The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty: 2019

2019 by the books

I met my goal of reading 35 books this year! Want to see?

Beastie Boys Book was one of my favorite things this year. PHENOMENAL. Everything a Beastie fan could want in this latter-day age when our heroes are middle-aged dads and MCA has been gone for 7 years already.

Austerity Britain is a 600+ page monster that took me WEEKS to read, but it was worth it. My year in books is divided in BAB (Before Austerity Britain) and AAB (After Austerity Britain). AAB went much faster since I'd spent most of the summer wading through the nationalisation of various industries and agencies in the late 40s. And post-war rationing. And a government that mind-bogglingly contained both Foreign Secretary Bevin and Minister of Health Bevan. And did you know that the British government "observed" its own citizens, including eavesdropping on and recording conversations in pubs and elsewhere? Kynaston uses the Mass Observation Archives as one of his many diverse sources in this fascinating, dense volume.

I must say The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman, a graphic bio by Box Brown, was pretty amazing. Did you know that Andy Kaufman was an avid pro-wrestling fan, and that he used some of its precepts and characters in his work and in his personal life? Box Brown teaches most especially about the idea of kayfabe (or as some might mis-spell it, "covfefe"). Kayfabe is the once-closely-guarded secret that professional wrestling is an act--staged with heroes and villians and downfalls and triumphs that keep fans involved and occupied without knowing that it's being faked. (Does that sound familiar at all?)

Being Mortal, by the doctor Atul Gawande, is a must-read for anyone with aging loved ones. It has a lot of interesting thinking about the grey area between being a healthy older person and being an end-of-life older person. Our society is generally unprepared to support people during this time period when they need some additional help, often medical, but are not yet dying. Doctors tend to want to fix all problems, when the truth is that sometimes this fixing does more harm than good. But when do you stop, and is that "giving up"? Do we farm everybody out to depressing "homes," or try to take care of them ourselves even though it's too much, or is there something different and better we can do for this growing population of needy, yet very much alive, people who are in their last years of life? Atul Gawande goes into all of this, and there is a little progress being made.

Other stats about my 2019 books:

25 by women

3 books about being sober

7 biography/memoirs

4 books about music & musicians

7 novels

1 truly awful book that I read anyway

6 books in graphic form

PS After writing this I realized I'd read a 36th book over the summer, Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. I think Austerity Britain wiped it from my mind for a while.

2019: The Kayak Diaries

One of my favorite things from 2019 is my kayak. I bought an inexpensive molded plastic kayak rather late in the season (mid-August). It has helped me have rare moments of peace and tranquility as I float and paddle on quiet waters here in Southern Vermont. I miss it so much now that it's winter, and can't wait to get back on the water in the spring.

October

Utter calm


Windy day with rushing water-- this was my last outing of the season

I am grateful for every moment I get to be out on the water in my own boat on my own time. I know that I am lucky to have this.

A loved one suggested I compose haiku on my quiet paddles, so I did. I call them kayaiku.

Goose sound lifts with geese
Duck tribe breakfasts upside down
Night frogs call the dawn

Then I'm in the mist.
Clouds lie in the mountain's lap.
Grateful I wore wool.

Shallow shallow deep
Paddle paddle glide toward
That bridge then the next

Smack! Says beaver tail
I was marked an intruder
In the river mist

When it's warm morning
On your small tributary
Who cares for the sea

Anxiety Baking and Pie Tools

Have you see the Stephen Colbert bit about "Anxiety Baking"? It's a thing, and in the past few years, I've found that baking really is an excellent antidote for feelings of anxiety.

During the holidays in particular, I get anxious about all kinds of things that are part and parcel of the season... finding gifts, for example, or the inevitability of holiday celebrations actually happening on a certain day that cannot be delayed or avoided. For me, anxiety is not "whirling thoughts" or worrying with my mind. My anxiety is a physical feeling of doom that starts in the chest area. It feels like an unpleasant alarm going off deep inside, indicating something vague yet inexorably awful. It often comes out of nowhere--gah! Does that ever happen to you?

So I collect coping mechanisms. A quiet moment and a cup of tea can be nice. I do guided meditations sometimes. A long vigorous run on a Sunday afternoon can rebalance my chemistries. I make lists or write in my journal. And making pie can also be quite soothing. There's something very present about baking a pie that confuses the anxiety--plus there's the promise of a treat at the end.

