Sunday Happy

It is September friends. That is right. And I am not going to be like, wtf, what happened to summer or the past 6 months, or any of that.. No, I am going to be all like, heck yeah! I am excited for fall and looking forward to all the things that I love about this time of year. Apples, pumpkins, leaves, shorter days, hot drinks all the time, and sweaters. SWEATERS! Ooooh, just yes.

We started the past week with 2 car loads full of camping stuff. It was the mr and I, Barb, and the two older littles. We took them camping for their first state park experience. There was fishing, biking, rock skipping, s’mores, fire starting, people (Miley) trying to burn everything, and all the eating. We were all grubby and stinky and happy as could be. Sure the little guy might have had eaten one to many hot dogs and marshmallows and preceded to boot chunks all over the place, but he railed and was all good, maybe even better for it. After we all crawled into our tents (the boys shared and us ladies shared) we all passed out, all woke up at some point to the mr’s load as hell snoring, but had a pretty good night sleep. I woke up hours before everyone else and walked around in the dark for a while then the the mr, Barb, and I went and watched the sun rise while the two littles slept. After the monsters woke up we made a breakfast fit for champions, meandered, packed, and found another river spot to hang and fish at. After a long day, we dropped them off, went home, went to moms for dinner, and I then crashed. So much fun but sometime so much fun really just tuckers this here lady out.

The rest of the week went with no big biggies. Lots of studio work (Lots of mugs and I am making ghosts and they make me smile), harvesting all the goodies from the garden, doing a massive purge of shit that I don’t want, and reading as much as I can outside on the front porch. The weather had been of the upmost fantastic this week and I am sucking it all in. Other then that, not a whole heck of a lot.

The mr and I are out come 10am. We plan on a good long hike with a picnic lunch on a mountain, some kayaking, land looking, and camping. We are not staying at a state park due to that fact that there is not an empty site at any of them, but better off for us cause we are just going up to Belvedere and pitching the old tent with not a person around. And I get to wear a sweater all day long. That is probably one of the things I am most excited about. HA!

How I internet this week.

-Don’t be a dumb ass, for everyones sake. Coronavirus updates: Labor Day could fuel another rise in infections if people aren’t cautious, experts say

-ARe you a little nervous about apple picking this year? I know I am not going during peak times, thats for dang sure. Pick Your Poison.Fall activities like apple picking and leaf peeping are generally considered safe, but with record crowds and a COVID surge expected to collide this fall, locals are worried

-Kevin Costner’s New App for Road Trips Tells You About the Places You Travel Through. Although I am not an app person, I might just download this (someday). Kevin Costner is dreamy and I love me some history when traveling.

-But is is magic? David Blaine: Daredevil takes flight with helium-filled balloons

-My computer has been making some noises of late. It freaks me out What is it is about to explode, or worse yet, it just stops working? What various weird computer noises mean for your machine

-Walking Is Increasingly Deadly, and Not Because People Are on Their Phones. Seriously. I hear about people getting hit all the time. It is actually a fear of mine.

-London Artist Sophie Sellu’s Functional Wood Sculptures. I really really like.

-Would you live in a neighborhood like this? This sustainable neighborhood of the future is designed to manage both climate change and pandemics

-I mean, we all thought this would happen. If it works now, then way bother going back. Generation Work-From-Home May Never Recover

-I am dreaming of vacations and road trips. Landed on this. What is a Dude Ranch?

Pictures from the week

Freezer Soup Bags

Has your garden exploded yet? Mine has, as has my farm share. So much goodness all at once. It is amazing and wonderful and I am constantly eating just to keep up with it. But no matter how much I eat (I eat A LOT) I still have an abundance of fresh amazing produce, which is exactly what I planned because I freeze a lot of stuff for winter.

Which brings me to soup bags. To know me is to know that I am a soup person, like I eat soup everyday all day, kind of person. And so having veggies on hand at all times for soup is a necessity. Sure I sometimes use fresh ingredients but more often then not, especially in the winter months (which will be here before you know it), I just grab whatever bag of frozen veggies I have in the freezer and that is that.

A few years ago I started being a little more strategic about how I freeze my veggies and started making bags that are specifically for soup. Hence soup bags.

What’s in a soup bag you ask? Well anything you want. Mine are usually filled with things like lots of tomatoes, zucchinis, onions, eggplants, pepper, and so forth. Basically whatever I hav an abundance of. Like right now. I am bagging a shit load of zucchinis and tomatoes. In the next coming weeks, I will do another soup bag day and there will be more sweet potatoes and roots in the mix. I tend to not add greens because well, honestly, I never have too many fresh greens, I alway just eat them all. But you can if you want. Thats the beauty of making them yourself. You choose what you stick in them.

