Neuf Routes

New Address, New Blog Name

2010-01-24T12:11:00.002-05:00

Hi folks,

It's been a nice long run here at old Neuf Routes. Thanks for sticking with me over the last few years! Effective immediately, this blog will shift over to a new address, koenrat.blogspot.com, so you can follow Joshua and me in our new joint (ad)venture. For the moment we're calling it Koenrat's Gazette, because Ratkoenk was too onomatopoetic. I'll still be blogging, and Joshua will chime in from time to time, who knows, he may really take it to it!

More or less all the posts from Neuf Routes will be over at Koenrat's Gazette in case you ever need recipes or dated advice on french bike parts.

So update your RSS feeds and your bookmarks - we'll see you over at the new place!

xo
hk

Hotel Alexander, Dar es Salaam

2010-01-23T06:36:00.002-05:00

This hotel is awesome. It's on the same street as Rob, our Chief of Party, and was turned into a hotel about a year and a half ago (or so the staff tells me). Downstairs there's a comfortable, well-decorated dining room with two long tables, and two wings of rooms stretch out from the back, flanking the garden/pool area. The food is AMAZING, fresh fish, huge prawns, very reasonable, and cooked perfectly. Seasoning is not skimpy, the cook knows how to use salt well, but not overpower you.

The rooms are large and there's a third story bar above the dining area that is open on the sides, with three cushiony nooks on the long side that one can settle down in with a book or a laptop or a group of friends, and a few tables for dining off to the far side. Gorden, the owner, is warm and welcoming, as are the two main staff, Felix and Mohammed.

Only drawbacks are that the wireless doesn't quite reach to my room (when I'm sitting on the bed - which makes it easier to concentrate on work!) and the a/c fans are quite loud, but these are definitely not dealbreakers. My ethernet cable setup at the desk works fine, or I can go upstairs to the bar to work wirelessly.

From Travel

Ibex Tuck Gloves Review

2010-01-14T13:18:00.004-05:00

These gloves are softshell, with wool lining. They are bulky. And they are warm. The leather palms are nice, but the nosewipe ("flock" nosewipe) leaves a lot to be desired. Not that I used it on my nose during the testing period! It's just not at all fuzzy - same as the outside softshell of the glove. The seam running between the thumb and forefinger felt bulky and irritating on the left hand, but not the right, so it's possible a different pair would not have that issue, but it made for noticeably uncomfortable biking.

I've ended up sending both these Ibex gloves back and turning to a more tried-and-true approach - glove liners (currently my cheapo H&M gloves) and a windblocking shell (Joshua's pair from last season). Warm enough and the least bulky option out there.

I really don't understand

2010-01-08T11:45:00.000-05:00

wireless power.

Ibex Shak Gloves Review

2010-01-05T09:55:00.003-05:00

Between Christmas and New Year's I biked into the office for three days, in bitter cold and blustery winds. My regular fleece gloves were not doing the trick and my thumbs got froze and painful by the end of the 2 mile trip.

I ordered a pair of Ibex Shak Gloves, which have leather on the palm and a double layer of wool on top, and didn't think that they would be terribly warm or windblocking for the bike ride, but this morning it was 25 degrees and my hands felt fine on the ride in. The fit is a little long in the fingers and that helps to trap air, but doesn't seem to interfere too much with dexterity.

A couple other pairs of gloves are on their way for review and testing, and I will keep you posted.

Ingenue

2010-01-04T21:58:00.001-05:00

From Kima

Double Blink Picture Fail!

2010-01-04T21:23:00.000-05:00

From J&H Photos General

New Year's Eve Dinner

2010-01-02T15:38:00.002-05:00

Fergus Henderson's Duck Legs and Carrots. Lessons learned:

"Add chicken stock until duck legs are showing like alligators in a swamp" is not the same as 1 3/4 cups of stock.

From Food

This is too much. I unbasted most of the liquid about an hour through the 90 minute cooktime, but then we got to make it into soup with the leftover carrots the next day, so no harm no foul.

So you end up with this:

From Food

Bitman's Chicken Liver Pate ( a little blurry) - so cheap, so easy, so delish.

From Food

Duck, bread, and roasted teeny brussels sprouts. Happy 2010!

From Food

Oh yes and don't forget dessert - Molten Chocolate Lightning Cake.

From Food

Really, it takes ten minutes. I stole this from Hedonic Monica when looking for a chocolate dessert I could make in a ramekin. I used 54% Bakers semisweet chocolate.

1/2 c butter
4 oz dark chocolate (I use 62% Scharffen Berger)
1/4 c sugar (I use brown or white interchangebly)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp flour
pinch salt

berries, coulis, mint, chocolate sauce, fresh vanilla cream, or powdered sugar (for decor)

Butter and flour four ramekins. Preheat oven to 450. Using a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt. Whisk in hot chocolate-butter mixture, slowly and carefully so not to create a chocolate omlette. Divide amongst ramekins. Either bake for 10-12 min (depending on how molten you prefer your center), or refrigerate until ready to use. After baking, run a knife around cake edge and turn carefully upside down onto a plate. Allow to set for 1 minute before pulling off ramekin. Decorate and serve warm.

MORE FOOD

2009-12-31T12:06:00.003-05:00

Der te der, what's this? Leftover wild mushroom risotto? Dearie me, I seem to be forming it into golf ball sized forms, and stuffing it with a little piece of mozzarella, oh my goodness.

From Food

Nooo, the dreaded flour-egg-Panko triple threat!

From Food

It spares no fingers!

From Food

Phew, at least someone is making sure we are eating green leafies around here.

From Food

and their steamy stems, too!

From Food

Deep Fried Risotto Alert! At 370 degree F, these turned golden in .6 seconds, but didn't burn like I thought they would, even after about a minute. Probably I just need to fry more things, right? Right??

From Food

Ah yes, our complete tapas meal, "Tuscan" bread from Whole Foods, white-bean/rosemary/garlic spread (thanks Jamie Oliver), Swiss Chard, and a few delectable arancini (the technical term for 'fried leftover risotto balls'). We have blurred the photo to protect the innocent.

From Food

Food photos courtesy of new schnazzy camera!

Christmas Food Blog

2009-12-31T11:52:00.004-05:00

We ate so many good things at Christmas, but I only took a few pictures. We arrived four days late due to the Baltimore snowstorm, but started the holiday off right with roast pork in milk curd sauce, an italian dish. The next night was lamb loin, cardoon gratin (too bad I didn't get any pictures, cardoons are wacky - they look like barbed celery, which, not endearing AT ALL) and rosti (a swiss shredded potato cake sauteed in its weight in butter).

Christmas Eve we made lobster ravioli with the remains of a five-pound lobster that a student of my Dad's brought him, in thanks for helping him through a tough job search, and two salads. One was fennel and parsley; the other, a tricolore salad with a buttermilk chive dressing.

Then the GOOSE.

From Food

Take one goose. Stuff some prunes with duck foie gras.

From Food

Now, put those in the goose. Roast your goose, mostly on its side, turning it like one does in a tanning booth for extra golden color. Apply hot water from time to time to keep the pores open and the goose schvitzing.

From Food

Meanwhile, make a mushroom soup using approximately 8 lbs of butter and 1lb of mushrooms. The pomegranate is for scale, and also to go with the roasted butternut squash cubes + cilantro. This was delicious, btw, and sorry, no pictures. Dad made up the recipe.

From Food

Also meanwhile, make some twice-baked potatoes. Paprika, we have decided in the end, is basically sine qua non, even if Mom thinks it looks tacky. Note additional butter on top, after having stirred in 2 sticks of it during the mashing process.

From Food

Ah yes, the goose must now be done.

From Food

Throw in some spinach cooked in butter (of course) for some greenness on the plate, while you're at it. Finish it all off with lemon tart to cut the butter. Ha! Just kidding. There's butter in there too.

From Food

Most of these recipes from Julia Child. The goose was delicious, very very very dark meat. The squash/pomegranate/cilantro was amazing. The buttered mushrooms, potatoes, and spinach - well, let's just say, I've never been happier to be full of butter. Dee-lish. I think the secular Koenker household can take on any Jewish household during Hannukah season in a butter-off, I'm just sayin'.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-30T11:01:00.004-05:00

1. Bike to work as much as possible.
I basically took the whole fall off, and didn't start again until the car was up in Philly between Christmas and New Year's. Even in the cold and wind of late December it was nice to get some exercise, and the streets were not so scary, as long as I stayed on Fallsway and Guilford.

2. Cook really delicious things more often.
This won't be as hard when Joshua and I are in the same house all the time, but until then, even when he's not around, I want to cook more fun things.

