Friday, April 22, 2011

Spring is here!

Spring has finally come to England... and that means GARDENING!  I started sprouting seeds back in January... and now I actually have plants!

 Ok, admittedly the first three pictures are not from seeds... these are plants from last year that are flowering...


 Ok... the shallots and onions in these two pics aren't from seeds either - but I did plant them last winter and they grew... does that count?

These are the real baby plants from seeds - I grew  them all on my own - and didn't kill them (or many of them - so far)









Biking is hard

So, I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been living up to the name of this blog lately.  I can't even remember the last time I was out on a bike before today - at least a month, probably more.  And before that, it was almost exclusively on my trainer inside the house, in front of the tv.  The only time I've even thought about riding was when I went home to Denver for a week and had a beautiful sunny afternoon walking along the Platte River that actually made it physically painful to not be on my bike.

But it's been over 70 degrees and sunny all week (which never happens in England) and I was starting to feel a little guilty for wasting the beautiful weather by sitting around inside.  I haven't been inspired to do anything (my husband deployed earlier this week) and it's been really difficult to get my butt off the couch.  But I told myself I would feel better if I went, and I did! There is something about being outside in the sunshine that seems to make everything else just a little bit better.

However... there are a few things I learned that I want to share with you...

Biking is hard.  Especially when the bike is not held up for you and you have to do this thing called balancing.  It's much harder when the bike is moving.  You also have to shift (and not when Coach Troy from Spinervals tells you to - you have to decide!).  It's best not to attempt complex moves like getting a bottle of water from your cage and drinking - for some strange reason, the bike tended to go all over the road when I tried that. 

But despite all that, it was a great day out on my bike.  One that makes you remember that you actually do love cycling and that, even for just a few minutes, it makes everything else better.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Impromptu Crab Fried Rice (or Crabby Rice...as my Mom called it)

First off, let me apologize for having basically disappeared over the last few months.  Life has definitely gotten in the way... and I wasn't feeling all that inspired.

But, I recently discovered a service here that delivers organic produce to your house (fabulous!) and got a few boxes with some weird stuff in them (nothing for this recipe specifically), but the need to go out and figure out what to do with things like Swede (or Rutabaga), Kumquats and Jerusalem Artichokes, made me feel inspired to cook again.  Which for me, right now, is pretty impressive.

So... I also got some crab meat in the magical package of food delivered to my house and decided I would make some crab fried rice. 

It ended up being kind of a non-traditional stir fry, just because of what ingredients I had in the house and had to use up, but it was really good! Not great with measurements because I kind of just threw everything in the pan, but this is a recipe that is meant to be experimented with, so go crazy!  This made enough for 2 servings.

Ingredients:
  • Crab Meat (about 100g)
  • 1 zuchinni (shredded)
  • 2 carrots (shredded)
  • Garlic
  • Fresh Grated Ginger
  • Hoisin Sauce
  • Brown rice, cooked (about 1 cup)
  • 1 green onion, sliced
  • Olive oil
1.   Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Saute the garlic, ginger and spring onions until fragrant (30 seconds or so).
2.  Add carrots and zucchini and saute, stirring occasionally.

Cook until the carrots are tender (1-2 minutes).  Add the cooked brown rice and the hoisin sauce.  Stir to incorporate and heat through.

3.  Add the crab meat to the pan, stir and cook until heated (1 minute or so).

Voila... crabby rice!