Chez Cothran

Books of 2011! - Part 2

2012-01-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

Continuing my annotated list of the books I read in 2011...
Click here for Part 1

What were your favorite books in 2011?

44 Scotland Street – Alexander McCall Smith (Firstin this great series; follows the lives and misadventures of several Edinburghresidents; Smith has a knack for the ridiculous and the profound; HIGHLYrecommended)
Espresso Tales – Alexander McCall Smith (secondin series; just as good as the first; short chapters)
King Leopold’s Ghost: A story of greed,terror, and heroism in Colonial Africa – Adam Hochschild (read this inAfrica; follows the terrors of colonialism in the Congo and also the campaign againstthe rubber trade; helps explain the mess in Congo currently)
Love Over Scotland – Alexander McCall Smith (thirdbook in series)
(e) Carrot Cake Murder – Joanne Fluke (more small-town MN fun! Boyd shudders whenever he hears these stories coming from my computer)
A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan (Good literary fiction; collection of short stories that all fit together; considers relationships, music, New York)
The Widow’s Walk League (Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries) – Nancy Lynn Jarvis (opens with Halloween scene in downtown Santa Cruz; decent mystery, even if dialog falls somewhat short)
The Cater Street Hangman – Anne Perry (so excited to find this Victorian mystery series!; captures life of an upper class Victorian family when it’s forced to come into contact with lowly police investigators; love the audiobook narrator)
(e) Callendar Square – Anne Perry (next in Perry series; just as good as the first)
The World According to Bertie – Alexander McCall Smith (next in Smith series; Bertie is a precocious young boy with a hilariously crazy mother)
Simply Christian: Why Christianity makes sense – N.T. Wright (brought up some interesting points about Christianity being about service and Christians being active seekers; can’t remember what the “makes sense” part is all about)
(e) Cherry Cheesecake Murder – Joanne Fluke (movie crew comes to town and cheesecake does play a part in the mystery!)
Freedom – Jonathan Franzen (it took my a while to actually pick this up and then I couldn’t stop reading it; well-developed characters and amazingly developed plot; also set in Minnesota!; recommended)
(e) The First Eagle – Tony Hillerman (southwestern mystery set on an Indian reservation; good mystery, terribly tired love story)
(e) The Final Solution – Michael Chabon (short stories; worth listening to but I’m not sure if I would have made it through if reading paper book)
Year of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks (started this book in Africa, left it in one of the hotel rooms and couldn’t finish it until I got home; historical fiction about the plague; GREAT story and one of the few I’m still thinking about long after reading it)
Fierce Conversations: Achieving success at work and in life, one conversation at a time – Susan Scott (so many great tips about clear, effective communication and good, meaningful conversations at work and at home; highly recommended)
(e) The Right Attitude to Rain – Alexander McCall Smith (different series from Smith; older academic woman philosophizes about life and falls in love with a younger man; good story)
Horseman, Pass By – Larry McMurtry (read it for my book club; highly romanticized story about cowboys and the west; pretty racist and lacking female characters of any substance)
(e) After the Funeral – Agatha Christie (great Poirot mystery; he has the “the murderer is in this room” thing down!)
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir – Kao Kalia Yang (Minnesota author; great first half about Hmong refugees in Thailand, really interesting history I didn’t know anything about)
Death Comes to Pemberley: A Novel – P.D. James (Boyd’s Christmas present to me; mystery set at Pemberley after Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get married; nice to be in that setting but weak plot line; I actually guessed the mystery before it was over)
Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness – Nan C. Merrill (fantastic book of the psalms; words God and prayer interchanged for Love and silence respectively, makes for great new take on the songs/poems of the psalms; read one each morning)

Bonus: Tanya’s Hippo Hunt – Tanya Cothran (I wrote a children’s story and set it to photos that Boyd took during our safari in Kenya! It’s a mystery story too, honoring my current favorite genre!)

Books of 2011! - Part 1

2012-01-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

Well, another year has passed! 2011 brought me many goodbooks, a number of mediocre books, and a few good laughs from books. I’m happyto share this list with you all and I hope it brings the right book your way in2012! If you looked at last year’s list, let me know which ones you read andenjoyed.

Here’s a round up:

Total books completed - 48!

46% audio books (22 books)
17% non-fiction (including biography/memoir/psalms) (8 books)
30% of fiction books were mysteries (14 books)
19% books I bought (9 books; up from only 4 books last year!)

(e) = audiobook

Geography of Home: Writing on where we live– Akiko Busch (for an American Studies class at Yale that Iaudited; wonderful, readable collection of essays about rooms in Americanhouses and the meanings we attribute to each room)
The Dogs of Babel – Carolyn Parkhurst (entertainingand quirky story of love/death; some sad stuff about dog abuse)
True Grit – Charles Portis (everyonetalked about the plucky voice of the young girl in this movie, and thecharacters are even better and more witty in the book!; western story)
(e)Persuasion (Abridged) – Jane Austen (absolutelylove this story about missing love and finally finding it again)
Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales ofVictorian Culture – Kenneth Ames (for the Yale class; about Victoriancustoms related to homes and dining rooms)
(e)Devil’s Food Cake Murder – Joanne Fluke (thefirst of many amateur sleuth/professional baker stories I listened to thisyear; cozy mysteries that are good for really light reading and building up anappetite for coffee and cookies, set in rural Minnesota)
The Secret to Power in Business – GlennClark (written in 1945; some good, timeless tips about respecting customers,building a good work environment, etc.)
Our Own Snug Fireside: Images of the NewEngland home 1760-1860 – Jane Nylander (fascinating books confronting mythssurrounding the ideal rural New England homes; loved the section about thecreation of the “traditional” Thanksgiving holiday)
The Boxcar Children – Gertrude ChandlerWarner (loved this book as a kid; re-reading it I found some of the“bootstraps” rhetoric a bit heavy-handed)
(e) A Summer in Sonoma – Robyn Carr (reallyterrible book!; woman swears off men and then “surprisingly” finds the perfectmate in her best guy friend)
(e) Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen (greatgothic story of love and betrayal all with Austen’s great characters)
(e) Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (Thenext 6 audiobooks I listened to while working shelving books at the YaleLibrary; never read this book in school, enjoyed it on CD; young boy receivesan inheritance and tries to make something of himself)
(e) Howard’s End – E.M. Forster (classicnovel, family epic, descriptive language)
(e) The Yiddish Policeman’s Union – MichaelChabon (LOVE Chabon, great mystery and interesting alt-history; narrator ofaudiobook was fantastic)
The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco (thistook me over 5 months to read; really would have been better as a 30 pagenovella; mystery set in monastery in 1327, interesting setting)
(e) Code to Zero – Ken Follett (fast-pacedthriller, complete with communist plot and memory loss)
(e) The Song of the Lark – Willa Cather (lovelystory from 1915 set in Colorado; main character sings opera; loved descriptionsof Chicago and the “west”)
Rum Diary – Hunter S. Thompson (dead-endjournalist goes to work at a newspaper in Puerto Rico; lots of rum is had byall as they try to sort out the meaning of life)
Buying Murder – Nancy Lynn Jarvis (mysteryset in Santa Cruz and written by a local author; decent mystery; fun to readdescriptions of all my favorite hometown points of interest!)
(e) On The Road – Jack Kerouac (bohemiansbum around US thinking about life; in a much less interesting fashionthan those guys in Rum Diary)
(e) Fudge Cupcake Murder – Joanne Fluke (can’tactually remember distinguishing features of these mysteries but I lovelistening to them!)
The Mirror Crack’d – Agatha Christie (Haveyou read any Agatha Christie lately? She sure puts together an amazing mystery;this Miss Marple story is perfect with its meddling amateur sleuth)
(e) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (BladeRunner) – Philip K. Dick (not at all similar to the movie Blade Runner;sci-fi with thoughts on human connections to the natural world; helped on thelong car ride to S. Carolina)
(e) Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (EvenBoyd liked this young adult fantasy book; plucky girl fights to the death andfinds love in the process; it’s better than that description would lead you tobelieve)
(e) Gentlemen of the Road – Michael Chabon (somewhatless successful Chabon story of Jewish bandits in 950 AD Russia)

To be continued... (Read Part 2)

Nine Ladies Dancing: Party Time!

2011-12-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I have this opportunity to blog [a bit late from the original schedule] about my family's annual Christmas Party! This year was the 29th annual party - it started the year I was born and hasn't missed a year since.

We have many traditions that have to take place over the course of the evening and people look forward to the event all year. Personally, I love that it's a chance to sing carols and do other activities that only happen with groups of creative people.

First of all, here's a photo of my parent's Charlie Brown-esque Christmas tree. This is actually more tree-like than in recent years. I think it was last year that the tree was actually a massive branch hanging from the ceiling. The cool part is that the tree is harvested from their land in Mariposa, in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The party is a potluck and this year's mix was very tasty. I brought the Christmas Candy that I mentioned last week. Doesn't it look good?

One of the highlights of the party is singing Christmas carols accompanied by Michael on piano. Where else do you get a chance to sing the good ol' carols? I sing along with the radio but I was surprised that our church didn't really since the carols during the advent services. Mom and I tried singing alto on a few songs, which was a fun challenge!

After the carols comes the Mummer's Play. This is a classic play, which people used to perform door to door in old England, about Saint George fighting the dragon. My mom and dad put together a shortened version of the play and (get this!) the lines were written out using carbon copy paper back in the day. We've had the same script forever so I pretty much have the whole thing memorized. People get pulled up to act the parts and read the script after a few minutes of prep time. It's good fun! My dad was an emaciated Santa Claus and the presenter.

Here's a taste of the comedy of the play with Ahna-Kristen as St. George and Ruth as the dragon!

Next comes the "12 Days of Christmas" chorus. People take different parts and we all sing and act our parts as the numbers come along. The cards for the song are the same ones my sister and I made when we were in middle school. (The picture at top is an example!)

Ruth snickers at getting the "five golden rings" part for the n-th year in a row!

We end with a special dance outside - a circle dance called the "Shepherd's Dance" where we travel around in a circle, mimicking the path of the shepherds on their way, following the star, to see the baby Jesus. It's special to dance under the stars and feel the light within.

That's the Thomas Christmas party! You are all welcome to come anytime you find yourself near Santa Cruz around Christmas! Merry Christmas.

Neal Helman plays his dulcimer for us. So beautiful!

Boyd and Neal sing the carols!

Eight Maids a-Milking: Holiday Eats!

2011-12-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

Yum! Planning meals with my mom and Boyd is one of my favorite parts of our extended Christmas-birthday season!

For the Thomas family (my dad's side of the family) get-together today I made an Apple Crostata. It is made just like an apple pie except that you fold up the edges rather than use a pie pan, which makes it all look very fancy!

For my family's Christmas party tomorrow I'll be making our traditional "Christmas Candy" which is layers of melted butterscotch chips, marshmallows, and melted chocolate chips. It looks a lot like this picture from a Land O Lake's recipe, except for mine will have a LOT more chocolate on top and won't have the added nutritional value of the peanuts. It's just pure sugar and butter! Yum. It wouldn't be Christmas without it.

One more favorite family tradition is Bon Appetite's Caramel-Swirl Hot Chocolate on Christmas morning. Check out that huge spoonful of whipped cream on top! Oh man. Since Boyd joined the family we've also added coffee to the hot chocolate. It's so rich that it fills me up and lasts through present opening time.

These are just a few of my favorite Christmas foods. It's always a time of tasty, rich foods and fun times preping fancy meals with people who love to eat good food. Happy eating!

Seven Swans a-Swimming: A Moment for Grace

2011-12-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

[I missed a few days and that's fine with me. You can follow my friend Laura's progress here.]
My days keep lining up just right for the themes! We made our way up to Santa Cruz yesterday and today I spent the afternoon with my sister Suzanne and niece Emily. It was a perfect afternoon of comfort and grace. We had no plans besides seeing each other and being together as sisters.
Emily (14 months old) is a happy toddler and she runs all over the place smiling and giggling. It's pretty fun to see someone so excited about life! And it's a good reminder to let go and run around every once in a while.
So for your moment of grace (reminiscent of Jon Stewart's Daily Show "moment of Zen") here are the latest photos of happy Emily:

Emily in her bowl!

Daddy Toby pushing Emily around in her bowl. Wheeee!

Four Calling Birds: Holiday Cards

2011-12-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

[One day late! Excuse: watching my 14-month old niece Alora is keeping me busy!]

I love both sending and receiving mail throughout the year! When I was little I had many pen pals - my cousins Niki and Alicia, a random student in Russia through some pen pal program, my friends from camp. When I studied abroad in Chile my friends, parents, and sister sent me so much mail that my host mom was concerned I was spending too much time writing letters and not out in the community. Now, I still send lots of postcards whenever I travel, even if it's just a trip down to Chicago!

So, of course I love sending and receiving Christmas cards too! I especially love woodblock prints with Christmas themes and the Victorian-esque Madonna and child cards. It doesn't need to have a letter or a photo. I just love getting the note and the pretty card, and knowing that someone is thinking of me!

I think one of the reasons I love the Victorian cards so much is that when Boyd and I were first dating we worked at the Dicken's Christmas Fair in San Francisco selling my parent's Book Earrings (they make GREAT presents all year for the book-lovers and librarians in your family!!) and enjoying the Victorian Christmas atmosphere for 4-5 weekends in a row! The fair creates such a magical atmosphere with music, dancing, shops, and even fake snow in the "streets."

Boyd and Tanya at the Fair

I won't hold it against you if I don't get a holiday card from you, but if you travel somewhere cool and you don't send a postcard, it's OVER! ;) Conversely, if you want a postcard from me, put your address in the comments!!

My lovely niece, Alora

Three French Hens: Holiday Travel

2011-12-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

My mom and I started a GREAT traveling tradition last year after Christmas. Sometimes all the big family gatherings get me feeling overwhelmed. Also, right after Christmas we have Boyd's birthday, then New Year's eve, then my birthday, then my dad's birthday, all right in a row, which really prolongs the party season. Last year mom and I planned an escape for my birthday (January 3rd) to Big Sur. Big Sur is over 1 hour away from my parent's house so the trip itself wasn't too far but the get-away factor was huge! We stayed in a nice lodge, ate amazing food, chatted, and relaxed. (You can read my post about the trip here.)

This year, we are continuing the tradition with a spa trip up to Calistoga, CA, a place known for it's mineral baths. Since it's right after the holidays there are good deals on massages and mud baths, which I'm so looking forward to experiencing. We are also planning my birthday dinner meal at a fancy farm-to-table restaurant nearby. It's so nice to get away from all the cooking and cleaning for a few days to just indulge ourselves. This year, Boyd and dad are joining us - they heard so many good things about the last trip!

Two Turtle Doves: Loved Ones

2011-12-15T14:23:00.000-08:00

[Oops! This didn't get posted yesterday because I couldn't get internet access.] This is a perfect day for this topic because I’m in theairport right now with Boyd on our way to see his family! I am so excited tosee my little niece, Alora, who is already 1 year old! We haven’t seen thisfamily since Thanksgiving last year so Alora will be all grown up since we sawher last. It’ll be fun to spend a few days with her and the rest of theCothrans.

After visiting the Cothrans, we’ll head up to Santa Cruz tovisit my family and our other niece, Emily, who is also 1 year old! We arehoping that the nieces won’t forget us too quickly after this short visit withthem.

Eventhough Boyd and I fly more than a few times a year, we rarely fly together, sothis is an interesting chance to see the travel habits of my loved one. Forinstance, he likes to stand up at the gate as soon as they start boarding theflight. On the other hand, I like to wait until they are almost all doneboarding so that I don’t have to wait in line for longer than necessary. Myother trick is to wait until the airline inevitably asks for people to checktheir bags because there’s no more room in the overhead bins – I gladly checkit so that I don’t have to lug the bag around and I don’t have to pay to checkit! Oh the joys of flying!

My Advent corner! (See yesterday's post)

12 Days of Christmas: A Partridge in a Pear Tree

2011-12-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

I've decided to join my friend Laura (Casa del Hansen) and do her 12 Days of Christmas Challenge on my blog the next 12 days. It's fun to think about the parts of Christmas that are meaningful to me - so we'll see what comes out of it. Of course, I reserve the right to completely ditch the challenge at any time if I want or if I find I have too much to do!

Topic: Christmas Tree

This year Boyd and I have not set up a Christmas tree. I'm okay with that. We almost always are traveling around Christmas to visit our family back in California, so it's not practical to have a tree that will be sitting in an empty house the 2 weeks around Christmas! Instead of a tree this year I set up a nice Advent Corner, as I've called it, with some candles, an angel statuette, and some pretty Mary/Baby Jesus cards that I have from years past. I appreciate having the space set aside for Christmas. Truthfully, it was also nice not having to feel pressured to decorate, buy decorations, or make decorations. As bah-humbug-y as that sounds it's really just about keeping my life simple right now!

