Green Beans!

Well, it was about time we had some good news come out of our garden. After losing all of our summer squash and zucchini plants, we were starting to feel a little discouraged. But then we finally started to see some produce on this guy!

Let me tell you, we sure weren't expecting much from our green bean plants based on the progress (or lack thereof) that they've been making the past few weeks. But it seems that these beans must have shot out in a few short days because the plants went from bare to bountiful in no time at all! We actually had enough to make a fairly hearty side for our meal last night, and they were sure tasty. Not quite the pronounced difference between the garden and store-bought like we saw with the zucchini, but still good. 

And in other exciting news, we also had a pepper! Which, again, was a total surprise because the plants really haven't changed in weeks. We almost didn't see it either, because it was growing underneath some of the leaves and blended in perfectly. Unfortunately, it rotted before it ripened (and before I could get a picture of it), but it's a promising sign!

Eleven Minutes

Here's a tip I learned from someone after reading this book. When you are picking up a book by a well-known author and the author's name is bigger than the title of the book, chances are they are trying to sell the book strictly by the popularity of the author, not by the content of the book. Years and years ago I read The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, and while I don't remember it all that well anymore, I remember just loving it at the time (and I really should re-read it since I own the book). Well, I should have known from the start that this book was going to be a little different. Coelho starts off in his foreword by saying that in his previous books he's tried to address important aspects of life--family, faith, knowledge, etc--but he feels like it's time to go darker and deeper. Such is the nature of this book. The book pretty well centers around sex and prostitution, addressing aspects of both ranging from societal acceptance to moral responsibility. And let me tell you--it's a little intense at times.

Now, before I come off as totally negative, don't automatically assume you should turn away any opportunity to read this book. But maybe expect to read it twice. Because the first time through, I was still getting a little over the shock of the content to really appreciate and think about the questions and challenges Coelho was addressing, and I really do feel like he showed a lot of courage by discussing these topics in such detail. And, maybe sometime a few years from now, I'll be able to pick up this book again and really understand what I'm getting into, and thus be able to get more out of it.

I do also feel compelled to say that I had a major issue with the ending, which is also possibly why I finished the book unable to really reflect on some the bigger, more challenging issues. I won't say exactly what it was about the ending that bothered me, because doing so would completely give it away, which is something I strive not to do in my book reviews.

All in all, it's not an awful book. Had it not been written by someone with the clout of Paul Coelho, it probably wouldn't have sold many copies, let alone make it to publication. I'm inclined to believe that it is only because of the name Coelho that this book has received any sort of an audience, because it's content is not widely popular (or, in many places, socially acceptable). Part of me is inclined to say that this would make a good book-club book because it really begs to be discussed--but then part of me knows that this would be widely unsuccessful in a lot of book clubs because I don't see too many clubs being super comfortable discussing the ideas about sex and prostitution that are presented in this book. I further don't see many book club members being comfortable discussing how these ideas and prejudices about sex and prostitution are present in their lives and relationships, which I believe is what Coelho ultimately wants his readers to reflect on.

Arrogant Bastard Ale

One of the coolest places we visited (multiple times) in Chicago was this massive wine and beer warehouse. They had a ton of imports, in addition to brews from all sorts of small, regional breweries--and that's just the beer selection! This particular beer is actually available at specialty liquor stores in Sioux Falls (so I've been told), but I just had to get it once I read the bottle (which I really wish I had with me so I could quote it exactly). Basically, the entirety of the label on the back is a rant about how you are not good enough to drink this beer and this is the best beer in the world and if you don't like it then just just means that you are not worthy, not that the beer isn't good. Well, apparently I am not worthy. But I certainly won't go around tarnishing the name of this beer--because while it wasn't for me, it certainly wasn't bad. I was kind of expecting something like a Newcastle meets Killian's based on it's coloring and description, and it was really more like Newcastle meets Killian's meets massive amounts of hops. Which Darrell, who has recently become a big IPA fan, was all over. But I suppose I should have expected the hops--or at least something--in there; after all, it is called Arrogant Bastard, and deservedly so!

GOOOAAAALLL!!!

After three years of playing adult co-ed soccer in the summer, it's finally happened--I scored a goal! I was too stunned by the fact that the ball went into the net to do any real celebration, although Darrell was rocking some fist-pumps for me from the sideline. And I'd like to pretend like it was an important, meaningful goal, but we were pretty well dominating the game, so it was fairly anti-climatic. Not to mention it was like the third or fourth shot I'd taken that game, including a breakaway, so I was pretty relieved that I'd redeemed myself from totally botching the other attempts. There's a reason I primarily play defense--I've been trained for so long to keep the ball out of the net that when I get in the open field taking a ball toward the net I tend to panic. But, the stars must have been aligned on this one because it sailed right over the outstretched hands of the keeper and into the top corner of the net. Definitely an exciting--although somewhat surreal--moment. Here's to hoping I can manage to score another sometime soon!

Chicago Weekend

So, as I alluded to yesterday, I did actually take a brief vacation which attributed to a small portion of my absence. Three of my good friends from middle school/high school and myself have been talking for years about taking a road trip, and we finally found the time to go on one! We took off early on a Friday morning to head out there and came back early Monday morning, so we only had a few short days in the city itself, but it was a total blast.

