I wanted to take the girls to the parade, but between the temperature and the misty, overcast weather, and my frozen plantar wart, the idea of walking miles to stand around in the cold for a couple hours...
We went to Union Station with my Dad. I don't know that I did my foot any favors, between walking around Union Station and then through the habitrail to Crown Center and back to walk around Union Station, I walked about as much as I would on a vacation to New York or Chicago.
Yes, the foot is sore, but since there's no longer a rock glued to the ball of my foot, the pain is much less pronounced. And I walked on that 'rock' all over Chicago in October, so this was small beer by comparison.
We had lunch at Harvey House, we did Science City. We did a 3D trip down the Grand Canyon on the iMax.
Mo cracked me up trying to reach out and pop the bubbles that came at us in the opening credits. I was surprised myself at how realistic it was. I haven't seen anything 3D since I was younger than Mo is, and that was on TV with 3D glasses we got at 7-11. I've never worn the more substantial modern 3D glasses and sat in a theater for it.
I made crab rangoon again, too, but mainly I was trying my hand at eggrolls. I think next time I make crab rangoon, I'll try using the larger wonton wrappers they sell for eggrolls. Pretty sure that's what restaurant crab rangoon uses, using the little wontons you end up with bite-size units.
I got lazy and instead of shredding my own cabbage & whatnot, I bought the broccoli slaw stuff in a bag.
Crab Eggrolls 12 oz. broccoli slaw mix 6 oz. diced imitation crab meat 14 oz. finely diced tofu 2 eggs 6 finely chopped green onions 2 tbsp. oyster sauce 2 tbsp. soy sauce 1 tbsp. ground ginger 1 tbsp. ground white pepper 1 tbsp. sugar 1 tbsp. garlic powder Mix it all up and fold into eggroll wrappers, fry for five minutes in 350ºF peanut oil, drain on a rack and serve. The directions on the back of a package of eggroll wrapers are perfect for how to roll & fold it, gluing it shut with some beaten egg, by the way.
I had eggroll filling leftover, so after I made the crab rangoon, I used the rest of my little wontons to make miniature eggrolls.
Fortunately the eggrolls should freeze well. I can't eat a whole bunch of them at a go, delicious though they are. So I put them in individual snack baggies. That way I can take one or two out of the freezer to take with me in my lunch to work. Not quite the same as fresh out of the peanut oil, but eggrolls do better leftover than crab rangoon by a wide margin.
Every time, lately, I suggest a trip to the Kemper or the Nelson, the girls hound me to go to Moon Marble instead.
They're on spring break, and I took a couple days off to hang out with them. We were just at Moon Marble, again, on Saturday, so I decided to sidestep the argument and trick them.
Who could go for a doughnut, I asked. That got them in the car. I wasn't being purely deceptive, I stopped at QT for sodas and doughnuts on the way to what I told them would be a surprise.
"What's the surprise?" If I told you that, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it? "Do you have a girlfriend you're taking us to meet?" What a bizarre and way-off guess. "Is it in Olathe or Kansas City?" Kansas City.
The question and evasive answers went on until I heard, from the back seat, "No, I don't want to go to the Kemper." This as I pulled into the parking lot.
Why not? "They only have five paintings and we've seen them." What are you fourteen or something? I bet they have some stuff that wasn't on display last time we were here.
Fourteen and of little faith, Em flirted with resisting on a scale that would have caused her a lot more grief than a 'boring' trip to a modern art gallery.
Once inside, she gradually realized that while this gallery is small compared to the Nelson Atkins, it's more than five paintings.
And one had a date of 2009, which I pointed out meant it probably was not on display last time we were here, in February of that year.
She gradually warmed up to the whole scene, and I even caught her digging some of the art.
I got a kick out of this piece: each stack of paper is a loose ream of plain white paper. The top sheet of each has been cut to form a minimalist origami-ish sculpture.
I think the part I got a kick out of is when someone else's kid acted like he was going to kick it or step onto the skid of paper. I've seen a lot of museum guards in my day, but never one as animated as the one who all but tackled this pint sized vandal.
I bet they put a fence up around it soon.
I really like Miss Mao, this disturbing (in more ways that one) red sculpture. The Cultural Revolution mixed with Disney and given a boob job? It's the Gao Brothers, but it reminded me so much of Chen Wenling's Valiant Struggle in Millenium Park in Chicago I was amazed to discover it wasn't by the same artist.
Loved this little globe puppy. It's titled Ethanol, so I'm guessing the puppy is also a molecule of booze.
I asked Emily if she knew what this painting was, and she thought about it for a minute and said, "JFK, right?" Any idea what Jackie-O is 'reaching' for? "Nope." Part of her husband's head. In the moment, the instinct was to grab it like it might be reattached and he'd make a full recovery. She wasn't an idiot, it's just an instinctive reaction. Wait! He needs that!
This is a neat one, called Poem Spill. I didn't notice at first that what was coming out of this disembodied pair of legs were letters.
We get to the car and Em pronounces that we should come back to the Kemper every few months. This after having to be dragged, kicking and screaming, through the front door. She said it's because she didn't know there'd be anything she hadn't seen before, which shows how much she was listening to her old man.
The Trek ride finally rode again for the first time since November 30 of last year. I had a nerve inflammation (I suspect caused by that freakish contraption in the Spin Class) that kept me completely off even my trainer for a little over a month, so I was particularly out of shape. Everyone else seems to have hit the gym regularly, behavior I would have to joint a gym to try and emulate.
Seven weeks off isn't the same as seven years, I'm not back to last June in terms of fitness, but I feel like Cartman in the episode of South Park where he gets hooked on the weight gain formula for bodybuilders while sitting on his ass and eating Cheesy Poofs. I was 285 lbs at the doctor this morning, once again casting my shadow on membership in the 300 Club. I've never been there, but I've been this close, for instance right before Jennichild conned me into Bike MS last year and got me hooked on this cycling nonsense.
Maddy asked me if I was trying to catch a bug. I spent the whole ride like a dog with his head out the window, panting (out of shape) and grinning (glee) and shouting 'car back!' at the top of my lungs. If I ever do another Spin Class, I'll have to remember to shout that out in my Super Grover voice, that'll keep those gym babes on their toes.
We had an impressive turnout, people who had totally dropped out after we went off Daylight Savings Time, people who I hadn't seen since September. We even had a new guy who'd never ridden Trek.
Roj was there, but he forgot to screw his bike back together after changing pedals and had to bail out a mile or so in.
Most of the Whole Sick Crew decided against continuing the Margarita Monday thing, but three of us went. I consumed the sole margarita for this week. I felt it was my duty, I couldn't let the torch fall no matter what torcherous diet cults my peers have been love-bombed into joining.
Hopefully next week we'll go down to Merriam Lane and climb 55th. And go down Midland. Tonight's route was a mere 8.2 miles, so short even as out of shape as I am I wanted to turn around and ride it again the other direction.
8.2 miles, 11.1 mph average, top speed 30.2 mph.
I have four free passes to Stanfords waiting at the will-call for Thursday night but if the weather is this good, the Blue Moose ride might win out over standup comedy on the cheap.
