Leleth's Journal

7:21am: 2011 summary
Well, well...it's been a year (more). I came back to LJ to find a recipe post, only to find that I can't search my own journal. I had to sift through 4 years of posts to find the recipe I was looking for. I want to make cheesy cauliflower buns with the cauliflower that came in this week's CSA.

Biggest news of the year first: while we were traveling in Costa Rica in the spring there was a romantic proposal. We're engaged! Yeay! He even managed to surprise me with it :-) Even if you don't take into account the engagement, Costa Rica is an amazing vacation destination. Half our trip was educational and the other half for fun. We attended a Spanish language institute for a week with language intensive classes and an immersive homestay. For the travel portion, we stayed at Lands in Love, a vegetarian resort and explored rainforests, waterfalls, blue rivers and volcanoes. The second leg of travel was to the ocean for swimming and more rainforest.

Hmmm.... Almost feels like that's the only news of the year. We're very much enjoying our CSA from Tipi Produce this year. CSA pickup is one of my favorite days of the week. We've finally hired some help for me at work, so hopefully I'll have more energy for creative enterprises next year. I'm trying to get back into SCA more regularly, but with variable success. Dinner club has picked up again, which I'm pleased about. It's encouraging some creative and/or time consuming cooking. I'm going to try to make a dish in a pumpkin next week: either soup or swiss pumpkin. The other main focus of the year has been working on my knee. There's been some success, but not as much as I hoped to achieve. More work ahead.

12:03pm: Good dinner, shyness
It has been a pretty good food weekend, but also a shy weekend.

Saturday brunch was tasty; I tried an apple bread pudding recipe from Veg Times. I was pleased with the result. I'll probably make modifications for future batches, mostly for the s.o. and convenience in baking dishes that I own.

I got motivated to do a multi-dish dinner for Saturday. There were cinnamon-baked sweet potato wedges with and apple cider reduction for the "main" course. We tried our own version of the red pepper bruschetta that Eno Vino makes: garlic bread, Fantome chevre, roasted sweet peppers from Luna Cirle farm, topped with cashews and pistachio oil. It could have used a vingar, perhaps a red-wine vinegar. I need to get one of those back in the pantry. We also had a salad: spinach and lettuce, red onion, granny smith apple, dried cranberries, candied pecans, blue cheese crumbles and a dressing of aged balsamic vinegar, olive oil and honey. We had a non-alcoholic sparkling cranberry beverage and candlelight with the meal. It was really nice. Had a nice fall harvest sort of feel to it.

I was kinda craving some social yesterday, but those that I normally call for spontaneous social have either moved away or were known to be busy or out of town. Sadly club music has become sub-par and removed the dance option. I was feeling too shy to call/email any others that I don't normally ping for random social. It also doesn't help that I lost most of my phone numbers when my palm pilot erased the memory files. (I have the relatives' numbers again, but not many of my social acquaintances.) I hadn't realized that I still have a shy streak running that strongly. I'd become outgoing enough that I thought that was left behind in my youth.

5:55pm: create/destroy
I wonder why the desire to create and destroy are so close? I feel upset and it feels like either option would be equally satisfying. I suspect I'd be further upset later if I broke anything, but... It's just interesting. Sadly, I have time for neither. If the evening was open, I might play music, try to sew, play with beads... and eat icecream. Ice cream fixes everything for a while.

Even dancing is a bit of a constructive/destructive element. It's a release of energy, a break down of stress, but a creation of movement; a break down of body and a build of body.

I just don't understand how details so obvious to some are so easy to miss for others.

6:00am: (rhetorical?) food question
Why doesn't plum pudding actually call for plums?

5:12pm: mail
That was a doosy of a mailbox. Two letters and two...I'm not sure what's. The first was the store following up on the fall I had on Tuesday (it was good that they actually followed up, I was a little upset at how they handled it at the time). Someone spilled oil on the floor and I found it the hard way. I got a couple of good bruises on my knee to show for it. If bruises showed through my thick skin, I would, anyway... So, I have some tender spots on my knee to feel for it. Please don't.

The other mail was my credit card bill at $1100 more than it should have been. Lucky me, I get to file a credit card fraud claim. No credit card for me for the next week. Good thing we can use Aaron's to get the plane tickets!

