Ragged Week

For some reason, even though this was a short week it felt like a VERY long one. I'm going away tomorrow morning for my little brother's graduation, which I'm really excited about, but travel always seems to stress me out too. Since I was feeling anxious and Troy will not be coming along with me this weekend, I suggested we get out for a hike and a picnic this evening. And I'm so very glad that I did. Nature always seems to relax and rejuvenate me.

We went to the Ragged Mountain Reservoir (where Poe supposedly hiked back in the day) and hiked around it. We brought a picnic of cheeses, salami, grapes, bread and a big hefeweizen too. The picture above shows where we sat to enjoy the nice spread.

We saw lots of wildlife since it was early evening. The usual suspects--birds and squirrels--but also a beaver and a bunch of deer too. And here's what we saw crawling across the road as we drove back.
I think it's a copperhead? Didn't want to get any closer to find out if it was poisonous though! Yikes!

Well, I'll sign off for a few days now. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures of my handsome little brother and the rest of my family to share when I get back.

More Strawberry Treats

Last night we went over to Catherine and Joe's for a brief visit and strawberry pie and ice cream tasting. They got an ice cream maker and used their pickins to make strawberry ice cream. It was really yummy!

All I could do after hulling and washing 10 lbs of strawberries was make a really simple strawberry pie with a prepared graham cracker crust. It was soooo easy and yet still so good. Here's the recipe in case anyone needs a quick and tasty way to use up 2 pints of strawberries. It's on the state of Michigan site and specifies that you use "Michigan strawberries" which I found kind of funny. Virginia strawberries worked just fine.

Troy took a picture of me with the pie before transport, which was a good idea because as I got into the car it slipped out of my hands and almost landed in the back seat! Thankfully I was quick enough to realize what was happening and caught it before it opened up and splattered everywhere. But it really wasn't such a pretty pie anymore. Troy says the catch is proof that I should be playing on the softball team but I'm not so sure--it was me who fumbled it in the first place.

Strawberry Pickin'

One of the things we did on this long weekend was pick strawberries at a nearby farm. Since strawberries don't come into season in MN until mid-summer, this was quite a treat for us! Here are some pics of the strawberry-picking crew.

Troy and I picked about 10 lbs and we're probably going to freeze most of them but we've been enjoying them fresh too. I made crepes this morning for breakfast with a sauce made from vanilla yogurt and crushed raspberries and strawberries. Yum!


Catherine, Shana, Allison and Steve pose in the field.Troy was trying to get the farm to give a bulk discount for berries so that we could make beer with some but he couldn't convince them. I'm okay with this. I have traumatic memories from when he worked me and some of our friends in Oregon like slaves one year to get enough blackberries so that he could make them into beer!

Allison and Steve. Alli got her money's worth--she admitted to eating at least a pound of berries while picking them! ;)
Joe admires the sweet little berries.

Shana--in her cute little strawberry-pickin' dress and cowboy hat. Always so stylish!
Catherine picking. She found a very strangely shaped strawberry that I should have photographed--it looked like it had little legs. She talked about bringing it home and making it her pet.

Munchkin Invasion

Tis the season for babies. So many of my cousins and friends are having babies! It's really an unbelievable onslaught lately.

Lately I've been bartering with a friend--babysitting for her in exchange for taking her ceramics class. She is an incredible ceramics artist so it was a great deal for both of us. The class is now over but was a ton of fun. Maybe sometime I'll post pics of my creations.

Babysitting is pretty fun too--especially now that little Elsa is getting more independent. She's usually quite stoic but I have succeeded in getting her to giggle a few times. She LOVES Troy. He lets her mash his face and grab his glasses and makes hilarious faces and noises at her.

Here are some pics from today. What a little cutie!

