The Lazy Susan: so much more than a revolving stand or tray on a table most commonly used for holding condiments

Tonight I got to try out a new restaurant with some friends, in honor of the upcoming arrival of their first child.  When asked for dining suggestions, I threw in the idea of Lazy Susan Milwaukee since I drive past it frequently, have been very curious about it, and had a $10 off of $25 City Tins coupon.  My friends agreed to try it out and we had a marvelous time.

The ambiance was relaxed, homey and comfortable.  Of special note are the actual lazy susans located on the larger tables (including ours) and the mismatched salt and pepper shakers.  I, personally, was a bit bummed our table didn't get the flying pig shakers, but so it goes.

The menu offers a "rotating eclectic mix of shareable plates" and as they say on their website, "What's here today may be gone tomorrow!" Tonight's menu, which came fresh off the copy machine when we arrived, featured a wide variety of food from Garam Marsala Pumpkin Bisque to Chicken Pot Pie Fries to the Apple Cider Pork Chop.  Our group went with five different choices and we shared them all.  We also chose two desserts to share and had a variety of beverages.  Here were our meal selections and our general thoughts:

A slightly blurry and poor self-photograph...but you get the idea

1) "Dang That's Good Root Beer Duck Drummies" -- Dang! Were they good! Seriously though, the BBQ sauce was amazing (though the root beer not overly noticeable) and the duck was savory.
2) "Not So Swedish Meatballs" - Tied for my favorite with the Mac&Cheese, this combination of big delicious meatballs, mushroom spaetzel and fried onion rings was to die for.
3) Cauliflower Mac and Cheese - There was some sort of seasoning that really made the dish for me.  We agreed it was some sort of gingery, cinnamon, nutmeg type flavor though we could be completely wrong. The inclusion of apple chucks and bacon pieces was brilliant!
4) Scallops and Brussels - I remain a lukewarm supporter of scallops.  Though these tasted fine--mostly like pepper--the consistency encourages me to keep my distance.  The rest of the table loved the dish, though!
5) Potted Ham Dip - My friend, the expectant father, has long been a fan of ham and we mostly ordered this in his honor.  The roasted and smoked ham seasoned with tarragon and dijon was so yummy that we all agreed--our server included--that we could just eat the dip out of the bowl, no crispy crostini necessary!

Dessert: Two delicious selections that I don't remember the names of.  They both involved chocolate, one involved cherries and the other some strawberries, both had whip cream, one had a delicious cream cheese mixture and chocolate cake, and the other was the most delicious chilled chocolate mousse/pudding/flan type thing I've ever had.  Sorry I can't be more definitely descriptive.

Next time you're looking to share some good food with good friends, give Lazy Susan Milwaukee a try. You will not be disappointed (and see if you can find out what seasoning they used in the Cauliflower Mac&Cheese).

The Extent of My Geekiness--at least as far as Star Wars is concerned

My parents recently dropped off five large bins and one large steamer trunk full of "mementos" at my house.  Actually, it was last night.  They've been doing some cleaning and organizing around the house--now that all four of us are long gone--and made a trip to Milwaukee with a minivan filled to the brim with Rubbermaid tubs for me and Steph (dear sister #2).  Six bins each!  Six bins full of everything in my life dating before 2001--the year I packed up and headed to college.  No one had looked at any of these things for 14 years and I was eager, if a little apprehensive, to discover the treasures within.

I began looking through the boxes as soon as they landed in the middle of my basement floor and I've learned a few things:

- The diary from my 8th grade year is all I need to every be happy again.
- Rubber bands do not last 14 years.
- My Pound Puppies still rock.
AND
- I was an even bigger Star Wars geek than I remember. Here is photographic proof:

My Queen Amidala Phone (front)

The inside features the Queen in disguise

Vintage Star Wars Pop-up book, Full-color photograph book, and novel version of the original trilogy

A picture my little sister made for me, apparently certain of my true passion in life (Princess Leia and R2-D2, btw)

And the most sadly blatant example of the superiority of my level of passion for the fandom, this excerpt from a note to a friend during my freshman year of high school.  I'm very lucky people put up with me back then.

Evidence Not Pictured:  Three very geeky Star Wars t-shirts, a Yoda poster, an official movie theater Star Wars Episode II reflective poster, a 1997 Star Wars film re-release pin, and diary references to the upcoming re-release of the three original Star Wars films

This is only the tip of the iceberg of memories I've discovered.  I've been through only two boxes and have a pile of things I want to share with my family, my friends and the the high school classmates who may not have put up with me as well.  If you like taking trips down memory lane, pack a clean pair of underwear and buckle in.  "The Nightly New" is going to be sharing some old stories off and on for awhile!

