Cincinnati, Part I

The same post can be view at Cool Columbus

We took the slow way to Cincinnati.



I hardly ever make a hotel reservation the day of our arrival, but this time I did. The head cold that turned into something a bit more made it uncertain whether we should attempt a little road trip. But the weather was fine, and the travel bug in me had been very bothersome of late...so to Cincinnati we went.



It was a brand new territory for all of us. Sadly, our daughter knew more about Cincinnati from reading and watching Kit Kittredge than anything else! We were determined to make it a pleasant drive (knowing that we could make it a short 2-hour trip the quick way), going first down to the first capital of Ohio, then southwest toward the Queen City.

The landscape changed about an hour into our journey. Rolling hills, corn fields, and big old barns peppered our views. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Seip Mound, which also happened to be a rest area with picnic tables and well kept grounds. We had visited another of these interesting Hopewell sites before, so it was fun to see another.



Then we crossed the mighty Ohio river into Kentucky, only to cross it again a few minutes later when we entered the city from the south side. Our hotel was smack in the middle of downtown, right across from the fountain square. We gave up our car and did not need it again until we checked out 24 hours later.



Downtown Cincinnati had a quaintness to it. The streets are smaller (than Columbus), and there seemed to be a lot of restaurants and shops within walking distance of the fountain square. We wanted to visit the National Underground Railroad museum before they closed for the weekend which was also a quick block and a half walk from our hotel.



If you are a foreigner like me, you would learn a lot in a short period of time about the whole anti-slavery movement, the history of slave trades in the US, and beyond. It's an intense experience - probably a bit too much for our 7 year-olds. But my husband and I agree that it's never too early to teach children the importance of equality.



Just outside the museum entrance, several quotations are imprinted into the stone walk way. Our son asked for a piece of paper and a pencil. I want to write these down, he said. I want to remember them.

One of the quotations he chose was this:

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth." ~ George Washington.

Never too early, like I said.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I read a few food blogs regularly. Most of the time, they are a welcome distraction to what I should be doing. I love the visually beautiful photos, the stories behind the dishes, or just the plain inspiration for tonight's dinner.



Occasionally, these different blogs will start to talk about the same thing. A hype perhaps, but you can just sense that whatever the subject matter they are talking about has caught the wild fire in the food blog world. For instance, the No-Knead Bread took off like a jet plane. And then there was this wholewheat chocolate chip cookie thing that I wanted to ignore. Why? Because the regular white nutrition-less flour chocolate chip cookies taste just fine. I didn't want to be deterred. I already bake bread with whole wheat flour. Our pizza dough also gets a good amount of the healthier stuff. No need to go that way for cookies, thank you.



Intrigued, I was. So I allowed the concept to stick around, an option to go that way if I wanted to someday. Sure enough, that day came when I had to bring a little something to a dessert potluck recently. I was going to make Molly's tried-and-true cake since I had some lemons around the house. To my surprise, I had no regular unbleached flour left! Not even one cup of it. What I found in the pantry was a bag full of whole wheat flour. That was not going to make Molly proud.

So instead of the cake, I remembered Molly's post about the said cookies. I had all the other ingredients for it, so that would have to be the dessert of choice.

It was easy enough.  Basically, instead of using the white flour, you substitute with whole wheat flour. The recipe asks for baking powder, which is also different, but perhaps it helps balance the (heavier) weight of the whole wheat flour.

Out of the oven, I asked the kids to be my tasters. As sincere as you would like to hear about anything you make from scratch, they sang unanimously: They are great, Mommy! They taste just like the real thing! 

Well, they are the real thing, my children. And perhaps they will now be our go-to recipe (when we don't have any white flour in the pantry).

Below is the recipe I used, from Molly's blog. She also got it from yet another source. See what I mean about the food blog wild fire?

Whole What Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. (If you have no parchment, you can butter the sheets.)

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, and whisk to blend.

Put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, mix just until the butter and sugars are blended, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, and blend on low speed until the flour is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the chocolate, and mix on low speed until evenly combined. (If you have no stand mixer, you can do all of this with handheld electric beaters and/or a large, sturdy spoon.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then use your hands to turn and gently massage the dough, making sure all the flour is absorbed.

Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons in size onto the baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie. (I was able to fit about 8 cookies on each sheet, staggering them in three rows.)

Bake the cookies for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are evenly browned. Transfer the cookies, still on parchment, to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough.

These cookies are very good while still warm from the oven, but I find that you can taste the wheat more – in a good way – once they’ve cooled.

Yield: about 20 cookies

A visit to Bill's garden

Bill and I met over a swallowtail caterpillar on a dill plant. Hunched down, trying to get a good picture of it as usual, I saw two extra feet that were not mine next to me.



We started a conversation about the caterpillar that became discussions about gardens, communities, schools, and backyards. We clearly shared a passion, and it was just easy to hang with Bill.



Little did I know that Bill is a pretty important figure here in the community. I didn't go one week after meeting Bill before hearing his name mentioned here, there, and everywhere. His official title is Growing to Green Program Coordinator at Franklin Park Conservatory. In real life, however, Bill is the superman of community gardens. In fact, during our first conversation, I am pretty sure he said in a very peaceful, determined kind of way, that he firmly believes that "community gardens will make the world into a better place."



Time passed, and Bill and I stayed in touch in the busy people kind of way. Until one day, I found him picking ripe strawberries at the same garden where we met. "I was just thinking of you yesterday," he said. "I need you to come take photos of my garden sometime." Again, he said it in that peaceful, determined kind of way. Really, I asked - are you serious?



Of course he was serious. Bill is one of those genuine souls. I would get to see the garden of one of Columbus' heroes? I accepted without delay.



Not too many days passed, and I found myself in Bill's garden. He and his wife Jodi (who turned out to be, not surprisingly, the super-woman of gardening as well) welcomed me into their lovely, green, productive garden. I had a limited time to spend, but it never felt rushed. They gave me a tour of the different parts of their garden, the path to a small river running through their property, a small memorial garden for Jodi' father, a barn full of kittens cute as a button.



I left feeling full of gratitude. Someone told me when I first got to Ohio, a foreign land to me, that it's not really the place that will make you feel at home, it's the people. Clearly, I have found some of them already, in a bountiful peaceful garden just outside of a big city, no less.

Thank you Bill, and Jodi. I look forward to spending more time with you, amidst the beauty that you have created.

A winning dough recipe

I was weeding in the new garden when the phone rang. Balancing the phone between my ear and shoulder, I kept on working the soil. The lady on the other end was calling from Cooks Illustrated, a magazine for which I actually have high regards. So instead of politely declining without hearing the rest of the first sentence, I listened on.

The lady, for an unknown reason, wanted to send me two things: The Best of America's Test Kitchen magazine, and More Best Recipes Cookbook from the Test Kitchen. The former is complementary, and the latter is an optional purchase. I can have it (for a fee), or send it back (if I don't want it). Because they are coming from a source I trust, I accepted without much thought, hung up and kept weeding.

Weeks went by, and I completely forgot about this phone conversation until I found a large package outside the door one afternoon. The cookbook is a decent size tome, full of recipes, related helpful illustrations, and stories about each dish (just like in the Cooks Illustrated magazine).

I have been hesitating to go one way or the other about this cookbook. By nature, I am a horrible recipe follower, so another cookbook around here may just collect dust like the rest. But it takes an effort to send it back as well.

At any rate, tonight I wanted to make pizza since I was strangely inspired by the growing rustic arugula in the garden. I opened the new tome, and landed at Pissaladiere. I zoned into the dough making part as each time I make a pizza, I seem to go about it differently.

This one was nice and easy, so I went with it, and actually followed all the steps of the dough making part! The result? Brilliance. I might even stick to this one dough recipe from now on. And just because of this 1/10 of a page of success, I might just keep the book and pay for it.



Pizza Dough
2 cups all purpose flour, with extra for dusting the work surface
1 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)

Mix all the ingredients together (by hand, or food processor). Shape into a ball and let it rise. After about 1.5 hours, gather the dough, knead with a little extra flour, and divide into two balls. Flatten dough until desired thickness, and it is ready to become the base for your next best pizza! Bake at 500º for ~ 10 minutes or until brown and crispy.

