Author: heather

Cooking/Recipes, Uncategorized

Celebration of food

heather

Tim and I are having an all-around lovely weekend, and like all lovely weekends, it was capped from start to end with deeelicious food.

Ben and Leah visited us for the weekend.  It’s been months since we’ve seen them – I last saw them before I became an accountant and now I am already almost not an accountant – more on that later, maybe.

Anyway, they arrived Friday night, and we were all starving.  We’ve been hearing good things about La Rancherita in Rock Island, so we headed off.  It was a cool, brightly lit Mexican restaurant with tasty pico de gallo and delicious tacos.  The crowd was very eclectic – a mix of races and styles and party sizes.  We saw everything from hipsters to gangstas.  For dessert we introduced Ben and Leah to the joys of Checkers apple pies.  We got 4 for $2.12, and they were perfectly delicious.

For breakfast on Saturday, Tim made his ultra-tasty egg, cheese, Canadian bacon, and  English muffin sandwiches.  He fries the egg perfectly, so that the yolk is the perfect state of gelatinous.  After doing a little shopping at Greatest Grains and the mall, we returned back to the house for a snack lunch of $7.00 Tillamook cheddar cheese, braunschweiger, saltines and cans of Great River Pale Ale.  While the boys played video games and Leah busted through advanced Soduko puzzles, I made guaucamole using this excellent Allrecipes.com recipe.  The freeze-squeezed lime juice gives it a tasty, fresh snap.  After contaminating all of my dishrags and utensils with tiny bits of chopped cilantro, I made chocolate chip cookies, using the recipe from the Nestle Tollhouse bag.  The trick is to get the butter at the perfect level of softness.  About 2 bursts of 10 seconds in the microwave gets it to the stage where it creates tall, fluffy, chewy cookies.

For supper Tim made amazing tortilla soup from an America’s Test Kitchen recipe.  The soup, paired with the gaucamole, made for an excellent supper and uncomfortably fitting trousers.

While we digested our Mexican feast, Leah and I soundly beat Tim and Ben at euchre and then retired to watch Despicable Me.  About 30 minutes into the movie, Tim and Ben were both sound asleep.

Tim treated us with another delicious meal this morning by making buckwheat pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Ben and Leah are cast iron snobs.  Ben, unheeding my warnings, convinced Tim to cook the pancakes on our fairly unseasoned cast iron griddle (which weighs about 30 pounds).  Ben convinced Tim and that a little butter and oil would cause the pancakes to not stick.  He was wrong – stick they did.  But they were still delicious.  I am right now re-seasoning the griddle and our cast iron pan.  I have already set off the fire detector.  We have several windows wide open, but the whole house is still quite smoky.  It better be worth it.

Besides eating, we spent the rest of the weekend playing video games, drinking excellent beers (Hopalicious!), doing lots of dishes, and just all around enjoying each other company.  Hanging out with family is so awesome.  It really makes me wish that we lived closer to Ben and Leah, and/or my brothers.  Someday…

Health & Fitness

Slipping out of the saddle (the power of an annoying chihuahua)

heather

So…um…yeah, I didn’t go to the gym this morning.  It’s all Lucent’s fault, I swear!  That damn dog woke up at 3AM and started roaming around the bed, coughing a little for extra effect.  He is a little on the elderly side and during the night he cannot see the doggy steps we have set up for him, so he just roams around, sticking his cold, wet nose into our faces until one of us caves and gets out of bed, picks him up, and then sets him on the floor, so he can go do whatever it is that 14-year-old chihuahuas must do at 3AM.  Of course, he is too scared to climb the stairs when he is ready to come back to bed, so all we hear are teeny tiny puppy paws clicking around and around the bed.  One of us has to get up, chase Lucent down (because he runs away for some reason when we try to retrieve him.  I think he thinks it’s a game), and put him back on the bed, where he can burrow under the covers and sleep for 8 more hours.

