Our Life In The Country

Peas and Fava Beans; Yummy

2011-05-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

The recipe I'm using for dinner tonight comes from Jamie Oliver who's dressed like a snap pea in this photo. He's talking to some bureaucrat at an elementary school back East. I'm cooking one of Jamie's recipes tonight that is mostly snap peas and fava beans. You don't cook any of it. Fava beans are those big hunky things that look weird. You see them at farmer's markets this time of year.

When my sister Vicky reads this she will wrinkle her nose and say, "ish." She hates peas in any shape and form. But I bet I could get her to eat this.

Jamie cooked this recipe on his TV show last week. The recipe is in his cookbook, "Jamie at Home."

Pretty simple recipe: fava beans, snap peas, pecorino cheese, juice of one lemon, a few leaves of fresh mint, salt, and olive oil. Mash everything up in a food processor (Jamie used a mortar and pestle). Serve on toasted sourdough bread that has been rubbed with a raw garlic clove while the bread is still warm.

Then break apart a ball of fresh mozzarella and place over the green mixture. Pile on a few bits of lettuce, a dash of olive oil and some lemon juice. And dinner is ready.

So far I've made the green mixture. It's resting in the refrigerator until dinner tonight.

My Blog Has Moved

2011-04-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

This is the only way I could make the photos stick. Hope you will visit the new place. Here's the new link:

http://ourlifeinthecountry2.blogspot.com

Testing

2011-04-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

Still trying to keep these photos posted. I'll try again.

Saturday Photos

2011-04-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't felt like writing much lately so I thought I would post a couple of pictures from yesterday. The quilt is only one small corner of a king size quilt that is beautifully appliqued. I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole thing. It is an amazing piece of art at the quilt show in Auburn, CA. The other photo is the wisteria blooming on our front deck. Liberal doses of my compost tea have done wonders for it. Hope you can click on both photos to see more detail.

Planning My Garden

2011-03-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

Gardening has been on my mind during all the cold and wet weather we've been having. It's not time to get out there and work the raised beds, but I have enjoyed thinking about it. At the same time I've been watching a Jamie Oliver show on the Cooking Channel: Jamie at Home. My son and daughter-in-law gave me the cookbook of the same name. He begins each show with a stop in his garden to pick up things he wants to cook. Invariably there are lots of herbs in his garden basket. I would love to have lots of fresh herbs to use in my cooking this summer. Many of them make it through our winters; those that can't will be dried. Even though we live on five acres, we have not set aside much room for gardening. The soil here is clay; perfect for growing rice. I have two raised beds where the soil is much better. This year I'm going to plant tomatoes and herbs. Last year I had four tomato plants which really wasn't enough so I'm probably going for six this year. I had better luck last year with the smaller tomatoes like cherry and Roma. Still I'll probably plant at least one big guy. I found a vendor at the farmer's market yesterday who has just about every herb I want in my garden. Herbs can be raised in pots too so they are easy to tuck away on decks or porches. I love the vendor's farm name "Melon Jolly Organic Farm." They are leasing a farm from a family that can no longer farm their land due to health reasons. With that lease came lots and lots of seeds from earlier years. She's been propagating them. Both of them used to work for my CSA, Natural Trading Company. They finally have their own farm. But before I can do anything, I need to weed. The rain and this week's promised heat (80 degrees on Thursday) will probably make them grow even more. Right now our cats can wander through the weeds unseen.

"C" Puppies Visit

2011-02-21T12:29:00.000-08:00

There 12 pure bred golden labs who are 8 weeks old. Lia, pictured here holding my personal favorite, is the puppy raiser. She was my personal favorite because she was the quietest of them all. The dam is Darlan. She and Lia live in Reno. Each time Lia turns in a litter to Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, CA, she stops by for an overnight visit. This is Darlan's first really large litter. They are so adorable.

They slept in the hallway in a fenced in area with lots of plastic and other layers to protect the floor. The big dog in one of the photos is Harleen. Once upon a time she was an 8-week-old puppy just like these guys. She wasn't quite sure what to make of them. But whenever she moved around the outside of the pen the puppies followed her. The color of their dog collars signifies birth order. CCI is doing a study to see if that has any bearing on future performance. Harleen was fifth born; her color was hot pink.

By now they are at the CCI vet being weighed, vaccinated and tattooed with a number (in their ear). Tomorrow they travel to their puppy raisers who are as far away as New Jersey and as close as Northern California. In a couple of weeks they will start training with hopes of someday becoming a service dog for a disabled person (but not blind, that organization raises their own dogs).

A Long Last, Bacon Will Be Back In Our Diet

2011-02-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

We belong to a wonderful meat club which allows us to buy beef, pork, lamb, chicken, eggs and even water buffalo from local ranches. What's been missing for nearly a year is bacon. We love bacon. I've bought some at Whole Foods for a while but just didn't feel right about it not be sourced locally.

I finally put the word out on Twitter. Within a matter of hours I was connected with The Foragers who supply bacon as well as a 1/4, 1/2 or whole hog and lots of other meats. I just ordered 3 packages from Tyler who is the Chief Forager. Great title. I can't pick it up until March 12 in Sacramento. That gives me time to decide how I'm going to use it.

Twitter has helped so much in our quest to eat sustainable, organic, local and ethical (SOLE) foods. The web site for our meat club is http://ceplacer.ucdavis.edu/meat_buyers_club/

The web site for The Foragers is http://www.theforagers.com

Collaboration With Kerry

2011-02-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

Kerry doodles, draws and sketches all the time. He has notebooks filled with them. I casually mentioned a year or so ago that it would be nice to turn one of his drawings into an art quilt. Well this week we've made great strides on this project.

We picked out two of his drawings and enlarged them. The one on the left is the first one I'm going to try. It's 24 inches by 36 inches. The other one is 36 inches square. I'm going to use a lot of the techniques I learned from the various Rose Hughes classes I've taken.

Next we will choose a color palette and fabrics. I'm thinking some silk and some cotton. Stay tuned for more.

Go to http://www.rosehughes.com to learn more about her techniques.

Knee Replacement

2011-01-25T13:37:00.000-08:00

I just had my first shower in 15 days; washed my hair too, so have to stay out of bed until my hair dries. What better time to blog about the last two weeks.

I'm not going to provide any gory details. I think the photo tells it all. My right leg is in the Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) machine. I spend six hours a day having this machine slowly move my knee joint. When I got home I was at 60 degrees; now I'm at 98. I can feel myself getting stronger every day thanks to the pain meds. Without them it would be really hard to get my exercises done. I'm on morphine twice a day and two Tylenol with codeine every four hours.

My time in the hospital is sort of a blur. I got excellent care, but the food sucked in so many ways. I give Kaiser credit for trying to serve a healthy meal. The method, however, was a bit out of date. They served powdered cream for my coffee and margarine. The fruit was all canned and the meat looked gray. There were no sweets of any kind on the tray. My sister missed the pudding. For the most part I ate yogurt brought to me by Kerry and my sister Vicky.

I've had excellent home health care with my nurse, Rachel, and physical therapist, Rob. A week from today I transition to an outpatient PT clinic in Lincoln. I'm still on Coumadin to make sure I don't get any blood clots. Only have another 9 days of that. You can't eat green vegetables or blueberries because they are high in vitamin K. Blueberries are not in season but spinach is. I get to watch Kerry and Vicky eat spinach salads. I love spinach.

My days are pretty much the same: six hours on the CPM machine (two 3-hour periods), exercises, icing my knee and walking around the house. I nap when I'm on the machine. Haven't had too much of an appetite, which is just fine with me.

The big thing about the knee replacement is doing everything everyone tells you to do. That way you get good results. I have balked at some of these things but I keep in mind the things I want to be able to do and that gets me back at it.

Yes, it is the most painful thing I've ever done but it's going to be worth it. I will have my left knee done after the quilt show next October. Any questions.

The Ingredients For Tonight's Dinner

2011-01-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

This is Dark Days Challenge meal number six. The pork chops are thick enough to stuff so that's what I'm going to do. The stuffing will be the Argentine lamb chorizo sausage in the background mixed with dried cherries. The chorizo has quite a bit of spice so I'm hoping the cherries will balance that. Then we will have sauteed chard. Pretty simple dinner.

Pork chops are from Bob at Coffee Pot Ranch, chorizo is from Dan at Flying Mule Farm, chard is from the farmer's market and the cherries were a gift in my Christmas stocking.

I always brine my pork chops to increase their moistness. It's pretty simple. Because these chops are so thick, I'll probably brine them for a couple of hours.

This is my last DDC meal for a while. Surgery on Monday is going to cut into my cooking for a while. I'll be back when I'm able to get around the kitchen. For the next few weeks the kitchen belongs to Kerry and my sister Vicky.

Quilt For A Raffle

2011-01-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

My quilting bee is making a quilt for the local hospice so it can be auctioned off and hopefully raise some money for this wonderful organization. Each member of the bee makes eight teacups; we will have 56 in all. To me they look more like coffee cups. It's a great way to use up some of your stash. Here are my eight. Had to get them done before surgery. Click on the photo to enlarge.

DDC Meal Five

2011-01-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get in as many DDC meals as possible before my knee replacement. Probably will not spend much time in the kitchen after surgery on Jan. 10th.

This is a lamb shank from nearby Flying Mule Farm cooked in the crock pot in a sauce of white wine (local), pomegranate molasses (not local unless you live in Lebanon), salt and pepper and onions and garlic (the last two from our CSA box). Flying Mule Farm uses only mules for farming.

The yam is from the farmer's market and the butter on it is from Golden Glen Creamery. I visit Golden Glen whenever we visit Kerry's family in Burlington, WA. I buy lots of butter and cheese. It counts as local; I didn't make a special trip there to buy it. I was in the neighborhood. I checked this out with the Queen of DDC, Laura at Urbanhennery.

Dark Days Challenge No. 4

2010-12-31T11:07:00.000-08:00

It's a pot roast that was cooked in my crock pot. Usually it takes about eight hours. But we had a power failure on Sunday afternoon so the pot roast got its final cooking on Monday afternoon. Actually that turned out to be better. Lia, a puppy raiser for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) who lives in Reno, was in the area to have her CCI breeding dog Darlan x-rayed. We invited Lia, Darlan and Lia's friend Frank over for dinner.

Darlan and Harleen had dog food. Darlan delivered 12 puppies on Dec. 29th, right on schedule. Each puppy weighed at least one pound. Darlan is a small Labrador retriever so this was quite a load for her to carry. Everyone is doing fine. In eight weeks the puppies will visit us on their way to being turned in to CCI in Santa Rosa, CA.

Back to the pot roast. The meat came from a local ranch. Potatoes and carrots from the farmers market in Auburn. The onions used were ones I dried last summer. Never dry onions in your house. The whole house smelled. I finally put my dehydrator out on the back deck. Much better. The sauce was local white wine mixed with local honey. The honey gave everything a nice glow.

I topped everything off with local shitake and oyster mushrooms that I sauteed in butter, which was not local. So that's my final dark days challenge meal of 2010. On to 2011. It's already in the crock pot.

A Chicken With SOLE

2010-12-17T11:57:00.000-08:00

This is meal three of Dark Day Challenge. It was pretty simple. A roasted chicken and a baked potato. But sometimes the simplest is the best. Kerry calls this comfort food.

We get our chickens from a local ranch so they are moist and tender. This one weighed 3.6 pounds.

I made a paste of unsalted butter with sage and chives from my garden and sea salt and ground pepper. Gently pulling away the chicken skin, I spread the butter and herbs underneath. It's a bit tricky and you have to go slowly or you tear the skin, but it can be done.

Baked potatoes were, well, baked until the skins were crispy. I love to eat the skin. This time Kerry did too. The sour cream was not local but it was Rbst-free.

I'm hoping to get one more meal in before we leave for Christmas next Tuesday.

DDC Meal Two

2010-12-12T21:11:00.000-08:00

I didn't think that I would be able to do a second meal so soon; being on antibiotics has not exactly enhanced my appetite or my desire to cook. But tonight I took the last of the pills so felt invigorated. My sentence had been served.

Pork tenderloin is something I have never cooked. My parents used to take me to a place (actually a dive called Fred Grobe's Grill) in north Minneapolis where they served pork tenderloin sandwiches. I remember them as being delicious.

Bob at Coffee Pot Ranch had pork tenderloins so I gave it a whirl. First of all, they are incredibly tender. I coated them with a creole seasoning and then braised them in olive oil. Then into the oven for a bit and then I topped the meat with a sauce of honey (local from a mandarin orange grove), Dijon mustard and soy sauce.

While all this was happening, I was baking yams. So the final meal was pork tenderloin (Coffee Pot Ranch), yams from the farmer's market and a local chardonnay from Fawnridge. My absolute favorite chardonnay. Life just doesn't get much better.

Field Trip To The Mushroom Farm

2010-12-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

We went a little crazy buying mushrooms at the farm. From left: oyster, portabello, and shitakes.

Mushroom Adventures has been around for about 15 years. We discovered them when they appeared at the Auburn Farmers Market this year. Today we got a tour of the place and saw how each of these grow. It reminded me of field trips when I was in school.

They sell mushroom kits so you can try growing your own. Nina, our tour guide, said the shitakes are the hardest to grow. They grow from what looks like a large brick of compost that is made up of hay and chicken manure. Pretty disgusting looking bricks but from them grow these wonderful mushrooms. If you are interested, check out their web site: http://www.mushroomadventures.com They ship kits via Fed Ex. But they don't ship mushrooms.

In addition to information on the kits, the web site also has recipes. Mushrooms keep well in the refrigerator as long as they are in paper bags. No plastic for these babies. No need to worry about contamination from the manure; the compost is heated to a high enough temperature to kill off the bad things before the mushroom spores are added.

These babies are going to be part of nearly every meal between now and when we leave for Christmas with Kerry's family in Washington.

Dark Days Challenge: Meal One

2010-12-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

Here's dinner before I cooked it: meatloaf and chard.

I don't think I've ever made meatloaf the same way twice. Yesterday I decided to try to spice it up a bit. (I'm originally from Minneapolis so didn't grow up with much spiciness.) We usually don't cook this much meat at once, but I love meatloaf sandwiches so made a big one.

The meatloaf consists of ground beef, ground pork and Basque lamb chorizo removed from the skin. All came from local ranches. I added the usual eggs, also from a local ranch, bread crumbs from local bread gone stale, and Annies organic ketchup. Seasonings included sea salt from France, smokey Spanish paprika and pepper. This was my first time using this type of paprika so I didn't add much. Will probably increase the amount next time.

