adios 0-8

lots has happened in 2008. i am just glad i had petey to find me the remote and shred cheese. hopefully 0-9 will be most excellent!

right now our house looks as if we've been burgled.. we can't help but start a packing spree then get distracted by something less stress inducing. just seven more days until the movers come to take it all away..

while peter was away in israel i spent most of my downtime shoveling the godforsaken snow, arranging furniture in my head and eating taco bell while driving. i also worked for moms and made some money. this past week we've been sorting, cleaning and assembling/filling boxes. it has been lame.

also been..
watching the spartans kick some golden grizzly ass
eating bbq meats at slows
daydreaming about how excellent it would be to live here
feeling confused but happy i did not find a this
listening to montel imitate barack in this commercial
watching the lions make history

lately

peter is gone and i've become more of a recluse than usual. i hope he is having a good time but who know since i haven't heard a peep from him.

last friday after dropping off the deposit for our new place [woo!] we ate a deep fried lunch and drove to annapolis. the streets were tiny and we saw lots of adorable old homes with holiday decorations.. and lots of girls wearing uggs.. and a store named "america!".. and the oldest uni in the states. next we went to the mall so peter could buy sandals for his trip. i found the cutest polka dot cutout peep toe pumps in the world. then we returned our prius and went to the airport..

our plane was broken. every half hour or so the pilot would come out and make an announcement at the gate counter. we watched that week's episode of the office and 30roock then three episodes of the wire [just started season 5] and looked for recognizable locations. after being in the airport for five or so hours, our flight was canceled. we re booked for 6am the next morning and got our hotel vouchers.. then waited an hour for the shuttle before giving up and taking cab.

we were grumpy and eager to use the entire $40 food coupon, so we went to the hotel bar and ordered enough food for a family of four. we sat in bed watching the darjeeling limited while i ate the better part of three entrees. i don't know how it all fit inside.

shortly after we passed out only to wake up three hours later to repack and go home. on the way back from the airport we had breakfast burritos from del taco and i tried not to drive off the road. that night we had my little sister and her boyfriend over for dinner then got krunk at the union. the night ended with peter playing chef and making quesadillas, as usual.

sunday we were back at the airport for peter's birthright trip. i tried not to drive off the road some more then lounged for the remainder of the day. that night we had a sleepover at johana's. i drank one too many glasses of carlo rossi and had to call it a night a bit early. it was not pretty. monday i waited around all day for the repair man.. not like i had other plans. but still. that night i bought christmas cards and spent some quality time at value world. today i drove to lansing, had lunch with jackie and did more thrifting. amazingly i didn't buy a thing. tomorrow i start working at my mom's office for a few days. bah.

baltimore, hon

baltimore has been good to us the last couple days [except for the incessant rain].. we ate good food and found an excellent new home in hollins market.

i cannot wait to have visitors!

boozing, baltimore + bi bim bap

this weekend was filled with lots of good times. friday we were hermits with val. saturday there was a snowstorm and i almost crashed at the end of our street. that night we drank vodka in the car, just like the old days, before going to see friends at the crowfoot. sunday was johana's [and my first ever] surprise party, organised by ad. we made cough syrup-esque jungle juice and celebrated birthdays with lots of friends. it was most excellent. monday we slept in, did not takes showers and ate too much hungry howies pizza for dinner.

today we made lots of phone calls.. well i made two and peter made many more. we have six appointments to look at places and plan on making a few more. it is good we are leaving tomorrow because our cupboards and fridge are depressingly bare. we made this for dinner [with petite tomatoes and extra parsley] and it looked like christmas.

wish us luck in baltimore. hooray!

p.s.

bibimbap - mmm.. so good.. delicious!

Bibimbap from Maangchi on Vimeo.

MI, money + mcgiver

being an adult is not as great as i expected it to be. it is awkward being in the same job pool as my parents and especially being concerned for my family's financial future.

in 1995 we lived in hyde park, NY and my dad worked at IBM, as did many of my classmates' parents. when they went bust my dad lost his job. over the summer, half the neighborhood moved out of state and my family was off to MI. my dad was lucky enough to find work at GM. 13 years later we're getting deja vu. our neighbor, an engineer at chrysler with a large family, was forced to take a buy out. my father in law decided to retire early after being offered a ford buyout two years ago. my father has lost half of his colleagues and fears his job will not survive past the end of the year.

i understand that much of the country does not have the perspective of those of us in MI. i also understand why america is so ant-socialist. those who start with nothing and earn things through hard work [or luck], the "american way," may not sympathise with those who need help, even if their situation is unavoidable. i was lucky enough to hold a national insurance card with my name on it. i also paid the taxes to fund it and, although i complained at the size of my paycheck, it was worth it. i did not having the fear i have now. last night i was cutting onions very carefully.. imagining chopping my finger off and having to give myself stitches, mcgiver style.

anyhow, i don't claim to be a economic or political expert, or even skilled writer. i'm sure my posts routinely reflect this. i do know we are lucky peter found a seemingly stable job. that's really all i was trying to say.

now that thanksgiving week is over i have gotten back into the delirium that is life without a job. the only reason i know what day it is is by what shows are on tv. oprah and dr. oz have convinced me i have ocd. i am a housewife with a stay-at-home husband and no kids.

