Merry Christmas!

We've spent today cooking and cleaning. Ry made homemade potato rolls and red lentil sloppy joe's which we intend to take over to my aunt's house to nosh on while every one else enjoys ham. I have to say that even though we've been vegetarian and about half vegan for eight months now, my desire for meat on a holiday intensifies because we can't partake in the same special meal as the rest of the family. Although, today I sampled the sloppy joes and I am looking forward to them, so props Ry!

I didn't do as much cooking as Ry, but I did some raw vegan baking. I used a recipe from a vegan blog called Chocolate Covered Katie to make snickerdoodle balls.

Snickerdoodle balls mixed with the famous Knudson vegan truffles (with due credit given to my former RA Nick Roberts who initially shared the recipe).

Here are just a few pics to showcase the holiday cheer around our house:


Mantel and tree shot from the couch.

Christmas cards on the fridge.

Pinecones from our wedding in a basket.

Kissing ball brought all the way back from Medford.

Music box, a gift from my babysitter on my first Christmas.

Ice lantern made by my Mom.

Piggy with a candy cane in its mouth snow globe.

Mantel detail with cloth garland that I inherited from my family and art in the background. Again, repurposed wedding decorations!

Winterberry bouquet to spruce up the living room.

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

Love For The Library

This week has been utterly swallowed up by work. Not in the same way it used to be, where I'd work until the wee hours of the night responding to emergencies or leading staff meetings. But just days full to the point of bursting and spilling over a bit into the early evening, though largely pleasant and stimulating. I still get several hours of my night time at home, which this week has gone to running errands, doing laundry and unexpected pop-ins from family.

On Tuesday night we made it to the main Milwaukee Public Library in search of a specific book, a memoir, I'd been looking for called Losing The Garden. I heard an NPR interview with the author that was haunting and reflective. The book revolves around Laura Waterman's back-to-the-land-movement-style life as a homesteader in rural Vermont, her husband's long battle with inner demons (likely bipolar disorder), their marriage and his eventual suicide. The thing that makes their story a little different is the fact that he expressed his desire to end his life to Laura and she allowed him to make this choice by hiking up into the White Mountains and freezing to death. Sounds morbid and I'm not too far into it, so I don't know for sure, but what I gathered from the interview was that this memoir was a reflection on their life together and her process of deconstructing this choice and its effect on both of them. The thing that drew me in was the idea of learning more about their successful life as homesteaders for over 20 years and my interest in all things mental health, particularly understanding and preventing suicide.

After I found the book, I spent time roaming the library and exploring. I love this library and I always have. Though it's downtown, my family house was close enough that I could easily scoot down Wisconsin Avenue to spend time there and benefit from the much larger holding than my own near-suburban branch of the library. The grand mosaic-tiled entryway capped by a rotunda, the wide marble columns, the sweet smell of old, humid paper and even the homeless men who are invariably hanging out all the time peppering the steps or enjoying the warmth and comfort of the interior make it a homey and familiar place for me.

On the way in I checked out the display books, which usually peak my interest and I pick something out I didn't expect. This time it was Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Erik Marcus. Since I still have a desire to be vegan, but I've been finding it difficult, I thought it might be helpful to gain additional motivation and purpose to move a step back in that direction. Even though it wasn't what I came for, I've read almost the entire book already and found it fascinating.

After I located the book I came for, I wandered up and down the maze of the stacks looking for Ry, but couldn't find him. So, I decided to check out the Children's Library. I'd never been in this part of the library, but when we walked past the large windows outside, I saw the metal cutout of a playful looking lizard on top of one of the pendant lights and it made me giggle. When I was wandering inside, I realized this lamp must be in the kids section, so I decided to visit. I also love children's books and often think it would be interesting to try and write one, perhaps even work with my sister Greta or Ry's brother Steven, both artists who could illustrate. Ah, food for thought, another fleeting idea. Maybe someday. The Children's Library was thoughtfully decorated with several interactive displays, many colorful picture books, a reading area and computers equipt with learning programs.

On my way out I noticed a picture book with print illustrations in the New Arrivals area called Seasons by Blexbolex. It looked colorful and made me smile, so I decided to take it home with me. Upon further inspection, I learned the Blexbolex is a French print-artist who has a very particular style that is both retro and contemporary at the same time. The book was originally released in France last year. When I looked at the pictures and the sentiments it expressed, it seemed utterly French to me. Something that brought me a moment of connection with my French studies in college and even earlier.







My love for the library is strong, as well as many other public ventures that improve peoples' quality of life. Public library, public radio, public television, public healthcare, public education, public parks, public assistance for those who are struggling. In light of the current election cycle, I guess that makes me a communist. A healthy, well-feed, well-read, well-educated and happy communist.