The chard came from our farmers market. I sauteed it in local olive oil and apple cider vinegar (not local). The vinegar gives it just a hint of a bite.

I've been reading comments from Dark Day newbies. I commend you for your determination to stick to all things local. I am a bit more relaxed about the word "local." I apply it stringently to rice, bread, meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables. I live in Lincoln, CA so it's a lot easier here than in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

Condiments are another matter; I like to experiment with seasoning and much of the time that seasoning is not local. Also, I don't have much opportunity to use local butter but I make sure that it's free of a cow's worst enemy, Rbst. We are going to northern Washington for Christmas so I will stop by Golden Glen Creamery in the Skagit Valley and buy a bunch of their butter and cheese.

Not sure if I will get another meal in before next Wednesday; still fighting the antibiotic-induced nausea.

Oh, Canada, I am Pissed!

2010-12-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

I thought I had discovered an economical way to order two of my asthma prescriptions for which there are no generics: Advair $311 per month and Singulair $200 per month. I'm in the Medicare "donut hole" so they are not covered right now. (It's a long story; don't ask). The first Advair order came without a hitch. It was $159 for a month's supply. Nice. www.canadapharmacy.com said it would take 10-12 business days to arrive. That meant my last order should have been here on Dec. 6, last Monday.

It didn't arrive; when it didn't arrive the next day I called the 800-number. While the company says it's in Vancouver, Canada, that doesn't mean that's where they buy the drugs. My Advair comes from "the United Kingdom, said the person on the phone." He added that bad weather, higher security and the holidays had delayed my drug.

I pointed out that he represented a pharmacy that supplied medications to people who needed them; he did not work for Nordstroms. Actually Nordstroms would have cared more about a lost order than this guy.

Turns out when you call and place your order, they tell you where it's coming from, but when you place it online (as I did) you are not told this. So now it might arrive this week. Meanwhile I'm out of Advair. I finally hung up the phone and fumed. That's one thing about cell phones, you can't slam the receiver down and blast the listener's eardrum. Pushing "end call" is sort of anti-climactic.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go

2010-12-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

It's the first day of the annual Dark Days Challenge, which is brought to you by Laura of www.urbanhennery.com The photo is from last year's challenge. I haven't made my first meal yet for this challenge. Even if you didn't sign up you can still play along for as much or as little as you want. Cook one meal each week where as many of the ingredients as possible are Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical (SOLE). The challenge ends April 15, 2011. No prizes at the end, just the knowledge that you have cooked wholesome food for your family and friends.

The food pictured above was for a meatloaf and scalloped potato dinner. The cheese and ketchup were not local. I like to buy Tillamook cheese (comes from Oregon) because the company does not feed its cows the growth hormone Rbst. The ketchup is organic but not local. Everything else came from the farmer's market or the meat club we joined a couple of years ago. We get our pork, beef, chicken, lamb and eggs from local ranches and farms. Even the wine is local; Lucchesi is out of Grass Valley.

Tonight we are having London Broil that will be marinated and barbecued and oven-roasted broccoli. Pretty simple dinner, but it qualifies as my first of the new challenge. See, it doesn't have to be complicated just as much SOLE as possible. Hope you will give it a try over the next few months.

New Embellishments

2010-11-18T15:00:00.000-08:00

They are called fabric beads and come from the creative mind of Gail Ellspermann. She was featured in a seven-year-old edition of Quilting Arts Magazine. My quilting bee friend MJ saw the magazine in a stack that was to be thrown away. She grabbed it and now it's mind. I made some yesterday. Really simple. The basic part is a drinking straw about 1.25 inches long. Using tacky glue, wrap the straw in fabric that has been torn into 1-inch strips. Cut the strips into two-inch segments. You want the frayed ends to show. The little pile of shiny gold stuff at the bottom of the photo is gold leaf. I used a special glue to apply it to the fabric-covered tubes and then wrapped them in any glitzy string, yarn or beads that I had. Thank you Gail. Her idea will become part of an art quilt that I'm making.

Recyling, Being Handicapped and Strikes

2010-11-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

The French, and all of Europe for that matter, bring new meaning to the word "recycle."

Just a few examples pictured here. The Louvre was once a palace; the mausoleum was once a church, the Roman-built amphitheater in Vienne is still used for performances, and the Roman-built amphitheater in Avignon is now home to humane bullfighting (the bull lives to fight another day). No worry about bond elections to fund new football or baseball fields. Use what you already have. I like that idea. It's what makes Europe so interesting. Yes, there are new, modern buildings in Paris but they are really ugly. Not even sure I want to show you pictures of them.

Cobblestone streets are just fine with the French. It makes it really hard to be handicapped in France. We saw one person in a motorized wheel chair. He was really struggling to get around. At the church on the hill in Lyon where there are lots of steps and no railings, there is an elevator. But you have to go down six steps to get to it. As our guide in Lyon said, "we are a complicated people." I did see handicap parking, but not much of it.

Some of my family worried about us traveling to France during the strike by unions over increasing the number of years you must work before you can retire. We only saw them once and that was in Avignon. They dress in orange, play loud music and sometimes shut things down. We couldn't go to Versailles because the workers there were on strike for one day, the day we wanted to go there. Lots of disappointed people on our boat.

We learned that the next Saturday the lock workers on the Seine would not got to work. That meant all boat traffic in and out of Paris would come to a standstill for one day. We got back without problems but the next week's cruise would come back to Paris a day early due to the strikers actions.

When we arrived at Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris we were greeted by a TV reporter from CANAL, which according to our guide is her favorite TV station. The reporter's English was pretty good. He wanted to know how we felt about coming to a country where workers were striking. I stepped forward when no one else did. I told him I thought it was a good thing that the French government was afraid of its citizens. In the U.S. we would be better off if the government felt that way. Don't know if I made it on the air because we couldn't get local programming on the boat. I do believe that; it wasn't just for the reporter. We just sit and take whatever the legislators do. I think the Tea Party will make it even harder for government to work because it has caused a rift in the Republican party.

Just some thoughts on a sunny, warm day in Lincoln, CA

Another Photo For My Last Post

2010-11-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

For the life of me I could not get this to load in the blog about French food. This is Magalie (accent on the first syllable). She was the chef on our cruise from Chalon-Sur-Saone to Avignon. A fine woman and a fabulous chef. I wanted to make sure you saw her. BTW that's me with her.

Food In France

2010-11-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure I can do it justice. On the cruise from Paris to Normandy we had a German chef whom we rarely saw. Food was great. On the cruise from Chalone-de-Sur to Avignon we had a French chef. Her food was awesome. Each evening we eagerly looked forward to Magalie's (accent on the first syllable) description of what we were having for dinner. I swear that many of us were drooling by the time she finished. Also, she often showed up for the light lunch (now that's a misnomer if there ever was one) in the Viking lounge. Her favorite word after "dessert" was "reduction." You can't have enough reduction when cooking french food.

I tried reduction when we got home. I made beef short ribs in the crock pot with a sauce of Calvados (bought in Normandy), duck stock, pomegranate molasses and soy sauce. Once the ribs were done, I reduced the sauce and served it and the meat over organic brown rice. So good!!!!

The flavors, presentation and freshness of the food is what french cooking is all about. Also, portion size. You may have six courses at every dinner (we did) but each course, except the entree, is just a few bites. The crab dish photo is a good example of that. It's beautiful and small. The desserts were also small portions but they had such a heady flavor, you didn't want more. Well, maybe sometimes. And also, the desserts were not really sugary. You knew the sugar was there but it didn't overwhelm your palate.

Kerry had eggs benedict one morning; the yolk was as orange as a pumpkin. That's the sign of a very happy chicken who got to run around in a farmyard and be a chicken. Next time you buy eggs in the super market check the color of the yolks. So many more nutrients in the darker colored yolks. They are also lower in cholesterol.

Bread, oh my God, it is awesome. At breakfast each day we had our choice of probably 15 different breads. Bread accompanied each meal and it was fresh. In every town we visited we saw the proverbial French man or woman walking with a long baguette. If they don't finish it on the day purchased, they still buy another one the next day. Baguettes make for great bread crumbs, although I can't imagine not finishing it.

Farmers Markets abound in France. Regardless of how small the town, the local farmers come to market at least once a week to sell their produce, eggs, cheese, meat and flowers. The lettuce we had on the boat was beautiful, flavorful and fresh. I never saw iceberg lettuce in France. We had lots of soup that was made from the fresh vegetables left from the dinner the night before. Delicious.

I never wondered if our meat had any antibiotics or hormones in it. As we traveled the countryside we learned that the white cattle that graze everywhere are called Charleroi but nicknamed "BBQ cattle" because the meat is so wonderful. If you don't buy your meat at the farmers market, then you can go to a charcuterie. It's a combination of deli and butcher shop. I stopped in one in Vienne. I told the owner, Mr. Dugand, that his shop was beautiful. His face lit up in a big smile. He spoke some English so we talked a bit. As I went to leave he handed me a sausage from a basket on top of the counter and said, "for you madame." I tried to pay but he wouldn't hear of it.

The concierge on board the boat said it would be delicious with some bread, cheese and wine. So that's what we are going to do with it. It was in my suitcase when we landed at SFO. I was really worried I would get busted by the food sniffing dog. He busted someone else and I made it out of the terminal.

Can't leave out cheese; so many kinds that I lost count. Everyday at lunch we had a tray of different cheeses with crusty bread. I probably ate the U.S. equivalent of $50 worth of cheese each day. All the cheeses were local and changed depending on where we were in France. I especially loved the soft, oozy cheeses that spreads like butter. Magalie made sure there were little signs on each cheese telling us the name.

Yes, you can get McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, but I can't understand why anyone would want that stuff. Take your taste buds to France, you won't regret it.

Getting Around In France

2010-11-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

When you live in a country where a majority of the roads were built by the Romans for their horses and chariots, you are not going to find very many wide streets for big cars. Also with the cost of gasoline at around $8 a gallon you are going to find lots of alternatives to the traditional mode of transportation.

Here are just a few. Motorcyles and motorscooters are everywhere. They can get around in heavy traffic and can park just about anywhere, plus the mileage is good.

Next you have the Smart car which holds just two people, parks easily and gets good mileage. I personally think they are cute. Quite a few folks in Lincoln drive them.

The most interesting way of traveling is the rent-a-bicycle. That's a row of them in front of the red-awninged restaurant in Paris. You choose a bike, put the number and a payment method in the machine and ride off. You can return the bike anywhere there are rent-a bike stands. We saw a lot of these bikes, particularly among students. It's easier than carrying your personal bike up six flights of stairs (elevators are in short supply in France) to make sure it's not stolen.

And the final mode of transportation is the "choo choo" (the guides words not mine) train that takes you up a very steep, narrow road to a church on top of the hill overlooking the town of Vienne. The train has rubber tires and can easily wind its way through the narrow, cobblestoned streets of this Roman town.

And of course you have the TGV, France's fast train, subways, river barges, river cruise boats and many more. I did see one Toyota Landcruiser. It looked very out of place.

Visiting Normandy

2010-11-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

It's only fitting on this Veteran's Day that I show you photos from Normandy where the D-Day landing happened on June 6, 1944. It was a sad part of the France trip but an important place to visit. I learned a lot of things about D-Day that I had never heard in history class.

First we went to the museum pictured. There we watched a black and white film shot in England and France of the preparation for the landing and the landing itself. Seeing all those young, hopeful faces on the screen and then visiting the cemetery where many of them are buried was very sad. Families had their choice of burial in France or having the body shipped home. If they chose France, the U.S. government brought the family over to see the final resting place of their loved one. Crosses and Stars of David mark the graves; there are many who are unknown.

What I didn't know is that prior to D-Day the Germans destroyed the only deep water port in the area: Cherbourg, France. Therefore, the Americans and British knew they would have to build a deep water port in record time so they could supply the troops who were landing. Much of this preparation started a year earlier on the south coast of England. The big metal things resting on the beach were made in England and then floated to the coast of France after the landing. The first breakwater was made up of old ships that were sailed to the area from England and then sunk in a line. Two subsequent breakwaters were made up of the big metal things fashioned in England. Within a matter of weeks, the port of was operating. Workers in England were not told what they were making or how it would be used.

The Germans did other nasty things to foil the American and British operation. They knew that something was going to happen so they destroyed as many things as possible. They also flooded an area where they thought paratroopers might land; many of them drowned because of this.

My mother's brother, Leo, was killed in the Battle of the Bulge. He's the only relative I know of who was lost in World War II. When his mother (my grandmother) was alive we would go to the National Cemetery in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. We put flowers on his grave, and my grandma cried. It didn't matter that he had been dead a long time; she still grieved for her only son. He died just before I was born.

So many families have sacrificed loved ones to the God of War only to find out that we will still have another war. No one ever wins; we just move on to the next quarrel with a country. Quarrels escalate and people die. What a shame.

Fall Colors in France

2010-11-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

France is a fantastic travel option for those folks who love fall colors. Here are a few examples of them. The top photo is the pond made famous by Monet's paintings. The wall is in the little village of Giverny where Claude Monet lived. The last photo is his house. That's our guide holding the sign. We wore earpieces so we could hear her without any shouting. Great system, especially in churches. We didn't get to see the lily pads in bloom, but we did get a wonderful glimpse of Monet's world in the fall. Plus it was foggy the morning we were there which made everything look ethereal.

Cruising The Waterways of France

2010-10-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the Viking Cruise river boat on which we will travel for two weeks. It's long and low so it can fit under all those ancient bridges on the Seine, Rhone and Saone rivers. Only 150 passengers and 40 staff. The perfect size to get to know the people with whom we are traveling. Our room, with windows that open and a private bath, is on the middle level.

We fly to Paris this Saturday. After some touring in Paris we cruise to Normandy via Rouen. Each day we dock at a city for either a bus or a walking tour. My right knee is not very happy at the moment so I probably will choose the bus over walking. After the first week we return to Paris where we are bussed to Chalon-sur-Saone. There we begin our cruise of the Saone and Rhone rivers. Our final cruise destination is Avignon. We fly home from Marseilles via Frankfurt. That's the trip in a nutshell.

We booked the trip last December when it was half price. It's still more than we usually spend, but we decided it was a great way for Kerry to see France for the first time. I've been there lots and love it.

We are really looking forward to the food. No worries about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or feedlot meat. Just real food that doesn't come from a box. And if my knee is really bothering me I will find a small cafe in whatever town we are in and sit with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine while others romp around. Really looking forward to this trip. Our last big trip was Costa Rica. Don't have to worry about malaria in France. Sure hope the strikers have gone back to work.