3. Run, climb, and walk Kima a lot. I've been so far mostly successful by biking to work and running on days that I didn't bike.

4. More tricks with Kima. I have all these books, and I have a clicker, and really, the more training the better!

Porcini

2009-12-29T13:03:00.002-05:00

I found some porcini at home yesterday that were still good (another package was infested with grubs). So I zipped up to Eddies to get some crimini mushrooms and started this mushroom risotto recipe from Gourmet (via Epicurious). The best part is you can make the leftovers into fried risotto balls with melting mozzarella in the middle.

Mushroom Risotto
yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
active time: 45 min
total time: 1 hr
This recipe serves 4 as a main course after you set aside 3 cups to make the mushroom and mozzarella arancini or the mushroom risotto cakes.... more ›

ingredients

1 oz (28 g) dried porcini (1 cup)
3 3/4 cups hot water
5 1/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (42 fl oz)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 lb fresh cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 lb Arborio rice (2 1/3 cups)
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Special equipment: parchment paper (if reserving some risotto for another recipe)
Garnish: Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings

The importance of background music

2009-12-17T09:40:00.002-05:00

You all have seen countless video clips with dramatic background music highlighting development issues in Africa. This one's a little different, and a welcome change!

No more running around in the playground when it's cold out!

2009-12-14T09:54:00.001-05:00

Kima's tailio got froze again this year. Video is from last year.

Yesho Raz

2009-12-09T21:18:00.001-05:00

(Once more)

Origins of Breakdance

2009-12-09T21:13:00.001-05:00

It's worth watching the whole 3 and a half minutes.

Grass Fed Beef and Fishy Taste

2009-11-29T18:20:00.003-05:00

We had three different steaks on Saturday, two grassfed and one grainfed. The massive thick grassfed steak had a fishy taste most noticeable in the fat. Strong, like the dried fish in Gabon. The meat itself was fine, it seemed, but the grainfed steak was milder (and I suppose more familiar). It was a disconcerting experience. Turns out, though, that grassfed beef has higher Omega-3 levels, and this contributes to the fishiness (as it does in wild fish).

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

2009-11-23T16:59:00.002-05:00

Blackberry Pearl 9100 should be able to do everything I need....maybe.

Kima not that dumb

2009-11-23T16:08:00.001-05:00

Tried to cut her nails again last night without muzzle or headlock, and she wasn't having any of it. So, back to square one. Or just have the kennel do it this week while she's having a Thanksgiving vacation.

Craving a new smartphone

2009-11-23T15:48:00.002-05:00

The Pearl has been good to me, and fits in most any pocket, but recently has begun to slow down. Nifty new apps are available for faster, bigger, nicer smartphones. But those won't fit in my pocket!!

Please note this is not a ploy for any holiday gift giving, just befuddlement. Would it not be cool to have Evernote on my phone? Or Epicurious? Or be able to implement one of those auto-shut-off-when-phone-senses-it's-in-a-car dealios? Or map all my Africa travel down to the clinic level?

Advertisers are so damn good at creating a need. Curse you and your slick Flash popups!

Update

2009-11-17T09:25:00.004-05:00

I think it's been about 80 million years since I last posted. Lots of things going on.

- I returned to Baltimore to get my Nigerian visa and promptly got a big ol' fever, which was probably not really the swine flu, but was enough like the swine flu that I wasn't able to go to Nigeria, even though
- I did in fact receive my Nigerian visa in time.

- USAID made me a job offer that was pretty dang awesome.

- Nick and Johanna had their baby! Oscar.

- CCP made a counter offer in order to keep me in Baltimore. And I'm taking it. Despite all my professional heroes telling me to take the USAID job, because it will be good for my career, etc. Basically, it boils down to: a) I can get a lot of similar job experience at CCP and b) I don't have to commute in order to do that and c) all things being thus more or less equal, sort of kind of, I would rather spend those 3 hours with Joshua, Kima, and my other interests rather than on the MARC train with my New Yorkers. I'm sure I will regret at some points not taking on the badassness of the USAID job, but hey, that's the breaks. The feeling that I have now, after taking this counter offer (read: promotion!) is, I would say, "happiness", whereas the feeling I had after waking up thinking I would take the USAID job I would have to classify as "sad, and putting career ahead of family, for maybe some not super good reasons".

So you know everything works out.

Second:
I have been reading 'quirky' and 'indie' wedding blogs like a maniac and using Evernote to file all the ideas I can steal from them. I don't think I will blog much about the wedding planning. It's pretty boring. Not that we will have a boring wedding, no sirree, but who wants to see the sausage being made?

Third:
Joshua and I took Kima for a walk at Jerusalem Mills and we let her off leash (which *gasp*, illegal!) and hullo, it was totally fine. This dog just wants to cuddle, she is not liable to run off after anything, because I am the most interesting thing to her. To the point that when cutting her nails later that evening, she freaked out in Joshua's chokehold, and came over to me, all "Mom, I'm scared, he's scaring me, don't let him squeeze me like that!" and just LET ME cut her nails, no trouble at all. Good doggie!!

Oh, Nigeria

2009-11-01T05:22:00.002-05:00

Nigeria embassy wouldn't give me a visa here in Dakar, because I do not have a Senegalese residency permit. A small Nigerian offered to take me to the Police Whatsit to get said permit, quickly, and without them asking me all the usual annoying questions. I declined. Lagos doesn't offer visas on arrival, and it's illegal to send one's passport back to the states to get a visa (or with someone else, for that matter).

So either I:
a) go back to the states a bit early from Dakar, get my visa, and return to Nigeria within a week or
b) ef Nigeria and stay in Dakar to do more work here or
c) ef Nigeria and go home to regularly scheduled programming.

Much depends on how much it will cost to change my flights, and whether or not my collaborators on the Nigeria workshop are willing to let me bail.

Also, two men are up in my ceiling draining water that has been gurgling up there for a couple days. Looks kinda messy in there.

Downtime

2009-10-28T08:56:00.003-04:00

In Dakar for a two week needs assessment to set up our newest biggest project, delivering nets and promoting their use globally - or at least, just in Senegal to start with. Lots of meetings already, everyone touching on the same issues (routine distribution not working, out of nets, procurement is hard, need more communication to increase use of nets, help help help us). But today is a bit slow as some meetings have just been canceled, so I am waiting for a caesar salad in my room and catching up on the little tasks, like writing an invitation letter to the private sector, so that they can attend a meeting where we are likely going to tell them we're not subsidizing their operations in this project, unlike the previous project. Hoping that the Nigerian Embassy guy wasn't really serious when he said he could reject my visa application because I am not a resident in Senegal.

The caesar salad came without any dressing. This hotel has been open only three months. Yesterday my soft-boiled egg was perfect - today the yolk was still raw, but they insisted it was soft-boiled. "You know oeuf en coquotte? C'est comme ca". No, really, it's not. For some reason this made me really pissed.

CRS is helping us out with vehicles, sample letters, putting our Chief of Party ad in the paper - being completely wonderful. And we're getting fairly good information, but nothing too detailed, from our interview so far. As one member of the Global Fund CCM said this morning, "Quelquechose nous echappe". Hopefully by the end of these two weeks we'll have captured it.

Yes We Can!

2009-10-28T08:48:00.000-04:00

From Anna in Dar.

Favorite line from Global Fund Round 7 proposal

2009-10-27T18:29:00.001-04:00

from translated English version:

"Once these CBOs and NGOs are well rehabilitated and equipped, they could, during discussions and home visits, advocate, at the same time, for other health problems such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and diseases linked to fecal peril."

Engaged Engaged Engaged

2009-09-10T23:57:00.002-04:00

So, the other weekend, on a bike ride, during lunch, Joshua asked if I would marry him!

And I said "Holy crap!"

But no, he was serious, and I said, "But we've never lived in the same city."

He admitted this was true but that it didn't have any bearing on his wanting to marry me, and also that he would move to Baltimore in May, if I was so set on us living in the same place, jeez louise.

I thought about this for a little while. Until dinnertime, actually, when we discussed the logistics of the whole thing some more, and also some non-logistical things.

And then said yes. :)

New bed

2009-09-01T18:08:00.002-04:00

Even before I had finished laying it down, Kima curled up on the new bedroom rug and was all, jeez it took you long enough to get me another bed upstairs, jeez!

From Kima

Help Adam make an album in Mali!

2009-08-25T15:33:00.000-04:00

Wascally Wabbit

2009-08-25T09:04:00.002-04:00

The egg dudes at the Sunday market said they had rabbit, so I got one. Biked it home in a bag of ice cubes in the Peugeot's front wire basket, how very Frooonncchhhe of me.
Nick and Johanna came over to help eat it. Cutting it up wasn't very hard at all, its little shoulder blades were easy to find, belly and ribs were self-explanatory, there was hardly an ounce of fat on it to confuse things. Following Julia Child's instructions for cutting, and Jamie Oliver's instructions for grilling, it turned out quite well.

