24HBD #1: Best of 2010

For this topic, I had to consider what I wanted to focus on.  The best ‘what’ of 2010?  So I decided to look back through the pictures I took for my Picaday blog, and pick the best twenty.  So here are my 20 favorite pictures from 2010, in chronological order.

 

01-22-10  Monkeyshoes At Greyhouse

I took this picture during a Crazy Monkey show at Greyhouse Coffee & Supply Co.  The Crazy Monkeys means a lot to me – both as a group that includes and has included some of my very favorite people, but as one of the main forces that has shaped the last few years of my life.  Had I not joined the Crazy Monkeys, my life would not be what it is today.  I would probably not be married to the same person, as it was a trifecta-type friendship that included another member that brought Mary and I closer together.  I would have never performed improv comedy, and I would not have the friends I have today.  Some things shape our lives in ways we can’t know or understand – but the Crazy Monkeys have affected me in a very real, visible way, and for that I will always be grateful.

01-31-10  The Double Grilled Cheese Cheeseburger at D.T. Kirby’s

I don’t think I have to say very much about this burger – I mean, just look at it.  In lieu of a hamburger bun, these patties are lovingly placed between two grilled cheese sandwiches.  The freshly made fries are thinly sliced, allowing for maximum coverage of mustard, or any of the sauces that D.T. Kirby’s sends out on its platters.  If you haven’t eaten this monument to the achievement of mankind, you haven’t really eaten.

02-05-10  A Snowy Walk Home

Mary and I were walking home one night when I took this picture.  I don’t remember what we were doing out in the snow this late at night, but I do remember loving the walk.  Downtown Lafayette is very quiet late at night, and the snow on every surface really enhanced the feeling of quiet aloneness.  It was a nice walk – a walk, by the way, to our first apartment together.

02-10-10  Charlotte the Cat

I have had Charlotte the Cat since I was in fifth grade.  She came to live with Mary around about my junior year of college – a move that has made her life much, much happier.  The first year I went to college, I remember coming home after weeks of being away to find a cat that had not moved from one spot on my bed, except to eat or use the restroom.  In fact, I don’t think she ate any food for the first week or so.  She didn’t deal with change very well.  Since moving to Lafayette, though, she has been through four moves to different apartments (and one house!), so she is basically a nomad now.  She is quite literally the prettiest cat alive, and you will be hard pressed to convince me otherwise.

03-24-10  Burgeoning Collections

I started buying records after Matt Van Noy gave us a record player as a sort of wedding present.  I was going to buy it from him, but he ended up just giving it to me.  Matt and I have not always been on the best terms – especially in recent times – but I do love the guy.  And I do love listening to records.

03-28-10  Eating at Chipotle

Mary and I eat at Chipotle probably more than we should.  It’s impossible, though, to not eat there often.  It’s way too good.  We always get the same thing – Mary likes chicken soft tacos with a little bit of pinto beans, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese.  I like the barbacoa soft tacos with some fajita onions & peppers, their tomato and corn salsas, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream.  There is nothing better, and I want some right now.  Now.  I wannit.

04-04-10  Jealousy

My mom has this really sweet camera.  I walked it around the yard in Clayton and took some pictures.  Needless to say, it takes way better pictures than my phone.  This is one of the best pictures I have ever taken – quality aside.  I just really like the way it’s composed.  I am tooting all of my own horns right now.

05-03-10  In The Alley

In the alley behind our downtown Lafayette apartment, there was this cool gate.  It was kind of falling apart, and it didn’t really look like it would open if it needed to, but it still made for a good picture.

06-19-10  Fancy Party!

Mary and I bought our first house!  We love it, and couldn’t be happier.  What do you do when you buy a house?  Have a party!  We enjoy dressing up and having fancy snacks, so we invited all of our friends to do the same.  We made fancy snacks, wore fancy clothes, and lived the night away.  We have since had two or three more fancy parties, and they are a super fun time.

06-20-10  Mike Has a Bag On His Head

Mike totes has a bag on his head.

06-24-10  At The Beach

Mary and I went to the beach.  It was the fun.  I also really like this picture.

07-18-10  Moose In Cor d’ALene

My brother got married over the summer!  So, in fact, did my current sister-in-law.  Anyway, they had a beautiful wedding in Cor d’Alene, Idaho, and we got to have a really fun vacation as a result.

08-10-10  So I Built This Thing

Over the summer, I built a deck and a fence.  It was probably the largest project I have ever undertaken, and I have to say I pulled it off quite nicely.  It’s probably not the best deck that could have been built, but for a guy who does not carpenter any type of carpentry ever, I think I did a pretty great job.  Also now we can have fancy parties outside!

08-25-10  Spiders EVERYWHERE

Seriously, there were so many spiders in my yard.  And this is a picture of a spider web that I consequently took because of it.

