Snapshots: Books and Mystery Flowers

One of the things I did while most of the family was gone was sort through all the books we had culled from our bookshelves when summer started. I went to World of Books, an online book re-seller that will also buy books, and entered all the ISBNs for each book to see if they would buy it. They make this process fairly easy. They even provide the shipping label for free and allow it to be shipped in any box that will fit the books.

In progress.

I had around a hundred books, and about a third of those were accepted. I duly shipped the box of books off and am now anticipating a check to arrive shortly for a little over thirty dollars. Not a lot of money, but more than I had before. The other two-thirds of the books were donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

I managed enough flowers for both the table and the bookcase this week, including, excitingly, the very first sunflowers.

The sunflowers, like everything else this year, are small and sparse, but I'm happy to have whatever I can find.

A. brought me some of the mystery flowers that are growing in the crack at the edge of the schoolhouse gym, near where the horse trough was. I don't know what these are. They don't look like wildflowers to me. Maybe they're some kind of domestic flower that self-seeded there. I left them, hoping I would be able to get seeds from them to plant, given that they're clearly well-adapted to our climate. But it was nice to have a few for the vases.

They're an interesting mix of purple and white.

I don't know why I found it so pleasing that all the children chose different cereal before church on Sunday.

Cheerios courtesy of my mother. We don't typically buy those because the generic versions of them aren't that good and we buy the generic giant bags of everything.

And last, I'm still enjoying our flag in the dawn's early light.

So handy that the wind blows almost constantly to make the flag wave.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Another Cooking Lesson

Friday 

Short version: Tuna things, ice cream

Long version: I am not a huge fan of tuna, but I had some tuna salad in the refrigerator that needed to be used. The only way I like tuna in my salads is if it's sort of disguised with a bunch of other things, and I also like something sweet in there.

This one had a lot of carrots, some bell pepper, cheddar cheese, and dried cranberries.

And then, ice cream. With chocolate sauce.

Saturday

Short version: Upstate chicken barbecue, ugly flag cake and ice cream

Long version: The chicken barbecue fundraiser is a staple of central New York summers. Organizations such as fire departments, VFWs, Knights of Columbus--anything with a bunch of old guys--will do these huge barbecues to sell chicken dinners and the proceeds go to whichever group is sponsoring it. It's always chicken, and the chicken is always Cornell chicken.

Cornell chicken was developed in the 1950s by a Cornell University professor. It involves a very vinegar-heavy marinade--with, oddly, an egg--and a charcoal fire. 

The chicken is always accompanied by salt potatoes, which are another central New York tradition. They arose from the salt mines that are all around the lake, and are just new potatoes boiled in such heavily salted water that a salt crust forms on the outside of the potatoes when they're drained.

So the chicken dinner would be half a chicken, salt potatoes, baked beans, and a roll. This tradition was getting more scarce even when we lived there, probably because the old guys that spent hours preparing it were getting more scarce. 

Chicken barbecues may be harder to find upstate, but they're non-existent here. Unless I do my own. Which I did, for the Fourth of July.

Cornell University helpfully provides the original instructions for the Cornell chicken with a link to a PDF, which includes an amusingly detailed explanation of how to build the barbecue out of cinder blocks. I didn't have poultry seasoning, so I used mostly thyme and oregano. I also didn't have enough apple cider vinegar, so I used half white vinegar. And I only used 2 tablespoons salt. It was all fine.

I made the full recipe, though I could have made 2/3 of it for the just over five pounds of chicken thighs I had.

I also elected to make baked beans--starting with canned navy beans--and coleslaw instead of the roll.

Oh man. This was so good. I love Cornell chicken.

I also made our traditional ugly flag cake. However, since there was only one child at home to eat it, I split the Bonnie Butter cake recipe into one 8-inch cake pan, one small rectangular pan, and several cupcakes. I froze the cake-pan cake, and then decorated the small rectangular cake and the cupcakes.

Last year I got some flak for not having 50 blueberries/stars on my flag cake. This year, it occurred to me that I could make a Betsy Ross cake with just 13 blueberry/stars in a circle.

It didn't occur to me until after I made the historically-inaccurate number of stripes, though. Next year. Next year I will get it all right.

I was going for a firework sort of thing on the cupcakes, but instead they looked like bloodshot eyeballs. OH WELL.

Sunday

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: I had some leftover chicken and coleslaw. Eldest had a late lunch and wasn't hungry at dinnertime. He ate some baked beans, and then cake and ice cream before bed, I think.

Monday

Short version: Chicken, etc.

Long version: I had a salad with leftover rotisserie chicken in it. Eldest had leftover rotisserie chicken, baked beans, salt potatoes, and radishes.

Tuesday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, garlic butter rolls, sugar-snap peas and garlic scapes, beets, chocolate pudding or peaches and cream

Long version: This is quite clearly not the sort of meal eldest and I were eating when it was just the two of us. And that is because it was not just the two of us. 

Our priest and his younger brother came over for their second round of cooking lessons. They wanted to learn to make shepherd's pie and yogurt. 

Shepherd's pie isn't hard, but it does take about an hour before it's ready to eat. Given that they couldn't get here until after 5:30 p.m., I thought it would be better to feed them something that I made ahead of time so they could just eat when they got here, and then they could make a shepherd's pie to take home and bake whenever they wanted.

That's why I made the meatballs, etc., for our actual dinner. I had made the rolls a couple of days previously when I was baking bread and then just re-heated them in the microwave with butter and garlic powder.

I didn't plant any peas this year, so I had to buy the sugar snap peas, which I did specifically because I wanted to cook them with the garlic scapes that were ready to be harvested. So good.

The beets were also store-bought. I didn't get good germination on my beets this year, and what did germinate died, so I bought a few large ones to make Aunt Belva's pickled beets. I had roasted them while I was baking the bread, so all I had to do was peel and dice them and add the butter, vinegar, and sugar. Then I heated them in the microwave at dinnertime. I know beets are a divisive food, but I love them, so I made them. And then apparently everyone else loved them too. Gratifying.

I had made the meatballs in the morning and just stuck them in under the broiler when it was time to eat. This meant that everything was actually cooked way before it got hot, and all I had to do was re-heat.

I made the pudding with milk that was about to go off, and the peaches were some I bought from the roadside truck in the city the week previously that were likewise reaching their expiration. So everyone could choose one or both. The peaches were the more popular option. 

After we ate, I supervised the making of their shepherd's pie to send home with our two guests. And I showed them how to make yogurt and gave them some starter for that. 

Our priest is already making sourdough bread with the starter and instructions I gave him, so he's well on his way to being a real homesteader. Or at least feeding himself reasonably well, which is the actual goal.

Wednesday

Short version: Lamb steaks or leftover meatballs, mashed potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, chocolate pudding

Long version: The rest of the family got home in the late afternoon. I didn't have quite enough meatballs for everyone to have that, so I also took out a bag of lamb steaks. I had a little of the Cornell chicken marinade from the Fourth that I hadn't used, which worked very well for marinating the lamb steaks. I also made a little bit of sauce in the pan by adding about a tablespoon of tomato sauce and a bit of cream and water.

I did have enough chocolate pudding left for everyone, thanks to the popularity of the peaches the night before.

Thursday

Short version: Cheeseburger patties, leftover rice, cucumbers with salt and vinegar

Long version: It was actually just the children who had the cheeseburger patties, because I only took out one package of ground beef. That's two pounds, which is how much they will eat, if not more.

A. had the last bit of leftover lamb steak, plus a few leftover meatballs. I had meatballs in my salad.

The rice was particularly good because I took the cheeseburgers out of the pan when they were cooked, added a bit of water to scrape the pan clean, and then re-heated the rice in that pan so it soaked up all those juices. Yum.

Refrigerator check:

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

Before and After Kitchen

Before we moved into this house eight years ago, I did a lot of painting. I painted the living room and entry, the dining room, the hallway, and Poppy's bedroom. Even though I got a lot done, I always regretted not painting the kitchen.

The kitchen was in bad shape. I don't know when it was last painted, but it looked terrible. The paint on the cabinets was bubbling and impossible to clean without actually scrubbing the paint off. It was nasty. But having my constantly-in-use kitchen out of commission for days to paint it was not very appealing.

So I never did it. And it got more and more gross.

However! When A. was planning his trip to New York for ten days with three of the four children, I knew my time had come. Accordingly, I asked him to buy me white paint for the ceiling and something yellow-toned for the cabinets.

The only pre-mixed, non-gray paint he could find when he went to Walmart, though, was an almond color. So that's what he got. And that's what I used.

First I painted the ceiling.

In progress.

I sent this photo to A., and he responded that he thought I was going to use the almond paint on the cabinets. I did. The brown you see in the top right is the color of the ceiling before painting it white.

He couldn't believe how gross the ceiling was. 

It certainly was.

To the remainder of the white paint, I added just a bit of the almond paint, to make a slightly lighter almond, I guess. I used that for the small area of actual walls. And then I painted the cabinets with the almond color.

I hate painting. I am not good at it; I am not particularly careful; and I don't find it enjoyable. But I got it done.

The paint was still drying, hence all the cabinet doors ajar.

I specifically asked A. to get something besides white for the cabinets so they wouldn't show smudges so readily. I actually prefer the look of the original white cabinets, but I don't regret using non-white. Everything looks SO much cleaner. And I can actually clean it! I can just wipe things down! Hooray!

I didn't have enough of the white paint to do the ceiling in the adjacent dining room, which desperately needs painting, but that can wait until I get back to Walmart for more paint.

Snapshots: The Glorious Fourth

Happy Fifth of July! Let's see what happened this weekend . . .

I did not purchase this absurdly large metal rooster at Tractor Supply, despite its obvious patriotism.

I did grill, though, which is practically obligatory on the Fourth of July.

And I had a vodka watermelon slushie. Cheers to 250 years!

We had a big dinner, which resulted in quite a few dishes. I started on them and discovered that the kitchen sink wasn't draining.

BOOOOOO.

I had to call A. in New York to ascertain which pipe drains the kitchen sink and dishwasher. It drains out into the pasture, to water grape vines, and was very easy to find. Eldest son dug it out for me, and then flushed it out with the hose.

But the sink was still not draining. Dammit.

We tried many other things, working on it for about an hour before admitting defeat and telling A. that it would just have to wait until he got home. Eldest set up this woodchuck situation for me so I can still use the sink.

Woodchucks rely heavily on five-gallon buckets.

At least I still have running water and can do the dishes, even though I have to do them by hand and then dump the bucket.

The last time A. was gone for a week, it was the sink sprayer I had to Macgyver so I could use the kitchen sink. I'm cursed.

Anyway. I do have some flowers.

Table flowers.

Bookcase flowers.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Long May She Wave

By the dawn's early light, and every other time, too.

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans.

Friday Food: Just the Two of Us

Friday 

Short version: Tuna quesadillas, carrot sticks with ranch dip, watermelon

Long version: The FFA boys got home from their camp in time for dinner but weren't hungry, so the rest of the family just had tuna quesadillas. This is like a tuna melt--tuna salad and cheese--except in tortillas instead of bread.

Saturday

Short version: Chicken drumsticks, rice, leftover restaurant food, watermelon

I spent about five hours in the kitchen in the morning making three different meals for my friend with three kids who had back surgery on Monday. This was the same friend who had given me a ten-pound bag of chicken drumsticks a few months ago when she didn't have room in her freezer for it. Given that I had to thaw the entire bag at once, I had in the back of my mind that whenever I cooked them, I would give some of them to her.

And so I did. 

I used this recipe and method for the drumsticks, and they came out very well. Unusually for chicken drumsticks, which are not the best cut of chicken.

I didn't have enough of the drumsticks for all of us after I had packaged up what was going to my friend's family, and A. isn't a huge fan of drumsticks anyway. For him, I made a breakfast burritos with the kids' restaurant leftovers from a breakfast they had on their trip. It was the remains of a breakfast burrito, a sausage patty, and some hash browns. I added another scrambled egg to it.

I had a salad with leftover hamburger in it.

And we've been eating watermelon non-stop, thanks to the three watermelons from commodities that our post office lady gave us. Our family of six is certainly much more able to get through a full-sized watermelon than the typical single elderly person that is the majority of our population in our almost-ghost-village.

Sunday

Short version: Steaks, leftover mashed potatoes or spaghetti, carrot sticks, pumpkin custard

Long version: At 3:30 p.m., I had one boy moaning and groaning in dramatic agony because he couldn't believe he had to wait an hour and a half for dinner. So I told him if he started the charcoal on the grill, I would cook the steaks I had thawed and we'd eat whenever they were ready.

This was actually just a ploy on my part to teach him how to get charcoal ready for grilling, so I can delegate that task in the future. And of course, it takes awhile for charcoal to get really hot, so in the end we only ate about fifteen minutes early.

Really good steaks, though.

Grilled meat is the best meat.

The pumpkin custard was just this pumpkin pie minus the crust. It's not particularly seasonally appropriate, but I made it because I had the oven on anyway for over an hour the day before to cook the chicken, and I wanted to put something else in there, too. And I still have a few bags of squash puree in the freezer from last year's garden. I prefer this without the crust, myself. Pumpkin pie crust always just seems soggy and unnecessary to me.

Monday

Short version: A succession of randomness

Long version: A. flew to New York this day with the three younger children, leaving me at home with the eldest, who was sick. Luckily, he wasn't going on this trip, anyway, so he was free to stay home and blow his nose.

Eldest had leftover mashed potatoes and spaghetti (not together) for dinner, and then some of the butterscotch pudding I had made to use up excess milk.

I had spent all afternoon painting the kitchen.

All the junk from the top of the refrigerator and the counters. How could there be so much?

I was extremely tired by the time I finished up around 3:30 p.m., it was really hot, and the kitchen was still in its chaotic state awaiting the next coat of paint the next day. 

I was not going to cook anything. I didn't even want to chop things for a salad. So I didn't.

First I had some vodka and seltzer. Then I had a hardboiled egg. Then I had some granola with milk. And finally I had some of the butterscotch pudding I had made to use up excess milk.

Not the healthiest progression of food, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Tuesday

Short version: Salad

Long version: I did my painting in the morning this time, so I wasn't quite so wrecked at dinnertime and had the strength to do the chopping for a salad. It was pretty low on additional vegetables because I really need to go the store, so it just had bell peppers and canned peas with the lettuce (from the garden, yay!). And then I added a hardboiled egg and some feta cheese.

Eldest had been gone all day, volunteering at an outdoor event in over hundred-degree heat, so he wasn't feeling all that well when he got home in the afternoon and didn't want to eat.

Wednesday

Short version: Fried steak and potatoes

Long version: I had one small steak left. This would not have been enough by itself for me and the son at home, but combined with potatoes, it was.

I microwaved a couple of potatoes until they were cooked, then diced them and fried them in bacon grease with the steak, onion powder, frozen peas, and shredded cheese.

I have posted so many photos over the years that look just like this. It's a theme.

Thursday

Short version: Salad, ice cream

Long version: I made the trek to Walmart this day and got a rotisserie chicken while I was there. I had some of it in my salad.

And there it is.

Then I had some ice cream. Because it's summer.

Son made himself a toasted chicken burrito when he was hungry, which was a lot later than I ate. He had some ice cream, too.

Refrigerator check:

Getting kind of full with only two of us eating.

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

Embattled Collards

Last year's exuberant collard greens were an unqualified success in the garden. A. was delighted and declared we will grow collards forevermore. Accordingly, he bought six collard starts in April and we planted them out.

Then it didn't rain. Like, at all. 

It's interesting that not all water is created equal for plants. Our garden plants will, grudgingly, survive when watered by a hose with well water, but they don't really thrive. They want rain water. I'm guessing this has something to do with the minerals in our well water? I don't know, but I do know that there are definitely some seeds that won't even germinate on well water (notably, root vegetables like carrots and beets), and that the garden doesn't grow well until it actually rains.

The collards were displeased by the well water and just kind of sulked there, waiting for rain.

Then it started to rain! Hooray! 

And then the harlequin beetles showed up, right on cue.

Behold, the destroyer.

The harlequin beetles arrive in great numbers at the beginning of June every year, and brassicas are their favorite plants to eat. They're not that hard to get rid of, it's just that there are so many of them. When the infestation is the worst, I use a bucket of soapy water and drop them in there to drown. Thereafter, I just inspect the plants whenever I'm out there and squish the ones I find.

Incidentally, if you ever have to hunt harlequin beetles, it's helpful to know their habits. When they sense you hovering, they'll scuttle to the underside of a leaf to hide. If you grab at them and miss, they'll drop to the ground, where they can be squished quite easily. They never fly, which is helpful.

Anyway.

The rains also came with two separate nasty hail storms, about a week apart, that were particularly detrimental to the big, spreading leaves of the collard plants.

The end result of all of this is, well, sad.

Not a picture of health.

However! The nice thing about collard greens is that they grow new leaves from the center, so even when they look like that, there is healthy new growth coming. 

Of course, I'm also starting to see the first small grasshoppers coming as well, which will be the next wave of attack on these hapless plants.

Will we ever actually eat any of these collard greens this year? Stay tuned to find out.