"We Roasted Ourselves to Our Own Satisfaction"

It was a busy weekend. On Saturday, the three of us (yep, Jonas, you go everywhere we go - for the most part) went to Raleigh to go on the "Triangle Modernist Home Tour." We saw an amazing range of houses (ranging in styles and age). It inspired me to want to build a modular dwelling some day! I might start with a garden shed/backyard studio and see how it goes. Who knows? Maybe I'll build a house someday. Here are some pictures from the "TMHT" tour:



After we returned to Durham, we had another adventure with some friends. A little background: part of my job is to develop programs for the library. One of the recent programs I developed was a book talk by the author Nancy Carter Crump on her book Hearthside Cooking: Early American Southern Cuisine Updated for Todays Hearth and Cookstove. Inspired by the book, I dragooned three of my friends into trying out some hearthside cooking with me. It was truly an amazing experience! I'm so glad we finally did it, after many cancellations.

We cooked three dishes on the hearthside: cornbread, mushroom soup, and stewed beets. Managing the coals was definitely the hardest part: keeping a steady supply of them going, keeping them hot, keeping a fresh supply underneath and on top of the dutch oven, etc. We did pretty much "roast ourselves to our own satisfaction" as the book suggested we might. But, the great reward of eating the fruits of our sweat and toil, made it all worthwhile. Here's a short clip of my friend Michael, stirring the mushroom soup: