My Bit of Earth

Suspicious Vegetable Makes Good (Pasta Sauce)

Just when I had earned some measure of trust with my Sweet Husband on the veggie-cooking front (see here for the Brussels-sprouty-back story) I had to go and try to make peas a few weeks ago.  Never mind that they were oniony and buttery, never mind that I even threw in a handful of Parmesan cheese for good measure--peas they were and that was that. 

Although he was, of course, very nice about trying to choke a few down for my sake, the incident regrettably lost me a bit of my vegetable credibility.  When I grabbed an eggplant at the grocery store last weekend, eyebrows were raised suspiciously.

"What are we doing with that?" he asked.

"Making a pasta sauce."  I replied, trying to sound confident.

His eyebrows raised higher.

The eggplant then sat in the fridge--dismissed as a dinner choice for three nights in a row--until last night when I insisted we had to cook it or it would go bad.  Per this recipe, we chopped it, roasted it with garlic and tomatoes, whizzed it all together in the food processor, and mixed it, some pine nuts, and Parmesan in with a pot'o'rigatoni.

The result?  Success!  Something about eggplant makes it the most perfect vector for garlic.  They compliment each other so well, and roasting makes them both a little sweeter.  The cherry tomatoes gave it all some nice color, and the pine nuts were good crunchies.

We're back on the vegetable track again--Yay!

Wednesday Poll: What Breed of Dog Are You?

I'm surprised I haven't thought of this one before!

For this week's question:

If you were a dog, what kind would you be?  Take this quiz (or another one of your choice) or just make it up and say why.

Comment and discuss.

Indoor Gardening

The other day I was flipping through some gardening blogs and saw "Calendula and Concrete" was organizing her seed stash.  I totally dig her organization system.  No fancy note cards or fruffy boxes to get muddy the first time they're taken outside--just fat binder clips organized by the time the seeds need to be planted.  Less is more.

While my little ex-chocolate-box'o'collected-seeds is not nearly as extensive as her collection, I went through all my tiny packets this evening and sorted into flowers, early vegetables, and late vegetables.  Very nice!

And as I was pittering around in the kitchen, I noticed my daffodil bulbs (the ones I potted up in September) are finally blooming.  This picture doesn't show it, but these "miniature" daffodils are almost two feet tall.  They look kind of silly with their teeny blooms on top--the stems just kept growing!

But they do smell awfully nice.

Daring Bakers: Lemon Meringue Tartlettes

It's Daring Baker time again!  This month's recipe--supplied by Jen of The Canadian Baker--was a lovely lemon meringue with the option of making it into a pie or tartlettes.  I chose to make the tartlettes with the idea that I could bake them on the weekend and take them to work Monday.  Unfortunately, I missed the part of the recipe that recommends baking and eating on the same day lest the crust get soggy.

Undeterred, Sweet Husband and I spent a Sunday afternoon delivering tartlettes to friends we were able to catch at home.  It was very social and fun--and we got to play with everyone's dogs and kitties in the process!

I had a little trouble with the crust on this recipe, which I'm putting down mostly to equipment problems.  I didn't want to buy a pastry cutter, so I ended up just using a fork.  By the time I really got the dough to come together it was definitely a little overworked (i.e. not light and flaky).  And our very old oven just kind of makes all baked goods a shade too brown on the bottom anyway....so all in all, the crust could have been better.  Not bad, but could have been better.

On the other hand, the lemon curd was frickin' incredible.  Truly.  Seriously.  It was sweet without setting your teeth on edge, perfectly smooth, and flecked with pretty, pretty lemon zest.  I will never buy store bought lemon curd again.  And the meringue was good too. 

Read on for the recipe.

The Burrow Garden in January

We're having a heatwave (40 degrees), so Sweet Husband and I took the dogs for a walk down to the Burrow garden late this afternoon.  I think the bitter cold these past few weeks might have finally done my trusty little rosemary bush in.  It was still alive, but the leaves were starting to brown.

The only thing that was really thriving was this sage growing in the communal herb garden.  No one mulched it or anything, so I was kind of surprised.  It made me want to plant some next year if just to have something to look at on a warm day next January....

