Twenty-four for 50 - Thoughts on memoirs and on how pasta can be considered salad

It had been smoky in MT all week - the one day it was not we went back to Lake Como for my photo shoot.

Whew. I made it through September. Between some family members with health issues, a memorial service for Grandma and the accompanying travel (both a physical trip to western MT and back, and a trip down memory lane complete with laughs and tears) and family time, training/on-boarding 2 new hires, the joys of quarter-end even though I am not in production anymore, a shake up at work that will funnel more responsibility my way - I am TIRED, y'all!

"But what else did you do, Hallie?" I finished a few more books, blogged a couple times (including this one), walked some (including a hike in the mountains which made my heart happy), a few more delicious recipes tried. I may be behind in just about everything but I am still moving forward, which is all I can ask for some days.

Book 24 - The Art of Memoir

The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr was a book club selection. It is not your typical discussion book but did give us a chance to talk about memoirs in general, our likes and dislikes, why people write memoirs, what makes a good memoir. I happen to like memoirs and have often thought about writing one (though I don't think I want to actually publish it ever), and I enjoyed the book. I have read at least 2 of Karr's memoirs, and liked her insight and instruction. It read a bit like a college course syllabus or class lecture notes, which appears to be what it is based on (she teaches courses on memoir writing), but made me want to seek out some of the other books she discusses, and, yes, try my hand at my own memoir. I'll let you each pick out your own pseudonym if I do publish - haha!

Recipe 24 - BBQ Chicken Pasta Salad

I love that cooled pasta is considered a salad. That means it's healthy, right? Just like a giant taco salad served in that delicious fried shell.

This is one of the few recipes that I forgot to take a photo of. Imagine, if you will, a pasta salad  with chunks of chicken, crispy bacon, fresh corn and a creamy BBQ dressing - that image may be kind of what it looked like. The recipe I used was from Closet Cooking, though I apparently thought I was making a different recipe and had some purchased some ingredients that are not in this recipe and did not purchase others that were. I plan to try THAT recipe another time. Here's a link to the original  and then see below for how I ended up making it (my notes in parentheses). We liked it and would make it again - it was quick and easy. How many times have I said that about a recipe? A lot. It reminds me of an old joke - If it's true that you are what you eat then I must be fast, easy, or cheap. Man, I crack myself up.

Ingredients

1 pound pasta (Any shape will do but I like one that will hold a little bit of dressing in it, like farfalle or rotini. I believe I used whole wheat pasta. You can also use gluten-free pasta if that is your thing.)

1 teaspoon olive oil

4 ounces bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces (optional but why in the world would you not include bacon?? You can also just crumble it after cooking crisp, instead of cutting into pieces.)

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used about 1.5 cups of rotisserie chicken cut into chunks)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup red bell pepper (I did not add this for 2 reasons - I did not have any and I cannot eat red pepper)

1 cup corn (fresh off the cob is best but frozen or canned/drained will do in a pinch)

1 cup black beans (Did not add for 2 reasons - I didn't have any and someone won't eat beans)

1/2 cup red onion, diced (not added, see black beans for reasons)

1/3 cup BBQ sauce (next time, I think I would bump this up to 1/2 C. It may have been the pasta I used but it seemed a little dry to me)

1/3 cup mayonnaise (same as BBQ sauce)

2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped (optional - I used because we like cilantro and it blended well with the other flavors. Feel free to leave it out if you are one of those who doesn't like it.)

1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced (not added, see black beans)

Directions

Cook the pasta as directed on the package. Drain then mix with olive oil and let cool, mixing every 5 minutes. The oil and mixing helps prevent it from sticking together while it cools.

Cook the bacon until crispy and set aside on paper towels to drain. (if you did not chop before cooking, wait until it is cool and then crumble)

Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste, and grill (or pan fry), over medium-high heat until cooked through, about 3-5 minutes per side, before setting aside to cool, and slicing into bite sized pieces. (Chop your pre-cooked purchased rotisserie chicken if you are slightly lazy, like me. I think this would be more delicious with grilled chicken though.)

Assemble salad with the pasta, bacon, chicken, bell pepper, corn, beans, and onion. (or whatever ingredients you actually have - see also options below)

Mix the BBQ sauce and mayo to make the dressing.

Toss the salad and dressing along with the cilantro and green onions and enjoy!

(I didn't do any of the following options but think the avocado would be delicious. Or the ranch. Or the cheese. And who doesn't love crunchy corn chips - just add at time of serving if you don't want them to get a little soggy.)

Option: Season the chicken with your favorite chicken seasoning instead of the salt and pepper. (I think Justice or Southwest seasoning from Penzey's would be delightful.)

Tip: Cook the chicken and bacon the day before.

Option: Add diced avocado!

Option: Add diced tomatoes!

Option: Add 1 packet ranch seasoning to the dressing! (Or add: 1/2 teaspoon parsley, 1/2 teaspoon chives, 1/2 teaspoon dill, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder)

Option: Add shredded cheddar cheese!

Option: Top with crunchy corn chips!

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 32 (7 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 31

Blog posts published– 24

Miles walked in September - 34.2

    Miles walked year-to-date – 430.78

Scrap book pages completed –27

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 25

Twenty-three for 50 - Delicious Dessert and Dark Secrets

More of a starter than a finisher lately, I thought I would use a little of my free time to update you a bit in my journey through this year of being 50. I volunteered this year to be an exam-question writer for ALU (Academy of Life Underwriters). ALU has 4 underwriting-related exams and they are considered very challenging. This is something that I have thought about doing for about ten years, since I first realized that people like me wrote the exams. After attending a conference in April (virtually of course), and hearing the association president talk about getting involved and the many ways to do that, I tracked down contact information for the ALU president and asked about how to volunteer. They had 2 open positions - one for marketing (ah, no.) and one for exam writing for 301, the final and hardest of the exams. Sign me up! I wrote a total of 26 questions, all multiple choice, for 3 chapters of the textbook and some of "general knowledge". There are 3 different styles of questions - straight, except ("all of these EXCEPT"), and multiple option (A only, B&C, A&B, etc.). It was time-consuming, difficult, and a lot of work in a short period of time, but also very rewarding and interesting. I feel like I know and understand the material in chapters I worked on better than ever. Reviewing my partner's questions helped me learn more about what makes good questions (and also reminded me that I have the nit-picky proofreading skills necessary for this task).  

**********

True to my first sentence, I started but didn't finish the blog post on 8/30. Back now to finish it up. I believe my ALU work is technically volunteer time, since I did not receive any pay for it and most was done on my own time. Conservatively, between reading, writing questions, reviewing questions and revising, I will say 25 hours spent. I have 2 day-long virtual meetings coming up this week and then some time to complete final revisions on my questions by early October. Then I will be done until next summer.

