Granola and surveys

I am sitting here eating (a lot) of granola and trying to figure out what to do with the morning -- go to the gym, work on dissertation stuff, or just stare at the walls and watch Battlestar Galactica online. It has a hectic week, even with Monday's holiday (was that this week?)

I did manage to achieve my granola goal of last week and made a decent batch that I've been plowing through scary fast. Granola is the new Kettle Korn. I can't stop eating it, and it's not even that good. I mean, it's definitely good for what it is -- but at the end of the day it's just granola and I should be able to walk away.

Here's the recipe: I started with Martha's sister Sarah's version of the Eating Well Magazine recipe, but had to use what I had on hand and don't have coconut or maple syrup. So I used honey and molasses instead. This makes me realize that to get the clumpy, carmel-y texture that the store bought stuff probably involves lots and lots of sugar, butter and/or oil. You can definitely add more of that (or anything you like) to this and get away with it. But add anything soft like raisins after everything has cooled.

Granola

Dry ingredients:

• 5+ cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 cup chopped raw almonds
• 2/3 cup roasted and salted pepitas
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• big pinch of kosher salt
  

Wet ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2-3 tablespoons molasses
• teaspoon vanilla

Post-cooking add-ins:

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apple
• 1/2 cup banana chips

Preheat the oven to 275. Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl and mix the wet in a bowl or a big measuring cup, and combine with the dry so that everything is coated. Spread the mixture into a baking sheet, and bake at 275 for about 45 minutes. Remove and stir the granola, and then bake for another 30 to 45 minutes. It will be nice and brown.

On the work front, I started surveying people in earnest yesterday. I'm not 100% sold on the survey, but don't really have any more time to waste fiddling with it and being done is more important than being perfect.

It went ok. People were willing to fill it out (and very happy about the $10 gift card -- I'm not sure I would get too many takers without it), but it is time consuming to have to hunt down folks in groups of 3 or four at a time. Folks come in for a big hour-long group meeting, and then at some point afterwards -- maybe immediately, maybe a few hours later, or maybe another day -- they have another small or one-on-one meeting where they clean up their application information, are given the voucher, and hear more specifics about the program. I need to catch them somewhere in between these appointments. The result being that I have to do a fair bit of leg work for ten surveys or something like that. I am trying to secure a bit of time after the big group presentation to try and grab everyone at once. I really have no idea how I could pull this off if I were not already at the office. Doing this at two other housing authorities will be a big challenge. Then again, if the other housing authorities don't issue any vouchers over the next few months, it's a moot point.

So I have no idea if I'll be able to get a decent sample size over the next few months. It looks like Jake and I will be in NYC for the summer as of sometime in June, and then the wedding is in late September ... I should ideally have the surveying done by the summer. Fat chance. Ideally, it should have been done already. But I am already trying to find funding for a follow-up study in the fall. I think I'll at least have enough of a sample for that, even if I don't hit a number to be representative for the city or county. The goal for the follow-up study would be to find out where folks ended up living, how they found or looked for housing, and their experience looking for housing. Now that I'm talking to people a little bit, I can see the things that a survey just isn't going to pick up. For example, the person who reeked of alcohol and was drunk enough that he forgot what the gift card was when I finally handed it to him. And the woman who says she is moving to Brooklyn but has never been there and has no friends or family there. Both are probably in for an uphill climb.

Ok -- granola and first of many coffees for the day are done. I think I will attempt the gym and running some stairs, since the Big Climb race is next month and I'd like to beat my time from last year. 69 flights of stairs up to the top of the Columbia Tower! More on that later.

Pre-test, beet juice and carrot ginger soup.

My neighbor Sarah passed along this damn cute picture of Noah, who just turned three a couple of weeks ago--along with some of the homemade beet juice he's is pictured with (and under). I think Jake would have an anxiety attack if I brought yet another appliance home, but the juice is good enough to make the idea of owning a juicer really appealing. But I suspect Sarah has a talent for it. Noah apparently won't touch a vegetable but loves the juice. He seems to be a healthy eater to me, though. A few weeks ago we made raisin bran muffins (nice recipe from 101 cookbooks -- but they're sticky and meant to be eaten fast--so grease the pans well and eat up) and he told me raisin muffins were his favorite. Mine too.

