A Minor Incident

Out in America

2011-06-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Thai Pavilion at Olbrich Gardens

Just popping in from my summer exploits (which include working, interning and taking the GRE)* to comment on a show I recently watched on PBS, Out in America. My mind has been on long term relationships and how they stand the test of time. These are a few notable quotes from the show.

"I'm kind of the culinary Jew in the house, and if she is willing to clean up the oil that I use that ends up all over the stove and not complain about it, then I don't know what love is. I also like to quilt, and when I hear a cry of pain from the other room because she's stepped on a needle that I dropped, and she doesn't say anything, then I don't know what love is."

"We've been together for the better part of 40 years, and to say that we still like each other is a significant accomplishment."

*gah. The GRE. At least I don't have to think about it until next Wednesday.

My old/new love.

2011-05-17T15:51:00.002-05:00

Irrelevant photo #1. Alex and Evelyn checking out the magnolias at the Arboretum.

You don't look like much, but I love you just the same.

Bad photo with flash. Look! She's showing her sweet vanilla custard layer!

I have a "thing" for rhubarb. Every year I scour the farmers market stalls for the tender, sour stalks, like an eagle surveying the fields for it's prey. I was lucky enough to find some on Saturday and promptly bought 8 pounds.
I realized how much I had really bought when I got home and half of it was enough to fill 7 quart jars with sauce. I chopped and covered the rest with sugar and forgot about it for two days on the bottom shelf in the fridge. When I pulled it out last night, the rhubarb had given off a ton of water, though the little slices still looked crisp. I drained the rhubarb and figured a fruit crisp would be a great way to get rid of the rest of it. Except that I don't like fruit crisps. If I wanted a bowl of fruit for dessert, an apple is much more appealing to me.
My grandmother makes this amazing dessert called "rhubarb dream dessert", which is little slices of rhubarb bathed in eggy vanilla custard perched on top of a powdered sugar crust and topped with clouds of meringue. Not being a big fan of meringue (sorry Hannah), and the crust seemed like too much of a bother, so I whipped up the custard, threw in the rhubarb and decided that the crumb topping of a crisp would be just the thing for the lid. Let me tell you, I have eaten half the pan by myself. It's heaven on a spoon. And great mixed with plain yogurt...

Rhubarb Custard Crisp

Custard layer:
6 egg yolks
2 c. sugar (yes, really)
2T. flour
1/2 c. milk
a vanilla bean, split and scraped (you could sub 1t. vanilla extract)
a pinch of salt
4 c. of rhubarb

Topping:
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. flour (your choice here, whole wheat pastry flour might be a nice, nutty alternative)
1/3 c. dark brown sugar, packed
1/8 t. baking soda
1/4. t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. cold butter, split

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, milk, flour, salt and vanilla bean, whisk in the rhubarb. Pour into a 9x13 pan. Mix together oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt for the topping. Cut in half the butter (like pie crust). Sprinkle topping over custard. Melt the other half-stick of butter and sprinkle that over the topping. Bake at 350 anywhere between 30 and 50 minutes. My oven is slow, so it took 50 minutes. Check if the center is set by jiggling the pan. If the center still jiggles around a lot, slide it back in for another 10 minutes, or so.

Up to the highest height!

2011-05-16T22:49:00.000-05:00

Let's go fly a kite!

This is now a daily request. Kite flying and sidewalk scribbling. Has spring finally arrived?

I am thrilled to be done with school for the semester, but having a difficult time figuring out what to do with myself this summer. This is the first summer I have had off in years. How do you while away the summer hours?

Love and Love.

2011-03-17T22:43:00.000-05:00

Love love love love this band! I have been addicted to them and their fluid and poetic songwriting. The Civil Wars, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Butterhorns with Papa

