February 2009 Archives

Here is a video of Buttercup that I took recently.

A couple of weeks ago Taka introduced me to a place near Westbank Campus that has been there for awhile but we never noticed it. That place is Keefer Court Bakery and Cafe, located on the corner of Cedar and Riverside. He took me there and we got the Curry Beef Bun, the BBQ Pork Puff, the Ham and Egg Bun, the Custard Bun, and the Coffee Chocolate Roll. Just over $6.00 later we both had lunch. The Ham and Egg Roll was good but not great, probably nice for breakfast. The BBQ Pork Puff was pretty good. The Coffee Chocolate Roll was dry (won't get again). The Curry Beef Bun was phenomenal. As was the Custard Bun. Yesterday Taka stopped by there (he has a class right near it) and brought some delectable buns over to me and Amanda. This time we both got a Curry Beef Bun, a BBQ Pork Bun, a Custard Bun and then Taka also got the Sticky Rice Dumpling. While the BBQ Pork Puff was good, the BBQ Pork Bun was so much better. The Sticky Rice Dumpling was fantastic, but just a bit greasy, so it is something that I can't eat very often. I can't believe how cheap it all is. Two buns are enough to satisfy me, three buns border on being too full. If you get a chance to go, do it. It is so yummy!

An experiment that Taka and I undertook was to make our own salad mix. For less than $6 we get a head of iceberg lettuce, a head of romaine lettuce, a head of red leaf lettuce, a pound of carrots, and a small red cabbage. I cut up the lettuces and cabbage and spin them in my salad spinner while Taka sheds the carrots. Then we put it into two huge airtight containers that we put into the fridge. Then we proceed to munch on it until it is gone. This is a photo taken two weeks after we initially cut the salad up. This is the second container. All said and done the salad mixture is lasting 2-3 weeks after preparing it. The dole and other salad blends often went bad a few days after opening them. It only takes about an hour to prepare the salads, but seriously, they taste way better. I can't wait until summer when the lettuce will be even fresher.

On February 13th Amanda, Vah-anh and I made lunch at work. My contribution was Nepali black-eyed pea curry. I think that it turned out very tasty for my first attempt.

Lately I have really been into photographing food. It doesn't matter if it is food that I made myself of food that I have gotten at a restaurant. Taka can attest to the fact that every time we cook I pull out the camera. So now I am going to start posting photos and recipes. This is a salsa that I made this fall from ingredients that I got at the farmer's market and grew in my garden. I love fresh salsa. It is the best part of late summer through fall.

Just after Christmas Taka and I joined my dad and brother at one of Serenity's hockey games. It was fun. Her team won. She seems pretty excited about it all. Hopefully she will keep with it and just get better and better.

I just wanted to send a quick Congratulations to Brian and Jen on their upcoming bundle of joy.

Congratulations!

I am still working my way through all of the photos that I have taken over the years. I have finally gotten though Justin and Scholastica's Wedding photos. I finally got them posted to flickr almost 2 years after the fact. Better late then never.

Today I had my first exam for Hort 4021: Landscape Design.  We have been steadily plugging away at our designs.  I spend Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights in the Design studio along with Sundays and I am still just barely keeping up with the work.  Our professor told us not to stress over the exam since it was worth so few points in the grand scheme of it all.  I did most of the assigned readings so I figured that I was in decent shape.  I get to class and sit down to take the test.  He hands it out and I get to work.  I don't immediately recognize much on the test, but make educated guesses.  About 20 minutes later I am puzzling out the short answer questions.  I had decided that I did the best I could (some of the readings that were referenced I don't remember being on the assigned reading list, but then I didn't read all the assigned reading so I didn't worry about it) and was about to get up and leave when our professor comes in and says "are any of you freaking out yet?"  We look up at him.  He says that he is sorry but he gave us the second exam not the first.  I flip to the front of the exam and sure enough it says exam #2.  DOH!!!

He hands out the first exam and we start over.  Fifteen minutes later I get up and turn in my test.  Before I leave I tell the professor that at least that one was easier.  Interesting day I guess.

On January 17th of this year Taka and I had a perogie day at our house. A few friends joined us. Eric, Mona and Mathom came up from River Falls Wisconsin, then Deena and Konrad joined us. Later Pete and a couple of his friends came over and partook of the perogie goodness. I ended up rolling the dough while Taka and Konrad made the perogies. They were so yummy. Here is the link to perogie day on my flickr site. A few days later Taka and I made another batch and froze them to see how they would be.

Look! My poor little Buttercup is pregnant. She is so huge and is eating so much right now. I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to deal with this again, but at least this time we noticed months sooner so we will be better prepared. The sad thing is that she has to go through all of this work just to have infertile eggs. Last time in June of 2005 she laid 31 eggs and she wasn't nearly this big. Owww Buttercup...

It was really cool. Last Friday I was finally able to get together with some of my friends from high school. This time it was only Kim, Cara, Andrea, Jim, and myself. We had a blast. There was so much to catch up on that it was impossible. We are hoping to do this as a regular thing, that was some of the people who couldn't make it this time can make it another time.

Normally Taka and I are somewhat anti Valentine's day. This year as usually we kept it really low key. We made Italian-style sandwiches and drank a bottle of Dancing Bull Cabernet Sauvignon. The sandwich was made of these large rolls (I don't remember the name) that we got from Rainbow Foods; salami, black forest ham, and pepperoni from Tim and Tom's Speedy Mart on Como avenue near the St Paul Campus of the U; shredded mozzarella, garlic, Italian herbs, and balsamic vinegar. The sandwiches were laid open face in the oven and heated until warmed through. They were very tasty. Not light on calories mind you, but boy did they taste wonderful.