this weekend sent summer off in style

I know. I've been not good at posting this summer. I have had no responsibilities but have found myself to be quite busy. A very good kind of busy.

This weekend we had a mod reunion. For those of you who are not familiar with my undergrad school, a mod is a housing option with five bedrooms, a living room, and a communal bathroom. I was fortunate to live with my best friends for two years (and some of them for a third). Great times. I would say we have done amazingly well at getting together in the seven years since graduation. I'm impressed. I have not always made it, which is regrettable, but I am already looking forward to the next time I can.

However. I did not even get out my camera once this weekend. For a wonderful and entertaining overview of our weekend, please see my friend's blog. People: This post includes a baby in a mullet wig. You do not want to miss this.

On either side of the mod weekend, I (and sometimes Brian) hung out with my brother (and most times his gf). This was also a great part of my weekend. Love them. We spent some time searching for the 90s nostalgic drink Orbitz, watching some MST3K riffs, and eating some excellent food. Yum to Mi Ranchito (Ranchita?) and Orange Leaf.

Thanks again to all of our wonderful hosts! It was a blessing to spend time with so many important and loved people in my life.

what's the most trying part of mennonite cooking?

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Dealing with all the bierock-racy.*


This photo isn't really my favorite example of my bierock adventures because this batch got more brown than I like my bierocks (first time making them with this oven and at this altitude), they've been smashed in a Ziplock in the fridge for almost a week, and, shame, the three that are left are embarrassingly mismatched in size. I'm just willing to sacrifice my pride for a good (that's debatable) joke.

Here's a snapshot of the first bohne beroggi I've ever made.


The resident Swiss Menno in our household did give his stamp of approval on the taste but suggested that they don't look quite right. I've never been taught how to make bohne beroggi. I've never even witnessed them being made. I was just going off of what the end product looks like. We hope to get some instruction in shaping them this summer. Hey, at least I didn't just make them in the shape of a bierock, which I was somewhat tempted to do.

Speaking of the shape of a bierock, what shape do my readers know them to be? One of my grandmothers made square bierocks, which I have never seen any place else, nor do I know exactly how she did that. Did she roll out the dough and cut squares rather than pinch off buns? It seems more difficult and more labor intensive to make square ones. Who knows. I should ask her.

*It's very possible I thought up that pun and then spent a few days trying to come up with a good joke to use it in...and I still may not be entirely pleased with the results, but it's as good as I got.

cherries 'r' luv

The post title says it all, albeit in a horribly annoying way. Cherries 'r' luv even more when they come at $1.27 per pound. Have I mentioned how much I love the price of produce here?

visitors: part 1

At the end of May and beginning of June we were blessed with an abundance of visitors. We were really excited with anticipation and very thankful that we now occupy a space that allows us to host visitors.

Our first set was my parents and brother. Mom and dad arrived on a Friday. We spent Saturday at Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road had opened the day before, so we took that drive. However, between the time it opened and then, there had been quite a bit of snow melt that had eroded away the road in some parts, so the road was closed at about 11,000 feet. We drove as far up as we could and got out to take in the view.


The rangers at this point on the road thought reconstruction would be finished and the rest of the road would open in about 20 minutes but that it would be one-way traffic and you would have to take the entire road. This is not something we were interested in anyway, so we retraced our path and headed on to Bear Lake. There is a nice trail around the lake that I enjoy walking. We had done this trail in October when Brian's parents visited: the lake was frozen and the trail was snow packed. Not much had changed by the end of May.

Bear Lake with Long's Peak in the background

There was evidence of some melting of the lake and some muddy areas of the trail, but a lot of it was still snow packed. In places we could tell that the trail still had five feet of snow on it. We were able to get right down to the lake at one area an could see that the ice was really thick -- couldn't see the end of the ice.

On our drive back, we encountered heavy rain and some hail, at one point taking refuge in a parking garage. Supper was made and eaten, the rain cleared and we took a walk up on campus, and later that evening Mark arrived!


On Sunday we did the classic visit to Celestial Seasonings and got our fill of the Mint Room (my favorite part of the tour). Many teas were tasted, and we cashed in our coupons for a free box of tea. Mom & dad took us out to celebrate May birthdays, and we all ate way too much at Islands.

We again took a nice walk up on campus, this time with a stop at the entomology part of the museum collections (the collections that are not on public display). Surprisingly, I had not even been there yet, so I was really glad to get to go. They have some amazing stuff.

We took everyone out to Beau Jo's for some tasty pizza, and then mom made us brownies and homemade fudge sauce for ice cream for dessert. Yes, we ate quite well over the weekend.