Fun fact: Boyd is allergic to Christmas trees! He's okay being in the room with them, he just breaks out in a rash if he touches the branches and the sap, specifically! :)

Finding Heaven in Texas

2011-12-11T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hello all! This week I want to story about a great find in Texas. Also, I figured before Christmas happens, I should post some photos from Thanksgiving.

Boyd and I drove down to Arlington, TX for Boyd's younger sister's wedding the weekend before Thanksgiving. The drive was cheaper than flights there, even with two nights in a hotel. Plus, we enjoyed seeing the countryside, talking about life, listening to podcasts and audiobooks, and watching Law & Order in the hotel rooms! If you need a good driving song, check this one out:

Oklahoma countryside

We arrived on Friday night pretty exhausted from the 1,000 mile drive and we went searching online for a good restaurant. So many places around were national chain restaurants, which were guaranteed not to have the good green salad we craved. By some act of miracle we wound up at Potager, based solely on the Yelp Reviews and the fact that Boyd's aunt had recommended a place near the hotel "whose name started with P."

The minute we walked in the small restaurant I knew we were in the right place. The food smelled good, people were laughing and drinking wine out of mismatched wine glasses. The man behind the counter had dreads in his hair and was smiling warmly. Potager just has one menu on a chalkboard and it changes daily. You step up to the counter and order from the list such delicacies as green beans and tomatoes, sauteed brocholi, quiche, and (yay!) green salad. You let them know how much you want of each item and they put all the orders on your plate - of course you can always come back for seconds!

Boyd enjoying a bite of quiche at Potager.

Probably the coolest part is their pay system. Seeing that there were no listed prices I quietly asked the man in line with us how it worked. He explained that the list on the wall had suggested prices for generic items like "entree", "side vegetable", and "salad'. You then consider whether your quantity was small, medium, or large and pay accordingly. You add up your costs, add sales tax, and drop the money in a watering can next to the list. I liked that the pay was casual, yet it still listed their costs and gave you the option to give what you thought the meal was worth. Believe me - it was a good deal for farm fresh food!

After two days of car food the broccoli never tasted so good, the salad had real greens, and the green beans crunched satisfyingly. It was absolutely 100% better than I ever could have imagined. At one point I gushed that if this place was in St Paul I'd eat here all the time. But truth be told, it's exactly how we cook at home so I wouldn't actually go if I lived nearby. However, after the wedding the next day we did pop over for another meal at Potager for our daily dose of real greens and tasty veggies. Yum!

Speaking of yum, here are some photos from our lovely Thanksgiving in Minnesota with our friends the Mitchells and two other couples.

Boyd and Jason prep the "happy" free-range turkey.

We also did a tandoori-flavored rotisserie turkey. It worked pretty well and the tandoori flavor was great!

The lovely table with Jason and Gena's fancy china.

My plate full of food! The green blob is saag paneer, which our friend from India brought and which went surprisingly well with mashed potatoes!

PIES!!

P.S. We picked up one more stamp for our National Parks Passport! Chickasaw National Recreation Area in southern Oklahoma, where we stopped for lunch.

Listening to Music I Don't Understand

2011-10-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Last night Boyd and I went with our housemate, EB, to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. The SPCO has a great deal where all tickets for people in their 20s and 30s are only $10! EB is a season ticket holder and she had one extra ticket for last night, so she invited us along.

I love listening to classical music, especially Classical Minnesota Public Radio, because it is perfect background music for when I work or restful music at the end of the day. This tendency to think of classical music as peaceful usually has very unfortunate consequences when I see live performances - late at night, in dark concert halls, etc. BUT last night I had a different experiences, for a number of reasons:

Props to the Ordway theater and SPCO for not dimming the lights all the way. This meant that I could still read the concert program during the music and it didn't feel like the middle of the night (when I would normally be asleep).
Thanks to EB for bringing the binoculars. Whenever I started feeling tired I grabbed the binocs and watched the faces of the players. That was pretty neat. I loved seeing the overly-dramatic expressions of the viola players and the absolute boredom of the piccolo player who didn't have a single note for two movements in the first half!
It's hard to be restful when the music finds no rest.

That third point one brings up an interesting part of last night. The theme of the concert seemed to be dissonance. Several of the pieces didn't use normal scales but used the "twelve-tone technique" (the chromatic scale with no heed to convention) and so there was not a restful cord to be found!

Because it wasn't music I was used to hearing, I diligently read the concert program to try to understand what the composer was saying he was trying to do with the music. I relied a lot on the dynamics of the sound and the pace of the songs to see when the piece was gaining momentum and when it was winding down.

"Okay," I thought, "I got that last piece." It was titled Accompanying Music to a Film Scene, so I could picture a movie scene and be in the music. At intermission, however, my illusions were smashed wide open. They had switched the songs and so the one I thought was the film scene was actually There is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook. Goodbye understanding, and hello power of suggestion!

Anyway, all in all, an enjoyable experience and a pleasant way to spend the evening.

On another note, here are some pictures from my life recently!

Qwill and Hazel being cute! They have been curling up together to stay warm.

My favorite dessert this season: the Apple Crustata from Bon Appetite.

Beautiful view of St. Paul on one of my afternoon walks.

Fall is here! EB's house fits right in with the fall colors.

More pretty fall colors!

Boyd and I took a trip to the Como Zoo last week and saw the sloth moving all over the place! She climbed back and forth along this branch while we were there. So fascinating to see her move!

Travel Journal: Manyamula Village

2011-09-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

The next leg of our journey was three days in a village, staying with one of Spirit in Action's partners. It was a really amazing experience. I wrote about some of our cultural experiences in Manyamula Village for my work blog. Click here for the story and pictures.

On a side note, the journey from Nktata Bay to Manyamula was also an adventure reminiscent of our past bus rides in Malawi. Two moments stand out:

A man offered to take us in a personal taxi the 100km to the village. We thought he was charging us $14 but (luckily) before we left he clarified that he actually wanted $140! No thanks.
We ended up taking a bus that broke down half-way through the drive. Luckily (again), Boyd's handy dandy Leatherman tool helped them tighten the axel, or whatever they did, so that we could get back on the road!

Malawian countryside near where our bus broke down.

Travel Journal: Malawian Bus Adventures (Part 2)

2011-09-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2011 (continued)

Nkhata Bay, Malawi

We hated to leave the beautiful view and the crescent beach at Nhkotakota but thinking of the 14km walk to town and the long day of buses, we opted for a ride part way up the coast with our new friends. After a quick 100km (our fastest ever in Malawi), they dropped us off at a police roadblock as they turned off the main road "tarmac" towards their hotel.

"The bus will be here in one hour," the Malawian policeman said. So....we waited....Soon after our friends left us, I realized that I had left our Malawian cell phone in the back of their truck! I had to convince the police to let me use their phone to call my phone to get in touch with them. Luckily, I had my own airtime. The way it works in Malawi is that you buy small amounts of pre-paid time (50 cents at a time) and then add it to the cell phone as needed, so the police were happy to let me use their phone once I used my own airtime and left them some extra. I did eventually get the phone back....

And we waited....we talked to the kids. There were lots of kids hanging out at the roadblock (it was school vacation time) because this is where the cars, trucks and buses have to stop. Once anyone stops they hoist up their wares and try to sell anything and everything through the windows. We saw them trade dried fish and "fizzies" (baggies of soda) with their friends. Boyd spoke English to them and taught them new words. I played a jump rope game "jimga"and laughed with them.

And we waited...we took pictures of the kids and they all laughed at themselves and each other when we showed them the playback photo!

After about 2 hours a minibus finally came by. This was the ONLY passenger car that had passed while we were waiting. Some trucks had passed with open backs that people stand up in, but we didn't really feel comfortable traveling that way. Once we were in the minibus, of course, they had to wait for it to fill up. About 1/2 hour later, after more waiting, some fried potato eating, and passenger collecting, we were off. Bye roadblock!

Boyd bargaining for fried potatoes at our roadblock.

Fish in the green tub for sale as a snack.

The minibus crept along the coast, picking up anyone on the side of the road who flagged us down. At this point, I really understood how few vehicles passed, so if you want a ride, you gotta really flag the driver and run to catch what you can! We picked up two moms with babies who wanted to touch us, a girl with a bucket of dried (smelly) fish, a man with 2 bags of (smelly) fish. The door refused to shut and the last man in had to hold it shut.

Finally, after spending 6 hours to get 200km we were dropped unceremoniously at the bus curb in Nkhata Bay. We walked up the last kilometer up the hill to the Butterfly Space Lodge. Boyd said I looked like a deer in headlights when we arrived. Truthfully, I was beyond overwhelmed by the length of travel the last two days. Boyd did so good to reassure me that all was well. "That's the way it's supposed to be when traveling in Malawi."

Natural beauty alert! View of Lake Malawi.

View from sitting on pit toilets at Butterfly Space. Lovely!

The cute huts at Butterfly Space.

Our room at Butterfly space.

Our day off was lovely. We played in the lake, walked to town for a Fanta and fried potatoes and bought some cloth from the market. There were some really interesting people at the lodge, including a couple traveling around the world for 12 months, three college guys from University of Edinburgh who had bought a car in Zimbabwe and were driving up to Tanzania, a woman volunteering from Canada, and many more. I loved hearing each one of their stories, but as amazing as their adventures all sounded, I was very glad to be there for Spirit in Action and I was looking forward to start work the next day in Manyamula village.

Travel Journal: Malawian Bus Adventures

2011-09-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

[Note: I realized that some of you might have been prevented from posting comments. I changed the settings so that anyone can comment now!]

July 28, 2011
Nkhata Bay, Malawi

View Larger Map

Ahhhhh....Today is a day of relaxation on Lake Malawi after two long days of traveling. [See route above, expect we went up the coast between D and E. For some reason the map won't let me show that.] We are in Nkhata Bay on a small beach with white sand and lots of white and speckled rocks. The water is blue and clear - and there are ants crawling all over me!

We so wish we had another day to relax, the last two days left me a little overwhelmed but everything has worked out okay and we've had some really great, authentic Malawian experiences along the way! Boyd and I do well traveling together and as long as we "let go and let God" things always seem to work out for the best.

Man holding door shut.

We started in Dedza (A on map above) with a 2 km walk to town to catch a bus to Lilongwe. Our backpacks were really heavy (we brought along a number of gifts to give to SIA partners along the way...) and we walked quickly with lots of "wah-wah" and "muli bwanji" (how are you?) greetings as we went. Our prayer was that we would be the last 2 people on the bus so that it would leave as soon as we got there. Perfect answered prayer!

We made it, exhausted and sweating and the minibus set off. The mini-bus operators are all private companies and they always want to make maximum profit by only leaving when they have a FULL bus, this means that nothing is on a time schedule - you just wait until you fill up. Apparently, they filled it one person too full because we got stopped at the police roadblock. There was a time that no one was speaking English so were very confused about what was going on. After we were allowed to continue, I was squished into the back seat where half my bum was on the seat and the other half was on the wheel-well. I counted 17 people - plus a baby and one more boy I didn't see until he popped out at the roadblock - in the 12-seater van! The door came off its tracks and had to be held shut (a common occurrence I was to find out along the journey).

Man wearing a UMN hat at
the Lilongwe bus station.

In Lilongwe (B on map) we switched to a big bus. It also took us on as the last few passengers so we were on our way shortly. People shouted at the bus driver as he drove around town trying to buy gas. He didn't find any, since there is a major petrol shortage in Malawi now. The bus was packed with people, filling every square inch of space. We stood in the aisle with maybe 40 other people until they created a seat for us right by the windshield, on top of some sacks of maize. From this position we could see every time the bus almost hit a goat or bicyclist on the road. The driver honked liberally to let people know they should move to save themselves. There's something special about watching a bus driver text on his cell phone while honking and barreling down the skinny Malawian roads.

The driver stopped at various small roadside villages to let people off. When we did this there was always a bunch of shouting from the passengers. Those getting off pushed their way through the crowd (remember the aisle is totally filled with people standing), passing babies and luggage over head to the front of the bus. No one filed out of seats, you just step over or push past. You can maybe imagine the smell of sweaty bodies - so very strong. After getting off the bus, many of the women walked away with roller-board suitcases balanced on their heads and a baby strapped to their backs.

Interesting public service announcement
along the roadside.

In addition to the driver, there are two helpers to wave people on board, take payment, usher people off, tell moms to keep their kids in their laps to take up less space, and get food for the driver when we stopped to drop off/pick up people. They stand right up front in the door-well. Here are some of the people who got on/off the bus:

2 old ladies just coming back from a funeral. They smiled big grins at us and said "wah-wah" holding their hands up to greet us
A man in handcuffs, led by another man
Tons of mom with babies on their backs
A woman with a tub of whole, fried fish - the driver bought on to eat with his "free" hand as he drove
3 kids got off to pee and everyone heckled them
Many, many bags of maize

It had been about 8 hours to go less than 200 miles! Also, notice a distinct lack of bathroom breaks, especially since I was too scared (ie smart) to use the public toilets at the bus stations. We were dropped off along the roadside in Nhkotakota (pronounced n-kota-kota; D on map) with lots of waves and shouts good-bye from our fellow bus-mates.

Already exhausted, we hitched up our heavy bags and walked the 4 km (2.5 miles) to the Nkhotakota Safari Lodge. There was no other way to get there - no taxis or buses, so we just had to walk. I did take a pit-stop in the bushes along the way, though. I was so tired and sweaty and smelly but somehow it was also a pleasant walk through real villages with regular folk. We passed kids and waved to women sitting in front of their huts. There were lots of "Hello, how are you? Fine, and you?" exchanges, which is the phrase-set that everyone learns in English. For some reason the kids also shouted "Give me a pen!" at us. We politely declined.

On arrival, we drank a coke and a "greenie" (Carlsburg with a green label), sitting on the front step, feet in the sand, of our cute hut. After resting and taking a much-appreciated shower, we had a great dinner with a nice couple - Dave and Lucy, from New Zealand and England, respectively - and Dave told us crazy stories about being a teacher for spoiled children in Qatar. What an interesting world we live in!

[Day two of crazy bus adventures to continue tomorrow! Sorry I don't have more photos of the bus ride. It was too surreal to take photos during the trip.]

The beautiful Nhkotakota beach in front of our little hut.

Travel Journal: Hiking Up Dedza Mountain

2011-08-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

July 25, 2011: Dedza, Malawi

Today we "bagged" (i.e. hiked) Dedza Mountain with a guide to go along and lead the way. This was after a lovely breakfast in the Dedza Lodge garden, in the warmth of the sun.

We left straight from the hotel and walked towards the hills. When we turned from the footpath to the "main road" that leads to town, I started noticing signs of people - a shell from a roasted peanut, a corn cob from a roadside snack - and two women passed us, trotting down the road with long arches of firewood on their heads. The wood is balanced just so and looks similar to someone portaging a canoe. It rests on a crown of cloth or a twisted, dried grass wreath. They trot by and mumble greetings to our guide. "Wah-wah" with a hand held up is a sign of respect to your elders as you greet them.

We saw women and children with babies and wood loads all along our walk. Going down the steep, steep slope their bare feet held them so much more steady compared to our slick shoe bottoms. Exactly why do Americans need to send shoes to Africa? Certainly not to help these women! (In the photo below you can see the arch of the wood.)

In Malawi there are lots of fires burning all the time. A line of smoke in the distance can mean a farmer burning off dried maize plants or it could mean people are hunting mice or hares and are smoking them out. All the smoke fills the sky with a haze and so we couldn't see much from the top of the mountain, only a layer of brown reminiscent of the Los Angeles basin. However, all the smoke does make it smell like camping!

Soda pop in bottles at the summit made a great treat and I felt a good sense of accomplishment, even if all I did was climb a mountain for fun.

Our guide answered lots of our questions about Malawi for us. He told us about how the official language in the parliament is English but that some politicians only know their tribal language and Chichewa, which is the language of the largest tribe and another national language. He told us about how the Dedza golf course is famous in Malawi. See for yourself how it sizes up...

As we walked into town lots of people stopped to wave and call greetings to us. People stared but didn't jostle or jeer at us. Maybe that's a reason they call Malawi the "warm heart of Africa." We saw people running to sell their wares through bus windows at the bus depot. We saw bikes with cushions and handle bars for passengers on the back. (Hiring a bike ride is the most economical mode of transportation in Malawi, besides just walking. Very few people have their own cars and travel by mini-bus is relatively expensive and only used for long distances.) A "fixie" (one gear bike) in Africa is actually hard core.

Another picture of the path:

Our nice room at Dedza Pottery Lodge:

Travel Journal: Arriving in Malawi

2011-08-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

It turned out to be really difficult to post about our trip in Africa while we were there - rarely was there electricity or internet, and when there was it was unbelievably slow! - so I wanted to share snippets from my trip journal now.

Psst. If you haven't seen the photos on Facebook yet, you can use this link to see them, even if you are not a Facebook user.

