Remembering January - Part 1

In January of this year, Isabelle's mother came to visit for two weeks. The main reason she was coming over was to see Isabelle's graduation from Saint Xavier University's nursing program. But she was also coming to visit and spend a few weeks getting to know me better. On the night she arrived, we all went to a special "underground" dinner at Bonsoiree. It was New Years Eve, so the dinner was made extra special by the chefs for that. For the next two weeks, Isabelle and her mother spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking up some great meals for us. After her graduation we had a party and they made a FEAST for everyone!



After her mother left to head back to her home in Switzerland, I was called to England for work. We had a couple of projects underway and our lead engineer in Leeds just left the company. At first, it was just supposed to be for a week. But what started out a week turned into three weeks! A co-worker suggested that since I had already spent time in Leeds and York, I try catching a cheap flight to Amsterdam. I found one for a good price (total cost was around $300 USD) and booked it, plus a hotel.



When Saturday rolled around, I caught a taxi to the Leeds - Bradford Airport and flew off to Amsterdam for a 24 hour tour of what has become one of my favorite places in all Europe. I arrived at around 9pm and came to the abrupt realization that I was in a land where people spoke a foreign language. Getting from the airport to the Amsterdam train station was simple, but after that I walked around the station area for a little while and attempted to get my bearings. I was NOT going to take a taxi... I read that it was the easiest way to get ripped off in Amsterdam. I struggled with the maps for a little bit... it was dark and foggy outside.

I stopped a couple of people who were evidently the only people in Amsterdam who didn't understand English. Finally... I surrendered... I caught a taxi to Hotel Amsterdam in the Leidseplein. The taxi driver spoke English. The fare was 30 euros, which was ~$50 USD at the time. In retrospect this was highway robbery and completely idiotic on my part. There is a tram that goes directly from the train station to the hotel. This was my first solo foreign travel experience, so we'll write that off as rookie error.

I got to the hotel and dropped off my things. I took a quick peek around the neighborhood and then got some dinner and went back to the hotel. I got to sleep at midnight. I would have stayed out later, but the hotel check-out time was 9am and I couldn't sleep in. I also wanted to be awake the next day because I had a very limited time in which to see this city. I needed to fly back to Leeds at 5pm!



I slept great, the bed was comfortable... the hotel was quiet. I woke up at 7:30 and took a quick shower and went out to start some sightseeing. The canals are beautiful! I wandered around the neighborhood a little bit, it looks like I randomly chose a very cool place to stay. I walked over to the Rijksmuseum and went inside. They were pretty clear that I wasn't to take photos inside the museum, so I put my camera away once I got inside the galleries.

After I left the museum, I walked toward the city center and into another museum that had an exhibit about Afghanistan. I grabbed lunch at a "coffee shop" that my friend Jen recommended. That was an interesting experience... I'll leave it at that. I decided after lunch to wander over to the Red Light District to see what that was all about. Here were a lot of interesting sights. A number of brothels, the women were not yet in their windows. There were also a number of coffeeshops and head shops. I think I learned a few new words!



I continued to get lost and find my way again throughout the city. I caught a quick ride on the tram and giggled at the way people sound when they speak Dutch. Just before catching my flight back to Leeds, I took another quick tour through the Red Light district. Now there were women in the windows and it had picked up a very "seedy" element... especially for a Sunday night!



Anyways, that was my Amsterdam experience. I had a good time and can't wait to return some day for a more thorough experience.

In Part 2 I'll talk about the next weekend in Barcelona!

Reflecting on The United States of America

"In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about HOPE." - Barack Obama

Congratulations, America! You have a new inspirational leader, now DO IT!



YES WE DID!!

Dinner at Heaven on Seven

Emma, the director of Global Unix Engineering at my company, was in Chicago from England and to save the company some money (and no doubt to shop on Michigan Avenue) she flew back on Sunday night instead of Friday. To keep her company, and to take advantage of an opportunity to share the thoroughly satisfying experience of a night of revelry in Chicago, Isabelle and I offered to accompany her for dinner and drinks on Saturday evening. Originally we had just planned to get a late lunch, but Isabelle has been adjusting to a night shift schedule (temporarily) and needed to sleep during the day.

Isabelle and I chose Heaven on Seven on Michigan Avenue for our dinner where we met at 6pm. This is Chef Jimmy Bannos' joint that certainly kicked off MY personal Cajun Craze. I own his cookbook and have made just about everything in it. They sell t-shirts that say, "People who come back from Heaven all say the same thing: Try the Gumbo!" and I think I'll need to get one of those before I move away from Chicago.



