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Writing and bus rides

I, at 37 years old, went to NYC for the first time in my life. It was awesome.

I met @Theladyisugly there, and we spent the day at the Met, and it was awesome.

And then I rode back.

On the bus, I wrote 3-3/4 of the stories from my pre-Call call. I’ll get them transcribed and posted (and finished) over the next four, five days.

(I had a book, or I probably would have written more, but I spent most of the way back just sleeping.)

The true call will open up next Saturday, so have no fear, if I didn’t get to your prompt, I’ll get to it then.

… NYC was awesome. The Met was awesome. Seeing B IRL for the first time was awesome.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/561409.html. You can comment here or there.

Tasty Tuesday: Asparagus Soup

It’s asparagus season! And, while I can eat spear-grass steamed with lemon juice pretty much forever, T. wants a few different options.

So we made Creamy Asparagus Soup, from Cook’s Country, April/May 2010


(This is a magazine worth subscribing to, by the by).

We split this in half:
2 lbs asparagus
3T butter
2 small leeks, white and light green portions*
salt & pepper
3-1/2 c low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 c frozen peas (these make it actually green)
2 t grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 teas lemon juice

The recipe calls for reserving the tips, sauteeing them first, and using them as a garnish. Next time we will skip this step

Add vegetables, chopped into 1/2″ pieces, to the butter in a dutch oven or saucier. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened (about 10 mintues)

Add brother and bring to a boil; reduce to simmer until vegetables are tender (about 5 minutes). Stir in peas & parm.

Puree in a blender in batches, or with a stick blender. Stir in cream & lemon juice and cook until warm, just about 2 minutes.


This was very tasty, and very very asparagus-y. It’s also not a meal (we went out for ice cream afterwards. That worked). But it would work well as a side with something meaty.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/545300.html. You can comment here or there.

Recipe Try-outs: Week One

I posted, last week, a list of Recipes I want to try..

In the last week, we tried Curried Red Lentil Soup and Leek and Cheddar Cheese Tart.

The tart… needs work. We’re going to try it again with some modifications:
* We will partially pre-bake the puff pastry shell, and form it inside a pan for better structural integrity.
* Instead of using leek spears, we’ll cut the leeks into rounds, both to better rinse them and so we can integrate the cheddar and dijon topping throughout the whole leek.

Once we do that, I’ll post the modified recipe.

The soup, on the other hand, was awesome. From Ski House Cookbook:
(we cut this in half) (directions paraphrased; I can scan in the real recipe if people would like)
1-1/2 c dried red lentils
3 c chicken broth (we used leek broth with ham stock, from the leftover leek greens)
2 T olive oil (we used bacon fat, ’cause we had it out)
1 medium yellow onion, diced (we didn’t half this part)
1t salt
1/4t cayennne
2 celery ribs, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
6 garlic cloves, diced
1-1/2t cumin
1 t curry powder
4t grated fresh ginger

Cook the lentils in broth and 3 c water for 20 minutes, or until tender (we nuked them before we left for the day until hot, then left them all day).

Saute the onion in the fat until soft, 6-7 minutes. Add everything remaining except ginger; cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the ginger, remove from heat.

Add the sauteed mix to the lentils, bring to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes. Puree with a stick blender, or in batches in a standard blender.

Serve with a drizzle of half-and-half, some cheddar cheese, or both.

The soup used half a knob of ginger root, so we made this recipe – we added cinnamon, allspice, and possibly cloves (I wasn’t watching T.) to the dough, and I doubled the cinnamon in the cinnamon-sugar topping. Delicious!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/542969.html. You can comment here or there.

Recipes I want to Try, an ongoing list

Ski House Cookbook
Curried Red Lentil Soup (p. 58)
Sautéed Peas with Mushrooms and Bacon (p. 137)

Cook it Quick
Chilaly (p. 46)

Reader’s Digest 30-Minute Cookbook
Baked Cod Plaki (p. 111)
Arabian-Style Beef w/ Flat Bread (p.145)
Leek and Cheddar Cheese tart (p. 237)
Dahl (p. 252)

“Favorite Brand Name” Great Garlic Recipes
Hearty Cassoulet (p. 48)
Crab & Corn Enchilada Casserole (p. 66)
Spicy-Sweet Lamb Tangine with Saffron Couscous (p. 76)
Fajitas (p. 86)

Cooking with Spirits

First trial here: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/542969.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/539276.html. You can comment here or there.

Long Weekend of Dooooom (or, at least, a lot of fun)

Wow. Weekend took me so long to recover from, it’s Wednesday before I’m posting about it. 🙂

Saturday, Rion & I went to visit [personal profile] inventrix, who lives in Colorado but was in NY for the holiday. That was loads of fun – and only the second time I’ve seen Trix in person. (Internet people are real; they’re just a little realer when you’re buying used books with them!)

Sunday was All The Gardening. Well, raking. First raking the lawn, then raking and clearing a patch of dirt for the melons/squash we plan on planting. Then more raking, I think. I’m not actually sure where Sunday evening went.

Monday, Ri and T. and I hit three wineries on the top west of Seneca Lake, then spent a couple hours at the outlet mall, then hit 2/5 wineries (“Three Brothers” is three wineries and a brewery in one) and a cafe before driving home. Then we stacked firewood until dark.

We have a lot of firewood. 🙂

That was my weekend. It looks a lot shorter in text form, but, mainly, it was a lot of fun.

How about you?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/536468.html. You can comment here or there.

Rock Gardens.

I’ve been thinking about rock gardens.

I even have a Pinterest board of rock gardens.

See, our property has a lot of rocks. It’s got so many rocks, it’s sort of like someone dumped a thin layer of topsoil over a gravel quarry.

(Someone did. The glaciers. We’re at the bottom of the Finger Lakes, which means we’re the dumping ground for a lot of Canadian rock. Anyone want their rock back?)

So as we do anything in the yard… we pull out rocks. Big rocks, little rocks. Tiny rocks and huge rocks.

We’ve started covering up a pretty horrid border garden to the west side of the house with large flat rocks, tucking Coleus plants in between the rocks. It’s looking decent so far; will look better once we get down more weedcloth.

But we have this wet sunken corner of the yard… and I’m thinking more rocks. Rocks, and a little water feature. Maybe a waterfall.

What do you think?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/528778.html. You can comment here or there.

First and Last Frost Dates

Getting impatient?

Three resources for last frost date by area:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/#b
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/2007/02/14/average-frost-dates/
http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/

(these read between May 2 and May 31 for last-frost for my approximate area).

here’s a map for the UK: http://www.vegetableseeds.net/category_s/153.htm
and another: http://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/adjust-dates-uk.php

Something not entirely clear for Australia: http://www.geocities.com/mastergardener2k/frostaustralia.html

Of course, even with a chart, it helps to look at the weather on a day-to-day basis at the beginning and end of the season.

And I’ve planted some peas and put my first butternuts in the ground.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/524305.html. You can comment here or there.