Friday Food: I Have Feta, Yay!

Friday 

Short version: Bull and potato skillet, carrot sticks, watermelon

Long version: I had some more processed bull meat in the refrigerator, so I fried that in the rest of some rendered beef tallow that had been in there awhile, then added the leftover boiled potatoes from the night before, along with a bunch more fat in the form of bacon grease and butter. Both potatoes and that very lean bull meat will absorb astonishing quantities of fat. I think I added at least half a cup of fat in the end, and it wasn't greasy at all.

I also added some already-cooked onion from the refrigerator, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and grated cheddar cheese. 

Not pretty, but tasty.

Saturday

Short version: Chili, cornbread, popsicles, early carrots, later cookie bars

Long version: I made chili mostly because I had several cups of chicken broth in the refrigerator from cooking the chicken breasts a few days earlier. I needed to either freeze that or use it. So I used it. In chili.

Also in the chili was ground bull meat, a quart jar of pressure-canned pinto beans, the last bag of pureed calabaza that had been in the freezer since 2022, a can of crushed tomatoes, the last pint jar of green-tomato salsa from last year, a whole diced onion, a few cloves of garlic, a bit of apple cider vinegar cumin, paprika, and chile powder.

It was really too warm to be simmering chili for a few hours, but I did that in the morning, and it was very good chili.

It was definitely too warm in the afternoon to be baking cornbread, but I did it anyway. Since I had the oven on anyway, I also made some oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars. They baked at the same time, and also used the same dishes the cornbread had (bowl, Pyrex measuring cup, spatula), so it made me feel a little better about heating the kitchen more.

We had popsicles only because I had made smoothies for lunch, and there was some left over. So I just poured the extra into the popsicle molds and froze it. They were a bit more icy than the ones I usually make with heavy cream, but they were still eaten.

The children ate the carrot sticks with some curry dip while I was making dinner, and the cookie bars at around 6 p.m. because we ate dinner at about 4:30 p.m., which is early even for us.

Sunday

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, half corn on the cob, cucumber and tomato salad, brownie sundaes

Long version: I just used some of the store ground beef for the meatloaf. We hadn't had it in awhile, and it was cool enough to run the oven to bake it.

I only had two ears of corn left, which meant only half an ear for each child. Much grumbling about this.

A. and I had the cucumber and tomato salad, featuring tomatoes from the garden of the guy who runs the tiny store in the village, a small shallot from our garden, and feta cheese. It was so good. I really love feta cheese.

A.'s plate, just because I'm sure you needed a visual of meatloaf.

We had been at our parish picnic in the afternoon, so I hadn't made a dessert when I started making dinner. That's why I made the brownies.  They are very fast to mix up, could bake with everything else in the oven, and turn plain old ice cream into a Sunday dessert. Especially with the addition of the chocolate syrup I always have in the refrigerator.

Monday

Short version: Pizzas, kohlrabi sticks, ranch dip

Long version: Still cool, so I baked bread and then used some dough for pizzas--one cheese, one pepperoni.

I had found a few bags of roasted tomato sauce still in the freezer from last year, and I used one of those as the pizza sauce. It really makes them so much better. Hurry up, this year's tomatoes.

The kohlrabi was the very last one from the garden, which caused some sadness among the children. They do love kohlrabi.

Tuesday

Short version: Leftover pizza, Frito pie, carrot sticks

Long version: With one child at work and one at a sleepover, there were only two children to feed. They had the leftover pizza, heated in a cast-iron skillet so it wouldn't be wet and gross.

A. had leftover chili in Frito pie. And I just had leftover chili.

Wednesday

Short version: Roast lamb, potatoes, tomato and cucumber salad, hummus, yogurt sauce, vanilla ice cream with a choice of toppings

Long version: We had guests with us this night, which is why we had such a large meal on a random Wednesday. I had one boned leg roast and one not-boned . . . something. It was labeled roast, but it might have been a front leg? I don't know. I had A. bone that one for me too, just to make sure I would have enough meat.

I used this spice mixture again, except I again didn't use as much garlic and lemon juice, and I had to substitute thyme for the oregano, but it was still very good.

Poppy helped me skin the chickpeas (for very smooth hummus), and I really appreciated her help, because these were dry chickpeas I had cooked myself, and they definitely did not pop out of the skins as easily as the canned ones. They taste way better than the canned chickpeas, though, I am forced to admit, and they made some delicious hummus.

