Traveling Journal

A month ago, I was boarding the plane to what feels like my third home. (My first being heaven, my second being the South, USA.) It's still in the south--as a good friend said, you can't get much souther than Melbourne...

I went to Australia to visit my good friend, Alysa, in what was their (very mild) winter-- beautiful, green, and crisp. And I found so many things to love--so many that I'm afraid I can't still name them all. I'm afraid, however, that if I don't try, I'll forget what I do remember. So here's my go of it: let's hope I don't miss anything.

• "Let me just pop that in there for you... " I love the English influence in Australia; so much more than in the U.S. Their politeness defies expectations. It's expected that you small-talk with a cashier--not something I claim to be particularly good at. After one such exchange, I asked Alysa, "Do you know her?" Of course, she didn't.
• The beach. The ocean. The shore. It's incredibly beautiful, no matter where you go and no matter what you call it.
• Fish and chips on the shore. Yes, "chips" aren't very different than French Fries in the States--but they're still better. Five Guys comes close, but not quite.
  
• The people--not only because I have such a very good friend that lives there. But also because of the other amazing folks I met--people that made it feel as if I've known them much longer than I have.
  
• Good coffee. Everywhere.
• Small towns, and the small town mindset. People bring their dogs to town and wear Wellies as if it were the most natural footwear in the world. In Australia, dogs seem to be a family-oriented sort of animal to own, even more so in the U.S.
  
• Natural-feeling heating/AC-- I doubt people are prone to freeze themselves in the summer, as they didn't roast themselves in the winter.
  (My dad's favorite seasonal words are get acclimatised, so I appreciated it.)
  
• The local, small-town shops. Every town seems to have a vast selection of family-owned, beautifully kept shops, not invaded by chains, and willing to special-order for you. The bigger towns and suburbs are the ones with the chains.
• Wool shops. And wool. and tea shops. and tea.
  
• Amazing views. Beautiful countryside.
  
• Staying with Alysa and her family--and her mum allowing me to invade her kitchen. :)
• Jokes galore. That wingey-wongey sound... :)
  
• Realizing that cooking in Australia isn't much different than cooking at home, as long as you cook from scratch.
• Aussie grocery stores... I spent some lovely time comparing U. S. to Aussie ingredients. :)
• Local open-air markets.
• Amazing meetings. Christ-centered prayer. Holy Spirit Power and Presence. The peace of God that passes all understanding. Blessings that last through the return trip to my U.S. home.
  

I didn't have enough time-- next time I go, I'll stay longer. If real, practical life were the same as my trip, I could live in Australia in a heartbeat. That is, if I could move everyone I love over with me. :)

Summer 2009

Getting Back into Blogging...

It's been a while, no matter where you look at it-- I haven't blogged for almost a year. Xanga account included--I'm about to archive my old xanga posts here, on this blog, so they'll be consolidated. One blog is much simpler than two--what was I thinking?

It's been so hard for me to write much of anything this year. One reason is that I'm in Master's classes at the Uni again, and I can't say I'm enjoying the journey. I'm a year into the program and have two to go, but I don't really want to continue. It's just not enough emphasis on true learning, and way too much emphasis on "intellectual didactic pondering". I really don't like the attitude that we're smart, and we know it, and because we're smart we're going to act like you owe us something. That's kinda the attitude this particular school has--and has always had.

Another reason I've not been blogging: HARD SCHOOL YEAR. I was really stretched this year, especially where the attitudes of my students were concerned. The kids were smart, but many were blatantly disrespectful. That's pretty exhausting to deal with for five days a week, 36 weeks out of the year. I'm glad it's over.

I can't say I'm ready for a new beginning yet-- I'm ready for recuperation and revival. That's all I can really say.

On a happier note, my annual Amazon order is all in--it's almost a yearly tradition for myself--and I'm so excited about some of the books I got in! Here are most of them:

• Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning, from the gardeners and farmers of Terre Vivant-- this book is a compilation of traditional preservation methods from France. I've just started it, and love it so far.
  
  
• Weekend Sewing, by Heather Ross-- It's pure eye-candy, and it's full of beautiful, easy sewing projects. Just don't forget to check the errata from her website.
  
  
• Ratio, by Michael Rhulman--This book is for cooks who don't want to have to use a recipe every time inspiration hits. It's right up my alley--even though I love a good recipe, I'm often a throw-it-together kinda gal. This book is all about throwing it together well--and why it works that way.
  
  
• Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes, by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne-- This book was recommended by one of my favorite food bloggers, Smitten Kitchen. She's an amazing cake baker--I've never had one of her recipes to fail--and she's made many cakes from this book. It's got instructions for wedding cakes as well as wonderful-looking, show-stopping triple layer cakes for any occasion. Right now it's eye-candy, but come birthday and holiday season, it'll be more than that.

