Instagram

While I may still post here once in awhile, you are all invited to follow me over on Instagram via your smart phone, iPad, or other tablet app.  I realized that I was taking more daily pictures with my cell camera, and found that posting an immediate (or minorly edited) image on Instagram is much quicker and more satisfying than waiting until I was at my computer to utilize Blogger.

You'll need to download the Instagram app (very simple) - and then create a user account.  You do not need to post anything to participate, but you just might want to start for the fun of it.  Next, search for my user name (mjgehr) and select "follow." Then be sure to visit every few days to check for updates.  The platform has some great PhotoShop-type features and allows for "liking" something, and also lets you leave comments.

High-Rise Window-Washers

Not the best job if you suffer from vertigo!

Good Old Summertime

A lovely, lazy summer day down by Pewaukee Lake, watching people fish from the pier and enjoying the beach.

Mayapples

The mayapples are in finally in full bloom here in the Pewaukee area.  These were growing in the woods along the side of Lindsay Road.  The little white flowers are hard to see unless you bend over and look underneath the leaves.  There is some debate about whether the resulting fruit is edible - it supposedly ripens in the fall and has a lemony flavor, and was once considered a staple of Native Americans.

Happy Easter: Buttercream Frosted Cupcakes Edition!

Happy Easter! I spent yesterday making some homemade vanilla cupcakes topped with my favorite icing: Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting. It is unbelievably light, fluffy, smooth and silky ~ and not cloyingly sweet, as standard buttercream tends to be.  There is effort involved, but I promise: the results are worth it.  This recipe also gives me a chance to use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, which I don't pull out too often.

The recipe is below. Due to the length of time required for beating this frosting, you'll want to utilize a stand-style mixer. In addition, a candy thermometer is a must. Also, this style of buttercream yields the best results if made during a cool, dry day.

Italian Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:

• 5 egg whites*
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. white granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 sticks of unsalted butter - cut into chunks & softened (room temperature)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract (other desired flavor)
• Food grade food color for tinting frosting (optional)
  
  *Note: Refrigerate or freeze the egg yolks for future use in pound cake, lemon cured, or other "yolk-only" recipes.

Directions:

• Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand-mixer & start beating on low speed.
• In a small saucepan, pour in 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water.  Stir well to combine. Over high heat bring sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally.
• Once mixture reaches the boiling point, insert candy thermometer and boil until it reaches 238 F. - also called "soft-ball" stage. (Avoid stirring the mixture during this step as it will help keep it clear.)
• While sugar is heating, increase egg whites to high speed and add the 2 Tbsp. of sugar.
• When egg whites reach a firm, glossy stage and hold their peaks, stop mixing - or mix on low - until sugar syrup is ready.
• When sugar syrup reaches 238 F. - makes sure it boils for approx. 30 seconds at that temperature and then remove from heat and let set for another 30 seconds or so until boiling stops. (The syrup is HOT and can cause burns - so do not touch it.)
• Next, while mixer is beating on medium-high speed, SLOWLY pour a thin stream of the syrup from the saucepan into the mixing bowl (near the edge) directly into the egg whites.  Be careful not to let syrup hit the side of the bowl or the beater itself. Beat the mixture on high until it becomes firm and smooth and the sides of the bowl feel close to room temperature - approx. 7 to 8 minutes. 
• At this point, you can start to beat in the chunks of softened butter, one at a time, until all have been incorporated.  IMPORTANT:  the mixture may appear to become curdled or grainy during this process - and if this happens (& it often does) - just keep beating until the texture becomes silky and fluffy. It may take another 5 minutes or so, but it will come together!
• Finally, beat in your desired flavoring and color until well blended. Now you are ready to frost your cake!

Below is a video of my frosting right before I added the color.

Tip: Any remaining frosting refrigerates or freezes well. Just bring to room temperature and whip for a few minutes until fluffy and smooth.

Enjoy!

SkyWatch Friday: Along the Boardwalk

Another 'Flashback Friday' photo from last year about this same time, when Nik and I were taking a late spring hike along the Simmons Woods boardwalk. This year the marsh and trees are no where near as green as this picture shows them to be... but at least the sky is blue and the sun is shining!

See more SkyWatch Friday photos here.

Walking: Faster than Flying?

Early this morning--in between rain showers--I heard a few Sandhill Cranes announcing their arrival to the cornfield behind our treeline. Their return to the area reminded me of a photo I took a few years ago while visiting Orlando, Florida for a work conference.  This lone trooper was wandering the parking lot, apparently looking for his car!

April's Theme: Triangles

I'm a little late to the game for this month's theme topic for City Daily Photo, which is "triangles."

This photo was taken during our visit to Salt Lake City back in 2010. The Mormon/Latter Day Saints (LDS) Conference Center, located to the north of Temple Square in Salt Lake City, was completed in April of 2000. The auditorium in the Conference Center seats 21,000. The building is constructed of granite from the same quarry which provided the granite for the Temple. A semi-annual world general conference is held at the headquarters of the LDS Church at Temple Square and includes music by the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the auditorium.

The builders decided that the roof should not be wasted space, and so designed a rooftop garden with pathways that meander throughout trees, native flowers, and other plantings. A guided tour of the center offers an elevator ride to the roof where you'll have a great view of the city and the mountains beyond.  The pyramid shapes are actually atrium windows channeling natural light into the building below.

Conveniently, this post also fits in with Skywatch Friday - and you can see more posts here.

Easter's on its way...

...although I don't believe Peter Cottontail will have these eggs in his basket!

This basket filled with emu eggs was on display at the Waukesha Farmer's Market last summer.  If you look closely, you can see a small hole on top of each where the insides were blown out. One of these would make a mighty big omelet!

