Thoughts from a long drive in 1.5 days:
-A late lunch at Domo is good fortification for a trip.
-The best thing about Nebraska may have been entering Iowa and simultaneously finding the Pats game on AM.
-Less radio stations to choose from actually make listening to music easier.
-Nebraska is Native American for "The flat area of land West of the Mississippi and East of the Rockies."
-A car full of stuff (including a crate of binders, a tub of books and a KitchenAid Stand Mixer) will decrease your MPG by about 5.
-When your ass starts to ache, you are only halfway through your trip.
-When your ass starts to hurt, you are only 3/4 through your trip.
-When the driver asks for a butt massage, you better hope to be 98% through your trip.
-Moisture makes the grass green and the trees plentiful, but it also makes the windshield foggy.
-There are a lot of stars in Nebraska and not a lot in Chicago. The sky is actually pink all night.
-Waiting for Sonic is always worth it, but likely to incur vast amounts of brain freeze.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Recent Foodage
With the onslaught of harvesting tomatoes and squashes (squashii? squashae?) from Kerry's garden and then the sudden cold front that pushed through, I have been slaving away quite a bit in the kitchen. (Sorry, no food porn pics this time.)
The first question is, of course, what to do with 3 lbs of garden tomatoes (some from Iowa and some from Aurora CO) and 4 summer squash bigger than your arm? First you make tomato sauce and, if you are lazy, you make it without peeling the tomatoes and manage to slice your finger in the meanwhile. Toss in some turkey and beef meatballs and you have a nice go to sauce in your fridge for whatever pasta might be kickin' it on the shelf. You look at the squash and think, these are just going to have to wait...perhaps they will get smaller if I let them rest on the counter for a few days. (Note: They will not. In fact, they might just grow more. Just like difficult people, giant garden squash refuse to disappear if you ignore them.)
Saturday, I went for a late Summer/early Fall harvest dinner theme. Made the Turnip and Potato Soup from Vegetarian Cooking for Everybody. Basically saute leeks, potatoes, turnips and garlic, then cook down and puree. Toss in salt, pepper and cream. A good idea is to not drop and break your blender. Then I tackled the squash: cut it into rounds and either roasted half and slow-cooked the other half them on the stove. Seasoned with some lemon pepper and italian seasoning and tossed with some Feta. It's very sunny looking. Finally, made the Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Pistachios. Kept it pretty close, but subbed lime juice which was pretty nice matched with the pistachios. Rounded the meal out with a little bread with roasted garlic spread and smoked sea salt and a peach cobbler.
For the party, I cooked up some chocolate gemelli I picked up at the farmers' market, tossed with some raspberries and strawberries plus some homemade whipped cream for a dessert pasta salad. Also made a coconut rum cake by adapting the Little Lime Soaked Coconut Cakes from In The Sweet Kitchen. Followed the recipe for the cake, used low-fat coconut milk (which worked fine), added an egg for altitude and cooked in a square cake pan. Made the lime soaking syrup by dissolving the sugar and lime juice with rum rather than water and cooked it down to more of a thick syrupy glaze (careful not to burn!!). After the cake was done, drizzled with rum, glazed and then sprinkled toasted coconut over it and drizzle a little more glaze to help the coconut adhere. It's a nice contrast between a sweet cake and a limey tang.
Finally, Monday was a nice day for using the oven since it was freezing out (hail in the AM!). If you are going to spend money on heating the house, you might as well make it smell good and have a tasty meal, too. Made the Moroccan Roast Chicken (my favorite roast chicken recipe, possibly) and a quinoa pilaf with diced summer squash, onions and dill. A nice protein packed meal! Lots of leftover chicken that would be good for pita sandwiches, maybe with some hummus or baba ganoush.
That's all I have for now and with loads of leftovers, there may be a stoppage in cooking for a bit. Discovered that the soup reheats well with some manchego or drunken goat sprinkled over it...the nuttiness is a nice contrast against the sweetness and creaminess.
