Scientists Gone Wild

December Visit

2012-01-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late to post about this but my mom came for a lovely visit in December. We went on our own quilt shop hop stopping in shops in Winters, Vacaville, and Novato. The shop in Winters was my mom's favorite and while we were in Winters historic downtown we also stopped by the Putah Creek Cafe. Yum!

After our shop hop we met up with Maggie in SF to visit the California Academy of Sciences. (If you have a smartphone I recommend their live penguin cam app - so cute!)

Afterward we headed to my favorite restaurant. More yum!

Later in the visit we went to Napa (quilt shop stop!!!) to visit a winery.

After that we came home for dinner with friends and then the next day we had early Christmas and Christmas Dinner. Jeff made beer can chicken and I got a super awesome quilted piece from my mom.

Thanks so much for coming to visit, Mom!!! We had so much fun!

More photos at our Shutterfly site.

Happy Birthday, Jean!

2011-11-19T17:41:00.001-08:00

Last weekend Jeff and I were in Las Vegas to meet up with Ted, Jean, Wendy and Bekim for the big birthday weekend. (And, bonus, my camera mysteriously fixed itself so, unlike last year, I have pics.) It was so great to see everyone and get to hang out. We got in on Saturday evening and went to dinner with everyone and then to Beatles LOVE with Ted and Jean.

After the big show we all crashed even though it was only the East Coasters who had a real excuse for being so tired. :)

Sunday morning Wendy treated the ladies to a spa day for the relaxing part of the birthday weekend. We ladies had a wonderful time getting massages and our nails done. If you look closely in the picture below you can see Jean's BEE-YOOH-TEE-FUL nails.

I hear the gents went out for a big buffet breakfast and then a walk. I know who won that round!

We split up for the afternoon (Jeff and I hit the poker room) and then met up again for a very fancy dinner. It should be noted that there were six individuals but only two dishes ordered.

We did try to mix it up with dessert:

Jeff and I had to head out Monday morning but I hear Monday was a big money winning day for some people so I guess we should have stayed longer. :)

Thanks to everyone for a great time. And especially to Jean for having the birthday (great excuse for everyone to get together for awesome good times) and to Wendy who did a lot of the coordinating.

So Long, Summer

2011-09-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post a picture of the strawberry pie I made months ago but I keep forgetting. The summer months of berries have been wonderful. We even went up to our CSA farm for a blackberry u-pick. We have a gallon bag in the freezer which will probably turn into a pie much like the one below.

Los Angeles

2011-05-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

After our morning in Ocean Beach we headed up to Anaheim to watch the Angels play. The stadium is surrounded by a huge parking lot and has a huge A watching over all the cars.

Our seats here were not All You Can Eat but we made due. Sight lines were good but I think we were most entertained by our first experience with the LA area fan tendencies. More on that when I get to the Dodgers game.

On Thursday we went to Union Station (my obsession with train depots continues) and then drove the entirety of Sunset Blvd. We ended at a Thai restaurant in Malibu along the Pacific Coast Highway. After that we meandered up to the Getty Villa which was nice enough but mostly forgettable. The views were fantastic, though.

From here we headed to GriffithObservatory where you can also see some fantastic vistas.

We got back too late to see a show at one of the more historical theatres so we went to an Arclight to see Source Code.

Friday morning we went to the Flower District and saw a huge variety of flowers. It was also cool to explore the neighborhoods in this area. After the flowers we popped by Little Tokyo and Chinatown before heading to Tommy’s for burgers. We also popped by the famous Bradbury Building while we were out.

In anticipation of the LA Times Festival of Books on Saturday we went by Skylight Books for a pre-pre-party. Because we had a Dodger game to get to we couldn’t be at the actual pre-party but good times were to be had because our wonderful friend Michael met up with us there for a bit before we had to head to the game. (Michael, an LA native, gave us many helpful tips for fun things to do whilst in LA.)

Cindy met up with us at Dodger Stadium for the game. Dodger stadium was probably the most unusual park of this trip because its design made it impossible for us to walk the entire park as we usually do. Our seats were part of three sections not accessed by the rest of the park. I don’t know how many sections are divided off like this but it’s the first time I experienced that in a park. This is where we got the full blown experience of the infamous LA fans. We’d both heard rumors of LA fandom but didn’t really quite get what was meant. Now we know. The Dodgers were playing the Padres (it became necessary to switch allegiance from Monday’s game) and it was a great game. Extremely close, lots of exciting plays, good pitching – in short, everything one would want in a baseball game. As far as I could tell, the fans didn’t really care. About half of them showed up 1-1.5hrs late and when they were finally settled they weren’t really watching the game. Beach balls and player heckling were just as interesting to these fans as the game. Well, actually, moreso because they were participating in passing around the balls and heckling players. When something in the game did happen the entire crowd would turn to the Jumbo-tron and then cheer. At times, the fans were so absorbed in the beach ball saga that entire sections would be booing loudly at the beach ball outcome while their best hitters were at bat! Very bizarre.

On Saturday we met up with Cindy again at the LA Times Festival ofBooks. We wandered around for a while looking at the booths and then I was off to meet up with my Megan Whalen Turner fan community. A few of us met up early to chat about our love for the books before the panel that mwt was scheduled to be on. Three authors were on this panel talking about fantasy world-building, among other things.

Jeff and Cindy joined for this panel but didn’t stick around for the author signing afterward. Due to timing I was off again on my own to meet up with some fans of Robert Crais before his panel. I had so much fun meeting up early, meeting new friends, and generally geeking out on books before the panel. This panel was just Crais talking about his work. I hadn’t seen him speak before and I really enjoyed it. Afterward was an author signing and then Michael and his wife invited us to their beautiful home for a lovely evening.

After that jam-packed week it was back home for us Sunday. We had a great time and send our thanks out to Kristen, Cindy and especially Michael for helping to make the week so much fun.

San Diego

2011-05-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

On the day of our fifth anniversary, Jeff and I headed down to San Diego to begin our SoCal Ballpark Road Trip. We kicked things off by hanging out with a friend of mine from UNCW. She is now a post-doc at Scripps and was kind enough to give us a tour of her building and the surrounding area. We walked on the beach outside her office window and talked shop while the waves crashed prettily along the sand. The weather was a bit rainy but we still had a great time. We also ate at the La Jolla BurgerLounge and it was quite tasty!

We spent Monday at the Maritime Museum of San Diego and on the USS Midway. If you check out the photos at Shutterfly you’ll notice right away my obsession with the submarines. Visiting the ships was very cool and I’d recommend this stop to anyone visiting San Diego. We ended our day at Petco Park watching the Padres get a W. We were in the All You Can Eat seats and pleasantly surprised at the excellent sight lines in this section. And they even had veggie dogs at the park so I had a couple. Jeff reports that the regular dogs were quite tasty.

On Tuesday we went to Balboa Park and then to the Zoo. And Wednesday morning we found a beach access in a neighborhood in Ocean Beach and hung out for the morning before heading to Anaheim for an Angels game. But you’ll have to check out the LA post to hear more about that.

Hawaii

2011-03-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Last month Jeff and I went to Maui for a wedding and a long weekend. Myra and Ben's wedding was beautiful and we had so much fun staying with Anne. Robert was on the Mainland for a solo tour so we didn't get to visit with him but Anne opened their home to us and gave us pointers for what to do with our brief time on the island. It was beautiful with perfect weather so we had a great time!

I'm including a few photos here but I have updated our Shutterfly site, as well. Lately this has been a biannual event but I will try to do better.

A Day on the Coast

2011-03-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

Last month Mags and I spent a lovely day on the beach.

Farm Fresh

2011-02-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I joined Nevermore Farm's CSA. We get a delivery every other week and Thursday was our first box (we also get a dozen eggs with it). The box contained: oranges, lemons, sunchokes, yacan tubers, almonds, rice, swiss chard, and arugula lettuce. The food is delicious and we're having fun trying out new recipes. We're also thinking of taking a farm tour in the next month or so to see where our food is coming from.

Baggins End

2011-02-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

I had no idea these were a part of the UCD campus. I am going to make a point to go check them out.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-18T21:44:00.000-08:00

Hello All! I hope 2011 is starting out well.

Here in Cali we started the new year with a move. Ha, not me and Jeff 'we' but me and Bailey 'we.' Earlier this month I moved my horse to a new boarding facility. So instead of living north of town he now lives west of town at Pine Trails Ranch. The move has been great for me and he's settling in nicely.

Also, here's a link to an interview of our friends Anne and Robert when they were performing in Houston.

The Tree is Trimmed

2010-12-10T21:54:00.001-08:00

For Those Following the Piano Guitar Duo

2010-12-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

Click here to see a wrap-up of the tour dates (and many other posts about concertizing) and an interview with Robert (filmed by Anne).

Visitors and Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T12:48:00.000-08:00

Anne and Robert, of Piano Guitar Duo fame, arrived in California last Saturday and gave a house concert in San Francisco. Jeff and I, and Maggie joined us, went to the performance (which was wonderful!!!) and then The Talent came home with us. On Sunday, the Duo performed again outside of Sacramento, and it was another great set. Wednesday was the last day of their visit and so Jeff and I cooked up an early Thanksgiving dinner.

We had such a great time visiting with Anne and Robert. It was crazy to think that we first met two years ago, across a continent and an ocean thousands of miles away.

Hanging out after the concert in San Fran

Warming up for the concert outside of Sacramento

During the performance

It was such fun to see the concerts and have Anne and Robert stay for a visit. We hope future US tours bring them our way again. For now, y'all have fun in Hawaii!

Click here to have a listen at the Duo's YouTube channel.

Congratulations, Brooke and Bryce!

2010-11-09T22:08:00.000-08:00

Wishing you joy and happiness! And many game nights with the awesomest gamers around. :)

Dixon Corn Maze

2010-10-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that Brooke and Bryce invited us to the world's largest corn maze in Dixon, CA. We brought the flashlights and had a pretty fun time working our way through. We didn't get lost too many times. Here're photos of the map and the maze rules. Brooke took some photos of all of us so when I get them I'll be sure to share.

Anne and Robert will be in the US

2010-10-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Our friends from Utrecht have a US tour starting later this month. Check out their tour dates here!

Still Here!

2010-10-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

Not a whole heck of a lot has been going on here in our neck of the woods so I haven't posted in a while. Jeff is headed to Vegas soon so maybe we'll have some photos of that. For now, here are a few photos of trail riding with my horse. I've taken him (along with barn buddies) to Point Reyes National Seashore a couple times and we went to Mount Diablo State Park. And a couple months ago the Timbreza's were in San Fran and I had a great time visiting with them.

Treadmills: For Exercise and Relaxation

2010-09-02T17:06:00.001-07:00

Cubone on the treadmill

2010-07-22T17:36:00.001-07:00

Cheri asked for a video and here it is!

(Please note: not all dogs will enjoy the treadmill - like our Chang O who is not interested - and they need practice and supervision. We have to stay with Cubone while he runs for safety and his peace of mind.)

Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo

2010-07-22T17:32:00.001-07:00

Our lovely and talented friends, Robert and Anne, have released their first CD. Click here for details and here for the CD.

Check out their YouTube channel for a preview!

Pictures finally updated!

2010-07-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

When I finally sat down to update photos I realized I hadn't posted anything to shutterfly in 2010! Whoa! But anyhow, the site is now updated. I hope you enjoy. Here's the picture site link.

Last month our wonderful friends from Iowa City came for a visit. We had such a lovely time with them and did a few things around this part of Cali that we hadn't done before. Thanks for an awesome visit, y'all!

This month a friend of ours from FSU got married in MS so we decided to couple it with a trip to visit some of my family in LA. We had a great time and did lots of touristy stuff in between visiting.

