dried basil 4 life

I've had my new basil plant... a week? 10 days? I've watered it here and there (neither too much or too little, I don't think). It's been in a sunny window. I haven't overplucked it. And yet:

Dead. Or close to it. I'm feeling pretty resigned to just using dried basil for the rest of my life.

Had a great weekend in Chicago. Being in Soldier Field was AWESOME. Dave and I enjoyed the four business men sitting in front of us who clearly where there because their corporation bought them tickets. Proof: the guy who asked "so are they supporting a new album or what?" He also sat with his arms crossed most of the time, surveying the crowd with a curious/slightly annoyed expression. We enjoyed that two super-exuberant fans sat in front of him, standing the entire time, dancing wildly, and singing along.

Monday we spent the day walking around Northerly Island, enjoying the sun. Then got in free to the Adler Planetarium and went to a really cool show about stars, constellations, astronomy. On the way home we stopped at Michigan City Outlets... but came away with only a shirt for Dave and a subway sandwich for our dinner.

I don't have any recipes planned yet for the week, or any cravings or ideas. So feel free to supply some! The only thing thus far is probably another batch of red pepper hummus, when we finish this one.

the game. the deer.

Had a great time at the IU/W. Mich. game yesterday - and got our last bits of late summer sun! We were able to meet up with Chad for the game as well. And afterwards we all tailgated with cheeseburgers, hot dogs, my hummus and naan, grapes, brownies, veggies, chips, etc. It was a feast. We enjoyed being outside, hanging out with family, and getting to see Chad down in his new city (although regrettably we couldn't see his new apt.).

We had ridden down to Bloomington with my aunt and uncle - meeting up with them in FW. We got back to FW about 8 last night and passed a dead deer on Stellhorn Rd. - the police were just there trying to figure out what to do with it. About twenty minutes later Dave and I had left my aunt and uncle's and were back on Stellhorn headed for home. We passed the spot where the deer had been and all was quiet. I wondered aloud what they had done with the deer - dragged it off the side of the road, etc. Dave said he knew there were city departments to take care of that sort of thing. At that moment I looked up and in the lane next to us, just ahead, was a pickup truck with the bed open. And there was our deer friend, hanging out the back. We had quite a laugh about our few minute conversation, all the while the answer had been in the lane next to us.

We are church skippers today, as we hadn't been sure if we would be back Saturday night or Sunday morning. Instead we are having a slower morning. I'm about to give Dave a haircut, then heading out for a run. We have lunch with all of Dave's family, then we'll make out way to Chicago for the U2 concert. Still undecided what big fun will await us in Chicago on Monday, but we're excited to explore. Any suggestions? Submit them quick!

thursday's kitchen... and other randomness

Quieter in the kitchen today - we're having dinner with friends, so I'm not planning any meals. We are bringing dessert, so I'll be making two lemonade pies. But considering it's just mixing sweetened condensed milk, lemonade concentrate, and cool-whip, dumping it in pre-made graham crusts, and sprinkling on chocolate chips, it hardly seems like cooking! (Hardly seems like cooking does not mean it is not still fabulously delicious!)

I did make some roasted red pepper hummus today. Dave and I have been on the hunt since August, when we saw my sister and brother-in-law at Kelley's Island. They brought the most amazing red pepper hummus ever. You could just eat it by the spoonful plain! So today I tried my hand at making my own. I actually combined two recipes I found on allrecipes.com. One was for spicy red pepper hummus and used feta instead of tahini. The other was for more basic red pepper hummus. I ended up not being able to find tahini (we were at walmart... gag), so I used the feta from the spicy recipe and then followed the rest of the basic recipe. It's still not as good as Kel and Keegan's, but it's pretty great. We found this delicious naan Indian bread, which is perfect for dipping. I think we'll take this along, and some grapes, to the tailgate party on Saturday in Bloomington. Brats and hummus!

Brief movie review: Duplicity. Don't bother. It was pretty awful. Tried to be Ocean's Eleven and Mr. and Mrs. Smith and definitely missed the mark on both. It was confusing, not very clever, and didn't nearly use the potential of Julia Roberts or Clive Owen. Bleh.

Had a pretty blah 9miler this morning - mentally I just was not in it, and I knew it, and I still couldn't get in it. I did do the loop on the cross country course again, which helped to shake me up a bit since I had to focus more on the grass. I have new running shoes arriving today and I'm more than ready to give them a try. My legs have been feeling tight and kind of stale this week - I'm thinking it's the flat tread and starting-to-wear-through-the-sole shoes I've got. Born To Run recommends beat-down shoes with less support as better for running, and I agree. But since almost all my running is on the pavement, I think I need a bit more cushion. Luckily endless.com (my favorite shoe site) has free overnight shipping and comparable prices. So I ordered my new (blue and silver) Brooks yesterday and they'll be here today. Fantastic!

(Thanks for comments people have left! They make my day! If you ever try any recipes, please let me know how they go for you, or modifications you tried.)

corn heaven

Had the above deliciousness for lunch yesterday: spinach topped with fresh corn off the cob and tomatoes. YUM. (Also pictured: corn off the cob. Because I think corn is just beautiful.) Today I made it even better by taking the same ingredients and rolling them up in a whole wheat tortilla with some roasted red pepper hummus. Amazing!!

Made the corn chowder tonight, with a few modifications. Namely olive oil instead of butter, chicken broth instead of just water. You puree half of the soup in the blender before you finish cooking it so I added a couple handfuls of spinach into the mix - figured it couldn't hurt taste or nutrition! I also added a bunch of garlic. The recipe didn't call for any (!!!) but I hardly know how to cook without it. And a little turkey bacon... because bacon is sooo good. Ta-da! The finished product.