The first question is, of course, what to do with 3 lbs of garden tomatoes (some from Iowa and some from Aurora CO) and 4 summer squash bigger than your arm? First you make tomato sauce and, if you are lazy, you make it without peeling the tomatoes and manage to slice your finger in the meanwhile. Toss in some turkey and beef meatballs and you have a nice go to sauce in your fridge for whatever pasta might be kickin' it on the shelf. You look at the squash and think, these are just going to have to wait...perhaps they will get smaller if I let them rest on the counter for a few days. (Note: They will not. In fact, they might just grow more. Just like difficult people, giant garden squash refuse to disappear if you ignore them.)
Saturday, I went for a late Summer/early Fall harvest dinner theme. Made the Turnip and Potato Soup from Vegetarian Cooking for Everybody. Basically saute leeks, potatoes, turnips and garlic, then cook down and puree. Toss in salt, pepper and cream. A good idea is to not drop and break your blender. Then I tackled the squash: cut it into rounds and either roasted half and slow-cooked the other half them on the stove. Seasoned with some lemon pepper and italian seasoning and tossed with some Feta. It's very sunny looking. Finally, made the Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Pistachios. Kept it pretty close, but subbed lime juice which was pretty nice matched with the pistachios. Rounded the meal out with a little bread with roasted garlic spread and smoked sea salt and a peach cobbler.
For the party, I cooked up some chocolate gemelli I picked up at the farmers' market, tossed with some raspberries and strawberries plus some homemade whipped cream for a dessert pasta salad. Also made a coconut rum cake by adapting the Little Lime Soaked Coconut Cakes from In The Sweet Kitchen. Followed the recipe for the cake, used low-fat coconut milk (which worked fine), added an egg for altitude and cooked in a square cake pan. Made the lime soaking syrup by dissolving the sugar and lime juice with rum rather than water and cooked it down to more of a thick syrupy glaze (careful not to burn!!). After the cake was done, drizzled with rum, glazed and then sprinkled toasted coconut over it and drizzle a little more glaze to help the coconut adhere. It's a nice contrast between a sweet cake and a limey tang.
Finally, Monday was a nice day for using the oven since it was freezing out (hail in the AM!). If you are going to spend money on heating the house, you might as well make it smell good and have a tasty meal, too. Made the Moroccan Roast Chicken (my favorite roast chicken recipe, possibly) and a quinoa pilaf with diced summer squash, onions and dill. A nice protein packed meal! Lots of leftover chicken that would be good for pita sandwiches, maybe with some hummus or baba ganoush.
That's all I have for now and with loads of leftovers, there may be a stoppage in cooking for a bit. Discovered that the soup reheats well with some manchego or drunken goat sprinkled over it...the nuttiness is a nice contrast against the sweetness and creaminess.
Things to do in Denver to Feel Alive!
Had a couple sets of visitors the last few weeks and have spent some time doing the tour guide thing. This last week, it was JW's turn to visit the mile high city and we did it up pretty well.First up, the new New Belgium Brewery Tour. Now you can reserve a spot online and not worry about getting there way early to hope for tickets! We saw the behind the scenes with our tour guide, Tyler, who may be the coolest beer geek ever. You now get 5 tastings over the course of the tour and the choices are made by each guide. He started us out with a Fat Tire, standard issue, but a must have. Then he moved us into the crrrr-azy world of Lips of Faith beers: Biere de Mars and La Folie (cask-conditioned sour ale that most didn't love, but I rather did and had a smidge extra). I think Tyler liked that I had tried all these exotic (beer geek) beers. :) Then to the twisty slide that I did not take because I was wearing a skirt (boo!) and we got to try the Hoptober (hoppy, but dry and really well balanced so the hops don't stomp on your taste buds; website says it's made from a blend of 5 hops...might be the only hoppy beer I will drink from now on). But the piece de resistance was that we got to sample the Fall Wild Ale before it even was released! You can go to the website for the info - it claims to be "Fall in a Glass" and Joe and I thought it was just plain liquid happiness. Sadly, it was not to be released until Tuesday and will only be on draft so it was such a teaser. We were frantically making room in the schedule for another trip to Fort Collins on Tuesday to grab some more. In addition to the tour beers, you also get a token to taste one more from the taps at the Tasting Room. I had the Dandelion Ale (made with real dandelions!) and Joe tried the 1554 as well as a sip or two of some Mothership Wit. What a great time and this was only Day 1!!!
