We moved! (again)

We recently moved to an adorable one bedroom house about a mile east of our previous apartment. No, we didn't buy it, but we are very happy to have a yard and a basement all to ourselves! And so many windows!

Aaron's parents came to help us move and unfortunately we haven't cleaned up/unpacked much since they left... but we did do a lot of fun things with them, including the Art Fair on the Square, La Fete De Marquette, and a tour of the new Ale Asylum Brewery, which we have wanted to do since it opened (one of the owners did our tour, which was way cooler than the employees who normally give them at other breweries we've been to).

Enjoying the New Orleans music! 

Free chocolate covered bananas = best neighborhood festival yet.

Ale Asylum

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NYC Fourth of July

Empire state building in the holiday spirit.

My favorite way to travel is to go places where I know someone. It makes the whole trip infinitely easier when you have an insider making sure you see the cool things and helping you out. This means visiting New York City is ten times more fun when your twin sister lives there. I'm sure I would try to have fun if I went on my own, but I would spend half of the trip trying not to be lost.

Aaron and I were really excited to see Ruth and Sean's new apartment, since they recently moved to Manhattan from Astoria and we estimated that their whole apartment was the size of our living room. The place is super charming and adorable though, and I will now refer to it as the doll house apartment.

Unfortunately the weather was horrendously hot, so most of the outdoor activities we had planned were cancelled because nobody wanted to be outside. We did do some things outside and were rewarded with great views, sweat soaked clothing, and mild heat stroke. But yeah. Luckily Aaron and Sean enjoy going to movies, so Ruth and I were able to go shopping and eat a fancy tapas lunch at Casa Mono by ourselves (must go back!). We also got our nails done which I will require on every trip because it is so much cheaper there. Plus you get the cute ladies fawning over the "twinies" (which is how Spanish speaking people say twins in English).

Instead of watching the fireworks on July 4th, we visited the infamous Shake Shack and were serenaded by some young people singing about waiting in line. We also saw a police officer pick up his police dogs poop, so the wait was totally worth it. Also deep fried portabella stuffed with cheese on a bun. Thats all you need to know.

We went to the Met on Friday, (which was our first NYC museum experience.. good air conditioning there!) and walked around Central Park trying not to faint and looking for proposals. We also stopped at Magnolia Bakery to get banana pudding. It was sooo goooddd I need to make it at home, but the 3 cups of heavy cream involved will probably stop me. 

Friday evening unfortunately ended with an ant massacre in the doll house. The day started with one little ant on my phone and ended with hundreds prancing around between the patio and the kitchen. The ant killing was followed by lots of wine, pizza delivery, and Mulan.

On Saturday we got to go to ABC Kitchen for brunch/lunch, but this time we took Aaron and Sean along. The only disappointing thing about the meal was that Ruth and I couldn't finish our mushroom pizza. We felt really sad about it. Then we walked around the furniture store and wished we could afford to buy things. Again we tried to do outdoor activities by going downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge. We almost died before getting into a cab and heading to an air conditioned bar. Dinner at the Spotted Pig was super cute and delicious. We ended the night by getting to the Lincoln Center for the last song of Midsummer Night Swing, where we danced and then took lots of pictures in front of the fountain and quickly got home to cool off again.

I would say more but I'm getting tired and now there are tons of pictures for you to enjoy!

Ruth will only drink coffee out of a mason jar.

Dinner.

  

Really big sardines at Casa Mono

The patio

Red, white, and blue.

In line for Shake Shack

Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center lawn

This shade is not working

  

Sweaty backs looking at turtles.  

 

 

Inside the Met.

 

Met rooftop

I just pretended to propose. He said yes!

Killing ants with flip flops.

Banana pudding!

Aaron's amazing french toast at ABC Kitchen.

Wilfie and Nell... the name of the bar, not them.

Midsummer Night Swing

the end.

To be continued

Aaron and I have been in NYC for the past few days visiting family and gorging on delicious food and drinks. I have lots of pictures to share but just wanted to let you all know what we've been up to! We are currently waiting to board our flight home. Hope everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July weekend.

Madison Mallards

This past Sunday Aaron and I finally went to a Madison Mallards game with our friends Kelsey and Ryan. I've heard a lot of good things about these games but always thought they would be somewhat like watching high school baseball (they are actually college baseball players, but yeah). 

