Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Before I get started on this blog about dieting, let me say a few things. I hate the word "diet." I hate when I talk about this "new way of eating," and people make this scornful "diets never work," face. And though I may agree with them, it still pisses me off. Especially if they're those naturally skinny types. I want to scream, "well, EXCUSE me for eating my emotions since 1991! And besides that I am fighting against some chubby genes!" The whole reason I decided to try Mark Bittman 's, " Vegan before dinnertime ,"--or "Vegan until 6," as I call it--is 1. for the most part I respect Mark Bittman and 2. my friend Sierra did this and found it worked for her.  I am not a dieter by nature. I know most fad diets either don't work because they set up unrealistic expectations or shouldn't be done because they aren't good for your body. The difference with Bittman's is that it's a damn way of life, whi...

I will now take this opportunity to answer the questions I've been asked about the Farm's ENORMOUS Thanksgiving feast (previously mentioned in this blog.) The final number was somewhere around 160 people. Everyone fit in the Farm's dining room and the room connected to it. We DIDN'T wind up spilling into the living room, which was a damn miracle. :) Yes, we did have leftovers. In the days since Thanksgiving, on the menu: turkey noodle soup, turkey pot pie and turkey chili. I am not a turkey fan, so the days following Thanksgiving are torture. What was the secret to my stuffing?!--I've gotten this question about a dozen times. Answer is BUTTER!! Butter makes everything better. If we slathered butter on the world's problems, then things would just seem so much better! No? The recipe I used is Mark Bittman's How to cook Everything . The recipe is below: Mark Bittman's Favorite Bread Stuffing: 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup ...

The EPIC Mac n' Cheese You know that feeling you get when you're traveling and you feel almost overstimulated by the amazing food you've been eating, but there's something a little not right...you realize that what you're really wanting is some "home food." That happened yesterday.  Yannick and I were supposed to run to the market to get stuff for dinner and today, so I offered to make Mac n' cheese--I based it extremely loosely on Mark Bittman's recipe--and what I made was pure magic! Normally I just use Vermont Cheddar, but as they don't have that here I used half Irish Cheddar, half Dutch Gouda. Oh my sweet and gentle Jesus!! WAY BETTER with real European cheeses. Nadine requested it again for dinner tonight. Yannick and I agreed. :)   Today we'll be going out to see a few more things here, but we're going to stay in tonight and get to bed early. We want to have the car packed and be on the road tomorrow by 9a.m.; we'r...

Last weekend I had dinner with B1 & B2 and Jay. I brought the dessert: homemade pumpkin pie. Mmm...right? Wrong. I was so dissapointed; not only was my "fast" crust terrible, but the pie itself was also flavorless. The three other diners were more than gracious. For whatever reason (I think the excess of rain due to Irene and other coastal storms) has left the pumpkins less sweet this year than in years past--my pumpkin, my only one, rotted because of all of the rain! Anyway, I learned my lesson last weekend, so when I offered to bring dessert to a dinner at M & N's this week, I vowed the pies would turn out better. I again returned to Mark Bittman's How to cook everything-- no longer blaming him for last weekend's failure--and decided to try doubling everything in the recipe. The recipe should be called, "How to double everything pumpkin pie," har har. Anyway, I literally doubled everything: the cream and the eggs, doing this made the pies eve...

I have a love/hate relationship with the author Mark Bittman. Not really...I like most of the recipes which he's compiled, I just hate the smugness of the title: How to cook Everything. Excuse me, you don't know how to cook everything. Ahem, diatribe over, I thought this was cool. Thought I'd share. OMG! That stew's made out of PEOPLE!!!

..." 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...

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...