Recipe 23 - Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Way back on the 4th of July, I tried this recipe to share with friends. My mother-in-law had made it for dinner the week before and I had right away asked for the recipe. It was easy (could be easier if you use a premade graham cracker or chocolate pie crust but this crunchy crust is so good, you'll want to try it at least once), and if you like PB and chocolate like I do, you'll love it. The filling recipe is from cooks.com and sounds like one that comes on the label of Cool Whip or Hershey's syrup. The crust recipe comes from E's cousin. Combined they are a delicious summer dessert. Unlike other frozen desserts, this one isn't impossible to cut straight out of the freezer.

Butter Crunch Crust

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the following ingredients together with your hands:

1/2 C. butter

1/4 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. sifted flour (unsifted if you are me and don't have a sifter)

1/2 C. chopped pecans, walnuts or coconut (we used pecans)

Spread mixture in a cake pan (it didn't say what size - I used a Pyrex 8"x12" and that worked fine). Bake about 15 minutes. Stir it up (to break up chunks) and press 2 C. hot crumbs into bottom and sides of 9" pie pan. Cool. Save the remaining crumbs for topping. Can also use for topping for ice cream, pudding, parfaits, etc. Store in refrigerator.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie filling

Mix together:

3/4 C. peanut butter

1/2 C. Hershey's chocolate syrup

12 oz. Cool Whip (Lite works just fine)

Spoon into prepared crust. Sprinkle crumbs over top (or grated Hershey bar). Freeze until ready to serve.

Book 23 - The Husband's Secret

My selection for August book club was one that my mom loaned me after seeing it on my Goodreads list. I can't remember when I put it on my list or how I had originally heard about it. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty looks like chick-lit. Chick-lit is not my favorite (both the term and the marketing behind it, plus most of the books marketed this way), but I thought it would be a light read for summer time. I was pleasantly surprised and really liked this book, plus we had great discussion at book club where others were also pleasantly surprised. The blurb on the back has you "imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something with the potential to destroy not only the life you have built together, but the lives of others as well. And then imagine that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive..." Fairly intriguing, right? I never guessed correctly any of the twists or turns. The plot was not at all what I expected and kept me reading. A couple of notes for potential readers: the author is Australian and the book takes place in Australia. This means that some cultural references and places will likely be unfamiliar. It also means that Easter happens in the autumn. It occasionally confused my American brain a little bit but not too much. The other thing to note is that there are a lot of different characters and storylines taking place at the same time, plus some flashbacks. Pay attention - characters will change from one chapter to the next.

Overall a very good read, not your typical chick-lit, and made me think really hard about secrets between couples and between family members.

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 31 (8 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 28

Blog posts published– 23

Miles walked in August - 62.3

Miles walked so far in September - 14.7 

    Miles walked year-to-date –411.28

Scrap book pages completed –27

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 25

Twenty-two for 50 - Blog 22, Recipe 22, Book 22

'Polish Pride' clematis was blooming in June

Baby steps, right? That's the way back to feeling better. Thank you all for your love, support and words of encouragement. It means the world to me and nudged me further up the hill. I am getting more accomplished and planning things to look forward to on weekends. There have been fewer tears, slightly more motivation, and some really good laughs and friendly chats.

What else has been going on, you ask? A only-slightly-uncomfortable National Night Out block party,  rousing discussion at book club (which I did not expect when I picked the book), lunch with a dear friend, a sassy haircut and relaxing massage, chats with "neighbors" from the lake at our annual meeting (E is still on the board, so we went even though we do not own property on the lake currently), and a very comfortable lunch and boat ride with some of my favorite cousins of E. I made amazing BBQ pulled pork, tangy coleslaw and then turned the pork into pizza (3 new recipes!), and finished a couple of books. I walked and relished the recent cooler weather. E bought a flat (12 pints) of blueberries at the farmers' market the other day so I cleaned and froze berries on cookie sheets, then packed them in freezer bags. I can look forward to many handfuls of summer to eat for months to come. My tongue turned purple, prompting E to ask which character in Willy Wonka turned purple and me to answer, "Violet, you're turning violet!".

How about a recipe and a book? These are both from June, so hopefully I remember something about them.

Recipe 22 - Huli Huli Chicken

Huli Huli was yummy yummy

If you have been to Hawaii, you may have had this there. I found the recipe at Taste and Tell blog and used a cast iron pan instead of grilling it. It would be excellent grilled, but was still very tender and flavorful. This will be one to put on the regular rotation, with its simple on-hand ingredients and minimal preparation. It does need to marinate for 8 hours or overnight (I started mine in the morning before work so it was probably in there for close to 10 hours - I don't believe you can over-marinate).

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons ketchup
• 6 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons chicken broth (I used water and Penzey's chicken base)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger root (I happened to still have some left from when I made Easy Korean Beef the week before)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used boneless, skinless breasts because that was what I have on hand)
• In a small bowl (I used my small batter bowl from Pampered Chef) whisk together all ingredients except the chicken.
• Place chicken in a shallow dish large enough that they can be single layer. (You can also place them in a ziplock bag, per blog. I have a sealable large shallow glass dish which I prefer to single-use plastic bags.)
• Reserve 1/2 cup of marinade, and pour the rest over the chicken. Turn to coat the chicken in the sauce.
• Cover the dish and refrigerate for 8 hours, or overnight. (Try to turn once or twice during this time.)
• When ready to make the chicken, remove it from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Preheat a grill to medium heat. (Or if you are me, heat a large cast iron pan over medium heat on the stovetop.) 
• Cook the chicken until it reaches 170ºF, about 12-16 minutes, turning a few times during the cook time. Baste the chicken with the reserved marinade during the last 5 minutes of cook time.
• We served with brown rice. Grilled pineapple would also be quite delicious.

Book 22

I borrowed the novel The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman from my mom who read it earlier this year. A Minnesota author, Maltman wrote this after living in the area of the state where I grew up, so some of the history and places were familiar. It is told in flashbacks and flashforwards, and is an intertwining story of multiple generations of German immigrants to the Midwest, before, during, and after the Dakota War of 1862. Most of the story is told from the perspective of Asa who was a boy (11? 12?) in a family of settlers who arrived in Minnesota after living in Missouri. Parts are also told from his aunt's point of view. She had lived for a time with the Dakota and was later institutionalized for "fits". It was a fairly balanced telling of the events leading to the war (which I learned about in school, but back then it was called the "Sioux Uprising"), though more through the eyes of the white settlers than the Dakota. It was uncomfortable reading at times (which if history doesn't make you uncomfortable, it is probably too slanted toward your own race/religion/social standing) but a good story that pulled me along. More people need to know about this and other ugly parts of the country's history. This historical fiction version is not a bad way to learn about the events and has made me want to read and learn more.

