Harbingers of Spring

At this point in the weekend, my hope is that all of you have enjoyed the last couple of days as much as Jack and I. Spring fever is abundant, and everybody has it. Last night gave us a "supermoon", spectacularly big and bright, and tonight's Spring Equinox illuminates another change of season.

Jack and I kept an eye on the moon's progress last night while visiting with some great old friends in McTown. Here's a hint - if you ever want us to come over for dinner, send us an e-mail a few days in advance with a date and a time, and simply say, "Hey, do ya'll want to come over for lasagna and wine?"

Our response, "Throw in a piece of garlic toast, and we're there."

And like the famous Tatum boys, we like a little salad with it.

We had a wonderful evening, but by the time we got home, the dogs had given up hope on us returning by morning. Moose was so glad to see us, he gave us an extended welcome home before taking off for his nightly romp. Dudley seemed most "moved" by the spectacularity of the full moon, taking over an hour for his business trip. I'd started to worry that perhaps he'd been snatched by werewolves and was beyond wanting to go to bed when he came waddle-running across the yard.

During my runnings-about this weekend, I've kept my camera close at hand. We've got stuff blooming in the yard - buttercups (of course), grape hyacinths, forsythia and a couple of others I haven't identified. 

And I've snatched some shots on junkets away from home -- 

These little goats live on the road we use as a short-cut when we're heading to McTown. They were curious but didn't seem all that excited about getting their photo taken. Ever since Pa-Pa Harris had goats when I was about Lucia's age, I've had a soft spot for them. They're especially cute when they're little.

One of my more interesting useless observations about this area is that an awful lot of old school buses have been abandoned in fields and pastures. "Bus with Heifer Calf" (above) is in Keltonburg, near the Warren county line. "Bus Sinking" (below and in this week's blog header) is miles away, near Smithville.

I can think of at least five other "pasture buses" I see on a regular basis, and one day before long I'm heading out with the camera to photograph as many as I can. There's a beautiful nostalgia in these child-hauling behemoths which I can't help but appreciate.

The forsythia bush is in full bloom and has finally recovered from the too-aggressive pruning I administered about three years ago. 

Have a great week, everyone! 

Lu - February 28, 2011

Here's a short video of Lucia doing some "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and demonstrating her dance moves. I "shot" this with my Droid phone when I was babysitting late last month.

Spring Coming

How did it get to be so late on Sunday night already?

Oh yeah, the time change.

This whole "springing forward" business, quite frankly, always freaks me out a little bit every March, but realizing the amount of daylight we still had at 6:30 this evening eases the anxiety I have about the alarm clock ringing in the morning.

I babysat Lucia on Tuesday of this week while Mom and Dad enjoyed some out-of-town down-time, which they needed. I can't remember having so much fun or being so exhausted at the end of a day. Lucia is intelligent, joyful and intense - one of the brightest lights in my life - and I can tell you firsthand that she keeps one on his or her toes.

We built a tent from two chairs pushed together with a blanket spread over the top, and the day blossomed from there.

I posted the photos I took that day as a photobucket album and slideshow here a few days ago, so I'm only posting a few of the pictures with this post. If you have any problems viewing the slideshow, please send an e-mail to 2busyandersons@gmail.com.

Jack and I took a short photo cruise this afternoon --

Steak Sous-Vide: Meat for the Serious Carnivore

I haven't posted anything "foodie" in awhile here at the blog - not because Jack hasn't cooked plenty of amazing things worthy of mention. I simply don't get into the kitchen with the camera as often as I should.

Last night I made the effort, because we had something very special happening...

Earlier this week, Jack watched a short instructional video from the website Food Wishes with Chef John on the technique of sous-vide. Chef John is our friend Peggy's son-in-law, and she sometimes shares recipes and videos of his on her facebook page, and this one was particularly interesting. Both Jack and I have been interested in sous-vide cooking for the last couple of years, having seen numerous contestants on "Top Chef" successfully use it to perfectly cook all kinds of things.

Sous-vide is a French term that means "under vacuum" and this method of cooking uses vacuum sealed food submerged in a hot water bath for a long period of time, allowing the food to slowly come up to the ideal temperature.

After Jack showed me the video, Steak Sous-Vide with Mushroom Sauce, I was in total agreement that we needed to make some. And soon.

Yesterday Jack brought these New York Strips home from the local Food Lion. The guy in the meat department cut these "special" for us.

He prepared a water bath in a large Dutch oven, using large rubber bands (the kind that come around bunches of broccoli or asparagus from the produce department) to secure a cooking thermometer. The temperature should remain 130 degrees throughout the whole process. Temperature control is the key to success in sous-vide cooking.

