The Poop Problem

I know most of you are tired from watching the Royal Wedding which I hear was beautiful.  I was beat and had it skip but will probably watch it tonight when I have the house to myself. 

OK. Let’s talk about something that’s the complete opposite of the Royal Wedding, Cat Poop.  Yes, I know we’ve talked about it before but it’s time to bring it up again.  Yesterday I was walking up the massive front stairs and got a wiff of something AWFUL – cat poop.  I won’t show you the pictures.  I looked around and could see “presents” the cats left behind everywhere.  I could also see that the cats dug up through the beauty bark and jut mat.  They didn’t do it in one spot but all over and on my sister’s side too.  We spent over $800 on the slope.  The city required all sorts of special layers and care and now all that hard work is partially ruined and smells of poop.

We have no idea what to do.  We tried to have the city haul off their cats but it’s not really a priority.  We tried every safe way to keep cats off our property but that hasn’t work.  Did you know they poop in our grass when it gets a little lawn and Izzy stepped in their poop and tracked some of it into the house?  YUCK!

All we can think to do is write them an email.  We never see the parents.  NEVER.  I do see the sons but it seems inappropriate to talk to them about it.  Here’s what we’re thinking of sending:

Dear Neighbors (names with be inserted),

We hope this email finds you and your family well.  We’re excited to see more of the sun and have noticed your family getting ready to start planting.  We are doing the same and hoping for a little help.  We’ve noticed that some of your cats have dug up and defecated around our property.  Last year they got into out vegetable garden despite us trying to fence it off.  We tried a number of things to keep the cats out suggested to us by vets and gardeners (citrus peel, beauty bark, chili power, spread gravel) but none have worked. 

We’ve recently noticed the cats have been digging up and defecating on our slope.  We spent over $800 last year in labor, materials and permits on the slope per city regulations and will spend more to repair the new damage.

We’re hoping that together we can come up with some sort of solution.  Right now we’re not sure what that is as we know it’s hard to restrict where cats go.  We can’t afford to repair the slope every summer, so we’re hoping for a long term fix.

Please let us know if you have any thoughts on this matter and we look forward to working with you on this.

Thanks,
Micah and Catherine

To pushy?  Not pushy enough?  The email needs tweaking and frankly we’re not sure it will get us anywhere but we don’t know what else to do.

If you need to catch up on the cat drama, here you go (in order):

• Cats Got Our Tongue and Our Yard
• Catastic News
• Catty vs Kitties
• Catty vs Kitties Part Deux

What to do guys think?  Any other suggestions? 

Sunday Suppers and Lots of Other Eating

We haven’t done a Sunday Suppers post in awhile.  Actually, we haven’t had a true Sunday dinner in awhile.  On Sunday I decided to fix that and dove head first into a new cookbook (to me), Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen.  I got the cookbook on sale a few months ago and only used it once.

We decided on Street Style Red Chile Enchiladas and a Crusty Chayote Casserole with Poblanos, Corn and Two Cheeses.  I love chayote.  I grew up eating it at least once a week in either a traditional Filipino soup or in a mixed vegetable sauté.  It was one of my favorites growing up and I used to get in trouble for fishing all of the Chayote out of the soup pot.

So let’s talk about this meal.  I had to buy what seemed like a lot of things and used literally every pot in the house.  OK, not every pot but close.  I LOVED the casserole so much that I decided that it we ever do a Mexican themed Thanksgiving, I would tweak the recipe a little and turn it into a stuffing.  I would make this casserole again in a heartbeat.  Of course I forgot to take pictures of it so you’ll have to make do with someone else’s picture.

 image

Here’s a link to the recipe.  Seriously, you’ll love it.

The enchiladas I could leave.  We both liked them but I wasn’t sure they were worth the work.  Actually, the red chili paste took the longest to make.  It was a little bitter (which was noted in the recipe) and I think could have used some salt.  I had plenty of leftover paste that I froze, so I ‘d probably attempt this recipe again (maybe with chicken) and see if I like it any better.  Actually, what I did like was the crispy salad of romaine coated in cider vinegar, radishes, white onion and cilantro on top of the enchilada.  It really brought it together. 

I was going to make Micah’s April pie, Mexican Chocolate (actually Guatemalan) Cream Pie but was so pooped from dinner that I couldn’t muster the energy to go make into the kitchen.

