We always love seafood, but we especially love it when the temperatures start to rise and we need something light to eat. Here are helpful sites from the Blue Ocean Institute and the Monterey Bay Aquarium that have guides to sustainable seafood choices.

Horse at Pogues Run

When we're traveling home from downtown on I-70, we like to jokingly ask each other if the horse will be out near Pogue's Run. Of course, he always is. We're not sure why he's there but he always brings smiles to our faces.

The good news just keeps coming for Indianapolis area yogis and yoginis. Not only do we have Rolf Gates coming to Cityoga in October, inspiring local teacher Gina Radice will be teaching her uplifting 2 hour classes on August 28th and on 10/9 (the October one will be with DJ Stefan) at Invoke.

Long time readers know that we're big fans of AMC's Mad Men so we're quite excited about the premiere of the third season on August 16th. If you're a fan too, here's a fun link to recreate yourself in swanky '60s style. Pictured here are Mrs. WYA! (that's right coming into the office with a martini) and Mr. WYA! who has coffee because they had the "happy to serve you" Greek cup that Mr. WYA! likes to get when we're in New York.

Curls Gone Wild- Hooray for TIGI'S Catwalk Curl Amplifier

There's a certain point during the summer that those of us with naturally curly hair wave our white flags. We realize that the humidity has climbed up to the point where no amount of flatironing or Frizz-Ease will keep our locks smooth and straight. At that point, we either pull the hair back until September, take to hats, or resign ourselves to looking like something the cat dragged in for the duration of the summer. The number of products on the market that will allegedly help is overwhelming but, when Mrs. WYA! read raves about TIGI's Catwalk Curls Rock Curl Amplifier in Time Out New York, she decided to give it a try. We found it at the Nora Target and we have to say it's good stuff. Of course, the directions say to use it in conjunction with their other products but it worked well just using our regular shampoo and conditioner. You put it on very wet hair and then let it air dry (we haven't experimented with seeing how it looked by blow drying). Use it judiciously, too much and the hair will be crunchy.

Link to TIGI official site

Pre-Code Musicals on TCM tonight

Oh we love those spicy films that filled the cinemas before the Hays Code was enforced in 1934. TCM is airing an evening of Pre-Code Musicals tonight including several Busby Berkeley films and films with stars like Bette Davis and Ann Sothern. We have not one but two boxed set collections of Busby Berkeley movies so we're obviously big fans of the genre and look forward to seeing the films we don't own.

Mrs. WYA! will never forgive herself for not learning how to sew from her Grandma. If she knew how, she could be making some of the stylish clothes and bags from the patterns at Burdastyle.com (many are even free!).

Barking Dog Cafe- Indianapolis, IN

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, New Castle Ale Beer Cheese Soup:

Crab Roll:

Shrimp Roll:

We knew that Barking Dog Cafe made good soup because, as we recall, they were usually one of our favorites at the wonderful Souper Bowl fundraiser that used to be held downtown at City Market (and that we wish they'd start doing again). This, however, was our first visit to their cafe at 49th and Pennsylvania. Their website lists the specials of the day which is appreciated. The big hit of our selections was the soup of the day, a New Castle Ale Beer Cheese Soup. Mr. WYA! declared it to be possibly the best thing he's ever eaten. We wanted to try some of their "Down East" specialties so we got the crab roll and the shrimp roll. At around $14 and $8 respectively, we thought the prices were a bit high. Of the two, we preferred the crab roll (the shrimp one didn't seem to have much flavor). The crab was plentiful but, for the price, we thought that we'd be more wow-ed. The sandwiches come with a choice of chips or a cup of very tasty coleslaw.

We would go back because we know we can count on great soups and we would try their veggie burger and their "thin and crispy on the edges" regular burger. We will be sure to take cash because they don't accept debit/credit cards.

115 E. 49th Street

Indianapolis, IN

(If you'd like an East Coast style clam-bake for a fraction of the airfare, you might want to check out Barking Dog's "Down East" Clam Bake on August 1st. Details are on their website. )

Indiana Medical History Museum- Indianapolis, IN

The amphitheater:

A beautiful copper and tile table:

We absolutely love walking into a room with an old timey picture of the room and virtually nothing has changed:

Evidently, the tile counters were hard to clean but they sure look pretty:

The Histology Laboratory:

Finials from the now torn down asylum:

The Medicinal Plant Garden:

We're into industrial and decaying things so we loved the old power plant:

Even if you're not a medical history buff, we highly recommend a visit to the Indiana Medical History Museum on the grounds of the former Central State Hospital. We think that we might have heard about it before but we have to give credit to Baikinange for getting us there this past weekend. Go for the architecture if nothing else. It has been so well preserved and every room from the teaching amphitheatre to the laboratory to the library is just beautiful. It only costs $5 for adults to take a tour (which we found thorough and very interesting) and even less for children, students, and seniors. It is really a beautiful, fascinating place and a unique window into the history of the study of the human body and mind. If you're not into medicine or history, just go and gawk and the gorgeous woodwork. In Indianapolis, with all of the new buildings, it seems like you have to dig a bit to find a place with a sense of history. This place has it and it is worth going out of your way to spend a some time visiting.