Curried Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup

(In an effort to eat a little less meat, I've set a goal to try one new recipe per week using a grain I don't commonly cook with.  See the original post here.)

This week I branched out from "alterna-grains" to "alterna-legumes".  And happily so--this curried red lentil and swiss chard soup was awesome!  Lovely texture--mushy but with firm bites of chickpeas and lentils mixed in.  Spicy--I don't generally like things that are hot, but this had just the right amount of heat and lots of good flavor behind it.  Easy--I folded a load of laundry and even had time for a quick workout in the downtime.

Difficulties?  The soup in the picture with the recipe is red.  I'm not sure if that's a picture of this soup of not, because--as you can see--ours was decidedly green.  (It was yellow before we put the chard in, but it was never, ever red.)  We don't mind green soup so it was OK, but your mileage may vary.

Other things I might do differently next time....

• Chop the jalapenos.  I quickly dunked mine into the soup, where they just as quickly disappeared.  When I got just a little bite of jalapeno it was very good, but the few times I got a mouthful--ouch!
• Serve over rice.  This was thick enough that it was really quite a bit more like just plain "curry" than "curry soup".  I like curry with rice.

Wednesday Poll: Dreaming 'Bout My Crazy Life

Whew!  This one's almost a "Thursday Poll", I know, but these past few days have been crazy.  (Well, crazy compared to my normal days.)  And to top it all off I haven't been sleeping very well because I've been having the weirdest dreams.

The other night I dreamed one of my great-uncles--whom I barely even knew--was showing me how to plant baby beets in my grandmother's back yard.

The night after that, I dreamed I went to work with a bath towel on my head.  Our secretary was in her pajamas, and all kinds of important people (including the Democratic candidates for President of the United States) were in my office.  I don't remember any of the conversation, just that I was way stressed out about how I was going to get the towel off my head without anyone noticing.

The same night I also dreamed our security guards were charging people $10 to ride the elevators.  Some of my co-workers and I were running covert-ops--complete with walkie-talkies and camouflage gear--to sneak past them without paying.

The really scary thing is some of this actually makes sense.  For example, I've been looking for baby beets for a recipe I want to make.

So for this week's poll:

Anyone else had any crazy dreams lately?  Did any of it make sense based on events in your life?  Or was it all total nonsense?

Comment and discuss.

And Now For Some Fried Dough Covered In Sugar

Ever since Tartlette submitted her Sufganiyot to "Joyous Jumble" in December, I've had it in the back of my mind that it would be fun to make some doughnuts.  That dear lady must've known that I needed an excuse, because this weekend I saw that she had posted a "Time To Make Doughnuts" challenge.

I thought about making and submitting the Sufganiyot (because I still haven't gotten a chance to try them), but that seemed like cheating somehow.  And--because keeping this stuff around the house doesn't work so well--I wanted something I could take to my carpool buddies (i.e. not messy), so I decided to make these super simple glazed doughnuts.

I used this recipe which uses store bought pizza dough as a base.  I used twenty ounces of dough rather than sixteen, and was glad that I did--it made about fifteen small doughnuts and a handful of doughnut holes.  No biscuit cutters here, so I used a small glass to cut out the outside edge of the doughnuts and just used my fingers to make a hole in the center.  It gave them a homemade look that was a nice touch.  I also skipped the cinnamon and sugar and instead used this recipe to make a glaze.

My only worry is that they might not be as good by tomorrow morning.  Sweet Husband has been taste testing them throughout the day, and said they were definitely better straight out of the frying oil.  I'm thinking maybe if I warm them up a little tomorrow morning they'll get some of their original gooey-ness back?

Happy Birthday Little Man!

It's so very hard to believe he used to be this tiny and cute.  And--as we said often at the time--he was very lucky to be so.  There are days being adorable was all that saved him from being sold to gypsies!

Several pairs of underwear, five pairs of shoes, at least four electronic gadgets, various and sundry pieces of woodwork, and three years later....Happy Birthday Moe!

UPDATE:  Moe spent his birthday at home, got to take a shower (which is his favorite thing, but a special treat in the winter when it's cold out), and took a long nap on Mom's tummy.  (Thank you MLK day and lovely government jobs!)  Dad (a.k.a. Sweet Husband) brought home ice cream for both dogs, which--once we blew out the candles and took it out of it's plastic cup--Moe ate in one huge gulp.  I don't know if dogs get ice cream headaches--and he didn't act like it bothered him if it did--but my head almost hurt just watching it!