In addition to Sunday’s dinner, Micah and I had some good eating last week.  We check out a local restaurant, Poppy, during restaurant week.  We always try at least one place during restaurant week but it’s always hit or miss.  Half the time the food that’s served isn’t something that’s typically on the restaurant’s menu.  It’s usually cheaper to make and not as good.  I’d rather a smallish portion of something good that really exhibits what the restaurant is good at than a large portion of something that’s blah. 

Poppy was not Poopy.  It was delicious.  Here’s a little description of the restaurant from it’s website:

jerry traunfeld’s capitol hill restaurant brings a new style of dining to the northwest. jerry’s inspiration comes from the “thali,” a platter served to each guest holding a variety of small dishes. poppy’s menu borrows the idea of the thali to present jerry’s own style of northwest cooking, highlighting seasonal ingredients, fresh herbs, and spices. it’s a modern northwest tasting menu served all at once.

Micah wouldn’t let me take pictures of his meal so you’ll have to make due with just mine.

To start, I went with the poached oysters with sorrel sauce.  Normally I’m not a fan of stuff on my oysters beyond a granata and I like my oysters raw.  These babies were luscious and delicious and made me wishing I had 10 more.

I would have licked the shell if it was allowed.

Next up I went with the 7-item thali that included lavender duck leg with blackberry sauce and fingerling potatoes, celery root and truffle soup, radish and grilled spring onion salad, yams with sour orange, swiss chard gratin, rhubarb pickle and nigella-poppy naan.

OH GOD.   I can’t even begin to tell how amazing everything was.  Even the radish salad and pickled rhubarb was really good.  The duck was perfect and I could have eaten the swiss chard gratin forever. 

I wasn’t sure I could move let alone have anything else but I managed once I saw Pistachio and Cardamom Crème Brulee on the menu.

I seriously have no words.  Again, if licking dishes wasn’t frowned upon, I would have done it.

Poppy was a great pick for restaurant week particularly since I got all that food for $28.  I actually would come back again for a non-restaurant week meal.  Their prices aren’t bad and the food and service was stellar.

Oh yeah, and two Saturdays ago we had the Mushroom Party.  It turned out well and the food was a hit.  My favorite was the Escargot style mushrooms that my friend Amy got from the amazing Amanda of Doubly Happy.  This is going to be in our regular rotation forever.  I’m in love with it.  You can do so many things with it.  We served it with toasted baguette slices and later had it over a grilled steak. 

As usual, I was in such a rush that I didn’t take a picture of the table or all the offerings.  I did manage to get a shot of some of the mushrooms.

A HUGE thanks to our friend Jer who hooked us up with over 10lbs of 6 different kinds of mushrooms.  We had so many we had to give some away.

The food this week isn’t turning out to be so bad.  Micah finally got his pie for March (yes, I know it’s April), a turkey bacon, sweet corn and green onion creation.

Not the prettiest thing I’ve ever made but it was good and healthy (from Cooking Light).

We followed the savory pie with a trip to Full Tilt Ice Cream where we picked up a pint each of Green Tea and Mango & Chili Ice Cream.  SO good.  Their green tea ice cream is one of the best I’ve ever had.  And the Mango Chili was perfect.

Geez, we’ve been little pigs these last few weeks.  We don’t usually eat like this and we didn’t/don’t eat like this every night.  I think we’re actually having salad and sharing a baked potato tonight.

Anyone else have what seemed like a big eating week?

World Malaria Day and Revisiting Malawi

Most people don’t know that today is World Malaria Day.  I can’t tell you how long World Malaria Day has existed but I know it’s been around for at least the last 5 years. 

Discussing malaria in the US is a funny thing.  Either you know a lot about it because you work in the field or traveled/lived in a place with malaria prevalence OR you wonder why everyone doesn’t just get the vaccine.  I meet SO many people who ask me whether the reason the malaria burden is so high is because not everyone has access to the vaccine.  It shocks people when I tell them that there isn’t a vaccine.  That’s right, NO VACCINE.  Some smart people are working on it though.

People in the US forget about malaria because we just don’t have it here.  The US underwent a mass eradication campaign in the late 40’s early 50’s that literally eliminated malaria in the South and Midwest.  We are so fortunate that the eradication campaign worked. 

Unfortunately many in the world are not so lucky.  Malaria afflicts over half of the world’s population, mostly children in Africa.  I pulled 5 facts about malaria from the World Health Organization to share.

