Notes from ShellyCentral

Family Size

So the other night, Danny and I decided what we wanted for dinner were french fries from Culver's.

Culver's has been around in Lawrence for a long time, but we've only recently discovered it. Their burgers are fine and their custard is fine but it's really their fries that kick ass.

So Danny and Hannah took off to the drive through to get some grub and bring it home. While they were ordering they noticed something called a "family size" order of fries, and decided to get 3 of those. They were going to order some onion rings for us to share so they decided to get a family size of those as well.

When they were told the total and it was about 12 dollars more than usual they started to think something. When the Culver's girl brought a giant brown bag with handles to the car, they realized family size was actually family sized and not really what they were thinking.

I put the burger there so you could see the scale.
The boxes are still in the fridge. I'm wondering how they'll taste when warmed up in the oven.

17 Hotation Photos

Remember last week when I was on hotation with my friend Deb? I never showed you the pictures!

our view from the 15th floor

Us, in the mirror behind the microwave/kitchen area.

The living area.

It was a bit of a food vacation. We ate a lot of good food. The first night was here at Jack Stack's BBQ. Of course I liked my dad's better.

Burnt ends appetizer. Yummy, but kinda too much fat for me.

I don't remember what this was called. It was a mexican appetizer at The Cheesecake Factory, where we lunched the next day.

That night I turned the coffee table into an art table. Yay!

That night we were tired - a perfect night for room service.

A chicken caesar salad is always good.

On the menu this was a winner. Donut sliders, grilled bananas, chocolate. In real life, not so much.

Foggy morning view from the 15th floor.

I wore my pjs down to the breakfast buffet at the hotel.

The lobby at the Sheraton Suites on the Plaza.

For the biscuts and gravy, they used last night's dinner biscuts, with cheese and veggie bits. Not good with breakfast gravy.

We had to stop by the Barnes and Noble, of course.

The next night's dinner was at the Urban Table. The mixed olive appetizer went fast. Mostly because of me.

This Harvest Salad was absolutely the best salad ever I ever had. According to the menu it was watercress, baby spinach, poached pears, walnuts, roquefort, and a lemon mustard vinaigrette. I want to go back just for this salad.

One of the best parts was the hot tub, but I don't have any pictures of that. So warm and relaxing. Just what I needed. I spent a while afterward trying to figure out how I could get one in my own back yard.

It was a fantastic trip. I was just sad there was the overhanging doom of Henry and my Auntie both being so close to passing. I hope we can try it again sometime when circumstances are brighter.

Yesterday's Short Vlog

Danny and I went to KC and we made this vlog, that should be way more exciting than it is.

 

yum yum

Hannah made me dinner. All by herself.

Chicken fried rice. She learned how to make it in her Career and Life Planning class today and made it for us for dinner tonight. Go Career and Life Planning teacher. Go Hannah. Seriously, walking upstairs and having dinner all made for me? Fantastic. And super tasty too! Hooray.

waiting for tires

I am downtown. At ingredient.
I just ate a giant chicken caesar pizza and am incredibly stuffed.

Across the street they are putting new tires on the back of my Honda.
One car fixed up, one to go. Sadly the second one is more complicated than just new tires. There may even be a couple things wrong with it. I'm scared to find out how much it's going to cost, but we'll wait for that worry till after the 15th. I mean we'll try to wait on that worry. I worry. I want to give it up but I'm just so good at it.

It's just past the earliest time they thought it might be done. about 15 minutes till what they said was outside. I'm patient so far to wait here. It's not too crowded yet and the booth is comfy. Plus they have free wifi. Gotta love that.

I think cities should invest in free wifi for the whole city. After the initial investment it would be practically free and then everyone could link up whenever they wanted or needed to. It's a brilliant idea. Of course people who sell you air time hate it, so it probably won't happen. It's on my fantasy list with every show ever made instantally streamable to any teevee or device and public transportation for all. And a revolutionized political system that works the way it's intended to, but I'm not sure that's possible. I'm not even letting myself think about the elections tomorrow. Well, I mean I'm thinking about it enough to go vote myself, I mean the more of the same we're going to get whoever gets voted in. I am frustrated with our country now as much as I was 5 or 6 years ago. Well, not as much. But still.