From Food

Marinate in olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, thyme, garlic, honey as grill heats. Here you can see the rib pieces (bottom left), skewered belly with bacon, kidneys, and the two pieces of saddle or loin (cut perpendicular to the backbone) at the top right.

Start the back legs first:

From Food

Despite soaking, skewers catch on fire:

From Food

Baste with thyme sprigs on a skewer, because HOT:

From Food

Flame flame flame:

From Food

Garnish:

From Food

Beautiful tomato salad!

From Food

It was super delicious, props to Jamie, we ate the whole thing along with N&J's potato salad and some peach cobbler.

Walking around Philadelphia

2009-08-25T08:51:00.002-04:00

Bartram's Garden:

From Ratners visit Philly

Morris Arboretum!

From Ratners visit Philly

Japanese Threadleaf Maple:

From Ratners visit Philly

Outside the Fernery:

From Ratners visit Philly

In the Stumpery:

From Ratners visit Philly

"Out on a Limb" exhibit:

From Ratners visit Philly

Stumpery

2009-08-17T09:38:00.002-04:00

Excellent weekend of botanical adventures! Here is one answer from Wikipedia about one of the curious features of the Morris Arboretum that we enjoyed:

A stumpery is a garden feature similar to a rockery but made from parts of dead trees. This can take the form of whole stumps, logs, pieces of bark or even worked timber such as railway sleepers or floorboards. The pieces are arranged artistically and plants, typically ferns, mosses and lichens are encouraged to grow around or on them. They provide a feature for the garden and a habitat for several types of wildlife. The first stumpery was built in 1856 at Biddulph Grange and they remained popular in Victorian Britain.

A stumpery traditionally consists of tree stumps arranged upside-down or on their sides to show the root structure but logs, driftwood or large pieces of bark can also be used.[1] The stumps can be used individually or attached together to form a structure such as a wall or arch. Stumperies can vary in size from a handful of logs to large displays containing dozens of full tree stumps.[2] The use of storm-damaged or diseased trees is not uncommon and can save the landowner the cost of their removal.[3][1] Where tree stumps are unavailable a more modern, angular look can be achieved by using railway sleepers or old oak floorboards and some companies sell waste timber or driftwood specifically for the purpose of constructing stumperies.[2] Plants such as ferns, mosses and lichens are often encouraged to grow around and on the stumpery.[2] Stumperies provide a home for wildlife and have been known to host stag beetles, toads and small mammals.[4][5]

Stumperies have been described as "Victorian horticultural oddities" and were popular features of 19th century gardens.[4] The reasons for their popularity vary but it may be a result of the Romantic Movement which emphasised the beauty of nature.[6] Their popularity may also be attributed to the increasing popularity of ferns as garden plants at the time. Ferns were very fashionable and hundreds of new species were introduced to Britain from around the world. The stumpery made an ideal habitat for these shade-loving plants.[2] Additionally stumperies may have been used in place of rockeries in areas where suitable rocks were in short supply.[7] Their popularity is once again on the rise.[3]

The first stumpery to be built, at Biddulph Grange, Staffordshire, in 1856, was designed by the artist and gardener Edward William Cooke for the estate's owner James Bateman.[1] The stumpery at Biddulph Grange consists of stumps placed into a 10 feet (3.0 m) wall either side of a garden path and used as a scaffold for the growth of ferns.[1][6] A famous modern stumpery is that at Highgrove House, Gloucestershire, the home of Prince Charles, which is considered to be the largest stumpery in Britain.[8] The Prince built the stumpery from sweet chestnut roots, held in place by steel bars, when he first purchased the estate in 1980, and it now provides a home for organically grown ferns, hellebores and hostas.[7][5] The largest stumpery in the United States is at Vashon Island in Washington.[6] It rivals the Highgrove stumpery in size, measuring 9,000 square feet (840 m2) and including around 95 separate tree stumps.[6] Stumperies can sometimes be mistaken for garden rubbish; indeed, when Prince Philip first saw his son's stumpery, he remarked: "When are you going to set fire to this lot?".[5]

Eddie Izzard, in Legos

2009-08-05T14:04:00.001-04:00

Secret Garden

2009-07-31T09:32:00.001-04:00

Sherwood Gardens is an ex-private park taken over by a neighborhood society up the road from my house (quite a bit up the road, a good jogging route actually). It's planted full of flowerbeds and is in bloom spring through summer - a great place for picnics!

Easy white bean salad

2009-07-22T12:37:00.002-04:00

I made this in about 10 seconds last night after a run, when I was starving. It's from the new Splendid Kitchen supper book. This made supper and lunch for me, but I would definitely double it if a hungry boy (or girl) is joining you for supper.

one piece or half a piece of whole-grain bread
2 oz parmesan/romano
pepper/salt

1 can white/cannelini beans
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped roughly
a small handful of rosemary leaves (about 10?), chopped up
1/8 c olive oil
handful of greens
salt

Food process your bread into breadcrumbs. Toast it at med-high heat in a skillet or saute pan till it's toasty. Set aside in a small bowl and when cool, add the grated parm and some pepper and salt. While it's cooling, put your olive oil in the skillet and set at low heat, let the olive oil calm down a bit before adding your garlic, otherwise it might burn (since your skillet was just med-high). Slowly cook the garlic for a few minutes till it softens, then add your rosemary for a minute, then your beans. Fold in gently so as not to smash them. Heat beans for three minutes, then add a handful of greens and wilt to your liking (if using lettuce, may not be necessary, but it was nice to throw it around in there to get the oil/garlic).

Serve up the beans/greens and top with the breadcrumb/parm, add more salt if you like and some pepper.

The book warns you to only use white beans for this, not tougher kidney/black beans, since the flavors won't be absorbed through their thick skins. Fine by me! This was great.

Cellphone-based microscopy

2009-07-22T12:28:00.004-04:00

A new article in PLOS describes setting up a cameraphone with a magnifier in order to read slides, enabling those with cellphones but without microscopes to read say, malaria or sickle-cell slides. It can also be used with fluorescent stains and lighting for diseases like TB.

The slides - you can see some blood cells with gametocytes in A and B, and some sickle cells in C:

Seems pretty neat, if the system can be done cheaply, and the clinic has access to a 3.2 megapixel cameraphone.

UberNerd

2009-07-21T12:15:00.004-04:00

Not only did I put a stem riser on my bike this weekend (which totally dumbfounded the Joe's Bike Shop kids yesterday when I took it in for a tiny problem), but I spent a long time playing with/setting up Sente yesterday! Did not know it was possible to have a crush on bibliographic software. I imported all the malaria journal articles and other gray lit I'd been saving all these years. Awesome!

Fallingwater

2009-07-16T15:52:00.000-04:00

The check engine light came on during our trip home, somewhere along the PA turnpike, so we turned off the road to check things out. There was a sign that said "Fallingwater, 20 miles", and so upon determining our problem was probably not serious, we headed down the road. Byways are pretty and this was a good one. Once there, we squeezed into the last shady parking space, left Kima in the car, and headed down for a tour of the house. No photos allowed inside, unfortunately, but I was particularly taken with the beveled edge windows, which formed a clear corner, and in one part of the house, a three story corner column of windows each opened up. Joshua liked the Japanese prints, including a few by the guy who did the Big Wave print. Throughout you heard the waterfall the house was built on, and boulders jutted in near the fireplace and the walkway to the servants' house and guest house. The detour really added time to our journey that day, but it was well worth it!

Kima Kills

2009-07-16T15:42:00.000-04:00

Poor little squirrelio.

Farm Dinner

2009-07-16T15:27:00.006-04:00

Mom and Dad took us to a Whole Hog dinner at the Prairie Fruits Farm outside of Urbana last Saturday. Chicago suburban chef of Vie, Somebody Somebody, did the menu, which had pork all the way through until the cheese and dessert courses. We started with a headcheese torte, basically slow-cooked meat from the cheeks and head of the pig with some aromatics, wrapped up in a puff pastry dough that I could have eaten all night, and some mortadella (from the shoulder), and some red iced sugary tea which tasted like hibiscus/dableni/oseille from my Peace Corps days (but in fact probably was more berry-based, as they have lots of berry bushes).

Here's the smoker/oven they used for the porchetta and the roasted tomatoes:

And the barn where we ate inside, as it was threatening rain (we didn't end up getting any).

The farm has fruit trees and goats. Here's the goat milking operation, including Farmboy. They sell their cheeses at the local farmer's market but also to fancypants Chicago restaurants.

