middle america, translatlantic flights and a funny picture of chickens

I was in Minnesota for the first time last week, and my impressions were thus: 1. sunny beautiful weather, as opposed to here where it's been dark cold and dreary for so long the farmers are starting to worry about not being able to cut their hay 2. ate the best poutine of my life at Vincent's restaurant (better than the poutine eaten in a restaurant in Montreal that only had poutine on the menu!) It only cost $4, and I washed it down with a $3 glass of local brew. Heavenly in the fattiest-sorta-way. Mmm. 3. Chatting with a neighbour exhibitor, it was apparent he was surprised by my degrees. He presumed I was a "booth babe", and told me so. I was visibly offended. 4. Don't bother with the breakfast buffet at the Hilton Minneapolis as the eggs taste like flour and the bacon tastes like freezer-burn. The pancakes were alright, but that's because they had half a pound of butter in each one, which ensured a crisp golden exterior (and tons of grease really early in the morning). The coffee was, predictably, horrendous.

A picture of my chicken, triple-stacked.

Tomorrow our flight to Germany takes off at 10 pm. I haven't packed yet for our two-week trip. We'll only be doing backpack carry-on only (almost, but not quite, too old for this). I'd like to hike in the mountains for days on end and go "wild camping". I'll let you know how this works out when I get back in September. Meanwhile at work, a paper windstorm has swept through:

PaperVomit, office-style.

Two evenings ago we went to see a wee little house right in town as a potential rental home. We've debated being landlords, the market is brisk, and the investment would probably pay off. We are lukewarm over the thought of jumping into a second house before the first is functional.

Here is an inspiration picture I took of a local house I was visiting. Same approximate age, but with tons of personality in the front entry. I need more curves in my life.

Vavavoom.

The last few days the ventilation guys have arrived:

Front entry alight with shiny new venting equipment.

And in the garden, things are starting to look a little overgrown. My arugula bolted. Turns out I don't like arugula enough to eat what I planted. My cilantro is doing awesome though, and has been used in multiple dishes the last week. Tomatoes are a few weeks behind which is good for us...perhaps we'll actually get to eat some of our harvest rather than leaving it all to the house-sitter :)

Country garden fare.