besides watching a nauseating amount of daytime tv, i have been preparing to dispute a collection that is now being reflected in my credit report. this collection is tied to an unfortunate exacto knife accident that took place on thanksgiving-eve 2006 [thankfully i DID have insurance then]. for some reason i kept getting bills for the [worker's comp-covered] visit ER instead of my workplace.. even after i pointed out it was their bill to pay they took their sweet time paying, hence the collection. so, because i would like to be able to get a loan and purchase a home someday i need this fixed.

next week we are going to look for a place in baltimore. we have both been browsing apartments online and there are lots of hardwood floored, stooped, semi non-creepy row homes available. i can't wait to move in to a place and not move out a year later.

sorry much of this makes no sense.. here are some more coherent things to read:

the most dangerous cities have the worst NFL team
this is why people like me are afraid of guns
detroit schools have fewest students enrolled since WWI
does anyone else remember the lady who used to live here? greta really liked to wear scarves..
i have this book..
and this one too!

busting moves

part chaka part dusty.. i envy her small boobs.

yay!

today we feasted on this and this and this and some greens with pa charlie. we also celebrated with cava because peter got the job! we're moving to baltimore - the city that i've been borderline-obsessed with since falling into "the wire" abyss.. woo hooo.. hooray.. yippee!

also been drinking far too much and having chats with friends. it has been an excellent week.

saturday we get to visit 30 of my family members and eat a real, meaty thanksgiving supper up north. happy thanksgiving!

booze, books, birthday..

please buy something from my mom on ebay. i have spent the better part of three days cataloging, photographing and listing things for her for a commision. if i made 10$ i will be amazed. i will be listing things for weeks as she is a packrat and i need some dough.

last friday we went to the union with a friend of peter's and had some beers. they've added fancy chairs and stools to the MC. there was less spilled beer than usual. afterwards we went back to the house where i had some wine [in addition to the wine i had drank before the union..] then apparently fell asleep on the couch. johans visited and i gave her a fashion show with my sal army finds [or so i'm told] then fell asleep during an episode of bad girls club.

saturday felt poo-ish but had to go to the rents to begin my enterprise with ebay. i also played with lots of kittens and scooped lots of poo. when i got home that night val and timmy were visiting [timmy was sporting some serious 70s beard-face and long hair] and we all ate pizza and had chats. johans and ad joined us later on and we smoked some hookah. once again, i partook in one too many vodka/cranberries [apparently three is too many] and was put to bed early.

sunday i was feeling well beyond my [almost] 26 years. i had unfortenetly over-celebrated and had the hangover from hell all day.. while continuing to catalog ebay items and attempt to make fish stew, cheddar biscuits and a roasted root veggie salad for 12 of my closest family members. luckily by time dinner was over and it was time for cake and ice cream i was miraculously healed. woooo

monday was my for-real birthday.. i woke up feeling [finally] completely un-hungover and finished packaging and posting all ebay items. i packed my car full with boxes from the garage and spent the night looking through middle school yearbooks and high school photo class projects. although i did not do much to celebrate my birth i did eat leftover chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. and had birthday chats with some peeps.

today i spent some quality time with peter and henry. peter played with his facial hair. i cleaned house.

tomororw petey goes to baltimore and i will try not to get too lost while visitng sal army's along telegraph.

smart girls have more fun

cookbooks, chicago + childhood

last week i slept in a lot and slowly sorted books from around the house. there are lots. we've inherited the best and most complete set of veggie cookbooks and recipe clippings imaginable. there are four moosewood books. four! i am in cookbook heaven.

wednesday [i think it was wed.. all the days run together] i raked leaves with rubber dish washing gloves and got two very painful and unattractive blisters. by the next morning my efforts were unnoticeable.

thursday we reluctantly returned lucy to my parents and spent the night with the william's. i slept like a baby.. much better than the last time i was there..

friday we all went to visit kelly in chicago. we saw a monkey eat poo at the lincoln park zoo [ha that rhymes] then squeezed onto the L with lots of luggage on the way to ravenwood. we ate thai then had girls night starting at chicago brauhause where jackie danced the polka with a grandpa-type. after that we visited two other lincoln square establishments but i was too busy with girl talk and beers to pay attention to where we were.

saturday we are yummy diner breakfast at the ravenwood diner and then joined the tourists at millennium park and navy pier. it was cold. for dinner i ate too many french fries and the bestest seitan reuben at earwax. after we had beers at the hopleaf and saw the neo-futurists. there were butts. and balls. and boobs. the night ended with more drinks, calvin asleep in his car, peter insisting on a late night/early morning bowl of vietnamese noodle soup and some sleep walking and talking from val.

sunday we got back on the bus and took naps. the weekend was fuuuuuun.
yesterday i filled my car with boxes from my parents garage. they were filled with lots of childhood nonsense and fun memories.. italian lire and greek drachma.. the body to my buttercup powderpuff girls key chain.. my baby doll tisha tosha.. i also found a box of notes from elementary onwards and lots fo kids meal toys. i used to love kids meal toys. i found the angry beaver! i donated it to sal army, but i took a photo for posterity.

today we ate rangoli buffet then i raked more leaves. still no job.. i am getting used to this. i can sleep for 10 hours a night and it is heaven. go unemployment. kind of.

