Mmm, Dinner!

I recently acquired 11 oz of figs from my friend Kathleen. It's not a ton of figs, but when you're not sure what to do with one, and you're the only person in the house who would bother eating one, it's alot! Here's the fig in question:



So, there is the very real danger that I might end up having to rename my blog "Eating My Way", because as I had alot of fun recording tonight's dinner!


So, here are the ingredients needed for a gorgeous portabella "burger":

1 portabella cap, stem cut.

3-ish tablespoons balsamic vinagrette (I like Newman's Own, but a homemade 50:50 ratio is very good,too)

1 dried black mission fig, thinly sliced and lightly brushed with balsamic vinegar

2-4 medium sized slices of red onion (not too thin, but not fat either)

4 rings of red pepper, not too thin (they must be sturdy enough to survive the grill)

3-4 leaves of fresh basil

1 slice of mozzarella or provolone cheese

1 bakery roll, preferably whole wheat


Thoroughly clean the mushroom and knock all loose dirt and whatever off of it. Do not submerge in water! Clean gently with a damp paper towel. You may want to scrape out the "gills", but I never do. They don't bother me and I'm lazy. I also tend to think that the gills hold in the flavor of the vinaigrette, but that could be my imagination.

Pour half the vinaigrette in a bowl that the entire cap can sit flat in, the other half into the cap. use a brush to get the whole thing as coated as possible, and let sit for about 5 minutes or so.


Place the cap on the grill face (gills side) down. Be careful, the oil from the dressing is FLAMMABLE and the flames will jump up. Arrange the onions and peppers, like so, directly on the grill, and close the lid for 5-10 (depending how hot your grill is, it might take much less time) minutes and then flip the onions and peppers. You want to slightly burn and blacken stripes onto the onions and peppers. Otherwise, you might as well cook them in a skillet on the stove. It's the BURN that makes it good, trust me.

Flip the mushroom cap and place the thinly sliced fig into the cavity. You might want to drain some of the juices out first. Then place the grilled onions on the figs, the peppers on the onions, and then tear up the basil leaves and carefully place them on the peppers. You may then place on top of the whole lot a slice of provalone or mozzarella or what ever cheese you like. I used mozzarella here, and it was very good.

As a side, I brushed what remained of the balsamic on some asparagas and threw that on the grill as well. Notice Peter's hamburger in back with the onion on it! He's getting adventurous, too!

Here it is, all on a whole wheat bun with baby spinach and with the asparagus. Don't use a crappy commercially processed roll for this, believe me, good bread makes all the difference. Soon I hope to brave baking my own, but for now this one was from the bakery. Voila!



Well, I don't expect a phone call from Bon Appetit magazine, but all in all I was very happy with the result. Maybe next time I'll show you a breakfast of champions!

What I did on my summer vacation....

It won't surprise people who know us that we went to Northampton for our summer vacation. We only go every year! What a beautiful place- we made use of the excellent railtrail bike path, explored the gorgeous Smith campus, and ate very, very well at places like the Northampton Brewery and Jakes (no frills dining at its best!!) We spent 4 days and 3 nights with fantastically perfect weather, and had a great time.


Here we are in Hadley, just off the bike path:






And, of course, we finished up the garden today! A nice way to spend the last day of my vacation. We put in the last of the flagstones, made a little stone border and filled in the beds with topsoil.




We decided that since we're really late in the season, we would just plant a wall of sugarsnap peas, in hopes that we will get a decent fall harvest. We'll see!




We used the old tomato cages to make a zigzag fence for the vines to grow on.

I think the wall of vines will look really neat, if they work this late. My fingers are crossed!

Billy Mays and and my tomatoes

I was so excited about putting up my garden pictures I forgot I was supposed to show off the fruits of my Topsy-Turvy's labors. They are green, but despite the rain they are still very early. This plant is enormous! It seems to already be too heavy to twist itself back up toward the sun. Oh yeah, we haven't had any sun, so maybe that's the issue.

Here's a closeup of the problem spot. Maybe I should have hung it off the deck.






In other news, I'm really sad about Billy Mays dying. I just wrote 2 months ago about how much I was really liking his show Pitchmen. He seemed like a really decent person and good at his job. What a terrible thing. Ironically, i think the topsy turvy is one the only As Seen on TV product he hadn't pitched. I have a sudden need to by a box of Oxyclean...

Ladies and Gentlemen- we have a garden!

It's been a long time since I posted last! Nothing huge to report in all that time. Pretty much rained everyday since, so until today there hasn't been much summer activity. The topsy turvy is working, maybe a little too well, but I'll get to that in a bit. The Headline here is, thanks to a gorgeous sunny and bright day, Peter and I were able to get started a small herb garden! Here's how it went, in pictures.

