Rose Garden Lane

Presenting...

2010-07-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Mister and Missus Matthew Hiles!

The incredibly amazing Bridget McEnaney (who has a magnificent website - do check it out) was our photographer, and the ceremony was held at the Museum of Life and Science's Butterfly Conservatory, right here in Durham. Bridget will also be shooting our reception photos in October, and I promise these aren't the only ceremony pictures there are to see!

We had an amazing time. A wonderful woman named Ingrid did the actual ceremony, which was incredibly beautiful. Matthew and I each wrote poems for one another, and the whole ceremony was just one of the most personal ones I have ever heard.

Mom, John, and my best friend Dee Dee were our attendants, so it was a perfectly small and intimate occasion. I really couldn't have ever had a more perfect wedding!

As a side note - this is Rose Garden Lane's 100th blog post! I find it a pretty amazing coincidence that our 100th post just happens to be the post about our wedding! I kinda figured the big 100 would be a post about burritos or something else not interesting. Lucky us! Anyway, there is a surprise to celebrate that event, and I promise to share it with you as soon as it actually happens!

August Grocery Challenge

2010-07-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

With August just around the corner, I've decided to take it upon myself to issue a little challenge in our household. We are always trying new things to be more frugal with our grocery shopping, but I want to take it one step further. For the entire month of August, my goal is to spend a whopping $100 a month on groceries. No more, no less. That's $25 a week for food items (house necessities don't count - there is no way I could spend just $25 a week for food if I also had to include an $8 package of toilet paper in there).

The first thing I did was sat down and listed all the food items I could think of that we already love to eat which come in a dried or preserved form. That list included things like tinned tomatoes and corn, dried beans and noodles, and frozen veggies (like spinach and those veggie "blends" of carrots, peas, and corn that are just perfect for crock pot meals).

Then, I created dinners based around those. A lot of them were things we already loved to eat, like chili and different baked dinners. I came up with a few new recipes too though, and am super excited about them.

So, without further ado, here is the weeks menu:

Lunches include various deli sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, leftovers, ramen stir fries, and my weekly Tuesday sub from Harris Teeter.

Dinners include a Three Bean Salad with Roast Corn Chowder, Tortellini in Red Sauce, Stuffed Chicken Casserole with Fresh Biscuits, Lamb Chili with Cornbread, Spinach Pie, and Lasagna.

Not a bad menu for just $25 bucks, yeah?

And here's the grocery list (prices for each item, too!)

Canned & Packaged Items
1 Cream of Mushroom Soup @ $0.59 a can
3 Diced Tomatoes @ $0.89 a can
1 Whole Kernel Corn @ $0.50 a can
2 Canned Kidney Beans @ $0.67 a can
1 Pack Black Beans @ $1.89 a bag
1 Pack Spinach & Cheese Tortellini @ $2.49 a bag
1 Box Lasagna Noodles @ $1.89 a box

Frozen Items
1 Box Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts @ $5.19 a box
2 Boxes Chopped Spinach @ $1.00 a box
1 Bag Mixed Vegetables @ $2.15 a bag

Fresh Items
1/2 Pound Snap Green Beans @ $0.50 a quarter pound

Total Grocery Shopping Bill: $24.71

Not bad. Not bad at all :)

A return to the blog

2010-07-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

I tend to flip-flop between blogging things, and posting them on Facebook. I feel like the blog has a more "timeless" aspect (although in our digital age, things are both eternal and only momentary), while Facebook is more instantaneous. The snap shot versus the feature film. Maybe all that good food we just ate is making me delirious.

Life is too good to not blog about it just a bit. I've now been gone from Barnes & Noble, and working for an amazing library for exactly 1 month. It feels amazing to actually say that, and makes me so happy to no longer be a part of corporate America. To now be able to say that both jobs I work for profit the community more than they do themselves is... amazing.

However - tonight's post will be about food. And friends. Which is what this blog is really good at being.

Matthew and I finally bought a grill to use and abuse this summer, because honestly - what says summer more than grilled.... anything? Veggies, burgers, pizza - all of it is made more fabulous over good ol' charcoal. And we have discovered a little secret to grilling the serious NC favourite: pulled pork BBQ.

Since we don't have the time or the resources necessary (yet) to have ourselves a real smoke center for our pork (yet), we have a cool little trick. We picked up a pork shoulder for six bucks (SIX BUCKS) at the grocery store, brought it home, and at 1:00 this afternoon, threw it into a crockpot full of vinegar, molasses, and other amazing goodies. Six hours later, we pulled it out, chopped it in half, then threw it over a smokin' hot grill grate hovering just inches over an ashy pile of charcoal and hickory chips.

Then, we waited.

About an hour later, we pulled it from the grill, all char and fire and that smell that you just know is too good to be true. We yanked it apart with a few forks, then doused it in the same sauce it cooked in (after reducing it first).

Thankfully, we had some good friends around to help us devour it all.

Roasted almonds with paprika, chili oil, and sea salt.

Excellent appetizer.

Snail napkin rings!

Grilled corn on the cob, rosemary garlic mashed potatoes, and hickory smoked pulled pork.

Parker and Alan make excellent dinner guests.

Grilled peaches in sugar syrup with vanilla bean ice cream.

Peppermint tea in one of my mother's hand thrown tea sets.

in like a lion...

2010-03-14T08:44:00.001-07:00

Life is good.

There's a library branch getting ready to open not a stone's throw from the house, and I've applied as a page. I can't even begin to explain how thrilled I am at the idea of being a page, especially since one of my all-time favourite literary characters was a page (granted, she toted a sword among other magical items, but she was still a page).

The garden is being built! I had the weekend off, so Matthew and I put together 2 rasied beds in the backyard. They are a tiny bit ghetto and have that "DIY charm!", but they'll hold my soil and seeds and do just fine. One bed has been dug out and had the grass removed, with a lovely layer of sawdust thrown in on top, and the other has not. Just too much wetness to dig really well. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a drier day, and I will be able to get all of it done.

How about a recipe? I just finished these guys up and oh my are they divine...

Oliver Cromnomnoms*

You will Need

6 graham crackers (the whole things)
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
about a cup of semi-sweet chips
...for the crumbly bottom bits

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla
... for the cupcakes

6 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
...for the marshmallow goodness

1. Preheat your oven to 350°. Line your cupcake sheets with pretty paper or tin liners. This recipe will make 2 dozen cupcakes, so get ready for 2 dozen liners!

2. Make your crumbly bottom bits. Pull out your food processor and throw in the graham crackers, melted butter, and sugar. Pulse on and off until everything is nice and incorporated, and there are no large bits of cracker (and by large I mean bigger than a pinky nail). Spoon about a teaspoon of the mix into the bottoms of your cups, and top with a few chips - just enough to cover the bottom of your cups in one nice, even layer.

I have a set of measuring cups that have nice rounded bottoms, and I used those to press the cracker crumbs into my cups. A spoon can work just as well, but my 1/4 measuring cup worked out awesome!

3. In a large bowl, whisk your dry ingredients together until everything is a pretty brown. In medium bowl, whisk your wets. Make a well in your dry ingredient bowl, and pour in your wet. Mix everything together until it is a pretty, smooth chocolate cupcake batter.

4. Ladel right around 1/4 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tooth pick (or butter knife, whatever you can grab first) comes out clean after poking your cups of cake. Let cool completely - and I mean completely!

5. Once stuff is nice and cool, it's time to make the marshmallow heaven that will top your cupcakes. Throw your egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a large metal bowl. Nest it over a saucepan of rolling water - classic double boiler, you guys know how to do this. Whisk nonstop until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch - right about 3 or 4 minutes.

6. Move to large bowl. If you have a stand mixer, put it in that, or if you have a hand mxier, whip it up for about 5 - 7 minutes, until pretty glossy peaks appear. Pour in your vanilla, and beat that in as well. Scoop your marshmallow goodness into a large pastry bag with a wide mouth (OR if you have some big ol' plastic Ziplocs laying around, use one of those - just snip an opening in a corner to pipe from).

7. Pipe topping onto cupcakes. Do little squirts all over the top that look like tiny mountains whose tops are whimpy and falling over. Stick back in your oven for about 1 minute with the broiler on - WATCH THOSE CUPCAKES! We want a pretty toasty topping, not a Oh-Crud-I-Dropped-My-Marshmallow-In-The-Campfire burnt topping. Think Lemon Merangue... but better.

*Originally called "S'more Cupcakes", a good friend commented on the likeness of one particular cupcake to Oliver Cromwell. When he came up with the name "Oliver Cromnomnoms, I had to rename them. Thanks for the awesome name, Scott!

parkwood in snow

2010-01-30T12:11:00.000-08:00

Durham saw quite a bit of snow last night, and our neighborhood has been transformed into a Winter Wonderland.

Matthew and I took a nice long walk to explore the area. Lots of photos, then came home for hazelnut hot cocoa. A pot of corn and potato chowder bubbles on the stove, and today looks wonderful.

new year, many new lives

2010-01-05T17:39:00.000-08:00

Oh, Rose Garden Lane. How I have missed your digital streetlights, your imaginary paths, your html faced houses...

It has been far, far, far too long since I have updated this blog. The sad thing is, the past few months have been worthy of intensly passionate blogging, and I have neglected it terribly. There are few of you who read this, but those few are so dear to me. I hope that this post can somehow make up for my negligence.

Since my last post on the 4th of July, there have been some incredible things happening for Matthew and I. the biggest, and most profound, is that we purchased our first home together! The process of finding and buying it were a whirlwind of emotions over a painfully long period of time, but it has been so worth it. We are completely moved in, and I am writing this while sitting at our dining room table as pots soak in our large porcelin sink, waiting to be scrubbed.

The second big event for us is we have become a pair of very proud parents! Thank goodness our child is not of the human variety - we adopted a stray kitten in early fall, and named her Inja, the Japanese word for hermit. When we first got her, all she wanted to do was hide in tiny dark places. She is still timid, but cautiously curious, and an all too excelent jumper (who especially loves terrorizing me by climbing our first Christmas tree).

What else is big? We have possibly set on a date for our wedding - October 10, 2010. 10-10-2010. Lots of tens in there, which I see as being most auspicious. A bit of research reveals that 10 is a number of completion, and of things coming full circle. I find this most appropriate.

