Beer Night with The Great Cheryl and Ethan Allen

From the title, you may be thinking "KEGGER!"   But really?   This is no Frat house, or Genther Pig roast.   Beer here is consumed based on taste and how well it goes with various foods, fruits and
cheeses.
Perhaps it happened sometime when I was in college.   One winter, my room mate at the time  and I would go purchase a 6 pack of some unusual beer and judge it based on its flavor and smoothness and NOT on how fast we could feel the effects.
 I guess this is the "maturity" adults want to instill in their kids as they grow up.   I'm not sure how it happened, but I have never been one to "abuse" alcohol in the typical college animal house fashion.
No matter about that,   This is about the cool pedigree of beer we have been finding at our local grocery.  This particular one registered a 99 in the scoring rank with a host of various flavors that the judges attached to it.   It is fun trying to find the "nutty" or "sour tangerine" flavors mingled with Peaches, caramel, and vanilla chocolate.   These are the flavors in the BEER!   Finding them and seeing how they can be called out with various fruits and cheeses are very exciting.   I guess because it adds a certain level of sophistication and romance to your evening.

 Who would NOT want to stay at home sampling unique IPA Beer with slivers of fruits, cheese and chocolates? 
We usually only have one beer each, But....if the beer is pretty good,  we may share an additional one. 
The beer we had this particular night was called Three Philosophers.   Cheryl, having a philosophy degree, just HAD to have that one.   It was one of the highest ranked beers on the shelves and also one of the most expensive!   But we are just sampling after all.   No need to purchase a 30 pack of Budweiser!
It was pretty good.  Not really the kind of beer you have with a meal.    You really need to just drink the beer alone or with various hors d'oeuvres.   There are way too many flavors going on to appreciate them while eating a full dinner. 

Other than that, I have been trying to fold a little bit every day and Cheryl has become obsessed with making the apartment livable once again.  Basically we are doing the spring cleaning early this year.  We have thrown out many of the old furnishings that we have been wanting to replace for some time now.   Our kitchen has always been a problem.   And now the bedroom has a better "Chi" flow so I don't trip over the foot of the bed anymore.  There are still a few things that need to be replaced and dealt with.  Namely:  the Cheap ( quality-wise) Behemoth of a dresser that is too big to fit in our bedroom but too small to accommodate all of our clothes!   Ikea has solutions to most of these problems, and Cheryl has been running around with tape measure in hand trying to solve them.  We shall see what Friday has to offer. 

Origami Horses and Dragons

Just a quick post on some of the latest origami.  Cheryl has been working on some business cards for me using my latest items.  So far, they look awesome!   I can’ twait to see them in person when they arrive.    In the mean time, enjoy the pics of the dragon and horses. 

 

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Pre-colored Easter Eggs, Origami Pond Life, And Felt Doggie Keychain

  So on a random Saturday, Cheryl and I decided to go to the Sycamore Mall here in Iowa City.  Lucky for us, we discovered that they had a small local farmers market going on and we just caught the tail end of it.   Among many things, they had the Organic Easter Eggs from the Easter Egg Chickens.    Sounds odd, right?  Well  here are the pictures!   I have read about these chickens that lay colored eggs and have actually seen the eggs from a co-worker.  But this is the first time I have had the opportunity to actually show Cheryl these eggs in person.   She was so thriller that she forced us to buy them!  So here they are!   The guy said they stopped laying green ones and now mostly lay the pinkish and blue ones.  I guess turquoise is close to green…..it really depends on your color palette definitions. 

Other than that,  I have been folding.   I still need to fold a red set of Koi so Cheryl can take a picture and make my  business card.   I also have to take “good” pictures of these so I can list them online.   So much to do!  

Time really refuses to stand still when you have free time to actually do things.   it seems when we have free time,  there are a million things competing for it.  And rarely are they things we actually want to do.   Anyway…..

In addition to the Koi and frogs,  I have been working on a horse and dragon.   They usually sell pretty steady and I have not listed any in the shop in a while.   ACT people put in their requests and I found that I actually missed folding these old familiar friends.  So why not list  few in the shop for old time’s sake?

