Posts Tagged ‘fun’
May 9, 2013
A few weeks ago, I spent a day helping a friend traitor to the cause pack her kitchen for her move to Austin. Since I’m one winged, the most I could do was clean out her fridge. We started talking about all those parts of/left over items that you use a few times and they get shoved to the back. We both can, shop farmers markets and generally try to minimize our carbon foot print (her husband makes a wicked beer by the way). Fast forward to a get well soon gift from a college friend who knows of my love of canning and quirky gifts. The result ? 2 jars of beer jelly (you read that right, beer jelly) from a Brooklyn company called Anarchy In a Jar. I have to admit, I was a bit perplexed. I like beer, I like jam/jelly. But along the lines of I like chicken and I like peanut butter cups, I’m not seeing how they work together.
The only thing saving me at the moment is the Food Network. I’m sick of daytime television as I am recovering from this Bankart repair. On a whim In a moment of insanity, I decided to do my very own Chopped challenge. Mostly to alleviate the fear of opening the jar of beer jelly. For the record, beer jelly has a heavy beer taste with a sweet undercurrent along the lines of apple juice (which makes sense since they are the top 2 ingredients). I didn’t know any of this before deciding to use what was in my fridge to make dinner using the beer jelly as the gotcha.
Beer jelly, walnuts, spinach, horseradish sauce, pork chops, soy sauce
So there are my mandatory items: all selected before the opening of the jelly (or reading the label). Knowing that jelly can be a bit sweet, I went with something salty to try to balance it. I prefer a bit of a kick so went with the horseradish sauce. The meat is from the absolutely fantastic 8 O’clock Ranch (really, if you are in their delivery area and don’t buy from them?). The walnuts and spinach are from Wegman’s. The horseradish was rescued from my friend. I used the gluten-free soy in my fridge but needed the smaller one for the pic.
I created a marinade of the jelly, 2 tablespoons of horseradish and a tad too much soy (I had to cut it with 2 tablespoons of local honey). It probably should have been a jar of jelly and 2 tablespoons each of the horseradish and soy. I had to use the honey to kill a bit of the salt.
I seared the pork on both sides on a very hot grill pan turning 4 times (these were completely thawed boneless chops). In what would cause the Chopped judges to take off points for creativity, I opted for a variation of a spinach salad.
Local honey, madeira vinegar, hard boiled egg, pancetta, Dijon mustard
With the meat resting, I chopped the egg and added it to the spinach and walnuts. I cooked the pancetta (points off, it was a bit saltier than I expected). Then deglazed the pan with the vinegar (around 2T and 1T of Dijon mustard).
Frying pancetta
Deglazing with mustard and vinegar
I tossed the warm pancetta into the salad to get a bit of a wilt, tossed in the dressing platted I’m sure I would have been axed (I forgot a starch; you know how those judges are). But a ton of fun when trying to figure out how to use beer jelly. And yup. I contacted Anarchy in a Jar to see where I could get a few more bottles. I’m really not in the mood to start making beer jelly. But it is a great base for fun cooking.
Really glad I was kicked off before the dessert round. :)
Tags:8 o'Clock Ranch, Anarchy in a Jar, beer jelly, Chopped, cooking, csa, food, Food Network, fun, gluten free, local business, Random
Posted in Cooking, CSA, Gluten Free | 2 Comments »
March 10, 2013
Yesterday, I listened to writers discuss their craft at the AWP convention. I jotted down snippets on a legal pad out of habit and in the middle of listening to a panel discussion on writing in translation (for a very cool and free literary journal check out wordswithoutborders.org). It really wasn’t about writing in translation but about bringing the writing to translation. I think. It’s not the fault of the presenters; they were muses at that point. I realized there was passion. Artists, in general, receive the stereotype of passionate. As some point, and with great apologies, I lost track of the discussion and realized what I was hearing was passion OF career, something that is and has been lacking in my world.
I’m done. Not in a suicidal rage done, merely done. At the point of exhaustion, I see what the causation. Living without passion is not living. It’s survivalism. I have a few things I have to get done (notably that pesky shoulder surgery in exactly 37 days not that I’m joyously counting down). And then I’m leaving. On a jet plane. Ok, there are some very real steps in between: sorting through a few decades worth of junk to what will fit into a small storage unit in the town my parents reside, figuring out the where I want to go, where I need to go and uh, how to translate “I’m deathly allergic to shellfish” in every language known on the planet. I plan on leaving in roughly a year after I’m done with my shoulder rehab.
