One Sweet World

Philadelphia - Day 1

2010-03-10T15:09:00.001-08:00

We decided to take a long weekend and head up to Philadelphia to check out the city and take a short break from work. I had been to Philly once in high school but never spent any serious time there. Mr_BTM had never been. In preparation for the trip, Mr did a ton of homework and created a handy google map of places to see, things to eat and where to stay. We started our trip Friday morning with a ride on the Greyhound. An no, it wasn't as bad as everyone says! It was quite nice, actually. We started our day with a tour of the City Hall tower. To get to the top of the tower (pictured left), you need to take a very small elevator, only large enough to take 4 tourists and a security guard. Once at the top you get a greate 365 degree view of the city! We had no idea this was an option so we were pleasently surprised at this spectacular view, and only for $10 total! After the tour we walked towards Rittenhouse Square to check out the park and the neighborhood. Our first option for lunch was closed so we fell back on option two, Good Dog Bar. We choose the burger and the mac n' cheese and a few good beers. After lunch we walked to JFK Plaza to see the infamous Love statue and boy was that lame! It's such a small statue in the middle of a concrete square. So underwhelming. After that we walked along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and toured the Rodin Museum. On the long walk back to the hotel we stoped by theSEPTA Museum although there wasn't much there. For dinner we had reservations at Zahav, an Isreali restuarant. We each had the Taste of Zahav where you can choose three dishes of your choice plus dessert. We had an amazing meal and even tried duck hearts (pictured) for the first time! After dinner, we wanted to grab a drink so we went to Triumph Brewing Company. This place was packed! We were able to grab a beer from the upstairs bar, but once we started drinking, realized we were really full from dinner! Plus, the beer wasn't that good. So we left the crowded bar and went back to the hotel. Really tired after all our walking around!

Snow!

2010-02-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

I made a quick video of the blizzard outside right now. It's still snowing and a lot of it is just blowing around! Crazy!

Below is a view of the back yard as of this morning. Snow is almost covering the a/c unit. Kevin shoveled off the flat part of our roof as well, just in case. This was last night and it had already started snowing again.

Oregon Wine Tasting!

2010-02-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

Mr & I are in Portland for the week and decided to head out wine tasting in the Willamette Valley. We were joined by Anthony and Lynlea and a friend of theirs, Shannon. Our first stop was David Hill Winery in Forest Grove. We sampled 6 wines and bought a bottle of the 2006 Estate Reserve Pinot Noir. Next was the Montinore Estate where we tasted several delicious wines and purchased quite a few more. They had a sale on all whites so we picked up quite a few. We got the 2007 Gewurztraminer, 2008 Muller-Thurgan (a few bottles of this one since it was only $5.60 each), and one red for Kevin, the 2007 Parsons' Ridge Pinor Noir. Next stop was at the Elk Cove Vineyards in Gaston. Very picturesque setting here even though it's winter and none of the vines are blooming. We were a bit rushed here at this one and we weren't sure why. We were, however, impressed with the 2008 Pinot Noir Richmond. A spendy bottle but great taste. Lastly, we visited the Kramer Vineyards. We weren't a huge fan of this place but Mr_BTM was impressed by the 2006 Oregon Carmine "Big Red" so we got a bottle of that too. Overall, great way to spend a Saturday! A few friends, a few drinks, great scenery and good deals on wine!

CSA - Last Week!

2009-11-17T12:30:00.001-08:00

We made it through the 2009 growing season with the CSA and it's been an overall positive experience. Here's a list of the last pick up of the year!

1 bag potatoes

1 bunch cilantro

1 bunch chard

1 bunch collards
1 bunch mustard greens
1 bunch kale
1 bunch spinach
1 bag mixed salad greens
1 green cauliflower
1 bag shallots
1 red cabbage

David Gray Concert!

2009-11-06T16:18:00.001-08:00

Mr & I have been in Portland for the past few days. We decided to get some last minute tickets to the David Gray show at the Schnitzer downtown. We ended up getting 14th row on the floor! SWEET seats! That is until the guy with the hugest hair in the entire place sat right in front of us and blocked our awesome view. Mr took one for the team and sat behind him for the show. Ugh..so frustrating! But, the show was great, he played quite a few songs from the new album and rocked out to lots of old ones. Glad we went!

