Liisa's New Blahhhg

2012 Garden Plan

2012-01-28T13:47:00.001-08:00

I haven't just been crocheting! I got outside today (damn, it's cold!) and figured out what the hell I'm planting where this year. Shanti constructed some new raised beds for me, so the architecture of the garden is a bit different (and more convenient) than previously.

Specifically, the 4 beds in the shape of a "U" are the biggest changes. This configuration makes the most sense and allows for maximum use of the trellises along the back fence. Also new is the larger, enclosed box in the upper right, as well as a reconstructed box where the left-hand patch of tomatoes will be going. The greenhouse now has a roof, and we've doubled our asparagus beds.

This year is sort of a special year for me in the garden. While I did plant things in 2007, '08 was the first planned out "I know what I'm sorta doing" year. And, since garden rotation calls for a 4-year cycle, this is the first year I get to go back to my initial layout. Kind of. I've added many vegetables to my repertoire since '08, so a few adjustments had to be made. Even so, I'm happy to have cucumbers and the bean family along the back fence again.

What's not on this map? The long green box along the back fence in the back lawn (where our outside table is) -- I have onions & shallots growing in there for spring harvesting, and I'll just plant more onions, as well as leeks, as I harvest. Artichokes now have their own garden bed in the giant side lawn, and I'll be planting winter squashes (maybe some patty pans too) along the edges of the garden beds in the side lawn this year. Rogue squashes have grown there successfully before, so why not plant some?

Lastly, there is a garden box built from an old cabinet up against the chicken coop. I haven't had much luck there with anything, but I did toss the remaining carrot flowers there... and about 9 bazillion carrot seedlings sprouted up. I'm not watering them, I'm not covering them, I'm just letting them do their own thing. If they make carrots, great!

So, would you like to know what exactly I'll be planting? No big surprises...

FABIACEAE: Blue lake pole beans (these seeds are from previous years' harvest), Cascade snap peas (again, our own seeds), shelling peas (what was left over from the Kew Gardens set my mother-in-law brought back for me), and black pearl edamame (our own seeds).

CUCURBITS: Armenian cucumbers (they're just so successful!), Marketmore slicing cucumbers (again, we've had good luck), and maybe Wautoma pickling. Not sure about the last one, though, because the slicers pickle nicely too. Also in this group are melons, and we'll laughingly try honeydews and watermelons again. Out in the yard, I'd like to grow edible pumpkins, patty pans, and maybe one other type of winter squash. Maybe the watermelons should go out there.

BRASSICAS: DiCicco broccoli (with the silver mat underneath to deter aphids), purple Brussels sprouts, and Kongo kohlrabi. Not sure if I'll try cauliflower again -- lots of effort for very little gain.

ASTERACEAE: Some sort of leaf lettuce mix, mixed in with our own arugula seeds. Plus, Shanti requested a butter-style head lettuce. Yes, Shanti requested head -- laugh it up! :-)

APIACEAE: Chantenay carrots, which are our own this time. Yes, Shannon -- I owe you seeds (and Connie, I owe you chive seeds). I'll try parsnips (Cobham improved marrow) and fennel once again. I'll get it right some day!

SOLANACEAE: Oh, the nightshade family; the reason we aspire to have gardens, right? Obviously, Koralik cherry tomatoes will grow everywhere. I guess you could call these our own seeds, although I haven't planted them in 5 years. Shanti asked for Pineapple slicers, and I'll grow Mortgage Lifters for preserving. I may plant Chocolate Cherry, but every year only one plant lives, and I usually give it to my neighbor, who grows it for her grandsons, and that's just too stinkin' cute. Yes, I'm trying sweet peppers again -- but this time, I'm growing them in pots. Of course, Shanti is growing potatoes (Yukon Gold, and some bizarre blue variety for me -- you know me and purple vegetables!).

Add to all this basil, thyme, and maybe dill (if it grows on its own). Plus the raspberries, calendula, feverfew, helichrysum, hyssop, comfrey, echinacea and chives, which come back on their own.

Let's get gardening!

The Un-Stash

2012-01-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

I don't stash. Really, I don't. But somehow a lot of yarn found its way to my house and into my collection. Recently, I designated a whole bunch of it for reassignment (i.e., I gave it away), and the next step is to link all remaining yarn with projects.

That is what I'm doing today, and I'm going to share some of those projects with you... just to prove that I've actually been working on this... and also to hold me to some of these projects.

This is the collection. Most of these bags had 1/2 and 1/4 skeins in them. Only 5 of these bags exists now.

Why did I accept a gift of beige wool? I look awful in beige. Nevertheless, I'm going to make something with this yarn (the one on the right)! It is this Peanut Butter Cardigan. What about that navy blue wool on top? Yeah, that one I haven't figured out yet. But the black wool has been assigned! I'm using it to make this Anika vest.

Laceweight Merino... I know, I said I'd never work with laceweight again. But I want to submit something for County Fair, and I think this shawl represents crochet nicely:

This is Diamonds Shawl by Kristin Omdahl, and I should mention this photo belongs to her. A link wouldn't do it justice, and I wanted you to ooh and aah over what I'll be making with that blue laceweight!

SWTC's Bamboo was purchased specifically for a project that quickly fell out of favor with me. I have put the entire project into hibernation, awaiting a massive redesign.

Fingering weight flax in blue, grey and yellowish. Leftovers from a belt I made ages ago. Now, these will be reassigned for Berry Blossom Market Bag. The bag I made for my yoga mat isn't cutting it anymore, so now I'll have something a bit nicer, although it will be in multiple colors.

Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool. These are two WHOLE skeins leftover from the Wraparound Sweater I just finished. How I have this much yarn leftover is a head-scratcher, but it has been reassigned to yet another Kristin Omdahl project:

The Sprout Chains Shawl. Again this is Kristin's photo, and I hope she doesn't get unhappy that I've copied photos from her site. I just think the love needs to be shared, and I want to brag a lot that I'm making such beautiful things!!! (Srsly, she designs the most gorgeous patterns, and they're all NO-sew, with lots of lacy holes and ingenious motifs). Soon I'll have a photo of MY OWN shawl to show you.

Before I start any of these projects, I have the Kristy Cardigan to finish and then the Katharine Vest to start and finish... Although I may do Diamonds Shawl next just to get it done in time for fair submission.

And that's what I'm hookin'! How 'bout you?

What a difference a month makes!

2012-01-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

Or not. I haven't updated here in a month, can you believe that? I can. The holidays seem to get more and more chaotic every year. I can hardly keep up, let alone blog as well.

What have I been up to?

1. Zumba! I have been gym'ing pretty regularly. I don't do the machines or the weights, but I love the classes. I've been doing Zumba Gold (the low-impact version) twice a week and attempting Centergy (the gym's name for "Yoga with sit-ups") on the weekends. Those sit-ups are hard! But I love Zumba. The music, the teacher, the dancing around -- I love it all, and it counts as exercise. FTW!

2. Beer! Goodness, I have been brewing up a storm! Two 3-gallon batches of the George Washington Porter, two 6-gallon versions of the citrus red, and a 6-gallon kit of Prescott Porter. The GW is the best, as always, but the citrus red is my baby. Last night I bottled up what will probably be the last version I do. My aim was to create a red for wintertime, which in my mind meant some orange and cinnamon flavors. The cinnamon just never made itself known, but last night I think I figured out the key with the citrus flavors: I boiled up some water, soaked the zest of 4 oranges in it, then used that water to blend in my priming sugar (the sugar that goes in when you bottle, so the yeast can make bubbles) and also added 2 tablespoons of lemon extract. We'll see...

3. Cooking... well, not so much. But I did come up with a great soup that is quick, easy and tastes fantastic!

Roasted Vegetable Soup
1 whole bulb of garlic
1/2 onion plus enough chopped vegetables to fill up your roasting tray
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 cups of stock or broth (chicken or vegetable will work)
salt, pepper, sugar

If you have a garlic roaster, roast the bulb that way. If not, cut off the top 1/3 of the bulb, rub some olive oil on it, and place it cut side up in your roasting tray. Chop up all the vegetables, toss them with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon sugar.

Roast at 400 for 45 minutes

Squeeze the garlic out of all the cloves. Place the vegetables and garlic and a bit of the stock/broth in a food processor or blender. Puree everything.

Put the puree and the remaining stock into a soup pot, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes. Eat.

See? That soup takes about 10 minutes of your time, and it is healthy and yummy. I made some with broccoli, cauliflower and parsnip, but feel free to experiment with anything you'd roast (carrots, sweet potato, potato, shallots, any root vegetable).

4. Crochet! I've been crocheting a lot. On December 31st, I bought enough yarn at Middleford to make 3 projects. I've already completed the Larkspur Wrap Sweater, and I'm about 1/4 through the Kristy Cardigan. The last project will be the Katharine Vest, which is done in Tunisian.

I also cleaned out a lot of yarn that had just been gathering dust in my back room (I can walk to the clothes hamper now!). I gave away about 10 bags' worth to friends, and the rest has been organized and is being assigned to projects. I am also vowing to finish a particularly trying project that has caused me to invent new curse words; it is very poorly designed and should never have been published as-is. I am in the process of redesigning it, so that it is a no-sew project. Wish me luck.

And that is what I've been up to in my absence. Now that the world has settled down again, I will have more regular updates. I promise!

Being eco-friendly means spend LESS money.

2011-12-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

As we come up on New Year's, inevitably some people's resolutions will be "spend less money" and other people's will be "be more environmentally friendly." And yet, most people will think those two can not co-exist. In fact, the most ecologically friendly choice is ALWAYS the money saver, because "being green" NEVER means buying something new just because a marketing department tells you to.

1. Avoid anything disposable if at all possible. Disposable means one-use-only, and this ploy exists solely to get you to buy more. Sure the disposable is cheaper the first time, but it adds up quickly, because you're paying for marketing, packaging, and -- of course -- more product. Disposable also means "landfill fodder," so ditch the disposable and find a more sustainable product. SUGGESTIONS: use washrags instead of disposable sponges, use a Shmop instead of those awful Swiffer things (I hate those possibly more than anything else in this world), switch from paper towels to re-usable un-paper towels.

2. Make the move away from packaged food. Ok, I hate packaged food more than Swiffers. My least favorite are those Lunchable things. Really? For crying out loud, buy the deli meat, crackers & cheese separately, put it in a re-usable Bento-style box and you're saving money from the get-go. Plus, those crackers are made in China (I'm sorry, but you do not need crackers made in the land of melamine), and the meat and cheese are probably riddled with hormones and antibiotics. Buy purchasing these things on your own (the way you used to), you have control over the quality of your food, and you limit the packaging involved.

3. Choose your kitchen over fast food. It's always cheaper to make rather than buy. And it's always the more eco-friendly solution, because your kitchen uses less water, less waste, and less packaging. Plus, when you cook for yourself, you have control over the quality of your food. Those 99-cent tacos are so cheap, because they're made with questionable ingredients. Besides, you never just get one taco, do you? You get a couple tacos, maybe a burrito, an order of fries (only in America are fries the side order with Mexican food), a bucket o' soda. Then, suddenly it's a $10 meal.

4. Make your own cleaning products. There are several books, blogs & websites out there with loads of recipes explaining how to make your own cleaning products. Clean House Clean Planet is the book I have, but I use Pinterest to find other recipes online. Making your own is LOADS cheaper, infinitely healthier than anything you purchase (especially if you have pets or kids), and is far nicer on the environment. Most recipes are various combinations of Dr. Bronners, baking soda & vinegar. Bleach is NOT environmentally friendly, people, and it is awful on your skin and lungs. SUGGESTION: start with dish powder, which is easy to put together, completely biodegradable and does a better job on my dishes than anything I've ever bought: 1 cup Borax, 1 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup citric acid. Mix together and store in a sealed container. Use 1 tablespoon per load, and put vinegar in the rinse aid for super sparkling dishes. This is especially true if you have hard water issues.

5. Buy used. Used clothing, used iPods, used books, used appliances, used hardware. Whatever. If it's had an owner previous to you, it'll be cheaper. It's also better for the environment, because it's not contributing to the shocking amount of waste that new products produce.

6. Use your local library. Free is the best price of all, and your library not only carries books, but also CDs, videos, and some carry software.

7. Think before you buy ANYTHING. Are you buying just to buy? Are you buying because you're a hoarder? Or do you actually really need that new thing? Chances are you don't. Not buying is the best move.

8. Ditch wrapping paper. Newspaper, re-usable gift bags, fabric, anything other than wrapping paper. Wrapping paper is sealed with chemicals that leach into groundwater, and these chemicals also mean you can't burn it. Plus, it's made from trees -- a precious resource that shouldn't be wasted on wrapping paper. Isn't it the gift that matters?

9. Take a look at your toilet. Did you know the water in your toilet is the same quality you drink out of your faucet? Why waste drinkable water with every flush? Either limit the number of times you flush (we all know the saying: If it's yellow, let it mellow...), switch your toilet over to a dual flush for a whopping $30, or go whole hog and get a composting toilet (this one will take a long time to get your money back on). While you're cutting down on water waste in the bathroom, install an aerator shower head with a soap & soak valve. $13 for the "fancy one."

10. Lastly, take a look at your electric bill. How many kilowatt-hours are you using every month? Computers, TVs, game consoles, etc. that stay on waste electricity. By hooking all of these up to surge protectors that YOU TURN OFF when you're not using, you can easily trim 200 kWh off your bill. I know this for a fact, because we did (before we had the solar).

There. 10 ways to be nicer to the planet AND save money. The trick is always to cut waste, don't pay for packaging, and think before you spend. Good luck!

This season is about giving. Give locally.

2011-12-12T09:34:00.001-08:00

Everyone should give this time of year... and not just for the end-of-season tax purposes. And, we think it's more important than ever to keep our donations local -- to improve our little area of the world. These are our favorite local charities, and I thought it appropriate to share them with you, in case you'd like to support them too:

1. Access -- More than just a food pantry, Access provides assistance to those teetering on the edge between succeeding and struggling. With energy payment assistance, student help, senior services and housing assistance (keeping people in their homes), Access has become the foundation to getting Jackson and Josephine counties through this seemingly neverending recession. If you have a roof over your head, and you know where your next meal is coming from, please donate to those who don't.

2. The Maslow Project -- Maslow is like Access for Jackson County's youth. Providing services to homeless teens, Maslow is devoted to keeping kids in school, helping them get jobs and really getting them on track to a better life. Their motto "Looking for a hand up, not just a hand out?" says it all. Giving money to Maslow is well-appreciated, but please think about giving jackets, scarves, mittens, sweaters and toiletries. If having no home in the summer seems awful, think how it must be in 20-degree weather.

3. FOTAS -- Friends of the Animal Shelter is the nonprofit that helps find homes (and an extended life) for the dogs and cats at Jackson County's Animal Shelter. They organize fundraisers, find foster homes, and get publicity for the pound's residents in order to get these babies healthy and finding their forever homes. FOTAS is why our pound is as close to no-kill as possible, and why our pound has room to take in dogs from other pounds (which is how we got Tucker; he was in Klamath's shelter originally). Your money provides food and medical attention to dogs and cats who otherwise would be euthanized. PLEASE don't buy a puppy this holiday season; visit the pound and adopt a dog!

4. Dogs for the Deaf -- DFD is possibly the most awesome nonprofit out there. Not only does this fantastic organization provide hearing assistance dogs free of charge to people around the world, they also provide dogs appropriate as senior companions, and dogs to assist with autistic children. And they do it all with rescue dogs. And their chairwoman? Betty White. 'Nuff said, just give.

5. Wildlife Images -- This rehabilitation and education center in Merlin, OR does an amazing job of taking in injured wildlife, rehabilitating them and releasing them back out into the wild. Those animals that can't be released live at the center as part of an educational program to teach public (and especially children) how important wildlife is. Eagles, bobcats, wolves, bears & otters all find their home at Wildlife Images, so they use their money for the food needed to feed all of them! Eagle Chow is not an option...

Pumpkin-tastic

2011-12-08T15:51:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it's December already? Yeah, me neither. Luckily, we can keep fall around for quite some time, because squashes (hard-skinned winter squashes, like pumpkin) stay good for months when stored in a cool pantry or back room.

And pumpkins are so versatile that there's no end to the wonderful meals you can make with them. I've made butternut squash risotto, several types of pumpkin soup, lemony pumpkin quinoa, squash muffins (I posted that recipe last week), pumpkin pie (I have a recipe for a creamy pumpkin pie that will blow your mind), and tonight we're having pumpkin sage pan-fried ravioli.

But I did some preserving of pumpkin recently too.

These are dehydrated pumpkin chips. I sliced them about 1/8" thick, sprinkled some nutmeg and allspice over them and set them in the dehydrator overnight. They are flavorful and crispy. You can make them without the spices too. They're perfect for when you're standing in the kitchen, looking in the refrigerator, trying to figure out what you want to eat. They're that kind of snack, mindless & guilt-free.

But I wanted to share some of pumpkin's delight with others too, and that's what's bubbling above. This is also pumpkin chips, but we'll call them candied pumpkin. I got this safe-for-canning recipe from Canning for a New Generation, a great alternative to the old Ball canning standby.

And every last one canned up perfectly, popping within minutes of being lifted out of the canner. It's pumpkin and loads of sugar (which preserves the low-acid pumpkin), lemon juice and chopped lemon rinds (to bring the acid level up). I think it would go great over a biscuit, toast or scone.

So, head out and pick up a pumpkin, butternut squash, kabocha, acorn or some other winter squash. They're still being sold in the stores, and it's easy to find organically grown squashes (they're pretty easy to grow, so it's beyond me why you would use chemicals).

One last note about December. Just because it's effing cold outside (23? are you kidding me?) doesn't mean you can't have pretty growth around you:

These are two different varieties of oxalis and some freesia. They're all started with bulbs, they started up really easily, and I got them from Brent & Becky's bulbs. We spent a boatload on bulbs this year, and I treated myself to some early forcing varieties, so I wouldn't have to wait until spring to see results.

Enjoy!

Muffin Tops

2011-11-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

DISCLAIMER: This post is not about Seinfeld or 30 Rock.

It's about muffins. I don't know about you, but I end up with more cranberry sauce than any other left over every Thanksgiving. And, I'm at a loss as to what to do with it. Last year, I canned some of it... only to find it again 2 days before Tgiving.

But this year I thought, "Why not use some to make muffins?" Like a SURPRISE in the middle of your muffin. Hey, look, it's cranberries.

The surprise really turned out to be that it worked. So lemme share my gluten-free Cranberry Surprise Muffins recipe. I based this off the Butternut Squash, Apple & Hazelnut Muffins I made for Shanti last week.

Makes 1 dozen

One small apple, peeled and grated
3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour blend
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/3 cup hazelnut or almond meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350

Mix apples, sugars, coconut milk, coconut oil & vanilla in a medium bowl. (You may need to use an egg beater or stand mixer if the oil and milk are solidified)

In a large bowl, combine brown rice flour, gluten-free flour blend, flaxseed meal, almond meal, salt, baking soda & cinnamon. Make a well in the center and add liquid ingredients. Combine only until just mixed; fold in walnuts.

Evenly distribute muffin batter between cups on muffin tin. You may want to use cupcake liners, but I didn't. Top each cup with a tablespoon of your leftover cranberry sauce.

Bake 20 minutes. Cool. Enjoy.

Happy Baking!