We also went to Boulder to go to Mesa Labs in the Foothills and then back over to have BeauJo's with Marisa, Sean and Owen. Nice long day.Other highlights include riding to REI and the Tattered Cover, awesome piratey fun at the 1st Annual Deckhand Dave and Captain Kerri Talk Like a Pirate Party complete with giant pirate beer chest and grog, brunch with T&L (and kiddos), ultimate, the first real snow of the season in the mountains and that lovely Fall-time hail in the city, darts at the Cricket during MNF and a tour of the Mint. Also we went to the Rox game Tue night in the 50 degree drizzle and had a really great time with 10,000 of brave-hearted souls. 2 words...Crazy Nachos. It really wasn't that bad in the rain with the right gear on.... See the rain and the near empty rock pile? So close to the field I could have grabbed Tulo's ass.
The only downside of the week were losing at Scrabble and the Pats losing to the Jets. Guess I am starting Roethlisberger and benching sweet sweet Tom Brady now.
Between this and Rob & Beth's visit, I may be almost tapped out.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Honeycrispin'
Another gorgeous weekend in Chicago. The primary goal for this trip was to go apple picking in IN and get some delicious honeycrisps. Boy did we ever! 1/2 a bushel or ~52 apples were gotten and at $0.85/lb, it was quite a deal! Since we were having people over for dinner (Sustainable Seafood Paella a la Joe), I clearly needed to make dessert. Made a sour-cherry streusel pie with some of the leftover sour cherries from before and then a double-crusted apple pie with the honeycrisps and a couple grannys laying around. The butter/cream cheese pie crust is much more of a challenge with neither a food processor nor a rolling pin. But a Nalgene filled with water is fairly sufficient. We also had dates stuffed with goat cheese, almond stuffed dates wrapped in bacon and Catalan spinach with Kalamata olives. A ton of food and great company to wrap up the morning apple trip. Hooray! And a nice way to use up pie crust scraps is to dust with cinnamon and sugar and bake up in the oven to make some nice little snacks. Mmmm.In addition, I made some spiced apple butter and some cinnamon-ginger applesauce with some more of the plethora of apples with still 20 leftover for some good eating/fruit bowl filling. Still a little warm these days to truly feel like Fall so maybe another trip for Fujis and Mutsus later in the season.
Also, we picked up some lovely sweet corn (good enough to eat raw), kettle corn, venison meat sticks, and grape twists at the farm stand/store at the farm. Joe had the good idea of having a picnic in the park when we got back to the city and we had some of our treats while watching some little leaguers horse around the baseball field. All in all, a pretty gosh-darn great day before Labor Day.
(Also over the weekend - 30 miles on the bike for brunch at Frontera, errands and Sox-Sox at Comiskey on Saturday; 19 miles on bike to go to Montrose for beach pick-up in the fog on Monday; 12 miles on the bike to meet Beth for a delicious lunch at Tre Kronor and an apple butter/applesauce for books and keys exchange on Tuesday.)
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Dreams of Things to Come
Thoughts I had during my de-stressing run:
1. Outsoles that split from the bottoms of trail runners mean that the shoes suck, I don't care how fancy and well reviewed the brand might be.
2. Wilting sunflowers and pumpkins that suddenly appear mean that Fall is a-comin'.
3. If your baby lost a pacifier on the sidewalk in a neighborhood full of dogs, would it really ever be worth rescuing?
4. Pink scooter + pink capris + pink leather riding jacket + pink helmet = waaaay too much pink.
5. Guys with long legs who pass me while running really suck.
6. If you interview a person and tell them you will call them next week, you shouldn't wait till Friday of next week. If that. Cuz they'll be unproductive and sit around then have to go for a de-stressing run.
1. Outsoles that split from the bottoms of trail runners mean that the shoes suck, I don't care how fancy and well reviewed the brand might be.