EDIT: remember the cryptic news in this post... now there are seven!

booya barak

"It's like we went away for the summer and lost all the weight and got contacts! And also a tan."

vote!

today we slept in, dug cardboard boxes out of the recycling bin, visited my little sister at work [the soon to be closed circuit city], got added to petey's checking account and made pizza for dinner. not being employed got old a couple weeks ago, but it allowed us to visit lansing and my old co-workers last monday and ypsi/ann arbor this past weekend.

friday we handed out candy to lots of cute children and drank margaritas. saturday evening we went to cousin holly's 40th birthday party and saw some family then were off to ypsi for a halloween party. i drank sparks and dressed as the bride of frankenstein. peter wore a bag on his head for a couple minutes.



sunday we all ate indian buffett at madras masala and peter browsed records at encore. the rest of the day was spent wallowing in self pity with a terrible hangover.

between frequent spells of stress due to unemployment and the forthcoming election, i have managed to load new photos of pets, foods and our trip to scotland.

don't forget to vote!

today's distressing discovery..

zima has been discontinued.

sally, scotland +.. stuff

we've been home for just over a week and are not missing manchester quite yet. our insane landlady sally [who has a name like sally anyhow?] keeps bringing up nonsense regarding our recently vacated flat.. like the dirty oven or the cracked fridge shelf. anyhow.. having more than two numbers saved in my mobile phone and spending the afternoon sneezing my way through value world beats our fancy bathroom and all the ever-present smell of pasties any day.

our last few days in the uk were spent drinking with wise old men in howarth then exploring rainy edinburgh and glasgow. it was a fitting send off and i will post photos when i figure out where my camera has gone.

now we are both enjoying autum while looking for employment and spending lots of time with henry-dog and lucy-cat.. and friends and family.

and i have been watching a lot of cable and drinking carlo rossi. two of my favorite things.

and this is the worst idea ever.

cologne, amsterdam, brussels, bruges, frankfurt, munich + berlin

this trip actually happened 12-26 august and photos are here. i took notes but they don't make any sense. this might be painful to follow..

day 1
according to my notes we ate tacos for breakfast then went to the bank to pay rent. the first train to the airport was canceled [as usual] but we made it in time to relax and eat boots sandwiches for lunch. i actually remember i got a [supposed] mexican three-bean wrap that had ploughman’s-style pickle on it. very strange. anyhow, since we bought the cheapest possible no-frills tickets with ryanair, our plane was incredibly tiny and cramped.. there wasn't even a seat back tray table. it wasn't bad for peter or i as we are fairly normal sized, but there was a giant 6-5''+ guy next to us that must have been in hell. it only took 90 minutes and we were in bremen [bremen is also known as the "the city of trams", fyi]. we then took a speedy tram[!] to the main train station where we are again, this time sandwiches from the wonderful nordsee. one pickled herring with onions [bad breath city] and one smoked salmon with hard boiled egg. using out very thrifty euro rail passes, we hopped on the first [giant, comfy and mostly empty] train and napped on the way to cologne.

in cologne we stayed at the station hostel for backpackers, about a five minute walk from the station. we made our beds then walked towards the university. there were tons of people riding bikes in cologne. they were mostly between 20 and 30 and adorable. if people were not riding bikes they were walking around drinking beers. it was a tuesday night. i wished for a few moments that i lived in cologne. we sat outside and ate dinner at restaurant magnus. the food wasn't very good [kind of like tgi fridays but less deep fried] but it was in an excellent people watching location. after dinner we bought ourselves some beers and, since it was our only night in town, wandered around for miles. we got rained on, walked along the river front and got lost in a construction site then went to bed.

day 2
for breakfast we bought sunflower rolls and soft cheese and made sandwiches then found then wandered back towards the rhine. eventually we found rhine river stadt, a riverfront park that was obviously designed in the 50s. there was even a very rat-pack-esque bar with lounge-ish beach chairs and stage overlooking the river.

for lunch we went back into town and bought expensive miniature cheese sandwiches and watched the living statues. our favorite was batman.. it looked like a halloween costume from meijer and the person in it was either an extremely tiny adult or a entrepreneurial child. we then went back to the hostel to get luggage on got on a train to amsterdam. when we got off the train it was particularly crowded so we just followed the mob into town. we stayed at the flying pig downtown hostel. it was another of those bar/hostels with a no-shoes-allowed chill area. with lots of strange dangling light fixtures. it made no sense. but we did get a giant wooden double-sized bunk bed so that was sweet.

we wandered a while around town trying not to get run down by the even more beautiful bike-riders. seriously everyone was adorable and there was a lot of double-riding going on as well. eventually we escaped to a quiet-ish road along one of the canals and sat in a coffee shop listening to stoner music and drinking excellent lattes. i do remember a couple of stoners sat next to us playing an unbelievably slow game of chess. it was strange. for dinner we ate at a very crowded moaz falafel place. i hope wherever we end up living has one of these nearby. you pay for a falafel then get to fill and re-fill it with yummy veggies including tomato salad, mixed [real, not pitted] olives, marinated carrots, etc, etc. it is the best idea because you can just keep eating as much as you like.. and i like to eat lots. after that we were so happy we actually braved our hostel for cheap happy-hour beers. we ended up getting free hoegartens and lounged outside listening to more stoner talk. when it got good and dark we wandered out to where it had been madness earlier in the day and enjoyed the tiny shops and amazing houses. before bed we had beers at a tiny, dark belgian bar then shared another falafel and ended the night with a stroll the red light district.