Here are my reflections after the first few days of adventurous travel that brought us to Dedza, a small town in the central part of Malawi:

**********************************************

July 24, 2011 Dedza, Malawi

We are finally feeling settled now. It's Sunday night and it's been such a long journey to get here. First, the flight. Getting bumped up to business class was an amazing blessing. We ate well, probably too well, and actually got some decent sleep in the almost total recline chairs. Having done that now I can't imagine going 12 hours in economy class [Note: on the way home we did NOT get magically bumped to luxury, so I can report that 12 hours in economy is an exhausting and frustrating experience. It's what I imagine a baby feels when they can't get comfortable, they want something but can't seem to articulate the need, and as a result they just whimper quietly while remaining slightly irritated...].

After that long flight there were two more flights, including a stop in the Democratic Republic of Congo where we saw a couple of guys pushing a car that was towing a luggage cart (see photo below), and where we didn't deplane but watched people board going through hand-searching security line. We landed in Malawi but our luggage did not. Worried, we tried not to think of worst-case scenarios.

Canaan Gondwe (Spirit in Action partner whom I have been in touch with over the last 4 years but never met), had traveled many hours to meet us at the airport. He came in and found us desperately looking for our luggage. We hugged! It was so good to meet him face-to-face after so many years of corresponding. He had a driver, lent from a World Vision contact, which was really nice. Riding into town we saw many stands alongside the road, making sales of mice, skinned goats, watermelon and tires of all sizes. (See meat hung up for sale in photo below.)

We stayed at a backpackers hostel, where we had our own nice thatched hut. "Not much that that can't cure..." said the proprietor when I ordered a coke and bottle of water from the bar, probably looking slightly like a sleep-walker. Boyd and I plowed through dinner and forced ourselves to play two hands of gin rummy before finally crashing at 7:30pm local time!

We woke up a couple of times throughout the night (once at 2am when a van full of people got back from the bars) but ultimately slept 14 hours until 9:30am, which was just exactly the time we were to check out! Hurriedly, we got up, packed, and checked out 10 minutes late before going to split a full-English breakfast and good cups of tea and coffee.

During our long sleep, I dreamed twice that we had already got our luggage back and once that Qwill was sitting on our luggage to watch over it wherever it was! Thanks, sweet Qwill!

Canaan and Billy Bonza (our driver) took us on a tour of Liliongwe (the capitol) where we saw places where riots had taken place the days before we arrived, the mosque, the markets, the "china" shops (with plastic things and electronics), and the 5-star hotel being built by Chinese investors (see below). We also saw some memorials and some US embassy staff with American flags on their uniforms.

Then they took us to the airport when the next plane was due to arrive, so that we could look for our bags. I almost cried when we saw my bag get hefted on to the conveyor belt and come around to us! Then Boyd’s bag came by and I felt grateful beyond measure. No need to buy new things and regret items not put in the carry-on!

Back to town to catch a bus to Dedza. We finally found a mini-bus that would pass through Dedza, though we waited until 30-45 minutes for it to fill up before we left. A nice Dedza forestry student befriended us on the ride and acted as tour guide as we rode south. The landscape got more mountainous and the weather got colder. She asked us about Christians in the US and what we thought of gay marriage. The seats in the bus were hard but luckily we only had three to a row, instead of the promised 4.

We walked on the dusty road and finally made it to Dedza Pottery Lodge. We saw beautiful stars and the Milky Way on our way to bed.”

Camping in Wisconsin

2011-07-04T09:03:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a fun camping trip at Interstate State Park, Wisconsin, with some of our good friends in Minnesota. Why were we camping in Wisconsin, you ask? Why because the Minnesota government is shut down. Please please come to a budget agreement, so we can get our state parks, rest stops, and state services back!

That aside, Wisconsin is a great place to camp and Interstate State Park has a really nice campground (although it doesn't have working water faucets...) with lots of trees and a pretty lake. The campground is right along the St. Croix River and there are pretty bluffs on both sides of the river (mini-)gorge.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the scenery -- but I did take lots of pictures of the amazing food we ate!

On Saturday morning, Boyd made banana pancakes that we perfectly fluffy and flavorful. It's a recipe from the Joy of Cooking, so you can recreate the experience on your own at home.

On Saturday night, after a long day of lazing around the campsite, hiking 1 mile around the lake, sunbathing, etc. Rupa prepared a very special dinner for us. Now, I don't get homemade Indian food all that often, so I was tickled pink (as Boyd's dad would say) to have excellent Indian food while camping!

Our first course was pratha, which is Indian flat bread stuffed with vegetables and spices. Rupa first made the dough and the vegetable filling separately. Then she made a little pouch with the dough and filled it with the veggie mix. Once she had the filled dough pouch she patted it flat and then used a rolling pin to make it into a flat pancake. The flattening process mixes all the ingredients together, so it's no longer dough with filling but both parts mixed together. Then she fries it lightly and serves it up hot. It was perfect mouthwateringly good - especially when I dipped it in the raita (yogurt dip) with little lentil balls in it.

Here is Rupa rolling out the Pratha (pronounced pra-ta).

I wanted to eat 5-6 of these, but I exercised extreme restraint to limit myself to just two so that I still had room for the main course. While Rupa was rolling the prathas, the Chicken Biryani (spicy chicken mixed with rice) was cooking over the open fire. She layered the rice and chicken pieces in the pot and then sealed the pot with dough around the edges. The dough seal makes it like a pressure cooker, so that everything cooks more quickly.

As tends to happen with Indian food, I ate too much and had to sit and relax and digest for a good while before I was ready for.......

Gena & Jason's famous dutch oven dessert!! Gena put together a camp favorite this time, a Mississippi Mud cake with chocolate chips and nuts on top. It cooks on the side of the fire with coals below and on top and after about 45 minutes we got fluffy, moist, chocolatey cake. Wow! Here she is (pictured right) scooping out a great helping of cake.

Besides all the good food. The other cool part of the trip was that we had lots of kids with us. It's great to get the youngsters interested in being outdoors and enjoying nature. Fiona (pictured below with a watermelon slice) experienced her first "wee in the woods" on this trip! Aubrey (in the pink shirt) loved just walking up the hill and back down again. Adele (the one in the middle) couldn't get enough of the pebbles in the campsite and floating on the lake. Hopefully someday soon I'll get to camp with my nieces too!

A big move and a big trip

2011-06-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hello faithful friends! I am so glad for the chance to connect with you all again and share some of the excitement in our lives right now.

The first big update is that at the end of May we said good-bye to New Haven, CT: (Good-bye beautiful view of Yale Divinity School)

And we moved a small portion of our worldly belongings to St. Paul, MN! (Hello gorgeous Mounds Park!)

We moved back into the same place we lived 2 years ago, which made it really easy to move and transiting into our new situation here. We are renting a room in E.B.'s beautiful house. She has a great garden in back and Boyd has already planted a few hot pepper plants. There's a tennis court right across the street and we're trying to get out and enjoy it as much as possible this summer.

Boyd is just about done with his dissertation and he'll be working on that and teaching "the American West" history class at the U of Minnesota in the fall. In the fall he'll also start applying for tenure-track jobs all over the country.

Our new address, in case you want to send me a postcard or letter (and why not?), is:

1013 Thorn St.

St. Paul MN 55106

The other exciting adventure that many of your probably already know about is that Boyd and I are traveling to Kenya and Malawi this summer to visit Spirit in Action grant recipients and partners! I've been working with SIA for almost 4 years now and this will be an exciting opportunity to meet my colleagues face-to-face.

About 3/4 of the month-long trip will be business for me and the remaining week or so will be vacation for the two of us. We're going to do some safari rides, visit an UNESCO site with rock paintings in Malawi, and relax on the beach of Lake Malawi.

I think this will fulfill Boyd's strong request to take a vacation to a sunny, warm spot! After our trip to rainy Ireland two years ago - he's been determined to take a WARM summer vacation.

We leave for Africa July 22nd but between now and then I hope to have some great, summer culinary adventures. We're headed to South Carolina for a friend's wedding next weekend and I hope to try some good southern food when we're there.

Bye for now!

Recent Food Fun

2011-02-20T15:19:00.000-08:00

Hello again! Last week was a great week in food. Monday was Valentine's Day and Boyd and I cooked dinner together. I had pulled out a recipe that we made for Valentine's Day in 2006. It was romantic to cook the dish again remembering when we cooked it together back in 2006 before grad school.

We made Asiago Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta. Yum! It was even more tasty and cheesy than it sounds. The recipe calls for bacon, chicken, heavy cream and asiago cheese, oh, and pasta. They only use 1 Tablespoon cheese but we ignored that bad suggestion and used about 1/3 cup instead! So cheesy! It's topped with parsley and green onions.

We had the meal with a bottle of Bonterra Chardonnay, which is my all-time favorite wine (it's organic too!).

Last Sunday, we had a wonderful "small world" moment. Our friend Beth had recently raved to me about a "cheeky" cocktail (she's from Britain) she had at a local bar, 116 Crown. Right at the same time I was trying to find the name of the drink and how to make it, Boyd, who was listening to his latest favorite podcast "Dinner Party Download" (check it out!), called out, "the bartender from 116 Crown is on the podcast!" A moment later: "They're making your cocktail!!"

After he had a moment to calm down, we looked up the recipe for the 4th and Clyde. The drink has a great mix of gin, bourbon, and elderflower liqueur (a nice sweet touch). It's topped with red pepper flakes, which give it a nice kick. We promptly bought the ingredients and made them the next day:

My third and final food fun from last week was a cooking club gathering. Yale's International Spouses and Partners group has a regular meeting where people from different countries teach us how to cook their ethnic foods. This week was Mexican food and as a Californian I felt compelled to go, especially because guacamole was on the menu!

Besides the guacamole, which is pretty standard, we also made some more unique foods, such as Nopales (cactus):

and Rajas de chile poblano (poblano chiles with sour cream and cheese)

Both dishes were extremely tasty. The poblano dish was really good, maybe because of all the cheese. The cactus (which was boiled) tasted surprisingly like green beans. It was fun learning about authentic Mexican cooking, and even better to learn that there actually is a good Mexican supermarket nearby! Yay - fresh tortillas are mine again! They want me to teach about American food, but I wasn't sure what to do. What do you think? Cookies? Potato salad? BBQ?

Have a good week! Bon appetite!

International Cuisine at the Cothran's

2011-02-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

Last year Boyd's mom gave us a cookbook called "Asian Flavors." And while that might seems like a pretty nondescript title, the recipes themselves are great! The recipes hail from Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia - so it's quite a range. There are the familiar stir fry dishes and your no-so-standard Roasted Coconut and Chili Fish.

It's pretty much the best kind of cookbook for me because all the meals only take 10-30 minutes to make and yet I still get the comfort of following a recipe! Also, a lot of them are veggie-based, rather than meat-centered. I really like the new flavors - especially the peanut oil, oyster sauce, and rice wine.

So far I've made:

Stir-fried Snow Peas with Shiitake Mushrooms Served with rice. Would have been better with tofu in it to add protein.
Pork, Crab & Mushroom Lettuce Rolls So tasty! I love wrapping food in lettuce! We used canned crab but that flavor got lost. Next time I'd spring for the fresh crab.
Cantonese Chicken with Sweet & Sour Sauce (pictured above) Sweet and sour sauce is one of my favorite asian flavors. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to make. This recipe called for ketchup to make part of the "sour" part!

On a completely different food note, Boyd got egg cups from our friends Beth and Tim for his birthday.

How civilized! Beth and Tim are from England, so they've been schooling us on how to be proper. Doesn't this look like a nice breakfast? (Psst: The chickens are upside down because they are two-sided egg cups! This is the soft boiled side, but you can also use them for poached eggs in the big side.)

Pictured right are our soft boiled eggs with the toast "soldiers." There is a very specific ritual of breaking the top of the egg shell, cutting into the yoke, and then dipping the toast (with Marmite - which Boyd actually likes!) into the yummy, runny egg yoke. At the end you can use a spoon to scoop out the rest of the egg white.

It's a very satisfying breakfast! Boyd's really gotten into it and we probably have egg breakfasts 3 times a week.

That's all for now! Have a fun, tasty week! What are y'all cooking for Valentine's Day?

Birthday Trip to Big Sur

2011-01-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

This year for my birthday (January 3rd) Mom and I took a special trip to Big Sur together. It was extra special because it's been a really long time since we did anything with just the two of us. I keep remembering the trip with fondness - thinking of the view-filled walks we took, the great food we ate, and the fun time we had together.

The purpose of this trip was, in addition to celebrating my birthday, to have some serious rest and relaxation. Christmas is pretty crazy around our house and so we were both ready for some free time. We stayed at the famous Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, which is known for its bohemian

atmosphere and cute cabin rooms. It is a total gem! The rooms are have just the right balance of cute, not-too-polished, cozy, and fancy feeling. I know that sounds like quite a combination but see if you agree...

Mom walking up to our room: "The Chalet"

Mom's bed with an amazing view of the redwood trees and creek.

(She wasn't too keen on the linen sheets.)

My bed also look out into the trees. I liked feeling like I was sleeping in a tree house and it reminded me of our Bedford (Minneapolis) bedroom that had a view of the leaves.

Our first night we had reservations at the Deetjen's Restaurant. It was nice just walking a few feet to get to a fancy restaurant. They still had tasteful Christmas decorations up and a wood burning stove in the corner, which made for a cozy, familiar environment.

As an appetizer I had Dungeness Crab Cakes with Baby Arugula and Spicy Chipotle Raita. It was the perfect amount of crisp fried goodness and crab flavor. The chipotle was a really nice touch. For the main course I had "Roasted Smoked Bacon Wrap Pork Tender Loin with Mushrooms, Herb Parmesan Polenta Cake, Apples, Blue Cheese and Port Jus". Oh yum! I can taste it now. The pork was perfectly cooked - not too pink, not overdone - and the blue cheese on top added a great tangy flavor. The polenta was thoroughly cheesy and it was pan-fried so it had a nice crispiness too.

(Mom had their soup of the day and the fish catch of the day for dinner, both of which I cannot steal from their menu. Do you remember what you had, Mom?)

For dessert we shared - wait for it... - the dark chocolate mousse cake! Wow! It was beyond amazing. Rather than a light mousse I would have described it as pure chocolate truffle! The chocolate melted perfectly in my mouth and the elderberry sauce on top was a perfect balance.

And that was just the first meal...

The next day was my birthday (yay!) and after a lazy morning with some tea from Deetjen's, we went to the Big Sur Bakery for breakfast. We shared a ham and parmesan cheese quiche (so much cheese on top! it was almost like a cheese sauce), a citrus morning bun (with a citrus glaze that gave such a fresh zing to the sweet bun), and a strawberry strudel (nice flaky pastry dough and fresh feeling strawberries). I sipped a raspberry tea that was made with real, dried raspberry fruit and enjoyed the view of the beautiful California hills.

This is the only picture of the food I took of our trip.

I was too busy enjoying the flavors and forgot the camera.

As you can imagine, after the dinner at Deetjen's and this breakfast we were in serious need of a walk! Luckily the sun decided to come out for my birthday and so we had nice weather as we hiked up Buzzard's Roost at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. With all the rain the rivers were huge! It was fun to watch the water rush by.

We also drove down to the Pfeiffer Beach (we had to wade across a creek to get there) and it was warm enough to soak up some vitamin D while we tried to digest! We definitely weren't hungry for much lunch so we just split a bagel from Santa Cruz's Bagelry with Cheese Louise (herb schmear) and smoked salmon spread (not at the same time though).

We browsed around the Phoenix Gift Shop at Nepenthe and then went back to our room and knitted and read until we were finally hungry for another amazing meal.

For my birthday dinner we went to the Nepenthe Restaurant, which is perched on the coastal cliffs. Unfortunately, we were there too late to see the amazing view. I had salad with a blue cheese dressing. The cheese was one of my favorites (Point Reyes Blue Cheese) and there were plenty of big chunks. Then I had the Salmon Filet with tomato, golden raisin and coriander chutney and basmati rice. I love raisins with fish, they give such a nice sweetness the spicy chutney sauce. I also had a nice California Chardonnay that was good and buttery. Mom went with the famous Ambrosiaburger!

None of Nepenthe's desserts caught our eye, so we went back to Deetjen's for dessert (lemon, vanilla cake that was only pretty good) and a glass of port. Can you tell I'm enjoying myself?

Only one more meal to go! For breakfast the next morning we had (on several recommendations) the Deetjen's Eggs Benedict. I can whole-heartedly pass on the recommendation. I LOVE eggs benedict and this was a fine example of the dish. The hollandaise sauce was really good and lemony and a perfect consistency. I had mine with ham and spinach and Mom chose bacon and spinach. The ham reminded me of the fresh "bacon" ham Boyd and I ate in Ireland. We were both full with just a half order.

Breakfast was especially fun because there was a cute New York couple next to us who were obviously a new couple. They were thoroughly living up to their bohemian dream vacation, searching for a room with a fire place and a view of the ocean. They just wanted to relax and enjoy the slow pace of Big Sur. And who can blame them?!

I have lots more pictures that I am posting on Facebook. Even if you are not on Facebook, you can see the pictures as an album without signing in. The album is here.

