a question

What do you make of this?

corn for pops

I visited the Morrow Plots at the University of Illinois in honor of my father's birthday. It happens to be the oldest experimental field in the United States, established in 1876. When I called my dad to let him know where I was, he excitedly told me the oldest in the world was in England. And, lo and behold, guess where the third oldest experimental field in the world and second oldest in the United States is? Missouri - Sanborn Field at my alma mater. Thanks for the lesson, Dad.

on the road again

Champaign is cold. Not the kind in the glass, the one in Illinois.

full circles

mojtos • toasted garlic in olive oil • French bread • salmon marinated in lemon, honey and mustard covered with garlic, thyme, rosemary and chives • tomato soup with oregano and basil • mixed greens with cranberries, pecans, sunflower seeds, goat cheese and a homemade honey mustard dressing • Malbec

Full circles lead to full stomachs.

parsnip?

She needed the mustard and couldn't find it anywhere. She checked the kitchen. He checked the trunk. No luck. "I know I bought some mustard," she muttered. Minutes later she was rifling through a pile of receipts to prove the point to herself. "Parsnip? They charged me for parsnip? I NEVER buy parsnip." No mustard, but they did charge her for the mystery parsnip. Then she noted that two cantaloupes also made the list, but she only brought home one. He went and bought the mustard. She's taking the receipt back and demanding $6.

Check your receipts.

Boss's word of five days ago:
Magilla

30-year-old fun

You try blowing up one of these balloons. Sore cheeks and lightheadedness will soon follow.

a cocky monkey

Took the opportunity to make a photo on the five flight elevator ride at work today. This woman is a member of the award winning volleyball team, the Cocky Monkeys. I also belong to this prestigious team.

arc animals

Nothing beats starting your day in the early-morning, St. Charles light with Noah's lost animals.

no clean bowl?

No problem.

i got the bug

The travel bug, that is. I finally unpacked my bags from Springfield, the Dominican and Christmas in KC and Columbia. Here I come Champaign, Omaha, Lincoln, Chicago, Las Vegas!

P.S. iTunes Latino brings happiness to my life. What brings it to yours?

cabarete

Cabarete, Dominican Republic - the kite surfing capital of the world.

no rolls, just ice

We drove through mist to the home of throwed rolls and a wet smiley face and locked doors greeted us. No throwed rolls for us. After dinner, the temperature dropped to exactly 32 degrees, and the rain turned to snow. Sliding through the parking lot was sweet. Even sweeter was the crowd in the third floor of the hotel next door, whistling as Gary carefully spelled out, "HELP." We're hoping a chopper doesn't see the words and fly down for a rescue. Then again, the snow has erased our mark by now.

Finally reading some good fiction and haven't shared any book quotes for a while ...

"She reminded him that the weak would never enter the kingdom of love, which is a harsh and ungenerous kingdom ... "

"In reality they were distracted letters, intended to keep the coals alive without putting her hand in the fire, while Florentino Ariza burned himself alive in every line."

defining DD

I've learned something from these video folk already. All these years I thought that DD stood for designated driver when it really means drunk driver. Who knew.

Living in the land of a new language and trying to soak it in ... NewsCutter, Grass Valley, Adrenaline, Beta and bathtub beer?

I-44

Drove to Springfield today for a video conference. The drive down I-44 made me interested in taking a weekend trek with some buds. From flea markets and caves to seedy motels and the Jesse James wax museum, I think it would be a hell of a time.

The ice storm that hit Springfield has the town pretty trashed yet. It's beautiful and sad, a la vez.

foul

One highlight of the trip for me was going to Estadio Quisqueya to watch Licey baseball. Just like at Busch stadium, I bought some consessions and headed to my seat. With a slice of pizza and two bags of popcorn in my hands, a rambunctious squirt ran into me, knocking the pizza to the ground, face down. For less thant $2, I could have bought another slice. Instead, I ate the pizza. The lesson to be learned here is that the five-second rule applies in other countries as well.

About halfway through the game, the crowd erupted into a chant, “BELLIARD! BELLIARD!” That's when good ol' Ronnie Belliard stepped up to bat. It was like a little taste of home in the Dominican.

blackened spoon

Last night I toasted up some almonds to put on my salad. I also toasted up some wooden spoon.

More from the Dominican más luego.

dominican flower power

left behind

Sometimes the things we leave behind help to tell the stories of our adventures. Take, for instance, the contents of the garbage can the morning we left the Dominican.

