Monthly Archives: October 2013

Happy Halloween! New Adventures Start Tomorrow.

I love seeing Halloween costumes. I’d love to give out candy, but in the entire time I’ve lived in Chicago, I never have. Not one knock on any of my doors. Alas. I realized, this year, that I had no Halloween plans. So we made some.

Tonight, we’re moving a couch. In the rain. Good times. I’m going to try to make soup for dinner, though I don’t know if I have all of the ingredients.

Tomorrow? Tomorrow I embark upon a whole new adventure, mostly just to see if I can. Tomorrow is 1 November 2013, and I’m going to try NaNoWriMo for the first time in my life. While also traveling to the big, important birthday parties for my father-in-law (beginning of the month) and mother-in-law (end of the month).… Continue reading →

Taming the Mania

Note: I wrote this post on the 23rd & then had some issues getting it uploaded before I left for Baltimore. So please read it accordingly.

My home smells a bit like lovage today. Very faintly. I, as planned, stripped all the leaves off and chopped them very finely. They’re frozen in ice cube trays now. I put the stems out with hummus to see if they’d be an adequate celery snack substitute. Only Bill was willing to try them (I don’t like celery much), and he said the stems were entirely too woody for that kind of consumption. So, into the stock bag they went.

I also chopped the rhubarb into chunks and froze that on a freezing sheet1. I’ll dump that into a baggie today.… Continue reading →

Veggie Mania

The other day, I commented to twitter that it’s time to bring in my plants from outside. For me this includes a thyme plant, a lemon thyme plant (neither of which grew in the slightest, but neither of which died back at all either), and an asparagus fern. There’s also some really cute volunteer flowers and some volunteer chives in pots my landlords left, but those can stay where they are. I’ll harvest the remainder of the chives, chop them up and freeze them.

My friend, Ellen responded, “I stood by my back windows and contemplated the huge task of harvesting the backyard… Too much food.” Assuming she meant that there’s just a lot of work getting all the food from her copious garden into her house, I volunteered to help.… Continue reading →

Almost All Fat Bacon

9:55 am –

The slices were so large I pulled out two pans and am preheating the oven. I both begin to wonder where my bacon press from my mother-in-law resides now and to question my own use of any bacon-flattening devices. The rendered fat, from just two slices per pan, is already flabbergasting.

10:01 am –

I have never before seen bacon float on a sea of it’s own fat.

10:15 am –

About to post photos. Apparently when bacon is this fatty, you can get almost a full cup of rendered fat, easily, from just four slices. Furthermore, it’s insanely easy to burn almost all fat bacon.

10:21 am –

My house smells like burned bacon. Adrienne’s not going to visit me for a month.… Continue reading →

Mundane. Yet Glorious

Last night, I went out for a beer release near a friend’s house. I knew she lived in the area, but had thought she didn’t like this bar, so I didn’t invite her to join me. This is despite the fact that, last night, I was in pretty dire need of companionship.

She realized I was there, came out anyway, shared french fries with me and laughed at me as I tried Malört (both kinds) for effectively the first time. I’m very glad she came out, both for the company and for making me think.

She asked me “What’s new?” And I replied, as I often do, “Nothing.”

Then, almost immediately, I had to say, “Wait, no, that’s not true. I’m going to Baltimore Beer Week next week.”… Continue reading →