Duck Duck Gray Duck

2010-09-01T11:46:00.002-04:00

Maple-Almond Granola

2010-05-18T10:02:00.006-04:00

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

2010-04-21T08:38:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-04-10T12:31:00.000-04:00

Wilco to curate Festival at MassMOCA!!

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

2010-04-08T19:46:00.009-04:00

(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

2010-04-08T18:33:00.002-04:00

(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

2010-03-26T16:52:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-03-24T21:07:00.002-04:00

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

2010-02-23T20:51:00.010-05:00

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

2010-02-12T16:39:00.001-05:00

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

2010-02-02T10:39:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-01T13:44:00.003-05:00

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

2010-01-30T19:00:00.005-05:00

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

2010-01-28T10:02:00.005-05:00

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

2010-01-18T09:56:00.011-05:00

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?

2010-01-18T08:56:00.018-05:00

(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.

All the Neat Places I hope to visit this Winter

2009-12-04T15:59:00.005-05:00

For the first time in many years, Dave and I are looking forward to snow so we can get out and play in it (instead of complaining about it). Here are some places we hope to visit:
Appleton Farms
Brooks Woodland Preserve
Estabrook Woods
Harvard Forest
Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary
Narrow-Gauge Rail Trail
Nashua River Rail Trail (We walked 12 miles of this trail one Sunday (what were we thinking? Actually it was a really nice fall day and a lovely trail.)
Weston Ski Track
Wolfeboro, NH and The Little Farm B&B where we have a gift certificate!
Worlds End

Thanksgiving Dinner 2009

2009-12-01T08:50:00.020-05:00

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette

Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Shallot Gravy
My Awesome Stuffing
Whipped Sweet potatoes
Green Beans with garlic and lemon
Homemade baked rolls
Cranberry sauce

Alice on the Guitar

2009-05-21T13:45:00.003-04:00

My friend Kyle's little girl Alice is only four years old but apparently ready to take her act on the road. Here is a video clip of her playing a song she wrote on her blue guitar. In the background you will see her dog Pete playing backup. Very cute!!!
http://aliceramey.wordpress.com/

Interesting field trip we took last weekend

2009-05-14T13:03:00.010-04:00

We have been wanting to replace the bathroom sink fixtures on our "antique" sink for some time now, so we checked out this place in in an old, gigantic mill in New Bedford, Ma called New England Demo. & Salvage where they have the most amazing assortment of ...well, everything! A whole factory floor of bathtubs for example (surreal!), a section on just doors--thousands of them, stained glass windows which I plan to go back and buy and hang as art, props from movies like a entire train station ticket window . It's a place you have to see to believe. While we did not sadly find what we were looking for, we had fun finding other things we did not know we needed. Steve M. and Kyle, you would love this place!

Megan Cheney Darling, Goldie, and me with Dave in background at Big Tens

2009-05-13T16:55:00.003-04:00

The Cheeshroom!

2009-05-07T20:37:00.004-04:00

Colleen promises to name this sandwich. (see title! Thanks, Col.!)
Came home last night with no dinner ideas, but looked in fridge (her name is Zandra--she's a beautiful stainless steel, bottom freezer which I will never live without ever again.) and saw some good sammich fixins.

Recipe

Caramelize an onion--get them nice browned and broken down
next sear some portobello mushroom slices in same pan after onion--10 mins more or less.
when done sprinkle some balsamic vinegar on mushrooms until nice and glazed on
Thickly cut rustic bread toasted either in toaster or under broiler with...
good shmears of goat cheese--lay it on nice and thick. When bread is all nice and toasted with cheese, pile on onion and mushroom. Salt and Pepper and enjoy!

