Knitting, Singing, the Universe and all....

Patacones!!

2010-07-30T09:25:00.001-07:00

PATACONES
-made with green plantains - if they have gotten yellow & spotty, they will not stand up to this treatment!

Heat about an inch depth grapeseed or peanut oil in a deep skillet.

Slice 4-5 green plantains into about 1 1/2" chunks, and then remove the peel.

Fry the plantain chunks until lightly golden, drain on paper towels.

When a bit cooler, take a heavy pot and squash the plantains flat (they look like "large paws" -patacones-) and dip them (do not soak them!) into a bowl of salted water (about 2c. water and a tbs. or so of sea salt) then carefully place them in the hot oil and fry again until crispy brown!

Top patacones with guacamole and fresh salsa, or a garlic/mayonaise combination- they are a great alternative to chips and crackers. Best when eaten hot!!

My Precious Pikle-It

2010-07-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

Now that we have finished running about between Missoula and Portland like bees buzzing between flowers, I can tell you all about my favorite kitchen "gadget" this year..... the Pickl-It from the wonderful People at Pickl-It.
I got a set for myself and my sister-in-law, - since we both are fermenting fiends.

A few years ago, I had gotten a Harsch Gairtopf crock (see earlier posts regarding sauerkraut making) because I was tired of skimming my 'kraut. Essentially, I love kitchen science, but I'm even more enamored of accomplishing kitchen crafts with less oversight! The Harsch crock has a wonderful "burping lid" water lock system that allows you to leave your crock unattended for several days at a time while the fermentation beasties work in a safe environment. My Harsch crock is in almost constant use, and I would never give it up.

But there were still times when I wanted something smaller....for those tiny baby carrots, or the 3 small heads of garden fresh bok choy, or even just one quart of baby dills.
Here's Jon's approved 5-Star concoction:

Ginger Stuffed Baby Cucumbers
   adapted from The Joy of Pickling

Start with about 7-8 baby cucumbers, about 4-5" long.
Slice them, long-wise, not quite all the way through, 2-3 times on each cuke, and sprinkle a bit of sea salt along the insides of the cuts. Set them in a bowl containing 3 c. filtered water with 7 1/2 tsp. sea salt dissolved in it. Let them sit in there, at room temperature, for about 2-3 hours.

When you are ready to stuff the cucumbers, place the following in a shallow bowl (future "stuffing"):
   1 daikon radish & 1 med. carrot, sliced into matchsticks about 1 1/2" long
   6 scallions, sliced lengthwise and slivered
   2-3 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
   fresh ginger sliced into matchsticks in volume about equal to the carrots and daikon
Sprinkle these with another tsp. of salt and a tsp. or so of cayenne pepper flakes.

Drain the cukes, and reserve the brine. gently open cucumber and carefully stuff an assortment of matchsticks and slices in each of the cucumber cavities. Place the remainder of any stuffing in a bowl, and place the full cukes on top. Cover with a tea towel and let stand overnight or about 8-10 hours.

Finally, pack the stuffed cucumbers into the 1.5 ltr Pickl-it, sprinkle any remaining "stuffing" around them, cover with the reserved brine, place the weight on top to keep things submerged, attach the (water-filled) air-lock, and let stand at room temperature for 2-3 days before refrigerating.

The Pickl-it air-lock can be removed and a tiny rubber plug inserted in the hole, so that storage in the fridge is easy and not cumbersome.

These were a hit as our Fourth of July pot-luck contribution - we served them cut into about 1" chunks.

Rhubarb-a-Ritas!!!

2010-05-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

We have a Rhubarb plant...
Every spring, we get at least three large harvests from our wonderful pie-plant!
This year, i thought we could do something beyond pies or crisps or stewed toppings for ice-cream.

So I chopped up about 8 stalks and simmered it in a simple syrup concoction (1 part sugar to 2 parts water - this batch used 4 cups of sugar and 8 cups water). Simmer this until the rhubarb seems to have fallen apart and is just a globby bit of green.

Strain the syrup from the rhubarb bits and bottle.

We got about 3 liters (see the discombobulated rhubarb remains behind the bottles?)

Jon made "Rubarb-A-Ritas"

2 double shots of tequila, a cup of the rhubarb syrup, and enough ice to cover the liquid in the blender.

WHIRRRRRRR

Pour into a martini glass, rimmed with sea salt and garnish with a lemon slice.

Kids will like their rhubarb syrup mixed with some soda water (Rhubarb Soda Pop!) or in their lemonade :-)

greens and grains and good things to read!

2010-05-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

First, the camera I have known and loved for 4 years decided to come down with photographic-parkinsons, and then we were incredibly deluged with Missoula Community Chorus responsibilities : Hiring a new Chorus Manager (Andy Morris - he's great!), then interviewing, auditioning, and hiring a new Conductor (Tod Trimble - he is going to take us far!!) and then it was time for our Spring Concert - and whew! So, Dear Jon helped me get a new camera - "just like" the old one, but with up-grades. It is going to take a while before I figure it out.... the whole back is a touch screen - so about every other picture, I inadvertently change settings....

I also recently acquired a lovely pair of GREEN Shoes and a Kindle (note the extraordinarily beautiful green embossed leather cover!) that I just had to show off. Naturally, the shoes required a new pair of socks, and Spring Spirals came to mind....

For Gluten-free people, Injera is a great substitute for wrap breads that I used to use frequently for convenience....it is made with a sourdough-like starter, and of Teff flour. Teff is an amazing grain that looks like a tiny seed - from the lovegrass family - so, it's related to "Love-lies-Bleeding" that Victorian garden beauty, and Amaranth! With that lineage, who wouldn't want to eat it?!

My F-I-L gave me the starter- he has always been generous with his kitchen experiments - so rather than wait for 3-5 days, I was able to go forth and cook!

Here's how to make Injera:

In a bowl, place 1/2 c. starter + about 1 1/2 c. teff flour + 2 c. water. Stir it all nicely - it will look like thin pancake batter. Set aside , covered with a towel, and let it ferment for 2-4 hours.
When you are ready to cook, to the batter, add a pinch of salt if you like, and a crackle of pepper - or not :-) Heat a flat bottomed griddle (the trusty 12" cast-iron seen here) over medium heat and add a drop or two of oil.
Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the skillet- lift it, and twirl so that the batter covers the whole bottom... it's not as thin as a crepe, so no worries.
Cook until holes (bubbles) form in the injera, the top is dried, and the edges brown. Do not flip it over- Injera is only cooked on one side (this is what gives it that spongy-soaks-up-flavors-of -everything texture!)
Remove, and cool.

My first one was so deformed, that I tossed it right out - again, sort of like cooking crepes! And Jon, being the international type that he is, decided to eat them with (home made) yoghert and applesauce and declared them "quite fine"

I cooked the remaining batter, setting aside 1/2 cup of batter to start my next batch (refrigerate, in a covered jar, and feed with 1/2 c teff flour + 1 c water every week or so) and simply separated the injeras with parchment paper and froze.

And here is how to create an Injera Starter:

Mix 1 1/2 c. teff flour + 2 c. water and let stand, in a bowl covered with a clean cloth, at room temperature until it bubbles and turns sour. About 3 days.

Happy April 15th!!

2010-04-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Tax Day! 2010!!
Enjoy this day - we may never have it this "good" again!!

47 % of Americans will pay NO INCOME TAX at all on their 2009 earnings!
Tax-Freedom Day: US citizens only had to work until April 9th (99th day of the year, this year) 2010 to pay their "portion" of Income taxes for the year. After this date, everything you earn, you keep :-)
This is one day later than last year, but more than 2 WEEKS EARLIER than 2007, when Mr. G.W. Bush was fearlessly in charge.

Here in Missoula, some of our neighbors are gathering in front of the federal building lying about their tax burden.
What do you think they are really angry about? (I have a few theories myself!)

Here's a sign my dear Jon made for us to wave back at them:

Catch Up

2010-04-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? Chairing the Vintage on Broadway committee - putting on the huge fundraiser for the Missoula Community Chorus! Successful this year- sold more tickets, had higher caliber Auction Items, food included an exquisite spam & olive spread on brown bread (our theme was 1940-1950 Golden Age of Broadway!), and this year's musical entertainment was polished and well-received!
WHEW!! We raised over $12,000 for the chorus - and then I went to bed for a few days :-)
Meanwhile, back in the spiritual realm, TeaParty Jesus has been giving people parables and questions to think about -
here's just one example.......

Truly, madly, Peep-ly....

2010-03-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived... and with it the miracle of marshmallow Peeps

note: SHOCKING PICTURES!!
NUDITY ADVISORY!! DON'T LOOK IF YOU ARE A PEEP PRUDE!!!

Naked Peeps!!

Here are some of this years' Peep Diorama Winners from across the U.S.....
WE COME IN PEEPS

PEEPTOWN Bakery

and my favorite

PEEP-O-SUCTION!

I'd like to give the world an Irish Blessing

2010-03-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Noirin Ni rian - one of my favorite Irish singers.... and a Blessing from St. Brigid.

Happy St. Patrick's Day !

The vision of St. Brigid was a heavenly community in which all created beings were joined together in joy. This is a poem attributed to St. Brigid giving voice to this hope:

I'd like to give a lake of beer to God.
I'd love the Heavenly
Host to be tippling there
For all eternity.

I'd love the men of Heaven to live with me,
To dance and sing.
If they wanted, I'd put at their disposal
Vats of suffering.

White cups of love I'd give them,
With a heart and a half;
Sweet pitchers of mercy I'd offer
To every man.

I'd make Heaven a cheerful spot,
Because the happy heart is true.
I'd make the men contented for their own sake
I'd like Jesus to love me too.

I'd like the people of heaven to gather
From all the parishes around,
I'd give a special welcome to the women,
The three Marys of great renown.

I'd sit with the men, the women of God
There by the lake of beer
We'd be drinking good health forever
And every drop would be a prayer.

Here's the ranch that raised the sheep, that grew the wool....

2010-03-10T08:22:00.000-08:00

that was sheared and combed and spun into the fine wool that made up the sweater that Jon wears :-)

And here's a little lamb - the first of this year's flock! at our friend's Daniel and Karen's ranch in the Mission Mountains.

A great story about renewal and spring - the rite of lambing on the ranch can be found here...

Daniel's Little Lambs

Since it hopped off the needles, I bet he's worn it 3 days a week - and still gets compliments!

Buffalo yarns, Portabellos, and Sepia Jazz

2010-02-28T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here is the first of the four little wraps I promised for our Chinese friends.... this one is for Anne and is made of 100% American Buffalo fibers- a nice rich bison-brown color.Soft and lofty, this should keep the wind off her lovely neck!
And here, the Portabello Mushroom kit from Stan and Bev, is beginning to bloom We got a couple nice sized ones to make an omelet with - and there are more coming.m!

Lastly, Missoula's annual Hospice Ball was this week - Jonathan played with the Ed Norton Big Band

comic comments

2010-02-27T08:33:00.000-08:00

Persian Chicken & Rice - you'll never go back!

2010-02-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

A friend of ours invites a bunch of us over for music making, a bottle of wine, and dinner every so often - and we always have a grand time. But, I have never appreciated her hospitality more than last week, when she had us over and served us "Persian" Chicken and Rice!

We walked in the house and dinner smelled.... enticing, a bit floral, and toasty. She set out the dish, and the browned chicken looked lovely nestled in a golden rice pilaf. But it was the first bite, and then the second, that sent me over the edge - I might have actually moaned at the table. Composing myself again, I casually asked (while pouring her another glass of wine) if I could peek at the recipe - she claims to have gotten it from a piano student's mother years ago. The next day, I picked up a fresh chicken and an orange, and I was cooking!

It's actually the rice that is "Persian"... and you could make the rice as a stand-alone side dish. Here's how:

cook 1 1/2 c. jasmine , or other fragrant rice, in lightly salted water until done. (I use 1 1/2 c. rice to 3 c. water and it only took about 15 minutes, once it was simmering under cover)

Peel a nice juicy orange, cut the peel into small (1/8th inch) strips and cook in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and mince; set aside. Eat the orange as an appetizer.

Shred carrots to get approximately 3 cups (I used 8 medium carrots) and saute them in 1/2 c. butter over low flame for 8 - 10 minutes. To the carrots, add the orange zest, with:

1/4 c. slivered or sliced almonds

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8th tsp saffron (I used my tiny tin of threads Amelia brought back from India! If you have no saffron, use a pinch of turmeric for color)

1 1/2 tsp. sugar

cook a minute or 2 longer, then add 1/4 c. water and boil rapidly until it evaporates. Stir in the cooked rice. At this point, you could serve the rice alone, or continue as below for the Chicken and Rice version!
Start with the Chicken first if you want to make this as a combination dish.....

Brown 1 or 2 cut up chicken(s) in a bit of oil. When nicely tanned, add 1/2 c. broth (or water + bouillon) and simmer until the chicken is tender - I kept it covered for most of the time, taking the lid off for the last 5 or so minutes. When rice is finished and combined, pat is into a large, greased casserole dish, and nestle the chicken pieces into the pilaf. Bake, covered, 20 minutes at 375.

We serve it with curried sweet potatoes and spinach - a quick stove top dish that changes every time we make it, but always includes chopped crystallized ginger .

Birthday Boy's Best Presents!

2010-02-17T16:43:00.001-08:00

This greeted Jonathan on the morning of his birthday...
a luscious chocolate cake (re-make of a family recipe) and an almost-there-just-a-few-more-rows-honey sweater......
The sweater was finished three days later, as was the cake!

Jonathan's Super Chocolaty, No Crumb Left Behind, Gluten-Free, Very Good Birthday Cake

(yes, we were still eating off the Christmas plates.... they finally got put away for the year after finishing the sweater - I've got priorities, after all!)

The original version of this cake featured rich milk chocolate flavors, a moist buttermilk crumb, and has been the "Rose Family" birthday cake since Jonathan and Louise's childhood. This year, I made a Gluten free cake, and incorporated super dark chocolate for a "mature" guy's birthday cake!

Sift together - or dump in a large bowl and "fluff" with a fork! - the following:

1 c. fine brown rice flour

1 c. almond flour

1/2 c. each: tapioca flour, potato flour

1 tsp. xanthan gum

2 c. sugar - we use organic unbleached sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Melt (use either double boiler, or melt in the microwave for about 1 minute)

6 Tbs. dark cocoa powder (Hersheys has a "Special Dark" cocoa!)

1 C. water

2 sticks of butter (oh, come on, it's a birthday cake!! use 2 sticks :-)

Mix the hot and dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer, then add:

1/2 c. buttermilk

with 2 eggs beaten into it, along with

1 tsp. vanilla

and mix until incorporated.

Bake at 350 degrees in a greased and floured* 9 x 13 pan, 30-40 minutes.

* chocolate cake hint: "flour" the pan with cocoa powder - this avoids any unsightly white specks on the bottom of the cake!*

Frosting:

6 Tbs. Dark Cocoa powder

6 Tbs. milk

1 stick of butter (yes, we are up to 3/4 pound of butter in the completed cake - sheeesh! it's a birthday cake!)

Melt the above ingredients either on stove top or in microwave as before.

Stir in:

1 pound box powdered sugar + 1 tsp. vanilla

until smooth.

Make the frosting and pour it over the hot cake when you've pulled the cake from the oven! As the cake and frosting cool, the frosting rather melds into the cake, and becomes like a roof of fudge.

Jonathan's Cobblestone Sweater was made from wool spun from the sheep our friends Karen and Daniel raise near Ronan Montana on a ranch that looks out over the Mission Mountains. I had to adjust the pattern significantly in order to use the bulky weight yarn (instead of the worsted weight the pattern calls for).

