Mid-September Veggies

Sunday's harvest.

The cantaloupe was pretty tasty, if not terribly sweet. We used the eggplant and Anaheim peppers to make a miso stir-fry for dinner tonight. Tomatoes and cucumber for salads. I really can't think of anything more rewarding than dinner from the yard.

Mummies

This semester I'm teaching Museum Studies at KCAI.

One of the more fun parts of teaching museum studies is, of course, going to museums. This past Friday our topic was exhibition design and principles, so I took the opportunity to utilize the Egyptian galleries at the Nelson-Atkins as a case study. The gallery has a calm, dark aesthetic, reminiscent of a tomb, but without feeling oppressive. The sarcophagus pictured above is a highlight- striking in the amount of gold and in the beautifully painted details. Not only did it create a good discussion to experience the galleries together as a class, but it also helped break up the long three-hour class period that can be trying for everyone's attention span.

Sand Mandala

This past week brought a group of Tibetan monks from Drepung Gomang Monastery to the Spencer Museum of Art at KU.Throughout the week, the monks worked to create a sand mandala, their specific mandala was for world peace, and thus included a variety of symbols of other religions. Using various colors of sand, the work is intricate, detailed, and meticulous, and to watch them carefully construct it is amazing. At the end of the week, when the mandala is complete, the monks perform a dedication ceremony and deconstruct it, putting the sand in to a body of water, usually a river, but in the case of the Spencer mandala, into Potter's Pond. This deconstruction represents the Buddhist concept of impermanence, and the goal of releasing desire or attachments. The mandala was created one floor above my office, and I took all of my classes to see it throughout the week, something which I think the students really enjoyed. Above is a photo from the end of the first day on Tuesday, and below is a photo from near the end of the day on Thursday, the day before completion.

Cucumber Apple Salad

Amaｚu zuke!

I harvested my first cucumber yesterday. While making up bento boxes of leftover rice bowl last night, I thought it would be fun to make fresh pickles (amaｚu zuke). I found an easy recipe on the website Just Bento, and quickly chopped the cucumber and an apple, tossed in some rice vinegar, soy sauce, salt, and sugar, as well as a dash of red pepper, and let the salad marinate overnight. The result was perfectly crisp- the pepper gave it a little bite, and the apple lent it a hint of sweetness. The recipe can be found here. いただきます！

Late Summer

Finally, the days are getting cooler (if in the 90s, not 110s), and with a little bit of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Issac, the garden is back in bloom. The veggies are producing fruits, the flowers have perked up, and the grass has a hint of green in it. Labor Day weekend, while mostly full of labor, was also full of fun. We attended the wedding of a dear long-time friend, had some (kiddie) pool time, a movie night at home, and a holiday barbecue in the garden. While fall is around the corner, and is my favorite season, the end of summer is always bittersweet. Here's to the last of the summer produce, the glow of the heirloom sunflowers in the sunset, and the final days of sandals and iced drinks.

Wandering the Stacks

This week I had the pleasure of wandering the stacks at KU's Watson Library.

Usually when I'm working on research, I use the fantastic retrieve from shelf service offered by the library. While browsing the online catalog one can just click on a button at the bottom and have a book delivered to the front desk of any library on campus. This saves me a lot of time and many trips up the hill to Watson, as I'm generally on a different part of campus. Earlier this month, though, the Art Library was hit with a huge flood from a water main break, and remains under construction, so I can't get books delivered to my part of campus. I could still have books delivered to the Watson desk, but yesterday I decided to wander the stacks for a bit in search of what I needed.

First off, this took a long time. While it was great fun to wander through the narrow stacks of books, take the ancient cage elevators up to the half floors, and cruise past the mid-century research desks, I had forgotten how huge Watson Library is. I had books to find on 1 East, 1 1/2 Center, 1 Center, 3 West, and the East Asian Collection on 5. The library was built in the 1920s, but the half floors were added later to provide additional space. Some areas of the library feel quite hidden away, and others have great views out over the valley from tiny windows that one happens upon. There is definitely a sense of discovery in wandering the stacks.

Second, a few things weren't on the shelf. While the student library employees will take the time to find incorrectly shelved books, I didn't have very much time. This is another reason I like to use the service- it keeps students employed.