We are really grateful that everyone took the time and resources to come visit us!

more joys of cooking club

Really, one main joy can be summed up as: For supper tonight I ate Pad Thai cooked with/by a person from Thailand, and I was in the kitchen with her. So cool! Such a neat learning experience. I was quite interested in going to this meeting of the cooking club because I do love a good Pad Thai and was curious to see firsthand how it is traditionally made. We actually have a recipe for Pad Thai that we like quite a bit and tastes very much like the Pad Thai we have ordered in various restaurants. However, I've always been a little suspect about its authenticity. The main reason for that? Let's just say one of the ingredients might be ketchup. Seriously, ketchup. The first time we made that recipe I was very doubtful it would end up tasting like Pad Thai, but taste like Pad Thai it did. Needless to say, tonight's did not involve any Heinz products. This Pad Thai was tasty and did taste different from restaurant ones, mostly in that it is not nearly as sweet as what you would be served in a restaurant here. However, the person leading did say you can adjust sweetness, spiciness, etc. to your own tastes. Pad Thai in the US is often adjusted from the traditional to include chicken, whereas in Thailand it would traditionally be only shrimp and tofu. Other interesting differences between ketchup recipe and authentic recipe is that ketchup recipe has 14 -- count 'em 14!! -- cloves of garlic (and yet the dish does not come up tasting of garlic...odd) and 7 tablespoons of fish sauce (though we generally decrease it to 4-ish), while authentic recipe only used 2 tablespoons of garlic and less than one tablespoon of fish sauce, though the total amount of Pad Thai was probably slightly less than what we make. And aside from those two ingredients and sugar, what is the other sauce ingredient? Well, it is not ketchup. It's tamarind, which can be purchased as a paste.

Also joyous was again interacting with some incredibly pleasant people, including a couple who I met new tonight. It was only six of us women tonight, which I find to be a very nice group size (not to mean I want to exclude anyone else who would want to come).

chick-FAIL-a

Towne West Mall (I think?) in Wichita used to have a Chick-fil-A. I remember liking it, but I had not eaten at one for quite some time because it closed. I believe the WSU student center has one, but I never went there. Last summer I noticed there is one in a town close to us and made a mental note. A few weeks ago we were in that town and I suggested it for supper. But it turns out that Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays -- a practice that I actually am impressed by and support. It's nice that their employees always have that day off. However, that made our Chick-fil-A fail #1. Tonight we were in that town again and thought we'd give it another try. When we got close, we started asking, "What the heck is going on?" Cars filled the parking lot and lined the streets for blocks and blocks. There was a bounce house, a helicopter, lots of tables set up outside, and the "Eat Mor Chikin" cow mascot wandering around. We stopped. We waited in line. We saw a sign for "Try the new spicy chicken sandwich for free if you are wearing a red shirt." Inspect our shirts...one blue and one heather gray. And that guy behind the counter was a real stickler about the red shirts. No free spicy chicken sandwiches for us. Chick-fil-A fail #2. But we did get to see the helicopter take off and eat free ice cream. The regular old chicken sandwich was tasty as well.

on why i will never be a food blogger.

This morning early afternoon I was making muffins. Delicious orange juice/oatmeal/blueberry muffins. Because some nights I think to myself, "It sounds really nice to get up tomorrow, go to a coffee shop, relax, and enjoy a baked good and an Americano." But then I think, "I should just make baked goods myself and enjoy them hot and fresh with a good cup of coffee."

Funny thing about coffee shops here (not so funny): There are a TON of coffee shops. Most with really delicious coffee! Which is great because I moved from a town where I could buy coffee at like three places, one of which was a dedicated coffee shop and, I thought, had terrible coffee. Espresso drinks? Pretty good. But awful, burnt-tasting brewed coffee. Which is ok because I rarely ever get brewed coffee if I am buying a cup; I can usually be found buying an Americano. This, however, is the result of my experiences with the aforementioned (and now out of business) coffee shop's coffee. Anyway. A TON of coffee shops here, most with good coffee, but they ALL seem to have ALL the same baked goods. Which is disappointing because there is no variety and it tells me none of them are baking their own and the choices aren't all that fresh. There really aren't any that I get excited about, which I guess is probably a good thing.

So I was making muffins. I thought, "I could blog these muffins." But to me that meant I would have to get out my camera and photograph the process. Quickly, I felt the calm feeling I had from knowing I was about to make muffins slipping away. Cooking/baking is my hobby. It is almost nearly my only hobby. I didn't check the official hobby guidelines, but I'm guessing watching 16 and Pregnant isn't a real hobby. Cooking/baking is my release and relaxation. (Except for sometimes like last week when it was Brian's birthday and I was making Knepp and pretty much had two meltdowns: 1. when I couldn't find the Crisco; and 2. when I was positive I was screwing up the dough part of the Knepp and would never be able to do it.) I find that photographing the process breaks my rhythm and my relaxation. Sometimes I want to do it and like it, but most often I don't. And it seems that visually documenting the process is an important part of being a food blogger. Without it, you're pretty much just posting recipes. Come to think of it, my lack of taking pictures in general could very well be my blogging downfall.