First, we started with this rectangle of dirt that we dug out about 3 weeks ago (about the last time it wasn't cold and rainy), and dragged over one of the railroad ties left over from the old garden.


Next Peter digs down so we can secure the tie in as a retaining wall,



and shows good form with the grub axe! We pretty much did all the designing as we went along, because the site was at such a slant that all these problems arose as we worked. We weren't about to start sawing railroad ties, so we just had to make do with the sizes we had.



I think it worked out very nicely! Did I mention that it's very hot out here?



Okay, so I got excited when I saw that it was all working out and forgot that I was supposed to be taking pictures in stages. Here we built up the walkway and added flagstones, bulked up the beds with topsoil and built a little stone border with stones from the old garden.


Here's a picture of it from the lower bed looking up. You can see that the garden is in levels, which is how we dealt with the hill.



And, VOILA! Beautiful herbs finish off the upper level of the garden! It looks a bit like an episode of I Dream of Jeannie, I suppose. But, honest, it was a lot of work for one afternoon. Here's another picture of the finished top level:



We ran out of steam before getting to the bottom, but that will be easy compared to what we did today. Ahhh, summer is finally back! What a treat to finally get outside in the sun!

Sometimes you gotta break down and buy the "As Seen On TV" Thingy.

So my garden tragically has been destroyed- my church, my palace. It had to be demolished to make way for a brandy-new septic tank. The location of my beautiful wedding almost nine years ago has been literally reduced to a pile of rubble. I keep telling myself it could be worse- but in my little world it's pretty bad. The garden is a huge part of my summer pleasure, and that includes my summer diet. There really is nothing quite like a stir fry made with vegetables that literally just came off the plant that I grew from seed. But the thing I knew I'd miss the most- tomatoes! I eat 3-4 tomatoes per week during my harvest time- a freshly picked tomato is a whole different creature than the ones from the supermarket.

So, today I went out and bought... a "Topsy Turvey". It's hideously ugly, and it will not even come close to bringing me the pleasure that gardening did, but at least I will not be deprived of my Early Girls.

So whatever, it is what it is. I will be curious to see if it really does produce good tomatoes, though.

Incidentally, I've been watching the new show on the Discovery Channel, "Pitchmen", which stars Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan. You know Billy Mays, the guy who screams and hollers about Oxyclean? It's hysterical, but also very interesting to see how these inventors come up with their products and get Billy and Anthony to make a commercial about them. Brilliant idea.

Growing Out My Bangs

I've given up on the barettes, because they don't stay in my slippery straight hair, and they make me feel like I have a comb-over. This is at least the 20 millionth time I've tried to do this, but this time I'm determined to not give in to the urge to cut these stabbing hairs from out of my contact lenses. Here's hoping it's worth it!

Cookie Conundrum

So, my beautiful little niece turned two last week. It was alot of fun to see her all dressed up and feeling like a little hot shot. It was a really nice party, too.

These are the cookies that I made for the occasion! They are from a very unusual recipe that I found and adapted from epicurious, they're a cross between a meringue and a macaroon. I heard that there were going to be guests at the party who are wheat and gluten intolerant, so i needed to find something that didn't include any wheat flour. !!!! Cookies without FLOUR?

I was skeptical that a cookie without any flour could be any good. I like my cookies to have that chewy-ness that (I thought) only flour can do. Well, these were delicious. If you love almonds, coconut and sugar, these little babies are like a chewy piece of heaven! YUM.

Here's the recipe. It's a little fussy to make, but I think it's worth it!

5 large egg whites
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/3 cups sugar
7 ounce package sweetened coconut lightly toasted
3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted, cooled, ground

To toast almonds, spread out evenly on a baking sheet and bake on 375 for about 8-10 minutes, or until they start to turn golden brown and fragrant. Cool completely and grind up with a food processor if you have one. (I used a parmesan cheese grinder, and it worked great, though not as fast!)

Toast coconut the same way, but stay right on top of it, stirring with wooden spoon so it doesn't burn. Cool completely.

Preheat oven to 275°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Place egg whites in large bowl; add vanilla and almond extract. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until meringue is very thick (similar to marshmallow creme), about 5 minutes. Fold in coconut, then almonds. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing mounds 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake macaroons until pale beige outside and dry-looking (insides will still be soft), about 25 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to racks; cool macaroons completely.

If you really want to go crazy with it, you can melt down semisweet chocolate to dip them in. I didn't bother with it, but next time I might see how that works!

A Toast to St. Valentine....

I used to dread this "holiday". Not because I didn't have a valentine- actually, it was when I did have one that I used to dread it the most! It was the inevitable box of chocolates, or stuffed bear, or cheap jewelry, or gigundo hersey's kiss. I couldn't care less for any of that crap! "OH! A teddy bear holding a box of choclates and heart-shaped gold-like bracelet, how... nice...."

