Outpost 505

If it’s Facebook Official, then I guess it’s Outpost 505 Official as well. Shane’s accepted a great job at the University of Michigan, and we’ll be moving to Ann Arbor sometime around the end of the summer. That’s all we know at this point, but stay tuned for more news!

We’ve got some news coming up shortly, but in the interim, I wanted to share my current favorite thrown-together lunch-y meal.

Earlier in the week, Shane and Dan and I went to Fort Reno and had delicious picnicky things, resulting in a fridge full of half-eaten snackity bits like grape tomatoes and peapods and tiny balls of marinated mozzarella. In a rush to put together lunch before leaving for work on Thursday, I concocted the following, which I made again this morning.

Take some zucchini - any variety, whatever you like - and slice it width-wise and about 1/4″ thick. Grill with salt and pepper on a stove-top griddle - or on your regular grill when you’re cooking out, as they’ll keep a couple of days - until marked and soft.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add about 1 C dried pasta - shape of your choice, though I wouldn’t go much smaller than penne or fusili - and cook til al dente. Drain, and then toss with a bit of olive oil.

While everything’s still hot, cut up some mozzarella into bite-sized pieces and toss with the pasta and zucchini. Seal it up in your container of choice, and by lunchtime, everything should be nicely melted and marinated. Eat it cold like a pasta salad, or warm it up for a minute or two.

If you have marinated mozzarella, you can substitute the marinade for the olive oil. You could also use asparagus, but that would take a bit longer to cook. I bet this would be fantastic with some roasted or briefly grilled tomatoes - might have to try that next time.

Since I said yes, a lot has happened! Since many people have asked, and since we’ve made some plans, it’s time for an update.

Have you set a date?

Yes! We’re getting married October 10, 2009. That’s a little less than five months from now.

Are you getting married in Illinois?

No. We didn’t want to plan a wedding somewhere where we weren’t living, and we also didn’t want to have someone else plan our wedding for us (and also spend our money for us). We’re getting married in Alexandria, just a couple of miles from where we’re living right now.

Specifically, we’re getting married at Fort Ward Park. Fort Ward is the site of a Civil War Museum, which is surrounded by beautiful park areas, an amphitheater, and picnic sites. We’ve rented a quiet picnic area with lots of trees and sunlight – but also a shelter in case it rains. In addition to picnics and the museum, however, Fort Ward Park also hosts living history events – and on our wedding day, it will be the site of a living history event about Civil War munitions. That’s right – there will be CANNONS at our wedding (or at least nearby).

Why aren’t you getting married in a church?

My family belongs to an Evangelical Free church, and Shane’s family are Jehovah’s Witnesses. When we go, we attend services a United Methodist church. If we wished to be inclusive and respectful of our families, getting married in a church wasn’t possible.

What’s your wedding day going to be like?

Very informal. When we sat down to talk about our wedding, we had a much easier time coming up with things that we didn’t want – rather than things that we did want. Things on our “not list” included:

• Flower arrangements
• Veils
• Attendants
• Courtesy invites

We want our wedding day to be fun and casual – a day to celebrate our partnership but also our relationship with our families and loved ones. Because of this, the Big American Wedding – referred to sometimes as a byproduct of the “Wedding Industrial Complex” – wasn’t an option for us. We didn’t want the sort of day where our loved ones spend a bunch of money on travel and gifts to spend the day not really getting to spend any time with us while we go through motions that aren’t really important to us. In addition, because we’re paying for everything ourselves and are planning on a short timetable, we couldn’t afford the whole ridiculous shebang even if we wanted it.

Instead, we’re keeping it small and sweet and inexpensive. We’re going to have snacks and play croquet. We’re going to be married by a friend or family member. We’re not spending exorbitant amounts on clothes or flowers. We’re having our reception at a local restaurant, and instead of a cake, we’re getting cupcakes from the coffee shop down the street from our apartment. The money we spend on our wedding site and reception will go back into the community. We’re keeping our guest list extremely small so that we can spend time with those who share the day with us.

Can I come?