With olive oil, za'atar, and paprika on top.

I made quite a bit, but most of it was eaten before dinner with tortilla chips as everyone sat around talking.

I had one of my own cucumbers to put in the salad--which also had feta in it, yum--so that was exciting.

I eschewed making a real dessert, instead pulling out the gallon of vanilla ice cream and setting out chocolate syrup, maple syrup, and apricot puree for everyone to choose their own topping. I made the chocolate syrup and apricot puree, so I'm calling it a homemade dessert.

Five of the seven people chose chocolate syrup. In case you were curious. 

Thursday

Short version: Lamb and potatoes, frozen green peas

Long version: There was enough leftover lamb and potatoes to fry it all together in a skillet for another meal, so that is what I did.

Refrigerator check:

Feta front and center.

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

How I Cut a Watermelon

What, that title didn't grab you right out of the gate? 

Anyway.

Whenever I go to the grocery store in the summer, there are two things I notice about the watermelons there: One is that they are always seedless. And two is that they are small.

I don't buy those watermelons. I buy the watermelons from the pick-up truck on the side of the road. These typically weigh 30 pounds and are bigger than a dog.

It requires some strategy to cut up a fruit that large. And this is how I do it.

First, I have to note that I can't cut watermelons on my cutting boards. The reason for that is that I most frequently cut onions and garlic on my cutting boards, which are wood. So they retain the faint smell of those pungent alliums, and if I cut watermelon on them (or pineapple), I can always taste just a bit of that onion/garlic flavor.

Unpleasant.

So cutting boards are out for cutting watermelon.

Luckily, I have the original 1970s yellow plastic countertops in my trailer kitchen, which I can and do cut on without any worry about messing them up. 

So I put my giant watermelon directly on the counter, grab my carving knife, and start cutting circles off the end.

Watermelon circle with carving knife.

Forgot to mention the kitchen towel on the counter. This is crucial to avoid a flood of watermelon juice dripping off the counter and onto the floor. I don't cut on the towel itself, but I leave it under the cut watermelon to absorb the juice.

The big circle gets put flat on a plate, which is where I cut it into triangles.

Or sometimes chunks for later, as you can see in the bowl on the right.

The reason I cut chunks for later is that the watermelons are so big I can't store them easily in my refrigerator if I don't cut off about a quarter of them when I first cut into them. I simply put the watermelon cut side down on that same plate and slide it into the refrigerator. If we don't eat enough to make the watermelon short enough to fit on a refrigerator shelf on its plate, I cut more off and cut it into chunks into a bowl until the watermelon will fit.

And I guess that's it. That's how I deal with giant, seeded watermelons. That was about as exciting as the title promised, huh?

Do you buy watermelons? How do you prepare them?

Snapshots: The Earplugs Endure

My sister very kindly gave us a few rugs she didn't have any use for after she moved, including this one that I finally got into the boys' room. 

Poppy was organizing school supplies. At her own request, I might add. This girl is something else.

Getting that rug down required cleaning that room, which was definitely a daunting task. There's a reason it took four months to get the rug in there. After an hour's diligent effort, however, the room was clean and the rug was down.

Literally three hours later . . .

Nothing gold can stay, as Robert Frost reminded us.

Longtime readers will remember the popularity of earplugs in our house as people stand-ins for toy games. You can see in the above photo that even now, seven years later, they are still just as popular as they ever were.

Here you can see sailor earplugs on the armada.

We had some very strong winds ahead of a thunderstorm that inspired our resident girl to make herself some wings so she could attempt flying.

Feathers courtesy of a dove the dogs obligingly brought to the doorstep.

I made her promise not to jump off of anything too high. She came back in after her attempt to report that first the wings did nothing, and then the tape holding them on came off in the strong wind. She was of the opinion that glue would work better.

We currently have the horses in a pasture in the middle of our ghost village, so they're not just hanging by the house eating hay we have to buy. When I went up to fill their water, I saw that Bill the Pony had a chunk of cholla cactus in his mane. Obviously, that needed to be cut out.

I requested the assistance of the one boy who can always catch Bill. Actually the only boy who can ever catch him.