Set list:

Fugitive

First Chance

Sail Away

Jackdaw

World To Me

Life in Slow Motion

Nemesis

T.Y.L.

Babylon

Meet Me In The Morning

Breathe

Everytime

T.O.I.L.

Otherside

Be Mine

PFM

CSA Week ????

2009-09-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

So, I've missed a few weeks of the CSA pickup. I know we got a lot of potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, beets, yellow squash, zucchini, acorn squash, butternut squash, eggplant and chard. This week we're reverting back to getting lots of greens.

1 bunch collard greens
1 bunch kale
1 bunch chard
1 red leaf lettuce
1 bunch arugula
1/2 pint of hot peppers
1 bag sweet potatoes
2 eggplant

I think I have 3 eggplants now and I'm not sure what to do with them. We've already made a huge batch of eggplant parmesan so that's out. Maybe some baba ghanouj?

CSA Week 11

2009-09-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

We're very excited for all the new, fresh produce we're getting at the end of the summer! This week we got lots of new items, and plenty of them! We decided to pick up our share at the end of the pick up time to see if we could get a few extras. It worked and we got quite a few extra items!

The share:

1 bag of garlic

2 bunch basil (first herbs!)

3 zucchini

1 green leaf lettuce

4 tomatoes

1 green onion

1 bag of corn

1 watermelon

We were able to pick up extra garlic, green leaf lettuce, zucchini and corn. Good variety this week!

CSA Week 10

2009-08-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

I've been riding my bike to pick up our produce every week. Usually, it's no big deal. It's only 1.4 miles round trip with it being uphill most of the way back home. This week, I had a few things working against me. It was 95+ degrees with high humidity so I knew it would be hot but I wasn't expecting this week's produce picks to be so heavy! I managed to bike home a watermelon, a melon and a bag of potatoes! I'm so proud :)

The stuff:

1 melon

1 watermelon

1 bag potatoes

2 red onions

1 head green leaf lettuce

1 bunch chard

1 bunch green onions

3 green peppers

And here's last night's meal using the green peppers and chard from the CSA and tomatoes from our garden.

Weekend in DC/Arlington

2009-08-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Friday night I got to celebrate my old high school friend's 30th birthday! Happy Birthday Anne! We met for dinner in Chinatown at Matchbox, a pizza place that has a pretty good beer selection. I was able to get Rogue on tap there! The tap rotates and I don't remember the name of the beer I had, but it was delicious. We had some pretty good pizza and salads with cupcakes for dessert. After dinner, we had tickets for the Arturo Sandoval jazz show at Blues Alley in Georgetown. This venue is in an actual alley, so that was pretty cool. The show was pretty good, but didn't start until 10:15 so by the end of the show, we were ready to head home. I stayed with Anne & John at their new place in Capital Hill and they gave me a ride to Arlington in the morning.

Saturday I met back up with Kevin and Eric at Selman's new

condo in Arlington. We decided to eat away our hangovers at Uncle Julio's. Kevin and I both ate Juanita's platter, full of yummy goodness including a taco, a tamale, and 2 enchiladas. The platter was way too much food though, but it was delicious! We spent the afternoon driving around Arlington in hopes of fixing Selman's shower. It didn't prove too successful so we retreated from the heat into a nice, cool movie theater to see District 9. This movie is shot like a documentary with a lot of the shaky camera angles. The movie gave me a headache and slightly nauseous. Oh well, it was entertaining. For dinner, Selman knew of a good kabob place called Ravi Kabob, also in Arlington. We ordered way too much food, but it was all very good. After dinner, we headed out to a bar for some drinks and a live band playing cover songs. Not all that exciting but they did have Widmer on tap so I was happy.

Sunday brought us for lunch at Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, made famous by Obama's visit there earlier this year. The burgers are cooked to order and huge at 10oz each! I got a burger with white cheddar and grilled onions done medium. Kevin got the Let's Get it On burger with bacon, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms and swiss. His burger is the one in the photo. I only

managed to eat half of my burger, but the boys had no trouble eating the whole thing! We'd come back to this place anytime for a good burger. It's just too bad they don't have fries! I'm sure we'll be back in Arlington and DC soon since we now have more friends that live there. More chances for us to get to know these towns as well as Baltimore!

