Ball 2

Today got off to an unassuming start.

I also had a cookie, you know, for some fuel for later exertion.

My mom and I then went for another run. It was a beautiful morning for such joyous an activity, although being quite humid I produced obscene amounts of sweat. As soon as we got back home I downed another brotein bar to retain as much of my muscle as possible.

I then got to work mowing the rest of the yard. I did that, then I took the weed eater to every edge on our property. I edged everything expertly; that is, once my mechanically-gifted mind figured out how to start the weed eater. But figure it out I did!

I then traded in my lawn mower and weed eater for a power washer. I attacked the patio with a vigor not known to be humanly possible. I got done with the outer half, and the contrast is quite astounding.

The patio didn't look that dirty beforehand, but after this cleaning it was obvious that we had all gone blind to its grimy disposition. It now sparkled with a renewed brilliance, the return of which had been long overdue.

Next, I turned my wrath to the deck. Now, the deck was obviously in a sad hygienic state. I mean, there were oak trees growing out of it!

So I turned the wand woodward and blasted away. I made a fair amount of progress, but then the power washer ran out of gas. Apparently, when that gas stuff runs out, the washer turns off. I don't exactly know why, but it just seems to be that way. Also, when it ran out of gas, it became difficult to start again, so I decided I'd be done for the day.

But the contrast between before and after is even more astounding than that of the patio.

It almost looks like new wood where it was blasted by high pressure water!

But now it was time to try a food experiment. My mom found a no-cook chocolate pudding recipe made predominantly with chia seeds, cocoa, and honey. We blended it up yesterday and left it in the refrigerator overnight to chill. This was the result:

While it certainly was not a traditional chocolate pudding, it certainly was good, and it is a perfectly reasonable low-carb substitute. I would definitely make this again.

I was eventually tempted to eat another cookie, but it's hard not to be when they're only 80 calories in a cookie.

Sidney then met up with my mom and I, and we headed to Kauffman Stadium for the Royals game. 

Our seats were almost all the way down the left field line, or as my mom called it, "foul ball territory." And I kid you not, when the second batter of the game, Brad Miller, came up to bat, he hit a foul ball, and...

He hit a sharp line drive that seemed to be headed in our general direction, so I stood up, just in case. Well, as it got closer and closer, I noticed that its trajectory was focused closer and closer on me. By the time it got very near, I realized that I was within reach, so I stuck my glove up a little over my head. The ball hit straight in the webbing of my glove, but unfortunately I made an error and dropped it. I though it was gone, picked up by someone behind me, when I felt it roll off my glove and into a seat in front of me. It came to rest between someone else's back and the seat back, but they made no effort to even turn around, so I picked up the ball, claiming my second foul ball in as many games. The common denominator is, of course, Sidney. She really is my good luck charm. She was there when we got our first foul ball 2 years ago, she was there when I was finally able to get Roger Federer's autograph, and she was there for this. There have been other bouts of luck involving Sidney, but these are the main events. 

So it's settled. I'm taking her with me everywhere I go, especially if I need an extra shot of luck. 

We hadn't eaten anything for dinner before the game as we wanted a full ballpark experience. I had a feeling this would be a costly decision...

...and it turns out I was right. Jeez!

That being said, I got what I usually get. They call it a "Footlong Sheboygan," I call it a brat. Either way, it's fairly big and fairly good. I added some chopped onions and sliced jalapeños to spice it up a bit.

Sidney had ordered a pretzel with cheese, and they gave her quite a lot of cheese actually. So I stole some...

Sidney then grabbed the attention of a passing vendor, and this is what she ended up with.

Through her persistence and my willingness to please, I ended up eating probably a third of this frozen lemonade, all with Sidney literally spoon-feeding me. Not bad; I could get used to that kind of treatment!

By the time the 7th inning stretch rolled around, we decided that it was time for some Dippin' Dots. Sidney and I left our seats and headed for the Dippin' Dots stand that was right at the top of our section. 

It was closed. 

No matter, we simply walked to the stand that was near where we entered, on the other side of the concourse. 

But it was straight gone. 

I started to become discouraged, but Sidney asked another vendor if there were any Dippin' Dots locations that were still open. The vendor explained that there may be a couple on the back side of the stadium, and that they are usually open until the bottom of the 7th inning, which it now was. So that's where we went. 

