Making Places

Kale Update, Blog Update

2011-07-07T07:13:00.001-07:00

Hi friends,

Two months ago I told you about planting your garden for the cool, late spring we were having back then, and I showed you the baby kale plants we had just transplanted. With temperatures in Madison hovering around 85 degrees this week, that definitely feels like a long time ago.

Well, I've posted an update on those little kale plants, now big kale plants, over at my new internet home, sidonie.com, where I'm keeping a little project log. There's a super-easy recipe for kale chips over there, too, in case you feel like having a snack (I know I do).

Please go check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!

Sidonie

Unexpected Pops of Patchwork

2011-05-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

Like a lot of my fellow design-obsessed twenty-somethings, I go a little crazy for modern decor and super-clean lines. Although I love a good color blocking, I've never been a huge fan of quilting and patchwork. Don't get me wrong, I really admire the skill, patience and craftsmanship that go into intricate, multicolored patchwork pieces, but they often feel a little too precious or whimsical for my taste.

Not so with these pieces, which fuse handcrafted charm and sleek, elegant design, and would blend beautifully into a mid-century home. Best of all, by bringing patchwork out of the context of the quilt, these objects pack the power to surprise and inspire.

The first time I saw the Caitlin Chair by B+Y Design, my opinion of patchwork changed. The refined color palette and careful mixing of textures work beautifully with that playful but structured geometric pattern. I saw this about a year ago, and since then I've been imagining this motif on every chair in my house.

This room, featured in House to Home magazine, showcases gorgeous textiles from Vanderhurd in a patchwork pattern that mimics a mosaic and add instant depth to the room. Here again, the color and pattern choices are impeccable and play really nicely together to give a very streamlined look. That incredible chandelier from Habitat doesn't hurt, either.

This charming card from Etsy shop HereMyDear makes me just swoon. The font! The little stiches! The sentiment! I would definitely shy away from this mix of floral prints in a traditional quilt, but the crisp capital letters and even spacing keep it neat and fresh. I love it, and it's available in red or blue colorways.

Julian Louie collaborated with Aldo on these patchwork ikat wedges, and I love the look. I have to admit that these are just a pinch too high for me, but they're so much fun and definitely unexpected. And at $125 at Aldo, they're also pretty affordable.

Finally, patchwork is the perfect medium to fulfill a little digital nostalgia. Check out this pixelated pillow from Flickr user Voodoorabbit -- so sweet, simple and fun.

What do you think? What fresh takes on traditional crafts pique your interest?

Images: as linked above.

Plants for a late Spring: Finding the Right Crops for your Cool-Weather Garden

2011-05-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Tiny pepper sprouts will have to wait to be planted outside.

Here in Wisconsin, we've been experiencing a woefully late Spring. But the fear of a April or May frost need not keep gardeners indoors -- plenty of plants love the cool spring weather, and even thrive when the temperature dips unexpectedly.

So for those eager to get outside and start digging, here are a few hardy vegetables that you can plant early without fear.

This baby kale plant has begun to develop a rich gradient from lush green to deep purple.

Kale
With its renowned antioxidant properties, varied colors, and great versatility in the kitchen, kale is easily one of my favorite vegetables to grow. Though it can thrive all summer, kale's rich, nutty flavor actually sweetens with a frost, making it a perfect choice for spring and fall gardens.

Pea vines can be added to a springtime salad for a sweet change of pace.

Peas
Who doesn't love snacking on peas right off the vine? Crisp and refreshing, peas also handle the cooler temperatures with ease. Depending on the variety, they can be grown low to the ground or on a pole or trellis - perfect for apartment-dwellers who might be short on space. The best part? Many varieties can be ready for harvest in 60 days or fewer.

Broccoli
Originally evolving from cabbage, another great cold-weather crop, broccoli can happily withstand a little frost. In fact, it should be planted about a month before the last frost (in Wisconsin, our average last frost is May 10). With its excellent nutritional value, including helping in the prevention of cancer and heart disease, broccoli is a smart and tasty way to start your garden early.

As an onion grows, it sends up one shoot for each layer of the bulb.

Onions
Though onions prefer soil temperatures around 50 degrees and higher, they can survive with soil temperatures down to 36 degrees. Many varieties need long hours of daylight to produce bulbs, so be sure to place them in a sunny spot. Whenever you're ready, you can eat them as spring onions, or wait until they've matured to slice 'em up.

Of course, these are just the beginning. What other cool-weather crops round out your springtime garden?

Travel Photo Wednesday - Tuning In

2010-09-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well, ok. After I committed to blogging again, and then utterly failed to do so, I'm back at it. I have a new camera, I reorganized all of the photos on my computer, I'm ready.

I'll (re)start things off with Travel Photo Wednesday. In early August, some family members and I went on a fly-in fishing trip in Canada. We flew in on a fantastic old airplane that landed on the lake.

Isn't it great? There will be more Canada photos to come, I'm sure.

Weak week for travel photos

2009-02-12T09:09:00.000-08:00

I _really_ meant to post yesterday. I brought some travel photos on a USB drive to work so I could post.
I didn't get to it.

So I'm going to re-post a photo from our old blog, Iowa Summer. It's a nice reminder of springtime during this midwestern heat-wave we've been having--though next week I'm sure we'll be back in the depths of winter. I didn't even take the photo, in fact -- my boyfriend's friend Maria did. This is from a fantastic park near Maria's house in Japan.

Making a place to make things

2009-02-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

This might be first post I've made here that is really truly relavent to the name.

There's an alcove in my apartment, about three feet across and two feet deep. For a couple weeks I had a little table there, but it didn't fit very well and things just piled up on it, because it was not a nice place to work.

Then I fixed this problem.

First I tried to find an appropriate desk or bookshelf--it didn't happen. So I took the sensible course of action, and roped my dad into helping me build something.

I made the basic workplan, and then my dad and I put it together. When I told him, then, that I was going to cover it in wallpaper, I think he was skeptical.
But he need not have been skeptical.

Progress!
It's not even real wallpaper, I think it was supposed to be wrapping paper, maybe?

And the finished product:

Nothing could fit more perfectly into this little space, and it all came together for about $60--way less than a pre-fab desk OR bookshelf.

So now I have a place to make valentines! And as soon as I get a sewing machine... so excited.
Now this is a making-place.

sewing projects

2009-02-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

One of my goals over winter break was to sew more of my own clothing. I even got a new book, Sew U: Home Stretch, and am attempting to learn how to sew with knits and make my own t-shirts and a knit dress. So far, it's challenging. So I stuck with what I'm more familiar with, and made this skirt.

I already love wearing lots of shades of grey at once, so this just makes it easier.

The yellow on the hem is just the bias tape on the inside, it's not really visible when I wear the skirt. I didn't really use a pattern, so I am really happy that it turned out (almost) just like I pictured it in my head. It feels just a little bit cheerleader-ish, which is fun.

Fridays at home in Madison

2009-01-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

My new apartment, featuring my lovely (non-functional) fireplace, and, along the left side... pocket doors! I love pocket doors, especially with fancy handles and pretty moulding.

A Month Without Internet Access

2009-01-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it's not quite true. I have internet access at work, and when I go to my parents' house, but when I'm at these places it's usually because I have things to do... Things that are not blogging.

But oh, have I ever been doing things worth blogging about! And if Mal's going to get back into it, then I suppose I can, too.

