Saturday, March 31, 2012

*insert Fin Raziel/crow cawing "Kael! Kael!" as that's been in my head all day because I'm eating kale.*


It's been a week now, and while I am feeling a little better I still have a cold/sore throat and am generally pathetic. I cracked open Lizbeth's canned peaches as a treat this week, and they really put the average canned peach to shame. Glad I saved them! As canning is still my white whale I can't tell you how she made the peaches but I can give you a recipe for a lovely fortifying soup I've been eating all day:


Ingredients: One package Italian Sausage tortellini, 2 boxes vegetable broth (I only had one and ended up adding 2 c water when I needed more liquid), 1 small bunch kale (I'm sick so I bought a packaged one, used about half of it in the soup), 3 medium onions, 3 gloves garlic


Smash the garlic and chop the onions into thin half circles, sautee in olive oil for a few minutes until fragrant and translucent.


Add the stock and on high heat bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium, add the tortellini, and cook for 3 minutes.


Now add the kale, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.


Eat several bowls over the course of the day spent watching documentaries and mysteries on Netflix from your bed. Feel better.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Blighmey! It's Limey!



I've been sick as a dog the past few days and while I'm feeling a bit better I'm ridiculously tired. And while I didn't make it a whole day at work today, I'm glad I went in as my coworker Parisa gave me a great Persian homeopathic remedy to combat fatigue: Lime Syrup.

Just mix about 1/4 c lime juice with a few spoonfuls of sugar and some hot water until you have a taste that's not so tart it makes you cry, just tart enough it makes your face squidge up. It's a citrus-y slap to the face. I've got a little bottle all ready to go that will hopefully get me though a full work day tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Spring (It's here??)


In case you haven't noticed March came in like a lamb and is leaving like an angry rhinoceros.  It was 83 degrees today. Eighty. Three. My jeans were damply stuck to my ass whenever I stood up from my machine and it's pissing me off. I'm totally down for early spring-like weather but this is RIDICULOUS. I am not pleased.

However, as this is the first official day of spring I'll put my heat induced rage aside and share with you a lovely Sunday I had back when it was actually spring, two weeks ago.


Miss Ashley and her Mister, Joe, and I went on an adventure to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. We saw many wondrous things:


Birds I have never seen before (WTF IS THAT).


Cypress 'knees'. Silliest trees ever. Remind me of Dawes!


An armadillo made of succulents who I've named Pete.



More succulents and hot house anemones!


Various plants under cold frames, and check out that tree growing on the wall in the background! It was like a medieval monastery in some parts, so many trained trees!


I was quite jealous of their herb garden.


This tyme is vulgar.


Pineapples. I had been told they grew like this but wasn't totally convinced until I saw it with my own eyes. A truly ridiculous looking plant.


Shrub balls.


Really well done rock beach, they meld so nicely with the waves. The whole Japanese Garden was well done actually, I especially liked the zig-zag bridges that warded off evil spirits (apparently they can't move to the side) and all the unevenly placed stones that force you to slow down and enjoy the scenery (or brake your nose). Miss Ashley fell in love with the mallards.


But without a doubt my favorite part was Spider Island. (A misnomer?? I didn't see a single arachnid!)
It was straight out of a Carl Larsson painting and the peace and quiet on that Island was incredible, I could have stayed for hours.


The dry grasses and leaves would gently rustle in the breeze, and combined with the lull of the waves and smell of pines it was the most peaceful place I've been to for quite a while. Maybe since this fall in the mountains?






I also fell in love with birch trees on Spider Island. I've never seen so many stands of birch as at the Gardens, and it's truly a lovely sight. Very Scandinavian somehow. I might have to move here.





Note to self: buy geraniums for your windows to complete dream of being Carl Larsson.



It was a gorgeous day, and I can't wait to go back! Though I was pretty tuckered out after wandering for close to three hours! Spent the rest of the day reading and watching Pride and Prejudice (again.) from the comfort of my bed.

Tragically the wool blanket you see there has now been folded up in the closet and those socks will never be worn again.
Or any other sock.
Because it was 83 degrees today.
I want my spring back.

Monday, March 19, 2012

May the Wind Be Always at Your Back, and a Reuben in Your Stomach.


I happen to love St. Patrick's Day. It's soda bread and the Chieftains, watching drunks fall into gutters, and family tradition. 


This isn't Ireland, it's the Irish Hunger Memorial in NYC. It was right near the hotel my parents and I stayed at for my cousin's wedding two years ago and it's the coolest monument I've ever seen.

You could have a boring statue/plaque...or the Irish countryside complete with crofters cottage and mist. Check it out if you're ever in NYC.


I didn't do much for St. Patrick's Day last year and was a little bummed about that, so this year I was making up for it in my normal way: food.

First up, Margaret Bell's Irish Soda Bread.


Margaret Bell was an Irishwoman Miss Linda knew back in Jersey when she was pregnant with me. They lost touch but every St. Patrick's Day since I can remember she's made the Bell family recipe soda bread.


