Random Summer Stuff

The good news is that I'm having a really great summer.  The bad news is that means I've been doing other things than sitting at a computer updating this blog.  Here are a few things that I've been up to:


I drove way out along Route 26 past Bethel, almost into New Hampshire to Grafton Notch State Park.  I climbed a portion of Old Speck Mountain.  When I have more time I would like to go back and do the whole thing but it takes 7-8 hours.   The first picture shows (although hard to see) metal rails that were set up along some of the hiking trail.  It's a given that if metal ladders or rails were necessary to install that this is a tough section of trail.  In fact I use the term trail loosely since it was 2.5 miles of scattered rocks and not much more!  The second picture shows the view that was my reward for all of the hard climbing.

I bought myself this wind chime for my birthday.  I have it hanging indoors as you come up the stairs to my bedroom.  It has several cooper stars and moons all hung on a swirl.  The man who made it says its treated so that it will never turn that green, old copper look. Next year I turn 40 and you better believe I'll be getting myself something more than a wind chime!

I went to Crescent Beach State Park a couple of weeks ago. This picture was taken when I got there when they first opened. I should have a taken a picture a few hours later to show the dramatic change with the throngs of people.

Then there was the Motley Crue and Poison concert I went to at Mohegan Sun down in Connecticut. I love, love, love my souvenir t-shirt.

I also got to give vicariously through my friend who just got 3 kittens.  Their names are Macy, Lily and Yaz.  I want a kitten myself but I've been told by the man of my house that I'm not allowed.

Most of these pictures I already posted on Facebook so this is definitely not the most original post but...I'm having too much fun!!

All Things Food

I have been very inspired this season by all of the fresh, abundant whole foods that are available. I began following a vegan lifestyle last fall so this is my first vegan farmers market season. It seems like every time I have a meal it is a masterpiece...well except for that night I ate Toffutti mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches. Those are heaven- dairy free or not!


This pasta was a fantastic spring dish. It is whole wheat linguine topped with a citrus pesto. The pesto has chopped oranges, cilantro, olive oil and garlic. Throw in some zucchini and grated carrot and it was complete!

This is a corn chowder. You might normally think two things when thinking about chowder. First, it's warm and therefore better suited to winter. Not this one. It is intended to be served raw and therefore uncooked although I will admit to warming mine a bit before serving. The other thing that you think about chowder is that it couldn't possibly be tasty without bits of bacon and a whole lot of cream. Well, that would be wrong. This corn chowder is scrumptious. It is blended with cashews and olive oil for that creamy, rich texture and taste. Topped with some cracked black pepper and cilantro it's all I need.

I had this sandwich last week for lunch from Stoneyfield Cafe.  It starts with their yummy flatbread.  Add some very tasty flavorful hummus.  Pile on veggies like cuke, tomato, spinach, carrot and sprouts.  This thing was about the size of my head and I had to cut it in two to eat it.  I should have stopped at one half but it was so good I ate it all in one meal.

Warning: Author Doped Up On Nyquil

I have a cold that began last Monday morning. It then morphed into a migraine, slid straight into the flu before returning once again to a snotty, coughing cold.  I think I am on the mend although numerous people today thought it kind to tell me how awful I sounded.  Yes, I sound this awful and I'm feeling better.  Thank you.  These days when I feel  a cold coming on I get a certain kind of panic that I feel extremely bitter I need to experience.  You see-when I get a cold I want nothing more than to curl up in bed with a box of tissues and a death grip around a bottle of Nyquil.  Sort of like a female version of this:

The trouble is, and the reason for the panic, is that the meth lab fools have ruined a perfectly good thing for the world (besides bringing down neighborhoods, endangering children and all of that type of stuff).  Several years ago Nyquil was pulled off the shelves since its ingredients could be used to make meth.  Nyquil smartened up quickly to the fact that their product wasn't prominently available on shelves and they reformulated the brand to leave out the meth loving ingredients.  Trouble is--there's a reason I like to snuggle up to my bottle of Nyquil...because it's good and it works.  Don't go messing around with a perfect original.  Things were fine for a while.  My local CVS in Bath stocked the good stuff behind the pharmacy counter.  You just walked up, showed your photo ID, they entered you into the meth tracking computer and you were on your way with product in hand.  However, I have been having more and more trouble finding stores that carry the original version.  That brings on the aforementioned panic.  Last fall, I wandered the streets of Portland desperately seeking my Nyquil, sniffly and coughing only to wind up empty handed and with this pale impostor:

Note that there are only three active ingredients and none of them is really long and starts with a "P".  The long "P" ingredient is the meth trouble causing one that has been removed.  After I recovered from last fall's cold I started casually checking out the cold aisle whenever I happened to be in a drugstore.  To date I have not found the original Nyquil.  I'm not sure if it's because the pharmacies don't want to waste their precious shelf space which seems to be solely dedicateded to contraband Sudafed or because it's simply not being made anymore.  However, I did manage to find a Walgreens's brand that sports this fantastic list of ingredients:

So, my quest continues as Walgreen's brand is probably just as good but let's face it, there are some things that you don't go generic with and my Nyquil is clearly one of them.  As a side note-I thought this blog was hhysterical and proves I may be crazy but in a completely different way than this person:

What Would Happen...25 Bottles of Nyquil

A Very Soggy Relay For Life

This past weekend my team participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life.  This is an overnight 14 hour, rain or shine event.  Well, this year it rained the entire night with it absolutely pouring rain from the start until about 9pm.  Luckily my friends and I can have fun in any situation and are definitely not fair weathered friends!  We even managed to celebrate my mom's upcoming birthday with ice cream cake.  We were all cold, wet and freezing and still managed to enjoy that ice cream cake!