At the end of December I started moving into my new apartment. I've been having tons of fun setting things up, decorating, putting my kitchen utensils in appropriate drawers and so on. With everything just about in order (for now), I threw a little housewarming party last weekend to garner some compliments and give myself an excuse to cook excessive amounts of appetizers.

The Menu
Pita chips with hummus and almond-eggplant dip
Stuffed mushrooms
Broiled polenta rounds with tomato-bean sauce
Corn & feta filo purses
Felafel stuffed with goat cheddar

Reasons Why I'm a Fool
1. Forgot to take any photos
2. Completely forgot to fry and serve the felafel

...So in addition to a housewarming party, I also had a lovely felafel dinner earlier this week with zero prep.

The point: Without internet access I've been (a) wildly productive on cooking, decorating, and making things. But (b) terribly incapable of blogging.
The goal: Continue part (a); rectify part (b).

Travel Photo Wednesdays: On Ice

2009-01-28T12:36:00.001-08:00

Okay, maybe I'm even back for real this time. I took a bunch of photos out on the frozen lake at my cabin, mostly of my sister and our dog, but also of branches with frozen over berries, footprints filling up with water, and the way the sun hits the snow. It was right after I got my new camera and it was really nice to look at the world again in the way only holding a camera makes me do.

And everybody kind of looks like an important explorer when they're backed by an expanse of ice.

I also sewed a new skirt, and I want to show it to you. How does tomorrow sound?

up north at the cabin

2009-01-01T11:51:00.001-08:00

I'm ringing in the new year in northern Minnesota, at my family's cabin. Last night we went out for dinner, and then watched old episodes of the Johnny Cash show on PBS and tried to stay awake until midnight.

One of my favorite books when I was little.

Newly installed fireplace! An excellent addition.

Puppy and dad lounging on the couch, a choice cabin activity.

I'll post again tomorrow for Fridays At Home (cabin edition!), and hopefully with some more frequency in the new year.

Friday at Home, Except Not

2008-11-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

This week for "Fridays at Home," I'm away. Pleasantly ironic, isn't it? I'm visiting my relatives in Germany, but I got a picture before I left. And oh dear, I know, it's an awful picture! Promise to make up for it next week.

Anyway, I bought this bag at the market for 10zl (about $3.50), and I've already had to, shall we say, reinforce the stitching at the zipper. But it's perfect for little week-long trips like this!

See you next week!

This time without fireworks

2008-11-13T05:12:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was Independence Day in Poland. They're celebrating 90 years since the founding of the second Polish Republic (at the end of WWI), so it's sort of a big deal. Above is a photo of the flag outside our apartment building.

Brian and I celebrated in the same way as many of our fellow Cracovians--we got on a jam-packed bus (I mean my face was up against someone else's coat for most of the ride), and rode to the zoo!

We weren't actually headed to see the animals, though. The Krakow zoo is surrounded by woods, called Las Wolski, which are full of walking and biking trails. It was our first time out there, and I would definitely return. It helped that we had an absolutely gorgeous day. How many days in mid-November are 55F, sunny and cloudless?

Some of the trails are densely wooded, and some are edged with jagged limestone ridges. Some paths are paved, and some are a bit more rugged. It's a pretty big and diverse area.

The highlight of the trip, and the reason everyone comes out there on independence day, though, is a mound. Ok, a really big mound. Krakow has four of them, each with winding paths leading up to a great viewing point at the top. This one, though, is called Independence Mound, in memory of Josef Pilsudski, the celebrated Polish leader, who took charge as Chief of State of Poland 90 years ago. The mound contains soil from various battlefields, and so it's a pretty important place for an independence day celebration.

Like I said, from the top you can see all of Krakow, which is pretty spectacular. The view's not actually as great as from the Kosciuszko Mound, closer to the center of town, but it's still pretty cool.

Meanwhile, in town, the downtown was pretty crowded, a stage was set up for a sort of pagent and for some reason, small children were on every corner playing instruments. In particular, we saw a few little boys with little accordians... mostly they seemed not very interested in playing. I surreptitiously snapped this shot of an accordian boy against a lamppost on the main square. He would only play a few beats before stopping to gape at the pedestrians or pick his nose. I can't assume it was a very lucrative day for these kids, but who knows?

All in all, a fun and classy Independence Day.

colorful food for fall

2008-11-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

So, I'm living in Poland right now--perhaps you've heard me mention that.
We like to eat cheaply, and we do almost all our grocery shopping at the Old Market (Stary Kleparz), which is about five minutes' walk from our place. What this means: we eat a lot of cabbage, onions, bread, barley and button mushrooms. White foods, in other words.

Lately we've been trying to incorporate more color into our culinary lives. It's really a perfect time to do it, too, because fall makes me want to put color everywhere, but especially on my plate! Our number one secret weapon against colorless food has been salad, and I think we've been pretty successful.

Top five colorful ingredients that we can get at the market, while staying frugal:
1. Avocado (definitely our biggest salad-splurge item at approx. $1 a piece)
2. Spinach (about $0.80 for a tremendous bunch, usually takes three meals to get through)
3. Yellow Lentils! (we've taken to soaking and cooking dry lentils rather than using canned, which is cheaper and tastier--the texture really does something for a spinach salad, and, of course, the color compliment is lovely)
4. Red Cabbage (delicious change of pace from white cabbage, slightly more expensive at about $0.50 for a good sized cabbage head)
5. Tomatoes (about $2/kilogram, less for the smaller, sweeter varieties)

And I recently learned to best absorb the lycopene in tomatoes, you should eat them with some fat. That's the best reason for a light oil-based salad dressing that I know of, after the obvious (delicious).

Considering all the pierogi, naleśniki and zapiekanka we eat, the right colorful salad can be positively refreshing, not to mention vital to our health.

Fridays at Home

2008-11-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

Today one of my housemates and I got home from class, looked around our funny, useless little room between our kitchen and family room, and decided to clean it up. At the beginning of the year we had arranged this cute little reading nook and set up a sewing table, but the room had since been inundated by empty bottles waiting to be filled with home-brewed beer, drumset parts, hats, gloves, miscellaneous papers, half-completed knitting projects, etc. The works.

In an unplanned cleaning frenzy, we got rid of all of the clutter and unearthed our lovely reading nook. I promptly curled up with a cup of coffee and a scone and caught up on food and design blogs. A nice way to spend a snowy(!) afternoon.

Introducing Fridays at Home

2008-11-07T08:53:00.001-08:00

I think the archive of this blog shows that Travel Photo Wednesdays has been a pretty successful idea, and with that in mind, Mallory and I are proud to introduce a new theme day to our blog-weeks.

Fridays at Home, as we'll call it, is pretty much the opposite of our Wednesdays abroad. We'll post photos from our home environments, our daily routines, etc. Things that might otherwise go overlooked.

I'm not incredibly proud of my first contribution to the theme, but I'm not actually at home (I'm at a tiny cafe, an environment that might be fairly considered my second home), and this is what I have.

Roses, especially the smaller breeds, are too pretty to let wilt and drop their petals. I prefer to dry them, and in our apartment, this is the solution I have found for hanging them to dry in perfect form. This particular rose was a birthday gift from a Polish friend (see my earlier post on the Polish flower habit. The drying rose looks admittedly weird for a day and a half hanging on our mini-blinds, but now it lays delicately on the hood above our stove, and brings some small amount of color to our kitchen.

Travel Photo...Thursday?