Until we read again,

Hallie

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 29 (6 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 28

Blog posts published– 22

Miles walked in July - 54.5

    Miles walked so far in August - 30.2 

    Miles walked year-to-date –364.48

Scrap book pages completed –27

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Twenty-one for 50 - It's a nice day to start again

Black-eyed Susans are some of the cheeriest in my garden

Cup flowers tower about a foot over my head

This morning I listened to music as I took my walk (E is golfing so I have a little time to myself which you likely know that I enjoy). One of the songs that came on was "White Wedding" by Billy Idol (Best of Rock: 1985 on Spotify) and one of the lines stuck out to me - It's a nice day to start again. Billy growled it, as he always does, and this song is not at all a wedding song, nor particularly uplifting, but I felt inspired by it. It is a nice day (albeit smoky/hazy) and I am ready to start again.

If you read my last post, and are prone to trying to diagnose people (like I am), this will not be a shock to you. I am going through a bout of depression. Irritability that got my manager's attention and made her ask me "How are you? No really - how are you?". As I cried through my one-on-one and expressed my frustration and pessimistic view of my job, my career, the very future of the entire profession, and heard her tell me to take some time to figure out what I wanted or needed to do, a little bell went off in my head. I am depressed. I've been here before, so started kicking myself for not recognizing it before. Low motivation, low energy, no joy in things I usually enjoy, tearful, irritable. Check, check, check. As they say, the first step to getting help is recognizing you need help. I am getting help and working on it. I am not yet feeling back to my normal self, but I will get there. I thought I would let you know. This is a big part of why I have not posted in over a month.

Here I am - I'm coming back and it is a nice day to start again.

Back in the beginning of June, I went on a scrapbooking retreat (see Nineteen of 50) and it was so great to spend time with my sister and other friends, to be creative, to reminisce about my senior year of high school. I completed only 8 pages but feel like I really did accomplish something.

The rest of June was not great - I finished only 1 book, tried only 1 new recipe, and blogged only twice. I did keep up with walking despite the 9000 degree heat, mostly thanks to E's encouragement. He also picked strawberries with me ("made" me go to the strawberry patch which I was later grateful for), even though he wouldn't eat a strawberry if you paid him. He did the great bulk of the work with the cabin sale (we closed on July 7th - Woohoo!) and is always there with a giant hug when I need it. I found a good one, and I intend to keep him!

July went a little better, mostly because I was aware of what was going on in my mind and was trying to get back on track. Three new recipes, five books finished and good walking time, seeing friends on the Fourth, plus we took a little trip to Wisco to visit our friends who we last saw in March 2020 on our cruise right before the world shut down. I got my wand from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Wisco friends had driven so we asked them to haul it home for us since it didn't really fit well in my suitcase) so I can now cast spells again. We had such a pleasant time with B&G in ATW and can't wait to see them again soon.

There you have it - the explanation of my struggle bus ride and how I have turned a corner and am slowly moving ahead. My upcoming posts will likely be shorter, but I plan to post more frequently. Stay tuned, my friends and fans, and remember, it's a nice day to start again.

Until we read again,

Hallie

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 27 (6 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 25

Blog posts published– 21

Miles walked in June - 53.39

Miles walked so far in July - 52.2 (there may be one more walk yet today)

    Miles walked year-to-date –331.98

Scrap book pages completed –27

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Twenty for 50 - Riding the Struggle Bus

I'm not sure where I first heard the phrase "riding the struggle bus" but that is what has been stuck in my head for days. Lately I am riding the struggle bus what feels like daily - everything seems to be way more of a chore than it should be. Work feels like it is driving me mad. Little things are irritating as hell. I could probably accomplish more during the work day if I moved my chair to the center of the room and just spun around on it. Even books I am enjoying go so slowly. I am running behind where I would like to be in most things - trying new recipes, recording walking miles, blogging, folding laundry. Welcome to my struggle bus.

How about a few of recipes?  One was yummy, one was easy and pretty tasty, the other was, well, a bit of a hot mess.

Recipe 19 - Ground Pork Tacos

Last fall when we picked up our quarter beef at the meat locker, we picked up a few pounds of ground pork as well, just for something a little different. I found this recipe on Pinterest and had all the ingredients on hand, so it was quick and easy. Very flavorful change from the usual beef tacos and easier to whip up than E's Famous Chicken Tacos (though those are so good they have been renamed "tacooooohs"). From KevinIsCooking.com, my notes in () as usual.

Ingredients

1 lb ground pork

1 tbsp vegetable oil (I skipped the oil because I was not going to add the onion)

1 medium onion diced (skipped because I wanted E to actually eat the meal)

3 garlic cloves minced

salt

3 tbsp Taco Seasoning (I used Penzey's, of course)

1 tbsp brown sugar

3 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup orange juice

8 corn tortillas 6 inch round (I think 6" across, not around - at least that is what I used)

In a large skillet over medium high heat add the oil. When hot, add onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir, cook 30 seconds more. Season with pinch of kosher salt. (I skipped this whole step and just browned the garlic and put in a pinch of salt - it didn't take much time to do that so be prepared to add everything else in next step).

Stir in the taco seasoning, brown sugar and tomato paste, simmer on low for 2 minutes (note that if you skipped the onions like I did, there is nothing here to really simmer, so move on to next part, which I am re-writing to be what is in video on Kevin's site and also what I did). 

Add the ground pork, breaking it up with a spoon and stirring in the seasonings until pork is cooked through. Add water and orange juice.  Stir and reduce for 10 minutes.

Over a hot flame on the stovetop or on a grill, char the fresh, soft corn tortillas on both sides. (I just used them uncharred.)

Fill each taco shell with pork filling, pico de gallo or salsa verde, lettuce and pickled onions. Optional: drizzle with Mexican Crema. (We used shredded cheddar and lettuce - use what you usually do to top your tacos but the flavors of the meat really came through with simple toppings.)

Recipe 20 - Cheesy Chicken

This picture doesn't capture the mess it truly was

Using a cookbook I have had for nearly 20 years that has never let me down (Taste of Home's 2002 Quick Cooking), I made this recipe thinking it sounded quick and easy. It was a hot mess - I had trouble with coating the chicken and then it took about twice as long to cook as the recipe said. The coating which looked from cookbook like it would be crunchy was soggy.  Edible but I will not be making this one again.  It could have been that my breasts were a lot larger than what the recipe called for (I have never before in my life uttered the phrase "my breasts were a lot larger than..." Also, in fairness to me, the recipe does not say what size breasts it is expecting.)  Here it is - maybe it will work better for you. I don't remember what we served it with - they suggest rice pilaf, I think I had some sort of potatoes?

