Happenings

Just so that you won’t think that we spent all of our time at the cottage eating dessert, try these grilled potatoes on for size.  Mind you, you should definitely try these out if you are a fan of salt and vinegar potato chips.  (If you aren’t, stear clear.)    We cooked these up on our last night of grilling right alongside our organic, grass-fed, free range steaks, and I’m happy to report that they were good cold the next day for lunch as well.

Image by 101 Cookbooks

Grilled Salt & Vinegar Potatoes
Mildly adapted from this recipe on 101 Cookbooks, which gives more exact measurements, though I felt this recipe was more a method that defied measurements.

Waxy potatoes – we used the potatoes from our CSA, which ranged from fingerling to full size.
White vinegar – enough to cover the sliced potatoes
Olive oil or cooking spray
Sea Salt – Trader Joe’s sea salt, recommended

method

Slice the potatoes.
Place the potatoes in a saucepan.
Cover the potato slices with vinegar.  (Yep, that’s right, vinegar.)
Bring the pan to a boil, then let the potatoes simmer for about 5 minutes until they are fork-tender.
Turn off the heat.
Let the potatoes sit in the vinegar for another half hour or so.
Drain the potatoes, lightly coat with olive oil or cooking spray to prevent sticking, and place on a med-hot grill.
Grill 3-5 minutes per side.
Remove from grill and toss with sea salt.  (And pepper, or whatever floats your boat.)

Aaaah, to have a grill….

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I spent last week vacationing in the Finger Lakes.
I tend to live vicariously through my vacation photos to get me from one vacation to another.  For that reason, I’m going to torment you with moments of my (and our) week.

After our weekend of pontoon adventures, I had a relaxing evening with the pup to catch up with my thoughts.  Seems funny, but it’s amazing to me at times how swarmy my head becomes if I don’t take the time to write things down and ‘figure out what I’m thinking’.

I realized fairly early in the week that some of the scenes driving through our ‘neighborhood’ are views that I love but have often taken for granted.  I vowed to take a few landscape shots during this trip.

As it turned out, the moon was FULL one night mid-week, and nearly full on another.  The moon views were gorgeous over the water, and I was disappointed that I couldn’t seem to get the camera to capture what I was seeing as I wanted it to.  (Any tips for taking photos of the moon such that you can see the ‘man’ on it would be appreciated – it didn’t seem to matter my shutter speed or aperture setting, the moon was always too exposed.)

My mom came down to vacation with us for a few days mid-week.  Cooler temperatures, but the lake was smooth making for some great canoeing!

One of my favorite activities at the cabin has always been feeding the ducks.  We didn’t see too many last year, but this year, we made a few friends – one of the ducks even was brave enough to taunt Pinot a bit when it learned that she wouldn’t actually jump off the dock to try to catch it.

Nick and Cashew came up for the second long weekend, and we definitely made the most of our time!  It’s so nice that we starting traveling with Cashew when she was a kitten so she is familiar with our other ‘homes’ (most cats don’t travel well, I’m told).  We did bring her down to the waterfront for a little ‘walk outside’ this time around, and she seemed pretty nervous being in the great outdoors – though I don’t want her to be an outdoor kitty, maybe we should have tried walking her around more earlier just so she wouldn’t be as nervous.

Nick and I had a warm and sunny few days.  We did a dog friendly wine (and liquor, and beer) tour around Seneca Lake, got quite a bit of sun, and earned our keep paddling the canoe.  We also got in a long run on the Keuka Outlet Trail, which was newly discovered to me, despite its existence a mile from the lakefront getaway I’ve been going to my entire life.

All in all, as always, I wish that vacation were longer.  Much, much longer.  All of that outdoor time makes Pinot very happy, but boy oh boy was she tired coming home!

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Nick and I met, hit it off, and fell in love.  When he found out that I could bake a good cheesecake, I knew I had him for life.      Since we registered for an ice-cream maker…and I usually manage to use it only once a year while we’re on vacation at the cottage….and this recipe for cheesecake ice-cream entered my life days before we left, I’m sure you can guess where this is going.   I’m happy to report that it fully lived up to the expectation of tastiness, and was oh so easy to make (and easier to eat!)

