The Eye of SlyGly

Resolutions Update: First 30 Days

2011-01-30T18:30:00.002-06:00

Here is how I have done so far in 2011:

1. Establish routine writing time each week.
-I have stuck to this so far. It is a relief to have a set schedule, a sacred hour, a mandatory meeting time, for writing. I can't feel guilty for not being productive in other things during this time. I can't say that I have made much progress on my various writing projects during these sessions yet. But at least I haven't forgotten them, and growth is happening in other directions.

2. Run two races this year.
-Info for spring races is vague and disorganized from what I have searched so far. I must settle on a date soon, so that the training schedule can follow. I have been running, but aimlessly (well, as aimless as one can be on a treadmill). Fortunately, January has come to a close injury-free.

3. Refinance the mortgage.
-Haven't begun. I did receive an encouragement to do so from my bank in the mail, and I suppose I might follow through soon.

4. Read at least one book from my To-Read list every month.
I read three:
1) Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper (pretty good, not very memorable)
2) A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (I have mixed feelings, but certainly memorable)
3) Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey (Loved it, loved it, loved it. Why had I not even heard of Josephine Tey until recently? What else am I missing out on?)
4) I also began and gave up on Dante's Divine Comedy (for the Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition series that I am working through).

But the two-read list isn't any shorter. The Susan Cooper book is part of a five book series, and I listed it as "The Dark Is Rising series", so it can't be removed yet until all are read (or I give it up, but I am finding book #2 to be better than #1 so far). And then I added another line: "More Josephine Tey books", so that won't be removed for a long time, as it is unlikely that I will tire of her any time soon. And then I added at least five more random books to the list. The Dante was never on the list to start. So, the only line that was actually removed from the list was the Goolrick book. Oh well.

Books Read in 2010

2011-01-01T20:09:00.002-06:00

In order:

1. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
2. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
3. Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog
4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
5. Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
5. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
6. The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
7. Foundling by D.M. Cornish
8. Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish
9. Spirituality for the Rest of Us by Larry Osborne
10. The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty
11. Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
12. Faithful Place by Tana French
13. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (REREAD)
14. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (REREAD)
15. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
16. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
17. How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
18. Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
19: The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming
20. Light Boxes by Shane Jones
21. The Odyssey by Homer
22. Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede
23. Metamorphoses by Ovid
24. The Aeneid by Virgil
25. Factotum by D.M. Cornish
26. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney
27. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemison

The Ones That Impressed Me The Most:
-The Aeneid
-The Lincolns
-Montana 1948 (AMAZING)
-Un Lun Dun
-Factotum
-Half Broke Horses
-The Woman in White

2011 Resolutions

2011-01-01T19:26:00.003-06:00

I am back. When I left blogging, I LEFT. I stopped liking it, very suddenly, for no reason. And I was too busy eating from my CSA box all summer and fall. It will probably happen again. But I had to come back for New Years resolutions. It's my favorite blogging time of the year.

First, a review of the 2010 resolutions:

1. Buy a piano.

DONE, FINALLY. I am SO GLAD that I made that resolution, because the time limit was the only thing that made me do it in the end. Excuses and unfounded fears delayed this purchase until 3 days ago. I fell in love with a new acoustic upright, to be delivered in two days. I've already signed up for a semester of lessons (starting mid-January) and bought a giant stack of sheet music and exercise books. SO EXCITING. Maybe I'll post a photo of it later, if I don't quit blogging again before then.

2. Plant a raspberry bush.

DONE. And I ate, like 3 raspberries from it, before every leaf and bud was devoured by bugs. Very doubtful that it will survive for another year.

3. Complete a short story.

Not done. No good excuse for it. I did write a fourth NaNoWriMo novel (also unfinished) and took an eight-week writing course in 2010. Lots of writings, but no endings.

4. Complete the Couch-to-5K plan.

DONE. Ran a 5K and beat previous time. Found shoes that magically cured injuries.

5. Read Anna Karenina.

DONE. If I weren't so terrified for my safety, trying to live among the towers of unread books around me, I would find more fat Russian novels to pass the time this winter.

Assessment: 4 out of 5 is not shabby.

RESOLUTIONS FOR 2011:

1. Establish routine time segment for creative writing each Sunday evening for a minimum of one hour. If the appointment must be interrupted for a necessary event (illness, travel, etc), then the time will be made up on another day within that week.

2. Run two races this year. First will be a 5K. If this proceeds injury-free, then the second race shall be a 10K. (Otherwise, two 5Ks.)

3. Refinance the mortgage.
(I have been putting this off for years. Since I have a piano now, clearly I will not be moving anywhere, ever.)

4. Read at least one book from my To-Read list every month.
This is more difficult than it sounds, now that I am entangled in multiple reading projects. I am also working through a CD lecture series on Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, and reading all the works that are described therein (and learning LOTS). And I am doing a Women of Fantasy book club, which will be a book per month, with the possibility of being drawn into a series. And then, I am continually assaulted by random beautiful books every time I walk through the library to find something from my To-Read list. So, in an effort to rein in the exponential growth of the To-Read list, I've got to cross off at least one book per month from it.

Anyone else have resolutions for 2011?

Last Week

2010-04-19T19:35:00.004-05:00

My whole house is newly recarpeted and I have a new roof and gutters. Trixie and I have had enough of hammering for a while.
Trixie LOVES the carpet. She likes the springy plushiness beneath her tummy. So do I. It's like walking on a mossy forest floor. Except that the moss is pumpkin spice-colored and there aren't any trees.
I recently saw the movie An Education. Great movie. It's so rare for me to embrace any films nowadays, in this post-LOTR era. Immediately upon viewing the movie I started over again and watched it with the director's commentary. Well, I usually watch the commentary version (I like to be thorough), but not immediately after. Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay, so I guess it's obvious that I was going to like it.
Oh, OK. I have watched another good movie. Finished that Anna Karenina miniseries; a good way to distract from roof-installing. It was only 10 hours long, not 30. I was confused. Loved it. The costumes were fabulous. Even the winter coats were amazing. Levin had a fuzzy knobbly white hat that I couldn't take my eyes off of. The actresses who played Dolly and Kitty actually looked like sisters. The actors who played Nikolai and Constantine actually looked like brothers. My only complaint was Vronsky's hair--I had envisioned it as having more volume. It reminded me of that Seinfeld episode with the low-flow shower heads.
As mentioned before, I am spending as little as possible on food this month. I made it through the first 16 days with only one grocery shopping trip and very little hardship. Food just seems to be multiplying in the cupboards without any effort from me.
For example, I used up a package of tempeh that had been stashed in the fridge for a while. I hadn't tried tempeh before. I tasted a bit before throwing it in a stir fry and thought, meh, I don't understand this. But somehow, after it was browned and crunchy and tossed with veggies and a sauce of my own creation (tamari, sherry, fresh ginger, hot sauce, garlic, honey), a change came over me. Tempeh is MEATY. Richly fermented and chewy. I am now evangelized. Must pursue more tempeh opportunities.
Trixie had her dental cleaning under anesthesia. She had a huge cavity and the tooth had to be pulled. Her recovery was odd and troubling. Trixie might not always understand what I say, but she's generally delighted to hear my voice. For several hours after the procedure, she just stared at me when I talked to her. Glassy-eyed, like she had no idea who I was. But now she's much better. She's got her sparkle back.

Alex Letter 2

2010-04-04T18:47:00.002-05:00

(Note: Fiction. See Letter 1)

Alexander,

Well, this is a surprise. After two years of sullen and silent acquaintance, occasionally interrupted by outrageous outbursts, I receive a plea for help! Such boldness! Accompanied by an insult, of course. I will not assist in your mysterious project. I have more important things to do. I am severing all ties with the Hennings family. Since you obviously haven't heard, Michael and I are no longer an "item," as they say. My preference is to forget him and the majority of the previous two years. Your note rubs salt into my raw wounds. But here is a big hint, from the bounds of my innate generosity. I know exactly what is wrong with your dear brother. He has suddenly developed terrible tastes in women.

Sincerely,
Meredith Samuels

P.S. Please refrain from sending me further letters, or casually leaning against my locker. People are beginning to talk and draw their own conclusions. Of course, their conclusions are reasonable. There are a lot of guys around here that desperately seek my attention.

(Note: to be continued)

Cinnamon Rolls and Obsessions

2010-04-04T18:20:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned before, I am trying to sharply reduce spending on groceries this month. Partly for a fun spring-cleaning challenge (must clean out freezer for spring veggies) and partly to hasten the elimination of the student loan.* I have discovered that if I really scrimp and pinch, it is faintly feasible that it could be paid off in SEVEN MONTHS. But that would require some dangerous reductions in the emergency fund, putting off some other things I sort-of need to buy, etc, so maybe more like twelve months. But either number is a number that I can wrap my mind around.

I am not suffering and don't plan to, but I do have to be a little creative with the pantry and forgo some cravings that might previously have prompted a spontaneous trip to the store. And with every bite of rice or oatmeal or scrambled eggs, I think to myself, I am increasing my net worth with this little sacrifice.

Yesterday I made cinnamon rolls from scratch, from ingredients that I always have around the house, and using my newly-honed courage for baking with yeast. I probably wouldn't have thought to make them without the money-saving challenge. They didn't look beautiful, but tasted divine: buttery, flaky, oozy. I burnt my tongue and melted glaze coated my hands because I was too eager to wait for them to cool.

I think I should gain more experience in sweet roll-making. I will need volunteers to help consume the practice sessions. I'm dreaming of a variation on the cinnamon roll: hazelnut-orange-chocolate. Maybe add a splash of OJ to the dough, leave out the cinnamon, add finely chopped hazelnuts to the filling. Sprinkle in a few chocolate chips; not enough to leak out and burn on the bottom of the pan, but a handful to add a dark surprise every once in a while. Add orange zest to the glaze. Maybe I could sell them, and further pay the debt!!!

*Also, it was an unseasonably warm March and I got a new furnace. So, once I get the March energy bill (hopefully a smaller one than March 09), I will use the difference to pay down the debt!!!

Alex Letter 1

2010-03-31T20:40:00.002-05:00

(Note: Fiction)

Dear Meredith,

I know that it's bizarre to be opening a letter from me. Don't you start with that dismissive look, the one that you flash over the rims of your trendy glasses. Believe me, it's an even crazier feeling for me to be writing this. I wouldn't be doing it if I weren't completely desperate. But not in the way that you're thinking. I am not that desperate. I have plenty of options as far as that category of life is concerned.

The subject of this note is not myself by my brother, your dear boyfriend, though it disgusts me to apply that appellation to him. Ever since his miraculous recovery from that sickness (I still blame something suspicious in the Latin Club bake sale brownies, but nobody listens to me), something has been wrong with Michael. Creepy things are happening around here. The situation is dire. You have to help me figure this out. We should meet in person to discuss this further. Any time of day that does not conflict with marching band practice should be negotiable.

Thanks,
Alexander

(Note: to be continued)

Those Letters

2010-03-31T20:31:00.003-05:00

Well, goodbye March and daily blogging. Looking forward to a more spontaneous April. For my grand letter-themed finale, my intent was to put a whole hoard of letters on here, from some creative writing that I turned into epistles for fun. But blogger is in some sullen mood and is not happy with me copy-and-pasting from Word. So, just one letter at a time, then.....

Getting Close to the End

2010-03-30T18:35:00.003-05:00

I'm looking forward to the end of March and all this bloggery. Some days it is a heavy obligation! Gets in the way of more creative writing (fiction, I mean), which I've found that generally I don't like to post on here. I still don't really know in which direction I want to take the blog. But I didn't write about food too much, did I? Feeling self-conscious about that. But I will get to that letters theme. Very soon.

Monday Randoms

2010-03-29T18:43:00.004-05:00

Trixie is finally down to every-other-day eye drop dosing. This is a huge improvement in our relationship. She is currently cuddled up next to my hip, rather than huddled at the opposite corner of the couch.
I started watching a version of Anna Karenina on Netflix, the one starring Nicola Pagett. I thought it was a three-hour movie. After two hours, I learned that it is a THIRTY-HOUR miniseries. But I love it. It makes me appreciate the book even more.
The carpet installation is scheduled for mid-April. This means that I may shop for the piano now!
For April, I am going to challenge myself to see how little I can spend on groceries, then put that saved money into further reduction of the student loan. I don't really want to revolutionize my eating habits--I really like spending a bit more to buy grass-fed antibiotic-free beef, milk from the local creamery where cows are hormone-free and treated with respect, eggs from free-range chickens, organic veggies, fair-trade chocolate and coffee, ten-year aged cheddar, etc. But I don't think that I need to be grocery shopping three times per week. So with this in mind, I've already cheated a bit. I've stocked up on staples (olive oil, almonds, canned tomatoes, jasmine brown rice, steel-cut oats....) this weekend to make the April cost-savings challenge a bit easier.

Stale Bread

2010-03-28T17:26:00.003-05:00

Nearly all of my most treasured childhood books featured food scarcity. And usually, brutal winters. I think of one of my favorites, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, every time that I consider throwing out a heel of stale bread. Mostly I just dip it in soups or make croutons, but I had to look up this excerpt that has been haunting me:

"The Nolans practically lived on that stale bread and what amazing things Katie could make from it! She'd take a loaf of stale bread, pour boiling water over it, work it up into a paste, flavor it with salt, pepper, thyme, minced onion and an egg (if eggs were cheap), and bake it in the oven. When it was good and brown, she made a sauce from half a cup of ketchup, two cups of boiling water, seasoning, a dash of strong coffee, thickened it with flour and poured it over the baked stuff. It was good, hot, tasty and staying. What was left over, was sliced thin the next day and fried in hot bacon fat.

Mama made a very fine bread pudding from slices of stale bread, sugar, cinnamon and a penny apple sliced thin. When this was baked brown, sugar was melted and poured over the top. Sometimes she made what she had named Weg Geschnissen, which laboriously translated meant something made with bread bits that usually would be thrown away. Bits of bread were dipped into a batter made from flour, water, salt and an egg and then fried in deep hot fat. While they were frying, Francie ran down to the candy store and bought a penny's worth of brown rock candy. This was crushed with a rolling pin and sprinkled on top of the fried bits just before eating. The crystals didn't quite melt and that made it wonderful."

-from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Post-Creativity Malaise

2010-03-27T19:47:00.003-05:00

1) My writing group had its mini-retreat today. For the first 45 minutes, I did nothing but wish to be checking email, and then inspiration struck and I wrote some satisfactory stuff for a few hours. Now I'm drained and do not want to be seeing this computer any more.

2) Trixie got her appetite back today. Almost ate the dish. Maybe it was the aspirin (for her corneal edema) that was causing the issue, and she received her last dose of that last night. I am very relieved. Lack of appetite, in dogs or humans, is utterly mysterious to me.

3) I care very little about sports, but having my alma mater (Butler) in the final four may be of benefit. Maybe next time when a coworker asks where I went to pharmacy school, his/her response could be something other than, "Huh. Where is that?"

15-Minute Supper

2010-03-26T18:05:00.004-05:00

Throw parsley (or watercress or arugula or whatever), juice of 1 lemon, salt, pepper, and garlic clove into food processor. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil until desired consistency is achieved. Toss the parsley pesto with hot whole-wheat pasta, cooked al dente. Heat stainless steel pan (something not non-stick) over med-high heat and sear scallops (or shrimp or white fish) on each side, seasoned with S+P. Squeeze lemon juice on top. There it is.

Thursday Thirteen

2010-03-25T15:57:00.004-05:00

This edition borrowed from Janet, who borrowed it from someone else.

1. I am thinking....should I go running tonight? Or should I stay on the couch and watch what Netflix has brought?

2. I am thankful for.....the outdoor farmers market to resume its schedule April 17! Cranberry oatmeal scones, asparagus, and wildflower honey are on the list!

3. From the kitchen.....beer-battered cod and stewed okra with tomatoes tonight.

4. I am wearing......blue sweater that sheds angora everywhere (but is beautiful blue), black pants, pink slippers.

5. I am creating.....another layer of confusion on that old novel I've been tinkering on for a while.

6. I am going.....to visit Indianapolis in July!!

7. I am reading.....The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage. I smile at it until my face hurts. I love epistolary novels; they are so rare.

8. I am hoping.....Trixie's eye drops are more easily instilled today. She has stopped the whining and starting a horrible desperate painful yelping now that is AWFUL to hear. I feel so mean.