5 Tbsp butter or margerine, melted, divided 

1 C crushed cheese-flavored snack crackers (I used Goldfish crackers - the snack that smiles back while you are crushing it to little tiny bits)

1/4 tsp pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1/2 C sour cream

Place 1T. butter in 11"x7"x2" microwave safe dish; set aside. Combine cracker crumbs and pepper. Dip chicken in remaining melted butter, then spread with sour cream. Roll in the crumb mixture (can you see where I got extremely messy???). Place in prepared dish. Cover loosely and microwave on high for 6-7 minutes or until chicken juices run clear (if you have exceptionally large breasts like me, it will take about twice this long). Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Recipe 21 - Easy Korean Beef

A recipe that actually was quick and easy, plus good flavor. This one is from TableForTwoBlog.com and now that I look at it again see that she jazzed it up with some sesame seeds and sliced green onions. When we had it for leftovers, we topped with a sprinkling of crispy chow mein noodles for crunch. If you wanted a more "authentic" Korean beef, you could use some other cut instead of ground beef.

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 yellow onion, diced (I did not use)

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I used about half the amount, afraid it would be too hot with this and the ginger - next time I would use the full amount)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, onion, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes together.

In a skillet, on medium high, cook your ground beef with the sesame oil until well done.

Pour in the soy sauce mixture over the meat and combine together. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

Serve over white rice. (We used brown rice - Trader Joe's from the freezer section - 1 package in microwave for 3 minutes = perfect rice quickly)

Hopefully I will be off this bus ride soon and will let you know about the scrap book retreat, update the walking mileage and have another book report or 2 for you.

Until we breathe again,

Hallie

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 22 (6 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 21

Blog posts published– 20

Miles walked in June - 8.09 (as of 6/6)

    Miles walked year-to-date –234.48 (as of 6/6)

Scrap book pages completed –27

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Nineteen for 50 - Mostly weeding and reading

Time spent in the garden increases this time of year. Maintaining the beds that we re-hauled last year, weeding and thinning plants in the other areas, installing edging and re-establishing the borders between gardens and lawn, pruning shrubs and trees, preparing the soil in the vegetable raised bed, picking out and then planting veggies. E helps with jobs requiring a shovel, edger, or any heavy lifting.  He hauls mulch, compost and dirt. He built a fortress around the veggies to help them stay out of the mouths of deer. He mows and mows, trims and waters. Much of the yard is starting to look great again, after a few years of minimal work completed in it. 

West side - cleaned up last year

Front garden by sidewalk

ground covers run amuck in the "stump garden"

Tomatoes safe from the jaws of deer

The cabin is 'under contract' so hopefully the closing and transfer to the buyers will go smoothly. There are a few things at the cabin that we'll bring home and store for now but it is for the most part cleaned out and awaiting the new owners creating their own memories there.

Work is, well, work. A lot of days I struggle to figure out how to get all the things done. Other days I say, "Screw it. I'm going outside." And then I wake up at 2am thinking about all the things that still need to get done.

I am preparing to go on a scrapbooking retreat later this week. This is about half the group that usually goes but when planning, we were still just getting first vaccines and made the decision we would feel more comfortable with a fully vaccinated group, keeping it small and paying a bit more. I usually go with this group 3 times a year and now it has been 16 months since last there.  I am slightly anxious and at the same time excited about it.  Planning what project I will work on, I decided to go way back in time and work with photos I have on hand, from high school and college days.

Since last blog post, I haven't completed any books or tried any new recipes, but do have 2 recipes and 3 books in reserve.  We had recipes last time so I'll start with the books

Books 19, 20, and 21

Book 19 was a book club pick and we'll be discussing it tonight. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens was one I was only mildly interested in and didn't anticipate liking it much. It seems there was a lot of hype about this one and EVERYONE was reading it. Sometimes when things get overhyped, they greatly disappoint me, if I even end up reading them at all.  This one did not - I read it quickly and would pick it up eagerly to see what was going to happen. It is a novel that is part environmental science of the North Carolina marsh (not nearly as boring as that phrase makes it sound), part coming of age story of Kya the "Marsh Girl" (one of my favorite descriptions of her was "a tangled-haired, barefoot mussel-monger who lived in a shack") and part murder mystery of Chase - "the best quarterback this town ever saw".  It tells Kya's story chronologically, from the time she is a young girl until she is an older woman. Chase's story starts with his body being found. It was engaging and well-written, especially for an over-hyped book.  One of the lines that stood out to me (and doesn't give away any part of the story but resonated with me), after one of the characters asked if Kya could forgive him: "Why should the injured, the still bleeding, bear the onus of forgiveness?"

It took me a full 4 months to read book 20, but considering that I first remember hearing about the book (and about the subject) 30 years ago, that seems like hardly any time at all.  Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick is probably not a book you are going to read. Chaos theory is most likely not your idea of interesting reading and this book, though accessible to beginners, is not exactly a beach and margarita read. As a math major many years ago, I attended a talk on chaos (symposium? is that what they called those?). Honestly most of it went over my head. A friend who took a class on fractals mostly annoyed me by pointing out fractals and non-fractals in the cafeteria (strawberry - fractal, caf tray - not a fractal) without telling me what the heck a fractal was. A fractal is a shape that is infinitely complex - think of a hill. For you and me, a hill is relatively smooth and we can walk over little differences in terrain. For a cat or dog, there may be more differences in surface to navigate. For something smaller, say an ant, it becomes even more complex. The closer we get to the surface, the more complex it is. I only explain this because I didn't want to be like the person in the cafeteria. Probably the most familiar part of chaos theory is the Butterfly Effect.  This book told how chaos theory became to be a new science and how many different disciplines were all studying it at the same time - meteorologists, biologists studying population growth, physicists looking at turbulence, and so on. Like I say, I thought it was interesting but the audience for this one may be limited.

Finally, the most recent book finished was one I first read probably 25 years ago and it immediately went on my list of my favorite books. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood is one of her first novels, written in the '70s, and I have always struggled to describe the book and why it affected me so much. The blurb on Goodreads seems particularly misleading to me - "part detective novel, part psychological thriller".  If you are looking for either of those things, you will be sorely disappointed, I think. Certainly there is an element of mystery to it - the unnamed narrator goes with her boyfriend and another couple to an isolated cabin in Quebec to look for her father who seems to have disappeared - but that storyline seems very secondary to her introspection and to the story she is telling herself and her friends vs. her reality, her coming to terms with reality and escape back to nature through madness.  As a twenty-something, I scribbled many quotes from this book in my journal.  Re-reading it as a 50-year-old, I felt myself wanting to scribble them again and then scribble some more. I think it hit me differently than it did a quarter-century ago, but it really hit me this time too. Atwood is poet as well as a novelist and this novel definitely has a poetry to it. A few of my favorite lines:

“We battled in secret, undeclared, and after a while I no longer fought back because I never won. The only defense was flight, invisibility.”

“From any rational point of view I am absurd; but there are no longer any rational points of view.”

“'Do you love me, that's all,' he said. 'That's the only thing that matters.'

It was the language again, I couldn't use it because it wasn't mine. He must have known what he meant but it was an imprecise word; the Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them, there ought to be as many for love.”

