Qui êtes-vous? Who are you?
This is what I ask (at least what I think I ask, according to Google Translate) to my loyal blog reader in Montpellier, France. I visited Montpellier for an afternoon in November 2004. I met no one, no one who would google "accidental wisconsinite" several years later and find me.
I am terribly intrigued by who this person is. A bored ex-pat? My future French husband? A long-lost friend? I've been wondering for awhile, but I saw they browsed around today (bless you Google Analytics) and I just had to put it out there.
I certainly hope not to scare off this individual, I'm just a really curious person. Would you mind leaving a comment?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
tax time
I did my taxes today and was pretty pleased with the outcome.
I can pay off two of my smaller credit cards with my return. You may recall my Meghanomics theory devised toward the end of '08. My goal is to decrease my overall debt by 40% in 2009. We'll see how close I come. If I end up skimping anywhere it's going to be on the student loan. I always hit my minimum there, but it's not too bad of interest if I don't pay off more.
I can pay off two of my smaller credit cards with my return. You may recall my Meghanomics theory devised toward the end of '08. My goal is to decrease my overall debt by 40% in 2009. We'll see how close I come. If I end up skimping anywhere it's going to be on the student loan. I always hit my minimum there, but it's not too bad of interest if I don't pay off more.
not new news
Slightly over three years ago I traveled to Vienna and Czech Republic for vacation. One of the highlights of Vienna (other than the art, musical history and spraining my ankle outside an Aussie bar), was this wonderful Pakistani place that was called "Eat What You Can, Pay As You Wish." You had to pay for any beverages you ordered, but otherwise you could go back and forth to the buffet as many times as you needed and at the end give them whatever you felt the meal was worth.
Well imagine my surprise when MSNBC features an article on a British eatery that's jumping on this concept. It acts like this is so crazy and innovative. I sure as hell wish I'd followed my gut and tried this in the US three years back.
I also wish journalists had some sort of budget (or googling skills) and could've found out that the Austrians and/or Pakistanis are already all over this.
Well imagine my surprise when MSNBC features an article on a British eatery that's jumping on this concept. It acts like this is so crazy and innovative. I sure as hell wish I'd followed my gut and tried this in the US three years back.
I also wish journalists had some sort of budget (or googling skills) and could've found out that the Austrians and/or Pakistanis are already all over this.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
thankful tuesdays: buying local edition
Tonight I attended the FUEL Milwaukee Event at Turner Hall Ballroom with the man behind Rehorst Vodka. As much as I complain about Milwaukee, I do have to be thankful for the one thing pointed out in the presentation about Milwaukee being loyal to local brands. Also, our local brands really kick ass. I know this could also be a "Milwaukee Props" post, but I wanted to put it here.
I am thankful also for an organization like FUEL that truly does give young professionals an inside look. I learned a lot tonight from the hoops one has to jump through to open a distillery to the exciting new product line that Rehorst will be releasing in the future. Fruit brandies, whiskey, bourbon, absinthe...I'm happy to sample and report back on this blog.
I also appreciate that afterward my friends all agreed with me that we should go someplace local. It was a bit disappointing that after we decided on the restaurant part of Turner Hall we found that did not serve Rehorst. Regardless, I drank delicious Milwaukee water and enjoyed a Chicken Schnitzel sandwich. Mmmm.
I'm also mega-thankful to the Quigleys for giving me a ride home.
I am thankful also for an organization like FUEL that truly does give young professionals an inside look. I learned a lot tonight from the hoops one has to jump through to open a distillery to the exciting new product line that Rehorst will be releasing in the future. Fruit brandies, whiskey, bourbon, absinthe...I'm happy to sample and report back on this blog.
I also appreciate that afterward my friends all agreed with me that we should go someplace local. It was a bit disappointing that after we decided on the restaurant part of Turner Hall we found that did not serve Rehorst. Regardless, I drank delicious Milwaukee water and enjoyed a Chicken Schnitzel sandwich. Mmmm.
I'm also mega-thankful to the Quigleys for giving me a ride home.
Monday, February 2, 2009
monday munchies: returning to the oven
Yesterday I baked Tropical Lime Bars as soon as I dragged myself out of bed. I realized I missed my oven.
Tonight I still had some acorn squash leftover from my long-gone CSA , so I found a recipe online for easy Baked Acorn Squash Rings. Because I have to be different, I experimented with one of the two batches. After I flipped the squash mid-bake, I coated one tray with bleu cheese (Carr Valley Billy Blue - goat milk blue) and a dollop of cranberry sauce between each ring. The result was super rich and I think I should have let up on the very pungent cheese. The plain rings went down much easier, but not to say the bleucran ones were a bust.
