Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Hope everyone had a wonderful turkey day last week! It's now officially winter in Indiana - even our husky is trying to stay warm! Fortunately, the blower motor came in, and Brian from B&S got it installed just before temperatures started plummeting into the 30s at night.

Since we're all thinking about food...

I tried a new recipe last week, and it was soo goood. It all started with an email recipe (I may subscribe to a 'few' cooking newsletters) for a slow cooker curry with sweet potatoes. What? Two of my favorite things cooked in my other favorite thing - a slow cooker? Sign me up - except the recipe was suspiciously short on ingredients. 

Since I already had turkey breast and sweet potatoes on hand (bought on sale, of course), I went looking for a better recipe and found this: Slow cooker curry chicken & sweet potato. Being a good Texan, I did add cayenne pepper and a handful of diced jalepenos to turn up the heat. Oh and  just between us? I was out of cardamon, so I substituted dill and tarragon. This was delicious, cheap, and easy on the hips. (by the way, most grocery stores do carry coconut milk - just look for the Asian section. The coconut milk can generally be found lurking around the soy sauce and rice noodles )

We also went to the Texas Roadhouse to celebrate my birthday - and found out that Roadhouse in Clarksville, Indiana? Is the original Roadhouse. So, it's really the Hooiser Roadhouse. Since the salmon, ribs, and rolls were excellent as always, I guess we'll just have to let the false advertisement slide. (Do you think the Biker's shirt was a bit apropos for the occasion?)

And more food! Two weeks ago, we walked over to Jeffersonville and tried the Parlour Pizza. I ordered the Veggie (yes, with jalepenos) and the Biker went for the Hawaiian. Both pizzas were very good - and as you can see, they are very generous with their ingredients.  

Not only is the pizza good, but the owners of the Parlour did a fabulous job renovating the 1836 building without losing the building's character. We made sure to take some pizza 'bones' home to Crockett, and he also gives this place an enthusiastic two paws up!

We passed The Fishery last month, on our way to a local grocery store, Rainbow Blossom. We finally found both the time, and some nice riding weather, to zoom back over to Louisville and check it out. We're glad we did.  We both ordered the cod plate, and the pieces of cod were big, hot, and well battered. The potato salad was a little heavy on the mayonnaise, and needed a bit more celery and egg, but the hush puppies were fresh, hot, and had great flavor. We can see why this is a Louisville institution!

Let's not forget dessert! The Pie Kitchen is directly across from Rainbow Blossom, and how could we resist? The Biker choose a caramel-covered chocolate cupcake, and I decided on Lemon Meringue. Both desserts were very good, although I have a minor quibble. The Pie Kitchen strains out the zest for their Lemon Meringue, and I prefer the zest to be left in. This is a very minor quibble, because the Pie Kitchen is one of those rare places that actually piles on as much meringue as they can possibly get away with. (Other bakeries, I'm looking at you and your chintzy ways) I just wish we'd had room to try their home made ice cream. Oh, and in case you're wondering, neither of us have lost any weight this month...

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RV Kitchen: Thirty Minute Biscuits!

Let's talk biscuits! 

We're eating a lot of stew and chili to stay warm, and that means biscuits. I just spoke to somebody who confessed her biscuits never, ever turn out right. I shared the secret of great biscuits with her, and I thought I'd share that secret, along with my 30-minute-start-to-finish-never-fail biscuit recipe. And if you're wondering, yes, she now makes great biscuits. 

First, you need to turn on your oven. You absolutely must have a hot oven.  Most recipes call for an oven that is 450 degrees, but I find most ovens run hot and 425 degrees works better.  

Ingredients are super simple. You only need six and one ingredient is water (does water even count as an ingredient?):

 2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cup of almond/whole milk

Secret One. I strongly recommend using cheap flour for biscuits, instead of a name brand. The cheap flour brand at the grocery store is almost always milled just down the road. (flour will have the location of the mill printed somewhere on the bag). Locally milled flour will be fresher and fluffier, and give you better results. There is a super cheap brand here in Louisville that's milled a few hours away in Tennessee and it's wonderfully light, fresh, and fluffy.

Secret Two. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, then whisk while counting to 60.  We need to introduce air and break up any flour clumps. 

Secret Three. Once the flour is whisked, you will cut in one stick of butter. But more importantly, you need to know why you are cutting in butter. When each little bit of butter melts in the oven, it will create a pocket of air in the biscuit. This is what makes the biscuit flaky, and helps it rise correctly.

There is a lot of ways to cut in butter. Some people use a pastry cutter, and others use a food processor. I'm too lazy to drag out equipment, so I just use two butter knives and keep cutting the flour again and again,until it is the size of peas. Make sure to take a minute once the butter is in teeny, tiny pieces and double-check for any too big bits you might've missed.

