Recipe: Watermelon Rind Chutney

I usually throw out the watermelon rind like any other normal person, but I decided to save it last week and see what I could make out of it. I decided to try this watermelon rind chutney recipe from Epicurious with a some slight modifications using what I had in the house. The chutney turned out great and we've been enjoying it all week. It's got a little bit of warm heat to it, but it's not too hot. A little cream cheese with the chutney will temper the heat a tiny bit to take the edge off.

Ingredients:

• Diced watermelon rind from 1 small watermelon. Should yield about 6 cups of diced white watermolon rind.
• 1.5 cups cider vinegar
• 1.5 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cups grated fresh ginger (I keep a frozen nob in the freezer and use a microplane)
• 1 tablespoon Siracha
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flake (the kind you put on pizza)
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1.5 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed

Feel free to mess around with the proportions on the peppers / hot chili paste /fresh pepper ratio. I didn't want to go out on a rainy day to buy fresh peppers so I just raided my fridge.The ratio I used was pleasantly hot so be cautious when adding any more heat. 

Instructions:

1. Dice up white watermelon flesh only. Remove any green peel or pink watermelon fruit
2. Boil rind an all the other ingredients in a heavy pot over moderate heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved
3. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 60-80 minutes until rind is tenter and translucent and you can create a little valley when you scrape the the bottom of the pot. It should be kinda jammy rather than liquidy. Keep simmering and reducing until it's jammy enough
4. Cool, store in a jar and let flavors mellow and meld for a day
5. Enjoy! Delicious with cream cheese on crackers.

PocketMonkey - a cool nerdy geeky handy gift idea

As soon as Adam watched this video online, he immediately asked me to get him a PocketMonkey thin credit card sized multi purpose tool doodad. They're available online and locally at DavisSquared in [take a guess] Davis Square where I bought one for Adam and one for my friend Zave. They're $12 each, thin like a credit card and TSA complaint so you can fly with it. We gave it to Zave yesterday and had a fun time checking out all the various features which include:

1. Phone Kickstand
2. Bottle Opener
3. Orange Peeler / Banana Peeler
4. 3 screwdriver: flathead, micro flathead, 2D Philips head
5. Hex wrench
6. Ruler / Scraper
7. Letter Opener
8. Locked interior door opener

It's a pretty great little gift or stocking stuffer or dads, handy people, people who eat oranges, people who lock themselves out of their interior doors at home, etc.

Pilgrimage to Kane's Donuts in Saugus

Maple Frosted [my favorite] and Creme Brulee Donut [my other favorite]

Back in the day [as of two weeks ago] when I was working at Zipcar, the engineering team would often buy donuts from Kane's to celebrate an engineering release. I would always finagle my way into their donuts by looking longingly and expressing extreme enthusiasm whenever I saw the boxes. Some engineer, who'd benefited from my baking, would inevitably offer me a Kane's donut and it would make my day. 

While I'd enjoyed Kane's donuts at work and I've been wanting to go for years, I'd never been to Kane's in person so my friend Jen and I made plans to go on a donut adventure last Friday, but were were thwarted by the "shelter in place." It was wise to stay put in the interest of public safety, but as Corinna put it, "terrorists suck."Therefore, we rescheduled and went to Kane's Donuts in Saugus yesterday. 

Kane's Donuts is often named for best donut this and that and most recently made it on Bon Appetit's Top 10 Donut Shop list. These donuts are very good and they come in a huge number of flavors. Jen and I got four different donuts to try: creme brûlée, maple frosted, apple fritter and jelly. All were awesome, but the maple frosted is my new favorite.

I also bought a dozen donuts for Adam's coworkers...he asked me to draw a "map" on the lid.

Row 1: Buttercrunch, Coconut Lemon, Jelly

Row 2: Boston Creme, Apricot, Honey Dip

Row 3: PB&J, Reeses PB Cup, Apple Fritter

Row 4: Creme Brûlée, Maple Frosted, Caramel Frosted

I needed an excuse to buy one of their legendary ginormous bigger than my head coffee rolls so I bought one for Wheezy since she was having a little b-day get together last night at Noir. We sliced it up and enjoyed the coffee roll with our fancy cocktails right then and there. I think we only conquered 50% of the coffee roll with eight of us. 

Happy Birthday Wheezy!!!

Close up of Kane's legendary coffee roll...the orange gives you a sense of perspective

Knife Sharpening Hang Out

Patti is all business in her mobile knife sharpening truck

Last time we had any of our knives sharpened was 2007 before we went on a three week vacation. The experience of dropping off my knives and waiting weeks to pick them up was so annoying and inconvenient that I never actually got around to sharpening them again for six years. Our knives had gotten so dull the grape tomatoes I halved were still attached together so knife sharpening was at the top of my to do list. 

I started doing some research online on knife sharpening services when I found Patti from On The Edge Knife Sharpening. She hand sharpens knives a various farmer's markets and she goes to Formaggio's Kitchen, Pemberton Farms and Savenor's locally. Then I thought there has to be an even better way so I decided host a "Knife Sharpening Hang Out." I scheduled Patti for on-site knife sharpening at my house and invited friends to come over with their dull knives. I figured...

