We were up on the North Shore again last week and even though it rained a majority of the time I still really enjoyed myself. I didn’t mind the light mist while walking through the woods of the Superior National Forest at all actually. In fact, it kind of added to that almost mystical-feeling element that I can only describe as “Lord of the Rings-esque” one might feel while hiking on such lush, mountainous , lake-scented terrain. I wouldn’t have minded getting a nice sunrise photo out of the deal, but came close enough on our last day.

I still want to live in this area someday but my husband says we need to visit the area in the winter first before even really discussing it further. I don’t think I would mind the cold too much. It is 97 degrees here today in the Twin Cities and when I looked on the map to check Grand Marais it said it was only to reach 68 degrees. I’d be fine with that in the summer. In the winter it just gives me an excuse to do more sewing, crafting, reading and baking. All of my favorite things anyway.

I was lucky enough to catch the lupines in full bloom. I just love these ethereal flowers and they were scattered all along the roadside on our drive up between Duluth and Lutsen. These were shot on the grounds of Lutsen Resort, where we stayed in a log cabin. The resort was great, I will definitely go back.

This gigantic poppy was also on the grounds there:

Probably one of the most fun things to do was also one of the most simple: Sit and watch the waves!

The overcast also made it ideal for shooting waterfalls:

We were able to find many locations of “hidden away” waterfalls by borrowing this book from my mom: Gentle Hikes: Minnesota’s Most Scenic North Shore Hikes Under 3 Miles since we had the kids with us we weren’t able to do any “serious” hiking but that’s okay- even the gentle hikes were more than we bargained for and my brother actually fell a few times LOL but he’s tall and lanky and I’m sure the fact that he was usually carrying two cameras and a tripod didn’t help him with his balance at all.

Visiting Grand Marais was definitely a highlight of the trip. It’s a somewhat spendy little town for trinkets but stick to the Ben Franklin (which actually sells Carhartt and Uggs) and The World’s Best Donuts (they are) and you’ll do just fine. Sven and Ole’s Pizza was spendy too but worth it. The highlight for food in Grand Marais however was the Angry Trout Cafe. I don’t normally eat a lot of fish but something about being on that big lake was making me crave fish n’ chips so I ordered it at the Angry Trout. It’s sustainable, organic, incredibly delicious and they use wind-powered electricity. Our table of 5 all agreed it was some of the best food any of us have eaten and my husband was really happy with his maple vanilla soda. Embarrassingly enough my brother ordered a Pepsi when we sat down but the server was so kind in explaining they make their own organic soda on-site and wasn’t the least bit condescending like some of the servers at places like that can be. Big fat tip for him! Also, the picture at the top of this post is the Angry Trout’s delivery bike.

I could barely finish my giant pieces of perfectly fried cod or waffle “chips” but packing it up to go wasn’t an option as we had more exploring to do. Next stop was Cutface Creek Wayside Park for a little rock hunting. with a name like that, who can resist stopping?

The amount of rocks on these shores is amazing. Some people collect them, some people just look at them, and some people stack them:

This is a very small scale example, there are much larger ones you can see on the sides of the road from your car.

We also really enjoyed going to this kinda dive of a place on the Canadian Border called Ryden’s. Pick up whatever trinkets you need up there and exchange some money for the kiddies. The staff there were really nice  and friendly too, especially the man I asked about The Witch Tree. A tree that grows out of bare rock is just amazing to me and you see a lot of that on the North Shore- scenes that seems to defy nature.

On our way back down the shore to Lutsen, I stopped in the middle of the road (traffic is very sparse up there) for this shot of a fox running down the side of the highway of all places. From a distance we weren’t exactly sure what it was.

Back to the cabin for toasting marshmallows and sitting by the fire:

Of course on the day we left the sun was out and it was pretty as can be for the boats to come out.

But really, on the North Shore it can be sunny, overcast, rainy or downright blizzard-like, it’s still always beautiful here.

