and then will be put on hold until November sometime. I'll make an official "I'm on hold go look at me hike" post when the time is right.

I do actually have interesting things to post here before I leave. And since I won't be working, I should have time to post them!

In sucktacular news, I have cramps and they hurt. I made VwaV chocolate thumbprint cookies last nite and they help, but I have a feeling I should have doubled the recipe!

NYC - the rest of the trip

2008-04-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

Since we were only in NYC for a few days, we didn't have time to do a whole lot.

Saturday (4/19) after we got to NYC and had lunch, we walked down by the Hudson River. Batman saw water so we meandered to it and walked along it for a while. That nite we saw Avenue Q on Broadway. It was really good. I was surprised, since it does have puppets in it! It was fun to get all dressed up and go out.

Sunday (4/20) we walked through Central Park to the Musuem of Natural History. We spent most of the day there. Batman wanted to see all the animals (poor things, but it is neat) and I wanted to see the rocks. We walked through pretty much everything, but didn't stop to look at much when it was displays about humans!

And we ate. Really, we didn't do much, but it was nice to get away for a quick weekend! Here are some pictures that I took while we were there, there are more in flickr.

Neat sink picture for C:

taken in Central Park:

NYC - food

2008-04-23T07:59:00.001-07:00

Batman and I went to New York City last weekend (I had Monday off for the marathon, he had it off for Patriot's Day). I'd only been once before so it was a lot of fun to go back. We took the Greyhound bus there and back. On the way there we had a bus that was falling apart, but had lots of leg room. On the way home the bus was in much nicer condition, but with way less leg room. It doesn't matter so much for me, but Batman is tall!

We were only there for 2 nites, so we didn't actually do a lot. First, the food! Sorry no pictures, we were starving pretty much every time we sat down to eat!

We ate at 'Snice twice, lunch when we got to NYC and lunch before we left. It is soooo good! We had the tempeh rueben and seitan philly-style sandwich the first time, they were okay. I prefered the tempeh and Batman prefered the seitan. The second time I had the vegan panini and Batman had a "meatball" sub. I am in love with the panini...smoked tofu, pesto and sundried tomoatoes...sooooo good. They have a good selection of vegan desserts, but most the ones I tried (apricot bar, cupcake, blondie) were way too sweet. The chocolate cherry cookie and some chocolate chip bundt cake were good and not too sweet.

We had dinner at Blossom on Sunday nite. I don't like seitan or mushrooms so that limited the choices for me! We started with ravioli (it had diced mushrooms in it that I decided I would be okay with, also spinach which I like) in a cashew cream sauce. Yummy! Then I had Feijoadinha...a delicious stew-like tempeh, black bean, sweet potato, and chayote squash dish. Batman had stuffed portobellos (tofu/walnut) with apricot cous cous, asparagus, and a cashew-tahini sauce. Dessert was cheesecake and chocolate ganache w/strawberry ice cream. All very delicious! The service was great and we also had a yummy bottle of organic wine!

We also went to a bagle place and they had tofu cream cheese, so that was nice. And we had lunch at the cafeteria of the Museum of Natural History one day...they had tofu, 3 bean salad, and beet salad that was good! A late nite snack of avacado rolls at Blue Fin with a drink! And a boring yet tasty veggie sandwich at some random deli that came with 2 big pickles and a cel-ray soda which I'd never had! We weren't there too long and that is actually everything that I ate...plus an order of french fries on the way there and home when the bus stopped!

Hmm, I'll do another post later with everything else!

Did you know?

2008-04-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

The nutrients in carrots:

Help support your immune system
Help maintain healthy skin
Help regulate metabolism
Help maintain optimal health

Carrots have a high Vitamin A content and are loaded with fiber!

Well, thanks to the bag from my baby carrots, now you do know! I've been on a carrots as a snack kick lately. 1/4 of a pound at a time. It sounds like a lot of carrots, but doesn't actually look like that many when I pour them into individual containers. Batman likes them to snack on too, so that is a bonus.

Formatting

2008-04-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

I think I've finally found a format that I like for my blog. I got tired of trying out the different templates, but I think I found one that I like. And I colored it to make it prettier.

I will admit that right now I am on a PC and have no clue how it will look on a Mac. I will check it on my Mac tonite and I hope it is okay!

I realize that for those of you reading through Google Reader or Bloglines it doesn't matter what the blog looks like, but for the rest of everybody, hopefully it looks better!

I knit and sometimes finish!

2008-04-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

I finished this in, ummm, February. Just in time for the day that indicated 1 year with Batman.

Here are some really bad photos of it on me. Black hat + no sunlight + taking my own picture = bad. And excuse the mess in the background, I'm not sure why I didn't go out to our clean living room...my bedroom is always a bit cluttered!

Maybe I'll try to get a picture of it on him sometime.

Pattern is Reasonably Hip from Magknits. My hat looks like the one in the pattern, but blacker! I used some 100% acrylic yarn. Some nicer Red Heart maybe, or Lion Brand. I should find out which! It felt nice enough for acrylic and I'd use it again.

afternoon snooze

2008-04-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

2 cats, one mostly unused futon. Can you tell Winston sleeps there a lot...he has the top of the cushion all dented down! See the chessboard that my dad made me under that pile of stuff. It is really nice...I should actually use it sometime!

Kitty nose!

waterfalls

2008-04-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Batman and I went hiking a couple of weekends ago. It was cold and icy, but also a lot of fun. We saw some waterfalls!

Bish Bash Falls - not as impressive as I expected, a VERY quick hike from the car.

Then we were going to hike up to the Appalachian Trail and camp at the shelter. We didn't make it to the AT the first day, we stayed at a site on the blue blazed trail. The next day we made it to the AT, summited Mt. Everett and then took a service road back to the main road. Except the main road we were on was on the other side of the mountain from our car (we knew it would be, but with the ice I was worried about going back down the mountain). We managed to hitch a ride back to our car after only having to walk a couple of miles!

Here are the waterfalls (all unnamed as far as I know) that we saw hiking up...they are all half frozen!

Note from the cats

2008-03-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

I came home from work one day last week and saw this...

A closer view...

It reads:

Dear smaller human,

*roommate's name* put wet food in our bowls this morning, he's pretty cool for a human.

Also, our butts smell bad and you should punish us arbitrarily. In addition, we make ridiculous noises and smell each others' butts.

*paw prints*

Don't you love their correct use of apostrophes? Turns out that since I had run out of dry food I ran off without filling the autofeeder that I often use. Woops. I'm sure they were very vocal about needing fed when roommate was there though. This is only the 3rd time in the year that I've had the autofeeder that my cats have almost missed a meal...2 of those my roommate fed them.

Here are the purrfaces. They don't look like they are starving! This isn't a great picture of Snickers, but there is something about it that I like.

Of course, an open backpack is a prime cat bed! Usually he is in Batman's bags, I tend to leave mine zipped close so he can't shed in them!

reading update

2008-03-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't done an update in a long time! Here is the last one. This one is kinda long. It is possible I forgot a book here and there since I do read a lot and it has been months!

Monster Planet by David Wellington.

The third in the series. Very good, but I couldn't remember who everyone was from the 1st two. Once I started figuring it out, there were some interesting twists in the story.