CSA Week 9

2009-08-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Week 9 for the CSA finally brought us some more fruit! We haven't gotten any fruit since week 1 when we got a pint of strawberries. This week we got a cantaloupe and a 1/2 pint of raspberries. And yes, we even got more squash :(

This week's picks:

1 head green leaf lettuce

1 bunch chard

1 cantaloupe

1/2 pint raspberries

1 bag patty pan squash

3 red onions

1 bunch green onions

1 bunch beets

3 zucchini

CSA Week 8

2009-08-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

Here we are with Week 8 of our CSA veggies. I think we're doing a good job of eating the veggies in time, but I'm kinda done with squash at the moment. I was hoping for some more fruit, perhaps some peaches?

Week 8

1 bunch green onion

1 bag potatoes

1 green leaf lettuce

1 bunch chard

1 head red cabbage

1 bag patty pan squash

6 yellow squash

5 cucumbers

1 garlic

Eagles of Death Metal!!

2009-08-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

We went to see Eagles of Death Metal on Saturday night at Ram's Head Live in downtown Baltimore. While the venue isn't the greatest, there's usually no wait to get a drink at one of their many bars and the prices are generally reasonable. This was our second concert there and we'll probably continue to see concerts here because it's so close! This was our third EODM show and they didn't disappoint! This band is full of tons of energy and the crowd always gets into it! We decided to brave the floor and got about 3 rows from center stage. Pretty awesome! I had a great view with no tall people in front and rocked out to my favorite song, Cherry Cola! I've been searching for a set list online but can't find one yet. Perhaps too soon? Not sure, but I surely can't remember all the songs they played. They were on stage for almost 2 hours and provided a solid set list of songs from all their albums. Mr_BTM even got an awesome mustache rides t-shirt!

CSA Week 7

2009-07-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

Since we were out of town last week on the Eggerding family vacation in Wisconsin, Week 6 produce went to Karen & Eric. This week we got a few new items and lots of repeats. We're getting pretty good at preparing chard!

Week 7:
5 cucumbers
4 yellow squash
1 bag of eggplant
1 bag patty pan squash
1 green leaf lettuce
1 bunch beets
1 bunch chard
1 bunch green onions
1 garlic

CSA Week 5

2009-07-07T13:16:00.000-07:00

Another week of beautiful produce from our CSA! Last week we made a slaw from the cabbage and beets that turned out pretty good and tried the broccoli greens sauteed and served over rice. Not too bad. We still have our broccoli and snap peas from last week to eat. Got too busy to eat the good stuff!

This weeks produce:
1 bunch broccoli leaves
1 bunch broccoli
1 cabbage
1 bunch spinach
1 green leaf lettuce
4 zucchini
1 bunch beets
1 bunch small onions

CSA Week 4

2009-06-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

So we missed CSA Week 3 due to our trip to Chicago so today picks up with Week 4 delivery from the CSA.

1 bunch green chard
1 bunch rainbow chard
1 bunch spinach
1 bunch red leaf lettuce
1 head cabbage
1 bunch beets
1 pint of snap peas
1 bunch broccoli
1 bunch broccoli leaves (anyone heard of this?)

CSA Week 2

2009-06-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Last week we used all the greens (kale and chards) in a wonderful steak & greens recipe with a bit of brown rice. We made a small salad with some of the lettuce's and still have some of that leftover.

This weeks picks:
1 bunch spinach
1 romaine lettuce
1 red leaf lettuce
1 green leaf lettuce
1 bunch kale
1 bunch red chard
1 head cabbage
1 bunch garlic scape (pictured below)

CSA Week 1

2009-06-12T08:16:00.001-07:00

This year we signed up for a share in a Community Supported Agriculture program ("CSA"). The CSA is with One Straw Farm, the largest organic vegetable farm in Maryland. The CSA provides weekly produce (whatever is ripe!) from June through November. Each week you get 8 items that you pick up at a nearby site and you'll have more than enough produce to last you the week. We had our first pick up this week and got a lot of stuff! Below is the list:

1 bunch romaine
1 bunch red leaf lettuce
1 bunch green leaf lettuce
1 bunch kale
1 bunch rainbow chard
1 bunch red chard
1 bunch arugula
1 pint strawberries

Brand spanking new desk!

