on wisconsin

on lake mendota

i am loving this spring - no wait, SUMMER weather that we are having in madison. matt's been here since last friday and each day has seen temperatures in the upper seventies and lower eighties. luckily for matt, who has spent the majority of each day working in my apartment, there has also been a nice, cool breeze winding through town. we are both working on grants, among other things, right now. yet, we have tried to take advantage of this summer-spring as much as possible. this has meant a lot of windows open, walks, and requests for visiting places with outdoor seating.

the most summery of all of the days was probably wednesday, when i had a meeting that ran so late, it was clear that i was not going to make it to the wednesday night run with my 5k training group. instead, matt and i whipped up steak salads a la the schlegel-hicks family. they were absolutely delicious. i might have repeatedly insisted to matt that they tasted like summer. this was followed up by a walk over to one of the lakes (added bonus of living on an isthmus: quick walks to multiple lakes, parks, and gorgeous sunsets). we've been trying to walk if we're going somewhere relatively close - although i've found that my belief that "things are totally walkable if they are within a mile" is not necessarily universal. this means trips to state street, not only for the gorgeous views of the city parks and extra time spent in the beautiful weather, but also because parking really sucks downtown. i can't wait to share it with other visitors (*aHEM*).

sunset on the lake

today we are tying up some loose work ends, tidying up around the apartment, and heading to chicago. i am super excited to finally be meeting hudson. just as was true before we finally met little cole, i was starting to be concerned that hudson would be walking and talking before i finally met him.

drastic change of topic: did everyone see the madness that happened in athens yesterday? we were actually oblivious until my dad texted asking if we had heard about the boulder that crushed a car and house somewhere in athens. luckily, this is not matt's neighborhood.

the first (and almost second) week of 5k training is over and i've been sure to make up any of the runs that i've been missed. each week, there is a monday run that each runner completes on his/her own, a wednesday evening and saturday morning run with the group, and a sunday walk one one's own. my allergies haven't been too terrible yet, most likely because the runs start off with more walking time than running time. it really is my allergies that are main concern: i'm quite certain that my body can run, but not as far as you might think if i can't breathe. weird how that works. the facebook page for the group is here, if you're interested. we are supposed to send in pictures of us running in other places if we miss a practice because we are out of town (NoBo on the go, if you will). i'm not entirely sure that i'll be able to convince matt to get up early tomorrow morning and take a pic of me running in chicago, but we shall see!

ring and wing sauces in savannah

final note: yesterday was an anniversary of sorts for us. we've officially been engaged for a year at this point. i know a lot of people aren't big fans of long engagements, but i think it has been working well for our planning styles. things are coming right along and nobody has had any meltdowns yet :) not only that, we've made huge strides - thanks in large part to our groom - on a few of the things that i thought were going to be the most terrible (blocking hotel rooms and creating gift registries). our knot site says that we have 197 days to go. seems close enough to feel very exciting, but not so close that one needs to start to panic. in any case, it's been quite a year for us and promises to continue to be an adventurous 2012.

free music friday

inspired by erin garrett, i do want to include more music on here. this seems as good of a time as any to get started! and why not with a song that i could keep going back to over and over? this whole album is a standard "go to" for my writing days. and it should make lacey proud because i'm pretty certain that sarah jaffee is from austin!

i just bought a fanny pack. . .kind of

so, i don't think i've told that many people yet (because it hasn't started), but i've signed up for a 5k training group here in madison. there's something about being near the end of my first (academic) year as a post doc and 7 months away from the wedding that makes me think that i should start considering what i want my "grown up life" to look like. not in the sense of what i think it means to be grown up, but in the sense that all of those things that i thought that i would do after graduate school or that i have traditionally hoped would be just a regular part of life some day are things that i should probably get started on.

