another delivery

Can't believe month two of the Foodie Pen Pal exchange is already over! It's been so busy. This time, my sender was Roxanne from Connecticut. She sent lots of goodies from her home state:

• Two bags of Deep River Potato Chips -- I think we had these in New York, though I'd never seen the Aged Cheddar Horseradish flavor
• A Nate's Yankee Bar -- jam-packed with cranberries, and not too sweet
• Honey Ginger Crystals -- not local; from China, I believe, and I'm really looking forward to finding these for myself
• Savor Nicasia cookies -- we all loved these little guys, which are flavored with lemon, rosemary and sea salt...even Guinness

Thanks for sending, Roxanne!

My recipient was C from Washington, DC. I packed up a fall-themed box from Milwaukee, and included the newest issue of Taste of Home. I hope she liked it!

As I mentioned earlier, it was a busy month, and I don't foresee life slowing down anytime soon. Because of this, I've decided to make this month my last in the Foodie Penpal program. It's an interesting idea, and I wish the best to all future participants who don't mind scrambling to find food that someone they don't know might like and isn't available in their area. It's just not for me.

Instead, I've decided to put the $20 a month the program would have cost into a sustaining membership to WUWM, our local NPR affiliate. I listen every day, even on weekends. As one woman said, "Without donating, I felt a little bit like I was stealing." If you have similar listening habits, I encourage you to do the same for your local station. Then we'd all be on the up and up!

dabbling in cheesemaking

The evening was balmy, perfect for a garden tour. My friend Alysse and I arrived in Hales Corners with seven other women for a cheesemaking class at Mia Famiglia, an Italian restaurant that focuses on local ingredients. But first, while we could still see outside, Chef Tomas showed us his sprawling kitchen garden and apiary -- fascinating! I've never been that close to a beehive before, and it really did buzz. He said that if I didn't show fear, they wouldn't become alarmed, so I bravely stepped forward so I could check it out -- he was right. No swarming...on me, at least.

This was my first class through Dabble, a program that hooks up people with local experts who are willing to teach their craft. Topics vary -- this month, for example, there's one on basic auto maintenance and another on ceramics. Alysse once went to Chicago to learn how to fence. Yep, the concept is true to its name.

Back inside the restaurant, we got to work in the gleaming kitchen, concocting a possibly proprietary blend of whole milk, buttermilk, lemon juice, sea salt and honey that would become ricotta. We stirred the mixture until it was warm enough, and set it aside to curdle. When it was cool enough, Chef scooped the curds into containers.

Chef Tomas also showed us how to make fresh mozzarella -- a true group effort. Basically, you knead some curd in boiling water, so he did most of the work and sometimes people jumped in to help. I think everyone got to make a few mozzarella balls, which Chef's wonderful wife packed up (along with our ricotta and a jar of their signature -- and absolutely fantastic -- balsamic dressing) for us to take home.

We got to taste the mozzarella with a slice of garden-fresh tomato and blackened garlic. Delicious! The next day, I put the ricotta to use in little shortbread stacks with roasted pistachio, honey and cherries. The recipe needs work, so I won't publish it quite yet. But it's promising.

Also promising is my return to another Dabble course. What a great idea! It took all evening, was very reasonably priced (we found a Groupon), and Alysse and I had so much fun. Plus, thanks to Chef Tomas' guidance, I'm sure I could make these cheeses again on my own. Now I just have to shake my addiction to that balsamic dressing. I think a trip to Mia Famiglia for dinner may be the cure.

foodie penpal reveal!

In late July, my foodie friend Sarah told me about an online program she'd discovered called Foodie Penpals that's run by Lindsay of the Lean Green Bean. Some of you might know that as a kid, I had several pen pals, and I still love to write -- and receive! -- letters and postcards today (Izzy and I have been writing since we were 6 and 7). The idea that I could have another pen pal paired with a mystery package of yummy foods was enough to make me hop in line. Well, today's the big reveal, when all the Foodie Penpals bloggers post about what they received this month.

The person who was given my name was Autumn from Illinois, just over the Wisconsin-Illinois border. We emailed a few times while she was deciding what to select for my package, and I learned she's lucky enough to work at a local farm market. Here's what she sent.