On a separate note, I finally did a pre-test of the dissertation survey yesterday, officially kicking off the data-collection phase once and for all! whew.

It was uneventful, which is good... none of my big concerns seem to be problems. I was worried it would be 1) too long (50 questions), too 2) confusing and/or 3) poorly worded so that questions and response options meant different things to different people. But all seemed well, aside from a couple of surprise points. For example, when I say "do you have transportation to visit housing" I mean to ask Do you have a way to get to apartments you are interested in possibly renting? But three of five people thought I wanted to know if they had transportation to get the the Housing Authority office we were sitting in and were confused because, well, there we were sitting in it. Good to know. I also found that in my effort not to bait people into responses, I was beating around the bush and not getting to the point. Hmmm. Rings true for my personal life, not surprisingly.

Between work, the consulting project and the pre-test, the week was pretty draining. So when Martha N came over for dinner last night she found me still in the sweaty clothes I biked home from work in (big hill between home and work) and half-assing dinner prep. I accidentally added a cup less flour that I needed for rosemary feta focaccia, and overcooked the chard and veggies I was adding to pasta. It was fine, but all a bit off. And soft. Not that she's holding it against me. At some point I remembered that there was leftover carrot ginger soup in the fridge, so at least that made up for the mediocre showing. I used pureed leftover rice in it, which made it creamy and thick without having to resort to actual cream. I don't really like the taste (aftertaste?) of cream in soups and savory things. And I f-ing love to use that immersion blender.

It turned out a bit sweet but with a bit of a kick to it from the ginger. Nothing too much for MN, who can't deal with spicy at all. Not even strong mints. Here's a picture of the last of the soup--today's lunch--with the weird under-floured feta rosemary focaccia.

And here's the soup recipe, more or less. I'm guessing at measurements:

Carrot soup
2 lbs carrots (two weeks from the CSA -- more or less woudl be fine)
1 bunch of small white turnips
2 tablespoons olive oil
About 1 inch or so of ginger
1 chopped onion
1-2 tablespoons cumin
1-2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt & pepper
About 3/4 cup cooked rice (I had jasmine from trader joe's)
6-8 cups chicken and/or vegetable stock

Slice the turnips and carrots and set aside. Sautee the onion until soft, add the diced ginger, and then the tomato paste, cumin and paprika, and salt. Add the stock. Let it come to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer for about 40 minutes, or until the carrots and turnips are really soft. Add some more salt and pepper if you want it. keep about a cup of the broth to add to the rice, and then use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Mix the rice and broth, and do the same. Add the rice mixture to the soup.

It was definitely better the next day, and with some feta cheese and parsley on top.

Happy president's weekend! My goal for the weekend, aside from getting work done, is to try making granola, which I hear is easy. Until then, I'm off to the coffee shop to re-word some survey questions.

The stimulus bill.

I've spent a lot of time over the past day or two reading about the stimulus bill compromise and trying to dig up details. And I'm kind of burnt out on it, and just about everything else, for the moment.

But for those of you who may be interested in a belated update to the Man the Phones post, the stimulus bill, according to the information that has been trickling in, has a very decent amount of money in it for affordable housing. Folks are quibbling about how it will be distributed, who will benefit most, and how fast it will (or can) be spent -- but at the end of the day there is a lot in there. Here's a link to the senate finance committee's summary of the general provisions, and a link from the National Low Income Housing Coalition that focuses on housing.

Also going on is a great conference on housing and community development issues hosted by NYU's Furman Center in collaboration with the MacArthur and Rockefeller foundations. There is live blogging at the Next American City website.

Contact your senators!

Or your congresspeople.

I bet you know that congress and the president are hot and heavy over the new stimulus package and the Senate will be voting on it this week -- maybe as soon as Monday or Tuesday. And that the "moderates" are attacking the big price tag attached to the House's plan. At risk are some programs that serve low-income people and would be a critical boost to cities and housing service providers who have been running on fumes through the Bush administration. With pretty dire budget situations on the state and local sides, they really need the federal help to keep up with growing demand for services.