Taking stock of stock

2011-11-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

You might know that I adore Mother Earth News. Almost as much as I love Cooks Illustrated. But the most recent issue of Mother had a fantastic list of about 100 tips sent in by readers. These tips involved gardening, sustainable living, etc.

One tip rocked my world: save out the cuttings and parings of vegetables when you're making dinner and put them in a Ziploc in the freezer. When the bag is full, cover with water, boil an hour, strain, and you have vegetable stock.

I looked at that tip, and I was like, "Why the hell didn't I think of that?" Because, every now and then, I think I should really be cooking with my own vegetable stock. But that means buying tons of extra vegetables you don't get to eat, prepping them all, boiling them... and for what? 2 quarts of stock that's used up in the next couple of weeks.

But, by using the scraps from vegetable you're already cutting, a) you get to enjoy those vegetables and not feel that you've wasted them and b) you save time. Plus, once the veggies have been cooked in making the stock, they go out to the compost pile. Cooked food decomposes more quickly.

So what do you use stock in? I use it instead of water in soups. I use it to cook rice in. In risotto, I use half stock and half broth.

AHA! What the heck? Aren't stock and broth the same? No. Stock is for cooking. Broth is for cooking OR drinking. Example: when you have a cold, reach for chicken broth, not chicken stock. Broth tends to have more flavor (i.e., salt & other spices), whereas stock is usually just vegetables and some herbs (a bouquet garni) boiled for an hour or so.

Stock is the essence of vegetables.

So, next time you are making dinner, you can save out the potato peelings and carrot ends and onion skins and leftover parsley, etc. Fill up a gallon Ziploc bag in the freezer, then put it all in a stock pot, cover with water (and even left over wine). Add some herbs and some celery. Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour. Then strain, pour into leftover sour cream/cottage cheese containers (each holds 2 cups) and freeze.

Ta-dah!

RIP My Favorite Cup

2011-11-07T10:16:00.001-08:00

I can't stand plain coffee cups, so I tend to collect interesting ones. And, since I'm a total klutz, the need for new/replacement cups is almost guaranteed.

But this had become my favorite cup. It's the only small cup I have in this shape, and I love the placement of the handle.

Not to mention that my parents got it for me at the Munch Museum on their trip to Oslo. The image is, of course, Der Schrei by Edvard Munch.

The reverse of the cup details the moment -- in Munch's own words -- that inspired him to create such a resonant work of despair and anxiety. Let's face it: if anti-despressants had existed in Munch's time, we'd never have gotten such an iconic piece of art.

And now, I'm in despair as well. Although not quite the despair of the little character on the bridge. This is why:

While cleaning my kitchen sink, I knocked the cup into the sink, and we all know the equation: ceramic + cast iron x high velocity = broken ceramic. Luckily I finished the coffee in the cup.

I know my parents won't be returning to Oslo any time soon. So, I'll be on the lookout for a unique cup to remind me of something special everytime I fill it with coffee.

In the meantime I'll just be sad about my favorite cup.

Beautiful Mutants

2011-11-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

One of the cooler aspects to growing perennials is watching their deviance from season to season. Their genetic deviance, that is.

When we moved into the house -- Spring 07 -- I planted calendulas. Orange, round-petaled calendulas. But, genetic mutations happen in a few of the hundreds of flowers that pop up every season, and since most of these aren't fatal to the flower, the variances are passed along to the next generation thanks to bees.

This awful photo attempts to show one example of these mutations. The flower on the left is orange, like its ancestors were, but its petals are spiky. The flower on the right has the original petals, but its color is yellow. What blows my mind here is that these are on the same plant!

Color and petal shape are pretty standard mutations, but check this out:

This is a flower that is sprouting 3 other flowers from itself! This is NOT how calendulas grow! I found 3 other examples of this exact variant -- all had 3 little plants growing directly from the flower head.

Some of my calendula plants survive the winter and grow new plants from the previous season's rootstalk, but most of the plants grow from self-seeding. I can't wait to see what beautiful mutants are waiting to come up next season!

Happy gardening.

Staph of Leif

2011-10-26T09:39:00.001-07:00

I have no idea why bread is called the staff of life. It sounds Biblical, so I'm guessing it has something to do with that particular tome. Wizards and old people use staffs, so I'm not sure why LIFE would need one, nor why it would choose bread. A very, very long baguette could be a staff, so I'm jumping to the conclusion that the people who wrote the Bible were French.

It is possible, since they've given the world such heavenly treats as champagne, gooey brie, and -- of course -- baguettes.

People who know me are aware of my obsession with bread and cheese. Whenever I despair of my dress size and go off bread and sugar for 6 months, it's always a relief to get back to the way I like to eat: full of milk fat and gluten. I'm sorry, but I love a perfect crusty baguette. Luckily, the Rogue Valley is blessed with a whole handful of micro-bakeries, many of which turn out baguettes daily that are available for purchase at Downtown Market and the Co-ops.

And buying a baguette is ok, but I'll be honest: I want to be able to make my own crusty bread. It tastes better when you make it yourself. I've tried all the tricks: a skillet full of water underneath the baking bread, spritzing the bread with water, spritzing the oven with water. The results were a resounding MEH.

But I made this last night. The crust is about 1/8" thick, and the crumb is chewy, full of holes (see? it's "holy"), and the taste is slightly sour. It's the 2nd boule I've made in 3 days. There are no traces.

This delectable delight comes courtesy of Jim Lahey's My Bread. The tricks are a gooey, slack dough that gets minimal mixing, an overnight fermentation/first rise, and then you bake it in a Dutch oven. The results are devastatingly good. Like you will end up the size of Jabba the Hutt if you eat like this all the time.

Because, of course, bread THIS good needs to be consumed. And with a creamy, smushy brie slathered on top.

This slice is topped with Suprème, my favorite brie. It's always spreadably smooth, and the flavor is creamy yumminess. When I found a wedge sitting amongst that awful Presidente crap at the Shop N Kart, I had to pick it up. I'm so glad I did.

So you should get the book and make yourself a loaf of this extraordinary bread. You won't be able to lean on this staff, but you will enjoy it.

SIDE NOTE: the cookbook also includes a recipe for peanut butter and jelly bread. That is next on the list.

Win a Craftsman Table Saw

2011-10-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

All the specs are over at Curbly. All you have to go is go over there, drool over the photo, post a comment saying what you'd make with said table saw and then cross your fingers. Good luck! Oh, and if you win, you have to share with Shanti.

End of Season Yumminess

2011-10-02T09:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Shanti and I took the pups for a walk to Downtown Market Co. for a bit o' pastry and a cup of coffee for a civilized breakfast. They're still selling figs, and my mind saw that and started working on what to make for dinner. Yes, I plan dinner while eating breakfast.

Figs and chevre? Sounds good, but I want to use up vegetables we've been harvesting.

Polenta with cherry tomatoes? We just had that recently.

Fried green tomatoes with arrabiata sauce? But I want figs.

Fried green tomato sandwich with fresh mozzarella and figs. Bingo!

So I bought some figs and a package of ciabatta rolls. Ciabatta takes more than a day to make, so I didn't have enough time to make some before dinner. Luckily, the rolls had been baked that morning.

First I whipped up the aioli, which is a garliky mayonnaise. It's great over steamed asparagus or poached fish, but it's genius as a fancy mayo on a sandwich.

If you've never tried fresh-made mayonnaise, I strongly recommend it. Like fresh-made butter, it tastes nothing like its supermarket-bought cousin. The basic components are 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 tsp salt. You can add more salt, garlic, mustard, etc. to dress it up, but a basic mayonnaise is nothing more than the suspension of egg yolks in vegetable oil -- an emulsion.

You put the yolks, 4 garlic cloves, the salt and the lemon juice in the Cuisinart. Then, if you're really lucky, your Cuisinart top finally breaks after 20 years. Now you're stuck hand-whipping the yolks as you pour the oil into the mixture drop by drop. I'm surprised it turned out so well. Still, I would have preferred to have the food processor do the job. Then pop it in the fridge.

Next on the list was the mozzarella. Again, the fresh-made stuff is ah-MAY-zing. 1/2 gallon of milk gets warmed to 90 degrees with 3/4 teaspoons citric acid. Take it off the stove and add in the right amount of rennet according to the bottle/package. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then gently heat back up to 110. Stir for 2 minutes, let it sit for another 5. Drain off the whey, and then comes the fun. The whole trick to mozzarella is getting it too hot to touch while you knead it with a spatula. So you micro for 30 seconds and knead, micro, knead. Over and over (usually 3 times) until it gets glossy and streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetches. Then it's mozzarella. And then you bribe your husband with a piece of fresh, warm, gooey cheese, because you need him to fry up the tomatoes.

And here he is, dutifully taking care of the part I hate to do. I dredge the tomato slices in flour, dip them in the egg whites left over from the mayonnaise, then coat them in a mixture of polenta, fine cornmeal, salt and pepper. Fry up, drain on paper towels, and they're ready.

They went on the ciabatta roll with the mozzarella, aioli, and some end-of-season bianca di maggio onions I caramelized. We ate the figs on the side, along with any extra fried tomato slices. Yum!

The tomatoes, onions, garlic & egg yolks for the mayo all came from the backyard. And I have about 1/2 cup aioli left over to dress up grilled grean beans tonight.

What's in your kitchen?

Where the garden is at.

2011-09-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

Not geographically, but chronologically, since -- as we have moved into fall -- certain crops are coming in, and others are going by the wayside.

Broccoli and bush beans got the boot. Tomatoes are finishing up, but cukes and bell peppers just never went anywhere. I'm still pulling hot peppers, but they're finally slowing down. Fall broccoli, cauliflower, romaine lettuce, Brussels sprouts, peas, beans and carrots are all growing like crazy.

Not surprisingly, cherry tomatoes are still producing like crazy. I'll make one more batch of sauce and freeze it.

This is the time for spring-planted beans! I'm pulling 1-2 cups of beans a day. Tomorrow I'll blanch and freeze some.

This is a new fall treat: raspberries. We've always gotten a wave at the beginning of the season, but this is the first year we've gotten two crops. Every other day I get enough berries for breakfast (along with homemade yogurt and oats).

And they are so beautiful! Big, bright red, hanging there like little earrings. And oh-so tasty!

So, the "main" season was sort of a bust, due to lack of sunlight early on, but late season crops look promising. Time to start thinking about what I want to grow in 2012...

Happy gardening!

Super Yummy Polenta Dinner

2011-09-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's not often that I decide dinner on the spur-of-the-moment, but I saw this recipe this morning over at GourmandeInTheKitchen, and I couldn't resist. If you're too lazy to go over there, it's creamy polenta topped with a bruschetta-like tomato mixture and served with parmesan crisps. I know, right?

Tomatoes, of course, we have in spades. These are Principe Borghese variety. I know you think they're cherry tomatoes, but you'd be wrong. These are mini-romas. If I'd known how little they'd be, I wouldn't have bothered growing them, but this recipe turned out to be perfect for their micro-size.

So, you chop up the tomatoes and mix with garlic, basil, olive oil and some salt. The garlic and basil were from the garden too. Yippee!

Then you make the polenta. I wasn't thrilled with her way of making the polenta (I'm ok with the fussy way that most recipes call for), but it turned out very creamy, and Shanti LOVED it. The parmesan crisps are just shredded parmesan baked in the oven on parchment paper. Word to the wise: cool them on paper towels, 'cause they're greeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaasy.

And this is the finished product. OMGyum! We had seconds, and I seriously considered thirds. Well, I do have some for lunch tomorrow.

Anyway, go to the link, see the recipe, and make it. You'll thank me. After all, this is the same blog that brought us Boysenberry Butter. :)

On a completely unrelated note, these are some carrots I harvested recently. That was it, just wanted to share.

Happy Eating!

When a great day ends on a sour note. :(

2011-09-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

or "One of the Worst Nights I've Ever Had"

We spent all yesterday on the river. It was Shanti, the dogs & me in one raft, with Braden, Heather & Braden's folks in the other. We leisurely floated down the usual route, from the salmon hatchery to Shady Cove. It took us 6 1/2 hours to get from start to finish.

Afterwards, we met up for dinner at Jackson Creek Pizza. And, apparently, here is where I consumed something deadly.

Dinner was fine -- a Very Veggie with pineapple & a Pepsi. Nothing unusual, no new foods.

We walked home, and about 3 blocks from our house, it felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I mean I was doubled over in pain. I've recently realized I'm lactose-intolerant, but cheeses seemed to be OK. So, I thought maybe mozzarella was out of the question from now on. The intermittant pain continued all the way home.

Then, a block away from the house, the sneezing started. Out of control, allergy sneezing. Like the kind I usually get when I eat potatoes.

20 minutes later, the chest pains began, and I had so much trouble breathing that I considered asking Shanti to take me to the ER. I was wheezing, only able to take short breaths, and I was coughing up stuff.

Then I got hives on my chest, and my lip swelled up.

Shanti got me an antihistamine, and after an hour, I was finally able to take a full breath. That was -- without a doubt -- the worst allergic reaction I've ever had to anything. The most unsettling part is that I don't know what I was reacting to.

I had:
Pepsi
Pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella, olives, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes & pineapples

That's it. I've had all those things before and within the last 6 months. I'm left stumped and a little scared.

Banana Bread Pancakes

2011-09-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

"I like bananas, coconuts & grapes!
That's why they call me Tarzan of the Apes!"

Did you ever sing that song at summer camp? We did, and now I can't see a banana without hearing the shouts of 100 8-year-olds. What else do 8-year-olds like? Dessert for breakfast!

So do 41-year-olds. Sometimes. And so I invented Banana Bread Pancakes.

3 smashed bananas
2 T melted butter
1 T lemon juice
1 T sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free flour mix
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t allspice (or ginger)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (heh heh heh)
1 cup of chopped walnuts

Mix bananas, butter, lemon juice, sugar & eggs together in a small mixing bowl
In a large bowl, blend together flour mix, oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, & allspice
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips
Let mix sit for 10 minutes. In the meantime, heat up your skillet on medium-low.
Pour batter in several tablespoons at a time and then immediately sprinkle some of the walnuts onto the batter. When edges of pancake are cooked, flip the pancake & cook till done.
Repeat until batter is all gone, keeping pancakes warm.

Eat. You don't even need syrup, because they taste like banana bread. But indulge if you must. I bet something with lots of brown sugar would taste good.

A fancy breakfast for someone special!

Happy eating!

Whatever This Blog Is

2011-08-31T16:03:00.000-07:00

I recently found out that 6 different people used the search term "hot pants wonder sauna" to get to my blog. I'm not even sure how that happened (or why), but it makes me very, very happy. 3 other people got here with the question "Will a wood stove give me a sinus infection?"

I don't have the answer to that question, nor can I provide you with hot pants or a wonder sauna. I can, however, update on you on the things I've been doing instead of blogging. In other words, this is the "excuses posting."

I've been social. I know, not like me at all! But I've actually been spending my time -- voluntarily, in fact -- with other human beings. Not just Shanti either. I've been to parties, camping, hiking, rafting, and it seems like I've attended 9 different Last Band Standings. Go Jive Coulis!
It's harvest season. Cherry tomatoes, green beans, basil, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, peas, and the world's largest crop of tiny, superhot purple peppers. Don't believe me? I have photos:

These are Yukon Gold potatoes

This is how many large tomatoes I'm picking every day.
We're also picking about 50 cherry tomatoes every day.
I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Bread-baking, cookie-making, cheesemaking, beer brewing, and canning. This is the most recent loaf of bread I made:

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
It's both pretty and tasty
Crochet. I started up on the few crocheted gifts I'll be giving out. I'm almost done with an afghan for my aunt, and I've been working on my donation afghan (to Afghans for Afghans). I made a couple things for myself, but they were awful and will be frogged for repurposing.

And that's what's been taking up my time: life, in other words. I'll drop by regularly though!

Ways to Use Whey

2011-08-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well, 2 ways at least.

When you make cheese (even if you do it unsuccessfully), you end up with a lot of whey. You can feed it to the dogs and chickens -- much to their delight. And apparently you can drink it as a sports drink...

STOP!!!

How disgusting is that? Drink cold greenish liquid left over from cheesemaking? No, I don't even like milk. I don't care if they sell it in fruit flavors in Belgium. I'm not Belgian.

So what to do with the gallons of green whey? Well, the whey left over from making hard cheeses is called sweet whey and can be used to make ricotta, but the whey left over from soft cheeses has either lemon juice or citric acid added to it and is too acidic for ricotta.

But you can use it as a milk or water replacement in recipes for bread. And you can use it as a stock substitute in soups. May I present to you...

Whey-Fortified Vegetable Stew with Whey-Herb Dumplings

3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup whey
1 can crushed tomatoes (the 14 ounce size)
1 onion chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced through a press
1 medium zucchini (or 1/2 one of those mega-zukes you find in your garden patch), cubed
4 small potatoes, cubed
1 head of broccoli, chopped (including the stalk -- just peel off the outside)
2 cobs worth of corn kernels
1/2 cup chopped green beans
1/2 cup lentils
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chili flakes
olive oil, salt, pepper

So, in a large stockpot, heat up about 2 tablespoons olive oil and sauté onion with some salt for about 5 minutes. Add in the pressed garlic and enjoy the aroma! Continue stirring for 1 or 2 more minutes.

Add in the zucchini cubes and sprinkle salt all over. Sauté for another 5-10 minutes -- enough to get out much of the water in the zucchini. Add in the potato cubes and sauté just long enough for the outer layer of the potato cubes to get a little soft.

Dump in the corn, green beans, broccoli and lentils. Stir to mix and then cover with the can of tomatoes. Stir to mix. Now add in stock and whey, as well as chili flakes and salt/pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.

While you're waiting for the soup to hit the simmer, mix the following ingredients in a small bowl:

1 cup white flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Add in 1 1/2 TBSP butter and mix with your fingers to really work the butter in

Add 1 egg and 1/4 cup whey; mix thoroughly with a fork to make cohesive dough

Now, drop the dumpling batter by spoonfuls into the simmering soup. The trick is to make sure that all sides of the dumplings get cooked.

Simmer the soup for at least 20 minutes -- long enough to make sure the lentils are cooked.

That's it. This makes enough soup for at least 6 servings, btw. And it's even thicker the 2nd day, so enjoy the leftovers!

What's cookin' in your kitchen?

P.S. I know you'd like a photo, but all I can show you are pics of empty bowls. Get it?

File Under: Things That Are Evil.

2011-07-23T12:44:00.001-07:00

When Curbly posted this recipe, I knew it was time to overcome my fear. My fear of making butter, that is. I've made bread, beer, tinctures, croissants, and soft cheese, but I have been afraid of making butter.

It just seemed doomed to fail in my hands. Like stiff-peaked egg whites.

But I made butter! Cultured butter, so I can have it even with my newly acquired lactose intolerance (oh, getting old is so much fun).

So, really quickly. You add a couple tablespoons of yogurt (my own yogurt, of course) to a pint of cream. Let it sit at room temp overnight, whip it up in the Kitchenaid until it's whipped cream... and then continue whipping. Suddenly it will just break, and buttermilk will start splashing everywhere. Drain the buttermilk and save for pancakes:

That's right, this is REAL buttermilk. Sour, thick and creamy. Good god I can't wait to have the pancakes made with this!