Julie's Vegetarian Chili Recipe

2009-05-06T16:08:00.005-04:00

Ingredients:
2 T Olive oil
Large onion chopped
Green pepper chopped
Red pepper chopped
Jalapeno chopped (if you have disposable gloves--wear them to handle pepper. Wash hands very well several times and when you take out contacts, beware as it will burn like hell.)
4-6 garlic minced (if you have a mini chopper--use!)
2 T Chili powder (use more or less)
1 1/2 t. Cumin
1/8 t. Chipolte powder (Can lend, or you can get at Penzey’s. I love this spice for its smokiness. You can buy a can of Chipolte peppers in Adobe sauce and use those instead, but I would use just a few and some of the sauce. Freeze rest.)
Dash or more of Cayenne (optional)
1 1/2 t. Oregano
1 t epazote (optional—known for its carminative properties. Can find at Penzey's)
Salt and Pepper
1 large can of Muir Glenn whole tomatoes, chopped with juice from can.
Canned Beans: I like to have a nice combo of them (pick three or so. Rinse and drain first):
black
pinto
butter (my fav. bean!)
kidney
Cannellini
3-4 cups of broth (Veggie, chicken, beef, water, or even V-8 juice, but I prefer broth. See how thick it is as you add. You will need enough liquid for the bulgar to expand.)
1/4-1/2 cup of bulgur (adds a nice texture)
1 oz or a handful of bittersweet choc. chips (some people add cinnamon to their chili. Try it and see what you think)
taste--may need a dash of sugar if too acidic from tomatoes.
Simmer for a nice hour or longer.
Trader Joe's sweet corn (however much you like or leave out)
Condiments:
Minced Cilantro (if you like)
Sour cream
Grated cheddar cheese
To Prepare:
Heat Olive oil in large soup put or dutch oven on medium-low.
Saute onion olive oil a few minutes (5-7) and add and saute another 3 + minutes: green pepper, red pepper, jalapeno, garlic.
Add spices to sauted things and cook for a minute or so .
Add tomatoes chopped with juices. Cook a few mins. and add chicken broth or veggie broth and beans and bring to a nice simmer.
Add bulgur, choc. chips to taste. or a bit of sugar. Simmer for an hour or more, stirring, tasting, and adjusting spices or whatever to taste. Can add more liquid if it gets too thick or if too thin, can leave lid off to reduce liquid a bit--whatever turns you on.
Add some fresh corn or Trader Joes corn with a half hour to go.
Eat! Yummy! Serve with corn bread or tortilla chips.

Good Bye to The Goat

2009-04-28T10:19:00.003-04:00

Growing up in the seventies my mother hauled my sister and I around in a silver, rag top, Pontiac GTO ("The Goat") . It was fun driving around with the top down in the summer--all of us with long blond hair whipping our faces in the breeze, but in the winter (top up, of course) we would freeze! Anyway, good bye to Pontiac and "The Goat."

Fun in the kitchen!

2009-04-22T21:08:00.017-04:00

Here are some fun and yummy dishes Dave and I cooked up in the kitchen over this long winter. Here's a great tune to accompany this blog entry:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/louis-jordan/tracks/beans-and-corn-bread--643097

I can't cook without wearing the pretty apron Colleen made for my birthday!

Last summer Mr. Gilroy very generously shared with us a whole huge tub of just dug up quohogs from Narragansett Bay and his delicious recipe for clam chowder. Here it is! Turned out wonderfully!

Homemade pizza rocks! We have been making Julia's tomato sauce and pizza dough recipes for many years and it never fails to make us swoon. But I will try Peter Reinhart's pizza dough recipe one day soon as Kyle will not stop talking about it (just kidding, Kyle!)! Here it is:

Julia's Pizza Dough Recipe
2-1/2 tsp yeast (or use instant yeast and skip the proofing part)
1/2 cup tepid water (not more 110 deg F)
1/8 tsp sugar
3/4 cup cold milk
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cup all purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
Makes 2 @ 16 inch disks.
Best results if using a pre-heated pizza stone. Bake
pizza @ 450 deg F or hotter until nice and done
**************************************************
Julia Pizza Sauce Recipe
1/2 cup minced onions
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cups tomato pulp (out of season: half fresh and half
canned)
1/4 tsp thyme
basil fresh or dried
1 imported bay leaf
2 large cloves of garlic, pureed
big pinch of saffron threads
salt and freshly ground pepper
sugar (to taste)
Cook the onions and oil in a 2 quart covered sauce pan
stirring occasionally, until tender but no brown - 6
to 8 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes; cover and cook
slowly several minutes. Stir in the herbs, garlic,
and saffron; salt lightly to taste. Simmer slowly,
partially covered, for 30 minutes, adding a little juice from the
tomatoes if sauce becomes too thick. Taste carefully and correct
seasoning.
Note: May be cooked in advance and refrigerated; may
be frozen. Makes about 2-1/2 cups (enough for many pizza's or pasta).