The Dubliners by James Joyce
A collection of Short Stories that I read on the flight home from Dublin. How appropriate. It was a quick and nice read. Kinda cool to read it right after seeing the place. I'm interested in reading some of his other stuff now!

What is the What by Dave Eggers.

About one of the Lost Boys from Sudan. His story of walking and walking across countries, living in refugee camps, and growing up without family and then in an adopted family. This is all intermixed with bits of his life since he came to America.

Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen.

I learned more about corn than I ever thought I would need to know. Parts of it were slow, parts I already knew, but there were lots of things that I learned about modern food and how it comes to be. Overall an interesting book.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

A very quick and fun read. It is narrated by Death, which I liked. A fairly typical nazi germany story...young girl, hidden Jew, secrets, but with the added bonus of stolen books.

Short Stories by Roald Dahl

I don't remember the exact title, but it was a collection of short stories. It was very interesting. I read a lot of Dahl as a child, but it was in the form of The BFG, Matilda, and The Phantom Tollbooth and maybe some others. The short stories are definitely done for adults and were quite fun to read!

The Keep by Jennifer Egan
A story set in a castle! It starts out kinda slow, picks up in the middle and has a great ending. A guy that isn't really doing anything with his life goes to some castle in Europe to help his cousin turn it into a resort.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Set way back in the 1100s. A man (detective) and a woman (doctor) are sent to a town to find a killer. One of my favorite books I've read in a while. It combines many things that I like in a book and I could hardly put this one down until I finished it.

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood

I didn't like this book. I found it boring and sappy. It wasn't bad enough for me to not finish it (very few books are), but I would not recommend anyone else read it. It fits in some category with Little Children, I'm sure there are people who enjoy those books, I'm not one of them.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

This was a great book! A bit slow to start, but once I got into it I was reading anytime I got a chance. I actually finished it during lunch at work and I rarely read at work. It is about 2 boys (cousins) who become comic book authors/illustrators and their lives. One is from Europe and he gets sent to live with the one in NYC about the time WWII starts. It was very well written and a great read!

Dublin Ireland

2008-03-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

A couple months late! I'm home today so I finally took the time to go through the rest of my photos.

Batman and I went to Ireland in January. It was great. My first time using my passport (I got it a year ago), and his first time to Ireland (he's travelled a lot more than me!). We stayed in Dublin and were only there for 4 days. We didn't have time to do everything that I wanted, mostly because nothing opened until 9 and then was closed again by 5! We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral as well as some other old churches, Dublin Castle, some old bits of walls/arches/doorways from the 1200s, we actually saw most of Dublin I think! It isn't very large and we did a lot of walking. We took one day and went to Howth on the DART. We hiked in the hills by the ocean and got a bit of the feel of being in the Irish countryside.

I was able to take knitting on the flight there but not on the flight coming home. I didn't knit at all though, I read and slept a lot! I kept a journal while we were there which is what kept me busy in the hotel when we were taking a break from everything. It was actually very easy to eat vegan in Dublin. I found places with soy milk and the skittles there are vegan! I did have some Guinness...it isn't vegan and I don't drink it at home. I loooove it so much though and it does taste better in Ireland. I had to sample all the other beers and the cider. It is great that you can order a pint or a glass of beer, so often I don't want a whole pint and the option for less isn't available in the US.

Here are a sampling of the pictures that I took. You can see many more on my flickr!

St. Patrick's Cathedral. Of course Batman and I had to have a Guinness!

The coach house at Dublin Castle. I think this building was part of the Guinness Brewery

View over the ocean from the hills by Howth. The clouds above the ocean on the flight home.

Photo Organizing

2008-02-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

I was going to post yesterday, but I wanted to see what pictures I have in Flickr. I have a lot. 884 to be exact. And at least 200 more that I haven't uploaded yet. Needless to say, I got distracted.

I'm organizing my photos now. Making sure that each and every one has the correct tags and is in the correct sets and has something that resembles a title or description if needed. This way when I want a picture I can find it. The problem is that it takes a looong time. I'm over halfway done I think. So as soon as the photos are organized, I'll be back with some more interesting posts.

On a different topic, carrots are so satisfying to eat for the crunch part, but not for the full belly part. I have 2 bags of them so I'll be doing lots of crunching to be followed with a higher fat snack to keep me full. Or I'll get some hummus for dipping. I also have 2 bags of celery, but I looove that with peanut butter or marmite so that makes it more filling. Obviously I didn't check my fridge before I went grocery shopping last nite.

1 Year (plus 2 days) Ago

2008-02-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

So one year ago, Feb 2nd/3rd to be exact, was a bit of a turning point in my life. You get two stories in one here!

Pre-stuff: I'd become single a few months before that and had made a very rushed move into a different apartment with my two kitties and most of my stuff (the rest of it I never did get). There are all sorts of great stories about all of that, maybe some other time for those though.

So a few months after taking control of my life and getting out of a bad situation, I decided to do something that I'd been thinking about for years. Get a tattoo. I knew that I wanted a Pi. I wanted it small, discreetish, but where I could still see it. I was sitting at work, drawing on myself when I figured it out. I drew a wee little Pi on the inside of my wrist. Perfect. This was drawn on at about noon Feb 2nd. I drew it on darker and was ever so careful to not let it wash off. The next day, Feb 3rd, was a Saturday. That morning I was knitting with some friends and looking up tattoo parlors online. I picked 2 based off of Yelp.com reviews and chose the one that I knew how to get to (plus there was a sushi restaurant near it). I packed up my bag and headed that way.

This was pretty big for me. Not so much getting the tat, but the fact that I went to get it within 24 hours of deciding what I wanted. It was finally doing something solely for me. Not to get away from anything, not to prove anything, not because it was expected or I had to, not for anyone else in the slightest. I usually have more of a reason for why I do things, because I want to isn't always enough for myself. But that is why I went to get a tat. Because I wanted to.

So I brave the icy sidewalks to get to the tattoo place. I tell the man what I want and sit down to wait while they get ready. There was a guy there looking at designs, and we started talking while I waited. He plays in a band near where I live, so he gave me his email address and said I should come check them out. We looked at designs in the books and talked while I waited.

Once everything was ready for me, it took no time at all to actually do the tattoo, and was definitely cool to watch. On my way out, the guy said something funny and I told him I'd check out his band sometime. He was wearing a hat and looking cute. I'm a sucker for cute guys!

This is it...the nite that I got it. I should go home and take an updated picture.

So there is the story of how I got my tattoo. And since I said there were two stories here...that guy I was talking to while I waited is my boyfriend. We went on our first date 2 weeks later and have been together since!

I know that all of you who know me IRL have heard all this, but I felt like telling the story again :)

Cupcakes!

2008-01-31T10:12:00.001-08:00

Browsing through my flickr, it seems that I have a decent number of pictures of cupcakes.

All these are from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Cookies 'n Cream (candy cane Joe-Joe variety)
cooling:

frosted:

Margarita Cupcakes:

Margarita and Basic Chocolate Cupcakes:

Hey look, another batch of Margarita Cupcakes!

Last weekend we made another batch of Margarita cupcakes as well as a batch of Chocolate Stout and Rum Raisin. I'm sooooo loving the Rum Raisin ones. I was hungover when I had a chocolate stout, but my roommate assures me that they were good. And obviously I like the Margarita cupcakes!

