tuesday 12.08.09

it’s gonna snow in madison. hard. work was already postponed for the next day until 10am. so what did we do at mckinley? we drank. ryan and i headed out to the grocery store before the snowfall started falling to pick up some warm drinks. playing euchre with ryan fred shannon in the living room. getting geared up for our hot apple bourbon cider fueled hike through quarry park later in the evening. by the way, if you were thinking of buying the rights to market and sell bourbon apple cider sno-cones, too bad. we already called dibs.


-bkh

monday 12.07.09

working with heidi at barriques. not feeling too hot. i think i used my netti pot wrong? and now i feel sick? a little off my game. heidi was a champ with me. washing up some wine glasses cuz we were running a bit low. threw them in the dish washer, and let them sit and dry on their own. if i put them in their crate upsidown to dry, i don’t have to dry them off with a cloth. which is nice cuz they are fragile and i always feel like i’m going to crack the glass when i’m drying ‘em off (and they’re expensive).


-bkh

sunday 12.06.09

hanging out in the living room on the computer. curled up under my button blanket. my favorite blanket. ryan and fred high fiving over something exciting.


-bkh

saturday 12.05.09

barriques barriques. closing it up with kari. soaked the milk thermoses and clips in the…stuff, and am putting them all back together.


-bkh

friday 12.04.09

my evening plans with tristan fell through. what to do, what to do with my newly free evening? go to a costume part in cottage grove with ryan? nah… play with crafts (crafts? really?) with brendon? eh, not today… put off making a decision by taking a nap instead? yea, that sounds real nice. i think i’ll do that.


-bkh

thursday 12.03.09

roommate dinner. baked lemon-garlic-pepper salmon, cumin quinoa, and sautéed broccoli. cooking with fred & shannon. ryan made it home in just the nick of time to join in on the eating. shannon cutting into the salmon. enjoyed the perfect dinner with wine and whiskey. the night quickly turned to game night complete with chutes & ladders and loaded questions.


-bkh

wednesday 12.02.09

a barriques night with heidi. the drawer was a bit low on quarters, so counting out the tips putting the coins into bills so not to open a whole new roll of coins. makes it easier on the closers and the openers. counting 70 quarters evening morning and evening isn’t really high on my list of favorite things.


-bkh

tuesday 12.01.09

it’s me! checking out my face damage after a 90-minute hot yoga class. i bought myself some non-water proof mascara this time around. i’m not a crier, so i didn’t think it’d be an issue. however, i am a sweater. didn’t think that one through. looking in my car mirror to see if the raccoon eyes had appeared. i was in luck! if they did, then i smeared them all over my face and evened it out during the bikram style class.


-bkh

monday 11.30.09

grabbing some gloves. at barriques. about to head over to the food cooler to shut it down for the evening. pull out all the food bins, cover them, and wash the utensils and dividers. make sure my coffee hands don’t get all over the sandwich food. no one wants that.


-bkh

sunday 11.29.09

i was inspired by the weather to start making hats again. trying to crochet, but as always when ‘crocheting season’ starts up again, my hats just look like tacos. which is not the goal. in my defense (and to boost up my ego again a bit), i was distracted by ‘finding forester’ on the tv (and i was a glass or so deep into a bottle of wine). didn’t actually get a hat finished, or close to finished. but i put forth a good effort. so that counts for something, right? right?

-bkh

saturday 11.28.09

at bunky’s café with the fam. i eat so deliciously when they’re in town. waiting for the waitress to take our delicious order. meg is a bit impatient with…well, waiting in general. and with my dad. he can be a bit of a teaser. meg playfully mid-whack over dad’s head with the menu. what a feisty little gal.


-bkh

friday 11.27.09

the family is in town! mom dad and meg (sans ryan) in from minneapolis for the thanksgiving weekend! we spent the early evening in the hotel sipping on chocolate wine before going to barriques for a wine tasting. at dinner at la brioche on the westish side of town. it came highly recommended by fred. we were happy customers. taking a peak at the beer list (oh too sleepy for more wine) as mom’s listening to meg tell a story of some sort.


-bkh

thursday 11.26.09

happy thanksgiving! celebrated the holiday with deniz and her family. her boyfriend ray, and his daughter allison. had a, of course, delicious meal. accented by vino and good company. i was content spending the thanksgiving at my place with a glass of wine and movie, but i was more than grateful to have such a wonderful home welcome me into their celebration.


-bkh

wednesday 11.25.09

working barriques. me & heidi. washing the bakery oven. wiping off all the…crap?... that gets on it and accumulated throughout the work day and week. plenty of time in the work day to tidy up some of the store.