2. Wilting sunflowers and pumpkins that suddenly appear mean that Fall is a-comin'.
3. If your baby lost a pacifier on the sidewalk in a neighborhood full of dogs, would it really ever be worth rescuing?
4. Pink scooter + pink capris + pink leather riding jacket + pink helmet = waaaay too much pink.
5. Guys with long legs who pass me while running really suck.
6. If you interview a person and tell them you will call them next week, you shouldn't wait till Friday of next week. If that. Cuz they'll be unproductive and sit around then have to go for a de-stressing run.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Empire Strikes Back at the Beach
So last week I went back to good ol' Chi-town to visit folks and play in Sandblast 2009. I was recruited to the dark side by Cap'n Joe of The Empire Strikes Back and version 2.0 was fabulously fun, spreading the joy of Pimm's and strawberry gin and tonics to all.
The first thing I did when I got to Chicago, however, was make a batch of lemon bars using the excellent recipe a la The Joy of Cooking. Fresh squeezed lemons, mind you...don't be using that bottled nonsense. Using some of the farm fresh eggs that Joe had resulted in the best batch of lemon bars to date. Sorry, no photos of it. Too much excitement for food porn.
Then onto Piece for some tasty pizza and microbrews. Oh Piece, how I have missed you. We were able to catch up with some folks post-league as well which was nice. The kids are getting younger or I am getting older. Or maybe a little from column A and a little from column B.
Thursday was dim sum at Shui Wah (very yummy) and then some serious museuming. We went to the Field and saw the Pirates exhibit. Very interesting and informative. Did you know the pirates went as far north as Canada? Unsurprisingly, Providence was also a haunt of theirs. Interesting to learn that conditions on the pirate ships were actually better than on the slave trafficking ships. Then it was to the astronomatarium (aka, the Planetarium) which is way bigger than I thought. Some cool exhibits and we also got to see a show about COSMIC COLLISIONS narrated by the Sundance Kid. Too tired at that point to hit the Art Institute and we headed back just prior to some major rain so that I could make dinner.
Dinner was homemade chicken lettuce wraps made from a small fryer that I butchered. Jacques Pepin and Julia Child would have been proud, I think. Such cute little breasts. Hah! Add some crusty bread with homemade aioli and some Piece beer and it was a perfect treat for an educational day. There's the lord of the manor with part 1 of his delicious homemade meals. Dessert was a mix of lemon bars, strawberry cake and peanut butter pie. Yummers.
Friday I spent part of the mornign pitting the sour cherries Joe had obtained for 1 of the dishes I wanted to make and headed out later in the day to meet up with Robert and Beth. I got to examine the havoc wreaked on his right thumb from his unfortunate ultimate misadventures. After getting them settled in somewhat, addressing the vehicle snafu and generally harassing JH and Crispy, we went and gallavanted around Chinatown before meeting Crispy at Lao Schezwan for dinner. Very good spicy food and an extraordinarily long menu. They do not skimp on spice or garlic there.
Saturday and Sunday were Sandblast days! Since I had the use of Robert's car but needed to get him in order for him to fulfill his volunteering duties, I was able to get to the beach wicked early both days and relax and strech in the cool summer morning. Got some nice shots of the crews at work.
I must say, however, that I am a big proponent of having 1 tall (6'4") person pace all the fields to ensure adequate length, width and general consistency. Just a thought. The Empire Strikes Back v 2.0 was super-fun with lots of great folks and although we went 0-4 day 1, we went 3-0 day 2 and improved our ranking by 4 or 5 spots. Sweet. We had some great plays and I had 5 scores (including a "sky" over the 1 gal I played that was shorter than me) and some good D's. Even dove a couple times, but I wouldn't call them lay-outs.
Sunday night, I made Little Lamb Meatballs with Sour Cherries from "Good Day for a Picnic" 
and sauteed some swiss chard with onions. Toss in some toast, more aioli, the remaining Piece beer and some dessert and it was a nice way to end 2 days at the beach. I had forgotten just how pervasive sand can be, however. All that ultimate meant no energy to take any pictures of the meal. Oh well.
