Pawpaws, not corn

This weekend at the farmer's market in Bloomington, there was no corn to be had (probably because of the extreme drought we've been having).  BUT - they had Pawpaws. Paul had told me about these, that they grow wild in Indiana and have a custardy taste.  But he'd never had them.  So when the opportunity came, we grabbed it.

I thought it tasted just like a mango, but a little more creamy.  But they have HUGE seeds - like if you stacked three quarters together, that'd be the size of one seed, and there are several in each pawpaw.

And, Paul informed me, there is a song about pawpaws that Hoosier kids learn in school.  Here it is on YouTube for your enjoyment

Saltine toffee - YUM!

Today we have plans for a concert and picnic in Bryan Park with some friends of ours, and I decided to make a small dessert to bring along - Saltine toffee.

Back in winter of 2009, I went to a Christmas cookie exchange at a neighbor's house, and we all exchanged cookies and recipes so that we could make each other's tasty treats. Well, I finally got around to making one of them and it was SOO good and SOO easy that I figured I should share it here. I have no idea who gave me the recipe (there's no name on it) so the credit cannot be given. But man, are they tasty! You're basically making your own heath bars with this one.




Here's the recipe for Saltine toffee:

1-2 sleeves Saltine crackers
1 c Brown sugar
1 c Butter (2 sticks)
12 oz Chocolate Chips
3/4 c nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 10x15 cookie sheet (with sides) with parchment paper. Cover with one layer of crackers. Melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat until boiling, stirring constantly, and full boil for 3 minutes (mixture will be the color of peanut butter and pull away from sides of pot). Quickly pour mixture over crackers and spread evenly (be careful...very hot!). Bake in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and turn off oven.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over heated crackers and caramel mixture. Let sit for 5 minutes (you can put it back in the oven to melt the chocolate faster). Spread the melted chips with a spatula. Sprinkle nuts and press down lightly. Freeze for 30 minutes. Break into pieces and store either in fridge or at room temperature.


I will also add this is a great way to use up chocolate chips that you bought at a store, then left in the car on a hot summer day while you went to another store, and then found they were all melted when you got home. Not that I'd know from personal experience or anything.

Kefir gone wild!

Update on our Kefir project - we're now fermenting about 3 cups of milk per day with our kefir grains! It's nuts! We have to use a half gallon container for it so it's got room to "breathe" while it ferments. So far we probably have about double the grains we started with, and soon we'll be able to start sharing it. We've got two friends who've asked for it already, so apparently we're not the only crazy ones in town!

As for the kefir itself, Paul is a HUGE fan. He makes a big smoothie for breakfast every morning, with fruit mixed in. I have been mostly sticking to yogurt, but the kefir is starting to taste better as it grows. At first, it was really yeasty tasting, like drinking sourdough starter. Now it's less so, but still a big more tangy than yogurt flavor. Apparently it takes time to "mellow".

International Delights in Ohio

Yesterday my friend Jackie and I drove out to Cincinnati Ohio for some international shopping. While Cincinnati doesn't conjure up images of a cosmopolitan utopia, between Ikea and Jungle Jim's you sure can get a lot of international loot! It's only a 3 hour drive from here, so it is totally do-able as a day trip. And even more fun when you go with a friend!

Here's a sampling of my shopping results:

• Cheese from Sweden, France, Switzerland and New York
• French wine from the Corbières, Sake from Japan
• Red bean daifuku from Japan
• Swedish herring and Swedish caviar
• Moroccan olives

household stuff:

• Small trash can from Italy
  
• Storage boxes from Poland
  
• Lamp from China
  
• Scrub brush from the Czech Republic
  

It was so nice to get out of Bloomington for a day! I only have classes once a week this semester (my 3 classes are all on the same day), so I've been going a little stircrazy being around the house all day. When I realized I talk to my dog more than with people, I decided it was a good time to go out and do something besides sitting at home and reading and writing papers!

Adopting bacteria

Paul and I have just adopted some bacteria. Yup, we paid some place called Yemoos for bacteria. Why? Well, as many of you know, we've been making our own yogurt for the past year or so, and we love it. Recently, as we were in the local Bloomingfoods organic market (shopping for a picnic in the park that got rained out) I found a package of dried "kefir" starter. I'd never had kefir before, but it's a drinkable sort of yogurt that's supposed to be really good for your digestion (there are also some Internet rumors that it lowers cholesterol and prevents cancer, but I wouldn't bet on that). We've made it a few times now, and we like it so much that Paul went and ordered some live kefir starter culture.

