My Bit of Earth

Holiday Art Fair (Shameless Plug for Sweet Husband)

If you're local be sure and stop by Sweet Husband's "Oread Designs" booth at the Lawrence Art Guild Holiday Art Fair. 

The Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. tommorrow at the Lawrence Arts Center which is at 940 New Hampshire Street.

O Christmas Tree (Festival)

Apparently, there's some sort of holiday fun going on in Lawrence just about every day from now 'till Christmas.  Apparently, I've lived here four holiday seasons and have been missing out on all kinds of festivities. 

No more! This year I've got my handy-dandy "Holiday Happenings" book and I'm ready to be holly and jolly!

This evening I got off to a good start at the "Festival of Trees".  I think this kind of thing is done in other places, but it's pretty cool nonetheless.  Businesses, scout troops, and etc. all decorate trees and auction them off to the highest bidder.  The proceeds of both the auction and the small charge to get in and see the trees all go to charity.

There was some of what you would expect, of course--a "Big 12" themed tree, an "Around the World" tree--but some were darned creative:

A few more pictures are here.

Wednesday Poll: I've Got (Ear)worms

Lately, I seem to be having issues with earworms--you know, those songs that get stuck in your head that you can't get rid of.  It's so weird because, while sometimes I can figure out where I've picked them up (a week of "Jenny From the Block" after watching Jennifer Lopez in "Enough"); other times they just seem to come from nowhere ("Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog" as soon as I opened my eyes at 6:30 Monday morning).  I'm starting to wonder if the dogs are secretly playing annoying tunes to me in my sleep.

So, for this week's poll:

What is the worst song you've ever gotten stuck in your head?  Longest duration?  And, most importantly, how do you make it stop?

Comment and discuss.

Grow Your Own: Rosemary Orange Truffles

Continuing with my Christmas food challenges, "Grow Your Own" is a monthly food blogging event hatched by Andrea of "Andrea's Recipes", that "celebrates the foods that we grow ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products."

But what's growing in frosty Kansas in November, you ask?  Well, truthfully, in my garden there isn't much.  However, my trusty little rosemary bush is trooping along still--and, if anything, has improved in flavor with the cold--so I decided I wanted to work it into my Christmas candy making somehow.

I love rosemary and I love chocolate, but I only learned that I like them together about a year ago when I had my first Christopher Elbow Rosemary Caramel.  It's an odd sounding flavor combination, I know, but somehow it works.

After doing a little research, I ended up mixing a little bit of this recipe with a little bit of this one to get these:

Although I was basically working by trial and error, the flavoring ended up just right.  You can just taste the perfect hint of rosemary on the front end and then you get a nice dose of orange.  I put the little pieces of candied orange on top for pretty, but I don't know if I would do it again as it kind of messes with the texture when it's all in your mouth.  For the recipe, read on.  For the round-up of all the recipes that were submitted, click here.

Daring Bakers: Tender Potato Bread

After watching their lovely concoctions appear across the internet for the past few months, this month I decided to join the Daring Bakers. The Daring Bakers are a group of bloggers and bakers. Each month one member comes up with a challenge recipe which the other members then proceed to make exactly according to the recipe, with no modifications allowed. (This is the part that's going to be good for me!) Then, on the same pre-decided-upon day, everyone posts about how it went. 

This month's challenge--hosted by Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups--was to make Tender Potato Bread.

The recipe (which is reprinted if you click the "continue" link below) was for a basic dough that could then be made into either a loaf of bread, dinner rolls, or foccacia bread. I made the foccacia bread a few weeks ago, and froze the rest of my dough to use for Thanksgiving rolls.

The bread turned out nicely. The foccacia was crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and had a nice potato-y tang.

The rolls unfortunately did not survive the freezing process well.  I let the dough rise once before freezing.  Then the night before Thanksgiving, I set it out to defrost and hopefully rise again. 

Not so much.  The little yeasties just never came back to life.

It was fun to try something different, but I don't know if I would use this recipe again.  I actually really like to make bread. The smells, the mixing, the kneading--it's all very meditative and pleasant. But this dough was just not nice to work with.  It stuck to everything--the counter, my fingers, the bowl. The recipe warned to avoid adding too much flour, but I don't know how you could help it; I had to flour in self-defense! 

All in all I'm glad the challenge was something new, but it didn't sway me from my old faithful.

