childhood friend gets hitched!

On Saturday, my friend Lauren who I’ve known since I was in third grade (in other words, for two thirds of my life) got maaaaaaaaaarried!

Her parents ended up moving to Gettysburg, PA after we finished high school, and man it is pretty up there. You’re kind of gambling with the weather gods having an outdoor wedding in November, but everything worked out great- it was a gorgeous day. The wedding was at the clubhouse of the golf course on which her parents live.

Not pictured was the beautiful stream that meandered through the property, and the bridge atop which the wedding party posed.

 

I took a few pictures at the ceremony but I was mostly just gaping seeing Lauren in a wedding dress. (A strapless dress no less- I wore a wool coat throughout the ceremony. I think she’s shivering in the picture on the top right, but she was a trouper, and looked bee-yoo-ti-ful).

When the couple was pronounced man and wife we doused them in bubbles, in this cute cowboy boot shaped container (amazingly, this is the SECOND wedding I’ve attended with cowboy boot bubbles- my friend Virginia married a Texan last summer!). I was sitting in the aisle seat and my boyfriend and high school friends had fun covering me in bubble residue, as I was between them and the bride and groom. Jerks.

We moved inside (it’s so nice when weddings and receptions are in the same place, no?). They kept a pretty, simple autumnal theme throughout. I love orange.

 

And going along with it, a caramel apple. Did I eat this caramel apple? Of course not. Steve ate mine (and his) before the first dance.

  

Which was adorable. And to a country song. One of Alex’s friends, seated at our table, went “… I didn’t take Alex for a country music fan”. And I went, “Oh, that’s all Lauren”.

Salad and hot rolls commenced the meal.

Then asparagus, wild rice, and a COLOSSAL steak. All of the food was really good- despite the steak being well done (boo) it was still really flavorful. Which would indicate a pretty substantial fat content, eh? I ate like a fourth of mine, because I am a red meat wimp. So Steve ate 1 and 3/4 steaks. He was pleased. Til crippling pain began in the middle of the night.

Unpictured is a glass of champagne (super cute toasts- Lauren’s dad, who I think I’ve heard utter ten words ever, gave a really sweet speech about her).

Also unpictured is a gin and tonic. And a whiskey sour. And fantastic dancing (the first wedding I’ve attended since Gangnam Style came out. SO fun).

I was going to make a bet with Steve whether the bride and groom would smash cake into each others’ faces, and asked him to call it. He said they would, and then I saw the look in Alex’s eyes… and I didn’t take that bet. And they did.

The cake was EXCELLENT. I don’t as a rule actually like wedding cake, but this had layers of red velvet cake and what we think was pumpkin cake (extra excellent!) with cream cheese frosting (the best!).

  

So the ceremony had begun at 3 and then there was eating and dancing and festivities and then everything wound down and it was dark and I was drowsy and perhaps a bit tipsy and everyone strolled out the door of the reception and THEN I looked at my phone and it was 7:00, hahahahahaha.

The very nice parents of the bride (who’ve also known me since I was 8) kindly invited wedding guests to their home, just down the street from the reception… perhaps to sober up (or, in some cases, get all the drunker on the keg in the basement).

Loved the paper lanterns leading up the stairs (don’t mind the ghost- my friend’s hubby- walking by).

 

After chatting with other guests and finally even getting in a few words with the bride, we headed back to our B+B.

OH MAN!

If you ever find yourself in Gettysburg, I highly recommend the Mary Penn Bed and Breakfast. Things that are awesome about this B+B, in no particular order:

- It was built in the 1700s. History!
- It straddles the Mason-Dixon line, so we slept in Maryland and had breakfast in Pennsylvania. The toilet was in Maryland and the shower was in Pennsylvania!
- Bea, the owner, is the PERFECT person to own a B+B- friendly, personable, excited to share stories and lore from the history of the home.
- It’s beautiful!

The exterior:

So much work was put in to restore the house: for example, the original bricks were in the fireplace, but they were dried out. Rather than replacing them, someone in Bea’s family, who was a mason, undertook a process of soaking them in water (!) and thus rehydrating them. Who knew?

