Airwolf - Arc Attack

Simian and I said that it was a shame Will missed this :)

Star Wars Imperial March

This was really awesome! G said it was worth going to Maker Faire just to see this.

Arc Attack

 

More of the fun that was Maker Faire - haven't uploaded my Arc Attack video yet, but you can see the one Simian found here. They performed several times in the afternoon and told everyone that if they can make everything in their garage, anyone can :)

New York

 

I realise there are a lot of food shots here, but besides Maker Faire, we basically had time for lunch before and dinner after. We drove through Brooklyn and I got a quick look at the sites (while navigating) and they had cute little pubs and cafes, including two branches of the same cupcake shop a few blocks apart. When we got to G's, I realised we had a piece of Maryland with us - a stink bug in the car. Ugh.

G took us to Sage, right around from where he lives, which has excellent food. Simian and I shared a great tomato soup (the goat cheese in it was fantastic) and a pizza. Both of them were great. The pastries looked delicious but I thought I would save my tummy for later :)

G suggested we go to Flushing for food after Maker Faire. We went to Szechuan Gourmet which G read about in Zagat. The food was probably the best Chinese food Simian and I have had in the US - with the exception of the Ah Boling.

Now most of you know I take my Ah Boling very seriously. It's just about the only Chinese dessert I actually like - in fact, I LOVE Ah Boling. However, it has to be in peanut soup. G said that in some dialect groups, it's done in just a sugar broth but the Ah Boling is huge. Skeptical as I was, I decided to try it.

Never again will I make the mistake of being adventurous with Ah Boling. For one thing, it came in a clear soup. For another, someone in the kitchen mixed up the salt and the sugar, so that when we bit in, we got a huge mouthful of salt. G asked the waitress and she told us that she would give us new soup. Considering how the Ah Boling had now absorbed the salt water, it didn't help.

We walked down the street and there were a number of bakeries that sold really old school pastries, including Mouse Cake and Egg Tarts. The people inside were also Old School as well - ie kind of grouchy and curt. It was G's birthday last Tuesday, and we found out he hadn't really celebrated so we got a cake. G picked a chocolate and green tea ice cream cake. They even wrote Happy Birthday on it :) Simian and I didn't love the cake but the main thing is the Birthday Boy seemed to really like it :)

We drove home after hanging out at G's very nice condo, and got home close to 3 am.

Maker Faire

 

Simian and I just got back from New York - we were at Maker Faire and dropped in to see our friend, G. Simian realised on Thursday or Friday that Maker Faire was going to be in New York this year - he was so excited and we decided to go. Traffic was a mess - it didn't take us too long to get to the city limits, but then they closed off a tunnel, traffic got backed up and it took us another 45 minutes to make the last 15 miles!

Maker Faire was fun! It wasn't all technical stuff too - there was lots of craft (Mom - see the Singer sign? They were a sponsor) as well and just very interesting people and projects. I will post a video of the group that does music while Tesla Coils spark over their heads! Too cool.

More photos tomorrow!

Busy Saturday

 

Simian and I had a busy day. We went and checked out the stink bug situation but there seem to be much fewer today. It was either the temperature (it was much cooler) or we killed enough of them or they're all in our roof by now. Simian did check though and we didn't see any. In Home Depot and Tractor Supply Company, both touted sprays that would kill stink bugs and when we picked up a spray, the cashier suggested detergent and water. I asked if she had a lot of them and she said that everyone does. The couple behind us also immediately grabbed the can! When we got out to the car 10 minutes later, there were two stink bugs on it.

We had lunch at Thai Classic - after we saw that they were closed for a month to go on vacation in Thailand, Simian and I decided we had to go. The thai iced tea was great - and the rest of the food wasn't bad (though it wasn't very spicy). The Tom Kha was good - and everyone on the wait and cooking staff spoke Thai. The food wasn't sweet for a change - American Thai food always seems sweet for some reason.

We walked through the Westminster Fall Festival and then went to M's 70th Birthday Party down at the condo.