I hope this weekend goes better than the week did. I was out-of-sorts enough that I tried to make dill pickles when I didn't have any dill and there was no dill to be found. We had to make bread and butter pickles instead. I don't like that kind. At least Aaron does, but he's picky about them, so he might not either. Bah. 7 quarts of pickles that could have been German Dills. *sigh*

10:33am: lucky unluck
It was a lucky unlucky night last night. The winds woke us as they ripped the tent stakes out of the ground and tried to pull a Dorothy's house on us, without the aid of a tornado. The rain fly had to be removed and all the vents opened to prevent a tumbleweed tent. After a brief discussion, we decided there was no further sound sleep to be had and we packed up and headed home (discussion occurred around 12:30). As we were packing, lightning traveled steadily closer. We stopped for gas while with clear skies and a well lit station. A few blocks later, we stopped for caffeine at the first open store. The wind blew open the store doors and the heavens let loose with sheets of water and hail. I've never been so glad to be not in a tent and not on the road.

Also, having had this experience in a modern tent, I'm still glad I purchased a historical model tent instead of a modern tent. They are just so much sturdier and hold up to bad weather much better. And they cost about the same. It may be longer to set up and more to haul, but that's what makes them sturdy and durable. We've been happy so far with our tent from Fall Creek Sutlery: http://www.fcsutler.com/fccanvas.asp although the directions have been not entirely accurate--we still need to trim more off the vertical tent poles, which will bring us to 1/2 foot different from the directions provided!

5:30am: bug bites and dreams
I paid for the free cukes with a gallon of blood. No, it was a gallon of cukes, but the skeeters took a lot of blood in exchange!

I had some serious adventuring dreams, in which my s.o. was at stake. That was not cool. There was a lot of searching, uncovering things I did not want to find and not finding my s.o. The earlier dream where I was successfully growing veggies with my friends was much more enjoyable. Discovering the size of the produce as it was dug out of the ground was fun.

5:27am: Poor Man's Pennsic
Who all is going to Poor Man's Pennsic this year?

8:10am: weekend
Tried to go dance last night. Succeeded in dancing, but not with enthusiasm. The music was in the wrong place or the wrong people were in the place with the music. Either way it was not a space to lose oneself in dance. I stuck with it for about a half hour (I got all dressed up and made it out to dance, I was going to dance, by golly!). When the music made no change in an hour, I left. It was also weird when I was the only one on the dancefloor and someone walked into me while crossing it (I was facing the other way and did not see them). There was a whole dancefloor of space to cross and I was only using a small portion; did they really need to walk into where I was at?

On happier news, I have my new toy. I have finished my peaches, begun apricots, dried some basil and some shredded zucchini. It will take some adjusting to get the feel for it. There is not just on/off like I'm accustomed to using. There are also spaces which dry better than others and herbs are not insta-dry like with the old dehydrator. Also, the fan likes to blow them around. Must turn fan off to check on them or the herbs make a date with the floor. There is a LOT more drying capacity and the shelves allow for varied heights and less cross-over between trays--the mesh is fine enough that things do not fall through below to the next unless it is liquids.

Must do some work this morning before I can get to other things. So much to do and so little time. Crap, I gotta level my character for MOnday, too. Eep! I should make a list...what must be done? what do I just want to do? I must also think ahead--there will be time at the cabin, but I want to go to Poor Man's pennsic and need to adjust the tent before then... Lists and calendars will be my friends.

10:57am: brunch
( stuffed squash blossoms, tart cherries over apricots, zucchini bread with vanilla whipped cream, cranberry cocktail )

Attendance: Aaron, me, mom, dad, Brenda; all contributed help/ingredients
Eventually photos should be added.

6:05am: dehydrator
I'm getting the fancy one. I'm excited. Hopefully it won't take too long to get here!

Mom and dad will be here tonight and through Wednesday. I'm excited to do the foodie Madison tour. Mom's gotten the tour, but dad hasn't yet.

5:08pm: Grrr
Grrr...

And I can't even use my grumpy image. Grr...

Edit: Or can I? Depending on the view, the grumpy icon shows and other the default shows. Odd.

8:03pm: dry food
I used the (permanently borrowed) food dehydrator to death. It didn't finish the peaches before it died and I have 2 more things in line to dry this week before they go bad!

