Sunday Happy

Happy July 4th. If you are those people that have been lighting off very loud fireworks all night and keeping me up all night, well thanks “friends “. Hope your need for small explosives was worth keeping up your very nice neighbor who might not be so nice anymore. 😁

I do not like the 4th of July.

The past week. It is hard to remember it much other then I was so freaking stupid hot. The heat wave got me heat sick towards the end and left me miserable are really really bitchy, as any hot day will do. But I did do stuff. We went kayaking on the windiest pond and then hit up a baby shower. I spent a almost blissful day driving Megan around (AC cranked) doing chores. I threw a bunch of pots. (Sometimes I hate having my studio in the basement. But on hot summer days, it is so nice and I actually get a lot of work done!) I laid on the kitchen floor near naked (its the coolest place in the house besides the basement) doing bills and paper work and when I wasn't doing that I just read a lot. And when the heat finally did break I celebrated by running around in all the rain that cooled me to my very soul.

Today. Well because it is the 4th and everyone and their mom is out and about, taking up all the campsites, being all over, the mr and I are just going to try and find a not crowded place for a nice hike but not go camping like we originally thought we would. First off, I don’t want to be near a bunch of people in general, but secondly, everything is booked so we couldn’t go even if we wanted too. Yeah I’m a little bummed but by next weekend there well be a lot less people camping so it will be on. Plus we might set the tent up in the back yard and sleep out there tonight. I just hope that are not more jack asses setting fireworks off all night again. It won’t be good for anyone if they do.

Internet from the week..

-Fire scientists are urging people in the West to skip the fireworks this record-dry 4th of July. I think we ALL should skip them, maybe forever!

-Why Surrounding Yourself With Art Matters — And How To Do It

-The pandemic has made small talk even more painful. I don’t know how it can possibly be any more painful then it already is.

-I do not buy into the busier is better. The Cult of Busyness

-The Humble Minivan Is Due for a Rebrand. The mr has wanted a mini van for years and I have been so hesitant up unit a year or two ago, for traveling in that is. Now they are cool so there that goes.

-EATING WELL WHILE CAMPING IS HARD WORK. IT’S ALSO GENUINELY WORTH IT. I genuinely love camp food. Always a huge pot of soup with all the veggies! Soup is my favorite but eaten in the trees by a camp fire. Best food ever.

-This is a nice house. “The Maine House”

-Will Emojis Really Save Venmo Sellers Money? Yeah, as soon who uses Venmo for my very small business, I am not really excited for the transaction fee.

-I was close to taking a 3am run this past week. I just couldn’t find a flashlight. But I am all about it. Can't Sleep? Go for a Run

Pictures from the week.

Peach Walnut Blondies

I have been on a peach kick for a couple weeks because they are just so good! Is it just me or are they better then they have ever been this year? I have eaten at least one a day (sometimes 2) for at least the past 2 weeks and not once have I gotten a grainy, mealy one. Just sweet ass juicy peachy goodness. Dang do I love a good peach!

Since the peaches are so good, it made sense to bake them into something and that something was blondies. A cakey cookie bar thing that is really easy to make, everyone loves, and highlights that goodness of the peaches. I tossed in some walnuts because why not, and as soon as the heat wave broke and I dared turn on the oven, I popped the batch in. Two days later and they are pretty much gone. And will I make them again, for sure yes, but only while the peaches are still good.

So you should probably make them while the peaches are good. Hurry up!

To the peach walnut blondie!

The stuff. A nice ripe peach and some walnuts. Flour, baking powder, and salt. Melted plant butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and some aquafaba.

Start with dicing up the peach and chopping up the walnuts into smaller pieces.

Next grab the aquafaba and dump into bowl with the brown sugar. Beat with an electric beater on high for about 2 minutes until mixture is a light brown and somewhat fluffy.

Add in all the dry and the melted butter and gently fold it in until completely incorporated.

Lastly fold in the diced up peach and walnuts.

Dump and smooth batter into a well greased and lined square baking pan and place into preheated oven to bake.

Once the blondies are golden brown and tester poked into the middle comes out clean, remove from oven and let cool.

Cut into pieces and then, you know, eat them.

Get at those peaches while you can!

