Cozy Living

CSA Day: July 31, 2008

I love CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) day! We get our local organic farm's basket every other Thursday, and I am just so thrilled with how much I'm enjoying it. Today there are more beets (today's crop don't look so good, our farm liaison admitted, but she assures us they'll taste great) and chard for me to make this recipe that I discovered on the first week of our CSA adventure. Supporting our local farm has helped me learn what is and isn't in season around here, and has let us discover turnips, which we thought we would hate, but it turns out we love! I love how there's dirt clinging to our fresh produce, as if to remind me where it comes from. The tomatoes and nectarines look perfect, too. Mmm. Can't wait for dinner tonight. Since I'm on my own (boys at grandma's for the night and Greg at youth group) I can eat a whole dinner of fresh vegetables. How decadent.

Enchanting Fairy Gardens

Today my mom took the boys and I on a little 45 minute excursion that just captured our imaginations; we went to visit the fairy gardens.

Don't you just want to live inside this little world? I do. I have to admit that when my mom told me about this outing, I was unimpressed. But knowing that it might interest the boys, I went along with it. And to my complete surprise, it was lovely!

An obviously very talented gardener has created dozens upon dozens of these little scenes, complete with fairies, gnomes, mushrooms, garden gates, and all filled with miniature plants to make the size look fairy-like.

I could not stop taking pictures and marveling at each one, as the boys romped along the aisles, calling, "I see a wheelbarrow!" or "I found a little bunny!" as they flitted from one fairyland to another.

These little fairy gardens are really just round (sometimes other shapes) pots planted with miniature flowers, flowering groundcovers, tiny stones, and a few miniature tree looking plants (can you tell gardening is not (yet) my field of expertise?) They've placed the fairies and their little props (benches, arches, tables, etc.) among the plants to create a scene. The entire fairy garden is generally about 2 feet in diameter.

I was so enchanted by them that I would have bought one right on the spot, if it weren't for their $100+ price tags. However, they sell all the little sweet things needed to make one, and that's perfect for a do-it-yourself girl like me!

I can't wait to make one of my own, and have already asked Greg for a gift certificate to the nursery for my birthday in order to buy the supplies! Any local friends want to join me in a fairy garden making day?!

Fresh Strawberries (all year round!)

With all of my thinking about food these days, I really had some grand plans to become quite the homesteader: canning tomatoes, making jam, generally suddenly becoming housewife extraordinaire.

Here are the results of these grand plans: frozen strawberry slices. Yes, that's all. Canning will have to wait for another year. Perhaps a year when I don't have two preschoolers. So this year it's strawberries.

Right now we have these gorgeous organic strawberries and in the middle of the winter when I want to make smoothies, organic sliced strawberries without added sugar will be nowhere to be found...except in our freezer, that is! I started with this:

Did some slicing:

Froze in layers on parchment paper or wax paper:

Then emptied them into ziploc bags. Here are my helpful(?) notes in case you want to give it a try:

1. One flat of strawberries was enough slicing and freezing for me. It filled three gallon sized ziplocs, which will not last us all year, but as we don't have an extra freezer, yet, it's all the freezer space I was willing to sacrifice this year.
2. They turned out better on parchment paper for an hour or so, as opposed to on wax paper overnight. I'm not sure whether it was the time frame or the paper that was the problem. Anyone else? (I obviously didn't remember my science classes where you learn to only have one variable in your experiments. Oh well.) The ones that I froze overnight on wax paper totally stuck to the paper and I had to do a lot of ripping to get them off and paper free.
3. It took several hours to do, but it's worth it to me. I'm just not willing to use sliced strawberries with sugar added, and my lame blender is not willing to use whole frozen strawberries. It was also a great lesson for my boys, 2 and 4, to realize that not every food grows everywhere all year round. I kept telling them I was "storing up for the winter," as if we were chipmunks living in Iceland or something. Yes, I'm still trying to capture those Little House on the Prairie days. I'm just looking forward to cool winter nights with warm strawberry shortcake for dessert!

I DO Have Other Projects...

Lest you think that all I do is sew camera bags that don't work out...(let's just call them prototypes that are working towards perfection, shall we?)

In any case, I DO have other projects, such as this lovely throw quilt to complement this quilt on our family room wall, which I finally pinned tonight after the boys went to bed. Someday (soon?) I will quilt it, and, yes, share it with you all.

My World is Shaking!

We had a little bit of excitement here today...

At lunchtime the boys and I sat eating lunch when the table, chairs, and chandelier gave quite a good jolt! It lasted a few seconds...just long enough for me to say to Jake's shocked look, "It's an earthquake!" For those of you non-Californians, you should know that the quake is usually over by the time you realized it happened. So the next thing you do is sit very still to figure out if the shaking is still happening, which today, it was! This was a long one, and the strongest I've felt since, what, 1993ish? It was long and strong enough for me to jerk the boys out of their chairs and haul them under the doorway, where I then put on my happy, excited face so the boys would know how much fun we were having! Isn't this so exciting, I marveled, that we get to have such a great adventure today?! Yes, Jake agreed and once the chandelier stopped swinging, he went on to call about five people to tell them about how he got to feel his first earthquake. (I have to remember next time not to let him do that, as I had to keep stepping in and making sure everyone knew it was an "adventure" so for heaven's sake why would we be nervous about it? People asking if we're safe and okay and was it scary is not helpful when boys don't know they're supposed to be upset by it all...)