day 3
we woke up super early to take full advantage of the hostel breakfast which included warm hard boiled eggs, croissants and coffee [out of a machine, but not terrible]. we then set off to find conditioner for my fussy hair and then the farmers market. the weather was nice so we bought a red pepper, avocado, tomatoes, goat cheese and the most giant and juicy blackberries for a picnic. peter saved the day by finding a fork/knife and we also stopped into a shop for a loaf of seeded bread and a giant bottle of rose. we wandered around vondelpark a bit waiting for the grass to dry then found a good spot in the sun then feasted like hobos and drank wine from tiny cups i had stolen from the coffee machine. while we lounged we watching a giant long-haired dog try to play soccer with a group of teenagers. he most definitely had doggy add because he kept at it [without ever actually getting the ball] for a good 45 minutes.

after lots of relaxing we walked around and eventually back to the hostel where we rested for a bit then had more happy-hour hogarten and used the internets. we spent the evening walking all over the place and out of town trying to find a decent place to eat. eventually we decided to go back into town and have thai at bird thai. it is a teeny-tiny place where you can stand on the sidewalk and watch two cute ladies made food in a miniature kitchen. the dining room was equally miniature [and hot and steamy] and we had to squeeze into our seats but it was worth it and delicious. petey had veggies with tofu and i had fish ball soup with rice noodles and lots of cilantro. after we walked it off and ended up back in the red light district trying to find another belgian bar to pee at but we decided we didn't want to go to after all so we had to pee in good old mcdonalds. we finished the night sitting along a canal and snapping photos.

day 4
woke up early again to munch on free breakfast and got on a train to brussels. on the way we saw moms on bikes with pouty kids on the back.. presumably they were on their way to school. it was so far from what i'm used to.. a mom van full of kids with pop tarts. so, we got to brussels in the early afternoon and it was disturbingly quiet and hideous. really. some of the first people we saw looked like vagrants drinking cans of generic beer in a park-ish square. and we saw lots of cops. probably because we didn't have a map and were wandering into the no-so-nice part of town. we wandered grumpily looking for an open restaurant but there were none. apparently it was some sort of religious holiday [it was a friday!] and every single business we passed was closed.. h&m.. even chi chi's. AND our hostel's reception desk was closed for a couple hours so we were homeless. we did eventually find a shop and bought supplied to make [more] cheese sandwiches, which we ate in another depressing park/square with more down-and-out looking men [one taking an afternoon nap just across from us] drinking beer from cans. eventually we made out way back into town and were able to at least drop our bags off at the hostel, but at this point we were hating brussels pretty hard. after more wandering we bought some peanuts to snack on while we sat in another park and discussed how exceptionally disappointing brussels was so far. it was nearly as dirty as england.. with seemingly pointless graffiti all over the place. there were tons of empty store fronts and loitering drunk men.. and we saw more coppers in the first half hour than we have in the past six months and how everything [except belgian beer] seemed ridiculously expensive, even by UK standards. not to mention the drivers from hell who speed up when they see you trying to cross the street and honk on a whim.

luckily after we checked in the whining stopped. our hostel, 2G04 quality hostel [strange name..] was much nicer than it looked for the outside. our room even had restored, original wooden carvings along the [very high] ceiling and giant windows. we sat in the common room and circled all the interesting things on the very excellent map the hostel provided then ate vietnamese food then explored. our second impression of the city was much better. we did see a guy hop off his bike and take a pee right in front of us [as well as the hundreds people in cars that drove by] but the mix of 80s architecture, abandoned buildings and strangely placed monuments was familiar. after being in perfect amsterdam brussels felt less like disney land and more like what we were used to [detroit].

so, we drank beers in warandepark parc de bruxelles, just in front of the royal palace. a giant group of hippies joined us for a bit, as did a group of local teenagers who [unknowingly] serenaded us through the bushes with guitars and songs sung in french. it was strange but good. after the beers and more wandering and trying to find some place to pee, stumbled upon a giant rollerblade race, then headed back towards the hostel in search of some late night frietkot but sadly everything was closed. we did find a few transvestite-looking prostitutes though. and that was exciting.

day 5
woke up early [it is hard to sleep in when you know the hostel showers will be covered in someone else’s hair if you dare] and drank too much horrible [complimentary] machine-coffee from the hostel and headed to the vossenplein flea market at place du jeu de balle [i don't know what that means but i took it right from my excel spreadsheet, so it should be accurate]. it was the coolest flea market i have ever seen. just lots of people with tables full of old goodies that filled up an entire square. one old man had a huge collection of old sun and prescription glasses, glasses cases, pipes, pipe cases and amazing old keys. sadly i did not purchase anything. afterwards we bought pastries and wandered around the neighborhood. we found a carnival where an old carnie was hanging out with his enormously overweight pup. then.. we went back to the flea market because i wanted a second look but still couldn't find anything.. and i was afraid of speaking my broken french.

after lots of rummaging we stared a sight-seeing walking tour [following our map, not a tour guide] ad walked a long long way.. found a few vintage shops from my spreadsheet and then sat on a bench and ate our first real frietkot from a cute little stand near botulism pond. that's not what it is really called, but you get the idea. while we were sitting a little boy peed his pants as his mother carried him, arms outstretched, towards the nearest patch of grass. it was funny. the kid had no idea what the big deal was about either. next we checked out the farmers market that ran along the pong and bought more ingredients for a picnic.. tomatoes, strawberries and yummy marinated lives. we also picked up some bread, cheese, beer, framboise and the cheapest box wine [1euro 79!] from a shop then headed towards parc leopold [which also had a botulism pond]. it was super sunny so we found a good spot away from duck poos and ate and drank. an older lady disrobed [not completely] and sunbathed next to us. it was cute. we didn't stay very long because we had forgotten to bathe peter in sunscreen, so we continued on our walking tour until we eventually ended up back in the tourist area, and joined the herd to see the gigantic flower carpet. it was very crowded and i got the pedestrian version of road rage.