I've been keeping a running tally of the books I've read throughout 2010 and am gearing up for a year-end book-roll where I'll revisit them with synopses and brief reviews. Not sure whether this will truly be interesting to readers, but I think it will be an interesting and useful reflection time for me. So, as the holiday season and new year approaches, get ready!

Finally, there's not been much cooking this week, but I did make my usual Sunday pot of experimental soup with cupboard staples and all leftover vegetables that need to be used up. Ry made homemade sourdough English muffins, a hearty sourdough miche, and a country sourdough round with a leaf stencil decoration.


Tomato, kale, potato soup with rosemary. Michigan brie, Rothkase herbed smoked cheese from Holland. Homemade sourdough. La Vielle Ferme red wine.

Sourdough miche. Ry's own creation.

Leaf stenciled country sourdough round.

Slashing detail.

A New Knudson Family Member

And not the baby kind, for those of you that may have just gotten ahead of yourselves. Today we welcomed Ry's old cat Silvio back into the family. Silvio lived with Ry for five years until we had to give him because no cats were allowed in our residence hall apartment. Apparently he was in need of a new home again and we got the call asking whether or not we'd be in a position to take him.

Since giving up Silvio Ry had been very vocally basking in cat-free life, saying that he was so glad that he didn't have to clean up any cat hair and that it was gross how they climbed all over everything. He said he never, ever wanted a cat again. I still held out hope that someday maybe we could get one, or at least some kind of pet but had mostly come to the conclusion that our house is too small for a dog. The night before we got the call I was looking at little grey cats on the Humane Society website, hoping to very passively entice Ry into a new one.

We took a few days to deliberate and to weigh the pros and cons. Silvio was always extremely active, sometimes very aggressive (I have a big bite scar on my leg to prove it) and very vocal. We thought about the house and how we'd keep it in order, whether he'd break our things, whether he'd eventually be compatible with a baby. In spite of all of the questions, I still wanted him and Ry essentially left the choice up to me.

Last night we went out for dinner at a restaurant with a patio called Senor Luna that we saw along a bike path in New Berlin. On the drive there we got a big chuckle thanks to a middle aged man driving a bright yellow Miata with a license plate that read "MENTOR". He was jamming out thoughtfully to Steve Nicks singing "Landslide" and then pulled out a rag to buff finger prints off the door while he was waiting at the stop light. This scene was just too much for each of us. Senor Luna was nothing spectacular, but we enjoyed sitting outside and drinking margaritas. We kept laughing because I was wearing my sunglasses with mirrored fronts and Ry could not stop looking at himself and making goofy faces into them. Afterwards we stopped at the pet store to by supplies like food, litter box, toys, etc.

We spent this morning cleaning up the house and put away a few valuables that we were worried Silvio might break, such as the clay candeleria from Mexico that sits on our mantel. He was dropped off at around 1:30 and we've been watching him check things out. He was very timid and quiet at first roaming from room to room. Overall he seems a little mellower, a few more years might have just done him some good. He's still vocal, meowing every time he enters a room to announce his presence. He loves our big windows and has found a few perches that will probably be permanent.

In other news, Ry has been experimenting with a new whole wheat sour dough starter he created from the original starter my friend Kathleen gave him in Durango, CO on our summer road trip. We've been rich with bread and it's starting to taste more sour with the new recipes Ry is trying. Not sure whether I mentioned the starter before, but it was a pretty spectacular gift. It's been alive and well in Kathleen's family since 1963 when a customer who needed dental work couldn't pay for it and traded Kathleen's father the starter in exchange for the work.

I've been mostly going to bed early without doing much else after getting home from work this past week. This afternoon I tried out a new recipe from Vegetarian Times that I had been excitedly waiting to make. It was a kasha black bean soup. When I initially identified the recipe as something I want to try, I had bought all of the ingredients. However, by the time I got ready to make it I had already used them. So, I subbed out red bell pepper for hot fresh banana peppers and black-eyed peas for black beans. It only took about a half hour to make and was a spectacular lunch for a cool afternoon. We paired it with Ry's crusty homemade bread creation from this morning and voila!

Since I've been getting questions about the vegan pledge, here's where we're at...we've still been eating mostly vegan, but have integrated dairy items (mostly cheese) just a few times a week. It's simply too hard when you're not always in control of where you are and what they will have available. Sometimes it's just a nice treat. I'm trying to look at it in a less rigid when than when we initially committed. We are totally meat free, we feel much better, have lost weight and are still mostly vegan, most days. We've made good progress and that good progress is not negated by dairy every now and then (mostly weekends).