1. Malaria is a disease which can be transmitted to people of all ages. It is caused by parasites of the species plasmodium that are spread from person to person through the bites of infected mosquitoes. If not treated promptly with effective medicines, malaria can often be fatal.
2. About 3.3 billion people - half of the world's population - are at risk of malaria. Every year, this leads to about 250 million malaria cases and nearly one million deaths. People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable.
3. One in five (20%) of all childhood deaths in Africa are due to malaria. It is estimated that an African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year. Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa.
4. Pregnant women are at high risk not only of dying from the complications of severe malaria, but also spontaneous abortion, premature delivery or stillbirth. Malaria is also a cause of severe maternal anemia and is responsible for about one third of preventable low birth weight babies. It contributes to the deaths of an estimated 10,000 pregnant women and up to 200,000 infants each year in Africa alone.
5. Malaria causes an average loss of 1.3% of annual economic growth in countries with intense transmission. It traps families and communities in a downward spiral of poverty, disproportionately affecting marginalized and poor people who cannot afford treatment or who have limited access to health care. Malaria has lifelong effects through increased poverty and impaired learning. It cuts attendance at schools and workplaces. However, it is preventable and curable.

A child in Africa dies every 30 second from Malaria.  Just imagine it.  This little guy could have been one of them.

Remember when I was in Malawi (here, here and here) last year?  I was there helping with a malaria survey my organization works on.  I spent a couple of days in the field helping out staff and observing how the survey works.  The guy in the blue is Makamo.  He’s a Malawian government employee who with his small team, did sort of a census of malaria burden in a couple of areas in Malawi.

I shadowed his team for a few days watched him and some amazing people work.  The little boy in the picture is about 5 years old.  Makamo tested him and it turns out that not only does he have malaria, he also has severe anemia. 

Makamo test the little guy at his home and was able to get the results right on the spot.  The little boy was very brave to let Makamo prick his finger and let me document the whole thing.

Makamo explained to the boys mother that he was sick and needed to take Co-Artem everyday for 2 weeks.  She also needed to take the boy down to the local health clinic to check on his anemia.  The little guy was distracted by the biscuit he got for being such a good patient (my contribution ).  His little cousin is clearly very jealous – check out the look on her face.

This last picture was taken a few years ago in Zambia at an orphanage outside of Lusaka.  All the kids in the picture with their hands up have had malaria.  If I had to guess, it looks like over 75% of them have had malaria.  Again, kind of amazing.

I’m not sure World Malaria Day is about fundraising (though EVERY little bit helps) as much it is about awareness that malaria still exists but a lot of people are trying to do something about it.

If you do want to help, there are some amazing organizations out there that take donations.  A few are listed here.

Guatemalan Adventures : Tikal

I’m going out of order but Tikal really should be first.  It was amazing, seriously.  I knew it would be cool but I didn’t think I would be awestruck.  I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves after the little blurb about Tikal I borrowed from Wikipedia.

Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, ca. 200 to 900 AD. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD.  Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site’s abandonment by the end of the 10th century.

Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces.

When you first enter the park you walk by this sign with all the rules.  All of them make sense except the third from the left on the bottom.  What does ‘No Wrest the Plants’ mean?

The first building we came upon was this.  The stairs had been restored and it wasn’t super high, so we decided to give it a go.

Our guide, Armando, decided that it was better to take shortcuts through the jungle than stick to the path since it was so hot and humid.  I don’t think any of us would have braved the jungle without him.

After a little jungle walk, we got to temple IV which is the highest at 230ft.  Apparently you haven’t been to Tikal until you climbed this bad boy.

I have bad knees and am sort afraid of heights (more falling than being up high) so I was relieved to see that you could climb to the top via wooden staircase.

The views are AMAZING. 

This particular picture is for my Father-in-law who teases me about my fear of heights.

One more look.

We walked over to another structure (I forget which one) and Micah decided check out the view.

After a little more jungle walking we came to temple V.  Armando warned us that though it wasn’t as high as IV, it was harder to climb.  We quickly found out why.

The stairs to this thing are literally a ladder that goes straight up.  Armando said that those who suffer from Vertigo should NOT go up.  He said he himself had only been up twice.  Once to check it out and once to help someone who got stuck up there.  Micah decided to brave it.