Another Quilt Project

2010-10-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

I'm working on this right now. The pattern is from Rose Hughes most recent book "Exploring Embellishments." Still needs lots more embellishment. I used a new fabric in this one. It's called Radiance; part silk and part cotton. You get the shine and feel of silk but the resilience of cotton. Made a great moon. The shiny stuff around the moon is Angelina fibers. Weird stuff but very effective.

The Final Blog With Quilts

2010-10-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

More quilts

2010-10-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Quilts from the Pacific International Quilt Show

2010-10-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to load more than four at a time so bear with me. Fantastic show. This is a tiny fraction of the quilts I saw.

Quack, Quack, Quack

2010-10-09T12:55:00.000-07:00

That's the sound my phone makes when it rings. It's also the sound this duck made when it was swimming in the organic brown rice field near Hamilton City, CA . Greg Massa, owner of Massa Organics, uses ducks each year for weed control in his rice field. It's just one of many clever ways he keeps weeds under control without resorting to nasty sprays. This is his second year he's raised ducks. Ducks sold out very fast the first year so last spring he got even more baby ducks. Those went fast too. Psst, his neighbor thinks he nuts; I like crazy people.

So you have ducks living on organic food in a natural environment. No stress in their little lives. He rounded them up to take to the processor; they got out during the night so he had to do it all over again. These are smart ducks too.

We got the last two; the rest were bought by Alice Waters to serve at her Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley. She has ducks just like mine. I never thought I would have anything in common with the patron saint of fresh, local food. She cooked one of Greg's ducks and pronounced it the best she had ever had. Check out both Alice and Greg at http://www.chezpanisse.com and http://www.massaorganics.com Greg is also on Facebook and Twitter.

I've never cooked a duck so I got out Julia's first cookbook; the one of "Julie and Julia" fame. And sure enough she has everything I need to know about duck preparation and lots of yummy recipes. Haven't decided which one to make but I think tomorrow is the day.

Greg's organic brown rice is delicious as are all of his products. You can order them from his web site. His rice is served in the Berkeley school district. Kids get healthy foods there.

This and That

2010-10-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

Gave two pints of platelets and one of red cells on Monday so I haven't had a lot of energy. Been laying low reading, embellishing fabric and blinging up my cane. It's not ready for prime time yet. Soon.

Today, however, I have been filled with energy; refilled all the bird feeders. We have one like this, and we have goldfinches. They love nyger thistle (those little seeds). We go through a 20 pound bag in a month. We have peanut suet because the little darlings don't like anything else, plus regular bird seed. I also filled the hummingbird feeders so it's buffet time outside my sewing room window.

Also, made bread but not sure how it's going to turn out. The recipe calls for unbleached white flour. I grabbed the whole wheat flour and didn't realize something was amiss until the dough was rising. So we had awhole wheat pizza, which was not a hit with Kerry. The loaf I made today looks more like a rock than a bread round. I think the appropriate word for it is "dense."

Next I cooked up some Basque lamb chorizo that we got from our meat club recently. Kerry has been hesitant to commit to eating chorizo so I fried up one sausage, chopped it into chunks and let him try it. He liked it so I made scrambled eggs with chorizo for lunch. Next I want to try butternut squash soup with chorizo. Jamie Oliver has a recipe for it. We have two large butternut squashes and more coming this Friday. Also have lots of eggplant and more coming on Friday. I think I'm going to make eggplant lasagna. Kerry wants noodles but we have eggplant so it's going to be eggplant. I was going to make it earlier this week but he balked.

I still have tomatoes that are ripening on the vine. It's been a bit cool but they still seem okay.

I ordered one of my asthma prescriptions from Canada. Very simple process. I went to their web site, ordered what I wanted and then faxed my doctor's prescription. I did that last Friday and by Tuesday it had shipped. I will save $150 per month with this. http://www.canadapharmacy.com

We got all of our stuff for the France trip. It now seems real. We have a kilometer by kilometer map of what we will see on the Seine and Rhone Rivers. It's going to be great. We are going to mark the route on our map of France before we go. I'll try to find some pictures of the river boat. Our first two days and nights are in Paris; we use the river boat as our hotel. This is going to be so much fun.

Order $200 worth of Euros on line from my bank. They arrived by Fed Ex two days later. I love the internet.

Nap time.

The Sounds of Fall

2010-09-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

Changing seasons present lots of visual elements; but there are lots of sounds that signal changes as well.

Here's my list so far:

1. The Northern Flickers signal their arrival by tapping on anything that might contain bugs. That's one in the photo. They love to tape on our eaves and then wait for a meal to drop. They are a pretty amazing bird; they can walk up and down a wall thanks to an extraordinary tail that holds them up. I heard their first taps just a few days ago. They will be gone by spring.

2. Acorns dropping out of our oak tree onto the deck make a thud sound. I've actually been hit by one as have the cats. Not something I look forward to again. They remind me of the Native Americans who roamed this area many years ago. Acorns were a mainstay of their diet. Now we just have a Native American casino; I don't go there because people are allowed to smoke. My lungs hate smoke.

3. It's almost duck hunting season so many more people are using the outdoor shooting range in Lincoln. I wake up to the pop of guns nearly every morning. Hunters refer to it as harvesting waterfowl. No matter how you view it, the ducks die.

4. My oven timer goes off more this time of year. In the summer it's the most under-used appliance in the kitchen. Now I'm cooking casseroles and other things with many ingredients. The oven goes off when it reaches the temperature I want and when the item is finished baking. Love those sounds.

5. In about two weeks the irrigation season will be over with; the ditch will go dry. Right now it makes a gurgling sound that will soon disappear until next April. I will miss it.

So those are some of my thoughts on fall. It is one of my favorite seasons. Actually I like three of our seasons; it's just summer that can be a bit tiresome.

A Dog With Many Jobs

2010-09-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

And she's good at all of them. In this photo Harleen is diligently working to keep my side of the bed warm until I return for my nap in about an hour. Then she somewhat ungraciously moves over to Kerry's side. When he comes to nap, then she's stuck in the middle. Her position then is perpendicular to us so one of us gets her butt and one gets her face. Truth be told, I prefer the butt; she snores like a freight train sometimes. And she's too young to pass gas.

She is the family timekeeper; she knows when it's 5 p.m. and time to eat. And she thinks of herself as a vacuum cleaner; she loves to eat anything that lands on the floor.

The cats rely on her for exercise in the house when she chases them. They, however, have taught her the art of cuddling with a cat or two. The yin and yang of animal life.

With the weather changing all the animals have stayed a bit closer to home. The cats normally race out of the animal dorm in the morning. Today that didn't happen. They stayed cuddled together in their little cat bed that sits on top of a dog crate (not being used at the moment). They were bathed in early morning sunlight.

The weather has shifted away from the hellish heat of the summer. We are having mild to cool mornings, early sunsets and great sleeping weather with the windows still open. I'm going to make bread this week now that it's cooler.

Uncle Leo's Curls

2010-09-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

Uncle Leo was my mom's brother; he died in the Battle of the Bulge in Germany six weeks before I was born. One of many young lieutenants sacrificed to the God of War. His mom, my wonderful grandmother, never stopped mourning his death.

When she died in 1970, we found Leo's curls (really ringlets) in a Fanny Farmer candy box. She had saved them all those years. Eventually, my sister became the keeper of the curls. She and I have talked a lot about what to do with them. This trip to Minneapolis we figured it out.

We took them to the cemetery where grandma and grandpa are buried, dug a small hole just below grandma's headstone and placed the curls in it. We covered them in dirt and grass and then watered them.

Sort of a macabre story, but it felt good to bring her son to her at last. He's buried at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.

Vicky brought her weed whacker so we could clean up the graves. By the time we left they were tidied up and flowers were placed between the two headstones.

The story of how we got to John the Baptist Cemetery in Savage, Minnesota is only slightly less macabre. Vicky thought it was in the nearby town of Shakopee. I couldn't remember at all. She Mapquested it for Shakopee, Those directions took us to the county building. I put the name of the cemetery into my iPhone GPS. That time we ended up at a funeral home.

Surely someone there would know where the cemetery was. I went it and found all the lights were out. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and the lights came on. Scared the living daylights out of me. The funeral director was most apologetic for scaring me. He had a call to take but assured me he'd be back.

I had to go to the bathroom, which was right next to the room I was in. I was sure that as soon as I went into the ladies room he would appear. Finally I really had to go so left my chair. As soon as I sat down I heard his office door open. Damn. I flushed, hurriedly washed my hands and went out. He had printed out a map of how to get to the cemetery with landmarks.

Turns out it was in the neighboring town of Savage. So off we went again. His directions were terrific.

That's how I spent my last day in Minneapolis. I'm really glad we did it.

My Latest Art Quilt

2010-08-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

It's 24 x 32 and is from the second Rose Hughes book. I learned one very important lesson from this quilt; I'll never use velveteen again. That's what the plain green is. It stretches very easily. There is a lot more detail to this piece but it doesn't show very well in the photo.

Once A Reporter, Always A Reporter

2010-08-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

If you don't want to read about a needle biopsy of my left breast, stop here. I told myself I wasn't going to write about it, but dammit, I can't stop being a reporter. I'll try to get you to laugh. I promise no gory details. It was painless.

I've known for about a week that this was coming. I had a microcalcification, which is rarely cancerous, but the radiologist said let's do a biopsy just to be sure. I happily agreed and then went about my week.

Well last night about 1 a.m. I hit the wall of fear and anxiety. I started to wonder what position they would have me in to do the biopsy. I turned a bit in bed to see what might be best from my non-medical perspective. That turned into a sleepless night with dreams about all sorts of positions. A dream earlier in the week had me lying at the entrance to the doctors office for the procedure. That was just a dream.

By the time we drove to the hospital I was a wreck. If I'd had a xanax, I would have taken it. Kerry and I had a consultation with the doctor where he explained everything. It took forever to get me checked in; the machine that was supposed to print something ran out of paper, then the clerk couldn't figure out how to load it so she had to wait for help. Meanwhile, I thought I was going to faint. Finally she put the paper tag around my wrist; that way I could be identified if they lost me.

Dr. Khine told Kerry and me all about the procedure. He said he had done 3,400 needle biopsies. He didn't look old enough for that number, but I let it pass. He said he would numb up my breast really well. I said that my brain needed numbing too. He smiled, and said he couldn't help me with that.

My question about what position I would be in for the biopsy was answered as soon as I entered the room. No I did not take this with my iPhone. Kerry had my purse with iPhone in the waiting room. I found it on Google Images. You got it, that hole in the middle was for my breast. Now it isn't that big so there is a little plate that slides over to support the good breast that has not gone off and gotten microcalcifications. Then they use an x-ray device to accurately position the breast so the biopsy needle will go in the exact spot of the microcalcification. At this point I sort of gave my breast over to the female technicians who were wonderful. My head started to sweat so I had to ask someone to wipe my face and neck. You are told to be absolutely still once they are positioning the pendulum hanging from your chest through the hole in the table.

I had to look to the right and keep my left ear flat to the table. My neck started to cramp up so one of the technicians gave me a little massage. Both technicians were always touching my arm or back in a very comforting way. I had given up my glasses so I couldn't see a damn thing.

Once they got my breast into the right position, they discovered that the needle would go through a sizeable vein. Not good. So they twisted, turned, compressed and generally treated my breast like bread being kneaded. Finally they got the vein to move; the doctor came in. This is when I was glad I had given up my glasses. He pulled out a tray where I faintly detected three syringes. I closed my eyes. The only thing I felt was the tip of the needle as he injected the first dose of lidocaine. Each dose got increasingly larger and went deeper. He warned me of a loud pop that would happen next. Sure enough, the biopsy needle shot into my breast. They took 8 samples without ever removing the biopsy needle. Then they x-rayed the biopsy material to make sure they got it. Thumbs up on that procedure.

I mentioned to the doctor that I could post my mammogram on my Facebook page. He cracked up. Said no one had ever mentioned that before, but no, he wouldn't give me a copy.

You know how animals have microchips so they can be reunited with their owners. Well, I now have a tiny microchip marking the spot of the biopsy. Of course, once that was in place I had to go across the hall and have three more mammograms to make sure it was in the right place. They don't compress much for this part of the process. Thank God.

The whole procedure at Kaiser in Roseville, CA cost me $25 and took about 90 minutes. God bless medical insurance and Medicare.

My 793 Mile Adventure

2010-08-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

That's how many miles I drove in 39 hours. Saw some of the most beautiful parts of California during my drive: Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, Mammoth Mountain, the Easter Sierra Nevada, Mt. Whitney, Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley with all of its waterfalls and high peaks.

I got to Lone Pine several hours before Mark and Julia were due so took myself out for dinner at a local restaurant that turned out to be pretty decent. A friend from the Bay area, Mary Sue and her husband, were dining at the same restaurant. These are the types of coincidences that just amaze me. Mary Sue, Denny and a friend are doing a week-long backpacking trip. We had a great chat.

Mark, Julia and Zoey arrived around 8. It took many trips to unload their car. They've been on the road since July 6th; in that time they have been in Evergreen, Boulder and Durango, Colorado. Mark played a concert in both Boulder and Durango; Julia played in Durango. Zoey the dog just hung out at all of those places.

Tuesday morning Julia and Mark took both cars to the trailhead for Mt. Whitney, which is where they will end their adventure and pick up their car. We loaded up Kerry's Honda Element with all their stuff including her French horn and his trumpets.

If any of you out there are hikers you should know that they are "ultralight" backpackers. The pack that each carried, including food in a bear cannister, weighed 20 pounds. Mark sewed all of the sleeping bags, tent and other travel essentials from incredibly lightweight material. You can cover a lot more ground when you don't have 60 pounds on your back.

We stopped in Mammoth Lakes at the post office to drop off food for one re-supply point. Did the same thing in Tuolumne Meadows. They had mailed food from Durango to the other re-supply points. Entering Yosemite Valley is a lot like entering a cathedral. Waterfalls were still running but not the spring gushing. Still a fair amount of snow at higher elevations.

They got their wilderness permit and then suited up for the adventure. Zoey and I left them in Yosemite Village about 4:30 and headed back to Lincoln. I was very glad to be home. She was the perfect passenger. Harleen, however, is not sure she's the perfect playmate. Zoey prefers people to dogs. Oh well, they willl figure it out.