Connecting Through Food

I love food. I love the process of cooking. It's so relaxing to me. And since I never pursued any art forms, it gives me a chance to be creative. But even more than that, I enjoy sitting down with people I care about to enjoy a homemade meal. I give my mom credit for often cooking and getting the family to actually sit down together for a meal. She wouldn't allow TV or other distractions. I have come to think of these nightly rituals as a really significant and positive influence on my life and I try to continue them. Even when Troy is exceedingly busy (always) I try to get us to sit down together to eat. Often it's the only time we see each other during the week.

Eating together is a great opportunity to connect, which is why I love dinner parties with friends. This week, our friend Dave asked us to come and make pasta with him and his girlfriend Emily using his grandmother's old pasta maker. We couldn't pass this opportunity up!
Troy made some mojitos and mint juleps with fresh mint from the garden to make this laborious process a bit easier. Here's Dave with a mint julep and the beginnings of the spinach fettuccine.

And here are some photos of the process:











Believe it or not, Dave's grandma did what we found to be a 3-person job by herself! He says often she'd often be cranking out pasta for 20 people!

The pasta was so very good! Dave also made chicken rolatini that were stuffed with portabellos, mozzarella, and prosciutto. Yum! I made this chocolate mousse dessert, topped with fresh raspberries. It turned out really well too. You would never in a million years guess that there was tofu in it!

Here are some pics of the final product and happy eaters.

Radishes Anyone?

Sorry in advance to my family and friends up north where it has been a long, long winter. I don't mean to rub this in your face. I have been anxious to take pictures of our garden and finally made it out today to do that. My midwestern peeps will recognize the plant on the bottom here. I am craving a strawberry-rhubarb pie lately! On the top right is lavender that is starting to bloom. It's right near some chamomile--those plants are located right by our front door and smell so lovely!

My friend Alli and I took an organic gardening class this year and I've been excited to put into practice some of the things we learned. Apparently I did a good job with the radishes.


Gardening in Eugene was really easy but here we have all kinds of pests to contend with. Something is even eating the radishes! "What kind of dumb@$$ animal eats radishes?!" said Troy. I agree. Radishes are not my favorite. Although they provide a nice, peppery crunch on a salad, I'm not sure what I will do with this many. I only planted them b/c I got free seeds from a friend and they do a good job of breaking up the soil. Here's one of the casualties. I wonder what is eating it? Those evil squirrels that attacked our tomato plants last year?


I also took some pics of the garden bed. So far we have some nice looking garlic, peas, and a few beets too. I planted some basil, tomatoes and peppers but they aren't liking all the rain and cool weather we have been getting. Hopefully they will survive.

Pictures of Misery

Tonight I went and took some publicity shots of our friends' band--the Misery Brothers. It's good practice for me. It's really tough to get all five people looking good at the same time! I took A LOT of pics and struggled with lighting issues. Here are some of the better shots.

I converted the first one to b&w to see what it might look like on a publicity poster.




The Misery Brothers are playing on June 11 at the Gravity Lounge, by the way!

13 Years!

Troy and I recently celebrated 13 years of being together! Pretty unbelievable. We marked the occasion with a trip to Bear Mountain Farm, an amazing place 2 hours west of C-Ville. We had a fabulous time despite some torrential rain (the fact that the place has a hot tub helped a bunch)!

The banner pic was taken there, as were these others. Virginia is really a beautiful place!

Beginning Blogging

I have recently become fascinated by reading some of our friend's personal blogs. They give a glimpse of people's daily lives, which is really nice if you don't see people often--or especially to document the amazing daily growth of babies! But they also give voice to thoughts and opinions that otherwise probably wouldn't be verbalized. This stream of consciousness writing can be really insightful and personal. It tells you a lot about people that you might not otherwise discover. The sociologist in me is intrigued.

Even though I'm not sure anyone is interested in what I might have to say, I have been thinking that blogging in combination with my recent photography hobby would be a great way to let family and friends have a little window into our lives. I know we haven't been that great at keeping in touch of late. Maybe this will help.