The other thing I started working on is a new hand sewn baby quilt for my old boss Michael. He and his wife are set to have a baby this fall and I haven't been able to work on one since little Chloe Hetzel was born in February. It will take me some time to complete, but I've posted pictures of the preparation and pinning process.

Finally, my drive to and from Whitewater has been just lovely over the past week. It's starting to look a little bit like fall with a red or yellow tree popping up every now and then. Also, I've been some great wildlife including sand hills cranes in flight, hawks, a woodchuck and a lovely cream colored horse mottled with red spots. I can't wait for fall colors to hit in earnest. This is by far my favorite season of the year.


Ironing the fabric after I washed it and pre-shrunk the organic cotton/bamboo batting. All supplies from Drawstring Studio, which has an Etsy shop and a local brick and mortar store in Bayview. A friend Danielle owns this, so...go buy local and support her great fabric store!


Cutting off a little excess batting after I sandwiched it smoothly between the two layers of fabric.


Pinned with the edges folded over.


Silvio, our new/old addition.


We are so crazy for fresh food it's a little ridiculous. Fresh goodies from last week's West Allis Farmer's Market.


The Kasha Black Bean Soup turned Kasha Black Eyed-Pea Soup.


A slice of Ry's homemade bread with natural peanut butter and Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry, my favorite delicious brand of French jams. The variety I love most is Four Fruits, if you are going to give it a shot.

RMNP to Gunnison, CO

We spent most of yesterday driving through absolutely gorgeous mountain scenery. We drove across RMNP, which has what must be one of the highest roads in the U.S. We stopped with other tourists at each of the overlooks and made it up to the road's high point with a simple trail through the alpine tundra. We walked along the path taking in the breathtaking views and smelling the sweet high mountain air. We saw a couple of people doing unconscionable things up on the tundra, including a teenage boy marching all over the area marked "stay off of the alpine tundra" (when the Ranger asked him to walk on the path, he said "I'm stepping around the flowers") and a Texan man allowing his kids to feed the pikas and videotaping it near one of the many signs that said "do not feed the wildlife". When Ry kindly brought his attention to the signs the man said, "these aren't wildlife, they're pests". It was sad to see such things, knowing how many people visit the fragile National Parks. But I reminded each of us that at least those folks rarely venture off one of a few simple trails into the more remote park where they can do even worse damage.

There was a lot of construction on the high road in the park and a lot of construction on the high mountain roads in general as we were driving along our route, so what we anticipated might be six hours of driving turned into eight. We'd be stopped on one side of the road for a long while and then eventually ushered on while construction workers stopped the other side. It was alright though, because I imagine this is the only absolutely safe time they can work on these mountain roads.

We ate homemade vegan lunch at a campsite in the Arapaho National Recreation Area and then continued south through the Rockies over many, many mountain passes. We drove through several ski resort towns which didn't look the least bit exciting at this time of year including Winter Park, Breckenridge and Frisco. We eventually passed through Salida and made it into the Arkansas River Valley. This area of high desert valleys reminded me of certain parts of Idaho or New Mexico, but greener. We saw cattle ranches and big, big sky everywhere. It was probably my favorite part of the drive because it was such a dramatic change after all of the green and craggy peaks before it.

We rolled into Gunnison in the early evening - home of Western State College of Colorado and located at approximately 7,700 feet. It reminds me of Flag, but smaller and we instantly decided we loved it. Ry picked out a little side of the highway motel in town called Swiss Inn, which I thought to be a funny theme for the middle of high desert Colorado. We learned our lesson from a yucky stay in North Platte, NE, asked to see the room and inspected it carefully before signing on the dotted line. The last three places we've stayed have used these really old fashioned little carbon paper forms for check-in, the kind of things you'd only see at a mom and pop-type operation. It's all quite charming and I'm glad we haven't stayed at any corporate chain yet even if it did mean one really bad night. One out of four ain't bad.

We ran across Highway 50 and dined on veggie burritos at a little hippie Mexican place called the Blue Iguana where we sat next to a young lady with a huge wolf dog named Tuck and a tiny little beagle mix. She said they got along well and that they were playful, but then we saw Tuck take the little dog's head in his mouth in one big bite. He let go and there wasn't any blood, so I guess it was playful. Later he licked the little dog's snouth with his big slobbery tongue. We wanted to walk around the cute little town, but it started raining and we went back to our little hotel room.

This morning we are enjoying coffee and bagels at a great coffeehouse called The Bean. Then we'll check out main street, the university and get on the road to Durango.