I’m not really that kind of driver, am I?

[Me, driving normally]

[Me, pulling ahead of someone and tucking myself neatly into their lane]

[Meghan, with genuine respect]: Nicely done!

[Beta child, from back seat]: When I have to get somewhere quickly, I drive like dad does normally.

[Me]:
D&D What GIF by Hyper RPG

Montreal, QC

Baba, aka my mother-in-law, invited beta child on a lightning trip to Montreal as a Christmas present.  Three days, two nights.  I was invited to attend as well.*

Baba had two requirements.  One was seeing the Notre-Dame Basilica.  The other was eating in a French restaurant.  Beta’s sole requirement: shopping.  (I had no additional requirements besides going on a road trip.  I love road trips for themselves, so anything else is gravy.)

So off we go for a 300-mile drive.

looking down the highway in Vermont
Beta child’s view from the backseat as we cruised through Vermont

There’s an interesting bit of geography: the border between Vermont and Canada coincides with a geographical border between mountains and plains.  Shortly after crossing the border we were struck by the immediate change from hills and trees to flat plains and farms.  A few hills, including Montreal, stick up from the ground in anomalous fashion.

Montreal in January is not a popular tourist choice.  It’s cold.  Being from New England, we’re used to cold, but Montreal is still pretty cold.

Montreal is like NYC and Boston had a baby city.  Medium-sized office buildings.  One-way streets in a grid pattern with lots of potholes.  Mostly clean, but homeless people scattered around.  Not many people on the streets in the middle of night, but still 24-hour businesses.  Mostly new, but a mid-16th-century section.

We found a French restaurant for dinner on our first night: Modavie.  Baba ordered an appetizer called “Normandy Sweetbreads”, but she didn’t know that sweetbreads are actually organ meat.  Not knowing what it was, she thought it was delicious.  She had second thoughts the next day, however, when she found out they were probably made with a calf’s pancreas.  We also had charcuterie (Beta) and salad (me).  Entrees were seafood pasta (Beta), salmon filet (me), and Filet Mignon (Baba).  The food was excellent.

The next morning was crisp and cold.  Our first stop: the bus stop.  I had procured some 24-hour bus passes (unlimited rides for 24 hours) so we could get around town and have a cheap bus tour of the city.  It seemed wiser, as well as more environmentally responsible, than pulling the car in and out of the small parking garage by the hotel for each trip.  Waiting for the bus was a cold experience, however.  Beta child under-dressed for the occasion despite my warnings, and was visibly cold.

st denis bus stop with ferris wheel in background
Standing at the bus stop by our hotel. We didn’t visit the Ferris wheel on this trip – too cold.

The Basilica was worth the cold.

interior view of notre-dame basilica, montreal
The Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal. The pulpit is to the left. Stained glass windows and paintings adorn the outer walls.

After a quick lunch at a bakery near the Basilica, and a pit-stop back at the hotel for Beta to change into warmer clothes, we paid a visit to The Underground City.  Baba took a breather in a food court near our entry point, while Beta and I took off to see the malls.

After the mall we killed the remaining hour of daylight by riding the bus home from one end of the line to the other.  We went through neighborhoods we never would have seen otherwise.  The driver’s confusion when we didn’t immediately disembark at the end of the line was palpable.  “Where are you going?”

We ended the day with takeout dinner from a restaurant next to the hotel called “The Pastaman”, and talking about life for a couple of hours.

Coming home was uneventful, except the border crossing.  The guard asked us some off-the-wall questions, like “where have you been? – not just today.”  “Why did you go to Jordan?”  I think they try to ask unexpected questions to throw people off balance a little and shake loose anyone who may be concealing something.  I’ve only been out of the country a couple of times, but it happened each time.

* After some indecision on how to get there, because the train required 24 hours each way (due to an overnight stop in NYC) and neither wanting to drive a car for that long, I suggested that I could drive them.  They readily accepted my offer.  I very much appreciated the chance to join the trip, and I had a great time!

