Roving Lemon's Big Adventure

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-01T15:33:00.000-06:00

RL kitchen, midway through a jam-making session, January 2012. And I thought I was a neat cook....

Rhubarb-apple jam

2012-01-29T17:04:00.001-06:00

I don’t buy jam at the store anymore. Which – considering I canned my first-ever batch of marmalade just about one year ago – kind of blows me away. I don’t even buy it at the farmers’ market. If I want jam, I just go to my storecupboard and dig out some of last summer’s bounty. Or I make up a batch from something serendipitous that crosses my path, or falls out of my freezer, even in the middle

Tiny omelettes

2012-01-24T12:02:00.001-06:00

Like millions (billions?) of other people, many of whom you’ve probably encountered on the internet in the past few weeks, I annually buy into the whole ‘January-Fresh-Start’ mentality. On top of the general zeitgeist, my birthday is in January, so this month is the start of my personal New Year as well as the one indicated on the Gregorian calendar in widespread use worldwide. I don’t make

Unexpected outcomes

2012-01-20T21:55:00.000-06:00

The other day I finally decided to break out the mini doughnut pans I had bought last year with one of my holiday gift cards, but never used. We had friends coming over, I wanted to make treats and, reading the instructions, doughnuts seemed doable in the time I had available. I was planning to roll some of them in cinnamon sugar and some in powdered sugar. Although I know Miss B and her pals

Toasted sandwiches

2012-01-11T20:01:00.000-06:00

Just about this time, six years ago, I ate a sandwich that changed my life. I realize that that is a sweeping and melodramatic statement to make about a sandwich, but I’m standing by it. Here is how it happened: Once upon a time in my younger adulthood, I rarely ate sandwiches, other than tuna. I also had minimal experience of grilled cheese, other than as cheese piled on a slice of bread and

Wordless Wednesday: Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T20:26:00.000-06:00

Hope 2012 finds us all in our happy place!

Failing Christmas

2011-12-26T08:15:00.000-06:00

The RL Christmas tree--a gift from SP On Friday night, worn out from a week of frantic prep (hampered by houseguests and leftover exhaustion from finishing my job) and nowhere near ready for the big day, I told a friend over dinner that I had failed Christmas this year. As of December 23, I had just mailed my first batch of cards; not yet started to decorate my tree (or finished decorating my

Christmas break

2011-12-19T20:57:00.000-06:00

I'm on vacation! Well, sort of. Thanks to my project handoff on Friday, I didn't have to work this weekend for the first time since I don't know when. I did do a bit of work this morning, which was really kind of nice because a) I didn't do anything very strenuous but yet b) felt like I had gotten quite a bit accomplished. Amazing how your perspective changes when your workload seems as though it

Last day

2011-12-16T22:04:00.002-06:00

Today was my last day on a project that I have been involved in, one way and another, since I started working for the organization that pays my wages more than 12 years ago. The first couple of years, I wondered to myself why it didn’t exist. The next couple of years, I asked like-minded people in the organization that I had gotten to know why we couldn’t bring it into existence. Since I am

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-14T20:43:00.000-06:00

Holiday fail!

Flavor memories

2011-12-13T20:51:00.000-06:00

Blueberry bread was one of my favorite cakes of childhood. My Aunt Ann was the first to discover this recipe, but had shared it with my mother long before I came along. My mother would make it in the summer with my Uncle Jimmy’s fresh blueberries; in good years, she would freeze the overflow in bags and make this in the depths of winter. The blueberries scattered through the cake tasted like a

Seasonal flavors

2011-12-12T21:00:00.000-06:00

I missed posting last night for the first time in 40 days. D’oh! I’m blaming it on the head cold that arrived a couple of days ago. Or the whirlwind road trip to Wichita (a mere 3-hour drive each way) for a family party with my in-laws. Or tacking the Vintage Homes Tour (where all that bread was for sale) on to the end of it. Seeing the bread (or what was left of it by the time we got there =

