Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

We've been having amazingly mild weather for an Indiana July here in Indy. Unfortunately we haven't been able to take advantage of it as much as we would like (especially in regards to working on the landscaping), but have managed to enjoy it when we can.

One particularly nice day was Thursday of last week - my birthday! We took a trip to the park with Leo and then enjoyed some ice cream downtown with some of our friends from college / high school. Leo came with us too and loved seeing Mass. Ave. and getting some doggy treats from Three Dog Bakery. It may have been my birthday, but it was seemingly more fun for Leo. Lucky dog. But he didn't get any of the delicious cake that Leslie made for me! Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting... yum yum yum.

Windows XP

Puppy Cuddles at the Park

Birthday Selfie

Mass. Ave. Hangout

Fancy Puppy Treats

Fancy People Treats

My Birthday Cake!

The beautiful weather continued into the next day and allowed us to have a great time with our newlywed friends at Symphony on the Prairie. The weekend's show featured a Beatles cover band, Classical Mystery Tour, and was lots of fun. Even if we hadn't liked the music (which we did, because Beatles) it would have been entertaining enough watching many of the older members of the crowd indulge in a little too much wine and start dancing. (Stay classy, Indianapolis.) But intoxicated dancing aside, we had a great time. It's always fun to hang out with this couple, especially when live music and a tasty picnic are involved.

And that's about all we have time for in this post. More posts soon to come with fun house developments, pet pictures, and picnic food recipes. Thanks for checking in on us and we'll see you later!

Talking Walls

This post is probably a little overdue, since the majority of this project has been done for a long time... but oh well. We put the finishing touches on just a little bit ago, and now we can call it complete.

We have a long patch of wall in the upstairs hall that was begging for something to show off. We decided the best way to use this space was to organize a bunch of framed pictures into something cohesive yet irregular. They aren't quite uniformly spaced, there are a bunch of different styles and sizes of frames, and the pictures don't all correspond to the same event or idea. It's just a wall with pictures of things from our lives and people that mean something to us.

The wall space is [inches] long and [inches] high, filled with [number] of pictures. A few highlights include pictures of us with friends, a reference to one of Mike Birbiglia's jokes, a bit of music (+10 points to anyone who knows what it's from without cheating), and some stuff Leslie got on Etsy.

Well, that does it for this post. We've been really busy around the house lately, so expect a lot of big posts coming up. We should also be back on our regular Tuesday/Friday schedule next week since I'll hopefully be done working 50-60 hours a week by then. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Ginger and Cilantro Baked Tilapia

Last night I made a pretty simple fish recipe. While many of the ingredients are not ones I commonly have in the kitchen, or are too fresh to be kept around all the time, this will definitely be one I make again! There are just a few steps and it was fun to use fresh ginger for the first time. This is not the prettiest dish, but it tasted delicious! The original recipe is found here.

The Recipe

Ginger and Cilantro Baked Tilapia

1 Pound Tilapia Fillets

Salt and Pepper

3 Cloves Garlic (Peeled and Smashed)

1 Inch Grated Fresh Ginger (About 1 Tablespoon)

1 Jalapeño Pepper (Optional)

1/3 Cup Cilantro

1/4 Cup White Wine

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil

Scallions and Extra Cilantro for Garnish

Heat the oven to 475°F. Pat the fish dry, season lightly with salt and pepper, and lay in a 9x9-inch or 8x8-inch ceramic or glass baking dish. Put the garlic, grated ginger, chopped jalapeño, and chopped cilantro in a food processor with the wine, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Whir until blended. Pour the sauce over the fish, rubbing it in a little. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily and is cooked through. It will be very moist and even a little gelatinous still. Serve immediately over brown rice or orzo, garnished with the additional scallions and cilantro.

'Murica Day And More

As stated before, three day weekends are da bomb for us working folk. So July 4th falling on a Friday is like winning the lottery. Plus, by another amazing piece of fortune, I didn't have to work! So Leslie and I took advantage and took a trip back up to Fort Wayne to spend some time with her family.