Hope you had a great 4th!

2010-07-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

Pets Make You Smile

2010-07-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Cubone getting some exercise

Cinder's way of asking to come over (this is our neighbors' dog:)

Recently we had a lovely visit from the Fletcher's and soon Jeff and I will be heading south for a wedding and a Louisiana visit. I have a goal to have updates (both pictorial and wordial) actually done by July's end. Check back for this in a few weeks!

In Loving Memory of Ethan Wallace

2010-06-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ethan Joshua Wallace

Born in Lackland AFB, TX on Nov. 29, 2002

Died Jun. 5, 2010 and resided in Las Vegas, NV.

Ethan was born to Joshua and Shannon Wallace on 29 Nov 2002 at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland AFB TX.

His Daddy and Mommy will never forget the day he was born. He was our "turkey" boy since he was born just shortly the day after Thanksgiving of 2002. Oh, what a joyous baby he was indeed! Always so happy, such a healthy eater, and such an inquisitive little man.

We knew very early on that this little guy was so very unique and special. Now we know why...he loved people and his Heavenly Father more than any other child we've ever known. Anyone who got to know him well knew his passion for others, his love for his family, and most importantly, his love to honor and serve God.

Ethan was active with AWANA at Nellis AFB Chapel, Nellis AFB Cub Scouts, and Central Christian Church in Henderson, NV. He exemplified the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) by treating others the way he wanted to be treated. Making sure everyone was treated kindly was so important to him.

Ethan Joshua Wallace passed on 5 June 2010.

He is survived by his Mom, Dad, brothers Evan and Dylon, and many loving Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.

Of Late

2010-05-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't been particularly good at updating lately... our Shutterfly page is woefully out of date at this point but here are a few pics of recent goings-on. Upcoming is San Francisco's Carnaval parade this weekend where I'll watch the awesome Mags drumming with SambAsia and in early June the awesome Fletcher's will be roadtripping from Iowa for a visit. We can't wait!

Last month I mentioned how we went to Indiana for Ted's big bash and here are a couple photos:

Also last month I was able to meet one of my all-time favorite authors and some of the other members of her online fan community:

And last weekend we went camping at the Auburn State Recreation Area. We had a great time camping right alongside the north fork of the American river:

The highlight of the trip was Cubone taking a kamikaze jump into the river. His eyes went immediately to "oh s#&t, this water is moving fast!" and I was freaking out thinking I'd have to jump into the COLD water and rescue him. Thankfully he managed to work things out on his own but I was freaked!

Now What?

2010-04-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

Good news: The herbs have been quite a success!

Bad news: So successful that we can't use everything we're producing.

Here's my attempt to start drying some of the extras:

Anyone out there have ideas on what to do with the extras? We have:

thyme
lavendar
rosemary
rue
sage
dill

Feel free to comment or email with any great herb info!

Happy Birthday, Ted!

2010-04-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jeff and I were in Indianapolis for the big surprise party for Ted (Jeff's dad). A good portion of the Erickson clan was there and Wendy was kind enough to host most of them, and do much of the planning. We had a great time and the look on Ted's face was priceless! Everyone did such a great job of keeping the secret though I suspect Jean had to work the hardest. ;-)

We were there longer than anyone else so we got to spend some extra time with Wendy and Bekim which is always really nice. I wish I had pictures to share of all the great times we had but my camera broke a few weeks ago. I'm hoping some of the family take pity on me and send some photos (hint, hint:).

On our last day Wendy and Bekim took us to Dave and Buster's which is always a great time. We all played our favorite games and Bekim even managed to get the huge crane thing to work. You know that contraption where you just barely missed the stuffed animal with the crane so you kept wasting money on it? Well D&B had a huge one and Bekim got a big bouncy ball. He very graciously gave it to me as a souvenir. Wendy also introduced me to the joy that is the jump rope game but I was hopelessly bad at it. Jeff's major accomplishment was a great session of Police 911. Actually he and Wendy were both frighteningly good at that game. I'm thinking they missed their callings as SWAT personnel.

Thanks to everyone for a great time and a special thanks to Wendy and Bekim for having us for the long weekend.

Turkeys in the Cul-de-sac

2010-04-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

We've got a few adventurous turkeys in our town. They hang out in the neighborhood not giving a hoot about cars. I got a few snaps of a couple in front of our house. Sadly, I didn't get any pics of the two toms "duking" it out over four hens.

Herbs!

2010-03-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I planted an herb garden a couple weekends ago. We chose drought resistant herbs appropriate for our climate and used the planter box that separates our entry walkway from our neighbors. Everything is growing really well already except for the chives. They look fine but haven't grown significantly when everything else has. So here are the herbs on the day we planted:

Family Keeps Rockin'

2010-03-11T16:51:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit slow on photo updates but here are a few from visiting the horse barn and puttering around Davis.

And a shot of the capitol in Sacramento:

And one in Napa:

Family Rocks!

2010-03-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

For part of last week and the weekend Jeff's parents were able to come for a visit. We had a great time with them here and did some touring around the area. Jean did a much better job than me at getting some good photos and she is going to email them to me soon. When she does I'll post more here and at Shutterfly. In the mean time, here's a few things we did and some of my photos.

We went to Sacramento and while we were there we visited Old Sacramento and went to the California State Military Museum. I really enjoyed learning specifics about California's history. Jeff found something pretty interesting too:

(yep, I've got you looking at a soda can again... but at least Jeff is in this one:)

(all of us in Old Sacramento)

Sacramento was doing some sort of beer festival (Jeff can describe the event better) so we went to the Pyramid Alehouse for their sampler special. Jeff got a little something to go with his sampler:

We also swung over to Napa, CA for some window shopping and a nice Italian meal. The weather was gorgeous that day so we walked around in some nice sunshine.

And don't think for a second that anyone could come to our house without some Rock Band fun. See, the game is just irresistible (though I think Ted mentioned something about force...hmmm...) and everyone wants in on the fun. Here's Jean as a "Solo Legend."

The first day everyone was here, Jean, Ted and I went out to the horse barn for a ride. Jean got some great photos so I will post those later. We also explored here in Davis and, again, Jean got some nice shots so I'll include those next time.

We had such a great visit. I'll be posting more on this later so check back!

Blast From the Recent Past

2010-02-28T22:47:00.000-08:00

I saw this link on Anne's blog (of Piano Guitar Duo fame) and really enjoyed reading about Utrecht. I definitely agree that it's a city that deserves a special visit!

Happy Birthday, Chang O!

2010-02-14T21:17:00.000-08:00

Today is Chang O's birthday. She is named for a Chinese moon goddess. I did a google search and found this link describing the legend. (didn't confirm dependability of this source) Her name is pronounced "jang-o." Well, the old girl is 8 years old today and we celebrated in our customary style: make a chocolate cake and eat it in front of her. Since today is a day of sweet love stories for many people I thought it would be fun to mention that Jeff and I had been dating for two months on Chang O's first birthday and that is when we started the chocolate cake tradition. Here she is at ~7 months:

And here she is a few months back when we were still in the Netherlands:

Our neighbors (who are super awesome!) just got a new puppy named Cinder. She is a dobie/aussie mix and so cute. We hang out a lot and someday I'll get some pics of all the dogs playing together. Tomorrow I am going to help our neighbors with taking the dog along on a bike ride. Like our rascally Cubone their new puppy needs more exercise. I recommended the bike.

Also, we had a nice surprise when Melanie and Ben (and Kona) stopped by today. They were traveling south from Humboldt Co. and ended up having some extra time. We stopped at In and Out Burger and then took a stroll along the Greenbelt here in town. They took lots of photos so I'll try to get copies and post them later.

And in other fun news Jeff's folks will be visiting us in a week and a half. We're really looking forward to having them here and we'll be sure to post lots of details regarding the visit.

Rain, Rain Go Away

2010-01-31T21:18:00.000-08:00

We had hoped to fire up the Big Green Egg on the MLK holiday but it's pretty much rained for the entirety of January. We're on our fourth day without rain and it's been quite nice. I think the rain is starting up again tomorrow but I'm hoping it'll be nice for Super Bowl Sunday (Geaux Saints!) and we can grill.

In the meantime we're continuing to get reacquainted with our awesome kitchen accoutrements. Honestly, I think we both forgot how much we love to cook with all of our nice kitchen stuff. I'm sure it was more exciting for everyone when we posted news from France last year but this January we're sticking with the food theme. :)

Jeff found a great recipe in an old Cooks' Illustrated for these drop biscuits:

Now I spend all my time begging him to make them. They are so delicious and they practically melt in your mouth.

And I'm loving all the throw-back stuff that's coming out these days so here's a picture of a soda can:

(Yes, I know, I've reduced you all to looking at pictures of soda cans. Actually, that's sort of funny.)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

It's been pretty quiet here on the blog front as we've run out of holidays and we've not gone on any trips. :) But MLK is coming up Monday...maybe we'll grill - I'm sure you've all missed seeing pictures of the Big Green Egg.

It's overcast and rainy here in Davis but temps are mostly in the 50s so it's a pretty mild winter which we are enjoying.

I hope 2010 is starting out well for everyone.

Feliz Navidad!

2009-12-25T20:56:00.001-08:00

With sunny days in the 50s being our forecast for the week Jeff and I decided to grill again for the holiday. After all the traditional food on Thanksgiving I guess we wanted to spice things up for Christmas.

The menu:
Surf and turf tacos
Burgers
Stuffing
Brownies

And here's a few pictures of our yummy Christmas dinner:

(hope you enjoy all the food pics, Angelina:)

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And here's a fun Christmas video:

Fire, Fire!

2009-12-16T10:22:00.001-08:00

We have a fire place in our lovely Davis home and we had a chance to try it out for the first time over the weekend. I burned one of those CLS logs along with some wood just to test things out at first.

Now, I am notorious for my lack of fire making skills. As in, I'm the person in the middle of a forest that hasn't seen rain in a decade with a torch already lit and I probably couldn't get a fire going. But I'm also stubborn so that helps and I think I was pretty successful. I think with more practice I won't have to do quite so much fire management to keep the darned thing going next time.

Welcome Home, Bailey!

2009-12-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

My horse has finally arrived! Woohoo!!! He got here Saturday and is settling in nicely. In fact, he already looks at home - I'm totally impressed with how well he's taking to the new digs. He's living in a spacious stall to get acclimated before moving in with the herd. I go out everyday to walk him around the property for some desensitizing and to make sure he's getting enough exercise since he's in a stall.

The llama and the potbelly pig both made him give a few snorts but he quickly grew accustomed. He's living at Hacienda Becerra which is home to TROTR, the horse rescue where I volunteer.

Season's Greetings!

2009-12-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

We decorated the tree and the dogs were sweet enough to supply some extra festive glowing orbs...or demon eyes depending on your preference. :)

And I love to plug Heifer International anytime I can so please keep them in mind for your holiday giving.

Happy Saintsgiving!

2009-11-26T17:07:00.001-08:00

Scientists Gone Wild has come a long way in the last year! Not only in miles, but it's been a year since our first "multimedia" debut - in the form of a photo - appeared on the blog, and on the homefront we're back to the full bevy of kitchen accoutrements. Huzzah! Thanksgiving is back!

The menu:
Grilled drumsticks
"Sausage" Potato Casserole
Green bean Casserole
Stuffing
Mashed yams
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie

Since Jeff and I were kickin' it at home you can see that we went a little overboard with our dinner this year. Ah, well! It was awesome good fun to cook in our full kitchen and the holidays wouldn't be holidays without over-eating and leftovers.

First up - Jeff started up the Big Green Egg to grill the drumsticks:

Jeff made up a solution that had to marinate for 12hrs and then the drumsticks soaked over night and then were brined. After a hour of grilling they were glazed and then the cooked to 170F.

