Nothing Exciting, Mostly Food
It's spring and I feel like I should update, but I don't have all that much to talk about. It was unseasonably cold last week, but now it is irresponsibly gorgeous out. The dogwoods have been blooming for weeks. If cherry trees were sprinters, the dogwoods are marathon runners. Their boughs of large, snowy blossoms seem to last forever, lighting up the woods like rays of sunshine.
Local. Hmm, a few weeks ago we went to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof at the new Durham Performing Arts Center. It is the farewell tour starring Topol, the Israeli actor who's been playing Tevye basically forever and starred in the 70's production. He is still amazing.
Work. Fancy laser beam profiles are popular these days, so I have spent some time creating a cylindrical vector beam, which is a kind of optical vortex. It looks less exciting than the name implies, it's simply a round beam with a hole in the center (the vortex!). Let's see if we can find any interesting properties to publish ...
Food!
From 2009 SpringTo celebrate spring, last weekend I made a dish out of the excellent Shelburne Farms Cookbook. Here you can see the maple-chipotle scallops, which were very easy and very excellent. It was the first time I've made scallops and I was a little nervous, but really they're one of the easier ingredients to work with I think. Beautiful, tasty baby asparagus is also in season, I love those tender little stalks just barely cooked. Here I sauteed a bunch with shallots, garlic, a little white wine and added plenty of black pepper and parmesan to make a sauce for penne. This rapidly became my favorite sping pasta.
For Easter I tried a Scandinavian dish of lamb (Shelburne Farms again) simmered with sour cream, peas, onion and dill. It's possibly the ugliest entree I've ever made, but it really grew on me. Unfortunately you can't buy just a little bit of dill at the store, and now I have an entire frond in my vegetable drawer ...
Also made from the Shelburne Farms book:
From 2009 Spring
I can easily type out any recipes that catch people's eyes if you're curious, just send me an email or leave a comment.
Local. Hmm, a few weeks ago we went to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof at the new Durham Performing Arts Center. It is the farewell tour starring Topol, the Israeli actor who's been playing Tevye basically forever and starred in the 70's production. He is still amazing.
Work. Fancy laser beam profiles are popular these days, so I have spent some time creating a cylindrical vector beam, which is a kind of optical vortex. It looks less exciting than the name implies, it's simply a round beam with a hole in the center (the vortex!). Let's see if we can find any interesting properties to publish ...
Food!
From 2009 SpringTo celebrate spring, last weekend I made a dish out of the excellent Shelburne Farms Cookbook. Here you can see the maple-chipotle scallops, which were very easy and very excellent. It was the first time I've made scallops and I was a little nervous, but really they're one of the easier ingredients to work with I think. Beautiful, tasty baby asparagus is also in season, I love those tender little stalks just barely cooked. Here I sauteed a bunch with shallots, garlic, a little white wine and added plenty of black pepper and parmesan to make a sauce for penne. This rapidly became my favorite sping pasta.
For Easter I tried a Scandinavian dish of lamb (Shelburne Farms again) simmered with sour cream, peas, onion and dill. It's possibly the ugliest entree I've ever made, but it really grew on me. Unfortunately you can't buy just a little bit of dill at the store, and now I have an entire frond in my vegetable drawer ...
Also made from the Shelburne Farms book:
- Homemade mayo, to go on thinly sliced baby turnips and radishes from the farmers' market, with lettuce, shaved carrot, chives and mint
- A hash of golden beets, potato and smoked trout - surprisingly delicious!
- Wilted dandelion greens with bacon
From 2009 Spring
I can easily type out any recipes that catch people's eyes if you're curious, just send me an email or leave a comment.