It’s not uncommon to have 200+ people at a conventional American wedding. My sister is getting married in July, and she’s having well over 100 guests. This type of function is expensive to host, and expensive to attend, especially if you have to travel across the country, paying for travel, lodging, meals, and all of that. Because of this, and because of the type of wedding we want to have, we’re restricting our guest list to our immediate families and a few close friends. Our parents have offered to host open houses for us in Cleveland and Rockford later in the year, which will give us an opportunity to spend time with our friends from other parts of the country.

So, in short: please don’t be hurt if you’re not invited to the wedding itself. We’re inviting literally about 30 people, and will do our best to include our loved ones in other ways wherever possible. We appreciate the love and support that we’ve received from all of our friends and family and would have all of you here with us if we could – but we can’t, and we hope you understand.

This Saturday, Shane and I will be walking in the 14th Annual Walk for the Animals in support of the Animal Welfare League of Arlington.  We adopted Mina from the AWLA, and the AWLA was very kind to us when Sid was so very sick.

I had a bit of a moral dilemma in writing this post and asking for donations for one reason: the AWLA isn’t a “no-kill” shelter.  In addition to being an animal shelter, they are also animal control for the county, so they take in all animals - sick, healthy, abandoned, surrendered, etc.  Having been in the facility a number of times in the last year - with Sid when she was so sick, again to pick up her ashes, buying various supplies for the cats, donating household items, looking for a new kitty, adopting Mina, and visiting other kitties when we were in the neighborhood - I can echo the comments of the reviewers on Yelp.  The AWLA is clean, staffed by kind and caring doctors and volunteers, and provides services like microchipping to the community.  Animals are kept in clean and comfortable cages, and are given lots of love and attention.  There are quiet areas for play and cuddling.

If you have spent any time with Shane and I, you know that we love our cats to pieces, and that we did everything we could for Sid when she was sick.  We volunteer for a no-kill shelter, and I feel conflicted about the fact that the shelter spends thousands of dollars on surgeries for individual cats - when that same amount of money could provide for the spaying or neutering of 80 cats at the AWLA.

It makes me sad that not every animal can be saved.   I did some looking around for information about no-kill shelters, and PETA reports that no-kill isn’t always the best option.  From PETA’s website: “Open-admission shelters are committed to keeping animals safe and off the streets and do not have the option of turning their backs on the victims of the overpopulation crisis as “no-kill” shelters do. No one despises the ugly reality of euthanizing animals more than the people who hold the syringe, but euthanasia is often the most compassionate and dignified way for unwanted animals to leave the world.”  I worry about the quality of life for the animals in either situation - kill or no-kill.

I choose to support both organizations with my time and money, because I believe both are doing the best they can.  I believe in the work that both are doing, and I believe they are both good causes.  I know that many animals have gone to wonderful homes.  I didn’t intend for this post to be about kill or no-kill shelters - but I felt like if we were asking for money, we should be up front about an aspect of shelters that some may be concerned about.

If you have a couple of extra bucks for a good cause, please consider supporting our team - Team Pettu - in this year’s Walk.   If you’re in the area, think about joining our team!  It was a nice way to spend an hour or two, even in the rain.

Thank you for considering a donation - and for supporting us!

P.S. If you have a couple of extra bucks for a good cause but would prefer to support people, please consider supporting our team for the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure.  My friend Tina and I will be running as Team Helpful Paws.

From The Boastful Baker:

metal or non-stick?
- Depends on what we’re cooking.  The non-stick is in heavy rotation for breakfast items, but the cast iron grill pan does its fair share with the meats and quick dinner items.  We also have this workhorse of a pan that is excellent for stovetop-to-oven items, but I’m not sure its specific make-up.

cast iron or stainless?
- More cast iron than stainless of late.  We’re pretty inspired by all the things Kevin does with his.

cutting board: silicone or wood?
- We have both, and use whatever’s handiest.  Usually silicone for things that are going to be messy, wood for kneading bread and eating cheese.

knife: carbon steel or stainless?
- Wüsthof all the way, though we still have some dingy steak knives that need replacing.

