Eating Horses

Yup, you read the title right. I posted a link to this story on Facebook earlier today and couldn't help but also do a blog about it.

Apparently, back on November 18th, without much pomp and circumstance (ok, without ANY), Obama signed into law the reopening of US horse slaughterhouses. The argument here is that no matter what, hundreds of thousands of horses are slaughtered every year - without this law, they are inhumanely shipped to places like Mexico where they are very inhumanely killed. The idea that Congress had was if we do the slaughtering here in the US, we could do the deed more humanely and follow standard practices that are used for other animals consumed (not that all of those practices are humane... I've seen a show about some awful things done to cows...).

All of that said, would you eat horse? Fortunately for me, the state of California has banned both the slaughtering and sale of horse meat for human consumption since 1998... but there are other states that will move forward with this.

I have such a hard time with this one. On the one hand, I know that horse abandonment is up some ridiculous amount (last figure I heard was somewhere in the 60-65% range) and many of those horses die horrible, painful deaths. That said, my worry is that this now creates an industry for breeding horses for their meat. People who abandon their horses now are likely to continue with those behaviors (after all, we have vets that would euthanize their animals now, if necessary), so does this law really stop anything?

I'm actually quite surprised that this made it through Congress with little to no publicity... it will be interesting to see how the backlash is as the story gets out.

What do you think?

Click HERE for just one of the many articles on this subject.

It's Time!

I can officially listen now! This has got to be one of my favorites! My favorite part has to be "Eight maids a milking, they were milking just for me". Haha!



The Legend of Hullabaloo

As always, we gathered at Adam and Eva's house this year for the annual Hullabaloo. For those of you unfamiliar with the traditions surrounding Hullabaloo, let me fill you in on the "Legend of Hullabaloo". You see, we've gone there for years on Thanksgiving. One year, someone mentioned that due to the large quantities of food we consumed, their dressy clothing had become uncomfortable. It was then mentioned that it might be more comfortable if we all wore comfortable clothes the next year, such as pajamas.

Ever the competitive family, we decided to include prizes for the best pajamas that people could find, as voted on by the other Hullabaloo attendees. My most fantastic pair was the red footie pajamas from several years ago. While extremely hot, they nosed me ahead to win the prize. Keep in mind that we live two and a half hours away from the Bay Area, so we end up driving in our pjs. This morning I pumped gas at Safeway in them. We're a bold people. This year, Aunt Sandi won the contest - amazing since she has not attended before and jumped right in with this adorable ensemble:

Aunt Sandi's Prize Winning Pajamas

Adam and Eva have added a few more games as well. They normally have some sort of jar filled with candy that we have to guess the number of pieces (the winner gets the jar). We also play a great game before dinner... there are several words (this year's were Thanksgiving, turkey, bird, delicious, yummy and love) that you can't say. Each person is given a bunch of clothespins and if you catch someone saying one of the forbidden words, you get to take one of their clothespins. The person with the most when we sit down to eat wins. Kati or Jared win this one every year - this year it was Kati.

The food was absolutely amazing as always. Adam brined the turkey and it was deliciously juicy (notice I'm using all the forbidden words - they're all pent up). It's a fine art, and this man has mastered it:

The Turkeymaster

Oma was feeling a little out of sorts today, so she didn't join us at Adam and Eva's... instead, we headed over to her place on the way home. She looks wonderful as ever!

Kati, Oma & I - Thanksgiving 2011

There are more pictures at my Facebook page - head on over to check them out!

I did want to take a moment to reflect on the things that I'm really thankful for this year. First of all, my fantastic husband. I'm so thankful that he met me at the alter and said yes! We've had a wonderful first month of marriage and I can't wait for more!

Secondly, my family. They're the best. Ever. Nothing more needs to be said.

Thirdly, my friends. The help, love and support we got from our friends leading up to our wedding was absolutely amazing. I could not ask for a better group of people to be standing by my side.

Finally, my dog. He really is the best dog we could ask for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Vanilla Pear Muffins



Vanilla Pear Muffins

One of the cookbooks that Mike and I got for our wedding was the Williams-Sonoma Bride & Groom Cookbook. It wasn't one of the books we had picked on our registry, but it's actually had some amazing recipes in it, so I'm really glad we got it! We've been making a big effort to cook more at home (especially since we have lots of really cook gadgets now!) and to work on developing our pallets. We're now trying to pick out flavors in meals and almost every time we cook, we talk about what we could have done to make it better and whether we would make the dish again. We've even started joking about plating our meals (although presentation really does make a big difference!).

My most recent and favorite discovery is the vanilla pear muffins. I saw the recipe and decided to try them for breakfast last weekend... they were absolutely amazing. They're made with buttermilk, nutmeg, vanilla, pears and a cinnamon sugar walnut crumble on top.

