Couldn't-Be-Easier Carrots

After getting Erica's comment a few days back about my "fancy-pants" cooking (Hear that rustling sound? It's my mom's ashes, laughing.), I emailed her with my incredibly simple caramelized carrots method (it's really too loosey-goosey to be called a recipe). And she e-mailed me back last night to say that her girls "hoovered" the carrots right up. Guess they were a hit. Next time I make them, I'll take some photos and write up how I did them. Maybe I'll make them tonight...Rachel would like that, I think.

Katherine B. linked to this site on her blog. How cool. Who knew mud could be so beautiful?

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, Mr. Pointy Sticks and I (along with my brother and his girlfriend) will be heading to the Cromwell Valley Park for a birdwalk. We were there a few weeks ago and saw cuckoos (yellow-billed, I think they were) munching away at tent-caterpillars (saw other things, too - warblers, hawks). Should be fun, though getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning goes against my nature.

Later -

Okay, after getting an email from Amy wanting the recipe, here goes the carrots. First of all, you peel your carrots...we didn't have a lot of sturdy carrots in the drawer (though we had a number of floppy ones) and I'm not very hungry, so these are mostly for Rachel...six carrots.


Then you cut them into thirds like little logs, and cut the little logs into kindling...say fourths or sixths. Throw them into a frying pan and put enough water in to cover.


Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.


After they're nice and tender, drain the water and return the pan (with carrots inside) to the stove (medium heat). Put in a couple big pats of butter, let it melt and toss the carrots around until they are well coated.


Add a little sugar...I used about a teaspoon for this small pan full. I have used as much as a tablespoon for a big ole panful.


Let the sugar sort of melt into the butter and then toss the carrots around until they are sort of coated with the sugar-y butter mixture. (Now, I'll be honest...I think the original recipe has you pull the carrots out of the pan, stir the sugar into the butter and let it start to caramelize and then throw the carrots back in. But that's too much work. I told you, Erica, I'm a lazy cook.)

And here they are, all done. And now, they're all gone.



Currently Reading

I finished Bridge of Sighs last night...what a wonderful book. There's a paragraph or so I want to put here. I don't know if it'll be as good here cold but here you go. It's toward the end of the book and the person thinking this is Lucy Lynch, the main character:

The line of gray along the horizon is brighter now, and with the coming light I feel a certainty: that there is, despite our wild imaginings, only one life. The ghostly others, no matter how real they seem, no matter how badly we need them, are phantoms. The one life we're left with is sufficient to fill and refill our imperfect hearts with joy, and then to shatter them. And it never, ever lets up.

Blame love.

Anyway, I'd heartily recommend this one.

Now on to Heartsick by Chelsea Cain. I just started but I think it's going to be a creepy (in a good way) little thriller.