They say time flies...

...when it is the WEEKEND! Saturday and Sunday flew by far too quickly, and now I'm back to the daily grind. Ben started work last week too - his students don't actually show up until after labor day, but the teachers have all started and are in the thick of curriculum planning.

Anyways, I kicked off the weekend by helping my little sister get tatted up! Julianna has been wanting a tattoo for a years and on Friday she finally went to St. Sabrina's for her appointment - I met her there and we got ice cream afterwards, and then went home to say hi to Ben and watch part of the Twins game.

Handing out Thank-You cards in person = saving on stamps!

The tattooed foot - all bandaged up

We also had time after the tattoo appointment to shop at one of my favorite stores - Patina on Lyndale. Every once in a while I come across a product that makes me think, "I have no idea who ever decided to make this or why - but I'm SO glad they did!"

Kali Mints!

Seriously. Who sat down and thought I know what will be a GREAT gift idea - curry-flavored mints based on the hindu goddess of death and destruction. EVERYONE WILL WANT THEM.

Well...everyone may not want them. Which is probably why they were on the 50% off sale shelf. But I want them...and that's what matters, right??

On Saturday we spent the whole day at the MN Renaissance Festival, which is pretty much a yearly event for me and my close friends. When my friend Tessa and I were little, we were totally obsessed with dragons - not much has changed! We went to a free beer tasting hosted by Schell's, a local brewery out of New Ulm, and wandered around enjoying the festivities.

Yesterday Ben and I hit up the Kingfield Farmer's market. The Kingfield market is the only one within walking distance of our place, but it's only open on Sundays and choir starts up again the week after next so we've been trying to get there as much as possible.

The Chef Shack - a local food truck favorite

Fresh local raspberries in an adorable carton

Melt-in-your-mouth sandwich cookie from Bramblewood Cottage Bakery

On our way home, we stopped at a playground - I can't get enough of playgrounds.

I am a huge nerd...but you already knew that

Ben really likes candid shots...

For dinner, I chopped up some potatoes and summer squash from last week's farmer's market bounty. I wanted an indian-inspired preparation, so I tossed them with coconut oil, salt and curry powder before roasting.

We served them alongside farmer's market salmon (also baked in the oven) and some fresh fruit for dessert - I love late summer fruits and will be so sad when they are gone :(

Hope you all had a great weekend, too!

Thailand Honeymoon Recap Part I: Travel and Day 1 in Bangkok!

FINALLY. Now that we've been back for two weeks, I'll start splicing in some honeymoon recaps :)

As usual, I procrastinated packing until the bitter end and was up frantically throwing things into my suitcase until almost midnight - somehow this did not deter my efforts to make a video blog and prepare several peanut butter pitas.

Priorities.

I was, though, pretty proud of myself for successfuly packing everything I needed for two weeks in a carry-on and giant purse...and I'm a girl! A girl who really likes clothes. This was a serious victory

We met Ben's mom at 5:30 (we were storing his car in their garage as we only have one garage space) and took off for the airport! I had my usual airport breakfast Starbucks coffee + oatmeal, and by the late morning we were in Chicago!

Unfortunately this was really only the very beginning of our travels.... we still had a 14-hour flight to Seoul Incheon, a 4 hour layover in Seoul, and a 5.5 hour flight to Bangkok.

No big deal right?

Luckily I was well-equipped with entertainment and reading material.

As weird as it sounds, I love exploring new airports. I had never been to Seoul Incheon before and it was beautiful - very open and spacious and pristine feeling, and they had planters full of orchids near all of the gates - perfectly spaced out of course. Very Korean.

I actually managed to sleep on the flight from Seoul to Bangkok...which never happens (I have a lot of trouble sleeping on planes... give me a bed or couch and I'm out like a light, but anything else and...tough luck) but at least I was sort of refreshed when we arrived!

