our home improvements list is 10 years long

After lacrosse practice on Sunday, Brandon and I headed over to the IX Center for the Great Big Home and Garden Expo.  We managed to get out without buying any of the gimmicky knick-knacks that many exhibitors were selling -- although I really wanted this thing that picks up dog hair like MAGIC. What we did leave with was a list of home improvements for the house.

A hot tub, for instance. 

Some highlights for me from the expo:

The Ferris wheel. Although we didn't ride it. I was worried that Brandon would get sick on it :)

Brandon in a Toy Story hat.

The many other hats on display.

I'll let you in on a little secret, if you want to woo Brandon, play a handmade instrument for him. He's a sucker for them.

I want this chair for my backyard. There's even a beverage holder within arm's reach.

Thus, we left the expo with a bunch of new home improvement plans that are bound to take us the next ten years. But, I'd say it was a great way to celebrate my first week as a homeowner. 

You can still get to the expo if you want to, it runs from February 4-12. When you buy tickets online, you automatically get $3 off and if you enter the promo code PEACE, you'll get another $1 off admission...just for being a PL&B reader! Click here to buy tickets online.

How long is your list of home improvement projects?

Full disclosure...I was asked by the Great Big Home and Garden Show to promote the upcoming event. In exchange, I receive 2 general admission tickets

Raw Corn Chowder

...or maybe the chowder would be more aptly named "Avocado Chowder" as Alex noted last night.

Brandon had an awesome gig last night! He helped out with percussion for The Luckey Ones, a band made up of some friends he knows from high school. They are a an incredibly talented bluegrass band. Absolutely check them out:

The gig was on the rooftop of a warehouse that overlooked downtown CLE. Talk about a view!

Soooo...raw food cleanse day two! Today has been tougher for me, I had a good breakfast but I have been hungry just about every hour! Thankfully I have a bunch of nuts, sprouts and other snacks.

What I ate today:

BREAKFAST homemade raw granola (that's another recipe I'll post soon) with strawberries and almond milk. Oh yeah, and HOMEBREWED KOMBUCHA!

LUNCH leftover raw corn chowder

(don't mind my messy engineer desk!)

DINNER tomato, avocado and corn salad with cashew cheese dressing

(yes, that's the jake in the background)

SNACKS sprouts, a peach, walnuts, cashews, dried apricots, almonds

We went to the tribe game tonight and had a glass (glasses?) of wine. I have found that I am the least hungry when I drink wine. Probably because wine has no fiber in it and isn't rushing right through me. I haven't had any good poops yet though, which I'm highly disappointed about...

...but don't worry, you'll hear about it when a good one happens!

On that note: recipe!

raw corn chowder

serves 2 (or 4 as a side dish) | prep time: 10 minutes | cook time: 0 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups fresh corn kernels (approximately 4 large ears)
• 2 cups almond milk
• 1 avocado, cut in chunks
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons finely minced onion
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• Corn kernels
• Sunflower sprouts

DIRECTIONS

In a blender, combine the corn, almond milk, avocado, cumin, minced onion and salt. Blend well. Pour the soup into serving bowls and garnish with a handful of corn kernels and some sunflower sprouts. Serves 4.

Have you ever eaten raw corn before? I didn't even know you could eat it raw...but it's delicious!

Garbanzo Bean Burgers

I heard a very interesting story on NPR about Cleveland this morning.

Basically, they said that Cleveland should be a perfect place for young, tax-paying professionals to flock to (and for many, to come home to). The cost of living is incredibly low, you get the arts, the night life, incredible parks, a [decent] public transit system, even though it may not seem like it, there are actually jobs here.

BUT

They said that Clevelanders are Cleveland's own worst enemy. It's not that we don't believe in a Cleveland revival, we're just very skeptical. So like, when someone actually does move to the area, people ask "why?" instead of welcoming them!

As a (semi) recent Cleveland transplant, I know this to be 100% true. When I first started meeting new people in Cleveland, and even now as I meet new Clevelanders, one of their very first questions is always "...so, why the hell did you move here?!" 


No lie.

