On the Road Again

Hi to the ello friends and enemies.


It's been donkey's years since I've posted. The main reason? I've been travelling. It's kind of hard to be whipping up delicious vegan meals when you're eating out of a cooler in the back of a van.


I left Athens the last week of July to stay with my parent's for a few days to celebrate my mom's birthday. My gift was homemade sangria that we started drinking around noon.

Mom's 57 Golden Sangria

2 bottles (750ml) white wine (Nothing too expensive; I used Frontera Sauv Blanc once and Bohemian Highway pino grigio the next time)
4 tbs of lemon juice
2-3 tbs agave nectar
3/4 cup Grand Marnier
2 cups fresh, chopped pineapple
3 nectarines, chopped (get organic and leave the skins on)
1 pint of raspberries, frozen (see below)

Mix everything but the fruit in a large pitcher until the agave is disolved. I have one of those in-fridge jars with the spigot on the bottom which works quite nicely.
Add the pineapple and nectarines to the jar. Stir well. Add a couple handfulls of ice and let sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
While the the sangria chills, place the raspberries on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet/plate in the freezer until solid. You can freeze these ahead of time too.
To serve, fill a wide mouth wine glass with equal parts wine and the wine-soaked fruit. Garnish with a few of the frozen raspberries (a mint sprig if you're feeling saucy) and a spoon. My mom has some very excellent milkshake spoon-straws (spraws? stroons? Nicer than the ones at this website but similar) which work wonderfully for this sangria. Let me tell you, you haven't had pineapple until you've had pineapple that's been soaking in wine and GranMar for 48 hours. Word.

After the birthday merriment, I was off to Cleveland for a night with my cousins, J & The Demon Baby. The latter got a trampoline for her third birthday. They wanted my to join them on said trampoline and I did but I was probably the least fun trampoline-jumper in the history of trampolines. My imagination is far to vivid for me to enjoy a bouncy length of tarp stretched between some springs. My brain kept sending up pictures of snapped necks and broken legs. Hardly conducive to, "jump us higher!! jump us higher!!"


From Cleveland, I pointed Frankenstein in a north-easterly direction to meet up with Roomie in St. Catharine's, Ontario for the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. I was let into Canada by a man that I'm convinced was simply posing as a border guard. His questions were cursory at best and upon leaving Canada, I was told that I should never have been allowed to enter the country with the amount of fresh produce that I did. Most of the fresh produce was eaten in a hotel room with a very nice, duty-free bottle of Canadian wine.


From Canada, Roomie and I drove back to his sub-let in Philadelphia. I will summarize this road trip simply by saying: wind turbines unsettle me in a vague, undefinable way. I can't look too long or too directly at them without experiencing a very acute and potent kind of vertigo.


Philly was great. The car remained un-broken-into this time (the battery died instead), and we spent three hours walking around museums. Modern art is far easier to appreciate when you've had a strongly mixed Beefeater and tonic. Thank you again Philly Museum of Art's "Art After 5." Also delicious: water ice. It's the Philadelphia version of italian ice; kinda like a thicker slushie with way better flavors. Nothing rounds out a 6 block walk to the liquor store like an orange-creamsicle-flavored water ice.


From Philly, Roomie and I have returned to Marion for a week or so of being kids again. Translation: free room and board, no real responsibilities, and plentiful dinner that neither of us has to cook or pay for.

Soon, though, I'll be back in Athens having to feed myself, teach some college frosh, and writing all about it.

Wish as I might, it just can't be summer vacation forever.