Weekend Yardwork

After a weekend spent cleaning gutters, raking, trimming hedges, cutting back heaping mounds of dead landscaping and storing away all of the patio gear (not that we have much of it)...I see why people always smile and say slyly, "so, how do you like home ownership?" Well, my answer to that question is even with the mucky, dirty and hard work, I still love it. It's nice to be tasked with taking care of something that's yours and working hard to that end.

I felt happy for the sunny and mild weekend, which made the outdoor work more enjoyable. We tied the beast up in the yard where he rolled around in lots of dirt and each of us set out to our own individual tasks. As we completed this work I couldn't help feeling satisfied that we have a modest home and small yard. I can't imagine what it would be like to complete these cleaning and maintenance tasks for something even twice the size of our small lot. Modesty is a virtue - it's gratifying to know that not only do we not need more, but that it would probably be really annoying to keep up with maintenance for something larger.

I was also thankful for the opportunity to try my hand at home maintenance tasks that have always interested me, but I wouldn't have been allowed to do in my family home because I was known (and still am sometimes) by the nick name "Brutus". Clearly my parents don't think I have a delicate touch. Point in case, I was not allowed to use the lawn mower or the exercise bike for the last several years I lived at home.

So, why would anyone be excited to clean gutters you might ask? For the sheer novelty of it, I suppose. But I also liked the additional perspective being up on a ladder, seeing our neighborhood and St. Luke's hospital for a different angle. I was closer to the birds and I could peer down on things. It was also interesting to see the top of our house. No big explanation there, I just liked being up high. It's also clear to me that our previous homeowner may never have attempted to clean the cutters during her tenure. They were filled inches of black muck that I had scrape out with a putty knife and lots of leaves on top of that.

Not a flattering pic in the least, but you get the general idea.

Gutter muck. It got inches thicker than what is picture here.

Bucket of gutter muck.

Additional tasks accomplished this weekend:

Ry - Put on storm windows, cut down several years worth of unattended undergrowth from our landscaped yard and bagged up lots of yard waste.

Brutus - Cleaned cutters, trimmed out-of-control boxwood bushes into sweet little topiary-like globes with a hand trimmer, raked the yard and stowed away fire pit and chairs.

Beautiful hawthorne tree berries.

I love this man. My little elf, messing around during a break from hard labor.

On a totally separate note, what's a Knudson weekend without cooking?

Ry made his typical weekend loaf of bread, a whole grain sourdough miche. We improvised a dish with Israeli couscous, a grain we've never cooked with before. And I made my weekly pot of Sunday soup. I realized that this weekend makes something like four or more weekends I've cooked a big pot of soup for the week. It's nice to see little traditions emerging that define what our family life will be like. We'll be out of town this coming weekend, but I like my Sunday soup tradition, so I'll try to stick with it.

Here are the vegan, gluten-free soups I've made over the past month, three of which were totally improvised and turned out deliciously:

Weekend #1 - Pureed Lentil

Weekend #2 - Tomato, Potato & Kale

Weekend #3 - Black Bean & Kasha

Weekend #4 - Butternut Squash & Potato Curry Mash

Yay for hard labor in the yard and new family traditions!

Sunday loaf.

Israeli couscous with steamed brussel sprouts and pine toasted pine nuts.

Squash innards.

Butternut Squash & Potato Curry Mash

Beast in the sun. I'm a little embarrassed how quickly I'm becoming a unabashed cat lover.

Kasha Black Bean Soup

I actually made this pot o' soup last weekend, but the recipe is so good and so simple that I wanted to make sure I share it, even if a bit late. It's a gem from the October 2010 Vegetarian Times issue that is vegan, gluten free, low fat, contains a variety of colorful veggies and showcases the healthy whole grain kasha.

Kasha are toasted buckwheat groats, which is a grain that looks like grass and has a name that implies wheat, but is neither. It's its own grain with origins in Southeast Asia. Now it is primarily grown in China and Russia. You can eat it like a hot cereal, use it as a grain replacement for rice or quinoa or use it ground up to make buckwheat pancakes or Japanese soba noodles. It's full of fiber and antioxidants. It helps reduce your risk for heart disease. It also tastes good!