after that we had to take a nap so it was back to the hostel, but not before i found a very cute white and blue polka dot 80s ruffle shirt/dress [which i wore pretty much every day for the rest of the trip] at sussies. we drank post-nap beers at the caravan bar then went back to eat fresh rolls [our homemade rolls were way better..] and some pho at the vietnamese place from the night before. after that we weren't sure what to do so we decided to check out the free view of the city.. this involved taking a rickety old elevator to the top of a parking garage. it was strange. eventually we ended up back at warandepark where we finished off the box wine and had a photo shoot. that night there was some sort of dance event at the pavilion so there was loud bid bad music playing and we sat and reminisced about the good old days [it was almost our one year wedding anniversary, so we were allowed]. we eventually headed back to the hostel after some nighttime sight seeing and ate more fries on some dirty garbage stairs.

day 6
for some reason some of our hostel-mates had a difficult time shutting the door / going to bed, etc. so we got poo sleep and slept in a big. we are leftover picnic cheese toast with tomatoes and strawberries for breakfast then caught a tram [with leather interior] to the train station then a train to bruges. please see this post...

day 7
so, we get on the train to frankfurt and manage to find the only two unreserved seats and are thankful because it is a four hour journey. of course our sandwiches taste like death but we had eaten A LOT of free toast and coffee at the hostel in bruges so it wasn't so bad. we both napped until we got into town and checked into the colour hotel. it was strange. every floor was a different color [there were only five i think] and our bathroom/shower was across the hall, but we had our own room with a tv and big bed so it was fine by me. we relaxed for a bit until we were starving then set out to find good foods. we were about three blocked from our hotel when we saw this scared looking lady back into a doorway to TAKE A HIT OFF HER CRACK PIPE. it was about two in the afternoon and we were in the financial district of frankfurt, so men in suits were all about. about two minutes later we are standing next to two chatting business men, waiting to cross a busy street when a guy drinking a beer/riding a bike rides right up to us. he gets crazy eyes and starts yelling at the business men, spitting and repeatedly calling them swine. they mostly stay quiet and laugh to each other a bit, but i for one was freaked out. apparently this must happen to men in suits quite often [i'm sure not] because the drunk biker rode away and everyone pretended nothing had happened. i'm just glad we didn't get angry man spit all over us.

peter had spent three weeks in frankfurt when he was still working for continental in the winter of 05 so he supposedly knew how to get around. but, after looking for a mysterious thai place for 45 minutes we gave up and ate more nordsee sandwiches for lunch. there was lots of wandering until we finally found the thai place near sachenhausen and ate foods. there was also small a polka festival [just guessing] where lots of over 65's were enjoying beers, sausages and loud music in the street. also walked around museum district and sat by the river main to watch the friendly swans and rowers. after a bit of resting we walked back into town to see the opera house lit up at night and through the red light district where we didn't see any girls but tons of coppers. then we had a sober night and watched funny over-dubbed american tv and soft core porn commercials until we passed out.

day 8
we slept in until late-ish and ate more cheese sandwiches from a bakery for breakfast. the weather was poo so we went into every shoe store we could find in search of some new sneakers for petey. we eventually gave up and found the modern art museum where there was a nice bernard buffet. the building was strange and had lots of overlooks and cubbyholes and weird notes written in corners. we like it. for lunch we ate thali style at an empty indian place and saw a car accident [just a rear-ender] which was out entertainment. it kept raining so we went to see a turkish cartoon exhibit at another small museum. too bad for us the cartoons were in turkish and only translated into german. it kind of stopped raining so we headed towards the university where it rained some more. we had lattes then walked lots, found parks with outdoor ping pong tables and tried to get in the botanical garden but it was not free so we changed out minds. eventually we bought bread, incredibly cheap smoked herring, cucumber, cheese and wines to eat for dinner back at the hotel.. then more tv and sleep.

day 9
caught an early train to heidelberg where we are leftover sandwiches and bananas for early lunch. we walked through town and saw a billion bakeries and some excellent second hand stores. there was also a spanish family singing incredibly loudly. like yelling loud. we found the castle and climbed lots of stairs to see [peter's favorite] giant keg and the scenic view. back in town we stopped to eat pastries then got back on the train to munich.

on the way we watched city of men which passed the time nicely. our hostel in munich was another wombats so we were sure not to stick around. luckily there was a reasonable sushi place where we ate dinner and watched as people continued to line up until the line was all the way out the door. we were happy we didn't have to wait because when i'm hungry i get angry at the world and we would have had to ditch sushi for more cheese sandwiches. after yummy dinner we walked around and got somwhat lost but finally ended up at the ginormous hofbrau house and drank giant beers. our entertainment for the night was a group of japanese tourist who had befriended a professional-wrestler-ish german drunkard. it brought back warm memories of our night at the hofbrau house in chicago where our ginger friend dan broke a beer glass then got us kicked out of a friends apartment by trying pee in a closet. on the walk home we ate falafel then went to bed. we also had a sassy british roommate [and two spanish roomies too] but i cannot remember much about her.. just wanted to note that for posterity.