Cheesecake Ice Cream
Mildly adapted from the original found on The Kitchn

8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces sour cream
1/2 cup half-and-half
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and place in a blender (or food processor). Add the vanilla extract, sour cream, half-and-half, sugar, and salt, and puree until smooth. Pour the mixture into your pre-frozen ice cream maker bowl and freeze.  (Note – since I didn’t chill the mixture before putting it into the ice cream maker, this may have taken longer for me than it will for you.)

DONE!  No stovetop whatsoever!

If you happen to have leftover graham cracker crumbles from, oh, say, a s’mores cake you’ve recently made, those make a fabulous topping.  Or, you can do as the Kitchn does at the link above, and make a fancier graham cracker crumble.  I thought that was unnecessary – the crushed grahams worked beautifully. 

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

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I admit it – I’m not a big fan of marshmallows.  I dislike them raw, dislike them roasted to a crunchy black, and had never before last week had any desire to purchase marshmallow fluff.  But – when slow roasted to a golden brown, slightly puffy and mushy enough to melt a bit of milk chocolate between two graham crackers …  yes please!    If you haven’t yet noticed, I do like cake of all shapes and sizes, and so upon finding a recipe for s’mores cake on baking bites, had this bookmarked for an appearance at the cabin.

Image from Baking Bites

I’m also a HUGE fan of those Cadbury Easter eggs.  Why has no one told me before that marshmallow fluff tastes just like the filling?  Even with that in mind,  I have no idea what to do with the leftover fluff, so I guess maybe I’ll have to make another one of these cakes.  Another one of these soft graham cracker cakes, with chocolate ganache and marshmallow fluff seeping into it’s very soul….  why yes, another one of those would be lovely. 

S’Mores Cake
Slightly adapted from Baking Bites

for the cake:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups graham cracker crumbs, processed from whole graham crackers in your food processor or blender
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
3 large egg whites, room temperature

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease two 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract.
In a small bowl, whisk together graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, salt. Working in two or three additions, alternate stirring the graham cracker mixture and the milk into the butter mixture.
Beat egg whites to soft peaks in a clean, medium-sized bowl. Working in 2 or three additions, fold egg whites into graham cracker mixture, mixing until no streaks of white remain.
Divide evenly into prepared pans.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, make the Ganache.

for the ganache:
8 oz milk chocolate – I used hershey bars that would otherwise have gone into a ‘real’ s’more
1/4 cup heavy cream

Break the chocolate up into squares.
Heat the cream until it’s lightly bubbling but not scalding hot.
Add the hot cream to the chocolate pieces in a bowl.
Let the chocolate/cream mixture sit for 1-2 minutes.
Whisk (with a fork, spoon, or your whisking device of choice) until the chocolate and the cream are fully incorporated.

to assemble the cake:

Once the cake comes out of the oven, let it cool slightly in the pan (3-5 minutes).
Invert one of the cakes onto a serving plate.
Pour about half of your milk chocolate ganache over the cake.
Top the chocolate with a healthy dose of marshmallow fluff, right out of the fluff canister.
Top the fluff with the other cake layer.
Finish the cake by pouring the remaining milk chocolate ganache over the top cake layer.

Beware, the fillings will spread, which is perfect for finger dipping. 

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I – we -  have been super psyched about the cabin trip this year since we started planning it back in the day.  (Seriously, did I really send out the evite in March?)  It’s the first time we’ve done it since 2007 with the DC and UofR based crew, and since that time we’ve not only added a few new faces, but also a few puppies, an inflatable beer pong table, AND the knowledge of how to rent a pontoon boat.  Added to my excitement was the knowledge that I was going to have the *entire* week to spend at the cabin after everyone left – hooray vacation!    Of course, the thought of weather never entered my mind.  It would be warm and sunny, as it has been in past years, and as it has been earlier this month as we’d been to upstate NY twice already.

