The sickness cometh

The first week at the new job went well. And now I am sick. Ugh. I don’t know if it’s H1N1 or the regular flu, but it’s the flu, and it’s horrible. I’m on day 3. I’ve watched alot of movies. Today was The Motorcycle Diaries and Helvetica. And to boot, it’s been really warm this weekend, and I haven’t been outside to enjoy any of it. I keep wanting to compare it to the seven levels of hell, but I’m not entirely sure if that’s a real thing or something I’m making up. But I keep going back and forth between horrible and not so bad and back to horrible, which doesn’t seem quite fair.

It’s also Words to Shoot By day, and there is a new grouping of images over there. The word this week is Gather, and I was tickled by the way we all interpreted that photographically. Do go look. I think I may stay on as a contributor for awhile.

I’ve got lots of photos to process and upload, but just don’t have the energy for tags and stuff, so that will have to wait. I think I need to go take a nap.

‘Roid Week

It’s roid week! And I’m a little late to the party cause this week has been BUSY! But I’ve been taking more polaroids this fall than really every before, and I wanted to share a couple that I seem to never have uploaded to flickr. There are these leaves, of course.

And have I ever told you about my love affair with old volkswagons? When I was 16 I almost bought an old baby blue one as my first car. And now, thinking about it, I think it might have been too much trouble for my teenage life. But it would have been cool. Someday I’ll get me one of these vintage beauties. Or a Kaarmen Ghia. Love.

I’m printing and mailing calendars this morning before I head to work, and thinking about holiday gift tags. I can’t wait for the weekend. What are you doing today?

This one’s a doozy

I highly recommend this soup. Not because I made it. Not because I made it up. But because it’s good. And maybe a little scary, which makes it even better when it tastes delicious. A bit of a feeling of anxiety when making something always seems to make it better when it turns out well, don’t you think?

I purchased a couple of celeriac bulbs a few weeks ago, and thank goodness they last awhile in the crisper, because I didn’t use them right away. I did the same thing last fall and never used them, and sort of couldn’t forgive myself for that, so I really wanted to try this time around. I wanted to make celeriac soup. I also happened to have purchased some parsnips as well, because they looked pretty, and I wanted to buy them from a farmer since the ones at the store that are always oddly covered in wax creep me the heck out. So, celeriac and parsnips. Seemed like they could go together in soup. Even though I’d never tasted celeriac. No matter, I pushed on.

I wrote a recipe up including onion and celery seed, but I had leeks instead so I used those, and realized at the last minute that I didn’t have celery seed. I’m leaving it in the recipe, though, because the one I based it on called for it, and next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I’m going to make sure I have it on hand.

Celeriac and Parsnip Soup
(improvised)

1 tbsp olive oil
3 oz pancetta, sliced into thin strips
1 large onion (or 2 leeks)
1/2 c chopped celery
1-2 cloves minced garlic
2 large heads celeriac, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2-4 medium sized parsnips, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
approx 32 oz chicken or vegetable stock, or however much you need to get the consistency you want
1/2 c white wine
1/4 tsp celery seed (or celery salt, in a pinch)
freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
cream, half and half or milk

In large stockpot, heat oil and saute pancetta until crispy. Remove and reserve. Saute onion and celery until soft. Add garlic and heat for a minute, until fragrant, then add white wine and cook until the wine is reduced by half. Add celeriac, parsnips, stock and celery seed and simmer over low heat until the vegetables are tender. Puree the soup until very smooth. I use a stick blender. If you use a food processor or blender, puree in small batches as hot soup expands. You will need to add a considerable amount more stock at this point, because the vegetables make the soup very thick when you puree them. Season with salt and pepper, nutmeg and lemon juice. Add a glug of cream or half and half or milk, or whatever you have, to achieve desired conistency. Serve with reserved pancetta and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Calendar time

I finally got my 2010 calendar design finished, printed, and loaded into the shop this weekend! It’s a few weeks later than some other calendar offerings, but there are still two months until the year turns over, so that seems like plenty of time.

Each month features one of my photographs that I’ve taken right about that time of year, a clean, simple design, and is printed on nice heavy 100% recycled stock. I like super heavy paper with personality, that you can throw if you wanted. And each page is printed on both sides, to be even more eco friendly.

It feels good to have gotten this designed this year, since last year I was so busy getting my portfolio together that christmas and calendars took a backseat. In addition to the calendar, there are a few new polaroid prints available. Go check it out! I’ve also got a collection of holiday cards almost ready as well, and I’ll let you know when those are good to go! I hope you enjoy the winter collection in the pricklypearbloom shop!

The soup list

I made apple crisp this weekend with the last few apples that were starting to get kind of sorry on the kitchen counter. For some reason I don’t know where my mom’s recipe went for this, so I looked it up online, and then the betty crocker recipe didn’t seem like it had enough butter or sugar in it for whatever disjointed-tracy reason, so I increased both, and it turned out kind of melty and soupy. But it was still yummy, so whatever. I need to make a note to find the recipe I have written down and transfer it to the recipe book on my computer.

Also, my soup waiting list is LONG. I’ve got a big batch of minestrone in the fridge that I made to use the chard that we had to take out of the garden. Which is good. But I think it needed to simmer a little longer. And I have a couple of ugly knobs of celeriac rolling around in the crisper, and some parsnips that seemed like a good idea at the farmer’s market a couple of weeks ago, so those need to get made into soup, too. At the same time, I’m craving chili and chicken soup like nobody’s business, and while I was thumbing through my soup file after a friend asked after something for butternut squash, I came across a recipe for (I think) black bean and squash soup. Or it could have been something else but the point is that it sounded so crazy good and I totally want to make it right now. I think my love for soup has transcended what is physically and emotionally possible to make for one’s small family. Perhaps I need to throw these in a hat to choose.