While this was going on outside we were also working on the rest of the menu inside:

Dinner is served

A few dishes

Dinner and dessert

A curious dog

Now we're relaxing on the couch and hoping your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.

Geaux Saints! I was a doubter but after this many wins maybe you're the real deal. :)

Poochie Montage

2009-11-24T20:23:00.001-08:00

A view from over the arm of the couch:

Cubone has his own pillow. It's not quite clear why he prefers just a small corner with his head hanging off. :)

CA Housewarming

2009-11-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

Our housewarming was a grand time complete with a grilled turkey and a MAGICIAN! You read that correctly, a MAGICIAN! You could say it was a magical time...har har...but that's only a joke a complete dork would make...oh right! ;-)

Anyway, we had a wonderful time and Rock Band even made an appearance (was there ever any doubt?). I've finally updated Shutterfly so swing on over there for pictures of the good times we had.

Spatchcocked on the Egg

2009-11-01T19:54:00.000-08:00

The Big Green Egg was delivered Friday and the Grand Cracking was today. Since both Jeff and I attended the demonstration that Ace Hardware offered to do for us, I now know how to light up a grill and I did it today while Jeff was getting his chicken together. You use natural lump charcoal with the Big Green Egg and it's so much better than Kingsford (etc) type charcoal. I mean leagues better, I mean why the heck weren't we using this stuff before better! It smells wonderful and makes the food taste so much better.

Jeff has a new bbq book and wanted to try a spatchcocked chicken recipe (by the way, spatchcocked is my new favorite word) for his first use of the Egg.

checking the Egg temperature

And here's a nice little video of cracking the egg and starting the chicken:

Time to flip the chicken:

Uh oh, flare up! Hurry, close the top!

The food was fantastic and here we are, so excited to eat our tasty barbecue!

Fall in Davis

2009-11-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

Jeff and I have been getting into the swing of being California residents. The weather is gorgeous, warm, and sunny and we've been exploring our new state. Oh, and trying to replace a few things around the house that we sold before we moved to the Netherlands.

Jeff already showed you the car but we also managed to get some furniture:

I just finished my desk (with lots of before-I-got-back help from my mom - Thanks Mom!) and I forgot to take a picture when it was still covered in paint (bought it second-hand) but I have one of it stripped:

Jeff has already been to Vegas twice and for one of the trips he and his friends "suited up:"

I made it up north to Humboldt County to spend time with the awesome "Schmells" and her new baby:

Jeff and I ventured over to Napa/Sonoma counties to visit Pride Mountain Winery:

Our wonderful friend Brooke lives nearby in Sacramento and we joined her and her family for a charity dinner at a winery:

And I've been to San Francisco twice to hang out with the funshine Maggie but I don't seem to be very good at taking pictures while I'm there. It's probably safe to assume we're getting into the kind of trouble you don't want to document. ;-)

I'm woefully behind at updating Shutterfly but I hope to get to it soon. Lots more pictures will be there when I finally do update. Actually, we're having a house warming party next weekend so I will try to update photos after that. If you're in the neighborhood please feel free to join us!

A True American

2009-10-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

How do you know I'm a good American? Because I like to buy stuff!

This is our new car:

It's a Toyota Camry. I bought it from a very nice lady who lives north of Sacramento. It's in fantastic shape. We drove it to a wine-tasting in Napa this weekend and tested it out in the mountains. It handled well, and got great gas mileage too!

But that's not my only big purchase since returning to the States. Here's our new grill:

It's called a Big Green Egg. They'll be delivering ours next weekend. Why is the Big Green Egg totally awesome? Glad you asked!

- It has a porcelain interior so it holds a more constant temperature than steel, and for much longer.

- It's shaped so that it can be used as either a grill or a smoker.

- It can smoke for 15 hours without reloading more charcoal.

- It can fit a 15 pound turkey!!!

- Most importantly, it was constructed using ancient secrets from the Far East, just like ninjas!

Now I just have to decide what I'll be cooking first...

Jeff

Leaving on a Dutch Plane

2009-09-22T13:56:00.008-07:00

Between returning from Spain and catching my flight to California I had one day in Utrecht. And what a day it was! I don't know if I could have crammed any more Dutch activities into one day. It all started with a ~1.5hr bike ride to a lake to join my friends for a day of sailing.

We sailed our boats out to an island in the lake for a classic Dutch lunch.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sailing around the lake and making our way back to the boat rental dock.

Then we cycled back to Utrecht (much harder at the end of a long day of sailing:) for a carbo overload at a pancake house.

Then it was another short bike ride to a pub for some Dutch brews.

It was a great last day and a wonderful way to say goodbye to an excellent country and my most excellent friends!

So Happy Together, or Thanks Gavin!

2009-09-16T17:08:00.005-07:00

The family is back together again! I flew into San Francisco on Monday and stayed the night with Maggie, then took the train to Davis on Tuesday. I was so excited to see Jeff after so long! He's done a great job of getting things settled here. The dogs are into their routine, Jeff got a great deal on a Toyota Camry and a lot of the unpacking is done. We can't unpack everything because we don't have much furniture. I spent today scoping out some second-hand shops so I hope to get a bit of furniture in the coming weeks.

Our neighborhood is really nice and at the end of our street is a park and access to the Greenbelt. And on my way to the library to get a membership card I found a dog park so we'll have to check that out with the pooches soon. I also came by a great deal on a bike today so now I've got myself a set of wheels for exploring town.

My horse is scheduled to arrive the last week of this month. I'll be checking out a few barns in the area this week and deciding where he'll live. I'm really excited to get back in the saddle on a more regular basis!

Stick Beach

2009-09-16T16:40:00.006-07:00

While in Spain, if we weren't hanging out at home by the pool we were puttering around some of Bernardo's favorite childhood spots. We toured around Vigo, visited with friends, went to B's favorite beach and also walked along La Playa de America - so named because you can see the fort where Columbus landed upon his return from the Americas.

I don't know if we ever settled on a final name for B's favorite beach but, improvised and loosely translated, it is now known as Stick Beach.

(please note: photos are from a clothing optional beach and while everyone in the main part of these photos is decent there may be "nekkies" in the background)

Walking to the beach

Hanging out in the shade, by this time in the day it had cooled off a bit and we were bundled up

View from our shady shelter

I thought I was tan until I stood next to Bernardo!

Another evening we hung out in Baiona for tapas and drinks.

After all the tapa goodness

I decided to blend with the locals and have "coffee" afterward. It was half milk and you can see the two sugar packets I added.

Don't worry; I still love Delicious Happiness

Spanish Steps

Thanks for a great week Bernardo! I had such a fun visit! I'm still trying to decide what I like more, the cool tops I bought from Bernardo's Aunt's clothing line or my awesome tan! All very good souvenirs!

Villa Cayman

2009-09-16T16:27:00.004-07:00

My trip to Spain to visit my friend Bernardo at his home outside Vigo was absolutely wonderful. I had no idea we'd be living the high life at what I can only describe as a resort-like house. What a beautiful home he and his family designed and built together. I had a great time meeting Bernardo's family (who were so welcoming and fun even if my Spanish was not good enough for us to have lengthy conversations:) and hanging out by the pool. The week was all about relaxation and sun worship. Here are some photos from around the house:

Hanging out by the pool on the first day (before I had any kind of tan!!!!)

Waiting for our ride to the beach

View from the backyard

Hanging out on the back patio. Actually if we were home and not by the pool we were usually on the patio.

The weather was perfect, with each day getting a bit warmer than the previous and blue, blue skies!

Music To My Ears

2009-09-03T12:47:00.002-07:00

No matter the length of time, it's always a pleasure to spend time with our wonderful friends Anne and Robert at the Monument House. The extra special bonus of their hospitality (I've been staying here since leaving the Bloemstraat apartment last Sunday) is that you get to hear them rehearsing throughout the day. Why don't you enjoy a rehearsal as well?

I'm off to Spain tomorrow and won't be able to blog or post pictures. However, I finally uploaded the photos from England onto Shutterfly so be sure to surf on over there for some great views of the English countryside.

hasta luego

The Truth About Amsterdam

2009-09-02T03:12:00.003-07:00

As a resident that is often overwhelmed by the family atmosphere and family-oriented lifestyle of the Netherlands, I was pretty much stunned to come by an article in the Holland Times describing a segment on a show called the O'Reilly Factor (or somesuch, I've never seen it) and what it had to say about Amsterdam. A couple of local Amsterdammers took exception and made a short video response.

"We used facts," says Nieuwenhuijs, "we did not want to do the same thing O'Reilly does. Real arguments are based on facts."

On a related note, I have lots (lots and lots) of opinions on the political make-up of the Netherlands vs. the US which I have mostly (I think) kept out of our blog because it's not what our blog is about. But if you are interested you can always shoot me an email asking any questions you might have.

Sweet and Savory

2009-08-29T12:09:00.006-07:00

It's my last night in the Bloemstraat apartment and my bags are almost packed and I'm almost done cleaning. I check out with the landlord tomorrow and then move across town to the neighborhood of Lombok to stay with friends until I fly back to the States. So next week I'll still be in Utrecht but the second week in September I'll be visiting my good friend Bernardo (who lives and works in Iowa City) in Vigo, Spain. That is his hometown and I'll be joining him for part of his annual visit.

Monday is my last day of work and I'll be spending my free days in Utrecht closing out accounts, going for a horse ride on the beach, and going sailing with friends. I'm definitely taking George Constanza's advice and going out on a high note.

Remember the awesome good fun I had with the Grays in DC a couple weeks ago? Well, in a happy coincidence they have a wedding in Germany next week and so began their Europe trip in the Netherlands. They got in Wednesday evening and were here until this (Sat) morning. We had such a great time. I know Matthew really missed having Jeff here to show him around to all the lovely watering holes but I tried to be a good replacement. Upon Jeff's recommendation I took Matthew to Bert's Bierhuis and this is what he came away with:

That one in the middle is the Trappist #12, voted best beer in the world!

On Friday we ate a lovely dinner at a greek place right by the Dom Tower and then walked down the canal to Cafe Belgie which has tons of fancy beers on tap and a list the length of the Bible of bottled beers.

Lina and I also had an impromptu book club when we discussed Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. So much fun and I think we agree that Mr. Tilney is the funniest of Austen's characters.

It was so great to have Matt and Lina here. Thanks for a great time, y'all!

On Friday I also had a special treat with my lab. We all went out for a goodbye lunch at a pancake/tea house just a short bike ride from our building. My boss said a very nice thank you and gave me some fun parting gifts. It was lovely and I really appreciated it.

Arjen and Dennis also widened my knowledge of pancakes in their promotion of the apple, raisin, bacon, and cheese pancake. To be honest I was not sold, but they really enjoyed them.

Makers of Minstrelsy

2009-08-25T13:23:00.003-07:00

After a lovely and leisurely week making my way from south to north in England it was almost time to fly home. My departure airport was right outside of Leeds so I took the opportunity to spend a day in Leeds and visit the Royal Armouries museum there. By now I think we all know how much I love old piles of rocks and trains, but did anyone know I also really enjoy looking at old weaponry? And, lucky me, the Armouries are full of old weapons.

There were so many cool things to look at here, including the oldest complete set of horse armour in the world and the most complete set of elephant armour, but the highlights for me were the following:

Learning the origin of heralds for tournament knights and that, among their other duties, they were 'makers of minstrelsy.'

Learning that executions were often not accomplished with only one swing, and Henry VIII, in all his magnanimosity, contracted a French executioner known for only needing one swing for the execution of Anne Boleyn.