Once you have the butterfat, you just rinse it with ice water until the water runs clear, and then you squeeze-dry the butter with your spatula (that's the photo at the top).

That's it. Really. It took maybe 20 minutes. Probably shorter. This butter is so rich and yummy I might just go on a butter-only diet.

But then I made the boysenberry syrup (using the blackberry syrup recipe at the link) and whipped it into the butter.

Boysenberry Butter. I'm making scones for breakfast tomorrow, and we're smothering them with this butter.

Far too evil. This will be one of those "Once A Year Only" recipes. Like the baked ziti and croissants. Mmm mmm.

Happy cooking!

Let's Talk About Garlic!

2011-07-20T08:06:00.001-07:00

Shanti's grandma recently told me that if she had garlic and onion, she could cook anything. I believe it, because these yummy bulbs of different allium plants have become the cornerstones of Italian, French, Chinese and Latin American cuisines. We have restaurants devoted to garlic, and even a festival.

But how many of you can tell me how it grows? It's a fascinating process, unlike any other vegetable I grow in my garden.

First you start with a garlic bulb. Separate the bulb into cloves and plant them 4-6" apart with the pointed tip facing up. Unlike most other plants, garlic is planted in late summer to early fall (depending on where you live). It's just about the last thing I plant for the season.

By springtime, the new plants will have sprouted, and summer will show 2-3' tall garlic plants:

It's hard to see in this photo, but the garlic plant is one sturdy stalk (sturdier in hardneck varieties) flanked by long flat leaves. These leaves are the outgrowth of what will become the papery skin on your garlic bulb.

When the summer days turn long and hot, garlic bolts (produces a flower) like most other plants.

This is a garlic flower bud, otherwise known as a scape. I've blogged before about the yumminess of scapes, and you'll want to cut yours off for tasty consumption. The thing is, when you're growing a plant to eat its leaves (like lettuce or basil) or its roots (like onion or garlic), you don't want it devoting energy to making flowers. So you cut them off and eat them. It's a win-win for the gardener.

But I wanted to see what would happen if I let a flower go. It's unlike any flower you've ever seen:

That red blob of tiny garlic cloves is a garlic flower. It eventually becomes so heavy that the garlic stalk bends over and -- in essence -- plants the flower in the dirt. I covered it up a little, and -- after about 9 months -- each of those clovelets produced a new garlic bulb.

Ok, I like getting free food. But free food that grows and plants itself is just mind-blowingly amazing. That said, the bulbs produced by the garlic flower were smaller than the ones I plant every year:

You can see that 2 or 3 are decent size, but the rest are a bit scrawny. Still, one of the "self-planting" garlic plants made another flower this summer, so we are letting it make some more bulbs for us for next year.

What about the garlic you planted? In mid-summer (June-August) of the following year, the outer leaves will dry and turn brown, as will the bottom third of the stalk. Bend the stalk over and stop watering the plant for 2 or 3 days. Then gently pull the garlic bulbs out of the ground and let them dry (cure) for about a week in a shady spot with good air flow. Clean off your bulbs, and there you go!

To recap, you plant garlic cloves, and -- 9 months later -- you get garlic bulbs. That's a pretty good return on investment. Plus, you'll have gotten garlic scapes.

I strongly recommend you don't plant garlic you buy at the store. Food (like potatoes and garlic) available for mass consumption is not intended as a "seed" plant; i.e., you won't get a good yield. Garlic from the Farmers Market is an option, but the best place to get seed garlic is from a seed provider. We get ours from Irish Eyes, which is also where we get our potatoes.

That is to say, we GOT ours from there. Once you have garlic, you can save out a percentage of your yield for replanting. We are in our 3rd year of "free" garlic. Remember that one bulb will produce about a dozen cloves for replanting. You will probably want to try different varieties, though, and for that, you'll have to purchase new seed.

Store garlic in a dark, cool (not cold) place and in a netted bag, so the bulbs can get airflow. Mold is garlic's enemy, and a little bit will spread to any adjacent bulbs.

But, most of all, enjoy! Happy gardening.

Humble Pea

2011-06-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Late spring/early summer (and late summer/early fall) can only mean peas. And, thanks to all the rain we got, my peas are HUGE! As in, 4' tall huge. As in, these plants are supposed to grow to 18". Yes, that huge.

So, now's as good a time as any to talk about peas and give you my favorite pea recipe (other than eating them straight off the plant).

Pea seeds collected from last year's garden

Peas belong to the fabiaceae family, along with beans and edamame. They vine out, so you can make them climb trellises or tomato cages... or you can be lazy and let them form some sort of tangled hair bush that makes it impossible to get the peas in the center. Peas are very easy to grow, and you can start them inside very early (January) or wait until later to seed them directly. They like water, sunlight, and can stand moderate cold and moderate heat. By late June/early July -- depending on where you live -- they will stop flowering.

Pea plants climbing plastic chicken fencing.

An interesting side note about plants in the fabiaceae family is that they actually fix nitrogen into the soil so that A) it sticks around and B) it's available for the next plants that go in there.

Peas generally come in one of two varieties: shelling and snap. There are snow peas too, but for now, let's put them in the snap category. Shelling peas are grown for the yummy fat seeds (peas) inside, but the pods are basically inedible due to a plastic-like husk that is part of the pod. Snap peas can be popped into your mouth, pod and all.

You may wonder why anyone would grow shellers then. Shelling peas tend to have bigger peas. And if you want more bang for the buck in terms of actual pea quantity, you'd go with shellers. Snap give you a greater yield of vegetable, but most of that is pod. They both taste good, and if you have room, I recommend growing both. You can't make pea pesto without shelling peas.

Shelling peas

Another bonus with peas is their ability to be stored -- shelling peas can be dried and reconstituted in soups, and snaps can be blanched and then frozen. First set a pot of water to boiling. Place the washed pods in the boiling water and -- after 2 minutes -- remove the peas and chill them down with cold running water or an ice bath. Dry them with paper towels or a tea towel, then cut off their heads and tails and place them on a baking sheet:

Pop the baking sheet into the freezer, and when these are little green rocks, throw them in a freezer bag or storage container. They'll keep for about 4-6 months before they get freezer burn.

Today's recipe calls for shelling peas, though.

Peas and Corn Pasta

1 cup fresh peas (don't even bother using frozen ones for this recipe)
corn kernels from 2 corn cobs
1/2 package of pasta
olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion (leek, garlic greens, garlic scapes or green onions all work fine)
1 roasted red bell pepper with skin removed, sliced thinly
juice and zest from 1 orange
2 TBSP white wine (sake is fine)

First and foremost, shell the peas. These beauties came from my garden this morning.

Then take the kernels off the corn cobs. The easiest way to do this is directly into a bowl. Cut off the kernels from one half of the cob and then turn the cob over and attack the other half.

Set a big pot of water to boiling and blanch the peas and corn kernels for 2 minutes. Cool them down with an ice bath or cold running water, but DON'T DUMP THE WATER! Use the water to cook your pasta in! I use linguine or fettucine, and I would stick to long pastas for this. Cook the pasta and drain in a colander. If you still have the water, use it to water your plants. Toss the pasta with 1 TBSP olive oil.

Now, in a medium saucepan, heat up 1-2 TBSP olive oil over medium high heat. Sauté your onion (or whatever) and roasted bell pepper slices for about 5 minutes. Dump in the orange juice and wine and simmer for just 1 minute. You want all the flavors to be really fresh, not overcooked. Put the pasta into the saucepan and toss to coat the noodles with the sauce.

Serve out the pasta on a plate, spoon the peas and corn over it and garnish with orange zest. Yum! Tastes like summer.

Enjoy! What's cookin' in your kitchen?

I Made Cheese! And other things I've done...

2011-06-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

So, let's be really honest here. It's already halfway through 2011, and I haven't followed my Monday/Gardening, Tuesday/Crochet, Thursday/Cooking schedule at all. I'm trying to blog at least once a week, and so we end up with a lot of "here's what I've been doing" blogs. And here's another...

1. The garden is finally up and swingin'!

These are the first batch of potatoes. Aren't they gorgeous? These are All Blue, Yukon Gold, and Red Lasota variety, and they have a story behind them. Last year, many of our potatoes were teeny-tiny, so Shanti decided to save them as seed potatoes. Unfortunately, they didn't keep well, and they started growing crazy roots in the storage bag. So, he threw them in the compost bin... and they grew plants. And so we got a "free" crop of potatoes.

This is my first herb harvest: feverfew. I'm trying out air-drying them, but if that doesn't work, I'll use the dehydrator. The dried flowers will be a tea ingredient (feverfew is a migraine preventative), and I'll turn some of the fresh flowers into a tincture.

And, some harvests serve no practical purpose. This is the 3rd rose bouquet I've cut this season. Because of all the rain we've received, my roses are enormous. Truly beautiful to see out my bedroom window every morning.

2. I made cheese!

This is fromage blanc. It tastes like (and kind of has the texture of) a light cream cheese. This was so easy to make that it's beyond me why people stopped making it in the first place. You heat up a gallon of milk to 86 degrees, take it off the stove, add in the fromage blanc culture, cover it and let it sit for 24 hours. Ladle the curds into 2 layers of butter muslin and tie the muslin up so you have a package to hang and let drain for another 12 hours. That's it. So, it takes 36 hours to make, but your time investment is about 5 minutes. The fromage blanc is good on toast, bagels, and pizza. Mixed with chives and garlic and basil, it would be good on celery sticks too. Plus, you can use it as a cream cheese substitute in any recipe.

So, I still haven't made soap, but I've learned to make bread, beer, cheese and yogurt in the last 8 years. Not bad.

3. Shanti's 65 VW is finally street ready, and he's been driving it to work since last week. So, for Fathers Day, we took the Buglet out for a spin through the Applegate.

Yey! Here's the view from the passenger seat. The ride wasn't as noisy or stinky (like gasoline) as I had expected. We took the pups, and they seemed ok with the noise in the backseat.

It was a beautiful day, and we drove to Valley View winery for a glass of wine.

Other dads decided to spend their day cheating death: the Rogue Valley Paragliders Association took full advantage of the weather, and we watched all afternoon as they glided across the sky.

Finally we tried out the new restaurant in Ruch (where the Magnolia Café used to be) -- My Way Café. The food was decent, big selection. I'm pretty sure the whole staff was high, but they were attentive. This was our view from the back patio, where they let us sit with Puck and Tucker.

And that's what I've been up to! How 'bout you?

2 For the Price of One

2011-06-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

I promised you garden photos! This is the glorious south side of my house, and you can see at least 7 varieties of rose here, along with sage, lavender and just the tip of rosemary there in the front. Forget fancy manicured English gardens! This is how my garden rolls!

Let's start off with Shanti's successes. Potatoes have been amazing this year... at least the plants have. We won't know till August how the tubers underground are doing. I think he's growing Burbanks, Yukon Golds and Red Lasota. I think.

This is an onion flower of course. It's coming up from an onion planted last year, and I'm letting it go to seed in order to save out seeds and try Yellow Rock Onions from seed instead of sets next year.

Ugh, I hate these top-down shots! These are red and yellow California Wonder Peppers as seen from space.

These are spicy Gusto Purple peppers. Both sweet and spicy peppers have flower buds on them, which is encouraging!

The two rows on the right are Romano Purpiat purple bush beans, and the scattered seedlings on the right are Blue Lake pole beans. Both of these were grown from seeds saved from my own garden last year.

Proof that I actually was successful with a handful of carrots this year. These are two of 7 seedlings. I can not remember if they are Dragon or Chantenay. I've scattered seeds elsewhere in the garden, hoping they might come up too.

This is where carrot seeds come from, by the way. I have two carrots in my garden that were planted last year and have grown to about 3 1/2' high and are covered with flowers. These are Chantenay (a gift from my parents), and I am going to attempt to save the seeds from them.

I love the shade that tall plants create. It's cool and moist under the carrot canopy, and -- if you look closely -- you can see earwigs sleeping in the crooks of the stalks. I know we usually shy away from yucky bugs like earwigs, but they play an important role in a diverse garden: they live in and break down the bark mulch that we make from last year's rose bushes.

Now isn't this what all gardeners look for? Unfortunately, my tomato plants from seed are behind, and these flowers are from the San Marzano plants I bought at the Art In Bloom festival.

An olive? No, an Italian plum. The only one. Sadly, this is an improvement over last year. Some day we'll get a bushel full of plums.

I'm sorry, but I can't ever pass up the opportunity to photograph the dogs. They're just so bloomin' cute!

Shelling peas grown from seeds brought back from Kew Gardens in England by Shanti's parents.

They've actually formed pods, and the pods are slowly filling up with phat peas.

That's what growing in my garden! What's up with yours?

Mashed Bed Potatoes

2011-06-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

So, the best laid plans... right? Sunday (the day after my parents went back to The City of Angels) had been deemed in our house as Bed Potato Day. You know, like a couch potato but in bed. We were going to watch the first part of the last Harry Potter movie and the very last disc of Return of the King. Keep your judgments to yourself...

The weather had been cr@p all week while my 'rents were here, so it was safe to assume Sunday would suck too.

Um, this doesn't suck at all! Mid 70s, beautiful weather! I threw on the Cubs game (and then probably followed up with Dodgers, Padres and Nationals), my grubbies and gardening gloves and got to work planting and transplanting.

The little stink bugs sunned themselves all day. They were "helping."

You can see how helpful this is.

Oh, Puck has such a hard life. I'm so sorry for him!

Tucker took everything in stride. "Yeah it's gorgeous, but did I just hear the chickens squawk?"

Our June-bearing strawberries have been thrilled with all the water. We pull this many off every day!

About a month late, the clematis finally opened. These are -- by far and away -- our largest blooms.

By the time the Nationals' pitcher and manager were ejected from the game for beaning another Diamondback (heh heh), the sky had turned grey and thunder could be heard in the distance. And then...

Wow. I haven't seen this much rain in a long time. And the hail! Wow. Nature is so awesome. That garden bed on the right is all my artichoke plants btw.

With the onslaught of inclement weather, we moved inside to start up Bed Potato Night. Shanti lit all the candles and oil lamps in the bed room.

This is a hand-made sconce we bought at the Mid-Summers market a few years ago. It is hand-cut from a tin can.

This is the view from the bed. I just think these sconces are somethin' special.

And now you're caught up with us. I just realized I haven't taken any photos of the actual garden, and I owe you some. Soon I promise!

Before I go, I want to share with you the beautiful piece of jewelry that Shanti designed for his sister for her graduation.

We bought the pearl loose in Kaua'i, and Shanti had a vision for this all along. He had the jeweler create a filligree shell (so you can see the pearl no matter how the shell lies). The spot of green is one of two emerald chips, which is her birthstone. I'm amazed at his creativity when it comes to jewelry.

A Night Under The Stars

2011-05-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

There are many reasons why it's great not living with your parents. Not the least of which is you can do whatever the hell you want.

Case in point: last night, we did something I've been dying to do since I was little -- we camped out in our backyard! Let me tell you, this sort of thing is probably more fun as a little kid, but I'm really happy we did it.

First off, we had a fantastic day. We walked downtown with the puppies, got fresh pastries and coffee at the Downtown Market, picked up a few things, checked out a couple audiobooks from the library, really enjoyed the day.

For dinner, I made Garlic Potato Soup from a Cooks Illustrated recipe back in 2007.

OH MY GOD. Very good. Cooks never lets me down.

Shanti set the tent up in the backyard, as well as the chiminea. We enjoyed the mild evening and roasted marshmallows in the fire.

You can see the tent in the background here.

Shanti poking at the fire.

Finally we let the fire die down and watched the clouds move above us.

If you look closely at the top of the photo, you can see the Big Dipper.

When the fire had gone out completely, we brought the puppies outside and put them in the tent with us. They snuggled into the sleeping bag with us (they make great heaters!), and we all passed out pretty quickly.

I slept like a baby! Until the drunken idiots from across the alley got home and decided to continue the party in their backyard at 6AM. Shanti wouldn't let me yell at them, throw things at them, or call the police. So, we broke down the tent quickly and slept a bit more inside. The cats were confused!

Would I sleep in the backyard again? Hell yes!

Let's talk flowers!

2011-05-19T15:51:00.001-07:00

Today is gorgeous, and I just found something I'd been anxiously awaiting...

A pea flower! Why so excited? No flowers, no peas... And I'd like to get peas sooner rather than later. Actually, I thought I was far behind, but looking at previous posts, my peas are right on schedule. Sure seems late.

But there are other flowers too!

Tons and tons of chive flowers. I envision this bucket filled with chives in a couple years.

And an unusual flower for my garden: an onion flower. I'm letting this onion from last year go to flower, so I can collect the seeds and try them out.

I have lots of inedible flowers too. These are two types of verbena. I like them so much that I'm encouraged to try out lemon verbena from seed next year.

Nothing says "early summer" quite like dianthus. This variety is Firewitch, 2008's perennial of the year. Maybe it was 2006. I don't know. It grows with little encouragement, the flowers are in the hundreds, and they smell like heaven.

The plum tree isn't doing very well, but look at those wonderful California poppies!

The first, incredibly fragrant roses are coming up. I'm looking forward to many, many arrangements.

The first clematis opened today. They're so pretty.

And finally the azalea exploded in an obscene display of fuschia. This photo scares me. I truly thought that was in focus. I'll need new eyeballs soon.

Look who's hiding behind the azalea! Chet here is none too pleased with his forced outside playtime, but he's been a big weenie lately, and I think he needs to branch out a bit.

Chet's not the only animal out here. All day long, finches come to fill up at the buffet.

And that's the scoop in my garden!

Happy Friday the 13th!

2011-05-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Far from slaughtering teenagers at a summer camp, I've been enjoying the beauty that is Southern Oregon in spring. Mid-60s, sunny, some rain, greenery all around. **sigh** How gorgeous! Let me share...

I laid a towel out on the back lawn and enjoyed the sun with Tucker. This is my view looking back toward the house.

And here's my little sun-baby, Puck. In the background you can see the chicken coop.

It's been so gorgeous that even our little old lady, Cretia, wants to be outside. We had a blue plastic tray with some shells on it. She was rolling around and smashed the tray; you can see the shards all around her.

She was so peaceful, so serene, that I was able to snap a whole bunch of shots of her. I think she is just the prettiest cat.

Even the sun itself was in repose, enjoying its daily voyage from east to west. It seemed to stop briefly around noon and surround itself in a rainbow.

(Shanti, are you looking for the fractals?)

I know I've been lax at garden updates, but fear not, I've been busy making food grow:

1. The toilet paper experiment seems to be successful! Carrot seedlings are popping up in the garden and in the box set aside for Access.

2. Peas -- snap and shelling -- are climbing and climbing. No flowers yet.

3. Beans -- bush and pole -- were planted this week. These are beans I saved from my own plants last year.

4. Onions are growing nicely. This is Bianca di Maggio and Candy Hybrid.

5. We have asparagus everywhere now! I couldn't be happier.

6. Tomatoes are slow going right now. Let's be honest: they like it hot! Starlings came and ate all my San Marzanos, so I replaced them with starts I got at Art In Bloom... and I planted more inside just in case.

7. Pepper starts -- yellow bell, red bell, Gusto Purple spicy, and my one habanero -- are growing strong, and I'll plant them outside just as soon as the overnight temps are warm enough.

