Put on the Glasses

Another reddit gift exchange has come and gone. This time the exchange was for "Arbitrary Day," a made of excuse to send gifts to other people. For Arbitrary Day this year, I got two bottles of catnip bubbles and a bunch of delicious sounding lollipops! Hooray!

Brian made me a steak sandwich for lunch and it was delicious. Grilled steak, grilled bread, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo. It was super good.

I firmly believe that Anchor Fish & Chips has the best fish and chips in the city, perhaps even the state or region. It is so good, that the mere mention of it to Brian or myself propels us to the restaurant. We also have been unable to order anything else on the menu. If you haven't been there and tried the fish and chips, go. You won't be disappointed.

When I watch TV, Livia likes to sleep next to me. This is her way of making sure I don't accidentally kick her when I get up:

Even when she isn't outside, Leela likes to keep an eye on her territory:

Brian proudly donned a Burger King crown during dinner tonight. Yes, this was the highlight of my day.

Brian likes to find ways to bribe into coming to meet him after work. Today, he offered me crab cakes from McCormick & Schmick's. His plan worked. I got downtown as fast as I could. Man, do I love a good crab cake:

Brian and I got power back today. I am loving having the AC on again, and being able to use my computer. I was lost without my electronic devices. We also got a new replacement gazebo/pergola. Here it is assembled and ready to move into place (sorry the picture is so dark; will post better one when it is in place): This one has a canopy that is easy to pull on and off, so the wind won't blow it away. It's quite the upgrade from our IKEA one, but we think it will be worth it.

The day after the storm, and the power was still out in my neighborhood. Brian and I decided to take a walk to see the damage caused by the storm. Here are some shots I got while walking around. I didn't even take many photos. Downed trees were everywhere, with roots exposed. It was a total mess. To cheer ourselves up, we went to Brian's favorite diner for breakfast, Mickey's: Breakfast at Mickey's can turn any frown upside down.

Remember that gazebo we had in our backyard? The one that made the whole yard feel like an extension of our house? It was like having a little living room outside. That gazebo is no more. It was crushed against the fence in the storm that hit the Twin Cities on Friday night. Here is a picture I took of the crushed gazebo when we got home: Apparently, the winds were 60 to 70 mph in my neighborhood. When the storm hit, Brian and I weren't even at home. We thought we still had a couple of hours, so we had headed off to the Blue Door Pub for a tasty burger. Just as we were finishing our meal, the storm kicked into high gear. It looked like a hurricane outside. The power cut out at the restaurant, and they asked us to all come down to the basement as there was a tornado warning. My first thought went to that gazebo in our backyard. It had held out in the previous night's storm by was liable to rise up and be carried off with the canopy on it. Once they let us out of the

Our house has been without power since a big storm hit Minneapolis Friday. I will post my pictures when I get power again. 

Brian and I had a late night tonight. We went to the 10pm showing of This is the End at the Mall of America. It was a really fun comedy, that we are actually still quoting after walking out of the theater. I think that is a good sign.

One of Brian's favorite drinks is horchata, a Mexican drink made from rice and almonds. I saw a recipe for it on the Kitchn blog  and I decided to give it a shot. It was a complete success and I am totally making it again. Here is a shot of the rice, cinnamon stick and almonds before I soaked them overnight last night: All of that goodness gets soaked in water and then pulverized in a blender the next day. The liquid that is left behind is mixed with some other stuff and the result is this glass of delicious, creamy yumminess: The brown on top is cinnamon I sprinkled on at the end. If you haven't had horchata before, try it the next time you see it. Or you can make it yourself. You will not be disappointed.

I cannot stop eating cherries. I don't know what it is this year. In the past, I didn't like them. Suddenly, I'm obsessed. Look at all that red deliciousness:

So, I am glad my friend Nicole warned me about mint plants. It turns out, mint grows very fast, and at this rate, it would have already overtaken a huge part of my garden. Look at the size of this plant already: I have no idea what I am going to do with all that mint. Any ideas?

For Father's Day, we visited with my parents and Brian's parents. For my picture today, I thought I would show off my Dad's square-foot garden, which looks a lot nicer than mine: I need to get myself some chicken wire like that. I had to chase my own cat and a stray cat out of the garden today. They were trying to fertilize my plants. Nice of them, but there is already compost in there.

Brian and I spent the morning hitting garage sales in the neighborhood. While walking about, we saw this poetry box in someone's front yard: The little door opens, so you can put poems in there. There were no poems in it when I looked, but now I am really tempted to walk back and put one in there.

Brian hasn't mowed the lawn in a while and the cats are loving it. They have been having a great time stalking one another and chasing each other around the yard. Then they get to eat the grass. All in all, it's a good situation for them.

The bush beans have started sprouting in the garden: It's exciting to see the seeds I planted popping up already. Now, I am only waiting for the cilantro I planted.

Just in case you were wondering, Leela is still adorable, and she wants outside, even when it is raining out.

Went out to Pizza Luce for dinner with Andrew, Nicole and Sarah Berns tonight. Snagged a picture of Andrew and Nicole for my picture of the day: That is Brian's thumbs-up peeking in on the right side. He's a silly one.

While I was out of town, my radishes popped up in the garden! That was mighty quick. The orange thing is my guardian owl. He's there to threaten the vermin and make me smile.

I do not have many pictures from my last day in Dallas. The day flew by as we enjoyed our last few hours in our fancy hotel room and then drove around Dallas and the outer suburbs to enjoy our last day driving the Mustang. When we checked out of the hotel, we were careful not to pack any stuff from the room. Everything had a price tag associated with it, as shown on this menu: That isn't a list for room services. All those delicious sounding snacks were in the room, tempting us: While we drove around the Dallas-Ft.Worth area, we stopped for lunch at Whataburger. Apparently this is a Texas fast food chain. Best part was the Spicy Ketchup for our fries, which we decided should be included with all fries, everywhere. The fries were pretty good too: Things we learned on this trip to Dallas: Dallas toll roads and freeways are pretty incredible. They must have cost a fortune. If you go to Dallas, rent a car. It made everything easier. We felt like we wasted

Our second day in Dallas started off right. We got breakfast in the Historic West-End at a place called Ellen's, which was awesome. The bartender (we ate at the bar) gave us all sorts of great local tips about what to do, and he served me this delicious meal: That's two poached eggs with spinach, tomatoes and bacon on a bed of cheesy grits with hollandaise. It was as good as that sounds. All my favorite breakfast things in one. I need to figure out how to make grits. Next stop was the former Texas School Book Depository, which is now the Sixth Floor Museum. If you don't already know what I am talking about, this was the location where JFK was shot in 1963. See the sixth floor corner window? That is where Lee Harvey Oswald was. We went through the museum, but this was another situation where cameras weren't allowed. They didn't ban me from talking about it though. Two super cool things on the tour: They preserved the corner area where Oswald fired the