Do you like to bake pies? And what kind of pie equipment do you have? I've started a small collection of pie tools, myself. Here's a tour:

This red thing is a pie crust shield. It can be adjusted to fit over any size pie.

For instance, here is a defenseless apple pie about to go into the oven. WILL THE CRUST COOK TOO SOON AND BURN?

No! Simply apply the pie shield around the crust and, as the shield says, "Tan Don't Burn." I like to put it on a few minutes into baking so the perky crust does not get squished down by the pie shield.

Look, it works!

This is my silicone rolling mat, which I like much better than rolling out pie dough on the counter (my previous method). It has concentric circles for measuring the diameter of your crust, though it's hard to see the measurements when they're covered with flour. I do enjoy this mat though. It's larger than a Silpat (the silicone mat that can go on the bottom of a baking sheet in lieu of parchment paper).

This handy device, the Apple Machine, lets you peel a pies-worth of apples in about 5 minutes (I borrowed it from a family member). Simply clamp to a table or countertop, impale an apple on the center arm, and turn the crank to peel the apple with a curved blade.

The blade creates an interesting corduroy texture on the apples. Then core and cut up for your pie.

Two recent pies: apple pie and pumpkin pie.

This is a mock apple pie filled with Ritz crackers and containing NO APPLES. I entered it in this year's pie contest at work (it did not win, but came close). People did not believe it had no apples because it really does taste like apple pie. PS it is 100% not gluten free.

Share about your pies and pie equipment below! And if this is an anxious time for you, I'm sending you a big Internet hug right now.

7-Year Running Watch Update: Garmin Forerunner 410

Looking back on my blog here, I see it's been 7 years since I bought myself a GPS watch for running--a Garmin Forerunner 410, to be precise. It's been a fantastic accessory over the years. It's gotten so if I don't capture a run with my Garmin, then it officially didn't happen. I've been known to turn my car around on my way to a long-run location just to pick up the forgotten watch. And as someone who has kept running logs since the early 90s, I love the touch-of-your-fingertips metrics that the Garmin provides, particularly through my Strava account. (I upload the Garmin data to Garmin's site, and then it automatically gets fed to Strava which I find more user friendly.)

According to my collected Garmin data, I've taken this watch on over 1,000 runs, and we've clocked a total of 5,308 miles together over 1119 hours. I've climbed 392,474 feet (~56,000 feet per year) and my average speed is 5.2 mph (not too shabby!).

But seven years and thousands of miles can be tough on a watch.

At this point, the silicone-ish watchband has disintegrated. Since taking the above photo where I used black tape to repair the band at the side, the band has broken completely in half and I'm using white gaffer tape to hold it together. The other side of the band is rigged up with a combination of string, thread, and a hair elastic. Unfortunately, the band turns out to be irreplaceable, since Garmin no longer makes this watch.

But you know what? I'm fine with my beat-up watch. I'm reluctant to replace it just because the band needs help. The watch itself is still tickin' and seems totally fine. There's nothing wrong with how it works, it's just a little less aesthetically pleasing than it used to be. It's worn in.

And it's like my transition in running in general. (Being worn in but still working is ME in general.) I rig up my running plans from workout to workout, with no long-term goal. I just have a yen to keep moving in nature. I'm reluctant to mess with the core of my practice--which is essentially to go out and find running adventures and enjoy the outdoors on legs that still work just fine. I love running up local mountains, and this year I ran my two favorite peaks a total of 18 times. I made that my priority. I focus on weekend adventures on trails and do hardly any pre-dawn workouts that are just for mileage.

As I get older and more seasoned, my philosophy is that if the run isn't a pleasure in some way, why on earth would I force myself? Life is too short for forcing things that I don't even have to do. I sleep in whenever I can. I eat the cake. I run when I want to. Those things feel good, and that is a blessing.

Aqua faba meringue (Vegan Eton Mess)

Have you heard this crazy idea that you can use BEAN WATER (aka "aqua faba" and specifically the liquid from a can of chickpeas) as a substitute for egg whites? Well I am here to tell you that it is perfectly true. Recently I made Vegan Eton Mess for a potluck, and I baked up a batch of crispy-sweet aqua faba meringues, and... it worked.