I am a huge proponent of knowing needs versus wants. I need to travel. I don’t need Disney; I don’t need turn down service. I need my backpack, my passport and well, the aforementioned card that says please don’t serve me anything with shellfish. Travel, of me, is activism. It’s the part that allows me to say to the world “no, not all Americans are like that” and to hear “No, xxx really isn’t like that.” I need to see the world, to take in the sights, the smells and show, if even to myself, that the world is much better and far less hateful than media outlets make it out to be. Travel is my idealism. Travel is hard; there is nothing worse than being curled up in a hotel room, in a foreign country 14 time zones from home where you don’t know the language or anybody and are miserably sick (ok, there are a LOT of things that are worse) without a common alphabet in common to figure out what medicine you might be taking (Ah, Tokyo. I really want to visit you again!). There is nothing more wonderful than being surrounded by a gaggle for elementary school students in Hiroshima practicing their English in the shadow of the destruction your country created peppering you with questions because they’ve found a ‘real’ American from Boston (where apparently a Japanese player was playing for the Red Sox) to pepper with questions about baseball, Boston and lots of questions that were not on the list.
I know when I plan to leave. I don’t know when I’ll be back. But I know, for probably the first time, I will be following my passion. And (almost) everything else is irrelevant. Of course, all of this is completely dependent on my mother agreeing to cat sit world’s dumbest animal. Completely open to ideas on where to visit anywhere on the planet outside of Western Europe, good travel blogs and volunteer stops along the way.
Tags:around the world trip, diversity, food, fun, hollins, japan, lafitte, mid-life crisis, monster, musings, planning, Reflections, relationships, social justice, solo travel
Posted in Cats, Labrum, Shoulder, Travel | Leave a Comment »
January 1, 2013
Nahant Beach
Cross the first one off the list. Not often a fur clad, Uggs wearing woman and a bagpipper encourage me to take a plunge into the ocean in winter with some friends! Happy New Year!!
Tags:friends, fun, lack of common sense, New Year's Resolution, ocean, people watching, pictures, Random
Posted in People, Popular Culture | Leave a Comment »
December 31, 2012
Some will take 5 minutes, some a few months. . . . just a list of random things I thought I’d try to do in 2013.
1) Polar Bear Plunge
2) Read 50 Shades of Gray
3) Read Team of Rivals
4) Read In the Garden of Beasts
5) Read Fall of Giants
6) Read The Great Influenza
7) Read Book #6 (Title: TBD)
8) Read Book #7 (Title: TBD)
9) Read Book #8 (Title: TBD)
10) Read Book #9 (Title: TBD)
11) Read Book #10 (Title: TBD)
12) Read Book #11 (Title TBD)
13) Read Book #12 (Title TBD)
14) Participate in the SNAP challenge (one week, $25 all 7 days)
15) Run a 5K
16) Write a letter instead of shooting a long email
17) Walk the Freedom Trail
18) Go to a Red Sox/Yankees game
19) Participate in the USPS 3K challenge
20) Unplug from social media for a week.
21) Walk, run, jog 500 miles (I mean, I’ve got a YEAR)
22) Go to Walden Pond. (Such a bad local tourist)
23) Get over my fear of needles and go to the dentist
24) Take a yoga class
25) Volunteer 50 hours
26) Go to Northern California
27) Go to New Orleans
28) Go to Puerto Rico
29) Learn to cook tamales
30) Make an intentional collage
31) Go vegetarian for a week
32) Menu plan for a week . . . and follow it!
33) Bike 1000 miles (see the I’ve got a year note)
34) Walk away from an argument
35) Work a 44 hour week
36) Make sure all that dang adult paperwork is taken care of
37) Pay off the remaining credit card debt
38) Go to the MFA once a month
39) Go to NYC just to go to MOOD!
40) Walk the Freedom Trail
41) Prehab my shoulder in an attempt to avoid surgery
42) Organize guest room
43) Organize kitchen
44) Find new homes for orphaned socks.
45) Start to learn Spanish.
46) Finish my holiday shopping by October.
47) Hollins Hanukah II
48) Journal more
49) Sending my 2012 Christmas cards by oh, St. Patrick’s Day.
50) Go fall camping
51) Take a fun class at one of the zillion extension centers
52) Try to be more zen.
