sounds of spring

In addition to the tweeting of the birds, the peeping of the spring peepers a new voice has joined the chorus to let us know that spring has arrived.

Spooky, my little donkey friend who lives down the hill, has obviously been turned out into his field because we can hear him braying. He's very sweet, white with grey spots. He's named Spooky because he was born on Halloween eve. He has a little harem of six brown lady donkeys but I don't know their names.

The first of the iris has also started to bloom. That vivid purple color is so lovely and really lets me know that the growing season is here in full force.

fluff

As I've mentioned D has recently become a Vegetarian. This means no more marshmallows. Well, that's not exactly true, there are Vegan Marshmallows by Vegan Essentials but they are $3.99 for 10 ounces. Not enough to satisfy one hungry teen on a s'mores feast mission.

I did discover by careful examination of containers that Marshmallow Fluff is made without gelatin. Vital to my daughter's vegetarian happiness. Luckily they have lots of desserty recipes including Rice Krispy Treats, that childhood staple, and Whoopie Pies (which I have never made but now that I have a recipe maybe I will).

magic loaf

One of my favorite blog reads is Jennifer's Vegan Lunchbox. We've ordered the boxes, waiting for them to arrive, and I've been scoping it out for ideas. Since D has become a Vegetarian it's also useful to garner a few recipes here and there.

The entry I just read was excellent!!! It included a link to her Magical Loaf Studio with a great way to combine stuff to make a veggie loaf. Of course I still need the Magical Holly Lentil Loaf (are you reading??) but this will do in the meantime. I'll have to try it and see how my family likes it. I think it looks pretty good.

And here is my first loaf recipe created by the MLStudio:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pine nuts
2 TB olive oil
One onion, diced
One large garlic clove, minced
One large carrot, peeled and grated
Two celery ribs, diced
2 cups cooked kidney beans
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth, as needed
1/2 cup cooked oatmeal
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried basil
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
2 TB ketchup
Several dashes vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp. celery salt


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Oil a loaf pan or spray with nonstick spray and set aside.

Grind the pine nuts into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté any vegetables you've chosen in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny. Add more liquid or binder/carbohydrate as needed.

Press mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

skip to the loo

I found this website and think it's hilarious. It's a list of where to find clean potties when you are traveling. www.thebathroomdiaries.com. It also has horror stories of those who did not find appropriate facilities.

Because of how they list them and the lack of pictures it's hard to tell if the list from Basel, Switzerland includes this one.

sssoa

It stands for Stitch Sisters Seal of Approval. Yes folks, tonight was Stitch Sisters. I am, as I have mentioned before, so very grateful for this wonderful group of women. The friendship, laughter, encouragement, and more is just an amazing blessing in my life.

Tonight my brain was total mush. I was working on a square and wound up knitting the same row three times! More tired than I thought I was I guess.

But we had neat show and tells tonight. One member has finished her sweater and is seaming it together. It's beautiful and we all want it. Unfortunately I don't think she's sharing :-( Another is working on the first of many teeny-weeny doilies to make a tablecloth. Several beautiful scarves, an adorable baby hat (not for our Hats for the Homeless project), some wonderful beading projects and a couple of amazing embroidery/stitched cards and things. The creativity really astounds me and inspires me at the same time.

We also instituted the Stitch Sisters Seal of Approval. One of our members is going to her prom in two weeks. She brought two dresses to model for us to see which one she should wear. We all agreed that she should wear this one gorgeous red dress. She has very pale skin and dark dark hair plus she's slim and gorgeous. She looked just stunning. We had fun watching her model for us and can't wait to see the pictures from prom.

So while I didn't make much knitting progress I got an emotional recharge that I really needed. Definitely worth it.

taxi!

Did a little chauffeuring this afternoon. Had to pick D up from babysitting and take her to piano practice. She got paid for babysitting and left it in the car while she was at piano. Once we got home I told her, "Remember your money, otherwise the next person to drive the car get it."