Saturday shuffle

2011-12-10T22:14:00.001-06:00

http://youtu.be/4PkcfQtibmU Okay, not the most seasonal selection, but appropriate, as it's on heavy repeat on my iPod at the moment. I'm using the Foo Fighters to power me through the final stages of wrapping up and handing over the work project I mentioned resigning from a few weeks ago. They are just what I need right now: kick-ass rock & roll with a positive vibe: gets the adrenaline and

Cookie swap

2011-12-09T21:23:00.000-06:00

I got invited to this cookie swap on Sunday, after I had already devised my bread-baking schedule for the week in order to meet our agreed Vintage Homes Society contribution. As I mentioned yesterday, I try to avoid scheduling multiple baking projects for the same day, because usually it doesn't end well. But obviously I was feeling invincible (I blame the sangria) when I said, "Sure, I'd love to

Baking frenzy

2011-12-08T23:59:00.000-06:00

Today I finished up the last of my allotment of the breads (with a batch of cranberry walnut bread) for the Vintage Homes Society, and also knocked out 3 dozen cookies for attendance at my first-ever cookie swap, from which I have just returned. As much as I like to bake, I rarely ever try to make more than one thing on the same day, because it fuddles my brain, and today was no exception. I

Savory bread

2011-12-07T21:15:00.000-06:00

When I perused the breads that the Vintage Homes Society had for sale last year, all I saw were sweet breads—pumpkin and zucchini and so on. When I signed on to contribute, I asked if savory breads were welcome. This is what I had in mind. Bacon blue cheese bread Adapted slightly from David Lebovitz’ The Sweet Life in Paris Savory quick breads are known as le cake in France and David Lebovitz

Holiday breads

2011-12-06T21:03:00.005-06:00

SP and I signed up to bake a slew of breads for her Vintage Homes Society's annual fundraiser, so it's a week of baking madness around Casa RL. Here's what's in the lineup: Blueberry bread Double chocolate zucchini bread (from The Family Kitchen) Cranberry walnut bread Bacon blue cheese bread Recipes to follow shortly; right now it's back to wrestling with getting my printer to make legible

Graphic design

2011-12-05T20:58:00.000-06:00

Otherwise known as a rather grand term for me, scribbling with a pen, trying to come up with a logo/avatar for my blogging/catering alter ego. What do you think? I'm thinking I'd love to see what someone who could actually draw could do with it....

Holiday cheer

2011-12-04T20:28:00.000-06:00

Today was our end-of-year party for DP's seminar group. As usual, I didn't manage to get pictures of the lunch buffet before it looked as though a pack of starving wolverines has passed through: but at least I got a few nice shots of the untouched dessert buffet before everyone got their second wind: As usual, it was a potluck, and as usual, we had waaaay too much food. But I think everyone

Holiday perfectionism

2011-12-03T21:20:00.000-06:00

Last night I went with a group of friends to our town’s annual Candlelight Homes Tour, wherein you hand over a chunk of cash in exchange for license to snoop through other people’s festively decorated magazine-layout homes. Today I started the process of decorating our own house for Christmas—possibly not the best conjunction of events for a would-be perfectionist. I say would-be because I don’t

Sugar shortage

2011-12-02T22:19:00.000-06:00

Somehow I managed to run out of granulated (castor) sugar earlier this week--a potentially anxiety-inducing event at any time, made even worse when I briefly thought I would have to produce a baked good before I could get to the grocery store on Thursday. I was calmed, however, when I remembered that I did have a full bag of brown sugar on hand, and in that state imagined that I had recently come

Current events

2011-12-01T21:22:00.000-06:00

Love this so much that I have to share with you all--especially for those of you in the UK. Enjoy and Happy December!

November wrap-up

2011-11-30T20:43:00.000-06:00

1. I have managed to not take Miss B out to sell Girl Scout cookies door to door every day this week. 2. It took me until today to finish unpacking my suitcase, after arriving home on Saturday. 3. I think my guitar teacher secretly considers me the most butter-fingered student he's ever had. 4. I have yet to buy a single Christmas present, or even make my list. 5. Nearly everyone else on my

Education/training

2011-11-29T21:01:00.000-06:00