wil and kris

i am not sure why i chose to be inspired by polaroids after the film officially announced being taken out of the retail market. good timing on that one, kris. but i can’t help love the coloring, nostalgia, and instant gratification. maybe one more fan added to the mix will help the so-called ‘impossible project’ be able to follow through (people banding together to start manufacturing it again)…we’ll see.

either way, the more i contemplate wil’s and my phase of life right now, the more i realize it needs to be documented. i have a feeling this will be the only time in our lives where we have this lifestyle…the urban downtowner, in a small apartment, no kids, with one car we try to use sparingly. and while it sounds glamorous, it’s also very simple and plain at times. but i like it.

after too much pilfering around the internet and being inspired by fellow polaroid users, i decided to take on a project. i found one man who took one polaroid a day…from 1979 up until the day before he passed away from cancer in 1997. i don’t necessarily have any intentions of do this for 20 years, and i definitely don’t have enough film to last more than a month and a half or so, but i like the concept of recording something significant or insignificant of the day in that little 3″ square. i may or may not choose to put them all online, and i’m trying to not put pressure on myself to make each image an ansel adams. life is not a series of magnificent moments…most are mundane and normal, with a few bright ones that stand out.

i know i’m not so good at starting these type of creative projects…but i am hoping the instantaneous outcome will help me to keep up with it. the thought of taking one picture a day on my dslr haunts me because i’ll end up taking 10 of the same shot, and then have to choose, upload, and edit, and bleh. hey, maybe by the time i run though my stock of 40 or 50 photos on hand, they’ll be manufacturing the film again, so i don’t have to blow 40 bucks on a box since it’s basically like gold right now…

hello saturday morning.

a study in bread this week. can’t wait for wil to teach me, and for us to pass along to you, but that won’t happen for a few months… needless to say, our freezer is stocked.

basic scone with raspberries and slivered almonds

pain originale, as classic french baguette

fennel & black pepper crackers & pain originale as french batard

traditional focaccia with fleur de sel and parmesan

simple white french loaf

challah bread, as traditional braid and dinner rolls

sometimes it’s refreshing when there is nothing on tv, and there are no new blogs to catch up with….because it forces me to choose a better way to spend my time when i’m holed up in our apartment while wil is at work or school. usually, baking is the next on the list as a guaranteed time-passer.

but wil has taken that role from me this week, and for the next two! he is currently in his first of two baking classes…he has been in class for four days, and you would be disgusted to hear what he’s already brought home. i am in no way exaggerating this list:

• an entire apple pie
• entire chipotle berry pie (i already wasn’t digging the flavor risk he took, and then he ended up throwing too much chipotle in. oops)
• entire quiche
• one savory ‘hand’ pie (a turnover of caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheese, yums!)
• entire peanut butter & ganache tart
• a dozen large chocolate chip cookies
• 2 serving banana cream pie
• 2 serving vanilla cream pie
• 6 cream puffs
• 7 or 8 eclairs

what in the world?! it’s a life saver that we both walk a couple miles a day to our respective jobs/classes and work on our feet, but come on, i don’t know how we aren’t going to gain some weight. as bad as it felt to throw out some of the berry pie as a waste of food, it was kind of a relief to know we had one less thing to consume. and even though we are able to freeze some of this for later, he’s handed some cookies to homeless guys (they know he’s carrying food when he has a big pink bakery box in hand!), and we’ve thrown some stuff together to ‘gift’ our landlord. ; )

so, i don’t plan on passing the time with doughs or cookies for a while…this is what i am doing this afternoon instead. the next thing on my time passing list! i’ve also got going right now a playlist on last.fm based on christopher o’riley. i really want his music…he is a classical musician who has recorded ‘classical’ arrangements of radiohead, elliot smith, etc. they are, in my opinion, brilliant.

les mis is an ultimate, all time, hands down favorite of mine. i thought it was about time i actually gave it the honor of reading the actual book.

* i cannot wait for the latter half of wil’s class, because he will have moved on to the yeast doughs and breads….bring on the baguettes and peasant loaves!!!!