After starting a sleeve a couple of times (why "swatch" if you can just cast on and go?) I ended up adjusting the stitch counts down to approximately 85% of the original, and used size 10.5 needles. The short Row section for the yoke was the most difficult to fudge this way - I have kept my notes, and will post them on Ravelry so they link to the pattern for anyone else interested in using bulky yarn for this pattern.

I love how it looks like chain mail on my handsome guy :-)

2010-02-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

OK, Here we go! Let's see if I can finish 2 (out of the 4 promised!) Chinese New Years gifts between the Opening ceremonies and when the flame is extinguished!

I have purchased (at dear price!) a skein of American Buffalo Yarn - fingering weight, 2 ply - as soft as a cloud!

First 2 shawls are for Annie and Rosita.....After that, I promised both Cassie and Anne as well. When I showed a variety of patterns to all 4 friends last night, they ALL chose the same pattern!

I will have to figure out how to make this a interesting challenge as well- what can I do to the basic pattern to create something absolutely unique for each woman?!

Stay posted!

Makes you wonder....

2010-02-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

Makes you wonder Who would be able to vote if we had literacy tests.

.....about Tom Tancredo.....and his friends..... and who he thinks are his followers?!

Former Congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo told an audience on Thursday at the Tea Party Convention in Nashville that "people who could not even spell the word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House."
"His name," Tancredo said, "is Barack Hussein Obama."
Tancredo delivered the opening keynote speech at the convention where several hundred Tea Party conservatives have gathered.

Makes you proud to be an American, don’t it?

Of course, the thing they’re ignoring is that Barack Obama, and his wife, could have passed any literacy test invented by the good ole boys who spell those signs.

2010-02-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

A trip to China always means I get to find new yarn shops - thanks to Ravelry.com's China Knitters forum, I have found more than a few!! Here I am in front of Cheer Wool (see their English web site here) in Hong Kong. Following the directions I had in hand, we found a very tall (20+ stories) building shrouded in blue plastic and bamboo scaffolding. Thinking that we must be mis-reading the street numbers, we walked around the block again a few times, and finally asked in another shop if they knew where the yarn shop was. It was, of course, about 2 blocks up on the opposite side of the street... always an adventure!

I found some Australian cashmere and purchased some children's needles and scissors for Nan. Alas, at age 3, Nan was more interested in the scissors than the yarn. Oh well, there is always next trip to indoctrinate her!

While Nan played "cooking" with her scissors, I finished up 3 washcloths to leave with our friends ....

What a gift!

2010-01-31T16:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas pajama pictures are here:

It's been toooo long since I up-dated the blog! Sorry for that - after our Thanksgiving trip to the Oregon coast, we had Stella & Marcus & Iris (the grand-pug) visit for early Christmas, then we went to my mom, Bev, and then Jon's Mom, Cindy's for "Christmas", then we went back to Portland and the beach for New Year's, and as soon as we got back home, we got on the plane and trekked to China for 2 weeks for our annual factory visits.
Whew!!! It's a miracle I even remember that I have a blog!

Christmas 2009 took some planning.... Here is what several people on our list got! Big picnic Baskets full (10+ jars in each basket) of home-preserved sunshine and love.
Jon used our Hot Foil embossing machines and brown paper circles to create the labels, then he proceeded to create a recipe booklet - using pictures and recipes from Robbin's 2009 blog - that called for the basket ingredients. He published the booklet via Mac - isn't it professional looking?!

In addition to much of the already documented canned goods, I infused Stolichnaya Vodka with vanilla beans, and also created a pepper and thyme while wine vinegar for the baskets. We filled in the empty spots with packets of orange peel candy!

One of the funnest things I made this year was for Marcus - a "Secret Identity" to keep him warm on the slopes!

Something Fun to whet your whistle...

2010-01-26T07:10:00.000-08:00

We have had Christmas, traveled to the Oregon Coast for a week again, and then a January trip to China - and I will try to catch up with photos and narrative soon, however THIS is just because it's fun!!!!!

Turkey Left-overs = MMMMmOle!

2009-12-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

It was the day AFTER Thanksgiving, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring.....
we were still recovering from the tryptophan crash of the day before!

Whatever were we to do with all that heirloom turkey that Besty and Jamie brought from Santa Fe? I had actually thought ahead of time and prepared a super concentrated Mole Paste at home before we all traveled to our extended family meet up on the Oregon coast in Manzanita.

Here's how I did it: FIRST I contacted my Father-in-law, the Spanish professor who is also an amazing and intrepid cook. I hoped he had "the secret recipe to a great Mole sauce"...indeed, he immediately loaned me two huge volumes on Mexican and Oaxacan cooking, both of which included several individual Mole recipes. One even had all sorts of historical fact and fable about this Sauce of Fame. (Hint: Both of these books are now on my "wish list" for Christmas!)
As I read through the recipes - many of which took days to prepare, as well as a surprising number of ingredients! I realized that as a good but "every day" cook, I needed to simplify or I'd never fulfill my promise to proved the sauce to make a Mole Fest happen on T-day 2. I decided to use....the Vita-Mix!! After that, I honed the lists of ingredients down a bit, consolidating recipes as well as being sure that the important flavor combinations weren't missing. (Jon ate 2 prior batches before declaring this was "the one").

MmmmmmmmOle Concentrate
Assemble the following ingredients in one place before beginning. I found that shopping took longer than the actual preparation!

4 dried Pasilla chilies, stems & seeds removed
4 dried Ancho chilies, stems & seeds removed
1 (I used a canned) Chipotle chile, seeded
1 med onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 14oz can diced tomatoes & juice
1 Tbs. sesame seeds,
1/2 c. almonds
1/4 c. tasted pepitos (pumpkin seeds)
2 organic corn tortillas, torn in pieces
1/4 c. raisins
8 whole cloves
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
2" pieces of cinnamon, broken up a bit

Place all the above into the Vita Mix (or heavy duty blender) and puree until smooth. Really really smooth!!

In a large skillet, heat

3 Tbs olive oil

Scrape the pureed chile mix into the pan and saute the puree for at least 10 minutes, stirring frequently to dissuade any little crusty bits from forming. Add

3 1/2 oz. bitter chocolate (I used 1 2/3 bars of Newman's Own organic 72% chocolate - if you use unsweetened chocolate, you made need to add a small amount of sugar to balance the flavors at the end)
1 c. vegetable broth

Continue stirring and cooking over very low heat for about another 15-20 minutes. The sauce will become extremely thick and paste-like. It should "feel" like a thick tomato paste does!

This made almost 1 full quart of paste - which I froze and took to our Turkey day rendezvous.
When ready to serve, we thinned the paste with chicken stock (for the turkey mole) or vegetable broth (for the bean mole). Here are the variations!

Vegetarian Mole
Saute a chopped onion, and diced celery in a deep pot. Add left-over roasted vegies (we had parsnips, sweet potatos, and beets) from Turkey dinner. Add 3 cans of assorted beans- black, kidney, pinto. Throw in 1/2 a head of chopped kale!! Stir in about 1 cup of Mole paste and 4-6 cups broth.
Turkey Mole
Saute a chopped onion, and diced celery in a deep pot. Add left-over roasted vegies (we had parsnips, sweet potatos, and beets) from Turkey dinner. Add chopped, left over turkey. Throw in 1/2 a head of chopped kale!! Stir in about 1 cup of Mole paste and 4-6 cups broth.

Serve your Mole Variations over hot rice, and pass the tortillas (if you are lucky, your Aunt Louise will have brought the tortilla press and the masa to make them fresh for dinner!!)

Hang out and play lots of music after dinner!!

Thankful

2009-11-18T08:53:00.000-08:00

In this busy life, a moment of reflection with Sarah McLachlan and St. Francis of Assisi.....

We have been very busy (typically, October/November are our biggest months of the year!)Here's Jon taping up boxes yesterday - and then there's Sean (our UPS Angel!) flexing his muscles to begin the pickup!

Besides "work" I have added quite a bit more to the canning pantry, including several pints of our home-fermented Sauerkraut, and Wool-Wash. Well, the wool-wash isn't for eating.... but it will help get those stains out of Jon's sweater after he's eaten the sauerkraut...

I got the "recipe" for Wool-Wash from an Australian friend...
4 cups boiling water
4 cups pure SOAP flakes (not "detergent! - if you can't find it, just grate a bar or 2 of pure castile soap)
Pour the hot water over the flakes, and beat with a whisk or mixer, until well blended. It gets "foamy - that's alright! When well incorporated, add
1 cup rubbing alcohol ("mentholated spirits" if you live in Australia!) PLUS 1 Tbs or so of essential oil - I used eucalyptus -just enough to smell "fresh"!
Incorporate some more, and pour into wide mouth containers (I got these little ones at the Dollar Store). It will be foamy and cloudy, then go through a clear stage, and lastly firm up into a white gel.
To Use: Swish about a TBS of the gel in warm water, to soak your hand-washables and woolens in.

Medicare-for-all, Round 4! It could Happen this week!!

2009-11-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

Please follow this link to support the Weiner Amendment extending MEDICARE for ALL to the Health care Bill in front of Congress. The link take you to a fax you can send from your computer- and gives you phone numbers for your representatives as well as the major players, and the White House. Let your will be known! Here's the scoop:

Breaking news from PNHP (Physicians for National Health Plan). The Weiner amendment 'could' come to a floor vote on Friday or Saturday with maybe a 20 minute debate allowed. Your calls and faxes were instrumental in making this happen.
Now is the time to push hard on your congressperson to vote for the Weiner amendment. Even if it fails, it is very important to show that it has support. If the entire health reform bill fails, as it very well may, then Medicare For All has a real shot at enactment when Congress realizes it MUST address health care.
Here's the link to the FAX YOUR REPRESENTATIVE page.

Here's the link where you can easily find your congresspeople's phone numbers!

The Birthday Spurtle and what I did with it...

2009-11-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

My birthday is Hallowe'en, and yes, the apostrophe indicates that you know how to properly spell the word! ("e'en" is a contraction for "evening") As a child it was much akin to a Christmas birthday -but it's gotten much more fun the older I get. This year, my friend, Joni happened to be visiting from Scotland where she's lived with her husband for many years. And she brought me a spurtle!!! I was soooo excited :-) The spurtle is that lovely turned piece of wood in the pic above - and it's been used since the 15th century to stir.... porridge! The Golden Spurtle Porridge Making Championship competition is held in Carrbridge Scotland every year.

I quickly chopped and steamed up some of the delicious apples Stan and Bev brought down, ran them through the chinois, and added some spices for Apple Butter making...

The spurtle lived up to it's reputation - the rounded end fitting evenly against the ceramic sides of the pot - not one lump was left after a few minutes of stirring. So, we sent the butter into the oven for a few hours, and later canned it up - yum!!

Very Good Gingered Apple Butter

*this is more like "the technique" than a recipe with measured amounts *

Core and roughly chop several apples -you don't have to peel or seed them, but cut out the bad spots. I filled up my 5 qt. cast iron enameled pot.
add about 2" water to the pot and simmer until the apples are easily mushed -
about 15 minutes.
Place your chinois or food mill over a large bowl or another large pot, and press the apples through. This separates the peels and seed out, and also creates a "saucy" texture!
Pour the apple mush back into the (wiped out) original pot, and place on the stove top over medium heat. Turn on the oven as well - to 300 degrees, and let it heat up a bit.
Add the following spices, to taste :
cinnamon
ginger
cardamom
anything else on the shelf look like a contender?
for my pot of sauce, i used about 2 tbs. each. then i added more ginger :-)
Now, get out your sugar bin. Add some in - maybe a cup or two. Taste it - should taste like good "applesauce". We don't really like ours too sweet - and after everything is cooked down, the flavors will be greatly concentrated. Stir everything about until it's nicely bubbling.
Pretend you are a Scottish witch from 1709 if you are using your new spurtle.
When it's nice and bubbly, open the oven and place the pot, uncovered, in the oven on the middle rack. Let it simmer there for about 2-3 hours. You'll know when it's done because not only will it smell lovely, it will have reduced by at least 1/3, and be thick and dark brown.

I can it in pints or 1/2 pints - 15 minutes in the water bath canner.

The "Public Option" IS our bail-out, America

2009-10-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

"Be not simply good, be good for something." -Thoreau

Contact your congress people and representatives!
Email, web sites info, and ground address for US Senators/Representatives can all be found here.

And here is NY Congressman Anthony Weiner's site, Countdown to HealthCare, where you can sign petitions, get up-to-the-minute informatin on what and how things are moving through congress. I am tempted to move to NY state, just to claim Weiner as my rep!

Don't you wonder how a Democratic President, elected on a platform of reform, with over whelming Democrat majorities in the House and the Senate can take a hugely popular social program and turn it into a corporate give away? This is about as good for us as Medicare part D (which essentially gave billions of dollars to the pharmaceutical companies!)

That's just what's happening with the "HealthCare for America" act recently introduced by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. the way it reads, right out of the box, the "public option" is described as "requir(ing) most individuals to obtain health insurance but do too little to make sure they can afford it. But beefing up insurance subsidies would drive up the cost of the bill, which not only would threaten Obama’s $900 billion spending cap but would unnerve centrist Democrats already worried that the bill does too little to constrain healthcare costs." (TheHill.com)

"We think that it was eight times normal volume and it was certainly higher than the demand that we had when the first stimulus bill went up," he said. "It was probably the highest volume of traffic we've ever seen." -Jeff Ventura, White House spokesperson, on the flood of calls, email, and faxes to the White House in the 24 hours after the announcement about the bill was made. (see full story here)

Late October 2009 MSNBC Poll asks "is it important to give people a choice of a public option? -- a combined 72% answered that it was either "extremely important" or "quite important," while just 23% said it was "not that important" or "not at all important."

October's CBS NewPolls tell us Americans continue to overwhelmingly support a Robust Public Option - the question was:
DO YOU FAVOR A GOVERNMENT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN LIKE MEDICARE

	Now	9/2009	8/2009	7/2009	6/2009
Favor	62%	65%	60%	66%	72%
Oppose	31%	26%	34%	27%	20%

While fewer people answered "Favor" than back in June, still almost 2/3 of the people polled want a Public Option that covers everyone, no exceptions, equally. How simple is it to see that what we WANT, what we VOTED FOR in November, was to CHANGE the system that does not support "average Americans"?! If your Senators and Representatives are not helping to move this change forward, they are not listening to you and your neighbors. A Public Option will only work if EVERYONE is IN THE POOL. We must pester them into letting us ALL in.

"If the public option leads to a single-payer system, it'll be because private health insurance couldn't offer as good a product to consumers -- that government-run insurance turned out more affordable, of higher quality, and better overall. It'll be because consumers preferred government-run health insurance to private insurance. Isn't that their choice?" succinctly stated by Sahil Kapur in his blog post today.

Paul Krugman (Nobel prize winning Economist, and columnist for The New York Times) wrote an opinion piece supporting the recently unveiled House plan here. "For this is the moment of truth. The political environment is as favorable for reform as it’s likely to get. The legislation on the table isn’t perfect, but it’s as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they’re on."

P.S. check out this link if you want to know what some people think this is really an Insurance Company Bail Out bill.

Canning & Preserving 2009

2009-10-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

From our little garden this year, a bounty of food!
Stan's apples trees contributed quite a bit of fruit for us as well (it was low yield year for the pear tree - so we only got a few. I still have jars of Pear Sauce, Pear Butter, and several litres of "Poplar Pear" wine from last year!)

