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.