Birthday

Four photos that prove my birthday was awesome (none of which are of Wrigley):

1. My co-worker knows that every girl loves a post-it and a granola bar.

2. Kathleen made me a delicious a birthday cake. If she ever offers to make you a cake say yes, then insist on chocolate buttercream frosting. Trust me. You're welcome in advance.

3. Emily made me a cake too. This one was strawberry with cream cheese frosting. And it was at a super bowl party with amazing food and wonderful friends.

4. Dinner at Splash. I don't think I need to elaborate on this one. I'm pretty sure you're already drooling at the photo.

If this year is half as good as my birthday I'm in for a wonderful year.

Happy New Year!

2011 was a busy year. I'm excited for a slower paced 2012.

John & I rang in the New Year with the Ourtoberfest crew at Sbrocco. We like to celebrate NYE with a fancypants dinner.

It's hard to believe I've been friends with this group for 10 years. We all started in the Service Center at Allied. They are such wonderful friends.

In addition to the regular Ourtoberfest crew Sarah and Ivy joined us this year. We are happy to welcome them to the Ourtoberfest community. We are hopeful they will join us at all of our upcoming Ourtoberfest events.

I wish you all a wonderful 2012. May this year be your best year yet.

Ice Skating

This year is flying. I can't believe it's already the week of Thanksgiving. Late November means a few things to me: family, pie, loathing the end of Daylight Saving Time, and Ice Skating.

This year I convinced my coworker Brian to meet me at 6 am for some skating and bagels before work on opening day. We had a blast. He's currently looking for skates so we can spend the winter enjoying the ice. I hope with snowshoeing and ice skating I'm able to be outside and stay active this winter. It's hard to get moving when the couch is so comfortable and the house is so warm (confession - I'm putting off going for a run by blogging).

Winter Squash Taste Test

There aren't many choices when it comes to local produce in Iowa in the winter. The exception to that is winter squash. John and I are both fans of butternut squash. I am less of a fan of acorn squash, but with enough butter and brown sugar I find it unoffensive. Spaghetti squash is OK, but not something I would choose to make.

I knew there were more varieties of winter squash than you find in the grocery store aisles, but I knew nothing about them. I decided to take advantage of the second to last farmers' market and check out some squash. For just three dollars we were able to do an heirloom winter squash taste test.

First up - the delicata.

It has a lot of seeds, which I scraped out.

Next up -Perhaps a Red Kuri squash? I'm not sure of the name on this one. I don't remember what the nice people from Coyote Run said it was, but I don't think it was Red Kuri. I just googled winter squash and after about six pages Red Krui was the one that looked the most like this.

Regardless of the name, it was really easy to clean. I like that.

Last up - Turban Squash

This one looked the coolest, but was the most difficult to clean.

Once cleaned I put them all in a baking dish and put a bit of butter and brown sugar in each half. I decided to dress them the way my Mom does. You really can't go wrong with cooking like my Mom.

The house smelled amazing while these baked. I cooked them at 350 for about an hour. I started to check them for tenderness after 30 minutes.

In the end, I cleaned my plate and expanded my taste horizons. John didn't like any of them, so I would say if you hate acorn squash and don't love butternut squash you might want to pass on them.

The delicata was delicious. It tasted like a cross between a sweet potato and a butternut squash.....but better. I bought five at the last market and hope to find them at the winter market in a few weeks. I have one for dinner once a week.

The Red Kuri squash was also good. It tasted like a butternut squash. I would buy it again if delicata wasn't available. I like that it is a personal sized squash. I can have a squash, John can have a tuna melt, and we're both happy.

The Turban squash tasted like an acorn squash. I ate my half, but John gave up. I wouldn't buy this kind again as it would take far too much butter and brown sugar for it to be tasty enough for me to eat.

What is your favorite winter squash? How do you prepare it?

Baseball

It has been a beautiful week here in Iowa. I happily took the afternoon off last Wednesday to spend the afternoon at the ballpark with TC and Seymour. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

The I Cubs won.

The food was tasty.

And my friends, as usual, were entertaining.



It's hard to believe it's almost the end of the baseball season. In a couple of weeks we are going to our last day game of the year. I'm going to miss spending the afternoon in the stands.

Goodbye Farmer's Market

Saturday was the last Downtown Farmer's Market of the year. John and I both stocked up on groceries, but we were really there to get our favorite market food for the last time.

Our first stop was the apple cider donut stand for a sugar fix. I'm usually not a big donut fan, but these have such a great flavor I had one every time I was at the market this summer.

After picking up some vegetables we stopped at the papusa stand. I had a bean and cheese papusa and John had a pork papusa. I may have to try making them this winter, as I cannot imagine going six months without one.

After we finished breakfast #2 we stopped by the Blue Gate Farm stand so I could smoosh the hand-spun yarn one more time.

At the Maytag booth I decided to bite the bullet and get the cheese wheel. I eat blue cheese on my salads (and on flat bread with honey when my sisters are around). Maytag is much cheaper at the market than the grocery store, so I decided stocking my freezer was the right thing to do.