The foreclosure bailouts and homeownership packages get the most press, but there are other programs in the mix: public housing, emergency shelter assistance, programs to facilitate affordable housing production.

Here's a link to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's info on the stimulus bill and the housing funds that are on the table -- with a handy zip code search function to get you your representatives' contact info. Here's another link to find and reach your senators, and one for your congresspeople.

Tell them to invest in the national housing trust fund to support affordable housing production (here's a NY Times editorial on that), as well as long-needed and terribly under-funded upgrades and repairs to public housing and other subsidized housing for low-income people. Tell them to protect the funding included in the House bill for public housing, low income renters, and homelessness prevention. The calls and emails and letters do matter, don't take much time, and don't require much detail. Might as well do what you can.

Ok, I'm done with the pitch -- Go team!

Work work work. And pretzels for poker.

It's been a full week since I was last able to post, so I have a bit of a backlog happening. I started writing a couple of times, but my day job is in busy season--which is the legislative session--and my consulting gig is finally getting some traction. And I'm perpetually cleaning up the survey to get ready for a pre-test next week (assuming there are people to survey). I have been trying to figure out how to post a copy of it, but it looks like I need to upload to a separate website and then link to it here ... too much work for the moment. Baby steps.

Last night we hosted a poker party with some new friends we connected with through my friend Russell, who has been sending his friends in Seattle on blind dates with each other. Thus far very successfully, I think. I am very excited about them, but skeptical of complicated card games. I have trouble simultaneously remembering both the rules and the whole betting thing, and then lose patience for paying attention. So my expectations for the game were low and I figured I'd concentrate on the snacks and general hanging out. Turns out the game was fun. I didn't win a single hand (I split one pot with Jay, but I don't think that counts), but we weren't playing for real money.

Specifcially, I wanted to try making soft pretzels after seeing them on the Food Network's Good Eats. The cutesy tone on that show can be really annoying, but the actual content tends to be good and the cooking steps are de-mystified and simple. I knew you boil bagels and pretzels, for example, but didn't know why and it seemed hard. Now I do (sort of), and know it isn't hard.

I tried them out for the poker folks, and was very excited that they came out well. The poker folks gave some pretty positive feedback. I made a bunch of smaller pretzels instead of 8 large ones the recipe calls for, and used sea salt ($4.99 at Trader Joe's) instead of pretzel salt (who knows where you can get that, anyway). They were particularly good warm, but held up well and would freeze well, I think. I used a slotted spatula to fish them out of the boiling water and it was way less awkward than I thought it would be.

The pretzels were be labor-intensive so the other stuff was not: a chocolate peanut butter bar cookie thing, and then some tamari almonds.

The almonds are quick and easy but might be ruining my cast iron pan:

• Heat a dray pan and add raw almonds, stirring them for a minute or so.
• Add a generous pour of tamari or soy sauce, and stir while the liquid evaporates and the almonds are dark and coated with the soy sauce.
  
• Taste one to see if they are strong enough for you, and either add more tamari and repeat, or spread them on a cookie sheet or parchment paper to dry and cool a bit.
• Add some coarse salt to taste.

The whole thing takes about 10 minutes. The only down side is that the are a bit sticky. Spreading them out before putting them in a bowl helps them from sticking together a bit, but I haven't figured out how to avoid it completely. I've made these a couple of times now and no one seems to care. I tried once with blanched almonds and they came out chewy, so I'd stick to raw. I'd like to try it with wasabi sometime soon but am not sure how to pull that off yet.

The chocolate peanut butter bars were from a Cookography recipe. They were delicious, particularly after they sat for a couple of hours, but I don't even want to think about how many calories might be in there (I'm afraid to take a picture because I might be tempted to eat more). Peanut butter, butter, chocolate and condensed milk, with more peanuts on top? The recipe says you can get away with a cup of crushed peanuts -- I think you can cut that down to half or even skip them entirely. I have leftovers to distribute ASAP before I get too attached to them, and will definitely bust these out for the next work function (there are a lot of food-related activities at work--I have to do a brown bag lunch presentation in a couple of weeks, and will bring these along, i think).

I ate almost exclusively bread, fat, sugar and booze yesterday, with a red bell pepper and an apple thrown in to make myself feel better. I have some detox gym and stair-running planned in a couple of hours, with a friend who is a trainer and kicks ass. So she will probably kick my ass. Which reminds me: next post will be about the Big Climb: the race to the top of the Columbia Tower. 69 stories and about 1,300 stairs. I did it last year and am hoping to beat my time -- but can't quite remember what it was so need to figure that out, i guess.

Ok -- I'm off to make yet more edits and have more coffee before heading to the gym. Enjoy the day!

Lard bread.

Jake is in Brooklyn this weekend, and I hope he leaves some clothes behind so he can fit baked goods in his carry-on bag. Fat chance. But it reminds me I never posted the lard bread recipe.

I had to hunt for it, and found out I'm not the only one pining for Caputos in Carroll Gardens. Multiple people posted on baking websites looking for the Caputo's lard bread recipe, or one from a place on the Lower East Side that apparently no longer exists. Caputos also has an amazing olive bread with whole calamata olives that makes me miss my friend Amy. I'm going to try making olive bread as a reward for getting through the next dissertation milestone, which will be completing the pre-test of the survey (maybe as soon as next week).

Anyway, at first I could only find a recipe from the Italian Trade Commission (seriously) that was for a traditional Easter bread with six whole eggs baked onto the top. Overkill. The recipe I finally found is from the Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, who also wrote the Cake Bible--which is massive and in its like 764th re-printing. I have the Cake Bible, and was initially bummed that Beranbaum's recipe seemed to be my only shot at lard bread. I bought the Cake book years ago in a flurry of enthusiasm about something or other, but was in over my head and found it impossible to make any of the recipes in my mini-kitchen that was equipped with two bowls and a ladel.

I figured I'd have to buy the bread book and then need to find some tool or special mail-order only ingredient to pull it off. So I picked the book up at Borders with every intention of returning it immediately after jotting down the recipe (yeah, I know -- but both money and shelf space are scarce and I didn't even open it all the way). Turns out I was only half right. I did end up unsuccessfully searching for malt powder, whatever that is, and bought a silicone baking mat. But I'd been eyeing the mat for a while and it was only $12. If I bought all the stuff Beranbaum mentions, I'd be out thousands. Otherwise, I'm really happy with the Bread Bible. She is seriously in love with bread and a bit over the top (here's a line from the intro to her "Heart of Wheat" recipe: "The thought of making this bread inspires me to sing 'America the Beautiful' while picturing vast prairies of golden waves of wheat. But eating it inspires absolute reverence and silence!"), and she really, really wants you to love bread too. There tends to be a lot of stuff involved for even simple recipes, but if you sift through the prose you can find a scenario that matches your tools and time and interest.

I did return the book to Borders, however. Amazon had it for 15 bucks cheaper (subsidizing the mat) and Jake gets free shipping, so I returned and re-bought.

In the end, the lard bread was a hit. Not Caputo's caliber, but Jake's Grandma Irma et el. gave the thumbs up and I'll play with the recipe it a bit. It needed more meat and a bit more pepper, I think, and maybe some cheese. I may try it with a bit more lard. This is not an everyday meal kind of a thing.

A warning: The recipe (and several others in the book) calls for a tray placed on the bottom of the stove as it pre-heats that you throw ice in to produce steam for a better crust. Here's a picture of a really funny-looking gadget that injects steam into your oven for you (not mentioned in the Bread Bible).

My steam was lame. Whatever. I tried, but my electric oven sucks. The crust was fine, though, and next time I'll give it an egg wash or brush it with butter. Ice throwing notwithstanding, this is easy. It is not hard, so don't be put off. Her recipe called for shaping the dough into a ring. I kept it a loaf because that's how I'm used to it.

Ok, sorry for all the narrative -- Beranbaum is getting to me.