Junior Pony Whisperer.

It only took three tries to get the halter on, which is pretty good for Bill. And then we found that he had somehow gotten the cholla out himself. How, I do not know, but I was pleased I didn't have to be using scissors two inches from his ear. I fear that would not have gone well.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Bacon Grease All Week

There was a lot of bacon cooked at our family get-together in Colorado, and I saved all the grease. Which I put in an empty jar and brought home with me. This probably cemented my reputation as The Weird Relative, but I got more than a cup of bacon grease out of it, which is totally worth it. And which I used every day this week.

That's a quart jar it's in. That's a lot of bacon grease.

Friday 

Short version: Ground bull burritos, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: A pound of so of ground bull meat browned in bacon grease with half a can of black beans and spices and salsa. I was too lazy to even chop an onion or garlic, so I used the powders. It was still fine. And easy.

Saturday

Short version: Lamb, spaghetti with pesto, green salad with ranch dressing, cheesecake

Long version: This was the new 12-year-old's birthday dinner request. It's very lucky for him that pasta with pesto is his favorite and that his birthday happens to be right when there's enough basil in the garden to make pesto. 

He had asked for any kind of lamb, so I took out a boned-out leg roast, browned it (in bacon grease!), sliced it, then cooked it the rest of the way in the pan with sliced shallots from the garden, and cream.

I used the recipe for New York-style cheesecake in my Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, which was written by Christopher Kimball. That means it was basically a Cook's Illustrated recipe. I made the New York-style kind because then I didn't have to separate the eggs and beat the whites with cream of tartar. 

That recipe was for a 10-inch springform pan, and I have a 9-inch pan, so I baked the extra batter in a disposable aluminum pan and gave it to our priest. I think I overbaked his, because it was smaller and I kind of forgot about it, but I'm pretty sure he'll still eat it. It's hard to completely ruin a cheesecake.

Sunday

Short version: Chicken and pesto, leftover spaghetti with pesto, fried potato, carrot sticks with ranch dip

Long version: One child had requested chicken, and the cheapest option for that was bone-in breasts. I had three of them in the package, so I poached those in the morning while it was still cool. At dinnertime, I just pulled the meat off, chopped it up, fried it in a lot of bacon grease, and added the rest of the pesto.

And then it still seemed dry, because chicken breast is, so I added some olive oil. And more bacon grease.

The potato was for A., because he doesn't eat pasta. I just microwaved it, chopped it, and fried it in . . . yup, bacon grease.

Monday

Short version: Fancy bean and cheese quesadillas, kohlrabi sticks, canned peaches with or without cottage cheese

Long version: When I make quesadillas for lunch, they are typically just cheese, sometimes beans. But for these, I used the rest of the blue corn tortillas my sister had sent home with us, some of the monterey jack cheese (a kind I never buy) also from the Colorado trip, the rest of a partial can of refried beans that had been in the refrigerator for awhile, garlic powder, and sliced jalapenos for those who like spice.

So I guess it was the garlic powder and jalapenos that made these fancy? Sure. And the blue corn tortillas.

Pretty.

After they were fried--in, of course, bacon grease--they were a very dark purple color. One child sat down at his place, looked at his place, and said quite matter-of-factly, "Wow. Those sure got burned." It sounded as if he had every intention of eating it anyway, however, and it was pretty funny.

I had two more kohlrabi in the garden that I harvested this day, so we had one of those for our vegetable.

I went to all the trouble of putting the can of peaches in the refrigerator to chill it before dinner, so I obviously get a gold star for this meal. Also a gold star for actually turning on the stove and frying the quesadillas, because it was so hot I was seriously tempted to just microwave them. These kind of tortillas are kind of dry that way, though, so frying was the way to go.

Hot, though. Eighty-three degrees when I finished making dinner. Definitely out of my temperature comfort zone.

Tuesday

Short version: Pesto chicken and potatoes, more kohlrabi sticks, creamy apricot popsicles

Long version: Hot again. I microwaved the potatoes before frying them (in you know what) so I wouldn't have to have the stove on as long, and then added the leftover pesto chicken, plus some more spices and salt.

The popsicles were just apricot jam, yogurt, and heavy cream. I never measure quantities for popsicles, except for knowing I need about 1.25 cups total to fill my four popsicle molds. I didn't have one, and one child wasn't here, so four was enough and I didn't have to get creative with butter knives.