I think what makes these taste so yummy is the nutmeg and vanilla combination, along with the sweetness of the pear. I guess I've never really thought much about pears as a holiday fruit, this tastes pretty darn Christmas-like. I think they taste best fresh out of the oven, but they're not bad the next day or two later either. I took what I had left from the weekend to work on Monday and they got rave reviews there as well. 

I'm actually making a double batch right now to take to Thanksgiving tomorrow... I think they'll be great as an appetizer or as dessert!

Weddings Might Actually Drive Some People Crazy!

Ok, wow. I'm currently baking some fabulously delicious muffins for Thanksgiving tomorrow and have "Bridezillas" on in the background. Apparently this is a special one where they recap the biggest meltdowns that these brides have had in the course of planning for their weddings. Wow is really all I can say. I think these women are actually crazy! Granted, some of the things that happen to them would legitimately make me angry, but I would never, say, smash the cake at the bakery because I changed my mind on flavors and they said it was too late. Seriously? Who raised these women? And who is dumb enough to marry them?

One of my favorite quotes came from an orange woman who was hysterically crying... "My tan is running!". That along with some other chick who just said "I'm going to f*** that old lady up!".

I want to change the channel, but I just can't tear myself away from the drama!

Book Review: War and Peace

That's right, I read "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. For fun. And it took forever. Absolutely forever, in fact. For those of you who don't know me that well, I'm a very fast reader. I can get through a catchy book in a weekend if I put my mind to it.

I've been reading "War and Peace" since March 6th. Yup, eight whole months. That includes two whole vacations. I wanted  to read it because it's actually considered one of the most important works of world literature.

The book basically takes you through the French invasion of Russia in 1812 as seen through the eyes of five Russian families. Since the book itself is ~1,400 pages, the synopsis is also rather long - click the Wikipedia link above to read about it.

While it was a really hard read, it's definitely one I recommend. It alternated back and forth between military strategy, which I found to be a little dry and the family side of things, which was a little easier to follow along. I liked the more human side of these parts of the book.

That said, I'm glad it's done!

Every Step Hurts

Today I had one of those horrible workouts that pretty much hurt the entire way through. Not hurt like I need medical attention, but hurt like I think of ways to fall off the treadmill so that I don't have to run another step. I didn't run any farther today than I normally do, but I did run later in the day. As in almost 12 hours later. I'm not sure why, but I have a really hard time with the late afternoon/evening workouts.

I made it through and spent the whole way home thinking about ways to make it easier to work out later in the day. I don't know if it's a mental block (by around 4pm I just want to go home no matter what) or if it has something to do with my physiology (like maybe my body really isn't awake at 5am).

What are your tricks for getting through the tough workouts?

Meghann & Bryan's Wedding

Yesterday Mike and I went to our eighth and final wedding of the year - my good friend Meghann from both high school and Choral Society got married!

Mr. & Mrs. Stedman!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful - it was held at the Forest House Lodge in Foresthill. The ceremony was held outside in the courtyard and while the weather was cool, it completely cooperated (translation: no rain!). Meghann was an absolutely beautiful bride - I think my two favorite parts of her ensemble were the super sparkly veil and her cool red heels!

They went with a fall theme and had very similar colors to the ones Mike and I had. Seriously, how do you pass up those beautiful fall colors? Their tables were named after trees and the favor was a glass with the Foresthill Bridge (the tallest bridge in California - also Bryan is a civil engineer) and their names etched on it. Each of the glasses had your name on a leaf telling you which table you were at:

Favors/Escort Cards

Centerpieces/Table Names

It was a beautiful wedding and we had a wonderful time! Congratulations Meghann and Bryan!

Creature Chronicals: Deer

One of my favorite animals to see now that I live on land is the deer. I know they're not like most of the creepy crawly animals that I've been featuring, but I wanted to share all of the critters, good and bad.

I snapped this picture on my way to work the other day - the sun was just coming up and this doe and buck were grazing on the frosty grass. This ins one of the first pictures that I've been able to get of them (they normally run away right when I get the camera out).

Deer In A Meadow Near Our House

This little buck had just two small horns... very cute. Lately there have been a big herd (about 15-20) that have been hanging out in the area. A lot of them (more than half, I'd guess) are babies still... they're so cute! I tried to get a picture of them, but they're the first to run away.

Enjoy!

A New Project

Today I learned a very important less. Men and women both nest after getting married, but they both do it in very different ways.

