Esprit de L'Escalier

How homemade granola changed my life

I have read about homemade granola on blogs since I started reading blogs, I think. It was something I was aware of and something I thought, hey, I should really try that sometime. But I didn't. Because I'm lazy. Then I decided to go to grad school full time, and move home for awhile. Since that time I learned that my mother was as obsessed with Epicurious as I was, but she actually cooked from it. (I, on the other hand, would just bookmark recipes and drool at my cubicle at work.)

Then I started reading Molly at Orangette regularly again (more bookmarking of recipes, more drooling) and she had to go and post about her granola again. And I got hooked on Jen of simply breakfast's lovely morning meals, which started including her takes on granola. So I broke down and stocked up on some nuts and got baking. Then my life changed.

My parents and I have fallen in love with this stuff. I just made my fourth batch. We've hardly been without it since I started making it this winter. Mom takes it with milk, Dad with soy milk. I eat it dry for snacks at school and work. My mother and I were just discussing how we don't remember life before it. We don't want to.

This recipe is based on Orangette's riff on Nigella Lawson's recipe. (I also used Little Birds' recipe as inspiration.) What is great about making your own granola is its flexibility. You can make it with whatever nuts or dried fruits you like. I'm giving you the recipe we keep eating. Check out those two recipes above for more ideas or just ad lib in the kitchen.

Dry ingredients (pre-bake):
5 c. rolled oats
1/4 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger (so key to this recipe!)
1/2 c. flax seeds
1/2 c. wheat germ
1 c. pistachios (chopped)
1 c. almonds (chopped)
1 c. hulled raw sunflower seeds
1 c. sweet coconut

Wet ingredients (pre-bake):
3/4 c. unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. honey
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

After baking:
1 c. dried apricots (chopped)
1 c. raisins

Directions:
Set racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Preheat to 300.

In a large bowl mix all of the pre-bake dry ingredients (combine well!). In a small bowl, mix all the wet ingredients. Add wet to dry. Keep mixing it all combines. (It won't seem like enough wet ingredients, but keep mixing, it is.)

Half the mixture between two rimmed baking sheets. Bake for about 40 minutes. Every 10 minutes, pull out the pans and stir, so that the granola bakes evenly. After 40 minutes, or until your fragrant granola is golden brown, pull out the pans. Stir the granola again before you let it cool. The granola will harden as it cools.

Once it's cool, mix in your dried fruits. (My mother has this giant aluminum bowl that I swear makes my chocolate chip cookies taste better. This is where I mix my granola, too.) Scoop your finished granola into airtight containers (large tupperware, large zip-lock bags). Orangette says it will store in the fridge indefinitely. If it lasts that long.

More polas and some inspiration

Yesterday turned out to be much longer than normal, and it wasn't as productive as I hoped, so sorry no pola love on Earth Day. The weather has been gorgeous, though. 75-ish, blue skies, puffs of clouds. Busy as I may be, I've fanagled at least a half hour or so of sitting in the sun. Very important recharging happening.

Right now I'm so incredibly bowled over and blown away by Andrea of Hula Seventy. (Actually, I should rephrase that, because she is an almost constant source of inspiration, due to the colors in her photostream and the honesty in her blog, and once she let me interview her for a paper on online self-portraits and women. She is so very cool.) But she just started a project where she is going to photograph one stranger a week for a year. (See her post on it here.) One thing that I love about the internet is how you can use it to push yourself creatively - you're giving yourself an audience (or rather witnesses to your commitments), and I think it helps you push past the boundaries of fear that exist in your head. Andrea seems to do this time and again, and I thank her for it. (She also made a list of 37 things to do before she's 38, and I think I'm going to make a list of 27 things to do before I'm 28. Because I'm a follower and need to keep doing the uncomfortable so I don't get complacent in my life.)

Here are some more polaroids, because I know you've been wondering where they are! (You can see all of the ones posted for 'Roid Week here, and all of mine here. I'm having a hard time deciding which to post, because six is a little much. The three posted here are some of my submissions from yesterday and today. Enjoy!

Quick song

In a couple of weeks I'll be in New York with my best friend. We'll be visiting a good friend and seeing Josh Ritter play on my golden birthday. Below is a video for my favorite pre-apocalyptic love song. When I hear it I think of the first time I saw it live. Soon after it ended, the concert spilled out onto the winter Chicago streets, quiet with freshly falling snow. I loved that evening. I can't wait to go.

Morning sky clouds

I snapped the polaroid above of the clouds this morning. My morning and dusk polas are what I'm going to miss most when my stash of film runs out. (I'm currently hoarding the film when I can, but I'm afraid that it will get to a point where I'm afraid it will turn into a situation like Elaine and the sponges.)

