Will it Explode?

yes. yes it will.

Earthquake!

Yup, we felt it!

Dan and I both woke up around 4:30am, after I heard creaking in the apartment like someone was walking around the hallway (which really disturbed me more than anything), and then our bedroom door (which was cracked) swung open. Then I noticed the bed was shaking! We just thought it was the wind, since we had some of the windows cracked, but there really wasn't much wind last night (and I didn't really question the logic of the wind making the bed shake). Totally crazy. I guess (at 5.2) it was the second largest ever recorded in this area.

UPDATE: Dan just phoned to say he felt an aftershock at the apartment just now (10:15am). Didn't feel it in our building in Evanston, but we're so tall, it probably sways enough as it is during a regular day.

Let me tell you what is wrong with yourself, Starbux

Ok. Look.

I'm only here because I received a whole mess of giftcards at Christmas that I'm still trying to remember to use. But I've known plenty of barristas/os and they need things like groceries and rent payments and I want to tip you out. However. I only have a $5 bill, and I'm sorry, I'm not tipping 100% off my latte and a muffin. But since you can't open your cash drawer when I use my giftcard, and therefore can't give me change for my $5 bill, I can't leave you a tip. Sorry.

And look, barrista, you don't need to double cup my tall latte. Are you kidding me? I don't need 2 cups! I need 1 cup, and maybe a little band of cardboard to keep me from burning the hell out of my hand since you insist on setting your espresso machine to the "fire of a thousand suns" setting. It's hot, but I don't want to be 1 of maybe 100 people you're going to 'double cup' this morning in Evanston and be a part of the problem of now 100 extra paper cups getting added to the nearly full-to-the-brim Chicago-area landfills.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

In skimming through Epicurious one day a few weeks ago, I came across a Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe that looked shockingly easy, and which had a ton of uber-positive reviews. I saved it, and it wasn't until last night, when Dan and I got home from a bike ride, that I finally was able to try it. Have to say, it turned out wonderfully. Dan was completely skeptical that it would turn out well at all, and tried to talk me out of it, but oh, the deliciousness that ensued taught him a lesson in judging a book by its flourless cover.

One thing that struck me about the recipe (and which totally threw me for a loop when I was shopping for ingredients) was the call to use "bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)". Doesn't that sound strange? It took me a while, but I finally got that "bittersweet" and "semi-sweet" are the same thing. Man, that made me feel like an idiot.

Anyway, you couldn't ask for a simpler recipe, really. I think I'll make this cake monthly if not more often. Be forewarned everyone who invites me over for a potluck....you're getting this cake!

UPDATE I made a 2nd cake for Stephanie's birthday. Pictures on Flickr.

I also have to say that I still have ham biscuits in my fridge from Sunday's Easter brunch Ham-travaganza. They are salty and delicious. Jealous?

photo on the Chicago schmap

Well, they've been perusing my Flickr page I guess, and chose one of my pictures (of Doughty!) at the Old Town School of Folk Music to include in the Chicago Schmap. I found a few errors in their Schmap (like placing the Lakeview Lounge in the Lakeview neighborhood...ha, tourists) and emailed, but no word back (or even a thank you, huh). Here's their widget.

photo on the San Francisco Schmap

Hey, so I had a flickr photo that I took on my fall trip to San Francisco chosen for this online map called Schmap. Here's a sample. The one I took was of one of the ones featured in the entry for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop. If you scroll through them, mine has my name under it, and it mostly has the fountain in the foreground at Ghiradelli Square.

Still crafting...

One more weekend of crafting, then I'm back to normal for the season. Come buy some stuff!

DIY Trunk Show this weekend!

Oh, I'm crafting up a storm! Won't you come out and see?

I welcome you, fall, with open arms

After many months of summer (why does it always last months?) fall seems to be here. We've got highs in the low 80s, sun, clear skies, and low humidity. Awesome.

We had almost twice as many days of rain in August than our average (something like 24 days of rain), and I'm happy to be in a "dry spell" now for what it's worth. I ended up getting water in my car a little bit with the couple of storms last week that just tore up Chicago. My friends Jenni & Steve had some serious damage to their building, and will have to live elsewhere for a while, which is very sad. But, they themselves are OK, so that's the important thing in times like these, eh?

Dan and I went last-minute camping last weekend up to Kettle Morraine in Wisconsin. Lovely night, clear skies, and it got way colder than either of us anticipated. One of the best parts was making a giant fire in the pit in order to use up all of our wood like we were supposed to. Fire good. Meats cooked over fire = very good. I have no pictures, but for once, I didn't get a mosquito bite. woo!

We stopped in Kenosha on the way home and bought a case of New Glarus Spotted Cow beer. Mmmm, so good. Really, this stuff is some of the best beer I've ever had, period. It's good that it's made so close, but since it's only sold in Wisconsin, we have to head over the border in order to pick some up. We also got a bottle of the Raspberry Tart which is surprisingly tasty with spicy food. (I recommend thai) I have to really hand it to Wisconsin for producing some of my most favorite things to consume: beer, cheese, and sausages. We bought locally-produced Kewaskum hot dogs and polish sausages on our way to the campsite, and of course, no trip over the border is complete without a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle where we got cheese food and curds.

But, after just a smattering of meats this weekend (it's only Sunday afterall), I'm a little meated out. So I'm making vegetarian black bean soup today, and the closest thing to meat I'm going to eat is some cheese we got at the farmer's market yesterday. (six-year old cheddar, yum!)

Update: I ran!

Hey all,
Well, I survived my first 5K race. I finished with a (self-timed) time of 34.20, which is awesome. I stuck very close to an 11 minute mile and didn't really feel the heat until the last half mile or so. Overall, I was really happy with how it went. Pictures of me and Carolyn running (thanks for being my race buddy, Carolyn!), along with many many Elvi are up on flickr but here's me at the finish: