What I Just Finished Reading

Columbine, by Dave Cullen. Not the most uplifting thing I've ever read, but very, very interesting.

Daniel was only about six weeks old when the Columbine massacre happened, and I avoided any and all news stories about it. I just didn't think I could take it. After about ten days, I sat down and read Time magazine article about all that had happened. Since then, I've had what I guess you have to call a morbid curiosity about the events, intensified by reading Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes.

After reading Cullen's book, I now know that most of what I thought I knew about what happened was incorrect. There were a lot of details that I had not heard, and many things that I had heard were in error. And he talks a lot about where those misconceptions came from. The media ran with things that were not backed up, just to get some news out there. Kids then repeated what they heard on the news, and the news in turn reported what the kids said (which actually they had not seen first hand, but heard on the news, and so believed that must have been what happened.) Bit of a vicious media cycle going on.

He provides much more info on the killers than I had heard before (Harris was a psychopath; Klebold was suicidal.) There was also a lot of detail on the legal aftermath. It was a classic case of who gets punished when the guilty parties are already dead? But there were a lot of little details that I didn't know - for example, victims' families were able to get 1.6 million dollars from the Harris and Klebold's homeowners insurance - it included coverage in the event one of their children commits murder (I found that bizarre.)

The book begins with a play-by-play of the massacre. It then breaks into two plot lines - the year in the life of the killers, leading up to the massacre, and the year(s) after the massacre in the lives of the victims and their families. Cullen alternates these two time lines chapter by chapter, which was a little choppy, but it worked.

All in all, worth reading. I took my time with it, as I found it really upsetting and didn't want to get inundated with it. But I'm glad I read it.

Happy Birthday Ben!

"And nobody

In all of Oz,

No wizard that there is or was

Is ever gonna bring you down."

- Wicked

The Fabulous Farmer's Market

I went to the farmer's market bright and early this morning, and found something I'd never seen before - A Lilac Pepper:

I was told it was a sweet pepper, but I was mostly just amazed at how cool it looked. Isn't that an AWESOME color? I have no idea what to do with it, and so far I've just set it in different spots in the kitchen and looked at it. Have any of you actually been so privileged as to eat a lilac pepper? If so, please tell me what I can expect...

Also at the farmer's market, I found some lovely tomatoes, red bell peppers, and garlic (and thirty bucks worth of other stuff, but that's for another day.) Back to the tomatoes, red bell peppers, and garlic:


Ever since I got my food mill, I have wanted to try my hand at my own tomato/marinara sauce. And today was the day!! Since I got such lovely peppers as well as lovely tomatoes, I decided to make a roasted red pepper marinara.

I roasted the peppers per instructions from Giada: put them under the broiler for twenty minutes, rotating so that each side burns and blisters. (And don't do this while any one is sleeping - your smoke alarm will go off for the entire twenty minutes.) Then put the hot peppers into a ziplock bag and let them come to room temp.

Meanwhile, I sauteed six cloves of garlic in one tablespoon of olive oil for one minute over a medium/low heat. I added two pounds of quartered tomatoes and let them cook and break down for about 15 minutes. Then I ran the results through the finest setting on the food mill. It kept all the seeds and peels! I love my food mill!!

I set that aside and peeled and de-seeded my now cooled peppers (the zip-lock bag thing worked like a charm - they were really easy to peel.) I chopped them, and added them into a pot with my pureed tomatoes. I added a half a teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon each of dried basil and oregano, and few grinds of black pepper. I let that simmer for about thirty minutes, adding a tablespoon of tomato paste about halfway through as it wasn't getting thick enough for me. Then I lightly pureed the whole thing with my stick blender (some chunks of pepper were still in there.)

And let me just say.....it is AWESOME. I can't wait to eat it on something. I'm putting it on a pizza tonight, and will try to have it over pasta some time soon.


What a way to celebrate the Fouth of July -making a classic Italian Sauce!!