Soda bread is an odd thing. There's no yeast, it rises due to the baking soda and buttermilk having a reaction, and you barely knead it at all. In fact some other recipes I've seen say don't even attempt it, simply stir with as few strokes as possible to wet all the ingredients, form into a ball, and step away. That's what I did this time and can report no difference in taste from the original recipe, though my loaf might not have been as high as Miss Linda's are.


And have I mentioned letting the fairies out? That's right. Fairies. You cut a cross into the top of the loaf before you bake it, to let the fairies out (or to keep it from splitting...shh). Oh, and I forgot to brush on egg or milk or butter. And I hate raisins so used currants since they are at least cuter, being baby raisins.


Best when hot and served with a pat of butter and a mug of good strong tea. I love how bolder-like it is, a truly gnarly loaf.

My next dish is one I'd been craving since last St. Patricks's day and the Sandin family's traditional dinner for the day: Reubens. My Croat friend Miss Jess had never had one and clearly something had to be done about that!


Two slices of rye (marbled is pretty if you can find it) topped with swiss cheese and sauerkraut (in that order to keep your bread from getting too soggy).


Next layer on two or more slices of corned beef depending on your preference. Toast under the broiler until warm and the cheese is melty.


Finish with some Thousand Island dressing and a cold bottle of beer or cider. I also made a side of curry fries as Miss Jess hadn't eaten those either (madness!). Just get some frozen french fries and try to find some mild brown and boring Indian curry sauce to dip them into. It's fantastic.


Miss H joined us on Miss Jess's patio to feast and enjoy the warm weather. A truly lovely St. Patrick's Day, sláinte!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat,


How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly
Like a tea-tray in the sky."
Lewis Carroll

I had a sneaking suspicion last week after publishing my post that this was not the first time I had been completely "whelmed" in March. Sure enough last March I was also a blithering mess for a few days, I must be susceptible to the March madness. Of course not in the cute Bambi "twitterpated" way but the twitchy Alice in Wonderland's March Hare way...

So I decided to have a tea party. At least my manners are better than the Hare, I didn't throw scones at anyone. Though there was an unfortunate incident involving an avalanche of cream puffs!


Saturday was a delightfully sunny and warm day, a gentle breeze coming through the open widows. Miss Connie O, Miss Ireland, and I chatted for hours picking away at the spread of crumpets with jam, sammiches of salmon and cream cheese on pumpernickel, cucumber and hummus on french bread, cream puffs, and Brussels cookies. We drank four pots of tea!


My scarf from Italy made a lovely last minute tablecloth and I was finally able to use my Great Grandmother Alice Lavinia's lustreware tea set. Miss Ireland brought her silver tea spoons which have little dudes on them that look like the Javanese wayang puppets I studied ages ago in college. Pinkies up fancy!


Miss Connie O kept me company afterwards (she had a party to attend nearby) and we watched the 1924 Thief of Bagdad with the hunky/ridiculous Douglas Fairbanks and finished off the plater of salmon sammiches. I went to bed early as I was tuckered out after my tea party and having stayed up late Friday getting slightly plastered on pink ladies with Miss Cait!


She has just returned from Turkey with some excellent stories about sleeping in caves. An added bonus was discovering the Japanese restaurant down the street has a ridiculous happy hour: 4 5-piece maki, 3 sushi for $16. Clearly I will be here every Friday after work.


 Thankfully, all these lovely things exorcised my March Hare twitch. Time to move on to the Frabjous day.  Let the slaying begin, I've got my ladle ready!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Chicken, Moosies, and Ducks.


Ummm so the hampster that runs my brain has been doing overtime lately and when I asked him if we could work on a blog post he shot me a reeeally dirty look. So I haven't got much in way of cohesive thought for this post and you're just going to have to deal with it. Take it up with the Hampster. 



I made some tasty chicken last week.


I really don't cook meat that often, and almost never on a weeknight, but this marinade is scrumptious and they cook fast enough I wasn't gnawing on my hand waiting for the chicken to cook through. Plus, who doesn't love getting back to their troglodyte roots by tearing flesh off bone. Drumsticks rule. Why don't I make them more often?? I don't know. 

Speaking of meat: moose face. No lie. MOOSE FACE (Cait for the love of god don't read about this you'll cry vegetarian tears.) Not one not two but three new blogs to read.  All relating to inedible food, either because it is in fact not edible being made of plastic, or so hardcore historical you just don't want to eat it. See: moose face.


Reading through this book at the moment, and accordingly did many domestic-y things this weekend.


Bathtub laundry (I dropped pasta on myself.) dried over radiators.


Clippings from the Jew since it's begun to wander too far from the pot and invade my icon corner.


It has such a gorgeous shimmery texture and those purple underbellies!


Thought about hemming a coat. Didn't. Thought about watching Amelie. Didn't.

Thought about a lot of things this weekend, some of them very big thoughts indeed which have left me a little whelmed and scattered. And with a lot of things to do! They're bunny thoughts which seem to spawn as soon as you turn your back and now I have a head bursting with bunnies. But bunnies are good things! I just need to sort them out before I get twitchy*. And maybe buy some carrots.




* Note: only solution found so far for Lexana Bear Twitch is rocking back and forth giggling at Martin Van Buren.