-bkh

tuesday 11.24.09

putting the finishing touches on an email to my gals back in maple grove. ash sent out an email asking us to list ten things we’re grateful for in the month of november. my list, you ask?

1. job. money. vacation.
2. lala.com and npr.org/music
3. my able body
4. coffee shops
5. letters cards postcards via USPS
6. my independence
7. my roommates (ok, even liza)
8. color
9. family
10. friends (especially high school relationships that have lasted outside of MGSH since 2002)
    

alright, so maybe that actually 16 or so. but, whatever. i'm a grateful gal. and, it is more cohesive in the paragraph form i used in the email. but that is reserved for my gals.

-bkh

monday 11.23.09

happy 25½ birthday, me and bkhainje!!

celebrating my half birthday at barriques. with travis, aka ‘new heidi’. putting away the soups. it’s time to get moving and going! i have some leftover cookies i’m going to need to be eating at home soon!


-bkh

sunday 11.22.09

looking at some beautiful pictures of food and life at cucinanicolina.com. whenever i am looking to slow down a bit and remember how much i like stillness and peacefulness every now and then, i pull up this site. (so, basically i look at it every day.) the woman who write for this blog has such a great appreciation towards seemingly little things. and she finds this joy and shares it through pictures and writing. it is what i aspire to be, all right there on one site. after an unfortunately uncomfortable day, this was precisely what i needed.


-bkh

saturday 11.21.09

getting ready to go over to kara pennoyer’s. kara pennoyer! the newest madison friend. moved up from chicago and threw a moving party, which was actually just a clever name for a ‘drinking boxed wine out of a can’ party. grabbed some beers, just in case. the crew of kara, henzie, stacy, liz, ryan, fred, nick, jake, wilkie, shaina, katy had been moving & drinking since 3. so clearly i had little confidence there would be drinks left.


-bkh

friday 11.20.09

barriques downtown. wine tasting night! reading up on local activities in the isthmus. waiting for steph birr to come join me so we can get this cali wine train moving. enjoyed a few hours of good wine and excellent conversation before walking (it was a generous tasting this day...) over to the high noon for the haley bonar show.


-bkh

thursday 11.19.09

having some dinner on my night off. quinoa with almonds, lentils, and sautéed vegetables. watching a tv show about coca-cola on msnbc. relaxing relaxing. all i want to do is relax. ryan fred katy and shannon went to the oak crest for a few drinks, but nothing sounded more appealing to me than slipping into pj pants, sitting in the big green chair in front of the tv, and eventually making some puppy chow (thanks for the recipe, mom). so that’s exactly what i did.


-bkh

wednesday 11.18.09

cait! cait! cait and the girls playing at high noon! cait is the manager of the middleton barriques, and an exceptionally talented musician. taking in her happy hour show with tristan - my former fellow la crosse erbs & gerbs sandwich maker - and the old sauk barriques staff (+ kourt).


-bkh

tuesday 11.17.09

out on a walk with ryan and liza. got back from my colorectal cancer prevention initiative meeting right as ryan was taking dog out to let out some of her energy. joined them for the 30 or so minute walk around the neighborhood. november is so beautiful this 2009.


-bkh

monday 11.16.09

washing dishes at barriques. working with heidi. washed out the dustpan, too. it was coated and caked with coffee grounds.


-bkh

sunday 11.15.09

cleaning up after dinner. baked potato and brussel sprouts. usually i get real antsy when a baked potato is cooking, and eat ‘appetizers’ until i’m not hungry anymore when the potato is finally done. i played it right this time around and popped it in the toaster oven while i went to an hour long yoga class. perfect timing. roasted brussel sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinaigrette, and honey. the honey bottle says in big letters: ‘do not feed to infants under the age of 1’. not really sure why? but i guess i won’t argue.

-bkh

saturday 11.14.09

spanish wine tasting at monroe street barriques with jess & andy. shannon, leah, and liz too. barriques old saukers night on the town. andy getting the nose feel or whatever, trying to find the pencil lead and gooseberries in his wine. enjoyed the eight (plus one times two) wines before heading to meet tracy, travis, cait & others at the frequency for some tunes that sounded like death metal and yoko ono guitars, and looked like a band with my hair and a mess of a dance party through my wine and spotted cow lenses.


-bkh

friday 11.13.09

working the barriques on monroe street. spanish wine tasting going on over on the other side of the counter. matt & finn were looking for someone to help out with the coffee side of barriques. and i could see why. monroe gets owned by wine tasters! wow. the joint was packed. michelle, jason, and i were busting our butts running around. cheese boards, and mediterranean experiences, and wine by the glass, and conversations about wine… i did not make a single latte drink in my five hour shift.