Here's what we got:

We still need to choose a name for it (the little card says you're supposed to give it a name). Any suggestions?

Here it is in the jar after I strained it with some milk

And, here's how it'll look for the next 24 hours while it grows in the cabinet. After that, we'll strain it and re-grow the grains in fresh milk for another 24 hours before we actually try it.

Can't wait to try the real deal! And if you're local, let us know if you'd like some starter once we get it going!

Semlor

With all the talk about Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday last week, I started craving the traditional Swedish Fat Tuesday buns, called Semlor (singular 'en semla'). Since there aren't too many Swedes in Indiana, or at least none who have opened a bakery, I realized that if I wanted some, I would either have to drive 4 hours each way to Andersonville in Chicago or make them myself. With the price of gas these days, making them at home seemed the better option.

First I had to make the buns. These have 2 sticks of butter and 5 cups of flour for only 16 buns!


Next, I sliced off the tops and hollowed out the middle. The black flecks are not pepper, but cardamom seeds that I ground up.


Then,I mixed up the breadcrumbs I had removed from the buns with some almond paste and milk until it was like a thick pudding.


Filled the buns...

and topped with freshly whipped cream!

As the Swedes say, mums!

Valentine Cupcakes

Just tried out this recipe I found on another blog for chocolate strawberry cupcakes. Perfect for Valentine's day!




I borrowed their picture because there is no way I would get such a pretty one of the inside!

But, here's how I decorated them

And experimented with some frosting techniques (almond buttercream)...



A great way to use up some strawberry cake mix I had sitting in the pantry. With the extra volume from the brownie mix, I had to use 2 full cupcake trays and 1 tray of mini cupcakes. Something tells me the other people in Paul's work building are going to be eating some of these!

Yum!

3 Years!

Last week we celebrated our THIRD anniversary! We had thought about going away somewhere for the weekend, but opted for a more budget-friendly option here in Bloomington.

First we went to a spa happy-hour (meaning they cut their prices in half - score!)where we got a couples massage. So relaxing!

Then, Paul came home with this HUGE bouquet of flowers! I had to split it between our two largest vases because it wouldn't all fit in one!


Binsey wanted to get in on the flower action too...


We ended the evening with dinner at the Limestone Grill. We started with some super delicious calamari. I was surprised that they did such a good job cooking it despite being in Indiana, far from the sea. I meant to take a picture, but we were hungry and ate it all before I thought of it. Paul then had the lamb, and I had salmon with sweet potato pancakes. Yum!



These past 3 years have been crazy - we've lived in two states, three countries (Paul lived briefly in Munich for an internship while I was in England), bought a house, got a dog and have met tons of great friends along the way! Who knows what the future brings, but if the past is any indication, we're in for one heck of a wild ride!

The Birthday Dog

Somebody just turned 1! We think Binsey was born around July 4 (the guy we got her from did not remember when the pups were born). It is crazy that the 4.5 pound roly-poly pup we brought home last August is now a 62 pound nearly-grown dog. We've been keeping a chart of her growth. Hopefully the slowdown will continue because I struggle to lift her!


She is getting a bit too large for the dog bed we bought last year (and had to hide from her for a few months because she was eating it). You can see she is unsure of how she feels about it.



In people news, we have been grilling out a lot. Last week, we tried out our new rotisserie with some pork. The rotisserie has a motor on one end, so you just put it in there with the rotisserie burner on, push the button and let it cook. Yum!

Happy Birthday to the USA

In honor of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Paul and I did what is required to be a good member of US society by going to our local 4th of July celebration at the Monroe County Fairgrounds. The AmVets post puts on an annual fireworks show here in Bloomington, and this was the first year it was at the fairgrounds rather than at the university stadium parking lot. The fireworks were to begin at 10pm, and living about a 10 minute drive away from the fairgrounds, we left at 8:45 in case there was traffic. Well, after an hour of being reminded of why we prefer living in the country to living in Chicago or another big city, we managed to get to the fairgrounds and park. Walking up to where the action was, we were treated to the aroma of fresh fried dough, kettle corn and BBQ.

