Cheapskate climbing gear

After a sloppy cramp-on descent on North Defiance last weekend, I decided it was time. Time to finally put some anti-balling plates on the bottom of my cramp-ons to discourage wet snow collecting underneath and rendering the points useless. Like any poor student, I wasn’t about to spend $45 on a pair of commercial anti-balling plates, especially not when a leftover plastic milk jug (free!) and a few zip ties (pennies!) would do the trick.

My design still allows me to collapse the cramp-ons for storage.

Aunt and Uncle x2

Y’all saw my sister-in-law’s maternity photos two weeks ago. Did I mention that just five days later our niece had decided it was time to greet the world? Here she is: Reece Elizabeth-Wood Brown. 7 lbs 11 oz. and 20” long. Born on January 13, 2009.

An interesting factoid: Reece is the first female to be born into the Brown family since 1928!

The family resemblance was evident immediately!

Uncle Nick (or Yogi Nick if you’re Ronan)

Yes, she slept the entire time we visited

In luck!

You know the situation is dire when you climb onto a kitchen chair, move the olive oil, salt, pepper and other cooking staples that stand between you and Sunday evening cocktail time, and open the liquor cabinet doors, only to find that you have no staples. That is to say, we have the chartreuse, bitters, triple sec, vermouth, orgeat...everything except what you REALLY need to make a cocktail, such as the tequila, vodka, rum, whiskey, or gin!

Lynn Rosetto Kaspar plays this game with her listeners - they call in and name three things that are in their fridge and she tells them what to make for dinner with it. The listeners are always trying to stump her, but she seems to come up with something edible sounding every time. Armed with a short list of things in the liquor cabinet, I decided to play the game with the Internet. And wouldn’t you know - the Internet won! Which means Sunday cocktail hour will go on!

Northern Spy (created by Josey Packard, Alembic, San Francisco)

* 2 ounces applejack
* 1 ounce fresh apple cider (flash-pasteurized is okay, but no preservatives!)
* 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
* 1/4 - 1/2 ounce apricot brandy, to taste, depending on brand

Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass that’s been rimmed with cinnamon sugar. Top with champagne, if you like (be sure to goose up the sweetness a little to compensate for the extra acidity), and for the holiday go ahead and garnish with a cranberry.

Recipe courtesy of The Cocktail Chronicles.

Muesli update

The muesli experiment has gone swimmingly. After a few slight modifications, we’ve settled on this ratio of basic ingredients. You’ll notice that we omitted the honey. The muesli is sweet enough without it. We also tried a few variations with ground flax seed, but the flavor was just too powerful - in a funny-tasting kind of way. Our favorite fruit has been dried, unsweetened pineapple; it absorbs the liquid overnight and becomes quite plump. I found that I like sliced almonds over slivered. A drop of almond extract or a few shavings of orange zest are divine! And chopped fresh fruit over the top is a must.

1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup juice
6 Tbsp rolled grains (oats, rye, barley, etc.)
1 Tbsp wheat germ
2 Tbsp dried fruit
1 Tbsp nuts
1/8 tsp extract (optional)
pinch of spices (optional)
chopped fresh fruit

Antici….pation

Baby Brown #2 is due any now. Anne and I missed the opportunity to document her pregnancy with Ronan, owing to his early arrival. This time, though, we timed it just right. I think you’ll agree, my sister in law is one sexy mom!