NaBloPoMo: Stuffing colorful peppers

If you know me, you know that I find colorful bell peppers irresistible, except for green ones. But red, yellow, orange? Who knew such bright "angry" colors made an OK vegetable exceptional? Well, I've known for a while. And I find that no other recipe honors such exceptional yumminess more than stuffed peppers. Not only is the resulting meal colorful and healthy, you can remake this dish depending on your tastes just by switching out the sauce, spices and (if you're adventurous) the meat. Not in the mood for Mexican? No problem. Go Italian with pasta sauce, oregano and Italian sausage. Or try Moroccan with turmeric, ground lamb and couscous instead of rice. You could even sub feta cheese and add some tzatziki to get a Greek flair. Go crazy with the filling and this recipe will become a tried and true favorite.

Mexican stuffed peppers

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms (optional - I just wanted to use up old mushrooms)
1 cup rice
6 bell peppers
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp cumin

1 8 oz. can of Rotel diced tomatoes with habanero chili peppers, drained (this kicks the spice up a lot, so sub out with something milder if you don't like spicy).
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup plus 1 handful of shredded cheese, separated
5-6 crackers, crushed (can sub 2 tbsp breadcrumbs if you have them)

4 tsp. butter

1. Begin cooking the rice.
2. In a hot saucepan, begin sauteing mushrooms and onions. As those are cooking, cut the top off of your peppers and clean the seeds and white part out of the middle. If you are having trouble getting at the rind, you can opt for pepper boats. The rind can be bitter so be thorough.
3. When the onions and mushrooms are almost done add the beef.

4. Turn the oven on 400 degrees.
5. Drain the meat. Mix the rice, beef, diced tomatoes, salsa and cheese in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, chili and garlic powder and cumin. Stuff the peppers with the mixture until almost full. Place the peppers in a pan and cover with tinfoil.

6. Put the peppers into the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until the pepper has steamed to your preferred crunchiness (I like mine a little crispier because it tastes fresher to me that way). Pull the peppers out and set your oven to broil.
7. Mix the handful of cheese and crackers together. Sprinkle on top of the peppers. Place a tsp of butter on top each pepper (I just cut a pat off a stick and divided it into four). Put peppers back into the oven, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Know your oven! If your broiler cooks quickly, check after 3 minutes. Keep checking until the crumbs have turned a golden brown (the butter aids in getting the right color).
8. Serve with more salsa, sour cream and fresh cilantro.

***As you'll see, I only made four peppers because that's all I had and I am only cooking for two. I ended up with leftover filling so I estimated leftovers would fill about two more peppers. Or you could just make four and make burritos out of the rest. That's what the fiance and I are doing for dinner tomorrow.***

Many traditional stuffed pepper recipes require that you put the meat in raw. That's odd to me for many reasons. One being that the amount of time to cook the meat would likely leave the pepper all but dissolved. Plus, being that it's summer, I really don't want to have the oven on for the 40+ minutes it would take to brown the meat. There's also the added benefit of being able to drain the fat from your meat after browning, again adding to the healthiness of the meal. I recommend cutting the cooking time in half and brown the meat ahead of time. It still comes out super juicy.

NaBloPoMo: Organ donors

I actually really want to see this movie. I've read the novel and the trailer seems to have created something that honors it. It doesn't come out until October, but I think I may read the book again in the meantime.

NaBloPoMo: A rough-around-the-edges type of potential

While I've known where I'm getting married for a long time, I haven't really been able to share any of it with you, my dear readers, because every time I visit the dang place I forget to bring a camera. So that was first on my mom's to-do list when she came down to Hampton Roads for wedding planning. So, without further ado, here is the spot I'm getting married at. Keep in mind it's quite rough around the edges, but if you're willing to see the potential than you can just imagine what my wedding could be like.

This is the pond right behind the awning where the ceremony will be.

This is a cute cottage between where the ceremony and reception will be held. It can be used to change clothes.

Here's the awning under which we will get married. That is the pond right behind it.

The reception will be in a greenhouse that has the walls taken out. There are lights already included and lots of places to plug in things if we need it.

