Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Been so busy these past few months.  Quince fruit Had a great time at OLC Expo! Turned 35 and had a wonderful weekend showing off my new city to ChicagoBoy. Work has been crazy busy; my newest hires are doing fantastic, and our patrons love them. Thing 1 and Thing 2 (my code names for my new hires) Jerry Maguire complete us--everyone gets along fine, and already after only 3 months has a comfortable repertoire and great bantering spirit! Going to work is ALWAYS fun these days. About 2 weeks back, Thing 2 gave me some quince , which then promptly moved to my kitchen counter, where they sat and grew more aromatic. Today I noticed that a couple were beginning to spoil, so I Googled until I settled on this Allrecipes recipe for the pie, and decided on using Mark Bittman's Flaky Piecrust recipe from How to Cook Everything. Warning: the Allrecipes recipe takes forever! Quince are extremely hard, and peeling and cutting the fruit was hard work, but this pie smells delicious! C...

This weekend with Chicago Boy was woooooonderrrrrful and so hard to come back to work from--at least this is only a 3 day week, as I have a 4 day weekend in Michigan coming up Friday! Chicago Boy and I: Skillet apple pie. Tasted a lot better than it looks. :) Went to Lou Malnati's for a pizza celebrating his recent birthday I made him my first homemade apple pie. We loved it and gobbled it up in just over a day with copious amounts of ice cream. I had forgotten my pie pan and since he didn't have one I wound up Googling skillet apple pie recipes--basically the spiced apples in a buttered pan with crust only on top. Hands down DELICIOUS.  Had a Lord of the Rings-a-thon all day Saturday. Staying in pjs and air conditioning on a muggy day was fine by me. Grilled dinner on Saturday Swim practice getting cancelled Sunday morning meant more sleep and making breakfast together A PERFECT Sunday--forecasted rain be damned. We had baby blue skies and puffy clouds for my fir...

Yesterday morning after hours and hours of watching Twin Peaks late into the night before and then again first thing that morning, I was ravenous and wanted pancakes. Though I had eggs in the fridge there was no milk, so I googled vegan pancake recipes, chose one that sounded ok and then modified it a little. The recipe I came up with is this: Vegan Pancakes: 1 ¼ c flour 3 Tbsp white sugar 2 tsp baking pwdr. ½ tsp salt 1 ¼ c water 1 Tbsp oil 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar  * Mix everything together, DON'T over whisk, and pour on a very hot, greased pan. *the apple cider vinegar and baking pwdr. help the pancakes rise Upon finishing the pancake batter I realized that I was out of maple syrup  A few expletives later I decided to make a sauce with some blackberries I found in the freezer. Blackberry Sauce: 1 ½ C of blackberries (any berries would do) I Tbsp vanilla ½ c powdered sugar ¼ water splash lemon juice Combine all things in a saucepan ...

Beef, bean, and local Sticks corn chili I love this colder weather and the food that comes with it! I made an enormous pot of chili, chock full of beef, black beans, kidneys beans, and local Sticks corn this weekend! Delicious! Here's how I make my chili, don't have measurements of spices, as I just eyeball things: Chop two yellow onions and mince 4 cloves of garlic, saute both in olive oil in a pot Brown 1lb beef in separate pan Chop green pepper, toss into onion/garlic pot once the onions have been cooking for a few minutes While veggies saute, sprinkle in chili powder, cumin, chipotle pepper (love that smokey flavor!)  Add now browned and drained beef, 1can drained and rinsed black beans, 1 can drained and rinsed kidney beans, 1-15 oz can stewed tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes that have been blanched and had skins and cores removed) Add 1 can tomato paste (15oz can)  Throw in corn (I threw in about 3-4 cups (frozen, which added more liquid) Dump in a about 4-5 c...

..." Once upon a time a farmer planted a little seed. in his garden, and after a while it sprouted and became a vine and bore many squashes. One day in October, when they were ripe, he picked one and took it to market. A grocerman bought and put it in his shop. That same morning, a little girl in a brown hat and blue dress, with a round face and snub nose, went and bought it for her mother. She lugged it home, cut it up, and boiled it in the big pot, mashed some of it salt and butter, for dinner. And to the rest she added a pint of milk, two eggs, four spoons of sugar, nutmeg, and some crackers, put it in a deep dish, and baked it till it was brown and nice, and next day it was eaten by a family named March..." -- Little Women , Louisa May Alcott Well, my tale's a little different: Once upon a time a librarian planted a seed in the ear of a farmer nearby--"Let the library storytime children come for a hayride and pumpkin picking, please?" Her...

Do yourself a favor and make this bad boy: Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos. Wash and cube a sweet potato Toss the sweet potato cubes in olive oil, salt, dash of chili powder, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cumin Roast sweet potato for an hour at 350F, until the sweet potatoes are soft 10 minutes before the sweet potatoes are done, mix in drained and rinsed black beans Warm tortillas for 5 minutes Fill your tortilla shell with beans and sweet potatoes, top with cheddar cheese, salsa, and green onions (and whatever other toppings you like) Enjoy! Maybe I'm going to be having this for breakfast... All this burrito love deserves a theme song .

I recently read and really enjoyed Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa's, Foolproof , which I found to be a fun, accessible cookbook. What I really like about this cookbook are both the recipes and photos; the meals that sound delicious and simple enough for any home cook. Garten also includes suggestions for table settings and "Foolproof menus" in the back for anything from Thanksgiving dinner to "French Bistro," "Dinner for In-laws," and "Snowy Day," meals! Not to be overlooked are the drink recipes too. :) Check it out, though you may have to put a hold on it, our copy's been out since we got it!