Rainy Saturday

This whole not-having-a-camera thing is really killing me, but I'll share anyway! I hit the Salvation Army yesterday for some professional clothes, but found more antiques than clothes. Then my little sister and I headed out for a visit to the flea market this morning but it was closed due to rain. Flood watch...whatever. We were Wicked hungry though so we stopped at a diner and found Nancy Jean's Attick, which ironically was located in the restaurant's Basement. But I digress...
We found more antique-y stuff and got to "scratch" that thrift-shopping itch!
Now I'm setting up to make tomato sauce from 7 lbs of tomatoes we picked up down the road. Seriously. I love getting my food from "the farm down the road."
So, while my tomato sauce cooks down, I'll fill you in...I found an old mixer! It's in about ten different pieces, but otherwise it's just like the one my mom used to have. Then of course, is the Theodore Haviland serving bowl and platter. Couldn't find the name of the pattern, or number, but it was definitely one of the french-made ones. I also found a Maddock tea cup and saucer which I matched up to their stamp used in 1927; a missmatched Royal Albert tea cup and saucer, and a teeny tiny Thomas vase, of Germany; two white divided oval Glassbake bowls; and a bunch of other cool stuff.
now, where to put it all...Sounds like it's time for a yard sale!

The possibilities are endless...

I'm sitting here, thinking about my infant-sized Zuke and thinking "I swear I heard something about a zucchini recipe just yesterday." Indeed, I finally recalled Jana's Zucchini Challenge and am planning my dinner and skipping lunch to save room for her Parmesan Crusted Zucchini. And since this 7.5 lb/2' zuke is going to go far, I'm thinking of trying Suzie's latkes too! Maybe I'll make some Zucchini Bread or try frying some of it up like my friend did this weekend. MMmmmm...


Or maybe I'll try Jenn's Zucchini Soup. Maybe freeze some for the long raw days of late February when you start forgetting what home-grown veggies tasted like.

Do you have a favorite Zucchini recipe?

How about eggplant? I have two huge eggplants and I have to admit, I'm not a big fan. Help me discover the greatness of eggplant! (I hate to see it go to waste!)

I also got a couple jalapenos, sweet banana peppers, TONS of tomatoes of all kinds (green, roma, beefsteak, etc.), some green beans (my hubby actually likes these!), summer squash, and a mystery pepper.

I also think I'll save some of the seeds to start my own plants next year. Anyone have any seed-saving advice? The last time I had a vegetable garden, I was 8 so I'm a bit of a newbie, though I'm sure a lot will come back to me. I just hate to pay good money for store-bought seeds when I'm simply throwing my own away (or eating them) while I could be saving a few for next year!

Tomorrow I'm going back to mom's garden one last time while "garden-sitting" and I'm hoping the spaghetti squash is ready!

I decided to start a listing of my favorite "Blecipes," recipes I find on my blog list. I think it could become a verrrrrrry long list!

A weekend of Traditions

This was our 2nd annual Saco River Rafting trip with two other couples. Parts of the river are notorious for wild parties, but we visit the less-traveled section just up river from that.

The weekend was filled with traditions, old and new:

First up is Friday night's snack after everyone is set up and we can relax for the first time around the fire. My hubby pulls out his open-fire grilling rack and we have turkey kielbasa. Just a few bites for each of us is the perfect topping to a hectic day and the perfect christening to start the weekend. We don't do turkey kielbasa for health reasons, one of the ladies has no gallbladder, so can't have pork. Fine with me...turkey kielbasa is surprisingly fantastic!

Oh, and our campfires are usually made up of 2X4's that are leftovers from my hubby's jobs. Not exactly the romantic fire of my dreams, but it puts out the heat just as well!

This is our "tent," among other things! Didn't turn out quite as convenient as I thought it would be, but it certainly was dry! This may or may not continue to be a tradition (depending on the weather!)

Breakfast the first morning is usually big and hearty because lunch on the river is easy-to-carry snack-type foods. Enter my hubby's Cheezy Eggs. Recipe: a dash of milk. a dash of pepper, a dozen eggs and 12 oz grated cheddar. Mmmmm... and the best. blueberries. ever.

And peaches. Can't forget the peaches! One of the couples lives right next to a fantastic farm stand and brings all the fresh local fruits and veggies we can possibly consume (and more!)

And we can't forget my hubby's coffee. We used an $8 percolator for a few years, but it takes forEVER (according to my hubby who cannot function without caffeine) so he treated himself to this spiffy new unitasker this year! And of course, we still use the little teapot for our hot cocoa and teas! (Especially when we're finished with our next tradition...)