I'm also loving Barbra Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral right now--but it's not part of my latest Amazon order. My sister bought it for me last October for my birthday, and I'm just now reading it. That's how busy I've been.

I don't know if I'll get around to reviewing all of these--or if I'll actually will get a chance to read them all this summer. But sometime, hopefully, I will.

Oh, and if anyone has a good hushpuppy recipe, I'd love to have it. I tried the one in Joy, and meh. Not so great.

God Bless!

It's tomato season, and...

For someone who loves to cook, I certainly haven't done much with canning.



Well. I still haven't done much, but at least I've gotten my feet wet.
But, suffice it to say that when I came home from the farm where I get my eggs on Thursday, I had a lot more produce than I expected-- about 20-30 pounds of Roma tomatoes.



First I froze two gallon-size bags of plain tomatoes--and made fresh-tomato pasta sauce for dinner.



Then, after reading more recipes than is healthy, I decided to make roasted tomato sauce. It's easy: coat a cookie sheet in olive oil, slice tomatoes in half, throw in 4 whole cloves of garlic, some rosemary, and sprigs of thyme. Roast at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, and 350 for 40-45 degrees. Take the tomatoes out of the oven, discard the spice sticks, and puree. Freeze if you want to store.



Then I was ready to can. My mother and I got out her pressure cooker that was last used over thirty years ago, and went to work skinning tomatoes, cutting up herbs, and sterilizing jars. The only different thing I tried here was some Italian diced tomatoes with minced garlic and fresh basil and oregano. (I think I need to fill my jars a little more next time. Ya live, ya learn.)



The last: Oven-dried tomatoes with herbs in olive oil. I sliced my tomatoes in half, removed the seeds, and placed them on racks. After oven-drying for 12 hours on the oven's lowest setting, I decided to put it on convection to speed up the process. By noon today, I was finally done drying tomatoes (I think a dehydrator would have been much easier--and if I'd peeled to tomatoes, it would have been even easier.) I rough-chopped them, mixed them with basil, thyme, and oregano, and packed them in jars. After pouring olive oil over the tomatoes, I slid I knife around the sides to release any air bubbles, sealed them, and pressure-canned them.

--And this is what's left:



I want more.

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New York, New York

After my loooong sabbatical from this weblog, I'm returning with pictures from Becca's and my trip to NYC:

(I'm not going to write up this trip--though it was fabulous--
I'm supposed to be packing for another trip--!)

More photos are on my picasa site.

God Bless y'all!

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A random Summertime update about everything under the sun...

...or rather, under the clouds at this point. We're finally getting some rain, after being deprived for some time.

This is where Friday afternoon found me:

Heather, her children, and I met up at the Carl Sandburg Home in Flat Rock. It's such a beautiful house, with goats and chickens and a garden to interest the kids, as well as a great pond down below with huge bream, some ducks, and some beautiful pond lilies. All great things for children. And for the adults, there was a house to look at, a tour to take, a gift shop with lots of great books to examine, cheese and soap to buy, and (if you didn't miss it as we did), a cheese demonstration to attend. As well as a picnic to enjoy. And as a pseudo-writer, I love to hear the history and the words of Carl Sandburg. He was a writer for the common man, the same way Aaron Copeland was a composer for the common people who took the ideologies and folk tunes of America and molded them into new sound...

Ahem. Let me get off my soapbox.

Heather and I decided to do a switcheroo--I'd bring her raw milk and freshly ground whole wheat bread, and she'd bring me veggies from her garden and some free-range eggs from her chickens. I think I got the more generous bargain, 'cause she stuck in some of her black raspberry preserves, too. Wow. Yum. Delicious. (Ahem-- Heather... how'd you like the raw milk? And how'd the bread go over with Alex? )

And so, tonight found me cooking with some of the produce. Specifically, the greens from the beets. (Well, I cooked the beats too, in the oven at 400, which is a great way to precook them, should you ever come across a beet to cook. and then, you can slice them, removing the skin in the process, and saute them in butter with salt and pepper and some nutmeg... )

In the process of cooking the greens, and trying to find a recipe and failing (well, okay-- I didn't look on the 'net...), and then inventing my own perfectly good recipe after inspiration from Joy of Cooking... I returned to Mark Bitman's How to Cook Everything to discover that beet greens are basically swiss chard, in which Mark Bitman has 3 recipes for, and no telling how many Joy has... Lol.

But here's my simple recipe for Swiss Chard (a.k.a. beet greens) with Apples:

• A bunch (however much you have) of swiss chard, washed; damaged stems and leaves removed, and then both stems and leaves sliced into small 1" pieces. (washed and chopped, I had about 3 cups.)
• 2 Granny Smith apples, sliced thinly
• 1 1/2 t. Bacon grease, if you are so blessed to have it. If not, a combo of butter and olive oil.
• (I rounded out the grease with 1 T. olive oil)
  
• ~ 1 T. Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 t. Italian Seasoning
• dash of nutmeg
• dash of lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste.

