A Teaser

When we went to Colorado, A. stayed home to take care of the animals. He also took the opportunity to completely demolish the children's bathroom. There were leaks in the tub, toilet, and sink that were causing the floor to buckle, as well as forming an unwelcome swampy area under the trailer. The toilet only flushed with help from an extra bucket of water, and the bathtub was the original avocado-green plastic fixture from the seventies.

It was way past time to address it, is what I'm saying.

So while we were gone, A. pulled out the toilet, the tub, and the entire floor.

The old tub out the back door, awaiting its trip to the dump.

The new plywood floor. Delightfully solid underfoot.

With a great deal of hard work, he managed to have the floor and toilet installed before we got home. Then we chose some peel and stick vinyl floor tiles to cover the plywood. Since these tiles are going in our 1970s trailer-with-additions, we definitely do not need to worry about resale. So we chose exactly what we wanted.

And what we wanted were Moroccan-style tiles in blue.

We're waiting on the tub and shower fixtures to be delivered this week, and then A. can finish putting in all the plumbing. 

I'll post some pictures when it's done. Stay tuned.

Snapshots: A New Mexican Church

A. has been working on and off on a big masonry job down the hill. On the very last day he was there with two of the boys, the van wouldn't start when they were ready to leave, so I had to go down there and pick them up. 

It's a very cool ranch in a beautiful location.

The van needed a new starter. We were very grateful that it broke down where it did, because it could just be left there rather than having to be towed. A. was able to go to town the very next day, stop at the ranch where the van still was, put the new starter in, and ta da! Fixed van.

Poppy made sure the refrigerator was appropriately decorated for the Fourth of July.

And another child contributed one of his small flags for the middle of the table.

The dark red asiatic lily isn't my favorite color of lily, but it was certainly appropriate for the day.

We had a lot of watermelon still on hand on the Fourth, so I de-seeded some of it, cut it into chunks to freeze, and used it to make an adult slushie with vodka and lemon juice. I was actually not a huge fan of this--too sweet--but it was definitely the right color.

Well, maybe a little more pink than red, but at least close to the right color.

We have several far-flung historic mission churches in our area that no longer have a congregation large enough to justify a weekly Mass, but our priest does travel to them to celebrate Saturday Mass once a month. These are beautiful churches, and I'm very glad they're still maintained.

We used to sometimes go to one that's about forty minutes from our house, but we haven't been in about three years. Poppy didn't remember the church and asked if we could go. So I took her to Mass at the mission church yesterday.

One of the more striking things about this church is that it's in the remnants of a village, itself isolated, but behind the church there is nothing but rangeland. It makes me feel that the church is an island on a sea of grass.

The interior is also quite striking.

I always wonder who did the paintings in these churches. Did they hire professionals when the churches were built? Or was there a very talented local? Probably the former, because almost every church here has incredible decorative painting.

The family that takes care of this church also serves at the Mass. The mother and two teenage daughters are the choir. They truly have lovely voices, and they sing all the parts of the Mass that can be sung, mostly in Latin. Their harmony really sounds angelic, and I love listening to them. This church has a choir loft in the upper back, so we can't see them, only hear them. It's one of my favorite parts of going there, because while we do sing at our church, we don't have a choir or any trained singers like that.

And last, while we were below the hill, Poppy and I stopped to gather some of the below-the-hill wildflowers growing in profusion on the roadside. There are just a few sunflowers that have started blooming up here, but down there, they're in full bloom. There were also some smaller yellow flowers, and some kind of thistle-looking flower (but without the spiky plant) that is purple before opening, and then is a fluffy white with a purple fringe when it opens out fully.

I also added some ornamental sage and grass heads.

I'll bring that arrangement to our church for the altar today. I have to have taller arrangements for that because the altar is so big and the people are kind of far away from it, so anything small is just kind of lost. And yes, Poppy and I will be going to church again. It's a mayordoma month for me.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Ham for Days

Happy Independence Day! Time to eat!

Friday

Short version: Barbecue brisket sandwiches, coleslaw, cherries

Long version: The rest of the brisket from our meal on Wednesday was just enough for sandwiches this night. I had baked bread the day before, so I made some buns for the brisket. I made the coleslaw in the morning, which meant that at dinnertime, I did nothing but re-heat the brisket and put the plates together.

Made-ahead food is nice. And a theme in my un-air-conditioned summer kitchen. Four p.m. in summer is no time to be firing up the oven or stove for an hour of cooking.

