HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Macaroni and Cheese

A comfort food if there ever was one.  Few things are more satisfying than sitting down with a big bowl of macaroni and cheese.  It is one of my favorite things that Grandpa used to make.  I couldn't track down his recipe, but seeing how my grandparents always had San Giorgio pasta in the pantry, I suspect his recipe may have came from the back of the box, with a few modifications.

It's those modifications that I can't put my finger on.  I've come close, but it still isn't exactly what I am looking for.  I'm pretty sure Grandpa added sauteed onions to his mac and cheese which is something I have yet to try.  Another secret ingredient that was sprinkled on top of the macaroni and cheese when I was growing up was dulse. 

Dulse is a red algae that grows along the the northern coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  It is used as a flavor enhancer and it adds a wonderful flavor element to macaroni and cheese.  Plus, the little red flecks are visually appealing and leave people guessing as to what it could possibly be.  I can't really describe the flavor, but it is unique, and my mac and cheese is much better with it.  I don't know who started putting dulse on the macaroni and cheese in my family, but it probably has something to do with my aunt owning a natural food store.

My macaroni and cheese has become a staple at Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings, and there is rarely any left in the dish.  It is rich, creamy, and delicious, with just the right amount of crunch along the top and sides.  The perfect accompaniment to almost any meal, especially during the autumn and winter months.

Macaroni and Cheese

Printable Recipe

8 oz elbow macaroni

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

2 1/2 cups milk

8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon dulse (optional)

Fresh black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Cook macaroni according to package directions in salted water and drain. 

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour, salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of dulse.  Whisk in the milk until combined and free of lumps.  Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally.  Then add the shredded cheese and stir to combine.

Fold the cooked macaroni into the cheese mixture and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish.  Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of dulse.  Bake for 30 minutes and allow to rest for five minutes before serving.

Recipe can be easily doubled and baked in a 9 x 13 pan.

Toothless

Ari lost his first tooth, which means he is well on his way to manhood.  It had been loose for over a month and he was nervous about it coming out.  The night before it fell out, it was so loose that I was tempted to just pull it.  Alas, I refrained and it came out the next day while he was at school.  He accidentally swallowed it, so he didn't have anything to put under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy.  Being a gracious soul, the Tooth Fairy left him a little something under his pillow anyway.  He was quite tickled.

The R.E.M. Impact: One Fan's Story

As I was browsing the internet yesterday, I came across the headline, “R.E.M. Call it a Day.” I had that sinking feeling, I knew what it was bringing on, I might as well click it. I read the story in disbelief; my favorite band was no more. I immediately tried to rationalize it.

“It must be some sort of April Fool’s Day joke...oh wait, it’s September.”

“But on the last tour Michael Stipe said, ‘See you soon!’ He wouldn’t lie to me!”
“Maybe the website got its sources wrong.”

So I went to remhq and read it straight from the source. R.E.M. was, indeed, calling it a day. Reading the quotes from the Michael, Mike, and Peter, soothed my mind a little, but it was still a shock.

R.E.M. has defined what music is to me for nearly twenty years. I remember as a teenager buying albums from other artists based on a popular hit song. More often than not, the hit single was the only bright spot on the album, and I was left with a lackluster listening experience. Not with R.E.M., though. I fell in love with nearly every song on Out of Time, Automatic for the People, and Monster. Once I discovered their back-catalog, I was hooked.

I remember going to the record store to buy used copies of Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Dead Letter Office, and Document. I think my parents already had Lifes Rich Pageant, Green, and even a copy of Eponymous. I loaded the CDs into our five-disc player and let'er rip. Every song was pure joy. I found my band, and couldn’t wait to hear what they came out with next.

I bought New Adventures in Hi-Fi the day it was released, and I played that album non-stop.  It is, to this day, my favorite R.E.M. album; though, Collapse into Now is giving it a run for its money. With such a huge influx of music in such a short time, I still wanted more. I didn’t want to wait for the next album to hear some R.E.M. songs I never heard before. So, I hit the record store circuit and started buying singles.