2009-06-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

We're on our way to getting the 3rd floor office decorated and cleaned up. Step one, get a new work space that's just for work. I got a new desk that's designated for my workspace and a new chair. Finally no more card table chair to sit on all day! We got both pieces at Target for a pretty good deal. Another motivation for the new desk was to make room for our new home computer. That's step two, get a home computer we can use for photos and music as well as another tv for the house and for our
guests. Step three is to find a couch with a pull out bed so this can be the office, a den and a guest room all in one! Step four is putting on the final touches including new window treatments and a nice paint color, along with a new ceiling fan. Quite a list still to go! Now all I need to do is figure out how to work that new iMac of ours...should be fun!

New Doors!

2009-05-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy week! First the roof finally got fixed and now our new doors were finally installed! We're still waiting for a screen door for the back since it's still on back order. But, the new doors are in and 90% complete. A few trim pieces need to be added to the front door, which they'll take care of when they install the screen door in the back. Now on to some before and after photos! Now that I see them side by side, we chose similar, if not the same styles for the doors, just different colors and steel reinforced security! No more wind blowing through the unevenly installed doors! These energy star efficient doors should help keep the downstairs a bit warmer in the winter and keep our air conditioning inside during the summer. They all open and lock a whole lot easier now and all have deadbolt locks (the previous doors did not).

BEFORE

Front Door - Outside Front Door - Inside

AFTER

BEFORE & AFTER

Side Entrance Door - Inside

BEFORE
Back Door - Inside Back Door - Outside

AFTER

The Roof - Part 2

2009-05-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

It finally stopped raining long enough for the roof guy to come back and finish the roof. Yesterday we go our coating on the roof that should seal any remaining cracks and provide some UV protection. Instead of the black roof, we now have a shiny silver roof! This should help keep the house a bit cooler on those hot summer days.
A completely covered and coated chimney. We shouldn't be having any more issues with leaks now.

Nice and shiny!

The Leaky Roof - Part 1

2009-05-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

We've had some issues recently with a leak in the 3rd floor office area. Any time it rains, the ceiling (now with a hole in it!) drips water onto my desk. Last summer during those torrential downpours, we had water come in on the 2nd floor as well. We thought we fixed that problem with a new gutter, but our roof guy thinks otherwise and I believe him. So, part 1 of fixing the roof involved replacing all the gutters, patching any holes, cracks, etc. in the roof, completely covering the chimney (the suspected source of our 3rd floor leak) and caulking around the outdoor fixtures.
Patching a few cracks in the roof.

Chimney is now completely covered.

Repositioned the downspout from the 3rd floor roof from draining onto the deck to draining directly into the 2nd floor gutter. No more water being drained directly onto the roof. This should help solve the leaking to the 2nd floor during those heavy summer rains.

Gardening time!

2009-04-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend I finally got around to getting plants to start my container garden on the rooftop deck. We get plenty of sun up there so it should be perfect for a few sun loving plants. I decided to start small with just two tomato plants, some herbs and a few annual flowers for some color. To the right is a glance at the mini garden as well as the gnomes that watch over the plants. I still need to get some compost for the top layer from Michael. Let's hope this location is sunny enough!

Herbs are rosemary & sweet basil - 4/26/09

Better Boy tomato - 4/26/09

Bush Early Girl - 4/26/09

Vinca and Marigold - hanging basket - still need to get a hook so I can hang this up without fear of falling!

New Kids On The Block and a special visit!

