A Rock Star...

...I'm not, but what I am is playing at the Open Mike at On the Rise Bakery in Richmond. This Thursday, 7:30PM. The pizza's good, the music fun... and everyone who's anyone in Richmond will be there. Don't miss out!

Ahh, Spring Rolls!

Spring is here, which means the April issue of EatingWell magazine has been out for weeks and weeks. And besides the usual interesting articles, the well-researched features, and the scores of great original recipes, this April’s issue had something else: a contribution by me! That's right -- I did some photo captions and a small write-up about everyone’s favorite spring vegetable, asparagus.

EW is a funny place, because they always have to think seasons ahead. The magazine is focused on fresh food in-season, but if you ever visit their headquarters, there’s something amiss. You don’t put your finger on it immediately, but eventually you figure it out. In order to get season-specific recipes in each issues, they are barbecuing in February and March, they’re slow-cooking stews in June, and they are testing holiday cookies in September. So we did this asparagus project back in January.

When I first saw the layout for the asparagus piece, the photos of the salmon-and-asparagus spring rolls really jumped out at me. In fact, I made a mental note that I would make them as soon as the asparagus came up. Of course, that was months ago, and I almost forgot. Until, shopping the other day, I came across shelves of asparagus. Instantly everything came back.

The rice paper was a little difficult to handle (which is why my rolls in the photo look like they do and not like the ones in the photo that came out of the test kitchen -- well, that and the fact that this is ME we're talking about and not the experts in the test kitchen!); I actually found lukewarm water to be more effective than the “very” hot that the magazine recommends . Maybe, since they tested in the dead of winter, they just wanted everything hot. Also, I substituted sweet potatoes (which I needed to use up) for carrots (which I didn’t have.) Besides, since they’re the same color, who would know the difference?

My favorite things about the spring rolls were the dipping sauce (soy sauce, orange juice, lemon juice, and crushed red pepper) and the asparagus that had just the right crunch, and wasn’t all chewy from being overcooked like the way I usually do it. These spring rolls were just a riot of different flavors -- that all went together well. Besides, I always like colorful food -- and this one had the bright green of asparagus in spring, pink, orange, and red. As I wrote for the EW blurb, Ahh, spring rolls!

Raspberry Patch

"Although I have at different times grown, with more or less success, nearly all species of hardy bush fruits, I have always been partial to the red raspberry."
-- George Aiken

Two years ago, my uncle David Aiken dropped 7 or 8 raspberry plants on my porch. "For your garden," he said. At the time, we didn't have much of a garden; just a 10x20 foot plot over which I had run the tiller and constructed three cedar beds. Along the western edge, we sunk the berry bushes in the clay.

Since then, the garden has grown, and so have the berries. Each year, we have reclaimed more of the field of goldenrod that surrounds our garden, so that it is twice the size we started with. And, not wanting a berry patch right in the dead center of a vegetable garden, last weekend we dug them up and moved them -- about 25 bushes in all.

A few things to note. First, Uncle David warns me that we will be forever digging up raspberries from the original patch location. "Unless you think you got all the runners," he says, meaning "there's no way you got all the runners." Okay, I can live with that. When it comes to gardening, I generally don't like to do things right the first time anyway. Second, the new patch location is near the edge of our lawn. Another life goal nearer to accomplished: to minimize my time spent cutting grass! If David, as he promised, shows up with blackberry bushes, we'll dig up even more of the lawn and insert them.

Finally, my great grandfather George wrote that history does repeat itself. I'm not saying I'm nearly the farmer he was, but I will say that these plants descend from his berry patch in Putney, Vermont.** I don't have his green thumb, but we are, in fact, growing food at my home and putting it on the table to eat. And it's not just rewarding to keep that legacy alive; it's a lot of fun too.



**Important note: when the original berry patch was planted, one of the plants came from Sue McKain's yard in Connecticut. Does this mean the Aiken strain in my patch isn't completely pure? If yes, that's fine by me; in fact, I prefer a hybrid anyway.

Utah Where Have You Been?

This post is quite delayed; the goings-on that follow occurred a month ago! But I just can't change seasons without mentioning the past winter's crowning runs. We arrived in Utah for the 600th inch of their record-breaking year.

