Friday night grateful moment

I'm getting a jump start on this week... we're headed out to Joseph and I think I'll leave my computer behind. How radical of me! No computer for 24 hours? Rather frightful. I think I'll make it. However, knowing my attachment to this little ritual, I thought I'd hit the publish button before we go.

This week has been quite lovely. Truly what summer is about... except, no pool time. Regardless, much to be thankful for.

*I'm thankful for cooler weather. Makes catching up on watering that much easier... and I've even bought some more plants and will hopefully get them in the ground before we're at 100 degrees again.

*Especially thankful that Ruby had a 24-hour period of chew chew chew and now has eased off on her irrigation destruction.

*Thankful for a good week with Seth, with some relaxation, some chores, a major amount of "So You Think You Can Dance" catching up. We are all caught up, except for this week, and so so ready for our Top 10 dancers. And ready for them to announce their tour dates. I know, dance nerds. That's us.

*Thankful for health and the ability to pursue fitness. When I think of all the challenges and barriers to health and fitness that I could have, I am very thankful to be able to hop on the treadmill and just go. I don't want to lose that ability. I may not have the desire every day, but I do still have the ability.

*Thankful for the inspiration I find through the creative outlets of others. From the blogs I wander through, to the beautiful plants in my mom's garden and the placed-just-so rocks in my dad's rock walls, to the stack of books by my bed, to the songs on my ipod, I so appreciate all the many things that bring me joy.

*Grateful for a good cry, and a good reminder of how fleeting life is... and to not delay your dreams in hopes of the "someday." We went and saw "Up" as a family this week. I had been warned that tears could happen, but I was a bit unprepared for how sad it was to me that the sweet little couple couldn't have babies, and then how quickly their lives flew by, and then she passes away. More than a few sniffles from me, tis true.

*So thankful for family and friends. That means you!

Thursday 13: 13 favorite new sites I like

I sometimes mention the websites/blogs I frequent daily... or at least every other day or two or three. And at the very least, you can see them in my blogroll over to the right. There's always Jen's blog, of course (my original inspiration, in addition to the now mellowing Goerlitz Family Commentary, in getting this whole blog thing going), and The Gift, and through her I discovered noodleroux, whom I adore, as well as a few other joyous nuggets. It's like a snowball effect--one blog brings you other blogs, who bring you other blogs, and so on.

This week I thought I'd show a few recently discovered gems from a variety of of blog/website genres... crafts, gardening, food, and just plain old sharing what's up in their world. Take a browse around and see if any hook you.

In no particular order...

1. LaDue&Crew. A fun recent discovery, I think she's on both the blogroll at both noodleroux and The Gift--lots of good food ideas!

2. Mighty Girl. Lots of fun things to look at here! Kind of a funky online magazine.


3. Simply Breakfast. How cool is this--to record your breakfast every day. And make it different. My breakfast blog would be really really boring... same shake, day in, day out.

4. Craftynest. Fabulous craft ideas. It's the how-to pictures that set this blog apart. Makes you think YOU could actually do some of the projects!


5. Milk, Eggs, Chocolate. More food. Done well.

6. Poppytalk. Canadian. Handmade. Design. Need I say more?


7. Sugarloop. A New Zealander with a passion for print. Completely inspiring to me.

8. Life as I see it. I discovered this one through Thursday 13. I want to look around more, but I like what I've read so far!

9. Don't Look Now. So colorful and crafty. I want to sew like that! (In my dreams...)

10. My Tiny Plot. A gardener in the UK. Good photography, great to see her garden grow!

11. Wide Open Spaces. The tagline is: finding beauty in the basics. I like her style!

12. Craftgawker. An aggregate, like foodgawker or tastespotting, but for the crafty types. As if I don't have more ideas than ambition in a day already? Yikes. But so fun to browse.

13. Tartelette. This one is listed in the Top 50 food blogs by the Times UK, and I was immediately taken with the amazing food photography on this site. Just breathtaking... I think I first discovered Tartelette on foodgawker.