Either food from your garden, farm share, or grocery store, doing this now will give you a good jump on some meal prepping for the future months. It’s a no brainer. You will thank yourself, and me, but mostly yourself.

To the soup bags!

The stuff can be whatever stuff you have plenty of or whoever stuff you usually put in your soups. Me, I just grabbed an armful of stuff that was overflowing from the fridge and counter. Eggplants, zucchinis, tomatoes, corn. onion, peppers, potatoes. Whatever you have and whatever you want.

Simple as can be. Just chop everything up. And sure, you could blanch things if you want but really, I have never seen the difference when it comes to soup and that is just one more step that you don’t need to take.

Once everything is chopped, bag it, adding whatever feels right. I just start tossing handfuls of whatever into the bags until they are full. Sometimes I will fill bags with more specific veggies and label them for specific soups, but most of the time, its just a mixture of whatever. And I am never disappointed when I dump a bag out and see the medley.

Oh, and corn. I always toss the cob into the pot when I am making soup, extra flavor, so they go into the bags too.

Then you just label and date them and pop those bad boys into the freezer.

And now you are more then half way to soup at any given time. Just pop a bag out, dump it into a pot or your slow or pressure cooker with a liquid of your choice (water, stock, crashed tomatoes), toss in whatever spices you are feeling, maybe add some lentils or beans, and voila. You are souping.

Is souping a word? Well it is now.

Souping. verb The act of making and or eating soup.

-C

Sunday Happy

It has been a weird week. Not bad, I just feel really off. I think the feels are catching up with me a bit.

Went camping at the start of the week, and that was, as always the highlight and, as always. we were sad to leave. But we did and back to life we came.We both have been busy, doing what we needed to do. I got a lot done in my studio, went back to work for the first time at the studio I work at. and loaded more stuff into the kiln at another different studio. A studio heavy week. Also trying to get stuff done around the house, harvesting and processing all the food from the farm and garden, and to remember to pay the taxes! ( I need to do that, like NOW) . But yeah, just have had a touch the blahs. But hey, I picked up my knitting again so that is good, and the weather has been great around here, which makes me happy but also makes me sad for the rest of the country that has had to deal with heat and hurricanes and fires.

Meh.

I am ok. You ok? We are ok.

And it is Sunday which always makes me happy. Off to camp today and this time we are bring the littles and Barb and oh boy, what are we in for? We have camped with the littles before, but this year they are older, one has her face constantly glued to her cell phone and has been know to be a little, lets say, moody? And we have to share tents. And they are monsters that stay awake past 8 pm. (I will leave the task of staying awake with them to the mr and Barb. HA!) But other then that, it’s going to be so much fun. They have fishing to do, I have books, and it’s gonna be a cool rainless day. Can’t ask for much more. Hopefully I have everything we need. I have been packing all week, making homemade graham crackers, rolling up  extra sleeping pads, and buying 5 different bags of chips while cutting up all the veggies I can fit into a cooler. I think they are really excited which makes me excited too. One last big hurrah before school starts for Barb tomorrow and the little next week.

Wish us luck!

Some Internet from the week.

-I love you, Bill and Ted. Sat what you will about the movies (say nothing if you have nothing nice to say), but we all need this right now. And we could also use a time machine.

-My dutch oven, which I use at least once a day, is almost black. Maybe I should clean it? We Tried 5 Methods for Cleaning Dutch Ovens and Found a Clear Winner

-Welcome to the world of short shorts! He wears short shorts: why are men showing more leg?

-Beautiful acts in the world. A Labor of Love

-The Absolute Best Way to Cook Broccoli, According to So Many Tests. And don’t forget, sometimes the best way is no way. RAW!

-No, not me….Got a bad habit? Here’s how to train your brain to beat it

-Am I dutch? Why are the Dutch so tall?

-When Your Child Is a Psychopath. Could you imagine having a child that was a psychopath? Oh I sonnet even know what I would do. At least there is some hope if diagnosed early.

-On the bright side. The Pandemic Has Heightened Young People’s Dedication to Their Health

-Tiny Elephant Shrew Resurfaces After More Than 50 Years On Lost Species List. What the cuteness!

Pictures from the week.

-C

Wedge Salad

I feel like people are constantly throwing shade at iceberg lettuce. When talked about, it is always subpar with other greens in the world, that it has no nutritional value, that it is always soggy, that it is just not classy enough.

Well what I say is that iceberg is a hell of a lot more nutritional than a lot of things (like a bag of chips), that if it is soggy, well you bought it when it was no good, and that I love me some iceberg lettuce and I am classy as fuck.