I sound like a meany. But honestly, I never put much stock in Valentine's, and always made a point to not celebrate it on principle! Until I met Peter. Now I embrace the holiday, our way. Homemade cookies, a walk in the woods, a candlelight dinner at home, and a vase full of red parrot tulips make for a really nice day. When you're with your best friend, anything is perfect. I don't guess we need this particular holiday, as we can be found doing this sort of thing on any given weekend, but who am I to argue with a good excuse to break out the champange glasses?

A Toast To St. Valentine: illegal marry-er of sweethearts and martyr of romance, may we always mark your holiday with a message like thine, "Love Always, your Valentine".

Log Cabin Fever and Education Frustration

This is not old (i actually just made these last month), but I did already post my log cabin throws on my facebook and spread it around. I love them. I love that they match the Denise Schimdt coasters that I also made! I love making things for our space. It's a great feeling to know that I can look around and say,"I think we need new coasters," and make what I want out of whatever I have!

I didn't have anything "brand new" to post, because I'm taking a class that leaves me feeling kind of ...blah. I hate to complain, but anyone who knows me knows my travails with higher education. To be specific, I have generally had terrible luck with instructors, and this semester is no exception. I'm almost done, I tell myself. Just this (required) class, and one more of my choosing and I'm done with this phase of my program.... but my motivation is shot and my creativity and drive for my assignments is close to dried up. Last semester, I had an incredible teacher. I was really proud of all I had accomplished and my confidence was really climbing. He had an excitement and energy that was so very contagious. I felt like I was really learning and growing as an artist and a designer.

This semster it seems like slogging through mud.

Now, I have recently learned to try to give people some slack before I pass judgement. Some people have miserable lives- and sometimes the people that are especially exhausting and annoying turn out to have such trouble that you feel bad for ever getting irritated with them. But it seems that more often then not, the people that are supposed to be the "professionals" teaching a class, seem so miserable to be there, they can barely get through 5 minutes without a sarcastic remark or derisive sneer. Look, I'm paying $900 for this course. While I hate to admit that money skews my judgement in matters of personal interaction, that 900 smackeroos has severly shortened the amount of slack I'm willing to give a teacher. Aren't we all suffering alittle? Don't we all sometimes have to take a job we would rather not do? I obviously want to take the course- the proof our hard-earned dollars that I was willing to part with. I'm eager, interested, and hard working. Why does this have to be expensive and miserable?

Only 11 more weeks to go....

Snow, snow, go away!

Look at this big fat robin that's been hanging around our cherry tree the last few days! These "imposter" robins come from Nova Scotia, and they've been showing up around January/February. The "real" robins don't come until March or April. Even though I know he's not the usual kind of robin that is a sign that spring is almost here, I can't help but feel optimistic when I see him. This has been one long, cold, dumb winter, and I won't miss it when the last patch of ice melts!

Mermaid-Catface Tattoo and Dream Quilt

Last night I had a very vivid dream. I remember that I was wearing knee socks and a short skirt, and I was feeling pretty cute until I noticed my knees covered in tattoos. I was alarmed because I couldn't remember how or where I got the tattoos, and they were very big and brightly colored. I got a mirror to see if they went all the way round, and there on the back of my right calf was the ugliest tattoo. It was a cartoony looking mermaid with an ugly cat face. It was just awful. I woke up feeling anxious and that kind of sticks around all day.

The next project I hope to start came from a dream, too- I guess they've been especially vivid lately. I dreamed I owned this quilt with bright colored stars on it. The dream was about something else, I forget what exactly, but I wished I had that quilt. I didn't know what they were called at the time, but I've since learned that it's a "saw-toothed star" pattern, which for some reason makes me like it even more. So I drew up these plans, which kind of are cool looking by themselves. Suprisingly, I kind of like the more subtle colors best, but the quilt in my dream was bright so I may stick with that.

Also, last night I made chocolate chip cookies. I can't figure out why i can't ever make them the same way twice. This time they came out soft and kind of chewy, though still very delicious. However, when I made them a few weeks ago they were crunchy, harder, but very buttery tasting like toffee. I tend to prefer that, but Peter says he likes them softer. Oh well, next time they'll do something else anyway.

Okay, here goes....

Phew! Starting a blog is harder than I thought. I just wanted a place where I could post all my junk that I make so that people can see it that aren't allowed to look at Facebook while they are at work. This is a silly test post. Here's a picture of the quilt I made for my better half. And I guess it's also a picture of my better half himself, Peter.

This is the first quilt I've ever made. I made it a year ago and the poor thing is languishing on my storage trunk without a binding. Hopefully I'll finish it in time for warmer weather. I have a sad habit of not finishing.