Lobster carcasses - Remnants of an amazing dinner. We paid about $40 for two "drinks of the house," three bottles of water, ravioli dumpling soup, rice, salad and three grilled lobsters soaked in a lemon butter.

Three AA batteries - Reminder that we were always one battery short on the trip. My camera takes four batteries. I brought seven rechargables and three normal AAs. Do the math. I spent my last few days cameraless. The one thing I forgot this trip was the battery charger.

Soggy orbit - Evidence of the humid and rainy climate. It rained every day we were there. We saw three rainbows. The rainbows in the Domincan are much larger and wider than their U.S. counterpart.

Sad sandals - Proof of our many walking adventures. Our second day in the country we probably walked at least six miles through the many plazas and neighborhoods of Santo Domingo (photos from this trek). The sandal (which I bought on a Caribbean Island about two years ago for 50 cents) broke as I was buying Dominican cigars. The cigar shop gave me wonderful packing tape to make repairs.

home

Home after ...

A 30-minute Dominican taxi ride through the mountains at 7:30 a.m. that included picking up a drunk French guy with a fresh gash in his head.

A 4-hour bus ride through the country, in which someone threw something at one of the bus windows while we were moving, shattering the window.

A 30-minute taxi ride from Santo Domingo to the airport in a station wagon, which some people in the country call a limousine.

A 3-hour plane ride to Atlanta sitting next to the crabbiest woman I ever met.
About the crying kids ... "Someone should sedate them."
"They are forming a conspiracy."
About the stewardess with the stewardess in earshot ... "What a ditz!"
About the movie Invincible ... "They obviously don't call holding."
About the alarm in the airport ... "What the HELL is that?"

A 1-hour walk through the airport in Atlanta to find out our plane was cancelled, get our hotel voucher and receive our "overnight kit" complete with an XL white, see-through T-shirt and some horrible tasting toothpaste.

A 30-minute wait for the airport shuttle to take us to the hotel.

A 2-minute looney jumping on the beds "we're in America" session.

A 1.5-hour flight to Cincinnati.

A 3.5-hour layover and lunch in Cincinnati.

A 1-hour flight to St. Louis in a baby plane.

A 1-hour wait for our luggage in the mess called "baggage claim" at Lambert.

A 30-minute ride to St. Charles to get my car from Meg's, wearing sandals, no jacket and a hat made out of palm leaves. *Not too appropriate for the weather

A 30-minute drive from St. Charles to home.

It was actually a fun and adventurous 48 hours of travel, but, boy, it's good to be home. :-)

adios, amigos

No blog posts until Jan. 12 - when I return from nine days in the Dominican Republic.

nada

She was Croatian and cooked our meals from scratch - a lamb gyro and flavorful sausage sandwiched between fried pita, Bosnian style. The orange flavored drink - jupi - was a refreshing start. We stayed and chatted after our generously-sized meals. She sat in the corner crocheting. She worked alone, the front and the back. She brought us her "New Years" cookies, free of charge, and showed us photos of the cakes she makes. The white pineapple cake made my mouth water. Then she insisted we try another dessert - her strawberry cookie. She sat down and rested after the second round of desserts. She said she would have to close in a couple of months if business didn't pick up. Her name was Nada. Nada means nothing in Spanish, but in her native tongue, nada means hope.

Check it out - Seha - 3830 Morganford Rd.

sweet dreams

mashed goodness

Thank goodness for good friends willing to cook good food for me.

a reminder

My grandpa used to live in the old City Hospital building (photo three). He and his good friend Stally went to SLU Law School together and shared a room in the hospital. They did odd janitorialish jobs in exchange for the room. The hospital started in the 1840s to serve those with cholera in the city. In the mid and late 1900s the conditions at the hospital weren't very reputable, to say the least. The place shut down in 1985. I am not exactly sure of its history since its close, but I know that at one point someone wanted to turn it into a massive homeless shelter. Public housing was another idea for the space. Today its fate is sealed, as it opened in late 2004 as the Georgian Condominiums. I drive by the area on my way to work most days and think of my grandpa.

out in the valley

The bumper sticker made me realize that I have some back-up career options. I couldn't do oil paintings, but I could do real doggie portraits.

'007

Hillbilly teeth and organic mustard - a great way to ring in the New Year.