8. Cukes and melons have been started and are a raging success this year! Watermelon seeds saved from our lone melon last year sprouted and are growing strong. Wautoma and Marketmore cukes have true leaves, and I'm just waiting till they're a bit bigger. Even my honeydew, Rocky Ford, has sprouted. Only the green flesh melon from Abundant Life has done nothing... but I've never had any success with that variety.

9. All the perennials in the front lawn are hanging in there: true comfrey, helichrysum, hyssop, peony, verbena, yarrow, feverfew, sedum, and gaillardia. I also have 3 echinacea purpurea started from seed. I want to augment all this with lemon verbena, and I will order seeds for that at some point. Oh, and the artichokes -- they're all growing.

10. I forgot the fennel and basil! For the first time EVER, I have sprouted basil seeds. I have faith this year that I can make it work! Fennel I started inside (slugs kept eating the primary leaves), and I'll transplant those when they have four sets of true "leaves" (groups of ferns).

So, a rousing success in the garden. But, it always is. Plants want to grow, and Nature knows how to take care of them!

Happy gardening and enjoy springtime!

Thursday's Yummy

2011-05-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

Nothing amazing to share with you on the recipe front, although my recipes are usually simple (not amazingly hard to make, but yummy to eat). That's sort of my shtick: find some comfortable, yummy meals and eat them till the ingredients are no longer in season. I'm big on simple and in-season.

But kale is almost always in season. It's incredibly easy to grow, and it actually tastes best when it's endured some frost (carrots are this way also). The problem is, I don't like its taste at all.

Apparently, I hadn't been eating it the right way, because kale chips are super yummy, low in fat and virtually carb-free. And the best part is they're simple, and Anaya told me how to make them:

One bunch of kale
Olive oil
Salt

Rimmed baking sheet (no, seriously, get your mind out of the gutter)
And an oven

I had a large bunch of Russian kale, so I split it up into 2 batches. Thoroughly wash (kale is riddled with sand), run through the salad spinner to get all the moisture off (or really dry with a towel), and remove tough stems with a sharp knife. Tear the remaining leaves into bite-sized pieces and toss with 1-2 tablespoons of oil (use 1 TBSP if all your kale fits onto the baking sheet; 2 TBSP if you have to run it in batches).

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper; if you have a stoneware baking sheet, skip the parchment. Place the kale on the sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with salt. Preheat your oven to 350, and -- once preheated -- bake the kale for 10-15 minutes until it starts turning dark green. Take the sheet out and test a few pieces to see if they're ready; adjust accordingly.

Gorge. No, really. You'll never believe it's kale.

Enjoy!

Twirlin' Into Geometry: Hyperbolic Forms

2011-05-03T11:52:00.001-07:00

I can not even begin to explain what the hell a hyperbola is. I've read the explanation, and I remember mapping them out on our graphing calculators in Algebra 2, but I do not understand what they are in the slightest. Don't really care, to be quite frank.

Somehow (but I'm not sure how) these are hyperbolas (hyperbolae?). Aren't they gorgeous? I made them to submit to the Hook The Reef, a hyperbolic coral reef project focusing specifically on Hawai'i. This picture does not do my little corals justice, so you need to click on it to view it larger.

So, while I do not understand what a hyperbola is, I can explain how to make these two.

Top coral: begin with ch 9
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (2sc in next ch, 1sc in next ch) till end, ch1 and turn
Row 2-9: alternate sc and 2sc till end, ch1 and turn

That is it. No really. It somehow makes its own ruffly appearance. And then I added fun fur to the last row (who ever thought I'd actively want to use fun fur?).

The bottom coral was only slightly more complicated: begin with ch 9
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (2sc in next ch, 1sc in next ch) till end, now pivot the piece so you are working on the underside (backside, whatever) of the chain you just sc'd into
Row 2: alternate sc and 2sc along the backside of the chain till the end, now pivot the piece so you are working into Row 1
Rows 3-6: alternate sc and 2sc till end, then pivot piece so you are making an increasingly larger oval

Now here's the kicker: you can make these starting with any size foundation chain... and you can make the sc/2sc pattern whatever you want -- using hdc or dc or tr or putting any number of single stitches between your 2-stitch or make the 2sc a 3sc or 4sc. Apparently, they're all hyperbolas!

Happy hooking!

May's Garden Lesson: Patience

2011-05-01T10:42:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to get back on my blogging schedule, and Monday is Meandering Through The Garden. Today we look at the most important lesson the garden teaches us: being patient. It's a good Zen sort of lesson.

1. Be patient with your seeds. Seeds want to germinate; they want to grow up to be plants and make yummy vegetables (although they don't really want you eating them).

This is true comfrey. I planted these seeds back in February. The guidelines on the Horizon Herbs site said it could take as long as 20 days for germination. These did not sprout until April. That's nearly 60 days. Luckily, I had been lazy and left the little pots of soil inside, so imagine my surprise when tiny green leaves showed themselves long after I had given up hope.

This is echinacea purpurea. I planted this last fall, and it sprouted, but then the chickens pecked it down to the bone, and I thought for sure they were dead. So, I used the same pots to plant some cherry tomatoes and brought the little pots inside to sit on the heated seed mat. Slowly the cherry tomatoes sprouted... and then so did new echinaceas!

Never give up on seeds. They will surprise the hell out of you.

2. Be patient when planting. Yes, seeds want to germinate, but they also want to do what they want to do. You are merely a catalyst, and until you realize your small role in the miracle that is life, you will be sorely disappointed. The seeds will come up when they're good and ready.

This is a habanero plant that -- by all accounts -- should not exist. The seeds were bought 3 years ago on a whim, and they were some cheap brand that I gave no hope for. Shanti wanted habaneros, though, so we tried to "make" a plant. A very sad looking habanero got up to about 6" tall and made some leaves, and that was it. I left the seeds outside for 2 whole years before deciding to plant them inside this spring. This one little habanero came up. Why? I have no clue.

3. Be patient with the cycle of the years. Every year is different, and some years will be great for tomatoes (2 years ago), while others will rock the carrots (last year). Plant a variety of things, and be prepared to replant over and over again (and maybe one more time).

This is the 3rd planting of carrots. Can you see the white under the soil? That's toilet paper. I'm trying a new technique and hoping the 3rd time's a charm. You lay the strips of t.p. down, drizzle a 50-50 mixture of honey and water (or in my case, molasses and water) on the t.p., stick your seeds down, cover with another layer of t.p. and sprinkle with soil. Fingers crossed, because these carrots are supposed to go to Access!

This is an onion bed, only there aren't any onions. I planted the seeds, watered, and then some f*#@&ing bird poked its beak strategically every 2" into the soil and ate all my seeds. I replanted my Candy Hybrids and Bianco DiMaggios inside for transplanting this weekend.

4. Be patient with non-plant wild life. You may like the onion bulbs underneath the ground, but -- as evidenced above -- something else might like the seeds, or the greens, or the bulbs also. Slugs and sowbugs prefer my tomato leaves to the yummy tomatoes, just proving how dumb they are! So, you need to be prepared to protect your plant babies from anything and everything.

This is my highly prized Principe Borghese roma-style tomatoes. The seedlings are gorgeous, and I can't wait for the heirloom fruit. I made a new bed just for these beauties and then moved on to transplant my other tomatoes elsewhere. In the meantime, Shanti got pig ears for the dogs, and -- while Tucker was greedily inhaling his -- Puck snuck off to hide his. I know he hid it, because he came back covered with dirt: on his paws and mouth.

Imagine my shock when I came back to the garden area to find all my Principe Borgheses dug up. Guess where the pig ear went? Too bad for Puck, because I couldn't find it in there, and I had to replant my tomato babies before they suffered more trauma. Shanti immediately put up a chicken wire fence around this bed.

Who would have thought Puck would be a problem?

5. Be patient with the weather. We all want garden-fresh tomatoes in March, but it's just not going to happen unless you're a greenhouse god(dess). Don't put your tomatoes out too early, unless you're ready to cover each and every plant (like I had to do last night).

Peppers go out even later than tomatoes. Peppers can not tolerate any temperature below 50 degrees, so keep that in mind. Better to leave them inside a bit longer than to take your chances in the garden. Cloches and walls-o-water can only raise temperatures 5-10 degrees, so if the forecast is still showing overnight temps at or below 40 degrees, it's not time to put the peppers out!

6. Wait patiently before eating your harvest. There's nothing worse than waiting months for fresh veggies, only to pick them early and taste only disappointment.

We're finally eating yummy salads of mizuna and arugula, and they're especially endearing to me, because I saved these seeds from my own plants last year! That's right, these are Shunn lettuces. But the time between germination and harvest seemed like forever!

It seemed even longer before I could eat this, but I know the rule: if it's Easter, it's time to pick asparagus. And, oh. my. god. The wait was worth it!

So, be patient. Success will come, and so will failure. Learn lessons from what doesn't work, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. If you only get one tomato this year, just remember all that it took to make that one tomato happen.

Happy Gardening!

Spring's Slogging Along

2011-04-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

"I wish it would stop raining!" Oh, be quiet. You're gonna be so happy when everything is nice and green next month. Besides, it's been decently warm lately, so just get over it and enjoy free water from the sky!

I have lots of beauty in my garden (and I bet you do too), so let's get to it!

Even the weeds are pretty. Cornflower blue is one of my fave colors.

Believe it or not, this is a tulip! My mom got these tulips for me in the Netherlands. These little doubles are mere inches from the ground. Just fantastic!

Of course we have your "average" run-o'-the-mill tulips out on the easement, and those gorgeous groupings just continue to expand and impress with their bright, bright crayola shades.

"Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close up"

Even this little snail likes our tulips.

Of course, tulips aren't the only bulbs we've got going on...

Daffodils (blecchh)

And those are grape hyacinths and shasta daisies growing behind the daffy.

Muscari / grape hyacinth: my mortal enemy (it's going to win)

This is a different variant of muscari, which I rather like.

And, of course, flowering bulbs aren't the only things growing under my ground...

Asparagus! If it's Easter, the asparagus is comin' up.

These asparagus stalks (asparagi?) are a mighty 1-inch-thick. Ohmygod I can't wait to eat these!

Chives are going great, enough so that I'll be transplanting the two echinacea out of this barrel to give the chives room to spreeeeeaaaaad.

Garlic's been growing and growing since last October. This whole area of the garden smells like Gilroy, California.

Elsewhere in the garden is my lettuce: mizuna and arugula. We had our first salad with these (and some mâche thrown in for good measure) today.

Go little peas, go!

Beautiful rosemary flowers.

Don't know what this flower is, but it's pretty!

Camelias!

And a healthy garden means lots of non-plant life. We have a happy swarm of finches feeding at the Finch Station, ladybugs, bees, flickers, woodpeckers, worms, and hummingbirds (3 families this year!):

Puck says, "Bring back the sun!"

Mommy's little sun baby.

These photos were courtesy of Shanti.

People, We Have A Kitchen!

2011-04-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

Before you get to see the new kitchen, let's take a moment to remember the old kitchen...

Shanti's expertly done silver and black tiles hid the grease-stained wall behind the oven, but nothing could hide the ugliness of that range hood or the veneered pressboard cabinets that were losing their varnish.

Oh, the tasty laminate countertop, covered with stains and burn marks.

And the world's ugliest aluminum window. That faucet was too low to fill my beer kettle, and the sink was mounted on top of the counter, so every time I washed anything, my stomach got soaked. And finally, the dishwasher that required you to handwash every dish before it went in.

It took me several visits and a few weeks to pick my new countertop. I really tried to go green with this decision, but the eco-friendly alternatives were shockingly expensive. Soapstone, soycrete, papercrete, recycled glass are all cost-prohibitive for anyone with a budget.

So instead, I chose the most beautiful rock I had ever seen (after falling in love with several others first):

Her name is Copper Canyon, and she comes from Brazil. The best part is she complements the cork floor I bought 2 years ago, which was the most important part (I wasn't giving in on my cork floor!).

Of course, before creation, there is always destruction:

They took my countertops off, and Shanti installed them in his garage. The cabinet doors and drawer fronts went to the contractor's shop to be cleaned, sanded and painted Country Club green.

But, slowly over time, my kitchen was rebuilt! With color and higher quality materials, it now sports a look and feel that is not only period appropriate for our Craftsman-era house, but is sturdier and easier to work in.

The cork floor is sound-absorbing and is almost cushion-y to stand on (a huge deal when you sometimes spend 4 or 5 hours in the kitchen). The granite countertop is similarly colored and patterned to the floor, and it is heat- and stain-resistant. The new range hood is quieter and more efficiently gives off light and sucks up smoke. The dark green cabinets tie the kitchen together with the rest of the house, and the tiles permanently cover that god-awful textured dry wall. Eventually the oven will be replaced with something stainless steel.

The biggest addition was the large greenhouse window, which will help insulate the kitchen in the winter, and has side windows to help air out the kitchen in the summer. The window is all vinyl, but the window sill was replaced with an all-wood sill (the old pressboard sill was a disaster).

The new faucet sits high enough to accommodate any size pot I own, and the undermounted sink is a freakin' dream. I can't comment on the new dishwasher: I haven't used it yet. You can see how much light the new window lets in, and it's already filled with tomato seedlings.

The contractor and his team did a fantastic job. They never made decisions without asking me first, they cleaned up after themselves every day, and they answered all of my questions. I don't think the price was out of line either, and they finished right on deadline. The only glitch was that the granite fabricator installed the countertop long before the contractor was ready to begin work, so I have been mostly without a kitchen for a month.

The contractor is Arlan, and his number is 541-210-0569
We bought our granite at Oregon Tile & Marble, over by the airport
Our granite fabricator was Take It For Granite
We bought the tile from Color Tile, behind Kaleidoscope Pizza

Visions of spring

2011-04-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

So, I know it's been a long time since I've posted. The chaos of the kitchen remodel prevented me from reaching my computer, but we've been able to put some of the pots and pans back in the cabinets... and soon I'll have a new kitchen to share with you. In the meantime, here are some beautiful springtime images captured in my yard.

For me, spring equals camelias. This year has been phenomenal for the camelia bushes. Lots of new growth, and each bush is loaded down with hundreds of bright flowers.

Of course, springtime means tulips too. These are some fantastic double tulips my mom got me in the Netherlands. I have another 40 or 50 bulbs saved out, and I'm going to load up this area with these beautiful tulips.

As always, I wish I could capture the perfume of the daphne to share with you. Heavy citrus scent fills the air.

The iberis I planted last summer made it through the winter and are filled with pretty white alyssum-like blooms.

In the garden, the raspberry canes are leafing up. In a couple of months, the dogs and I will have dozens of raspberries to snack on in the garden.

The 30 or so pea plants here are reaching out with their tendrils and climbing the netting. Soon we should have flowers and then yummy pea pods.

And these rows are lettuce and arugula. I'm looking forward to fresh-cut salads in the near future!

What's sprouting in your garden?

Kaua'i 2011 - Our Vacation

2011-03-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

(and you thought I'd never post anything...)

Rather than give you all a day-by-day rundown, I'll just highlight some of the things we did, our impressions, and a few other notes/recommendations.

For those who want to jump to the photos, they are located here.

Our first impression of Kaua'i, unfortunately, was how developed it had become since we were there in 2003. Especially along Kapa'a, where all of the hotels seem to have been turned into timeshares, so they're filled retirees who come to one of the most beautiful places in the world to sit by the pool. Yuck. If we ever come back to Kaua'i, we'll stay up in Hanalei. This influx of awful people really seemed to have ruined the Aloha spirit that dominated Kaua'i before.

Both Shanti and I associate 2 activities with Kaua'i: snorkeling and hiking. Since we were on the Garden Island during monsoon season, snorkeling was not really an option. We did, however, go on 2 fantastic hikes: the (in)famous Kalalau Trail and the Alakai Swamp Trail through Koke'e State Park. You can see a simple map of Kaua'i here.

Kalalau is a brutal 11-mile (one way) hike along Kaua'i's north Na Pali Coast. Last time we hike 2 miles along the coast and then another (very hard) 2 miles inland to Hanakapi'ai Falls. Those 8 miles can easily turn into a 6 hour endurance trial. This time, we settled on the 4 mile roundtrip to Hanakapi'ai Beach and back. The elevation change is about 500 feet.

All the way around the other side of the island (there are no roads through the Northwest part of the island, so to get to the west coast, you go allllllllll the way around) is striking Waimea Canyon and Koke'e State Park, containing Alakai Swamp, the highest altitude swamp in the world. Our hike took us all the way to a lookout over the last parts of the Kalalau Trail! That's the only way I'm ever gonna see the end of Kalalau! Even so, this was an 8 mile roundtrip trek that covered more than 2,000 feet of elevation change. There was cliff climbing too, about which I wasn't pleased.

Besides hiking, we visited Limahuli Botanical Gardens, part of Hawaii's National Botanical Gardens network and once voted the nicest botanical garden in the country. We spent 3 hours touring this absolute gem tucked into the Limahuli Valley. With a focus on how geography and environment shape a people's culture, the gardens provide examples of canoe plants (those brought by Kaua'i's first immigrants), plants indigenous to Kaua'i, and non-native invasives brought during modern times. The whole tour begins with taro fields planted in terraces initially constructed more than 1,000 years ago. The entire experience was enlightening and humbling.

Another delightful surprise was the cultural tour of Kamokila Village. Our tour guide, Ilima, really made the experience come alive. Her entire family used to perform at the old Coconut Grove hotel, and she still is very active in Kaua'i's cultural community, composing songs, teaching dance and passing along knowledge of pre-contact activities. She endured my endless questions about medicinal plant usage and what the Hawaiian words were for everything. Unfortunately we have no photos of our time at Kamokila, because the storm had rolled in. Within an hour of leaving the village, floods and severe storms hit the east coast.

Of course we did a lot of eating. Java Kai was our daily go-to for coffee and chai; they are locally owned and all the staff really reminded us of the Aloha spirit we had encountered in 2003. The Beach House is hands-down my favorite restaurant in the world. Wonderful Asian-fusion meals with a focus on local vegetables and locally caught fresh fish (and a great bar) would make it a great place to eat, but the Beach House has it over anyone with their flawless sunset over the ocean view. We discovered Tropical Taco and Neide's up in Hanalei and finally caught the Wishing Well shave ice truck open. You can avoid Kaua'i Pasta unless you enjoy paying a lot of money for some of the worst "Italian" food I've ever put in my mouth. We made good use of the various natural foods stores, so we could have breakfast in our room. Papaya's is almost as big as Ashland's Food Co-op and almost as well-stocked; we had a great conversation about local vs. organic with Papaya's owner.

The place where we bought the pearl in my wedding ring was still there, and we had a long conversation with the store's owner. And Shanti bought me a pair of gorgeous Ni'ihau shell earrings; these tiny shells are collected over the space of months (and sometimes years) and then strung into earrings, bracelets and amazingly intricate shell leis. Ni'ihau is a closed island (residents only), and this shell jewelry is so rare that it is the only shell jewelry that you can insure.

If asked, I would steer a first-time visitor from staying in Kapa'a (and certainly not in any of the big name "resorts"). Hanalei remains our favorite part of Kaua'i, but it is a 2-hour drive from many of the places along the West Coast. Honestly, the traffic from Kapa'a to Poi'pu was so atrocious (who goes to Hawaii to sit in traffic for 45 minutes?) we almost didn't get over there, which would have been a shame -- old Koloa town, Spouting Horn and the Beach House are must-sees.