Wednesday

Short version: Barbecue bull sandwiches, roasted potatoes, coleslaw, rhubarb pudding with cream

Long version: I took out a bag of pressure-cooked bull meat to thaw and then processed it further with my immersion blender before heating it with barbecue sauce. I realize when we sat down to eat that I missed an opportunity to add bacon grease to the meat. The bull meat is so lean, it can always use extra fat, and the bacon grease would have been good for that. It was tasty anyway, though.

I was baking bread anyway, so I made some buns, too. Potatoes roasted while the oven was on for the bread. I did put bacon grease on them.

I made the coleslaw with the very last cabbages from the garden, which were very small.

Paring knife for scale. A. drolly asked me if these were giant Brussels sprouts.

Despite their diminutive size, I still got enough shredded cabbage out of them to make a half recipe of this coleslaw. I also used one of the shallots I had dug up the day before. We only had about half a dozen shallots, but they did pretty well, and I do like shallots. I'll have to plant more this fall.

I hadn't yet made rhubarb pudding this summer. I thought the rhubarb was done for the year, but two plants staged a comeback, so I had enough to make this pudding. Two thumbs up.

Thursday

Short version: Hamburger steaks with gravy, boiled potatoes, corn on the cob, coleslaw, watermelon

Long version: This meal was much larger than I was anticipating, and all because I went to a city in the morning. In that city was a truck selling watermelons, corn, and cherries, all of which I got. I also got a big 10-pound roll of ground beef at the store.

Originally I thought I would make meatballs, but I didn't want to roll all those individual meatballs. So instead I made essentially really thick hamburgers, which I browned and then cooked in onions and some of the chicken stock from cooking the chicken breasts a few days previously. I thickened it with milk and cornstarch. This was something like Salisbury steaks, I guess, but those are more like meatloaf, with breadcrumbs and all. So I guess these were just hamburger steaks.

I suppose I should have fried them in bacon grease, but I also had some rendered beef fat in the refrigerator that had been there awhile, so I used that instead.

The watermelon was a big--like 30 pounds--seeded one, and it was only just okay. Not bad, but not as sweet as I was hoping. Boo.

Refrigerator check:

A watermelon (hiding in the back of the bottom shelf) plus a grocery run means my refrigerator is stuffed.

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

A.P.D.: Indoor Temperature

For most of the ten years we lived at Blackrock, we had no air conditioning in the house at all. Our bedroom was upstairs, with windows facing the setting sun. Upstate New York--especially when living by a lake--is incredibly humid, and surprisingly hot in the summer. This meant some very uncomfortable temperatures in our bedroom at night.

Anytime I saw a nighttime low that was 70 degrees or above, I knew I would be getting no sleep. It would be well into the 80s in our bedroom, and so sticky that my skin would feel simultaneously hot and chilled from the clammy sweat.

It was very unpleasant.

Here, where the air is significantly drier, I start to notice a change in my comfort level at 80 degrees. Our furnace thermostat is in the kitchen, so I know what the temperature is in there. Our bedroom is right off the kitchen, and is usually about the same temperature.

Last night when I went to bed, it was 83 degrees. That's a little too hot. I didn't feel comfortable enough to sleep until about 10 p.m.

When I woke up at 5:30 a.m., it was 73 degrees. That's a little warm, but I could still drink hot coffee without sweating too much.

The sunflowers and sage have been enjoying the heat a lot more than I do.

In the winter, I set our furnace thermostat overnight to 57 degrees. I mostly do this because otherwise it will cycle on and off and wake me up in the early morning, but that is actually a comfortable temperature for me to sleep in.

During the day it's set to 65 degrees, but with our woodstove going, it's usually between 68 and 70 degrees.

So I guess my ideal indoor temperatures are less than 60 at night and about 70 during the day. 

I have a small window of comfort, apparently.

So tell me: What is your ideal indoor temperature?

Snapshots: Colorado, Of Course

Let's view some photos from our trip to Colorado, shall we?

The nicest rest stop I've ever seen, somewhere past Pueblo but before Colorado Springs.

There were lots of paths, which were perfect for having the children run laps after they ate their lunch.

