Maple-Almond Granola

This is the basic formula Dave and I have been using from Cooking Light.  We change it up all the time depending on what ingredients we have on hand.

4cups regular oats
1/4 cup slivered almonds (and chopped pecans or chopped walnuts--we do up to a ½ cup mix)
1 ½ (I use 2) teaspoons ground cinnamon

(we add a bit of cardamom, ginger (crystallized or dried), all spice, nutmeg—not all of them all at once)

(we add ¼ wheat germ or flax seed)
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup water (or I use apple cider)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons brown sugar

(A bit of molasses)
2 (I use 3) tablespoons canola oil

(Vanilla or almond extract)
Cooking spray

1 cup minced dried apricots (or dried cranberries (mix) or whatever dried fruit you like)
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325° (we do 335-340 keeping an eye on it)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl.
Combine water, honey, syrup, sugar, and oil in a small saucepan; bring to a boil.. (add extract off heat)  Pour over oat mixture; toss to coat. Spread oat mixture on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° (335-340) for 35 minutes or until golden, stirring every 10 minutes. Place in a large bowl; stir in apricots and raisins. (Cool completely in oven with door open—this helps crisp it up.)

New Kayak Camping Destination

 Dave and I have planning a new kayak camping trip and we found this beautiful spot in Maine near Baxter State Park called Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area which is thankfully protected by the Nature Conservancy.  Here's a little description:

Nestled in the shadow of Mount Katahdin, just south of Baxter State Park, The Nature Conservancy’s Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area (DLWA) is a vital link in nearly 500,000 acres of contiguous conservation land.

Debsconeag means "carrying place," named by native people for the portage sites where they carried their birchbark canoes around rapids and waterfalls. The DLWA contains the highest concentration of pristine, remote ponds in New England, as well as thousands of acres of mature forests. A fun Side trip:  Traverse mature forests strewn with enormous glacial boulders, enjoy spectacular views of Mount Katahdin and descend into an ice cave for a chilly reminder of winter.

Where we will be this summer!

Wilco to curate Festival at MassMOCA!!

Wilco 4/6/2010 Orpheum (Boston, Ma)

(Picture is from last summer at Lowell, Ma when I was in front row!!)
Sue was a great pal to come with me to see Wilco at the Orpheum in Boston, although I was prepared to go solo if necessary.  When we were checking the concert venue out before the concert, we saw the fabulous Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche walking around--just walking around like a regular guy.  Very cool.  
The Orpheum is a beautiful old theater from the 1850s that clearly has not been cleaned or updated since then...the seats were very icky, but conversely, the restroom was spotless and very hip with green and back tile...anyway, our tickets unlike the last concert (3rd row!) were waaaaay back, but the theater was nicely pitched so we saw the stage pretty well.  Sadly the audience when you're that far back are losers and people mostly chatted or texted which was depressing.  It's a lot more fun when people are dancing and singing along with you.  Anyway, Wilco was fantastic again and played their asses off.  I was thrilled to hear so much off their A.M. record--very cool to hear It's just that Simple, I must be High, Passenger side, and of course Casino Queen--I just love those songs, but then again I love all of them.  Three solid hours of Wilco bliss.  Here's the setlist:
 Wilco (The Song), Bull Black Nova, You Are My Face, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart ; One Wing, A Shot in the Arm, One by One, Either Way, Company in My Back, Sonny Feeling, Handshake Drugs, Impossible Germany, It's Just That Simple, California Stars, Poor Places; Spiders (Kidsmoke)*, How to Fight Loneliness*, You and I*, Forget the Flowers*, Someday, Some Morning, Sometime*; Laminated Cat*, When You Wake Up Feeling Old*, War on War*, Passenger Side*, I Must Be High*, Airline to Heaven, Via Chicago, Theologians, You Never Know, Jesus, Etc., Hate It Here, Heavy Metal Drummer, I'm Always in Love, Walken, I'm the Man Who Loves You, Thank You Friends^
Encore: Dreamer In My Dreams, Casino Queen; Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Notes: * Acoustic, ^ Big Star cover  
(Thanks to http://strangersinthestreet.blogspot.com for both setlists, you rock)

Road Trip to Providence, RI to see Wilco 4/4/2010

(picture is from last summer in Lowell, Ma)
What a sweet city Providence is!  I cannot believe in all the years we have lived here, Dave and I have not ventured the mere hour down the road to check out this funky town.  But we were both charmed by this city with it's cool architecture, pretty streets, and interesting restaurants--we promised to return to explore more!

After the inevitable bout of getting crazy lost and after a kind and generous citizen of Providence offered to escort us to our destination (I kid you not!), we found Seven Stars Bakery, a place I have been dying to visit for years!  And it lived up to my dreams with many gorgeous bread loaves and sweet treats.  (I would love to work there and learn to bake these perfect loaves!) We loaded up a big bag to bring home of Vermont Cheddar bread, Sourdough, Toasted walnut and raisin bread, and a Country loaf.  Then, of course, we got amazing sticky buns and cinnamon buns to fortify us for the day ahead of touristing around. 

Coincidently just down the block we spied a funky restaurant that Dave had chowhounded called Julien's and we quickly vowed to eat there for dinner as it looked really cool.
The rest of day was spent walking around the pretty streets around Brown University and people watching while lounging on a shaded bench on the Brown's college green which very much reminded us of UW's Bascom Hill.  It was a lovely spring scene with families picnicing and kids playing frisbee. 

Before we headed to Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel for Wilco, we early birded it to Julien's on Broadway.  With amazing Belgian beers (Triple Karmeliet for me and ...? for Dave) to sip we sat in the sun outside and pondered the yummy blackboard specials offered (that took a server 20 minutes to inscribe).  Lulu's is a another restaurant that I would kill to have in Cambridge or Boston: it features a funky, creative and uncliche menu with many interesting vegetarian and non-veg dishes to make your mouth water.
Dave went with the homemade black bean burger loaded with all kinds of goodies (sauted summer squash, cheese, onions) including a divine homemade ketchup with an interesting hint of allspice.  I got the seared tofu encrusted with pinenuts in a honey glaze that came with awesome soba noodles with black sesames and sesame oil, and sauted brocoli rabe and oyster mushrooms.  So delicious!  I'm not kidding, it was fantastically flavorful!  My mouth is watering just remembering this beautiful and yummy dish.

Wilco.  My very favorite band.  I was trying to remember how many concerts we have been to now:
Boston Harbor Lights (Bank of America Pavilion), Tanglewood (Lenox, Ma), North Hampton, Lowell, Ma, Lupo's (Providence, RI), Orpheum (Boston, Ma) and next will be this summer at MASS MoCA.  Woohoo!

I cannot believe we were so far back in line waiting outside to get into the Lupo's and yet we got so incredibly close to the stage: 3rd row standing (much closer than if you sat)!  It was amazing!  And many short people like me banded together and would not let any tall people stand in front of us so incredibly I had a perfect line of vision to the stage.  So lucky!  The concert started a little oddly in our opinion like Tweedy was suffering from one of his terrible migraines and he left the stage for a minute--I thought to puke or something (like he has admitted doing in the past when he has migraines) and he looked exhausted, but who wouldn't be after all that touring?  Anyway, as the concert progressed, Wilco and the audience got more and more revved up and the band sounded great!  It is so fabulous being that close to the stage because you can see the magic that Nels works on his guitars and see Tweedy leading this great band. It was really cool how they half way through the concert transformed the stage to make it more intimate and homey with the funky old lamps and went acoustic playing their more folksy and country songs, the songs that Dave loves the best.  They played Dave's and my fav. Forget the Flowers (including banjo part!), a song we play over and over in the car never tiring of it.
Wilco is incredibly kind to their fans--they play their hearts out for over three hours, they give away dinners to cool restaurants, and they seem to have a lot of fun on stage.  We had a fabulous time even though our feet were killing us and we were dying of thirst and had to drive back to Boston and had to work the next day.  All worth it.   "This band brings all their equipment on the bus."

Setlist: (this is for me really.)
Wilco (The Song), Bull Black, Nova, You Are My Face, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart > One Wing, Radio Cure, Sonny Feeling, Summerteeth > Misunderstood, She's a Jar, Handshake Drugs, Impossible Germany, California Stars, Poor Places > Spiders (Kidsmoke)*, What's the World Got in Store*, War on War*, Forget the Flowers*, Heavy Metal Drummer*, Laminated Cat*, Passenger Side*, Airline to Heaven, A Shot in the Arm, Jesus, Etc., You Never Know, I'm Always in Love, Hate It Here, Theologians, Too Far Apart, Walken, I'm the Man Who Loves You, Red-Eyed and Blue, I Got You (At the End of the Century), Thank You Friends^
Encore: Dreamer in My Dreams, Casino Queen, Outtasite (Outta Mind) 
Notes: * Acoustic, ^ Big Star cover

Stan Update

It's been a week since Mr. Stan had surgery to extract the majority of his teeth.  I think he's feeling better, but still not eating great at the moment which is a worry to us.  But he's still on Clavamox, an antiobiotic which often upsets his tummy so no wonder his appetite is down and he most likely has to get used to eating without teeth.  We were imagining if we had all our teeth pulled and then tried to eat--it would be a bit odd!!!  Poor little guy.  We also have to give him "mouth wash" every night to clean the bacteria out of his mouth--he just loves that!  Stan is sleeping better and seems more comfortable and at ease than before the surgery and he purrs a lot, so that makes me think his mouth does feel better even though it's healing.  Anyway, we take Stan in for a check up in a month or so.  I hope the rest of his remaining fangs can be preserved.  Stan's favorite song is:
http://www.myspace.com/antsypantskids/music-player?sindex=-1.0&shuffle=false&amix=false&pmix=false&plid=27579&artid=4799701&sseed=0&ptype=3&stime=13.244&ap=1&rpeat=false

Raw Food Rocks!

So, I had read a positive review of this vegan raw food restaurant (Yea, I know it sounds so crunchy granola holier than thou, but...) called Grezzo (which means raw in Italian. You may need to know that word when you visit Italy, Sue!) in the Globe last year and I filed it away in my mind to check out sometime.  I recently saw the restaurant was located in Newburyport in addition to their North End location, so we happened to be in the Newburyport area this last gorgeous 70 degree Saturday and stopped in.
Grezzo's located on main thoroughfare in downtown Newburyport.  We were happy to see they had outside dining, but quickly realized the sidewalk is so small that passersby would be right in our plates as they strolled by, so we opted for a window seat in the romantically set dining room.  We were greeted by a good humored server who set us up right away with some water adorned with a cucumber slice which was wonderfully refreshing after our earlier 4 mile hike.  I will try that at home this summer.  Instead of wine or beer which they do serve we went with one of their unbelievably yummy smoothies:  I got the Chocolate malt (coconut water, chocolate ice cream, hemp protein, maca ) which was absolutely awesome--to die for!  And Dave got this unique tasting berry smoothie (Berry Reality - strawberry, blueberry, cashew, agave ) that was a bit tart and very interesting.  There were so many tempting and creative choices on the menu but I went with the Avocado Skins (Breaded with seasoned almond flour, topped with warm broccoli, cashew sour cream and "bacon") and Dave chose Grezzo sliders (house-made patties on vine-ripened tomato, pommes frites and pickles, creamy "bleu cheese" dressed hydroponic watercress).  I just loved my dish--all the flavors were so delicious together: the perfectly ripe avocado was seasoned in the yummiest flavors and the cashew sour cream was so good I really wanted to the lick the plate.  Oh!  The "bacon" was addictive.  We loved Dave's slider too--very tasty indeed.  We both were surprised at how satisfied we were--comfortably full, but not too full to not try some of Grezzo's homemade Clove ice cream (they have a whole slew of other unique favors in addition to Clove) which was wonderful. 
We both really enjoyed our meal--it was such a treat--a bit pricey, but it was all so creative and beautifully plated.  I can't wait to go again maybe with my adventurous friends.