9. I am hearing.....the fridge running, that ole energy hog, and Trixie grumbling about something.

10. Around the house....I have removed every speck of clutter that I can find. Orderly house, orderly mind.

11. One of my favorite things.....is grocery shopping. I could probably spend 30 minutes just in the cheese section.

12. A few plans for the rest of the week.....writing group mini-retreat on Saturday!

13. A picture to share.....Trixie, bundled like a burrito, 12/07.

Newest Tea Addiction

2010-03-24T18:34:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I say that I don't care for fruity teas, but sometimes I am mistaken.

Random YouTube Happiness

2010-03-23T17:36:00.005-05:00

Well, I just purchased a new roof for my house. I guess it will be beans and rice for dinner. In case you're counting, this is what I have bought in the last two months: furnace, carpet, roof, three commodes. Each one has been a lot less than I thought, but these things do accumulate.

Now I just need to fix the garage door, do some painting of walls, and maybe my semi-elective improvements for 2010 will be complete. Maybe. Probably not.

Anyway, to soften the edges of this Tuesday, here is a happy video that my brother shared with me. I love watching dachshunds run.

Yeasty Experiments

2010-03-22T20:14:00.003-05:00

When I make pizza at home, I am embarrassed to admit that usually I buy frozen pizza dough. Last Friday at the grocery store I thought, this is inexcusable. I have flour, water, yeast, and time.

So used the first pizza dough recipe that I found (this one from Emeril) and gave it a try. I don't have a stand mixer, so I just stirred with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds until everything looked homogenous. IT TURNED OUT PERFECTLY. And it was tastier and FASTER than using frozen dough. The frozen kind has to be brought to room temp, which takes forever and forward-thinking tendencies, and the rolling-out can be a hassle because it likes to spring back into a ball. This dough started out warmer than room temp and spread out to any shape I wanted with no complaint.

I brushed on some olive oil, red pepper flake, and oregano, par-baked it for a bit, then topped with marinara, nearly a whole head of garlic, sauteed mushrooms and zucchini, and provolone, and baked until bubbly. Good! Cheap!

Breakfast

2010-03-21T12:42:00.003-05:00

I assert that there is no better breakfast in the world besides toasted homemade bread with almond butter. Well, toasted homemade bread with apricot preserves is also decent. Or with butter and honey. Or three small slices with each of the above.

It's a good day. I will spend the next chunk of it watching O Brother, Where Art Thou?

(We thought you was a toad! Weee. Thooought. Yooou. Waaas. A toad!)

Eye Drops, Continued

2010-03-20T18:08:00.003-05:00

Trixie has had enough of it all. I can't blame her for it. I strongly dislike eye drops too. She has resorted to using her teeth. I'm sure that Cesar Milan covered this in an episode, somewhere. But it's been a few years since I've seen the show. So I had to buy a muzzle, and I felt terrible about it. But I thought that this would be the answer to the problem.

I put the muzzle on her, and she immediately launched into full-panic mode. Arching her back, banging her nose on the floor, clawing her nose (dangerously close to her eyes), crying, making choking sounds, jerking her head around. Her panic created my panic, or more likely it was the other way around. It was AWFUL. Even without the risk of being bitten, she was so wild that it was even more difficult to get in an eye drop. And I didn't. Not even close. I took off that muzzle and cried in disappointment.

I decided that it was time to begin the taper-down schedule early. Once daily drops instead of twice. I tried again in the morning (with the muzzle) and got it done with a more manageable level of struggle. Mornings are always better, it seems. I have that calm and assertive aura at that time.

Oh, Trixie. It is wonderful news that you do not hold grudges.

Friday Fresh Bread!

2010-03-19T19:42:00.003-05:00

Today I baked up another loaf of no-knead bread: multigrain whole wheat. Best one yet. This is very similar to the one I made last time, except that this one has no rye flour, no seedy topping, and I dissolved a drizzle of honey in with the water before mixing. The yeast seemed to appreciate the extra sugar to chew on. And I appreciate not having every horizontal surface in the kitchen covered in flax seeds after slicing. There are plenty of flax seeds and millet on the inside though.

I used the bread as a utensil for this divine coconut red lentil soup. So easy, so cheap, so comforting, and the color of a sunset! Perfect for a snowy weekend, perhaps winter's last hurrah, and one of my few remaining opportunities to fully savor a soup before I have to remember my favorite salads.

Post

2010-03-18T23:21:00.001-05:00

I am providing this posting to inform you that a post has been provided.

Trixter

2010-03-17T23:25:00.004-05:00

She isn't really guarding that stash of toys. She's patiently observing me prepare her peanut butter and pill fragments treat.

Eyes

2010-03-16T22:59:00.004-05:00

Trixie and I visited a doggie ophthalmologist today. Everybody there was astonished at her finely-tuned reflexes toward anyone who approached her eyes. "She's like a cat!" they said.

A technician had the job of holding a whiny and wiggly Trixie for a long time while the vet did some tests. Once Trixie was set down on the floor with the freedom to go anywhere, the silly dog trotted right over to the same technician and begged to be picked up! Trixie forgives!

She has corneal edema, and we still don't really know why, but it is not terribly serious, and it is getting better. It might be reversible and it might not, but there are several treatment options available to keep things from progressing. Some of these options are pills, NOT EYE DROPS, and I am thrilled at the prospect.

So, maybe just three more weeks of her current eye drop, in a tapering schedule. It's going to be a long three weeks.

Disappointing

2010-03-15T22:32:00.002-05:00

I was really looking forward to filling out the census.

I got two mailings prior to receiving the real census form. The first was a letter, warning me that the actual form was coming soon, and please please please would I fill it out. The second was a postcard that provided a phone number and web address to assist me in case of questions encountered while completing the form.

I was prepared for a complicated and lengthy form. I was excited about what kind of trivia I might be asked to provide.

I got the real thing in the mail today! So thrilling! Opened immediately!

So disappointing. All they want to know is: name, age, race, do I rent or own. Really? Not interesting at all. I couldn't even get descriptive about my heritage. If I were Hispanic or Asian I could have specified from a nice list of subgroups, but White is White. So bland. So much fuss for a few unrevealing facts.

Sunday Seven

2010-03-14T21:08:00.003-05:00

1) I am thankful that daylight savings time has passed, because now I have an extra hour in which to view Twin Peaks episodes. I am not allowed to watch it after dark. Ooo!!

2) Trixie's eye looks a little better after several days of eye drops. But she has gotten sneakier about avoidance. As soon as I drag over the floor lamp to the couch, she knows what's up.

3) I made spicy chocolate shortbread cookies. They had cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and melted dark chocolate within. EXCELLENT.

4) The carpet selection is settled- pumpkin spice is the name. Guests will enter my house year-round and sense an autumnal crispness to the rooms and a craving for roasted turkey. The carpet will cost more than the furnace.

5) I bought a new whistling tea kettle. It is adorable and lemon-yellow, but does not whistle. Too much steam escapes from the lid. I guess I'll return it and keep my ten-year old kettle for a while longer.

6) I did my taxes yesterday. When the refunds arrive, every penny is going directly into the student loans. The date for becoming debt-free looms ever closer. I can't wait to uncork a bottle of something expensive and say goodbye to Sallie Mae forever. Maybe I should plan a series of increasing celebrations for every significant milestone I pass in paying off the loan?

7) Listening to Trixie snore while she sleeps on her back makes me so happy.

Letter #2

2010-03-13T19:07:00.002-06:00

Dear Ibuprofen,
Thank you for dulling my awareness of various leg injuries so that I may run faster and further. I couldn't do it without you. Although some day I will need hospitalization for gastric ulcers and knee replacements, even that hospital gown will not be able to disguise how awesome I look from all that running.

Yours truly,
S.G.

Anna Karenina

2010-03-12T19:05:00.003-06:00

I finished the book a few days ago. Overall I'm glad I read it, but am relieved that it's done. It took me so long to complete, and meanwhile my to-read stack has become dangerous.

Stuff I Didn't Like:
-The enormous list of characters, most of whom weren't necessary, except for the small handful of people that were introduced at around page 5, then turn up again around page 650 without a reminder of who they were.
-Maybe it's less confusing in Russian, but several characters had identical (or nearly so) names, and everybody might be referred to by first name, last name, version of father's name, or nickname interchangeably. For example, there was Vasenka and Varenka (these two even showed up in the same chapter!), Katavasov and Kartasov, and Anna's husband and lover were both named Alexis (but thankfully were usually called by last name).
-Tolstoy liked to have his characters give long speeches about political and social ideas that were important to him. I might care, if he tried to work it into the story rather than some long, spontaneous pontification at a dinner party.
-Last fifty pages (Part VIII) were anti-climactic.

Stuff I Liked:
-The double-plot, even though it was loose and baggy at times and prone to meandering, was good for my short attention span. The two plots were gently interwoven in spots that I didn't notice until after they had already passed.
-Lots of slice-of-life, memorable, imagery packed scenes. Rich and dense.
-Made me hungry for black peasant rye bread, cabbage soup, and buckwheat porridge.
-Sections of inner turmoil (of which there were many) were generally much more interesting than scenes of action (of which there were few).

I have now completed my quota of Russian novels for Winter 2010 and will consider future options for 2011.

Nothing Original To Say

2010-03-11T20:52:00.002-06:00

And so I offer this Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer.

Multigrain Sourdough Rye

2010-03-10T20:09:00.004-06:00

It worked! I would have preferred a stronger sourness, but it has a wonderful crackly crust, crunch from all those seeds, and good nutty rye flavor. It is messy--I eat it over the sink to protect the floor from the rain of flaxseeds.

It's been a better day with Trixie and her eyedrops so far. I wrapped her in a blanket and tucked her in a corner of the couch. The arm and back of the couch prevented her from moving forward, my body blocked her from sneaking backward, and the blanket decreased her wiggliness. Both hands free! Thanks, couch! Sorry about those plots to replace you!

Bread Thoughts

2010-03-09T21:02:00.003-06:00

I am working on a second loaf of no-knead bread today. Having felt terribly guilty about all that white flour that I ate last week (recalling my former low-carb days, and then my whole-grain amendment), I am making a multi-grain sourdough rye. There is still quite a bit of white flour in there, and I didn't want to go too crazy with heavy seeds and such in case it affected rising, so I limited myself to whole wheat flour, rye flour, flax seeds, and millet seeds (I think millet seeds are so cute). And then the topping will include more flax, millet, wheat bran, and coarse cornmeal.

Hopefully it will not disappoint. Only about 13 more hours until I find out. I obtained the appropriate yeast today (instant) and used warm water instead of cold, and saw a huge difference in volume within the first hour.

I am mildly obsessed with this bread-baking thing. The Breadtopia website is only fueling it.

Trixie's Bad Days

2010-03-09T20:12:00.003-06:00

Trixie has been disturbed by an interruption in her quiet life. In a short stretch of time, she has gotten her nails clipped, ears cleaned, resumed regular walks now that the weather is warmer (she still hates walks), got a bath last night in which I chased her around the bathtub with the steroid spray for her itchy spots (she hates the sprayer), and today went to the vet for the yearly checkup. She wasn't listening for the worst of the news for herself--she needs a dental cleaning. (Actually, I was pleasantly surprised at the cost estimate for general anesthesia and cleaning- very reasonable!)

But the most negative news was directed at me. Trixie needs eye drops for a while. She has corneal edema (thankfully in just one eye) of unknown origin, and if the drops don't clear things up quickly we will be seeing a canine ophthamologist.

Giving eye drops to Trixie is RIDICULOUS. The vet tried to prove to both of us that it could be done with one person, but she wasn't able to do it. She asked, "is there a certain time of day when Trixie is a little more sleepy, maybe?" and I had to laugh. Trixie is always well-rested and up to the challenge. She is wiggly, slippery, and astonishingly creative and quick-thinking to remove herself from every hold I devise. I need one hand to hold the drug bottle, one hand to hold her head, and my legs just aren't adequate to keep the rest of her in place. And then there is my own fear of eye drops to combat; every time I get close enough to have a chance to get it done, I pause with my internal turmoil just long enough for her to figure out an escape.

Tonight I think I might have gotten a tiny bit of drug in her eye, in addition to the drops spilled on her nose. But I'm not sure enough, and so after this break I will try again. I'll wrap her up like a burrito in her favorite blanket first. Maybe that will reduce the slipperiness.

Trixie wags her tail merrily during this whole process. She thinks it's a neat game. She especially likes when I growl in frustration.

Cheese Souffle

2010-03-08T16:13:00.005-06:00

I am generally suspicious of frozen baked goods and like trying to make everything from scratch as much as possible, but I could not resist this French cheese souffle in a bag. Just heap the frozen nuggets in a small greased ramekin (if I had thought of it, layered with veggies), load into oven, and....
Thirty minutes later I find a puffed souffle, crispy on the edges and oozing with Emmentaler cheese! Like a fluffy and crustless quiche! Yay Trader Joes!
It was a good day. My heirloom beans arrived in the mail. Seven pounds is less than I thought. My plan was to make chili this week, but now I worry that chili isn't special enough, and I should hoard these for a special recipe?

BTW, I am trying to blog about subjects other than food, but the trouble is that I eat every day, and food is just so fascinating and limitless!

The Sunday Night Black Cloud

2010-03-07T19:40:00.003-06:00

So, I have been attending church again. It's a different one than I visited before, and I kinda like it. I was trying to find a perfect church, and now that I have accepted that such a place does not exist, I am suddenly content.

When I was in high school, I always thought that it would be a great plan to get all of my homework done on Friday night so that the rest of the weekend would be relaxing. But I was never able to do that. Not only did I wait until Sunday night to start the homework, but I waited until very very late on Sunday night. I continued that throughout college. Then I did some teaching part-time after college, teaching a lab in which Monday mornings usually took a large amount of preparation. I used to put off thinking about it until late on Sundays, just to pretend that the weekend was never going to end. I did not sleep well on Sunday nights.

Now my job is tremendously less stressful. I don't bring work home with me. I rarely even have work-related emails to answer. I don't have presentations to sweat about. I just show up! I only have to pack a lunch! But I have noticed that the vestiges of the Sunday night black cloud remain. Late in the evening I get a vague itchiness to do something productive. I vacuum, pay bills, clean the bathroom mirrors...rarely anything that has a near time stamp for completion. There is no good reason for all this.

I am banishing the guilty feeling, starting today. I am not going to be productive on Sundays any more, from now on.* I'm generally lazy as it is, but I think that I need a full day devoted to recharging. No more cleaning of closets! No more washing the dog! (Maybe I'll stop exercising on Sundays, too, although I'll have to think about that one. I like early Sunday running.) A day for rest and renewal! Goodbye, black cloud.

*Except for that one weekend per month that I work my paying job, of course. That's OK. Somebody has got to be at the hospital.

Resolutions Revisited

2010-03-06T18:10:00.003-06:00

An update on how I am progressing with the New Years Resolutions:

1. Buy a piano.
Today I shopped for carpet to go beneath that piano. I am attracted to a sample called "pumpkin spice," and wondering if the name is the main reason for its charm. Next week the measuring will get done, and then the date will be set for installation. I am getting the whole house re-carpeted (in the places that already had carpet), and abandoning the ideas for laminate flooring for now. Carpet is expensive enough. Laminate floors, and the cost and mess of removing the kitchen tile, make me nauseated. I will have to live with the ugly tile.

So, another month or two and maybe the piano will be here. I guess it's good that I'm not ready to buy right now. It may have to be transported in through the back patio doors, and the yard will be snowy/muddy for much of March. No need to ruin the new carpet immediately.

2. Plant a raspberry bush.
Deferred until spring, although I should begin investigating when the ideal planting time should be.

3. Complete a short story.
Nope. My writing group is having a mini-retreat at the end of March; I plan to rearrange my mess of paper scraps then.

4. Complete the Couch to 5K plan.
I am really off-schedule for this. A new pain appeared, that I suspect is plantar fasciitis. It arrives as soon as I near the completion of the 5-minute walking warm-up period, and doesn't subside until around 45 minutes of determined continuation. Very discouraging. Ibuprofen works OK for the shin splints and knee pain but doesn't touch this. So, I am still treadmilling regularly, but am not increasing the running distances at all.

5. Read Anna Karenina.
I am on page 671 out of 806 total pages. There will be a lot to say once it is finished.

Fresh Bread

2010-03-05T12:26:00.004-06:00

Well, it does look rustic. By "rustic", I mean "blob-shaped." It's partly supposed to be that way, and it wasn't helped by the use of active dry yeast rather than instant, which I think decreased the rise. Next time, I will know better!
But I did get just the texture I was hoping for: very crusty crust and fluffy inside with irregular nooks and crannies. It is plain in flavor, but for something that is mostly white flour, that's to be expected. I have big plans for seedy multigrain, cheesy, and kalamata olive/spicy pepper varieties.