This recipe called for either plain buckwheat groats or kasha. I elected to use kasha for a fuller taste. Here are the rest of the ingredients:

1 Tb olive oil

3/4 chopped onion

3/4 chopped red bell pepper

3 cloves minced garlic (approx. 1 Tb)

1/4 cup kasha or buckwheat groats

1 tsp chili powder

2 cups low sodium veggie broth

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (aka 1 15oz can), rinsed and drained

1 cup grated carrots (equals about two medium sized carrots)

1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 bay leaf

1/4 chopped cilantro

2 Tb fresh squeezed lime juice

Alright, so here's my two cents on ingredients. Ry is a stickler for the exacting approach to cooking. I'm not. So when I made this recipe I guesstimated based on what I had in my pantry. Instead of measuring out 3/4 cup onion a used a whole medium-large onion. Maybe it was more than the recipe called for but so what, they cook down and how can you go wrong with more onions?

Also, I elected to use more veggie broth and more garlic. We buy the 4 cup boxes of broth and I like brothy soup. Also, don't wimp out on garlic by using dried spices, lame. Garlic is cheap and if you don't like mincing it, buy a garlic press. Ry maintains that you still should peel it before putting it in the press, but sometimes I don't, depends on my mood. I leave the skin on, pop the cloves in and press it right into the pot, then repeat. I felt both of these were positive additions for our taste palate.

Finally, when I made this soup in the past I've also subbed things out, like black eyed peas for the black beans or canned green chilies for the red peppers when I didn't have what the recipe called for. Feel free to do it. You never know when you'll discover a pleasant surprise.

I prepped all of the ingredients first, partially for a good photo op, but partially to make the process easier. This soup cooks really quick, so it's helpful to have things ready to go.

The cooking process is really just a matter of throwing things in the pot for a quick saute, adding the broth and waiting. Here's what VT says to do:

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper and saute for five 5 minutes. Add garlic, kasha and chili powder and saute 3 more minutes. Stir in broth beans carrots, corn, bay leaf and 2 cups broth. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes or until the kasha is tender. Stir in cilantro and lime juice just before serving.

Ingredients sauteing in the pot prior to broth.

I mucked up this order when I was putting it in and it didn't really matter all that much, so no pressure. I think the addition of an avocado plopped into your bowl would also make for awesome soup. This vaguely reminds me of a really easy version of sopa azteca. The funny thing is that several months ago I modified a version of a recipe for sopa from Rick Bayless' Chicago restaurant Topolobampo to make it vegan and for all the hours of work it didn't provide me as much satisfaction as this simple and healthier soup.

Here's what Ry was doing while I was cooking. Can you believe our beast is 8 years old and acting like this?

Finished product

Teacher's Convention Weekend 2010

For the last several years we've planned getaways for Teacher's Convention weekend. Nothing solidly planned this year turned into a pleasant hodgepodge that provided a little taste of many things. It didn't have all the expectations of something you plan in advance and it breathed some spontaneity into our normally quiet weekends. There's freedom in deciding what you'll do at the spur of the moment and real enjoyment in discovering new things. It makes me feel like an explorer.

Thursday

I took off work to attend a continuing education course related to substance abuse at the UW-Madison Extension. Ry tooled around all day doing his own thing while I sat in a day-long course at the Pyle Center. The course was useful enough and it's always invigorating to learn something new that will stretch me professionally. After the course ended we met a friend of Ry's back from his college student teaching days named Darcy. We dined at Graze (a down-market sister of L'Etoile that uses locally sourced ingredients) with Darcy and her husband Andy. It's rare that you do the couple "first date" thing and it ends up swimmingly. However, this was the exception to the rule. They were super cool and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. They are into cooking, gardening, canning, literature, home projects and all things interesting. So, rock on Darcy and Andy.

Friday

We had firm plan to visit Ikea to purchase some sort of sidebar/buffet/shelving system to fill up our very long and empty kitchen wall. We'd been looking around for a while without much luck, so we figured the Swedish giant would have something. I've only been there one other time on a Saturday, we walked through a tiny portion of one story and I almost flipped out in a full -n panic attack and we left right after we found what we came for. The store was bearable on a Friday during the week and we had a mission, so we stuck it out for three hours looking at all of the options until we came up with the perfect option.


