Carrot Soup

I made this Moosewoodish recipe for Thanksgiving dinner. I recently discovered cleavers, which are a great way to chop carrots (louder + more dangerous = more fun). If the carrots are sweeter and not very starchy, the soup will be better.

2 lbs washed carrots, chopped
4 cups water or stock
1 1/2 t salt
3 T butter (can be less or olive oil)
1 c chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c chopped almonds
seasoning: 1 t each majoram, basil, thyme

1. Boil carrots and salt in water, covered for 10-15 minutes until mushable. Cool.
2. Sautee onions, garlic, nuts in butter until onions are clear (medium heat). Add seasoning and cook a couple more minutes.
3. Blend everything together.

to the East Coast and back

Craig and I took a last minute trip back to Buffalo for Thanksgiving, swinging out to New Haven for a side trip. These are our adventures, as captured intermittently on film.




Gary, Indiana








Ellicottville, NY










New Jersey Turnpike








Manhattan, NYC










New Haven, CT








Massachusetts Appalachian Trail









Presque Isle, PA









Ohio










Milwaukee, WI

Goodbye Wisconsin

We wrapped up our work in Wisconsin, attended a celebration of chicken research with our friends Kim and Rich, trudged into the woods one last time to fix fences, packed up the house for good, and left.

At the chicken dinner, we sampled all 6 varieties of chickens raised for study. Kim had worked up some charts, showing which breeds were most active and the most efficient at incorporating feed into body weight.













Mostly, this is about the cupcakes Lauren and I made for the dinner. Try them. They have 3 kinds of liquor in them: car bomb cupcakes, after the drink.

Shakshuka

I took a craigslist ride cross country a couple years ago with a tall Isreali man named Ofer. We stopped in Reno, and couchsurfed with Sierra and her Finnish boyfriend Niilo. We made them an Isreali dinner - Shakshuka. It was this tomato-egg dish that ended up being amazing. Unlikely, considering the visual grossness of poaching eggs in tomato sauce.

I hadn't thought about shakshuka (but who could forget a word like that?) since then. Until my culinarily-adventurous roommate Lauren brought it up. Food is one of our most discussed items. After the weather and Glee... and she told me about this dish she had found online. And we tried it. Sometime this summer, when it was still possible to sit on the porch and eat. SO AMAZING.

























Fast forward a couple of months. Lauren and I speak in allusions, not sentences. ("You know, the thingy") We have another week of work and rural Wisconsin living left. We didn't think shakshuka would happen again. Until we discovered that we had not only a can of tomatoes, but also an excess of eggs left over. Fate? Yes. I am going to miss Lauren, and Wisconsin. Where did these 6 months go?

Shakshuka: this recipe
Pitas: Lauren's research and experimentation, as follows (it isn't magic, but it is close to magic)













3 c flour (bread or all-purpose)
1.5 t salt
1 T sugar
1 package yeast (2 1/4 t loose yeast)
1 1/3 c water
2 T olive oil

Combine dry ingredients
Add oil and water, combine to form ball
Knead for 10 minutes
Let rise until doubled (1 hour to 90 min)
Punch down, divide into 8 balls
Rest 20 min under towel
Heat oven to 400-425 degrees, with a cookie sheet or pizza pan inside.
Roll out balls to a thickness of 1/8" on a floured surface
Flick or spray a little water onto heated pan, and place pitas onto it 2 at a time
Cook 3 minutes, or until they begin to brown and (hopefully) puff
Allow oven to heat up between pitas.

Windstorms, Weepies & Depriving low-income toddlers of the best halloween costumes

I am wrapped completely up in my sleeping bag. I just ate my dinner in bed (I think this may become a new ritual). It SNOWED last week. I'm internally sputtering in disgust. How is summer already over? How is not only summer, but also October, over? How are all of the leaves on the ground? Usually, I think I flow a little bit better with the seasons. I appreciate the gradations, the contrasts, etc. But for some reason, this year I am pissed.

Like most of the middle of the country, we experienced a giant gusty storm last week. Lauren and I stayed at home, afraid of getting nailed in the head with fallen trees. Yes, we could wear hard hats, but what good is a hard hat when a TREE falls on you? So, most of the storm we watched from the windows. By the end of the day, we were feeling guilty for wimping out on work. The next day, we were vindicated when we saw this giant downed hemlock right next to where we park:













In other recent events, I lived out a rather tame fantasy of mine. I really wanted to meet The Weepies. Last week, I went to see them in Minneapolis and the concert was amazing. I had made them a key lime pie (I know, kind of weird and creepy...) but was too nervous to bring it into the concert. Lauren, Janna, and I waited after the show to meet them. Deb (the lady of the duo) went back to the bus to chill with her newborn baby, but Steve came out and talked with us. He was so friendly that I told him about the pie. He said something along the lines of, "Oh you should totally go and get that," (I told you! The Weepies are amazing!), and I ran to the car and back, clutching the pie. I wasn't hyperventilating, exactly, but I was getting that heavy sweat/ trouble breathing symptomatic of nervous excitement. We ended up going to the bar with The Weepies' band and crew for a few hours. My first beer gave me heartburn because I was so excited. Yep.











Halloween in Madison. Lauren and I got some sweet little kid costumes at a thrift store.