In any case, it was pleasant to see students studying in the various nooks throughout the library, and to find some bonus books on the shelf by looking at the titles surrounding the texts I was looking for.

Get Outside

A few weeks ago, in the midst of a stressful summer, we took a week long camping trip in Colorado.

Being outdoors for so many days was a great recharge. A great way to relax and get away from those ever-present screens that dominate our lives. A way to breathe and remember how amazing nature is. A way to slow down.

A few things struck me about our trip. First off, before we left nearly everyone we talked to asked us if we were taking our 2 year old with us. When we said yes, many asked if we were tent camping. This is weird to me, as the definition of camping is sleeping in a tent, but we replied yes. Many seemed to think we were brave or crazy or getting into something we didn't understand. Actually, camping with a toddler is about the easiest thing to do with them. Our sprout didn't have a tantrum or meltdown the entire time. He played in the dirt, explored the campsite, watched the birds, built cities out of sticks and rocks. He ate smores and drank from a water bottle and even learned to pee in the woods (which he felt qualified him to be a "mountain boy"). He had free range of our camp and exhausted himself hiking and playing. I honestly believe that some hard-wired part of him understood the dangers of the woods, and so he stayed close.

We often forget that being outdoors is a natural state. Sitting inside with the t.v. and the demands of constant e-mail, artificial light and air, this isn't how we evolved. Kids who play outdoors have a lower incidence of nearsightedness. Outdoor play develops skills and judgmental abilities that are not possible with indoor play. Yet, fewer and fewer people are getting outdoors. This is the other thing that struck me about our trip- we saw noticeably less people in campgrounds and on hiking trails. Some of this may be due to the massive wildfires that struck Colorado in recent months, but we've noticed less people at campgrounds in the Midwest as well, and fewer folks hiking in all the regions we've traveled in the past few years. This type of outdoor play is relaxing for adults and crucial for kids. Not only do we need it for brain development and to lessen the anxieties of our modern world, but we also need to teach kids to appreciate the natural world so they will take a role in preserving it.

Camping and hiking can help put things in perspective- I know when I get home I'm grateful for a flush toilet, a plush bed, climate control, and running water, things that most citizens of the world don't have and that we can easily take for granted. Hike a few miles up a mountain on a rocky trail and you will have a new appreciation for cars and paved roads. I appreciate the luxuries of modern life, but I think our entire family looks forward to our next wilderness trip.

Orchid

The little bit of lovely that graces the corner of the bedroom.

It's been a crazy few weeks, more soon!

Ginger Carrot and Cabbage Stir-fry

Less than 30 minutes from harvest to table.

I'm not sure which is better, this delicious meal made with fresh-from-the-garden veggies, or the technology that allowed me to create this great collage in about five minutes. The recipe is one of our favorites- a super easy weeknight meal that packs a health punch of veggies. Our carrots, as you can see above, are a bit small this year, but they were still flavorful and had that great fresh texture that store bought can't replicate. I planted the cabbage early in the season, but with our unusual heat and the plague of cabbage moths, it took a bit longer to mature than it probably should have. In any case, I got a few perfect heads of cabbage, and the imperfect ones still have a tasty flavor. The crisp texture and slightly peppery flavor of fresh cabbage is such a treat.

The recipe is one that we adapted from a small cookbook titled Homestyle Japanese Cooking. In that recipe, the protein is pork, but we substitute seitan and added carrots to the mix, using powdered ginger instead of ginger juice. We also use less oil than suggested.

Ginger Carrot and Cabbage Stir-fry

3 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium)

2 tbsp sake, cooking sake can be found at Asian markets or well stocked grocers
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 small head cabbage, chopped
2 tsp powdered ginger
2 inch section of fresh ginger, diced
1 bunch carrots (about 3 large, 6 small), matchstick
about 8 oz. seitan, cubed

Combine soy sauce, powdered ginger, sake, and sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add fresh ginger, carrots and cabbage, stir-fry for about 3-5 minutes. Add seitan and stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Add sauce mixture and stir-fry until cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Serve over sushi rice.

Olympics

Thankfully, I'm better at baking cupcakes than decorating them.