Snowy Fields, Snowy Dogs

After a few days of breath-stealingly cold weather, we finally ventured out this afternoon, because, you know, dogs must be walked. 

The wind was absolutely bitter, but the colors were beautiful.  This is one of the fields we walked through (in full color, half color, and black and white). 

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

(In an effort to eat a little less meat, I've set a goal to try one new recipe per week using a grain I don't commonly cook with.  See the original post here.)

I was a little tired of salad-type "alterna-grain" recipes, so for something different this week we tried blueberry buckwheat pancakes.  The original plan was to make this recipe, but when I found a buckwheat pancake mix at the store, well, it won.

The buckwheat pancakes were a little coarser than plain pancakes--not quite as gritty as, say, cornbread--but I thought they had a ton more flavor.  I could easily be happy eating them from now on.  Especially with semi-homemade blueberry syrup.

(For more about buckwheat--which is actually not related to wheat at all--see here.)

Terrines and Verrines, Experimenting with Layers

I was flipping through food blogs last week when I came across two words that were unfamiliar to me: verinne and terrine.  A few minutes worth of research later I learned....

• verinne: An appetizer or dessert that consists of a number of components layered artfully in a small glass. (The word verrine refers to the glass itself; literally it means "protective glass.")
• terinne:   1: A usually earthenware dish in which foods are cooked and served.  2: a mixture of chopped meat, fish, or vegetables cooked and served in a terrine.

Helpful, but still not completely clear.  So I went looking for pictures--here are some verinnes and some terrines--and the light bulb went off.  It seems to me that (loosely) a verrine is food in layers in a glass made to look pretty or cute--something like a parfait.  A terrine is kinda-sorta like a meatloaf only not necessarily entirely meat, and, again, made to look pretty when it's all sliced up--like a pate or a jello mold.

Once I got all of that figured out, I was ready to play.

Wednesday Poll: Theme Songs

I have this maybe-kind-of-weird habit of assigning theme songs to people and events in my life. 

My first big, dramatic high school break-up?  "Never is a Promise" by Fiona Apple.  (Important lyrics:  "I realize what I am now / Too smart to mention / To you.") 

The first few months of dating Sweet Husband?  "Bucket Seats" by Cake.  ("Stick shifts and safety belts / Bucket seats have all got to go. / When we're driving in the car / It makes my baby seem so far.")

Nice Sister?  "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison.  ("Sha la la la la la la la la la la dee dah.")

Even my dog Moe has his own theme song--"Upside Down" by Jack Johnson.  ("I can't do everything / Well I can try" and "There's no stopping curiosity".)

For this week's poll:

If you had to pick a theme song for yourself, what would it be?  For someone else?  For an event in your life?  Share some of the lyrics to help explain why.

Comment and discuss.

Barley Risotto with Roasted Winter Vegetables

(In an effort to eat a little less meat, I've set a goal to try one new recipe per week using a grain I don't commonly cook with.  See the original post here.)

For this week's "alterna-grain" I chose something a little more winter-y than last week.  Tonight we tried Barley Risotto with Roasted Winter Vegetables. 

Rather than using half a butternut squash, as the recipe calls for, I used an entire small pumpkin that was hanging out in the pantry.  I also mashed the vegetables after roasting them because I like a smoother consistency rather than veggie chunks.

I hadn't ever cooked with celery root (a.k.a. celeriac) before, and I absolutely loved it.  I love the flavor of celery, but I don't really like the stringy texture of it when it's cooked.  By using the root, I got all the flavor without the stringy bits--very nice. 

The barley on the other hand...eh, not so much.  I liked the kind of woodsy flavor it brought to the mix, but part of what makes risotto such comfort food is its smoothness.  The chewiness of the barley messed with that, and not in a good way. 

I think we'll make this recipe again, but probably with risotto or orzo pasta rather than barley.