Trixie is extremely enthusiastic about this bread. There is nothing that she won't eat, but bread is usually no particular thrill. I think that observing and smelling the 20-hour process was suspenseful for her.

Eeeee

2010-03-04T12:02:00.004-06:00

I have the appropriate vessel in my possession. Approximately 20 hours from now, there might be fresh bread in the house.

(After all that fuss about a coupon, BB&B did not even have this dutch oven in stock. Only ugly dutch ovens. So, I went, couponless, to a small, locally owned kitchen supply store, where the item was featured in the front window!)

Ethiopian Chickpea Stew

2010-03-03T11:27:00.003-06:00

I can't get enough of this Ethiopian chickpea stew. I thought that the spices would get tiresome after eating through the huge pot, but I'd like to make another batch this weekend. The onions are sort of caramelized and sweet, the roasted chickpeas have a nutty crunch, and the spices are toasty and bold enough to make me sweat. I chose to decrease the clove measurement in half, and I believe that this was a wise decision. Brown rice worked well instead of flatbread.

I didn't miss the lack of meat, but I think that beef stew meat or shreds of leftover pot roast would get along well with the other ingredients. Next time, I might substitute turnips or parsnips or cauliflower for some of the potatoes.

Now I must search for more recipes using ground cardamom, to justify purchasing the large jar.

Coupon

2010-03-02T18:09:00.002-06:00

I hope this gets easier.

I'm about to dash out of the house and meet my writing group (I love those people!), and so I have time for only a very brief posting.

Great news. I found something wonderful in the mailbox today. Well, two wonderful things, but I was expecting the Twin Peaks Season 2 Disc 2 anyway. I got a coupon from Bed Bath and Beyond. Finally!

Tomorrow, I will buy an appropriate dutch oven (I've got my eye on a Mario Batali one), and then I will start baking no-knead bread. I cannot wait.

Letter #1

2010-03-01T19:49:00.003-06:00

Dear Winter,

I appreciate that you have allowed the ice to melt from my driveway, so that I have stopped worrying about the UPS guy fracturing his neck on it. And it's awesome to stop wearing the marshmallow coat and start wearing the Paddington bear coat with the toggle closures.

But please, ignore what all those other people are saying. They do not know you like I do. Stick around here for a month or two more. You are a misunderstood season. But I appreciate you. Especially now that January is a dim memory.

I have about 25 new soup recipes to make and I need all the time I can get. I need the gray skies and early sunsets and sighs of the furnace as encouragement. I need to extend my Sunday ritual of sipping apricot tea while listening to the stock pot simmer on the stove and snuggling a shivery Trixie in the armchair. And....I just bought nine pounds of dried heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. That's a lot of chili and beans 'n greens soups. I hadn't planned on buying so much. But it wasn't my fault. I couldn't decide between the Christmas Limas or the Good Mother Stallards. I was torn between the Mayacobas and the Rio Zapes. Rancho Gordo has a flat-rate for all shipments! Not my rule! I just want chili! I am the victim here.

So, an extension of the refreshing temperatures are all I ask, and if it isn't too much of an addendum, maybe a wafer-thin whitening of the snow layer on the brown grass around my house.

Yours Truly,
SlyGly

March Plans

2010-02-28T13:05:00.002-06:00

I will blog every day in March.

I did this before, a few years ago, and the results were not all positive. Yeah, I wrote some interesting stuff. But blogging became an obligation. I was so grateful when the month ended that I wrote almost nothing once it was over.

But now I have a different goal, and that is to get out of this current blogging blah and figure out what to do with this thing. I need a new vision. I'm thinking that maybe I'd like to write about subjects other than food and books.

I have chosen a theme for March: LETTERS. Not every post will adhere to the theme.

There will continue to be the occasional shouting about food or books.

Some Things On My Mind

2010-02-20T13:29:00.005-06:00

1) I watched the movie Moliere recently. The costumes and scenery were pretty; the story was simplistic and the characters uninteresting. But the movie made me very happy. It is in French, with English subtitles. I was shocked and pleased at how much high school French I remember. Maybe it was just a movie with simple words. Now I am going to hunt down more French movies to watch. Any suggestions? The other French movies that I have seen and remember are Swimming Pool (loved, have seen multiple times) and Tell No One (strongly disliked).

2) I may have discovered my next project. I had dinner with one of my writing friends and her husband last week, and they served a sourdough bread that had a thick crusty crust and an interior with large irregular holes. A really excellent bread, probably made in a fancy oven. This couple tries to buy everything as locally as possible (with the exception of avocados and lemons, which we agreed are essential to survival), and so I asked which bakery it came from. A pause. Not a bakery. They baked it themselves. In a normal oven. No special hearth stones or steam applications. We spent the rest of the evening discussing how to bake bread (and also talking about Tana French novels).

So, I am going to start baking my own bread. I must. It is a disgrace that I don't know this basic skill. No bread machines. Bread machine bread is OK, but most of the kinds that I have tried are soft and uniform, like sandwich bread; no crusty crust. And machinery seems like cheating. My friends use the Jim Lahey no-knead method, and made their own sourdough starter. I will start with the basic white, and then will work on whole-grain advancements and sourdoughs. I can't wait. The only equipment I need to buy is a Dutch oven; I'm thinking that my stainless steel stock pot won't work. Why is it that I am constantly surrounded by Bed Bath and Beyond coupons, except for the times when I actually want to buy something?

3) I have been watching Twin Peaks on DVD. I don't remember 1990 being such a frumpy fashion era. In one scene, Lara Flynn Boyle's character meets her secret lover while wearing what appears to be a navy blue sleeping bag with arm and neck holes. Really? I couldn't hear what they were saying; I was so distracted with wondering what she was thinking.

4) This winter, I haven't minded the cold or the snow or the darkness so much. What I have missed is the CSA veggies. It's sad to buy poor quality, pricy zucchini from Mexico and remember that I overdosed on the best specimens ever last summer. When I get that first bag of spinach this spring, I might munch through it like potato chips.

Mini Chocolate Ganache Tarts

2010-02-15T19:48:00.003-06:00

I found a copy of Martha Stewart Living magazine at work, February issue, and fell in love with the chocolate ganache tart on the cover. I hoped that I would forget about it, but every day at lunch time I sought it out to study. For some reason, the chocolate crust beguiled me. And I could feel those meringue hearts crunching in my mouth already.

So I made a bunch over the weekend and gifted most of them to friends for Valentine's Day. Mine aren't anywhere near as pretty as the ones in the magazine of course, and I will think twice next time before thinking that it's not a big deal to introduce meringue and pastry bags to each other. But oh...the flavor and texture was everything I wanted. The crust was crunchy, like a shortbread. The ganache was like chocolate-flavored butter (basically, it was); rich and creamy and barely sweet. The meringue hearts were cheerfully crispy. I'm so grateful that they have now disappeared from my kitchen.

A Week

2010-02-07T15:15:00.004-06:00

Last week I bought a new furnace. I was sort of dreading it, because somehow I had the idea in my mind that furnaces cost about $20,000, minimum. When I found out how far off I was, I LOVED the whole process of researching and buying one. I LOVED spending the money. I feel responsible and grownup. Furnaces are cheap! I spent more for the dining table and chairs than for the furnace! New refrigerators (with ice machines) cost more than furnaces! Can I buy two furnaces?

I decided that spending money is fun, and to celebrate the furnace success, I got Chinese takeout. Eggplant Deluxe (eggplant, shredded pork, shrimp, and spicy Szechuan sauce). This was my fortune. This made me so happy, because it reminded me of my New Years resolutions. I spent the rest of the night in plotting and scheming anew for those goals.

Yesterday, I made spicy cheesy crab and corn chowder. It tastes buttery, velvety, and rich, but it's lower in calories than one might think. Instead of lots of butter and cream for thickening, I used a little of those and lot of shredded potato. The potato disintegrates and creates the illusion of creaminess, along with skim milk and chicken stock. There isn't a lot of crab in there, 'cuz I'm cheap, but somehow Old Bay seasoning makes me believe that there's lot of seafood within.

I decided that I needed a new purse. I like my other purse, but it is Kryptonite green, and once in a while I need to be inconspicuous. I'm very picky and very miserly about handbags, but fell in love instantly with this one. It's got several secret pockets (including a side one for the phone). And it was on sale.

And the tag made me feel virtuous about buying it.

The Woman in White

2010-01-24T14:45:00.002-06:00

I read The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins for bookshelvesofdoom's The Big Read V. I imagined that I would find it at my local library--probably five or six editions to choose from, nestled among the other neglected Victorian classics. It wasn't there. It turned out that my local library didn't own any copies of it at all. I could have interlibrary loaned it, but there wasn't time before the Jan 1 starting date. So I bought a cheap copy, grumbling bitterly about the $8.95 and the additional clutter to the house.

My buyer's remorse deepened when I read the brief Collins bio at the beginning. Collins was buddies with Dickens and they co-wrote some stuff together. As I have mentioned here in the past, my feelings about Dickens are not complex and are mostly negative.

I expected to extract some mild enjoyment from the book, when looking back at it, after a prolonged effort to slog through it. And I didn't have high hopes for someone named Wilkie. Makes me wonder how I ever managed to start it.

I got hooked immediately. The Woman in White is the prototype for the amateur detective-thriller/suspense novel. Although I recognized many of the suspenseful devices that have been (usually poorly) copied over and over again, I was fascinated. Some of the plot turns I predicted, but while I was feeling self-righteously smug about those, I was caught off-guard by some of the others that I hadn't seen coming, and was knocked back to my humble place.

I liked it for its action and thrills, the complicated unsummarizable plot, its dark moodiness (reminded me of Jane Eyre's atmosphere), and primarily for its people. Each of the multiple narrators had a distinct voice. I wish that I had time to read it again, to read between the lines of my favorites: Walter (didn't think much of his taste in women, but appreciated his snark), Fosco (deliciously sinister), and "that magnificent creature" Marian ("Pass me the intoxicating familiarity of mentioning this sublime creature by her Christian name."). And then there is Frederick Fairlie, bordering on caricature-like at times but page-turning anyway. I close with a quote from his narrative:

"At the end of June, or the beginning of July, then, I was reclining, in my customary state, surrounded by the various objects of Art which I have collected about me to improve the taste of the barbarous people in my neighbourhood. That is to say, I had the photographs of my pictures, and prints, and coins, and so forth, all about me, which I intend, one of these days, to present (the photographs, I mean, if the clumsy English language will let me mean anything)--to present to the Institution at Carlisle (horrid place!), with a view to improving the tastes of the Members (Goths and Vandals to a man).It might be supposed that a gentleman who was in course of conferring a great national benefit on his countrymen, was the last gentleman in the world to be unfeelingly worried about private difficulties and family affairs. Quite a mistake, I assure you, in my case."

The man likes his commas.

Too bad that not many people read this book anymore, which seems to have been the sensation of its day. Now I wish that I had selected a nicer edition than my $8.95 one.

Resolution Update

2010-01-24T14:06:00.003-06:00

Did you miss me readers, all five of you?

It is time to check in and assess the progress of my New Years resolutions.

1. Buy a piano.
Progress: not done. Not because of any diminished yearning for it. First, it would be prudent to paint the living room and replace its carpet. And then I was thinking about wood floors for all of the first floor, to match the wood floor in the kitchen that I have long set my mind upon. Best to do it all at once. Fortunately, I have been visited recently with an increased interest in home improvement. Coincidentally, I have also renewed another of my obsessions: eliminating debts. I blame my friends Ellen and Jason for their blog, Debt Free in 40. I have calculated that I can be completely debt-free in eight years, provided that I don't do anything like replace flooring or adopt more dogs. I can't stop thinking about it. Without a mortgage, I could cut my work hours in half and play the piano all day! (Or, you know...volunteer or something.) I plot every day about how much money I can shave off here and there--buy lentils instead of salmon, turn the thermostat down a few more degrees, make homemade laundry detergent--and cackle about how those dollars will worry tenaciously into that formidable mortgage. I want it gone. I also want a piano. Meanwhile, I stand with the money clenched tightly in my fists, uncertain which temptation to obey.

2. Plant a raspberry bush.
Deferred until spring.

3. Complete a short story and submit it to a journal.
Nope, haven't started. I will hastily add that I have been writing lots lately, but it is sadly fragmented. Winter tends to be my most creative period of the year, and this season is no exception. The chill leaves my mind crisp and refreshed, and creativity is renewed with each fresh blanket of snow. Lately, I have felt afflicted with a (subclinical!) mania, and I've been writing extensively but with no particular attachment. Thank goodness for my writing group, or I'd never have the motivation to sift through the scraps of paper around here.

4. Complete the Couch to 5K plan.
I am on schedule. I finished day 1 of week 4 yesterday. No signs of injury at this point; I'm hoping that was a 2009 phenomenon. I feel great. The pounds of Christmas cookies have disappeared from my hips, my posture is better, I sleep better, and the iPod and I are friends again.

5. Read Anna Karenina.
Nope. I finished The Woman in White for The Big Read, and then I got three books from interlibrary loan all at once that I've been waiting for a long time. But below those three books, that fat tome is next in line.

Gingerbread-Pumpkin Pancakes with Toasted Pecans and Lingonberry Sauce

2010-01-02T11:11:00.004-06:00

I will preface this post by noting that I am not normally a pancake-lover. Usually they seem to be flabby, tasteless things. And I dislike pancake syrup, which tastes like what it is most of the time: colored corn syrup that has nothing to do with maple trees.

But these are different.

These gingerbread-pumpkin pancakes are so rich and hearty and spicy that they don't need any adornment at all, except to make them pretty. And they are relatively healthy too, with whole wheat flour, calcium and iron-laden molasses, and not much sugar, considering how many pancakes that one batch makes. I used this Rachael Ray recipe as a template, and have made several adjustments to it.

Gingerbread-Pumpkin Pancakes with Toasted Pecans and Lingonberry Sauce

Yield: 8 pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoonfuls baking powder
1 teaspoonful ground cinnamon
1 teaspoonful ground ginger
1/4-1/2 teaspoonful freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoonful salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted (note: probably this quantity could be decreased with no ill effect), plus more for the pan
Large handful of toasted, chopped pecans for the batter, plus more for garnish
Lingonberry or cranberry sauce, whole-berry

In a large bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients (flour through salt). In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and combine with sugar, pumpkin, milk, molasses, and butter until well-mixed. Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry and stir until just combined. Add pecans. Do not overmix.

Preheat large non-stick pan or griddle and lightly coat with butter. Spoon batter into pan and cook until done, flipping once. Batter will not spread much, so resist the temptation to make huge pancakes. Top with extra pecans and lingonberry sauce.

Wrap leftover cakes individually and freeze.

I Shall Conquer the World in 2010

2009-12-31T15:44:00.004-06:00

I love making resolutions. I make them year-round, and December 31 is just another excuse to indulge in one of my favorite activities.

I am delighted and inspired by these two blog entries by Maggie Stiefvater about her own resolutions, and resolutions in general:

I Intend to Smack 2010 Around
2010: These Are the Things I Will Do to You

My rules for this year (and most years):
1. Resolutions must be quantifiable and definable. I heard someone say on the news this morning that his resolution was "to be a good daddy in 2010." What does that even mean? When will that ever be crossed off the list? If he hadn't resolved to do that, would be have been tempted to be a neglectful daddy in 2010? I ground my teeth in frustration.

2. Resolutions must be able to be crossed off the list, ideally. It is useful and probably attainable to state that I will go running three times per week, but it's an item that cannot be crossed off until the end of 2010, and that isn't very satisfying.

3. Resolutions must be a slight stretch to accomplish, but still within my control.

4. Resolutions must be something I actually want to do. It may sound obvious, but not to me. Sometimes I resolve to do things that will contribute to me having a cleaner house on a consistent schedule, and those are always doomed to failure.

The following categories were considered this year: Physical fitness, dietary intake, financial, intellectual/artistic, spiritual, interpersonal, home improvement, career.

Here they are:

1. Buy a piano. This may not seem like a big deal. It won't take me long to find one, and it won't be my effort to move it into the house. But first, I must redo the living room floor (probably laminate flooring with area rugs), paint the living room walls (probably a warm and buttery yellow), and move the television to a remote corner upstairs permanently to make it fit (and rid myself of that distraction).

