Country Living

One of the things we were told before moving to the Pioneer Valley ("the country") is that we would definitely start brewing our own beer.  I'm not much of a beer drinker (even less so since leaving Wisconsin), so I think I found my substitute.

I made cheese.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Andy's been telling me for months, maybe even years now that I should start a food blog.  I've resisted the idea because it seems like white noise.  Besides, I don't come up with recipes like some of the greats out there (I'm looking at you, Deb), I just make their stuff.

But what's wrong with that?  Often it's delicious.  And pictures of food?  Sounds all right to me.

Andy and I took an Indian cooking class the other week, and it was inspiring.  The food wasn't very hard to make, so although this Saag Paneer that I made wasn't on that day's menu, it built off of the class.

I used this recipe, because it was the first one that came up on Google.  A woman at the cooking class told me how she makes her own paneer, and this recipe suggested it as well, so it was on.

One of the things that our class teacher showed us was to make good use of your food processor.  We've got a mini-prep, which it turns out is perfect for onions, garlic, ginger, and jalapeños.

This is supposed to be a spinach dish, but we had kale, too (as we often do), so I chopped those up together, then ran them through the food processor as well.

One note I will give you: if you use the mini-prep for the jalapeño, STAND BACK when you take the lid off.  Trust me.  Open it pointing away from your face.  Your lungs will thank me.

"How do I make paneer?" you ask.  SUPER easy.  You need milk (whole, or 1/2 and 50%, if you desire) and lemon juice.  And cheesecloth.  There have been many times when I've wanted a cheesecloth, like the day I strained ghee through a dinner napkin, but now we finally have one.

I'm proud of my CHEES CLOTH

Start your milk a-boiling.  Start some rice.  Add garam masala (which you can also make at home!  Who knew?) and cumin, if you like.  If you have space on your stove, you can also start your onion/garlic/pepper/ginger mix with some oil.

In my excitement about making the paneer, I neglected to photograph the exciting milk-into-cheese moments.  I apologize.  Here's what went down: the milk boiled, I added a quarter cup of lemon juice (bottled, not fresh-squeezed like was called for, but I don't think it suffered), and the milk started to curdle up.  I stirred it a bit, pushing it together-ish, then poured it into my cheesecloth-lined colander in my sink.

Then it looked like this!

 Then this...

 Then, this.

Dinner!

I used two jalapeños and this was far too much for me.  I took out some, but not all of the seeds, and I think that's where I went wrong.  I was wearing my orange K College sweatshirt, and Andy said my face turned the same color.  But it was very tasty, and enjoyable as my first foray into Indian cooking on my own.

And here's Brisco, looking amazing.

It's Business Time

OK, that might be a misleading title. If that made you think of anything in particular, put that aside. Certainly don't think about business socks.
But you know what's cool? My husband is starting a business. I don't know what I can or should say here on the wide-open internet, so I'll just say it's micropaleontology-related, and that should be sufficiently confusing or  boring enough for most people to just nod and go "Oh, good for him," and change the subject.  Ever since he and his labmates decided to make this tool, it's been gathering speed and making progress. They've hired an employee and are going to Texas this summer to pitch their idea to oil companies. (That's where the money is in micropaleontology.)
So, that's what is happening for him. As for me, my nannying job is coming to an end at the end of the month, as we all knew it would. Since February, I'd been sending out my resume and applying for jobs, with varying degrees of self-confidence. The job world at large is terrible at responding to applicants, so nearly everything I sent out was put on a mental shelf where I could neither completely assume I hadn't gotten it, but as time passed, it looked less likely. (Maybe I should make that a note for Andy, once his company is huge and awesome, he should still make it a point to respond to applications saying no thanks.)
Anyway, I saw a posting for an administrative assistant at an engineering firm. I don't know anything about engineering. I dated an engineer once. That's about it. But the job description sounded typical for an office, so I applied. I also threw in a story from my college physics class:
I had been called on to walk the class through how I had solved a problem, so I began describing what I had done. In one step, I mistakenly used a conversion saying that 1 meter = 3 feet. My professor corrected me (only after finishing the whole problem) and said that my fast-and-loose conversion gave him hope for me as an engineer.
So, basically, in my cover letter, I put in a story about how engineers aren't very good at what they do. Or at best, aren't very precise. And guess what?

