The Eco Table

announcing - The Eco Table - my new food blog. i figured it was high time to separate my food writings from everything else here, so i can concentrate on some particular projects, ideas, and what have you, in the food world. there's not much there yet, but i'm working on it. enjoy!

happy birthday, america

we were all excited to have a 3 day weekend for the fourth of july. other than having a cook out with mom and dad, and perhaps attending a parade and some fireworks, we had no plans. i was looking forward to spending the majority of the 3 days relaxing.

you know what they say about the best laid plans, right?

saturday morning, oliver and i visited the outpost to restock our ravaged fridge. now that fruit is coming in and i'm in full canning mode this summer, i picked up obscene amounts of nectarines, cherries, and peaches. between the room the fruit took up and everything else we needed, out cart was literally overflowing (hey, milk takes up a lot of room too!). the ladies at the checkout kept asking questions like, "how many people is this for?" "are you having a big party?" "do you have a juicer or something?"

having all the fruit meant i spent the afternoon canning cherries, spiced peaches, and peach preserves, as well as making a gluten free cherry crumble for our fourth of july cook out. that was a lot of standing over a hot stove in hot weather.

which necessitated a trip to the pool after oliver woke up from his nap. while a little tentative at first, he LOVED it. he ending up in the "deep" end of the wading pool, swimming on his stomach, head just barely above water. i only wish i had worn my suit so i could have lounged around in the cool water as well.

since it was supposed to rain all sunday afternoon, we decided to have our cook out for lunch. that morning, i finished prepping for lunch by making a dairy free "buttermilk" potato salad. i accomplished this by mixing some lemon juice into mayo, which was surprisingly effective in imitating a buttermilk flavor. some red potatoes along with parsley, beauty heart radishes, red onion, and garlic scapes completed the mix rather nicely (with everything except the potatoes and red onion supplied via our CSA share from JenEhr farms). we packed everything up, made a quick stop at culver's for some vanilla ice cream to go with the crisp (i had wanted to make my own, but i didn't get around to it, and would have preferred oscar's, but had a 2 year old with me so the temptation of the drive through was too much, so sue me), and headed over to mom and dad's house.

to oliver's disappointment, no one wanted to play outside in the crazy heat with him, so he had to settle for watching the lion king while everyone busied themselves with other projects. i got some ears of corn soaking in salt water, and made a salad with some lettuce, tomatoes, scallions, and sweet peas. i had made a honey balsamic dill vinaigrette to go with the salad (which complemented the sweet peas amazingly). the corn went on the grill, closely followed by some brats from our friendly butchers at the outpost (regular, jalapeno cheddar, and beer onion, yum).

to say lunch was good was a bit of an understatement. so many fresh flavors -
intensely satisfying. there weren't a whole lot of complaints from around the table (perhaps just oliver due to his dislike of mayonnaise - but i think that was evened out by the entire brat he devoured).


we reminisced about our european ancestors' hostile takeover of this country, imaging it went something like this:
europeans: "hmmm, we'll take that island over there."
indians: "but that is our land."
europeans: "we'll give you these 20 beads for it. they're really nice."
indians: "beads? alright!"
europeans: "faaaaaaabulous. now, go west a bit. uhhhh, and leave that corn, too."

let freedom ring.

nobody grumbled about dessert either. to make a gluten free topping, i used a Bob's Red Mill GF biscuit and baking mix i had. true to form, it was a little gritty (GF mixes always seem a little sandy to me), but with the cherries and the ice cream, it wasn't too bad.

lucky pants oliver even got his first taste of soda (i know, i know - i'm a bad mom!). sprecher's new seasonal summer flavor is strawberry, which has long been a favorite of mine, and which hannah figured she'd like as well (she was right). it may have been the good food or perhaps the heat had gone to my head, but i let oliver have a tiny bit as well. he enjoyed it, can you imagine?

after lunch, dad pulled out an ancient sprinkler from his childhood, which still works perfectly (they just don't make things like they used to!), and the kids proceeded to have way more fun than seems imaginable.








