Our first Fall BIke Ride! and other miscellany

I woke up with this song in my head.  Now you get it too. (You're welcome.)
The hawaiian shirts, shots of Hollywood, fake rain on the phone booth.  Guy in shorts at 1:50..oh yeah. This video has it all.

Moving on..

Dan and I just biked part of the Chief Ladiga Bike Trail in Alabama!.  It's about 2.5 hours away from us, but was a total blast.  Can't wait to go back and check our more of the trail, and other rails to trails around the country!!

We biked from point A to B, then back to A.  You can see how far we had to drive, Tuscaloosa's int eh Lower left hand corner.  The bike trail starts in Weaver, AL just south of Jacksonville, then once it hits the GA border it turns into the Silver Comet Trail, which goes all the way into North Atlanta! 

Yeah!

Aside from biking news, we have some new pets in the household...Marvin, Leo, and Mortimer are the newest additions..  They are Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillars that we found on our parsley and we've brought them in, fed them more parsley, and awaiting for them to turn into beautiful flutterbyes...We can't wait!

We also Tito visiting.  He is a Mediterranean House Gecko.  He is cute but not native to AL.  I've killed so many of these guys by accident.  They really like door jambs it seems... Hopefully Tito lasts a bit longer.  He's been lurking around in the kitchen and living room mostly.

Lastly, we have a green anole we have named Son of Rambo (if you remember our previous experiences with our buddy Rambo, RIP).  We hope he overwinters with us...

We loved you Rambo...RIP
(Imagine Bette Midler's "The Wind Beneath my Wings" playing as you gaze upon this picture)

It's Homecoming week at the UA, so the town is abuzz in tissue paper floats and school spirit.  Also, we're now in Week 5 of Fantasy Football.  I'm determined to win at least one of the leagues we're in...Mark my words - W...I....N...

More pics!

It gets my goat....

Let me start with a happy picture before I go into my rant (it turned into a big one, sorry):

During a rainy hike at Lake Lurleen on Saturday!

So..
The nuances of language can change the difference between a lackluster play to awe-inspiring, life changing speech. That's what makes language so magical.

On the flip side, the careful and strategic choice of specific words can be used to undercut a basic message.

Our University president, Dr. Judy Bonner, seems to be guilty of just that.  

What do I mean by this?  

Well, let me start of by saying, if you were not aware, the University of Alabama has been making headlines recently due to allegations of traditionally all white sororities discriminating against well qualified pledges due to their race.  This coming only days after allegations of the Greek system ("The Machine") committing voter fraud in the local school board election.  

Let me accentuate the fact that such actions of discrimination and segregation are not news to anyone remotely aware of the University here.  From Day One we've been aware of The Machine.  This website reprints a sad Esquire article about The Machine from 1992.  That is 1992 folks...Over 10 years ago the same information came out regarding election fraud and discrimination - different names, different years, but NOTHING came of it.  Now with national headlines once again upon the University of Alabama, I wonder if any real change will come of this...I'm getting ahead of myself..

Going back to my rant against Bonner...

As read here from today's Crimson White and in other articles, Bonner talks about the "barriers" that students face in integrating sororities and fraternities (to which in this article is the "progress" they refer):

Bonner said students were responsible for encouraging progress.

“The students wanted to make this happen. The students were saying that there were barriers that were preventing them from making it happen,” Bonner told WVUA-FM. “There were many barriers identified – one that was always discussed was media descending upon them.”

Bonner said the media might be a real or perceived barrier but that the students have cited media as a barrier. She did not specifically cite the CW’s “The Final Barrier.”

When asked how the administration would protect individuals who spoke out against segregation from threats or being ostracized from their sororities, Bonner said that might not be a valid fear.

“See, that would be an example of what I would call a perceived barrier,” Bonner told WVUA-FM. “But we certainly will work with all of our students to support them as they take the steps that are needed in order to make progress.” 

(my emphases)

You see, in the article, Bonner highlights the existence of real barriers and perceived barriers in this issue.

I wondered, what the heck is the difference between real and perceived barriers?  From a bit of Google searching I found this:

Perceived barriers are any element that can stand in one's way of performing the behavior, such as expense or social pressure (Hochbaum, 1958).

and, perceived barriers to be defined as this:

One's opinion of the tangible and psychological costs of the advised action

Which as the definition stands, by my interpretation, means a perceived barrier is in fact a REAL F-ING BARRIER.  It's not a physical barrier in front of the sorority, but it's still a BARRIER.  To Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive and cynical about this response.  Perhaps I'm perceiving(ahem) duplicity in her speech where there really is none.  But when I read  about our fair leader claiming to be leading the flag of change and improvement, whilst at the same time undermining the very cause by her choice of words on describing the problem, I get a bee in my proverbial bonnet.  It seems to call to question the students "thinking" there is a barrier when in fact, there is no barrier...no no, nothing to see here folks.  Just some confused students, but we'll help them along the right way...