The secret is to use the ancient ingredient from the 1900s called "Cream of Tartar." This white powder (potassium bitartrate) creates the egg-white-like effect by stabilizing the chickpea liquid so it can hold volume. A handmixer (or stand mixer) is pretty much required. Here is my meringue mixture after some beating. Then I added loads of sugar. Check out Loving It Vegan for a similar recipe.

Look—stiff peaks!!

I then piped the mixture onto parchment paper and baked at low temperature for AGES. The trick with meringues, I learned, is not so much to cook them as to slowly and gradually drrrrryyyy them out until they are crunchy. I think mine may have taken about 2 hours total (first at low heat, then sitting in the oven as it slowly cooled).

The results were very meringue-cookie like! A vegan person, a gluten-free person, and a French person EACH said these were very good. That seems like very well-rounded praise.

I used most of the meringues to make Vegan Eton Mess, which was my contribution to an "Ugly Food" potluck. To make the mess, layer together chopped fresh strawberries, vegan whipped topping, and crumbled aqua faba meringues. The black specks in this photo are a fermented herbal power that I added for stress and mood benefits.

For a non-ugly version the mess could be assembled in a glass trifle dish.

As an aside, I had to share the Ugly Food pièce de resistance, which was not made by me. This is a kitty litter cake, which is crumbled vanilla cake and chocolate cake decorated with twists of caramel and buried Kit Kats and other chocolatey treats. It was disturbingly served with a fresh-bought kitty litter scoop and just felt... so wrong. Yet of course I had seconds.

Have you tried Aqua Faba yet? I supposed it could be made into a pavlova, right?

I pickled that! Lacto-fermented cucumber pickles with crock

How was your summer? I know it's not officially autumn yet, but with kids back in school and the weather turning cool, summer vacation is definitely over.

One of my firsts this summer (in addition to buying a kayak and taking a table saw class) was making my own batch of pickles. I followed this Homemade Dill Pickles recipe & video from Food Wishes. It was his first time making pickles and they seemed to turn out fine, so that inspired me to just jump in and give it a try.

I bought half a bushel of pickling cukes from the farmer's market program at work, which turns out to be a LOT of cucumbers. I sorted them out to find the ones of perfect pickle size, and we ate or gave away the rest.

I also ordered a bunch of dill, and added flowering tops from my own dill, since Food Wishes explained this may help the pickles stay crunchy. (Does it? I don't know! But mine were crunchy at the end so it must have worked, right?)

This is 4.7 pounds of cucumbers.

SALT is one of the other main ingredients in lacto-fermented pickles. With the lacto-fermentation method, the pickles are completely submerged in a flavored brine and left to ferment in a cool dark place. No boiling or canning required. And no vinegar.

Here is the brine after the salt dissolved. This pot includes 9 cups of water, too much salt (which I'll only find out at the end), garlic, peppercorns, coriander seed, and bay leaves.

My spouse took a sauerkraut class last summer (as you do), and I got him this cool and HEAVY crock as a gift. The pickles are the first project to get crocked.

So I layered in the cucumbers and brine, noticing that if you don't purposely add the garlic cloves in the layers, they'll be left all lonesome at the bottom of the brine pot. (I ended up kind of squeezing them down the sides.) I also noted all the seeds and peppercorns float on the top, and wasn't sure what that would mean for potential bad bacteria. But I just carried on!

The crock comes with two weights that hold the food down. While I was confused that the weights are unglazed (if they have no glaze, do they soak stuff up that can never be unsoaked? I still don't know the answer, and I did search for it online), they were super handy for keeping the cucumbers well under the surface of the brine. Oxygen is not your friend when it comes to lacto-fermenting.

Here's the crock with cover on.

I made these pickles during the hottest time of the summer, so I put the crock inside a cooler at the bottom of our basement stairs. Once it was settled in the cooler, I put the crock lid back on. Then I shut the cooler and I left it for 7 days. (Well, I did peek now and then.)

The big day finally arrived! I lifted the lid. A white foamy stuff had appeared, and evidently the cucumbers got softer since the weights are now completely under liquid.

Per the recipe, I just removed the white part and discarded. Looks good so far.

Here's the reveal... they look like pickles!

We tasted the pickles right away, to check for crunch and pickled-ness. They were good! They were also QUITE salty. Not unbearably salty, but I would say unnecessarily salty. When I make these next time I'll cut down on the salt.