Despite the long line of large and tattooed men, as well as pregnant women, already ahead of him, Paul, being Polish, could not resist stopping at the Polish Sausage cart (he's on the right in the dark).


Here he is with his prize - juicy polish sausage topped with "everything", which appeared to include sauerkraut and onions among other things. The glow of the yellow neon light from the cart adds to the ambiance of the dish.


Of course, Paul isn't the only one who enjoyed the bounty of the Polish Sausage cart. I was treated to something called a "potato blossom". I don't seem to recall such a delicacy being served in Poland, so this must be a New World creation. More convincing of its US origin is the fact that it's a potato (or probably several potatoes) cut into a spiral, deep fried and smothered with ketchup (or plain if you're too dainty for the red stuff). While the neon yellow glow is not the most flattering light on me, I did want to share the image of this fried treat, in all it's glory, with those who may not have seen it before .



As we enjoyed our rural fairground fare, an 80s cover band played such hits as Van Halen's "Jump" and other Hair Band classics. Finally, at around 10:30 the fireworks began. It was actually a much bigger pyrotechnic show that we expected. There were several times when the audience started clapping because they thought it was the grand finale, but then it would start up again. Pretty impressive, though the paper this morning said they spent $25,000 on the show and only raised $17.000 in donations. They've been short like that two years in a row. Whoops!

What was cool is that we were pretty close to the show, but not so close that we thought we might get hot ashes on us.


And finally, when the show had ended and the line for the Sugar Shack food cart (pictured in the background below) had died down, we ordered our dessert - FUNNEL CAKE! Does it get any better than funnel cake? We think not.


Let the French keep their baguettes. Real Americans take their bread fried and loaded with powdered sugar!

In other news, Indiana ranks 17th in the country for its 2010 level of obesity.

Zucchini and the New Abe Penny

Have you seen the new penny? Crazy! (pardon the blurry close-up) I guess showing the Lincoln memorial was too morbid, so they went with the good ol' image of Honest Abe reading while taking a break from chopping wood. It must have been a needed break after walking for miles to return that penny.

Oh, and zucchini is in season and makes for fantastic chocolate zucchini bread

Fine French Cuisine chez Simacek

Tonight I had a fantastic French dinner courtesy of Chef Paul. It all started this morning when we went to the farmer's market in downtown Bloomington and bought some oyster mushrooms and some garlic and herb fromage blanc. The guy selling the cheese said he liked to add it to cream sauces for pasta. Then the mushroom guy said he liked to cook the mushrooms in a cream sauce. So, we put two and two together and Paul made a mushroom cream sauce with fettuccine.

What makes this story more interesting is that one, Paul was able to use a "twirl whisk" that my grandmother gave us. She had it just sitting in her basement unused, so we were happy to take it off her hands. In case you haven't seen one, they look like this one sold at Sur La Table:


And second, we recently bought Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", and this is what Paul used to make dinner. He made a béchamel sauce (white sauce), added the oyster mushrooms that had been sauteed in butter, and it made a fantastic sauce to serve over pasta. We love the book because it gives you basic recipes (like béchamel sauce) then tells you what to add to the basic recipe to get different dishes. It sounds so fancy to have a oyster mushroom béchamel pasta dish for dinner, and the mushrooms were kind of expensive, but we figure the whole thing cost $9.00 to make (it was $4.50 for the half pound of mushrooms), and it'll last for another meal for both of us, so it's really quite reasonable per serving.

I'm so blessed to have a husband who can cook such awesome meals, and I can't wait to try the new things he cooks up using the new book!

And of course, not to be outdone, I made a peach cobbler for dessert, though Paul did cut the peaches.

Oh, and that said, let me know if you have any good peach recipes. Peaches were on sale $4 for 5lbs, so we have a lot to work with!

Pea Soup and Pancake Thursday

In the past few weeks, I've noticed that a lot of churches, schools and other organizations are having pancake fundraisers. While most Americans probably think of pancakes as a breakfast food, growing up in a Swedish-American household we often had pancakes for lunch or dinner. Swedish pancakes are similar to crepes, only a bit more chewy and buttery. You probably could fill them with savory things like a crepe, but we usually have maple syrup, jam, powdered sugar and/or whipped cream. And yes, it still counts as dinner.