Their lovely herb garden:

From Farm Dinner

The porchetta. I was disappointed in my fellow eaters as most of them left the pork fat on the plate. The kale, beans n ham and tomatoes were pretty good, but the pork fat was the best part. I really wanted to ask my neighbor if I could have the fat she wasn't going to eat.

From Farm Dinner

Mom and Pop.

From Farm Dinner

Cheese Plate - including homemade preserves (one each strawberry and gooseberry), and their newest first harvest of honey(comb).

From Farm Dinner

And a nice sunset, too:

From Farm Dinner

Canoeing!

2009-07-11T16:39:00.000-04:00

On Friday we went canoeing on the Middle Fork, in Kickapoo State Park. Water level was low, but the meandering river was still full of dead tree obstacles, patches of swiftly moving current, and many bottom-scraping rocks. Not to mention the blue herons that led us downstream, who, in the quiet of the woods, seemed more like apparitions from beyond the grave, guiding us a little further along the river of time.

Tonight - piggy dinner at a local goatcheese farm, and I will post pictures of Kima's latest best trick - nabbing squirrels in the backyard. Yes, dear readers, my dog is a patient and focused killer.

More Chicago

2009-07-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

Still getting the hang of this Picasa thing. More pics from Millenium Park, including the really super Gehry stage, where we heard Breuckner's Fourth being rehearsed, and the Lurie Gardens, and a Chinese statue.

In Chicago

2009-07-11T16:26:00.000-04:00

Of course we got no pics of Eleanor and Ofer, soon to be parents. Shoot! But here's Millenium Park, and the Bean.

Fig Tree Three Weeks On

2009-06-21T19:31:00.002-04:00

From Garden

And now the backyard, right after the rain:

From Garden

Teeny tomatoes:

From Garden

Clematis:

From Garden

Problems with too-short stakes - sorry, Tomato!

From Garden

Artemisinin

From Garden

And hops:

From Garden

Kima ate my lemongrass.

From Garden

Free Poster

2009-06-14T19:10:00.001-04:00

We found this for free at a yard sale and put it up in the bathroom. Mom, can you tell us what it says? Something about books and maybe knowledge for everyone?

Update: Mom says it's a poster for the "Leningrad State Publishing House (Lengiz). It says "Books in all branches of knowledge."" A little Google search discovers that it's designed by Alexander Rodchenko.

Thai Satay Grilled Pork Chops

2009-06-14T19:07:00.001-04:00

These were amazingly delicious. The recipe is on Epicurious, from the June 2008 Gourmet. I think the key was preheating the grill for what I thought was far too long (about 20 minutes) while the rice cooked. We did the pilaf recipe that they recommend at the end of the recipe to go with it, plus beet greens. Super delicioso!

Potatoes from Fomato

2009-06-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

Click through to the inside of the card for cute "Pear" computers too.

Recent Spate of Blogging Continues Unabated

2009-06-10T09:48:00.002-04:00

(precursor question: what exactly is a spate?)

From Yee-Haw Industries.

Basket or no Basket?

2009-06-09T21:58:00.001-04:00

From Bike

Riz Petit Pois

2009-06-09T21:43:00.003-04:00

Back in Gabon, in the Peace Corps, my postmate Mike and I would go from time to time to eat lunch at the 'cafette', or cafeteria. Inevitably the menu would be much reduced from the long list of chicken and fish dishes with varied starches ("accompagnements"), like manioc, spaghetti, rice, and peas. Peas are a starch in Gabon.

Mike was (still is) a vegan, which in most Peace Corps experiences is practically impossible, since you're living with a host family who wants to feed you the good stuff, even when they have only a little bit, and that means meat, or at least meat-flavored sauce. In Gabon we lived independently in our own houses, and were able to buy our own groceries (canned sardines, veggies, tinned meat, lots of beans) at the small shops in town. Thus was Mike able to maintain a vegan lifestyle, eating rice and beans, or rice and lentils, or, when we went to the cafette, rice and peas.

At the beginning this was ludicrous to Seydou, the Senegalese immigrant who ran the cafet we preferred at the carrefour (main intersection in town - where all the action happened). Peas were the same as rice. Both were an accompagnement! Who would possibly want to eat them a) together and b) without some sort of fried chicken or fried fish? But of course, like any person who becomes a regular, Mike's idiosyncrasies were soon accepted, and even anticipated.

Tonight, since climbing was canceled and my Dizzy's hamburger postponed yet again, I had riz petit pois, only this time fancy-western-Thai-Kitchen style. In an attempt to use up the leftover coconut milk, rice, and my snap peas and spring onions, I made Thai red curry (from the recipe on the paste jar), with some onion (that quickly dissolved into the background) and the nice peas. The sauce was lacking something at the end so in a flash of inspiration, I made it sort of Panang by adding a teaspoon of peanut butter. But basically, it was rice and peas. And delicious!

Composting

2009-06-09T11:04:00.003-04:00

Pretty. Also, the two most recent dads I know built something like this prior to arrival of their daughters. Coincidence? Desire to create and produce something while their partner/wife was incubating? Hmmmm.

Looking forward to seeing what my third dad-to-be friend produces during his wife's pregnancy - since he already has a composting system!

Bongo dead! No he's not!

2009-06-08T15:03:00.003-04:00

But now he is. For reals. BCC story last night quoted sources in Barcelona saying he had died; the Gabonese PM "didn't know anything about it" and his family insisted he was still alive in a report this morning. But now, phew, the whole saga is over. Except that everyone is freaking out and stockpiling food and the borders are closed and the internet is shut off...

Will the Fang elite go nuts over the elections that are supposed to come in 45 days?
Will Pierre Mamboundou, former opposition leader turned pragmatist, use any of the 21 million dollars Bongo gave him for Ndende (my peace corps town) to make a final run for the presidency?
How many bodies will turn up even IF elections are fairly quiet?

Oh dear oh dear oh dear...

Mixed Grill

2009-06-07T20:03:00.003-04:00

Instead of roasting, I parboiled some itty bitty new potatoes I got at Hubers, a farmstand on Belair Road up by Jerusalem Mills, where I took Kima hiking today, and grilled the potatoes, a bunch of asparagus, and some spring onions, just with some olive oil and salt. Delicious. Huber's also had rhubarb so I made Jamie Oliver's ginger rhubarb crumble, but overcooked the rhubarb and the crumble topping didn't have cold enough butter, so it turned out a little sad looking, but probably it tastes delicious (will find out in about half an hour). The veggies with some soppresatta from Di Bruno Bros in Italian Market were a great supper.

Asparagus/Potato Salad

2009-06-07T15:41:00.000-04:00

might make this tonight.

Roasted Asparagus Potato Salad

Copyright 2001 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Serves 4 and doubles easily

You could cook the asparagus a day ahead, and make the salad hours before serving.

* 10 to 12 slender asparagus spears, tough ends trimmed away
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 pounds (about 15 to 20) small, buttery, waxy potatoes, like Yellow Finn, red skins, the red-skinned San Luis Valley or Desiree potatoes, or Yukon Gold
* Water
* 1/2 medium red onion, cut into thin slivers
* 1/4 cup wine vinegar, plus more as needed
* 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* About 3-1/2 tablespoons vinegar
* 2 tightly-packed tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
* Small cluster of chives, snipped into little pieces

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Trim, wash, and dry the asparagus. Spread them on a piece of heavy-duty foil, or a shallow baking pan. Drizzle with the one tablespoon oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roll around to coat. Roast about 10 minutes, or until barely tender when pierced with a knife. They should be quite firm. Remove from oven and cool; then cut into 1-1/2-inch lengths.

2. Simmer the potatoes in water to cover in a 6-quart pot for 15 minutes, or until tender with a little firmness at the center. Peel and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Turn into a large bowl.

3. Gently fold in the onion, 1/4 cup vinegar, salt, pepper, and 3 tablespoons oil. Let stand 30 minutes.

4. Just before serving, gently fold in the asparagus. Taste for tartness (potatoes mute vinegar very quickly), and salt and pepper. Add more vinegar and seasonings if necessary. Fold in the herbs. Serve at room temperature.

Baltimore Green Map

2009-06-05T13:02:00.002-04:00

Launching today:

Baltimore Green Map highlighting sustainable stuff, public transport, green spaces, kid friendly spaces, museums and parks, bike trails, and lots more. More background at their website, www.baltogreenmap.org, plus at the Urbanite Green Guide.

Lots of little farm-gardens that I need to visit!

Fig Tree!

2009-06-04T21:30:00.002-04:00

Edith and Joshua, because they are awesome, got me a fig tree (Brown Turkey Fig) for my birthday! J and I planted it that Friday because I got the day off (for having worked long hours on a proposal the previous weekend/weeks).