Shopping

So, Dick's Sporting Goods is having a big sidewalk sale. We stopped by this week to pick up some golf shirts. Thought I would share with you what it's like to shop in a sporting goods store with Daniel:

The Mixer Is Back

Yes, as you may have surmised from my sidebar, the mixer is back. I made cookies last night. It's not what it was - the speeds are a little off, and it makes a horrible grinding sound on "stir". And then there's the trust factor: gone are the days of leaving the room while it whips away on its own. Let me down once, shame on you; let me down twice, shame on KitchenAid.

But it mixes. I haven't tried kneading pizza dough yet. I thought we'd take it slow, let the awkwardness wear off a little before trying to get back to a place that feels normal. I fear that we might never know "normal" again, but I'm willing to try. I'm willing to try.

Driving, Putting, and Chipping

The Manny is back! Showtime is keeping the boys for us again this summer, and on Tuesday he took them to the driving range/putting green at one of the local courses. He took some cool black and white pictures of the outing:

By the People, For the People

Ellie Krieger's Pumpkin Pie Muffins (from The Food You Crave):

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole grain pastry flour (I used white whole wheat, but you can use regular whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I used allspice)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I used light brown)
3 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk (I used low-fat yogurt)
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds (I could only find roasted and salted seeds)

Combined the flours, baking soda, spices and salt, and set aside.
Mix together the sugar, molasses, oil, and one egg until just combined. Add the second egg and mix together. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix together. Add half the flour, the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour. Make sure everything is well combined, but don't overmix.

Pour into lined and lightly sprayed muffin tin. I use an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter, and I got 17 muffins. Top each muffin with a few pumpkin seeds (don't skip this step! It makes the most delicious crunch. Although, I did leave the seeds off a few muffins just to get Daniel to try them.) Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Catching Up

Please accept my sincere apologies for my lack of blogging. I could say that I've been too busy, but that wouldn't be entirely true. I'll just say that I've been enjoying life too much to sit down and write about it. But I will correct that this morning.

First of all, let me introduce you to a new friend of mine, the Pumpkin Pie Muffin:

These little jewels are another Ellie Krieger creation, and they are AWESOME. I got the recipe from her cookbook, and I was hoping it would be on the Food Network web site, but alas, it is not to be. If you're interested, leave a comment and I'll post the recipe.

But for now, sit back, have a muffin, and let's catch up.

I want to thank so many of you who expressed their sincere condolences in the loss of my mixer. My electronics friend was able to diagnose the problem, and I had to order a part, which, with shipping, came to a whopping $18. (See Kitchen Aid, you should have spent the $18 yourselves and salvaged my respect.) The part came late last week, and he has been able to get the mixer up and running again, but is now trying to adjust the speeds. As of late Friday, it had no "stir" speed, it just went straight to level 2. This doesn't sound like a problem, but if you've ever mixed flour into a batter with the mixer running full-bore, you know that you need a "stir" speed.

Since my last post, we have also enjoyed Vacation Bible School at our church. Mark and I led recreation this year, which is always fun, and everyone seemed to have a blast. We didn't have the attendance we've had in past years, but the core church family was there, and I think it was really successful.

This last week has been a doozy. Ben went to boy scout camp for the first time ever, and Camp Davy Crockett reported the worst weather in the history of the camp. Ben's troop had to evacuate their campsite TWICE and head for shelters due to lightning. One evac was in the middle of the night. But, Ben was working on an Emergency Preparedness merit badge, so we're just calling it field work. The troop leaders commended the boys for keeping up good attitudes in less than stellar conditions, and I think a good time was had by all despite everything. (Except possibly Ben's tent-mate, who got poison ivy all over his face and had to go home early. Ben said he looked "really gross".)

Daniel went to my mom's this week. They are on their way here even as I type. This is the first time in a long time Mom has had one of the boys one-on-one, and I think it made for a nice change of pace. She'll have Ben later this summer, after DP goes back to school.

Mark and I enjoyed a few days of alone time, and then he left Thursday morning for his annual golf trip. Ben got back last night, so I was only all-alone for one night. I watched an HBO movie about Queen Elizabeth and caught up on all my dvr'd Food Network Shows.

