Adventures in Chicago

Returning to Chicago was pretty difficult because it meant things had not gone the way we had imagined them. We put everything into storage thinking we would not see it again for a year or so. This included keys to our tandem in Chicago, keys to my friends' apartment in Chicago, and our CTA cards. Luckily, when I called my friend Eric, he was still around and happy to have us stay at his place. He even made a new set of keys for his apartment so that it would feel more like home.

(This is Eric and Stacy in their cozy apartment.)

Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky with the tandem...

...the lock had to be cut because we didn't have an extra key. Eric, being the bike guru he is, happened to have an angle grinder in his apartment that made short work of the U-Lock. After a little oiling and air, we were on our way to a great week in Chicago.

First up, dinner and a movie. Despite the cliche nature of this pairing, I can't think of a much better way to spend an evening. And afterwards, we stopped by Binny's Beverage Depot with their instant wine chiller and we did a little relaxing by the lake...

Sunday was the inaugural race in the Chi Cross Cup, a cyclocross racing series in the Chicago area. The sport of cyclocross was designed as a way to take advantage of terrible off-season conditions of northern Europe, and so it goes until February. We went to watch the races at Jackson Park near the University of Chicago and we relaxed as people biked and ran and jumped, and sometimes fell down. This racer (below) came out of this incident "okay", meaning bloodied, dazed, and with a few nasty cuts to the forehead, but (most importantly) with no damage to his bike.

The best part of cyclocross is the short, closed course which provides for a great spectator sport. It is easy to move around the course from a hairpin turn, to a barricade that racers must carry their bike over, to a high speed straightaway. Of course, spectating is only half the fun. Usually, words of encouragement or derision are close at hand for heroic performances or costly mistakes.

Eric and Aaron are alternately heckling (bad) and cowbelling (good) some of the cyclists as Jeff looks on.

After the racing was over, we (Jeff and Eric) decided to try for ourselves. No wonder they don't have a tandem category. Coordinating dismounts, barrier jumping, and remounts quickly proved to be VERY difficult.

Return to Chicago

After some back and forth with various parties, and a lot of time spent holding the phone with various customer service reps, we are headed back to Chicago. We hope that a little face time with the consulate will speed us toward a solution.

We have an ally in France in the form of someone in the Human Resources Department at the University of Poitiers. He has been working tirelessly on our behalf to cut the through the bureaucracy of the process. Hopefully, his work trying to speed things along at the ANAEM (the French department of labor) will prove fruitful and we will come back to Raleigh with visas in hand.

If we don't get our visas, at least we got to say goodbye to all our friends in Chicago. It will be nice to visit someplace we know, where we don't have to scour the internet and alternative weeklies trying to figure out where to eat or what movie to see. Best of all, we have a tandem bicycle waiting for us in Chicago at my friend's apartment. It may need a little repair, but it is much better than riding the trains and buses into the wee hours of the morning.

In some respects this convoluted visa process has been good preparation for what is to come when we have to apply for residence permits once we arrive in France. There are a few horror stories floating around the internet that make the visa process seem effortless by comparison. Whatever the future holds, we will try and keep a sense of humor about it and maybe even offer other people tips that will help them keep their sanity during their negotiation of this maze.

Camp Cooking

Since we like to cook and our camp cooking tends to be a little more involved than some people, I will do my best to explain our method for cooking while camping. The amounts of various ingredients will be intentionally vague. You may have to look at an ingredient list and imagine what it will taste like with various ingredient ratios to figure out what you will like.

First, supplies. We have a small size Rubbermaid container for our cooking utensils. These are things we bring regardless of what we will be cooking. It includes:
Heavy duty aluminum foil (a few 12" squares folded, takes up a lot less room than a roll)
Small plastic cutting board
Chef's knife & paring knife
Spice Mix (we used to make a new spice mix for every camping trip, but now we use Old Bay Blackened Seasoning)
Olive Oil
Soap/Sponge
Sugar/Splenda (for coffee)
Spoons/forks
Percolator for coffee
Large cast aluminum pot with lid (thicker aluminum and iron pots are especially good for camping to distribute heat and avoid hot spots from your propane stove or wood fire, and a lid for keeping ash out of your food)
Tupperware bowls w/ lids (good for eating out of and storing food in)