This pond is where the planner recommends getting pictures taken at between the ceremony and the reception. It's is really beautiful.

NaBloPoMo: Musical distractions

I must admit that I spend far too much time on the interwebs discovering ridiculously awesome distractions from what I should be doing. For example, you can watch an amazing flute player play the Mario theme song WHILE beat boxing. He might be the most mindboggling musician I have ever seen.

Or, if you have more time on your hands than even the beat boxing flutist can fill, you could create your own music using a french website that lets you mix and match preloaded sounds. From basic hums to crashing symbols, the combinations are quite entertaining. Now, my dear readers, go free and be nonproductive.

NaBloPoMo: TGIF fotos

Nothing is better than being on the edge of a weekend. So here's to Friday's.

More time to relax

More time for my baby, Miyagi

More time to drink a beer with friends

NaBloPoMo: Parental distinctions

My parents are very different. This week brings that fact into sharp focus.

As my wedding date nears, my mom has suddenly taken more of an interest in being a part of the planning, which is fine. What is so clarifying for me is that before committing to coming to visit me this weekend I had to assure her several times that there would be stuff to do. In essence, she needed a play-by-play before she decided that she was definitely coming down.

With dad, all he wants to know is that he can see me. What we do is irrelevant, it's the fact that we are spending time together that matters. Don't get me wrong, when dad and I hang out our time is usually jam-packed with activities. But we are much more spontaneous. And he is also content just talking or just sitting.

I sometimes wonder if my mom can handle just being near someone. She constantly needs to "do," despite the fact that she often complains about being too busy. Sometimes I think that she wants to be unhappy on purpose. In any case, I was never good at just scheduling every moment of my day so there would always be something to do; I am more laid-back, like dad. This is likely the reason that mom and I don't get along at all. Our sensibilities are so different that a natural tension develops when we spend time together. This state is exacerbated by the fact that mom can't accept that our ideologies differ. The experience is such that I look towards spending time with my mom with dread, and I search for reasons to avoid the experience.

When people ask me what my parents are like I tend to say my mom is my mom and then move on to describe my dad in more detail. I know him better, despite how little time we've had to spend together. According to mom, I have even developed some of his mannerisms over the years.

It is with this in mind that I know that mom and I will never have the experience that most do when they are planning a wedding. Mom and I approach things so differently that when I told dad that mom wanted to help, he said that I should remember that the day is about me, not mom. And he's right, of course. Dad's contribution to the wedding planning has always been as a sounding board (as he is for so much of my life) and I am grateful to him for reminding me what matters. Mom's contribution will likely be to remind me what I don't want for our big day.

But as I continue to plan my wedding, there is a certain resigned sadness that shadows the process. Not because of the relationship we won't have, but because I am sad that I can't give her the experience she so obviously wants. But this is the way it's been since high school and I don't ever want to compromise myself or my ideals just to make my mom happy. And it's not that I don't love my mother, because I do. But some things need to be accepted for life to move on.

NaBloPoMo: On philosophers and comic strips

Sometimes I wonder how comic artists can continuously come up with new gags and hilarious situations. And then I remember that the world is a funny place. Today I thought I'd share one of my favorite comic strips. Of all the comics printed in the funny pages, this comes in second only to Garfield.

Click on the image to see a full-size version.

NaBloPoMo: On setting a date and invitations

Last week someone asked me when our wedding was and with a sigh of relief I was able to give an actual date. I even have the time set. But more than being able to verbalize this fact, making the decision on a wedding date has meant that it is finally time to get serious about these wedding invitations. As TheKnot.com has informed me, wedding invitations should be sent three months before the wedding.
After making the decision to essentially design my invitations and have mom print them, I sort put off the actual work for about two weeks. And now it's becoming imperative that I get these designed because the three month mark is quickly approaching.
The design is fairly simple and is based on a webcomic I read once several years ago. Unfortunately I have no idea which comic that was or where I could find it, but basically it's about a sad turtle who finds love. So a turtle theme was the easy decision. Now I'm left wondering how wedding invitations are worded, what information needs to be on them and how to take care of RSVPs (online? e-mail? phone calls? snail mail?). This is the classic one suggested by TheKnot.com:

"Bride &
Groom
invite you to share and celebrate at their wedding
Day, Month date, year
at time"

Here's an example of more fun and informal wording that would compliment the wedding style:

"Bride &
Groom
Invite you to join a round-up of friends and kin
to celebrate the day our new life will begin.

