Pepe Uriburu

Orion and I have a new family member. Her name is Pepe Uriburu, the well-traveled cat. Pepe has been living with us since the middle of August and she is adjusting quite nicely. We are fostering her with hopes of permanently adopting her. Pepe is a small kitty and probably doesn't weight much more than six or seven pounds (A wee lass compared to Spot's hulking 15 or 16 pounds!). She is fluent in Korean, English, and Spanish. She was born in Korea, but has lived in Toronto, Ontario Canada, Washington D.C., and recently she hails from Mexico City. I can only hope to be as well traveled as my foster kitty! Pepe is great fun. She doesn't seem to mind Nola the dog (not that she goes out of her way to visit with Nola), but she doesn't care for Spot at all. But who can blame her; Spotty is more of a horses butt than a kitty. Pepe spent the first few weeks living in my closet and only came out for the necessities. After several weeks I decided it was time to 'help' this special kitty to adjust so when she left the closet to take care of some business I closed it back up tightly. She was amazingly upset with me for several days. But very quickly adopted the bed as her chosen place to nap. She splits her nap times between the foot of the bed (my side) and the head of the bed (opposite side). Every day that passes she becomes more and more affectionate and playful. She greets me when I return home. Last night I tossed and turned all night long... But somehow couldn't seem to buck Pepe off my feet (not that I was trying!). She is quite the agile kitty and very loving when the mood suits her.

Don't Go Like That!

Once should possibly never visit a chiropractor before bowling. While she straighted ME out; she did NOT straighten my ball out. I was all over the place. Partly because of my recent adjustment, I think, and partly because I saw three people (3!) fall on the approaches last night and did NOT want to be the fourth! So I was cautious with my approaches. Tentative with my ball. And it showed. I did make a spare and a strike in the first game, two strikes in the second, and a spare in the third. I never broke 100.

09/09/10 Skipped
09/16/10 90, 97, 90

I think I need a tutor.

A New Season!

Bowling! A new season started last week. And I am back at it... Beginning my fifth year. I missed the first week of bowling due to extreme stress and strain on my backside, but I made it to the alley last night! First time I'd picked up a bowling ball in 4 months. They seem much heavier than I remember. All things considered, I did fairly well.

08/26/10 Absent
09/02/10 87, 122, 136

Yeah, you could say I was warming up in that first game. And I was. I believe I threw three gutters all night, one for each game, if I recall correctly. The second game started off beautifully with a spare in each of the first five frames. I even picked up two splits. Total of six spares. The third game I had two spares (picking up a split) and a double (two strikes). Looking forward to next week!

Oh my!

It has been forever since I have taken the time to post to my blog! So much has happened since I last posted! I spent the first part of summer with my friends Jennifer and Aaron in Sedalia, Missouri and the last two months of summer with my friend Shannon in Gravette, Arkansas (peppered with several overnight visits to my brother's house). Over the course of the past four months I have have lived with three sets of friends. Packed, moved, stored, moved, cleaned, unpacked, and cleaned some more! I am nearly done unpacking, however my new house (rental) has not been properly taken care of and I fear I may NEVER be done cleaning! Additionally, I finally, and I mean FINALLY finished, submitted, and defended my dissertation! I must make a few corrections, print the darned thing on cotton paper, and pray the graduate school approves my margins. I am most excited.

The fall semester began three weeks ago and I've yet to catch up. I am hoping to catch up this weekend, but I fear it may be December before that happens! I've got a couple of new classes, a new Blackboard platform to learn, and twice the number of committee meetings! Somebody light a candle for me!

Rotkohl mit Apfeln

Red Cabbage with Apples

Sounds nasty, doesn't it? I think it can be. It has always been one of those things I can take or leave and usually end up leaving. Last night my friend Mittelhauser requested rotkohl with schnitzel. I try to please. After reading a handful of recipes (some without apples, some with bacon!) I decided to marry the best a two recipes and came up with the following. It was tasty and I even I enjoyed it. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

What you need:

1 medium head of red cabbage

2 tart apples

1 medium onion (I used Vidalia as they were abundant at the grocery store yesterday!)