The Flag Painting Tutorial

We just had our first competition of the 2014 marching band season--it went well, by the way.  I coach the color guard, as I have for the past  twelve years.  This year, I tried a few do-it-yourself projects to get the guard all decked out for their shows.  A mom sewed our uniforms, I made our hairpieces, and we painted our own set of flags.

It's this last project--painting the flags--that was the most difficult.  There are very few guard flag painting tutorials online, let alone any with good instructions that share exactly which products to use and which to avoid.  I did find a great one that demonstrates how to paint your own faded flag. (Click here).  And this one shows how to use acrylics. It is my goal to contribute a helpful flag painting experience to the world wide web.  Here goes:

STEP 1:  Supplies

 - 8 white poly china silk flags -- We used these from Band Shoppe in white: http://www.bandshoppe.com/catalog/productDetail.do?p=In_Stock_Arc_Poly_China_Silk_Budget_Flags

- Paint: Design Master Brand TintIT in Sapphire
I actually bought $40 worth of various paints in my attempt to find the best product for our purposes.  Acrylic is too heavy for painting large designs.  I think Acrylic would be good in small amounts like the writer of this blog post did.  The TintIT worked best, though it was a bit difficult to work with.  (More on that later).

Paints that did not work: (1) Tulip Brand Fabric Spray Paint -- it was not right for our project but might be okay for others.  I'm not sure it would show up well on both sides like the TintIT did. (2) Simply Spray Stencil Paint, Glimmer-Gold -- it turned out really bad on our poly china silk.  The gold shimmer TintIT did the same thing where a really ugly seepage spread out from the gold--really messing up the design.  We think this may have something to do with the shimmer aspect of the paint not allowing it to dry cleanly.  It is also possible that we didn't use the stencil paint correctly. (3)  We also did not use the Krylon because I didn't want our flags to be stiff.  I did use regular spray paint when I made baseball flags many years ago.  It seemed to work okay, though the design was smaller and stiffness wouldn't have been a big issue.

STEP 2: The Process

We had two test flags where we tried out different designs and paints.  We were aiming for some sort of cloud design that could be slightly different on each flag--just like actual clouds are slightly different from each other.  After experimenting for awhile, we decided to keep it simple with a swirly pattern that was similar but different on each flag.  We used the Sapphire TintIT and sprayed the flags while they laid flag on the ground on a tarp.  The paint dries quickly, but picked up the pattern on the tarp as it dried.  We then had the girls hold the flags up off the tarp as it dried--which led to pooling and dripping if we didn't hold it completely level. We did two coats to get the color we wanted. Thankfully, any mistakes and pooling defects aren't noticeable from the stands and the flags turned out quite well.

One of the test flags

I definitely recommend using TintIT for flags.  I have not washed the flags after painting and I probably won't--to be honest.  I'm not sure what would happen and don't want to find out in the middle of our season.  I'll keep adding photos of the flags in action on the field, but for now, this one will have to do.  Two of my guard members helped me out and posed for this photo after our first competition today!

The New Parking Spot

So I got a new parking spot:

I can't tell you how hard it has been to resist bringing a can of yellow spray paint to school and stenciling a capital letter "B" at the end of my "221".  Hopefully some of you will catch this reference.  If you're confused, let me know and I'll google that for you.  I do plan to at least use sidewalk chalk for a temporary solution to satisfy my urge to graffiti my own parking spot.  I'll keep you appraised of any developments on this front.  

My parking spot also consists of a large pile of dirt, which--despite making my Jeep feel as if it is in its natural element--gets mud everywhere when it rains.  The spot is far from the band room and any of the doors I would use under normal circumstances.  I've had to turn spot-stealers in to the office more days than I have actually gotten to park in my spot.  In spite of all of this, I like my new spot and will miss it when construction is done and I can finally return to the proper side of the building. 

All this talk of parking spots has gotten me thinking about my car . . . which in turn leads me to think about driving.  I spend a lot--and I mean A LOT--of time in my car each day.  I travel to over 20 schools each week--not to mention the morning and evening commute.  I do what I can to fill the time: listen to podcasts, call family members, practice my Irish accent, sing snippets of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, talk to myself about current world issues, struggle with voice texting, stretch my ankles, and so on.  Something happened to me recently that made me realize my car time is personal time.  I never really thought about how ridiculous I would sound to the average passersby or to someone my phone butt-dialed while I drove along--not realizing I was being recorded.  Well, what's done is done and I don't embarrass that easily; well, I try not to.  I do, however, appreciate the time on my own and can't wait until Monday.  In honor of Scotland staying a part of the UK (a news story I was following closely during my morning commute) I plan to read every road sign with a terrible Scottish accent.  