playing in the sprinkler soon degenerated into, "hey, let's just spray each other with the hose!"






the kids were having so much fun that time slipped away from us, and before we knew it, it was waaaaaaaaaaaay past nap time. i collected up my sopping wet son, and we headed home for a much needed nap. with so much sun and fun, he crashed pretty hard.


we had completely forgotten about the West Allis 4th of july parade, so monday morning we did the Wauwatosa parade instead. we drove over around 7am to put our chairs along the route, came home and got ready, then were back before 9am for the parade itself.

predictably, the parade started about 15 minutes late, but luckily, there was more than enough stuff in the parade itself to make up for it (seriously - it's nearly a 2 hour parade). hannah came to the realization that she may be growing up, as the parade wasn't nearly as excited as in past years. oliver, on the other hand, loved every minute of it, especially the fire trucks, clown, tubas (apparently his favorite instrument), and the marching bands in general. watching him jump, dance, march, clap, and generally be extremely happy kept hannah and i pretty entertained.









"look mom, it's from chitty chitty bang bang!"











oh yes, and then there was the candy. this surprised and pleased oliver to no end. i caught on pretty quickly and only let him have half or less of each tootsie roll, but since he was still getting candy, he was more than happy to share. he listened very well and only picked up one piece at a time upon my instruction. though after each collection, he would ask, "they are going to throw more candy, right, mom?"




** on a side note, oliver wore big boy underpants and stayed dry the whole time. i knew i was taking a risk, since we'd be out there for awhile without bathrooms, but he did SO GOOD. i am SO PROUD!

we spent the rest of our monday playing outside and getting even more tired. by nap time monday, i couldn't believe the 3 day weekend was almost over and that i was far more tired than after a normal 2 day weekend (didn't stop me from driving out to trader joe's during nap, though). bryan and hannah hit up the fireworks late monday night, and i was more than happy to stay home with oliver and get into bed at a decent time. still, while the weekend was far busier with all our running around than we had hoped, it was a pretty good weekend.





more pictures in the gallery.

agretti spaghetti

just for our beloved miss kay: agretti spaghetti.


this meal was based on a recipe for Spaghetti with Arugula and Ricotta from the Local Flavors cookbook. we didn't have arugula, but we did have agretti, so we substituted that instead. we also added some toasted breadcrumbs to the top, in lieu of the walnuts the recipe calls for.

delicious.

and even better - hannah made it!

Agretti

the farm began growing Agretti, a rather unique green, and we have taken quite a shine to it.

from Wikipedia:

Salsola soda, more commonly known in English as Opposite Leaved Saltwort, Oppositeleaf Russian Thistle, or Barilla Plant, is a small (to 0.7 m tall), annual, succulent shrub that is native to the Mediterranean Basin.^[1] It is a halophyte (a salt-tolerant plant) that typically grows in coastal regions and can be irrigated with salt water.


The plant has great historical importance as a source of soda ash, which was extracted from the ashes of Salsola soda and other saltwort plants.^[2] Soda ash is one of the alkali substances that are crucial in glassmaking and soapmaking. The famed clarity of 16th century cristallo glass from Murano and Venice depended upon the purity of "Levantine soda ash,"^[3] and the nature of this ingredient was kept secret. Spain had an enormous 18th century industry that produced soda ash from the saltworts (barrilla in Spanish).^[4] Soda ash is now known to be predominantly sodium carbonate. In 1807, Sir Humphry Davy isolated a metallic element from caustic soda; he named the new element "sodium" to indicate its relationship to "soda." Before soda was synonymous (in U.S. English) with soft drinks, the word referred to Salsola soda and other saltwort plants, and to "sodas" derived from soda ash.