day 10
woke up early again and ate hostel breakfast. i would like to note the vast selection of speads we have encountered: nutella, fake nutela, honey, butter, cheese spread, herbed cheese spread and potted meat spead. it was very impressive. we also drank lots of good coffee then took and train then bus to dachau. there were lots of americans and dachau was hideous, but i guess that is expented, considering its purpose. we wandered around lots and wondered why some tourists felt they needed to take photos of cremation ovens. back in town we ate stolen apples [from breaskfast] with fake nutella spread and tried to figure out where to have late lunch. our hostel map said led us to an imaginary restraunt [number 2!] but luckily we found a tiny korean place across the street where a cute old guy made us yummy lunch.

after foods we walked around the universtity areas a bit looking for cool shops but it was mostly really quiet but really pretty. also meandered through englischer garten where we saw an entire family of nude sunbathers plus plenty of other extra-tan nudies frolicing around. we also saw an older man wearing liederhosen ride by with a live pet duck on the back of his bike. there was also a scary-fast river where people apparently surf. it was gorgeous. next we went to pinakothek der moderne museum. it had the coolest bathrooms i've ever seen. i wanted to take a photo but was too embarassed as there were other ladies in there with me. besides the toilets, there was a good mix of exhibits including one on 50s architecture, photographs of [mostly hate-] crime scenes around germany, a nazi themed francis bacon and the special exhibit called "girl problems." lots of good female-themes art with some trannies and drag queens mixed in.

it was 8-ish when we left and getting cold so we had to go back to the hostel to put pants on and then we were starving so started walking towards paulander beergarten. we got pretty lost so asked the only people we could find for directions. this happened to be a 12-year old boy who assured us he spoke english. he [kindof] told us to go up a road then over something.. then we were supposed to "tick-tock".. we still don't know what that means, but after another half-hour or some we found it. it was much classier than hoffbrau with candles on the table and elivator music outside. we drank beers and ate sausages, sour kraut, pretzels with mustard and reclette. a cute older couple sat near us took several after-dinner-shots and we wished we were as cool as them. after we walked some more then went to bed.

day 11
ate more hostel breakfast and made extra cheese and mustard sandwiches for the road then got on a train to berlin. we started watching season one of the wire and the kid sat in front of us kept peeking over the top of his seat to see what was going on. we had headphones on but were worried he might see a stripper so tried to shoot him dirty looks as much as possible. it was a long train ride so we also ate sandwiches and napped. after the train ride we waited at the bus stop with some scary looking characters then took a bus into town to the circus hostel. they gave us a tiny, illegible map so we went to the wombats hostel to steal one of theirs then wandered around the riverfront and monuments and sat to eat one more cheese sandwich. after some more wandering we were caught in a downpour so we got ice cream and hid under a bridge until it let up.

next we checked out some shoe shops then got a beer at marcus-bräu brewery. there were lots of plastic plants and it was depressing. we had hoped to eat there but the menu read like a school cafeteria so we walked in circles trying to find someplace to eat. we tried and failed to find a thai place but got desperate and popped into a tiny italian deli/restaurant. the people sitting at the picnic tables out front looked happy and had clean plates so we went off that. we bought a 3euro bottle of wine and two bowls of pasta for a total of about 12euro. we then sat outside where they corked and poured our wine and we feasted on the most delicious pasta. it was actual italian food from an italian mom and dad and it was the best food we ate all trip. we were happy so went back to the hostel bar and drank beers then went to bed.

day 12
we planned to get brunch at a very good sounding place so we skipped hostel breakfast and set out walking. we found the street the restaurant was on and began to look for #60. we walked and walked and 10 or so blocks later the road ended at #59. we asked a man walking his dog for help and he said we had to go back to the beginning of the road as the addresses above #59 went in the other direction. ha! so we has to walk all the way back. there was a kids fun park and lots of pretty residential streets on the way but we were starving. i ate a packet of fake nutella. when we finally found the restaurant it was excellent and spent a couple hours drinking coffee and orange juice, eating fruit, cheese, eggs and a giant basket of bread.

after stuffing ourselves we spent the early afternoon visiting lots of vintage and second hand shops. there were some good stuff but it was ridiculously expensive and it just made me miss home and real thrift stores. for a lunch/snack we shared currywurst and fries at the very same stand anthony bourdain ate at - konnepke's. it was a deep fried hot dog with ketchup and curry powder on top. i don't quite get the hype, but i'm not known to turn down a hot dog under any circumstances.

i forgot what we did after currywurst, but in the evening we walked down to see the berlin wall then took the train back and ate more italian food at the deli/restaurant. after that we bought beers and wandered around downtown and in the jewish memorial. we ended the night back at the hostel bar where a large group of french teens were drinking beer from a giant two liter boots. then to bed.

day 13
we ate a giant breakfast at the cafe attached to your hostel.. caprese salad, hard boiled eggs, fruit and bread. the weather was poo and it poured constantly on our walk to the judisches museum. once there we had to wait in line then we stayed inside for a good four hours. after that we warmed up with ginger and mint tea and spicy foods at monsieur vuong. we also wanted to visit rogacki like anthony bordain so we took the train and a long walk out to west berlin to find it was closed. back in town we finished our trip with a final german-tastic dinner at weihenstephan that included pretzels, schnitzel. sausages, kraut and beers.