originally, kara and i were planning to run dam to dam together the first weekend in june. that coincided perfectly with the spring training program offered at a run/walk/tri specialty store here in madison, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. in actuality, it may be the case that dam to dam fills up really quickly. it's tough to tell from the website, though, because some of the pages have this year's dates and some of the pages have last year's dates. so. . . .go figure. the moral of this story is this: i had my individual assessment this morning with one of the running mentors, and i ended up with this water bottle fanny pack. i have the appropriate level of humiliation about this, i think. but i bought into it (literally) for two main reasons: 1. i never have anywhere practical to put my keys when i am running. and as it turns out, i need my keys, because i can't get in the outside door to my building without them, and 2. i am always thirsty these days. seriously, almost always. it's to the point where, on particularly bad days, it is uncomfortable to have a soda or any of the drinks that are notorious dehydrators. sometimes i am uncomfortable sitting through meetings where i have forgotten to bring my water bottle. i can't imagine being in the middle of nowhere, expected to run, with that same type of distress. so water bottle fanny pack is mine. yay. having grown partial to the aluminum water bottles, i'm a little disappointed that the bottle is plastic, but i suppose plastic-y water will be better than no water.

actually, speaking of kara, i should probably announce (or reannounce, for some of you) that the newest member of the ohorilko family has arrived. milo thomas was born on march 1st, just missing a leap year birthdate. mom and baby (and everyone else, as far as i know) are doing fine. i'm taking it on good faith that kara won't mind me posting this picture of milo with big sister ivy and big brother max. i'm so excited to meet him. and i'm super excited that i live close enough to know that i will meet him before Christmas!

in other news, mom and dad made a quick trip to madison this weekend. it was nice to get to catch up. we didn't plan or do anything special (although i did learn to change the light bulb for my license plate), but rather just hung out, talked, and went out to eat. they were only in town for about 24 hours, but it was a nice way to break up the work weeks and an excellent reminder about how wonderful it is to live just a short trek from home.

matt and i also made a bit of progress in the wedding planning this week. the contract for the block of hotel rooms is being drawn up as we speak ("speak"), the rehearsal dinner is scheduled, and the process of pinning down details about the reception are in progress. thank goodness i'm not in a couple where my partner doesn't want to participate in planning. i'd probably be huddled up on my floor in tears for the majority of the next 6 months. and that doesn't sound like fun to me at all. in any case, finalized details will be posted on our knot site as soon as they become available.

whoa! i ALSO just realized that it is St. Patrick's day this weekend. that got here unreasonably quickly! i'd better find something green, i suppose!

it's not vegan OR vegetarian, but it is easy and it IS delicious

ever since visiting karen, i've been looking for my own polenta dish to savor. sausage is something that i still enjoy every once in a while and i try to take advantage of mushroom dishes on the weeks that matt and i aren't together (since he doesn't know yet that he likes them ;) i found this wonderfully delicious recipe in a book that my sister dy gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago (Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats. A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners). i had marked to give it a try, so i finally did! it was delicious and big enough that the leftovers fed me lunch for about a week!

thank you, rachael ray for putting pesto, polenta, and italian sausage into one recipe. it was amazing. and thank you, also, for employing the oxford comma. i'm a fan. i made a few changes based on what i had in my fridge and my desire to be thrifty at the grocery store :)

Sausage, Mushroom, and Pesto Polenta "Lasagna"
2 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp soy butter
1/2 lb italian sausage
16 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
2 cups low-fat ricotta cheese
1 egg
4 tbsp store-bought pesto
1 1/2 - 2 cups of mozzarella
1/2 cup wheat bread crumbs
one 24 oz tube prepared plain polenta, cut into 21 disks about 1/4" thick

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

not terribly pretty, but wonderfully delish!

2. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with the EVOO and butter. Once butter has melted, add sausage, breaking it up once you've added it. Once sausage has started to brown, add mushrooms along with onions and garlic. Season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Once everything is in the pan, sausage is brown, and mushrooms and onions have wilted, add chicken stock. Cook over high heat until the liquids have evaporated.

3. While sausage and mushrooms are cooking down in the liquid, combine ricotta cheese, pesto, egg, 1/2 c. of the mozzarella, and bread crumbs.