From Design

It already has little figs busting out.

From Design

Also, my folks got me a great monitor for the new desk we've put together in my bay window/porch door area, and now we have a nice setup for working/tv/movies.

From Design

I figured out how to stick my Macbook on the keyboard tray underneath, closed, and still have it talk to the monitor (fairly easy). The desk is just some stained wood from Home Depot on two Ikea shelf-legs, height adjusted with old French PAL videos from 1996. The clever red wristpad is actually a pair of Joshua's old socks.

Thai thing

2009-06-04T20:54:00.002-04:00

Tonight I made a version of the shrimp thai coconut thing a couple posts ago, with chicken and broccoli and spinach instead of shrimp and snap peas. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Really easy. I didn't have any lemongrass (though my seeds are sprouting!), or habanero chili, so I just used several shakes of red pepper flake in the marinade and a little extra ginger. Super yum, especially with some garden cilantro at the end, and served with coconut rice (this could be overkill, but hey, you gotta use up your can of coconut milk somehow).

Greens n Eggs

2009-06-03T20:27:00.001-04:00

I confirm they are delicious. Milk works instead of cream if your cream has been sitting in the fridge for three too many weeks.

Shrimp bowl coconut milk

2009-06-03T12:08:00.003-04:00

Something else to make...got roped into softball last night (super fun, much better than four years ago in Dakar where I made no hits and fielded no balls) and then burgers at Dizzy's, so my plans for turnip greens with egg en coquotte were postponed until tonight. But this looks yum, from the Boston Globe food section via the chef/"food stylist", La Tartine Gourmande. She has nice french food idiom lessons periodically as well.

Most varieties of shrimp are available year-round, but when the weather turns warm, the curvy seafood is quite good in a light coconut-milk-based broth, with green vegetables such as crunchy snap peas. First, toss the shrimp in a marinade of ginger, lemongrass, chili, and garlic, mirin (rice wine for cooking), Asian fish sauce, peanut oil, and lime rind and juice. Refrigerate this while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Then saute the shrimp in a wok and add chicken stock and coconut milk to make the broth. Complete the dish with a large handful of sugar snap peas and scallions. Ladle the mixture over jasmine rice and sprinkle it with fresh cilantro. Vary the greens - add asparagus, fresh sweet peas, or tiny florets of broccoli - to change the dish each time.

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, white part only, finely chopped
1 piece (1 inch) fresh ginger root, finely chopped
Grated rind and juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce, or to taste
1 tablespoon mirin
1 small habanero, seeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, deveined
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 pound sugar snap peas
3 scallions, sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large bowl, combine the garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lime rind and juice, 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil, the fish sauce, and habanero. Add the shrimp and toss gently. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. In a wok or large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut oil over medium heat. When it is hot, add the shrimp and cook, stirring often, for 4 minutes.

3. Add the stock and coconut milk. Simmer for 3 minutes. Add the peas and cook 2 minutes more. Taste for seasoning and add more lime juice or fish sauce, if you like.

4. Add the spring onions. Ladle over jasmine rice and sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

Greens tonight!

2009-06-02T08:35:00.004-04:00

Ah yes, dearies - unable to eat all of my leftover turnip greens last night, tonight they will be transformed into TNS-recommended eggs en coquotte, thusly:

For the eggs: Leftover greens in a ramekin. A little heavy cream, because cream and greens are total BFFs. Crack an egg on top. A little salt and pepper. Some little shavings of butter. Into the oven for longer than you think is necessary but it totally is.

[N.B. at 375 for 15-20 minutes].

I'd like to think I had this subconsciously all planned out but it seems unlikely. Turnips and eggs are of course contingent on the climbing wall being still closed, for if it is not, there'll be no way to resist the siren song of the post-climb Dizzy's bacon cheeseburger.

Pork Loin Ribs

2009-05-31T10:12:00.003-04:00

Are not baby back ribs, but they are delicious.

Take a rack of ribs. Mix together in a jar equal parts paprika, black pepper (cracked, easiest to do in large quantities in a mortar), and salt. Rub that over your ribs while your grill is getting hot, so that it's sitting, and ribs are coming to room temperature, 30-60 minutes.

Over medium grill heat (we did some hamburgers first, then threw the ribs on) grill concave (inside) side first for 13 minutes, then flip and do another 13 minutes, with the lid on. Test with meat thermometer to 165-175 F internal temp (in the meaty part, not too close to a rib). Remove from grill, let rest a couple minutes, then slice and serve.

Cochon Philadelphia

2009-05-17T12:45:00.004-04:00

Joshua took me to a porky restaurant in Philly called Cochon. I'm sure they stole their name and idea from Steven Stryjewski, but whatevs, the Philadelphia and New Orleans markets are far apart and there is definitely room for both. Also, porky restaurants are never a bad idea.

It is BYOB and rather small; it got noisier as it filled up. We got the charcuterie plate and a nice bibb lettuce salad to start; the salad had lardons because if you're running this type of place DUH everything must have some pork in it somewhere. The spring peas were very nice and the lettuce was soft and submissive, not unlike eating Kima, were Kima a lettuce. The charcuterie plate was possibly - no, truly - the best thing we had, particularly the chicken liver mousse. I could have eaten 5 lbs of mousse on toasts and my parents will tell you I am no huge fan of chicken liver (except in pate form). I'm sure this had truffles and spices and other sorts of pork fat mixed in there but hot damn it was tasty. The saucisson sec was nice, but dry, what are you going to do, the truffle sausage was all right, but not as good as the other more fatty salami. Oh yes and the duck prosciutto was perfectly fine.

Along came the main courses; special braised pork cheeks (crusty on the outside, soft and tender and salty on the inside - a little too salty, in fact), with some apple-celeryroot-goatcheese ravioli, which were better than I expected - mostly goatcheesy, with some crunch and cheesiness-mitigation from the apple. Plus some sort of tomato-fava bean ragout. Joshua had the baby pig, roasted, with a pea shoot salad and some delicious lentils and a truffle aioli somewhere in there, all with a poached egg on top, why, who knows, because I'm sure there wasn't enough protein and umami on that plate already. The baby pig was of course delicious - it being rather hard to mess up roast piglet, thank goodness.

Then we were stuffed but what the hell, dessert! Pecan bourban banana bread pudding. Too much. With some ice cream that had chocolate discs in it, I found somewhat distracting. Probably we should have had coffee to cut the sweetness, as advised by our very nice waitress at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore the last time we had an overzealous meal, but she wasn't there to rein us in.

Please look forward to the next installment of porky-restaurant reviews in a couple weeks, when we hit Clementine, and possibly next week, from the smoked butt capital of North Carolina.

And - congrats to Nick and Johanna on their NEW FLOORS!

Alfredo for One, proposal week

2009-05-13T20:04:00.002-04:00

When trying to figure out how to solve all of Angola's malaria problem as part of donor hoop-jumping, spaghetti alfredo for one can be a nice fatty interlude between budgeting and writing.

Angola fun fact: in 2006, Angola was second only to Kuwait in having the most expensive office rents outside of Europe. If I need say, office space for 3, it will cost me about 20,000/month.

Alfredo for One:
less than 1/4 c cream (about 3/4 of a 1/4 cup)
4 oz grated parm/romano
1 large tbl butter
salt, pepper, nutmeg

heat that all together for a couple minutes and throw it on some pasta.

Update

2009-04-28T18:43:00.003-04:00

Passover was excellent, J got a sweet fellowship, Nigeria project is fun, Voices is officially "go" for another two years, the garden is blooming and beautiful, and I'm heading to Nairobi Friday for a week of net campaign training (I'm doing the training! well, just the communication section).

We kicked off bbq season two weekends ago and did much salsa last weekend, in my new shoes which allow for turning and spinning at low low bargain rack prices. Everything is good, but there is a lot of work to be done in the next month.

Flood!

2009-04-28T18:33:00.002-04:00

Water main break at my intersection today. Got to work to see a river extending 3 blocks from Market to Gay Street. Backup pumps were pumping non-potable water, so we were all sent home at noon.

From Flood April 28th 09

Maple Granola

2009-04-16T20:53:00.004-04:00

Melt 1/2 cup light brown sugar and 1/2 cup maple syrup in pan over low heat. Cool in a big bowl. Add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tbl vanilla extract, 2 egg whites (or 1/2 cup oil), whisk. Add 3 cups rolled oats, 1 cup walnuts, 1/2 cut sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup coconut, handful of slivered/sliced almonds. Bake 20-35 minutes at 325. Turn and bake for 5-10. This all depends on whether your oven, like mine, is fueled directly from the fires of hell. Add raisins and/or cranberries.

