SST: Making Apple Cider

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

Don't get me wrong - I love that it was 75 degrees outside yesterday and I never tire of the sight of palm trees. But I feel pangs of nostalgia every time I log on to Facebook and see my Michigan friends all tagged in a photo like this one:

They are participating in one of my favorite Midwestern autumn traditions: the cider mill trip. There are lots of places where you can get fresh apple cider, but as this photo illustrates, there are three key components to a classic Midwest cider mill trip (romanticized ever so slightly):

1) A scenic drive with friends out to a sequestered, barn-red mill situated on the edge of the woods near a lazy stream where laughing children feed the ducks.

2) Apple cider, of course, which is so fresh and pure that it tastes like you are drinking a liquid apple.*

3) Homemade donuts (regular, pumpkin spice, and apple flavored) fried up so fresh that you have to let them cool off in the crisp autumn air before eating them at the picnic tables out under the blazing red and yellow leaves.

Well, if I can't actually go to a cider mill, I'll have to settle for the next best thing - spying on my Michigan friends' cider mill trips on Facebook. Or I could settle for the third best thing - this old Sesame Street clip about how to make apple cider:



*Line borrowed from a similar post by a fellow Michigan expatriate who has experienced similar cider mill pangs.

Jazz Forum

We've almost made it. We just need to hang on until Wednesday.


The 2010-2011 NBA regular season cannot begin soon enough for me. I hardly know what to do with myself during the four-month gap between the NBA Finals and the beginning of the new season. I'm always fascinated by the Utah Jazz, but this season in particular, after such a major roster overhaul (bye-bye Boozer/Korver/Matthews, hello Jefferson/Hayward/Bell), there are so many juicy storylines to follow.

I watched all of the preseason games that were televised and have been really excited by what I've seen, although I'm not putting too much stock in an undefeated preseason - after all, the lowly Memphis Grizzlies were undefeated too. Nevertheless, I saw plenty of promising things in the preseason, such as the sight of Al Jefferson going straight at Pau Gasol without hesitation. After three consecutive playoffs exits resulting from the Jazz getting steamrolled by the three seven-footers on the Lakers' front line, I was pretty stoked about having a player big and strong enough to push back against Gasol, Odom, and Bynum.

Another thing I'm really looking forward to - being a Jazz fan in the Pacific Time Zone. Being a Jazz fan in the Eastern Time Zone is a rough gig. Their nationally televised games usually have a 10:30 ET start time, so you're likely not getting to bed before 1:00 am (especially if you're like me and you like to hear every word that Ernie, Kenny the Jet, and Charles Barkley have to say about the Jazz on the postgame show).

And my favorite off-court Jazz subplot: Will Kirilenko ever find a haircut that works for him? The quest continues this year with the look in the upper left corner:


So, if there are any other Jazz fans out there, what do you think about the Jazz heading into the new season? Which storylines (i.e. "How will the Deron and Big Al tandem work out?" "Will new lottery pick Gordon Hayward contribute anything?" "When's Memo coming back?" "Will the Jerry Sloan darling Jeremy Evans be the latest overlooked Jazz rookie have a breakout season, à la Paul Millsap or Wesley Matthews?" etc.) intrigue you? Leave a comment!

New Dream Blog Post: "Follow Them to the Edge of the Desert"

Check out the latest post on my dream blog: "Follow Them to the Edge of the Desert"

Back in February I had a dream that I wanted to post on my dream blog, so I went ahead and drew up an MS Paint illustration (a pretty dang good one, by my standards at least) and made a rough outline of the text. For some reason I forgot all about it (perhaps it had something to do with all those dissertation recitals and whatnot) and it sat unfinished until today. Better eight months late than never, eh? I find it amusing that my co-star in the dream was known back then as Stephanie Harris, but she has since morphed into Stephanie Frischknecht. She and Adam didn't even start dating until much later than that.

P.S. - In case you were wondering about the title of the post, it comes from Gilmore Girls:



1,000 bonus points if you knew the reference without the explanation.