Six Weeks into Wisconsin

I really had planned on picking up my blogging pace once I got settled, but it just hasn't burned in my belly.  I think I had immersed myself into so many extraneous activities to make up for something....not enough challenge, frustration, unhappiness.  But, it feels so good to be here in the community, in the library, in my new home, that I'm pretty content with what I have on my plate.  In fact, I ran out of Wellbutrin (a prescription for anxiety that I'd been relying on for a couple years) about a month ago and realized that I've not needed it since landing.  How's that for a ringing endorsement of Life Up North?  So, here's my cheesy, bulleted summary of life in La Crosse.

• I've been very hesitant to write about work. I don't feel muzzled or anything, just....protective, I guess is the word. It really is different being in management, all in a good way, but I'm confident that I will find a way to write about my new work life. Basically, I want to share the news that management is nothing to fear.  It's something I'd always swore I'd never do, and, frankly, avoided for a long time.  I had the chance to chat with Stephen Abram at ALA Annual, and talked about my new position. He said that 80% or so of people he talks to are not interested in moving into management, but that most of the library jobs that will be opening up in the future are management jobs.   Stay tuned in the coming weeks for my evangelizing.
• MegaGoodNews:  I got a full price offer on my house in Bloomington a few days ago. I'm confident that everything will be fine and that in less than a month, I'll be down to one house again.  Phew!
• Our youngest cat, Gidget, is grounded until the snow flies.  A couple doors down is a fine, massive sandbox, a gathering spot for the Kool-Aid set.  Gidget couldn't believe her good fortune at having found the biggest litter box in the world. The owner of said sandbox had a polite conversation with me about Gidget's unsanitary practices, so I made her a little sandbox in our back yard.   Not good enough. Gidget kept up her wicked ways, which resulted in a chewing out by same neighbor. All the other neighbors were big Gidget boosters, as she has been vigilant against the destructo-bunnies who gnaw oranmental plants and cabbages down to nubs.  Poor Gidge. She runs around from window to window, yowling and mewling.  We can occassionally occupy her with a laser pen, but it's not quite the same.
  
• I finally got to see the inside of Kroner's "Really Neat Stuff."  It was amazing!  It's an old-school hardware store, probably in the same spot it's been for decades.  I needed a cherry pitter, and figured if anyone had one, Kroner's would. They did. They also had old-fashioned meat grinders, clay rosette pans, gnocchi makers, kraut-making supplies, paint, signs, ladders, hooks, tools..... The store was staffed by a super-friendly young guy who traded stories with me about childhood memories of the smells of relish and kraut, and an older gentleman who I could only assume was Mr. Kroner.  I got the sense that Kroner, Sr. was more sentry than salesman and not down with best practices of sales, customer service, merchandising and display. It was awesome, and I can't wait to go back. 
• I needed a cherry pitter for the tart pie cherries I'd gotten at farmer's market.  Cherry pie from scratch is an exercise in perseverance. The only way to pit cherries is one at a time.  Do you know how many cherries it takes to make a pie? About a million.  Or, maybe more like two quarts.  It was a good two hours of industry--three if you count the time it took for me to go to the store to get the correct thickening agent and flavoring (quick cook tapioca--not cornstarch, not flour; and almond extract).  If you like cherry pie, you should make if from scratch at least once.  I even made one of those fancy, county fair-grade lattice tops.  Jeeze oh Pete (that's Wisconsin talk), it was pretty and tasty, and I even shared some with the neighbors. Since I sprung for a cherry stoner, I plan on using it at least once more this summer. I think the fruit guy will have cherries for at least another week.  "Culinary hacker" Alton Brown would not approve, as cherry stoners are strictly a single-purpose gadget, but my tongue and tummy would say it's a worthy exception.

Comments

[rochelle]

Michael...I didn't take a picture of the pie. Couldn't find the camera and we weren't going to wait any time at all to eat pie! But, since I bought this cherry pitter, there's at least one more pie in my future, as long as there are cherries! Actually my neighbors brought me cherries tonight, but it's been a bit of a disaster in the kitchen tonight. There are pies, but they're not very pretty.

Laura--I gave a hippie/country friend my mom's meat grinder and wish I had it. My folks used it to make relish with the fall garden--onions and peppers all ground up. They always shooed us kids out of the house because all those onions were intense. My mom would also make sandwich spread by grinding up Sunday's left-over roast and mixing it with salad dressing and pickle relish.

[Laura]

Oooh--meat grinders! Actually, I hardly ever cook meat, and I'm not sure exactly what I'd do with a meat grinder, but my grandmother has always had one, and they seem like one of those things you can't get anymore. I'm so glad to know they exist!

Congratulations on your first six weeks, and best wishes for many to come!

[Michael Golrick]

I am a HUGE fan of Alton, and just bought his book on kitchen gadgets. [Now that is high praise, since I generally don't buy books, I work in a library, and a big one at that!] But I don't remember seeing photos of the pie on Flickr! Did I miss them? I've started my own Flickr set for food.

Sounds like you found the right place, Rochelle. You will be a great manager. It is amazing how much we learn from the "bad" managers we work for in our careers. Not to mention, the good ones.

You will find plenty to blog about once you are more settled and figure out the culture.

[Julian]

I'm a huge fan of Alton, too. I have a series recording set up for "Good Eats" on my DVR. The episode that got me hooked was when he made a meat smoking device out of a cardboard box, hot plate, small cast-iron skillet, sawdust, and a digital thermometer. Very inspiring (in a positive way).

[rochelle]

So you know, "culinary hacker" is high praise. Now if someone called him a "hack," that'd be a different story. We (heart) Alton bigtime at my house.

[Julian]

Did you see the olive episode? IIRC, he talked about some way to take the seeds out of olives to prepare the olives for filling. That method (which I can't exactly remember right now... I'll have to consult the recording) might translate to cherries, and thus eliminate the need for a unitasker.

I hadn't thought of Alton as a "culinary hacker," although that makes a lot of sense. I usually consider him to be a true food scientist.