Letterboxing on the Kaw

Don't ask what happened to #2--I numbered the boxes so that they'll make the most sense when they're all laid out, not in the order I'm placing them--but yesterday Sweet Husband, the dogs, and I placed Lovely Lawrence #3:  The Kaw.  Here's how to get to it:

From downtown Lawrence, Kansas, take Massachusetts Street north until you get to the bridge that crosses the Kansas River (a.k.a. the Kaw).  Cross the bridge.  As you cross the bridge, if you look to your right you'll see the pictured large mural made of rocks in the north side of the river bank.  Make the first right turn after the bridge, and park your car near the park benches.

Climb up the hill to get to the trail that runs along the river.  Follow the trail east until you get to the mural.  Walk down the path on the eastern side of the mural until you get to the place where the edge of the mural comes to a point. 

From the lowest of the bricks that outline the edge of the mural, face directly away from the mural.  About 20 feet out into the rocks, you'll see an almost perfectly square hole.  (Here's an extra hint.)  Reach down into the hole to find the letterbox.  Be careful to watch for snakes!

See also:  Lovely Lawrence #1:  Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

(Letterboxing: P3 F5 X0 / Geocaching: P0 F2)

Quinoa, Mango, and Black Bean Salad

In the first of what I'm calling our "alterna-grain" experiments (pursuant to this post), tonight we tried this Quinoa, Mango, and Black Bean Salad.  While it most certainly did not fit well with the weather today (which was cold and snowy and rainy), the gingery-mango-ness of it all was delicious.  And the quinoa--which looks like teeny versions of the planet Saturn when it's cooked--bound everything together and gave it a nice nutty flavor.

I can't wait to try it again...but maybe not until June or July.

Wednesday Poll: Pay the Writers What They Want...Seriously

I've never considered myself a TV junkie.  I'm a big fan of "Grey's", and I'll watch "Dirty, Sexy, Money" and "Private Practice" if I happen to be home and not doing anything exciting.  But really, as far as planned TV watching goes that's about it.

So why is this writer's strike thing making me so crazy?

Well, in short, I think it's because it's January.  It's too cold and dark to really be outside, I've read most of the books I got for Christmas, and there's only so much you can do after 7:30 on a week night that doesn't involve needless eating, drinking, or shopping.  (And I'd rather ram toothpicks under my nails than watch reality TV.)  I've signed up for a little of this and a little of that at least a few nights a week, but on the whole--insert whiny four year old voice--I'm borrrrred.

So, for this week's poll:

What are you doing in the time you used to spend watching TV?  And does the fact that "American Gladiators" is now a prime time show completely disturb anyone else?  Or is it just me?

Comment and discuss.

Wednesday Poll: Three Things

The other day, this BlogHer post popped up on my Google Reader:

"I used to think that I needed to be 100% green, needed to boycott all the businesses that engaged in unfair practices, needed to be entirely scrupulous about every aspect of my moral life.

"And if God had made me a saint, maybe I could do that. But He didn’t; and I am not; and I can’t.

"All I know is that I can do more than I am doing. I can be more active than I have been in making the world a better place for all. In terms familiar to me, I could be living my faith more fully.

"So……….. I want to start thinking about what three things I can do in the next few months that I am not doing now. And then I want to do them. And then I’d like to challenge all of you to do the same. Pick three things to do that you are not doing now that can help the world be a better place. Then do them.

"They can be tiny or big. They can cost money or just time. But whatever the thing is, it will help someone else, or improve the world in some way. Do them by April 1st."

I think many of the typical New Year's resolutions people make are a little selfish--losing weight, reducing debt, being more organized--and while those are admirable goals, I like this idea of making some unselfish "resolutions" as well.

So, for this week's poll:

What are three things you are not doing now that you can do in the next three months to make the world better?  I've picked my three and will list them in the comments.  Then on April 1st I'll post again and let everyone know how it's going and visa-versa.

Comment and discuss.

And a Happy New Year

Porterhouse (pictured here up way past her bedtime) and the rest of us wish you all a happy, healthy, satisfying 2008!

We rang in the new year with some Wii bowling with Cutie Niece, and later some midnight noodles and non-alcoholic champagne with Nice Sister.  It was the first time I'd been up that late in months, but we had a great time!

Pictures of New Year's are here, and pictures of all our Christmas and New Year's fun are here.