More news that comes from a sadder note - my faithful companion, the G5, has died after nearly 6 long years of service. It is a bitter sweet loss - bitter, because I am unable to edit and upload all of the fabulous pictures of the house, and sweet, because I have been looking for an excuse to get a new computer ever since I really started getting into my photography stuff.

So, since there are currently no photographs, I will supply you with some very accurate ASCII renditions of various household things we have in our house.

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Our first home!

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Hedghogs in love! It's us. Really.

I promise that more pictures will come soon, especially of the house. We have done a TON of work on it, repairing, remodeling, building, everything. Until then...

DIY weekend strikes back!

2009-07-28T12:46:00.001-07:00

At work we sell these lap desks. The top writing surface is a cheap plastic, and the pillowy bottom is a soft fleece, stuffed with little foam beans. They cost around 20 bucks, and are not all that cute. Higher end lap desks we sell (hardwood, leather, etc) run for $50 or more, not the amount I want to shell out for a lap desk.

So we decided to make our own. And dang, are they cool - and CHEAP. Total cost, per lap desk: $10. TEN. DIEZ. CHEAP. This is not including things we already had, the wood stain, the sealant, the sponges, or the fabric. However, those are things that most DIY'ers already have around the house, so no worries on that one.

To make your own lap desk, you will need:
-1 fugly pillow, preferably from a yard sale or second hand shop
-1 piece of stain-ready wood. these come shrink wrapped at lowes or home depot, all sorts of sizes. I went with a circular shape because I had never seen a round lap desk!
-about 1/4 yard of fabric
-4 big plastic buttons, no need to match fabric
-4 cotton balls
-4 sew on snaps, size 10
-very small nails, or wood tacks
-220 grit sand paper and 600 grit sand paper

-hammer
-wood stain
-wood sealant
-sponges or paper towels
-needle and thread
-sewing machine

1) Start by destroying your fugly, fugly pillows. If they are fugly enough, they deserve it, so don't feel bad. Remember - they are about to be ridiculously cute! The pillow I used had no zipper or snaps, so I just cut off the outer fabric, being careful to not cut through the pillow itself. Alas, my pillow consisted of lots of balls of fluff sandwiched between 2 fabric softener-like sheets, not sewn together. Be careful handling these so you don't lose all your fluff! Fortunately, Matthew's pillow had a zipper, and his pillow was a nice contained one, so no fluff to worry about losing.

2) Lay your pillow onto your fabric. Trace around the sides, and cut a piece about 1 inch larger than the pillow. If you are using 1 type of fabric for your pillow instead of 2, simply cut a rectangle of fabric twice as big as your pillow, instead of a square that is the same size.

3) Stich together 3 sides of your fabric squares, right sides together. You may or may not choose to cut around the edges with pinking sheers. We went ahead and did. Turn your new, adorable pillowcase rightside out, and stuff your pillow inside.

4) Put your pillow in your lap, open end up. Fold the sides in on itself, so you make a nice fold on either side of the pillow case. Pin these sides together, and stitch closed.

5) Your pillow is almost done! Now to make the upholstry buttons. Cut circles of fabric 3 times the size of your buttons. So, if your buttons are 1", then cut 3" circles. Definately pink these edges, as they will not be sewn shut, and will remain raw. Using a needle and thread, stich around the circles edge. Leaving your needle hangin, place a cotton ball in the circle. Top it off with a button. Holding the button firmly in place, tug the needle and thread, so the circle bunches closed around the puff and button. Pull tightly, so everything is secure, and make a few stiches where your needle left off, so it stays closed. Voila! You now have an upholstry button. Repeat 3 more times. It's helpful to put the TV on for reruns of your favourite show while you do this.

6) Once all your buttons are done, you'll want to sew them onto your pillow. Mark 4 dots on the back and front of your pillow, so you'll wind up with a nice even square. Using a long length of thread doubled over and tied at the end, punch through the front to the back. Pull thread all the way through, then punch through again, from back to front. Tug the thread tight, so the pillow puckers gently. stick the needle through the loop at the end of the thread. Stich your button to the pillow, then puncture your needle again from the front of the pillow to the back. Pull it tightly, then sew a few stitches at the back to secure the button there. Repeat 3 more times. Still have those reruns on?

7) Sew the "female" half of your snaps onto the back of your pillow. It's a good idea to lay your pillow on top of your wood at this point, so you can have a good idea where to place your snaps. My snaps are about 1 inch inside the ties for my buttons. Alternateivly, you can only do 1 or 2 snaps. Matthew has 1 snap, right in the center of his pillow. He is lazy.

8) Start working on your wood. We didn't spend a lot of time sanding, as we topped ours off with a sealent. You will sand 3 different times. The first round of sanding is done using 220. Follow this up with your first layer of stain, being sure to follow the directions on your particular stain carefully. Allow to dry, following your stains instructions. Once dry (8 hours for us), put a coat of polyurathane sealent on it, again, following your specific sealent's directions. Allow to dry (4 hours for us). Complete your second sanding, using 220 grain sand paper again. Apply a second coat. Allow to dry again (24 hours this time). Sand for the final time with 600 grain sand paper. Clean your wood using a nice wood polish, so it's all shiny and stuff.

9) This part is great. Snap the male side of your snaps into the female side of your snaps. Put a dollop of fingernail polish onto the back of the male side snaps, then carefuly lay the backside of your wood against the pillow. Do this on the floor so you can lay on top of it, making sure to get the fingernail polish dot onto the wood. Remove wood carefully from pillow, and allow polish to dry.

10) Line the male side of your snaps up with the fingernail polish dots on your eood. Using the small nails / tacks, attach them to the wood. Be careful not to smash any thumbs!

11) Snap your pillow onto your lap desk. Throw on your laptop, your journal, your new Jim Butcher novel, and enjoy every second of it!

Independence

2009-07-04T22:16:00.001-07:00

That word forever reminds me of the scene in Everything Is Illuminated, of Jonathan (Jonfen!) and Alexander (but please, everyone dubs him Alex) driving through a war torn Ukraine.

"What happened?"
"Independence."

Of course, here in America, we like to celebrate with fire - that which we cook with, and that which we blow things up with.

This Independence Day marked the first holiday in which Matthew and I have cooked for the extended family. It had it's bumps. Timing, communication, head counts. It was not the greatest cooking experience, but it most certainly was not the worst - and I guarantee you, my parents can attest to the worst (30 ingredient stir fry, anyone?)

It was, however, fun. I got to grill! How bad can that be!? Everyone seemed mostly pleased with the food. I know I enjoyed it. Then again, I had spent the better part of two days being sure it went mostly to plan. And it's not like I caught anyone on fire, even though I threatened multiple times to throw my future cousin in laws very tiny dog onto the grill (hehe. Hot dog. Hehe.)

What can I say though? It was a great night. And even if the fireworks had nothing on Richmond (hey grandma and grandpa! Hey dad and John!) they were still fun. Even if they completely terrorized the pooches.

And so, without further adieu, tonight's photographic portrait of freedom, fire, and fun.

faux au vin

2009-07-02T13:04:00.001-07:00

Ahaha, get it? Faux? Cause it rhymes with coq?

Aaaaahhhh, I kill myself.

I have a feeling that this "faux au vin" will become the staple for chicken noodle soup in our house. Everything just smells fabulous. It's like a pot roast, but with chicken. I am so in love with all these smells right now, it's just ridiculous.

Also, it should be noted that we are skipping a night! Last night was our Mediteranean pot, and man it was GOOD. However, there were no pictures! Bummer! My camera batter was dead, and I was reminded, yet again, of why I need a backup battery for th D50. I am sure that we will make it again though, so be sure to look out for that post!

But, onto tonights dinner. Four of the one pots this week take place in Europe, and during our lolligagying, we thought it would be nice to stop in France. Considering the only French food I have ever had in my life (that I am aware of) is coq au vin, and hey - it's made using one pot! What a coincidence!

As a plus, these are some of my favourite pictures from the week thus far. The white wine and chicken stock just make everything so golden and lovely, it really feels very homey looking at these shots.

Browning your chicken.

Sauteing the arromatics.

White wine for deglazing.

Chicken in the pot.

Add chicken stock.

More vin!

Straight out of the oven.

Dished up with noodles.

Oh, man.

Faux au Vin
3 good sized chicken breasts
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into coins
3-4 stalks celery, chopped
1 bottle white wine
2-3 cups chicken stock
4-5 slices bacon
egg noodles
butter
salt and pepper

1) Start by cooking your bacon. I chop mine before cooking it so I don't ahve to mess with it afterwards. Move bacon to papertowel to drain, reserving 3 tablespoons bacon grease in your pot.

2) Clean your chicken breasts, cutting each one in half and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Heat drippings in pot, and put in your chicken, being sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until both sides are golden brown. Move to plate with bacon.

3) Melt butter in pot. Add chopped arromatics and saute until slightly transluscent. Pour about 3 cups of wine into the pot to deglaze the bottom. Arrange chicken on top of arromatics, and pour in chicken stock. Top it off with more wine, pouring until chicken is just covered. Put bacon top.

4) Place in oven at 300 degrees until chicken is falling apart. After about 3 hours in the oven, put a pot of water on to boil, and cook your egg noodles. When everything is done, fill a bowl halfway with egg noodles, and top it off with a ladle of delicious soup. Serve with crusty bread, and enjoy.

**While this isn't technically a one pot, it can be. You just have to cook your noodles way in advance, then throw them in at the end.

peppery peppers and pips

2009-06-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here lies chapter two in our one pot wonders week! Tonight we visit the Southwest, so that means, hot, hot, and hotter. I made this dish with chicken, but ended up picking the chicken out of my own, because I liked it better with just the vegetables. Go figure.

One of the things I wanted to try and do with this week's menu was have a little traveling fun. When I was making the menu, I got almost to the end when I realized I hadn't chosen anything "American". Honestly, coming up with this meal took a lot longer than all the others, if only because I couldn't wrap my head around a specific regional food. I've never loved southern food, but what I did love, I couldn't imagine putting a pot together: corn bread, pulled pork, greens, black eyed peas... you can imagine how that would be. Maybe one day I'll figure that one out. Anyway, I finally remembered one of my favourite things to make anyway. A pot of rice, with a bunch of cooked vegetables thrown in. Why not spice it up, and call it southwestern? Sounded good to me.