Not to mention, the most popular tourism video(s) makes fun Cleveland, and points out all the reasons why someone would NOT want to move here. I hope, for Cleveland's sake, that we can all change our attitude about that. This place has so many good things going for it. I know we are [mostly] all 100% behind our city, and I know everyone is really just being sarcastic when they as me why I'm here.

BUT

A lot of truth is said in jest. If we're going to change everyone elses' less-than-positive view on life here in CLE, then we have to first change our own. We should be telling the world how wonderful it is here. It shouldn't be "why would you move here?!?" but "It's GREAT that you moved to Cleveland! It's such an awesome city! Welcome home."

Ok, I'm off my soap box.

The real topic of my post today was to show off some pictures and an awesome summer recipe...

These are a genius invention of Heidi Swanson's (yet again, I am swooning over her recipes!) It's a vegetarian bean burger but she had the brilliant idea to use it as the bun, instead of the burger.

You can find Heidi's recipe here. My only changes were green garlic and green onions instead of cilantro, because that's just what I had. 

I filled my garbanzo burgers with avocados, sprouts, tomatoes and cheese (oh! and hot sauce!)

(don't judge my brown-ish avocados! They are totally still good!)

Some other filling ideas:

• typical burger fillings; tomatoes, lettuce, onions
• fried eggs (mmm, or poached with a runny yolk!)
• if you're not anti-meat: chicken breast or sausage
• strawberries and peaches, topped with some honey (disclaimer: I have never tried this, so I can't attest to it's deliciousness. Though I don't know

So go on...get your garbanzo burger on!

Home Sweet CLE: A Tribute to CLE Bloggers

(source)

I spent a lot of time this morning pondering the various things I wanted to post today, but after scrolling through several blogs in my Google reader, I settled on writing a post on the many reasons I've come to love Cleveland. More importantly, I wanted to make this a tribute to the CLE blogging scene. Because it. Is. Awesome.

I have been in Ohio for the past two and a half years, but only moved up to the east side of Cleveland last October, when I moved in with Brandon. So up until then, I stuck primarily to the Akron area. While I was enjoying the spoils of living basically right in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, I was totally missing out on all that is awesome in Cleveland.

My best source for finding out what's going on in this awesome city is Cleveland's bloggers!!! So, CLEbloggers, I'm so sorry if I leave you out of this post in some way shape or form, but I'm still in the process of discovering all of the great bloggers out there. Please forgive me!

Alicia is always my first stop to see what's going on around here. Her latest Ten Things Tuesday post chronicles a lot of upcoming events in Cleveland. From the Cleveland International Film Festival (which I definitely plan to attend this year) to the next Emerging Chefs event (which I also plan to go to someday) - Alicia knows all when it comes to where to be in CLE! Unfortunately, I won't be attending this month's Ohio Blogging Association Cleveland meet-up, but if you can go I highly recommend it - they're doing a volunteer night at the Cleveland Foodbank that's sure to be a rewarding experience.

If I ever need motivation to get my butt out the door to exercise, I check out what Kali, Katie, Heather, or Jessica is up to. It's always nice to be able to empathize with others on the training end of things, seeing as we're all getting the same weather, running in the same races and stumbling across similar road blocks.

You should probably know that part of the reason I got started blogging was because I was obsessed with food blogs...searching for recipes is my favorite procrastination activity! Personally, one of the best places to find new recipes are from local bloggers, because we have to work with what is available to us - whatever is in season right now, in Northeast Ohio. Not only that, but there are some restaurant gems in this city that I had no idea even existed had it not been for some of the best CLE food bloggers: the one and only Chubby Cook, Hungry in Cleveland, Cleveland Foodie, Cleveland Food and Brews...to name a few.