When we got back behind the outfield fountains, we found an unmanned and obviously closed Dippin' Dots stand. My discouragement was growing. Then we passed a Belfonte ice cream shop with a line way out the door. My discouragement was nearing a maximum. Then Sidney spotted a Dippin' Dots stand that still had workers standing behind it. I asked, with a cold sweat and my heart racing, if they were still open. They said that they were, and I was overjoyed. The Dippin' Dots they had, however, were pre-packaged. But it really didn't matter, because they tasted the same. 

I was so joyed that I couldn't let the opportunity to take a picture pass. We were now fully immersed in the outfield experience.

But we had Dippin' Dots to disperse, seats to fill, and a game to finish watching. Once back there, I began the nostalgia and sugar-laden journey into the mystical bag of chocolate Dippin' Dots.

This was the first time that I had ever seen the nutrition info and ingredients list for Dippin' Dots. It wasn't really that bad.

And then it was time.

These little liquid nitrogen chilled beads of ice cream that so familiarly stick to your tongue never get old. That distinctive hard and super cold feeling turning to slightly warmer ice cream melting in your mouth is a unique novelty not shared by any other dessert. Also, when you inevitably drop some of the little dots on your shirt or shorts, they're so cold and so frozen that they don't leave any mess behind.

As I was finishing my little marsupial-inspired container of Dippin' Dots, Wade Davis came into the game for the top of the 9th and shut down (not without a little excitement, of course) the Rays for a save and a 6-3 Royals victory.

Wader, check please!! 

All in all, it was GREAT day!! I ate some cookies, got some exercise, did some yard work and maintenance, and went to a fun baseball game with good food, great weather, amazing people, and a generous gift from an opposing player. What could be better than all that for fun at the ol' ballpark?! Ya can't beat it!!

84

The day started off pretty good:

It then got better when my mom and I went and played tennis for an hour and a half.

But then it took a turn for the worse. I was mowing the yard when my suburban ignorance reared its ugly little head yet again. This just in: apparently, it is not a smart decision to mow incredibly tall grass directly next to a 7-ft tall picket fence with the mulching cover removed.

But I, with my previously-determined Intelligence Quotient of 84, simply kept on a-going and mowed that lawn good!

To help me rebuild the shattered remains that used to be my self-confidence, I decided to make some cookies. 

I used Sidney's recipe, but there was a problem. I'm not Sidney. Sure, I can mix up any old batch of cookies. I mean, I can read (barely). The issues start to arise when I then must scoop the dough into cookie dough balls. The issues compound further when I then must bake them for the proper length of time. For some reason, they just never turn out like Sidney's. Oh well, that's why she is the Cookie Queen!

The silver lining is that my cookies still tasted good, although they were a little crispy for my liking. I sampled one, you know, for quality control assurance purposes.

The results were slightly ambiguous, so I was forced to sample a second.

These results were more clear, and they passed.

As a snack, I had some blueberries.

For dinner, my mom grilled up some chicken with peppers and onions...

...while I baked a honey mustard marinated pork tenderloin.

I had about 8 ounces of each. I added some Buffalo sauce to the chicken and dipped it in a little ranch.

I also had a spinach and spring mix salad with some fried onions, Monterey Jack cheese, and some ranch.

Afterward, I had about 600 calories left, so I had more.

I actually ended up finishing all of the chicken and pork. I ended up with about 10 ounces of pork and 19 ounces of chicken. I'll take it!!

Thank You

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has served, everyone who is currently serving, and everyone who will serve our country to protect my freedom to indulge in the merriment and gaiety that will be described below. Everyone who serves and everyone who knows someone who serves knows the sacrifices endured, and even though I can't ever be thankful enough, I appreciate what that means to me and to everyone else who enjoys the freedom those sacrifices provide. 

That being said, let's get started.

This morning, I slept in! I woke up at 0730 instead of 0530. My mom and I went for a run around the 2.4 mile block. I'm starting to enjoy all this cardio, since maybe it'll help me get lean! Anyway, when we got back, I was yet again soaked with sweat. 