The photo was taken just before we parted company in Yosemite Village. I had Mark take his hat off so everyone could see his shaved head. That tonsorial event occurred last night after I went to bed. When they finally get to their car in 23-24 days, they are heading directly to a motel to shower for hours. That's a long time to go without one. They are both seasoned hikers in great shape so I have no worries about their safety. Besides the John Muir Trail is very well traveled in the summer. And in the past, Mark has shown that he knows how to be rescued by helicopters. Let's hope this is a no helicopter adventure.

A Grand Adventure Starts Tomorrow

2010-08-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

In the early morning tomorrow Mark and Julia (my son and daughter-in-law) will begin their journey from Durango, CO to Lone Pine, CA. I will travel from Lincoln, CA to Lone Pine (about 7 hours without stops). This is the last big adventure of their very interesting summer which took them all over the southwest. They are going to hike all 220 miles of the John Muir Trail (http://johnmuirtrail.org)

Gulp, that's the mother in me trying not to worry. Basically they will be out of communication from Aug. 3 to Aug. 23 give or take a few days at the end. The challenge for anyone who hikes this trail is which end to you start at and then how do you get back to the starting point where your car is. We talked about it quite a bit; I finally decided that I was in need of seeing the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. It's actually the prettiest part. So we will meet in Lone Pine, which is at the base of Mt. Whitney (tallest mountain in the lower 48 states). Tuesday morning we will take their car up to the Mt. Whitney trail head and leave it there for them.

Then we start our drive up Highway 395 stopping at Mammoth Lakes where we will leave some of their food at Red's Ranch near Devil's Postpile (pictured at the bottom) and Tuolumne Meadows where we will leave more food. Then on down to Yosemite Valley where I will drop them at a camp site for people who are going to start the John Muir Trail in the morning.

I've hiked very small parts of the John Muir Trail in Mammoth Lakes. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I got up to 11,000 feet before my hiking partners noticed that I was giddy from lack of oxygen. Back down I went.

Below is my favorite picture of the two of them on their wedding day Oct. 4, 2008 at the
Grand Canyon.

Once I drop them at Yosemite then I will take their dog Zoey and a lot of their stuff back to Lincoln. They will drive to Lincoln after they climb Mt. Whitney. If we are really tired, Zoey and I may check into a motel outside the park to get some rest and then drive home the next day.

Zoey and Harleen have not met but I'm sure they will have a grand time. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the prettiest parts of the Sierra Nevada. I might even visit a quilt shop or two on my way to Lone Pine. Watch for a post later in the week after I've recovered.

Now It's Time To Embellish

2010-07-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Last week I showed you the fabrics, the yarn for couching and some of the felt flowers. Now I've put it all together. It's 24 x 34. Next time you see it, the beads and embroidery will have been added. Another beautiful pattern from Rose Hughes.

Fabric Painting and Dying

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

That's what I was learning to do last week in Sisters, Oregon. Rose Hughes, one of my favorite art quilters, taught the class. It was all part of the Sisters Quilt Show, which is a week long event that includes lots of classes. The last two days of the show, quilts are hung outdoors all over the town. You can see more of Rose Hughes work at http://www.rosehughes.com

Classes are held at the high school, which is an amazing new structure that really shows how much the folks in Sisters care about education. My class was in the Physics lab. I shuddered when I walked in and realized where I was; not too many good memories about Physics in high school. Playing with crayons and paint helped to erase the bad memories.

The photo above (don't mind the strap from my camera) shows three pieces I dyed. There is a special cotton fabric that you use for dying. These are each a yard. The design comes from what you do when you put the fabric in the sun to dry. We laid wet fabric on sheets of plastic in the sun. I swirled a handful of the fabric for the hot pink one. The turquoise one was folded and the purple one was laid flat and then had rock salt poured on it. I think the picture will enlarge when you click on it.

The rock salt produces little bursts of color that are amazing. Next step is to embellish each of the fabrics with paint. The paint we used is Createx airbrush colors although we did not use an airbrush. We mixed paints in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. Then we put the fabric into it and mushed it around. Rose calls it "marinating fabric." We took the bags outside and laid the fabric out in the sun. On two of mine I added a final light spray of gold to give it a subtle shine. So now when I can't find what I want, I can create it. Very wonderful experience.

Laying Hens As Artists

2010-07-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Bought these this morning at the farmer's market. I just love the fact that they are different colors. Chickens are artists. If you click on the photo you can see more detail.

My Latest Fabric Adventure Ala Rose Hughes

2010-06-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

The photo in the book shows what it's going to look like. Size: 24x32 inches. The solid green is a velveteen and the other is a cotton batik. I've already made some of the felt flowers decorated with beads and embroidery that will go on the art quilt, which will be a wall hanging.

I could not find the velveteen in any greens so finally simply sent Rose Hughes an e-mail. Within the day she told me what brand it was. I went on line, found it and ordered it from a store with an interesting name: Sacred Moon Dance. It's in Chicago.

So today I cleaned off my sewing table and am ready to start. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll show you the finished product.

My Dad and Me Many Years Ago

2010-06-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

He died in 1982 so this photo was taken before that. He was a tough man to love, but I still did. Not around much when we kids needed him, but he is our father. As you can tell, I got his hair.

An Oriole, A Loud Cat And Weight Watchers

2010-06-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

An Oriole is huge compared to a humming bird but both like to drink from the same feeders. A couple of years ago I bought a special Oriole feeder that would accommodate his size (the males are the beauties) and where I could make the nectar he likes (different proportion of sugar to water than the hummers). He never got a chance to try it because the hummers drank his nectar first. By the time he and his drab-hued mate showed up only hummer food was left. So they balance precariously on the small feeders and slurp away. I also put out half an orange and some grape jelly, which they like. Again, the pair disappeared for a few days so the ants got there first. So the special feeders are in the garage and everyone eats the same stuff. I haven't heard any complaints.

Now onto the cat tale. Giorgio has been yowling right next to our bed at 2 or 3 in the morning. Very annoying. For such a skinny cat he is really loud. He wants access to the outside night world. No, no that's where wild things live; Giorgio would become a meal, all be it a Weight Watchers meal, but nonetheless, a meal. He would keep us awake with his yowling until he got tired and went back to sleep. This was not the way we like to sleep so had to come up with a plan.

We have now declared my sewing room way at the other end of the house as the animal dorm. Harleen sleeps in her crate, Nora sleeps in one little padded cubby and Giorgio sleeps in the other one. We close the door to the dorm; the cats still have access to water, food and their littler box. Access is denied to our bedroom. At first we had to catch the two cats to get them in there, but now they pretty much put themselves to bed when Harleen does, around 9:30. If Giorgio yowls in there, we can't hear him. It took two humans to outsmart a ten-pound cat.

More later on my new fabric pattern ala Rose Hughes. It involves pipe cleaners. Check back in a few days for samples of my new passion.

Teeny Tiny Quilts For Practice

2010-06-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is what I've been doing lately. Each square is 6x6 inches. Fabric on top, then batting and then fabric for the backing. I've been practicing my free motion quilting, painting on fabric with different types of paint, beading and doing overlays.

I do whatever comes into my head; trying to free up the artist inside me. The photo should enlarge if you click on it so you can see the bead work.

I'm planning on making a small wall hanging out of it but need to put borders on each square before I can figure out the background fabric.
I also think I'll do three more whenever the muse visits me.

Rain 0 Heat 91

2010-06-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

91 is the high predicted for today. The humidity is 49%, which doesn't mean a damn thing in
my book. It's still too hot; we haven't even hit the highs in the mid-100s.

So yesterday I went searching for all the fans that I had gleefully tucked away last fall. We have overhead fans in every room (none in the bathrooms). I use the smaller fans strategically. When I get out of the shower, I have one on the counter so I can get dry before I start to sweat again. That same fan goes on my side of the bed on the floor so I can get an additional breeze during the night. I have one in my sewing room that I can place in many spots where needed.

As I write this I realize that I am on the verge of crankiness. This calls for a fabric day. It's hard for me to be cranky when I'm touching fabric.

Yes, we have air conditioning but it's very expensive to run due to the size of our house. Our highest monthly bill came a couple of summers ago: $600. It doesn't come on until it inside temp hits 80.

Went to a party last night put on by the 911 Porsche Club that Kerry and I joined. Great food and nice people. Harleen stayed home alone for the first time without being in her crate. NOTHING WAS DESTROYED.

Today is the anniversary of a good friend's death. Fourteen years after having breast cancer, she found out it was back with a vengeance: liver, lungs and bones. She wanted people to hear this from her so she met with friends individually over wine and told them. We were planning a big party so she could say good bye. She never got to attend because she had a stroke and died a few days later. Her name was Nancy; she loved tap dancing and ceramics. She was very good at both. I think of her often.

My tomato plants and basil love the heat.

Strawberries

2010-06-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

There are many strawberry farms in our area; they are tended by Asians who every year produce the most spectacularly sweet berries. We have a farm less than a mile from us. We took some to the Memorial Day camp out. Rave reviews. I bought some yesterday. The ones I bought were picked that day. The aroma in my car was so wonderful. Once home I cleaned and sliced the berries. Some went into a dehydrator so we can have fresh berries in the winter. The others went into freezer jam that is made with lots of Splenda.

Summer is such a spectacular season for everything. It is, however, hard to put up berries or other things when it's really warm. I set up fans in the kitchen today so I wouldn't sweat on the food.

I will probably do one more batch of dehydrated strawberries and another batch of freezer jam. It's also great on ice cream, plain yogurt and biscuits.

I love summer.

Tonight's dinner is barbecued brined pork chops and oven-roasted kohlrabi, green garlic and leeks with Parmesan cheese. Kerry's tummy is a little off so not sure how much he will eat. He goes to the doctor next Tuesday.

First CSA Box Of The Season

2010-05-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is our third season of getting produce from The Natural Trading Company in Newcastle, CA. Isn't it a beautiful sight? Lots of greens this time of year; tomatoes are behind schedule due to our wet, cold spring. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture; it's one of the cornerstones of a being locavore. The other is our meat club. I pick up our meat order this afternoon.

The round yellow vegetable is a zucchini, the first of the year but many more will follow. To the right in front of the zucchini are spring onions; spring garlic is on the other side. The other greens are arugula, mizuna, collard, lettuce and pea shoots.

I just saw a recipe for radish crostini in the NY Times, so I'll try it out this week with some of our homemade bread. I've never oven roasted radishes, but the photo with the recipe looked delicious. Otherwise, we are not big radish fans.

The spring garlic is great because you can use the stems too. I oven-roasted the last of the asparagus and slivers of the spring garlic stems last night. The stems got really nice and crunchy. You can do the same with the spring onions.

Our friend Jean came for dinner last night. She was having a tough day so we thought a nice dinner fixed by someone else would help. Jean had never had water buffalo sirloin steak. Kerry BBQed it; delicious. I made a new batch of BBQ sauce to put on the steak. Jean liked it.

My tomato plants have flowers but just barely; they look like they are shivering. The sign at the organic blueberry farm down the road said "opening soon." I want to make a Dutch Baby with fresh blueberries and powdered sugar.

Driving For Doughnuts

2010-05-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

The real reason we drove to Washington State can now be told; I wanted to go to Frost Doughnuts outside Seattle. Yes, I will travel far and wide for a good doughnut. I've been reading about Frost on Facebook since early this year. Last Friday we pulled into a parking place right in front of the store. I took that as a good omen. On Fridays they self 15 doughnuts for the price of 12. I had polled family members in Burlington as to their likes and dislikes. Here's what we bought: banana split fritter with sour cherries, custard-filled Bismarks, lemon-filled Bismarks, peanut butter-filled Bismarks, maple bars, maple bars with bits of real bacon on top, red velvet cake donuts and wedding cake donuts. The last two had tall swirls of white frosting on them. Web site: http://www.frostology.com

We stayed with Kerry's sister Joanne this time because his other sister Susan is remodeling here kitchen and having all the popcorn ceiling stuff removed. In other words, nobody was living at Susan and Gary's place. We are not used to sleeping in a full-sized bed; that's what Joanne had. Kerry fell out the first night and ended up with a huge black and blue mark on his back. I heard a thump, looked over on his side, and noticed the vacancy. He crawled up off the floor a bit shaken.

He didn't fall again, but I did. Yup, a nose plant on Joanne's hardwood floors. I caught my flip flop on an area rug and went down like a tree in the forest. Nothing broken but I have lots of black and blue marks plus I'm very sore. Luckily that didn't happen until after the wedding.

Wedding was beautiful. Kristen and Evan were married in Kristen's mom's backyard with snow-covered Mt. Baker looming in the distance. The reception was in a huge white tent that just needed a few trapezes and a couple of elephants to complete the feeling of a circus tent. Kristen is a recent vet school graduate; three of her bridesmaids were vets. The flower girl was Gracie, a golden retriever, and the ring bearer was Bennett, a border collie mix. Kristen's horses looked on from the pasture next to the ceremony. We also met Gracie's 10-week old puppy, Scooter. Gracie only had one puppy; go figure.

I did manage to get out on Monday to buy cheese from my favorite dairy in Bow, WA. Golden Glen Creamery produces lots of different kinds. We came home with a freezer chest full. One my favorite bloggers, Urbanhennery, was giving a presentation at the Mt. Vernon library (right next to Burlington) on Monday evening. She talked about raising chickens in her backyard. I was just too sore to make it. Sorry Laura.

We had so much wonderful seafood during our visit. They are so lucky to live close to the Pacific Ocean and Puget Sound. I had pickled herring, Dungeness crab, oysters and King Salmon (twice). The night we got there we took Joanne out for dinner. The rest of the folks were at the rehearsal dinner. I had macaroni and cheese with Dungeness crab meat. It was so good. All the seafood was fresh.

We packed a lunch for the trip home that began on Tuesday morning: more fish, salmon mixed with mayo on whole wheat bread. Delicious. We got to Medford, Oregon the first night. The next morning we woke to rain, which followed us all the way home. It was really windy too, which is not great when you are driving a boxy car (Honda Element). Stopped at our favorite roadside taco stand in Williams, had lunch and brought more food home for dinner.

Very special dinner tomorrow night. Kerry and I are meeting a favorite blogger (Creamysilver AKA Jennifer) from Indiana and her husband, Bob. Bob is in Sacramento on business so Jennifer came along. We picked our favorite restaurant in Roseville, Paul Martin's American bistro. The restaurant serves locally grown foods and grass fed meats.

Tomorrow our CSA starts and I have to pick up meat from our meat club. Making bread dough today. Barbecued water buffalo top sirloin steak for dinner tonight.