Thanks for the wonderful, memorable trip, Mom!

Bon voyage, Big Sur! I'll come back soon (hopefully!).

41 books in 52 weeks!

2011-01-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I hope you all had a great holiday season! Quite a few people have asked me for book recommendations or asked what I've been reading lately - and it just so happens that last year, for the first time ever, I kept a list of ALL the books I read.

41 books in 52 weeks was only possible with lots of hours driving and working while listening to audiobooks and vacation time! It turned out to be quite an eclectic list and so I'm excited to share it with all of you, hoping you will find just the right book to read next.

Here are some fun stats:

39% audio books (16 books)

34% non-fiction (including biography/memoir) (14 books)

41% of fiction books were historical fiction (11 books)

10% books I bought (4 books)

And now, without further ado, here is an annotated list of the books I read in 2010:

(e) = audiobook

Unaccustomed Earth - Lahiri (short stories about people from India in the US)
Little House, Long Shadow - Fellman (excellent critique of the "Little House" books and their connections with Libertarians)
(e) Clara Callan - Wright (2 sisters in write letters to each other about their lives; set in 1930s)
(e) The Lost Prophecies - "The Medieval Murderers" (not very good mystery set in a monastery)
(e) The Swan Thieves - Kostova (present day/historical split story about landscape painters in US and Paris)
The Lacuna - Kinsolver (boy growing up in Mexico working for Diego Rivera, covers McCarthyism; not as good as her other books)
(e) Out of Range - Box (fun mystery if you are on a long drive; set near Yellowstone)
(e) War Dances - Alexie (Funny! Short stories about American Indians)
Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea - Handler (Hilarious! Laugh out loud funny stories about the fast life of a stand-up comic)
(e) Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr - Nix (Young adult fantasy novel; good reader for audio book)
(e) Burning Bright - Chevalier (GREAT historical fiction about family in 18th century London; good details of the city)
Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy - King (engaging critique of the "pink ribbon" movement, focuses on feminism and consumerism)
The Poor Philanthropist: How and Why the Poor Help Each Other - Wilkinson-Maposa (I learned so much about informal borrowing/loaning systems in parts of Africa)
(e) The Tenth Circle - Picoult (very much like her other books; high school girl is raped, or is it more complicated than that?...)
The Secret Garden - Burnett (So nice to read as I went to sleep; sweet story of friendship and overcoming challenges)
(e) The Whistling Wind - Hillerman (Hillerman stories are so good for the road; mysteries about American Indians set in the southwest)
(e) Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea - Kurlansky (epic history of nonviolence movements; so much more than just MLK)
King's Dream - Sundquist (great close reading of MLK's "Dream" speech; really readable and inspiring)
A Place of Safety: A Chief Inspector Barnaby Novel - Graham (I LOVE the Midsomer Murders BBC movies and this is the book series they are based on! Good British countryside mysteries)
Push - Sapphire (very real look at girl growing up poor and abused; overcoming huge barriers)
Cry Dignity! - Peters (about the founding of the nonprofit World Neighbors)
(e) Remarkable Creatures - Chevalier (another wonderful historical fictions about woman fossil hunting in 1800s England)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Larsson (you've probably heard of this one...I love the spunk of the main female character; good mystery)
The Girl who Played with Fire - Larsson (one of the few books I bought this year; HAD to read it after finishing the first one)
Brandraising: How nonprofits raise visibility and money through smart communication - Durham (common nonprofits - learn how to talk about our work better!)
Wind in the Willows - Grahame (slow rambling story about cute animals living near a river; another good going-to-sleep book)
(e) The Expected One - McGowan (historian finds a gospel of Jesus's life, written by Mary Magdalene; great mystery and religious tale)
(e) The Cat who went Underground - Braun (love these cozy mysteries! set in the midwest)
(e) Pillars of the Earth - Follett (EPIC 40-hr story of a monastery and town building a cathedral in 12th century England; an excellent story!)
(e) The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Larsson (3rd book in the series; loved every minute of it; great on tape)
What's the Alternative? Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros - Gordon (some encouragement in the face of a seriously lame job market for librarians...)
A Book of Silence - Maitland (decent look into the meaning and role of silence in our world; women vows to live a silent life; she can be pretty odd at times)
The Man who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe - Clark (some bits of inspiration about prayer)
Things Fall Apart - Achebe (Cannot believe I hadn't read this before! Great book about affects of colonization in Nigerian village)
New England White - Carter (good mystery until the very end; set in New Haven/Yale although not officially)
(e) The Help - Stockett (GREAT novel looking at lives of black and white women in the South during the 1960s; awesome on tape because of the great southern accents)
Prayers for a Privileged People - Brueggemann (prayers pushing "comfortable" Christians beyond their comfort zone)
Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America - Jacobson (Amazing academic book about the movement toward hyphenated ethnic identities and what that means for cultural and political rhetoric; especially Irish-American, Italian-American, and Jewish-American)
A Christmas Carol - Dickens (Boyd read this to me just before Christmas; what a good story! I want to read it every year now)
Doing Social Media so it Matters: A Librarian's Guide - Solomon (teaching librarians not to be scared of Facebook)
Angelology: A Novel - Trussoni (Angels are real and a bad, undercover force ; this mystery uncovers and fights the angels; good until the end)

Phew! I hope you are still with me... Out of all of these The Help, Pillars of the Earth, and Burning Bright were probably my favorites. They are the ones that really stuck with me.

Did you find the perfect next book to read? Let me know if you pick any of these up and tell me what you think of them!

I've already started the list for 2011... Happy reading!

New York, Baby!

2010-12-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Boyd and I ventured to New York City! We wanted to see what Christmas in New York was really all about. It turns out, it is mostly about crowds! Saturday was a perfect day for sight-seeing because it was not too cold and there was no wind or snow (quite the opposite of Minnesota that day...). We are only a 1.5-2 hour train ride away from the city, so it's pretty easy and not too expensive to make the trip.

After dropping our stuff off at our friend Alicia's apartment in "Stuy Town", we took the subway to the Met Museum. The Met is HUGE and it has a varied collection and instead of going to the American art (which is our go-to section of the art museum), we saw the period/decorative arts rooms, photography, musical instruments, and the "Arms and Armor" section. It was pretty cool to go to an art museum and not just look at paintings!

Boyd in the Met Museum store. Cool a 3D book about Lincoln!

Next, we walked through Central Park. This time of year the park is between the beauty of fall and the magic of winter snow, so it was just a lot of bare trees and cement paths. I think it would be really beautiful in summer, and a nice haven from the craziness of the city.

There are SO MANY PEOPLE in NYC!! The weekends right before Christmas are even more busy than usual and so instead of waiting in LONG lines to even enter stores on 5th Avenue (like FAO Schwartz) we just window shopped. For one moment, we got out of the hustle and bustle and caught the last 10 minutes of a Saturday night service at St Thomas Church. It was so startling to go from the herd-like mentality of 5th Ave to the beautiful singing in the church. Look at the crowd outside the Apple store!

One piece of advice: NEVER try to see the Rockefeller Center on a weekend near Christmas! Just don't. Not even if your really want to see the famous Christmas tree or take a picture of the 30 Rock building. It's just not worth it! We got stuck in a crowd and LITERALLY (yes I do mean literally) could not move one step in any direction. At one point I think I was even lifted off the ground for a second and I thought "this is how people die in stampedes."

Here is my attempt to take a picture of both Boyd and the Christmas tree...

On Broadway, after surviving Rockefeller Center

We made it out alive (barely) and then we really needed a beer and some onion rings. mmmmm. We found a great, overpriced, pub near Broadway and I was so excited to get a Magner's, which was my favorite Irish cider.

We got dinner and then saw a NY Philharmonic production of "Beethoven and Mahler".The violin soloist was really amazing and overall the dynamics were really impressive.

If that feels like a whirlwind trip, that's because it was! We took the train home in the pouring rain on Sunday afternoon, reading the NY Times and finally being able to picture the different parts of Manhattan as I read the news stories. It was a great trip and I can't wait to go again to see more of this crazy city!

P.S. Meanwhile, back on the home front, Qwill says, "Tut- tut, it looks like rain, dudes!"

Food and family

2010-11-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last week Boyd and I journeyed to California to visit our new nieces! Alora Marine (Emiko's baby) was born Sept. 28th and Emily Corinne (Suzanne's baby) was born Oct. 27th so they are just one month apart. It's amazing being with such tiny, little people and watching their proud mothers, fathers and family members. If you ask me what the nieces are like, it's hard to tell, but so far they have a lot in common: they both like sleeping and eating, and don't like sitting in car seats.

Here's my family with Emily the night I met her:

On Tuesday last week we made our way down to Port Hueneme, CA to have Thanksgiving with Boyd's family. Little Alora doesn't sleep well at night but her grandpa (Boyd the Elder) can put her right to sleep on his shoulder. Sometimes he even falls asleep himself!
That picture doesn't really show how beautiful Alora is, so here's a better one:

We also celebrated Thanksgiving with two wonderful feasts with the family. Surprisingly, neither of them involved turkey! Both families went with ham this year. To the right is the feast my mom prepared. Definitely the star of the meal (besides the yummy 4H ham) was the roasted onion dish. The onions were dipped in a pomegranate molasses sauce and then roasted in the oven for a while. They came out caramelized, soft and sweet! Yum! We also had some good roasted veggies and an amazing guacamole/salsa.

Here's a picture of the onions up close:

I didn't take any pictures of the spread on Thanksgiving at the Cothran's, but it was also very tasty. Perhaps my favorite part (besides the sauerkraut with the pork) was the pecan pie I made for dessert! The filling came out with the perfect amount of sweetness and caramel, vanilla flavor. It was truly a treat!

Welcome to the holiday baking season! Woo hoo!

More Squash Love!

2010-11-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I made such an amazing squash-centered dinner! I got some more butternut squash from the farmer's market and made Roasted Butternut Squash Polenta with Fried Sage from my squash cookbook. I didn't have any sage so I substituted in basil instead, which I got from our landlord who left a cut of it in our foyer.

I always forget how much I love polenta and this was such a good recipe to remind me! Polenta can get so creamy without any actual dairy added. Of course, that didn't mean I couldn't add dairy to the dish - so I added feta on top. The squash was cut up in cubes before it was roasted, so there were lots of good crystalized bits! And check out the fancy presentation!

Qwill was a perfect gentleman. He sat at the table with us and waited patiently for a tuna pie that never came...
Along with the polenta, we (minus Qwill) shared a fabulous bottle of wine. It went so well and the tangy-ness was perfectly paired with the creamy-ness of the polenta. It's a Big House wine, which was originally from Bonny Doon Wineries in Santa Cruz. We got this bottle, however, at the cheap, state run liquor stores in New Hampshire a few week ago. Good deal!
How much did Boyd like the meal? He finished his bowl while I still had this much left! And he kept smacking his lips and saying "Mmmmmmm!"
And then he said:

"Please madam, can I have some more?"

I love squash!

2010-11-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that it is fall squash season! The farmer's markets in New Haven seem to be shrinking as the summer growing season comes to an end, but there is now a wonderful array of squash available. Yum! Oh, and the bread lady still comes to sell her most excellent sour dough boules.

A few years ago I got the book "A Harvest of Pumpkin and Squash" and each fall I get really into trying out some of the super-tasty recipes. Last week, with my delicata squash, I made the Delicata Squash Rings with Arugula, Fuyu Persimmon, Dried Cranberries and Feta Salad. Yum! I substituted apple for the persimmon, because I could get that at the farmer's market. I also left the squash skins on rather than pealing them. Let's face it, if I don't have to peel a vegetable, it's just easier not to - and the man at the market said delicata skins are okay to eat. Check out how fancy it looks! The vinaigrette went so well with the pan-grilled squash (which made them slightly caramelized), the sweet cranberries and the salty feta.

Along with the salad, I also made a pizza with dough from the supermarket. The pizza was not squash related but it did turn out really good. I used fresh, soft mozzarella which made it just how I like it. The dough comes in a package and so all I had to do was stretch it out, plop it on the cookie tray, and top it with goodies. Here is the final product:

I'm on my way to the farmer's market again today. This time I think I'll get some butternut squash and try making the butternut squash polenta with fried sage. Yum! I love squash!

Oh, and I also love my new haircut! Here's me with my future politician model shot:

Life without a KitchenAid

2010-09-26T15:08:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I again made a lovely dinner for me and Boyd. This leftover special was in the form of quiche! It turned out so sooo tasty - with a perfectly flakey crust, lots of mozzarella cheese, onions, celery and sweet (locally grown) tomatoes. This was one dinner that I couldn't wait to eat again as leftovers for lunch the next day! Here's the final product:

I used my mom's pie crust recipe and her quiche recipe in my family cookbook. However, it was quite a challenge to get to that picturesque state... especially in our new small, somewhat-unequipped kitchen!

Here I am at our "counter" space, using my fingers to smoosh the butter and the flour together. This is usually the step that I use the KitchenAid (courtesy of Boyd's Grandma Ruth) for this step. But the recipes always do call for using this hands-on approach for making crust and it did turn out really good.

The next step was also a challenge - no rolling pin! What do I use instead? How about a water bottle filled with cold water? Sure... It sounds like a messy meal, and it was!

Clearing the last hurdle, I put the crust in a cake pan rather than a pie tin and finally I piled in all the cheese, eggs and goodies in the crust. Yum! So it was a meal that required some flexibility and I'm happy to say that I rose to the challenge and made an excellent Sunday meal for me and my loved one! Once I get back from California (here for some weddings and a baby shower) I'll get back to some more cooking fun.

An observation and a meal

2010-09-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I don't know what it is about preppy fashion this season, but I've noticed several Native American motifs popping up in their ads. Just this morning I saw both these ads in the New York Times...

J. Crew: Indians are like pirates

Tommy Hilfiger: Indians as mascots

This is in addition to the Minnetonka Moccasins I've seen at some fancy shoe shops in New Haven.

I don't really have an analysis (seriously, that is Boyd's job) but it is curious!

On another note: I decided I'm going to do more cooking this year. Usually, I am extremely blessed to have a husband that likes cooking and who is a good cook. This year, though, I want to work on my cooking skills and give Boyd a break, since he is so busy.

Tonight was my first cooking night and I got really inspired to make vegetable shepherd's pie! I used this epicurious recipe (I left my Joy of Cooking in Santa Cruz) so of course there were way more steps than necessary. Shepherd's pie is fun because you can basically use up all leftover veggies and then add mashed potatoes on top. This recipe had a great broth, which was a mix of reduced red wine and veggie stock. This was a perfect blend of sweet fruity depth from the wine and spicy salt flavor from the stock. I don't think I had enough veggies because it turned out rather soupy, so that, with the potatoes on top it became a really warming stew. Very yummy, though very un-pie-like.

America the Beautiful

2010-09-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

I've done a lot of traveling, around the US and the world, yet I don't think I've fully had the opportunity to appreciate just how huge and diverse our country is until Boyd and I took this trip from Santa Cruz, CA to New Haven, CT. In all, drove 4,612 miles over 26 days (including 5 days in Minneapolis) and still we only made one small transect east to west, barely dipping south at all.

On that note, I love playing with technology and maps, so I took this opportunity to create this map of all the places Boyd and I stopped on our way to Connecticut.

There are so many great stories of adventures along the way! I already posted 50 of the best photos of the trip and so here I want to share some of the fun things we saw and crazy things we experienced:

Near Bend, Oregon we stopped in the High Desert Museum for a few hours. They have a great American Indian display, which does a really good job at showing that Native Americans still live in the area and that they are actively adapting and incorporating their traditions and making new traditions. I don't know if I'm explaining it well but I reallyenjoyed it - especially the teepee all decked out with pre-game BBQ supplies!
At the wilderness campground in eastern Oregon there were signs about how to recognize and avoid marijuana grow sites in the surrounding Ochoco National Forrest.
We went through so many small towns, like Spencer, Idaho the "Opal Capital of America" (population 38 in 2000). By the time we reached Minneapolis I felt like it was as big as New York City! One town only had a post office and nothing else for at least 50 miles.

We got lost in the National Forest just west of Broadus, Montana, driving around for over an hour trying to find a campground or a makeshift campsite for the night. We were initially following signs for a campground but we made a huge loop before we saw anything. Luckily we were enjoying our book on tape (Ken Follett's "Pillars on the Earth")! It was interesting, though, almost all of the National Forest was fenced off and leased out to ranchers.
Gas station differences across the US: In Oregon you can't pump your own gas. They have people who come out and pump it for you, which is nice, except for I usually have to get out anyway and go to the bathroom. In Montana the "regular" gas is only 85.5 octane instead of the usual 87. Once you get to South Dakota the gas is cut with ethanol. Near DeSmet, SD we stopped at a gas station that had really old school pumps and no credit card machines.
In Minnesota we had a badger dig a huge hole right next to our tent in the middle of the night. I was really excited to see a badger in the "wild".
I love the prairies of the west and it is encouraging to see the special wildernessareasthat are set aside in South Dakota to protect the grasslands.
Our cat, Qwill, is named after the detective in the "Cat Who..." mystery series by Lilian Jackson Braun, and it is generally understood that the"Mooseville" (where the stories are set) is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. So, of course, driving through the U.P. we had to get one of the books on tape to enjoy along the road. Although the stories are pretty cheesy, they are cozy and fun! One of the best nights along the road was staying at our friend Julie's house on the Green Baylake front. Boyd and I enjoyed the long evening watching the moon reflect on the lake and listened to the end of our tape, each with one ear of the head phones!
In northern New York there are lots of small farm stands along the side of the road. As we passed through most of them had tomatoes and zucchini. In South Dakota the only things growing along the side of the road are soy beans, corn and wheat.