Sidney and I then drove over to the campground and did some sightseeing. We drove around the state park, I took her up down to the river, and I took her around some back roads. It was a moment straight out of every current country song. But I found out why all those songs are about that. It was really fun. Although since she's used to being out in the country, she wasn't as wide-eyed as those singers would have you believe. But oh well, it was still nice.

When we got back, I, like yesterday, deemed a brotein fix to be in order. By this time, it was pretty late in the morning, so brats for breakfast wouldn't be as weird. Not that brats for breakfast would every be weird. Anyway, we grilled them up real nice. 

Again, we had two varieties. This time, though, they were pork based. In the picture above, the leftmost four were bacon cheddar brats, and the rightmost six were cheddar jalapeño.

Again, I used the cutting my brats in half method. I only wanted 1 bun, but I wanted to try each variety on a bun. So I cut one of each in half and place each half on a bun.

I ate the rest of the brats straight up, and I had some chips because chips.

We then went for a boat ride. This was the best boat ride of the weekend. The boat was working perfectly. The lake wasn't rough due to wind, and it was beautiful outside. After a while, we stopped in the middle of the lake and jumped in
.

Do you like the white tank top that I'm wearing??

Meanwhile, there was someone very pretty in the seat next to me.

After some more boating, my hat flew off. We retrieved it, I put it back on, and it felt nice. We eventually came back ashore, and then Sidney and I took an impromptu nap. After this, the afternoon was advancing, and we got everything all packed up. It was almost time to put the bookend on a really nice weekend. Once we had got everything packed and loaded into the car, we headed out. Of course, no weekend at the lake would be complete without a trip to Shalkers at the very end. Since we had eaten there yesterday, we only got ice cream today. For some reason, I got the urge to try something other than my Black Raspberry Sundae. I opted instead for a Marshmallow Sundae made with marshmallow fluff and chocolate ice cream.

It was good, but I'm not ready to claim that it was better than the black raspberry.

And with that, the weekend was officially over. It was extremely enjoyable. It was relaxing at times, invigorating at times, tasty at times, and fun all the time.

When we got back to my parents' house, Sidney and I then set off for her house. She, unlike my lazy bum, has to work in the morning. But on the bright side, when we got there, I found that Sidney's mom had made burgers.

It had block Velveeta on it, but I added another slice for good measure, followed with some onions.

I buttered and toasted a bun, and it was ready.

As plasticky as the cheese looks, it was so good. Velveeta is one of the best gifts to the cheese world ever, along with provel. And although both of these cheese's statuses as cheeses can be questioned, I don't care. They taste so good!

Sidney's aunt Lisa then gave me this.

Curious, and on her recommendation, I ripped into it.

It was essentially a berry-laden granola bar with dark chocolate on the bottom. Of course it was good!

And so an amazing weekend was in the books. I'll remember and look back fondly on this weekend forever!

Boating and Burgers (and Royals Comebacks)

Just another day at the lake.

I decided the night before that I'd get up at 0530 so that I could make a time lapse video of the sunrise that would occur at 0557. During the night, I had a weird dream in which I dreamed that there were only 100 pictures left on my camera's memory card. Then I woke up, five minutes before my alarm, at 0525. I then started thinking that the memory card really was full. I took it a bit farther, and reasoned that if the memory card was full, there was no reason for me to get up, thus I could sleep in. I decided to check my camera, though, just to be sure, and...there were 1200 pictures remaining. With that, I drug myself out of bed and went outside and set up my tripod and camera in the direction in which I thought the sun would later rise. I set the intervalometer to take 300 pictures at 9 second intervals, pressed start, and that was that. Now it was a waiting game. Not much one for such games, I contemplated going for a run (what's wrong with me?). After about a second's deliberation, my feet started unconsciously moving toward the road. Before I knew it, I was running. It wasn't even 6 yet, the sun wasn't even up yet, yet I was running down the road. On a relaxing holiday weekend at the lake, there I was, hurdling myself down a gravel road at a pace that kills.

Nineteen minutes later, I had come full circle and was standing in the same place that I had those same nineteen minutes earlier. The difference was that I had just traversed 2.4 miles. Not being one to do or enjoy much running, I was quite impressed with myself and extremely sweaty. My camera was still snapping away, and still had another 25 minutes or so, so now I decided that waiting would be quite alright. After walking around in the yard for a awhile, my heart rate returning to a reasonable pace, I sat down in a chair and waited.