Here's what I did, adapted from the Bread Bible and using a standing mixer:


Bread Bible Lard Bread

• Bread flour: 2 cups+2 tablespoons/12oz/340 grams (Or 2.25 + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour)
• Sugar: 1 tablespoon/.3 oz/9.3 grams (she called for malt powder, sugar or honey)
• Instant yeast: ¾ tablespoon
• Coarse pepper: ½ teaspoon
• Salt : 1 teasp
• Lard : 2 tablespoons
• Water: 1 cup / 8.3 oz./ 236 grams
• Meat: ¾ cup meat in ¼ to ½ inch pieces (mix of prosciutto and spicy soppresata)

Whisk flour, sugar, yeast, and pepper. Then whisk in salt.

Add the water and lard for about 1 minute at #2 speed, until flour is moistened.

Mix at #4 speed for 7 minutes.

Add meat on #2 for 1 minute or so until evenly incorporated

It will be very elastic dough that is somewhat sticky but won’t cling to fingers. Dust lightly with flour and cover for 20 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, turn the dough out and roll it into a log about 12 inches long. Put the loaf on parchment paper or the silicon baking mat and let it rise for 1 hour, covered with lightly oiled plastic wrap or a big bowl.

Preheat the oven to 450 for one hour, with the rack and a baking sheet at lowest level and a pan or skillet below on the bottom of the oven. When the bread is ready to bake, put it (still on parchment paper or a mat) on the hot baking sheet.

Put 1/2 cup ice cubes in the skillet or pan to make steam. Quickly close the door to trap the steam and cook 20 minutes at 450. Then turn the oven down to 400 for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Beranbaum says to turn the loaf halfway through the baking, pulling it off the parchment or liner and directly on the baking sheet. I'm not sure why this step exists, but I did it. When it's done, the bread should be golden brown. Turn off the oven and prop the door open slightly for for 5 minutes before taking the bread out and putting it on a cooling rack.

There you go. I hope someone tries it.

Laura's baby shower and Sunday dinner

Last weekend Martha N and I co-hosted a baby shower brunch for the lovely mom-of twin boys-to-be Laura, followed by dinner for six at my place later that night. It actually worked out quite well, even if I was feeling goofy by the time dessert rolled around that night. I drank kind of a lot of leftover champagne between brunch and dinner, which no doubt had something to do with that. But the day (and food) went over well, Laura seemed happy and it was great to meet her friends and family. And socializing was a nice break from a long, overextended work week.

I've been waiting on this post because I didn't take any pictures and was hoping to get my hands on someone else's. I seriously need to invest in a new camera. Martha N made great looking (and tasting) sticky buns and a pumpkin cake, and some friends of Laura's brought all the stuff for tamales -- yet this is the only picture I have of Laura and its not even from the shower. She's taking part in an MLK day celebration at the school where she teaches, I think. Or possibly a pro-compassion rally (which has probably happened in Seattle at some point or another)? Please let me know if you have any good camera suggestions, because I am ready to invest (modestly).

Brunch needed to be easy to make and to eat. The tamale-makers needed to spread out in the kitchen (we used every kitchen item of mine and some they brought with them) and Martha N needed the oven. So something that could be put together in advance and/or in one pan. And I was really just providing space and logistical support -- Martha N took care of most of the details, including helping re-arrange the furniture so we could all sit and taking me to Pike Market early Sunday for tulips and coffee. Martha N is pretty great.

The tamales (half with chicken and kale, half just refried beans and cheese) were also great. Laura took home a few freezer bags full for when then babies come (twins! boys! holy crap), and--57-step process notwithstanding--they're pretty straightforward if you have strong leader ship (enter Laura's friend Hilary, who is originally from Texas and was elbow deep in masa at one point). Definitely a nice twist for something like a shower and 110x better than other things I've heard of (melting candy bars to look like baby poop? Tasting baby food and guessing which is the chicken and peas?). At least once you get past the amount of lard in them (giant tub of it), which I may never be able do.