While the era of farming for soda ash is long past, Salsola soda is still cultivated as a vegetable that enjoys considerable popularity in Italy and with gourmets around the world. Its common names in Italian include Barba di Frate, Agretti, and Liscari sativa. Of its culinary value, Frances Mayes has written that "Spinach is the closest taste, but while agretti has the mineral sharpness of spinach, it tastes livelier, full of the energy of spring."^[5]

oh, i know, it's all quite fascinating (well, it is to me at least). which brave soul decided this could be eaten we'll never know, but i'm glad they did. much more tender and mild than your typical green, the plant has an almost pasta like quality to it. to me, once cooked it tastes very much like pasta tossed with olive oil and salt. to say it's become a favorite in our house would be an understatement. even oliver loves this new "green spaghetti."

while at the market, bryan learned of a new way to serve it: sauteed with hot peppers and italian sausage. the idea was so tempting we decided to try it out post haste.

unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), my late night trip to the outpost yielded no sausage, since the meat counter was closed. but this did provide me the incentive to make my own sausage, which i've done in the past. i hauled out 4 or 5 pounds of ground pork (from our pig), and doused the meat liberally with red wine. i added fennel seeds and various herbs (thyme, marjoram, rosemary, plenty of oregano), along with some garlic, salt, and pepper. and then i added some more wine, for good measure. i let this cure in the fridge for 24 hours before using it (should have been longer, but providence being what it was, we needed to use it). i made small meatballs since i don't have sausage casings.

i sauteed sliced onions, garlic, and sweet peppers in olive oil. the original recipe idea calls for hot peppers, but since we had little mouths dining with us, i decided to use sweet in the main recipe with some hot on the side for bryan and me (i fire roasted a few jalapenos, skinned them, and chopped them up for us). i tossed in the agretti, covered it for a few minutes, then uncovered to let the water cook off and the agretti saute.

i followed Lidia Bastianich's recipe for polenta (since i can never remember the ratios on my own), and just added some grated parm once on our plates.

the resulting dish was delicious, and other than some polenta, no leftovers remain.


if you get a chance to get your hands on some agretti, i highly recommend it!

some more information on and recipes for agretti can be found here.

new widgets: learn & revolt

i added 2 new widgets to the right hand panel: learn, & revolt.

in the learn section, i will post links to articles and other sources to learn about food, farming, and other health related items. the current list is pretty incomplete, but i'll post more as i have time.

in the revolt section, i will post links to action alerts, which give YOU the ability to tell our elected officials what you want when it comes to our health.

enjoy!

why i cook

over at the burp blog, prompted by a challenge from michael ruhlman, lori recently explored the reasons why she and paul cook, and it got me thinking as well.

this is an easy question, but not one with a single, uncomplicated answer.

when i was young, my parents had a huge, organic garden. it took a lot of work from everyone in the family to maintain it; something that my sisters and i resented often while pulling weeds in the hot sun. but we were always thrilled with such close access to perfect fruits and veggies. in the summer, we could walk down to the garden, pick a vegetable, and seconds later, be eating it for dinner. everyone has had that wonderfully sweet, perfectly ripe ear of corn from the farmer's market in august (or at least, i hope so), but it seems like much sweeter when it's eaten within 10 minutes of being picked. the hard work that goes into growing that ear of corn probably has something to do with it, too. eating sweet peas directly off the vine, still warm with sun; carrots nothing like what you'd get in the supermarket, too sweet and tender to believe (probably the reason shannon has such a deep love for carrots); gobbling green plums one after the other; peaches sweeter than candy; raspberries for dessert, eaten straight from the bush. sure, we hated the work, but we definitely appreciated the bounty.

and with that fresh food, cooking was just what we did. mom didn't often serve us frozen or pre-packaged food. so we, too, learned how to cook. i recall my first cooking revelation: making a fresh tomato sauce for pasta using tomatoes, onions, garlic, and basil from our garden. fresh, easy, and something i created.

once i moved out of the house, it wasn't until bryan and i started dating that i really started cooking again. bryan always cooked; having been a chef, it was something he continued to enjoy to do at home. he wooed me with fajita nights every thursday. once we moved in together, we began shopping at the dekalb farmer's market, spending obscene amounts of money on our groceries (hey, we lived with roomates and had cheap rent! and i like wine!). i entered a phase where i wanted to prepare the most complex meals i could, because it was fun, and delicious. i think bryan mostly humored me, knowing i would come around eventually.