I got the job.

I start in mid-July, but I'll be taking the first two weeks of July to go back to Ann Arbor to go through some old stuff of mine. And hopefully not bring too much of it back. We've got limited space here as it is.

Andy said we would go out for ice cream tonight. And then he changed his mind. Isn't life rough?

It's Spring!

Happy Spring, Reader! We had a beautiful week in Western Mass with 80-degree days, but now it seems to be back to winter-weather. It snowed on me and Brisco on our walk this morning, but no matter. My thoughtful (and currently out-of-the-country) husband sent me these beautiful flowers that help to keep spring in mind. That, and our upcoming vacation in the Caribbean.

Have you seen my new apron? Of course not. I haven't updated in like a year. My friend Sarah has a store on the thirty-one, and I wanted to help support her, so I ordered this apron. It has the Spanish word for 'hungover' on it, chuchaqui, mostly because I think it's a funny word. That particular morning I made biscuits and was in my PJs.
So, I mentioned that Andy is out of town, with a few weeks behind us and a few more to go. I've been making a conscious effort to make sure I keep cooking and eating good food and not just having cereal three meals a day. I made some oatmeal cookies a few weeks ago and it dawned on me that I was going to have to eat them all. I was glad when an opportunity came to drop some off at Andy's lab.

Yesterday, though, I couldn't fight the urge to make a chocolate cake. Even with the knowledge that I, poor me, would quite possibly have to eat it all.

Another thing I've been doing since Andy's been gone is sorting through our stuff and making Goodwill donation runs. This time it was our movie collection that I attacked. I decided that I didn't need to own Chocolat anymore, but hey, I could watch it one last time with a piece of cake. With a dusting of fleur de sel on the icing.
I've got most of a cake left. I resisted the temptation to have it for breakfast this morning. I may not be so strong now that lunchtime is here. :-D

The little cafe who couldn't make up its mind

In April, I took a weekend job at a cafe, 13 hours a week (on top of my 40-hour job). Then I heard the cafe was for sale, and I kind of shrugged, thinking that I wouldn't be heartbroken to lose the job shortly after getting it. A woman named Ati was interested in buying the cafe and taking it over, and she came in to get familiar with the cafe a few times. So then I started thinking, "I might still have this job after all." (Bummer. I had been looking forward to getting my weekends back.)

She backed out. Max, the owner, for whom the cafe was his second business, didn't think it was feasible to keep pumping money into the cafe. So, he set a date for the cafe's closing: June 21st. He laid off two employees (from a staff of five), reduced hours, and told everyone remaining, "We're just gonna get through the next six weeks." The last time I talked to Ashley, a manager, she told me that she wasn't getting paid a manager's salary anymore and she had lost her week's paid vacation that she had earned, because Max said he couldn't afford it. I didn't see her again, since her schedule changed to weekdays and mine was weekends. Once the closing was announced (and probably the sale price was slashed), Ati regained interest in buying the cafe.

Then Ashley's name disappeared off the schedule. I came in last Saturday, baked muffins, brewed coffee, and waited for my co-worker Dan to arrive so I could hear what happened with Ashley. Did she get frustrated and quit? Understandable, particularly if she was still expected to do managerial duties but not be getting paid for them. She also had an upcoming move, and it's hard to plan a big event like that if you're not sure you'll have a job.

Dan gets there, and we get as far as, "I saw Ashley's not on the schedule anymore..." when Max arrives with an announcement: the big storage refrigerator is broken, Ati has backed out again, we're closing the very next day. Dan says a few words to me, of the 'what would you do if I left' variety, then leaves.

Again, understandable. Not the smartest move, but I get it.

So, for the first time, I actually worked the day with Max. Pretty much every customer I talked to had a better business plan than Max, and most of them included actually working there, alleviating the need to pay staff. Makes sense to me. I also heard Max complaining to customers about Dan's storm-out, which I thought was totally inappropriate. He was still the business owner for those last two days, and there was no reason for the unprofessionalism.