2. Plant a raspberry bush at the side of the house. First, I must conquer the weeds and remove a large and ugly shrub.

3. Complete a short story and submit it to a journal for publication. I am planning to attend a writing school for a week in July (if I am approved for the time off work- something not entirely within my control), which should help me along that path. But classes or not, I will get it done.

4. Complete the Couch to 5k plan. Week 1, Day 1 starts TOMORROW. Run in another 5K and improve my time from last year.

5. Read Anna Karenina. Maybe it sounds small. But my fat copy has been sitting on the to-read stack for about three years, and it's got competition. It intimidates me, sometimes. I'm thinking that the long, bleak nights of winter ahead will be the suitable setting for this Russian novel.

The above list will soon be printed and affixed somewhere prominent, along with the Couch to 5K schedule.

Anyone else making resolutions? If so, I would love to hear them.

Books Read in 2009

2009-12-31T10:26:00.003-06:00

Listed in order of completion:

1. As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway
2. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
3. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
4. The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (OK, these two are really short stories, but I am listing them anyway)
5. This Side of Paradise by F.Scott Fitzgerald
6. Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
7. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
8. Hooked: Write Fiction that Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (reread)
10. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
11. Paper Towns by John Green
12. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
13. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
14. The Gathering by Anne Enright
15. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
16. Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
17. House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
18. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (reread)
19. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (reread)
21. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (reread)
22. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (reread)
23. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (reread)
24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (reread)
25. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
26. How They Met by David Leviathan
27. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
28. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
29. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
30. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
31. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
32. The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
33. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
34. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
35. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
36. The Goblin Baby by Berlie Doherty
37. This Is What I Want to Tell You by Heather Duffy Stone
38. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
39. Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire

My goal this year was to read 50 books, but I think 39 is respectable. That's more than 3 per month! For next year, I think that I will try to read LESS, do more re-reading, and savor each one for longer periods of time. But I won't make that an official resolution, because I suspect that I will promptly break it. 2010 promises me three books that I know I will devour: a new one from Jeanette Walls, Half Broke Horses- in my possession NOW (author of The Glass Castle, that I beg everyone to read), a new one from Jaclyn Moriarty (author of The Spell Book of Listen Taylor, which I adored), and a new one from Tana French (author of In the Woods and The Likeness, which I obsess over even to this day).

My favorite book of 2009 is easy to spot: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. No competition. Adored every word of it. Salivated over every footnote, and wished that each fascinating digression would become a novel of its own. I would start re-reading it now, if the height of my to-read stack would stop giving me indigestion for a minute.

But I am unable to come up with ranked runners-up for best of 2009. I will state, in no particular order, that my other favorites of 2009 are these (and re-reads cannot qualify):

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan: For its sinister and heartbreaking beauty.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Because I couldn't put it down for one second and really thought that my personal safety was in danger, and for its truth about what people will do in pursuit of entertainment.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale: Because of the strong voice of the protagonist, who seemed very real to me. And I like stories about people locked in lonely Rapunzel-style towers.

Paper Towns by John Green: The suspense and mystery nearly killed me, and I almost missed being in high school.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: It was ugly and delicate and made me hungry.

2010 will open with a classic, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, a bookclubbish event hosted by bookshelvesofdoom in The Big Read V.

Veggie Stew

2009-12-26T19:06:00.004-06:00

It began innocently. My intent was to make a simple veggie stew, something tomato-based, with the main players being garbanzos, zucchini, and crimini mushrooms. But I couldn't make a soup without the usual abundance of onion and garlic. And then, it's so cheerful to see fat carrot coins in there. I found a rutabaga in the fridge and decided that it was essential. A couple of potatoes thrown in, for thickening. More fire-roasted tomatoes and veggie stock, for thinning. And then I remembered the green beans in the freezer, saved from summer's bounty. They've got to be used some time. I was prevented from emptying the rest of the freezer in there (corn, lima beans, broccoli, and okra) only because the pot was threatening to overflow.

I seasoned it with S+P, thyme, bay leaf, and Worcestershire. Served with crusty multigrain bread and sharp cheddar cheese. A comforting end to a snowy day. Trixie liked it, too.

Catching Up

2009-12-21T13:21:00.002-06:00

I haven't been blogging much because I have too much to say. I can't limit my thoughts to single blog topics. But I have to start somewhere, and so I will begin with stray photos.

I became addicted to winter squash, especially the kombucha-style kind shown above. I purchased this huge thing for $1 and got 4 meals out of it.
I made these cookies for a party. Chocolate dough, rolled in toasted walnuts, filled with vanilla caramel, and drizzled with chocolate ganache.
A closer look at those cookies.
Butternut squash soup, spicy and sweet and creamy, topped with crunchy and salty bacon.
Marinated kale salad. I have made this recipe three times in one month. Served alongside the butternut squash soup, with crusty rosemary-olive oil bread.

Done

2009-11-30T20:05:00.001-06:00

Neglect Acknowledged

2009-11-29T17:37:00.002-06:00

I have spent the entirety of November immersed in NaNoWriMo. In order to preserve my reading and exercising and cooking schedules and sanity, I quit blogging and Facebook for the month.

So, hopefully I'll be back soon with a real post, but currently I am at a word count of 46,065, and I must make it to 50,000 by tomorrow at midnight.

Houseguest Evicted

2009-10-26T18:46:00.003-05:00

I put off doing laundry for a long time. I bought more socks and wore scorned shirts from the back of the closet. I really wanted to know if the basement poison had been effective, but I didn't want to know badly enough to open that door.

But I did, yesterday. I flung the door silently and suddenly open, turned on all the lights, and remained alert for any signs of movement. Nothing. I stared at the pieces of dryer lint that had fallen from the wastebasket. Just lint. Then I saw the tiny lump lying near the water softener. The dead houseguest.

I didn't stay to look at it closely. I went back upstairs to wring my hands and pace. I was sort of happy that my problem might be taken care of and considered for a while just leaving the evidence there and hoping that it would evaporate. I settled upon this idea for long enough to go back down and put in a load of laundry, but the room just felt so creepy and I could not stop staring at the corner where the body lay. I was worried that it might move.

So I gave myself a pep talk. I reminded myself that I have extensive babysitting experience and I have handled stuff that smells and looks bad. Hands can be washed. I can hold my breath.

I found two pieces of cardboard and put on cleaning gloves that reached my elbows and sturdy shoes. I held my breath, tried not to look at what I was doing, and used one piece of cardboard to nudge the body onto the other piece of cardboard.

What happened was unexpected and I do not like the unexpected. I had thought that I would be moving something that was heavy and meaty. It wasn't. The body was light and dry. Wispy. Fragile. An empty shell. The faint memory of a mouse. A ghost. The tail was horrifying but I could not take my eyes from it.

My hands were shaking but I was OK while opening the front door. When I turned the door knob, the body fell off the cardboard, close to my feet, and I screamed loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Nobody came to save me, and I am disturbed by that. So then, the body was at my feet and I had to calm myself and do the cardboard process again. I dropped it outside, several feet from the house and out of sight.

I'm still shivery while in the laundry room. I can hear noises there.

The Stolen Child

2009-10-19T17:02:00.003-05:00

From The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue:

I crept back into the house, and pretended to be reading the sports page when he came in. My father stared at me hunched over the newspaper, my long fingers wrapped around a coffee cup. The wet belt of his robe dragged along the floor like a chain. Soaked, disheveled, and unshaven, he seemed much older, but maybe I had not noticed before how he was aging. His hands trembled as if palsied, and he took a Camel from his pocket. The cigarette was too wet to light despite his repeated attempts, so he crumpled the whole pack and tossed it in the trash can. I set a cup of coffee in front of him, and he stared at the steam as if I had handed him poison.

"Dad, are you all right? You look a mess."

"You." He pointed his finger at me like a gun, but that's all he said. The word hung in the air all morning, and I do not think I ever heard him call me "Henry" again.

The Stolen Child chronicles the lives of Henry Day. The original Henry Day ran away from home as a child and concealed himself in a hollow tree. He was taken by a band of changelings and replaced by one of their number, a double, the new Henry Day. The first Henry became a changeling himself and was renamed Aniday. The chapters are in alternating points of view between Henry, who is working hard to dispel the Day family suspicions, and Aniday, who is struggling with his new identity in the shadowy edges of the forest.

I really did enjoy this one, especially the first couple of chapters, in which the structure of changeling abilities and motivations were explained. But after that things got bogged down. Henry and Aniday lived their separate lives, rarely intersecting as much as I hoped they would. Henry had some initial hurdles to overcome, but otherwise was a mostly dull human. Aniday had his own troubles but was mainly just wandering in the woods. I didn't feel much sympathy of either one of them, and I think that I was supposed to. I hoped for an explosive confrontation of an ending, and it came, but it felt somewhat flat and dry.

But overall I am still intrigued and haunted by this one. I love the concept of impostors. I love secret identities. I love the concept that you can never really know someone, even if you have lived with that person for decades.

The Soup Season

2009-10-18T16:21:00.004-05:00

Actually, it has always been soup season for me. But now is the really serious soup season. I make at least one huge pot per week, sometimes two, from October until May.

Yesterday, I made this irresistable Sweet Potato, Corn, and Jalapeno Bisque. It was velvety, colorful, and comforting, while being strikingly low in fat, sparse on ingredients, quick to make, and cheap. I had everything on hand except the molasses, and I really regret not making a special trip out to buy it. I used some wildflower honey in its place, but there really is no substitute for molasses. I topped the bisque with shredded monterey jack cheese, which was just the thing to make up for no molasses. I think that next time I make it, I may add bacon or black beans to make it heartier, or serve it alongside some roasted shrimp. Or for a lazier version, substitute canned pumpkin puree for the sweet potatoes.

My freezer is now completely emptied of corn. Kind of shameful, so I won't discuss how much corn was in there a couple of weeks ago. I really want to make this recipe for roasted corn pudding in acorn squash, but it hurts me to think that I would need to buy corn to do it.

Items I received in the CSA last week were:

1. Sweet potatoes. I used half for the bisque, and will make oven fries with the rest.

2. Hot peppers: lots of them. Very timely for the above recipe.

3. Celeriac: I have often yearned to try celeriac, but have been sort of afraid that the grocery clerks will ask for a price check on a rock. I have some recipes for mashed celeriac, but I think that it may end up in a stew instead.

4. Yellow-skinned, yellow-fleshed potatoes that are not Yukon golds, but look like them.

5. Red-skinned, white-fleshed potatoes

6. Kohlrabi. I got one bulb, and then found another that some unadventurous person had abandoned in the choice box. Probably the same sad person that tossed a fennel bulb in there months ago, which I also took. Kohlrabi puree is on my mind.

7. Garlic

8. Winter squash: One heirloom acorn and one delicato. Trixie is so thrilled!

9. Red crispy lettuce head

10. Carrots: a GIANT bag of GIANT carrots.

That was the second-to-last delivery. This week is the last. I am already cautiously leafing through cookbooks and wondering what to do when the CSA veggies are gone. Can I really just pick any old recipe and make it?

Housemate Update

2009-10-10T18:46:00.003-05:00

I have spent some time thinking about my mouse fears and about rodent psychology.

What am I really afraid of? I am afraid about how fast mice can run. I am afraid that they will race up my legs, up my torso, and into my hair.

I slept on that thought, and then woke up realizing that the fear is far-fetched. The mouse is afraid of me. There is no reason for me to be timid. I am tall and powerful.

The encounter in the laundry room was a problem of poor communication. I did not announce my presence clearly enough. Turning a sweater inside-out is a nearly silent process. If the mouse had known that I was there, then it would not have intruded.

The solution is to state my intentions clearly. I should say, HERE I AM. I WILL SORT THE LAUNDRY NOW. WILL TAKE APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES. The mouse will think, Ah yes. Superior species here. Will stay hidden. I should repeat this every 30 seconds or so, and some foot stomping now and then should help to maintain my solitude. Problem solved.

Then Terminix came today. (On a Saturday morning!) The outdoor utility hook-ups look fine, so sign of entry. But there is a small gap in the garage door. The guy suggested that the mouse came in the garage through that gap, waited until I showed up and opened the door from the garage to the house, and then followed in after me.

I was disturbed by the explanation. I stated that I did not believe it. I make sounds when I walk, I said. My feet stomp around. He laughed. He said that mice are not very afraid of people, and footsteps are not that frightening.

So, the theory is gone. I feel horrified that something may have have scurried after me through the door without me noticing, while my thoughts were occupied with greeting Trixie and post-work snacking and juggling mail and purse and lunch bag. How could I be so oblivious? How could I not feel that presence around my feet? What else am I unaware of? Is there a wild turkey in the guest room closet as well? The pangs of ankle vulnerability have returned.

I need to get the garage door fixed and buy some taller socks.

Shepherd's Pie

2009-10-10T18:15:00.003-05:00

Last night I pulled a piece of salmon from the freezer to defrost in the fridge. I tentatively planned on having it along with roasted broccoli and a crunchy green salad for dinner.

Then I went outside today and was pounded by icy winds and snow flurries and realized that there was only one reasonable option for weekend eating.

So I made shepherd's pie. Beneath the top "crust" of mashed potatoes (crispy on top and creamy elsewhere), lies a rich beefy filling that is brimming with herbs and vegetables: carrot, onion, garlic, green beans, and red bell pepper. There is no comfort food more filling and humble than this pastoral pie. I ate an embarrassing amount.

Bear with me while I gloat: all of it was made from scratch (including the mashed potatoes and gravy, though I did not make my own beef stock) and took me one hour to complete (including peeling, boiling, and mashing potatoes).

***
In other food-related news, here is the CSA update. I haven't mentioned it in a while, mostly because I have been overwhelmed with the quantities lately. It seems like I spend more time rearranging the fridge than cooking.

One of my good friends gave me an excellent recipe to use up some red bell peppers. I thought that I had two of them, but upon exploring the fridge, I found five. No big deal, I thought. Use three, leave two. I could make chili or stuffed peppers later. But then I got another CSA delivery. And I received SIX MORE red bell peppers. So yeah, I may need to make those stuffed peppers soon and freeze them for later eating.

I also received a sign-up form for next year's share in the CSA. I don't have to sign up now, but I get a small discount if I do. I am slightly indecisive. The quantity of food is enormous, and I often wish that I could shop at the farmers market instead. But the CSA has really stretched my creativity. I doubt that I would have become a kohlrabi fan on my own. I imagine that I will probably sign up again. I begged for beet greens, arugula, cauliflower, and rhubarb in the CSA survey, so I guess I should renew, in case my dreams are granted.

Here is a list of the items that I have received in the last two deliveries:
-Lettuce head, red and crispy
-Onions
-Broccoli
-Winter squash: Finally! One acorn (a huge heirloom kind that looks like butternut) and one round colorful one called carnival.
-Beets, red and white striped ones!
-Red bell peppers, lots and lots
-Jalapeno peppers
-Bok choy
-Celery
-Garlic
-Potatoes: fingerling, white, and red-skinned ones. I now have EIGHT bags of potatoes in storage, many of them still completely full.
-Spinach
-Kale
-Cabbage
-Carrots: I now have THREE giant bags of carrots in the fridge. Time to make carrot-dill soup and carrot cake again.
-Salad mix
-Ruby heart radishes: these are so spicy that they bring tears to my eyes!
-Leeks: two more beautiful giants.

I made home-made chicken stock this week, which helped to decrease the quantities of some of the above.

Cashews contain Cashew

2009-10-09T17:16:00.006-05:00

Bag, side 1:

Bag, side 2:

Again

2009-10-08T19:24:00.003-05:00

Tonight I hefted the laundry basket downstairs, full of self-righteousness about having unpacked my suitcase only four days after arriving from out of town. A tidy person, me. I set the washer to fill and picked the first sweater from the basket, lifting it to turn inside-out.

I caught a glimpse of movement from the side of the dryer.

The light was behind me, so of course it might have been the shadow of my arm.

I studied the room. I pulled one sweater arm free, then the other.

A teeny face peeped at me from the side of the dryer. I dropped the sweater.

I screamed, then boldly stated, GO LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, which got Trixie upset from her perch upstairs, and I bolted away with the laundry basket (didn't want the sweaters to become a cozy bed). I had to leave. My ankles felt so vulnerable. I left the washer running, empty, which is sad, but I'm not going down there again. Then I called Terminix.

