Catching up

Well, am catching up on everything after a crazy week. I spent the weekend away in Madison with my Mom, sister, niece & nephew. So, I tried to have a great time and enjoy my family without dwelling and worrying about the flooding situation back home, which was hard. But, luckily, we in Des Moines escaped the worst of it compared to the eastern half of the state. All though I have the feeling it will be a long summer.

We went to the farmer's market in Madison, which was quite cool. Unfortunately, we did couldn't check into our hotel right away- so couldn't get a lot of produce or more importantly CHEESE. I could get very used to living in Madison. Ben insisted that we visit the capitol building, which was quite impressive. We climbed up to the observation deck and took in the view of the city. And had a fun dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise- my mom is now a little obsessed with perfecting her own blueberry mojitios.

I got stocked up on some essentials from Trader Joes; among them are cuban style black beans (which are great topping for a baked sweet potato for a quickie veggie lunch), fig breakfast bars, a box of chocolate coated edamame for a treat for my roomie, frozen gnocchi, and a couple of new things to try, dried Rainier cherries and the harvest grain blend.

Of course, I can't leave the great state of Wisconsin without some serious beer. I was strictly a Leinie's girl, but they discontinued two of my favorite brews, Northwoods Lager & Amber Light. But now, I love Berghoff, Point, Capital Brewery's Island Wheat, and Sprecher, all the stuff I couldn't get here. Absence makes the taste buds more fonder, I guess. But now they are starting to trickle in, of course, but not for the great prices you can get at Woodmans. I did grab a six pack of Berghoff's Solstice Wit, a great summer seasonal and a couple of mirco brews from Brennans Market- one of which is called Butt Head, a bock- how can you now want to try it?

I hate to start off a food centered blog with a kitchen calamity- but they happen to us all. Last week, I took Monday off because I worked both Sat and Sun at Penzeys. So, after touching up my hair color (wow all sorts of confessions here!) I started in on a new recipe, gingered rhubarb chutney from Cooking Light.

I made it as instructed- but there was *way* to much vinegar in there for my taste. My roommate came home and asked "What smells? Oh, it's your hair" Nope, it's the chutney that's cooling off so I can throw it away.

So, I'm hoping tonight will be better. I checked out (again) from the library, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Such a fantastic cookbook. I do describe myself as the hip new phrase, flexetarian- a lot of vegetarian, but I do eat chicken and seafood, but no red meat or pork, etc. I have a couple cans of pinto beans, so I'm thinking about Baked Pinto Beans, enchilada style using the sweet potato variation. Sounds like it would make great leftovers for lunch too.

Reading wise, I just finished yesterday Tom Rob Smith's Child 44, and last week Lisa Unger's Beautiful Lies, both excellent reads. I just picked up today Janet Evanovich's latest, Fearless Fourteen, am definitely in the mood for a light read after spending my literary free time in the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union.