2008-11-06T20:30:00.001-08:00

Now that my homework and other obligations are piling up, and I no longer have fall break to look forward to, I'm getting kind of nostalgic for some things about my semester in Germany. Mostly, how much easier the academics were. But also the numerous wine tastings paid for by IES.

Too bad my current studies don't include paid-for field trips to wineries. Isn't it still an important cultural experience?

On the main square in Wroclaw, Poland

2008-11-05T03:13:00.000-08:00

I took this photo of a small girl with a bicycle in downtown Wrocław, Poland, this past weekend. I love it. Enjoy.

Weekend Getaways

2008-11-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

Today is election day. Maybe you've heard? Every blog I read posted something about it.
Here in Poland we won't know the results until 7 or 8 or 9am Wednesday morning -- and I have the mimosas ready and waiting.

Meanwhile, I spent the weekend in Wrocław (with my boyfriend and his father, who is visiting us) and Poznań (with one of my very best friends). It was a really nice getaway for a few days, and I got to see two lovely cities I'd never been to before.

I did what you might expect from me -- went to the cinema to watch a foreign film, drank tea and mulled beer in tiny dim cafes, bought (somewhat) old maps, went to a John Coltrane tribute concert and, oh, yeah, I took some photos!

Here are the main market squares of each town -- you can compare for yourselves.
Wrocław:

And Poznań:

And for good measure, here's a snap of the amazing breakfast spread courtesy of my dear friend Asia:

Wonderful! I particularly liked the blood sausage with barley -- I can't help but wonder, though, what my seventeen-year-old self, the vegan, would have to say about that. Not to mention my dear co-blogger, also vegan. Mallory? Thoughts?

Travel Photo Wednesday

2008-10-29T17:20:00.001-07:00

Today's travel photo wednesday...a look back at one of my favorite parts of Freiburg, the beer garden on the Schlossberg.

It's starting to feel closer and closer to winter every day...so I'm getting nostalgic for the days of beers outside in the evening, when it got dark later than 7:00 PM.

The Return of Travel Photo Wednesday

2008-10-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

These are photos from the Great Canadian Barn Dance in Alberta, Canada, as you can clearly see. I camped there with my family and my boyfriend this past August. It was very beautiful.

Ciasto

2008-10-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day at my internship. In general I'm excited about the upcoming onslaught of free time, but there are always a few things to miss about leaving, even after such a relatively short time... The Center was a great place for me to practice languages--people came in speaking Polish, English, German, French, and plenty of languages I don't know... I even got to try out a little rusty Yiddish a couple times; I also loved it when the orchestra rehearsed in our concert hall, right next to the reception desk, though talking on the phone over some of Beethoven's louder swells is a trick. The best part of my days was the building staff, though.

Today the doorman, who must be one of the most friendly people I've ever met, said goodbye to me in the universal language: cake.

Of course, goodbyes are always bittersweet, but this one was definitely on the sweet side.

Speaking of wallpaper...

2008-10-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

This photo is from one of the hundreds of great bars in Kazimierz, the former Jewish quarter of Krakow. The bar is called Alchemia and features jazz shows, a beautiful brick cellar, and a long series of dark, quirky and often crowded rooms -- in short, the main staples of a good bar in Krakow.

The main room also showcases this phenomenal wallpaper, which seems to be hand-painted. The photo doesn't do it justice, really. Because of the layers and the metallic paint, it changes depending on how you look at it. Another reason to look into wallpapering everything, the way these folks do.

It Might Snow Next Week...

2008-10-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

...But we're making the most of Fall now.

This morning I was walking across Plac Szczpański, like I usually do, and I found a large obstacle in my way. It was a corral, and inside were three women handing out small bags of apples with pamphlets.
I've seen it before: apples given as incentive to read company literature, but never more than one apple, maybe two if you ask nicely. But bags of apples? Now we're talking.

Anyway, I immediately texted Brian: Free apples! At work I thought about the bounty in my backpack. Brian got two bags, and together we had nine apples (here it starts to sound like a word problem from third grade math class). When I got home from work, I knew what to do. I mean seriously, when life gives you apples...

I love applesauce. Nothing screams Fall quite like yellow leaves and the smell of apples simmering down to their most delicious essence with some help from cinnamon and cloves. And did I mention the apples were free?

It turned out delicious, of course. Some of the apples in the bunch were really very good. Even better, I managed to press out a couple of glasses of cider, too. Together with some trail mix, a great little snack:

I have to admit, though--we still haven't read the pamphlets.

Series: Things I Love About Poland, Part II: Flowers

2008-10-23T13:39:00.001-07:00

Spending an extended period of time in a new place, you start to perceive the little cultural differences that aren't immediately evident. Those little things--customs in Poland like hand-kissing and using exact change--those are the sweetest parts of spending time in new places.

Here's another one I love: kwiaty. In Poland, there's an appropriate flower for every occasion. At my work, we rarely get through an event without the giving of red or pink roses; for birthdays its yellow roses but yellow chrysanthemums are reserved for funerals. I once gave a carnation for an apology, and the recipient actually laughed at me.

But the best part for me isn't really the individual instances, it's the overall omnipresence of flowers and flower-sellers. On Sundays the streets are full of young women with flowers, anxious dates with small bouquets, mothers pushing strollers carrying flowers, men holding flowers in one hand and their girlfriend's hand in the other. On sunny days, the main market square in Krakow is one huge flower-shop, and it's really not a tourist trap. I'm pretty sure it's--if I may dare to use the word--authentic.

Anyway, as traditions go, it's bright and cheery and definitely something special for me.

If flowers aren't charming enough for you, though, no worries: peacock feathers are also very popular.

Now That's Apartment Therapy!

2008-10-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

It's no great secret that I'm not loving my internship these days. But I've got a secret weapon that always cheers me up during slow hours of folding, stapling and xeroxing: interior design blogs.

I love a good craft blog, and there's nothing like Simply Breakfast to lift my spirits, but lately I've been really into anything involving wallpaper, paint or ripping out carpet.

There's a reason for this. I'll be coming back to the states at the end of December and moving into a little one-bedroom with hardwood floors and high ceilings. I can't imagine my landlord will let me paint or wallpaper, but I can certainly imagine what I'd do if I could!

Anyway, I've been dreaming about dove gray pocket doors, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired wall decals, and silk-screened tea towels, but it's all very concrete inspiration (thanks, Google Reader!).

This weekend, though, I was strolling through the royal chambers of the castle in Warsaw, when I came across some remarkably charming inlaid wood floors. The one pictured above is striking and beautiful, but this one below -- this pattern I want somewhere in my apartment. Maybe not on the floor, ok, but what about just one little wall?

Dear Landlord,

How about it?

Series: Things I love about Poland, Part I: Milk Bars

2008-10-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

Remember the psychedelic black-and-white Milk Bar from A Clockwork Orange? The one that serves several varieties of milk, and nothing else?
Well, it's real. Sort of.

The milk bar (bar mleczny) does exist, but I've never seen any actual glasses of milk at one, let alone a table in the shape of a woman. The milk bar is essentially a cafeteria selling really decent polish food at really decent prices. They're usually poorly decorated and there is always, without fail, an aproned woman behind the counter, holding a soup ladle.

