The End

I think I am going to retire this blog.

As you can see, I haven't posted in a long time. After everything I've been through this summer, I haven't really had much to say. At least not much that I want to share in this medium. I feel like in so many ways I want to reclaim my private life, and I have been finding other ways to express myself on the things that really matter.

So, it's been fun. I will keep reading and commenting on all of my favorite blogs, for sure. And maybe in the future I'll start a new one on some topic or other. But for now, Stefanie Says Goodnight. Thanks for reading.

Cooking with Carla

Last Thursday night, I made my way up to Bethesda for another cooking class at L'Academie de Cuisine taught by none other than Ms. Hootie-Hoo herself, Top Chef's Carla Hall. What a great night!

It was a class about crusts, and though I'll probably never make the crusts themselves (no KitchenAid mixer and not really much of an interest in baking) I did get some good ideas about the recipes. And my oh my were they tasty! Carla made one savory dish - Micro-Ratatouille Tarts in a Parmesan Crust - and one sweet - a Rustic Mixed Berry Tart with Lemon-Thyme Crumble. Yum, yum, and more yum.

The ratatouille is definitely something I could make myself. While I would make a few changes to Carla's recipe (ie no evil olives) I know she'd be okay with it - she was really great in reminding all of us that we need to make recipes our own, putting our own passions and hearts and favorite things in them. You know, to feel the love...!

Carla was great. She was very personable, approachable, down-to-earth, and really funny. She's got TONS of energy and shared a lot of great stories while she was cooking (supported by the great L'Academie staff). She let people take pictures, but I forgot my darn camera. But she also was more than open to letting us all ask her questions, so much of the 3 hours was spent in a conversation about her cooking, her experiences, and her stories from Top Chef. She does a killer Padma impression that made us all laugh! :-)

I asked her about whether she was going to go to the Emmys (she asked "do you think I'll be invited?" and then we all shared with her the news that the Emmy noms had been announced that day and both the show and its hosts were nominated). I also asked her how she got the name for her company, Alchemy Catering, which has the same name as her cat. It was about looking at the company (and the cat) as something transformative in her life. And, I asked her if she still says "hootie hoo!" in the grocery store. She said she does, but now a lot of people answer her. ;-)

My favorite bit of advice Carla gave us? This one works for cooks and chefs of all levels of talent and expertise: "If you're not in a good mood, the only thing you should make is a reservation."

Balcony Life

Life on the balcony continues to be exciting...


The marigold plants (bush?) are still huge, and are proving to be extremely sensitive to watering. That pot sucks up a lot of water and if I don't fill it up again every morning the plant starts to wilt and droop... but with water, it perks up very quickly.

The rosemary plant is so aromatic I can smell it when I open the door. I used some of the dill yesterday, cutting up several leaves and stems and stirring them in with fat-free sour cream to make a veggie dip. It still needs a little something to be perfect, but the dill was awesome. I'm planning to use some of the basil and parsley in my next big pot of soup. I'd like to use some of the chives soon, too. Everything I've read says that starting to cut the herbs will help them grow more evenly and prolong their usefulness. So, that's the plan.

I'm not quite giving up on the cilantro, cuz the bigger pot is still fairly lush - I should use some of that soon, too. But the little pot of cilantro is totally dead. The thyme's not in great shape, either.

I have totally proven to be my father's daughter in the last few days, as I have spent several hours closely reading a big seed catalog that I sent away for. I'm already thinking about what I want to do on the balcony next year, changing out some of the herbs and probably getting a few bigger pots so I can attempt lettuce and maybe more (non-allergy-rific) flowers. I've also been using the catalog to help identify some of the mysterious things in Dad's garden, and I've sent Mom a copy of one of the pages that described those cool "walking onions" Dad has growing. Who knew that seed catalog would be such a resource?

Now With More Zombie Mayhem

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was so much fun. Like so many people out there, I've known the story of Pride and Prejudice most of my adult life... I first read the book sometime in my late teens or early 20's, I've seen Bridget Jones so many times I could quote from it, and I was surprised at how much I loved the Keira Knightly version of the movie and I even teared up during a few of the more romantic scenes.