Also, Cheryl has been working on Prototypes and trying to fill the order for the Northern Iowa Shop we found on our travels during the deadly blizzard a week ago. one of her requests was a Chihuahua.  She asked me to take a picture of it so she would have it as a record in the event she ever is asked to make another one.  

So…that is about it!  Well, that and the neighbors are driving us crazy !   They are both ( I think there are two of them)   bachelors and tend to stay up too late, play music to loud, and drink too much.   They seem reasonable…or at least capable of reason.  but I hate going up there to ask them to turn their music down…like…   EVERYDAY!     So,   we are contemplating our next move in that department.   The weekend is over so hopefully things will settle down to a low ROAR instead of a WARZONE.   And seriously!  Who has that many “friends”?   People come and go and it is like game day on Super bowl Sunday.  They play video games as if they are watching Monday night football with their entire paycheck riding on the results.  And indoor voice?  Forget it !   I’ve had Drill Sergeants in the Army yell at me in a softer voice.   Why the loud tone.  Ok this is becoming a rant on the neighbor.   I guess I’m still a little bitter over not getting any sleep Friday night.   ( or Saturday)   Perhaps this is a job for the Landlords… We shall see how it goes. 

The ACT End Equals a New Beginning

The Project is over…..whew!  That was quick!    We actually like short projects because they allow you to get your human fix and then go back to being a lazy BUM!  ( just kidding!)   We actually have quite a few projects on the burner as of late and are eager to get at them.  I need to start folding again to get stuff in my shop.  Cheryl has been working on her key rings and we need to find a place to sell those as well.   Much to do, and, rumor has it 3 MONTHS to do it!  Meaning…the next guestimate on a project is around June.   So…We had better get busy and have something to show for it at the end of that time.   Or get a crappy temp job to help us make it through the dry spell…we shall see…. 

Adventures in Baking! With The Great Ethan and Cheryl Allen.

Hmm, Baking?   I guess.   I’m not really sure if this would fall under "”Baking” or “Cooking”.    I Guess I’ll let you be the judge.  Today,  Cheryl made me help her make Doughnuts ( Or Donuts)  Ever since Minneapolis,  Cheryl has been obsessed with the Bacon Doughnuts from Glamor Doll.  Now I will admit they were good,  but Cheryl has in her mind that they were “out of this world” and just HAS to replicate them on some level. So…Enter the Doughnut Book,  Rachael Ray, and any other source she can find; along with a spare afternoon to try them out.   

Now, it is difficult to gauge how things will taste from the picture or the ingredience of the recipe.  However, “Bacon Doughnuts” were on the list in several of these sources.  So….Off we go. 

As usual,  I’m the mixer.   Why purchase an expensive Kitchen Aid appliance when you have the Great Ethan Allen as your husband?   Besides, if we actually DID buy a Kitchen Aid mixer, it would be for me because I LOVE mechanical things…..and the Kitchen is kind of my place.   Cheryl points this out ever time she wants to cook/bake something and needs my help.   She points out how I always seem to claim ownership of the kitchen whenever there is cooking involved but never when dishes need to be done.  ( It’s simple:  I’m a cook not a bus boy!   I graduated years ago and simply on principle can not allow myself to slip back!)  But I digress…..This is about the doughnuts!

  After mixing up the dough,  It is time to fry them up!  ( See,  baking?   Deep frying should be cooking, right?) After a few mistakes, we figured out how best to do them so they, at the very least, look like doughnuts.  The frying did not take very long; only about 2-3 minutes each batch.  We then had to turn to the next phase of the operation: the bacon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not just any bacon, THICK CUT bacon!  That is first coated with maple brown sugar glaze!  Can you almost feel the Heart and Pancreas seize up upon hearing “sugar coated bacon”.  After mixing up this concoction, I have to coat the bacon and then bake it in the oven for 25 minutes.   It reminded me of those sugar coated almonds you buy at the fair or in the Mall…..only this is BACON!