We were well past Denver and into the mountains when I saw a bunch of cars on the side of the road, but not at a trailhead or anything. I've spent enough time driving in wilderness areas to know this usually means some sort of exotic animal is within sight. Sure enough . . .

MOOSE!

I had not seen a moose since I lived in Alaska as a kid, and no one else in the family had ever seen one, so this was very exciting. It could not have cared less about the twenty or so people watching it. Thankfully.

The house my parents rented was huge. They wanted something that would sleep all 14 of us in a bed, and that meant this giant three-story house with six bedrooms.

The living room was something else.

It was perched at the very top of a hill and had some great views.

It also seemed to be a regular traffic stop for both moose, which we saw several times, once right in the garden twenty feet from the porch, and bears. The bears came every night and knocked over the very heavy dumpster, scattering trash all over. That got old. You'd think a rental house in bear country would have a better-secured dumpster.

Anyway.

One day my parents rented a pontoon boat so we could tour the lake.

Despite the name, Grand Lake is actually quite small.

Spectacular views of Rocky Mountain National Park, though.

Although A. went fishing a couple of times, he didn't have any luck. The children enjoyed swimming in the lake, though, even though it was really cold.

I stayed firmly on shore, thank you very much. Way too cold for me.

And of course, the reason we were there . . .

Happy Fiftieth, Mom and Dad!

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

Friday Food: To Colorado and Back

Friday 

Short version: Pork and sauerruben, leftovers

Long version: I had made sauerruben again this year--fermented turnips, like sauerkraut is for cabbage--and canned it this day. I had some of the liquid left and a bit of the actual turnip, so I used it to cook the bone and random bits of pork left from cutting the pork butt into steaks for grilling. Luckily, it was a very cool day, so I could simmer it for a long time to get the meat off, which is what I did.

Then I defatted the juices and reduced them to make a sauce for the meat. It was very good.

We had lots of potato salad and baked beans left from the day before.

Saturday

Short version: Various leftover meats and other leftovers, tortillas and cheese

Long version: We had the pork and sauerruben, lamb steaks, and grilled pork that I heated up all together on the stove.

Meat skillet.

And yet more baked beans and potato salad. But not quite enough of either, and anyway a couple of people aren't a fan of mayonnaise-dressed potato salad, so they had the tortillas and cheese.

Sunday

Short version: Spanish tortilla, frozen peas, baked peaches and cream

Long version: I had made this spanish tortilla the day before for dinner, because I didn't realize I had enough meat left over to make another meal. It worked out, though, because I spent all day running around getting ready to leave for a family trip to Colorado, so I was glad I had something already made.

The peaches came from Nick the Peach Guy. We saw him at church in the morning and he said he still had peaches in his freezer from a couple of years ago. Did we want them?

The answer is always yes.

The peaches had been frozen whole. The nice thing about frozen peaches is that when they thaw, the skins slip right off. So, with Poppy's help, we skinned the peaches, pulled them in half to remove the pits, and baked them that way. They were small peaches, so they didn't need any more cutting. I drained off some of the excess liquid, added sugar, vanilla, and some apricot jam I had made partially with honey that only about half the family liked. Then I baked the peaches while I was baking cookies.

Peachy.

They were delicious. Especially with heavy cream poured right over the top. Of course.

Monday

Short version: Colorado barbecue

Long version: This was the day we drove to Grand Lake, Colorado, to meet my family. We gathered there at a giant house to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary. 

The scenery on the way there was ultra-Colorado.

My brother picked up food from a barbecue restaurant on his way there so no one had to cook this night. There were ribs and chicken and pork and brisket and lots of side dishes. It was very good.

Tuesday

Short version: Enchilada casserole, guacamole, peach crisp

Long version: My sister made this meal for us all. It was an enchilada casserole with chicken, I think. She also made guacamole with something like 14 avocados, and it was all eaten this night. We're a family of guacamole eaters, for sure.

She had also bought peaches at the farmers market near her house, which she used to make a crisp. I was too full to eat any, but I was told it was delicious.

Wednesday

Short version: Ham, rice, Holy's cabbage, roasted carrots, tomato salad, cake and ice cream

Long version: This was my night to prepare dinner. I made everything but the rice and tomato salad ahead of time, transported it in a cooler, and just heated it all up for the meal.

Heating.