Seeing a live 'joust of peace' between armoured knights. **the purpose of a 'joust of peace' was to break the lance with a legal hit and the purpose of a 'joust of war' was to unseat your opponent. Different types of lances are used.

Learning that Ulrich von Liechtenstein is a real person!!!!!! Yeah, ok, so he wasn't living during the story of A Knight's Tale but I've always thought that adherance to accurate history is cinematically impolitic, especially when watching A Knight's Tale. Anyway, he wrote a book called 'Service of the Lady' and never lost a tournament or joust...according to himself at least. I almost bought his book while I was there but was deterred by the museum price. I will be reading it sometime though!

All in all England gets two very big thumbs up from me!

A Country Mile

2009-08-25T12:47:00.004-07:00

After my brief stop in London I headed north to Settle, Yorkshire on Thursday (20 Aug). Settle is located in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Much like the Netherlands is covered in biking paths, England is covered in walking paths. These are mapped out quite well (though yours truly was map averse this trip, thank goodness for clearly posted signs) and take a walker through some beautiful countryside. It was these paths I was walking in Cornwall as well. The funny thing is that they go through private lands so you're often walking along with cattle, sheep, horses, etc. (always make sure to close gates:).

Before I started to explore the countryside on foot I took the (in)famous Settle-Carlisle train ride across the Ribblehead Viaduct. The ride includes 325 bridges, 21 viaducts, and 14 tunnels - and some beautiful views.

If you're at all interested in trains/railways it's really cool to look into the building of the Settle-Carlisle railway, the shanty towns that grew up around the viaducts and its current form as historical landmark and tourist attraction. You can even take a steam train on this ride. I was on a modern train but I did see two steam trains on the tracks while in England. And for fun trivia, it's the Ribblehead Viaduct that's featured in Harry Potter as they're riding the Hogwarts Express.

After puttering around Carlisle for a bit it was back to Settle to begin my walks in the countryside. The weather was beautiful and the paths were practically deserted. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

On Sunday it was on to Leeds...

London in Brief

2009-08-25T12:29:00.003-07:00

After leaving Tintagel last Tuesday (18 Aug) I took the train to London to meet up with my most excellent friend Myra - side note: there was once an unfortunate period of 6 years when Myra and I were never within 500 miles of each other and we've seen each other 4 times (!) this year, huzzah!

That night we had a very nice dinner at this Thai/fusion place and then we went to see the Time Traveler's Wife. And while neither of us were blown away by the movie we totally enjoyed a fun night eating too much candy and popcorn at the movies.

On Wednesday I went to the British Museum with a fellow Eugenides fan. We had way too much fun making pea-shooter jokes (sorry, there's no way I can backtrack that joke to the beginning:) and checking out the extensive museum collection. A day would not be enough to see everything but I somehow decided 2 hours was enough. Ah well, that seems to be my museum modus operandi.

I met up with Myra again and we walked through Regent's Park as we made our way toward Camden Town. There are a lot of open air markets here but more importantly it's riddled with tattoo/piercing shops. I decided to pierce my ears again and so we stopped by a shop to get that done. The girl who was in the chair right before me got a piercing at the top of her nose between the eyebrows - ouch!

After, we went to a pub for (fish and) chips and some drinks with friends. I believe I consumed 4 alcoholic units that night. When in London...

Thanks for a great time Myra! Someday I actually have to go to London when I can stay longer than a day.

California is the place you want to be...

2009-08-18T19:43:00.003-07:00

My impressions of Davis so far, bullet style:

It's tiny - You could drive across the entire town in 15 minutes...less if you didn't catch any traffic lights. It's not at all crowded and there's hardly any traffic of which to speak.
It's got a great climate - Even in the height of August, it's only really hot in the late afternoon and early evening. I use the air conditioning for an hour or two when I get home from work, but once the sun sets it's cool enough to just open the windows.
It's expensive - Small town with a great climate? You're going to have to pay through the nose for that. I was mostly prepared for increased price for everything, but even still I almost choked when I saw my first grocery bill.
It's bike friendly - Much like the Netherlands, Davis is flat and compact. They've included bike lanes on most of the roads so you can save a little gas money and enjoy some of the California sunshine (after all, you're paying for it)!

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but Rachel has the camera in England. I'm sure we'll take some when she arrives in September!

Jeff

Tintagel to Boscastle

2009-08-17T10:29:00.006-07:00

A quick diversion from North Cornwall... word on the home front is that Jeff has got himself outfitted with a very nice bike for getting around town, he's already found a great deal on a washer/dryer and that the unpacking is going well. Maybe he'll post something soon on Davis or some photos of our new place...maybe! (hint, hint:)

I've had a great time along the rocky coast of North Cornwall. I spent my first day puttering around Tintagel Castle and the local walks. Tintagel is the supposed birthplace of King Arthur. The castle ruins that are most visible today were built in 1233 by Earl Richard of Cornwall. However, there are several sites from the third or fourth century and more from the fifth or sixth century. These can be found incorporated with the more modern castle or are open sites scattered around the island. And while the area was sort of at the 'end of the world' when Earl Richard built his castle, there are extensive artifacts that show proof it was the locale of local VIPs (Cornish kings?) when it was first settled. It was also at the very edge of Roman Britain.

Tintagel comes from "Din Tagell" which means the Fortress of the Narrow Entrance. One of those original VIPs moved rock and earth to create an easily defended entrance to a stronghold. This was later used as the entrance to the Mainland Courtyards of Tintagel Castle. The photo below is a side view of Tintagel Castle. To the left you can see the ruins of the Mainland Courtyards and across the chasm (containing a wooden bridge) is the Island Courtyard and the rest of the castle ruins. The sea has gradually taken pieces of the island and the castle; the chasm you have to cross now would have been a narrow neck of land when the original stronghold was built and when the castle was built.

Click on the photo for a larger view

Today I took the coastal path from Tintagel to Boscastle (I returned by bus rather than the inland route this map suggests). It was a gorgeous walk. I wish I was better at capturing what my eye sees with my camera but I just can't seem to quite capture the grandeur. Here are a couple of my attempts:

Look for many more photos of this area in the coming weeks on Shutterfly

Tomorrow I head to London. I am there only for Wednesday before continuing north to Yorkshire.

The Birthplace of King Arthur

2009-08-15T10:15:00.004-07:00

I loves me some WiFi! I've arrived in Tintagel, Cornwall and I'm already so pleased. Lovely little town with a beautiful, rocky coastline. I'm just looking over maps now to decide on the walks I want to take. I'll be sure to take some photos and post them as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime, a Google Images search of "tintagel" will get some gorgeous hits of the coastline.

Paul McCarthy You Embarrass Me!

2009-08-13T08:58:00.003-07:00

It's often the case that I am put into the role of The American. As in, an opinion I express is a direct representation of America as a whole. It's frightening really! I pride myself on having dispelled many a myth regarding Americans but it scares me a bit how almost anything I say is taken as being said because I am American. Granted, I'm certainly a well-socialized American and many of my opinions come from that but to have someone respond to what I say as being said only because I'm American is a bit short-sighted. Lucky for us Americans we have an abundance of diversity in our citizenry. I never realized that until living here and I never realized how wonderful it is to have that as part of our cultural heritage. So my biggest message has become "we're not all the same."

So then what is my point? Well, being seen as The American has other side effects. Like any other American being linked to me. Like I'm expected to understand why another American would do whatever it is they did. Like anyone could understand this guy and his "art."

P. McCarthy currently has an "art" exhibition in the botanical garden outside my building. I am assaulted by his "work" every time I look out of the window of my lab. It's enough to make a person want to vomit. But then my lab mates come round asking what the heck it all means?
I reply, how should I know?
They say, the "artist" is American. And then go on to explain that it must be an American thing.
I immediately correct this odd opinion by emphatically stating that it has nothing to do with nationality and everything to do with the slippery slope that is modern art. And anyway, it was the city of Utrecht that paid money (yes, actual money) for the exhibition so you might want to ask them what the heck is up.

And yes, that big brown thing in the background is a pile of poop
And yes, that is a butt plug in Santa's hand
And yes, one of the pigs is missing a face

If you're curious, from my lab I can see the butt plug, the pig butt in the air and the pile of poop. If I lean very close to the window I can see a ketchup bottle as well.

My boss wondered aloud if the city of Utrecht would pay our lab if we all went out and made our own piles of poop in the botanical garden.

What's Been Going On

2009-08-07T12:34:00.002-07:00

For those that are wondering just where the heck in the world Jeff and I are here's a little info on what's been going on.

I spent the last week of July in NYC and DC. I arrived back in the Netherlands on August 2. Jeff and the dogs flew to Texas on August 3 and have been in San Antonio this past week. Our wonderful friend Chuck flew into San An on August 6 and helped Jeff load up the moving van. This morning the two of them (along with the dogs) started the long drive to Davis. They are of course going the "Vegas route" and will be staying in Las Vegas for two days. They should get to see my brother Josh and his family while they are there (Nellis Air Force Base is just north of Las Vegas). The dogs will stay in an open-play dog center while the guys are having fun at the tables. From there they will continue on to Davis and I think they expect to arrive on the 11th.

While they're working hard on moving to Davis I'm chilling out here. My work contract goes through the end of the month. While in town I'll be cleaning up our apartment here and getting ready to leave. I do have some vacation time left (bless you, Europe!) and I will spend a week of it in England. I should have access to the internet so I'll try to blog while I'm there and share some photos of the countryside. While there, I'm spending most of my time out in the country.

My last day is Aug 31st and then after that I'm going to Vigo, Spain for a while to stay with a good friend of mine. I can't wait for a fun visit in sunny Southern Europe.

So that will wrap up my time in Europe and I fly to California on the 14th. It's going to be a busy and fun final few weeks here.

The Charters of Freedom

2009-08-07T11:47:00.011-07:00

Because tickets were just too pricey to justify going to the US for only a weekend I asked Angelina if I could stay with her the rest of the week. We took the bus from NYC to DC and I stayed with the Grays for the last of July. DC has always been one of my favorite cities but spending the week with my best friends and my goddaughter makes it all that much more fun.

On Tuesday I had the very great pleasure of pitching for (and taking) some at bats with my goddaughter Gloria. And by the way, you would not believe the arm on her at only 6yo! Team USA anyone?

I spent Wednesday at the National Mall doing a few touristy things I had not done on previous visits to DC. It was really exciting to see our historical documents. The National Archives also has one of only 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta.

And, if you can believe it, I had never visited the Library of Congress. What an incredible place. I didn't even realize we had these kinds of buildings in the US. My jaw was on the floor before I even peeked into the Reading Room.

There are several displays within the Library as well and one of them was "Exploring America," or something like that, and it included a bunch of old maps of the Americas. I love me some old maps and had such a great time. The history of the Library of Congress is also really cool to read about. I had no idea Thomas Jefferson's personal library formed the base of the current collection after the first collection was lost.

Going to these two particular places naturally made me want to watch National Treasure again. I really do prefer getting all my history from movies. It's always so much more tidy and filled with perfect teeth.

Speaking of movies, Angelina and I had a great time in the evenings pulling out all our old favorites for several Girls Nights In of movie watching. Oh Leo, wherefore art thou my Leo!

On Thursday Angelina and I headed up to Baltimore to watch an Orioles game. Camden Yards is such a beautiful park. It was a clear, hot day and we had a great time.

On Friday we went to the Royal Tea House for fancy tea and pastries in the afternoon. I will not write more on this now because this experience deserves its own blog. You'll understand when I get round to posting it (and the pics might give you a clue). For now, enjoy:

Saturday was my last day. We spent the morning at the Coast Guard Open House barbecue. Lt. Gray was kind enough to get us all tickets. :) It was another beautiful day and a great way to spend my last morning on holiday.