Much of the furniture around the house was of the time period. When new additions were added- like the modernized kitchen- they sought out interesting materials, like the cabinets made of wood reclaimed from an old barn. Now admire the beautiful built-in cabinets in the dining room:

  

The parlor, where the original family would have spent much of their time:

The basement was particularly enthralling, with bare log beams on the ceiling, and a fireplace restored with the traditional cookware.

Unpictured is the tribute Bea put up to the slaves (eesh) who’d once slept there (eesh) in tiny rooms- with bars- that were essentially livestock pens. The particularly upsetting thing is that they were literally feet away from Pennsylvania and freedom.

Bea runs the B+B (boy, say that one three times fast) with the help of her granddaughter and her friend, who both attended culinary school.

Thus, the “breakfast” in “bed and breakfast” was absolutely delicious.

The table just grew and grew..

 

Along with light ‘n fluffy pancakes, blueberry muffins, sausages (which I did not but Steve did- really Steve? After the steaks?!), we got Eggs Benedict!

Absolutely scrumptious.

After learning more about the house and just enjoying our chats with Bea, we strolled around the property a bit, taking in the fresh air and the gorgeous day.

 

so you’ve got yourself some gluten

First, because I can’t respond to comments: thanks to Ali for the excited comment the other day about UNC- it made my day :)

In other news, look at my attractive ciabatta!

 

The eternally helpful Mark Bittman, in his eternally helpful cookbook How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, assures us that we can make 100% whole grain bread that tastes good. The secret is in the gluten. Vital wheat gluten.

I was “that girl” buying my vital wheat gluten at Whole Foods. (I was also ‘that girl” when my burly male coworkers mocked me mercilessly for requesting a vegetarian sandwich together with a Diet Coke at a catered work event yesterday).

But guys it WORKS. You don’t get that cardboard taste/shoe leather texture 100% whole wheat bread if you just give it a little gluten.

I am a huge fan of this ciabatta recipe in general due to its low maintenance. But then I simply added 100% whole wheat flour plus two tablespoons to the recipe, added perhaps a splash more water, beat the bejesus out of the dough, baked it, and LOOK AT THIS GORGEOUS STUFF.

I brought it to a work potluck and it was vair popular, particularly with some olive oil and fresh herbs. Soft and bubbly, it was.

Pleased.

Anyway, having the vital wheat gluten also gave me an opportunity to make seitan for the first time. Also from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, I saw it as a fun opportunity to do some food-lab style cooking and liven up my non-meat protein, since I have come to the conclusion that I really don’t like the taste of meat very often and if I had a choice I would eat cookies for every meal. So if there’s a protein that can kind of be like bread, that could be called “meeting me halfway”, right?

Gluten as dough is not necessarily easy on the eyes.

As dough it looks like something pulled out of a cadaver…

 

And after cooking in the Asian-style broth (veggie stock, soy sauce, etc.), it looked like that same thing pulled out of the cadaver that had then been left out in the sun for awhile.

But I persevered, envisioning a stir-fry.

Eggplant.

Squash, carrots. Ginger. Flavors.

Overall the ensuing stir-fry tasted… okay. For all the fuss, I’d say not really worth it.

The texture of the seitan was odd- I’m thinking I’d cook it less next time, because it was too airy. It also really tasted like… bread! Sort of unsurprising, given the ingredients. But like an especially airy and chewy bread you might get at an Italian restaurant. Which is weird all mixed up with hoisin sauce and ginger, yknow?

Anyway, an experiment!

 

The most successful (though least photogenic) seitan I made was a Bittman recipe for seitan loaf with lentils. I really have never met a lentil I didn’t like. I was having friends over, two of whom were boys, one of whom was Steve, so I knew I needed a hearty and manly meal. I was jonesing to make some cornbread, which to me meant barbecue to go with it.

SO I threw together a homemade vegan barbecue sauce (apple cider vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, ketchup, etc.) and crumbled up the lentil seitan into it.