Boxing in Gorilla-Land

Sweet Sister and I planted a letterbox today in my old college stomping ground.  As far as I can tell--although there are zillions of geocaches--it's the only letterbox within the town proper.  If you want to hunt, here's the clue:

Bananas For Gorillas

In southeast Kansas, there's a lovely little college with a gorilla of a mascot.  Find the campus, then find the football stadium.  Behind the stadium you'll find a lake and the gazebo pictured.  Cross the bridge that's near the gazebo to get to the island in the center of the lake.  Once on the island, follow the path to the beginning of the other bridge.  Just before you step onto the second bridge, there will be a tree to your left with a hole near the bottom.  If you poke around there, you'll find a stamp any gorilla would love.

6/2/08 EDIT:  This letterbox has disappeared.  :(

(Letterboxing: P2 F5 X0 / Geocaching: P0 F2)

Thanksgiving Yummies

As I was setting everything together, getting ready to head to my Auntie's for Thanksgiving, I had to stop and admire my own handiwork.  Maybe it's just the pretty spots of pink provided by the cranberries, but gosh I made some good looking food!

After another recipe failed, the rolls were made using my beloved pizza dough recipe (just make balls instead of flat bread); the super simple cranberry-orange sauce came from here; and the Brussels sprouts were the roasted lemon-Parmesan ones I made here.  The only really new fun was the cranberry cocktail in the upper, right corner; it came from my Nice Friend, who calls it "Cranberry Tea".  For the recipe, click onward.  For more pictures of our Thanksgiving fun, click here.

A Frosty Morning

We Planted Our First Letterbox!

Moe and I planted our first letterbox today!  Here's the clue if you feel like going hunting:

Lovely Lawrence #1: Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

To find this letterbox, you need to enter the building pictured, which is on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas.  (Hint:  You can see this building from the football field, and sometimes you can hear it even further away than that.)

Walk into the building.  It doesn't matter which door you go in, but to find the letterbox you must exit the door with the words, "in the vanguard" carved above it.  Directly in front of you, there will be a cement bench.  Facing the football field from the bench, look to your left.  You will see a wooden barrier that conceals a light.  Walk around behind the barrier.  Facing back towards the building, look under left corner of the barrier.  The letterbox is wedged between the ground and the bottom of the barrier, covered with leaves.

If you find the box, drop me a line and let me know what your think!

And I almost forgot--I left the Quasimodo Hitchhiker here for the first finder!

(Letterboxing: P1 F5 X0 / Geocaching: P0 F2)

1/6/08 UPDATE:  This box has been ever-so-temporarily removed for repairs.  I hope to have it back out shortly!

1/12/08 UPDATE:  The box is repaired and back in place!

4/23/08 UPDATE:  This box has sadly disappeared.  :(  I suspect it was removed by the University landscaping crew.  I will replace it eventually, but for now there's nothing there but a great view.

Wednesday Poll: Should Sports Be Politically Correct?

I am not an expert in or avid watcher of anything athletic.  My glorious sports moment growing up?  Scoring eight points in one game on the "C" team in my 8th grade intramural basketball league.  Number of college sporting events I've been to of my own volition and not because I had to be there as a member of the band?  Two, and I left at halftime of one.  I don't know a tight end from a wide receiver.  I mumble my way through my workplace's March Madness contest.  I'm just not that into sports.

Nonetheless, as you may have noticed by my asides these past few weeks, even I have been perking up for this 11-0 Jayhawk football team. 

But, of course, true to my band geeky/social science major roots, while I'm enjoying the games, I'm enjoying watching other people's reactions to the games even more--how people get excited at big guys beating each other up (the gladiators of our time); how much self-worth gets tied up in whether "your" team wins or loses (when you really don't have anything to do with it); and, above all, the way a lot of the normal rules of politeness and politically correctness just go away when you're cheering for your team to wipe the floor with the other guy (because, ya know, you can really only be so polite about that).

Drunken Paperwhites

Every year about this time I always start a big crop of paperwhites.  And every year three weeks later, I go around the house with a packet of stakes and string, tying the paperwhites up because they're falling over on their spindly stems.

Apparently other people have this problem too, because some Nice People at the Cornell University Flower Bulb Research Program have come up with a solution--getting your paperwhites drunk.

Nope, not kidding.  Researchers discovered that, when watered with a solution that's 4-6% alcohol, paperwhite growth is stunted by 30-50%.  The flowers aren't effected, just the stems.  From the Cornell report:

"We suggest planting your paperwhite bulbs in stones, gravel, marbles, glass beads, etc. as usual. Add water as you normally would, then wait about 1 week until roots are growing, and the shoot is green and growing about 1-2” above the top of the bulb. At this point, pour off the water and replace it with a solution of 4 to 6% alcohol, made from just about any “hard” liquor. You can do the calculations to figure the dilution, but, as an example, to get a 5% solution from a 40% distilled spirit (e.g., gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila), you add 1 part of the booze to 7 parts of water. This is an 8-fold dilution yielding 5% alcohol."