I wonder if I can justify the nearly industrial food dehydrator? They're rated the best and sell the refurbished ones at a huge discount... But they're still 3 x more expensive than what I would "normally" pick up! They are also more versatile. You can use them to do yogurt, raise bread, sprouts, food warmer, etc. I'd love to do yogurt and we do make bread and sprouts periodically, so I think I would actually take advantage of the versatility. Plus there's a 10 year warranty. I killed the last one in 3 years of seasonal use (with little use before I got hold of it). So I suppose if I put it that way, if the good one keeps for 10 years it pays for itself... I might have to do it. Maybe.

Excalibur is the brand.

Edit:
Meanwhile, can I borrow one to finish the peaches I started?!?

7:40am: dreams
waking up in alternate dimensions in captivity without knowing the rules and wherefores (during a stealthy icecream party) and kidnapping/rescuing babies from zoos? Yeah, it's been an interesting night of dreams...

10:05pm: I love my baby!
My baby is so good to me, even with 4 years of neglect. She's been left in the closet for a full four years and barely needed anything to convince her to play again.

Yes, Ailise is out of the closet and tuned!!! I may very well be playing at Crystal Ball for real. The first steps have been taken. Best yet, my hands still remember. I could start favorite tunes before I fetched the music books.

6:05pm: WW XVII
My first was WW IV. Wow.

This was a good year. The weather was great. The earwigs were awfully prevalent, but did not ruin the weekend. It might have ruined the end of the weekend if they weren't removable from the gear. Our camp setup is continuously improving and thereby improving our camping experiences. A good night of sleep made a great difference this year. Last year we upgraded to the ability to heat food (grill) and a non-modern tent (so much more comfortable, secure and dry!). Next year, maybe table, continue tent improvements, possibly a cooler upgrade and possibly the ability to generate hot water without begging others.

I will have to add some pics later, but here are some highlights:
-Wonderful classes! I learned a whole bunch this year! I'm excited for new projects. I need more linen.
-I got to play with hair! Pretty pretty hair. Mikey should grow his back. *pout*
-I got to see old friends. Yeay, I do like these people. I should play more.
-I got to learn to make glass beads! They're neat!
-Care and feeding of the knee has been effective; I could dance most of 2 sets at the ball, even on the cement floor.
-Baby! Cute little baby! Cute little baby that likes to climb people!
-It's funny how one of my "new" groups is rapidly collecting some of my "old" groups. It's odd when you can tell people, "Yeah, I've known so-and-so since I/we was/were in high school."
-Good food. It's nice when you can say that about a camping trip.

Who wants to bet I'm going to try to do too much again? Or will work take over and prevent me from doing anything?

6:13am: dreams
I generally enjoy that I have vivid active dreams. They often contain adventure and wonder. I do not enjoy when they become negative. They are much more difficult to recover from upon waking. It's unpleasant, but not as bad, when it is monsters and so forth, because I know they are not part of this reality. It is flat out haunting when it is people I know that do awful things in my dreams. I can still remember the worst one, in which there were the sensations of touch and sound. I no longer recall if it involved smell. The less realistic ones are easier to dismiss and keep from impacting daily interactions. The ones that aren't so far from real life are much more difficult to dismiss. I woke up this morning from one such as that and I cannot shake the feeling of impending loss. It threw me into a state of insecurity. It was just a dream. These things did not happen, they should not impact how I trust. They are just projections of subconscious worries that should not be surface level insecurities. They should not make me lose sleep and fret.

I might have to go cook something.

6:48pm: I didn't expect garlic to cry so hard over becoming scape-less. I suppose I'd cry, too, if one of my body parts was cut off.

5:32am: ravioli reprise
Last night we revisited a ravioli recipe (original post 10/16/2007-a meal some friends still talk about!). We pretty much followed our original directions, but this time the pasta and filling evened out perfectly. I think there may have been a little more chevre this time.

We served it a little differently. We fried some sage in olive oil until it was crispy and removed the sage. Chopped walnuts were added to the hot oil and toasted. The cooked ravioli were tossed into the hot walnut and oil mixture to coat and served topped with sage.