Completed :

Tomato sauce, 6 pts
Diced tomatoes, 7 pts
Enchilada sauce, 4 pts
Ketchup, 6 - 1/2 pts
Bar-b-q sauce, 6 - 1/2 pts
Garlic Dills, 6 qts
Icicle pickles, 8 pts
Cardamon Applesauce, 6 pts
Apple Pie filling, 5 qts + 1 pt
Cranberry Sauce w/Port 6 - 13 oz.
Apple Cranberry Brandied Mince filling 6 pts
Cranberry Pear Chutney 4 pts
Plum Walnut conserve 4 pts
Honeyed jalapenos, 6 - 1/2 pts
Hot Thai Vinegared peppers, 1 pt
Grape jelly 6 - 1/2 pts
Ginger Marmalade 9 1/2 pts
Sunrise Marmalade 13 1/2 pts
Bitter Marmalade 8 1/2 pts
Gingery Apple Butter 9 1/2 pts
Sauerkraut 9 pts (11/15/09)
Brown Sugar Applesauce 10 pts (11/15/09)

Yet to Can:

Worcestershire sauce
Gingered Honey jelly (for sore throat days)
What else? I need a few more apple suggestions - and any other "special requests" will be seriously considered :-)
I also have about a gallon of huckleberries in the freezer- 2 quarts for holiday pies, and the rest for.....

Better Bread - Gluten-Free and Smiling!

2009-10-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not the end of my quest, but here is what I've come up with - it is a tasty, yeasty, and scented with warm grainy-goodness. (remember the last loaf that I said smelled a bit "bean-y? By the 2nd day - the beans had won and the loaf was out!)

I know it's a long list of ingredients (especially when "Bread" used to mean only 3! flour, water, yeast) And I used my bread machine again, but this is my own creation - and it's good enough to make the weekly kitchen schedule!

Robbin's Better Bread -GF recipe
Melt 1/4 c. butter
Off the flame, whisk in 1 3/4 c. whole grain rice milk, then
whisk in 3 whole eggs.
Place these wet ingredients in the bread machine.

Mix the following thoroughly with fork or whisk:
3c. Gifts of Nature GF Baking mix
(there are no bean flours in this mix !)
1/2 c. sorghum flour
1/4 c. teff
(I used it whole-grain , not flour. It's smaller than poppy seeds, but I think this is what smells so good!)
1/4 c. quinoa flakes
2 tsp. whole, golden flax seeds
1/4 c. expandex (modified tapioca starch)
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. xanthan gum
Scoop the dry ingredients into the machine, on top of the wet ingredients.
Make a shallow "well" on the top, and sprinkle in 2 1/2 tsp. yeast.
Set machine for "Quick" breads, or use the shorter setting (only one rise)

Jon's dad, Stan has once again supplied us with bushels of tasty apples this fall, and I've been busy preserving their goodness. Besides eating out of hand, and the Apple Pie Filling last week, we now have several jars of Cardamom Applesauce to see us through the year. We love cardamom, so substituting it for the cinnamon I would put in the sauce was a no-brainer. Smelled lovely and tasted even better. Jon ate a bowl of warm sauce that didn't fit into the jars, with grated cheddar cheese, and declared it Cardo-yum (I kid you not).

And here's the TAMontana that I created for Karen to thank her for that scrumptiously beautiful Montana wool she gifted me with last week!!

TAMontana Instructions

Super easy, and really works up quickly because the middle section is a fish-net lace.

Implements required:
set of size 6 double point needles
stitch markers
a functional brain
size 8 24" circular needle
dk - light worsted weight yarn: less than 50 grams.

Starting at the crown, with size 6 dpn, cast on 8 stitches and divide evenly across 4 needles.
This is where you are allowed to say a few bad words, but keep your focus. It's all down hill after the first 3-4 rows!
ROW 1: *K1, YO, K1* around (12 stitches)
ROW 2: Knit around
ROW 3: *K1, YO, K1, YO, K1* around (20 stitches)

ROW 4: Knit around
ROW 5: *K1, YO, Knit to 2 stitches before end of needle, YO, K1* around

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until you have about 100 stitches.
This is where you have to use your brain... if it seems like the crown is too big, begin the next section a few rows earlier, or if you want more room, extend the above section a few more rows! This is very flexible :-)

Second Section: Change to circular needle, and Knit one more row around.
Row 2 : *YO, K2tog* around.
ROW 3: Knit around
Repeat these 2 rows until this section measures about 3 1/2 -4 " long.
End with a Knit-around row.
Use this last row to make any adjustments to your stitch count so you end up with a number divisible by 4 for the ribbing section coming up!

Third section: Change back to smaller size 6 dpns (or a circ. 6) and begin ribbing:
*K2, P2*
repeat every row until ribbing is desired depth. (I like it about 1 1/2")
Cast Off ( I prefer to cast off knit stitches, knit wise and the purl stitches, purl wise.)
Weave in ends... the original cast-on tail can be pulled through the first round to tighten up the "hole" before weaving in!
Voila! You can block it, or not depends on how stiff you prefer your tams.

Apples and Pears and Peppers and Squirrels! Oh, My!

2009-10-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Where have I been?!
First, there were pears..... later, there were pear tarts, pear sauce, and pear butter :-)
Then, there were apples!!!

Now there are many, many quarts of Apple Pie Filling, and there is yet to be applesauce and chutney!

Apple Pie Filling for Canning!
Peel and Core Apples - I think I had about 15#
Immerse them in a couple of quarts of water, + juice from 1 lemon to prevent discoloration while working

Drain apple slices, and place in kettle, along with about 2-3" water, 1/2 c. maple syrup, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/3 c. minute tapioca..... and cinnamon - lots- maybe 2-3 tbs!
Simmer for about 10 minutes - you want the apples slices to get hot and fork tender, but not mushy . You might also want to dip in a clean spoon and adjust your seasonings at this point!
While the apples cook, sterilize your quart jars and get your lids ready. I got 6 quarts and 1 pint out of this batch.
Ladle hot fruit and cover with syrup, and add 1 tsp. lemon juice to each jar. Place sterile lids on , and process in hot-water-bath 30 minutes for quarts, 20 minutes for pints. I actually used my pressure cooker, and did one quart at a time - 5 minutes at 15# pressure, letting the pressure drop naturally before removing jars to rest.

Next came the march of the Peppers - so they had to be roasted, and mixed with some delightful tomatoes, and canned and voila! there are several pints of Enchilada sauce in the pantry!!

Enchilada Sauce (for canning) 4 pints

Roast 8 -10 large green chilies (Anaheims and Poblanos were used this time!) either over a flame (gas stoves) or in the oven (4" from the broiler- watch them, and turn frequently!) Remove from flame/oven and when cool enough, remove stems and seeds.
Saute 4 onions, finely chopped, in 8 tbs. olive oil until soft. Add 12 cloves (a whole head) of garlic, minced and cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes,
Puree the chilies and 4 large, flavorful tomatoes (we used the last of the heirloom brandy-wines!) in a blender.Pour it all back into your cooking kettle. Add 6 oz. tomato paste, 1 tbs.. salt, 1 tbs. ground coriander, 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper, 2 tbs. ancho chili powder, 1 tbs. ground cumin. Again, adjust your spices at this point! Cook over low flame for about 20 minutes - it will reduce slightly, and the flavors will begin to meld.
Ladle into 4 sterile pint jars and seal with sterile lids and rings.
Hot water bath for 30 minutes.

But now, there's the added dilemma of..... BREAD! if we are Gluten Free now (and we are)
bread becomes the "holy grail". I've made three attempts - This one is the best so far, although when toasted, the garbanzo flour can smell a bit, well, bean-y!

I'm still being forced to use the Bread machine to make it look like a loaf, but at least this one make pretty good "whole grain" sandwich bread. Moist, and slices well :-) I'll be questing for a configuration of flours that allow me to shape a loaf for awhile I think.

Sunday, Zuzu discovered that a downed squirrel is a yummy squirrel. She was so full of herself, and later, she was so full of squirrel..... ergh! I won't show you pictures of that one.

Lastly, we spent a really nice day, Saturday, up at Daniel and Karen's new (120 acres) sheep spread on Saturday. Look what Karen gave me?! 6 skeins of naturally colored Montana Sheep's wool! Shhhhhhhhh. don't tell her I've got a little plan :-)

Public Option -Too Popular in Wisconsin?!

2009-10-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

Speaking about HealthCare.... I believe the polls that state that a large majority of Americans are so sick of how health insurance companies control the delivery of services, that over 60% (many plls place the figure more than 10 points higher!!)of us want - NEED!- a Public Option - (Medicare for All - type option!). Take a look at what has happened to just that type of program in Wisconsin - it is TOO popular, and the state is about to stop enrolling citizens!

On June 15th of this year, Wisconsin began experimenting with a public health option, BadgerCare, to adults without children in a program called BadgerCare Plus Core Program. It is very basic, has a one-time enrollment fee, no monthly premiums, small co-pays, and covers primary care and generic medications.

So many adults have signed up for the program that as of October 6th, sign-ups will be suspended and those who sign up after that day will be put on a waiting list. The Wisconsin legislature approved (it's essentially Medicaid) funding for 54,000 people…and over 60,000 have signed up “at a rate of 500 per day” and are still signing up!

Gluten Free-Wheeeee?!

2009-10-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

I just got back the test results - the test I procrastinated having done because I just didn't really believe it would show anything - and am shocked to discover that

Intestinal antigliadin IgA antibody was elevated, indicating that you have active dietary gluten sensitivity. For optimal health, resolution of symptoms (if you have them), and prevention of small intestinal damage and malnutrition, osteoporosis, and damage to other tissues (like nerves, brain, joints, muscles, thyroid, pancreas, other glands, skin, liver, spleen, among others), it is recommended that you follow a strict and permanent gluten free diet. As gluten sensitivity is a genetic syndrome, you may want to have your relatives screened as well.

So, it seems I am off on a new culinary adventure- because I sure as heck won't stop eating or cooking!!!

Can she can she can she?!

2009-10-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, we CAN!!

I have been mad in the kitchen lately 'cause the garden has been put to bed, and I have boxes of pears, apples, tomatoes, plums, and peppers in our little house - and they invited a bunch of dark bellied dew lovers in to visit. Well, I really got annoyed that the DewLover family keep inviting more and more relatives over, so the produce.... is going to have to produce!

for this batch of Honeyed Pickled Peppers I used about equal amounts jalapenos, banana peppers, and ripened, red banana peppers.
I assume that you know enough to sterilize your jars and use proper pepper precautions such as wear gloves and don't touch your eyes!! ;-)

For 4 Pints (8 - 1/2 pt. jars):

Prepare about 2 - 2 1/4 pounds peppers: wash, slice into 1/2" rings, and seed.

Prepare brine:
4 c. organic ("live" - the type with the mother in the bottom!)) cider vinegar
2 Tbs. (or, my method: 2 large bloops out of the jug) of honey
2 tsp salt
2 heaping Tbs. pickling spice mix
Heat all of the above in a sauce pan to boiling.

Prepare (clean) jars: into each jar, place
3-4 black peppercorns
1 clove garlic -sliced

Equally distribute jalapeno/banana/red pepper slices in jars
Pour the hot brine over the ppeppers to 1/2" headspace, cover with sterile 2-part lids, and hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Let them mellow for a couple of weeks before eating - on a cracker with cream cheese, on a big bratwurst, scooped into scrambled eggs... oooh, pepper possibilities!

adapted: Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich

Black wash

2009-09-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Blackwashing>

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Protests

(Tonic) Water of the Gods

2009-09-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

So, remember when we bought the Penguin to make sparkley water? The main impulse-to-buy was because I had come across the technique for making Tonic Syrup (the base for tonic water) and wanted to try concocting :-)

I love tonic water - most often drinking it with nothing but a slice of citrus, all through the summer. Oh, I admit to splashing gin in there after 4:30 some days, but I really could drink tonic water everyday! I became a tonic water snob - disdaining cheap supermarket brands for interesting (and expensive!) boutique brands... finally ending up understanding that this obsession must mean it's time to make it myself...

After reading several "cocktail" blogs (and there are at least as many of those as there are knitting blogs!!) it was clear that there were as many ways to create tonic water as there were cooks; the only constant was an infusion of powdered cinchona bark in water. Then, I realized that the most difficult step was going to be acquiring the Cinchona Bark powder (aka: Quinine Bark) as it's not readily available at Walgreens. Cinchona is the magic, bitter ingredient that inhibits muscle cramps, fever, and the mosquito-born virus, malaria. I ended up ordering it from here.

Cinchona belongs to the Rubiacae family which also includes coffee and gardenias! It is believed to have gotten its name from the Countess of Chinchon, wife of the Spanish Viceroy of Peru, who in 1638 fell desperately ill with malaria. Fortunately, she was cured using the ancient herbal remedy of "quinquina" bark, and in her honor, the tree was named Cinchona (Hobhouse,1987).

While playing in the kitchen, here's what I came up with:
In a 4 -5 qt pot on the stove, combine the following:

4 c. filtered (and vitalized!) water
1/4 c. cinchona bark powder
1/4 c. citric acid (another internet order, which I had because we used it to make fizzy bath balls a few years ago!)
zest & juice of 1 lime +1 lemon +1 orange
1 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tbs slightly crushed juniper berries
2 1/2 dropperfuls - maybe a tbs. - of (my sister-in-laws best!) Bitters

Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer 20 minutes or so. Your house will smell delicious! Remove from heat, let cool down! and strain. The cinchona powder is very fine, so I poured all this into my French Press pot, let it settle a few minutes before plunging to strain it, while I washed out the cooking pot and put it back on the stove with

4 c. organic cane sugar

Pour the cinchona infusion over the sugar in the pot. Bring it back to a boil, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. My first batch simmered enough to "jell" a bit, but it is still "tasty woo" as Jonathan declares!

To make Tonic Water:

1 oz. tonic syrup + 3 oz. sparkley water

HealthCare for None, Education for All: Can YOU spot the irony?!

2009-09-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

If they can't recognize spelling errors, how can we expect that they can recognize other errors in thought?!

All for One and One for All, Healthcare for AMERICA!

2009-09-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Margeret and Helen said it so well in their blog today:
On September 12, 2001 everyone was an American. There were no Blue States and no Red States. There were no Black Americans and no White Americans. There were no Europeans, no Asians, no Hispanics, no Africans… The world was standing with America against the evil that is terrorism. The globe was united like never before. And what did our President do when given that moment? He told us all to go shopping while he and his buddies planned a war. And 8 years later the 9-12 project has been reduced to a movement of no Blacks, no Hispanics, no Asians… just 78,000 white people who can’t spell.

And here's a bit of Anne Lammont's recent comment in the LA Times
I am afraid there has been a misunderstanding since that election in 2008, during which 66,882,230 Americans cast their votes for you. Perhaps one of your trusted advisors has given you bum information. Maybe they told you that we voted for you -- walked, marched, prayed, fund-raised and knocked on doors for you -- because we hoped you would try to reunite the country. Of the total votes cast that long-ago November day, I'm guessing that about 1,575 people wanted you to try to reconcile the toxic bipartisanship that culminated in those Sarah Palin rallies.

The other 66,880,655 of us wanted universal healthcare.

Go read the rest of their comments - you'll get a chuckle out of Margaret & Helen- but they are serious. And Anne, well, she's gotten me down on my knees praying with my whole spirit that President Obama have the courage to do this "right" for America.

Western Spaghetti....

2009-09-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

Just for fun!

we can't afford to wait

2009-09-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

What more could anyone say?

