Long time no cook.

So we've lost our internet (neighbors moved) and have been very busy, but tonight we had a dinner I have to write about:

Jamaican Jerk Pork (from a Cooking Light: Grilling)

2 cups green onion (omitted)

1/2 cup chopped onion (omitted)

2 Tbls White Vinegar (used Apple Cider Vinegar)

1 Tbls Soy Sauce

1 Tbls Canola Oil (used Olive Oil)

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp thyme

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp freshly grated ginger (used powdered)

1 tsp allspice (used ground clove)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cinnamon

2 cloves of minced garlic

1-4 habenero peppers (used powdered cayenne)

1 pork tenderloin (used pork chops)

We halved the recipe, did a quick marinade, threw it on the grill and served with white rice.

It was excellent.

August Rush

Summer has come and gone, and school is here (or just around the corner - depending who you talk to).

It's been a busy month: a new job for me, with school starting on Monday; and a new semester for Karis, with a job starting soon.

Both my mom and brother were born in August, he's in Utah and we'll be seeing her tomorrow. Karis and I are also going out to lunch tomorrow with my boss and a co-worker for an end of the summer wrap-up.

I've had a lot of free time this week, at least compared to 13 hours out of the house some days this summer, and Karis and I have made it back in the kitchen a few times.

We came up with a great double boiler technique tonight.

Back to Season One of Burn Notice.

School's Out (and that meant no homework!)

Actually, school will be in shortly; Karis starts school a week from tomorrow and public schools start the week after. During the last week of school a teacher asked if I would sub for her the first week of school (she was going to still be on vacation), but she hasn't contacted me in months and I don't have her info.

Karis is done working at Food Lion, she'll be back at the elementary school in the fall and we thought 2 jobs and a full credit load (7 different classes) was unnecessary.

My last day of camp was Friday, I worked from 8am-7pm (with an hour of travel time each way). But it was a great summer.

We had a week together of summer vacation before camp started, so I guess this is our second (and last) week of summer.

Today is church, Ultimate Frisbee with Yootz and a pastor's class with middle schoolers.

Tomorrow is hiking with the college fellowship.

And Tuesday is a church meeting, and then going camping for a few days with some settlers in Catan.

I don't think I mentioned, but last Sunday I officially started working as the Youth Director at Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church. We have a great group of kids ("Yootz"), and I can't wait for the school year to start.

As you can tell, it's an exciting time in the Nolen house.

Hot: Summer; Not: School

School is done for Karis for the semester, but she has summer school starting tomorrow for 6 weeks (or so). She'll be taking an economics course and the finishing all her pre-reqs (again) in the Fall.

I'm almost done with school: 6 different classrooms in these next 5 days, then memorial day and then only 5 more days of school!

We already have a lot of plans for the summer, weddings, camping, roadtrips... and working; Karis would probably like to spend the whole summer swimming, but you can't swim in the river and there's not really a good place around here to do it.

Still, summer will be good, but Karis said she already can't wait until Fall.

Killdeer

For 3 days this week, and 2 days next week, I'm subbing for an inclusive kindergarten (and we went to the zoo today). But my real reason for writing this is that outside the school, there is a killdeer nest.

There were 4 eggs, and 3 of them hatched today (in case you are wondering, both "killdeers" and "killdeer" are accepted plurals). Killdeer chicks are precocial, but they weren't up and running - both parents were there, however, the mother on the nest and the father was 10 yards away.

Because they are shore birds, I originally didn't think Killdeer lived in this area (even though Karis and I live down the street from Killdeer Ave).

Killdeers nest basically on the ground, often on gravel, and this one was nested a foot off the parking lot. Apparently she nests there each year, but this was the first year her chicks hatched (every other year the eggs were run over).

Unfortunately, the other teachers got WAY too close and scared the mother off the nest - Killdeers will do a "broken wing display" too distract predators. While it was fun to watch, I felt really bad for the Killdeer. Some people will just go too far for a "cute" picture.

(The above pictures are not from today, but are ones I found online.)

For the beauty of the Earth

It's the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day!

Go out and do something today: take a hike, a bike ride, sit outside in the sun, plant a tree, smell a flower...

Here's a great idea from Frederick County Government: 20, or so, simple things to do in 20 minutes or less (click on the link to the press release, and it'll pop up as a pdf). Take the Choose 5 Challenge, by picking 5 things on the list to do today (or 6, or 7, or...). Frederick County residents who enter the Challenge can win prizes!

Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church, where Karis and I attend, had its annual Earth Fest on Sunday. And the 2nd Annual Panhandle Earth Day Celebration is this Saturday, April 24, 2010 from 12PM - 9PM at Morgans Grove Park (off Rt. 480 Shepherdstown, WV).

Last One In Is A Rotten Egg

"I like to play indoors better

'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are."

- A Fourth-Grader in San Diego

On Wednesday there was a water main break in town, so Karis' afternoon classes were cancelled. We decided to go to Borders and use some gift cards we had; she got a John Grisham (The Broker) and I got Last Child in the Woods - which actually took us a long time to find, did you know Borders has a parenting section (apparently contained within the "Self Help" section)?

I'm about a quarter of the way into it and I think it's great. I could probably talk about the book for a few hours (and have talked more than a few hours about it to Karis already), but instead of writing an essay, or two, I'll briefly mention some highlights:

Richard Louv's thesis is basically that children need to be outside more, playing, exploring, imagining, he points to several studies, but it's not a "science" book (or an "environmental" book, he cares more about children being outside in the trees than the trees themselves).

He points to 5 general trends for today's society:

1. a severance of the public and private mind from our food’s origin
2. a disappearing line between machines, humans, and other animals
3. an increased intellectual understanding of our relationship with other animals
4. the invasion of our cities by wild animals
5. the rise of a new suburban form (one with even less open space and with covenants that keep people from having overgrown yards or gardens)

His answer isn't simply more education, he points out that people know more about the outdoors even though they are outside less (or at least they know more about the rainforest/tundra/himalayas but probably less about their own backyward). And the answer isn't just preserving open space, open space is often to be seen but not touched these days.

His call seems to be a very simple one: leave no child inside.

He isn't a Michael Pollan, Bill McKibben, or Annie Leonard (honestly, I like him more), but I see him talking about the same sort of thing. Really, I see him advocating a simpler life, one more connected to the Earth and to each other, but I also see him advocating a fun life, one of scrapped knees, child-like wonder, and dreams.

I would definitely recommend it for parents, teachers, environmentalist, recreationists, etc...