Here's one thing I am worried about, to refer back to my worrying ways. When Hannah and I go to the Magic Isles (Ireland, Britain), the average high temp will be 61. Right now it is early, 50 degrees and overcast. Before I came in here to eat I walked around downtown, in boots, leggings, a warm skirt, a tshirt, an overshirt and a coat. When I was walking I was chilly but not distractingly so. But when I sat down on a bench to try reading for a while, I was definitely uncomfortable.

The problem is one of the main things I like to do in a different place is to sit and watch. Sit and read. Sit and write. All outside. And this weather is just not the type for it. Even here in the restaurant I get chilly if too many people come and go at the same time.

So I am going to be cold. And some days I am going to be cranky and miserable because I am cold. I can't really tollerate the cold well (just like Hannah with the heat). So I don't know. There's really no better time to go though so I don't know what my options are (except to go to Italy instead by H is not really into that at all). I thought about postponing and going after H's first year of college in June. But that doesn't seem fair, and that would put is in London in the summer of 2012 - in the midst of the summer Olympics. Bad idea. I'd love to just go this coming summer but if I took my money out of the bank now I'd lose hundreds of dollars so that's not really an option either. I am going to just have to layer up! Lots of layers, even though I'm only taking one carry on bag. I don't know. It's just something I worry about.

Man I hate cold. And winter. And rain. That's why I'm paying thousands of dollars to take my daughter to Ireland and Scotland in September. Am I crazy? Wait, maybe don't answer that.

Anyway. Happy November.
It is my pregnant sister's birthday today. Happy Birthday Megan. She is stuck teaching a room full of 1st graders today. She says she is bribing them to goodness with cookies. Good thinking. This weekend are her baby showers. Why are we having them 2 days, back to back? I don't know. And our littler sister has been forced to back out, both of helping to pay for it and probably for even being there. !!! Thank whoever that Hannah exists to help me out. I'm grateful I can count on her to be a great junior hostess. Heck, not junior. There are probably lots of people having showers at her age. In fact, I myself was pregnant at her age! That's a super scary thought. I didn't have any baby showers though because I knew I knew from the beginning I'd be choosing adoption. Speaking of Greg, he texted me last night and I kind of fell asleep on the conversation. Bad birth mom. But I am an old lady, what can I say? I can't stay up late very easily anymore.

So Saturday is the shower for my sister's friends, pretty much none of them I know. Sunday is a family shower and I know them a lot better. I have some games that hopefully don't suck planned, and we're going to decorate little white onesies with paint pens and what nots as well. Cake. Presents. Next. I'll be in KC for the whole weekend, sleeping next to Hannah on my brother's floor. That'll be fun for sure.

Ok, it's getting crowded in here, and my car really should be done soon. I think i'm going to pack it in and head back across the street to their waiting room for a while.

This morning at the Farmer's Market

       

I have a lot of pictures to show you

This past weekend my sister and I went south to visit our mom and other sister. We surprised them. We both thought we may have given ourselves away at some point but we did not. They had no idea. Fun. Besides going just to visit, we were going to look at the puppies. For the past several weeks my mom has been fostering some Black and Tan Coon Hound puppies. 6 of them. They're all leaving this week and I wanted to play with them.

They were crazy puppies! They have no potty skills so constantly clean up time, and they're big so it's not like tiny puppy poo. Poor Granny and Lindsay. And they love to attack toes and feet. They also love to attack the mop when someone is trying to clean up after them. But they are So Cute. Adorable. Funny little baby dogs. Impossible not to love. Holding them while they sleep is the best part.

