A take on braised cabbage

I am in the midst of exams here at law school, so for the past two weeks, I haven't made anything very inventive. At the farmer's market one day, I bought a head of cabbage, because I felt like I needed a vegetable, and I'm Polish, German and Irish - all good cabbage-loving people. I looked at some recipes on the internet for braised cabbage, and decided to try to do a variation of them for the slow cooker, so I could leave it while I went to school to study. I must say, it turned out pretty well. I've been eating it with pearl barley. I also think it would be good alongside mashed potatoes or boiled fingerlings, and would be a great accompaniment to pork or sausage.

(all measurements are approximate, since I kind of made it up)

1 head cabbage (I used green, but I think red would be even better), cored and chopped
Carrot (probably the equivalent of 3), cut in coins
1 onion, sliced (I used some white and some red, since that's what I had)
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
3 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1/2-1 c of water (you could probably also use stock if you want)
1 TBSP butter, cut into pats
A pour or two of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the prepared vegetables in the crock pot and mix up as best you can. (I had a really big head of cabbage, so it was hard to mix much.) Pour in the vinegar and water, and place the pats of butter on top. Pour a bit of olive oil over it, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set the cooker on low and go about your business.

Results: Mine was super tender and browned. Also, don't be alarmed if the pot is really full, because it will all cook down. I probably left it a bit too long - 10 hours or so - because I'm busy, but it still tasted good. I bet 5-6 hours would be sufficient, but since you're going for soft anyway, it doesn't really matter how long you leave it. Warning: this will make your house smell like cabbage!

We got another couple of inches of snow today. Harper and I went out for a longer sort of walk; I finally got her a dog coat (she looks REALLY cute in it) that she tolerates, so we were able to do more than just zip around the block. I still let her lead the way, so when she gets cold she just turns toward home.

The snow that had fallen today was still covering many of the Christmas lights around the neighborhood, both the low bushes and on the eaves of houses. It's a really beautiful thing to see the lights glowing under a layer of snow. Very peaceful and magical. I don't think I've ever seen that before to this extent, either due to lack of snow around Christmas or lack of Christmas lights. It made me feel grateful, yet again, to be living in such a wonderful place. I would have taken a picture, but there's no way a photo could have done it justice.

It also reminded me of one of my favorite evenings in Japan. My friends and I had gone snowboarding in the mountains. The snowboarding itself was very memorable; the mountains overlooked a huge alpine lake, so as you're starting down the slopes you look out on this blue lake not too far in the distance. Anyway, that evening we decided to go to an onsen in the middle of the mountains. To get there, after winding through mountain passes, you have to park your car along the road. Then you walk about a mile along a ravine with a river, and then over a bridge. Finally you get to a tunnel of snow, except without a roof. It snows so much in the mountains that to get to the onsen the owners have to keep digging this tunnel, and by that time the walls were well over eight feet tall. They had lined the walls with Christmas lights (the Brits called them fairy lights, which seemed especially appropriate), and for the rest of the walk to the onsen, the only lights are these Christmas lights. The onsen itself was wonderful, it was an outdoor one, so you basically have to disrobe in a changing room (the changing rooms and the pools are separated by gender), then scurry through the snow and ice to hop in the steaming water before you freeze. If you get too hot, you can just reach out to the side of the pool and scoop up some snow to plop on your head. That was a good night.

Winter Solstice Thoughts

I have always thought of winter solstice as a depressing astrological event. I mean, it's surrounded left and right by the darkest and coldest months of the year. It seems cruel to even mark it on the calendar, like saying, "ha ha, you think it's dark and cold now, just WAIT until Dec 21." And, it's not even like winter is over then, oh no. We still have January and February (and, now that I'm in WI, March and April) to get through.

But now, I'm starting to get the reasoning if the ancients, precisely because this is the farthest north I've ever lived and the days are shorter here than in Bloomington (about 40 minutes shorter this time of year). I totally get why people celebrated this as a time of renewal (we made it through the darkest time of year and it'll only get better!), and why Christmas was designed to coincide with and replace solstice. It's also given me new insight into Christmas lights. The sun's already set by the time I get out of work and I have to walk Harper in the dark, but with the amazing Grizwold-y displays in my neighborhood, it may as well be daytime. The lights are our way of filling in for the sun until it comes back.

Swiss Chard Gratin

From the Gourmet cookbook.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs
• 3 oz Tomme de Savoie or Gruyère cheese, grated (1 cup)
• 1 garlic clove, halved lengthwise, germ removed if green, and garlic finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped mixed fresh herbs (preferably chives, tarragon, and flat-leaf parsley)
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 lb Swiss chard, leaves and stems separated and both cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 lb spinach, coarse stems discarded, leaves coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Toss melted butter with bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, herbs, half of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.
2. Boil broth in a small saucepan until reduced by half. Add cream and keep warm.
3. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small heavy saucepan over moderate heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, whisking, 1 minute, then whisk in broth mixture and boil, whisking, 1 minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F.
5. Cook onion in remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a wide 8-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add chard stems, remaining nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned, about 8 minutes.
6. Increase heat to moderately high and add chard leaves and spinach by large handfuls, stirring, until all greens are wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Transfer vegetables to a colander to drain well and press out liquid with back of a large spoon. Toss vegetables with cream sauce and transfer to a buttered 12-inch oval gratin or 2-quart shallow baking dish, spreading evenly.
8. Top vegetables with bread crumbs and bake in middle of oven until bubbling and topping is golden, about 20 minutes.

RESULTS:
Now, I'm sure this would have been a perfectly lovely dish if you make it as directed... OR! you could replace the heavy cream with half-and-half, cut down on the amount of chard you use (say, one bunch instead of two), and throw some cooked pasta in the baking dish with the chard before you bake it to make it into a more complete side dish. Yum!

One thing, I didn't love the breadcrumbs, and I actually enjoyed the sauce a lot more before baking. The cream sort of disappeared, which may be because of the pasta, I don't know. If you really want to have the crunch of the bread, I would recommend cutting a couple slices of french bread into little cubes, tossing that with olive oil, salt and pepper, and putting that on top. Healthier and tastier.

A girl's first blizzard

Lest you think I should gird myself for blizzards to be commonplace, no one at work--even the people who have lived here their whole lives--could remember the last time we had a blizzard warning. I think it has to do with there being lots of wind in addition to lots of snow. The really crazy thing is the entire state has blizzard warning. Maybe not the very SE part or the very northern part, but the rest of it, definitely. Wisconsin is not a small state. It would probably take a good 7 hours to drive from top to bottom. That distance would get you into South Carolina if you left from DC. Crazy.

ADDENDUM: The governor canceled all the UW schools in the state, and my director told me not to come in, so we both have a snow day! The lesson learned here is that it takes a blizzard to get a snow day in south central WI. :)

Something cool I found out this morning: local band (and I mean local, as in, from Eau Claire) Bon Iver has an album that was named to NPR's 50 most influential albums of the decade. I didn't even know that people outside of the area had heard of Bon Iver, so this was a surprise to me, as was seeing the Facebook status update of an Irish friend of mine who is apparently a big fan, so it's even an international hit. Surprising. This finally prompted me to download that album, and it is pretty good. Sort of moody like Nick Drake or Alexi Murdoch.

Guide to Freezing Foods

Bethie sent me a link to a Washington Post article about freezing food. Here's a really neat guide to freezing, a la Alton Brown, including the science of what happens and an explanation of what can go wrong. Thanks Beth!

Sauteed Artichokes in Olive Oil

This was the second thing I made last week that demonstrated quite well that my smoke alarm works. I got it from here.

Preparation requires removing the fibrous undeveloped petals (the “choke”) and some tough, sharp central leaves, in addition to the inedible outer leaves. I will give step by step prep instructions, but after doing a couple you will find it is not difficult. When buying, look for the artichokes’ leaves to be tightly closed; those with leaves pulled away and opening will have more waste. They should be medium green with minimal discoloration and should feel heavy for their size.

1 large artichoke per person for a generous serving
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh lemon juice to taste, plus ½ lemon for every 3-4 artichokes
Sea or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Dry white wine (approximately ¼ cup for 3-4 artichokes)
1 clove garlic, sliced thin for 3-4 artichokes (optional)

To a bowl large enough to hold the sliced artichokes add cold water to 1/3 full and add the juice from ½ lemon for every 3-4 artichokes (acidified water prevents the slices from discoloring).Cut the stem from the artichoke. Trim and discard the browned end and peel or slice away the green skin. Slice the stem into 1/8 inch pieces and place into the bowl.