(Now that we've been to the Central State site, we might have to buy the DVD that tells about all of its paranormal activity.)

The Indianapolis Vegetarian Society let us know that they have what sounds like will be a very fun and delicious event coming up on August 15th. It's their Savor the Summer Garden event hosted by the Chef's Academy. The Chef's Academy will create a buffet of vegetarian foods including dishes such as chickpea mini-burgers and lavender and lemon sorbet- yum! Regular readers know that we're not vegetarians, but we eat like we are a lot of them time. Mrs. WYA! in particular loves vegetables and finds that Chef Mr. WYA! can do most anything with beans, tofu, or tempeh that can be done with meat (in fact, we can't wait to try a bean meatloaf recipe that we just found). We're pretty sure we won't be booted out because we're not vegetarians so, if you're not either, you might want to check it out if, for no other reason, to get some creative ideas for preparing vegetables.

Tickets are only $12 for adults and $6 for children 4-10 (3 and under are free). Seating is limited and tickets are only available in advance at Whole Foods (in Nora and Carmel) and at Brownpapertickets.com. The event is from 1P-3P and we look forward to being there.

Scenes from US 40 (Brazil to Terre Haute)

On a recent trip to Terre Haute, we decided to take US 40 instead of I-70 to see if there were any cute cities or signs along the way. The best luck that we had in finding things that we like was in the stretch between Brazil and Terre Haute.

The Clabber Girl billboard greets you as you reach Terre Haute:

We were hoping for more vintage motel signs along US40 but this one in Terre Haute was one of the few that we spotted:

We thought Kleptz restaurant/bar was cute:

Awesome sign in Seelyville:
Lynn's Pharmacy (with a soda fountain!) in Brazil:

We just liked the lettering on this Brazil telephone building:

The Clay County Courthouse:

We liked the atomic looking sculpture outside of The Freeze restaurant/ice cream shop:

Scenes from... Greencastle, IN

At one corner of the courthouse is an inspiring statue of a Doughboy:

One of the nooks of goodies at Eitel's Flowers. We liked browsing at this shop and we liked it even more when we found out that it has been a fixture in Greencastle for over 100 years!

Greencastle's Carnegie library:



The imposing post office:



An owner of a shop on Courthouse Square apparently has an affinity for putting hats on stuffed tigers- it cracked us up:

Treasures on the Square was our back-up plan in case we couldn't eat at Almost Home but Treasures on the Square isn't open on Saturdays in the summer anyway. Maybe we'll get a chance to try them another time.

Did you know that Greencastle has 1 of only 2 WWII German Buzz Bombs (the forerunner of the Japanese kamikaze) in the U.S.? The other one is in storage at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. This is the kind of obscure point of interest that we stumble upon and enjoy in small towns. (thanks to the Putnam County website for the info)

The Greencastle courthouse:

We liked this old electric box on one of the buildings around courthouse square:

We also liked the RCA signage:

Almost Home Restaurant- Greencastle, IN

Vegetable Panini:

Pork Burger:

Strawberry Pizza:

On a road trip to Terre Haute this weekend, we turned off of US40 and headed to downtown Greencastle to have lunch at Almost Home Restaurant/Tea Room. Evidently, a lot of people make this restaurant their destination because the joint was jumping so much before noon that we had to wait several minutes for anyone to see us and offer to seat us. It was smooth sailing after that though and we enjoyed our lunch very much. The specials board had a vanilla tea on it that we had to try (we love places that have a tea of the day). It was unseasonably chilly but we still enjoyed it iced. For lunch, we ordered the Pork Burger and the Vegetable Panini. They came with chips or fries or you could pay a little extra for fruit which we elected to do with the panini.

The Vegetable Panini was really delicious. It has some cheddar jack cheese on it but not too much so that the roasted red peppers and and pesto mayo really got to shine alongside the mushrooms, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes.

The pork burger comes with lettuce, tomato, and onion. The condiments are served on the side. The burger was moist and tasty. It was nice to see this State Fair favorite in a nice sit down environment. It came with a generous serving of seasoned fries.

We were pretty full after our sandwiches but we knew that Almost Home was renowned for its desserts so we had to order at least one. We went with one of their signature items, the Strawberry Pizza. They even kindly have the recipe for this posted on their website. While it was tasty (strawberries, cream cheese, and crust- how could it not be?), it reminded us of a dessert that a friend made for us years ago that was similar but had crushed pretzels as the crust (much like this recipe from cooks.com). The saltiness of the pretzels really complimented the sweetness. However, if you've never had that dish and don't have that flavor memory to compare it with, Almost Home's version is completely satisfying.