Sunday, December 31, 2006

Sanaa's 8th St. Gourmet

Sanaa's is a revelation. Syrian, French and Italian influences combine to create a meal that is exotic, yet accessible because most of the scrupulously fresh food is on display in cases outside the immaculate half-open kitchen in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The first items to catch your eye are the fatayer, which the menu calls "pita pocket sandwiches" but I think of as vegetable and meat turnovers. I consulted with the outgoing and enthusiastic owner and chef herself, Sanaa Abourezk, and chose the laham b'ajeen, stuffed with beef, onions and pomegranate molasses, and the even more intriguing eggplant fatayer, with broiled eggplant, roasted red bell pepper, onions, tomato sauce and feta cheese. Sensing accurately that I'm the kind of person who goes for that sort of thing, she noted twice that it was her unique creation and could not be found anywhere else.

Discovering Sanaa's was a pleasure for other reasons. She is related to Kevin Abourezk, a talented colleague of mine when I worked at the Lincoln Journal Star; is married to James Abourezk, the first Arab-American to serve in the U.S. Senate; and is the accomplished author of several cookbooks and a column in one of America's best small newspapers, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

But back to the food. I had to stop myself from hopping in place as I debated which of the glorious and inexpensive items to try. On the one hand, stomach space was unfortunately limited; but on the other hand, I was fortunate to have two companions with me willing to let me sample their selections. The three of us ended up with the aforementioned fatayer, which ran somewhere around $3.50 to $4 each; the soup of the day, a vegan vegetable and bulgur wheat delight for $3.25; the muhammara dip of pureed red bell pepper, walnuts, pomegranate molasses and coriander, accompanied by all the freshly baked pita bread we wanted (which was a lot); and one entree, the shish tawook -- chicken breast pieces cooked in red sauce with cumin, mustard, garlic and sesame seed paste ($8.95, includes basmati rice pilaf, salad and pita bread).

Abourezk told me she grinds her own spices just before cooking and prepares everything fresh -- "no boxes." Trained at the Cordon Bleu Baking School in Paris and the Masha Innocenti Cooking School in Florence, she believes in healthy food and this is reflected in her two published cookbooks, Oh Boy, I Can't Believe It's Soy and Secrets of Healthy Middle East Cuisine. She told me she has another cookbook coming out, this one with gluten-free recipes.

I've passed through Sioux Falls countless times on the way to Blue Mounds for rock climbing. Sanaa's is now a mandatory stop.

Sanaa's 8th St. Gourmet

401 E. 8th St., Suite 100, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

650-275-2516

Lunch Monday-Friday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday buffet 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Falls Park Family

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Richard, Jami, Sue and Chris on the observation tower at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Cardinal Tea

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Saw and loved this outdoor sculpture in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the main downtown shopping street boasts public art every half-block or more.

Arrr!

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An outdoor sculpture gets mouthy with Jami in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Sunday, August 6, 2006

We're Back ... You're Welcome!

We hear it's been miserably dry and hot while we've been gone. We're back now, and the temperature's dropped 19 degrees and it's raining.

You're welcome!

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Day 14: Highlands

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We took lots of pretty walks through beautiful, lush Highlands, which gets enough rain most years to qualify as a rainforest. One walk led us to the Highlands Biological Station, where I was ferociously attacked by a squirrel. I wish Squirrel Rangers Doug, Joe and Junk had been there to save me.


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Monday, July 31, 2006

Day 13: Travel Day to Highlands

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We spent Day 13 on the road to Highlands, North Carolina, stopping in Atlanta for a three-hour shopping spree at Ikea and dinner at my favorite fast-food burger joint, Checkers.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Day 12: St. Augustine

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Here was the day I'd been waiting for, when my cousin's daughter Krista would show up. Aunt Laura made some fantastic BBQ beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, ham ... the list goes on.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Day 11: St. Augustine

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The end of our first full day at the Fulwider Party Barn in St. Augustine found us at Outback Crab Shack, where the boiled dinner gets you a platter groaning with crab, crawfish, clams, potatoes, sausage, corn, shrimp, and other goodies. Here James grabs the first bite o' crustacean. Outback is so popular that we had to park a quarter mile away and take a shuttle van the restaurant provided.

Southeast Road Trip Slideshow Rough Draft

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Friends and family, you've been clamoring for more photos, so here is a rough draft slideshow with 139 photos from our trip. No titles or captions yet, so you'll just have to guess at what we're doing.