2011-03-11T22:24:00.000-06:00

Image courtesy of here

My grandparents house is one of smells and memories. The kitchen is a small galley off of the dining room. My grandmother has covered every square inch of the space with cookery items, antique utensils, showy tableware, dried flowers, baskets and garlic hanging in bunches. Stained glass tablets hang from the windows, transforming the light and space into an ethereal place. Small crystal bowls line the windowsill above the sink as a place to rest her rings while washing dishes. She is the homemaker of this house and this is her space. Every inch of it surrounds her, describes her, and is part of her. My grandfather, like many men of his generation, has dominion over the charcoal grill in the backyard. He is always willing to help my grandmother in the kitchen, peeling potatoes or removing a particularly cumbersome roast from the oven, but his form looks displaced in the cramped space. He fills it completely and is surrounded by the femininity of her kitchen. I know he can cook. I know he is capable of much more than grilling, and on rare occasions he shows me. Grammie was out for the morning, and Papa was in charge of me. Usually we would run down the street to the park to play, but on this morning he asks me if I wanted to make butter horns with him. I peer into the glass bowl as he adds a small amount of warm water. He hands me a spoon to sprinkle sugar into the water. Digging through the cupboard, he returns with a little packet of yeast. I sprinkle the tiny grains over the sugar-water and watch them bloom. The earthy smell envelops me as I stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. He covers the bowl with plastic wrap and removes a large bowl from the stand mixer on the counter. He has me scoop flour from the earthenware canister on the counter into a metal flour sifter over the bowl, spinning the handle to remove all of the lumps. The yeast is foaming and requires our attention. He has me add more sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and melted butter to the yeast mixture and stir it around until everything is combined and smooth. He takes the wooden spoon, warm from my hand, and slowly adds the flour in small amounts, beating hard with the spoon until it stiffens into a stringy dough. He has me sprinkle flour onto the counter and turns out the dough to be kneaded. I watch as he moves methodically, turning, pushing and folding the dough until it seems to elasticize beneath his hands. I oil a large plastic bowl and watch as he gathers the dough, places it in the bowl and turns it to oil the top. He snaps the lid shut on the Tupperware bowl and we wash our hands. He distracts me for an hour, however you can distract a 10 year old, and when we return the dough has taken on a life of it’s own and has pushed up the lid of the container, peeking out from the crack like a swamp monster. He asks me to punch it down, and I look at him as I raise my fist and sink it into the soft dough. I sprinkle flour on the counter as he pulls the mass of dough out of the bowl and plops it on the counter. He divides it into four pieces and returns three of them to the bowl. The first piece gets rolled out into a circle, and I am entrusted with the blue glass butter dish and a pastry brush. I brush a thick coating of butter on the circle and he sprinkles a mixture of cinnamon and sugar over the disk. He takes a pizza cutter and divides the circle up into 8 pieces. He shows me how to roll each piece up, starting at the wide end and tucking the tiny tail under the roll. We grease a cookie sheet and place each roll on the sheet, curling the ends in slightly. We repeat this performance with each remaining balls of dough. He turns the oven on to warm up, and sets the trays of butter horns on the counter, covered with cotton kitchen towels for a second 30-minute rise. When the oven is preheated we slide our rolls in. He leaves the oven light on for me, and I watch as the rolls bloom and brown. While they are baking he whisks together a simple glaze of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. When the rolls come out we let them cool a bit, then we drizzle on the glaze, watching it drip down onto the cookie sheet beneath. When they are completely cool and the glaze has dried, we remove them from the cookie sheet with spatulas. I stand in my grandmother’s kitchen with Papa as we sink our teeth into our freshly baked creations. I smile at him and know that he is capable of so much more.

Only in Wisconsin...

2011-02-02T09:37:00.000-06:00

After snowing about a bajillion inches with high winds and ice, this guy thinks it's a good time to go shovel his roof.

Rogue Chocolatier

2011-01-31T22:54:00.000-06:00

Chocolate porn, just for you Hannah. As in all ~~porn~~ hastily taken pictures, the photo quality is low. Sorry about that. I couldn't wait to dig in. I heard about Rogue's Piura bar via David and couldn't resist putting in my order at 8:07 on a Saturday morning. What can I say? My brain was still addled with sleep and I had no problem spending $7 on a bar of chocolate, nay, 3 bars. Shh... Don't tell Alex...

Vivian Maier

2011-01-18T22:11:00.001-06:00


All photography in this post courtesy of http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

I am completely in love and inspired by this woman's work right now. She has the talent of capturing intimate details as well as sweeping emotions in a single photograph. I can't wait for the exhibition.

Back at Bloom

2011-01-11T17:01:00.000-06:00

I couldn't leave this lovely little shop for long. I'm happy to be back and baking in the mornings and doing something I love.

