Something I read today: Freeganism

I thought this statement about Freeganism written by No Impact Man was thought provoking.
If nothing else, it gets you thinking about how MUCH food we waste each day here in the U.S.

Be sure to watch the CNN clip he posts to his site.

Getting Ready for Grill Fest

It's Labor Day Weekend, which means Peef and Lo are prepping for the 3rd annual Grill Fest.

What's Grill Fest?
Well, it's a concept that evolved from our desire to bid farewell to summer by feasting on all that's best about the season.

There are no real hard-and-fast rules for the Fest -- except that Lo must make her famous "Tormented Eggplant" and Steph must bring her delectable goat cheese stuffed tomatoes. The veg must be as fresh as possible (and preferably local). And, oh, yes -- the bulk of the items must be "grillable"

This is a much anticipated event around our house -- and this year, we can't wait! Saturday morning will begin with an early trip to the farmer's market, where we'll scout out the most perfect eggplants and freshest ears of corn. The day will culminate in much cooking and prepping (this year the prep work will include putting together another famous treat -- coconut lime sours, an addictive dessert must grace our picnic table AT LEAST once every summer). There will also be a bit of cleaning. And possibly a bit of pre-Grill Fest reveling.

But, the real fun will begin on Sunday, when there will be much rejoicing, and grilling, and feasting. And, by the eve, we will all collapse in a state of Very Satisfied Bliss. Or at least that's the goal.

So, what are y'all up to this weekend?

For Lo's Geek Squad: The Impotence of Proofreading

While I don't spend my LIFE searching for things on You Tube like some people, I do find my share of amusements here and there.

A bit of English major humor for you all:

The Impotence of Proofreading

And, it's by Taylor Mali -- who is pretty much worth considering in and of himself. A real teacher among teachers.

New Wheels

So, the big news is that Peef and Lo have a new car!

After some ado about our crunched up Rodeo, we brought home a sweet baby Chevy last night.

Yes -- we ended up going with a 2006 Equinox in "galaxy silver." While this wasn't our first pick for exterior colors, we did manage to score a pretty good deal in other respects.

The vehicle to the left is a good relative facsimile -- although we did NOT opt for the sun roof (Lest you scoff, Lo suffers from a bit of a light sensitivity, so she is not sun-roof friendly).
The fact of the matter is, our new little car is a nice little purchase. It has lots of passenger space (impressive leg room, even in the back seats), enough cargo space that we can haul around things like DIRT and Christmas trees, and a bit of fuel economy (though we wouldn't delude you into thinking that was a main selling point).

Peef is excited that the car is XM-ready. And Lo is happy to say that she finally was able to afford a car with leather interior (and a handy storage space between the front seats for her purse!).

Although we pride ourselves on the fact that we can get by with only one car, I have to admit that being without a vehicle during the past week and a half has been... interesting. So, needless to say, the both of us are happy to be mobile once again!

A Too Lovely Weekend

On a very HAPPY note, we had the most WONDERFUL weekend with our friends.

The Crowded House concert on Friday night was just lovely (even the bands opener, 16 Frames, was pretty phenomenal). Even better, it was preceded by a fantastic dinner at one of our favorite little spots, the Roots Cellar.

Saturday turned out to be pretty rainy, so that nixed any concepts we had for outdoor activities. But we did manage to make a pilgrimage to Kopps Custard for lunch -- where we gorged ourselves on burgers, fries, and chocolate truffel custard (or, in some cases, turtle sundae). The Lakefront Brewery Tour was SOLD OUT (which bummed us out a bit); but we made our way over to the Domes where we scoped out the tropical forest and the arid desert-scapes. It was kind of a geriatric-feeling thing to do; but we all had a really great time.

In the evening, we retired back to our house, where we had a nice dinner of eggplant lasagnette, salad, garlic bread, and blueberry buckle for dessert. There was much visiting and drinking of wine. And everyone made their way to bed quite late (but hopefully very satiated).

We finished off the weekend with a lovely brunch at Trocadero, where we were charmed by the "breakfast burger" and "Mrs. Crock" among other delights -- and then, in the early afternoon, we said our (very reluctant) goodbyes.

And so we conclude: there is NOTHING like a great weekend with good friends.

Scraped Up and Caved In

So, we got into a bit of a fight with a cement guard rail on Sunday night. It was raining, and the road was slick...

We are (thankfully) just fine. A bit shaken up. But really alright.

Our car, on the other hand, is going to need some attention. Things under the hood have shifted around quite a bit. And it looks like the damages are more extensive than they first appear.

So -- it looks like our bathroom remodel might be getting postponed for a bit. In light of other, more pressing, expenses...

Peef and Lo Are Expecting Visitors

Now -- I realize we've been a bit out of touch for the past week. But that's been for good reason.

For one -- we finally got our cabinet hardware, and were able to put our cabinet doors back up! Doesn't that look nice?

The rain has come to Milwaukee, so our grass is growing again. Which means we've been spending time outside MOWING (that's a foreign concept, as we haven't done it in WEEKS). We've also been spending some of our spare time cooking up great things in the kitchen (fish tacos, anyone?).

