This one’s for Rebekah – for Mr. Pickpants.  I’ve made this for brunch several times over the last year or so, both for just us and for visiting friends, and it’s always been a big hit.  It’s incredibly easy, especially if you have good ingredients on hand (i.e. I wouldn’t try this with “pancake syrup”).

I found it in the 2004-2005 edition of Best American Recipes, and it’s originally from www.dakinfarm.com.  This cookbook series is my absolute favorite (well, ok, second only to the Mennonite More is Less series, which includes a seasonal and an international cookbook, all focused on sustainable eating and living).  But I have the complete Best American Recipes series, and I love each and every one of them.  I re-read these cookbooks more often than any of the others I have.
Baked Eggs in Maple Toast Cups

1 1/2 Tblsp butter, plus more for the muffin cups

1 1/2 Tblsp pure maple syrup

6 slices bread (this is best with a relatively firm crumb, thin-sliced white bread)

3 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and broken into small pieces

6 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 400F. Butter 6 muffin cups. In a small saucepan (or the microwave), melt the butter and add the syrup.
Remove the crusts from the bread. Flatten each slice with a rolling pin. Brush both sides of the bread with the syrup-butter mixture. Pat the bread into the muffin cups and sprinkle the bacon into the bottom of each cup. Break an egg into each cup, and bake until the eggs are set; start checking after about five minutes. [Note: it always takes longer than five minutes for me - I usually start checking around seven or eight minutes.] When the whites are set and the yolks are done to your liking, life the toast cups from the tin and serve immediately, drizzled with more maple syrup, if desired.

I’ll add a photo the next time I make these.

Very tasty.

On Saturday, Greg, Dan and I volunteered in the annual Blacks Run Clean-Up Day.  Blacks Run is the creek that runs through downtown, JMU, and most of the city, then swings south below Massanutten (the mountain we used to live on), joins up with the North River, and empties into the Chesapeake Bay (hence: our watershed).  Blacks Run is filthy, and has been for years; the creek water is dangerously toxic to fish, birds, and plant life. This year was (I believe) the third annual Clean-Up Day, and hundreds of people came out on  drizzly, chilly Saturday to pick up trash. Last year, they picked up two tons of trash, and this year, I think Greg and Dan gathered almost that much by themselves.

We were working on Pear St, about a mile south of downtown, right along the railroad tracks. Oddly, we were nowhere near the creek, but we picked up eighteen bags of trash anyway, cause that’s where the organizers sent us.

Greg and Dan found a ton of tires, as well, buried in the woods and ravines next to the tracks.

And the obligatory picture of Greg making a silly face:

We were filthy and disgusting and smelly when it was all over (Dan found a huge trash bag full of dirty diapers…), and Greg and Dan were both smelling their hats to see if the stink carried that far:

We finally made it back downtown for the volunteer lunch, where we saw this lovely sight:

We were glad they provided hand sanitizer before giving us pizza, but I wouldn’t normally label a table of hand sanitizer as food. Maybe that’s just me.

Just a few miscellaneous photos from the past week or so:

The College of Ed hosted a version of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" and this blurry picture shows the mayor and the VP of marketing competing against a class of fifth graders from Mountain View Elementary.

Every spring, these ducks take over the Wendy's parking lot, hoping for stray french fries - soon there'll be ducklings too

Greg sat down and was immediately covered in kittens

Cherry tree against a dark, stormy sky

Andy and Claire are visiting this weekend, and we had a lovely time yesterday out at Cross Keys Vineyard.  My boss and I toured the vineyard a couple of weeks ago, thinking about holding future events there (business dinners, conferences, etc) – it’s an absolutely gorgeous space.  We went back a week later for a Friday night event with a live musician, good wine, and yummy snacks.  And then yesterday, the five of us went to try the full tasting experience, and had a fantastic time in the slightly windy spring sunshine.

Andy has just finished the first level of a wine education program, and so he had plenty of background, history, advice, and comparisons for us.  He was favorably impressed by Cross Keys wines – the vineyard is young, but has some great potential.  We all really liked the 2008 Joy White, which is nearly colorless but full of flavor – lots of peaches, but not overly sweet, and the 2007 Meritage, which was a mellow and rich red.

Andy evaluating the Joy White with his discerning eye

Claire looking gorgeous in the sunshine

The view of the mountains from the terrace - check out that house!

