Friday Night Out

It was Friday and we had a classic Missoula afternoon/evening planned. After taking care of Tiika, we would head to Bayern Brewing, our favorite local watering hole, for a few German microbrews. Dinner would be across town at Sean Kelly's, a great Irish establishment, where they serve a mean Bangers and Mash to be washed down with Harp's on tap. Entertainment that evening would have a tropical flavor with the University Percussion Ensemble and Islanders Steel Drum band.

So what does all this have to do with the picture? Well, we have a grand trip planned to New Zealand where we will be sea-kayaking, hiking (or tramping as the Kiwi's say), biking, whale watching, glacier-trekking, etc. We're leaving in five weeks and that means we are in TRAINING. The only way to justify a couple of brewskis is to earn them with sweat (I mean perspiration, if my Mom is reading this :-) ). Spring is here so we broke out the bikes, drove to the edge of town, and did it all on two wheels. We had a great time. Unfortunately, we ate and drank more than we biked, so Tiika and I went off on a long hike today. Jenn, whose return from ArtFest has left her enthusiastic about more projects, spent the day rearranging her studio (easily equal to a long hike). Maybe if we work out hard for the next three weeks, we can justify going out again!

what's cookin'?

Doesn't that look super delicious? Homemade chicken soup, yum yum yummy. Rob has been slaving away in the kitchen all day to make this happen. Ok, maybe not exactly "slaving" but puttering nonetheless. He has gotten quite good at this chicken soup recipe.

The brilliant green you see is a lovely kale that is far better than I ever imagined. Though we grew up eating a lot of vegetables at my house, greens never seemed to make it on the menu. I think we had cooked spinach once or twice (ew!) but other than that, I don't recall others. [Mom? Do you remember?] I was a little hesitant the first time Rob wanted to use them in a soup. Now I love 'em that way.

After we've enjoyed the soup this way for a night or two, including a lunch for me, we'll add coconut milk and curry paste from the asian food store for a twist (and to stretch it out to our greatest advantage). This pot of soup exemplifies what we've been doing all day. Putting things together for a good start to the week.

On the other hand, last night was a special treat. We got to see the New Shanghai Circus perform. Normally, we wouldn't be interested in anything calling themselves a circus due to the bad reputations they have for how they treat animals. This, however, was entirely different since it was all acrobatics performed by professional Chinese athletes. (Their muscles fairly bulged!)

The acts were all made up of the amazing things the human form can do. The poses they held were awe inspiring for their demonstration of pure strength and balance. They also had some drumming performances weaved in there. This was a surprise to us, it didn't seem to be listed on the program we were given. The drummers were all young women. I was impressed.

Overall, it was a nice way to spend the evening together. In two weeks, it will be the Ailley II dance troupe.

pouring bummer

At yesterday's festival we worked our shift then wandered around. This is different than how it's been for us the last four years of volunteer pouring. We are usually having so much fun that we stay for as long as they'll have us. It seems the pool of volunteers has changed. It has gotten younger and more, I want to say arrogant, but maybe they are just different. Anyway, we poured and then walked away with our free beers to check out the other activities. It was pleasant. I had cramps and my back hurt so didn't feel like participating too much. We ran into our friends Tim and Sue and Sue's mom, had a quick chat with them. After that we went to Sean Kelly's for dinner and home to Tiika.

The coolest part of the day was that a co-worker of mine won their contest that had him signing away the title of his car in exchange for a cool commuting bike and trailer. He has agreed to go car-free for the next year. A big deal even for a crazy biker like him. Way to go! If they post a story on the site, I'll put a link here.

ttfn