Secret Four.  I have no idea why this works, but it does. I learned this from a friend's grandma and it's THE secret to making the best biscuits. Once the butter is cut in, you need to make a volcano. Heap the butter-flour mix into a mountain in your bowl, then make a hole in the top.

Now mix the milk and the water together. Pour about a third of the milk/water into the hole you just made, and mix with a wooden spoon. Keep adding a little bit more milk/water until the batter is just sticky. You will not use all the milk/water, and you don't want to overmix, because that could break down the butter pieces. (You can see how much milk/water I had left over in the above picture)

Using a tablespoon, drop the biscuits onto a cookie sheet (just like you would if you were making drop cookies).  This recipe makes 12 regular biscuits or 16 small biscuits. Cook for 15 minutes until the tops turn golden brown. Eat!

Variation: If you'd rather have garlic cheddar biscuits, just add a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar, after stirring in the milk.

RV trick: Since there is only two of us, we typically bake 4 to 6 biscuits in the toaster oven, and tuck the rest of the mix into the fridge (we put it in a ziplock baggie to save room in our tiny teeny fridge). It will keep fup to a week - just let the mix warm up a little before cooking the next batch of biscuits.

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Fall Colors in Indiana

Notice something different?

We've moved! Yes, it's just another spot in the same park, but we're no longer stuck under a tree. A tree that was dropping all kinds of yucky stuff on the RV. 

Talking about the RV, the blower to the furnace has developed a very annoying squeal. A mobile tech was going to be in the RV park anyway, so he stopped by. The verdict? The blower's engine is dying a slow and noisy death.

 We're currently waiting to have a new one delivered. The temperatures next week will be mostly in the 50s, so we should be OK (we also have a portable electric heater) until the tech can install it.

Meanwhile, the Biker's steadily working six days a week now, so his one day off has turned into our catch-up day. Laundry, groceries, chores - all that boring adult stuff.

The rest of the week, we squeeze in walks around his work schedule. 

 There isn't much time for sightseeing, but that's OK.

 As you can see in these pictures, fall colors here are glorious! Now let's hope the blower motor comes in before the temperatures start to drop any lower!

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Shaking Things Up A Bit!

Seven Days of Full Timing

Yes, we know. Good bloggers are supposed to keep thing consistent. A good friend tagged us on a challenge, though, and we couldn't resist. 

7 days, 7 black and white photos of our lives. Ready?

Louisville (from the Falls of Ohio State Park)

Our teeny, tiny spot in Clarksville, right across the river

Miss Boo

Biscuits and stew

Puppykat

Crockett

Chili in the crockpot and fresh bread in the toaster oven

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Frankfort Avenue (Free!)

Taking a Stroll on Frankfort

The Biker is now working 6 days a week, which leaves very little time for sightseeing. On Friday, we managed to squeeze in a few hours to grab a bite to eat and explore Frankfort Avenue. We parked at the free public parking behind Carmichael's, a local bookstore - and yes, we bought a book there. It's important to support independent bookstores!

Map

Frankfort Avenue used to be a turnpike back in the 1850s, and is still a major thoroughfare to downtown Louisville.

 Frankfort has many boutiques, restaurants, shops, and-

 the occasional painted horse. This one is, apparently, over a barrel at being on display on historic Frankfort.

The street runs through a couple of neighborhoods. One is the Clifton neighborhood, which was mostly built in the years between 1850 and 1910.

The other neighborhood is Crescent Hill, a city also founded in the 1850s and annexed by Louisville in the late 19th century.

This building serves two purposes. It's the Crescent Hill Baptist Church, as well as the second campus for the Highlands Latin School.

The area is known for it's many historic old homes and eclectic local businesses.

 Red Hog, a butcher shop, had some awesome smelling barbecue going. We were tempted, but decided to keep walking and see what we could find for lunch.

 Many of the shops had beautiful and creative window displays.

This shop window was going all out for Halloween, including a nattily dressed ghost.

Vint Coffee Company had the right idea - 'Drink More Coffee!'

Oh look, it's Mona Lisa, horsing around!

 The movie of the month at the local library branch was 'The Shining'. Redrum! 

So where did we eat? Caspian Grill, a teeny tiny little bistro with a wonderful owner.  The Biker ordered a burger and fries. The burger was juicy and flavorful, and the french fries were perfect. I had the lamb kebobs, with rice and a side of hummus. The lamb kebobs were absolutely delicious, and the the rice was fresh and seasoned just right. The biggest surprise was the musto khiar, which is a sauce of yogurt and cucumber (in the black bowl, above). It was fresh and tangy, and I could have easily eaten an entire bowl! Highly recommended!

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We Interrupt This Blog for One Spoiled Husky!

Fall is here!