Here is my dinner:
And because there were leftovers, here is my dessert:
And because we haven't had a naughty food pic in awhile, here's the garnish from my Bloody Mary on Saturday at Hooligans:
Tonight I still had some acorn squash leftover from my long-gone CSA , so I found a recipe online for easy Baked Acorn Squash Rings. Because I have to be different, I experimented with one of the two batches. After I flipped the squash mid-bake, I coated one tray with bleu cheese (Carr Valley Billy Blue - goat milk blue) and a dollop of cranberry sauce between each ring. The result was super rich and I think I should have let up on the very pungent cheese. The plain rings went down much easier, but not to say the bleucran ones were a bust.
Here is my dinner:
 |
| From Cooking with Meghan |
And because there were leftovers, here is my dessert:
 |
| From Cooking with Meghan |
And because we haven't had a naughty food pic in awhile, here's the garnish from my Bloody Mary on Saturday at Hooligans:
 |
| From Dining Out |
happy ground hog day everyone!
If that rodent sees his shadow (which he probably will, doesn't he always?), I'm going to cry. Or grab a beer.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
sunday catch up: busy as a winter bee
After Friday's "night in," I went full throttle the rest of the weekend.
Yesterday I returned to yoga class at the WAC to find it chock full of people (thanks to those good old New Year's resolutions). The class really kicked my butt, in part because the sub concentrates on movement in yoga and we did a lot of arm and ab exercises, as well as about 300 sun salutations. I ended up giving travel tips for India to the sub though, after I mentioned having gone there. I always like being useful.
I was sort of useful after class, hurrying over to the east side to help my friend Ben unload a U-Haul. There were about 10 people, so the move went pretty quickly. Ben could use a few packing lessons, but I couldn't complain too much. I got to drink a Riverwest Stein and watch Rear Window for a bit after it was all over. I soon left those folks though to go meet Maribeth and our friend Ed from Marquette, who was up visiting for the weekend.
Our plans were to go watch the Marquette vs. Georgetown game, but first Mar needed to donate her old televisions. We stopped at Goodwill and they told us they no longer took TVs because of the digital conversion! They didn't offer any advice as to where else we could take the sets. They really should figure this out soon, because there are going to be a lot of useless televisions in a couple of weeks. How hard is it to partner with a recycling facility? Major fail.
We made it to Hooligans with plenty of time left in the first half. The game was neck and neck and we went into the break at 42 all. I had money riding on this thing, so I wasn't too pleased. Luckily in the second half MU pulled ahead and dominated the rest of the game. I gladly called my buddy Jason and told him I accept cash or check.
The one-sided game gave Ed, Mar and I plenty of time to catch up. You never realize how much you miss some of these friends from college until you see them for the first time in a million years. Ed is still as incredibly inappropriate as I remember him being and I couldn't be more glad.
After the game, we headed back to my house so I could change for my work holiday party and my friends could flip through old photos. They then were nice enough to drop me off at Alioto's way the heck out on Highway 100 & Burleigh (not very conducive to transit). I'm hoping after two westside locations they'll move the thing back closer to downtown or at least near southside. It's really frustrating. I had a really fun time, but did have my coworker drop me off at Mayfair to catch the Route 21 back at 10 p.m. I had offers from other folks to take me back downtown, but I was getting a flurry of texts from Mar and Ed, who now had Becky with them.
The long bus ride was not friendly to my bladder and I hopped into Von Trier to use the restroom before I caught a cab up to Mar's apartment. I found out what a bottle of Belvedere vodka can do to my friends while I'm away. I also found out that trying to catch up after the long day that I'd had causes me to pass out on the couch.
Becky and I eventually split a cab home. When I finally crawled out of bed today I fixed veggies and dip and tropical lime bars for the Super Bowl Party at Brooke and Craig's. We kicked the party off with Rock Band/Guitar Hero. Brooke's friend Jenny actually could sing, so that was sad for me, even though I didn't see her jumping around or crawling on the floor. Maybe we can make a deal like those Chinese kids. Oh wait, that was the government.
Maribeth cursed the game at the start, wishing for a nailbiter. We definitely got that. In the end, The Steelers prevailed, and while I feel bad for my Arizona fan friends, I was pretty excited about that. It was actually the first time I think the whole party (Craig, Becky and I have watched together every year since '02) agreed on the team we were routing for.