Here are some photo highlights from our night.


Our team participated in the Team Banner Lap.  We all gathered around our cool banner and as we walked onto the field the DJ called out "Here come Cacklin Hens 4 A Cure!"  It was a nice moment.  We then walked a couple of wet laps around the track with the banner.

The real troopers of the afternoon are below.  My mom and Ken arrived early on and helped with our camp set up, participated in the Survivor/Caregiver ceremony, had dinner and then when you knew they really, really just wanted to jump in their car with the heated seats...they stayed a little while longer so we could surprise mom with birthday cake, a card and balloon.  They did a great job and I know it was kind of crazy and miserable at times but it's the spirit that counts!  

There are theme laps every hour.  We missed a few in the beginning because it was raining so hard and we were so busy with trying to set up camp in the rain.  As midnight approached Jezzy and I were sitting in our screen tent discussing that it wasn't raining and the glow in the dark/neon lap was coming up.  There is also an 80's lap at 3am but we didn't want to chance missing that lap.  So, we threw on our 80's outfits, added our many glo sticks and hit the track.

Everyone got a little punchy around 2am. I don't even remember what I was laughing about here but it must have been good! Everyone stayed up all night long with no sleep and we took only one brief trip to the car to sit and warm up. The best news is that we raised an amazing amount of money. With only 6 team members we raised somewhere between $1,300-1,400 and made many memories.



 

Basil

City living doesn't provide much opportunity for gardening but I do have a basil plant that has been flourishing in my kitchen window for quite a while now.  Usually I buy these plants and barely get one use before they sort of wilt and fade away.  This little guy has a bunch of new growth and the basil looks so fresh and ripe for picking.

I made some bruschetta tonight with my fresh basil, ripe tomatoes and olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.  So simple but so beautiful.

 

Weekly Back Cove 5K Series-Week 1

I went for a run around Back Cove Monday night.  I planned to go again on Wednesday.  That night, at home, I was looking online at stuff and read about the Back Cove 5K series.  Coincidentally it was starting this week on Wednesday.  It's free to register and I figured that since I planned to run anyway it might help with my motivation to do this race.  I wasn't really feeling ready for a 5K but why not...  It felt even more like the right decision when I registered and got my race number that I will use through the whole series.  My favorite number is 3.  My race number is 333.  I think it was meant to be.

Here we are at the start.  There were 256 racers who showed up on a random Wednesday night...love it.  I am behind the guy in a green shirt.  I have a white visor and pink tank. It was really, really windy and for the first 1 3/4 miles I ran right into the wind.  You can even see in this picture that the trees are leaning. 

I felt really good the whole race despite the wind, baked bean smell and I295 construction.  On the uphill this lady pulled slightly ahead of me.  She later told me she had been following me for a while and I provided motivation for her.  Once she was in front of me I used her pace to be sure I kept up and she didn't get to far ahead of me.  When we had the finish in sight I started sprinting.  She followed along and we ended up crossing the finish line at the same time.  Great camaraderie...even with dismally slow times!

2011-05-11 Photos Courtesy of Roger Morse on Facebook
http://mainerunningphotos.com/

Pink Tulip Project

Last year I noticed all over Portland these little gardens of pink tulips planted as part of the Pink Tulip Project.  I watched them grow as I took walks around Maine Med and the Western Promenade.  I drove by them daily on my drive home past Deering Oaks and Longfellow Square.  But then they suddenly went from not quite blooming to completely spent.  I missed them in full bloom!  This year I tried to make an effort to catch them at their peak and took my own little Pink Tulip Tour. 

My first stop was at Post Office Park which turned out to be my favorite picture.  It has to be the best people watching spot in the city and even though you can't tell in the picture there were tons of people around.  So, these perfect little tulips are a real breathe of fresh air in a sea of concrete.

Next stop, Lincoln Park which is at the corner of Congress and Pearl.  The tulips didn't look very well maintained but the park itself looked wonderful.  I didn't even know it existed!

At Maine Medical Center a lady saw me taking this picture and we chatted about the tulips for a while.  These gardens create goodwill in many ways.

My favorite spot: Western Promanade.  I pass by here on almost every run or walk that I take.  They had two gardens and they were both really nice.

Next up- Deering Oaks Park.  I pass by here on my way home from work each night.  In the winter there are really cool ornaments hanging from the trees.  It's nice that now they have some color in the spring as well.

 

Last stop on the tour was Longfellow Square.  This is another interesting people watching space.  It's the closest garden to my home and it made for a great last stop on my tour!