Since I was awake at 3, you would think that I would just get out of bed at 4:20 and go to the gym, as my alarm clock told me to.  But, I was pissed at life due to being woken up an hour earlier than I should have been, so I stubbornly stayed in bed until 5:45.  It’s all Lucent’s fault and has nothing to do with my lack of willpower.

I really need to go tomorrow morning.  As leader of our Live Healthy team at work (Team “We’re Losin’ It!” – my idea, which I think is horribly clever.  I love double entendres!), I am setting a very bad example.  I think I have actually gained weight since the challenge began.  I’m sure this is due to my Mexican food addiction and Spring fever getting into my blood and making me hungry.  I’m super snacky, which is a bad, bad thing when all I do for work is use my brain. I guess I use my fingers too, for typing, but I doubt that really melts away the calories.

Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to listen to my head instead of my sluggardly body.  But, it is supposed to snow tonight…

Uncategorized

Back in the Saddle (the power of positive thinking)

heather

I finally made it back to the gym this morning.  I haven’t been to the gym in the morning for several weeks – before Tim and I got wicked bad colds and I lost all motivation to do anything besides watch television in a NyQuil stupor.  But, I made it back this morning.  I’ve been reading a ton lately about the power of your mind to affect the abilities of your body.  So, even though I’ve only been to the gym in the morning once so far this week, I’m telling myself that it’s just what I do now.  I’ll be back there tomorrow without question.  By saying it, I’m making it so.

 

Uncategorized

The Frozen Marsh

heather

I read an article in the QC Times last week about a local woman, Julie Malake, who is producing a book of photographs taken in Nahant Marsh, a reclaimed wetland on the outskirts of southwest Davenport.  Even though Tim has lived here his whole life, and I have lived here for a third of mine, we have never scouted the Marsh.   On Sunday we decided to change that. After bundling up in long johns, hats, neck gaiters and good socks, we grabbed the binoculars and camera and headed out.

If you are one of the people who, like me, enjoy the subtle variety of colors that be found in a primarily brown and white landscape, I highly recommend a walk through Nahant in the winter time.  If you look closely, you’ll see all sorts of beautiful shades of lavender, brown, blue, golden.

Here is a little photo tour of our excursion (if you click on the picture, it will open up to a larger size).

This is a the entrance to the park.  The visitors center does not have extensive hours, but during daylight, you can park the car at the entrance and walk the trails to your heart’s content.


This is a viewing shed perched on the edge of the wetlands.

After exploring the marsh, we drove to the mighty Mississippi and used the binoculars to spy on the pack of Eagles chillin’ in the trees across the river.  They were too far away to see clearly; when we looked through the binoculars we just saw dozens and dozens of splashes of white, popping out from the trees.

Next we headed to the lock and dam in Downtown Davenport, which is evidently a very popular eagle-watching hangout.  They feed on the fish below the dam.  It was wicked cold by this point, so we didn’t linger long.  I caught a picture of these ducks.  I love ducks, ever since we had a pet duck when we were kids.  Her name was Mildred, and she was best friends with our dog, Kanute.  She laid unfertilized eggs everywhere, so we had a nice supply of rotten eggs, which is a useful thing to have as children.  Ducks are so awesome.  Look as these two – they are so in love!  Quack Quack.

Uncategorized

My pretty letter S

heather

I forgot to upload one of my letters last week.  This one is just a little guy.  I painted him on an ATC (artist trading card).  I tried to paint a border around the letter, but the line was very messy, so instead I colored in the background with a purple wash and then used my PITT artist pen to draw on the border.  I really like how it turned out.

I must say, though, that painting on 2.5″ by 3.5″ pieces of paper is tough.  I need to drink like 50 cups of chamomile tea to steady my hands first.

We’re taking a trip to Dick Blick in Galesburg today to pick up the supplies for our Mark Polomchak class next month.  I am super excited.  I am sure to buy more than I need, but I have a huge soft spot for art supplies – there is just so much potential there!