It was REALLY good.

 

To round out the meal, I made a MEGA pasta salad to satiate boy hunger

I do mean mega- it required multiple bowls. (I also did one with olives and feta, making it non vegan. I figured the vegan and the picky eater who doesn’t like olives- except then Steve ended up loving the olive one, go figure- could eat from the smaller one. Smaller being a relative term.)

A cucumber and mango salad for a tropical twist and some extra vitamins. A few chilis for kicks.

 

And the cornbread I so craved.

I’ve been making eggless cornbread of late because we tend to only buy farmer’s market eggs now and it just seems a waste for them to disappear into batter. So I just replaced my usual buttermilk with soy buttermilk (soymilk mixed with apple cider vinegar and allowed to curdle for a few) et voila.

Vegan Cornbread

1 ¼ cup soy milk mixed with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar to be vegan (or 1 ¼ cup buttermilk if you aren’t vegan)
2 T sugar or honey
1/3 cup applesauce
2 T oil
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 T ground flaxseed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ear fresh corn, off the cob (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400. Place cast iron skillet in oven to warm. Combine buttermilk, applesauce, sugar or honey, and oil in a blender, or whisk together. Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Create a well in the center and add the wet ingredients and optional corn. Gently fold together until just combined. Remove skillet from oven, and spray with cooking spray. Pour the batter into the prepared skillet. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

All together now.

 

Okay BUT. I’d left work early for some reason that day (can’t remember) and on my way home decided to get the items for an ambitious vegan dessert, because it sounded fun!

I got the ingredients for a graham cracker crust (note that I called Lydia and asked if Brian was okay with honey grahams, and she went “Eh, we don’t care about bees”. Lydia hates bees a lot)- just toasted up some graham crackers in oil.

Then I made a chocolate custard by using bird’s custard powder (which is actually just cornstarch with vanillin) and combining it with chocolate almond milk and some extra dark chocolate oomph (note that a surprising  amount of dark chocolate contains milk fat- check the label!).

Topped with more dark chocolate shavings and some toasted slivered almonds, emphasizing the almond milk within.

Friends, if you are inviting any vegans for Thanksgiving this year, I highly recommend this. It is easy and it is GORGEOUS!

 

And WOW this was good! I mean, especially accompanied with non-vegan real whipped cream :)

Carolina and other good things

I would have entitled this post “Going to Carolina”, but to know me, to truly know me, is to know of my devout and eternal hatred of James Taylor. Truth.

Anyway, I used to go to summer camp at Duke- to be specific, summer WRITING camp, because I was a huge nerd. Though, all my teachers there were so encouraging, and it does make me wistful how little of it I do now. I guess this blog counts? Er…

Anyway, Duke is so gorgeous.

I’ll get to our main purpose for being in NC at the end of this post, but an added bonus to the trip is that my mom made a visit to someone she’s worked with who works at Duke, and we got a fabulous tour.

The gardens are stunnnnning.

  

Also took a peek at the academia side with a look at the Global Health department. But by far, by far the best part of that trip was:

 

LEMURS I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Everything about Duke Lemur Center is amazing. The fact that not only is it a wonderful sanctuary for animals, it’s also where first-class research is taking place. When we were there, a graduate student was just finishing something that involved lemurs typing things on computers. I love our smart fellow primates.

They meditate and think deep thoughts…

… they keep an eye on their guests.

Apparently the cute innocent looking ones (these are brown lemurs) can be the most vicious.

   

MEGA inspiring, and I think excellent fodder for a children’s book: the (poorly photographed, sorry) lemur on the left is the mother of those triplets there with her. She was born with a disabled left arm (they think it may have been because her mother was on antibiotics before they knew she was pregnant). Initially it seemed to get in her way- rather than being able to leap from branch to branch,  she would climb one tree, climb down, climb up the next tree, climb down- but slowly, she seemed to get sick of that. One day, she just started jumping. Not only did she do great, the keepers at the center said that she jumped further and riskier jumps than any of the other lemurs would dare. Plus, she’s been a very successful mother, and is parent to more lemurs at the center than anyone else. SO inspiring.