Here is the Basic Chocolate Cupcake recipe from VCTOTW. I've made this a ton. It is super quick, easy, and always yummy. Plus it is great with peanut butter frosting! Yum!

Long time away!

2008-01-30T09:05:00.001-08:00

It's been a long time since I've posted! I finally finished up, at 1am last nite, a long ongoing thing for work and now I have a bit of breathing room in my day again.

So what to say now? An update of sorts? This blog has turned into a free for all, so here goes...this is more of a brainstorm to get me back in the groove of blogging.

reading - I've atually kept up on updating the books here. I've got another update about ready to post. I mostly only read on the subway, but can still finish a book a week or so somehow!

baking - cupcakes! J and I made 3 batches last Saturday. I made cinnamon rolls 2 weeks ago. Baking has been happening. I might have pictures?

cooking - slowly working it's way back into my life. I've been doing simple, healthy meals lately, but have actually made some "real" dinners as well. Batman and I are trying to eat healthier, eat the right amount, and balance it all better. So we've been taking our lunches more too. I have all sorts of things that I want to make, both lunch and dinner foods so I'll share that as I get around to it.

drinking - I still tend to pull out the camera to take pictures of our drinks at bars. Like this one.

travel - Batman and I went to Dublin earlier this month. I'll definitely do a post on that with lots of pictures! Making sure to show you more than just the Guinness (not vegan, I know, but I was in Ireland and I looooove Guinness)!

sewing - I have plans. Nothing has happened yet but plans are a good start. Oh, and I got a nifty tool...I'll share that later!

embroiderying - I'm almost finished with my first sampler! It has been in an almost finished state for 5 months now, but it's close and I know I could finish it quickly if I chose to.

knitting - still happening. not much though. I'm 1/3ish of the way through a sweater and am fully convinced that I don't like the top down in the round method. My other sweater is looking weird. I've knit a couple of dishrags. I'll get some pictures later.

cats - still as cute and as much a pain in the ass as ever. Snickers is slowly starting to turn into a lap cat and Winston still sits above my head and purrs.

Okay. So I didn't have much to say today. I've got some ideas now, whereas I didn't have any before, so that is good. So forgive my rather disjointed, listy post and I'll come back with something more substantial sooner rather than later!

Reading Update

2007-12-12T16:15:00.000-08:00

Previous one is here.

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem. A white kid grows up in a colorful neighborhood. He manages to get by, almost fits in. His neighbor and him tag DOSE and have a ring.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem. Tourettes syndrom orphan and a few others taken in by Minna. Minna is killed and the search takes him into zen and a japanese oasis on the coast.

Dark Tide by Stephen Puleo. A molasses flood in Boston's North End. Very interesting, (very) local history. Gets kinda dull in the middle during the court stuff, but picks up a bit again at the end.

In the last month I've also been reading large chunks of Price Theory and Applications by Landsburg, Macroeconomics: A Modern Approach by Barro, Principles of Corporate Finance by Brealey, Myers, and Allen, and Econometric Models and Economic Forcasts by Pindyck and Rubinfield. This hasn't left a whole lot of time for reading for fun.

list thingy

2007-11-16T12:56:00.000-08:00

I saw this first on but did they eat it? and then saw it on a few other blogs. I like lists so here is mine!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk? Soy milk, usually unsweetened (Trader Joe's or 365 brand). I like the red carton of Silk for drinking, but the unsweetened is better for cooking which is what I usually use it for. And I like it fine for drinking too.
2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook? when? I don't have a timeframe, but cupcakes, potato soup, and a casserole of some sort have been on my mind.
3. Topping of choice for popcorn? I don't really like popcorn. I might eat a piece or two if it is plain.
4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure? Potato soup made with sweetened soymilk. Yuck!
5. Favorite pickled item? cucumbers
6. How do you organize your recipes? Some are in cookbooks, some are in a recipe box, some are saved on my computer, they are in various notebooks and stacks of papers. So umm, they aren't organized at all!
7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? trash
8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)? strawberries, potatoes, and spinach
9. Fondest food memory from your childhood? my dad teaching me how to make rice with raisins for breakfast in the microwave when I was in 2nd grade, or making cinnamon rolls with him in the evenings (even though I don't like cinnamon)
10. Favorite vegan ice cream? depends on if I'm having it with cake or without
11. Most loved kitchen appliance? my red mixing bowls and heavy duty whisk
12. Spice/herb you would die without? garlic granules/powder
13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time? The Student's Vegetarian Cookbook and some vegan cookbook whose name I can't remember were given to me for my 18th birthday, right before I moved into dorms with a kitchen, I think they were my first 2 cookbooks.
14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? crabapple jelly, raspberry jam. Must be homemade
15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend? I expect them to eat any weird vegan food I serve.
16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh? Tofu, then seitan, then tempeh.
17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)? dinner, in the evening
18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator? Peanut butter puffins, frosted shredded wheat cereal, and my roommate's box of some sort of hot cereal.
19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. TJ's meatless meatballs, chocolate chips, spinach
20. What's on your grocery list? I tend to not bother with lists, but I always buy cat food.
21. Favorite grocery store? I shop almost exclusively at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I don't really have a preference and they do carry a little bit different stuff.
22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet. A yummy cake made with a box of cake mix, a can of pie filling, and eggs that I ate for breakfast every day during my last year of high school.
23. Food blog you read the most. Or maybe the top 3? I read a lot of them.
24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate? Candy Cane Jo-Jo's right now. Usually Boston Cookies. Not a huge candy/chocolate person, I tend to like baked goods better.
25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately? Candy Cane Jo-Jo's, 2 boxes which is what made it extravagant
26. Make up your own question to put here (and answer it). I used the one that was already there.
Are you a Lover or a Hater?
Garlic - LOVE!
Kale - love
Eggplant - hate
Celery - love
Brussels Sprouts - love
Cilantro (Coriander) - tolerate in small amounts

Reading Update

2007-11-14T14:49:00.000-08:00

Previous ones here and here.

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. Two scientists, a reporter and a sportsman go off to find the lost world that the one dude had already found, but nobody believed him. It's in South America and there are dinosaurs. The reporter is doing it for a girl...does it win her over?

The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 4th in the series, read from Project Gutenburg. What you would expect from Tarzan's son. Back to the jungle with them and of course, a happy ending.

The Sportswriter by Richard Ford. Divorced man who is a sportswriter and has an interesting view on things. Very, very well written. I almost quit reading it a few times cuz I wasn't interested. The end was much better than expected so that redeemed it a bit. I'd be interested to read other stuff by this guy.

Not a lot of reading. I've been busy doing a lot of other stuff and the book I'm currently reading is taking a while.

iPod

2007-10-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

I think it is time for me to get a new iPod. I have a 1st generation mini. Which means that it is outdated for those of you who still used a diskman :)

So I'm going to get a black 80GB iPod classic. I'm stuck though. I can get stuff engraved on the back of it. 2 lines. 20ish characters each (it depends on capital letters or if there are numbers or stuff in there).

What should I get engraved on it? I could be boring and just get my first name. Or I could be cool and get something else. Any ideas? If you have my email address and want to make suggestions that way instead of in the comments, feel free.

