Busy as a bee

Do you ever have one of those days you know will be productive? Has to be productive? Today is one of those for me. I woke up at 5:30 thinking about things I needed to get done. Out the door by 7:00. So many things to get done - mostly work things. I have a new staff member starting next week and things need to be in order. My boss comes back from vacation next week and things need to be on his desk. A long weekend beckons me - more time to get more things done. If the rain holds off I hope to get my new cabinet painted and set up. Laundry. Freezing vegetables. Making tomato sauce. So many things to do!

Image courtesy New York Public Library

Happy

Well, it's not much. Not too exciting. Nothing like what others have done in their houses. But I finally...drumroll...painted! Okay, not really a whole lot. But I did paint my hallway and into one wall of my kitchen/dining room right behind the table. The color is a bright sunny yellow and I feel happy every time I walk out of the living room or bedroom into the hallway (and I'm using that word generously as my house is minuscule). Isn't it funny how something so simple can make you smile.

Speaking of smiling, big congrats go to Mommy and Husband and their two new little bundles of joy. Nothing could be better!

Bluegrass on the green grass

After having it on my 'to do' list for quite some time now, I've actually done it. I've attended one of the summer concerts in Fredericksburg put on by the Bluemont organization. Saturday evening the sky looked like it would downpour at any second, but two friends and I braved it anyway, took our trusty blankets, my cute vintage picnic box (see above), and found a spot on the stadium's football field just as the concert began.

The performers: Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group.
The music: bluegrass.
The menu: egg salad sandwiches, black bean dip with chips, watermelon, frosted brownies, and sparkling pink lemonade and berry fizz (no alcohol allowed!).
The crowd: Old married couples and young families with cute young kids who ran around on the football field the entire concert.
The weather: beautiful...

Sunset captured by M.

New TPing method discovered

I don't know who keeps doing this. I have two suspects. I thought cats weren't supposed to be as destructive as dogs. Guess they're teaching me a lesson.

I can imagine it's kind of a fun game. Wheeeeee, look at the paper go!

Does anyone else have other fun pet stories to make me feel better?

I'm roasting

Well, after a fun day of curator things yesterday, I came home and worked in the kitchen. I cut kernels off ears of corn and froze them for a future recipe. And then I searched for a good recipe for my ratatouille. I finally decided to be inspired by this one from Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. Do you know what I discovered? I've actually made ratatouille before. Or at least a roasted version. Who knew it was so simple?! I diced or sliced or chopped vegetables that I had on hand: eggplant (one globe and one Japanese), tomatoes (cherry, cut in half along with regular ones chopped), zucchini, garlic, orange pepper, pole beans. I served it over brown Jasmine rice from TJ's and cooked the rice in vegetable broth for a little more flavor. My big thing when roasting vegetables is that I must use sea salt instead of table salt. Yum.

I absolutely love roasted vegetables. I don't think there's a vegetable I have met that doesn't taste absolutely delicious roasted. Beets? Roast them. Cauliflower? Roast them. Peppers? Roast them. I think for me it's the carmelized flavor they get. I like to mix it up regarding what I top them with, from just olive oil to balsamic vinegar to salad dressing to spices. For this bunch it was lots of pepper, olive oil, sea salt, and cumin.

My only complaint? Roasting vegetables totally heats up my kitchen despite doors open and fans whirring. Hot, but worth it.

I'm surrounded

I had a run-in with them last night. Gave a talk about changes at my museum and BAM! who should be in the audience but a group of them. The FFV. First Families of Virginia. A little daunting to talk about them when they're right there. Guess I'll need to get used to it. I'm surrounded by them now.

Anyway, I am doing my first working from home morning today before I head off on a field trip with a neighboring house museum curator to visit Gunston Hall and their curator. A day of curator fun. I love getting together with my kind. They just understand me and the language I speak. My regular friends pretend to listen but then get that sort of 'I think you're a little crazy and I have no idea what you're getting so worked up about' look as they glaze over.

This working from home thing is hopefully going to become a regular thing. I'm thinking once a week to allow me some quiet time for research and writing. I think my boss is on board with it. Plus, for me, it saves me mondo gas money from not having to trek almost 90 miles to and from work one day per week. Any words from the wise? Any hints on what to do or not do to make working from home enjoyable and efficient?

Guilty

Last night was the premiere of season 4 of The Hills and I admit (proudly?) that I not only planned my night around it, but also taped it in case I need to watch it again. I love it. I love L.C., I love hating Spencer and yelling at Heidi for being an idiot. I love how ditsy Lo is (and a little conniving, I think - maybe she's not as stupid as I keep thinking she is). I love the clothes. I love L.C.'s cute hairstyles. I love JustinBobby. I'm a recent convert to The Hills (having not lived with cable until moving to Fredericksburg last spring), but don't see giving up my addiction any time soon. Plus, I hear the even ditsier, love-to-hate-her Kristin Cavallari from Laguna Beach may be dropping in. What could be better?! How can I not watch?!