Tea at Macha

2010-12-08T11:59:00.000-06:00

Tea at Macha on Wednesdays has become something of a ritual for me. I come here to decompress, study and soak up some vitamin D in front of one the many windows. I love the formality yet informality of it all. I spent a semester studying tea and the Japanese tea ceremony last year and the ritual that is intertwined with the practice of tea can be caught in glimpses here. Sometimes the little formalities are nice.

Hurrah!

2010-12-03T11:00:00.002-06:00

My camera is back! But I have no pictures to show you, as they called me only moments ago.
In other news, we'll be moving at the end of our lease in February. Goodbye lovely house.

pretty old house, if I could move you to Madison, I would

I shall miss you. But I will not miss the extremely odorous drive into town everyday. (Yes, odorous. We pass many farms with many cows.)

After an incident with Evelyn this week where she painted my bedspread with red nail polish (when she was supposed to be in bed, NAUGHTY!), I've been thinking about starting a project over winter break to make a quilt instead of purchasing another one. I found a pattern that I like. It's a simple wheel pattern in color on a white background.

picture and pattern here

What do you think?

Random

2010-10-26T23:43:00.001-05:00

So, I finally borrowed a camera from the shop until mine is fixed. 5 months and counting, I'm not holding my breath.
But I had completely forgotten that I have numerous cards with pictures from last spring and early summer on them. So without further ado, here are some random snippets.

3 little jams, all in a row

broccoli cheddar soup with mustard croutons

Alex being Alex and hiding Evelyn's toys in my food

yummy rye flour! the start of 298349923 rye bread experiments

rye starter- meet neil

Evelyn on a sugar high at Concerts on the Square, Summer '10

wine smuggled back from Tuscany

The last nice day of October, lonely tracks

kimono and obi for Halloween

pretty embroidery!

PiePiePie

2010-10-21T10:41:00.000-05:00

I am really bad at taking pictures of my food before I dig into it, so please excuse the cut marks. But still, pretty pretty! Caramel, almond and cranberry tart to your left, and a buttermilk, butternut squash pie to your right. Delicious and cozy for the fall season! I've been in such a baking mood lately, maybe it has something to do with my day job. ;)

Onions

2010-10-16T13:15:00.000-05:00

How easily happiness begins by

dicing onions. A lump of sweet butter

slithers and swirls across the floor

of the sauté pan, especially if its

errant path crosses a tiny slick

of olive oil. Then a tumble of onions.

This could mean soup or risotto

or chutney (from the Sanskrit

chatni, to lick). Slowly the onions

go limp and then nacreous

and then what cookbooks call clear,

though if they were eyes you could see

clearly the cataracts in them.

It’s true it can make you weep

to peel them, to unfurl and to tease

from the taut ball first the brittle,

caramel-colored and decrepit

papery outside layer, the least

recent the reticent onion

wrapped around its growing body,

for there’s nothing to an onion

but skin, and it’s true you can go on

weeping as you go on in, through

the moist middle skins, the sweetest

and thickest, and you can go on

in to the core, to the bud-like,

acrid, fibrous skins densely

clustered there, stalky and in-

complete, and these are the most

pungent, like the nuggets of nightmare

and rage and murmury animal

comfort that infant humans secrete.

This is the best domestic perfume.

You sit down to eat with a rumor

of onions still on your twice-washed

hands and lift to your mouth a hint

of a story about loam and usual

endurance. It’s there when you clean up

and rinse the wine glasses and make

a joke, and you leave the minutest

whiff of it on the light switch,

later, when you climb the stairs.

-William Matthews

2010-10-13T22:56:00.000-05:00

Thinking wistfully of these...

Ahh, Fraumunster.

Delicious Autumn

2010-10-04T12:05:00.001-05:00

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. - George Eliot

Hiatus

2010-09-20T00:21:00.000-05:00

I'm (sort of) back from my summer long blogging break (which just happened to coincide with the demise of my camera). Evelyn just had her 3rd birthday, completely undocumented. :( But I take heart that I didn't document all of those childhood Christmases, and I still remember them. She'll just have to trust us that we're telling her the truth when we tell her how old she is. Right??? ;)

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

2010-05-25T13:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the temps here soared close to 90 with a heat index of 100 (or so Alex says) either way, it was hot. I hooked up the sprinkler for the first time, and besides the small flood in the garage, it was a nice splashy way to enjoy the afternoon.