As you may notice from the scene around Bard, the weather doesn’t exactly look bright and sunny.  It is safe to infer that the weather didn’t exactly cooperate with my plans…. but I don’t think that folks minded, too much at least.   I hope that a good time was had by all.      A few highlights, the full album is also online if you are so inclined….

“FAST” paced tubing.  So fast, that we must have looked like lightening bolts to those on the shore, while flipping from front/back and standing/kneeling/sitting positions.  Yes, we are in fact, that talented.  Either that, or the HP of the pontoon motor is a bit slower than expected. 

Not only is middle of the lake swimming more fun due to the fact that you don’t need to worry about seaweed (and really, who doesn’t like the deep end better anyway)…

….but the middle of the lake also adds a bit of challenge to the game of beirut.  Please disregard the fact that Greg is turning blue.  He didn’t freeze, we don’t think.

As I’ve lamented in the past, I long for a yard and a grill.  Lucky for me, the cabin has both.  It also has (boxed) pierogui, corn-on-the-cob, and four (4!) types of marinaded chicken on a given evening.  (I had almost no idea which was which after the grilling, though the jerk stood out and seemed to be left alone.  I shredded the jerk chicken leftovers and made them into a type of maple-BBQ pulled chicken for sandwiches, which was very yummy, but sadly everyone had left by that point and didn’t get to try it.)

Julie made an awesome bonfire that lasted Saturday evening and beyond, well into the rain that began the wee-hours of Sunday morning.  Did someone say s’mores?

Our CSA has given us five (count them – 5!) full watermelons over the past couple of weeks.  What on earth are two people supposed to do with 5 watermelons?? Well, I will tell you, since I learned early on that they are best in the first week after they are picked:
Watermelon 1 – we sliced and ate, as any normal person would do with a watermelon in the summer.
Watermelon 2 – arrived before we had finished #1, we attempted to make into a vodka melon for this very cabin weekend, but alas, it committed suicide and jumped off the counter while I was at work.
Watermelon #3 – was pitted, pulverized, and made into watermelon ice cubes.  Those ice cubes were blended into a fancy watermelon daiquiri drink on Saturday night, which turned out better than any of it’s makers would have imagined.  (Just so that I’ll remember in the future – all the watermelon ice cubes, a splash (1/4c?)  of sugar, 1/3 of a bottle of spiced rum, and – though I didn’t think it would make a difference, it really did – regular ice cubes.  Yum.)    I have to wonder what else can be made with watermelon ice cubes.  We’re soon to find out, as watermelon’s 4 and 5 are living in our fridge awaiting their food processed, frozen, and cubed destiny as we speak.

As you can see by this almost-full group shot, people are smiling and not minding that it was rather cool out.  Please disregard Borch-Rote.  He’s so distraught because he’s about to turn a year older.

Since I was planning to stay the whole week, we extended the cabin weekend into Monday for those that were so inclined.  Sunday afternoon, the skies cleared and made way for some finger lakes wine tasting.  Quite a lovely view, don’t you think?

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It’s been a little while at least since we had the obligatory “DC tourist” type photos, on the blog at least.    Since I can never get enough of the M&M, I headed strait downtown after work for more hang-out time, a bit of dinner (Teaism!), and the obligatory mall walk.  Matt has been to DC somewhat recently, if you can consider 3 years ago somewhat recent (which, scarily, the older I get, the more that seems completely reasonable).  Anyhow – last time he came down, we didn’t really do the whole mall/monument thing – our priorities were more “Brickskellar” and “Adams Morgan”, meaning just that the last time he saw most of the mall and monuments was on his 8th grade field trip.  (WWII was completely new!)  It was fun to hang out on the mall on a weeknight with these fools

After the obligatory salty oat cookie & chai – and dinner – at Teaism, we headed towards the mall by 7th street, and I realized that the so-called ‘golden hour’ of photography was drawing to a close.  (M&M were not familiar with the golden hour – if you aren’t either, it’s basically the hour around sunrise and the hour around sunset when the lighting is supposedly “just right” to take good pictures.  All of my pictures tend to be Strait Out Of the Camera – SOOC -  so I can really use all the help I can get.  I really must start post-processing one of these days.)  We scuttled across the street to get a photo of the capitol before it got dark.