The Ongoing CSA Project

2009-09-26T16:13:00.005-05:00

About the potatoes. I have lots. The more I eat them, the more I crave sweets. Last week my stomach demanded that I make these flourless brownies. I replaced half of the sugar with Splenda, but they still weren't exactly healthy, considering all the butter. I like to think of them as sort of balanced with the high-protein, high-fiber secret ingredient, which becomes undetectable after baking. They did hit the spot. I would like to say that the brownies had a fudgy texture, but fudge brings to mind a cloying feeling. The brownies were rich and creamy and only mildly sweet, reminiscent of a chocolate custard.

This week's CSA delivery:

-Potatoes: pounds and pounds of them. Red-skinned, white flesh ones and Yukon golds. Tonight I am making a giant quantity of mashed potatoes. I like to fry leftover mashed potatoes in small patties until they are crispy and golden brown on the outside but remain creamy on the inside.

-Patty pan squashes: huge ones. I have big plans for stuffing these. The stuffing will consist of tomato, onion, mushroom, panko bread crumbs, cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil.

-Tomato: to be used as above.

-Kohlrabi: It's back! I'm glad, because I was moaning about lost opportunities to try this kohlrabi puree recipe.

-Carrots: another huge bag. Carrot muffins this week.

-Green beans: this may be the last of them for the season. They may have to be frozen because I'm just overloaded with food at the moment.

-Garlic: half gone already.

-Broccoli: broccoli cheddar soup has already been made.

-Red bell peppers: Somehow, I always become stumped with what to do with these. I would stuff them, but I've got the squash this week.

-Leek: I got the most beautiful leek ever. Leeks at the grocery store are mostly composed of green tops, which are not edible. The leek I've got is almost entirely of the good white part. I love leek soup with bacon and potatoes, but I may end up sauteeing it since I've already got the broccoli cheddar soup. See photo below. My hand is there to demonstrate perspective.

-Celery: I have nothing against celery, but I'm not one to get excited about it, usually. The CSA celery is something completely different. It actually tastes like celery! It is so strong that it might overpower the flavor of a soup! It is so crunchy that I feel conspicuous bringing it to eat at work! But I did anyway. I have been eating it with peanut butter and upon salads.

-Salad mix: It had returned! To be eaten for lunch.

The last delivery is October 22. I am starting to get a little anxious, because despite all this abundance, I haven't received any winter squash yet.

I Am Outraged

2009-09-26T16:06:00.003-05:00

That somebody is altering the flavors and colors of Neccos. Even the chocolate ones. I mean, there are only about five people in the world who like Neccos. Shouldn't we have been consulted?

Three Items

2009-09-18T12:58:00.003-05:00

1. Mouse update: The situation isn't fully resolved, but I am much more emotionally stable than before. Last night, I even sat on the floor for a few minutes while watching a movie. Terminix came and went, not much was definitively accomplished, but there is something reassuring about telling a story to a rational, uniformed person. I have come to the conclusion that the mouse is a loner type. No family.

I think that the mouse is gone now, but I haven't discovered a body yet. That bothers me. I might forget, and then the body might turn up unexpectedly one day.

2. I finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the sequel to Hunger Games. I loved it, but I have some mixed feelings. The first 1/3 of the book was headed in a certain direction, which was kind of rambly and wishy-washy, but I didn't care because I was so grateful to be with the characters again. Then I was abruptly thrown into another plot direction, with apparent abandonment of the first. I tried to be annoyed, but this plot was too exciting to think too much about anything. On the last couple of pages, a plot twist happened that managed to tie the two pieces together and leave my mouth hanging open. I was thrilled, but also irritated with myself for not working it out earlier.

There is to be a third book in the series. Maybe more. A series is not good for my health. Too much yearning and mouth-watering and hand-wringing. What am I supposed to do with my free time now? I cannot read any books that are similar to Catching Fire right now. I cannot read any books that are not similar to Catching Fire right now. I'm headed to the library soon; maybe something with grab my attention.

3. CSA delivery was last night. I had to do some creative refrigerator rearranging.

-Potatoes: The farm is having an outstanding potato crop, and everyone is receiving a double-share of them from now on. I got a large bag of blue-skinned, blue-fleshed ones and a large bag of what I think are Yukon golds. I am going to make a huge batch of pesto this weekend, some for freezing and some for topping potatoes.

-Green beans: will be roasted.

- Carrots: purple ones again!

-Tomato: one large green heirloom variety.

-Red sweet peppers: hmm. Plans are underway.

-Summer squash: one yellow and one large patty pan. More bread?

-Broccoli: I have tons now, because I still have the broccoli from last week. I am thinking about another batch of broccoli cheddar soup.

-Collard greens: may be blanched and frozen for a wintry soup.

-Ruby heart radishes: These are huge and look like turnips at first, white with red centers. to be eaten raw.

-Corn: Six giant ears. I have pickled, frozen, and consumed literally gallons of corn this season.

Remember early spring, when the CSA only sent six items per week, and I would have it all eaten by Monday night?

The Last Care-Free Moment

2009-09-15T12:14:00.003-05:00

This morning, while taking Trixie for a walk, I thought about these six things:

1. I should do laundry soon.
2. (Upon seeing a house for sale on my street) I'm so glad that I have neither the want nor the need to sell my house right now.
3. It's too bad that I have to work this evening. Looks like a nice day.
4. Which leftover should I have for lunch and which one should I pack for dinner?
5. (Upon seeing someone spraying herbicide onto a lawn) I should cancel my Terminix account. They spray my yard for ants, but I've never seen an ant attempt to enter my house. Why do I have to be so antagonistic?
6. The squirrels and chipmunks are particularly active today.

While I opened the door and freed Trixie from her harness, I thought about these six things:

1. I am never doing laundry again.
2. How soon can I sell my home?
3. I shall go to work early and stay late.
4. I'll skip lunch. The hospital cafeteria probably has something nice for dinner.
5. I must call Terminix immediately.
6. What is this? The rodent revolution?

While I was walking in, I saw a flurry of motion in my periphery and felt a chill of horror slide down my back. A mouse. Racing to the safety of the laundry room. I rushed upstairs, called Terminix, made an appointment, and paced with worry.

Sensibility returned. I felt a beige comfort sink squarely onto my shoulders. I wasn't quite sure what I had actually seen. A large bug, maybe. A fluttering brown moth. My eyes had been dazzled by sunlight and I may not have seen anything at all.

I peeked down the bannister to the half-basement. No mistake. I saw it right at the foot of the stairs, contemplating the climb. Mouse.

I had a mouse three years ago, when my relationship, or codependency, with Terminix began. It had gotten in through the dryer hookup. I looked outside and yes, there does seem to be a chunk of insulation missing. I had bought extra blocks of poison at that time for extra security, and I've still got some in the garage. I got them out (shouted and stomped for the mouse to scurry away first) and scattered them around where the mouse had been. There is no expiration date on the box. I hope there's still poison left after three years.

So, now, I am making myself as small as possible on the couch. Terminix is coming early tomorrow morning. I am hoping that I will be so busy at work that I will be too tired tonight for terror. I am hoping to come home to a dead mouse, really.

Even though I loathe my house and its woodsy surroundings right now, I am suddenly grateful for its odd layout. The main entrance is in the half-basement, which is just about as inviting as you think it is. There is a laundry/utility room down there, a closet, and a stairway to the living room. But this means that I can be on the second floor and feel relatively safe. I know that nothing is really a barrier for a rodent. But my theory is that even if it did make it from the basement to the first floor, it would find enough to entertain itself there and would have no need to explore the second floor.

I wonder what to do with Trixie tonight. She would dislike being stuck upstairs. She would be absolutely no help as a hunter. But does the mouse know this?

Beet Experiments

2009-09-13T19:39:00.004-05:00

This week I had the following at hand from the CSA: beets, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and cabbage. So, there was really only one option to bring them all together--make borscht. I am renaming my version as Triple Purple Soup, because my potatoes and carrots were purple to start with. It's too bad that the cabbage was green. It turned out well! I pre-roasted the beets, added fresh thyme sprigs from the garden, and flavored with beef stock, Worchestershire sauce, and red wine vinegar. It paired nicely with crusty whole-grain bread and sharp white cheddar cheese. I just tried to ignore that it was so....unnaturally purple.

CSA delivery from this week:

Watermelon: The greedy part of me was thrilled that the watermelon in my box looked bigger than most of the other ones. But then the lazy part of me was disappointed that I had to carry it out to my car, along with pounds and pounds of other stuff. Now I'm back to being thrilled. I never buy watermelons. I haven't cut into it yet. This one is supposed to have orange flesh.

Potatoes: This kind has purple skin and purple insides. They stay purple after cooking!

Green beans: I had previously found these kind of dull, but that was before I tried roasting them with garlic, onion, and olive oil.

Beets: Lots. Half of them went into the borscht, and the other half are going to be Jewel-Roasted Vegetables. I bought some brussels sprouts at the farmers market for the recipe--I just can't resist the tiny early fall ones.

Summer squash: I am going to make another ratatouille tart.

Tomatoes: One red and one yellow. Both to go in the above tart.

Onions: gone already!

Broccoli: It turns out that broccoli pesto is the perfect topping for potatoes.

Lettuce: my favorite dark-green oak leafy kind.

Chinese cabbage: gone already!

Panic

2009-09-06T14:58:00.002-05:00

Corn Relish

2009-09-06T12:34:00.006-05:00

Canning Project #2, done.

Unrelated items:

1) The 5K run yesterday went well and was more fun than I thought it would be. My time was 38:41, which is faster than I have finished a 5K distance before.

2) The double broccoli quinoa (mentioned previously) came together beautifully. I thought that the broccoli pesto by itself tasted kind of bland. But when combined with everything, something magical happened. The pesto and quinoa were both slightly chewy, the feta and avocado were creamy, the garlic spiced it up, the toasted almonds provided crunch, and the lemon freshened it all. I added some leftover salmon to the top. I was too lazy to make the hot pepper oil, but I think that it would have been a nice addition.
Finally, the freezer and crisper are empty of CSA broccoli.

Apple Frangipane Tart

2009-09-04T18:01:00.003-05:00

I don't fully buy into the idea of carb-loading before a race, but I figured that the night prior to a 5K run is an excellent excuse to make an apple frangipane tart.

Quoting from my Cooking Light cookbook, frangipane is "an almond-flavored filling made from eggs, butter, sugar, and ground almonds. When baked, the frangipane puffs up and sets around the apples."

I used the filling recipe from Cooking Light, which replaced the butter with low-fat cream cheese. (If you want the recipe, I see that someone has copied it here.) But I made my own crust, a shortbread kind, rather than the phyllo crust that the recipe called for. I find phyllo to be a hassle to work with, and I would probably end up wasting the phyllo sheets that were left over.

The tart turned out beautifully! The frangipane looked skimpy to start with, but puffed up high just as it should. The apples are tender but still tart. The almond and vanilla flavors are ultra-concentrated. The ground almonds add a rich texture and pair well with the shortbread crust. Next time I make this, I will try using pears.

Running Mix

2009-09-04T17:44:00.003-05:00

Here is my iPod playlist for the 5K that I am running tomorrow. I had to set aside my preferred variety of "sad bastard" music and scrounge for peppy items. Regretfully, Don't Stop Believin' didn't make the cut, although at one time I was determined to make it the finish-line anthem.

1. Life in Technicolor II- Coldplay
2. Dashboard- Modest Mouse
3. Too Little Too Late- BNL
4. E-Pro- Beck
5. Falling For the First Time- BNL
6. Radio Nowhere- Bruce Springsteen
7. Viva la Vida- Coldplay
8. Somebody Told Me- The Killers
9. Gone Daddy Gone- Gnarls Barkley
10. Invisible Touch- Genesis *
11. Amsterdam- Guster
12. Mr. Brightside- The Killers
13. Girl- Beck
14. Don't You Evah- Spoon
15. Heavy Metal Drummer- Wilco
16. Just Like Heaven- The Cure

It's more music than I need, but I couldn't bear to part with some of these. Maybe I should run longer distances.

*There should be no need to explain or apologize for music, but I'd like to state for the record that this is the ONLY Phil Collins song that I like.

Low-Carbery On Hiatus

2009-09-03T18:45:00.003-05:00

It is hard to maintain a low-carb philosophy when the house is always full of potatoes, carrots, and corn. But I am trying my best to reserve white flour and white sugar for special occasions. Maybe this winter I will reform.

Today's CSA delivery:

Corn: Seven ears! I am thinking more seriously about canning some corn relish. I have gone so far as to draft a shopping list for the project.

Carrots: a giant bag.

Green beans: a small bag. I may try roasting them.

Summer squash: One yellow squash and one huge patty pan--cream-colored with neatly scalloped edges. More muffins, I think. Or maybe a ribbon salad.

Onions

Garlic

Potatoes: not russets, but similar in appearance.

Edamame in their fuzzy pods: I was so pleased! I like to make 3-bean salad with these. If I can't finish them this week, I will blanch and freeze them.

Tomato: One giant heirloom variety.

Sweet red pepper: will go into the corn relish.

Broccoli: I haven't forgotten that I had previously declared a plan for making broccoli pesto. I got some prompting from this recipe for double broccoli quinoa, conveniently appearing in my Google Reader this week. I already know that it will be fabulous, because it will be topped with avocado and feta cheese.

The Book Thief

2009-09-03T18:19:00.003-05:00

I have just finished reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

I chose it because it had been recommended to me many, many times, by people whose opinions are generally trustworthy.
At several points during the reading of The Book Thief I thought to myself, why does everyone love this book? I do not love it. I tried to put it down a few times. But I always came back.
I did not love it until around the last 100 pages. Then everything fell into place and I embraced the current section and all the words that came before it.
The thing that kept me coming back to it was not the plot. It wasn't the wondering about what's going to happen. It wasn't the predicting of the final secrets. For the most part, there were no secrets. I knew what was going to happen, but I was intensely interested in the steps by which the characters got there. I wanted to hang on to these people as long as I could.
The setting is World War II. I wince a little to note that, because I am not a fan of war stories in general and WWII in particular, even though I've made my way through a stack of them over the years. But it's a different side of the story than most, and the narrator is certainly unique.
I had so much dread within me that my jaw ached from clenching it while reading.
The Book Thief reinforced my gratefulness to be living in the time and place that I do.
The Book Thief forced me to visit a local farmers market (the Wednesday Hilldale one) on an emergency mission to buy apples.

CSA Project, Continued

2009-08-27T20:34:00.003-05:00

This week's delivery and my tentative plans:

Summer squash: I received one zucchini, one yellow squash, and one patty pan. Tonight I made chocolate zucchini bread. I altered the recipe by replacing half of the white flour with whole wheat flour and adding toasted pecans and nutmeg. I think that this is the fifth or sixth zucchini bread I have made this summer. I have it for breakfast every morning. I'm not sure what I will do with the other two squashes--they might find themselves baked into bread as well.

Collard greens! I was surprised! Somehow, collard greens seem to be a wintry thing. I am going to saute them with garlic, which necessitates having pulled chicken barbeque on the side, to complete the southern picture.

Purple carrots! Just when my white kitchen had begun to recover from the beets last week, I come home with these. The sink is purple again. They don't really taste much different than orange carrots. But I'm sure that whatever compound that makes it purple is very nutritious. And it will provide my inquisitive lunchtime coworkers with something to remark upon.

Green beans- a large bag. I like them raw on salads the best. Update on the dilly beans: the room temperature jars appear to be botulism-free. I set aside one jar in the fridge, just in case. I have tried them already and they are very tasty! A little more sour than I would have preferred, but they have retained their crunch, which is something of major importance.

Garlic- will disappear quickly.

Lettuce head- I got a variety that I have had before and is one of my favorites. It is called Cocarde, and has dark green oak-like leaves. Very sturdy and strongly flavored and will pair well with the salmon that I bought today.

Corn- Just four ears this time. The weather has been chilly as of late, and so I am making corn chowder with bacon this weekend.

Tomatoes- five of them, including a yellow one.

Hot peppers: one jalapeno and one Hungarian yellow wax. These must be potent ones, because even sniffing the outer skins makes my eyes water. The time has come to make pints and pints of salsa and test my canning skills again.

Cucumber: A small one. It will probably be incorporated into lunchtime salads.