    And, as if this is not enough to send any nutritionist to therapy, we add the maple glaze to the top of the doughnut.   So…let us recap:   Deep fry the doughnut,  frost the top with maple/sugar glaze, and top off with maple/sugar coated bacon!   Can you feel the LOVE!   My goodness, the convenience store down the road does this everyday ( without the bacon, of coarse!) and I never think about how deadly they are to my system….but they sure taste good.

    You may be thinking,”Why Make so many of such a deadly item?”  Well,  here is where the beauty of being employed comes in.  We plan on sharing these weapons of MASS INDUCTION with our co-workers.   Hopefully there are enough takers so we will not have to eat them all ourselves.  So in the end, it is a win win win!   Our co-workers win because they can have a free doughnut for breakfast.  We win because they will think we are cool for bringing free food and because we will not have to eat them all ourselves.   And  I win, because this allows Cheryl to get that “cooking bug” out of her system and I don’t have to weigh 300 lbs after eating ALL of them myself.   You may be wondering why that would happen.  Well, it is a throw back to growing up as a kid and being forced to eat everything on my plate.   I simply hate to waste food.  It’s stupid!  But the idea of throwing away several dozen doughnuts just because there is no one else to eat them bothers me.   It shouldn’t! but that indoctrination my mother put into me growing up has seriously messed me up.  

Other than the doughnut backing/frying/cooking….we had a rather productive weekend in the folding and key fob creation.   And it snowed….AGAIN!   about 4 inches total this weekend.    It is COLD…..and I will be happy when the temperatures finally get above freezing later this week. 

So, that is all the adventures with Ethan And Cheryl for now.   I’ll have to post more pics of the origami later when I actually have time to take the pictures and am not pressed into forced labor as a cooking supervisor/incredience mixer. Hope everyone has a great upcoming week.  Enjoy!

More Origami Frogs and ACT.

We are back at work again after a one week rest.   It’s a simple gig that we have already scored before and it is not going to last very long, but hey,  You have to take things as they come.  Anyway,  I have been struggling to fold something, ANYTHING! for the better part of a month now.   Many of my things have been expiring off my Etsy shop now and the shelves are filled with old origami.   But Lucky for me!    I have found that I can make room and find homes for my old stuff at ACT.   I guess I just don’t have the heart to throw anything away, myself.  Anyway, I have been working on some simple things.  Best to start small and familiar, right?    So  Some Origami Frogs on Leaves…..We shall see how they turn out.  Now that I have more space on my shelves, I may get the folding bug back  in me to re-fill it.   We shall see….

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Dangerous Vacations! The Mis-Adventures of Cheryl and Ethan

How do you salvage a  planned mini-vacation when the weather decides to sucker-punch you?  This is the question Cheryl and I asked ourselves Thursday night just before the worst blizzard of the year hits Minneapolis Minnesota.  Plan “A”   The Cowardly choice……Cancel.   This is tough, because the hotel room was already booked at a good price and we were locked in.   Plus, we had been planning this Ikea Trip for a while after the Chicago one.   We even canceled another trip in favor of this one.  So…..Plan “B”   Wait until the storm blows over and they cancel the warnings.   Essentially we leave several hours later than planned and let the snow plows do their job while we get an extra hour of sleep.   This sounds doable….

It was all great…Until we hit the Minnesota Border!   Suddenly,  what were clear dry roads became ice, slush bombs.   Traffic slowed to a crawl…but the sun was out.   The plows were out as well, but their impact was too little too late in  most cases.   Most of the damage was done and the road crews were scrambling to catch up.   

I have never actually seen a jack-knifed truck with my own eyes.   I have seen pictures and videos…but never actual trucks on the very roads I was travelling on.  Friday changed all of that!   Not only was it the first time.  It was also the second, third and fourth!  I have never seen so many trucks in the ditch before.   Even in Michigan, where the snow is blinding,   there are many cars and SUV’s that slip off, but it is rare that you see a big truck.   I always thought they were invulnerable to white-outs and slushy roads.   I never knew what kind of roads were even possible to cause big trucks to lose control like this. 