2009-09-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely last weekend at the lake... Flathead Lake! At the Big Arm Campground, there were only a handful of tenters, and every spot got it's own lake edge "beach" - here's Pippin, dreaming of his Pirate Past-lives.....

Later on, Zuzu took over squirrel patrol so he could catch a sunny nap.
It was Jon's mom's birthday, so Cindy and Denny came down from Dayton for the evening for a taco dinner and a campfire - oh, AND the new Willie Nelson Album was a hit :-)

Jon got another picture of me knitting this trip.... I loved looking straight up into this grandmother tree overhead...

Isn't this just serene looking?!

But earlier, Jon insisted that he could park the trailer on a special rock out cropping... look what happened:

It teetered and tottered and I rather spittily insisted that he NOT move until we figured out how to fix it. He insisted that we photograph his accomplishment (below) before re-positioning it so that we could get in and out without rolling the whole thing into the lake!

Chocolate Huckleberry Cake overcomes the Far Right!

2009-09-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

Note for Mr. Joe Wilson - #37th in the world! I bet this just makes you soooo proud. Who's the real liar, Mr. Heckler?!

I always say, if they won't shut-up, shove some cake in their mouths! And you know what, even though I would bake the cake for our President, he would willingly share the cake with everyone, because he's just that nice a guy :-)

After watching PRESIDENT Obama's speech yesterday ( on 09-09-09!) inspiring us to actually do something radically constructive about the health (insurance) care delivery in the U.S. I wanted to bake him a cake!

How about... the Best Chocolate Huckleberry Cake in the World?
Start with 2 Buttermilk Dark Chocolate layers:

Make the Fluffy Ganache (using a pound of dark dark chocolate!)

sprinkle handfuls of fresh-picked Huckleberries in between the layers!!!

finish frosting the cake- and Here it is!

Chocolate-Huckleberry Cake
adapted, with glee, from Cooks Magazine
For the Cake:
1 1/2 sticks butter - softened, + extra for greasing the pans
1 3/4 c. flour (I use a whole grain soft-white flour grown here "Wheat Montana")
4 ounces (4 squares) unsweetened chocolate
1/4 c. heaped, dark coca powder
1/2 c. hot water
1 3/4 c. raw cane sugar
1 tsp., more or less, salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, + 2 lg. egg yolks
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
Using sof butter, grease 2 9 inch cake pans, and dust them with some cocoa powder (this helps avoid unsightly white spots on your cake when you make chocolate cakes!). Set aside. Combine the chocolate squares, cocoa powder and hot water in heat proof bowl and either microwave for 15-20 seconds or place over simmering pot of water for 2 minutes or so, to melt. Add 1/2 c. sugar and stir until glossy, then set aside to cool a bit.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In another small bowl (or measuring cup!) combine buttermilk and vanilla. Using the mixer, whisk eggs & yolks to combine, add 1 1/4 c. sugar and whisk on high until light yellow and fluffy - 2-3 minutes (I never used to take the time to get to the "light and fluffy" stage - but when you do take the time, it perceptibly lightens the cake!)
Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg/sugar mixture, and mix on medium until thouroughly incorporated. Add softened butter, 1 tbs. at a time, and mix after each addition.. again, it's time that helps create the glorious nature of this cake! Finally, add about 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 the buttermilk, mixing after each addition... again with the flour and again with the buttermilk. When all is well mixturated, take a spatula and fold it over a few times, then pour it into the 2 cake pans, and smooth the tops.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Cool in pans for 15 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely ( an hour or so) before frosting.

For the Frosting:
Grate 16 ounces (yes, 1 pound!) of dark semi- or bitter-sweet chocolate. I used Guittard for this cake, but the giant Trader Joes' bar can work well here!
8 tbs. (1 stick) butter
1/3 c. sugar
2 tbs. organic corn syrup (no GMOs for us!) or alternately, organic (sugar) cane syrup
pinch of good salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. heavy ("whipping") cream

Heat butter in a bowl set over a small sauce pan of simmering water (or in the microwave for 10-15 seconds). Add sugar, syrup, vanilla, salt and stir until sugar is dissolved. (If using the microwave, you may need to heat it for another 10-15 seconds to melt the sugar) Add the grated chocolate and stir until incorporated.

In a clean mixer bowl, pour chocolate mixture, add cream and stir again. Set bowl over ice bath (larger bowl with ice cubes and cold water) and stir to cool until frosting begins to harden against side of the bowl (about 70 degrees if you want to take its temperature). Take the bowl off the ice bath, and using mixer, beat on med-high until light and fluffy, and smooth (1 -2 minutes).

This frosting is melt-in-your-mouht wonderful, but will harden up in the fridge later - almost like the center of a truffle!

I just threw in huckleberries between the layers- about a cup or so. Next time, if I had extra, I would consider putting another cup or so in the cake batter before baking.

Worldly Things, and a Blessing for All Time

2009-09-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Food for Life....

Did you know that if you eat the RIGHT kind of chocolate you increase the odds of preventing skin cancer! - fortunately for us "foodies" Callebut is frequently in the cupboard!

Lifelong learning.....

About the furor over PRESIDENT (just reminding you, he IS the President - some people seem to have forgotten this already!) Obama's speech to School Kids this next week, I have a few things to say.

Firstly, Just about every President in past 30 years has given a similar speech (Bush 43's speech might not be seen as so inspirational) Here's a little "helping people remember" news video:

Secondly, I believe that much of the Neo-Conservative back-lash we are seeing right now, is because there is rampant, unacknowledged RACISM still operating in our country. Think about it - when people say (or yell, as is happening more frequently!) that they "want their country back" or "he's not my president, and I don't have to listen to him" it is quite possible that they are saying "I don't want a BLACK guy in the WHITE House". Author Tim Wise has written an article (and a book) that helps explain the "Psychology of the racist Right" in the same powerful way that George Lakoff helped explain the way the Right has co-opted language and derailed the conversation.

Lastly, good teachers everywhere are appalled by the politicization of the annual Back-to-School-Presidential-Speech. Here's just one of thousands of editorials that appeared this week, written by teachers and school administrators who support kids staying in school, working hard, and thoughtfuly listening to an important grown-up's views about education! As Arianna Huffington said in her blog this Sunday, " The last sitting president to address students across the nation was George H.W. Bush. During that speech, he issued a challenge to "revolutionize American education" and conduct "a crusade for excellence." Can you imagine what Glenn Beck would do with "revolutionize" and "crusade" coming out of Obama's mouth?"

Medicare for All, part IV:

Please, sign the Petition to the President calling for a Public Option that asks that the Public Option NOT be "optional" in the Health care reform work going on in Washington D.C. right now.
There are millions of reasons why we need HealthCare for All NOW, and only a small, but increasingly strident and threatening conservative "clot" that wants to intimidate the vast majority of us who are asking for, and willing to stand up for, real reform that helps individual Americans. Don't let the few ruin it, once again, for the many.

Daily Blessing:
from Julian of Norwich, one of my favorite mystical Christian writers (c. 1400) who prayed “Ah, good Lord, how could all things be well, because of the great harm which has come through sin to your creatures?”.

This was God’s response to her: “And so our good Lord answered all the questions and doubts which I could raise, saying most comfortingly: I make all things well, and I can make all things well, and I shall make all things well, and I will make all things well; and you will see for yourself that every kind of thing will be well. … And in these words God wishes us to be enclosed in rest and peace.” Julian’s words teach us that whatever happens, somebody bigger than either you or I is in charge of the cosmos. The storms may rage, we may feel we are sinking, but Jesus our Lord will always be there. Julian also wrote:

“He did not say ‘You shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted’. But he did say, ‘You shall not be overcome.’ God wants us to heed these words so that we shall always be strong in trust, both in sorrow and in joy.”

All will be Well
and
All will be Well
and
All manner of Things will be Well
Amen.

Reason enough to reform our present Health Care Situation

2009-09-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

"I don''t have health insurance, can't afford it! If I get hurt, my friends and family all know what to do - shove me in the car, put it in neutral, and let it run downhill.If all goes well, I am covered by the car insurance and I can go to the hospital!"

Overheard at tonight's Vigil for Health Care Reform in Missoula.

Dear Senators Baucus and Tester, and Representative Rehberg - Please do what's RIGHT, what is MORAL, what is COMPASSIONATE, what helps every single person in this nation from the unborn to the elderly.

If you have taken $$ from the opposition, smile brightly and tell them thank you- you'll use those resources to do WHAT IS RIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY, and pass a Health Care Reform bill that includes a PUBLIC OPTION now.

I would be happy to write those thank you notes for you if you are too busy PASSING REFORM that makes it possible for average people to feel PROUD of our country.

Just do it. You know you want to.

Medicare-for-all, part III

2009-08-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

Guess what?! Ted Kenndy's Healthcare Plan had been called "Medicare for All".

And that's just what he was trying to get passed for several years:

read about the KENNEDY AND DINGELL Bill here

Universal coverage in 5 years with a 3 stage phase-in. Kennedy's HELP (Health Education Labor & Pensions) Committee PASSED his bill this July and it is ...where?! ... in front of Congress. It's titled "The Affordable Health Choices Act" - click the link to read both the announcement and the text of the Bill.

Amazing. We need it now! Call, Write, Email, PESTER your representatives into sincere consideratin of this bill!!

Take That!

2009-08-30T21:40:00.001-07:00

It wouldn't be August without a visit from Mr. Wan!

2009-08-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, we said hello and goodbye to nephew, Austin as he stopped on his way through Montana going back to college in Vermont....then we put daughter Stella on the plane back to Portland. then we prepared for an evening with Mr. Wan and his family and friends as they were passing through here on the way back to Vancouver and Hong Kong.

Here are me, Rosita, Mr. Wan & Jon, with Cassie and Norman standing.
Of course, we had tea - pu'er tea was the favorite this evening.
and fruit, and we baked some triple chocolate cookies, and had great time catching up :-)
We got out the Penguin soda maker (you can see it on the counter in the picture) and added a splash of our recently decanted Raspberry Liquor (bottled in 2007, and made with our bumper crop of raspberries that summer).

It is so clear and pretty - you can see the damask pattern through the bottle!
And, added to the sparkling water = a heavenly refreshing drink.

Mr. Wan brought us the Ganoderma Sporo-pollen that is so difficult to find here - I love that everything in China is packaged so beautifully; note the wax seal on the cover that certifies this brand as organic (in accordance with, and packaged under the inspection of Australian and EU certifying eyes). I showed them the beginning of my Multnomah Shawl I started using my Sable yarn that I purchased last year in Guang Zhou. If you look closely, the second picture really shows the halo of sable hair throughout the yarn...

The little hairs almost "tuft" in places! And it is just light and lofty - knitting on size 8 Kollage (square) needles, this very fine fingering yarn really fluffs up -I hope it doesn't end up too "warm" for me, since I am loving the deep-green color.

Sweet Potato Salad & a little Envy

2009-08-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Sweet Potato Salad - one of the delights of a summer garden! Start by baking (or microwaving- in the hot kitchen this is far less steamy!) 2-3 sweet potatoes, until they are nice and soft (using the "a poked fork slides in so easily you think its already buttered" method of checking). Cool them down on the counter until you can slip the skins off, toss them in a bowl and mash them up all nice and smooth.

Look in the fridge for anything that looks yummy - this day, I found marinated artichokes, some sweet peppers, an onion and a few stalks of celery that needed a purpose. Dice everything up nice and fine - I added about a cup of each to the sweet potatoes.

Then, spoon in some mayonnaise. It must be mayonnaise, and it can be homemade (yum!) but if not, use a decent brand that contains real ingredients - like eggs and oil, and vinegar and salt!

Sometimes, I toss in a chopped hard boiled egg as well.
When it's all mixed together, salt & pepper & spice (tarragon or dill are awfully nice in here) to taste.

Now, for the "Envy"... here's my green-ish version of the Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnson. Don't these colors go nicely with the Sweet Potato Salad?!

This little love is sooo easy and fast to knit! Here are a couple of closeups so you can see how the colors change and twirl. Believe it or not, it is cheap sock yarn by Red Heart!! And it is treated with aloe so that as you knit, your hands are softened- always a nice refinement :-)

Medicare-for-all, part II

2009-08-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

Thom Hartmann blogged, quite clearly!, about Medicare-for-All recently, here. A highlight:

Just pass a simple bill – it could probably be just a few lines, like when Medicare was expanded to include disabled people – that says that any American citizen can buy into the program at a rate to be set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which reflects the actual cost for us to buy into it. So it’s revenue neutral!

It could be made revenue-neutral, simply by making it available to any citizen who wants to purchase it! Now, that's very similar to what I was saying earlier this week...
to be able to purchase Government sponsored, single-payer, basic health coverage would lighten our financial burden significantly... so much so, that we might even consider purchasing additional coverage from some Insurance Company, since we would not have to spend so much for basic coverage!!!

Want to let your representatives know what you think - Here's a link to find our how to contact your State Representatives and here is the link to find out how to contact your State's Senators via email.

Please let them know what you are thinking!!

Today, even Max Baucus (whose hero-stars were slipping significantly in my estimation due to his insistence on bi-partisan efforts from the Senate Finance Committee regarding health care) has come out saying that he personally supports a public option for insurance coverage, even as the committee he heads is poised to produce health care legislation that lacks a government-administered plan.
(click to go to the original news story)

How about a little Compassion?!

2009-08-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

Roger Ebert has been blogging about Health Care issues lately - he has been through quite a gamut of treatment for jaw-cancer, reconstructive surgeries, and all sorts of physical complications in the past few years - but has been able to survive because his medical expenses are covered by GOVERNMENT FUNDED HEALTH INSURANCE (Medicare!). Here is a link to his blog RogerEbert.com responding to comments he received when discussing "Death Panels" and his own thoughts on end-of-life-care (because he actually was given the imperative opportunity to think about these things in the course of this disease process!)

Here are a few, succinct excerpts:
If you lack insurance coverage, are you opposed to the public option? If your premiums have increased so much that you can't afford them, do you oppose it? If you have a "preexisting condition" that disqualifies you from insurance, do you oppose it? If it would provide you with equivalent insurance at a lower cost, do you oppose it? Most Americans, even those angry people at town hall meetings, now approve of MediCare. The public option would essentially make a system like MediCare available to the general population.

And.....
I believe universal health care is, quite simply, right.

It is a moral imperative. I cannot enjoy health coverage and turn to my neighbor and tell him he doesn't deserve it. A nation is a mutual undertaking. In a democracy, we set out together to do what we believe is good for the commonwealth. That means voluntarily subjecting ourselves to the rule of law, taxation, military service, the guaranteeing of rights to minorities, and so on. That is a cheap price to pay.

I actually have renewed respect for Roger Ebert- he is not only writing about the movies we watch, and why those stories influence us, he is being a fully realized American - advocating what is morally right and reminding us that "American" can -and should!- imply "compassion".

Glacier Park - awfully close to heaven

2009-08-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we took the Boler, and the doglets, and met up in Glacier National Park with Stella and Marcus, who were there for a week and had invited all their friends and family to see Montana's crown jewel with them.

Stella needed a little help from Marcus with the therma-rest....and the tarp over the tent (since it was pouring rain for the first 2 days!)

Marcus's mom, Becky, and Dad, Paul, took 2 days to get here, and set up camp just in time to sit under the tarp for dinner!
Campfires helped dry us out - Stella is sitting with Marcus's sister, Kelsey and her friend Soleil. None of Marcus's family had ever been to Glacier, so it was fun to drive about the next day on the Going-to-the-Sun Road (which is only open for 2-3 months a year, and always has huge washed-out areas that are under construction every year) to 6640 feet at the top of Logan Pass.