Day, Month date, year
at time

at place

Dinner and fun to follow”

Even more vexing for a designer like me is the font. Right now I'm mixing some of the standard fonts that come equipped in every computer (Trebuchet and Georgia, to name two), but I'm not really impressed by them.
I suppose all the details will fall together, but, for now, do you all have any ideas on any of my vexing design/wording questions?

NaBloPoMo: Baking is science...

One of the best webcomics out there is called Questionable Content, an amazing romp through the lives of indie kids and the problems they have. Oh, and did I mention the cute robots? There is nothing quite like the hilarity of seeing a roomba team up with a cat to attack a beefed up iPod. Hey, it could happen.

In any case I wanted to share some of my absolute favorite merchandise (or soon-to-be merchandise) from the site:

I am super-excited about this one. It will be coming in both t-shirt and apron form. Yay!

Aren't we all?

My love of this one stems from my years working at the CNU library. Oh, the memories.

Anyway, there is lots to love about QC. Go check it out and maybe grab yourself an awesome t-shirt.

NaBloPoMo: Recognition

Yesterday's prompt was quite lame. Today's would take me too long to write about (What is the first thing you think of when you think of your father?). I may return to it at a later time, but until then I wanted to congratulate myself. I found out a few weeks ago that my book review on Powell's.com was chosen for the Daily Dose contest. Basically the Portland-based indie store offers a Daily Dose e-mail, in which it shares reader reviews of books. When a review is chosen, the writer gets a gift, usually a monetary credit on the site. Well, I was chosen for my review of How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall. It was one of the best books I received through Powell's Indiespensable program. I never reviewed it for this blog because it's one of those books that I found hard to describe. It's amazing, but its amazingness is difficult to put into words. Yet, somehow I did well enough for Powell's to choose me.

As a postscript, I wanted to mention that I added another feature to my sidebar. It's called "One night to read a poem" and will feature a new favorite poem whenever I discover one. I have to say that the e.e. cummings poem featured there is my longtime favorite and I may never remove it from its hallowed spot. If you've never looked at my sidebar, here's your chance to see everything from my photography to blogs that I consistently read. Bottom line folks: I put stuff on my sidebar because I want to share it with you, so take a look.

NaBloPoMo: First dance

One summer, the fiance and I headed to different parts of the world. I went to Morocco for three weeks as part of program from the previous summer that brought 20 Algerians and Moroccans to our shores for a cultural exchange. The fiance headed to Costa Rica for a month to help with Loggerhead Turtle conservation efforts. When he returned he made me promise to salsa with him sometime because he had so much fun with the dance down there.

We've thought long and hard about what our first dance will be to. When we touched on the idea of doing a salsa dance I couldn't help but consider a song I hadn't ever thought of before. Most of the songs we mentioned to each other were slow songs that meant something to us as a couple. But this song is different. While it does speak to us, it's not what most people would think of as "us." But we're all about having fun and this song just makes you want to dance. It's not exactly a salsa tune - it's more reggae hip-hop - but the fiance says you can salsa to anything with a beat. And this song has a beat.

So here's what we're thinking of as a first dance song:

"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti



This one goes out to you and yours worldwide
I say hey I be gone today
But I be back around the way
Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see
the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you
I love you (3x)
I’ve been a lot of places all around the way
I’ve seen a lot joy and I’ve seen a lot of pain
but I don’t want to write a love song for the world,
I just want to write a song about a boy and a girl
Junkies on the corner always calling my name
And the kids on the corner playing ghetto games
When I saw you getting down well I hoped it was you
And when I looked into your eyes I knew it was true
I say Hey I be gone today
But I be back around the way
Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see
the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you
I love you (3x)
Now I’m not a highly metaphysical man
But I know when the stars are aligned
you can bump into person in the middle of the road
look into their eyes and you suddenly know
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
Dancing in the night in the middle of June
My momma told me don’t lose you
‘cause the best luck I had was you
I said Hey I be gone today
But I be back around the way
Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see the less I know
But I know one thing
That I love you
I love you (3x)
And I said rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I said Hey momma hey momma close to you
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I said hey trippa trippa close to you
Rocking in the dance hall moving with you
I said Hey Momma close to you
Rocking in the dance hall I said
hey momma hey momma hey momma hey momma