That pretty much covers the highlights of our trip. Enjoy the photos!

Friday Flowers Copycat

2011-03-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Chelsea has added a Friday Flowers posting to her blog (which is usually about cooking and yarnwork). I thought, "Why Not?" So, let me add a pretty flower picture to this great idea!

This particular flower had been the decoration on a fantastic martini I enjoyed at The Beach House in Poipu, Kaua'i. I promise to have my Kaua'i photos up soon. I swear.

Still no Hawaii, just Rogue Valley.

2011-03-09T08:54:00.001-08:00

I'm still going through (this illness and) the photos. I'll be honest, I've been watching a helluva lot of Ghost Adventures on Netflix too. I have a serious crush on Zak (Shanti knows), and I can't get enough of his over-the-top spirit taunting... and his crazy hair... and his Henry Rollins style. I have a crush on Henry Rollins too (Shanti knows).

Anyways, I wanted to make sure you (in the Rogue Valley) understood how important these first two weeks of March are for your garden. A majority of your veggies will be planted right now.

Plant inside to transplant when there is no threat of frost:
Artichokes
Brassicas: broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, and Asian greens (e.g., pak choi)
Nightshade family: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers
Leeks

Plant outside:
Lettuce fixin's: kale, leaf lettuce, Swiss chard
Bean family: fava beans, peas
Hardy brassicas: mustard greens, turnips (for bulb or greens), arugula
Onions & chives
Radishes
Carrots & parsley

Heather brought up the disaster that was last year in the R.V. Yes, we had an awful time of it, what with no Spring and a very late season frost that killed most people's tomato seedlings.

So far, though, this year seems "normal" (whatever that means). And, I'm going to go about my tomato planting as usual... but I will check the weather thoroughly before I do my transplanting. You can also use cloches to protect newly transplanted tomato (and pepper) seedlings, but make sure you take them off during the day -- a fried tomato plant is not the same as a fried tomato.

Cloche possibilities: fancy Victorian glass cloches, paper caps, wall o' water, and my personal favorite, gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut off. I need more with their caps if anyone has extras.

But, if Heather (and others) are still worried and want to go the hothouse route, you would do best to get tomato varieties that are specifically bred for greenhouse living. Territorial Seed has two varieties still available. Abundant Life has one. I believe these are all hybrids, so you won't be able to save the seeds for next year. But you might not care about that.

Chelsea also had worries about peppers. Again, please remember that every single growing season is different than the year before. It was 3 years before I was able to grow carrots here. Consider giving your difficult crops a second shot. This is my 5th year trying broccoli; I'll be able to taste aphid-free broccoli soon, I just know it.

Any way, I need to fix on my ZakAttak, so I'm back to Netflix (and a bag of Ricolas). Happy Gardening!

Fungus.

2011-03-06T11:55:00.001-08:00

I know you're waiting for Hawaii photos, but I have more than 400 to go through, so that'll be awhile. Instead, I want to share with you a new crop we grew this year: mushrooms!

(Note: These were the first photos I took with my new camera, and I had no clue what I was doing)

For Christmas this year, Shanti received this box from his mom.

Inside is a plastic bag of compost and shredded wood fiber. You get it moist, add the mushroom spores, and voilà, you have mushrooms in a few weeks.

This was our first harvest. You can see the caps are really big. We got more than a pound of mushrooms that first time (subsequent harvests are smaller).

That's a lot of shrooms! And, oh my god, the taste! Creamy, earthy, really full of mushroom flavor. So, I made a simple mushroom soup.

It just so happens we had scallions growing from last year. I chopped up those...

And added a bouillon cube, some reconstituted shiitakes (along with the water they soaked in), some wine and probably some butter and flour.

Verdict? YUM!

A Weekend of Beer & Basketball

2011-02-21T09:56:00.000-08:00

So, we left at 9:30 AM to drop the doggies off at All Good Dogs, their "boarding facility." I put quotes around that, because it's a 5-acre dog resort where they get to run around all day, and at night, they sleep in a heated barn. The woman who owns it gives them homemade treats, and I swear she speaks dog. We dropped Puck & Tucker off, and away we went...

Our first stop came about from a billboard. "TERRITORIAL SEEDS," that billboard called out to me, and my gardening zombie awoke and shrieked, "Seeds!" Territorial Seed Company, located in Cottage Grove, is where I purchase most of my vegetable seeds. (I also buy from Abundant Life, Irish Eyes, Baker Creek & Botanical Interests, and I get my herb seeds from Williams-based Horizon Herbs.)

We pulled off at the Cottage Grove exit, and we had the address... but of course no clue how to get from the freeway to the address. I'm lame in many respects, but I have amazing homing abilities. I can find a Baskin-Robbins in ANY city, for example. Well, I put my homing instincts to work, and we found Territorial! To be sure, this is the retail location and not the seed farm (which would have been so awesome, I might have wet myself). I was so excited, I texted Chelsea, who probably thought I was insane. I bought silver mulch to put under my broccoli to ward off aphids, English broadleaf thyme seeds, Candy Hybrid sweet onions, and San Marzano tomato seeds. Then I gushed at the cashier about how much I love Territorial, and how excited I was to be there... and she was really nice about my apparent insanity. I left with a big smile on my face.

Normally, we stop for lunch at the Baja Fresh in Eugene. Baja Fresh has -- hands down -- the best nachos in the world. Of course, nachos aren't really on my diet.... But I was saved by another billboard! Hop Valley is located right off the freeway in Eugene. Craft beer, here we come! I had their Vanilla Infused Porter: AMAZING!!!! Shanti had an Imperial IPA, and he got two 22s to go: a red and a double blonde. The food was meh, but the great service and great beer totally made up for it. Plus, I got to stay on diet with a salad and bowl of soup.

Finally we arrived in the Rose City and easily found our hotel, Hotel Deluxe. This was a recommendation from the Boyers. What a great hotel! For the same price as a Courtyard, we stayed in an elegantly appointed room in a hotel that pays homage to the movies of the 40s & 50s. Our floor was the Hitchcock floor, and the Master himself stood outside our door as sentry (in picture form of course).

Due to our on-road detours, we were a bit late in arriving in Portland. This meant we had to dump our bags and start making our way to the Rose Garden for the show. We walked most of the way, getting our 90th coffee of the day at the Starbucks at Pioneer Plaza just in time to witness a flash mob (that was a whole lot of meh). We took the Max from Union Station area, arriving just in time for Shanti to have another beer (Pyramid's Imperial IPA) and find our seats.

The show was AMAZING! The Harlem Globetrotters were so funny, and so entertaining (and one guy on the Generals was really good). We laughed the whole time. The tix were expensive, but I totally felt like we got our money's worth. The only thing I didn't like was the blatant sponsorship throughout. I felt like we were being brainwashed by Campbell's, Greyhound and Howard Johnson's. That said, the sponsorship money goes to various charities.

This is the 85th anniversary of the Globetrotters, and to celebrate, they unveiled their newest trick, the 4-point shot. 4 circles well into the 3-point zone get activated 2 minutes before the end of each quarter, and both sides hit the 4-pointers several times. That is a long shot! Shanti tells me the NBA is already talking about adapting a 4-point rule. The Globetrotters just rock. Another childhood fantasy met!

After the show, we took the Max partway back to the hotel and climbed Yamhill the rest of the way (gotta get our exercise in!). We had dinner at the hotel. OH MY GOD! I had a pan-seared pink-flesh trout that was perfectly done over Russian fingerlings and green beans in an almond-butter sauce. Shanti had spinach-and-cheddar raviolis with wild mushrooms in a truffle sauce. For dessert (I wanted it, so I had it), I had what was basically a giant chocolate truffle, but the ganache was infused with cayenne. Lillie Belle does this, but I always taste the cayenne in theirs -- not so with this chocolate: all I got was the heat.

We left the next morning for an ambling down the 5. Our first stop: Woodburn Outlet Center! I got 3 PJ bottoms, 3 pair of jeans (including a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of 10s!!!!!!), t-shirts galore (thank you Gap), and Shanti got more skate shoes (he's so cute).

Next stop, Eugene. This time, we stopped for lunch at McMenamins' High Street Brewery & Café. Shanti got the beer flight; he was a little surprised when all 6 beers showed up: no tasters these, but six 8-ounce glasses of beer! I just got a stout. I got their own veggie burger, and it was great! Since Shanti wasn't fit to drive after that, we wandered around Eugene a bit. We stopped at The Green Store, which sells eco-friendly cleaners, decorating products (Marmoleum, carpet tiles, no-VOC paints, etc.), as well as micro-hydro generators, PV panels and solar water heaters.

Across from The Green Store is Down To Earth, a cooking/gardening/gift store that I'm pretty sure was created to make me happy. We started at the gardening section and worked our way back. I got seeds for growing red Brussels sprouts (!!!) and amazingly purchased nothing else.

Finally we meandered back to the car and back onto the 5 to head home. Actually we went straight to Ashland for dinner at Standing Stone Brewery (it was a beer-themed weekend). And that was our trip! Best. Weekend. Ever.

Some thoughts to share

2011-01-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday is supposed to be "Thoughts From The Kitchen," but you'll get a twofer today...

No, not that Twofer! First some cookin', then some hookin'!

Super Yummy Tomato Soup

3 TBSP butter
1 medium to large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
3 TBSP flour
1/4 Madeira, Marsala, or any wine would probably do
2 28 ounce cans of chopped tomatoes (Muir Glen is now BPA-free!), drain and reserve the juices
1/2 cup half-and-half

In a Dutch oven or similarly large, heavy-bottomed pot heat the butter over medium heat.
Sauté the onion, garlic and potatoes in the butter for about 10 minutes; the onions should be soft and translucent.
Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to incorporate all the flour for about a minute.
Stirring constantly, add in the Madeira.
Stirring constantly, add in the juice reserved from the tomatoes.
Add in the tomatoes themselves and bring to a gentle boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes have softened.
Purée in a blender or food processor.
Mix in the half-and-half.

Salt and pepper as you please.

Now, the crocheting! My projects for other people have been sidelined. A gift project is waiting for one last skein of yarn that I understand is awaiting me in the shop. Mittens for a friend are also waiting for yarn... which won't be in till Jan 31 (sorry Chris!). The star-topped beanie for Shanti was too large and has to be frogged and re-worked.

So, I'm working on stuff for me!

This is the back of an Aran Cabled Sweater. Yes, crocheted cables! I'm using a gorgeous wool tweed which will be warm and snuggly once I'm done with the sweater. Whenever that will be...

Here's a close-up. I'm quite pleased with my cables. You can't really tell in the photos, but the yarn is a deep burgundy, and it's handspun, so irregular throughout. I love it! Too bad it's going to take about 15 or 16 balls of yarn to finish it! Cables use up a ton of yarn!

So, that's what my hands have been up to! What have you been cooking up?

The first seedlings of 2011

2011-01-25T12:13:00.000-08:00

Might I present the first full-fledged seedlings of this year? Up front are the leeks, behind them are the Kongo kohlrabi, and way back there are the DiCecco broccoli. On the right are 2 artichokes I started in fall. These are indeed a bit on the tall side, but I'm not concerned... Why?

Because they have started their 2nd set of leaves. So many stages from seed to plate: germination, secondary leaves, transplanting, ensuring full growth before flowering, and then harvest. Getting plants from the brassica family (which kohlrabi and broccoli are) to move beyond their cotyledon stage is always an issue for me. I usually end up with leggy unstable seedlings, and these are certainly tall, but they're stick straight thanks to the grow light that is about 12" above them. Once they have 2 or 3 sets of secondary leaves, I'll be able to transplant them, and I can pile a bit of soil around the base of their stems to sort of prop them up.

Next challenge will be aphids and cabbage moth caterpillars.

What are you growing?

Get Ready, Get Set, Plant!

2011-01-15T15:37:00.001-08:00

January 15 becomes Day 1 of the 2011 growing season in the Shunn household:

These are, from left to right: Kongo Kohlrabi (a new one for me!), DiCecco Broccoli (yes, I'm trying broccoli again), and Giant Musselbergh Leeks.

6 seeds of each variety, and they're planted in Gardner & Bloom Organic Potting Soil. I have them sitting on a plastic tray, which is on top of a plug-in seed heater.

Then I cover them with these old milk jugs to make a mini-greenhouse for each pony pak (I get the pony paks for free, by the way: behind the Central Point Grange).

When the first set of leaves show, these babies will move into the back laundry room for their spa treatment!

This was my big garden purchase this year: a grow light! I'm the only person in Oregon buying a grow light for something other than pot. :-)

In February, peas will go in the garden. I'm planting Cascadia Snaps and my special Shelling Peas from Kew Gardens (thank you, Ina!). Arugula will also get planted outside at that time. Inside, I'll be planting pak choi and edible chrysanthemum. A few other things too, but for now it's all about kohlrabi, broccoli and leeks!

What are you planting?

It's Your Garden! What are you doing about it?

2011-01-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

Gardening season has begun, my peeps. Yes, even now, in the midst of 25 degree temps, it's time to prep and even plant.

PREP

Order your seeds now!!!! Territorial, Abundant Life, Johnnie's, Fedco, Botanical Interests, Siskiyou Seed Bank and Baker Creek are all great seed sources, focusing on wide variety, hybrid and open pollinated, heirloom and new varieties, traditional and organically grown. Each has their strength. I mostly purchase from Territorial and Abundant Life, because they are located here in Oregon. Next year, I will try out the Siskiyou Seed Bank, which is located right here in Southern Oregon.

Irish Eyes is your #1 source for potatoes, onions... and in October, garlic.

Horizon Herbs is the only place I purchase herb seeds, but you'll find other places to get high quality medicinal and culinary herb seeds.

Compost!!!! If you've left your compost pile on its own since it was last above 50 degrees, turn it now. If you've been turning it all along, top dress your garden beds with it and get a new pile going. You can never have enough compost.

Check your drip lines to make sure nothing has split over the winter.

PLANT

Arugula, lettuces, broccoli / cauliflower can all get going inside. Peas and super hardy things like Chinese cabbage can be started outside in February.

I just purchased a fancy bank of grow lights for myself, and we're gonna set up a small shelf with the grow lights, so I don't take up the dining table again.

We need to top dress the long green box in the back with compost. Carrots for charity and shelling peas (for me from Kew Gardens) are going there. My Cascadia snaps are going in the normal garden. Either way, all that needs to be prepped, because that long green box is nothing but topsoil, and it's on the heavy side without much nutrition for the plants.

What to start your plants in? Anything. Do not be led to believe that you HAVE to purchase lots of things to get your garden going. Any small cups you have lying around: poke holes in the bottom, fill 'em with soil and plant.

Same with growing medium. If your soil is good quality, grow your seeds in that. I usually buy a bag of plain ol' potting soil, mix it with our dirt and use that.

Still have seeds from last year? Put a few between two pieces of moist paper towel and put that in a warm space. Keep the paper towel moist. If the seeds sprout in a few days, your seeds are viable for this year. Save your money and use what you already have.

If you plant only 3 or 4 things this year, consider leaf lettuce. Use your finger to dig an 1" deep, 3'-long trench in March. Spread an entire envelope of lettuce seeds in there and loosely cover. Make sure the ground is constantly moist and watch your salad grow. Pick the baby lettuce leaves, and the plants will continue growing. Trust me, you'll grow sick of lettuce long before the plants flower. Once they flower, let them form seed pods. Save the seed pods and collect your seeds. That's one less thing for you to spend money on next year.

But I digress. Now is the time to prep and plant!!! Get on it!

Crochet-tastic!!!!

2010-12-28T11:36:00.001-08:00

Now that all my gifts have been distributed, I can share with you what I've been working on the past couple of months! (2 posts in one day...)

First, the mittens that started it all were made for Kelly:

These convertible fingerless mittens are so awesome, I made a pair for Shanti, Heather and me too!

This was in Shannon's gift box: the Cool Waves Shawl. Done all in Tunisian (it's a different type of crochet that uses a 2'-long hook), I think this wave design is perfect for going out to dinner in the summer.

I made this for me. Took 6 months and 3 different attempts, but it's done. And... I hate it! I'm just waiting for another project to present itself using this type of yarn, and this tunic will go bye bye.

This is the purse I made for Chika.

How much do I love Chika? I hand-sewed the lining. I'm so pleased with how this purse turned out!

Christine looks fabulous in hats, so I couldn't resist making her a hat for summer. This lacy open design was done in merino in silk (very decadent!!!). Best of all, she tried it on, and it fits!

This was Jamie's gift (I assure you I wove in the tails before sending!). Mercerized cotton and a rescued belt buckle from one of Shanti's old belts (yes we keep those things... you never know!). This pattern was done in broomstick lace, another type of crochet I learned to do this year.

This was my chef d'oeuvre this year. I belong to a Block-A-Month club on Ravelry, where every month we get a new pattern for an afghan block. At the end of the year, we put them all together to make an afghan. This is wool and mohair, warm enough for Shanti's mom to snuggle under and watch TV in the back room.

And this is the sweater I made for me. Soft and snuggly, I have a hard time not wearing it every day. I'm so pleased that I made something that fits so well, that I started a new sweater for myself and am 50% done already.

I'm also making a very special gift for a couple of friends of ours that I can't talk about at all, because it's a total surprise -- they don't even know we're giving them anything. :-D But I'll share it with you after I give it away.

I also made two scarves, arm warmers and a beanie for Maslow Project. I still have to make 3 more things to reach my 7 handmade donation items.

Thank you thank you!

2010-12-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

My thank you cards will be designed, filled out and mailed off next week. In the meantime, I wanted to share the highlights of my swag with all of you and give a big holiday shout-out to everyone for their wonderful generosity:

Rebecca made doughnut muffins. I can't express to you how evil these are. Doughnuts in a muffin shape. Wrong, wrong, wrong... and yet so right.

In addition to the decadent fudge, caramel corn and fancy wine that Shannon sent along, she got me bamboo crochet hooks! From G to N (including that weird half-size between G & H), I'm set for all next year!

Chelsea also got me a wooden H hook (trust me, you can never have enough Hs or Is), but it was presented in a project bag made of Cubs fabric! All my needles, stitch markers, active yarn skeins and several hooks go in there. She wanted it to make me squee, and I believe she got her wish.

Briana made us microwaveable corn bags. We heat those puppies up every night and toss them into bed. Warm feet make for happy, sleeping Shunns.

Chika gave me a gift bag full of tasty treats, but it's the bag I like the most (although I ate many of the treats). I can't describe it. It's just really, really pretty.

Shanti's Aunt Janine knows us well, because she sent us a hand-crafted wooden cheese board and spreading knife set.

My parents brought home gifts from their various travels, including a book and calendar from the Magritte Museum, fabric from the Netherlands, and mixed nuts from Memphis.

Shanti's grandma always remembers me when she's in Canada and brings me back a wheel of handcrafted, raw milk Gouda from her local dairy farm.

Kelly found me this awesome coffee mug with Henry VIII and his 6 wives. When you fill the mug with hot water, the wives disappear to reveal their names and how they separated from Henry (or their heads). Divorced, beheaded, died in childbirth, divorced, beheaded, survived.

Ina gave Shanti a ton of cool gifts, but I am making great use of a notebook comprised only of paper rescued from going to the trash. Each page different than the next, all trimmed and stapled to make a great book for making lists!

