Karen

Snow day! Top ten (fun) things to do

January 12, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, italian, Karen's Kitchen, movies, recipes, writing

I have not had a snow day for quite a while (the Christmas Blizzard doesn’t count because I was too worried about my husband and son driving home from work in it to enjoy it). I decided to plan ahead for the next one, so I was ready to dive into distraction at a moment’s notice.

Stuff to do:

a.Crack out the crock pot. The big one. Make soup. Here’s a recipe for Minestrone using whatever you have in the pantry and fridge. Whatever is left over can be frozen to bring to work to eat for lunch during the week. b.Pull out the frozen gravy, meatballs and sausage from the freezer; place in crock pot. Add whatever odds and ends of meat you have leftover. Supper is almost ready!
No crock pot? Here’s a great recipe from Stephen Lanzalotta (author of The Diet Code, and baker extraordinaire at Micucci’s on India Street in Portland) that uses stuff (once again) that you have in the pantry right now. Really. I’ll wait while you go check. It’s for Tomato and Tuna Soup for one. Not alone (or just really hungry)? Just employ a little math to double or triple the recipe. Done.
Got Netflix? Load up your instant queue so now that the flakes are flying, all you’ll have to do is hit the “play” button.
Bake! You can mix up a bucket of bread dough (keeps in fridge for up to two weeks) so it’s ready when you are. Not much gets those endorphins going like the smell of fresh bread baking.
Read! Got a stack of books by (or under) the bed? A stack of magazines you’ve had no time to read? A Kindle? Go for it.
Write! Keep a file that you toss your little scraps of napkins, post its, notebook paper on which you’ve jotted down ideas that came to you while driving, watching TV, listening to a boring lecture at school so you will always have your own prompts and projects ready.
Got kids? Play Wii! (or Uno, or checkers, or whatever!)
Take a nap. You know you want to.
Virtually visit with friends and relatives via FB or email. In other words…DON”T DRIVE!
Be grateful the fam is all safe and sound.

🙂

Date night: payback for the chick flick

January 10, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, movies, restaurants

Our last date night movie was chosen by moi: How do you know (as in, “how do you know” it’s a chick flick? When your husband looks around the theater and says, “Hon, I’m the only man in here,” that’s a big clue).

This time we went to see The Fighter (his choice). Now, this is not typically a movie I’d have one iota of interest in seeing, but hey (as he cheerfully pointed out as we left the theater last week)…I owed him. I was a good sport about it.

Here’s the thing though: it was a great movie. I loved it. What it had going for it was that Mark Wahlberg was in it. A bigger thing that it had going for it was that Amy Adams (I think that she’s a terrific actress; I’ll even go out on a limb and call her the next Meryl Streep) was in it. It was well paced, interesting, and (of importance to me, not so much my husband) not overly bloody.

It’s based on a true story about a (you guessed it) fighter and his brother, and how he tries to pursue his dream both with, as well as in spite of, the support of his wildly extended family.

For the dinner part of our date, we went to Mike’s Clam Shack. We split fried ravioli and Bubba’s Mixed Grill (steak tips, half a rack of ribs, and BBQ chicken breast), salad, shack potatoes, and I had a cup of chicken noodle soup (yup; still sick; see prior post). The chicken soup had more chicken in it than I’ve ever seen in a cup of soup that I didn’t make myself; it was impressive.

The waitresses were nice when, after sitting at one table in the middle of the room for about five minutes, I asked to be moved to a booth (did I mention that I hate to sit in the middle of the dining room? I need the anonymity of the periphery).

Here’s a tip: if you go to see the movie and sit in the last row in back, don’t spill your cup of Peanut M+M’s …they will roll loudly downhill to the front of the theater, for what seems like forever, while everyone in those rows in front of you will look back to see who the dope was that did that!

It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!

Okay, it was me.

🙂

The (other) cure for what ails you

January 8, 2011 by Karen, posted in health, quest for the best

kamasouptra ckn noodle — Kamasouptra Chicken Noodle Soup

Apart from the ocean, the other cure for anything is homemade chicken (or turkey) soup.

Who supports using chicken soup as a curative? Well, besides me and most of the mothers and grandmothers in the history of the world, The Mayo Clinic sings its praises. Chicken soup acts as an anti-inflammatory and it also speeds up the passage of mucous…good if you have a head cold.

Now, don’t get me wrong; you will still see me going to bed clutching my bottle of (generic or otherwise) NyQuil if I have a cough that’s keeping me (or other unsympathetic spouses who shall remain nameless) awake at night.

For today, I’d like to sing the praises of Kamasouptra’s Chicken Noodle Soup, which I had the great good fortune to eat this week. I was sold as soon as the counter person told me that they cook the noodles separately and add them into the soup when they serve it on a bowl by bowl basis so that “they don’t get overcooked”. I told him, “That’s exactly how I make it at home!” (he didn’t seem impressed when I told him this though).