Lay the artichoke on its side and, using a serrated knife or a very sharp chef’s knife, remove the top 1/3 and discard. Stand the artichoke on its cut end (stem side up) and, using the chef’s knife, make slicing motions which follow the contour of the artichoke to remove the tough outside leaves. The knife starts almost flat on the wide stem end of the artichoke and gradually turns vertically as it moves forward and down along the leaves. Continue around the artichoke until all the dark, tougher material is removed. Trim the stem end of all dark green skin. The finished artichoke should have a light green to yellow-green color and the remaining leaves should be tender.

Halve the trimmed artichoke vertically through the stem end. In the middle above the solid heart is the furry choke, as well as some small triangular white or purple white leaves with sharp points. Scrape under them with a grapefruit spoon or melon baller until the choke and these leaves are removed. You may have to pull out some of the small central leaves by hand.

Turn the artichoke half, cut side down, and slice vertically into thin slices. Place the slices into the acidified water. Prepare remaining artichokes.

Choose a sauté pan large enough to hold the slices in a thin layer and heat over medium-high heat. When oil shimmers, drain the artichoke slices and add to the pan along with the garlic. Cook, shaking the pan and stirring, until some of the slices are slightly browned and the slices are starting to soften.

Pour in white wine and cook, scraping the pan, until reduced to a glaze. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and cook for a minute or two. The slices should be somewhat firm when finished. Taste and correct seasoning; serve immediately or cool and reheat briefly if serving later.

This preparation is actually quite simple after a little practice, and you will find that sautéed artichokes are versatile, as described above. I like to sauté thin strips because they are done within minutes, in contrast to preparations which cook them whole or halved. They can, however, be cooked as halves or quarters in the same manner, although a lower temperature and longer cooking time is required to prevent burning. It is also helpful to start them covered until partially cooked, then uncover for browning.

In a season when few quality green vegetables are available, take advantage of fresh artichokes which can be adapted to many winter menus.

RESULTS: I think this one just takes some practice. Trimming the artichoke was tricky. I was sort of fighting with myself the whole time to take off enough vs. taking off too much and missing some delicious delicious artichoke meat. It was also quite difficult to time the cooking right, to get it browned and tender but not burnt. I would err on the side of a low temperature and work your way up. The pieces that weren't burnt to a twig-like state were quite delicious.

Hey!

Eau Claire is the second best place in Wisconsin to raise a family! Not that that really has any meaning for me right now, but it's still good to know.

Volume One's Big Week, #58 from Volume One on Vimeo.

Braised Broccoli Rabe

This is an Emeril recipe.

Ingredients:

* Salt
* 2 bunches broccoli rabe, stems trimmed and washed
* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 ounces pancetta or mortadella, finely chopped
* 6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli rabe and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add pancetta and saute for 4 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and cook for 2 minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant. Do not allow the garlic to brown. Add the broccoli rabe and chicken stock, partially cover the pan and cook until the greens are tender, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt, if necessary. Serve hot or warm, with some of the cooking liquid ladled over the top.

Results: Well, this was one of two dishes that I made this week that assured me that our smoke alarm is working. Other than making a lot of smoke, I'm not sure how much flavor the pancetta really adds. Your call. I like greens done as simply as possible, though, so maybe it's just not my thing. By the way, to make this into a meal, I mixed the rabe with pasta and Parmesan cheese.

Baked Seasonal Fruit

This is from that same Washington Post article as La Farinata.

Summary:

Use whatever fruit at the farmers market is at its peak. In the summer, D.C. cook Deborah Thawley likes to use peaches, nectarines, plums or figs. In the fall she uses pears and apples, often adding blueberries or blackberries in the last 10 minutes of oven time. And she sometimes adds thin slices of lemon or orange peel, dried fruit, for another flavor.

Two tablespoons of whiskey can be used instead of the sugar and lime or lemon juice.

This dish is best served right after it is made.

4 servings

Ingredients:

* • Juice of 1 lime or lemon (2 to 3 teaspoons)
* • 2 medium apples, cut in half and cored
* • 2 medium pears, firm and well-flavored
* • 1 tablespoon sugar, preferably vanilla sugar (see NOTE)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the juice in the bottom of a medium gratin or baking dish.

Place the pears and apples cut side down in the gratin or baking dish. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top of the fruit. Roast for about 45 minutes, until the skin of the fruit is well browned and slightly puffed. Serve warm.

NOTE: To make sugar with a vanilla perfume, submerge a vanilla bean in a tightly closed container of sugar for at least a week before using.

Results:

I like the versatility of this recipe, how you can use whatever fruit you like and whatever is in season. Having said that, I think some fruits are going to be better than others. I used an apple that wasn't great for cooking, so it got really mushy, like apple sauce. I also thew some cranberries in toward the end. Cranberries are really tart without sugar. The whole thing tasted a bit like a sweet-tart. I made it for breakfast and it certainly woke us up! But, maybe not the best combo.

La Farinata

I got this recipe from a Washington Post article.

Summary:

This hors d’oeuvre makes a great afternoon snack or party starter. Chickpea flour is available at some larger Giant stores and at Whole Foods Market; look for the Bob’s Red Mill brand.

Use fresh rosemary or freshly dried. Deborah Thawley uses extra-virgin olive oil for all her recipes because she says it lends more flavor.

MAKE AHEAD: The batter needs to rest for at least 30 minutes and can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Makes 2 medium pancakes (8 to 12 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1/2 cup cold water, or as needed
• Good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt
• Leaves from 1 or 2 (3-inch) sprigs of rosemary (see NOTE)

Directions:

The process is similar to making a regular pancake.

Combine the chickpea flour and enough of the water in a mixing bowl to make a thick batter, stirring to dissolve any lumps. Add the remaining water until the batter is the consistency of tahini or thick pouring cream.

Add a teaspoon of oil and the salt; mix well. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Just before serving, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick skillet (10 to 12 inches) over medium-high heat. then add the rosemary. When the oil is hot (after about 30 seconds), the rosemary will start to "jump" in the skillet.

Pour half of the batter into the skillet. It should cover the bottom of the skillet to a depth of about 1/8 inch. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes, until the pancake is set crisped and golden underneath. Carefully turn over and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Slide onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges, sprinkle with salt and generous grindings of pepper. Serve immediately.

Cover and refrigerate the remaining batter for up to 2 days.

NOTE: If making a second pancake right away, you'll need the leaves from a second sprig of rosemary and another 2 tablespoons of oil for the skillet.

Results: I'll be honest, I had my doubts about this. It seemed too easy, and I've ever had chickpea flour before so I was pretty sure that this recipe for La Farinata would turn out to be a recipe for disaster. I was able to make two pancakes. The first one was a put gummy and dry, and I think it was a heat control issue. For the next pancake, I let the pan heat up more before I poured the batter. You don't want to heat it too much, though, if you're using a non-stick skillet since at that temperature the Teflon could start to give off fumes if you let it sit on the stove too long before adding the batter.

The second pancake was much better. It was the texture of a thick American flapjack, not as puffy but still a little puffy. I have no idea if this is the right texture for this dish since I've never had it before, but it was good. And, if you're wondering where to get chickpea flour, I found some in the organic section for way less than I was expecting. It was about $3 for a 1 lb, 6 oz bag.

Kohlrabi

I've sort of been scared of kohlrabi. It looks scary, it's got an extra h in the word that's just sort of loitering... it's an intimidating vegetable, but it's also one of the veggies I saw most often at the farmer's market, especially up here. I finally decided to get some. Turns out that it's a German vegetable that grows pretty easily most places. Here's what Cook's Thesaurus says:

kohlrabi = cabbage turnip = stem cabbage = turnip cabbage Pronunciation: kohl-RAHB-ee or kohl-RAH-bee Notes: A kohlrabi resembles a turnip, only it's sweeter and more delicately flavored. It's light green and sometimes sold with its edible greens attached. It can be eaten raw or cooked. Choose small ones, and peel before using. Substitutes: broccoli stems OR celeriac (especially in remoulades) OR turnips OR parsnips

I tried it both ways, raw and cooked. It was mild both ways. When it was raw it was sort of sweet, but not like sugar, more like honey. Cooked it just sort of tasted like a cooked turnip. To cook it I trimmed the ends and peeled it like I would peel a melon. The potato peeler didn't work on the big kohlrabi I got. If it was really long or round, I cut it in half crosswise, then used a big sharp knife I just sort of carved around the edges to get off the tough skin. Then I just roasted it like a root vegetable (cubed or sliced evenly, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until soft). You can also saute the greens like you would spinach. They tasted pretty normal.
All in all, I wouldn't say it was all that interesting, except in raw form.