As an added bonus, during the breaks they had great commercials for not only Gossip Girl but also 90210. Ahhh, they definitely know their audience...

Image courtesy hollywoodinsider.org

To market, to market

Just a quick report on my weekend and all the goodies I received in my CSA from the farmers market. I know many of you may say, 'yawn, I've heard about the darn market already', but I for some reason get so excited each week by the surprises in my bag. It's kind of like Christmas every week (although, yes, I know I actually do pay for it and the goodies aren't technically gifts).

Anyway, I wanted to clarify the fig issue. Well, there's not really an issue with the figs besides the fact that last week I couldn't remember the name of the particular fig that we'd received. I now know that last week's fig was the Celeste. It's a delicate, sweet fig that was oh so delicious. This week's fig, however, is the darker, more dramatic Chicago. Supposedly we'll be getting these again next week with blue cheese accompaniment. Sounds good to me!

I also got the makings for a ratatouille: peppers and eggplant and squash and both "normal" and heirloom tomatoes (the heirloom will likely just make their way into my belly in other ways since they taste so sweet). My favorite of the group are the little pattypan squash. So cute.

Lunchbox

Okay, so I get in food ruts. Especially when it comes to lunches (I pack a lunch nearly every day, by the way, since there aren't many other options around where I work). I have a cute lunchbox that makes it much more enjoyable, but I still tend to bring the same things - yogurt with fruit, Laughing Cow wedges with Wasa crackers, hummus and veggies, etc., etc. So, determined to break out of my shell (and propelled by the need to use up a block of tofu before it went bad), I did something this week I never thought I'd do... I made 'chicken salad' for lunch.

Now, I really am not the kind of vegetarian who makes a lot of "mock" dishes. I gave up meat for a list of reasons - one of which is that I have never really liked it! But I needed something to do with tofu and wanted to make something different for lunches. The following recipe is my personal adaptation of a recipe from Simple Vegetarian Pleasures and I must admit was extremely yummy and definitely a new entry in my lunchbox repertoire.

Mock Chicken Salad
1 pound extra-firm tofu
1 T canola oil
1 T soy sauce
1 T diced garlic scape (yes, T, they do last forever!)
1 carrot, chopped
enough light mayonnaise to hold the mixture together
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place the tofu in a clean cotton kitchen towel and gather up the sides of the towel to create a pouch. Twist the ball of tofu to extract as much liquid as possible. This creates a ball of mealy tofu - drop that on a cutting board and chop into small pea-sized pieces.

2. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium-high heat until very hot. Add the tofu and cook, stirring constantly to prevent sticking, for approximately ten minutes or until tofu is golden brown. Pour tofu into large bowl and drizzle immediately with soy sauce and stir to combine. Let cool ten minutes and then place bowl in refrigerator for at least an hour more.

3. Once cool, add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. I used the mixture on toasted whole wheat bread with thin slices of heirloom tomatoes and romaine lettuce. Wrapped up in aluminum foil it was a yummy lunch that lasted pretty much all week.

I know many of you may not be tofu fans, but wanted to share in case you ever feel the urge!

Do I have it in me?

Well, I've been toying with the idea to actually challenge myself to a fitness goal. Fredericksburg will be hosting the second annual Marine Corps Historic Half on May 17, 2009. Last year was a huge success and I'm thinking, toying, poking at the idea of trying to participate. I don't know. 13 miles does seem far. I'm not really a "runner" so this might just be a crazy pie-in-the-sky notion. Any thoughts from my runner friends out there?

OR, I could go the easier route and invite a bunch of friends down for the Semper Fred Fun Run on the same day. This is a family-friendly 2-mile run/walk and would certainly be a lot of fun and would still be some good exercise.

*****

Any thoughts on which route I should take? Anyone willing to join me?!

Am I really un-spectacular?

Well, I've been "tagged" by my friend Mommy, Esq., so here I am to tell you 6 un-spectacular things about me (forwarning to my other blogger friends out there...you're next!).

Rules:

• Link the person who tagged you.
• Mention the rules on your blog.
• Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
• Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
• Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

1. I crack my knuckles. And my knees, hip flexors, back, elbows, and most disgustingly, my neck. It feels good. I blame my friend April Hall from high school for the neck thing. She got me started. I was a sucker for peer pressure. She told me it would feel good and I tried it.

2. From age 5 until 17 I took classical ballet classes. I was pretty good. I was trained in the cecchetti method by my wonderful ballet teacher who looked like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Anyway, my mother says my good posture is due to my ballet training. I took classes in college too, but just for fun. I was on pointe for a number of years and my feet are kind of crooked and banged up because of it.