On Thursday evening I joined my grandmother for a local Vasa lodge's pea soup and pancake fundraiser (ärtsoppa och pannkakor). But perhaps I should first explain this combination of foods to those of you who aren't familiar with Swedish cuisine. As part of a long-standing tradition, the Swedish military and other government institutions (like schools) serve pea soup followed by pancakes on Thursdays. I'm not really sure when this tradition originated, but wikipedia.org says it may have something to do with preparation for fasting on Fridays, back in pre-Reformation times. Whatever the origin, pea soup and pancakes are tasty and the meal is still served throughout Sweden on Thursdays.

Unfortunately Paul was sick with a stomach bug, so he wasn't able to make it for pancakes and pea soup. But I was still happy to have some time with my Grandmother, and I made sure to make Paul some pancakes the next morning since he missed out on the feast.

Extreme Pig Out...

...that was the title of a show I was just watching on the Travel Channel as I ate some of the massive slice of chocolate peanut butter layer cake that Paul and I took home from Gregg's last night (if you've ever been to Gregg's for dessert, you know they are very very generous with their cake slices!). Thankfully they were showing skinny teenagers trying to eat 7 pound burgers, so it didn't turn me off from the cake (does that mean I've completely re-acclimated to the American lifestyle?). Anyway, Gregg's cakes are one of the things I miss when I'm away from the Rhode Island area. That and Del's frozen lemonade.

But there are definitely new things to look forward to with regard to "extreme pig outs". Like Steak N' Shake, a burger and milkshake restaurant that's open 24 hours. Their claim to fame is that they use steak in their burgers, as opposed to other chain fast food burger joints that supposedly use lesser quality beef. Either way, it's tasty. And then there's Bruster's ice cream, which Paul introduced me to on our recent trip to Bloomington, and I am now a card-carrying member of their "sweet rewards" club so I can get a free ice cream cone after I buy 9. And I'm sure I'll get there.

I'm also fascinated by farms. There are some farms in and around Seekonk, but not nearly on the scale of what you've got in the midwest. I think grain elevators are really neat, and I love seeing tractors and combines in action. In Bloomington, I'm hoping to take full advantage of the weekly community farmers market and if we can, we might be signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) plan where you pay to get a share of each week's crops, kind of like the vegetable box scheme we signed up for in Oxford. I've got a lot to learn about our new home state, that's for sure! And I think even Paul will be experiencing a lot of new things since he's going back to his college town as a grown and married man.

Well, we've got a lot to figure out in the next few months, but at least most of our stuff is packed (and has been for nearly 2 years!), so getting there won't be much of a hassle!

Thanksgiving take two

I realized I never updated about our second Thanksgiving. On the actual day, we went to my cousin Tara and Derell's house. It was so much fun because there were tons of people, including Tara's two adorable little boys and my cousin Ted and Liz's adorable little boy and little girl, and a bunch of us 'grown ups'. There's a big age gap between me and my cousins, so Katana, who's 5, told me that he was disappointed because he thought I was going to be a kid. haha. Paul had a blast playing with the boys; they were climbing all over him on some kind of pirate raid, and Emily drew me some nice pictures and gave me a foot massage (apparently Aunt Tara's influence - nice one!). Needless to say, it was tons of fun being around all the kids. We really haven't seen kids since we were living in Oxford and our neighbor's kids would play outside our window. It's even better when it's your own family, and it really made me appreciate being close to everyone.

Since we've got lots of time right now, Paul and I helped my mom make a bunch of goodies for the feast. We made olive and cream cheese penguins, deviled eggs, bacon-wrapped dates, corn bread pudding and "turkey" cupcakes. The cupcakes were so much fun to make -we saw a picture in a magazine and just had to do it.

Here's the finished product:

From Fall2008

And I think this is a good place to plug the impressive pumpkin we carved for Halloween. We used a chisel to make the face on it - so much better than a knife!

From Fall2008

So if you think we don't find good uses of our time, think again!

Heja Sverige!

