The Last of the Peach Cobbler

I'm so sad to see the last of the fresh peaches and nectarines at the farmer's market. Now, don't get me wrong, I surely love me some apples...but, this was the year of the nectarine and peach cobbler. The year I discovered that four juicy pieces of fruit, and less than ten minutes of prep made for a delicious and dreamy warm cobbler dessert. True confession, we went for it MANY times this season. And, OH, so good!

I'm not much on mixes of any kind. Since we don't eat anything overly processed or containing white sugar or flour. Well, Maryjane Butters has the most wonderful organic, whole wheat basic budget biscuit mix. And I'm so glad I found it!

No, I don't have any affiliation, and sorry if I sound like an ad, but, in a household where convenience/fast foods aren't allowed and cooking and dishes are always on the schedule. This stuff has really come in handy when time and tempers are short. The ingredients are few, simple and of the whole foods variety. Plus I'm supporting a small organic farm with every purchase. So, even though they are making this stuff in Idaho, and shipping it to me. It is not refrigerated, I buy in bulk and I'm supporting a good thing. So, if you haven't checked it out...wander on over to MaryJane's Farm and poke around. We also stock up on her organic black bean flakes, felafel mix and a few other pantry staples that keep this kitchen running when things get tough. The recipes in her magazines are excellent, and that's where I learned to make cobbler!

So, anyway, here's to the last pan . It was mighty delicious.

Hmm, now what to do with the lovely sugar snap apples and red pears I just picked up at the farmer's market...

Birthday Happy Feet and other knitting goodness

I finished the birthday socks for Michael in the nick of time (read 2 hours holed-up in the bedroom knitting fiercely to get these puppies off the needles and ends woven in. The pattern is Thuja. They knit up quickly to make a nice cushy, chunky sock, great for hanging around the house in slippers or clogs, not necessarily scrunched into work shoes. I knit them in a silk/alpaca blend and they are yummy! Michael loved them and wore them immediately. (Thankfully, the cold snap in the air that morning made it all that much more appealing.)

We celebrated the day with an official "Do Nothing Day" followed by a delicious and decadent dinner at the awesome Lumiere Restaurant. Well worth the price for locally and sustainably procured deliciousness. We left happily sated from corn fritters, fabulous mesclun salad, grass-fed steak and an incredible chocolate torte. Wonderful! And a fitting way to celebrate an auspicious birthday event for the most awesome and inspiring man I know. (Sorry, for the gushing, but I can't hide the fact. I adore him) Happy birthday, Michael. You are da bomb!

In other knitting news, meet Tito, the elefantito that I just finished for my little friend Mariana who just turned two. He is a spanish elephant (a very unusual breed) knit from this Safari Friends pattern. He is unaccustomed to this strange New England weather, and immediately requested a scarf. I hope Mariana will approve. The pattern is from Knitting at Knoon which has great patterns and wonderful tutorials. This is a perfect pattern to use for gifts for little ones.






And a little something for me...



No, despite the slightly sinister look. This is the first of a pair of Maine Morning Mitts (scroll down to the bottom of the link to download the free pattern), knit it Noro Kureyon. Now if only the cold snap would return, I'd have a chance to give the completed pair a run.

And in non-knitting news, we had our first Home Study visit today. We scurried around all weekend, madly organizing, and bringing the house to a new level of order and cleanliness, not seen since we moved in last year. Neither of us had a great night of sleep, what with the stress of not knowing exactly what sort of meeting lay in store today. Happily, all went well and our social worker really put us at ease. She did leave us with homework (a letter to write to the Expectant Mother and a photo album to assemble). After today and 3 more scheduled meetings, she'll write up the home study report and we'll become "waiting parents" gulp... Another check on the adoption to-do-list and on we go!

Singin' in the Rain

Well it has been awhile since August 16th. I guess time has gotten away from me a little bit lately. Or more accurately, time has got me firmly in it's vice-like grip. And it is hard to wrestle myself away from it. Between taking a little trip to New Jersey to visit my mother, and much time spent working on tracking down adoption paperwork, I haven't had much time for writing.

So, that is my reasoning for taking so long to post about our latest festival. Michael and I are a folk duo, singing in and around the Boston area whenever we get the chance. And we were booked to sing at the Annual Peach Festival for the Church of Our Saviour of Milford, NH a few weeks back. Never ones to turn up our noses at singing old-timey music on a truck bed stage, we jumped at the chance. We were excited and ready for some sun, some good songs and the fruits of the harvest. What we weren't quite expecting was the rain. Or to be more precise, the thunder, lightening and rain. Not my favorite combination when standing on a damp floor (truck bed) surrounded by electric sound equipment.

When we arrived the skies had opened up and it was pouring and crashing down thunder. We left the guitars and CDs in the car and ran to the tents to get the lay of the land and wait for instructions. It was hard to miss the very damp and slightly forlorn looking performers sitting on the stage waiting for the rain to stop. I feared that did not bode well for our stint on the stage. We met with the organizer, Lisa, standing soggy but cheerful under a tent, who pointed towards the couple I'd already seen, and said "I think you guys are next"

So, we grabbed our gear (no roadies in this outfit) and headed over to the little damp square of tent behind the truck bed that made for the "green room." Where the musicians get themselves prepped and ready to go on. I was awfully glad I'd chosen to wear boots with my outfit for the day. Much easier to slog through the puddles. But, I'm afraid that my straw cowboy hat may have seen it's last gig.

Anyway, the show must go on as they say. And it did, and we did. These shots were taken during quick gaps in the rain.


Sadly our audience was mostly deterred by the torrential showers and electrical storms that kept sweeping through. Don't know if you can see the puddles on the empty seats. But, the folks munching away on BBQ and peach cobbler under the dining tent did give us much praise and appreciation when it was all over.

We sang and glanced nervously over at the sound man, Dan and his son and assistant Adam, every time the lightening got close. But, they just kept cheerfully giving us the thumbs up! So, we sang on.




We did get a few brief moments at the end of our set. Just in time to see my cousin Maryanne, and her husband Dave, showing up to cheer us on.

We were fed BBQ and sent on our way with delicious peach pies and peach preserves, with many thanks and the hopes for a sunnier festival next year. This and the telling, are all that remain of our set at the 2008 Peach Festival Fund Raiser. Everything was delish!

They might be giants

Well, the garden is in high season, literally as this picture will attest. Michael is 6' tall and surrounded here by Benary Giant zinnias and Russian Giant sunflowers. This part of the garden is making a little bit of a spectacle for the neighbors. People stroll down our street in the evening and often stop to observe the giants and the wild array in the garden. Its fun to be sitting in the house and hearing their observations, amazement over the height, glee over the squash growing in the chainlink fence, interest in the giant spider-web bean poles.

We have never grown corn before and are anxiously awaiting the first picking, probably this weekend, as our corn went in a bit later than most local corn. But, our three sisters planting of corn, beans and squash/pumpkins has been a success and there are many ears ripening on the stalks!





We're managing to keep up with the kale by making lots of wilted kale salad, sesame greens with rice, yum! from Feeding the Whole Family, Cynthia Lair's great whole foods cookbook, which we use regularly and by making Colcannon, an irish dish mixing mashed potatoes with kale and onions and sometimes cabbage. This recipe is great when there's a little cool snap in the air. And the leftovers can be reheated as patties in olive oil for really delicious savory potato pancakes.

We have about 6 weeks to the frost date here and are excited to see how much wonderful food keeps growing steps from the front door. Here's what I picked when I came home from work the other night...



Happy Harvest!

Papa's got a brand new (old) car and the latest look at the garden

Well after a couple of weeks of very frustrating, demoralizing searching, Michael found a new (used) car to replace the one he totaled. His mission was a pretty tough one. He needed to find a reliable, safe set of wheels that didn't cost any more than the insurance company paid him for his old one (not much!) and we were hoping that he could find something that got better mileage than his Mercury Sable.

After many discouraging hours looking at over-priced piles of s.......tuff, being baited and switched, and rudely brushed off by opportunistic used car dealers...hmm is that redundant? We were just at that point when you really begin to think that people suck, when Craigslist came through! We met a very nice man who was selling his older and much loved Honda Civic because he was upgrading to a slightly newer vehicle that his friend was selling him at a good price. Our Honda guy wasn't looking to make a big profit, or rip anyone off. He was completely forthcoming, giving us repair history and even telling us of the next big work that will likely need doing in a year or two. And when we went to sign the papers, he gave us the roof rack and bicycle rack as well as a clean car with a full tank of gas. Our faith in humanity was renewed!

This was all accomplished under the budget that we needed to stay under, and with more than enough money banked for the big repair next year.

Since we also went and met with the adoption agency the other night and found out about the whopping large sum that will need to be found to pay for agency fees, legal fees, medical expenses, etc. , coming in under-budget here was a real big deal. Hoorah!

And I'll leave you with the latest pictures from our burgeoning garden. Hope things are ripening and flourishing around you!

Our weekly bread

Since last January, we've moved away from eating anything packaged, overly processed, made with white sugar, white flour, trans-fats, additives, etc. Basically we've gone to pretty much a whole foods diet. So far, it has meant the loss of some unwanted extra weight (and more to come), 100 points on my cholesterol reading (I can't remember how much Michael's dropped but it too was significant), better (more consistent) energy, less trash (far fewer food packages) and less consumer guilt.

It has also meant a serious restructuring of the pantry, much more time spent together in the kitchen cooking, more advanced planning on meals and a much better understanding of what we put in our bodies for fuel and where it comes from.

We try to get about 90% of our fuel from plant-based substances, leaves, fruits, grains and allow ourselves one serving per day of organic, wild or humanely raised animal-based food...butter on your toast, milk in your coffee, a piece of meat (swim, fly or amble), cheese, egg, or what have you.

I've always enjoyed baking bread, and now, with the way we eat, I bake all of our bread. At this point that means two loaves of sourdough whole wheat bread a week. And possibly a baked goodie somewhere in there a few times a month. The above picture is fresh from the oven and ready for slicing up for sandwiches or toast for the week. I have many wonderful bread recipes, but my standby for the sourdough weekly bread is Everyday Sourdough Bread from Richard Packham. I use the measures at the end of the recipe for individual loaves, make enough dough for 3 by his calculations, and make two large loaves that fit in the big loaf pans I inherited from my mother. Very nice!

I don't use the powdered milk. When I have fresh milk, I scald it and cool it to room temperature and use that instead of the water and the powdered milk. Just use the same amount of scalded milk as he calls for water. But, if I don't have milk, I just skip it. The bread is not quite as tender but still comes out quite nicely.

Since I always keep a sourdough starter going in my fridge, I just take it out the night before, refresh it with equal parts flour and water and let it sit over night to bubble away. Then I start from there with his recipe. It is a staple around here!

I also make all of our pizza dough from scratch. I find that with my starter, this dough usually does rise to double in size and I cut it into two balls. This works great to freeze and take out in the morning if you feel like a fresh homemade pizza that night.

Another project for the lil' goober

Finished my first Baby Surprise Jacket designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I used a nice bright colorway in Plymouth Yarn Outback Wool. It feels like it'll be nice and comfy and the wool has a great hand to work on. A fun project once you decode it! Now I'm on the hunt for some appropriate buttons.