Tiny Bubbles

2010-05-21T12:21:00.000-05:00

I've started my summer "vacation". My husband asked me if I was enjoying myself, what with all the baking and cooking and child watching that's been going on. Yes. Yes I have. I enjoy spending time with my daughter, even though she can't be trusted while I take a shower.

Thank God that wasn't permanent marker, and just eyeliner.

We've been going to the "libary" and "fall down outside libary" and we've been "swimming" (swinging) at the park. Yesterday we played with her bubbles in the backyard.

It's been a good start to summer.

Afternoon Tea and Cookies

2010-03-15T15:39:00.001-05:00

Homemade strawberry jam thumbprint cookies and a cheeseball little girl.

In Stitches

2010-02-19T00:26:00.000-06:00

I bought a sewing machine today. It's from 1961, looks like a rocket ship and is called a Slant-o-Matic Rocketeer. It is touted by Singer as the best machine ever made. We'll see if it lives up to it's name.

Indecent Exposure

2010-02-15T12:26:00.001-06:00

I still can't figure out how to work my camera.
I came home from the store all slap happy from my new purchase and promptly went online to find an appropriate tutorial.
Said tutorial does not explain why I keep getting error messages, and my lack of a firewire connection on my computer is temporarily preventing me from uploading photos.
I'll figure it out, but it's been a larger learning curve than I was hoping for.

In other news, Alex and I finally had a date night. Yay! It's been too long. We may have been a bit of a cliche, going out on Valentines, but it was nice to have a dinner with wine and no whining from the peanut gallery.

Granola Love

2010-01-20T22:58:00.001-06:00

Granola has always failed me in the kitchen. The first time I made it, I used a recipe from an 80's Betty Crocker cookbook and put the dried fruit in the oven with the granola. It was not appetizing. The fruit got all burnt and slightly crispy.

Today I tried my hand at granola for a second time (12 years later), and I made the same mistake with the toasted coconut. I guess granola and I were only meant to be together via a store-bought plastic package.

Other than that, it smells pretty fabulous. I found the recipe via Michelle and tweaked it slightly.

I nixed the sesame seeds and added pumpkin seeds, vanilla extract. Feel free to substitute maple syrup for the corn syrup. I was all out of maple.

Anyway, here's the recipe with alterations, feel free to try the original out and let me know how it goes.

Cashew and Orange Granola
adapted from Le Potage, who adapted it from elsewhere

1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Grated zest of 2 large oranges
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
2 cups salted cashews
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 cup pepitas or pumpkin seeds
1 cup dried cranberries
Directions: Position racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 375°F.
I like to toast my coconut in a dry pan over medium high heat. Feel free to use the oven method, but I get better control on the stovetop. Transfer to a large bowl.
Bring the oil, corn syrup and orange zest to a boil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Place the oats, almonds, cashews, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin seeds in bowl.
Add the syrup mixture and mix until well coated.
Spread in a thin layer on 2 large baking sheets.
Bake, stirring often, switching the positions of the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the granola is golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with coarse sea salt then cool. Pour into bowl with coconut and dried fruit and mix together. (The granola can be stored at room temperature in airtight containers for up to 1 month.)

Update: Make sure you hit it with salt as soon as it comes out. I didn't and it all sunk to the bottom of the pan.
Also, the toasted coconut going into the mix and into the oven was not the disaster I feared. Mix it in with the rest of the ingredients, if you wish. It will clump better.

catching up: Kristy’s new scarf

2009-12-16T14:55:00.000-06:00

I would love to knit this, but I've got enough projects pending right now! (scarves and baby sweaters abound) Beautiful pattern and yarn. :) catching up: Kristy’s new scarf

Academic Insight

2009-10-19T12:12:00.000-05:00

Sooo... I've been MIA for awhile. I didn't mean to be away this long, I do still check my side bar blogs on a (almost) daily basis. But the truth is, I've been back in college. This is not the first time, but it IS the first time for me at a giant SUCK YOU IN AND EAT YOU university. I'm feeling overwhelmed, and I wouldn't have even made this paltry post, but I'm supposed to be studying and have NO motivation. So, in conclusion, I am alive and I'll be back when life is less hectic. :)

Mmmm.. greens

2009-07-17T14:51:00.000-05:00

My week has been spent kicking butt at work (or work kicking my butt, whichever), so I haven't had as much time to devote in the kitchen this week as I might have liked. In fact, I bought all of the ingredients to make pickles out of my CSA cucumber overload, and in the fridge they sit. I did make a warm, crisp broccoli salad a few weeks ago and had the decency to take pictures for you.

