Sometimes (okay, all the time), I like to send memes to my friend Sebrina (also an author, check out her book Shattered Lines here: https://a.co/d/aG2bSb3 ). In particular, I like to send her memes that apply to my characters.
You know, things like this in reference to Nataliya and Alex:
(Beck has a much larger collection of memes than the rest because, well, he’s him).
I happened upon a collection of tweet memes about New Years and was amused at how some of them fit my characters. One I can’t show you because it’s a b it spoilery for a character who is introduced in book 2, but here’s the ones for the main 4:
Beck, of course. As if he hasn’t already lost his inhibitions enough.
Julie. Why fix what ain’t broke, am I right?
Poor Patrick was born in the wrong decade, I think.
Sadly for Nataliya, it will not, in fact, Change EverythingTM.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I love reading the dedications in books, as well as the author’s acknowledgements. I read every single name, wondering about who those people are in relation to the author. So it’s hardly a surprise that I put the same care into my own dedication and acknowledgements when it came time to write them.
Now, dedication writing is not new to me. I actually have examples of books I wrote when I was younger (maybe fourth or fifth grade) where I included a dedication.
My childhood book on the left, my new release on the left.
As you can see, I dedicated both books to the same person, my cousin. My aunt Lisa, my godmother, and my uncle James lived in St. Louis when my cousin was born. Uncle James was at seminary, studying to be a pastor. I was four when Blythe was born (on my sister’s birthday, no less!) and I turned five a couple of months later. I don’t remember a lot from that long ago, but I do remember being VERY excited about having a baby girl cousin so very near. I was the baby of the family, and maybe having an even younger baby near was exciting. Also I think I just liked babies.
Anyway, I remember growing up with Blythe, especially as uncle James was called to a church in Louisiana, MO, about an hour away from where I lived. I spent a lot of time there, and vice versa. I even remember going there for Thanksgiving and Aunt Lisa pulling out my loose tooth without warning me, because I was nervous about eating turkey with it.
Anyway, back to Blythe. One thing that bonded us closely was our voracious love of books. We spent hours and hours reading together. I remember one summer, visiting our grandparents in Nebraska, reading aloud to her from one of the Dear America books.
Now this is super silly, but when you’re 9 or 10, you think you’re clever. One time when Blythe and the family came to visit, I thought it would be fun to hide in the foyer closet with the light on on read. Of course I showed my reading buddy. That became one of our silly things, where we’d sit in the coat closet and just read our books.
Blythe and I grew up. Aunt and Uncle, Blythe and her little brother Joel moved to Michigan and I stayed here. We didn’t see each other quite as often, but whenever we saw each other it was as if no time passed at all. That’s how it was with all of my age group cousins. When we’d go to Nebraska, we were all buddies playing and running around and having a blast. We had a lot of events where we’d meet up. We have a lot of cousins (My grandparents on that side had 12 children!) so we’d always have a wedding or something to attend. Blythe’s own wedding was SO exciting!
I even made the cake. Well, my dad did the hard work of making the roses, but my mom and I drove the tiers separately, freaking out in Chicago traffic, until we reached Michigan safely, and I did the rest of the finish work. I’m still so proud that I was able to do that.
When our bakery celebrated 100 years in business, Blythe and her husband came down to celebrate with us. Her husband, Chris, helped set up the tents. We went out to get Mexican Food with the family, and I remember Blythe, our other cousin Addy, and I sitting at one end of the table talking about podcasts and everything else and just loving our bond. In many ways we were like sisters.
2020 hit. We all know what happened then. I had returned to college in spring semester of 2019, so I was really struggling with online classes and my own horrible mental health. Since get togethers and travel was limited, the only family I really saw that summer were family members close by and my sister (My dog died right after finals in May, and my mom sent me to visit my sister to help me deal with it).
And then January 2021 rolled around. I remember struggling with the gap before my final semester, working on my senior assignment and not having a great time with my advisor.
