portrait of a jasper as a young pup

I got bored today and decided to put this thing of jasper together showing how he has aged.

jasperdog

here is a picture of jasper hanging out in the wind pre haircut.

who you calling chicken?

Last night I roasted a chicken for the first time in my life and it turned out pretty good. Lexi and I spent half of the day yesterday searching for a roasting pan because I was convinced I could buy a nice one that was less than $100. We didn't find one for cheaper so instead I bought a meat roasting rack for $10 and set it in the bottom of a broiling pan and it worked pretty well. I decided to stick with a roasting theme for the sides and roasted some potatoes, beets, carrots, shallots and garlic. It was a nice dinner and we had fun eating it.

New Roomie

On Sunday, Alexa and I went to lunch at the newly opened Quinton's in the East Village of Des Moines.  It is the same franchise as the one in Columbia so when lex and I saw it while driving around with my family on Saturday we knew that we would be going to lunch there soon to get our favorites from our old college favorite. Next door to Quinton's is an antique shop so after lunch we decided to stop in and check it out. We bought a nice old print of a mountain/river/tepee scene and when we were checking out the store owner told us about some old portraits she had and didn't want. This is where our new roommate comes in, we are trying to think of a name for him that matches his wonderful mustache.  Comment if you think of a good one!

Sous vide? Yes please!

On Sunday night after 2-for-1 beers at a local brew house and prior to the Robyn concert Alexa and I went to Piccolo, a fantastic small restaurant in Minneapolis. The menu offered many delicious eats that the less-adventurous picky eater I once was would never have tried. Dishes such as "scrambled brown eggs, pickled pigs feet, truffle butter and parmigiano" and "lamb ribs with Swiss chard and cardoon ragout, cipollini onions and molasses" pictured above and our favorite. The meal was delectable and I would recommend it to any foodie traveling up north.

Singing the blues

Picture from the blues-wild game on saturday night. It was a fun event filled with many Minnesota accents from the fans. however the blues played poorly and made the game upsetting for a fan of the team.

Mall of America (minnesota part one)

Lexi and I brought our rollerblades from iowa and went skating in the mall of America today, we had to pick up Averman from the movie theatre and Connie and Guy from the makeout spot by the dam but a good time was had by all. The picture of Lexi was taken before she got tired/sick of riding the roller coaster. As you can see I still haven't gotten used to taking pictures with my phone hence finger in the shot.

Rocky Mountain Fun

here are some pictures from my ski trip with my friends last weekend. both were taken with my phone on the mountain.  I had an awesome time learning to ski possibly due to the fact that a. the weather was awesome and 2. I was hanging out with a bunch of good old friends; being able to spend time with friends who like to have fun and who I don't get to see that often made the trip for me. while I never want to hear the "day-o galileo" song ever again in my life (but am forced to everyday in my head because of how much it was sung on the trip), I would enjoy a groundhog day movie made starring me and thursday-saturday of that weekend.

road trip

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Friendship

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Just havin' fun in Colorado

A week from today (barring I am not injured, injured bad) I will be on the slopes of Breckenridge, Colorado with many novice skiers I call my friends.  The thought of this trip has been warming me up during these negative degree days in Iowa. I am looking forward to skiing during the day and relaxing my muscles in the evening with some beverages in the condo hot tub, my only hope is that we don't travel back in time to high school.  On second thought, that doesn't sound like a bad deal at all. Can't wait to see so many friendly faces.

back again!

howdy y'all, so after a long hiatus I have awoken from my internet hibernation and will hopefully be blogging on a regular basis from here on out. So get ready. Gone will be the days of checking the site only to see the same picture for months. Hopefully it will only be days between updates now. Not much is going on in Iowa so I haven't been blogging but I  decided to blog about nothing now and hope people enjoy it. This is a picture from the locust tap in des moines that I took this weekend with my phone.