Eseme's Den

One of my favorite parts of this summer has been Saturday morning breakfasts at Botto's Bakery in Portland, Maine after dropping QuietDragon off at work (well his former workplace, but that is a story for another time).

Botto's Bakery is a wonderful, locally owned Italian Bakery that has been in business for at least a couple of generations. They have a large wholesale side, and make bread and pizza dough for a whole lot of restaurants in Maine. They also have a very charming retail storefront, with two small tables (though I am the only one who seems to sit and use them, there is a steady stream of people as I sit and eat, buying bread or pastries and taking it all to go.

When you pull up, you are greeted by an Italian flag.



( Continue to the rest of the tour... )

In short, this place is a treasure, with delicious food and is well worth visiting is you are ever in Portland. Me, I plan to stop there anytime I am in Portland in the mornings.

Wow, I've been busy.

So, just after my last post about walking, on Saturday April 16, I did a LOT of walking! I walked into Gardiner for lunch. It's a long walk, about 5.5 miles each way, plus the walking in Gardiner itself. People look at you funny when you reveal how far you have walked for lunch...

But what a lunch! I went to my favorite place to eat, and they had totally amazing food. It was a bit of a chilly day, and rained that evening. So I arrived a bit cold, and was happy to learn that I could order half a panini and a cup of soup. Mmmmmmm, hot cheddar, onion, and tomato panini, and cheddar-beer soup, served with a simple salad of greens and a vinaigrette. So good! I had two cups of hot tea, the second one with their rum chocolate bread pudding. Yum! And you totally don't need to worry about calories when you are walking over ten miles that day.

I did a bit of shopping, and walked back.

Now, this weekend was both productive, and fun. Though with less walking. First, I found out that one of my neighbors is moving, and is selling a couple of storage cabinets. I happen to need a couple, and was planning on buying some this summer. While it did require a bit of last minute juggling of the budget, I will be able to get them on Friday. So I spent yesterday (Sunday) making room for the cabinets in my second bedroom. The craft room is taking shape! Now I just have to get all the stuff on the floor in cabinets!

Saturday was fun (other than the two hour trip into work wherein I fought with Linux and lost). I went to the fundraiser and beginning of the season for the local "extreme roleplaying" group. AKA, boffer LARP. Which I have never done before. But they are much closer than the Cam is, and the costuming should be fun. Fantasy costumes! Also, I won a higher level character in a raffle. There is a new game being playtested this summer, and they want people to play a variety of levels - I won the chance to play a 10th level character (instead of 5th level) by putting most o my raffle tickets in one bag. Yay! The only downside will be if I really like it, next year I have to go back down to 5th level.


Walking Totals

I started at 72.85 miles to Rivendell.

So I walked to Gardiner, which is a little over 5.5 miles each way (I start my walk a bit before the 1.0 mile mark, and the 6.5 mile marker is at the end of the trail). I also walked around Gardiner a bit. So I'm calling that trip 12 miles.

Then last Sunday I walked about 1 mile to AC Moore. This Sunday (yesterday) I walked 2.15 miles, and another 2.15 miles today.

For a new total of... 89.15 miles!

So when we last checked in, I had made it to the Buckleberry Ferry, and across the river. But we saw one of those annoying cloaked riders! Darn.

So now : We take the main road north from the Ferry, Buck Hill is on the left and Buckleberry on the right. We take a lane to the right, and climb up and down into the country, ending up at Crickhollow, where we spend the night. And a Conspiracy is Unmasked! I believe this is where we meet Strider? Not sure.

The next morning we leave Crickhollow soon after 6:00 a.m. It is foggy and we ride the ponies slowly. We enter tunnel under Hedge to reach The Old Forest. The path disappears (ca. 7:15 a.m.). We keep on trying, and eventually reach the Bonfire Glade, which has a clear path beyond. It is now sunny, but we are not yet in a second clearing.

We get a lot done before lunch!

So, after wandering the beach, I headed back to my hotel.

( The party itself, plus a Halloween costume! )

I made Pumpkin Soup tonight. There were pie pumpkins at the Farmer's Market last week! It's so early.

So, for a yummy fall treat:

Pumpkin Soup
1 pie pumpkin
Applesauce (I used most of a jar, but you may need less)
Rasins (brown or yellow)
Sunflower seeds (unsalted)
2 crisp apples
spices, as would be put in pumpkin pie
water

Cut the pumpkin in half and seed it. Save the seeds! The recipe for them follows this one.

Place the halves on a baking sheet. I rubbed them with a bit of canola oil. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. To check doneness, poke with a fork - it should be softened.

Let the halves cool for a few minutes, but not too long. Use a spoon to scoop out the pumpkin goodness into a pot.

Add applesauce. Use more if you want more apple flavor, less if you want more of a pumpkin flavor - there is an art to this, not measurements. This makes a very thick paste. I added water to the pot (though one could use apple cider).