More plants!

2009-04-09T14:35:00.003-04:00

Just ordered lemongrass, mint, and artemisia annua (that's right, the herb in the most effective anti-malarial!). Lemongrass and mint for me and my mojitos, artemisia in little pots as presents for the Voices team (ssshhh!).

Leftover curry

2009-04-09T11:59:00.003-04:00

Last night I had broccoli, mozzarella, goat cheese, tofu, crushed pineapple, 3/4 can of coconut milk in the fridge just crying out to me, EAT ME!

Unfortunately the cheeses and the pineapple lost out. I made a curry with some ginger, garlic and onion, chili powder and 1/4 jar of Thai green curry. Having no idea how to cook tofu, I fried it with the onion-garlic-ginger-curry mix for a little while, but probably not long enough. Then added the coconut milk whisked with a big spoonful of peanut butter, and threw in the broccoli, and steamed it a couple minutes. All while the rice was cooking.

It was supposed to also have some boiled peanuts and green onion, but oops - but still pretty good for a last-minute supper, plus I have two lunches for today and tomorrow.

Is This Really for Real??

2009-03-25T18:06:00.002-04:00

Welsh shepherds. Seriously? This is possible? My dog is dumber than I thought.

Walk in the woods

2009-03-24T11:50:00.002-04:00

Joshua, Kima and I picked up Johanna this weekend, meeting up with Ian and Lucy and their springer spaniel, Buster at the Meadow (Jerusalem Mills). I used to take Kima here on a long line, before she was trained, so she could run around in a large open area, easily kept away from other dogs. In the fall we did a couple hikes with the E-collar that she did well on, and since it was so beautiful on Sunday, and she needs more dog-time, we went up. Buster is a marvelous doggy dog, rolling around in the grass every chance he gets, and kept engaged through Lucy's fun training classes (he's now learned to put away all his toys into a basket). He has problems greeting other dogs nicely while on leash, so we decided to go for a hike all together, staying at least 4 feet away.

Both dogs did great - Kima did not once growl or misbehave, though she kept one eye on Buster at all times. Buster in turn ignored her completely, as he does with most girl dogs. Everyone was very pleased with the hike - and with the doggies!

We brought the camera but once again forgot to take any pics until the very end, so this is all you get.

Huzzah, no cavities

2009-03-24T11:47:00.002-04:00

I really like my dentist, which is good, because I always forget how unnerving it actually is to have all the plaque scratched off your teeth.

Major crush

2009-03-13T08:40:00.002-04:00

From thursdaynightsmackdown. Seriously. You must read this girl.

You know what I’m liking about this book [Chanterelle], aside from all the pr0n? The dishes are refined but accessible; elegant, but something you can pull off outside the professional kitchen - and it’s written to help you succeed, not fail. Did that sound a little douchy? Maybe, but it’s trust. Also you can use veal stock you bought from Fresh Direct (seriously, their house stocks are good - real ingredients, filled with luscious collagen) directly from the container and Thomas Keller will not send one of his goons to your house to go all Tonya Harding on your kneecaps with a chinois.

New England Vacation

2009-03-10T14:03:00.003-04:00

I found a new route to Philly last Wednesday that got me from work to Spruce Street in 2 hours! No more Baltimore Pike (which is in Philly) - bring me the Cobbs Creek Parkway!

Anyway, then our vacation started, and we drove up to a small town in Western Mass to meet some of Joshua's relatives. They were exceedingly nice, with a multitude of Indonesian blue fabric, and handknit sweaters. Dinner was delicious and a good time was had by all, and I suspect I scored some points by ordering the spicy ginger tea.

In the morning we gathered cross country ski equipment (utilizing the Honda's ski pass through!) and drove up to Prospect, a place where people go skiing. They used to go downhill, there, and now they just go across the hills. It was BEAUTIFUL, about 40 degrees, with fresh snow, and sun, and soon I was falling on my butt learning to skate ski. Which is just like skating, except your skates are nine miles long and flopping around all over the place, especially underneath each other. And these ones in particular are 90 years old and were subjected to multiple seasons of ski jumping and other things they were not designed for.

Of course, then Joshua puts them and skate-skis away and declares them perfectly fine. I know, however, that my left one is NOT edging as well as it should. But I carry on. And fall some more. By the time we get to the Beaver Pond, however, I have it mostly figured out, and I am allowed to use the poles, and but oops you have to make sure while you are figuring out (by yourself) how to plant them both at the same time that you place them OUTSIDE your skis and not inside of your knee, as this causes Failure.

So we skiied around a little more and go back to the Lodge for lunch, which consists of the pulled pork sandwich we picked up at the Vermont Country Deli hours earlier, and the black bean/bread bowl soup that Steve makes, and then it's time to learn Classic! Which is the sort of jogging, parallel type of skiing that is not at all like skating but which you do with your NordicTrack. This is ok but I am pretty beat and having a hard time not sliding back down the hills. Apparently I was not 'stomping' hard enough. Fine! I mosey back to the lodge and read Watchmen as Williams College and some high school teams come in for practice.

Round about 4pm Mr J gets beat as well so we head back to the Bennington Motor Inn, which is quite nice and very modestly priced, and figure out dinner at the Madison Brewery, which has mediocre beer and a bartender whose father (the owner), thinks Joshua is an Arab. Now before you go all 'those Vermonters are racist rabid pro American anti-terrorist fascists!', let me say that the bartender points up to a picture of the family above the bar, and they are wearing little fezzes, and they are from Lebanon, so it's actually more of a problem that he is NOT an Arab. So the bartender is half Lebanese and also loves to Giant Slalom on the halfpipe. Which, you know, is maybe what the cool Vermonters do? I wouldn't know, as I am from a place without topography.

So then zzzzzzzz. And soreness. And why are going back to ski some more? But we do, and I rent actual skate-skis and the post-1995 skate-ski-boots, which have ankle support like lightweight rollerblades, and it's like a whole different ballgame, boy howdy. I am zooming all over the place, except that oh shoot, I am TOTALLY EXHAUSTED. But that left edge it is working, lemme tell ya. Also it is warmer and the snow is 'slower' so my little wool shirt is too hot and I've got my sleeves pushed up and am panting, but still I beat J back to baselodge, ha ha! I notice that there are lots of little gnomes and ceramic animals hidden along the trails. This is adorable.

Friday night we eat at Allegro, where they make the BEST spinach salad ever. Here's the recipe, as we understood it:

Take an entire bag of spinach.
Make a dressing with gorgonzola and butter, involving a food processor.
Poach some pears in red wine
Roast some cipollini onions until soft and brownish
Dice some grilled chicken
Heat your dressing and reduce the red wine pear liquid that the pears were poaching in
Dump entire bag of spinach on a plate, cover with warm dressing, artfully tuck small pieces of chicken in amongst the leaves, and place pears and onions on the side. Drizzle pear-wine reduction around on top and on the sides of the plate.

Then we went to see Watchmen at the local Cineplex. It was really long, and just like the book. And really violent. And with a gratuitous campy sex scene that was silly in a bad way and went on for far too long. And did I mention violent? I stopped watching after a while. I agree with ThursdayNightSmackdown's assessment and I will probably finish the graphic novel to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Saturday we were supposed to go skating on Lake Morey but it was 60 degrees and everyone at Lake Morey (east-central VT) was going up to Lake Willoughby (in the Northeast Kingdom, where Hobbits and Gnomes aren't just lawn ornaments) to see if the ice there was any good. So, eh, next time, let's just go to Brattleboro and EAT EVERYTHING. Which we did. We ate the mozzarella-red pepper pesto panini at Amy's Cafe, who also make some serious apple cider, and we drank 8 types of Trappist Ales at this little wine store with cool pendant lamps over the tables, with a tapering/widening checkerboard pattern on them, where I won a Goblet for Rochefort Ale (all the Abbeys have their own shapes of glass goblets for their own ales, see, even the monks know how to merchandise their products!). We tried to go to Fireworks, the new pizza place, which looked awesome, but it was kind of a wait, and we had to go see the Sweetback Sisters, who are four dudes and two ladies who sing old honky tonk from Roger Miller and Hank Williams and Willy Nelson and Hazel Dickens and the Louvin Brothers, etc etc. They were fantastic. And the little theatre we were in was great too - an alleyway that they had covered and walled in, with the old stone side of the building next door exposed.

Lots of art in Brattleboro. Our hotel was an art deco movie theatre (still operating!) and every other store was an antique store or gallery of local art of some sort. We went to the Coop where I spent about 90 minutes trying to figure out what the hell maple syrup to buy.