I scoured record stores in Indianapolis, Lafayette, Bloomington, and Louisville, looking for singles with b-side songs I had not heard before. I found a lot of success along the way, not only with CD singles, but with 12” and 7” vinyl singles, too. Some record stores even had bootleg concerts for sale on CD, which I was more than willing to shell out extra cash for. I was amassing quite the collection, and then I discovered eBay.

eBay was a dangerous place for me. Every single I didn’t have, every poster I ever wanted, rare memorabilia, everything was there for the picking; it just depended how much I was willing to spend. Admittedly, sometimes I may have spent too much, but I don’t regret a single purchase. I was now in the thick of my R.E.M. collecting phase, and the band had since released Up and Reveal. It was about this same time when Napster came rolling along.

I really enjoyed Napster because I was able to pick and choose what R.E.M. songs I wanted, and they were free. Granted, I had almost every song, but there were a few surprises like “I Walked With A Zombie” here and there. Once Napster was gone, I found out about a peer-to-peer sharing site that specialized in live concerts. Suddenly, I had at my fingertips countless live R.E.M. performances spanning their entire career. Even better, I no longer had to pay $30 to own the performance; I could get it free. Needless to say, I downloaded just about every concert I could find.

Looking back, the peak of my obsession was in 2005 when I listened to all the concerts I had in chronological order. It was probably 200 or so concerts, and it took me several months to get through them all. Those concerts were the only music I listened to; it was fun, but I don’t think I would do it again.

Since then, things have slowed down quite a bit. I no longer feel compelled to listen to every concert, and I have pretty much tapped out the collectables market. There are still some elusive items like the "Gardening at Night" gardening gloves, a Dead Letter Office letter opener, a Fables of the Reconstruction book, and an R.E.M. backpack. I occasionally check eBay for those items, but I haven’t had any luck in a long time.

After the lackluster Around the Sun, R.E.M. rebounded with Accelerate and Collapse Into Now. The latter being their best album since New Adventures in Hi-Fi, in my opinion. It has been a wonderful ride being an R.E.M. fan for all these years. My highest high came in 2008 when I decided use most of my R.E.M. shirts to make a quilt. After posting the quilt on latent chestnut, remhq posted a link to it on their website. I don’t think it could get any better than that.

I think it goes without saying that I am deeply saddened that I may never hear a new R.E.M. song again.  The anticipation of a new album, the thrill and rush of hearing those new songs for the first time, stumbling through the lyrics as I try to learn the words, I want to experience it all again. I do understand their decision and wish them all the best; and I will always be a fan. I am happy to have been able to go to several concerts since I started following them.  That said, here’s hoping the reunion tour comes sooner rather than later!

For whatever it's worth, thank you R.E.M.!

Zimmernian Pickle Power

Although my first attempt at making pickled cucumbers was a success, the flavor of the bread and butter pickles was not really what I was hoping to achieve.  The bread and butter pickles are delicious on a burger or hearty sandwich, I was looking for something that would go well with a lunch meat sandwich, or to eat on their own.

I wanted to make a dill pickle, but most of the recipes I found made use of fermentation.  Not comfortable with the idea of making fermented pickles just yet, continued to look for recipes.  Much to my delight, I stumbled upon a pickle application from Andew Zimmern.

I enjoy watching Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel.  He is my second favorite television food personality; right behind Alton Brown, of course.  Once I read the pickling process, I was very excited to make these pickles.  Here's how to do it.

I waited until I had a bunch of lemon cucumber ripe on the vine and went out for my biggest harvest.  The cucumbers were soaking on the brine in no time, and I placed them on the counter to sit for 48 hours.  It wasn't nearly as hard to wait two days as opposed to seven for the bread and butter pickles.

I was nervous about how they would turn out since the lemon cucumbers are so much rounder than traditional green cucumbers.  I worries melted away as soon as I took my first bite.  These pickle are crunchy, sour, garlicky, with just the slightest hint of heat.  A perfect pickle!