Monday was my last full day. I got up and endeavored to make Joe's pre-lated birthday cake and then Joe made some delicious French Toast (the key is in the ratio of milk to egg, I am told) and superb farm-raised bacon. Fortified with a fantastic breakfast (the best meal ever!), we hobbled out to catch the Metra and stroll the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I really love the Japanese gardens and the Fruit and Vegetable gardens there. We even saw borage, the traditional garnish for a Pimm's cup! Although Joe could not decide on a favorite tree, I decided his favorite flower was the dahlia, also known to us as the purple explosion. At the aquatic gardens, we spotted a giant fish hiding among the lilypads, but no frogs jumping on the lilypads. We managed a game of Scrabble by the lake (I lost) and got our achey selves back to the city for some well-deserved burgers, fries and beers at Monk's Pub. I like any place that lets you throw peanut shells on the floor. I iced Lemon-Blueberry cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (a top 5 requested cake these days) and thus concluded my 6 days of kitchen servitude. What a great time....
The first thing I did when I got to Chicago, however, was make a batch of lemon bars using the excellent recipe a la The Joy of Cooking. Fresh squeezed lemons, mind you...don't be using that bottled nonsense. Using some of the farm fresh eggs that Joe had resulted in the best batch of lemon bars to date. Sorry, no photos of it. Too much excitement for food porn.
Then onto Piece for some tasty pizza and microbrews. Oh Piece, how I have missed you. We were able to catch up with some folks post-league as well which was nice. The kids are getting younger or I am getting older. Or maybe a little from column A and a little from column B.
Thursday was dim sum at Shui Wah (very yummy) and then some serious museuming. We went to the Field and saw the Pirates exhibit. Very interesting and informative. Did you know the pirates went as far north as Canada? Unsurprisingly, Providence was also a haunt of theirs. Interesting to learn that conditions on the pirate ships were actually better than on the slave trafficking ships. Then it was to the astronomatarium (aka, the Planetarium) which is way bigger than I thought. Some cool exhibits and we also got to see a show about COSMIC COLLISIONS narrated by the Sundance Kid. Too tired at that point to hit the Art Institute and we headed back just prior to some major rain so that I could make dinner.
Dinner was homemade chicken lettuce wraps made from a small fryer that I butchered. Jacques Pepin and Julia Child would have been proud, I think. Such cute little breasts. Hah! Add some crusty bread with homemade aioli and some Piece beer and it was a perfect treat for an educational day. There's the lord of the manor with part 1 of his delicious homemade meals. Dessert was a mix of lemon bars, strawberry cake and peanut butter pie. Yummers.
Friday I spent part of the mornign pitting the sour cherries Joe had obtained for 1 of the dishes I wanted to make and headed out later in the day to meet up with Robert and Beth. I got to examine the havoc wreaked on his right thumb from his unfortunate ultimate misadventures. After getting them settled in somewhat, addressing the vehicle snafu and generally harassing JH and Crispy, we went and gallavanted around Chinatown before meeting Crispy at Lao Schezwan for dinner. Very good spicy food and an extraordinarily long menu. They do not skimp on spice or garlic there.
Saturday and Sunday were Sandblast days! Since I had the use of Robert's car but needed to get him in order for him to fulfill his volunteering duties, I was able to get to the beach wicked early both days and relax and strech in the cool summer morning. Got some nice shots of the crews at work.
I must say, however, that I am a big proponent of having 1 tall (6'4") person pace all the fields to ensure adequate length, width and general consistency. Just a thought. The Empire Strikes Back v 2.0 was super-fun with lots of great folks and although we went 0-4 day 1, we went 3-0 day 2 and improved our ranking by 4 or 5 spots. Sweet. We had some great plays and I had 5 scores (including a "sky" over the 1 gal I played that was shorter than me) and some good D's. Even dove a couple times, but I wouldn't call them lay-outs.
Sunday night, I made Little Lamb Meatballs with Sour Cherries from "Good Day for a Picnic" 
and sauteed some swiss chard with onions. Toss in some toast, more aioli, the remaining Piece beer and some dessert and it was a nice way to end 2 days at the beach. I had forgotten just how pervasive sand can be, however. All that ultimate meant no energy to take any pictures of the meal. Oh well.
