And we think it’s hot here!

I have an Iowa cousin–the little brother I never had– who now lives in Texas with his wife, his mother, and assorted critters. When he isn’t being besieged by cougars, wild hogs and torrential rain, he manages to send the occasional humorous update on their lives.  My Aunt Berniece was 96 July 1. This brightened up my holiday weekend.

What’s it take to make 7 Qt. of hot salsa?  3# onions, 4# assorted hot/mild peppers, 12# fresh tomatoes, head of garlic + secret stuff (too lazy to list). Took nearly 2 hours of prep work, then cook and can tomorrow. Ain’t doin’ this crap again for quite a while.

What’s it take to wake up quickly on a hot, sticky afternoon while gathering eggs? Pick up 3 eggs and have a large rat snake come flying out of the nest. Beats a pacemaker all to heck! I’m sure I’m several beats ahead of the game.

 Well, I need a glass of wine to get ready for chores. The AC outage messed up Grandma’s BD party, so we had it last night instead. Filled her up on crab legs, cake and assorted booze. She said she was ready to do another 96th party again in 96 years. “Go for it” was all I could say.

We dread the afternoon chores. So hot, but the critters need water and some food. We had to cancel Bear’s annual clip (Belgian Shepherd). AC went bonkers and tech was coming right at her appointment time. So, she is scheduled again for Tuesday morning. She has so much hair that she needs trimmed between her toes. (I dated a girl like that in 7th grade).

Stay safe and cool. Time to tend to the critters.

Have a fun Fourth, my friends. I’d say, “Stay cool,” but unless you have AC, it isn’t likely. Prescription: Shade, real  brewed Iced Tea, no sugar and NO artificial sweeteners, a good book…..or, pay a visit to friends with AC. 

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A couple of random thoughts on this holiday weekend……

Random thought #1.  So you want to be a rock and roll star?  Yea, The Byrds told you how to do it back in the sixties, but although I’m from that era, I realise times change and I should do the best to change with them.  To that end, we’re going to put Todd Snyder on center stage.  We played the crud out of him on The River, and I love this hidden track from Snyder’s 1994 debut album, “Songs For The Daily Planet”.   “Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues”……

Todd’s still out there, and if he shows up at a venue near you, it’s worth going to one of his shows.  By the way, this version is a little sanitized for television, so either buy the CD or look for one of the other versions on You Tube.

Random thought #2.  Keep in the back of your head that the mind works in strange ways, but one of the early thoughts that came into my mind upon hearing of the death of Michael Jackson was “Does Weird Al Yankovic have enough other well known material to prevent his career from going the way of Vaughn Meader’s after President Kennedy died?”  Don’t know, he’s not touring this year, but……

….the passing of Billy Mays (you know, “Hi, Billy Mays here.  If you’re having problems with……”) brought to mind Steve Goodman. the Chicago based folk singer.  Hard to believe he’s been dead 25 years, but yea, it’s true.   An excellent songwriter and performer, friend to John Prine and David Bromberg, he was also a gifted humorist.   I’ll grant you, this song predates Billy by a long shot,  this version of “Vegematic” is from a 1978 concert tape recorded Live at The Earl Of Old Town that was misplaced and not released until 2006.   An ode to the man who set the bar for Billy, Vince Shlomi, and the many before and after, Mr. Ronco himself, Ron Popeil……

Have a happy holiday and a great weekend…..

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I’ve always enjoyed beans. Growing up, I would scoop up Fritos Bean Dip with abandon. my family would bring two cans to The Lake on weekends — an extra one, I suspect, for me.

As summer sets in, I’ve noticed myself going so far as to pick up bean dip cans and Fritos and nearly put them in my shopping basket. Fortunately, a little voice in my head says “You can make your own bean dip. Put down the can and step away from the Fritos.”

Last night, I made a new bean dip. This one’s bright green, as green as wasabi, and made with fava beans. Inspired by Gourmet’s Arugula Fava Bean crostini recipe, I decided to take some basil and parsley from my herb garden and whir them through my food processor a cup and a half or so of shelled, blanched and peeled favas and some seasonings. I let these beans process quite a while, until the mixture was really smooth. I was trying to replicate bean dip, you see.