** yes, i am a slight bit jealous that wil gets to learn and make all these things i’d love to try my hand at. i’m not complaining that i get to sample and eat everything though. : )

since the new year, i honestly can say we haven’t made any blog worthy meals. it didn’t help that upon returning home from our christmas travels, i got the flu that the chiaravalle family is attempting to make a yearly tradition, knocking me out of commission for a few days. i did happen to squeak out a batch of cream biscuits from smitten, and froze them to bake as needed…and we did have a few nights of comfort meals like shepherds pie and pot roast but nothing new to share with you all.

wil is in a meat fabrication and identification class right now (think butchering…from a little shrimp, all the way to a cow), and while i know he’s enjoying it, they aren’t cooking as much, so he’s not coming home with free meals and millions of ideas at this point.

the last few days have been quite eventful with some expected and unexpected guests…and that’s led to some quick meals out on the town. although my mom was unfortunately stranded in portland after trying to fly home into freezing fog, we got an impromptu sunday morning with my mom and dad. after church we unknowingly landed at a homey diner that had a surprisingly healthy and unique menu. that evening, we were lucky enough to get to go to a blazers game with the cavaliers in town, with laura/stefan. we (or maybe just me) were excited to see lebron james and shaq in person.

we couldn’t pass up the late night opportunity of finally experiencing voodoo doughnuts after the game, and for me, it was definitely great. i’m not a big doughnut person most of the time, but my offensively named treat with chocolate, oreos and peanut butter was fantastic, with a nice yeasty dough that balanced all the super sweet toppings.

after stefan had to head north for another fishing trip, wil entertained us two girls, with sandwich carts, walks around downtown, wings, and then to the movies to see the chick flick ‘leap year’. i’m not sure what’s on our plate for today, but i’m enjoying vegging in my pj’s.

we did end up buying a calendar (woo! it’s the little things in life), so maybe we’ll get ourselves back on schedule and in the kitchen with camera in hand. we’re hoping for some progress on our site redesign…we’ve (ok, i’ve) been dragging our feet writing a bio and typing up all the info our ‘graphic designer’ and developer needs- sorry michael!

it’s always so fun shopping with christmas money. i’m all about someone being a great gift giver, who makes or finds something fabulous and wraps it like it was on the cover of a magazine. but i am equally excited about gift cards and money. most people frown upon a gift card or a check, like it was the last resort, but it’s so thrilling for me to go out and spend it on myself! maybe because i am a very thrifty person by nature… i can talk myself out of buying things so easily… ‘i’ve already got a blouse that color’, ‘my purse still holds up’, ‘i can figure out how to rig something instead of using this gadget’. if you ever need help limiting your spending, take me along.

but wil and i were blessed with some generous gifts this holiday, and where else would we go but to a kitchen store! the more time we spend at home, the more we think about the kitchen doodads that we want and need, as food is just as much a source of entertainment for us as the tv.

with my on call shift at my new job not needed, and with wil’s classes cancelled due to a power outage hitting all of north portland and some of the downtown area, we bundled up to go buy some goodies. we stopped into sur la table…our consensus is that alton brown might not approve. this store is so full of one trick gadgets that the small kitchen has no room to store…gimmicks like brownie pans that looks like a mouse maze so that every piece is an ‘edge’ piece. : P

but it is full of some great quality things, and wil got stuck a couple times in the back corner with fancy balsamics and at the wall of chef knives behind glass. we came away with some good loot…and when i emptied our bag, my selections were fun…wil’s all seemed very necessary. a meat thermometer to replace his broken one, a pepper grinder to replace the one that wil has been tempted to throw out the window once or twice, and a funnel, as we’ve surprisingly enough had multiple instances wishing we had one. (we are on a ’save old glass bottles/jars’ kick as a side note)

one big purchase was the 1300 page larousse gastronomique. wil enthusiastically exclaimed that this is THE resource to be a serious french chef, and where all of his modern day textbooks lack, this book shines through. he’s learned about this in school…all i could think of was when paul gave a copy of this to julia child and she laughs because it is all in french (in the movie of course!).

i will not be attempting to read this, but it was fun to flip through, as it is a comprehensive encyclopedia of anything culinary. as for me…i did not achieve my goal of reading the baking book by the new year. come on, who was i kidding! the book got opened maybe two or three times over our vacation, each time not longer than about 45 seconds since more often than not i was being summoned by siblings, parents or more likely, nieces and nephews. it has been interesting, but not entirely applicable to me. as a home baker, i can’t quite make anything from it based on the large scale formulas it provides meant for professional equipment. but i do love still reading about everything, and i am keeping at it. i’ve read about breads, pies, cakes, cookies, creams, frostings, pastries…and still have about a quarter to go. but wil, being a good man, still told me to buy something inspired by the book, and so i bought a mini spring form pan and some cool smooth sided ramekins.

we attempted to go to powells to buy a cool wall calender, which is literally across the street from sur la table, but they were out of power! our side of the street was lighted and bustling…and all in the other direction was dark with handwritten signs on their doors. we migrated to whole foods to grab a quick lunch and headed home…a good, short shopping trip…with someone else’s money.

it only seems appropriate to follow the crowd and sum up our year before we kick off 2010…it was a year of serious change for me and wil…and to write a normal blog might take forever. we also ditched christmas cards this year. not a preferred choice as i love writing up our little letter each year since we married, but when you add the paper, ink, and stamps (i wonder how many increases in postage will take place this year!), it’s a small fortune. and when you get to where we were on cutting unnecessary things out of the budget, cards went without an argument. so here’s a list of highlights for you all.

