Happy World Blood Donor Day

Now get out there and donate! Alas, blood donor discrimination still exists. I remember learning about it back in 2005 and am surprised this outdated deferral practice still exists. Informative CNN clip here.

Dane County Farmers' Market I

I made my walk over to the state Capitol grounds for today's farmers' market. According to an informative taxi driver, Madison's weekly market is one of the highest rated in the nation. I was expecting cows; June is Dairy Month after all. However, there were no live bovine for viewing.. poo poo.

My main goal for the morning was to find a baked goods stand and purchase a chocolate chip cookie. This was accomplished within ten minutes- no strenuous feat, but satisfying nonetheless. I then perused all the produce stands, most of which carried cartons of strawberries, bags of different greens, and fresh dill and cilantro bunches. I was stubbornly indecisive and ended up getting Thai food [a little off the mark, yes?]

Thai tea (I beg to differ!) with mangoes and sticky rice
Verbatim exchange at the Thai food cart:
Kat: Khaw thot, khun pen khon Thai may kha?
Stand operator: What did you say?
Kat: Oh, Hmong?... Lao?
Disgruntled stand operator: I'm Vietnamese.
Kat: Um. Well. Oh. $5.50, huh?
After a round of the block, I ended up with this "bounty." Next week, I'll get more!
[Cheese and chive scone to the left = $1.00 = yum]
Teeny!
All this made for a decent midday meal.

Future Musts from the Market:
- hot cheese bread (super popular stand)
- emu meat
- cheeses of some variety
- potato donuts
- cinnamon rolls (they looked rid-ic-u-lous-ly yummy)

*Pictures of my surroundings once I feel more Madisonianish!*

It's Friday!

And I've run out of grocery stores to visit. I've read there's a Hmong-operated Asian grocery store a couple of miles away, but it's 7:30pm, and I don't think they're open =/.

grocery stores > pubs
(at the moment)

After visiting one of UW-Madison's gyms, I headed back to Barriques Coffee Trader to get a little work done..
Okay, not really. I spent most of my time looking at this one man, who looked like a professor, sift through his new set of Magic cards. I did, however, have a go at Barriques's iced chai:

This was a bit more on the sweet than spiced side, which is usually fine with me, but next time I won't ask for skim milk. Why wholed back? [Eh? Get it? Whole?!..okay, I like 2%]
I walked over to Trader Joe's and passed by a block that reminded me of College Avenue in Berkeley. The cloudy weather doesn't make this stretch look too appealing, but the shops seemed interesting. There's a fudge shop I might stop by one of these days.

My ca$hmoney is on the lower end right now, so I've been preparing nearly all my meals at home.

I got both of these from Whole Foods. The fettuccine is from Michigan, and the pizza sauce is straight from good ol' Madison. I decided to get the pizza sauce 'cause it was cheaper, and I plan on using the jar as a glass once I'm done. (I'm also low on dishware!)
More of that orzo.. gahh, it's delicious.

This Friday night is going to be about as crazy as mixing soy beans with fried chicken. Watch out.

A college town, indeed

I was able to set up my wireless internet account last evening and have been preoccupied trying to make my apartment a tad cozier. The weather so far has been uberly nice and since it's the summertime, I haven't encountered too many students just yet.

My first meal here: "Chunky Tuna" from Barriques Coffee Trader, which is about a block away from the Capitol building. I also had an Ethiopian blend to go along with mah sammich.
This is my kitchen. Look at the tiny oven and dishwasher pair! Cute, yes... User-friendly, ::grumble grumble::
My rations: granola, rice, lentils (green y red!), oatmeal (old fashioned at steel-cut), pasta, and flax seed chips. FIBER LOAD O_O
My first homemade dinner here. Well, sorta-homemade... but not like Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade! (Man, that show is odd). Brown rice and lentils can only go so far, so I got a container of orzo with spinach and feta from Whole Foods (to the left). It carried the entire plate to the finish line.

Now, for the rest of my apartment...
The counter-top turned desk! Yup, it's right by the fridge. I don't have a chair, so I've just been kneeling or sitting on my ultrasexykool leather couch:
HAH. It came with the apartment!
This is The Rainbow Room. Not to be confused with The Rubber Room (sigh), The Rainbow Room is a random part of my apartment that can't really fit anything and would be too awkward for a bed. Well-mannered dancing and jiving welcome.
My bathroomizzle. The toilet bowl, however, is far from salvation.
My bedroom is a little too plain for public viewing, so here's a photo of Dean's milk:
This is Dairy Valhalla (teehee) after all!

Hello!

[Has anyone ever ridden in a regional plane before? I rode one from St. Louis to Madison, and it was tiny!]

Yes, folks, I'm in Madison. I don't know how to set up the internet in my apartment, so I'm mooching off cafe internet for now. The sun is setting, and I'm starting to think I've forgotten where my apartment is located. Holy. Crap.

Wahoo!