I thought, well, perhaps she is using such vocabulary because the good doctor has a background in psychology, social issues, repressed peoples, and the like where these differences are important to highlight.  Nay...the good doctor instead has a PhD and Master's in Food and Nutrition...so...yeah.  My poor impression of the president was not at all improved after she sent out a hastily made video accentuating the fact that Dr. Judy Bonner indeed has a black friend (and it's Bill Cosby folks!). "Don't worry everyone, we'll fix this! But it'll take some time!" **head shakes...**

This rant of mine is not an exclusive in depth review of the seedy issues here at the University I call my employer.  Rather, it is a rant quickly and finally written on my soapbox fueled by disgust and sadness (and extreme irritability brought on by hunger..I should eat lunch).  I say finally because I've been writing this blog post in my mind and in several drafts the past few weeks.  I also note quickly because I spent some time googling things that make me made only to find more things that make me even madder, and upon rereading this rant in a week's time I may be flushed red with embarrassment.

 I just don't know what to do sometimes, or what to think.  I never want to live in a happy liberal bubble, and here I am, as far from a liberal county as you can think.  However, I'm falling (or perhaps already fallen) into my own bubble here where anyone representing the Greek system is automatically labeled as part of The Machine, who are unthinking drones following the traditions laid before them from years past.

I try not to get too down on the Deep South where we call home.  Overall, I'm happy to be here and look at it as an eye-opening view to a place which I previously had absolutely no experience.  I think the true value of living in such a place will be my reaction to all of this negativity.  For us to strive to look for the good people here who want change, who aren't represented by the poor publicity we see in the local newspaper.  I don't want these negative allegations and stories to color my view of strangers, but they do.  

Every time I see a group of boys around campus strutting and chatting together dressed in the usual uniform of pastel polo shirts, short shorts, visor and sunglasses fitted with Croakies, and boat shoes I cannot help but think - 

What reason are you congratulating each other?  Did you just come back from a smoke-filled, closed-door meeting where you were planning your ambitions at the mercy of those you you think less deserving and worthwhile?

grr..Such ideas are not healthy Chau! Nor do they promote positive change or progress!  So I suppose this rant is to not only allow me to vent, but also see if I can challenge myself to be more open-minded towards this sea of close-minded people around whom I live.  That comment itself was a bit judge-y perhaps.  Well, I suppose I must start somewhere...

Chau

End of rant

***************

Here are some happy pictures...

Happy Dog:

More news:

1)  Dan and I are in a Fantasy Football league (actually two!)  For reals!!  It's super fun!!  We would have never guessed it!!

2) I am learning to play the mandolin!  Dan is my teacher  He is great!

3) Dan's sister Caroline is coming to visit us at the end of October!!  We will be playing Tennessee!!  IT should be super fun!!

4) We are hoping to take a bike trip this Saturday on the Chief Ladiga Bike Trail, yeah!!

And then it was September...

Jimeny Crickets Batman!!

So yes, it's pretty obvious that we've been remiss in our blogging duties this past summer.  Reasons?  Well, no big time eaters really, just general day to day life that seems to get in the way of everything else you want/need to do.

I can't believe it's already September.  Someone please tell Alabama weather that it is Fall so she can start kicking into low gear when it comes to heat.  We've had a few amazing days where the low at night was in the mid sixties.  But still, we're getting 90 degree days here and there!

I guess to recap on the summer since coming back from Chicago, I worked a lot, the garden was a big fat BLAH, and Dan came home (wee!!).  Since Dan has returned from his last Iceland summer of field work for his phD we've been busy at work, but also a bit of play.  

Dan, Hannah and I drove to PA at the end of August to attend a wedding of Dan's childhood friend, Ryan.  It was in Philly so we got to stay with his folks for a week with a nice couple of days in the city as well.  The wedding was a nice excuse to use for a road trip to visit Dan's family in the summer time (although hot sticky rainy AL weather seemed to follow us up North).  Being able to play in Philly for a couple of days was also fun!  We went to a few fun new bars and had some tasty food to boot.  The wedding was fine and dandy as weddings go.  A bit of catching up with friends for Dan, a bit of dancing and drinking, and a lot of people watching.  Oh the people watching...