Generously sprinkle both sides of the meat with cracked black pepper and kosher salt;

then sear them off for one minute on each side in a hot, hot, hot pan with a drizzle of oil. Use any oil you'd normally use for frying. Do NOT use olive oil for this - its smoke-point is too low. Canola or grapeseed oil works great for searing.

Don't' forget to sear the edges, too.

After searing the steaks, set your skillet aside (you're going to need it for the mushrooms), and transfer them into a Ziploc bag. We've found these vacuum seal ones that come with a little air pump at the local grocery store, but you can do the same thing with a regular Ziploc bag, using a drinking straw to create a vacuum after you've manually pushed out as much air as possible.

Establish a vacuum seal.

Add the bags to the 130 degree water bath.

And let them stay there for 2 hours. We actually left ours in for 2 hours and 20 minutes, but we cut the heat at the 2 hour mark. While the steaks are in the water bath, lightly sautee a bunch of sliced mushrooms in your skillet. Sautee them slowly, and the water will begin to "leave" the mushrooms to sort of naturally deglaze the skillet. As soon as that happens, transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and set them aside.

As you approach time to remove the bags from the water bath, get your same skillet hot again with another drizzle of oil.

Sear the steaks again. One minute on each side and the edges...

then remove them to a warm platter.

Put the mushrooms back in the skillet...

add the meat drippings from both bags,

and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar.

Stir in a tablespoon or two of real butter. This is no time to skimp and use margarine or worse.

Pour the mushroom sauce over your perfectly cooked steak. And maybe your baked potato, too.

Yes, perfectly cooked.

Perfectly pink.

Remarkably tender and delicious. I think it was the best steak EVER.

Bon apetit!!

A Quick Book Review and "New Lu"

This week I did something new. I read my first eBook.

Jack got me an iPad for Christmas, and since then I'd intended to give the Kindle application a spin by purchasing a book, but shopping for reading material at Amazon without having something already in mind is a bit like stumbling through the world's largest bookstore for hours and hours on end. I got a couple of things from their "free downloads" department to get the general feel for how the e-reader works, but none of those selections held my attention for more than a chapter or two.

Several months ago I'd heard an NPR story about the film adaptation of critically-acclaimed novel, "Winter's Bone", which was written by Daniel Woodrell in 2006. The movie also received rave reviews. Last week, in the wind-up for the Academy Awards, NPR was once again discussing the story of a young woman's search for her methamphetamine-cooking, bail-jumping father in the poverty-stricken Missouri Ozarks. Reminded of my prior interest in the story, I came home and downloaded it to my iPad reader... (click the highlighted words for links to more info)

Reading chapters and bits as I found time this past week, I finally finished it last evening and can easily say "Winter's Bone" was well-worth my time. Beautifully written and descriptive of a desperate poverty most of us can only imagine, it provides a snapshot of a lifestyle with which many of us in rural America are familiar as we come to understand the proliferation of "crank culture". And despite the dark nature of the plot, allegiance and love of family, even in the face of dysfunction, are themes that we can appreciate, understand and feel compassionate toward.

Considering how much I love taking pictures of ramshackle barns, house-trailers and other slices of the rural gothic, it's no wonder I loved this story so much.

Now I really want to see the movie, which I understand is as excellent as the book. It's at the top of our NetFlix queue.

Whether you prefer books or movies, I highly recommend...

In addition to reading a book this week, I pulled off two successful meetings at work, babysat Lu one evening and met up with the whole family to belatedly celebrate Sis' birthday. The days passed in a flash, and here we sit, another weekend closer to real Spring and two weeks from that whole "springing forward" time-change that always blitzes my system for a few days but ends up being OK, because we have a lot more daylight left at the end of the day.

My "play date" with Lucia - that's what she told NanNan it was, a "play date with Pammy" - was fantastic. She's growing like a wildflower and provides some delightful company for one whose life is full of adults. She sings and dances and has a broader, more developed vocabulary than most of the five year olds I've ever met.

I showed her how to use aluminum foil as an accessory for dress-up, starting with a wide cuff-style bracelet (tres chic) before adding a silver orb-ring to the collection. Lucia was very impressed with the ring, oo'ing and ah'ing over it like it was the nicest thing she's ever gotten.

I'm babysitting her all day this coming Tuesday and cannot wait. We will definitely have a big time, though I will have to keep a close eye on her, as she has learned to climb like a monkey. Dad kept her this past Thursday and at one point from the other room, he heard her proudly exclaim, "My DID it!"

He found her sitting on the kitchen countertop with her "my stool" pulled close-by.

Enjoy the new pictures and expect more to come in the next few days --