a few random pictures

We know what it's like to walk a mile in each other's shoes.

Potatoes are funny.


Mini cabbages are cute.


Cartwheel-off!

Green Jobs ftw

Full disclosure: I've been moderately tied up with this.

h/t: Grist

east coast big city tour, part three: boston

The last stop on the tour was Boston, where we stayed with Friends Ashley and Thom. Mr. Galore had never been to Boston, and Mrs. Galore had only spent one snowy weekend there for a track meet, so we found it quite convenient to have delightful people to visit there. Mrs. Galore had to work again, so Mr. Galore got to do more sightseeing, including the Capitol building and Fenway Park. But we did find time to wander around Cambridge, see the Harvard campus, and walk the freedom trail.

The Galores also had a wonderful visit with Friends Katharine, Ryan, and Malcolm, who is brand new.

Friend Ashley and Mrs. Galore have been friends since third grade, and have consistently been asked whether they are cousins, sisters, or twins. It's happened at age 8, age 13, age 20, age 25, and every age in between. When Friend Thom and Friend Ashley first started dating, Friend Thom once mistook Mrs. Galore for Friend Ashley, which was awkward. Mrs. Galore was even mistaken for Friend Ashley at Friend Ashley's wedding. We find it all kind of baffling, since we don't think we look like each other at all. Excepting our dagger-like fingers, of course.

east coast big city tour, part two: nyc

Since neither of us had ever been to New York City, and Cousin-and-Girlfriend Galore live there, we decided to go visit them. Unfortunately, our timing was off -- they were both out of town on the days we were visiting. Fortunately, they let us stay in their place in Manhattan, just a few blocks east of Central Park.

Three days in NYC is obviously not enough time to see everything. Fortunately, we both hate to shop, which took away approximately half of the Things One Must Do in New York City. (Maybe if we had spent more time in uppity shopping areas we would have seen more celebrities -- by which I mean, any celebrities. Nary a TomKat sighted.) We did set foot in the Apple store because, duh. This is really a terrible picture, but hopefully you can see that the entrance is this glass box thing, and then you walk down the stairs into the underground Apple lair. Very fancy.

With home base at Cousin-and-Girlfriend Galore's insanely stylish apartment, we did a lot of walking and hit the Manhattan tourist attractions: Central Park, Rockefeller Square, the Empire State Building, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Center site, some old churches and cemeteries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and probably some other things that have already escaped from Mrs. Galore's porous memory.

We also had dinner with two of Mr. Galore's old friends. These three gents are also known as The Wonder Years Club. Sadly, Mr. Galore had to break the news that we recently rid ourselves of all of the 20 or so VHS tapes onto which Mr. Galore and his sister had meticulously taped every episode of "The Wonder Years." (We also recycled all of the Michael Jordan Wheaties boxes that Mr. Galore had saved in hopes of getting rich. Basically, we have thrown out Mr. Galore's childhood.)

One thing NYC does not have -- at least to our limited knowledge and snobby tastes -- is good coffee.



Here are the obligatory one-arm pictures of ourselves at tourist attractions. L to R: in Central Park, atop the Empire State Building, and on the Brooklyn Bridge.

i know things about BPA?

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming? To bring you me on the radio again? With rising inflection this time?

east coast big city tour, part one: philly

We spent the third week of August in Philadelphia with Mr. Galore's sister, her husband, and the aforementioned, ever-adorable Niece Galore. (Said Mrs. Galore's coworker: "Wow. I got pregnant just looking at those photos.") By the by, Niece Galore thinks we are one person and generally uses "Adu-Saah" to refer to either one of us. It is pretty darn cute. If you want to see 7 bajillion photos of Niece Galore, we would be happy to make you a slideshow. But it's about time we showed off Sister-In-Law and Brother-in-Law Galore, because they are pretty cute too.

Mrs. Galore was telecommuting the whole week that we were in Philly. Mr. Galore wasn't working, so he got out in the city more and has some photos of historical Philadelphian things. But your current blog author doesn't really know what they are (except ooh, look, the Liberty Bell!). Perhaps Mr. Galore can work the historical sites into the separate food-focused blog posts that he has promised to do for the East Coast Big City Tour, since approximately half of our pictures are of food. Preview: The Philadelphia food post will include veggie cheesesteaks and a ridiculous amount of gelato.

Considering our usual crazed schedule in Seattle, it was nice to spend calm evenings making dinner, putting Niece Galore to bed, and watching the Olympics. (Non-sequitur photo alert: At right, Friend Danny shows the Olympians a thing or two.)

We were also able to visit Friend Ryan, who is an old friend of Mr. Galore's (not that Mr. Galore is old) and whom Mrs. Galore is forever grateful to because he once armed himself with an ice axe in her defense. And we were able to spend an afternoon with Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin-and-Girlfriend Galore too, as well as Friends Heiki, Mark, James, Conrad, and, um, Conrad. Some of those folks make a cameo in the pictures we posted earlier. And last but not least, Mrs. Galore tried to rekindle her torrid love affair with Charles Dickens, though he played it cool and didn't return her embrace since they were in public.

Philadelphia is pretty awesome. Mrs. Galore expressed desire to move there, but she does that for pretty much every new city she visits (including Saskatoon, to give you some perspective). But the old architecture, walkable dense neighborhoods, giant in-city park, row houses, running trail along the river, and delightful Galore-in-Laws are mighty enticing.

me on the radio again

Did you know I'm an expert on biodegradable utensils? Uh, me neither. But here I am chattin' about 'em.

while we were out

While we were gallivanting on the East Coast, Mom and Dad Galore moved to Indiana. They'll be gone for 10 months while Mom Galore pursues an M.Div. at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Dad Galore tags along to get his Hoosier on. We will miss them very much. But at least they promised to start a blog.



They didn't actually drive the scooter to Indiana, but wouldn't it have been cute if they had?

more clare

We're back! (For those of you who weren't aware: we were gone.) Many more pictures to come from Philly, NYC, and Boston. In the meantime, instruction in How to Get Amazing Pictures at a Gathering: have one of the guests be a professional photographer.