09-19-10  24 Hour Comic Book Day

We had a 24 hour comic book day!  I was the only one who made it all 24 hours.  I did not make the required length comic book, but I made a shortened one that actually wrapped up.  Comic accomplished!

11-08-10  Toothpicks

I took this picture of some toothpicks.  Hurrah.

11-11-10  Charlie the Cat

My mom’s cat, Charlie, has come to live with us!  He is a big ol’ ball o’ cat.  But he’s great!  We almost lost him there, though, when he went missing for a week.  But he came back, and now we have him, and everything is fine.  FINE.

12-12-10  Piano Time!

A friend of the family had to get rid of this piano, so my mom bought it and basically gave it to us.  Really cool!  I love how the keys are a little chipped and weathered.  Gives it a neat look.  Neither of us actually play piano, but I am planning on learning.  Might as well!

12-25-10

Christmas!  Totes Christmas.

12-31-10  KFC Tribute

For New Years this year, we all went down to Louisville and ate fried chicken at the Sanders’ gravesite.  It was a touching moment.  You can read more about it here.

24 Hour Blog Day! 2/5/11

Some friends and I decided that, instead of trying to slog through another 24 hour comic book day, we should have 24 hour blog day!  So we all got together and got blogging.  Basically, every hour we drew another topic, and then everyone blogged about it.  Day of fun.
All of the participants' blogs have been mirrored over at Killer Tofu to preserve their former (possibly former) glory.  Go check them out!
Here are all my blogs from 24 hour blog day.  Super cool list format go!

1. Best of 2010
2. Funniest Moments
3. Defining Childhood Memory
4. Methods of Destroying Traffic
5. Alter Egos
6. Friends
7. A Movie Review
8. Theme Songs
9. Utopias
10. Travel Desires
11. 12 Rhyming Couplets
12. Christmas
13. Irrational Fears
14. Dogs vs. Cats
15. Cleveland
16. Mundane Talents or Skills
17. Something I Always Wished I Was
18. Superpowers
19. My Biggest Fault
20. Most Influential Year In School
21. Pet Peeves
22. Awkward Moments
23. 80s Movies
24. Cartoons

Guest Blogging and Ad Liberation

A not-much-more-than-an-acquaintance of mine, Amanda, has a blog called Seize The Week.  In it, she writes about taking advantage of the time that is given to us in our lives which is both precious little and largely wasted.  In quite an inspiring way, she takes each week as an opportunity to explore something to its fullest – or at least, to the amount that she cares to. 

This week, she has decided to focus on her “creative heroes” – her words, not mine.  Apparently (and flatteringly so) I fit into this category, although thinking of myself as someone’s hero is not something I normally do.  In any case, she asked several of us to write about “seizing the week”, and what it means for us.  I decided to write about a recent accomplishment that I think is probably one of the coolest and potentially life-changing-iest things I have ever done – help found a new improv group in Lafayette, Ad Liberation. 

You can catch my guest post here, on Seize the Week.  I am sure I will have more to say about that particular topic in the days, months, and years to come (our first show is this Friday, at Jurassic Park.  Be there.).  Let me know what you think, and be sure to dig around through her posts to see what else she’s been up to. 

Stuffed Chicken Breasts: A Video Recipe

I’ve been running the idea of a video recipe around in my head ever since my good friend Matt filmed himself cooking for his week in video.  I thought about filming the recent chowder recipe, but decided that maybe it would be kind of boring to watch, since most of it is just adding things to a pot.  There is some chopping involved, but that would mainly be it.

So stuffed chicken it is!  I might eventually post the steps in a more detailed word form, but for now I’ll let the video stand alone.  That way I know you have to watch it.  I also made garlic & parsley mashed potatoes (pictured in the background), but that’s something for another day.

Let me know if you like it!  Also feel free to tell me to never make a video again, or if my hands are too fat, or if you hate what I’ve done with my canisters.

 

Enough stalling for space to clear the title picture.  Here’s the video!

Chowdah

My dad recently gave me some cast iron cookware, and I’ve been dying to cook something in them since.  I made a grilled cheese sandwich in one of the skillets, but, though satisfying, it did not quench my cast-iron thirst.
So I thought:  I’ll make chowder!  I’ve never made chowder before, but I didn’t think it would be too much of a challenge.  I’ve always kind of thought many mysterious processes went into chowder.  How was it so creamy?  How does it taste like that?  I’ve carried these questions around with me without really thinking about them since I was little.  Once I sat down and thought about it, it seemed pretty simple.   Creamy = cream.  Flavor = seafood.  Duh.
So here’s a chowder.  Get cookin’!
YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 onions (about 2.5-3 cups), diced
• 4 ~7 inch carrots, chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 3-4 russet potatoes, diced
• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cups white wine
• 3 cans (6.5 oz) chopped clams
• 1 can (8 oz) oysters
• 1 lb mussels, pre-cooked in-shell
• 2 cups shrimp, shelled and chopped
• thyme
• fresh parsley
• 2 cups heavy cream
• salt & pepper

YOU WILL NEED TO:

1. Pre-dice the veggies before you start cooking (will save you stress later).  In a largish cast-iron Dutch oven, melt the butter.  No, you don't have to use a Dutch oven.  But I did.
    