I guess I still do write a lot about food.

My Oil Rig Experience

2010-05-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

The explosion on the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico brought back memories of my own visit to an oil rig in that body of water. The one I was on did not blow up, but it still scared me silly.

I was working for Natomas Company at the time. It no longer exists having been bought and sold many times. My job at that time was to go out on the rig with my photographer to get shots for the annual report. This was in the late 1970s.

We flew to Houston and got a ride to Galveston with an oil worker. We were supposed to helicopter to the rig but it was too foggy so we went in the crew boat. Crews changed on this rig every seven days. You can see the helicopter pad on the left in the photo. Also note the cranes.

We stayed up with the skipper because a lot of the crew down below were hung over; the odor was not pleasant. I even got to drive the crew boat.

As we got closer to the rig, I asked the captain where the stairs were that we would climb to the deck of the rig. No stairs he replied and mentioned how dangerous it would be for the boat to bump up against the rig. Didn't want to rig to fall on our little boat.

That's when I noticed the cranes. With a growing sense of dread, I asked how were we going to get up there. The crane operator lowered a flotation collar, like the kind you would throw overboard if someone fell in the water, to the deck of the gently rocking boat. Ropes went from the collar up to the hook that was attached to the crane. I wore a life jacket and stood on the collar along with my photographer. He thought it was hilarious that I was so scared. In fact he took close-up photos of me as we ascended. I had my eyes closed the whole time. My heart felt like it was going to come out of my chest. And no, I'm not sharing those photos.

The crane operator gently lowered the flotation collar to the rig deck. As we stepped off I looked down at the grating that served as the deck. You could see all the way to the water. My panic continued as I discovered that there was grating everywhere except in the crew cabins, offices and mess. I labored up some stairs to the superintendent's office and did not leave there until I was lowered to the rocking crew boat below.

My photographer did a great job of getting pictures. I prayed the fog would lift so the helicopter could come for us. No such luck. Several hours later I approached the crane operator and told him I was sure he was a nice guy; he would get me back to the boat without any bodily harm. I also mentioned that I had a three-year-old son at home. He had that telltale lump on his face to the right of his lower teeth. Sure sign of a tobacco chewer. He smiled, then I knew for sure.

We climbed onto the flotation collar, were swung out over the water and then lowered to the crew boat ,which was rocking more than in the morning. I hope you get the picture. Little target rocking around in the ocean and crane operator many stories up aiming for the boat deck. I closed my eyes and a few minutes later we were on the deck taking off our life jackets. My adrenaline was flowing like crazy. I had done it; granted it wasn't my best work performance but I had survived.

We got a ride back to Houston with an oil rig worker driving a huge Cadillac convertible. He took the top down, bought two six packs of beer, which we all shared, and delivered us to the Guest Quarters Hotel in Houston. The adrenaline plus two bottles of beer made me a very happy drunk. The doorman was a bit surprised by our demeanor but a big tip turned that attitude around; he got us safely out of the car with all of our gear and up to our rooms. He even smiled.

So that's another one of my life adventures. More to come now that I'm not writing about food so much.

The Excitment Of A Fresh Real Chicken

2010-04-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

My most recent lesson as a locavore has been about poultry. If you want chicken year round, go to the grocery store. If you want real chicken that has been allowed to live as chickens have for centuries, then find a local farmer that raises them the natural way. We have not had chicken since December. The farmers I asked about chicken all told me it wasn't in season. Who would have thought that chickens, just like asparagus, have a season. Chicken would be available again in April. So it's the end of April but where are they?

Yesterday I found out.

I stopped by Blue Goose Market in Loomis. sometimes they have some locally raised meat. What did I spy in the freezer but two chickens from Sinclair Farms. I get eggs and lamb from them too. The cashier in the store was a bit surprised by my delight in finding two chickens. But that's the beauty of being a locavore, you get excited by the simplest things. It's hard to take chicken for granted when you know it's not always there.

So tonight we are having roasted chicken. I have two choices for recipes. One is your basic herb and butter coated bird. You stuff it with lemons to keep it moist. The other is oven roasted with a pomegranate glaze. The glaze is pomegranate molasses, red wine vinegar and honey plus some pepper. You baste the chicken with this after about 30 minutes in the oven. You can also sprinkle pomegranate seeds on the finished bird. They are not in season right now so I'll settle for the glaze. I have to talk to Kerry about which one he prefers.

Two other courses: mashed potatoes with lots of garlic and butter and a red lettuce salad with fresh strawberries and feta cheese topped with a vinaigrette dressing.

This is an expensive bird. It weighs 4.25 pounds and cost $19. We will probably get four meals out of it and then I'll make chicken stock. Pretty good price for something this good.

A Perspective On Earth Day

2010-04-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

I've never been a big fan of Earth Day. Probably because the corporations I worked for always made a big deal out of it and then went right back to doing business as usual.

Today I look at Earth Day differently; we have become a locavore household doing what's right for the planet and us. The cookbook pictured here is my gift to myself for Earth Day. Placer County where I live in Northern California, is a wonderful place to have access to farmers markets year round.

One of the authors of this cookbook, Joanne Neft, is the inventor of PlacerGrown (http://www.placergrown.org/). She started eating locally long before locavorism was popular. This cookbook is one more step on her road to preach the benefits of buying and eating local. She's also from Minnesota (my home state) so that's another reason to like her.

At the end of 2008 she sent out an e-mail to everyone she knew to invite them for dinner at her house each Monday night of the year. She could only seat 4-6 people so you had to get your reservations in early. Places at the table filled up fast.

On the Saturday before the Monday dinner, Joanne and Laura Kenny (the chef) went to the farmers market in Auburn, CA to choose the food for Monday night's dinner. If it wasn't available there, it wasn't served.

The cookbook is organized by month and date so you know what to expect at the farmers market at what time of year. If it's January, there will not be asparagus.

At the end of 52 weeks they had recipes that had been tested on local eaters. Then they began to put it together in a cookbook, which just arrived at local stores.

Here's an example of a dinner; this one is for April 20th, which is about as close as I could come to today.

+ Watercress salad with strawberries and sweet and sour vinaigrette
+ Baked halibut cheeks
+ Black quinoa with mushrooms and snow peas
+ Sauteed kale
+ Fresh strawberries with pistachio biscotti and sabayon Grand Marnier sauce.

A note about the halibut cheeks. We are lucky to have a local fishing company (http://www.wildlittlefish.com/) that has wonderful fresh, non-farmed fish every week at the Auburn farmers market and several others in the area. We even get wild salmon, which they bring down from Alaska. Farm-raised fish are not healthy for the environment or you.

So that's how I'm celebrating. What about you?

Some Thoughts On Retirement

2010-04-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's been three years since I stopped working. Hard to believe it's been that long. Those three years have been some of the best years of my life.

My life is quiet; I love it that way. I don't need much money; I don't have that many material needs. Fabric and good, healthy, organic food are the two things on which I spend the most money. We rarely eat out because the restaurant food is not very healthy. The exceptions are Paul Martin's American Bistro in Roseville and Chipotle. Love their burrito bowl.

I gave away all of my expensive suits, blouses and shoes. Someone else can wear that armor now; not me. Jeans, shirts and fleece plus comfortable shoes are my outer expression. My panty hose are used to collect lint at the end of our dryer line under the house. That's a good place for them.

I'm healthier because I'm not always on airplanes.

I can't think of one negative thing about retirement.

We rarely get up earlier than 8:30; no alarms in our life unless we made the unfortunate decision to be somewhere early.

Our travels are mostly by car to spend time with family and friends. We haven't been to the Bay Area in several years and have no plans to go. That place is filled with noise, pollution and tension. Don't need any of those things. If someone wants to see us, they come here and enjoy the beauty and solitude of our five acres.

I've made new friends; discovered that I really want to express my creativity with fabric; learned that being in a large group is not for me anymore; discovered Michael Pollan and became a locavore; shopped at the farmer's markets and cooked what I found there; and learned a lot about organic farming from the farmers I follow on Twitter.

I also learned that I love to nap each day; luckily Kerry does too.

The days fly by; most of the time I can tell you what day of the week it is but not always the date.

One of the best parts of retirement was Mark finding Julia and getting married at the Grand Canyon.

My quilting went from buying and learning to use all the tools needed to create perfect quilts that would win prizes to tearing strips of fabric for my latest art quilt. This summer Kerry, Harleen and I are going to Sisters, Oregon so I can take a class in fabric painting from a teacher I really like. All of this started from a series of fiction books I read about Elm Creek Quilt Camp. Author is Jennifer Chiaverini.

And Harleen came into our lives as a tiny 11 pound golden lab puppy. Due to bad hips, she washed out of the Canine Companions for Independence program. So in a way she retired too and is now part of our life.

I've learned that you never know where life will lead you; just listen to your soul and follow your heart. It worked for me.

Deconstructing Quilt Blocks

2010-04-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of fun developing the idea for this quilt which is 36 x 44. The top picture is the entire quilt; the second picture shows a close up of a section where I've done some free motion quilting.

All the fabric, except the black background, was originally in another quilt which I had never finished. I never liked the quilt even though I liked a lot of the fabrics. It was sitting in my pile of UFOs (unfinished objects).

I finally decided to cut the quilt blocks into strips and weave them together. That gave me four boxes and a lot of leftover material. I put the four woven boxes on the black fabric using lightweight fusible. Rose Hughes' technique came into play but not in the usual way; I wasn't joining fabrics, I wanted to create arteries along which fabric could move. The couching is colorful yarn I had in my yarn stash.

Then I cut out lots of circles...and I mean lots of circles both big and small. The ones in the arteries are emerging from fabric circles like colorful coins coming out of a machine. The larger blank circles I quilted with a variety of two- or three-toned thread. You can see that in the second photo.

Finally, I sewed one or two beads on all of the small circles.

The solid block with strips of fabric emerging from it was just done for contrast.

Jamie Oliver In W. Virginia

2010-03-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

The first two episodes of his new program, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, aired on ABC last Friday night. He's come to the unhealthiest town in America, Huntington, W. Va., to see what he can do to get them to eat healthier so they will lose that terrible title. They got the title because of the town's high death rate.

He is focusing on school lunch programs, which are ghastly and not just in Huntington. One of my favorite parts of the show are when he goes to talk to the cooks at an elementary school. Here's this guy with an English accent and hair looking like he used a submersion blender to comb it and he's hoping to convince these women to prepare healthier meals for the kids. It's a good thing there weren't any knives around; if looks could have killed he would have been dead.

The kids were getting pizza for breakfast. Yikes. Also the school was throwing away tremendous amounts of this junk food. The kids only got flavored milk. That sure didn't sound like my elementary school. Kids can't learn if they don't get good nutrition.

He convinces the ladies to cook one meal from scratch; pretty simple marinated chicken parts and a salad. Kids didn't like it. There are times in the program where he cries real tears of frustration. By the way, he did this same type of thing in Great Britain to help improve kid's nutrition there and was quite successful.

Next he goes into an elementary school classroom with some vegetables; the kids can't identify them (not even a tomato or potato). Then he convinces a family to have a health evaluation at a local doctor's office. The teenage boy is borderline diabetic; sort of a wake up call for the parents. Jamie helps them shop for healthy foods, gives them some simple recipes and comes back in a week to see how they are doing. Most of the healthy food is still in the refrigerator.

He opens up Jamie's Kitchen in a storefront in downtown Hungtington where kids and adults can come to learn about food. The grossest part of the show happened here. He showed the kids a whole, raw chicken. Then he chopped off all the meat; legs, thighs, wings, and breast. He chopped up the remaining carcass and put it in a Cuisinart which turned it to mush. He added a bit of flour to make it less sticky and then cut out a round piece that when fried looked like a Chicken McNugget. He asked the kids which they preferred the meat of the chicken or the chicken McNugget. They chose the McNugget.

I was surprised that a major network would air a program like this on Friday night during prime time. Food is a politically loaded subject right now with the large conglomerates like Monsanto, Cargil and ADM under fire for stifling competition and genetically modifying seeds for basic foods like corn.

Despite corporate efforts, the slow food movement, organic foods, locavores and grass fed meats, are making it onto the front page and into TV network shows. Some may say that what we locavores are doing is not having an impact; I personally think they are wrong. Revolutions start small but they don't stay that way.

So, hug a locavore, buy organic fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market when they are in season and stay out of the center part of your grocery store. That's where all the harmful food lurks.

Jamie Oliver will be on this Friday night on your local ABC affiliate. Don't miss it; he might save your life. And he's kinda cute in a boyish way.

Dark Days Challenge Final Week

2010-03-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

I hope I got that right. Even went back and read all the information about the Challenge so I wouldn't stop short of the final date.

Tried fennel for the first time. Kerry found it at the farmer's market. We usually shop separately because he's more into fruit than I am. I looked at the fennel and thought, what am I going to do with that.

I posed that question at my quilting bee; Mary Jane said she had been thinking about cooking fennel and had found a recipe in one of Ina Garten's cookbooks.
Ina oven roasted it with potatoes and asparagus. No asparagus so I just cut up some potatoes, the fennel, some leeks and green garlic. Sprinkled it with olive oil and roasted the whole thing at 425 F. for 25 minutes. Very tasty with no taste of licorice. Maybe enough garlic trumps licorice.

Meanwhile Kerry BBQed two small filet mignon from Coffee Pot Ranch. Made for a delicious meal and all local except the salt. We are going to have fennel again soon.

Dark Days Local Challenge Week 18

2010-03-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

This was a crock pot day. Those are the days I love; once everything is in the pot, you don't have to think about dinner until you eat it.

Ingredients today included: lamb shoulder (new for us but a lot like lamb shank), carrots, potatoes, leek, green garlic, white wine and dried strawberries and blueberries. The latter gave it a wonderful sweetness. We put a large dollop of sour cream on the dish. The bread shown in the photo is from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." It really is that easy. I make 2-3 loaves a week.

But I really want to write about the health care package that passed the House of Representatives tonight. The vote gives me hope; something I have not had for a while. Yes, we can have compassion. That's the word for the year: compassion.

Go Obama!

Odds And Ends For A Thursday

2010-03-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Now that Harry is heading back to Reno, they have decided to be best buddies. That's Harry's head resting on Harleen. Just moments before, they were growling and chasing each other. Lia, Harry's puppy raiser, is brings her CCI breeding dog, Darlan, to Sacramento for x-rays to see how many pups she is going to have. The ultrasound showed ten. With eight nipples, that could be a challenge for Lia and Darlan. This also gives you an idea of what the new carpet in my sewing studio looks like. Lia will come by here and pick Harry up on her way back to Reno.

