Something Old is New Again

I've long been a fan of the simple solar cooker, so I was gratified to see that one won the Forum of the Future's Climate Challenge Competition (the runner-up evaporating tiles are pretty sexy, as well).

I'm digging on Garden Rant this morning, too. Growing your own vegetables? Easy? Yes. While I myself am going for a slightly more structured garden this year by building attractive raised beds(at least in the front yard, where people can see it) I warmly urge beginning gardeners to just dump a pile of dirt in a sunny spot, throw in a variety of seeds, and see what grows.

It doesn't have to be pretty. It doesn't have to be organized. It doesn't have to be well-planned. It just has to be a garden. Once you've eaten something delicious from your very own dirt pile, you'll have the confidence to go from there. I promise.

Testing ping... oddly popular with Canadian UUs!

Springy Thingy

Very exciting! The last of the snow (hopefully) melted out of the yard yesterday and some brave early folks are peeking up (see below). Inside I've got pumpkins, broccoli, basil, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and kale started. I've been indulging in my favorite early spring hobby--pinching back excess seedlings and eating them. It's not even proper to call them baby vegetables. Fetal vegetables, perhaps. There's nothing to bring me into myself like the freshest, tiniest tidbits of spring. It's like I'm the cruel demigod of my own 1/4 acre.

Chives
Garlic
Rhubarb

And Now For Something Completely Different

Woot! I won second place in a writing competition today. "Describe Your Perfect Orgasm in 10 Words or Less". Here's my lube-winning entry. (A little on the literary side for a blog contest, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice.)

My body: interlacing ribbons of joy, first woven, now unraveling.



And now that I've jinxed them to my blog, I'd like to extend a special welcome to my seminary professors, high school boyfriends, and, of course, my Mom. Hi Mom!

Monkey Cookies

Okay all you facebook-y types, here it is.

Monkey Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 pound unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
3 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour (I used Speerville Mills Whole White, which lent a naturalistic, ecru quality to the white dough)
1 bar (85 g or 3 oz) swemisweet chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger Chocolate that I got at the dollar store FOR A DOLLAR, or substitute your own *quality* chocolate)
licorce whips
chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream the butter, powdered sugar, salt, egg, yolk, and vanilla together to a smooth consistency. Add flour and blend just until evenly incorporated. Separate out 1/3 of the dough. Melt the chocolate on low heat and add to remaining 2/3 of dough, stirring no longer than necessary. Cover both doughs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour (or in my case, overnight).

When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 and grease a cookie sheet with butter. Roll out the chocolate dough first--you'll want to be zippy here and keep the dough cold but malleable, a balance you just have to get your own feel for. Cut into circles with a cookie cutter. Next, hand shape balls of the vanilla dough for the muzzle and ears. I recommend giving them a bit of dimension--it looks cuter on the finished product and gives you something to sink the licorice into (see below for examples of when I did not do this). Press them gently into the chocolate circles. Use chocolate chips for eyes and pieces of licorice whip for mouths, sized to fit. The licorice has a mind of its own, so push it well into the muzzle so it will hold its shape during baking.

Bake at 375 for about ten minutes.


And again people, these are the ones that didn't work out--monkeys gone awry!

Scallops Pernod

Seriously. Golf balls. These are sitting in a scallop shell the size of a dessert plate.

The recipe's too easy to formally write out--toss scallops with olive oil, salt, and pepper, pan fry on high heat, turn off heat and remove scallops, deglaze the pan with a splash of pernod, and enjoy.

Who I'm Reading

I'm a busy little writer these days, so not much time for blogging (or cooking, or gardening, or breathing...) but I thought you all deserved to know about my friend Naomi's blog, The Wonderment. For those of us who seek to find meaning and joy in everyday life (Oh wait, that's all of us!) Naomi's deep, loving, and pirate-y reflections infuse the heart.

Who else do I keep a close eye on? I follow blogs of several shades of green, but the only ones I actually want sending announcements to my inbox are Climate Progress and WorldChanging. For my foodie fix I turn to La Vida Locavore. Jill Richardson, the blogger behind La Vida Vlocavore, turned me on to Hyperlocavore, a boon to all us yard farmers. I've also been enjoying Accidental Vegetables, a witty foodie/drinkie blog by my old college friend Marya.

As far as my personal projects go, I have Brine interviews lined up this week with BW of Sustenance Gardens and Dawn of Biscuit Eater. Non-incidentally, I'm headed to Biscuit Eater tonight for a community meeting on alternative energy. Updates soon!