Again, this is old news, but it's a good story. We had one week in early September between when Paul finished in Munich and his classes started again in Oxford, so we though we'd take a trip somewhere in Europe. We'd been wanting to visit Sweden for a while, especially since Paul had never been there, and coincidentally Ryan Air was having a sale on airfare to Gothenberg so we decided to go for it. And to make it even better, I e-mailed my cousin Fredrik and found out all my cousins would be around during our visit! It's kind of complicated how we're all related, but basically my Grandmother (on my mother's side) met her Swedish half brother for the first time when they were both grown, and our families have stayed in touch since. I'm so glad I have that connection, because the rest of my family didn't stay in touch with their Swedish relatives once they hopped on the boat in the early 1900's, at least not for long enough for me to know anyone.

As for our trip, it couldn't have been better. First, we stayed with my mom's first cousins in Trollhattan, which is where my great-grandfather was born. It's also where they make Saabs, and they have a movie studio that they call "Trolley-wood", where some big time movies have been filmed.

Here's me at the Royal Moose Hunting Museum in Halleberg-Hunneberg. Every two years the king goes on his official hunt, and this museum was built to educate people about the moose and the history of the hunt.

From Sweden 2008

Here's one of the specimens in the museum:

From Sweden 2008

After we went to the museum, we drove around the hunting grounds, which are like a national park. We did manage to run into some moose on the prowl for apples!

From Sweden 2008

Here we are at the edge of the park near lake Vanern.

From Sweden 2008

Next we went to Hamburgsund, on the West Coast. Ingegerd (who's my mom's first cousin) kindly let us stay at her summer house out there, and Gunnel (my mom's other first cousin) kindly let us borrow their car. Although it wasn't warm summer weather in September, it was sunny and nice enough for us to go for a pleasant stroll around the area in the morning. Here I am on the street in front of the house:

From Sweden 2008

Swedish beaches are really rocky, and the water is cold, so it's a different experience from going to a beach in, say, Miami. Walking around the coastline, we came upon this little fishing village - Tegelstrand. I have no idea how long it's been there, but it looks like something out of a storybook.

From Sweden 2008

We spent the afternoon driving around Bohuslan, which is a very historic area of Sweden. There's evidence of people living there as far back as 3,000 years ago! In that time, Sweden's climate was like the south of France, until it started to get colder around 500BC. They were even growing grapes for wine back then! We stopped at the museum at Tanum (which is free!), where they've built some houses like people would have lived in back then. They kind of remind me of the English cottages with thatched roofs. Here's me coming out of one:

From Sweden 2008

That evening, we joined my Grandmother's brother Stig and his wife Greta for dinner in Högsäter. They have a gorgeous historic home up there, where they spend their summers. Greta treated us to a tasty meal and we caught up on some family news, and I got to practice some broken Swedish. Here we are at the dinner table:

From Sweden 2008

So that was what we did during the week. On the weekend, we went to Gothenberg and stayed at Fredrik's apartment. What was even better than free accomodation was that all my cousins are now living in or near Gothenberg! A lot had happened since I visited 5 years ago. Two of my cousins got married, and there were a couple of new baby cousins to meet.

Here's my cousin Peter, his wife Lijana and their super cute 9-month-old son, Vincent

From Sweden 2008

Peter is taking a few months paternity leave from work to be home with Vincent while Lijana goes back to study dentistry. Swedish law allows either the father or mother to take leave from work, with full pay, to care for a new baby. Lijana took the first few months, and now Peter is taking the next few months. Aren't you jealous? Kind of makes you think, higher taxes, but free school and crazy benefits like this - not a bad trade-off, I think!

And now for something that's not quite as cute. As a joke, my cousin Helene and her husband Karim brought us some Surstromming, which is a fish delicacy. What makes it a joke? Well, if you had ever smelled it, you'd understand. They used to make this stuff when salt was really expensive - instead of preserving the fish with salt, they used yeast, which basically ferments it. It's so vile that the tin actually bulges under pressure - that's how you know it's good! Paul had mentioned the night before that he liked to try new or exotic foods, and he already knew he liked 'sill' (pickled herring) which they usually use to impress foreigners, so they had to take it a step further. Well, not to be outdone, Paul had to follow through and try the stuff. Anna, Fredrik's girlfriend, understandibly did not want this thing opened in her home, so we had to bring it outside to try it out. So we knew it'd be stinky, but not that stinky! Apparently no one had tried it before, so all of the guys (except Fredrik - smart guy) tried it. Here's Karim opening the tin, which makes a sound like a deflating tire when you open it:

From Sweden 2008

If you've got a good connection, you can see Paul trying the surstromming on video, with Swedish commentary:


Here's my cousin Anders (with absolutely adorable daughter Maja) trying the surstromming. I actually hadn't seen him for something like 15 years, during which time he got married and had three daughters, who I'm sure are also gorgeous.