Until we weed again,

Hallie

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 21 (5 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 20

Blog posts published– 19

Miles walked in June - 8.09

            Miles walked in May - 52.42

             Miles walked year-to-date –234.48

Scrap book pages completed –19

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Eighteen for 50 - Catching up, somewhat, on food

Two posts in one week was a delusion that I had.  How about no posts for two weeks instead?  

The weekend of the 15th/16th was spent going to the cabin, cleaning and hauling stuff home.  One more trip out there for E last Monday to do some more work (spiffing up the shed with paint and finishing cleaning it out), then the photographer was there Wednesday and by evening on Thursday, it was listed.  We've had a number of showings already, and inventory for similar places is very low, so hoping it sells soon.  It is a bittersweet parting - the cabin really has been a great deal of fun and we have a lot of great times there.  I can't wait to scrap book some cabin memories and also to see what comes next for us and our lake life.

We celebrated our 21st anniversary in true E and me style - quiet time at home with take out from a local restaurant. If it weren't for the stupid virus, this was when we would have been in Norway.  There is always another year for that, right?

I promised some recipes so let's get to a couple of those now. 

Recipe 17 - Crispy Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Veggies and Sausage

This was a recipe I pinned awhile back when all the recipes on Pinterest seemed to be sheet pan dinners - toss all this stuff on one pan and bake it.  I think this phase has peaked but there are a few of them that I liked and this was one I would definitely make again.  Ingredients were simple, just a little chopping for prep and then some really great flavor (more than I expected from the minimal ingredients).  We had ground Italian sausage instead of links which would have been easier to work with and it took a little searching to find shelf-stable gnocchi.  I had only ever had boiled gnocchi, but liked it crispy.  I may have slightly over-cooked so would not bake as long next time - gnocchi was a little tough).  It was not quite as good as leftovers but we would both definitely make/eat this recipe again. From a website called 12 Tomatoes, my comments in ( ) PLUS I don't have annoying ads popping up all over the place.

Ingredients:

1 (17.5 oz) package potato shelf-stable gnocchi (in pasta aisle)

1 orange bell pepper, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 small red onion, cut into wedges (I used about 1/2 this amount and only put onions on one of the 2 pans, since E doesn't like them)

1 pint cherry tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes - don't tell)

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 lb Italian sausage, sliced (mine was ground, no casings, so I made little bite size balls of meat)

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped (I didn't have fresh basil so sprinkled dried basil very liberally)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Spread out gnocchi, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and sausage on two rimmed baking sheets.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper (and basil if using dried) and toss to coat gnocchi and veggies in the oil. (I found it easier to toss/coat in a bowl vs. on the pans.)

Spread ingredients out in a single layer and bake until beginning to brown, 15-20 minutes. Remove, stir and spread back out in a single layer, and return to oven until golden brown and tender, about 10 more minutes. (bake time too long - maybe go about 5 minutes more after stirring)

Toss with fresh basil, serve, and enjoy! (or sprinkle with dried basil before baking).

Recipe 18 - Thai Chicken Pizza

We used to have California Pizza Kitchen in this town and I LOVED their Thai chicken pizza.  Then again, I will eat almost anything that has peanut sauce in it.  Unfortunately, CPK in MG closed and I have been thinking of that pizza for years now. Most Sunday nights are pizza night at our house and we finally tried this recipe.  I forgot to get carrots, and E doesn't like/eat sprouts or onions so I didn't add those either. I had too little dough for the amount of sauce I made (to be fair, I don't make my dough to be measured in pounds and was not going to make 2 smaller pizzas, just one big one), and I forgot the cilantro.  I used rotisserie chicken so I didn't have to mess with cooking and chopping chicken.  Despite all those modifications, I thought it was pretty darn good.  E said his only complaint was that it didn't really seem like pizza. I would make this again, but use less sauce.  You can try my pizza dough recipe (I now cut recipe in half), a pre-made crust or any other crust you like.  Recipe is from Spicy Southern Kitchen website where she teases you with some amazing pizza dough recipe/technique but then never actually tells you how to make it (and the link to where you can supposedly learn it goes nowhere).

Ingredients:

for the spicy peanut sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon oyster sauce (I didn't have this so subbed another tbsp hoisin - could have skipped it all together)

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon olive oil (I didn't use because I had cooked chicken)

2 chicken breasts cut into 3/4-inch cubes (I used about 2 C chopped rotisserie chicken)

1 pound pizza dough (I used 1/2 of the crust recipe linked above

cornmeal (skipped this like I always do when using pizza stone)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

4 green onions, slivered diagonally (didn't add)

1/2 cup bean sprouts (didn't add)

1/3 cup shredded carrot (didn't add)

2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts (forgot to chop them but it was okay)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (forgot to add)

Directions:

Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees (or as high as your oven will go). (I used my normal 425 degrees that I always bake my pizza at and did not preheat the stone - it is easier to work with your dough if stone not hot)

To make Peanut Sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil gently for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside. (Did NOT boil - it started to separate and get weird consistency so I called it good enough after it was heated and combined - it was delicious!)

Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan and cook chicken until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Place chicken in a bowl and toss with half of the peanut sauce. (Oh, whoops!  I just now see the part about tossing the chicken with some of the sauce - I just put all the sauce on the pizza)

Divide dough in half and shape each into a 9-inch round. (I made the usual pizza stone sized pizza - 12"? 14")

Coat a pizza peel lightly with cornmeal and place one pizza dough round on top. (nope - no pizza peel and no cornmeal, just rolled out the dough on stone). Spread 1/4 cup of sauce evenly on dough. (Maybe using 1/2 cup instead of the whole batch like I did would be better)

Cover sauce with 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese.

Place half the chicken on top of the cheese followed by half the green onions, carrots, and bean sprouts. (or if only making 1 pizza - all the chicken, onions, carrots and sprouts if using)

Top with 1/4 cup mozzarella and half of the peanuts. (remaining cheese and all the peanuts)

Transfer pizza to pizza stone and bake 8 to 10 minutes, until crust is golden. (mine bakes longer because it is bigger and at lower heat)

Sprinkle with cilantro and serve. Repeat for second pizza.

Honestly, I feel like I should give you a whole new recipe - by the time I got done with all my revisions, the directions were probably super confusing.  I'll do better.

Cheesy caption, like "Thai it!  You'll like it!"

Until we eat again - I have 2 more recipes and 3 more books!

Hallie

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 21 (4 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 20

Blog posts published– 18

Miles walked in May - 39.63

             Miles walked year-to-date –213.6

Scrap book pages completed –19

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Seventeen for 50 - Catching up on books

Weekends have gotten a little busy recently between visits to parents and working at the cabin.  I'll make this post a little shorter and hopefully post again sooner.

Work is busy, mildly chaotic and frustrating.  If it was fun all the time, they wouldn't need to pay me and it wouldn't be called "work", right?

Since post #16, I have completed 3 books (and started 2 more), made 2 new recipes (and have another planned for tomorrow), and walked more days than not.  Catching you up with the books in this post and with the recipes in the next.