The visit with the family was nice and relaxing, delicious meatballs, couch lounging with TV time, quite a pleasant visit!  Here is a picture the day we left with Dan's parents and his nephew Willie:

During the trip back home we stopped in Asheville, NC as our midway point.  It was our first time visiting the area that we've heard was a fun town.  It's larger than I had pictured, but quite pretty.  The downtown was extensive and was exploding with eating and drinking options.  We ended up at the Lexington Avenue Brewery and had a couple of great sandwiches for dinner.  Dan tried a flight of beers and I had a pretty amazing pumpkin ale which got me SO excited for Fall.  After a quick night stay at the Red Roof Inn (they allow dogs to stay for free!) we drove around the UNC-Asheville campus (very pretty, small, but oh so quaint!) and headed back into downtown for a lunch outdoors at Bomba cafe, which was right in the smack center of the downtown area and had a fabulous little outdoor area to soak up the sun and enjoy our coffee and sammies.  It made us pine for something similar in Tuscaloosa ...someday...someday...

Since coming back from the trip, we've attended a Garden Party dinner that was a fundraiser for the Druid City Garden Project.  It was a fun event that was at the Rivermarket where they hold the weekly Farmer's Markets.  Local restaurants, brewers, and farmers contributed to the menu.  It was really nice and relaxed and they had a great little bluegrass band playing the whole night.   We wished there were regular events like this throughout the year!  It was a great use of the space...

Ugh, so recently I've been dropping the ball on not only the blog but also in my picture taking duties.  A handful of wedding pictures (of Dan in a suit! Me in a dress! opportunities lost), a smattering of Garden party pictures on Dan's phone, little to none of our crappy garden.  Clearly I need a mental reset.  Hopefully this will begin to turn the tide.  I think writing for the blog is a good way to center myself and take note of all the things that are happening at break-neck speed around us.  I'll try to be better!!

On other news, Bama football continues to be kicking some major behind.  This past Saturday was super fun to watch the Tide beat up on Johnny Football and his big fat ego.  HA!

Here are a few recipes we've tried recently that have totally ROCKED!

***Braised Coconut spinach and chickpea with lemon recipe from thekitchn blog!

In true Chau fashion, there were substitutes because I worked with what I had on hand.  No sun dried tomatoes so I threw in a can of diced tomatoes with juices as it simmered, didn't have spinach but subbed in a lot of collard greens and cooked them a bit longer so they got dark dull green which tell me that they are ready to be slurped up like noodles.  We had this with the baked sweet potatoes as the recipe suggested. OMG alabama sweet potatoes are amazing... spicy and sweet

***Roasted chickpeas ala Alton Brown...

Pretty addicting chickpeas, would be great to add some more spices to the vinaigrette..thyme, cayenne, cumin???  I didn't have red wine vinegar (of course) so I used apple cider vinegar instead.

As you can see, I'm on a chickpea kick.  Dried beans are so amazing, but I just need to invest the time and effort into actually soaking the dang things and cooking them in the crockpot (which is no time or effort at all, so I really have no excuses)..

***Butternut Squash and Black Bean burgers ala two recipes from thekitchn and cooking stoned...

We got some beautiful butternut squashes from Dan's Sis/Bro-in-law's garden.  They were so very delicious!  I steamed them in the microwave (cut squash in half, scraped out pulp, cut side down in the microwave for 14 minutes...easiest thing EVER!).  So I mashed the two recipes together.  Pulp from one butternut squash, the brown rice, black beans, onions, cilantro, smoked paprika, jalepeno, bread crumbs, coriander and cumin, and garlic.  Didn't add the egg, they were super tasty (and vegan!), and held together better than any veggie burger I've made to date.  Love this recipe...well, recipe idea...recipe mashup?  whatever..

Here are some pics! 

Will write more later and often!!

xo

July is winding down!

Back from the Windy City!

Here are pictures!

Amy, Kerri, and I had a BLAST!  We got to meet Amy's beau Erick and make sure he passes the test (he do), we saw Chicago in all its wonderfully pleasant-weathered glory, got to catch up with Steve (a friend from high school, LBP in the house!), ate plenty but not managed to not painfully bloat ourselves.  Just so very enjoyable to spend a weekend out of town surrounded by good friends doing everything and nothing. It was the exact thing I needed to recharge and reboot my midsummer funk.

I am back in town, refreshed and ready to tackle the lab with all its samples, troublesome machines, and never ending list of things to do with so little time.  Heat has set in here in the Deep South as it has all over the US.  Hannah and I retreat into the deep recesses of the home shielded from the bright orb in the sky and her many mosquito minions.

