Popcorn on the cob

I love Fall.

Before.....

It is the season of cool weather, my birthday, beautiful leaves, pumpkin everything, squash, jeans+boots, crisp days & nights, fires in the fireplace & (for me at least) popcorn.

I also love farmer's markets & farm stands of all stripes. I bought an incredibly fun treat at Pearce's Farm Stand over my birthday weekend in Wisconsin. This is a family run farm stand which comes fully to life in the fall; they have an annual customer appreciation weekend with live music, corn, bratwurst & kettlecorn. Amazing small town fun for everyone! You can find them on Facebook, you'll see what I'm talking about; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pearces-Farm-Stand

Cob in the bag, bag in the microwave - getting cooked!

As I lose my train of thought; I should be reminded to get back to the popcorn! I saw dried corn on the cob for sale at Pearce's last month and figured I should absolutely buy them, because of my aforementioned love of popcorn in the Fall. 

After! So awesome.

I giggled like a schoolgirl while this was popping in my microwave! Well, to be perfectly honest, the popping took about a minute and a half to start and being that I am more than slightly distractable; the explosions from my microwave scared me so much I jumped and yelped quite loudly at the same time. (the good news is I was at home & didn't need to explain myself to Chris) The minor fright was followed my unadulterated childlike happiness at the silly feat of popcorn coming off of that dried cob after only a few minutes in the microwave!

It tastes delicious - I didn't add any butter/oil/salt/flavoring, yielded a full bowl of popcorn & all of it has been eaten less than 24 hours later. 


Needless to say, I am back in Wisconsin today, went back to Pearce's and bought 6 more of these. They are just too fun. Happy Fall everyone!

Soft Pretzels

I love soft pretzels.

Ger & Volker meet our train

Before this summer though, I loved the soft pretzels I could get at Wrigley Field, or at a bar with dipping sauce; I had no idea what I was missing.

National Lampoon's European Vacation (my pet name for our trip abroad this summer) took Chris & me to Munich, Germany. We stayed with my cousin & her husband; perhaps the most gracious hosts in the world. They were waiting for us in the main train station at Munich when we arrived, carrying signs, wearing an Irish flag (the heritage my cousin & I share), and a German one (partly because they didn't have an American flag to wear & the German flag was welcoming us to the their country!).

Obizda - soft cheese with herbs & Camembert. Amazing.

Olympiapark (Olympians need pretzels!)

Breakfast at Ger & Volker's home.YUM.

Brunch at the Hofbrauhaus

Lunch at the Viktualienmarkt beer garden

But back to the pretzels. Perhaps I am the last person on Earth to realize how perfect a fresh made hot pretzel is? This could be the case, but I was blown away by the salt flecked crust that gave way to a chewy center. The pretzels we enjoyed in Germany came in all shapes & sizes- we made an effort to try them everywhere we stopped! Ger (my cousin) would always be awake before her lazy house guests (us. darn.) and go to her local bakery to buy pretzels as part of our breakfast, then we would get a pretzel at a beer garden, and perhaps another as an afternoon snack. And so it went!

The photos give you some idea of how many pretzels I was capable of eating in 5 days..........

La Tour Eiffel

I love the Eiffel Tower. 

I think it is wonderful that it is just a structure. It wasn't designed to do anything (other than be beautiful & astonish the world; which I'd say it succeeded massively on both fronts).

The first apartment we stayed in while in Paris had a view of la Tour Eiffel from the kitchen window. Granted, it was in the distance, as we stayed in the 12th arrondissement - away from the action in a quiet neighborhood. That being said- being able to look out the window & see the Eiffel Tower within hours of our touchdown at Charles de Gaulle made me abundantly happy.

The view from our 1st apartment - Eiffel Tower at night!

Cheers!

View from a boat cruise on the Seine

Gazing up at this breathtaking structure while sitting on the grass with Chris, sipping wine and enjoying a summer night; I was in heaven. The most romantic city in the world, its most iconic attraction, the love of my life & wine.....what's not to love?