I'm pretty excited to watch the start of the 2012 Olympics tonight. In 2008 we were settling into our house in Ono, and I have such fond memories of the fantastic Beijing opening ceremonies accompanied by a take-out dinner and fireworks on the neighboring mountainside that we could see from our hilltop location. I also loved watching track and field events with a group of international teachers while supervising high school English camp, especially when the Jamaican teachers were jumping around the room after Usain Bolt's win. One thing I will not miss is the repetitive judo coverage!

These are simple White Cupcakes with  Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting. I cheated and used store bought icing and frosting tubes, which I already had around the house. In retrospect, I should have taken the time to get out the frosting tips, but I didn't want to take time away from other tasks, and they are just for us and a friend visiting from out of town, so hopefully the novelty outweighs the cake wrecks factor.

Go team U.S.A!

Google Fiber in KC

Fellow Americans be jealous- Google Fiber is coming to KC. Of more than 1,000 cities that applied, we were selected as the first market. With 100 x faster Internet than most of the U.S., I'm hoping it'll be about as fast as my Internet service was in Japan, where we had a dedicated fiber line (we could download an entire movie in about 3 minutes). So happy to see this video, and that pre-registration has opened. I hope that Waldo is one of the first to get it! YAY!

Onions

I harvested my onion crop this morning.

Most of the crop, Stuttgarter Reisen, a standard yellow onion, are small, you can see from the photo that they are about two inches in diameter. I've read that drought leads to smaller fruits and vegetables, and I'm also going to guess that our early heat led to them being about half the size than they otherwise would have been. Regardless, I did get a lot, so we'll have them to store for a few weeks. We also had a substantial crop of green onions all spring, which was fantastic. When I planted them I had in mind the beautiful onion braids that I used to see on my commute in Japan, and I pulled out a photo of my time in Miki to reminisce about the gorgeous gardens there.This photo is from October. 2008, almost four years ago!

Bright as the Sun

My favorite color of this summer, as bright as the relentless sun.

Drought

It's nasty out there, folks.

Today I had to drive between Kansas City and Lawrence, viewing the dried out landscape, remnants of grass fires, and crispy vegetation. I stopped for a coffee on my way back at Z's East, a local Lawrence shop. I always enjoy reading the daily almanac postings that they have, and today's was poignant for that dried out landscape- the decreased bug population means less food for birds. The almanac suggested putting out suet or seed, so while making a stop on my way home I picked up a suet block and holder. It was only $4.50 for the combo, and I'm hoping that in addition to helping out the bird population I can provide some entertainment for my cats (through the window). The interesting thing is that I noticed this morning that my sunflowers were nearly picked clean of their seeds, something I've never seen before during mid-summer, and which doesn't usually happen until late fall. I also put a small bowl of water out near the sidewalk in front of our house for dogs on a walk, or any other creature that might need it.

Keep an eye out for each other, guys, it's one hell of a summer.

Make this Meal

Sometimes modernity is fantastic.

Today it was in the light breezy feeling I had zipping down the highway at sunset, out on a library run, windows down, music loud. Or the early morning Skype conversation; it still amazes me that I can video chat like I'm on the Jetsons. Or the Facebook discussion between friends, each of the three of us residing in a different country, able to contribute throughout the day. But perhaps best of all, it was finding these two great recipes online- Miso Kale Salad and Quinoa and Grilled Pepper Salad. Nearly everything was local- the kale and onions were fresh from the yard, the peppers and tomatoes from the Farmers Market. We even have a local tofu factory, so it was just the quinoa, cheese, miso, oil and spices that weren't raised within 50 miles. We also enjoyed a side Purple Cherokee tomatoes from the Farmers Market, just sliced, nothing additional needed.

Here's the Miso Kale Salad with Tofu. Our two year old loved the tofu and went so far as to call it "frosting" and "a special treat." If that's not a ringing endorsement, I'm not sure what is. I got the recipe from Marin Mama Cooks, who got it from Eating Well, Fast & Flavorful Meatless Meals. Sharing. Modernity. Yum.

- 1 lb. extra firm tofu, drained and patted dry
- 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp. miso- we used white
- 2 cloves garlic, minced

Combine juice, miso, and garlic. Cut tofu into squares and toss in dressing, bake at 450 for 18-20 minutes.