2007 Meritage

The boys, sitting in the shade, wearing sunglasses

Last night (really, early this morning), I dreamed that I was about to teach my first class this summer. There were way more students in the room than there were supposed to be, but I was going to just go with it.  And then I spilled chocolate pudding all over my khakis.

This afternoon, as I was driving home from work, the minivan in front of me slowed as she neared our driveway.  I thought at first she was going to turn into the historic cemetery right next to our house, but then she turned into our driveway and stopped. When she realized that’s where I was trying to go, she panicked.  (Those of you who have seen our driveway will understand why – it’s not an easy thing to get in and out of without some advance planning.)  So she pulled up to the top of the driveway, and we had a mimed conversation through our respective windshields, and I managed to get out of her way.  She backed out, and kept going the direction she’d intially been going.  No idea what happened there.

At 8:15 this morning, I set off a very loud and piercing alarm unlocking the classroom that my office owns.  Never happened before – not my fault.  Very loud.  Deafening, in fact.

Greg and I ran to the grocery store tonight (I told him I wanted coffee syrup – I’ve been on a big iced coffee kick lately, after visiting a WaWa gas station in Richmond – don’t ask. Anyway, he had no idea what I was talking about – but like always, he just went with it.), and took a different route than normal, a winding and very bumpy back country road.  We came across two young deer – teenagers, really – grazing on the side of the road.  When we came around the curve and startled them, they tried to retreat into the woods, but ended up literally running into each other, tripping over each other, and generally looking like fools from a Three Stooges movie.  Hysterical.

So it’s been a day of surprises.

We bought our house almost exactly a year ago, and have been slowly changing it cosmetically to suit our tastes.  It’s such a beautiful house, and in such incredible condition, that we didn’t need to do much beyond painting and buying furniture. But now, a year later, it’s really ours now – our things, our lives, our patterns and habits, and our choices. So I wanted to take a moment and compare the original photos of our house, from the real estate listing, with some photos taken in the past few days, and see how different they are. We’re not done yet, of course – there are still a thousand projects and plans waiting for the right moments, materials, and money.  But here’s what we’ve done, one year later.

I tried to take these pictures standing in exactly the same locations as the original photos, with the same zoom and similar lighting conditions. 

The front of the house, Feb 08

 

The front of the house, March 09

Kitchen, Feb 08

 

Kitchen, March 09 (I couldn't get the lighting right here, sorry)

Sunporch/Eat-in kitchen, Feb 08

 

Sunporch/Eat-in kitchen, March 09

 

 

Family Room, Feb 08

Family Room, March 09

Living Room, Feb 09

 

Now the Dining Room, March 09

Front Room, Feb 08

 

Front Room/Library/Bar, March 09

Children's Bedroom, Feb 08

 

Guest Room, March 09

Master Bedroom, Feb 08

Master Bedroom, March 09

 

Third Bedroom, Feb 08

 

Office, March 09

Dan came over this afternoon to try and re-create the Brazilian Chicken Coconut Soup from Earth & Tea Cafe in downtown Harrisonburg.  He brought the ingredients, and together we worked out a version that came pretty darn close.

(He’s expertly deboning a chicken quarter here, although you can’t see it.)

Our first attempt:

1/2 large onion, diced

1 chicken leg quarter, skinned and boned, diced (or use about 2 boneless chicken thighs)

1 can light coconut milk, well-shaken

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp tumeric

pinch allspice

2 T tomato paste

1 carrot, diced

1/2 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1/2 bell pepper (red would be good, we had green)

1 C chicken stock

1/2 C frozen frenched green beans

Saute diced onion in a little olive oil and butter until soft, then add coconut milk and chicken.  Simmer a few minutes, then add spices and tomato paste.  Simmer about 10 minutes, stirring often so the bottom doesn’t burn. Add carrot, sweet potato, and bell pepper, and then add chicken stock.  Stir well, and simmer for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add green beans and heat through. 

We got pretty close – the texture and sweetness (from the sweet potato, mostly) were right on.  Something was missing – we added a little lime juice in our bowls, and wondered if it would be mellow enough if we added it earlier.  It could also use a little heat, maybe some crushed red pepper flakes or ground red pepper; maybe a little ginger.  It definitely needed salt and pepper.  We’ll keep you posted on attempt #2.

Other signs of spring: the trees in front of the hospital, on the corner of Mason and Cantrell, are in bloom.

The Shenandoah Valley in spring is really one of the most beautiful sights on earth.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23536
This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

• doing our taxes – so much easier than I thought it would be
• 75F days in the middle of what is still technically winter
• honey tea lattes