Taking Stock

My soon-to-be mother-in-law's Christmas present:

Clare's Christmas present:

My sister's Christmas present:

I've finished 4 scarves since November, one of them was ruined in the washing machine and I've started that one over again. So that's #5. I am trying to teach myself how to knit a hat, which is project #6. I am working on a gift for a friend that I started today, #7, a scarf for mom, #8, and I have yarn for a scarf for myself, another gift for a friend and another scarf for my mom. That's #9, #10 and #11. Currently, I have 4 of these projects on needles. Phew, it sounds like I have some work to do! The good news is that watching the Olympics and knitting go very well together :-)

Not your average Peeps

I'll admit it. I love Peeps. My dad fully supports my love of Peeps as evidenced by the mostly eaten box above. My mom came down a couple weeks ago to go wedding dress shopping and my dad sent this down for me. 1) Can you believe Easter candy is already out? 2) Can you believe there are still some left in my box? Thanks,Daddy!!

There's really no way of telling what kinds of unnatural, processed ingredients go into Peeps that for me, make them so addicting (and I fully believe that the ducks taste better than the rabbits. Perhaps because I had pet rabbits as a kid?) I've seen recipes for homemade marshmallows and they always look a little daunting--they involve a candy thermometer for goodness sake! But the string of snow days and an upcoming weekend in Wintergreen that will involve s'mores convinced me that it was time. Time to make marshmallows and I have to tell you, it was not nearly as hard as it seemed to be. Visit www.smittenkitchen.com for the recipe!

Mise en place:

The recipe called for a metal 9x13x2, which I don't have so I improvised.

Bringing the sugar, corn starch, water and salt to a boil (while the gelatin softens in another bowl).

The mixture is almost at the 240 degree point--look at how clear it is, the sugar is completely dissolved.

Bottom layer is the gelatin, water and mixture from the stove whipped together for about 10 minutes. On top is two egg whites whipped just until stiff peaks are formed and 1 tablespoon of vanilla. This is when you can add whatever you want to flavor the marshmallows. I think mint extract would be delicious in marshmallows in a tall cup of (spiked) hot chocolate!

I only ended up needed two of the pans and I took Deb's advice on Smitten Kitchen and did not try to get every last bit out of the bowl.

After sitting overnight in the refrigerator, I cut the marshmallows into squares and rolled them in more confectioners sugar (I guess you just can't get enough sugar in these). I think I was supposed to sift the sugar, but I had not yet had coffee so this is unsifted sugar.

I can't wait to get these into some s'mores!

And yes, it is still snowing. I don't want to talk about it.

Lisa :-)

We're Converts

This title sounds a lot more serious than it actually is :-) A few weeks ago, Jeromy bought us a french press to make coffee and quite honestly, it's the best way we've ever had coffee--it beats drip coffeemakers by leaps and bounds. The trick is to add a pinch of salt to the ground coffee before adding the water and you will end up with a perfect cup. I'm drooling just thinking about tomorrow's cup of coffee (because we have another snow day tomorrow. I'm beginning to forget what my office looks like!).

I've also converted the way that I eat oatmeal. I love me some oatmeal, it sticks to the ribs and keeps me full all day long, or at least until after noon. Years ago I stopped eating the packets of oatmeal because of all of the added sugar and processed foods that I just didn't want to eat. So I started buying plain old oatmeal, preparing it plain and then adding toppings so I could control what I was eating. I was over on Danielle's blog, beltwaytobay.com and saw an entry about overnight oats. I was intrigued. So I looked around the internets a little further and found a recipe. Oats? I like oats. Greek yogurt? Delicious. Milk? I love milk. Little brown sugar? Great. Mix it all together, let it sit overnight in the fridge and you have overnight oats! Add whatever you want to it, it's like a blank canvas. Here is the recipe I use, found at keepitsimplefoods.com (serves 2):

1 cup oats
1 cup milk
1 cup Greek yogurt (I use fat free)
generous dash of brown sugar

Mix it all together, leave it overnight in the fridge and the next day you have a delicious and nutritious breakfast. So far I've tried the following combos:

leftover cranberry compote
grape-nuts
sliced almonds

blueberry muesli

bananas
flaxseed
Trader Joe's superfruit spread
Trader Joe's natural peanut butter
The third combination was my favorite!

Because of my boot I haven't been able to do my normal grocery shopping runs to Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Safeway (I'm crazy, I know, but I like what I like!). I've been sticking only to Safeway since it's the closest to the house and they did not have Greek yogurt last week :-( After being snowed in for 3 days, I made my way to Giant today and was able to get a big tub of Greek yogurt. I'm very much looking forward to more overnight oats tomorrow. Thanks, Danielle, for introducing me to my new favorite breakfast!

We're hunkering down for another major storm in our neighborhood. I don't know when, but apparently we moved to Maine....

I'll post some pictures of the snow in the next couple of days along with all of the knitting projects I've been working on.

Lisa :-)

Books or Kindle?