The chowder tasted awesome - really flavorful and summery. Fantastic!

Here's the recipe, with my modifications:

Mollie Katzen's Fresh Corn Chowder

1 med. potato

2 1/2 c. water (chicken broth)

2-3 T. butter (olive oil)

1 1/2 c. chopped onion

1 1/2 t. salt (if you use broth maybe half this)

1 med. stalk celery, minced

1 sm. red pepper, minced

5c. corn

1/4 t. dried thyme (oregano)

1/2 t. dried basil (more, to taste)

pepper to taste

1c. milk (lowfat or soy ok), room temp.

(spinach)

(3 pieces turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled)

(3 cloves garlic)

Dice the potato. Place it in small saucepan with the water (broth). Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until tender but not mushy. Set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter (olive oil) in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion and salt, and cook over med. lo heat, stirring. After about 5 minutes, add celery (and garlic) and keep cooking. About 5 minutes later, add the cooked potatoes with all their liquid, the red pepper, corn, pepper, and herbs. Stir well and cover. Reduce heat and let cook about 5 minutes more.

Use a blender or food processor to puree about half the soup, along with a few handfuls of spinach. Return this to the pot and let it rest until serving time.

Stir in the milk and turkey bacon about 10 minutes before serving. Heat the soup gently - don't cook it any further. Serve as soon as it's hot.

(Thanks to Abby for this awesome cookbook - it's the first recipe I've made from it, but with fall and winter coming up I'm sure many many more soups and chowders and chilis will be had!)

Labor Day

Since we had the day off, Dave and I took a trip to Plymouth, Indiana, to the Blueberry Festival. While there we made some unfortunate food choices. Together we split:

a basket of spiral cut potato fries

a cheeseburger

a blueberry sundae

half a bag of kettle corn

We came home and immediately took a nap (I actually started mine in the car on the drive home) while our bodies certainly labored to digest. Poor decision making on our part, with that lunch, for sure. Then we watched the movie Big Fish, which was creative and had beautiful colors and fantastic actors, but was a little disappointing in the overall theme and idea of the movie (your life isn't good enough as is - you have to color it up with stories?).

Now we're playing with Mosie. Dave has a meeting later and I'll go for a run. We're thinking a simple, healthy dinner of corn on the cob is in order. We've both been chugging water all day, too, trying to drain the fair food out of our system. Ugh. Nothing like carb and grease overload to drain you of all physical energy.

This is completely random, but I've been reading the book Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. My friend Tyler surprised me earlier this year by shipping the book right to my door! It's only taken me this long to actually start reading it. It's so good!! Unique story, fantastic writing, well-developed characters... I'm not surprised at all that it won the Pulitzer. I'm not even close to halfway yet, but I'd already definitely recommend it.

Hoping to make corn chowder on Wednesday - expect a review!

Friday favorites

The title is misleading because these are favorites for every day of the week, but I liked the alliteration. Here are a few things I'm all about right now:

Honey Nut Scooters. Every breakfast. I buy the 2lb. bag. And an article I just read said that grain cereal with milk is one of the best things you can eat after a run. Ta-da!

Pampered Chef Garlic Press. I use this almost daily. I'm not attached to Pampered Chef, but this garlic press works really well. Otherwise, I'm kind of too lazy to take the time to peel the garlic and slice it up. Plus, I really kind of suck at it. And getting the garlic peel out of here still leaves your fingers smelling like garlic. Bonus!

Janet Evanovich number murder mystery series. Seriously, I'm not sure how I would get through the 1 hour 45 minute weekly drive without these. As an english major I guess there's the chance I should feel some shame about this, since they're not the great literary classics. But I don't. They're well written enough, they're funny, and they keep me from falling asleep and driving off the road or into herds of deer. Winner in my book.

Sweet corn. I could eat it everyday, in mass quantity. And after the farmer's market on Saturday I will have more. Hooray!

My Brooks Adrenaline shoes. I think I'll need a new pair soon-ish, but these have been my faithful go-to for the last three pairs. They're amazing. And pink!

Cardigans. I tend to wear one almost every day. They're light weight but warm. And they're comfortable.

And my bamboo wooden cutting board. The sound of cutting is better, the feel is better, the look is better. Everything about wood cutting boards is better.

What are some of your favorite things?

fun run

Had the most fantastic run this morning - 9 miles that felt like 4, most of which I was literally smiling through because it felt so dang good. Goshen College had their cross country path marked out, so I did a mile on grass, which was new and really good for my hips, knees, and ankles (no injuries, either!). Wanted to keep going and going - 11, 12, 13, whatever! - but held back so I could still run tomorrow. Hooray!

Here is my new favorite morning activity: http://puzzles.usatoday.com/ I love doing the crosswords and word finds. So fun!

I think I might make corn chowder sometime soon. Doesn't that sound delicious right now, with the kind of fall-like weather and fresh sweet corn?

Our friends Mark and Lauren come tomorrow and we're so excited. I'll be making my mom's homemade mac and cheese - Dave's favorite. It's First Fridays in Goshen so we'll walk around downtown, listen to music, come back and hang out at the apartment. We can't wait for them to get here!

For lunch today I skillet-ized corn, black beans, garlic, and zuc with a lot of cumin. Put this over spinach and avacados and crisped tortillas that I made in the oven with olive oil and sea salt. Deliciousness. All I needed were tomatoes for a punch of color and juice... but alas. None.