It's featured on Sprouted Kitchen, and her pictures are better. Aren't you glad I'm back? ;)

Carrot Risotto and Spicy Cucumber Salad

2009-07-02T21:57:00.000-05:00

It can be a challenge for me to cook with what I have in the fridge. I love to search for new recipes to try out, but most send me running to the store, spending more than I need to on last minute ingredients. Sure, dinner usually turns out great. But my food budget isn't quite as healthy after those little daily indulgences.

Summertime is here for us, and that means weekly boxes of veggies and fruit from our local CSA share. The challenge is to eat everything that comes in that jam packed box by the next week. And that is harder than it might seem, especially when you're completely sick of cooking greens and lettuce. There's only so much you can do with swiss chard (tasty new recipe coming soon).

The antidote for this weeks green overdose was this soothing carrot risotto. I paired it with a cool, crunchy (okay, and light green) cucumber salad. Both recipes took a bite out of the produce overload in my fridge.

Carrot Risotto

6 medium carrots, peeled and diced small

2 cups of arborio rice

1 onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 box of organic vegetable stock (4 cups), warmed

2-4 cups of water, warmed

1 cup of whole milk, warmed

1 cup of good quality shredded parmesan cheese

coarse salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 tablespoons of butter

a handful of chopped parsley

Heat the butter and oil in a medium sized stock pot over medium high heat. Once the butter melts add the onions and sauté until the onions begin to soften. Toss in the garlic and sauté for one minute more. Add the rice and the carrots and stir until the rice is lightly coated with the oil/butter mixture. Pour in two cups of the heated vegetable stock. (I microwave mine in a glass measuring cup and take it out at the last minute to use. No messing with another pot on the stove.) Keep stirring the rice occasionally until the stock is mostly absorbed by the rice. Add another two cups of stock and stir again. After the rice has absorbed most of the stock, taste for salt and adjust seasoning, add pepper to taste. Continue this way with the warmed water until the rice is al dente and the water is mostly absorbed. The rice will be gooey, but not runny. Add the milk and cheese and heat thoroughly. Taste for seasonings and adjust, the cheese and stock will make the dish slightly salty, so go easy on the salt in the first addition and correct it at the end. Stir in the parsley and serve.

Cucumber Salad

2 large English cucumbers, washed and sliced thin

salt

Dressing

3 tablespoons of plain yogurt

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

½ teaspoon of dried mustard

½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill

3 scallions, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons of sugar, to taste

In a large colander set over the sink, lay the cucumbers in layers, sprinkling each layer with salt. Let them sit for at least 30 minutes. When you’re ready to assemble the salad, press down on the cucumbers in the colander to get them to release a bit more of their water. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing in a large bowl. Toss the cucumbers in the dressing. Serve. This is even spicer and better the next day.

Spreading the Local Slow Food Movement

2009-06-19T11:56:00.000-05:00

At a time when it is becoming increasingly hard for small farmers to make ends meet, it is very important to put your money where your ideals are. Just buying organic produce is no longer good enough as the ‘organic’ label has dollar signs attached to it that industrial agriculture is all too eager to cash in. And cash in on it they have. Industrial Organic is no longer something dangerously looming on the horizon, feared by small organic farmers; it is a full fledged reality. Just remember, a product labeled "organic" does not, in any way, denote sustainability or local. Much organic produce is now shipped from across the country if not farther and is actually being produced by companies that have no interest in sustainability. Our question to them is: where do your interests lie? And how concerned are you about the health and well being of your customers? Industrial Organic, shipping across the country or farther, is NOT how we eat sustainably. This may be how our mothers and fathers fed themselves, but we can not continue like this. WE NEED TO FIX THE FOOD PROBLEM.So what are some steps towards fixing the problem? BUY LOCAL! EAT SEASONALLY! By buying locally you are, at the very least, able to investigate how your purchases are produced. You can go to the fields where your potatoes are grown and demand your farmer to show you just how "organic" they are. Plus, by buying locally, your food travels less between the field and your plate which means that it is of higher quality. Also, fresher local produce requires fewer resources to transport. By buying local produce you are supporting your community which means keeping money circulating in the hands of people just like you rather than huge corporations and too many middle men. And, finally by eating locally you are buying into a more sustainable future and keeping people with real ideals like Josh, Noah, Teresa and Mike in business.
-Courtesy of Driftless Organics