FUN = mundane errand + snacks + drinks + friends + sunshine

Patti parked her mobile knife sharpening truck in our driveway and sharpened 40 knives over the course of 3.5 hours. Patti was super nice and happy to answer all our questions about knife sharpening. She's clearly passionate about knife sharpening. As for the rest of us, we hung out while we waited for our knives to get sharpened and enjoyed a sunny day with friends. 

Clockwise: Cream Cheese & Stonewall Kitchen Pepper Jelly on Water Crackers

Swiss Cheese and Stone Wheat Crackers

Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from the Flour Bakery Cookbook

Orange Infused Simple Syrup, Seltzer Water, Iced Green Tea and Iced Black Tea

P.S. The orange infused simple syrup is leftover from when I made candied orange peel

Kitchen Sink Pesto

Top Row: Grape Tomatoes, Avocados, Oranges

Bottom Row: Kitchen Sink Pesto, Black Olives, Homemade Wheat Bread, Eggplant Parmesan

For Sunday dinner, I cobbled together a smorgasbord of deliciousness around a spinach pesto I made and a rustic wheat bread I baked using a no knead recipe. This was my first time making pesto because I never have large quantities of basil, but I often have lots of spinach so I decided to make Kitchen Sink Pesto with whatever I had in the house. Doesn't taste like basil pesto, but it is delicious.

Kitchen Sink Pesto:

3 giant handfuls of spinach
1 cup of toasted nuts (I used an assortment from Adam's "Bag O' Nuts" which included hazelnuts, cashews, almonds, etc)
6 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2-4 Tablespoon olive oil
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Food process all of it together until it's a fine green paste. Taste and adjust ingredients until it's delicious. Enjoy on bread, pasta, etc.

Unfastidiously Organized

Post It Note by my bed

This note is real. I actually consistently "forget" or willfully don't do the following:

• Teacups: move my teacups or dishes from the living room to the kitchen and ideally into the dishwasher
• Hair in shower: this is pretty self explanatory, but I'm supposed to clean out my hair in the shower and let's say I don't always do it. Adam quietly does it most of the time and only mentions it sometimes. He's a little long suffering sometimes.
• Toilet paper: I guess it's good manners to install a fresh roll when we run out and also make sure there's a back up roll in the bathroom. I've also learned that placing a fresh roll on the counter does not count. I would argue that in my family of origin had much lower standards and a fresh roll on the counter absolutely gets credit. I also remember frequently hollering from the bathroom for more toilet paper so Adam's way is probably better.
• Roll up mat: It would be polite to roll up my yoga mat so Adam doesn't have to walk around it

The following is a reconstructed conversation about the note:

Adam: Now that you have time and you're not working, could you please roll up your yoga mat at night so I don't have to walk around it? I might start stepping on it.

plasticann: You got it, I'm going to add it to my list

Adam: Is this an actual list or a mental list?

plasticann: Oh it's real. It's posted next to my bed and it says, "teacups," "hair in shower," and something else....

Adam: Toilet paper?

plasticann: That's it! Toilet paper is on the list and now I'm going to add roll up mat.

Adam: Do you look at this list everyday?

plasticann: No, but I needed to write it down to remember. I probably would have never admitted it before when I was working, but seems like this is a list of things that normal human beings would do and I probably should have been doing them all along.

Adam: Yeah, but it's OK sweetie.

Many people are surprised when they learn that I'm actually not that fastidious [understatement] because I seem so organized, but the thing is I'm actually very organized and on top of some things and utterly not on top of other things. I'd like to think that I'm just "prioritizing," but the truth is I'm constantly trying to reconcile a whole slew of contradictions that are simultaneously true about me.

1. I'm both hyper organized and utterly unfastidious

2. I'm both driven and undisciplined

3. I'm both on top of some things and not on top of a whole lot of other stuff
4. I'm both someone who owns personalized Post It notes and someone who has to be reminded to put a new roll of toilet paper on

Maybe I'm just like, I dunno, a normal human being with frailties and limitations. I'm getting a little better as I get older, maybe I'm mellowing out or maybe just maybe those pink personalized Post It lists are keeping my slovenly nature in check. 

Flour Bakery Cookie Quartet

Top Row: Oatmeal Raisin

2nd Row: Chocolate Chip

3rd Row: Ginger Molasses

Bottom Row: Snickerdoodles

Last week was school vacation week so Vineyard Community Offerings associated with our church was hosting kid events all week. I volunteered to bake six dozen cookies for their movie night and bake sale. I cracked open my Flour Bakery Cookbook to try some new recipes. Flour Bakery is an awesome local bakery with four locations. Everything there is super delicious and it's always a treat. I love that it's not fancy food, it's just normal food made with extreme care so you leave thinking, "that was the best pesto mozzarella tomato sandwich I've EVER had...how do they do that?"

I've made a couple of things from their cookbook including an impressive pineapple upside down cake, but I've never baked their cookie recipes because they recommend letting the dough rest at least 3-4 hours. I've never had the foresight to plan ahead nor the patience to deal with 3-4 hours on a school night. Since I had time last week, I made four different cookie doughs and actually let it rest for 4 hours before baking. It wasn't a controlled experiment so I can't tell you if it made a difference, but all the cookies were delicious. I shared them with a friend's kid who's "four and three quarters" and she gave me the thumbs up on both the Ginger Molasses and the Chocolate Chip. 

