Stuff with Pictures Thrown In

This is going to be one of those disjointed, free wheeling posts with photos thrown in. Just so you're duly warned up front....

I've started to document the food I prepare for dinner, as in creating recipes of my family's favorite dishes. I typically don't measure anything and create meals based on photographs, recipes I've read but not printed out - I "wing" a lot of it. Recipes I've started to document include Lemon Shrimp with Pasta, Secret Ingredient Meatballs / Hamburgers, Veggie Burgers, Teriyaki chicken, and Black Bean Salsa.

Because I'm talking about food right now, here are some photos I took in February when I made Chinese dumplings for Book Club.



A college friend posted the recipe for Chinese Egg Tarts (Dan Ta) on Facebook. I need to make them - maybe this weekend.

Outside, plentiful rain is falling, mixed with thunder, lightning and wind. It’s a dark cloud day that makes you want to crawl in bed. It's warmer than last week when I took this photo during a morning run:

I ran two 6 mile loops that morning, with the first loop around sunrise. The rising sun transformed the cold, frosty, slightly misty landscape into a golden, glittery scene right before my eyes. It was pretty, albeit still cold. For the first time, I had to run with music in the background (I used my iPhone speakers). I normally eschew such stimuli, but I was SO bored running by myself. This has me thinking about my race strategy - I think I may need music to get me through the last 6 miles. Or I'll have to find a stranger to talk to.

My daughter competed in her first horse show last weekend. She entered the Dressage and Jumping events in the Starter Novice division. I learned a couple things that day - one, to rely upon the scheduled event times instead of waiting for my daughter to text me her event was coming up. I caught her Dressage ride, but missed her two jumping runs. Two, stick around for the show results - yes, I know, that's a no brainer, and I should have known better. She took home a first place ribbon for the jumping event and I missed it. Cue bad mom music, if there is such a thing.



During our visit to the Art Institute, we happened upon the staging of a future exhibit. I found it utterly fascinating - the workers had design drawings they were working from, several tripod set up with level cross hairs beamed on to the walls to guide them in the set up.



I finally used the Panoramic functionality on my iPhone. It was perfect for this rendering of the Chicago Skyline in the Bean


Finally, a cat photo, because you can't have a rambling blog post without something cat related.


Hope you have a great Friday! I've already gone to yoga class, will go to work and after work I get to pick up a case of wine, buy some art coloring pencils, pick up a library book before making dinner and sending myself to bed early in preparation for a 20+ mile run Saturday morning. I'm tired just thinking about it....