Thanks for a lovely week, Angelina, Matthew, Joshua, and Gloria!!!

Two more random photos I liked. :)

Jane's Fab Five Does NYC

2009-08-07T11:03:00.010-07:00

I spent the last weekend of July in New York City with four of the coolest girls DHS (class of '97) ever produced. We met in New York to celebrate turning 30. Between May and August all five of us had a birthday. We stayed at the swanky Waldorf=Astoria and had a great time. (Note: The W=A continued to bear out my theory of internet access being indirectly proportional to hotel expense)

On Friday evening we all went out for a tasty Italian dinner.

After dinner Myra and I went back to the hotel for some shut-eye (we both flew from Europe) and the others went to Times Square.

On Saturday we went to Ellis Island, which was my favorite part of the weekend. On the ferry ride we were able to see the Statue of Liberty and after we arrived at Ellis Island we spent a few hours exploring the museum. It's a really incredible place and such a unique aspect of America. If you come prepared (which I didn't) you can look up your ancestors to see if they went through Ellis.

There are several rooms that describe different parts of the immigration process when a newcomer arrived. Interestingly, one of my favorite experiences really didn't have anything to do with immigration. The Island closed in 1954 and remained abandoned until the museum restoration began in the 80s. During this abandonment several photographers visited the island to take pictures. It's hard to describe what it's like to go through a room showing pictures of hundreds of immigrants on Ellis Island (and to know that millions came through Ellis) and then walk into another room and see those same spaces completely empty, leaves strewn about, paint crumbling. It's one of those moments that reminds you how transitory everything is. Hmmm, getting deep...better move on to the clubbing. :)

That night we went out to the National Underground which is owned by the singer Gavin DeGraw. We girls had a great time getting dressed up, doing each others hair and borrowing each others clothes.

So much fun.

Highlights of the evening include the "cheese platter" order,

the insanely well-done - but only on one side - potatoes
(video is a bit loud and lighting is v. dark - sorry),

and Angelina getting to meet Gavin's brother Joey, the other owner of the bar. I'm willing to bet that Angelina would put that higher on the list but I really was highly entertained by the ghettofabulous cheese platter.

I spent Sunday morning at a huge bookstore called the Strand. I was in book lover's heaven. Then it was back to the hotel room to get dolled up for the afternoon showing of Billy Elliot. Who knew we'd end up hiding out from a huge rainstorm on our way to dinner after the show?

After the show we all went out to dinner but I can't remember the name. We drank champagne in celebration of our 3rd decade and the server even gave us some bday treats after we were finished. Candles and everything!

Then on to Serendipity which ended up being a big letdown. If you should find yourself intrigued by the hype do take my warning and pass. However, it's the only place where I encountered rude people in NYC so I guess it is worth it if you're looking for that kind of experience.

On Monday morning we did a little shopping before heading out. It was a great weekend with all the ladies.

Thanks for a great time, y'all!

Three Down, One to Go

2009-08-03T13:51:00.004-07:00

After getting up at 4am this morning the whole family made their way to Schiphol Airport. Jeff and I left the dogs after they were delivered to Schiphol's Animal Hotel and I left Jeff at passport control. I'm happy to report that after a very long day Jeff and the dogs made it to Texas without any problems. They are currently driving from Houston to San Antonio with my mom. Jeff will be continuing on to Davis in a few days. Awesome props to Chuck (of bucket fame) as he will be meeting up with Jeff and joining him on the drive.

Since I just returned from the US yesterday I'm jet lagging a bit. I kept myself busy today cleaning up all the dog stuff (to be given to a friend of ours here) and unpacking my suitcase. And now that I know my family has safely arrived I think it's time for bed. Back to work tomorrow.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately but I'll get everyone caught up soon on all the goings-on of the past couple weeks. Don't forget to check out Shutterfly for pictures as the site was recently updated and more pictures will be coming this week.

A Day at the Beach

2009-07-22T13:11:00.001-07:00

Tuesday evening we hit the beach with the dogs. My friend Lucio (along with his dog Bulka) picked us up and we drove over to a beach just outside of the Hague. We got very lucky to have over an hour on the beach between two giant rainstorms. And the second rainstorm was cleared up by the time we got to a beach pub so the weather could not have been better. We had a great time and the dogs were completely worn out. Amazingly, Cubone started fetching. He's never fetched before in his life.

House "Cooling"

2009-07-22T12:59:00.003-07:00

Remember how we warmed up the house last year in October? Well, sadly, the time has come to cool the place down. Last weekend we hosted a House "Cooling" Party.

Before the party we organized a softball game. My lab vs. Jeff's lab. And because one of my co-workers plays baseball we even managed two gloves, a real bat and a softball. We had a great time out there even if most people didn't know the rules. By the end of the game almost everyone had got the hang of it. Final score: 8th floor - 10, 6th floor - 23. I'll have to get my lab to practice a bit more before the next game.

I forgot my camera so I don't have any photos. However, playing softball with a bunch of people that don't know the rules is something I'll never forget. I can't decide if a base runner being pegged by the ball in an attempt to "throw them out" or the not tagging after a fly-out created a more funny situation, but I certainly will continue to mull over the memories to try and decide.

The party was great fun and our little flat was packed. We started around 8 and I think it was almost 4am before our last guests left. After the crowd thinned a bit we started up some Rock Band. Always great fun. I included a few pictures and a video below.

What's more depressing than realizing the beer is almost gone?

Realizing you live in the Netherlands and all the grocery stores close at 10pm! Luckily we had an industrious pair that found a sketchy shop open for a beer run.

Everyone had a great time rocking out. I even got a video of one of the performances. Sadly, they had a little trouble towards the end.

Also, we had quite the international crowd. Countries represented:

America
Canada
England
India
Malaysia
China
the Netherlands
Germany
Denmark
Italy
Burma (Myanmar)
Spain
Brazil

Band-aid

2009-07-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

You just never know what small tiny thing will be a regional feature.

Would you believe that band-aids are different? It seems that around these parts you purchase a huge band-aid strip and then cut off the size you want. So yes, you have a huge band-aid strip and a pair of scissors for those emergency moments.

Shopgirl

2009-07-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

I finally went shopping for some clothes. Since I pretty much despise shopping I avoid it whenever I can. The thought of deciphering a new size chart and fighting the crowds on a Saturday has kept me from doing any kind of shopping other than grocery and museum gift shop shopping. Well, I finally had to cave and get myself
to a clothing store. I did some google searches for European sizes (and they mostly led me in the right direction) and headed off to the V&D. I was in for quite a surprise.

I needed pants so I kept wandering around looking for the pants section. I won’t relate how long it took me to figure this out as it’s embarrassing but I did finally
figure out that the store is organized by brand name. In fact, all department stores are organized by brand name. If you’re thinking this is stupid, you’d be right. If you’re thinking that means you have to walk around the entire floor of women's clothing looking for the pants in every brand name section, you’d be right. If you’re thinking that’d be annoying, yep, you guessed it, you’d be right. Does a person really try to outfit themselves in one brand name? I’m doubtful. And so this means that everyone is puttering around and around when it’s clear they only want shirts, but rather than being able to browse the shirt section they have to find each individual shirt section.

Let’s hope I don’t have to do any more clothes shopping in the next couple months.

Another Reason to Love the Dutch

2009-07-15T09:38:00.003-07:00

On the radio today the announcer was talking (in Dutch) about the German guest he was about to interview. Then the guest comes on and the announcer asks (in English), "Would you like to do the interview in English or German?"

Seriously! These people are awesome!

Piano Guitar Duo

2009-07-14T09:50:00.003-07:00

Jeff and I were able to do something very exciting over the weekend! We finally got to see our wonderful friends Anne Ku and Robert Bekkers in concert. We've seen them several times before in their home but this was the first time at a concert venue. They were incredible! I was completely blown away. And as an extra treat a few of the composers were there and we were able to speak with them.

They played the Funen Concerts Art Productions in Amsterdam.

Program:
Little Suite, David Harvey
Abstract and Dance, Gijs Van Dijk
When Bach, Stravinsky and The Who Met, Allan Segall
Fire from the Five Elements, Heleen Verleur
Sailor Talk, Henk Alkema
Drizzle, Lan-Chee Lam
Suite Rio de la Plata, Erik Otte

And then a surprise of Vilvaldi at the end.

Program Notes:
All except two (Harvey and Lam) are Dutch composers who have written specifically for the piano guitar duo of Anne Ku and Robert Bekkers. This programme was first presented in the Contemporary Music Concert Series on 1 May 2009 in the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Union Fenosa (MACUF) in La Coruna, Spain by invitation of the Galicia Musica, with support from Stichting Kasander.

I was not in a very good place to take photos but I did snap these two. The first is Anne testing out something for Drizzle (maybe she can explain in a comment) and the second is during the performance. I wish I had a better angle to get both Robert and Anne but this was the best I could do.

Illumination

2009-07-11T08:44:00.002-07:00

We recently went to the Catharijneconvent for the Masterly Manuscripts exhibition. As some of you might know I love books. And I quite enjoy illuminated manuscripts. I love it when they are part of a museum collection.

This is a special exhibit of medieval manuscripts made in the Netherlands. Utrecht was a very important bishopric and so had a very powerful prince-bishop and a large religious community. Many of the manuscripts were made right here in Utrecht.

Besides the beautiful work and super awesome old books, Jeff and I had a great time looking for the masters and the dragon. Many of the illuminators were considered masters and had distinctive styles by which they were known (and usually given a pen name). After seeing a few of their works we were usually able to identify them later in the collection (it was over 150 pieces). Additionally, it was about this time that the dragon began to emerge as a symbol of Utrecht. It’s not clear why but even to this day the dragon remains the symbol of Utrecht. It was really cool to find all the dragons incorporated into the manuscript illuminations.

50cent as the Flying Dutchman

2009-07-07T08:33:00.005-07:00

You've probably always thought of the Flying Dutchman as a ship but I, with the help of my most excellent friend Anne, have discovered a new calling for our aeronautically inclined Dutchman: rap artist.

While enjoying some lovely bbq at the Monument House a song by 50cent was playing. I can't remember who asked about the artist (maybe it was me) but then someone mentioned it was 50cent. Several non-memorable comments were made regarding the artist and then Anne asked how we all knew who he was and then said, "Is he Dutch?"

If you do not know who 50cent is then perhaps the humor of the question is lost but I laughed and laughed. If there was ever anyone that I could never confuse for being anything other than American it would be 50cent. And not ever would I have looked at his album cover and thought, Dutchman!

But! I am forever grateful that Anne did not know who he was so that we could have our 50cent as the Flying Dutchman laugh.

By Heart

2009-07-07T08:22:00.003-07:00

I can't remember if I've mentioned before that the Dutch use an English phrase that always gives me pause. The phrase is "know it by heart." The reason it gives me pause is because it's used so much at work. Whereas your average adult worker (and by that I mean a person who works and is an adult not the other kind of 'adult' worker:) would probably say "have it memorized" the Dutch say "know it by heart." It always makes me smile.

And while we're talking about hearts, we went to the vet today for an early check on the dogs. We don't want to get to the Friday before departure day and learn something is wrong after all. Anyway, the vet was great. She was recommended by a friend here and we were so pleased with her and the clinic. But she detected a heart murmur when examining Chang O (our black lab). Chang O has shown no physical signs that are related to the heart murmur, and the vet says it could be years before she does, but it's still strange to hear such news about a pet. I have really never thought of pets as having such issues. Jeff and I are both glad she's doing well and that we don't have to worry about her just yet.

Moving On Up!