Their Chocolate Chip recipe is publicly available on their website so you can check it out there if you want to try it yourself. I highly recommend the original cookbook and Joanne Chang is publishing a "Flour, too" second cookbook this summer. Can't wait!!!

As a bonus, here's another baking equipment tip. Lots of recipes call for mixing the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, etc) in a mixing bowl before you add it to the wet ingredients (butter, eggs, etc). I used to mix it in a traditional normal mixing bowl and then I'd carefully spoon the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Or, sometimes, I'd try to carefully dump the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient mixing bowl. As hard as I tried to be careful and neat, it was always a little awkward and I'd create a flour-y mess. 

Now I use my flexible silicone mixing bowl to mix my dry ingredients. I can just squeeze the bowl to create a funnel or spout that neatly adds dry ingredients to the wet ingredient bowl. I only have to wash one bowl, I don't create a mess and it's super easy. I also use this bowl to pour hot liquids like hot caramel sauce into smaller jars so I don't burn myself or make a giant sticky mess trying to "spoon" hot sauce from a saucepan into a small jar. 

Flexible silicone mixing bowl filled with dry ingredients

Pinch the bowl and add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Look Mom...No Mess!

Black Humor May Help Me Survive

Part two of Monday's Marathon Bombing is more fear, more carnage and more surreal insanity. Boston and surrounding towns are in what the news calls a "virtual lockdown." It's a minor point, but I'd argue that we're in an actual lockdown. Buses/Subway are suspended, we're all supposed to stay inside, work has been cancelled for lots of folks and I'm still in my pajamas.

I woke up, on my own, around 5:30am and I couldn't fall asleep so I figured I'd mosey on over to Facebook to see what's up when I saw friends post about gunshot and explosions. What the #*$&? I've been watching the news since 6am and I really don't know what to think. I do know that after 5 hours of monitoring the news/Facebook and being locked down in my house for public safety, black humor is starting to creep in. Don't get me wrong, this situation is dead serious. But, aspects of this manhunt are so surreal and unbelievable, I can't help but morbidly laugh a tiny bit before going back to feeling low level freaked out.

On one hand, black humor could be perceived as flippant and disrespectful during a situation like this, but I would argue that black humor helps us process and ultimately survive. I was listening to Kathryn Schulz's Ted Talk about Regret a few months ago and she said something about black humor and experiencing real pain and grief that stuck with me. 

"Black humor plays a crucial role in helping us survive. It connects the poles of our lives back together, the positive and the negative and it sends a little current of life back into us."

Here are some inane examples of humor in the Zakun household from this morning. Somehow, we just can't help ourselves even in an awful situation.

Example 1:

[Adam comes downstairs showered, dressed and carrying socks]

plasticann: Adam, you're not going out are you?

Adam: NO! We're in lockdown, I'm not going out.

plasticann: Oh OK good, it looked like you were going for a walk.

[Adam starts putting on his socks]

plasticann: [a little on edge] Are you putting on your socks and shoes just in case we have to start running?

Adam: No, I'm putting on socks because my feet are cold.

plasticann: Do you think I need to change out of my pajamas and put on my shoes in case we need to run? 

Adam: I think you can run in your pajamas and socks. Besides, he's probably not here.

plasticann: [unconvinced] OK!

Example 2:

Fox News Commentator says, "Just when you think you have a handle on what's going on, you don't know. It's helter skelter, it's an unusual caper that this city has never seen before."

Adam: You know what kind of caper I like?

plasticann: The kind you eat with smoked salmon and bagels?

Adam: No, The Great Muppet Caper.

Note: I really wouldn't call this massive manhunt a "caper."

Example 3:

I was supposed to visit my friend Corinna for lunch and I'd made her a bag of cookies. Since we're locked down, I figured I might as well eat her cookies since I won't see her today. If I'm still locked down this evening, I'm planning to eat Wheezy's bag of cookies if I don't get to see her for dinner. After I'm done with Wheezy's cookies, I'll have to go to my backup backup backup cookies aka the bag in my freezer.

Sorry Corinna! Sorry Wheezy! Sorry Freezer!

Corinna's Cookies @ 11am: 2 Choc Chunk, 2 Oatmeal Raisin, 2 Ginger Molasses, 2 Snickerdoodles

Corinna's Cookies @ noon: 1 Choc Chunk, 1 Oatmeal Raisin, 1.5 Ginger Molasses, 1 Snickerdoodle

 Wheezy's Cookies: 2 Choc Chunk, 2 Oatmeal Raisin, 2 Snickerdoodles

Freezer Cookies: Just a whole mess of cookies

A loving tribute to Adam with a small dose of ribbing

Since we got married, Adam has been responsible for about 75% of our house stuff. In the eight years we've been married, I've either been in business school (kinda intense) or working a kinda intense job with very little flexibility. Adam has always been really joyful about doing dishes, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, doing laundry, etc and he's never complained. Hands down, Adam wins best husband ever award in my book.

Since I'm taking some time off from work, I now (for the first time ever) have more time for our family life. Adam has his way of doing things and he's started "training" me this week. To his credit, he's not just being "bossy," he's just sharing the knowledge and years of experience gained from having done all this housework himself. But, as you all know, Adam is endearingly particular about optimizing things.