-bkh

thursday 11.12.09

watching ‘the office’ online with ryan. finding out what happened in the past few episodes before watching this week’s episode. awkwardly balancing the computer on the arm of the couch between the two of us and angling it so we can both kinda-sorta see the screen. fred and shannon joined us, finding a standing spot behind the chair. when will we be able to access internet from the tv so we don’t have to watch nbc.com awkwardly? maybe some people already can?


-bkh

wednesday 11.11.09

working with heidi. holding down barriques like pros. we’ve committed ourselves to barriques-improvement projects or whatever every monday and wednesday we work together. getting a little elbow grease in our shift. she scrubbed down behind the espresso grinders, and i tackled behind the big grinder. took a little bit of extra work, but, oh how it shined when we were done. wednesday we have an extra hour to close than mondays, so we can be extra effective in our cleaning the latter part of the week. got started on sweeping the floor, appropriately an hour later than mondays.


-bkh

tuesday 11.10.09

watching ‘lost in translation’ with fred and shannon (...and liza). took a short break to instruct fred on the steps to gift wrapping. his kind request to have me ‘wrap this’ gift was denied, though i felt it appropriate to teach him how to fish, as the saying goes.


-bkh

monday 11.09.09

working with heidi. food is already cleaned up. i am ready to go. did some cleaning and closing right when i got it, which was good cuz i was ahead by the time old travis stopped in, and was able to spend a bit of time catching-up with the former co-worker without getting owned by the closing to-do list. it was nice to see him again after so long.


-bkh

sunday 11.08.09

making dinner. hummus-grape-almond-honey pizza. it may not sound delicious, but that is exactly what it is. jason made one of these back in my baldwin street days, and it was mighty tasty back then. i had been meaning to make it for a while now. when i saw grapes on sale at coops, i knew today was my day. cooked it up, and enjoyed it in front of ‘the us vs. john lennon’. oh, uh, and the weekend first-aid kit was slowly making its way back to the bathroom by way of the stove, it appears...


-bkh

saturday 11.07.09

at edo (eato? eto? eadto.) sushi restaurant on park street with bjorn, shannon, fred, noreen, and ryan. having some food after a day hike at devil’s lake. does a better day exist? (other than the unforgiving hangover that plagued the house) i think not. i asked the waiter to leave the pitcher of water on the table (please note the small glasses in front of fred), but since it's a sushi restaurant he instead brought me a bigger glass. and was very attentive in filling it. someone got a good tip. and someone got made fun of by her friends.


-bkh

friday 11.06.09

bjorn! bjorn! bjorn in town from viroqua! sharing stories from his 3,500 mile bike ride to and from the pacific northwest. and reading about the movie festival going on over the weekend in madison. fred ryan and shannon are grilling out our food outside, and getting the bonfire ready for a night of friends, fire, and beer (and jim beam and 99 peaches?)


-bkh

thursday 11.05.09

watching the news. flipping msnbc to cnn to fox waiting for the press conference on the fort hood shootings. it kept being delayed and delayed. never ended up seeing it. i had a meditation class at 8. i got a whole lot of ‘information’ (read: speculation) though. oh the joys of this non-stop 24-hour news world we live in.


-bkh

wednesday 11.04.09

cleaning the espresso machine at barriques. getting ready for the last power hour and a half with heidi. trying to stay ahead of the curve so we get on out soon after we lock the doors at 9.


-bkh

tuesday 11.03.09

heading down into the basement. started doing laundry (maybe the first time since i got back from europe…?) but got distracted by the village of empty detergent containers, dryer sheets, sock widows (for you, mom!), lint balls the size of my head hanging around on the floor. i am quite sure they have all been there since i moved in. probably since stacy moved in. so i did a bit of power cleaning. after 20 minutes it looked like a whole new basement.


-bkh

monday 11.02.09

barriques with heidi. someone dropped off his/her coffee cup at the end of the bar before heading out. taking it back to the sink to put with the other ‘for here’ dishes ready for the dishwasher. we have a tub bucket or whatever by the door, but about ¼ of customers seem to prefer putting their dishes on the counter. fine. it’s closer to where they need to eventually go. it’s funny, though. we’ll find dishes abandoned there throughout the day, but no customer will just drop it there and walk away if we’re standing there. they always ask ‘where do you want me to…can i just leave this here, or…’ as though they can’t just leave it when we’re there, but don’t mind passively dropping it when no one is looking. people are interesting.