Of course I didn’t bring a tripod, but the night pictures still came out decent, or at least some of them did.  The logical next step from the capitol was to head towards Washington…and onto the ‘new’ WWII memorial.

I should note that I’ve always been a bit of a WWII buff, reason being that my dad was actually in the end of it.  He was a smidge too young to enlist during the war itself, but was in Japan during the clean up ‘45-’47 or so.  He didn’t talk about it much, but that initially sparked my interest in the war.  Being in Eastern Europe last year re-ignited my desire to learn more about it.  Isn’t it funny how sometimes things ’stick’ in your brain more when you learn them as an adult?  I actually just got done watching the Ken Burns documentary “The War”, which I highly highly recommend (it is available on streaming netflix if that is more up your alley).    I feel like I understand so much more about what went on – and where it went on-  after watching the documentary, which covers the war on both the Atlantic and Pacific fronts, than I remember from what I learned in high school.  This was the first time I’d been to the memorial since seeing the documentary, and somehow, the memorial was more moving to me now.

After pondering and discussing for a bit, we moved on to the reflecting pool (where we were attacked by millions of nats), and finally, Mr. Lincoln himself.

At this point, it was nearly 9:45PM and we realized that we really should start heading back, it being a ’school night’ for me and all.  But, since we were *right* there, we made sure to stop by the Korean and Vietnam memorials, which were eerie and did not photograph well without a tripod.  About 45 minutes of so-called power walking, one blistered foot and 2 blistered ankles between the 3 of us, and we were back at XX Mass before  Pinot and I set off for the long trip back up I-270 towards home.    It’s always great to have Matt down to visit – and I’m excited that we’ll see him again this weekend

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Matt is in DC for a visit for the first time in about three (3?!) years.  Crazy, eh?    I was excited to host a bit of a pizza adventure on Monday night.  We started out with (what else) wine and cheese, which lead to more wine and pizza, which lead to….beer floats!  I hope that everyone had as good of a time as I did

What will I ever do when she moves away to the big city?

I don't think he wine and cheeses much at home (move here!)

The pizza making begins….

Pizzas galore!  Double Zola, Mushroom & Cheese, Cheese & Mushroom, a fancy take on basic Garlic Scape & Brie (with tomatoes & goat cheese).  Can you guess which is which?

As inevitably happens when we are all together, the night turned into a bit of goofiness.

I'm in a Minges sandwich! Sort-of.

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We had a pizza adventure last night, and the bit of entertaining was the perfect excuse for me to try a couple of things in the kitchen that have been on my list for awhile.  I’m sure that given the title of this post, you have no idea what those two things are.    Any guesses?  Well – I’ll just have to tell you…

First – marinaded goat cheese!  Which was inspired by this post from the Kitchn.  I made my own marinade, using half a log of Vermont goat cheese (sliced), with some dried rosemary, thyme, herbes de provence, minced garlic and olive oil.  Let it sit in the fridge for about 1-2 hours, and YUM!  Why have I not done this sooner?

Secondly – beer floats!  Beer and pizza.  Pizza and beer.  I had wine on the menu for the evening, just because I don’t think Matt gets to drink it that often, but that was no reason to let beer slide out of the equation.  I’ve heard a lot of buzz on “beer floats” in the past few months, and when I saw the combination in this post -  Young’s Double Chocolate Stout combined with Coffee Bean Ice Cream – well, needless to say, it sounded too good to pass up.   -The verdict? I loved it.  I was a bit worried that the ice cream would be too hard, so I put it on the counter and it sort of turned to soup before we made the floats (oops.)  But – the coffee ice cream with the dark beer gave the impression of an espresso, sort of.  Definitely want to try this again with colder ice cream!

