Winter is on its way

With last week's snow, most of the garden is dead. All that's left is lettuce, kale, and broccoli (the small shoots it keeps producing). Apparently you can pick kale after it's covered in snow and well below freeaing. I picked the last of the rainbow swiss chard on Friday. It was so pretty that i had to take a picture before Adam chopped it.

We also brought the pot with our jalapeno plant into the sun porch and that is still alive and well. I thought about taking it into the house, but it's kind of big.  It still has around 25 mature or close to mature peppers on it.

We also got our first installment of our CSA winter storage share on Thursday. About 70 pounds of carrots, potatoes, turnip, squash, rutabaga, radish, brussel sprouts, pumpkins, garlic, and onions. We made a rule that everything we cook from here on out has to include at least 1 root vegetable or squash.

Garden 2011

This was a mixed year for our garden. Crops that did well: kale (this is the most productive crop I've ever grown), lettuce, basil (both from seed and from plants), scallions, grapes, jalapeno peppers grown in a pot, kohlrabi, and dill. Crops that struggled: swiss chard (some kind of fungus early on), broccoli (didn't thin enough), cauliflower (same thing), beets (not enough sun?), peppers that were in the garden (not enough sun), and cucumbers (died early). Everything else was in the middle, including tomatoes which got a fungus again. I guess we should move them for next year. The problem is we have a nice semi-permanent trellis installed where they currently are.

Carrots and chioggia beets:

We picked a record 50 pounds of grapes! Wollersheim also said they had a good harvest this year. Adam is currently making wine in our basement. He expects to get about 25 bottles.

A tiny fraction of my gigantic kale crop. I've made lots of soup with kale lately. Luckily it freezes well, both in soup and blanched by itself.

A salmon dish inspired by something i ate at Sardine. It includes salmon from Seafood Center, corn from the farmers market, and heirloom tomatoes and basil from our garden.

We're always open to trying something new. Let me know if you have suggestions for new crops or things that worked well for you this year.

All God's creatures

As most of you know, Adam and I love looking out our back windows at what's in our back yard. Usually we see things like gold finches, downy woodpeckers, red bellied woodpeckers, blue jays, nuthatches, cardinals, chipping sparrows, hummingbirds (although I never do get used to these amazing birds), squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks. Once in a while, however, we see something that startles us. Here are a few that we've captured:

That last picture is a Cooper's hawk. This was the second time we'd seen him in our yard. When we first looked out the window the other day, he was on our bird feeder. We kind of doubt he was going after birdseed - we suspect he was going after songbirds. I don't know if i should be upset about that or not. I guess it's partially my fault for providing a bird feeder.

Decktopia

Well, it's summer, and you wouldn't expect that I could go a whole month without some kind of significant project to work on, would you? This month's project is a deck.

To understand the root of this project, you have to go back 2 years.

When we moved into our house in 2008, it was labor day, so 2009 was our first full summer in the house. Our house was built in 1958, which from everything we can tell was not a decade that saw much in the way of decks or patios in back yards. So our house was no exception. We have a great 3 season room on the back of the house, and the door from that room went to a set of concrete steps that ended, basically, in the grass. Not bad, but not great for entertaining, or getting the most out of the yard.

So in 2009, we decided that we needed a patio. We started doing our research, and got some quotes, and the quotes we got were expensive. Really Expensive. More than we spent to remodel the kitchen actually. The problem is that the yard slopes about 2 feet from the house to the place where the patio would end, so there was a big retaining wall needed, and it costs a lot to pay someone else to do that kind of work for you. So the Patio was out. Enter the deck. For some reason, I had it in my head that building a deck was easier to do myself than laying a patio. So that was what we decided to do. The deck would cost us about 5% of what we were quoted for the patio, and it would give me the opportunity to learn a new skill, deck building, and rent some really cool tools, power hammer and post hole auger.