Tags:2013, food, fun, health, Kitchen, musings, New Year's Resolution, organization, personal responsiblity, Random, reading, Reflections, resolutions, social justice, social media
Posted in Popular Culture, Reflections | 3 Comments »
November 25, 2012
Looking for a strange new challenge to go after for a Thanksgiving potluck and a few hours of conference calls to do reasearch, I found an interesting concept: the piecaken. Apparently, this trend has come out of the missionary community: I’m not sure what to say on that one either theologically or politically so I’ll let each of my 12 readers decide independently. What I found was a decided lack of directions except for a list of “nots” and the idea to use pre-made cakes. Look, if I’m going to bake a pie in a cake, the pie is going to be from scratch.
The concept is pretty self-explanatory: bake a pie into a cake; a perfect dessert for Thanksgiving. After scouring the blogs, I decided that the one aspect made-from-scratch piecaken creators all lamented was a berry pie. After playing with flavor profiles, I decided to do a coconut pie and chocolate cake.
The coconut pie was a breeze to make: the recipe didn’t say but I poured into an unbaked pie crust. I made the pie the day before (tip from another blog) and cooled completely.
The next day, I made the cake. I’ve made exactly one cake from scratch so I went with the tried and true Betty Crocker cake. The only modification I made was to swap the 1/2c oil for 1/2c of water. I figured the oil wouldn’t be needed based on the cake recipe and would help to figure out the baking time. I poured roughly 1/3 of the cake batter into a well greased spring form pan (10”). And then the tricky part: transferring the pie from the pie plate to the cake. I removed the outer edges of the crust, flipped the pie onto a cookie sheet and flipped back.
Mine broke a bit but I was able to piece back together. Pour the remaining cake batter over the pie and cooked until knife clean (70 minutes at 350 degrees).
I let the piecaken rest overnight (I didn’t want the cake to ball up when I frosted it). I frosted with a simple butter cream frosting.
I hauled a cake weighing more than a newborn to a foodie potluck and viola, a piecaken for the ages.
Now, on to the next culinary adventure!
Tags:baking, cake, chocolate, cocount, cooking, culinary adventures, food, fun, insanity, Kitchen, pie, piecaken, potlucks
Posted in Cooking, Popular Culture | 2 Comments »
August 25, 2012
Ok, I was going to start on Day 74 but that would have involved a tirade on trying to find lavender that can be used in cooking in Boston which would have become a long rant on various annoying things people do at grocery stores which is the exact OPPOSITE of what I’m trying to do.
So, expect 73 blogs (give or take) of things that are good about these 50 states, various territories, outposts and things that we have accomplished. Some will be silly, some serious and some historical. All will be written with my inherent bias of a white, lesbian native Midwesterner with a mild disability living in the Boston area.
But today, I choose to uplift the Oreo cookie. Why? It’s simply the best selling cookie in the US. It is proof that one can eat vegan and have a horrific diet. The Oreo, in its simplicity, can spar hours of debate on the proper way to eat an Oreo. I admit doing some light (read Wiki) research. Remember how people (read probably a parent or grandmother) used to try to pass off Hydrox as Oreos? Oreos were invented by Nabisco to compete with Hydrox. Who says copies can’t be an improvement.
Yes, I try to eat as much non-GMO, 100% locally grown food as possible. But let’s face it: there are days that demand Oreos. And water. Never milk. And keep in mind that there is a reason that in October, especially around the 3rd Saturday, orange colored but not flavored filling comes out in the Oreos. We all know who the Oreo gods side with during that game. You never see a crimson colored Oreo. That would, of course, be blasphemy.
Tags:3rd Saturday in October, civility, consumer education, elections, food, football, fun, Obama, politics, Random, Romney, things that aren't common sense but should be, tolerance, Vols
Posted in Election Countdown | 1 Comment »
August 4, 2012
Sigh. Nordstrom used to represent legendary customer service. Today, I returned, after a bit of frustration, a skirt and 2 pairs of shoes to my local Nordstrom that I had sent to me during the (in)famous Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.
I’d rather have a root canal. Ok, maybe not that extreme but close.
I stepped off the elevator and took my items to the customer service department. I wanted to just dart in, out and continue on with my day. Was I wrong! As I placed my Nordstrom bag on the counter, with the receipts in hand and my Nordstrom card (trust me, for these acts alone I deserve a medal). The customer service representative told me he could not help me with my returns. Um, excuse me? I mean, it’s a return. You are customer service. He pointed to a sign that said I could go to any department and they’d be happy to assist me with my return. Seriously? I mean, this is a Nordstrom: places of legendary (and false) tire returns.