Today is my last day at my job before I go be what I wanted to be when I grow up. My last day of so many many seven years worth of days that seemed so long and now seems, well, still long, but in a freaky OVER kind of way. I’m excited and super nervous at the same time, and really freaked out over the fact that I won’t ever walk these halls again, likely, and although that is exactly what I want, it feels so STRANGE. It definitely feels like the end of one life and the start to another, in a way. But there are doughnuts, so that takes a bit of the edge off.

Smiling

Thank you, Sarah, for posting this. It made me smile. It’s too good not to put here, if not just to save it for future me, maybe.

Words

Today is the last day of a little staycation I’m taking, a really long weekend before I start my new job. A few days to recharge, regroup, organize the closet. I’m hoping to get to that today. It’s been pretty nice, although it rained for 48 hours straight on Thursday and Friday, but I had lunch with a couple of friends, and it’s lovely to get to do that on a weekday for a change. Today it’s cloudy and kind of dark, and I’m relishing the candlelight and the cats draped over me as I write this. I think I might have apple crisp for lunch.

I was so happy to be invited to contribute to Words To Shoot By for the next couple of rounds. Words To Shoot By is a biweekly photo collaboration between four girls, each of whom puts together their own photography triptych based on a word. This week that word is “Evening.” As much as I love diptychs and triptychs, I guess I tend to forget to put images together this way, so this is a nice challenge for me. And as the days grow shorter this autumn, evening is more often the time of day that I have available to shoot, so this word is so timely. Go have a look at what Steph, Robin, Kristy and Heather, as well as the other guest contributor, Claire, have put together to visually describe evening, and browse back in the archives as well. It’s such a cool group of work. Thanks ladies, for inviting me to play along!

The Pie Crust Search

{Thank you for all of the well wishes about the job! I really hope it’s going to be a new start.}

The search for a butter pie crust to rival my grandmother’s trans fat filled shortening crust lives on. I’ve been trying to find the right one for awhile now. It’s number 9 on
the list. I’ve gotten so many suggestions, which I thank you for. And yet, whether it’s me, or the crust, it’s been a battle, one which I’ve not been winning.

Until now, perhaps. I made a pie right away after we went apple picking, and it was less than exciting (and also got melted butter all over my oven). We ate a couple of slices, a houseguest ate a few more at our arm twisting urging, and last night we threw away the last nubby, saggy slice because we just couldn’t bear to eat it. But after that, I got some more suggestions for crust, and thanks to Rhymes With Spoon I tried a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen (thanks Sara!). A recipe which includes vodka! I know. Seems weird. But it worked out way better than any of my previous attempts. The recipe mentioned that it would yield a fairly wet dough, and even though I measured and weighed my flour, I still initially had a pretty dry mixture. I was prepared for this, though, as every butter attempt in my past has been very dry, so I added about 1/6 cup more water just at the moment I realized that it was too dry, but before I’d worked it too much (like the time before). I also used spectrum organic shortening, which is trans fat free, for the shortening portion.

In the end, it still wasn’t quite as tender and flaky as my grandmother’s all shortening crust, but it was a much better crust than any of the all butter crusts that I’ve tried so far. Next time I’m going to include a step from Alton Brown, where the butter is added in two separate steps, and I’ll add that extra liquid right away since apparently my kitchen is extra dry. But I think I may be getting closer to a final recipe.

Vodka Pie Crust
(adapted from America’s Test Kitchen)

For one 9-inch Double-Crust Pie
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup vodka, cold
1/4 cup cold water (+ up to another 1/4 cup per the humidity of your kitchen and flour)
1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and
process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough is supposed to resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour. This didn’t exactly happen for me, it was pretty dry at this point. I processed a little longer trying to get it to look like this, but next time, would stick to the 10-15 second rule). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining
cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty
mixture into medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture (I combined them before adding to the flour mixture). With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly
tacky and sticks together. If dough still seems not sticky, add a few more sprinkles of cold water or vodka at this point, and fold a couple more times, being careful not to overwork. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at
least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Moments and news

As I was jogging yesterday evening, I passed through this little family of people, a couple kids and a couple adults, and I didn’t notice until I was right next to her, the little lady lying in the leaves. Wow. I didn’t alliterate that on purpose, really. But it was funny, and a bit startling, and it just made me smile as I ran.

So, that stuff I was distracted with last week? Well, I got the new job that I was going for! One that is actually in the graphic design field! I know, crazy. I kind of started to think it was never going to happen, and I guess those are the times that things do happen. So, I’m excited to actually get to use the skills that I have in a real place, to sit at a mac all day and make stuff, hopefully cool stuff. I’m certainly nervous about the whole thing, but hopefully it will be good.

Also, just a reminder, the Indian Summer Collection is only available through next Monday, 10/26. At noon (eastern time) those images and paintings will no longer be available in the shop, as I prepare for something new. So, if you had your eye on something, you’ve only got a few days left to snap it up, and I especially want to thank those that have supported this collection.

Let the Wild Rumpus Start

:: We’re going to see Where The Wild Things Are tonight, and I’m so excited! I hope it’s as good as… well as good as I hope it will be.

:: I need to finish some stationary design concepts for a client this weekend, and probably my 2010 calendar as well, so that I can get it for sale.

:: I showed a group of paintings and photography to a friend of mine who used to be one of my best instructors last night, and she was really digging the body of work. I’m getting more excited to round it out and try to show it.

:: I hope it’s nice enough to shoot a roll of black & white film sometime this weekend.

I hope your weekend is full of something fun! Do you have plans?