Time Out

My poor laptop is down again- or more accurately, its charger is. I'm waiting on a new one to be shipped, so I should be back to posting in a day or two!

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Thunder vs Grizzlies

Last night, Johnny and I attended an NBA pre-season game right here in Tulsa! The Oklahoma City Thunder took on the Memphis Grizzlies; I was so excited, because I love both teams.

 Both teams had their superstars on display for the first half- seeing athletes like Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, and Marc Gasol play was definitely the best part of the night.

Rudy Gay (Memphis) is defended by Russell Westbrook (OKC)
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA

Thabo Sefolosha (OKC) dunks!
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA

 

Kevin Durant (OKC) calls a play while Rudy Gay (Memphis) guards.
Photo by J.P. Wilson for NBA

The second half was just as action packed when the teams brought out rookie players. Memphis ended up winning 116-96; they had dominated the whole game, so it wasn't a big surprise. It was so fun to watch the game, even from our cheap seats! 

Our seats haha!

We're planning to attend more NBA games this year- they will probably all be Thunder games, but hopefully we'll be able to squeeze a Grizzlies game or a Dallas Mavericks game in there too! I love basketball season and can't wait for it to get rolling!

Spanish

I've always admired those who are able to converse in multiple languages. A friend in high school was fluent in both Spanish and English and it was amazing to hear her switch effortlessly between the two. In high school, I took Latin, hoping it would provided a strong foundation for any other language I chose to learn and eventually help me in a legal career. In college, I decided to neither take a language nor pursue law school. So much for Latin being useful!

I recently decided to learn Spanish, though. A couple of ladies at the hotel I work for speak mostly Spanish and little English, and sometimes it's tricky to ask them questions or communicate ideas. I found a free online course and have been studying it in the evenings during downtime at work. A guest heard me practicing yesterday and being a Spanish-speaker himself offered to teach me some conversational language and critique my grammar and pronunciation. So my new amigo Victor and I spent some time going over words and phrases yesterday evening and agreed to meet this afternoon to study. He is in town on contract work for the next six months, so I am hoping I will learn a lot from him. I'm very excited to take on this language challenge!

State Fair Adventures

Johnny and I spent nearly all of yesterday at the Tulsa State Fair; it was a fun and festive atmosphere with lots of things to see, do, and eat!

We arrived around 11:30 AM and spent the better part of half an hour looking for free parking. The map we'd downloaded from the fair's website had a whole swath of parking marked as free, but this mysterious Bermuda Triangle of asphalt was nowhere to be found. We managed to snag a space close to the entrance and headed straight into the fairgrounds. I was excited to find out we'd arrived in time to score one of the free fair t-shirts given to the first 4,000 people arriving at the fair Friday, but it was all for naught because we didn't know where to claim said t-shirts. Boo! I was hoping to add another shirt into my jogging rotation. Johnny and I made a preliminary circle of the grounds, giving the various rides, games, eateries, and exhibition halls a cursory glance. For lunch, we decided to dine on burritos from Tad's Tacos (a vendor from nearby Oklahoma City!). I tried the garlic chicken burrito- it looked, smelled, and tasted delicious!

We then headed to various exhibition halls to see all the Tulsa State Fair had to offer. Some of the buildings in the fairgrounds complex are beautiful! 

This was definitely my favorite- see the horses in the mosaic at the top of the building? Gorgeous! 

The vendors' market set up in the enormous QuikTrip Center was definitely one of the most interesting parts of the fair. All sorts of things were for sale- kitchen gadgets, handmade goods, health remedies, and so, so many tacky lamps. 

A lamp with dragons? No thanks!

There were also numerous contests at the fair, and numerous award-winning jams, jellies, cookies, and cakes could be found.

Pretty soon, Johnny decided he needed to try one of the yummy-smelling apple fritters inside the QT Center. What he got didn't look or taste quite as good as it smelled. Boo! 

We ventured into the livestock buildings after the apple fritter disaster. I grew up on a small farm and went to a college that was very into agriculture, so I was largely unmoved by the hogs, cattle, horses, sheep, and goats being shown by 4-H and FFA students. Johnny, a city boy, was delighted with these animals. We visited the large petting zoo and spent a long time watching and petting all sorts of things, from camels to ostriches to emus to llamas! 

A very dirty alpaca in the petting zoo.

We watched a few draft horses classes in the horse show and then explored the barns a bit more. We found some very soft rabbits and a lot of pigeons tucked away in one building! There was also a very neat live surgery booth where the crowd could watch a veterinarian spay a dog. The vet gave a brief talk on what he does and what the role of the veterinary technician is and the kids watching looked fascinated. I am a big supporter of Ag in the Classroom and it was great to see so many young minds stimulated!

I ended my food extravaganza with a cold Boulevard (from Kansas City, MO!) and a polish sausage.

Extra peppers and onions, please!

The fair was such a fun experience; I wish we had felt like riding rides or had more room for all the tasty food, but there's always next year!

Tulsa State Fair

I love fairs. The exhibits, the rides, the food- it's interesting and intoxicating! Johnny and I are heading to the Tulsa State Fair today; we've been planning our itinerary all week. Horse shows, milking demonstrations, a visit to the wine garden, sugar art, cooking exhibitions, acrobats, and a few rides are all on our agenda. I think I'm most excited about the food- I can't wait dine on delicacies like funnel cakes, Indian tacos, gyros, Polish sausages, and lemonades. 

I promise I'll take lots of pictures and do a full write up this weekend! 

(Apologies for the lack of posts this week; my laptop's charger shorted out earlier this week and Johnny just got it repaired. I might post some pictures of it because it looks crazy!!)

Menu Monday

It's the beginning of a new week and that means Menu Monday is back with a vengeance! The weather has been very cool here in Oklahoma over the past week and that has me excited about cooking hearty soups, casseroles, and roasts for the fall and winter. This week's menu finds things headed in that direction with just one grilling detour along the way.

Menu for October 5-9

• Tuesday: Chicken with poblano cream sauce
• Wednesday: Chicken & roasted garlic risotto
• Thursday: Pasta primavera
• Friday: Chicken curry
• Saturday: Grilled beer brats

I'm really excited about Tuesday's meal, chicken with poblano cream sauce. It's creamy and spicy and just enough to warm anyone up on a cool fall day. Try it sometime!

Chicken With Poblano Cream Sauce
from Everyday Food's Great Food Fast

• 1 poblano chile
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/3 c. heavy cream
• Coarse salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (~6 oz. each)
• White rice, cooked and mixed with cilantro

Roast the chile over a gas burner or under the broiler until charred all over. Wrap in a paper towel and steam for 5 minutes. Rub off the skin, remove seeds and ribs, chop coarsely.

Heat 1 tbsp of the canola oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook until soft (5-7 minutes). Add the chile and cream.

Puree mixture in a blender; add water if too thick. Heat the remaining tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken until golden, 4-5 minutes per side. Serve with the sauce with rice on the side.

Weekend Inspiration

A few words of wisdom from my favorite naturalist and one of the nation's first environmental advocates, John Muir: 

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"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."

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"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

via

"The power of imagination makes us infinite."