Books 16, 17, and 18

After ending April with only two books completed in that entire month, I then finished two on the 1st of May and another one three days later.

Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken was a book club selection and most agreed it was a little odd.  We read another book by the same author very early in our book club (1997/1998), The Giant's House which was about a librarian and a young giant. Bowlaway was about multiple generations of a family and centered around a Massachusetts candlepin bowling alley built by Bertha.  Bertha herself was odd - she appeared one day at the turn of the 20th century in a cemetery and no one knew where she came from or who she really was (and she certainly wasn't telling).  I learned about candlepin bowling, that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction (Bertha's death seemed highly improbable to me until I learned it was based on a true historical event), and confirmed that families can have secrets that have repercussions for generations.  I waivered between 3 and 4 stars for this book. Quirky characters and situations (and lots of them), and the author's many clever phrases and descriptions kept me going.  The many characters and convoluted plotline kept me confused.

Later that same day, I finished re-reading Montana, 1948 by Larry Watson.  I wrote about this one in 2012 (during the April A-Z Challenge - W was for Watson) so you can read that entire post here or this summary: I am not sure where I picked up Larry Watson's novel Montana 1948 but the slim volume is marked as a library book.  I have bought many a discarded library book but this one puzzles me a bit since it is not from the county I live in.  That matters not.  This little novel packs a punch and I have read it multiple times.  There is a powerful sense of place and the characters are people you know, or think you know.  Our narrator, David, starts with this line: "From the summer of my twelfth year I carry a series of images more vivid and lasting than any others from my boyhood and indelible beyond all attempts the years make to erase or fade them..." And this story is one that made in indelible mark in my mind, too.  David's father is the sheriff in the small town in eastern Montana where they live, his uncle is a charming war hero and respected doctor.  Marie Little Soldier, David's family's housekeeper, becomes ill but refuses to let the doctor treat her.  What is revealed when the sheriff investigates why Marie refuses treatment rocks the foundation of this family and the events that unfold challenge their values, beliefs and ideals.  From the back cover, "It is a tale of love and courage, of power abused and of the terrible choice between family loyalty and justice."  I don't want to give away too much but once you pick up this book, be prepared to read it in one sitting. 

Book 18 was another re-read, one I remembered as a childhood favorite but couldn't recall much about it besides the basic premise that a girl wakes up one morning to discover her mind is in her mother's body.  Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers has been made into a movie twice that I know of and has probably been "updated" but I re-read the 1972 original edition (digging deep into the library's treasures).  I have it in my mind that this is the book I was reading the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade when my parents were splitting up, that this was the book that they asked me to put down because they had something to tell me.  That's how I knew it was very serious - no one had ever told me to stop reading before.  After re-reading, I think some of the situations in this book were maybe a bit more mature than I would have been at 7, so maybe I have mis-remembered that this was the book of that summer.  Or perhaps some of the more serious situations just went over my head at that time.  Regardless, it was very fun to re-discover this book and it is still fun to think about literally putting yourself in someone else's shoes for a day.  Annabelle, the daughter, is a bit bratty but not over the top so that you dislike her.  She is 13 and has pretty typical behaviors and thoughts for her age.  And her mom's lesson is not so severe that you think she did it as a punishment for Annabelle's rotten behavior.  Some of the language and situations are a little dated but not distractingly so.  Women's rights, racial discrimination, and politics - really not so different then as now, unfortunately.

Next time, I'll have 3 new recipes for you!

Until we eat again,

Hallie

 

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 18 (6 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 18

Blog posts published– 17

Miles walked in May - 16.55

               Miles walked in April - 44.99

               Miles walked year-to-date –190.52

Scrap book pages completed –19

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Sixteen for 50 - In which I confess I am odd and also that I use the word "crapshow"

I like to take things that people say, even just once in passing, and mull them around in my brain, sometimes for years.  One time - it could have been 10 years ago or more - a particularly opinionated member of my book club said something to the effect of people either like cooking or they like baking but they do not like both.  At the time I thought, I must be an oddball then. I like both baking and cooking much as I enjoyed both my creative writing and language classes, as well as my math classes.  Each stimulates different parts of my brain and personality.

Baking requires precision in measuring and following directions whereas cooking allows for some flexibility and adjustment for taste preferences.  You can cook "on the fly" and mix up something for dinner with some seemingly mismatched ingredients and a little improvisation.  If you were to try baking the same way, using approximate measurements and substituting ingredients with what you have vs. what the recipe calls for, a cake or some bread may be produced but it might not have the desired texture or taste.  You cannot, for example, use about the right amount of flour, or substitute baking soda for baking powder in equal parts (I know - even the dog wouldn't eat the baking SODA biscuits I once made).  You can use handfuls vs. pinches of cheese and substitute chicken for ground beef and still come up with a tasty meal.

Baking produces all manner of sweet treats, which I LOVE.  I like that it is precise and that there is science behind it, like math.  The right temperature of water activates the yeast and the yeast interacts with the sugar and makes the bread airy. There is a correct way of doing it with predictable results.  Cooking lets me improvise and use what I have and a little knowledge of what kind of ingredients taste great together.  Cooking is like writing a poem or an essay - try this word here and a sprinkle of that phrase there.  Even if it is not exactly what you thought it would be, it is almost always palatable, though perhaps not something you would try again.

Reflecting on the book club friend's statement, and knowing her better now than I did back then, I believe she likes cooking, not baking, and is inclined to project her preferences as truths for others as well.  And probably I am a little odd, as well.

I started this post a week ago, then didn't finish because I was having trouble figuring out what I wanted to say, plus I may have used up my creative allotment for the weekend with scrapbooking.  I had every intention of finishing on Monday but the workweek was, to put it nicely, a crapshow. I was supposed to be spending most of Monday-Wednesday at a virtual conference but ended up putting in long hours putting out a fire and then dealing with all the "feedback" related to that.  I did learn some interesting things at the conference and am happy to have 40+ days to be able to re-watch sessions I was not as attentive as I would have liked to have been and to watch other sessions that ran concurrently to the ones I attended.  Here I am now with a book review, 2 new recipes, a couple of the scrap book pages completed, and a shot of the red baby alpaca triangle scarf.

Book 15

I love Tom Hanks, just absolutely adore him and I have for a very long time.  Once, more than 20 years ago, my sister made me a Tom Hanks collage with a million pictures, big and tiny, of Tom in various roles (including Woody from Toy Story).  The man could read the dictionary, and I would buy a ticket to watch.  I think he is funny and smart and entertaining.  He has played a wide array of roles since I have been watching back in the Bosom Buddies and Splash days.  All this is just to say that now I have read his book of short stories Uncommon Type. It was... pretty good.  Some of the stories I liked better than others, as with most short story collections.  And I enjoyed reading to see when and how a typewriter would figure into almost all of the stories.  He has some fun and original ideas and characters, and the writing style was engaging.  I don't think I need to own this book (I got it at the library) nor read it again, but I am glad I read it.