I got the phone call while I was sitting in my kitchen. I don’t remember what I was doing. But my mother called me to tell me Blythe was dead. She had been killed in a traffic accident. A semi truck drove in the wrong lane, colliding headlong with my cousin’s car as she waited to turn. Thank God, but she was killed instantly.
Finding out that someone who doesn’t live near you has died is surreal. You can’t go see them to prove one way or another. You have to sit hundreds of miles away, trying to make sense of something that you can’t see for yourself. I had similar feelings when my friend Dani died (also from a car accident, though in her case a deer went through her windshield).
Because we still were in Covid times, I wasn’t able to go to the funeral either. I’m a firm believer that the bereaved need funerals. I understand some people want a celebration of life, or a party, and don’t want people to be sad they’re gone. But we’re going to be sad regardless, and I feel that being given permission to grieve and cry is important.
I have comfort that I will see Blythe again in Heaven when I too have died. But now, years later, there’s still a hole in my heart.
Naturally, I had to dedicate my first book to my cousin, my special Blythe, who spent childhood reading in closets with me, making up silly songs about my brother Paul, and who spent her career teaching children how to talk and chew and who I’ll miss for the rest of my life.
Dr. Patrick Morana has an unusual gift. He can sense how and when a person died. Choosing to use his talents as a medical examiner for St. Louis County was easy. What wasn’t so easy was dealing with an ancient demon wreaking havoc on the city streets.
When Nataliya is chosen for a forensic pathology fellowship under him, Patrick finds himself interested in something he’s never allowed himself to want before. It isn’t long before Nataliya discovers secrets about Patrick that he’s been hiding his entire life. Secrets as to how he can sense the manner of death, how he knows what’s stalking the streets of their city, and how he knew she was pregnant before she did. With the help of a disillusioned FBI agent and a soon-to-be-divorced police detective, Patrick knows he has to get rid of the demon before it’s too late. Because it’s not like the St. Louis Police Department has a demon hunting squad.
I originally came up with this idea in 2020, deep in the midst of Covid lockdowns. I started writing it for NaNoWriMo. I’ve participated in NaNo every year since I was 17, and won more than I lost. It’s a bit sad, now that NaNo is defunct due to the horrendous activities of a certain mod and the interim director’s adoption of AI, but I won’t get into that. I just want to say so many of my books were written with NaNo, and this one is the same.
Now, five years later, this book went through a few edits, one professional, and had a professional illustrator make the cover (the amazing Jovanna Plata ). It was released on November 1st. Then I remembered this site existed. I planned on picking up my bread blogging again, and I figured I could also use it as my writing blog as well. And maybe I can be more intentional about blogging about my travels (I went to Peru and Greece since my last post!). but that requires WOOOORK. Ha!
Anyway, My book is available both in paperback and ebook.
I’ll talk more about the process of this book in the future, but I’ll leave it at that. I hope to have a baking post soon as well. I’m heading into the holiday season, so I’ll probably be busy at the bakery and my caroling job, but I’m excited! If you do decide to pick up my book, thank you so much!
Way back in July, I booked an amazing trip through a company called G Adventures. This trip was a 3 week tour around 4 countries in Southern Africa. I actually added a 5th country, but I’ll talk about that in a later post. I hadn’t taken a trip this long since I went to Hawaii/Australia/New Zealand several years ago with an old friend Kayla. And this one wasn’t going to be in my friend’s cushy Hawaii house or in cute cabins and hotels in NZ. This was going to be a camping trip.
And friends, it was amazing. I left two days after Thanksgiving. I was nervous right up until I got to the airport, really. So many things can throw a wrench into the logistics, but it worked out well. I went to a travel doctor, got shots, saw my GI doctor who prescribed me a steroid in case I had a Crohn’s flare (spoiler alert, I didn’t need it), bought a compression bag for my sleeping bag, packed like mad, and counted down the days.