My personal favorite items are the most basic things on the menu: pierogi ruskie, or "russian" pirogi, which are filled with delicious potato and cheese; naleśniki z serem, or cheese-filled crepes, which can be sweet or savory; and placki ziemniaczane, potato pancakes. I also love the barszcz z krokietem (borscht with a croquette), in particular because it's usually considered an appetizer, not a full meal, and thus rarely costs more than about a dollar fifty. Beautiful.

The milk bar pictured above is located in the Nowa Huta district of Krakow, a city built as a "worker's paradise" in 1949/50 for the workers at the new steel mill outside town. This milk bar sits in Plac Centralny, or Central Square, which, in 1984, was renamed in honor of Ronald Reagan.
Seriously.

This infatuation with Ronald Reagan is not going to make it into this series of posts on things I love about Poland, I think. Sorry, Ron.

Jesień w Polsce (Fall in Poland)

2008-10-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend and I are living in Krakow right now, in an apartment not far from the city center. It's my favorite time of year in one of my favorite cities. Still, it's nice to have a change of scenery from time to time, so this weekend we took the express train to Warsaw.
This is the Palace on the Water, which is surrounded by gardens. Even though it's not really gardening season, and I'll admit it, the weather this weekend was anything but ideal for strolling, I still absolutely adore walking through wooded gardens in autumn. Poland is a great place for that.

Back in Krakow, the leaves aren't quite as advanced as in Warsaw. Every day I walk through the Planty gardens, which surround the Old Town and are therefore on my way from our apartment to just about everything. For me, it's ideal and romantic and even sort of inspirational. But I love that it's not just a recreational garden -- for so many people, it's just a sidewalk like any other.

When I was in elementary school, my friend Michaela told me that if you catch a falling leaf, you won't get sick for a month. I've never been quick enough to catch very many leaves, but in gardens like these, on a windy day the leaves just swirl around and get tangled in my hair, and finally, finally I am becoming a champion falling-leaf-catcher.
Unfortunately, this weekend we got caught in a lot of that wind and some heavy rain, too, and I caught a cold.
Sorry, Michaela, it isn't true.

so many preserves

2008-10-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well, hi there. I've been quite the delinquent blogger. But I'm settled into my house now, so you'll get the blog tour soon. (When everything's clean, that is). For now, a glimpse at some of the fun projects going on around here: one of my housemates started the Food Preservation Society, a club for preserving food and exploring food traditions. The rest of us have been the lucky recipients of a large number of these tasty preserved goods.

Sauerkraut, with farmers market cabbage!

Bread and butter pickles! With cucumbers acquired for free at a local bar.

Tomatoes from the farmers market + a school-funded dehydrator:

Delicious home-dried tomatoes!

Apples picked from various trees around campus become...

Apple butter!

I think I'm pretty good at choosing housemates. Coming up: plum jam, green tomato and apple chutney, apple chips, fruit leather. Oh boy.

Banff Canadian Nat'l Park

2008-09-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday. I'm in Krakow, but haven't had a chance to upload photos to my computer yet. This week's travel photo comes from our camping trip to Banff Nat'l Park in Alberta, CA, from August 2008. Pictured is Lake Louise, named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Is it not special?

Travel Photo Iceland

2008-09-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

Legitimate excuse for the lateness: somehow Blogger wasn't working on my Icelandic internet yesterday. BUT - arrived in Scotland, now I can post yesterday's update.

A double feature on this week's travel photo wednesday -- two photos from our first day in Reykjavik, September first, 2008.

On the north road

2008-09-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning we arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, and we've been having a grand old time. Things are a little pricey here, but thanks to couchsurfing.com we're making do and meeting great people, too.

Yesterday we saw a good deal of the city, including a lot of great public sculpture as in the photo above. Today we took a ferry out to a nearby island called Videy, where we rode bikes on rocky paths, and looked at remains of an old fishing village.

Tomorrow we're hoping to rent a car and see some of the countryside -- waterfalls, geysers, etcetera. I'll keep you posted.

Birthday Dinner

2008-08-30T08:25:00.001-07:00

Today my parents and I are preparing a little birthday dinner for me and my boyfriend, who will be abroad during our September birthdays, and also for my brother, whose birthday was earlier this month.

Tonight's dinner, moussaka, with carrot cake for dessert, would warrant a post of its own. But it gets me thinking of last week's birthday dinner, in honor of Mallory's 22nd.

We hadn't seen each other since before we started this blog, so it was a sweet chance to do some co-blogging. Somehow we missed the chance, but we did take advantage and do some collaborative cooking. Mallory found a great recipe for vegan, gluten-free "lasagna" made with corn tortillas instead of pasta and filled with a spicy tomato and bean sauce, with layers of avacado and corn in the middle. On top we crumbled baked tortillas to add some crunch, and paired it with spinach salad with a cinnamon-cumin dressing. Between the six of us at dinner, we easily polished off the large pan.

We started at the farmer's market, which is one of my favorite parts of summer in Grinnell, anyway.

It's like slicing butter, only more appetizing.

Halfway through and adding layers.

Halfway through, this time subtracting...

I love the birthday dinner tradition. In fact, I love any excuse for a little dinner party with my friends. Visiting Grinnell last week was a little melancholy, as I mentioned, but writing this post reminds me of a lot of really great moments, from potlucks with Lina and Abby second year and hauling pots of indian food across Mac Field to the German House faculty dinner junior year. From cooking over a makeshift candle-stove when we lost power for five days in February '07 to much-blogged-about summer potlucks last year and grill-outs on the deck this past semester.

I also love any excuse for a little reminiscing.

Hopeful Return from Hiatus

2008-08-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hi Blog. I'm back.

In the almost two months since you've seen me, I've done a lot, sort of. Let me make a list:
1. Got a job. Yessss!
2. Went on vacation.
3. Visited my co-blogger and much-missed friend, Mallory, on her birthday.
3. Planned my next big move.

May I elaborate?

Okay.

1. I'm going to be working for Epic Systems Corporation starting next February. I'll be traveling a lot and living in Madison, my beloved hometown. That means several exciting things, including apartment-hunting, apartment-decorating and, most importantly, my own kitchen.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. That's not 'til Feburary.

2. My boyfriend, Brian, and my parents and I took off for two weeks of camping earlier this August. We went to Banff Canadian National Park in Alberta, by way of the Dakotas and Montana. It was a beautiful trip with lots of wildlife and frisbee and hiking... I'll try to remember to post some highlights in the coming days.

3. Mallory is supposed to blog about this, I think, and I'm going to post photos of the delicious feast we cooked up, but I thought I'd mention it. I visited my other hometown, Grinnell. I saw friends and ate muffins and chatted with professors and it was gorgeous and a little surreal, since I won't be returning to campus for another semester.

4. Did I mention I'm moving abroad? For the next five months I'll be in Europe, mostly in Krakow, Poland. On the way there, Brian and I will check out Iceland and Scotland to see new things and visit friends. I'm starting to get seriously excited for this. We leave in three days, and I'm already mostly packed and totally pumped. I've been apartment-hunting online for Krakow, but we still don't have a place to stay. That's the only really scary part...

I made granola for the trip, and it was nice because I haven't made granola in a few years. It's so easy and so delicious that I wonder why I don't make it more often. The recipe I used is from the Recipes for a Small Planet cookbook by Francis Moore Lappe, and focuses on complementary proteins. The upshot of this is that, even without adding milk, this granola contains complete proteins, which are, I guess, extra healthy.

That's my last few weeks in a nutshell. I hope to get back in the swing of blog-posting, and to never let you down again, Blog.