To balance the cost of the resort we were staying at later on, we booked a room at a $20/night hostel in Bangkok - Ben had stayed there before and assured me that it was a really cool place. Honestly, the point of traveling to Bangkok is to experience Bangkok, and you can do that just as well (if not better) from a hostel as you can from a luxury hotel. The Suk 11 was adorable - tons of charm, and full of a diverse array of travelers. The place had a very laid-back, bohemian vibe with wooden walls and crafty/snarky decorations. Two of my favorite things about the hostel were 1) the writing and drawings all over the walls from people who've stayed there and b) the hallways that are designed to look like little wooden walkways through the jungle.

I was so glad to see a bed!

...but Ben was even more glad.

...and obviously since we'd just been traveling for 3o hours or so, we decided to go out for a drink! No matter how tired I am from travelling, when I get to my destination I'm always too excited to go to sleep. We hit up this place: a bar inside of a bus that plays reggae music! I don't remember what the drink I got was called, but it was delicious.

The next morning, we were up bright and early to explore the city. Breakfast at the hostel was simple but good - a variety of fresh fruit, bread with jam and a delicious spread made out of coconut and iced tea. They also had a selection of Thai pudding-type-dishes: I tried one with banana and coconut milk that was quite excellent. After breakfast: exploring!

One of the coolest things about Bangkok is the street food. It is amazing...and ridiculously cheap! Fried and grilled fish of every kind, fresh fruit like you wouldn't believe, and my personal favorite - I have no idea what they are actually called but I call them "noodle bags" - just a clear plastic bag that you fill with noodles, whatever veggies and spices you want, and broth. Yum.

For lunch we stopped at an organic green-market near Suk11 and tried their noodle soup - it was loaded with fresh veggies and perfectly spiced...maybe one of my favorite meals from the whole trip.

After lunch we caught the train to the ferry station and took the ferry to the amulet market - the ferries are basically part of public transportation in Bangkok, because often it's much faster to go down the canal than to try to drive through traffic. The elevated trains are fantastic, but they don't go everywhere so eventually you have to find another means of transit.

The amulet market is one of Ben's favorite places in Bangkok and I can see why. The name refers to the small buddhist statues and tokens that are the main shopping attraction in that area, but they sell tons of other things there, too - flowers, clothes, random trinkets - and of course delicious and amazing street food.

A bite of totally-bad-for-you street food was tempting me...after all, how many times in my life am I going to be in Bangkok right? It smelled so amazing I couldn't resist, so I got a giant fried shrimp ball (basically, little shrimp mixed with batter and some spices, then fried like a donut and served with spicy sauce) and split it with Ben. Totally worth it.

After the amulet market we shlepped back to the hotel for dinner at their outdoor restaurant. I had a fantastic yellow curry, and we somehow ended up having post-dinner drinks with a random Norwegian guy named John we met at the restaurant. We met him because he overheard us speaking English from several tables away:

John: You are speaking english!! Are you American?

Me: We are!

John: Where are you from in America?

Me: Minnesota

John: Ah! I wonder if maybe I am related to you!

Me: (confused) Where are you from?

John: I am from Norway

Me: (Ben and I pause and look at each other)...yeah that's actually entirely possible

(we're both half-Norwegian)

John had just retired from the Norwegian secret service, as crazy as that sounds, and was moving to Thailand permanently to be with the woman he loved...how adorable :) After dinner we were pretty beat, so we went to bed to rest up for another day of trekking around Bangkok.

Live Taste Test! GT's Synergy with Chia Seeds

Lots of exciting surprises today!

Well, the first one wasn't actually so exciting - when I got to work this morning I discovered that my lip balm had exploded all over the inside of my purse, so the bulk of my morning was spent a) in conference calls, and b) in the bathroom washing lip balm off of my wallet, sunscreen bottle, keychain etc. Too much fun.

The contents of my purse, drying out slowly on my desk. In front: the offending lip balm.

P.S. I apologize for the photo quality in this post - I'm using my phone camera and I have no idea why the first and last photos got spliced/cut in half. They were SPLINCHED!! (Nerdery, sorry). As for the second surprise - one of the many reasons I love my place of employment is the fun free things you find in break rooms. At my old work, it was the average stale donuts, leftover pizza, other random things that people were trying to get rid of. Here, people leave things like cucumbers from their garden, coupons for homemade maple syrup, and today, fresh thyme! I walked into the break room to fill up my tea thermos and lo and behold there was a big bunch of leafy green substance, roots still attached, sitting on one of the round tables with a little scrap of paper next to it that said "Thyme." What a normal thing to give away for free in a break room right? So obviously I helped myself to a few sprigs - and I stuck them in a cup of water because they were starting to look a little sad and dried out.