 

As you can see, the lemurs have large and spacious enclosures on the inside…

 

But they can also go out whenever they want! (Can’t you picture that one saying, “C’mon guys!”?)

 

(Sidebar: the lemurs in that picture are also known as “dancing lemurs”. Their bodies are designed to spring from tree to tree, and they move like they’ve got pogo sticks in their feet. It’s so extraordinary, especially when they come over to investigate you, which they do a lot because they’re so INTELLIGENT and CURIOUS and AWESOME!)

    

So when I say outside, I mean outside. People who come to visit the lemurs literally have nothing between them and the animals. To me, it’s fantastic- here’s a chance for school groups and other visitors to come in and see how the animals behave.

Best of all, the animals get to go out into the Duke forest and do what lemurs do!

Funny story: There was a ditch separating the building and the surrounding forest. Initially the lemurs were suspicious and refused to go through the ditch. So the facility built a bridge. Then the beams would get too hot sitting in the sun. So they built a roof.

Which allows for hilarious tail pictures like this.

Also, don’t you wish your neck could do that?

Hilarious ring-tailed lemur story: two adolescent males were getting shunned by the rest of the lemur troupe (because, like sensible societies, the lemurs are female-dominated). One Saturday night (of course) they managed to hop the fence and escape the center. Everyone was distraught: there were predators like foxes in the woods who could get them, they could get hit by a car. Monday morning there was a sighting of them (someone was commuting to work and saw lemurs cross the road; could you imagine?!), but every time someone called, by the time the staff got there, the lemurs were gone.

But, at a Christian school a few miles away, the children had been on a field trip to the lemur center, so a child looked out the window and said “There’s a lemur on the playground!” The teacher hadn’t been on the field trip, so she needed some convincing, but after she saw the lemurs, the kids explained that they knew the staff at the center would play drums and music when they would feed the lemurs, and the lemurs would come. So the students made a path of food leading into the school’s library, and banged drums. The lemurs came in and the students were able to shut them in the library. When the staff from the center arrived, the students were taking their Spanish lesson with the lemurs.

Isn’t that a great story? It goes to show you, when you teach people to care about their fellow creatures and understand them, they’ll help look out for them.

 

That evening, my mom and I strolled to downtown Durham, where we enjoyed a meal al fresco. True story: MEG RYAN AND JOHN MELLANCAMP WALKED BY. Why?! Why on Earth would they be in Durham?! It was very exciting.

 

Chips and salsa: housed.

Delicious bucket o’ grease mushroom spinach quesadilla-ish thing: housed.

AWESOME: meeting up with my friend at summer camp at Francesca’s, the cafe where we’d enjoy gelato on summer nights all those years ago. SO great to see her, SO great to travel back in time and think about what crazy teenagers we were. A poem we wrote about our painfully attractive, painfully gay teacher comes to mind. Mon dieu.

 

Gelato was great on that hot summer night!

The next morning, we went back to another old haunt: The Mad Hatter, another great cafe.

 

Duh-licous latte.

APPALLINGLY huge, albeit beautiful and delicious plate of oatmeal. I mean really. It just results in an offensive amount of food being wasted, unless one is a linebacker.

 

Okay okay okay so here we go: on that last day in North Carolina, we reveal my true reason to be there: a visit to UNC. To be more specific, a visit to UNC Chapel Hill, to the department that runs the combined R.D./MPH program. To be more specific, the program I loved from afar and then adored in person, the program that I hope to lead me to my future awesome career, the program to which I will be applying next fall, the program for which I will be moving to North Carolina next summer.

I hope I hope I hope! There are some ifs in that equation (getting in? Passing organic chemistry by the time I apply? Finding something to do in NC for a year while I earn in-state status? Bringing this wonderful boy I love so much along?) but. The program is everything I’m passionate about in one building. I’ve built the past few months really trying to lay the foundation for the kind of adult life I want to have, and I feel SO good about this being the next step.

And yes, I quit my job! School, here I come.