Adam's tried and true tips and preferences include:

• When drying the bathmat, hang the bathmat up with the rubber side out. The rubber side takes longer to dry so it needs more exposure to air. 
• Open up all the curtains to let the sun in before the cleaners come. That way they can "see" the dust better. 

When I offered to make Adam breakfast today, he demonstrated how he likes to make his breakfast:

• Regular sized shallow bowl filled with:
• Kashi Go Lean
• 1 banana sliced perpendicular to the edge, not slant-y
• Milk
• 1 teaspoon of dutch cocoa powder
• 1 spoonful of flax seed + wheat germ mix (if we have it)
• Large glass filled with:
• OJ halfway
• Water up to the curve of the glass
• 1 scooop of powdered green food
• Coffee... surprise me

Adam wants me to point out that he made most of his breakfast this morning. In fact, the little I did to help was actually unhelpful. I sliced the banana slant-y so the slices were too big. I also added a whole heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder or 3x more than normal so it wouldn't dissolve in his cereal. Lastly, I offered to make him coffee and totally forgot to push "brew."

It's only week one and now that I've publicly documented Adam's breakfast habits in detail on the inter webs, I think I'm going to nail it next time. There's only room for improvement at this point. Overall, I find my training regimen very amusing and even helpful. I'm can be pretty inept sometimes so it's all good. 

Next week, I'm undergoing an intense training around optimal dishwasher loading. I always do it wrong and Adam has to rearrange the dishwasher. Sometimes I load it incorrectly because I'm lazy or clueless and sometimes/rarely I do it wrong a little on purpose just to get Adam's goat. Sorry sweetie!!!

Chocolate Espresso Cake

One of my favorite chocolate cake recipes is from Cake Mix Doctor. Since I had some leftover sour cream, I decided to make this newly invented variation of an old favorite for Adam's work. The standard chocolate cake is very good, but I added the three starred * ingredients to create a salted espresso chocolate cake. 

Ingredients:

1 box devil's food cake mix with pudding (any brand)

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup warm water

2 Tablespoons espresso powder *

2 teaspoon vanilla extract *

1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt *

1.5 cups chocolate chips

Note: You can also add other flavorings like mint extract or almond extract. I've also made an Mounds version by adding coconut to the cake. 

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Combine all ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a mixing bowl
• Mix on low for 1 minute, mix on medium speed for another 3 minutes
• Generously spray a bundt pan with flour/oil spray
• Transfer batter to the bundt pan
• Bake at 350 degrees fro 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

A lot of words on bundt pans:

• Nordic Ware makes really awesome heavy cast iron bundt pans. They last a long time so you only need one. I admittedly own three and I only ever use one at a time.
• Williams-Sonoma and Amazon typically carry a ridiculous selection of these bundt pans for every freakin' occasion. It's a little excessive in my opinion. On the upside, some of the specialty holiday themed bundt pans go on sale pretty frequently so if you don't wan to pay full price, you can probably buy a quality seasonal bundt pan when they go on sale. Today, I used my Buche De Noel log inspired bundt pan called a "Stump De Noel" that I bought on sale for about $10 after X-mas.
• They may say "non stick," but they stick. The key is to liberally spray the pan with a flour/oil spray like Pam. The spray comes out weird looking and foamy, but that's a good thing. Nothing sticks, I mean nothing sticks to the intricate designs of your fab bundt pan with this spray.
• What happens if you don't use this flour/oil spray? Your bundt cake will stick, it may or may not come out and if it does come out, a chuck might rip out. It'll be delicious, but it it'll be ugly. 
• What else happens if you don't use this flour/oil spray? You bundt pan will have lots of cake stuck to all it's little nooks and crannies and it's super annoying to clean those little nooks and crannies. You'll need to use a toothbrush. Trust me, I've been there. You want it to come out clean like this so use the flour/oil spray. 
• Use the flour/oil spray...you'll thank me.

"Ordinary" Day

Boston is my home, I love this city. It's been home for 13 years and I have walked past the block where the bombs exploded hundreds of time. I was just there yesterday with Adam for the marathon like any other person. What strikes me as I talk to friends and read on Facebook is just how common my experience is. It was completely ordinary that we were downtown today. Why wouldn't we be? It's also completely unremarkable why we started walking away from the marathon about 10 minutes before the explosion. My story is completely ordinary and it's been repeated thousands of times in the last 24 hours.

My April 15, 2013

• We helped some friends move some furniture
• I enjoyed french toast with caramelized strawberries at Ball Square Cafe
• We took the T downtown and walked over to the marathon finish line from Park Street
• We stopped by the new Restoration Hardware gallery in the old Louis building that just opened on Saturday
• We joined the crowds of marathon runners and their joyful families greeting them
• We stopped by Pret A Manger where I bought a bottle of cold pressed Fuji apple juice and Adam got a coffee
• I wanted to go to the new Nordstrom Rack on Boylston
• I was feeling super tired and I wanted to get home by 4pm in order to prep for a meeting I had tonight
• We walked away from the marathon finish line toward the Boston Public Garden where I took a photo of the adorable little straw hats someone had put on the ducklings statues
• We walked up Charles Street, I noticed a marathon runner and their family enjoying a big meal at Bin 26
• I stopped by Moxie to see if they had an iPhone gloves, but they were out
• We hopped on the T at Charles/MGH
• I fell asleep on the train and we got off at Davis Square
• We walked home and our cleaners were still here
• I went upstairs to work on my blog since it was the 10 year birthday of my blog
• Someone emailed me asking if we were still planning to meet since there was the bombing in Boston
• I thought "what bombing" and looked online only to find my Facebook newsfeed flooded with posts

As far as I can figure, the bombs exploded at 2:45pm, right around the time I was admiring the adorable ducks in this photo at 2:47pm. I had no idea what was happening until an hour later when I got an email at 3:53pm when I was sitting on my bed with my laptop.

