A Slice of It

Washing the (Off)White Away

eminco — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:30:40 +0000

It has been slow moving. Quite literally. I have v e r y s l o w l y been moving all of my stuff over to the new house.

Why?

Because many experienced home owners have provided me with insight:

Paint everything FIRST. (And complete any larger tasks you can first… But I may have to wait a while for that. Details later.)

As thankful as I am for all of the advice, I really want things to move more quickly… but with white trim that needs to be completely repainted, it seems like I am going nowhere fast. At least the fireplace was a slightly more beige-y color than the otherwise dingy moulding. It was actually somewhat rewarding to paint this puppy (note, the walls have been primed, but not painted… it seems the living room is giving me a bad case of the second-guesses):

MUCKY BEFORE

BETTER (?) PROGRESS

Not so exciting? Sorry, it’s been a bit lonely around Casa del Beau lately… It’s the little things that get me through the next project. Speaking of… I have a built-in to finish designing. Stay tuned.

Slow and Steady…

eminco — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 02:52:34 +0000

… I wonder how that quote translates when there is no race to win?

As far as Beau is concerned, she is happy with small changes. We are still getting to know one another, so I’m trying not to push her too far. Today, the greenery around Beau’s neck had to go. It was a simple procedure, but made quite the difference:

BEFORE

IMPROVEMENT

I know, not a huge difference, but improvement nonetheless. See those paint swatches two pictures back? Those are the future of Beau. I decided to go with a Sea Glass palette as I am in love with all things outdoors-inspired without it being kitschy or overly lodge-y… Besides, who couldn’t use a little sea-inspired serenity?

As far as what goes where, the kitchen will be a light and bright blue (as seen in the above picture). Progress is being made in this area–at least in reference to the beginning stages:

PROGRESS

I’m hoping that using Olympic No VOC primer will help to minimize coats of paint (and hopefully minimize costs in the end). So far, I’ve spent 33 dollars in home improvement materials (paint samples, primer, paint brush)… I have no estimate for what the damage will be in the end* but I’ll do my best to save receipts and do budget updates as I go.

Happy Painting to Me.

*as stated in the beginning, there is no true end, I feel, in this home improvement project. Fine by me!

Too Little Too Late?

eminco — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:20:27 +0000

So I’ve not been on here.

Short story: It’s been a busy year. I moved back to Missouri, watched/helped (a little) my best friend get herself hitched, bought a house, moved into that house, got a real job, and generally just changed my life.

Shorter Story: I’m back to blogging because I’m bored.

So, from here, where will the ol’ blog go?

Have fun watching me ~~fix up~~attempt to fix up my newest investment…

Meet Beau, my new-to-me bungalow:

She (yes, Beau is a she… and she really loves her gender-neutral name) is my first big life event– other than my move to Colorado. And she is CERTAINLY the first event in my life that makes me think that I am growing up too fast. I may have had a moment of cold-feet for a second, but true love won out and I am excited to introduce her now.

As for that wedding. All the best wishes for Bekah and Patrick. You are a beautiful couple and I am so lucky to have been a part of your big life event. Even if it was a wee bit stressful at times… After all, we will only remember the good times in the years to come. Here’s to you!

Ooohpa!

Adventures in Wanderland

eminco — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:01:17 +0000

I will admit, some times, it is a bit lonely here. I love my family and miss them.

A lot.

*sigh*

But… this isn’t a sad post. ‘Cause my mom came to visit! We had so much fun. We ate. We laughed. We ate some more. We walked around in between even more meals.

Good times.

Here is the evidence:

A sweet pear and rum crepe at Crepes & Crepes,

a mussels-and-lobster dinner (and chocolate cake dessert!) at Le Central (why yes, I did play with the lobster claws… It’s a shame Mom has the only photo…),

A visit to the Aquarium. Where we met many a fine friend!

This poor guy was being harassed by Sharky…

While I posed with him…

…and gawked at the awkward sex-life of Giant Groupers.

Photo Opps!

And Mom’s favorites… the jellies…

Mmm… speaking of jelly (*cough-donuts-cough*)…

here is one of the prettier desserts we devoured over the weekend.

Thank you, d Bar!

And thank you, Mom, for visiting me. Nothing like a girls’ weekend out.

Now excuse me while I plan your next visit…

Welcome to the Past Time of a Nightwalker…

eminco — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:21:24 +0000

Move over Necessity, you’re no longer the mother of Invention. Make way for…

Insomnia!

That’s right. When Bill Swets failed to grow somnolent in the night, he pursued a more noble cause than sleep: art. Over the past 25 years, Mr. Swets has birthed more than 160 little (or gargantuan) metal imps, aliens, dinosaurs, and bugs. And a few sad little men to boot. Poor guy:

Others were a bit less despondent… but exponentially more mischievous. This guy had it out for my friend’s car:

And this one? Well… read here for a brief overview of a certain 1996 scandal.

So… in case you are in need of a nice, quiet, whimsical day off, head to the metal playground of the Swets family. The Zoo is located at 4801 E. Harmony Road in Fort Collins. Say hi to Bill for me! (The metal one, that is.)