And way back on the 2nd or 3rd day of Hannukah, Christine dropped by a bunch of goodies that included earrings she made and a hand cream made from hemp oil and rosemary that anyone who works with their hands would love. Just a dab leaves your hands so smooth that you can easily go from dishwashing to crochet without snagging your new merino.

Thank you everyone for all of your gifts!

Latkes!

2010-12-16T16:10:00.001-08:00

So, my holiday is already over, and -- as far as I'm concerned -- that means the holiday season is over. Not to be bitter, but ONLY ONE of my friends gave me Hannukah gifts. Just sayin'...

Any ways, both Shanti's and my family celebrated Hannukah with me in a virtual way. In fact, Kelly was THE FIRST to wish me a Happy Hannukah. (Several of you had to be reminded...)

On the 7th night, Shanti's gift to me was a delicious latke dinner. He makes fantastic latkes, and he even made sure we had applesauce and sour cream in the house.

So the trick to making latkes is to get the liquid out of the shredded potato and onion before you mix in the egg (or whatever recipe you prefer, as some call for matzo meal too... bleccchhh).

Then, your generous and wonderful husband deep fries them up for you.

Drain them on a paper towel on newspaper.

And then serve them with your topping of choice. I like them best with sour cream and cinnamon-sprinkled-applesauce, but this year I added in ketchup. Now, before you start screaming, I KNOW ketchup is a totally goyish topping, but I made this ketchup, so it was kind of OK to use. It was OK, but I like the sour cream and applesauce toppings best.

So, for all of you who haven't sent me cards or gifts, because -- for whatever reason -- you are giving me gifts on YOUR holiday... you are lucky, because Hannukah falls at the same time as your tree-worshipping holiday next year. So, in 2011, you can pretend you're actually celebrating Hannukah with me.

Creamy Pesto Pasta

2010-12-05T14:27:00.001-08:00

I just had a super yummy lunch and must share. See, during the summer, when basil is plentiful, I got a whole bunch from my neighbor. Not wanting it to go to waste, I made up a sizable batch of pesto and then froze it in tablespoon-sized portions and popped the pesto-spheres into a ziploc. Today, I "found" the bag of pesto as I was searching for something else in the garage freezer chest and made up a fancy and easy lunch.

Creamy Pesto Sauce

Mix two tablespoons of pesto into 1/2 cup of cream or half and half or milk and heat gently on medium, stirring frequently. The sauce should be hot but not boiling. Take off the burner and set aside.

In a double boiler, you'll make a roux of 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of flour. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour. When it's formed a creamy paste, slowly whisk in the cream/pesto mixture. Whisk until everything is completely blended. Add more cream/half-n-half/milk as needed for the desired texture.

Take the double boiler off of the pot and set aside. Get the water in the pot boiling and use that to boil your noodles. Cook to al dente (or however you like), drain, put the noodles back into the pot and toss in your creamy pesto sauce.

Cover liberally with grated parmesan, romano or asiago cheese. Enjoy! It's very yummy.

Animals + Cold = Cute Pics

2010-11-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry this blog posting isn't much longer... and that there's been such a dearth of postings in general. Holiday season, busy, blah blah blah.

But, it did snow (and melted). And it has been freezing. And we're oh-so-very glad to have our pellet stove.

Especially the animals. I put their filthy little bed (that Chelsea made and all the animals love and use) in front of the stove:

First little Chet Baker came and slept in front of the warm hearth.

And when Chet went off, not-so-little Puck came and snagged the sweet spot. How he fits his 26 pound frame into that bed is the secret to perpetual motion.

So, it's cold out, but we're warm and happy!

Giving until it feels good

2010-11-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

With Halloween done, Thanksgiving is next on the list. Since we moved up to So OR, Shanti and I have quiet Thanksgivings made up of just our favorite side dishes (I don't eat meat, and Shanti only likes turkey in a deli sandwich): Cooks Illustrated's super fancy green bean casserole (you won't believe it's based off of the old Campbell's standby), sweet potatoes with marshmallows (Shanti insists), the best cranberries ever (thank you, Raquel), stuffing, and steamed broccoli. We're always stuffed, so who has room for turkey?

In fact, we're stuffed often. I can't think of a time (even in the dark days of the studio apartment and Starbuck's) that we've ever gone hungry. Ever.

If that isn't something to be thankful for, I don't know what is. To give proof to our thanks, I'd like to share with you my favorite charities. The next time you think of something to be thankful for, consider giving to one of these (or one of your own) to make your thanks even more meaningful:

1. Kiva: It's the simplest form of economy-building. You lend $50 to the Kiva organization as an interest-free loan. They use that money (along with 5 or 10 other loans) to back a microloan to an individual (or a small group) to use in creating or expanding a tiny business. Shanti and I are part of a loan with 3 other people to help a woman in Africa buy handmade jewelry to sell at market. We lent the money less than a year ago, and already 83% has been paid back. When the payback is final, we have the option of getting our money back, using it to start a new loan, or adding to it to create larger impact. We get updates quarterly on the status of our loan and some recipients give business updates as well. Want to help the world's poor help themselves? Kiva is the way.

2. Heifer International: Like Kiva, Heifer helps people help themselves. The catalog is basically a listing of the types of animals (and now garden options) you can give. For example, a flock of chickens is $20. So you donate the $20, and Heifer gives a flock of chickens to a pre-designated family. That family can now raise the chickens for meat for themselves, have eggs to eat or sell, and grow their chicken farm to keep it going year after year. All Heifer recipients must agree to "Pass The Gift," which is to find their own family in need in their village and in the following year, give them a flock of chickens. In this way, your one gift actually helps two families. Animal gifts includes milk cows, beehives, goats, rabbits, and even a gift of an entire vegetable garden's worth of seeds. The match up between gifts and recipients is based on geography and local/cultural dietary needs.

3. Afghans for Afghans: I love this idea! Women and men here in the U.S. crochet and knit blankets, sweaters, hats and mittens, which are then delivered directly to families in Afghanistan. No politics, no military, no religion. Just warm wool (must be 100% wool) clothing for impoverished and wartorn families who otherwise would freeze through winter. There are very specific rules for the clothing items: must be 100% wool (there's no point in sending acrylic to people living without reliable heat source), no representations of animals or people (this is counter to the teachings of Islam), and no religious symbols of any kind. Want to win hearts and minds? Nothing says love like a warm sweater.

4. Your local animal shelter: The pound is near and dear to my heart. Both our dogs were adopted from the pound, and I have nothing nice to say about breeders or breeding. There are too many domestic cats and dogs in this country already, and they are purchased and tossed aside like things. Your local animal shelter needs money to pay for vaccinations and spay/neuter operations. They need food, treats, cat litter, and bedding. They could also use your donated time, either working in the facility or as a foster parent. The Jackson County Animal Shelter is overseen by the Friends of the Animal Shelter, which provides a list of the items they need most. Giving a puppy to your kids this holiday season? Please give a shelter animal and teach your kids the value of charitable work.

5. Your local women's shelter: Economic crises bring out the best in people, but they can also bring out the worst. For example, domestic abuse skyrockets (unfortunately, so does animal abuse). Women's shelters are packed to the rafters during recessions, and they need your help. These are women who leave when they can best escape, so they leave with nothing -- no clothes, no toiletries, nothing to start a new life. Your gift of a gift card to purchase clothing, an overnight bag with shampoo/conditioner/soap/tampons/toothbrush/toothpaste, or a set of Tupperware or silverware can be the first step for these women to start a new abuse-free life. Contact your local shelter and find out what they need most. Then add in something special, so these women know that people are really thinking about them and want them to succeed. The local women's shelter for the Rogue Valley is Dunn House at (541) 779-4357.

6. Dogs for the Deaf: Best idea ever. DFD rescues animals from shelters all over the U.S. and then trains them to be Hearing Assistance Dogs, Senior Assistance Dogs, and Autism Assistance Dogs. The dogs that pass the training are given to families on a 3 year waiting list. The dogs that don't pass are adopted out as Career Change Dogs (I love that name!). Dogs for the Deaf could definitely use your money: everything they do relies 100% on donations. No one receiving any of these amazing mutts pays for the service. This is a charity that impacts people in need and animals in need. I can think of no better organization.

7. Access Inc.: Access is the #1 provider of food, shelter and job training to Jackson County's homeless and those living below the poverty line. Last year, they provided nearly 7,000 families with food assistance and nearly 10,000 (about 1/7 of our population) with energy assistance, meaning people who couldn't afford their heating bills. They accept money and food donations. I tried out the grow-your-own donation option this year, and next year, I am devoting an entire garden box to "charity carrots" for Access. Every community has a place like Access, so find the one nearest you and help the less fortunate in your community live to see New Year's.

8. Maslow Project: Their tagline says it all "Looking for a hand up not just a handout?" Maslow helps Oregon families break the cycle of poverty with food and housing assistance, job training and stay-in-school programs. Their unique focus is the younger members of the family and helping them get to a place where they can be the change in their family's future. They need money but also clothing and food. This is the organization that does most of the outreach with Jackson County's homeless teens (a shockingly high number that grows every year). Maslow keeps them fed and on track; imagine getting through high school while living in a shelter or on friends' couches.

9. The Public Library: What's free, open most days of the week and provides no-cost entertainment? The library is, in many cases, the only place families can afford to bring their children. It's warm in the winter, there's storytelling, and the books are free to borrow. With all the complaining about low test scores and the rising number of ESL students, the library is the ideal solution to those problems. Libraries usually rely on property taxes to fund them, though, and with the decline in housing prices, many libraries are having to reduce their hours or cut down the number of purchased books. Libraries need your used books, either to put in the stacks or sell for fundraising. And they need your time. Since 2006, I've been working 2 hours a week at the library, just going through and making sure the books are in order. And when people complain to me about this or that at the library, I always say, "They could always use your expertise." Jackson County's Library System is our local library system. Find yours and help out.

10. Your pet project. I've given you 9 ideas to help out in your community or the world, but what is it you want to change about the world around you? This time of year I hear too much "me me me" and very little thought given to the millions of people and animals in this world starving, suffering and dying. Bleak thought? But it's true. Some may think it crass of me to tell you all to donate; my mother would remind me it's none of my business what you do with your money or time.

It is my business though. We're all stuck on this planet together, and we can all whine about ourselves (none of us really has much to complain about) or we can better ourselves and help others as well. Nothing will feel as good as giving, I promise you.

What charitable organizations are you supporting this holiday season?

Now we're cooking with pellets!

2010-11-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

We got our pellet stove! As you might have heard, we first had some issues regarding the hearth pad (we were told we didn't need one... we actually did need one).

So what's a girl (and boy) who want a pellet stove to do? You can buy hearth pads for **gasp** $288. Plus the cost of shipping. Plus the 2-3 weeks for it to show up.

Sorry, but F that.

Luckily, I have an incredibly talented and resourceful husband who thinks building things is the best way to spend a weekend. We were going to build our own hearth pad!

First came the meltdown in the Lowe's. Then the temper tantrum. Then another meltdown. Then a hungry sort of sulkiness (I was hungry and sulky). Then resignation. Possibly one more temper tantrum. These were all my moods. Shanti was excited.

Then we had to pick out tile to attach to the Hardibacker that Heather & Braden generously gave to us.

Here are our tiles. Castle something. They're porcelain tiles that look like slate. I got to use adhesive and that trowel with the grooved edges. Then we laid the tiles down with spacers (I was in charge of spacers).

Then grouting. We picked a dark(ish) grey grout. It got darker as it dried.

As the grout was drying, Shanti cut the lengths of wood-like trim and painted them ultra-flat black.

Then it was just a matter of attaching those with Gorilla Glue and putting silicon feet on the bottom. This is the finished hearth pad. I think Shanti did a fantastic job. For about $75. I think we should start selling hearth pads.

Ok, with the pad in place, it was time for the pellet stove. Hurrah! Remember, we got The Empress, which makes me think of Queen Victoria.

The guys came out and set her up, installing the stove pipe in the back there. It went up through the attic (where they found a dead rat that had been there since before we bought the house in 2007) and out the roof:

The stove also has an outside intake pipe, which pulls in air from our crawlspace. That pipe goes through the wall behind it and through the floor of the central closet:

These are the two guys who did all the work. They cleaned up after themselves and had a good eye for detail. They didn't rush, and they explained everything. All of the work is guaranteed, as is the stove itself.

This is the stove blazing away. You can see the little fire in there. Burn pellets burn!!!!

Here she is, the Queen Victoria Pellet Stove on a Shunn Custom Hearth Pad. Long may she keep us from using Avista!

A blog is like a picture book

2010-10-28T09:21:00.001-07:00

And, therefore, my blog has been rather dry of late, with much chatter and very little pizazz (and even less Mike Piazza).

That said, I don't even have any photos for you today. It is wild out there today! 40mph wind gusts (I know, nothing to top Chicago's "Windocalypse"), tons of rain, charcoal skies, and 35 degree temps. It is fall, and I'm bundling up inside!

There's still a bit going on in the garden, though, so I can at least update you on that...

1. Mulching: A few weeks ago, Shanti thinned out all the trees around our property, and he ran all the branches through our fantabulous chipper-shredder. All of that has become a nice thick mulch for my garden beds. So far, I've stripped out two of the beds and mulched them about 3" thick.

What does mulch do? Insulates the ground below (so your earthworms stay alive during winter), helps your beds retain moisture for much longer, acts as a weed barrier (and the weeds that get through are much easier to find and pull), and slowly breaks down to enrich the soil. The beds that do the best in my garden are the ones that I get around to composting and mulching regularly.

2. Tomatoes: The tomato plants are pulled (except for the cherries, which will get the boot soon), and I recovered about 4 pounds of green tomatoes. I have fried, pickled, roasted and sauced green tomatoes so far.

3. Beans and peas: Strikingly, the beans are producing a lot more than the peas at this point. I have enough beans right now to freeze an entire batch (a gallon freezer bag full), and I get about 1 1/2 cup's worth every day.

4. Cucumbers: There are a couple left on the vines about 2 days from being ready. My refrigerator's crisper drawer is literally full of cukes. I have to get some more lids for my Mason jars, and then I'm ready make my last batch of pickles.

5. Cherry tomatoes: Surprisingly, we're still getting red ripe cherries, and they're huge -- about 2" diameter. If you ever are looking for a cherry tomato variety to settle nicely into your garden, go for the Koralik. It is a huge producer, and it readily self-seeds.

6. Volunteer squash: 3 more pumpkin-like fruit are out there ready to come inside. I'm trying to get them a little larger. One looks like it could be a companion to the white pumpkin that's been on our front porch since September. The others are probably better for eating.

7. Carrots and parsnips: I noticed the growth of the root vegetables has sloooooooooooooooowed down. I may have to wait till December to do any harvesting. The leaves on my overwintering carrots (Merida variety) were picked clean by a greedy blue jay, so I'm hoping they (and the Walla Walla onions I planted by seed in the same box) can recover.

8. Onions, leeks, and garlic: There are about 6 onion bulbs left in the ground. 2 are almost ready for harvest. The leeks will probably be ready in November. The garlic was just planted a couple weeks ago (81 cloves in the ground!), and there is growth from most of them. 100% of this garlic was harvested from my garden, so the cycle on garlic is complete -- this is free garlic. When the plants are a few inches tall, I'll mulch this bed.

9. Starts for spring planting: I started artichoke, hyssop, heartsease violet, and echinacea purpurea. You may remember that I started some echinacea angustifolia in spring. The plants looked like weeds, and I killed them. I may have been hasty, though, and perhaps they were actually echinacea and not weeds. So, I'm trying a different variety.

10. Starts from spring: Of all the seeds I planted in spring that survived to plant stage (not counting all those echinacea I killed), there are 4 feverfew and 1 helichrysum. Yes, that's it. A lot of time and energy to put into so many seeds for such dismal results; however, I can take heart knowing these are perennials that will self-seed. The plants will stay and make more of themselves.

11. The new garden beds: Much of the initial garden bed in the side lawn was taken over by squash, so it looks barren now as I take the fruitless squash vines out. 2 of the 6 iberis survived, and I will supplement these with more. The gaillardia and sedum are still going strong, and we're going to transplant a very vigorous sedum from the back corner of the vegetable garden into this bed. More gaillardia will go in this bed, and I'll try thyme (again -- I have NO luck with thyme at all). I'd also like to try borage and medicinal sage in these beds.

And that's what is going on in my garden this fall.

An overall doggy update

2010-10-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

Some of you have been emailing me and asking about the pups. A) They're doing great and B) They're not doing all that great.

PUCK-a-RONI: Mr. Puck came through his surgery like a champ. 40 minutes under anesthesia is nothing to laugh at, and he was frightened and crying when he came out.

While under, he had a dental cleaning (life on the streets had left him with little black teeth), two suspicious skin lumps removed, and his ears checked. We had this last procedure done, because he won't let anyone check them when he's awake.

Well, his teeth look like tiny pearls now, and his little underbite smile is more charming than ever. He's done with his anti-inflammatory medication now, and his appetite has returned to normal. He is pretty much leaving his stitches alone, and those will be taken out in about 10 days. The ear check was the best idea I've ever had; the doctor found a foxtail in there, and -- since I am obsessive about not letting my dogs near any foxtails -- I suspect it's been in there since before we adopted him!!!! The results of the biopsies on the two tissue removals will be back this Friday. My fingers are crossed, of course, for negative results.

TUCKER JOE: Oh Tucker, I love him so much, but he is so often the bane of my existence. His separation anxiety is getting worse, as is his temper toward The Grey Cat. The Grey Cat is a beautiful fluffy stray that has adopted the family next door. It likes to bathe itself on our front lawn in front of Tucker and Cretia, and both hate it dearly. Cretia smacked it once, and Tucker bit it, but it still sometimes sneaks into our yard. Tucker caught it one morning, chased it over the chain link fence... and pulled out his dewclaw again. No surgery needed this time, but he's been bandaged up for more than a week with antiseptic salve and antibiotics. He persists in obsessively licking the bandage.

To make matters worse, he has been attacking the curtains again in my absence, and last Wednesday, the whole curtain -- rod and all -- fell on him. That was sort of the curtain call for his poor dewclaw. We may have the dewclaw removed when he has his teeth cleaned next year, or not. The separation anxiety is the bigger problem, and we are going to our last resort: drugs. For the next 3 months, Tucker will be on antidepressant medication, which has been shown to relieve separation anxiety in dogs.

For those against to this decision: trust me, I'm way ahead of you. This is the absolute last resort. In the end, though, there's very little damage the drugs can do to him that he isn't already doing to himself both physically and mentally. Beyond the dewclaw damage and the toll of over $600 in chewed up drapery and seatbelts, this is a dog who has broken off both of his bottom canines trying to chew through a metal crate. He has also done irreparable damage to his front paws trying to dig his way through a plastic crate. That doesn't even touch on the stress and anxiety he causes himself, believing every time I leave that I am not returning. And now his stress attacks are starting to affect Puck; I've seen him start to shiver when I leave now.

So there you have it -- waiting on biopsies, starting antidepressants. Both are cute as ever though!

WTH Happened to the Hooking?

2010-10-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

You may (or may not) have noticed that I haven't blogged about any crocheting in quite some time. Are my hooks dust-covered? Am I out of yarn? Have I given up hooking altogether?

No, no (thank god) and no.

Sometime in September, I fell into gift-making mode. All of the projects on which I'm currently working are gifts, so I can't share any of them with you.