The report goes on to say you can also use a solution of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 10 or 11 parts water to get the same effect.  That's what I'm going to try this year--it's cheaper than the good stuff--and hopefully I'll be reporting back in a few weeks with some pretty, mini-paperwhites.

Joyous Jumble Holiday Food Challenge

As I mapped out my Christmas baking, I noticed that four of the items I was planning to make fit neatly into several blog parties/carousels/challenges I've seen posted here and there. (To wit: Grow Your Own, Monthly Mingle, Festive Food Fair, and Retro Recipe Challenge.)  As they're a good way to make new blog-friends, and since I've been baking my little heart out anyway, I decided it would be fun to participate.  You can look forward to a little bit of holiday sweetness from me for each challenge in the following month.

But there was a small problem.  Although I found four challenges that worked perfectly, I was planning to make five holiday recipes.  My poor, lonely fifth recipe was going to be left out in the cold. 

I just couldn't have that; after all no one should be out in the cold at Christmas-time!  So, I've decided I'm going to host my own little food bloggin' party/challenge, custom made for recipe number five.  Here's the plan:

The Joyous Jumble Holiday Food Challenge

December is a month of holidays--from World Aids Day to New Year's Eve, from Night of the Radishes to Boxing Day it seems like there's something to commemorate or celebrate almost every day.  For this "Joyous Jumble", pick a December holiday that you would not typically celebrate and make a food associated with it.  It can be sweet or savory, difficult or super simple, traditional or with your own special twist--have fun!

If you have a blog of your own, post your creation with a link back to this post (feel free to steal my little logo).  Then, using the subject line "Joyous Jumble", email me at blackbird13ATgmailDOTcom with the following information:

1. your name
2. your blog
3. a link to your post
4. a picture of your holiday food

If you don't have a blog of your own, just email me your name, a link to the recipe you used, and a picture of your holiday food.

All submissions need to be to me by December 20th.  I'll post all of your marvelous creations shortly thereafter!

Wednesday Poll: Saving Thanksgiving

It's not that I don't like Thanksgiving.  I'm actually very fond of Thanksgiving. Really--stuffing, chicken and noodles, pies, parades on TV, a four-day weekend--what's not to love? 

It's just that, being rather young-ish still, I always celebrate at someone else's house.  Which, even if I volunteer to bring a few things, leaves me without much to do in the time leading up to Thanksgiving.  And without stuff to do, I get into trouble.

Because, you see, although I'm trying my darnedest to hold out until next weekend, I'm beginning to feel my fingers prickling to go dig through our big red box of decorations for that other holiday--you know, the one in December?  Every year it seems that particular box starts calling me just a little bit earlier, because, after all, I don't have Thanksgiving to get ready for, so why not?

In an effort to make Thanksgiving a bit more interesting and stem the December holiday spread, for this week's poll:

What is something unique that you are thankful for?  Canned answers like "family and friends" are not allowed (because we're all grateful for those if we've got 'em).  Go outside the box a little--maybe something that might seem silly to everyone else, but makes you happy nonetheless?  Maybe something with a little story behind it?

Comment and discuss.

One Out of Four Wasn't Bad

Saturday was a perfect Fall day--a little gray (the better to offset the glorious leaves), cool (but not cold), and just a bit breezy.  Sweet Husband was away, Porter was sleeping, so Moe and I decided to head out to find some area letterboxes.

We set out to find four, but things didn't quite turn out that way.

First, I thought we'd try to drop off our hitchhiker at the I-70 Joyrider Hitchhiker Hostel.  For this letterbox we were required to figure out several "license plate number" clues to find the correct location.  I was able to figure out the general area, but I couldn't figure out the exact location.  I'm not good at word puzzles to begin with, and Moe--who was not happy to be in the car when he had been promised a walk--did not help my thinking process.  Eventually I had to vow to try again another day.

Mad, Crazy, Fun Weekend

Whew!  Just a quick pop in to say I'm still alive. 

I had a four-day weekend and ended up filling every second.  We went to a long-awaited concert with friends on Friday and a beautiful wedding Saturday (the lovely table decorations from which are pictured at left).  I got a little letterboxing in, have been baking like a madwoman, and even managed to just barely stay awake to watch the Jayhawks go 10-0!  (Rock Chalk!)

