The Santa Rosa’s and Wallace update… July 29, 2008

So I thought I would begin by saying that Wally Dog is fine. He had Tonsilitis. I know, right? Tonsilitis? Silly Wallace. Anyway, he’s on antibiotics for another week but he already sounds better. He even reluctantly posed for a picture for me this morning out in the yard (he’s a little camera shy sometimes)…

So, I realize I didn’t post much last week but that is because things got a bit crazy. I did bake the Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie, but in standard new-to-blogging fashion, it slipped my mind entirely to take a picture of it. However, it was probably the most amazing thing I have ever tasted. I got the crust recipe from Angry Chicken here and for the innards I sort of winged it, but this is pretty much the recipe:

3c Chopped Green Rhubarb

2c Strawberries

3/4c Organic Unrefined Sugar (you could use regular to i’m sure)

1/4c flour

1tsp cinnamon (I like heavily-spiced things, you could probably cut this in half)

1/4 tsp salt

~Mix all the innards together, throw inside the pie crust and top with a lattice design and bake (with a baking sheet underneath it at 375°F for about 40-50 mins. I don’t remember the exact amount of time I baked it as my oven bakes very unevenly and I had to just keep checking it and moving it around. According to all the pie recipes i’ve seen, 40-50 mins seems to be the norm. I wish I had a picture to show you of my face when I tasted it, because seriously, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I even had a piece the next day for lunch. No seriously, it was my whole lunch, I felt like a little kid doing something naughty. The pie itself wasn’t beautiful, but even a master artist spends years perfecting his art… The Rhubarb was just right right amount of tartness and the pie wasn’t too sweet at all (I did cut the recipe down a bit on the sugar.) In short, it was perfect. I plan to make more soon, so I will remember to take photos then and hopefully they will get prettier to look at so that respectable photos can be taken. Either way, this recipe was a winner.

*Note*-I made my crust a couple of days ahead of time and used half of the recipe to make a quiche. After sitting in the fridge for a couple days, it needed a bit of water to moisten it before I rolled it out. I had never made a pie from scratch before, but after struggling with the quiche crust to roll it out, I came up with the genius idea to roll it between two sheets of Wax paper. I’m sure this was something I learned in 7th grade home-ec, but that has long since left my mind. I felt pretty pleased with myself as I very easily rolled out the dough for the pie crust in between those two sheets of wax paper. For, the novice or first time pie-maker, I highly recommend this technique as you can then just remove one sheet, then use the second one to flip the dough into the pie plate . It makes that transition a lot easier. Anyway, enough about pie, i’m getting hungry…

Anyway, lastly, I wanted to share an exciting experience that I had this last weekend. Myself and 3 of my co-VISTA’s attended a Leave No Trace training in the Santa Rosa Mountains in Humboldt County about an hour out of Winnemucca, NV. You may ask yourself, where the hell is that?!?! Well, it is one of the many beautiful mountain ranges that Nevada has tucked away in it’s vastness. We aren’t known as the mountain state for nothing–Nevada has more mountain ranges than any other state! Anyway, I took this Leave No Trace backpacking course (you can learn more about LNT here) and it was fantastic! Not only am I now certified to teach others about LNT, I can hold official classes on it and such. Pretty exciting! Anyone who is not familiar with the principles of LNT should really check it out, there are many ways to incorporate LNT into our daily lives. The trip was a lot of fun, and definitely not short on hilarious moments–one in particular when I lost my footing trying to scramble around a fallen tree in the trail and fell backwards completely “turtling” myself with my 50lb pack on. (Turtling refers to when you get pulled backwards by your large, heavy pack, rendering you unable to right yourself, like a turtle.) Yeah, we all got a good laugh out of that one. Anyway, here is a picture of one of the many groves of Quaking Aspens we hiked through.

Have a fantastic day!