My sister had also brought a bunch of tomatoes from the farmers market, which I used to make the tomato salad. Yum.

The cake was for a grandchild's 12th birthday and the anniversary. The cake itself was from a mix, but I made the buttercream frosting because we have a family member who doesn't eat high fructose corn syrup. I had never made buttercream without a mixer, but it worked out fine. I just had to beat it hard with a spoon.

I decided to decorate the cake with my signature cake-decorating skills.

S and J are my parents; C is the birthday kid.

I think this is the Ugliest of all Ugly Cakes. You might even say it takes the cake.

Okay, don't say that. That was terrible. The frosting was good, though.

Thursday

Short version: Leftover ham, leftover rice, corn

Long version: We got home this day at 5:15 p.m. I had thought I would make a skillet meal with the ham and rice, but in the end I just heated them up separately in the microwave, along with frozen corn.

Refrigerator check:

A very unorganized refrigerator with all the food left from our family gathering I was sent home with just thrown in there when we got home.

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

Little Hands

One of the best chores for a small child to help with is pulling the basil leaves off the stems.

Small leaves for small fingers.

Other things she has done with/for me recently: 

--Skinning and pitting thawed peaches

--Bashing cabbage for sauerkraut

--Hanging the socks and underwear on the clothesline

--Sweeping the covered porch

--Dusting the couch feet/lamp bases/anything low down

--Organizing my bathroom drawer (I did not ask her to do that one)

--Chopping potatoes

--Making a fly swatter out of a stick and a piece of cardboard . . . that actually works

--Decorating for the Fourth of July

I'm not saying my sons weren't helpful as young children, but this girl is a whole other level. It might not last, but I'm enjoying it while it does.

Snapshots: This and That

The plastic hinge on one side of my laptop snapped off several days ago, which caused the frame of plastic around the screen to separate. I fixed it.

Clamping it with the clip I found in the junk drawer totally counts.

Yes, I should order a new laptop, but this is working for now, so . . . not yet.

The flag that we had been flying in front of our house got shredded in the wind, so we don't have a flag right now. Poppy decided she could take care of the patriotic decorations for the Fourth of July.

Two coloring pages and an original flag drawing on the bottom.

The early-morning sun created a still-life with apricots on the woodstove.

Glowy fruit.

We got eggs from some friends, and I had to laugh at the name on the carton.

I'm imagining a disco ball in the chicken coop.

I made a double batch of popsicles when we had guests here, but I only have four popsicle molds. So I pulled the first batch of frozen popsicles out of the molds and made the next batch with some improvised popsicle sticks.

Plastic-handled butter knives work pretty well, actually.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Repetitive Steaks

Friday 

Short version: Egg salad, cottage cheese, leftover spaghetti, crackers, leftover coleslaw

Long version: I already had all the eggs hardboiled, so I just made the egg salad and set everything out for everyone to choose their own combination.

A very modest buffet.

Saturday

Short version: Lamb steaks, rice, green peas

Long version: Some of the leg of lamb steaks, marinated and fried. Rice, peas, whatever. 

Sunday

Short version: Scrambled eggs, one lamb steak, beans and rice, leftover peas, brownie sundaes

Long version: I had one lamb steak that didn't fit in the pan the night before, so I cooked that for the one child who doesn't like scrambled eggs. Everyone else got the eggs.

The beans were the pintos and ham from the big batch I made a few months ago and froze. This was the last of it. I should do more big batches like that. A very handy thing to have in the freezer.

I had promised the kids I would make brownies for Sunday dessert, and I had made chocolate syrup earlier in the day. So those two things, plus a choice of vanilla or mint chocolate chip ice cream, made for some very exciting brownie sundaes.

Monday

Short version: Elk steaks, bread and butter, coleslaw

Long version: I found one last bag of elk steaks while I was rummaging in the meat freezer, so we had those. I just fried them in tallow and made a gravy for them with milk and the onions I had cooked after dicing what I needed for the coleslaw.

Tuesday

Short version: Cheeseburgers (with buns!), home fries, corn

Long version: I had made the buns on Sunday when I was baking bread, figuring I'd find something to put in them at some point. Which I did: Ground bull.

Again, too hot to turn the oven on for oven fries. So microwaved potatoes chopped and fried in tallow had to do.