I stored the pickles in mason jars and placed in the fridge.

My recipe, adapted from Food Wishes

4.7 pounds cucumbers, washed with stems trimmed down

9 cups of water

8 T kosher salt (I used 9 T and that was too much, so my next batch will be 8 T)

9 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 t peppercorns

2 t coriander seeds

4 bay leaves

4 cloves

dill leaves & flowers

Heat everything but the cucumbers and dill in a large pot while stirring gently. Turn off heat once salt has dissolved.

In stoneware crock, put a layer of cucumbers, some dill leaves/flowers, and a few cloves of garlic, then ladle in brine to cover. Repeat this layering until you reach the top of the crock. If there is brine left, make sure that at least the spices have been added to the crock. (You can keep extra brine in a jar and add it to the finished pickles, if needed.)

If any cucumbers are sticking above the surface of the brine, remove cucumbers until the remaining ones are completely covered. I left about half an inch of liquid and then placed the weights on top of the submerged cucumbers.

Cover and leave in a cool dry place for a week. (Fine to lift cover and check top of brine, but I avoided disturbing the pickles until the end of the week.) After a week, lift the top and skim off any white bubbles/scum—discard. Remove weights and test one pickle by cutting it in half. I was looking for whether there was an "al dente" section in the middle where the cucumber still looked raw, but my cukes had completely pickled. I supposed if they had not I would have put everything back in for a few more days.

Divide pickles into clean jars and pour in brine to cover (you can also use the extra brine from the beginning, if you kept it). I also put some garlic cloves and some dill in each jar.

Even though family members agreed these were salty, they still disappeared very quickly. I'll definitely be making these again the next time I come across 4.7 pounds of pickling cucumbers.

Easy peasy caesar salad: just 4 ingredients!

A few years ago I became obsessed with salad kits—you know, bags of pre-cut veggies packaged with smaller bags of toppings and dressing. So easy! Pretty tasty! Much crunchy! And the veggies are already washed and cut, which are chores that I detest. I also found that my family members seemed to like the organic Caesar salad kit. So I started to pick one up about every week or so to get some easy greens into our menu.

But after buying about 20 or 40 salad kits over time, you start to wonder... is this really worth it? There is a lot of plastic packaging involved. And I couldn't help but notice that with a Caesar salad, there are only 4 ingredients that make the magical combination:

Romaine lettuce

Croutons

Parmesan, grated

Caesar salad dressing

Surely I can do this myself. Right? So one day I skipped the salad kit and bought the individual ingredients instead. I steeled myself to wash and cut the Romaine lettuce. Then all I had to do was put everything in a large bowl and toss.

Crunchy!

Perfect with many things, like pizza!

This is soooo easy, and I feel better about not buying so much plastic. I got pre-grated parmesan several times, but recently invested in a block of parm that I grate with a microplane right when I'm making the salad.

Of course, if your family doesn't mind delicious umami, you can also pass some chopped anchovies to sprinkle on top. So there are FIVE ingredients in this salad if you want to get salty about it.

Oh yum.

Do you have an easy peasy salad that you make? Feelings on salad dressing that isn't homemade?

Cape Cod Vacation 2019, including Edward Gorey

We went back to Cape Cod! I enjoyed my closeup photos of barnacles from our 2018 trip, so I tried a few more closeups this year.

Moonscape, or seashell sitting in the sun?

The smell of beach roses is the smell of summer.

LOBSTER ROLL. This is from Arnold's Lobster and Clam Bar in Eastham, where we also played our first family game of mini golf.

We also visited the Edward Gorey House in Yarmouth. It was delightfully weird.

I'm so glad my children got to be exposed to Gorey's oddness and oddities. The author & artist lived from 1925-2000, and he purchased this house in 1979, moving there a few years later. He had a fantastic imagination and was a true eccentric.

Our kids were given a Gashlycrumb Tinies Scavenger Hunt to amuse them on their visit.

My daughter did a great job finding evidence of each of the 26 children's untimely demises (here a bottle of lye on a windowsill, there a box of tacks on a mantelpiece).

We saw Gorey's raccoon fur coat (one of them), which he stopped wearing later in his life because of his devotion to causes of animal welfare. In his will he established a charitable trust for animals, and specified that it include not only the usual cuddly animals, but also bats and invertebrates.