Of hawks and stink bugs

 

Simian went in to work late to try and solve the stink bug issue. He read that tobacco is good so he had bought tobacco chew and mixed it with water. It may work best with dish detergent AND chew and some vinegar. Basically we sat there like evil scientists spraying the solution on the stink bugs I had caught yesterday. We caught another one at 2:45 when it woke us up buzzing against the light. Ugh.

There were a huge number of stink bugs out again today. Simian must have killed anbout 30 and there are still tons out there. I just hid in the house and stayed away from them. They're going to the roof though and clearly looking for ways to get in.

In other news, I found a pile of feathers in the yard. Apparently word has spread among the raptor community that our garden is the go-to place for bird buffet. I saw the same hawk twice today - the second time, I caught this Cooper's Hawk in our tree. All the other birds disappeared.

I also saw a hummingbird. I'm pretty sure this is not one of our regulars as I haven't seen a hummer since Sunday. This one is probably a late migrant.

Stink Bugs

A week or two ago I asked Suntaneye if her home was infested by stink bugs too. At the time I found 6 in my garden - HA. Little did I know what infestation meant. Today I saw 35 in about 5 minutes and all of them trying to get INTO THE HOUSE.

In addition, they got all over the clothes on the laundry line. I threw my clothes in the dryer for a few minutes and three more dead stink bugs dropped out. I never had a problem with them in Singapore but this is something else.

Baking

 

I made these Apple-Upside down Cornmeal cakes from Gourmet Quick Kitchen. After Imp twittered about the magazine, I had to get it - I've already made two recipes and they've both been great. I don't know why Bon Appetit just doesn't inspire the same kind of love (or maybe it's because their recipes aren't always that great).

I wanted to make some cookies - but the Bon Appetit version seemed pointlessly long (chilling the dough for three hours? No thanks - unless I can be assured of Gourmet-like awesomeness). In the end I just dug up an old Gourmet recipe though I made them a little less tiny. Why I make anything else though, I'll never know. Simian said both were great but weren't ORCs (we just ran out of our last batch).

Of hawks and chillis

 

A hawk from yesterday - this one slammed right into the window and fortunately bounced right off the screen. It sat in the tree for a long time though, allowing me the opportunity to grab my camera from upstairs and get a few shots. It finally swooped down on something.

Simian pulled more tomatoes out of the garden - and we got large ones this time. I cut one up, threw in some fresh basil and sprinkled some balsamic vinegar. Heavenly.

Simian made 10X last night and he put in haberneros. I didn't realise how hot those little suckers are - I was gasping and drinking water and milk. Don't be fooled by how innocent they look - Impy, here is the red jalapeno I promised! They're also some of the largest jalapenos I've seen!

I decided to make a chard in bechamel sauce to tame the 10X - the chilli seems to have degraded today so it was less of a flaming hot experience!

M got me this adorable cat coin bank - you put a coin on it and the cat's paw comes out and grabs the coin! Thanks M!

Maryland Wine Festival

 

Simian and I went to the Maryland Wine Festival this afternoon. It was held at theFarm Museum - we had gone by once with M and WW when they came to visit, but we got rained out. It turned out to be huge and pretty fun. There was a blacksmith making nails and a gentlemen who showed us his corn husker collection.

It wasn't all wine - there was also food. Grilled Cheese and co (though their portions seemed smaller) was there and there were a surprising number of vegetarian options. I tried a fantastic Chocolate Zinfindel and we tried some blueberry wines (of which we bought one). I also bought some fantastic balsamic vinegar and truffle oil. We also got some black and blue cheese from Firefly Farms - I've wanted to try their cheese for a while. It wasn't a cheap afternoon but it was fun though it got pretty warm. We stopped by Hoffman's for ice cream on the way home.

Tomato Corn pie

 

Just when I was telling myself that the hummers have gone for another year, I spotted this little girl (and another one a little later). I know it's just a matter of days before they leave, but it's still lovely to see them for a while longer.

Simian and I went to run some errands today (including going to the shop I refer to as the Apple store) and we met our neighbour from down the road who runs a produce store a little ways from here. We bought some fantastic peppers from him.