But, the biggest reason has to do with preparations around the house.
The excitement mounts as we gear up for a weekend with some of our favorite people. Rebecca and Jeremy are coming to visit us. All the way from the Promised Land (Fargo, ND for those of you who aren't familiar)! While they won't be brining their sweet kids along, they will be bringing another friend. Jackie will be visiting us from California. And we can't wait.

Right now, the weekend plans are still somewhat up in the air.
However, we do know that they'll arrive at our place sometime in the afternoon on Friday. After getting something to eat at one of the local eateries, we'll be rocking out at the Crowded House concert.

Saturday's events could include a trip to the farmer's market, a rendezvous to KOPP'S frozen custard, or time spent at Irish Fest... or maybe a local art fair (Oconomowoc's art fair happens to be ranked THIRD in the nation for juried art festivals). Depends what we're feeling like.

Whatever we decide, we always seem to have a great time.

Any Idea What He Is?

Any idea what he is?
We brought him home in a bag of arugula the other day.
(click for a closer view).

A Surprise in Our Salad

You probably remember Cracker Jack from the days of yore. That prize in the box was a thing of beauty -- and always brought a smile to your face.

Well, the other night, we got a prize of our own. No, not from a box of Cracker Jack. From a bag of salad greens.

The little guy was no bigger than the eraser end of a pencil. And he fit right in among those arugula leaves. Except that his thorny little back-side pricked me RIGHT in the hand when I reached down into the bag to pull out a pile of greenery to adorn my lovely sandwich.

Yes, I jumped.
And yes, I have suffered some trauma. I now have a tinge of trepidation upon approaching random bags of salad greens.

Needless to say, we had to take a picture before we released the little guy out into the yard.

Any idea what he is? (blogger did NOT like posting a photo to this posting for some reason -- so check him out above).

Great Gobs of Garden!

Dear Loyal Reader (yes, there may only be one of you out there):
It gives us great joy to announce that summer has arrived. Yes, even here, smack-dab in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The sun has shone. The rain has fallen. And Peef and Lo's garden has exploded with bounty. Ours is a SMALL garden, mind you --just two very simple 4'x8' raised beds on a city lot.

And yet, these little spaces are producing like mad. Just take a look at what we picked from our little garden today:





Dear reader, I want you to know that Peef (who happens to be sitting right here, censoring my typing) has declared that I DARE NOT type the following phrase: Tomatoes and peppers and eggplants, oh my! So, I've made it very tiny. He can't see it from where he's sitting.

The fact is, we have boatloads of produce. And this is a very good thing.

We are most titillated by our HUGE crop of lovely heirloom tomatoes. We have all we can do not to just grab them and bite into them right out in the yard, letting the juice dribble down our chins in streams of sticky-sweetness. In fact, these very tomatoes inspired us to create our absolute favorite summer treat -- Bleu cheese BLT's, which we are pleased to report, were composed of completely local ingredients (yay for locovorishness!).

If the thought of that doesn't make you drool, you might be interested to know that the inability to drool can be related to a condition called "cotton mouth" (often a symptom of larger, more serious disorders). According to WebMd (a site we go to often to appease our hypochondriasis) Xerostomia (dry mouth) results from an inadequate flow of saliva. You might also want to know that constant oral dryness and the lack of protection provided by saliva can contribute to bad breath.

You might want to get a drink of water.

Behold! Athenian Green!

Having spent our entire weekend "prettifying" our hallway (and subsequently learning to upload photos) , we thought we'd share some photographs of the effort.
First, we're pleased to reveal the stunning WHITENESS of our hallway. This is BEFORE we started painting.

Everything in the hallway was white (and we mean EVERYTHING)... including the hardware on all of our cupboards, which we removed.

We armed ourselves with cans of Athenian Green paint (OK, one can. it's a small hallway).

About twenty four hours later, the hallway was beginning to transform.

Another twenty-four hours later, even the TRIM was painted (thank the Good Lord!).

We're still waiting for our new hardware to arrive (according to UPS, it should be delivered on Friday). So, the cupboard doors will have to wait. But we're quite enjoying the benefits of that little spot of color.

Busy Is As Busy Does

So, Peef and Lo have been busy. And apparently Being Busy makes us Bad Bloggers.

What, exactly, HAVE we been up to?

Well...

1. HOUSE PROJECTS: We spent our weekend painting our hallway (Athenian Green) and searching for new hardware for the many cabinet doors IN the hallway.
2. THE BATHROOM REMODEL: We met with our contractor about the bathroom rennovations -- and have been trying to make appointments with some of the local showrooms to view possibilities for fixtures, tiles, and the like.
3. IN OUR QUEST TO REMAIN LOCOVORES: Last night, we spent a good portion of our evening searching Milwaukee for locally produced BREAD to make our first BLT's of the season (with tomatoes from our garden)... and ended up getting bread made in Minnesota (the closest we could come, apparently).
4. NEW TOYS: We have been playing with our new digital camera -- but have yet to try downloading any of the photos.
5. NEW FOOD: We've sampled the foodstuffs at a new local joint. Read about that, eventually, on our BURP! blog.

So, don't despair. We'll be back to blog about any number of these exciting items. Just as soon as we can manage to sit down for a few moments.