Just like Lena used to make for Ole

So last week, there was 24 inches of snow on the ground, and today it's supposed to be 70. I do not understand Colorado weather. In other news, I'm keeping busy at school. I'm learning how to clone DNA, working on a term project for each of my three classes, and learning LINUX for various data analysis programs I need for them. I don't bake much these days. Partly because we don't know that many people here to eat it. Not sure why otherwise.

Matt and his side hobby/company just put out another game for android phones this week in preparation for the verizon launch on Friday, and they're working on yet another.

I did made lefse. From scratch. And it's awesome. I tried making it a couple of years ago, and it was pretty good, but it ended up being a little crispy when all was said and done. Not this time. We always have lefse at holidays and family gatherings, even though most of us aren't that Norwegian. We're from Minnesota, and we're proud of the Norwegian we have, I suppose. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
6 cups mashed potatoes
6 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 cups flour plus a lot more for rolling.

Directions:
1. For the potatoes, chop them up and stick them in boiling water for 20 minutes until they're really mushy. I don't have a ricer, but if you do use it. I just mashed mine with a fork. Stir in the butter and let it cool in the fridge until its a little colder than room temp.


2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and stir/knead a few times. It will feel pretty wet, but should still be malleable. If it's a sloppy mess, go ahead and add more flour.

3. Form into 1/4 cup rounds and start rolling. If you're a Norse grandma, you have a lefse roller and griddle, but I'm not and don't. I just used an ordinary rolling pin. To start, sprinkle a 1/2 cup of flour on the rolling surface and roll, flipping every now and roll as thin as you can. Just make sure you can still pick it up. You'll use a lot of flour for this.

4. Transfer the lefse to a heated 12-inch cast iron skillet (you could probably use any old pan that conducts heat well) over medium heat. No oil needed. Cook until it bubbles (about a minute) and flip. It should have nice brown spots on the cooked side. Cook again until you deem it done. They might be a little crispy when they come off, but if you stack them up on top of each other, they'll soften up.

I froze 3/4 of my batch by folding in half and putting in plastic bags.

Have a lovely November.

Pre-Halloween snow. Lots of it.

I guess that when I moved to Boulder, I had resigned myself to not having snow drifts all over town in the winter. Well, we've had a huge dump of snow the last two days. It's been so gorgeous around town. Everyone seems to be freaking out and complaining that school isn't closing (it did close yesterday afternoon) but I'm content to sit around and watch the snow fall outside. That is, from my office. With a window. I also have a desk as of Monday. As if this isn't exciting enough, our admin assistant has a friend who works at Celestial Seasonings, so we have a vast array of teas available as well. Life is pretty good up there.


In other news, to commemorate the white wonderland outside, I made lazy girl soup. Essentially browned some onions then added all the chopped veggies I had along with some water, stock, spices and tomato paste and simmered it until delicious. Oh, soup.

Best garage sale find of the decade

So Matt sleeps a lot on weekends. This usually results in me waking up at 8, and him sleeping until noon or so. It's boring. So I try to do exciting things, like garage sale-ing. Actually, I've been going to garage sales about every weekend since we moved here. Two months ago.

But today was apparently quite auspicious on the garage sale front. The main objective was to find mugs to put in my office(s) for tasty hot drinks at work. I did find some. But the primary amazing find: a 9-quart copper saucepan. For those not obsessed with food, copper cookware is the best conducting, fastest cooking, prettiest, and most expensive kind. The pot I bought today probably retails about $250. And I got it for $2. I actually bought some Brasso to clean it for $3.79, almost twice the cost of the pot.

Our new apartment

We moved into our new place this weekend and most everything is unpacked and settled. It's a little eerie doing everything here for the first time and knowing that we'll be here for at least a year. I'm happy to have finally gotten out here, and thanks to families for all the moving help. Still need a bookcase for my cookbooks, but everything else seems to have it's place.

Why I love Boulder already

What a lovely town.  It seems to be a funny mix of outdoor enthusiasts, crazy hippies, rich retirees, drunken students, professional athletes, and occasionally a normal person.  Regardless of any previous notions, I'm going to have to pick things up a bit if I want to still call myself an active person.  Everyone here seems to bike 200 miles a week and run marathons several times a year.