3 tablespoons of butter

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons of sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

What you do:

1. Sharpen your favorite knife. Get to slicing and dicing. Peel and slice apples. I chose thin strips that I then cut in half. Not quite diced, not quite sliced. Chop the onion. Slice the cabbage (think coleslaw).

2. In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot (about six quarts in volume) melt the butter and saute the apples for five minutes. Add onion and saute for another five minutes. Add the cabbage, water, vinegar, and sugar. Stir. Cover.

3. Cook on medium low, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes or until cabbage is tender, but not mushy. Alternately you can toss it in a hot oven and cook it that way.

Click here for my schnitzel recipe. It is guaranteed to please! That is... I've had no complaints yet. Grandpa Doug, if you're reading this, I promise to come to Arkansas and make Schnitzel and Rotkohl for you. I'll even serve your peas in a separate dish!

Biscuits and Gravy

For about a week I have had a hankerin' for biscuits and gravy. I broke down this morning and made some. Today's efforts just might have been my best ever. Yum.

Biscuits

What you need:

1 Tube of Pilsbury's Buttermilk Grands

or

8 Pilsbury's Frozen Buttermilk Biscuits

(I really need to learn to make acceptable home-made biscuits!)

What you do:

Bake according to package instructions. Yum!

Gravy

What you need:

1/2 pound breakfast sausage

3 tablespoons flour

1 quart of milk

salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

1. Brown sausage in skillet. Depending on fat content of sausage, you may need to add a few tablespoons of butter or bacon grease before adding the flour. Sprinkle flour over sausage stirring constantly until flour and fat are smooth.

2. Slowly begin adding milk and whisking till smooth, thick, and bubbly. Continue adding milk and stirring. I find the more patient I am with gravy, the better it comes out. Letting the gravy cook for a bit also reduces the chances of getting that "uncooked" floury taste.

3. Once you have the constency you desire, salt and pepper to taste. Serve up hot, over biscuits and whatever else your heart desires (hashbrowns, yum!).

Thy Neighbor's Goods

So I was hanging with my friends Jen and Aaron (and I am kind of long term hanging with them now) when I discovered that they had a most righteous, plastic, orange strainer (pictured above). I was jealous; literally green with envy. I offered to buy it. I begged to buy it. The price ($1,000,000) was a bit steep. I couldn't swing it. I had to place the beautiful, orange strainer in the cabinet. I was feeling bereft, dejected, hopeless.

These feelings did not last. Just a few days later I found an amazing, gorgeous, green strainer (pictured below). The price tag ($2) was closer to my budget. And the green totally goes with my new kitchen decor. Woot!

Soap Socks

I cannot believe it has been over two months since I have posted. It has been a busy and interesting two months with the ending of one semester and the starting of another. I've finally completed grading for one semester and have started breathing life into my summer classes.

Earlier this spring I learned to make soap with my good friend Shannon from our good friend Jennifer (Thanks Jen!). It was a lovely basil and tea tree oil soap. I cannot wait to make several different batches of soap this summer. Hooray for soap making! Well, on the way back to Warrensburg this weekend I battled boredom by making a zillion dish rags. Then I started on soap socks. I made three this weekend. A large rectangular one for my friend Shan's giant bars of soap I gave her for her birthday, a medium oval shaped bag (pictured above), and a smaller version with a tighter stitch. The soap socks are now in beta testing.

Cable Car Ride

It was damp, cloudy, rainy, and grey. And still we explored. The Cable Car ride was short, but UP HILL and well worth it. What fun!

(Sally, San Francisco, January 2010)

(Kat, San Francisco, January 2010)

Schnitzel

I wanted spatzle, but didn't want to put forth the effort. I've been thinking about comfort food a great deal these days and wanting ulany kluski (Don't grade my Polish spelling here!). And kluski led me to spatzle. I was very pleased to discover how similar they are, but the spatzle has more teeth, a sturdier creation if you will. Wanting the spatzle made me think of schnitzel. And the schnitzel made me think of the schnitzel at The Bavarian Inn in Eureka Springs. When I was a wee lass, Tony and Jarka Bloch always made us feel so welcome and they were good friends to my parents.