I got the chance to travel up the North Shore with a group of students this week. I had never been north of Duluth and now I am convinced I will retire there. It was still cold, but with views like this it didn’t seem to matter. We stayed at the AmericInn in Silver Bay, an excellent deal when you factor in the nice breakfast we got in the morning and how close we were to the lake. I also had a refrigerator in my room which I always like so I can shop at the grocery store while on vacation and not rely on restaurants and gas stations for food. There was a nice little area to explore just behind the hotel, a view of Lake Superior and we were within 10 minutes of Split Rock Lighthouse. It was amazing. We go back up in June but I don’t know if I will be able to wait that long. Here are some of the pictures I took while there:

If you’ve never been to this area and are within 1-day driving distance, I strongly suggest making a trip up (or across). Especially if you are into photography, kayaking, hiking, camping or back riding. The area is truly a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts.

The Arboretum was free for its last Thursday of the cold season so we decided to take advantage of that and get out of the house for a bit. The temperature was about 49 degrees and actually felt pretty nice as we walked around the grounds. We started out indoors though and hit up my favorite room, the conservatory, first. These pictures were taken there:

And these were found outside. . . The first bit of natural “vibrant” color I have seen since the leaves changed colors last fall:

Inside there was a great collection of seed catalog cover art. A treasure trove of historical art any creative person would enjoy stumbling upon. Here is a great piece:

The rest of the images were taken while wandering the grounds outside like this creepy sculpture:

These Honey Crisp Apple trees are protected by little packages of Irish Spring soap. Apparently deer are like me and don’t like anything that smells too strong.

The kids and I were trying to figure out why there were a bunch of blue bags nailed to a bunch of trees. Then we came upon this sign:

These kids were all actually from our hometown of Hutchinson (45 miles down the road). They are learning how maple syrup is made:

Andrew had to make another trip into the twig house:

I celebrated the first day of winter by starting what I hoped to be the first of many books I read during the cold months here in Minnesota. Four days later, I had finished The Lake of Dreams and felt as though I had gone on a mini vacation to the Finger Lakes region in New York. I usually choose to read books that will “transport” me (at least mentally) during the winter months and this one is perfect for anyone looking for that winter escape in the form of reading.

The Lake of Dreams is written by Kim Edwards who is well-known for her first book, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. The book is a casual read that doesn’t much differ from a snowball rolling down a hill in that it gains speed and gathers more and more substance as it goes on. I read the first half of the book over the course of 3 days and then finished the second half in one day, staying up well beyond my bedtime and straining my dry eyes just to find out what happens.

Lucy is a successful young woman who has traveled the world for work and pleasure. The reader makes their own assumption as to if Lucy is “running” in order to not have to deal with the death of her father (which happened her senior year in high school) or if it truly is the lifestyle she wants to live. She does visit home and keeps contact with her family and while visiting during her most recent visit, she learns her brother along with extended family members are all planning to build high-rises on marshland that should be protected and preserved rather than drained. Add in a romantic twist— the rekindling of the relationship between her and her high school sweetheart and you’ve got a somewhat interesting plot. But what makes this book a delight to read, magical even, is the description of the Finger Lakes area and the description of the glass arts.

The old flame, Keegan, is a glass artist who works in blown glass but also does consulting work for stained glass. The descriptions of the stained glass works of art are so precise I could visualize them in my head. All of the places Lucy visits— Keegan’s studio, the old church, the museum. . . all possess works of art and Edwards does an amazing job of making you feel like you are standing right there with Lucy, staring up at these creations. Describing works of art isn’t easy, but Edwards does it well.