That Saturday was long. I was only scheduled until 2 (when the cafe closed, and Dan would have stayed to do the closing duties). Max had who-knows-what going on, a bunch of people came and ordered complicated things in the last few minutes we were open, so I ended up staying until almost 3, not even really knowing what one does for closing.

But Sunday had that finality to it, which made it feel pretty quick. My favorite parts where when we'd get busy and sandwiches would start getting backed up. I'd say to myself, "What are they gonna do, not come back?"

I know plenty of people will miss the cafe. There are only 1200 people in this town in the first place, many of whom had never been there. For a place with such an extensive menu, people mostly seemed to get coffee and bagel sandwiches (which, for my part of the business plan, is all I would offer, if it were my cafe).

But it's no longer my problem. I told Max I was leaving at 2 on Sunday, per my schedule. He let me load up my (large!) bag with foods from the cafe. I got some bagels, sausage, chips, cocoa powder, wasabi powder, sesame seeds, garlic powder, cinnamon sticks, and I almost got a big tub of pesto, but Max basically stole it back from me. Oh well. As long as I get paid for the last two days of work!

Andy and I had figured out that if I worked there a year and took my paychecks from there, we could have paid off one of his student loans entirely. Granted, the smaller one, but the one with the higher interest rate. It didn't last a year, but I wouldn't have, either.

We are going to get our weekends back. And clearly, it's time to start watching Twin Peaks again. And kicking it off with some donuts and coffee in our RR mugs.

(But seriously, Julie, it was "We're done. We're not done." all over again!)

Happy 60th Dad!

My dad and my brother, maybe before my arrival? (Sorry for blurry)

Wedding day!

I love you!

Refocus

All right. It's been nearly a year since my last update. My letter-writing petered out. I still think writing letters is a good thing, but I clearly can't keep up with one a week.

Maybe my new focus should be one post a week, of any kind. I had at one point thought maybe after a year of letters, I would read one book a week. Even I know that's overly-ambitious.

Since I don't have any readers, I guess I can't ask what "you" would like to read. Here are a few potential subjects:
1) A review and/or pictures of something I have cooked (baked, most likely). Who doesn't need more food blogs?
2) Stories about the kids for whom I nanny
3) Stories from my weekend cafe job (ending in mid-June)
4) Heck, I might still send letters out, once in a while!

I guess I don't need a focus, necessarily. And since I left Facebook, this might be a good way to allow others to cyberstalk me. If I would ever actually give anyone this link. :-D

Uncle Traveling Matt

I've always told my brother (whose name is conveniently Matt) that when I have kids, he will have to be my children's Uncle Traveling Matt, like from Fraggle Rock. I'm looking forward to his making good on that.

I did get around to writing him that letter. One day at work I was talking to J about my older brother, and with nothing having been said to put this in her mind, she asked, "Did he already die?" I thought that was a funny if not morbid thing for a child her age (three) to wonder.

My letter was also full of completely random thoughts, because that's how I seem to function when I'm with Matt, or apparently, writing to him. I haven't seen him since this past Christmas, but when I do, I'm always reminded of the ways in which I'd like to be more like him. He's always had an air of not caring what other people think, and I appreciate that. I tend to dwell on that, mostly what people would think if I messed up in whatever I'm attempting. So better not to attempt, right? I've been trying to shake that.

I also received a letter yesterday from my friend Lindsey (from a few posts back) but I haven't opened it yet. It's sitting right over on the counter, but I keep seeing it as I'm heading out the door and don't pick it up right that second. I'll get to it. No need to rush.

Today I'm attempting to bake bread. Our sourdough starter works great for pancakes but is not so hot for actual bread-baking. I've added some additional yeast to it in the hopes that'll kick its butt into rising. And, since I'll have the oven on, I might as well make a loaf of rosemary olive oil bread. (Did I mention it has chocolate?)

It's Saturday and I'm sure I've missed the mail pick-up for today, but maybe I'll write something today or tomorrow and count it for this week's send-out. Not like anyone's holding me to this!