GenCon 2016
Great GenCon this year – probably the best one yet. On the day we left, we stopped at the Indiana State fair for a couple hours which was fun. Pics for your enjoyment!
Vacation Adventures
I haven’t done one of these for a while, but here you go – obligatory vacation sandy toes picture!! That right there is Flo Progressive Blue – are you jelly yet?
The Other and I are in Florida for our nephew’s 1st birthday. We got him some books which I am excited about. At this age kids get so many toys that I really enjoy passing on things like books or activities that are more unique. Plus his Mom is an avid reader so I am sure he will grow up with a love of books! The most favorite out of the 3 we got him was called “Little Kitten” and it was a finger puppet board book. I highly recommend to any tiny tots in your life.
Our rental is right across from the beach which affords some nice views but also results in a lot of traffic – both foot and car. The other night it was storming and I opened the door to get a lawnchair to put my feet upon and one of the pedestrians called out to me. I was taken aback but apparently he was eating dinner with his wife then she left but couldn’t find her way back so he was stuck walking in the rain (there does seems to be some missing elements but oh well). After talking to his wife on the phone and trying to give her directions to pick him up The Other and I decided to drive him home. Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with “Good Samaritan Wendy’s” 🙂
The rest of the trip has been nice weather. I have been reading a lot and walked up and down the beach. I have also been playing a lot of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and the rumors are true, I am a Pokémon Master!
Polar Adventure!
This past weekend we headed down to Northerly Island in the city for Polar Adventure days. There was birds, snakes, dogs, hot chocolate, stories, and snacks! A small event but a lot of things to see and do and not too many people to get in the way.
Here is my highlight reel, courtesy of Google Auto-Awesome #ThroughGlass
Wisconsin State Fair 2014
Yay! Catching up on old posts!! The Other and I are huge fair goers. We have been to many fairs in many states but we always come back to what we consider our “home town” fair which is the Wisconsin State Fair. We don’t just go for weird fair food either.
We also enjoy the animal shows and events. We check out all the animal barns and also catch a few of the shows. Horsey-Carty is one of our favorites, especially when they start getting up to the 6 and 8 horse teams.
Of course there are baby animals as well. There is, in fact, a whole baby animal barn which is where I personally like to spend most of my time. I (feel) I am too old to take full advantage of the petting zoo but I do touch every baby animal I can and make cooing noises at it. Here’s my favorite – a litter of piglets! PIGLETS!
This year they had a new event I hadn’t seen before. Bunny Jumping!! It’s exactly what you would think but about 100 times cuter! Bunnies jumping over things! How can you be mad after watching that?! Even when they don’t jump, they are still totally cute!
Sometimes you get to try new things at the fair, and not just food. Here in the bathroom I found a random tub of goo with a sign that said “try me” so ala Alice in Wonderland I did! My hands didn’t fall off so I assume it wasn’t acid but I didn’t stop by the booth either. I’m here for adventure not soap! (even if it was made of sugar…)
Jackie even came with us this year and I got to hand it to her, she kept up pretty good! She had a lot of the weird foods and drinks and didn’t even get sick! She is also expert level at the “people watching” portion of the fair. This is where we sit somewhere with a good view and judge observe other fair goers as they walk past us. Sometimes we make up back stories, sometimes we are just in awe. Either way I hope Jackie is willing to go back next year because it was a lot of fun!
PaizoCon 2014 – Seattle, WA
So whew! I’ve finally had time to go through all my vacation pictures and organize them so I can start uploading them. Just in time for more trips too! This is from our trip to Seattle, WA for PaizoCon (manufacturer’s of the game Pathfinder, which we play with friends)
Overall the convention was a bit small. We played some Pathfinder, and looked at all the new stuff they had to offer, but overall it was like any other small convention in a hotel. We left ourselves a few extra days to visit Seattle while there and that by far was the best part of the trip. We did head out to the LeMay Auto Muesum one day, but most of our time was spent in downtown Seattle at the Pike’s Place Market.
my my look at all that sausage!
Some famous pig at the market
This guy!
We also visited the original Starbucks!! I was very excited for this, being the Starbucks Fan Girl I am. We also visited the Starbucks concept store (Roy Street Coffee) where they try out new concepts and even serve wine. It was kinda fun to get a Chai and a wine from the coffee shop!
Outside the original Starbucks
Proof!
Chai and Wine: I could get used to this!
We also ate a ton of food. All the food is delicious in Seattle. One of my favorite places was a restaurant in a hotel called Shuckers. It was so much more than an Oyster bar though. The Oysters Rockerfeller were amazing, they had a crab mac and cheese that I would travel to Seattle just to eat, and the dessert was the perfect amount of chocolatey crunchy goodness.
