2007 August Archive at Avid Inkling

Archive for August, 2007

Making Ice Cream w/Freshman Steve

Published by kindli on August 30, 2007 in adventures, cooking, friends and fun. 1 Comment

Today “freshman Steve” drove up and joined Gavin and I for lunch. With a nearly 2 hour drive (one way) to visit, we decided to make the most of our afternoon. After we dropped Gavin back at work, Steve and I went past the grocery store and then came home to make Vanilla Olive Oil Ice Cream.

Steve openly confessed to not doing much cooking, (“What’s Williams Sonoma?”), but he took directions (stir, hold, whisk) fairly well.

We were both really curious to know how ice cream made with vanilla infused olive oil would turn out. After carefully following the directions, we chilled it for 20 minutes or so, put it in the machine and churned it for 15 minutes.

I’d estimate we made about a pint of ice cream, however much one of those square-ish Ziploc containers holds.

When we’d finished making ice cream, we looked at wedding pictures, pictures online and talked… and talked, and tried the ice cream. It turned out quite well. Very light, very creamy, and it has a very vanilla taste.

Steve headed home around four because he had to make dinner (he makes it two nights a week, his mom is hoping it’ll teach him to cook beyond the world of Ramen Noodles). I’ve promised to e-mail him a few simple recipes.

An Open, Rather Bitter, Letter to the Wrong # Who called at 6:06 am this morning

Published by kindli on August 27, 2007 in California, adventures, family, friends and fun. 0 Comments

Dear Wrong Number Caller,

I know you will probably never read this letter, but I wanted to write and express my great dismay at receiving a phone call at 6:06 am.

I understand you were calling from Boston, I googled your phone number, it had a Boston area code, and that in Boston it was 9:06 am, a perfectly acceptable time to call people. I however, am NOT IN BOSTON anymore. I don’t care that my cell phone is a local Boston area number, I am now (happily) in California, there is a three-hour time difference.

I’ll be honest, I was sort of hoping you would be a friend or family member, so I could call you back and complain loudly about your inconsiderate behavior. So I could tell you that you know better than to call me at 6:06 am on my cell phone unless there is an EMERGENCY (like life and limb… not moral dilemmas, or stupidity induced stomach aches), and even then, at 6:06 am, call the home number, NOT my cell phone (for afore mentioned emergencies only).

We prefer not to take calls before 9am and much after 9/10pm. So, for all of you who should know better a simple time table:

9 am CA time = NOON on the east coast
9 am CA time = 11 am in the midwest/texas
9 am CA time = 9 am if you’re in CA

And if you’re going to take all the effort to call –and trip off the voice mail– leave a message. It’s simple, just a “hi” and your name or something. But hopefully you realized you dialed a wrong number and won’t ever be calling me again.

I hope you have a wonderful day. I’m going back to bed now to recover the hour of sleep I was robbed of.

-me

some things are more than suggustions

Published by kindli on August 24, 2007 in cooking. 0 Comments

A while back I bought some corn meal and some oranges. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I had bookmarked a recipie that required both. Today I finally found the recipie, Orange Cornmeal Cake Recipe stashed in my bookmarks.

I like the recipies on Simply Recipes because they tend to be straight forward, easy to follow, and are accompanied by pretty pictures. This one was no different. I read the directions and blatantly ignored the “line bottom with a round of wax or parchment paper, and brush paper with oil.”

Everything went well, it baked all the way through, and came out looking fantastic. Then I ignored the “Cool in pan 20 minutes” and inverted it prematurly. Oops. So I reverted it. It fell apart. It looks awful, but it tastes fantastic. My next try will be better.

new creative uses

Published by kindli on August 24, 2007 in cooking. 0 Comments

A few days ago I made Orange Candied Pecans. I made far more than I anticipated, and I’ve been looking for creative ways to use them. A handful makes a great snack, but I was looking for other ways to use them.

Feeling creative, I sprinkled some of the orange candied pecans into our salad at dinner: romaine hearts with dried cranberries, candied pecans and a light balsamic vinaigrette. The Gavin Rating: “Most excellent.”

The Swedish Meatballs got an “Excellent” while the Kase Spetzle rated a “let’s try a different cheese next time.” Dessert (molten lava cake a la mode) was “Fantastic.”