I was trying to explain why I loved polaroids to my friend Anthony this weekend. I love that I get an immediate artifact. I love that it isn't perfect and you never know quite what you are going to get when the little square comes to life. I love that it makes me focus on framing, because you never know what details will come through well. I love how it captures and plays with light. Most of all, I love that everyone loves a polaroid camera. How could you not? It was is the most sociable of cameras. (Also, if I had a way of showing you my impression of a polaroid camera spitting out film, I would totally post it.)

On a random side, note, has anyone heard about the collaboration between M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel? I heard their cover of the Beatles' song "I Should Have Known Better" today in a store. Love love love. I cannot wait to get this album. Hear a song from their album here.

And me without my camera

I have been trying to keep a camera on me at all times. This isn't always possible, of course, but I try to do it. This morning I did not grab my camera. It was out of film and I didn't have time to fiddle with it, as I was running late.

I overslept and was exhausted, having stayed up too late reading Atonement. (I'm preparing for the upcoming film and had just fell in step with the writing and couldn't put it down. Plus I'm about to get to the big plot point, but sleep won out over the book finally. Some of you know how I feel about Joe Wright's last movie, so expect more on this in the weeks to come. Also, I've watched that movie several times recently and I think that I'm over my Keira Knightley hang up. Plus, I think she's going to be perfect - looking at the very least - for Atonement.)

I kicked myself later for not taking time the night before to ready my camera, because I got to go on a helicopter ride. That's right. I spent a gorgeous, blue-sky morning waiting outside for a helicopter ride. The city I have an internship with is redeveloping an old landfill into a golf course/business center. Yay for brownfield redevelopment and for front seat 'copter rides! As we waited, though, all I could see were missed shots. I see missed shots all over the place. The weather and leaves made the short trip gorgeous, with a nice view of Columbus's small skyline as well.

The leaves have just past their peak here, due to the rainfall the last couple of days knocking them off of the branches. Lately I've felt a little obsessed with the leaves, as if I can't seem to soak them in enough. The yellows and oranges I want to roll in, but the reds, oh the reds, they are driving me wild. I have a roll of film that needs to be developed of the leaves around the house. (Yet another thing I forgot to do today.) Until then, here are some flickr favorites of mine with fall colors. From: .leah. (check out this set, she's a master), clumsy bird, and a lovely trio of colors from revivify.

Tonight I'm going to enjoy my g&t, crochet project and some Thursday night tv. Tomorrow Natasha, my ex-roommate extraordinaire, touches down early in the morning. I am *so* excited for her visit. Have a great weekend, all!

More Etsy love

Now that I am a poor grad student, I should probably stop trolling my favorite shops on Etsy, but I can’t help myself. My favorite seller list now goes for 12 pages. I love looking at the creative and beautiful things people are making and putting out into the world.

I have to share a couple of my recently acquired favorites, or new shops that I am ogling.

One, have I said anything about Bonspiel before? I can’t remember. I love this shop, and Ellen, its owner/creator. She does some fabulous things with leather, but my favorites are her little changepurses. Her little purses are $18 and are very well made, with great colors and screenprinted designs. She uses lots of animals and leaves. I have bought five. My Mom has two of them with squirrels that she keeps in her purse for makeup and whatnot. I have a shiny gold one with a butterfly, that I keep jewelry in when I travel. I use my light blue with a salmon head on it for cash, while my yellow with brown pufferfish and coral design keeps my cards. I love them all so much.

Ellen is great to communicate with, and I can’t say enough about my love for her shop. Check out her new Multipass (again with squirrel) or her Foxy Little Leather Changepurse. If only…

As you can tell, I’m kind of into little pouches. They are like cute boxes, only portable and they fit in my pocket.

I’m also loving the pouches from DrikaB. Oh my god, are these bags cute. The colors! The patterns! I bought a purse from her this summer and love it (see above). Her bags are so well made - they are quilted and soft, but seem very durable all the same. I love the difference in texture from the bag and its handle of jute webbing.

A post about current Etsy love cannot be complete without a mention of the dear Mischievous Meg! Friday she opened up shop. Check out that shot above. This girl is like the sunshine whisperer. I am a lucky owner of it (and two others in the la robe rouge series). You can buy it and another print here for $16.

I love her takes on the ordinary beauty that surrounds her world. She makes me open my eyes more and is one of my inspirations with film. I recently refound her blog and am entranced - she's thoughtful and generous and I love getting to know her.

Here's another one of my favorite prints of hers. Her medium format prints are sublime.

Sigh... there is so much beauty out there. Watch your wallets...