When I arrived in South Africa, it was amazing. The main reason? It was HOT! I flew into Cape Town on November 26th (I traveled overnight) and crossed into the Southern and Eastern hemisphere. This also meant that it was late spring! Or more like summer, meteorology, in most of the places we went to.
It’s always fun walking down those stairs off a plane! I don’t remember too much of the super long flight, except that I didn’t sleep and the food was okay. Also there was no one in the seat right next to me so that was nice!
I did not expect to be put on a shuttle to get to the terminal but there were worse things that could have happened! Thankfully customs was fast and my driver met me past security. He was a cool guy and pointed out cool places along the drive. I didn’t get a photo as I was really tired, but he showed me Robben Island where Nelson Mandel was held as a political prisoner.
I made it to the hostel for my first night in South Africa, right in time for the opening meeting. The first person I met was actually the young woman that I shared a tent with the whole trip. Her name is Laura, and she’s also a geography student! She’s from Berlin, and we got along very well the whole trip. We went down to the meeting and we did some get to know you stuff, and talked about the trip, how things would work with camping/driving around in the Lando/who the leaders were, etc. Lots of logistics I won’t get into, but it was a good meeting. Then we all walked to a restaurant nearby for dinner. I was a bit nervous, but getting to know everyone that first night was great, and I kind of smile at how the relationships developed after that first night! We also learned that first night that the majority of the people on the trip were from Germany! There were 2 others from the U.S. I was also the oldest person in the entire group (not counting our driver/guide Robby). The tour was for people aged 18-39. The next person in age to me (initially) was 33.
After that first meal, we all went back to the hostel. It was LOUD. Not the hostel, but the bar next to us. Thankfully they shut off the music after awhile. That was also the last time we’d be in real beds for awhile too!
The next day we got up and put our luggage outside to be loaded on the bus (see at the top of the post) and went to breakfast. I decided to not drink too much coffee on this trip as I didn’t know if I’d get stomachaches from it (it’s always touch and go with me with coffee) and as the Lando didn’t have a toilet, I didn’t want to be stuck. So I only had coffee a handful of times the entire trip! The breakfast was good, and then we went back to the bus, chose seats, and headed off! We were supposed to change seats every day but that didn’t always happen (though we did rotate every now and then). That first day I sat with Michelle, from Switzerland, and we both discovered we were fans of How I met YOur Mother (that might have been a later day but it all kind of blends together considering how many hours we were on the Lando!)
The first sight we saw was Table Rock!
Check out the parasailors!
We didn’t stay too long, as we needed to get to our first real excursion. We went to a cultural center for the San people. They’re also called Bush people, but they’re trying to move away from that term. They are the last hunter gatherers in the world, and their way of life is disappearing because the governments don’t let them hunt anymore.
It was a very cool excursion, and I wish we’d had more time to look around the museum.
It’s a little hard to see, but this is how their click language is written out. We learned a couple of clicks, and we got to practice a bit! It was SO cool to learn about their language (and other languages, which we learned more about later) and how the clicks are written out. The exclamation point is a click with the tongue against the roof of your mouth and the front teeth. And the double lines are a click on the side of your cheek.
Our guide explained the different plants they grow to make their medicinal tea. It includes wild cannabis (which does not have the same effects as cultivated marijuana).
We also got to sample the tea!
I think I was the first one to actually sip at it. I have a really good poker face sometimes… I didn’t make an expression after trying it so I think a couple of other people in my group didn’t realize it was EXTREMELY bitter! They all grabbed for the honey (I took the rest as a shot, It was not good!)
We got lunch to take on the Lando after our tour, and headed off to our first camp site. It was at a lovely vineyard!
A few of us decided to do a wine tasting! It was fun (and we got a cheese plate halfway through). Some of the wines were okay, some were good!
It was hard focusing my camera!
This one was infused with rooibos tea! It was interesting. I can’t remember how much I liked it.
