Apartment Gardening

Joe's been aching to start reading some Harry Potter, so I traveled a coupled blocks eastward to the Cleveland Heights Public Library the other day. Excellent library, having been just recently revamped the facility has a modern, sleek feel, a user friendly self-check out system and an immense catalog of materials. Bueno. I even fished through their healthy collection of classical CD's, almost comparable to OU's own Music Library stash....

But alas, I did indeed find the Harry Potter book and also brought home a couple of magazines, CD's and....a Seinfeld DVD. Season 8. This library is GREAT!

One of the magazines that caught my eye and eventually trotted home is titled "Organic Gardening." I thought it'd be a good one to fish through and soak up while dreaming of a garden of my own. When I came across page 12, I was indeed enlightened.

Did you know....

That you can harvest your own green onions in your windowsill?? I had no idea and never heard of anyone doing it, put page 12 says you can, so I did it.


It's easy. Use green onions that have healthy while roots attached to the bulb. With a knife or scissors, remove all but a short piece of the green top for cooking. Then get a pot with drainage holes and fill it with some potting soil. Plant the entire onion, leaving the short green top above ground. Place in a sunny windowsill and water once a week or when the soil feels dry. Harvest new green shoots with scissors and continue to leave the onion in the soil. With each new growth, the onion will taste more potent. You should also dress the topsoil with some sort of a compost after each harvest to keep the soil healthy and onions tasting great.

The pics above were taken only after 1 day of planting and you can already see the growth. Even if you don't eat green onions enough to suffice your own mini garden, at the least, the little pot of scrumptious delights is an easy and cheap houseplant for you and your kitchen!

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Choose Your Own Adventure

Scenario A:
Joe and I decided to be a little adventurous. We headed south to Cuyahoga National Park, about a 45 minute drive south from Cleveland and took advantage of their hiking trails.

Scenario B:
Joe and I went for a Sunday afternoon walk. We trotted about 100 yards south to the end of our street and hiked around the Shaker Lake ravine.

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All hail the brass section

Joe and I enjoyed two consecutive evenings at the Blossom Music Center, the Cleveland Orchestra's home for the summer months. Niched in the lower portion of the Cuyahoga National Park, Blossom's outdoor amphitheater hosts chirping birds nesting in tall leafy trees, avid wine drinkers toting their exotic tempranillos, children having fun rolling down the soft and cool lawn grass, aromatic picnics, and wonderful music.

Saturday included Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and last night, the orchestra brought to life Bruckner's Symphony No. 9. Both, amazing. It was a first to hear a live quartet of Wagnerian Tubas play in the last movement of the Bruckner. In last night's performance, very tastefully done.

A couple of shots from Blossom.

Mmmm. Watermelon, asparagus, and cherry-apple chicken sausage from that lovely Westside Market.

We're trying to score tickets from Mr. Sachs again for this upcoming weekend. Tchaik 5, baby.

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Bottom of the 9th...

Joe is in week number 3 of training at work, and he's up to his eyeballs with having to process and store everything you ever wanted to know about mortgages. I am very thankful for Joe's continuing expertise in this field, as when the time comes for us to purchase our first house, we will most definitely not be tossed around by an eager banker trying to reap his rewards at the expense of our youthful optimism.

This past week, Joe and his team members were unleashed to the phones and got to do a little calling to test the skills they have learned thus far. A simple, "Go get 'em fellas" and they were off to the phones dipping their green toes into the water. After a week of calling and giving it their best shot, a surprise "awards ceremony" arose Friday afternoon. To the one who had performed the best, pulling the most credit reports, spending the most time with the customer, an award was given...2 tickets to the evening's Indian's game, circa 20 rows behind the dugout. Posh.

So where did we go last night? The Indians game indeed. Joe was the who earned the gold sticker.

We played the Kansas City Royals and fought it out for a 5-4 win. We were ahead by 1 (4-3) from the 5th inning all the way to the 9th, before the Royals scored one to tie it up and leave it to the Indians to make it or break it. Sure enough, Rouse comes up to bat, hits a double. Crowd gets on their feet. Garko comes up to bat and hits a game winning single to center field to carry Rouse home for a 5-4 Indian win. It was pretty thweet.

After Friday night games, a solid 10 minute firework show entertains the audience with oooohs and aaaahs, illuminating faces both young and old. A great way to end the high energy evening.

Go Indians!

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knit 2, purl 2

Believe it or not, this is my first finished knitting endeavor. I picked up learning how to knit 'dem stitches last Christmas break and started to knit a couple of scarves....but never really finished either of them. After the crazed auditions for grad schools, marriage and graduation, I decided to start a new project....