Embroiderying

2007-10-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

I got it in my head a monthish ago that I wanted to relearn how to embroider. I did some when I was in elementary school. I remember hand sewing little pillows, doll sized I'd say, and then embroiderying them to give to my grandparents as gifts when I was in 2nd-4th grade. The fabric was checked so I had a line to sew along and it made embroidery easy (I think I only learned one stitch, probably the only one that my mom knew to teach me).

In 5th or maybe 6th grade, my grandma on my mom's side taught me a bit more embroidery. I think I got as far as buying one of those pre-stamped pillow cases, doing an hour or two of work on it and then getting bored with it.

I don't think I've touched it since then. But I had a sudden urge to learn. I bought supplies on my way home from work one day - needles, hoop, red floss and black floss (I won't mention the snap attacher thingy that jumped in my bag or the tatting thread). I went home and did this...

and with a flash...you can see the stitches better in this maybe...it is small, maybe an inch and a half square...

I have a ton of tannish colored cotton fabric (it was a skirt I made in high school that has been cut apart and used for sooo many things, it was floor length and super gathered, so it is a ton of fabric). I drew the Pi on freehand and backstitched.

Later I bought the Sublime Stitching book. I'm doing a modified version of the sampler in that now on the same cotton fabric. It is almost done and has been a lot of fun to work on.

I'm really glad that I was introduced to all of this as a kid. It makes it so easy to jump back into it now. I still enjoy the same parts that I did then (I love having a needle and thread in my hand) and I've changed enough to enjoy the parts that I didn't enjoy then (that it takes forever is one). I'll have to find out if anyone still has any of those little pillows...I'm sure that my granny kept hers somewhere, it is entirely possible it is still on the guest room bed where it was everytime we visited when I was young.

Columbus Day

2007-10-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. That was like weeks ago. So I'm a bit behind.

Batman and I went on a "vacation" for Columbus day since it is a somewhat recognized holiday here. Side note - we didn't celebrate it anywhere that I lived growing up, they get out of school for it here. He had it off, I took it off.

We packed a bag and walked to downtown Boston for our vacation. We got a sweet deal on a room at Nine Zero.

View from our room

We had dinner at Mistral. It was very nice (I wore my heels and a cute, clingy green dress!). We each got a salad, mine was lambs leaf lettuce with pecans and something else (Batman's had cheese too). Then for the main course they brought us a veggie plate. Roasted red peppers, green beans, little roasted tomatoes, yellow beets, mini onions, squash, maybe something else. It was all done perfectly and while a bit uninspired, was very tasty. Dessert for me was a dark chocolate sorbet...OMG yum! Batman had some oozing chocolate cake thing. Service was great and it was fun.

We walked back to the hotel through the Public Gardens and the Common. The rats were all out, it was cute. There were a ton of them in the trash cans and when Batman tapped it with his foot they would run out of it one at a time.

The next morning we had a late breakfast (nothing great), and then went to Newbury Street. We window shopped and each bought some jeans, had lunch at Trident and then made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags. I haven't had a good chunk of time to spend on Newbury St. in a while, so it was lots of fun. Actually just being able to enjoy our time and not worry about doing anything else was great.

This is in the Public Garden...so tropical looking!

So overall a very successful local vacation!

Catnaps

2007-10-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

What I wish I could be doing right now.

Mac and Cheese

2007-10-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

New Farm Mac and Cheese, recipe from the PPK.

I ate a whole pot of this stuff about a month ago and here I am doing it again! It has a great texture. The flavor is great the first day. I add some salt and pepper to it when I'm reheating it after that though. I also like it with the Trader Joes meatless meatballs (or anti-meat spheres as Batman referred to them).

With a chocolate cupcake for dessert, I'll be eating pretty good for a few days!

Recipe changes: I just dumped in a whole pound of pasta, I don't know how many cups that is. I cut the oil in half at the end this time and I like it better that way.

Some crafty stuff is happening. Not much, but is there ever much. I'll see what I can do about getting pictures of it tonite or tomorrow nite.

Reading Update

2007-10-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Another one! I'm going to try to do these oftenish so I don't fall super behind. This is what I've read since my last reading update.

Harry Potter (the new one) by JK Rowling. It was a good read as all the others were a good read. I was happy with it and am glad to know how it all ended.

Fluke by Christopher Moore. Some researchers are researchering why whales sing in Hawaii. One has "bite me" written on its tail. There is a hot research assistant and a white kid from NJ who talks in a combination of slangs/accents. Researchers are sabotaged and the crazy lady tells them to take a sandwich to the whale.

Little Children by Tom Perrotta. One of the worst books I've read in a long time. Stay at home parents with little kids have an affair. There is a convicted child molester in the town that lives with his mother and the retired cop decides that it is his job to make the guy's life miserable. Totally predictable, well written, and completely dull.

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 2nd in the series. Read through Project Gutenburg. Tarzan is still being annoyed by the russian guy. He meets a friend of Jane's and returns to the jungle where he finds Jane again when they are all, surprise, shipwrecked in the exact same place again!

The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 3rd in the series. Read from Project Gutenburg. The Russian dude steals the kid and Jane follows. Tarzan ends up on an island and makes friends with the local animal population. The apes learn to row a boat and he takes his animal army to rescue his wife/kid.

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. Very good book. Based on the true story of the sinking of the whale boat the Essex that came from Nantucket. This one is based more off of the cabin boys papers that were found recentlyish, there is another book that the first mate wrote shortly after it happened. Very interesting tale of survival at sea.

Nature

2007-09-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

I was playing with my camera while waiting for Batman last week.

Finished Sweaters

2007-09-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

I knit my mom a sweater for her birthday. Her birthday is on Christmas. She got her sweater at the end of July. A bit late, but whatever...it's handknit! I did one for 2005, 2006, and am working on 2007.

This was the sweater for 2006 (she got this one on time - I can't find the picture of it on her)

And this is 2007's sweater (with her face blurred out, the flat picture she took of it was awful)

Filigree Turtleneck from fiddlesticks knitting. 100% organic undyed cotton (Ecoknit, it is the same as Pakucho). Machine washable and machine dryable.

She really likes it, even though it is totally impractical for July!

And for good measure, here is the one other sweater that I've finished. I was intending to knit it for myself, but it ended up fitting my 7 (at the time) year old cousin. I knit this one about 2.5 years ago.

And the only baby sweater I've knit. This I did while flying out to see my family for Christmas 2005 (my cousin was due in the spring). It got a single blue star button at the top a few months later before I gave it to her.

Those are all of the sweaters that I've knit. I do have a few in progress right now, but I don't like the yarn for one (and I'm resizing the pattern), one went funky and I need to think hard about if it is correct, and one I'm swatching for (the swatch picture a while ago). I don't think I have much to show for any of them yet, but you'll eventually see them!

Causa

2007-09-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

I've been super busy lately and it will last until mid-November. It sucks because I love to cook and I haven't had much time to.

A few weeks ago (maybe a month or more actually) I made causa from a recipe on the PPK. It wasn't too much work, it took about 45 minutes total, and turned out really yummy.