3. My #4 and #13 teeth are turned 180 degrees. I was just at the dentist yesterday so I actually know the numbers. They're two of my back upper teeth - on either side - I'm very symmetrical. Honestly, that might qualify as "spectacular" as it's sort of freak-of-natureish.

4. I tend to fall asleep on my back. And with my one leg up in a yoga tree pose. Don't know why. I don't really practice yoga. Maybe it's due to #2. Who knows.

5. I hate roses. If a guy gives me roses I know he doesn't know me very well and it doesn't bode well for our future. I also don't ever want to grow roses. I love gardening, but something seems so generic and over-the-top about roses. They're too predictable.

6. I generally need to match my bra and panties. Some people (ahem, you know who you are) think I'm crazy, but there you go. I prefer they really match, i.e. be from the same collection, but will sometimes settle for same colors and similar fabrics.

So, that's my list. I tag a few more people that I know with blogs (sadly I don't know 6 others!): new bride L at L to the third and Miss M over at The Collection.

Backlick

I love driving. Okay, that's a lie. But I do love the scenery from the window of a car. Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time enjoying the scenery as I made my way up and back to the Baltimore, MD area for a wonderful baby shower for my wonderful friend Megan (who's having a boy, by the way). After oohing and aahing over cute sleep sacks and other baby-ness, I hit the road. It was smooth sailing until beautiful Springfield, VA (surprise, surprise) where I was promptly met with this gorgeous view:


Determined to make lemonade from these lemons that life just handed me, I decided this was the perfect opportunity for a photo essay on the glories of gridlock.

Abstract art on the jersey barriers. I'm sure it actually is useful markings regarding highway construction or some related jargon, but I love the angularity of the triangle mixed with the artistry of the numbers. The straight white line defines the picture plane and the grate below lends a certain reality to the abstract.

I wonder how Backlick Road got its name...?

I have some morbid fascination with dead/bare trees. (Just look at my profile picture here on the blog - trees I noticed in Williamsburg, VA.) The profile against the blue of the sky was striking.

And the sky. It had a streak of storm clouds above that hovered just above the fluffy cumulus clouds. Like two worlds at once. And not in an ominous, I'm going to bring on the storm of the century kind of way. Almost as though Mother Nature was helping me with this project and coming up with some cloud paintings of her own.

Thus ends my photo essay on the glories of gridlock. I hope you've enjoyed this and please cross your fingers that I'll never have to do this again (wishful thinking!).

The big day

What has come to be one of my favorite events of the summer has occurred: my CSA has begun to harvest their figs. The coming weeks will be a gluttonous festival of me eating fresh figs until the days of fall arrive. My friend Janet is a fresh fig believer too so I know at least she will appreciate this. I must admit that only in the past few years have I actually been exposed to fresh figs. Fig Newtons, yes, but never the globular, plump, gloriously sweet fresh figs I've now come to know and love.

I've read recipes including figs and I know that you can freeze them or dry them but I have a feeling there won't be any left...

The wonders of bulghur

My bulghur salad experiment from Monday night was...drumroll...a success. I'd not worked with the grain before, but found it very easy and will certainly try other recipes (especially since I have a big bag of it in my freezer). The salad was perfect for summer - light yet substantive with a lemony-onion flavor and good crunch from the zucchini and sweetness from the corn and tomatoes.

I am, however, glad that it is now gone. It made A LOT. I took it for lunch multiple times this week including a big container to share on the intern field trip. I even gave away a portion to my intern Carrie (since she claimed to have liked it). This is the problem with cooking for one - you always have leftovers and often more than you'd like.

But, I would encourage you to try the salad. It should be served room temperature, so perfect for taking to a Labor Day cookout or some other get-together.

Bulghur Salad with Corn, Zucchini, and Shredded Basil
1 1/2 cups coarse-grain bulghur
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed (I used fresh cut off the cob, raw)
1 tomato, cut into small cubes (I used local heirloom from my CSA)
1 cup very thinly sliced zucchini rounds, cut into sixths (I used more zucchini since I had it; must admit wasn't careful about the thinness or the rounds)
3 tablespoons finely shredded fresh basil
1/4 cup thinly slivered red onion
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Place the bulghur in a large bowl (and they mean it - the bulghur triples in size!). Pour boiling water over it to cover by 2 inches. Let soak 30 minutes or until tender. Remove all the soaking liquid by placing the bulghur, in batches, in cheesecloth or cotton towel and squeezing it dry. Or place in a strainer and press out the liquid with the back of a large spoon (this is what I did). Place the strained bulghur in a large serving bowl.


