The Square Root of Friday

I'm having small anxiety attacks today about the tests I'm going to take tomorrow. I know they're just placement tests, but that doesn't mean I don't want to do well... and I don't want to test into the lowest levels of math and spanish. I guess we'll just see. I'm reviewing today and going in tomorrow morning, wish me luck. (I just wanted to air my anxieties and hopefully let them go)

Equisetum Arvense, or how Horsetail Saved the Garden

For the last few weeks I've been in an "Organic Gardening" class at SCC and it's proving to be the highlight of my weeks. Taught by one of the owners of a local organic farm--a few miles Northwest of Lincoln, certified organic and biodynamic) who knows pretty much everything about organic. Among many interesting things I'm picking up (cover crops and composting have been our main topics thus far, pest control next week) I learned about compost teas and the very cool, horsetail.

Because of the high silica content of the plant (easily harvested from almost any roadside ditch) horsetail can be made into a tea, fermented (which makes it even more potent) and sprayed directly onto plant's leaves to help prevent fungal diseases.

I'm becoming so fascinated by all of the natural chemistry of soil, and how by working towards a balance we can make the most fertile soil imaginable.

More class gleanings to come...my brain is still processing all this new information.

Multitasking in the Kitchen

When I find myself with a day off anymore I just spend the afternoon in the kitchen concocting things. This has become what relaxes me. Funny because it used to be, when I thought of the kitchen I felt stressed and overwhelmed. It helps to have a huge kitchen.

Last Saturday I found myself working on 4 different projects at the same time: 1. adding flour, sugar and milk to an amish bread starter (which I totally messed up by not sealing the bag completely that night after letting air out, and the next morning found it all over the counter and floor) 2. starting some peanut butter cookies 3. breakfast for Tony and I (made up of butternut squash/onion/shallot/garlic cooked in olive oil with parsley, sage, rosemary-no thyme and mozzerella scrambled eggs...turned out lovely and finally, 4. "Asian Rice and Lentils" a recipe from mom's old backpacking cookbooks ("Simple Foods for the Pack") a recipe I make weekly. I used to make it stovetop until I experimented one day with throwing it all in my rice cooker which happened to work perfectly. I know the recipe by heart and have even tweaked it a little by adding a golden delicious apple and sunflower seeds.

Asian Rice and Lentils

1/2 c. rice

1/2 c. lentils

2 T. butter

2 1/2 c. water

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 golden delicious apple, chopped (if you want)

1/2 tsp. each of: cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cayenne, salt

1 bay leaf

2 whole cloves

(Forgive me, I've forgotten how to do this stovetop, and I feel like everyone should have a rice cooker anyway...) Plop the butter in the rice cooker on warm and let it melt, add all ingredients except for water, stir around and let them absorb some butter for a few minutes, then add your water, close the lid and push "cook." Boom. Delicious, high protein lunch or dinner. Tony really likes it with cheddar cheese grated on top. I like it any way and everyday.

Doggy Motel

In the last month, Tony and I have been host (for about a week each dog) to a golden retriever (Kirby), a 100 lb labrador (Jaffy) and this week it's my friend Matel's sharpay-pug-rat terrier (Edith). Everyone is going on trips but us. It's always funny to see how Vladimir (Tony's boxer-lab above) reacts to different dogs being around for extended periods of time. With Kirby, he wouldnt' stop trying to hump him. With Jaffy, Vlad was the object of hump and now with Edith they don't try to hump each other so much, but they wrestle for hours on end. When we go to bed, we make them sleep in the kennel together otherwise one will cry allll night and if they're not kenneled they wrestle allll night. To add to the challenges of double-dog-duty, I have enough trouble walking Vlad alone so I have to walk them separately which is kind of tedious (Tony's got a cold or something so he's little help). It's going to be a crazy week.

Who's Got Crabs?

Unlike the snow crab Tony and I made last time (my first time eating crab), the king crab we made this time has pokey legs, and we had to use pliers to crush them. To accompany the delicious sea creatures, we roasted some buttercream potatoes, carrots and onion with some olive oil, salt, pepper and sage. It was a lovely meal--as you can see.

And I'd like to make a shout out to the ceramic peeler. Go out and get one if you haven't already.

And on a completely unrelated note, I found a lovely, Technicolor Harvard dream sweatshirt at the Family Thrift Center today, and I think I'm going to send it to my cousin Nora (who attends said University) and let her do with it as she sees fit because it is a glorious thing to behold.

Sunday Seafest

After work and swimming tonight, Tony and I have grand plans to cook shrimp and king crab legs and watch a bad action movie. I can't wait. The above strange Japanese squeeze toys sit in our chives and watch us do dishes. Tony isn't fond of them, but I could never part with them.

New Additions

Tonight, while Tony cooked penne pasta with some homemade tomato sauce, I took a pictorial inventory of Christmas additions to our kitchen.

A cast-iron panini grill press. Tony is pretty excited to cook steaks on it, but I actually LOVE panini sandwiches and can't wait to make up lots of fun combinations.

The other awesome new addition is the counter-top bottle opener. It suctions to the counter with a little lever, and the rest is pretty obvious. So easy and also attractive.

Tony also got an assortment of nice knives and a stainless steel mandolin slicer (he already has one, but this one has a julienne function which I look forward to using for an easier time slicing the veggies for my sushi).

I can't wait to play with everything...just need to get to the grocery store!