Fresh Thyme in a cup!

Thirdly, when I was at Whole Foods picking up lunch, I found THIS:

Synergy Grape Chia! I miss the old grape flavor and was wishing they would bring it back, and they did...but it is full of Chia seeds? I was at once excited, confused and skeptical. This could either be a) two amazing things combined to form a super-amazing drink of awesomeness, or b) extremely weird. So I brought it back to work with me and am live-taste-testing it now! Here is a close up photo of the chia seeds (again - not sure why it was cut in half...but you can still get the basic gist. Gelatinous seeds in a grape drink - pretty straightforward):


OK... just tried it. Verdict: I'm not sure. I mean, I guess it's kind of what you would expect if you've ever had Chia - like drinking super-liquified grape kombucha jello with crunchy bits in it. I kind of want to chew every bite. Overall...probably not my favorite thing ever, and definitely not a substitute for chia-less Kombucha or Synergy. More like a smoothie almost. I LOVE the grape flavor but in the future I might keep my chia seeds separate from my Kombucha.

Has anyone else tried the new Kombucha with Chia? If so, what do you think?

Wedding Recap Part IV: Fight for Your Right to Party

I have a lot of work to get done today, so we'll keep this short and sweet. The reception was amazing - we ate delicious food and cupcakes, and danced the night away until 12am when they kicked us out of the Library. The sweetest thing of all was my mom's toast to "The Boy Upstairs" (instead of the Boy Next Door) - my parents met when they were living in the same house on Summit Avenue. My mom and her friends were renting out the first floor, and my dad and some of his college buddies were living on the second floor. Ironically, Ben and I also became friends during our freshman year of college, when he had the dorm room directly above me. Amazing how life works out sometimes.

The wedding party in the limo-bus up to the reception

Single Malt Scotch on the limo-bus: the only way to roll :)

Flowers and cupcakes at the reception...

My mom giving her beautiful toast...

Our first dance...

We were blown away by the show of love from our college friends... 20 of us Oles at the wedding!

Who knew my aunt and uncle had all these crazy moves?

Ben and I made homemade bookmarks for all of our guests - each table had a different quote from one of our favorite authors. Way time-consuming to make but totally worth it in the end!

Getting the partay started

Goodnight!

There are so many more great memories from this night - dancing with my grandma to the Beastie Boys, watching all of the parents break it down on the dance floor, my sister and brother-in-laws speeches, and last but DEFINITELY not least, having a crazy hoe-down to Mumford and Sons and Trampled by Turtles, and then closing out the night by standing in a circle with our arms around each other belting "More than a Feeling."

It was seriously more amazing than we could have ever imagined, and we can't thank our friends and family enough.

Other Wedding Recap Posts:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Reason #1,856 Why I Need Yoga

I know... I still need to finish the wedding updates...AND I need to tell you about Thailand... but this week has been insane, mostly because of work. A combination of playing catch-up after being gone for two weeks, plus taking on some projects for a colleague who is on vacation, has me pretty much swamped. And is maybe warping my brain a little. Example:

Last night I left work a little early to do some work from home - for unknown reasons, despite the fact that my employer is a ginormous Fortune 500 company, the operating system on my laptop is probably the same one T-Rex used to google some tasty Diplodocus eats. I needed to use Google Earth to snag some pictures for a project I'm working on, but this version of Windows does not support the program so I went back to my place to use my personal laptop, planning to download the pictures and e-mail them to myself as attachments. I got all the pictures downloaded but forgot to send them to myself before I went to bed last night... not a big deal, because I figured I could just get up early and send them in the morning before yoga.

Well.

This morning, my browser helpfully decided to freeze up every time I tried to add an e-mail attachment. I attempted this probably 4 or 5 times (you know how they say insanity is trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result?...yeah...) before finally deciding to try a different browser.