The wedge, It is exactly what is sounds like, a big wedge of lettuce. Traditionally I think it is covered in a mass amount of blue cheese and bacon, but yeah, I don’t get down with that. Hummus and tomatoes ad mustard, that is how I roll. This “salad” is probably one of my all time favorite salads. Crisp and light lettuce, summer fresh tomatoes, creamy hummus, and the slight tang of mustard. I have been eating this for years and it still never stops being a favorite snack (because It really is what I snack on. And I will eat the whole head of lettuce with a few tomatoes. Nothing better on a hot afternoon). Out of all honesty though, I usually don’t eat it like a wedge, I usually just tear off a hunk of lettuce, slice a a slab of tomato, then dunk it straight into the hummus. That goes straight into my mouth and then I squirt a little mustard in there. That is class.

Now to the wedge!

The stuff. A head of iceberg lettuce (cut into wedges), hummus (store bought or home made), a couple of fresh tomatoes, scallions, yellow mustard, and pepper.

Thinly slice the tomatoes and chop up the scallions

Grab a wedge of the lettuce and stick it on a plate. Grab hummus and mix around until loose. Add a tablespoon or two or water to help loosen it if it is too thick, then slather wedge in hummus.

Layer on sliced tomatoes, add more hummus, and drizzle the top with mustard. Oh, and cracked pepper.

And then eat it. One wedge or the whole damn head. No shade from me.

-C

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Wedge Salad

Makes 4 wedges

• a head of iceberg lettuce

• 3/4 cup homemade or store bought hummus

• 1/4 cup water(if needed)

• 2 large fresh tomatoes

• 2-3 scallions (the green parts)

• Yellow mustard

• cracker pepper

Take the head of iceberg and slam it core side down onto a hard surface. This should dislodge the core (a good trick to know) Then cut the head into 4 equal wedges and place each wedge on a plate.

Slice up tomatoes thinly and chop up the green parts of the scallions.

Grab hummus and mix around until loose. If it is really thick add water until it is the consistency of lets say, a creamy thick dressing. Take the hummus and lather each wedge. Layer on sliced tomato, then top with more hummus.

Grab mustard and drizzle (squeeze) all over each wedge. And last but not least, season with pepper.

Now eat it.

Sunday Happy

And so another week has gone by. Can you actually believe that it is the end of August? I was just talking to someone about how this summer doesn’t even seem like it happened, like the past few months have just slipped on by without notice. That is exactly how I feel, like it just slipped on by...

The week, it was a good one. Camping at our first state park of the year, which I was a little nervous about due to the fact that there are like other people around, but it was good. We barely saw another person and that was when we walked through the campground and they were in their sites. And the camping was great. We kayaked, hiked, I read a lot and I even got a little chilly and had to sleep kinda in my sleeping bag. Love me some chilly camping, it is the best!

Then we came home and did the week like usual. The mr went back to working like a mad man, I unload some stuff form a glaze firing, made dinner at Barbs, tried to get organized for things to come, and got excited and made a bunch of dog/cat food bowls. And again, I realized that it was almost the end of the month so I better get my ass in high gear and get things ready to update the store page to sell some shit. Keep your eyes open for that fun!  I also had lunch with Megan and the kids, starting harvesting all the tomatoes from the garden, and have eaten an entire watermelon to myself in like 2 days. Oh, and Judah and I made dinner for everyone while the mr took Miley and Barbara fishing. He asked me to teach him how to cook so I let him pick what he wanted to make for our first cooking lessons. He choose scrambled eggs and wow, he made them like a boss. Next week he wants to make cookies. (of course).

Today the mr and I are doing the same as every Sunday; grabbing the camping stuff, tossing the kayaks into the truck, and picking all the cucumber and zucchinis in the garden to eat by the fire tonight. Sure it is suppose to rain a little bit today but I could give a fuck less. We look forward to these days all week. Rain ain’t no thing!

Links from the internet

-What it will take to fight the sexist, racist attacks against Kamala Harris. And we will do what it takes. Love Kalama!

-Got to appreciate a pretty pee pot. Japan’s quest to create beautiful places to pee

-Goofing off is good for kids—here’s the evidence And for adults too!?!

-A good read about a mother daughterroad trip (during pandemic) and the need to pee. Letting It Go. I have gotten so good at squatting!

-Can a 12-Year-Old Convince You to Go Vegan? Who better then a 12 year old?

-I think this is kind of amazing. Walkies could become the law for German dog owners.

-This would and is my actual HELL.130 Degrees: Death Valley Sees What Could Be Record Heat

-'Love In The Time Of Corona' Stars On The Truth And Light Of Making Art Amid Pandemic. I will probably watch this.

-This broke my heart. Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California's Oldest State Park, 'Extensively Damaged' by Raging Wildfires

-What’s the Difference Between Canola and Rapeseed Oil? If you want to know.

Pictures from the week