I trudged over to St. John’s (the closest department) and while the woman was lovely, she couldn’t return the shoes. Something about a “company policy” again and I know Nordstrom employees take flak all day so I smiled and took my items downstairs to the shoe department.
I walked up to the shoe counter with my items and was asked if I needed help. Yes, I needed to return some items from the Anniversary Sale. And the sales associate offered to find somebody (I sort of wondered why she asked if she wasn’t going to help but oh well). I pulled out my two pairs of shoes and my skirt. The new sales associate apologized but said he couldn’t help me with the skirt but would take care of the shoes. At this point, I was wondering *where* Nordstrom and their famous customer service went. I asked about the sign at customer service that any department could help with any return. He explained that shoes was different due to a “company policy”. After inspecting my shoes in a manner that would make a US Marine Corps Drill Sergeant proud, he stated he could return the shoes. (Great, I’m thinking because I bought them less than two weeks ago, looked at them in person and said not for me.)
I went back up to St. John’s and returned the skirt. The woman apologized again saying that different departments can only return some items. She helped me return the skirt and was nice but really? 4 departments for 3 items? Target and Wal-Mart both don’t have you run all over the store for a simple return.
On my way out, I stopped by customer service. I wanted to let them know their sign was wrong. He explained the same “company policy” on returns about different departments. . I half jokingly asked the customer service rep if I could purchase a roll of quarters from him since that was on my to-do list. He said he was sorry but it was against company policy. At this point, I had to think what exactly does customer service DO all day?
On a lark, I looked a www.nordstrom.com for their returns policy: “Simply bring the packing slip and credit card used when you placed the order to any one of our stores.” And be prepared to run around for a bit.
Tags:customer service, fun, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, Nordstrom returns, Nordstrom shoes, people, people watching, Random, returns, social media, things that aren't common sense but should be, tolerance
Posted in People, Popular Culture | 4 Comments »
August 20, 2011
“Learn to say no. This is actually one of the key habits for those trying
to simplify their lives. If you can’t say no, you will take on too much. Article
here. “
My first thought on Day Six was a horrific flashback to the pit band in high school when the actress playing Ado Annie couldn’t remember “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No” and we had to keep playing it over and over. I think that cemented my disdain for all things Roger and Hammerstein. One of the best lessons I picked up somewhere along the line was the lack of justification needed in saying “No.” For years I struggled with “I’d really like to (probably a lie) but . . . ” instead of “No.”
No isn’t one of those words most of us like to hear (there are cases it is the most beautiful word in the world, however, most times, it’s not. . . ). While I’m ok-ish with the boundary of saying no in doing things (hey, at heart I’m a slug), I do struggle with saying no when it comes to standing up for myself. Case and point, last weekend, I spent some time with old friends. One of them said something about doing a joint birthday party again. I said no. Against conventional wisdom, against “proper protocol”. I wasn’t interested. The last birthday party I had, my mom had just started chemo again for the second time, was wearing her wig for the first time and I was miserable. My friend said I was fine and wasn’t stressed. At this point, I realized I could ‘shrug it off’ or simply stand my ground. I corrected her: No, I was miserable. I didn’t have a good time and I wasn’t going to re-create it. Yes, I probably did hide it well, I’m good at that. For me, the struggle of saying no isn’t around a task but in the letting others express their perceptions of my feelings, not accepting that for me, no means no and letting myself be ok with not being involved.
While my friend didn’t take it well (presence of a 3rd party ended the discussion . . . ). It really didn’t bother me: it actually felt kind of liberating. For me, anyway, part of saying no will be letting go of people in my life who while they are there, I’ve lost that point of connection, the sense of conversation/community. Yes, I’ll still be polite and be at social gatherings but sometimes saying no is simply a way to take stock of who respects another individual’s decisions/reflections.
Now, if I can get myself to say no to some of my mother’s great ideas . . . well, I’d be the first in the family. Some times a smile and nod is much simpler, healthier than “no”. That is why God invented freecycle.