I’m famous!

eminco — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 05:14:42 +0000

Now, not only am I related (if only in name) to the Broadway actress, but I can also claim name-fame for this whimsical commercial:

(I hope I have that much spunk when I’m old!)

The Friendly Ghost

eminco — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 07:09:05 +0000

Meet Casper! The newest addition to my FoCo family:

He’s only a temporary addition–I am watching him for a Libyan friend who is going home for a month– but he is already filling the much appreciated positions of comedian and snuggle-buddy. He presented his first act of buffoonery as he attempted to hop his fat butt onto my bed. He failed his first attempt, but mastered the bouncing technique on try number two!

Blueberry Hill

eminco — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 03:03:14 +0000

I think I remember a dirty joke from my elementary years that had something to do with blueberry hill…

Moving on.

The point of today’s lesson is not, in fact, vulgar in nature– it is that blueberries can easily turn an already delicious biscuit into something ambrosial. Case in point:

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits with

Warm Blueberry Compote

It even looks like something the gods would eat…

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

11/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups cake flour (or pastry flour)

9 Tbs cold vegetable margarine, cubed (or 1/2 cup + 1 tbs)

1 1/2 cups vegan buttermilk (I made my own by mixing 1 1/3 cup almond milk with 3 tsp of apple cider vinegar)

2 Tbs Earth Balance, melted

PREHEAT OVEN TO 450*

WHISK together all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

PULSE together (in a blender) cake flour (or pastry flour), margarine, and butter. Blend just until the fats are mixed with the flour and form pea-sized flakes. Add the all-purpose flour mixture and blend until barely mixed. DO NOT OVER MIX!

ADD the buttermilk to the butter/flour mixture and slowly pulse just until mixed. Again, do NOT over mix.

TURN the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until the dough starts to hold together. Pat (don’t roll) the dough into a 1 inch thick circle. Using a SHARP knife or biscuit cutter, cut the dough into ten or twelve pieces. (I cut them into squares and a few triangles…)

BAKE the biscuits on a prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter during the last few minutes of baking.

NOTES:

Once again, do NOT over mix the dough! This will make the biscuits tough by breaking down the wheat flour and forming gluten strings (what makes dough stretchy). You want light and fluffy!

Make sure you use a SHARP knife or cutter to cut the dough. If not, the dough will be compressed, will not rise properly, and will be too dense. Also, don’t twist the cutter if you’re using a round cutter.

Blueberry Compote

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen blueberries

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

1 Tbs margarine (unsalted, or if salted, omit the rest of the salt)

pinch of salt

ON MEDIUM HIGH HEAT, mix together blueberries, sugar, butter, and salt in a small pot. Stir until the blueberries become soft and dark blue. Using a masher, mash the berries into a pulp, leaving a few for texture. Bring to a simmer and continue stirring until the sauce thickens and sticks to the spoon.

Serve immediately over fresh, hot biscuits!

I’m Just the Dog…

eminco — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 05:28:27 +0000

Side note: The past few weeks have been busy! I am now tutoring a woman who is getting her MA in apparel and merchandising (as well as tutoring Naema on occasion), working full time, and still volunteering at the IEP at CSU… and… I have decided to go back to school. So add GRE prep to the mix and this girl has few spare hours in the day… Anyway, enough excuses. On to the post:

Few things are as exciting as stumbling upon the Estes Park treasure known as Elk Fest. Yes, Ruth, Jess, and I travelled to Estes/Rocky Mountain National Park to view the beautiful fall foliage and we greeted by the enormous occasion dedicated to the wapiti of Rocky Mounts.

A quick decision was made to change our initial plans and go “elk hunting.”

…but we quickly became distracted by a few more-fierce inhabitants of the hills:

The stunning (and sleepy) Willow the Wolf.

The terrifyingly agile Beaky Bill.*

And…

The slightly more whimsical (and cute!) Rudy the Owl.*

After animal hour, it was time to venture to the Stanley. They tried to make us pay, but we showed them! A 10 minute hike from downtown Estes was definitely worth the $1.66 we each saved. After all we would have never discovered this gem:

I would likely maim a moose for views like these:

Oh, Dear Stanley! How I’ve missed your pretensions and general horror…

Well, we couldn’t leave without at least one (or 37) creepy picture(s). I think we freaked out a few of the guests with these shots.

And speaking of shots, no, we did not kill any elk. Or moosen for that matter. But we did enjoy shooting the beautiful outdoor wilderness know as RMNP. My camera died almost immediately upon entrance, but I feel it’s better to observe with your naked eye as opposed to through a viewfinder. At least occasionally.

I can’t complain. The day was a marvelous 12 hours of fun, food, friends, illegal hiking, bandana stealing, and elk hunting. And wolf petting. And barefoot tramping… and picture opps like this:

God bless you, Enos Mills.