Saturday

Short version: Ham, scalloped potatoes, collard greens, raw cabbage

Long version: Why did I make essentially Christmas dinner in June, on a day that was going to be almost 90 degrees? Because I had a ham that had been in the freezer for months, and I could cook it in the morning when it was cool and then just re-heat it for dinner. Also because if the oven is on for the ham, I might as well also cook the potatoes. Those re-heated well at dinnertime, too. I just used the microwave for both things so as not to heat up the kitchen.

Anyway, there is no one in my family except me who ascribes to theory that meals should be lighter when the weather is hot. So I had my salad, the rest of the family had their heavy hibernation food, and everyone was happy.

His 'n' hers dinner.

Sunday

Short version: Leftovers, sour-cream cake with rhubarb-currant compote and Chantilly cream

Long version: I fried some of the ham slices in butter, which makes them crispy and really much better. Store ham is way too wet. We also had both leftover mashed potatoes and scalloped potatoes. 

A. had pureed calabaza as a vegetable. The children had the very last of last year's frozen green beans. We'll see if this year's green beans, which germinated very well, can manage to survive the grasshoppers.

I made the cake because I found the last half quart of soured heavy cream in the freezer and decided to use it up. I did this by making a double batch of this recipe, but this time with only half the baking soda. It was much better that way. It rose just fine, and tasted better. I made 12 muffins, and then a single cake layer.

This cake layer I cut in half, and sandwiched in between the halves a mixture of stewed rhubarb with some of the currant jelly I had made with the golden currants the children foraged at an abandoned house in our village. And then I covered it all with sweetened whipped cream.

It was pretty much like the Father's Day cake I made this year, except the Bonnie Butter cake was better.

Monday

Short version: Extra-creamy pasta with ham, lemon jello

Long version: And then I found ANOTHER whole quart of cream in the back of the refrigerator that was past its use-by date and getting slightly sour. Ugh.

So! I diced some ham and fried that with a clove of garlic, frozen peas, and a LOT of cream. Probably at least two cups. I simmered all of that for awhile, then added cooked pasta and some grated Romano. All of this went into a casserole dish, which I topped with bread crumbs mixed with melted butter and more Romano, and then I stuck it under the broiler to toast the bread crumbs.

This was, unsurprisingly, very popular. Hard to go wrong with that much cream.

I had made the jello for the kid who had had a delicate stomach for awhile. He was starting to feel better, though, and actually ate some real food, so I let everyone else have some of the jello for dessert.

Tuesday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, mashed potatoes, grape tomatoes

Long version: To make the meatballs, I used the big log of ground beef that A. brought home when he got the whole brisket. Just like with the brisket, the package of ground beef was still whole--circumstances when he got home with all this meat were such that I didn't have the chance to separate any of it before freezing--but I definitely did not need that whole 10 pounds of ground beef. 

To thaw it, I put the whole thing in my sink and wrapped a bigger part of it in a plastic bag. Then I ran some water over the smaller part I wanted to separate and left it for a few hours. I was then able to saw off the still-partially-frozen smaller part and wrap the bigger, still-frozen part back up for the freezer.

It's way easier to just do it when it comes in the house, though.

I made the mashed potatoes mostly to use up the last of the soured cream. Which I did. Yay.

Child's plate of meatballs.

Wednesday

Short version: Ham, fried potatoes, curried split peas, cucumber, watermelon

Long version: This was the last of the ham, which I fried in butter again.

The potatoes were some of the 50 pounds I got from excess commodities a few months ago. Some of them I had par-roasted (prepared for roasting and then just roasted until they were soft, but not browned) and put in the freezer. I dumped some of those in a skillet with extra tallow and fried them until they were crispy.

Do curried split peas go with these things? Eh, dunno. I found the jar with the leftover split peas in the refrigerator and decided it needed to be used up right away, so I just put a couple of spoonfuls on everyone's plates and let them decide what to do with it. Some dipped their ham in it. Some dipped their potatoes in it. Some just ate it. In any case, it was all eaten.

Seeded watermelons are usually available in stores around the 4th of July, and I always get one when I see them. This one was pretty good. A bit mealy in the center, but sweet.

Thursday

Short version: Tuna salad sandwiches, pasta salad, apricots

Long version: I had baked bread in the afternoon, which made me decide to have sandwiches and take advantage of thee fresh, soft bread. That's why I made the tuna salad.

I made the pasta salad because I had quite a bit of plain pasta left from the entire pound I had cooked on Monday. I've only made pasta salad maybe half a dozen times in my life, which is weird, because I love it.