Chipotle Black Bean Soup

 

This is the best black bean soup recipe I have found.  

I got it from a cooking class that I went to with my good buddy Lynn WD presented by the Harvard Food Literacy Project.  They provided a delicious healthy lunch, talked about the Harvard Food Pyramid and then gave a cooking demo.  They did a really good job.  Notes on the recipe:  The canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce can be found in the latin section of grocery (use what you need and freeze flat the rest in ziplock).  I used homemade vegetable stock, but I'm sure chicken or bouillon would be fine.  I added a whole small can (without juice which I freeze for chili) of whole Muir Glen tomatoes and diced.  Also, I used yellow onions instead red/purple and cooked the soup in 20 minutes in my magnificent friend, Mr. pressure cooker! 

Haunted and exorcised

I was digging through some house pictures and came across the "before" (we fixed our place up) pictures of our place.  They are spooky indeed. 

Here are some "after" pictures:

When it rains, it pours Vegetarian Restaurants

The Pulse Cafe (FKA Vej Naturals) restaurant used to be located right by the Oak Grove T-stop, but has re-located to a much nicer spot in Davis Sq. Their menu sounds yummy and interesting and hope my three best eating out buddies will join me soon in checking them out.

No-Knead Carrot Bread...a charred disaster

Last week, I used up my Harvard BookStore frequent flier miles on Jim Lahey's beautifully photographed bread book My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method and after staying up late pouring through the intriguing recipes I immediately plotted my next no-knead bread adventure: Carrot Bread. Fascinatingly Lahey's recipe calls for carrot juice, currants, walnuts with cumin seeds sprinkled on dough. I should have listened to my instincts when I read 1 Tablespoon of cumin seeds--way too much! And the bread came out all scorched and charred and underdone inside. It must have been the natural sugar from carrot juice that caused the crust to burn like that.
Will try again as I still have half a jar of carrot juice leftover...will adjust the oven to 400, I think and bake with cover for longer time and will add far fewer cumin seeds.

Tasty and fun restaurant we tried today

I read about The Red Lentil, a vegetarian restaurant in the Globe and have been curious to try it for months. After accomplishing the errand trifecta (Target, Trader Joes, Whole Foods) we decided we deserved a treat so we drove to Watertown to try out Red Lentil for lunch. The restaurant is in a great spot on Mt. Auburn tucked in with Fastachi a fab roasted nut and chocolate store and a cool little Italian specialty store/cafe called La Romagnoli (we hit both places after lunching). On such a bloody cold winter's day, we were greeted to a bright, warm, and cheery space with vibrant green painted walls and many windows to sit by. I have heard that dinner time can be challenging to score a table, but at the late afternoon hour, we luckily were seated quickly. We were starved, but took our time (I'm always slow!) choosing from their interesting and tempting menu. We decided on a cup of Ginger Miso soup to warm us up, I got the Tempeh Reuben with the most amazing sweet potato fries accompanied with homemade bbq sauce (super good--went on sandwich and fries) and Dave went with Thai Peanut Noodle Salad. The Reuben was really yummy with tasty tempeh (with a nice crust), fresh tomato, and awesome sauerkraut on toasty wheat bread that actually held together from first to last bite. We both agreed it needed more Russian Dressing, but we liked it and LOVED the sweet potato fries which were gooey inside but had crunch on outside--I will be getting these again! Dave liked his pretty Noodle Salad but thought it need some kick. Next time I am going to check out the Spiced Lentil Patties which sound interesting. Cheerful service. Yummy creative food that we will be checking out again. Cheers.