Job!

Hurray, I got a job! I'll be an "executive administrative assistant" at CESA 10 (CESA=Cooperative Educational Services Agency, and there are 12 in the state). Basically I'll be doing very similar work to what I did before, doing teacher professional development and training. It's not a bad commute, about a 20-minute drive. Granted, not as good as my previous 20-minute walk, but there are some pretty rocks and a Culver's frozen yogurt on the way.

At this point, its a temporary job. I'll know in the summer if it turns into permanent, it's sort of dependent on some grants or something. Anyway, very exciting!

I went to the DMV today to get a Wisco driver's license and register my car in WI. This has all been a little frustrating because:

1. I just renewed my license in June in Indiana because it was going to expire, and I really didn't think it would be a good idea to drive across three states with a loaded car and an expired license when me moved here at the end of July.
2. I'm hoping to buy a new car soon, and I would have ideally put off getting the license except the registration on my old car is expired, and to renew the registration I had to get a WI license.
3. I thought I hadn't had a WI license from when we lived here before, and in order to get a WI license for the first time, you either need your birth certificate or a valid passport.
4. My birth certificate was in MD (I got it Mom, thanks!)
5. My passport expired in May.
6. My mom had to accost her mail carrier into taking the birth certificate after he declined to take it from her mail slot the first time and just shoved it back in. The next day Mom kept an eye out for him and made him take it.
   
7. It turns out that, even though I did not drive a single time in the two years that we lived in Madison, I had in fact had a Wisconsin driver's license, so I didn't need the birth certificate anyway.

Anyway, they were all very nice, of course, at the DMV, and the approximate wait (according to the electronic sign outside the door) was 0 minutes. So in the end it wasn't so bad. When I stepped up to get my picture taken for the license I asked the woman if I could smile because they wouldn't let me smile in Indiana, and the picture looked totally awful. She laughed and said, "yes, you can still smile in Wisconsin." I find this statement to be profound and quite true on more than one level.

Mayan (?) Hot Chocolate

Today felt like a cooking day, so I decided to make a spinach and butternut squash salad when I remembered that the recipe insert in this Sunday's paper had a recipe that they called Mayan Hot Chocolate. It also feels like a hot chocolate day, and the first ingredient was butternut squash, so I figured I could just set aside some squash from the salad (of course, not tossing this squash with oil, salt, and pepper before roasting it) and give it a shot.

Puree 2/3 cup of mashed butternut squash and 1/2 cup 2% milk in a food processor. Place in a saucepan with 2 cups milk and 6 ounces of chocolate morsels. Heat until chocolate melts. Serves 2.

I don't know what I thought it would taste like, but I didn't expect it to taste like butternut squash mixed in with some hot chocolate, which is what it does taste like. It's got some fibrous chewiness that I'm not sure is worth the extra trouble. I'm also not sure that the Mayans made their hot chocolate with squash, but as I wasn't there I can't say for sure. The salad is good, though.

I did a freelance article (and got paid!) for the local business magazine, a lot like the magazine I wrote for in Madison. The article is online if you're interested. You have to flip to page 17. I just reread it. There are a few sentences that I should have changed, they seemed awkward. Oh well. I guess if they had bothered the editor he would have rewritten them.

I did some figuring, and I would estimate that I've done somewhere around 200 interviews since I graduated from college. This was probably the easiest.

Ginger Snaps

I really really wanted to make Chris's mom's recipe for Gingerbread cookies last weekend, but it was in my email and our internet had decided to stop working during the snow storm. So, I couldn't do that, but I had my heart set on gingerbread, and I already had the ginger, so I dug this recipe out from Alice Water's Simple Cooking.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (9.5 oz or slightly more) flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper (optional)
  
• 11 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 large egg, at room temperature

Directions:

1. Stir together the dry ingredients.
2. Beat the butter just until soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until smooth.
3. Stir in the vanilla, molasses and egg.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients gradually until the dough is smooth.
5. Divide the dough in two equal portions and roll each on a lightly-floured surface until each is about 2-inches (5cm) around. Don't worry if they're not perfect; you can neaten them up in a second.
6. Wrap each in plastic wrap then roll them lightly on the counter to smooth them out. Refrigerate for two hours, or better yet, freeze the cookie logs until firm (30 minutes or so).
7. To bake, preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
8. Slice cookie dough into 1/4-inch rounds with a sharp knife. Place sugar-side up on baking sheet, evenly-spaced apart. Leave a couple of inches between cookies since they'll spread while baking.
9. Bake for 10-14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until deep-golden brown. The cookies will puff up a bit while baking, then settle down when they're done. Bake on the lower end of the range for softer cookies, and more for snappier ones, depending on your oven.
10. Let the cookies cool two minutes, then remove them with a spatula and transfer them to a cooling rack.

Results:

I really liked these. I under-baked them a little at 9 minutes, they should definitely stay in for at least 10. They were definitely not snappy. I didn't add the pepper, but I think I might the next time. Undoubtedly not as good as Kathy's recipe would have been, but now that the Internets are working again I'll give that a shot soon.

A bear wandered into a liquor store in northern Wisconsin. The newspaper had a lot of fun with it because the bear settled into a spot with the Hamm's beer, which has a bear as it's spokesperson. As a corollary to this story, the state legislature is considering increasing the tax on beer. So I say, let the bears pay the beer tax! (Here's the Simpson's reference)

I'm actually not opposed to the beer tax since it's the third lowest in the country and hasn't been raised since the '60s, I just think they're doing it wrong by making it a dollars/barrel tax instead of a percentage, and they're asking for too extreme an increase (from $3 to $10).

Departing from my normal postings, here's a video on different ways to tie a scarf. This is specifically a shout-out to Em in Moscow, since of all of us she probably has to wear scarves the most (although not as much now that she's no longer living in Siberia).

My mom visited this weekend and we had a terrific time. We painted my office/studio a beautiful shade of Biloxi Blue (think a muted-periwinkle/Wedgwood blue mix) and hung out. My personal goal for her visit, other than to see her and introduce her to my new home, was to try to demonstrate to her that we wouldn't be that cold in the winter. (she says she's not worried about it.) Unfortunately, we had an unseasonably cold front move in bringing snow(!). Also unfortunately, or maybe ironically, it was 83 degrees when she flew out on Friday afternoon. Oh well, we still had fun, even if our plans had to be altered somewhat because of the weather. It's snowing again today, but it should be a closer-to-normal mid 50s next week.

Creamless Creamy Squash Soup

I made this soup for my mom when she was here this weekend. Soup seemed appropriate since it was frigid and snowing. Sigh. This is from the Gourmet Cookbook.

Ingredients

• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fine-quality extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Tuscan) plus additional for drizzling
• 1 lb winter squash such as butternut, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 lb boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 whole fresh peperoncino (small hot Italian green pepper) or 3/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
• 3 1/2 cups boiling water plus additional for thinning
• 1 crisp amaretto (Italian almond macaroon), finely crushed (2 tablespoons)

Directions

1. Cook celery, carrot, and onion in 2 tablespoons oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Add squash, potatoes, peperoncino, and sea salt. Stir in 3 1/2 cups boiling water and simmer, covered, until vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Remove and discard peperoncino (if using pepper flakes, leave in soup). Purée soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids), adding more water to thin to desired consistency.
3. Serve soup drizzled with additional oil and sprinkled with amaretto crumbs.
   

Results

As usual, I didn't have some of the ingredients, like amaretto crumbs and peperoncino. Luckily, butternut squash soup is pretty hard to mess up, I think. I left the skins on the potatoes since we weren't really going for looks and the skins are healthy. When I ate the leftovers I mixed in a dollop of lowfat plain yogurt to give it a little zing (and because it was REALLY hot), and that worked well.