4. Coat 8x8" baking pan (or in my case, a pie pan) with nonstick spray or a brushing of EVOO and place disks along the bottom (for a square pan, you'll use about 7 disks; for a pie pan, you'll use more - it's fine if they overlap). Divide the sausage and mushroom mixtures into 3 even portions each (for a square dish; in half if you're using a pie pan).

5. Using the back of a spoon (or your fingers, which seem to work infinitely better), spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture on top of the polenta. This doesn't have to be neat at all, because I think it tastes best if you mush everything together once it's on your plate anyway :) Top the ricotta with 1/3 of the sausage/mushroom mix (or half if you're using a pie pan). Repeat layers, starting with polenta and ending with sausage/mushroom layer. You'll make 3 layers for an 8x8 baking pan, 2 layers for a pie pan. Sprinkle top with 1/2 - 1 c. mozzarella.

6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15-18 minutes (or. . . in my oven, 25 minutes). I just kept it cooking until the cheese on top was starting to brown. You can make sure everything is cooked by inserting a knife into the center of the dish, removing it, and making sure that it is hot to the touch. Remove from oven and serve. Enjoy leftovers for the rest of the week :)

mpls -> athens -> madtown

i have to say that it feels kind of nice to be in the same city friday through monday. not that i haven't enjoyed my weekend travels, but sometimes you just need to sit still for a little bit. so that's what i've been doing. . . well, kind of.

not sure how this happened, but i like it

to start with, the trip to athens was good. matt and i both spent the day working on friday. i settled into one of my favorite spots with an italian soda at donkey coffee and met up with matt and co. for dinner and drinks in downtown athens. we made ourselves delicious breakfast tacos for brunch on saturday, caught an acoustic show including some of the members of southeast engine, and met up with peggy on sunday to see the movie safe house and enjoy some delicious peanut butter pie. that seems extremely condensed, but it some ways, it sort of felt like the weekend went just that quickly. once again, i can't help but note how wonderful life will be when our relationship doesn't inherently involve a plane ride commute. though we have a lot of things to be thankful for in the meantime. certainly.

this weekend has been a lot of catching up - less with work than with life stuff. i put off getting groceries all week long so that it finally culminated in my having to spend about 20 minutes cleaning the all of the friday-night snow off my car (and shoveling around my car. . . i'm not getting caught on that ice again!) i'm not sure how much snow we ended up with, but it felt like a lot. trekked to hy-vee and then put off the trip to target until today. i *think* i've gotten everything on my list now. and whatever i've forgotten will likely come from the downtown market on my ride home one of these days. the real kicker always seems to be getting water. it's partially my fault, because i'm so picky about it. i'm not suggesting that anyone would actually drink the tap water here (maybe i'll post a picture sometime of what it's done to my humidifier), but also not everyone has to have spring water but also hates buying it so much that it has to come in the big container (big enough to last a while. . . not so big that i can't carry it the few blocks from my car) that only target carries. it's absurd. but it's the way that it goes around here. side note: matt's totally starting to be able to tell the difference in the waters also. he made a comment about it when i was in athens. *snicker*

mixed berries and quinoa

so now, i'm all groceried and necessitied up, i've cleaned the apartment and am in the process of baking cookies. yeah. . . that's right. my big sister sent me a delicious-sounding recipe for some vegan fruity cookies that i thought needed a shot. the one drawback seems to be that i apparently left any cookie sheets that i had (including the makeshift cookie sheet that might more accurately be called a "pizza pan") under the oven in state college. so today's cookies are being made in a casserole dish and a pie pan. i'll let you know if they turn out.

actually, speaking of vegan deliciousness, i made this mixed berry and quinoa salad yesterday and was delighted at how amazing it was. it's super easy and the weird-sounding dressing actually brings out all of the sweetness of the fruits (don't ask me how that works. . .) if you need to put together a side salad and want to do something a little different, i'd totally recommend it. it rocks. and don't be fooled. . .with all of the grains it's way more filling than you'd think.

just another regular week of work ahead. hopefully one more to put behind us until the real spring weather gets here! have a great week, everyone!