Tying the knots

It had been storming off and on all morning as we packed for our overnight trip to Baltimore. I was running a 5K with Kelly and Adam, but since we were heading up there anyway, we had made arrangements with them to deliver two sections of our couch to their house, ninety-odd miles up the road.

So during a mid-afternoon break in the weather, we finally loaded our overnight bags into the truck and drove to our storage unit, where we kept the pieces of the couch that wouldn’t fit in our living room. Where we could load them into the truck bed, cover them up, tie them down, and cross our fingers that the rain would continue to hold off. Tempting fate is what we were doing.

Keith was soon busy climbing all around the contents of his truck bed, throwing rope around things, tying all sorts of knots, with the intense summer sun bearing down on us, sweating in the Maryland heat and humidity — ohhh, the humidity. So like any good wife who can’t tie knots and generally has no idea what her husband is doing, I started taking pictures.

Keith makes some good lookin’ knots.

I guess all those years of Boy Scouts paid off.

I tried to watch and learn, but he just knots way too fast. The boy’s got skillz.

I, however, am ghostly pinkish-white and can’t even shave without slicing open the back of my ankle. Three times. In the same spot.

He did a great job securing the beast in the truck bed. And, miraculously, the weather cooperated with us too.

The couch made it safe, sound, and dry, and I’m sure it’ll be happy in its new, loving home. Unless the cats pee on it.

Vanilla pudding with strawberries

The even exchange of goods and services tends to benefit both parties.

For example, if a friend has too many strawberries and you have too much vanilla pudding, the obvious solution is to give said friend some vanilla pudding in exchange for some strawberries.

You just can’t go wrong either way. Especially when you add graham cracker crumbs.

Non-dairy vanilla pudding
1 box vanilla Jell-o cook & serve pudding mix (NOT instant pudding)
2-inch section of a vanilla bean
3 cups soy milk
1/2 packet unflavored gelatin

Cook the pudding mix as directed, subsituting soy milk for milk-milk. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the mix. Whisk ingredients together, then — while still whisking — slowly add 1/2 packet of gelatin, then continue to cook as directed.

The dessert of summer

I made my first batch of ice cream today. I used the recipe for Crema Ice Cream from Alice Medrich’s book, Pure Dessert. It’s rich and creamy, and although I’m not much for the pure milk/cream flavor on its own, I envision it as a perfect base for many, many different flavors. Vanilla. Mint. Chocolate Mint (as in the chocolate mint that’s growing in my backyard and not to be confused with Mint Chocolate). Peach. Strawberry.

It will also make a delicious alternative to whipped cream (or the traditional vanilla ice cream) as an accompaniment for all of the summery desserts to come — the crisps, the cobblers, the pies — or becoming its own simple dessert with help from a spoonful of berries, peaches, or mangoes. It might even be good topped with toasted shredded coconut and a sprinkling of cinnamon, if you’re into that sort of thing.

It goes really well with blueberry cobbler. It’s not quite blueberry season yet in the Mid-Atlantic, but I had two bags of frozen blueberries that worked just fine. The cobbler garnered rave reviews from Keith, who was, until now, unfamiliar with cobbler, having grown up on crisps and pies. And I’m kicking myself for not writing down what I did. It was a combination/adaptation of cobbler recipes from Smitten Kitchen and Gourmet, and a basic blueberry pie filling. But I’ll get it next time. There will be a next time. You can count on that.