The description of the area is magical. The town is called The Lake of Dreams and it’s described as a quaint little tourist town stuck in time. Mostly I pictured Bayfield, Wisconsin, but if I remember correctly, The Lake of Dreams had a bit more development. There is nothing corporate in Bayfield. Part of the point of the book is that the people there in The Lake of Dreams have something truly unique and special. Some want to preserve what they have and some want to develop it, put in a Pizza Hut so that more families will come vacation there. It isn’t entirely clear what side of the fence Lucy is on. She is far from being an activist but she has her doubts about the development. I would have liked to have seen a stronger point of view come from Lucy or more vocalization on the matter and that was frustrating.

I did have a few “complaints” about some things but mostly they are minor things. First of all, the title of the book, the name of the town, “The Lake of Dreams”. It’s easy to associate the title of the book with a place, but it’s hard for me to believe that The Lake of Dreams could actually be the name of a town in real life. I have this problem with movies too. When something seems unbelievable to me, it throws me off for the duration. It’s hard for me to “believe” anything in the book or movie if I feel something is askew even though I know the work to be fiction from the start!

The only other thing I found annoying while reading the book was the heavy emphasis on technology, but then errors in how that technology is communicated. Lucy Jarrett is, I believe 28 years-old in the book. I don’t know any 28 year-olds that say they have “sent an email message”. The “message” part of that is known. We just say we “sent an email”. Lucy also says that her email mailbox was almost full from having pictures sent to her. I would think the Lucy Jarretts of the world would have heard about Gmail by now. Also, “e-mail” is usually not hyphenated by the younger, more tech-savvy crowd who know better and “”Web site” is one word without the capitalization of the “W”. These of course are minor annoyances but they do wreck the relationship the reader creates with the characters in the book. I believed Lucy was real, and then when she started talking about technology, I was convinced she was really a woman in her 50′s in disguise.

All in all, the book is an excellent winter read. A dazzling escape that brings art, travel, history and politics into the mind of the weary reader battling seasonal depression. I’m confident this would be a fabulous summer read as well, for anybody while on vacation in a place such as The Lake of Dreams or anybody wishing to be on vacation in a place such as The Lake of Dreams. And if you don’t read the book for the art or travel descriptions, read it at least for the extremely informational historical tidbits on feminism and women’s politics. The information is truly astonishing and you will be thankful for the new perspective if you were once ignorant to women’s history from a political standpoint. I would definitely read this book again, it’s definitely a treasure on my bookshelf.

I feel like I baked treats the entire month of December! Today I decided I was done. Most everything I baked went to other homes and that’s a good thing. There are a few things I wanted for here and my husband had one request, so I’ll share those three things here with you.

First, I wanted to make these delicious lemon cookies. I’ve made them before and they are wonderful! They literally melt in your mouth and are really delicious. But something went totally wrong and I messed up a double batch. I made the dough and it was supposed to chill for 2-3 hours but I got called in to work and couldn’t bake them until the next day. When I sliced them and baked them they spread all over the cookie sheet! I don’t think there is such a thing as over-chilling the dough, but something had to have caused this. A few people think the butter I bought was the culprit, that I accidentally bought butter that had margarine in it or something. I don’t know, but I used the crumbs from the cookies to make a base for lemon bars and everything turned out fine.

I asked my husband what all he wanted for the family treat tray and he only had one request and they don’t really have a name. What you do is spread peanut butter in between two wheat thins and dip the little sandwiches in chocolate. They don’t sound that great but they actually taste really good.

And the last thing I had to make is something else I don’t have a name for! On the recipe card it simple says “Christmas Cookie” but my mom says they are called “Smorebucklers”. Nobody knows how to spell that though and a google search gives me nothing. It was my mother’s grandma’s recipe and are probably my favorite.

Basically you cut 1 cup of butter into 3 cups of flour and add 1 cup of cream and 2 tablespoons of whiskey before topping with icing and sprinkles. It’s basically like pie crust topped with frosting or sweet biscuits. I really like them but they are dangerously buttery and addictive.

I hope you find all of your favorite treats on your family treat tray!

My kids made gingerbread cookies with their grandmother today. It was a pretty big production.