For my end I found a couple of recipes on 101 Cookbooks, which is a great and good-looking blog full of healthy, simple recipes. They tend to call for a ton of ingredients, but many are staples you may already have. You can search by ingredient, which is perfect for when I have some CSA box item I want to use -- in this case, bananas. I ended up with Roasted Banana Bread with rum-soaked raisins (I've been into rum raisin things lately--like in leftover bread and pasta puddings, following Mark Bittman's suggestions). I followed the recipe almost exactly, except that I added an extra banana, skipped the pumpkin seeds and put some salted pepitas on top instead. The bread is pretty, really light (cake flour does that trick), not overly sweet, and has a richer banana flavor than most. I had mine with strawberry preserves and was pleased with myself.

I also made a vegetable and rice casserole/gratin thing that was a hybrid of a few recipes I've tried from the NY Times and 101 Cookbooks. Another good option for leftover rice or veggies. I used arborio rice because I think holds up better than other types of rice, but I bet any rice or grains would work. I'm thinking spelt might be worth trying. I used chard, mushrooms and onions--but here too I bet pretty much any vegetables would work. I meant to throw in the chopped chard stems but forgot. Some baby shower-ers asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Mushroom, chard and onion risotto casserole

2 tbs olive oil
12 oz mixed mushrooms, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 bunch chard, blanched and chopped
3-4 cups cooked risotto (arborio) rice (cooked in vegetable stock)
2 large eggs
1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
3/4 cup sour cream
2 oz grated gruyere
2 oz grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste
tarragon and parsley for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook the mushrooms in olive oil until they start to soften. Add the onion, cooking until they start to turn translucent. Add the garlic and a bit of salt and pepper and stir for a minute or so longer, and then add the cooked rice and the chard. Set it aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs a bit and then add the sour cream, cottage cheese and grated cheeses -- hold on to some of the parmesan for the top, or add more if you want to. I think I added a bit more salt and pepper at this point, but the sour cream has a lot of flavor so I don't think you need much.

Combine the rice/veggie and the egg/cottage cheese mixes, and pour it into a decent-sized baking or casserole dish. I used a silicone brownie dish sprayed with a little olive oil. You want the mixture to be thick and thoroughly wet but not soupy. I used a square (8x8?) silicone brownie pan.

Bake at 350 for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until it looks bubbly and set. I put it under the broiler briefly to brown the top. Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting into it. I turned it out onto a cookie sheet and then pretty-side up onto a wooden cutting board with some chopped tarragon and parsley on top.

By the time we cleaned up from the shower, it was time to think about dinner. Everything was from recipes I found on-line, and I didn't fuss with them:

A big pot of French onion soup (onions came from the CSA last week), a green salad, and the easy focaccia toasted with cheese to top the soup with. And lemon bars with whipped cream from an Ina Garten recipe. I like her. Jake made a couple of steaks because he felt we were protein-deprived and we had some in the freezer. I'm eating almost no meat these days (but use stock or bullion all the time...not sure what that pans out to geo-agro-politically).

The soup is hearty and satisfying, and I pretty much followed the recipe except with more beef stock than chicken, leftover shower champagne instead of sherry, and dried herbs instead of fresh. But be warned: the first hour of cooking the onions in the oven is pretty intense fumes-wise. Jake and I felt a little queasy and went for a walk to get some air (I may have just been tired).

The lemon bars are great because you don't have to cook the custard. I was skeptical, but it turned out creamy, kind of spongy, and really rich. I thought it was almost too rich, but the whipped cream helped cut the sweet-tartness. I used a small round cake pan and a (silicone--it's sticky stuff!) cupcake pan for individual servings that folks took home. The only down side was that the crust didn't hold up in the fridge overnight (yes, I had some for breakfast). That might have been from me overworking the dough because I suck at shortbready things. But I think I would use a graham cracker crust next time, which is harder to botch and still pretty tasty.

Ok -- that's all for that. Thanks for the potato ideas, but I solved the potato problem: it suddenly occurred to me that I could give them away instead of trying to force myself to consume them. Duh. Have a great weekend!

IRB, a fetching cat and a call for potato recipes!

The IRB approved my project! This is good! Or at least feels like progress.

