Stitches and SNPs

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Rye Swirl Bread

Does anyone remember the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry steals a loaf of marble rye from an old lady? I'm not saying you should knock a stranger down for this bread, but it is pretty darn good. Every time I make a recipe from the Bread Baker's Apprentice, it comes out perfectly. This bread was only slightly more complicated to make than the standard multigrain bread I usually make for sandwiches and it was a fun change of pace. The only thing I would do differently next time is add caraway seeds into the dough. Great for toast (but not with jam) and delicious for a pastrami, swiss, and hot deli pepper sandwich. Yum!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Foto Friday {35}

Saturday December 3: Texas Snow

Sunday December 4: Gingerbread House!!

Monday December 5: Bowl of Fun

Tuesday December 6: Tree is Up!

Wednesday December 7: Hank meets our backyard visitor

Thursday December 8: Hot Chocolate

Friday December 9: Mini Tree

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Feeding Friendship: Sweet Potato

Sweet potatoes hold a very special place in my heart. The first meal I ever cooked for Geoff was pork chops and sweet and spicy glazed sweet potatoes. My mom, grandma and I made a comically large mess (I ended up with sweet potato and coconut webbing between my fingers) trying to craft Paula Dean's marshmallow-stuffed sweet potato balls. And my contribution to the last several thanksgivings has been mashed sweet potatoes with orange and chipotle. My latest favorite is sweet potato falafel from 101cookbooks.

I've made these a couple of times, and they are delicious! You need to plan a bit ahead to allow enough time to bake the sweet potatoes until they are very soft. You want the sweet potatoes to be completely smooth before you incorporate the other ingredients. I have made this with both regular flour and chickpea flour and I prefer it with the regular flour (if you can handle the gluten). This, along with stirring them gently and spooning blobs onto the pan without compacting them, will result in light and delicious falafel. I served it with a simple tzatziki and a Greek chopped salad for a light winter meal. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Giving Thanks for Family and Friends

For the last several years, we have been in State College for Thanksgiving because we were too far from our families to make the trip. This year, however, we are just an 8 hour drive from my family in Oklahoma City (that's close in the Midwest - also, for my East Coast readers, Midwest does not refer to Ohio - but back to my point). The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we piled into a van with Mike, Veronica, and Veronica's aunt to head up I-35. Five drivers, two hours each, and a stop for Cain's chicken later, we arrived at my aunt's house while everyone else continued on to Wichita.

On Thursday, my parents and brother drove down from Kansas for Thanksgiving dinner for a total of 24 people at dinner. 24 VERY LOUD people. Seriously, I'm the quiet one in this family (frightening, right?), and sometimes I forget just how loud we can get. I love it, though, and miss being around all the madness when we leave. The picture at the top is almost all of my cousins on my dad's side looking nice and composed, but I think this photo (and the 15 others like it) captures us better.

On Friday afternoon, my parents, Kevin, Geoff, and I drove up to Wichita so that Geoff and I could attend my 10 year high school reunion. We met up at a wine bar downtown. Above are the centerpieces I made for the occasion. 2001 does not seem that long ago!

Before the reunion, we had dinner with my close group of friends. We hadn't seen all of the girls since Veronica's wedding so it was great to catch up. When you have known people for so long, getting back together always feels incredibly natural and we talked and talked like we had seen each other yesterday.

We did have color photography in 2001, I swear.

The reunion was so much fun! About half the class came (there were only 23 of us ), and it seems like everyone is doing really well. It's always difficult to tell where peoples' lives will take them after high school, but everyone seemed happy, mostly employed, and in good health - what more could you ask? There were lots of marriages and masters degrees and a few kids. A lot of the class has moved away from Wichita, but were able to get back for the reunion. I can't wait to see what everyone is up to in another five years.