The Hunger Games

2009-08-23T12:39:00.003-05:00

I haven't eaten very much for the last couple of days. Partly, that was because I was unable to put down this book. Also, I felt guilty whenever I did tear myself away to eat. Why should I cram my mouth with beef, while these people are desperately trying to catch squirrels and chew on tree bark? I would feel much better about myself if I could just go out and gather some roots and berries for dinner.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was thrilling and satisfying from the first word to the last. I love this one so much that I may buy extra copies and hand them out on a street corner. I knew, vaguely, when I started this that there was a sequel. I assumed it was out already, but now I know that it's being released Sept 1. I don't know how I will manage to fill the time between now and that date.

I will try to outline the plot here, but I think that you are better off just skipping the rest and getting the book right away. The thing is, I was put off from reading this one for a long time because of numerous plot synopses just like this. The Hunger Games does not sound like my usual book. I generally do not care for action-packed stories with bold protagonists that are set in the future. I usually prefer wimpy and angsty leads that moan about love. But anyway, here I go: The nation of Panem is set in the ruins of former North America, where one shining Capitol rules with an iron fist over twelve downtrodden districts. The districts are reminded each year of their former rebellion by the institution of the Hunger Games. Each district is mandated to provide one boy and one girl to participate in the games, a nationally televised fight to the death. Sixteen-year old Katniss is chosen from District Twelve, along with a fellow tribute with whom she has crossed paths once or twice in the past. Katniss finds some talents that were previously unrealized, but exercising them may require compromising her own humanity.

Anyway, forget all that plotty stuff and give the book a try. I found the people in it to be the most compelling element, anyway. My heart pounded away audibly for the entire time that I was reading, and so I believe that the book qualifies as both a diet and an exercise plan.

Tender Morsels

2009-08-23T11:46:00.005-05:00

I haven't done any book reviews in a while. I have been reading ravenously and have found plenty of excellent ones lately, but not many that I must share.

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan is one of those that I must discuss. I chose it for its cover; isn't it striking? The gist of it is this: Liga has escaped a world of cruelty to live in her own personal heaven with her two daughters, Branza and Urdda. But the real world begins to intrude, chewing at the boundaries to admit magical men, wild bears, and other troubling things. It is a dark story about two worlds and the frayed fabric that separates them. The overall question seems to be, is it really better to be safe than sorry?

Tender Morsels isn't for everyone. It is overwhelmingly grim and violent in parts and tough to get through for those reasons, although I found that the aching beauty of the lighter parts more than made up for the darker. I had a strong feeling of dread for most of the characters throughout, but I felt that putting down the book would be another hurtful abandonment for them. Lanagan is also a poet, and it is evident that every line of prose is lovingly crafted with imagery.

I enjoyed the shifting points of view in the book. Sometimes first-person narration, sometimes third, and with many people taking over. When you are receiving story from a person who is "I" and is speaking in past tense, you might assume that this person will be alive and well in the end. Therefore, I was unsettled and disturbed when one of these "I"s disappeared. It kept me on my toes for the rest of the book. And it is a good thing that I was alert for surprises, because the ending was deliciously shocking.

CSA Abundance

2009-08-23T11:40:00.002-05:00

This week's delivery:

Corn: six ears
Yukon gold baby potatoes
Cucumber
Beets
Zucchini
Tomatoes: five!
Lettuce head
Eggplant

I will keep this brief because I am planning two other posts today. This afternoon I am making roasted eggplant marinara sauce. I already have a pot roast in the crock pot with onions, carrots, and potatoes. One chilly night and I am already in a pot-roasty winter-squashy mood.

Dilly Beans

2009-08-16T19:52:00.004-05:00

Well, the canning is complete. Keep these beans in your thoughts. If all goes well, these dilly beans will become steeped in peppery, dilly, garlicky, vinegariness--and remain botulism-free. I researched home preservation basics and followed the rules religiously, including the proper measurement of airspace at the top (half an inch for this recipe). Unfortunately, I didn't realize that green beans like to float above liquid, and so there really isn't any airspace at all. I hope that's OK. But otherwise, everything is painstakingly sterilized and I restrained myself from "winging it" with the recipe. Everything is measured and nothing extra has been thrown in on a whim. Recipe may be found here on my CSA's site, just click on green beans.

In news of other things sour, I went to the Vom Fass store this weekend. It is a place that sells fancy oils, vinegars, wine, and spirits out of the casks, with the option to taste anything or to buy quantities as small as 100 ml. It is like a little potions dispensary. Or apothecary. Maybe I could get a job there? I bought pomegranate vinegar.

Zucchini Overdose

2009-08-16T07:07:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was the Day of Zucchini. I made zucchini-carrot cake with citrus-cream cheese frosting in the morning. I found a low-fat recipe in Better Homes and Gardens, of all places. I substituted part of the white flour for whole-wheat flour.

For lunch, I made these fantastic zucchini fritters. I always forget that I dislike shallow frying until I am in the midst of doing it. I was worried that they wouldn't work out too well; my first couple of fritters didn't have the oil hot enough and were flipped too soon out of impatience, but it was completely worth it in the end. They were amazing. Crispy and browned on the outside, buttery with feta cheese and dense greenness on the inside. I didn't use mint because I didn't have any (I wish I did), but the fresh dill was an excellent flavor. The tzatziki sauce was excellent and a good way to use up a cucumber from the CSA. I served the fritters with thick slices of purplish heirloom tomato. Hopefully the leftovers will turn out well when reheated in the oven. I will find out today.

Then for dinner, I made homemade macaroni and cheese with zucchini. After all that, I am not yet tired of it. That is a good thing, because I expect to get lots more zucchini this coming week.

Other items from the CSA delivery last Thursday:

Corn: Five ears. I ate one, then boiled and froze the rest of the kernels.

Green beans: A huge bag! I found a simple recipe for dilly beans. I may try out home canning this week. I have been studying the preserving supplies at the grocery store lately and it's time to act.

Chinese cabbage: I have already sauteed and eaten one half of it. Not sure what will happen to the other half.

Lettuce head: Lunch plans are settled for the week.

Garlic: to be used in nearly everything I make!

Cucumber: I was tentatively planning to make pickles, but I received two of these, and one was used for the tzatziki sauce yesterday. One isn't worth the trouble. I may marinate it.

Hot pepper: One jalapeno and one yellow Hungarian hot wax. I might make spicy black beans with one. The other could find its way into the dilly beans.

Carrots: It is a good thing that they have a long refrigerator life. I have used some in salads and for the zucchini-carrot cake. I will make the carrot-dill soup soon.

Tomatoes: Something heartbreaking happened to the farm's tomato crop. You can read the terrible news here. Thousands and thousands of them, destroyed. Lots of marinara sauce, salsa, gazpacho, chili, and caprese salad, never to be known. Anyway, I did get one ordinary red tomato and one purplish heirloom variety in my box. I plan to eat them plain, in remembrance of the rest.

Ratatouille Tart

2009-08-09T14:01:00.004-05:00

This is what I accomplished this morning: a cornmeal-crusted ratatouille tart, using an Ellie Krieger recipe. Click on the photo for a larger size! Underneath the crunchy parmesan cheese are layers of roasted eggplant, zucchini, tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil fresh from my garden. I didn't have any shallots but I did have lots of garlic and onions around. So I substituted one small onion and one garlic clove to approximate the shallot flavor.

It turned out wonderfully. Tastes like summer! I worried about the veggies getting soggy but they turned out fine. The crust could use a little more flavor, maybe more butter and a dash of sugar, but otherwise I wouldn't change a thing. My tart pan is larger than the recipe requested (11 inches vs. 9 inches), so I didn't have enough crust to creep up the sides. But that's OK, because I'm generally too scared to invoke the removable-bottom feature of the pan anyway. It was fun to make and nearly fool-proof, but it's definitely a weekend kind of project with the crust-making and pre-roasting of veggies.

Summer Bounty

2009-08-08T09:36:00.005-05:00

In the early weeks of CSA delivery, I scoffed at the idea that each week's box was supposed to feed four adults for one week. Now I am beginning to see that point of view. But fortunately, this week's installment of produce has the potential to be preserved for future use.

Highlight of last week's cooking projects: I used the new potatoes to make hot German potato salad, with lots of bacon, garlic, and fresh thyme from the garden.

Zucchini: I got tons and tons of zucchini! Many, many pounds! I have three ideas for its consumption. First, I will make this ratatouille tart. I have had my eye on this recipe for a long time, and I have been itching to use my tart pan again after its debut success with the peach melba tart. Second, I will make these zucchini fritters. Third, I will make another zucchini-carrot bread (or two) and freeze some it.

Cucumber: I got tons of this, too. I am making gazpacho, using a combination of Alton Brown's version and Barefoot Contessa's version. I like mine spicy and chunky-style, with lots of garlic and basil. I imagine that some zucchini may find its way in, too. I am making gallons of gazpacho to freeze away for the winter.

Carrots: another huge bag, with a promise for another bag next week. I may make another batch of carrot dill soup, which should also freeze well. Some will go into the zucchini-carrot bread. I may need to browse the internet for other ideas.

Onions: I got about six medium-sized fresh onions. Many will go into the gazpacho.

Corn: Seven ears! I blanched them all last night and ate one ear. I haven't had fresh corn in a long time, owing to the low-carb lifestyle. I had forgotten how much I like it. Then I cut the rest of the kernels off the cobs and froze them.

Green beans: I got another big bag, in addition to half of a bag that I have from last week. I may blanch and freeze them. I'm just not sure what to do with them, other than make dilly beans. I'd like to make a large pot of vegetable soup, but I've got two soups in mind for this week already.

Lettuce head: a head of crunchy reddish leaves. I will see what looks good at the seafood counter to top it.

Garlic: Probably the whole head will go into the gazpacho.

Tomatoes: I got a deep purplish heirloom variety. I am thinking that it will be very nice in the ratatouille tart.

Oh yeah, and, um, I went to the farmers market today and got MORE produce. I am such a pig. But it's patty pan squash season, and I haven't gotten any from the CSA yet! If too much time passes, I will be unable to get ones this teeny and tender. I bought a pound of patty pans, which I will saute in butter and garlic.

And I bought a pound of young eggplant, for the ratatouille tart. If there is any leftover, (or if, as I suspect, I will get one from the CSA next week) I will make roasted eggplant marinara sauce and baba ghannouj.

In my defense, I did fight the temptation, successfully, to buy cauliflower at the market, even though they had both purple cauliflower and cheddar (bright orange) varieties. Maybe next week.....?

And thanks to friend Janet, I found a really neat cooking blog: 101 Cookbooks. On a first casual browse, I found cookies made from white bean puree and fudgy brownies made from black bean puree. It's almost as if this blogger is reading my mind. That weirdness and carb-swapping is just my sort of thing.

Weekend of Carrot

2009-07-30T14:59:00.003-05:00

My mom was here to visit last weekend and helped me consume the many pounds of carrots that had been piling up from the CSA. We intended to make carrot dill soup, carrot cake (Lots of pecans. No raisins.), and carrot-zucchini bread. We made the first two, which were excellent. Then we ran out of carrots. I didn't think that was possible. But it was a big cake.

Here is a review of last week's harvest, which I didn't post last week due to the flurry of house-cleaning:
-Carrots: many.
-New potatoes: I quartered and roasted them with olive oil, salt, and pepper at a high temperature until they were crispy on the outside but still buttery on the inside. They turned out really well.
-Fennel: Another two large bulbs, in addition to the one leftover from the previous week. I like fennel raw or sauteed, but this time I tossed them with parmesan cheese and roasted the lot alongside the potatoes. They were good, but I were softer in texture than I would have liked. I think that the oven temp wasn't high enough for them to get to the desired brownness.
-Garlic: has disappeared into multiple projects, most notably a batch of guacamole.
-Cabbage: I got a huge head of green cabbage, very crunchy and fresh. I stir-fried half of it with garlic, olive oil, tamari, and rice wine vinegar. Next time I will add red pepper flake and a drizzle of honey to the mix. I still have the other half left, which may be destined for soup.
-Zucchini: a large one. I am making zucchini bread today.
-Cucumber: I had intended to make refrigerator pickles, but this cucumber was exceptionally crisp and tasty, so I ate it all raw.
-Salad Mix: the last bag for a few weeks. I miss it.

Now, this week's harvest that I picked up today:
-New potatoes: another bag of them. I am tempted to roast them all again, but I'll keep my mind open to new options.
-Beets: Finally! I have really been looking forward to these. Roasting is mandatory. Too bad that there are no more carrots. They would make a nice roasting companion.
-Onions: Everything I make has garlic and onions, so I'll find a use somewhere.
-Zucchini: I love zucchini. I have vague ideas of layered cheesy zucchini casserole.
-Green beans: Trixie is so pleased.
-Cabbage: another one! I envision more stir-fries and soup.
-Cucumber: I got two this time. I may make those refrigerator pickles after all.

Broccoli Brainstorms

2009-07-20T19:16:00.003-05:00

For the past two weeks, Trixie and I have been munching broccoli nearly every day. The first week I made a broccoli cheddar soup. The second week, I steamed it and enhanced with lemon juice. Last Thursday I was surprised to receive a capacious sack of more broccoli from the CSA, about as much as the previous two weeks' combined. This selection had slightly purplish tops, which I am sure is an indicator of superior nutrient content.

So tonight I made something unusual for me, a casserole. No cans of cream-of-whatever soup were permitted. I made a creamy (and low fat) cheese sauce from scratch, with garlic and fresh thyme from my garden. I poured this over cooked and cubed chicken, mushrooms browned with more garlic and thyme and doused with white wine, brown rice, and lightly steamed broccoli, then I baked it until bubbly and browned on top. It was such a comfort on a Monday evening.

But I still have a mountain of broccoli left. I steamed the lot of it, cramming it into my largest pot. Thankfully, it can be frozen for later. But I won't be delaying too long. I want to make something that will truly showcase the flavors of broccoli, rather than trying to hide it amongst stronger ingredients. I have an experiment in mind--a broccoli pesto. I am plotting to puree the following in the food processor: lightly steamed broccoli, parmesan cheese, lemon zest, toasted pecans, garlic, fresh thyme, and olive oil. I shall thin it out a bit with chicken stock and toss it with whole-grain rotini, then top with shrimp or salmon. I'll let you know how it goes.

Other items from last Thursday:

-Notably, no salad mix.

-Lettuce head: this one had purple leaves and a slightly sweet crunch. It's eaten already, the last of it gone today. I feel kind of lost. I'm trying to remember what else I used to pack for lunches in the pre-salad era.

-Fennel bulb: I am really pleased with this. I buy fennel often at the grocery store, but it's always expensive and the cashiers generally need educating on identifying it. I plan to eat it raw with lemon juice and olive oil, but maybe I'll roast it.

-Carrots: Lots and lots of carrots. I'm glad they have a long refrigerator life, because I have no definite plans for them. I could roast them along with the fennel. Trixie is a big fan of carrots.

-Swiss Chard: I still would like to put this in a lasagna. But two casseroles in one week may be asking too much. Sauteeing is a strong possibility.

-Kohlrabi: another one! I will eat it raw.

-Garlic head: I eat about a head of garlic per week, so using this should be no stretch. I used some tonight in the casserole and was amazed at the different texture of fresh garlic as compared to the dried-out ones I usually get. The cloves were crisp and juicy. Will be fine in the broccoli pesto.

Ten Words

2009-07-19T08:12:00.003-05:00

I was given ten words yesterday and asked to write something that used all ten. I was amused by it. I hope that you are, too.

The ten words were: truth, anger, pain, high, weep, concert, ecstasy, boredom, run, swim.

"Tell me the truth," said Eric. "Is there mayonnaise in this casserole?"

"Honey, would I do that to you? Run and get the wine glasses, would you? They're too high for me to reach." Zelda uncorked the white zinfandel and sniffed appreciatively at the top. Eric returned with two glasses.

"White zinfandel, are you serious? Is this the 1980s? I weep with despair over your tastes in wine."

Zelda looked up in surprise. "You'll love this one! At ten dollars a bottle, how could you not?"

She handed him a filled glass. Eric took a small swallow and winced in pain. Zelda sipped hers with relish.

"I wish, if price were no object, to be able to swim in a Whirlpool filled with white zinfandel," she murmured, eyes bright with ecstasy.

"You sure know how to live, don't you," said Eric, shaking his head. "No moments of boredom around here."

They raised their glasses and clinked them in concert. Eric portioned casserole onto their plates.

"God, this looks fabulous. I'm starved." Eric crammed a generous forkful into his mouth. He closed his eyes and chewed, nodding thoughtfully. Suddenly he stopped chewing, his cheeks still bulging. He lunged for his wine glass and took a large gulp of pink syrupy wine. He choked and coughed, and bits of chicken sprayed across the table. Zelda bustled behind him and pounded on his back urgently.

