Entries from June 2009 ↓

Thanks to Heidi:

• Canned Sweet Corn, drained (I used one can.)
• Canned Black Beans, rinsed and drained (I used one can.)
• Avocado, chopped (I used one.)
• Cilantro, chopped (I used one bunch.)
• Garlic Cloves, chopped (I used one head.)
• Jalapenos (as many as you want for as spicy as you want), seeds and veins removed and diced small (I used two.)
• Tabasco Sauce
• Lime Juice
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Salt and Pepper (I actually didn’t use either of these—it was seasoned perfectly with everything else!)

Mix to taste—personal preference!

Thanks to Rachel Ray:

White Bean and Barley Risotto

Ingredients

• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 2-1/2 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• One 15-ounce can small white beans
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 6 minutes.
2. Stir in the broth and barley and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer until the barley is tender, 30 to 40 minutes.
3. Stir in the white beans and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with pepper, stir in the parsley and serve.

And thanks to Karyn and Bryan for shiny, new-to-me pots and pans!

I knew my Mac at work was older, but in the year that I’ve been using it I thought it was a Mac Pro. Today I actually looked at it and found that it’s a PowerMac G5 (these machines were discontinued in 2006), which means it doesn’t have an Intel processor. This is a huge bummer for me, because I had made requests to get it all upgraded and snazzy—I went from Tiger (Mac OS 10.4) to Leopard (Mac OS 10.5), and I was in the process of getting Parallels Desktop installed so I could run Windows on my Mac (which would mean that I wouldn’t need my Dell laptop).

Last Friday my coworker, David, received a monitor upgrade that he had requested (from a 19″ widescreen to a 24″ widescreen), so I hooked up his extra monitor to my Mac and had two big monitors (my orginal monitor is a 20″ widescreen). I was all excited for Parallels to be installed this week—I could keep Mac in one window, and Windows in the other.

After my initial disappoint with my non-Intel Mac, I thought I could at least hook up the second monitor to the Dell laptop to improve that situation… but then I realized that I would need another keyboard, which would only add to the clutter on my desk. I want to save space, not eliminate it!

This is all just so disappointing. Though it will still be nice to have two monitors for most of my projects, now I’m just feeling awfully self-conscious about people walking by, seeing all of my monitors, and wondering why I need so many. Is it overkill? We’ll see.

I feel like I bought tickets for Kristi and me to attend Rock the Garden a long time ago. Then my coworker David went and won tickets the day before the show. He couldn’t make it, so luckily he let me use them to get a couple more friends in. It was a so much fun—and such a great day for it!

I recommend that you go look through the whole set on Flickr for yourself, but I’ve got the highlights for ya right here. (Though this will still be pretty image-heavy. You’ve been warned!)

We arrived by bus promptly at 3 p.m., and found a long waiting line. The gates hadn’t opened yet. I was happy to entertain myself by taking photos of Minneapolis scenery (the Basilica and Loring Park pedestrian bridge).

It was sort of funny to see really awesome food vendors next to typical fair food vendors. Vincent, Holy Land, and Joe’s Garage all had specialty items if attendees weren’t down with corn dogs and burgers.

I attended the 2004 Rock the Garden when David Byrne was the headliner. The Guthrie was still attached to the Walker then, so the street was the only place to watch the concert from and the stage faced Loring Park. Last year the grassy knoll was open for seating, but the stage still faced Loring Park. This year they got it right: the stage faced the grassy knoll. It was perfect.

In case my hundreds of other photos don’t prove that Kristi and I were there…

I purchased tickets at Minnesota Public Radio’s member price. David won tickets (which Mikey and Noah used) from one of the event sponsors, University of Saint Thomas.

I thought about trying a pork chop but I wasn’t hungry enough and I was afraid of spilling on one of the 9,999 other people.

I love a good zero-waste event! I also love corn.

Solid Gold played a great set, representin’ local music well.

More of Solid Gold

It is dangerous to have a camera when I get a little bored and antsy.

I don’t listen to Mark Wheat’s set on The Current very often, but I enjoy him when I do!

Yeasayer was okay. I recognized a couple songs, but otherwise I got distracted by scenery and people watching.

More of Yeasayer

I made Kristi take a lot of photos with me. We started getting a little punchy towards the end of Calexico. beer + sun + sitting for too many hours = antsy silliness.

Where can I get a cheap hula hoop? Because I imagine I’ll try it once for about 10 minutes (maybe 5) and then never touch it again.

I enjoyed Calexico, it’s just too bad I was so easily distracted during their set.

More of Calexico

Then some friendly people behind us took our photo, and we returned the favor. I hope we didn’t block their view too much.

I listen to Steve Seel and Jill Riley on The Current every morning.

A volunteer was passing out bananas, which heightened the silliness. I ate one, it was refreshing (I guess).

The lines to use the “bathrooms” were sooooooooooooo long and I got bored (and broke out the camera again).

I missed a good chunk of The Decemberists’ set because I actually found someone else I knew. But the music was good, the decoration was interesting and colorful, and most people who were sitting for the rest of the show finally stood up so we had a chance to dance and work out some of the antsy-ness. It was difficult to get a good photo because they were sort of far away and the sun was setting. Or maybe I need a new point-and-shoot camera…

I love that they ended with a cover of Heart’s “Crazy on You.” That’s one of my favorites to sing at karaoke, I think.

More of The Decemberists

I wish I had gone to see it when the cherry was being cleaned or repainted or whatever. It was cool to see it at night though, too.

At the end, instead of taking the bus home, Jared agreed to come pick Kristi and me up. We walked through Loring Park to meet him downtown because, surprisingly, it was less crowded there.

Scott and Diane hosted the 2009 reunion of the Berg family. Diane is my dad’s cousin, so there were quite a few extended family members present—we don’t see each other very often!

Mom and Dad came up for the reunion, and prepared a lot of fruit to share (watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, and cantaloupe).

Hannie had her first meeting with one of her great grandparents, Grandma Dee.

Hannie met a lot of new people at the reunion, actually. (Or should that be “of course”?)

Timber was the only pup at the party. He’s 12 years old, happy, and enthusiastic.

It is sort of rude to take photos of people (a) from above and (b) while they’re eating. I did it anyway.

Diane’s nickname is Dino, but I’m not sure why. Hazel, Diane’s mom/my dad’s aunt, used to give me homemade Barbie clothes that she’d knit.

I could only stay long enough to eat lunch and briefly chat with everyone, as I had to run off to Rock the Garden at the Walker Art Center (photos coming soon).

Speaking of sporting events, I never shared these photos!

A few weeks ago, my department at work (Marketing) had a team outing to Elsie’s in Northeast Minneapolis.

Elsie’s donated a couple pins, which we decorated to award as trophies at the end of the outing.

I won the lowest score trophy by three points. Of course, the only strike I managed to bowl during three games happened in the game for which I won this trophy. Kerri, Brenda, David and I were trying different way to bowl—I got my strike when I was backwards, I put the put the ball on the floor between my feet and simply pushed it down the alley.

I’m glad everyone witnessed my awesome strike.

This is also a great opportunity to share a favorite photo from a previous Elsie’s visit:

I ♥ Northeast.