The kitchen got a little messy.

But the kids didn’t get too crabby.

Chloe just had to roll out her own dough.

I will cherish these pictures for years to come.

We let Andrew decorate the burnt ones. He didn’t mind.

I tried frosting mine to look like Hermey- the dentist elf from Rudolph. I didn’t do too bad from memory, but his bangs are actually supposed to flip the other way. . .

Here’s a collection of them:

Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

4 cups flour

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add molasses. Add dry ingredients. I added about a tablespoon of water as well so that the dough was easier to manage.  Form into 2 discs and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours. Bake cookies for 8 minutes at 375°

I used royal icing to frost- 2 lbs powdered sugar, 2 TB meringue powder and 6-10 TB water.

I found these chocolate turkeys at our local Shopko store and thought they would make cute place settings for the kiddies during a Thanksgiving dinner. Then again, do the kiddies really need chocolate and pumpkin pie? I’ll probably give my kids theirs early so they don’t get too overloaded on turkey day.

Amazon has these Chocolate Turkeys which are from See’s.

See’s has a lot of cute stuff for Thanksgiving but I’m really looking forward to picking a few of these out the next time I head to See’s in Minneapolis to put in the stockings.

Pizza Vesuvio With the Works (Recipe from Food & Wine)

I can honestly say that the recipes in Food & Wine are the most useful recipes of any food magazine I subscribe to. Every month I choose one recipe from my most recent issue to blog about. This month I chose this, Pizza Vesuvio With the Works from Francis Ford Coppola’s restaurant Rustic. The picture in Food & Wine is gorgeous– when I saw it I knew I had to make this pizza. It really is a brilliant idea to fold over a portion of the pizza and make it into a calzone. How many people can never decide between pizza or calzone? This way, one can enjoy the best of both worlds! The flavor combination is delicious and the flavors are still on my tongue hours after eating a slice for lunch. I really loved this pizza. The dots of ricotta are what really make it.

Yum!

I used a new pizza crust recipe to make this pizza. In the past I’ve used Tyler Florence’s recipe which is good for a quick crust, but the extra time I put into this new crust is well-worth the result and will be my new go-to crust even though it will take much longer to prepare. I will have to decide the day before if I want pizza instead of that afternoon. The pizza crust recipe I used comes from a great new book called Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes.

Yummy Toppings

I think there is something special about a family getting together to make pizza once a week. The dough can be prepped in advance, the kiddies can add their own toppings. It’s more of a family event when everyone can participate (not to mention healthier) rather than one person picking up the phone. We used to order pizza a lot. But since learning to make our own, the stuff from the chains just tastes terrible! We are spoiled with gourmet homemade “za’s” as we call them. I usually let my 4-year-old pick out his toppings from the salad bar at the grocery store. Although he likes to choose the bacon a lot, he does often lean toward red bell pepper which is a great “bang for your buck” veggie. I can’t complain.

A Slice of Each- Pizza and Calzone

This recipe is perfect for those of you that have family traveling to your home next week for Thanksgiving. A lot of people probably order something in or go out the night before Thanksgiving but I can’t think of a better way to make real family memories than a crowd of 10 people all topping their own pizza creations.

Olives

I don’t really eat or like olives by themselves, but on a pizza they just add that extra taste of authenticity. They go perfect with the other toppings on this pizza– artichokes, salami, ham, mushrooms and ricotta. Even if you think you don’t like the texture of something, I encourage you to put them on the pizza anyway, bake it and then pull them off. Some of the flavor will still get baked into the pizza.

You will want to put your dough into a circle or rectangle shape then make sure your calzone toppings are neatly stacked a few inches from the edge of the crust. Then fold it over and put the rest of the toppings on the pizza. The marinara can go on top of the calzone as well.

Make this in the next week! You won’t be disappointed.