And I have to throw in one I found just today when I was looking for a good link to directions for the balsamic reduction: Good Things Catered. Her tagline is: Recipes from a casual cook turned professional caterer and back again. Hello? I think I will love her. I haven't looked around a lot but plan on doing so soon!

If you've got a favorite, I'd love to hear about it! Sharing is good.

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Fig season is upon us!

When Seth and I went on our little NYC adventure the spring of 2005, we quickly established a fun routine of heading out in the morning to Starbucks, picking up a pint of fresh figs from the fruit vendor just outside of Starbucks, and wandering to whatever we had in store for the day. We called it heaven, and it was. Well, it was for me. He was happy enough to sip his hot chocolate, eat whatever Starbucks goody was passing for breakfast, and watch me inhale the figs.

Of course he remembered that when, last week, grinning, I practically floated out of the produce cooler at the Kelowna Costco. Both he and husband instantly knew that I had indeed found fresh figs! This is one fruit I wait for all year and cannot get enough of when it's around (it joins a long list of such fruits, but is well and truly queen of said list).

We got enough to share, and MJ nabbed Bobbi's little balsamic reduction bottle, and away we went for supper. And breakfast, and snacks between. Heaven!

If you don't happen to have a little balsamic reduction lying about, you can easily make it yourself. Be forewarned: smells up the house somethin' fierce. But it's not a bad smell and it won't last for long. It's just powerful in the moment.

Expect many fig posts in the coming weeks... though I was horrified to see that CANADA had Californian figs before Washington state. What's up with that? Somebody needs to talk to somebody else about that... pronto.

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Do I look a little piggy with my chevre portions? No judgement! It was heaven, I tell you, heaven!

Wordless Wednesday #6: Where I was one week ago today

Zucchini again!

Pasta was on the menu for lunch, and I knew that mine would have basil and tomatoes featured prominently, while the boys would have more of a bolognese (a la Morning Star beefy crumbles). I am alone in my true devotion to basil, but it's one thing I don't mind not having to share! I did a brief sojourn through the garden looking for tomatoes--still green--and saw that the basil needed a hefty snip to keep from bolting, so came back with my scissors and did a trim.

Back in the kitchen I noticed another zucchini I'd picked but hadn't cooked up yesterday and decided rather spontaneously that today would be the day I would experiment with zucchini "pasta." I have read about this dish for a couple of seasons now, where you make zucchini ribbons and they supposedly mimic the pasta in a dish. I do love me my carbs, but if there's something that can mimic it well and not leave me with the carb coma, I'm all for at least taking it out for a test drive.

I did my google search thing and found a number of options. I settled on the NYT article from last summer and ran with it. Got out my trusty mandoline and had a good time making the ribbons--I went for a smaller cut than they did, but it turned out yummy and very very easy.




Sher's zucchini pasta with cherry toms and basil
1 8-inch zucchini, mandolined to your liking
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tsp. olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cups basil leaves, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup parmesan

In a medium frypan, sauted the garlic in the olive oil for a couple of minutes over medium heat. When it is fragrant, add the zucchini ribbons and toss lightly. Let them saute for a couple of minutes and toss again; do this repeatedly for about 4-5 minutes, until the ribbons are soft.

In a bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes, basil, parmesan and pinenuts. Add the cooked zucchini and toss well to coat the rest of the ingredients with the wetness of the zucchini. Flavor with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Is this pasta? No. Was it yummy? Absolutely. I will make this again, many times. Will the boys eat it? Probably not. But I will try...

In true Sher fashion, I will undoubtedly have to figure out how to make this with Alfredo sauce or something so that it's not too healthy!!

Tuesday Table Topics #2: Food snob or happy foodie?

Today's question: What's your definition of a food snob and are you one?

Hmmm. I've pondered this for a bit and while I have a picture in my head of a food snob, I have a hard time with the actual description.

But I'll give it a stab: A food snob is someone for whom food is very important. They have all the qualities of a happy foodie: they love good food, good quality, great ingredients and fine dining scenarios. They savor their food, and they will go out of their way to find just the right meal/dish/ingredient. Sounds pretty good, right?