Book Review Time!

I just finished A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. I'm not usually into nonfiction, but this was awesome. He basically shows how major world events were shaped by beer (which he presents as partially responsible for civilization), wine, liquor, coffee, tea, and Coke. Read it! It's great!

Fresh-Pickled Vegetables

I like this refrigerator pickle recipe from Alice Water's Simple Food book because it has so much less salt and sugar than other recipes I've used. And, because they're refrigerator pickles, you don't have to worry about canning them. They're ready in a few minutes and keep for a week. She recommends using veggies like sliced carrots, quartered cauliflower florets, quartered pearl or cipolline onions, halved okra pods, small turnips cut into wedges, whole green beans, small cubes of celery root, etc. I went traditional with sliced cucumbers. You can vary the brine a lot by using different spices or vinegars. I didn't have half the spices she called for, so I basically just used dill and red pepper flakes.

Alls you do is bring the brine to a boil, cook the veggies in the brine in batches (if you're using more than one kind of veggie, cook each kind separately), pull the veggies out when they're cooked but still crisp, and let them cool. When the veggies and the brine are cooled to room temp, combine the veggies, put them in a jar or another covered container, pour the brine over them, and refrigerate.

1 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 3/4 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 of a bay leaf
4 thyme sprigs
Half a dried cayenne pepper or a pinch of dried chile flakes
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 whole cloves
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped in half
Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Here's a site with a bunch of information about vinegar. Apparently, white wine vinegar is not the same as white vinegar, which I didn't know. I thought one was just a fancier term to allow the manufacturer to charge more for the same stuff.

Felt like a bit of a change of pictures at the top. This is my new favorite spot in my new favorite town. It's on a bridge downtown overlooking what I think is the Eau Claire River, although it may be the Chippewa River. I still get them mixed up. Anyway it's probably irrelevant to you which one it is. Regardless, it's a river in downtown EC, and I think it's pretty. Maybe if I get motivated I can collect topical photos to rotate with the changing seasons. Won't that be fun!

New Article on Volume One: http://volumeone.org/magazine/articles/857/Eating_Your_Yard.html

You can also find my articles by clicking on the link to my name.

My new secret weapon

I've just recently (ie, this week) discovered the magic that is bechamel sauce. It's a pretty handy replacement for cheese when you're baking something. So, I wanted to make baked ziti but I didn't want allll that cheese, so I just used a couple ounces of Gruyere and a little Parmesan instead of a whole bag of mozzarella. And then on top I put a batch of bechamel and baked it until it was a little brown. It was still very creamy and good. I also made a swiss chard gratin this way with no cheese at all.

There seem to be a lot of variations. I just make the one that was in my Spoon cookbook. It calls for melting 4 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan (I replace 1/2 or 3/4 of that butter with olive oil, depending on how thick I need the final sauce to be) and whisking in an equal amount of flour until it's smooth. Then you whisk in 2 and 1/4 cups of milk, bring to a boil while stirring, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes until it doesn't taste floury. Add salt, pepper, and/or nutmeg.

Roasted Tomatoes

It's a pretty simple idea: roast tomatoes, sliced, for a while until the water evaporates somewhat and the sugars concentrate. The tomatoes get buttery rich and shrunken, but not leathery like a sun-dried tomato. I've seen a few variations: Alton Brown does his with tomatoes cut in two, tossed with herbs and sugar and baked at 170 for 10 hours, I've seen a recipe for 250 for 3-4 hours. But this is the one that I've tried that I like the best:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Core and slice tomatoes. Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sliced garlic, kosher salt and pepper and bake 30-60 minutes until juices have evaporated. Store in plastic zip-top bag in fridge or freezer.

Pretty easy, but I've learned a few lessons from doing this a couple times already. I get my tomatoes from the farmer's market. They sell them here right now for really cheap for the less-than-perfect toms. I got 6lb for $5, and if I had gone up to 10 or 15 lbs it would have been even cheaper per pound. I've tried both romas and the big round tomatoes and I like the round ones better.

As for the parchment paper, I normally replace parchment with my silicon mats, but I think in this case it's better not to. The paper soaks up some of that liquid so it doesn't leak out all over my oven. Also, instead of a baking sheet, I think I'll try a glass or pyrex baking pan from now on, for the same reason (to keep the juices in) and that if you don't clean the metal baking sheet right away the acid will do un-good things to the metal. I think I will also skip the garlic from now on. It gets too bitter with all that baking. Or, maybe I'll toss a whole one in there with the paper still on so that the tomatoes get the aromatics, but the garlic doesn't burn. Hmm...

The first time I did it, I has some problems with some pieces shriveling and charring while other pieces were still juicy. I thought if I cut the pieces with a mandolin that would keep everything even, but the tomatoes were too ripe for that. So I just tried really really hard to make them all the same size, and I put the thicker pieces on the edges and the thinner pieces in the middle. That helped a lot. I think it's better to undercook than overcook these, as the charred tomatoes aren't very good at all.

After I roasted them, I cooled the pans on the counter and then put them in the freezer. When the tomatoes were frozen I picked them off the pan and put them in a bag. I think if you wanted you could just put the unfrozen pieces in a bag and freeze them like that: after all, you're probably going to use the whole bag at once, right? not piece by piece? I might do that in the future, the frozen tomatoes were not easy to peel off the sheets.

I kept a batch unfrozen yesterday and saved it for dinner. We just tossed them in some pasta with some olive oil and mixed it up to sort of mash the tomatoes. It was really sweet and velvety. I loved it, and even Chris liked it even though he doesn't normally like sweet food. Anyway, I plan on putting some up every week until the tomatoes stop being cheap, and that way we can have some during the long, cold winter. You could also use them for pizza or bruschetta or as a side dish.

Now that I'm 30, I've been trying to keep an eye on my cholesterol (oh, the irony of moving to the dairy state!). Chris and I are going to get burgers tonight at Red Robin, and I noticed their website has a customization option where you can see what the nutritional value of the burgers are and what happens if you add things or take things away. I've been trying to keep my cheese-eating to what I've been thinking of as high-impact cheese (meaning, cheese that is delicious and important to the dish or meal). Example of high-impact cheese: a platter of delicious cheese, fondue, pizza. Example of low-impact cheese: those cubes of "cheddar" that you get in the ziplock bag at the grocery store, sandwiches and wraps, most cheese on Mexican food. I've decided that cheese on burgers are, for me, mostly low-impact (the exception being blue cheese or feta). So, on this Red Robin site I just wanted to see what would happen to the nutritional value of a burger if I took away the cheese and mayo. It is astonishing! I'm literally blown away at the difference. I have no more face, because it has been blown away. Also shocking was how unhealthy a restaurant salad can be. Seriously, most of the burgers had fewer fat and calories than the first salad I clicked on.

Anyway, not to get all healthy and whatever, I was just astounded. It was a "no way!" moment. Plus, the website has fun sound effects.

Weather Update

So I know the weather here in west central Wisconsin is of concern for some of you (specifically the cold weather). Here's an update so far:

Today the high is going to be 84 (for comparison, I think the norm high for July is in the mid-80s). The normal high for today is 71, so we're having a bit of a warm spell. I think I'm already shifting my mentality because it seems almost oppressively hot. When I lived in DC, oppressively hot didn't start until the triple digits.

Anyway, a very few of the leaves are starting to turn. Mostly big maples. The locusts in my backyard are starting to think about it, but aren't ready yet.

As for how this winter is going to be, it depends who you ask. The Farmer's Almanac people say it's going to be colder than normal for the upper midwest, but the National Weather people say warmer than normal (due to El Nino). Normally I'd give more weight to the people using the scientific method to predict weather rather than the people using the phases of the moon, but I've seen such shoddy weather predictions for the midwest that I'm willing to give the moon a chance.