Cut up chicken bits.

Seasoning the chicken.

Cooking the chicken.

Onions and jalapenos.

Diced yellow pepper.

Red ripe romas.

Sauted onions and jalapenos.

Add the peppers.

Can you tell I love garlic?

Add in some beans.

Chicken back in.

Rice uptop. Toss it well, folks!

Used up lemon wedge.

Big ol' pot of the southwest.

Plate.

At last, at the dinner table.

Required:
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 large onion, diced
chicken cut to bite sizes
4 roma tomatoes, cut up
2-4 garlic cloves, diced
1 bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch bits
1 can black beans, rinsed
2 cups cooked rice
1 lemon wedge

chili powder
crushed red pepper
paprika
salt and pepper
olive oil

1) Layer your chicken out into a single layer, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Meanwhile, heat your pot and drizzle in some olive oil. Once hot, throw in your chicken, and cook through. Remove from pot, and set aside.

2) Heat your pan back up, and add more oil. Throw in your onions and jalapenos, let cook till the onions become slightly translucent. Add in the bell pepper, cook till slightly soft. Add in tomatoes and garlic, and lower the heat a bit. Dump in your beans, and add the chicken back to the pot. Dump in your rice, and sprinkle with crushed red pepper, paprika, and any extra spicy goodness you want to add. Squeeze a wedge of lemon over the top.

3) Plate, and enjoy!

begin the week of one pot wonders

2009-06-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

For starters, a shout-out to Paul, Matthew's entrepreneurial farmer friend in backwater North Carolina. He has bees! And watermelon! I am so jealous. Find his honey here, and go buy some!

This past week has been ridiculous. We are house shopping! We believe we have found "the one", and are meeting with a financial adviser on Wednesday. The whole ordeal is just insane. However, we have a really great real estate agent, whom I absolutely adore. We will hopefully have someone from the bank in the house this week or next to appraise it and everything. In the meantime, we're ridiculously giddy.

This week, however, should be a little more relaxed. Well, at least in the kitchen that is. I decided to plan a week of dinners that require exactly one pot each. Minimizing clean up sounds good to both of us, while also preparing some seriously good comfort food yummies.

Our week of One Pot Wonders will include:
Monday: Italian Pot - short cut pasta with onions, bacon, spinich in a white sauce, baked
Tuesday: Southwest Pot - rice with cubed chicken, beans, jalapenos, onions, tomatoes, bell pepper, and chili seasoning, baked
Wednesday: Mediterranean Pot - linguine tossed with olive oil, lemon, parsley, zucchini, olives, and roasted red peppers
Thursday: French Pot - chicken thighs, carrots, onions, celery, white wine, cook slow and low (basically a really simple coq au vin)
Friday: German Pot - egg noodles with beef tips, onions, and gravy
Saturday: Asian Pot - rice, cabbage, broccoli, orange juice and zest, bean sprouts, stir fried
Sunday: Free night

I. Am. So. Excited.

PS - Laura is coming over for dinner! Yes, that Laura, the Laura who said one of my favourite quotes which you can find on the bottom of this page. Go ahead, scroll down. I'll wait for you.

Yeah! THAT Laura!

Laura offered extreme moral support in the kitchen. That's why everything turned out so awesome.

Draining your pasta.

Chopped onion.

Chopped bacon.

Toss goodness in pot to brown.

Move goodies to paper towel to drain.

Oh, man. Delicious brown bottomed pan.

Building the white sauce.

Add spinach to wilt.

Add some herbs, too.

Toss a bit.

Throw in bacon and onion.

Dump in pasta.

Toss well, sprinkle with parm.

Baked bit of lovely.

Dig in!

Italian Pot, here's what we'll need:
your favourite short cut pasta
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 pieces of bacon
a big ol' bag of spinich
a few springs of basil, oregano, parsley. or dried.
olive oil

cream cheese
white wine
butter
milk
salt & pepper

1) Start by boiling your pasta. Go ahead and chop up your onion. Cut your strips of bacon into 1 inch pieces, move to a small bowl with the onion. While your pasta is boiling, rinse your spinich and set it aside.

2) Spoon about 1/4 a cup of pasta water and set it aside. Drain pasta and move to collander in the sink. Drizzle with a teeny bit of olive oil, it'll be sitting there a while.

3) Drizzle some olive oil in your pot while you have it out, and allow it to heat up. Throw your bacon in, and allow it to let off a little grease. Toss in your onions, and cook entil everything is golden and pretty. Skim off as much off the fat as you can when everything is cooked.

4) Scoop out onions and bacon, move to their origional bowl (which you washed, of course, because it had raw meat in it, right?). Put about 2 tabelspoons of butter into your pot, and allow it to melt. Add in a scoop of cream cheese, a bit of milk, and just a splash of wine. Pour in your pasta water. Whisk continuously to break up the cream cheese and allow it to relaaaax. Throw in salt and pepper to taste. I usually end up adding a little heap of flour at this point, just to make things nice and thick, but it is not neccesary.

5) Once your sauce has completed, throw in your spinich and herbs. After it wilts, add the pasta, bacon, and onions. Toss so everything is nice and coated. Sprinkle with a handful of parmesean, and throw in the oven until everything is nice and gooey. Turn on your broiler at the end for a few minutes so everything is brown and delicious.

6) Scoop it up, share with friends, and enjoy your incredible lack of cookware to clean at the end of the night!

roasting something wonderful

2009-06-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

About an hour and a half ago, I was doing the same dance 2 year olds do when they have to potty.

That, I-am-so-anxious-that-I-cannot-possibly-be-expected-to-stand-still dance.

Why? Because tonight I harvested and roasted the first zucchini I have ever grown. Ever. From seed.

It's last moments on the vine.

And, let me tell you, it was delicious.

But I'm probably biased.

Less talk, more food porn.

Since I wanted to zucchini to be the star of dinner, I had to choose something to do with it that would not only enhance it's glory, but be filling and complimentary as well. I thought about sauteing it over pasta, or throwing it on the grill. But then I saw those new potatoes in the produce aisle, and I knew I wanted to roast this sucker.

Let's meet the players, yeah?

Vine ripe tomatoes, just because I love how they blister in an oven.

One medium sized red onion.

About a pound of new potatoes, red or yellow.

One gorgeously succulent zucchini, fresh from your garden.

Slice your zucchini...

...and layer everything onto your parchment covered sheet.

Mmmm... I think I have a new desktop image.

Drizzle everything with olive oil, sprinkle on the salt and pepper.

Isn't this little scoop adorable!?

Straight out of the oven.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Into my bowl.

Once out of the oven and plated, everything got a little dash of soul food seasoning. I buy this at my grocery; basically: salt, paprika, crushed red pepper. It just gave the party a little kick.

This was a pretty typical roast for us. The only difference was that instead of using one of my 9" x 13" Pyrex dish, I threw everything on a piece of parchment that was on a lipped baking sheet. Lemme tell you. BIG difference. In the Pyrex dish, all of the juices are let out, and since everything's piled on everything else, they just sat there so everyone got soggy and the party was over pretty quick. On the baking sheet however, everything is in one nice layer, so they release the juice, and that's it. It also helps that I didn't use a ton of veggies. Plus it's prettier, in my most humble opinion.

Zucchini was cut into about 1/4" to 1/2" slices, potatoes were cut into fourths (or halves, for the teenier ones), and I sliced the red onion into rings. I cut the tomatoes into eights (halved, then halved, then halved again), and everything got a nice long drizzle of olive oil, plus a generous sprinkle of kosher salt and black pepper.

Other ideas: serve roasted veggies over a delicious whole wheat pasta, or brown basmatti rice. Also, throw some garlic cloves in there, paper on, like I forgot to do. $10 says it makes the dish that much better.

God bless the zucchini.

how about a picnic?

2009-05-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

Did you know that today is Mary Cassatt's birthday? I'd like to say we celebrated it with a picnic, but the picnic was really done without her in mind. Still, I think she would have enjoyed it.

Man, is it ever glorious outside.

Matthew had a half day today, so we thought it nice to do something spectacular. Since it's so beautiful out, and since we know some lovely places, we decided that the best idea was a picnic. This was our first picnic together! It's a little silly, and a little fun, and way dorky when we do something together and realize it's our first time at doing said thing (like 3 weeks ago when we danced together for the first time). I have a feeling that both activities will be ever present in our lives frm here on out.

It was also a great opportunity to wear the pink Jane Austin dress.

The picnic meal consisted of:
Limeade
Curried Chicken Salad on Pita
Sliced Cheddar with Triscuits
Red Skinned Potato Salad
Strawberries in Fresh Whipped Cream

Oh, it was divine.

It was also a great setting for some really fabulous photos. The lighting was so perfect, and everything around us just so vibrant and colourful. It was a fabulous few hours spent together.

Matthew all corn-ball with the picnic basket.

Sandwiches!

Delicious potato salad.

Matthew's set up.

Fabulously chilled limeade.

A full plate.... mmm.

Digging in.

Matthew enjoys some of those delicious strawberries.

Moi!

Ohmygoodness all those berries.

Matthew's fresh whipped cream.

Clean plate!

As you can see, it was just fantastic. Plates, cups, and basket courtesy of Michael's. No veggies from my own garden, but soon! So soon!

Mm. A afterthought. How about some recipes?

I will now confess that I did not make the potato salad - I bought it! If I had had more time, it would have been home made. Oh well. Next picnic, I promise! Here's one for the sandwiches, at least.

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Foodness:
2 chicken breasts, cooked
1 half an onion, finely chopped
4 tablespoons mayonaise
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tabelspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon yellow curry powder (more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

mixed lettuces
sliced roma tomatoes
sprouts
pita pockets

Mix all ingredients for chicken salad in bowl. Cut pitas in half. Stuff with lettuces and sprouts. Top with heaping piles of chicken salad. Throw some tomato slices. Enjoy outside!

Today was lovely. How was yours?

oh hannah, oh

2009-05-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

This years garden is sooooooooo much cooler than last years.

