Sunday, September 28, 2008

Is this wrong?

Thanks to a recent order from MyTailor, I am 'off the rack' free as far as my work shirts are concerned. What this means that you will no longer see me wearing a shirt that has enough fabric at the waist to make a sail for a small boat. Let's be honest, the US has basically one shirt size for men for 80% of us - large.

Anyway, due to multiple reasons (few pants in the US, biking to work which requires clothes at work, etc.) - I am now taking pics of my outfits for the week in order to avoid duplication - is that a bit strange?

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Cider

It's Fall, which means it's time to make cider.

Thanks to Tim and Chris organizational skills we all ended up heading over to the Whittaker Garage and pressing 20 gallons of fresh apple cider. And yes, we're fermenting it.

With most of these things, it was slow going at first, but once we started to get a system down, we flowed through it. A couple of mishaps on the way - like the stash tipping over in the back seat of the truck and losing a half a gallon - but it all worked out better than I thought. Next step is the fermentation and finding a better press.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Fresh Market

Again, pent up consumer demand from living in a country where it took 100 US dollars to buy a can of Coke has resulted in me starting a subscription to Farm Fresh Delivery. As I pass the ripe old age of 26, I realize more about myself and my unique weaknesses - one of which is the inability to get up on Saturday at 7AM and go the Farmer's markets in Indy. Enter Farm Fresh Delivery.

They delivery organic fruits and vegetables to your door via an online ordering process at regular intervals. I currently have it set up for a delivery once every two weeks - which seems to be working out well. Every Monday they tell you what they have in stock, and you can easily ammend your order. So far the vegetables have been good, but the fruit is even better.

It's still too early to tell, but we think we actually end up saving cash, since it forces us to stay at home and cook - not to mention getting our daily intake of fruit. If we left it to chance, I think Patrick would have an apple about once a month.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Silver

OK, I'm back from Ireland before heading back for the project's cutover - so needless to say there have been a few packages that have been piling up. It was almost like Xmas in Autumn.

So here's the big purchase via EBay while on the Green Isle - a little expansion to my silver flatware. Honestly, you never know when you have to throw a party for 30 of your closest friends where paper products will not do. Besides, I really couldn't pass up on the price - they were practically giving it away.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

I was Heim'ed

How is this for scary.

I land in Chicago on my way back from Ireland (yes, I'm going back in a month) - and I see none other than Mike Heim, Chief Information Officer of Eli Lilly.

It was like 24 hours of seeing Lilly executives staring back at me. It all started when I left Kinsale, and there was an advertisement of Dave Urbanek, Lilly Kinsale's Plant Manager.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Ivory Tower . . . again

You know, I really love this place.

The Ivory Tower is one of those restaurants that you only come across a few times. Sure, it's a little eccletic with the decor and you don't know if you're in some Great Aunt's Living Room or not, but you can't deny that Seamus knows how to cook.

This time around Jamie almost burst, he was complaining that it was because of the mammoth-sized california rolls - but for me 8 small vegetarians little doo dads was perfect.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Kirby's: The Italian Matteo's

Not sure what it is about living in a foreign country and always gravitating to a specific restaurant, but Kirby's would have to be the choice. It's a cool little pasta/pizza place about 500 feet from our apartment. We usually end up there on Thursday's, but if the week was particularly bad, then we usually go on Wednesday. Weekends, of course, should be avoided due to the influx of tourists that just generally kill the ambiance.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Coffee Taste Test

Ever being this conspiracy theorist, I have this new theory that Nespresso does not in fact have different coffee flavors, they just put them in different colored capsules and make you think they're different. And if they aren't different, the whole wine-esque descriptions of the coffee tasting like "peach mountain rainbows on a potato sack race weekend" was getting a little out of control.

So to put my theory to the test (and to improve our tasting skills), Jamie and I did a blind taste test of three coffee flavors. We got about 66% right, but I think we were guessing. We need to continue the project until we can taste all the coffees - should take awhile.