There be whales here (aka we went whale watching)

I suspect that no self-respecting Boston-area resident would do something so tourist-y as go on a whale watching tour (or one of those hop-on, hop-off trollys, which we've also done), but that's what Andrew and I did on Saturday afternoon. I don't quite remember when the discussion first came up, although I'm pretty sure it was Andrew who expressed the initial interest in going. We went with the New England Aquarium Whale Watch tour, which leaves from the Long Wharf in Boston, and takes passengers to the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary, (close to the tip of Cape Cod). Although it's billed as a 3 hours tour, we were out for closer to 4.

On the bow of the boat, waiting for our tour to depart.

Saturday was a lovely day in Boston, not super hot (low 20sC for those of us who prefer metric), although fairly breezy. The breeze was pleasant while we were inland, but it translated into fairly choppy water. It was recommended to us that if we went on the tour, it would be smart to bring warm clothing (long sleeves and a jacket) even if it was a nice day, since it would be much colder on the ocean. Plus, if you wanted to hang out on the bow while the ship powered through the water, you'd be much happier with a few extra layers.

On the cruise out to the Sanctuary.

It took us over an hour (close to an hour and a half, maybe) to reach the Sanctuary. We took it slow for the first few minutes to navigate the traffic in the harbour, but once we were through the densest area, the captain punched it. I have no idea how fast we were travelling, they might have said something over the loud speaker, but the rumble of the motor was such that Andrew and I had shout to talk to each other. What I can tell you is we were moving fast enough that I felt like my nostrils were being pushed open as wide as they would go--it was fast. With the water being choppy is made for an almost roller-coaster like ride, which didn't suit some people's stomachs.

It took us a while to find any whales once we reached the Sanctuary. I think the tour operators allot a certain amount of time for searching for whales (they communicate with other ships in the area to figure out where they might be feeding at the surface), and they offer rain checks to all passengers if no sightings are made during your tour. We lucked out, though. First we found a single humpback, then we moved on to find a group of four humpbacks feeding together (apparently not common, since they're typically solitary creatures). Three of the whales in this group were adults, and one was a calve.

I shot pictures like mad, trying to catch whatever I could of the whales.

I'm not sure how long we stayed at the Sanctuary, maybe about an hour given the length of time we were out. For the ride back Andrew and I stayed back at the stern of the boat. I was feeling overly wind-blown (although thankfully not sea sick) at this point and didn't much feel like hanging around at the front for more crashing through the waves.

All-in-all, if you know you a reasonably stable stomach when it comes to the rocking motions of a boat, I'd recommend going on a whale watching tour. It's pretty cool to see these animals at a reasonably close proximity. If you get motion sick, however, I wouldn't recommended. There were a lot of people on the tour that spent the bulk of it throwing up, in which case it might turn into 3-4 hours of torture.

Ciao,

Andrea

Beet pie, a recipe

I don't normally post recipes. Most of my day-to-day cooking is too ad hoc to bother recreating here, never mind that there are plenty of blogs devoted to food already. Last night, however, Andrew enjoyed my beet pie offering so much that he thought I should write it up. So, I halted dinner long enough to take a couple of pictures of my plate, and now I'm taking a few minutes out of my day to record my process.

Andrea's Beet Pie:

Crust:
I make my own pastry, but you don't have to by any means. I like the deluxe butter recipe from Joy of Cooking. The only change I make is that rather than the 2 1/4 cups (or is it 2 1/2...) of flour called for, I prefer to only use a scant 2 cups. I always found in Edmonton (where it's very dry) that using the entire amount of flour called for in pastry recipes ended in a dry crumbly mess. I've continued to skimp on the flour quantities here in the Boston area and it seems to have made no difference--i.e. I have delicious, flaky crusts.

Pie Filling:
1 onion
1-2 tablespoon of oil (I used olive oil)
1 cup of oatmeal
1/2 cup of almonds (scant)
3 oz of Parmesan cheese (that was all I had left)
1 lb of beets (I used Chicago beets, which I picked up at the farmers market because I didn't think I'd ever had them before--turns out they're white and red stripped in the middle. I'm sure it doesn't matter what kind of beets you use.)
3 cloves of garlic
1 handful of fresh herbs (chopped)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of mustard
salt (Sorry, I don't really measure this, I just pour a small mound in my hand, then dump it in.)
pepper (I also don't measure this, I just sprinkle in the pepper until it looks good...this is why I don't write recipes.)

