Baking and Making

With lots of my time on my hands, I've decided to stop lying in bed all day and do something. What resulted this past Friday was baking. I like having muffins or granola around to munch on but most of the stuff at the supermarket has either things I don't like in them or too many chemicals. I have also been trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup which is in EVERYTHING nowadays. So I figured I would make all that stuff myself. I also decided to do it all in one day.

What I ended up making was granola bars, oatmeal cookies, and bread.

Granola Bars.

These were really easy to make. Greg found an Alton Brown recipe and we used it as our model but added the nuts and dried fruit we liked. It consisted of sunflowers, oatmeal, almonds, wheat germ, hazel nuts, honey, vanilla extract, brown sugar, dried mango, and dried pineapple. First you toast the nuts and wheat germ, then melt the sugar, butter, and honey together, and finally mix everything together and bake for 25 minutes. Wait for them to cool and then cut them up into bars.



Now, we have a snack that we take take anywhere and is much better than store bought granola bars.



Oatmeal Cookies.

On a book spending spree in Barnes and Nobles, Greg and I bought a Test Kitchen cookbook. So far it has not failed us. Each recipe we've made has come out really well, from crispy fried chicken to muffins. The book is great because it also teaches you about the ingredients and rates the cooking supplies.(Yes, I think the Test Kitchen should pay me too!)

So this time, I used the oatmeal cookie recipe. There is a delicate balance with oatmeal cookies. Too many oats and they come out dry and crumbly and too little and they are technically not oatmeal cookies. So, this recipe provided the perfect balance of both. Plus, it called for adding nutmeg instead of cinnamon which was a good move. Fresh ground nutmeg is very fragrant and is a good match for oatmeal cookies.



Bread.

It is a wonder that something we eat every day can be so time consuming and fickle to make. For those reasons, this was the first time I have attempted to make bread. I also used the Test Kitchen book for the recipe. What it involved was a lot of just letting it rise. I used white flour, some whole wheat flour, and toasted wheat germ. Then there were two parts to letting it rise. After that, you bake it with a water filled pan next to it (this makes the outside crunchy), and then take it out and let it cool.



I was so tempted to cut it open right away, but resisted because it would have ruined the shape. In the end, it turned out beautifully. It wasn't too dense and was very tasty. I was impressed. So next time I am going to add some nuts to it and try it again. I am also going to find some rapid rise yeast because that is what the recipe recommends and I think it could make a big difference.



Now that the first bread hurtle has been passed, there are so many opportunities for more! :)

It was a good day of making stuff. I was really glad that everything turned out well. There is something to be said for following the directions exactly, having all the right ingredients, and even the right tools. Here's to bakin'!

The Wild World of Weddings

There is nothing I like more than a party, especially parties that take years of planning and come with elaborate dinners and decorations. This has been a good summer for me. I've been a guest at 4 weddings.

I figured I would show my appreciation for all the food and fun by writing a blog about the weddings. But honestly, my descriptions and "awesome" comments don't really do justice to all the planning and thought that went into them. So I am going to give them a Leslie Award and let the pictures speak for themselves. :)

My cousin Sarah heads the list of weddings. She got married June 19th to Daniel Pritchard in Columbus, Ohio.





They get the special "you-got-all-the-Harker-siblings-in-one-room" award. Yay!



The next wedding was for Emily Watkins and Shaun Kirkpatrick. They got married in Philadelphia on July 24th. They get the special "did-it-in-less-time-than-anyone-else-who-didn't-elope" award.



It was a lot of fun because I got to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in years. Not to mention the food was fantastic!



Ever been to Hershey, Pennsylvania? Neither had I till I went to Shawn Truppo and Hilary Rice's wedding on July 31.



They get the special "so-many-donuts-I-hurt-myself " award.



The last wedding of the summer was Janelle Jimenez and Hugh Prysten on August 20 on a rooftop in Tribeca.



It was by far one of the most enjoyable times I've had in New York. They get the "oh-shit!-there-is-caviar" award.

Midwest is Best

This is my aunt and uncle's dog, Tess. She is the smartest and cutest westie!


Once a year, I am drawn home to the sweet lands of the Midwest. The place of friendly people, long drives, fields of corn, wide open spaces, and a sense of freedom that drove early Americans and Europeans mad. Every time I step off the plane or pull into the drive, a sigh of relief escapes my lips. The smells, the sights, the feeling of complete comfort. I haven't always felt this way. The reason I left is because I thought it was boring and complacent. However, I believe you can't appreciate where you are from until you leave. Galavanting around the world, and now the US, has given me that new appreciation.

This my father and I out hiking in John Bryan State Park


I never thought I would be such a fierce defender of the Midwest, but it seems that it is my banner to wave. Just like I had to defend Americans while being abroad, now I defend the Midwest. This is partly my inspiration for writing this blog.

This is my nephew and I after building his first lego toy. We graduated to no choking fears!


Now let me explain why the Midwest is best.