• Gin-Gins are one of my favorite candies. They're super chewy and pack a ton of gingery flavor. I have the bag at my desk, so when I'm craving a snack, I eat one of these. It's spicy, so it makes me feel full.
• Blue Farm organic tortilla chips are distributed by a company in Janesville, Wisconsin, so pretty local for both of us! I'm saving them for a time when we have salsa. It seems that our abundant supply of tomatoes has been going into Italian-inspired dishes lately, but I'm betting that Labor Day weekend will be the perfect time to pop open the bag.
• I'd been seeing recipes for dilly beans and wanting to try them. I was thrilled to find a jar right in my foodie box. They are delicious -- spicy and pickly, and I can't wait to make my own next summer.
• I love jam and pie, so am very much looking forward to opening this jar of strawberry-rhubarb jam. Unfortunately, I'd opened a jar of delicious apricot-peach jam the day before I got this package, so I'm trying to finish that off before I open a new one. There's just no way around moldy jam.
• Can't go wrong with maple syrup! Big breakfasts are a weekend staple at our house (ha! I can finally say "house"!), and it just might be due to our love of pure, authentic maple syrup.
• Kind of ironic that I'm writing about it last because it was the first to be devoured, but my box also contained cherries and almond dark chocolate. If you see this somewhere, buy it. It is the perfect combination of tart cherries, slightly sweet chocolate and roasted salted almonds. Yum. So good, that I felt like Augustus Gloop while I was eating it.

I sent a foodie box to Amanda from Colorado (because the program has over 1,000 people and we each get a new pal every month, people don't exchange packages; it's more of a round-robin). When we were writing pre-mailing, she told me she's gluten free, which added a twist to my shopping agenda. It was a fun challenge to find things she could use and enjoy. If all goes as planned today, she'll be writing about my package at her blog, Natural Living Mamma. I hope she likes it!

I'll be curious to read more about Sarah's foodie box at her blog, Food, Fun and Life in Waukesha. And you can find out what others got by searching #foodiepenpals on Twitter.

we grew this! eastern eggs florentine



I guess it was around Memorial Day that Ian and I planted our veggie garden, this nice 6x8 raised bed that the previous homeowners installed. We're using the Square-Foot Gardening technique in hopes that we'll be able to grow more types of produce than we otherwise would using the row technique. So far, it's working fabulously well, and even though we're experiencing severe drought (are you sick of hearing about this yet?), things are growing really well -- including our bok choi, an Asian cabbage that looks kind of like a mix of celery and chard, shown here in the center right soon after it was planted.

One day, right in the middle of the late-June heatwave, Ian called me while he was watering to announce that the bok choi had started blooming, and wasn't it great that something was defying these hellish conditions?! At first I agreed, but then read that once bok choi flowers (or bolts), it's past its prime and is likely going to be bitter and woody -- basically inedible. So, we picked all four of the plants, popped them in the fridge, and hoped we wouldn't get tired of eating them. Later, Ian mentioned that he had an idea for Saturday's brunch, and it starred none other than bok choi. Neither of us had any idea what would happen, but it was certainly worth a shot.

When we tucked in, we discovered that one of those dishes that you smirk all the way through. Despite their stand-alone flavors, the smoky baconiness and tangy goat cheese made the slightly tart bok choi sing, and a runny, rich egg yolk smoothed it all out. Now, we're patiently waiting for the next planting of bok choi to hurry up and grow, so we can indulge in it again.

eastern eggs florentine

serves 2 (with leftover biscuits)

ingredients

(for Ian's buttermilk biscuits)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Generous pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cold butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
(for the toppings)
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic scapes, minced (or 1 clove garlic, minced)
3/4 cup torn bok choi leaves
3/4 cup torn baby spinach
Splash of white wine
Salt and pepper, to taste
Bacon fat
2 eggs
Herbed goat cheese

directions

(for Ian's buttermilk biscuits) 

1) Heat oven to 425 F.
2) In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir. Cut in butter. Stir in buttermilk; mixture should form a ball, but shouldn't be sticky. Add a splash more buttermilk if necessary.
3) On a flat surface, roll out the dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle. Quarter it for rectangular biscuits or use a biscuit cutter. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
(for the toppings)
1) In a nonstick skillet, saute shallot and garlic scapes until tender and slightly caramelized. Add bok choi, spinach and white wine. Saute until leaves wilt. Season with salt and pepper. Remove to a mesh strainer to press out liquid. Set aside; return skillet to burner.
2) Melt bacon fat in skillet; add eggs. Cook to your desired doneness (we recommend over-easy).
3) Meanwhile, slice two biscuits and spread cut sides with goat cheese. Arrange on two plates. Top with the bok choi mixture.
4) When eggs are to the desired consistency, place them on top.