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I had a bout of temporary insanity earlier this year, and the after effects are in full swing.  I blame it on the fact that, despite having severe ankle pain during the entire half marathon, I loved the experience.  Not only that, but a month later, on severely severed training, I ran the best 10 miles of my life at the Cherry Blossom race.  My bout of temporary insanity occurred somewhere in the middle of all that when I convinced Nick that we should really sign up to run the full marathon in Chicago this fall. And – he agreed, which leads me to believe that we both caught the same strain of “temporary insanity”, or maybe we gave it to each other, who knows.

I really enjoy running….when it isn’t that warm out.  NOLA involved training through the crazy winter, which – when there wasn’t 20″ of  snow on the trails, was quite enjoyable.  Start running cold, you get warmed up, you finish feeling nice and comfortable.  No need to worry about bringing water.  The cold seems to propel you forward into warmth (and, for me, towards the end of that training, towards speeds that I didn’t know were attainable for myself, which made it even more fun.)   Needless to say, this summer it hasn’t been exactly cool.  I would venture as far as to say that it hasn’t been mearly warm out either.  It’s been outright hot outside.  And Humid (with an intentional capitol on that H).    And that bout of temporary insanity that whispered “no biggie, you’ll just get up really early for long runs” was out with window with the 4th (ok, 10th) push on that snooze button.

Yes, training this summer has been trying at times.  Booo to hot weather.  Booo to treadmills.  Booo to missing more mid-week training runs that I should have.    But – to our credit, we have not missed a long run.   Some of them – two weeks ago in the finger lakes comes to mind -  were downright awful.  Distances thus far have been well within my comfort zone – now that I know I can run a half marathon, doing it weekly for training doesn’t seem like that much of a big deal.

What a build up to say that this weekend, all my white noise about summer running  – the heat, the humidity, running mid-day, the need to carry water packs, the fact that I overheat and am just much slower than I thought I was – all of it flew out the window.

This weekend, the long run was BEAUTIFUL.  The weather – around 82 degrees.  The start time  – around 10AM.    The location – the lovely Erie Canal path, which we ran from Fairport past Pittsford and back again.    The long run was well outside of my normal realm of running distances.  We were feeling so darned good during the run that we decided to tack on an extra mile, just because we could… making the distance this week 16 miles.  16!  A distance that was previously so scary and so unbelievably longer than the 13 that I’ve become so familiar with.   It continually amazes me how half of this whole distance running thing is really mental.  Not so long ago, I never thought I’d be able to run 9 miles.  Then 13 set the new bar.  And now, with one 16 mile run under the belt, 16 isn’t seeming like such a big deal after all.  Which is good, because that 26.2 is coming a lot quicker than I thought it was.  Not only did we run 16, but I kept up with Nick for 13 of them, which I was proud of.  I was also proud that, despite becoming a complete snail for the last 3, I didn’t stop.

I feel the need to give a  special thank you to Maura and Tom, who got engaged, and thus inspired Fran (MJ’s mom) to throw this wild engagement weekend in the R-O-C to celebrate.  Without those simple words (meaning Tom, uttering “will you marry me”, and Maura uttering “yes”), this long run on this Saturday along the Erie Canal in Rochester NY would not have been possible, and my mental anguish about this summer running may have spiraled out of control.  With all of my hooing/hawing and yelping, Nick may have slowly been driven insane. Just think of the horrors that may have occurred if this long run in Rochester had not come to being.

And so – we enter the final countdown of training with a renewed love of running, a renewed outlook on distances, and a refreshed feeling that this is completely attainable.  Watch out Chicago, here we come!

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My wonderful husband just returned from a week-long conference outside of SLC.  Thought I’d share a few views of his conference locale!  UT hasn’t really been that high on my to-visit list, but with views like these, that may change…

And, the money shot, taken while listening to a cool jazz trio (the CD is cool, check them out!)  at happy hour:

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