more press about hardiwick's food:
apparently our cross country trip wasn't that original:
though we did have 2 cats, 4 bikes, a bunch of houseplants, a trunk full of stuff, and went at the hottest time of the year, without AC.
25 October 2008
18 October 2008
the best bowl of oatmeal. ever.
Fall weather's finally arrived. I'm celebrating with an incredible bowl of steel cut oats. Here's the recipe from Cook's Illustrated:
3 cups water
1 cup whole milk (or water)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or oil)
1 cup steel cut oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Simmer water and milk over medium heat. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat until just beginning to foam; add oats and toast, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until golden and fragrant with butterscotch-like aroma, 1.5 to 2 minutes.
2. Stir oats into the simmering liquid, reduce heat to medium-low; simmer gently, until mixture thickens and resembles gravy, about 20 minutes. Add salt and stir lightly with spoon handle. Continue simmering, stirring occasionally with wooden spoon handle, until oats absorb almost all liquid and oatmeal is thick and creamy, with a pudding-like consistency, about 7 to 10 minutes. Off heat, let oatmeal stand uncovered 5 minutes.
I realize it's a bit involved for a bowl of oatmeal, but it's worth every minute. You'll never think of oatmeal the same way again. Don't forget to stir with the spoon handle, it makes the consistency just right. Apparently the Scottish have a tool dedicated to this task, it's called a spurtle.
3 cups water
1 cup whole milk (or water)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or oil)
1 cup steel cut oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Simmer water and milk over medium heat. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat until just beginning to foam; add oats and toast, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until golden and fragrant with butterscotch-like aroma, 1.5 to 2 minutes.
2. Stir oats into the simmering liquid, reduce heat to medium-low; simmer gently, until mixture thickens and resembles gravy, about 20 minutes. Add salt and stir lightly with spoon handle. Continue simmering, stirring occasionally with wooden spoon handle, until oats absorb almost all liquid and oatmeal is thick and creamy, with a pudding-like consistency, about 7 to 10 minutes. Off heat, let oatmeal stand uncovered 5 minutes.
I realize it's a bit involved for a bowl of oatmeal, but it's worth every minute. You'll never think of oatmeal the same way again. Don't forget to stir with the spoon handle, it makes the consistency just right. Apparently the Scottish have a tool dedicated to this task, it's called a spurtle.
13 October 2008
Ridic.
A recap of the events on our street this morning:
10 a.m. Dude from the city puts a note in our mailbox saying that they're "resurfacing" our street tomorrow and the day after.
10:30 a.m. Two dudes from the city walk down either side of the street with gas-powered leaf blowers clearing the street.
11 a.m. Maintenance dude for the elderly couple across the street uses electric leaf blower to clear their lawn - blowing all the leaves into the street.
12:15 p.m. Maintenance dude uses electric leaf blower to usher leaves he's just blown into the street around to the drive way, consequently blowing a bunch back on to the lawn.
12:22 p.m. Maintenance dude is apparently blowing all the leaves up the driveway?
Somehow, I feel that if he had just used a RAKE on the lawn in the first place this whole thing wouldn't feel quite so awful and wasteful and he would have had a little exercise which he looks like he could stand.
Update: 12:43 p.m. He's got a rake! Continuing to move them up the driveway. Smoking a cigarette.
11 October 2008
Birds, cupcakes
The bird that Boy caught.
Originally uploaded by average lavender
Boy and Girl managed to sneak this bird through the kitchen door when I wasn't looking. I thought I heard a car door shut, so I went to the office room and even then I didn't notice the bird! Was it alive when they brought it in? How long had they been playing with it? George buried him in the grub-filled compost.
On a more delicious note: I tried making some Mocha Stout Cupakes this past Wednesday. I used a recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake I found over here. One of the local breweries does a mocha stout, so it seemed a natural, possibly superior, beer for the cake. In the end I was left feeling, "Meh." Some changes I made to the reicpe, aside from beer substitution, were using unsweetend cocoa and Dutch process cocoa (which resulted in halving the amount of baking soda called for - check it out: baking science), and using 1/2 cup less sugar than called for. I was aiming for a less sweet cake that would let the stout shine through. What I got was a cake that was less sweet but just sort of tasted like it had more sour cream than it actually did. I think that in addition to reducing the sugar, the cocoa should've also been reduced - it's a mocha stout, duh. Better luck next time.
bowl lathe
It's finally coming together! I'm just waiting on the local woodworking store to order another 2ft of belt for the big pulley. I have a bit more engineering to do on the tool rest. Oh, and I need to find some wood.
I found Bruce and Loy! For those of you who don't know them, they're old friends of the family, and live only and hour away in Celo. Loy had an opening of her latest prints and letterpress at Warren Wilson College. Bruce played the fiddle. They turned off all the lights and sang for us.
I found Bruce and Loy! For those of you who don't know them, they're old friends of the family, and live only and hour away in Celo. Loy had an opening of her latest prints and letterpress at Warren Wilson College. Bruce played the fiddle. They turned off all the lights and sang for us.
08 October 2008
Hardwick in the NY Times?
It's true! My friend Alex brought this great article to my attention: Uniting Around Food to Save an Ailing Town.
Oh, Hardwick, I'm so proud of you.
07 October 2008
For real
Legwarmers
Originally uploaded by average lavender
Slowly I've been making progress on a pair of legwarmers and a hat, both gifts, both should have been done ages ago. I'm finally getting lace knitting down - I knew it couldn't be that difficult, I mean, other people do it.
Acupuncture is beginning to help again, last week was one of the absolute worst - the elbow, the shoulder, the neck, headaches all day. It was another episode of Self Pity: My Life is Over. It's not so much my life anymore, just maybe ... this shitty job is over...when I find an awesome new one?
Happily, we rearranged the house! I no longer need to search for a room divider and it feels much more comfortable and homey. There are pictures, explanations, etc. over at Flickr. We consolidated the desks and the coziness, the dining area is on the mend.
I cut my right pointer finger across the first knucle with a serrated knife at work on Sunday. Barak Obama was in Asheville this weekend, he gave a speech over at the high school and apartently got some ribs at the local rib joint, 12 Bones. I wish I'd been there seeing him speak instead of slicing my finger open--they happened at approximately the same time.
Our contract with Verizon has finally ended and we're shopping around for a new cell phone company. Front runner: Credo Mobile. I think deep down they're all evil and no one is better than another. Better to go slightly cheaper or lesser of two evils?
I leave you with this: Cuppie Capers: Pastry Politics
Empty promises?
I swear I'm going to make some sort of "real" post here today. Just not right now. There will be pictures. Maybe some snacks. Stay tuned.
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