2009-06-30T08:48:00.005-07:00

The Dutch are reputed to be a bit cheap. Being a bit cheap myself I have rarely found this to be all that noticeable. But in moving homes, this quality certainly appears. If you rent a place unfurnished here, it's possible that all you are going to get is the bare bones. You see, the Dutch attitude is: I paid for it, I'm taking it! This includes carpeting, wood floors, window treatments, everything! And yes, if a Dutch person moves they are likely to replace the flooring if they are lucky enough to have any to begin with.

A friend of mine recently moved rooms in her flat. In so doing, she painted all the walls, the ceiling and laid laminate flooring. I helped out with this and took a few photos to demonstrate what an unfurnished room would look like. So here is her old room after we moved everything out. Notice the floor...

My friend's new accommodation includes a living room and a small bedroom. The laminate went into the living room and in the picture below you can see that the carpet from her old room is being re-cut and laid in the new bedroom.

I admire the industriousness but I know I am far too lazy to ever entertain the notion of fixing up a rental!

Maastricht

2009-06-29T10:48:00.007-07:00

Maastricht is just about as far south as you can get in the Netherlands. It's also reputed to be so very different from the rest of the country - people, food, accent, landscape...the whole deal. And yes, there are hills (hills! in the Netherlands!) but the rest is lost on the clueless foreigner. As far as I could tell it was the Netherlands with hills. So other than being a nice town to visit I missed the finer details that differentiate the populace from the rest of the country.

In looking through my photos I found this and so I have to take back what I said, this was definitely different!

The Fuzz vs. The Fuzzballs

2009-06-23T07:30:00.003-07:00

Rachel and I had a bit of scare on Friday, but everything worked out in the end. I got home from work a little early, and when I closed the door it didn't latch all the way shut. It was a windy day, and the wind blew it back open without me realizing. So while I washed a big stack of dishes, our dogs seized a golden opportunity and escaped. D'oh!

Well, they had a good fifteen minute head start, and I had no idea which direction they had gone, so I spent the rest of the afternoon searching in vain. When Rachel got back from work, we spent some time online trying to determine where lost dogs might end up in Utrecht. It's more difficult than it sounds, because apparently there is no central Animal Control facility (strays are not much of a problem here).

After following a crazy trail of phone numbers (Oh, you need to call this OTHER person. Their number is...), we finally got through to the person "in charge" of lost animals. She took our information and told us that she'd call back when she heard something. Less than an hour later, she called to say that the dogs had been found and were at the police department!

I can't say I had expected to ever visit a Dutch police station, so I guess it was an unexpected opportunity. Apparently a passing motorist had seen the dogs trotting around, picked them up, and dropped them off with the police. One of the officers brought us down to where they were keeping Chang-O. Cubone had been taken to the vet to have his microchip read, so we had to wait until he returned. And wouldn't you know it...he showed up in the back of a squad car! Though to be honest, he didn't look nearly as guilty as he should have...

Fortunately neither of the dogs was any worse for the wear. The Dutch officers were very friendly and helpful as well, so everything turned out okay!

Jeff

River Vecht

2009-06-13T04:40:00.005-07:00

A couple weekends ago I cycled along the river Vecht. If you follow the Oudegracht northward from the city centre of Utrecht then it eventually becomes the Vecht. I went on a gorgeous, sunny day so it was a bit crowded. The canal and river were filled with boat traffic and the cycle paths were full. The locks and bridges were constantly opening to let the boats through and the cars and cyclists were (mostly) patiently waiting until the bridges came down again.

The Vecht connects Amsterdam and Utrecht and many of the rich Dutch East India Company owners built mansions along the river. I didn't go quite far enough to see the most prestigious houses but I did capture a few.

Just between where the Oudegracht becomes the Vecht is Utrecht's Red Light District on boats. This is way better than Utrecht's Red Light District in flats (and, incidentally, better than Amsterdam's if you ask me) as it has more of a festive, fun atmosphere. As I said it was a nice day so the ladies were on their little porch/docks waving to the slow-moving cars and people walking or cycling by. The street is purposely designed not to accommodate through traffic so the cars are all moving slowly and safely. Lots of video cameras around and I saw a couple patrol cars. Immediately after the boats is a very upscale boathouse neighborhood. I just love the Dutch! So organized and pragmatic.

Here are some shots along the river:

Vet Friday

2009-06-12T15:05:00.005-07:00

Remember Strawberry Thursday? Well, it's not the only foodie theme in my lab - there's also Fat Friday...sometimes called Greasy Friday.

The Dutch love their deep-fried snacks and snack bars are everywhere. Jolide is our snack bar of choice. We order over the internet and they kindly deliver our grease. The person that goes downstairs to pick up on Fridays then walks through the halls of our wing calling, "The grease is here!"

I don't often participate in Vet Friday but I did today. I got some fries. Not the usual thick-cut fries but the ones that taste like curly fries. They were not curly so we took to calling them Uncurly Fries or Curly Fries That Got Stretched. We scientists are a real riot act, I know. I still can't decide if I like the fries or the accompanying garlic sauce better - lekker!

For anyone interested 'vet' and 'fat' are almost identical phonetically.

Holland in Russia

2009-06-07T04:13:00.013-07:00

Peter the Great was partly educated in the Netherlands and was quite a fan of many things Dutch, especially the canals (and boats!). When he designed Russia's new capital of St. Petersburg (and now it's old capital) he wanted it to be full of canals and there is even an area called New Holland. Not once in St. Petersburg was I put in mind of the Netherlands. There are canals, yes, but they are as huge as rivers and surrounded by imposing (and huge) stone buildings. Nothing like the quaint canals here with skinny brick buildings everywhere and cobblestone streets. Not that I minded. I already live here so I am happy to see something different when traveling. Also, it's possibly a few hundred years has changed the face of St. Petersburg...

By now we probably all know what a fan of mosaics I am (Myra would say it's the Roman in me) and the Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood was an incredible display of over 70,000sq.ft. of mosaics.

Outside the cathedral:

Some of the mosaics:

Even this though can not compare to the Hermitage located within the Winter Palace. In fact, nothing I have seen in my travels so far can compare to the Hermitage except possibly ancient ruins due to my personal preference for old piles of rocks. Pictures really can't do it justice (or even just one visit) but here are a few of the inside. Keep in mind that this beautiful building is also full of some of the most valuable art and artifacts in the world.

For many more photos - including some artifacts - visit our Shutterfly site!

And just to prove we still haven't got too cultured for our own good...

Jeff's clever framing of a photo in front of the old riding school and
to hold this space Rachel almost melting her sinuses from Russia's idea of spicy mustard

Russian Rib Shack - A Black Tie Affair

2009-06-01T02:35:00.002-07:00

Before we arrived in Russia we had some inkling of the local's propensity to dress up rather than down (thank you Frommers) but I didn't quite anticipate how UP. Almost everyone looks dressed for clubbing, a nice dinner, or a very upscale office job. It made for interesting people watching and I was vastly impressed with the ability of women to wear 4inch heals all day and navigate cobblestone.

The most amusing instance of dress for me was the rib shack - for lack of a better or more Russian term - that we passed. This was a bright yellow, concrete building with huge grills in the back pumping out meat and smoke. It was situated in a slightly run-down part of a park, on a lake, with plastic lawn furniture out front. The signs, while nice, were hand-painted and a bit crooked. And each and every diner was dressed nice enough for an evening at the most expensive restaurant in town. It made me wonder what everyone would wear if they truly went somewhere fancy!

Aardbeie Donderdag - Lekker!

2009-05-28T11:04:00.007-07:00

Strawberry Thursday - Tasty!

My lab has recently instituted the Strawberry Thursday tradition. Due to my successful lemonade of a month ago I had to bring that today too. Every Thursday someone takes it upon themselves to bring the strawberries, beschuit, kwark; and if you make awesome lemonade then you give in to flattering requests and also bring lemonade.

At lunch we all eat together and then create the beschuit goodness.

You take the beschuit:

Then you add a layer of kwark (or you pass if it tastes gross...I'm just saying):

Then you sprinkle a bit of sugar and top with slices of strawberry!

Or you can always skip the kwark and put your slices right on the beschuit and then sprinkle a bit of sugar on top! Hmmm, lekker!

A note on beschuit. It's a very mild flavored toasty bread. Also, if you misprounounce it just slightly you're saying s#*t in Dutch. I learned this today. :)

Glutton for Nourishment

2009-05-25T10:02:00.011-07:00

I've had a few requests for a Russian food post, and I'd hate to disappoint our many fans! ;)

Lots of pictures in this post, so hopefully it won't take too long to load for those with a slow connection...

I already talked about the "Pot of Meat" from the first night. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of that. The next night we set out for a Ukrainian restaurant in Moscow and found the address with a minimal amount of trouble. I think it was under new management (the interior was not as provincial as our guidebook described), but fortunately the food was still delicious.

I started with the lamb stew:

As you can see, it was filled with big chunks of lamb and potato, a few root vegetables, and a pepper for garnish and flavor. The broth was thin, more like a soup than a stew in my mind, but it had a rich, spicy flavor.

My main course was a pasta dish (the name escapes me):

Now, that probably doesn't look very appetizing but the picture doesn't do it justice. It turned out to be pasta shells with ground, spiced meat inside (Russian ravioli?) and then doused in a buttery cream sauce. As a side note, it was a good thing we did so much walking on this trip because meals like this could really wreck a person's waistline!

That was probably plenty of food for me, but Rachel didn't get as much as I did so she wanted the chocolate cake for dessert. Actually, it's kind of a running joke with us that Rachel has to experience "chocolate cake" in as many countries as possible, because they all seem to have a unique (and often really crappy) take on that particular dessert. Well twist my arm...I ended up getting the "cheesecake" with fruit.

Rachel's chocolate cake was delicious, with chocolate sauce cooked into the center and a nice dallop of ice cream on the side. On the other hand, any points Russia gets for the cake are immediately lost for being completely unfamiliar with the concept of cheesecake. I don't know what that thing they served me was, but it definitely wasn't cheesecake or anything close to it. Oh well...at least the fruit was good.

After that gut-buster of a meal we took it pretty easy for breakfast (hotel restaurant) and lunch (Subway!) in St. Petersburg the next day. By dinner time we were starving so we walked toward a Georgian (the republic, not the state) place relatively near our hotel. Alas, our guidebook let us down again (a recurring theme I'm afraid) and the restaurant was nowhere to be found. I say that with great confidence, since Rachel and I invested at least 45 minutes walking up and down the street on which it was supposedly located IN THE VERY COLD RAIN with no success.

Tired, famished, and mostly defeated, we swerved into a little place along the main drag that Rachel spied, drawn largely by the sign that claimed "Authentic Russian Cuisine/English Menu". Little did we realize that we had hit the proverbial jackpot and were about to enjoy one of the finest meals of our respective European travels.

Rachel had a plate full of three side dishes: steamed vegetables, potatoes with butter and dill, and "potatoes in jackets":

Now, the veggies and the dill potatoes were tasty, but the stars of the show were the "jacketed" potatoes...golden, crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. These were some of the best fries we'd ever tried. Strangely, Rachel seemed a little preoccupied with the sugar dispenser for her tea:

As for me, I ordered this thing of beauty, which is making me salivate just looking at it again:

What is it? It's a boneless pork cutlet pounded flat, brined and seasoned, combined with mashed potatoes, peppers, and spices, then baked in a pastry crust and garnished with a sauce made from local berries (pretty similar to cherries). Honestly, words fail to convey how delicious this dish was. I've tried to make things like this in the past, and they always turn out terribly, with poorly done meat wrapped in a soggy breading. But this was perfect...the meat was tender, the vegetables were cooked through without being mushy, and the crust was crisp and flakey.