and i did. the longer we cooked together, the more i learned (courtesy of bryan). i began to be able to appreciate ingredients for what they were. we were often asked why we cooked so much, and in addition to saying we enjoyed it, my response was, "we all have to eat, so it might as well be good."

i knew all along that it was healthier to prepare meals at home using fresh foods, and always leaned towards the natural/organic foods, but it wasn't really until a few years ago that i began researching more about how our agricultural system produces food. and what i learned scared me. the way produce is grown is NOT healthy. the way our meat is raised is NOT healthy. the way processed foods are produced is NOT healthy. all of this impacts the environment negatively, which in turn impacts our health. and this food, this industrial food, is BAD for us. all of it. a carrot is no longer just a carrot, folks. if more people did the research and learned what they were putting in their bodies, more people would revolt (and that's exactly what we need, but not what this post is about). having a small child and knowing that i did not want to put crap into his body absolutely affected the decision as well. it became imperative that we eat FOOD, only FOOD; food that is raised responsibly, with minimal impact to the environment. and food that is raised locally whenever possible. we radically changed our eating from there, by changing what we buy and who we buy it from. we made these commitments, and they became the driving force behind what and how we cooked.

we joined the c.s.a. with JenEhr farms; we joined a co-op for the rest of our grocery shopping. we got serious about our own garden. last year, we bought a pig and half a cow from Solar Harvest Farm. bryan began working weekends for the farm, and through the farmer's market, we began networking with local farmers (much to my squealy, giggling, schoolgirl delight).

food, cooking, eating has become a cause to me. and not a cause i am alone in, but one in which we need everyone to become educated on. i feel by buying the way we do, and eating what we eat, and supporting local farms in doing so, we are trying to save our world, literally. i am attempting to stave off some of the irrevocable changes industrial farming has on the environment, and the grave and undeniable impact to our health. make no mistake, it is critical. vote with your fork.

and in returning to the land, and locally so, i have again returned to the ingredients of my youth - fresh, simple, perfect foods that need nothing much to speak for themselves. and that became another goal: prepare these wonderful foods in simple ways that honor them. simple doesn't necessarily mean fast, either. simple can be time consuming. simple means with minimal handling, or with traditional handling; in a method which lets the food shine through. it is hard to take a bite of something so wonderful and not wish everyone was here eating what you were eating, because then, you just know, they could understand, and instead i end up feeling just a little sorry they are not. if i could find a way to stay home and cook all day, i would.

the honoring of the ingredients also takes on a slightly spiritual meaning for me, as well. food is my religion, that is also why i cook. and i challenge you to think of that as not blasphemous in any way! whatever god you do (or don't) believe in, i hope we can all agree that if this earth is our gift, if life is a gift, what better way can we honor that and be the protectors we're asked to be, than by taking care of the earth and ourselves? the best way we are care for the earth is to not poison it. first and foremost, we must not destroy it. industrial agriculture is doing just that, and it's a simple change to help make that stop. i'll say it again: vote with your fork. 3 times a day. our health, our happiness, everything else will come from this. i am not kidding when i call for revolt. only our growing voices will change the tide.

so i cook for a multitude of reasons. there is no one reason. and it's more than just eating, to me. it is part of everything, the very fabric of our earth, our health, our purpose on this earth. and i don't believe we're meant to lead joyless lives. i don't believe we're not meant to fully enjoy, in a carefree and thorough way, everything that is around us. but we have to do so in a responsible manner. responsibility and happiness are not mutually exclusive. they can coexist very happily. just come to my house for dinner, and i will show you.

christmas: food & family

we're finally settling down after the holidays (that, and i figured i ought to get my christmas post in before february), which were wonderful. oliver understood the concept quite a bit more this year, which made it all the more fun and special; hannah spent a week with us; and of course, we ate a ton of food.