July is winding down!  David came back from Iceland this week, Caroline is visiting Dan this week in Iceland, Jon and the family return in NEXT WEEK on Thursday, which means Dan quickly follows the week after that!!

August is looking great - Dan comes home in the beginning, school will start, and we have a Philly wedding at the end which means road trip with Hannah to visit his parental units are well!  Hurrah!  It should be fun to visit PA when it's warm!

Oh boy, so much more to do today so all for now!!

xoxo

Goood night...sleeep tight....

Well, It's 5am on a Saturday morning.

It's a bone chilling 73 degrees outside which means the doors are open and the sweet summer air is rolling in along with the birds and their chirpy ways.

I'm here typing, listening to The White Album while sipping on some iced coffee ("THEY SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY...IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOOOO").  I've already vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom.

 Life is good.

Perhaps, you exclaim,
"But you're up at 5am!  How could that be good?"

Well, it certainly helps when you fall asleep at 7pm the night before after an exhausting and productive week of work.  I got some lab work done, went up to Coweeta for THE. LAST. MONTHLY. SAMPLING. TRIP. EVER.  Well, at least for this project anyhow.

Here is Mick taking his final core:

This means we washed rocks for the last time, which means no more rocks for the garden!  It's best this way...it really is...(sniff).

Anyhow, I then went out with Kate to go electroshocking in the boat for some fish for her project yesterday.  Using a boat for field work is fun, but can be exhausting!  Thankfully another researcher comes out with us to man the boat while Kate and I electroshock and net fish.

I am very rusty with my general boat skills ("boat engines need oil mixed with gas, oh yeah..I think I remember that"), my boat ramp etiquette ("So when I back up and I want the trailer to go left I turn my steering wheel which way?? Let's just try different things while other boaters are watching and chuckling at me...DON'T JUDGE ME!"), and my boat trailering skills (hitch locked on, chains on, lights plugged in, straps tightened, OMG you are so needy Mr. Boat!!).  It's been a long time since the boating class I took at NOAA back in Seattle.  Oh that was so fun (remember that??)...Getting everything ready in 90 degree heat with 98% humidity probably doesn't help me brain...I'll blame it on the heat...yes...the heat.

So, with a week like that I came home to a shower, flipped on the AC, and CHECKED OUT for the night.  It was fabulous.  So here I am, catching up on the blog, and getting over a little summer cold - just occasional dry hacking now, I'm a real delight to sit by right now.

Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks...included are a FEW videos of Hannah playing with her new toy (consider yourselves warned).  We finally got some nice rain last night so the rain barrel is full again and ready to nourish my plants for the week.  I'm about a week away from my first tomato harvest I think...SO excited...

Been enjoying summer vegetables from the Farmer's market and cooking up some things from the pantry as well.  I was hankering for some lentils and had a sweet potato sitting on the shelf for like 2 months at least.  This lead to a web search for curried sweet potato lentils and I came up with this recipe from smitten kitchen (it's VEGAN even!).  It was delicious, but as always, since I have to adapt recipes dependent on what the pantry dictates, I tweaked it a bit.  I cooked as directed, used only water instead of veggie broth, upped the spices, then added a can of coconut milk toward the end of cooking, didn't have chard so put in spinach and turned off the heat to let the spinach melt into the curry.  I felt it still needed a little acid (I had no limes - gasp!!), so I threw in a can of diced tomatoes and let it sit.  I also had no cilantro or green onions or tamari almonds. OH MY LORD.  This was so satisfying.  I'm glad I made a big pot of it - I got to enjoy it for the whole week and I am sad to see it gone after today.  It was good cold, it was good hot, I ate it plain without any rice as I'm cutting down on carbs as the summer heat suppresses those cravings for me.  It was good with a fried egg on top for a more substantial dinner.  I love putting fried eggs on top of certain meals and having the oozy yolk spill all over and add that silky texture that I find so satisfying.

Oh yes, and this is another reason why life is good -  After I post this I'm going back to bed, just as the sun is about to rise...happiness is a cool bed.

xo

It started with a snip snip...

Attempting to riff off of this song?

yes.( there's a 30 second intro you'll haft a sit thru)

Anyhow, thankfully I am not referring to a self imposed haircut (both my mother and Dan can sigh in relief), but about the garden.

This is the South...the Deep South in fact and we have the horrid and invasive kudzu everywhere.

 You know this because I gave complained about it endlessly in the past. Anyhow, every year about this time I get a bee in my bonnet and go to town on the kudzu I can easily reach in our yard. It starts with using my "garden shears" (in actuality a spare pair of kitchen shears that got demoted to outdoor use).  My daily 10 minute watering of our planties each morning gives me time to notice..