For starters, I'm growing some cool stuff. Like squash. Awesome!? And peas. Awesomer!

Everything is coming along really well, and everything looks so delicious that I just have to post pictures.

I mean, come on, what else is new.

I spent the weekend in Washington with my mom, hanging drapes, and giving a computer graveyard a face lift. I still seem to have a lot of allergens in my system, as I've been sniffly all day.

Also in Washington, and this is a must for anyone who ever goes there, was the herb farm of a very very dear friend of mine, who also happens to be a wicked cool lady (because how many of my friends aren't cool?) She has a great place near Goose Creek State Park that is just loaded with the greatest herbs you could ever imagine. In need of some delicious herbies, I picked up quite a bucketful. I am happy to say that they are looking rather nice so far, in their new home. They commuted quite well, which was the really important thing. Let's see if I can manage to not kill them!

A tally of new garden friends:
6 basils
1 rosemary
1 terragon
2 lamb's ears
3 johnny jump ups (which apparently have a LOT of other names)
1 chive
3 parsleys
1 very bushy oregano

I also got to shove my face in the most decadent plant I have ever met. Lord knows I would go and forget the name of it when I sit down to write. I can tell you that it had positively the softest little leaves I have ever felt in my entire life. They are so tiny! It's almost bonsai like, really. The leaves are little bitty circles covered in a soft white fuzz, and they smell, oh so lightly, of a silky lemon, almost vanilla kind of smell. They smell like fresh baked lemon cookies, really. And so so soft. I literally put my face right against the plant and just inhaled, rubbing my cheeks there. I have never felt anything so wonderful.

How about some garden eye candy?

How beautiful my squash are! I can't believe how big the leaves are. The blossoms smell absolutely divine, too.

Peas! I am most excited about these.

My upside down tomatoes. I am so in love with these guys, even if they don't bear fruit.

Even the tomato plants are beginning to show blossoms.

All of my wonderful new herbies.

Ah! Lettuce! I cannot wait for my first salad.

---

A million thanks to Dorita at Raindrop Ridge Farms for all my fabulous herbs that I am enjoying!

a saturday DIY

2009-04-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, I want a project. Usually I just log onto a crafting or sewing forum, and scan around, looking for something to do. Not this time. This time, I knew exactly what I wanted to make: my very own Day Planner. Those (usually) leather binders with calendars, card holders, pockets, purses, and a fancy snap or zipper closure that lets you carry everything around at once. I have never bought one, because I never like the calendars in them – and I'm a calendar person with only one brand of calendar for her. I figured, no problem, I'll find a tutorial easy – wrong! I couldn't find a single tutorial!

So here is, I think, a half decent tutorial if you ever want to make your own Day Planner.

1) There are 2 different parts for making this. There is what I call the “slip”, the actual fabric cover that has all the pockets sewn on it. Then there's the binder, the part that gives the Planner it's stability. I figured an old school binder would work quite well for this. The fabric was a print I picked up at a used crafts item place.

2) After taking the measurements of the calendar I would be using, I marked the binder accordingly. I had to figure out a way to get rid of the metal spine before I could start cutting, so I dug around on the internet and found all I needed on how to remove the rivets: “Drill through 'em”. The boyfriend pried them off after I drilled them out, and that worked quite well. I also made a really simple doodle of the pockets I wanted, and how big everything would have to be so I could cut my pattern pieces accordingly.

3) Next came cutting pattern pieces. I use brown paper bags from the grocery store for making patterns, just in case I ever want to make it again. They work great for this! There were a total of 4 pattern pieces that would be used to cut a total of 9 pieces to be sewn together. The pieces were as follows, including their measurements for cutting (note: measurements include 1” allowance)

I – inside (16” x 10.5”)
O – outside (16” x 10.5”)
C – calendar pocket (7.5” x 10”)
M – main pocket (7.5” x 9.5”)
1 – card pocket (5” x 76”)
2 – pocket 2 (5.5” x 9.5”)
3 – pocket 3 (6.5” x 9.5”)
C1 – closure piece 1 (4.5” x 2.5”)
C2 – closure piece 2 (4.5” x 2.5”)

'I' and 'O' were the same pattern piece; as were 'C' and 'M'; '2' and '3'; and 'C1' and 'C2'. Instead of cutting 2 pieces of pattern that only differed by half an inch, I just used one piece. I hope that makes sense.
4) Then came laying out the pieces, cutting everything out, ironing them flat, and laying them around to look at them. I chalked the initial of their piece on them so I could at least have a chance at not mixing them up. The piece for the card holders would be quit long, so instead of cutting a pattern piece, I drew it on the fabric with chalk, and cut it out that way.

5) For sewing, I started by “hemming” all the pockets. I don't suppose I was really hemming it, I was just folding the edges over and doing a top stitch so I didn't have to deal with a raw edge flying around all over the place. I “hemmed” pieces '1', '2', '3', and 'C'.

6) Sewing the card pockets was the hardest part. I made my mathematician boyfriend figure out how long I would need it to be. Once I had that, I just started folding. I used a standard sized bank card and just folded the fabric like an accordion, pinning it at every card slot.

Getting that done was pretty wicked, and it messed up! I originally wanted to end up with 12 card slots, but after sewing the right side of it, the entire thing was bent like an arch. I sewed the left side down hoping it would straighten it out. It did, a bit, but not enough to matter. I ended up chopping off the arched part so I would up with only 8 card slots.

7) Next came sewing all the pockets together, and then sewing them onto the inside piece, 'I'. The card pocket was sewn on top of pocket 2, which was sewn on top of pocket 3. I pined them all together, then pinned them to the inside piece. I was so sure I would break a needle sewing through that much fabric, but I didn't!

8) I then faced the inside piece with the outside piece (right sides together), and sewed around 3 sides, leaving the right hand side open. I was so amazed when it fit. I can measure something a million times and still be amazed when it fits. Go ahead and tuck your calendar in there and admire your handiwork.

9) After trying the slip on the binder, I decided that I didn't like how hard it felt. I ran to the fabric store and picked up a quarter of a yard of quilt batting. After getting home, I realized it wouldn't be enough to wrap around the whole binder. I ended up quilting just the outside of it, making sure that the edges we covered to. I taped them down so they wouldn't fidget when I pulled the slip on over the binder, and it worked out really well.

10) After making sure the slip fit over the binder, I sewed on my closure pieces, then my snaps.

11) I then realized that I could sew the open side shut with my machine! I didn't have to do it by hand! I know that sounds so lazy, but oh well.

12) Voila! You are all done! Wasn't that great and easy!? I love how mine turned out.

oh my, it's lovely out

2009-04-05T13:15:00.001-07:00

That must mean:

gardening
sewing
the zoo

All three of which you will find in today's post!

My sprouts have sprouted and are looking marvelous. Yesterday was incredibly sunny and warm, so I picked up some soil and a few extra pots, and went to planting! My lettuces, scallions, and carrots went into one pot, while squash went into another, and peas into the top of an upside down tomato basket. My porch looks absolutely amazing! I have a garden! Eeeee! I dare my apartment managers to tell me to take down something so lovely because it's not "uniform". Scoff.

So after gardening, comes the zoo. But before a girl goes to the zoo, she needs something to wear, right? I had this amazing vintage fabric floating around that I got at the Scrap Exchange weeks ago. It's been sitting in my sewing room, all 6 and a half yards of it, just waiting to tell me what it wanted to be. And then it found out I was going to the zoo on a warm and sunny day, and it decided that it wanted to be my summer sun zoo dress. And so it was.

Man I love this dress.

So I've got something to wear, so let's go! Asheboro is home to North Carolina's zoo, and it is quickly becoming the largest zoo in the country. I know, astonishing. Apparently, most zoos America are located in the hearts of citys - can't expand if your in the cocnrete jungle. The Asheboro Zoo, on the other hand, is in the middle of nowhere, within spitting distance of about 5 cornfeilds and at least a dozen silos. I love it. We met Cathy Laura (Matthew's cousin) and her son Sabastian there. Cindy and Crystal showed up later, those are Cathy Laura's sisters, Matthew's other cousins. He has way too much family for me to keep track off. But apparently, I am now Aunt Hannah to Sebastian, which is fun.

De animals! I trust all of you have been to the school before and I don't have to name things. Except the birds - I have no idea what any of them are (save for the duck).

And that was our weekend. Matthew is at arnis, and we'll be going to Laura's for dinner tonight (hopefully to make that mouthwatering noodle concotion from Noble Pig - oh my goodness, so fantastic).

gardening goodness

2009-03-22T15:20:00.001-07:00

MATTHEW CHOPPED ALL HIS HAIR OFF!!

You're thinking you're about to get some garden pictures, and then a nearly bald Matthew pops up on your screen.

THERE HE IS AGAIN!

Ok, ok, now on to the gardening.

My upside down tomato plant has been planted! It has a bit of thyme to keep it company. A second basket of strawberries also adores my humble patio garden.

AND! And and and! There are things SPROUTING from my seed tray!

Behold, salad.

Plants are just so exciting. I can't wait to start eating them.

who wants doughnuts?

2009-03-21T07:53:00.001-07:00

You do, that's who.

These things are so easy. And somewhere, it seems like they're better for you than regular doughnuts, because they aren't deep fried. But who are we kidding? These bad boys are dipped in butter, AND sugar. They're monsters. But it's cool - you can lie to yourself. I don't judge.

Mom sent this to me via 101 Cookbooks, which has some other good ones. Check it out.

Anywhooser. Doughnuts. Matthew is a doughnut freak. I've never been doughnuts no. 1 fan (I've always rooted for doughnut holes myself), but these just looked like way too much fun to pass up. Plus, I work with the type of people who just happen to love baked goods. When in doubt, share the floury sweet love.

I also was
For the dough:
1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour (alternately, white whole wheat might work - haven't tried it yet)
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

For the coating:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1) Start by adding 1/3 c. of the warm milk to your mixer/food processor. Pour in your yeast, and allow to sit for a few minutes. Add your eggs, nutmeg, flour, sugar, butter, salt and the remaining milk. Mix only until the flour is completely incorporated. If too sticky, add more flour; too dry, add milk. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead a few passes. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.