Pittsburg has a pretty good little farmer's market. We went there Saturday and got a good bunch of yum. Some of them became sauce for pasta that nice.

My mom has another new dog. From the same puppy mill bust where I got pregnant Luna, my mom got pregnant Vivi. Vivi had 9 baby bichons, and they all got adopted. My mom kept Vivi though and she has become my mom's favorite child. Anyway, someone who had adopted one of the puppies brought it by her house a couple months ago. She said he wasn't working out for and she was going to take him to the shelter if my mom didn't want him. So she kept him. He has the unenviable name of Mister, but dang, he is Cute. He's got a spunky little sweet spirit that I was really loving. I think he's great.

Day 5, Part 2: Tuesday

After we left the Masonic Lodge, we headed out to get some Philly Cheesesteaks. Not that we were that hungry, but it's something you have to do when you're in Philly. We went to Tony's. I loved the bread, and liked the sandwich, but I think it's better the way we have it in KC - with mayo, malt vinegar and season salt. Carolyn thought the malt vinegar idea was crazy. I guess sometimes you like things best the way you're used to them.

Carolyn showed me Curtis, where she went to school and trained to be an Opera singer. We ran into her old vocal coach along the way to a place with amazing capppuccino that we took to a lovely park to drink.

Graffiti in the park

We walked back to the car to park in the part of town closer to Independence Hall and the restaurant where we were going to eat. We got to Independence Hall at the end of the day, just in time for the last tour of the day. While we were waiting we went into the little building where they keep the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and George Washington's copy of the Constitution. They keep it very dark, of course, to protect the documents, so it was very hard to read any words on the papers. And yet it was very moving to see them and consider what they meant and how truly revolutionary and unique they were at the time.

 



  The first room on our tour was this room that was used as the courthouse. People stood behind the bar to watch and/or riot. The person on trial stood in the little metal cage. All the lawyers sat together at the round table. This is also the room where they held the first continental congress in 1774. They made a list of grievances to send to King George, believing he would be reasonable and work with them. They made plans, however, for a second congress if the King blew them off.

By the time the second continental congress met, the revolutionary war had already started. They met in this room across the hall when they were in Philadelphia. They had to meet several times to work things out, and part of the time they were run out of the city by the British army, but eventually they worked out the Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence.

Like most American's I have seen images of this room and the founding father's signing the Declaration of Independence so many times, but I never really imagined it the way it really is. I thought it was a lot bigger. It was as moving as I had imagined however. Even more so. Our guide was really great at her job, and made us all realize how these men were really risking their lives and the lives of their families, committing treason and risking everything to try to make a government that matched their ideals of democracy and fairness. I can't even get started on how lame it made our current sent of government seem.
 

It's true I am an idealistic government geek. And Independence Hall really fed that. I loved it.
 
From there we walked to Ben Franklin's grave. Apparently people throw pennies on it. The graveyard was closed by then, but luckily I got a couple pictures through the gates.

 

It wasn't quite time for dinner, so we went to a little coffee kind of shop. I've forgotten the name, but it was nice and I had a very yum mango smoothie. We hung out and chatted until it was time to walk down to Zahav, an incredible Israeli/Middle Eastern restaurant. If you live anywhere near Philadelphia you should certainly go there. It was so good; awesome atmosphere, wonderful wait staff (for the most part), a fantastic view (of the pantheon) (for me) and the food was so different and delicious.

Oh the hummus!

Loved the presentation of the delicious little salads. My favorite was the eggplant, but they were all really very good.

 

Eben picked the best wine ever. Seriously. Chateau Musar from Lebanon. Apparently a rare choice. Some worker came over to comment on it and ask why E picked it. He told us a fair bit about the wine. It was seriously fantastic.

Our three main entrees.

It was pretty cold on the walk to the car after dinner, and I was kinda whiney.
We all crashed out pretty quickly when we got home. We all had to be up early Wednesday morning to take me back to the train station by 8.