So, I walked into reading this with a whole catalogue of mental and visual images of the story of the Bennet family and their suitors. As I read it, I found myself alternating between picturing Keira K. and Colin Firth and so many familiar faces in the story... but what is so great about this version is what's UNFAMILIAR, or "unmentionable."

As the title says, this is the story of Pride and Prejudice set in a world that's both familiar (British romance) and completely new (England's decades-long war against the undead). Fun! Elizabeth and her sisters are no shrinking violets, in fact all 5 of them have been trained as Shaolin warriors and sworn to defend England against the "sorry stricken." But they don't let a little blood and gore get in the way of their romantic pursuits... so the gang's all there, with Wickham, Bingley, and the dashing Mr. Darcy all reporting for duty to sweep those Bennet girls off their feet. (Well, not Wickham.... he's still a jerk in any version.)

If you like the basic story of Elizabeth and Darcy, and if you're a fan of the supernatural like I am, this is a really entertaining, easy book to read. Now, I'm eagerly anticipating Seth Grahame-Smith's next book, which quite possibly could become my favorite book of all time. I've heard rumors of the title: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Bring it!


View all my reviews.

Balcony Progress Report

My garden is still doing fairly well, and with one exception seems to have survived my nearly 2 weeks away. The petsitter was watering everything, and I'm grateful that I came back to a still green and thriving balcony.

Here are the little pots of parsley and thyme, still doing mostly okay but looking a little tired of the heat.

The sweet basil looks amazing, and there are still 2 little strawberry plants trying to grow.

These pots all still look good - clockwise from lower left, parsley, daisies, cilantro, chives, and marjoram.



Alas, my little cilantro pot is in bad shape. It was starting to look a little overwhelmed before I left, and I came back to an overtangled, browning mess. I have thinned out a lot of the dead and dying plants, but it's still not looking good. I think it's having a hard time holding up its own weight, and the stalks aren't strong enough to stand up thus they're getting tangled. Any suggestions?



Good news - there are now a few buds on the marigold plant. I can't wait to see these bloom.

Encyclopedic Knowledge

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is an enjoyable read. The author, a journalist who's spent his career at Entertainment Weekly and Esquire, decides he needs to do some intellectual heavy lifting to stop the "dumbing down" of his own life. So he sets out to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, A-Z.

Over the course of a year, he does it. He learns a lot about people, history, the world, and also about himself and particularly his relationship with his father and his own thoughts on future fatherhood. The book is organized in alphabetical chapters, as he offers snippets of fun facts about the encyclopedia entries he's reading, reactions from his friends and family to this all-consuming project, and stories from his research into the worlds of Mensa, Jeopardy, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.

Jacobs is funny and thoughtful, and this is a good book to be reading if you're traveling or trying to find a good distraction, because it's easy to just read in little bits and pieces. I give it 4 stars, and I'll probably read his next book about when he read the entire Bible start to finish.


View all my reviews.

Dad's Garden

Dad has always been the real gardener in the family. He grew up on a giant cattle farm in Indiana, and then we had a small farm in NY for 20+ years. When they moved to this house in Bloomington 2 1/2 years ago, Dad was really excited to put in a garden, vegetables on one side and flowers on the other. He spent lots of time out there nurturing his creation, and in many ways it provided both therapy and a creative outlet for him. We're all going to try to learn how to keep this up, and while Mom may change around some of the plantings - she's thinking of putting in sunflowers next year rather than some of the higher-maintenance veggies - this garden will continue to be one of the many ways in which we'll remember Dad every day.

Here we start with the herb garden. Look at these! Dad was able to grow things that I'm only dreaming of at this point - he's got Italian basil, mint, chives, dill, thyme, more stuff that I can't even recognize yet. It smells fantastic.

Tomatoes in the back, a row of eggplant, and some peppers that look like they'll take another year to really take hold.

Then Dad has a huge zucchini plant - look at those flowers!



These are a really rare onion that grows under the ground but also sprouts bulbs at the top. Dad got these from his father, who still farms, and he was so proud that these took hold so well.

