food and drink, Dec ’19 – Feb ’20 [excerpted]
@typeAexplorations AKA Adya my sister-in-law introduced me to the pleasures and nuances of “natural” or “real” wines. She’d been working at Kask for several months and that led her to exploring recommendations for Sunrise Mini Mart in Austin, TX.
As the Reynolds family was in Austin for the Holidays, of course a visit to Sunrise was in order. It was fun learning from Adya about the various processes and differences in the broad categories of minimal intervention, organic, sustainable and vegan wines.
I chose a pet nat Voria Bianco a yummy sparkling Sicilian wine. Carrie, Adya and I enjoyed sampling each other’s selections during the rest of the visit.
A reunion of sorts with Steve&John and Katrina&Dustin at Torchy’s Tacos north of Austin. The food was plentiful and delicious, as were the drinks, and the company was great. a damn good day.
January was time to start a new batch of preserved lemons. Making them yourself is worth the wait. I use them in all kinds of recipes and cocktails. The pop of color was welcome during short days.
We got a new kitchen appliance. No, not Mr Sinatra, though he sure is cute on the counter (naughty kitty). Finally we have a Vitamix! I’ve been putting one in the cart and then taking it out ever since first visiting Sally in Hood River maybe 5 years ago. A smoothie party at work that turned into a veritable Vitamix infomercial was the deciding factor.
Mostly it’s a very expensive smoothie machine, something that Derek points out, but it did make a great spinach pasta dough. And the smoothies are really smooth, even with whole raw carrots in them. Also, chopped nuts for a pumpkin pie crust were so easy. [verdict – worth it]
pannukakku 
mostly about the yuca fries 
parsnip-bacon cakes
Cooking is my main creative outlet. While it rarely feels like a chore it sometimes is one of my greatest joys. I am not a recipe follower, what I make is often recipe adjacent or recipe inspired; sometimes it’s completely out of my head based in what’s on hand.
I finally finished knitting my tea-cosy. This was the most miserably tedious knitting project I have ever done, by far. It was worth persevering though.
* 
I won The Whale and the Cupcake in a white elephant exchange at the KBFPC staff-board Lunar New Year Holiday celebration. Julia O’Malley’s collection of essays about Alaskan food culture has recipes woven throughout. I wanted to make the Alaska Cocktail but couldn’t find yellow chartreuse in town. Luckily Heather offered to bring me some from Portland in exchange for hanging out with Frida and Lukas for a few days while she was out of town.*
As described in the book, and I happened to have the prescribed gin in house already, the drink was too sweet for my taste. After experimenting it is really delicious with half the chartreuse. Next up, trying it with some soda water added.
*no children were harmed in creation of this image for their parents
When in doubt, go to the Alibi.
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Quillpig 
That tea cozy is beautiful! Here’s to Salbutes in July/August!
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A spoonful of chartreuse makes the medicine go down! That was a fun tasting at your house after our big cold bike ride in caribou hills 🙂 cheers! (With something other than chartreuse lol)
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