Dave's Chocolate Cream Pie that he baked for me! Very yummy!
My friend Clare who just made this pie too suggests this recipe (use semi-sweet instead of bitter sweet): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/109139

Samosa stuffed twice baked potatoes with sauted greens from Veganomicon, one of my fav cookbooks! Such creatively delicious recipes! Dave made this for me too!

As Chuck and Jerry blogged Martha Stewart's Mac n Cheese is like crack!
I experimented with the recipe by cutting the sauce recipe in half and adding it to the pound of pasta and it was absolutely delicious! I can't imagine how decadent it would be with the full recipe! Here it is served with sauted swiss chard and broccoli. So good!!
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/perfect-macaroni-and-cheese?xsc=stf_MSLO-ARTICLE

Wilco Concert in Northampton

2009-03-29T18:27:00.006-04:00

Whenever my favorite band Wilco is nearby we travel to hear them. This time Jeff Tweedy flew solo at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, Mass. and even though we had "nose bleed" seats, we saw the stage really really well due to the fabulous pitch and small size of the auditorium. We, of course, got there early and sat and chatted with a nice young bloke going to U-Mass Amherst who was as big a Wilco fan as me! After the less than interesting opening band Pronto was done (sorry, Jorgensen) Tweedy treated us all to a fantastic concert playing acoustically many of his early and middle music with a sprinkling of new pieces that were really good.
But the highlight of the concert was when he played the song I requested: Forget the Flowers one of my favorite songs.
Here it is if you care to listen:
http://wilcoworld.net/records/being.php
Dave promises me he will learn to play it on his banjo. Tweedy brought his usual sardonic sense of humor and bantered with (and abused) the audience treating us to hilarious stories about about his dad and how badly New Zealanders dance. Dave and I both agreed that this was one of the most insane out of control audiences we have ever seen--from crazy people shouting random nonsense to a very badly singing woman one row back who was driving of all nuts with her really pathetic singing. Tweedy always plays his heart out in concerts and he did not disappoint giving three encores the last without mic. Tweedy rocks--it was a fantastic concert. Set list (for myself really):
Set list
1. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
2. I'm Always in Love
3. Remember the Mountain Bed
4. Bob Dylan's 49th Beard
5. Jesus, etc.
6. One By One
7. Everlasting
8. New song
9. Someday, Some Morning, Sometime
10. The Ruling Class
11. Wait Up for Me
12. Muzzle of Bees
13. In a Future Age
14. Forget the Flowers
15. California Stars
Encore
16. Shot in the Arm
17. Via Chicago
18. Fake Plastic Trees (radiohead)
Encore
19. Wilco (the song)
20. Heavy Metal Drummer
21. Casino Queen
22. I'm the Man Who Loves You
Encore
23. Dreamer in My Dreams
24. Acuff Rose

California

2009-03-27T10:02:00.009-04:00

What a very nice time Dave and I had visiting Carol and Ken in wonderfully warm and sunny California. Here we are taking a break in an oasis while hiking the famous Pushwalla hike in the Coachella Valley near the San Andreas Fault. Ken found the perfect place to rest and snack out of the sun. Dave and Carol posing by a lovely green bush (what was this called, Carol?) that grew up the whole cliff. So pretty! Below pretty desert flowers.

Cliff and Stan

2009-02-24T16:22:00.011-05:00

Here finally is an entry for our much adored boys Cliff and Stan. As you can see Cliff loves being held and Stan loves beer and then napping on every cookbook I try to read.

Prom Pictures

2009-02-20T19:40:00.000-05:00

Well, as promised here are the prom pictures. It was such a lame waste of money and time, but it sure is fun laughing at these pictures years later. Pictured are our my friends Candee, Jessie, and Jonathan. Now everyone has to post their prom pictures!