The Haruki Murakami Book Challenge: Book One

I was recently walking around my local Barnes & Noble--a habit I try to avoid in the name of saving money and precious bookshelf space--when Haruki Murakami's new book, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, caught my eye.  I know we've all been told to never judge a book by its cover, but I always do.  The plastic covered cutouts immediately intrigued me and I ran over to the shelf, grabbed the book, and pulled back the dust jacket to reveal an even cooler looking book cover underneath (you can see both covers below).



I then read the rather vague description of the book's plot and came to a realization that I wanted to read it and see if the story and writing could live up to the cover.  I had two other Murakami books on my shelf at home--both of which I still have not read.  This new book seemed as good a reason as any to challenge myself and see what all the Murakami hype is about.

Therefore, I plan to read three Murakami books by the start of 2015 and share my thoughts here on the blog.  I have never read a single paragraph of Murakami and am very excited to get started.  I will begin with the most recent release (already mentioned above).  I will then move on to the rather daunting 944-page 1Q84.  This one was released in 2011 and has been sitting on my shelf for two years.  I will then end (for now) with one of his earlier published novels, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles (1994), which my book club has been passing around for 3 or 4 years.  I'm pretty sure it's been in my possession the longest.

There you have it!  As soon as I post this post, I'm going to read my first sentence, paragraph and page of Murakami.

Have any of you read Murakami?  Any suggestions on ones I should add to my list for future reading?

ANGELA'S CORNER OF SELF-DISCOVERY:
Yes, it has been almost one year since I last wrote on my blog.  I feel like I'm trying to keep a diary going all over again.  Anyway, I'm back for now and have some major "new things" to fill many blog posts.  Thanks to those of you who have encouraged me to start writing here again. I appreciate the pokes and prods!

The Fifth Anniversary

2013 is a year of anniversaries. First of all, it's the 31st anniversary of my birth.  It's my 8th anniversary of being a teacher.  Ben and I have been married for 5 years. AND this will be my 5th attempt at Nanowrimo.  We'll let you decide which of these is most important!

Now, for those of you who may not know, Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month.  Here's a recap of the last five years:
2009: I surpassed the goal by getting almost 53,000 words of a novel done. Novel is still unfinished.
2010: I massively failed, writing only 3,000 words...none of which I can find anywhere.
2011: I did a bit better getting to 6,000 words before giving up.  Novel is unfinished, though I really enjoy the story line and hope to get back to it someday.
2012: A bit better again, getting to 15,000 words before life kicked my butt and made me stop.  Not sure I'll ever revisit this one.
2013: My fifth Nanowrimo anniversary. Can I do it? I think so!

Here's some 2013 Nano Flair

I'll keep you posted in my traditional Nanowrimoupda at the end of each post.

Speaking of each post...I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "Angela! You haven't written a word since June.  How are we to believe even for a moment that you're going to start up again?!"

Well, I have only one response for you.  "You have no way to know for sure...just have faith...and get on my case if I don't."

I hope this post finds you all well and I truly look forward to sharing bits of my time on this planet with you!

The Bloggal Reaffirmation and Blue's Egg

It has been two months since my last blog post...and those two months have been filled with more new things than I can hope to catch up on here on my blog.  I am going to try, though, and I'm going to succeed.

Today Ben and I used our third City Tin coupon.  For those of you unfamiliar with City Tin's, here you go: http://www.citytins.com/.  We only have 17 more restaurants to visit before January 2014. Can we do it? Definitely. Can we use some help? You bet.  Let me know if you're in town and want to go out for some delicious local food.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yea, Blue's Egg.  My friend, Jordan, has been recommending Ben and I try this place for a real long while.  When I looked at my calendar this morning and saw a completely blank, empty day on June 9, I knew we were going out for brunch.  Well, one thing led to another, I kept sleeping, and brunch turned into a slightly late lunch.  We had to wait 30 minutes for our table, but the chairs were comfy the weather was sunny and warm, and the company was impeccable.  It was a pretty happening place...a hidden jewel among the ordinary rocks of a strip mall.  This was also the first time in a long while that I could not decide what to order.  I had finally decided on the Harvest Chicken with Rhubarb Potato Pancakes only to be told the potato pancakes were gone.  I settled on my second choice, Roasted Mushroom Omelet with Cheddar and Ham Stuffed Hash browns.  The omelet was so flavorful and the hash browns were the perfect amount of crispy and crunchy.  Ben had the Savory French Toast and devoured it before I could even ask for a taste. The prices were reasonable and service great.  I'd like to say we're going back soon, but with 17 more restaurants to visit in 6 months, we may have to wait until 2014.

Ben's Savory French Toast

ANGELA'S CORNER OF SELF-DISCOVERY:  This may be apparent, but I miss blogging and I am reaffirming that I will be better.  With the addition of new jobs, a new house, LeakyCon, trips to Portland and Alaska, and more...I think I'll have plenty of new experiences to share with you all!