"Keep coughing! Keeping coughing!"

Eric managed to clear his mouth and took several deep breaths. His face faded from fuschia to rose.

"Why do you hate me so much?" he said, his voice thick with anger. "Honestly. Mayonnaise?"

Peach Melba Cream Tart

2009-07-19T07:39:00.003-05:00

The writing group retreat was yesterday. It was absolutely fabulous. I made progress at some crucial spots in the novel that had been holding me back. I also gained so many ideas for new writing projects, that now I am at a loss to figure out which one to do next. But the best parts of the retreat were the incredible house and extensive grounds where we worked, the excellent food that everyone pitched in, and spending the whole day with my friends and listening to them read their freshly-written work. Better bookmark this post, because this gathering of brilliant minds will be a known as a famous historical event someday.

I brought a peach melba cream tart, using this Paula Deen recipe. It turned out perfectly. Unlike many of Paula's desserts, this was not overly sweet. The custard was light, creamy, and not eggy (most of my custard experiments are eggy). Next time I make this (and there will be a next time), I will investigate ways to make the crust lower-calorie (ground almonds would be nice), but this one was so incredibly easy to make, even for people who are timid of pastry like me. I dumped all the ingredients in the food processor (forgetting to soften the butter). Two pulses and I still had loose flour. Four pulses and I had fine crumbs. Six pulses and I had coarse crumbs. Eight pulses and I had a ball of dough.

I took the above picture before I brushed on the glaze. I wanted to take a picture quickly before something terrible and unforeseen happened to the tart. So, imagine it looking shiny.

The only change I made from the original recipe was to scatter raspberries over the top to make it pretty. But I would recommend using frozen and slightly thawed peaches instead of the fresh, to avoid the hassle of blanching and peeling. I think that nearly any kind of fruit could be substituted. I served this with freshly whipped cream, but I think that vanilla bean ice cream would be just as complimentary.

Kohlrabi Discoveries

2009-07-11T14:06:00.002-05:00

Last week, I learned that braised radishes are strange. They become kind of bitter, which is OK, but inferior to the raw state. If I get any more radishes from the CSA, I intend to make pickles.

Last week's broccoli cheddar soup with bacon was incredible! I did finally make the garlic scape pesto (with pecans and parmesan cheese) and was pleased with the results. I used it as sauce on a pizza and topped it with fontina cheese, ham, pearl onions, and mushrooms.

This week's CSA delivery:

Rainbow chard: I am a big fan of chard. This kind is an heirloom variety with more vivid stems than I usually see. I will saute it most likely, although a veggie lasagna would make a nice destination too.

Salad mix: at first glance this was the same mix of purple and green leaves that I have received before, but on closer inspection, the purple leaves this time look different: thicker and sturdier. The taste is more vibrant too, reminiscent of beet greens. I bring salad mix in my lunch every day until the supply runs out.

Lettuce head: This one has dark red curly leaves. Chef salads have been the theme so far, with ham and cheddar cheese curds.

Pearl onions: I cooked some of these last week and determined that I prefer them raw. I am impressed with the greens of the onions; they are like ultra-potent scallions.

Sugar snap peas: Trixie is really pleased that we have another large bag. I am going to make tahini dip and peanut satay sauce to go along with them.

Broccoli: I have vague ideas of chicken divan in mind for this.

Kohlrabi: I had never tried kohlrabi, until yesterday. It is a roundish antennaed bulb belonging to the broccoli family. I have been eating slices of it raw. It tastes a little like a broccoli stem, but sweeter, and has the crunch and texture of a firm apple. I will finish it off on salads, but it would be great sliced on a sandwich, if I ate sandwiches.

Daisy

2009-07-04T14:23:00.003-05:00

The first black-eyed susan has bloomed in my garden. This is from a plant that I bought at the farmers' market last month.

These are the black-eyed susan seedlings that I started from a packet. They're about 2 inches tall now. I'm not sure that they will have a chance to bloom before fall, but we'll see.

One of the basil plants has yielded enough for eating! I plan on making caprese burgers: garlic-studded burgers topped with fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil. Also note the thriving thyme plant behind the basil.

Trixie's New Favorite Food

2009-07-03T10:59:00.004-05:00

Up until last night, Trixie's favorite food was butternut squash. But then I introduced her to sugar snap peas, and her life will never be the same again.

But these are no ordinary sugar snap peas. These are the crunchiest and sweetest ones I have ever had. I ate about half of the large bag that I got from the CSA, and that's not typical behavior for me. I munched them like potato chips. Trixie was curious, so I handed her half of one. She was wary at first, but then became overjoyed and ravenous. She usually maintains a polite and wistful distance from my food, but she was determined to bury her nose in the bowl of sugar snap peas. She ended up eating about six pods (a lot for someone her size), and she hopped impatiently like popcorn between each offering.

I'm trying to remember what I ate last week to provide a recap of the CSA project, but it's all sort of a blur. I ran out of lettuce by Monday! I didn't make garlic scape pesto after all, but instead I braised them with sauerkraut and bratwurst--very tasty. I ate all of the strawberries with chocolate ganache and whipped cream. I did make the blackened tilapia salad and it was fabulous--so good that I used all the romaine for it and had none left to make caesar salad. I ate all the radishes and their greens raw.

The head of escarole? Disappointment of the week. My crisper was overflowing, so I stowed it on the fridge shelf above. Escarole is a sturdy thing. I have stored other greens there with no problems, except the occasional early wilting. I took it out on Sunday afternoon to saute and discovered, to my horror, that it was frozen. The leaf tips were tinged with black. It was frozen all the way through the core. I tried to salvage it in a cold water bath, but it thawed into slimy seaweed. Bah.

Moving on. Here are the contents and tentative plans for this week's CSA delivery:

Salad mix: A small bag this time, enough for 2-3 entree-sized salads. I have gotten into the habit of serving myself a medium-sized side of it before dinner every day, dressed with tarragon vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil, and feta cheese.

Lettuce head: A large one with green oak-leaf style leaves. I will eat this fast, just in case it might find the same fate as the escarole. I may try blackened red snapper or orange roughy piled on top, since I had excellent results with the tilapia.

Pearl Onions with their greens: I had the impression that pearl onions were usually bite-sized, but some of these are as big as a fist. I'm going to saute them in butter and white wine for topping steak.

Garlic scapes: Again! This time, I really will make the garlic scape pesto to use on pizza.

Radishes with their greens: I love these raw, but the time has come to stop wondering about it and make the braised radishes.

Broccoli: Lots of huge stalks! I'm surprised that it's come this early in the season. I think that I'll make broccoli cheddar soup.

Sugar snap peas: As mentioned above. I suspect that these will disappear before the weekend begins. But the good news is, there will be more with next week's delivery.

Strawberries: another large container, but this time, the berries are tiny (see photo below), thus there is little wasted air space in the carton. There are a lot of berries here, folks. I might have to freeze some. I am also thinking of trying my hand at making whole wheat scones, and piling strawberries and whipped cream on top.

Replenished Crisper

2009-06-25T20:24:00.003-05:00

It is Thursday again! CSA delivery, #3:

Strawberries- a large carton. I will dip some of them in dark chocolate ganache (melted chocolate mixed with a dash of heavy cream). I will top some of them with whipped cream.

More garlic scapes!-I didn't know that they were in season so long! This batch is going to become garlic scape pesto. I'm thinking that it will make a nice pizza sauce. Pesto, fontina cheese, crimini mushrooms, and proscuitto.

Radishes with their greens- I like the greens raw on salads. I'm tempted to try braising the radishes, but I worry that all the zip will be boiled away, so I will likely eat them raw.

Salad mix- you might think I'd be sick of it by now. But somehow, it has disappeared before the due date every week so far. I still need to make salmon nicoise salad. I'm also planning on topping a salad with blackened tilapia and dressing with lemon vinaigrette.

Escarole- finally, a hefty and sauteeable green! Usually I like to put escarole in soup. It's kinda warm for that right now. I plan to saute this giant head with garlic scapes and green onions and dress with olive oil and lemon juice.

Green onions- will garnish most salads and the escarole saute.

Romaine lettuce head- its destiny will likely be caesar salad. Yes, of course I put anchovies in my caesar dressing!

Last week, Trixie discovered that she loves a little spinach shredded over her kibble.

Spinach Bacon Quiche

2009-06-21T13:01:00.005-05:00

I recommend precooked bacon for this, because it renders very little fat and doesn't splatter all over the stove. I see no need for heavy cream, but I am sure that no one would complain about its presence, if it were invited.

Spinach Bacon Quiche

Ingredients:
1 teaspoonful extra-virgin olive oil
8 slices of precooked packaged bacon (such as Ready Crisp brand)
1 white onion, chopped
1 bunch or bag of greens, chopped (spinach, chard, turnip, or dandelion)
Salt and pepper
Approximately 1/8 tsp of nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
4-6 eggs, depending on size of eggs, quantity of filling, size of pie crust
1/2 to 3/4 cup whole milk, depending on how many eggs used
1 to 1.5 cups of shredded gruyere cheese (or any favorite cheese)
Frozen deep-dish pie crust, or make your own

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until a little fat is rendered, then add onions and cook until they begin to tenderize. Season with salt and pepper. Add greens and wilt down. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Allow any liquid from the greens to cook away, then remove the pan from heat and allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, beat together eggs and milk. Stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the pie crust upon a baking sheet. Spoon the cooled greens mixture into the pie crust. Carefully pour the egg mixture over the veggies. Use a fork to arrange the cheese evenly over the top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until top is puffy and browned, like the picture below. Allow to cool five minutes before cutting.

Scones

2009-06-20T12:13:00.004-05:00

I get a cranberry oatmeal scone every time I go to the farmers' market. I was craving them so much last night that I went to bed early and arrived to the market at 6:00 a.m. I stalked my favorite bakery stand until they opened at 6:20.

Today there were rhubarb oatmeal scones, made from locally grown rhubarb. Obviously I had to get one. I decided to get a second scone for later in the week, to keep my cravings in check. I temporarily abandoned the cranberry and chose a whole-wheat dark chocolate chunk scone.

The man behind me in line asked if they ever sell scones in grocery stores. The answer was no. The scones do not have the shelf-life necessary for that endeavor.

I ate the rhubarb oatmeal scone while shopping (it was incredible). I couldn't stop thinking about the shelf-life statement. How much time would the dark chocolate scone have before disintegration? A day? An hour? I ate it as soon as I got home, just to be safe.

I finally found some black-eyed susan perennials at the farmers market and bought two. They aren't blooming yet, but one has a bud.

In other news, my CSA delivery was on Thursday:

Lettuce head: This one has dark red, sturdy, oak-looking leaves. Mighty tasty. So far I have made a "fish fry salad" of my own invention--greens, feta cheese, tarragon vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil, and beer-battered cod (prepared by local grocery deli) baked until crispy. I would use malt vinegar if I had it. The feta cheese may seem out of place, but seemed to bind it all together.

Salad mix: another big bag! I have eaten about 1/3 of it already, with just two giant salads involving canned red salmon and chopped veggies.

Spinach: This time I am making the spinach quiche with bacon, onion, and gruyere cheese. It will be a Sunday afternoon project.

Green onions: will go into black bean and pepper-jack enchiladas.

More teeny white turnips and their greens: I like to eat these raw. Maybe some of the greens will go into the quiche.

More garlic scapes!: Today I am making garlic scape and white bean hummus for lunch. Served with whole wheat pita triangles and a large side salad, of course.

Inventory

2009-06-16T09:30:00.003-05:00

The next CSA delivery is this Thursday. It is now Tuesday morning. Here is my progress.

Mixed Salad Greens: enough left for two moderate-sized salads. Most of it was used to make the chicken and parsley-feta pesto salad. Some of it was used for a marinated flat iron steak, cucumber, and balsamic vinegar salad. I have all of the ingredients for a soy-ginger-lime vinaigrette and salmon salad, but I may run out of greens for it!

Whenever I make a big salad for dinner, I make two at the same time. I arrange the greens, veggies, and meat into a travel container for work the next day. Then all I have to do in the morning is apply olive oil and vinegar/lemon juice, and it stays crisp for lunch. Otherwise, I would never have time to build a salad in the mornings, and I would never get through these greens.

Butter Crunch Lettuce: gone! Most of it was consumed with my tuna and cannelini bean salad: white albacore tuna, cannelini beans, green olives, green onion, celery, turnips, shredded carrot, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Spinach: I had a craving for spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, red onion, mushrooms, and hard-boiled eggs, the kind where the spinach wilts a little bit. But I was obliged to cook the spinach. Kevin suggested a spinach quiche, and I started plotting a quiche with spinach, bacon, onion, and gruyere cheese. Leftover quiche is perfect for fast breakfasts or toting along to work. But you know, I did just emerge from a quiche obsession a couple of months ago (I made 4 quiches in 4 weeks). I'm trying to stay on the wagon, at least until swiss chard season.

I thought about spinach lasagna but could not work up a big excitement about it for some reason. I thought that I might just cook and freeze it for later. But then inspiration hit me! I made florentine macaroni and cheese: a homemade sauce made with sharp white cheddar and generously fortified with spinach, mixed with whole-grain rotini. I pre-blanched and cold-shocked the spinach before adding it to the cheese sauce at the last minute. It held its bright green color surprisingly well. Very tasty.

Teeny white salad turnips with greens: only one little turnip left. The rest went into the tuna salad. The greens are still here; I will probably saute some and scatter the rest raw across a salad.

Garlic scapes: I sauteed a few for an omelet (also included mushrooms and pepper jack cheese). I chopped some raw for salads. I still have about half the bunch left, but they look sturdy enough to last a while.

Chives: I snipped a little bit onto some scrambled eggs. The rest I stored in a plastic bag and froze. I like chives, but usually I favor a stronger onion family representative.

Potted basil plant: still alive and waiting to be planted outside in the full sun. Not enough leaves for pesto yet, but possibly sufficient for a marinara sauce.

Bring it on, Thursday.

A nice side effect of the bountiful produce: I am officially back on the low-carb lifestyle. Well, until potato season.

First CSA Delivery

2009-06-12T09:32:00.003-05:00

I purchased a share in a CSA (community-supported agriculture). The farm's website is here; I have a standard vegetable share that will be from now until October 22. The first week's allotment came in last night, conveniently delivered to the hospital. My heart was pounding with excitement as I walked over to greet it!

I pre-paid for this a long time ago, and so it felt FREE to take my veggies, refrain from hugging the dietician student manning the table, and leave.

Here are the contents and my tentative plans:

Mixed Salad Greens: enormous bag of red and green lettuces. I will open my low-carb cookbook soon to see what salads I have forgotten, but for now I am looking forward to grilled portobello and chicken salad with soy-ginger-lime vinaigrette, salmon nicoise, and marinated chicken with parsley-feta pesto.

Butter Crunch Lettuce: large head. The same salad ideas may apply. Also, the outer leaves are large enough for Asian chicken lettuce wraps or no-carb tacos.

Spinach: large bag. Since I already have tons of greens that aren't cookable, I think I am obliged to cook this spinach. No definite ideas yet.

Teeny white salad turnips with attached greens: I am really happy about these spicy little turnips. I rarely buy turnips, and when I do, I get the standard large kind and put them in a wintry stew. These little ones I will eat raw. The greens, I will saute with garlic and bacon or simmer in a pot of lentils.

Garlic scapes: I love these, and they are hard to find at grocery stores. Scapes are the green stem-like seedpods from garlic. One of my friends likes to buy a bunch of them at the farmers market and eat them all raw while walking around the square. They have a mild garlic flavor and squeak in your teeth. I will use mine on salads and scrambled eggs.

Chives: a flowering bunch. I will probably use them in a salad dressing or on eggs. I learned in the CSA newsletter that chives can be frozen for future use. I may try that.

Potted basil plant: My basil never thrives because I confine it to the shady front patio. I am going to plant this one in full sun outside.

Sleepy

2009-06-10T17:22:00.001-05:00

Garden

2009-06-10T16:51:00.004-05:00

To celebrate my third year living in this house, I finally planted flowers in the yard. It has been two weeks post-planting, and they are all still alive. I can't wait for them to spread out a bit and get to know each other. Click on the pictures to view larger versions. My initial plan was to grow poppies and purple cone flowers (echinacea) as a subtle nod to my profession. But purple cone flowers are a wimpy shade of purple and look sort of weedy sometimes. And poppies seem to be solitary souls, when what I want is a jungle of dense color. So I just picked out random flowers that I like.