5) EAT!

Try it, and let us know what you think!

a pleasing palette

While the contractors are hard at work inside the house, the plants are growing, growing, growing outside. Ian has been a trouper, watering nearly every day -- and the weather forecast suggests there’s no end in sight. (Sorry.) I’m especially pleased with the results in the front garden.

I put in a few perennials, but since we’re planning a major revamp this fall and don't want to stress stuff out by moving it, I added mostly annuals. The previous homeowners had planted a number of spring-blooming perennials and the enormous hostas, which were fairly easy to work around -- their foliage is a nice uniform green, and they blend in nicely.

The color palette pretty much chose itself: purple, maroon, yellow and chartreuse thanks to yellow-blooming Russian stonecrop, purple eupatorium and chartreuse and maroon tiarella. I added maroon heuchera and Japanese painted ferns, chartreuse dwarf hosta (thanks, Dad!) and coleus, and purple-flowered spiderwort (thanks, Aunt Lonnie!), browallia and plectranthus. Later, right around the time the peach daylilies (also from Dad) bloom, I’ll add hanging baskets that include peach kalanchoe to tie it all together. I hope.

Just a week after I finished planting (and snapped these photos), this little garden looks much different--and better. Think how much nicer it will look next year, when it doesn't have such a big, white background to contend with!

What are you growing right now?

inspiration overload

If you’re following me on Facebook, you might know that I’ve been feeling a little bit overwhelmed about our impending choice in paint colors. When we started our house hunt, I was thrilled that we could finally have colored walls, and found inspiration everywhere I looked.

Now that we’ve signed with a contractor and construction starts next week(!), there’s a looming deadline. Somehow, I’m finding too much inspiration, so I’m feeling the pressure to choose. After some friends gave me wise advice about searching for color combos here, here and on Pinterest, and just by googling the name on the paint chip to see what others have come up with, I’m starting to feel a lot better. (Thanks.) Ian is much more relaxed about the whole thing. (Who’s surprised?) He has already chosen his office color: white.

There’s one room that I’m still stumped by: the kitchen. The white cabinets and appliances are backed by cantaloupe-colored walls. Obviously, the white elements will stay white, and we are installing black and white tile on the floor. That’s perfect -- a neutral palette, you say!

Well, here’s the curveball: When we were in Seattle, we found these old fruit crate labels at an antique store, and I’d love to use them as the kitchen artwork. With that in mind, what color(s) would you pick?

this old house

Last November (the same day we got Guinness, actually), Ian and I began our house hunt. That first day, we toured five homes on Milwaukee’s East Side, where we were determined to live. In all, we looked at around 30 houses that seemed to cover every part of the house-condition spectrum: a cozy but obviously crooked bungalow; a creepy old boarding house; some cute but character-less flipped ones; a former commercial building; and a few foreclosures that had once been beautiful, but are now crumbling inside, the ceilings dropping off in gobs and the walls covered in mold thanks to burst pipes and general neglect.

As we hadn’t spent much time in houses there -- which are typically 100-plus years old -- it took awhile to realize that, rather than spend on a house that had been rehabbed in a style we didn’t love, we’d rather buy low and make exactly the changes we want.

So this is it. Our house! Chateau Cliffe (pronounced Cleef), a 3-bed, 1-1/2-bath bungalow built in 1904 (it only has one floor of living space, but is topped with an enormous attic that’s begging to be used). We could move in now, but the apartment is ours until the end of July, so we’ve chosen to make some changes before we officially become Milwaukeeans.

Paige, our amazing, patient, and very wise Realtor, said that if we hoped to get divorced within our first year there, we should do the work ourselves. We agreed (having virtually no prior DIY experience). So, the contractors are finalizing their bids, and we hope to make our decision by Friday. I’ll share more about the work we’re doing as the projects progress.

Meanwhile, how would you amp up our curb appeal? These photos were taken at our inspection in early April, but I think it’s a good way to start -- the absence of leaves on the trees shows just how blank a slate we’re working with.