Heat on low to medium-low. Add spices - cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. I used up the last bits of my allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. Taste and adjust (I needed more spices, but only hand ginger and cinnamon). Salt and pepper to taste.

Add the sunflower seeds and raisins, and start chopping up the apples. I ended up using one and a half apples, and ate the rest.

Cook until the apples have started to soften. Stir often - I did not need to put the pumpkin in a blender, and the soup was not lumpy.

Serve warm. I ended up with about six servings.


Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds of one pumpkin
Olive Oil
Spices

To soften the seeds, boil them in salt water. I boiled mine for about ten minutes, and I think they are too chewy. I like mine more crisp, so maybe less boiling?

Drain the seeds, and leave to dry on paper towels on a kitchen towel.

Place the seeds in a small bowl and drizzle with oil (I used olive oil). Use your hands to work the oil through the seeds to evenly coat them.

Pour out on a baking sheet. If you time this right, and boil the seeds in the last few minutes that the pumpkin is in the oven, you can drain them while the pumpkin cools, and then use the same baking sheet.

Salt the seeds, and add any spices you want to use (I used garlic powder, but garlic salt or other spices). You could also mix them in with the oil.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until brown. I needed to stir the seeds midway, and rotated the baking sheet in the last few minutes because one end was browning faster than the other.


Enjoy!

And we pull out the Firefly icon because the worst thing about this show is that it apparently got the character of Wash killed.

Otherwise, it's brilliant. If you get the chance to go, do it!

M bought tickets as a birthday present (my birthday is not til much later, but the show is now) and then nearly forgot to check the date until this morning.

I got to debut a fabulous new dress and have dinner at Richard's (really excellent German food). Maine State Music Theatre puts on a great show, and this was no exception. The sets and costumes were particularly good - this is a show with constantly changing sets and more costume switches than you can shake a stick at. The show is hilarious - all the best bits from the movie and many other Monty Python references thrown in as one liners. The page has a YouTube video of one of the performances.

I had all these great plans, to post about the jam I made yesterday, with photos. Sadly, that's going to have to wait 'til I'm feeling better.

I went home sick this afternoon, and my car is, yet AGAIN, acting up. This time my fog lights won't turn off (unless I park it with the left-turn signal on). They think they need to replace the stick that controls my lights. This would be the fifth separate car problem I have had in the last four months. It's insane.

So, jam soon, when I'm feeling more optimistic and excited.

Wow, I am well behind on this!

Tuesday I was thankful for wireless internet access while out and about. Granted, I was borrowing bandwidth from someone or other, but I did need it to work on con stuff. And I am thankful!

Wednesday I was thankful for a great little cafe and gourmet foods store that I go to for food at D&D. Their food is great - I had hot homemade mac and cheese, vanilla chai, and a huge brownie. Yum!

Thursday I was thankful for writing organizations which speak out about devious and predatory publishing companies. I wish more people knew about Writer Beware.

And today I am thankful for lunch with my mother - she's not normally in the town I live but has classes here this semester. Having lunch with her on a semi-regular basis is very cool.

I am thankful for the lady at the Farmer's Market with the "Pie Fixes Everything" sign. While I have bought a pie from her and it was wonderful, I tend to buy one chocolate chip and one molasses crinkle cookie.

And it is so very odd to arrive at the market in the dark. It feels different in the dark.

Emboldened by the fact that I had not killed any of the houseplants that made their way to my apartment from Maine, I have spent a lot of time this spring and summer expanding my gardens, both indoors and out.

This is part of why there have not been many (okay, *any*) updates to my LJ in months. I've been spending a lot of my time on various hobbies and on trying to clean and organize my apartment. And that job that takes much of my time...

( Blathering about gardening and canning )

There is much to be said for living in a small town.

On the one hand, everyone knows you. This is a bit of a problem if you need to do something like buy lurid romance novels without the whole town speculating (I'll just book-shop elsewhere, it's not like we have a proper bookstore anyway).

On the other... people know you. I went into the amazing little kitchen store when I was in town for my interview. I remarked on their Stonewall Kitchen items (gourmet food company from Maine) and they asked where I was from... I mentioned the interview. The next time I go in, after moving, they ask if I got the job and where I am living. When I needed some yummy Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam for my pasta sauce... the owner went in the back to look for me, and found some. When they started serving coffee and other hot drinks, I was the first person to order a Chai. When the started making sandwiches and I called up to order one on Monday when I had no lunch... they asked if I wanted Chai too.

People know you and your preferences and it is nice and personal.

People know their library staff... and are utterly wonderful to us. No really- someone dropped a padded envelope in the bookdrop- with the words "Happy Easter Library Staff" on it. Inside was a bag of jelly beans.

The second week I was here, I was told Friday afternoons that I could grab some cookies. A patron brought them in for the staff. How utterly cool is that? They were still warm from the oven. Two big plates of them- warm oatmeal raisin cookies- homemade. Some of our patrons miss making cookies for their kids and the grandkids aren't in town often enough... so they make cookies for the library.

Life is good.