All said and done, the time lapse turned out nicely.

And I'm really glad that I got out of bed. Only about an hour after sunrise, I was treated to this beauty.

The deep blue sky, the wispy white clouds, the lush greenery, and the mirror smooth lake all made for quite the pleasing sight. It was an absolutely beautiful morning.

After several more people had awaken, and having run my tiny little legs off, I decided that it was time for breakfast. I needed some brotein to prevent my legs from utterly vanishing into thin air. So we got some breakfast sausages out of the freezer and into the frying pan. (That's how that goes, right?)

As these little guys cooked, quite a lot of fat cooked out of them. What a perfect opportunity to cook some eggs!

I ended up having 4 sausage links and a single egg.

But do not despair. A little while later, Sidney and I got hungry. Well, more so Sidney got hungry and I decided to eat (I'm always hungry). Not knowing whether or not Shakers would be open tomorrow on Memorial Day, we decided to go immediately. There isn't much more to say, as I got the same exact thing I always get.

This is just the perfect little meal. It tastes so good for some reason. I didn't, though, get any ice cream, as I knew that there would be plenty of sweets in store later.

When we got back, we went for a nice boat ride around the lake. It was windy, as it always is at the lake, and combined with the excess boat traffic this weekend the lake was rather rough. But it was still enjoyable.

When we got back, I had a small snack.

Pretty soon, dinnertime rolled around. We decided that it was a burger kind of night. Instead of our usual method of cooking burgers, which consists of smashing wads of meat onto a hot griddle, I wanted to try something slightly different. I wanted to pre-patty the meat and cook the burgers in a cast iron skillet on the grill. My mom seasoned the burgers perfectly with onion powder and black pepper. I heated up the skillet over medium-ish heat and dropped the patties in.

I cooked them until they got that perfectly crispy-ish texture.

I flipped 'em over, repeated the process, added cheese during the last minute, and BOOM!

I had a double (on a toasted bun, of course!).

Normally, I much prefer burgers that are smashed thin on a griddle. But these were really, really good. I have several ideas as to why they were so good. The first one is that they were seasoned very well. The second is that they were cooked very well (proper time and on a cast iron skillet). The third is that the cheese slices we used were Kraft Velveeta singles. And the fourth is that the buns were buttered and toasted to perfection. In reality, I think it was a combination of all of the above. 

We also had some sweet corn and chips.

Before I started eating, I reached for the cornbread. Now, I don't know what you think cornbread is, but I'm talkin' 'bout redneck cornbread! Redneck cornbread is where ye take a slice uh bread and put sum butter on it, then wipe it up and down on yer corn till the corn's all nice and buttered up!

For dessert, we classed it up a bit. We had all the fixins for strawberry shortcake.

Plus some other kinds of berries, like blue and rasp.

I started off with a somewhat traditional strawberry shortcake.

It was a slice of angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.

I then decided to spice (read: sweet) it up a bit.

I added blueberries, raspberries, and chocolate syrup. That escalated quickly.

After this first serving, I went back for more. I wanted a slightly different dessert, so I omitted the berries.

Yes, I had cake with only whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

This was really good, but I had one more trick up my sleeve. Having been inspired recently by the turtle sundae I got at Sylas and Maddy's, I decided to create my own version using the shortcake formula as a base.

I grabbed a slice of cake, dumped some whipped cream on top, sprinkled in some pecans and chocolate covered almonds, and then doused it all in chocolate syrup. I didn't have any caramel, but oh well. It was very sweet, and verrryyyy good!

But being at the lake demands that a very specific dessert be made. It involved fire. Of course I'm talking about the venerable s'more. Being perhaps the most iconic dessert of all time, and one that is based in camaraderie, I could only hope that I could do it some justice with my interpretation.

My mom toasted two marshmallows. My dad was waiting ready with two graham crackers laced with Hershey's chocolate. When the marshmallows were cooked perfectly golden, they were expertly placed between the crackers and chocolate.

It was a proper ending to a day filled with good fun and good food!