There are two indoor winter markets (the weekend before Thanksgiving and the weekend before Christmas). I will be at both of the markets. I'm also joining the Iowa Food Coop so I'll be able to eat local while supporting small farmers year round. Both the coop and indoor markets will help, but I'm still counting down the days until the 2011 Downtown Farmer's Market season begins.

Year In Pictures:Week 3

14:365 Crab Rangoon Pizza

This is pizza so good I was delighted to capture Jen's first taste of it. This delicious pizza is so rich I only get it about once a quarter (unless Mary-Claire is in town).

15:365 Jen meets Des Moines

I spent last weekend showing Mary-Claire's friend around Des Moines. I had a great time and hope she moves here soon.

16:365 Decorations

On Sunday I finally got around to decorating my house for Halloween. Well, at least I started too. The week got away from me and I still have few more decorations to put out.

17:365 Crochet

On Monday nights Sarah and I have crochet class. Now that we are in the fourth week it isn't as frustrating. I've even learned that middle aged church ladies have filthy senses of humor.

18:365 Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

I decided to make some healthy cookies to take to Chicago. They are chewy, cake like cookies. I like them a lot, but they are not as good as chocolate and are not a suitable substitute.

19:365 OUCH!

I threw my neck out in the middle of the night on Tuesday. I spent most of Wednesday on the couch with a heating pad high on Vicodin. How I remembered to take a photo is beyond me. My neck is doing better, but still hurts a lot. I probably shouldn't drive until I can check my blind spot without yelping.

20:365 Daisies

Yesterday John came over and made me dinner and brought me flowers. I love it when he brings me daisies because I get to spend the next week being reminded of how sweet he is each time I see the flowers. It also helps to distract from the mess that is my dining room table.

Cancer Free Monica!!

On Sunday I met Monica for dinner downtown. It was a special treat, as she moved to Kansas earlier this summer. I miss her a lot, and daydream about her moving back to Des Moines at least once a day.

Monica was in town because Monday morning was her last PET scan to make sure she is cancer free. Even better than dinner with her was finding out on Monday afternoon that all of the tumors are gone.

Now that she is no longer sick I can focus all of my efforts on getting her up to Des Moines to visit as often as possible.

Market Day Review: Egh.

This afternoon I headed to Market Day with Sarah. I have been excited to check it out all summer. I was expecting great things based on the photos and vendors featured on their twitter feed.

I was disappointed in the selection. There was booth after booth of jewelry made from old buttons. Sure, there were cool things too. I got a card and this hilarious t-shirt (which may offend my Mom. I hope it doesn't). Sarah got a purse and a t shirt.

There was some good stuff, just not as much as I was expecting. Perhaps that's because I've been to the amazing Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park. I was hoping for coolness on that level (sure, that level of coolness was assisted by the presence of Mary-Claire and wigs, but it was wicked awesome in it's own right).

Farmer's Market Finds

This morning John & I headed to the Downtown Farmer's Market. There is a lot of local produce available at the stands now, and I was excited to stock up. I picked up a chicken, peaches, sage and tomatoes.

I got the tomatoes at an organic heirloom tomato stand. They had varieties I had never seen before, including these teeny tiny currant sized tomatoes. They explode with tomato flavor. I'll be snacking on them all day.

After we stocked up on produce (John got a yellow cucumber that I should have taken a picture of) I was drawn to some garden art. It's my second garden art purchase of the year, and I fear I am descending into gazing ball and whirligig territory.

I'm headed to Market Day later. I'm hoping to find some cute jewelry and a bag for my camera. If I find anything good I'll let you know.

Happy Birthday Kathleen

Today was a busy day. I picked up Conor and Ellie at 9 and we headed to Baby Boomers for pancakes. There was a half hour wait for food, so we placed our order and went for a walk. Luckily there is a lot to check out in the East Village.

We had perfect timing. We got back to the counter as our pancakes arrived. We each ordered one. They are pretty big pancakes. We couldn't finish them.

After breakfast we got to work on baking a birthday cake for Kathleen. While it baked Ellie created some art and Conor played video games with Stimmel.

Ellie helped me frost and decorate the cake. She's a natural. She's better at piping words than I am.

I think it turned out great. I'm sure she will love it.

I had a great time with Conor and Ellie today. I'm looking forward to cooking with them again soon.

And now I will take a nap.

Date Night

Last Friday John and I had a date night. We took a break from the routine of Friday night sushi or TV and pizza post run (for me) or ride (for him). I do feel a little bit silly for typing that we had a date night. Our regular Fridays are actually pretty great dates, we just like to step it up a notch every couple of months.

Last week was a great date night. It was the best date I've ever been on. We started the evening at Cafe Di Scala for an amazing meal. The service is great, the ambiance is cozy, and the food makes you wish that you could eat there every single day.

After dinner we went to the sculpture garden and took a photo walk. I had a lot of fun taking photos of Nomad, my favorite sculpture in the park. I'm looking forward to Mary-Claire's next visit so I can do a photo walk with her. I love using her camera to take photos.

It was a great night. I'm looking forward to taking photos of the sculpture garden at night in the snow this winter.