I think I'll stop here so that I can actually post this! Until next time..... :) tc

On Moving and Community...

2010-06-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

I often think about a time when I may be establishing myself in a community where I know people, places, secrets and everything is familiar, where people know my name and we stop each other on the street.

Part of what I love about Jane Austen books and historical fiction is that those communities are often small and defined. There are a set number of families and characteristics something not many people outside their own families. It seems comfortable, cozy, and you know what to expect. Of course, in reality, that sounds stifling! The scope of knowledge and experience is limited and sometimes you can’t help but see people whether you want to or not.

On the other hand, the other life I dream about is one always filled with newness. Living in many different places opens the door to constant discovery. There is a chance to meet new people and get to hear from them about the places, secrets, and favorite spots. New routines are established. In this case, the new person shares back with new friends about other places, creating fresh air in a community and expanding the base of experiences. The traveler has to navigate and may take wrong turns rather than know where to go. They are always saying good-bye and catching up on the rules of the new place. But the mix-ups creates new learning, new third options, a possibility for both a traveler and a community to grow and the world to shrink.

It’s easier to move around when Boyd and Tanya together is always Home.

Here are some of my favorite home memories:

At home with Bedford House with baby Qwill

BBQing in the backyard

Deep frying turkeys for Thanksgiving at Thorn Street

Boyd's new desk with a view in Santa Cruz

Thoughts on Nonviolence

2010-05-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading two great books about nonviolence which prompted me to write this blog post about peace and nonviolence on Spirit in Action's blog. I hope you will read it here. The books I read were:

King's Dream by Eric Sundquist
Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Kurlansky

Both are highly recommended if you are looking for a good nonfiction book. Peace to you all!

Camping in a parking lot

2010-05-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hello! I am very excited to usher in the camping season for 2010! As a last minute decision Boyd and I took a trip over Mother's Day weekend to Pinnacles National Monument, about 1.5 hours southeast of Santa Cruz. And, Kathleen, who is known for not liking to plan things, was able to join us as well! Do you remember when I told you about our quest to go to all the National Parks? Well, this is the closest NP to Santa Cruz, so it'd been on our "to-do soon" list since coming back to California.

In an un-Tanya and Boyd-like move we arrived at the campground on Saturday without a reservation, knowing that there were quite a few first-come-first-served campsites that we could get. UNFORTUNATELY, this campground is not the cutest, most wild place in the world - and our site could much more easily be described as a "parking lot meridian" (what Boyd called it) than a "walk in campsite" (what the campground called it). Actually an old map, which was still posted at the bathrooms, indicated that our area was a "day-use picnic area" in the not too distant past. I'll let you decided what the best description would be... (*keep in mind that one common definition of a walk-in campsite is that you have to park your car and walk a ways into the site...)

Saturday night was pretty crazy with a totally full campground but, due to our wonderfully flexible schedule, Boyd and I were able to also stay Sunday night, which turned out to be nice and peaceful. The picture above is Sunday afternoon and you can see how it could actually be a good experience compared with the crazy kids next door, swimming pool area lights, and sprinklers of the night before!

Camping is a wonderful escape even when the area is full - it really is a time to get out there and do nothing. Somehow sitting around at home on a Saturday night seems sorta lame (although I'm not saying I don't do it!) and sitting around a campfire seems absolutely exciting and entertaining. Doesn't Kathleen look like she's having a nice time?

Plus Boyd's a master camping cook and so we always eat as well (or better) when we are camping compared with at home. That is especially true now that we have a dutch oven (great for cooking stuff in the fire) and a two burner Coleman gas stove (fancy, fancy)! On Saturday night Boyd cooked up a yummy meal in the dutch oven, with chopping help from me and Kathleen. I'll let Boyd describe it in his own words:

"I used bacon grease and put in two leeks, some sausage (dates and sweet potatoes from the Farmers' Market) a can of stewing tomatoes, some leftover roasted carrots, pinto beans, a can of veggie chili, chili powder and served it with green onions and lots of cheddar cheese! It was awesome! We combined the leftovers with leftover Mac'n Cheese from dinner and it was a perfect lunch the next day!"

I'm looking forward to many more such trips, adventures, and wonderful leisure time now that the camping season has begun! See you on the trail!

Babies!

2010-04-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts of my trip to Minnesota last week was hanging out with some very sweet babes and their mothers. Pictured above (L to R) is Gena with Aubrey, Tanya with Baps, and Louise with Adele. I hadn't met Aubrey before this week and Adele had been just a tiny preemie before we left Minnesota in December. I definitely gained more experience holding babies this week than probably ever before in my LIFE! It turns out that 3-4 month old babies are rather sweet and they have the most bright, glowing smiles I've ever seen. Aubrey and Adele are just figuring so much out at this age - see how they are giving funny looks to my baby cat in the picture above?!

At this point in my life I don't envision myself having bab(ies). It's a conscious choice Boyd and I have made, and, although it may change some day in the future, that's the current plan. Procreation is a huge topic in our culture and people can't seem to believe me when I tell them I don't have any intention of having children. Despite this, I loved hearing from Gena about the love, joy, and ecstatic awesomeness of having a baby/child. She definitely was glowing as she talked about the experience; it was quite the testimonial! Isn't she a beautiful mother, looking just like a mother in a Victorian painting?

Getting together with the ladies wasn't all about babies, it was also about tea and sweets! Louise has an amazing mom & pop bakery, called the Baker's Wife, really close to her house, so she picked up: chocolate doughnuts, a cherry and cheese danish, and a pear tart. Yum! The black and white flower thing is a tea cozy, which is keeping our teapot and water hot. What better way to reconnect with friends than to eat good food, drink tea, and talk about baby stuff?

And this last photo is for Boyd's dad, Boyd the Elder. Here is your moment of Zen - Boyd holding a baby! Doesn't he look like he will be a perfect uncle for Baby Weinert? :)

Best Brunch Ever!

2010-04-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a week since Easter but I still wanted to post about the feast! Last Sunday, a windy, stormy day, we had my sister and brother-in-law (Suzanne and Toby), and our friends Kanoa and Mariko over for an Easter celebration brunch. The food was totally inspired by this "Knockout Brunch" photo and recipe spread in Bon Appetit's April issue. When I saw all the lovely food pictures I knew we had to have a party!

The feast consisted of (pictured front to back):

1. Scrambled eggs with sour cream, onion, and asparagus

2. Homemade strawberry pop-tarts

3. Brown-sugar-glazed bacon

4. Bloody Marys

5. Fresh strawberries

Definitely the pop-tarts and the bacon were the hits of the meal! The pop-tarts dough was like exactly pie crust and then there is strawberry preserves in the middle with powdered sugar on top. I think I loved them so much particularly because mom never bought me "real" store pop-tarts when I was a kid. Now I can just make them - and they must be healthy since they are homemade!

Side note: Toby LOVES bacon and one of his co-workers had cut out this picture from the magazine for him to put above his desk. Lucky for him - we made the very same tray of bacon for brunch just 2 weeks later! And it was baked instead of fried in a pan - that must make it good for you, don't you think?

We were just about finished with brunch when Kanoa mentioned he had once had this drink made by adding a shot of espresso to a pint of Guinness. Obviously we had to try it! Suzanne and Toby walked up to the liquor store (and thankfully since we lived in a civilized state the liquor stores are open on Sunday) bought the Guinness. Boyd pulled the espresso shots, poured it into the Guinness AND then to top it off we added a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

WOW!

You've just gotta try it. And the pop-tarts. And then be ready for a major food coma.

After sitting around in front of the fire, the guys decided to actively fight the food coma with a game of windy bocci. It was a perfect holiday!

Happy Easter!

2010-03-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

You know how some days are super productive and other days it seems like nothing gets done, even though you have been hard at work all day? Well, last Monday everyone in my household (Mom, Dad, Boyd and me) felt satisfied with out accomplishments of the day - and we attributed it to the great, relaxing weekend we had in Mariposa, in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

This is how we spent Sunday afternoon...

1) Made a BIG fire from all the downed trees (from the forest fire 2 summers ago)

2) Sat around the fire, enjoying the heat

3) Drank wine we had just bottled from our friend's wine

cave.

It's so relaxing to just be up there enjoying the natural surroundings!

Of course, being a Thomas-Cothran family adventure lots of good food was involved in the great weekend. Since we had a massive, hot fire already made we used our new dutch ovens (and the wine) to make an amazing stew. It was probably buried in coals for close to an hour, which was long enough for the brussels sprouts to get perfectly cooked so that they fell apart in your mouth. The potatoes were similarly smooth and Mom's jarred tomatoes made a great sauce. We topped it off with some pickled green beans that Mom and Dad's friend brought to share. They had a great pickled flavor that wasn't too overwhelming and were perfectly crunchy - just like eating fresh green beans straight from the garden. Ahhh summer veggies!

Another fun meal was Saturday breakfast, when we cooked inside the trolley-car-converted-to-living-room that my parent's have on their property. It's sort of a long story about how they got it and decked it out, etc, but the bottom line is that the trolley is a cute living space and a fun old-school place to cook! Pictured to the right is Mom cooking over their super cute (miniature) wood stove and Boyd's hand pressing down the coffee. We had tea/coffee, fresh eggs, cinnamon toast, and fruit salad with the first strawberries of the season. Yum.

Here's the inside of the trolley to give you an idea of how sweet it is:

One last note: Look how good my key lime tart turned out. Boyd's new favorite dessert is key lime pie!

Not so common eating

2010-03-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

I'll just start by saying that there are some pretty fantastic restaurants in Portland, Oregon, and last night we went out to one of best - Clyde Common. It's called "common" because the diners share long common tables but the experience is anything but common!

The atmosphere is so totally Portland. It has an open kitchen with hipster-looking guys cooking up the amazing food. One of them was wearing a paperboy cap and neck tie underneath his apron, another was wearing a red bandana in his hair and big black frame glasses. The room has modern decor and a very tall ceiling, which is beautiful but it makes the room very loud and not so good for conversation.

Another reason I could tell I was in a Portland restaurant was that they had an extensive beer, wine, cocktail, and spirits list. That in itself is not so unique but it is special that a significant percentage of the list is all locally made - including 5 types of locally made gin! The food also was "farm-to-table" style with lots of winter/spring ingredients. We had some fun with the menu because there were so many ingredients we didn't know. Luckily, Kevin has an iPhone so he was able to look some of the items up for us! Do you know what a "dorade" is? Click here to find out!

For dinner I had a salad(-ish) plate with a deep fried whole egg on top. The egg was perfectly done so that the white part was cooked and the center of the egg was still runny. I also got french fries with harissa and creme fraiche for dipping. To drink I started with Fentimen's Ginger Beer, which was recommended on Slate.com's Gabfest podcast. It lived up to it's high praise - it was intensely gingery without being too sweet! The restaurant has definitely jumped on the "meat is the new vegetarian" bandwagon and so there were no (even remotely) vegan options for one of our party. Too bad.

We were out late last night so I'm pretty tired today but I'm gearing up for our last night in Portland and our last chance (for now) to eat yummy Portland food! Sorry I don't have any pictures- I forgot my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for how good it was, or visit yourself! Happy eating.

On the Home Front...

2010-02-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

Boyd and I get along really well - agreeing on a decent majority of issues, finding movies we both like (murder mysteries), planning similar vacations (B&Bs, as well as camping) but one thing we have had to negotiate and compromise is what type of sheets to get for our bed. I love flannel; Boyd likes cotton. So we always switched to keep both of us happy, half of the time...

UNTIL NOW!

We have found a perfect solution! When we stayed at our friend's house in Chicago last month she had BAMBOO sheets, which are the perfect combination of soft and cozy, mixed with cool and crisp! I rushed out to buy us a set - and they were even on sale when I got them. It was a sign that these sheets are a truly a gift from heaven (and eco-friendly)!

One thing we never argue about is food. Since marrying Boyd I have spent, surprisingly, less time in the kitchen than when I was single or we were dating. I think I must be one of the lucky ones for having a husband who likes to cook and is good at it too. Don't get me wrong, I love to cook but I like making fancy meals, which are rarely practical for weeknight meals. For example, I am (right at this moment) in the process of making Bon Appetit's Key Lime Tart for dessert tonight at my sister's house. Yum!

Anyway, as you can see in the picture above, last week Boyd really outdid himself and made a full Japanese meal with miso soup, edamame, sashimi and lots of sushi rolls. This time the rolls were:

California rolls (crab & avo)
Smoke salmon & cream cheese
Cucumber & avo
Tuna rolls
Tempeh, avo & cucumber

Boyd is just one of many master chefs around the house these days: Mom also contributed her amazing cooking skills to the meal making teriyaki beef skewers (pictured right) and a phenomenal Orange Polenta Upside-Down with Whipped Creme Fraiche. I LOVED how the oranges got candied in the carmel sauce on the bottom. It was a definite "keeper" recipe - and pretty easy to make, I believe. Doesn't it look pretty too?

What have I been doing with all my free time, now that people are cooking for me and I finished my degree? My friend Mercis and I have been getting together weekly for craft time and grilled cheese sandwiches, since we both like sewing and cheese! Here is my current project- can you tell it's going to be an adorable knitted dress? Stay tuned for progress reports over the next few years as I work to finish it!

Romping around the California coast

2010-02-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

Natural Beauty Alert! The central coast of California, with its cliffs, beaches, crashing waves and rolling hills, is one of my favorite places to take in nature. Last weekend, even though it was only mid-February, was the PERFECT weekend to enjoy the landscape under the shining, warm sun.

Friday night we celebrated St. Valentine's Day at the Costanoa Lodge, which is right on the coast just south of Half Moon Bay. It's a eco-swanky resort and spa without TVs in the rooms, jacuzzis and saunas around the grounds, and locally grown wild mushrooms in the risotto at the restaurant. Pictured to the right is the view from our room, with Adirondack chairs on the porch. We got massages in the afternoon when we arrived and then went to a late dinner at the Bar & Grill. We were so zenned out from our massages that dinner was an exhausting endeavor.

The next morning we woke up early and watched the sun rise. For a long time the sun rays were shining through whispy morning fog rolling around the beautiful green hills. Finally the sun popped up over the hills, flooding the valley with bright morning. Here is the view of the sun over the wood shingled roof of the lodge. Wow!

Then we ate a yummy buffet breakfast with really good sausage, pancakes, eggs with zucchini and squash, and lox and cream cheese for Boyd's famous bagel sandwiches. We sat a long time eating the good food and watching the fog move in and roll around the buildings. Next we had to get out for a walk to help that food digest. Right across Highway 1 from Costanoa (Note: the Costanoan, or Ohlone, people are Indian tribes in central coast of California) is the Ano Nuevo State Park and some beautiful sand dunes. All along the dune path we spotted cute, little dune flowers and shrubs just starting to bloom, including this pretty one:

After our walk we continued the drive up the coast, taking a detour through San Francisco to avoid the CRAZY traffic around the Mavericks big wave surf contest in Half Moon Bay that day. Our destination was Muir Woods National Monument - our mission the the National Park Passport cancellation stamp.

Let me tell you the story: Five years ago, just after college, Boyd, Kathleen, and I took an epic road trip around the western US trying to reach geomorphological nirvana (a la Professor Kurt Cuffey). On this two week trip we went to at least one National Park/Monument/Historical Site each day! And at each park we went to the visitor's center and inked up the stamp, which names the park and gives the date you were there, to add to our collection. All the stamps go in our National Park Passport book as proof of our having visited the site. That was the beginning our of goal to go to every National Park Service units and collect all 392 stamps! Whew - that's a lot! So far we've collected 46 (plus one for Muir Woods) stamps and we are slowly making it to all the California units while we are here.

That's the story and the reason we, like about a million other people, headed out to Muir Woods and took a beautiful hike through the huge redwood trees. The sun was so warm that it felt like summer and the sky was so blue with big pouffy clouds. Here is a perfect representation of the beautiful coastal hills around Marin County with big old gnarly oak trees. Aren't they pretty?

Well there, in a nutshell, was our lovely weekend enjoying the amazing vistas. Can you tell I enjoyed it? And now that I didn't get the job I applied for I'll have a lot more time for traveling, getting passport stamps, and shouting out "Natural beauty alert"!