2) Move to counter top and roll out to about 1/2" thick. Using a juice or wine glass (or cookie cutter if you happen to actually own those things), cut circles anywhere between 2" and 4" in diameter. Transfer to your cookie sheet BEFORE punching the center holes, so they keep their nice doughnuty shape. For the center hole, use a small cookie cutter (1" in diameter or so). If you do not possess one, use a water bottle - they work perfectly. Cover and let rise again, about 45 minutes. Oh, and save the holes! Like I said before, I am a doughnut hole NUT! I saved the punch outs to make my own little batch of them, and they were awesome.

3) Bake them! 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. I did 2 batches, the one on the top rack taking exactly 8 minutes, while the one beneath it took about 3 minutes longer. You want them to get a nice light brown to them - remember, these are doughnuts, not fresh baked baguettes.

4) This is the fun part. Call in the kiddies if you have them, because they'll want to do this part themselves. I set up a dipping stating. One bowl of melted butter, a bowl for the sugar mix, and a brown paper bag that I cut open to catch them. Dip them in butter (both sides!), then sugar them and move them to a plate / bake sheet / paper bag / whatever you want.

I bagged them up in wax paper sandwhich bags and took them to Barnes & Noble for ultimate enjoyment. You need to make these. They are thebest doughnuts I have ever had in my life (from someone who really never eats these things, that's obviously saying a lot, haha).

springtime! for hannah! in durhaaaaaaaam!

2009-03-19T11:42:00.001-07:00

I hope at least someone gets that tile, wink wink, nudge nudge, mom and dad.

It is March, and that means time to think about the garden! Instead of purchasing plants this year, I decided to buy seeds. They are mondo cheap, and if I have succeeded in seeding them correctly, they will save me a bundle.

So what is Hannah planting this year?

Carrots, Mint, Onions (the green sort), Parsley (the Italian sort), Peas (the sweet sort), Zucchini, and Salad (of the French geography).

I am so excited. I went to the neighborhood hardware store and found a fellow garden aficionado, and grilled her for about half an hour. While she had never done container gardening, she had some great ideas about how I could make my container garden fabulous. I ended up with a bag of seed starter soil (say that six times fast), a large plastic tray for starting plants, and 7 different bags of seeds (see above mentioned list).

My hands are still a bit dirty after playing with all that great soil. Here's some pictures to let you get an idea of what I was doing this afternoon.

Filling the trays with soil.

Holes poked in for seeds.

Carrot seeds ready to be covered - can you see them?

Parsley seeds.

Onion seeds.

Mint seeds.

Pea seeds.

Zucchini seeds.

Mixed salad seeds.

All the seed envelopes (minus salad greens).

Once everyone was planted, a nice, light watering was called for.

I can't for them to start sprouting! Oh, and speaking of sprouts, that's another veggie I'll be toying with this summer. Apparently, sprouts are ridiculously simple to... sprout! Once I find some good sprout seeds, I'll be trying them out, and seeing what happens.

I think I'll also start working on a worm bin for compost via worms (or as the experts say, vermicompost). It looks so cool! I found a great tutorial on building your own worm bins, plus a guy on YouTube (aptly named TheCompostGuy) who has some awesome videos on starting your own worm farm.

Oh summer, I have missed you!

Gyros Galore

2009-03-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight's Presentation of

The Dinner Conversation

preformed by
Matthew Hiles
&
Hannah Miller

in One Act

Hannah: Sooo.... what's for dinner?
Matthew: Oh... I dunno....
(15 minutes later)
Hannah: Sooo.... dinner?
Matthew: Eeehhh......
(an hour later)
Hannah: Sooo.... pasta salad it is?
Matthew: YES.

{fin}

We both decide that something else needs to be eaten with the pasta, and what would be better than..... gyros. Yes, because when you think of pasta salad, I know the first thing you think of are gyros.

However, since the local Food Lion doesn't sell that convenient lamb/beef loaf thing, we went with just beef. So not a REAL gyro, but pretty darned close.

Step one: Cook stuff.

Step two: Pile stuff up.

Step three: Eat it like it's the greatest sandwich on earth (which, everyone knows it is already).

Our gyros were composed of:
1 flatbread
a handful of shredded lettuces
a few tomatoes
some sliced cucumber
and green tzatziki

Why is our tzatziki green? Because someone just got a new food processor and is insisting that everything be made using it, even though tzatziki is best made by hand. But come on - it's a new toy! Who doesn't love a new toy!?

Oh yeah - wasn't there pasta salad involved somewhere?

soup and more soup

2009-02-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

If you love garlic, then you have to make this soup. And I mean you have to looooooooooove garlic. Example: my first solid food was garlic, therefor, I love garlic.

Plus it's really easy so there isn't any excuse for not making it.

Required:
7 or so medium to large sized bulbs of garlic
4 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons butter
olive oil
a splash of wine
salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover the bottom of a glass baking dish with olive oil, and set aside. Cut all of your bulbs in half, width wise. Put cut-side down, stacking if necessary. Drizzle with a little more oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Move to oven for about 30 minutes. You want to cook the garlic until it is nice and golden brown, so keep your eyes on the oven.

2) Remove garlic from oven once done. You want these to cool fairly well, so set them aside until you can handle them. Skin your onion and cut into thin slices. In a sauce pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add onions and cook until translucent. Pour in chicken broth, and a hint of wine.

3) Once garlic is easily handled, it's time to start squishing. You will want 2 bowls, one for catching and one for garbage. Squish the cloves over the catching bowl, saving the cloves here. Move skins to garbage bowl, and continue until you have peeled all the garlic.

4) Move garlic to soup pot. Pour in your heavy whipping cream. Sprinkle Parmesan over soup. Using a stick or counter-top blender, blend soup until smooth.

5) Serve garnished with Parmesan, with crusty bread for dipping.

Voila. So simple, and so very very delicious. A bit of hind site: you may want to turn on ceiling fans and open windows when you do this. I started cooking at around 2:00pm, and 3 hours later, my eyes are still burning. And I have a headache. Oy vey.

christening the stone

2009-02-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

A fabulous white pizza:

ricotta
feta
mozzarella
black olives

Drizzle your dough with olive oil, then throw all that stuff on top. Bake at 350 (ish) until everything is golden and melted and gooey and amazing. Eat till your hearts content.

Mmmm.....

chilaquiles!

2009-02-19T18:13:00.000-08:00

Tomatillos. Onions. Peppers. Garlic. Glorious, glorious, comfort food.

You will require:
3-4 corn tortillas
8 or so slightly soft tomatillos
1 jalapeno
1 medium onion
3 chicken breasts
2 limes
1 can rotel
2 cups crumbled queso fresca

1) Clean up your chicken breats; sprinkle with salt and pepper' squeeze one lime over them.

2) Shuck your tomatillos, skin your onion and cut in half lengthwise, same with your japlapeno. I left the pips in (ribbing and seeds) for some extra heat.

3) Throw everything on the grill. Char the chicken lightly, cook the tomatillos until they are very soft and the skin is... shifty. Lightly grill tortillas last. You only want a bit of heat on them or they will burn. Horribly. Remove from heat, bring back inside.

4) Cut tomatillos in half, throw into large skillet with olive oil. Cut onion into bite size pieces, add to pan. Chop chicken, throw in as well. Cut japaleno, add in. Squeeze over last lime. Mash up some garlic if you like, add in as well. Toss in your can of rotel. Let simmer until everything is nice and juicy.

5) Cut tortillas into triangles, and layer onto the bottom of a baking dish (a rather deep one at that). Scoop your tomatillos mixture onto that, and sprinkle with queso fresca. Repeate until dish is almost filled.

6) Pop into 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until everything is melty bubbly brown delicious. Scoop into bowl, and eat.

Fabulous.

The Market Diet

2009-02-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

We are trying something new this week: instead of planning a week's meals, writing out a menu, and driving to the Food Lion on Sunday night and purchasing the weeks groceries, we are trying something a little... greener? Dare I?

Every night we'll decide what we want to eat. We'll take our shopping tote, walk down to the grocer, pick up whatever it is we need, walk back home, and prepare that meal. Part of this is experimental. Ok, no, all of this is experimental. And I love it.

Tonight was our first night doing it, and even though we were walking down the highway in the dark (eep!), the air was fresh and brisk, and it felt so cool walking around with a tote full of vegetables.

Dinner tonight? Another fun little experiment. You NPR listeners may be familiar with the cooking show The Splendid Table, hosted by Lynn Rosetto Casper. A portion of the show is open lines for listeners to call in and ask their cooking question. One such caller today wanted to know what to do with the giant jar of tahini paste in his refrigerator after using a bare 2 tablespoons in a pita pocket. Lynn threw out a glorious amount of ideas, one being using it as a marinade for lamb or chicken that will be baked.

I decided to take the idea, and move it to the grill. I love anything that has been grilled; it is by far my favourite way to cook. And how to do I loved my grilled chicken? Atop a glorious green salad. And what is a really cool and fun way to eat salad? Grilled.

So, from the grocery:
one large head of Romaine
one large lemon
chicken breasts
one portabello mushroom
one orange bell pepper
fresh dill
a bottle of chardonay

Total: $18.13

Additionally, you will need tahini paste if you don't have it already. This can come straight from your local Mediteranian market, or even a local Mediteranian restaurant. Many of them double as miniature groceries.

Start by chopping the entire head of Romaine in half. You want everything to stay fairly tight and secure, so try not to damage any leaves when rinsing and moving them about. Lay them face up on a plate, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then do the same to the other side.

Slice you bell pepper into... eighths? Don't slice the 'bella, that grills best as a whole.

Clean your chicken and move it to a bowl. Add about a cup and a half of tahini paste, squeeze in half the lemon, and tugg the sprigs from your dill and add it as well. Make sure the breasts are well coated with the tahini.

Move everything outside to your grill (or, well, some of you have indoor grills, too, I am sure). Start with your chicken as you want to make sure it cooks evenly through. I put my peppers on the top rack of the grill so they would soften lightly and get only a slight char. The bella should go stem side down as well.

Cook the chicken until done - the tahini will give it an interesting char, and taste fabulous, so make sure you get some. Scoot everything around till you have room for your lettuce. Throw them on cut side down and WATCH THEM CAREFULLY. You really only want this stuff to wilt. You will get the tiniest char on the edges, which is good. I gave them about 30 seconds per side, and flipped probably 2 or 3 times, just so everything was even.