• january and february filled with daily life and seeing a record amount of movies in the theatre in time for our friends’ annual oscar bash. our investment in cinema paid off as i guessed the most winners right!
• mom and a friend came for a visit in the spring time…got to experience more of the rural south at a garage sale that lasts for miles (who knew people could have so much junk!) and the lost baggage center.
• of all things, a scrubs episode changed our life, when it inspired wil that the time was now to pursue something you love for the rest of your life…and he decided to research culinary school.
• by april we had our house on the market…in hopes that it would sell before wil’s fall enrollment would take place! enjoyed the constant stress of showing a house a couple times a week with two great danes. we spent many afternoons with the four of us driving around (some days too hot to be outside for too long!) to waste time.
• as our departure from nashville loomed, our time with friends grew more bittersweet, highlighted with a great evening on the hills of arrington vineyards with picnic blankets, bottles of wine, and catch phrase.
• at the end of june we joined family in montana to celebrate my parents’ 25th anniversary…a good way to ring in independence day with lakeside s’mores and firecrackers!
• with life’s timing upside down, we received an offer from some dear friends to spend the summer at a music institute in the north carolina mountains, outside of asheville. it only made sense to take advantage of a period of rest in a beautiful setting while the house was in escrow and to do a little work to earn money. we will cherish the friendships made and solidified over terrible camp food, waterfall hikes, office episodes, and breathtaking symphonies!
• august brought us the end of our time at brevard, to come back to nashville to pack the rest of the house, sign papers and pack the dogs in the car in preparation for our cross country drive! it didn’t help that the week our house loan was to be paid off by the sale, our mortgage company disappeared off the face of the earth, with no one knowing where anyone’s loan information went! (god took care of that later)
• i won’t deny it was a little nervewracking to drive 2400 miles with only a city as a destination…no apartment or house lined up, and our stuff to arrive on a freight truck within days or our arrival! we touched base at our parents, but quickly scoured portland for a building walking distance to wil’s school that would accept two giant canines. that was interesting…
• we found a place and moved in at the beginning of september, and road tripped down for a tour through california, visiting 5 cities to see family we hadn’t seen for too long.
• wil started school shortly after that, while i got to experience the loveliness of job hunting. yay unemployment!
• although it soon became a tight squeeze for us, as the expenses outweighed a zero income, we fell in love with the city over the last few months and have enjoyed the proximity to everything, including our family. i finally landed a part time retail job for the time being, and get to walk to work. we went from a one car family to now hardly using it at all!
• with time on our hands, and wil’s expertise already increasing, we’ve enjoyed transforming this blog to reflect the foods and experiences we love, and are excited about furthering this endeavor in the new year, with a new layout and look.

christmas was of course a highlight, and here i am sitting back at home already, in my pj’s waiting to watch the rose parade. i guess i should wake wil up so we can enjoy a french press together on the couch with flowered floats passing by on our screen. happy 2010 everyone.

don’t worry- you, our dear readers, are off the hook.

wil put me up to a challenge last night. and i accepted.

we braced the cold last night and walked to wil’s school to grab a notebook he left in his locker (containing some secret formulas for a future project!). at his locker, we saw a handful of books he has yet to bring home. i squealed when i saw a big baking book, and decided to hijack it until he needs it for his patisserie classes.

i may claim to love baking, but i hardly know a thing about the science behind it. i know you have to pack a cup of brown sugar, and you have to keep your flour measurements precise…but beyond that i go blank on what ingredients serve what purpose. when something goes wrong, and i thought i did everything right, i tend to just bum out and leave it at that. (like my last attempt at a chocolate chip loaf cake)

as i sat on the couch later in the evening, with a blanket of course, since it’s freezing!, wil turned around and said this: “i challenge you to read that book cover to cover.”

huh? this is a 700 hundred page textbook.

but then he followed it up with this: “i will buy you any piece of equipment you want, inspired by something in this book, if you can finish it by the new year”

stupidly enough, i accepted.

so i’ve got less than a month, which ends up being about 30 pages a day of reading dry, classroom based text. if all i gain is just a better understanding of this hobby and a little inspiration, then i’ll be happy.  i already know this book is geared for the professional kitchen, but i know i’ll probably pick up some basic techniques and procedures that carry through lots of favorite treats. let’s see if i can do it!

also, we received some supplies that we ordered for christmas gifts…here’s a little teaser. unfortunately, since the majority of our readers are our moms and siblings, (shout out to you!) we might not be able to post about it completely, at least until after the holidays.