christmas eve, i made our traditional meal of shrimp and grits. (oliver had fish sticks, since he's not a big fan of shrimp yet, but he gobbled up the grits without a problem.)

oliver and i also made gingerbread cookies. he gets quite a kick out of helping me bake, and he always offers to lick the beaters. instead of gingerbread men, we made gingerbread robots (bryan's idea; i had picked up the cookie cutter at williams-sonoma the day before). i think it will become a new tradition!


after dinner, bryan and oliver played guitar hero. i'm not much for video games, but this was pretty darn cute.




before bed, we opened 1 present each - our new pajamas.


then it was christmas morning! bryan and i relaxed with some coffee and baileys while oliver thoroughly enjoyed ripping open all his presents (and then going after ours).




oliver got right down to business playing with some of his favorites:

an r2d2 playdoh set -



a wooden crocodile, paint-your-own-style (his first experience with paints, which he very much enjoyed) -


and a little wooden monkey bowling set -



after nap, we headed over to mom and dad's house for more presents, and christmas dinner.




adrianne made oliver the coolest gift ever - an r2d2 quilt. she cut every piece separately from fabric and sewed them all on with varying colors of thread. she poured tons of work and love into it, and it's obvious - it is amazing. oliver loves it (he sleeps on it every night now). when he saw it, he gasped, ran up to it, and hugged it. adrianne said it made all her hard work worth it!



our contribution to dinner was appetizers. i went retro, with shrimp cocktail (i used fresh horseradish in the sauce and WOW that stuff packs a kick!) and stuffed celery (inspired by this recipe, but i prefer smoked cheddar to the blue cheese, and i don't bother blending it).



for dinner, mom prepared a pancetta wrapped beef tenderlion (the pancetta purchased from bolzano meats) with a red wine mushroom sauce, roasted potatoes, roasted root vegetables, a salad, and homemade crescent rolls.



the following day, hannah arrived! which meant more present opening. this time, oliver couldn't understand why most of the presents weren't for him. we had saved him a few to open that day, but apparently, it wasn't enough.




that night for dinner, i made a traditional style spaghetti alla carbonara using the guanciale we bought from bolzano meats.


let's get a close up of that, shall we?


almost too pretty to eat.

i've been rather intrigued and charmed by cream sauces that contain no cream. awhile back, we first made original fettuccine alfredo recipe, which uses only butter, cheese, and some pasta water to make the creamy sauce. it not only worked, but was better than all other roux/cream based alfredos i had in the past. so when i stumbled across the carbonara recipe, which uses only eggs and cheese for the sauce, i knew i had to try it. and i finally - FINALLY! - had access to real guanciale.

the result was pretty close to perfection. i loved it. this cream-less cream sauce thing is my new favorite.


mom, dad, shannon, dirk, and adrianne joined us.


which meant more presents.


and triple the silliness. i blame hannah.



we decided to go sledding sunday, so that we could get it in while we had snow and before we got too busy. we headed out to currie golf course, where hannah was confronted with the biggest sledding hill she's ever seen. i thought oliver would be too afraid - the hill is truly huge, and with all the cold weather, very frozen, meaning very slick and fast. we were flying down the hill!! but he loved it! after awhile, he wasn't too thrilled with the snow flying up in his face, and hannah didn't last too long in the cold either (and i believe she was a little bit afraid of the super fast hill, too!).







that night, i could have almost messed up dinner, but instead i made an awesome dinner. i had planned korean braised short ribs (galbi jim), but instead of defrosting short ribs, i defrosted spare ribs. oops. bryan assured me they would work, with a slightly different cooking time. i began by following the recipe as written - same marinade, and i simmered the ribs. after 2 hours, i checked on them, and decided that the marinade lacked the flavor i was looking for. so, i made up another batch of marinade, similar to the first, but with a few changes - sugar, soy sauce, mirin, garlic, sesame seeds, honey, ginger, and molasses. my goal was a sticky, sweet and savory sauce. would you believe it worked? i cooked the ribs for another 2 hours with the new marinade added to the sauce; the various sugars caramelized and helped to thicken the sauce. the final dish was exactly the flavor i was looking for.