More will be forthcoming, once I've had just a little time to get organized.

Wednesday Poll: I Google

Not long ago, I read a big-brother-is-watching-you themed article about how Google is slowly and steadily gathering more and more personal information on people who use its services. 

Now, I'm not generally a conspiracy theorist, but I think the author has a good point.  Chances are you use at least a few Google applications.  Think about it--Gmail, Picasa, YouTube, Google Reader, Blogger--they're just all so darn nifty!  And when you put together a little information here, a little there...well it's easy to see how it could start to add up to a pretty good profile of who you are.

As the author points out, most of the ramifications are in advertising (as in, companies can target ads at you) but I also think it can be surprising what someone doing just a regular old search can bring up. 

So, for this week's Wednesday poll:

Go Google yourself.  Are you surprised by what came up?  Do the results paint a good picture of who you are and what you're doing?  If an old friend were trying to look you up, would those be the things you would want them to see?

Comment and discuss.

Nigella's Noodle Soup for Needy People

I was feeling a little "needy" this evening (it's cold, it's dark, it's Monday, and I'm still a little down about this weekend) so I decided to make Nigella Lawson's "Noodle Soup for Needy People" for dinner.

This is, hands down, my new favorite comfort food.  As soon as I started slicing the ginger, some sort of aromatheraputic reaction started to take place in my brain.  I blithely munched on sugar snaps as I chopped the rest of the vegetables and watched the broth simmer.

And the broth...it's like a hug and a band-aid for your soul--warm and gingery and tangy and cilantro-y.  I think I could be content with just it--or maybe it and the noodles.  But at the same time, if you put in the veggies as directed you won't be disappointed either.  This just might be the perfect soup.

I Picked Up a Hitchhiker

Don't worry Mom and Dad, it wasn't a real one--I picked up a letterboxing hitchhiker.

Much like the little geocaching "travel bug" I found yesterday, a hitchhiker is a mini-letterbox that people carry from letterbox to letterbox.  The one I found (pictured at right) was just a tiny stamp and logbook inside a very small plastic bag. 

The first time we found the He Said, She Said box, I wasn't prepared with a logbook and stamp.  So this morning--since it was gorgeous out--I wandered back and found the box again so that I could properly stamp in.  The hitchhiker had evidently been placed there yesterday.

I looked it up and discovered it was part of a series of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" stamps that the placer had liberated from a thrift store in Ohio.  This particular stamp was Quasimodo, and he traveled from Ohio to Illinois to Indiana to Tennessee and then mysteriously popped up in my neck of the woods. 

I'm thinking of making a few boxes of my own in the next few weeks--if I can figure out the stamp carving thing--so I may save him to stash with one of them...if I don't get the urge to get out and find more boxes before then!

(Letterboxing: P0 F4 X0 / Geocaching: P0 F2)

Morning Glory Death and Rebirth

The morning glories were trashed by a particularly cold frost this week, so this afternoon I decided it was time to pull them down. 

It's amazing how much vegetation was there--it took me, Sweet Husband, a weed eater, and one very sharp pair of scissors to finally get them detached from the fence.  They were tangled and tied around every nook and cranny, and even half-dead the vines are very strong. 

Once we got them hauled off, I noticed there were hundreds of little black things on top of the fence and on our sidewalk.  On closer inspection I realized they looked strangely like the morning glory seeds I planted this Spring.

In contrast to something like sunflowers where the seed making process is very obvious, the morning glories were much quieter about their propagation.  I guess I knew that they had to make seeds somehow--because, after all, they don't just get into those Seed Saver packets by magic--but I didn't really notice anything that led me to believe my particular morning glories were enceinte.

And boy were they!  By the looks of it, there will be pretty morning glories at our house--and probably our Nice Neighbors' too--for years to come.  And since we're not going to have to plant morning glories next year, I scraped as many as I could off the top of our fence to pass along to friends.  (And if you have some to collect--here's how.) 

How nice to discover a little surprise after I thought surprises were finished for the year!

Fall Colors

As you may have noticed, I'm a one blog woman these days--I just can't keep two or three updated well.  That means some of the random pictures that would have ended up on "That Camera Lady" are now just going to get tossed up here.

Like these two.  The one on the left is of a tree down the block from me.  The other is an Amish cockscomb flower that sprouted up in my garden from the seeds I planted early last Spring.