Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sandy!

No, we're not under siege by Hurricane Sandy. But I thought she presented a good opportunity (as in, being stuck inside all day) to get my shit together and start riding this bloggy train again.

It's rainy and windy, and I'm sorely disappointed in the lack of snow thus far despite it being quite chilly out, but I'm counting my blessings because all this weather enabled me to discover homemade bagels. I am also making roasted celery soup, and while I think it will also be good, roasted celery soup feels just kinda blah compared to the culinary excitement that is homemade bagels.


Before.
After. I didn't take a picture of the finished soup because, well, it just looks like pureed celery.
Although it is a lovely shade of celery green. Ha.





That's some wasabi sesame seeds on that thar last two. Totally unnecessary but a lovely addition nonetheless. 

We also attended the Fall Festival in Sneedville ahem, over four weeks ago and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of energy there despite our county's less-than-6,000-resident population count.

That lady in the overalls right there? She was from Virginia and sang
Coal Miner's Daughter during the karaoke hour better than
Loretta Lynn herself. It was a tear-jerker, I tell ya.

They take a potato and put it in a special spiral cutting mechanism to make
the most delicious fry ever. ONE FRY from an entire potato.




More spiral fry.



I also made homemade pizza for the first time oh about three weeks ago. It was delicious, but the mantra of less is more definitely applies to pizza. Too many toppings weighs it down.

Pepperoni, jalapenos, and red onions are delicious but weigh too much for this poor crust.

Someone discovered the sun spot in our bedroom.

We went on a tour last Saturday of a nearby farm (the pictures from which you can see on the Meetup group website here). I learned a lot about what we want as well as don't want to do. And now I want Chocolate turkeys and Silver Fox rabbits (in addition to our other choices of Highland cattle, St. Croix sheep, Ossabaw Island hogs, and Ameraucana and Marans chickens).

Lately, we've also:
- found a source for my beloved mushroom compost and started building spring garden beds
- erected a crude but hopefully efficient leaf composter (think welded wire in a circle stuffed with leaves)
- started hunting deer with the start of bow season (I should clarify that I merely sit in the hunting blind with a good book and take naps while Jay does the actual hunting)
- started knitting again (I'm determined to finish the scarf that is my first knitting project that I began at least two years ago)
- started sewing again (just a pillow so far -- don't get too excited)
- enjoyed a visit from my parents, which included the gift of a fabulous barn quilt that my talented artist Mother created that we hope to hang on the barn in the spring
- had business cards printed for my photography (need to drum up some wedding and portrait income)
- organized the wood shed (the number of liquor, wine, and beer bottles in our recycling area is not shocking at all, no)
- organized the guest cabin (my bro-in-law should be on his way out here soon!)
- and about a hundred other things that I'm failing to remember at the moment

So yea, there you have it, folks: a small glimpse into what we've been doing for oh, the past 30 days or so. And to ensure that I continue riding this bloggy train, I'm going to do a post every single day. YEP. You can hold me to that -- even if it's just one picture, it will be something at least. You can come break my legs if I fail miserably.

2 comments:

  1. I had to look up the barn quilt concept. What a cool way to inject some colour and interest.

    As for pizza, I learned from The Bread Baker's Apprentice that you shouldn't put more than three or so toppings on a pizza, and that's including sauce. The book also has a recipe for the hands down best pizza dough I've ever encountered, but it needs to be prepared 24 hours in advance so I rarely make it. My experimentation tells me that most doughs will turn out well as long as you stretch/toss them into shape rather than use a rolling pin (it keeps the air in - whenever I try a new recipe I like to roll one, stretch/toss one to see the difference).

    Apologies for making it sound like I'm a pizza expert - honestly I didn't even EAT pizza until 2007, so I've been overcompensating by making it at home a fair bit.

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    Replies
    1. Yea, man, it's hard to get that crust just right! I feel like it's too thick (I like the New York paper thin crust), but I'm afraid to go any thinner for fear that the whole thing will fall apart.

      We will definitely have the most colorful barn quilt in Appalachia! My Mom really loves color, and it definitely shows through in this piece. ;)

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