And I think that just about catches us up. What's up with you?

Mixer Madness

For your reading pleasure, and to further sully the KichenAid name, I thought I would share with you the content of the on-line chat I had with KA on Saturday. My original statement is not included, but I basically just explained what happened and asked what I should do. Here's the chat:


Please wait for your KitchenAid Personal Assistant to respond.
You are now chatting with 'Lenné'
Lenné: Hello and welcome to KitchenAid Live Chat. My name is Lenne'. I will be assisting you today.
Lenné: One moment while I review your question.
Lenné: I am sorry to hear that your unit is not working. May I have your model and serial number?
Charlotte: KSM150PSMC
Charlotte: WU1607525
Lenné: When was your date of purchase?
Charlotte: August 13th 2007
Lenné: I can locate a service center for you. What state are you in?
Charlotte: Tennessee
Lenné: TN "Knoxville
Lenné: Located in E Tennessee, Lenné: 143 mi S of Lexington, KY" Hobart Sales & Service 2626 E Magnolia Ave 37914 865-523-8410
Lenné: TN Nashville Marbut's Appliance Service Center 6207A Charlotte Ave 37209 615-329-4079
Charlotte: Anything closer to 37686?
Charlotte: johnson City?
Lenné: Unfortunately those are the only ones available.
Charlotte: And there's not warranty for any of this?
Lenné: The warranty is one year from the date of purchase.
Charlotte: Well, it isn't realistic for me to drive to Knoxville or to Nashville for a repair. There's nothing else you will do for me?
Lenné: As an additional option, we offer Factory Repair Service through our Greenville, OH factory.
Lenné: Our factory repair Stand Mixer shipping kit is $32.00. This kit includes a letter of instruction, packing materials, shipping box, and a pre-paid shipping label. The kit also includes the cost to return the unit to you.
Lenné: After the factory receives your unit, a trained technician will diagnose the problem and contact you with an estimate for repair. You may decide at that time if you would like us to proceed with the repair.
Lenné: To purchase a Factory Shipping Kit, please feel free to contact either the KitchenAid Customer Satisfaction Center at 800.541.6390
Lenné: I would also recommend checking your local phone listings for small appliance repair shops.
Lenné: Thank you for chatting with us today.
Lenné: Have a great weekend!
Charlotte: I'll have to think that over. I have to say, as much as I have heard great things about these mixers and your company, I am not at all impressed that my $300 mixer died in less than 2 years and this is the best you can offer.
Lenné: Goodbye.
Lenné: I apologize for the inconvenience, however the warranty is 1 year from the date of purchase.
Lenné: Thank you for chatting with us today.
Lenné: Have a nice day!
Lenné: Goodbye.
Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.


Do you see where she asked if there was anything else she could help me with? If I had any other questions? No. Of course you didn't. It must have slipped her mind in her zeal to disconnect our chat.

I pasted the content of this chat into another email to KA, explaining my situation, and advised them that they might want to consider avoiding written correspondence with customers if this is the best they can do. I went on to explain how disappointed I was that "the greatest mixer in the world" crapped out in less than 2 years, and how equally disappointed I was that the "world class customer service" I had heard so much about amounted to a questionably sincere apology and a disconnect. I quoted some customer reviews for them (which I found on Saturday when looking at other brands), which basically said I'm not the first person whose mixer died in the 2-year zone and I'm far from the first person to get no love from the KA folks.

I got a very long, very polite email from KA today, saying in a longer and more round-about way that the warranty was for one year and to violate that for me wouldn't be fair to their other customers (ummm, what?) They also said to beware online reviews, which are mostly written by hacks with an axe to grind (Cook's Illustrated has an axe to grind?) I would paste it, but it's really long. I got tired reading it. (Maybe that was their plan all along.)

So, still no love. I took the mixer to a work friend who is an electronics repair whiz. He's going to look at it and tell me what it needs. If he can fix it, great. If not, I'll be buying a Cuisinart.