Ha, I thought this was the actual toast but, oops! We were with another group for the wine tasting, so someone from each group gave a toast. It was a really nice time and a cool way to start getting to know the other people on my tour.
I have a lot more to write about on this trip, with so many adventures and sight seeing and friendships made! I can’t wait to tell you more about my African adventure!
Catherine makes a pie with a couple mistakes but is still tasty. She also ran a 5k.
Thursday was Thanksgiving in the United States! We had a good time in my family. My sister was able to fly out, and we had brunch and also turkey dinner.
I also ran a 5K Turkey Trot because I am, last I checked, completely weird. Well, not the Turkey Trot part, actually, because it’s one of the most popular race days in the United States. But the fact that I ran it alone, and also ran it competitively. I mean, the only competitor was myself, but it counts.
As you can see, I had a blast.
No, actually, I did enjoy it! I just got a new phone without a headphone jack, and I forgot to grab the proper headphones, so I ran the entire 3.1 miles without music. It was kind of fun hearing other people’s conversations as I weaved around the slowpokes. I also managed to PR, and finished the race with a time of 31:05. That beat out my former Personal Best by 21 seconds. I would have definitely run it faster if it weren’t for the fact that the race was VERY hilly, including a killer hill at the very end. They’re making us work for our Thanksgiving dinner!
They gave us doughnuts at the end so I can’t complain.
Wednesday night I started making a pie from my cookbook! The one I mentioned a few entries back. I saw there was a recipe for cranberry nut pie, and figured it might make a good thanksgiving treat. Even though I don’t care for cranberries, other people in my family do so I made it
Cranberries and water
Sugar.
Tasty
I’ve never cooked cranberries on my own before (again, I don’t care for them) so it was fun doing something new.
I actually somewhat misread the directions, as I was supposed to get the sauce to boiling and then adding other ingredients. But I cooked it down somewhat and then added everything but it ended up being fine. I used orange zest, flour, orange juice (squeezed from the orange I got the zest from), corn syrup, and pecans. The recipe called for walnuts but my mom wanted pecans. So I added all this, let it cook a bit longer, and then let it cool
Then it was time to make the dough! Now, I used All Purpose FLour, and we determined that next time I’m going to use pastry flour. The gluten over activated and the crust was pretty hard. But I’m sure it’ll be good if I try this crust recipe again.
COLD butter.
This Pastry cutter saved my life when I finally bought it.
Ya gotta get your hands in there and make sure the butter chunks are the right size! I somehow missed photos of me adding water a bit at a time. COLD water.
This was a beast to roll out.
Eh, it works.
I was so hyper focused on getting the lattice right that I forgot to get pictures of the process. You can also see where one of the strips broke, but eh, it’s just getting eaten. I put it in the fridge to back on Thanksgiving.
I was so out of it I forgot to egg wash or milk wash the crust and sprinkle sugar. It didn’t matter too much, the crust was way too hard. HOWEVER it wasn’t BAD tasting. And I got two thumbs up for the filling! It was a hit. SO I think with a proper crust it would be amazing. My mom even wants to see about adapting it for the bakery!
Who needs to cut a proper slice? Hehe.
I did not try it, though I meant to (in spite of my dislike of cranberries). I just tried a bit of the crust. And I’m writing this at the airport as I”m about to jet off on a 3 week adventure so I won’t get to try it. This time!!
Hopefully my next update will be something super cool about where I’m traveling too. Have a good weekend, friends!
I dunno what this is, but it looks pretty bizarre, and that’s what I’m about.
(okay, it’s an illustration from an herbal from 15th century Italy. Not as weird as the Voynich manuscript though).
Herbal, herbs, close enough! I made herb bread today. My book calls it Shaker Herb Bread, so it most likely was developed from a recipe that the Shakers used for their bread. Those Shakers had some good stuff. Flat brooms, Herb Bread, weird religious beliefs (okay maybe not that one). It’s all there!