At my meeting last night, one guys said he was standing right on the corner of the explosion with his wife 5-10 minutes before. She wanted to get some free fries from B.Good so they left and got fries and heard the blast. My friend Zristen almost moved her dental practice into the building right in front of the blast 5 years ago, but the deal fell through at the last minute. I have friends who ran the marathon yesterday and are all safe. The scene of the explosion is not some far off place that I've only seen on TV. That's my backyard.

However, I don't want to dwell on what could have been and how close we were or how close our friends were yesterday. I was lucky. All my friends were lucky and I'm grateful. I can't hide in my house and refuse to leave. I can't avoid Boylston Street and downtown Boston. Maybe it's foolhardy to feel this way, but I can't refuse to participate in this city's life.

Boston is my home. These are my people.

Happy 10th Birthday plasticann dot blogspot dot com!

Today is a momentous day in so many ways small and large, happy and now sad.

1. Tax day!
2. Patriot's Day aka Boston Marathon Day postscript: also the marathon that got bombed :(
3. First day of my "time off." I left my job on Friday and today (Monday) is the first day of my new life.
4. My blog turns 10 years old today. I started blogging on April 15, 2003 and today is April 15, 2013. Back then, plasticmom used to call my web log my "website."

My blog birthday kinda snuck up on me. I figured it out last Thursday as I was winding down at my last job and preparing to take time off. How apropos that my blog birthday falls on the very first day of my next phase of life when I actually will have more time to pursue the things I enjoy and have time to reflect. The downside is that I won't have as many funny coworker stories to work into my reconstructed conversations. I guess Adam will just have to step it up on the joke front.

"You can take the girl out of work, but you can't take the work out of the girl."

So, what was the first thing I did this morning on my very first day off. I woke up at 8:00am, grabbed my laptop and started making some graphs. Adam said, "you can take the girl out of work, but you can't take the work out of the girl." Behold, a graph of the number of posts over the last 10 years. I added some call outs of major events just like I would have done in the past on any revenue graph I created.

Reflecting on the last 10 years, plasticann's life and world in 2013 is very different and very similar to plasticann's world back in 2003.  What's important has stayed the same and that's a good thing!

What's Old:

• The most important people in my life are still in my life. Adam, plasticmom, MGDub, Wheezy, Zristen, Zave, Laurel, Steve, Zorinna, etc.
• I still love food. I love baking, eating, etc. Still love donuts, cupcakes, fried chicken, etc.
• My weight is about the same or at least within striking distance. I'll call it a win and I deserve absolutely zero credit for it
• I still live in Davis Square

What's New:

• Adam and I got married at some point in the last 10 years, well actually 8 years ago so I've been a Zakun for a while
• MGDub, Laurel and Steve moved away and I still miss them
• Zorinna moved back so that's a #WIN
• I've lived in six different places during the last 10 years and I've worked at five places
• I went back to school, got myself another fancy pants degree. Thanks plasticmom for footing the bill

Here's to the year ahead. I'm not sure what our crazy world will be like in 10 years. I'm sure by then we'll be flying around like the Jetsens. It's about time!

I live in a bubble

I'm in the middle of reading "Coming Apart: The State of White America." It reminds me of "Bobos in Paradise," but with a kinda dry and terrible title.

The main premise of the first 30% of the book is that the upper middle class has become more segregated from mainstream America over the last 40 years. The ultra elite control major education, business and political institutions, but have little first hand understanding about how everyone else lives.  Basically, the highly educated elite live in distinct bubbles geographically and they've formed a distinct culture of their own pretty isolated from mainstream culture.

Alright, now to the juicy part...just how "elite" is plasticann? I knew it was going to be pretty bad before I even started this Cosmo style quiz. Ummm....reading this book (check), found this book in the Kindle library I share with my family (check), attended two elitist institutions (check check), the fact the quiz is on pbs.org (CHECK), etc.

The [white educated wealthy congratulations you live in a bubble] Quiz
Here's where you can take this quiz online and they'll even score it for you. Before you judge my elitism, take the quiz yourself. If you're reading this blog and we're friends...you're probably a little bit elitist yourself.

