Entries from June 2009 ↓

In the Kitchen

Thanks to Heidi:

Unnamed Salsa

  • 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!

Messy Kitchen

Thanks to Rachel Ray:

White Bean and Barley Risotto

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.

White Bean and Barley Risotto

New-To-Me Pots and Pans

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

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Computing Woes

My Desk at Work

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.

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Rock the Garden 2009

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!)

East Entry

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).

Kristi waiting in line

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.

Fancy food next to typical fair food

The street isn't crowded yet

Biffys

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.

Grassy Knoll and Stage

Kristi and I found our spot on the grassy knoll

Directions

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

Me and Kristi in front the stage

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.

Member and General Admission Tickets

Rainbow around the sun

VIP areas

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.

Pork-CHOP at the pork chops

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

Compostable Cupo

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

Solid Gold

More of Solid Gold

Mikey and Noah

Noah and Kristi

Mikey, Noah and Kristi

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

Basilica and a hint of downtown Minneapolis

Walker Art Center

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

Mark Wheat

Mikey and Noah at Rock the Garden

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

Yeasayer

More of Yeasayer

VIPeeps

Mikey and Noah enjoying Calexico

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.

Kristi and me

Crowds to the left

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.

Hula hooping

Kristi

Kristi and me

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

Calexico

More of Calexico

Mikey

Noah

Kristi and me

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

Me, Mikey, Noah and Kristi

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

Steve Seel and Jill Riley

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

Free Bananas

Mikey and Banana

Kristi, me and a banana

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

Biffy Line

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…

The Decemberists

The colorful Decemberists

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.

Sunset over the Decemberists

The Decemberists

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.

Cherry and Spoon bridge at night

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.

Fountain in Loring Park

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Berg Family Reunion

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).

watermelon

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

Marleen, Hannie and Grandma Dee

Homemade Signs

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

Peyton and Hannie

Peyton, Hannie and Grandma Dee

Peyton, Hannie and Grandma Dee

Sophia and Hannie

Grandma Dee, Marleen and Deb

Jamie and Hannie

The Men

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

Timber

Amazing Back Yard

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

Lunch Time

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.

Diane and Hazel

3-Season Diners

3-Season Diners

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).

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Bowl-a-Rama

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.

Team Awesome's Lanes

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

Bowling Trophies

Winning Team

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.

Lowest Score and Highest Score

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:

Rock-n-Bowl

I ♥ Northeast.

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