Quilted Memories Body Pillow

After dabbling in pillow coverings with the Indianapolis Colts pillows, I really wanted to make a body pillow for myself.  I decided to use fabric scraps from all of the past quilts I have made.  My original idea was to use the squares in their original size, so I wouldn't have to cut as much, but configuring a pattern was a lot more involved than I was planning.  So, I decided to cut the scraps to the same size squares and go from there.

The body pillow cover took a lot longer to make than I thought it would.  I had to do a lot more cutting, plus I just didn't have the time or energy to do much work on it during the summer.  I am so glad it is finished, though.  It looks even better than I thought it would and it is so cool to see the fabrics I used in the quilts I made.  It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Peanut Butter Pie

What good is making your own peanut butter if you don't have a fabulous peanut butter pie recipe to go with it?  I have been making my own peanut butter for about three years, and I love to make this pie every once in a while.  I say 'every once in a while' because this pie is so rich; a little bit goes a long way.  That said, I usually take this pie to parties because it would be too much for my family to eat by ourselves in a reasonable amount of time.

If you are going to make this pie, I would recommend using AB's peanut butter recipe that can be found on Food Network's website.  If you click the 'printable recipe' link below, the peanut butter recipe will be included.  Also included in the link is AB's roasted peanut application.  I have never roasted my own peanuts for this pie, mainly because I can't find raw in-shell Spanish peanuts anywhere.  I buy roasted salted Spanish peanuts from The Sunspot, and they never fail to produce a scrumptious peanut butter.

This peanut butter pie recipe is fairly straightforward.  There are a lot of steps, but the end result is well worth it.  The hardest part is waiting for the pie to cool, which you have to do a couple times during the process of making it.  The wait is well worth it as the reward is a smooth pie, that's not too sweet, where the peanut butter is actually the star.

Peanut Butter Pie

Recipe Courtesy Alton Brown

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
6 1/2 ounces chocolate wafers
1 tablespoon sugar
5 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1 batch homemade peanut butter
3 ounces powdered sugar, approximately 3/4 cup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the wafers and 1 tablespoon sugar. Process until the wafers are fine crumbs. Melt 3 ounces of the butter and drizzle into the crumb mixture. Pulse to combine. Press this mixture into the bottom, up the sides and just over the lip of a 9-inch metal pie pan. Place in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

After the crust has cooled, place the peanut butter and remaining 2 ounces of butter into the bowl of the food processor. Process for 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and process for another 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until smooth. Carefully spread the mixture into the pie shell and return to the oven to bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool while preparing the topping.

Place the heavy cream into a heat-proof bowl and microwave on high just until simmering, approximately 30 seconds. Remove the cream from the microwave and add the chocolate. Make sure the chocolate is completely submersed in the cream. Allow to sit for 2 minutes. Gently whisk until the chocolate is melted and combined with the cream, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.

Spread the chocolate mixture over the pie and chill in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 hours before serving.

Pickled Lemon Cucumbers (AB's B&Bs)

My goal before summer started, and before my garden was even planted, was to pickle something.  I had cucumbers in mind as the season started.  Much to my surprise, I ended up with lemon cucumbers, and since they taste almost exactly like conventional cucumbers, I figured they will be perfect for pickling. 

I hoped to pickle my cucumbers whole, but the round shape of the lemon cucumbers were a bit intimidating to me, so I looked for a pickle recipe that called for sliced cucumbers.  I looked to Alton Brown first to see what was in his repertoire and found a recipe for bread-and-butter pickles, AB's B&Bs.

The pickle prep was short and sweet, and they were sent to the refrigerator for their week long pickling process.  After the week was over, I was excited to try my yellow pickles.  Since they are bread-and-butter pickles, I expected them to be sweet, and I was not disappointed.  They were almost too sweet to eat by themselves, but they are quite delicious on hamburgers.  I imagine they would also be good made into relish, or on other hearty sandwiches like sloppy joes. 

I enjoyed my first attempt at pickling.  I really like the novelty of using lemon cucumbers as well.  Their large circumference made it so that all I needed was one pickle to cover my entire burger.  I do want to make a pickle that isn't so sweet, though.  With a number of lemon cucumbers ready to pick, I think I may try a recipe that calls for whole cucumbers.

