Quite a bit has happened since Germany. The Friday we got back, Mark learned he had a cavity at the dentist and on the following Monday he got his first filling. On Saturday I got horribly sick (well it started Friday, but only a minor fever at that point). So Saturday, the weekend before I start my new job, when I needed to be preparing more lecture plans, I was bundled up in most of our blankets watching some old favorites while my temperature slowly reached 103.9F. Somewhere right after this point, my fever must have broke because by the time I got to GHC I was back down to 100.9- the point where you get the sympathy looks but no pills. The next morning I had to come in for a blood test because the doctor wanted to make sure that I wasn't diabetic- high blood sugar due to all the fruit juices I was drinking- by the way I'm not.
I started teaching on Sept 29th at MATC, despite a nasty cough- but the lessons went smoothly. On the food side of things, we have made several batches of butternut squash curry- one of Mark's favorites at our local Sa-Bai Thong. We also had an amazing 40 clove garlic chicken I plucked out of a Williams-Sonoma catalogue- It was amazing with Yukon gold mashed potatoes... ohhh, so good! From the garden we have been gathering loads of tomatoes, which we turned into several gallons of tomato sauce- this time we boiled it down and added the seasonings we like (the sugar really made a difference). We also picked okra, bell peppers and some more butternut squash. We also had a lovely dinner at Matt Lavine's where he dished up a delicious stew from the Moosewood Cookbook and made some of the thickest and berry rich smoothies we have had in ages!
With all of our 17 games from Germany, we have had the chance to play a few, Odin's Raven was a gem for 2 players, Diamant is a nice quick one and Die Fuger which we played with Anderson and a game night. Arbos is a nice starter game we played at a game night, and Ta Yu was a fun 2 player with beautiful tiles. Mark has kept up his gaming hobby with play testing at Brett's and trying out the Madison Boardgamers on Wed night.
I am continuing my horse riding at Hoofers. I am up to E3 now, I think I will probably stay at this level for a couple of seasons- I am definitely challenged. We also celebrated Mark's birthday with a trip out to the Essen Haus to reminds about Germany and travels with friends. It was a wonderful gathering and Mark got a German Chocolate cake for free that he couldn't eat (due to the pecans in the frosting- so we passed it around and everyone got a spoonful) and we all got to embarrass him by singing in our quiet back room. Heading home that night, we played some light games with friends and bit into Mark's cake, a delicious cathedral shaped lemon and blueberry pound cake (we made that morning together) with a side of vanilla bean ice cream and blueberries.
As far as TV, we have relaxed with Bones (not for us), Supernatural (too scary), Lost (can never get enough), Invasion (creepy and good), My Name is Earl (hilarious), and West Wing (shockingly good again). For Movies, we have seen Wedding Date (not so good), Strings (I loved the way it made me think), Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (so good the second time- especially the bloopers), Winn Dixie (as wonderful as Despero) and the first bit of Undeclared (an old tv show by the same producers as Freaks and Geeks, but it just didn't capture us.
Well that is about it for our updates- see ya'.