Harry was released from the CCI advanced training program because he didn't like to be groomed. He is such a sweet dog. So now he's a Change of Career dog just like Harleen. I wonder if any of the dogs in their litter will go on to be CCI service dogs.

***

We got our annual water bill from the irrigation district today. Last year we paid $98 for a miner's inch (11 gallons per minute 24 hours a day from April to October). This bill was for $734. We were a bit shocked so Kerry called. The poor customer service people are in for quite a day. They have a new billing system which figured all the bills much higher than they should be. Our bill will be $110. Sending new bills out tomorrow. This is not our drinking water. We just use it for irrigation and to keep our ponds full.

Made pizza last night using one of the bread recipes from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." It was delicious. Topped it with tomato sauce from last summer, organic spinach leaves (the green for St. Patrick's Day) from the farmers' market, mozzarella, Parmesan and salami. Having leftovers for dinner.

Now I just have to try making pasta. I have all the ingredients except courage. I know I can, I know I can....

Memories Of Ireland With Grandpa Coakley

2010-03-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

When I lived in Europe, my grandfather was the only member of my family to visit me. He had never flown so my parents decided to put him on a flight that was non-stop to Frankfurt where I would meet him. My dad flew to Chicago with him and put him on a Lufthansa flight. What my father didn't realize is that the flight to Frankfurt was canceled; Grandpa opted for a British Airways flight to London and then another flight to Frankfurt. That meant he had to change planes at one of the busiest airports in the world.

When I arrived at the Frankfurt Airport, the folks at Lufthansa told me they weren't quite sure where he was. Now my grandfather, being of Irish descent, had the gift of the gab. About 8 hours after he was supposed to arrive he came through the doors of customs with a blonde woman on his arm. I could tell that the two of them had had a few drinks on the flight from London. He hugged me and said, "Is this Germany?"

A few days later we flew to Dublin so he could set foot on the land his family came from. The flight was really bumpy over the channel; he didn't seem to notice. I was white-knuckled the whole way.

Once there we rented a tiny Fiat that supposedly fit four. It was a stick shift and I was driving on the other side of the road. That meant shifting with my left hand. One way streets were a real challenge. I was honked at a lot. We finally headed for Cork. That's the port his father had left from.

Grandpa was very disappointed that there were so many Coakleys in the phone book. Sort of like Peterson in Minneapolis. I think he imagined some grand reunion with the family where they would all tell stories of his father's departure to Boston.

The first morning at our bed and breakfast grandpa asked the "wee lass," as he called her, if he could have a bit of whiskey. I wanted to crawl under the table; the wee lass did not blink an eye. She returned with a small glass filled to the brim. He smiled at me, raised his glass and said, here's looking at you my dear grandchild. Then he would loudly burp. That request, toast and burp were repeated every morning. He lived to be nearly 90 so I guess it didn't hurt him.

About the third or fourth day out of Dublin, grandpa slammed the car door on the seat belt; we were never able to open that door. So he road in the back seat and the luggage was piled on the front passenger seat.

About mid-morning each day he'd announce that he had a wee bit of a thirst. We would find a pub where we would stay until lunch. He had a bunch of JFK half dollar pieces which he would spread out on the bar. We drank for free as long as those prized mementos lasted.

In Galway, we saw the movie "Love Story." Like so many other people in the theater, I cried and even sobbed at times. Grandpa held my hand and assured me everything would be okay.

He refused to go to the North; that was back when things were still pretty bad between the two parts of Ireland. After ten days in Ireland, I put him on a non-stop flight to Chicago where my dad was to meet him. I stayed at the airport long enough to see the plane taxi and lift off. I wasn't taking any chance with grandpa.

Good memories for this St. Patrick's Day. We are breaking with tradition tonight and having homemade pizza. The green part will be fresh spinach.

Whoops; Dark Days Challenge Week 17

2010-03-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, I thought the challenge ended with week 16. Urbanhennery graciously pointed out that it lasts until the end of March. So, to continue....

These are some of the ingredients for Week 17. A bag of pea shoots (can be eaten raw or cooked) plus green garlic, leeks and spinach (not pictured) went into a stir fry which had local olive oil. Kerry barbecued a tri-tip using a method he saw on a Julia Child/Jaques Pepen cooking show.

Kerry always has trouble with overcooking the tri-tip because it's so thick. The cooking show had them start the meat at a high temperature (BBQ) until it was crusty on the outside. Then they put it in a 200 F. degree oven to let the inside cook slowly. This was a big improvement.

All of the veggies were local as was the tri-tip.

New Kitchen Gadget

2010-03-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

It's called a utensil pot clip; Julia and Mark had them. Instead of laying your spoon on the counter while you are cooking, just clip this little thing onto the pot and slide the spoon in the grips. They are rubberized so your spoon doesn't get hot.

The company that makes them is Home Presence. They have a web site. I don't remember how much I paid for it. I store mine right by the stove clipped to the vase that that holds my spoons. I love kitchen

Dark Days Challenge Week 16

2010-03-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

This is the end of the challenge. I missed one week when we were away for Christmas.

Despite the fact that we are not a family of turnip, beet or parsnip eaters, we managed to find lots of other vegetables. Maybe next winter we will find joy in them.

Our last meal was another simple one. It really isn't that much work to eat this way. I brined the pork chops from Coffee Pot Ranch; Kerry barbecued them. Oven roasted Yukon gold potatoes with leeks, broccolini and a bit of olive oil completed the meal. I put some of my BBQ sauce on my pork chop and Kerry ate his naked. Everything in the meal was local, organic, sustainable and ethical. I snacked on broccolini dipped in my cole slaw dressing while I was cooking.

That reminds me, Michael Pollan has adapted his book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" for children. It's available on Amazon. My friend Ami is reading it to her nine-year-old son so he will understand why she reads labels. We can't start training them too early to understand the dangers of processed food.

I want to thank Laura at Urbanhennery for hosting this wonderful opportunity. I know I didn't have it as tough as some of you in the Midwest and east. Finding asparagus fit for a locavore in February is something you can only do in warmer climates.

I went through the refrigerator freezer his morning and discovered enough meals for the next three days: chili, spicy lamb stew and moussaka. I get a certain satisfaction out of finished leftovers; Kerry isn't quite sure. I hate to waste food, especially the kind of food we eat.

Now I'm going to have to write about something else besides food. Well, not everyday.

The Wedding Quilt and St. Louis

2010-03-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

We spent a four-day weekend in St. Louis with Mark and Julia. I had not seen the wedding quilt I made them hung on a wall. All the photos I posted before were sections of it. It was quite a revelation for me to see it in this format. Part of the border is a technique I learned from Rami Kim; it's folded fabric with a bead. Mark and Julia picked the fabric and the pattern.

They live in this wonderful brick bungalow that was probably built back in the 1940s. I love the archway on the right in the picture. Homes from this era have those kinds of wonderful touches. Also off to the right you can see Kerry (beard) and my son, Mark. They spent a lot of time together because Kerry threw his back out on the flight to St. Louis. That made for a much more relaxing weekend with lots of time for them to discuss electronics. Julia and I shopped and went to an orchid show at the Botanical Gardens. I really like St. Louis.

We are home; Kerry's back is recovering thanks to Julia finding a chiropractor in St. Louis. I had my knee shots today and a cut and color. It was a whole body maintenance day. We are both very tired. Hopefully we can catch up over the weekend.

Saturday is snow day for CCI dogs up in Truckee. Harleen loves this event. Hopefully we will see her pregnant buddy, Darlan.

Dark Days Challenge Week 15

2010-02-26T11:13:00.000-08:00

I love the look of chopped red cabbage. Also like the way it tastes with my dressing on it.

This week there have been several meals that qualified for the challenge but all are things I've made and pictured before. I figured you didn't need to see another photo of flank steak or beef short ribs smothered in my BBQ sauce. We also had Butternut squash soup with chard and bacon.

I slow cooked a pork roast in white wine with Yukon gold potatoes and carrots.

So I did a lot of cooking but nothing seemed to stand out for a photo, except the red cabbage.

We are flying to St. Louis tomorrow for five days to see Mark and Julia. Looking forward to seeing their house and their new city. I will be back to finish the Dark Days Local Challenge, but I am looking forward to spring and summer vegetables. Aren't we all.

Signs Of Spring At My House

2010-02-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

The pink blossoms are on our miniature peach tree, which rarely produces peaches but does a heckuva job of producing beautiful flowers.

Not quite sure what the white flowering trees are. Some are on our property; some on the neighbor's land. I took the photo from our back deck near dusk so they look pretty ethereal.

This, to me, is the best part of living in California. We don't have to wait too long for the spring blooms to appear. These photos were taken on Feb. 24. Every where I look there are blossoms.

The sun is out so it's time for some more gardening. Yesterday I fertilized my bulbs and trimmed a few things. Today I turn my attention to our orchard. It's only three trees, two apple and a pear that produces four kinds of pears. Anything more than one tree, in my mind, becomes an orchard. We get two days of rain after that so it's a good time to fertilize.

New Purse And iPhone

2010-02-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

I love the purse and the phone. The purse means I still don't need a wallet. I still have plenty of room in the front pocket, under the heart, to store my new iPhone. It's not much bigger than my last Brighton bag that I had for five years.

Len waited on me again at the AT&T store. I reminded him that I was the person who had to find a new purse before I could get the phone. I showed him the purse; he thought it was excellent. Who knows what he will tell his wife tonight. We made sure the phone fit in it and then I bought it. Haven't spent this much money in one day in a long time.

Now I need to spend some time setting up my phone, which is also an iPod.

Another Art Quilt

2010-02-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

This one is another Rose Hughes pattern. It's 24 x 48 inches. Now that I've done two of her patterns, I'm ready to branch out and design one myself. I've been working on that about a week. The working title for that one is "Lily pads." It's 48 by 38 inches and is an abstract view of a pond (without algae for those of you who know what our ponds are like).

I was going to work on one depicting a cottage and its garden in the Cotswold but decided it was time to do my own thing.

If you click on this one you should be able to see more detail in the beading and embroidery.

Quilting Bee this a.m. and then off to search for the perfect purse for an iPhone, which I have yet to buy. Hopefully I'll find the purse and then get the phone.

Dark Days Challenge Week 14

2010-02-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

It was so wonderful to find asparagus at our farmers market on Saturday. At first I wasn't sure that I was seeing right. I looked at the sign over the vendors head...yes, local and, yes, organic.

So our Dark Days Challenge dinner featured the first asparagus of the season (simply steamed) along with barbecued flank steak smothered in homemade barbecue sauce.

Pretty simple meal but that's what being a locavore is all about...simplicity.

Went wine tasting today at a local winery. One of the owners is on the Placer County Ag Commission. We talked a lot about being locavores. This is not a huge winery. Both husband and wife have day jobs.

Met a woman there who didn't know about a local fishmonger who brings salmon, crab, shrimp and scallops fresh from Alaska and Baja. No farm raised fish. I recently heard that a South American fish farm (don't remember where) had some kind of disease. You know things are bad when even the fish are not healthy.

I think of the first asparagus as the harbinger of warm weather. And being a locavore is a harbinger of meeting many new people and sharing information. I'm glad we have year-round farmers markets.

Farmers Market Purchases

2010-02-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

And yes, that's asparagus grown locally and organically. This is just one more reason to live on the West coast. Those slender little darlings will be part of our dinner tonight. Also got chard, leeks, carrots, apples, broccolini, popping corn, and red cabbage. This time it's a small cabbage so we won't spend a whole week eating it. The egg lady was sold out again; she gave me her phone number so I can call her next Friday to reserve a dozen eggs for Saturday.

I didn't include Kerry's purchase in the picture; he bought Kettle Korn. Mr. Diabetes bought a boat load of carbs.

It's cloudy here with a promise of rain and clouds for most of the week.

Monday we order our meat from the meat club. Gotta check the freezer to see what we need. I think I'll get my eggs there. Next Saturday we are flying to St. Louis to visit Julia and Mark so won't get to the market. Looks like a heat wave in St. Louis while we are there; highs in the low 40s.

Dark Days Local Challenge Week 13

2010-02-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

Up until this week I had fixed cabbage two ways: raw for cole slaw and boiled with corned beef.

Last weekend there was this beautiful green cabbage at the Farmers' Market that was calling out to me; I brought it home.

One of the recent Dark Day entries wrote about sweet and sour cabbage. Sounded really good. You are supposed to make it with red cabbage but all I had was my beautiful green one.

So I made it anyway; it was a little blah looking but it tasted great. I used bacon from Coffee Pot Ranch, cider vinegar, leeks and Splenda (not SOLE). Kerry recently has had some not very good glucose numbers. He had slipped back into his old eating habits so we have started cutting back on all things sugar. His doctor upped his meds, and now he's testing daily. I just hope he doesn't slip back again.

We had brined and BBQed pork chops, which were also from Coffee Pot Ranch, to go with the cabbage.

A great dinner with leftovers to feed us the next night.

Fabric Art Quilt

2010-02-12T17:42:00.000-08:00

I've shown parts of this before, but now it's hanging on the wall in my sewing studio. I have another one I've just finished but haven't hung yet.

Now I'm striking out on my own; my pattern not one from another quilt artist. This is so much fun. I love fabric.

Dark Days Challenge Week 12

2010-02-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Risotto is one of my favorite comfort foods even though it takes a lot of stirring to get it right. This one was made with homemade chicken stock, locally grown Kale, mushrooms, leeks and garlic, plus Parmesan cheese from Glen Canyon Creamery.

The bread was my first loaf using my new bread making book. Mark had told me that each batch is a bit different. The second loaf was denser but still delicious. Probably won't bake the third batch until tomorrow.

So that's Week 12. Taking Mark to the airport soon. Then Super Bowl festivities with friends.

My First Loaf

2010-02-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

The top photo shows it resting before going into the oven. The bottom photo is after baking for 30 minutes at 450 F. on my baking stone. Now it has to cool for a couple of hours; then we can taste. I'm just amazed at how easy the process is. The lop-sided nature of the finished bread is because I didn't make deep enough cuts in the dough on that side.

Easy Bread Making

2010-02-04T18:36:00.000-08:00

The headline for my blog, I thought, was an oxymoron. I had tried to make bread and been very unsuccessful at it. But I still really wanted to make bread; it's the most nurturing thing you can do with food.