Sunday we headed back to Joshua's relatives' house in Western Mass, for lunch and a walk to Antonio's Pizza. J, unable to locate the poppyseed kuchen purveyor on our way into town, was pleased to discover his relative read his mind and had prepared one earlier that morning.

And then back in Philly we got to meet Zora F G, who is two weeks old, and also see West Philly's Premiere Compost Bin (and Rain Barrel), which was also a highlight.

A really Good Vacation! Sorry there are no pics. We are super lame.

Wonkette not always, but sometimes worth reading

2009-03-03T12:03:00.001-05:00

I just like their style every once in a while.

Back in the day when people printed out the Internet every morning and handed the “House & Garden” section to their wives while they perused the latest news from Cuba, life was fine. Then the BlackBerry Machine came slithering out of Hell’s bowels and ruined everything, the end. This is the premise from which every Richard Cohen column proceeds. But hark, what about the days before the Internet, when Europe was riven by two World Wars and Jews had to flee horrible genocide and American citizens could expect to live out their “golden years” (age 35 onward) in abject poverty? Those times were truly great, because people were self-reliant.

The people of the 1920s and ’30s were tough, hard. They did not expect all that much from life, and they had learned to expect next to nothing from government.

In contrast, we are soft, coddled.

Yes! So soft and coddled with our Social Security and our interstate highway system. Why, back in the 1930s a gentlemen could just die quietly of influenza, penniless, in a ditch somewhere south of Oklahoma City, and nobody thought anything of it!

Also: Richard Cohen read a review of a book that sounded interesting. The book was written by a European Jew named Stefan Zweig who fled the Nazis and ended up “for some reason” in Brazil and killed himself in despair, like a man. What’s the book about? Who knows! But the review was great.

And last, of course, history is like a crazy zoo “beast,” “escaped from its cage.” You probably thought history was a kind of an ongoing thing, kind of like time itself, but nope, it only surfaces periodically, to eat people.

History Roars Back [Washington Post]

Re-doing your dining room chairs

2009-03-02T13:49:00.004-05:00

Now, when we moved into our fabulous house, we needed a dining room table. I found one on Craigslist for like 120 bucks, but it is BEEYOOTIFUL. Midcentury danish, lovely curvy table, chairs that just make me happy every time I look at them. Except for the seatcovers.

From Design

Not sure if you can tell but they are a despondant shade of pink salmon, the color of a slightly overcooked fillet. Not terrible, but you know, kinda meh.

I had it in mind to re do them at some point, and that point came up this weekend. I had picked up some el cheapo yet oh-so-scandinavian fabric at Scandinavia-R-Us (Ikea) a few weeks earlier, and I finally got myself a staple gun. A little internet googling found me some directions on how to go about this task, which is dead easy, let me tell you.

Step 1: Remove the four screws from underneath the chair to release the seat part.

From Design

Step 2: Remove the many staples with needlenose type pliers.

From Design

Check it out - foam and batting (I think that's what you call that white stuff)!

From Design

Step 3: Cut out your piece of new fabric and lay your seat on it. Start stapling!

From Design

We run out of pictures at this point because I really like stapling. Start at one end, tack that side down, then pull the opposite end taut and staple that down. Then do your corners. Keep everything pretty taut and fold bits of it as you go around to keep everything looking nice. You can kinda see what I mean in the first picture here of the old seat.

Step 4: Screw the seat back in.

From Design

Ta dah!

From Design

New couch cover

2009-03-02T13:49:00.001-05:00

From Design

Mixtes with 3 speed hub

2009-03-01T11:21:00.002-05:00

Not too many of these on flicker. Trying to get an idea for how the 3 speed hub chain exits the hub and is attached as it goes up to the handlebars. My Peugeot will be set up similarly to the bike with the rear wire baskets, since I have those! Also cork grips, not plastic.

Mixtes with derailleurs

2009-03-01T11:11:00.004-05:00

Zombie dog

2009-03-01T09:59:00.002-05:00

Kima freaks me out when she dreams - right now she is laying in the Lazy Boy, her head resting up on the armrest, her eyes rolled back in her head, eyelids not quite closed; her little toes are working and her flanks are jumping and she looks So Stressed Out! She's squeaking a little and breathing hard. It only lasts for two minutes and then she wakes up, stares into space, and then moans and falls back asleep.

It snowed overnight although I think now it's mostly melting, going by the sound of rain/drips on the a/c unit outside the dining room window. Sleet later today, I hope nothing too gross, because Leanne and I are going to see Uber-Opera-Hearthrob (and U of I prof) Nathan Gunn tonight, for free, at Goucher!

Kima fell asleep again and just barked herself awake. Poor befuddled girl.

From Kima

Dropbox update

2009-02-27T10:39:00.003-05:00

I got to work insanely early this morning after waking up from a dream in which Kima (who looked like Pinde, my white/tan african dog in Gabon) was in fact a lost dog of someone's (who also had an english sheepdog, these two dogs were best buddies), as evidenced by a flyer I saw pasted up announcing this dog was missing. Upon further inspection of said flyer, I noted that the person to call about the missing dog was -

RAHM EMMANUEL.

Rahm! WTF are you doing in my dream!

Anyway, the chuckling to myself as I woke up was quickly replaced by that terrible sense that something awful happened the night before, and then I remembered all my files were gone and I needed to get to work lickity split. So I did. And three of my files were there. The fourth one gone, poof in the night, who knows where. Fortunately, it hadn't been as heavily edited as the other files.

Lessons Learned:
- copy, don't cut/paste, your files to your Public Folder in Dropbox (DUH.)
- also keep them backed up somewhere else
- don't believe that green check mark; check your web interface to see if files are really in the Public folder
- if not, restart Dropbox

gah. Also I dreamed that the women heads of the RBM East and West African Regional Networks were getting married in Connecticut, and that one of them was Passman's twin sister. I would like to point out for the record that Passman does in fact have a twin sister, but she is not involved in RBM (although she may have gotten married recently - to her boyfriend).

This has been another edition of useless blogging.

GD Dropbox

2009-02-26T23:41:00.003-05:00

Dropbox not all it's cracked up to be. Public links to what amounts to an afternoon of work due to a mysterious invisible syncing error (at best), and this is for documents that are due to the donor tomorrow - this was the final polishing. Hoping that files are still somehow in existence on the work computer, but this is really really maddening. WTF? About to drive into work just to see if files are still on that computer...but won't be able to face it tonight if they're not.

Vote for Kima!

2009-02-24T10:32:00.000-05:00

Vote for Kima!

This isn't the Louvre, this is Baltimore!

2009-02-24T08:23:00.004-05:00

Another card from Fomato, my favoritist card purveyors ever.

Doog

2009-02-17T17:14:00.002-05:00

A Summer full of Veggies!

2009-02-17T10:35:00.001-05:00

Just signed me and Ede up for the One Straw Farm CSA. Woo!

Plans for the weekend

2009-02-13T12:13:00.002-05:00

Leanne asked what I was doing this weekend and I said "Well, I'm gonna take Kima to the dog park and zap her a bunch of times, and then Joshua's gonna bike in and meet us, and then he's gonna zap her a few times too!"

Kima's Valentine's day is going to totally suck! Sorry boo. It's for your own good.....

Note to self

2009-02-12T19:30:00.002-05:00

Potato soup can be frozen, but must be consumed in its entirety immediately after thawing. Otherwise - the milk in it goes bad as it sits one day in the fridge. Oh well.

No Knead Bread with Rosemary and Lemon

2009-02-12T19:24:00.003-05:00

3 cups flour (2 whole wheat/1 regular)
packet of yeast
1 3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp chopped rosemary
2 tsp chopped lemon zest (1 lemon)

Mix those ingredients with 1 1/2 cups water in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the oven (with a pilot light) or other warm place for 4 hours.

On an oiled surface fold the dough over on itself once or twice, oiling the whole thing. Wrap loosely in plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes. Light your oven now to 450 F, and put in your cast iron/ceramic heavy pot with its lid (lid is important).

When the 30 minutes is up, dump your dough into the hot pot (be careful! take pot out of the oven first!), put the lid on, and bake for 30 minutes. If your bread is nice and brown on top after 30 minutes, take it out. If not, remove the lid and bake for another 10-20 minutes until nice and brown. Cool bread on a rack or stove for 10 minutes, then turn it out.

Word to the wise: don't mistake tsp for tbl in the salt department like I did. Also, you can't have too much rosemary, really.

Sliding Doog

2009-02-09T14:52:00.001-05:00

I taught Kima she could go down the kiddie slide at the playground yesterday.

brought to you by Liver Works Miracles (TM)!

Huzzah! Miracle of miracles!