IRB down; pre-tests and finalizing steps with housing authorities and legal departments and whatnot still to go. The grant application that sucked up my time is behind me, and Jake is packed off to NYC for the weekend so I can theoretically get a ton of work done. And I have about 12 lists of things to do all ready to go. Feels promising.

I'm off to a coffee shop to hopefully plow through some list items for a couple of hours, and to avoid procrastinating by attempting to do something with the 5 pounds of potatoes--two or three weeks worth--I have taunting me from their perch in the kitchen. I already wasted time by taking a picture of the stupid potatoes. I really need help with potato ideas. Anything you like to do with them?! Please send them my way.

In the meantime, here is my friend Shannon's cat Pumpkin. Pumpkin fetches hair ties. Seriously. I've been bugging her to put the fetching cat on You Tube, and she finally did. I am also impressed with her video editing skills.




Send potato ideas!

Sweet thing(s) giveaway

My friend Martha N's crafty sister Sarah, of the crafty sweet thing(s) blog is celebrating her 200th blog post by giving away a sample of her felted art. She's even been on Martha Stewart (yes, lots of Marthas going on) and never fails to impress.

Long ice cream post for Lisa's birthday!

Today is Lisa's birthday! Or maybe it was yesterday? I'm bad with birthdays. And she's in the UK, so it is tomorrow there already even if her birthday is today over here. In any case, she is special and this is her special day!

Here's me and Lisa in Des Moines, Iowa two and a half years ago -- this is the last time I saw Lisa, I think. Which is shocking considering the amount of time we used to spend/waste together. She has created an entire new person since then (see Gillian!), and I can't wait to meet her.

Lisa has specifically requested ice cream recipes to use with her new ice cream machine. We have had several conversations about the glories of ice cream makers. I love mine, even if it is in the cabinet now because I have no room for the bowl in the freezer. But as an incentive to make vs. buy, we were just informed by QFC that some peanut butter cup ice cream we bought was recalled for the salmonella scare. Yuck.

So I'm no expert, but here are some ice cream recipes for Lisa. The ones I've tried and liked so far are:

Berry and vodka sorbet
Pumpkin rum-raisin ice cream

I also direct you to the chocolate cashew ice cream I posted a few weeks ago.

And then by request, Plain Vanilla. I have not actually made them but I'll pass them to you and you can tell me how they go.

First, here are some rambling things I picked up by trial and error:

There are a couple of approaches to ice cream. First, the slightly challenging custard base with tons of eggs and time on the stove, then time chilling, before it can go in the freezer. So delayed gratification but richer and fattier and creamier and probably a crowd-pleaser. Second, the completely idiot-proof all milk and cream no-cooking involved kind (unless you steep something in the cream, which is always a good idea). It's quicker and easier, but doesn't keep well and can be kind of icy. There's apparently an additive (pectin? gelatin? Rennet?) that you can use to cut the icy/crystalline quality, but I haven't tried yet. Too lazy. And then there is the skimp-on-fat frozen yogurt or low fat kind. The texture changes with frozen yogurt--particularly if you use no milk at all, or no fat at all. Nonfat frozen yogurt sticks to the ice cream maker bowl, but ice cream does not. And the frozen yogurt doesn't freeze as smoothly. If I'm making it for me, I use plain non- or lowfat yogurt. If it's for anyone else, I use the full fat kind or add cream or whole milk.

For all recipes, it's a good idea to chill the mix in the fridge before you freeze it, so that the flavors come together. They can sit for a couple of hours to a couple of days and be fine. A tiny bit of booze is also really nice in ice cream (like, a tablespoon or two) -- particularly in sorbet. It keeps it from getting too hard, and helps it be creamy. But not too much or it won't freeze right. Finally, all machine instructions and recipes seem to say that you should churn it in the maker and then transfer it to a bowl and let it sit in the freezer for a while to firm up. I sometimes do this and sometimes I can't wait. Seems like the custard ones need it while the yogurt really doesn't. Lower fat kinds are better fresher and softer, I think.