-C

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Peach Walnut Blondies

makes a 8x8 (you can use a little larger square) pan

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/3 cup aquafaba(liquid from a can of chickpeas)

• 1/2 cup plant based butter melted

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 medium peach (about 3/4 cup diced)

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350

Dice up the peach into small pieces and if the walnut pieces are whole or halved,, chop them into smaller pieces.

Dump the aquafaba and brown sugar into a large bowl and beat with an electric beater for around 2 minutes or until the mixture is a light brown and somewhat fluffy. Mix dry ingredients together in smaller bowl then gently fold the melted butter and dry mixture into the beaten sugar ans aqufaba. Once completely incorporated, fold in the diced peach and walnuts.

Grease and parchment line a 8x8 (or a little large) pan and dump blondie batter in and spread and level to the pan. Place into oven ad bake for about 30-33 minutes (if using a large sized pan, reduce cooking time by a few minutes) or until top is a nice golden brow and a tester poked into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Once cooled enough pop out of pan and coniunute to cool all the way.. Cut into pieces and eat.

Store uneaten blondies in a airtight container at room enrapture for 2-3 days but best stored in fridge or freezer when it is hot out. Plus they are amazing cold!

Sunday Happy

It is summer for real now and I am trying to be positive about it, enjoy all the good stuff like food, bike riding, and limited amounts of clothing, but it is freaking hard when it gets so hot that all I want to do it rip my skin off. It’s an up and down thing. As long as the temperatures are below 80 and not humid, I am ok. Any hotter and I am like a gremlin fed after midnight. It is not good so watch out.

The week came and went and it was good. I gave Mark a haircut (My first fade, and it looked good!). Barb and I went strawberry picking and stained our hands red. I painted my wheel platform, trimmed and handled a ton of mugs, and managed to NOT buy clay once again. (I need to drive south 2 hours to pick it up…annoying)

We also had the littles over and we drew the sidewalks awesome (Judah drew a fast food meal and Coco drew cave pantings. Miley sat on her phone and ignored us) and then we blew all the bubbles. It was the best fun I has all week! Oh and farm share. SO MANY GREENS! My fridge is stocked to the brim with all sorts of goodies. Chard, kale, lettuce, collards. If you haven’t figured it out by now, greens are my love language. Want to make me happy, just give me a head of lettuce or a bunch of chard. I’ll like you forever.

Today he mr and I are trying to get in a quick kayak before heading to our friends baby shower. Not going to lie and say I am looking forward to being around people, but I am really excited for these guys and their baby to come so I’ll go. I am going. And to treat myself for going, I am gonna come home after and drink all the coffee and start in on my new stack of books. And hopefully not melt into a to mess. Stupid hot and humid weather. Ugh.

Some internet from the week.

-Do I want my brain to be more productive or just less crazy? Try these 9 easy exercises to train your brain to be more productive

-I am super excites to do this. Spice up your art with turmeric, sunlight, and a 19th century photography technique

-UFO Report: No Sign Of Aliens, But 143 Mystery Objects Defy Explanation. So???

-I don’t care where people wonder in my house EXCEPT my bedroom. There is nothing in there besides a bed and clothes but still. Stay out! The myth of bedroom privacy

-I am not going out at all but I have had a BBQ and that kicked my ass. Going Out a Lot These Days? Beware the ‘Social Hangover’

-Liking the new packaging. Very trendy. A Brief Journey Through the Many Faces of England’s Fanciest Salt

-We are getting up on tomato season! What's the Difference Between All the Types of Tomatoes?

-Might be time to remodel a bathroom. VIVA THE PINK BATHROOM.

-In love. 50 Shades of Weathered White in Hudson, NY, from Zio & Sons. And this house too. Hannah Ware Fuses Past and Present in Her Historic Beachwood Canyon

Pictures from the week.

Strawberry Oat Milk

One of the most redeeming qualities of summer is the fresh, super sweet, strawberries that grow in the early part of the season. Bright red little gems that I go and hand pick from a strawberry field (early in the morning because who wants to be in a beating hot field in he middle or the day?), eating one berry for ever two I pick. Hands stained red. Belly full of berry happiness. It’s times like these that I am glad for summer.

And now that I have strawberries, I can make strawberry milk. Have you ever had it? This strawberry milk is nothing like the milk made from the nasty and crazy sweet fake pink syrup (strawberry syrup reminds me of my little brothers when they were little. They would drink cups and cup of the fake strawberry milk and I always thought that they were gross. But not just because of the milk…hehe). No this strawberry milk is oat milk with fresh strawberries and taste just like a berry explosion of goodness in your mouth. Its smooth and creamy and tastes like real strawberry, like it should.