How elitist bubble are the Bakuns? (Scale of 0 to 100, 0 is most elitist)

• plasticann: 20 points
• Adam: 28 points 

I can't believe Adam got more points than me. He's actually white and I'm not. Taking a look as the "categories," I think I best fit the "first generation upper middle class person with middle class parents." Adam best fits the "second generation (or more) upper middle class person who has made it point of getting out a lot." We both got some cheap extra points for a few kinda funny things.

plasticann:

• (+ 1 point) I knew that Branson referred to Branson, MO only because someone we met on vacation once said they had a second home in Branson and we'd never heard of it. We subsequently learned it's  HUGE vacation spot for country music fans. Thanks random vacation peeps for making me more well rounded.
• (+ 1 point) I ate at a TGI Fridays in the last year. I should mention that I ate at a TGI Fridays because I was in Peoria, IL for work. You heard it right...Peoria, IL home of Caterpillar and the Zipcar call center. We also went to Dairy Queen for a banana split which was a real treat.
• (+ 4 points) I personally know an "evangelical Christian" (+2) and I was one myself (bonus +2) Thank you Jesus!
• (+ 4 points) I have more than one friend with significantly different political views. Well, given that I'm a conservative living in the People's Republic of Cambridge, I have friends who have politically different views just because I'm the one who's different. If I was only friends with Conservatives, I'd be really lonely.
• (+ 1 point) I love factory tours and I can't believe I got a point just for having been on a factory floor at some point. Seriously...there are people who haven't been on a factory tour of any kind? Factory tours rock!!! Come on people, get thyself to a Cape Cod potato chip tour, the Toyota factory tour in Japan, even a micro brewery factory has got to count for at least half a point.
• (+ 1 point) I've taken Greyhound on a trip more than 50 miles. So my aversion to driving granted me one extra point.
• Total cheapo points, but I'll take them = 12 points

Adam:

• (+ 5 points) When Adam first graduated from college, he was working for Intervarsity as an on-campus minister so he technically lived below the poverty line for at least one year. Five whole points. Adam would have gotten a few more points if he'd lived below the poverty line both as an adult and as a child, but he grew up in Menlo Park, CA. Hah, enough said!
• (+ 4 points) Evangelical Christian bonus.
• (+ 4 points) Conservative living in liberal Northeast bonus.
• (+ 3 points) Adam scooped [premium] ice cream one summer so he technically had a job that made part of his body ache. If his body ached all over, he would have gotten extra points, but I decided it was just an achy arm. BTW, carpel tunnel doesn't count. 
• (+ 4 points) Adam watches a lot of mainstream movies. He likes go on Mondays, his day off.
• (+ 3 points) Adam watches quite a bit of television. He should probably get extra (+) points for reading Entertainment Weekly, but he would probably get negative (-) points for the way he methodically and systematically manages his DVR using Google Docs.
• (+1 point) Did I mention the Bakuns love factory tours?
• Adam deserves the + 5 points for when he lived below the poverty line, but the other ones are rather gratuitous and they total 19 extra points. Since Adam has made it point to get out a lot, I guess he deserves his extra 19 cheapo points at the end of the day.

Adam tried to argue for extra points on the domestic mainstream beer question. "Sam Adam's is mass market and domestic...they're huge now." No Adam, if it ain't Bud, Coors, Busch or Miller, it ain't mainstream. In Adam's mind, Sam Adam's is "mainstream domestic" because he likes to drink obscure Belgian Trappist beers. At the end of the day, the beer argument says it all, the Bakuns are elitists who live in a bubble, but at least we try to get out.

Sprinkledoodles

So....I gave up "mindless sweets" for Lent. I think that sweets that I make myself from scratch fall under "mindful" just because I have to intentionally make it before I eat it. That said, I'm trying to mindfully just sample when I make sweets this Lenten season.

I discovered a new food blog yesterday. Lottie + Doof and had to try out these colorful sugar cookies called sugar saucers. I generously encrusted my cookies with rainbow sprinkles and they turned out super pretty. The cookies have crisp edges, chewy centers and quite airy. Next time, I might flavor the dough with some almond extract for a different flavor. Adam says they look like "Clown Cookies," but since many people are freaked out by clowns, I'm going to call them "Sprinkledoodles."

Easy Chinese Corn Soup

plasticmom would make this for me growing up and it's my go to recipe when I want something warm and easy that reminds me of childhood.

Corn Soup Recipe:

Incredients:
1 can creamed corn
1-1.5 cans of chicken stock

2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 eggs beaten

Salt and Pepper to season

Optional Add Ons:
Diced Ham
Extra corn (frozen, fresh, canned)

Recipe:

• Bring creamed corn, chicken stock and optional add ons to a boil in a small pot
• Mix cornstarch with some water in a bowl, around a 1:1 ratio to create a slurry
• Turn off stove
• Stir in cornstarch slurry to thicken soup
• Whisk in beaten egg slowly into hot soup
• Season with salt and pepper
• Enjoy!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...Zvy's Birthday Conclusion

Zvy's birthday celebration last week started off rocky but ended up being successful. I'll frame it as Diamonds and Coals in honor of my alma mater.

Diamonds: The Dora decorations from Amazon were really inexpensive and a big hit.
Coals: The birthday girl was napping when we all congregated. Since she sometimes wakes up groggy and crying, it took her a while to get into party mode. A little cuddling with her mom and some TV cheered her up and then it was party time.
Diamonds: The beautiful purple/pink cake with flowers that Katie from Katie's Cakes made was also super delicious. Even the fondant decorations tasted good which is unheard of. The chocolate cake lasted an entire birthday week.
Coals: plasticann made Zvy cry by accident. The following is the reconstructed conversation

• Zvy: I want cupcake project
• Zristen: Zvy, not today. You can do it with plasticann tomorrow.
• plasticann: Zvy, I'll take this home with me and ...
• Zvy: Wah wah wah wah...wah 
• plasticann: ...take it home with me and study the instructions...
• Zvy: Wah wah wah wah
• plasticann: ...study the instructions so I'll be ready.
• Zvy: Wah wah wah wah. She's taking my toy!
• Zristen: Don't worry Zvy, plasticann is not taking your toy home.
• plasticann: I'm sorry Zvy, I mispoke. I won't take your toy home. [plasticann backs away from toy slowly]

Diamonds: Zvy loved all her new toys including the cape that Adam and I gave her. She kept asking for the cape which of course made my day.