Pizza Vesuvio with the Works

By Francis Ford Coppola

Recipe Courtesy Food & Wine Magazine

While browsing for a good read the other day that would both make me think and empower me in my line(s) of work, I came across this book by Douglas Rushkoff. It’s called Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age and is published by OR Books. The title caught my eye since I have finally been teaching myself some computer programming this year, but what made me want to order it is that the author,  Douglas Rushkoff, is an extremely forward-thinking intellectual and I trust him to tell the truth about where the world is headed as far as technology and mass media.

The book is definitely for the thinker, or somebody who likes to be challenged to think while reading. I had to re-read several sentences more than a few times and it’s not because I have a hard time reading, it’s because Rushkoff writes a book with only sentences that have meaning. The book is on the small side, but it is full of substance. There is no “filler” material or misplaced wording. There are plenty of “shockers”, pieces of knowledge that were interesting to me, information I was unaware of and stunned to learn. At the time I wished he would have expanded on them, but looking back now I realize then that  the book would have careened off track and lost its focus. The book is clear and concise. Rushkoff makes his point and if hungry for more, you can peruse the “Essential Reading” list at the end of the book, wondering which on the list you should read first like I did.

The book is structured into 10 chapters. Each chapter offers a piece of advice— a rule to live by while living in this digital age. The book does not take a side and say, “Oh all this technology is bad for our kids” or “Oh all this technology at our fingertips is making us superhuman”. Instead, he has given us a guidebook, more like a “how to live” with all this technology and then offers ideas regarding where to go in the future. This “guidebook” should be read by parents and teachers but more importantly by the users of technology today. We all know we have access to the technology, but most of us have never really learned how to use it past building a farm or sending a text. Rushkoff explains to us why it’s important to do more.  The introduction breaks down his simple thesis, “When human beings acquired language, we learned not just how to listen but how to speak. When we gained literacy, we learned not just how to read but how to write. And as we move into an increasingly digital reality, we must learn not just how to use programs but how to make them.” And he goes on to explain why, “In the emerging, highly programmed landscape ahead, you will either create the software or you will be the software. It’s really that simple: Program, or be programmed. Choose the former, and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make.”

Based on this, I imagined the entire book was going to be about teaching our kids and ourselves how to program. But I was wrong. The book encourages us to think about how much time we spend using technology. Are we “always on”? How many times do we see people paying for something at the grocery store, ignoring the cashier as they busily check their text messages or email on their phone. And then there is the texting and driving. We need to understand why we feel the need to  “always be on” or if not ourselves, our students and children. This book helps us understand.

I was also able to interview Rushkoff— a huge honor. I’m a major fan of his Frontline work on PBS. I asked him some questions regarding teen/young adult behavior online. I am constantly trying to better understand my students, but also the at-risk teens I work with in a group home setting— many of which whom use media to isolate. I asked Rushkoff if people who relate to others mostly through online social networks feel more lonely than those who relate with people face-to-face. I asked him this because in his book, he talks about a socialite who travels from party to party. At each party she texts and updates various statuses but never really interacts with anybody on a face-to-face basis. I wanted to know how this makes a person feel. Rushkoff’s response is surprising: “They have to [feel more lonely], because the human being evolved to receive cues in the real world. Our mirror neurons only fire when we see people nodding, or see their irises widen. Without these cues, we don’t experience connection or reinforcement – at least not in the same way.”

To me, this information is astounding.  Basically it means that one can have 500 “online” friends, but if they never actually get to interact with them face-to-face, they might actually still feel lonely. So in dealing with the depression of at-risk youths I can point out that just because they are social online, this doesn’t necessarily count. They need to actually be social with peers in a real-life setting not just in cyberspace. It’s not just at-risk youth either, there are plenty of adults who are unemployed, depressed and find comfort in online gaming, etc.– only, is this the kind of social interaction they really need in order to feel better? Sometimes what we think is helping us can really be hurting us.