Friday night we went out for pizza at Giordano's, which has amazing Chicago-style deep-dish pizzas. We split one pizza between the five of us (my friend Kelly met up with us for dinner and drinks), and still had leftovers. If you ever go there, don't expect to eat more than one slice. And if you do--expect to be uncomfortably full for the next several hours.

Kelly and I hanging out after dinner

Saturday we slept in, then walked a couple miles to this fantastic breakfast/brunch place called The Bongo Room. Unfortunately, everyone else in the Chicago area apparently also knows how delicious the food is, because we had a 45-minute wait. It was totally worth it though--my red velvet pancakes were to die for, although brunch really shouldn't be allowed to be that sweet. We walked around for a little while, but decided to head back to our hotel when we noticed a storm rolling in. Well, apparently we didn't decide to head back soon enough, because even though we took public transit for nearly three-quarters of the distance, we still got pretty soaked. But it was nothing that a nap couldn't fix.

Saturday night we went out for dinner at Fornello Trattoria, which we didn't really know much about other than the fact that we had a Groupon to use there. It ended up not disappointing--the food was delicious, the wine was wonderful, and the tiramisu was to die for. Definitely a worthwhile Italian restaurant to check out in the Chicago area.

Jenna and Kristen at dinner

Megan and I at dinner

Megan was our resident-expert on the Chicago area over the weekend because she used to attend school out there, and she insisted that one place we had to visit was Kingston Mines. It's a jazz and blues bar located a few miles north of downtown, but it was totally worth the extra taxi fare to get there because it was a great time. The music and people and atmosphere and everything were just a blast. We watched an older woman go crazy on the dance floor, reliving the days of her youth, at the same time we watched a woman probably a third her age try to land a hook-up (because I can't imagine she was looking for anything else with a dress that barely covered her butt-cheeks). There were people who literally danced themselves out of their seats, and guys who never lost hope after getting shot down by woman after woman. And, because we couldn't spend the whole evening just people-watching from our table near the stage, we got up and did a little dancing of our own. It was such a great night--and the latest I've been up in a long time.

Sunday we slept in and recovered a little. Since the weather was beautiful, we decided to take the bus into downtown and do a little shopping and walking along the lake. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon escapade.

Millenium Park

Sailboats in the harbor

For dinner Sunday night we ventured into Greek town. We'd been recommended to the Parthenon by multiple, unrelated groups of people, so we figured it was worth a shot. And man, are we ever glad people recommended us there. I've never really had Greek food so I don't have much to compare it to, but Kristen and Megan had both visited Greece in college, and they said the food was authentically delicious. As an added plus, they have a family-style meal available, so we got to try three different appetizers, soup, salad, four entrees, and two desserts for under $25 a person. Everything was sooo good, but we were so stuffed by the time we finished (and that was even after spreading the meal out over three hours).

Even though our sleep and wallets and waistlines took a little bit of a hit over the weekend, it's safe to say that we'll be planning another road trip again as soon as we can. And maybe this next time we'll wisen up and not plan our entire trip around food--but then again, what would be the fun in that?

I'm baaack!

Well, I've actually be back for almost two weeks. But things have been certifiably crazy around these parts, and I just haven't had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts, let alone put together a coherent blogpost. And, to be fair, today won't really be anything all that spectacular because I received a frantic email from my mom earlier asking me to do some baking before dinner at 6:30, so I'm off to do that. But, things have finally returned to as close to normal as they'll ever be, so I'll be able to get back to putting recipes and garden news and book reviews and all sorts of other fun stuff up here with more regularity!

From Bad to Worse

Well, apparently the death and destruction being wrought by pests in our garden wasn't done yet. Remember this picture from last week?

Well, here's the picture from today.



Totally bare in the middle of the plot, except for a few vines from our winter squash plant. We've officially lost all four summer squash/zucchini plants. Saddest day ever. 

And, as helpful as the Internet can be, we still aren't entirely sure of the problem. This is what the stems looked like prior to pulling them.

Here's a close up shot of the stem after we broke it off (which, believe me, wasn't a difficult task at all as broken down as these stems were).

So, I did some research, and the best explanation I could find for this was that it was frass, which is a common indicator of an infestation of squash vine borers. And sure enough, as I looked at the pictures, I remember thinking that I saw black and red bugs like that in the garden but just didn't know what they were. Squash vine borers lay their eggs at the base of the plant and the larvae burrow into the stem and grow there, which is basically what kills the plant (and what causes the frass). So, I grabbed my gloves and a box cutter and decided to dig a little deeper into the plant, hoping to find a larvae to confirm the presence of squash vine borers. And all I found was this.

Little black beetle-looking things. Which we also found in one of the other plants. But we never found any larvae, and bugs like this are not consistent with squash vine borers. So, back to the Internet I went. The only other common squash pest are squash bugs--which, coincidentally--look strikingly like stink bugs. And we definitely had one or the other in our garden this spring, because I happened to see one while Darrell was out there with me and he identified it as a stink bug. However, squash bugs lay their eggs on the leaves (which we never saw, but then again, we weren't looking there), and the have longer legs and antennas than the bugs we found in the stem (plus they never really have a black coloring). So who knows. We'll definitely try a few things differently next year, so here's to hoping that something actually works and we can enjoy a full summers worth of squash and zucchini. Fingers crossed!