————————————————————————————–

*I won’t lie, I made up names. I couldn’t resist. The birds were presented by Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, but I was to enthralled by Bill’s 180 degree head turn to pay attention to his monitor. Hey, the names could be right for all I know…

Miso Full!

eminco — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:15:03 +0000

Okay, that is quite the vapid/pathetic/dopey title, but it is true! I lead a conversation group and tonight, at our first official meet-up, we decided to share foods from our countries. Miho, Hiroe, and Anna are from Japan and made bean paste pancakes, miso soup, and sushi! YoonJeong is from South Korea and made a beef and mushroom dish as well as fried rice. Neama (from Libya) made some falafel and we enjoyed some arabic treats left over from the post Ramadan celebration known as Eid. And I made brownies. I know, not the most exotic or traditional American fare, but it was the unanimous choice when I asked what food the girls would like to try.

YoonJeong and Miho prepared the bean paste pancakes…

…while Hiroe and Anna (not pictured) made the sushi! There were only a few technically difficulties in the process… most due to the fact that I do not own a microwave.

But all worked out in the end.

We had quite the spread when we sat down to eat. Complete with chopsticks for eating utensils…

The falafel was a bit tricky to pick up…

But Neama mastered it with the stab-and-eat method.

Bows, Bees, and Blak Kittie

eminco — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:11:51 +0000

A weekend in MO. Once a dreaded occurrence, now a celebrated occasion.

I found a cheap decently priced flight into Springfield, so I flew in to surprise my family members on a weekend furlough. Surprises were foiled by a few family members who attempted to leave town for the Labor Day weekend, but in the end, it was a success as far as family visits go, filled with board games, food, and plenty of sunshine.

My dad was all too happy to show me his newest toys…

… a new compound…

… a new beehive…

… which we robbed of honey.

I also got to see my beloved animals! Oh how I’ve missed this duo:

And the sneaky tactics of Blak Kittie never fail to amuse me.

Nor does one-horned Olga.

Grey Rock #542

eminco — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:00:31 +0000

So this was more like hike #7, but I am aiming for hyperbole here.

Caleb’s friend, Josh, was in town this weekend, and you simply cannot come to Colorado without being thrown into the wilderness for a few hours. After a few days of hitting up Old Town (Crown Pub, I think you might be the winner of this particular visit — sorry Drunken Monkey, you’re still tool city), it was time to tour the other side of Fort Collins.

I have to admit, the hike kicked my butt (I really need to start hiking regularly again), but Josh was an excellent sport! He didn’t even complain when we had to walk back in almost complete darkness, save a my headlamp that Caleb was operating in the front of the pack. It was for the best; I complained enough for a few people…

On to the pictures!

Notice the hint of past nights on the town in this picture:

I believe we had a discussion about God Complexes earlier in the day…

Between the Old Town good times and the butt-kicking hike, the weekend was certainly a nice vacation from reality for me. I only hope our company felt the same way!

Movin’ and Groovin’

eminco — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:53:34 +0000

Move-in went well enough. The apartment is still a mess, but what do I care? My parents came to visit and help with technical moving problems (like setting up my bed), but I felt it was more important to simply enjoy their company. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park and tasted the great eats around town. Here are the highlights from their stay:

A lovely, infinite rainbow:

A brother who wandered to the edge and back:

A dancing friend…

…who was also quite nosy:

And not to be outdone… the dramatist of the day:

I’ve Been Lazy…

eminco — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 05:14:00 +0000

Alright, I am STILL feeling lazy. But it’s because I have this horrible event happening in the morning:

Moving day.

I have been lacking any hint of motivation and may perhaps be in a state of denial. If only I had something to inspire me…

I’ll just pretend that this is where I am moving to:

Are any millionaires looking for a slave servant wife?

Green is Golden (and Delectable!)

eminco — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:39:56 +0000

Colorado, the harvest of zucchinis is upon us.

I will be the last to complain. Zucchini is one of my most favorite veggies. You can grill it. You can steam it. You can stuff it and saute it and…

make bread with it!

Today was supposed to be a “come-in-for-a-couple-hours” work day, but it turned in to an almost 7 hour day before I knew it. So cooking a big meal was out of the question for tonight. My fix was to bake my zucchinis and spinach and beet tops into a healthy, happy loaf of sweet bread (and a great way to rid my fridge of wilting greens).

I also got a few tasty muffins from the deal. I hear breakfast calling.

The recipe was adapted from here… but I feel like my version is different enough to post.

Enjoy!

Too-Good-to-Be-Healthy Zucchini Bread

5 TBS flax seed plus 1/2 cup water, mixed to a paste

2 medium zucchinis, shredded

1 ripe banana, mashed (very ripe is good)

2 cups shredded spinach or beet tops (or other leafy greens)

1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened

1/2 cup canola oil (or other light oil)

1 1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar

1/s tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients together until well mixed. In a separate bowl, sift together flours, salt, baking soda and powder. Add slowly to wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Fill two bread pans evenly, or (as I did) fill one bread pan, and plop the remaining dough batter into greased muffin tins.

BAKE the muffins for about 30 minutes, and the loaf pans for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center of the loaf comes out cleanly.

Oh… and you can always add CHOCOLATE! A few handfuls of dark chocolate chips make this healthy bread taste way more sinful than it is. I love when that happens.