Next year, I'll try not to make the birthday girl cry by accident. Hopefully, she'll also comprehend more so we'll have fewer of these pesky misunderstandings.

Birthday Dora joins the birthday bash

Little Hero Cape in purple and gold

Zvy’s Birthday is Tomorrow

I can’t believe it’s been 3 years since Zvy joined the Zority clan. Having no children on my own, I’ve tried to cultivate a relationship with both the Zority kids since once day “Auntie Ann” and “Uncle Adam” will need someone to push their wheelchairs.

So far, Zvy hasn’t taken to Adam as much as she’s taken to me. Score one for plasticann! Adam’s beard kinda scares her and reminds her of Santa Claus and she’s not into Santa. I have the advantage of being beardless, short and female. I’d like to think Zvy likes me because I’m cool, but I’m pretty sure it’s my gifts, treats and crafts. For example, Zvy prefers plasticann’s Caramel Cake over Adam’s Baked Pasta. Not surprising, but I'll take the point. She gets more excited about plasticann’s necklace crafts (kitchen twine, cheerios and pretzels) than giving Adam (or anyone) a hug. To be fair, the necklaces are pretty awesome: fun activity, cool accessory and a snack for later.

Tomorrow’s the birthday celebration and I’m more excited than I’d care to admit. Zvy has been counting down since 11 days ago and she knows exactly how many days until her birthday. It’s going to be a Dora centric celebration. (Zvy’s not terrible original in her obsessions) Dora cake, Dora decorations, etc. Until tomorrow...

It’s just stuff, don’t over think it

I watch a lot of Bravo and TLC so I’m always up on the latest reality shows. I saw an ad for “Animal Hoarders” last year and I remember thinking, “how cute, animals who hoard.” I pictured a nature show following a little squirrel around as the squirrel hoarded a stash of nuts. Adorable right? Turns out, Animal Hoarders is actually about people who hoarded animals. Not cute!!!

Recently, I went home to help my family clear out our home. It was a liberating and sad experience sorting through a lifetime of stuff. Carefully selected, packaged, collected and curated stuff. Stuff built around a wonderful life, but the stuff needed to go in order to move on.

Day one and two, we diligently sorted through the garage making piles just like on those TV shows. All the HGTV watching finally paid off. We only had two piles, Goodwill and Trash. We were too lazy to make a Sell pile. Soon we ran out of sorting space in the garage so we had to call the 1800-Got-Junk guys to schedule a dump truck.

With the dump truck scheduled, we were up against a deadline so I immediately moved into the “throw it all out NOW” stage. I bought two boxes of construction grade super strong trash bags and started bagging everything up as trash. It went like this, “Mom, keep or trash...one...two...three...it’s trash.” Repeat this a few hundred times. After a while, I was desensitized to throwing things out and I was going a nuts having to make a keep/trash decision every 3 seconds. I was pretty aggressive and pushy, but plasticmom was a good sport and we got it done. 

Dump Truck 1

We decluttered every closet, cupboard, nook and cranny and had the Got Junk guys come back with a second dump truck later that week. The week flew by and soon I was back at the airport waiting to fly home to Boston. I sat by my gate, stared off into space and started to cry [a little]. The week had been emotional and I was rarely still for long enough to really process. My stuff is the stuff of my memories, my past, my identity. As I went through a lifetime of stuff, the experience triggered a ton of memories and emotions. 





Glee when I discovered my beloved childhood toys including an awesome dim sum fake food set. Little fake dumplings and shu mai in a little toy serving box.

Sadness when I discovered too many brand new things that were being “saved” because they were too nice to use. There was no longer enough time to use up all these nice things we had been saving.

Frustration when I threw out yet another neatly packed up box of hotel soap, scratch paper, tissues, toothbrushes, combs, etc. 

Vintage Charmin circa 2000

Laughter when I discovered “vintage” Charmin toilet paper featuring their retro logo and baby mascot. Charmin switched to the bears in 2000 so this TP was at least 13 years old

Nostalgia when I found all our old family photos of good times and not so good times. 

I’m privileged to live in the first world. I’m no aecetic! I fully embrace my stuff and love of acquiring stuff. I’m consumeristic and I know. What struck me is how stuff is simultaneously meaningful and meaningless at the same time. Maybe the theme is, “it’s just stuff, don’t over think it.”

plasticann...age 3

It’s just stuff, don’t overthink it

1. Don’t wait to use my “nice” things, use it today
2. Love the little hoarder in me within reason
3. Let go of stuff with no regret, the stakes are not that high...it’s just stuff

Bonus: Stop hoarding soap!!!