We paired the meal with a lovely homemade mead from some friends we'd been saving for a special occasion (I think 4 years of dating is special enough for us). We followed the ravioli with a salad of lettuce, cukes, blue cheese, crumbled fried sage, raspberry vinegar and pistachio oil. This paired with the mead REALLY well.

We followed with a desert of pears and rhubarb cooked in a cinnamon spiced sauce with vanilla frozen yogurt. This did not pair well with mead. :P

Due to a United Way benefit potluck at work tomorrow, I also made a chocolate cake and frosted it last night. It's an amateur effort, but I was tickled with the (frosting) results. There will be pictures of both the cake and the ravioli at some point. The irony is that I choose to make cake to use up some excess frosting. Turns out I discovered after making the cake that the frosting had turned (but before frosting it, thankfully!). New frosting was assembled, but not as good as the original. I always liked the cream cheese frostings better than the buttercreams. Oh well. At least I didn't load it on like some cakes; there is significantly more cake than frosting, as it should be. I just barely had enough frosting, though, so I'm actually probably on the stingy side. But it's pretty! And it should taste fine.

Speaking of which, I should probably finish getting ready so I can get it to work!

7:42pm: knee
I saw the orthopedic doc today and it looks like the knee issue is just a progression of the same knee issue from college. He thinks it is still at a stage that directed exercises/PT should suffice. If it doesn't there's still a step that can be taken before surgery. It was interesting to see (from memory) how the changes have grown in the knee. Fortunately, it's a common and easily understood and treated issue, as long as you know what the issue is to directly deal with it. Yeay! I like it when doctors have answers.

Also, it's fun when your doc has a science background and is delighted that they can use science references to discuss the issue. He could use chemistry and physics references and I could participate in the conversation. Yeay science!

I should someday be able to dance without lots and lots of ice again!

5:16am: Huh. Apparently when I send myself email, it's spam...

It was a kitchen-centric day. I made some rhubarb slush, homemade chocolate chip and cherry granola bars, Greek lentil salad, greens with gado-gado sauce, and with the help of a friend, we made and canned rhubarb compote and spring compote (also containing rhubarb).

1:06pm: adult peanut butter sandwich
Inspired by some of the sandwiches we had in Amsterdam:

whole wheat raisin bread from market
peanut butter (plain, unsweetened, smooth)
a -little- crumbled blue cheese
apple slices
baby spinach from market

It worked surprisingly well together. I think the blue mixed with a cream cheese of some sort would have been good on the opposing slice of bread.

9:32pm: Rhubarb!
Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb! *squee*

[potential] Compote, sauce, frozen, slush, jam and more! *glee*

8:00pm: popsicle
It might be the popsicle summer. I purchased popsicle forms a few summers ago and didn't use them much, though I loved the ones my mom made when I was a kid. My newest (well loved) kitchen gadget has made popsicle-making much easier and thereby more likely. First there were the black cherry-vanilla pudding pops (two with fudge). Tasty, but not so healthy. Today there are peach-banana-cardamon pops and a peanut butter-banana-(lightly)fudge pop. All made with plain yogurt. There was some vanilla in the peachsicles. Otherwise? That's all. No added sugar; fruit should be sweet enough, especially with the bananas. Hopefully they'll fill in for the ice-cream desires and be a healthy substitute! Yeay for submersion blenders! Easy to clean, except when used with peanut butter. I probably won't make more peanut butter versions. I like the peanut butter, but the submersion blender doesn't.

I'll have to do a strawberry version next week after strawberry picking. Yum.

It will be fun to see what flavors develop over the summer. I used to make really crazy italian soda flavor combinations, I hope I'll be able to do some of those with real fruit. I'm looking forward to seeing what coconut milk will do with fruit. I may do a coconut milk-pudding pop with chocolate coating and crushed almonds. Because it sounds tasty enough to ignore the healthy goal. I'll probably have to share them. Oh no for my friends. Poor them.

9:15pm: too much work
24 hours of work in 48 hours is too much. Tues was an 11 hour day. Today was a 13 hour day without lunch. So much for being recovered after a long weekend! I got an adult malt after dinner. It was tasty. Ice cream is good when you're worn out. Getting an adult malt makes me feel like I'm getting away with something, but I don't know why. However, it's satisfying after a long day at work. Plus, ice cream. Now, sleep.