Got a cold? Get some soup!

Winter bounty

January 6, 2011January 9, 2011 by Karen, posted in chicks, raising chickens

Lately we’ve been getting so many eggs because we’ve (well, full disclosure: it’s mostly been my husband) been working on the timing of new chicks. . . the September 1st chicks have now begun laying brown eggs. In the spring, we will refresh the white and green egg layers.

We used to only get new chicks in the spring; now we get new chicks in the fall as well.

: Eggs, ready for bagging

The girls have been working overtime producing up to two dozen eggs per day, depending on variables, some known (like availability of water, food, and light, the presence of predators nearby), and some we can only imagine (“She’s touching me! Make her stop touching me!”).

Some credit must be given to the boys, too. We have a few roosters, one dominant, and a few lesser that know to stay out of his way. Right now, they have a good balance of boys to girls, so everyone is getting along. Harmony in the flock is most certainly conducive to good egg production.

Basically, chickens are happy campers. They eat, sleep, lay eggs, and peck the ground and each other. If they have thoughts, our consensus is that this it is one, shared, universal thought. Here it is:

“I’m a chicken! I’m a chicken! I’m a chicken!”

For all of the people who wonder why we bag the eggs: it’s for health reasons. It just seems more hygienic than reusing the egg cartons. Also, it keeps costs down.

:>)

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Re-entry; it’s a…(well, YOU know)

January 5, 2011 by Karen, posted in fitness, friends, health, Life in the cube

So, first day back to work after a few (or many) days off is always difficult, right? Add to that being sick and having major dental work the day before, and you’ve just added a heap of insult to injury.

The sound of that alarm going off for the first time in days was a rude awakening.

Here’s what I did to ease my transition back to Real (working) Life:

I skipped the gym. I am always looking for excuses to back out of my Tuesday workout but today I got permission from an impartial bystander (my husband!) whose advice was, “I wouldn’t go; why look for trouble?” Point well taken. I didn’t go.
Instead of woofing my usual Tuesday Vitatop and cold coffee for breakfast as I ran out the door, I made some scrambled (fresh!) eggs and packaged it up with my leftover home fries from The Good Table in Cape Elizabeth (the portions are so big that this is the third meal I’ve made with them!) and even was slowed down enough to remember to bring a little container of ketchup (what are eggs without ketchup? I ask you) to accompany them. When I got to work (early!) I discovered they had my (current) favorite coffee, Spicy Eggnog. I had a good book, good food, and good coffee. Things were looking (somewhat) up.
Reminded myself: Go slow!!! It will all still be there tomorrow (and the day after that, and after that…).
Look for any positive things you can find in your day. Look hard. They’re there somewhere. I had a nice ‘thank you’ phone message from someone for a Christmas gift waiting on my voicemail at work, which totally gave me a positive energy boost.
Coffee. Make sure you have plenty to get you through the day.

Of course, don’t underestimate the value of support from friends, in person or even via email. Sometimes, a bit of empathy from a friend is really all you need. 🙂

My New Year’s Word

January 4, 2011January 4, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, fitness, Holidays

I’m sorry, but I have to ask: is there a more thankless job than deconstructing Christmas? I mean, touring the house, scavenging all the nooks and crannies for the little Santas, Nutcrackers, and whatnots that have been stashed hither and yon, all in the name of festivity, inevitably finding one or two refugees after all of the boxes have been packed away in the closet, back under other things?

Does anyone like taking the decorations off the tree?

And then there’s the back of your mind, New Year’s Resolution thing lurking, lurking… I don’t typically make New Year’s resolutions, actually. I make birthday resolutions, a plan for the coming year that begins and ends with, you know, me (as in, “it’s all about me”). When I heard about a twist on the resolution thing, choosing just one word, rather than making one list, to focus on in 2011, I was interested. One word? That seems much easier to remember and actually do than one list. But what word? “Focus” was the first one that came to mind…then about a billion other words joined it. It wasn’t pretty.

One of my goals for 2011 is “REDUCE” … as in CLUTTER (and WEIGHT, too, come to think of it, and TIME-WASTING…). Hmmm, I guess that might be a good word…it just sounds so negative, though. Guess I’ll think about it some more, maybe try on a few of those billion other words on for size to see which one is the best fit…maybe “DECIDE” should be my word? 🙂

If you’re interested in doing this too, here’s the website: myoneword.org.

I’d love to hear what words any of you choose if you decide to try it this year.