Uncategorized

Painted Mom and More Letters

heather

I broke out the old watercolors again this weekend.  I need to finish up a couple of note cards for some friends, and my drawing of Mom (from Futurama fame) has been taunting me.  She’s all stretched out and stapled to my painting board, just waiting to be juiced up in living color.  Or at least in plastic color.

I’ll start with the letters.  Here is the M. I like the structure of the letter, but I wish I would have used a smaller palette of colors.  This is quite the rainbow M!

 

 

 

 

 

The N started out really well.  I was really happy with the balance of the letter, and the straightness of the lines.

 

 

 

 

 

I mucked up the painting of the letter, though.  The left-hand side got too muddied, and no amount of lifting the paint off would get it ethereal anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

As Tim pointed out to me yesterday, however (which amazingly came as sort of an epiphany to me), I have a tendency to focus on the negative.  I should focus on the right side of the letter, with which I am quite happy.  Half good is better than no good.

And…on to Mom.  I only have the base colors done so far.  She needs some more layers to get the colors right, and then some shading to finish her up.  I think she’ll look really cool when she’s done, though.

 

 

 

Look closely, and you will see that Mom’s hair is too big for the paper, and she has 2 staples through it.  I am spatially challenged, what can I say.  Maybe that can be my thing – my claim to artistic fame – all of my art runs off the page due to bad centering.  Ah, I’m waxing negative again, damn it!

Hopefully next week I can finish up the Mom painting and the cards, so I can figure out what to do next.  Mom (my mom, not the Futurama mom) and I are taking a watercolor paint class in Chicago (taught by Mark Polomchak) in February, so I need to practice some more, so I can keep up with the rest of the class.

Take care, and best wishes on your creative projects!

Uncategorized

Cold # 2

heather

I am being a whiny baby.  I have my second cold in as many weeks.  Don’t believe any collodial silver claims made by convincing health food store clerks.  It’s a crock!  I’ll send you a picture of my Rudolph nose as proof.

As a result of the aforementioned cold, I have been startingly unproductive today.  We went to the gym, ate lunch at 11th Street Precinct (where the Guinness is excellent), came home, took a nap, and then I watched 3 episodes of Veronica Mars, an episode of Doll House, and the beginning of the new Willy Wonka. It is a very, very strange movie, and I’m sure it will give me nightmares if I watch the whole thing.

Fortunately, I was much more productive yesterday.  We visited my parents in Monticello, and I ventured out among the drifts and got some really great shots.  I think my parents live on Hoth.

Lucky for us, it was nice and toasty warm inside.  We had a great day with Mom and Dad.  We even got them to play Settlers of Catan.  Mom tried to beat me, but I won!  Mwah ha ha!

Hopefully I’ll be more productive tomorrow.  Days off don’t grow on trees, and I really need to take advantage.

Movies

True Grit

heather

Tim and I saw True Grit yesterday.  Wow.  What an amazing movie.  It was the perfect mix of funny, touching, and beautiful.  The characters were all well-developed and engaging.  The actress who plays Mattie Ross, Hailee Steinfeld, is super talented – so self-assured and convinced.  Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper – they were all so good in it.

The cinematography was beautiful too.  The final scene, where an adult Mattie Ross, dressed all in mourning black, is walking over the crest of a hill touched by golden light was a piece of art.  I wanted to walk out of Rave Cinemas, away from all of the neon and commercialism and all the lost people and hop on a horse and ride off into the mountains.  Of course, the only time I tried to ride a horse, I couldn’t get it to actually GO anywhere, and there are no mountains in Iowa.  My point, all that being said, is that the movie is inspiring.

I read that it was filmed in Austin, TX.  Hopefully over the next 7 days I’ll be able to convince Tim to move there.  The film was beautiful, in many different ways.  I see this being a movie like Serenity, where I feel I have to convince everyone I meet to see the movie.  It’s so good, you just HAVE to see it.

 

Product Reviews

Food!

heather

Tim and I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I am using of this time off work and the general gaiety of the season as an excuse to indulge a little bit.  My employer is shut down for the last two weeks of December, so I am at home in the Quad Cities.  Tim and I are taking advantage of being back here during mid-day to reacquaint ourselves with our favorite local cuisine.