I also got the opportunity to try escargot, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be
We visited some of the famous tourist spots in the area. Biscuits Bitch had probably the best bicuits and gravy I’ve ever eaten, and I say that having tried them in the south. We also tried crumpets which is everything an english muffin wished it could be. Crisp outside, fluffy center, perfect flavor. yum yum! We also tried Piroshky Piroshky which makes things in puff pastry. It was good – every culture has their own version of this food and I love trying the different variations
Overall it was a great time. I would definitely visit Seattle again, but I probably wouldn’t go back for PaizoCon. There is a lot to do in Seattle and the surrounding area and I would love more time to explore. (and eat!)
Onward to Glory!
Heading out to Seattle for PaizoCon but we left a few extra days for site seeing. I’m most excited about seeing the original Starbucks!! There is also a Starbucks concept store in the area too but its a bit hidden – I will sniff it out though. I’m sure there is other stuff to do as well (space needle, troll statue, yada yada yada)
A couple weeks ago a found a Reddit thread on what the Starbucks Baristas like to drink when they are working. This isn’t that “secret menu” bullshit (which doesn’t exist BTW) There were some good suggestions but my favorite was getting a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher made with black tea instead of water. It cuts the sweetness a bit and makes the drink less “mouth coating”. It’s probably my #1 favorite drink right now.
I thought these were supposed to break away…
Lee spotted this on the drive home, so we stopped in to take a look. 🙂
Late but still delicious
I’m not big in to celebrating Easter except for the obvious reasons (food and candy). This Easter there was no big family get together so I decided to enlist The Other to make a lamb soup. Lamb, I have learned, is traditional on Easter but soup is not. This would be my first foray into a more adventurous soup from my Cook’s Illustrated Soup and Stew book.
The soup – officially called Irish Stew in the book – consisted of Lamb shoulder, and potatoes. There was a variant which included turnips and carrots which I decided to try. I thought this would add a little more variety to the soup. Although I love potatoes, my results with lamb have been mixed about 50/50. Brutus on the other hand was just excited meat was being cooked and decided to jump on the counter ( a no-no) and photo bomb while I was taking photos #throughglass
The bad news was that since it was Easter weekend and people like to eat lamb on Easter my butcher didn’t have any lamb shoulder and the Jewel had only 1 package left. I quickly called The Other to see if we could sucessfully scale down the soup from the required 4.5 pounds of lamb to just 1 pound. He said it could be done and was not worried.
My two tiny lamb shoulder chops
All that’s left after removing from the bone and trimming – it doesn’t look like enough!!!!
We successfully scaled down the recipe and made enough for about 4 servings of soup. It was awesomely delicious. The lamb was cook perfectly and so tender and flavorful it was by far my most favorite part of the soup (again just making me sad I didn’t have more lamb!) There was a weird aromatic in the soup which I think came from the turnips that I didn’t care for. It wasn’t enough to not eat it but if I made this again I would leave out the turnips and just do potatoes and carrots.
The cook book also listed a complimentary quick biscuit recipe which was supposed to be easier and faster than traditional biscuits. We did not scale down this recipe….
They turned out pretty good even though I forgot the salt during the mixing. They were easy to work with and cooked in about 15 minutes and for those doing Weight Watchers were about 3 points each. I am definitely going to keep this recipe on hand for get togethers and parties. I also liked that the biscuits were small (2.5″ round) so a good option for finger food or hors d’oeuvre.
Aquí viene la gota
So back from Peru and pretty much adjusted back to living in a place where I can flush toilet paper, eat fruit and veggies and drink tap water. It was a fun and fulfilling trip regardless of my altitude sickness and subsequent “3-days cleanse”. The big question that everyone asks is: Would I go back? At this point no – not only is there a lot of other stuff to see in the world, but I love my fruit and veggies!!
Day 1: We fly out of Miami at around 5pm (est), arrive in Lima around 10pm (cst), get to the hotel (about 1 hr away – an appropriate distance to be from an airport), and go to sleep. Tomorrow starts the fun stuff.
Day 2: We arrive in Lima, Peru. We got some money exchanged, visited a cat park (yes a whole park dedicated to stray cats!!!), and had a nice dinner out. This dinner was my first taste of Causa which is basically a potato roulade. It was amazing, I pretty much ate it every chance I got. Lima was like any other big city except it was very foggy due to little wind. It was nice weather though, about 70*.