I cubed the tempeh

Baked the potatoes (next time I am so boiling them, scooping innerds out of a hot tator is not my idea of a good time and took way longer than peeling/boiling them would have)

Soaked the onions (will probably skip this next time too...I like the taste of onion, and these just added crunch with no flavor after having been soaked)

Juiced some limes with my new citrus fruit juicer...new as in I bought it in January and this is the first time I've used it

And layered it all in my pie dish.

It was way better the next day than it was right away. I also liked it chilled rather than room temp. I'll put more olives on it next time too...I was adding them as I ate it since I didn't start with enough. Batman liked it too. He likes tempeh better that I do.

From the Sky (Ceiling, whatever)

2007-09-21T10:37:00.001-07:00

I actually went to my little knitting group last Wednesday. I haven't really sat and knit with them in a long time. I stop in and say hi every now and then, but this time I sat and I knit (6 or so rows of a baby dress and a start to a dishrag - no pics yet). I'm not sure that I'll be going back though (j/k)!

We were leaving and since I was going to be heading straight over to Batman's place I wanted to use the loo before I left. I'm doing my business when something hits me on the arm. It fell from the ceiling and bounced to the floor. I look down just in time to see it scurry around to the back of the toilet. Of course, I hurry and finish, wash my hands, and grab my camera. Doesn't everyone have their camera in the loo with them? It was in my purse, so it isn't that weird. I wanted to make sure that this thing was what I thought it must be.

I'd never seen one "in the wild" before. I left it there, behind the toilet, and showed L the picture as I walked out. It got a nice little squeel with a bit of a hand flutter in response :)

So yep, I saw my first cockroach. He (she?) was a little one, maybe an inch long. Now I don't mind so much that the cafe doesn't have any vegan food. And while I know most of the restaurants probably have cockroaches, if I don't see them then I can maintain my denial. I do see mice and rats regularly outside though. They are sooo cute! And after hours at the bars the mice scurry around, darting in and out of the walls...adorable! Cockroaches, not so cute.

Fall Knitty

2007-09-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've been busy lately. I have pictures but they are all on my camera still. I knit a bit and baked a bit and will eventually share some of that with you!

But here is something that I can do without my pictures, I can offer my opinion when nobody really cares. So here is my opinion on the knew knitty.

Muir (shawl) - pretty enough, doesn't look like I'd bother figuring out a vegan yarn though. I do kinda like the wavies in it, I don't so much like the photography

Henry (scarf) - very nice man scarf. I might even think about knitting it in a vegan yarn, except it is knit lengthwise which doesn't sound so good to me

Entwined (scarf thing) - points for creativity

Tussie Mussie (sweater) - I like the sleeves, but I'm not really feeling it for the rest of the sweater. Especially the collar.

PPR (men's sweater) - I REALLY, really like this one!!! Maybe Batman would too? Or ummm some other guy that I know (I don't think I know any that wear sweaters!) And the yarn called for is vegan so no huge subbing necessary (I'm going to look into Valley Yarns Longmeadow for this although it might be too light)

Roam (sweater) - there are way better basic zip-up hoodies out there. J knit one, ask her which it was

Cherie Amour (sweater) - Cute. I could see wearing it to work over another top. Or taking it to throw on when it is almost cold, but not quite. Although in a synthetic it would be quite warm anyway!

Neiman (sweater) - it is described as fitted. I wouldn't call it that. It might look good on some people, but if I liked the circle design at the top (I don't really), I'd just stick it on a different sweater pattern.

Mr Greenjeans (sweater) - There are a ton of patterns that look like this out there. Better ones IMO

Boxed (sweater) - Boxy, big and cropped with a pattern change right across the nip line. The smallest size is 38.5 inch chest. Flattering on anyone...probably not. Let me know if you can prove me wrong on that.

Percy (purse) - I really like this one. It is a nice basic purse pattern in a stong yarn that I could sooo easily change to make a purse of any size! Granted I still haven't finished (or really even started) Via Diagonale so it might be a looong time before I am ready to tackle another purse, but this one is #2 on the list now.

Flower Power (hat) - It's a baby hat. It won't fit for very long anyway so it doesn't really matter what goes on the kid's head.

Foliage (hat) - I'm not a big hat fan and this one isn't going to change that at all.

Peacon Pie (hat) - I like the colors of the one in the picture, otherwise still not interested in hats

Urchin (hat) - this hat, on the other hand, looks amazing on the model. And would look good on a few other people, but really, only a few.

Totally Autumn (throw) - nice enough

Q (sock) - socks interest me even less than hats

Diamond Waffle (socks) - still not interested (these ones are better though)

Cinderella (socks) - it looks like there is a huge ridge running down each side of the sock that would be uncomfortable

Back to Basics (socks) - basic socks with a funny looking toe

Woodins (toy) - this is cute. I like the idea of making toys. I'm not sure about the leaf tail on the little creature, but it is a neat idea overall.

Swatch

2007-08-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Reading Update

2007-08-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

I used to read a lot (really, a lot). Then I barely read at all. Within the last year I've started reading quite a bit again.

My problem is that it is entirely possible for me to read a book without ever looking at the title or seeing who the author is. Someone will hand me a book and say "read this" and I somehow miss the title almost every time. Or I'll notice the title quickly at first and then ignore it.

So I'm going to try to be more aware of what books I'm reading. Learn a bit about titles and authors. Just a bit, that way if I am reading a bunch of books by the same person, I'll realize it!

I'm going to list a lot of books now. These are the ones that I can remember reading through the summer. I'll also put a short description that makes sense to me...even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else that has or will read the book.

And I'll make a reading update post every few books that I read. The sidebar will list the ones that I've read since my last update post.

Monster Island/Nation/Planet by David Wellington. A series of 3 books. People are either dead or zombies, very few that aren't. Old mummy dude gets into people's minds. Mad scientist trying to save wife.

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Boy and grandfather take the foreigner to find his dead grandfathers lover from the war. Dog goes too. It jumps between a couple of stories...the boy/grandfather and the story of the city they are looking for, with bits of stories about the war/stuff thrown in.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. The guy lives in a very cluttered apartment. He is writing a book. He came to the US from somewhere else. He had a love, did a modeling job, has a single neighbor.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carols Ruiz Zafon. Very good. A boy is taken to pick out a book, a man is trying to destroy the book. There are lots of little stories that tie into one in a very well done way (the blind girl, the bum, the publisher's secretary).

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. His experiences when attempting to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. Very interesting and has me even more interested in hiking than I was.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. A circus story! The almost-vet ends up on a circus train and falls in love. Of course there is an elephant. I really enjoyed this one.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. A vampire story...the dad is telling his daughter his stories after she finds a book.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Somehow I missed reading this in high school. Ummm, it is about war and the guy's life now and the aliens? I should read it again.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. A man and his son are walking south. Something happened and the world is mostly dead. Written without extra words and reads very quickly. Many things are left for you to figure out and think about, but in a good way.

The White Castle: A Novel by Orhan Pamuk. A guy from Italy is taken as a slave to Turkey when their ship is captured. He convinces people he is a doctor and gets special treatment from the Pasha. He is sold to a man very similar in looks to himself and spends the next 20 years with him.

