Riot and Frolic

Chai It, You Might Like It

Feel free to groan at the title to this post.  I'm pretty sure I've seen it on a bumper sticker from Sawatdee Thai Restaurants (the only place Minnesotans eat Thai food), so I'm not the only punny one in the state of 10,000 lakes.

I'm making chai tea right now.  

I'm not even a big lover o' chai, I just thought it'd be interesting to make.  When I worked as a barista (best job ever, except now I'm very critical of others' job performance, mostly in how sssslllooooowww some baristas make their drinks- I mean, multi-task, peeps!), I always loved making them.  They smell great (like apple cider, without the apple) and they were super-easy to make.  Pour something from a box labeled "Chai", pour some milk, heat.  Neat.

What I'm learning from my recipe browsing is that you make a black tea concentrate with some amalgamation of cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom, then you can go crazy and add pepper, nutmeg, allspice, cocoa and/or vanilla.  THEN you combine that concentrate with an equal part of milk (it's suggested to be cream or whole milk, but I'm watchin' my girlish figure) and heat it or throw it over some ice.  

I went for the hot route on the first taste.  I'll throw the rest in the fridge to try out tomorrow morning.  Unless you come over now and have some.  I'm just sayin'.

I used this recipe from Clare Cooks! because it started with loose tea and powdered spices (which is what I had in the house).  I did, however, add cardamom and nutmeg.  Equal parts of all the spices.  I actually measured and everything.  

Gotta tell you, the homemade stuff is pretty good. 

But!  I will be trying some different versions.  I like how this website has a bunch of chai tea variations on the theme, especially the "Very American Chai"...

Strong, sugary, and indulgent — it’s the American way.

I like all those words.  

If you're looking for an instant fix, here's a very highly regarded Chai Tea recipe on allrecipes.com.  It makes powdered Chai Tea, no straining (literally) involved.  

Also on the docket for tonight (the After Bedtime Cooking Show): double chocolate espresso cookies.  Say what!?  Yes, you heard me.  

Tomorrow, I'm going to blow your mind with my awesome knitting skills (NOT).

Your wife is adorable.

List of Last Week's Labors of Love

- the Zoo's first bites of actual food- sweet potatoes!  Go, baby!  But stay relatively immobile for awhile, eh?

- my first week of a seven-week plan to run 4 times a week.  Yes, count 'em- FOUR.  Oy.  

It didn't seem like a fun prospect (since I've been running 3x/week on a good week), but I responded very well to my self-imposed bribe.  I saw this awesome bracelet that I really wanted (but couldn't justify buying), so I told myself if I ran all four times AND did all my workouts, I could buy it as a bit of a trophy.  

- lesson learned: I can be bought.  

- next week's prize- that case of Coke Zero I bought at Costco.  It's taunting me by the back door as we speak.  Oh yeah, Coke Zero?  Well, I already got my first run in, so there!  

BTW, what's in Coke Zero to make it taste good?  I mean, it really tastes like real Coke.  Don't tell me it's aspartame.  That'll make me sad.

- the grand prize?  Nike's Lady Cortez running shoes, a version that I designed on NikeID, that are ALL FUCHSIA.  

- a bunch of awesome practices with the G where we not only danced together, but made stuff easier AND feel better.  Shut up.  Plus, a million (okay, three) hours of fantastic coaching and advice from some of our favorite people.  

- doing my hair like this, basically, all the time.  It makes me look put together in about three minutes.  Thanks, lady!

 

I'll even save you the trouble of searching for the bump-it thing on Amazon.  Here's the link for the Asian bump-it.  It's magical.  

- seeing the G off for his week-long work trip.  Boo.  The locale of Jamaica doesn't bring to mind "work".  Plus, he's fun to have around.  

- another fun, but small, "stitch and make pleasant conversation" at my crafty heroine's house.  It was really fun.  Relaxing.  Freak show.  (She had the world's largest lemon that one of her relatives sent her.  It was hilariously big.  Larger than a grapefruit.  Ginormous.)  

- planning my friend's baby shower: mustaches and bowties.  This girl?  Excited.  