Goodbye, Old Friend

It is with great sadness that I share this post with you. My dear friend for almost two years, my KitchenAid mixer, has died very unexpectedly during a cream whipping incident. It was chugging along, then it made a loud pop, and blah. No more nothing.

My grief is coupled with anger, as I did not get any kind of satisfaction from the KitchenAid people today when I chatted with them. They are sorry, the mixer is under warranty for one year, and beyond that, I'm on my own. I can drive it to Knoxville or Nashville and pay to have it looked at. Or how about this one - I can give them $32 and they will send me a box and some postage. I can then box it up, ship it to them, and sometime in the next month or so, they will call and tell me what's wrong, if it can be repaired, and what it will cost me. Maybe it's the grief talking, but this is a $300 mixer we're talking about, and all I got was a "Sorry! Thanks for contacting us!" And then they disconnected my chat without asking if I was done. I'm pissed.

So while I love my mixer and will miss it terribly, until this thing gets sorted out, I cannot continue to endorse the KitchenAid label. I have removed the picture of my mixer from my sidebar. You will be the first to know when this great trajedy has been resolved.

When Did This Happen?

Vacation Day Four: Liberty Bell and Independence Hall

We saved the best for last! Thursday we walked down to Independence Square, by way of Reading Terminal Market. We saw the Liberty Bell, and toured Independence Hall. We visited Franklin's Grave, the Betsy Ross House, and went back to Reading on the way back to the hotel, where we all had the most delicious snacks of all time (I think they will have fudge-covered strawberries in heaven). The weather was lousy - cold and misty all morning - but it didn't really rain hard until we left Reading for the second time - we ended up sprinting back to the hotel, where we learned that if we checked out by 2:00, we wouldn't be charged for the night (it was 1:35). Since we had nothing left to do except outdoors stuff, and since we were wet and cold and didn't want to be outdoors, we agreed to head out early and get a hotel room halfway home. Mark's man gene kicked it somewhere beyond DC and he decided to drive the whole trip. We got in about 12:30 am. This morning we woke up in our own beds, and just had bacon, eggs, and toast with raspberry jelly (from a delightful Amish man in Reading Market). Thanks Dad!!

Vacation Day Three: The Museums

Today was Museum Day. We started at the Ben Franklin Institute. We arrived with a zillion school groups, but we still managed to have fun. We started in their brand-spanking new Star Trek exhibit, which was really cool. They had memorabilia from all the Star Trek movies and shows. No photos allowed, but they took pictures of us on the bridge, in the captain's chair, etc, and then gladly sold them to us. The rest of the museum was equally cool - pendulums, flight experiments, a giant human heart - very cool stuff. We spent most of the day there. After the Institute, we went to the Academy of Natural Sciences, which had lots of dinosaur stuff. After dinner, we went back to the Ben Franklin to see the new Star Trek movie on the IMAX screen. It was a domed screen and the movie played almost directly overhead. If I hadn't seen the movie before, I could not have kept up with it. But it was cool.

Vacation Day Two: Gettysburg and Lancaster County

Today we drove from Hershey to Gettysburg, then through Lancaster County to Philadelphia.

Gettysburg was much bigger than I expected - lots of monuments and lots of history. The one thing I really wanted to see - the site of Lincoln's address - we never found. But we saw lots of stuff.

Amish Country was something to see. Really, really lovely countryside. We got off the beaten path and went through Intercourse (tee-hee) and White Horse (or maybe White Path. Or White Oak. White Something.) The weather did NOT cooperate - it rained on us the whole time. Didn't get really good pictures, but we saw lots of neat scenes. Two little boys pushing a wagon down the road in the rain was my favorite, followed by an Amish man on a plow pulled by five HUGE pack horses. Very different way of life.

And then we drove into Philly and got to the hotel. The boys love the rooftop pool, and we had Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner. Quite night and early bedtimes tonight, and then we hit the museums tomorrow. Good times.