Simian had been talking about doing a half marathon and there is one next weekend, so he decided he'd do a trial run today. He did it incredibly fast but was in a world of pain.

I made hasselback potatoes and a tomato corn pie, anticipating he'd be starving when he came home. The former recipe is care of Suntaneye who made it the other day and it was delicious. I had forgotten to buy garlic when I went by the store, but I had some frozen garlic left here by friends and I used that. Dodgy as that seems, it worked! The pie was better than I remembered (and I remember the recipe was already good). It could have been the fresh corn we bought today or the fact that I used Parmesan!

Eagle

Golden Eagle
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

Simian and I had lunch on the deck - we've been seeing what we thought were hawks, but now we think that they are eagles. One swooped into the tree on the side of the house and then flew off - some of the birds chirped loudly so I think a bird was caught.

Our hummingbirds are probably gone - I saw one yesterday and the males left about two weeks ago. One kept flying near my study window yesterday. I told Simian that I bet she was saying goodbye :(

We met Suntaneye and her husby for dinner this evening at Tutti Gusti. I also had black tea at Pitango's. Delicious!

In other news, Simian went through the trash and found my rings!1!

Gunman at Hopkins

What a day - Simian was actually still at home when the news came via Hopkins email about a gunman at the hospital. The shooter was identified as being within the main hospital complex (which is separate from the research buildings) so he decided to go in anyway. Within minutes, Imp and Planetofsound had emailed to check if Simian was okay.

Simian agreed that if the situation deteriorated in any way, he would turn around and so I kept monitoring the events online. By this time however, it seemed that the shooter was not going to get out unless he surrendered because the whole area was surrounded by police.

Hopkins did a good job keeping their employees updated - Simian said emails came regularly with information on what to do.

I have to say the Sun and WBAL did a good job on the reporting - the rest of the news organisations were putting out bad information, which wasn't very helpful because people were trying to decide what to do. First we heard the gunman was dead, then it was retracted. I know everyone wants to break the news first, but people are making decisions based ont his information. This piece put it very well. It's just a very sad story all around and I'm just glad there weren't more fatalities.

I was so distracted by all this today though, that I lost my wedding bands while cleaning the house. Simian and I have looked everywhere - we're going through the trash tomorrow.

Busy

 

Busy two days - yesterday I went to run some errands (and get my tyres rotated and the car washed) while Simian stayed in to work. He worked through the night, so by the time the plumber whom we had an appointment with arrived this morning, we were both still asleep. The plumber fixed the problem quickly - so now guets do not have to have only one setting on their hot water!

Simian and I ran several errands today as well. We went to pick up the car which I had drove to Suntaneye's place, had lunch at Holy Frijoles (yes that's the potato burrito that Simian and I shared) and then walked to Puffs and Pastries where we were given fantastic cream eclairs.

We also went to look at some appliances, then got Simian's car tested for emissions. We had to make a bird food shop of course - I think there are more birds at the moment because of fall, and they are eating everything. We also stopped by an old coin store in Westminster for a few moments.

We came home and Simian went to harvest some vegetables. We had tons of potatoes so I made a bake with the pumpkin (harvested yesterday), the potatoes and the tomatoes. It was fantastic - everything tasted so fresh.

Ohio and back

 

Ohio, what we saw of it, seems very flat. It was an interesting 9 hour drive back - Simian said he was fine to drive the whole way, including the part through the Catoctin Mountains at night where the roads were windy AND foggy! I would have been inching along at 20 miles an hour in the dark! I don't know why we don't go up to Catoctin more often - it's so beautiful and so close. Possibly, it's because we go through Taneytown - which still has the SAME roadworks going on that I first drove through in May!

It was a lovely drive and I got to see Western Maryland - which is really beautiful. We did get stuck on a mountainpass on the highway for half an hour. There was a bad accident ahead but we had the Iphone, Net access, and a full tank of gas. I unfortunately introduced Simian to Angry Birds - and he's now hooked.

Young's Dairy

 

We stopped by Young's Dairy with K and J. The ice cream was really good - though I felt kind of sad when I saw how the cows were kept after we had bought the ice cream. They didn't look uncomfortable and some were actually sitting down - but they weren't allowed to roam and were shackled.