First things first, my yeast! Since I got a new kettle this summer, I can control the temperature of the water much more easily. I actually set it on the lowest setting, and then pulled the water off once it hit 100F. I then sprinkled the yeast on it. I set it aside as I scalded the milk and it bubbled beautifully.
That foam! That foam I tell you!
I actually used up all my whole milk for ice cream so I had to use 1%. Shame. I was gonna be lazy and scald in in the microwave but I figured I’d go old school. You heat it up until it just starts to bubble. the end. Scalding is easy.
I actually had to cool down the milk somewhat, so I stuck it in the freezer and then creamed sugar with melted butter and the salt.
Eggs.
MY FOAMY YEAST.
I then took all purpose flower and mixed it with rosemary, sage, and oregano. Only a 1/4 tsp for each, but it packs quite a punch!
I added the flour a bit at a time until it incorporated. I used the paddle attachment for almost the entire process because I’ve realized that trying to incorporate the yeast with the dough hook does NOT work. And once the dough got too stiff I pulled out the ol’ standy by.
That’s right, my ol’ mitts. I really got in there and kneaded the rest of the flour in so that it would be mostly incorporated when I put the dough hook attachment on.
I’d actually halved the recipe the day before and it didn’t turn out. There are several factors as to why, but I decided to do the recipe as written and really be careful. What this photo shows is the window pane test. You want to make sure the gluten is properly activated. So you pinch off a piece of dough and spread it out like this. If you can see through it without it breaking, your gluten is goin’ strong.
Dough has risen.
PUNCH.
I then separated the dough into two loaves.
And I divided them unevenly. My dad, “Don’t you have a scale?” “Yes, I do, I was just lazy.”
Judge me, it’s fine.
It’s too cold in my house for dough to rise properly so my oven-turned-proofbox it is!
Ah there we go. BTW these new bread tins are so nice! My dad got them for me. THey’re also tall.
Brushed a little butter on the tops. By the way, I HATE silicone brushes but they’re much more sanitary than actual brushes.
Pretty! They didn’t rise as much as I thought in the oven (They might have even collapsed slightly) so I was pretty upset with how dense they were. Then we tasted them and they were really good, so I think they’re supposed to be dense loaves. The recipe book didn’t say one way or the other but they make FIRE toast.
The crumb structure isn’t gummy, just a bit dense, but it’s tasty and that’s all that matters! Some breads aren’t gonna be as fluffy as a plain white bread you get at the store. And the herbs really sell the flavor of this. It’d make a good sandwich bread too, and oh I bet a bit of tangy mustard would be great with a turkey sandwich and a mild cheese!
Also, my house smelled AMAZING while I was baking!
So yes, another good recipe I’ll have to make a gain! I wonder if it would rise more during summer. I can certainly try!
I have one more recipe I’m going to bake before my big trip, and that’s for thanksgiving. Keep your eyes peeled, my friends! And then on November 26th I’m heading off on an adventure! I hope to be able to update the blog as I go so I’m looking forward to it! Have a good holiday week!
But I can certainly make pudding out of persimmons.
I actually made this bread last week, but work got very busy, as did everything else. I’m running a half marathon on Sunday, so I’ve been very wrapped up in training. Also registering for Graduate School, preparing for my 3 week long trip abroad… it’s no wonder I haven’t had much time!
Okay so my recipe this time was persimmon bread. Reading the recipe I was excited because it was so similar to the pumpkin loaf that was so delicious. But then… tragedy. There was literally no sugar anywhere in the recipe. And Persimmons aren’t as sweet as say, apples or something. But I decided mmmm, maybe it’ll be good. So I got super excited when I saw fuyu persimmons at Fresh Thyme (a grocery chain that’s similar to Whole Foods but maybe less bougie? IDK I’ve been to Whole Foods like twice in my entire life). I bought four and winced that it cost over $12 but soldiered on.
First things first I had to make persimmon puree, which the recipe did not instruct me on. I found a method online and this is what I did. I took the 4 persimmons and cut off the leaves and quartered them.
