Open Letter

Dear Ploch's Farm,
You looked kind of scary the day I took this picture, but I know you aren't really. You have cool greenhouses and big fields which are probably teeming with plantlife. All this rain must be good for you. Whenever you are ready to put forth your bounty, I will be across the street, waiting for you.
Love,
~Ardie

Crazy Sunset

Last night it rained for a little while, and then there was a very red sunset. It's all over the internet, apparently. So here is my contribution. It just seemed the whole world was covered in red film. I love sunset pictures anyway. :)

Oatmeal Bars

The other day I made Oatmeal Bars from Sugar Plum, a food blog I frequent.  She has them as having banana and almonds, but having neither in the house, mine are just oatmeal.  They do taste good, but as if they are missing something.  That's typical for me...I always leave things out of recipes rather than just go to the store and buy them.  

Anyhoo, I recommend her site for lots of yummy dessert ideas.  AFTER reading mine, of course ;).

Kickin' it Old Skool

Check out the new/old release from Pepsi:


Throwback! Both sodas are made with natural sugar, as they were in the 60s-70s, instead of high-fructose corn syrup like they are now. And the packaging is neat, all retro-style. You can read more here if you want. But it's only around for a limited time, and that limited time began about two months ago. Since the first week, we have not found these anywhere, despite hearing rumors that Pepsi Co is making more (even then we only found cans, no bottles). I'm not trying to advertise for Pepsi or anything; in fact, I don't even drink much soda (I'd much rather waste the calories on candy or something equally empty). But TG was super stoked for these, and I was pretty intringued as well. Fortunately Target had it AND it was on SALE (maybe that's why it tasted so good)!  The drink itself is pretty good, almost tastes less carbonated than regular soda-- but that's ok, it's the same reason I like Coke in glass bottles better. So now here we are with no more Throwback, unless Pepsi decides to rerun it. Ever. 

Keep your eyes peeled, they usually mix Throwback in with the regular soda, so you have to look at the packaging to make sure you got the right one. And if you do....mmmm enjoy it, cuz its' time is limited!

We were on TV!

Baltimore

For our yearly trip to see the Orioles at Camden Yards, we decided to see them play the Mets. We are from New Jersey, but not Mets fans, and I am an Orioles fan anyway.

We got there early afternoon, so after checking into the hotel (super nice Raddison Lord Baltimore), we went to the Inner Harbor to eat. Check this out, a restaurant that serves pretzels instead of bread! Since it was a weekday, the harbor was pretty empty, and there were many Mets fans who also made the trip south (including all the other patrons of the restaurant, as you can see below).


We eventually made our way to the stadium, and took some time to watch the Mets' batting practice (a ball came right at me, and bounced about a foot away...you don't realize, it's REALLY scary watching a line drive get bigger and bigger as it comes at you). This lady in orange and white was doing all the same stretches as the pitcher as he warmed up. We have actually seen her on TV when the O's played the Yankees...she followed his every move.





By the 9th inning, it was looking pretty bad for our O's, but the kids in front of us were getting really into it, which got us more involved, and we donned our Rally Caps. They actually scored a couple runs, and had bases loaded for a while, but it was not enough to win the game. Oh well. The Oriole bird paid a visit to our section too, he's so cute! Mets fans kept hugging him and getting their Met-sy fan hands all over him. Psh!

We ended the night at a nice bar where they had lots of unusual-style beers, made right there on premises ("Cask ales" it said -- I am SO informed). On our way out of the city the next morning, it was raining, but we drove past Charm City Cakes, of "Ace of Cakes" fame. It's a very nice building in a very nondescript neighborhood (read: shabby).

Here is when That Guy said "Maybe I'll take the picture with the window down instead"

The final stop on our drive home was a Waffle House. Waffle House is a staple of the South, and I think the one we went to in Maryland was probably the Northernmost establishment. I have not seen them farther. Sadly, I do not have a picture. We had waffles and hash browns and toast, and the whole bill was only $13.95. How is it so cheap?? I will never know. After considering a dine-n-dash, we paid and continued our trek homeward, having enjoyed all that Maryland can offer in 24 hours.

Bowling

Who has been bowling lately? Anyone? Anyone? Oh wait..ME! Haha, I went bowling today! It was awesome. And because we were playing with a six year old, we got to have bumpers too. So in addition to being fun, we all made pretty good scores. Go us!

Incidentally, six year olds are cute, but then you take them into a store and they decide they HAVE to have EVERything. "Really bad."

In other news, myself and That Guy went down to Baltimore this week to catch an O's game. Pictures to come for that. Of course, they lost. We've never been to an O's game wherein they actually WON. Ehhhhh. Stay tuned.