The thing that differentiates a food snob from what I call a "happy foodie" is attitude. With a food snob, there isn't a relaxed flexibility in regards to food--food snobs look down their noses at people who eat things they don't approve of, whether that's processed or "junk" foods, or people who eat at chain/franchise restaurants, particular ingredients, etc. They take it all just way too seriously, and they are happy for you to know it. Not the right cheese? Tsk tsk. Oh, you'll eat there? Really? Hmmm. Creamer in your coffee? How gauche. (It's all in the tone.)

So that's my definition. Am I a food snob? I certainly hope not. I see myself much more as a happy foodie (totally my term, don't blame the poor table topics folks for that one!). I like good food, very much. I like it fresh and local and homemade as much as possible. I've made dinner more times than I can count when I've been dead-dog-tired just because I know it will be yummier than most places I would eat out and I am in the mood for a certain something.

But, just as many times I've ordered in pizza, take out Mexican, Chinese or who knows what, just because. I think spray-cheese from a can has it's place in snacking (not often, but for kicks!), I believe Smarties (the Canadian version, of course) actually do raise your IQ, and I think grocery store potato salad beats mine plenty often.

We're off to weed the garden, pick lavendar and cherries, and fix more drip irrigation. Life on the farm is never dull. And maybe for lunch we'll order in pizza!

My creative boy

Seth is pretty nutty for this online game/program called Line Rider. He's been fiddling around with it in his spare time for a year or so, watches YouTube videos to see how the "masters" do it, and pretty much thinks it's taught him more about art and physics than school... not sure about that, but he has gotten better and better at composing lines and scening them (where you draw in art around the basic lines that the little sledder dude navigates). He spent some time last week at Grandma and Grandpa's working on a special one for me. I love it! I think you'll see why... (Sorry it's so small. My first video upload; we'll see if future ones can be bigger!)

First fruits of the garden

We got home last night to 102-degree weather (outside of town, it got cooler as we approached the mountains), a wild and crazy pack of dogs and the garden having grown by leaps and bounds in just one week! We also were happy to be home to a better internet connection and the ability to upload photos without watching your hair turn gray while it happens! The simple pleasures... (And that wasn't a dig at Mayne Island, Mom and Dad, really. The connection in Kelowna was equally slow.)

I was quite surprised to see two good-size zucchini in the garden patch, and a few summer squash following close on their heels. A little sun, a little water--you'd think those things were weeds the way they grew!

Luckily, I knew just what to do with one of the larger zucchini. We went to a B.C. favorite last week while in Kelowna, White Spot. Seth has fond memories of the place (I think it's the giant milkshakes? Or is it the "endless" fries? Who can say...), and begged to go back, so we had a quiet little lunch, just the three of us. One of the favorites on the appetizer menu are deep-fried zucchini sticks. As I'm sure you've heard me say before, if something is fried, it's just that much better. Even zucchini.

Well, we decided that in the spirit of being home and back to being "good," we would try our hand at baking some zucchini sticks up for lunch. Turned out pretty spiff, and I dare say I didn't really notice that they weren't deep-fried. I know, there will be some skeptics to the comment, but it's true!

Seth did the honors:

I beat up 4 eggs and about 1/4 cup milk in a bowl and we tossed the zucchini sticks in there. This zucchini was about 10 inches long already, and so I cut it in eighths, then each eighth into thirds (following me on those fractions? This is where we're trying to have the young man's brain not turn to mush over summer break!). Then we just dumped (technical term) some bread crumbs in a bowl and dipped the zucchini sticks in the bread crumbs before placing them on a well-sprayed cookie sheet. We baked them for 15 minutes at 425, and I turned the sticks once to get some browning all around, and they were good to go! At White Spot they serve it with "zoo dip" (I think that's a rip-off of ranch? Since that's what it tasted like...).

Happy summer! The zucchini is only beginning, I fear... I would welcome creative zucchini recipes, yes I would.

Friday night grateful moment

Do vacation weeks go faster than other weeks? Definitely yes. I can hardly believe we're at Friday night again so quickly...