I'm pretty exhausted, but don't get a break this week. I have my first Young Non-Profit Professionals Network (YNPN)-Milwaukee Chapter Board meeting tomorrow night. Tuesday is going to be a really cool FUEL Milwaukee Event at Turner Hall Ballroom with the makers of Rehorst Vodka. On Wednesday I'm hopefully meeting my friend to get Antony & The Johnsons tickets, then going to my first Spreenkler meeting, before going to watch LOST. On Thursday night I have Classical Connections, which I am really bummed about because I want to go to the Milwaukee Film screening of Handmade Nation.
I need a clone!
Yesterday I returned to yoga class at the WAC to find it chock full of people (thanks to those good old New Year's resolutions). The class really kicked my butt, in part because the sub concentrates on movement in yoga and we did a lot of arm and ab exercises, as well as about 300 sun salutations. I ended up giving travel tips for India to the sub though, after I mentioned having gone there. I always like being useful.
I was sort of useful after class, hurrying over to the east side to help my friend Ben unload a U-Haul. There were about 10 people, so the move went pretty quickly. Ben could use a few packing lessons, but I couldn't complain too much. I got to drink a Riverwest Stein and watch Rear Window for a bit after it was all over. I soon left those folks though to go meet Maribeth and our friend Ed from Marquette, who was up visiting for the weekend.
Our plans were to go watch the Marquette vs. Georgetown game, but first Mar needed to donate her old televisions. We stopped at Goodwill and they told us they no longer took TVs because of the digital conversion! They didn't offer any advice as to where else we could take the sets. They really should figure this out soon, because there are going to be a lot of useless televisions in a couple of weeks. How hard is it to partner with a recycling facility? Major fail.
We made it to Hooligans with plenty of time left in the first half. The game was neck and neck and we went into the break at 42 all. I had money riding on this thing, so I wasn't too pleased. Luckily in the second half MU pulled ahead and dominated the rest of the game. I gladly called my buddy Jason and told him I accept cash or check.
The one-sided game gave Ed, Mar and I plenty of time to catch up. You never realize how much you miss some of these friends from college until you see them for the first time in a million years. Ed is still as incredibly inappropriate as I remember him being and I couldn't be more glad.
After the game, we headed back to my house so I could change for my work holiday party and my friends could flip through old photos. They then were nice enough to drop me off at Alioto's way the heck out on Highway 100 & Burleigh (not very conducive to transit). I'm hoping after two westside locations they'll move the thing back closer to downtown or at least near southside. It's really frustrating. I had a really fun time, but did have my coworker drop me off at Mayfair to catch the Route 21 back at 10 p.m. I had offers from other folks to take me back downtown, but I was getting a flurry of texts from Mar and Ed, who now had Becky with them.
The long bus ride was not friendly to my bladder and I hopped into Von Trier to use the restroom before I caught a cab up to Mar's apartment. I found out what a bottle of Belvedere vodka can do to my friends while I'm away. I also found out that trying to catch up after the long day that I'd had causes me to pass out on the couch.
Becky and I eventually split a cab home. When I finally crawled out of bed today I fixed veggies and dip and tropical lime bars for the Super Bowl Party at Brooke and Craig's. We kicked the party off with Rock Band/Guitar Hero. Brooke's friend Jenny actually could sing, so that was sad for me, even though I didn't see her jumping around or crawling on the floor. Maybe we can make a deal like those Chinese kids. Oh wait, that was the government.
Maribeth cursed the game at the start, wishing for a nailbiter. We definitely got that. In the end, The Steelers prevailed, and while I feel bad for my Arizona fan friends, I was pretty excited about that. It was actually the first time I think the whole party (Craig, Becky and I have watched together every year since '02) agreed on the team we were routing for.
I'm pretty exhausted, but don't get a break this week. I have my first Young Non-Profit Professionals Network (YNPN)-Milwaukee Chapter Board meeting tomorrow night. Tuesday is going to be a really cool FUEL Milwaukee Event at Turner Hall Ballroom with the makers of Rehorst Vodka. On Wednesday I'm hopefully meeting my friend to get Antony & The Johnsons tickets, then going to my first Spreenkler meeting, before going to watch LOST. On Thursday night I have Classical Connections, which I am really bummed about because I want to go to the Milwaukee Film screening of Handmade Nation.
I need a clone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)