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Ahhhhhh, the beach. Where UV lovers marinate, children build sand fortresses, and if you happen to be across the pond enjoying the European variety, speedos galore. Thankfully, we didn't see any proud men sporting the mini-suit variety at Lake Erie.

Erin, Greg and I ran away from our non-AC apartments last week and enjoyed a long afternoon at Headland's State Park, only a 30 minute drive eastward from Cleveland. We relaxed, read our books, built our own little citadel of a castle, played word games, and of course swam in the lake. I can cross Lake Erie off the list now. So far I've swam in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron (*cold!), and now Lake Erien. 3 out of 5 ain't bad!

Greg "digging for good sand", and preparing for the construction of Castle Land.

Moments later, we find Erin, smashing said Castle Land. So sad.

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I'm With the Band...

Joe and couple other guys from American Greetings are in a band together called The Vig. Last night was Joe's first, and...due to basic training just around the corner, unfortunately last, show with them. Good times and good music.

Check out some audio clips on the MySpace page @:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=276750777

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Nom-Nom

Summer break makes way for free time, well spent in the kitchen.

These crumbs are remnants of what Joe and I loving nicknamed, 'Matzah Crack'. I tested out an apparently popular recipe among the Jewish this past week...and as Borat would say, it was "Great success!" The combo of matzah cracker bottom, carmelized brown sugar/butter mixture on top (baked to bubbly carmel perfection) and a healthy layer of dark chocolate couldn't be more heavenly. We finished the entire cookie sheet batch within a couple days. Oye veh. So good.

Click הר <------for the recipe.

And here, we have the remains of one of our favorite summer desserts. Fresh blueberries and strawberries, covered with a generous amount of cream. Why so good?!

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Sign Here

It's official! Joe has officially accepted an employment offer he received from the West Point Academy. He auditioned and won a vacancy they had for an audio engineer a couple weeks ago, and signed the papers this past Thursday. West Point has a concert band, a jazz band and a bugle corps. Of the 3, Joe will be working closely with the Jazz Knights; running sound for their live concerts and recording/mixing for any CD's they decide to produce. Pretty thweet. We're both mega excited.

To celebrate the occasion, we ate. We love food. LOVE IT. A fifteen minute walk takes us to one of our favorite joints, Tommy's, where we enjoyed a couple of finger-lickin' pitas, and grabbed a homemade peach shake on our way out to slurp on our walk home. Dericious.


Here are a couple of pics, courtesy of Google, of West Point. The Academy is located about an hour's drive northwest of Manhattan, right of the Hudson River. Beauty.

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*BOOM

We had ourselves a great 4th of July weekend. The temps peaked at a perfect 76, our pulled pork sandwiches came out faaantastic, and our tuba tootin' friend Ken scored Joe and I free tickets to Blossom's July 4th concert; which gave way to a healthy helping of Sousa marches, some Leroy Anderson, a little Gershwin, and of course....Tchaik's 1812, complete with multiple firings of a real canon.

I've played Tchaik's ever famous piece. A couple times in fact. And even though Ken had mentioned how loud the canon had been during their rehearsals and even though I knew exactly when in the music the canon fires....I still jumped when the trigger was pulled. I jumped.....every time.

Can't complain though! Joe and I had a great time at the concert. With a bottle of tasty a concoction our friend Chubby turned us on to, and a bag of old fashioned strawberry licorice in hand, we had ourselves a grand ol' time.

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Maters!

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Carbs

Been testing out some non-bread machine bread recipes lately...so grood. Soft, moist, yeasty goodness. I got the recipe for the loaves pictured below here.

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Sweet Ride

Napoleon: What kind of bike do you have?
Pedro: It's a sledgehammer.
Napoleon: Dang! You got shocks, pegs... lucky! You ever take it off any sweet jumps?

Not a sledgehammer and definitely not jump worthy.....but, we did score some pretty sweet bikes on craigslist this past weekend. Joe found a vintage Peugeot in amazing condition for a heck of a deal. He's currently geeking out on bike parts, plotting what his first upgrade will be. And me, I scored a Fuji from an outdoorsy/hippie/starbucks lovin' couple who had just recently moved to Cleveland from Seattle.

Riding around on our shiny 2-wheelers for nearby errands and commutes to school will definitely lessen pricey trips to the gas station. And, while we're at it, we're exercising.

The temperatures only skimmed 60 for today's high...hence the autumn-ish attire....in the midst of June.

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More eats

We whipped up some turkey burgers and potato wedges the other week when temperatures rose to a very uncomfortable 92. Paired with a tall glass of barley tea, it was a most delightful meal.

Here's what one lady does when temps rise above 95.... Solar Cookies.

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Summer Eats

Ahhh, summer is finally here. Temperatures are drifting between the upper 70's and lower 80's, farmer markets are in full swing, and smells of grilling float into our apartment. It's gotten warm enough to where we don't have to close the windows at night either. They'll be open 24/7 until late September.

We moved into a new apartment 2 weeks ago. We downsized from a 2 bedroom to a third floor house converted 1 bedroom "attic." Back in the day, when Cleveland was booming in the steel era, everyone had the luxury of having a personal maid. The majority of houses built around the turn of the century are three stories tall, the third floor reserved for the live-in-maid and hence called the "maid's corners". And that my friend, is where Joe and I now reside. We love the smaller space and living with less.

We've decided to grow some edibles this summer. We've got a cozy porch that gets a good amount of afternoon sun, perfect for a tomato plant, cucumber vines, some basil, and rosemary.

