small things...

The Challenge is BACK!

Ah, a year and a half later and it feels so good! 

(Come visit my other blog for more info!)

Why do a challenge now, you may ask, after all this time?  Well a few reasons:

1. We are heading into the best time of year for eating locally here in the midwest and I’m feeling inspired again by all the farmers and farm fresh food around
2. I was listening to a show on the radio about running out of oil and alternative fuel sources and I started thinking about how hard it will be to get fresh food (some time in the future) when shipping food becomes prohibitive.  What a great time to learn about all your local sources!  Or grow your own!!
3. In the last year and a half i’ve been asked more than a handful of times ‘when are you going to do that challenge again?’
4. Most importantly:  I miss all of you and your good food and your awesome photos of good food and of your cute selves.

So let’s get it going again.

Official start date: August 15th 

It will run for 4 weeks and the basics are the same:

1. Prepare one meal per week made up COMPLETELY from local ingredients
2. At the end of that week send in a photo and little write up of your meal including where the food came from and any other little tidbits you’d like to share

There is no prize for this challenge – just the enjoyment of good food shared with others. 

Here are the rest of the rules

What do you say?  Want in?

To official sign up send me an email (erinmloughlin@gmail.com) with your name and location (and if you have a blog, send the link).

 

yay! 

happy eating!!

Erin

Blog catch up: Then there was the windy night with the band

So then, soon after I got back from my trip to Boulder, but before my high school reunion I met up with some friends to see Mucca Pazza play in Evanston.  Do you know who Mucca Pazza is yet?  Have a gander and a listen:

 

My friend Andy is one of the drummers in the band.  And that is what you call name-dropping.

So any-hoo, I met up with my friend Jane, who is married to Andy (and now I’m demonstrating how ‘in’ I am) and our pal Sarah and her son Avery (You know Avery, right?) on a blustery night to hear and watch them play.

The weather was pretty precarious for the most of the evening.  Threatening to rain and the whole bit.  About 30 minutes after I arrived this creepy bad boy came on the scene (I”m talking about the cloud)

It was circling rather suspiciously.  Moving west instead of east.  Then all of a sudden there was a HUGE gust of wind! Dust storms on the baseball diamonds!  Lightening striking awful close!  Everyone scattered and went running towards their cars and as we did the band played this:

Or at least I think they did.  I was running away, did I mention that?  That’s what was playing in mind if nothing else.

Maybe I’ll ask my friend Andy…you know, the one in the band, who I know and everything.

Blog catch-up – Did I tell you I went to Boulder?

Two weeks ago (already??) I took a little trip down memory lane with some of my besties from college.  We rented a house in Boulder for a semi-long weekend to catch up with each other and catch up with Boulder.  Which has grown a bit in the last 13 years. And when I say “a bit” I mean “A LOT”.  Last time I went to Boulder I compared the city to an old boyfriend who I was finally “over”.  Apparently I’ve redeveloped some feelings. 

My friend Anna and I had originally planned on driving to and from Boulder (from Chicago) as part of this adventure.  It had seemed like a really good idea.  it used to be a good idea, back when we were 20.  Now?  Not so much.  Yet I still thought it was a good idea until Anna’s train into Chicago got in at 2am the night before our drive and all I could think about was how tired I was going to be on the 16hour drive that sat before us.  I didn’t sleep all night worrying about the drive and thinking about how I could maybe convince my friend whose barely flown in the last 15 years that buying last minute plane tickets wasn’t such a crazy idea.

I didn’t have to.  She was totally on the same page and we were able to find reasonable tickets. woot woot!. 

First thing I learned upon arriving in Boulder?  A dry heat is still freaking hot.  Why do people love a dry heat so much?  Did I used to love a dry heat?  I probably said I did.  All I know is that a dry heat makes you crazy thirsty and a little lightheaded – or was that the altitude?  Who knows anymore? (you probably know).

Second thing I learned upon arriving in Boulder?  My camera was broken. This was a serious bummer, because if you’ve been to Boulder, you know about the loveliness.  And if you haven’t been to Boulder – you would have wanted to see the loveliness!  (my cell phone also died in Boulder. rude)

So I’ve been waiting patiently for my friends to send some photos so that I could steal them and share them here. 

Enjoy:

Dinner at The Rio.  Notorious for their 3 margarita maximum.  Is that why this photo is so blurry

Amy, Beth, Anna and Reba.  My super cute girlfriends on a hike w/o me.

Somebody always has a didgeridoo and bells on their keens down on Pearl Street.

We even brought a couple of mini-Buff’s with us on this trip.

Please ignore how awkward Anna and I look in this photo and instead focus in on the majesty that is the plastic gorilla in the middle.  He is looking straight into your soul.

All our friends got even better looking and then reproduced. And that is how the world turns.

One of the highlights of this trip was a stop by this guy

Poems while you wait.  After talking with us for a little while, this is what he came up with in honor of our friend Rebecca who couldn’t make the trip.  We love you, Rebecca!

This may not make sense to you.  Unless you too spent a good portion of your formative young adult years in Boulder, then it likely makes perfect sense.

It’s all lively here.

xoxo

Erin