Prince REALLY wanted to photobomb. Plz ignore the mess on the floor my life is in shambles.
I put the pieces of persimmon into my crock pot and put enough water in to not-quite submerge the fruit. I also dumped in some cinnamon. I left it to stew for 6 hours.
Once they were soft, I drained them, then put a strainer over a bowl.
Boil ’em mash ’em stick ’em in a bread.
The pulp was being difficult so I pulled out the trusty immersion blender I “borrowed” from my mom. Then it was ready for the bread.
Flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Separately, I put in a cup of persimmon puree. I still had 2 cups leftover, but it was tasty so I thought I’d just eat it like applesauce later. I did not.
Lots of oil. Don’t tell the recipe blog commenters.
Eggs and melted butter.
So of course the butter seized because it was warm and the eggs were cold so I actually used the immersion blender again.
Then I started mixing in the flour mixture.
All mixed up and ready to bake.
I was roasting some bell peppers for dinner, please ignore those. Unless you like them, I don’t know your life.
So I baked it for over an hour and when I took it out, it looked okay. I let it cool for awhile and tried a bite. I did not get photos because it was Not. Good. Like, it wasn’t gagging me, but it did not taste like persimmons and it just tasted like boring quick bread with none of the fun stuff like sugar or flavor.
I wasn’t even upset when Nubie got into the bread because I knew I wouldn’t eat it. The loaf got tossed. I still had those 2 cups of persimmon pulp/puree left. The next day after this bread failure, I opened Chrome and saw a recommended article. It was for persimmon pudding. I read the article, interested, and realized it was less custard pudding (or snackpack puddings) and it was a baked pudding, closer to bread pudding.
I figured, why not! I had just enough pumpkin puree left and I like baked puddings. So I made it. And Reader, it was good!
It filled a whole casserole dish!
I took it to my folks’ house to try and I brought whipped cream.
Next week I hope to bake some good ol’ fashioned yeast bread, so stay tuned! I’m also hoping to bake a pie for Thanksgiving, so I’ll blog about that too since it’s from the old fashioned pie cookbook. Have a good weekend!
Happy Halloween! Happy Reformation Day! I’m Lutheran, so the latter greeting is obligatory.
I had a rough start to my holiday, but I won’t get into that mostly because I don’t want to talk about it. I was going to bake this pumpkin loaf LAST week, but, well, I had an allergic reaction to a new medication and I ended up getting a shot of Benadryl and sleeping for like 5 hours so that obviously didn’t happen.
But no one asked so I’ll just get into it. Great, now I wanna watch Breakin’. Also, I finally cleaned off my counter so now I have lots more space AND I can roll out pie dough!
First things first, some good ol’ sugar.
An ENTIRE cup of vegetable oil. Mmm, delicious, delicious oil. Don’t tell the anti-oil people.
Action Shot!
Prince REALLY wanted some of this pumpkin puree. Eisley isn’t a fan, but both dogs also really like it. They DID NOT get any of this, it’s mine, all mine!
Gotta get those leavening agents (also put in baking soda).
I apparently haven’t bought ground nutmeg in years. But my handy microplane comes into use when I need ground nutmeg. That reminds me, I completely forgot to make my yearly aged eggnog. I still have a couple months…
Raisin.
Mmm Pecans.
Now to mix the dry into the wet!
This batter looks fantastic.
Since the recipe yields 2 loaves, I decided to take one to work!
After baking for an hour and ten minutes, it was finally done. It was at a bit of a lower temp so that’s probably why it took so long. I wanted to sew after I pulled them out, and I realized that the dogs would ABOSLUTELY get into these, so I couldn’t leave them on the counter. Especially considering the raisins. So I actually took them downstairs to my sewing area, where the dogs and cats aren’t allowed. Modern problems require modern solutions.
I took a loaf to my parents for the taste test, as per tradition. Sadly, my dad was at the bakery so it was just me and my mom but WE LOVED IT.