On the list for the week:
*So grateful we were able to drag husband away from work for the week. A wonderful family time together. From ferry to mini-golf to lunches out, just the three of us, it's been really lovely.
*Grateful to spend time with my parents at their home, in their environment.
*Grateful for this amazing warmth in the Okanagan Valley. It reminds me so much of my childhood to be here, see the sunshine on the lake, the beaches full of tourists, the town full of people. While I wouldn't necessarily want to live here now, it is glorious to visit.
*Yippee for figs... the beginning of fig season brings a big grin to my face, that's for sure (ask the boys--I was a giddy fool when I discovered them in the cooler at Costco!).
*I'm grateful for all my extended Kandt family that has trekked to Grandma's 90th party. Nice to be see quite a few of the branches and twigs on this family tree. Sorry to be missing a few, but that's how it goes...
*Grateful for my mother and our walks and talks. I couldn't ask for a better mother.
*Grateful that the news from home--yard, watering, Ruby biting things--has been quiet and mostly good. I am sure there will be some dry spots that need extra sprinklering next week, and probably a couple of little drip heads to replace, but it seems to have been minimal. Whew.
*Grateful for books and all that they bring to expand my world. Have been reading the most amazing book this week, "The Last American Man" by Elizabeth Gilbert (yes, she of "Eat, Pray, Love" fame). An amazing true tale of a rare breed of individual. Seth's been reading over my shoulder occasionally as well, and it's interesting stuff.
*Grateful and thankful and joyous for the love I am able to both give and receive in this world. I couldn't be a luckier lady.

Rhubarb desserts, yes please

Many moons ago I promised a rhubarb crisp recipe and promptly moved on. Disgraceful! I was reminded of my negligence when I arrived here on Mayne Island and Mom promised a new rhubarb recipe that a friend of hers made recently. It was quite lovely, of course, as most things rhubarb are, and so I'm posting both recipes at once. And following it with a future rhubarb recipe as well!


Rhubarb crisp
4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. lemon juice
Topping:
1 cup oats
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter, diced into small pieces
Combine the fruit with the rest of the crisp ingredients and put into an 8-inch square baking dish. Mix the topping ingredients together in a bowl and crush the butter into the mixture with your fingers until it crumbles into small pieces. Spread over the top of the fruit mixture and bake in a 375 degree F preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden and starting to crisp.
When researching various crisp recipes online, I found a number that had half the "topping" put on the bottom of the baking dish, followed by the fruit mixture and then the rest of the topping on top. I haven't ever tried it that way, but it sounds quite yummy and I think I will give that a whirl sometime. With the juices of the rhubarb, it might be great to have them soaked up above AND below!
Everything's better a la mode, don't you think?

Did I like it? Hmmm.



Rhubarb crunch cake
4 cups rhubarb, cut up
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. butter

Topping:
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten

Mix first three ingredients together. Pour into greased 8 x 11 inch cake pan. Beat egg. Add milk; pour over first mixture. Dot with butter.

Topping: Mix together; will be crumbly. Sprinkle over rhubarb. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
So of course we doubled the recipe. And cut back a bit on the sugar (1.5 cups for both the filling and the topping, rather than a full 2 cups each that it called for, holy cow!), but I think it could have the sugar cut back even further. It is quite sweet. That's not a complaint, really! But a little less sweet, and I bet I might have eaten another helping... Oh, the other caveat: We supplemented the rhubarb with a couple of cups of strawberries we had lying about... that might have contributed to the sweetness as they were in their prime; they added a nice flavor to the dessert.
Here's the last rhubarb recipe, from a delightful blog called Dinner With Julie. I hope to make it soon!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler Cake
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2 cups halved or quartered strawberries (depending on their size)
2-3 cups chopped rhubarb (about 2-3 stalks)
1/3-1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined and starting to get fluffly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each, then beat in the vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir by hand or beat on low speed just until combined; the batter will be thick. Spread into a 9 x 13 inch pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, and scatter the fruit over top. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake is golden and the cakey parts springy to the touch.

Makes 1 big cake.