When it's all done, move everything inside and chop up your lettuce and chicken. This need not be dressed! Quarter your other lemon half and squeeze 2/4 over the salad, leaving the other 2 for lookin' good. Serve with your wine, and be in heaven.

Ancient Cooking Secret No. 1

2009-02-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

I have discovered the secret to the greatest tasting spaghetti sauce that you will ever have the chance to put into your mouth.

The secret ingredient?

Leftover Meatloaf.

I am forever swearing by this.

Last Sunday at the grocery, Matthew and I stood in the meat aisle contemplating how much ground beef to buy for the week. We had both meatloaf as well as spaghetti with red sauce on the menu, so how much meat to buy? Matthew suggested just one pound - enough for the meatloaf, and any leftover dinner could go into the red sauce. I paused. Then caved.

The meatloaf was great, possibly the best meatloaf I have ever made (it should be noted that I have only made 2 meatloaf ever, so I don't want to sound too good at this sort of thing). A pound of 93% lean ground beef, combined with some fresh chopped herbs (basil and oregano), plus cracked pepper, a bit of kosher salt, 1 egg, some bread crumbs, a splash of milk, a dollop of grey poupon.... was that all? I feel like there was more work in there. Oh! A small onion, diced WELL, plus a few garlic cloves for dad. A tomato sauce / steak sauce mixture topped it off, and voila! Meatloaf! Serve with peas, mashed potatoes, and brown gravy from an envelope.

Make sure you save about a 2 inch thick slab for Wednesday night spaghetti.

The rest is easy. I cooked up some garlic, threw int he meat, and topped it off with my favourite jarred tomato sauce. I swear, this is the best red sauce that I have ever had in my life. I don't know why it tasted so good, but Matthew agrees - supurb.

So next time you make meatloaf.... hope for leftovers. They will make the most delicious spaghetti sauce EVER.

Eat Cheap, Eat Real

2009-02-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

Matthew and I are on a quest to create, cook, and devour the most basic and delicious things we possibly can.

The focus point of a lot of these dishes have been the eatings of the world since, well, since we first came about as a people. The foods that can be grown in most climates and environments. These foods are lead by the staples of almost every culture in the world: rice and beans.

At first I thought it would be too easy to get bored. Rice. Beans. Mix them together. Seriously, how many different things can be done with these two foods?

The greatest things about rice and beans is that they're cheap, and that they're filling. A pot of rice and beans will last us quite a while, and keep our bellies full. When bought in bulk, they cost almost nothing, and have quite the impressive shelf life.

But there's still the issue of getting bored with them. I want to make as many meals as possible that star these delicious culinary cornerstones, with as many different cultures in mind as possible.

And so, I present, my first act:

Yellow Rice with Black Beans and Scallions.

It needs a better name. Help me come up with one.

It's what's for dinner tonight, and hopefully what will inspire a whole new world of food for me.

Dinner Inspired by Dad

2009-01-30T09:56:00.000-08:00

So, my father has this delicious, amazing, wonderful Asian coleslaw that he makes. I mean it's a-MAZING. This coming from someone who really doesn't like coleslaw that much. Finely sliced cabbage tossed with a light mayonnaise dressing made with a few dashes of rice wine vinegar, as well as chopped peanuts, raisins, and (if memory serves) carrots as well. An incredible side to really any Asian inspired dish, as well as a perfect snack to pack on your next beach picnic, as DeeDee and I found one trip to Bear Island last year.

I decided to to create a variations on that dish. I'm always looking for new things to do with chicken, as it is such a versatile meat. I especially love chicken combined with traditional Asian flavours. And so, Asian Chicken Salad came to be born. Forgive me if there is an actual dish that is more traditional than mine!

Thou Shalt Require for Thine Asian Dinner:
3 chicken breasts, trimmed nicely - do not chop or slice!

For the Marinade:
1 deliciously ripe lime
ginger, fresh or for sushi (I went with sushi ginger for it's pink colouring)
soy sauce
olive oil
rice wine vinegar
fresh cracked pepper
a teeeeny pinch of kosher salt
3-4 garlic cloves, minced (if you aren't such a huge fan of garlic [shame on you] scale down)

For the Salad:
half a head of cabbage, finely sliced / chopped
a handfull of peanuts (unsalted dry roasted if you can find them), chopped
a bit more ginger, sliced to bite size bits
raisins, if desired (Matthew doesn't care for them, so none used here!)
another dash of soy sauce and oil

1. Start by preparing your marinade. After cleaning the chicken breasts, I threw them into a small PYREX container. I added the marinade ingredients to the container, tossed everyone around, lidded it, and gave it all a good shake before refrigerating it for a few hours. After 2 or 3 hours, I flipped each breast, gave it another shake, and 'fridged it for another 3 hours.

2. Once everything had been soaking nicely, I took the chicken out to be grilled.

3. I wanted each breast to get at least a bit of a char on them. With the grills on high, I'd say each breast started with about 5 minutes, flipped, then another 5. Everyone got moved around a lot so lots of fire did it's job. I love a little blackening when I grill. If you prefer your meat NOT charred, then stick to a lower heat and a little less time. Once all the breasts are done, move them to a bowl or plate to transfer them back across the parking lot to your apartment. Or whatever.

4. Time to chop the salad.

(It should be noted that I left the chicken in a metal bowl covered with a tea towel because even though I know the chances of the meat still being raw were low, I am a paranoid chef and wanted to let all the heat circulate for a while. Just in case. Although I suppose this would have been an appropriate time to use my fancy shmancy meat thermometer.)

Chop half your head of cabbage nice and fine. Throw it into a large bowl. Chop your ginger as well, adding to the cabbage. I used a spice grinder for my peanuts, but I've been told by a much more experienced chef named Dad that a large knife works just fine. Throw the peanuts into the bowl as well.

5. Remove your chicken from it's bowl / plate, and chop it as well. I really just sliced everything thinly, and re-cut as necessary. We ate with chopsticks, so I wanted to be sure everything was bite size.

6. Move chicken to bowl, and sprinkle with a little soy sauce, olive oil, and rice wine vinegar. Toss everything together well. You want everything to be nicely coated, but not at all wet or slick. Just enough that the flavours mingle.

7. Time to let it cool for a while. If you are absolutely starving as we were, you can go ahead and chow down. However, Matthew and I both had this for lunch as well the next day, and it was soooo delicious after having had the chance to marinade overnight. I imagine that allowing it to sit in the fridge for a while before dinner makes it taste awesome as well.

8. When it's time to eat, serve with fresh steamed rice. I believe soba noodles would also be most delicious with this. We just happen to have a 50 pound bag of rice in our pantry.

Enjoy! I had a lot of fun making this. It all smelled so amazing, the lime and ginger mingled perfectly. I think sake would be really lovely with this, but that is something we don't keep regularly.

As for things non-food related, we have a serious ladybug infestation. I mean, it is getting ridiculous. There are ladybugs EVERYWHERE - the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom. Gah! I know that they are trying to get out of the cold, but for every 4 dead ladybugs I find, there is only 1 live one. It's a little depressing. I wonder if I could make a little terrarium for them to winter in? I will have to research the lifespan of a ladybug - it may just be that they only live for 24 hours, similar to house flies. It still doesn't make it any less sad.

Not Quite Midnight Snacks

2009-01-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

The best thing about having a grocery within a mile of your apartment is being able to decide that you want guacamole, and being able to go get it that minute.

You will require:
2 guacamoles
1 garlic clove
1 lime
salt + pepper
an edible scooping device.

MASH EVERYTHING TO CREATE INSTANT DELICIOUSNESS. Well, not the scooping device. We don't want that mashed, now do we.

He is so cute when nomming.

That guacamole was stupendous, quite possibly the best I have ever made. Plus, we must have done something interesting because Matthew's allergive reaction was very minimal.

And, of course, there is never enough.

Le sigh.

When Bored, Make Cookies

2009-01-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

Matthew's at his ultra pointless "College Transfer Success" class, ie, "How To Wake Up At 8 am For Your 10 am Exam", ie the most pointless class in existence.

So what am I doing? I am watching Rachel Ray, who I despise, but who is making something pretty, and making COOKIES.

I should honestly have waited for Matthew to get home. His cookies are about a billion times better than mine, and I guess I really should have waited for the superior cookie maker to get to christen our new stone (thanks daddy), but oh well. He has to take the pointless class, not me.

Make wet bowl, make dry bowl. The ingredients don't really matter, but if you want tastiness you'll want sugar, milk, an egg, butter, oil, flour, baking powder, and sugar. Don't forget the coloured sugars to decorate the top with.

Everyone has different measurements and techniques, but I basically only follow one rule: I keep dry and wet separate until it's mixin' time.

While everyone's baking, go ahead and do some dishes. I know you have them.

Voila! Look how cute they are! Some of them book like little belly buttons because I smooshed them down. Oh well. They're just going to get scarfed down anyway.

I think I need a scoop of ice cream on that.

Monday Night Roast

2009-01-27T09:51:00.000-08:00

Now that we have a crock pot, pot roast has never tasted so good. Just kidding! Mom's is still the best, I swear.

I love the purple skin on that garlic. So pretty.
I think that might have been only the 2nd batch of mashed potatoes I've ever made where I actually removed the skin before cooking.

Dinner tonight: minstrone. Except it will really be more just weird Hannah and Matthew vegetable soup with lentils. I bought little bags of frozen carrots / potatoes / green beans, which also magically included pearl onions and carrot bits bigger than my thumb. Mmmm.

how to have a delicious morning

2009-01-25T16:59:00.001-08:00

Make PANCAKES.

Mmm. Pancakes for breakfast, topped with syrup mixed with butter, all nice and warmed up. Ahh. Plus, coffee from the french press, which Matthew thinks I make better than he does because of barista thumb.

Also, Sunday is grocery day, and we have some fun things coming up for dinner in the week. But I won't tell you what they are! Ha ha! You will have to wait, readers!

Go ahead and try to figure out what we are making.

