Hello from South Carolina!

I'm lying in bed here in Charleston, trying to figure out what we'll do en route from Charleston to Myrtle without waking Beth up. I'll have to do that eventually because breakfast ends in an hour, but not yet. Bethie and I are having a great time. The weather has been just hot enough to make me appreciate Wisconsin. Highlights so far have included: lots of Spanish moss, 8 alligators (one that, had we wanted, we could have gone up and touched. We didn't.), lots of jasmine, and no bugs. Yesterday we went on a walking tour of the city and then spent the afternoon at a plantation outside of town with a fantastic romantic-style (or informal) garden. In the evening we went on a wine stroll through a formal garden (think Jane Austen) at a neighboring plantation. We figure the plantation owners must not have much liked each other, their gardens were like night and day. Yesterday we walked around the city some more on our own and saw the insides of two old historic houses, one preserved (meaning, it's all crumbly and old looking) and the other restored (meaning it looks like how it did when it was built in the 18th century). Both were very cool. We also went to the Exchange Building, which has a ballroom on the top and a dungeon on the bottom. Spooky. Lots of pirate talk at that building. We went window shopping, and ate at the same haunted restaurant (Poogan's Porch) that Chris and I ate at 10 years ago. Today we're driving up to Myrtle for Marisa'a wedding!

Seafood successes

Our favorite coffee shop also does fresh seafood. On Tuesday we get an email asking if we want one of the items they are offering that week, and on Thursday we get to pick it up. Last week I made Steelhead Trout, which, to me, was almost identical to salmon in every way expect it's much cheaper. Highly recommend. And yesterday we got two pounds of PEI mussels, which I thought turned out fantastically, although 2 lbs was too much for two people along with artichokes, cheese, and bread.

What I've been liking about these is that the seafood is really easy to cook. For the trout I just marinated it for less than an hour in olive oil, salt and pepper, and then I broiled it in a cast iron skillet. The mussels were even easier. I just had to clean them and then steam them in a dutch oven with garlic, some wine and some beer. I felt like a real chef, even though both of those were probably easier than half the pasta dishes I make.

My first cover story!!

I got my first cover story! It's in the Spring 2010 edition of the Chippewa Valley Business Report and it's about a guitar maker (or luthier) in Eau Claire. He wrote me last night (which is how I knew that the issue was out) to say that it was the best article he'd ever had written about him, which was very very sweet of him. The pictures are cool, too!

This is shameful, only a handful of posts this month. Sorry folks! I've been busy working in my garden. We have a shade garden in the back of the house that was more or less created by the people who lived here before us, by which I mean they created the flower bed, mulched it, and planted a few perfunctory plants that have mostly died because they are sun-loving plants. Accordingly, I've been working to fill this huge space with shade-loving plants. It's a big space. I also created a flower bed (which I plan on expanding over the years) in the front of the house, which was, in my opinion, barren and character-less without some flowers. That bed had I had to create myself, which has been much more work than I thought it would be. We'll see if it pays off. I'm lucky to work with a lot of gardeners who need someone to pawn their plant divisions off on. So far, I've gotten hostas, two kinds of day lilies, and two kinds of irises, all with the claim that they are "very hardy" and "impossible to kill." Humph, we'll see about that. I also planted some echinacea and icelandic poppy seeds, both of which I'm very excited about but don't have high hopes for because the seed packets (which I also got for free) expired in 2009. We shall see.

I also joined a paddling club. No, not some weird sorority with hazing rituals, but a local club for people who like canoeing and kayaking. I've only met a few of them so far, but they all seem to not only own their own boats, but in fact own several. Which is good because they're happy to let me borrow their boat until I save up for my own and decide what kind I want (there seem to be endless variations of kayaks out there). I'm looking forward to actually getting on real water and paddling, and not just around a middle school pool.

Posting this for a dear friend, for whom I wish I could do more:

National Infertility Awareness Week is a movement to raise awareness about the disease of infertility which affects 7.3 million Americans. Do you know someone struggling with infertility? Go to resolve.org to learn more.

Classic Lasagne, Bolognese Style

From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

Makes about 6 servings
Time: 45 minutes (with premade sauce)

• At least 5 quarts water
• 1 recipe Spinach Pasta or other fresh pasta or 12 dried lasagne noodles
• 1 recipe Béchamel Sauce, about 1 1/2 cups
• 3 cups, more or less, Meat Sauce, Bolognese-Style (Ragu)
• 2 tablespoons softened butter or extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Salt, if needed

1. Set at least 5 quarts water in a large pot over high heat. When it comes to a boil, salt it.
2. Meanwhile, if you are using fresh pasta, roll it out. Cut to fit the dish.
   
3. Cook the noodles a few at a time; keep them underdone (if they are fresh, this means little more than a minute in cooking time; for dried pasta, no more than a few minutes). Drain carefully in a colander, then allow to rest on towels while you prepare the béchamel sauce. Preheat oven to 400F
4. Smear the bottom of your baking pan with the butter or oil, then place a layer of noodles, touching but not overlapping. Trim any overhanging edges. Cover the noodles with about one-quarter each of the béchamel, meat sauce, and Parmesan, then with a light sprinkling of black pepper (between the meat sauce and the Parmesan there should be enough salt, but if you feel it is under-seasoned, add a little salt to each layer also). Make four layers, ending with a sprinkling of Parmesan. (The dish can be prepared in advance up to this point, then well wrapped and refrigerated for a day or frozen for a month; defrost in the refrigerator for a day before cooking if possible.)
5. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, until the lasagna is bubbly. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving. Or let cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to a month.

RESULTS: It's weird. I normally have trouble following recipes (as you may have noticed), and I thought for sure it would be worse cooking from a book like How to Cook Everything, which offers a handful of variations for just about every recipe. It's like it's not just giving me permission to improvise, but encouraging it. This cookbook is an enabler. The weird thing is, though, that I almost always follow his recipes to the letter. Even the cooking times, and it always turns out perfectly. The only thing I did differently with this was the ragu. I left out the onion, replaced the bacon with paprika, and accidentally forgot the milk. it still turned out great, but I did notice that it could have been more sauce-like. Anyway, Duane and Barry are here for Easter, and they loved it, and that's the important thing.

Originally I was thinking of making something like lamb or ham, but opted instead for the "traditional" Easter lasagna. A woman at my work is curing her own ham. It has to sit in a 5-gallon bucket for a week covered in curing spices. She said if she's not in work tomorrow, then we'll know how it turned out. After hearing that, the lasagna seemed safer.

Béchamel sauce

From Mark Bittman's How to Make Everything

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk

1. In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat. When the foam begins to subside, stir in the flour. Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring with a wire whisk almost constantly, until the flour-butter mixture darkens, at least 3 minutes. You can cook it longer if ou would like a darker color and slightly more complex flavor.
2. Stir in the liquid, a little bit at a time, still using the whisk. When about a cup of the liquid has been stirred in, the mixture will be fairly thick. Add more liquid, a little at a time, until the consistence is just about a little thinner than you like, then cook, still over low heat until the mixture is the thickness you want.
3. Season to task and serve immediately or keep warm over gently simmering water for up to an hour, stirring occasionally.