Here we're all lined up ready to go rafting...waiting for two of the guys to get back from dropping off the car at the bottom of our trip!

Rafting in the rain. Mmm. Not our favorite tradition. Last year it was overcast almost all day and rather miserable, but we made the best of it and made a pact that we'd be smarter in the years to come. Well, they all came on with startlingly similar cases of amnesia and wanted to raft thought I was going to stay behind. It was forcasted for rain and thunderstorms even though Saturday morning it was so hot. I finally convinced myself to go when they were getting all sunscreened up and changing into their suits and getting all excited!

If you catch a peek at the top/center of this pic you can see the leaves are already changing!! Of course, it's at 2,369 feet above sea level, but still...it's August 16th!

... and 15 minutes after we got in the river, it started sprinkling. But the water was moving pretty swiftly because it was about twice as high as it was last year. The trip last year took about 5 hours, this year's was only about 3 1/2. (Thankfully!!)

Eventually we caught the thunderstorm (or it caught us!) and we headed for the treeline. It got preety cold with the rain and wind and already being soaked, but we got through it dreaming of a new tradition for next year - scuba diving in the carribean!

This is my hubby's mess kit from boy scout days. He made the casing himself for his sewing merit badge. It hasn't held up TOO well, but after all-it has been 20 years! One of the many projects I'd like to take on this fall is re-sewing his pouch. Or maybe just fixing the blown seams and putting a new snap on it. We'll see. I'm not sure how he'll take it. He's very sentimental about these things and may like it just the way it is!

I sometimes call him my LeatherMan. He uses his Leatherman almost constantly when we're camping or hiking. My tough guy!

And of course, there's the tradition of me taking all kinds of random, mostly nature-related photos!

Quite by accident, we ended up camping at the same campground that our premarital "marriage mentors" camp at every year (for two whole weeks!) and we got to do some visiting before we left Sunday afternoon. It was so great to catch up. We exchanged e-mails, so hopefully we'll have a little better luck keeping in touch this year!

While there, we got a visit from a heron and I got to snap away! Did you know they nest in trees and in communities? It just seemed odd to me. I've never seen more than one at any given time and I don't really know why the thought of them nesting in trees sounds odd, it just does!

Eat Local Challenge, October 2008

I've taken the Eat Local Challenge for October 2008. I'm really looking forward to it! I used to assume local and organically grown/raised food was more expensive that chain store prices, but as I dug deeper and deeper, I found that becoming a part of a CSA is actually incredibly cost effective. (More about CSA's at the bottom of this post.)

I was also impressed by one person's experience as she took meticulous records and calculated the cost of her average day's worth of food consumption. It's a real eye opener!

I can't tell you the main reason why I took this challenge, as there are so many reasons and so many aspects of it that I'm looking forward to.

First, it's supporting the local economy. But that wasn't even a consideration to me at first. Let's face it. I am pretty self-centered. I'm not one to say "ask not what my local economy can do for me, ask what I can do for my local economy." (Or switch "local economy" with just about anything else!) It Sounds good. It Fells good, but realistically? Good or bad, no, it's not the mindset I've developed over the years. But now? Now it's definitely a consideration. Especially after my experience with the "farm stand" acros the stree from work. (Sold Carolina peaches, as if they were grown in NH. Ptuey! I go to a local farm stand, I want local grown food!)

I'm looking forward to meeting my neighbors!
I can't wait to experience food fresh from the farm.
I'm eager to rise to the challenge of finding all of my food from local sources.
I love the idea of canning my own (or my own CSA'd) pickles and tomatoes and peppers and jellies and *sigh* so much more!
As much as I have to admit what I consider my weakness in not being able to fish or hunt (or raise peculiar and oddly-loveable chickens) because I simply cannot kill them, I am also simply not going to become a vegitarian.
But I can visit the farms, help out, learn about raising the cattle and chickens and other livestock, and leave the rest to my probably-even-worse imagination.
Actually, we had a chicken coop growing up in Alaska and I'll never forget my Mom explaining why we didn't eat chicken much. (It was pretty hard on Dad having to kill them and pluck the feathers out, etc.) I was pretty young and probably was told to go play at a friend's house when this was going on, so I literally don't have any memories of it.
Another reason is that I've been living vicariously through Bee and Susan's experiences this summer and am really eager to join in!

For thos of you who, like myself, don't know what a CSA is, it is "Community Supported Agriculture" where area residents purchase a share of the farm and in exchange, they receive a portion of the weekly harvests!

Sounds expensive, right? That's what I thought. But look around, check out the CSA's near you, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised (or shocked) at some of the deals you can find!