From L to R: 3 pots cucumber, rosemary, basil, tomato plant. The long stick with a fro of leaves is our avocado tree, Emilio. We planted an avocado pit last summer and now he's about 2 ft. tall.

I went out to water the plants this morning and found that we have our first tomato growing already. Small, about the size of a semi-squished pea.

On another note.....
I'm learning to sew a bit.

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High Tea

Joe and I were cordially invited to high tea with our dearest of friends, Tim and Jenna. Quite a delightful event consisting of many different types of my favorite thing....food. We dressed up and had a quaint charm of a time.

Menu:
Apricot Cookies
Chive Scones with Ham and Dijon
Cucumber Sandwiches sans crust
Apple Torte
Sun Tea
Pear Ginger White Tea
Mate Tea

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Abra....

Kadabra!

Mom sent these pictures today. Crazy birds bin nestin' in the grill.

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Home Stretch

Just had my very first Masters recital this past Saturday and am happy to report that it went very well!! My parents were able to come up for the weekend to visit/go to the recital, so that was nice. Padres in town equals, a glorious trip to the grocery store, a couple trips to the mall, and fruitful evenings at our favorite eateries. Not to forget of course, their wonderful company!

So, here are a couple of pics from Saturday, courtesy of my mom's excellent, Asian nature of documenting life's precious moments.

The fam.

The couple.

The venue.

THE man!

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Veggies In a Jar

We grew sprouts! All you need is a jar, some cheese cloth, a rubber band and some alfalfa sprout seeds (we found ours at our local food co-op).

Whactcha do:

-Put desired amount of seeds in jar. (We put 2 teaspoons in our 16 oz jar)
-Cover seeds with a few inches of cool water.
-Cut a double layer sheet of cheese cloth over the top of the jar and secure it with a rubber band.
-Let it soak overnight.

-Drain the water off in the morning, and for the next few days, rinse the seeds in the morning and evening by filling the jar with some water, swishing the seeds around, and draining them.
-Store the jar in a spot away from direct sunlight.

Within 6-7 days, you'll have sprouts! Dericious!!

Sprout and goat cheese sandwich on some hearty oat-nut bread. Yum.

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Bring Your Own Elastic-Wasted-Pants

Simply put, holidays = feast, and this Easter was no exception. Joe and I had a group of good friends over (including a star stuck Okie!) to celebrate the occasion with a delicious spread of herb and butter chicken, roasted veggies, yeast rolls and homemade cupcakes. Um, didn't get any pictures of the bountiful spread....but, the empty plates give good idea to how everyone felt about it.

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My Personal Theme Song

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More?!

We got over 2 feet this past weekend. Oye.

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Windy City

Joe and I took some time and went to Chicago this past weekend for a mini vacation! Well, not really....I had an audition, and Joe eagerly came along for the ride. What a trooper though, supporting his crazy wife's musical habits. I mean seriously, if the audition in Chicago is a success, and an invite is extended, Joe and I could very well be living in Japan by the end of August!! Many kisses to Joe for being so supportive in my precarious career choice.

We did enjoy ourselves while in Chicago though. Our first stop was, Mitsuwa; the largest Japanese grocery store in the mid-west. Boy howdy, we went nuts-o here, their sushi accounted for three of the seven meals we had while in the windy city. Oye....my mouth is watering just thinking about it. We also bought various kinds of candy, mostly for its nostalgic effect, and scored a slender tea thermos I've been trying to find.

May I recommend...

The All Rise Gallery for your future Chicago accommodation. A lady by the name of Lisa Flores runs an art gallery on the third floor of a four story building in the Wicker Park area of Chicago. She has three extra rooms she rents out to those not residents of Illinois. You get free reign of her kitchen, the art gallery, and licks from her German Shepherd/Chow mix, Archer. The rail stop is just right around the corner from her place and will take to directly downtown within 10 minutes. And, it's cheap. We were able to stay at a flat $75 a night. Gosh darn good for 2 peeps in Chicago. So, the next time you're looking for a cool, cozy, personable place to stay in Chicago, look up the All Rise Gallery, and Lisa will hook you up.

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Taking Advantage of Winter

Rumors of my Oklahoma friends wearing shorts this time of year actually makes me yearn to be back in the Sooner State. But, you know, still being in the midst of winter has its perks too. Snow-Coneable ingredients at arms reach, free icicles to quench sudden thirst, an extended period of time when soups, stews and homemade breads are comforting, waking up nice and toasty under 7 layers of blankets, the list could go on forever...

Joe and I decided to enjoy the winter outdoors yesterday, and embarked upon some skiing. We recruited our friends Alan and Doug from CIM for an afternoon/evening of uncontrollable speeds and runny noses at the local ski park. Boy howdy, it's the most fun thing I've done in a while. We hit up Brandywine Ski Resort, a mere 30 minute drive, and hit up their Sunday afternoon special of $30 for lift ticket and all equipment. 'Twas choice.

Now it ain't no Alta, but Brandywine was definitely the perfect park for Joe's first time on the slopes. And heck, for $30, I'd go again in a heartbeat.

Towards the end of our adventure we could not escape the adventurous wrath of the "free style" area of the park. Ramps galore. It was a daredevil's paradise. So, naturally, the four of us spent a good 3 hours trying to tame the ravenous ramps. Down below is video footage of the...success?

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Winter Bloom

We just got ohhhhhh, about 9 inches of snow this past week....winter is definitely still in full force. Luckily, Trader Joe's had just received a fresh shipment of tulips from Holland a couple weeks ago. A big ol' bunch of a dozen tulips for only 5 bucks. Who can resist a little indoor spring time to subdue winter woes?

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