I got a text message from Mike this morning that said "Would it be ok to relocate the maple?". The maple in question is the Japanese maple tree that I planted a couple years ago. I knew exactly where this was headed - we've been talking for a while about relocating our "pig patio". For those of you who haven't been to New Years at our house, we have a small patio that the boys set up the pig roaster. We've wanted to expand it, but due to the slope it's on, it would have been really expensive.

Instead, our amazing neighbor, who owns a back hoe, is helping level a neat spot of land next to Shadow's pen. Not only that, but I'm getting a waterfall and all of my plants on drip! Woo hoo!

Nest away Mike!

Construction Begins!

A Week In Paradise

Mike and I decided to go to the Sandals Grande St. Lucian in beautiful St. Lucia for our honeymoon. We left the day after the wedding, which in hindsight, we wish would have maybe given ourselves another day to relax. Both of us were really surprised with how completely exhausted we were! The one downside to St. Lucia is that it's so far from California... it takes almost two full days to get there (two full days, four airports and three planes!). We flew into Miami and spent the night there before heading to St. Lucia on Monday morning. Once we landed on the island, we had a two hour drive ahead of us:

Hanging In The Van

Our driver was really cool and told us about the history of the island and pointed out landmarks. Because we got there so late, we were absolutely starving (and hadn't had food since breakfast), so we hit up the English pub for any kind of food:

Popcorn, Wings and Drinks - Dinner Of The Champions!

On Tuesday, we basically spent the entire day doing what we ended up loving the most - standing in the ocean with drinks. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the water was seriously warm.

Hanging Out At The Beach

I also found this really cute little crab under my beach chair:

I Shall Call Him Fluffy

On day three, we did one of my most favorite things of the entire trip - we went on a horseback ride. Not any ordinary horseback ride... this one was to a little bay on the Atlantic side of the island. They then took the saddles off the horses and we got to ride/swim them into the water. It was absolutely amazing! Mike had never been on a horse before, so I was hoping this was a cool experience for him. I think it was not as exciting since he got a horse that wanted nothing to do with leaving the stables, let alone walking anywhere else.

Riding Out Of The Ocean

One of our guides was this absolutely hilarious rasta guy... who I wanted to take a picture with before we left the stables. He insisted that we pose with him - the hand signals we're doing below are the rasta symbol for unity. At least that's what he told us. For all I know, Mike and I were throwing up some sort of St. Lucian gang symbol...

Unity!

On the fourth day, we did a deep sea fishing excursion. I've never really been out in the ocean like that, so I was worried that I would get sea sick. Fortunately, I did really well... no issues! The way they had the system set up is that there are five poles off the back of the boat. Each person gets ten minutes in the chair - if a fish bites on any of the poles while you're in the chair, you get to reel it in.

Mike Taking His Turn In The Chair

Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything. We heard on the radio that none of the other boats were catching either, but these guys tried really hard to find us some - we did all sorts of loops through kelp beds and other areas they normally have fish in.

That night we had our candlelit dinner on the beach. It was really nice - they set up a table right by the surf with two tiki torches lighting the table. We had a four course meal and it was absolutely delicious!

Dinner On The Beach

On our last day, we took a hike up to the top of this little hill next to our hotel. At the very top of the hill was a fort that was built by the British when they occupied St. Lucia. From the fort you could see where the Carribean and Atlantic oceans came together. It was stunning!

Two Oceans

The weather was beautiful for the entire time we were there... it was mostly in the 80s during the day although it was super humid. Several times during the afternoons it would just rain out of nowhere, but it was a warm rain and only lasted a few minutes. On our last night, there was a beautiful thunderstorm off the coast - we took our drinks to the beach and laid on the chairs to watch the lightning.

Then, it was time for the long trip back home... over way faster than we thought it would be! I think that if we had not been exhausted, we probably would have been a little bored at Sandals, but this was perfect for our honeymoon. We were completely pampered, didn't need to worry about where we were going to get food and had all the drinks we could handle! It was the perfect honeymoon!

It's Official!

First of all, welcome to my new blog! I figured new name, new blog needed. I'm still working on moving the old blog over, but this will be the permanent home of "Down The Road I Go".

Well, it's official! We're married! I can't believe how quickly the day flew by (as everyone said it would) or how wonderful it feels to be married! I seriously look at Mike every day and say "Holy crap, we're married!". It was a really long day and I can't believe how tired we were by the end of it.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I have more. It seems that not a lot of people took pics - which means everyone was busy having fun, so we'll have to wait for the professional ones. For now, I have this one:

Mr. & Mrs. Blankenheim!

I will follow this up with a honeymoon recap as soon as I have a little more time. We had an amazing, relaxing time! For now, Mike and I are super happy to be nesting - we spent almost all of today cleaning and organizing our kitchen with all of the cool new stuff we got. I can't wait to get cooking!