At the top of the world (or at least at the top of the Continental Divide which is at the way top of Going to the Sun) we have the classic shot-from-behind- looking-over-the edge-of-the-world! Becky, Stella, Kelsey, Jon, Paula -a tag-a-long-Mom with friends/daughters Brenna, Erin, & Kimberly, and their dad Bob.

photographs galore were taken....

Grandeur was applauded! Even in the rain, through the clouds, Glacier is a place of such pure and rugged beauty that breathlessness at the awesomeness of nature is common - altitude? scenery? spirit?

And then we added in Grandma Bev (my mom, Stella's Grandma)who drove up for a day and a night - notice Zuzu's black nose? She decided to see how far it was to China under the folding chair....

Do you think the Lund men have a resemblance?! And what would camping be without wild life strolling through - and snorting at the dogslets!!

See? I told you they loved Glacier!

so do we :-)

Medicare for All should be our goal

2009-08-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

"Under the greatest adversity there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others." ~Dalai Lama

And one of Montana's Methodist Ministers, Joan Uda, wrote an editorial for the Great Falls Tribune this week, asking essentially, What would God think of this? Here's a small excerpt:

I'm startled by the frenzied opposition to health care reform. Are these good people Christians? Do they recall that Jesus will judge us not by how well we've kept our earnings for ourselves but by how we have cared for "the least of these"? Matthew 25:31-46. This is a matter of salvation.I don't believe God supports any particular solution for health care. But I do believe God wants everyone, even the least, included. And I believe Jesus Christ calls us to display our best Christian virtues in the debate on these issues.

Here's George Lakoff's perspective on how language influences the discussion on Health Care policies this season. Mr. Lakoff is a a cognitive scientist and linguistics professor at Berkeley University, and has written several books about how the choice of words can skew our intentions and our understandings. (My personal favorite is Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate ) First of all, Lakoff reminds policy-makers, and citizens, to KEEP IT SIMPLE, and hold the vision of an overall, unifying principle. I interpret this as something as simple as Medicare-for-All. Everything else will come, as the bureaucrats are fond of administering the minutia. Our Health-care crisis is not "just" about the health insurance companies, or "just" about the un- and under-insured, or "just" about those poor insurance companies who might actually have to compete for sales.
Here is an excerpt from Lakoff's article:

Language
As for language, the term "public option" is boring. Yes, it is public, and yes, it is an option, but it does not get to the moral and inspiring idea. Call it the American Plan, because that's what it really is.

The American Plan. Health care is a patriotic issue. It is what your countrymen are engaged in because Americans care about each other. The right wing understands this well. It's got conservative veterans at town hall meeting shouting things like, "I fought for this country in Vietnam and I'll fight for it here." Progressives should be stressing the patriotic nature of having our nation guaranteeing care for our people.

A Health Care Emergency. Americans are suffering and dying because of the failure of insurance company health care. Fifty million have no insurance at all, and millions of those who do are denied necessary care or lose their insurance. We can't wait any longer. It's an emergency. We have to act now to end the suffering and death.

Doctor-Patient Care. This is what the public plan is really about. Call it that. You have said it, buried in Policy Speak. Use the slogan. Repeat it. Have every spokesperson repeat it.

Coverage Is Not Care. You think you're insured. You very well may not be, because insurance companies make money by denying you care.

Deny You Care ... Use the words. That's what all the paperwork and administrative costs of insurance companies are about - denying you care if they can.

Insurance Company Profit-Based Plans. The bottom line is the bottom line for insurance companies. Say it.

Private Taxation. Insurance companies have the power to tax and they tax the public mightily. When 20 percent to 30 percent of payments do not go to health care, but to denying care and profiting from it, that constitutes a tax on the 96 percent of voters that have health care. But the tax does not go to benefit those who are taxed; it benefits managers and investors. And the people taxed have no representation. Insurance company health care is a huge example of taxation without representation. And you can't vote out the people who have taxed you. The American Plan offers an alternative to private taxation.

Is it time for progressive tea parties at insurance company offices?

Doctors Care; Insurance Companies Don't. A public plan aims to put care back into the hands of doctors.

Insurance Company Bureaucrats. Obama mentions them, but there is no consistent uproar about them. The term needs to come into common parlance.

Insurance Companies Ration Care. Say it and ask the right questions: Have you ever had to wait more than a week for an authorization? Have you ever had an authorization turned down? Have you had to wait months to see a specialist? Does your primary care physician have to rush you through? Have your out-of-pocket costs gone up? Ask these questions. You know the answers. It's because insurance companies have been rationing care. Say it.

Insurance Companies Are Inefficient and Wasteful. A large chunk of your health care dollar is not going for health care when you buy from insurance companies.

Insurance Companies Govern Your Lives. They have more power over you than even governments have. They make life and death decisions. And they are accountable only to profit, not to citizens.

Having worked for 10 years on the administrative side of a small health care clinic (1992-2002) I can state unequivocally that each year, insurance companies required more "documentation" (copies of records and chart notes) and that documentation often required repeated insistence from the doctor's office to get the insurance companies to consider paying a portion of the person's bill. Health Insurance companies, on average, keep 35 cents of every dollar as profit. This is more than casinos (who are notorious for tricking you into giving them all your money) !

Insurers' "case-managers" - sometimes medical professionals, but unfortunately, often entry-level employees trained to deny at every turn, in order to earn their own bonuses- decide whether your claim fits their company guidelines. The Insurance Company tells you which doctors you can see - they creat "networks" of doctors - if you go out side their network... too bad for you! You read your policy and believe that you are covered 80% for a simple procedure. Afterwards, the forms are submitted and you discover that your insurance company believes that your procedure is really only "worth" maybe 40% of what it actually cost you. HA! You're a fool, but you keep paying those premiums because of fear what "what if"....

True Example: after Jon left his job of 23 years, we shopped about for health insurance. . As self-employed -but healthy!- micro-business people, we pay what I think of as exorbitant premiums (no groups are available for us) for a very high deductible policy that covers NOTHING before that deductible. So, we pay our Insurance Company over $6,000/year, AND we pay out-of-pocket for EVERYTHING medical until we reach that $10,000 mark - and at that point, the Insurance Company claims that our costs are "beyond reasonable and customary" in order to deny paying out all but a dribble. And why do we capitulate and buy the insurance? Because we know what happens if, God forbid, an accident causes unmanageable & huge medical bills...bankruptcy.

My rant could could go on and on and on - and I'm guessing, so could yours!

The solution is as clear as this: We already have a system that works, that is government run, that is single payer (even though I think that compensation for docs should be improved!) and it's called MEDICARE. Medicare-for-All!! Expanding basic Medicare coverage to All Americans could be done incrementally (expanding age-groups first, until full coverage is achieved within say, 10 years). This allows Health Insurance companies to prey on us for "expanded coverage" policy options, and I admit, Jon & I would consider something more-than-Medicare-alone. However, it would provide a BASIC LEVEL of health care to everyone. Social Democracy at it's finest.

How simple is that? Mr. President - and all of congress - please pay attention, and do the right thing for ALL citizens of the US. this is our chance to begin becoming a "Great Nation" again.

Oooey Gooooey Marshmallows!!!

2009-08-14T18:03:00.001-07:00

We were going camping, with all Stella and Marcus's friends & family, to Glacier Park, to celebrate Marcus's graduation with great honor from Portland State University...
Of course, I had to make marshmallows for the S'Mores :-)

First, oil and heavily powder-sugar coat a 13x8x2 pan! Start the (2 tbs) agar-agar OR (3 pkgs) gelatin softening in a 1/2 cup of cold water, and put 2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. corn syrup, and 1/2 c. water in a pan on the stove to heat. Stir it until the sugar is dissolved, then stop stirring, turn to low, and wait for it to reach 240 degrees (soft ball).

Pour the hot sugar mixture over the agar-agar (or gelatin) and, with the whip, begin mixing on low then increase to high and let it go on and on and on and on. (about 5-6 minutes, or until it increases about 3 x in volume). We use organic, free trade sugar (from Costco!!) which is not truely white - you can see the tan color in the picture - but which turns very close to pure white by the time you've whipped it up!

Here's the secret to light and fluffy (and way less sticky!) which I got from the SmittenKitchen blog: take 2 egg whites, whip them to meringue-like texture, and gently mix them into the whipped sugar-stuff, along with about a tbs. of vanilla.

Pour this all into that sugar-coated pan, use a sieve and heavily sprinkle about another 1/3 c. sugar evenly over the top - pop it, uncovered, in the fridge for about 4-5 hours or more.

Run a sharp knife around the edges, turn the pan over a powder-sugared counter top, and slide a flexible spatula underneath the firmed up mallow to help plop it onto the counter. Set the pan aside, but dump in another cup or so of the powdered sugar.
Cut into 1" pieces, toss and roll the marshmallows to coat them, and reduce the sticky factor :-)

I used essentially the same recipe to make 2 batches. For our egg-allergic friend, we used the gelitin and did not add the 2 egg whites (and we just suffered with the sticky!). For our vegetarian cohorts, I used the agar-agar and the eggs. To tell them batches apart, and just for fun! I left out the vanilla and added about 1/2 tsp. peppermint and a spoonful of strawberry jam (i didn't have any food color) to the make the egg-free batch a lovely shade of pink.

A Family Vacation... to the Sock Summit!!

2009-08-14T14:04:00.001-07:00

Rainbow of woolen skeins and The Lantern Moon Umbrella of Socks:

Sock Tree and Huge wool winder spinning overhead at the Market place.

the Quilt of many sock yarn leftovers

The VooDoo DoNuts were a hit!! Famous for innovative combinations, the orange one on the right was Jon's favorite: Mango Tango! a mango puree in the center, topped with marshmallow cream and dipped in Tang-drink powder. The center one with the cereal loop on top was an Apple Jack and the Pentagram decorated donut was just the token pagan-themed nut in the box.

We Love the Purl District :-) somewhere in Portland's Pearl District!

and here she is - My Pagan-Knitting Heroine: Barbara Walker!!!!! She deserves the star-spangled donut for having written 4 Knitting Treasuries and The Women's Book of Myths and Secrets. One of her best quotes was, "Just as the bird’s wing evolved to fly, the human hand evolved to manipulate. An idle hand is not a happy hand."

the Wall-O-Socks : Winners of the Sock Contest! The Leopard print ones were the grand prize winner: sheared, spun, dyed, designed and knit by one woman - and they have an ingenious replaceable sole!

Here's Stella and Louise knitting away during the Luminary Panel:

there was more knitting & crocheting going on at home in between breakfast and dinner and classes...
Marcus helped out with the eating :-)

More Summit Knitting - it's amazing to be in a room with 1500+ other knitters ....all...knitting!!!

and listening to our Luminous Leaders. Sorry, we were in the waaaaay back, but we heard every sentence! Here's great kudos for Stephanie and Tina, the "Moms of the Summit"!!

And at the very end... 1600 slices of birthday cake in honor of Elizabeth Zimmerman's 99th birthday :-) "Knit on, with confidence, through all crisis" -E.Z.

And, just because it made me cry, go here and read about the socks that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee made for Tina Newton - these are the two women who moved heaven and Portland and yarn and knitters, and birthed the first Sock Summit.

One evening, we got dressed up and went to an Evening of Opera and BarBQue... I love it when Louise dresses up :-)

Before heading out of town, we got together with the fam to celebrate Ned's dad, Norm's 83rd BIRTHDAY!!! at Portland's School of Arts and Crafts student-run restaurant...Some student crafts on display included these crocheted telephones! Which seemed to fit into the whole weekend theme quite nicely...

Family: Front: Louise, Norm, Nash, Back: Robbin, Jon, Lee, Stella & Marcus

Catching Up!!

2009-08-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yes... i went to Portland's First Sock Summit and am here to tell you about it. Here's a video someone's boyfriend made to pass the time...:

and what about these stockings by Laura Lough of The Unique Sheep

And here's a Wedding Dress made of sheep's locks!!!

Guess who broke the Guinness World Record for number of simultaneous people knitting in one place???!

We NEED the Public Option - here's how to help!

2009-07-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Watch this short video - and then go to The Public Option.com and sign up - give them a few bucks while you're at it... If the polls are correct, and over 70% of Americans WANT and NEED a Public Option for Health Insurance, we need to be sure that our Senators and Representatives know that it is OUR voices that need to determine their votes. It's time to take back our healthcare system from those who profit mightily - PEOPLE, not PROFIT.

Taylor Mali should be our Poet Laureate!

2009-07-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

My brother-in-law, Ned, an extraordinary 5th grade teacher, introduced me to Taylor Mali - and I'd love to introduce him to you :-)

Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet. Eloquent, accessible, passionate, and often downright hilarious, Mali studied drama in Oxford with members of The Royal Shakespeare Company and puts those skills of presentation to work in all his performances.

Mali is vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math and S.A.T. test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his New Teacher Project has a goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through "poetry, persuasion, and perseverance."

Here is his poem that made my day today - I hope it gives you a chuckle. After that- go check out his website for more!!

The the impotence of proofreading
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

Has this ever happened to you?
You work very horde on a paper for English clash
And then get a very glow raid (like a D or even a D=)
and all because you are the word¹s liverwurst spoiler.
Proofreading your peppers is a matter of the the utmost impotence.

This is a problem that affects manly, manly students.
I myself was such a bed spiller once upon a term
that my English teacher in my sophomoric year,
Mrs. Myth, said I would never get into a good colleague.
And that¹s all I wanted, just to get into a good colleague.
Not just anal community colleague,
because I wouldn¹t be happy at anal community colleague.
I needed a place that would offer me intellectual simulation,
I really need to be challenged, challenged dentally.
I know this makes me sound like a stereo,
but I really wanted to go to an ivory legal collegue.
So I needed to improvement
or gone would be my dream of going to Harvard, Jail, or Prison
(in Prison, New Jersey).

So I got myself a spell checker
and figured I was on Sleazy Street.

But there are several missed aches
that a spell chukker can¹t can¹t catch catch.
For instant, if you accidentally leave a word
your spell exchequer won¹t put it in you.
And God for billing purposes only
you should have serial problems with Tori Spelling
your spell Chekhov might replace a word
with one you had absolutely no detention of using.
Because what do you want it to douch?
It only does what you tell it to douche.
You¹re the one with your hand on the mouth going clit, clit, clit.
It just goes to show you how embargo
one careless clit of the mouth can be.

Which reminds me of this one time during my Junior Mint.
The teacher read my entire paper on A Sale of Two Titties
out loud to all of my assmates.
I¹m not joking, I¹m totally cereal.
It was the most humidifying experience of my life,
being laughed at pubically.

So do yourself a flavor and follow these two Pisces of advice:
One: There is no prostitute for careful editing.
And three: When it comes to proofreading,
the red penis your friend.

July Joy

2009-07-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

We have had Ned & Louise & Austin here (part of the Portland wing of our clan) for a fabulous time of food, home brew, and catching up... Stan and & Bev came down last night for dinner, and we surprised them with their in-laws, Jim and Pat - who dropped in via their motor home all the way from Tuscon!
Today we are floating the river, and having a great Saturday feast of Marinated Chicken and Bratwursts on the Bar B Q, fresh cabbage slaw and corn on the cob from the farmer's market, and seeing Cindy, Vicki and Amelia as well.
The only ones missing are Stella and Marcus - who are still in Portland because Stell is playing in the Zombie Opera (see below). But I'll be going back for a few days with N & L & A to all go see it!!
I'll try to post some pictures later -whew!