But, dinner tonight is something I absolutely looooooove to make (and EAT!) Potato and leek soup. Granted, I did not buy leeks - I bought scallions. Plus a bag of baby carrots for nibbling on while cooking.

For a delicious pot of potato and onion-of-choice soup, you will need:

whipping cream
potatoes, skinned and diced
onions-of-choice, cut at a slant
carrots, quartered lengthwise
broth of choice (I used chicken)
butter
water
salt & pepper to taste

This is really easy: chop everything up, and throw it in a pot. I didn't include quantities because I figure that anyone who actually reads this blog knows what they are doing in the kitchen and can figure it out for their own pretty selves. But for the record, it was a dash, pinch, and a handful.

This soup smells sooooo fabulous... your mouth will be watering for the hour that it simmers happily on your stove. You will want to taste it. Do not. You must wait. Look at these pictures instead.

more snow photos!

2009-01-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today has been so lovely. I absolutely adore the snow. I like trudging around in it, and kicking it up with my boots and then twirling in the flurries I send a-flurrying. Matthew and I went for a walk when we both got home from work and took a lot of adventures pretending-to-be-Ansel-Adams type woodsy photos. I even found a pond and a babbling stream.

Speaking of babbling, enough of it. Here are some photos. They are self explanatory, so I will stop talking. Right now.

obama snow.

2009-01-20T04:19:00.001-08:00

This is Obama snow.

I have to get to work, but it will be cold aaaaaall day, and I can come home to frolic and twirl.

Ansel Adams had it right - the world looks so gorgeous in black and white.

good lord I evidently have not been alive for the past nearly 4 months

2009-01-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

Whoops. No updates for a LONG time. Ok, here we go. I should preface this with an apology, and an update on my back problems (yes! My main reason for not updating, because I've had really nothing to update about). Whatever muscle injury I gave myself is finally starting to heal. I'm working a little more at work, here and there. Most of November was spent in bed. Early December consisted of me being able to walk around and work about 12 hours a week a Barnes & Noble. Getting through Christmas was easy, and here in January I'm rarely taking any form of pain medication, which is a huge deal for me.

So, since most of the past 3 months have been crummy, there aren't really any pictures. Not even for my mom's birthday, or for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or Chanukkah at Rita's (although I did take a picture of our own menorah). Well, have I got oodles to show you.

The highlight of this post is that fact that I now have a SEWING MACHINE. A real life Brother sewing machine that has had almost no rest since we first opened it up. I love it, and Matthew is crazy about it too. I don't think my mother ever expected this sort of a reaction when she gave it to me. We have turned into total D.I.Y. people now, and I love it. My new year's resolution was that at least half the clothes in my wardrobe be handmade (and, more ambitiously so, that half of those things be of my own design). Who knew making your own stuff could be so cool?

But before we get to the fashion show, there are some pictures from last year that should be shared. I got to spend Christmas day / evening, and the day after with DeeDee and the rest of the Rosners, which was awesome. Lots of DeeDee pictures to post, so here goes:

Lovely as always she is.

Also, a little bit of food. I discovered a way to make on the go spanikopita. Spinach and feta put into puff pastry, much the same way you would do an apple turnover. Except it's spanikopita. Which is amazing.

Drooooooooooooools.

Ok, NOW sewing pictures. The "sewing room" also happens to be the bedroom. We found a great old dinner table that we're using for sewing. A big piece of cardboard on the floor serves well for cutting. I even have an iron and a mini ironing board. A 2 drawer plastic cabinet holds all our fabric, and a smaller container for scraps, ie anything too small to make clothes, but large enough to make wallets / purses / baggies, or at least 4" wide. Also included in said sewing room is a milk crate that has all my patterns in it, both original as well as internet found.

Pictures of the sewing area...

The whole shebang:

Fabric storage plus scraps and my pattern "box":

The machine:

Plus my machine wearing it's cute little cozy:

We go through a lot of thread, so instead of using the small spindals, we use the giganta-cones, with their neat-o set up rig:

Ironing area (note that it is conveniently covered with items making ironing impossible):

How about pictures of some of the things we've made?

Some very cool wrap pants (Matthew has a pair as well):

A super adorable "bollywood" wrap skirt - that is reversible:

Pink brocade "meadow dress":

Matthew's light linen over shirt:

(He is so thrilled).

Pieces with pictures soon to come:

My Japanese style house coat
Matthew's wrap pants
Matthew's lined 3/4 length jacket

I also made the sewing machine cozy, as well as a little purse for DeeDee, and have a lot of other things left to make.... Ahhhh so exciting :D

Also, did you know that I have a piano?

matthew celebrates his 21st

2008-10-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

Today was Matthew's birthday, so of course, he had to have a fantastic birthday dinner.

Everyone say "Happy Birthday, Matthew!"

Dinner was grilled corn, potatoes, and steak. Ended up throwing some grilled chicken on because we had the chicken, and we like chicken when it's grilled. Made sense.

I won't go into a lot of detail about everything. I'll just post the pictures in chronological order, and you can dream up your own little thoughts about this tasty meal.

Mmm. Birthday dinner :)

smells like fall!

2008-10-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

A note to readers: If you want to skip the boring updates on my life and just see the yummy food we're cooking, scroll down to about halfway through this post to commence droolation.

When I walked out of the apartment this morning, it smelled like fall! That crisp cool scent, the light hint of crunchy leaves. Mmmm. It's my most favourite scent. And then, of course, it spikes to 82° outside, and the nice feeling goes away. Humph.

At least my kitchen is set on fall mode! I've started planning out some of my favourite fall recipes, as well as beginning to think out a Thanksgiving menu. We're planning on having Thanksgiving in the apartment this year, and cramming as many relatives as we can inside. Come! Enjoy! Watch Hannah destroy a turkey in only moments! Seriously, everyone send me turky-making tricks so I don't dissapoint my future mother and father in law.

Fall also means BEACH WEEK. While me and Matthew aren't going to get to experience the full week of beachyness, we will hopefully be able to enjoy at least 2.5 days there. The last half of the week is always the best, anyway.

Dinner tonight comes from a few different places. The first is from a video that I stumbled across of a chef I enjoy watching from time to time. Pork loins in an apple cider sauce with shallots. Mmmm.... that just sounded amazing. After looking around some more, I saw that Cathy, over at Noble Pig, was doing it too! How fantastic is that!? And her's looked even better, all covered in that gorgeous amber glaze.... the first guy barely drizzled his over. Stingey.

So, dinner tonight: apple cider glazed pork medalions with sauted onions, steamed spinach, and mashed potatoes. Matthew is starving, so I have to make it fast. He's coding around on his computer anyway, so his nerd survival skills should kick him and render him non-food-needing for the next hour or so.

How about a little peek into the life of Hannah Banana? As I mentioned in the previous post, it's Christmas at Barnes & Noble. I've already begun setting up various Christmas displays, and we aren't even done with Halloween yet. Fer cryin' out loud! But, I have a cure. It's called sugar. And alcohol (for Maggie).

I put a flyer up at work asking everyone to tell me their favourite Christmas candy or cookie, because once we hit December, I am going to be doing my best to keep delicious Christmas snacks in the breakroom at work so that we don't all want to kill each other. The little card in front of the tray of goodness will say something like "before you try to shove that new James Patterson novel AND a PDT up your manager on duty's you-know-what, try some delicious homemade sugar cookies. Please."

Only a few things are on the list, but the main goal is for me to do my very best to keep goodies in stock. I think I'll be able to manage very well, especially since I won't be working evenings this year, only mornings / afternoons.

Alsright, time to go deal with dinner. I've spent enough time yackin', let's get started cookin'!

I started with just letting peppering and salting the pork medallions. I bought a nice pork loin at the grocery, and sliced it into discs, then put them in a pan to sit (they were still a bit frozen). Went ahead and started boiling potatos, and also made up the sauce that will be used for the glaze.

Now, the original recipe called for apple cider. I couldn't find any. I know! It's October. Surely someone had it. But no, I had to settle for the little packets of instant apple cider mix. It's powdery and burns when inhaled, but it will have to do. The spinach and onions are on stand-by, and will be delt with when the time comes.

Meat resting nicely in the pan.

Boiling potatoes.

Mm. Fake sauce.

Alright, potatoes ready for mashing, all their ingredients.

Mashed!

Lots of pictures of the pork, nice and brown.

Onions sitting patiently to be cooked.

Added the onions to the pork, now popped into the oven for 6 minutes to guarantee that everything is cooked nice and through. And hey, I can use my fancy shmancy meat thermometer to make sure it's at a nice 170°!

Mmm. Everyone out now?

Removing the meat so the sauce can reduce:

Dinner plate.

Clean plate!

That was SCRUMPTIOUS.

Needed
1 pork tenderloin, cut into rounds
1 c. apple cider vinegar
2 c. apple cider
1 onion, sliced

Served with mashed potatoes and steamed spinach with garlic.

1. Season the pork medallions with salt and pepper, then place in a hot pan to brown.
2. Add sliced onions to pan, and place in 350 degree oven until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.
3. Remove pork from pan, and add cider and vinegar. Cook on medium to high heat until reduced to thin glaze.
4. Serve!

Very simple dish, with a very tasty outcome. I highly recomend it!

it's christmas!

2008-10-15T04:11:00.000-07:00

For retail, at least.

We already have Christmas cards and gift wrap out. It's buy 2 get the 3rd free. Spread the word.

Anyway. Wouldn't you know that even without us blasting Josh Groban 24/7, I'm already in the "Christmas spirit". That is to say I roll my eyes when I hear a customer call out "excuse me, miss", and getting up for the Wednesday work day is that much harder. Oh yes. It's Christmas alright.

But what has made it even more Christmas-y in our apartment is the fact that it smells like chocolate and peppermint. I stumbled across an absolutely delicious blog ye4sterday called Brown Eyed Baker, and if you do not know about her, then get your little buns over there and start drooling. I already have plans to bake several of her marvelous creations, which is good, because otherwise I will need a new computer from having licked the screen of my G5 so many times.

And thus, the scent of peppermint bark has been born.