KitchenAid or hand mixer?
- My KitchenAid is such a beast, but I love it.

cooktop: gas, electric, induction?
- Regrettably electric.  I really miss having a gas stove.

side-by-side, freezer on top, fridge on top?
- Freezer on top.  We had to buy a shelf for our freezer because it had no internal organization and was Out Of Control.  I wish I’d taken a picture of it when it was loaded down with the summer’s produce.

apron or whoops?
- I’m a fan of the dish towel over the shoulder approach, but I’ve been trying to wear an apron more.  SB’s good at the apron.

mashed potatoes: by hand, ricer, or mixer?
- When we make mashed potatoes for the holidays in my family, we usually make five pounds at a time.  There’s no way I’m doing all of that by hand.  Why else do I have a KitchenAid?

sandwich or wrap?
- Sandwiches please!

pb & _________ ?
- Celery or apples as a snack, please!

pancakes: syrup or applesauce?
- Syrup if they’re regular, lingonberries if they’re Swedish.

cake: scratch or mix?
- I can’t remember the last time I baked a cake.  It was probably from a mix, but I’d like to make ‘em from scratch in the future.

chili: beans or no?
- Either way is fine by me!  As a former veg, it always seems a bit weird when chili doesn’t have beans; however, my favorite recipe doesn’t have any, so do with that what you will.

napkin: cloth or paper?
- Cloth.

BBQ: takes the whole weekend to make or take out?
- Take out.  We’re not Southern enough - or at all - to make true BBQ, and we don’t have a grill, so there’s only the occasional cook out in these parts.

chicken: white or dark?
- I prefer white, but Shane enjoys the dark.  We’ve been eating more chicken thighs lately, but I’m not sure if they’re white or dark.

ice cream: cone or dish?
- Cone if we’re out, dish if we’re home.  I would also like jimmies and a cherry on top.

Raaaaaahhhh, originally uploaded by brixton.

After a very grumpy week, Shane suggested that we get away for the weekend - so we went to Rehoboth Beach, with a side trip to Milton, DE, and the Dogfish Head Brewery. More about this when we get our photos posted, but this might just be my new favorite picture of Shane, so I wanted to post it right away. Shane is handling a chunk of Palo Santo, a very dense wood from South America. Dogfish Head has a ginormous tank made of Palo Santo that they use to brew their Palo Santo Marron.

Did we mention that we went to Seattle last month?  Oh, cos we did.

To be more precise, we spent about a week in Seattle in early March, partially for vacation and partially for conference attendance.  I don’t have a whole lot of pictures from the trip mainly because Shane had the fancy camera, and he hasn’t posted them yet (or has posted them as friends/family only) - also because I spent most of the trip inside a conference center, while he spent it wandering around.  To be honest I’m hoping that this post will be the nudge he needs to actually talk about his adventures - but that’s neither here nor there.

Mel and Ray were our gracious hosts for the duration of our visit - showing us around their not-so-recently adopted city, making us delicious food (and margaritas!), driving us back and forth to the airport and also to Twin Peaks locations.  I met Mel and Ray in Champaign in 2004, back when I was really involved in NaNoWriMo, and was terribly sad when they moved to Seattle in 2005.  We haven’t had many non-Bonnaroo opportunities to hang out since then, so I really enjoyed having a lot of downtime to chat, eat, and renew our friendship.  I also enjoyed their enthusiasm for daytrips, as with our trip to the Great Northern Hotel:

and to the Double R Diner (now Twede’s), where we shared a slice of cherry pie:

In addition to Twin Peaks-y things, we spent a glorious afternoon at the Pike Place Market, drank fancy drinks in a variety of locations, caught up with a lot of friends ranging back to high school, toured the Seattle Public Library, and snuck into some library things (or at least Shane did - I was legitimately there to give a talk on the Facebook roadshow).

This marked both of our first trips to the Pacific Northwest, aside from a family trip to Vancouver when I was a kid, and we both really liked what we saw.  Navigating on foot and by mass-transit can be challenging, especially when there are OMG HILLS, but I also feel like you get to see and know a lot more of the city that way.  I hope that next time we visit Seattle I get more time to bum around, eat remarkable cupcakes, and enjoy many more damn fine cups of coffee!

Attorney General Eric Holder’s installation was held at GW’s Lisner Auditorium last week.  Do you know what that means?

SNIPERS ON THE ROOF!

The library stayed open through the whole thing, despite the fact that H Street was closed and heavily guarded.