Yesterday we got beef tacos from Bent River Brewery.  Tim and I discovered this delectable treat this summer, when Bent River would sometimes serve them on Saturdays (they only serve tacos on special; they are not a regular menu item).  Eventually, to our dismay, they stopped serving them on Saturdays and reverted back to only serving them on Wednesdays.  We got them yesterday, and they were deeeelicious.  I wonder if they simmer the beef in a delicious stout or something….

Today we are going to get donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts.  We drove past a roving billboard for DD yesterday, and it whetted our appetite.  After that we are heading to La Rancherita 2 for a tasty Mexican breakfast.  Our goal is to hit Hungry Boy Deli in Moline (hands down the best gyros in the QC) for lunch.  But,  as Tim and I are not bottomless pits, I’m not sure if we’ll have room.  We’ll definitely need to make it there over the next week or so, though.

We also recently discovered some very tasty treats at the store – Tim Tams and Rold Gold Bavarian Dark Chocolate pretzels.  Our interest was piqued by a Pepperidge Farm display at Target yesterday, advertising an Australian cookie called a Tim Tam.  We figured it would be worth $2.50 to see what all the fuss was about.  Tim tams are chocolate sandwich cookies that are also dipped in chocolate.  Australia has good taste in cookies; I mean “biscuits.”  They are super, duper tasty.  I highly recommend them.  You can follow the link above to get a $1 off coupon (as long as you are not using Ubuntu like I am).

Tim was seduced by a well-placed end cap and bought the other treat that we are currently in love with, Rold Gold dark chocolate covered pretzels. The combination of salty pretzels and not-too-sweet dark chocolate is awesome.  Very tasty. Very dangerous.

So much tasty food, so little time.

Cooking/Recipes

La Rancherita 2

heather

Tim and I were lamenting the lack of really good Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities these days.  Los Agaves used to be good, but the quality of their food has nose-dived as of late, likewise with the Aztecas.  It seems as if they all offer the same things – cheap ground beef inside a lackluster pocket of fried corn meal, smothered in cheese and the cheapest tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream that can be bought.

I resorted to using Yelp in my own home town to find something new and better.  I stumbled upon a couple of good review of La Rancherita  2 on Elmore Ave (by Wal-Mart).  Tim and I had actually tried to eat there right after they first opened, but they do not take credit cards, and we never carry cash, so we walked out.  Well, I had $24.00 in cash on me for some reason, so we decided to give it another shot.

The restaurant itself is nothing to write home about – except for the chairs, that is.  The chairs are the hugest, sturdiest, most colorful things you will ever see.  They look as if they belong in a play-room for giant-sized children.  They are pretty awesome, actually.  On the downside, the outer door opens directly into the restaraunt, keeping the innards very chilly.  You’ll be warmed up stat by the delicious chips and salsa, however.  The salsa is fresh pico de gallo, and it is spicy and delicious, as are the chips.  On Saturday they were selling $2.75 Mexican import bottles, so Tim and I chased our lunches with Corona.

Tim got 3 steak tacos in corn shells.  They were delicious, especially once they were coated in the red hot sauce that is brought to your table with the chips and salsa (by pretty Mexican ladies in Santa hats). I got a torta (always searching for a torta in the QC that can rival El Olmito’s in Muscatine).  It was good, but it lacked El Olmito’s  jalapenos and carrots and ultra- crispy chicken tidbits.  Truth be told, I think that El Olmito’s torta is better because it is all around crispier – the chicken is crispier, the torta is crispier.  Which means that El Olmito must slather everything in oil and/or butter.  It’s probably why my cholesterol and blood pressure is up over last year.

All-in-all, Tim and I really liked La Rancherita.  They also serve breakfast, so over Christmas break, we are going to check it out.  I can’t wait to try some of that pico de gallo on eggs and toast.  Deeelicious.