Sundried tomatoes are the vegetarian's bacon.

This is an improvised recipe I threw together last night. It was wonderfully delicious and may be something I bring to holiday dinners in the future. It's seasonal, comforting, yummy, and a full meal by itself, though it would make a nice side dish as well. Bonus: it's super easy to make.

Autumn Roasted Vegetables

About 1/2 lb whole fingerling potatoes

About a dozen brussells sprouts

One carrot, chopped into big chunks

One tomato, chopped into big chunks

About a fourth of a butternut squash, chopped into big chunks

About a fourth of a red onion, chopped into big chunks

Three or four (or more) whole cloves of garlic

About an ounce of tempeh, crumbled (you could substitute beans if you don't like tempeh, but if you don't like tempeh, you are crazy)

One sundried tomato, cut into tiny slivers (I like to use the vacuum-sealed ones rather than the ones floating in oil - they are cheaper and healthier! Bonus tip: use kitchen shears to cut them up small)

Combine all ingredients in a big bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Add dried herbs - I had tarragon, sage, and thyme - and some salt and pepper. Mix well until all veggies are nicely oiled up and dump into a baking dish (about 9x9). I then threw a pat of butter (about 2 tablespoons) in there for good measure. I had preheated the oven to 425, then turned it down to 400, put the veggies in, and cooked for an hour. About halfway through I stirred the veggies so nothing would dry out on top.

This recipe makes two decent but not overly generous portions. We were satisfied but probably could have gone for seconds if there were any!

I almost forgot the best part... I topped each of our bowls with a little shredded Gouda. I know it is a sin to ever forget about Gouda.

One Year Down

Today is our first anniversary! The year has flown by, but at the same time, it seems like our wedding happened a million years ago. When we got married, we had no idea that we'd be homeowners within six months... at that point, we had only a vague idea that we didn't want to stay in our dingy apartment for another full year. We didn't really see ourselves as qualified to buy a house yet, but I when I went into our bank to change my name on my checking account, they encouraged us to try for a loan through the Nebraska First Time Home Buyers' program, and here we are!

We celebrated our anniversary over the weekend by taking a short road trip down to Lincoln, about 45 minutes away. Neither of us had been there for anything but brief work-related stints, so we enjoyed exploring a town that, while not far away, was new to us.

A few people had recommended we check out the Haymarket District, and so we did. We did a little window shopping first... and both totally fell in love with a store called Ten Thousand Villages. It's a gift store that sells fairly traded items from around the world, and organized in the store by color, which makes for a visually delicious experience. The handmade objects were all exquisitely beautiful, and we were especially taken with a set of green onyx wineglasses, not shown on the website, but similar to this one:

Trust me, the photo does it no justice - it was gorgeous. Unfortunately $24-apiece wine glasses are not in the budget at the moment, but maybe after we hit the lottery.

After that we stopped into a store called From Nebraska, hoping to score some Nebraskan wine - and what do you know, they just happened to be having a little wine tasting from the Soaring Wings Vineyard in Springfield. We liked both the LaCrosse, a dry white, and a dry red De Chaunac - we picked up a bottle of the latter for later in the evening, plus a bag of locally made chocolates for dessert.

Once we were done wandering, we went to The Oven for dinner. It's an Indian restaurant in Haymarket that came highly recommended (via my online research). We sat outside, where it was pleasantly cool, and people watched while we ate (Lincoln was pretty quiet due to an out-of-town football game, thank goodness). We shared a piece of garlic naan, which was garlicky and light, and each started with a bowl of Mulligatawny soup. I thought the soup had a wonderful flavor, light but lively, with a nicely balanced mix of sweet squash, warm spiciness, and the crispness of lemongrass. It set my expectations rather high for the entrees, which were, to be honest, slightly disappointing. I had Bengan Bearta, an eggplant dish, and Mike ordered Shrimp Goa, made with coconut milk. I thought his was tasty but a little one-note, and mine was frankly bland. The rice was fine but not special. We enjoyed the meal but have certainly had better, even right in Omaha at Jaipur.

(randomly googled picture of mulligatawny soup)

We stayed overnight at the Rogers House Bed & Breakfast in Lincoln, also chosen after much online research by me. Since we stayed at a B&B (in Rhode Island) for our honeymoon and loved it, we thought we could recapture some of that romance - and it worked. We checked in with one of the propieters, Nora, and she showed us around while giving us a little history of the two buildings that make up the inn. We stayed in the Barrister Room, which is the master bedroom of the West House - a beautiful 100 year old Craftsman style home. 