day 14
we took the train back to bremen for one night. not much to mention here. by this point we were ready to be back home in manchester and this pretty much made us hate bremen. we sat in bed and watched the wire for three or four hours then went to sleep and flew home! hooray!

bah

last weekend was out second-to-last british weekend. we were supposed to go to the west coast on the train but the weather was awful. instead we stayed in town, ate cheeseburgers, toured salford and took photos of our favorite places for posterity.

today we ate this and that for the last time [maybe] and i bought five pairs of tights at primark. i figure now that we're moving home i don't have to worry that every 17-year old girl i pass will be wearing the same 8pound dress i have on.

and.. i found this list of brittans top 100 most annoying things. it is good to know americans [#66] are not as annoying as constipation [13] or diarrhea [42]. phew.

at this moment we are in the midst of picking out what things we can do without for the next week so they can be shipped home ahead of time. because i this i need to recycle the million museum pamphlets and maps from vacation.. so i am going to attempt another long winded play-by-play...

oh, and my absentee ballot came on saturday so i have officially voted. thank goodness.

day tripping: blackpool

last saturday we went to blackpool. it was warm-ish and sunny and we had an excellent time walking the promenad and piers, people watching and exploring the pleasure beach amusment park. we also ate fish + chips + [canned] peas that tasted like a school lunch.. and saw some strange people and strange good [check out the osama bin laden masks]. the highlight of the day was the steeplechase ride. we didn't actually ride it, but we watched other people ride it and that was enough.

today i brought in crispy cremes as my almost-last-day-of-work treat. i hadn't had a doughnut since i worked in lansing and almost forgot how heavenly they were. i wish they made doughnut perfume. that reminds me.. there was a quality dairy [neither peter or i could remember the name of the store.. i had to google "lansing convenince store".. we are old] doughnut factory down the road from my apartment in lansing. every morning you could smell doughnuts in the air. i think it was the best part of living there. that and the thrift stores. and pablos. but that was about it.

anyhow, i am anticipating a lot of things in the next 12 days, but mainly just looking forward to going home. i am also dedicating the rest of my time here to visit and photograph my favorite manchester-ish things. happy almost-friday.

the final countdown

we will be home in t minus 19 days.
we will be hosting a [very long overdue] early fall waffle gathering.

hooray!

i ♡ franz ferdinand and fridays.. falafels..

finally re-downloaded franz fernidand's first album. i listened to this album lots when petey and i first started dating. brings back lots o memories. mostly of making out and/or driving home [to east lansing.. shaw hall actually] after making out. it is all very nostalgic and romantic. so romantic that i just kicked a glass of rose off the coffee table and all over the carpet.

today we slept in, ate eggs and toast then walked up to cheetham hill for the best green grocer/grocery store. ate some macaroons. found an excellent navy suit for petey's interview this friday. wish him luck. this would be excellent! then we went into town and got grumpy due to the large amount of slow walkers clogging market street. it is seriously ridiculous.

anyhow, we're enjoying our very fair-weather, rain-free weekend. it is a miracle.

p.s. i shared laurie's hummus recipe with a co-worker this week. he asked about tahini. i said it was sometimes used on falafels. he asked if falafels were jewish. i just stopped taking.

bruges, bunkbeds + barak obama

i just read this and laughed until my eyes teared up. it reminded me that i haven't run down our trip. i am not going to now because i am lazy, but i will document a funny story. well, i think it's funny. you probably won't.

so. we got to bruges on a very wet sunday morning and checked in to our hostel. they told us what beds we were in and we stashed the bags in storage as our room was still occupied. but, the good thing about bruges [and brussels and antwerpt, even though we didn't go there] is that some company had provided the hostels with excellent, very cheap-traveler friendly maps with excellent suggestions on where to eat and what to see. so, we consulted the map and found a place where the owner looks like freddy mercury and you can get 3 euro spaghetti. because we had spent the night before drinking an entire box of wine in the park [that only cost 1.92 euro] we were hungover and needed drunk belly meal. so, we found said restraunt, medard, drank cheap belgian beer and ordered large spaghettis, even though freddy thought we might be better off with the smaller size. i told him i could handle it. when our bowls arrived, filled with [what looked like an entire pound of] pasta covered with cheddar [why?] cheese i felt a little sick but tried to eat it all. peter kindof accomplished this but i failed.

anyhow, after the pasta we were zombies and tried to walk it off.. we climbed the tower [which looked nothing at all like the one in the movie] and walked along the canals, checked out some shops and got stuck in a rain storm. eventually we made it back to the hostel, got our bags and went to check out our rooms. first we had to squeeze ourselves and our bags up a very scary free-standing spiral staircase that moved with every step. it was dangerous. then we saw out room was the first exit for the third floor. there was a sign on the door that read "in case of emergency all key cards work on this door." which really meant "anyone can get into this room at any time!" anyhow, we had a fire escape/balcony so i guess it made up for it. there were two bunk beds in the room and bed #1 had mr. man beach towels on it so we went for the far bunk bed thinking those two beds were ours. while peter changed and hot on the interweb i made the bottom bunk for us [with two pillows] and hung our towels on the top bunk to air out. we also met our australian roommie who was going to take a nap after staying out [until 6am.. what! we're too old!]. having made out bed for the night we peaced out to go find a grocery store. we got kindof lost of walked in circles around town but finally found a market that was jsut about to close. all the normal bread was bought up so we grabbed what looked like whole wheat pitas, red pepper, tomatoe, zuccini and goat cheese. and three bars of cote d ore chocolate. [we still have one and a half left!] back i the hostel kitchen i made sandwiches for the next day's train ride [just like my mom used to for road trips] and headed off to eat dinner.

