Snapshots: No Connecting Theme

Poppy's friend generously gifted her a dress and a bracelet for Charlotte the doll. 

Little girls are so cute, for real.

I had to bring a child to the clinic for school vaccinations in a town with a feed store, so I stopped to get four three-string bales of alfalfa. 

Do you know how much a three-string bale of alfalfa weighs? Yeah, I didn't either. They weigh around a hundred pounds or more. I managed to get them all loaded into the van--with a lot of lifting with my legs and flipping bales end over end--but I forgot to bring gloves and a long-sleeved shirt with me.

And this was the result. Ow.

Random photo of our ghost village.

And puffy clouds.

We have entered a new era in our household: the era of teenage boys and their project trucks.

We are now the owners of a 1982 Dodge Power Ram, which means our teenage son's first vehicle will be almost as old as his parents. 

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

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.