My first banjo tune

2009-02-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

Ok...I'm putting myself out there for the world to witness my banjo prowess. Sit down now...keep yer shoes on and rest your ears awhile to the sweet tunes of none o'ter than yours truly. You'all come back now...ya hear?

Come on Cliffy! Go Fetch!

2009-02-20T13:49:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you the handsome and talented Cliffy! I must say that some cats have it and some don't...this cat's got "moxie".

Ken and Carol's Alaskan Halibut!

2009-02-19T17:01:00.000-05:00

Ken and Carol went to Alaska and all they brought us...was a freezer full of Halibut! Boy is it some good eatin'! So fresh and delicious!

Old pictures of our hometown, Ladysmith, Wi.

2009-02-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

I was recently exploring the Wisconsin Historical Society site and found some neat old photos of Ladysmith back when it was indeed a logging town.
The Flambeau River which snakes through our county (Rusk) and town is prominently featured in these old pictures. It is odd to think that the river I grew up swimming in was once all completely covered in logs.

Logging in Ladysmith: the industry that built our little town. Here you can see the Flambeau River.

The Carnegie Library which was kitty corner to the left from our restaurant, Audrey's Spot Cafe.

The mighty Flambeau River. Many a time Dave and I canoed up and down stretches of this river. Many times with girlfriends did we "go tubin'" starting at the dam by the paper mill and float all the way to the hospital. What fun! Oh, what our parents did not know we were up to those long, unsupervised summer days.

I grew up across the street from this very pretty school built in c.1908. It was first the High School, but was the junior high in my life time. It was surrounded by gorgeous sugar maples that were all ablaze with color in the fall.

Our Beautiful Bagels

2009-02-17T21:03:00.000-05:00

Dave and I were looking for a new bread baking challenge this winter, so we decided to give bagels a try after overcoming flashbacks of our respective factory jobs from hell at Bagels Forever in Madison, Wi.!
We turned to our trusty source for bread baking, Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (http://peterreinhart.typepad.com/) Dave quickly came to realize why this dough is known as the stiffest dough of the bread kingdom: he had to throw his whole weight into kneading it! It was quite a workout. Even though this recipe required a good number of steps, the bagels were not that difficult to make--it was in fact pretty fun especially the boiling and sprinkling of toppings. The results were well worth the work--they tasted amazing!
Anyway, here are some pictures of our first attempt. We hope to make them again soon!

Dave's purty new suit

2009-02-17T19:59:00.000-05:00

Dave really needed a new suit and we recently found a great deal on a snazzy suit at Bloomies. After Dave's fitting we headed over to Forty Carrots where we enjoyed a splendid lunch of carrot soup, yummy sandwiches, and the most amazing soft serve frozen yogurt ever!!! You must try this yogurt!!! It was very Seinfeldian this yogurt--it's too good to be true!

Maiden Voyage!

2009-02-16T14:54:00.000-05:00

Here we are sitting in the Arlington Heights Starbucks on a cold President's Day looking wistfully out the window wishing it were nice out so we could be outside playing. Alas!
So, instead I am learning to blog so we can post for the interested few our musings, travel adventures, and other happenings.

For example, brave Dave is expanding his musical knowledge beyond playing the tuba and violin to include banjo picking. Check back soon for a picture or youtube of Dave playing the only song he knows so far "Cripple Creek." (I'm sure Cherryholmes will be recruiting him once the word gets out about Dave's picking!)

This New England winter has been particularly brutal forcing us to stay indoors for most of it, so naturally we took to the kitchen! We have had fun learning how to make bagels! Our first batch looked so professional: puffy and lovely golden brown, but our second batch was not quite as good due to my own mistake of not making the dough stiff enough (live and learn). We hope to make them again soon--they are the best bagels we have had since moving to Boston where it's simply impossible to find a good bagel.

We are very much looking forward to visiting Dave's folks in Palm Springs! Look forward to hanging out with Ken and Carol, hiking, playing some tennis, watching some tennis at the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells) http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/home/
We already have Rubios and In and Out Burger on the intinerary too!

Well, that's all for now, but check back soon for pictures!