And in the mean time, because I don't like a post without a photo, here's a pretty one from Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Enjoy:

Hello again

2008-08-18T19:18:00.001-07:00

Hi! I haven't been here in a while. I'm back in Minnesota now, after a wonderful semester in Germany and traveling in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The above photo typifies the Belgium portion of my trip, when I was traveling with my sister: along with the wandering and sightseeing, a lot of hanging out in hostel bars planning, meeting people, playing cards, and sampling Belgian beers.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other photos from my trip because I accidentally sent my camera cord home with my parents. It's too bad, it would have been useful for Travel Photo Wednesdays in the future.

Pool of orange

2008-07-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

A common sight in the town in the mountains that we visited - refreshment stands along the hiking trail offering sodas and oranges (waiting to be turned into fresh-squeezed orange juice) chilling in natural refrigerators.

High Atlas Mountains, Morocco
April 2008

soccer wrap-up

2008-07-08T15:17:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know I said I'd post every day this week, I really did write this post yesterday and was about to post it when my computer battery died. I was up on my 7-foot-tall bunk bed, and it takes a lot to get me to climb down this ladder once I've climbed up to go to bed. So there's my inadequate excuse.

I realized that I never posted any pictures from my various Euro2008-watching experiences. A couple good reasons: right before I was going to take pictures of the projected-on-a-sheet-in-my-kitchen viewing parties I dropped my camera in the toilet, I forgot my camera at the party in Berlin where I watched the finale, I'm lazy sometimes.

But here are a few pictures that don't adequately convey the Fußballfieber.

Public viewing at a local park

Crowds of people celebrating after Germany made it into the final.

So many German flags and painted faces...it's always kind of surprising to see these kinds of patriotic displays in Germany, since flag-waving-nationalism is understandably not common. But it really is nice to see everyone rallying around something positive...even if the celebrations kept me up at night and they went on to lose to Spain. Certainly an exciting time to be studying in Germany.

the sunniest city in germany

2008-07-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

You wouldn't have known it a few weeks ago when it was raining all the time, but Freiburg is known as having the best weather in Germany, and I'm intent on soaking it up before I leave.

On my friend Fiona's last day in Freiburg, we grabbed a blanket, bread, cheese and wine and headed to a local park by a lake.

Needless to say, it was wonderful, as lounging around in the sun usually is.

A few days later I spent a Saturday morning outside on the same blanket with a cup of coffee and a good book. This will likely happen tomorrow morning as well, but with the sources for my term paper. I enjoyed my personal ban on homework while it lasted (just a weekend).

A good way to enjoy Freiburg, but as it turns out, Berlin is quite sunny as well.

Making Tall Places

2008-07-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago I went with my boyfriend to the carnival that is Navy Pier to visit our friend Sarah, who works for Chicago Public Radio. After a tour of the offices, she gave us fortune cookies and passes to the Ferris Wheel. So that was pretty great.
We went up on the McDonald's brand gondolas, up, up, up... and back down again. I took pictures. No surprise there.

There was obviously a great view of Lake Michigan and the skyline, and it was a beautiful clear day. One of the neatest things for me was to look out and see the Hancock building (that's the tall black one just left of center), where we had earlier that week had drinks. They have a lounge and restaurant, priced to fit the view, on the 96th floor. The weather that day wasn't nearly as spectacular, but here's the view down the shoreline from up there:

As a big public radio fan, I'd love to say that WBEZ Chicago was more exciting that these views... but you just can't beat being really, really high.

An American holiday in Germany

2008-07-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

Maybe one of the three firework displays that Sidonie attended can make up for my total lack of fireworks this Fourth of July. I did, however, attend a Fourth of July party put on by a local foundation for American-German relations. It was at a brewery, so there was plenty of good beer along with country music, barbecue (do you think it's weird that barbecue doesn't have a 'Q' in it?), American flags and a discussion about the upcoming elections (more intellectual than the typical Independence Day party).

My other Fourth of July activity was baking chocolate chip cookies, with chocolate chips sent by my mom. Unfortunately no pictures, since they were gone within a few hours. Depending on who you ask, they were either "really, really delicious" or "unglaublich lecker". My mom sent my grandma's recipe, on an old hand-written notecard that I've seen many times before.

Luckily, I froze some of the dough, so maybe I'll bake some more cookies later this week and be quicker with the camera.

Independence from dark night skies

2008-07-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

It looks like the setting sun, but oh, no.

I've been to three fireworks displays this week. That's how much I love loud noises, brilliant colors in the sky, and America.

The first was last Saturday, Rhythm & Booms in Madison. It's the midwest's largest fireworks display, timed to music on the radio. I watched from across the lake, where the fireworks were small but beautifully reflected in the water.

Thursday night, July 3rd, I was on the shore of Lake Michigan, watching Chicago's official fireworks display--similar to Madison's, but we got really close and drew excitement from the huge crowd. I might post some pictures of that night when I get home and upload the photos on my camera. The highlight for me was walking in a giant crowd across Michigan Avenue and down Monroe, all traffic blocked off -- it was definitely reminiscent of a massive demonstration, except we had nothing to protest. I ate a giant bag of Skittles.

But last night--last night was really something else. On the fourth in Chicago, everyone in the city goes all out. It seems as though entire monthly salaries are spent on impressive displays in all directions. We stood on top of a parking garage until we were booted by security. From two stories above every other building around we could see firecrackers going off all around us, from the street below (and, terrifyingly, even one from the parking garage itself) and receding brightly into the distance. Here was the immediacy that Rhythm & Booms had lacked. Everywhere we drove we were right in the middle of the war zone. "Intense" describes it well.

These low quality photo attempts are from Madison's display, and don't do any justice to it, but I figured I'd put them up anyway.

catching up

2008-07-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

Dear blog, I'm sorry. You've been neglected by me.

But! now I am done with my program courses and my university course presentation. Just two classes a week and a paper to write. No problem.

Add this newly-found freetime to gorgeous weather and a desire to explore Freiburg more before I leave, and you get...a post every day this week! Really. I figure I should set lofty goals for myself.

I was in Berlin from last Saturday until Wednesday, which was wonderful. Saw friends, wandered the city, drank lots of coffee at lots of cute and hip cafes, found stores that I couldn't even let myself walk into for fear of spending money. I braved the fear to go into a few of them, though, like a bookstore with only cookbooks. Sigh. They even had a comfy bench. And a copy of Breakfast Lunch Tea, one of my favorite cookbooks.

Which reminded me that I found one of my favorite recipes from the book (one of Sidonie's favorites too) online. Lemon, Rice and Polenta Cake. Lemony, gluten-free and pleasantly crunchy.

And, my travel photo wednesday (um, saturday) post, one of the aforementioned cute hip cafes in Berlin. Cappuccino and a waffle with strawberry sauce = a good way to start a day.

And a bonus, as atonement for my blog neglect. We went on a great bike ride near Berlin on Sunday, including a cafe on a houseboat, sunburns and volleyball on the beach at a lake, and adventures maneuvering bikes up and down escalators and on and off of trains.

the 2nd city

2008-07-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

I'm spending the week in Chicago, which has meant that although I'm not posting, I am taking pictures and collecting stories to post when I return to Madison on Sunday. Hold me to that, o internet readers. I will update.

In the mean time, here's a (small) travel photo for you.

Delhi, India
January, 2006

Enjoy!