I took about 100 photos of the Eiffel Tower throughout our days in Paris- here are a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Europe Fund

I love to travel.

Lizzard Loves....travel!

I also love to hoard change like a squirrel hoards acorns. Hence the "Europe Fund 2012" growler! I bought this growler in August of 2011, on a 2 week long road trip. I bought the growler in Columbus, OH at the North Market (http://www.northmarket.com/). If you've never been (& you have access to Columbus) please take the time to visit! It is chock full of delights; food, beer, wine, shopping, and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (http://www.jenis.com/) which is perhaps the most delicious ice cream I've ever had.

The growler accompanied me home in a cooler with some freezer packs, so I had a treat to give Chris when I returned! Now onto the growler's rebirth.....

Fast forward 6 months to February/March 2012. Chris & I decide we should take another big trip in August, this time to Europe! The label went on the growler & the saving of all change began.

We leave in 4 days for our 2 week trip and I think it is time for me to cash out our growler full of change. 

Well, we only made it 3/4 of the way full- but hopefully there is enough money in it to buy some wine+cheese in Paris, beer+pretzels in Munich & whatever we feel like in Prague ;)

Bon voyage to us!

Coffee from around the world

I love coffee.

I also love my sister (shocking I'm sure :). 

Organic Coffee from Nepal!

Returning from her trip to Nepal & Bali, my sister carried gifts galore, including some amazingly delicious organic coffee! I support eating locally - I know its good for me & the world, but coffee doesn't grow in Chicago...so why not try some from Nepal?? 

I bought the square glass container for my coffee grounds after my sister brought me the coffee, because I never know where to put the ground coffee........because the bag it came in is full of the beans! My coffee grinder only handles enough beans for 3/4 of a pot, but I like to grind more at one time. Enter my simple new container. 

How do you store your coffee? Do you grind it at home? I'd love any new ideas you all have!

I'm back to my coffee now; it is the best way I can start my day. Thanks again sissy for such a delightful gift from around the world.

Mini kitchen makeover

I love my kitchen.

As you probably can tell, if you've been reading Lizzard Loves, I spend quite a bit of time in my kitchen. The kitchen is one of the things I fell in love with when I decided to buy our condo. It is big, plenty of room to move around, ample counter space, and the list goes on. 

 Before...BORING.

I have lived in my condo for 4 years & in that time my Dad & Chris have helped with some great kitchen improvements (a dishwasher was added, side by side 9 or 10 foot pantry cabinets came too, plus the fun island that I blogged about previously), but I was feeling like I hit a plateau & was growing antsy to make my kitchen look better. Most of my previous improvements focused on increasing functionality and help my kitchen work better for me; the time had come to give it a face lift!

It would make me feel better if I knew other people had trouble motivating to do home improvement projects......I find it is too easy to simply think about the improvements you want, but not to actually take the time & effort to make them happen. I can't honestly remember what sparked this project, but I am so pleased with it!

In progress- no knobs!

My mini kitchen makeover simply involved removing the boring knobs/drawer pulls that were on the cabinets when I moved in & adding colorful new ones! Little did I know I would require my Dad's help yet again......because the screws on the new knobs were approximately 1/2 an inch longer than the old ones. How do you cut a screw? Well, you can call my Dad- that's how. My parents came down to our condo over the weekend & my Dad brought a small power saw with him to finish this project. I am disappointed in myself for not photographing my Dad doing this, but I was truly concerned for my (& my condo's) safety! Every time my Dad cut into a screw- showers of sparks rained down in my kitchen- they were popping all the way to the ceiling; it was utterly insane! Chris, my Mom & my sister were as freaked out as I was.....my Dad on the other hand seemed completely unfazed. I love my Dad.

After! So much better!

So here are the new knobs, there are 15 in all. They freshen the whole room, make it much more interesting to look at. All told, this project took approximately 2 hours of work (most of the time was spent by Chris & I cranking the new screws into place- because the head of the screw shows through the front of the knob, we couldn't use a screwdriver to get them into place. Instead we used pliers- it was way less easy.....but the knobs sure are cute, right??).

