use real butter

Recipe: vegetarian bagel

I am getting into the spirit of the season. And by season, I really mean season. The solstice is here, the longest night of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Jeremy dreads this day because he really misses the daylight. I don’t mind it, really. And it seems to come upon us so quickly that I’m usually a little surprised when it arrives. Alright, honestly? I’m always surprised when the month of December arrives. For some reason, after the leaves fall, the last quarter of the year rushes in like a flood: one holiday after another, winterizing the house, putting away summer clothes and getting out the winter clothes, cooking more stuff in a crock pot than on the grill (well, I pride myself in using the grill throughout the year if I can!), changing out my header image on use real butter, tuning up our tele gear, getting our winter skin back. The past couple of weeks have felt like true winter because of the snow and the darkness and the frigid temperatures – but it was all autumn.

I look forward to the solstice because our days get longer from there until summer solstice. It’s a hopeful time to me and I love winter – especially the night sky in winter. Plus, the chilly temps make for great cuddling with Kaweah, the mobile furnace. I am especially jolly this solstice since Jeremy returned from travel on Friday. We managed to squeak in a lunch at Sushi Tora in Boulder before he had to rush off to a last minute meeting.

hamachi sashimi

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Recipe: basic pizza dough

Whoa, it’s been a while! But I’m finally back to my Daring Bakers Challenge, this time with pizza thanks to our awesome hostess, Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums. I was thrilled that she picked a nominally savory (you could make it sweet, and I’m sure Tartelette did!) recipe.

the daring bakers: we knead to bake!

The only pizza dough I’ve made is the recipe out of the KitchenAid recipe book. You know the one I’m talking about – the book that comes with the KitchenAid stand mixer. It’s a good recipe and we have taken to making thin crust pizzas with it. This month’s challenge was a little different. For one thing, it required cold water instead of warm water.

cold water

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Recipe: chinese scallion pancakes

I’ve been able to resume my cardio workouts this week and it feels great. It helps alleviate some of the lingering side effects. My body and mind are much happier for it too, albeit a little tuckered out. That’s okay with me. I am a firm believer in the no pain, no gain mantra. Did I mention that I’ve dropped two sizes? Crazy – I know. My oncologist mentioned that I hadn’t gained any weight as most of his chemo patients tend to. It’s hard to gain weight when food 1) tastes like ass and 2) plays havoc on your insides. At least the endorphins from my workouts are flowing – w00t!

Jeremy made it home late this afternoon. Even though I don’t get bent out of shape when he’s on travel, it’s always nice to see my best friend again. Some folks require time away from their partner, but we can get along 24/7 indefinitely and that’s a good thing to know. Actually, we can work together 24/7 in adverse conditions – read: vacation. I literally trust him with my life (well, he used to be high-angle Search and Rescue).

It’s now 1 am and Jeremy just woke up to operate that giant radio telescope… My astrophysicist is hot. [I was about to say astrophysicists are hot, but that is a totally untrue and completely laughable statement.]

This afternoon, I made a recipe I’ve been wanting to post for a while. I usually make these in small quantities when I need to use up leftover dough from Chinese dumplings. It’s something my mom always used to do when I was little. I never learned how to make these outright from my mom – the technique just sunk into my head with all of my visual memories of my childhood. Same with the dumplings. To see how the dough is made, I’ll refer you to the dumpling recipe.

chopped scallions

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