Calculations

2009-02-22T17:13:00.000-06:00

After working math problems for hours and hours and hours, I'm starting to apply formulas to my surroundings. Milk being steamed? There's a formula in there somewhere, where rate and time exudes pressure to make the milk foam and heat at the correct rate to the correct temperature. I'm one step away from becoming the crazy mathematician in Pi, seeing patterns in everyday life to the point of insanity (not really). But I will concede that I have been at Barrique's for way too long. I'm at the point where I'm in the math groove, but I can't stand that I'm wasting my day working math problems. How do I always let it get to this point? I hem and haw and waste my evenings during the week, playing with my child (exactly HOW important could THAT be?), cooking dinner and the like. I guess we could subsist on frozen pizza and ramen, but that would be a touch too college-esque for me. Help?

(If you're stellar at math, drop me a line, we'll work out a payment arrangement...)

Public Service Announcement

2009-02-17T12:07:00.000-06:00

Now, I've come to realize that my reader doesn't like it when I rant, so in today's post I won't rant, I won't reference whore's (even meant as a joke) and I'll try to be as clean and prim as possible.

Today's Post:
Blog.

P.S. And I did mean that singularly. If you read my blog, and enjoy, please post comments, otherwise I feel all sad and alone in the universe... even if you don't enjoy, please post comments and I'll be sure to return the niceties.

Whore's Pasta with Bitter Salad and Broken Artichoke Hearts

2009-02-13T15:18:00.000-06:00

Just in time for Valentine's Day! Pasta puttanesca (whore's pasta) with bitter salad and broken artichoke hearts.

Obsession

2009-02-12T11:58:00.001-06:00

Via

www.smittenkitchen.com

It has been known to my closest friends for awhile now that I have a bit of an obsession with food. I love to cook, bake, candy make, all of the above twice over. Sometimes I even have dreams about working in a sunny professional kitchen (such as at L'etoile), even though I know the hours are long, the labor is hard and the kitchen isn't usually sunny, for lack of windows or stuffed in a basement corner somewhere.

I'm currently pursuing a degree in Art History, which may be just as fanciful as dreaming of large ovens and whisking three dozen eggs for flan. I'll hem and haw and go back and forth on whether or not one is more viable than the other. With Art History, if I pursue it far enough, I would have a career that would not require me to smell like my job on a daily basis, but I wonder if I would get into it and realize that the business world is not where I want to be.

With working in a kitchen, it will be a physically challenging task on a daily basis, demanding that I get decent training so I don't end up grilling steaks for Ruth's Chris, or frying eggs for the diner. The only option in Madison is MATC. I've worked with chefs who have gone through MATC's training at various restaurants, and to say the least, they've been the least apt of their kind. (Not that it couldn't be attributed to the person himself, and not the training. I guess it all depends on your attitude.)

I've thought a bit about the personal chef avenue, but in the current failing economy, that doesn't seem like the most viable option. Owning a bakery? Owning a cafe? Probably the latter more so than the former. Although both would require the early mornings that I abhor. My body just isn't programmed to get up at 4, six seems like a much more reasonable hour.

What are your thoughts on my rambly dilemma?

Down With Barrettes!

2009-02-04T16:43:00.000-06:00

Every time I touch Evelyn's head she immediately runs her hands through her hair to make sure I didn't sneak a barrette in there or something. The hat only stayed on long enough to take a picture.

and I usually hate lists...

2009-02-03T21:53:00.000-06:00

1. Coffee makes my stomach burn, but I still drink it daily. I probably have ulcers as a result. I'm an addict, what can I say?

2. I love to go grocery shopping, and am completely intent on the task when I do. If you see me in the store and wave, I probably won't see you unless you physically accost me.

3. Along with #2, I also love to cook.. more than any one person should. Which makes me wonder if I've chosen the wrong career path and should be a chef or baker instead. I don't know how well I would do with the 14 hour days and heavy lifting. Maybe I'd love it?