She gasped in surprise.

As she was getting ready to get out of the car I pretended to pick it up. She yelled, "Mama!"

"What no tip? After all the driving I have done for you? For free! With the price of gas these days??"

"When you're old and I have to drive you around for free gas will probably be $20 per gallon." She told me.

She may be right. It was a very funny interchange. But I hope we have a better answer to energy consumption well before we get to that point.

raining pouring and rhubarb

It's beginning to look like we might need an ark. The rain has been coming down for DAYS. And it's been a pretty thoroughly soppy wet rain too. No gardening for me. I can see masses of green everytime I look out the back window however I avoid looking too closely since I know it is probably all weeds.

I did notice today that the rhubarb was flowering (silly thing doesn't it know it's not supposed to do that?). So I ran out in between raindrops and cut off all of the flowers. While I was out there I got a good look at my rhubarb crop. Whoooo-ee! Lots o' rhubarb. I think next week I'm going to have to start canning because I am a wuss and don't want to gather it in the rain because there is way to much for my family to eat in baked goods and next week it won't be raining this week is not convenient. Of course our jam supplies are getting low so that's not a bad thing.

One thing I think I'll be able to make this year is rhubarb chutney. Last year I made mostly jams and baked goods but I have such a bumper crop this year I don't have to limit myself. I love rhubarb chutney (although I need to make it in smaller containers), it's delicious as a side to cheese and crackers, crudite dip, served along side roast meats and also as a glaze. The kids don't like it plain but don't seem to complain when it's a glaze. Perhaps one small batch.

Rhubarb Chutney

1 C. brown sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1-1/2 T. minced fresh ginger
1-1/2 t. grated orange peel
4-1/2 C. coarsely chopped rhubarb
3/4 C. raisins
1 t. mustard seed
4 green onions, chopped

Cook sugar, vinegar, ginger, and peel at medium until sugar dissolves and mixture boils.
Add rhubarb, raisins, mustard, and green onions, bring back to a boil.
Reduce heat, simmer 5 minutes or until rhubarb is tender.
Place into sterilized canning jars, hot water bath 20 minutes.

According to instructions from the University of Illinois Extension Service:

Rhubarb can be boiling water bath canned for later use in pies, sauces and other dishes. Rhubarb should be HOT PACKED in order to drive out air in the tissues and to reduce the browning reaction that occurs as substances in light colored fruits and vegetables react with oxygen. Hot packing also increases the amount of fruit relative to juice which can be packed into one pint or quart jar.

About 1½ to 2 pounds is required for a quart of canned rhubarb (or about 10½ pounds for a canner load of 7 quarts). Trim leaves and stems and cut into ½ to 1-inch pieces. Place fruit in a large pan adding ½ cup sugar per quart of fruit. Allow to stand until juice appears. Gently heat to boiling. Fill jars immediately leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe sealing edges to remove sugar or sauce. Prepare lids according to the manufacturer's directions. Adjust lids and process pints or quarts for 15 minutes (altitude of 0-1000 ft) or 20 minutes (altitude 1001-6000 ft). Water level in the canner should be at least 1-inch over the tops of the jars. Start counting processing time AFTER water in the canner returns to a full

Yum.

rain today

It's been raining since last night. A lot. Which is good, we need it. The weather forecast predicts rain all week so I guess I won't be getting much gardening in.

Chloe asked to go out this morning. I opened the door to show her that it was raining to hard. She crouched down, watched it for a moment, shook her head in disgust and walked over to another door where she started meowing loudly. I guess she thought that perhaps it wasn't raining at the other door?

otama

Like I have nothing better to do in my life...gah! Reading the blogosphere I come across an adorable little thing called an Otama. Apparently they are from Japan. They are crocheted. No idea what they are supposed to be for...cute/fun/toy I guess. You can find the link on how to make one of your very own here.

I haven't crocheted in a long time and it looks like it's cute and quick. A great way to use up scrap yarn. No one mentioned addictive because I find myself wanting to make more (I've made three so far -- have to see if I can get a decent pic for you). Each one comes out totally different and with it's own personality. And they are kind of cute.

We won't mention things like housework, laundry, knitting, gardening...just taking some me time and *ahem* making stocking stuffers [yeah, that's it...stocking stuffers...in May].

cookbook meme

How many cookbooks do you own?

93

Which cookbook is the one you bought most recently?

The Splendid Grain

Which cookbook is the one you read most recently?

Fix It and Forget It

Name five cookbooks which mean a lot to you:

1. Joy of Cooking (the old one)
2. Beard on Bread
3. The Occasional Vegetarian
4. Good Things
5. Ball Blue Book

Do you cook? Do you have books? Consider yourself tagged.

five things meme

1. Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally?
sitting in my treehouse with my DH

2. Five bucks to spend right now: how would you spend it?
yarn

3. Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already?
I'm sure if I waded into my attic I could find more than that.

4. Five items that mean a lot to you in your house?
materialistcally speaking...photo albums and some handmade items made by family members. It all add up to more than five.

5. Five words you love?
onomatopoeia, montage, mosey, swashbuckle, anthropomorphize

If you're reading this consider yourself tagged. Next!

how to subscribe

I had an email today from someone asking how they could know when my blog is updated. This way they don't have to keep checking it.

My personal favorite it to get an account with Bloglines. It's free and they keep track of all of your feeds for you. There are other news readers out there, this just happens to be the one I use, I'm not getting any money or anything for telling you about them.

Basically this is an RSS feed aggregator; if you want to read cartoons, blogs, news feeds, etc you can sign up for them with your Bloglines feed and when your subscriptions have new posts it lets you know.

For my feed under Bloglines you can put in http://www.bloglines.com/sub/http://mdessy.blogspot.com/atom.xml.


Hope this helps.

a helping hand (er foot)

It's nice to know that there are still people out there who do nice things to do nice things.

http://www.happynews.com/news/552006/man-7-foot-8-gets-new-size-26-shoes.htm

To hear about more good things don't forget to check out:

Happy News
and
DoOneNiceThing.

We need all the good news we can get.

whew!

You Passed 8th Grade Geography

Congratulations, you got 8/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Geography?

on the farm

I'm so excited. I drove past "our" farm and it's looking really good. The farmer and his apprentices are all out there working the land. Not too much longer now and things will be growing. A little after that and we will be able to start picking up our share.

I really love this idea. Last year with the exception of celery, cucumbers and the occasional out of season purchase we bought no produce except from the farm. It's local, organic and far better than anything you could ever get in the grocery store. This year will be the first year that I am not growing vegetables in a very long time. I still plan to put in one cherry tomato plant and I will plant some herbs. But otherwise it's all been converted to fruits. Less maintenance for me and a wider variety of foods for my family than I could grow in my little fenced section.

The costs are very reasonable also. Less than $24 per week (€19 for my European readers) for a lot of produce. As a matter of fact last year at the height of watermelon season we chose not to take our last watermelon because we had had so much we were watermeloned out. In the beginning of the season, June, it's mostly salad greens. As the season progresses we get more and more stuff. In the height of the season I start canning. At the end of the season it's mostly cabbages, squashes, and root crops. Last year I was able to root cellar a fair amount of them (although I did learn that certain ones need to be eaten sooner rather than later so we'll make sure we do that this year).

D and I are also thinking that this year we will donate one day of labor to the farm. Not required since we pay a full membership (you can do partial pay partial labor but we weren't sure we could make that work committment). I think it will be fun to go and help out. Plus it will be good experience for us both. D wants to bring a friend. If she can find a friend who wants to go I say bring em', we'll see if that actually happens.

thunk

Ever feel like the universe is trying to get your attention? Sometimes with a two-by-four? That has happened to me recently.

It started with the book Enough is Enough that came into my life. I read it, it was interesting. Basic premise...we are not superwomen but we are somehow convinced that we need to be or at least not let anyone know we aren't. And we suffer for it.

Then I read this post by my dear friend K who mentioned another post.

Then a friend lent me a copy of Confessions of a Slacker Wife to read. BTW although I haven't finished the book I have to say it's very funny and now I will probably go ahead and read the prequel (if you will) Confessions of a Slacker Mom.

Okay, I think I'm getting the picture. All of this in one week is a lot to absorb. But it has made me sit down and realize just how much I'm trying to accomplish in any given day. My list is NEVER completely checked off. I always have far more to do than can be accomplished by anyone no matter how organized/efficient/super they are. For those of you who manage, I'm happy for you but I can't do it.

Of course in sitting down to think about all of this (and, I confess, write down exactly what I try to do in a day as referenced in "Enough is Enough") I've realized that I'm much better than I used to be. But I still have a long way to go. I've got to learn to ditch the expectations I place upon myself. I won't bore you with a long diatribe of all I used to do. I won't even bore you with what I do now, but I will say that I am working on being more focused on the necessary things in life.

Laundry, cooking, cleaning are definitely necessary. But perhaps I need to rethink how these things happen and learn to accept that sometimes the laundry piles up or we run out of milk. Volunteering for two school committees, to run a neighborhood function and two town projects, not necessary. Playing really bad basketball with my kids, totally necessary.

Being aware of all of this is probably the first step in the right direction. It's definitely time to give up blind acceptance of the message that society is trying to stuff down our throats about how we are supposed to appear. Private reality is always different than public view but I refuse to deem it necessary to apologize or feel guilty for the difference anymore.

Okay, down off my soapbox. But if you have any similar thoughts, or links to other places please post them for me and for those others who read this.

rhubarb

The rhubarb has been growing really well. It's time to start harvesting. So our first rhubarb recipe of the season is a whole wheat apple rhubarb cake. I'm not ready to start canning the stuff just yet...I'll make some desserts and then when my family has had enough begin to process it into jams or whatever.

Although this recipe looks really delicious and will need to be set aside for when I start canning:

2 pounds chopped, raw rhubarb
8 3-inch strips lemon peel, about 1/4-inch wide (no white pulp, just yellow peel)
1/2 cup water
2-1/2 cups sugar
Combine rhubarb, lemon peel and water in a heavy, non-aluminum 4-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook gently for 30 minutes. Stir often. Turn up the heat and begin adding sugar 1/2 cup at a time, waiting for the liquid to return to the boil before adding more. continue cooking over a high heat, stirring constantly. If the jam begins to splatter, turn the heat down slightly. Cook and stir until the jam thickens and reduces to about 3 cups (about 20 minutes).

Of course rhubarb mixes well with lots of things for jam, strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, peaches, apricots. Mmmm...getting hugry just thinking about rhubarb jam on toast.

yumm

I was reading Niina de Norse's blog where she mentioned these lovely little treats...belgian chocolate on a stick that you dip into a cup of hot milk to make the perfect hot chocolate. Ooooh sounds fabulous.

You have to buy them in packs of 33, no problem.

Unfortunately they don't seem to sell them in the US, wah!

who's on first

My daughter, yay!

Tonight was D's first softball game ever. Steve and I took her down to the field. It was a lot of fun and very funny. For a first game it was pretty good although a lot of kids got walked.

D was very nervous because she's never played softball before and she was sure that she would do terrible. Her first ever time at bat and she hit a solid thunk to the outfield and ran for first. It was so cute. When she got there she looked at us, held out her hands to either side and said, "So did I make it?" Cute cute cute.

Lots of funny comments from the parents in the field. Since we'll be seeing a lot of them over the next two months I'm sure we'll get to know them well.

PS the score? They lost, but they played really well so it was all good.

my mistake

The weigelia by my front yard is not a weigelia. Apparently it's a viburnum carlesii according to my mom.

I guess that means the weigelia is on the other side of the yard.