To get you started: Above I'm at the top of a climb at Summersville Lake, West Virginia. I'm just a one-minute rappel and walk from a cool, refreshing swim in crystal-clear water. Can't get that at many crags!

Friday, July 28, 2006

Day 10: Travel Day to St. Augustine

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We arrived at the Fulwider Party Barn Friday afternoon, where the world's longest dock led out to a beautiful sunset we enjoyed after wearing ourselves out playing with Gareth, setting crab traps and scoping for gators.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Day 9: Travel Day to South Carolina

South Carolina
We took a slow travel day to South Carolina, stopping at the Welcome Center in the rain (note lens cap captured in this hastily taken photo). We stayed at the halfway point to Florida in Summerton at the Deluxe Motel, a place whose name was half accurate. Coming up on Day 10: Partying with the entire fam for the whole weekend at Camp Fulwider in St. Augustine, Florida. I can taste the seafood boil already.

Day 8: Climbing, Deep-Water Soloing and Diving at Summersville Lake, New River Gorge

Cliff Diving
Feeling a tad sticky, we headed for Summersville Lake in West Virginia's New River Gorge. There you climb right next to a sparkling-clear lake and can take a dip after a tough send. Also available are deep-water soloing, ropeless climbing where falling is refreshing, and cliff-diving. Above, Jami leaps off a 40-foot waterfall in Pirate's Cove.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Day 7: Travel Day to West Virginia

Last Day at Miguel's
We spent a long lazy morning packing up and saying goodbye to Miguel's, the coolest climber's campground ever, before hitting the road for West Virginia.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Day 6: Dog Tired

Dog Tired

After four straight days of climbing (with no Fulwider epics!), we were tired. But not as tired as this dog, the mascot of Mike's Mountain BBQ in Torrent Falls.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Day 5: Muir Valley at Red River Gorge

Blackberry Bounty

Muir Valley boasts excellent sport climbing you can approach with a light pack because your lunch lies ready to pick along the trails. Fueled by blackberries, Jami did her second lead -- on a 5.8! -- and Jamie did her first at Rebel Camp Hollow. Later we drove down a long and winding road (da da) to Solar Collector and Gold Coast in PMRP, where the real climbers go to feel the pump on ridiculously overhanging 5.12, 5.13 and 5.14 (!) routes. We saw the route on the cover of the Red River Gorge climbing guide, which we'll definitely have to try sometime when they invent antigravity boots.

Day 6: Military Wall at Red River Gorge

Scott at Military Wall

We took advantage of our laid-back non-plan to stay an extra day at Red River Gorge, this time climbing with new friends Scott and Jens from Michigan at Military Wall. Jami climbed two 5.9s and Scott busted out with the JetBoil, making stroganoff noodles at the crag for lunch while the rest of us ate trail mix. Above, Scott masters Possum Lips (5.10d).

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Day 3: Left Flank at Red River Gorge

Climbing at Left Flank
We had so much fun climbing at Left Flank in Red River Gorge on our first climbing day that we took rather a paucity of pictures. Here's Jami on a route, the name of which and other details I will add later. The Red is paradise, and the best climbing we've ever experienced. We may just have to cut short other parts of our trip to extend our stay here. No, not the family visit portions! We might skip some country music time in Tennessee or the end-of-trip climbing at Sam's Throne.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Day 4: Roadside Crag at Red River Gorge

Jamie on Roadside Attraction

Jamie drove down from Indianapolis to join us for two days of climbing at the Red. Here she climbs Roadside Attraction the right way, as opposed to the wrong way, which involves fist jams, trying to conserve cams, and a flat-on-both-feet groundfall when a hex pops. Three guesses as to who climbed it wrong, and the first two don't count. Note to self: First placement is a cam. No excuses.

The four #2 Camalots I've managed to accumulate came in plenty handy on this route, the last of the day before some tasty Thai tuna wraps courtesy of Jamie. (Note the irony in my trying to conserve cams.) Earlier it rained constantly but we stayed dry and climbed all day because the Red River Gorge crags have abundant huge roofs hundreds of feet up to keep things bone dry.