Tuck vs Twilight

2010-01-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched the movie Tuck Everlasting, based on the book by Natalie Babbitt. As I was falling asleep I was struck by its similarity to the Twilight books. I was thinking about some clever Facebook status post about it and then realized that it deserved more space than Facebook would give me. So...here are my thoughts:

I loved Tuck Everlasting both as a kid in elementary school and a couple years ago when I picked it up again. I was amazed by the clarity of the writing (both simple and complex at the same time) and beautiful flow of the narrative, which Natalie manages to construct in under 150 juvenile-sized pages. It's an amazing story about Winnie coming of age, learning to act for herself, falling in love, and in the meantime deals seriously with the question of immortality. Should Winnie drink the special spring water and remain with Jessie Tuck forever? Should she pass it by and die while Jessie lives on forever stuck at age 17?

Sound familiar?? I thought so.....

Should Bella make herself a vampire to live to with Edward forever? Or will Edward let her grow old and die so she can go to heaven? [Oh MY! What is it about the age 104? Both Jessie and Edward were age 17 (really 104) when they met their respective loves. Hmmm.]

What's really fascinating though is the different choices Winnie and Bella make in the end. Both love their magical boys although their relationships are markedly different. Tuck shows just how wonderful and freeing a relationship can be teaching Winnie how to live. The movie shows their sweet relationship develop and it's heart wrenching when Jessie calls out "Winnie Foster, I will love you, until the day I die." Compared that with Edward's overprotectedness, his requirement of marriage, and Bella's tendency toward suicide, depression and whining.

SPOILER ALERT!

In the end Winnie doesn't drink the water. She takes to heart Jessie's Pa's explanation of immortality: "What we Tucks have, you can't call it living. We just... are... like rocks, stuck at the side of the stream". And so we have to read about Jessie returning to town many years later and finding Winnie's grave. It's deeply moving and you also know she live a full beautiful life and died as her time came.

Edward's family also cautions Bella that immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be. Rosalie (his sister) says she wouldn't choose this life for herself and wants Bella to think it over. But she goes forward with it to, in my opinion, a not very satisfying conclusion where Bella didn't really have to make any hard decisions. And what does she learn in the end? That if you have consummate your marriage on your honeymoon you are guaranteed to have a baby?

All these thoughts are just to say that Natalie Babbitt really knew how to craft a brilliant story that has kept me thinking and rethinking through the decisions for many years - Always leaving the perfect amount of wistfulness feeling in my chest. I would really encourage you to read this short book and take a new look at following teen love into immortality. Or watch the movie for a good, teen love flick.

Home Sweet (Rental) Home

2010-01-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Recently, in a somewhat whirl-wind, spur-of-the-moment, life changing moment (no: I'm not pregnant) Boyd and I and my parents bought a house in the Santa Cruz mountains! We closed the deal on December 31st and tomorrow (just one month later) I am meeting with the future tenant to sign the rental lease. It's sort of amazing that it happened so quickly, and suddenly...I am a landlady!

Aren't you excited to see what the house looks like? Well, first, here is a map of the location:

View Larger Map

Dad has been working diligently, searching for the perfect deal on a house during the downturn in the market - and the pay-off was finding this place. From downtown Santa Cruz it's a 20 minute drive through the redwoods and along the Lompico Creek. The house is out of the hubbub of Santa Cruz and the surroundings are

peaceful and charming. It was bank-owned and they wanted to get it off their books before 2010, which was why the closing process happened so quickly.

We totally lucked out because although we had to do some fix-up work, in general the house is in excellent condition! I took before and after pics but the difference isn't all that stunning. Anyway, here is Boyd and my uncle Jeff putting in a basement floor. The house is only 540 square feet and so the nice basement they put in is perfect for extra storage, art studio, or whatever.

Boyd and Dad also fixed the septic system, while Mom and I did all the inside work - including painting, curtains, cleaning and reinstalling the shower door. We even put in a light switch for the outside porch light! I was pretty impressed with myself for doing that!

One of the highlights of the house is the deck. We estimate that the deck doubles the square footage of the house. It's huge and wraps all the way around the house, looking out into the redwood trees. Isn't that a gorgeous view? There's something special about a tree growing through the deck.

To show off the house a bit more you can click to start the Vuvox slideshow collage with pictures from the finished house.

After a few weeks of working nonstop on the house we were finally ready to post it to Craig's list to advertise for a renter. It turns out we didn't need to worry about renting it! We had tons of people interested and over the weekend Boyd and I hosted an open house to meet potential applicants. It sure was interesting to see the huge range of folks coming to check out the house. We had everyone from pot-smoking hippies, parents trying to get their daughter moved out of their house, college students, artists, and Army vets. What an adventure!

People kept saying how cute they thought it was - I tend to agree! What do you think?

Good times, Good food

2010-01-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

The holidays are now over and in our family that means (in addition to Christmas and New Year's Eve) Boyd, dad and I have all had our birthdays! For my mom this is a time on unending party planning and for me it is a time of non-stop yummy, fancy food! It has been way too hectic to post about all the excellent meals we have had recently, so I decided to present a blog shmorgishborg (can anyone spell that right the first time???) with pictures of all the delectable meals we had to celebrate the season.

I'll start with Christmas Eve dinner, which mom, Boyd and I made for the Thomases. We cooked a pot roast covered in bacon, of course! The beef is from my parent's share of a cow, which the Millar family bought from an extended family inlaw's farm. So it's fresh, grass-fed - all that good stuff. In addition to the beef we had Duck with REALLY good L'Organge sauce that my cousin Gabe shot. In all, a harvest feast.

After Christmas comes Boyd's birthday on December 27th. We tossed around several food ideas and finally settled on Triple Seafood Chowder with Dill (Boyd used this recipe as a guideline, adding his usual flourishes) and buttermilk biscuits. For dessert we had Creme Brulee (using our brulee torch)! The soup was epic with lots of yummy crab, cod and clams. We made so much that we had leftovers the next 3 days and even I didn't get sick of the chowder day after day.

On New Year's Eve, Boyd and I went up to Marin County to celebrate with my cousin Alicia, her fiance Jeremiah and his brother and sister. The plan was for a grand Sushi Feast! They had tried making sushi in the past with moderate success but they were ready to try again under the tutelage of Chef Boyd. Unfortunately, Alicia has all the pictures of the feast on her camera, so I can't show you exactly what it looked like - but I can describe it and use pictures from Google Images!

Our Sushi Feast included Miso Soup, Green Salad with Miso dressing, tuna sashimi, and lots of tuna and veggie sushi rolls. One of the big tricks for making good sushi is making the rice (apparently "sushi" actually refers to the way the rice is made - nice and sticky - and not to the final product, just an interesting fact). I don't really know the trick though, I just watched the How To video online with Boyd... We all helped with rolling the sushi and they turned out super professional looking. We cut them up and arranged them beautifully on a platter. We even had fancy sprouts sticking out the ends like the picture above! Everyone was super impressed (and full after the meal).

Next was my birthday (January 3rd)!! My sister Suzanne and her husband Toby got back from visiting his family in Seattle just in time for the dinner party. It's a family tradition that the birthday person gets to choose their meal and dessert and then mom (or someone else) makes it! This year I decided on Indian food - something totally different from all the other holiday meals. Boyd made a very tasty yellow chicken curry (no recipe), which we had over rice. Mom made her famous vegetable samosas (Moosewood Cookbook) and cooling raita (cucumber and yogurt salad; Joy of Cooking). Both Suzanne and I remember those samosas fondly - there was a couple times when we were kids that Mom made them for dinner and we ate them out at the beach while watching the sailboat races.

For dessert Mom made a "Buche de Noel" (aka Yule Log), which is a flourless cake (more like chocolate meringue) rolled up in a log shape with a butter cream (whipped cream) layer - she didn't use the orange that the recipe calls to use. The whole thing is then topped off with a layer of chocolate ganache! Whew! We had a slice before Christmas at Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis and since then we were desperate to have it again! We didn't have any marzipan for the traditional mushrooms on the log so we have authentic, real button mushrooms (they soon were removed from the cake). Check it out!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reliving all my wonderful holiday meals of the 2009 Christmas/Birthday season! We certainly did have a lot of distinct flavors, rich sauces and creamy desserts. There's fresh produce here all year long (!) so who knows what our next cooking adventure will bring. Cheers!

The Big Move

2009-12-28T20:14:00.000-08:00

Boyd and I are finally settling into our new rooms, setting up our office and letting the cats run around their new yard in Santa Cruz California. Tonight it's raining, one of my favorite parts of CA weather that I missed in MN. Right after my graduation we packed up all our worldly belongings into a "ReloCube", packed the cats into the back of our Ford and headed West, just as so many before us have done throughout the centuries.

We left behind lots of great friends - friends who helped welcome us to Minnesota, spent cold nights eating good food together, warm evenings outside around the BBQ, traveled around the state camping, carpooled to school, etc. etc. etc....in other words - friends we love and will miss dearly.

After the party was over we finished the last bit of packing and slept in our empty room. The next morning we rode out - with tears in our eyes - remembering the wonderful part of our lives that we got to spend in Minnesota. The cats only whined for the first 1/2 hour or so and then the settled down and fell asleep in their dog crate. To keep us sane we switched drivers every 2 hours, which also meant I had the opportunity to go to the bathroom and stretch our legs. It also woke up the cats...

I love seeing the countryside and whenever we drive across parts of the country I am always blown away by how beautiful it all is - whether in snow or summer. Anytime it is particularly stunning Boyd or I call out a "natural beauty alert" and we take a moment to appreciate the view. I know people often think of Nebraska as a terrible flat place but actually it is a lot more hilly than I always picture it. I loved the hay buns covered in snow...

It was a long drive (33 hours in all) and so obviously we needed coffee breaks along the way to perk us up again. Nebraska apparently didn't believe in Starbucks so we had to get McDonald's coffee (ick). After that disaster I decided to put my fancy toy (ie Blackberry) to some good use to find us some good coffee. My first attempt to use the "Local Search" feature (which basically does an internet search to find businesses, hotels, bars, etc. in the area) led us to a nonexistent Starbucks. However, the second attempt helped us discover cute Huckleberry's Espresso, Inc. - a surprisingly cute and good coffee shop/deli in the middle of Rawlins, a mining town in the middle of Wyoming. I loved being able to find a local coffee shop and seeing the small downtown. Boyd was happy to get a good Americano.

We both we pleasantly reminded how amazingly gorgeous the Rockies are, especially as Highway 80 drops down into Salt Lake City. SLC is a city meant to be seen in the snow and the mountains were just stunning. We even saw some real live cowboys riding along side the freeway and gathering their cows!

After a night in SLC with some of my parent's friends we left early Monday morning setting out for California. The first 3 hours were all in darkness, with tons of fog on the salt flats, and with the cats going nuts in the back of the car. Ahh!! They finally settled down as it started to get lighter...maybe they stopped whining enough to enjoy the amazing sunrise as we crossed from Utah into Nevada. Can you believe this view!?

We do live in a beautiful country! (Althought Nevada along Hwy 80 has got to be one of the

most boring stretches of road out there - even worse than all of Nebraska in my opinion.) We had perfect weather the whole drive until we got to Truckee, California in the Sierra, and even then it was only a bit of snow BUT a whole lot of crazy CA drivers who maybe aren't used to driving in the snow... we got home to Santa Cruz just in time for my parent's annual Christmas party and while Boyd partied I crashed almost immediately after such a long haul. All in all it was a very enjoyable drive - lots of time hanging out with my perfect traveling partner, seeing lots of tiny towns, showing the kitties the country outside of the Twin Cities, and listening to Dan Brown's "Lost Symbol" on CD (oh WAIT - that was only enjoyable for the first 10 hours...then he just kept repeating himself!). I only hope that next time we take a long drive across the country that we have time to stop at all the national parks, monuments and sites along the way and enjoy the history as well as the view.

Tea on a Rainy Day

2009-10-07T19:57:00.001-07:00

The first time I went to my friend Gena's house I was immediately drawn to the beautiful sideboard in the dinning room, with a line of lovely tea cups and saucers! I asked and Gena said that she had never had the opportunity to use them yet - so then and there I decided that we needed to have a tea party!

Well, a few months down the line we finally were able to align our schedules to have a charming, civilized tea party on a Saturday afternoon. It was perfect timing because Gena's mother-in-law, Sheree, was visiting from Texas and so she able to join us, along with Gena's friend from church. It was also a good tea party day, with rain clouds in the sky and a cool breeze in the air. The ambiance of the tea party was warmed by a blazing fire in the fireplace, with crackling birch wood from Gena and Jason's front yard.

So what did we have at our tea party? We had two kinds of tea (one in Gena's teapot from Sheree and one in a teapot from my housemate EB's partner's mother -

both special heirloom china!) including a red zinger herbal tea and TeaSource "Prairie Passion" black and green tea.

For party treats Gena made very tasty, homemade (from scratch) cinnamon rolls with the Mitchell family recipe. I contributed an apple pie with apples from our backyard! Yummy! We had plenty to eat since there was only four of us and so many good sweets. :)

All in all it was a lovely party, with good conversation, nice tea, and plenty of good things to eat. We definitely felt like ladies leading a charmed life, with nothing better to do than enjoy a relaxing afternoon with friends, food and tea. Thanks Gena!

Pinkies up!

Fresh Apple Cider

2009-09-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Why is fresh apple cider the best?

a) It tastes SOOOOOOooooo good

b) You can make hard cider from it

c) It uses up all your ugly, wormy apples

d) All of the above

Of course the answer is d! We had breakfast with our friend Justin last weekend and although his garden is AMAZING and he and his housemates are putting the produce to good use, the apple tree was sadly neglected.

Luckily, our housemate, EB, has a cider press which she had used recently to press some fresh cider and was then available for us to use. She said it would be best if we could get together right away and use the press - that way we wouldn't need to do the heavy-duty cleaning twice.

And, then, a minor miracle occurred - the stars (read: schedules) aligned! Three grad students were available to get together the next day to pick (up) apples and make cider! Wow.

We had bins full of apples, and more apples on the trees in our backyard, so there was lots of work to be done. We cut up apple after apple - the nice thing about apple cider is that you only have to cut out the really bad bits and you don't need to core them at all! After we cut them, they get thrown into the grinder and ground down into the hopper. Once the hopper is filled with apple bits you use the press to get the juice out. Simple as that! (It's especially easy for me since I was in charge of documentation instead of cranking!)

We filled the hopper 4 times (I was wildly picking up apples from EB's trees while Boyd and Justin cranked to get done before dark). And all that work is worth it - we ended up with 3 gallons of cider!

It was such a lovely evening with an amazing sunset and perfect warm twilight weather that I made sure to savor - because (as Boyd is fond of saying) "winter's comin'"!

Check out what we made - the perfect sweet, amber liquid! Yum.

Savoring the Bounty of Summer

2009-09-08T19:53:00.001-07:00

Hello all!

I'm sorry for the hiatus in posts. I've been away adventuring with Boyd in Ireland and then with my parents, Boyd and friends in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Be assured that I had many memorable, yummy food adventures!

Three treats that stand out at the moment are:

An authentic Irish meal of cabbage, potatoes, turnips and bacon (ie pork) at the Slea Head Farm B&B on the Dingle Peninsula

Jimmy's Brown Bread for breakfast and scones at all times of day. What a comfort after walking in the rain to arrive safe at the Coill An Rois B&B, where tasty treats are always waiting!

Fresh Wild Berry Compote (from freshly picked berries) in the Boundary Waters. Thanks Elissah and mom!

But those are all stories for another day.....

Today I want to share about our canning marathon last weekend!

We got back to Minnesota in the height of the summer produce bounty - and knowing that winter's comin' we decided it was time to preserve some of this amazing, fresh, local produce for later on when we are craving the warmth of summer.

Our friends Rob and Shana came over early on Sunday morning armed with lots of vinegar for

pickles and some frozen shrimp (for pickled shrimp - a family favorite in Shana's family). We all went to the St Paul Farmer's Market for our supplies and we (somehow) ended up with a full 1/2 bushel of jalapeno peppers, among other good stuff from Minnesota farms!

We spent a good while cutting all the ingredients for hot salsa and mild purple tomatillo salsa. Salsa takes the longest to make because there are so many things to chop - but it is great to have the really good taste of summer tomatoes in fall and winter (if the salsa doesn't get all used up by then)!

This picture of our pot of salsa gives you an idea of the scale we were working on here:

In the end -- after chopping, peeling, stuffing, cooking, and hot-water-bathing -- we ended up with quite a magnificent line of food. We made (with the recipes):

Dill Pickles (Joy of Cooking recipe)
Bread & Butter Pickles (Joy of Cooking)
Pickled Peppers (jalapenos and cayenne peppers) (Joy of Cooking)
Bread & Butter Peppers
Pickled Shrimp
Chile Salsa
Tomatillo Salsa

It is so exciting to can our own food and then eat it later on, knowing that we are reaping the benefits of our own labor. It tastes so good, knowing exactly what's in each jar and remembering these wonderful last weeks of summer, hanging out with friends!