From Sweden 2008

Well, I think that's enough about the stinky fish. We topped off the night with some of Fredrik's tasty cocktail concoctions and some intense debates about world politics and everything else that comes to mind at 2AM after three apple martinis.

And to finish off, here's a nice shot of most of us the next morning at Peter and Lijana's place (they made us an awesome waffle breakfast! yum!)

From Sweden 2008

I'm so thankful we had a chance to see/meet the Swedes. I hope they come visit us in the US!

The Enchanted Forest at St Cross College

This Thursday night we went to a ball at St Cross College. I don't know much about the college itself, but I do know that they throw a great party! Our friends Mikki and Brian went as well, and we all had a blast with dinner dancing and entertainment.

The thing with Oxford colleges is that they don't look like much from the outside, but on the inside they all (for the most part) have a gorgeous courtyard which is just perfect for parties, especially as the weather is getting warmer.

Here we are at the start of the party. They put these neat fairytale mushrooms all over the place. There's something I just love about little red mushrooms with white spots - in fact, I bought a little pottery one in a small village in France called Maury on our honeymoon.. you'll learn the connection later in this story...


After the cocktail reception in the courtyard, we went inside for dinner. The dining hall was actually pretty modern for Oxford, but nice and bright. Here's me and Mikki at the table:


Here's Paul with some of his Oxford school mates


The dinner consisted of a pureed vegetable soup for the starter, bacon-wrapped chicken with lentils and wild mushrooms for the main, and some kind of chocolate trifle for dessert. BUT - the highlight brings us back to France to that little village called Maury. Paul and I thought we'd never be able to find their sweet nectar outside of France, but much to our delight, it was served as a digestif after the meal! We had brought a bottle of it from our honeymoon to Mikki & Brian's murder mystery party last week, so it was really funny that they served it there! Anywhere, here's me with the wine after dinner (we may have had seconds and thirds of it!)


Us with some of the creatures roaming about...


And the night wouldn't be complete without another cute mushroom picture!


And for real bizarre-ness, a picture with the fantasy tree/vine/foliage people:

No More Youth Discount!

I turned 26 on March 31, which means I am no longer a "young person" in England, and cannot get the "young person's discount" on the train. However, I had a really nice birthday. Paul took me out to a Thai restaurant that a colleague recommended to me, called Chiang Mai Kitchen, and it was fantastic. The highlight was scallops with some sort of hot sauce - it sounds strange but it was sooo good!

I also got a second birthday celebration when Danalisa and Amanda took me out for dinner and a movie (27 Dresses). It was so nice to have a girls night, as I don't get to see them as much as I'd like to since I've been working full time. Here we are at the Giraffe having dinner:

Why I love Abingdon

Abingdon is a town just south of Oxford, about a 15 minute bus ride away. I decided to go there a couple of weekends ago because I found out they have a Polish store where you can get Polish food. Well, the store wasn't that great, but the rest of the town was awesome! This is what I had in mind when I found out we would be living in England.



The town square is pictured above. Oxford doesn't really have a town square, so it was neat to see what one looks like in an English town. They have a lot of great shopping around, most notably a Woolworths (kind of like a small version of Wal-Mart) and a Waitrose grocery store (similar to a Whole Foods). Both do not exist in Oxford, and both made me very happy, as it's nice to be able to get cheap household items and it's wonderful to get good quality groceries. As Oxford is a college town (average age seems to be about 19), it was so refreshing to see people of all ages and all walks of life out shopping on a Saturday.



Outside of the town square is Abingdon Abbey gardens, which are quite nice for a stroll.


The old ruins in the garden are pretty neat. I don't yet know the history, but I did get a self-portrait in them. :)




Needless to say, I will be back to Abingdon, if for nothing more than the fabulous groceries!