4. I think it's funny to tape/Velcro/attach things to my child and watch her run in circles, trying to get it off.

5. I hate my husband’s plants. They never flower. They just sit there, constantly green, spindly, and mocking me.

6. I keep a blog that no one but Julie and I read.

7. When I watch Pride and Prejudice, I desperately wish I was Lizzie, in love with Mr. Darcy.

8. I love to knit, and am pretty proud of being almost completed with my first project of mittens.

9. When I'm really concentrating on something, I will tune you completely out. A product of living in a house full of brothers, if I ignored them long enough they would go away. Which, coincidentally, works amazingly well with my husband. :P

10. Sometimes, I will have really intense dreams of fantastical places and people (aka: Mr. Darcy) and I will get really depressed when I wake up and realize it was just a dream.

11. If you ask me what's wrong and I say "nothing", ask again.

12. When I was a kid, I used to make "garden soup" in a five gallon bucket, with the hose, a wooden spoon, and rotting foilage from the garden. I would serve it up in bowls to my grandparents. Trust me, I make much better soup now. It only contains half the original amount of water, leading to a much more concentrated flavor of rotting vegetables with just a hint of petunia.

13. When I was little I wanted to be a nurse or a teacher, the most generic of the kid-friendly careers. There's no way I would ever want to be a nurse. I wouldn't put a catheter in someone if you paid me.

14. I belong to the Willy Street Co-op, but hardly ever shop there. I love natural and organic foods, but my wallet does not.

15. I love 18th and 19th century furniture and clothing. If I could dress like Marie Antoinette and get paid, I would.

16. I also love Antiques Roadshow, especially the episode where they found a fake 19th century chair by smelling it. Apparently baby powder was used in refinishing it, and was still traceable.

17. I have never seen the ocean or been abroad. I travel there frequently through my friends, so it ALMOST feels like I've been there, but not quite.

18. Some days I can't stand my job. It's so repetitive and boring that I get easily distracted by leaves blowing outside, or a squirel running up a tree.. maybe I shouldn't sit by the window.

19. I am a firm believer in the slow food movement and eating at home. Anything that has 75 ingredients and comes in a microwavable pouch, cannot be healthy.

20. Everytime I watch "How Clean Is Your House?" on the BBC, I clean the bathroom.

21. Sometimes I wish I lived in Greece, in a white and blue villa on a cliff, overlooking the sea. Then I think of the poor economy (worse than ours), the poverty, and the smell of riding on a donkey, and I reconsider.

22. I will occasionally quit coffee. I'll go through all the work of weaning myself off to decaf tea for a week, and then one whiff of good ground coffee and I'm back to the bad stuff.

23. I can't stand the idea of eating raw oysters. Slippery and slimy, like swallowing snot, why would you do that to yourself when you DON'T have a cold?

24. I think Evelyn is the most adorable kid in the world, but doesn't every mother?

25. I really miss my friend. You know who you are.

Car Bomb Cupcakes

2009-01-30T13:15:00.000-06:00

She had me at ganache.

Rushing

2009-01-23T13:45:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! *snicker*

It's been awhile since I've posted anything substansial to my blog. I've had a lot going on (don't we all). I'm taking classes again this semseter, only two this time, so the load shouldn't be overbearing. Though, I'm already feeling the pinch of my slacking. I have my first test in College Algebra on Sunday, and the homework is due that day as well. I've only completed 2 sections out of 7.. yay me! I seriously need to buckle down. I must say, I am over halfway through Frankenstein (final paper due Monday) and I feel better about that class than I do Algebra. I still get shivers down my spine when I think of math, and not in a good way. I thought I had conquored this issue when I took an 8 week crash course in Intermediate Algebra.. Oh, the calculator was thrown against the wall many many many times during those 8 weeks. To top my non-home life off, I have loads of work to finish. We're going through a busy time right now, and I can't wait for it to be over. But, as my Papa says, I should be happy I have a job, which is true. I am thankful I have a job, and thankful that I have a decent work enviroment. And that's all I'm going to comment on that matter, I won't bore you with a diatribe about local economics.

I had more to write about, like the knitting I started, the tangerine cake I baked recently with whole tangerines (rind and all), but I really should return to work. After all, I would like to KEEP my job.

Postcards From Italy

2009-01-20T00:09:00.000-06:00

This melancholoy and bittersweet song matches my mood perfectly.

