Mt Cuba Center -- high on nature, low on communism

In my continuing effort to visit all the amazing places near my parents' house, I took a 15 minute drive down the road and took the winding drive up to the Mt Cuba Center. You'll need a reservation to visit, but it's only a $5 fee for a 2 hour tour of native plant forest and the formal gardens.

The grounds are the former estate of Mr and Mrs Lammot DuPont Copeland, who were cousins of Henry Francis Dupont, the last private owner of the Winterthur estate. The passion of conservation running through the family is self-evident.

Upon entering the house, I was ushered through the back door and greated with the most lovely bucolic view of the Delaware valley.

I sat for a few minutes and tried to sketch a few things, but they were all crap. We embarked on our tour and started in the forest, created in the 40s and 50s by Mr and Mrs Copeland from the farmland that previously surrounded their estate.


The docent for the tour was very knowledgable and the weather was absolutely beautiful.




The dogwoods were just starting to change colour. And the meadow the opened up was surprisingly full of wildflowers.



From the meadow, we walked down to the network of ponds that provided the perfect escape from the world.


I will certainly be returning to these beautiful grounds, hopefully by the end of October when the leaves will be in full colour.

Adventures in tangerine marmalade OR "I can, can you?"

Today I finished my creative writing class and was so inspired by all the fascinating characters in the class with me that I decided to stop at the grocery store to pick up some things to make orange marmalade. I have been toying with the idea of canning for a while and finally decided to take the plunge.

Before

Cookin'

After

Mmmmm, can't wait to put this on an english muffin in the morning...

Lastly, allow me to leave you with the musical stylings of Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, and Pink:



Oh yeah, I went there.

Drawing for Dummies, take one

Yesterday evening was my first drawing class since grade school. Except for the high school senior, I was easily the youngest in the class, but the students were an interesting mix of women from many different walks of life, including a erstwhile professional ballerina who, now in her late 60s, was looking for a new creative outlet.

Even though we were learning only the very basic basics, we did several exercises.

We first learned several styles for how to approach an object, including contour drawings, breaking down into shapes, and restating lines.

With the last 10 minutes, we were asked to sketch our own hand, by breaking it down into rough shapes, and then softening the edges and redrawing the lines.

Our homework was to sketch things around the house. This is my first attempt.

Tonight: my first creative writing class. (Eeeep!)

Up tomorrow, spending the afternoon in Winterthur Gardens to see what else I can find to sketch.

Cricket in unlikely places

Over my nearly six years in India, I developed a serious love of the game of cricket. Whether it was the first few months of trying to figure out what it was all about, graduating to predicting run rates and hypothetical scores, or participating in the 2011 World Cup madness, I gladly steeped myself in one of India's two great passions.


I made the silly mistake of leaving Hyderabad just before the Champions' League Twenty20 tournament began. I had a great fortune of meeting several of the India national players during the World Cup and during the IPL T20 season that immediately followed. One of the greatest pick me ups last week was getting a phone call from one of the bowlers asking why I didn't stick around for the tournament. Sigh.

I will have to take what I can get here. The stopgap is crictime.com, which is a free cricket streaming site where you can watching literally every national level cricket match that happens anywhere in the world. Amazing. I got to see Malinga dominate on both sides of the ball on Saturday.


My other outlet is the Philadelphia Cricket League, which just happens to be having their Finals match this coming Saturday in Wilmington, DE. I'm hoping to drag my college room mate along when she visits this weekend. There's something special about a game I've grown to love being played in my childhood home.

Rock inspiration

Today is the first day of my drawing class for dummies, where I force myself yet further out of the comfy confines of my personal bubble and Try Something New. It's terrifying.


And, as with each time I need a little pick me up to put on a brave face, I've got classic rock on the iPod.

Ladies and gentlemen, Janis Joplin.

Flora and Fauna of the White Clay Creek State Park (DE)

OK, so I cheated a little on this one. These photos are from early August, but it was a great time of year when the wildflowers were in bloom and the berries were ripening.

The trail system is a nice mix of forest and meadow.

Parts of the trail had wildflower fields in full bloom.

And parts were already mowed to be baled the next day. The scent of these freshly cut hayfields were amazing. I totally get Van Gogh's fascination.

Parts of the trail skirt corn fields.

And raspberries are easily accessible close to the trails. Yum!

Best of all, there is actual history along the trail! This stone marks part of the Mason-Dixon line.

Gingersnaps without the snap (or fat!)

This summer I visited my bestie in Zurich. In addition to the sunbathing, swimming, trail running, and various other wonderful outdoor activities, she also introduced me to these lovely fat-free ginger cookies.

I kept thinking about them through my month-long trip back to India and by the time I arrived back in the US I was dying to find a recipe and try them out myself.

I ended up with an adaptation of the Barefoot Contessa recipe.