Monday blues… July 21, 2008

So, Wally dog, my lovely little pooch, had another weird allergy attack last night. This is the second one he’s had in about a week. The first one scared Nick and I senseless and we got him in the car at 5:30 am to take him to the emergency vet. By the time we got up and dressed and in the car, Wallace was fine. Huh. So we took him back inside and then I just called the vet when they opened and she said only bring him down if he has anymore problems. This was last Thursday and he was fine until this morning when he woke us up again at 5:30am wheezing. It sounds almost like an asthma attack but like he’s got something stuck that he is trying to cough up. It’s very strange and scary because he obviously can’t breathe. Anyway, concerned parents that we are, we took him to the vet today and he now has to return in the morning to be anesthetized so that they can get in and examine his throat. Best case scenario he has something, possibly foxtails, stuck in there and they just extract them and give him antibiotics, worst case he has tonsillitis or something wrong with his trachea. Anyway, I am just sad. First because my dog who is like my child has to get put under at the vet and poked at, but second because this also means expensive vet bills. Bummer, since mom (aka me) is still living on AmeriCorps wages. I should have invested in that pet insurance the last time he inhaled something he wasn’t supposed to…

Anyway, to top it off, it’s kind of muggy and hot here today. It’s so rarely muggy here and I should enjoy it but it seems to be more of an annoyance than anything else today. I’m also tired from restless sleep and a little congested so add that to the current weather and you have a gloomy day. I’m looking forward to less smoke from all of the California fires and fewer allergens in the air that’s for sure.

On a better note. I have a few new Neckies going up for sale on Etsy very soon. These are all made from re-claimed thrift store sweaters and vintage/ re-claimed buttons. I know it’s not quite Neckie weather right now but as fast as this summer is going, it will be soon enough. Here’s a preview:

That’s it for today. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, new sewing and knitting projects, Wallace updates and more coming soon…

A new beginning, Rhubarb, Beets, and a 20 minute skirt… July 19, 2008

So, after a failed attempt at keeping a knitting blog going, I have changed my angle a bit. Not that knitting isn’t my main passion, I find that the various interests I have might garner more interesting fodder for this blog on a regular basis. So, although I plan to focus as much as possible on the handmade aspect of my life, I will also be highlighting my efforts to reduce my carbon footprint, eat more sustainably and live an overall more healthy life. Hopefully, people will want to read something like that. I know I would. So stay tuned for some recipes, crafty ideas, and tips on how to live a more creative, handmade life.

On that note, I will begin with Rhubarb and Beets. Nick and I went to the farmers market this morning on California Ave. here in Reno. We try to go every Saturday morning and love seeing what we find. Not to mention that the local bread baker is right in the shopping center where the market is and we always get amazing samples of tasty fresh baked stuff as well as some to bring home. Until I start baking all of my own bread, buying locally is the best way I can think of to get my bread. Today we brought home a loaf of Jalapeno Corn Cheddar that is AMAZING and an oatmeal wheat loaf for sandwiches and toast to go with the Strawberry jam we made over 4th of July weekend. Anyway, I’m off topic already. Rhubarb and Beets. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I read Amy’s post on Angry Chicken about her rhubarb hand pies. Well, they looked so good I had to try. At the market today I found fresh green rhubarb that claims to be “better” than traditional red rhubarb. We shall see… I will post the results on this later. As for the beets, Nick was listening to “The Splendid Table” last weekend and they were talking about beets. His interest was peaked, so now we have a bundle of beets in our fridge that we have no idea what to do with. That’s okay, i’ll figure something out. Anyway, here is what they look like…

Lastly for today, I present to you… the 20 minute skirt! I made this skirt a couple of days ago in my boredom. I had a whole bunch of knit material and open access to my roommate Elle’s serger. So, what did I make? The most simple skirt I possibly could. Well, I should begin by saying I started out making the Infinity Dress from Rostitchery’s blog. I thought it would be great out of this Black polkadot material I had however once I got it made up, the straps were way too long and the underside of the material just looked bad and needed too much fussing with to make the dress look nice. I will probably re-make this dress with a different fabric as I love the idea of an easy dress with lots of wearable options. Anyway, the skirt portion of the dress fit my body perfectly so I cut it apart again and re-sewed a new waistband to it and voila! I had a skirt in 20 minutes that only took 2 seams on the serger. I love it! Of course it has an unfinished hem but with knits you can get away with that. I should also mention that this is probably the most comfortable and one of the most flattering skirts I own. I will be making many more of these since several friends have requested them so I will post a step by step on here soon. For now you can enjoy the pic I had Nick take this morning… (by the way, the bottom isn’t crooked, it’s the angle the picture is taken.)

Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather. I think it’s time for a trip to the lake (Lake Tahoe) or perhaps a Truckee River float. Either way, it’s looking like a fun couple of days!