To keep things somewhat within a budget, I did not shell out the extra $30 for a room with a jacuzzi, but might if we ever go back... or maybe we'll try one of the fireplace rooms in chillier weather. The room we had was nice though, with beautiful solid wood furniture and everything clean and tidy. In the morning they brought our breakfast right into the room - setting up a table and two chair at the foot of the bed, at a time preselected by us. Breakfast was two courses, starting with juice, coffee, and yogurt with fresh fruit, and followed by an egg casserole, coffee cake, and more fruit. 

The personal touch was lovely, and the whole experience spurred us to daydream (yet again) about opening up our own B&B someday. Mike would be the friendly proprieter, I would cook... we'd love to have one that opened to the public for Sunday brunches. We just have to think of a suitable location and come up with a ton of capital - no problem!

We did not bring gifts or cards on the trip but over dinner we both spilled the beans. Mike said that since the first anniversary is traditionally "paper," he got us a subscription to the New York Times Sunday paper. We used to love getting the paper on Sundays in Boston, but the Omaha World Herald really is not the same, and the Globe is not delivered here - but the NYT is. Now we have one more reason to hang around in our PJs drinking coffee! On my end, since the first anniversary is (in the modern tradition) clocks, I had snuck his old favorite Tag watch out of the house, gotten the battery replaced and a new band put on for him. Tonight we dine on year-old cake and exchange sappy cards (you did remember to get me a sappy card, right honey?)....

Nebraska Food Cooperative

While in our local health food store buying dog food for a certain spoiled cocker spaniel, I recently spied a business card for the Nebrasaka Food Cooperative.  To my surprise, this was exactly what I had spent hours googling and never found... a local CSA (community supported agriculture) group that would enable us to buy local food and goods year-round and support family farms in the area.

Mike and I are big fans of the Farmer's Market that takes place downtown, but it only runs during the summer and early fall months, and of course there is the added downside that if we are too lazy to make it downtown by noon on a Saturday morning, we miss our weekly opportunity to buy the beautiful, delicious, and inexpensive produce they have to offer.

The NFC seems to have all the variety of the Farmer's Market and more, with a wonderful selection of produce, dairy, baked goods, handmade gifts, and even (were we so inclined) local, sustainably-raised meat products... and the best part is, it goes all year round. This particular CSA group operates on a monthly basis (many are weekly) and all orders are delivered to Jane's Health Market in Omaha, which (lucky us!) just happens to be right in our neighborhood.

NFC membership gratifies two of our pet passions at once: supporting local businesses, and eating local, healthy, environmentally friendly food products. Most of the items available through their catalog are organic or produced with minimal chemicals, and are farmer-friendly. They even sell a large variety of fair trade coffees for the same prices we already pay at Whole Foods.

More information on CSAs can be found online at Local Harvest.

Labor Day Vacation

Mike and I made an epic journey back East this past weekend for a friend's wedding in my hometown, so we also got to see my family and some friends. Let me just say that if you haven't flown for a while but have heard a lot of horror stories about air travel these days, IT'S ALL TRUE. We had two broken planes, three or four delays, were bumped from a flight, ate a lot of airport food... all told I think we traveled for over 24 hrs and spent about as much time with our loved ones. And yet, we had a great time and it was awesome to see everyone.



I am making a weird expression in this pic but don't my husband and sister look adorable? We spent Sunday afternoon just hanging around in my dad and stepmom's backyard with the kids. It was a gorgeous day and totally relaxing.

Here we stopped by the restaurant/gift shop my little brother manages and had lunch. Trev is rocking a kickass mustache these days. We only got to see him for a few minutes due to our packed schedule, but he's looking good!

Here we stopped into see Pops, my paternal grandfather. He was sleeping so I didn't wake him up, but I just wanted to say hi and get a pic with him. Pops has Alzeimer's and is under Hospice care in a private apartment in my aunt's home. He hasn't recognized me for a while and only recently stopped remembering my dad.

My cute littlest sisters on the swings. Ashley is outgoing and funny; Cassie is becoming more reserved and loves to read (a girl after my own heart). They are both a lot of fun, and so gorgeous... man I am jealous of that long hair.