While parked on the highway ( one of several times) I opened the door and tried to step on the road to see what the traction was like.    It was one of those slimy covered ice moments.   The SUPER slippery type.   I could hardly believe we were driving 20 miles per hour on that stuff most of the day.   At several points during the trip, we were forced to detour around either an accident or extreme road conditions.   On the southbound side, they closed the road completely for several miles!   The Snow Drifts were about 8 feet tall ( judging by the top of the front end loader that was employed to remove it.  )   The drifts had completely blocked off the highway!   According to the weather channel, there were only 25 MPH winds blowing the powdered snow around.   But it was enough with the ice and the drifts to cause major problems.

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What started out as a 6 hour trip ended up taking 10 hours!   By the time we realized that the situation was grave, it was too late….we were closer to our destination than home and the southbound highway was closed off.  We were forced to press on.  Our Friday plans were shot but we still had the hotel and a bit of Saturday morning we could still possibly salvage.

So…what do you do to salvage a terrifying road trip?   Well,  eat donuts !  But they can’t be just any donuts…they have to be …Glamorous!   Behold!  The Glam Doll Donut shop.    

Very interesting place!   If you like pin-ups,   Gothic modern art, Pink, real roses, AND donuts…this place is for you! I have always been fond of the “pin-up” art form.   A harken back to the nose art on WWII bombers.   Some of them were a bit “racy”  but still tasteful enough for the artful eye…

 

Even the donuts hint towards that era.   Donuts like “Bombshell” and “Fem Fatale” add the color to an already rich atmosphere.

 

 

The donuts are all hand made from scratch…and you can tell.   They are Rich!   Heavy full flavored……and Eccentric!    Cheryl just had to try the Bacon Chocolate donut.  It was quite good!   The bacon and maple icing was also wonderful…reminded me of eating pancakes with maple syrup with a side of bacon.   I had the Raspberry filled and lemon Cheesecake.   I would have liked to try them all, but there was the time, weather, and they were quite satisfying….( i.e. filling) Check out the interior shots of the place! 

 

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After that,  we headed to Ikea…the original destination for this mini adventure.   It was odd, because we suddenly had this time limit on things and uncertainty on how well the roads were fairing.  We did not get any furniture this time, but Cheryl had here eye on some knickknacks and I wanted a new lap desk ( which I’m typing on right now, as a matter of fact!)    I also did not want to drive home in those conditions with any large items crammed either inside the car or tied to the roof. 

In the end, we managed to find a few light moments were we could take a break and catch a little bit of the local color.    Airplanes, Vikings, and Dinos are sometimes easily overlooked when you blow through the state at 65 MPH on the interstate.  Unless you have to fuel up or take a bathroom break. 

We managed to arrive home  alive…and in the initially predicted 6 hours of drive time. I never thought I would be so happy to be back in Iowa…..Upon crossing the Iowa border, the roads LITERALLY became clear, dry and AWESOME!   We could see an ARMY of snow plows scrapping and salting every last bit of the ice off the roads.  I’m sure Minnesota’s crews were spread out all over the state, whereas Iowa only had to worry about the top northern most part.  Either way, we were able to catch up some time on the clear roads and  settle my turbulent adrenaline system.

  While driving there,  I rode the roller coaster of emotions… from fear, to anger, to sheer exhaustion and disappointment.  I was so thoroughly  zapped that I actually felt a “zen” wash over me as we dined at the restaurant next to the hotel.   We were able to play in the pool and watch a little cable TV before retiring for the evening to our room.  By this morning, the roads were noticeably more improved, but still sloppy.   I’m still wondering if it was all worth it….I guess new experiences are like that.  You never know if you are in for a good time, bad time, or both.   I’m sure a vacation where everything goes smoothly is a rare beast, but it is only possible if you actually risk leaving your comfortable living room and actually set foot outside to find out.   I actually thought of all of those times I would go fishing with my Dad.    We would often get skunked, wet, sunburned, lost, or break or lose something valuable in our endeavors to find fish.   But every now and then, we would actually find a moment and catch a major haul of fish…..and then brag and reminisce about that “one time” were the Perch were ravenous, the Bluegills were on the beds, or the Brown Trout were crammed into the warm waters of Frankfort.   You never find those moments if you never get out on the lake.