September 2009 Archives

Big Lettuce

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How did this happen in a week?
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We just cut this all back last Sunday and now look how huge it is!  Time for another salad.

Caesar Salad Dressing


I like this one because it makes a small amount and is fairly low in calories (about 32 per tablespoon).  I believe Julia Child who says that the original caesar dressing didn't contain anchovies but rather worcestershire, so that's what you'll find in this recipe.


1 small clove garlic

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese


Mince the garlic and salt together until a paste is formed.  Place garlic-salt mixture into a bowl and add in the lemon juice, mayo, mustard, worchestershire and pepper and whisk to combine.  Slowly drizzle in oil, whisking constantly until thickened.  Stir in cheese.


Here's the printable version:  caesardressing.pdf


-- marcella


Quilting and Gardening Fun

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Finally Friday arrived and I was off to a quilting class with a friend.  The class was part of Alden Lane Nursery's annual Quilting in the Garden show.

We got up much too early to drive across the bay and into Livermore.  Upon arrival we saw this board, and I for one cannot resist these.  A very nice employee took a picture for us.
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The garden was beautiful.  They had window box displays filled with flowers.  Also, they had taken pallets of flowers and arranged the colors to make quilt block designs.  As usual there were really neat things for sale and I could not resist.  A wire pumpkin and a button Christmas ornament came home with me along with 50 daffodil bulbs.

For the workshop we had the option of choosing one of four patterns.  I chose the French Kiss design.
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However, it wasn't the quick and easy pattern I was hoping for.  While people who had chosen the other designs were merrily sewing along, us French Kiss people were cutting.  Cutting and cutting and cutting until after lunch.
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Here are my rather tall stacks of pieces.  Who knows how long it would have taken if the printed ones weren't already pre-cut strips.  Yikes!  But eventually I got everything cut out and could join the rest of the class in sewing.
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It was really nice to see four different patterns being made.  All of them were made up of angled pieces with either 45 or 60 degree cuts in them.  Some people were really fast and had entire rows assembled.

Me?  I'm not so quick.
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I only managed to finish two blocks during class.  They turned out really nice, and I'm happy with the fabrics I chose.  I think I'll be working on this quilt for a long time though!  It's not a zippy fast strip pieced pattern, but it is straightforward.  Hopefully I can find a day (or 12) to sit and just assemble (the 48! more) blocks.

On the way home we just happened to drive past a quilt shop and the parking fairy nicely provided a spot for us to park right in front and in the shade.  Fortunately I was feeling some restraint or I would have come home with a great many things.  As it was, I did buy two new patterns and some purl cotton.  I think I now have enough quilt patterns to last me for the next 40 years.

-- marcella

Ahhhhh!

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This is what kept me from updating things around here.
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The view from our room.  Life has been crazy so we decided to sneak off for a few days of doing absolutely nothing.  We read by the pool and jumped in the water when we got hot, then we read some more.
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All that exertion of lying on a deck chair can really build up an appetite.  We'd wander over to the giant buffet and gaze out over the water.  
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We did muster up enough energy to walk along the beach one morning.  LIke the hotel, it was deserted and we had it all to ourselves.  The undertow was too strong for swimming but the walk was nice, if a bit hot.  Back to the pool with cool water and cold drinks nearby.

However, vacation is not complete without a little excitement.  For us, that has generally involved a visit to the medical office.  This time, child free, it came in the form of fire.
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This is not a good look for a thermostat.  When this happens, the room smells really bad and housekeeping moves all your possessions to the other side of the room away from the flames.  Later, they come and help you move to a new room.
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With a slightly different, but equally wonderful view.  Back to the pool.

-- marcella


Lawn Ornaments

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This is the view of our back yard.  
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Unfenced, un-landscaped and filled with living lawn ornaments.  The deer love to just lie back there and hang out.  They do get quite irritated looking when we actually go outside and interrupt them.  They forgive us when we toss them apples or something.  That doesn't happen too often though.  Mostly though, they pick and choose the tasty weeds and occasionally a pear will fall from the tree to their great excitement.

Our new next door neighbors are also fence and landscape-less.  They actually hand feed the deer.  I'm sure this lowers the deer's opinion of us, but I have a healthy aversion to deer ticks and fleas so I'll just have to resign myself to not being their favorite human.

