January Resolutions

The only resolution I made this year was to try a new restaurant or two each month.  Does that count as a resolution?  I thought resolutions were punitive in nature - or good for you.  I have started running again but didn't want that as a resolution although maybe actually signing up for some races would be a good thing.  Those darn beanies take up my time and I can't seem to do the training schedule of running 4 days a week.  Heck, I can't even find the time to do a 15 min yoga session in the morning to start my day.

I am excited about going on my first ever yoga retreat in March.  Kent Island in March.   I can barely bend over anymore so I better start doing a dog or two on a regular basis so I don't embarrass myself.

Here is where we are staying - wow!

Back to eating.

The first place Sean and I tried was a new Vietnamese restaurant in Glover Park.  Glover Park abuts Georgetown and is not too far from where I live.  When I lived in Montreal, there were quite a number of Vietnamese place but I seldom ate there because it is meat based cuisine, and at the time, I was a vegetarian. I am a Johnny come lately to the cuisine and even now, I tend towards the sandwiches and not to the Pho with all that beef broth!

Sprig and Sprout, 2317 Wisconsin Ave - right next to the strip club.  Speaking of strip clubs, that was another activity I would occasionally participate in while living in Montreal - there were two young women who lived in my dorm (Molson Hall - yes, that's right, named after the beer family) forever to be know as Penny and Julia.  Penny and Julia loved going to the male strip clubs.  They went every week.  EVERY WEEK!  Every so often, they would convince their friends to come along.  To be honest, men look better with their clothes on.  When Emma, Sean and I were in Montreal this past summer, Emma's favorite time was walking on St. Catherine's street, photographing all the sex shops.  As she would say "good times"

So, the first new restaurant for the new year was Sprig and Sprout.  A small place but very cheery inside.  I had the Banh Mi with Lemongrass Chicken and Sean had the Pho with brisket.  I'm not a restaurant reviewer but the food was delicious and I think we can add this place to our work lunch rotation.

The 2nd place we tried this month was not new to either of us.  In fact, my kids LOVE Moby Dick.  They have the best rice of anywhere.  Beanie Two begs to go to Moby Dick and then won't share the rice with me.  Sean and I ate at the Bethesda location - I always get the falafel and this time around got the platter which came with my own side of the delicious rice.  Sean at some long meat cigar - he said it was good.  Cheap delicious food.

I've started reading a number of food related DC blogs.  I live in a city - there are so many places to eat!  Why do Sean and I end up at the same places all the time.  We need dates to go out with us to try new places!

This weekend is Porkfest 2013.  My friends are coming for dinner. I don't think my pig was even delivered this fall before my friend Joan asked when the pig was ready for eating.  I will take pictures and post again.

In the meantime, I am still trying to find out what this plant is!

The history of my granola recipe

My granola recipe is dedicated to Jackrabbit Johannsen.  Who?  He's the man accredited with introducing cross-country skiing to Canada.  He was also the grandfather of my friend and roommate in college, Chris.

How did I possible come by a recipe dedicated to this person.  It's a long story!

I went to college at McGill University in Montreal.   At the end of my second year in school, I was planning on moving off campus and was lining up people to live with.  My friend Julie said yes and she suggested another woman who lived in her dorm, Rachel.  Over the summer, Julie decided not to return to school so Rachel (who I barely knew) and I ended up living together, in an apartment not far from campus.

It was the perfect match!  She was calm, easy going and loved to cook.  How could we not be compatible.  We spent a lot of time that year cooking as I had recently become a vegetarian and Rachel and I loved to procrastinate by baking bread.  Although, we discovered that making bagels was really not worth it, given we lived in Montreal, home of fabulous bagels.  I had a friend Pete, who would go out jogging and leave a bag of bagels on our doorknob (I found out later that he was trying to woo me with bagels but I was a little dense about that).

Anyway, Rachel and I decided we wanted to keep living together our senior year but we added another friend Beth to the mix.  Beth decided that it was time to move out of Molson Hall (yes, you got that right) and asked if she could move in with us.  We said yes and I had planned on going up to the city over the summer to find us a place to live.   During out conversation about the living arrangements, I had asked Rachel if she wanted her boyfriend Chris to move in with us too and she said no.  Well, during the summer, she called me and asked ever so nicely if Chris could indeed move in with us.  (I have lots more stories about Beth - she is one of my best friends and we had many adventures over the years, before we were married and were traveling together.  Ask me about the toe-sucking Moroccan on the train from Barcelona to Madrid)

So the four of us found a lovely apartment that was near St. Lawrence Street.  As luck would have it, our other good friend Melissa lived around the corner from us on St. Louis Square.  The five of us spent the year eating, laughing and hanging out a lot.

Kneeling: Stacey.  Left to Right in back: Melissa, Beth, Chris and Rachel.


What does this all have to do with granola you ask?  Chris grew up in Mont Tremblant so for that year, we all spent quite a bit of time visiting his parents there.  One weekend we all went up to chop and split their wood.  We did a lot of cross country skiing and hiking.  I had my first experience with being in a sauna naked and then running out into the snow as Chris had a sauna in his house!  Chris's mother was Norwegian and the daughter of Jackrabbit.  She would cook LOTS of food for us when we would go up to visit and for breakfast, she would serve this wonderful granola.  I asked for the recipe and she pulled out this community cookbook and showed me the recipe and how it was dedicated to her father.  I don't remember much of the story but I don't think the recipe author actually knew Jackrabbit, only that the recipe had been developed in honor of someone who loved the outdoors.  My recipe is now on a fading piece of paper that is 27 years old.  That is ok, since I know it by heart.

As an aside, I bought a picture book years ago for my daughter and lo and behold, the dedication was to Jackrabbit Johannsen.    The title is Race of the Birkebeiners by Lise Lunge-Larsen.  This is a wonderful story and the illustrations are lovely.

oh, and Chris and Rachel were married a couple of years after we graduated  and now have 4 lovely children and live in Seattle.  Beth is married with two beautiful girls and lives in London.

Crunchy Granola

5 cups rolled oats

1 cup sesame seeds

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup wheat germ

1 cup powdered milk

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup honey

1 cup coconut

1 cup raisins

1 cup nuts

Mix dry ingredients (first 5) and add oil.  Mix well.  Bake at 300 for 45 min, stirring every 15 min.  Take out of oven and add honey and the rest of the ingredients.  Bake for another 15 min. This makes a very sticky granola.

The only modification over the years is to cut back on the oil and honey. I use 1/2 to 3/4 cup of oil and honey.  I usually use pepitos instead of sunflower and I add all sorts of dried fruit instead of raisins.  I also don't measure the coconut, fruit and nuts but just put in handfuls of the stuff I want.