Pinhole Press

Custom Photo Flash Cards and More

I happened upon Pinhold Press today and I CAN'T believe I haven't heard of them before. They offer some really cool photo products that would make great gifts like the Photo Flash Card set where you can customize every ABC card with a photo. For example, P is for plasticann, M is for MGDub, G is for GJDubya, Z is for Zvy, etc. Based on this blog's naming conventions, the letter Z would be super popular. They also have a fun memory card game. Drat, I already bought Zvy and Zwan their birthday presents.

Zesty Cranberry Orange Scones Revisited

Adam and I celebrated New Year's Day this week with a full day of Downton Abbey Season 1. I baked up a batch of my Zesty Cranberry Orange Scones and made a big pot of tea as a complement. I brought the leftover scones to work the next day and one of coworkers declared them to be very delicious which of course totally made my day. This one was created back in 2006, but has enjoyed several appearances on this blog over the years.

September 13, 2004

The original scone recipe was from the Disney Family Cookbook. I had been baking the basic recipe for a few years since it was one of Adam's favorites. At one point, he convinced me to bake a big bag full of scones so he could freeze them and enjoy them whenever. I think he may have even purchased a toaster oven from the Davis Square Goodwill for $5 to properly reheat his scones.

One morning, I was at True Grounds coffee shop in Ball Square probably working on my business school applications. I bought one of their Cranberry Orange scones to enjoy with my coffee and I was super disappointed. It was DRY and CHALKY and totally not worth the calories. I was intrigued by the flavor combination so I adapted the idea to my own scone recipe and created the Zesty Cranberry Orange Scone.

April 28, 2006

By this time, Adam and I were married and he was working over at the Vineyard so I would send leftover baked goods with Adam to work. I frequently made these Cranberry Orange scones, but I usually skipped the orange glaze except for special extra sugary occasions. Adam's coworker and boss Andrew tasted one of these souped up glazed scones and declared "these are the best scones ever." I totally forgot that Andrew loved these scones until I searched my own blog archives today. It's a sweet memory of Andrew since he passed away a few years later from cancer so I love this small silly memory of Andrew from a time when he was a healthy young man.

January 30, 2011

On this day, I actually sifted the flour for the scones and I guess it improved the results. I totally forgot, I'll have to do that next time. Check out the cute photo though.

That brings me back to this week when my friend Jeff reminded me to send him the recipe. I dug through my blog archives for the recipe and in the process enjoyed a sweet trip down memory late.

#5 Guitar Pick Punch

Fair warning that I did buy this as a gift this year for some folks so sorry about the spoiler if you're out there reading this. I saw this gift idea in Real Simple this year, it's for this cool hole punch that punches out guitar picks out of pretty much anything. Old gift cards, cardboard, hotel room keys, credit cards, paper, salami, etc. Available locally at Urban Outfitters.

#4 CC Made Caramel Popcorn Spiced Almond

We were out in the Bay Area this week to see Adam's family for Thanksgiving where I bought two bags of my favorite caramel popcorn from CC Made...made right in the Napa Valley. I bought two bags so I'd have enough to share since the warmly spicy sweet flavor makes this popcorn highly addictive. Sure enough, my father-in-law confessed to eating a bunch of it the next day. Fortunately, I planned for it by buying TWO bags. No worries Dad, I got you covered. If you gift this one, be sure to buy some for yourself

#3 Bag O' Dumplings

Every so often, I like to throw in a kooky gift idea just to see if it sticks or [pot]stickers in this case. If someone showed up at my party with a bag of frozen dumplings as a hostess gift...I'd be delighted because I could always use a quick solution for dinner. If you brought me good quality frozen dumplings like ones from QingDao Garden, that would be even sweeter. Everyone brings wine, candles and candy. Differentiate your gift with something more substantial that's truly a gift to the host. Put it in a gift bag or slap a bow on it.

On that note, I'm off to find some lunch because I must be hungry.

#2 Salt Pig

Oink oink! We have a nice Emile Henry salt pig in an Apricot color that I really like. We keep it by the stove filled with kosher salt. There's a nice wide angled opening so you can reach in and grab some salt while you're cooking. It's wide enough for big hands too. The inside of the salt pig isn't glazed so it absorbs some moisture and prevents the salt form clumping. Overall, a great design and a unexpected gift for someone who loves to cook or at least loves salt. They're a little pricey for something that holds salt, but you can buy "seconds" online at Emily Henry.

2013 Gift Ideas - let's get started

McCrea's Caramels

I hear the shop local thingamajig is the next thing or maybe it's the just past thing or current thing. I also like to think buying local artisanal foods make them nutritionally virtuous. Adam and I stopped by the Williams Sonoma at Copley yesterday where they had Mr. McCrea himself from McCrea Candies passing out delicious samples of their caramels handmade in Boston. Mr. McCrea was generous with his samples so we tried the Black Lava Salted Caramels, the Highland Single Malt Scotch Caramel and I just tried the Fusion Ginger. The Black Lava Salted Caramels are insanely good and I made one last 30 minutes by taking tiny bites. Big salt granules embedded in a creamy soft caramel. Excellent product and a great gift for the holidays. It's easy to pack for travel since it's not fragile or "liquid" and a little goes a long way. Locally available at Pemberton Farms or check out their online store. That's why I'm kicking off 2013's list with McCrea's Caramels