Micah is the guy in the light blue shirt.  He was up there for a couple minutes and decided to come down.  He even said he was a little nervous.  We were told people get up there and then burst into tears for fear of having to climb down.  I’m SO GLAD I skipped this climb.

We walked over to the North Acropolis and were enchanted.  You could just see people walking around, going about their business here.  We were also amazed that there was no one else here.

The climb to a high point in the Acropolis wasn’t bad so I gave it a go.  That’s temple V in the back.

It was so peaceful up there.

We thought that was it.  We were ready to turn back.  It was in the high 90s, humid and we had been walking for 4 hours.  I think we each drank over 2 liters of water.  Of course we had one last thing to see, the Great Plaza. 

WOW!  It’s hard to believe that this place existed and was built without cranes, motors and anything else over 2000 years ago.  We spent 30 minutes here resting and taking it all in. 

Temple II in the Great Plaza. 

Tikal was amazing.  I don’t think the pictures really convey how you really feel when you are there.  Micah’s a history teacher, so I knew he’d love this but I didn’t know I’d feel the same way.  I’ve never been so hot in my life and never so overwhelmed (in a good way) by history.  Did you know that only 20% of the site has been excavated?  Blew our my minds!  Can you imagine what this place looked like in all it’s glory?

So to recap.  Tikal = Amazing!  It was worth the heat.  We don’t usually do guides but I ‘m glad we did here.  Armando was a wealth of knowledge.  He grew up in the area and has been working at the park for 10 years, 4 years as a guide.  His English is great and he’s pretty funny too. 

We still have pictures from the lake/highlands, the crazy market and Antigua to share.

Guatemalan Adventures

We’re back from our week long adventure and are happy to report we had a great time.  We’re still trying to shuffle through all the emails and sort through all the pictures but here’s a few from the last week:

One of the many beautiful churches in Antigua

Micah at the top of temple four in Tikal

Catherine resting in the courtyard of our Antiguan hotel built in the ruins of an old monastery. 

The ladies leading the Saturday procession in Chichicastenango

We’ll have more pictures tomorrow…promise! 

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday Everyone! I didn't get a chance to put down a travel story for today but I promise to share more great ones soon and pictures from Guatemala next week.

Back to Film

We're excited to have another guest blogger today, Ashley of ALaurenF.  We know Ashley through the band Micah plays in, The Tailenders.  She's a great thrift store shopper (one day I'll need to get her to tell me her secret) and a talented photographer.  While this post isn't exactly travel related, it does have to do with something everyone does (except us) while on vacation, take pictures.  Enjoy and please don't forget to comment below.

Hi everyone!

I've never written a guest blog before, and although I have read many, I can't seem to calm my nerves as to how to properly do this!

So I guess I'll start by saying "Thanks!" to Catherine and Micah--isn't their blog great?! I feel like Catherine is a great resource for a lot of things that I should put more effort into... and Micah's starting a music school?!?! Sometimes I imagine that in a few years when I get my act together, I'll be as resourceful/responsible as them.

My initial thought was to do a round up of thrift store shopping ideas, how to make something amazing out of something ugly, why it's "worth it" to buy used, etc. etc., but there were two problems with these ideas: 1.) Catherine is a source of inspiration as far as these types of things go, so I feel a little guilty tossing in my ideas (I don't have her patience with projects..) 2.) Everything... I mean, everything in my place was given to me or bought second hand (with the exception of my beloved couch) and I just couldn't decide which projects/finds would be best! So I've decided to share just a little about my other obsession: lomography.

"But what is lomogra--" (...you'll find out soon!!)

Photography has always been fun for me--I've never aimed to have the best pictures, or start my own business--as great as I think that would be, it's also been really great to have fun with a hobby that I don't have to hold up to any sort of standard.

I started out with film (was there another option?) cameras. I've always loved to take pictures.. or I guess, I've always loved being able to have hundreds of people/memories/moments frozen in time at my disposal (but not in the creepy way that sounded). It wasn't until late in my college career that I bought my first digital SLR camera and actually became interested in photography.

I think shooting manually with a digital camera was the best possible way to learn about manual photography. You can adjust the aperture/shutter speed/zoom, take a picture, and get immediate feedback. Then adjust some more, and get more immediate feedback. You're able to see the results as you're making small changes, which is (in my opinion) the best way to learn how to achieve exactly what you want.