House projects

Chris has finally gotten his lifelong dream of having a workspace big enough for a workbench. Although our garage is huge, it's really only going to be usable until, oh, late October and then it'll just be too cold. We plan on eventually insulating the garage, which will also help keep the house warm, but until then Chris is trying to squeeze all this high priority projects in now. He's already built an incredibly stable workbench (not even a millimeter of wobble on that baby), a DVD case, and some stairs for Harper to use to climb onto the window seat. The stairs have since turned into a plant stand because Harper doesn't like them. I made a window seat cushion so she would be a little more comfortable on the seat, but I think I've used it more than she has (my longtime dream has been to have a window seat, so Harper and I have been competing over it). The cushion turned out much better than I expected. Pictures below! I stained and poly-whatevered the DVD case. It looks even better in person, unless you get real close and then you can see streaks. All in all, though, pretty good for our first projects, I think.

I just got back from a two-hour bike ride around town. I'm no bike-ride connoisseur, but I would rate that ride, on a scale from 1 to 10, somewhere between 8 and awesome. I rode around the lake and along the river. Some of the leaves are juuuust starting to change, and the weather was nice and warm. Very nice.

The only hard part was a section going south on State Street where you have to take an underpass under Clairemont, which means you then have to go back up to get level with the rest of the city. Which is about 1/4 mile at, I swear, a 45 degree slope. I was cruising around on the north side trying to see if there was some other way across Clairemont (like some sort of intersection situation instead of an under- or over-pass), and I found a party of bicyclists and asked them. They laughed, knew immediately what I was talking about, and then I got mocked by the 80-year-old man who said that if he "could pull State Street," then I could pull State Street. This is not a phrase I'm familiar with, but I got the gist.

I could not pull State Street. However, in my defense, he was all decked out in riding gear with biking pants and those biking shirts, which I'm sure help when climbing hills.

Credit goes to Ed for finding this gem. In honor of its existence, I'm creating a new label: Bears.

Smoked Paprika Chicken

Ingredients:

* 4 skinless chicken breasts (about 200g each)
* 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Mix together the paprika, oil, garlic, basil, salt and cayenne.
2. Massage this mix into the chicken breasts and allow to stand for about 20 minutes.
3. Heat a pan over medium heat, and saute on both sides until chicken is golden brown and cooked through-about 8 minutes each side depending on the thickness of your fillets.
4. Add a little more oil if you need to, though there should be enough from the marinade.
5. Slice on the diagonal and serve.

Results:
Pretty, pretty, pretty good. Even Chris liked the chicken. It was a little spicy, but that could be because I only bought three breasts and I didn't adjust the spices.

I decided I wanted a sauce to go with this, so after I finished cooking the chicken I deglazed the pan with some chicken broth and got up all the bits the stuck to the bottom of the pan.* Then I put just a little bit of butter in the pan to thicken it up a bit, and returned the chicken to the pan after I sliced it. Turned out well, one might say I kicked it up a notch.

* These bits are a constant problem for me. They're supposed to be "brown bits," but inevitably by the time whatever I'm cooking is done, they've turned into black or charred bits. Untasty. If I know I'm going to be wanting the bits on the bottom for something, I've been trying to remember to heat the pan a little lower than what the recipe calls for, so this chicken I cooked one side on medium and the other on mid-low/low.

To help fill up my copious free time until I find a job, I volunteered to write the occasional article for an EC publication. My first article is here.

We're not in Indiana anymore

Here's an example of the rather stark ways that Wisconsin is different from Indiana. You wouldn't think they'd be that different since they're so close in proximity, but you'd be wrong. This is under the "Get Moving" section of the paper, next to the Walk to Cure Diabetes and the Hike for the Homeless:

Beer and M&M Fun Run
Time: 9 am
Date: Saturday
Place: Owen Park
Cost: Free, but participants are encouraged to bring M&Ms and a six-pack of beer.
Other: The course follows the bike trail south along the Chippewa River half as far as the runner wants to run, and then the runner turns around and returns.

Note the time of the run: 9 am. I'm inclined to think the M&Ms and beer are not donations to the event organizer, but rather would be consumed in the park (a public place, mind, which would NEVER happen in Indiana) after the run, beginning hypothetically as early as 9:30 am.

As supporting evidence, the doggie daycare where we left Harper while we were at the bank the day we moved in had a potluck doggie fun evening one Friday. They had a keg.

It's a lazy, dog-dangling afternoon

Harper is plain worn out from all the confusion. Is Brett Favre retiring? Is he not retiring? Poor Harper, her fantasy football team is all in disarray.

raspberries

I didn't go to the farmer's market today. It seems that just about any day of the week you can find a farmer's market in town, you just need to know where to look. Sort of like an illegal gambling ring. The Saturday market is bigger, and there's slightly more variety, but for the most part your selection from every stall is the same. Everyone has carrots, everyone has cucumbers, everyone has squash, etc, and for all about the same (very reasonable) price and about the same quality. It's not like other towns' markets where there's the bi-color corn guy and the organic lettuce guy, and the cheese empenadas woman, and the heirloom melon dude. The Saturday market hasn't been around all that long, so I'm hoping in future years there'll be more variety.
The upshot of all this is that there's not as much pressure to get out early on a Saturday to go to the market. Instead today I got out early to go raspberry picking. Which was awesome. The berry farm is probably the hardest place to get to in Eau Claire, I got lost coming and going, but it was gorgeous. I parked next to a barn and went in and talked to the elderly gentleman who gave me a spiel about how to pick the berries and sent me on my way. To get to the berry rows I walked through this absolutely gorgeous flower garden that really set the mood. I mean, no matter how many bugs or thorns there were (and there were), it all felt very peaceful and wondrous after walking through that garden. It was a nice outing.
I expected a little more of a price cut, seeing as how I'm doing the labor of picking, but it's actually the same price as what I got at the farmer's market last week. But they tasted just a little sweeter having picked them myself. Next week I might go back for blueberries. We'll see.
Anyway, I picked three pints (took me a little more than an hour, I was picking fall berries and they weren't quite there yet) and a really nice woman I was chatting with while we picked told me that I should lay them out on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then put them in a ziplock for the winter. Which is what I'm going to do, if I don't eat them all first. Could happen, they're really good.

On another note, did you know the fruit is spelled rasPberry? I never noticed that p hidden in there. Man.

squash, tomatoes, and corn with jack cheese

From the Gourmet cookbook:

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbls vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 2 large tomatoes (about 1.5 pounds), halved, seeded, and chopped
• 2 pounds summer squash, cut into .5 inch cubes
• 1.5 cups corn kernels (about 3 ears)
• 2 cups coarsely grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 6 ounces)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softend, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic, tomatoes, squash, and corn, increase heat to moderate, and cook, stirring, until squash is tender, 10-12 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to low, stir in cheese, salt and pepper, and simmer, covered, just until cheese is melted, about 30 seconds.

Results:
I really liked the vegetables themselves, and I like that it seems like something I could do with frozen or canned veggies in the winter (if I can find frozen squash). But the cheese sort of did this sticky glomming coating thing with the fork when we ate it, which may be your thing but I find it distasteful. The cheese did thicken the juice, but it didn't add a lot of flavor except for the cloying sweetness of jack that I don't really prefer over other cheeses, and if I'm going to add that much fat to a recipe it'd better make it 50 times better. The next time I'll either leave out the cheese or add a little bit of flavorful cheese after serving so it can melt at the table (I'm thinking smoked gouda or chevre?), and instead add some smoked paprika or, I dunno, maybe celery salt? Hmm... The flavors were very nice the next day for leftovers.

I feel somewhat mollified that the same things that bother me about time travel also bothers physicists. Now, if only I can get them to agree with me about that darn theory of relativity.

Tip: When your corningware containing tacos will not fit in the microwave, putting it in the oven to melt the cheese is a viable option only if you: a) do not put it on broil, b) do not put it on the topmost rack, and c) do not forget about it until you start to see smoke pouring out of the oven.We ate them anyway.

Sour beer and sour grapes

We went to the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison this weekend and sampled some tasty craft brews. My favorites were the sours from Jolly Pumpkin and the Annun Unum from Flossmore Station, also sour. I didn't like sour beers the first time I tried them, but now I find them refreshing.

The whole event was a pretty neat experience. It's held in a park on Lake Mendota (? possibly Lake Monona), and you get a tiny sampling glass to walk around to all sorts of good midwestern brewers. It was very well thought out, so much so that the lines for beer weren't very long, and I never had to wait in a line longer than two people for the port-o-potties.