Day 5, Part 1: Tuesday

Of course I was up way before everyone else, something has been wonk with my wake up clock for a couple months now. While I was up and getting some water, I took a picture with my phone of the incredible view out of their kitchen window.

I hadn't planned on visiting Philadelphia on my trip to New York, but turns out it's just a short drive from Yardley. I guess I should study my geography some more.

On the way, we stoppled in a little town to eat some brunch at a place Eben and Carolyn like. The restaurant was full of windows and had great light. I had a breakfast panini with some way yum turkey bacon. but it was the breakfast potatoes with onions and peppers that was really good.

I took a picture of Carolyn's food instead of mine because her's was prettier.

We got to Philly, parked the car in Center City and headed for the fascinating City Hall building, with William Penn perched on top. That is one fantastic building. I couldn't stop staring at it and shooting photos as we walked.

We walked along some certain street that is lined with metal plaques, honoring famous folks that are from Philadelphia. You probably didn't know Todd Rundgren is from Philadelphia, but he is. And almost as soon as I started looking, there it was. Todd Rundgren. Go Todd.

Very interesting old time building.

This picture I took of the City Hall is one of my favorites from the trip. The building was so giant and so intricate I felt like I could have stared at it for hours. But I was staring at the blue bits on this building across the street (pictured bellow) when I tripped on an uneven sidewalk pavement. Everything went slow motion, and at first I thought I was going to catch myself on Eben, but he kept walking and I kept falling and I think I maybe caught his shin. I went big splat all over the pavement. At first I thought I fine, but as we walked around the Masonic Temple my foot started to hurt a bit. By the time we were done my knee was hurting a lot. I definitely messed it up, but I wasn't about to sit out my vacation. The show must go on, right?
 

Seriously, if I ever go back, I am going to find a bench or something across a street from this building and stare. And take photos. And maybe even try to dry it.

I am fascinated by the old buildings of stone and carvings right night to the new ones of smooth and shiny.

 

I stole this photo off the Mason's site because I didn't get a pshot of it from far away. This doesn't begin to do it justice. Neither do the photos I took. You'll see much better ones by a simple google or flickr search. The place was surprisingly amazing.

I was very excited to see the old Masonic Temple, where our founding father's met and did secret stuff. None of us really knew what to expect, so we were anxious to check it out first. We made it just in time for the 1pm tour. The museum, where we waited for our tour to start, was filled with things that were interesting to me but probably fascinating to a mason. I did enjoy George Washington's sacred apron and the piece of wood from his coffin. I was surprised to see artifacts from ancient Egypt and the Incas.

The tour started with a meeting room based off the Al Hambra in Granada, Spain. It's Henry the 8ths first wife Katherine of Aragon was raised by her parents, Ferdinand and Isabella. They stole it from the Moors and it seems fantasic. This room certainly was. I loved it. I think it was my favorite.

 

It's hard to tell though because they were all so incredible. At one point I was so overwhelmed I just stopped taking pictures. It was crazy. And crazier, it's all made out of plaster. Not all, but so much. The first temple had burned down so they were nervous about wood. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the masons were good at building things.

The Egyptian room:
 

Some kind of celtic and norse combo room:
 

Eben asked a good question about the 3 poles with lights on top here, and our guide was pretty happy to explain their significance. The thing that he said that stood out to me was that although their organization is religious in nature, they are not a religious organization. Once the doors close and the meetings start there is no talk of religion or politics. The masons seem equally fascinating and icky to me. My guess is there's more than one kind of mason. In my life, every mason I've ever known was seriously Christian, but then again I live in the bible belt. It was surprising to me to see so many symbols and references to other cultures and religions. It's a lovely thought.

Stained glass in the hallway
   

 Tile floor from the banquet room:
 

Day 4: Monday

Of course I woke up early Monday morning. I checked the internets and such for an hour or so, and then went back to sleep till the rest of the house got up. It was cold, and very rainy. None of us was in a hurry to take off, so we hung out for a while, doing parallel play like little kids (I love that kind of hanging out, by the way). Carolyn played Civilization on the big tv, I uploaded and intereneted, and Eben did his own laptop thing.