A true summer treat. And it is so easy to make, almost as easy as squirting syrup into a cup.

Now to the strawberry oat milk!

The struff. Strawberries, oats, and water.

Only thing you really need to do is remove the greens from the berries.

Then pop them into a blender with water and oats and blend until smooth and creamy. That is it. Now you have strawberry oat milk.

Pour into glasses, garnish with a few berries (or a bowl to snack from) and that is that.

Summer milk.

-C

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Strawberry Oat Milk

• 3/4 cup old fashion oats

• 2 1/2 cups cold water

• 1 cup fresh strawberries

• 1 tablespoon sweetener or a couple dates (optional to add sweetness)

Note. For a thicker and creamer milk just add another 1/4 of oats.

Remove greens from strawberries and toss them into a blender with the oats and water and any sweetener (if using). Blend until smooth.

Optional. Pour through a strainer or nut milk bag to remove any grittiness. I do not do this.

Pour into glasses and enjoy.. I like to add an ice cube or a cut up frozen strawberry into the milk to make it really cold.

Milk can be stored in a jar in fridge for 2-3 days.

Sunday Happy

Happy first day of Summer!

What a classy week we had. Not hot, some good morning thunderstorms and a few good sunsets. The flowers are coming in and the zucchini are producing. Summer like it should be. I like this.

The doings of the week. All the stuff with some other stuff. Started off with a kayak adventure (first of the year). Didn’t go too crazy, just tossed the kayaks into a pond and paddled around for a while. It was calm and nice and a good way to start off the kayak season. Then I had to go to the eye doctors. I biked into town, did the appointment (got yelled at for not wearing my glasses) and then had to bike home blind which was kinda scary because I had my eyes dilated. I was blind as a bat and the bike ride home was not the most fun I have ever had to say the least. But I made it home alive and now I need to get a new pair of glasses.

And the school year is over! Cameron graduated from high school!!!! Miley is officially in high school (barf), Judah in middle school (barf again), Alex is in like 11th, and little So is in 3rd. Everyone is getting so freaking big and old and I can’t even. So to celebrate we had a graduation/end of school BBQ at the house. Th mr grilled, almost everyone came and ate food, the kids all played nice with each other, (Well kinda. They were running around the yard shooting each other with nerf guns.), and then everyone ate their weight ice cream sundaes and then left. It was fantastic. The first big family get together we have had in over a year. No one fought, my house didn’t get trashed (we stayed outside) and we got to see almost everyone in the family all at once. But wow did that much interaction kick my ass. Took me a full few days to recover from all the stimulation. HA!

Other then that, the mr and I have been going about the usual. Went for a rainy umbrella walk with Barb, Almost ran over a turtle on my morning run, picked up pounds of greens from the farm, and spent a fair amount of time in the garden weeding. Good times there.

Back to Sunday. The mr is doing some work (We start camping soon so this Sunday work shit has to stop.) so I am going to spend some time at the studio glazing today. I’m also going to attempt my first fade haircut. I have been shaving Mark’s head every other week and I decided it is time to give it a go. Worst case is I fuck it up and just have to shave again so biggy. Other than that, I am going to make a pot of coffee and sit by butt on the porch and read away. Summer style.

Oh and also I need to call my dad. It’s Fathers Day so Happy Fathers Day to the dads out there!

Internet links form the week.

-This is my life. The mr is a harder and I want to get rid of everything. Clutter Wars

-The trend that’s shaking up the food industry. Local is where its at!

-What All Those Knives in a Knife Block Are Actually For

-cool ass trees. A Magical Series Captures the Gnarled Branches of Socotra’s Dragon Blood Trees

-After a night or two sleeping on the ground any cup of coffee is gonna be a great cup of coffee. With that said, I got my camping coffee on point. The Barista’s Guide to Troubleshooting Your Camp Coffee

-More on coffee. HOW THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST BECAME A COFFEE PARADISE

-You Need a Cast-Iron Skillet for Nearly Everything. I sign off on this too.

-Are bidets really better for the planet than toilet paper?. Those “flushable wipes”. So BAD!

-I did not become a better person during lockdown or do anything spectacular. Lockdown was not a sabbatical.

Pictures from the week.