Heat grease, butter, and/or oil in pan. Add apples, sauteing for a minute. Add in chard, saute for another minute, and then add in seasonings. Cook until greens are tender--about 5 minutes max. at fairly high heat.

I think know this recipe will not appeal to all... it's something like Sharon's kale and tomatoes... lol... So let me leave you with another which will appeal more universally.

My mother has a great way of cooking any bean that is incredibly simple. Basically, you wash and sort through a package of any dried beans, place in the crock pot with stock or water and appropriate spices, and depending on the bean, it'll be done any where from 2-3 to 7-8 hours later. It's the same as many old-fashioned cooks used to do, but instead of a bean-pot, Mama just uses the crock pot. She wanted me to record what I'd done today with some black-eye peas, so here goes:
1 package black-eye peas, washed and sorted through
1 large or 1 1/2 small onions, stem and root removed, sliced in thick, 1-2" wedges
4-5 slices pre-cooked bacon, sliced or torn into pieces
4-5 bay leaves
3-4 whole cloves 1 to 1 1/2 T. better than bullion (chicken base)
2 t. (one squirt) ketchup

Hot water (about a quart)

Place all ingredients in a medium-sized slow cooker. Cover with hot water, stir, and cook until done, 1 1/2--2 hours on high heat, or 3 1/2-4 on low. Add:

Salt and pepper to taste
Generous Dash of ground sage Enjoy.

For those who have dealt with long soaks for beans before--according to my favorite foodie, Mark Bittman, it's unnecessary, and doesn't help with the "nitrogen content" anyway. I tend to agree.

---

Quotes by Carl Sandburg:

I have always felt that a woman has the right to treat the subject of her age with ambiguity until, perhaps, she passes into the realm of over ninety. Then it is better she be candid with herself and with the world.

Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.

Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment.

The greatest cunning is to have none at all.

When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.

Last year about this time...

I was scrounging around Whole Foods and Earth Fare and any other likely place for this:

I didn't find it until today, at World Market.

So, Alysa, in memory of you, I drank Bundaburg.

It's just like Red Rock, but not as hot... lol...

Miss you, my dear friend.

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Homeward Bound...

Growing up ten minutes from the curvy roads of the SC mountains (yeah, you peeps in the northwest, go ahead and laugh) makes me a mountain girl at heart. I simply love them. So my family, in conjunction with all our loves for the mountains, go to the Smokies every year. We camp in Cades Cove, hike around, bike the loop, cook on a camp stove and by the camp fire (breakfast tastes a hundred times better outdoors), and generally have a good time. Well, a mostly good time. Sharon's right--we planned too much this year. You can see her assessment here.

So, here's my assessment:

What Worked:

• Having the whole family around. In the past, Will and Beth and the boys couldn't join us... it was great to have them along!
  
• Campsite cooking. I love cooking outside, and this year, as normal, it was tons of fun. (Of course, with a sturdy cook box, two coolers, and a decent camp stove, it's like having your own personal outdoor kitchen... )
  
• Borrowing a bike rack from a friend--and getting Daddy to adjust my gear shift, and my seat back. I now love my bike even more... lol...
  

• The bike rack was also great, since Daddy's ancient bike ended up breaking, and his homemade bike rack couldn't hold any more than three bikes at a time
  .
  
• Visiting the Little Pigeon River... so the babies could play in the shallows, and we could meet up with Ben, who'd gone fishing. He caught some beautiful rainbow trout, and he cooked them over the fire. Will was amazed at their fresh flavor. Beth was umm... amazed...by watching someone gut fish for her first time... lol!
  
  
  
  
  
  --Becca and myself with the munchkins...
  
  
  
  
• Stopping by the un-highest point in the Smokies... ! I'd always thought the overlook right off of the road was Clingman's Dome. Apparently, I've actually never been to it, since Becca noticed the sign that said "Clingman's Dome-7 miles" right after the overlook. I'll remedy that next year, though.
  
  --Becca and I pretending to hike the Appalachian Trail...
  
  
  
  
• Going to the Aquarium of the Smokies wasn't my first choice of activities. I'd been there before, and, well, that was our worst day last year. But this year, after biking the loop that morning, it was a nice reprieve. And I got some priceless pictures...
  
  
  
  
  Renee entranced.... ...and Renee as a psycedelic fairy princess...
  
  
  
• The alternate route to the Smokies, avoiding Gatlinburg. The only problem was when we happened upon a driver. from. a. flat. state. with. no. curvy. roads.
  