I can tell you I've been busy. And that "Twirling 'Round The Hook" updates will return after I'm done with all the gifties.

Happy Hooking!

Wood Stove. Pellet Stove. Natural Gas.

2010-10-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

I just want to heat my house.

Here's the deal: our house (1,100 sq. ft.) already has a natural gas forced air central heater. For the heating season, which starts up a bit in October and tapers off by the end of June, we spend $450/year on average. Any months we're not using the heater, we pay Avista $6.70 per month for the glory of having a meter in our yard.

To clarify further, we keep our house around 65 degrees during the winter. Why so chilly? First off, when it's 30 degrees outside, 65 is not chilly. Secondly, we own sweaters, and I have many, many afghans for when we're on the couch. Thirdly, keeping your home at 75 or above is not only wasting money, it's an incredible waste of resources that are not renewable. Lastly, going from 30 degrees into 75 degrees and back out to 30 degrees -- wonder why you get so many colds, bronchitis and sinus infections in the winter? The temp change is just too much.

For health reasons, we don't run the heater at all when we're sleeping. Forced, heated air is not conducive to clear breathing, and I like breathing when I sleep. I also like waking up without a bloody nose or migraine.

Last week, Avista customers all received a letter stating that -- while gas prices are going down -- we'll all be charged more. Yey! That's when I said to Shanti, "Let's look into getting a wood stove."

So, we toddled over to Phoenix and visited Home Comfort. I chose this place, because they're locally owned, they have a decent selection, and they do the installations themselves (other places used a 3rd party installation force).

Wood stoves, especially the cast iron ones, are gorgeous. Pacific Energy is one of the big boys out here, and they offer a full line of cast iron and steel wood stoves, fireplaces and inserts. You can get modern ones that look like an oven and a TV had a baby. You can get retro designs that look like they've been plucked from a log cabin:

This little guy is just big enough to heat up to 1,500 sq. ft. It runs about $1,500. Plus another $1,000 for installation and all the extra piping we'll need to get it up through the attic and out the roof (avoiding the solar panels). So, $2,500 for the stove (there are Oregon and U.S. tax credits, but let's not address that now).

A cord of wood (128 cubic feet of wood) runs about $200 including delivery. To heat our house will probably take about 4-5 cords over the winter. We have a small house, and the temperature does not generally get below 25 during the day. It could take more wood, and it could take less. But, assuming 4 cords, that's $800 for wood.

And we'd have to store that wood. And we could really only store a cord at a time (unless we want to store 4 cords of wood on the driveway). And bugs will move into the wood. And there are HUGE variances between types of wood and how long it's been seasoned. And, I don't know how I feel about burning oak and madrone -- these are native hardwoods that are rapidly losing growing space to the ever-greedier real estate developers (there's such a nasty place in hell for developers who build on raw land).

So what's a girl to do? Enter the Mini:

This is a pellet stove. It's steel, not cast iron, and it's cool to the touch. No radiant heat, but no getting burnt or burning the walls. It's about $1,000 more -- $3,500 for pipes, installation, and stove. Also eligible for the tax credits, the net price is about $2,200.

What does it burn? Wood pellets, a by-product of the lumber industry. Sawdust is re-captured and pressed into these:

It looks like rabbit food or kitty litter. These pellets come in 50 pound bags, and you can buy them by the ton, which -- for people who hate math -- is 40 bags. You can imagine that storing 40 fifty-pound bags is much easier (and cleaner) than the wood storage issue. A ton of wood pellets is $180, about $4/bag. We'll probably have to buy 3 tons during a heating season, or $540, which is about $100 more than we pay for gas. Pellets burn far more efficiently than wood, and their CO2 emissions are far less.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because no one I knew had or knew anything about wood stoves or pellet stoves. No one could tell me how much a cord of wood is, or how much wood or pellets we would need. No one could tell me what the tax credits were or even if we could get a stove installed in the middle of our house.

This is at least basic information. I think we're going to move forward with the pellet stove. Even if it's a supplement to gas heating, I like this idea a lot more. There's no monopoly on wood pellets (they're used all over Europe, and there are a lot of companies that make them), so costs can not be manipulated by utility monopolies or unsavory commissions (don't even get me started on Oregon's Public Utilities Commission, a glad-handing group of politicos and hangers-on who like being bribed by Avista and Pacific Power). If the cost of wood pellets goes up, it's due to supply and demand. And I don't have to pay any service fees for heating my house with pellets.

To recap, with a pellet stove, our best hope is to break even on heating costs. We will not recoup the cost of the stove, BUT the cost of it is a tax write-off, and I'm sure it will contribute to value of the house when we do sell it in the future.

If we do get the stove installed (and I'm leaning toward YES right now), I will upload photos.

Garden Dinner

2010-10-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

I probably don't need to tell you that summer is done, fall is reigning supreme... and there have already been early morning frost warnings here.

Fall means it's time to figure out what to do with all that monstrous summer squash you have (really? a 3-pound zucchini?) and all those green tomatoes that will never ripen. If you're like me, you agree that all food is best either a) fried or b) dipped in chocolate (or c: both), so what could I do except have Shanti fry it up?

With vegetables that have lots of liquid, you want to get as much out as possible. Liquid + hot oil = you getting splattered. Not cool. So, slice your zucchinis, toss them in salt and let them drain for about an hour in a colander. You'll be amazed at how much water is in there!

Slice up your green tomatoes and dredge them in flour along with your drained zucchini slices. Dredging is another important step to take with "wet" veggies; it provides an important drying layer between the hot oil and any moisture in the vegetable. Dump those veggies into the flour!

The next step is to coat the floured vegetables in something to which the outside crust will adhere and have enough protein to act as a binding agent. Milk and eggs are the most popular. I use a mix of both. Floured veggies into the milk/egg mixture and then into the crusty bits.

For the outer layer, I used plain cornmeal for the tomatoes and bread crumbs for the zucchini. Cornmeal mixed with salt, pepper and garlic powder is good too, and you can add dried herbs (oregano!) to the bread crumbs as well.

Now for the frying...

Shanti does all my frying, because I'm just too jumpy around boiling oil. We always use the cast iron for frying, because it heats evenly and is thick enough to keep things from burning and sticking to the bottom.

Shanti says the trick is to heat about 1/2" oil on high. When you think it's ready, toss in a crumb; if the crumb sizzles, you're in business. You don't want to crowd the pan (making it hard to turn the pieces over, as well as bringing down the temperature of the oil) or leave too many crumbs in there (they'll burn). Tomatoes fry up in a couple of minutes, and zucchinis fry up quicker. Using tongs, check the bottoms, and when they're ready, turn them over.

When both sides are done (only turn once -- you don't want to be turning the pieces over and over again), drain off the extra oil into the pan and place the slices on newspaper.

For cheap newspaper (like the daily newspaper), line with paper towels. This newsprint doesn't smudge on my finger, and I'm pretty lax about these kinds of things. Germophobes and AR types can just use paper towel. When the slices have cooled down, sprinkle with some rock salt and enjoy!

We went one step further, though. I had a half jar of the tomato sauce I canned up over the weekend, so I heated that up and poured it over the slices:

Oh my god! This was too good for words!

Shanti went one step further and topped his with shredded mozzarella, making a sort of poor man's parmigiana dish:

He also took this photo. :-)

So what's cooking in your kitchen?

40 Pounds of Tomatoes

2010-10-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

I love food. I love fresh food. And I love free, fresh food. So, when I am asked if I want to pick tomatoes for free at a farm, I always answer, "Yes."

The photo above is 40 pounds of tomatoes: a mix of roma-style, beefsteak-style, and small round tomatoes that resemble Medfords. What do you do with 40 pounds of tomatoes?

Can, can and can some more.

First, they all had to be washed and sorted by variety. It turned out I had enough beefsteaks to can those on their own. I apologize for all the remaining photos; they are all of exceedingly poor quality.

10 pounds of beefsteaks yielded 4 quarts of canned tomatoes. These are skinned, chopped, plopped into the jars with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, filled in with water up to the 1/2" headspace line and put in the water bath.

Next on the list was ketchup. The recipe for this came from the awesome site You Grow Girl. Even if you don't can, I strongly suggest you make your own ketchup just once -- even if you just store it in the fridge. The smell is amazing, and I look forward to putting some of this on tater tots. The only downside is it never thickened up, so that "Anticipation" song doesn't fit my homemade condiment.

Finally, I made up 6+ pints of garlic-basil pasta sauce, a recipe from Ball's Fresh Preserving site. I usually don't need a recipe for pasta sauce, but for canning, you want to use a recipe. Botulism is not considered an added benefit when consuming home-canned goods.

If all that wasn't enough, I also made this year's batch of El Cholo's Famous Green Corn Tamales, which I perfected and was able to make on my own.

Today I'll be shredding, draining and freezing the gargantuan summer squash my neighbor gave me, and making/freezing pesto.

So what have I canned this year? Tomatoes, ketchup, pasta sauce, salsa, pickles, raspberry jam, strawberry jam and blackberry jam. Not a bad haul at all!

What do you have cooking in your kitchen?

3-Day For the Cure Seattle 2010

2010-10-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

So, last week Shanti and I participated in the Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure. We walked 60 miles in 3 days with 2,480 other walkers in an event that raised $6 million. 15 cities will host this event, and more than $100 million will be raised.

On a personal level, this event is life-changing. I'm not the same person I was before I participated in 2006, and I know Shanti isn't the same person he was before doing the The Walk this year.

For all of you wondering, I'll give you a summary of what we experienced over the 3 days, and a link to our photos is at the end.

(Before we even flew up to Seattle, we were getting tons of support! Chika and Miles surprised us at the airport with hugs and a 2 Babes & A Boob flag.)

We woke up at 4:30 AM on Day 1 in the Red Lion Inn, so we'd have time to get breakfast with hundreds of other sleepy peeps decked out in pink. Then we took a bus to Opening Ceremony at 60 Acres Park. It was chilly and dark, and I couldn't believe I was doing this walk again!

As the sun rose and the sky turned a gorgeous 3-Day Pink, Opening Ceremony began. Thank you to all our sponsors, tear-jerking speeches to remind us why we're here, then 8 survivors who are walking take up 8 flags to the center stage. Each of these flags bears the name of a group of people who we have lost "Grandmothers" "Daughters" "Spouses" etc. There's lots of crying.

And then suddenly we're walking! Now, don't go thinking we walk 20 endless miles each day. This is an example of a day's schedule:

Lots of pit stops! So what's a pit stop? It's where you get water, Gatorade (available in 4 yummy flavors), potato chips, granola bars, pretzels, etc. And port-a-potties, lots and lots of port-a-potties! The theme of the 3Day is "Drink, pee, no I.V.!" Seriously, I was drinking 4 liters of water every day, plus Gatorade. We'd eat at least 2 bags of chips each day to keep our sodium levels up, and we'd pee at EVERY pit stop. That's how you stave off dehydration and kidney failure. 60 miles is hard enough!

In addition to the chips and such were these awesome graham-wiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiched between two graham crackers and wrapped up like an ice cream sandwich. OH MY GOD!!!! You can't eat enough of those! (Although we were sick of them by Day 2!)

Day 1 took us from Opening Ceremony (in Bothell?) to camp (near Boeing Field?) -- I know we walked through Woodinville. So, you walk 22.5 miles... and then you have to set up your tent and unpack. Camp is a sea of pink tents in front of a virtual city: food tents, drink tents, shower trucks, banks of port-a-potties, a place to play BINGO, a tent to get massages, and remembrance tents for those walkers who aren't with us anymore.

We ate, showered, collected our mail and PASSED OUT! Collected our mail? Yes, because our friends and family could pre-send us letters of encouragement directly to a post office tent at camp! We got 3 letters from my parents, 2 from Shannon, and a letter each from Katy, Kelly, Ina, Grandma & Papa, and the Conrads (if I forgot anyone, I'm very sorry!!!!). We spread out these letters to last the whole 3 days, and they really lifted our spirits and helped us push beyond the pain.

So... Day 2. Now, you'd be thinking Day 3 is the worst. WRONG! The 3 days are front-loaded, so you walk 22.5 miles on Days 1 & 2 and only 15 on Day 3. So, Day 2 is just as long as Day 1, but you are dog-tired. And sore. And all those blisters you didn't prepare for are ripe. And my pinky toe was unhappy!

Day 2 is a loop that begins and ends in camp. Our route took us through beautiful Everett. Many many people came out to cheer us on and pass out water, hugs, breakfast burritos, candy, and cookies. An entire block leading up to lunch was dedicated to Mama Fox, who passed away in 2008 after an 11-year fight with breast cancer. The sidewalks are lined with photos of her with family, and her family and friends are clapping and cheering and thanking all the walkers.

A note on cheering. Imagine if, everywhere you walked, people lined the streets and thanked you. That is the 3 day. Every single mile packed with survivors in wheelchairs, widows with their children, children with signs that say "Thank You For Giving Me a Cancer-Free Future." You laugh and you cry, and you can't believe people are thanking you for putting one foot in front of the other. I wish we could have had some of our family there to cheer us on like we had at San Diego, but even the thank you's from strangers warmed our hearts and pushed us onward.

Back to Day 2... So, at lunch, I opened up my shoes to discover my pinky toe was now in the shape of a cube, rather than a cylinder. I cried and told Shanti I wasn't giving up. We ate lunch, and Shanti bandaged me up as best he could, and we limped the 2.5 miles to the next pit stop. Thank goodness there was a medical tent there!!! The ROCKIN' RN there had the superb idea of turning my right shoe into a convertible. Just cutting out the part where the pinky toe was. And that, my friends, did the trick. So, I walked the remainder of Day 2 and all of Day 3 wearing a new ASICS on my left foot and an old convertible New Balance on my right. :-)

Coming back to camp on Day 2 was very, very emotional. I cried the last mile, because -- when I did the 3-Day in 2006 -- I couldn't finish Day 2 due to a golf-ball-sized blister on my heel. Those 1.5 miles I didn't finish in '06 have haunted me ever since, so I was damned determined to finish Day 2!!!

A 1:00AM between Days 2 and 3, the rain started. We were prepared for this, with a tarp over our tent, our suitcases packed and inside the tent with us, and everything else wrapped in garbage bags and ziplocs. Plus, the sound of the pouring rain drowned out that woman who snored non-stop all night! But, getting up on the morning of Day 3 in the rain, breaking down the tent (and throwing away our air mattress that had a hole in it), slugging through the mud to get breakfast, and then getting on the bus... yeah, not so much fun. They bussed us to somewhere in Redmond, and that's where Day 3 began.

Like I said, Day 3 is only 15.7 miles, but you have to walk up and over Capitol Hill to get there. Capitol Hill, by the way, is the tallest hill in Seattle. Isn't that nice? Well, the weather was awful, but the neighborhoods were gorgeous, and our arrival at lunch meant we were in the final stretch. Dooooowwwwwwn into Seattle's downtown, along the water, back uuuuuuuuuppppppp through the Seattle Art Museum's sculpture garden and on to Seattle Center. Our finish line was right in front of Memorial Stadium, which sits almost at the base of the Space Needle. The whole final mile was clapping and cheering, and I cried the whole way.

When we finally got to the finish line, we were directed down below the stadium, where we collected our stylish white shirts and waited. At 4PM, we were positioned at the outside of the stadium in rows of 10, and first the walkers filed in. The stands of the stadium were filled with supporters, family members, and friends -- all the people that had cheered us on all 3 days. Once we were all in, then came the Crew members: all the medical personnel, the people who staffed the pit stops, the people who fed us and helped us through traffic. Finally, in came the Survivors, and they always get special pink shirts, and we all take off and hold up one shoe to show that we walk with them.

Everything finished with the flag ceremony and some more tear-jerking speeches, and then we were DONE! Shanti and I stayed at the Hilton that night, and we ate room service till we burst. :-)

For photos of most everything I mentioned here, this is the slide show:

Morning's Harvest

2010-09-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me recently what a normal daily harvest is for me. I was incredibly cavalier about my answer... something to the effect of "there's nothing normal about the garden ever." Snottiness aside, it is hard for me to judge what a "normal" daily pull is for many reasons:

1. Time of year: Lettuce all day long in March, but tomatoes all day long in September.
2. Plants are finicky: I haven't pulled any slicing or saucing tomatoes in 3 days. Today, one plant offered up 3 San Marzanos. Personally, I think they're waiting until the 3-Day, when I won't be able to harvest for 5 days.
3. The gardener is not normal: I may pick beans and raspberries in the morning, but wait for cherry tomatoes to ripen in the afternoon; therefore, it's hard to figure out what I'm bringing in every day.

I also wasn't sure if the person meant variety, weight, or sheer size/numbers.

Either way, the photo above represents this morning's harvest, and I'd say this is typical. What isn't shown are the raspberries I ate before I got in the house (we're getting about a dozen a day, which is our largest harvest yet) and the squash (about a foot in diameter) that I was too lazy to get the clippers to remove.

On a side note, aren't those Romas sad looking? If you remember, all my home-started seedlings died/were murdered in the late frost, so I had to go by 2 San Marzano plants and a pony-pack of Medfords. One of the San Marzanos has a mutation such that all its fruit are about 25% smaller than normal, and they are shaped like curvaceous women: thin-waisted but big on top and bottom.

As for the cukes, I'll probably have enough by Monday to make the first batch of cucumbers. My produce drawer is almost full!

What's growing in your garden?

Scared as Hell

2010-09-15T14:29:00.001-07:00

In less than 2 weeks, I will be attempting -- for the 2nd crazy time in my life -- to walk 60 miles over 3 days.

I'm usually more comfortable with situations I've been through before; I'm a big fan of "the known" over "the unknown." In this case, though, I think ignorance would be sheer bliss.

See, even though I made it to the finish line in 2006 in San Diego, I was 2 miles short of the mark on Day 2. So, technically I walked 58 miles in 3 days. Splitting hairs? I don't think so, because I remember how I felt. Not the pain, but the shame of having to give up.

I'm really worried I'll have to give up at a certain point during this 3-Day. Our 18/15 training walk was a real eye opener, because -- by mile 10 on the 2nd day -- I was hobbling. Shanti was walking great, but I was moving about 2 miles an hour. If that.

I've been having some problems with the pinky toe on my right foot. No matter what shoes, what socks, how much moleskin, how many blister Band-Aids, toe caps galore... that dumb pinky toe keeps sliding under what I'm calling the ring toe. By the end of that 18/15, my pinky toe had a discernible callous in the shape of a sharp crease.

My pinky toe is about 1/2" long and just about that wide. How is it the smallest digit on my body can hobble me so?

So, I'm scared as hell I'll have to take the sweep van halfway into Day 2. I mean, I'm Team Captain of 2 Babes & a Boob; how will it look if I'm the one who has to give up?

I try to remember why I'm doing this, though. We all have reasons, and I think mine are the most selfish. Yes, it's a good cause, but I'm doing this for how I felt when I crossed that finish line.

I'd never felt so accomplished in my life.

I really want to feel like that again, so I'm driving myself to do this. I'm scared as hell I'll fail: high stakes mean the possibility of high loss. 2 weeks from now, we'll all know if my long bet pays off.

In the meantime, I'm scared as hell.

Rockin' Tomato Sauce

2010-09-08T09:27:00.001-07:00

So, there are seemingly nine million ways to make tomato sauce, and we all have our favorites. Usually I go the lazy-girl's route and chop up tomatoes, sautée with onions & garlic, throw in some seasoning, and throw over pasta. I mean, fresh tomatoes... how could I go wrong?