We talked about Michigan Avenue and the shopping "opportunities" that Isabelle knows inside and out. We started off with some chicken and andouille sausage quesadillas and fried green tomatoes. After that, we had the three main courses which were "Angry" shrimp, a Louisiana Bayou sampler, and a chicken caesar salad with onion rings for Emma. To be perfectly honest, after the appetizers were were all stuffed! We ended up taking the mains home with us! We all had a few drinks with dinner and left in high spirits.



Not ready to surrender the evening just yet, we walked down Michigan Avenue a bit and looked at the Tribune building, which is embedded with pieces of other famous buildings and monuments. Then Isabelle suggested we go to the wine bar at Hotel Intercontinental. While she was in college, she worked at the hotel and still knew a few people there. After a glass of wine, I was ready to taxi back home and fall asleep on the couch!

Shrimp Etouffee on Fried Catfish

Shrimp Etouffee on Fried Catfish, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Shrimp Etouffee

6 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 pounds shrimp
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped parsley

In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter and whisk in flour to combine well. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until roux is a peanut butter color.

Add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme and cook until vegetables are soft, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add stock, tomatoes, salt, red pepper, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil.



Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add shrimp, lemon juice, green onions, and parsley and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining butter and stir to combine well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.



This is normally served over white rice, but in my case I served it over fried catfish. I used Zartarain's fish fry breading, which is super easy. I have a candy / fry thermometer, so I make sure the oil is at 350 before dropping in the fish. I fried them for about 10 minutes or until they were golden yummy as they look in the photo. This tasted SOOO good, but the etouffee probably needed more roux to be thicker. I'll leave it to you to add 2 tbsp of butter and flour at the beginning.

Enjoy!

Garfield Park Conservatory

On Saturday Isabelle had an appointment to get her hair done by a woman who was recommended to her by a coworker. The salon was by Garfield Park, so I drove her there and on the way home I stopped at the Garfield Park Conservatory. According to its website:

“The Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois is one of the largest and most stunning conservatories in the nation. Often referred to as "landscape art under glass," the Garfield Park Conservatory occupies approximately 4.5 acres inside and out, and includes cold frames and propagating where thousands of plants are grown each year for displays in City parks and spaces. Garfield Park Conservatory is located in Garfield Park — an 184-acre site located on Chicago's redeveloping Westside designed as a pleasure ground by William LeBaron Jenney — and is the oldest of the three great original Westside parks (Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglas).”

There were ladybugs on most of the plants, I don't know why. I took a lot of pictures and wandered for about an hour before heading home.







- Andy

Who Says You Can't Go Home

Brian and his wife Jen flew in to Milwaukee late Wednesday night. They brought with them their children, Anna Rose and Matthew. My younger brother Robbie was going to drive to Milwaukee for dinner, so I decided to take the day off for a day trip up to Wisconsin. My mom and dad wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin farm in the afternoon, so I tried to time my trip early so I could come along.

The Amtrak train is by far the most comfortable way to Milwaukee. I boarded the train with 2 minutes to spare on account of my penchant for procrastination. Since I don't like staring out the window for an hour and a half (I've done this many times before) I brought my laptop and had a wireless internet card courtesy of my employer that kept me "busy" on the train. I arrived in Milwaukee right around noon and my dad, Brian, and young Matthew were already there to pick me up.



When we got to the house, my parents' dog Zeus gave me a very doggy greeting. He's a great dog, very friendly and loyal. He loves to play but listens to you when you tell him to stop, usually. Jen had just put Anna Rose to bed, so we went out for a walk through the park behind the house. I took a few pictures of the fall colors and then we went to the pumpkin farm.





Basse Farms sells pumpkins, apples, and other things. I took some pictures of the family around the farm and we bought a few apple pies for dessert. The corn maze and other attractions were not operating because of the weekday. After we returned home, I went for a walk through the park to photograph the sunset against the fall colors. I managed to get a couple good shots, but it was getting cold... I could see my breath!



We ate linguini with clam sauce for dinner. I'll need to get the recipe for this because Isabelle saw the photos and began demanding I learn how to cook it. We had dinner and played Wii for a while before I had to leave for the bus stop. The bus ended up being an hour late, so I sat outside for a while freezing! I ended up back in Chicago at 12:30am and slept a little later than usual before going in to work on Friday morning.

- Andy

Fly

Fly, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

I got this closeup of a fly on an indian corn husk at Basse's Farm in Germantown, WI.