Time and time again, the people. What are we doing so right? Is it all the home cooked food? Spending time with cousins at Granny and Paw-Paw's house? Trips to the family farm in the summer? Fall football and sports medicine? Springs full of softball? Summers at camp? All of these things are probably what made me a nice Midwestern gal and they were all influenced by the people.

These are my grandparent's five children. Dan, Bev, Mark, Ann, and Jeff.


Each time I go back, it is for the people. First, family of course, but what is life without friends. This last trip back was no exception. First stop, the Harker family, which is quickly being married off and becoming something bigger and more diversified. Last year I went back for my sister's wedding and this year, for my cousin's wedding. (A wedding blog is coming soon).

This is just a taste of our family beauty. Aunt Nancy, Katie, Aunt Ann, Colletta and me.


I made a short stop in Cincinnati to see my favorite family of Wilders. Next time, it is going to be a much longer. :)

Next stop Chicago. I've been there a couple times now but this is the first time I did touristy things. Suzanne and Robb took me around to some good stuff. We saw Salt n'Peppa, of which I could still sing all the words to their popular songs and even got a "wow" from Suzanne. (Thank you elementary school friends!). We also hit the Taste of Chicago festival which didn't really taste that good. :( After that we got an architectural tour down the river by (as it turns out) one of Suzanne's friends. I also got to go to the illustrious coffee shop where Suzanne and Robb spend there time, in turn meeting their circle of Chicago friends.

Suzanne and I pose in front of the city sky scrapers.


Even in Chicago, there is no denying that people are more relaxed and friendly. We went for drinks at a fancy bar, with an amazing view of the city. When we walked in, people were wearing jeans and others were dressed in suits. Only in the Midwest. If this had been in NYC, we would have never been seated because we weren't dressed appropriately.

Restaurant described above.


This is what makes Midwest best: great people.

Ocean Grove

Where in the world am I?



That is what I want to know. New York made sense. Big, crazy, expensive, fast, and willing to squash you flat if you got in the way of a suit on his lunch break. There are lots of jobs and even more opportunities. Nonetheless, I've found myself in Ocean Grove.

Ocean Grove is a Methodist Camp Meeting. It is a square mile of land which was bought by a church group for summer camps in 1869. There are just over $4,000 people living here. Those people who own houses actually lease the land from the camp meeting association.

In the center of the town there is the Great Auditorium. It has one of the biggest pipe organs in the US, about 11,000 pipes!



Then, around the auditorium, there are tents. People own these tents and come back year after year to set them up and chill all summer long. Around the tents are houses. They are all very cute, cookie-cutter homes with lots of intricate wood working around the windows and doors. If you are tired of seeing McMansions or housing developments where everything looks the same, then this is for you. Also, they have porches. What happened to us in the mid-west? Why did we get rid of the porch? I blame air conditioning.



Overall, it is a quite town. There are restaurants and tiny shops for the summer tourists. People usually get around on their bikes or on foot. You get the sensation that you on vacation each time you step outside on a sunny afternoon.



That begs the question, how is a mid-west girl doing in this beach culture? As everyone I've met on the east coast has told me, I am very nice. That means I take being made fun of easily. Everyone likes to take a shot at the girl who didn't grow up on the beach.



So here is what I am learning.

1. Sun block is your friend. Wear it all the time. My white, northern European skin is not cut out for this.

2. Navigating the water works with a few tricks. Logic would have it, staying close to land would make you feel safer, I mean that is where the little kids hang out. Please note, kids are dumb. The word "kid" should a be a synonym of "dumb". Anyway. If you stay close to land, the waves hit you the hardest and it becomes a struggle to stay upright. If you, however, swim out a bit, you can ride the waves up and down without them crashing on you. Also if you dive under the waves, they pass over you and don't blow you away.

3. Sand is not your friend. It gets in everything, including your pants.

4. Don't feed the water fowl! Unless however it is our friend limpy, King of the Seagulls. You'll know him when you see him.

5. Swim suits are just socially acceptable underwear. I am still amazed by this. If I wore my beach gear anywhere else, I would get looks or comments, even arrested, but on the beach or walking there all is alright. Crazy.

The learning continues. I am trying my best but it takes some getting used to, especially when you are surrounded by people who have been beaching it up for years. Given time, I am sure I will snicker and sneer at others who don't know what they are doing! We can only hope. :)

Sewing. It can be sew much fun and sew frustrating!

Something I realized about myself. I am a doer. I think about what I want to do, plot out some rough points, and then take off. This happens in all places in my life. It can be exciting, impulsive, and utterly disastrous.

Let's apply this to sewing. Thanks to two lovely ladies, Liz and Suzanne, I am in possession of one fine piece of equipment called a sewing machine. Well, after having the tool, what do you do? Take lessons? Start small and build up? Ask for advice? Read blogs about sewing? Don't be ridiculous! You buy some fabric, make your boyfriend figure out why the tension isn't correct and fix it, then start sewing! :)

Now Greg and I have a joke going that I like to eyeball once and cut three times. That may be true but I am learning a lot from doing. I have had terrible disappointments but also great successes. So far (let's just count the successes) I've made a couple of dresses, a bag, a top for the beach, a skirt, and a bag for some marshmallow shooters for Greg's cousin.

