The thermometer’s red line is stretching high this week, and I couldn’t be more elated. Just last week, a friend in northern NH received a field full of snow. Meanwhile, I’m basking in weather ranging from mid-seventies to mid-nineties and eschewing shoes, preferring the tickle of grass between toes. The lilacs are full in bloom, making the yard one big aromatherapy spa. And the strawberries have sent forth white tender blossoms swaying in the breeze.

I’m falling in love with the world all over again, a rebirth of awareness and appreciation. When I go on my runs, people are actually outside in the nice weather, and it’s not just me and my dog and my music. (To be fair, I can’t really expect people to enjoy frolicking in the rain as much as I do.) Parents are pushing strollers with pucker-faced bundles waving from inside. Workers at the nearby uniform cleaning factory are walking home from work, happy for the relief of fresh air. Little boys are whizzing by on their bikes, blissfully ignorant to the potential of a big wipeout.

Sweatshirts and winter coats have been traded in for liberating tank tops, flowy skirts and sundresses. The typical New England footwear of snow boots has been put back in the recesses of the closet as light sandals and strappy slingbacks make their return.

We’re getting drunk on sunshine and soft breezes, high on smell of grilled steaks and burgers. It’s a euphoric time of year, especially in New England, where each season is its own distinct character. Fall is a deceptively lighthearted harbinger of dark days to come and winter is a cruel breast and spring a weepy, slobbery mess. But summer is a puppy, immune to disappointments and discouragement, chasing life with abandon.

All this energy and zest for living needs a meal that equally matches its playfulness. Nothing heavy. Nothing greasy. And certainly nothing laden with butter.

Ta-da! I present to you a meal to please anyone, even vegans and gluten-free folks. It’s cheap, easy, healthy. Like summer, it’s full of color and fun and nothing heavy to hold you back. But it’s a perfect fill-me-up while you listen to the crickets sing their evening sonnets.

It’s also a blank canvas for you to season to your tastes. I went the Asian route by simply adding soy sauce but you are free to get creative with whatever seasonings are in your cabinet.

If you have a moment, I’d love to hear what you like about summer. Do you have any exciting summer plans? Perhaps, a new outdoor activity you’re going to try or an exotic adventure vacation? Or will this be the summer of chilling?

3 small summer squash, sliced half moons
2 cups chopped broccoli
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup dry long grain white rice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large red pepper, julienned
Olive oil
Soy sauce

1. Make sure all your veggies are prepped since once you turn on the heat, you won’t have much time to chop.  Here are some visual guidelines for what shape and size you should be chopping your veggies.

2. Add a dollop of olive oil to your large frying pan and heat up until it is almost smoking. Toss in your chopped onion and let it sizzle until it becomes translucent. Then take the onions from the heat and put aside in a small bowl.

3. This is the time to start heating up the water for your rice. Remember, 1-1/2 cups of water per cup of dry rice, so this means three cups of water for this recipe.

4. Throw your broccoli and squash in the frying pan and add three cups of water. Crank the heat up to high and let boil for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside in a bowl.

5. By this point, your water should be boiling and your rice should be in the pot. Cook for 15 minutes on medium-low, covered.

6. Back at your frying pan, it is time to add some more oil and your red peppers. Crush your garlic clove in a press and add that to the pan. Cook until the peppers start to become flexible. Now, add in your broccoli, squash, and onions. Turn heat to low.

7. When rice is done, scoop some up into a bowl and add your vegetable mixture. Season with soy sauce according to your preferences. Note: Not all soy sauces are gluten-free, but La Choy brand soy sauce is.

I’m often caught off guard by the kindness of strangers. Maybe it’s because I’m too busy to see everyday occurrences of unsolicited good deeds. Or perhaps I’m just hanging around the wrong places. But the rarity is probably what makes those moments of undeserved goodness so special and memorable.

I was the recipient of such a good deed this week. I was fervently typing up an freelance article (ironically, about volunteerism) when a knock at the door sent the puppies wildly crashing down the stairs to who could be gracing up with their presence. The postman had visited, like an everyday Santa Claus, and left a package on my stoop. With the passion of a two-year-old on a sugar high, I pounced on the box, eager to see what awaited me.

Inside, I found this mysteriously wrapped parcel:

After untying the ribbon and folding back the brightly patterned fabric, I discovered:

Cute stickers! A handmade book of recipes! A pretty journal the color of ruby red grapefruit! And a cookbook titled The Best Bake Sale Ever Cookbook! Wheee!