Never tried canning? My advice is to just give it a shot. Canning supplies are pretty cheap and even if something doesn't turn out exactly right (like our jalapeno jelly that didn't gel) it's all about the learning process and getting in touch with that old fashioned knowledge of preserving food to get us through the winter.

Enjoy!

A Dinner Party in Santa Cruz

2009-07-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

I love reading Bon Appetit magazines - they always get me really excited about GOOD food and the labor and entertainment that comes with preparing a Bon Appetit meal. I do not currently have a subscription but my Mom does and so when I am in Santa Cruz I love to open up the magazines and plan a tasty meal for dinner.

Bon Appetit doesn't just have great recipes and super high-end suggestions for kitchen "must-haves" (for example this $28 lighter wand!) they also always have great photos of people enjoying themselves at dinner parties! I like looking at these set-up scenes and seeing all the fancy dishes, drinks and tables - take for example this Sonoma Picnic.

So anyway, I had this in mind while planning a summer dinner on the porch for my family (Mom, Dad, Suzanne, Toby, Boyd Jr, Boyd III and me). I have to say that I didn't really do any of the cooking (Boyd and Mom took it over) but I did help design the meal plan and I was the official photographer for the evening!

It was a perfect evening on the porch with an amazing ocean view. Boyd started us off with his (tasty and strong) Sangria. The special ingredient is coconut rum which mellows out the flavor of the wine and blends nicely with the fruit - this time super ripe peaches and plums.

For the main dish Boyd made the cover recipe of the July 2009 Bon Appetit - Ginger and Honey Baby Back Ribs. The ribs came off the grill so tender and juicy and they were perfectly coated with a honey and ginger marinade/sauce. Wow! The sauce was so tasty - just the right combination of sweet and spicy.

To counterbalance all that meat we also grilled up some beets and carrots, covering them in some of the honey ginger sauce and then topping them with sesame and poppy seeds. Very picturesque!

For dessert Mom made plum sorbet in her table-side ice cream maker. We completed the dessert with shortbread and whipped cream to make a lovely dessert for a warm evening. Here is Suzanne enjoying the dessert while the wedding love birds fly by!

At the end of the meal we were all very full. Even Toby (who says his stomach is always bigger than his eyes...) had enough to eat! Mmmm that's a lot of ribs Toby!

Bon appetit everyone!

Goodbye 119 Bedford!

2009-07-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

After 3 wonderful years at 119 Bedford St SE, Boyd and I packed up all of our belongings (minus garage sale, goodwill and other items yet to be boxed) and moved over to the Saint Paul, the wonderful Minnesota state capitol. Before such a momentous occasion, though, we needed to ha ve a big BBQ bash, celebrating summer's bounty and the amazing yard and great house in Prospect Park!

We prepared an amazing spread of food, starting with Joy of Cooking's yummy 7-layer dip. For regular readers of this blog - you might recognize that 7-layer dip is almost identical to taco special (see last camping trip)

except that you have to do the dipping for each bit rather than having it all on your plate at once.

It was a great hit!

Here I am layering the goodness:

1. beans
2. sour cream (with taco seasoning)
3. chopped chili peppers
4. tomatoes
5. olives
6. cheese
7. hmmm...I can't remember the last layer but I'm sure it's something good!

In addition to the really yummy dip we also BBQed up some great sausage (veggie and meat) including one curry chicken sausage which was really tasty! We grilled some eggplant, corn and zucchini and really celebrated the wonderful bounty on Minnesota summer produce. We had so much food, actually, that Boyd and I were eating potato salad and brats for about a week afterwards - no complaints here though! Here is the full spread...

After ALL that food we also had hand-cranked ice cream to top it all off! After our long crank last time (see Lake Shetek camping trip post) we made sure that the bucket was placed in the contraption correctly before we started.

We tried another one of the quick ice cream recipes - this time Coffee ice cream! (I'll jump ahead now and tell you that the ice cream was amazingly tasty! It was a bit softer than store bought ice cream, and that turned out perfect for coffee flavored ice cream because it sort of tasted like a frappuccino. mmmm...) Everyone helped making the ice cream - even Fiona! (Pictured Left) However, once she cranked once or twice Fiona became more interested in pulling out the salty ice cubes and putting them in her mouth... Good job Fiona!

Finally it was ready... and we got to enjoy yummy ice cream, a huge bonfire and great company in our wonderful backyard. Thanks for all the great memories Minneapolis - 1013 Thorn St here we come!

Tea Time - Again!

2009-06-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Louise wrote a great blog post about our weekly tea parties, which always include tea, sweets, and playing with Fiona and may include a walk as long as it is not too hot!

You can read about it here. Bottom's up!

Living Right

2009-06-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on the kind of camping trip that could convince one to give up the world and escape forever to a mountain (or prairie) retreat by the water... I guess this kind of trip is the reason that the dream of a "cabin [up North] on the lake" is so prevalent in Minnesota.

A group of 15 grad students, post-docs and real-live-employed people met at Lake Shetek State Park in the southwestern corner of Minnesota for a weekend full of food, campfires, canoes, fishing, sun and an awesome volleyball match where splitting the group based on birthday turned out to produce the most even teams!

Lake Shetek is surrounded by beautiful prairie country (Boyd and I got to explore quite a bit thanks to Google Maps), which is very close to Walnut Grove where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived "on the banks of Plum Creek".

In addition to the fine landscapes we also met with an abundance of wildlife! On our walk Boyd and I saw: a turtle in the road, a baby skunk, two pelicans, several deer (that were actually scared of us) and lots of birds.

Between all the enjoyment of nature we also got to enjoy a bit of good food! Boyd and I were in

charge of dinner Saturday night and we decided to prepare a Thomas family speciality and favorite - Taco Special!

There was a discussion about other names for Taco Special. Here is what I found out from a

quick Google search:

"Taco Salad" and "Taco Surprise" are similar to Taco Special
"Frito Pie" and "Frito Boats" are just Fritos with chili and cheese

Our version includes Fritos topped with beans, (optional) meat with taco seasoning, cheese (not optional), avocado or guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, sour cream, and anything else you might want to add... Just mix it all up and it is like the Hotdish of the West - quick, easy, not TOO good for you and SUPER TASTY!

Taco Special was a big hit! As were the "Nalgene-aritas", which went nicely with the meal. (Nalgene-aritas are another simple creation - add lemonade mix powder, ice, water and tequila into a water bottle, shake, and enjoy!) Everyone was so exhausted from boating, falling into the

lake, playing volleyball and everything else that after filling ourselves full of Taco Special and Nalgene-aritas we all just sat around the fire a while enjoying life.

Once we got our energy back up we moved on to making dessert! Boyd and I got an ice cream maker as a wedding present and had yet to make any ice cream - so we brought it camping to try it out. I made a simple chocolate ice cream recipe that only called for: whole milk, sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder. We poured it in, added ice and salt (to the ice, not the ice cream) and started cranking. I'll spare you the details of cranking forever, figuring out that it wasn't working, fixing the contraption and cranking again... In the end we enjoyed EXCELLENT chocolate ice cream with rhubarbcompote on top! mmmmm We'll definitely try it again soon!

One other awesome part of the trip was that Gina brought along a composting bucket for all our food scrapes! Now that's fancy camping. Here's a picture... I hope it's far enough away from the other photos not to ruin the good taste of chocolate in your mouth right now :)

Land of Beer and Trees

2009-06-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Ahhh Portland, Oregon... a destination for hippies, hipsters and homeless alike. Boyd had to do some research at the Oregon Historical Society and so I decided to tag along and spend my break before summer school as a tourist in Portland. I had a great time planning my days with things to see, meeting Boyd for lunch and then finding a brewery to try out for Happy Hour. There are so many breweries it was hard to choose one!

The first evening we visited the Rogue Distillery and Public House. We tried a flight of beers to taste a whole range of flavors. At the recommendation of the server I tried the Brutal Bitter, which turned out to be my favorite. Pictured right: Boyd, my handsome husband, tries some beers brewed in the Rogue Nation.

After reading and this New York Times travel article, which came out just as I was planning our trip - we spent our first night (after being apart for 10 days!) at the Jupiter Hotel. It was a really fun hotel with some nice, bright yellow decor in our room. The Jupiter is also a music venue, so some of the reviewers said it could be loud and obnoxious (although the room does come with a set of ear plugs) - luckily there was no show the night we were there so it was quite pleasant. I should also mention that I had PERFECT weather when I was there - warm and sunny the whole 5 days! I also loved the restaurant at the Jupiter the Doug Fir, which is where we ate breakfast the next morning - the waiter was excellent! and we had this amazing french toast that was actually made with two egg battered croissants with cinnamon and lemon zest - and topped with real maple syrup! mmmmm my mouth is watering even as I write about it! (Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture, so you'll just have to imagine...)

The other bewery we tried was the Deschutes Brewery in the Pearl Disctrict of Portland. I really liked the atmosphere in their brew pub which was built with lots of wood. So much of the interior of Oregon uses beautiful wood and even large logs - I guess I've gotten used to the brick of Minnesota. We also tried a flight of the Deschutes beers but I honestly don't remember my favorite anymore. I do remember that my burger was really tasty!

HAWAIIAN CHICKEN BURGER

1/3 Pound ground Natural Chicken breast. Served with Pineapple-Ginger Salsa, Soy Glazed Carmelized Onions, Avocado Ranch and Red Cabbage Slaw.

We also went to one of (the million) McMenamins Pubs in Portland. They seem to be known on restaurant review sites for their bad service - but their homemade gin makes it worth it to drop in.

In addition to spending my days researching restaurants and eating food I also DID do some cultural activities! Here are some photos from my adventures:

Powell's Books
the largest independent book store IN THE WORLD

Portland Public Library
for internet access and browsing
(psst - they don't have ANY comfortable chairs in the library, apparently they are
not allowed because of the issues associated with the mixing cloth and homeless people)

Washington Park
lots of trees!

The Grotto
a garden and shrine to the Virgin Mary - very beautiful and peaceful!
(except for the homeschool group that was also touring at the same time...)

That's it! A quick run down of a very fun trip!

And here it is ... your moment of kitty zen...

Love,
Tanya

Tea Time!

2009-05-21T10:05:00.001-07:00

If you didn't already know, I love having tea time with my friends - it feels like such a civilized tradition, especially when it takes place over several hours in the middle of the day! So what better way to celebrate my favorite May bride-to-be Mercis than to have tea! It was even pretty authentic because Mercis's dad is from England and our friend Hazel from England was there with us. Hazel's accent definitely added to the experience!

We had "Full Tea" in the Bloomsbury Tea Room in Capitola, CA which is a very cute tea room decorated with lots of floral print in a not-too-kitschy way. First they let us choose our tea cups and our first tea selection. I had a lovely white tea with grapefruit. Mercis has green tea with ginkgo and citrus and Hazel has "yellow and blue" tea with chamomile and lavender.

The food was perfect for a tea party! We started with tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off and cute shapes. The fillings were: egg salad, chicken salad, tomato with pesto and cucumber. The fruit around the sandwiches was amazingly good too.

(*Update! Before we got to the sandwiches we had the most lovely creamy artichoke soup in a teacup!)

Below: Hazel drinks her tea like a proper Englishwoman. Hazel says "Mercis, you make me proud to be from England."

After sandwiches we got to make our selection of dessert teas and choose new tea cups too! I had Peach & Ginger Black Tea, Mercis chose Earl Grey Supreme and Hazel chose Decaf Earl Grey. With the dessert tea we also got heavenly delicious scones with Devonshire cream, lemon curd (yum!) and strawberry jam. Wow! So much good food. And the scones were just the interlude course - dessert was still to come!

I love this picture of Mercis because she is so happy to be eating chocolate dipped strawberries and she looks like Renee Zellweger!

Dessert after scones? It's true! Lemon pound cake, a chocolate dipped strawberry, lemon cream cake and chocolate mousse. Wow! Needless to say I was thoroughly satisfied after all the food and tea. The meal did take about 2 hours and included lots of great conversation. What a lovely way to celebrate Mercis before her wedding on Saturday! Bottom's up.

We didn't find the fancy tea hats until the end of the party but next time I will definitely wear one from the beginning. In the words of Hazel: "Cheers for that!"

Community Supported Agriculture

2009-05-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Elissah brought over our half of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box - first box of the season! If you are not familiar with the concept of CSA, it allows you to buy fresh produce directly from a farmer for a season's worth of vegetables. Sort of like the farmer's market, except the food is delivered from the farm to a specific pick-up location and it is packed into boxes with a sampling of all the good stuff they are growing on the farm. And you pre-pay for the season - which means we've already paid for our summer produce! Boyd and I subscribed to a CSA in Berkeley and since then we have been wanting to try it again in Minnesota. This summer we are splitting a box each week from Harmony Valley Farm in western Wisconsin with Chris and Elissah and we also subscribed to the fruit box (which starts in a few weeks).

One of the reasons I love CSAs so much is that "you get what you get", which means that we get a lot of exotic veggies that I don't normally use. As you might guess this is really exciting for food lovers because it means trying lots of new recipes - not just the same ol' steamed broccoli every week, now we get things like sunchokes and ramps. Also, it means we get to connect with the bounty of the local farms and support small farms. It's going to be a fun adventure to try all the fun midwestern food and see how it differs from California produce. Even though it's still EARLY in the growing season here the box was filled with "overwinter" vegetables (parsnips, sunchokes and spinach) and fresh spring greens. One of the fun new things we tried this week was sorrel. Sorrel tastes really "bright" or "like sour grass" (depending on who you ask), and it tastes excellent in an omlette! Very fun!

Friday night we had some friends over to enjoy the bounty with us. For dinner we served sauteed green veggies including ramps, sorrel and chives from the CSA box, on top of fresh salmon and wild/white rice mix. I would give you the recipe but Boyd made it up... We also had a salad of spinach from the box with blue cheese, walnuts and pears. Doesn't it look tasty?

For my part I did use a recipe for the Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp with Cardamom and Nutmeg. Look how picturesque I managed to make it! The rhubarb was also from the CSA. We topped the crisp with ice cream and it was just heavenly. The dinner party was great fun and a culinary success. I can't wait for our next CSA box to come this afternoon!

Cooking Over the Open Fire

2009-05-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend's camping trip was a great success - not only because we had lovely, warm, spring weather but also because we ate fancy, tasty food cooked on the open fire! Of course, this makes sense because we were at Jay Cooke State Park in northern Minnesota. (Cooke, get it?! It's hard to make puns in blog posts...).

Here is a taste of our menu - tell me if this is how you usually eat when camping:

Saturday breakfast - individual omelets with onions, garlic and tomatoes; sausage; baked beans
Lunch - bagels with avocado, tomato and spike
Dinner - Pheasant stew; wild rice; cake (yes, cake!)
Sunday breakfast - French Toast
Wow!

By far the biggest food adventure this weekend was Saturday's dinner, which revolved around the wild pheasant and chucker (game bird) that Matt had shot and brought along. Are you wondering what pheasant tastes like? Matt said pheasant tastes just like chicken with herbs because of all the wild grasses they eat. I'd never had it before and I was pleasantly surprised! I can't reproduce the recipe here because it is Matt's special recipe...but here is the process: We started by brazing the meat (on the bone) with butter, garlic and onions in the dutch oven over the fire.
Here is Boyd tending to the meat:
At the same time we were also started the wild rice over the fire - that had to cook for about an hour with lots of coals underneath. We also started the stew with celery, carrots, mushrooms, butter, broth and red wine.

When the meat was done Boyd and Casey picked it off the bones and added it in chunks to the stew. As a final touch Matt added creamy soup to the stew for a rich, creamy, meaty, yummy stew - all served over rice.

Here I am enjoying fancy cuisine.

After we had fully stuffed ourselves with stew there was still more to come! Jason and Gena prepared Mississippi Mud Cake in the dutch oven. It is some of the moistest, tastiest cake I've ever eaten - topped with melted chocolate chips and powdered sugar.

Gena started with cake mix and "mud" mix in the dutch oven. This cooked for one hour with just a few coals under the oven and a few coals on top, turning the pot every 10 minutes. When it was cooked through, she threw the chocolate chips on top and put it back in the fire just long enough for them all the melt. AND, not only was the cake an excellent dessert, it also went very well with coffee the next morning!

I'm definitely looking forward to our next camping trip! We are planning a trip to some place close to a lake (not hard in Minnesota) so that we can eat fresh fish for one of the meals. SO, next time you find yourself eating ramen noodles and freeze dried vegetables on a camping trip - remember - there is a better way!

Adventure in the rain!

2009-04-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

Boyd and I took our first camping trip of the season last weekend. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time we were away. Fortunately, Sipapu (our tent) kept us warm and dry even though the thunderstorms raged all night long!

Check out my Vuvox (new cool web 2.0 tool) web slideshow with pictures from the trip. Use the scroll bar to see all the pictures.

