Honey Ginger Poached Pears

For mother's day, I wanted to make a simple fruit dessert. I originally wanted to grill some peaches with a sweet balsamic syrup. But since it is only May, there were no peaches in sight at the grocery store. So I grabbed some pears thinking I could grill those when I remembered this great little recipe from the kitchn

Ingredients:

3 ripe yet very firm pears
4 cups water
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup sugar
4-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced

Peel the pears with a vegetable peeler and cut them them in half vertically.

Using a melon baller, remove the core from the pear halves.

 

Prepare the poaching liquid; 4 cups water, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/3 cup honey, and place in deep saucepan and bring to a boil.

Cut the ginger piece, peel it and finely chop it.

Once the poaching liquid is dissolved add the chopped ginger

Place the pears halves in the poaching liquid and low heat to a simmer. Cover the pot but tilt the lid so some of the steam can escape. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes until pears are fork tender.

Remove the pears and place them in a storage container and refrigerate overnight (I only had a few hours, which I think resulted in a milder flavor, go overnight if you can)

When ready to prepare, remove pears and pour poaching liquid in a small saucepan. Heat at medium heat for 30 minutes until it becomes syrupy and reduces by about half.

Serve pears with vanilla ice cream and pour syrup on top. Enjoy.

Spring Vacation

Mike and I decided not to go to San Francisco. We decided that with the house up for sale it would be best to keep our savings account as healthy as possible in this uncertain real estate market. If you were wondering, yes, we've had some interest. Two calls from realtors and one showing as well as a few calls from interested parties who think the property is for rent (it's not). So what did we do with our week long vacation? Of course, we spent the week in Michigan at our river house near the coast of southwest Michigan. It's our usual family gathering place, made a little more special this time because Mike and I went alone and spent our time exploring local cities, while still doing the usual cooking, and hiking.

 

 

We hiked almost everyday. It felt good to work off the food and beer and to tire Olive out after a day inside.

We toured Fenn Valley Winery where the 2 hour tour was led by the owner of the vineyard and we tasted the equivalent of a half bottle of wine.

 We went to downtown Saugatuk where we shopped in the little independent shops where we bought olive oils, spices and some chocolate.

We drank coffee as we walked the streets of Holland. Loved the fair trade, independently owned coffee shop, didn't like the cold, "you must not be locals" attitude from the patrons.

We tasted the local, craft beers at New Holland Brewery and grabbed a growler (a half gallon glass jug) of the Golden Cap Saison to go. We also had the best queso fundido with local chevre (I recently learned on The Big Cheese that chevre is french for goat and is used to describe goat cheese in the states. It is pronounced "chev" not "chev-ra" as I previously thought. It's obvious I don't know french) .

I cooked an artichoke. Super simple to cook, but it does seem like a lot of work to peel the leaves off of the entire thing for the small bits of edible flesh near the base. But dipped in a simple aioli, it was delicious.

Aioli

1/3 cup mayonaise
1 garlic clove minced
juice of half a lemon

Mix. Dip. Eat.

After finding a 7$ midcentury modern nightstand at goodwill, we decided to keep this design style to decorate our room at the river house. We found this matching dresser at the local antique shop. I'll share more soon of the room coming together.

 

On our last day we went to the shores of Lake Michigan and Mike chivalrously gave me his coat as we braved the wind to take a look at the lighthouse and walk barefoot in the cold sand.

It was a good vacation.

Mother's Day

The most important thing my mother taught me was to relax. I'd have temper tantrums as a child, a short temper with inanimate objects and projects that I inherited from my Dad. When these would occur at home, my Mom usually let me get it out and we would move on. She knew how to handle me, just like she knows how to handle my Dad when he gets mad at the garbage disposal or the printer. She always wanted me to try not to be so hard on myself, if things weren't perfect.  And, although I don't have children yet, I know that I want to try to instill that same mentality into them. That things don't always go your way, that you may not get everything you want, that you may not get everything to look right, but to relax, and if you get mad sometimes it's ok to get out your frustrations and move on. My mom, my best friend, my four times twice a week phone call, my sounding board, my support, my advice giver, my reassurance. Love you Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

P.S. This is my favorite photo of my Mom. ever. She looks so relaxed and happy, and of course I love that 70s style.

Easter

Easter has come and gone and marked what feels to be the real beginning of spring. Friday night gave us a thunderstorm, which allowed time for little hands to get busy painting eggs.

Saturday was dry with little bits of sun peaking out throughout the day. We sat on the deck, hunted for eggs, colored with chalk, tried to fly a kite, and ate antipasto. We ate our Easter dinner on Saturday and spent the evening huddled tightly around the dinner table until we instead huddled around the fire for s'mores, wine and laughs.

It was a wonderful weekend although it felt a little off kilter without Mike. He was home working and catching up on some sleep.  In the next few weeks, my weekend clinicals start up again and I won't be able to sneak away for the weekend between exams. I'm trying to soak up these spring weekends, because before I know it, it will be the heat of the summer and the return of fall, as I continue my journey through nursing school and starting to take the journey back home to Michigan.

Earth Day

Image by The Twitterpated Toad via Etsy

Earth day is here again, so I'm back with more earth friendly tips and ideas. Adding onto the list from last year, here are some more ways to green your everyday.

Switch to recycled toilet paper

 

Bring your own reusable mugs to coffee shops (you can even get 10 cents off at starbucks)

Bring your own glass container to the deli counter for meats and cheeses

Donate unwanted items to charity or use craiglists free section or freecycle.org

Buy music and movies digitally to cut down on packaging and waste

Get books and movies from the library, saves resources and it's free

Install faucet aerators on all taps

Install a low flow shower head

Install a dual flush toilet system (much cheaper than a new low flow toilet)

Build a rain barrel

Check out some more tips at One Millions Acts of Green

P.S. No, we don't do all of these things in our home, but we're working on doing as much as we can. 

 

Any other good ideas? I'd love to hear from you...