Updates from February, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Kimberly Hula 11:48 am on February 25, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: brookline, okasan, sea to you sushi, sushi   

    Puma Paw & Acts of In-Law Appeasement 

    My last visit to Japan also served as my first meet-and-greet with my to be in-laws.  Despite a nerve-wracked red eye flight that had me in tears for fear of not being able to impress them the trip went over smoothly.  My okasan (mother) was cordial, hospital and ALL ENERGY.  She effortlessly showed me all the sights of their hometown Kamakura while simultaneously planning me a robust birthday celebration and cooking every meal.

    I think of meals as three a day.  Like a story there’s a beginning, middle and end.  However, were I to follow this metaphor in my own cooking each meal would hold it’s own and have a stamp of importance on it.  As such, I’m a sloppy chef and cook to consume, whereas my okasan is the real deal.  She cooks to create.   Create happiness.  Create satiety.  She does this to make those she serves happy and seeing the eager stampede to the dining table every time we were called to sit down, I can attest to her good-great-best work.

    She’s a powerhouse, and, although we have a burgeoning and lovely relationship, I’d do anything to make her proud.  So here, in Boston, in the safe confines of my own test kitchen, I’ve been making active efforts to become better versed.  So when the opportunity arose to enroll in a sushi making lesson, I immediately signed up.

    Thankfully so did dear pals Moira and Courtney, and the three of us made way for Sea to You Sushi in Brookline, MA for a 2 hour hands-on course in the delicate art of sushi-rolling. (More …)

     

  • Kimberly Hula 10:10 am on February 24, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , snowboarding, stowe, VT   

    Black Diamond Chicken Wings 

    I don’t understand why the North East is so insistent on snow sports.  When I moved to Boston it seemed everyone inherent to here, was mad for winter athletics.  I hail from the land-locked Midwest and haven’t any interest in such tom-foolery.  Snow serves two very purposeful functions for me: lovely curb appeal and days off.  I have no staked interest in anything else.

    But I’m also biased.  Last year I tried my feet at snowboarding.  My lovely fiancé is a sportsman and loves the thrill of the ice race.  He’s been an avid and dedicated skier most his life and thought to try snowboarding on a company outing last year.  At the time I was still trying to impress him so I tagged along, hopeful.  (More …)

     

  • Berton 5:45 pm on February 19, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: wine,   

    Week 7 – There’s a Story at the Bottom of This Bottle, and I’m the Pen 

    I am a fan of pop punk music; I can’t lie.  It is my fun, angsty pleasure.  And there is one line that I’ve always loved in the song, “Dear Maria, Count Me In,” by the band All Time Low.  The line is, “There’s a story at the bottom of this bottle, and I’m the pen.”  For those paying attention, you’ll notice that is also the name of this post.  So wow, I’ll be basing this adventure on that quote!  Good power of deduction!

    Now, I’m not one to condone drinking excessively, or requiring it to have a good time.  I’ve seen how destructive it can be to people’s lives.  That said…getting drunk can be fun as hell!

    So when I heard that line a few weeks ago, I happened to also be trying to think of new adventures to have, and boom!  What if I drank a bottle of wine as I started writing a story?  Just sort of see what happens?  Yeah!  Do it!

    This adventure will be good for me for two reasons.  The first is that I’m not a fan of wine.  I have tried countless glasses with friends over the years, and I have never found a wine that I would enjoy drinking, like, at all.  So, by making myself taste an entire bottle, I hopefully will be one small step closer to acquiring a taste for wine.  And if not, maybe the more drunk I get, the less I will care about how disgusting it tastes.

    The second thing is that oftentimes I can come up with great story ideas, great plots, but I never actually sit down and put the pen to paper and write.  But a good friend of mine from college taught me a way to get through writing difficult analytical papers…you take a shot of liquor, then drink beer as you write the paper.  Make sure you do this a day or two before the paper is due so that you have time to edit out possible drunk ramblings, and the many misspellings or dangling modifiers.    So maybe drinking while trying to at least start a story, or create a new one, would be beneficial?  We shall see.

    Now, I am writing this Saturday night (February 18th, 2012).  But I will most likely edit it tomorrow afternoon, throw in the random pictures I may take, and then post it tomorrow night.

    So, without further ado, here we go.

    (More …)

     

    • Kimberly Hula 10:13 am on February 24, 2012 Permalink

      How was your head in the a.m.?! Kudos to you for the writing experiment!

  • Berton 3:53 am on February 19, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ethiopian cuisine, fasika   

    Week 6 – Fasika 

    One of my goals for this year has been to try new food and hit up restaurants that are off of the beaten path.  Well, thanks to an awesome tip from a friend (thanks again, Whitters!) Jamison and I were able to accomplish both last Saturday!  We went to an Ethiopian restaurant named Fasika near Hamline University’s campus.

    I have never had Ethiopian food.  Hell, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen seen ANY kind of African cuisine.  Do they base their meals on rice, similar to Asian cultures?  Do they have bread?  Something like the Indian dish naan?  Do they use lots of meats, veggies, spices?  I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.  And to be honest, the outside of the store didn’t make it look terribly impressive…

    Now, the above picture is the street view of Fasika (it is the establishment on the corner if you can’t see the sign well).  What you don’t see is that around the corner (where we parked) is an empty lot full of dead grass and broken bottles.  Not exactly the kind of place you want next door to a raved about food joint.  But once we got inside, my opinion changed IMMEDIATELY (More …)

     

  • Kimberly Hula 11:32 am on February 17, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: community service, introversion   

    Who dare aqua jog alone? 

