Voodoo Doughnut

I’ve never really been one to to plug something I haven’t experienced myself, but InteractiveReader sent me a link to Voodoo Doughnut in Portland.  Now looking around their site, that is my kind of place!  First off, they spell doughnut the way I do, not “donut” like some sort of Homer Simpson ignoramous.  Second off, they sell delicious doughnuts, and even have a doughnut eating contest every month!

Of course there is the real reason that I was sent this link…the Bacon Maple Bar:

That item aside though, they have many delicious looking doughnuts that (dare I say) look better than certain cupcakes.  They also have other attractions too, such as marriage ceremonies (including coffee and doughnuts) and Swahili lessons.  What more could you ask for?

Jackie has offered to be our man-on-the-street reporter and visit the location, and I think I’ll take her up on that offer if it still stands.  But not for my sake, for her sake!  Because it looks like a place that can not be missed!

Haven’t had a game in a while

How about Totem Destroyer?  Click on blocks to blow them up and if you blow up as many as it says you have to and your totem still hasn’t hit the ground, you’re golden (pardon the pun).  It starts to get harder than it sounds though…

Fun enough and I beat it at one sitting.

Do Pickle Pops give you a hang over?

If you’ve been following the whole pickle pop saga, then you know that David Millar from Bob’s Pickle Pops saw my entry and interest in pickle pops and was kind enough to send me some free samples.  After you hear about something like frozen pickle pops, you just have to give something like that a try.  Plus, I originally dissed them without giving them a fair shake.

So, without further ado…

Pickle pops, old and new:

They were actually different and tasted different too.  I thought the new version tasted better, although its appearance was more startling because it has little pickle speckles all through it.

My first reaction:

Sara takes a taste (don’t forget, she hates pickles!):

Allie’s turn:

Dan’s (admittedly fake) reaction:

After trying the pickle pops, we all agreed that, well, “They taste pretty much how you expect them to taste.”  As I said before, I really love pickles and I have to say I was not really a fan of the pickle pops.  They didn’t taste bad exactly…I don’t know how to describe it.  It’s like when you’re eating a frozen treat your mouth expects a certain thing and a salty pickle is not that thing.  Unfortunately, thumbs down from all 4 of us.

But the experiment was not over.  Mr. Millar also mentioned making a “picklerita”.  I searched online but didn’t find any recipes, so we had to make our own.  I tried with just tequila, but it was improved with more tequila and some triple sec.

(Yes we are making these on the treadmill in the basement so as not to wake the baby)

Taste test:

I have to say, after tasting the pop itself, I did not have high hopes for the picklerita.  It actually wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating!  Even still, if you have to have a margarita, for my money you are better off with the regular old kind, rather than a picklerita.  Although, of course, it did have a certain novelty factor.

But, as you can see, I drank it all:

So, in conclusion, I’ll have to take a pass on any future pickle pops, unless maybe if I get cancer.  But thank you to David Millar and Bob’s Pickle Pops for at least giving me the chance to find out!

A Visit from Vikings

We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

An old friend from college stopped by on Thursday.  I was actually a little nervous to see her because I haven’t seen her in so long.  In that time she has lived in Austin, Beijing and currently Oslo.  A real world traveler this one!  Surely with all that life experience, etc. the two of us have changed quite a bit and probably have little in common.  Plus, she was coming with her husband whom I have never met.

The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am coming!

Unfortunately I forgot my phone when I went to get them at the airport.  The one day I forget my phone!  I trusted the Internet when it said they would be 30 minutes late, but when I got to the airport all I knew was that their flight had landed.  I was nervous they ended up being on time and they couldn’t get a hold of me to see where I was.  I found myself trying to judge people to see if they looked like they had arrived from Brussels.  Unfortunately I only know 2 things about Brussels and since I didn’t think Jean-Claude Van Damme would be on the flight, I resorted to looking for people who were six foot four and full of muscles.

On we sweep with threshing oar, Our only goal will be the western shore.

Eventually they came out and it was all good.  We stopped at Molly’s Cupcakes on the way home.   Then we ended up sitting at our house for a few hours before I dropped them off with their friend.  That part was kind of boring I’m sure.  It turns out it wasn’t really strange at all seeing her.  I guess our blogs sort of keep us in contact somewhat.  I guess if you get a long with someone on a personality level, that doesn’t really change over time.

Lucas was nice, I think we would get along.  We have at least 2 things in common: 1) we agree that when you are telling a good story, sometimes you might need to exaggerate a little bit to make it a good story and you don’t need someone else always correcting minor technicalities here and there and ruining your story. 2) I think we both tend to be a little oblivious and need the women in our lives to remind us of time lines, plans, etc.

So anyway, Meg (since I know you will read this), I’m really glad you came!  I enjoyed seeing you and I appreciate you taking the time out of your short trip to the U.S. to see little ole me.

My own fish out of water story

The neighborhood blogs I read love to have “fish out of water” stories about white people moving to an all black neighborhood, particularly ChiKat and I Hate My Developer.  Sure I feel awkward sometimes and sure people treat me slightly differently or give me funny looks now and again.  There have been times when I wanted to explain to someone that I actually live in the neighborhood.  But nothing worth telling anybody about has ever happened to me.  Mostly things are sideways glances or other types of things that I could have just misunderstood, although I suspect I did not.