A layer of melted semi-sweets, chilled, then topped with a layer of melted white chocolates, then topped with a layer of crushed peppermint. It's oh so delicious and such a sneaky treat. I decided to try making it as part of my "Getting Over Christmas Treats" box of treats for the fellow booksellers at the B&N. I have a few other goodies I've thought out that will basically all be "arranged" on a nice big platter and put in the break room at work. The managers usually buy us a few bags of M&M's and a green plastic tablecloth, but I think I'll do it with a bit of flair this year. I just really like an excuse to bake.

Anyway, these things were big fun to make. The peppermint was the best part. After taking each candy out of it's individual wrapper, I got to experiment with how exactly to break these suckers up. I started with loading them into a few layers of ziploc baggies, then bashing away with our cast iron skillet, but that only got about half. Matthew suggested dumping all the mints into the skillet, then covering with a tea towel, and bashing with a sauce pan. It worked fairly well. There are some bigger pieces than I would have liked, but then again, the original recipe called for candy canes, which I'm sure are 100 times easier to break up than just mints. By the time Christmas rolls around, I will have no problem finding the mints.

Another kitchen but of fun I've had this week was, what I believe to be, the cure for breakfast (at least according to my stomach). I made 5 or 6 of my anti-breakfast burritos, and 2 anti-breakfast muffins. A tortilla melted with cheddar, and just a tiny spread of sour cream is topped with a sauted onion/potato/spinach mix, and a bit of browned sausage crumbles. Rolled up and wrapped in foil, thrown in the freezer then dragged back out the following morning, these things should be delicious. I have one in the toaster as we speak, and I believe it's almost done.

(mini time lapse)

Well it certainly SMELLS delicious! And I still have a good 1/2 hour to eat it before I have to skeedadle to the mall (our new apartment puts me 2 minutes driving time from work. I only wish we lived in a more biker-friendly place and I would do it that way.)

the birthday weekend

2008-09-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

If John can have an entire month devoted to the celebration of his birth, then I think I'm entitled to my one weekend.

Matthew and I are completely moved into the new apartment, and are slowly but surely making it into our home. Bookcases from Rita help a ton, as well as the furniture Matthew and I have made, and are still planning on making (one dinner table down, with one linen vanity, 3 computer desks, and a mud-room bench to go).

So, since my birthday is on Monday (and a monumental birthday it is, indeed - I won't be a teenager anymore, thank God. Oh, I cannot wait...), Mom and John came up to spend the weekend with me! And Matthew, of course. I have already received my birthday present from my dad, and it is by far one of the best birthday presents ever. Two huge containers full of mujadara, and another full of freshly made falafel mix. Oh. My. Gosh. I have been wanting mujadara for as long as I can remember, and the falafel mix is just the icing on the cake.

So, instead of lengthy descriptions of how to prepare falafel, cook falafel, and consume falafel... I'll just let the photos do the talking.

And some birthday cake.

And birthday scrabble.

And how about a few pictures of the new stuff around the apartment? Ok so maybe just plant pictures. I love my plants. Hee hee.

One of the bookcases from Rita, now housing gardening supplies, soon to be moved back inside.

One of Rita's bookcases being put to it's actual use.

Thanks for the falafel, daddy!! I wish you could have been here to nom with us :D

it's elemental my dears!

2008-09-09T05:14:00.000-07:00

This kid can sing the freaking song better than me. And I'm reading it.

We've been moving stuff all week, and I am completely drained. I had no idea how exhausting moving was until I moved all my plants yesterday. That was, by far, the worst of it all. I only have to unpack everything now, and we'll be done! Thank goodness for days off from B&N when I can actually focus on unpacking things, instead of coming home from work and just seeing the catastrophe in the house.

More will come soon. I just had to post that kid :D

hurricane hanna, moving on, dulcimers

2008-09-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hello, September!
Hello birthdays, hurricanes, autumn, and... moving to a new apartment!

September 1st was the official moving in day, but we didn't get to the new place until today. Lease signed, keys handed over, as well as super cool key card passes that let us get into the fitness center / business center / pool 24 hours a day.

Our new apartment is so lovely. Very large french doors open to a nice, roomy porch deck, which gets an amazing amount of sunlight. My plants will be quite happy in their new home.

So, yes, photos!

The apartment from the exterior:

The window with the little bit of vine growing on it is our bedroom window. None of the other windows in the apartment complex had any kind of green on them, so I was very pleased to see that our new home already had something different about it.

Our kitchen:

The living room (those windows!):

The bedroom:

Bath

Utilities room (this room is great; so many shelves!):

And, of course, some photos from the drive:

We'll be moving for the next week or so, which is really great. Take a car load over, unpack it, done!

Another big thing that happened this week, was that my dulcimer finally got built.It didn't take that long at all, and only required picking up a few things from the Home Depot down the street. The following are the photos we took to document the build, in chronological order:

Placing blocks in the body, for support and shaping:

Gluing the glue strips to the body, and gluing the scroll head to the body:

Tracing the shape of the body onto the top:

Gluing the fretboard to the top:

My signature, inside the dulcimer:

Gluing braces into the dulcimer:

Gluing the body to the top:

Using Tom Clancy as a weight for gluing the top to the body:

Cutting away the excess wood from the top of the dulcimer:

Cutting off the excess wood from the tailblock:

Cutting excess wood from the back:

Gluing the back to the body, more Tom Clancy by the way:

Sanding, sanding, and more sanding:

Nearly to the end; oiling the dulcimer:

Installing the gears, the strings, the bridges:

It sounds so much more amazing than I could ever have imagined. It's really incredible how much sound can come, simply from bending wood just so, and cutting it only but so thick. I can play "Battle Hymn of the Republic", and "Amazing Grace". I'm working on a few songs by Beck and Cake though, just to even things out. My goal is to be able to play "Blackbird" by The Beatles, and maybe a few Who songs as well.

hot soup, rainy days. is there something more perfect?

2008-08-26T16:45:00.001-07:00

There is simply nothing better than a rainy day.

Except, of course, a rainy day complete with homemade soup :)

I love this tomato soup. And I received the perfect opportunity to make it. Matthew's mother brought us a plastic bag filled with tomatoes, and it only took me about 5 seconds to figure out what I wanted to make. I wish I had gardening neighbors. I miss being part of a bountiful harvest at the end of the summer.

You will need:

Gorgeous tomatoes.

Garlic.

Carrots and Celery.

Lots, and lots, of onion!

Saute onions and garlic, add the carrots and celery.

Normally, I'd use my home-made stock here, but my last batch came out way too radish-y. I used bullion instead.

Add tomatoes.

I cheated a bit and added some canned ones too. It's still delicious.
Simmer!
Once the carrots are tender, use a stick blender to mix everything up. I wish I knew kids who wouldn't eat their vegetables. This is such a sneaky soup.

Top with your favourite Parmesan cheese, stick in 2 spoons, and share with your sweet babboo!

I also decided that today would be a good day to have very, very curly hair. I slept with rollers in last night, and... oh, my!

south africa, so long ago i missed you so

2008-08-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Not so long ago, I was in South Africa. I never really did anything with all the photos I took, save for put them in an album and nearly forget them.

Organizing my digital photo collection this past week, I found all of those pictures on my hard drive. I went through and edited my favourites (ok not all of them. I shot nearly 11 rolls of film and there are only about 12 pictures here.) I resubmitted them to my online gallery, and thought to post them here.

Another treasure I found while cleaning my hard drive were the photos I took when in California with my Aunt Cheryl back in... 2001? Same routine, edited the favourites, and here they are.

It should also be noted that I deleted over 16,000 photos from my hard drive. That is a huge number, holy cow.

Matthew and I haven't been grocery shopping in almost a month. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what we've made meals of these past weeks. I'm putting together a menu and grocery list at the moment, realizing how little we actually have in the cupboard. It's reminding me of the very first week we were here, and the fridge had almost nothing but Gatorade in it.

We'll be moving in a few weeks. I'm so excited. I've already packed up our bathroom, and my half of the closet. I want to do so much more, to just go ahead and pack everything up, but that would really be a bit silly.

I also have some great garden news. My new tomato plant has THREE tomatoes growing on it. Three! The perfect number! I went outside today to water, and to check on the one that I knew was already there; lo and behold, 2 others were there as well. They are so tiny, I just love looking at them.

My friend Laura celebrated her 22nd birthday this weekend, making her 3 years older than me. Whenever someone has a birthday, I'm always reminded of the fact that I'm still a teenager. That just sounds so weird, doesn't it? Oh well. Matthew and I saw an advanced screening of the film American Teen last week, and loved it. As the theatre was filling with Duke students and a lot of parents, we both agreed that I was probably the only true American teen in the entire theatre. Come September, that will be all over!

the joys of parenthood

2008-08-10T14:51:00.001-07:00

Every shift at Barnes & Noble puts me face to face with 2 kinds of parents - the ones who I will aspire to be, and the ones who send me running for the nearest bunker in fear of their Hulk-like rage. I experienced both of these parents today, in a simple 4 hour shift at B&N.

We had huge thunderstorms this morning, so a lot of customers commenting on the weather. One mother and her son came into the store, the mother looking for the newest Oprah book. I told her I'd be happy to help her find it, and we proceeded to head up the escalator. The following conversation occurred on that trip:

Little Boy: Where does rain come from?
Me: Rain is the condensation that builds up in clouds. When the clouds get full, they let all the rain out, like a balloon with too much water in it.
Little Boy: Where does lightning come from?
Me: (sensing where this is going) Lightning is electricity that comes out of the clouds. No one really knows where it actually comes from though.
Little Boy: What about thunder? Where does that come from?
Me: I'll tell you what. Why don't I take you over to the kid's science section, and you and I can find a book all about lightning and thunderstorms. How does that sound?
Little boy : *face lights up* Yeah!!
Mother: Wait! What about me!? I want MY book first! I'm the one who came into the store! He wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me!!
Me: *stares at 30 something woman throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a bookstore*
Mother: I just mean that I want my book first. I asked first. It's my turn.

I took her to the book she needed, and then showed the kid the science section. The mother was completely beside herself and almost walked out of the store, leaving her kid with me.

On a happier note, I got to spend almost an hour with another mother and her son, an avid reader, who wanted to know all about my favourite books when I was his age. I ended up giving them several arm loads of books, mostly from the Newberry Award section, as well as some cool science books. I guess we really can't win them all.