Tags:family, friendships, fun, people, personal responsiblity, things that aren't common sense but should be, tolerance
Posted in 72 Ideas in 72 Days Project, Reflections | 1 Comment »
July 24, 2011
Now I know some of my lawyer-ly friends will say “yes”, but really, how many people READ all of the fine print? I have done the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) route for over a year. I love it. I switched CSA’s this year for a few reasons: my new one gives “credits” and you select how much of which type of item you would like for the week (pretty cool … no bok choi! or tat soi!). Anyway, I’m close to meandering off the path. Last year I froze some berries, some squash and meandered through the ‘off season’ (and uh, in New England, that’s a long time!).
A friend posted on her blog the tales about urban canning. Yup, she’s a “cult” leader of the nice sort. She sucked me in . . . the results?
- 5 pints of plum chutney
- 1.5 pints of spicy plum sauce
- 3 cups of pesto (frozen)
- 3 pints of blueberry jam
- 1.5 pints of blueberry-chocolate sauce
- 7 pints of bread and butter pickles
- 1.5 litres of blueberry wine
- 6 pints of frozen blueberries
In a weekend. I know I’ll be happy this winter when it’s impossible to get anything in New England without a massive carbon footprint. I know I’m eating better because everything used was either organic and locally grown or organic. I had a blast picking the blueberries, despite the near record heat and humidity. Everything was canned, frozen or being strained (in the case of the wine) within 10 hours of being picked.
How did this insanity get started? Aside from my friend the cult leader? I read the back of the label of my pickles. The #2 ingredient behind cucumbers? HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, some strange word I can’t pronounce and don’t remember, and yellow dye. Yup. I’m out of the grocery race. I’m going back to picking my foods in the garden, using my CSA share and canning and freezing along the way. It is completely that easy.
Jam in the making
Tags:berries, blueberries, canning, cooking, food, fun, gluten free, health, local business, organic, Reflections, relaxation, stress relief
Posted in Condo, Cooking, Gluten Free | 1 Comment »
June 19, 2011
So, in my now twice in my life Happy Father’s Day blog, I’m going to skip my normal disdain for the day (well, more specifically all Hallmark holiday’s – and I just learned this one was created by NIXON!) and smile.
My dad (and mom) are in a mini-van (ring of hell #1) with 3 tweeners (ring of hell #2) going to the CWS (return to ring #1) after going to Carhenge and other “tourist sites in Nebraska” (enter rings #2, #3 and #4). For fun. The kids are good kids, I don’t understand my father’s love of long distance driving (30 minutes, I’m done) and who buys a mini-van by CHOICE? But they are having fun being with the 3 oldest grandkids, the grandkids appear unharmed from the pictures and are being tortured at Denny’s (yes, I went there)-as-a-resturant that must come with the grandparent license and I can’t wait to hear all versions.
The past year has been hard – from all angles. Unemployment, illnesses, strange weather and a list of things have taxed and pushed. At one point last summer, my dad swore to me I’d look back on 2010 and laugh (I’m not sure I ever will but I see his point). A college friend posted this article from The Atlantic Monthly. I thought about it and realized the greatest lesson my parents taught my siblings and me is that we will fail.
How did we learn this lesson? My dad is 6 5. When we were little (read 4 and 5), we’d engage in a 2-1 basketball game against our dad. He’d block our shots (ok, we were midgets, block is a loose term, all he had to do was put a hand over our heads, I maintain he was trying to pad his statistics). He’d shoot HOOK SHOTS (we stood no chance). We’d play until we made a basket purely by luck. We thought we “won” (we scored on dad) but we really learned. We learned that sometimes you have to try a lot before you make a basket, we learned that sometimes a game ended before we could score, we learned (in retrospect) that sometimes failing is the best thing. Painful life lesson best learned on the backyard basketball court.
I’m a t-ball purist. I’m not sure letting all kid receive an award is the best idea: I was the worst player on my team until my sister joined. She picked flowers in the field. We were bad, we had fun and the other kids had to put up with us (I’m sure it was painful for the 2nd graders. . . ). I do know that learning how to fail and failure being ok if the effort was there is a valuable skill (and probably is somehow related to continued creativity and imagination).
Happy Father’s Day Dad. You taught us it’s ok to love to do something we are bad at for fun, that sometimes you loose and you were always up for coloring our food. Now, if we could do something about your Phanatical Jayhawk addition, all would be right with the world.
Tags:basketball, family, fun, hollins, musings, ncaa, personal responsiblity, Random, Reflections, things that aren't common sense but should be
Posted in Popular Culture, Reflections, Sports, Travel | Leave a Comment »