I think there are more that I've read. And I hope I matched up my memories of contents with titles correctly (I googled for authors)!

change jar

2007-08-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

There isn't much going on. I'm busy with the new apartment (I'm finishing moving tonite) and work. I really want to do some cooking and baking...I'll try to find time for that this weekend. I'm soooo sick of beans and rice. I made them again last nite since I barely had time to make/eat anything and they are quick.

I was studying at Starbucks yesterday morning and the whole hour that I was there, a woman was sitting in the corner shaking a jar of change. Not like a cup to get change from people, it sounded like a large mason jar 1/2 full of change. I thought she would stop after a few minutes, but nope. She was doing it when I got there and still going at it an hour later when I left. My iPod was great to have then...it blocked it out enough that I could study.

In case you were wondering, here are the names of the songs to the bits I put up the other day.

i need your arms around me / i need to feel your touch / i need your understanding / i need your love so much
**Never There by Cake
-----------
you must die, i alone am best / i hope you flip some guy the bird / he cut you off and you're forced to swerve
**I Hope You Die by The Bloodhound Gang
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car after bus, car after truck / after this my lungs will be so fucked up
**Carbon Monoxide by Cake
-----------
making my entrance again with my usual flair / sure of my lines / nobody's there
**Send in the Clowns by Frank Sinatra
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you don't eat or drink or mow the lawn / you just fuck your uncle all day long
**Uncle Fucka by Terrance and Phillip (South Park)

snippets of songs

2007-08-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Bits of songs that I heard while I was studying this morning. I put the iPod on and then block out most of the stuff that goes from it to my ears. This is what didn't get blocked and slipped through.

-----------
i need your arms around me / i need to feel your touch / i need your understanding / i need your love so much
-----------
you must die, i alone am best / i hope you flip some guy the bird / he cut you off and you're forced to swerve
-----------
car after bus, car after truck / after this my lungs will be so fucked up
-----------
making my entrance again with my usual flair / sure of my lines / nobody's there
-----------
you don't eat or drink or mow the lawn / you just fuck your uncle all day long
-----------

I just found it amusing what bits of songs I heard and thought I would share! Have a great weekend!

Haiku

2007-08-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

Caffiene headache hurts
Coffee makes it go away
Addiction still there

No attempt to break
The pull of coffee on me
Too hot to drink it

Fill cup up early
Forget about it til lunch
Problem solved, it's cold

the maths (of a financial ecomonics sort):

Put-call parity
Call plus present strike equals
Put plus forward price

Call is S less K
And for Put it's K less S
Max(above and naught)

I hate arbitrage
buy/sell/short the put/call/stock
which is when and why?

I'd rather be hiking

2007-08-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

So I'm on a roll with this posting thing!

Really I don't have anything of interest to say today. And no pictures.

Ummm, I just moved so I'm selling all the furniture I don't want on Craig's List. It is surprisingly easy. And it sells very quickly if you price it low enough! Kitchen gadgets and stuff don't sell quite as quickly as furniture. I might keep them and try again the 1st week of September, once all the students move back.

I was talking to a friend yesterday while I uploaded pics onto the flickr. I have a Mac, he has a PC. He said "my PC has VD"...that damn internets p*rn and its viruses. My Mac hates any wireless internets that I actually pay money for, but loves all the free wireless internets...it's an internets whore. Oh, J - I still have a wireless router thingy for you.

I got to play Batman's new learning game last nite (it is for his dissertation). A guy he works with made it in Flash based on what Batman wanted it to do. Now I know all about natural selection and he knows all about how it works on someone that is not him. I feel like a guinea pig.

I'm tired of eating beans and rice. I've been eating pretty much the same combo for 3 weeks now. Rice cooked in the rice maker, frozen corn and frozen bell peppers, garlic, beans (usually black, last time I got kidney and chickpeas), stir fry sauce, and hot sauce. It is filling, cheap, super easy, fast, and healthy. Hard to find all of that in a meal. Plus when I make it is enough for 2 dinners for me, 1 dinner for Batman, and 2 lunches for me. Once it cools down for real, I start making soup again. Easy, healthy, and much more room for variety.

I had kellogs organic frosted mini wheats for breakfast. The organic ones are vegan which is totally cool since I used to love frosted mini wheats (actually I liked the non-mini ones, but I'll take what I can get in vegan form).

Random enough for you?

lots of hiking pictures

2007-08-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

More details on my hike, actually lots of pictures and not really that many more details.

Where we camped Friday nite. Our tent and "backyard".

Dinner Friday nite. Cous cous with chickpeas, Batman had a cup of split pea soup, and candles to keep the bugs out of the food.

Saturday Batman and I went to find the Appalachian Trail. We found some parking near it in North Adams and got on our way.
This is the first part of it, yep a short stretch of road in the AT:

Then we got to the trail part.

Hiking... this was a not-so-steep part. I couldn't get pictures of the steep part since I didn't want to slow down and didn't want to have my camera out to get broken. I had to use my hands a few times and some of those were times I didn't necessarily plan on using my hands.

Trees that look neat:

A view halfway up:

The beacon-thingy on top of Mt. Greylock. If it does something I don't know what. I was way too tired and it was too windy to bother finding a sign with information.

The view from the summit of Mt Greylock.

Stove for cooking dinner. I was soooo hungry that I ate all the dinner before I thought to take a picture of it. We had vegan sloppy joes with pitas. Yum. And tea cuz it was cold. The stove worked great once we got the hang of lighting it. It wasn't hard, but it took a couple of tries until we knew just how much gas to release before lighting it.

This is how I picture the "mountains" out here. Much of it was like this so I wasn't too far off. Batman did tell me that there are a few mountains in the east that have a tree line, so I guess I can leave the ""s of those when I talk about them.

Pretty trees:

Stone steps. There weren't very many of these, actually this set and maybe one more shorter one. It is pretty and I liked it.

Playing with my macro for Batman, moss on a rock. Super exciting, I know!

And I just found a "smudge" feature on my picture thingy. So here is a picture where you can see Batman's pack, can kinda see mine (I was wearing Batman's shirt and looke like I had been hiking aka gross), and us at the scenic view thingy half way up (I got another hiker to take our pic).

Quick hiking note

2007-08-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

I had a great weekend! We ended up car camping on Friday nite (we left Boston too late to do any hiking). It was fun though, Batman made a fire and we got to cook with our little camping stove. Saturday we got up had an awful breakfast of rice meal, food was all of my choosing so I can only blame myself. Then we headed over to find the Appalachian Trail in North Adams. We had a quick lunch at a sub shop and were hiking by noon. We hiked up to Mt. Greylock and then back down to a shelter to camp at. It was 7-8 miles total, much of it pretty steep going uphill and I had a 20 pound pack (Batman's was 30 pounds). We were at camp by 5:30, and I was starving. We set up the tent, made dinner and cleaned up, and then another group came to camp at the shelter and we hung out with them. It was a group of 6 college students, they were cool. We were in bed by 10, but it took me forever to get to sleep. First I couldn't get my feet warm (even though the rest of me was sweaty), then I couldn't get comfortable, then the animals all started making noise. I got enough sleep though since we didn't get up super early. Sunday we took the easy path back down to town, so maybe 4 miles total, but no steep hills. We were back at the car by noon, so we went to the Mass MoCA. Really cool. Drove home and took a much needed shower! I slept soooo well last nite! I definitely can't wait to do it again.