This pleasant surprise to my day was actually the wonderful work of blogger Frugal Hostess, who shares DIY projects, lifestyle advice, and guidance for living a frugal yet satisfying life. She had a contest on her blog where participants merely had to comment with their favorite baked good to enter. Well, my challenge was deciding on my favorite. So I wrote in “rum-soaked tiramisu” because of the fond memories I associate with it. And by random luck (or fate!), I won.

So, someone I know only from the internet shipped me this amazing package of goods! Wow. Just plain wow.

Other acts of kindness from Internet people or complete strangers:
- Fellow NH-ite @Sully lent me David Meerman Scott’s book on The New Rules of Marketing and PR and when reminded that I still had it, simply told me not to worry about it and to forward it on.
- A friend I know purely through Livejournal has been giving me comprehensive advice on running and triathlon training, despite being in the middle of a house sale and busy up to her eyeballs.
- A customer recently gave me a Lindt chocolate truffle. (Yes, I take candy from strangers!). Surprisingly, it was not the first time that has happened.
- Former NH-ite @EmilysPearl offered to let me crash at her place if I ever make my way to NYC.
- Aspiring career coach @tboyum spent a whole evening talking with my about my career goals and giving me good advice on pursuing my dream career.

To those of you who have been kind to me and I have forgotten to mention you here, I apologize and thank you also for your selfless giving of time, talent, and treasure. I strive in my life to pass on the favors you have done for me and hope that others do the same for you.

I attended a tea party in Boston this week. Yes, a real bona fide tea party with real tea and assorted items for noshing. While the Tea Party Express rallied tax protesters on the Boston Common, I and a hundred or so other folks gathered for what was dubbed The Real Boston Tea Party. Most of us dressed up in fancy smancy outfits and had an old-fashioned tea party picnic right on the Common.

It wasn’t political or obnoxious or theatrical. It was simply a tea party. Some folks did bring signs, but one sign in particular summed up the event perfectly. It said: “Our tea party has cookies.” And indeed it did! As well as scones, crumpets, petit fours, bread, cake, and in my case, cupcakes.

Despite my late Victorian garb, I veered into a more modern style of tasty treat — the moist and fluffy cupcake. I made Chocolate Stout Cupcakes, using a recipe from RainyDayGal on Tasty Kitchen. However, because I had to transport these lovelies by car and train, I chose not to frost them. To be honest, though, I didn’t miss the frosting, and it seemed that no one else did either.

Paired with a cup of fine peach ginger black tea, these cupcakes were delish! Immediately, the cupcakes began to disappear as my boyfriend and I offered them to other tea party attendees (and often receiving other fine goods in return). A few days later and the ones I left at home are still yummy. Dare I say they get better with time? Moister, at least.

I began this recipe around 8pm the night before the party and didn’t finish baking until midnight. I realized about one-third of the way into the recipe that the numbers of cupcakes it would make is 48. Forty-eight cupcakes a lot of cupcakes! If you don’t need so many, use Tasty Kitchen’s awesome serving adjustment tool to modify the recipes amounts to accommodate your cupcake quantity needs.

Also, don’t worry about using a hand mixer as the recipe calls for. I used a whisk and beat it really fast and everything turned out fine. Instead, worry about having a bowl big enough to mix all the ingredients together at the end. Because it will be a lot of batter. Seriously, a lot. I ended up splitting up the batter and using my Kitchen Aid mixer in two rounds of final mixing. It worked out okay.

One final note: Use good stout. I know it may seem unimportant, especially since you’re consuming it in a baked good and not straight from the bottle. However, if you’re going to bother to consume this many calories and this much saturated fat, opt for the good stuff. Good food is made from good ingredients.

I used Rogue Chocolate Stout from Bert’s Better Beers in Hooksett, NH. Very rich, very creamy, and very good in these cupcakes. It also added a final note of a bitterness for a bittersweet chocolate taste.

Happy eating and hope your weekend rocks!

2 cups Stout
2 cups Unsalted Butter
1-½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
4 cups Flour
4 cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
1-½ teaspoon Salt
4 whole Eggs
1-½ cup Sour Cream
2 cups Whipping Cream
1 pound Bittersweet Chocolate, Chopped

For the ganache frosting:

Bring whipping cream just to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat, and immediately whisk in bittersweet chocolate until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours. Stir before frosting.

For cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix butter and stout in a medium saucepan. Bring just to a simmer and then remove from heat. 
2. Immediately add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.
3. Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt) in a large bowl. 
4. Beat together eggs and sour cream in another bowl using an electric handheld mixer.
5. Pour in the butter/cocoa/stout mixture and mix to combine. 
6. Add the dry ingredients and mix until batter is smooth.
7. Pour batter into prepared (lined or greased) muffin pans. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle of cupcake comes out clean. 
8. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting with bittersweet ganache.
(According to RainyDayGal, this recipe was adapted heavily from Bon Appetit’s Chocolate Stout Cake.)

As an 80-lb. pit bull puppy, Buster is a bit intimidating to the 10-year-old 30-lb. cocker spaniel, Morgan. Realistically, though, all he’d ever do to her is lick her, something he does whenever she barks at him. (Again, a comical sight.)

Yet, when he pesters her for her dinner, she gives in and lets him bully her away from food (aka her favorite thing on earth).

We humans can be the same way, avoiding things we’re scared of, when really, we’re not at risk.

Think of that job you want but are fearful of applying for because you feel under-qualified.
Think of that person you’d like to talk to but don’t approach because you don’t feel “cool enough.”
Think of that class you want to take but don’t because you don’t feel smart enough.

Let’s be real here and think “What are you actually risking?”

Nothing.

You, like Morgan, have created an irrational fear of something that is actually innocuous. So what if you don’t get called in for an interview? Nothing lost except a little time and effort. But you got your name out there and gave it a shot.

So what if that person you finally get the guts to approach snubs you? Clearly, they are not someone you’d want to be friends with anyway.

So what if you struggle in that class? You’ll come away with a better knowledge of your skill set and where to direct your studies. Or perhaps you’ll meet someone in the class who can help you understand the material. Sure beats being friends with that person from example two, right?

One way you can boost your confidence is by trying new recipes that appear overwhelming. Take, for example, these shrimp tostadas. Looks like a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps, right? Plenty of opportunities for things to go awry?

The recipe’s author, digigirl from Tasty Kitchen, said it was easy, but I was skeptical. So, I fetched all the ingredients and gave it a whirl. And boy, was that a good choice!  It helped to have some kitchen help from my sister and boyfriend, especially when running about, snapping photos and fiddling with my tripod.

The consensus was that these are very tasty, if not a bit messy to eat since it’s like an open face crunchy taco that requires a post-noshing napkin. Using fresh shrimp and the mix of seasonings really makes the meal amazing.

6 whole 6 in. Corn Tortillas
1 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Black Pepper, Freshly Ground
1 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1 tsp. Brown Sugar, Packed
1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano
2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, Minced
1-1/2 lb. Shrimp, Shelled, Deveined, Rinsed, Drained
1 whole Onion (medium), Sliced
1 whole Poblano Pepper, Cored, Seeded, Sliced
1 whole Bell Pepper, Cored, Seeded, Sliced
1/2 c. Guacamole
1/2 c. Sour Cream
1 c. Chopped Lettuce
2 tbsp. Chopped Fresh Cilantro
1 whole Lime, Cut Into Wedges

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Cover a large baking sheet with foil. Lay tortillas on sheet and spray with cooking spray. Turn over and spray other side. When oven is heated, bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. They may still appear floppy, but will become crispy as they cool. Remove and place on a plate covered with paper towels. Blot with a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

2. In a small bowl, combine the cumin, garlic powder, pepper, salt, chili powder, brown sugar, and oregano.

3. Put the olive oil in a Ziploc bag and mix in all but 1 tablespoon of the spice mix. Add the garlic and shrimp; massage to coat. Set aside.

4.Heat a 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat, and, when hot, coat with cooking spray. Add the sliced onion and sauté until softened and fragrant and starting to brown, about 4 minutes.

5. Add the chile and bell pepper and continue to sauté for 2 minutes. Add the remaining spice mixture and sauté until the onion and chiles are tender but not mushy, another 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

6. Return the skillet to medium high heat and add the shrimp. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp are cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes.

7. Add the sautéed vegetables; toss to combine and reheat.

8. Spread a small amount of guacamole on tostada. Spread a small amount of sour cream over guacamole, then add some lettuce. Add some sauteed vegetables and top with shrimp. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serve with additional sour cream and guacamole, and a wedge of lime. Enjoy!

The small, subtle hints of summer have crept in. First, it was the disregard for heavy, winter coats. Then came the reappearance of grass. Gradually, the sun started making casual visits, punctuated by wind storms and an onslaught of flooded basements.

But finally, the true sign of summer had arrived–an explosion of miniskirt wearing preteens donning flip flops and bare arms. Truly, summer was here, even if we’re still technically in spring and, at least in New England, still at risk of snow.