The downtown area is very trendy and classy.  The Pearl Street mall has a wide array of cutsie shops and restaurant patios.  My favorite is Peppercorn, a cooking store that has more cookbooks than I have ever seen in my life.  It also has quality cookware and utensils and import specialty foods.  Today I visited the spice shop nearby, which has dried spices and spice mixes from just about every cuisine imaginable.  You can buy them in bags of varying sizes or in jars.  And they have tasters out so you know what you're getting.  And there are various nice bookstores.

Campus is very pretty and everything matches.  And I can't get over having the Flatirons just over your shoulder wherever you are.  Never any confusion about which way is West here.  

Yesterday went hiking with Erin in Eldorado canyon.  There were lots of flowers (including cactus flowers) and stunning views of the rock formations. 

The end of my wanderings

I'm writing from my new hometown of Boulder, CO.  I don't move here officially for a couple of weeks, but I feel pretty good about making this place my new home.  I'll keep posting occasionally when something exciting happens, so don't forget all about me.  This past year has been pretty amazing.  I feel like I have changed so much and have a much better grasp on life and its endless shenanigans.  I should be here pretty consistently for about 5 years until I finish my Ph.D. and I am really looking forward to staying put.  

Our shopping day in Paris

I don't know how, but Friday ended up being mostly shopping.  We got up a little late and headed past the Pompidou center to Les Halles, the old market area.  It's now a huge underground and street level shopping complex.  We bought a few clothes at a cheaper store.  Everything is on sale now.  Really everything.  We went inside the nearby St. Eustace church.  It was really tall and had an amazing looking organ that some woman appeared to be having lessons on.  Afterwards, we went around to corner to E. Dehellerin, a big old-fashioned cooking goods store where I got a lovely fat rolling pin (baton de patisserie sounds so much better), and wooden spatula, and a couple of rubber bowl scrapers.  While we were in the area, we stopped at a cookbook bookstore.  

We walked through some of the arcaded shopping passages that used to be much more widespread in the city.  It was vary charming.  Next:  Galleries Lafayette.  (we had a ham/cheese crepe to keep our energy up).  The shoe level was pretty entertaining, with lots of designers that Amanda educated me on.  And of course the food halls were pretty fantastic too.  We picked up some chocolate waffels to take home and some serrano ham and grissini for that night.  

We were feeling a little tuckered, so picnicked on the opera steps on our favorite Eric Kayser baguette and tune.  Refreshed, we hopped the metro to the Arc de Triomphe (it's bigger than you think) and strolled down the Champs Elysee.  We even stopped at Saphora for a massive whiff of perfume.  

At 4:30, we met some friends at a metro stop at the east end of the city near Maelle's apartment.  We made dinner together and Claire made her chocolate pear tarte.  Henni also brought German wine to share.  It was really fun to spend a last evening together chatting and reminiscing.  I don't really know when I'll see any of them again.  

As the evening grew late, we got back on the metro for the long ride across town and went up the Eiffel Tower.  Paris at night is not quite as breathtaking as in the day, but it's very peaceful looking and fun to pick out the important monuments from afar.  The tower itself was all lit up and occasionally glittered like a swarovski store from thousands of bright light fixtures.  

We finally got back to the hotel around 1AM and packed up a bit before flopping down for our last night in Europe.  

In the morning, we got up and went to the nearby Enfants Rouge market to pick up some last minute things and spend our last euros.  We got mom and dad a chocolate and almond croissant respectively and a nutella crepe for ourselves.  The guys at the crepe booth were funny old men and gave us crap for ordering nutella at our age.  Armed with our last 4 euros, we got an assortment of Moroccan pastries too.  We like sweet things it you didn't notice.  

We took the metro/RER to the airport, entertained by some awesome accordionists on the train.  The airport went smoothly and we found at the gate that we had been upgraded to first class and even sat next to each other (thanks mom for checking us in early!).  The Delta first class seats are very classy.  There are about 6 different adjustable things on your seat and you couldn't touch your toes to the seat in front if you tried.  So they wined and dined us home, including a warm chocolate chip cookie halfway through.  

Dad met us at the airport and we rushed home to unpack a bit before Amanda's EP tournament soccer game at 6PM.  Funny how you can wake up in Paris and play a soccer game in Minnesota in the evening.  

It's nice to be home, and feels like nothing has changed.  I'm a little restless to get out to Colorado, but it will be great to catch up with friends and family here for a bit first.  

Thanks Europe for a swell time.