So here goes:

1. Pumpkin Rum Raisin (adapted from Peggy Fallon's Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts)

I made this one for my neighbors and they liked it. But it got kind of grainy from the pumpkin after a day or two in the freezer, so is best eaten pretty fast.

1/2 cup dark rum
1 cup dark raisins
2 cups sugar
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 can pumpkin (unsweetened -- not pie filling)
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
pinch of salt

Bring the rum and raisins to a boil, remove from the heat, and let soak for an hour.

Whisk the sugar and the creams and salt together to dissolve the sugar, then whisk in the pumpkin and spices. Taste it to see if you like it sweeter, but I can't imagine you do. Chill it for a couple of hours. Follow your machines instructions -- adding the raisins and the rum when you are in the final few minutes.

2. Berry Vodka Sorbet

I used frozen mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) for this, and it was great. Straining the stuff to get rid of the seeds and skins is a pain, though. I bet you could do this with other fruit -- I've been meaning to try pureed canned peaches (without adding sugar if they are packed in syrup), and fresh ripe mango might be nice. The zest makes a big difference, and I bet other citrus juice or zest swapped in would work well. If you don't have juice or cider of any kind (maybe a berry juice might be good) you probably want to add some sugar.

1 to 1.5 pounds mixed berries, fresh or frozen.
3/4 cup apple cider or juice
3/4 cup maple syrup or sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
pinch of salt
grated lemon zest (about one lemon)
1-2 tablespoons vodka

Blend the berries with the apple juice in a blender or use an immersion blender in a big bowl. Strain the mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and skins. Stir in the maple syrup, lemon juice, salt, lemon zest, and vodka. Freeze according to the machine's instructions.

Long post! Here's a picture to break it up: This (really scary) monkey stole a cookie from me in Gilbraltar, on a trip that Amy and I took a couple of years ago. She tried to get me to pose with the monkey but I would not. Lisa REALLY LIKES monkeys, and also likes the Pixies quite a bit. She once made me promise to do an interpretive dance to the Pixies song This Monkey's Gone to Heaven at her funeral -- wearing a flesh-colored body suit. Clearly both the request and promise were made after a few too many drinks. I have never understood what made her come up with the body suit.

3. Vanilla, two ways (cooked and no cooking, both from the Ice Cream book noted above)

A. Cooked Fancy vanilla

1 vanilla bean
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon good vanilla extract

Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds out into a saucepan with the milk, cream and the vanilla bean itself. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Add the sugar and salt, and return the pan to medium heat for about 5 minutes, until it is hot.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks. Gradually and slowly whisk in about a cup of the hot milk mixture -- slowly enough to heat the eggs without cooking them. Add the egg and milk mixture to the pan with the rest of the cream and cook slowly, on low heat, until it starts to thicken into a custard. It should coat the back of a spoon. Don't let it boil.

Strain the custard through a sieve and remove the vanilla bean. Cover and refrigerate the mixture for at least 6 hours. When you are ready to make it, stir in the vanilla, and freeze according to the machine's directions. Transfer to a freezer container and let it firm up for another couple of hours.

B. No Cook Plain Vanilla

1.5 cups whole milk
1.5 cups heavy cream
pinch of salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix all, dissolving the sugar. Let sit and chill for as long as you can, and then freeze according to the machine's directions. The recipe says freeze for three hours after you have churned it.

But in a pinch this past summer, I'd take whatever yogurt I had in the fridge -- generally vanilla or plain -- and add some milk or cream (1/2 cup? a cup?), a touch of vanilla, and some maple syrup or sugar to taste. You can add some berries at the end if you want -- or cook down some frozen or fresh berries with some sugar and/or a touch of lemon juice and put it in or on top. Easy and quick and good when Gilly is too cranky to let you deal with custard.

Finally, I have a cup of coconut milk in the fridge, some full fat yogurt, and a couple of almost over-ripe bananas. I think I will put them together with some sugar and vanilla and see what happens and then let you know next year.

I hope this helps! Happy birthday Lisa! And congrats on the new job. I hope you had a great day, and have many more great ones this year. I hope we even get to have a couple together. Much love.