So very late

2008-06-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

I apologize for being such a blog delinquent. I've been doing final exams and papers for my study abroad program...but now I am done! Only with the program classes though, I still have two university courses. Regardless, I will have a lot more free time now, and therefore will go on lots of walks with my camera. I hope to do a series of "My Favorite Places in Freiburg" posts before I leave.

First, though, here is Travel Photo Wednesday.

In Meissen, Germany at Meissen Porcelain. We got to see several demonstrations of different steps of the process, which was far more involved than I imagined and explained why everything was so expensive. So much for bringing home a souvenir...but I was really impressed by the work and talent that went into each piece. There were even flowers that were made by hand, and you could see the fingerprints on each petal, shaped by hand, one-by-one.

Along the path to a mountaintop shrine

2008-06-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

Yamagata, Japan
June 2007

Not generally a huge sandwich fan...

2008-06-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

...But I devised a wonderfully delicious sandwich the other day. Unfortunately I didn't get to take pictures before it was entirely devoured.

Sandwich components:
1. Toasted wheat bread
(I used my fresh, homemade rosemary seven-grain peasant bread. It doesn't get any better than that, but something else just might also work.)
2. Whipped cream cheese
3. Spinach & Arugula
4. Parsley (I used flat leaf -- perfect texture)

Try it. Then thank me.

John Lennon

2008-06-18T09:58:00.001-07:00

Prague, March 2008

This wall has a constantly changing coat of graffiti, mostly John Lennon themed, lots of Beatles lyrics. That yellow paint in the lower left corner is part of the "F" in Free Tibet and was also, as a fellow traveler discovered, very fresh. I think she might still be carrying a little piece of Prague on her purse.

Rocks and trees

2008-06-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

Sächsische Schweitz (Saxon Switzerland), near Dresden, Germany
October, 2006
Taken during a 19km hike ending in the Czech Republic, in the region known as Bohemian Switzerland.

an unfortunate accident

2008-06-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight I put my camera in my back pocket when I went into the kitchen to watch the Germany v. Austria soccer game with my roommates. They hung up a sheet and projected the game over the sink, and we put out all kinds of tasty snacks (the Americans provided chips and dip, the Germans provided baguettes and marmelade).

Unfortunately, I didn´t take a picture before my camera slid out of my back pocket and into the toilet. Right now it won´t turn on, but it is drying on my windowsill and I am hopeful. I will report on its condition, but don´t expect any pictures for a while. Perhaps I´ll steal pictures from friends I´ve traveled with so that I can still post a Travel Photo Wednesday pic.

edit, wednesday: just tried it again and it works! celebratory photo of my breakfast:

dresses, plants, rain

2008-06-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything real in awhile.
That's mostly because I have been filling out job applications like it's my, um, job.
Unfortunately, it's not. I don't have one. But I will!

And in the mean time, I'm going to
1. sew a jacket
2. read Jane Austen
3. swim
4. update this blog. seriously.

here's a quick tour of this past week:

The cutest thing in the garden right now is our circle of friends of green beans:

They've survived the recent downpours like champions.

And what garden would be complete without a terrifying plastic owl?

It won't surprise anyone to know that I've been cooking...

& my parent's CSA box has been keeping things interesting. We made a sweet salad from these pea vines:

Oh! And I totally forgot to post the (basically) completed gingham dress!
It's been sitting on my dressform, almost complete, for well over a week now.
The button tabs are still only pinned on. I just haven't gotten around to it...
But you get the picture. It's pretty sweet.

Until next time!

Late, late, late

2008-06-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

We can't all be on time for Travel Photo Wednesdays.
But better late than never, right?

This is a photo from a cafe in Amsterdam. They had a couple of sculptures... Really added to the atmosphere of the place. It was taken in late March, 2008.
We had come in from the cold, and after drinking our coffees, poured smuggled-in wine into our empty cups. Excellent idea.

Travel Photo Wednesday

2008-06-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

Colmar, France
I was there on a day trip with my study abroad program, it's a really cute town and not far from Freiburg. We went to a wine tasting and wandered around peering in bakery windows, then bought a bunch of bread and cheese to go with the wine we bought. Exactly how I had pictured a day trip to France.
March, 2008

Bits and pieces

2008-06-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

I'd hate for my next Travel Photo Wednesday post to be my last post since, um, last Wednesday (ok, Thursday). But finals are looming, and I have limited time. So instead of something coherent and unified, here are some snapshots of my life in the past week:

I was walking home one day, and there was a carnival being built in the park near my apartment! Exciting. I didn't go on any rides, but I did have a beer with my roommates in the beer tent. Oh, and I bought a paper cone full of delicious french fries for 50 (Euro) cents.

Saturday was one of my roommate's birthdays and he wanted a Christmas party. I baked cookies (chocolate mint and peanut butter with chocolate on top) and we hung up paper snowflakes, listened to the Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums, and made Kahlua milkshakes.

I gave myself a haircut! The bangs were easy, but the back was tough. I wish it were shorter, but that will have to wait until I once again have a live-in hairdresser (um, mom).

Wednesday, only a bit belated

2008-06-05T02:11:00.001-07:00

At the Naschmarkt in Vienna, where I went in March to visit a friend for a week. Every Saturday there is a huge flea market in addition to the huge food market. The buttons continue a considerable distance to the back and the left...all I could do was stare, a little shaky and weak at the knees. The embroidered ribbon/trim/lace stand produced a similar reaction

Wednesday Again!

2008-06-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Czestochowa, Poland
A popular Catholic pilgrimage site, the location of the Black Madonna, and a fun idol-filled day trip from Krakow.
November, 2006

Spargelzeit

2008-06-03T02:57:00.000-07:00

The Germans go pretty crazy over white asparagus when it is in season.

Yes, it is beautiful and delicious, and in season for only a short period, but here asparagus season is like a holiday. Asparagus isn't a side dish, it is the main event. Whole meals are planned around it. In the bookstores there are tables full of cookbooks devoted exclusively to asparagus recipes, sauces, and sides. Grocery stores have displays with hollandaise sauce mixes, common side dishes, recommended wines, and special spice blends. I even saw a bag of potatoes specially labeled "Asparagus Potatoes" because they were the perfect kind to serve with asparagus. Department stores and cookware stores have tables of asparagus serving platters, tongs, steamers, and other asparagus-specific equipment. In one grocery store, along with a loudspeaker announcement about the weekly specials there was a little jingle about "Unsere schöne Spargelzeit".

What I'm saying is, they take it pretty seriously.

Some friends and I decided to get together and cook a bunch of white asparagus with traditional accompaniments. One friend had previously stayed with a family in Offenburg and got recipes and asparagus-cooking-tips from his host mother. We decided on steamed white asparagus (steaming water seasoned with a little each of salt, sugar and vinegar) wrapped in crepes with hollandaise sauce, and a side of small boiled potatoes tossed with salt, pepper and lemon.

Separating eggs for the hollandaise sauce - my first time making it from scratch. Absolutely worth it.

A very tempting stack of crepes - we had a hard time keeping our hands off of these while getting everything else ready.

An assembled asparagus bundle - heavenly. I had never eaten white asparagus before, and it turns out it is very different from green asparagus. Delicate and almost buttery, and the tips practically melt in your mouth.

The spread - white wine, hollandaise sauce, potatoes, and the asparagus and crepes both covered to stay warm. We had to cook the asparagus in two batches, because we bought a lot. As it turns out, we overestimated our stomach capacity a little bit, and had leftovers. The leftover crepes were filled with strawberries for dessert, after a little break to let our stomachs catch up.