I try not to fall for all of the cool electronic toys that are on the market. I like the days where I forget my cell phone at home and contrary to belief, I do not always answer my phone. I like the convenience of always being plugged in, but sometimes I do like to unplug and not have access to the internet.

I've always been a reader. I love books. I hope that someday I live in a house with a room with floor to ceiling bookshelves, covered in books, like my grandparents' house. I even have some of my grandfather's books from those shelves, just waiting for the perfect place to live. Somehow, I don't think that the temporary IKEA bookshelf that they currently sit on in the basement will cut it.

One of the benefits of having about 45 minutes to an hour commute twice a day is that I get to do a lot of reading. One of the downsides is that, depending on the book, it might take up a lot of space in my bag and be a lot of extra weight to carry. This is where the technology question above comes in to play. The Amazon Kindle.

Apparently, the Kindle can hold up to 1,500 books, so your library is at your fingertips at all times. It's lightweight. The screen is not backlit so it's like reading a book and not a computer screen, but what I can't wrap my head around yet is settling into before I fall asleep with a Kindle instead of with a book. That just seems off to me. Plus, I get a lot of books from the library (I LOVE the library, the smell of the books, the atmosphere, I just love libraries), so they're free now, why should I start paying to download books?

I don't know, I do buy some books but I don't know that I buy enough to make the Kindle worth it just yet. It seems like it would be the perfect device for me, but I think I'll stick to books for now.

Even in the boot...

I am still cooking up a storm! The first few days were a hard adjustment, but I'm finally used to the boot and am confident that my foot will be as good as new in a little under 5 weeks.

One of the new cookbooks I found under the Christmas tree is Molto Mario by Mario Batali. I have never before cooked one of his recipes, but I am going to be working my way through this book because if this first recipe was a preview, we are in for some delicious food!

Tonight I made Cotolette alla Zingara. Translated from Italian, zingara means gypsy. I don't know why this dish of Pork Chops with Peppers and Capers is named after gypsies, but I'm gonna go with it.

The most exciting part of this recipe for me was that I had to brine the pork chops overnight. Jeromy has made several brines for our turkeys over the past few years, but I have never once made a brine myself. I was so excited about the brine that I pulled it out of the refrigerator and said, "Jeromy, look! My first brine!" I hope I am as proud of myself when showing off our firstborn child ;-)

The ingredients for the recipe:

Dinner on the stove:

The finished product:

I added garlicky broccolini from this month's issue of Food and Wine and some whole wheat couscous. This is definitely a larger meal that what I normally cook during the week, but it was sooooo worth it.

My final note, tonight, I'm really disappointed in Massachusetts.

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend has been action-packed, and it's only Sunday morning!

We started out yesterday, bright and early in the cold, cold air with our friends Ben Flaccus and Casey Moore. They are both incredibly talented photographers and were generous enough to take some engagement photos of us. Here's one from our session:

Even though we were all freezing, it was a lot of fun. We're looking forward to another session with Ben and Casey--thank you both so much!!

Last night our friends Ashley and Dan came over for dinner. We always love spending time with them and last night was no exception. We thought we'd try another recipe out of Everyday Italian--this is our fourth recipe out of the book, so we're well on our way to cooking through her book! We made the roasted pork loin with fig sauce:

The pork came out perfectly, but the sauce, while tasty, was not thick enough. After following the recipe, I added fig spread to it to thicken it up and it still wasn't quite what we wanted it to be. For the first time, we are a little disappointed in Giada. But I'm sure she'll redeem herself this week.

I'd like you to meet my new best friend, my walking boot. I started wearing it yesteday afternoon and will be wearing it for the next six weeks. I'm trying to stay positive and know that this is what will heal my foot, but at the same time, it is really frustrating! It makes standing in the kitchen and cooking difficult. My wonderful fiance brought one of our breakfast bar stools into the kitchen so I could cook without standing on my feet--he is too good to me :-)

And finally, we have set a date for our wedding! The countdown is on!

Lisa :-)

Happy 2010!

The end of 2009 was full of action on Stover Drive! Jeromy and I flew up to Massachusetts to spend Christmas with my family and while we were there he surprised me on Christmas Eve and proposed! My response was, "are you being serious right now?" which I'll admit is slightly odd, but I was so surprised that I didn't know what to say! I started crying and was just so happy. Jeromy had asked my dad the day before when they went skiing and it was all just perfect.
:-)

Taking a picture in pretty much the exact spot that Jeromy proposed, only I was in my pajamas at the time.



Here's my ring (I LOVE IT!!! Almost as much as I love my fiance):















We've now entered the world of wedding planning. It's comforting to know that many other people have gone through this process before us so we have lots of friends and family to consult if we have questions. We're really looking forward to this next year and to the start of our married life. I can't wait to get married but I also hope we take time to enjoy being engaged. I hope your holidays were filled with joy, laughter, family, friends and lots of fun. Here's to 2010!

Lisa :-)