8/30/13

How Sweet It Is

Urbana Sweet Corn Festival 2013
We did it again. It was so hot this year. I think we hit 85 degrees mid-day. Sweat was had by all.


Of course, the Motor Muster was there again.


Aine said, let's get a picture of the one with dead children in the back.


Instead of the old timey bus, this year they had a sweet Woody. Wait, what did I just say?


I scoured the streets for a 50s model Chevy Bel Air. I finally found one. Not the color I would have chosen, but it was the only one there.


Then we had to walk slowly around all the 1910s and 1920s model cars. Because of Downton.

And no Central Illinois festival is complete without overpriced beer in collector mugs.


Sure, it's the same price as a six pack, but can you drink a six pack in the middle of main street in front of your county courthouse? I didn't think so.


The One Community Stage had a lively performance by Bone, Jugs and Harmony (pun intended). They performed with whiskey jugs, kazoos, and all manner of ridiculous instruments. Aine said, I think this is kids' music. I said, no, these guys are for real. They're local and play venues all over town.


You're probably wondering, where are all the spectators? They're crowded in the shade of the building to the left. By this time in the day we hit the low 80s and people were passing out from heat exhaustion. All precautions had to be taken.

Kansas headlined the entertainment this year. Aine said we had to go since they play the theme song to Supernatural. I said, fine, but we leave as soon as they play Wayward Son. Wouldn't you know it. They played it last.

Here's videographic evidence that we were there. With the entire population of Champaign County. Forgive the sloppy camera work. The camera man had been drinking since three that afternoon.


The Blerch Shirts Have Arrived
We ordered Blerch shirts from the The Oatmeal website for the Pumpkin Classic 10K in Morton.



It's based on a six part comic you can read here:
The Oatmeal

You only need to read the first part to understand the shirt, but I would suggest reading all six.

Rocking the d20


So, a few of us decided we wanted to try out Dungeons and Dragons. It was decided that since I'm the only one not in grad school, therefore the only one with free time, I should be the one to learn the hundreds of rules and DM the first game.

In the picture above, you'll see the practice game from the other night where Aine, as a Level 1 Elf Wizard, defeated 4 Goblin Minions with her Magic Missile. That's right.

Coming Soon
Labor Day - Arthur Cheese Festival and the 5k Rat Race.
Hard Cheese - Three weeks to go!

8/21/13

Life's Been Cheddar

The Results Are In
My time for the Run4Raley 5k: 25:57

Which means I ran a 8.4 minute mile. Which isn't very fast. But it was pretty fast for me. Now we're gearing up for the Pumpkin Classic 10k in Morton. Last week, I totalled 17 miles. This week, I'm hitting 21.

Thanks, Fanks
I gave up on Dr. Fankhauser. His instructions were rambling, inconsistent and lacking in vital information. The good doctor uses well water and cultivates his own rennet from calf guts to make cheese, so he doesn't spend much time on explaining the intricacies of using store bought milk for apartment dwellers.

After ruining 4 or 5 gallons of milk in pursuit of hard cheese, I bought a book.


On the right. Cheesemaking by Ricki Carroll. She started the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, from whom I bought the rennet and the calcium chloride. From what the rave reviews say, she kickstarted the homemade cheese revolution. She writes instructions for those of us who don't milk goats.

(On the left, you'll see Empire of Liberty by Gordon Wood about the period between the ratification of the Constitution through the end of the War of 1812. I finally finished the dry ramblings of Dr. Middlekauff.)

The first thing I read was NEVER USE TAP WATER to dilute your rennet and calcium. Chlorine in tap water cripples the rennet and gives you a weak break. Also, she says, NEVER USE IODIZED SALT. The iodine kills the bacteria that give your cheese flavor.

So we did it for real this time. I got to the curd cutting phase of the cheese process.


I cooked the curds.


And drained them.


Then I salted and spooned the cooked curds into the cheese press Dad made.


I had plenty of assistance.


I pressed the curds overnight.


The next morning I unwrapped the hunk of cheese and let it air dry for 2 days.


At which point I waxed it.


I now have a waxed hunk of cheese in my fridge. In four weeks, On September 18th, I'll cut into it and taste the deliciousness of my very first cheddar.

Easy As Pie
We're still doing a homemade pizza once a week. It's actually one of the easiest and fastest dinners to make if I remember to throw some flour in the breadmaker on time. The last two have been utter successes. The first I found randomly on the internet, the second I copied from a local restaurant.

Potato, Asparagus, and Feta Pizza



Pear, Feta, and Pine Nut Pizza



It's a Citrus, Khaleesi
Pitaya. Dragon Fruit. This fruit, from a night blooming cactus, comes from South America and Asia.


You just cut it in half and scoop out its guts. It had the texture of a pear and a very mellow flavor. Too mellow. It almost didn't taste at all.



Erin Go Bragh
Or at least until the first sip. We made Irish Coffees. Only, we didn't have cream, so I guess they were Black Irish Coffees.


Aine didn't finish hers.


(And, yes, under my wallet and phone, you see the Bernard Bailyn introduction lectures to his Peopling of British North America series. If Wood is the Obi Wan of early American history, Bailyn is the Quigon Jinn.)

Home Invasion
The other morning a small spider, the size of your pinky nail, crawled to the middle of my office ceiling. It was just hanging out. Minding its business.

Then Piglet saw it. She just wanted to rip it into small pieces. Frustrated at the spider's inaccessibility, she started mrowing at it. Alarmed by the commotion, Crankles rushed in to save the day.


Then he saw the spider. And he started whining.


They have a good time hunting roaches and flies together, but this distant spider completely stymied them. She mrowed. He whined. And that noise lasted for the first twenty minutes of my work day.

Parting Shot
Life in Illinois seems precarious at times.


But this does not alarm us.


8/3/13

August in Champaign

Independence Day Again
Yesterday, August 2nd, was the anniversary of the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence. I'm currently reading The Glorious Cause by Robert Middlekauff.


Chronologically, it's the first available book of the Oxford History of the United States series. Started in the 1950s, it was intended to be a comprehensive history of the United States for a general audience. Three of the books have won Pulitzers and two have been finalists. Each covers roughly a 30 year span. All of them are really long. We'll see how far I make it.

I realized reading this that the colonial era comprises one of the largest chunks of our nation's history. The time span from the founding of Jamestown to the battle of Lexington and Concord is about as long as Lexington and Concord to the end of World War II. About 170 years. Full of crazy stuff they just glossed over in school. For instance, did you know that New England alone saw 8 wars and 1 rebellion between the mid 1600s and the mid 1700s? Georgia was a penal colony: Britain colonized Australia because they lost Georgia in the American Revolution. The more I read about America before 1790, the more bizarre and exotic it seems.

Also, thanks to Benedict Arnold's actions at Saratoga, Horatio Gates' army defeated the British under Burgoyne. The victory at Saratoga convinced the French to declare war on the British, which more or less sealed America's fate. So, before defecting to the British, Benedict Arnold won the war for the Americans.

Run for Raley
I ran the 6th annual Run for Raley 5k in Philo. Proceeds are donated to researching Mitochondrial Disease, a disease in which your body is unable to convert food into energy. The charity run was started by the Kirbys in memory of their daughter.

My Before and After:



I ran the Freedom 5k in Champaign in 29:30. I finished the Raley 5k at 26:00.

Now I'm just tired and hungry.

Another Weird Pizza
Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza garnished with chopped cilantro. This combined two of our favorite things to eat. Indian food and Pizza.


You can find the recipe at Rasa Malaysia.

Coming Soon
Sweet Corn Festival 2013
Maybe Hard Cheese