The wedding

 

What a fun wedding. Though it rained (and unfortunately that meant the arrival on the horse drawn carriage had to be cancelled), everyone had a good time. Simian played tv theme songs for each member of the bridal party that arrived. There was a Bouncy castle and balloon animals and A's father built a barn, with Will's help, for the dancing.

We saw Will and A get married at church at 1 pm, then went back to the house for the reception. Dinner was buffet style, and served at 5:30 pm and then there were funfetti cupcakes that were made for the wedding cake. A, looked absolutely beautiful. Will cleans up nice too - though I literally could not recognise him in several times because he was in a suit.

There was some drama at the end of the night - JH found her car couldn't start. Fortunately Simian had jumper cables and with the help of Will's family, got her rental car started again.

It was wonderful catching up with friends who came in from near and far for the wedding.

Rehearsal dinner

 

We just got back from Will and A's wedding in Ohio - it was a lovely wedding and we had a lot of fun. Here are some photos from the rehearsal dinner on Friday.

Toilet fixing

Of COURSE it had to be today, when Simian is away for the night, that the toilet wouldn't stop flushing. It was working fine all day but after I flushed it tonight, the water kept running.

Seriously, what did people do before the Innernets? I turned off the valve, then came down, looked this up - and then, I poked my hand INTO THE TANK. I jiggled the flapper and turned the valve on and off, all the more complicated because I had just cleaned the toilet today and didn't want to dirty anything. Somehow I must have aligned the flapper correctly because the water stopped. I flushed it twice and it seems to work fine now. I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't wig out again till we get back from the wedding in Ohio this weekend.

I had to take another shower, because as much as I understand the water in the tank is theoretically clean (and I like the suggestion at the end of the article that you might want to wash your hands after this procedure), my mind refuses to believe this.

On the other hand, I have now learnt the parts of the toilet bowl. Sort of.

Dinner and walk

 

K and her fiance, J, came to stay overnight. They arrived late afternoon. Simian had spent the day home working (and taking a break to play Guitar Hero with me - yes we caved and bought it!).

We all went for a walk to Cold Saturday Farm in the evening, which is incidentally up for sale. It's an amazing property in case anyone wants to buy it! Then we went for dinner at Johansson's. We came home for chocolate banana cake and tea.

Dinner with friends

K is in town prior Will and A's wedding which happens next weekend in Ohio.

Simian and I went down yesterday to meet Will, A, K and K's fiancé, J, whom we all met for the first time. He seems very nice and is extremely tall! I somehow came down with heat exhaustion on Thursday (yes I am from the tropics - no, I do not usually hang clothes out at 3 pm, and then go for a run in the evening without having a drink first). I have learnt my lesson and will hydrate. No one tells you that it's called heat exhaustion for a reason.

I made an apple cake today and I forgot to take a photo of it. Simian and I then went to our neighbour's down the road. P and A had invited us for dinner two weeks ago and it was a lovely dinner. We know A through her daughter S and it was great to catch up with S again. We also met other members of P and A's family, which was nice.

Danny and Annie

I first read this story in the book Listening is an Act of Love. I love the Storycorp Project and this short film is only sweeter because it's true.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

This is another amazing story - the little girl is so mature!

Tomatoes and chilli

Tomatoes and chilli
Originally uploaded by ariel1511976

I picked some tomatoes and this chilli out in the garden today. Some were very ripe - and the taste is amazing. I did a blind taste test with Simian and he immediately knew.

This is my new phobia - as if staying in hotels isn't bad enough, now I have to contend with bed bugs.

Cake and birthdays!

 

It was E's birthday and so Simian and I went to E and HJ's home for dinner. HJ put out a spread and it was just all of us, HJ's mother and Y from the lab. Dinner was lovely and we played Guitar Hero afterward.

I made a Mexican chocolate Ice cream cake. I used store bought ice cream because I don't have an ice cream maker (nor do I want one - I know I'll make ice cream once and then it'll clutter up the place) and I skipped the meringue on top. It turned out pretty well though. Simian decorated the cake!