After a couple of months of off and on knitting, Christmas stocking #1 is complete! I must say I spent some time watching online knitting instructional videos to help me with some tricky knitting techniques required around the heel and toe, but all in all, it's a very doable project even for a novice like me. You can find the pattern here.

Now for stocking #2...

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Feast your eyes....and your belly

Went to the Westside Market again. This place is fantastic. A a large indoor market building houses items that generally need to be chilled, such as meats, poultry, fish, dairy, ect. then there's an outdoor market that wraps around the indoor building that plays home to all of the tastiest and freshest produce around these parts of C-Town. There are about 50 different produce vendors from choose from....oye veh. But after doing some talking and asking with the vendors, I think I've found the one where I'll be shopping...The Basketeria. They go out to local Amish farms, which there are very plentiful just south of Cleveland, pick the veggies themselves and bring 'em for us city folk to enjoy. No pesticides, no goofy wax on cucumbers, just plain ol' goodness. And the best part, it's way cheaper than going to your local mega grocer. A big bunch of lively green asparagus for only $1.00?!?! Sign me up.

Here's a glimpse of the outdoor produce area.

The indoor market.

A little shop that sells chocolates from allllll over the world. Dangerous.

Hand-made pastas.

Chickens.

Cows.

Last time Joe and I were at the Market, we found a vendor selling whole pigs. I was eager to catch a snapshot of the piggies, but, they had already been sold. Perhaps next week.

But anywho, go out and find your local farmer's market. There's always something to please.

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Living

Here we have the "Cedar/Fairmount District". Joe and I live on a street that intersects the area and can walk to the many offered amenities within 5 minutes. Yes....this is where the coveted gelateria resides...

BUT!

The other night, Joe and I whipped out our newest gift we received just prior to leaving Sooner Country. Behold, the Cuisinart ICE-20.

This double insulated, 50-watt, cream churning beast will make any frozen dessert your heart desires. Yes, even...gelato. But to test the reins, we decided to go for something basic for the first run. Joe and I mixed up a tub of unadulterated yogurt, a carton of whole milk, a couple of tablespoons of honey and a teaspoon of vanilla to create our very own homemade frozen yogurt. Yummmmm. You mix all of the above ingredients in a bowl, put it in the ice cream machine for about 20-30 minutes, then voila, perfect frozen yogurt.

On top of our new delight, we ladeled some homemade blueberry syrup we had thickening up in the fridge. Blueberries up here are so cheap! Only $1.50 for a pint. We even made fresh blueberry pancakes last night for dinner...coupled with strips of Amish bacon we bought at a MASSIVE farmer's market yesterday. I'll try to take my camera the next time I go.

But yes, the frozen yogurt was fantastic and is now a regular evening treat after dinners. Next on the list...pistachio gelato.

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22 hours later...

Got us some Road Runner Internet hooked up this afternoon, thus the post! Joe and I made it into Cleveland this past Sunday evening at around 1930 hours. The second day of driving was more eventful than the first. We got a couple of nice showers along the way, saw a rainbow.....and.....had a close call on....or perhaps....off....a ramp trying to get onto I-71, northbound towards Cleveland. We almost made friends with the protective guardrail to say the least. Oye veh.

But all is well and we're safe and sound in our new place, which is still a little on the disorganized side, but a trip to the local Ikea in Pittsburgh will do the trick.

The weather here = fantastic. The high today was a whoppin' 73 degrees. And the low tonight... 49. Most apartment units around here, including ours, are lacking in the air conditioning department, so the cool nights and perfect daytime temps are well welcomed. I've noticed though, because of the great weather here, more people are out, taking walks, going to the park, taking the option to eat outside at restaurants, riding bikes, chilling on their porches, creating an atmosphere conducive to happy minds and friendly peeps. Joe and I have already gotten to know and become great friends with all of our neighbors. Venice, lives across the hall and just graduated from law school and has started her own company that deals with business relations, downstairs we've got Nicole, who is a current med student at Case Western and has a new puppy Theo who could play fetch all hours of the day, then we've got Joe who lives right below us with his two small kiddos and a dog Lucy. Crystal, who lives in the building next door with her two middle school aged kids saw Joe and I moving in and graciously brought us ice cold bottles of Gatorade.

Things here are great.

Our place is the on in the upper left corner.

Joe set up a picnic for us to eat our scrumptious lunch from a place down the street called Aladdin's. Delicious lamb, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, radishes, and yogurt sauce all wrapped up in a homemade pita bread, toasted to perfection.

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On the road again....just can't wait to get on the road again...