Dinner Party

2008-12-30T14:36:00.000-06:00

I'm in the midst of organizing the first dinner party that my apartment has seen since this summer. The last time we had people over, it was to reciprocate for the dinner they held for us (which, I might add, consisted of bagged chex mix and cheeseburgers... and water.) I feel like I kind of "showed them up" (not deliberately)by making roast chicken (beer can chicken), savory polenta and a baked tomato and zucchini casserole with strawberry shortcake for dessert... As you may have guessed, I love to cook. This time we're having a few people over for New Year's, after they made a wonderful meal for us of chicken liver pate, braised lamb shanks with white bean and tomato stew, roasted butternut squash soup and Italian anise cookies with vanilla gelato. We're reciprocating (again, with a different couple, the first never came back) with eggplant caviar, Georgian bean salad with black bread, braised beef short ribs (tis the season) with horseradish cream, mashed potatoes and Swiss chard with pearl onions, gingerbread cake and chocolate truffles. I've been planning since Friday and cooking since Sunday. I'm borrowing heavily from the Smitten Kitchen blog, and I hope Deb doesn't fail me now!
I'm working on the table top, and couldn't just use the table runner I have (of course not) and had to buy a green tablecloth with green and blue striped napkins. My only concern is that my wall is the same color green, so it may be overwhelming. Other than those trivial little things, I hope it goes off without a hitch and that they come back for more. :)

Old Friends

2008-12-15T08:28:00.000-06:00

We met over coffee to catch up.

The camaraderie was the same, though our lives have changed.

Still, I feel like we could be friends until we look like this:

Farmer's Market Dreaming

2008-12-09T11:48:00.001-06:00

I'm in a much better mood today. I think it has something to do with seeing these old pictures from the farmer's market (like the one on my header), they remind me of summer:

honey stall

old gourd guy, kind of annoyed with having his picture taken...

Anyway. The farmer's market is a nicer thought than the weather outside, like this:

Perhaps I'll check out the winter farmer's market this weekend. I hear they make an excellent breakfast.

Brown Sugar, Brown Butter Shortbread

2008-12-04T10:53:00.000-06:00

I normally can't stand short, crisp, sandy cookies, but these are absolute perfection. (And artery clogging, at the same time)

I'm thinking of incorporating brown butter into my vegetable and fish dishes. The scent is intoxicating.

The recipe here.

Rubbing Noses

2008-12-01T12:08:00.000-06:00

Results in drinking this:

Eating this:And doing this at my desk:

Have a happy Monday!

Photobooth

2008-11-17T16:38:00.000-06:00

The concert in one word was.. AWESOME! It was in a tiny, grungy bar in an iffy area of Chicago. Erin and I stood only a few feet from the stage, and there were plenty of people to watch. The first band was Death Vessel, which, contrary to their name is a laid back hippie guy playing folk music on his guitar, by himself. The crowd got thicker when The Sea and Cake came on. Erin's first comment was "They're old!" They ARE into their 50's, but they've also been around since 1993, and they weren't young then. They were more upbeat than Death Vessel, and there were some people dancing around us. There were some crazies, and one really beautiful boy that we couldn't help but stare at. Then when he started to stare back, we had to move, lest we become stalkerish. Besides, Erin and I are taken ladies!
We noticed a photobooth near the bathroom, and we just had to take two rolls of pictures. Overall, the whole experience was awesome and I would go back in a heartbeat.
We also squeezed in just a little bit of shopping before hand... Alex told me that I no longer get a Christmas present.

Onward to Chi-town!

2008-11-12T11:26:00.000-06:00

I'm excited to be seeing "The Sea and Cake" this Saturday night!
http://thrilljockey.com/catalog/?id=103254
I wish I could figure out how to add songs to my blog, like my friend does. It's so much more efficient than giving a link. Anyway, they're a very chill band who I stumbled across about a year ago and have grown to love their two most recent albums, "Car Alarm" and "Everybody." My friend Erin and I are also going to hit up the art museum (yay!) while we're down there, and hopefully do some shopping. Exciting! I'll have to post a review of the concert when I get back.

Minor Beginnings

2008-10-17T16:49:00.001-05:00

A beginning of poetry, pictures, recipes and sharing in the minor incidents of my life.