Recipes 15 and 16 - File these under "sometimes you need a drink"

It is E's birthday weekend.  He started it off on Thursday night with some of his delicious homemade guacamole and fresh baked chips, plus margaritas.  The margs were new-to-us recipe, so I will share it with you here: 

Original Margaritas

1 oz Cointreau

2 oz blanco tequila

1 oz fresh lime juice

Combine all in a shaker, add ice, and shake.  Pour into a salt-rimmed margarita or rocks glass.

The next drink was his birthday dinner "signature drink" and was a secret from me, other than that it contained vodka and pineapple juice, and that we may have had it at a martini tasting on a cruise.  Considering that we have been to multiple martini tastings (and none for the past 5 years or so), I couldn't think of which drink it would be.  It turned out to be a lovely pinkish colored "French Martini" and we are also now proud owners of a beautiful bottle of Chambord.  This was a fresh and fruity martini and would taste delicious on the deck in the summer.

French Martini

2 oz vodka

1 oz pineapple juice

1/4 oz Chambord raspberry liqueur 

Combine all in a shaker, add ice, and shake.  Pour into a martini glass.

These recipes may be a little bit of a cheat for me since I am the baker and the cook but not the bartender/mixologist at my house.  Try them and see if you can forgive me.  

Scrapbooking

I spent a Friday evening in a Zoom craft time and completed a whopping one page.  Since my table and supplies were all dragged out and set up, I continued on my own Saturday and Sunday.  7 pages completed that weekend, finishing the 2014 Glacier/Yellowstone trip.  Then I made some cards.  Here are 2 of my pages made.

Knitting

A little scarf I made for myself.  It was a pretty easy (Free!) pattern I found here.  I didn't care for all the blah blah blah repetitiveness of the blog and the 12 million pop-up ads before the pattern, but I guess that is the price you pay for a free pattern.  I used the idea behind it and adapted for how I wanted it to look.  Basically - start with 1 stitch. At each row (except the rows you do a drop stitch pattern), yarn over (YO) and knit across.  Occasionally throw in a drop stitch pattern section

Row 1 - Insert  needle into first stitch knit-wise. Wrap yarn around needle two times then pull yarn through as if to knit. Repeat this with each stitch across the row.

Row 2 Knit the 1st knit stitch, slide the yarn overs off the needle and continue to knit each knit stitch, sliding the yarn overs off the needle across the row.

The pattern lady says to do this 4 times but I didn't like how it looked when I did it just 2 times in a row so I had 1 time every few inches.

You continue until about 42" across or until you run out of yarn.  Towards the end, I measured my yarn before and after a row to guesstimate how many rows I could knit before binding off so I wouldn't be caught without enough yarn.  It was a good trick and I ended up with about a foot of yarn to spare.

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 15 (7 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 16

Blog posts published– 16

Miles walked in April - 37.25

               Miles walked year-to-date –166.21

Scrap book pages completed –19

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Until we read again,

Hallie

Fifteen for 50 - Vaccining and Cleaning

Daffodils - because we're all tired of seeing pics of vaccines

I know that vaccining is not a real word.  Just because I can say it and type it (though it does get the squiggly red line underneath it when I do) does not mean it is a word.  You don't need to tell me that the correct word is "vaccinating".  Vaccining rhymes better.  So there.

Vaccinations need a song.  If you know me, you know that I think everything should have a song.  I was trying "My Vaccination" to the tune of Carly Simon's "Anticipation" (aka "the ketchup commercial song" from back in the day).  "My Shot" from Hamilton was an easy idea - "I am not throwin' away my shot".  The Offspring "Come Out and Play" was in the running too - changing the line "You gotta keep 'em separated" to "You gotta get 'em vaccinated".  It's a work in progress.  Give me your suggestions (perhaps I'll get a playlist going!) and I'll keep you updated with any other brilliant lyrics I dream up.

I got my COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday and have spent a couple of days just sitting around making antibodies.  We drove to Fergus Falls (about 5 hours round trip) on Thursday, in the rain most of the way, to get the J&J vaccine.  E scored back to back appointments for us (apparently it helps to be awake and online at 1:30 AM) so we made the trip.  We wanted to get them sooner rather than later and had both the means and time to travel - luxuries that not everyone has.  There were snacks (thanks to my managers for a big box from Nuts.com a couple weeks ago) and beverages (iced tea for me, Arnie Palmer for E) on the road. I started reading him a new book to occupy the time (I am the living breathing audio book in our family) -  Montana 1948 by Larry Watson - a re-read for me.

The first 12 hours after the shot were smooth sailing - a little pain in the arm initially but I returned to work, helped interview a potential new hire, cleaned up my email and work inboxes and answered a few questions.  We had an easy dinner, watched a few episodes of TV (I was more than a little obsessed with finishing the final few episodes of Dexter this week), and E went grocery shopping after 10pm as he usually does.  Around that time, I started getting sleepy and then the aches began.  I slept fitfully, discomfort in joints and muscles most of the night, and woke up with a headache.  E reported feeling like he had been run over by a truck.  Friday was a head-achy muscle-achy day for me (E felt better earlier than I did) and I worked on what needed to be done with my co-workers but not much more.  That night, I woke up around midnight and was freezing.  Literally chattering my teeth and shivering to the point I had trouble pulling socks on because my hands were shaking so much.  I pictured myself like an old cartoon where Woody Woodpecker or Sylvester the Cat gets tossed in a freezer.  I put on 2 pairs of socks, flannel pants and a flannel button-down shirt over my nightgown.  It took about 15 minutes under the covers fully dressed before I warmed up enough to fall back asleep.  By morning I was fine and have been great since, but man!  Those antibodies sure must like it cold when they are building up their little army.

Besides making antibodies, I did a few other things this week.  Early in the week I walked, but not at all Thursday-Saturday.  I finished one little book, and started a new knitting project (red baby alpaca yarn for a large triangle scarf/smallish shawl). We finished Dexter so if you have been waiting to talk to me about it so as not to spoil it, I am ready for the discussion now.  All the rain has made the grass green up and the trees bud that intense lime green that kind of hurts your eyes.  The daffodils and forsythia have burst their yellow blooms in the front yard. I cleaned up my closet, putting the sweaters up top, bringing the shorts and capris where I can better reach (and am very happy to report that I have several warm weather clothes that fit me!).  The street sweeper has been by (if you are new to this blog, check out this post for more on why the street sweeper gets special mention).  Spring is here, I am vaccinated, and starting to feel cautiously optimistic. 

I have a post percolating in my brain about the pandemic, how social distancing works for me, and why I don't mind Zoom meetings or wearing real pants, but it isn't ready yet.  Instead, I will leave you with this limerick I am submitting the Minneapolis paper.  