It started slowly, with destroying the top step of the concrete steps that were there. Only the top step needed to be removed. After swinging at it for a couple of hours with a sledgehammer and a chisel, I decided that the power hammer was a much better option. Picture a really big drill, or a really small jackhammer. it weighed about 20 lbs, and hammered really fast. With a chisel tip on it, I was able to get through the concrete in no time flat. Then came the permit. Always important to follow the law. I got the plans approved right away, no problem, and I was off to dig my holes. This being Wisconsin, we like to make sure to get below the frost line. Realistically, the frost line is about 2 or 3 feet down. But code says to dig 48 inches. I wasn't about to do that by hand, so I rented a post hole auger. Picture a big motor with a stick on the bottom and a large steel helix attached. Digs holes in no time flat, so long as you don't hit any roots and rocks. That's a big if. I had 4 holes to dig, and each hole hit at least 1 root and at least 2 rocks. Big rocks. Granite mostly. Big thanks to my brother in law Adam for helping with the auger and breaking his back with me on that one. Here's a picture of us with the auger on our first hole, before we hit our first root!

And This is me in a hole trying to dig up a 60 lb piece of granite before moving the hole a few inches to avoid the granite!

And after I got out of the hole.

Holes dug, I got my inspection, and then set the posts in concrete in the bottom of the holes. The following weekend, my in-laws came down to help get the project rolling. It's great having a father-in-law with a great collection of power tools and an even better collection on knowledge of how to do things like building a deck. It made the work go a lot faster to have someone who knew what he was doing, rather than me having to look everything up on google each time I got stuck. We knocked out all the framing and started on the decking while he was here, which got me headed in the right direction for sure. What a blessing having parents who are willing and able to help us whenever we get crazy ideas for new projects.

So after sending the Dvoraks off, I continued to knock this project out. The following day, my good friend Derek came over to help me out some more. What a great help that was! It was nice to have someone that could get some good progress done on the decking while I focused on cutting the 6 stair stringers I needed in order to build the steps. By the time I was done with the stringers, Derek had pretty much laid all the decking on the lower deck. Thanks buddy!

The next week saw record high temps, so I took the weekdays off, and got back to it that weekend. I was blessed again with more help from a good friend, Ed. Ed and I were able to finish off the decking on the upper portion of the deck and get the benches started in the time Ed was able to help. Again, it was a huge help having another set of hands to get this thing done quickly. By myself, it all would have taken a lot longer, and been much harder. Thanks Ed!

After Ed left, I continued to work on the benches, as well as trimming off the ends of boards to even out the edges of the deck. As of today, I am probably about 85% done. I have a few more screws to put in on the decking to secure it, some finishing touches on the last bench, and the railings on the upper portion of the deck. Not too bad, I'm hoping to knock it out this weekend, and have it ready for inspection the following week. Here are some pictures of where the deck is at today.

I think the moral of this story is that we like to take on some pretty big projects. Luckily, we have some great friends and family who are willing to help us out with those projects. Ironically, it's that help that probably makes us more likely to do this sort of thing again in the future. Thanks everybody!

Landscaping is Fun

Ever since we bought our house in 2008, we've wanted to re-landscape the front yard. It was more weeds than grass, lumpy, and boring. Apparently if your house was built in the 1950s you were required to have at least 5 yew bushes in front. Our previous owner was an overachiever so we had more like 12.

Here's what we started with:

Here are some in-progress pictures:

I haven't taken any pictures of the final project, but i'll get those up shortly. All that's left is waiting for august when it starts to cool down. Then we'll bring in top soil and seed the half of the lawn that is going to be grass. Needless to say, Adam is excited about having less lawn to mow.

Fresh Cherry Pie

Our neighbor has a beautiful sour cherry tree in her backyard. Last year she didn't pick any of the cherries so the birds at them. This spring, she told us we could pick them if we wanted. Of course Adam and I take that kind of offer seriously! A few days ago we noticed the cherries were getting red so we opened the gate between our yards (that probably hasn't been opened in 10 years) and picked all the cherries we could reach. I later made a cherry pie with my first lattice crust. It turned out a little soupy, but very tasty.

Great urban race

Well, we just finished the Great Urban Race, Madison Edition. It was a really great day for a race. 75 degrees and sunny at noon when it started. The race is like a big scavenger hunt, or similar to the Amazing Race, without the international travel. The race started at a campus-area sports bar, and the went all over the downtown Madison area. Our team name was the salad spinners.