And two days later we pureed the leftover asparagus and potatoes into a creamy, delicious soup.

I initially found all of the fuss about asparagus season kind of funny, but now I am totally on board. Schöne Spargelzeit, indeed.

Unemployment rules.

2008-05-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

So, in case you hadn't heard, i'm unemployed for the summer, trying to figure out my visa situation for the coming year, sort our employment stuff, but mostly, yknow, just being unemployed.

the cool part is that i get to cook and sew and go to the gym a lot, which is wonderful. I also get to cook with my retired dad, which is fun. my first day home, we made croquettes, see?

(yes, ok, you can't really see the delicious croquettes under the creamy goopy mushroom alfredo, but you can imagine them, can't you? I can, and it's been over a day since I ate the leftovers for lunch.)

Also, my dad and I bought some seven-grain organic flour, and I made maybe the best looking loaf of peasant bread I've ever made (ever seen? seriously good). Maybe tomorrow I'll take a picture.

Other than that, everything I've been doing seems to be retro inspired. I blame A Dress A Day and El Fez Designs flickr, which I've been reading too much of.

But seriously. The last two projects I've made have turned relatively unbeautiful 80s outfits into fifties-inspired skirts. Here's this morning's skirt:

(And yes! That's my dressform, my eighth-grade birthday present, which my mom had been using in her archives museums while I lived in dorms and apartments--happy to be using it again!)

Next I started this red gingham dress, which hopefully will become beautiful later this week (it's a "very easy" butterick pattern, so I'm only allotting a couple days to do it).

It's this pattern, look how beautiful:

And then my mom's been getting rid of half her library, and giving away all her books... So here's my next read, I think:

PS. Did I mention?
Rhubarb Pie.
Sooo good.

Travel Photo Wednesday

2008-05-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

For my first installment of our new feature, travel photo wednesdays, I'd like to bring you a shot from my trip to Taiwan this past January.

This was taken in Teipei, inside an insanely hip underground (I mean literally below street level) lounge with its own CD shop, music venue, cafe/bar, and some other shop, pictured at the end of this photo. It was totally rad. No idea what the writing on the wall says (maybe it's "no need to be lonely," in Chinese -- See Mal's last post).

More new theme days coming soon. Enjoy!

Travel Photo Wednesdays

2008-05-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

Introducing an exciting new feature...every Wednesday, Sidonie and I will each post a photo from past travels.

For my first Travel Photo Wednesday, here is one of my favorite road trip photos. It was taken at a rest stop in either Iowa or Southwestern Minnesota, under a dispenser for a "Country Singles" personal ad newsletter.

Of course, since I'm studying in Germany right now I have lots of European travel photos, and I'm sure you'll see some of them as well - there are a lot of Wednesdays in the future.

Tiki, tiki, burning bright

2008-05-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

At 9AM on the morning of my roommate Liza's golden birthday (actually the day before), she told me she wanted to throw a tiki party.
This was an extremely good decision.

Surprisingly enough, you can get everything you need for a tiki party in Grinnell, IA (without shopping at Wal-Mart).

Everything you need for a tiki party:
- Great, large wooden deck off the kitchen
- Big back yard
- Pineapple
- Mango
- Unripe mango (or was it a cactus pear?)
- Tiki torches and tiki oil
- Strawberries to add to the jug of Carlo Rossi left behind by friends
- Hint of Lime tortilla chips & mango salsa
- Rainbow sherbet to add to other drinks
- The Ashley (one of Liza's excellent concoctions, made even better by sherbet)
- A beer-run to kum & go halfway through the night (sign of a successful party)

The photos probably speak for themselves:

On the realization I had nothing appropriately "tiki" to wear, I made a new skirt for the occasion from a dress I never wore.

Strawberries & jug wine... It must be just about the end of college.

My camera takes terrible pictures after sunset, but we had quite the spread. Here's part of it:

Believe it or not, this was my first experience cutting pineapple.

An Ashley with sherbet...

A great early summer party, if blurry.

The night definitely made me think of my first party in this house, Mal's and my housewarming, almost a year ago now (see it here).

Morocco, part two

2008-05-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some snapshots of the more adventurous parts of the big Morocco/Spain adventure. Early on, we decided that "vacation" just wasn't the right word. It conjures up something much more relaxing than Morocco's constant (usually pleasant) assault on the senses.

Adventure 1: Camels

Adventure 2: Mountains (getting here involved an unfortunate meeting of taxi and dog that I won't detail any further)

Adventure 3: Dinner in Marrakech

Adventure 4: High-pressure souvenier purchasing (I became a very adept haggler)

Adventure 5: Cheap hotels (ever wonder what 5 euros per night will get you?)

Moments from morocco

2008-05-21T01:20:00.000-07:00

I've been in Morocco and Spain for the past week or so, which (partly) explains my long absence from the blog. Of course, I have lots of stories and pictures and adventures to share, but if I commit to describing the whole trip in a marathon post I am sure I will just never get around to it at all. So I'm going to try to share some little bits throughout the next few days.

Even though I saw lots of exciting, unusual things that I never see in my everyday life (skinned whole goat heads, fire jugglers, camels, piles of steaming snails, etc.), some of my favorite moments in Morocco were, unsurprisingly, the little breaks we took to sit down for a little while and enjoy something simple:

like fresh mint tea overlooking the beach in Essaouira,

fresh cherries by the side of a river in the High Atlas Mountains,

or fresh squeezed orange juice at one of many stalls in the main square in Marrakech.

The hot chocolate and churros that we had in Spain on the last night of the trip would be here too, if I had a picture, but sadly I don't. Just imagine the darkest, thickest hot chocolate possible and a frighteningly large platter of long tubes of fried dough. Mmmmm...

Some of my other favorite simple treats were fresh bread purchased on the street in Fez (a desperately needed snack when we got lost navigating the most winding, confusing streets I have ever encountered) and almond-filled pastries and tea at a tiny cafe in Fez (another impromptu snack stop when we once again found ourselves lost and hungry).

Hopefully, I will update with some more stories and some of my purchases in the next few days. First, though, I have to deal with one extremely smelly backpack.

leftover post from my cooking overload...

2008-05-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

As mentioned below, last weekend was sort of a cooking/baking binge for me.

Maybe the best thing I made, though, was spinach-ricotta gnocchi with red wine tomato sauce... it pretty much ruled.

First thing was to make the sauce and then let it simmer for, like, 45 minutes while we did everything else. Slow cooking... awesome.

Next step was to make the gnocchi mix. I'd only ever had potato-based gnocchi before, so this was a real treat for me. Plus, how cool does this spinach-cheese-egg mix look?

Lots of flour made them stick together!

Then they got the parmesan-broiler treatment!

And that really made the meal.
But what really made the meal (besides my handmade flying-objects-themed placemats!) were the cheese straws, pictured below. They were another product of my day spent in the kitchen. Really I made them for a party, but they went well with the meal, too.

This meal was amazing. We had no leftovers (except the cheese straws).

Fresh!

2008-05-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today was crepe day.

And let's face it: more days in our lives should be crepe days.

But today was a fruit crepe day, and Brian and I bought blackberries, strawberries, bananas and homemade raspberry-rhubarb jam to fit the theme.