The suspects were the usual: David, Jill, Howard, Chris, Bob, Sue, me, John, Lisa, Ali, Em, and Jack (I believe these are in order by age). Also making appearances throughout the week were Glenn, Michelle, Kurt, and Kurt (no order here). Not much was happening weather-wise when we arrived, but the next morning, the "Stay-inside-or-else" chain was across the condo door so they could do control work on 14-20 new inches of snow. The first few days continued that way as we took turns skiing Alta and Snowbird. I took a day off in there somewhere to run 19 miles in Salt Lake City and on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail at the foot of the Wasatch. (And no, I can not explain how running 19 miles constitutes a "day off.")

The snow hit again towards the end, and Johnny and I met Colchester native Kurt Sowles for a backcountry day in Big Cottonwood Canyon and my best (and snowiest) turns of the year. What runs!

The week was full of great snow, great company, great food, hotly contested Jenga and Spot It games, and plenty of beer-(and wine)-drinking.

I couldn't believe it when the week was up. One thing is certain, though: I could live in Utah. (Wait a minute, I have lived in Utah!) Well, put it this way then: I feel the same way as Emily. From her note to Jill and Howard: "I can't wait to do it again next year!"

Gladiator

Meet the new addition to the Aiken family unit. Gladys is part border collie, part spaniel, and part unknown. She was rescued from a shelter for strays in Tennessee with a high kill rate and fostered for 3 months in Kentucky before coming north to Vermont. She went for two walks yesterday (her first full day with us) while Oscar was out running. She loves her new home and new family... and we love her!

Boston!

It was a journey, full of ups and downs, but we did it! On Patriots' Day 2011, Ali and I ran the Boston Marathon. We spent 3 days in Beantown, staying with amazing hosts the Halls. Hilary Hall impressed all by running her first-ever marathon while raising $18K for cancer research. Ali and I ran the whole race with our friend Lauren. Kristen, who qualified for the race on the same day as Ali, ran an amazing PR. Ryan Hall (we suspect some distant relation to Hilary) broke the Boston course record, but only placed 4th, while Geoffry Mutai set a world marathon record.

We were pretty cold waiting for the start, and I nearly ruptured my bladder on the bus ride to the start. Otherwise, it was a great day on the oldest marathon in the world, a great crowd, and a great weekend.

Now I can focus on the Spring's most important race: the Vermont City.

The Over-40 Club

Many people dread milestone birthdays, but I have rarely had a year start off so well. Although my birthday wasn't until Monday, festivities started on Friday when Alison, Oscar, and I went backcountry skiing (see photo) and then Ali took me out for dinner at our favorite Richmond restaurant (I had the Steak Frites). Saturday I had to work, but when I walked in the door (five minutes late) all my coworkers had a donut waiting for me with candles. After they sang their rendition of Happy Birthday to You (it was rousing, let me assure you), I made my wish -- "I want snow on my birthday" -- and blew out the candles. Saturday night, Alison threw a great party for me here at our house. What a great time. Not only did she tidy up to the point that I thought I had walked into the wrong house when I first got home, she and the other party-goers made tons of great food. (While it was all amazing, the highlight may have been Jenni's "Death by Chocolate." Wow.) Again, there were candles and singing; again, I wished for snow on my birthday. Sunday, I took a rare weekend day off and, before a birthday dinner (jumbalaya) with my dad and Jill, ran 10-miles with Ali, Oscar, and our running group -- in the rain in 35 degrees. It sucked. BUT... it was a celebration of Jan Leja's 400th organized Sunday group run. So afterwards, we all forgot about how much it stunk running in freezing rain and went to breakfast...

... where through the windows we watched the rain turn over to snow. It snowed all day and all night. And all day the next day -- my official 40th birthday! See? Birthday wishes do come true, so take them seriously. Driving to work, the interstate was the worst I have ever seen it. I called Alison and told her not to go to work. Alison called her boss, who invoked the "Powder Day Rule" and the two of them came to Stowe for the day with friends Patrick and Sarah. Work was like play, so I got to make a bunch of runs in unbelievable snow. All told, it was Vermont's 5th largest snowstorm ever -- and the biggest in March history. Happy Birthday to me! Anyway, then I went to Monday night hockey where many players seemed to have been scared off by the snow. However, although many weren't there to witness it, I scored what is known as a Birthday Hat Trick... that's right: 3 goals on one's birthday.

Moral of the story: for those who haven't turned yet, get psyched. 40 is the bomb!