Coconut Macaroons

We make this recipe every Christmas for my dad.  He freezes them and eats them over the next few months.  We don’t tell his cardiologist.

Coconut Macaroons

Betty Crocker's coconut macaroons
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Cooling 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 4 dozen

Equipment

  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • 1 medium mixing bowl
  • 1-5 cookie sheets the more cookie sheets you have, the faster you can swap macaroons into the over
  • 1 ice cream scoop optional, should be around 1 tablespoon in size
  • aluminum foil
  • cooling racks
  • 1 small sauce pan

Ingredients
  

  • 21 oz flaked coconut (3 packages, around 7 2/3 cups)
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 14 oz sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
  • 2/3 cup cream of coconut NOT coconut milk
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 1 egg large
  • 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 bag)
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Line cookie sheet(s) with aluminum foil, and sprinkle 1 cup of the coconut flakes over the pan.
    Bake for 2-7 minutes, take out as soon as it's golden.
    Cool the toasted coconut.
    Reserve the foil for later.
  • Mix toasted coconut, flour, and salt in large bowl.
  • Beat milk, cream of coconut, vanilla, almond extract, and egg in a medium bowl, then pour it over the dry ingredients and stir.
  • Drop batter onto foil-lined cookie sheets by heaping tablespoons.
  • Bake 12-14 minutes, or until golden. Move macaroons, still on their foil sheet, to a cooling rack.
    Repeat until all dough is cooked.
  • Allow all macaroons to cool for at least 30 minutes.
  • Melt chocolate chips and oil in a small sauce pan over low heat. Stir constantly until melted.
  • Drizzle chocolate over cookies. Allow to cool until it sets, about 30 minutes.
Keyword coconut, cookies

In which I go off on a wild tare

So, we have this bay window right? And its big, and pretty, and has a decent amount of room for a display in it. That decent amount of room is usually covered in all kinds of detritus of the house. It leaks cold air like a sieve. You can feel it flowing over your hand like a liquid if you put your hands on the bottom.

Not today. Not any longer. I did a thing. I took everything out of it. The Terrarium. The random horse statue. The weirdly healthy african violet. All re-homed (some of it needs to be permanently re-homed, but I’ll get there).

Once I had it clear, I cut several pieces of 3/4 inch foam insulation to fit in it and covered the shelf.

 

Then I had to trim it to make it look pretty.

Once it was (almost) completely covered, I hit my stash. A couple years ago I made a quilted circle skirt. I had a fair amount of the cotton batting left over that I should have thrown out years ago. I used that to cover the foam insulation and make it look like snow. Its cotton with no glitter in it so we don’t have to worry about microplastics. I used scraps to fill in the gaps that I couldn’t get into with the foam core.

My ability to throw things out has taken a huge hit, but hey. It looks amazing.

Once it was covered, I broke out the lasercut village display Michele gave us years ago. It is really pretty and I love it. I hung two strings of LED lights around it, and added our window candles. It looks so cheery and light!

I sent pictures to Michele. Hopefully she likes them.

I can’t feel cold air pouring out of the windows anymore, so hopefully that is all set, too. It would be nice to not have to plastic the window this year.

White River Junction

Megh and I recently celebrated our anniversary (22 years!), and we took the train to White River Junction, Vermont, for an overnight to celebrate.

Megh and Quinn
On the train to Vermont

The weather started clear and warm, and we ate dinner outside.

The town holds an annual parade for Halloween called “Gory Daze.”  It started at 9 pm and featured a few hundred young adults in costumes and small marching band.  We didn’t know about it until we saw the participants gathering in front of the local museum.  It’s a hoot!

The next morning was cold, cloudy, and (eventually) rainy.  We walked around a bit to check out the town.

Connecticut river
The Connecticut River from White River Junction

We started by heading across the river to a breakfast place in New Hampshire, then came back to do a little shopping.  About the only thing open on a Sunday morning was the local co-op grocery store.  We picked up some maple donuts and oatmeal cookies for the train ride home, and some local syrup for Meghan to give to her coworkers.