Unfortuantely it was at this point that my ENTIRE SCREEN decided to freeze. I was definitely not going to have time to re-start my computer, send the pictures, pack my lunch and make it to yoga. My brain started freaking out, and rational thoughts like "it's not a big deal, what is the worst that could possibly happen, you don't even need to finish this project today" did not even enter into my one-track-focused, somewhat irrational brain at 5:30am. I slammed my laptop shut, uttered a few choice phrases, and out of sheer frustration kicked the side of the kitchen counter (because obviously that will help fix my computer...) totally forgetting that there is a somewhat sharp edge under there where the top of the counter is attached to the base by a piece of wooden moulding. Ouch.

So, I left for yoga completely wound up with a spastic brain and a bleeding toe. 75 minutes later I walked out of the studio calm, focused, and steady. I knew the pictures didn't matter - I can finish the project on Monday. I also knew that my spazz didn't matter - these things happen and all we can do is adknowledge and move past them.

Sometimes, no matter how much we try to bring our yoga into our lives, we all have little moments where we let our vision become clouded, and let our intention slip a little... and by "intention slipping" I mean "lashing out at inanimate objects in a blind rage." But being a yogi doesn't mean you have to be perfect - it just means you are aware, and are always striving to live your life in a better and more balanced way.

And hey, sometimes that computer needs a little kick in the a$$.

Namaste!

P.S. I am heading to a friend's cabin for the weekend, with no access to internet so no posts for a couple of days - I'll be chillin' and grillin' at Balsam Lake! Have a wonderful weekend :)

Tilapia Tacos with Fruit Salsa

... we now return to your regularly scheduled eating... I mean programming?

As much as I love curry and am not at all lying when I say I was still devouring it happily after two weeks in Thailand, I came back to MN craving the things I had missed... one of which was Mexican food! Ben and I have eaten some variation on these tacos two nights in a row for dinner and I couldn't be happier.

The first night we topped them with Frontera's Tomatillo Salsa, and they were delicious but I couldn't help feeling like something was missing - mainly because I can't stop thinking about the absolutely-to-die-for fish tacos I ate at my bachelorette party at Blackbird Cafe which were topped with pineapple salsa. The sweetness of the pineapple with the light flakiness of the fish was just about perfect and I wanted to recreate that flavor - plus I pretty much can't get enough of summer fruit right now - so on my way home from work today I stopped to pick up the makings for fruit salsa.

Like most salsas I make, this one had no recipe and is just a few random things thrown together from the store and from my fridge, but it turned out AMAZING. Seriously, make this now. Now... if someone can please help me understand why cilantro comes in such gigoondous bunches when you use hardly any in a given recipe, I'm pretty sure my life will be complete.

The weather in Minneapolis had been gorgeous this week - mid 80's, low humidity and sunshine. What a nice treat after the gross 100 degree humidity we had in July. So, we've been taking advantage of this rare spurt of perfect weather by having dinner outside most nights.

The only way to enjoy tacos - with a cold brew

...and some grapes! But don't be fooled, these aren't just any grapes...

...they are little champagne grapes! Adorable

RECIPE: TILAPIA TACOS WITH FRUIT SALSA

For the Salsa
- 2/3 c mango, diced
- 1/2 a nectarine or other fist-sized stone fruit, diced (I used a Ruby Velvet Apricot, which
seems like it's actually somewhere between a plum and a nectarine)
- 1/2 a small red onion, diced (mine came from the farmers' market, so it was quite small)
- 1/4 c cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 of a small green jalapeno pepper, minced
- 1/2 an avodaco, chopped small
- 1T lime juice, or more to taste if you like (I used not quite 1/2 of a lime)

Prepare the fruit as instructed above - mix the different fruits and the onion together and stir until mixed. Then add the cilantro and jalapeno and stir together. Finally, add the avocado (if you get a nice ripe one it will get all mushy and add a nice creamy texture to the salsa) and then the lime juice and mix it up good.