And just like that, we are darting about, fetching gardening supplies, making summer to-do lists, and fervently praying that our clothes from last summer still fit (or just saying “Forget it!” and dashing off to get new ones). Everything feels so full of potential. Everything feels so full of hope and life and energy. It’s like euphoria that leaves you light-headed and a bit drunk on joy.

We have plans! We have goals! We are on a mission to get splendid things done this summer! There are mountains to be hiked, camping trips to be taken, and new recipes to be tried! (And excessive exclamation point usage habits to be broken.)

But how do you make sure that you actually try all these new things that have caught your eye or do the things that never quite got checked off last year’s list? I am, by no means, an expert on actually accomplishing everything on a to-do list, but I will share with you something has helped me go from “planner” to “doer.”

Go over your to-do list. Are some things more time consuming than others? Are some going to take planning or a few preparation steps? And are some so time consuming that you’ll only get discouraged trying to get them done in a short period of time? Group your plans into three categories: Anytime, With Planning Time, With Lots of Time.

Anytime is going running three times a week. Anytime is organizing your financial paperwork. Anytime is reading The Fountainhead. Anytime is anything that requires little prep work. Grab your running shoes and go run. Grab your mountain of receipts and statements and file away. Grab your library card, check out the book, and begin reading.

With Planning Time (WPT) is making a chocolate pudding and cake trifle desert. WPT is scrapbooking your 8 week trip to Europe. WPT is selling all your unused possessions in a yard sale.WPT is anything that requires some planning and prep work. Find a recipe, go to the store, get your ingredients, and then you can make that dessert. Order prints of your photos, purchase travel-themed paper and scrapbooking supplies, and then you can create beautiful pages. Clean your room, put all the items in boxes, secure a date, make signs, advertise, and then you can have your yard sale.

With Lots of Time (WLT) is running a triathlon. WLT is designing a fun and interesting blog. WLT is cultivating a successful garden. WLT requires planning and lots of work over an extended period of time. It can’t be rushed. Traithlons require months of training (and Advil!). A great blog requires countless hours of Photoshop design work, coding, writing, editing, and marketing. A great garden takes planning, weeding, purchases of seeds or seedlings, weeding, tending, watering, harvesting, weeding, and fervent prayers for good growing weather.

(Yes, as you may have guessed, these are some of my goals for this summer.)

Once you realize that some things will take a little effort while others will take months and months of ongoing work, you can start to break those larger projects into small, more manageable parts.

With all this planning and doing, I suspect your time for spending time in front of your stove will be limited. So here’s a little slow cooker recipe to keep yourself fed while you invest your time in actually accomplishing your goals. It’s a soup that takes very little prep and will last you a week, and it can be enjoyed hot or cold. Enjoy!

Pork and Hominy Soup

2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Large Onion, Diced
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 whole Jalapenos-seeded And Diced
3 teaspoons Cumin
1-½ teaspoon Oregano
½ teaspoons Black Pepper
3 cups Cooked Pork, Like Carnitas
1 cup Roasted Green Chilies (canned or fresh), diced
¼ cups Medium Green Salsa
2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Hominy, Drained And Rinsed
Reserved Juices From Carnitas
1 quart Chicken Stock
Tabasco Or Sriracha Sauce (optional)

1. Before you turn anything on or start melting your butter, make sure these lovely ingredients are chopped.

2. Melt butter over medium heat and add onion, garlic, jalapeno, and spices. Saute until veggies are soft.

2. Add vegetables in a slow cooker with pork, green chilies, salsa and hominy. Add reserved juices from the carnitas and stock to cover. Cover slow cooker and set on Low for 7 hours or High for 3 1/2 hours. Add tabasco or sriracha sauce to your taste and serve with desired garnishes. Enjoy!

Optional prep style: If you prefer to do this stovetop, saute veggies as directed and combine everything in a large heavy pot. Bring the soup to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 2 hours until flavors are well combined.

This recipe is from The Noshery, and I tip my ladle in appreciation of such a tasty dish.

If chefs can make an array of sumptuous meals upon request and waitstaff can whisk away dirty dishes that you don’t have to wash, why bother to cook at home? Especially for you folks who can afford to eat out every night, why go through the effort of finding a recipe, shopping for ingredients, doing all the prep work, cooking the meal, and dealing with piles of dirty dishes?

Why not dine out or order in or pick up take out on the way home from work?