    It’s hard to expect adventure endorsement for something seemingly common place.  But it is in daily undertakings that adventure potential is often wrought.  With that let’s hand craft DNA and protein kits out of thousands of tiny  lego pieces, after which we’ll superglue them together for 4 hours!

    I can’t imagine that’s a standard Friday for most, but working for MIT, it curves toward the normal.  Adventure could be found in the construction of the activity.  I had to join a group of unknowns for meet and greet games, a luncheon and the aforementioned 4 hours of community service activity. (More …)

     

  • Berton 5:51 am on February 7, 2012 Permalink | Reply  

    Week 5 – Another Kind of Hunting Adventure 

    The reason why I didn’t post this past week was due to a personal issue.  I lost my job.  Very unforeseen.  It was one of those situations where I wasn’t fired; I was just let go because of financial reasons of the family I worked for.  And they didn’t really forewarn me that it could possibly be coming.  So totally caught me off guard.

    But life is an adventure, right?  That is what I’ve been telling myself so that I don’t overly stress out about it, at any rate.

    So my adventure for this week was been to begin the job hunt.  Not an exciting adventure, or one that I enjoy being on, but it is surely one that I am dedicating all of my time and energy towards.  In the past week, I’ve applied to around twenty-three jobs at colleges alone.  This week I plan to hit the school districts hardcore.  Then will be state / county / city jobs, and if nothing happens after that, go back to the service industry.

     

    • Kimberly Hula 9:41 am on February 7, 2012 Permalink

      Adventure year is the best year for new job options! I wish you the best of luck! Perhaps some fellow adventurers have some leads for you?

  • Berton 5:42 am on February 7, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Charles Schulz, Lucy, , Peanuts, Snoopy   

    Week 4 – Peanuts for Pleasure 

    Not a surprise to people who know me, but I haven’t ever really grown up.  I am still a child at heart, big time.  Though I can be mature and serious, I love having silly moments of fun.  I still try to do things that entertained me when I was in elementary school, because to be honest, they are still WAY fun!  One of the things that I do, along these lines, is read comics.

    Now, I’m not referring to comic books.  I mean, I do still read those.  I have a fairly large comic book collection.  Peter Parker is my best bud.  I am going to name many of my children after X-Men characters.  But no, I am currently referring to comic strips.  Like Dilbert or Calvin and Hobbes.

    Now, fun fact: Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts strip, was born and raised in the Twin Cities.  So to honor him, the city of St. Paul hosted something called “Peanuts on Parade” in 2000.  Originally, a total of 101 statues of Peanuts characters were strewn throughout the city.  However, after 2004, the city auctioned many of them off to support local artistic charities, as well as to commission several permanent bronze statues that would be in St. Paul city parks.  Some of the originals are still around the city.  But because they are now privately owned, there isn’t an official map of their locations anymore, nor a well known number of how many.  So for this adventure, a good friend of mine and I went out to look for the non-bronze ones!

    It was quite the random trip.  We weren’t sure where many were.  We had a few hints from friends, but not many.  So here was our plan of action: we printed off the original map with the statues locations as of 2000 (12 years ago…).  We then went to the local businesses near the original locations and asked if they knew where any had ended up.  Needless to say, many random conversations were had (and almost all of them were awkward too).  But we found a total of eight statues in one Saturday afternoon, which I think was quite the success!  So here is some photo evidence of the achievements and a small description of how we found it:

    The first two statues we tried to find were misses!  There were supposed to be two near the Ford Plant, but alas, none to be found!  However, as we were driving to our next location, we see a Snoopy doghouse on the side of the street next to a bookstore!  Random and awesome!

    (More …)

     

  • AG 9:51 pm on February 2, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    CHB: Culture, Hair, and Body 

    Going with the theme of being a tourist in my own city I went to the Chinese New Year parade in Chicago’s Chinatown last weekend. I decided to bring my sister and niece in an effort to expose my niece to a little culture. The dragons scared her a little bit, but all in all it was a nice free event and fun way to kick off the Lunar New Year. I can’t wait to get back there for some good food!

    I ended up having a total of five adventures in the month of January. The next two were unplanned. Not that adventures need to be planned or anything. I find that most of the time I realize I was adventuring in hindsight. Anyway, I decided to change my ‘do and go for the “ombre” look: dark roots faded to lighter bottoms. It did NOT work for me. I went from a reddish brown to orange to yellow to dark brown…in the course of two weeks. Not good. As a result of my whimsical behavior I did a little damage to my hair by processing it so much. But now I know. I should not be blond.

    And lastly, to round out January I started the Body Rock TV 30 day challenge (there’s a website for those of you who are curious). I’m currently on day 3, and I can say that it is not easy. It is definitely not easy. I have been practicing yoga for almost two years, and I love it. I haven’t found a form of exercise that I can stick to religiously other than yoga. However, I need to lose weight. While yoga has definitely made me stronger and toned me up a bit, I’m looking to slim down. And the only way that can be done is crazy cardio. Body Rock is pretty crazy to say the least. Hopefully I will come to love it as much as yoga, and mostly I’m aiming for more physical results. I’ll update when it comes to day 30.

     

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