My momma told me don’t lose you
Cause the best luck I had was you
And I know one thing that I love you
I said I be gone today but I’ll be back around the way
It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see the less I know
But I know one thing for sure
I love you (3x)

NaBloPoMo: Favorite poem

National Blog Posting Month started yesterday. This month's theme is "Now." It is actually a very interesting theme. And this month they've also created writing prompts for the weekdays. Now I've never really had problems coming up with new posts, but when I connect with a prompt I will definitely use it. Yesterday the prompt involved what you wanted to be as a child. As you can see, it's a subject that has been occupying me recently.

Today I am prompted to reveal my favorite poem, or explain why I don't have one. I've always enjoyed poetry, with some of my favorite poets including William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. While I love "Sonnet 18" by Shakespeare and "A Dream Deferred" by Hughes, recently I've been discovering some poems by Frost that I hadn't read before. My current favorite is called "A Passing Glimpse," which was published in a collection entitled West-Running Brook. I have always been enamored with how Frost utilizes simple lines to reveal complex truths, and this poem is a prime example of that quality.


A Passing Glimpse
Robert Frost

I often see flowers from a passing car
That are gone before I can tell what they are.

I want to get out of the train and go back
To see what they were beside the track.

I name all the flowers I am sure they weren't;
Not fireweed loving where woods have burnt--

Not bluebells gracing a tunnel mouth--
Not lupine living on sand and drouth.

Was something brushed across my mind
That no one on earth will ever find?

Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.

NaBloPoMo: Navigating the waters of uncertainty

I've been neglecting my blog lately. This isn't an apology; it's more of a fact. I needed a break from writing, and I'm sure you needed a break from reading.

As you know, I've been desperately searching for a job. Any job would do, but I believed my heart was telling me to stay in journalism, if I could. And somehow I found myself being wooed by an actual newspaper. And here I am, working in the field I've always wanted to work in.

Well, that's not exactly true. While I have been on the path to journalism since my junior year of high school, it was not my first love. When I was a child I wanted to work with animals. Like most children I changed my mind about my future profession several times, but it always involved animals. From a horse trainer to a veterinarian, there was always a clear focus on animals in my daydreams. And I still would drop everything if someone told me I could make a living caring for animals without having to go to school or get specialized training. In fact it was the heavy emphasis on math and chemistry in all courses of study at veterinarian schools that eventually kept me from fulfilling that childhood dream. A fleeting obsession in the 10th grade led me to explore the idea of forensic science, but again the math and chemistry requirements were just too much.

There was a turning point at the end of my junior year that led me to where I am today. As I was registering for my electives I was given a chance work for a semester under a professional. I agonized over the choice between a vet's assistant and a reporter position at the local newspaper. As fate would have it, I ended up choosing the newspaper and that was it: I had the bug.

And since then I've never wavered. Newspapers held me under their sway through college and my first real job.

And now here I am, working at my second job in newspapers. I'm living the "dream." Except it doesn't feel like that anymore.

My excuse for ignoring this blog for so long was that all my creative energies had to be directed towards the job search. But a month after landing a job in newspapers (the only one in my group of displaced journalists to do so), I still haven't really returned here to celebrate.

To be honest, the dream I've pursued for 7 years is fizzling for me. Now I no longer obsessively read newspapers, I don't love working at one and I can't even remember why I loved newspapers so much to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I still respect the media. When I reach my first permanent home, I will likely have a subscription to the local newspaper. I don't hate my job, either. I more or less just subsist there. I go to work and I come home. I break that up with trips to the dog park with Miyagi and yoga sessions, but I largely stick to that routine. And I cannot say that I am happy. Or I could, but I'd be lying.