The only sad part was a talk on beer and chocolate pairings that I went to in the education tent. Only the people with chairs (of which I was not) got chocolates and beer, and the whole talk was not about pairing chocolate and beer in general, but those specific pairings (THAT beer with THAT chocolate). I could overhear people in the chairs (we'll call them the Haves) chatting with their fellow Haves about how the chocolate was the most amazing chocolate they'd ever had, blah blah blah, while us Havenots were left to sit on the cold muddy ground with nothing to do but watch them lick their fingers. Before too long I left the education tent, as I was not being educated.

Zucchini in pasta sauce

I've been hearing that you can put zucchini in a pasta sauce and you'll never know it's there. It's true! Even Chris grudgingly admitted that he liked it. I shredded a zucchini on my box grater and sauteed the shreds with the salt, pepper, olive oil, and garlic that I was going to use to make the sauce anyway. (Next time I think I'll salt the shreds and let them drain in a collider for a while first, just to see what happens.) I meant to saute it until brown, but the zucchini actually just sort of built up a layer of browned mush on the bottom of the pan and I didn't want that to burn so I just aborted that plan (any ideas for how to avoid the layer of mush?). I deglazed the tasty brown mush with tomato juice from the can of diced tomatoes I was going to put in the sauce, then added everything else. Browned zucchini sort of gets that savory flavor that I'm pretty addicted to this time of year, and it added a subtle smokeyness to the sauce.

Let the bears pay the bear tax

Everytime we drive into Maryland, Chris starts looking for bears. There's signs all over the highway sporting a bear and a deer and it says, Watch for our wildlife. This promise has never been realized as the only bears we have ever seen have been in zoos (so not technically wild). We went to Colorado and Idaho hoping to see a bear. No bears, just disappointment.

Two days ago there was a black bear wandering around INSIDE the Eau Claire city limits. WHY have we been going to far off places to find bears when they were in Wisconsin all along? Will have to keep eyes peeled.

I just made this salad dressing last night - my first ever creamy dressing. It's fabulous, and also not terribly fattening, as I usually assume creamy dressings are. I used lowfat buttermilk and mayo, and it was just fine. I put it on a somewhat boring cabbage/radish/celery/green onion salad, but I think it'd be good on just about anything. Since I had green onions, and didn't feel like buying chives, I left them out, and it was still great. I got the recipe from smittenkitchen.com.

Buttermilk Dressing

1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives

Whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, shallot, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl until sugar has dissolved, then whisk in chives.

I went to the Irish Lion for lunch yesterday. We sat in the bar area, which is something I've never done, and the waiter was an older guy. I guess he must be the Irish because I couldn't understand a blessed thing he said. It was pretty astonishing. I remember not understanding the Irish I knew the summer I worked at the beach, especially the guys from Kilkenny, but their meaning was usually clear even if the details got lost. This guy? Off the charts.

Food was good, though.

Things I certainly will not miss about Bloomington

• The oppressive summers, although this year hasn't been so bad so far.
• The (sadly more pronounced and vocal) segment of the undergraduate population that feels entitled to everything and feels the need to talk about their sex lives very loudly on cell phones on a bus. It really is amazing how much my experience in this town has been tarnished by this smallish population of students. I would have enjoyed my time here so much more if these kids were either not here or less prominent. My experience with kids that age in Wisconsin is that this entitled rudeness is rarer, although the last time I spent time with Wisconsin undergraduates I was barely out of college myself, so I might not have noticed.
• That God-awful drive between Bloomington and Indianapolis. I only have to do it once more, and I'm dreading it.
  

Things I'm looking forward to in Wisconsin

• Being closer to our dear friends in Madison. We already have plans to go down there twice in August.
  
• Owning a home. I still can't believe that we bought a house, and it's a lovely, warm house in a good neighborhood. I can't believe how lucky we are that we get to do this.
  
• All the nature and wildlife. You would think it wouldn't be that big of a difference, but I think it is. Example: we went to a big furniture store in Eau Claire just to poke around. This store was close to the edge of town, but not by any means outside of town. Near an interstate, the mall, and two Culver's, that sort of thing. When I got out of the car I nearly stepped on a severed deer leg. Gross, but stick with me. All plausible explanations for how that deer leg got there in EC would make no sense in Bloomington. For example, let's say a coyote brought it there. It seems possible that the coyote found a dead deer hit by a car on the interstate and carried the leg a quarter mile or so to the parking lot where it got scared off. This would never have happened in Bloomington. Sure, there are coyotes in Indiana, but they stay (usually) well out of the city limits. Even if they DID come into the city, they certainly would not have brought along a deer leg. They would also not be in close proximity a dead deer. Sure, we have deer in Bloomington, but I've never seen a DEAD deer in the Bloomington city limits. Or, we could say that it fell off of someone's truck while they were parked at the furniture store looking at end tables. This would not happen in Bloomington. People would just NOT drive around town with a dead deer in their pickup. They would certainly not stop at a store whilst hauling a carcass. I dunno, for some reason this sort of closeness to nature (albeit gross in this case) seems like an adventure. There are more serene examples, like all the great hiking trails along the rivers and streams, the massive wooded park in the middle of town on the island, and a giant preserve just outside of town with a btterfly house. I just thought the deer leg was especially illustrative.
  
• Winter sports. The winter here in Bloomington has just stopped bothering me, and I really think I could handle a greater challenge. Give me more snow, more cold! I want to cross country ski!
• I'm looking forward to cultivating my Sconnie accent again.
• Being close to the Twin Cities. Should be neat.
• Getting to know my new neighbors. I just really like people from Wisconsin, as a group.
• I just mentioned Culver's, but to those of you who are unaware of this great fast food chain, it really is great. It's the only fast food burger that I like. They make their own custard at the store, fresh, and every day they have a different featured flavor, like rocky road or turtle or M&M or something. This may make losing the Idaho potato pounds a little harder, but it's so worth it.
• Living amongst football fanatics who are still smarting from the Brett Favre fiasco. Smarting sports fans make for good fun. I'm really looking forward to the Packers v. Vikings games this year. Speaking of which, check out this hilarious shirt. Give it time to sink in. I'll explain if you don't get it.
  

Things I'll miss about Bloomington

• All my dear friends. I had Elevensies with Suz and Brad yesterday. There were some brief remarks about how at a certain level of familiarity with friends, there's no problem with taking a forkful of someone else's Eggs Benedict even though you have syrup on your fork, or with drinking someone else's coffee, or dipping your home fry in their hollandaise sauce. In this category I would also put entering someone's house with just a knock and not having to wait for someone to open the door, borrowing cherished books or DVDs, inviting oneself to dinner, that sort of thing. I'm not looking forward to having to start all over in a new place, and it also seems like the older I get the longer it takes to establish this familiarity with people.
• My quiet and jungle-like neighborhood. No where else have I walked past butterfly bushes or day lilies taller than me.
• Working in a castle on a beautiful campus with so much green space.
• The comparatively long growing season and comparatively mild winter.
• Certain aspects of my job, mostly my co-workers. I'll miss debating with Margaret about whether co-workers should be hyphenated or not. (I would say yes because otherwise the word looks like it could be pronounced "cow-orkers," and who knows what a cow orker is?)
• The really high-quality undergraduates who are grateful for the advantages they've had in life and don't expect to get anything except through their own effort and hard work.
• Bloomington has a sort of quirky feel to it that I'm not sure exists many other places. Also, lots of bluegrass.
  

Moving is so much work, the most I've been cooking lately is pasta or beans and rice. Plus, I've been trying to loose some Idaho potato pounds I took home as a souvenir from our trip out west last month. I think Idaho sends the rest of the country its reject potatoes and keeps all the best ones for itself. I really can't describe how much better Idaho potatoes are, it's almost like a completely different food. The flip side is that I've completely lost interest in eating our inferior french fries.

Harper and I went for a walk this morning, it's beautiful and clear, a nice omen to the start of my weeklong workshop for teachers, which goes from this afternoon through Saturday morning. I'm not nervous or in any way mentally agitated about this at all. This is probably due to a combination of that I have no mental agitation to spare from moving, and also because I've done this workshop before and so many other events like it (35!) in the last two years that I know what could go wrong and how to handle problems as they come up. Last year it was mostly being really bored for many hours a day, punctuated by periods of running errands and putting out fires. However, as I officially leave the job in two weeks, I think I'll care less about the fires.