from there, we moved into the week. it was good to have the whole family together again!


monday, bryan and hannah headed up to the farm. bryan helped them out with some computer problems, and hannah went skiing with kay and her daughter, sarah. hannah had never been skiing before, but had been asking about it, so she was thrilled!

while they were gone, i tried some new things for dinner - crockpot rotisserie chicken and stovetop mac n cheese. the chicken seems like it shouldn't work, but i kept reading good things about the method, so i decided to give it a try. i made a seasoned salt using lemon salt (which mom made us for christmas), black pepper, garlic, thyme, paprika, and marjoram. i rubbed the bird with olive oil, then the salt mix. at the bottom of the crockpot, i put 5 loose balls of foil, plopped the bird in, and that was that. i let the skin crisp under the broiler for a few minutes before we sat down to eat. i thought it worked out rather well. the meat was moist, the skin was crisp and tasty with the salt like that - very similar to a rotisserie chicken. the mac and cheese was another roux-less experiment. instead of roux or cream, the recipe calls for butter and evaporated milk. it came out very, very creamy. and it's definitely an easier and quicker method than a roux. oliver wasn't complaining, either.

luckily for hannah, this year we actually had a good bit of snow for her to play in. it seems most years the big snowfalls seem to miss her visits. she tried to teach oliver to make a snowman, but the snow was too powdery for packing, and oliver was more interested in tossing it in the air and yelling "SNOWBALL!" anyway.





wednesday, we braved the obvious perils of a road trip with a toddler, and drove to chicago for the day. oliver did amazingly well on the ride down; so well, in fact, that as soon as we arrived and i realized how lucky we were, i began to wonder what the catch was and experience a profound sense of dread. luckily, the problem was that being cooped up in his car seat for 2 hours meant lots of unspent energy that he wanted to release; but unfortunately, our first stop (the shedd aquarium) was such a zoo that we couldn't possibly let him run free.

we arrived around 9:30 a.m., which was shortly after the aquarium opened. we parked down the block (the avoid the $15 parking fee - WTH, CHICAGO?!), and decided to leave the stroller in the car, since that's usually what we do at the museums here. ha ha, joke was on us. the place was PACKED. woe is the parent of a toddler who forgets that all kids are out of school during christmas vacation. i only had to wait in line for 15 minutes or so for tickets, but there were already a TON of people there - wall to wall (though, it's a good thing we got there when we did, since when we left, all lines in the lobby were full, out the door, down the steps, and going around the block - those people must have waited a good 2 hours in the snow). so mostly we had to resort to bryan carrying oliver on his shoulders, which incited quite a few not so quiet riots. between oliver and the crowds, we didn't get to stroll around so much as we had hoped. he and hannah had fun anyways, though next time we'd probably skip the masses (and the $70 it cost us to get in) and do something else.






after we wrapped things up at the aquarium, we headed to lou malnati's for lunch. i know, i know - a chain. not our original plan. actually, our original plan had been hot doug's, but they were closed for the holidays (something i fortuitously thought to check before we went). as we were eating later than intended, and already encroaching on oliver's nap time, and both kids voted pizza, we found the closest place we could. next time, we'll hopefully plan a little better.

after lunch, we drove over to the museum of science and industry. sadly, we needed to get on the road and get oliver napping, so we didn't get to spend much time here. i forgot how huge that place is! we did get to see the u-505 sub, which is pretty darn cool. we plan on heading back in the summer and making that a full day destination.




the next day was new year's eve. for breakfast, i made pineapple pancakes with mango cream. shannon had sent me a recipe for pineapple upside down pancakes, which i modified a bit. i didn't have kashi cereal, so i used cornflakes; instead of buttermilk, i used regular lactaid milk; i opted to skip the maple syrup; and i didn't let them sit in the fridge more than 15 minutes or so. instead of syrup, i whipped up some heavy cream with cubed mango and a little sugar.