2. Stir in the corn, tomato, zucchini, basil, and onion. In a separate bowl, beat together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Pour it over the salad and mix well. Let sit 30 minutes, or cover and chill up to 24 hours, then bring to room temperature before serving. Place lettuce leaves on individual plates and spoon the salad on top (I didn't do this, but guess a good idea for a more organized dinner).


Serves 4 as a main course. Source: Quick Vegetarian Pleasures.

The last hurrah

Well, the summer interns at my museum are slowly filtering back home. Two more leave at the end of the week so we had one last field trip yesterday to a number of sites in Fredericksburg as a last hurrah (ahem, learning experience).

First on the tour was Ferry Farm, boyhood home of George Washington, which is primarily focused on archaeology and family programming. You may have heard that they recently "found" the actual house that Washington and his family lived in (I know at least Theresa saw that in the news) and are still digging to locate other features and objects associated with the family. We got a tour of the archaeological dig, the lab, and the grounds. It wasn't broiling hot (thankfully!) and we got to picnic on the grounds before we moved on.


After lunch we drove into town to visit one of my favorite house museums, Kenmore. They are currently completing a major restoration of the mansion, complete with historic paint colors, new geothermal HVAC system, and other architectural changes. Next up for the staff is the creating of a furnishing and interpretive plan (this, in non-historic house museum speak, means what they'll want visitors to see and what they'll want visitors to learn in the rooms). This means lots more research and lots more time. They've definitely been doing things very carefully and I think Kenmore is a good example of how to do these major reinterpretation and restoration projects correctly. Plus, the house is gorgeous and has amazing decorative plasterwork.

Anyway, the final museum stop on our tour was the James Monroe Museum, which, as you may have guessed, highlights the life and legacy of James Monroe. The exhibits in the museum review his contributions to American government and highlight some of the objects in their very extensive collection. The museum recently installed a number of new exhibits and I must say the museum really looks great (different from a little over a year ago when it was more "vignette" in focus - you know, groupings of furniture to make it look like the corner of a room - very confusing when not an actual house museum). Plus, we got to see collections storage which was a highlight for many.

After a full day, last stop was of course Carl's - a Fredericksburg institution in its own right (which has its own Wikipedia entry now!). The maple nut sundae was a big hit with the interns. All in all a good day. Bet everyone slept very well last night.

Nothing

I don't really have anything to post about today but since I'm having a lazy morning I thought I should say something nonetheless. Today is intern field trip day so I'm not actually heading into work but am staying in Fredericksburg all day. I made 'celebratory cupcakes' to thank them for all their hard work - lemon with lemon icing (both provided by the gourmet chef named Duncan Hines). I am taking bulghur salad to share (will post the recipe if it actually tastes good). I am also hopefully meeting a colleague at Hyperion before meeting everyone else so I can caffeinate myself with the deliciousness called 'Monkeylicious'.


I'm also hoping I get home this evening early enough to have the energy to finish cutting my back yard. I only half cut it on Saturday because it started raining, so I rushed to get my rotary mower under the tarp and ran inside, only to have it sprinkle three more drops and stop again. Mother Nature was definitely teasing me. I think she was telling me that I really just needed to hole up on the couch for a little bit. BTW, Krissy, you are absolutely right - I LOVE Mad Men. Have been DVR-ing it now and watched the latest episode this weekend.

Ole'

Can't get enough of it.

Eat it by the spoonful (normally with a chip or some crudite attached).

Think I may turn red from the increased tomato intake.

What's your latest food obsession?!

Chalk

Well, this weekend was spent doing three major things: sleeping, gardening, and shopping. Ah, the trifecta of everything perfect in life. I did have my normal lazy Saturday morning - walking to the farmers market; picking up my CSA bag; getting an iced latte and everything bagel at Hyperion (yes, I lead a pretty predictable Saturday and love it!).

I enjoy walking through the streets of Fredericksburg on the weekends. Everyone is out and about and working in their yards. A definite sense of camaraderie and neighborhood-ness. Plus, I can gaze longingly at houses I would love to live in without getting too many stares. These chalk paintings made me smile. Especially this cat with its arched back.


It threatened to rain all morning so I didn't get out in the garden until around 11:00. It was partly cloudy pretty much all day, so perfect for cutting grass, weeding, and mulching without broiling.

I'm thinking of moving my bed of irises from my backyard to the front flower beds. My front flower beds for some reason have not yet filled in. They look a little sad. My irises, however, have taken over one of my back beds and are crowding out my three azaleas (which have only had two blooms total on them in over 1 1/2 years - definitely trying my patience). I think the azaleas may need some breathing room.

But, now it's the work week again and I haven't made the transfer. Maybe I'll try one evening this week. I also have glorious farmers market goodies to cook too. I have a bulgur salad on tap for tonight - made with fresh corn, zucchini, and tomatoes from my CSA bag.