Monday was my last full day. I got up and endeavored to make Joe's pre-lated birthday cake and then Joe made some delicious French Toast (the key is in the ratio of milk to egg, I am told) and superb farm-raised bacon. Fortified with a fantastic breakfast (the best meal ever!), we hobbled out to catch the Metra and stroll the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I really love the Japanese gardens and the Fruit and Vegetable gardens there. We even saw borage, the traditional garnish for a Pimm's cup! Although Joe could not decide on a favorite tree, I decided his favorite flower was the dahlia, also known to us as the purple explosion. At the aquatic gardens, we spotted a giant fish hiding among the lilypads, but no frogs jumping on the lilypads. We managed a game of Scrabble by the lake (I lost) and got our achey selves back to the city for some well-deserved burgers, fries and beers at Monk's Pub. I like any place that lets you throw peanut shells on the floor. I iced Lemon-Blueberry cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (a top 5 requested cake these days) and thus concluded my 6 days of kitchen servitude. What a great time....
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Holy Whole Foods, Batman!
So I made the error of stopping at Whole Foods on my way home from the gym the other night in search of vegetable chips. Alas, those did not seem to exist, but as the store was in the midst of closing up, I was able to meander for goodies without the mad crush of weekend shoppers and was able to replenish the honey container.
One find was the habanero green chili pork sausage that was at the deli. And when I say habanero, I mean it! After poked the sausage to make sure it was grilled to perfection, the juices from the outside were plenty fiery. Definitely did not disappoint.
Then, of course, I wound up wandering to the cheese section. (This might be a good time to mention that I was already hungry before I got to the gym so now I was grocery shopping while hungry, thirty and electrolyte-depleted. Whoops.) Happily the cheese mongers had already left for the day - sometimes I find them to be just a smidge condescending and/or pushy when all I want to do is browse. Well, there was a little basket of what I like to call "trial cheeses" that I love to rustle through to see what little gems I can bring home to try. Well, this time I hit the jackpot. There was a "Legendary Goat Gouda" and with a name like that, how can you resist? It is delicious - a somewhat hard, off-white cheese in a green rind. It is nutty and smells almost like a manchego. Very good snacking cheese. The second one I grabbed was the "Long Clawson White Stilton with Lemon" because, well, I am a sucker for anything citrus. It is more of a dessert cheese, semi-soft and slightly stinky, but much milder and sweet with chunks of candied lemon. Definitely not a savory selection, but a nice way to end a meal and satisfy the sweet taste bud. And since I was refilling the honey jar, I had to grab a wedge of very ripe brie (yes! the runnier the better...) to have with the honey.
One thing that I tried at my friend's house that I will share with is this delicious little appetizer/snack. Get some triscuits, brie and honey. Melt a little chunk of brie onto the triscuit in the toaster oven and serve with a dollop of honey. Also top with a walnut or almond if you are so inclined.
One find was the habanero green chili pork sausage that was at the deli. And when I say habanero, I mean it! After poked the sausage to make sure it was grilled to perfection, the juices from the outside were plenty fiery. Definitely did not disappoint.
Then, of course, I wound up wandering to the cheese section. (This might be a good time to mention that I was already hungry before I got to the gym so now I was grocery shopping while hungry, thirty and electrolyte-depleted. Whoops.) Happily the cheese mongers had already left for the day - sometimes I find them to be just a smidge condescending and/or pushy when all I want to do is browse. Well, there was a little basket of what I like to call "trial cheeses" that I love to rustle through to see what little gems I can bring home to try. Well, this time I hit the jackpot. There was a "Legendary Goat Gouda" and with a name like that, how can you resist? It is delicious - a somewhat hard, off-white cheese in a green rind. It is nutty and smells almost like a manchego. Very good snacking cheese. The second one I grabbed was the "Long Clawson White Stilton with Lemon" because, well, I am a sucker for anything citrus. It is more of a dessert cheese, semi-soft and slightly stinky, but much milder and sweet with chunks of candied lemon. Definitely not a savory selection, but a nice way to end a meal and satisfy the sweet taste bud. And since I was refilling the honey jar, I had to grab a wedge of very ripe brie (yes! the runnier the better...) to have with the honey.
One thing that I tried at my friend's house that I will share with is this delicious little appetizer/snack. Get some triscuits, brie and honey. Melt a little chunk of brie onto the triscuit in the toaster oven and serve with a dollop of honey. Also top with a walnut or almond if you are so inclined.
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