AB's B&Bs

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced

1 cup water

1 cup cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seed

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1/2 teaspoon pickling spice

Directions

Combine the onion and cucumber in a 1-quart glass jar.  Combine the rest of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for four minutes.  Then, pour the pickling liquid over the onion and cucumber until the jar is completely full.  Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for one week before serving. 

The Tale of the Lemon Cucumber

I was so excited to plant cucumbers in our garden this year.  I enjoy cucumbers fresh, but I was most looking forward to the prospects of pickling.  Looked forward to harvesting a number of little green cucumbers and taking them straight to the pickle jar.  I bought a seed packet with a picture of a lovely green cucumber on the front and was ready to go!

One of the cucumber seeds I planted really took off, and I planted it in the corner of the garden, expecting it to grow along the ground.  After it was planted in the ground, the cucumber plant grew like crazy, and I routed it out of the garden to grow along the fence-line.  The vines grew and grew, and soon pretty little yellow flowers began to emerge throughout the lush green leaves. 

The flowers came and went without any cucumbers beginning to grow.  I inspected the plant every day for changes and still nothing new.  One afternoon after work, I was checked the plant and saw a little white orb by the base of the stem.  It didn't look like what I expected a cucumber to be, but I figured it was young and it would soon take the all too familiar shape I was looking for.

That remained to be the only cucumber on the plant for at least a week, and the little orb wasn't getting any longer, and it wasn't getting any greener.  In fact, it was getting rounder, and it was turning yellow.  I thought maybe this was just an unfortunate mutation since it was the first cucumber on the plant.  Soon, other little orbs began to take shape on the vines, and I knew something wasn't right.

One evening, Kevin came over and we showed him our cucumber plant.  He was also growing cucumbers in his garden, so we asked him if his started out in this peculiar way.  He informed us that his cucumbers started out looking like little cucumbers and just got bigger.  More confused than ever, Valerie retrieved the cucumber seed packet to see if it would offer any answers. 

We looked on the back of the packet for information, and found nothing noteworthy.  Then, we looked on the front.  Underneath the big bold "CUCUMBER" on the front of the packet was the word "Lemon" and it went on to describe it.  We had purchased and planted lemon cucumbers.  We found out they are called "lemon" not because of the taste, but because they are about the size and color of a lemon when ripe.

So, that first cucumber wasn't an unfortunate mutation at all, it looked just as it was supposed to look.  Realizing that the cucumber on the vine was ripe, we hurried outside to pick it.  We were excited to try a new variety of cucumber that we had never even heard of before.  Come to find out, it tastes exactly like a green cucumber.  It was a little strange.  

I was glad the mystery was solved, and the plant soon began to produce more cucumber than we could reasonably consume.  Plus, the yellow orbs became a nice conversation piece with guests and neighbors.  With a surplus on hand, I soon set my sights on making yellow pickles...

Kindergartener

This is Ari the morning of his first day of school.  Yes, there is a little anxiety in his eyes, and he would be the first one to tell you that he was nervous.  He had every right to be.  His world was about to change.

I was apprehensive, too.  The night before, as I was putting him to bed, a rush a emotions came over me out of nowhere.  I finished reading him a book and I asked him how he felt about going to school.  He looked at me and said, "Daddy, I'm nervous."  There was so much trust, so much faith in his eyes that I could ease his mind.  As I was talking to him about what to expect, it hit me, I started to get choked up.  I managed to finish what I was saying, kissed him on the forehead, and took a moment to collect myself before going downstairs.

That look, that trust, that love, I don't ever want to lose that.  I think I saw his first day of school as a glaring signal that he won't be young forever.  He's growing up, and I am so proud of him. 

He did well his first day of school.  We both survived.  He's almost through his first week of school, and though he is a bit tired, he seems to be getting used to his new routine.  He is still the outgoing, generous, kind-hearted little boy he always has been.  I hope he never loses that.