i was hungry for ice cream and frites so we consulted the map again and found a close place named cafe brituur snack. it turned out to be an american themed diner filled a couple old farts who were drinking tiny glasses of beer chatting. we ordered frites and burgers from the lady with a blonde bouffant hairdo and 60s style eyeliner and sat down in a little booth with a mini-table-side jukebox. peter went up to get a beer and started speaking to one of the old farts. when we heard we were american he yelled out "barak obama!" and called us yankees. he also brought his adorable flemish sheep dog to meet us. he was a very friendly guy. after eating we went went to see the old windmills and wandered town for a while. it was so quiet and you could see into everyone's windows. made me feel like a creeper. eventually we bought beers and sat around in the park. we spotted a kitty stalking the ducks near the pond and, using my skills, eventually got her to come over and hang out for a while. she was very purry and obviously someone's lovey house cat. i wanted to steal her.

because we were leaving for frankfurt the next day we figured we had better go and try as many belgian beers as we possibly could. with guidance from the map [again!] we went to brugs beertje bar, the only brewpub in town. it was tiny and crowded and smokey and everyone was having a good time. especially the giant table of brits and australians [including our wino roomie] sitting across the room. anyhow, peter and i tried a few of their specialities and chatted until we got sleepy and headed home, stopping in quick [the belgian equivalent to mcdonalds] to use the restroom.

when we got back to the room i spotted a very large pair of yellow crocks in front of our bunk bed. i knew that our roomie was a petite girl so i thought she may have borrowed them from a large-footed, crock-wearing man. so i moved them so they were in front of her bunk. peter, of course. took our his laptop, sat down on the bottom bunk and started doing whatever he does on the internet. i took my pants off and brushed my teeth then went for a pee, then changed into pjs and sat down next to peter. i was sitting there for a few seconds before i realized there were infact an asian man sleeping in the bed. he was the owner of the mysterious yellow crocks and he was sleeping with both our pillows in the bed i so lovingly made earlier that day. he was also a very heavy sleeper, or thought i was a voyeur. anyhow, i laughed at peter's inability to realise when he was sitting on someone and was angry that he stole out bed and two pillows! i then had to make the other bottom bunk and we had to share. i was angry.

the next morning we got up and showered early to be first to enjoy free breakfast. i am greedy like that. and i don't like people to watch me eat 5 pieces of toast. mr yellow crocks sits down at the table next to us and i make peter apologize for sitting on him. instead of apologizing fo sitting on him and disrupting his slumber, peter tells him he slept in our bed and he should pay more attention to the bed he is assigned. a few minutes later they start talking all about traveling and engineering so its no big deal. turns out he is from korea and we are the stupid ones and made his bed for him instead of one of our own.

that is it.

oh, and we discovered that those sandwiches i made were the most disgusting things imaginable. the "pita bead" was actually sickly sweat and that mixed with goat cheese and red pepper tasted like a regurgitated meal.

lost in leeds

simba, take I and II
petey being attacked by a bee in howarth
fish + chips in leeds
neighborhood near uni. leeds






friday we went to the mackie's for dinner and very entertaining conversions. to get there we took a train to stalybridge then a very nauseating bus ride [winding through some yorkshire moores] to howarth. also on the bus was a middle-aged hiker who had asked the bus driver for some assistance finding his way. no less than three other local passengers took that as their queue to grab the bus schedule he was studying out of his hands and repeatedly advise him of the route they thought he should take. it was entertaining.

upon our arrival we caught up with the summer's events, which included a string of bad luck. thankfully after family dinner and wine the conversation became cheerier. topics included, but were not limited to, conspiracy theories regarding the US and UK government, german robots, england's pub culture, frank zappa, that notorious russian christmas party in clarkston [circa 1976], cuban cat-cuisine and traveling europe as an actual starving artist. we chatted until past bed time then ate cheese and biscuits then fell asleep by the fire place.

in the morning we bonded with the family pets [simba the old rickety persian and mac the henry-lookalike] and ate pie before wandering town a bit and setting off to leeds. i had spend most of friday morning at work making a list of vintage stores to visit. i included detailed directions for each and even found some cheap restaurants. unfortunately i forgot to print it out so we only had a map and my fickle memory to guide us. we did find one decent store from my list, then stumbled upon an excellent and very busy fish + chip shop. but then we wandered north and got lost trying to locate the notorious hyde park and the surrounding shops. we never did find it, but did get to see the ivy-covered neighborhood around uni. leeds and a very sketchy housing estate.

back in manchester we sat in st. ann square while petey recorded the terrible [but very well dressed] cover band and the tail end of an art market. afterwards we picked up some faux gordons gin and ate leftover fish pie [take II was much better than the first attempt] with green beans for dinner.

today we did not leave the apartment. the only thing worth mentioning is the very momoun's-ish lentil soup i made for dinner.

please observe the current 'most popular' page on NYTimes.com:
it seems as if the editorial team as well as the informed public have some concerns over that lady who looks like lemon.