The result is quite nice. The bean dip is packed with flavor, but a more mature one than the bean dip of summers past.

By the way, if you can’t find fresh favas (or don’t want to take the time to shell, boil for 2 minutes and peel) feel free to use defrosted frozen edamame. The flavor will be different, but still good.

Fava Bean Dip

About 2 pounds fava beans in-shell (or 1 1/2 cups frozen edamame, blanched)

1/2 cup fresh mixed herbs (basil and parsley work well)

1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped

About 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

To prepare favas:

Shell beans. Toss shelled beans in a pot of boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and rinse. When cool enough to handle, peel outer membrane and discard.

Combine peeled fava beans with remaining ingredients and process until smooth and paste-like. Add more olive oil or lemon juice if needed. Adjust salt to taste.

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It’s a lovely Friday morning in Wenatchee, and I bet all of us are gearing up for the holiday weekend.

I wasn’t able to find any fireworks or patriotic lolcats for today, so I went with this instead:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Why the lobsters?

Well, No. 1: It’s funny. And No. 2: I will be celebrating the holiday weekend with my family on an island in Puget Sound. Crab season opened Wednesday, so we will be having a seafood feast all weekend. Crab, clams, shrimp and salmon are on the menu.

Of course, this picture is of lobsters, which is a bit of a stretch, but it’s the best I could come up with on a busy Friday morning!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and please remember to drive carefully and use your pyrotechnics responsibly!

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Jamie Howell and Jeff Ostensen over at Howell at the Moon, a local video production company, tried to get us drunk last night on free beer and wine so we’d give them $130,000. See, they’re making a documentary film on mountain biking called “Pedal-Driven,”  and these things — films and bikes — don’t come cheap.

The party, at the Barn Beach Reserve in Leavenworth, attracted about 125 of the best-tanned, whitest-toothed, healthiest-looking people in the Wenatchee Valley — all of them excellent advertisements for living the active life. Even their kids were muscled little devils; one of them wore a t-shirt that said: “I Make Dirt Look Good.”

A highlight of the evening was a nine-minute preview of the movie (which hasn’t been made yet, of course, because they don’t have any money) filled with eye-popping videography by Oly Mingo. Pretty sophisticated stuff, with the camera moving through scenes filled with action elements — bikes, trucks, snapping clavicles. Interestingly, the movie isn’t just about backcountry yahoos screaming head-first down rock faces on titanium frames. It also intends to address serious issues revolving around multi-use policies of our public lands, while lacing comments from eco- and guvmint bigwigs between scenes of riders emerging from crashes with mouthfuls of twigs. Or something like that.

Jamie and Jeff are hoping that “Pedal-Driven” has success similar to that of their earlier documentary, “Broken Limbs,” which nabbed a couple of regional Emmy nominations. They just might do it, too, since mountain bikers should make for a gung-ho audience. (”Broken Limbs” is not about mountain biking, heh heh, but the apple industry.)

I’d be remiss in ending this post without mentioning the platters — also free — of delicious sliced Italian salami and provolone, hors d’oeuvres that kept us nearly sober.

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How Ted Nugent sees the world.

OK, someone on the Go! staff, fess up, and don’t say “Parker”.  Who is the guilty party that added the delicious caption to the picture of Sid in the review of “Ice Age 3″ in today’s (7/2) Go! magazine. 

That one has to go into the Caption Hall Of Fame.  Abby?  Jefferson?  I need to know 1) who’s guilty and 2) where did you come up with that wonderful line?

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Lately, I have been preoccupied with death. Well, maybe not exactly worried about it, since it happens to everyone, but I can’t stop thinking about it. I am so utterly SAD that people have to die. It is just so completely devastating to think that one second I can be laughing with someone, and the next day, they could no longer be living. To think that my parents, or my husband, or brother will one day not be here, just crushes me. While I’ve always been a naturally morbid person, I blame this depressed mood on the latest book I’ve been reading, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach.