-bkh

sunday 11.01.09

sushi dinner with some of the barriques staff! i really like my social time with my barriques staff. and it is much too few and far between. jess and i have been trying to have dinner for ages, and we finally (finally!) succeeded and brought a long a bunch of co-workers, too.


-bkh

saturday 10.31.09

happy halloween. hanging around the house, playing trivial pursuit, drinking some hot bourbon cider, ryan playing fred’s bass. ryan nick and i cooked up some homemade pizzas using the wealth of pasta sauce i had from thursday. and hung around the house before getting all dressed up and heading to the big 10 to meet up with the wilkie bros.


-bkh

friday 10.30.09

working at barriques. but at monroe street barriques, not old sauk road barriques. got a mid-morning email from the owner looking for a barriquer to help hold down monroe at some point between noon-8. sure – why not? got to meet some new folks, see a new store, make some money. win-win. monroe sure sells a lot of wine by the glass. about 10 times as much as old sauk.


-bkh

thursday 10.29.09

cooking dinner. roasted tomato and pesto marinara sauce to go with pasta. tasty recipe i picked up from either vegetarian times or eating well. it made a lot of sauce. a lot of sauce. i used the amount i needed for the box of pasta, and could have easily added three or four boxes of pasta. i have some awesome leftovers. for months.


-bkh

wednesday 10.28.09

just getting home parking my car and packing up my stuff to bring inside. went to ‘the time traveler’s wife’ and dinner with deniz. the movie was a whole heck of a lot better than i anticipated. i would highly recommend it, and not just to ladies. and best off all, we saw it at the 'cheap theater' on the west side, so the ticket was <$3. every city should have a cheap theater. they make me so happy.


-bkh

tuesday 10.27.09

dane county immunization coalition’s annual immunization symposium. this year’s topics?: seasonal flu, H1N1, and vaccine refusal. no surprises there. listening to donna weaver from the cdc (centers for disease control and prevention) before dr. conway from UW speaks. sitting behind the group health cooperative immunization person (i’m the unity immunization person), and next to my boss.


-bkh

monday 10.26.09

monday nights are barriques nights. barriques nights with heidi. washing up dishes. staying on top of the dishes, otherwise we’ll be there oh so much later than 8:00.


-bkh

sunday 10.25.09

mckinley street house has a mouse situation. a severe mouse situation. setting up some mouse traps with ryan to catch the little shits. after a couple episodes of ‘arrested development’, we went back to the kitchen to survey the damage: all four traps successfully fulfilled their role in life. yowzas. mckinley street has a mouse problem.


-bkh

saturday 10.24.09

lounging around the house with ryan and jackie (jackie! another day in madison with us!) we accidentally stayed up all night last night, and were real nice and tired by the time saturday evening rolled around. the weekend started wednesday, so we were well due for a quiet night. picked up some stuff to make some stir crazy popcorn and popped in ‘savages’ followed by ‘mallrats’. brandy old fashioneds made an appearance. you can tell because the liquor cabinet has it's lights on. when there's drinking, the mood lights illuminate the 'man room'.


-bkh

friday 10.23.09

yonderfest day 3. ryan kara jackie. jeremy, heather, katy, kay, and kay’s roommate, too. oooo – what good people. out to dinner & drinks at jolly bob’s in madison. a little light on the drinks for most of the table given the previous two days for most of ‘em. hearing about jackie’s law school life, and the cases she’s working on in st. paul. good people.


-bkh

thursday 10.22.09

yonderfest day 2. after a day of drinking, ryan and benny decided to shave their heads (whaaaat?) jake doing a bit of one-handed touch-up on ryan’s hair. fred had to intervene so jake could concentrate on more important things (read: his pbr). though, jake couldn’t do much more damage to ryan than benny did during the ryan-benny-kara-katy-fight-for-the-razor scuffle. ryan is now the proud owner of a small bald spot and an inverted rat tail.


-bkh

wednesday 10.21.09

yonderfest! day 1. in my backyard. hanging out having some beers, boxed wine, straight whiskey, getting ready for the avett brothers show. people in town from chicago, rice lake, seattle, appleton, st. paul, stevens point, milwaukee… for the week(end). kara brought some birthday hats in honor of ryan’s recent and stacy’s upcoming birthdays. so many reasons to (over)celebrate.


-bkh

tuesday 10.20.09

making a decaf skim latte. for here. apparently the gentleman did not realize barriques closes in thirty minutes. luckily my co-worker, jess, is so darn sweet, so he wasn’t upset when she started vacuuming around him at 8:00.


-bkh