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!