I do like to watch them.  It's particularly fun in the spring when there are babies hopping around.  If they would only eat the weeds, they'd be perfect.

-- marcella

Time for a Haircut

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The lettuce has been growing like crazy!
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We had to move the lights up a notch to give them room.  The lettuce leaves are totally blocking the herbs from the light.  It was time to make some salad!
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Now there's more room for the light to shine down on the herbs.
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The parsley is doing pretty well.  It's about 4 inches high and has quite a few leaves going.
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The basil is finally growing.  I'm hoping it does well, because it's one of my favorites!

-- marcella

Anticipation

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Next Friday I get to take a quilting class from Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts.  She always designs such adorable fabrics and patterns.  For class we get to choose from one of four of her patterns, and I've been collecting fabrics for her French Kiss pattern.  The class is part of Quilting in the Garden at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore.

Shopping has been angst filled to say the least.  Life has been really busy so I haven't had a lot of time for serious fabric shopping.  Also, the pattern calls for a matching honey bun (that roll of 1 1/2" strips) and a charm pack (a pre-cut stack of 5" squares).  I don't have time to cut my own so finding matching ones for sale that I really liked was going to be hard.  Also, I feel like I've been sewing with dark and muted colors lately so I was really happy when I found these fabrics which are brighter.

Everything is packed.  Now I just have to wait until Friday to get sewing!

-- marcella

Oh, Deer

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We've been invaded.
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This would be one of the many visitors we've had lately at our house.  They come generally every day all year long, but this time of year they are a near constant presence munching up all the acorns that fall from the oak tree out front.  At times, they don't even wait for the acorns to fall but rear up on their hind legs and chomp them out of the tree branches.
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While making dinner I looked out the kitchen window and saw five at once!  The fifth is over on the driveway and you can't see her.  Deer do not take direction from amateur photographers, and I could not get a shot with all of them in it.

As I sit in the office I can hear them clump, clumping about the wooden deck.  The deck is actually two levels so when a deer decides to visit the lower level there is a very loud crash as her hooves land on the deck.  At times they are loud enough that we wonder if they will come through the wall next.

They also love to hang out in our backyard.  The favorite spot is to lie under the pear tree.  I suspect they are hoping that a pear will magically fall from the tree so they can feast.  This reminds me that I really need to get outside and see if it's time to pick those pears.

-- marcella

Fig-tigue

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Just when I thought I was done with figs, another bag was delivered by my parents.  
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I've really had enough figs at this point.  I have also banned any more jam making in this house.  We are swimming in apricot, apricot-raspberry, strawberry freezer jam and now the fig jam.  There's only so much jam a girl can eat.  Friends are starting to turn away at the offer of a jar of jam.  There can be no more jam making here until the supply diminishes.

After looking though my latest cooking magazines and discarding such ideas as fig and gorgonzola pizza and browsing online and deciding against goat cheese stuffed figs and fig tarts, I decided to attempt the classic fig bar.  Who would turn down a cookie?

The figs got cooked down to this:
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A soft dough was made and went into the fridge to chill.
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The assembly was a bit tricky.  I enlisted my husband's help so I wouldn't be up all night making cookies and mumbling bad words under my breath.  With him in the kitchen we turned out four dozen fig bars pretty quickly.
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Fig Bars


These are based on a fig bar recipe from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book.  The original recipe calls for dried figs but I had fresh figs.  I played with it using the 1 lb 4 ounces of figs I had and it worked out well.  This recipe makes quite a few cookies - about 48 fig bars. The cookies will soften a day or two after baking.


Fig Filling

20 ounces fresh figs - finely chopped

1/4 C brown sugar

2 T orange juice

1 T water

pinch of salt


Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until very thick.  Set aside to cool completely before using in cookies.


Cookie Dough

1/2 C shortening

1/2 C unsalted butter

1/2 C granulated sugar

1/2 C brown sugar

2 eggs

2 t vanilla

3 C flour

1/2 t salt

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda


Cream together the shortening and butter until light and creamy.  Gradually beat in the sugars and then beat in the eggs and vanilla until the mixture is light and fluffy.


Stir together the dry ingredients.  Add the dry to the creamed mixture in two batches.  Turn the dough out onto plastic wrap and flatten into a disc.  Wrap well and chill for at least 2 hours.