Luckily it was way better and way more fun. The whole thing reminded me of going to Lansing Lugnuts games when I was a kid, except with a smaller stadium and more cheese curds.

We got tickets in the regular stands and it was basically filled up, which made it fun. I especially liked the entertaining activities, like having two babies race to their moms on top of the dugout. And how the announcer says "weiner" whenever there is a foul ball (I guess if you catch one you get a free hotdog). 

Next time we'll probably go for the Duck Blind where you get unlimited food and drinks with your ticket. Also they have veggie burgers, which is a huge step up from the food offered at Miller Park (and its cheaper).

Diet Variety: Plantains

Have you ever heard the horror stories of people who buy what they think is a banana and it turns out to be a plantain... which they only discover after biting into it raw? Apparently this is a real issue for people, especially when traveling to other countries where plantains are very common. At our grocery store there is no way this could happen as there are like two plantains for every 200 bananas.

I guess plantains aren't so good raw. I've mostly had them fried at restaurants, which is delicious but rare to find on a menu.

So what made me think we should have plantains at home? Apparently they are highly nutritious, but honestly I just randomly came across a recipe using black beans and rice (of which we already had both). The only thing we really needed to buy was a plantain so it seemed perfect and cheap.

I honestly wasn't a huge fan of the plantain, but loved the spices on the beans and rice. I would consider making this again and leaving the plantain off or using a potato or other vegetable in its place.

Black Beans, Plantains, and Rice

Aaron made this dish from start to finish so I took his picture eating it.

26

I feel very old saying I am 26. Something about being over the mid-twenties hump makes me feel very aged. Starting a job where I am older than many of my coworkers (at least during training) is probably not helping the matter.

Starting something new, whether it is a new job or a new semester in school has always come with a little bit of an adjustment period for me. It lasts a week or so and the main adjustment is my eating schedule and how I can fit all of my snacks in during the day and maintain a healthy diet. It usually involves me being ravenous multiple times during the day/week. Add my birthday into the mix and this week was pretty intense!

The bar at Graze.

For my birthday dinner on Wednesday we went to Graze, a restaurant right on the capitol square in Madison that I've been wanting to eat at for a long time. They don't take reservations and it seems crowded most of the time, but I've heard many good things about the food and I'm always willing to wait a while. Aaron and I have become especially skilled at snagging seats at the bar, which we did on Wednesday night for our 45 minute wait for a table. Often we just eat at the bar, but since it was my birthday we waited for the table.

Pickled veggie appetizer. The asparagus was the best.

For a birthday present I had asked Aaron that we do something together (I told him I could buy whatever things I wanted myself... hehe). He got us tickets to a Milwaukee Brewers, which I have been wanting to go to for the past two years. I am always jealous when Aaron gets to go to a game with his co-workers in the summer.

We went last night and it was a great game. We got free t-shirts and the Brewers won! I was a little nervous about all of the foul balls though (someone got hit in the head during the game).

Miller Park was clean and fun although severely lacking in vegetarian dining options (unless you want fries or a pretzel for dinner). Next time we'll have to tailgate with all of the other people in the parking lots.

Diet Variety: Rhubarb

I think this is the longest New Year's resolution I have ever kept. Although I haven't been blogging much about it, I have been adding something new to our grocery list every week.

This week we have rhubarb, which I have never ever bought. I have only seen it in desserts, which I almost never make at home. Plus rhubarb desserts have been ruined for me since childhood, when I accidentally grabbed a piece of what I thought was cherry pie. It turned out to be rhubarb and I have never really wanted to try it again. When I found a recipe for a rhubarb and lentil salad, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out without having to make dessert.

(We also bought some baby turnips, which to our knowledge we had never eaten, and had them raw in a salad. I really liked them and would probably eat them plain like radishes. Hoping we get a bunch when our CSA starts coming.)

I don't know much about rhubarb, but apparently it is high in vitamin C, calcium, and fiber.

Not a pretty photo... I was very hungry.

The salad was surprisingly good, helped out by lots of spices, herbs, and one of my favorites- the black lentil. The rhubarb was nice and tart and totally different than things we normally eat. I'm curious to see what other savory rhubarb recipes are out there. And who knows... maybe I will attempt a rhubarb dessert sometime this summer.