Day 2: On the Road to Kentucky

Kentucky Welcomes You
After our morning in storm-tossed St. Louis, we spent most of the day on the road to Slade, Kentucky and Red River Gorge. Car and rope troubles slowed us down somewhat. On the former, our car security system must have decided we were stinking thieves! because it cut off the fuel pump, leaving us unable to get our motor runnin' after stopping at the above-pictured Kentucky Welcome Center for a map and a loo. Kind Welcome Center greeters loaned us phone books and tools, and eventually we convinced our car we were not stinking thieves! and were on our way. On the latter rope troubles, we had set off on a 20-day climbing trip without a rope for various reasons I shall not entertain you with. So we were trying to find a new one and after Herculean efforts to find gear shops and interview their employees about the state of their inventory, we drove to the northern Loo-a-vull, Kentucky burbs and purchased an exceptional Sterling 9.8mm rope. She's a beaut. All these adventures put us at our intended late-afternoon destination, Miguel's Pizza (and $2 a night camping, and $1 showers), at 10 p.m., where we collapsed.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Day 1: St. Louis

Picnic at Gateway Arch

On the first day of our 20-day climbing-rafting-family visit-family visit-climbing adventure, we arrived in St. Louis the same day a historic severe storm hit the city, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, flinging an airport terminal roof onto I-70, and trapping us in a mall parking garage for several hours. It was all good, however, because we made it to Trader Joe's just before they lost power and closed the doors. We purchased ample tasty provisions for the road ahead, including a picnic breakfast we enjoyed the next morning in the branch-strewn Gateway Arch park.

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

Safer than Fireworks



What's safer and cheaper than fireworks and perfect for celebrating our nation's independence? Why, Diet Coke shooting six feet in the air after a violent chemical reaction with Mentos! This is my first YouTube video, just press Play.

Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Doorbird

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Minutes before the open house was to start Jami exclaimed, "There is a nest in there!" Sure enough, and with five speckled eggs therein to boot. Does homeowner's insurance cover lawsuits from potential buyers dive-bombed by an enraged mama bird?

Saturday, July 1, 2006

Heather's Birthday

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Heather extinguishes a three-alarm fire at her Shakespeare on the Green birthday celebration. Note the billowing cloud of smoke.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Jazz in June

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Mark and Molly ham it up at Jazz in June.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Shakespeare on the Green

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Jami and Stacey at Shakespeare on the Green before the start of Taming of the Shrew. At lower right is Meredith's thumb, the only part of her she will allow to be photographed.

Housewarming Gift: Cookie Dough

I thought I had a pretty good idea for a housewarming gift the other day. I bought three tubes of Pillsbury cookie dough in chocolate chunk, peanut butter and sugar cookie flavors and bound them together with some ribbon. Total cost: Less than $10 for a gift that both smells better and tastes better than the default option, a scented candle.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Aiee! Flamingos! (aka Graduation Slideshow)

Aiee! Flamingos!
So Jami was driving me to graduation last weekend when we passed a house on the way out of the neighborhood, its yard festooned with flamingos. Figuring it was party of some party prank for someone who lived there, I told Jami we should talk to the owners later that day and see if we could borrow some flamingos to play a prank on Dave, who has an unnatural fear of pink plastic. Jami got a call from her sister about the same time, and it sounded like she was giving her directions to get to our place.

Graduation came and went, and so did the flamingos ... into my yard. It turns out the flamingos were placed (as part of a fundraiser) by a local cancer society's volunteers ... in the wrong yard. They were supposed to be in my yard when I woke up. So Heather and Erwin had to don their sunglasses, hum the Mission: Impossible theme, and race over to my neighborhood to move the flamingoes and still get to my graduation on time. It was a lot of fun, as you'll see in this slideshow.

Master of Political Science?

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I graduated May 6 with a Master of Arts in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There's a lot left to learn.

Jami Rocks the Lincoln Half Marathon

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Jami ran her first half marathon last weekend, setting a 9:49 pace and beating the average finishing time of 2:09:54 with a 2:08:25 finish. At left is Heather.

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Graduation Party

Around the Table

Some friends helped me celebrate, in advance my graduation from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a master's degree in political science. If only they'd eaten all that pasta salad. Here's a slideshow. All photos by Javal.

Monday, January 16, 2006

The Bottom of the Barrel

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On the last day of our trip to Vegas for climbing in Red Rocks, Wyatt uses a tent stake to eat his oatmeal from the packet. The latter's not so unusual -- it's a great way to avoid doing dishes -- but usually we use plastic spoons. Except when a New Year's Eve storm blows them, and everyone's underwear, far, far away.

Getting Crowded Up Here

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Jamin, Wyatt and Joe tangle up at a belay station on Cat in the Hat, Red Rocks, Las Vegas. Later, after nightfall, things got considerably cozier as six of us set up our double-rope rappel at this very station, with just three headlamps between us.