Method:

For the crust: If you're going to make your pie shell yourself, you need to do this well in advance. I actually made 2 shells on Saturday (that's what the Joy of Cooking recipe makes, the other was turned into the base for lamb pie--delicious) kept the unused disk of pastry in the fridge until yesterday, rolled it out, then stored it in the freezer until all of my filling was prepared. If you're using a pre-made pie shell, follow the directions for preparation it comes with.

For the filling:
Preheat the oven to 375F.

1) Preheat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat while you chop the onion to your preference of dice (I'm not terribly particular about my vegetable chopping).
2) Saute the onion, occasionally stirring or tossing until it turns golden brown. If you're adept at multi-tasking in the kitchen you can continue with the following steps while this happens (which is what I do).
3) Pulse the oatmeal and almonds together in a food processor until you achieve a breadcrumb-like consistency (you can also use breadcrumbs instead of doing this).
4) Remove the oatmeal and almonds from the food processor, place 1 cup of it in a mixing bowl, while saving the remainder 1/2 cup for topping the pie.
5) Either with the shredding attachment for your food processor, or a hand grater, grate the Parmesan cheese.
6) Place half of the cheese in the mixing bowl, retaining the other half for the topping.
7) Shred/grate the beets (this is so much easier when you have a food processor).
8) Add the beets to your mixing bowl.
9) Add your sauteed onions, and all of the remaining ingredients (garlic, herbs, eggs, mustard, salt and pepper) to the mixing bowl.
10) Stir until everything is combined and spoon it into your pie shell (which you should only just be removing from the freezer).
11) Mix together your left over oatmeal, almonds, and cheese. Feel free to add some more herbs and spices to this if you like.
12) Drizzle 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the topping to help make it clump together like a crumble topping on a desert pie, then spread it over the pie.
13) Bake for...oh...this is the tricky part. I started the pie in the oven for 20 minutes, then Andrew messaged me to say that he was running late so I turned off the heat and let the pie sit (in the oven)...then 15 or so minutes later Andrew message me to say he was on his way, at which point I turned the oven back on again and cooked the pie for another 10 or 15.
So...I'd *guess* at a continuous heat of 375F you should cook the pie for 35 to 45 minutes.

Enjoy.

For 1/8 of a pie: Calories: 526; Fat: 37 grams; Fiber: 3 grams; Carbs: 37 grams; Protein: 14 grams.

Ciao,

Andrea

My big news...a couple of quick additions

I know I said I'd keep my pregnancy posting to a minimum, then I remembered a couple of things I meant to mention the first time around. This will be quick, I promise.

1. Running while pregnant: My belly is still fairly small. I mean you'd have to be pretty unobservant to not notice, but it's not anywhere near as big as it's going to get; however, I've starting using a belly band. It's call the Fit Splint and is specifically designed to keep pregnant woman active. It has two strap positions, one that supports only under the belly, and another where you can place one strap below and one above. I'm not sure how much it's doing to support me right now, but I have found that it stays where I put it, which is a major plus in my book.

2. Aerials while pregnant: As I have said to many people regarding my continuing to doing aerials--I've already been training for 3 years, I know my own strength, what I'm capable of, and what is a good versus a bad circus hurt. If I had just begun training, I probably wouldn't have kept going. Also, there is a precedent before me of  pregnant ladies continuing with their aerial training and performing (both at NECCA and Esh), so it's not as if I'm a trail blazer in this arena.

3. Fetus pet names: Andrew and I both really hate it when people refer to 'baby,' not the baby, just baby, while it's in utero. I also wanted to avoid calling it he or she while we didn't know the gender, so I suggested the alternative of 'Root.' 'Root?' you might say, 'Why?' Well, because when Andrew and I got married (almost 10 years ago) we were A², and what's the opposite of a square function...? Groan if you will. Now we have to remember to stop calling the baby Root once they're born.

Ciao,

Andrea

My big news

I told close friends and family weeks ago, but I've been slow to alert my social media channels to the news that I'm pregnant. I'm a little over 22 weeks, or 5 months, along which means I'm a halfway through my journey. I know this sort of topic is not of interest to everyone, so I'll try to make this my only, or at least one of my only, posts about being pregnant.