I'll get pictures and more details up later this week. I've got to get a few things done, mainly laundry and grocery shopping, but I'll squeeze it in!

And if you are interested:
What I carried (about 20-22 pounds with the water full):
Osprey Atmos 50 pack (it appears that I bought a men's pack, but it fits and is a better color than the woman's, plus it is the same weight and carries the same amt.)
North Face Cat's Meow Sleeping Bag
Tent and poles (Batman had the rain cover - it was his 2 person tent)
2 liters of water in Nalgene bottles
MSR WhisperLight Internationale Stove
11 oz fuel bottle (filled with white gas)
hand crank flashlight
2 sporkish things (spoon on one end, fork with serrated edge on the other)
3 soup cups
pitas and peanut butter (I brought the whole jar)
rice meal (yuck!), raisins, slivered almonds
drinks (tea bags and emergen-c)
3 clif bars
clothes - total of what I wore and carried, 3 pairs of socks, 3 underwears, shorts, pants, tank top, short sleeve top, pullover/jacket thing (thin, nylon), and I wore my tennis shoes
toiletries - roll of tp, deodorant, face wash wipes, lotion, baby powder, q-tips, hand sanitizer, off wipes instead of bug spray
misc. - wallet, chapstick, feminine prodcuts (of course, it is that time of month, what great timing), tissues, hanky, baseball cap

I think that is everything that I carried. Batman had the rest of the tent, food, pots, toothbrushes, his own clothes and stuff, and water/water treatment, and first aid. Maybe more, I'm not sure.

busy weekends

2007-08-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

I have a post brewing in my head. Now I just need to figure out how to get it typed out in a way that makes sense. I'm halfway there, give me a few weeks ;)

I went to the Revs v. Galaxy game Sunday nite. It was a lot of fun. Beckham didn't play, but I didn't expect him to. It is even more fun to go now that I'm starting to figure out who the players are. I'm not sure how many more games they play. Hopefully they will get a soccer stadium built closer to the city in the next couple of years so I can go to more games (right now it is an hour drive away and I don't have a car, so I go when Batman drives). I also moved most of my stuff to my new apartment last weekend, so that made it seem busy. I've got a few things left to moved and I need to get a bookshelf or something, but I'm mostly moved and mostly unpacked!

I'm going camping this weekend, so probably no posts until next week. I have to get caught up on a ton of stuff for work (studying mostly) and finish getting supplies and food. I'm not sure exactly where we are going, but I have a new sleeping bag and internal frame pack that I'm ready to use! I'll take my camera and try to remember to take lots of pictures.

Pretties

2007-08-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post a few pretty pictures before the weekend.

I took these in Oswego, NY when I visited there in June. Batman and I were walking to a spot where the water snakes supposedly sun themselves. It was a longish walk, but there was lots to see the whole way there and back. Unfortunately the snakes were not to be seen.

At the stream where the snakes were supposed to be was a dragonfly though!

These were taken on the walk back from the stream to the house.

When we were almost back to the house we saw a bunny!

And a picture for C. I saw this in 2 of the women's bathrooms in bars there. The main door locks and then you have a choice of toilets to use. This is the nicer of the two. The other one wasn't arranged in such a way that I could really take a picture of it. I took this one standing against the wall between the door and the sink.

Ballon Finger!

2007-08-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

This is my left hand at 7pm last nite

This is my right hand at the same time

OUCH!!!!

I got home from work yesterday and opened my window. I have to stand on the window sill to be able to open it from the top. As I was jumping down, my ring got caught on something on the window and forked up my finger! Luckily my first reaction was to take my ring off. My finger ballooned out instantly. I ran cold water on it and then put it between a lunch box ice pack and a bag of frozen bell peppers. Once I got over the initial hurtiness, I ran to the store a block away and got a bag of ice.

So instead of getting tons of studying done like I had planned, I sat for hours reading and icing my hand. Oh, and called to whine a bit to Batman and J. My dad told me to splint it, so finally at like 9pm I did (and then I organized my bedroom). Batman came over and told me not to splint it and to use it, so I'm typing with it now and it is working okay.

Today it is slightly less swollen. My middle joint is a nice shade of bruised all the way around and I have a nice red mark the shape of my ring (it is a zig-zag one).

This is the window looking all nice and safe. I took this picture on Sunday, sitting on a stool at my kitchen counter, when they were parading a saint around the neighborhood. They do this every weekend for like 2 months, a different saint each weekend and there are anywhere from 2-4 marching bands with them. Sounds great (not). This time there were only 2 bands, one in front and one behind.

Catching Up

2007-08-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've been back for a week and just now feel like I'm getting caught up and back in the swing of things.

Highlights from my little trip:
*eating funnel cake as it was getting dark in the "beer corral" at the fair - it was Batman's first funnel cake ever, he now acknowledges is superiority to the nasty fried dough
*riding a carnival ride with Batman, it spun a bit and went up high; it is super expensive now though ($10 for both of use to ride once I think)
*going for a mid-morning swim and then taking a small nap on the beach
*coming back to the house at nite and seeing a yard/sky full of fireflies
*hanging out and talking to the owner of a local bar, he is very interesting
*finding fruit in the middle of all of the non-vegan and/or fried food

I didn't get much studying done. I did read a few books. A Walk in the Woods (very good), Water for Elephants (also very good) and started The Historian (a bit predictable but still good). It was so much nicer to lounge and read than to sit at a table and study :) I love to read and didn't do much for a few years, so it is great to be back at it. Most of the time I only read on the subway, but I can still finish a book fairly quickly during travel time to/from work and to/from Batman's place.

Oh, and I knit! A whole 4 rows on a grey sweater I'm knitting myself. Then I needed another ball of yarn and a stitchholder to split for the v-neck or something. I didn't bring anything extra (just my ball of yarn and the instructions, not even my little notions bag) so I had to put that aside. I probably could have finished the piece (front?/back?/not sure which) on working on
if I'd had the stuff with me.

I've mostly been working and studying since I got back. I'm so ready for August to be over, it is a bit too hot and humid for me outside and inside is way too cold everywhere. Oh, Batman and I went to TJ Scalleywaggle's for lunch on Saturday. I got a veggie calzone and he got a meetbahl sub. Both were very good. I love the food there!

vacation

2007-07-25T08:23:00.000-07:00

I'm going away from the internets for a week so I thought I'd get a post in before I go! Batman and I are taking a vacation. Not anywhere too exciting, but there is a huge lake, a beach (pretty rocks, no sand), it is private if we are at the house, but we can go into town for the festival that is going on and have plenty to do. I'll definitely have my camera with me, because whether you believe it or not, I do take a lot of pictures. Uploading them to the internets is another thing, but it eventually happens.

I'm going to take some knitting with me, but I doubt that I will actually knit while I am there. I am also taking work with me, and that I will have to do at least a little bit each day. It is studying for the never-ending series of exams that I have to take, so it isn't real work...it is almost worse than real work :)

Here is a neat list that a PPKer put together. 101 vegan meals in 10 minutes go check it out, lots of simple yummy sounding food. I know that I'll be checking out this list next month when it is really hot outside and I am super busy, but will still want to eat healthy good food.

GOL!!