Day 3: We fly to Cuzco today and its our first day at altitude. I was feeling good getting off the plane except a bit dizzy – almost like being drunk. We bought some Coca leaves from the airport and Lee got some Coca candy. The candy was the better choice. In my altitude drunkeness I chewed the leaves and they were bitter and got stuck in your teeth. I also acquired Axel today – who you will see much more during the trip. We had a 4 hour drive to our hotel that night but stopped for lunch in a small village where we ate with some locals and then they put on a weaving demonstration. It was here that I ate some Guinea Pig! It had a strong gamey flavor but the real issue was all the tiny bones. It wasn’t bad tasting but the bones made it off putting. I also drank a bunch of Coca tea which although made from leave was much better then chewing them straight out. After lunch we headed to Ollantaytambo – our first Incan ruins. After that we stopped at a local pottery shop who is using traditional methods to create ceramics. We then finished our drive and arrived at our hotel, checked in, and then went to a local restaurant for food. It was delicious and I had the trout which is a local specialty. This was the first night I started to get an idea of what was to come…
Day 4: I woke up today with a bit of heartburn but nothing terrible. I was really excited about today because we were going to the salt pans. It was early in the season though so the salt pans weren’t as amazing as I had seen in images. I did get a chance to do some #yogaanywhere and learned that in Peru mountain grafitti is a big thing. I’m not sure how the kids do it but they clear a section of the mountain to represent their school or team or whatever – its all over the country. We also had a lot of fun at the Moray crop circles (literally circles for growing crops and acclimating them to different altitudes and climates) Throughout the day I started to get worse and worse stomach pains – like someone had a knife in my gut and was twisting it. Luckily it was a lot of time on the bus so I would sleep while I could and always woke up feeling a bit better for the next activity. However by the time we hit the last stop I couldn’t get off the bus. (I sent The Other out to take pictures of the mountain graffiti). Once I hit the hotel I realized that I would have to miss the evening activity (dinner with a local family) if I wanted to be in shape for Machu Picchu the next day. I stayed behind and had a relaxing evening eating saltines, drinking powerade, and pooping.
Day 5: Today was a full day at Machu Picchu. I still felt bad but I was glad I was healthy enough to see this – since its kinda what the whole trip was about. We took a train (the bathroom on the train was very nice) and then spent the day exploring the ruins.
Day 6: Today was a full day in Cuzco. We started the morning with an option tour to visit a local shaman who performed a healing ritual (it didn’t help me…). After that we headed to the local market to see how they do things Peruvian style. It was a big market, almost flea market style. There was food (meat, vegetables, chocolate, coffee, etc) but also trinkets and necessities. Like a farmers market and a walgreens in one. After the market we went to a local cemetery where people pay yearly to keep their loved ones (even after they die) and if you don’t pay they put your name on a blacklist out front and eventally remove the remains!! The plots were mostly built into a wall with little “viewing” boxes up front for the family to put trinkets and such that the person liked while they were living. Apparetley the families visit often, even holding picnics and dancing outside of the grave. And if you don’t visit often enough (dried or no flowers) your neighbors will call and harass you to see whats up! I don’t even like to talk to my parents while I’m alive, I certainly don’t want them in my business after I die. After that we went to a local restaurant where a chef made the local specialty “Causa”, which is basically a potato roulade but is so delicious that when I was eating, I was eating that. I have even had The Other make it for me since we have been back home! Our afternoon was free and The Other and I did some shopping. Dinner was another folk show, but it wasn’t as good as the first one.
Day 7: Today was mostly spent on the bus – it was an 8 hour drive from Cuzco to Puno. I’m still not feeling well at this point so I slept as much as I could. We got off the bus here and there for bathroom breaks and to look at more ruins. Honestly at this point in the trip I’m kinda done with ruins so you will start seeing a lot more of Axel…
Day 8: Today was Lake Titicaca and the Uros Islands. They are man made islands of reed and pretty much smell how you think wet, rotting vegetation would smell. They also aren’t very sturdy as standing in one place too long opens up the ground so the water from the lake comes through. We did get to ride on a straw boat which looked pretty cool. The girls on the islands wear these pom-poms in their hair which I set out as my mission to get some for myself. Also I saw a kitty on one of the islands so the day wasn’t a total waste 🙂 The rest of the day we wandered around Puno. We did try Alcapca while we were here, it was good, tasted like lamb.
Day 9: Today we got up early to fly back to Lima. Our flight wasn’t that early, but the ride from Puno to the airport was about 2 hours and there was a threat that the labor riots could close the road. When it was realized that we were on time we stopped for some more ruin/market site seeing and even then got to the airport 2 hours early. The airport is in Juliaca, Peru which is a crazy corrupt city. For example, you only get taxed on a building when you finish building it so every building (including the airport) is unfinished. The roads are mostly unpaved because the town says there isn’t enough business, but most of the town does business from 3am to 8am in the morning so when the census takers come to see how business is they don’t see any. There are more examples like this but it was the only airport in the area so we had no choice. At least I don’t feel so bad living in Chicago now… Back in Lima we had our farewell dinner with our tour group – everyone was feeling a lot better to be back at lower altitudes so it was definitely festive!
Day 10: This was an early day and consisted of flying back to Miami. Its was good to be back although you can see some of our customs shocked Axel. The next day was another early morning and flight back to Chicago. Since I have been back I can’t get enough fruits and vegetables! You don’t realize how much you miss them.
A Haiku for my Mom
We are in Peru
It may be hard for us to
contact you, Don’t fret.
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