To start, I've been feeling almost completely normal. Most of the time I really don't know what to say to people when they ask how I'm doing because I hardly feel pregnant. I haven't experienced many symptoms, mainly shortness of breath, and the obvious, weight gain. The shortness of breath is due to the baby sucking all the iron out of my body, and as iron is used to help transport oxygen it leaves me gasping after runs, and especially going up stairs.

If you've ever read this blog before, you'll know I'm very conscious about my weight. It's one of the tricky things for me about being pregnant (the others being not being able to drink alcohol, and my trying to maintain as much of my strength as possible), I have to gain weight. I'm definitely eating more than I used to, probably eating a few more processed snacks that I should, but I'm still tracking my calorie intake to make sure things don't get out of control. From what I've read, an appropriate amount of weight gain from a woman of normal weight before pregnancy is between 25-30lbs, which I'm on track to do.

My personal belief for why I've been feeling so well (as side from the fact that I'm rarely ill) is that I haven't changed much about my diet and exercise regime. I haven't had to say this to anyone, but if anyone asks me if I think I should stop biking, or running, or doing aerials while I'm pregnant, my prepared response is: "I'm only pregnant, not ill or disabled."

So yes, I'm still running twice a week (albeit rather slowly), I'm still biking to work everyday (I've got bike lanes almost all the way), I'm still doing body weights at home with Andrew, and I'm still going to aerials. When I told the folks at Esh (where we take classes) I was immediately told to keep training for as long as I wanted--and so far it's been fine. I did have to stop going to the advanced silks class because we were doing a lot of drops, many of which required ties around my waist, but it means I get to work on an apparatus I haven't used in 2 years, the trapeze. Not that I exactly love trapeze (it hurt so much more than silks, I swear!) but it keeps me going--and I can still train basic stuff on the silks on the weekend.

I think that's about all I've got to say about being pregnant right now. I'm seeing a midwife at MIT, and so far things are good there. We still need to replace our beloved Smart car (I will write a moratorium when we finally buy a new car), which is being held up while we wait to hear about other decisions that aren't exactly in our hands. Then we can make a few more of the major baby purchases like car seat, stroller, etc.

Ciao,

Andrea

Camping at Monadnock State Park

After Andrew and I went for our hike at Mount Monadnock over the Memorial Day weekend, we thought we'd like to go back there to camp. It's not exactly our standard style of camping, mainly, you can drive up to your site, meaning we weren't limited to packing only what we could carry. Don't get me wrong, I love back country camping. I love roughing it, pitching tents, cooking with our little one burner stove, slogging to the top of a mountain to get a breath taking view (if the weather cooperates), I even love wearing a hat all day to hide my unwashed, uncombed hair, and smelling like bug spray, sunscreen, and sweat all at the same time. I really do.

But, doing a stationary, drive-to-your-site camping trip wasn't so bad either. Again, don't get my wrong, it's not like we took advantage of this and brought all kinds of extras we didn't need, heck, we didn't even take showers, but we did have a few perks, like chairs, and a cooler (which contained bacon and sausage). Ultimately, we're still driving our Smart car, so it's not like we can fit much more in it than what our full camping backpacks could carry anyway.

Our beloved Smart car, packed full.

We arrived at Mount Monadnock maybe a half hour before the sun went down on Friday so we had to pitch our tent and set up our beds quickly. Thankfully, our tent is super easy to set up and had everything set before we were out of daylight. We tried to get a fire going, but as we weren't properly supplied (the last 2 bundles of firewood were bought just as we arrived at the entry booth) we didn't have a lot of success. We still poked around our tiny fire until 10:00 before heading to the washrooms (there were flush toilets and running water) and calling it a night.

Personally, I didn't sleep well on Friday. The noise level (both bird and human) wasn't too bad, but I just couldn't fall asleep. Of course I couldn't sleep-in either. The sun came up around 5:00 am, at which point the avian population surrounding the campsite got rather chatty.

Originally, we'd hope to hike for the morning, then rent a canoe or kayak for the afternoon. Note: although the Mount Monadnock website says they have boat rentals--this is a lie! Gilson pond, where the campsite is locate, is rather small anyway, so I'm sure it wouldn't have been a very exciting (or long) paddle. Instead we decided to hike to Dublin Lake, which started out on the same route as the one to the peak of Mount Monadnock. You take the Birchtoft trail up until you hit the Cascade Link then continue on it, rather than turn off it to the summit. As opposed to our first hike, which felt like we were constantly hiking through mountain streams, the terrain was fairly dry. This made for nicer hiking, although it was much hotter and sunnier than our last visit, so it made for a more sweatier trip too.