It's truly disconcerting to be so lost. Despite all of the instability and fluidity that has marked my life, I have never felt this unsure about where I am going. It's worse because I feel as though I am regressing. All my friends spent college with no idea where they were headed, while I had it all but intricately mapped out. Now that most of them are finally finding their way, I am suddenly losing mine. And it is actually a scary way to live.

Book Review: "The Cry of the Sloth"

As I mentioned before, upon finishing Salman Rushdie's "The Enchantress of Florence," I had several books to look forward to. The first one I picked up was "The Cry of the Sloth," by Sam Savage. Unlike "Enchantress," less than a week later I turned the last page to find there was no more. And it's taken me this long to write a post on it because I've spent the last week soaking it up from my memory of it. That's how I read, though I'm not sure why. Some people move right on to the next book when done reading a previous book. It takes me a bit to fully digest that book enough to move on to the next. And so it was with "The Cry of the Sloth."

Overview

"The Cry of the Sloth" is a collection of a man's writings. From grocery lists to letters to signs he posts on the apartments he owns, Savage slowly, but surely, leads us into the life of a down-on-his-luck author/literary magazine publisher/reluctant landlord named Andrew Whittaker. These glimpses into his divorce, his growing disillusionment with the his literary magazine called "Soap" and his inability to succeed as a writer grow more and more depressing as the novel continues.

Gut feelings

There is something in Andrew that is quite possibly a mirror of us all. His faults mirroring our own faults, and that also creates quite a bit of food for thought. As Andrew gets more and more wrapped up in himself and hides from the world in his dark, empty house, you can almost feel the despair seething from the pages as Andrew attempts to fake a cheery outlook on life to his ex-wife. And perhaps the most haunting passage is the book's namesake, when he explains how the cry of the sloth would sound if naturalists actually understood that lonely creature. Savage sneaks this metaphor in until suddenly you realize that this is really Andrew, a sloth at the end of his age crying out in despair over the lonely, sedentary life nature has forced him to have (again, the fact that he blames nature for all the sloth's troubles also helps remind the reader how Andrew got where he is today).

And it was the growing detachment and desperation is really what made it so difficult to get over this book. There are moments when you feel as though Andrew is just a victim of circumstance and then there are times when you know that he has brought this all on himself, in fact he deserves his fate for all that he has done. And perhaps the most thought-provoking part of Savage's story is that you aren't quite sure what his fate was. To that question I dedicated several days, reading my most recent issue of National Geographic to distract myself when it all got too much to comprehend. I'm still not quite sure what his fate was, but it was definitely a speedy read, due partly to the content and partly to the fact that it is often much easier and quicker to read separate letters in first-person than to slog through long chapters of third-person prose.

Bottom line

It's worth reading, but not if you're looking for the next beach read, or even, a drink-hot-chocolate-as-the-snow-falls-outside-read. It also made me want to pick up Savage's other book, which he published before "Cry." I'm told that "Fermin" is about a rat who not only learns to read, but also likes to. Sounds intriguing, no?

Snow!

It's funny how the area where it never snows, it's snowed twice this year. So here are some pictures to give you an idea of our winter wonderland.

The view from our porch.

The postman really does make it through, no matter what.

Here's our parking lot. The road looks like snow over a thick layer of ice.

There's a lake behind my apartment that looks cool covered with snow.

This poor tree tried to bud even though it's covered in snow.

Origami

For Christmas I received an Origami day-by-day calendar. At first I was super excited.

When I was a kid I enjoyed origami. But on Jan. 1, I sat down to do my first day's lesson. And that's as far as I got. Apparently, I am not so good at this origami. I tried several more today and managed to just barely make a passable canoe.






I'm gonna say that any preconceived notion I might have had about how easy origami was and how it was a viable option for a fun wedding decoration might have gone out the window today.

Thursday's tips: Reducing food waste to save money

Alright, so I've been experimenting with weekly theme posts, even if you haven't noticed. That's right, those lovely finds on Flickr? You can expect that every week because I plan to bring you weekly inspiration every Monday with my Flickr Finds posts. But that's not all folks. I'm hoping to bring you weekly tips on Thursdays with a new feature called Thursday's Tips (oh, hello Mr. Alliteration, so nice to see you again.)