The corn was just frozen corn kernels I had bought to have for shepherd's pie. I consider corn to be more of a starch than a vegetable, but the children were very pleased with it.

Wednesday

Short version: Lamb steaks, potatoes or bread and butter, green peas

Long version: Fourth day in a row with some kind of steak, yes. In fact, this meal had both lamb steaks AND an elk steak, since there was about half an elk steak left from Monday and some children prefer the elk to the lamb.

I had some already-cooked potatoes that I fried in the pan with the steaks, but I didn't have enough for everyone. Thus, bread and butter.

Actually, the same children that had the elk had the bread and butter. Concidentally.

Thursday

Short version: Many meats, potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, American flag cake, ice cream, s'mores

Long version: A. bought a giant package of bone-in pork butt instead of ribs for our Fourth of July barbecue. He was going to buy pork ribs, but they were marked way up for the holiday. So instead, he bought the pork butt, boned it, and cut, well, steaks from it.

Despite the size of the pork butt, it didn't make all that many steaks when it was boned out. So I also took out a bag of lamb steaks, and then I added some hamburger patties I had formed and frozen awhile ago.

The Fourth of July is about the only day A. is willing to grill anything. Meat always tastes better cooked over charcoal.

I made American potato salad--with mayonnaise and hard boiled eggs in it--instead of the vinaigrette-dressed kind I often make. Because it was America Day, and that calls for a mayonnaise-based potato salad. Obviously.

Baked beans made from two jars of frozen pinto beans, coleslaw left over from a few days before.

And our traditional American flag cake. Which, also traditionally, was pretty ugly.

Even uglier than usual, actually.

Ice cream with the cake, and also because we had a guest with us who doesn't eat gluten.

I had promised the children we would have a fire on the Fourth of July, which seems to demand s'mores. It was supposed to be a big bonfire with all the scrap wood we've been collecting as we clean up the property, but it ended up being too windy for a really big fire. So we had a more restrained fire, but it was enough to make s'mores, and that's the important thing.

Refrigerator check:

Many leftovers.

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

Real Tradwives of the Country

Happy Fourth to all my fellow Americans! Have a totally random post, with no photo, in celebration of our great nation.

Although I am definitely an Internet dinosaur--having a personal blog just for fun is pretty much obsolete these days--I do still see a lot of what goes around online these days. And one of the things I see a lot is discussion of "tradwives." 

If you are not familiar with this, it stands for "traditional wives," and so far as I can see, is supposed to be something like June Cleaver crossed with Ma Ingalls. 

A tradwife makes sourdough bread, grows a big garden, keeps an immaculate house, cares for animals, has many children, and does all of this in a white cotton dress and cute boots.

This seems to be tied to the rise in "homesteading" as a lifestyle choice, and has quite justifiably created a backlash of mockery.

As anyone who has ever lived a "homesteading" life can tell you (and most people are living a very light version of that life, myself included), a woman cannot do all of that. She cannot care for everything perfectly, keeping everything and everyone in her orbit perfectly manicured and photo-ready. It's just not possible.

It's a dirty life, and it's often not pretty. It's muddy, or bloody, or smelly, or full of maggots. Because that's what life is like if you live anywhere close to the natural world.

I was thinking about this yesterday when the children and I were cleaning out the truck bed.

I had not planned on cleaning out the truck bed yesterday. I was actually on my way to go gather apricots from my neighbor's tree in the pasture across the road. Picking apricots and making jam from them is a perfectly acceptable tradwife activity. It's even possible, I suppose, to do those things while wearing a sundress.

I, however, was still wearing my running shorts and t-shirt from my early-morning run, because I had been so busy in the garden and kitchen that I hadn't showered and changed yet.

I was going to take the truck so I could bring the ladder and rake to reach the high ones. But when we got to the truck, we saw that the truck bed was covered in a layer of hay and sand that I had meant to rake out to mulch my tomatoes.

Okay, I thought. I'll just do that real quick.

Ha ha.

Forty-five minutes later, I had filled the wheelbarrow with noxious hay; removed the incredibly heavy rubber truck bed mat that had been harboring a truly disgusting layer of soaked and fermenting hay underneath; raked, swept, and hosed out the muck from the truck; and flipped that giant, heavy mat twice to scrape and wash it off.