Narragansett mornings and evenings

A few photos over the last couple of days.

seascape and lighthouse
Scarborough Beach, Narragansett, with Point Judith lighthouse in the distance
seascape with fog and waves
The horizon disappeared on a foggy morning. The sunrise is (theoretically) directly ahead.

grass and white flowers

harbor seal in the ocean
A harbor seal surfaced near us at Point Judith, while we were enjoying the sunset.
meghan with Narragansett in the background
Megh, looking pensive as she gazes east across the ocean
sunset
Sunset from Rose Nulman park, Point Judith, Narragansett
twilight
Twilight from Rose Nulman Park, Point Judith, Narragansett

Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Servings 5 people

Equipment

  • 1 Flat-bottomed wok or large frying pan
  • 2 mixing bowls
  • measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs boneless, skinless, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp shaoxing wine or dry sherry
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper white or black
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp sugar granulated
  • 1 tbsp sambal oelek
  • vegetable oil
  • 2 bell peppers diced large
  • 2 celery stalks sliced thin
  • 1 tbsp ginger, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup peanuts, roasted
  • 2 scallions sliced thin (optional)

Instructions
 

Marinate the Chicken

  • Add tamari or soy sauce, wine or sherry, cornstarch, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and whisk until the cornstarch is dissolved. Drizzle 2 tablespoons over chicken and mix.
  • Add the vinegar, sugar, and sambal to the remaining marinade and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
    NOTE: if you're doubling the recipe because you have a lot of chicken, don't double the sambal or you may make it too spicy.

Stir Fry the Veggies and the Chicken

  • Heat pan over medium-high heat. Add tablespoon of oil, followed by the bell peppers and celery. Season with salt and stir fry until crispy-tender and browned in spots (about 4 minutes).
    Add garlic and ginger and stir fry another 30 seconds.
  • Transfer veggies to a plate.
  • Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the pan, followed by the chicken. Spread evenly across the pan and let cook until golden brown and a little seared on the bottom, 3-4 minutes.
    Stir fry for a couple of minutes, until cooked through.

Combine Everything

  • Add vegetables back in, and add peanuts.
    Give the sauce a quick whisk and pour in. Stir fry until sauce thickens and coats everything, about a minute.
    Sprinkle in scallions and serve over rice.

Notes

Originally seen on The Kitchn.  This is one of the first spicy things I've made that my teenagers actually liked.
Other veggies you can try: small mushrooms, zucchini, sliced carrots, and/or chopped onions.
We've also made it with tofu instead of chicken:
  • use extra-firm tofu;
  • squeeze the water out by wrapping in towels or a couple of paper towels, then putting on a plate and leaving something heavy on top for 20-30 minutes;
  • cube the tofu into bite-sized chunks
  • toss with a little cornstarch, then fry over medium heat until all sides are golden-brown.
  • Continue with rest of recipe.
Keyword bell pepper, chicken, garlic, ginger, peanuts, sambal oelek, tofu

Walking Through Goldsmith Woodland

Alpha child and I took our cameras on a walk through the Goldsmith Woodlands.

marsh and trees reflected on waterI have a new camera, an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV.  (Their new naming scheme is kind of terrible, but the cameras are still good.)  The last camera I owned was an Olympus OM-4, so using a digital camera is taking some getting used to.

Over time, Alpha has adopted my old OM-4, a Canon EOS DSLR from 2005, and a small number of truly vintage cameras.  Today was a Canon kind of a day.

All of these photos were taken by me on my OM-D.

tree truck with insect and woodpecker holes
One of a number of dead tree trunks in the Goldsmith Woodlands. The grounds are carefully managed, and that includes leaving dead trees in place when possible.
sun through tree branches
Filtered winter sun through tree branches
lone cattail with pond in background
The remains of last year’s cattails, also known as typha
bald eagle in flight
We watched a bald eagle parent taking off; it’s juvenile offspring was still standing on the ice