So I had to find the Post Office

Published by kindli on August 23, 2007 in adventures and car. 0 Comments

There comes a time in every girl’s life when she needs to find a Post Office. Usually I send the mail off with Gavin and he mails it from work, but today I needed to send some things Certified Mail.

Gavin looked up the local Post Office online, it was “on Main Street, on the left.” So this morning on the way to take Gavin to work we drove down S. Main St. and looked at the left. Then we drove up N. Main St. and saw the Post Office Depot with all the trucks.

We drove down S. Main St. again. Still nothing. After another few circles around, Gavin went to work, promising to ask his coworkers.

A little later in the morning, Gavin IMed me and said, yes in fact there was a Post Office on S. Main St. It was just “hidden by some shrubs” and on the right (not left) side of the street.

Dutifully I drove back down S. Main St, looking on the right. Yes, there were lots of buildings with large shrubs in front of them, but none of them looked vaguely Post-Office like.

I drove around in a circle, stopped to call Gavin who clarified “S. Main and Willow” and drove past again. Yes, there was the Post Office, covered in shrubs, no sign, and the only parking was on a side street, parallel and on a rather steep hill side.

Now that I know where the Post Office is, I’m sure I’ll be able to find it again, but if Gavin hadn’t told me “S. Main and Willow” I would probably still be driving in circles around S. Main and Bodega Ave.

using the kitchen

Published by kindli on August 20, 2007 in cooking and townhouse. 0 Comments

We have finally finished unpacking and moving in the kitchen, everything now has a home. Although our new kitchen is half the size of our previous kitchen in Somerville, I have about twice the usable counter space, a dishwasher (other than Gavin), and the freezer has it’s own light (very cool).

As you have probably seen in previous posts, I’ve been enjoying the kitchen. Today I made Sonoma Chicken Salad and some cookies.

I tend to be wary of chicken salad recipes, but last nights overly well-endowed chickens gave us plenty of left over chicken (too much to throw out with out feeling guilty).

I googled around the internet and found a recipe for Sonoma Chicken Salad:

2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups diced chicken
1 1/2 cups green grapes or red grapes
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 cups celery
1 cup chopped walnuts

Put everything in a big bowl and use 2 big spoons tosst; Cover and Refrigerate. Good for up to a week. Enjoy!

It is sitting in the fridge and I think we’ll have it for dinner tonight. I’m not sure I trust the “good for up to a week,” after all it has mayonnaise in it… maybe a day or two.

UPDATE: The chicken used for the salad was breaded with garlic so the salad had a slight garlic-infused flavor (yummy), it also makes a better lunch (or late night snack) than dinner. If you could keep it cold enough, it would probably work well for a picnic lunch.

UPDATE 2: My nose indicates that the salad is good for 24-36 hours after it is made, after 48 hours whatever is not eaten should be thrown out. Better to err on the side of caution, after all, there is 2/3 cup mayonnaise (approx) in it.

kitchen happenings

Published by kindli on August 20, 2007 in cooking. 0 Comments

This afternoon as Gavin read my copy of SHOGUN I puttered around the kitchen eyeing the over-ripe bananas and the two-pound bag of pecans. A while back Heidi e-mailed me a recipie for candied orange pecans:

Candied Orange Pecans

1/2C. Frozen condensed Orange Juice
2 C. granulated Sugar
5 to 6 C Pecan Halves

When bubbly an dslightly beige add pecans (approx.6min.) Stir (approx.8-10min.) until crystallization occurs and halves seem to separate. Let cool approx. 1 to 2min. before handling. Spread, separatea nd cool the glazed nuts on a buttered cookie sheet or parchment paper.

I used orange juice instead of concentrate and only about 3 1/2 cups of pecans. They turned out decently, it made far more than I anticipated.

Next I took on the over-ripe bananas and made banana bread.

Banana Bread

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
3 over-ripe bananas
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2c upnuts/rasins

mash/mix together, in large loaf pan bake for 40+min. at 350*F

For dinner I made Aunt Holly’s garlic chicken. The chicken was quite well endowed so we’ve got leftovers, tomorrow I am going to try Sonoma Chicken Salad.

presenting the living room

Published by kindli on August 19, 2007 in townhouse. 0 Comments

New photos of our living room have been posted in the Townhouse in Sebastopol album at Kindli’s Picasa. The last seven or so are new, more to come as the rest of the rooms come together/are cleared out of the remaining odd boxes and art is hung.

Gavin, as seen through the pass-through to the kitchen.