For the salad:
- 1 large bunch of kale, we used red
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4 tsp miso, again we used white
- 1 clove of minced garlic
- Parmesan cheese, we used grated, and just sprinkled it on the salad

Combine all ingredients except cheese and kale, whisk. Add the kale and stir until well combined. Plate the salad, sprinkle with cheese, and top with tofu.

And the Quinoa, from Epicurious. It seems fussy to prepare, but it's really not, and the results are worth it.

- 1 1/4 cups quinoa
-2 large green peppers (the original recipe said yellow or orange)
- 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 scallions, chopped

Wash quinoa in at least 5 changes of water, rubbing grains and letting them settle before pouring off water, until water runs clear. Drain in a large sieve. Add quinoa to a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook 10 minutes. Drain in sieve and rinse under cold water.

Set sieve over a saucepan with 1 1/2 inches boiling water (sieve should not touch water) and steam quinoa, covered with a kitchen towel and lid, until fluffy and dry, about 10 minutes. (Check water level in pan occasionally, adding water if necessary.) Spread quinoa on a baking sheet to cool.

While quinoa is cooking, grill bell peppers. As it was a weeknight, we did this on a grill pan on the stove top, but it would be great to grill outside as well. Chop peppers.

Whisk together oil, lime juice, soy sauce, and cumin in a large bowl and stir in quinoa, bell peppers, cilantro, scallions, and salt and pepper to taste. 

 Modernity is so good.

All Star Day

It's All Star Day here in KC.

While we're not going to the game, or partaking in the many festivities around town, including a parade on the Plaza and Fanfest at Crown Center, I am looking forward to watching the game this evening, probably with some Waldo Pizza. The above photo is from a game we went to at the K last year in June.

Go National League!

Live your life

Sometimes all those internet memes can get old, but this came across my path today and it connected with my world view. I've edited out the profanity at the bottom, but you still get it.

It's so easy to just follow the "path." I can't even count how many times people told me what my next step would be. I graduated college- a family friend told me I would be working "corporate" in a year. Never happened. I went to graduate school- a friend told me I would never get a job. Wrong. We got a house and a dog- everyone told us a baby would come soon. Instead we decided to move overseas. We had a kid- everyone told us we would never travel or go out on dates again. Even our hip urban friends said this. Well, that didn't happen. We travel. We go on dates. We help support the local economy of high school babysitters. Our lives are still fun and interesting. We didn't move to the suburbs and buy a minivan like everyone told us we would, instead we live in the city and I drive a mini-car.We take our toddler camping and to museums and to hip restaurants in the city. He's never been to an Applebee's, Olive Garden, or the like, but he has been to Beer Kitchen on many an occasion.

Even with all the choices I've made to live my life on my terms, there are days that feel like loops. My daily schedule this summer certainly feels like a loop. Research, reading, correspondence, not a lot of variety between a Tuesday and a Friday. It's inevitable that this happen on the small scale, but it's what we do on the large scale of our lives and how we spend our time outside of work time that I think defines us. Do we spend our evenings watching tv or connecting with other people? Reading a good book or refreshing the Facebook feed? Trying a new recipe or microwaving some junk food? It takes effort to forge your own path. But with the infinite possibilities available to those of us fortunate enough to be born into the middle class of a first world country, it's a crime to not embrace the potential of each day.

Birthday

Happy Birthday to my fantastic husband!

Independence Day

Ah, the height of summer- Independence Day.

Most years we are traveling this week, so July 4 is not a holiday that we have specific traditions for, but this year I think we celebrated in true American style. We started the day with our neighborhood picnic and kids parade. Slugger, the Royals mascot, led the parade, and our little guy even won a prize for having one of the best decorated bikes. There was live acoustic music and face painting and games, the kind of traditional, simple party that one is nostalgic for even while it's happening.

After a break in festivities we hosted our own barbecue with friends, enjoying time in the garden and good company. On the menu- two types of BBQ seitan (for how we made seitan from scratch scroll down here) that Joe slow-cooked on the charcoal grill using KC BBQ sauces, grilled corn-on-the-cob, purple herbed potato salad (seemed closest to blue), and watermelon. Our guests brought a fantastic couscous veggie salad, kale salad, red and blue cupcakes (sans food coloring, but dyed with blueberries and beets!), and an apple pie. It was a feast in true American fashion.

