Visit to Orcas Island

My recent trip to Orcas Island, one of the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound, was spectacular. I went with my dear friend C.C. It was a gorgeous day - we had great timing, the rest of the week the weather wasn't as cooperative.



There were several highlights that day...I tried my first oyster ever - and loved it! I guess I'd always told myself I didn't like oysters because they are funny looking. The meal we had at Cafe Olga was fantastic, every bit of it!



We also browsed a bit in some shops, my favorite was a book store that has a fantastic selection and gorgeous views. They had several books there about raising chickens, growing food, and things of that sort, it was hard to not want to buy up everything that caught my interest. I did snap pictures though so I can remember the titles and request the books on PaperBackSwap, or have the list ready when family asks what I want for Christmas.



Next time I go to Orcas I want to walk onto the ferry and then rent scooters to get around the island. We saw lots of people doing this and it looked fun.

For my friend from my Victory Garden!

Our neighbor, who is a friend to my husband and myself, was recently laid off from his job. It can be hard to know how to react to that kind of news from a friend...I know from being in a similar situation myself that there's nothing someone else can say that makes losing your job feel any less traumatic. My response was to head out to the garden to pick a small harvest, it's what I have to give right now. Paired with a chilled bottle of Pinot Gris, this is the best way I know right now to say "It happens to the best of us!"

Life can be rough, I don't understand why. I'm hanging in there by doing things that seem simple. I think a sampling of vegetables and a bottle of wine are a simple pleasure, job or no job, that remains true.

Busy, Calm, Busy, Calm, Busy...

After the craziness of getting ready for my farmer's market booth over the last week, today was a nice, relaxing change of pace. We went to church this morning and then the afternoon was filled with simple outdoor tasks. The chicken coop needed a good cleaning - this has become a weekly chore - this is maybe too much information, but I'm making piles with the manure to add to the garden soil this fall. It was also time to put more seeds in the ground: my 4th round of radishes, and more carrots and lettuce. There were five heads of cabbage to pick, 3 red and 2 green. Some time was spent pulling weeds and then planting the wisteria plant from my birthday. The chickens put on an entertaining show as they were enjoying a group dust bath - they really got into it! In fact, there was only really enough exposed dirt for two or maybe three chickens to properly roll around in for a bath, but all 8 were determined to squeeze themselves in, pretty funny to watch.
Tonight the husband and I are going to drive down to Seattle to see the movie Food, Inc. I wanted to see it last week, but there were too many other things going on.

Another fun thing that is going on is that one of my oldest friends, Amber, is driving up from the Sacramento area with her kids for a road trip along the coast and to visit us and see the area. We last saw her and her family in December when we took a road trip down through Tahoe to do some snowboarding. It was a last minute trip, and I'm excited she chose to go for it. She's a couple of months past her surgery for breast cancer, so I'm excited that she's feeling up to this trip! It's always good to see her, some friendships really do get better and better even with long distances to hurdle.

I still have some things to share from my day trip to Orcas Island from last week, hopefully I'll get to that in the next day or two. Here's a little sneak peak:

Have a fabulous Sunday!

Farmer's Market First

I've been super busy lately...We're talking up until 1 or 2 am working at my sewing machine... I found out on Monday that I was going to sell from a farmer's market booth Saturday (today)...

Then I had an old friend in town until Wednesday...

But even with the time crunch I was still able to pull it off (with a ton of help from the husband of course!)

All in all, it was a slow day, I sold a fair amount of items. Mostly though, it was a good experience because I tried something that I've wanted to do for months. I feel like I took the first steps to starting my own business. I put up a booth filled with things that created, as vulnerable as that made me feel. I also learned that even on a slow day I can connect with people. Actually many people asked if I had a business card, so that's something that I'll be working on soon.

I am also thinking that it would be helpful to be at a venue that gets more traffic, even one where the focus is arts and crafts. It seemed like many people who came to the farmer's market already had in mind what they wanted to buy in the way of fruits and vegetables, they weren't really in a browsing/shopping mode.

Next weekend is the 4th of July, there will be a parade on the street adjacent to the farmer's market, so I will give that location another try, hopefully there'll be more people.

I will spend some time sewing up more items, but the really late nights shouldn't be necessary.

It has been a great, albeit exhausting, experience. I am looking forward to the next time and to growing my business over time.

Pretty Chords

I took these pictures to post a for sale ad online for the husband, but they looked so pretty I thought I'd share them.

Summer Drink of Choice

The concoction in the glass pictured is sparkling mineral water and morello cherries with a squeeze of lime...my new [non-alcoholic] drink of choice for the summer. It's refreshing with just the right blend of sweet and tart - YUM!

A dear friend of mine from college is in town, we are going to head up to Orcas Island on the ferry for a day trip today. I was given a list of places to visit while we're there by another good friend who was married on the island and wants to move there in the future. I'm sure I'll have some great things to share about our day.

Hope all is well with you! Yay for summer!

Localvores/Locavores Reading

From one of my favorite sources of quick information, Wikipedia:

A localvore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius such as 50, 100, or 150 miles (240 km). The localvore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locally grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.
"Localvore" was coined by Jessica Prentice from the San Francisco Bay Area on the occasion of World Environment Day 2005 to describe and promote the practice of eating a diet consisting of food harvested from within an area most commonly bound by a 100-mile (160 km) radius. "Locavore" is sometimes also used.
The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore, a person who seeks out locally produced food, as its word of the year 2007.[6] The local foods movement is gaining momentum as people discover that the best-tasting and most sustainable choices are foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home. Some locavores draw inspiration from the The 100-Mile Diet or from advocates of local eating like Barbara Kingsolver whose book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles her family's attempts to eat locally. Others just follow their taste buds to farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and community gardens.
A study in the 2007 Dewey Health Review revealed that a Locavore diet (study included 100 individuals ages 18–55 eating local food grown within an 80-mile (130 km) radius) resulted in a 19% increase in sturdiness of bowel movement and an overall drop in sleep apnea and night terrors.