Zombie Opera!!

2009-07-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

Stella's dancing fingers have been working on music for a new opera production which PREMIERES this weekend in Portland Oregon. (pssst, she's the tiny blonde concert mistress in the pit!) Here's a little bit about Stella:

A student of Carol Sindell, Stella studies violin performance at Portland State University. She is a member of the PSU Symphony Orchestra as well as concertmaster of the New Music Ensemble at Portland State. As an advocate and fan of New Music, Stella is proud to be friends with some of Portland's most talented young composers (Reed Reimer and Ben Larson included), who give her lots of great opportunities to perform their work. Originally from Missoula, Montana, Stella lives in Portland with her partner Marcus. She loves to make art and surround herself with the lovely people she's lucky to call her friends and family.

"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here at Hogwarts!"- Dumbledore

Zombies are the new Pirates..... doesn't this just sound like FUN?!

In this hybrid of the stage, concert hall, and movie theater, our two heroines, Anna and Claire, and our two heroes, Bryan and Jeremy, find themselves locked inside a quarantined hospital, when an out-of-control virus begins turning doctors, researchers, patients, and security guards into mindless, brain-eating monsters. Friends betray friends; lovers propose marriage and attempt to kill one another; murder becomes morally ambiguous...In the end, they must decide whether life is worth the effort it takes to live, not just survive.

Here's a little news article about it:

_______________________________________________________________________________________

BY Willamette Week Online EDITORIAL STAFF | 503-243-2122

BRAA-AAA-AAINS: This week’s proof that zombies are the new pirates: Student Opera at Portland State University will premiere a new work by students Benjamin Emory Larson and Reed Reimer at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center titled Maelstrom: the Zombie Opera on July 10. The plot, according to organizers, involves four people trapped in a quarantined hospital overrun by brain-eating monsters. Who sing.
________________________________________________________________________________________

I am soooo excited to see it!

Black Madonnas from around the world

2009-06-30T16:28:00.001-07:00

BlackMadonnas01
Originally uploaded by robbinmt

Yep...I've been obsessed for at least 30 years.... here's some favorites. May Mary, Mother Divine in all her aspects, Bless and Care for you :-)

If you "left-click" on the image, you will be taken to my Flickr collage, which is bigger, and you can see more details!

Also, you can find the individual images in my Flickr "Favorites" if you are interested in who took the photos, and where the Madonnas are located. Some people have even posted a little history about the Madonna they have photographed.

And here's a few more:

Ginger Beer is Here!

2009-06-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

And it's clear that we are going to make this again and again and again. Gingery, with a champagne-like sparkle and a smooth finish.....

Here's how we did it!
First I put the Ginger Beer "Plant" (little symbiotic grains of bacteria/yeast, similar to kefir grains!) in a jar with some water, sugar, and ginger. Then we let it ferment for 3 days.......

On day 3, I decanted it (through a strainer) into a sealable jug. (I rescued the little Ginger Beer Plant grains. They are currently vacationing in the fridge in a lovely sugar solution. But we're going to get it back out to work on another batch right away!) We let this jug sit at room temperature another 2 days.

Day 5: we put the Ginger Beer bottle in the fridge for a day.
Day 6: The un-corking!!!

It didn't seem very fizzy at first,

but about 5 seconds later, Jon was pouring over the sink!

I'm getting ready for another Ginger Beer batch- and becasue the "plant" reproduces, I can make a batch 3 times as big this next time :-)

After that, I've gotten ahold of some sasafrass, and we're going for Root Beer!

Yes, I have been Knitting...and singing...and cooking!

2009-06-26T17:00:00.001-07:00

Firstly, the Knitting!

It is being blocked (so that the bottom eyelet row will cradle a lovely red ribbon to tie about the chin!) but here's a little Baby Bonnet

hot off the needles, to go along with the tiny Magic Baby Slippers of a few weeks ago:

These are for friends Kellie and Josh - expecting their first baby in just a couple more months!!! I think the colors are "uni-sex" enough to go one way or the other.....

Then, on our "romantic vacation" to Ottawa a couple of weeks ago, I started these Spiralicious Socks for something to knit on the plane. Jon was absolutely floored when, half-way there, I declared the lacey pattern a misinterpretation of knitting nature. The colours in this yarn change about every 2-3 inches - resulting in a fabulous palette with slubs and interest at every loop. But this yarn.....forced my lovely leaf-lace pattern into hiding. So, I tore back, cast on again, and forged forward with an improvised spiral rib - I rather like them!

And, here's some Magical, hand-dyed, sock-a-licious yarn from my friend TheKnitWitch. In the colorways of my astrological sign. I think that Harvest Moon is destined for a lovely little shawl.

Last of all, of course I've been cooking! Friend Tim V.B. has been visiting (we are still working, and almost ready to unveil, the new Music folder web-site an Choir Robes web-site) so some sweets to keep the guys insulin levels up were in order....

Here are the NutMeg Flats that inspired quite a bit of work last night!

Start with some Nutmegs.......

Pre Heat the oven to 250 degrees (yes, this is pretty "cool". While the oven heats,
put the nutmegs in the nutmeg grinder that darling spouse slipped into your stocking last December, and twirl about until you have about 2 tablespoons of freshly ground nut meg!!!

Now, seperate one egg - let the yolk plop into a little custard cup - and run the white into a clean little jelly jar.....
and Grease a 9 x 13 pan or something about that size.
Drag out your mixer- we'll make this as painless as possible!
Cream together:
1 c. butter and 1 c. sugar
Pour just the egg YOLK in and beat some more... last of all, add
2 c. flour (we just used the regular whole wheat we keep on hand)
and almost all your freshly ground nutmeg. Keep about 1 tsp. back for sprinkling at last!
Press the above, stiff dough mixture into your pan.

Wash out your mixing bowl (if you only have one) put on some Latin music, and whip the egg white until it does the Merengue - Here's how :

But I digress... just a stiff white Merengue is necessary... Scoop it out of the bowl and smear it across the top of your dough in the pan. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar and at least another teaspoon of nutmeg.

Put this in the oven for 55 minutes .... Slice into squares while hot, try to let them cool just a bit before devouring!

And, a note for Marcus and Stella: Just make these with really good cinnamon instead of the nutmeg. Then she'll love them!

Stuffed Salmon for Fathers

2009-06-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Day for Fathers everywhere! What did you do to remind your dad and the men who nurture you that they are cherished and loved? We had Jon's dad, Stan and his wife, Bev over for Herb Stuffed Salmon wrapped in Lettuce (adapted from Nourishing Traditions - Sally Fallon), salad of Haricot Verts, and Fresh Peach Sorbet made with our VitaMix......

I think both Stan and Jonathan were happy with the result! (as were we :-)

Start by making the Stuffing in the food processor:

1c. toasted almonds, 1 cup cooked brown rice, 1 cup packed fresh parsley sprigs: process just until blended, then add
a tablespoon or more each: fresh tarragon, thyme, freshly grated lemon rind, and the juice from that lemon, , a 1/2 stick or so of softened butter and about a teaspoon or less of good celtic sea salt. Process another 30 seconds or so to blend.

In the meantime, start a pot of water to boil, and gather a whole head or so of Romaine lettuce. Separate the leaves, but do not tear any further. Briefly blanch the leaves in the water, (10-15 seconds each) then set on a kitchen towel to dry a bit. You are just trying to get them pliable, not necessarily cooked!

Oil a baking pan, and line it with overlapping lettuce leaves
place 1 large salmon fillet (skinned and boned) in the center of the lettuce,
spread the stuffing over the top of this fillet, then
place a similar sized salmon fillet on top and
carefully wrap the lettuce leaves over the stuffed salmons! I blanched a couple of extra leaves and used them to "fill in" the gaps.

Bake about 45 - 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Slice crosswise into 2" slices - yum!

We served it with a very nice 1996 Forest Glen Merlot - a gift from a friend for our anniversary.

And if you have a VitaMix, here's the method for exquisite Peach Sorbet!

4 cups ices cubes
1 cup sugar
tbs. vanilla
3 large or 6 small peaches - peeled and chunked

Whir it all until just blended - about 30 seconds on high high high. Pour immediately into bowls and consume like fiends. Or place in a container and freeze for later - if you dare!

Thank Goodness, he's up to it!!

2009-06-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

Nothing ever really changes: a bunch of rich white guys make a big mess and complain when a black man isn’t cleaning it up fast enough.

Here's to Song!!

2009-06-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

A new Chorus America survey shows that there are 10 million MORE adults participating in choral singing in 2009 than in 2003. This is amazing! Here's a great clip from CBS Sunday Morning.....

The Whole world is yearning for Change -

2009-06-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

This out of Iran this week, in the wake of the recent election difficulties. I know that they want to HOPE and CHANGE and CARE for their PEOPLE , just like we do. This is wonderful - pray/meditate on what is happening - in Iran, in the US, in Europe, all over - people are ready, and willing, to change this world for the BETTER!

What Keeps me Going

2009-06-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

first - the amazing array of potions and lotions that regulate my body so that I can comfortably inhabit it!

These are just the "everyday" items that need application/ingestion for optimal firing of my chi (*life force energy*, Mom!) Yes, there are 2 chewable children's vitamins in there - they help keep me youthful! ... and avoid all the B vitamin issues I get with larger doses :-)

Another necessity? Tasty, fresh greens! Here is a recent evening's selection from our garden :

Let's see.... chives, dill, romaine, beet-tops, baby bok choy, baby kale - instead of cleaning out the refrigerator, I was thinning out the garden patch!The large-leafed thing towards the upper left, is lovage - somewhat unusual herb (it gets to be 5 -6 feet tall!), but one that I have grown and loved for many years - adds a fresh, celery-like flavor to things :-)
See what nice salads we can make?

Here's another variation - this one had black beans and feta cheese sprinkled with a lime vinagrette - a few chunks of home made bread and olive oil rounded out dinner that night!

Of course, our dogs are our most ardent supporters, and companions. Here's Pippin, asserting his Frenchie-Cutieness to get Jon's attention......

And here's the chuckle for the day - Pippin doesn't scratch at the door like most dogs. He prefers to let you know he's out there! Watch!!

Food, Inc.

2009-06-15T17:53:00.001-07:00

The movie to see this summer!!!

http://foodincmovie.com

Happiest Anniversary of our Wedding

2009-06-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary. I believe that Jon and I have experienced each other over many "lifetimes", and it was a blessing and a sacrament to reaffirm our connection on June 14, 2003. Jon's presence in my life, and the relationship we have created together, is an expression of the deep love that pervades the universe- that "heals" each of us. This love has truly given me strength, fresh eyes, a kinder heart, and new challenges. I thank you, Jon, for being such a blessing to me.

When Jonathan, and I "found" each other again, 20 years after having been youthful lovers, we both experienced spontaneous ecstatic union. The sensations of dissolved boundaries, spiritual union, and heightened sensory response carried over to our daily life and flowed through our first several years of marriage. We were beautiful, courageous, and could accomplish anything we set our minds to - we were love and magic personified, vessels pouring out love for the world!

And 6 years later, we still are love personified.....thanks to our children, our families, and the world that annointed us in love.

What is a Traditional Christian Marriage?

2009-06-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

According to America's BEST CHRISTIAN, Betty Bowers, it's NOT between a Man and a Man... here's why:

Ottawa, oh, Ottawa!!

2009-06-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

was absolutely lovely! We got cheap air tickets, business was taken care of, dogs were happily sat, the weather was cooperative, and we decided to visit..... After all, June is our Wedding Anniversary month, so we like to do something a bit romantic :-)

On Rue Wellington, are all the government buildings - Parliment, The Supreme Court, and so forth - and they all look so beautifully castle-ish! we walked around gawking, salivating, and planning our someday-castle!!!

Here is the Rideau Canal - these entrance locks mark the beginning of a 202 kilometer route linking the Ottawa River and Lake Ontario. The series of lakes and rivers made navigable by the locks, channels, and dams was finished in 1832. I had never seen maritime locks in person before - and it was amazing to contemplate the engineering that underlies a canal!

Here's an interesting reflection, just as we were at an intersection - note the wildly painted city bus going by!!

Of course, we had to drive through Ottawa's China Town... and we loved seeing triple languages: French, English, Chinese, on the street signs!

A few years ago, we had an anniversary dinner at a wonderful Indian Restaurant in Hong Kong, so dinner at The East India Company was not to be missed. If you go, you can choose from a lunch buffet menu, or full course dinners. We sat for the dinner, since it was a celebratory evening!

We started with some spicy papadams, accompannied by dips: chutney, tomato , or mint.

Here are the Chilli Prawns - spicey and tasty!

Main dishes were Navratan - a vegetarian's delight! -mixed vegies in a creamy softly scented gravy, and Nilgirli Korma - a subtle melange of lamb and creamed spinach, served with fragrant basmati rice.

A cup of chai ended our meal - not sweet at all, just frothy and spicy!

Socks-n-Salads-n-Summits

2009-06-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ta-Da!!! I finally finished Jon's Very Special Socks... Ravelry Pattern by Jen Showater of Mean Girl Design. Jonathan has very specific sock likes and dislikes, which made it important to be picky about every tiny detail. Which meant that I frogged a few times (see picture of the unraveling!) First, he has rather longer first toes, so the socks must have pointy toes. He likes having a single stripe of contrast color at the base of the toes. He prefers to have the fabric snuggle up to his arches, rather than bagg about. And he does not wear brightly colored socks. So, he got 3 out of four requests... he he he !

This is yarn from the big China yarn adventure of a few months ago. Translations of the label indicate that it's a superwash 80/20 blend of wool and some sort of acrylic fiber. It's actually a twist of cherry red and a pink - it "reads red" but there's a bit of subtlety in there :-)

Most importantly, Zuzu approves!

Just this weekend, we got to go to Stan and Bev's for a summer dinner on the deck!
Stan's famous grilled chicken Greek Salad and Cheesy Phyllo Cups were followed by Jon's Rhubarb pie and home-made-on-the-spot ice cream. Yum!

And, lastly, I didn't get to register for any classes at the Sock Summit because I foolishly waited until the day after registration opened to do so. Who knew that they would get 30,000 simultaneous hits to the website when they "opened" the gates for registration on the first day?! There were only about 1,000 slots available!!! Whee :-) So, I did get three tickets to the Luminary Panel on that Sunday afternoon. Stella and Louise and I will get to see Barbara Walker. Yep! the Barbara Walker that wrote "The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" AND has a collection of hundreds of BarbieDoll clothes she has knit herself, AND collected, invented, and published the 4 volume set "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns".
AND there will be others! Just look at this line-up!

• Cookie A
• Star Athena
• Deb Barnhill
• Judy Becker
• Lorilee Beltman
• Anne Berk
• Cat Bordhi
• JC Briar
• Nancy Bush
• Laurel Coombs
• Angela Davis

• Carson Demers
• Amy Detjen
• Laurie Drew
• Abby Franquemont
• Chrissy Gardiner
• Priscilla Gibson-Roberts
• Marjan Hammink
• Anne Hanson
• Sivia Harding
• Stephen Houghton
• Janel Laidman

• Judith MacKenzie McCuin
• Betsy McCarthy
• Denny McMillan
• Melissa Morgan-Oakes
• Lucy Neatby
• Tina Newton
• Heather Ordover
• Clara Parkes
• Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
• Karen Ratto-Whooley
• Deb Robson

• Merike Saarniit
• Joan Schrouder
• Charlene Schurch
• Amy R Singer
• Meg Swansen
• Barbara Walker
• Anna Zilboorg

Sushi: "Montana Rolls"

2009-05-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

While dilly-dallying along an aisle at the Good Food Store, I saw the Nori Sheets, and said to Jon, have you ever made sushi?" and he replied that he had, long ago. Into the basket went the Nori! We wheeled over to the meat counter and bought 1 crab leg, flew over to produce to pick up a cucumber and a couple of avocados, and found a bamboo rolling sheet in the gadget section.

