beer can chicken

this is something i've wanted to make for a really long time.

it was pretty darn tasty.

booms

yesterday reed and molly hosted a marvelous pre-fireworks cookout. we ate, drank, and had a gay old time on their back porch. once we heard the first explosion we high tailed it down to tenney park to watch the display. the whole affair was a great time. a much safer operation than last year in santa cruz.

here is some of the gang enjoying the display.


a firework goes off over lake mendota

the excitement is almost too much to handle

most of this video was accidentally shot sideways, and turning it is a bit of a hassle, so deal with it. the comments from the peanut gallery are rather amusing.



for more fireworks coverage, please see smoothdavehamm's blog.

blog fun

the internet savvy kids probably already know about this one, but we've spent the rainy portion of our afternoon enjoying failblog.org. the blog is a collection of pictures that highlight scenarios of failure. it is quite funny. visit them if you have a minute and want a good laugh.

some highlights....


was this you, chris? we can't imagine you've ever had a hard time recognizing a burrito....

fun with frankiln (aretha)

it has been a while since we posted any photos of our little jungle cat. here she is playing in the window sill, trying to grab a vine that hangs outside the window, and getting tangled in the cord for the blinds. the music is mr. mistoffelees from the musical cats.


here she is stretching it out on the floor.

photo update

tonight we posted some new photos on the website:

• marta's trip to la paz is finally up.
• the santa cruz, great plains, and wisconsin albums from our great southwest road trip are up.

enjoy the slide shows.

capital city band

tonight is the first in the wisconsin chamber orchestra's annual concerts on the square series, in which the wisconsin chamber orchestra performs on the steps of the state capitol. thousands of folks sit on the grassy square and picnic, listen, and enjoy a summer evening downtown. barring another severe thunder storm, we will be there.

as a warm-up to tonight's musical festivities, last night we decided to ride our bikes to olbrich gardens, and take in a performance of their concerts on the garden series. the capital city band was playing.

the capital city band conductor had a sort of cab calloway-esque, sing-songy way of introducing each number. he was quite enjoyable. they may lack some of the polish of the chamber orchestra, but they make up for it in enthusiasm. it is the 40th season for the ccb.

in addition to the many retirees in attendance, the mosquitoes were out in very fine form. i guess all this rain we've been having has given the skeeters plenty of places to reproduce. we were glad we were sitting next to these fine folks who lent us some of their bug spray.


i guess it was technically our bug spray, since they weren't so much seated next to us, but on the picture on the front of the bottle of bug spray. if only they would have let us borrow their wind breakers too.

nyc photos

we have placed the creme de la creme of our nyc/demler wedding photos on the photo page of our website. this one didn't make the cut for the album, but it was quite a highlight.


enjoy!

two brew canoe

we took the canoe out for our first ever sunset float. the water is crazy high from all the rain we've been having. the boat launch is almost underwater, but we managed. the water was completely motionless.

it was a perfect evening to down a couple beers...

...and watch from lake monona as the sun set over madison.

r.e.m.

r.e.m. played at madison square garden last thursday, and we were lucky enough to be there. the national and modest mouse opened for them, and they rocked. however, r.e.m. knows how to make other bands look silly; michael stipe is the quintessential rock star, and he knows how to work a stage. we love him.

we were so moved with the show that we took some video so we could share the experience.

here are the problems with the video:
1.) our seats are very far away from the stage, so the band appears to be very small
2.) the lcd screen on the camera had been smashed into a banister at a subway station five hours prior to the concert. there was no way to see what images the camera was capturing (or if the camera was capturing images at all), so there was a lot of guesswork in pointing the camera at the general direction of the stage, zooming in, and zooming out. you will see that occasionally, the guesswork failed.

here are the good things about the video:
1.) they are rocking out on an r.e.m. classic "orange crush"

roll the video....

new york

this weekend, we went to new york city. we had a lovely time. new york is a wonderful place full of amazing things.

the sandwiches are big.



the buildings are tall.


the weddings are wonderful.

more to come as all the pictures get posted to the site.

gooooooooooooooal!!!

we headed down to glen ellyn illinois to take in some exciting soccer action yesterday. the dolphins of glen ellyn were going to face the hawks, probably of glen ellyn as well, at ackerman field. our niece, Rachel, is a dolphin, and a fine player at that. here she is advancing the ball upfield as coach/dad matt looks on.

the hawks were a no show, hence the red pinnies.

below matt goes over a new strategy with the team. the plan was to implement the position of defense-person, as well as reiterate the "no hugging while on the field, during play" strategy. both strategies met with mixed results.


everybody was a winner, and a good time was had by all.

single spaced

i don't know exactly when it happened, and i definitely don't know why, but our blog became single spaced in the last few weeks. i'd like to fix it, but I'm not sure how. i've messed around with the html a bit, but i can't seem to come up with a way to make it double spaced again. i'd love to hear any ideas you might have.

you stay classy fox news

are they also calling cindy mccain, "mccain's baby mama?" i'm guessing they aren't.

fair and balanced (oh, and racist)

cheesemaking 101: mozzarella

they say mozzarella is the easiest cheese one can make in their home. we thought we would test that idea by making mozzarella....but in someone else's kitchen. last night, we went to fromagination to attend a mozzarella making class taught by george crave from the famous crave brothers cheese making operation out of waterloo, wi. we made mozzarella with 3 ingredients in less than an hour.

not bad. not bad at all.


here is george crave working his mozzarella magic.

we just might be ready for the at-home experiment.

mmmmm. cheese.

birthday tornadoes

we had a little party this weekend in honor of david's 30th birthday. we only have one photo from the 7 hour event, and it's slightly confusing, but we're sharing it anyway. it might be a close up of a milk crate on the back of matt's bike.

during our outdoor birthday party for david, the tornado sirens went off and the basement hatch had to be opened. it was most exciting. fortunately, no tornadoes descended on the party, and things continued normally, if a little rain-soaked, thereafter.

in other news, there was another birthday this weekend. behold the origami queen! happy birthday dr. cox.

$1.00 grilled cheese sandwiches

the first saturday farmers' market in june always boasts these exciting features: 1.) $1.00 grilled cheese sandwiches hot off the rotating grill, 2.) miss wisconsin in full dairy regalia shouting into a microphone, telling us to buy more grilled cheese sandwiches, and 3.) a paddock of baby cows waiting to be pet by market shoppers. they call it "cows on the concourse" to support wisconsin dairy farmers. we call it heaven.

we focused on the sandwiches.


it is really an impressive grilling display.....

gswrt photos

turn that frown upside down, david.


we finally did it! select photos from the great southwest road trip (often referred to as the gswrt or "moving to madison") have been posted to the website in an interactive map-based format. the santa cruz, madison, and iowa photos will offer exciting links shortly. we are sure you'll enjoy it.

30 years, 1 day, 23 hours, and counting

as i posted previously on this blog, yesterday was my 30th birthday. the whole thing went off without a hitch. 4:43 pm (my birth time) passed without incident. i have entered my 4th decade.

i would like to thank everyone for their outpouring of joy and support on this most momentous of occasions.

one of the most exciting things about my birthday was that marta went above and beyond the call of duty with this years birthday present, and gifted me a beautiful, red, 16.5 foot, bell canoe.
aren't they gorgeous?

we live just a few blocks from the yahara river which connects lake mendota and lake monona, so we will have plenty of opportunity to get our paddles wet this summer (and for many summers to come). it is quite a feeling to look back at madison from the lakes that i have spent so much time looking out onto.

it is a wonderful canoe, but it is not a light-weight one.