It feels like it’s been forever since I posted even though I know it’s only been since Tuesday! Ted and I have been busy this week – work, meetings, lots of research and planning. In all the hubbub updating the blog got put on the back-burner. But we’ve accomplished a lot, so hopefully the posting will resume as usual, except a little less sporadically this time.
So…March.
Already!?
And of course, like clockwork, with the first of March came the wackadoo weather. For real, Ohio. What an epic hissy-fit you have been throwing lately, Mother Nature! I sure hope all the nonsense and tomfoolery is out of your system. On Friday we were treated to severe storms and level 8, 9, and 10 tornado warnings on the TorCon radar for Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio. Major universities, entire school districts, and big corporations closed early and everyone who could make it home before 4:30 was sent home – everyone else had to stay put until it passed. Between the hours of 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. the entire population of Cincinnati and nearly all of Northern Kentucky from Louisville to Newport were huddled in basements and bathrooms as the tornado sirens blared, winds picked up, and weather radios announced where the latest touchdown had been spotted.
Yeah, feel free to enlarge that map. Cincinnati is right near the intersection of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. It was scary, but luckily Ted and I were both working in strong, sturdy concrete buildings with basements that day. I felt much safer at work than I ever would have at home. Our area was spared the worst of it, for which we are incredibly thankful, as we know that many nearby towns in Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky (many less than 30 miles away from us) were not so lucky. But it all passed in that hour and the sun was back to shining by 5:10 p.m.
And today, not even two days later, the sun is shining bright as can be, yet it is SNOWING outside.
Sun and snow. At the same time.
I don’t get it.
I suppose that’s a mid-west March for you, though.
On a much less terrifying note, I tried my hand at cooking up some German cuisine for dinner early this week. I made Rouladen (mustard and pickles wrapped in thinly sliced steak, rolled up, and coated in a beef and sour cream sauce) atop a bed of spaetzel (German noodle-dumplings) with a side of marinated red cabbage. It was nice to have something different for a change – comfort food, if you will. I also made a delicious candied pecan encrusted salmon filet with lemon roasted asparagus (but in the chaos and havok that the storms had wreaked on my mind hours prior, I totally forgot to use our brand new cedar planks) for lenten Friday, and last night I bought and roasted Jerusalem Artichokes for the first time.
If you’ve never had a Jerusalem Artichoke before (also called sunchokes in some grocery stores), you need to get on that ASAP. They were so good that I’m not sure I would have given one up for Ted to try, had he wanted to try one. I honestly cannot believe I’ve never had one before. They’re a root – almost a cross between a potato and an artichoke – mild but with a wonderful buttery artichoke flavor. I scrubbed them clean, dried them, sliced them in about 1/4″ thick slices, tossed them in a bag with some extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and freshly diced garlic and then roasted them on a baking tray in the oven at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. They were so tasty that I cannot wait to dig into the rest of the batch. They’re healthy and dirt cheap too. If you’re looking for a little something new and different to spice up your week, culinary wise, you should add them to your grocery list.
We also picked up tasty milkshakes from Steak & Shake and rented the movie Hugo – a movie that you need to go out and rent from Redbox right now because it is really that good – and turned off all the lights, turned up the sound system, buried ourselves under blankets, and settled in for a great movie night. Cinematically, it is a gorgeous movie in the way that it was shot, and the colors, costumes, lighting, and scenery in the film are so dreamy! Everything about it is beautiful. The plot is fun and adventurous and mysterious and sweet and inspiring and engaging all at once. It draws you in and keeps you wrapped up until the very end. I liked it so much better than Midnight in Paris, which was also good, but I can see why this one got so many awards nominations.
So, in summary, if you’re looking for a relaxing evening this week my vote is for Jerusalem Artichokes, milkshakes, and Hugo. Enjoy!
How have you been lately?