Making the Fig Bars

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.


Roll half of the dough into a rectangle about 15" x 7".  Cut the dough in half lengthwise and crosswise.  


Spoon the one eighth of the fig filling down each strip just to one side of the center.  Leave a margin of about 1/2 inch on either end and on the filling side.  Carefully fold the dough over to cover the filling and press to seal along the long side.


Roll the cookie roll so that the seam is on the bottom.  Press down gently to flatten and press the short ends to seal.  Gently transfer the cookie bar to a baking sheet.


Bake the fig bars about 15 minutes until lightly golden brown.  Let cool on pans about 15 minutes and then carefully transfer bars to a rack to cool completely. Cut bars into segments about 1 1/2" by 2".


Here's a printer friendly version of the recipe:  fig-bars.pdf

-- marcella

Week 4

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The parsley is working to catch up with the lettuce.  It finally is getting some true leaves.

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Most of the lettuce is looking great.  One set of seeds is just sprouting, but the rest are really growing well.  It's nearly time to trim off some of the larger leaves to add to a salad.  The chives are still sad and spindly like three skinny blades of grass.  No basil yet either.

-- marcella

Outdoor Adventures

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Life has finally settled down enough for me to find some time to share pictures from our camping trip at the beginning of this month.

My son had a week between having to be out of his apartment and his new place being ready to move into.  We decided some fun was in order so we went camping with my parents.  My husband stayed home as he had to work (and also because I think he prefers a real bed and hot running water)

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We camped at Kings Canyon National Park, but each day we drove over to Hume Lake.  This is the view from Sandy Cove beach.  The weather was perfect: warm days with enough of a breeze to keep things pleasant.

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My son was determined to spend as much time as possible hanging out in the hammock.  This is in the campsite where he was kept company by a very busy chipmunk.  Another hammock traveled each day to the lake with us for relaxation time reading in the shade at the beach.

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We also decided to give geocaching a try.  My dad and son figured out how to use the gps and had found several sites near where we'd be camping.  We found this tin of goodies near the lake.  We had to poke under a lot of rocks before we found the right one.

Our second geocaching adventure the next day was not so successful.  We hunted and hunted but no success.  Even the lady sitting at the beach walked over to find out what in the world we were doing climbing around a giant granite rock.  She made several suggestions of places to hunt, but the prize was elusive.

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On our last day, the Christian camp at the lake was having a "county fair" so we decided to visit. A woman had this great horned owl along with a hawk and a burrowing owl for people to see and learn about.  She said they had all been injured and could not be released back into the wild.  It was great to see these birds up close.

There were all kinds of things for sale at the fair.  We bought a berry pie for dessert that night and my parents bought a giant box of peaches.  My mom is probably still peeling and canning them!

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After the fair it was off to a little beach on the other side of the lake.  It was a bit marshy on this side and there were four big frogs that we spotted.  They were happy to hang out and eat dragonflies.  

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There was also a geocache site on the Christian camp property so after some relaxation at the beach we tried to find it.  The hike went up and up and up some rather steep hills!  The clue said it was on the way to the Little Brown Church.  We decided to hike all the way up to the church first and then try to find the buried treasure on the way back down.  As you can see, the church was very little.  Barbie doll sized in fact.  It was a really nice and well traveled trail so lots of people must make the trek up there to see it.

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Success!  We found the right spot.  After signing the log book and returning things to their hiding spot it was very nice to hike down hill and back to camp for dinner!

-- marcella


Week 3

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Boy, I leave town for a week and the lettuce just shot up!
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It's now about 4 inches tall.

The chives are a bit taller, the parsley is finally sprouting.  However, one lettuce is just starting to sprout and the basil is still doing nothing.  Hopefully the basil will sprout soon.
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-- marcella

Lots of Jam

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Tuesday afternoon we squeezed in a jam making session and used the figs from my parents trees.  They were mostly black mission figs but there were some green colored figs that my mom calls white figs.

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I was surprised at how pink the jam turned out.  In my head I think I had pictured fig newton filling.  The sample taste was good but the jam turned out really firm.  I suppose that's not a big problem - better than pancake syrup texture!

Now we're off on a camping adventure followed by a move son back to college adventure. 

-- marcella