2010 in review

January 2, 2011 by Karen, posted in Uncategorized

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,700 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 145 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 261 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 283mb. That’s about 5 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was December 22nd with 37 views. The most popular post that day was The best yoga class ever!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, katebraestrup.com, alphainventions.com, en.wordpress.com, and lifeinarecipe.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for kate braestrup, kwrites, dunkin donuts pumpkin muffin, chocolate bomb cake, and kate.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

The best yoga class ever! December 2010

Kate Braestrup at Kennebooks July 2010
1 comment

summer wish list Top Ten May 2010

Fall! September 2010

women of note May 2010
2 comments

New Year’s Eve, tween style

December 31, 2010January 4, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, friends, Holidays, local fun, movies, tweens, writing

Today was a “Girl’s only” day for me and my tween. We had originally planned to go shopping to spend gift cards received for Christmas (both for her and for me) but then changed the plan to include a movie with a friend. (We never did go shopping with the gift cards, come to think of it…)

She and her friend went back and forth for a few days about which movie to see, Yogi Bear or Gulliver’s Travels. Neither movie received great reviews, from the critics nor from her older brother, so as far as I was concerned, it was a toss-up. In the end, they chose Gulliver. I braced myself and we settled in for the show.

Well, from a parental standpoint, it wasn’t too terrible (except for when Jack Black was showing his “plumber’s crack” in the beginning. Eeew.). There were a few laughs, and the cast was likeable. The tweens gave it “two thumbs up!” however, and those are the opinions that really matter, right?

After that, we did a quick food shopping (hey, Hannaford’s was right next door; why make a second trip?), then back to the house. The girls had a few laughs playing Wii sports, Zsu Zsu pets, and listening to CD’s while I put away the groceries, paid the bills that came in today’s mail (ugh), and wrote quick book blog post.

Then we brought her friend home and came back to make supper: linguini, turkey, roasted red peppers in garlic, butter, and olive oil…pea pods added to Mom’s. After supper, we played a quick building game with magnets, thenwe finished the day with a little couch time, watching iCarly. I promised to wake her up if I am awake at midnight, but the odds of that are VERY SLIM. 🙂

Linguini with roased red peppers and turkey

Date night (vacation week edition)

December 30, 2010December 31, 2010 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, local fun, movies, restaurants

HowDoYouKnow — How do you know (promotional poster)

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to have a date night, what with the holidays coming, shopping for the holidays, wrapping for the holidays, hiding presents and then (forgetting where they were hidden) looking for the presents for the holidays….

It was nice to have Christmas behind us and get a little time together for a date (courtesy of our eldest child, who stayed with the youngest child). Going out one night during a week off from work feels totally different from going out on a “school night”. No worrying about getting home early, or having to get up at dawn to spoil things. It was nice to just think about what we wanted to do, where we wanted to go, without outside time constraints.

So, even though we decided to stay local and do the usual dinner and a movie, it felt…nicer. More relaxed. No rushing through the meal to get to the movie on time, since we didn’t have to leave after I’d gotten home from work.

First, we stopped at the Wells Public Library, because I love the library. That was pretty much the only reason. I dropped off some books, then chatted with my friends, the librarians (Cindy, Cindy, and Cindel), about blogging and the book that I’m writing (almost finished!!).

Next, we were headed to Ruby’s in York, when my husband (on a whim) made a U-turn and we went to East instead. What are you gonna do? It’s a man’s prerogative to change his mind at the last minute! The food was great, as was the service. The only annoying thing was the woman at the table next to us who wouldn’t shut up about how cold it was (it wasn’t) in there.

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Then we saw How do you know at the Wells Five Star Cinema. I loved it. He did not love it (as evidenced by him saying to the ticket seller after the movie, “You could’ve warned me!”). Okay, so I’m saying it: Bill, you’re the best husband ever for sitting through that movie and still having a smile on your face at the end!

One of the Best Christmases ever

December 28, 2010December 28, 2010 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, Holidays, italian, quest for the best, tweens

I originally thought that this would be one of the worst Christmases ever. It had three strikes against it before it even started:

I had to work late and wouldn’t get home until 8:20PM Christmas Eve.
My husband had to work early Christmas Day, leaving at 5:10 AM, and would be gone the entire day and night.
My son had to work Christmas Day as well. He was home in the morning, which was nice, but then couldn’t come with us to have dinner with relatives.

We tried to make the best of it. The kids each opened a couple of gifts with Dad on Christmas Eve while I listened in from work over the phone. My husband and I had a little time to exchange our gifts Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning, after Bill went to work, I stayed up and baked some bread and then put our traditional Christmas morning breakfast (cinnamon buns) into the oven. We opened up the gifts, then got ready for our (mostly separate) day.

We stopped to see Grammy and Papa before heading to my brother’s house for Christmas dinner…which may well have been one of the Best Christmas Dinners of all time. We played Wii games between dinner and dessert, rationalizing that we’d have more room for tiramisu (was that wrong?).

Then we brought some dinner to my son and his girlfriend Lauren at work. Unfortunately, we didn’t get there until 6:30PM…oh well. The food was worth the wait! My sister-in-law Andrea is an excellent cook!

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