But the other night, I actually followed a recipe (sort of). This is a bastardized version of the tomato sauce found in Nina Simonds' Spices of Life cookbook, which is a good collection of healthy recipes for omnivores (I got it as a subscriber gift from good ol' KCRW).

Rockin' Tomato Sauce

28 ounces of a Roma-style tomato (peeled & roughly chopped)
2 TBSP EVOO
1 TBSP crushed garlic (yes, there is a lot of garlic in here)
1 teaspoon of chili flakes (less if you're not a fan of the spicy)
A handful of roughly chopped fresh oregano (or basil or some other herb you like in your sauce -- go with fresh on this one)
Salt & pepper to taste

Do you know how to peel tomatoes? Large pot of boiling water, cut a small X in the non-stem-side of each 'mater. Plop into boiling water for 2-5 minutes, plop into bowl of cold water, slip skin off.

Heat olive oil in a large, heavy skillet (yey, cast iron or Le Creuset!) and then sautée garlic and chili flakes for a few seconds until fragrant. Dump in chopped tomatoes and cook over medium-high, stirring frequently, until tomato juice has thickened up -- use your wooden spoon to break the tomato pieces up. After 15-20 minutes, toss in oregano, stir around, cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt & pepper and enjoy over pasta.

These are the tomatoes I used. San Marzanos (and that one Medford on the left), which are a roma-style favored in Italy for sauces and pastes. Very little juice.

Oregano grows like a weed in our garden. It would grow like a weed in your garden too, I'm sure. A woody perennial that likes to spread, one oregano plant will provide you with enough fresh herb to last all year long. Just make sure to cut it down to the ground every winter.

Yey! Garlic! This is Chesnok Red, a large-bulbed hardneck I grew (along with German Porcelain and Chet's Italian Purple). The flavor is on the mild side, but it stores great like all hardnecks.

The finished product. We ate all of this in one night. I'm going to make some more and freeze it for later. Very, very yummers.

What's cookin' in your kitchen?

Brie, Brews & Beachside Napping

2010-09-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we took Puck for his first camping trip. He was great, and both dogs had a great time hunting chipmunks and squirrels. As for Shanti and me, we did nothing. We didn't hike, we didn't really explore, we just enjoyed doing nothing. And, since the 3-Day is only 3 weekends away, this wasn't such a bad thing.

The weather was really pleasant, with chilly nights just perfect for a roaring fire. The campsite was a bit noisy, but we got 3 nights of restful sleep. Every morning, we went down to the marina for a cup of their (awful) coffee, and we watched the boats go out from the docks. On the 2nd day, we took a small hike (more like a 4-mile stroll), and that's when we found the little sheltered beach by our campsite.

We spent all of Day 3 at the little sheltered beach. We brought a spankin' picnic lunch of champignon brie, Cambozola, crackers, homebrews, Oreos, and peaches. The doggies had food and water, but they preferred to beg for cheese and hunt chipmunks. We spent 7 hours at the little beach.

It was -- IMO -- the best camping trip we ever took. Very relaxing, very enjoyable!

Short Interlude

2010-08-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

While I listen to the implosion that is a Cubs' game these days (20 games below .500 right now), I will share with you some happier things!

We recently got this new bird feeder. 4 feeder socks attach to that dome thing at the top, so you can fill up a ton of bird seed. This is for finches, so we use nyjer thistles. This picture shows 11 or 12 finches attached, but usually there are 30+ birds feeding away with another 2 dozen in the trees above. Very Hitchcockian.

How sickeningly cute is this? They're being good little boys while we leave the house. But snuggling? How adorable!

Lots and lots and lots of green eggs! I have more than 3 dozen in the fridge now. We'll be good and set to make holiday cookies. I usually start those in October and freeze them.

This is the soup I made last night. The carrots, potatoes, green beans, onions and garlic all came from the garden. The broth is half vegetable bouillon and half Woodshed Red beer.

And that's what's putting a smile on my face in this dismal baseball season.

If you don't crochet, you won't get it

2010-08-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

I know Crochet is a Tuesday topic, but I must speak my mind today!

Interweave Crochet is pretty much THE magazine for crocheters. There are others (Crochet! and Crochet Today), but IC is known throughout the community for having the most fashion-forward and sophisticated patterns. Plus, they have articles on arcane techniques (hairpin, Tunisian, double-sided) and the history of crochet.

IC comes out once a quarter. So, I only get 4 issues a year. Mind you, I can't keep up with the 80 or so patterns I get now, so it would do me no good for IC to arrive more frequently. So imagine my surprise when 7 of the 24 patterns in the Fall issue turned out to be knit with crochet embellishments. For crocheters, this is a shocking statement. For everyone else, you're thinking, "Who cares?"

BACKGROUND...

Everyone knows what knitting is. Your grandma had two pointy sticks attached to a ball of yarn, and she'd go clackity clack, and you'd get a sweater. That's knitting.

Crochet is the one with the hook. Just one hook, that's all crochet is.

We all use yarn, though, so it's unnerving how many times I will walk into a yarn store, only to be asked, "What are you knitting?" I don't knit. I don't want to learn. Actually, I did learn once, and it bored me to tears.

I have heard stories of crocheters being told that the yarn in a store was "only for knitting." Most yarn stores only carry one or two crochet books and very few hooks. Until recently, the Barnes & Noble didn't even carry Interweave Crochet.

I don't hate knitters or knitting, but I crochet, and I subscribe to a crocheting magazine. If I quilted, and I subscribed to Quilting Today, I wouldn't want to find that a third of the patterns in my next issue showed how to cross-stitch.

For the guys: If you subscribe to VW Monthly, you don't want 7 articles on how to work on a Chevy. Yes, they're both cars, but they're not the same.

Will IC carry combination knitting and crocheting patterns in the future? I don't know. I sure as hell hope not. Can I live with one special combination issue? Yes. Am I angry? No, just wary.

The boards on Ravelry are aflame with nastiness over this. Just to clarify, a column in Knitting Daily a while back featured crochet (just one column), and the knitters went OFF. The animosity is there; I hate when knitters see that I'm crocheting and just have to tell me that they don't crochet. I didn't ask. I don't care. I don't use pointy sticks, so move on.

Knitters think crochet is nothing more than an embellishment to their work. That all we make is doilies and granny squares. I don't know if knitting embellishment is possible, but I can construct an entire sweater in crochet and add pretty frills or flowers. I can make lacy garments or thick sweaters. With my one hook, I can crochet the world. I don't need to knit, and I don't particularly want it in my crocheting magazine.

Crochet Revolution!

3-Day Update: Let's talk about feet!

2010-08-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

We are just 7 weekends away from walking 60 miles in 3 days. That is shockingly close, isn't it?

People are starting to chime in with advice (it's been really cute, actually), so I thought I'd let you in on what we do to our feet to prevent blisters, hot spots, turf toe, fungal infections, foot cramps, and other injuries.

1. No pedicures! 6 months of solid training has produced some yummy calluses (callouses?), and while these are ugly as sin, they are protection. Like the way a stegosaurus is protected by its tough outer shell. Yes, I am a dinosaur.

2. Vaseline is your friend. Don't get me wrong: I hate all petroleum by-products, but Vaseline forms the perfect layer between your skin and your sock to prevent rubbing. Rubbing is bad. There is also a product out there called Body Glide (not the sex lube by the same name), but it contains triclosan, an antibacterial. Don't get me started on the dangers of using non-prescription antibacterials.

3. Moleskin, sports Band-Aids, Blister Block Band-Aids, and medical tape are essential. We also have Second Skin which stops hot spots from turning into blisters.

4. Cornstarch is magic. After about 10 miles, any part of your body where two pieces of skin come together turns into a sweaty hot mess. Cornstarch goes EVERYWHERE two pieces of skin come together. We look like human powdered doughnuts.

5. Silicone toe caps, where have you been all my life? This goes on my right pinky toe, which likes to "hide" under the ring toe. My pinky toe is now square-shaped, rather than cylindrical.

6. Shoes, none of which are perfect. My ASICS do a great job of supporting my arches and keeping me light on my feet. They also do a great job letting my pink toe do that slide thing under the ring toe. So, even though I have my brand new ASICS, I'll be using my old New Balance at the walk.

7. Finally, socks. You can't have enough moisture-wicking, super padded non-cotton socks. We have about $300 in Thorlos between the two of us. But the coolest socks? The Injinji toe socks:

Aren't those funky? They're partly made with bamboo, so they wick moisture away like a champ, and their little toe compartments stop in-between-toe-blisters from happening (you'd be surprised where blisters pop up around 13 miles). Shanti loves his Injinjis so much that he wears them on a day-to-day basis. Mine are, of course, in fashionable 3-Day pink.

FYI, Shanti is still about $450 away from the mark, so pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease donate!!!!!

Roasted PumpkinZini Soup

2010-08-04T18:47:00.001-07:00

This blog posting and recipe (and mutant squash hybrid) were featured in this month's Grow Your Own Roundup over at Andrea Meyers Cooking, Gardening & Four Hungry Guys. You should go over there and see what else people are growing (and eating) all around the world!

WTH is a PumpkinZini?

This is a PumpkinZini. Squashes and zucchinis are notoriously non-monogamous. They will cross-pollinate with each other flagrantly, and they hybridize within the same generation. So, if a female pumpkin flower is pollinated by a male zucchini flower, you have a PumpkinZini. Shaped like a pumpkin, with pumpkin-like flesh and seeds inside, the skin is zucchini thin.

What do you do when you have cross-pollinated PumpkinZinis? You make some soup!

Shunn Garden PumpkinZini Soup

2 smallish summer squash (any variety will do)
olive oil
1 head of garlic (we used Chesnok Red from our garden)
3 small onions or 1 large (we used the onions from our garden)
1 cup of broth or stock (it doesn't matter in this case, because you are using so little; you can use water or even beer or wine if you want)

Cut the squashes in half, remove the seeds, and rub with olive oil.

Roast at 425 for about 45 minutes.

While the squashes are roasting, roast up one head of garlic. I love this electric garlic roaster. It cost about $40, and it roasts up 2-3 heads in 20 minutes. If you don't have a garlic roaster, cut off the top 1/3 of the bulb, rub oil on the cut surfaces, wrap it in aluminum foil and put it on the roasting pan with the squash.

After the squash and garlic are done, let them cool enough so you can handle them. While you're waiting, slice the onion very thinly. When the squash and garlic are cool enough, scoop out the flesh and squeeze the cloves into a bowl.

Caramelize the onion slices in the bottom of a Dutch oven (or other heavy pot) in some olive oil. Medium hot burner for about 20 minutes. Then put the onions, squash and garlic into your food processor and purée away.

Put everything back into the Dutch oven with the cup of broth and heat up.

Enjoy! I've topped mine with homemade herbed croutons, but any garnish or addition of herbs would be good. Maybe even crispy onions!

That's what's cookin' in my kitchen. Yummmmm!

Medford is finally getting a food co-op!

2010-08-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

So this is a great time to discuss what a co-op is, and why it's different than a supermarket.

When the Mail-Tribune ran an article several months ago about the Medford Food Co-op, all the struggles it's been through, and what the goals were, someone commented on the Mail Tribune's website that "we don't need a co-op" and that it's a "hippy" and "communist" thing.

Wow. Talk about being far off base.

A co-op is a member-owned retail establishment. It can be a food co-op, like Ashland has. Or a farm co-op, like the Grange. A credit union is similar to a co-op, but without the paid membership.

So, you buy a membership to a co-op (usually $100), and that makes you a voting owner. You can run for the board (which is elected regularly by the owners), you can vote for other things which may come up (such as fund allocation or moving locations). Voting is not very communist, at least it wasn't in the USSR. Now, you're thinking, "Ok, I pay a membership to Costco. Is that a co-op?" No. A co-op member fee is one time, and once you spend the member fee amount in the store (so, that $100), you are entitled to that money back. Although, that would mean you wouldn't be an owner anymore.

Now, unlike Costco, non-members can shop in the co-op, but they don't get many of the benefits. Like regularly mailed coupons. And profit. Profit isn't very communist either; that's definitely a capitalist thing. See, a co-op isn't a non-profit; it's a business set up to cater specifically to its owners (again, not very communist). The Ashland Food Co-op, which started in the late 60s as a buying club, is owned by members who have made AFC's mission to A) provide the healthiest, most local food and goods at a price that anyone in the neighborhood can afford, B) use some profits to contribute to the community, either through charities or by installing solar panels or by paying their employees a decent wage, and C) to function as a profitable establishment. The AFC's free cash flow (meaning, they're not in debt) is such that I receive a dividend check every year, AND there is enough left over to pay for store upgrades. Free Cash Flow is not a communist thing either; it's the first item I look at on a company's balance sheet when I invest.

So, a co-op can be the best of all possible worlds: it can contribute to the community, it can provide the freshest foods and goods to that community, it can turn a profit, and it can grow based on what the owners decide.

If that's a "hippy" thing, count me in!

Welcome to Medford, co-op shoppers!

Thoughts of cheap eats

2010-07-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

So, because of the 3-day, we never have enough time, energy or money. Every weekend is training, I'm dead tired from all the training, and I've spent more money on footwear and foot accessories this year than I have in my entire life.

All this training makes a gal hungry, though! So, what do you make with very little money, very little effort, and very little time? Keep in mind it has to be filling and healthy.

Casserole. And it just so happens I've designed the perfect one-dish-meal casserole.

The "I'm Sick Of Training" Casserole

1 medium onion
2 medium potatoes
3 medium zucchini (or summer squash)
1 cup of uncooked brown rice (rinsed if need be)
2 cups of broth or stock (I can never remember the difference, and I'm sure either would be fine)
1 cup of shredded cheese (any kind you want)

olive oil
salt

1. Slice up the zucchini into 1/4" thick coins. Toss in a couple tablespoons of salt and put in a colander for at least 45 minutes. You want as much liquid to come off as possible.

2. Slice onion very thinly and toss into 10" or 12" skillet on medium heat with about 2 TBSP olive oil. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and caramelize for about 20 minutes. The onion should be dark brown but not from getting burnt.

3. In a 9" x 13" casserole pan place the rice (uncooked) and the 2 cups of broth. Layer the potatoes over this, then the caramelized onions, then the drained zucchini slices.

4. Bake in 375 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. You want the rice cooked, but you don't want to burn the vegetables.

5. Sprinkle cheese over and put back in the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

You'd think this would last long, yet after training walks we'll inhale about half of this. This one-dish meal provides lots of veggies, carbs in the form of potato and whole grain brown rice, salt for electrolytes, and fat and protein with the cheese.

It's super yum too and can be customized to fit even more vegetables. Asparagus and green beans are good additions. Happy eating!

Looking Forward to 2011

2010-07-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

The gardening season for 2010 isn't over by a long shot, but here at the end of all things (I have viciously stolen this phrase from Return of the King, and I use it often without reference) it's a good time to assess what went right and wrong this season... and what I'd like for next season.

1. You can't predict the weather. Who would have thought we'd get so much rain this year? And then, who would have thought we'd get none at all? Carrots, lettuce, cabbage, peas all thrived in the temperate and wet environment. Pole beans and tomatoes are incredibly sluggish; we still have no bean pods, no cucumbers and no red tomatoes.

2. Bring in the old with the new. We were missing a few old stand-bys on our plate this year: shelling peas, purple beans and edamame. I grew the beans and edamame strictly for seed, and I grew snap peas instead of shellers. Due to early frost, we won't be eating any of the tomato seeds I planted, but we'll be trying San Marzanos for the first time. New additions to the garden this year also included Cobham Improved Marrow parsnips (less spicy than others we've had, but far less stringy) and Chantenay carrots (a gift from my dad & mom). Next season I want to add in artichokes (we lost ours in winter when the temperatures got down to 15 degrees) and kohlrabi.

3. Food is just one aspect of the garden. In 2008, I spent a shocking $200 on seeds. Since one of my goals with the garden is cutting down our grocery bill, it was just outright foolish to blow a wad like that. So, my primary goal this year has been seed saving. With the neverending showers of late spring followed by the blast of heat, many plants grew full and then immediately bolted. This meant easy seed harvesting for arugula, mesclun mix, Chinese cabbage and mizuna. I also saved out a section of the Cascadia snap peas, and I'm growing purple beans and edamame just for seed saving. Of course, with the huge production of seeds in the garden, I full expect self-sown lettuce and cabbage everywhere next spring.

4. Free is best. Every year, I've come to expect vegetable plants sprouting everywhere I never planted them. One of my worst weeds is tomato. And that's fine. This year we got free cherry tomatoes (Koralik? Chocolate cherry?), squash (maybe watermelons), at least one pumpkin, and dill. The pole beans and the one watermelon plant growing are courtesy of seeds I saved from last year's harvest, so they're free too. Finally, Territorial Seeds gave me a free packet of Nantes carrots to plant for food bank donation, and I donated one bunch with another on the way soon. Next season, I'm hoping to devote a larger space to donation carrots.

5. Mulching is an art form. I tried leftover chicken straw as a mulch, but it didn't do a great job at weed prevention. Next season I'm going to try paper shreddings. I read in Mother Earth News that you can lay down the paper shreddings, then water them to provide a weed mat that will still let water in. We'll see how well it does at keeping weeds out!

6. Summer and spring aren't the only growing seasons. This year, I started planting back in February, but I'll try stretching that into January with some indoor lighting options and better use of the greenhouse. I just put in an overwintering carrot (Merida) and overwintering Walla Walla onions. In August, I'll plant a final set of Chinese cabbage and some lettuce to take us through the first few frosts. The greenhouse and some experimentation in the future with cold frames should help use stretch our growing out to 9 or 10 months.

And that's the scoop on my garden!

Just too tired

2010-07-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to give a real blog entry, but here's what we've done since my last post:

Friday night we went to The Britt and saw Jamie Cullum. This is the second time we've seen him, and he was even better than when we saw him at Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. Unfortunately, because we already had plans to see Jamie Cullum, we missed Eric & Vera's going away party.

Saturday morning I woke up and made a captain's decision that we weren't training. So we slept in, had some breakfast (Shanti's amazing hash made with our potatoes, eggs, onions, and garlic from our garden), and spent the whole day listening to baseball and gaming. Cubs, Padres and Dodgers all won.

Shanti's Fantastic Breakfast Hash

Saturday night I made a beautiful loaf of bread in my new Pampered Chef loaf pan. It was a Honey Oatmeal bread. Hot with butter? Thank you, King Arthur Cookbook.

Sunday we trained. In the triple-digit temps. 15 miles. I never use Yiddish terms, but I nearly plotzed. Heat sickness galore. I drank 5 liters of water and didn't have to pee the whole way home. That's a lot of sweating. I got sunburned through spf 45. I got a heat rash. And the poison oak I thought I got rid of from last weekend's hiking? Oh yeah, it all came back... and in places I didn't have it the first time... like my thighs and all over my scalp.

Just. Freakin'. Awful.

But I walked 15 miles in the hot, blazing sun, and I live to tell about it.

I then slept for 10 hours. And I'm exhausted today.

That's why I'm just too tired. :-)

Oh, one final note. I'm pretty hard on Medford sometimes (calling it Crapville and all), but it can be so beautiful here. This is what it looked like Saturday night from our front porch. Gorgeous.