2. Add onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes when the butter is fully melted and beginning to bubble a bit.  Stir well, so that the vegetables are nicely coated in butter.  Cover the pot.
    
3. While these are cooking (for 10-15 minutes – stir occasionally), chop the parsley (if fresh) and mushrooms (if not already done), and open the bottle of wine.  Drink some.  You deserve it.
   
4. After the 10-15 minutes are up (onions will start to be translucent), add the parsley, mushrooms, thyme, and wine.
5. Open the cans of clams and oysters, and drain their juices into the pot as well.
   
6. Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for around 15-20 minutes.
   
7. Add the seafood (clams, oysters, mussels, and shrimp).
    
8. Cook for another 15-20 minutes.
9. Add heavy cream, and salt & pepper (to taste).  Let simmer for another ten minutes.
10. Serve it up!  Really good with saltines.
    

2011

Today, we got back from Louisville, where we spent New Year’s Eve celebrating with friends we do not see very often.  The idea of spending New Year’s Eve in Louisville was originally brought up by Mike, and we pounced on it with an appropriate amount of enthusiasm.

I would like to hit some of the highlights of the trip, and not go into too much detail about anything else, if you don’t mind.  I’m not feeling very bloggy right now.  It will probably end up being a long one, anyway, so prepare yourself.

We all rode down together:  Mike drove his minivan, and upon his arrival in Lafayette he had already in his possession (for at least an hour) Joe, Matt, Lauren, and Katie.  We loaded up and pressed on. 

We spent the majority of the three hour drive from Lafayette to Louisville playing games, as most people are wont to do on road trips.  Maybe that would be a good topic for another blog post – games we play on road trips.  We will see.

When we arrived in Louisville, we headed straight for Andrew and Kyle’s apartment.  Andrew and Kyle are the very good friends of ours who we don’t get to see very often, so this was sort of a special occasion.  Also in attendance was Alex, who Mary and I haven’t really seen since we bumped into him at a mutual friend’s wedding.  He’s pretty great.  Also also in attendance were several of Kyle’s friends from Purdue, the names of whom I can not remember excepting someone possibly named Morgan.

Anyway, the first thing we did was to go eat KFC at Col. Sander’s grave.  I don’t really think I need to explain why.  It went well.

Having paid respects to a founder of widespread mainstream delicious fried food, we headed back to A&K’s place to put on our fancy clothes and work our way through an $80 bottle of beer.

Appropriately fancied, we headed off around 9:00.  Our destination was The Spirit of Jefferson, a river steamboat on which we would spend New Year’s Eve.  And we got there!  I did not take many pictures, since my phone does not have a flash, but we had a pretty good time. 

The view was great from the top of the boat, the food was delicious, and the weather was perfect – except for a bit of rain right around midnight.  But I can think of no other group of people who I would rather stand out in the rain to count down the new year with.

And in the morning we had mimosas with homemade macaroni & cheese.  Delicious.

 

*And to anyone who was with us that night who does not appear in this post, I am sorry for not taking a picture of you.  I’m sure you’re on Facebook somewhere.

Butternut Squash Soup

This year, we had Thanksgiving for my side of the family at my house – I’ll write a separate post about that (probably). 

I decided that in addition to the usual turkey, stuffing, potatoes, etc., I wanted to make this soup.  I had some very good butternut squash soup at Wabash College a few weeks ago, and this was inspired by that.  I don’t think mine turned out as good, but I definitely still enjoyed it, and would recommend that anyone try it out – it’s really easy, and so tasty.  Perfect Fall dish.

Also, my mom surprised me with a stick blender, so I was itching to use it on something!

YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 butternut squash (2-3 lbs)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion (medium-large)
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper

YOU WILL NEED TO":

1. Dice the onion.
2. In a large pot, melt the butter and cook the onion until it turns all soft and translucent.
3. While that’s going on, peel and de-seed the squash.  (Peel, then cut in half hot-dog style and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.)  Then, cut it into about 1-inch pieces.
4. Add the squash and the stock to the onions – cover and let simmer until the squash is soft (should be around 20 minutes).
   
5. Remove from heat, and use a stick blender to puree the squash and onion (you can use a regular blender, but it requires the extra step of straining the squash out of the broth, blending, then adding it back in).
   
   The soup should still be pretty thin – if you prefer a thicker soup, just use less stock. (or more squash!)
6. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.  Serves about 10 (depending on portions).