"oh, a bit of kudzu here, snip, snip!"...

Water...water..weed, water..weed...

"Well lookie over there, if it isn't a bit of kudzu twisted up in this ivy, I suppose I should try to clear that up"...

Well, as you can imagine, two hours later I am dripping with sweat after yanking kudzu out of our poor trees, then severely trimming said poor trees because they are blocking out the sun for our tomatoes..

Our tomatoes!!! Anything for our tomatoes!!!  If you've had garden fresh tomatoes before then you maybe familiar with such illogical protectiveness...

In fact, I trimmed a branch today the diameter of my arm! The biggest one I have sawed down to date!  It's easily 25 feet long, no lie. Also, I will not tell you that I did not trim this branch from our neighbor's yard that is now vacant. Nope. I shall not...

That's all for now from Bama.  Dan has been in Iceland for a week now!  So only 8 more weeks until he is home!  I hear things are going relatively well there, aside from crappy Iceland weather - wind, rain, sleet.  But folks seem to be in good spirits so that is great!  

I think soon the weeks will fly by for the boys.  David the undergrad REU comes back in 5 weeks, and then Dan's sister Caroline visits for a week!  Right now Dan and David are sharing a room in a quintessentially small Reykjavik apartment.  The apartment has two other rooms filled by Tanner the Master's student from Montana, and Ellie, another undergrad REU working with Tanner for the summer.  The trade offs on a small apartment are a better downtown location and internet though!  They are also within walking distance to the pools so they can have a nice long relaxing soak after a day of field work!

Have you checked the Iceland blog lately?  Thankfully, Tanner is big on posting on the blog, so we all benefit from his contributions...(i.e., we get to see pictures of Dan et al).  

OK, time to hit work!  Here are pics!!

aaaaaannnnnd...this is what I do when Dan is gone:

arrrrrr matey! I be twitterpated with Cap'n Dan!

Xo

The Tran parental units visit Alabama!

Here are some pictures of the Tran Parental Unit Visit circa 2013!!  We had a great time and it was quite the whirlwind tour of the Deep South!

Our road trip - New Orleans, LA to Gulf Shores, AL to Fort Rucker, AL to Montgomery, AL, to Tuscaloosa!

I picked up my parents in New Orleans and we covered over 500 miles in two days and got to see a lot of new places.  Once we got into Tuscaloosa we spent the rest of the time around the home front.  We visited campus, ate some BBQ, built a screen door, made egg rolls (or, more correctly, watched my mom make egg rolls...). We walked around downtown Northport and did our fair share of supporting the local businesses, Dan made his famous eggplant parmesan which was quite tasty as per usual, ate at Jim N Nick's and the Cypress Inn for some good ol' Southern vittles.  We also hit up Mr Chen's for one of our lunches so my parents could taste what little asian food we have here in Tuscaloosa.  Their cumin lamb dish is super fragrant and addictive, but perhaps my opinion is skewed since regular asian food is scarce around these here parts. We also visited one of my favorite spots in Tuscaloosa -  Brown's Nursery.  My mom helped me pick out a few flowers for the yard along with an intoxicating jasmine plant that I am very excited about.  We repotted him into a large pot but we're unsure where he will finally sit for all to enjoy...

It was getting a bit hot in town these days so it was nice to soak up the AC at home and hangout outside in the backyard area which has gotten quite nice in the mornings.  The birds are lively and the veggie plants are trying their darndest to grow...So far we have 3 tomatoes growing already along with one banana pepper! Woo hoo!!  Let's hope for a bumper crop this year!

Anyhow, it was quite a fun visit with the parents.  Their last night in town we hosted an egg roll dinner for a few friends.  We had 16 people at our place gorging on egg rolls and Vietnamese grilled pork with rice noodles.  Everything tasted so great and it made me miss my mom's food that much more!  It was also fun to share her wonderful food with everyone else so as to finally show them the wonderfulness that is homemade Vietnamese cuisine that I have been raving about all this time.  We also got to show off the new screen door as well that worked like a champ, increasing air flow in the house and keeping them pesky bugs outside!

I'm glad they finally got to visit our happy little home in Alabamie!  And now Dan leaves Thursday for Iceland so we go from one whirlwind to another!  He's readying his field gear for his last summer of experiments and data collection for the project!  I'm glad he's only staying in Iceland for two months this summer.  The time should really fly by and we'll be back together in early August!  Yippee!!

All for now!

xo

ct