Today however, something decidedly odd happened.  I was walking over to the garden this morning and I heard someone speaking very loudly behind me.  An elderly black gentleman in an old beat up pickup was asking someone for directions and I could hear the man saying he didn’t live in the neighborhood so he wasn’t sure.  The man drove a little ways forward and asked the next person walking.  That person told him he didn’t know either.  The man then drove right past me without slowing and asked the next person who pointed him in the correct direction.

So there were 4 people walking and he asked all 3 of the others for directions (who all happened to be black), but pointedly skipped me.  I don’t know if he just didn’t feel comfortable talking to me or if he just assumed I couldn’t possibly live in the neighborhood and therefore wouldn’t be able to help.  I was actually anticipating him stopping to ask me and I was already hoping I would be able to help him out (I never actually heard the name of the street he was looking for).  I certainly wasn’t offended or anything that he didn’t stop, but it was certainly very odd.

Farmers’ Market Goes Corporate

I’ve discussed before about the farmers’ market a block or so from our place.  We go there nearly every week and 99% of the time we purchase something from the Bleeding Heart Bakerybooth.  It is a little expensive, but everything is very delicious and very unique.  We get something new every time, anything from scones to rhubarb tarts to spinach and goat cheese croissants.  I’ve never been disappointed.

The last time we went there the booth wasn’t in the normal location.  Instead a booth from the Medici, a local restaurant and bakery, was in its place.  Eventually we found the booth further down and bought something there.  This week the booth wasn’t there at all.

Now I don’t know which company is actually bigger, they might be roughly the same size.  But in terms of Hyde Park restaurants, the Medici is definitely one of the heavy weights.  I like Medici a lot and in fact I have purchased bread from their farmers’ market booth.  So this isn’t against them directly.  But, especially considering that the Medici booth is in the exact (prime) location that the Bleeding Heart booth used to occupy strikes me as a corperate muscle job.  It would really be a shame if that was the case because 1) there is room for both booths since one sells mostly bread and the other sells mostly sweets and 2) the Bleeding Heart booth had so much more original things, instead of the boring old standards at Medici.

So maybe the booth will be back next week, but if not, my opinion of Medici will really go down.

Work Stats

I stumbled across some stats about work the other day and since I’m always wondering stuff like how many people work there, I thought it was interesting:

Campus: 1,500 acres and 99 buildings
Workforce: 8,650 employees (including students)
Budget (2007): $412M Department Of Energy + $119M non-DOE + $20 M Dept. of Homeland Security

Almost jumped out of my skin

I was working on the couch, minding my own business.  Evie was taking a nap and Nala was napping in the window.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bird flies into the window *TWACK* and somehow manages to grab onto the screen.  It’s flapping its wings like crazy *flip flip flip flip flip flip flip* and Nala says, “In all the windows in all the condos, you had to fly into mine” and starts meowing and leaping at the bird and batting at the window.  Finally the bird got loose and flew away.  This entire scene unfolded in about 2 seconds but let me tell you, in the silence that preceded it, I about leapt of my shorts.

Now I don’t think Nala can ever leave that window again, just in case.

Evie’s Catalog

Evie has unveiled a whole host of new tricks lately.  She said “Ma ma” for the second time (or “mom mom”).  She sort of took her first step on 7/7.  We’re not counting it as walking exactly, it was more of one step and then a fall.  But the intention was there.  She’s done that a few times since then. Today she started to sign “book” but she has a little trouble differentiating that from “all done.”  She has started saying “No” but I don’t think she knows what that means yet.  She has been saying banana (or “na na”) or at least repeating it back when you ask her if she wants some.  She says “Daddy” more consistently, like sometimes when she is handing me things.  She has definitely gotten the sign for “milk” down and she uses that one spontaneously.  She rocks and dances on command.  She will stick out her tongue when asked and, for you 4th of July campers, she now sticks her tongue out when you tell her to be “silly”. She likes to “meow” when she sees cats or pictures of cats, and if you sing “Play the drum” from her music class she will find her drum (an empty coffee can) and start to play. Her favorite thing to do is to walk pushing something that is about the right height, such as a laundry basket or her music table thing, but especially the step stool. She sometimes goes to the bathroom on the potty. She likes to pick out books for you to read and when she has a favorite she makes you read it over and over again.  She can climb the stairs all the way from the bottom to the top.

Signs she knows: All Done, More, Milk, Book

Things she can do: Wave hello / bye bye, clap her hands, flush the toilet, drink from a “big girl” cup all by herself, feed herself finger foods (what little she will eat), look at books by herself including turning the pages

Things she can point to: light, door, window, fan, books, Nala, ball, drum, mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa, Anna, jump-a-roo, cereal, spoon, high chair, baby, belly button, toes, mouth, hair, ears, ring, necklace, watch, cat

Things she doesn’t really do anymore: High Five, So Big, Shake her head “no”

I’m sure there are more things, but I forgot.

Oh yeah!

Why does the kool-aid man hate brick walls so much?

Another good prank courtesy Urban Prankster.