The chicks and the bunny

If you have not visited our other blog which is devoted to our little urban garden, you can go there to get an up-to-date report. For instance, you will get a glimpse of the chicks' first day on the grass, and the introduction to the curious bunny.

Red Currants

I have a particular fondness for red currants. My relationship with them traces back to a particular time and place.  The year was 1992. The place: Besançon, Eastern part of France.

I was staying with a host family for 3 weeks while learning French with other high schoolers who were staying with their respective host families. We would meet for classes during the day, but the rest of the time we were on our own, or with the families that did not speak much English. In my case, the English part of it was virtually nil.

On the first Friday that I was with Catherine, my French host mother, we had a conversation over dinner. My French was still poor, and I could barely tell what we were talking about. After a few minutes of trying to understand, I got the sense that she was taking me somewhere with her young son the following day. That was all I could manage.

And I was right. We did go somewhere. It turned out to be out in the country, to her friends' house with a large garden. The word that kept coming up in the car (and I wished I had a dictionary with me) was groseilles. It usually followed with confiture, another word I did not know at that time.

Soon enough, I was standing in the middle of a field of groseilles: red currants. They were the most beautiful little jewel - like berries I had ever seen (rather eye-opening for a 17 year old). Catherine taught me how to pick them so that they would not be bruised. We picked from the stem, allowing the berry clusters to come off together. It didn't take long for us to have a bucket full of groseilles before we headed home to turn them into confiture: red currant jelly!

For the next couple of weeks with Catherine, I would have the freshest baguette from the neighborhood bakery with the groseilles confiture for breakfast. I still think about that day today whenever I see red currants at a market, or leaping out of our neighbor's fence as we are experiencing right now! I also allow myself to purchase a jar of red current jam whenever I see one because eating it with a fresh loaf of baguette transports me back to 1992 to the moment of clarity and introduction to these beautiful currants.

The Colors of Now

It took me by surprise, as I am still getting used to living in a place with four distinct seasons again, that we are in full growing-season mode now. It didn't quite happen over night as I recall vividly the evening I went to bed with the temperature below zero degrees and falling.



It hit me tonight when we dined on a bowl of salad, mostly grown in our front yard. To also browse through my iphoto albums and be hit with bright colors from the most current photos again is a sure sign that the dreary grey days are behind us. At least for now.



The kids are finding goodies in the garden, above and below the ground. They love pulling up radishes to find the perfectly round bulb hiding beneath the soil. There are also plenty of wiggly worms that our little boy savors, the way only little boys do.



And then, there are these chicks! Our very own chicks! They became part of the family about a week ago as tiny little 2-day old fluffs. They are growing fast now, and their stories reside on their own blog (I know... we will see for how long I can manage all these different blogs...they might have to all become one). For now, find them (and their friend, all in one garden) at Two Chicks and a Bunny! They are eager to meet you!

Market Mushrooms

I love mushrooms. Too bad the rest of the family does not share this sentiment. But in some ways, more mushrooms for me!

The Clintonville Farmers Market (one of the best around here!) has a vendor who has an urban farm right there in Clintonville. And he grows these beautiful Shitake mushrooms... Oh, I think he already has a new loyal patron!

If you like mushrooms, too, I am sure you know that fresh mushrooms don't need a lot of fuss. The simpler, the better.



Today in the garden, we pulled up (to 'check') on our garlic patch growing underground since last fall. Knowing that we aren't supposed to harvest these until this fall, we felt a little guilty, but up came one small head of garlic anyway (mother and son has the same amount of patience...the former perhaps having less of it).



But we put it to good use. I diced up the fresh garlic, sauteed the mushrooms in it with some good olive oil. A sprinkle of sea salt and herbes de Provence and some chopped up parsley ended the dish. Voila, the most earthy, delicious mushrooms you will have in central Ohio!

