Naughty Kitty

Getting a pet was my consolation for having to uproot myself from Oregon and move to the south (I had lots of terrible stereotypes about moving to C-Ville). We both would have preferred to get a dog but we felt that since this is a transitory place for us (until Troy finishes his doctorate and finds a job) and since it's such a terribly busy time for him, we didn't have time to devote to a dog. We thought that a kitty would be much less maintenance.

Well, it may be that Kyma is spoiled or it may be the fact that Troy has always treated her like a dog, but she gets terribly lonely when we leave and sometimes can be pretty high maintenance.

Often when we leave for a weekend or longer we rely on Liz (friend and downstairs neighbor) to check in on her. Liz is nice enough to open up the doors between our apartments to let Kyma visit once and a while. At first Kyma was very tentative, creeping around every corner very stealthily like she might come across some unforeseen enemy. But now, she is incredibly comfortable. Too comfortable.

Those of you who have cats know that when you try to keep them from doing something, it's kind of like a little kid. They only want to do it more. That's how Kyma is about trying to get into Liz's apartment now.

Last night Troy was doing laundry and didn't close the door all the way. Needless to say, Liz got a surprise visit from an uninvited kitty. By the time any of us realized it, Kyma had been exploring for quite a while. Sneaky little kitty. Thankfully, we have a good-natured neighbor!

In any event, despite all her quirks and demands, Kyma is a really lovable little creature and I'm so happy that we have her.

Lux Brevis Video!

Here's some video to go with the last post.

Lux Brevis Ensemble

Last Friday Troy and collaborator/friend/professor Ted gathered a group of friends to help them perform/record/document their performance piece, Lux Brevis.

I stole this description of the piece from them:

"A collaborative performance piece for a platoon of light-activated sound-emitting tops, Lux Brevis calls on an actively participating ‘audience’ to spin the tops and light ‘em up. The tops are outfitted with photoresistors, microchip synthesizers, amplifiers and speakers. When light — from a flashlight, for instance — falls on a top, it makes a very special ‘beep’. When that top is spinning, it makes a series of beeps in rapid succession, throwing them into space. When that top is in the company of a quorum of its brethren ..."

It was pretty neat to watch many of the tops spinning at once. I got a few photos of the spectacle.


By the way, there is exciting news to report on the music robot front! Troy, Steve, Scott and their robots PAM and MADI were accepted into the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech. Pretty cool. See their website for more info on the robots.

Not for Vegetarians

On special occasions my grandpa Perpich cooks a leg of lamb. He roasts it with plenty of garlic and rosemary and serves it with mint/apple jelly. Once in a while, when we had family reunions at the lake back in the day, he would roast a lamb on a spit. Mmmmm...

Even though I have a special fondness for lamb in terms of both its flavor and the memories it invokes, I have never attempted to cook a leg roast before. Last week I decided to give it a try with the help of my new Pampered Chef roasting pan (a x-mas gift from mom and Tim).

I used garlic and rosemary that we grew and mint jelly that I canned last year from our mint. I also roasted some potatoes and butternut squash. It was a hearty, comforting meal. And we had lamb leftovers all week, the last of which I turned into a curry. Delicious!

It was beautiful too. We couldn't resist taking some pictures. Apologies to the vegetarians, this is Troy's plate and he likes meat more rare than me.

Obamalation

Well we didn't make it to DC but we played hooky for a few hours during the day to go to the arena for live inauguration coverage. There were quite a few enthusiastic folks there. It was interesting, I don't ever remember caring about the inauguration before. It was great to be able to take a break to witness history in the making!

It was hard to get good pictures in this dark setting but just so you can get an idea...

There were lots of smiles all around.

Girl Time and Baked Goods

This weekend I visited Courtney again. Kevin took us out on the town, so to speak. They live in a very rural area but there's a great bar/restaurant--the Griffin Tavern not too far from their house. The atmosphere was nice and they had some live music--a band with a slide guitar playing Johnny Cash and Hank Williams tunes. It was fun to hang out somewhere different. And the food was good. I had the fish and chips, which were particularly delicious.

Kevin went to bed pretty early but Courts and I stayed up really late talking, having cocktails and then later singing Tori Amos songs (that's always what happens after we've had a few--to the annoyance of probably everyone around us. Either Tori Amos or the Indigo Girls). It was really great to have a girls' night with an old friend though.

We were mostly lazy on Sunday but Courtney had gotten an interesting cookie recipe that she wanted to try out so we did a little baking.


These cookies are made with rosemary and pine nuts. Sort of savory but sweet too. I found the recipe online. It's a bit putzy but if you have some time you'll be surprised at how good they are.

In other news on the home front, Troy has decided he wants to make a pie a week. I'm not sure I appreciate this diet plan but so far he has made a few really wonderful ones. This raspberry chiffon pie was really hard to photograph. The pictures don't do it justice. It's really beautiful, with three distinct layers--raspberry, chiffon and whipped cream. Troy has made it twice in the past two weeks now, once with a regular and then with a graham cracker crust. We decided that the regular pastry crust is the way to go, but both were amazing. Just don't use a bought crust. Or at least don't tell Troy if you do. He feels very strongly about pie and thinks using frozen pie crusts is sacrilegious!

Happy (Belated) New Year!

This may be my longest blog post to date but hopefully at least the pics will interest you.

We had an eventful New Year's celebration this year! We returned to VA with a lot of food from our respective families. Lots of cookies and sweets from the Rogers and some walleye too (very exciting for me but Troy is unfortunately allergic) and a huge chunk of ham from my mom.

We couldn't possibly eat all this food, so we invited a few friends on the evening of the 30th to share the walleye and ham and also to taste some of the bourbon that Troy brought back from Kentucky.


Despite their bored expressions, there were some very willing participants on the bourbon front.


We don't normally eat a lot of pork, and we definitely don't each much ham but Troy really has missed it. So I served up a very special New Year's Eve breakfast. I couldn't resist.


Later on the 31st, our friend Steve, Troy and I drove out to the Blue Mtn Brewery (one of our favorite places to stop after a hike in the Blue Ridge) to try out their seasonal offerings. We started with a chocolate cherry bourbon barrel stout and finished with the Vintage Bottle Release--Mandolin Redux: Brettanomyces-reconditioned Belgian Tripel. It was a great way to spend a Wednesday afternoon!

Happy Boys!

We finished off the evening with a fun party at Dave's. We had more good food (baked ziti and lasagna), a bonfire, and music courtesy of Nick's radio show and also Joe and his friend Lee (and some random characters from Durty Nelly's too).

Dave stoking up the fire

Jeff and Liz


Troy and me


Lee and some guy from Durty Nelly's


Some guy from Durty Nelly's, Lee and Joe

On New Year's day we ventured to rural VA--Flint Hill to visit Courtney and Kevin. It was just what we needed. We lazed around in their cozy log home, Troy and Kevin tasting a series of strong beers and me starting out with a bloody Mary (based on my sister's wonderful recipe). Kevin made us an entire turkey dinner and Courtney made dessert--Finnish rice pudding from her grandma's recipe. Everything was delicious!

Kevin and Troy (beer #?)

Troy, Kevin, and Courtney digging into the feast.

Later we sat by the fire and played board games until the wee hours. It was a really fun and relaxing time. The next day we were lazy again but Troy and I managed to get out for a little hike. It's a really pretty area--it backs right up against Shenandoah National Park.