At home, we set about cooking rice, slicing vegies, and taste-testing the crab. Then came the "rolling"....... the first try was a bit lumpy because we stuffed lots of filling in! We also realized that we were not going to be able to do the "inside out" wrap like California Rolls, with the rice on the outside. Second roll was still a bit funny-looking, so we went to the internet and googled "sushi +rolling", and discovered a more efficient "loading" technique, as well as an understanding that the "rolling mat" is really used for "shaping" more than actual "rolling". Our third roll was beautiful!

We sliced the rolls, and arranged them nicely on the plate.

Then, we whipped the wasabi paste and the soy sauce together.

Voila!

Thank you to dear Jonathan, for agreeing to let me document his guest appearance as Sushi-chef today :-)

Weekend Family Got-Together

2009-05-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Weekend: Jon and I packed the pups and the Boler for the first "camping" trip of the season: for the Jones FamilyGotTogetherAgain days. Yes, sometimes by the end of the weekend, we have been smooshed all together just like that! :-)

We brought doglets, Zuzu and Pippin, (my brother)Todd and Nancy brought Zip and new addition to the dog-cousins, Australian Shepherd-Border Collie cross, Sis. Chip and Sharon brought both their Chocolate Lab, Quigley and their little fluffy white girl, Lily. There were only 3 human cousins this year, Kellie and Izaya and Eli.

O.k., maybe it doesn't really count if you go "camping" on your Mom's front lawn... but she DOES live right on the shore of Canyon Ferry Lake near Helena Montana, I got more knitting done on Jon's arch-shaped socks - one down, and the second one half way done. It's a bit hard to see, but the pattern I'm using creates a bias-shaped fabric that pulls the bottom of the sock snug against his arches:

and we did have a campfire both nights,

and we went out on the water, (brother Chip's boat)

and Jon caught his first fish of the summer

Actually, it was the first time he can remember putting a line in the water since age 12, when he went on a fishing trip with Ken Brett. This fish is for you, Ken!

It was great to see my nephews, brothers (can you tell?!) Izzaya and Eli

Here's another great picture of niece, Kellie, and her dad, (my brother) Chip:

Below, the sunset over the lake Saturday night was amazingly beautiful...probably because it fortold the drizzle all day on Sunday!

And here's the whole crew:

Sharon, Kellie, Nancy, Todd
Mike, Analie, Eli, Izzaya, Grama Bev, Robbin,
Chip and Jon.

In preparation for the prolonged pot-luck, I made a trifle using the leftover Heavenly Citrus Ginger Muffins. Then I made up a batch of Pickled Salmon, adapting a recipe that I got from Jon's sister, Louise over Easter. (She adapted it from Patricia Unterman's San Francisco Food Lover's Guide).

2 cups organic white distilled vinegar
1 1/2 cups filtered water
6 T sugar
2 T non-iodized salt
Bring above to a full boil in small pan, and then cool completely before proceeding!

Fresh fresh fresh wild salmon -skinned and filleted, about 2 pounds -cut into 2" chunks.
Layer with
2 thickly sliced onions
fresh dill fronds
and 2 -3 TBS of pickling spice blend that includes about 3 hot chiles.

We placed it all in a large glass container, covered it with the cooled vinegar mixture, and used a clean zip-lock bag filled with water as a "weight" to keep it all submerged for three days in the fridge. We prepared it Wednesday evening, ate it on Sunday afternoon and it was delicious!! Sister-in-Laws, Analie, Sharon, and Nancy all gobbled it up - as did Jon and I. My mom was totally impressed - thought it would taste like pickled herring from her childhood..... but liked this ever so much better!! (Thanks, Louise ;-) I think it's still pretty good today (Monday evening) but would not keep it too much longer than 4 days from start to finish.

A Musical Revue for America!

2009-05-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to friend, Dianne T. for finding this wonderful video to watch with your morning coffee.....

Close to Heaven Muffins

2009-05-20T09:12:00.001-07:00

A knitting friend of mine gave me this recipe a few months ago, saying, "These are the Best Muffins in the Universe. I can make them on three hours of sleep and hung over!" I have to agree. The technique is simple. The night before, put 1 cup of sugar, the peel of 3 limes (or 1 large orange, or 2 lemons!-take the peel off with a vegetable peeler)and about 2 inches of peeled, fresh ginger, cut into hunks in a bowl on the counter. Smoosh the peel and ginger into the sugar. Place a stick of butter on the counter next to the bowl and go to bed!

In the morning, go straight to the kitchen and turn on the oven to 350-375 degrees. Make coffee. Drink coffee while setting out silicone muffin cups (this makes about a dozen - if you use a muffin tin, grease the cups well!)

Now, buzz the sugar, peel, and ginger in the food processor until the peel is just little flecks and the sugar is fragrant with citrus! Add the butter. Buzz some more, then add 2 eggs, one at a time while continuing to buzz. Drink more coffee!

Add 1 cup plain yogurt and 1 tsp. baking soda - Buzz. Whee!! Fun!Then add 2 cups unbleached or whole wheat flour and buzz very briefly until just incorporated.

Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full and place in the oven for about 20 minutes.

While they are baking, squeeze the juice from your balded citrus (here, we have 3 bald limes) and put the juice, along with about 2 Tbs. sugar in a small flat bowl. When the muffins come out of the oven, and they are still rather warmish, dip their little heads and twirl in the the juicy-sugar mixture!

Now, sit down with a muffin and the newspaper (or your laptop and FaceBook!) and have a little taste of heaven :-)

The Mighty Mid-May Mustard Experiment

2009-05-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about making your own mustard? You know, the spread of champions; the stripe for your hot dog; the squirt of devil for your boiled eggs.....
It's much easier than pie, and here's how to do it~

Place equal amounts of mustard seeds and vinegar in a jar, along with a peeled, halved clove of garlic. I use 1/2 cup seeds to 1/2 cup vinegar. Cover the jar and let it sit for a day or two in the refrigerator. This allows the mustard seeds to plump and soften, as well as absorb some of the lovely garlic flavor. When you are ready to "prepare" your mustard, and you have about 5 minutes to spare, discard the garlic cloves and scrape the remaining seed-sludge into your blender. Add 1/4 -1/2 tsp. salt, 2-3 TBS water, and a good sized blob (maybe a tablespoon) of honey. Blend it to smithereens, or until it becomes pasty, which ever comes first. Last of all, store it in a lovely upcycled mustard crock - or a jar of your choice! in the fridge and use within a couple of months.

This time, I used balsamic vinegar and dark mustard seeds, so the resulting mustard spread is dark brown. You can also leave out the sweetener, and use yellow mustard seeds and apple cider vinegar for a more "traditional" Dijon-style mustard. Any way you make it, people seem to think home made mustard is exotic - even better, it tastes yummy!

Much has been accomplished this week - for the first time in months!! I am happy to report that my stamina and ability to remain in the game is coming back. "Recovery" from the great hormonal disasters of '08 and '09 has been a slow, incremental road, and finally progress can be seen :-)
This week, the garden is beginning to sprout - baby carrot tops are unfurling, beets are beginning to wave little green flags, and the bok is choi-ing. We have had various fruits in the yard, but this year added more, so in our little "Urbane Farm" here in the Rattlesnake Valley, we have 2 apple trees, a cherry tree, apricot tree, plum tree, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, choke-cherries, elderberries, and rhubarb (of course! scads of rhubarb!!).

The other trees and bushes have been growing for years, but here are the two new, "Columnar" Apple Trees- see those two rather non-descript sticks planted amid the flowers? There they are! One's a Golden and the other a variation on Red Delicious. They are dwarf varieties, and should only get about 6-8 feet tall. The apples grow about the trunk and the "branches" remain pretty smallish and bud-like. Likely they will only flower this year, but next, we'll have apples for crisp :-)

And Here's Dinner!

2009-05-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

How do you clean out the fridge? Here's how I do!

First, throw out anything that's too limp/moldy or smells like decomposing matter....

This is what I was left with today: some Italian grain "sausage", leftover pureed tomatoes,a few "shrunken" cherry tomatoes, a handful of baby 'bella mushrooms, half a bunch of celery, some garlic, and an onion. I added a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas from the pantry.

Swirl about a Tbs. of grapeseed oil in the pot, and saute the celery, onion, garlic, and mushrooms...Stir in the beans, tomatoes, and puree, then spice it up! Since the grain-sausage was "italian-style", I used generous amounts of basil and oregano, and added a bay leaf. The tomato puree was juicy enough, but I would have added a cup or two of broth or water if necessary.

Add a loaf of "Five Minutes a Day" bread (today's loaf had fermented in the fridge for about 5 days! and it was yummy-sour!)and here's dinner....
Viola! Handsome and happy husband, too :-)

Aside/ I keep my spices in an up-cycled cookie tin, and stand it on end on my kitchen shelves next to recipes and cooking oils! This one holds over 50 different small bags of spices, and I have a smaller version of this tin for the Boler.

Mother's Day Lalapalooza

2009-05-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Mother's Day, so Jon made a Rhubarb-Cardamom pie & I packed up Zuzu & Pippin and off we went!

First stop: Jon's mom, Cindy's house in the woods near Flathead Lake. Since we had gotten a late start, Cindy graciously cooked her own Mother's Day brunch (Dutch Baby Pancake, strawberries with sweet cream, fresh pineapple and maple sausage patties - yum!) so we could hang out and Jon could help her a bit with the computer.....

Pippin is happiest playing ball with Denny. This is after he chased the cat, broke the lamp, drank the "Liquid Fence" solution (deer aversion spray), and spent another 20 minutes under the porch brawling with the other cat! He's fine, by the way - "liquid fence" is made with "putrefied eggs" so he was just more pungent than usual-?! Zuzu, on the other hand, was a perfect grand-dog, and distributed unlimited kisses in honor of the day.

We shared some pie, packed up again and off to Robbin's mom Bev's home on Canyon Ferry Lake! The drive through the Seeley Swan was lovely, so we didn't much mind the 4 hours to Bev's house :-)

We slid past Helena about 8 p.m., so Bev & friend, Maxine, met us at Yacht Basin Restaurant to have a nice Mother's Day dinner looking out over the lake. Darkness had descended by the time we got to her house, after dinner, so you'll just have to imagine the lovely fountain ala birdbath we delivered, to her delight!
After another round of Rhubarb pie, we started home again about 11:30, arriving safely at about 1:30 a.m. All told, we traveled over 450 miles yesterday just to visit the moms! We slept a little later than usual this morning!

Today was spent shipping music folders, setting out more strawberries and a couple of little brussels sprouts for Stella. Jon hooked up the new printer, and played a little bit with his new microphones - you understand of course, that his anniversary gift of the fancy mixing board required 2 more microphones than we already owned.... so..... :-)

Just Say NO! to GMOs

2009-05-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

TAKE BACK YOUR FOOD!!! Eat LOCAL (pictured: Missoula Farmer's Market - Opening Day May 2nd, 2009) Isn't it lovely? and Healthy!!

Genetically Modified Foods. Top five GM Foods:

Soy, Canola, Corn, Cottonseed, and Sugar from Sugar Beets

This is why eating organic is so important. "Organic" = "the way food was grown/cultivated for thousands of years". Genetically Modified Foods are sterile crops. And they "infect" other crops (through wind-blown seeds) - cross-contaminated crops can become sterile as well.

Who benefits from sterile seed? One multi-national company owns all GM seed companies, as well as several chemical companies that produce herbicides to kill the superweeds the GM seed have encouraged. Yes you read that correctly - one company - Monsanto - owns ALL GM seed - this is the company that brought you Agent Orange, RoundUp, Aspartame, and Posilac!

Monsanto would love to sell you seed every year rather than allow you the ability to save seed for next year's crops! And the farmer who is trying to grow healthy food can be sued by Monsanto when those GM seeds blow over to your garden plot or acerage and take root. GM seed companies have encouraged convoluted legal decisions (yes, they have a huge lobby in Washington!) that state that if you "allow" those wind-blown, un invited GM-seeds to grow, you have legally "stolen" from the companies who developed them. In Canada, farmers can no longer grow organic canola or soybeans, because all the seed has been contaminated with GM stock.

Does GM seed create larger or more vigorous crops? No again! In fact, the use of GM seed has actually created more "superweeds", yields have decreased, and farmers must use even more weed-control chemicals. Genetically Modified seed is intended to be non-renewable - but food is one area where renewable and sustainability is so imperative that the England and European Union has banned them. We need to wake up and take control of our food in the US - and ban them as well.

Click Here http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/Home/index.cfm
and sign the petition to President Obama asking to label our food. This is a good first step! It's important that we know if we are buying real or GM foods -we can't avoid them if we don't know they are there... in the meantime, eat organic as much as possible, grow your own, and remember that animals grown for meat are likely fed the cheaper GM food, so eat organic meats as well!

Just a tempting tasty :-)

2009-04-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

Something to try out for your spring pot-luck! I'll be bringing these to the Missoula Community Chorus dinner next week.....

Chocolate Chip, Cherry & Bacon Cookies

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup finely chopped smoked bacon, cooked and well drained (I use pre-cooked bacon from Costco...)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line sheet pans with parchment paper. Sift flour and baking soda into a small bowl; set aside. In your electric mixer, combine the sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, stirring to combine. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly.

Stir in the flour. Add the chocolate chips, cherries and bacon. Place heaping tablespoons of the cookie dough on the parchment-lined pans. Leave about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant. Remove from oven and (after burning your mouth taste testing) allow to cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

Makes about 36 cookies.

Spring Cleaning for your Body!

2009-04-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

While in Portland last week, Louise, Stella, and I all went to the Korean Jade Sauna in Beaverton - a women's traditional cleansing experience. It is advertised as "no frills" and there is quite a bit of no-frilling about it (see picture - it's a re-cycled 70's rancher!). Still, an exhilarating and refreshing time was had by all three of us - and we agreed to do this as a "Spring Cleanse" every year!
First you take a shower, then, still wet, go lie down in the Salt Room:

The Salt Room is layered about 3-4 inches deep with Sea Salt and a cloth on top - pillows about the room are also filled with salt. And, it's warmed up to about 100 degrees. You lie down for about 45 minutes, and relax while the salt draws out your toxins. The bags at the top of the photo on the shelf are bags of mugwort - they are also strewn all about the spa - and make things nicely fragrant. Here's a bit of Wikipedia on the properties of MugWort!
After the cherry trees bloom in Korea, hordes of bonneted grandmothers collect wild mugwort. It is a common seasoning in Korean soups and pancakes. Known as a blood cleanser, it is believed to have different medicinal properties depending on the region it is collected. In some regions, mugwort thins the blood, while in another region, it is proposed to have hallucigenic properties, leading to some bonneted grandmothers passing out from direct skin contact (dermal absorption) with the active chemicals. For this reason, Koreans also wear a silk sleeve when picking mugwort plants.

In the Middle Ages Mugwort was used as part of a herbal mixture called gruit, used in the flavoring of beer before the widespread introduction of hops. Once again, it is possible that drinkers of the beer were not only intoxicated from the beer, but also from the hallucinogenic properties of the plant.

Well, it was certainly relaxing at the least!
After you are nicely toasted from the salt room, you proceed to the steam sauna room for another 10-15 minutes before climbing on the Exfoliation table!