There's a dog in our neighborhood who always barks VERY aggressively at Harper whenever he's outside when we walk by. Today we were walking by as he and his owner pulled up. He was wearing a pink cone of shame. Heh heh.

On a related note, anyone who hasn't seen Up yet should do so immediately.

Cookie Backslide

Chris actually preferred my status quo cookies, the ones that are slightly gooey, mushy, a little greasy. So, I thought I'd try to adjust the Chocolate Chip Cookie #10 to make them a little chewier for him. I compared the #10 to the Nestle Toll House recipe, and the only difference, really, is that #10 calls for two egg yolks instead of two whole eggs, and the cooking time is longer but slower, since it's at the same temperature but all the cookies are in there at the same time (lowering the temperature of the oven). I thought I'd change the egg thing, adding one whole egg and one egg yolk instead of two egg yolks, just to see what happened. It was really unsuccessful. As you can see, they all melted together into a cookie glob. Very greasy.

It could be the eggs that did it. Or, it could be that my baking soda is flat and that's why the cookies didn't rise. But I think it went wrong from the beginning. I think I over-melted the butter. I sort of forgot about it in the microwave and by the time it beeped the butter was foaming, and the milk solids separated from the liquid. The butter and sugar just never creamed right even though I was beating it for something like 10 minutes, and it all went downhill from there.

I think in the future I'll not melt the butter. Actually, I don't know why it called for the butter to be melted in the first place; Alton kept making a big deal about how to properly cream something the butter CAN'T be melted. So it would seem to me that melting the butter is the WRONG thing to do, even if I hadn't over melted it. Hmmmm....

Grilled Pineapple with Rosemary

I got Suz the "hot" new cookbook called the Flavor Bible. I, er, bought her the present a week before I wrapped it so I could, ah, do some "quality testing." It was pretty cool, it lists just about every edible ingredient and then the flavors that go best with those ingredients. I looked up pineapple and lo and behold, there was all this talk of rosemary. I thought it was just hooey, but I tried it and it was great. All I did was cut up the fresh pineapple, chop up some fresh rosemary and sprinkle it on top, then broil (or grill) until get browned in spots. Couldn't be easier, but it seems impressive, so you get lots of points with guests. You can't really taste the rosemary, it's not very strong, but it really mellows the sweetness of the pineapple.

Harper and I saw a rainbow on our walk today. (This picture is similar, although not exact. It was a pretty impressive rainbow.) I've decided that rainbows are the few things in real life that actually resemble children's drawings.

I'm choosing to interpret the rainbow and the monarch butterfly caterpillar I also saw today as good omens for house hunting, which begins tomorrow.

Cheese Straws

Going to a potluck barbecue. I had some puff pastry in the freezer that I've been needing to use up + It's strawberry season again (the market smelled so gooood) = I thought to make something for the potluck with puff pastry and strawberries. And then I tasted the strawberries. I'm not sharing. They're all for me. So I made these instead. My friends need never know....

From the Gourmet cookbook, that giant yellow behemoth:

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17 1/4-ounce package), thawed
• 1 large egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 cup finely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (about 4 ounces)
• Course sea salt (I don't think table salt would work at all. Use course salt or nothing.)

1. Put a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 425.
2. Generously butter two baking sheets (I used my silicon sheets and skipped the butter)
3. roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 14-by-12-inch rectangle. Cut crosswise in half to form two 12-by-7-inch rectangles. Brush both with the egg wash. Sprinkle cheese evenly over one rectangle and top the other rectangle, egg wash side down. Press firmly on the pastry to force out any air pockets, then roll out gently to make the layers adhere (it should end up about 12.5 by 7.5 inches). Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle with course salt.
4. With a pastry wheel, pizza cutter, or sharp knife, cut pastry crosswise into twenty-four 1/2-inch pieces. Twist each strip two or three times and place on the baking sheet, pushing down the edges to keep the strip twisted. Put 12 strips on the sheet.
5. Bake until golden, about 10 to 12 minutes, then let cool for a couple minutes on the sheet.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the strips for the other baking sheet and bake when the first batch is done.
7. Loose baked strips with a metal spatula (I could just pick them up from the silicon) and cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

RESULTS: These might be all for me, too.

Asparagus and Lemon Risotto

I finally got to the market early enough today to find asparagus. Thusly, this from Alice. Good ol' Alice...

4 servings

Snap off the ends of 1 lb asparagus. Cut spears on the diagonal into 1/4-inch pieces. Remove the zest from 1 lemon and juice. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Ass 1 small onion, diced fine. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add 1.5 cups risotto rice. Cook the rice, stirring occasionally, until translucent,* about 4 minutes. Do not let brown.

Meanwhile, bring 5 cups chicken broth to a boil.

Stir the lemon zest into the rice, then pour in 1/2 cup dry white wine. Cook, stirring, until all the wine is absorbed. Add 1 cup of broth and cook at a vigorous simmer, stirring occasionally. When rice starts to get thick, pour in another 1/2 cup of broth and add a little salt, depending on the saltiness of the broth. Keep adding broth, 1/2 at a time, every time the rice thickens. Do not let the rice dry out. After 12 minutes, stir in the asparagus. Cook until the rice is tender but still has a firm core, about 20-30 minutes in all.

When rice is about done, stir in half the lemon juice and add 1 tablespoon butter and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Stir vigorously to develop the creamy starch. Taste for salt and lemon juice and adjust as needed. Turn off the heat, let the risotto sit uncovered for 2 minutes, then serve. Add a splash of broth if the rice becomes too thick.

RESULTS: ok, first of all, whenever I see a recipe that calls for a heavy-bottomed pan, I get "Fat-bottomed girls" by Queen stuck in my head. And now you will, too, ha, HA!

I like making risotto because I think my culinary Achilles heel is that I lack patience. Risotto sort of seems to demand patience to get the best texture. Today I was making this at the same time I was making some Cheese Straws, so my attention was split, which may explain why the risotto turned out so great today. It was neither mushy, nor was it crunchy in the middle. It was perfect. Woo-hoo! Oh, I also liked the flavor a lot. Things I changed: left out the cheese, didn't have a lemon so I used lemon juice at the end, no wine, and I only added the butter at the end, I used olive oil at the beginning. Also, the farmer's market had onions, but they were the young onions with green stalks still attached. I wanted to use the greens, so I added those, chopped up, when I added the asparagus at the end. I might have also gotten by with adding it later, but not earlier.

*I think this must be a typo, rice turns opaque, not translucent. It starts translucent. Or am I misunderstanding the terms?

Well, as you've probably been able to guess from the lack of posting, life has been busy lately. First, work was so hectic that the last thing I wanted to do was look at the computer after hours. Now life outside work has sped up a bit as we've had some very welcome visitors and been amping up moving preparations. Stay tuned for a couple recipes from Jean's trip here last weekend.

Origin of the Swine Flu

Chris sent this to me a while ago, been meaning to post it.

Mixed Nuts with Rosemary

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mixed nuts (pecans and walnuts work really well b/c of their ridges)
• 4 Tbs (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (NOT dried!)
• pinch of cayenne pepper (optional, but highly recommended)
• Coarse salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. On a rimmed baking sheet, roast nuts until golden and fragrant, about 12-15 minutes. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter and rosemary over medium heat. Add sugar and stir (you may need to use a whisk) until combined .Add nuts; stir until butter mixture is golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Stir in pinch of cayenne.
3. Spread nuts on prepared baking sheet. Season with salt. Cool to room temperature, tossing occasionally, about 15 minutes.

RESULTS: I first tried these nuts at a friends party and I couldn't stop eating them. I called to ask for the recipe and she said she would not only give me the recipe, but she's also give me about a quart of the nuts that she had leftover (her mom made a quadrupple batch). I still couldn't stop eating them, so I tried to make them myself and I burnt the heck out of the sugar. It was fairly awful. So, I changed the recipe around (that's what I wrote here) so that the sugar isn't added until after the butter melts, and the temp is at medium, not medium high. It's not as good as Gina's mom's nuts, but it's way better than a house that smells like burnt sugar.

Go easy on the cayenne, it's stronger than you think.