Breakfast All Day Broccoli Casserole (Broccoli Cheese Casserole w/ Chorizo).
Small amount of Yellow Rice
1-2 Red Potatoes cut into small cubes
plenty of Broccoli cut into small-medium florets.
1/2 c.-ish Chicken Stock (or water)
1/4 lb. Mexican Chorizo
some Cheddar Cheese
little bit of lazy eggs  (that egg product that comes in small cartons)
1/3 c. Milk

Cook Chorizo in pot until cooked through. transfer to plastic bowl, leaving some grease in pot. Add rice, potatoes and chicken stock, cover and bring to boil and remove from heat to let rice cook. Since it is hard to simmer rice while camping you may have to return to heat occasionally to build up more steam. Once rice is cooked and add broccoli and return to heat to steam broccoli. When broccoli is steamed add chorizo, cheese, milk and egg. Stir and let cook until firm.

Since this is a casserole it doesn't matter too much if you overcook the rice and potatoes a little. I like it when the broccoli is a lttle crunchy and everything else is kind of mushy.

Sweet and Sour Stir-fry w/ Chicken
Chicken breast cut into small strips
soy-sauce (we've been using Bragg Liquid Aminos, a soy based sauce without the wheat that most soy sauce has and no added sodium)
honey
vinegar (red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar, or just use a little red wine)
onions
garlic
carrots
other various stir-fry vegetables (ginger, zuch, red peppers, peas, etc.)
Small chunks soft, sweet, fruit (mango and peaches work especially well)
some sort of thickener (corn starch or flour)
Olive oil

Sautee vegetables in olive oil for a few minutes, add chicken. Mix together two parts soy sauce, four parts honey, and one part vinegar, and a tablespoon of thickener, add to chicken and vegetables. Stir in and cook until liquid starts to thicken. Add fruit and cook until just heated through. Serve.

Camping in the Mountains

After spending time at the beach and the "Little Bavaria" of Michigan we decided to head to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Lake James State Park was one of the best parks we've been to for camping. All the sites require walking 150-300 yards (no loud radios), everything was very well maintained (nice tent pads, picnic tables, nice bathrooms, nearby trash receptacles and water) and afford fantastic views of the lake and nearby hills.

Before we left, we planned out five dinners that all require only one pot. The hardest part of camp cooking is heat control; this is why most internet recipes stick to stews or something similar. For cooking we either use a small gas-powered stove or a fire. The stove doesn't do low heat very well, so then we use a wood fire. Our meals included Broccoli cheese casserole w/ chorizo, sweet and sour stir-fry w/ chicken and peaches, lentils with spinach and veggies, and rice and beans with seasoned chicken.

After we were done camping we ventured the 40 miles to Asheville, NC. The region surrounding Asheville is a hotbead of crafts from painting, furniture making, to glass blowing and ceramics. There are numerous galleries and there was also the Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival while we were there. The streets were packed with people checking out booths selling local crafts and various music venues. There was also some general silliness with bike-jousting and a man trying to set the Guiness Record for riding the tallest bicycle. 

Asheville is full of interesting restaurants and quirky clothing shops. We came home with a few new articles of clothing and many instances of delectably full stomachs.

The last day we were in the area I went on a long bike ride south of Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The segment just south of Asheville rises in elevation from 2,100 feet to 5,000 feet and includes a dozen tunnels, all in the space of 15 miles. Grinding up the hills that seemed to go on forever was taxing both physically and mentally. The views near the top were worth it, and descending at speeds nearing 40 mph was exilerating.

Jefe's a little tired...

Back in Asheville, we found a nice spot for dinner before heading back to Raleigh in order to figure out where our next adventure will lead.

The Wedding

This weekend, my childhood friend, Tom, and his fiance, Jessie, were married in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Yes, that is corn in the background.

The wedding was outside on a very warm and sunny afternoon
We were gathered in the back yard of Jessie's parents' home.

My brother (in the center) was best man

There was a giant bonfire afterwards,
where people inexplicably threw organs and pianos into the flames.
those guys were from the wedding party, so I'm guessing that this was all part of the plan(?)

flaming organ

Jeff and I camped out on the lawn along with many others. A great end to a wonderful day.

The wedding was just outside of Frankenmuth, Michigan. Downtown Frankenmuth is Bavarian-themed and resort-like. Lots of fudge huts, cheese shops, and fried chicken dinners. There were few restaurants--so we went to one of them twice. One of the dishes at the wedding was grilled chicken basted with beer and butter. I am told it was very tasty but (obviously) not gluten-free and probably not very good for you.

My family+Jefe

Also, yesterday was my birthday.