I did all of this wearing my running clothes, plus A.'s muck boots. I got liberally splattered with foul muck, and was drenched in sweat by the time I finished*.

This is when I went into A.'s office with the rake in my hand and told him, "I'm ready for my tradwife photo shoot."

Because that's what it really looks like to be a traditional wife: Sweaty, dirty, and tired.

A. asked me if I actually wanted him to take my picture. I did not, because I wasn't feeling very photogenic, so there's no record of this particular moment in our "homestead" life. 

It's just one of many through the years, however, and I'm sure it won't be the last. 

* It was a very dirty and tiring task, but also quite satisfying, which sums up our life in a nutshell.

Dishes and Dishwashers

About a month ago, my dishwasher stopped heating the water. Without hot water, dishes don't get clean. I looked up the error message on the dishwasher's readout and figured out what needed to happen to fix it.

I also figured out that it was not a fix we were going to do ourselves.

I found a place in the city 100 miles away that will look at it, but I have to bring it to them. And that, I have not yet done.

So I don't have a functioning dishwasher.

This is not as bad as it might be, since it's summer. I don't work in the summer, and we're not running all over creation for school/sports/religious education/whatever. This means I have the time to do dishes twice a day.

It's been eight years since I've been without a dishwasher, but before that, I did dishes by hand at Blackrock for a decade. My handwashing skills were a little rusty, however, so I had to remember my method.

What, you don't have a dishwashing method? I definitely do. And here it is!

First, I fill the sink with soapy hot water and put all the silverware in the sink to soak while I wipe the table. 

Next, I wash all the silverware, three pieces at a time. The MiL thought it was very funny that I always do three pieces at a time, but that seems like the right number to me. Enough that I feel like I'm moving quickly, but not so many that I can't properly clean and rinse them all.

Next, I put in the cups and mugs to wash. 

Bowls next.

Next is plates.

Next are the miscellaneous cooking things, including pots and pans. 

Last, I wash cast-iron skillets.

And when I'm all done, I microwave the dish cloth for a minute to sterilize it, since I can't just throw it in the dishwasher.

A dishwasher that no longer washes is a very handy dish drainer, at least.

I will get the dishwasher in to be repaired before I start work in August. If it can't be repaired, I'll buy a new one. But until then, I hand wash, starting with silverware.

Do you have a dishwasher, or do you do dishes by hand? What's your method?

Snapshots: The Locust Swarm

I now have had a small taste of the Biblical plague of locusts visited upon the Egyptians. Or the marching army of locusts described in On the Banks of Plum Creek. 

I was not a fan.

Although the numbers of locusts we saw last week weren't as formidable as those two events, there were enough that it was disturbing. The swarm arrived in our village on Monday. I drove out of our gate and while I was waiting for Poppy to close the gate behind me, I sat looking at our neighbor's pasture. It looked as if there were cottonwood seeds or something floating through the air there.

And then I realized that all those things in the air over the pasture were flying locusts. They covered the roads and swarmed in the air. 

It was hard to get a photo of them, but all those dark spots in the road are locusts.

Driving through them sounded like hail as they slammed into the windshield over and over. 

My car's grille has looked like this for a week.

The boys went running through a pasture and reported that it was hard to see, because the locusts kept flying into their faces. They pretended the insects hitting them were gunfire, though, so I guess it was fun in the end.

I'm glad someone found a silver lining to this particular nasty cloud, because no one else has appreciated them. They haven't eaten my garden (yet . . .), but they have completely destroyed all the pastures. They prefer grass, and all the new grass that was finally starting to grow after the rain is totally gone. It's ugly. Neighbors are having to feed their cattle purchased feed, and probably will have to sell some of their herds off.

The swarm only reaches a few miles, but it was centered here for at least four days before it moved on. I've been asking the older people what breaks the locusts' cycle, and they all agree that a hail storm will kill them off.

I am hesitant to wish for hail, but I guess it would have a positive effect in this case.

Anyway. Here's something nicer.

Poppy disappeared into her room for several minutes and reappeared asking me to come look at her "barrette masterpiece." It was pretty impressive.

We have actually been getting rain, and I haven't had to water my garden in several days.

Almost half an inch in about an hour one afternoon resulted in . . .

Very heavy fog the next morning.

And a foggy sunflower, just for fun.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.