For the Tacos
- 1/2 small head breen cabbage, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 2 tilapia fillets
- 8 corn tortillas

Brush the cabbage with a little olive oil and sautee in a pan until cooked but not mushy. Brush the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place on the grill or grill pan, and cook on both sides until finished (Ben was in charge of the fish and he said it took about 3-5 minutes to finish cooking. Don't you love how precise my recipes are?...yes..)

Heat the tortillas in a pan (you can use the same pan as you used for the cabbage if you're looking to save dishes) for about 1-2 minutes, turning halfway through. You'll know they're ready when they are soft and pliable.

Place some cabbage in the middle of each tortilla, then top with tilapia and finally with salsa. Eat. Enjoy. Preferably with a cold cerveza in your hand.

Buenos noches!

Reflections on Thailand

Did you know....

...that running around Bangkok for a full day, then hopping on a plane at 11:20pm and traveling for 30 hours, and then eating a hamburger with your sister and spending a few hours with your inlaws before finally crashing at 7:30pm Central Standard Time is really, really exhausting?

...that sleeping for 11 hours feels AMAZING?

...that completely bamboozling your internal clock so that it does not know or care what time of day it is makes it MUCH easier to get back on schedule?

... that curry is still delicious even after you eat it for every single meal for 13 days in a row?

...that praying mantises...manti.... mantees...??? like to hang out in hotel bathrooms?

...that lying on the beach for eight days reading books is, in fact the life?

...that unfortunately, you have to come back to reality sooner or later...

And unfortunately, reality has returned.

Don't worry - pictures from Thailand are coming! They are on their way and there will be posts full of them. Oodles of noodles of pictures! But, this is not that post.

Here are some things about Thailand that really intrigued the marketer in me:

Value added = ??
In my business strategy class, my professor drove into all of our little brains the concept that, if a company is going to own two businesses/products/etc (i.e., Disney buying Pixar), they should create more value together than they would alone. I'm not sure this concept applies in Thailand. In the small village near our hotel on Koh Pha Ngan, every sandwich shop was not merely a sandwich shop - it was a Sandwich Shop-slash-Laundry Service-slash-Taxi Service-slash-Gift Shop. There was also the occasional Restaurant-Slash-Massage-Parlor, as well as my personal favorite, the Pharmacy-slash-Used-Bookshop. Come again? I think the economy of small island villages functions differently than that of the western world - in order to make enough profit to get by, you need to adopt a different strategy.

Same Product, Different Product
Another thing that amazed me was how a service that is literally exactly the same, can be marketed and sold completely differently, to two completely different consumer segments, in two countries that are not all that far from one another. In India, the Autorickshaw is by far the cheapest form of transportation. In Thailand, the Tuk-Tuk (which is exactly the same thing as an autorickshaw - a glorified golf cart) is by far the most expensive.

Ben and I took Autorickshaws everywhere in India, and it was dirt cheap. The ride isn't quite as comfortable and there is no AC, and the assumption is that foreigners and travelers will want the more comfortable, luxurious option. Taxis are for tourists, Autorickshaws are for the locals.

In Thailand, it is exactly the opposite - people see the Tuk-Tuk as a tourist thing. Even though it's not as comfortable or convenient, foreigners want to ride the Tuk-Tuk because it is a novelty - the best comparison I can think of are trolleys in San Fran. From what we saw, Tuk-Tuk passengers were almost exclusively tourists. Because the demand is switched, the prices are too. Madness.

Where are the 'murricans!!??
Over our entire stay in Thailand, Ben and I saw maybe 2 or 3 other travelers from the U.S. There were about a gajillion Germans, slightly less than a gagillion people from France, a handfull of Brits, Aussies and Irish, a few from China or Hong Kong, and almost no Americans. It was kind of refreshing. We talked to a lovely couple from London, had post-dinner drinks with a guy from Norway who had recently retired from the Norwegian Secret Service and used to play professional Soccer (excuse me...football...) and picked up a tag-along German friend for part of the day in Bangkok. It makes sense when you think about it - getting to Thailand takes an entire day from the US, but for Europeans it is more like traveling to Europe is for us.

Well that is all! Again, sorry for all the boring words and no pictures. Pictures are coming. Wedding reception is coming. Have a lovely Tuesday - peace out.