Actually, that's why I don't make it. I would eat too much of it.

Anyway.

Pasta, grape tomatoes, pickled onions, frozen peas, cheddar cheese cubes, the last of some mustard vinaigrette, and a couple spoonfuls of mayonnaise.

A. brought the apricots home from town when he went to get a new starter for the van. The apricots were good, and the van starts now, so wins all around.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Plants and Things

When we got back from our five-day trip to Colorado, the flowers that had been on the table were wilted and sad-looking. I was quite busy getting dinner and unloading the car, but I made sure to dispose of those sad flowers and find a couple of lilies to put on the table before we sat down to eat.

Simple, but at least not wilted.

Later in the week, I managed something a bit more involved.

We're waiting on the sunflowers. In the meantime, I mostly have a lot of clover and grasses.

These flowers I had on the big bookcase in our living room.

The ornamental sage is starting to bloom, yay!

I actually grabbed that vase and brought it with me to church to put it on the altar by the lectern. I figured it might as well decorate the church during Mass and then I could just bring it home again. There are no other services at our church during the week, so there would be no point in leaving it there.

The hollyhocks in the garden are blooming profusely, despite being extensively damaged by the grasshoppers.

Very cheery, as long as you don't look too closely and see the holes in the flowers and the stripped greenery.

The grasshoppers continue to ravage the garden. They target weird things. Things I didn't even think were edible. Like rhubarb leaves, which are supposed to be toxic.

Obviously not toxic to grasshoppers.

They also ate all the leaves on the garlic plants, of all things. Luckily, the plants were pretty much done growing, so I just dug them all up.

They got to a pretty good size.

The grasshoppers did at least provide some entertainment for Poppy and her friends, who spent some time running through a field to watch the thousands of grasshoppers fly ahead of them.

These are some easily entertained kids.

The beet that is going to seed continues to develop. I discovered as I was bent over weeding around it that the beet seeds have a very sweet smell.

If this actually sets viable seeds, I'm going to have a LOT of beet seeds for next year.

Or maybe the grasshoppers will eat all the beet seeds. We'll just have to wait and see.

Snapshots: Travel Time

Of course, I have pictures of our trip to Colorado. And now you will see them.

Running over the state line.

It's amazing how right there at the line it looks Very Colorado, and Very Not New Mexico.

As did the spot we stopped for lunch halfway through our drive.

My sister put one of her roses in the room I slept in. A nice touch.

Coffee the next morning on my sister's back patio. The younger boys were going to sleep in that tent, but traffic and things ended up being too noisy for those country mice.

The wading area in the river at a park in the city. We went here twice. Much appreciated, since it was at or close to 100 degrees most days we were there.

There was also extremely strong sun there, which is why I covered up pretty much all the time in my dorky Mom hat and a linen button-up shirt. 

Poppy in a replica Greek (I think) helmet my sister's late husband won at a strong man competition.

We went for a very mild hike, during which there was much delighted scrambling about on rocks by the children.

Floating down the lazy river another day.

And our lunch stop on the drive back home.

There you have it! My (traveling) life, snapshotted.

The Grand Total Was . . .

For that small basket of nine things at the grocery store, I spent $56.37. Yikes.

I wasn't at a fancy grocery store. I did, however, buy a few name-brand things--Skippy peanut butter, Riesens, and Nutrigrain bars--which I rarely do. Also, jerky is expensive even if it is store-brand.

Mostly, I think it's because I was buying packaged snacks. Another thing I rarely do. 

Which is why I bake way more than I would like to.

So I guess I'll just carry on with my low-snack, store-brand shopping style, lest I bankrupt us with Nutrigrain bars and candy.

Friday Food: Monster Pizza and Other Vacation Food

Friday 

Short version: Monster pizza, soda

Long version: I left in the morning with all four children to drive to my sister's house in Colorado. A. stayed home to take care of things here. It took us 9 hours to get there, and we arrived just before my sister got off work. She walked in the door, and then immediately out again so we could go get pizza.

She took us to a local place that makes 28-inch pizzas. I can't visualize measurements like that. In case you can't, either, here's a visual for you.

 It was so big it took up almost the whole table.

We brought home I think six pieces, which were all eaten as a snack the next afternoon.

I got each of the children a soda, which I never do. And I let them refill their cups at the fountain if they wanted to. That's even more unheard-of for me. Yay, vacation. 

Saturday

Short version: Tamales, coleslaw, cupcakes, cake, jello

Long version: There's a place near my sister's work that makes good tamales, so she bought a bunch there for us to have this night. Some were red chile and pork, some were green chile and chicken. 

The coleslaw was just cabbage and carrots with a vinegar dressing. Perfect with the tamales.

My sister had a lot of leftover cupcakes and cake from her birthday the week before. She was tired of eating cake. The children were not. They were happy to help her get rid of the various cakes around. She also had some random blue raspberry jello left from something a friend of hers had made, and a couple of kids had that. With whipped cream on top. Yay, vacation, again.

Sunday

Short version: Carnitas burritos, leftover coleslaw, ice cream

Long version: My sister put a pork shoulder in the Crockpot in the morning to make carnitas, which were delicious. The kids had them in flour tortillas. The ladies had them in salads.

In pretty salad bowls my dad made.

My sister bought a half gallon of cookies and cream ice cream for dessert. I think she was surprised it was all eaten in one night. Honestly, I bet some of my kids could have eaten more. Our family can put away a lot of ice cream.

I went to the grocery store this day to get another gallon of milk plus some things for our drive home. This is everything I bought.

It all fit in the top small part of the little basket thing.

It included a jar of Skippy peanut butter, a small jar of store-brand strawberry jam, one loaf of store-brand bread, one gallon of store-brand whole milk, one bag of store-brand potato chips, one bag of store-brand beef jerky, one box of 12 Nutrigrain bars, two small bags of Riesens, and a one-pound block of store-brand cheddar cheese. Can you guess how much those nine things cost?*

Monday

Short version: Leftovers, Girl Scout cookies

Long version: There were lots of tamales and pork left, so we had more of those. Just as good the second time.

My sister had just a few Girl Scout cookies left from a party that she wanted used up. There were just enough for everyone to have one Thin Mint and one Samoa each. My children were extremely excited about this. It's the first time they've ever had Girl Scout cookies, poor things.

Tuesday

Short version: Sauteed chicken thighs, rice, cabbage

Long version: I stopped at a grocery store a couple of hours from home on our way back to buy milk. I also wanted to get something quick-cooking for dinner. I ended up getting a package of boneless chicken thighs, which were not as quick-cooking as I had anticipated--and also quite expensive at $20 for the four-pound package I needed--but were definitely delicious. I just sauteed them in butter and olive oil with lots of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.

I had two garden cabbages in the refrigerator, so I sliced some of that and put it right in the pan with the chicken to take advantage of all the grease and spices in there. Good call.

Wednesday

Short version: Brisket, mashed potatoes, sauteed cabbage and carrots, still-frozen green beans, cherries

Long version: I thawed the entire brisket A. brought home awhile ago. I had frozen it whole, so I cooked the whole thing, cut into three pieces.

This is 14.5 pounds of meat.

I put garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika, vinegar, canned diced tomatoes and maple syrup on them, plus water, and cooked them for several hours.

A lot of fat rendered off or was pulled off for the dogs, but I probably ended up with at least ten pounds of meat. Some of it we ate this night, in a sauce with the liquid from cooking, plus ketchup, mustard, and some more spices.

For the cabbage and carrots, I used the unwashed pan from cooking the chicken the night before. It had a lot of highly spiced grease still in it, so I used that to saute the last quarter of a cabbage, plus some shredded carrots I had put in the freezer last fall. The green beans were for those children who do not enjoy cabbage cooked.

Dinner on the stove.

The cherries were ones my sister had sent home with us, because they were starting to get wrinkly and she correctly knew they would get eaten faster in our house with six people than in hers with just her.

Thursday

Short version: Ram steaks, curried split peas, leftover rice or mashed potatoes, collard greens, cherries

Long version: I found a bag of just two big ram steaks in the freezer that I pulled out and marinated before frying and making a sauce with red wine and soured cream.

I didn't think that would be enough for everyone, so I also took out a bag of cooked split peas I found in there. Those I cooked with onion, a diced garlic scape, curry powder, chicken broth, and, at the end, some soured cream I ALSO found in the freezer. Many good freezer things.

The collards are about the only thing the grasshoppers aren't eating into oblivion. They are HUGE. I used only three leaves, and it made enough for at least four people. I used some already-cooked onion and canned tomatoes that had been in the refrigerator, too.

We finished the cherries this night. Mission accomplished.

Refrigerator check:

Still haven't fixed the deli drawer. The part is on the way, though.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

* I'm not including the Time magazine about cats or the bottle of Prosecco I got as gifts for my sister.