Caribou Coffee

Our local Caribou Coffee shop is going away sometime this spring.  Many of us are sad because, as a national chain based out of the Minneapolis area, it gave the international giant, Starbuck's, a run for the money and offered some much needed variety. However, Caribou will remain in most of their other strong markets, and word on the street is that the shop will be replaced by Peet's Coffee, another national/west coast chain.  It would be nice if Pewaukee could gain one of the the popular Milwaukee-based shops, such as Anodyne or Collectivo.  Time will tell.

It's interesting to note that Collectivo used to be called Alterra, but sold the name and brand to the Mars Corp. a few years back, with the promise that the Milwaukee market base would not be infringed upon. Again, time will tell.

Spring Thaw

Southeast Wisconsin is finally experiencing a bit of spring thaw - even though temps are still mostly in the 30s. This photo shows our street the other day when Nik and I were taking our morning walk amongst the remaining patches of snow. The weatherman predicts we may reach 50 degrees on Sunday (& we maybe even see some sunshine.) Woo-hoo!

SkyWatch Friday: Flight

A Southwest Airliner landing at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport.

See more SkyWatch Friday photos here.
(Note: According to SkyWatch Friday, it's "National Joe Day," and coincidentally my middle name is "Jo" - spelled a bit differently, but I think it works!)

Verde Canyon Railroad

During our recent trip to Arizona, we finally took the Verde Canyon Railroad trip.  It features a 4-hour trip: 2 hours into the canyon and 2 hours back, with no shortage of beautiful, rugged scenery. The image above shows the front of the train winding along the Verde River Valley.  The photo below shows the train entering a tunnel along the way.

You can learn more about the railway and the area here.

SkyWatch Friday: Arizona Rainstorm

We just returned from a week in Arizona and had a wonderful time.  The weather was lovely: mostly sunny and warm, with daytime temps in the high 70s and low 80s.  However, this photo shows the red rocks of Sedona with a rainstorm swirling in the background.  Thankfully, those stormy clouds never quite made it over to where we were hiking.

It was quite a shock to return back to the damp chill of Wisconsin's "spring" - but it makes us appreciate the opportunity to travel all the more.

See more SkyWatch Friday photos here.

Here Comes the Sun

The bare branches were coated in sparkling frost this morning, but thanks to bright sunshine and a clear blue sky, all that had melted by the afternoon when the temperature nearly hit 50 degrees! Hope does indeed 'spring' eternal.

Of course, we still have a half-foot of snow covering the ground, but 'this too shall pass.'

What's for Lunch?

POTATO-CORN CHOWDER
During the chilly and damp days of late winter, we all crave a little comfort food.  This hearty soup recipe utilizes many of the things that are probably already in your cupboard.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 slices bacon – cooked and crumbled; reserve 3 T. of bacon drippings
• 2 stalks of celery – finely diced
• 2 carrots – peeled and finely diced
• 1/2 large red onion – finely chopped
• 4 cups of peeled and diced red potatoes (you can use russets as well)
• 1 can of whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 cans of low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup half-n-half
• 2 T. butter (optional)
• 1/4 cup white wine (I used a dry Riesling)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. thyme (or 1 tsp. fresh thyme)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

• In a large skillet, sauté bacon until crisp. 
• Drain on paper towel and set aside. Crumble when cool.
• Retain 3T. of the bacon drippings (discard the rest.)
• Using the same skillet, heat bacon drippings over medium heat and add the celery, carrots, and onion.  Sauté until onion is translucent.
• In soup pot or small stock pot, pour in 2 cans of chicken broth and add the sautéed vegetables and diced potatoes, along with thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
• Cover and cook over medium heat – stirring occasionally - until potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.
• Remove two thirds of the mixture to a separate bowl to cool slightly (leave bay leaf in pot).
• Using a food processor or blender, puree until slightly smooth.  Return mixture to pot. 
• Add the crumbled bacon, corn, half-n-half, butter, white wine and red pepper flakes.
• Simmer over low heat for half an hour – stirring occasionally - or until flavors are well blended. (Remove and discard bay leaf before serving.)

Serve with thick slices of grilled sourdough and a little grated cheddar cheese. This will definitely stick to your ribs! 

Deer Tracking

Another snowy afternoon at Balmer Park. The only visitors to the playground these days are the deer! (Notice all the tracks in the foreground going back and forth.)

People on the Street: CDP Theme for March

The frigid winter of 2014 has been testing even the most hardy of Wisconsin's souls. Yesterday's high temp was only 6 degrees and the windchill kept it feeling below zero most of the day.  With weather like that, there are very few "people on the street" in these parts! The best I could do was this bundled up gentleman dashing into the neighborhood Walgreen's.

Check out more City Daily Photo theme day entries here.

Times, they are a changing...

Back in 2009 I posted a photo of Farber's, the old-fashioned barber shop over by Pewaukee Lake. Just recently it closed and it looks like a new independent insurance agency has taken over.  I wish them the best of luck, since it's a tough climate for small businesses these days.

What's for Breakfast?

Decided to try a new recipe from Martha Stewart for "Sugar Buns," or as we call them here in Wisconsin, "Morning Buns" ...bundles of cinnamon-sugary goodness! The featured image above shows them rising in my grandmother's vintage muffin tins.  Below are a few photos of the process, followed by the final product. I must say, they turned out pretty scrumptious. :-)

I even had a a little dough left over to make a mini "Monkey Bread" - a pull-apart loaf that's fun to eat. I'll freeze the little pan below and bake it up some cold Sunday morning in the future.