One of the Spa attendants - in a swimsuit- comes to help you, and using exfoliating mitts, they scrub you down . . . . all over. I mean all.over.everywhere. The scrubbing is interspersed with buckets of warm or cold water being thrown over you to rinse you down. If you have jiggly bits, they just hold them down firmly with one hand while scrubbing away with the other hand. From your toes to your head on the backside, the left side, the right side and the front side. This goes on for about 30 minutes or more - and about 10 minutes into it, you realize that those flying pieces of gradeau is really your skin coming off!!!( maybe the Mugwort helps delay the realization)

After you have shed your skin, another shower/soap/shampoo/conditioner and then a brief visit to the dry sauna is dictated.Then, at long last - to the JADE SAUNA room - the floors are large pieces of jade stone; 1 ton of natural jade rocks from a mine in CheonChun Province . Here's their recommendation about this experience:
"After a few minutes, you should start to feel warm and relaxed. After sitting in this room, we recommend not showering again. You will have perspired but your skin will not be sticky. Just dry off with a tower." We couldn't find a tower, so we just used a towel....

2 1/2 hours after beginning the process, we were not only not sticky - we smelled enticingly of mugwort, our skin glistened, our butts were softer than they'd been since babyhood, my knees were so clean and "new" they shone.
If you see something glowing over Western Montana for the next few nights - that's me!!

Next time, I might pony up the extra $25 for the "tea chair" -a port-a-potty seat over a steaming crockpot full of more mugwort to gently steam-douche those delicate parts. But only if I can convince them to set it up somewhere other than in the (rather public) hallway. The only thing missing was being served champagne and fruit! I give this Jade Sauna Experience ***** stars :)

Spring in Portland

2009-04-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

is lovely!All the gardens are beginning to bloom, the magnolia trees and clematis vines are fragrantly spilling their scents and petals all about the sidewalks, the rain periodically becomes hail and then a giant rainbow covers the sky and sparkles in the mist.....every time we visit, I am more enamored of this City-of-Roses.
We have been spending our Spring Holiday - an extended Easter week!- at Louise and Ned's in Portland, and visiting with Stella and Marcus every spare second!!
We had a wonderful Easter morning attending the Episcopal Cathedral service - with a choir of 40 singing Byrd, a mitered-Bishop presiding with 3 assisting Right Reverends (at least 2 were women!), a dozen alter boys, Deacons, incense and crosiers, trumpets, horns, and drums! I am a sucker for good music presented in high style!!
And I was so happy to sing and fill my ritual-starved soul in a lovely building with stained glass rose windows and candles and gilt-painted icons crowding out the flowers :-) There were many Easter Bonnets in the crowd! Here's Louise's - she and Jon are standing beneath the magnolia trees in the cathedral courtyard.

Afterward, we went home to a Buffalo Roast that Ned had brought back from his grand Colorado Ranch adventure -Louise wanted to try out a new roasting method that works with "any size/any kind" of roast and it did!! Heat the oven to 375, rub oil and assorted spices onto roast, place in oven for an hour. After an hour, turn off heat, leaving roast in the oven with door closed for 2 hours - then turn oven to 300 for another 45 minutes and you have the perfect Medium-Rare roast! I'm so glad it works, because now I can cook the perfect beast for my lovely husband when he's in a carnivorous mood.

She had also pickled Salmon with onions - I am currently attempting to pry this secret recipe out of her because dear vegetarian daughter Stella converted to Pescatarianism for the day just to eat several pieces of the most delicate and exquisite salmon ever created!

We have visited a castle-for-sale (unfortunately, we can't afford it just yet), and attended Stella's New Music Trio working with a master class, and last night went to the opera, Falstaff, by Verdi, performed by the amazingly good PSU Opera Department students, starring (Metropolitan Opera Baritone) Richard Zeller in the title role. Stella's orchestra was wonderful as itself, and I believe we have heard a couple of talented up-coming vocal stars.

This afternoon, I will be a "presentation case" for Louise's Naturopathic Student Clinic rounds and Jon is attending nephew Nash's choir festival to hear Portland area high school musicians. We are truly living what we love doing with people we cherish this week!
May the promise of Spring breathe new life into all that you endeavor this year as well. Blessed Be!

PeeP Show......

2009-04-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

Peep Mobile

Tower of Peeps

JiffyPeePs

Where's Waldo?

Peeps on the Bus go 'round and 'round;

It's a Peeps roast!

Peep Salad

Slice two cups of fresh strawberries. combine with pieces of 2 fresh oranges and 1 grapefruit . Squeeze the juice of 2 oranges over the fruit. Add chunk (or chopped) pineapple and or fresh blueberries if desired. I also add just a few fresh cherries, sliced from the pits. Over this mixture pour a little Cointreau (orange liqueur - obviously this is optional but adds a LOT to the taste). Mix in 1 cup flaked coconut - gently fold. Chill. Just before serving sprinkle one cup of broken pecans and fold gently. Spoon into individual dishes. Make sure you spoon some of the juice over the fruit. Add two Peeps to each salad, nestled amongst the fruit.

Here's a lovely portrayal of The Peep Supper

I'm going to try this one of these Easters......

9-12 project vs. 10-31 project

2009-04-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Which one will succeed? I am voting for the 10-31 Project - my birthday-sake :)

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The 10.31 Project

comedycentral.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

NASA Name Contest

It's April 1st but....

2009-04-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

somehow this doesn't seem like a prank....

Remember....God wants spiritual fruits not religious nuts.

Here's some Verdi nice excerpts!

2009-03-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

from the recent Missoula Symphony & Chorale concert of Verdi's REQUIEM. This is the "Rex Tremendae" movement....

Now you see why I like to sing with this group?! Ahhhhhhh. This was a specific kind of bliss.
*special thanks to Darko for uploading this to YouTube for us :-)

at Last........

2009-03-25T16:40:00.001-07:00

This is one day's worth of U.S. P.S. boxes last week - 23! And I didn't get a picture of the U.P.S. boxes that we sent that day -- so when you wonder "what I do all day"..... here's a clue! :-)

So much to catch up on! But first, a word about our President, Barack Obama!

Caution: Rant ahead

Seriously, look at what "people" give him grief for: Taking off his suit coat in the Oval Office. Teasing people in DC for being afraid of the snow. A slip of the tongue about Special Olympics. Minor, minor stuff.
Do these detractors "forget" the example of George Bush before him? Bush hadn’t held a real press conference in years. The questions and questioners were all pre-selected! Interviewers on Faux News were given talking points from the administration so Bush could generate an answer!!Obama's press conference last night proves he can think - and think on his feet!- and he's not afraid of what people might ask him!

We tried it the other way; in the past 15 years, we gave tax breaks to the wealthy and seriously deregulated banking and investment. Where did that lead us?All the right's best thinking got us here. Obama doesn’t look too scarey when you’ve already lost a third to a half of your retirement savings, or lost your job, or your region lost its biggest industry. They can rant about earmarks and taxcuts but it’s tough to alarm people who are already walking around shell shocked. Heck they’ve hauled Cheney out to scare everybody about terrorists and it’s not working.

Obama's been in office 65 days!! Sheeesh! /end: Rant

Oh looky!!! Here are my "left-over socks"! Using the remaining half-skeins from my recent Grape-Harvest Mittens (futher below) along with a ball of "found" multi-color sock wool, I'm in the midst of a rather "Spring-y" looking pair of socks :-)

Below are pictures of the Grape Harvest Mittens I made to auction off at our recent fundraiser:

The wool is KnitPicks' Palette; colorways Chardonnay and Bordeaux (I kid you not! since that was their names, I knew I had to combine them for something to donate to our Wine Tasting !!). I rather like how they turned out - and the colors are much prettier in "real life" - both yarns are kettle-dyed, so there is a lovely subtle variation of depth to the strands, and I have decided that knitting a hem and turning it under with a picot edge is just sweet.

So about that very big party we threw to raise money for Missoula's Community Chorus..... We were a bit busy the first week end in March! Here's Jon trying out a chocolate covered strawberry before going home to change for the big night -

Vintage on Broadway 2009!!

Women's Quartet: Blakely, Kathy, Me, Sally -"Mr. Sandman" & "My Funny Valentine", above.

Me, Sally, Jon, and Hank go back to our youth with "Java Jive", "Come go With Me" & "(Sha na na na) Kiss Him Goodbye" - Best lead vocalist award went to ... Jon Rose!!! Wheeeeeee :-D

The following week, Jon & I sang Verdi's Requiem with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and Chorale... both Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. It will be broadcast on KUFM Saturday March 28th immediately following the Opera broadcast - about 2 p.m.( MOM and CINDY- that's 91.7 in Helena and Whitefish, 89.9 Kalispell if you want to listen!!)

It was absolutely one of the most exhilarating musical experiences I've ever had in a choral setting! "Musical Tantra" was how I described it at the time - it's an amazingly physical piece that soars to spiritual bliss and back to mortality more than once throughout... it is, after all, a "requiem" but a very operatic one at that. I don't think I will ever get tired of this piece -the Libera me has remained alive in me - wake in the middle of the night to turn over-there it is in all it's glory running through my head - as well as the Agnus Dei - I hope you have a chance to have a listen.

In the midst of all this, we had St. Patrick's Day dinner: Corned Beef and boiled vegetables.

Since this is the dish that still tempts my lovely vegie-daughter, I'll let you in on the secret to GREAT CCORNED BEEF:

2 small or 1 large Corned Beef "flat"3.5-4 lbs. -check to not get too much fat, there should be about 1/4" fat on top, and a bit of marbling - the leaner, the better!
Take these out of their wrapping, rinse under cold water and wipe dry, discard the (probably stale) "spice package", and sprinkle the thing thoroughly with meat tenderizer ("papain"). Poke a few fork-holes in so that the tenderizer penetrates. Turn over, and repeat this process. Set aside while you place the following in a blender:
1 can condensed beef consumme
4 halves or 2 whole Home-fermented (Claussen brand can be substituted - they are fermented not just vinegared- in the refridgerated section at the grocers) pickles
1/2 c. pickle "juice" +1 c. water
2 stalks celery, chopped w/leaves
2 med. onions, chopped 4 garlic cloves
2 Tbs. Hot Chinese Mustard 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 2 bay leaves

Whir until it's very disgusting & sludge-like with no discernable lumps.
Place the (now tenderized) beef in a 6 qt. pressure cooker, on a rack (if you have no rack, make a little lattice of celery and carrot sticks to raise the beef up about 1" from the bottom of the pot!). Pour the aromatic sludge over top! Mmmmmmm :) Cover, lock and bring to pressure (15# if you have a choice). Cook for 1 hour 8 minutes at pressure. Cool immediately when time's up.

Pre-heat your oven (mine is usually already warm because I like to make a loaf of Soda Bread while the Corned Beef is cooking) to 325, take beef out of pot (don't rinse, just shake it off a bit) place it, fat side up, on a rack over a baking pan, and bake for about 15 minutes so the fat melts and develops a nice crust! While the beef bakes, boil some vegies!

On stove top, place more Beef Broth, water, and about 1 c. of sludge in a large pot to boil.
Add chunked potatoes, carrots, and wedged cabbage slices to the pot and boil about 10 minutes, until fork tender. Drain just before serving.

Let the beef set up for about 5 minutes on the cutting board before carving.
There you have it! Pretty much the best ever Corned Beef!
Thanks to Esther Heller who gave me this recipe over 20 years ago. She was an amazing cook and I think of her every year when we have this dinner.

Viral Knitting Video

2009-02-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen :) After watching, go buy their books - they are pretty funny as well! I found this through a Ravelry friend in Ontario Canada - see, internet friends are wayyyyyyy cooool :)

Comfort Dinner and a Surprise Muffin

2009-02-22T11:28:00.001-08:00

Just for those of you who salivate easily, here's some of recent kitchen happiness!

Snickerdoodle Muffins - I think these would round out a breakfast with that Candied Bacon from a couple of weeks ago :)
As Jon said (halfway through his 4th muffin this morning) "I think this is a keeper!"

Another recent just-plain-good-food dinner was Robbin's Oven Stew with Embellished Cornbread.

Snickerdoodle Muffins preheat the oven to 350.
Cream 2 sticks butter with 1 c. sugar; add 2 eggs, one at a time and blend well.

In a separate bowl, stir together 2 c. whole wheat flour (you have to get a little nutrition in something like this!), along with 3/4 tsp. each of the following: baking powder, baking soda, and cream of tarter. You can do without the cream of tarter - but it will give a lift to the rise, and a little tanginess-boost to the flavor. I also liked the addition of about 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg - but I know Stella will leave that out as well :)

Add 1/2 the flour mixture to the butter/sugar in the mixing bowl and blend well, then add
1 -1/2c. sour cream (we prefer cultured sour cream - you can also substitute plain yoghert) and mix, and then add the remaining flour-stuff, and mix until it's blended well.

In a cereal bowl, blend about 3/4 cup sugar and alot of cinnamon (maybe 2-3 tbs? we like cinnamon and it's really good for your aterial health!).

Using your (clean) hands and a big spoon, drop globs of your dough into the sugar/cinnamon and roll about - then place the nicely dusted blob into your muffin cups. I have a set of silicon muffin cups - they require no greasing and clean up easily. If you use a muffin tin, you will want to grease the tin before tucking the blobbed dough in to it!

Bake for about 22-25 minutes, and let cool as long as you can (less than 5 minutes at our house), then gobble!!!

And here's the World's Best Oven Stew Method: preheat oven to 325
I've been making some variation of this for over 30 years and any combination is great! It can be dumped into a crockpot and left on low all day, but I find that oven-baking is best - thick and wonderful !

In a 4-5 qt Dutch Oven (we have a few cast iron-enameled ones, but you can do this in an oven-proof ceramic casserole dish with a cover as well) mix the following, and then cover and place in the oven for 3-4 hours and enjoy it's perfume all day long:
Always use this list:
1 - 2 pounds stew meat (we get organically grown Highland Beef here in Montana - and our vegie friends can substitute about a pound of cubed tempeh and larger amounts of mushrooms for a similar texture-flavor combination )
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4-5 juicy carrots, washed and sliced
5-6 stalks of celery, sliced (I think celery makes the stew :))
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes and juice
1 can "cream of"-soup (we get Healthy Valley Organic non-condensed soup for this)
3 tbs Minute Tapioca
1 -1/2 c. additional liquid - dark beer or red wine add depth, water or broth works in a pinch!

Useful Add-in suggestions:
quartered mushrooms - more is better :) or a can of sliced mushrooms (go ahead and dump in the juice too)
cubed potatoes: white, purple or sweet
about 2 tsp. sugar
a swirl about or two of balsamic vinegar
crushed fresh rosemary or oregano
halved brussels sprouts or roughly sliced green cabbage

Lastly, here's how to Embellish Cornbread : 350 oven for 45 min, 325 oven for 55-60 min.
Start with a 8.5 oz box of cornbread mix (or 2 c. if you are scooping the mix out of a larger bag/box). Add 2 beaten eggs, about 1/2 finely diced onion, 1 c. shredded cheddar or jack cheese, 3/4 c. sour cream or yoghert, a big swirl of olive oil (maybe 1/6 c.?) and 1 can, drained, sweet corn kernels (I have also used frozen kernels with good results). Optional add-ins: small amount finely diced jalapeno pepper or small can of drained chopped green chiles.

This makes an 8 x 8 pan of cornbread - be sure to grease or oil your pan before pouring in the batter :) And, if you are observant, you see that you can put this in the oven with the stew during the last hour!