Everyone is trying to save money these days, even if you aren't planning to fund a wedding in the near future. For someone like me, who loves buying and cooking food, it can be difficult to save money when there are so many amazing recipes out there just begging to be tried. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to buy all the ingredients and only using a portion. Or buying the ingredients and forgetting to make the recipe until some of the ingredients have spoiled.

Alejandra Ramos, who writes a fun blog called "Always Order Dessert," has this to say about food waste: "Americans throw away 50% more food today than they did back in 1974. How awful is that? Not only is 50% more food going to waste, a lot of money is also being tossed away along with the slimy parsley and shriveled carrots."

Having just thrown away a bag of potatoes attempting to colonize the bottom shelf of my pantry and about half a bag of slimy spinach, I see where she's coming from. And it times like these, when there are people all over the world who would kill to eat that rotting spinach and lack of money is glaring even well-off individuals in the face, it's even more important to cut down on food waste.

Alejandra offers 10 tips to help you on the way to cutting your food waste. If you're like me, the thought of implementing so many new behaviors at once is a little daunting. So I suggest going to her post and picking two or three (or just one - every bit counts) that you can start doing right now. Then slowly working the rest in.

The easiest tip for me, and her number one recommendation, is "To become a Grocery Day Prep Cook." When you buy fresh food, part of what you should do you do when you get home is to prepare those foods to last as long as possible and to prep them so it is easier to eat them when you're busy. Like cutting up an onion so you don't have to do it later. Or wash your lettuce, dry it and then store it in a sealed container with paper towel. The number one enemy of most fresh produce is moisture. Drying your fruits and veggies thoroughly and then storing them with a paper towel to absorb the natural moisture that they release is the best way to keep them around for days and even weeks.

I happen to have a bunch of Tupperware's FridgeSmart line because my mother is a huge fan and a Tupperware consultant.

Last night, the fiance bought grapes and spinach. Both were washed and patted dry.

Both went into their own FridgeSmart containers lined with paper towels.

But, you don't need FridgeSmart to have healthy and happy veggies last in your fridge. Wrapping leaves in paper towel and then stowing them in a gallon-sized resealable bag will do the trick just as well.

My second tip that I'm trying to do is Alejandra's number 8: "Keep a Reverse Grocery List." Basically, you should just keep track of what you have instead of what you don't have. That way, you obviously will know what you need, but also not forget that there is oatmeal hiding on a top shelf or carrots tucked behind the beer (this happened once to me and created some creepy looking carrots). It's actually been pretty helpful, and has caused me to become a better menu planner. It's much easier to just look at a list to see what I have (and imagine new meals to make with those available foods) then to root around the fridge and pantry looking for something that might not be there or just going to the store and buying something when you had a perfectly good meal waiting for you to put together from what you had at home.

Good luck with saving money and reducing food waste, my faithful readers!

Less than a week left

I have bad news, dear readers. National Blog Posting Month is nearing its end. There is less than a week left of this exercise in wordiness, and I admit I feel accomplished. The first week, I had to remind myself (almost hourly, as I often put it off most of the day) to remember to write a post every day. But now, as I surf the Web in my downtime, I am constantly coming up with new ideas for posts. I've even found myself remembering to take a camera places so that I can write about that experience later on.
I set out in this endeavor with no clear goals, except the whole one-post-a-day-every-day-for-a-month thing. As I went along, in the back of my mind, I began coming up with what I hoped would come out of this experience. Here's what I've been thinking:

• Write something REAL in every post. Whether I am pointing you to new Web sites, showcasing inspiring photos from Flickr or sharing my review of a book, I decided almost at the beginning to make sure I wouldn't disrespect you by offering a lame post.


• Make regular posting a habit, so that I end up wanting to post and share my thoughts. In essence, I'm trying to train myself up for my other (more professional) blog.


• Come up with a theme or at least a general idea of what the point of this blog is. If I want to grow my reader base beyond my friends and family (and I would like to, one day), I have to come up with a "brand". Essentially a brand (a very popular term when it comes to blogging) is what you, as a blogger, are all about. Maybe your brand is sharing recipes and photos of healthy and organic meals, or your brand is showing your picks of the best new interior design finds in the Internet (both are brands of blogs I currently follow). In any case, brands are meant to not only attract readers with the same interests, but to also give them structure, so they won't be unpleasantly surprised when you start blogging about something that they have no interest in at all.