Close up of the knob I chose

Does anyone have summertime home improvement projects going on? Any mini makeovers in other rooms? I would love to hear the ideas you have, please share in the comments!

Cooking for friends

I love cooking for friends.

I also love cooking when I don't know how else to help a tough situation.

Packed & ready to give

A good friend of Chris & mine has had a tough time with health issues this summer & it seems to me that summer is the worst time to be laid up. All you want is to be outside doing all the fun things you can in Chicago during the summer; but this particular friend was rocking some hospital time & then home time while recovering.

So what do you do for a friend who temporarily can't use 1 arm & has a REALLY sore mouth? Make soup! I know, I know, its summer, its hot, who wants to eat soup? Our friend did :) Honestly though, everyone needs to eat & it has always been my contribution to friends and family in need. A lot of us struggle to cook when we are living a normal, busy week. When a curve ball like an illness/injury/death comes into play- cooking is one of the first things to fall by the wayside - at least in my experience. At the end of the day though, we all need nutritious (& ideally delicious) food to sustain us during tough times. I am happy to be the friend who can provide at least a little support in that area.

Soup must be safe!

The recipe below is compliments of my Mom, who gifted us a GIANT cookbook of her fabulous recipes as a wedding gift. I love my Mom & I love my Mom's recipes. She is always so generous with sharing them with me & was fine with me blogging about this one. In case you want more information on my Mom's cooking school (currently available only for private events) here is her website; http://www.coachousegourmet.com/ . Because my Mom is so tech savvy you can also follow her blog here; http://coachousegourmet.blogspot.com/ - perhaps some traffic to her blog will encourage my Mom to post some more recipes!

You may wait until the fall or winter to make this soup- but it is bright & citrusy (the cilantro & lime do the trick) so it is not a crazy thing to enjoy this season.

Trader Joe's Mix = delicious & easy

The recipe includes directions for homemade tortilla strips, but I opted for cornbread instead - since the recipient of this batch of soup wouldn't have been able to enjoy the crispy crunchy strips. I encourage you to make & add them to the soup if you try it- the contrast of textures is pretty wonderful. The cornbread I made was from a mix (compliments of Trader Joe's), but I used applesauce in place of about 3/4 of the oil. Their cornbread mix is outstanding- I recommend it highly if you've never had it.

I hope you enjoy the recipe & the soup; let me know in the comments if you give it a try.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

3 tablespoons canola oil

5 corn tortillas (2 cut into strips, 3 torn into bite sized pieces)

1 onion, diced

6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

2 (14.5oz) cans diced tomatoes

8 cups chicken stock

1 bag Trader Joe's Roasted Corn (in the frozen section)

1 tablespoon freshly ground cumin seeds, measured after grinding (I don't have a spice mill - so I used pre-ground cumin....it would undoubtedly taste better if I had ground it fresh, but I had to do what I had to do!)

1 chipotle pepper in adobo, minced

1 teaspoon adobo sauce

4 bay leaves

1/2 of a rotisserie chicken, shredded

Juice of 1 lime

1 small bunch of cilantro, leaves chopped

3/4 cup sour cream, for garnish

Directions

1. Cut 2 tortillas into thin strips. Sauté in 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Drain on paper towels & set aside.

2. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to a large soup/stock pot. Sauté onions until soft. Add garlic, sauté one minute.

3. Add tomatoes, chicken stock, corn, cumin, chipotle, adobo sauce, 3 tortillas torn into bite sized pieces, and bay leaves.

4. Simmer 20 minutes

5. Remove bay leaves. Add lime juice & chicken.

6. Simmer additional 10 minutes if your rotisserie chicken was refrigerated. 

7. Stir in cilantro, ladle into bowls & serve with sour cream & sautéed tortilla strips. (I didn't use sour cream for serving....because I don't like it. As mentioned above, I served it with a side of cornbread instead of the crunchy sautéed tortilla strips!)