  
• The cool coffee house in Cherokee. I've always thought of Cherokee as a pretty red-neck tourist spot, but this place had great coffee, just when Becca and I needed it...
  
  
  

It also had a drum circle in the back, which Becca and I didn't need...lol...I guess that's where the culture comes in.

What didn't work:

• Small creatures in the middle of the night. Ditto with jokes in the middle of the night. (I'm not sure I can do anything about Daddy's snoring...) I guess I'm a light sleeper... and it takes a night for my Thermarest to fully unwind and "cush".
  
  
• Planning too much. We felt rushed.
  
  
• I'm not quite as passionate on this topic as Sharon is, but long hikes with babies are a hard thing to do. Especially if he's an EC baby--and, well... anyway...
  
  
• Not enough pictures... lol... my camera was not attached to my wrist the whole time. A lot of my pictures, I wouldn't have had without Daddy taking over the camera. I've not looked at what's on his camera yet...
  
  **edit--now I have, and they're on my picasa**
  

So, there you have it! Next year should be even better.

--Some, but not all, pictures, are on my Picasa site... and Sharon has more on hers.

Summer is here...

Which means I'm getting Sleep!

And cleaning out!

And organizing!

--and generally all that fun stuff that I never seemed to have time to do during school.

--Finishing my mother's day present:



Mama picked out the upholstery to reupholster these chairs that she'd already repainted. She's an amazing woman... she helped me reupholster them, even though it was my present to her. My dad's staple gun is one tough cookie.

And enjoying the front porch:



(This one's for you, Sharon--so you can see what it looks like.)

And, as promised, the gardenias are blooming:

---

We had a wonderful service last night. My pastor was out of town, so we listened to the tape The Unity of One God in the One Church. It was heaven-sent manna:

THE.UNITY.OF.ONE.GOD.IN.THE.ONE.CHURCH_ JEFF.IN V-16 N-8 SUNDAY_ 58-1221E

112 Did you ever notice wheat growing? If you see wheat stand up and just shaking itself like that, remember, there's no head in it. It's empty. A full head always bows. And a man that's full, and filled with God's goodness and His mercy, He bows his head in humility. "He that will humble himself, God will exalt. He that exalts himself, shall be made abased."

Friends, it's time that men and women woke up to the facts, that we want to be one. Jesus prayed that we might be one, just as God and Him were One. And God was in Him. And we are One with Christ if we let Christ come in. But it's the only way we can do, is to let Him take the control room in our heart, then we become One.

...

THE.UNITY.OF.ONE.GOD.IN.THE.ONE.CHURCH_ JEFF.IN V-16 N-8 SUNDAY_ 58-1221E

83 You are filled with something. You might be filled with doubt. Your poor hearts may be running over with doubt. I hope not. Your hearts may be full of frets and worry. And it might be that your hearts are full of trouble. And it might be that you're full of religion, intellectual, fine perfumed theology, belonging to the great churches that's been in existence for years, setting back just as confidence as you can be. Brother, let me say to you; you might bring members to that church until you get old and die, and you'll never do nothing but build another tower to Babel. Certainly.

You can be full of foolishness; you can be full of nonsense; you can be full of anything; but you can't stay empty. The Bible says you can't.

...

THE.UNITY.OF.ONE.GOD.IN.THE.ONE.CHURCH_ JEFF.IN V-16 N-8 SUNDAY_ 58-1221E

95 There's what God wants you filled with. He wants you filled with the Holy Ghost, and then you'll be united, what to? A church? No, sir. You'll be united, what to? A creed? No, sir. You'll be united to God. And you and Him will be one, as He and the Father is One. And God's Holy Spirit will live in you. And the same works that the Holy Spirit performed when It was here in the Christ, Jesus, shall be performed in you, for He said He'd do it. Then we are one. Jesus prayed for that.

...

THE.UNITY.OF.ONE.GOD.IN.THE.ONE.CHURCH_ JEFF.IN V-16 N-8 SUNDAY_ 58-1221E

142 And that's right, friends. Riches is not measured out by dollars. Riches is not measured out by big names and popularity. Riches is when the Kingdom of God has come into the human heart, changed his emotions, and made him a new creature in Christ Jesus, and give him Eternal Life. That's the richest thing on earth. Let us pray.

And while our heads is bowed. Are you poor tonight in this world's goods? You don't even know how you're going to pay the coal bill or the oil bill, or whatevermore? You may be that way; I hope you're not. But if it's so that you are that way, you can leave this building tonight the happiest poor man there is on the earth. You can live here with--leave here tonight with riches that no money could ever buy. You can unite your heart with Christ Jesus, and He can come into your soul and take the control room. And no matter what comes or goes, you'll be happy the rest of your days...

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