In fact, it was SO good that it ranked as one of my three favorite memories of Russia (along with the cathedral covered in mosaics and the Hermitage museum).

I hope you enjoyed this culinary tour through our vacation!

Jeff

You Will Respect My Authori-TY!

2009-05-24T02:57:00.004-07:00

Authoritative figures were everywhere in Russia. And I mean everywhere! You could hardly go a few steps without seeing some type of uniformed security. This could simply be a few guys standing around in smart looking uniforms or a couple guys with very serious looking weaponry. It was a little disconcerting for me at first but then you get used to it. Also, I specifically said guys as not one of these authoritative figures was female as far as I noticed...maybe Jeff can correct me on this.

As I understand, this was a strategy implemented by Putin to reduce petty crime. And not once did I see any kind of criminal behavior and I felt very safe wherever we were. In fact, we were at a park and a couple of people were a little drunk and accidentally dropped a bottle. This immediately drew the attention of the milling group of authority and the tipsy folk dispersed stat.

The Russians also have a bit of the Dutch in them. They have a look-the-other-way policy for minor laws. If a person is breaking a not very consequential law and hurting no one in the process, the policy is to look the other way. This is common in the Netherlands, as well (think soft drugs), and a policy that I have come to have great respect for. I wish it was used more often, most especially in our Beloved United States.

And for your viewing pleasure, some random authority...maybe taking a break, but maybe not - it was always hard to tell.

I also wanted to make a quick note about the ruble. It is a semi-soft currency making its way to a hard currency so the exchange rates are crazy. 1euro:40ruble or 1USD:35ruble, etc. So when you get there and you go to dinner you're paying 1200 ruble or something crazy like that. What's really funny is that they've adjusted all their prices to be equivalent with the rest of Europe. So even though they have a weaker economy and a very weak currency you still pay regular prices...except with a bunch of zeros on the end and with really cool looking money. :) My thoughts are, knock the zeroes off! You still have a semi-soft currency and you're jacking all your prices anyway so what difference does it make?

In many places the USD was accepted and you could get dollars at every ATM. Due to the historical uncertainty of the ruble many Russians still keep their savings in USD, or better yet euros. When oh when will we have a strong dollar again?

A Dreamy 30th

2009-05-19T10:58:00.008-07:00

My big wish for the celebration of my third decade was to take a photo in Red Square. And huzzah, did I ever? It was doubly awesome that my birthday fell on Mother's Day this year and my mom was able to join Jeff and I in Russia.

Rachel in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow

A birthday kiss, Red Square, Moscow

Rachel on the Kremlin walls, Moscow

Jeff's dream come true: Russia's got more love for Pepsi than Coke

Bleary-eyed trio, Jetlagging in Moscow (notice Jeff's so tired he can't even do bunny ears properly)

If I can change, and you can change...

2009-05-18T10:53:00.003-07:00

Okay, time to get this Russia report fired up. I (Jeff) will kick things off by talking a bit about our first day in Moscow. To be honest, the trip started a little "roughly", though it only got better as we went along. Since we had a really early flight, we had to be on the train to Amsterdam even earlier, which meant walking to the train station even earlier, which meant getting up at an hour so ungodly I didn't even realize it existed aside from myths and fairy tales.

With three groggy people trying to get ready, we were a little late out the door. This resulted in a super-fun dash across town to catch our train. Sadly, it was not labeled in a way that Rachel and I would normally recognize, and we missed it in the confusion.

The bottom line is that we did get to the airport in time, but it wasn't the easy start we were looking to have. We did catch some good luck on the other end though, as our driver was there to pick us up in Moscow and take us to the hotel. Rachel had made the reservation, but we were too late to get a confirmation so we just had to cross our fingers and hope he was there. I've never been happier to see...some random Russian guy.

The first night was pretty uneventful, save for the awesome fireworks display in celebration of Victory Day (see previous video). Oh, and we had our first Russian meal. A house salad for Rachel, chicken salad for Kay, and the "Pot of Meat" for me, which turned out to be a kind of flavorful beef stew. And indeed, it was served in a little pot...truth in advertising is alive and well!

The next day, we ate a bland buffet breakfast (with some fairly odd choices...who wants sauteed beef at 9am?) and headed to a nearby open-air market for souvenirs. If you've ever wanted one of those nested dolls (the round ones where you open it up and there's another and another...sort of the clown car of trinkets), then this place would have you covered in spades.

After that it was time to check out of our hotel, reserve some train tickets to St. Petersburg (a massive pain in the butt), and grab the Metro for Red Square. I'll let Rachel tell the next part (what a teaser!) because being in Red Square was her birthday wish come true.

Jeff

Victory Day

2009-05-14T10:20:00.003-07:00

We've managed to celebrate freedom from Nazi Germany twice this year by joining the Dutch on 5 May and then joining the Russians on 9 May. In Russia it's called Victory Day and the celebration is huge (like everything else in Russia:). There are parades, concerts, speeches, military displays, and FIREWORKS! We arrived late in the day so we only made the fireworks but here are two videos from our hotel. In the first one you can see the show that was in the park across the street. In the second you have to look further off in the distance to see the displays more towards the center of the city. At one point you can see four different displays.

In Need of Refreshment

2009-05-13T07:05:00.006-07:00

I was at Schiphol airport (a place I quite like and have frequented often of late) last week picking up my mom and I saw this:

!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was stunned and had to take a photo. I am 99.9% positive this is the only drinking fountain I have seen in Europe. Fountains of stone, marble, and sculptor yes but nary a drinking fountain in site. What about you other world travelers? Am I right? Is this the only drinking fountain in Europe?

For my mom's first day here we puttered around Amsterdam. Though extremely jet-lagged she let me drag her all over the place. I think it might have been one museum too many though as I found her like this after I retrieved luggage and bought train tickets back to Utrecht at the end of the day.

Clearly incapable of sympathy, I set the alarm for 4:45am for the next day and all of us set out for Moscow. It was a whirlwind trip but we had a great time. More to be posted soon on that immense country of vast boulevards and fledgling capitalism.

Liberation Day

2009-05-07T08:10:00.003-07:00

It's the festive season here in the Netherlands with a holiday around every corner. Between the state holidays and the religious holidays it's a wonder a scientist can get any work done. Oh wait! This scientist is on vacation! Huzzah!

Liberation Day is celebrated on 5 May and marks the end of Nazi occupation during WWII. Maggie and I found ourselves in Amsterdam on this day and it was great to be part of the atmosphere. Schools are on holiday this week so museums, etc were crowded with families and revelers. Street concerts were abundant but my favorite was this impromptu serenade near the Anne Frank House.

In Bruges

2009-05-07T08:05:00.003-07:00

While Maggie was here we took a trip south to visit a few cites in Belgium. Bruges and Ghent are both medieval cities so very picturesque (as you'll note by the huge shutterfly albums:). And Brussels had a pretty impressive cathedral. But even in the midst of all this Mags and I managed to goof off.

Queen's Day

2009-05-07T07:45:00.007-07:00

On April 30th we joined the native citizenry for Konninginnedag, Orange Day, or Queen's Day. This is a huge party and garage sale across the whole country. The party starts the night of April 29th (as does staking out your garage sale territory) and continues on through April 30th. Though by this time it's more about the 'free markets' than the beer.

We tried very hard to participate in the Queen's Night party but due to our underestimation of the Dutch love of rules and the time at which the party started we missed it. This is how it happened. We were walking around all over the city centre desperately seeking out this raucous party. We saw lots of people setting up (including a small army of outdoor urinals being set up) and so we assumed we were close to where we should be. However, by 7:30 we were tired of trying to find the stupid party and we went home. I emailed a few people trying to figure out what we did wrong. Ah, the Dutch! They do love their rules. Turns out we were not in the city designated party zone (and perhaps we were a bit early).

I kid you not!

City. Designated. Party. Zone.

A friend of mine sent me a link to the map depicting the free market areas/party zone. You see, it's against the law for people to sell goods on the street. In other words, garage sales are illegal. But on Queen's Day the vrijmarkt (free market) area is cordoned off and you can stake out a spot to sell your goods. It is in and around here that the party rages. Various bands play and beer kiosks are at every corner.

Map in hand we had no trouble finding the free market on April 30th and we also found evidence of the previous night's party:

In case it's not immediately obvious that is the bottom half of an outdoor urinal. No sign of the top but I seriously doubt anyone would risk tipping that piss pot over.

Maggie was here for the fun and we all managed to find ourselves some orange to celebrate.

We were all of us outdone by this lady:

Tunisia: Defenders of the Man Cave

2009-05-06T14:03:00.006-07:00

One very amusing aspect of Tunisia was what Myra and I dubbed the Man Caves. These were coffee and tea houses that were full of men. And only men. And during all times of the day (I often wondered why they weren't at work!). And they were decidedly not for women. They came in all sizes and below is a shot of a fairly large Man Cave.

As silly Westerners unfamiliar with the concept of a Man Cave we tried to enter one. We were firmly, but politely, rebuffed by a nice gentlemen. He kindly escorted us to a table outside the Man Cave and asked what we wanted. We thought he was the proprietor but no, he was just a loyal patron Defending the Man Cave. The actual proprietor did bring us our drinks. Then we needed to pay so we tried to enter again. Oh no, ladies! This here is a Man Cave, you cannot even enter to pay. Another loyal Defender of the Man Cave took our money in for us and brought back the change. It was totally bizarre! Below is a shot of Myra outside the Man Cave.

We did find ourselves a Woman Cave because we went to a women only Hammam. What a riot that was. Since we speak very little French (and no Arabic) we did most of our communication via pointing and demonstration. Through many mistakes and lots of laughing we did manage to get ourselves situated in the bath house. I had more of a sauna/hot tub idea of a hammam but it really is a bath house. You go through the outer layers and find yourself in a room with a lot of women (friendly and helpful and totally willing to laugh good-naturedly with (at?:) the foreigners) in their underwear taking a bath. We also got 'massages' from one of the hammam workers. It was this lovely tough love/exfoliating experience that made us feel like slippery children being bathed by a parent. Below is a shot of the hammam entrance.

Even though Tunisia is a very progressive country when compared to its Islam-as- state-religion-counterparts it was still extremely MALE-dominated. Men were everywhere (again, why weren't they at work?) and we didn't see very many women. Tunis (the capitol and where ~90% of the population lives) had a higher percentage of women out and about; but the smaller towns had, I would guess, less than 10% women around outside. The women we did come in contact with were friendly and welcoming. For the most part everyone was friendly and welcoming. However, shop keepers are really aggressive (and almost all men) and 80% of the 15-35 year old range of local males do harass foreign women. It's a shame for such a beautiful country to have this one major scar. By the end of the trip I was mentally exhausted from avoiding/ignoring male attention. BUT

BUT BUT BUT

This one annoyance in an otherwise excellent country is not enough to keep someone away. Man or woman, you should definitely give this gem a try!

It's All In My Head

2009-05-01T14:06:00.003-07:00

But sadly, not on the blog. Sorry for the lack of updates, Everyone. Maggie's in town and we just had Queen's Day celebrations...and tomorrow we head to Belgium. Haven't had time to post recently but I will when we get back to Utrecht and I'll have some fun pictures, too.

Until then, have all kinds of fun, avoid swine (flu) like the, er, plague and enjoy the nice weather!

Tunisia: name your price!

2009-04-25T11:57:00.006-07:00

So after our brief history lesson it’s time to relay a funny story about taxis at the airport. If you didn’t already know there aren’t many set prices in Tunisia. If you like to barter this is the place to be. And we got our first lesson right away.