In the evening we watched the illicit fireworks show in the neighborhood, celebrating the best of summer days.

Devilish Heat

It's still hot. Welcome to the new normal.

I'm so tired of hearing people celebrate the warm low-snow winter and then complain about the heat all summer long. It's climate change, folks. We caused it, we need to work to solve it. Or at least slow it. Do you like to eat food? Breathe oxygen? Then let's work on curbing that CO2 addiction, k? And, some of us actually *enjoy* the winter, the snow, and things like snowshoeing and skiing, hot chocolate and sledding. So please stop ruining my environment with your Hummer.

I was mystified to read this headline today: "What's Causing the Heat Wave?" Um, really? Have you not heard the news in the past, oh, twenty years? Perhaps not, as only 83% of Americans "believe" the climate is warming. No, my fellow citizens, this is not Santa Claus. Much like evolution, there is nothing to "believe" about climate change. Step out your door. It's happening. Actually, it already happened.

So, what can we do? Little things. Easy things. Hang your clothes out to dry instead of using the dryer- it'll save four whopping pounds of carbon emissions for each load you don't dry, and it'll make your clothes last longer. Use bar soap- it takes less energy to ship a condensed bar instead of all the water in body wash. Don't use a hair dryer- think about the silliness of blowing hot air on your head while you run the a/c. Or, if you are like me and like to use the dryer to straighten your hair, wait until it's almost dry and then run the dryer for only two minutes instead of ten. Eat vegetarian for a few meals a week- it takes an astounding amount of water to raise animals, not to mention the strain on petroleum resources and if you're eating beef the mass of methane that cows produce. Turn up your a/c a degree or two. Eat local. Turn off the lights and t.v.

If we all take small steps today we won't have a massive crisis tomorrow.

Recipe for the summer smoothie that I drank while reading about Yoshitomo Nara (pictured above): toss one peach, one apricot, and a handful of blueberries into the blender with two handfuls of ice. Blend. Drink. Be devilish.

Fourth of July Blueberry Pie

Thanks, Martha Stewart, for improving my Saturday with this fantastic Blueberry Pie recipe. The pate brisse crust takes quite a while, as there is a good deal of refrigeration time involved, but that gave me more time to go to the Farmers Market and get this great haul of veggies:

And of course, around here a trip to market means a trip to the adjacent playground, so I got in some exercise to burn off the pie and ice cream. Plus, blueberries are full of antioxidants and supposedly they improve your mood, so I'm healthier and happier all around. I can't imagine a better Saturday morning.

Tomatoes and Education

It's fascinating how education changes our opinions.

This is true of everything from the Affordable Care Act to vegetables. As a supporter of health care equality for all, I'm frustrated when I read that the majority of Americans support the individual provisions of the ACA, but because of the propaganda they hear on t.v. or in other media, do not support the law as a whole. I strongly believe that if educated about the ACA, only the most cruel among us would chose to deny care to 45 million people, to deny care to people with pre-existing conditions, to take away coverage from people when they fall ill, or to systematically discriminate against women by forcing them to pay higher rates for no reason other than gender, which are all things that the ACA protects us from, and are all things that exist in our current system and will remain if ACA is repealed. I have yet to hear an argument for why the Affordable Care Act is not a good thing, unless the argument involves lies such as the always hilarious Sarah Pailn's claim that there are "death panels" involved. And I'm fascinated to hear the conservative rhetoric today about repeal. This was a conservative bill, the ideas of which were originally introduced by the conservative Heritage Fountadion, was the same style as Romney's health care in Massachusetts, and was approved by a conservative Supreme Court which in their written opinion discussed limitations on the Commerce Clause- a huge conservative victory. Why are they complaining?

In the parallel world of food (also related to health), I read a fascinating NPR story on mass produced tomatoes, and why they taste so poor. I read this while eating lunch on the patio and eating leftover pizza that we made with farmers market heirloom tomatoes and arugula. We did cheat and bought the Trader Joe's pre-made refrigerated pizza dough, but topped it with tomatoes of all colors and sizes. The purple ones were particularly delicious, which got me thinking about why people think they want a uniformly red store-bought tomato when heirloom local varieties are so much better. My best guess is education- that people are not aware of what they are missing. That combined with marketing and habit. I'm still waiting for my three varieties of heirloom tomatoes to ripen in my garden, but tomorrow is market day, and I can't wait to pick up more tasty orange, yellow, and purple varieties for the week, and now, thanks to the story linked above, I know to look for green shoulders. Education.