I have read Roach’s writing for many years now, as she writes for  Reader’s Digest. Her magazine column is always extremely amusing, but I don’t know that her humor works well for a delicate subject like death. In fact, it sort of had the opposite effect, not of making me feel lighthearted about death, but making me feel a huge sadness for the cadavers she wrote about. For, as she points out, these cadavers were once someone’s grandfather, or grandmother, or so forth.  In fact, she makes a joke of it, asking something like how it feels to shoot someone’s grandpa in the face. I cringed when she asks this question to the reader. At what point in their existence do cadavers stop being a loved one and just become a collection of bones and flesh, or just an object? I struggled heavily with this question as I read this book.

Most of the book described ballistics testing, and how cadavers are involved in determining how much damage a bullet can cause, and what a cadaver smells like out on the shooting range. Although Roach tried to put a positive spin on some of the tests she described (like how for every cadaver that acts as a crash-test dummy, 160 lives are saved), I just could not finish the book. I don’t know that I ever will, honestly.

From a purely scientific point of view, I can appreciate the book. I think Roach tries hard to seek tangible, informed answers. I know that she has tackled a subject that is difficult for people to think about, and I do respect her for that. I, however, don’t think I’d have the ability to detach myself enough to think corpse and not person. I would rather delve into the science of being alive, of all the wonderful little mechanisms that make humans more than just bodies. And in that respect, I’d like to think of people as being similar to books: as entities holding a multitude of stories and emotions inside, and not just a compilation of physical parts.

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Since the piece about my love of plain yogurt was printed a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been hounded by coworkers about making homemade yogurt. Some were shocked to find out that I’ve never made my own. Clearly, those who have made yogurt before thought I was up to the task.

So, last night I decided to try to save the dregs of my yogurt container and a quart of milk that was soon to go bad by attempting homemade yogurt.

I did a bit of internet research and consulted a couple of cookbooks at home. There’s really only one method if you don’t have a yogurt maker. The active part is pretty easy. Heat the milk until it begins to steam (about 180 degrees). Let cool until lukewarm. Add a couple tablespoons of yogurt. Let sit overnight in a warm place.

I woke up this morning thinking about my incubating bacteria. I was so excited to see if my yogurt worked. When I checked the container, it looked kind of viscous — a good sign. So, I dipped a spoon in it. The yogurt wasn’t really firm, it was more like creme fraiche, but it smelled great. I chalked up the thin consistency to me letting the milk and cultures getting too cold overnight. I just couldn’t bring myself to set my oven low while I was sleeping.

Next time, I’ll find a heating pad or maybe try to make it while I’m at home and can keep a closer eye on the kitchen.

Have you ever tried to make homemade yogurt? How did you do it? Do you have a fail-safe method?

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When we moved here twenty years ago and remodeled a little brown cabin into a year-round home, I wanted to separate the area around the house from the forest and fields surounding it. Being twenty years younger than I now am, with lots of energy, my own knees and a love of moving rocks and planting things, (and being of apparently  unsound mind) I hauled rocks, laid out a somewhat formal garden behind the house, built stone walls and outlined planting areas with more rocks and bark. Hmm. Maybe that’s why my knees went.

The entire area around the house was finally finished, with only a small area of grass. The rest consisted of perennials: herbs, lilacs, mock orange and a little lavender, with some annuals here and there.

                                                           And a few weeds.

Along the outer edge of the more structured  gardens north of the house I planted eight lavender plants. I put one on the west side. Between the ones in the row of eight I transplanted the calendulas which had popped up like weeds in all the planting areas (remnants from previous owner).  I received my first lesson in deer and gardens when I quickly learned that deer love calendulas, and neatly nipped out the newly formed buds from each plant.  No calendulas now grow in my gardens.

                                                     But the deer ignored the weeds.

I had saved every pot from every plant I bought those first couple of years, not foreseeing future need, but because I am a saver. One never knows …..

Soon I began to better understand  Carl Sandburg’s poem “Grass.”  Vegetation of all kinds, if left to itself, will cover  all areas which have enough moisture to support it. Never mind my neat rows, my carefully laid-out areas separated by gravel paths. I found lavender, oregano, mint, thyme, winter savory, ladies’ mantle, hardy salvia, coreopsis, campanula, anchusa and scores of others sprouting up in places I deemed undesirable. The battle was on.

                                                      And of course there were weeds.