Peonies in Bloom

The peonies finally bloomed this weekend, when the sun shone bright, and warm. It was as if we were watching them open up by the minute. The tight buds in the morning became a full bloom peony by mid afternoon. Even the kids noticed amidst their water play, and tent building, and tree climbing.

They opened up, Mommy!! They reported from ten feet above the ground.



And then... it started to rain.



I had brought a bunch of them inside, for our indoor enjoyment. But the rest of them drooped, and bowed low toward the ground.

Time and again, nature reminds me the impermanence of beauty. Thankfully, I have them to provide me a bit of sunshine on this rainy day.

One of my favorites

I have many favorite flowers, as you might have guessed. These, the peonies, are among the few on the top of that list. They are just blooming now (the sun today is helpful after so many days of rain). Better yet, we have a whole row of them in the yard (really one of the reasons I wanted this house!). So, needless to say, this will not be the only post about these elegant flowers.

It's happening

We are soon to get to eat fruits and vegetables produced in-state, or maybe even down the road! I did a double take when I saw these strawberries today at the first day of farmers market in this little town of ours.

And soon... we will get to harvest from our very own garden! No strawberries from that, but hopefully lots of other goodies.

Meatless Monday: Homemade Pizza

 

Onions and I. We have a challenging relationship. But it's quite a clear-cut 'love-hate' relationship, namely, I love you onions, but only if you are very well cooked, caramelized, and wilted.  Otherwise, I avoid you like the plaque.



Our family has been following the "Meatless Monday" theme for quite sometime now, with most of our Monday dinners being completely vegetarian meals.

The cool rain has returned in Columbus, so I thought making pizza would be appropriate (considering that last Monday was too hot to even eat in the house, let alone cook anything in it).



Our usual topping for a homemade pizza? Anchovies. Yes, you read it right. Perhaps it was love at first sight when my husband and I  shared our first pizza experience together and we both ordered it with the salty, stinky, delicious fish friends. But tonight, my pantry was devoid of the little guys, hence, the attention given to my pseudo enemies: the onions.



Caramelizing  onions is very therapeutic for me. It's like taming an untamed beast. I was in control of its destiny, just to my liking. If you have not done this, oh, you must. It's a treat really, to watch the stiff, eye-watering pungent rings, wilt before your eyes. They become soft, and sweet, and delectable. And so perfect on top of pizza dough, under a thin layer of cheese.



And that was precisely what we had for our Meatless Monday. How about you?

Buddhist Temple (?)

We are still trying to decipher what this place we found yesterday actually is. Clearly, it's a southeast Asian venue. We were told that it is a temple, but the lack of temple-like fixtures made us think twice.

We will report back when we find out more. Intriguing, is it not?!

Summery

I could easily ask what happened to spring? I was just turning up the heat the other day, and today, sweating.



The truth is, however, is that we had spring. We had a beautiful spring, albeit a wet one.

And spring will come back, I am sure, with its pleasant temperatures, its sweet clean air.



Today, however, was very summery. Hot. Humid. Summer all the way.

The Early Garden

I don't remember a recent summer when we were not either planning a move, traveling overseas, or actually moving from coast to coast. I also don't remember having a backyard big enough to have a garden. Not just a garden in pots the way we managed for the past many years. This summer we actually get to transplant our seedlings and directly sow seeds into the ground! It's exciting!



We had been dreaming about this garden since January when seed catalogues greeted us at the door. Looking at plump colorful tomatoes back then felt dreaming about landing on the moon. It didn't seem possible that the frozen ground out back could produce anything at all, let alone a tomato plant, or delicious herbs, or scrumptious peas and zucchini, and spicy arugula.



But Spring did come. It came in vengeance, actually. The warmth, the rain, the bugs. They are all here now, and are here to stay for the next many months. Oh, the fun we will have outdoors!



There will also be many meals outside, with and without the amazing Ohio bugs.  With all the rain so far, we have a feeling that there will be several uninvited guests around here!

Precious Sun

If you have spent the last couple of months in central Ohio, today was a gift. Nothing fancy. Nothing bought or sold. Simply, we got to have the sun, along with the crisp clean air back. For one day.