At the beginning, all the teams got a clue envelope. When they say go, you open your envelope and start solving clues. There are 12 clues. You get to skip one. Each clue has some sort of trick to it. Some have anagrams, others have riddles or word puzzles, or some kind of clue that helps you figure out a location somewhere in the city. Then you have to go to that location. Once there, you perform a task, get a brochure or picture, and move on. Some of the tasks we did this year were to hit a volleyball back and forth 10 times, and pump up a bike tire, and throw coffee beans into a cup. There are also pictures you had to take along the way. We had to take a picture of Emily riding a stranger's bike, take a picture with a guy who has a mustache, and take a picture with a person in uniform.

The most tricky clue was that there was a clue in the classified ads in the paper. We looked it up and found it, and it said Midwest clay project, and then below that there was a paragraph: "In 1953, a skinny errand boy (me) stands in front of a building at 1 west Wilson street, staring up at the building with with the words Wisconsin State Office Building over the door. It was as if the building was the place that Wisconsin will always do business. I was wrong."

So we went to the building mentioned, and it was locked. The was nobody anywhere nearby, and couldn't figure out what to do. Then we saw an elderly man walking with a walker and we thought, "yes, that's the skinny errand boy!" Then we went to him and asked him if he was the skinny errand boy. He looked confused, and asked us if we were lost. We realized that wasn't it, so we kept looking. We then realized that the paragraph had nothing to do with the clue. We looked up the Midwest clay project, and found out it was a scripting studio on Willy street, and we were completely off track.

In the end, we finished just over 2 hours, and we think we finished in the top ten. We go back tonight to find out where we ended up placing. I'll try to update later. Some of our pics are attached below.

Update: we finished 8th!

Mushroom city

Well, it's good to be home again. Our yard was in desperate need of our help. We came home to a front yard full of dandelions, and calf-high grass. We immediately decided to give up on the lawn, so I went to town with the round up sprayer. Our front lawn is now slowly dying, only to be reborn as a beautiful, landscapes space.

We also discovered quite the crop of mushrooms in the back yard. When you spread much, you expect some mushrooms to pop up. We have exceeded expectations. There are mushrooms everywhere! We have a lot that look like portabellas, though, I'm not confident enough in that guess to eat them. We also have what appears to be morels. I'm almost confident enough in that guess to eat them, but there were only two, so I let them be, in hopes that they will spread spores for next year. Mushrooms aren't exactly what we had in mind for our landscaping, but on the positive side, they are a sure sign that the much is decaying, which means better soil beneath the much, and happier plants.

Roma

"Rome wasn't built in a day," as the old saying goes. But we did see Rome in about a day and a half. This being a culinary tour, we didn't plan to spend much time with history and monuments, ruins, etc... so we didn't plan much time in Rome.

We got in around noon on Tuesday, and checked into our hotel, a few blocks from the Colliseum. The hotel was nothing to talk about, just a decent place in a good spot. Then we walked across the city and over the Tiber to the Vatican. We got there just in time for the daily English tour of St. Peter's Basilica. Our guide was a young priest in training from Minnesota. The tour was fascinating, with a great blend of history and trivia about the cathedral and the various pieces of art. It was the best free tour we've ever had. The Basilica itself was incredible. It is absolutely huge and filled with art. The highlights of the tour included the spot where they believe Peter the Apostle is buried, Michaelangelo's Pietà sculpture of Mary holding Jesus's body, and a bronze statue of Peter that they believe to be over 1000 years old. We were here only a few days after the beatification of Pope John Paul II, so there were a lot of signs and banners all over the city about him. They had just moved his tomb from the crypt of St. Peter's, up to the main floor of the basilica. So that was also an attraction that drew a lot of people as well.

After St. Peter's, we went to a little neighborhood down the river for dinner, where I had some great gnocchi, and Emily had an interesting octopus salad. Pictures are below.

On our second day, we saw the colliseum, Roman forum, Pantheon, Spanish steps (which we climbed), and the famous Trevi fountain. With the exception of the Pantheon, we didn't go into any of the attractions due to time constraints (colliseum and forum) or steep fines (Trevi fountain). We didn't have enough time to spend half a day in the colliseum and forum, so we just took a stroll around the outside. It was still pretty amazing to see this massive stadium as big as most modern stadiums, but built thousands of years ago. Although we weren't planning to see much of the ruins, it was fascinating to see the little that we did, and to imagine what the ancient city must have been like it its height. We had pizza for lunch, and you'll see a picture below of my arugula topped pizza. They call arugula "rocket" for some unknown reason. I've also included a picture of Emily with a delicious cappuccino.