We left Saturday morning driving south from the Twin Cities along the Mississippi River, through Red Wing, Winona and La Crescent. We passed through bluff country and along Lake Pepin, a wide spot in the Mississippi. We took lots of backroads and small county roads, taking in all the lovely rural sites (Preston, Rushford, Lanesboro, Hokah and Houston). The countryside was very beautiful with lots of rolling hills, churches with soaring steeples and bright red barns. It was all very picturesque. We even happened upon Burr Oak, Iowa where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived for a while growing up - very exciting!

We got in one good hike Saturday afternoon before the rain started....
Sunday morning we didn't want to try cooking breakfast in the rain so we took a chance at "Los Gables" a "Mexican Restaurant" which was definitely the place to be on a Sunday morning in Fountain, MN! Their happy hour special (which is available anytime) is "buy 9 margaritas, get the 10th free!" now THERE'S a DEAL!

Despite the rain we had a wonderful trip, enjoying time away from it all - and I look forwad to many more trips the summer, seeing Minnesota and enjoying the great outdoors.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

It's a family tradition on my mom's side of the family to have a brunch with lots of yummy quiche to celebrate Easter. So, even though we're half way across the country I wanted to bake quiche for Easter and invite friends over to make it a party!
This time I didn't go to Epicurious.com or even trusty Joy of Cooking because I have my very own family recipe cookbook with the official "Uncle Gary & Aunt Julie's Easter Quiche". My mom also has a quiche recipe in the cookbook so I decided to make one of each. Pictured above are:

Asparagus and mozzarella quiche
Mushroom, bell pepper and cheddar cheese quiche

Yum!

Luckily, because Easter was so late this year, it was actually warm and spring-like in Minnesota on Easter Sunday. To celebrate spring we invited our friends Chris and Elissah to go for a bike ride around town, along the river and by the lakes to work up a mighty appetite for quiche. The day was lovely! When we were ready for a short snack break we stopped in Loring Park Sculpture Garden. We made it there right after noon and I was absolutely enchanted by the church bells ringing the Easter Blessings from the Basillica of St. Mary.

By the time we got home I was REALLY ready for quiche, especially after the Franklin hill! Elissah brought ice tea with whipped cream on top (a great idea!) and also a refreshing salad with lemon dressing. (Sorry, I didn't take a picture of that). I set up the table and we had a fancy, fun Easter party - just like I wanted. :)

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Hotdish!

2009-04-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

Last week Boyd and I hosted a party for the History department and the new History recruits. I always love recruitment weekend because it reminds me of the weekend two and a half years ago when Boyd was here in MN being recruited for the U and I was home (house sitting for Tony and Sue) and waiting to hear about his experience. It was a weekend that would eventually convince us to move to MN!

So what better way to celebrate this time of year (and get our recruitin' on for the new colleagues) than to make a HOTDISH!? Now, for all you non-Midwesterners, a hotdish is just another name for a casserole and it's a popular potluck and church cookbook item here in Minnesota. After living here 2.5 years I had never yet taken on the task of baking a hotdish, until now.

Our friend Aeleah, a Minnesota native, always makes excellent hotdish for parties so I got my recipes from her. I made (pictured top to bottom): chicken broccoli and cheese hotdish, hamburger hotdish with tater tots(!), and potatoes au gratin (not officially hotdish, but yummy and baked in a hot dish).
I checked the Joy of Cooking to see what they said about hotdish. The authors referred to them as casseroles but they still lay out the defining ingredients of a hotdish:

"several precooked or quick-cooking foods, one of which is generally rice or pasta"
vegetables "from your pantry-dried, preserved, canned, or frozen"
a sauce "made with caned condensed soup"
"delectable gratineed topping of bread or craker crumbs, grated cheese and butter"

I especially liked the Good Housekeeping/Matha Stewart-like suggestion to "wipe off the edges of the exposed surfaces of casseroles before cooking so they do not show any browned spilled-over areas when served." How fancy!

Well, I didn't wipe the edges of the dishes prior to baking but the hotdishes turned out perfectly delicious and presentable. The food was enjoyed by all and, best of all, now I can proudly say I have sucessfully made true Minnesota hotdish. :)

A Trip to the Seattle Public Library

2009-04-03T05:22:00.001-07:00

Last week, while in Seattle, I made SURE that I toured the famous Seattle Public Library. Here is an essay I wrote about the experience:

The Memorable Seattle Public Library

I recently traveled to visit a wonderful library. This library is a tourist destination and on top 10 lists of things to see in the city. It’s the Seattle Public Library! Walking to the library I could see the tall, angular building looming up the hill. People told me I wouldn’t be able to miss it – “it’s the interesting-looking building” they said on the streets, and they were right. The Seattle Public Library (SPL) is a 10-story building in downtown Seattle and it displays modern architecture similar to Minneapolis Public Library. (It looks much taller and imposing than MPL but apparently the SPL has fewer square feet.)

I really enjoyed that SPL is a tourist destination. When you first walk in there is an information desk and a self-guided tour brochure to direct you through the library. I took my partner on a tour through the library pointing out, with the help of the guide, the highlights of each floor. We took detours along the tour to check the Jane Austen fiction and the American history section, just to see what they had in those areas. (They didn’t have a lot of Austen available, but I’m assuming that is because it was all checked out!) The reference librarians were chatty and when they found out we were from Minneapolis they asked us some questions about the library merger and Minnesota in general. SPL also has a free booklet called the Seattle Library Passport, which has facts about each of the Seattle Branch Libraries and a place to get a stamp from the libraries while visiting them. Anytime there is a “passport” with stamps I am there! If only I had enough time to be a tourist at all the Seattle libraries.

One aspect that makes SPL so memorable is the cool technology. They have an amazing book return machine that checks everything in and automatically sorts it into where it will be shelved! The machine is visible so that people can see it in action and they also have a video (under the “sound dome” explaining how it woks). I was really impressed. On the 5th floor (the computer lab) they have a mesmerizing digital display board that cycles between showing different numbers and facts about what is being checked out at the library in that hour. They have pure numbers and they also show a cool matrix of the subject headings and the Dewey call numbers of items being checked out. The hour I was there the 780s (Music) was really popular for some reason.

Another memorable part of SPL is the layout of the library. The non-fiction section winds its way up floors 6-9 in a kind of slow ramp. I liked that the row of books never stopped but it also made the layout a little confusing with ramps, stairs and elevators for different access points to the collection. When you get to the 10th floor (the top public floor) there is a lookout over Seattle and the huge, high ceiling with all windows. This makes the top room really light, even in cloudy Seattle! There are lots of desks and tables and cozy chairs for working and reading throughout the library and even a floor called the Living Room. I could definitely find a nook to read in and a comfortable desk to work at. I smiled when I saw a man doing needlepoint at a desk, unde

rneath the cloudy sky. The children’s room is also really cozy and cute. There are literally hundreds of books out on display on top of the shelves and it made me want to sit down and start reading them right away.

Visiting the SPL, I was definitely proud to be a library student and a library tourist!

**P.S. It turns out I was so excited about the library that I neglected to take pictures of any of the delicious food we ate in Seattle! I can say that it was our goal to eat tons of fresh seafood - and we did! Here are some of the things we had:

Fish and chips (multiple times)
Baked salmon (made by Boyd)
Clam chowder (from Ivar's)
Fettuccine Alfredo with salmon on top
Salmon burgers
Sushi (x2)
Salmon omelet

Phew! I think that covers it! I'm hungry now...

Brew like it's spring

2009-03-23T05:32:00.001-07:00

Boyd said, "if you brew like it's spring - it'll be spring by bottling time" and so it went! Boyd and I went to brew a Maibock (spring) beer at Vine Park Brewery in St Paul on a snowy, cold day and by the time the beer was ready to bottle (2 weeks later) it was a beautiful spring day! If you haven't heard of Vine Park I would seriously encourage you to check it out. I love that I can brew my own beer and reuse all my beer bottles and Vine Park makes the process totally fool proof. They have all the ingredients and keep the brewing instruments clean and sterile. And, our beer always comes out tasting excellent!

I enjoy brewing so much that I planned it as an activity for my parents during their visit from California. The bottling part is like a party, with beer, snacks and (with my dad) ukulele music! We sang all the drinking songs we knew and then moved on to any song we could think of that mentioned drinking. It was a great time! We also shared our beer with the people at Vine Park who were at the brewing stage. It's a pay it forward thing - hopefully they share when they are on the bottling side.

After bottling we took a walk in the neighborhood to enjoy the spring weather and then moved on to The Happy Gnome for a fancy, yummy dinner.

For an appetizer we had the elk tart:

To finish off we had (Boyd's favorite) the banana creme brule. Mmmmm.

The take away message?: We have tons of Maibock beer - drop by for a chat and we'll share one with you. :)

"I don't usually say this..."

2009-03-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled with many features of the new, expanded Seward Co-op and I think my very favorite is the meat counter with a real live butcher! Growing up vegetarian I never really approached a meat counter until recently and only VERY recently is it that I took the brave step toward the counter and actually asked to buy some meat. Any worries that I might have had simply disappear at the Seward Co-op, mostly because of the friendly, non-scary people behind the counter. So now I am free to order freshly cut sandwich meat (thinly sliced), freshly made sausage (cheddar brats, obviously) and even ask for recommendations!

Last time Boyd and I went to the Co-op and asked for recommendations for the best fish for dinner the kind butcher started, "I don't usually say this..." - now that could go anywhere! What doesn't he usually say? He concluded "but the walleye looks good." Mmmm walleye, I had never heard of this tasty white fish before moving to Minnesota but here it is hard to miss! Usually though, walleye is breaded and fried and preferably in a hoagie. This time we pan fried the walleye and Boyd made a fancy balsamic reduction sauce. I'd give you the recipe but Boyd is one of those people who can make up recipes as he goes along - and it always turns out good!

Here I am enjoying the bounty of the lake:Thank you Seward butcher!

Valentines Day

2009-02-18T17:25:00.000-08:00

This year Boyd and I really celebrated Valentines Day in style - with a trip to the warm city of Chicago! We left early Friday morning on the drive through the bare Wisconsin countryside, listening to "Buy the Chief a Cadillac" on tape. (The book is a fictionalized account of the termination of the Klamath Indian Tribe and was a really compelling, sad story.)

Friday night we had our Valentines dinner (a day early) at a fancy Chinese restaurant, Opera, in the South Loop area of Chicago, a short walk from our hotel. I've never really had gourmet Chinese food and this was melt-in-your-mouth good!
I ordered:
North Atlantic Salmon
Pan Roasted, Sauteed Spinach, Brown Rice & Mandarin Orange Citrus Salad

And Boyd had:
Chicken & Forest Mushroom Stir Fry
Velveted Chicken Breast, Asparagus, Wild Mushroom, White Truffle Scented & Shaoxing Wine

Sounds amazing, huh?!

Saturday we spent ALL DAY at the Field Museum of Natural History, browsing through the American Indian items and the stuffed animals. We had packed epic sandwiches for lunch and took an afternoon tea break to read our books before checking out the gems and the jade exhibit. There is so much to see there!

Here are a few of our favorite things:

I loved this Indian beadwork - the patterns and colors are so beautiful!

Boyd enjoyed seeing the traditional Klamath clothing.

We also really liked the Ancient Americas exhibit, which was a great modern museum exhibit with cool interactive features that weren't cheesy. It chronicled life in the Americans beginning with the Ice Age and including California Indians and Pueblos, Mayas and Incas. Very interesting!

After a long day at the museum we stopped for a glass of wine at Sam's wine bar before getting authentic Chicago pizza for dinner. We left early the next morning on the long drive home. What a wonderful trip! Thanks Boyd!

Super good food

2009-02-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

For me the Super Bowl is mostly about the food that goes with it. And judging by my inbox this week - such is the case for many others. Epicurious.com and thenest.com both sent e-newsletters this week with Super Bowl Recipes and "Score on Super Bowl Sunday" menus. I also went to my trusted Joy of Cooking to see if they might have a Super Bowl menu - and they did - in their Special Occasions section!

So what do all these Super Bowl menus have in common? (I bet you can guess!)

- Fried Food (Jalapeno Poppers, French Fries, Fried Chicken, and other deep fried goodness)

- Cheese (Beer Cheese Dip, Nachos, Mac and Cheese soup, which doesn't look as good as it sounds...)

- Dips (Guacamole, Onion Soup & Sour Cream Dip, Salsa)

- Chocolate (Brownies, Black Bottom Cupcakes, need I say more?)

For this year's Super Bowl party (which, again, is mostly an excuse to get together with friends and eat good food) Boyd and I are going to the Hamer's home and all our cooking together should cover the Super Bowl Menu Must-Haves. Here is the breakdown for each category:

Sticky Sesame Chicken Wings (Fried) Boyd
Bacon Cheddar Jalapeno Poppers (Cheese) Tanya
Salsa Lisa (Dips) Tanya
Buffalo Chile (Cheese) Louise

Brownies (Chocolate) Louise

And last but certainly not least:

Beer & Cheap Wine - Ben

Sounds Good, huh? Stay tuned for pictures from the festivities, right after this commercial break (i.e. the Super Bowl).

*P.S. The chicken was excellent! We all agreed Brownies are best when from a box, and the Buffalo tasted just like turkey.

Pictured right: Qwill was happy with his regular tuna and dry food!

Cooking and Breathing

2009-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight, for my first baking adventure, I will attempt to cook cheese souffles for dinner! Souffle is French for Breath - so with a deep breath I started reading up on how to create the perfect pouffy souffle.

I started with Joy of Cooking (75th Anniversary Edition, by Rombauer, Rombauer Becker and Becker). I love the Joy of Cooking for all the food basics, honest explanations and realistic expectations. Bon Appetite also had an article in May 2008 about souffles where they quickly dismiss the notion that souffles are difficult to make. The evidence of such a claim? The author of the article boasts:

I don't know what all the bluster is about - this business if souffles being so finicky, so hard to master - because I've yet to have one let me down.

Joy of Cooking on the other hand tells you straight up: "Some last a bit longer than others, though all have a built-in limit for holding their puff." (p. 204) This gives me hope! It's hard to go wrong with cheese and eggs, even if it does have a short-lived "breath".

Pictured above: Dinner guests Louise and Fiona Hamer give the meal a 27 out of 10!

The souffle recipes in Joy of Cooking direct you to the "Know Your Ingredients" section in the back to read about beating egg whites (which is THE key to souffles). To give you a sense of the tone here is how they start the lesson, "To attempt to describe the beating of egg whites is almost as cheeky as advising how to lead a happy life." (p. 978)

I also read up about eggs in the cookbook Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, which I got from my sister for Christmas. Sally loves eggs and fervently attacks all myths of eggs raising cholesterol levels, calling eggs "brain food" for all the important vitamins and nutrients in eggs (p. 436). This is good news to our dinner guests tonight since the menu includes both souffles AND creme brule!

A souffle has 3 parts: the white sauce base, egg yokes added to the base, and then egg whites folded into the base. The whole trick is to beat the egg whites until they are "stiff, but not dry" and then add them gently to the base. It is the air bubbles in the whites that expand and make the souffle pouf up. Not so hard, right?

Here is the recipe I am making tonight (from epicurious.com): Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Roasted Garlic Souffles. Stay tuned! I'll let you know how it turns out...

Voila! Souffle!

Dinner was wonderful! The souffle puffed right out of the oven and although it fell is was still tasty - in fact it was much better after it cooled down so that all the flavors came out. I think I would try the Basic Cheese Souffle next time rather than one with so many ingredients. It's hard to beat the goodness of eggs and cheese.

I have to mention that the rest of the meal was also exquisite, thanks to the baking of my husband Boyd! (This was a switch because I usually do the baking while he does the cooking...)

Here was our complete menu (with links to the recipes):
1. Twice Cooked French Fries with homemade Sweet-Hot BBQ sauce and Dijon Aioli sauce
2. Souffle (paired with dry white wine)
3. Squash and Broccoli with Ginger Butter
4. Creme Brule (from Joy of Cooking) (paired with Ruby Port)

Below: Boyd fires up the Creme Brule

Bon Appetite!

Pictures of my cats

2009-01-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

Always a favorite...

Here are some pictures of my cats:

Qwill helping with the canning last summer.

And:
Hazel cozy-ing up.

About Me

2009-01-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Just the facts:
Name: Tanya Mary (Thomas) Cothran
Born: January 3rd, in Santa Cruz, California
Current Residence: (frigid) Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cats: Qwill (Orange tabby) and Hazel (Tortiseshell)

What I do all day:
Employment: Spirit in Action (non-profit which helps people in developing countries through business training, community grants, and spiritual fellowship)
Employment 2: Council of Graduate Students (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
School: College of St. Catherine, Master in Library and Information Science
Grad Assistantship: CSC Core Curriculum Department, Website Development

What I wish I could do all day:
Sew
READ
Knit
EAT
Cook
BAKE
Walk

Throughout this semester I will be trying some new fun cooking and baking recipies and I'll keep you posted(!) about how they turn out!

Peace, love and "about me",
Tanya