Here is my consolidated list of references and sources for locally grown/raised food. Many of the links are to National Directories, so even if you don't live in NH, it's worth taking a look at.

"Heath Bars"

This was my favorite recipe of the weekend! (Contributed by my MIL)


They aren't actual heath bars, but taste like it! The basic recipe is as follows, but you can add any kind of topping imaginable. Except olives. I wouldn't recomend olives.


Saltine crackers
1 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
chocolate chips
any additional topping (Within reason. Again, you could try olives, but *shiver*, I wouldn't if I were you.)


I wasn't provided with any measurements except as listed above, but I used a little over a sleeve of saltines and 36 oz chocolate chips (24 oz regular and 12 oz white). It could probably be done with 18-24 oz though. I also added some real heath bar crumbles. (My imagination was pretty much dormant last night!)


First, line the cookie sheet with foil, then lay out the saltines in a single layer.
I melted the butter in the microwave, but it could be done on the stovetop easily.

Then add the cup of sugar to the butter and mix until it's well blended. (This actually takes awhile.)

Once mixed well, drizzle the butter/sugar mixture over the crackers and spread gently. It'll be pretty thick.
(My camera battery then putzed out from a whole weekend of work, so I didn't get a shot of the next couple of steps)
Place into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until browning on top. For me this only took 6 minutes, so don't go far!
Then while it's still hot, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the entire sheet and allow them to soften, then spread with a rubber spatula. (again, I mixed white chocolate chips in for the marbled look.)

Then add whatever topping your imagination comes up with, and allow to cool. I actually left it overnight. Then cut and enjoy!
This is a look at the underside...sooooooo good! Crispy like heath and sweet sweet sweet!

Lazy Sunday, crazy-busy week!

I was supposed to go back to work Sunday afternoon, right? Didn't happen. I zonked out on the couch after church and unintentionally took a 6 hour "nap." Somehow I don't thing 6 hours of sleep constitutes as a nap!
First of all, my boss has been out for two weeks, so I've been slowly been slipping behind with covering for him. Then, last week I'd forgotten that this week my hubby and I are taking two days off to do our motorcycle safety training course, so I really needed to catch up and get a teeny bit ahead at work, but it wasn't happening, so alas, I'll fall a bit more behind. But you know? It's not the end of the world!
We're also going camping next weekend, so I need to prep for that, but I got the food preped last night at least, now it's just a matter of gathering the gear and packing bags. Fortunately, my hubby packs his own bag! I swore to myself I'd never "mother" him and 8 years later, I'm sticking to it! He's a big boy, he can pack his own stuff!
I did get to do a crock pot meal last friday but it wasn't exactly photogenic, so I didn't take any pics. I tried Jenn's All Day Mac N Cheese recipe from Frugal Upstate. It tasted great, but looked a little over-done. I'm going to make it again this weekend while camping for our Saturday night pot luck. We're camping with a bunch of my hubby's family and every year on Saturday night, we just gorge ourselves on awesome, awesome food! I think the crock pot ran for about 8 hours friday, so I don't think I'll start it until late morning next time so it's just perfect in time for dinner!

My Collections

Cookbooks
Heart-Shaped Rocks
Sea Shells
Tea Paraphernalia
Thimbles
Water Pitchers
Willow Tree Figurines

Fun & different condiments for Saturday's picnic

All of the following recipes were taken from "Gifts from the Kitchen" by Ann Kleinberg. (I couldn't find it on Amazon, but this is Ann's website - cool chic!!!)
Most of the recipes I've adapted for my personal taste (and what I had on hand), and I'll note when I've done that. The one exception is the stuffed olives. That I came up with on my own, though I realize now that I wasn't the first to think of it!

Pineapple Corn Relish
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup pineapple chunks
combine corn and pineapple, set aside.
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
Combine olive oil, vinegar and honey. Pour over corn and pineapple and mix. Chill, covered, and let marinate several hours.
I adapted it to suit my preferences, but Ann adds 1/2 red onion, 1 small red hot chile pepper and 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro.


Pickled Radishes
2 cups radishes, chopped
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Chop radishes and place in a jar. Combine vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the radishes. Cover and chill at least overnight.
Ann actually calls for sliced radishes but I don't have the patience for that! She also adds 2 small red onions, 2 tbs salt and 5 whole black peppercorns.