Having a little too much fun with the cart!


I made Ry pose for this pic, which apparently embarrassed him. I learned afterward that he's not all about this type of tom-foolery in stores. You learn something new about your partner every day and I can respect that for the future.

The combination we picked out wasn't actually assembled together anywhere on the floor, but we dreamed it up and were happy with the results. The pics don't do these justice, but they look very nice, especially with the track lighting system we've got that shines right down on it. Ry got the great idea to put our china in it and the silver detailing just sparkles in the light. This sparkling-bling-china-thing seems a little upscale-snooty for my taste, but I was so happy with the results. It looks downright classy.


Full-frontal.


Another kitchen angle.

We took so long in Ikea that we weren't going to be able to do some of the other things we wanted to in Chicago, so we decided to drive into the city and spend an impromptu night. Ry has been jonesing to eat at a vegetarian restaurant he used to frequent when he lived in the city called The Chicago Diner. We enjoyed delicious vegan potstickers, lentil cakes, a seitan gyro and a vegan reuben with bubbly beverages. Weirdly enough, our waitress was a girl who has served us at Beans and Barley many times. We also knew the Manager who happened to be a friend of a friend.


Mural under the 'L' on the way to the restaurant.


Neon with hipster waiter rushing through.


Bill with little note indicating Wisconsin love from our server.

We called up a boutique hotel called the Hotel Burnham and were able to get a room. It was luxurious, cozy and historical, just what the doctor ordered. We stopped into the Walgreen's next door and bought toothbrushes and some candy (funny combo). We chilled out in our complementary robes and watched movies until late into the night.


View of the Trump tower from our window.


Hanging art exhibit in Burnham lobby.


Breakfast in the Atwood Cafe, the house restaurant.

Saturday

At least once a year we visit the National Museum of Mexican Art Day of the Dead exhibit and the Lincoln Park Conservatory for a stroll down memory lane. We went to both of these places on a chilly December date about a week after we first got together. It was a magical time and it's nice to relive it with warm fuzzies each year. Not to mention that we also like hanging out in Pilsen for its Mexican flavor. This year we added the Lincoln Park Zoo to our agenda. The weather was warm and sunny, but also cool, a perfect mix for a fall lakeside stroll.


Ah, Pilsen, you're such a colorful neighborhood.

Beautiful little urban treasures.

Hmmm, Chiapan artist...not quite sure what you're trying to say here. Just kidding.

Day of the Dead offering.

La Guadalupana.

Flamingos at the zoo.

Fiddler at the zoo.

Cool old-fashioned sign. I highly recommend their winter seasonal exhibit starting in December.

In the Palm Room.

In the Orchid House recreating a shot from one of our loverliest dates ever.


Dessert at Pizzeria Spacca Napoli to finish off a sweet day.

Sunday
Ry spent a good chunk of the day assembling Ikea shelves while I raked the yard. We also hung up some items we hadn't been able to get to yet like our colorful Oaxacan cross purchased at a mercado in Mexico City, a decorative leaf wall sconce above our bed, papel picado paper cutouts to celebrate the Day of the Dead and our chat lunatique sign in the kitchen. The house is starting to feel much more like our house now that we are getting the last of our items up.

We had only a few trick or treaters who got a kick out of us having our cat out on a leash. There were many comments about his pretty silver coat and his green eyes. We carved punkins together at night and Silvio escaped and climbed up a tree. Ry was able to grab him down by his tail at the last second. I roasted punkin seeds and cleaned up while Ry finished his crazy-super-detailed carving.



Colorful tree. This is actually deceiving since I raked the whole yard except between those two bushes.

Cat on a leash.

Ry with his super complicated stencil. I just want to point out that he carved the Mexican revolutionary Zapata, while I carved a smiley face jack-o-lantern.

Punkin guts.

From the curb.

Up close.

Roasted seeds. Yeo family recipe.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend! I wish for another pleasant little odyssey just like it sometime soon. Well, maybe not just like it, but full of the same spirit of variety.