Look at that color! Those raisins! Those nuts!
Blurry shot of me stuffing my face. Mom and I both raved about it. Mom even said it was the best of the recipes I’ve done so far! This little cookbook has some real gems. This is DEFINITELY going to be made again (how many times have I said that? Ha!). I also really like pumpkin so I’m not surprised. I’m not sure what I’ll do next week but I hope it’s just as delicious!
I hope you have a safe holiday, and that your coming November is amazing! I may or may not have some EPIC travel plans after Thanksgiving, and hopefully this blog will see some amazing posts.
You know, I never was into Spongebob (I was a bit too old when it came out, I think), but that song is a bop.
It’s another bread post, y’all! I made Pineapple Nut Loaf. I meant to bake this weeks ago, but, well, I had some issues. And those issues being I was super busy at work, I was dealing with some stuff, and then I got the flu. The last one was weird, I didn’t even have a fever or body aches and like the barest headache ever. Buuut it was enough to keep home home from work so I wouldn’t infect other people. But last night I finally baked this quick bread.
Mmmm store brand pineapple.
Brown sugar.
Now…. CREAM.
I was putting away the egg carton when a wild animal appeared! Eisley was looking for the butter, I think. I had to shoo her out of there before she knocked the eggs over!
Eggggggs. Then I had to alternately add flour and pineapple.
This recipe had 2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 baking soda. I’m not up on my ratios, but that seemed a little strange but it didn’t hurt the bread at all.
I have no idea why I took this video but here it is.
I really like pineapple.
That’s some smooth looking batter.
Have another video.
And the surprise pièce de résistance, AN ENTIRE CUP OF PECANS.
There were so many nuts, people! It was nuts! Haha.
Ready to GO.
It’s starting to rise.
What, that’s not bread! While it was baking I made myself some soondubu jjigae, or Korean tofu soup.
The crown of the bread really kicked up!
While the bread cooled, I actually had an Zoom meeting, a graduate school open house. That’s right, your solo geographer is going to get MORE educated in geography! That should be an adventure. . . Anyway, after it was over I ran to my folks’ house so we could all try the bread together.
So many nuts! My parents both loved it! The pineapple was very understated, which was surprising. Pineapple has such a strong, almost acidic flavor (yay bromelain!) but this was super mellow. I’d say it’s more of a nut loaf than a pineapple loaf. It was really good! But I think my parents liked it more than me, and I think it’s because I’m not a huge nut person. I mean, I eat them regularly, but if given a choice between pineapple or nuts, I’ll choose pineapple every time. If I made this loaf for me in the future, I’d actually halve the nuts. I’d keep it just the way it is if I make it again for my parents.
Mmm nice.
Also, my friends, I found a cookbook by the same company that is ALL PIES. It actually has one of my favorite crust recipes. So in addition to blogging about bread, I’m absolutely going to blog about pies. Because pies are delicious and more content is always a plus.
Thanks for reading and hopefully I won’t make you wait as long for another post!
I might have mentioned this before, but I’m a seasonal employee at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. This place is amazing, and I’ve discovered a lot of people have never heard of it. Even some local folks haven’t actually visited, not even on school field trips.
If you’re one of those folks who haven’t heard of Cahokia Mounds, allow me to give you some fast facts! Cahokia is considered the first actual city in the United States, but it predates the actual country of the United States by hundreds of years. It was permanently settled by a Native American culture that archaeologists call the Mississippians around 800 A.D. They flourished and built a city in this location until the site was abandoned around 1350 A.D. They didn’t have a written language, so we don’t know what they called themselves (although there’s a lot of evidence that it was probably multicultural) or what they called the city. Cahokia came from a tribe that was living here with European settlers came in, the Cahokians. So it’s a bit confusing.