Although we would much rather be south, there is one enormous benefit to being in Indiana. Crockett is enjoying his first true fall!

The weather is cool and brisk, which means a certain ten year old husky has come down with-

 a bad case of puppy zooms!

 The RV park doesn't have a fenced in dog yard, so we've been sneaking down to the nearby tennis court.

Nobody seems to be using it, and a tennis court is just the right size for a husky with the fall crazies!

Oh, yeah, that was a much needed run, followed by-

stretching out for some prime time squirrel watching! The RV park has a lot of black walnut and oak trees, which means we currently have 24/7 squirrel TV. Pretty sure life doesn't get much better than this!

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Carnegie Center for Art and History (Free!)

Fall is Pretty Awesome 

We miss some things about Texas, like breakfast tacos and Tex-mex. We don't miss the crazy September heat - fall in Indiana is perfect riding weather! The Biker finally had a free Thursday, so we zipped over to New Albany to check out their local history center. Admission is - yep, free!

New Albany is, yes, another Indiana city that lies on the other side of the Ohio River, across from Louisville. It's easiest to just imagine the Ohio River as a wiggling snake, running east and west. Louisville sits the south (Kentucky) side of the river. New Albany and Jeffersonville sit on the north (Indiana) side of the river, with smaller Clarksville squished between them. 

New Albany, like the other two towns, was founded on land  given to George Roger Clark, a Revolutionary War hero, and father of William Clark. (William is, of course, the same Clark who went tramping off with Meriwether Lewis on a grand surveying expedition)

The land was sold to the Scribner family, who established New Albany in 1813. Indiana became a state a couple of years later, and New Albany was chosen as the seat of Floyd County.  Floyd County, incidentally, was named after Davis Floyd, a politician, and a friend of Aaron Burr. 

New Albany was the biggest city in Indiana until just before the Civil War, when Indianapolis overtook it. New Albany's wealth came mostly from steamboat and the Ohio River in the nineteenth century, and from plywood and veneer in the twentieth century. Since we seem to be covering obscure Indiana history in this blog, let's take a moment to talk about the craziness of the streets on this side of the river. 

While citizens of New Albany were laying out their town, another fellow decided to plan out his own town, called Providence. If you pull up a map of New Albany, and look at the area just east of Fairview Cemetery, you will notice the numbered streets start doing some strange things and 10th becomes 11th. That's where these two different city plans clashed. Literally. 

Jeffersonville, in the meantime, decided to lay things out in a diagonal street grid. This created such a mess that the city later added a more traditional grid. The result is there are still a lot of weird random diagonal bits that don't quite mesh with the newer grid system.

Ahem, moving on. Got to love the architecture of Carnegie Libraries! The Carnegie Center is housed in the old Albany Public Library. Originally slated for demolition after the library moved into a bigger building, citizens saved it by creating a Floyd County Museum. Today, that museum has become the Carnegie Center and is run as part of the city's library system.

It turns out  the center was installing a couple of new exhibits in both gallery spaces, so we couldn't check out any local art. 

That's OK, there were still two interesting permanent exhibits to see. The first is on the life of Lucy Higgs Nichols.

Lucy was born a slave. When the Civil War broke out, she grabbed her baby and fled to a camp of Union Soldiers. The United States had just passed a law, allowing the troops to keep Confederate property (slaves), so she was given work in the camp as a nurse.

Sadly, Lucy's baby girl died soon after, and was buried at Vicksburg.  Lucy went on to serve with the Twenty-third Regiment from Indiana for the rest of the war. After the war, the men continued to consider her a fellow comrade. 

She was a member of her local veteran's group in New Albany, and men from the Twenty-Third helped her apply for a Civil War army pension. Like many nurses, her application was denied, so the men just kept on insisting - until Lucy's pension was passed by a special act! 

The other exhibit was called 'Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage: Men and Women of the Underground Railroad'.

A slave who get across the Ohio River would be free. New Albany was the biggest city in Indiana before the Civil War, and a bustling port city of steamboats and trains. The result was New Albany was the final destination for many who traveled the Underground Railroad.

This also meant the abolitionists in New Albany were often active in the Underground Railroad.  Local owners of the railroads in the area would even give out free tickets that could be used by escaping slaves.

Unfortunately, the large number of freed slaves living in and around New Albany also created a lot of racial tension, and at least 3 blacks were killed during a riot in 1862. The exhibit does a very good job of showing people's views and opinions of both the Underground Railroad, and the racial issues surrounding slavery, without glossing over the ugly reality of what was happening in Indiana in the years leading up to the Civil War.

'The Search' by Barney Blight, outside the current New Albany Public Library.

Know before you go: The center has free admission, and is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10am to 5:30pm. There is parking available behind the center. The center hosts several art and culture events throughout the year, and the public is welcome to attend these.

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