Dude, this list is getting long.  Enough!

Jobs I'd Be Bad At #1 and #2

The G and I have been watching the Australian Open this week. For those of you who don't know,  that's a tennis tournament in the land of criminals.

I don't really get tennis.  The ball goes back and forth and it's EXCITING.  Or so I've been told.  Like most sports, I can "watch" a game/match/shindig with the best of them, but I only get interested in the final minutes.  

In those final minutes, people/teams/playas either get desparate or good.  Either way, then it's fun to watch.  A good football game should really only last ten minutes, really. 

Anyhoo, the reason I get involved in watching tennis is not because of the actual volley/serve/ point business, but because of all the extraneous people around the court. 

There's all these ballboys (or girls or people or whatever) and line judges and those are jobs I could not do.

Ballgirl.  Here's what goes through my mind when I see myself in their job:

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodGOT IT! oh crap! I dropped it!  everyone just saw me drop that ball now I have to go get it and OH! I kicked it! sorrysorrysorry...  got it...  we're cool...

I feel like everyone is watching me is everyone watching me?  does my butt look big in these dumb shorts?  could they have chosen an uglier color for these uniforms?  oh crap.  I should be watching the game.  

you? me? you? me?  you?  you.  you.  you.  you get it...  oh, I got it.  

do you want a ball? or your towel? ball? towel? water? towel?  okay, here.  Oh, crap, I dropped it... sorrysorrysorry...  water? now? yeah? oh crap, I spilled water on your white shorts! oh, and now you're throwing me your towel and... oh crap, I dropped it.  sorrysorrysorry...

Mostly, I'd worry about my hand-eye coordination, which is surprisingly bad.  

G says I'd probably like being a line judge.  They get to yell "HOEP!" when the ball is out.  

HOE... errrrr... p?  i don't know...

HOEP!  oh, not now?  okay.

HOEP!... wait, am I supposed to yell when it's "out" or "in"?

HOEP! [player challenges my HOEPing]  What?  WHAT?  Of COURSE I saw it correctly! [getting in playa's face and waving my finger]  You're not even neeeear the line and I'm staring right at it.

Yeah, nothing I'd be good at.  

We would probably get in a fight.

Running on Thin Ice

Running is hard.  Especially for lazy people.  Especially for lazy night owls.  Especially for lazy night owls who like to be warm.

I started hibernation mode when the weather dipped below 10 degrees and I didn't have my ALL-IMPORTANT running hat.  It's cold and I don't have my hat.  I mean, it was really logical not to run- too cold, no hat.   

But then my stupid [awesome] friend, America, decided to text me her running distances every time she, you know, runs.  "Friend."  

And THEN, my ungrateful [totally thoughtful] in-laws mail me my ALL-IMPORTANT hat that I left at their house.  The nerve! 

Now I am not only do I have the constant barrage of texts (okay, daily), but it's like 35 degrees and I have my damn hat.  

FIne.  I'll run.

But it's icy.

Minnesota has had a really great winter this year, because it's not really winter.  I think we've only had three days below zero and that is down right TROPICAL.  It's snowed a little bit, just enough to cover up the grass in most places.  But then it gets all above freezing during the day, which (duh) melts some of the snow, and then all those puddles turn to (duh) ice at night.  

Since I've been running in the morning, it's been a little experiment in runskating.  I've been using Yaktrax off and on.  Those things are nice.  When I hit patchs of ice, it feels exactly the same as running on dry cement.  Score.

The problem is when I'm running over semi-packed snow.  Since those little buggers are like snow tires for your shoes, they grab the snow and kick it up and then I just look like I'm doing the Running Man to celebrate my last mile.  

 

And really, my pace is no reason for celebration.  

Are you a winter runner?  WHY?  Dear God, tell me why.  And how.  Because, baby, it's cold outside.

Shouldn't he be sparkling?

IKEA Cooking

I'm making Swedish potatoes (inspired by Pinterest and with a love of nationalist spuds) and all I can do is this...

 

Bork bork bork!

Awesome.