Two words: Control and independence

1. Control. When you cook, you control what goes into your meal and what doesn’t. When you order a meal at a restaurant, you are eating a meal you can’t control the contents of. So, if the chef loves to add lots of butter, even if you’re trying to cut back on extra fats, you don’t know how many tablespoons went into your “healthy” mashed potatoes. The sugar, the oils, the unnecessary additives, and preservatives that restaurants are putting into your meal are all things you can’t control. This means your body’s health is out of your hands at that point.

Furthermore, a lot of the food you’re getting at a restaurant is pre-made, pre-packaged, and/or made in massive amounts. This leads absolutely no handcrafted artistry to freshly julienned carrots, cuts of meat, or fluffy yet gooey molten chocolate cakes. Basically, your meal is nothing special. If you really want to get a meal that screams “Fresh! Quality! Handcrafted! Excellence!” you have to be willing to shell out some dough for chefs with true skills who can masterfully execute a well-planned meal.

2. Independence. Perchance a zombie apocalypse occurs and you are forced to feed yourself, you will not, in all likelihood, have the luxury of restaurants, personal chefs, or access to meals beyond prepackaged goods in the abandoned grocery stores. If you can’t at least make a grilled cheese sandwich, you will starve and the zombies will eat you. Granted, that’s an extreme situation. However, there is something very admirable about someone who has the skills to feed themselves without relying on the cooking abilities of Boston Market, KFC, or Olive Garden.

Anyone can order take out. Anyone can buy a meal a restaurant. It doesn’t take any amount of talent. But not just anyone can make a tender beef stew or roast a flavorful chicken or bake flurry, moist muffins. Or can they?

Actually, I think you can. Yes, you, the person currently hunched in your chair with way too many Firefox tabs open and a true appreciation for ice cream with little bits of goodness blended in. The only thing keeping you from being independent in your cooking is your hesitance to risk failure by trying a new recipe. But, who wants to try a recipe that might end in a completely inedible mess?

Good news, you’ve got this site. And me, your guinea cook/baker/guide. So, let’s get to it and make some food that you can control ingredients of and that you can make all by yourself. Well, no need to cook alone. Grab a friend. Make a friend. And get in the kitchen. We’ve got food to make!

In New England, cabin fever starts to set in around the beginning of March. Kids become restless, having bored of purposeless trips to the mall every weekend. Adults are eyeballing their bathroom scale with distrust, having seen a steady increase in digits since the holidays.

And the whole area seems to hum with a pent-up excitement, like a washing machine about to blow soapy water in every direction and send Barbie and friends floating through the basement on a white water rafting trip they could not have predicted.

To keep our sanity, we resort to: 1) an increase in alcohol consumption, 2) a sudden fascination with driving aimlessly just to get out of the house, and 3) making plans with people we don’t actually like, simply for something to break the monotony.

Or, in my household, we buy a pineapple. Silly as it sounds, eating a tropical fruit when it is 30 degrees outside is sublime. Thanks to a southern hemisphere that grows stuff while we’re busy shoveling snow and also thanks to the miracle of international shipping, we have access to fruits at a time when the only thing growing here is our impatience for spring.

But cutting up a pineapple is pain, if you haven’t devised a plan of attack. Its thick skin, balloon shape, and fibrous core make cutting it a challenge. Fortunately, I’ve managed to develop the easiest pineapple peeling plan possible and have documented it step-by-step for your convenience.

It’s not necessarily a recipe, but hopefully, you too can find it useful in fighting off the cabin fever, even if your cabin happens to be located on the silky sands of Hawaii.

To begin, you will want to procure yourself a pineapple.  If you need one for immediate consumption, look for one that is golden and heavily fragrant (as is the one pictured). If not, you’ll have to wait a couple days for it to ripen, because cutting up and eating a pineapple prematurely only results in a terrible waste of a pineapple. Next, we’re going to get a bit medieval and behead this lovely pineapple. Lay the pineapple on a cutting board and use a sharp serrated knife to cut off the top leafy portion and throw it into your compost pile. 

Now you want to place the pineapple upright and carefully run the edge of your blade along the sides, cutting just below the peel. I cut very close to the surface since I don’t mind the little “eyes” but if those bother you, by all means, feel free to cut a bit more off to get rid of them.

Cut off the bottom of the pineapple and then chop the pineapple in half, top to bottom.

Take each half and cut off the tender pineapple sections from the tough core as demonstrated in the following pictures. This will make for quick and easy chopping, as you will see in a moment.

Turn it and then chop again.

Do this for the other half and line up all your sections so they are all even and pretty.

Chopping your pineapple like this makes for evenly sized pieces and less time spent prepping and more time enjoying.

And enjoy!