2009-03-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

When I found out the New Kids on the Block were going to be in Baltimore I called up the sisters to see if they wanted to come out for the show and spend the weekend in Baltimore. Gretchen said yes and decided to bring a mystery guest with her. I suspected the mystery guest was my other sister Heidi, but she wasn't able to get off of work to make it out. So, I was surprised with a visit from my best friend Becky! They arrived on Thursday afternoon and we headed to Cross Street Market for lunch. Becky got her coveted chinese take out and Gretchen and I got cheese steaks. After lunch we took a quick walk to Federal Hill park for a view of the harbor. We headed home and got ready for the concert. We hit up the liquor store for those cute little booze bottles that we could smuggle into the show to avoid the expensive drinks there. All we had to do was buy some coke or sprite and we were set! The opening act, Jabbawockeez, was a dance group and they were okay but not all that entertaining. On to the main act - having never been to a show of NKOTB's in the past, I had no idea what to expect. The sound of that many girls/women screaming was incredibly loud! Holy moley! It was an insane amount of noise...the loudest concert i've been to! The drinks definately helped cope with that aspect of it! The show was good although I still wish I had seen them when I wanted to as a kid. Set list is below, which kicked butt...sang all the songs I wanted to hear and closed with Hangin' Tough, that was pretty darn cool.

NKOTB Set List:
Call It What You Want
My Favorite Girl
The Right Stuff
Didn't I Blow Your Mind
Valentine Girl
Please Don't Go Girl
Grown Man
Dirty Dancing
Games
Single (B STAGE)
If You Go Away (B Stage)
Two in the Morning (B STAGE)
Tonight (B STAGE)
Twisted
Baby I Believe In You
Give It To You
Joe's Medley (I Remember When, Where Do I Go From Here, Thank You)
Cover Girl
I'll Be Loving You Forever
Click, Click, Click (with Pose Off)
Summertime
Step By Step
Hangin Tough

One of the few photos I took from the weekend is of us totally smashed at the Brewer's Art after having a delicious dinner at b a Bolton Hill Bistro. Notice how none of us really have our eyes open except Gretchen, who normally always has her eyes closed so it's always a good clue to look for when she's been drinking!

New Furniture

2009-03-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

We finally got some new furniture pieces for the house. Ikea proved to be a good place to start! Since the house doesn't have a linen cabinet, the one we got from Ikea was much needed. It fits all our towels and sheets and has plenty of room left over for even more stuff! I love it's yellow color and the glass doors. We put it in the second floor hallway by the laundry area and I think it looks great!

Our next project was to find bedroom furniture since we don't have any side tables or a bed frame. Due to the size of our mattress, a lot of the Ikea frames didn't work out (at least the one we wanted!). So while at the store we spoted a metal frame that measured out nicely. We also found end tables that were high enough to reach if we were sitting in bed and that included some extra storage. To top it off we got some end table lamps from Walmart to match the metal frame. Now all we need to do is paint and get some new bedding!

BEFORE:

AFTER:Mr_BTM's End Table
My End Table

Modest Mouse at Ram's Head Live

2009-03-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

Last night was our first show at Ram's Head Live in downtown Baltimore. Michael & Caitlin got us (and themselves!) tickets for the Modest Mouse show. We met up at Houlihan's for a quick dinner and headed to the show around 8:00 PM. There were two opening bands, each playing a half hour set. The first band wasn't all that great, but was upbeat and had a lot of energy. The second band, Mimicking Birds, played a better show, but their music was a real downer! No energy at all and kinda boring. Modest Mouse then took their sweet ass time getting on stage, having us wait an hour and half between sets for them to come out. A little long, in my opinion! They didn't start playing until 10:30PM, already way past my bedtime! They put on a decent show and the energy was good. There were a few technical difficulties with the mics giving some feedback during a few of the songs, but overall it was pretty good. The venue, however, is strangely designed with three levels. We grabbed a spot at the railing on the second floor and had a good view, but there were definitely drawbacks to the design and places where the sound wasn't all that great. I'm sure we'll head back for more shows just because it's one of the places in town that has shows we like. Below is the set list for Modest Mouse - and no they didn't play Float On!

Set List:
Spitting Venom
Never Ending Math Equation
The View
Doin' the Cockroach
Fire It Up
Wild Packs of Family Dogs
Here It Comes
Dashboard
Guilty Cocker Spaniel
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
Bukowski
Dramamine
Education
3rd Planet
This Devil's Workday
Paper Thin Walls
Parting of the Sensory

Encore:
The Good Times Are Killing Me
Bury Me With It
Alone Down There
Blame It On The Tetons