I stuff green olives with Gorgonzola cheese. I thought this was pretty self explanatory, but as I was doing it I realized there are a few tricks to it. Usually I get my pitted olives in a brine. Drain the brine from the container and then stand the olives on end so that the inside of the olive drains as well (see first olive picture). I have always used pre-crumbled Gorgonzola in the past, but decided I didn't want to pay extra for it. Purely by accident, the cheese was slightly warm when I got to crumbling it and it was actually at a lumpy-but-spreadable consistency. I think it was out of the fridge for about an hour by that point. It was much easier to use softened than even crumbled.


My first time trying this!
Onion Jam
2lb Vidalia onions, chopped
6 tbsp butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup Marsala wine
Heat the butter in a large skilled over high heat.

Add the onions. when they start to turn translucent, add the sugar. Lower the heat to medium and cook covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the vinegar and wine and bring to a simmer. Cook uncovered for about an hour.

The mixture should reduce and take on a jam-like texture.

Ann actually calls for dry or semi-dry white wine, but Marsala was all I had in the house. She also calls for red onions and adds "(or white)" in her recipe. The only type of onion I like is vidalia, so that's what I used!

I can't wait until Saturday!

Grouch alert

Cooking...
I was grouchy yesterday and by the time I got home (late) I wasn't getting any less grouchy, so we had what I'd dubbed growing up as the "Christmas Eve Special" because it was what we ate while we decorated the Christmas tree and Christmas Eve Special just sounds better than Christmas Tree Decorating Special. This consists of a very grueling preparation of... kielbasa, sliced cheese and crackers. My hubby likes to add horseradish to it. I like kielbasa with horseradish, but it wasn't working with the cheese for me.




I even broke out the paper plates for this one and pulled out the step stool so I could reach the wine glasses. Due to health complications I can't have alcohol, but caffeine free Pepsi is somehow just that much more enjoyable in a wineglass after a grouchy day! Needless to say, I didn't get around to making my special relishes and olives, but then again, I have time tonight...
Free stuff...

Here are some things that should have cheered me up:






Two Totally Free Finds! Thanks to freecycle.com, I won a very large bag of used nursing scrubs and another bag containing two Batik sheets. Two totally separate offers on the same day. Go me!

Sewing...
Then I learned how to darn socks! I googled it and went to a totally random site and I'm not going to give credit because quite frankly, the directions weren't very good. I'm sure there are others out there if you google them and you'll get better directions!





But it was good enough to get me started and I figured everything else they left out on my own! A good tip I got from the site: In leiu (anyone know how to spell?!) of going out and purchasing a darning egg and needle, a light bulb and the longest sewing needle you have will do the trick too.
Normally I'd use a color matching the sock, but for my first time I wanted to make it easy on myself so I used two contrasting and bold colors. There's actually a few things I see wrong with this darning job, but for my first time, I'm psyched! One tip I learned on my own:






If your sock is long enough, make a loose knot over the end of the light bulb. This keeps everything steady; just be sure not to make the knot so tight that it stretches the sock too much. It should be secure enough that the bulb isn't moving around inside the sock but with ease enough that it isn't pulling at the hole. If your sock isn't long enough, I imagine a rubber band or just tying it off with strong floss or ribbon will do the trick as well.
I felt guilty about laundering my new fabric finds while there was a monster-sized pile of regular laundry to do, so I worked my way through that pile last night and found three more holy socks, so I'll get lots of practice in the next couple of days!

Play time...

Then I played with my camera taking ubber close shots of my shells. So cool!

I can't recall where I found these tiny shells, but I absolutely adore how small and thin they are!




And my very first Lazy Daisy. Room for improvement but not a total failure.

There's something about the texture of finished cross stitch and the softness of the floss itself. I just love it!

Then I pulled out of storage the one piece of my finished cross stitches that I have in my possession. This was supposedly a gift to my hubby after our first year of dating. Yeah, giving a guy a cross stitched pillow case and pillow...not exactly a thrill for him. I quickly got it back! Well it gave me great pleasure to photograph it and recall all of the fun things we did that first year. I think I'll post about that back story separately.



TMI?...

I've been pretty teary these last couple of days and that tells me the depression is here and strong. In thinking about how I'm doing socially, how often I choose NOT to withdraw, and when I do...I also do what I can not to get "sucked under" so to speak; I think I'm doing okay considering. In the past I'd be making excuses not to get together with the ladies this weekend no matter how long it had been since I'd seen them. I'd say I was sick and couldn't help out at church on Sunday. I'd tell the outreach director some story about stress at home and work and say I couldn't take on the furniture ministry right now.
But I'm not doing any of those things. I can't say I'm exceeding expectations in any given area, but I'm not ducking out of LIFE. I'm still staying with it, still fighting. And God, how hard is it?! But I'm not giving up. Not this time. It's not going to steal my life away again!