Part of the Birchtoft trail, nice and dry.

For some reason we thought the Cascade Link, which eventually lead to the Pompelly trail, would be leisurely. I don't know why we thought this. Sure, we didn't go to the peak again, and didn't have to cover the same elevation gain, but it's not like it was an easy stroll on flat ground. We faced several ups and downs, and ultimately we ended up on a much longer hike than we'd intended to take. Good thing we hadn't set our sights on paddling.

I feel that the hiking in New Hampshire is in someways, more challenging than hiking in the Rockies. These mountains are much older, and the elevation is almost half, I think, of what we were at on the Skyline in Jasper, but the trails seem more rugged. We've encounter several instances where we've had to put aside our hiking poles so we can use our hands to climb up a short, but mostly vertical rock face. Similarly, while descending I came to spots where I had to sit on my butt, while extending one leg to reach the next foot hold. Despite all this, it wasn't a bad day hiking, and provided us with some great views of New Hampshire once we got to the top of our trail.

The distant peaks as we hiked across the Cascade Link. There's also a little carin in view, pointing us a long the path.

Looking out over New Hampshire.

One of the hikers we passed mentioned there were wild blueberries on the rail...we couldn't help but stop to pick some.

One of the ridges we walked along on our way to Dublin Lake.

As I mentioned earlier, the hike to Dublin Lake was longer than we'd expected. We weren't working from an extremely detailed map, only the one that was given out at the entry toll both. It's enough to work from, but you have to guesstimate your distances. It was approximately 3 miles (we're in the US, so everything is Imperial, but in Canadian speak, that's 4.8 km) to the Cascade Link/Pompelly connection, then another 3 miles from there to the Lake. We decided to push on down to the Lake for lunch, so it was almost 2:00 pm before we ate. It was worth it when we got there, though. The cool water soothed our tired feet, and the scenery was lovely.

Dublin Lake. We were able to find a small patch not labelled 'No Trespassing' and relax.

The sky on Saturday.

For the walk back to Gilson Pond we opted to go for the more straight forward route along the road. It was still fairly pretty, with interesting houses to look at along the way, but much easier than going back up into the mountains. Plus the route was way shorter, only another 3 miles to get back to where we started, and were we ever glad to get back to our campsite.

Dinner that night took advantage of our being able to bring a cooler/heavier/larger food than normal, involving sausages, peppers, onions, corn on the cob and potatoes. Honestly, I was worried we'd have a dinner fail. First, that we wouldn't be able to get a decent fire going in time and we'd wind of ravenous before the food was ready. Or, that the food would either be under or over cooked. Tinfoil dinners were a common (I can't quite say popular) staple of girl guide camping, and typically you either wound up with raw food, or everything would be burnt. Maybe camping cooking karma caught up with me, as we had an excellent, fulfilling meal. By layering in the food according to how much time I predicted they needed to cook (potatoes: 1 hour; peppers, onions, corn: 30 min; sausages: 5-10 min) everything turned out just right.

Cooking over the fire is hard work--although Andrew did do a lot of poking and adjusting to keep the fire going.

Dinner!

We didn't stay long on Sunday. We felt we'd done quiet enough hiking on Saturday, plus we knew we still had all kinds of chores to take care of when we got home. Still, we enjoyed our time and would definitely consider returning if we were looking for another laid-back camping experience.

Ciao,

Andrea

Happy Fourth

I had no idea that Americans actually say 'Happy fourth' to each other. For reasons I can't explain, I find this expression weird. People at work kept saying it (although at that point it was the third, since the office wasn't officially open on the fourth), and when I phoned to book another test drive the sales representative said it too. I refrained from replying 'I'm not American' throughout the day, or pointing out that I celebrated Canada Day a couple of days ago--I'm sure it wouldn't have been useful.

This may be related to why I find the expression 'Happy fourth' strange--I don't think we go around wishing each other 'Happy Canada Day,' do we? I was in the US for Canada Day last year (attending NECCA's aerial skills week), and the year before that we were at a back country campground that was half empty, so maybe I just don't remember.