Here are a few of my favs:

I made this skirt out of Greg's old seersucker yacht club trousers. I was blown away that he owned a pair and immediately asked if I could cut them up. :) It was a pretty straight forward project. Cut off the legs and make it a length that is comfortable. The only problem ever is that the zipper is crazy long because they were boy's pants. I wear them for cruising around town or going to the beach.



This is a beach bag. I bought this fabric in Japan and had intended for the longest time to make a bag out of it. I found some simple designs on the internet and then just started cutting. (Don't tell anyone but I did measure some stuff). It works really well. I am particularly proud of the handles but the pockets need work. I'll know what to do for the next bag.



The first job I had when I got back to the states left me with little more than scars from poison ivy and blue t-shirts. So when you have t-shirts, make things! I cut up a couple and made this. It was a little tight. Gotta work on that next time. This might be where that measuring comes in!



This is probably the best thing I've made so far. I bought the fabric just for this dress, it wasn't taken from something else for the first time. I had even bought a pattern for it. Too bad that didn't work out. The pattern was more complicated than I had imagined and I really wanted to wear this dress to my cousin's wedding. So I scrapped the first plan and made this instead. The only problem is that you can't really wear a bra with it. I feel more comfortable with a bra but going free and easy didn't seem to make a difference.



This is my most recent dress. I took a dress that I didn't really like the top from, cut it in half and sewed it onto a top I didn't really wear that much. In the end you have this beautiful design. It is super hip. We will see how much wearing it gets.



So where does the "sew frustrating" come in? Well, there have been plenty of disasters. One thing is changing the tension of the thread for different kinds of fabric. If the tension is wrong, the whole thing could come unraveled. Also, getting shapes right is hard. And do I need to mention zippers! Ugh. Eventually, I know this will become second nature but as a novice, it can make me push my machine away and throw myself on my bed as a crumpled mess in exasperation. Always followed by some whining.

I struggle on!

Summer Sun and Fun

Well, after planting my garden, I was surprised at how everything took off. Seeds are tiny packages of dynamite, ready to explode given the right soil, water, and sun.



As you can imagine, I was super excited to put stuff in the ground and did so very early. I planted everything too early and everyone said it would all die. I was willing to accept that if it happened but guess what! It didn't! Almost everything lived, except some poor cucumbers. I replanted some and they grew too.

We now have sunflowers (thus delicious sunflower seeds) green beans, lettuce, basil, cilantro, tomatoes, strawberries, and hopefully cucumbers soon!

Things I realized about gardens:

1. Birds are not your friends. Sure you feel sorry because for them because they live outside and you live in a big house with furniture but they will decimate your garden!



2. I love squirrels but they love my sunflowers, not me! It is a weird relationship. I saw a very bold squirrel bite a stalk of a sunflower down and then proceed to eat the seeds out of it. The pesky beast did it right in front of me, knowing that I have a soft spot for him. Damn squirrels. So, beat the squirrels to the punch (either literally or figuratively) and get your sunflower seeds before him.



3. The reason they call it "planting season" is because that is the ideal time for seeds to germinate. If you plant after said season, you will have less favorable results.



4. Sometimes the mystery plant blooms and looks amazing (see below picture). I wanted to pull up this plant, which I thought was a weed, forever. I didn't because I hate killing things, even plants. Then low and behold, it produced these incredibly beautiful flowers.



5. Huge bush. (T-he). I wanted to rip it out of the ground. Once again, glad I didn't. It turned pink and full with beautiful blossoms in spring.



6. Leaving for a week to go travel and visit home means your garden will become overgrown with weeds. Even though, you put a boy in charge of watering it, it appears, that is all he did. The lesson here: weeds are bitches and they will take over everything, especially the viney breeds.



7. Nothing is better than waking up at dawn, weeding, and then making said non-weeding partner get up and eat a breakfast salad with you at 6 am when you return home. Delicious revenge.



8. Last but not least, summer vegetables are delicious. Worth every minute.

Jersey Shore Fun

Spring has brought not just flowers, but friends and fun. A few weeks ago, some college friends got together and spent a few days hanging out.

Andrea and Suzanne flew to NYC and met up with Liz, Lauren and Me. On Friday, we did some sightseeing in the city, ate some cupcakes, and wore ourselves out talking and walking. One of the highlights being a doggy daycare, near Lauren's house.

Then it was off the Shore. We hung out just like they did on the reality show. We went to the beach, impressed the men and women with our sexy bodies, then went back and barbaqued, finishing the night with lots of drinking. There were some cold sleeping arrangements and then a very early wake up. All in all, too short but fun.

Thanks for the good times ladies!