At last I had a use for all those pots. I dug up and potted seedlings by the dozen, for I couldn’t bear to toss them out like weeds. I advertised, took them to the Wenatchee Farmer’s Market at 8 a.m. each Saturday, and gave them away. Many of them escaped my trowel and took root in my own gardens, which is why lavender now thrives in all areas surrounding the entire house. 

                                                             As do the weeds.

In one area separated from the rest by driveway and a wall, lupine appeared a few springs ago. Now, annually, the lilacs on that slope are surrounded by a mass of purple lupine. In other places, one quince has become a mass, a lone Oriental poppy has multiplied into a Van Gogh of deep orange, and purple catmint surrounds the rose-red peonies. Creeping thyme carpets much of the bark paths and golden yarrow blooms when the blue flax is finished.  And everywhere is lavender.

                                         And the weeds fill the spaces between.

 I never wonder what will happen here should there ever be Life Without People .  As Sandburg said, I am the grass; I cover all.

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Your head’s probably still throbbing from celebrating Canada Day yesterday. Give those Canucks an excuse to party then get out of the way — especially when you’re talking about the declaration of a new North American dominion (1867). Any hootch left in that bottle?

So, to ease that hangover, we’ll tip-toe quietly around the subject of our own Independence Day, which always provides an explosion of affordable fun. World writer Abby Holmes lists all the weekend’s July 4th action in the latest issue of Go!, but here are a few additional tidbits:

√ Whoa … Rodeo Promo, Art Show, Demo (Friday) —  Yee-haw! The town booms for a pre-Fourth First Friday with a preview of the Lake Chelan Rodeo & Roundup (July 24-25) that features horses, line dancing, mechanical bull and a western dress-up contest. Lots of art, too,  including decorated stick horses, paintings and jewelry-making. Festivities start at 5 p.m. on main street and in downtown stores. A lot of the activities are free. Info: 682-4322.

√ Art Sparks Pre-Fourth Fun (Friday) — Not to be outdone, Wenatchee’s burgeoning First Friday sparkles with evening art openings and hot music. ♦ At the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission St., Wenatchee, four Stehekin artists display works in a new exhibit, “Stehekin … Briefly.” Reception runs 5-7 p.m. ♦ A spankin’ new group show opens at Two Rivers Gallery, 102 Columbia St., Wenatchee, features works bymore than 90 local artists. Reception starts at 5 p.m. ♦ Caffe Mela’s Summer Concert Series fills Centennial Park, 130 S. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee, with rock by Beau Van Winkle and Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs. Music cranks up at 7 p.m.  All free.

√ Crash Cars, Spit Pits, Play Charades (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) — Patriotism may fuel your fun on the Fourth, but just in case you need additional reasons to celebrate:  On Friday in Waterville, the fireworks are preceded by a demolition derby (7 p.m., NCW Fairgrounds, 745-8480); on Saturday, the annual Chesaw Rodeo features kids ropin’ calves (parade 12:30 p.m., rodeo 1 p.m., town rodeo grounds, 485-2204); on Saturday, you can legally spit a lot during Manson’s Fourth of July cherry pit spitting contest (around midday downtown, 679-0519); on Saturday, charades and visiting with neighbors highlight Monitor’s town celebration (4 p.m. downtown, 663-1570); on Sunday, 3-D glasses ($1) can enhance Chelan’s post-Fourth fireworks (10 p.m. downtown, 682-4322).

√ Mucho Gusto (Sunday) — In the mood for a bit of Hispanic culture? Tardeadas, the traditional Mexican family event, welcomes everyone to Lincoln Park, 1140 S. Mission St., Wenatchee, for music, dancing, sports and socializing. Bring a picnic and a musical instrument. Info: 888-3284.

√ Opal, What’s That Flying Contraption? (Sunday through Thursday) — Hold on! Hang glider and paraglider pilots from around the world gather in Chelan for one of the top gliding events of the year. Yep, that’s right … they strap themselves in, jump off Chelan Butte and then follow a course to compete in the Chelan XC Classic. Sheesh. You’ll squeeze shut your eyes and wring your hands, but otherwise it’s free to watch from parks in Chelan or Chelan Falls. Info: 206-406-9481.

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