Italian Wedding Soup

My sister told me about this recipe - she saw it made on a Food Network show and copied from what they did. I made it this week, and it was easy to do and turns out really well. I had some chicken stock on hand, so I added that to the water I boiled the chicken in, because I just boiled one bone-in, skin-on breast, rather than a whole bird, since it's just me and I try not to eat a lot of meat. I also added some fresh tarragon that I had left over from something else, since fresh herbs are expensive and I don't like them to go to waste. It's great soup, and perfect since winter won't seem to move on!

Ingredients:

Whole chicken or game hen

Large head of escarole (or spinach - what I used because I couldn't find escarole)

Two yellow onions

Celery

Carrots

Garlic

Oregano

Bay leaves

Orzo (or very small pasta, like pastina)

Salt

Ground beef or turkey

2 eggs

Bread

Milk

Boil a whole chicken (for one person, I would get either some chicken on the bone or a small game hen or chicken piece(s)). Add to the water chopped carrot, celery and onion and some oregano, a bay leaf and some salt. Let the chicken boil down for about an hour. After an hour, remove the chicken to a plate to cool.

While the chicken is boiling, make your tiny meatballs (you can use ground turkey. I saute some onion, garlic and celery to add to mine along with a piece of bread soaked in milk and one or two eggs, two if you’re using turkey, salt and pepper. You can substitute breadcrumbs for the bread.) The meatballs should be small. Bake them for about ½ an hour to 40 minutes.

Tear the meat off the chicken, shredding it, and add back to the soup base.

Chop the head of escarole and add to soup

Add meatballs

Add orzo

Cook until the orzo is tender and voila! Italian wedding soup.

Chocolate Chip Cookie #10

Some of you may know that I've been having a couple crises over the last few years. One is my pie crust crisis. Ever since I've graduated from college, I just can't pull together a good pie crust, and the more I try (fancy recipes, ice water, using shortening AND butter) the worst they get. But that's a battle to fight another day, because yesterday I got a different monkey off my back: the chocolate chip cookie. My cookies have been turning into flat, anemic-looking rubber disks that burnt on the edges, stayed raw in the middle, and glommed together in the cookie jar so badly they turned into a chocolate chip mass. No longer, my friends! These cookies remained discreet, each one delicious and distinguishable from the next. This picture is of my actual cookies. And, they were pretty darn tasty, too. Huzzah!

In celebration of this achievement, I'm going to actually TYPE UP a long recipe from a cookbook. Normally, I'll do a search on the Google for a recipe from a cookbook, and if I can't find it, I don't post it. (sorry!) But this is a remarkable day. Enjoy. It's from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food, which I like, among many other reasons, because it includes the weight and volume of the ingredients.

Dry Ingredients:
10 3/4 oz or 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:
5 1/3 oz or 3/4 cup sugar
5 oz or 3/4 cup brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter* melted and slightly cooled
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Other: 2 cups chocolate chips

Combine the dry ingredients well (Alton recommends using a food processor. I used a whisk). In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugar well, until you can't see the individual sugar particles but you can still feel them, and the butter has lightened in color and doubled in volume. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then the vanilla. Then gradually add the dry goods, mix just until combined, then fold in the chips.

Using a 1-ounce disher**, scoop 24 portions onto two ungreased baking sheets. At this stage, the cookies can be frozen on the pans then moved to zip-top bags, they'll keep for 3 months.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until golden brown (I rotated the pans halfway through, both between the two racks and I rotated each pan so the back was put to the front). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

RESULTS: Well, you already know how I feel about these cookies. They weren't the best fresh, though, they had some crumbly grandularness to them, which evened out after resting overnight in the cookie jar. They had some good butteriness and also just enough saltiness. I will never make another chocolate chip cookie recipe. This is it, love at first sight.

*I was running out of butter, and I had a stick of margarine left over from before I swore off margarine, so I used one stick of margarine and one stick butter. I'm not sure how that affected the results, we'll have to see the next time I make them. Also, the butter, though almost soft, wasn't QUITE soft. Again, I don't know how that affected the results.

**I didn't have a 1-oz scooper, but I didn't really need it. The batter was more of a paste, and it was pretty easy to just split it in half, put half on each cookie sheet, then continue halving and, uh, thirding(?) until I had 12 equal portions on each sheet.

Tuscan Bread Soup?

I just realized I never posted one of my most favorite soup recipes. I thought it was called Tuscan Bread Soup, but a quick web search has shown me that this is wrong. Unfortunately, I've since thrown away the recipe so I'm not sure what it's called. Betsy, do you know? I'm also not sure that I still make it the way it's supposed to be made. Oh well. It's basically a lot like how I make Arrabiatta sauce, but in soup form.

Warm a little olive oil in a medium saucepan and brown a couple cloves of garlic (or you can chop them if you really like garlic) with a dash or too of red chili flakes. Drain a can of whole tomatoes, saving the juice, and toss the tomatoes in with a pinch of salt. When they start to soften, mash them with a wooden spoon (be careful, the juice spurts!). When they're pretty well mashed into bite-sized pieces, add the juice back in. I like to add some basil at this point and check the seasoning. Yesterday, I added a tad smoked paprika, which made it tres delicious. Let it simmer for a while until you like the consistency. Serve with good-quality day-old bread (seriously, if it's not good store-bought or homemade bread just don't even make this soup). Break the bread into little chunks and let them sit for a while in the soup until they get good and creamy. Mmmmm. It's really good with Italian or French bread. I don't like the idea of cheese with this, but it might work. Even Chris doesn't put cheese on it, though, and he puts extra cheese on everything I make, even macaroni and cheese.

Morrocan-Style Preserved Lemons

From my Gourmet Cookbook

Makes: about 48 pieces
Active time:15 min
Start to finish:5 days

Preserved lemons are perhaps most at home in Moroccan dishes, but we love their complex, bright flavor and aroma in all kinds of soups, stews, and salads. We’ve adapted Mediterranean-food authority Paul Wolfert’s quick method and made it even faster by blanching the lemons first. Save the pulp for bloody Marys or anything else enlivened by a little lemon juice and salt. If you manage to find Meyer lemons, this is a great way to capture their unforgettable taste and perfume.

10 to 12 lemons (2 1/2 to 3 lb)
2/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Equipment: a (4- to) 6-cup jar with a tight-fitting lid

Blanch 6 lemons in boiling water 5 minutes, then drain. Cut each lemon into 8 wedges and discard seeds. Toss with kosher salt in a bowl, then firmly pack with salt into jar.
Squeeze lemon juice from remaining lemons to measure 1 cup. Add enough juice to cover lemons and screw on lid. Let stand at room temperature, shaking jar gently once a day, 5 days. Add oil to lemons and chill, covered.

Cooks’ note: Lemons keep, chilled, 1 year.

RESULTS: In case you're wondering, lemons were on sale at Kroger. I bought a lot. Not the fancy-pants meyer lemons, I've never heard of those.

I think most of what I have to say about this recipe is about mechanics. First of all, my cookbook says to use a 6-cup jar. All I had was a 4-cup jar (from store-bought spaghetti sauce), so I thought I'd just do 2/3rds of the amounts for everything, but it was Saturday morning, and my tea hadn't enough kick for me to do the math, so I just decided to make it easier and do half the recipe and just have room at the top. The problem is that lemons float, so in order for everything to be submerged, I had to add a LOT of juice, and then that got me worried about the salt-juice ratio, and I was using sea salt instead of kosher salt anyway so it was already a little screwy.... anyway. I think it turned out mostly the way it's supposed to, but I've never had a Moroccan-style preserved lemon so it's hard to say. Take my advice, just follow the recipe the way it's written, don't try to get fancy with fractions and what not. Besides, I just now found this recipe on the Gourmet magazine website where they say to use a 4- to 6-cup jar. NOW they tell me! Sheesh.

You're probably wondering, "why would you preserve a lemon? They're readily available year round!" which is exactly the question Chris asked me as I was covered in lemon juice and sea salt. (By the way, don't make this recipe if you have any recent cuts or scrapes on your hands. Trust me.) I've seen a few recipes that call for preserved lemons and I intend to try them, but I also like just a couple wedges cut up small in salads, and the juice makes a good salad dressing with a little extra olive oil and pepper. The rind gets rather soft, and the lemons seem to have gotten more sour and rather briny... basically, they taste just like you would think they taste based on the recipe.