2007-07-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

My mom's sweater is finished, boxed up and ready to be shipped when I get off work today. No finished pictures, I'll have my sis or dad take a few pictures of it on her so that I can cut her head off (to make it blog-postable) and you can see it on a person. I was actually in the mood to get it boxed up the other day and I didn't want to delay things further.

I also finished my 3rd pair of Voodoo! I knit pair #1 pour moi and pair #2 for sis. Then I visited family and my aunt loved them so I gave them to her. I thought I could knit myself a new pair quickly. Well, it ended up being 13.5 months, but I have a pair for myself again! All 3 were knit with Reynolds Saucy Sport and Bryspun dpn size US6. I did 40 stitches for my pairs and 44 stitches for my sister's pair. Pic will eventually be taken.

Yesterday I got to go to a New England Revolutions game! It was my second. It was a lot of fun, even though they didn't win. Lots of goals were scored though...they tied 3-3 against the Houston Dynamo. I like watching soccer more than other sports, but that is probably because I can follow the game better and I know the rules and how it works. The rest of the weekend was pretty lazy. I think I get to go to another Revs game soon, I'm looking forward to it!

Batman and I made pizza last nite. It was yummy. Whole Foods crust, Trader Joe's pizza sauce, artichoke hearts, black olives, Lightlife pepperoni, and a cheezyish sauce to hold it all together. Quick and easy dinner! With Soy Delicious ice cream sandwiches for dessert (they were out of vanilla tofutti cuties and I was not in the mood to try a different flavor).

sweater talk

2007-07-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

I am like 99.999999% done with the sweater that I am making for my mom's birthday (ummm, 7 months late now).

I started knitting it on April 16, 2006. I finished knitting it oh, 2.5-3 months ago. Then I wove in all the ends a month ago. I finally washed it last nite. It was supposed to shrink and I don't think that it did that much. It didn't get completely dry in the drier, but I had to leave so I did a bit of the "lay flat to dry" stuff for the last of it. My mom can shrink it more when she gets it if it needs it.

I'll try it on when I get home tonite and if I don't get a picture tonite, I'll get some tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a little bit big on me since my mom is 2-3 inches larger than me. I'll dig up some of the steps from it too, so you can see the progress.

Now that leaves me 2-3 months behind on starting her next birthday sweater. I was totally planning on knitting Licorice Whip in an undetermined color, but when I just looked it up I saw The Purple Sweater and there are a ton more color options for this one! I'm reconsidering. I like both yarns, but am picky on color so the Butterfly Super 10 might win out over Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton this time. My mom won't wear green/yellow/orange, I won't knit blue/tan/white/pink. Red is what I was thinking, but it can't be orangy-red. So in the Super 10, what do you think about #3995 (red), #3945 (purple), or maybe #3884 (blue?, purple?)? In Blue Sky it would probably be tomato, but maybe thistle or graphite (probably not graphite tho).

Both of these look pretty quick to knit, which is good because I'm going to be spending a good chunk of my non-working time studying. Or with Batman, but he's super busy too, so mostly studying. I'd like to get the yarn this month so I can squeeze in time on it as it becomes available!

I'd put up a poll for all 2 of you that read this, but I'm still futzing around with blogger so it is a no-go. Please opinionate as strongly as you wish in the comments!

my never-ending pit of a stomach

2007-07-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

I feel like all that I have done yesterday and today is eat. Granted, after I left work yesterday I didn't eat again until almost midnight, but I did eat all day at work.

Today so far I have had (yesterday was almost the same):
oatmeal w/berries (oatmeal-McCann's , berries-TJ brand)
chocolate soymilk (TJ brand)
handful of sesame cracker thingies (TJ)
unknown number of grapes-2 handfuls maybe (TJ)
cup of lentil soup (TJ)
handful of chocolate cat cookies (TJ)
piece of dark chocolate (Droste - purple box of Pastilles, I had one)
coffee with a splash of chocolate soymilk in it (coffee-Green Mountain from work, milk-TJ)

And now I'm eyeing the fruit (bananas, grapefruit, grapes) that I have sitting on my desk cuz I want one. I'm not really hungry though, so I'll leave it there to look pretty and mock me and drink some water instead.

The funny thing is, everything that I've eaten today is from Trader Joe's and most of it is Trader Joe's brand! I'll add the brand to it all...done! I eat breakfast and lunch at work so on Monday I usually walk down to TJ and get enough food for the week. And then if I end up bringing leftovers or whatever for lunch, the TJ food will keep for the next week. It is soooo much cheaper than eating out and takes away the stress of having to pack a lunch every day. Plus if I have fruit sitting on my desk, then I eat fruit. Otherwise I would eat more cookies or something :)

I got to kick a soccer ball around last nite!!! I used to love to play soccer, but quit playing after 6th grade or so since we moved around a lot. I went running yesterday with Batman (good enough nickname for now...it is how he signs some of his emails!) and he got out a couple of soccer balls for us to kick around a bit. I was actually still able to kick and control the ball fairly well, and I can still kick okay with both feet. We didn't run quite as much as I thought we did, but we did pushups and some pull-ups (me with his help) and it was a decent workout.

I finally cooked!

2007-07-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

I was so totally going to take pictures of my dinner last nite. I hadn't really cooked in a while and I love to cook. But by the time it was ready and I sat down to eat I was so hungry that I didn't remember pictures until I was almost done eating!

I made biscuits and gravey with broccoli rabe. Whole Wheat Drop Biscuits from Table for Two, White Bean Tempeh Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance (I used lightlife sausage instead of tempeh). The broccoli rabe I cooked with an onion and a bit of olive oil until it tasted done.

I also made a batch of The Best Pumpkin Muffins also from Vegan with a Vengeance . These are sooo good and super easy to make. I put them in the freezer and I think I'm going to try to mail them to my sister (if I mail them frozen they get to her thawed, at least it worked okay with banana bread).

This is a picture from the first time I made them, yesterday's looked exactly the same.

So I played in the kitchen last nite instead of doing all the stuff at home that I need to get done, mainly eliminating my rugs of cat hair. At least I ate well and have leftovers so I can clean tonite instead of cook, oh yay!

I'm going to start personalizing my blog a bit this week. If it looks wonky, ignore it for now.

Introduction, and Hi

2007-07-06T11:13:00.001-07:00

Hi there, I'm going to try this blogging thing again. I had a blog, that I quite liked and kept up with for over a year. Then life happened and for many reasons I don't have any desire to go back to that blog. I started another one that I posted on a couple of times, but it felt forced. I'm ready now though.

So this is my fresh start. A bit about me. I'm sure you realized that I'm vegan. I have been since Thanksgiving 2004. I was vegetarian for 9 years before that. I got my degree in math and work in a math-related field so there is the Pi part. I thought about sticking something craftyish in the title, but I'm not sure if this will be much of a food/craft/misc blog so I didn't want to restrict myself too much. I don't want to list out all the details about me...those will come with time as I share things that I'm working on or have made and random thoughts.

Lastly, don't expect super-regular posts. I will shoot for posting a couple/few times a week, but as with running, some weeks I do better than others! Also I'm not sure about this new labeling thing that blogger has or what the best way to use it is. If anyone has figured out a great blog labeling system, please share it with me!