I also asked Rushkoff about the tendency teens have nowadays to be involved in exhibitionist behavior online. His response is another indication of the struggles teens face and their desire to “be heard”. Rushkoff says:

I think it’s an almost counter-phobic or compensatory reaction to disconnection. You can feel it when you do stuff like that. At  least a little.  The more obvious reason, of course, is simply that it gets a reaction. When you’re trained to judge your success, and your very existence, by the number of people who have clicked on you, you will do whatever it takes to get the click. Nothing improves hit count like exhibitionism. That, and cruelty.

Of course it makes sense that their actions might be based on disconnection. If one feels disconnected from their family or peers, it makes sense that there would be a “cry for help”. We see it in girls who cut or refuse to eat. And although certainly not ALL of these teens who behave this way online are “crying for help” much like a cutter does, there is definitely something else going on underneath everything that is saying, “Hey. Look at me.”

The book discusses how our children are affected but it also discusses how adults are affected, businesses, and the economy as well. Chapter 4 covers the idea of complexity. Rushkoff points out that everything programmed is binary. Everything is either yes or no. On page 54 he writes, “. . . At the end of the day, digital technologies are saying either yes or no. This makes digital technology– and those of us using it— biased toward a reduction of complexity.” This is proven by the popularity in the use of search engines. Of course everyone appreciates the time-saving advantages that using a search engine provides, but how many of us, after entering a term and unhappy with the results, actually take a new approach at finding the information we are looking for? I’d bet not many.

In fact, I’d reckon many people use search engines for things they aren’t even intended to be used for. How many people, knowing that it’s easier to click their mouse in the upper right-hand corner of their screen and enter a word– “eBay” for example, do this rather than click in the URL address bar and type out the address they have memorized. Maybe it’s easier to type it in as a search and just click it. It’s less complex yet it doesn’t always give us the information we need which then results in the “dumbing down” of our culture. Typing “eBay” in my search bar right now gives me a link to a news story about Meg Whitman within the top 10 results. Did I want to read up on California politics or buy a new cake pan? Learn how to use the technology— program or be programmed.

“Dumbing down” can happen and will happen if we don’t learn how technology works and take control of it. According to Rushkoff, “. . . the less we know about how it works, the more likely we are to accept its simplified models as reality”. So my phone wants to give me directions using a GPS application. In my mind I’m thinking it might be wrong because the route it is giving me is filled with bright orange detour signs, but I go with it. It’s a smartphone after all! My thermometer says it’s 40 degrees outside right now but my homepage on my computer says it is 35. My computer must be right, it’s a machine after all! Some people will trust technology over science and maybe that shouldn’t be the case unless we understand how the technology works. Again, program or be programmed.

While reading this book, you will be surprised by Rushkoff’s facts about fantasy baseball players hired in managerial roles for real, major league baseball teams, scare the crap out of you with his personal story of what it’s like to be attacked by a hacker (although he makes it sound like it was no big deal), and explain to you why, from an evolutionary standpoint, we feel so strongly about increasing our number of friends on various social networks. Then, if you are not totally convinced why it is important to program or be programmed, he lets us know how our nation’s programming skills stack up against countries like Iran and China.

The book is small, but it’s filled with big ideas and very useful information. I especially recommend it to teachers, parents, those that work with at-risk youth and anyone who uses a computer and social media on a daily basis. You will find the information scary, compelling and ironic, but mostly I think you will find it helpful as we all get used to using this technology or sharing our space with people who use this technology.

Oh, and in case you were wondering at what age Rushkoff thinks we should be teaching our children programming like I was, here is how Rushkoff responded to that question during my interview, “I’d think around 4th grade. Right after long division. Long division is a really good teaching tool, because it’s the first algorithm most of us learn. Once you understand how to do something using the algorithmic shortcut, you have a better understanding of how to develop logical processes to accomplish tasks.”

And so, I know what I am buying my kid for his next birthday: Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners Seriously, after reading this, I’m ready to start him young!

Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age