bryan had promised me tamales for dinner (YES!), and as we normally have the family over for NYE dinner, shannon came over to lend a hand.



they made quite a few, of a few different varieties - roast pork, bean, and corn.


we served them with homemade caesar salad, guacamole, pinto beans, and homemade queso freso.


i don't get tamales very often, but they are definitely worth the wait.




shannon made a flourless chocolate torte for dessert, with chocolate and chile for a little kick. it wasn't very spicy, so oliver and hannah had no problems eating their slices.


new years day, we celebrated the new year with food. are you starting to notice a pattern here?

hannah had requested a french toast casserole, which i thought would be perfect to have the morning of the 1st. last year, we tried a paula deen recipe, but this year when i came across one that involved cream cheese, i was happy to make the switch. that along with a little bacon was more than enough to fill us up for the morning.


as accorded by tradition, we usually have corned beef, black eyes peas, and greens or cabbage for dinner on the 1st. however, we forgot about corning a brisket until it was too late (don't worry, we will remember for st. patrick's day). i didn't want bryan to go totally without so we had corned beef sandwiches for lunch. when i asked the deli lady for shaved corned beef, she asked if i really meant shaved, or did i just mean really thin. um, no, i meant shaved. which is why i said it. it's rare that i misspeak about my food, woman.

that evening, shannon, hannah, and i went roller skating. there is a friday "roller party" at a rink way the heck out in cedarburg that was recommended to us, so we decided to give it a go. we had a blast! it took us a little while to feel stable on the skates (somehow, ice skating is easier), but we had fun. they had tons of games, a music request list (so i could remember my younger days at the roller rink by skating to some guns'n'roses), and some interesting people to watch. i don't think we'd drive 40 minutes to go to the same one again (there's a rink about 5 minutes from our house), but it was a fun night out.





that saturday was hannah's last full day with us. i decided we'd start the day with cardamom caramel rolls. the recipe calls for ground cardamom. we have cardamom pods. have you ever had to shell and grind cardamom? it's not exactly like shelling peanuts. i decided to do extra, since it's such a royal pain. it took me 40 minutes or so. oh, the things i will do for baked goods.

the rolls turned out pretty good. my only complaint was that in order to have them in the morning, i had to make them the night before (yeast being what it is and all), which meant the caramel sugar mix on the bottom was cold, and even the hour or so i let them rise before baking wasn't enough to come to temperature so that the caramel got gooey and sticky when baking. if doing these overnight, it might be better to leave the caramel mix at room temp, and switch the rolls from a tray in the fridge (without caramel) to a room temp tray (with the caramel). still, the rolls didn't suck. the cardamom lent a different but not unwelcome flavor.

that evening, mom, dad, and shannon joined us for dinner. hannah had requested macaroni pie, and i was inspired by this recipe for tacaroni (taco-ish flavored mac n cheese). i made taco flavored meat, with chile powder, garlic, onions, oregano, and cumin, and some tomatoes. plenty of cheese later (and some evaporated milk for creaminess), it went into a baking dish. instead of the traditional bread crumbs on top, i smashed some tortilla chips on top, and sprinkled them with lemon salt and chile powder. baked until happy. everyone really loved this. i made a gluten/dairy free version for dad (using quinoa pasta and soymilk), and he requested it from mom while we were eating it.


for dessert, i made chocolate cream pie, because i am just that great of a wife/mom/stepmom/daughter/sister. (except in the case of dad, since this was most definitely not dairy free, though i briefly considered trying to make it so, then decided to not even try to pretend it could be anywhere near as good if i did, and instead just bought him dairy free chocolate ice cream.) in any case, everyone loved me just a little bit more after that dinner.




it was a good final night to hannah's visit.




more pictures online, of course.

i'd like to say we're looking forward to relaxing some, but knowing us, it'll never happen. i'm trying to plan a trip to atlanta for oliver and i, hannah will be coming to spend her spring break with us, and before we know it, summer will be upon us - at least, that's what i'm hoping. i am ready for spring weather!