Our plan for the day was to drive around the area and have a look. Of course if we could have gotten out and walked around various spots, it there would have been a lot more photos to show on this page. But what's a girl to do about the weather? It was still nice to look at driving by.

We drove along the Delaware river and it was quite lovely. Picturesque even. The trees and the water = beautiful. We drove past Washington Crossing where G. Washington and his men crossed the Delaware (during the Little Ice Age, by the way). I'd love to be there when the visitor's center was open and the reenactors were reenacting. I used to think that kind of thing was for dorky old people, but now I've become a dorky old person myself so I think it sounds very interesting.

Then, as now, thinking about it put the Shot Heard Round the World song from School House Rock in my head...

Though the next few years were rough,
General Washington's men proved they were tough,
Those hungry, ragged boys would not be beat.
One night they crossed the Delaware,
Surprised the Hessians in their lair,
And at Valley Forge they just bundled up their feet!

We drove through and around some lovely little towns, all only a few minutes from each other. Some looked rich, some looked quaint, some looked charming. I always forget the name of the one that was my favorite. We stopped in a gourmet grocery store and all got beverages. I think I lost mine somewhere.

When it was lunch time we headed to an Indian Restaurant for buffet lunch. Very yum. A couple errands to the bank and to CVS for me to print out some photos. Back at the Copples, I cut things out and they did some stuff. Eben played Civ, Carolyn helped him and looked at magazines I played with the MacBook until it was time to head downstairs for dinner at Eben's resaturant.

It was crazy full down there though, so we drove to a bar in a neighboring town and had a little beer. I don't even remember what I got. One of my own and half of Carolyn's (which is why I look kinda glowy in the photo bellow). We headed back to the Inn and to a table right away.

Eben ordered us all kinds of food. We shared the appetizers and pasta courses. Looking at it all again makes me really really want to eat it. It was beyond fantastic.

The table was made out of lots of different tiles. I dug it.

I don't remember what this was called. It was asparagus, green beans, peas, artichoke hearts. Something else. It tasted like the outside. Carolyn described it something like this: If you were out walking in the wood and fell face down in it, this is what it would taste like. We all loved it.

Duck dumplings with black vinegar sauce. I was nervous about the duck a little, but it was very tasty. The black vinegar sauce was good too. I almost always dig vinegar.

Truffle macaroni & cheese, roasted tomatoes, Oregon black & white truffles, cheddar & Comte cheese.

Earlier in the day, when Eben told me I'd like the mac and cheese best, I thought whatever. It's macaroni and cheese. I make it from the Kraft box all the time. But he was right! Again. Oh man it was good. The cheese, the truffles, the roasted tomatoes - and the bread crumbs. Perfectly yum.

This bad picture is of a very very tasty dish called wild nettle gnudi with mushrooms and truffle butter. The gnudi was so good it was ridiculous. The texture and the flavor were both amazing. I want some more of this soon, but I've never seen gnudi on any menu around here so good luck to me I guess.

This was my entree, slow roasted chicken breast, ramps, snap peas, tarragon, parmesan farina. Ramps are leafy things that grow wild in the woods, where Eben hunts and finds them himself. Farina is like polenta but with flour instead of corn meal. It was really great. The chicken was cooked perfectly; tender, juicy, full of flavor.

We were all too full for dessert, but I did get an after dinner coffee drink.

The Yardley Inn has it's own website, where you can check out the menu. And their own Flickr, where you can see Much better pictures of the yummy food. If you live anywhere near there you should really check it out. Eben is an amazing chef and has a magic understanding of how food works. And I know I'm biased because he's one of my bffs, but I promise you'll be glad you ate his food.

We went upstairs and all crashed out pretty soon after that.
Excellent day, excited about Philly in the morning.