Both Myra and I landed during a huge rainstorm. Lightening, thunder, the whole scary bit. So it’s pouring rain outside and we scurry our way over to the taxi area. It was weird because there were all these people standing around but no taxis. It took us a little while but we eventually figured out what was going on. You had to talk** with one of the “Taxi Guys” and they would make a call. Then ONE taxi would show up and EVERYONE would want it. As you can imagine this inflated prices quite a bit. Once we finally figured out that we would just have to shove our way up to a taxi if we wanted to get into Tunis, the price was 20TD (Tunisian Dinar). Holy crap! It should be between 4 and 7. We haggled a bit but the guy wouldn’t go lower than 18TD. We said no and so continued standing under the small cover, getting wet from sideways rain but our pride intact. It took over 30min and a couple of taxis but we did finally get our price down to 15TD. Still outrageous but a small moral victory for a couple of wet tourists.

Overall I really enjoyed the bartering for everything. I did find my weakness, though.

That’s right! Delicious Happiness. If you threw in a Delicious Happiness you could seriously lower my desire to haggle the price down. Example: we’re in El Jem just outside this excellent pile of rocks

and I was looking for some DH. One of the local stands had an array of sodas on display so I started to meander over. They also had other wares with which to tempt the tourists. I wanted a scarf as my Tunisia keepsake but hadn’t liked anything I had seen so far. Well, this place had some nice patterns so I started looking at them. The proprietor, as usual, was more than happy to ply me with tempting Tunisian delights. While I’m looking at the scarf he’s giving Myra and I these cheesy bracelets and “from the desert” sand encrustations (???? no idea really but that’s the best descriptor I can give) all “free, free, no charge” and then repeatedly points out that the scarf is like getting two in one because one side has these nice sparkly things on and the other doesn’t. I’m grinning at the silliness of such an argument (and explaining that I do not want to buy a bag of spices along with my scarf) and start asking about price. I think he said 20TD to start. Uh, no. I had something like 8TD in mind. So we start going back and forth and then he gestures to my bottle of Delicious Happiness (1 liter!!!! I know, totally gluttonous but why would you even have liter bottles for sale to tempt me??? It’s a kiosk, for heaven’s sake, they should be the 66ml size…I digress) and says, “scarf and cola, 12TD.”

SOLD!!!!

(see pic above for celebratory smile and cheesy bracelet)

**A note about talking. Arabic is the official language of Tunisia and almost the entire population speaks French as a second language. Anyone selling anything had a pretty good handle on English (and usually a few other languages, as well). The meager amount of French known by Myra and I actually did us some good. Our limited vocabularies complemented each other well. Gesturing and pointing seems to be universally understood and we took full advantage of this. :)

Scientist Going West!

2009-04-22T13:04:00.002-07:00

We interrupt our normally scheduled broadcasting for this important announcement:

After lengthy family pow wows (the dogs can be soooo long-winded) we've decided it's time to head back across the ocean. Jeff has accepted a position at UC Davis so the whole family will be packing up and heading to Davis, CA this Fall. It'll be a staggered move with Jeff heading over sometime in August and then Rachel to follow mid-Septemberish.

We're both pretty excited for the new experience and opportunities but also a bit sad to leave Europe. We've had so much fun here and very much enjoyed navigating a different culture. And of course the ease of travel has been awesome!

Rachel and Jeff

Tunisia: there's no better place to make a home...apparently!

2009-04-21T09:27:00.002-07:00

If history is any judge then Tunisia is the place to be. The original peoples of Tunisia were the Berbers. Berber society might have been the original melting pot with waves of migration from the south, north of the Mediterranean and the Near East(roughly, modern day Middle East). Today the Berbers are almost completely assimilated with the Arab population but many Berber customs are still observed.

The Phoenicians were the first ‘visitors’ to this area around 1100BC. Carthage was founded by them in 814BC and eventually replaced Tyre (in modern day Lebanon) as the most-powerful Phoenician city. The Carthaginians started squabbling with the Romans around 260BC and their squabble is now officially called the Punic Wars. The Romans eventually won out and destroyed Carthage. Total waste for many reasons but most especially because they rebuilt it as a Roman city some years later. Wasteful, yes, but pretty cool today to visit Carthage and see the modern-day suburb of Carthage layered over Roman ruins on top of Punic ruins.

The Vandals eventually stopped by and then the Romans took over again under the Byzantine Empire which, if I recall correctly, was the off-shoot of the eastern half of the original Roman Empire. Now we’ve managed to get ourselves up to the 7th Century (AD) and the first Islamic conquests began. Eventually Tunisia came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and then the French found their way to Tunisia (several complicated reasons for this beginning with piracy and ending with some sort of trade with the British for Cyprus…just off to watch Eddie Izzard so as to keep all this colonial stuff straight…).

And I’m quite embarrassed to say that there was a large US/British effort in Tunisia during WWII that I was not aware of. Thousands of soldiers lost their lives to end the Nazi occupation of this country and prevent Nazi plans for the Jewish occupants of Tunisia.

What all of this means is that in one day you can visit a WWII memorial site, walk past large, modern homes, swing by the Mosque (maybe hear the call to prayer from the minaret), admire the distinctly Arabic architecture (with signs in Arabic and French), visit an impressive, gothic cathedral (though de-sanctified now), admire the Roman knack for choosing perfect locations for their bath houses, and finish it all up by examining the outlines of Punic meeting halls and alter sites.

As you can imagine I was in heaven! I love old piles of rocks and Tunisia has some great piles of rocks! Even better, many of those piles are still arranged in identifiable buildings or huge coliseums…but I’ll get to that later.

And speaking of later, I better save my fun arrival/taxi story for the next post.

Tunisia: A Country of Layers

2009-04-15T11:14:00.003-07:00

Like an onion. Or a parfait. Everybody likes parfaits.

And like Tunisia, onions, parfaits and ogres, my posts will come in layers of time...er, a bit of a stretch, huh?

Anyway, I have lots to say and so will split it over a few posts. I hope to post them and pictures in the coming days so look for updates. Until the posts start in earnest let me leave you with a result of Tunisia's latest layer: Tourist Destination. Enjoy!

(as you can tell from the comments, Myra and I certainly enjoyed the camel fun!)

Cookie Pie!

2009-04-07T08:45:00.004-07:00

I finally decided to try making cookies in our faux oven (many thanks to Lisa for key ingredients) and the results were...interesting.

I only made a half recipe since the oven is so small and I didn't want to bake eleventy thousand cookies, six at a time. And ok, I admit, I then ate half the batter since it had been sooooooo long since I'd even seen cookie batter...so that means I had enough batter leftover for about 6 very large cookies. I concocted a little aluminum foil pan and spaced the cookies out (I thought). And what I ended up with was cookie pie:

Unintentional? Certainly!

Tasty? You bet!

Ill from too much batter? Affirmative...but totally worth it!

I leave for Tunisia on Thursday. I'm meeting up with the ever-mobile and totally funshine Myra but I will not be traveling with my computer. So no live blogging but you can be sure that I'll take loads of photos since I'll be on my beloved Mediterranean.

Going Dutch

2009-04-03T10:51:00.007-07:00

It’s been a busy week and so I have only just got round to posting about our recent visitors. Lisa came in last Friday and Mike came in last Saturday. We had such a great time having them in town and we did a lot of touristy stuff that we have previously passed over.

On Friday Lisa and I went to Den Haag. We walked around the lovely Binnenhof area and then went to the M.C. Escher museum. After that we had to make a quick stop at the Mauritshuis to see the Girl (my favorite painting). The Escher museum was great and I highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in Den Haag.

Rachel and Lisa in the Escher museum:

On Saturday we were in Amsterdam. Obviously we had to swing through the Red Light District and peer in the Coffeeshop windows. We also found this great café to eat in but ended up passing on the Anne Frank House, very long line in the rain. Instead we climbed on the closest boat for a tour and that was really cool. And it was my first city tour EVER. I’ve never done a tour like that of any city. A fun surprise was a huge soccer match that day between the Dutch and the Scots. Tons of fans were in town getting ready for the game. Kilts were everywhere and the tailgating vibe was in the air.

The fans getting ready:

Sunday we hung around here in Utrecht. We climbed the 465 steps of the Dom Tower and had some great views of the city. And it was a clear day so we could see all the way to Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Lisa and Mike were so generous and took us out to dinner at a great restaurant in the city centre. It was so delicious.

And we went all the way to the top:

On Monday Lisa and Mike headed to the Keukenhof Gardens but Jeff had to work and I had to go to the Russian embassy to pick up our visas for May so I only saw the pictures. They raved about the fantastic flowers and I can’t wait to go later this month. Later that day I met up with them in Rotterdam and we walked around looking at the unique architecture. Rotterdam was bombed extensively in WWII so the architecture is new and completely different from any other city in the Netherlands. It’s also the world’s second largest port and seeing the ships was pretty amazing. And what was very interesting to me was that the pilgrims prayed here and then set off in their boat for the New World. However, the boat was leaky so they had to stop in England where they switched to the Mayflower.

Rachel in front of the church:

We had such a great time with Lisa and Mike! It was great to have them here; thanks so much for visiting, Y'all!

And I have tons more pictures! I hope to get them on the shutterfly site soon so look for a few new albums there in the coming days.

It had to happen eventually.

2009-03-28T15:02:00.003-07:00

Our adorably steep and quaintily tiny stairs finally got the best of me! I took the most ungraceful slide down them earlier this evening; I was even holding onto the banister! I still am not quite sure how it happened but after a very bumpy ride I was sprawled at the bottom. I am covered in some pretty nasty scrapes and bruises but luckily, no tail bone, head or rib injuries.

My down fall (pun intended):

My advice:

Always use the banister

My better advice:

Always use two hands on the banister

Birthday: 3D

2009-03-25T12:35:00.004-07:00

And now, the long awaited final chapter of our trip to Bruges. You'll recall from last time that our first day included a brewery and a hearty Belgian stew. It's time to do something that Rachel can really appreciate: BELGIAN CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!

No kidding, this was a very thorough museum. In Belgium, they take their chocolate very seriously. It traced the entire history of chocolate, from its importance in early Aztec culture, to the Spanish invasion that eventually saw it migrate to Europe, to the widespread consumption of chocolate (in solid and drink form) by the upper classes. They had displays, artifacts, serving dishes, and a variety of other objects associated with chocolate.

There was also a lot of information about the production of chocolate in its many forms. The tour culminated in a demonstration of chocolate being made. Well actually, the tour REALLY culminated in the gift shop, where you could buy chocolate to take home! Rachel and I passed so that we could visit some of the other chocolate shops in the city, though it was pretty tempting!

We did end up buying a large box of assorted chocolates eventually, as well as a gift box for the friends who were watching our dogs for the weekend. We also tried another local specialty...Belgian waffles! They have lots of stands where you can buy waffles with various toppings. Rachel had a waffle with strawberries, while I had one with a scoop of banana ice cream (delicious!).

All in all, it was a great trip. My great thanks to Rachel for organizing it! Now I just have to figure out how to repay her for her birthday...stay tuned!

Jeff

ETA:

Jeff forgot to mention his disappointment after realizing that this -

- was, in fact, not his surprise. ;-)

boeken festijn

2009-03-21T15:23:00.002-07:00

A traveling book festival visits a different town in the Netherlands or Belgium each month. It's filled with bookstore returns. Publishers guarantee their books so bookstores can send back anything that doesn't sell at the publishers cost. (Often the covers are ripped off to show that the book is to be returned, that's why there's that message about buying books without covers. Ripping off covers?!?!?! Horrors!)

The traveling book festival sells bookstore returns at greatly reduced prices (don't worry, they still have covers) and I got over 10 books today for less than 24euro. It was awesome! If this type of thing goes on in the States please send me a link or something because it's a great idea (remember, it's saving books from cover-rippage) and I would always go!