Super Simple Weeknight Pizza:
Roll out refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough (either your own, or store bought) on a pizza stone. Top lightly with pizza sauce, this could be tomato sauce, pureed tomatoes from a can or jar, or store bought pizza sauce. Toss on a liberal amount of chopped tomatoes (about two cups), top with chopped arugula (we bought one bunch from our farmer, so about two cups), add about a cup of shredded mozzarella and sprinkle with dried oregano and basil. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Yum!

A Voice of Reason from the Supreme Court

Indeed, it was a great day.

I came home from the gym this morning, checked my e-mail and was so pleased (overjoyed, perhaps) to find out that I passed the French translation exam that I took last week. And then, as I open the New York Times to do a five minute review of the news before getting to work- bam- my day got even better- the Affordable Care Act was judged constitutional by the Supreme Court! Finally, the U.S. is getting closer to the basic standards of health care enjoyed by every other industrialized nation on Earth. Finally, children won't be denied care because of a pre-existing condition. Finally, those who work for themselves or for small companies won't be punished by being denied affordable coverage due to their desire to work outside of the large corporate system. Finally, the working poor will have access to preventative care. Now if only we could create a system of health care not based on profits, we'd be closer to the care other nations have, but I'll take this small victory as a first step.

Thank you, Supreme Court. America just became a better place to live.

India Mustard and the Added Benefits of Veggies

As the temperatures creep up here in the Midwest, the early season vegetables are disappearing from my garden and the farmers market, and the summer produce is starting to be harvested. This year I did quite well with early crops- the snow peas in particular were bountiful, but bok choi, radishes, daikon, spring onions, and India mustard all gave great yields. As it was warm quite early we struggled with cabbage moths, but I still think I'll get some cabbages in the coming weeks. The broccoli may not head this year due to the heat, and my lettuce, usually one of the easier crops, was decimated by the moth larvae, though I still got a few salads.

Aside from the peas, from which I took the fifth and final harvest two weeks ago, India mustard might be my favorite early crop for this year. It's the first time I've grown it and it grows fast, thrives in the cool spring weather, and is pretty much bug resistant. We used it for Indian greens (similar to these), garlic greens, and with a dijon-dill sauce. I harvested the leaves individually, allowing the plants to continue growing, which as the weather warmed resulted in getting the flowers of the plant, pictured above. It was such a pleasant side benefit to have the willowy stems and little yellow flowers gracing the mantle in the past few weeks. These are starting to lose their flowers, and will probably make their way to the compost pile in the coming days, but even the grassy light stems are a great way to bring a breezy garden feel to the interior.

Air Conditioning and Afternoon Coffee

It's hot.
Really hot.
Like, 95 degrees hot with a forecast of 100 for the next two days.
I do not like heat.

I am, however, completely terrified of climate change, so I refuse to jack up the air conditioning. That, and my distaste for heat is over-ridden by a distaste for a high electric bill. The use of air conditioning is a huge global environmental crisis (see here for more on why a/c gasses are even worse than co2) and one that we should all be considering in our daily lives. One step we took last year was to participate in a program offered by our utility company, wherein we received a free programmable thermostat (with free installation) for the trade off that during the peak energy consumption hours of summer our a/c would cycle off in 15 minute increments, still allowing the fan to run. We haven't noticed the difference, but it is making an impact on our over-extended power grid.

My main struggle is not "to use or not to use" the a/c. I generally keep the thermostat at 84 during the day, but since I'm working from home this summer I've been guilty of turning it down to 82. This isn't an issue of comfort, in fact I prefer to keep the interior temperature warm in summer and cool in winter, so as to prevent illness and allow myself to acclimate to the outdoor weather, but rather the issue is one of afternoon drowsiness. So, my solution is to make iced coffee.