The pandemic has brought out the memes,
With Fauci and shots as the themes.
I stick close to home,
And don't want to roam,
Socially distant like my introvert dreams.

Book 14

My one little book completed this week was Betsy-Tacy and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace.  I read the first in the series earlier this year and enjoyed this one too.  As I read it, I wondered how many adventures today's children have.  I don't think too many get a chance to wander off up the big hill and into the woods with nothing but a picnic basket and their two friends who are also 9 years old.  Do we let kids explore anymore?  Discover new paths?  Make up imaginative stories or pretend to be the flying lady at the circus?  Be left alone at home to cook up grand experiments in the kitchen?  Moi, j'en doute.

Recipe 14 - Crusty Pizza Dough

I already have a pizza crust recipe that I have made nearly every week for about a year (except the 2 times I made the new cast iron deep dish crust), but saw this one in the instruction and recipe book that came with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and thought I would give it a try.  All the commas are theirs - I hear in my head the voice of Mr. Gavin, my 10th grade English teacher ("Comma crazy" he called me), and want to remove some of them but editing is not my forte. Also, the weird and persistent capitalization of the word "speed" is theirs - I did it just so I could call out how weird I thought it was.

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp if you have a jar of yeast like I do)

1 C warm water (105-115 degrees)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp olive oil

2 1/2 - 3 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add salt, oil and 2 1/2 C flour.  Attach bowl and dough hook (I was so excited to use the dough hook!) to the mixer.  Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour 1/2 C at a time and mix until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl, about 2 minutes (I probably could have used just 3 cups vs. the full 3 1/2).  Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top.  Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down.

Brush 14" pizza pan with oil (or in my case, use 12" well-seasoned pizza stone and skip the oil). Sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough across bottom of pan, forming a collar around edge to hold toppings. Add toppings as desired.  Bake at 450 deg for 15-20 minutes.

I use BBQ sauce on the crust and also a drizzle over top of the cheese

We made BBQ meatball pizza (BBQ sauce and sliced pre-cooked meatballs, topped with mozzarella).  It ended up being perhaps a bit more crust than we are used to but it made a very sturdy crust that held up well and tasted good too.  I will try it again with my more saucy tomato sauce next time.

The crust, ready for its close up.

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 14 (6 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 14

Blog posts published– 15

Miles walked in April - 13.77 

               Miles walked year-to-date –142.73

Scrap book pages completed –12

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0

Until we eat or read again,

Hallie

Fourteen for 50 - Lovely Lemon Bars and a Book about Leningrad

Easter dinner was just the 2 of us today, but I made honey hoisin pork tenderloin, au gratin potatoes, and some roasted asparagus (just a drizzle of lime olive oil, salt and pepper - yum!) and then for dessert...

Recipe 13 - Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars

I love lemon - lemon tarts were one of my favorite indulgences when I was in France during college, particularly those from one tearoom near the chateau in Angers.  Traditional custardy lemon bars with a buttery crust from the cafeteria at St. Olaf were worth trying to grab a second or third.  And there is something about citrus that says "spring" and "Easter" to me, so for Easter dinner, I told E to check the Pinterest dessert board for something with lemon.  This was the winner from The Salty Marshmallow blog - Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars.  I think I would call them Creamy Lemon Sugar Cookie Bars, or something like that.  It is a sugar cookie base, cream cheese lemon filling and then topped with more crumbles of the cookie dough.  I either used too much of the cookie dough for the crust, or didn't let the topping cook long enough to be crunchy, but I think when I make them again, I will make half the dough and skip the crumbles on top.  They didn't really add anything for me.  Overall a nice easy alternative to the usual lemon bar - I would make it again.  Prepare ahead - the crust needs to completely cool before adding the filling and then you will bake again.  Also, be careful when eating - the bottom crust gets quite crispy and when I tried to eat mine with a fork like a civilized person, the bar slipped off the plate and landed on the couch (yes, I was being civilized eating on the couch in front of the TV).  It was much easier to eat when I just picked it up with my hand.

Crust:

1 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 C (2 sticks) butter at room temperature

2 C flour

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 C lemon juice (for me, juice of one lemon)

2 Tbsp lemon zest divided

1/2 C sugar 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line an 8"x8" or 9"x9" baking pan with foil or parchment and spray liberally with non-stick cooking spray. (There is enough butter in these, you could probably skip this, depending on your pan.  The foil did make it easy to just lift out of the pan so I could cut easier, though.)

With stand mixer using paddle attachment, or with hand mixer, beat together the softened butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Set mixer on low and slowly add the flour (½ cup at a time) and mix just until dough comes together.

Press half of the dough into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Cool completely before filling.

Store remaining sugar cookie dough in a bowl in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the filling:

Again with stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat together the softened cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp. of the lemon zest until smooth and creamy.  Pour filling over cooled crust. Top filling with the remaining sugar cookie dough by crumbling it evenly over the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until cookie crumble is light golden in color.

Top with remaining lemon zest as desired. (My zest got dried out before I had a chance to do this.)  

We cut into 16 squares and ate them room temp.  I think they would also be good chilled but the crust might get too hard.

 

Book 13

This was a book club selection and came highly recommended by an Italian exchange student who lived with one of our members a couple years ago.  City of Thieves by David Benioff takes place during the Siege of Leningrad, an aspect of World War II that we had read about at least on other time (The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean).  I see that at least a couple of my book club friends have given it 5 stars on Goodreads, but I am still wavering between a 3 and 4.  I didn't love it for some reason I am still trying to figure out.  The story was interesting enough - while the Nazis have the city under siege, Lev and Kolya are arrested.  Instead of being executed for their crimes, they are told they can save their own lives by bringing a powerful Soviet colonel a dozen eggs to use in his daughter's wedding cake.  Simple enough, right?  If only the citizens were not literally starving to death, resorting to eating whatever questionable "food" they can get their hands on.  Eggs are not readily available even if one had the money to buy them.  It is part historical fiction, part buddy adventure.  The author has written screenplays and, to me, the book read like he was already adapting it for the film.  And one of the characters consistently annoyed me.  I don't know - I learned more details about the siege of Leningrad and the Russian side of WWII, and the book read pretty quickly, kept me wondering how they were going to get through and if they would find eggs ever - but I just didn't love it.  For the 2nd month in a row, I may be the outsider at book club who didn't like the book that much.

Baby Hats

Four more hats turned in last Monday (along with my giant bag of yarn).  I am working on one now that should be pretty cute but I made a mistake and am trying to decide if I just go with it and knit on or rip back to the boo-boo.  The hat is currently sitting in time-out while I decide.

Fifty for 50 Tally

Books completed – 13 (6 more in progress)

Recipes tried – 13

Blog posts published– 14

Miles walked in April - 7.2

Miles walked in March - 51.17

               Miles walked year-to-date –136.16

Scrap book pages completed –12

Hats donated – 20

Hours volunteered – 0