Muchacho Polaco

shooting

Posted on January 10, 2008 by Ryan

My friend Ben, who normally works weekdays doing research in the physics lab at the University, had yesterday off so we traveled out to the shooting range. It has been a long time since I have gone shooting and I have been looking forward to it for some time. We had beautiful weather for such an excursion. I shot three of his hand guns and undoubtably my favorite is the glock. I tend to shoot a lot better with it as well – so I hope to be able to purchase one soon. Thanks to Dana for all of the ammo that she gave Ben before she departed to Ireland!

Dave and Vivi came over for dinner last night. Yun made an awesome dinner and then we played some spades! Vivi and I were victorious. We are hoping to be able to play cards with Brian and Laurel next Wednesday.

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Carne Asada in El Bellotoso

Posted on January 2, 2008 by Ryan

Yun and I drove to Mexico yesterday to visit her mom and brothers. Dr. Vargas flew to Guadalajara the other day to spend time in Morelia with family. We decided to do a carne asada in the El Bellotoso mountains as it was such a nice day yesterday. It was an interesting journey and amazing scenery. The two trees in the center of the satellite image below is where we built our massive fire for dinner. Abe advised that if we were to continue on the road for another 45 minutes, we would come across a village in the mountains. That would be a fun trip for another day.

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We arrived shortly before sunset – here is a photo Yun took from her cell phone:

Yun’s birthday is coming up this month and fortunately I was given off a weekend so that we could do something fun. We found some inexpensive tickets to fly to Guadalajara on the same airline her father flew out of Hermosillo. It would be neat to find a cabin on Laguna de Chapala (the largest lake in Mexico) for a few days, so we’re considering that idea. Also, we found a great deal at a vineyard resort in Temecula, which is in Southern California. The latter would be more accomodating to our time contraints.

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financial crisis

Posted on January 1, 2008 by Ryan

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Congressman Ron Paul in the GOP presidential debate

Posted on December 26, 2007 by Ryan

Thus far, Ron Paul is the only viable candidate for the upcoming election. There are a plethora of videos online (google Ron Paul) that one can watch to appreciate his position on various issues. The one below is a helpful overview from the GOP debate held in South Carolina in May 2007.

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Cookbook experimentations

Posted on December 12, 2007 by Ryan

Yun and I have been eating some new and interesting things lately due to working our way through a cookbook my Mom had constructed and given us some time back. Last night Yun made ‘Chicken and Wild Rice Brunch’ which we thought was really good. Below is a picture and the recipie. I especially like this meal because of the almonds.

1 cup wild rice cooked
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 (10oz) can sliced mushrooms
1 cup of chicken broth
1 1/2 cups light cream
3 cups diced cooked chicken
2 tbsp. parsley
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Sauté onion in butter until opaque
Remove from heat and mix in flour
Drain mushrooms, reserving the liquid
Add the chicken broth to the mushroom liquid to measure 1 1/2 cups
Gradually add this to the flour mixture
Add cream and cook, stirring until thick
Add cooked rice, mushrooms, chicken, parsley, salt, and pepper
Put in a 2-quart casserole and sprinkle with almonds
Bake for 30 mins at 350 degrees
Allegedy serves 8, but not in our case (I had three helpings)

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Winter flowers

Posted on December 5, 2007 by Ryan

It is so nice out today. I cut the lawn and watered it and read for hours outside on the lawn. Eventually I was so relaxed that I fell asleep. We have some flowers outside that are trying hard to stay alive despite it getting cold at night.

This is a Mexican Sunflower – I bought the seeds last year from Park Seed:

mexicansunflower120507

Here are some Cosmos that I planted months ago that seem to be doing quite nicely:

And finally, we have a nice flower that Matt and Dana gave us upon their departure which we have somehow managed to keep alive. I don’t remember the name, so hopefully they can help with that:

Luke, Parker, Ben and I started our study of Mark Noll’s book “The Scandal of Evangelicalism” this morning at Ike’s Coffee shop – an interesting book and a great discussion to match.

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Belfast Picture Video

Posted on November 24, 2007 by Ryan

Our friend Matt made this sweet photo video of our time in Belfast:

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Belfast

Posted on November 16, 2007 by Ryan

We went to Belfast yesterday, departing Dublin by bus in the early morning. We arrived in Belfast in time for some yummy fish and chips, which reminded me a lot of my days in high school (especially with the brown gravy!) We toured throughout the city for most of the day – there are a lot of really neat things to see and do. We took a black cab tour (see picture below) which emphasized areas significant to the political/religious tension between the Protestants and Catholics. None of which is actually religious of course, but that is the category they like to use for some apparent reason.

We visited the Shankill area – a Protestant community which appears to be very poor and probably equally criminal. There were many interesting murals to see that related to the political/idealogical tensions. It was helpful to have the events explained to us and even more interesting to understand Northern Ireland’s relation to the Republic (NI is part of the UK, not the Republic of Ireland – Dublin is in the Republic). One immediate and obvious difference is that the police in the UK carry pistols whereas in the Republic (such as Dublin), they do not. The currency of course is another obvious difference – the pound is much stronger than the Euro. Nonetheless, prices weren’t too bad in Belfast and I suspect it will be similar in Scotland where we will be tomorrow.

We ended our evening in Belfast in a very traditional pub drinking Guiness! We played spades in the pub as well and it was nice to finally win! Though Matt and I just barely beat the ladies.

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Christ Church Dublin

Posted on November 16, 2007 by Ryan

On Wedesday, we went to Christ Church, a beautiful Anglican cathedral in downtown Dublin for their Choral Evensong. The cathedral’s architecture is absolutely amazing providing for an incredible acoustic to listen to the choir sing psalms, readings, and canticles. We may get a chance to go back next Wednesday for another service!