Tina and I hung out on the street as long as possible until we were sent inside.

We did get to see Caroline stuck on the corner, and also a fabulous set of police manuevers.

After all of that - my friend Debbie did get to see the man himself!  She was coming out of the Marvin Center just as he was leaving, so she waved, and he waved back.  Hooray!  I’m sure these things get pretty old when you’ve been in DC forever - but it’s still pretty dang exciting for me.

Our friend Chris asked for my bread recipe, and since I’ve been raving about baking bread, I thought I’d also post it here.  I won’t promise that it’s foolproof - but it’s solid and not precise, which is probably what makes it solid for me.  This recipe is from Jamie’s Dinners, and has been slightly adapted to reflect my experience of making it at least 15-20 times in the last 3-5 years.

For a single loaf:
~3 C flour
1/2 oz yeast
~1 1/2 C warm water
1 T sea salt
1 T sugar

Put the flour in a mixing bowl and create a well in the center.  Add half of the water, then pour the yeast, sugar, and salt into the water in the center of the well.  Combine slowly, adding enough water to make shaggy dough.  I do this in my mixer with the dough hook - you can also do this by hand, but it’s a little messier.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead until lovely and elastic - about 5 minutes if you’re doing it all by hand, about 2 if you’re just finishing off the kneading started in with the dough hook.  Place in oiled bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel.  Let rise until doubled.  In the winter, I turn the oven on to the lowest temperature and place the bowl with the dough on the counter right next to it to make sure there’s enough warmth to help the dough rise.  This usually takes around 40 minutes.

Turn out dough again and work into the shape you want it in for baking.  The instructions say to knead again, but I find that just moving the dough around into loaf shape (or whatever) is enough to get the right texture.  Place in loaf pan (or however you’re going to bake it) and let rise another 30-40 minutes.  I like to line my baking pan with parchment or wax paper as it makes removing the loaf INCREDIBLY easy.  Seriously, this is the biggest improvement in my baking in the last month.  It’s like a dream world improvement over what I was doing before, which was just greasing the pan.  Preheat the oven to 375.

Bake ~40 minutes at 375, or until thumping the bottom of the pan produces a hollow sound.  Remove the bread from the pan and let cool on a baking rack.  If you used the parchment paper, this is dead easy - it should just lift right out.  Slice and enjoy!

I have had baking mishaps with this recipe, but I think the flexibility has made it way better for the way that I bake.  If the dough is wet, you can add a bit more flour.  If it’s dry, add more water.  Etc.  The more you bake, the more you’ll get to know the way it should look and feel, and then it’s really easy to make small adjustments.  There’s also the no-knead method - but this has been so reliable and so rewarding for me that I don’t see any reason to go another way.

Last night I went to The Black Cat’s Bliss dance night thing with E, Jackie, her boy James, and James’ housemate whose name escapes me at the moment. Even though we arrived a bit fashionably late, the dance floor was mostly deserted with people afraid to be dancing by themselves. Luckily the five us created a bit more critical mass and soon the place was full of White People Dancing. The DJ was mostly not good, but he played a few choice cuts around his awkward transitions and questionable choices of music. Good fun was had, although I was extremely tired even before we had arrived.

The important part, however, is that at some point in the night a song came on and most of the crowd cheered in delight, and Elizabeth and I were like “we have no idea what this song is”. I definitely keep up with contemporary music, but not the pop (read: popular) side of things… but I could attend a dance night and be aware of what the hits were and get excited about them. I’ve rarely felt so out of touch with contemporary youth culture, and I think it means I’m officially Old. That fact is further cemented when combined with my level of exhaustion from doing essentially nothing strenuous the entire day and my lack of excitement about going out in the first place. It’s sad.

E and I were peckish towards the end of the evening, so we took a detour on the way home in order to swing by this group of ethnic restaurants and bars to see if we could find a 24/7 place. As luck would have it, we located a diner and ducked in to split a 4th meal of eggs, grits, and bacon. Sadly, the grits were pitiful when compared to Sam’s, but life does go on. We spotted a Kebab place on the way home, which will definitely be the next place we go to for late night grub - which should be sometime in 2009 I guess.