Only a 5.4, but the epicenter was only 20 miles away, so we really felt it! A bit of action to shake up our day...ha, ha, ha...yes, I'm hilarious.

Photo (shazam!) Magic

You might already realize that I'm a bit of a photography junkie. Yes, there should be a 12 step program for those of us who are never without our cameras, who feel like it didn't happen if we didn't photograph it, whose children feel like stars of their own reality shows. Yes, it's that bad.

But there are a lot of us out there. And if you're one of the crazy people like I am, you've got to check out this tutorial on how to jazz up good pictures and make them great. Jessica Sprague is a master of photography and post-production of photos in Photoshop, and here's a little photo magic of my own, following her tutorial for the Photo Shazam! technique.

Here's my original photo of Jake (a new diver) plunging in:

And cropped but still unedited:

Then, add Jessica's Shazam, and voila! You have this:

In order to make Jake's face/head a little more visible, I also applied a Multiply layer in the same way as the other two adjustment layers, but only on his face. A little burning around the edges, and I just love this! Thanks Jessica!

Not Quite a Recipe

I just can't get enough of this (not quite) recipe in the summer months. For some reason it feels so decadent to be slicing avocados and tomatoes and drizzling them with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and tossing a little coarse salt over them. Yes, that is the whole recipe. But wait, don't forget the cheese. Until recently, feta has been my salad crumbling cheese of choice over these types of fresh salad lunches. But in the last months, I've been a goat cheese girl. Oh, how I love the smooth creamy taste of goat cheese with my vegetables!

You might notice a few gorgeous green and burgandy heirloom tomato slices on the back end of my plate there. There is a sad story behind that.

Picture this:a beautiful morning at the farmers market, where I've decided to splurge on four gorgeous heirloom tomatoes to slice up for a fresh tomato salad (as described above.) Suddenly, Tyler (who is in the front/top seat of our double decker Phil & Ted's stroller) decides to jump out of the stroller. Being that our bags of produce and our larger boy are both on the back end of the stroller, it flips over backwards, landing on Jake's head, and more importantly, one of my precious heirloom tomatoes! (okay, if Jake had been hurt, his head would've been more important than a tomato, but seeing as he was fine, it was the tomato that worried me. I'm just saying...) In a panic, I check on Jake and flip the stroller back up, seeing the beautiful green tomato smashed in the bottom of our bag. I have to admit that I almost cried. If it weren't for the most caring sister Amy who carefully sliced it and presented it for me on a pretty plate when I got home, I think I would have cried. The morals of the story: don't overload the handle of your stroller, don't get too attached to your produce, and make sure you have a wonderful sister to take care of you if you do.

Camera Bag #4 (and #1)

Well, here she is: Camera Bag #4.

Let me start by saying I love the fabric. Gorgeous Midwest Modern designed by Amy Butler. Such fun tangerine and saffron colors. It's just so cheerful. And I have to brag about how it has three outside pockets (one for a diaper and wipe, one for a cell phone and keys, one for whatever) and an inside pocket (for lens cleaner or whatever necessity I feel like bringing along.)

However, she has a problem.

Yes, like so many of us, she has a bit of a size problem. She swallows up the camera and is ready for more. LOTS more. Take a look at her next to my first camera bag. (I've never introduced you to my first one, have I?)

Do these two remind you of a special on the Animal Planet, where one small innocent animal (camera bag #1, wearing green and mustard) is sitting patiently, minding his own business when another, much larger animal (camera bag #4, wearing tangerine and pink) creeps up on it...

...and yes, swallows it in one bite. Poor bag #1. You were just so small and helpless. Do you notice how my very first camera bag attempt was probably my best? I'm considering searching for the dimensions of that first one and trying to replicate it while adding a few little improvements I've developed along the way.

In any case, I feel like my newest attempt at camera bag perfection has, yet again, failed. I am taking suggestions for what I can do with it. My first thought was to use it to hold fishing tackle or something, considering its size. But I don't fish. Maybe a picnic basket? Please advise. Meanwhile, I'm on to camera bag #5.

Beautiful Book

I just bought this amazing book yesterday and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! There are so many adorable little projects to make as a gift, or if you're like me, you like it too much to give it away and keep it for yourself and buy something else for that special someone. I can't help it. I have a hard time parting with things I create with my own two hands.

There are many new ideas in here, along with some of those, 'Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about that idea' type projects to help jog your memory about a good handmade gift idea. New or old idea, the photography is gorgeous! And it's organized by the amount of time it takes to make! Perfect.

You can pick one up here.