Mark and Julia (son and daughter-in-law) talked to me about a book they had discovered that made bread making easy: "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day."

Then they sent me a copy for my birthday. I read the book, agonized over it, and finally made my first batch of dough today. It was way too simple, I told Mark (he's here for a few days). But then the dough rose like it was supposed to. No kneading. Now it's in the refrigerator; yes the cold refrigerator.

Tomorrow morning I will break off a hunk of dough about equal to a grapefruit (1 pound for those of you with a scale) and put it in the oven. No pan, just a baking stone with lots of corn meal on it. I'll let you know what happens.

Dark Days Challenge Week 11...And More

2010-01-31T11:43:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot going on this past week that did not involve food. I'll get to that second.

Last night's dinner was an invention that developed from what I had on hand. It's a casserole with layered potatoes (bottom and top), pieces of chard, crispy bacon cut into small pieces, more potatoes, Golden Glen Creamery cheddar cheese, and whipping cream from Straus Family Creamery with garlic added. I poured the cream over the whole thing and baked it covered for 75 minutes in the oven at 375 F. It's sort of scalloped potatoes with chard and bacon.

Kerry pronounced it delicious. Leftovers tonight. I'm going to add some more chard and warm it in the oven. Can't get enough greens.

Now for the rest of the week. We recarpeted our bedroom and sitting room and my sewing room (shown here with new carpet).

I took it as an opportunity to get rid of lots of stuff. I took bags of clothes and boxes of books to the Salvation Army. It always feels so good to lighten my load. I did the same thing in my sewing room. I still had boxes from our move here. I discovered all kinds of things that could go in the garbage. Also organized my room better for what I'm doing. Finally got some wire baskets in which to sort fabrics by color and pattern. I discovered that I have lots of green and neutral colors but not much blue. Not sure what that means.

I am so thankful I got all of this done before the carpet layers got here. I feel this wonderful elation when I walk into my sewing room now. On the wall to the left in the picture I am going to put up one long curtain rod so I can display my quilts. Photos to follow when that job is done.

Also solved the mystery of all the readers from Great Britain who come to my blog via "what is panagrattato" on Google. I asked someone to enlighten me. Finally one person responded anonymously that there is a chain of pubs in the UK that serves panagrattato. When you Google that word my blog is the first answer that comes up. A couple of years ago I made it. So that mystery is solved. Hope some of them keep coming back for a visit.

Dark Days Local Challenge: Week 10

2010-01-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

I made maple syrup-glazed pork chops, steamed broccoli with a mayo and soy sauce topping, and baked sweet potato with butter.

I brined the pork chops, which really helped keep them moist. The recipe called for quite a bit of cooking time to get the glaze to carmelize. Pork chops might have been really chewy by then. The glaze was just maple syrup (Costco but the real thing), chicken stock (ours), some dried mustard and salt and pepper. Went well with the sweet potato which has local butter on it. The broccoli is from the farmer's market.

I'm really enjoying reading all the things folks are making; imagination abounds. I just wish we had a good chacuterie in the area where I could get some good, local sausage. I'll keep searching.

Divine Bread

2010-01-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

I love bread. Not the ordinary kind. Grew up with Taystee bread. Didn't know how awful it was until I lived in Germany for three years after college. That's when I first experienced good bread, the kind you have to really chew.

The loaf pictured here is from a new bread maker, Nathan, in Auburn, CA. The first loaf I bought was a Meyer lemon rosemary round. The second loaf was the same. I probably won't get around to trying another loaf until Meyer lemon season is over.

It's not a dense bread so it's ideal for tearing chunks from the loaf. He sells to small markets like Newcastle Produce and Latitudes Restaurant in Auburn. His parents own Latitudes.

Panagrattato

2010-01-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

It's interesting to note that whenever I get someone from the UK reading my blog they have gotten there from a search for "panagratto." The other search that I get a lot of hits from is "silkworm." I don't know who you are and you don't have to divulge your identify; I just know you are using that search term to get to my blog.

I know I wrote about both subjects; I'm just curious why you folks in Britain keep coming back to "panagratto" which is basically bread crumbs mixed with anchovies. No need to stop coming by; I'm just curious.

I'm the only one in my family who seemed to like the "panagratto." Haven't made it since. Maybe there are lots of folks in Britain who love this.

Anyway, this has been on my mind for a while so thought I would post it and see what the results are. You can comment anonymously.

ET's Spaceship

2010-01-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

It's a romanesco. Larger than a cauliflower; part of the broccoli family. It always reminds me of ET's spaceship when his parents came to get him.

It shows up in our farmer's markets this time of year. Tonight it is the main ingredient in a soup I'm making. Ingredients, which are all local except for the cream, are romanesco, leeks, chicken stock from our chicken last night, cream, chicken from last night's chicken, and sun-dried tomato cheddar cheese. Maybe I'll call this "Phone Home Soup."

That's all we are having for dinner. Kerry will probably have some toast with it. My appetite is not great; antibiotics do that to you.

If you see one of these in your market, buy it. It's yummy and beautiful.

Dark Days Local Challenge: Week 9

2010-01-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

We bought two Dungeness crabs at the farmer's market last Saturday. There is a fish company that goes out of Bodega Bay on the northern California coast. We can count on them for great, non-farmed fish and crab. It's called the Little Fish Company. Turns out the family's name is "Little."

The first night we just spread newspaper on the table and ate crab. It's so messy, we don't even bother with plates. It's newspapers, the nut cracker and a roll of paper towels.

The leftover crab went into a frittata I made on Monday night. The local ingredients included: the crab, eggs from our local provider, butter from Straus Family Creamery, garlic and broccoli from the farmer's market and sun-dried tomato cheddar cheese from Golden Glen Creamery. I visited this creamery when I was in Washington at Christmas. It counts as local because we were in the area and visited the creamery. It's not like we drove there specifically for the creamery's products. Checked this out with Urbanhennery and she agrees.

Also made garlic bread with the Straus butter and farmer's market garlic.

The Irish Sports Pages

2010-01-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

I'll get to the goats in a minute. My Irish grandmother always referred to obituaries as the Irish Sports Pages.

This may seem a bit weird, but I love reading obits. To me they are short stories about people's lives. Give me a good long obituary for a very old person and I'll find an interesting nugget of information.

For example, an obit I read a couple of days ago talked about how this lady was an avid bowler. She had bowling balls for all four seasons. Now that was a nugget.

Another one talked about the cowards who attacked and killed their mother in her apartment. You rarely see that kind of thing in an obit. I found the article and yes, the mother had been beaten to death by an unknown assailant.

The pictures can be wonderful too. I especially love it when you get a young and an old picture. Some of those 1940s hairdos were really something. And the WWII photos of these handsome guys in their uniforms are just great.

I'm amazed by how many obits talk about the person going to be with God or Jesus and, of course, other family members who have died. I remember my Aunt Jerry, my grandma's daughter, telling me that she would be waiting for me in heaven with my mother (her sister). The last person I ever want to see is my mother and quite frankly I don't think she's in heaven. If she is, then God or someone, made a mistake.

My sister reads them too so maybe there is a genetic connection here.

The language is interesting to sort out; viewing means you get to see the body and visitation means you get to talk to the dead person's relatives and friends. I can sort of tell when it's a suicide because it will say that someone died unexpectedly at home. It's usually a younger person. I feel sorry for the person who found the body.

Anyway, on to the goats. Our neighbors a couple of acres away have a bunch of them. Apparently there is a break in their fence and these pretty little creatures are roaming the neighborhood. One of them has a damaged hoof so he/she hops on three legs. We only hope they will stay long enough to eat lots of blackberry bushes. Not even sure if the owners realize there is a break in the fence. The cats and Harleen get quite excited when they show up on the front porch.

Oh, and Kerry has Shingles. What else can happen healthwise here?

Dark Days Challenge Week 8

2010-01-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

I'm sick AGAIN! Luckily I managed to cook one local dinner before I felt really awful. After that I relied on Confluence. More about that later. I got my new (actually used) camera two days after we finished the spicy lamb stew so you will have to use your imagination.

We got back from our 12-day trip to Washington on Sunday afternoon; that's why I missed Week 7. I took some lamb kabob meat out of the freezer. I've never been a big kabob fan so decided to do a spicy stew cooked in the crockpot. The lamb came from Flying Mule Farm where they really do farm with mules.

I put the lamb in the crockpot with tomato sauce from last summer's tomatoes, corn from last summer's farmers' market that I blanched and froze, chicken broth from a Chaffin Orchards' chicken, organic black beans (origin unknown), white wine, and onions and garlic from Newcastle Produce. Lots of cumin, chili powder and paprika added to the spiciness. I made enough so we had leftovers. Spicy foods always taste good when I'm sick and my taste buds are out of sorts.

But now for the Confluence Kitchen and Market. It's located in Auburn, CA about 12 miles from here. They have a store, but they also come to the Auburn farmers' market. The web site is www.confluencekitchenandmarket.com Luckily I had stocked up before we left for Washington. They sell both fresh and frozen entrees that are made from organic, local food. I had a broccoli and cheese quiche and a red pepper and polenta lasagna in the freezer. Those two frozen entrees plus the spicy lamb stew have guaranteed that we ate healthy, local food while I was sick. Last of the leftovers tonight and then tomorrow I'm back to cooking.

We've also had their chicken pot pie and beef empanadas. Both were delicious.

Happy New Year From Burlington, WA

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

Pictured here are my new friends from Golden Glen Creamery in Bow, WA. My sister-in-law Susan and I paid them a visit. We brought home some of their finest work: all variety of cheeses including Parmesan, butter, chocolate milk in a glass bottle and eggs, one of which was green (we also met the chickens).

Folks in the store were so nice. They gave us a map of Skagit county that shows where local food is produced and can be bought. We will be back in May for a wedding so I'll check on lots of them then. We did go to the Farm to Market deli in nearby Edison where we bought some yummy treats. My favorite was (I already ate it so no pictures) polenta cake soaked in lime juice. It was shaped like a mini Bundt cake. Delicious.

It's official, my camera is dead. I hope I can find a good one on sale when we get home.

Susan has been cooking up a storm, as usual. Last night we had her clam linguine. It was so good we are having it again tonight. We brought a leg of lamb with us to share with the family. They loved it. Otherwise I've been eating lots of veggies and oysters from a nearby bay. It is such a treat to have fresh fish. That's what happens when you live close to the ocean. My lunch today will be raw oysters in seafood sauce (aka ketchup with lots of horseradish).

Saw the Sandra Bullock movie The Blindside. Great flick even if it did have lots of football scenes. On New Years Eve we watched "Angels and Demons." Pretty good.

Yesterday we visited fellow blogger Urbanhennery at her home. Harleen played with their lab, Jake. She gave us some of her homemade strawberry jam and dill pickles. We brought her Satsuma mandarin oranges which count as a local food for her because we were in the area and just happened to bring them some. Same goes for the stuff I bought at the creamery.

We head home tomorrow and should be back in Lincoln on Sunday night. Weather through the Siskiyous is the only thing that could slow us down. Right now it looks like it's going to be good tomorrow and Sunday.

Dark Days Challenge: Week 6

2009-12-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

I think my camera is dying. The broccoli looks pretty unappetizing. I don't know why I have that pink area in the photo. The same thing happened with my popover photo a few days ago.

So use your imagination. We will be away for Week 7 so thought I'd hurry and get Week six in before we leave for urbanhennery territory (aka Washington State).

I brined the pork chops from Coffee Pot Ranch. Bob's pork is incredible but I find that for my taste I still need to have it moister. My brine is hot water, brown sugar, salt, Dijon mustard and cider vinegar. Chops this size usually brine for about two hours. I steamed the broccoli in the microwave and then topped it with the family's secret sauce (not-so-secret mayo and soy sauce [the really dark kind]). The veggies and meat were local and organic.

Hope all of you have a happy and healthy holiday season. I'll be back in the new year.

Dark Days Challenge # 5

2009-12-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

My photo of a pan of popovers was out of focus so all you are going to see is the butternut squash soup with garlic, onions, chard and bacon.

I baked the squash and then scooped it into this pot so it could cook with some half and half and seasonings.

Then I fried the bacon; the onions and garlic were cooked in the bacon grease. Because it's a pig from a local rancher, the fat content is pretty low. At least this time I didn't have to add butter. The last thing I did was tear up chard leaves, place them in the frying pan and cover with a lid so they would wilt.

I poured the bacon pieces, onions, garlic and chard over the squash (shown here). I used my immersion blender to mix it all together. Nice mixture of flavors. Everything, but the cream,

was organic and local.

Art Quilting

2009-12-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

A while back I took a class from Rose Hughes on art quilts. I bought one of her patterns and have been working on it for months. I think I'm finally ready to share with you some pictures of the wall hanging. You really can't tell see the detail without some close ups. This is the first time I've worked with silk; I like vibrant colors so silk really works for me. Take a look at her work: http://www.rosehughes.com

It's draped over the tread mill.

The Best Candy Bar In The Universe

2009-12-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

NUT GOODIES!!!!!

They are not easy to come by where I live. The company that makes them is in St. Paul, MN; they don't seem to ship very far from home.

I've had a love affair with this candy bar since I was in grade school, which is a long time ago. Yesterday a box of them arrived from my sister, her husband and their son. It was to thank me for my caring through all her health problems during the past two years.

Nut Goodies say love in any language. Let's see if I can describe them. It's milk chocolate poured over a cluster of nuts and a creamy filling that has a subtle taste of maple to it.

I received 24; we are now down to 22. I told Kerry I would share with him even though I did more caring than he did. I think that works out to one Nut Goodie for every two I eat. Sounds fair to me.

I'm leaving them at home for the holidays; we leave for Washington next Tuesday for about a week.

Dark Days Challenge: Week Four

2009-12-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

These are all the ingredients for the meat loaf and potato/leek scalloped potato recipes. I posed them around our John Deere Tractor lamp. I bought Kerry the lamp thinking that then he wouldn't buy a tractor...wrong.

Local Ingredients:

1. Ground Pork from Coffee Pot Ranch
2. Ground Beef from High Sierra Beef
3. Eggs from Sinclair Family Farm
4. Leeks from Newcastle Produce
5. Garlic from Natural Trading Company
6. Unsalted butter from Straus Family Creamery
7. Whipping cream (in the cute little bottle) from Straus Family Creamery
8. Petite Syrah from Lucchesi Vineyards
9. Potatoes from Newscastle Produce

The Tillamook cheese is not local but does come from cows that have not been fed Rbst. The Parmesan cheese is also not local. The ketchup is organic but not local.