2009-02-07T06:23:00.003-05:00

Not only did I sneak jamon iberico into the US of A yesterday, but Fomato opened their online store!!!!!

I forgot - mm, wabbits!

2009-02-02T10:13:00.001-05:00

to show you these pretty doogs, sniffing hungrily at rabbits on La Rambla. I was not close enough to show you their drooling, retrievery muzzlepowches, but you get the idea:

From Barcelona

Stop! Taunting! Me!

From Barcelona

Overheard in Geneva

2009-02-02T05:16:00.002-05:00

Young airport passport checker: You speak French?
Young female business traveler: Yes.
PC: Where are you coming from?
YFBT: Barcelona.
PC: And where are you going?
YFBT: Here, then back to Newark
PC: But where do you live? Geneva?
YFBT: No, in Baltimore, in the States.
PC: But how come you speak French?
YFBT: I work in Africa.
PC: Oh, Africa, of course. Thanks, have a nice day.
Neighboring checker: Why of course?
PC: Duh, South Africa, they speak French there.

Overheard in New York:
Loud suit: And she thought it wasn't organized enough! It was an orphanage in Tanza-fucking-nia!
Suit's wife, laughing: Where did she think she was, Switzerland?

--5th Ave & 57th St

One Day Tour of Barcelona

2009-02-01T14:33:00.002-05:00

Five and a half miles around the city. It was raining yesterday so all I really saw was the Palau de la Musica Catalana, which was awesome, but not open.

From Barcelona

Ticket window - cute!

From Barcelona

Just outside the ticket office

From Barcelona

The rest of the day I stayed in mostly, got a falafel at Maoz, getting pretty wet in the process, and then met a couple colleagues for dinner. We went up to L'eixample and got wet again but found an ok pizza joint. I had 'sobrasada' but it appeared to be blood sausage, which was ok. Didn't expect to eat the whole thing but hey! guess I was hungry.

Sunday - cloudy, but not rainy, except for fifteen minutes. We begin our 5.5 mile journey at the Palau, since there was a concert at noon for 11 euros and hey why not? Better than taking the guided tour! I picked up my tickets and got inside and realized that more than half the audience was under 6 years old. Children's concert - two singers, a catalan woman silently gliding here and there bringing props, and six dancers. Songs covered animals, fire, ships and water, right and left and other directions, and sleepytime. The Palau is a nifty place, architecturally - very rich in detail!

From Barcelona

I bought some nice espresso cups at the gift shop and headed for the Picasso museum, which was free (and packed) today, the first sunday of February. It had some nice things.

Then up the Passeig de Gracia past Bvlgari and Armani and blah blah blah to find the Gaudi houses. On the way I passed this facade under construction/rehab, with a Barcelona Bicing van (pulling a flatbed full of bikes that people don't want to ride back uphill) driving by.

From Barcelona

After a while I got to one of the houses. I missed the other two right next to this one.

From Barcelona

Then I continued up and got to La Pedrera. It's famous. I didn't go in.

From Barcelona

The ironwork is quite nice.

From Barcelona

As is the door. Reminds me of the veining on the outside of a nutmeg.

From Barcelona

Walking, walking...hey look! Bikes tourists are not allowed to use!

From Barcelona

And some really great traffic calming, using parking spaces and recycling/garbage bins to narrow roads and separate the bike lane.

From Barcelona

A handy map pointing out your position and the other nearest Bicing stations, with instructions for swiping your card in Castillan and Catalan. If you can't read those you don't get to bike!

From Barcelona

Actually, the rent-a-bike/bike-tour lobby is strong in Barcelona, and they convinced the city to make it hard for tourists to get a Bicing card (you have to have an address in Barcelona).

Many bikes = many bike thieves. This was a pretty common sight.

From Barcelona

Hm, what's that over there?

From Barcelona

Why, a giant owl, of course!

From Barcelona

Aha, la Sagrada Familia. It is extremely tall, and very Wizard of Oz/Emerald City.

From Barcelona

This was one of two ping pong tables I saw in parks.

From Barcelona

Angular.

From Barcelona

Oh noes!

From Barcelona

Many words on all the different parts of the cathedral.

From Barcelona

The back side looks a little lumpy.

From Barcelona

Closer to the lumps.

From Barcelona

I turned south down Marina, another wide avenue, that has separate signals for pedestrians and bikes.

From Barcelona

And basically the nicest bike lanes in the world!

From Barcelona

Then I got to this building, which looked like a big old Jewish arena.

From Barcelona

Nice domes on the top. Back at the internet I found out this wasn't Jewish at all, but the Barcelona BullFighting Arena. Now mostly they have concerts here.

From Barcelona

Walk walk walk. I went through the Parc de la Ciutat, where the Zoo and the Geological Museum were, and saw a lot of people walking happy goofy dogs. I stopped by Santa Maria del Mar, a nice old plain church, but it wasn't open yet, so I continued along the port towards the Maritime museum. At the Ministry of Defense they had some nice doors.

From Barcelona

The Maritime Museum had a lot of nice ships.

From Barcelona

But I was pretty tired.

From Barcelona

More traffic calming measures! "From monday to saturday, cars only allowed from 11-3pm and from 5-8:30pm. Sundays and holidays allowed all day.

From Barcelona

Walking around the old part of the city it's really not designed for cars, even the tiny European ones. They are limited to the wider avenues and there seems to be only underground parking (and plenty of it). A lot of people were on bikes, either their own or the red Bicing bikes, which have the 30 euro/year deposit, but are free for the first 30 minutes you have one out, and are located next to all metro stations, among other places.

I wouldn't say I've been eating great, but not eating great in Barcelona is like eating really well in Baltimore, so I'm happy. Apparently the beagles can sniff out jamon iberico through vacuum packaging so too bad for Joshua and Edith.

I bought some stuff on my way back from the Maritime museum, but most everything is closed today (another oops). We'll see what I can get at the airport tomorrow.

Off to Geneva in the morning!

Don't hate me

2009-01-27T11:01:00.003-05:00

I'm in a hotel in Barcelona that supplies you with an ipod alarm clock, a DVD player, nice smelling shower supplies, window shades that go up and down with a button, and (yet) insufficient light. It's very modern - but since when does modern mean 'spooky dark in here'?

I just ran a half hour on the treadmill while watching (on television) two ladies of Eastern European origin whack tennis balls furiously at each other. I believe soon I shall step outside and continue my small tour of the city that started this morning with a food market (ham, ham, everywhere, and not a drop to dr- hm. Is it legal to bring back ham if it vacuum sealed??) and a famous gothic cathedral.

Also, the contents of the mini bar are free, so I feel compelled to eat the one itty bitty (yet sooo deelicious!) chocolate bar and drink the beer (cervesa! see, Carlos, I am learning).

Ok, you can hate me a little bit.

So Nice

2009-01-23T14:24:00.002-05:00

To go check my google home page, and have a new headline every couple hours about rolling back all the wackadoodle Bush policies, like the Global Gag Rule, and stem cell research. It's like change has come to America or something!

Inaugural moments

2009-01-21T14:18:00.002-05:00

I was very comfy on the couch, thanks. Lowery impressed me most; "to turn to each other and not on each other", my favorite rhetorical device of the day. I was looking for some real winners in Obama's speech, but nothing jumped out, except his castigation of Bush (woo!).

What a looooong day for everyone in Washington, though, and especially for the Obamas....but am having fun imagining Malia and Sasha running through the White House this morning, checking everything out.

Leeks

2009-01-08T12:26:00.004-05:00

Food of the gods.

First, confit your leeks. 3 leeks + 1/2 stick of butter + 2 tbl water, covered over low for 20-30 minutes, stirring often.

From Food

Make a galette pastry dough (butter, flour, a little ice water) - we used Alice Waters.

Make a galette, add some goat cheese.

From Food

Enjoy!

Cheese

2009-01-08T12:23:00.003-05:00

I made mozzarella last weekend with the right kind of thermometer and the right kind of milk, and it worked great. We put it into a lasagna.

From Food

With the whey you can just boil it to 200 F and then strain it and it turns into ricotta. You need a really really fine cheesecloth (butter muslin, or a pillowcase) otherwise you end up with a teensy tiny amount of ricotta. Like so. This was four layers of regular cheesecloth.

From Food

makes

From Food

Doog

2009-01-08T12:22:00.000-05:00

From Kima

Barcelona

2009-01-06T16:37:00.002-05:00

Inordinately happy that I will get to take the train to Newark for a flight in late January, rather than going via Reagan airport.

Need to find Barcelona guidebook, stat.

Dakar

2009-01-06T16:26:00.001-05:00

Going to Dakar next week. I am soooo not taking any luggage. I will have the smallest bag imaginable. It will be awesome.