I don't even have the words to explain how quickly blogging has become an important part of my life here and  has given me access to innumerable resources from blends that I have and have not met yet. Here's a list of some other Cleveland bloggers that are a daily presence in my google reader (and whom I lovingly follow/read instead of being productive):

Cleveland Dog Blog fun fact: Chris and I have both bounced between living in Hoboken, NJ and Cleveland/Akron!
Cleveland Food Goddess
Cooker Girl
FireSide Symphony I might be a little biased, but this kid is kind of awesome. He sings some sweet tunes too!
Fun Playing with Food
Happiness is a Hot Pierogi (Brandon, how do we pronounce this???)
iheartcleveland.com
kli:vlend
So I Married A Chef
The Daily Downward Dog I'll be taking one of Maria's yoga classes soon! I cannot wait!
The Dawg's Dish
WhyCLE? Who, by the way, has an awesome CLE blogroll - definitely check it out!

Okie doke, friends - just a little insight into some of the many reason I have quickly fallen in love with Cleveland (and it's bloggers, is that weird?) Even if I sometimes hate the weather. Even if I curse going out to run in the snow. Even if we basically have to give Pele' a bath every time he comes in from playing outside because he's so muddy.

I [heart] CLE!

Oh, and I know I am missing some very awesome blogs. And let's be real, I could always use another reason to spend hours reading blogs before I actually start on any real work when I get to my office in the mornings. So please...if you can think of anyone I'm missing let me know they're out there!

Love, peace, chicken grease (thought I'd change it up),

p.s. T-minus 9.5 days until the Tribe home opener....Let's Go Indians!

home is where the rump rests

I have never been more excited to leave 75 degree weather to go back to below freezing temperatures. Regardless of the warmth, this trip to Miami has been the most trying work trip I’ve ever been on…and it’s been the longest two and a half days of my life. Even though it’s been a week/weekend full of  stress, I’ve learned one very important thing... Cleveland is my home.

I got to Miami with the intention of getting off the airplane, grabbing my luggage, renting a car, driving the 15 minutes to downtown Miami and going right to bed as soon as I checked in. Well, as Brandon often says, “You can plan a plan, but you can never plan the results”

The hotel is circa 1 month old, which absolutely confused the GPS from the get go. So, I plug in the address that’s on my confirmation email and it takes me to some random gas station, which I later realized was about 15 minutes south of downtown Miami. The GPS was pretty vague in it’s directions to begin with and doesn’t really tell you until the very last minute what exit to take. It also had me merge onto a highway on the left side, only to make me merge onto a different highway, 500 feet later, on the right side. I called to ask what address to put in, which eventually got me to the vicinity (only AFTER two toll booths that I didn’t have any cash for) which turned out to be a shopping area next door to the American Airlines Arena. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a.k.a. a former Cavs player who now resides in Miami, had his face plastered ALL OVER the arena.

What a slap in the face…PLUS I STILL HAD NO CLUE WHERE THE HOTEL WAS. Finally, I called again and had the woman stay on the phone with me (even though I was on the last leg of my battery) until I made it to the hotel…2 hours later than I had anticipated.

The JW Marriot Marquis.

Definitely the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in, in my life. The staff absolutely made up for the miserable time it took getting there. I had a TV in the mirror in the bathroom, a tub AND a shower,  a 60” flat screen TV and when you call the front desk for help they answer the phone “Hello, Ms. DiLiberto, what can I do for you today?”

I had a run on Friday morning which was probably the best part of the whole trip, since it was gorgeously warm out and I ran along the water. Well, except for running past the basketball arena again and getting reminded that the Cavs got killed by the Heat the previous night.

Then it was just work…setup our booth, talk to docs, listen to lectures, work on a Saturday (boo) and FINALLY try to get back to the airport to get home. Although, Saturday morning, I got up early and meandered down to the fitness FLOOR and found a yoga studio to have a short practice in. 

The ride back to the airport was just as bad as the way in…it got me into the vicinity of the aiport and then I had to find my way around construction cones and one way streets until I found the rental car  return. All that to hurry up and wait; in concourse E, I made a shopping list for today’s Chrismukkah Cookie Baking Fiesta (more on that later), in concourse D, I played around with some new PLB header designs. Finally, after 7 hours of waiting, I was home.

That was a long winded way of saying that I have never truly appreciated Cleveland until now. It’s tough to leave Maui for colder weather and then it was tough to leave all my college friends to move somewhere that I didn’t know a soul. Now, I’m finally feeling comfortable enough to really call it home…and to really want  to come home!

I am home J