Fat-free Ginger Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1/3 cup mild flavour molasses

2 egg whites

2 1/4 cup flour
1 t baking soda
2 1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t dried ginger powder
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 t pepper
1/4 t salt

1/2 cup chopped candied ginger

1. Cream together sugar, applesauce, and molasses. Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.

2. Combine flour, soda, salt, and spices.

3. Add egg whites to sugar mixture and mix for another 2 minutes.

4. Slowly add flour mixture (dough will be very thick, so be careful if using a hand mixer, don't burn it out!)

5. Stir in candied ginger.

6. Preheat oven to 350F

7. Drop in spoonfuls into cinnamon sugar. I like making small cookies, about half a rounded spoonful. Coat with sugar, roll into a ball by hand, and place on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

8. Bake for 13 minutes until just set in the middle.

9. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Since these are guilt-free, I like having 2 or 3 with sleepytime tea while watching my guilty pleasure--reality TV :)

Pears looking at you, kid

A week ago, I was browsing the seasonal produce looking for some inspiration and found some lovely Bosc pears. They needed a while to ripen, so I figured I had some time to figure out their fate.

All week they have been staring at me in the center of the kitchen island, taunting me with their hippy sweetness. Finally, I decided their time had come.



Upside-Down Pear Tart

Ingredients:
3 or 4 pears
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup sugar
cinnamon and dried ginger
pastry dough

1. Peel, halve, and core the pears.

2. Melt butter in a 9-10" saucepan on medium heat. Use an oven-safe pan if you have one. Add sugar and stir until it forms a sticky paste. Let simmer for a few minutes.

3. Add pears, core side up with the hippy parts on the edge of the saucepan and the stem sides pointing toward the center. Simmer covered on medium heat for about 15-20 minutes or until the sugar caramelizes and turns a deep amber colour.

4. While pears are cooking, preheat over to 425 and roll out pastry dough. I use a Betty Crocker recipe and technique passed down from my mother. 1 cup of flour, 1/3 cup of shortening, 1/2 tsp of salt cut together with a pastry cutter, stirred together with up to 3-4 T of cold water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Roll out the dough until about 1/8" thick and cut into a 10" circle.

5. Once pears are cooked and sugar is caramelized, they are ready for the oven. If you have an oven safe saucepan, simply place the pastry dough circle on top of the pears and tuck the edges around the pears inside the pan. If you're like me and don't have an ovensafe pan, transfer the pears into a non-stick 9" cake pan, still core side up, place the pastry on top of the pears and tuck the edges around them.

6. Bake at 425F for 25-35 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Then, with a plate covering the saucepan/cake pan, carefully turn upside down. It's a little scary, but the tart will come out easily. When you lift up the pan, you'll see your tart happily brown and sticky on the plate. Let cool before serving so the caramel sets properly.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

I have never been a huge fan of chicken. I visited a family chicken farm during slaughtering season one summer as a seven year old and have not been able to look at chicken the same way since.

However, I love a whole roasted chicken. Even better, I love making chicken soup from a leftover whole roasted chicken. Making chicken soup is an exercise in love and healing. And as I learned now that I'm flying solo in the suburbs, it's even a comfort food when made and consumed on your own.

This recipe is a Pesek family institution, handed down over at least five generations. Making stock is easy enough and the homemade noodles make this recipe hearty and heartwarming.

Ingredients:
Whole roasted chicken (minus whatever has been eaten already)
Onions, garlic, celery, and carrots
Fresh (or dried) parsley
Salt and pepper

1 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 eggshell of milk
1 tsp salt

1. Take the whole roasted chicken and separate the meat from the bones and chicken fat.

2. Roughly chop onion, celery, and carrots and cook in a pot in a little olive oil (I use one onion, 3 garlic cloves, 2 carrots and 2 celery stalks).

3. Fill pot with water 3/4 full. Add chicken bones, skin, and fat. Salt and season to taste. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour. Strain out the chicken stock and discard bones, skin, and veggies.

4. Chop more onions, celery, and carrots, the desired size for your soup. Cook for a few minutes in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.

5. Add stock to veggies, cook for a few minutes longer, add chicken that was removed from the bones in the first step. Add salt, parsley, and more water if needed.

6. For noodles, mix together flour, egg, milk, and salt. Roll out and cut into thin strips of dough. Drop each noodle directly into the soup to cook. Noodles are cooked within 2 minutes.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Note: Soup can be "extended" by adding water and seasoning, depending on how much chicken and veggies you have used.

I saved about 3 bowls in the fridge and put the rest in the freezer for quick meals in the future!

Introduction

Hello blogland,

Today I came to the realization that I am having my quarter life crisis. By my calculations, that means I will live to be 112 years old, which seems like it will a perfectly reasonable age to die in the year 2095.

I'll be honest. I am adrift. I blame it on Robert Frost.

From a young age I have been inculcated with the determination to choose the road less travelled. I have gone and done and seen and experienced. And now I'm back, and I'm really not sure what is next. So, instead of steeping myself in hand-wringing and worry over the state of the economy and my eccentric CV, I am going to make a different choice.

The next three months will be my Period of Self-Discovery. (Don't worry, I'll think of a better name soon.) Nothing will be off-limits and everything is possible.

Whew, now... Where to start?