We headed up Thursday after work, Jimmy Johns (our travel food of choice) in hand. We also brought Leo along, since we knew he would enjoy the fine weather and outdoor activities as well. Friday morning was spent getting ready for lunch and corralling kids. Leslie's whole family was around - sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, and grandparents. Since Leslie and I are the favorite aunt and uncle, we are usually called upon by the small children to act as entertainment for much of our time with them. I usually end up with a child on my shoulders and two others at my feet claiming it's their turn next. Thankfully three of the four are still very light... otherwise piggyback rides would be a lot more painful. Anyway, after lunch (grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, and fruit!) we mostly just hung out in the backyard, which Leo really enjoyed. He's not exactly used to little children getting all up in his business, but he handled himself extremely well. No babies were mauled or anything.

Saturday morning we headed up to the lake. Both Leslie's sister and parents have cottages on a lake a little north of The Fort, so we spent the day up there in true American fashion - swimming, grilling, playing cornhole, lighting things on fire... the classics, really. It was a beautiful day and great time. Instead of just giving piggyback rides I was instead in charge of tossing kids around in the lake. Apparently getting thrown around in water is fun when you're six. Go figure.

The kids pooped out around 7:00pm, so we packed up and headed out shortly after. The lake is very close to my grandparents place, so we wanted to head up there for a bit to see them and some of my other family that was traveling through the area. We had a good, quick visit with them and even got to see some week old puppies! My grandpa's dog, despite the vet's guess of infertility, managed to get pregnant and gave birth to eleven little dogs last week. We all think it's adorable, but my grandparents are less impressed... I'm pretty sure eleven puppies was about the last thing they wanted.

Speaking of dogs, Leo finished his Intermediate Dog classes last week! We had done two months of beginner classes which taught basic stuff like sit, stay, lay down and the like. Then two months of intermediate classes, where they reviewed those basics, expounded upon them (making them sit and stay while you leave for awhile, coming to you with distractions around, etc.), and then introduced different Dog Agility obstacles. Leo absolutely loved the agility stuff. His build and seemingly boundless energy are perfect for these sorts of activities. He liked it so much that I'm thinking I'll have to build some stuff in the backyard for him to practice on. That may give us a shot at tiring him out... maybe.

And looks like that'll about do it for this post. We were hoping to have a good closet update for Friday, but Menards is... well, Menards... so we're waiting on a few more things to arrive before we can get started there. But soon, hopefully! And hopefully you all had a great 4th! Have a good week and we'll be back later!

Another Wedding Weekend

It was wedding time for us yet again this past weekend. This was for another of my old college buddies / members of my wedding party. He's a great guy and somehow found a lady who's as cool as he is to be his wife.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. One of the fun side effects of this wedding was that a lot of other friends would be in town for it. So why not take advantage of that? Leslie was at a bachelorette party Friday night, so I invited some of the guys over for beer, pizza, and a good action film - the holy trinity of guys' nights. We had a nice night catching up. And probably stayed up a little later than we should have. Oh well.

And speaking of beer... ok, we weren't exactly, but whatever. We've recently discovered that there's a brewery in Avon - Cutters Brewing Company. I've been taking advantage of that fact and filling growlers whenever some of the guys are coming over. It's not a fancy place by any means (as illustrated in the pictures below), but it's good. For that Friday night I picked up growlers of their IPA and Scottish Ale, neither of which disappointed.

And then, suddenly, it was Saturday afternoon and wedding time. This was another wedding where we didn't have any involvement further than attending and having fun (two of my favorite things for most events). The ceremony was great and I cried like a baby. Not really, but it was actually good. These two are so great together and it was wonderful to see them tie the knot. The night before we were talking about how happy our friend is and how we've never seen him smile as much as when he's with her (I think one of the groomsmen was listening in on our conversation, as he mentioned this point in his speech... plagiarism isn't cool, man). Following the ceremony was the reception. They had it at The Rathskeller, which I've mentioned before. It was in the theater part of the building - very cool. There was food, drink, dancing, and backflips. It was a good time and we went home happy and tired.

So congrats you guys! We are incredibly happy for you both and can't wait to spend more time with you this summer (especially at Symphony on the Prairie)! And a big thanks to everyone else for reading this and keeping up with our lives. Unfortunately, updates may be a little more sporadic for the next few months as it's a busy time at work for us right now. We'll do our best to stay on top of things, but you know how it goes. Have a good week and we'll be back later!