..And while I said I'm glad it's just a hobby, you can only take so many pictures that you're not going to do anything with before you start itching to try something new. But first, here are a few of my favorite digital shots:

Recently, I started shooting with film again-- and now that I know what I'm doing with a manual camera, I really enjoy the freedom of film! I've been really into Lomography lately, and I almost guarantee that if you like to take pictures, you'll love the world 'o lomo too.

First, Lomography is a type of analogue film photography. You may have heard of the Diana cameras (sold at Urban Outfitters) or Holga cameras. These are lomography cameras and produce very vibrant colors with deep saturation/vignetting/light leaks--things that make each picture nearly impossible to replicate. It's a very experimental, creative, imperfect type of photography that has people all over the world excited about film again-- and it's cheap! You can buy a Holga for about $50, and if you buy the model that takes 35mm film (as opposed to 120mm film) then film and developing is completely reasonable, too! I've been shooting with a Holga for about 3 months now.

There are a few things you should know before I share some of my pictures.

1. The shutter on my camera does not flip shut milliseconds after I open it--It opens when I press the shutter button down, and does not close until I let the button back up. This gives you a lot of exposure options, but it also means that if you're not taking pictures in sunny weather, you have to be very still in order to keep things in focus while you're holding the shutter open long enough to let light in.

2. There is no zoom or flash. A camera flash basically blasts enough light to expose the film very quickly, essentially freezing the subject (and making us all look unrealistically pale). But without a flash the shutter needs to be held open long enough to expose the film properly (a millisecond in bright sun, 30 seconds for a city street, several minutes on a dark night). All of the pictures taken below were taken without a flash.

3. The film doesn't advance itself...duh, right? Trust me, I'm not being condescending. When I first got my Holga I remember thinking "Oh! Gotta advance the film, gotta advance the film!" like I was still programmed after all of these years to keep that in the front of my mind. Did you know that if you don't advance the film, you can take two pictures in one? Or if you advance it only half way you can take two different pictures side by side? I had thrown this logic to the back of my brain and completely forgotten that I could essentially break the rules and come up with something awesome! There are a few double exposure shots below...

4. There are 3 aperture settings: "up close", "group picture", or "mountain range". If you want the primary focus close up, use the "up close" setting. If you want the primary focus further away, choose the "mountain range" setting. Easy peasy!

All of these things make these cameras insanely simple--but at the same time, you have to have some control over every aspect of the shot. You can't just press the button and let the super fast camera spit out a beautiful picture for you. Therefore, you've gotta keep working... keep adjusting, develop your film differently, use expired film, film that doesn't fit (and see the sprockets like this picture), break all of the rules and see what happens!

It was a rough start, but I'll take you through a few of my photos:

I was a little discouraged at first! My whole first role was really fuzzy--it doesn't take long to learn how helpful a flash or tripod can be! But aren't the colors great?

This picture is a double exposure--I took a picture of the mannequin you can see to the left, and without advancing the film I took another of a street in Pioneer Square. I love taking multiple exposures but I don't think I took this one on purpose :)

I love the color and movement in this one.

This is a long exposure picture--it was taken at night, without a flash, so the shutter was open for about a minute. If you look closely at the viaduct across the background you can see the streaked headlights.

This is another double exposure--The first picture I took was of the big black donut sculpture, then, when I took the second photo everything else was over-exposed and what had been the sculpture was just right.

A double exposure of Josh, and a lampshade. I really didn't think this would come out as anything but a lampshade, but I'm glad it did!

My friend Diane.

I've only taken about 200 pictures with this camera, and every time I develop a roll I am surprised.

If you have kids, I think this would be a great opportunity to introduce them to photography. They can learn about different types of film and processing, and there's no need to hand over the family's expensive digital camera. Can you imagine their faces when they finally get to pick up their film and see their pictures? And who knows what kind of perspective they'll capture!

Finally, if you're still reading, I hope I haven't bored you to death. I really wanted the opportunity to share a bit about Lomography with you, and I'm hoping it's not all old hat!

If you're interested, and want to learn more about lomography cameras, techniques, or the community of lomographers you can check out more here:

http://www.lomography.com

If you're in the Seattle area, there is a group of us that get together once a month to share recent photographs, cameras, ideas, etc. It's a ton of fun--Catherine can send you my email address if you'd like more information.