Mike with Zipper, in serious contention for Cutest Dog in the World. Don't tell Russell I said that.

My dad set up target practice in the backyard and everyone took turns shooting balloons and cans with this BB gun rifle. This is good old fashioned fun... it's nice that playing in the yard hasn't gone out of style completely yet!

Look out Russell, Zipper is making a run for it!

No More Sam I Am

The Suess room is gone.

We Love Tomato Sauce

My tomaters are in! We have them coming out the wazoo now and are eating many variations of tomato-based sauces and salads. Tomatoes out of the garden taste soooo much better than the ones at the store, it's crazy. I especially like them fresh picked just seconds before... there's something almost magical about feeling the warmth of the sun still on their skins. Or maybe I just miss eating dead animals, har de har.

My tomato plants totally outgrew the original plot so I spent a couple hours on Sunday ripping out grass and digging a bigger plot to accomodate them. There were some seriously weird bugs in there. And my shoulders are still sore. But the plants responded by seeming to explode even bigger than ever, and greener, and with more and more new fruits.

I'm finding that gardening is pretty intuitive. I was apprehensive at first to try something about which I knew absolutely nothing. But for instance, when I see tomatoes sprawling all over the ground and being swallowed up into the shade, I can figure out pretty quickly that I need to stake them up a little better. Not saying my garden's going to win any beauty contests, but it's growing like mad so I must be doing something right. Or not terribly wrong.

And let's not forget the basil of course. I have two like this, and it's all I can do to keep them pinched back so they keep getting fuller and not spindly and tall. I'm really pleased with the health of them too. I obviously have a few critters out there, and some bug bite marks, but nothing really out of control at all.

There is this weird tomato though. It's had this dead, flat white patch since it was green, and now getting the brown spots. I think what happened was the stem was twisted around and half of the tomato wasn't getting any nutrients as it grew. I guess I should have tossed it long ago, but I'm curious about what's going to happen to it. Eventually I want to pick it and cut it open and investigate. Gross, right?

A wider shot of the yard. The shadow is from the garage at left. In the evenings Mike and I stand in the shady area there to hit wiffle balls out to Russell.

This is the facial expression we have to endure from the moment we get home from work until we go out and play, and then once he's caught his breath, again all the way until bedtime. Please play ball with me, please please oh please play ball come on please I'll be soooooooo sad if you don't play ball with me. Dogs are truly wonders of evolution. They don't have opposable thumbs but they have mastered the art of emotionally manipulating humans with great subtlety.

Kitchen Makeover

Work has been slow for me lately. So what do I do when I don't have work? I work at home! Not really, but I did find some time to get a few things done in the house. Most notably, I put an acrylic (not true) Venetian plaster finish up in the kitchen. I got sick of looking at the pale, wilted-celery walls and I had some plasters on hand in the right palette.

To refresh your memory, when we bought the house the kitchen had dark red walls (barely seen here) and the backsplash matched the yellowish cabinets.

Just to get a better, fresher color up, I painted walls & backsplash in pale greens.

The plaster I put up is still green, but has a little more life to it. The application gives it movement and depth. I think Venetian plaster is a great finish for kitchens because it has a cool feel (true lime plaster is cold to the touch) and wipes clean easily. For a client, I'd typically do something like this in warm neutrals and kind of an old Italian palette... but at home I love to bust loose with color!

Mike's comment was "it looks like a Van Gogh painting," which I take as a high compliment coming from someone who loves Van Gogh landscapes. I think it's cheerful and happy looking.

A shot of my wall mounted spice rack. Right next to the stove. One of the little conveniences of life. I actually love cooking in my little kitchen. I barely need to walk a step to go from fridge to counter to stove to sink.

Due to work being slow, the grocery budget was a bit tight this week. We went shopping last Saturday and this is what our fridge looks like today:

And the tomatoes were free! I was pretty resourceful with few ingredients all week. But in truth our refrigerator is usually on the bare side. Since we don't eat meat or drink much besides water and beer, we don't have much to refrigerate. I once listened to an NPR story about a vegetarian family who got rid of their refrigerator completely and I sometimes wonder if we should consider it. All this stuff would probably keep in the basement in winter and in a cooler in the summer!

A bonus shot of Russell, and hard won. He does not like to pose for the camera. But look, he still falls for the "I have a treat in my hand" fakeout.