While I didn't have any veal just laying around the house, I did have some lovely pork cutlets and some pent up frustrations. The pork cutlets were made thinner, tastier, and more tender by my frustrations. Fun! But I still wanted kluski. I chatted with mom this evening had a few really good ideas... Combining her ideas and some of my own, I came up with dinner. And I must say, it was a damn fine dinner.

In case my sister is reading this, I have provided the recipes below. Tree, it didn't take any time at all to toss this all together. Maybe 25 minutes. I know Grandpa Doug would love this meal. I hope I get to make it for him soon.

Schnitzel

What you need:

pork cutlets (or veal if you can stomach baby cow - yum!)
salt and pepper
flour
eggs (as many as necessary)
bread crumbs (I used panko as I only had Italian bread crumbs, silly Kat!)
oil for frying
lemon wedges

What you do:

1. Get some plastic wrap and your meat mallet. Wrap one or two of the pork cutlets (or you can use a boneless chop, you'll just have to pound a bit longer and a bit harder...) in plastic wrap (this keeps the bloody bits of meat from flying all over the kitchen and keeps your meat mallet nice and tidy) and beat the crap out of it. Well, till it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Place them on a cutting board. Salt and pepper both sides.

2. Heat your oil on a medium high burner. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees and get a plate or pan ready for the schnitzel. Grab the pork (or veal) and dredge in flour. Dip in egg (2-3 beaten). Press into the breadcrumbs. Place in the hot oil.

3. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side until golden. Place on paper towel covered plate or pan and keep in warm oven.

4. If you would like to go the extra step, fry an egg for each plate or serving. You may have noticed that I made one sunny side up and another fried, over easy (I'm still learning to eat things that stare back at me or jiggle.). Top the schnitzel with the fried egg, sprinkle with cracked pepper, and toss on a lemon wedge. Yum!

Kluski and Onions

What you need:

A pound of kluski (Amish made is good and available at most grocery stores...)
1/2 stick of butter
2 small onions
caraway seeds
salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Boil the water. Dump in the kluski. Cook to your preferred doneness.

2. While kluski is boiling, slice onions and saute in skillet with 1/2 stick of butter. Yum! Butter! Toss in some caraway seeds for an interesting flavor.

3. Once kluski is cooked and drained, toss with onions, butter, and caraway. Serve hot.

* Note: this is one step from lazy pierogi. Toss in some cabbage and viola... Or some rinsed kapusta (Sour kraut for my non Polish readers!).

Bowling

Last night marked my second week of bowling after a very long hiatus. I have missed my bowling friends. I have missed the feeling that comes with knocking the pins into next week. I have missed the feeling that comes with picking up a tricky spare. I have not missed the feeling of finding myself with repeated splits. I have not missed the feeling of scoring 9 one frame after another. Last week's games were pretty good. Last night's games, not so much. ;-)

02/04/10 107, 92, 100
01/28/10 127, 110, 116

Best part of bowling? There's always next week!

John Muir

Muir Beach

Late Saturday afternoon I met the Pacific Ocean for the first time (Thank you, Sally!). And I fell in love. I couldn't bear to cover the thundering sound of the ocean or my peals of laughter. Turn up the volume. Enjoy.

California

"Goin' to California with an achin' in my heart
Someone told me there's a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair"

-Led Zeppelin

Two days after the semester started, I flew to Sacramento, CA with my Gal Pal Sal to attend the Annual International Conference of the Association of Science Teacher Educators to present a paper (more research from the "big D"). We spent three days and three nights in Sacramento hobnobbing with brilliant science educators, taking to old friends, planning new venues of research, and making new friends. It was, as always, a fabulous conference.

Saturday, Sal rented a car and we drove to Muir Woods and Muir Beach. Breathtaking. That night we stayed on Lombard Street in San Francisco. Sunday we tramped from Pier 1 to China Town and back again. That evening I dined with my Aunt Bernice, Aunt Mary Anna and Uncle Martin. We ate a delicious meal at Kabul. Sal and I returned to the Midwest at the crack of dawn on Monday. It was a whirl-wind, wild, wonderful trip. And I was without a camera. But I did have a Flip Video video recorder with me. So my goal over the next few days is to sort through the 30 - 90 second videos I took and share some of my experiences. Stay tuned.