Time for Togetherness

the family cheering for Jake's antics on the 'top of the mountain'

I am the first to admit that it's a pain to pack up for the beach. I usually do it by myself, packing every necessity for two boys and myself, getting everyone into swimsuits and lathered up with sunscreen, packing food...you know the drill, I suppose. The other day when Greg happened to be home during this 45 minute process, he just couldn't believe the trouble I was going to, as we usually meet him there after work.

Yes, the pain, but, ah, the rewards! There is something magical about being at the beach together as a family. The waves sparkle, the boys romp and get covered with sand, food over the grill, the smell of baby powder to clean that extra sand off before getting in jammies for the ride home...I love it all. It's one of those things that fits into the category of 'worth the extra effort.' Family togetherness in God's natural beauty is food for the body and the spirit.

Camera bag #3

Camera Bag #3: otherwise entitled, 'the one that got away.'
I am on the quest to create the perfect camera bag for my beloved Canon digital Rebel xTi. A padded, cozy, soft home, where I can take him with me without feeling like a tourist. I have been on this quest for about six months, and this is attempt number three, the one that got away and somehow became a tote bag. It is made of cute fabrics, it is padded, and even has a lining to make the sides water resistant for rainy days. But somehow it just didn't want to turn into a lidded camera bag, and now remains a very cute, padded, water resistant tote bag which I am sure to enjoy.
On to camera bag #4. I'll keep you posted.

Firstfruits of our labor...

Here they are! Our first tomatoes! I'm just so excited! We were pretty late planting tomatoes this year, and I'm so thrilled that we picked our first four tomatoes today. I can't wait to taste the beautiful heirloom green zebra that our friend who sells organics tomato plants at the farmers' market sold to us. I'm thinking of a salad of cold whole wheat macaroni, slices of tomatoes, some olive oil and vinegar, and maybe some capers and oil packed tuna. (I'm trying oil packed tonight, as I've never liked the water packed variety. I'll let you know how I like it.) Some parmesan shavings over the top, or maybe a little goat cheese? That's my salad cheese of choice, lately.

Last summer the tomato plants I bought died in their containers before I got around to planting them. This is typical around here. I am hoping that those of you with toddlers understand how these things go. Anyway, it's been a few years since we enjoyed homegrown vegetables.

Funny story entitled: My First Tomato Plant.
Just out of college, my roommate and I found the most adorable (and by adorable I mean TINY!) little cottage to rent. It was on these nice grounds with several other cottages, but most importantly, the rent was only $800 a month for a two bedroom (granted, we shared one tiny closet, but that's another story.) And it had a yard in back. A piece of dried up dirt where I planted my first very own tomato plant. When it yielded its first plump red tomato a day before I was leaving for a family vacation, what did I do but pack up my tomato and take it on vacation with me. I have a funny picture of me enjoying that very tomato in Mammoth with all of my relatives looking on, laughing at me. Homegrown tomato? It was love.

Fresh Summer Dinner

Aren't these grilled peaches gorgeous? When I saw this recipe in June's Cooking Light, I just had to make the recipe, a perfect summer grilling treat to enjoy some of my CSA peaches, along with those from a friend's overflowing tree. The recipe is super easy and delicious and I'm amazed that my peaches (above) were almost as beautiful as the ones in the magazine. (This never happens, am I right?) I made it in my grill pan but I'm sure they'd taste even better over a barbecue. I also replaced the bourbon with sherry (because I didn't have any, although I think the bourbon called for would've tasted much better.) Enjoy!

Bourbon-Glazed Pork Chops and Peaches
The bourbon and honey marinade cooks to become a sauce to serve with the chops. Be sure the marinade comes to a full boil in the microwave.
Ingredients
1/3 cup bourbon
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick), trimmed
2 peaches, halved and pitted
Cooking spray
Preparation
Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Add pork chops and peaches; toss well to coat.
Heat a nonstick grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Remove pork and peaches from bowl, reserving the marinade. Place pork and peaches on grill pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until pork is done.
While the pork chops cook, place marinade in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave marinade at HIGH 2 minutes. Spoon over pork and peaches.
Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop, 1 peach half, and 2 tablespoons sauce)
Robyn Webb , Cooking Light, JUNE 2003

Our Sewing Bee

I had the most wonderful morning yesterday...in my own tiny little sewing room with two of my favorite people: my mom and my sister. We had our own little sewing bee for several hours, and just laughed and talked and problem-solved each other's sewing projects. There's such an amazing connection between women who are coming together to make something and putting everything else aside. What could be more cozy?

Amy made an adorable little diaper and wipe holder which will, I'm sure, be the next round of baby shower presents for all of us. I finished camera bag #3 and will post a picture as long as you're aware that it turned out to be a tote bag, not a camera bag. Darn. How these projects get such a mind of their own, I don't know. My mom sewed a bit, helped a lot, and tried to finish a Mother/Daughter book present we'd given her for Mother's Day years ago.

In the end we all had something tangible to show for our hard work, and for just the cost of a mother's helper for my boys, we reconnected with just the ladies, which always makes me smile.