These three books have been on my reading list recently. Each author approaches the subject of eating locally in a very different manner. All three provide first hand knowledge of the challenges and benefits involved in eating locally. So here are my rapid fire reviews:

• Farewell, My Subaru: This book was the most entertaining of the three. The author tells the story of his year of local living in the Southwest in a fun and sometimes shocking way. He also discusses in detail the process of transitioning completely away from fossil fuels for transportation. Fine tells his story chronologically, explaining the trials and triumphs of each season. His efforts to use solar panels and solar water heating to get off "the grid" were inspiring.
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: This family showed commitment. Also told in a chronological manner, this book made it appear possible that a family (with a young child) could successfully take on the challenge of eating locally. It is one thing for a single person to make that commitment, it's a whole different ball game for a family with a young child, who has to take a lunch to school everyday, to make the same commitment to local eating. I was most inspired by Kingsolver's stories about her garden and poultry raising - though I am still not interested in raising and "harvesting" meat birds. I have already shared on this blog that I learned valuable information about asparagus from her book. I've also been inspired by the many recipes included in the book. I specifically plan on using the recipe for tomato sauce for canning this summer.
• The Omnivore's Dilema: So many things stand out in this book. One of the first thing that hit me was Pollan's thoughts about the American food traditions. I think it explained the longing that I've felt when I've traveled in places like Italy or Thailand - I want to belong to a culture with a strong food tradition. I don't want to be a part of a society that decides based upon a trend that bread is a product of the devil - the fat devil. I am hoping to go see the documentary that Pollan made "Food Inc." later this week in Seattle, the husband and I have talked about making it into a date...fun!

Cinnamon Rolls for Father's Day (or any day!)

Today for Father's Day I made the husband cinnamon rolls for breakfast - actually, I made them last night, then they rose in the 'fridge overnight and were baked this morning. They turned out nicely and I documented the process with no less than 16 photos to share (and this is after editing out several shots), because a recipe isn't fun without pictures. I warn you ahead of time that the recipe seems quite involved, in reality, it's actually very simple, especially with practice. It also may seem long, but I added quite a few of my own comments to the basic recipe.

Okay, here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water (110 F)

1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 tspn salt

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 egg

1 tspn vanilla (the real stuff made out of bourbon - if all you have is the imitation stuff then skip this)

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup butter melted (the real stuff - not margarine!)

1 tbspn ground cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar (or more to taste)

Directions:In a small bowl (I use a 2-cup pyrex measuring cup) dissolve yeast in warm water, stirring at first. Let stand 10 minutes until creamy.

While waiting for yeast to dissolve completely, combine in your mixer bowl (I have a kitchenaid that I use for this - I put the dough hook attachment on from the start) sugar, salt, egg, shortening, vanilla, 1 cup flour.

Add the yeast mixture to all of this and mix well.

Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with each addition.

When the dough has "pulled together" - meaning no more loose flour, then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic - about 8 minutes. (The truth is that I don't do this - I just let the dough hook on my mixer do the kneading work for me - I run the mixer a couple of minutes after the dough has pulled together, seems to work fine and then I don't get dough in my rings or fingernails.) Let the dough then rest, covered with a damp cloth, for 10 minutes.While the dough rests, grease your pan. If you want your cinnamon rolls to be extra gooey, spread a layer of brown sugar on the bottom of the pan, it will carmelize into a sticky, yummy, mess - easy to clean though because the sugar dissolves in water.Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.

Use a pastry brush to spread the melted butter on the dough (I never use all of the butter - it makes the cinnamon rolls too rich/greasy for my taste, but it's up to you).

Then sprinkle with the cinnamon - you can spread the cinnamon with your pastry brush to keep it even.Next coat the dough with a layer of brown sugar. (I am very generous with the brown sugar - that's the part they like alot in my house.)

If you want more smaller rolls then roll the dough along the long edge until it forms a roll - you should be able to get 16 or so small rolls this way. Because these rolls really are best right when they come out of the oven and there aren't that many mouths in my house, I usually roll the dough on the shorter edge - then you get fewer rolls but they are bigger.

Either way, cut the roll into pieces and place them in the pan with the cut side up.Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight...OR cover with your damp cloth and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume (usually takes about 45 minutes). I think they taste better if you make them the night before - and then you don't have to wait in the morning for them to rise before putting them in the oven, but I've done it both ways. Here they are after they were in the 'fridge all night - look at that yeast work!

Preheat the oven to 335 and bake 20-28 minutes (depending on the size of your rolls and your oven). If you make the rolls bigger they will take longer to cook through and you may want to reduce the temp to 325 so you don't burn the outside and have a doughy inside.They are so good on their own that they really don't need any frosting - I tried it once but it was overkill - too sweet.

These are requested for special occasion mornings at my house - which is easy because I just mix them up the night before...Enjoy! You'll never buy another cinnamon roll again, these really are that good!

Harvy the Land Octopus

I sewed this cute octopus recently. I've found when I make something that has a face that typically a personality will jump out at some point in the process. This time the octopus let me know that his name was Harvey. He was quite a bit of work, but I like the end result. I don't think I'd want to duplicate Harvey over and over again, but maybe in the future I'll make more Harveys for the little ones of friends.