Wolfeboro, NH Skiing

Last weekend we drove about two hours north to the cute town of Wolfeboro, NH on Lake Winnipesaukee to check out their groomed ski trails. The trails are located on very pretty wooded conservation land a few minutes outside the town.
On the trails (click on link and scroll down to see pretty woods) we were treated to lots of hills (up (bitching by me) and down (Weeeeeee. Dave went down a "black diamond.") to challenge us and pretty views of mountains and the lovely woods and a warming hut that we did not check out because we did not need warming. We had never skied on groomed trails before and we enjoyed how they let us really pick up speed and work on our form. By the end after a few hours of skiing, I was thoroughly exhausted and my arms felt like they were encased in cement (I think weight lifting a few days before got me) and although Dave still had plenty of gas in his tank we headed to a local pub to get a beer and some grub. What a fun time! I hope we make this trip again. I'm really glad we finally bought some skies--they are making the winter much more enjoyable. I will post some picts. of our trip soon. There are some good ones of Dave hurling down a steep hill!

No-knead Bread, another winter adventure

I'm a huge Peter Reinhart devotee and have been happily following his bread making methods for many years now, but have been disappointed when I try to bake the lean bread recipes (french bread, etc.) from his book because my oven does not get hot enough and I cannot produce in the oven the steam required to get that awesome professional crust. While recently browsing the cooking section of the Harvard Bookstore I came across Jim Lahey's My Bread I remembered the NYT's Mark Bittman article on this guy and got very excited!
The beautiful crusty bread pictured in Lahey's book that has been eluding me for years was so inspiring that I went right home and gave his basic no-knead bread recipe a try.

I was a little worried that I did not have a big enough cast iron dutch oven pot (Bittman says 6-8 qt., but actual Lahey book says smaller is fine. I think have a 4 qt.) and lacked the required lid, but pot size was fine and Dave solved lid problem by using a pizza stone as a lid (Thanks, Dave! You rock!). The dough was very easy to make and I had no problem waiting for the dough to ferment (I let it go for 24 hours)--it worked well with busy schedule. I proofed the dough on my French couche and even though I used a lot of flour on it, the dough stuck a bit, so next time I will use corn meal or wheat bran to see if that helps.

The results? FANTASTIC!!!!! The bread looks beautiful and when cut into you can see large airy holes with a wonderful crumb that is just delicious! The crust did "sing" or make crackling sounds when we took it out of oven which was cool! It really tastes wonderful and looks so crusty and lovely. I will most definitely be adding Lahey's recipes to my repertoire.

Winter Fun?

(Lame) People always say "Oh, you're from Wisconsin, you must be used to the cold!" Or "You must LOVE winter!!" Nothing could be further from the truth. I detest the season. I hate being cold. It makes my back hurt. It makes me sad. I can't do all the outdoors things I love doing and the darkness is so oppressive.
Well, this year Dave and I are trying to change a bit our attitude toward our least favorite season and be more positive by finding fun things to do in the snow. So, we are getting back into cross country skiing something we both grew up doing, but have not done in many, many years. We bought some classic cross country skies early before winter so we would be all ready to go as soon as the first flakes flew and have been having a lot of fun exploring pretty snowy woods and trails in our area. I can't believe what a total body workout cc skiing is!--we are totally exhausted after a few hours on the trails especially if we had to break trail, but it feels great to breath all that crisp, clean, fresh winter air and get the heart going. Anyway, at least our skiing balances our other favorite winter sports: bread baking, cooking, and eating. Here are some pictures of our winter adventures. Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year. Here we are at Appleton Farms and Estabrook Woods.

This is the nifty ski rack Dave built to store our skies and poles.