Anyway, population estimates say that at it’s peak, the numbers could be anywhere from around 10,000-20,000 people living on about 4,000 acres. They also built the largest earthen mound in the Western Hemisphere, Monks Mound. It’s 100 feet high and has an estimated 22 million cubic feet of earth contained within it, give or take.
I’m tempted to spout all of my tour information right now, but I’ll spare you since it’s not a general post about Cahokia, but about one specific event, which I’ll get to in a minute. I’ve loved working here since 2021 and I wish my job was a permanent one. I may not be able to work there next summer since I’m applying to grad school, but I’ll definitely volunteer!
Painting by William Iseminger. I see Bill at work regularly and he’s an amazing archaeologist and I’m very lucky to rub elbows with him. This is what Cahokia might have looked like during its initial occupation.
This is the view from the top of Monks Mound. The two mounds you can see through the trees are the Twin Mounds.
One interesting aspect of Cahokia is Woodhenge. Generally acknowledged as a solar calendar, this structure was discovered during “salvage archaeology” in an area that was set to be demolished by highway 70/55 in the 60’s. Dr. Warren Wittry conducted an excavation and discovered, among neighborhood homes that predate it, post pits that formed circles. I’ll spare you the technical details, but these pits corresponded with significant sunrises, and also Monks Mound itself. Those sunrises happen to be the Equinoxes and the Solstices. The equinoxes line up with Monks Mound quite nicely. And this past Saturday was the Autumnal Equinox. At Cahokia, we hold observances of these astronomical events on the Sunday closest to them. So the very next day we held an Equinox Observance. Bill Iseminger gave a little talk, and we got to watch the sunrise. It was a bit cloudy, but the sky was beautiful. Keep in mind, out of respect for Native Americans, we don’t do any rituals or ceremonies or anything, we just watch the sunrise and enjoy it.
I was slightly peeved this person wouldn’t turn off their headlights because the sky was soooo pretty. This was around 6:15, half an hour before the talk started. You can see that flat line in the middle of the trees there? That’s monks mound. Hard to see if you don’t know what you’re looking at.
More headlights, but you can see the poles from our reconstruction.
Selfie!
Y’all, the sky gave us its all that morning. It was so intensely beautiful! Monks mound again just barely visible.
Bill on his Ladder.
Monks Mound is a little easier to see in this photo. It’s just off center.
Now you can start to see the mounds in the lightening sky! There’s a smaller mound right behind the Woodhenge poles, and Monks Mound behind that to the left.
My apologies to Angela for the photo of her messing with her sleeve and her coffee on the ground (and Bill again). BTW she’s wearing the same sweatshirt I was wearing, our new Cahokia Mounds sweatshirts that were being sold at the event. They’re warm and handsome.
The clouds look so beautiful.
And this was the shot! You can see the glowing sun just to the front of Monks Mound! A day earlier, and the sun would be right at the front of the mound, but because of the rotation of the Earth it was slightly off. Regardless, I was very excited to get this shot. There’s a cloud right above where the sun is so we couldn’t see the whole of the sun once it rose, but I didn’t mind. The sunrise was so beautiful nonetheless.
And the sun has risen and a new season has begun.
If you’re ever in the St. Louis area and want to know more about Cahokia, give us a visit! Sadly our interpretive center has been closed for renovation, but we’re running tours through the middle of November, and hopefully we’ll be reopen next year. There’s also a lot of information online about the site. Some random blogs (like mine haha) don’t always have accurate information, so definitely take some with a grain of salt. Also our website has a lot of resources as well. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I can provide documentation to prove I am an employee if you’re concerned (again, always gotta be careful if you’re not sure if someone is telling the truth or not!), or you could always call the site or contact the site through the social media avenues.
Okay, I’ll leave you with one final video, if you would like to watch! It’s an award winning video we play in our theater (well, when we’re open!) and it’s less than 15 minutes long. It doesn’t have quite the same effect watching it on a computer as opposed to our theater, but I like it anyway! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed my sales pitch about Cahokia. 😉
The Solo Geographer 