Come on, Irene

So we're getting ready for Hurricane Irene here. And by getting ready, I mean Jake's preparing to go on a 100+ mile bike excursion and Lucy and I are planning what to bake and what to sew while he's away. We're not expecting too much here in Lowell (other than a storm of baked goods!), though there will no doubt be rain and wind. And Jake will be out even farther west, so all should be fine for the ride. We have some supplies and flashlights and the like, so I think we're pretty ready.

Jake's going out to D2R2 again. I'll try to update you on his status. Lucy and I are hoping to bake some banana bread and some cookies from the Heidi Swanson Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen that we love so much.


They're called "Carnival Cookies" and they involve popcorn. Needless to say, Lucy is very excited. You can check out the recipe here or read someone else's blog about making them here.

(Cook) Book Review

Today I have a quick note about our favorite cook book for the past couple months, Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen by Heidi Swanson. Jake has been cooking up a storm out of it ever since we got it.

Last night we had the quinoa patties again, though accessorized with cheddar and jalepeno (a variation on the original, which is also amazingly delicious). There is a super-yum baked oatmeal creation that we've made for ourselves and for guests to rave reviews. The green lentil soup was outstanding. None of the stuff has been too difficulty (easy for me to say, since Jake has done most of the cooking from it) and all of it is delicious. We have a lot of cookbooks, and we just keep turning to this one lately.

In other news, Lucy got a haircut today. It is basically my haircut, with bangs. It looks awesome. The lady told her "when people ask you how you got such a good haircut, you tell them 'Because I sat really still!!!!'" And she did. Even while she took quite a while to blowdry it with a round brush.

Cheers!