I make a full pot of coffee on the weekend, allowing it to cool, and then store it in a re-used glass bottle that I keep in the fridge. When that 3 p.m. feeling hits me, I pour up some coffee, mix in a bit of soy milk and some sugar, toss in a few ice cubes, and I'm good to go. Yum.

I'm back.

Hey internet!

It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since I've blogged regularly. Something that was an outlet for my thoughts just became something that had to give. The last year of PhD coursework combined with working multiple jobs became all consuming and gave me so little free time. We did do some fun things along the way though, like skiing in Utah and hiking in Colorado, and spending the holidays with family and friends in Chicago. There were also some great professional and personal milestones, my favorite of which was running our first half-marathon back in April.

So, what am I doing now?
First off, I'm so happy to be working like a normal person for the summer. Meaning not all day plus evenings, late nights, and weekends. Instead, just the regular old forty hour workweek with a few extra evening or weekend hours thrown in from time to time. Truly liberating. If you are fortunate enough to work a forty hour week you know how much free time is involved. I'm loving having time to garden and cook, entertain, exercise, and generally enjoy life. It is this joie de vivre that I'll be blogging about in the coming weeks.

Glad to be back!

PS- If you are looking at the photo above and thinking, "why is she reading about yoga for work?" the text shown is not about yoga the philosophy and exercise, but yoga the term that refers to Western-style Japanese painting.

Minneapolis

Saturday the 3rd, a great day in Minneapolis.
We began with a wonderful morning at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a fantastic museum with a huge Asian collection and some fabulous gallery spaces. Below I'm contemplating Yasumasa Morimura as Frida. Love. Our next stop was the delectable veggie Chinese restaurant Evergreen for take-out. We then met up with our friend Mike, a fellow IUC veteran, and spent the afternoon walking the Uptown neighborhood and the nearby lakes. After meeting up with his wife, we enjoyed a tasty meal downtown and drinks in the evening. So nice to see old friends!

On the road again...

Labor Day weekend, headed north on I-35 to Minneapolis for a long weekend trip. While not the most eventful drive through Missouri and Iowa, the sunflowers were in full bloom all along the highway making for some beautiful late summer Midwestern scenery.

September!

Since the end of August/beginning of September, things have been super hectic with work around here, so I'm behind on the daily photos. I've still been snapping, but haven't had the chance to post as frequently. In any case, September started on a regular Thursday with a common summer activity- backyard evening hoops.

Expressive Typography

One interesting thing about teaching my Text and Image course in the Graphic Design building is seeing the student projects that adorn the public spaces of the hall. In particular, the 31st of August had some interesting expressive typography projects that reinforced our class discussion on semiotics.

Calligraphy

Preparing my Wednesday lecture, thinking about Chinese Calligraphy and Zhao Zhiquian's Couplet of 1867.

Monday sunset

Passing through the Plaza on the way home.

Waldo Fountain

Last weekend of August, possibly the last chance to go play in the Waldo fountain.

Local Hiking

Hiking out at the edge of the metro on a warm Saturday afternoon.

Antennas Up @ the Nerman

Another free Friday concert at the Nerman, this time Antennas Up.

New Bag

I finally got around to replacing my old computer bag. Over the course of last spring the handles began to fray, something which a friend told me was a sign I was working too hard, and which my adviser said was a sign that I was too busy to shop for a new one. I think both were/are true. After a long summer of not needing to cart my laptop around (I taught in a full media room for the summer term), I'm back to the necessary lugging of books/papers/grading/laptop, but at least I have a nice new internet-purchased bag to shuffle through it with me.

Back to KCAI

First session of teaching night class for fall term at KCAI- Text and Image in East Asian Art History :)

Sunrise after the storm

A beautiful Tuesday morning commute.

Bento

Lunch at my desk on the first day of the fall term.

Veggie garden

My own veggie garden as it recovers from the July heat wave- in the upcoming weeks (barring any weather disasters) we should have eggplants, tons of cherry tomatoes, a fair amount of sweet green and red peppers, and gobs of jalepenos and habaneros. Hard to believe that my tomato plants are almost as tall as me!

Summer sweet corn

Fresh and local, the taste of summer sweet corn immediately after it's harvested and before the sugars turn is like nothing else, especially when grilled for a few minutes and dabbed with a hint of butter.