Anyway...Boston has a big fireworks spectacular every year on the fourth. A huge barge is brought in on the Charles River which serves as the launching platform for the fireworks, while music is played over speakers positioned all along the river. There's a bandstand on the Boston side of the river where the Boston Symphony Orchestra is stationed. They (and other performers) present a live show, which most importantly ends with the 1812 Overture. Apparently some 500,000 people line the river to watch the spectacular.

This year festivities were moved up to July 3rd (reportedly the first time this had to happen) due to the pending arrival of hurricane Arthur. Andrew and I biked down to MIT on Thursday evening, stowing our bikes in his office for safe keeping. I'd guess due to the change in dates and expected storm there were fewer people out to watch--at least the area we choose wasn't all that busy. We got a pretty go view sitting on a curb, only occasionally losing lower rising explosions behind a tree.

The display started early--10:15 rather than the scheduled 10:30, and it was announced before hand (two MCs were apart of the broadcast) that it would have to be sans-1812 as the weather was looking increasingly chancy (musical instruments and inclement weather don't mix). The audience in the bandstand, sounded rather miffed that there would be no Overture. The fireworks were indeed spectacular. Lots of cool, multi-coloured, multi-shaped explosions, and several where we could feel the impact of the cannons from however far away we were.

Then it was over (we're not quite sure if the fireworks reached their full conclusions, or if the on-hand Marshalls pulled the plug) and everyone got up and left.

Unfortunately we didn't get out of the MIT area and home fast enough. We were maybe five minutes into our journey, when we could hear the rain approaching from behind us. Then it hit us, cold and furious. The many pedestrians on the sidewalks were half screaming, half-laughing as they too hurried to their destinations. We were soaked in under a minute.

Biking home in the rain is never fun. It was also dark, which didn't make things easier. Of course, by the time we were five minutes from home the rain let up, and it wasn't much more than sprinkling. This wasn't the effects of the hurricane yet.

That wasn't until Friday afternoon--and even then it just rained, and rained, and rained.

Hope everyone had a good Canada Day, Independence Day weekend--which ever you prefer.

Ciao,

Andrea

The day we test drove a car and it caught on fire

So, for those of you who follow me on Twitter, you've probably already gotten the sense that Andrew and I had an interesting Saturday afternoon.

To start, we're planning to buy a new car. We love our Smart car, but it's 6 years old, and it only has 2 seats. It's great for parking around the Boston area, but crappy for giving people rides or transporting large objects (although we've tested the latter fairly thoroughly). We're looking at something small, preferable domestic made, the top choices are the Chevy Spark, and the Ford Fiesta.

Today, we test drove a Fiesta. It started out pretty well, Andrew was driving. Approximately 5 minutes into the drive we noticed something smelled a little smokey, nothing huge, but there was something in the air. We'd gone another 5 minutes and Andrew was thinking we should pull over so I could try the wheel when we noticed there was smoke coming from the front of the car. We ducked into the parking lot we happened to be passing and got out.

The smoke was still reasonably light. The sales person (who was with us), put his hand to the hood and since it wasn't too hot popped it open. The engine was covered in old leaves, twigs, etc...and flames--yes, seriously, flames.

A bystander had also pulled over (I don't know if he was wanting to help us from the start, or if he had only been planning to go shopping), and asked us if we had a fire extinguisher--we didn't. He then advised us to get away from the car saying 'car fires can go fast'. I quickly grabbed my purse which I'd left in the front seat, while the sales person headed into one of the shops to see if he could find an extinguisher.

In a matter of, I don't know, maybe 5 minutes, black smoke was billowing out from the hood, streaking up the windshield and flames flickered from underneath the car. The call had been made to 911, and all kinds of shoppers were whipping out their phones to take pictures and videos.

It was crazy.

The police arrived first, meanwhile another sales person from the dealership showed up to pick us up along with the guy we'd gone out with. The second guy seemed pretty intent on getting us out of there as fast as possible (maybe afraid we'd give the dealership bad PR?) and so we didn't get to see the fire department handle the growing blaze--which Andrew and I both would have loved to see.

And that was pretty much that. We left the dealership another 5 minutes later. We're not against the Fiesta, it's not Ford's fault that flammable material had gotten underneath the hood, but if we go back to that dealership Andrew will surreptitiously take a look at the engine before we head out for a test drive.

Ciao,

Andrea