Joe and I left the land of the waving wheat this morning. At 0900, we set sail and headed for "the mistake by the lake"...Cleveland's nickname during the 70's and 80's, but no worries, it's a very happenin' place now....because, you know...we'll be there.

Joe was in charge of taming the Budget truck while I tagged behind in our Corolla. We drove just over 11 hours and anchored in Vandalia, Illinois just before the sun set on us. We'll wake up tomorrow and probably drive another 10 hours, until we set foot in our new place of abode.

Pics of our new place are sure to surface soon.

My tooshy is sore.

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Cleveland Rocks

Joe and I left last Tuesday for Cleveland via Corolla. A bowl of Malt-O-Meal Scooters at 4:30am kicked us off, followed by a packed lunch, handfuls of Goldfish, a couple of apples and a Subway sandwich for dinner. We pulled into Cleveland around 11:00pm, eager to lie flat.

Joe had his fourth and final interview with the company Quicken Loans Thursday morning. Although, Quicken's business office is located in a downtown high rise right off the river, the final interview was conducted in a posh club box of Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, known to the locals as "The Q". Dan Gilbert, Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans is also the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and operator of The Q. Which means...free tickets to Cavs games and other events at The Q for those hard working mortage bankers at Quicken. :-)

So yes, the interview with Quicken went quite well. While romping around town Friday afternoon, Joe received THE phone call from Quicken, offering him a position. Joe gladly accepted. We were stoked.

From there, we realized we needed to find a place to live, asap. We had looked at a couple apartments on Wednesday and Thursday, and still had a couple more scheduled for Friday afternoon. We narrowed it down to a very cozy 2 bedroom rental in the Cedar/Fairmount disctrict of Cleveland. Just 100 yds away from our apartment is an array of shops and eateries. There's a european bakery, a gelateria (serving 36 different flavors of gelato, made fresh daily), a tea house, a jazz club, a couple of book stores, a quaint grocery store, a coffee house, the list goes on...

Joe and I are very excited about what's to come. Which is....very soon. Quicken is sending Joe to Michigan on the 24th of June for a couple of days for his initial training. So, thinin three weeks, Joe and I will be settling down, 1,074 miles from Norman.

We're going to have an extra room with a bed in it. Anyone who is in the Cleveland area, is required to come visit and stay with us. :-)

Mr. Mortgage Banker himself pictured in front of The Q.

A super-mall resides in the basement of Joe's office building. No joke.

A massive Nike ad.

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Summer Break

Good times were had this past Wednesday at a local family farm. No more class, no more tests, no more papers. So I along with five others from studio went out back and had fun the ol' Oklahoman way. Kevin wanted to give his, or rather his brother's (sorry Eric), Nike hat a nice, rugged touch by spraying it with a couple of lead holes....but after two go's at it with the shotgun....the result was a completely useless article of clothing.

Three hours of rather pointless fun.

The Canadian giving it his first.

The remains.

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Thank You

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Got 'er dun

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Delicioso

Um, yes. Homemade Nutella is probably one of the most luscious spreads around. I'm still in the midst of tweaking the recipe a little.... But as soon as I figure out the right amounts, I will definitely post the recipe.

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"Let's go make the ducks fat..."

Indeed we did. With a loaf of stale bread in hand, we fed them fowls like there was no tomorrow. The pond's narrow island was host to a massive flock of geese protecting their future gosling. Pictured above is Momma Goose herself with her handful of incubating little ones.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it

I finished the last spoonful of Nutella I brought back from my summer excursion in Europe. *sigh* This chocolate hazelnut concoction is heaven in a jar. You can put it on apples, bread, pineapple, crepes, ice cream....ohhhh...ice cream....pancakes, bananas, the list is endless.

I went to the local grocer yesterday to pick me up a new jar of Nutella when horror struck.

Ingredients:
Sugar, Peanut oil, Hazelnuts, Cocoa, Skim Milk, Reduced Minerals, Whey, Partially Hydrogenated Peanut Oil, Soy Lecithin: an Emulsifier, Vanillin, an Artificial Flavor

Oye veh. I put the jar back on the shelf and walked out empty handed.

I came home determined to find a version of Nutella that has not been infected by Americas love of partially hydrogenated oils. The Nutella you buy in Europe contains sugar, vegetable oil, hazelnuts, lean cocoa, lactose, milk powder, and lecithin. Why, when made in the US, is solidified fat added to this drool worthy product?

Not a store in Norman sells an off-brand version or the European version of Nutella. So, I have decided to make some from scratch. This weekend's project....homemade Nutella.

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Luna de Miel, Dia Tres

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