• Connect with people. I am a self-professed loner. But I do enjoy debating with people, sharing in a worldwide conversation about this book, or this food. I want people to comment on my blog, to respond to the crazy (or boring) things I have to say.

I haven't accomplished all of these goals. I have definitely passed even my own expectations on number one and two. I haven't quite accomplished number three, but I admit I have discovered that there are certain subjects that I enjoy posting about more often than others. The comments they generate are also more interesting. Maybe that's the first step in figuring out what this blog will become? And, slowly, I am getting you all, my faithful readers, to join the conversation that I hope this blog will become. So thanks for helping me get closer to that goal.

As we enter a new month, I can't promise that I will have a new post every day, but right now I can see myself posting three or four times a week with regularity. From food to Web sites to photography, know that I will continue to share my finds on the Internet. Please stay with me on this journey.

~Beth~

Wedding venue: Possibility #1

In my experience, it is always better to start with the bad news, so that good news can then immediately cheer you up. Well today I only really have bad news, and that being that one of our possible wedding venues likely won't work for us. As I mentioned before, the fiance and I headed to the Boxwood Inn in the Lee Hall area of Newport News (on Warwick Blvd. just past Ft. Eustis).
To be honest there are many things I like about the place, but unfortunately the things we don't like outweigh the things we do. I love the low-key, calm and joyful people that would be helping us plan/set up the wedding (i.e. the innkeeper and her family). At the Boxwood Inn, you get pretty much the whole venue. So, while we would like to be outdoors, it would be just as easy to move it inside because it's not like someone else would have rented the room. And one of those rooms I absolutely LOVE! It's the space that originally served as the general store and post office for the area. The wood is all original and gorgeous. And, judging by the plants they mentioned they have around the house, it would be very beautiful in the fall since most are late summer/early fall bloomers. And they have a large hedge surrounding the property and a few trees.
Unfortunately, these aspects don't outweigh (at least for the fiance and I) the fact that it is literally right on top of a commercial train track and across a two-lane road from an unfinished (and unfunded so not likely to ever be finished) historic train depot that is basically an eyesore. Add in the random car repair shop behind the building and the general rundown look to the area, and I doubt hedges will be enough to block it all out (especially noises that we would not be able to control).
Here are a few pictures:

View from the parking lot, which is rather large and free to park in. Even in the winter the hedge is thick enough to block a lot of the bad stuff around the house, but it's unlikely noises would be blocked out.

The view as you approach the inn. It's a fairly large yard all the way around and outdoor weddings can be held on whatever side of the house you wish. They are pretty flexible.

Above is a chunk of the yard that faces Warwick and the train tracks. You can see the awning which they can move around depending on where you want the wedding to be held. You can also see the lovely Warwick Boulevard traffic lights and the railway crossing sign in the background.

Here is a nice view of the house. This is the side that is apparently used less by wedding parties.

And this is my absolute favorite room. The photo does not give it justice and it is really long and has the bar on both sides. They are well set up for catering as well (as you can see) and this would be a great room for hanging out between wedding and reception.

But alas, the venue is just not what the fiance or I had envisioned when we began talking about the wedding. It will work in a pinch, I suppose, and they do have openings in September. I just wish I could find an apple orchard that had this lovely room but was more out of the way (i.e. NOT on a railroad track) and all would be well.

Flickr Finds: "Street Life"

As a people, we all take to the streets. We drive, we bike, we run, we walk the streets of our own cities and cities that are not our own. But we sometimes forget to see the streets for the lively colonies that they are. The photographers who contribute to today's Flickr group strive to do just that.

In Street Life you can see...

A city's fun lovers by rastabike

A city's downtrodden by Igor Berezovsky

A city's street performers by Renzsu

A city's young workers (SHOESHINE BOY 01) by Tran Duc Tai

A city's old workers by cstam

But, no matter what city, you should always see its streets. (Photo by Dom Cruz)