Crepes, for some reason, feel really luxurious to me.
The strange thing is, they are super easy to make! They come out so delicate and rich, and I definitely prefer them to pancakes, but they may actually be among the easiest meals I can think of.

And there's nothing like a blank canvas.

...except maybe a bright and colorful one, sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Oh! Oh, yes.

Other culinary items on today's agenda include:
- ricotta/spinach gnocchi with red wine tomato sauce for dinner,
- rosemary peasant bread, which I adore and make about twice times a week, and
- cheese straws, which sounds really weird from the name but seem to be like thin, cheesy breadsticks. I can't wait.

Follow-up on the Craft Fair

2008-05-02T06:38:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are some photos from the Grinnell Student Craft & Art Fair last Sunday. In the first couple, Fiona shows off some handmade earrings.

And here Lindsay demonstrates hand-spinning yarn.

See the previous post for more details on the fair itself.

And can we appreciate for a moment how lovely the JRC101 is, with those huge windows? It's a really nice space.

Fair is Fair

2008-05-01T07:21:00.001-07:00

Grinnell College didn't know what it was missing before this year, seriously.

This past Sunday we hosted our second ever Craft & Art Fair on campus. The first took place last November, after Mal and our friend Fiona and I finally decided to put one together. It was a remarkable success--a surprisingly remarkable success for most of us, I think.

I'd never sold anything I'd made before that Craft Fair, and we had a number of other newbies like me, as well as some experienced budding entrepreneurs in the group. It was really a great mix.

This semester's fair, with Mallory gone & me not selling (just organizing and playing cashier), didn't feel quite as full, but was certainly as successful. We had hundreds of people stop by--and that's huge, on our busy little campus of just 1500 students.

One woman from town bought $100 of handspun yarn from one of our sellers; Fiona herself sold dozens of pairs of earrings made from watch-parts, typewriter keys, etc. And yes, some vibrator cozies were sold. Even a winter hat sold (although this cold April has certainly made that less surprising).

I took some pictures on Fiona's camera phone, having of course forgotten my own camera. I'll post them when I get them.

A three cake week

2008-04-28T04:49:00.001-07:00

I tell people that I don't like cake. It's almost true: I don't like most cakes. The texture just really doesn't do anything for me, and I'd rather eat, say, a chunk of chocolate rather than a chocolate cake any day. But i do like some cakes - really dense cakes, coffee cakes, or cakes that are practically pies or tarts (like every cake you find in Germany). Someday we really will blog about something other than cake and beer, probably.

This week in cakes:

The last piece of the vegan coffee cake I made last weekend. It's from The Vegan Family Cookbook by Brian Mccarthy, but I changed it a little bit. This has half whole wheat flour and less sugar. So it's healthy, right?

Doing homework at my favorite coffee shop in Freiburg. Every day they have a different cake and the slices are 2 Euros. This is a custardy rhubarb cake, it was delicious. There was a flea market going on in the alley right behind the cafe. The table I was at was next to some open doors, and I was essentially right behind one of the booths. I eyed a burgundy teacup with white flowers the whole time, but I managed to not buy it.

It was my friend Dan's birthday on Saturday, so some friends and I got together and baked a cake. It was a team effort: me, Fiona, Gary, and Dr. Oetker. The cream cheese frosting was from scratch, though, and it was delicious.

So much for not liking cake.

Flowers and beer in bloom

2008-04-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Like Sidonie, and this little guy, I am very excited about spring.

The weather on Friday was really nice, and after spending three hours in the afternoon waiting in a boring white room for a registration meeting that took all of two minutes, I unwound with one of my roommates by enjoying a beer on the grass in a park near our apartment. A major perk of Germany: you can enjoy a delicious, local, relatively inexpensive beer outside in public, and can do so legally.

I noticed these bottles poking up from the grass - not only the flowers are in bloom. I was glad I took a picture when I did, because when I looked later, the bottles had mysteriously vanished. Probably so that someone could collect the Pfand - it's amazing what money will do for recycling.

I've been doing more baking as well - a coffee cake that turned out great on the first try! It will show up on the blog if there is still a piece left by the time I get around to photographing it.

Saturday cake

2008-04-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

On a giant whim, I baked a lemon poppyseed sheet cake yesterday. It was great fun!

But I didn't stop there, no sir. I've mentioned it in every blogpost so far, and so I'll bring it up again: It's Springtime. And, for me, yesterday, that meant pastel icing.

My roommate, Liza (Glass Hotel), and I painted on some sweet stripes.

A lovely Saturday pastel-striped lemon-poppyseed sheet cake. And it came out of the pan in one piece, too! That's always a big source of pride for me.

While it's still cool enough out...

2008-04-17T15:56:00.001-07:00

I took a long spring break in March (oh, the benefits of graduating without getting a serious job), and discovered why Cancun and Miami are such popular spring break destinations.
I went to northern Europe. And it snowed, rained, and hailed on me in every city I went to. With just a few notable exceptions, it was not warm.

And thusly I discovered piwo grzane, Polish hot spiced beer.

And I was skeptical.

I'm from Wisconsin. We don't do hot beer. We don't even like to think about warm beer, and we certainly don't approve of drinking beer through a straw (let alone two straws). But I'm an open-minded Wisconsinite, so I gave it a shot.

My Polish friend Asia and I sat in a cafe for several hours, as we are inclined to do, sipping hot, spiced lager from big mugs and taking lots of "arty" photos (as is our other major inclination). The hot beer was a lot like hot cider. I chose orange/cinnamon/clove spices, and Asia opted for ginger flavor; both were excellent--a little sweet, a little spicy, very warm but definitely still beer.

Yesterday here in Iowa we had a spectacularly beautiful spring day. I biked around in my springy pink skirt and waved at friends reading on the green of central campus. Today the wind and rain picked up again, the air is chilly, and, when I get down to it, I could really go for a night in with a good movie and some hot beer.

I am a perfectionist after all

2008-04-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, one of my German roommates (I live with four Germans and two other Americans) mentioned that one of his favorite things about having new American students move in is that they always bake brownies. And we had not yet made brownies. Always looking for any excuse to bake something, I got right on it.

Um. Right. So, our oven only has a top coil. Ten minutes before the baking time was up, they started to smell charred. What a total failure. They were really tough and chewy and dry, not moist and fudgy at all, but the bottom was barely done. I tried to decide whether I should throw them out or see if anyone wanted to eat them. And then this happened.

I was suddenly in the kitchen ready for round two. Most people would not call me a perfectionist. I usually see perfectionists as neat and tidy and organized, which are things that I am not. But I really hate baking or cooking something mediocre. If I am going to eat a brownie, it had better be good. And I don't want to give away things that just don't taste good. People usually feel obligated to eat things that you bake for them. And the first batch was really pretty gross.
Success! Moist and fudgy with a crackly top. I am thankful that I live with six other people, because I would feel seriously sick if I ate all of these.

Spring again...

2008-04-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

It's a Monday, a warm Monday, and even though we've already had a few warm days here in Iowa, it feels like the first day of Spring. It feels like the right time to start a new project.

Mallory & I have been thinking about blogging again since our last project, Iowa Summer, ended. This time we live seven thousand miles apart (at present), but we're still thinking about cooking, sewing and travel, about good books and pretty pictures and vintage tablecloths. I think I speak for both of us, anyway.

So this will be an ongoing project, hopefully sharing our crafty achievements and worldly adventures. Put us in your bookmarks!