Dad's shed, his little world out in the back yard. It's filled with gardening tools, fertilizer, and lots of birdseed. They love to watch the birds, and I spent a lot of hours watching the activity in the back yard in the early mornings, constantly amazed by the 3 bright red cardinals that come to visit every day.

And here we move into the flower side of the garden. Even with my parents being gone for a month, there was enough rain that it held up pretty well.



Our family mascot, since 1974.








Over the weekend, we hung Dad's Tibetan prayer flags in the garden. These are the flags I gave him for Christmas. Tradition holds that as the flags wear and disintegrate, the prayers are released into the world. They really look beautiful blowing in the breeze.

In Loving Memory

I never knew this would be the last picture I'd have of my Dad, but it's pretty perfect. This was Christmas Day 2008. I gave him those Tibetan prayer flags as a present, since he was becoming so interested in Buddhism and was so excited about his upcoming trip. I'll treasure this memory, and countless others, for the rest of my life. I love you, Dad. I always have, and I always will.

Everything But the Sage

Another week, a lot more rain, the summer heat, and the addition of 20 drops of MiracleGro in the watering can each morning seems to have done the trick. My balcony garden just keeps on getting bigger and greener!

Here's the whole picture... parsley, daisies, rosemary, sweet basil, cilantro, sweet marjoram, chives, dill, strawberries, marigolds, thyme, and parsley and cilantro again. And someday soon, catnip! That rosemary plant has gotten so big, I think this weekend is time... I will be clipping some of it to start using it in the kitchen! Hooray!



The parsley's been doing really well since transplanting. This started out in one of the tiny little Chia plots. It's still in the sponge, just now it's got a lot more room to grow and real dirt to get comfy in.



The sweet basil seems to be a slow grower, but this week all those new little leaves emerged, so it's twice the size it was and it's starting to get a little taller. Nice.



I've finally identified what it was I planted here, cuz it's starting to look like itself... it's thyme! And it's been growing a lot this week, too.



And, the crazy trio of power continues to grow - marigold explosion on the top, cilantro on the left, another parsley on the right, with the cute little strawberry plant in the background.

A Delicate Balance

Lots of exciting things happening on the balcony this week, some of it really demonstrating how much anything in nature is really in a delicate balance and that one change often brings on other changes.

I was able to transplant the little Chia herb pots into much bigger new pots. You can see them in here, the 4 big orange terra cotta pots. I put the whole little Chia sponges into the new pots with a mix of the older MiracleGro potting mix and a new organic potting mix I got at the store. I did a combo cuz I wanted to use up more of the MiracleGro, but as I mentioned with some of the other pots I thought it wasn't great as the entire base for a pot, since those plants are growing so slowly. (Odd, I know.) I did keep the little Chia herb pots going, this time with catnip (a perennial) planted in all of them. Poor Cleo has been so jealous of me spending time out on the balcony where she can't go, she deserves some little treat!


The transplanting went well and the plants seem to be taking to their new digs just fine. But, I do believe the organic potting mix brought along something extra.... gnats!!! I transplanted Monday night, and by Wednesday morning there were a ton of little black gnats flying around out there. Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I decided to try the simplest remedy first, letting the plants dry out for 2 days since gnats thrive in wet soil. That seemed to do the trick. There are still a few out there, but nothing like earlier in the week. Since the plants are outdoors, too, I think the gnats may have noticed that there's a whole wide world out there too and made for the trees that are just a few feet away.

Back to the usual progress report... check this out! Look how tall the marigold plants are getting! That's one pot of the crazy cilantro next to it, with a good-looking little pot of parsley behind it on the right.


About 6 weeks in, it looks like the marigolds, cilantro, parsley, dill, sweet basil, and daisies are all doing just great. Below, clockwise from the top left, that's another pot of parsley, the daisies, the rosemary plant, the sweet basil, another pot of cilantro, the chives on the bottom, and the sweet marjoram in the middle. The latter two are growing, just very slowly... maybe that's their way, though. I'm cheering them on, too!

Next week should be interesting, cuz as of this morning I'm now using plant food in the watering can. We'll see if it makes a difference.