As I write this, we're sitting at the Rome airport waiting to board the flight home, though, I won't post this until we find an internet connection.  Stay tuned for a trip retrospective.

Tuscany...ciao Bella!

Well, it's been a few days since we have written anything, so I'll sum up our 5 days in Toscana in a single post... here goes.

For starters, we are staying at this great agriturismo, called Savernano. It's a mixed farm with grapes, olives, some animals (mostly poultry from what we saw). The farm itself is perched atop a beautiful hilltop overlooking the valley and out over the Tuscan hills. When you walk out of your room, you are instantly surrounded by vines and olive trees and a postcard view in all directions. The drive up to the farm is an adventure itself, with several steep and Sharp switchbacks, which our sweet vw suv handled without any thought. Aside from a great breakfast, with delicious cappuccino, they also offer a delicious dinner for much less than most restaurants. They are the perfect hosts, friendly, helpful, all around great.

So we spent two days in Florence at the start. It was a great city. Getting in was a breeze, thanks to a convenient train from near the farm. Except, on the first day, the trains weren't running due to a strike. We would have stayed away, but we had reservations at the Uffizi gallery, so we drove in. What a mess. Don't drive in Florence if you can avoid it. We made it, thanks to our gps, but it wasn't easy. see the picture of the truck below to get an idea of the sort of thing you deal with. This truck is actually parked. Note that it is mostly on the sidewalk, and the rest is in the crosswalk. In general, it seems that the rule of driving in Italy is that you probably should get out of the way, and remember that lines on the road are only a suggestion of one possible trajectory you might choose to take.

Unfortunately, due to the strike, the Uffizi was closed. So we couldn't go anyway. But in the end, it was all good. We had lovely day seeing other art, like sculptures by Michelangelo and Raphaello, and pre renaissance sacred art, plus a climb up a tower to catch a view of the city. The next day we went down to Florence again, saw the uffizi, which is home to the Birth of Venus, as well as a number of great renaissance and pre renaissance works, and the Medici chapels, which were partly designed by Michelangelo, and quite impressive. In all, Florence was a beautiful city with great history and amazing art. The sheer numbers of priceless works was mind boggling.  While there, we had lunch at a couple of great non-tourist restaurants. One, called trattoria Mario was this tiny place with a few tables, which you share with strangers to leave no spot empty. We got there at noon and went right in, but by the time we left, there was a crowd waiting to get in. The pasta was great, and affordable. In the pictures below, you'll see Emily eating ribbolita, a soup thickened with bread, and a plate of pappardelle from Mario's. I also snapped a shot of the packed restaurant. You'll also notice a nice Florence pizza and some gratuitous gelato pics. For the record, it is perfectly acceptable to eat gelato twice a day.

The other part of Tuscany is the countryside. We enjoyed this part a great deal as well. There are small towns dotting the countryside, most on top of hills, and surrounded by ancient walls. We stopped at a few of these to take in the culture and drink the local wine. Each town has their specialty, and all were great. We especially enjoyed the small town of Montepulciano. There was a small door in the side of a building that led to a vast system of wine caves. Thousands of gallons of vino nobile sat in barrels aging to just the right balance of flavor and smoothness. The man in the tasting room was very cute. His name is Adamo, and he was featured in Rick Steeves guide and tv show. Adamo fancies himself a celebrity, and even autographed a postcard for us. He spoke very little English, but was so passionate about his wine, you hardly noticed. The wine was incredible, so we did take home a bottle.

Overall, it was a great time in Tuscany. Great food, great wine, and beautiful scenery.

Emilia-Romagna in a pasta shell.

We have now left Emilia Romagna. We didn't have WiFi access at our farm there, so I haven't had a chance to post pictures in a while. So this is mostly a picture post. I included some pictures of the food we ate in the region. Emilia-Romagna is an area of Italy that everybody has heard of, but most don't think to visit. It is north and west of Tuscany. The main cities make me hungry, because they are all the names of food. Parma in the north, known for Parmesano Reggiano and Prosciutto Di Parma. Modena in the middle, known for balsamic vinegar, and Bologna in the south, known for tortellini and pasta ala bolognese. The pictures below are of some of these foods. Tortelli, tortellini, pizza with prosiciutto, and there's a picture of the balsamic vinegar production at the farm where we stayed. It was a delicious time in Emilia-Romagna.