All this turned into a delicious dinner which we have eaten for several days. There isn't anything better than a cold meat loaf sandwich.

Block 11 Baltimore Album Quilt

2009-12-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

I tried something new with this block. The cornucopia just looked too flat so I decided to do some trupunto which is really just putting stuffing in something. I used roving which I have lots of right now.

We have one more block to do . I'm glad I made this quilt but doubt I will do another one.

Once the 12th block is done then I'll put it together and decide who will quilt it. The tradition is that you have to hand quilt your own, but I just don't have the patience or the good stitching for that. I'll probably either send it to an Amish community for hand quilting or have someone local machine quilt it.

Foraging For Butter

2009-12-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

I included the picture of Harleen staring out the window looking quite forlorn so that you non-locavores would have something to look at. She usually takes up this position whenever Kerry leaves the house and doesn't take her with him.

Anyway, foraging for butter...what the heck is she thinking. Well, when we first listened to Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" we didn't realize how it would change our lives. Now I find myself searching out local, organic ingredients that aren't always easy to find, like butter.

For the most part, my early foraging days included trips to farmers' markets and buying some canned organic food at the grocery store. I felt really proud when we joined the meat club and started getting regular supplies of meat from local ranches. I learned not to eat asparagus when it wasn't in season here in northern California. The asparagus during the winter that came from South America did not tempt me.

But I was still eating meat in restaurants. I stopped doing that at the end of last year. Every once in a while an In And Out burger makes it to my plate, but it's pretty rare. All I have to do is read more e-coli stories; I can easily stay away from meat whose origins I don't know. I do feel sorry for those animals who are treated so badly during their short lives.

As I look back, I realize that finding meats, fruits and vegetables were the easy ones. I know I will never find locally grown sugar, but I do have access to local honey. It's from a grove of mandarin trees a couple of miles away.

We also listened to Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food." Basic message: if you eat healthy, clean foods you don't need vitamins and supplements. He pretty much does a number on the whole field of nutrition. I threw away my vitamin pills that I took religiously every day. No problems arose. Kerry's diabetes is under control.

But back to my foraging for butter story. I thought that Crystal Dairy in Auburn was going to fill the bill at least from the local stand point but then I found out that Foster Farms bought them. Yuck! So I started my Google search and bingo...Straus Family Creamery. Cows and creamery are in Marshall, CA, which is near Tomales Bay/Point Reyes. Milk, half and half and whipping cream come in bottles. That brought back memories of a birthday game I played as a kid: Drop the Clothes Pin in the Bottle. The bottle was a milk bottle. I want to visit the cows.

Anyway, I digress. I went to two local grocery stores (Raley's and Nugget) and found Straus products. I had just never looked in the right places. I saw half and half, whipping cream, butter (both salted and unsalted), plain yogurt and eggnog.

Recently I found organic flour from a company in S. San Francisco. A fellow blogger in San Francisco had written about it. I know there are some farmers in northern California who grow organic wheat for flour, but they sell to bakeries not individuals.

Along the way we've met many interesting people. It may be a bit more work to eat this way but I think we are healthier for it. Who knows what I will forage for next.

Dark Days Challenge 3: Corn Chowder

2009-12-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

Kerry and I both have colds so we have been thinking warm, soothing, comfort food. Soup easily falls into that category.

The local ingredients in this corn chowder are:

1. Bacon from Coffee Pot Ranch in Sheridan
2. Corn from the Roseville farmers' markets last summer that I froze
3. Leeks from Newcastle Produce
4. Garlic from the Natural Trading Company in Newcastle
5. Potatoes from Newcastle Produce

Despite my bests efforts, I have been unable to find a local source of butter or cream. I thought I had found something in Crystal Dairy but then discovered that they had been bought by Foster Farms. Not good.

So the cream and butter in the soup are well intentioned but do not meet the guidelines for Dark Days Challenge. I will keep searching.

A Dark Days Challenge blogger recently wrote about making popovers; that reminded me of HomeEc where we made them. That was a very long time ago. I too have trouble sourcing flour that is organic and local. I went to Married with Dinner's blog to find out where she gets her flour. She's the closest blogger geographically. That's when I discovered Giusto's Vita-Grain Flour Mills. I ordered five pounds, which I used to make the popovers. Not local but organic and they seem to have the ethical thing down pat. The flour bag can be composted. Used eggs from pasture-raised chickens that are local. We ate both soup and popovers for two nights.

One interesting thing about using bacon from a local source; there is very little fat. The recipe called for one slice of bacon to get enough fat; I needed four slices and still had to supplement some butter. We got the bacon flavor just not the bacon grease.

Hopefully we will both be healthy by next week.

Being Sick Sucks!

2009-12-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Kerry and I are both sick now. I got the cold first; he followed a few days later. I was feeling pretty good on Monday so went to my book group lunch. Then Tuesday morning I went to my quilting bee. I think my body could have taken one or the other but not both.

All I did at the quilting bee was talk about how I had to go home and go back to bed. It took me a good hour to accomplish that. So today Kerry and I decided to just lay low for the entire day. The most energetic thing I did was refill the bird feeders. That really wore me out. He went out to the road with the ATV to retrieve our garbage can.

Kerry and I have been in and out of bed all day. We decided that it just feels good to lie down for a while. Harleen has been joining us; frequently hogging the bed. That usually gets one of us up.

I haven't even felt like quilting or sewing on beads.

But still thoughts of the Dark Day Challenge swirl in my head. I think it's going to be a soup. When you are sick, soup is a great way to eat. Right now it looks like corn chowder with leeks and Yukon gold potatoes with popovers. Trying to have lots of veggies when we are sick.

That's all now from the infirmary in Lincoln, CA

Dark Days Challenge No. 2: Moussaka

2009-11-29T17:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not the kind of cook who prepares complex dishes. Barbecuing, oven roasting and boiling water for pasta is just fine.

The moussaka recipe sort of crept up on me. I had two beautiful eggplants from the farmers' market, some ground beef from a local ranch and tomato sauce that I froze last summer. The ingredients pictured here (I forgot to include the potatoes which came from our CSA box) seemed pretty benign. I did not, however, read what you were supposed to do with all of them. I'd never made moussaka before but I figured, how hard could it be?

By the time I was done I had used just about every pot and pan in the kitchen. Luckily Kerry handles the clean up chores, but I knew I was going to hear about this.

I had to make a roux, separate eggs, whip egg whites until stiff, blend the yolks with grated cheese and then put it all together to pour on top of the meat, potatoes, eggplant, onion, garlic and tomato sauce. It actually turned out just like it was supposed to. I discovered that a roux is not hard to make and that the huge eggs from a local farm were just right for the yolks and egg whites.

Even the olive oil was local from Chaffin Orchards Farm up in Oroville. The only things that were not local: butter, cream, flour and cheese.

I know all of you have probably done this stuff a million times, but not this locavore. I've been sick with a bad cold ever since so it's a good thing there is lots of moussaka plus leftover turkey from our gracious hostess at Thanksgiving. I'm on the mend so am looking forward to my next, less complex, dish.

Post Thanksgiving Recipe Idea: Turkey Risotto

2009-11-27T14:01:00.000-08:00

That was one of the first Tweets I read this morning. Sounds like a great idea. Especially if you are not a turkey fan.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was exceptional in every sense of the word. My friend Jean was the hostess. There were 19 people (including five young children) and nine dogs (one only made a brief appearance; Belle is so tiny should would have been trampled by the other nine).

The eight remaining dogs included an aging pit bull named Dubby, Harleen and her buddies Tucker, a French bulldog who has one ear that salutes and one that doesn't, and Bailey, the Goldendoodle (Tucker, Harleen and Bailey are pictured on Jean's sofa when she took care of Harleen so we could go to Palm Desert.) The other dogs included a Havanese named Louie (only four months old), an Airedale named Sophie, and two Corgis named Spongee and Babs. Babs didn't spend much time with the others. She's not thrilled about crowds.

Jean prepared a feast that was topped off by four pies: pumpkin chiffon, pumpkin, pecan and coconut cream. The latter was my pick. She had cooked an extra turkey so we all got leftovers to take home. That's why the turkey risotto idea was so appealing.

A cold has a grip on my head. Just hope I didn't pass it on to anyone last night. I tried to keep my hands to myself. Glad I did my Dark Days Challenge Meal before I felt lousy. I'll post it tomorrow even though we ate it Wednesday night.

Hope all of you had a great Turkey Day. There is so much for which we can be thankful. The State Dinner at the White House made me happy once again that Barack Obama is president and Michelle is First Lady. She looked stunning in her gold gown. Ah, to have those arms....

My Grandma And Sweet Potatoes

2009-11-25T11:25:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about a Thanksgiving blog for a few days; everything I thought of seemed pretty trite. Kerry and I are blessed with so many good things and our families are all doing so well. It would have been one of those yadda-yadda lists that would have bored everyone. Living this life is wonderful; writing about it really isn't.

Then this morning Mark called to get the recipe for my grandma's sweet potatoes. As I gave it to him I realized that I should write about her; she has been giving back to the family for so many years even though she's been dead since 1970.

I loved and still love my grandma more than any other woman in my life. She was there for me so many times when my own mother wasn't. As I've written before, loving was not an adjective anyone would have used for my family. On the outside we looked perfect, but within the confines of the house life was pretty awful.

Grandma was a Locavore long before the term was coined. All she had was local; she cooked it simply and well. Her pork chops with gravy and mashed potatoes were to die for. And her creamed corn did not come from a can. Her seasonings: salt and pepper. I remember helping her make applesauce from their backyard apple tree when I was very small.

She believed that meat was not really good for you but chocolate held the secret to longevity; she lived to be nearly 90. Her favorite was chocolate-covered cherries. My teeth hurt just thinking about how sweet they are. During the depression when money was short she made butter and sugar sandwiches for dessert. I still make them.

I was named for her (Kathleen), but her nickname was Kit not Kathy. She was a lot shorter than I am which means she was really short. Tiny feet in those old-lady black leather lace-up shoes with a short heel. She wore a corset, which was the cause of at least one trip to the emergency room. She was having trouble breathing; the doctor diagnosed a too-tight corset. Got a new one and breathing was fine. I'm not sure she would have had enough muscle tone to sit up without the corset.

But back to the sweet potatoes and the phone call. Mark is more precise in his cooking than either my grandma or me. Here's the recipe. Cut sweet potatoes (the ones with red skin) into quarter-inch slices. Layer in a baking dish. Place pats of butter all over the top of the potato slices (usually about half a pound). Pour an entire box of dark brown sugar over everything and press down. Cover tightly with tin foil. Bake for an hour at 350 degrees. When the potatoes are softened, uncover the dish and turn up the oven to 400 degrees. You cook them until they start to caramelize. This is the tricky part. You withdraw a little liquid and then baste with the liquid left. This goes on for up to an hour. Until you finally have these yummy sweet potatoes.

My grandma had a hard life in many ways but still she gave so much love regardless of what happened. She was 29 when she married my grandpa who was 21. Scandalous. She was the old maid school teacher in town. She suffered from depression long before there was any help for her. At one point she simply went to bed for two years. That gene for depression was passed on to my mother, brother, sister and me. She lost her only son in World War II. She had two daughters who did not live to be very old either. My mother killed herself at 54 and Aunt Jerry died of lung cancer in her early 60s. I always wanted Aunt Jerry to be my mother. She was there to save us when my mother got out of control.

Dark Days Challenge And Water Buffalo

2009-11-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, I served barbecued water buffalo for our first Dark Days of Winter Eat Local Challenge meal. The cut was filet mignon; it was delicious, moist and tender. I did put a little homemade barbecue sauce on top of mine. Kerry ate his with only salt and pepper. The locally grown organic vegetables are broccoli and potatoes that have been oven roasted in olive oil from Chaffin Orchards near Oroville, CA. Decorative pumpkins came in our last CSA box from The Natural Trading Company. I have to do better on the wine. This was from Trader Joe's but wasn't local. Next week it will be.

Nick and James Chapel raise water buffalo in Meridian, CA, which is a wide spot in the road on the Sacramento River. Their farm joined the Sierra/Placer meat club a couple of months ago. Roger Ingram, the UC extension guy who runs the club, had to convince me to try it. He claimed it was delicious; he was right.

Beef filet mignon in the club is $22 per pound. Water buffalo is $10 a pound. That helped convince me too.

So we are off to a good start for the Dark Days Challenge. Thanks again to www. urbanhennery.com for once again hosting the challenge. Her blog will have a recap of the 50 participants' meals each Monday.

Knobs And Pulls

2009-11-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Wayne, a local handyman, was here with his son, Mike, for most of the day doing various things. Among those things was adding knobs and pulls to our kitchen cupboards. I really like the way it looks. The ladies who help us with design stuff for the house suggested it when they came by to talk about re-carpeting three rooms.

I told them I really wasn't happy with my cupboards. They suggested pulls and knobs as a way to dress them up without spending a fortune. They brought us all kinds of samples; we chose the ones that you see. Click on the picture to biggify so you can see more detail.

Wayne and Mike also installed two ceiling fans and finally got the vent over the stove to work. We've been here for six plus years without a working vent. Now the smell of garlic cooking in olive oil will be shared with the cows in the nearby pasture.

Not much else happening here today. Just a nice, quiet fall day.

Cats And The Mayan Calendar

2009-11-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

Apparently while we were in Palm Desert our cats got a hold of the Mayan calendar that says the world is going to end in 2012. To prepare, they have been eating more than they should for their waistlines. I guess they figure the extra food will help them get through the Apocalypse. They had really trimmed down over the summer so maybe this is just an annual event. They look like little furry sausages.

Had a good, lazy time in Palm Desert. I managed to avoid eating meat the entire time and still enjoy my meals. I just don't want to eat meat if I don't know from whence it came. My favorite was at Babe's: a tamale stuffed with goat cheese and smothered in a spicy tomato sauce.

The worst was a baked potato with veggies and cheese at the Claim Jumper in Temecula. We visited Kerry's Aunt Harriet there; she likes the Claim Jumper so we always go there when we visit. The vegetables were probably all frozen even though they were in season.

This week is the beginning of the Dark Days Challenge so you will be reading more about food for a few months than you have lately. The goal is to cook one meal from local, seasonal ingredients each week, take a picture of it and post to my blog. There are 50 bloggers from all over the country who will be doing this. It's the brainchild of Laura in Washington State. Her blog is urbanhennery.com

Well, that's all for now. The sun sending us its last few rays of the day. I love the colors when it does that.