The small, green, flowerless patches above are red compact mother-of-thyme. It is groundcover that is supposed to produce a blanket of teeny red flowers that will fill in the empty spaces. I had planned to use white alyssum (sp?) for groundcover, but I missed my chance to buy it. The green seems to be doing fine, but I see no flower buds yet despite judicious fertilizing. I am moderately concerned.

These are purple dianthas. Perennials!! My grand plan was to mix yellow/orange, purple/blue, and white flowers, but I couldn't resist the magenta.

Blue floss flowers. Unfortunately an annual, but hardy and will last through the fall. I like the fuzzy flowers.

My plan was for a riot of black-eyed susans. But I couldn't find any except for seed packets (see below). I usually scorn marigolds, but I liked these tricolor ones in orange, red, and yellow.

I desperately want black-eyed susan daisies. I want tall cheery yellow flowers to stand proudly behind the blue/purple/magenta ones. I couldn't find any plants around, so I bought a seed packet. The sprouts are pictured above, on my front patio. I am thrilled that I got this far with seeds. I am hoping that they haven't been started too late for blooming. When I bought the seed packet, I accidentally bought the annual black-eyed susans instead of the perennial kind. I am a little disappointed about that. My plan was to get a larger and larger crop of them every year and to encourage them to insidiously take over the neighborhood. There would be little cause for unhappiness around here if we were all surrounded by daisies.

Rhubarb Dilemma Resolved

2009-06-04T09:53:00.002-05:00

I made rhubarb chutney! I had high hopes. It exceeded my expectations. I picked this Martha Stewart version instead of the link I posted before. It took about 10 minutes to make and I served it with pork tenderloin medallions. OK, well, I ate most of it by itself with a spoon. The chutney would also be fabulous with chicken.

Of course, I had to mess with the recipe. I doubled the ginger, and grated instead of mincing it. I decreased the sugar in half and did not find it to be tart at all. I used golden raisins instead of the dark kind. I didn't have cinnamon sticks, so I used a scattering of powdered cinnamon.

While making the chutney, I nibbled on a raw rhubarb stalk and grieved that I had not bought more of it at the farmers market. I love the way that it makes my teeth squeaky.

So, this morning I bought two more pounds of rhubarb at the grocery store. It's more expensive than the farmers market and is not the bright red heirloom variety that I had for the chutney, but it will have to do. I am plotting a semi-low carb rhubarb-almond crisp for one pound of it. I may freeze the rest for a rainy day, if I can hold myself back.

I wonder if it would be difficult to grow rhubarb in my yard?

Rhubarb Dilemma

2009-05-31T15:51:00.002-05:00

My first CSA (community-supported agriculture) produce share arrives on June 11. I went to the farmers market yesterday for what will probably be my last produce shopping trip in a while. Sure, I will still have to buy some produce this summer and fall. The CSA definitely will not be providing lemons and avocados. I cannot live without those things.

Anyway, it is one of my favorite times of year: rhubarb season. The cheerful celery was everywhere in the farmers market. I found the brightest red bunch around and planned to spend most of today working with it. Red rhubarb and green rhubarb taste about the same, but I figure that whatever it is that makes red rhubarb red must be a very healthy compound.

I do love rhubarb pies, cobblers, and crisps, but I cringe at the thought of the cups of white sugar that go into them. I could Splenda-fy a pie, but that's just an overwhelming quantity of artificiality. I could use part Splenda and part sugar, but I shouldn't have to. I should celebrate the nature of rhubarb instead of trying hard to hide it.

I made a savory chicken and rhubarb dish a few years ago and remembered it being tasty, so I went on the hunt today for more savory options. I am trapped in a difficult dilemma. I don't know what to do. I try starting a shopping list for one of these recipes and then I start dreaming of a different recipe and feel like I am betraying the first.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Make another chicken and rhubarb saute.
2) Rhubarb and lamb stew. I am not really in the mood for a stew, but by the time I am, neither lamb nor rhubarb will be in season.
3) Savory rhubarb chutney, to pile on chicken or pork or ham or fish.
4) Not-too-sweet and partially Splenda-fied rhubarb compote, to serve warm atop vanilla bean ice cream, to serve cold atop hot oatmeal, to spread on peanut butter sandwiches, or to whirl into rhubarb milkshakes.
5) Low-carb rhubarb muffins made with soy flour and Splenda. (substituting rhubarb for the blueberries in this link)

I should have bought more rhubarb. I should have bought several pounds to chop and freeze so that I could avoid the seasonal panic. I'll update later with what I actually made.

Secret Vacation

2009-05-24T15:32:00.003-05:00

My writing group is planning a retreat for this summer. We are going to spend one day away in the country, just writing and eating. I am thrilled with the idea. Secretly, I hope that the weather will be terrible. Unnaturally chilly and with heavy precipitation. The eight of us can pretend that we are Percy and Mary Shelley and Lord Byron, and we will each begin a masterpiece comparable to Frankenstein and Dracula.

I became so enamored with the idea of writing retreats that I decided I couldn't wait for the mid-summer date. I took a few days off work for a secret vacation that I fashioned into a personal writing retreat.

I wrote lots! I set aside daily idea-generating time and recorded many pages of story possibilities. I journalled quite a bit. I wrote some first-drafty kind of stuff. I outlined some scenes for the old Alex novel, brainstormed alternate endings for them, and reworked a few. I started an online fiction-writing course at UW and made a dent in the syllabus. I wrote lazily and had an excellent time. I have a tidy pile of papers covered in words that were not there before. It is better than alchemy. I made something out of nothing.

I did some other stuff too.
-Saw Star Trek. I liked it, even though I never watched the show much and tend to get mixed up between the original Star Trek and the Next Generation. I waited in vain for Jean-Luc and Wil Wheaton to arrive. But I liked the movie! I only have one minor complaint, and it is this. Women generally do not chat to their roommates while lounging around in their underwear. This scene seems to reoccur often in mannish kind of movies.

-Bought soy flour, which is much lower in carbs and higher in protein than wheat flour. I have experimented with it twice, substituting 30% of the wheat flour, in one batch of cookies and one batch of muffins. Both turned out beautifully and with no detectable difference in texture. I will continue testing the soy flour in a series of increasingly fragile baking recipes and see what happens.

-Made two batches of roasted vegetable marinara sauce. I am upset with myself for not taking full advantage of roasting vegetables until now. Tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers, and eggplant roast very well. Zucchini turns to mush.

-I cleaned the house. My house is never loud at baseline, but I notice that after my house is thoroughly cleaned, is it quieter. Every room is hushed and subdued.

-Walked Trixie every day. She still hates walks, and curls into a pitiful trembling lump when walking is suggested.

-Lots and lots of running. The shin splints returned. That should surprise nobody.

-Ordered custom window treatments for the house. No more venetian blinds, ever. They will be installed in 4-5 weeks.

-Finished four books: Hooked by Les Edgerton, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and House of Many Ways, the last three books by Diana Wynne Jones. I am bitter at the world for not introducing me to Diana Wynne Jones sooner.

-Did some minor weeding and have moved from the pre-contemplative stage to the contemplative stage of planting stuff in the yard.

-Planned on ordering some clothes from a catalog. Then I read this story (Maggie Stiefvater is awesome) and I chucked the catalog in the trash.

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Tenderloin and Spicy-Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage

2009-05-18T19:45:00.003-05:00

Every time I make pork tenderloin or red cabbage, I wonder why I don't use these ingredients more often. I often think of pork as being dry, tough, and tasteless (usually because I overcooked it), but tenderloin always turns out like butter no matter how long I keep it on the heat. Then I forget about them again.

I do not want to look back on my life with regret. I do not want to be built upon a foundation of chicken and broccoli. So tonight, I used both. The results were divine. I was impressed with the sauce on the pork: a little tang from the mustard, woodsiness from the rosemary, and the vinegar and honey formed a sweet browned glaze. I ate about 3/4 lb of meat all by myself. The cabbage was also a winner- spicy, sweet, sour, salty, and cheerfully purple.

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Cooking spray
2 pork tenderloins (~3/4 lb each), trimmed of fat
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 heaping spoonful spicy dijon mustard
1 tsp dried rosemary leaves
Drizzle of honey

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a 4-sided baking sheet or roasting pan with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Place the tenderloins upon it. Cut single slits all the way down their centers to help hold the glaze. Season meat with salt and pepper. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and brush onto meat. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until done, basting with glaze every 12-15 minutes. If using a meat thermometer, goal is 160 degrees at thickest part. If any extra glaze is left over, heat to boiling in a sauce pan until thickened and serve drizzled over each serving.

Spicy-Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, sliced thin
1 small head red cabbage, sliced thin
Salt and pepper
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
A few dashes of hot sauce
Drizzle of honey

Heat a large skillet to medium. Add oil and onion, cook 2 minutes. Add cabbage, salt, and pepper and stir often until cabbage begins to tenderize and wilt. Add remaining ingredients and toss to combine. Reduce heat to low until juices cook away or until desired tenderness.

Update on Pushups Challenge

2009-05-03T20:36:00.004-05:00

I completed the six-week 100 pushups challenge, after repeating week five twice. I just took the final test and was able to do 40 consecutive pushups.

My arms are now huge. My shoulders and abs have improved. Carrying 40-lb bags of salt for the water softener isn't such a terrible thing any more.

But I am a teensy bit disappointed in my final test. I was guessing by week four that 100 was maybe an unrealistic number, but I was hoping to get at least halfway there.

I shall continue. Maybe I will begin again at week four, where all the troubles began.

Trixie is mystified by the pushup pursuit. She watches me gravely from a safe distance, like one might stare helplessly at a loved one relentlessly focused on self-destruction.

April Cooking

2009-05-02T13:53:00.002-05:00

I did not discuss what was going on in my kitchen for much of April. I will pack the highlights into one meandering post.

Meat Reduction Project
I mentioned before (in the lentil loaf post, I think) that I am reducing my meat extravagance by indulging in vegetarian meals more often than I used to. My current favorite meal is a lazy one: black bean quesadillas. I have found some reduced-carb, multigrain, high fiber tortillas that I like, finally.

Black Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 small poblano pepper, chopped
1/2 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 15-oz can black beans, drained
1/2-1 tsp each of ground cumin and coriander
Several glugs of hot sauce
Reduced-carb tortillas
Shredded cheese: pepper jack, sharp cheddar, or Mexican blend
Salsa

Instructions: Heat a small amount of olive oil in a medium skillet over med-high heat. Sear onions and peppers until the edges are crispy and browned. Turn heat to low and add garlic and black beans. Season with cumin, coriander, and hot sauce. Simmer until warmed through. Lightly brush one side of tortilla with olive oil and place in oiled side down in skillet heated to medium-low. Sprinkle one side with cheese, a few spoonfuls of bean-pepper mixture, and more cheese. Fold over. Heat and flip until crispy and golden-brown on both sides. Top with salsa (and avocado, if available).

Another dish that I made in April was this lasagna, made with whole-wheat noodles, an abundance of spinach, and portobellos. It was not meatless, obviously. But I found that the portobellos tasted more beefy than the beef itself, so next time I will make it with no meat and more mushrooms. I made my own marinara sauce and added lots of red pepper flakes for zip.

The Mustard Project
Goal: find uses for the jalapeno mustard I got at the writing conference.

I found inspiration from my friend, code name: OTB, and made chicken wraps.

I tend to overcook chicken and make it nasty and rubbery, unless I use the yogurt secret. I cut chicken breast into bite-sized pieces, placed it into a bowl with plain yogurt, salt, pepper, and dried oregano, and let it sit for five minutes. Then I sauteed the pieces in olive oil until cooked through. The chicken stays tender no matter what, because of the yogurt's acid. I rolled the chicken in a reduced-carb tortilla with the jalapeno mustard, tomato, cucumber, and a handful of shredded cabbage for crunch. It was incredible.

(If I didn't have the jalapeno mustard, a cucumber-yogurt-dill sauce would have been a fine second choice. Or even better, a parsley-feta pesto.)

Low-Carb Desserts
Goal: reserve white flour and white sugar for special occasions.

I have been continuing my experiments with Splenda, ground flaxseeds, and whole-grain flours. The results have all been edible. Some have been more successful than others. I have lately gotten very excited about soy flour, which has a fraction of the carbs of wheat flour. I haven't actually made anything with it yet. But I will! Soon.

I made a satisfying batch of low-carb molasses chocolate chip cookies: chewy and nutty, heavily spiced with ginger and cinnamon, and supported with high-fiber ingredients. The cookies require no pre-meditation: softened butter is not needed. I mixed the batter by hand and did not find electric beaters to be necessary. The original recipe is here: Hodgson Mill's Spiced Bran Cookies. I made the following changes: Splenda instead of the sugar (same quantity), added 1 cup of 70% dark chocolate chips, and added 1/4 tsp of almond extract. I will be making them again.

Mini-NaNoWriMo WrapUp

2009-05-02T13:22:00.003-05:00

The primary goal was to write 25,000 words in April. My secondary goals were to work steadily on one project, to not sacrifice the other activities that I like to do, and to develop regular writing habits.

Goal one: 25,000 words. I can't say whether or not I actually accomplished this. I worked diligently at my computer for about 10 days, but then I developed an aversion to keyboards and wordcounts. The internet was a distraction, MS Word reminded me of dreary school assignments, and the word quota felt burdensome. So I changed to pen and paper. I felt better. I decided to forget about the word quota and focus on time quotas. I would promise to work for at least 20 minutes per night, and once I overcame the hurdle of sitting down, I usually worked longer.

I could count how many words I averaged per handwritten page, then count the pages. But sometimes my handwriting is large and sometimes it's small. And sometimes I wrote on scraps of paper at work and I'm not sure that I can find them all.

Goal two: Work on one project. I cast aside this goal mid-month. I worked on my new project until I got stuck. Then I started a second project. Then I felt inspired to revise the November 2008 novel, which involved mostly word deletion and scene shuffling rather than new creation (another reason why I cannot quantify my word count well). Then I figured out how to get unstuck from project one and returned to it.

The rotation strategy worked well to avoid writers' block and boredom. But I was kind of hoping to slave steadily away at one treasured work. I suppose that this wish may not be a realistic way of working for me.

Goal three: Write regularly while maintaining other activities. Goal achieved. I continued to exercise, cook, read voraciously, update my Facebook status, sleep 8 hours nightly, sort of keep up with my Google Reader, and play with Trixie. I mostly abandoned television (except for watching at the gym) and blogging.

Goal four: Establish regular writing habits. Accomplished. It was tough to find a set time of day with my irregular work schedule. There were times when I needed to cut the writing time short for the sake of cooking a fussy dinner or needing to finish a book before a library due date, but for the most part I wrote a little something every day.

I wrote realism this time. No sci-fi or fantasy. Just people and trouble. I liked my projects. There is some hope for their futures.

Mustard and Other Things

2009-04-14T11:15:00.003-05:00

1. At the writing conference that I attended a few weeks ago, there was a large arrangement of these small jars at the registration table. I thought that someone must be selling their homemade preserves, which is strange. But it turned out to be mustard, in eight different flavors, that was given out freely to all the conference attendees. One of the conference regulars (and screenplay writer) works/manages the famous Mt Horeb Mustard Museum, and he had the mustard made for us, just for fun. (There was also a contest at the conference to write a short screenplay based on the theme of mustard.)

I was given honey dill mustard (which would have been great on salmon), but traded someone for jalapeno mustard because she was wary of the spice and I couldn't bear to see good mustard go to waste.

I love mustard. I use it often to make vinaigrettes and other sauces. I should have plenty of ideas for the jalapeno mustard. But other than applying it to brats and burgers, my mind is currently blank. Any inspirations?

2. Mini NaNoWriMo is still on, goal of 25,000 words for April. I am very behind, but there is ample hope for catching up. I have gotten into the habit of daily writing. Every day I get a tiny bit better at it. At least, I do not get worse.

3. I was at work for a few hours later than expected last night due to a sick call. I was feeling deeply sorry for myself for a while, until after considering these three nice things that happened during those overtime hours:

a. I found a quarter on the stairs.
b. I used that quarter to partially fund a chocolate-almond ice cream bar, eaten at midnight. Ice cream is currently unavailable at my house.
c. Driving home at 2:30 a.m. I discovered Debbie Gibson songs on the radio, which I doubt are ever heard during normal business hours.