just a day in the life

I have been working on a quilt for my shop this week.  It is my Etsy shop which has more things.  Experiments.  But this quilt has been a nice slow process.  I need putter.  There is a cold front coming through, which is really not that cold, but the pressure changes have definitely aggravated new injuries.  It is how my body reacts.  I have just been puttering away and trying to make progress.  Also, trying to remember to stretch and rest.  It is not what I am best at!

Since the city did not like my front garden, I have been trying to decide what to do with that space.  A tree will be planted.  A burr oak was a recommendation for the health of the planet and the tree population.  But I want more then a tree.  I picked some sage branches on one of the many walks I take.  Into water they go and hopefully roots develop.  I miss having sage.

Also, grocery shopping for vegetables was a disappointment today.  I do not think of myself as a big vegetable eater.  Because I mostly like vegetables roasted, in soups, or raw.  I like roasted romesca.  It is a cross between broccoli and cauliflower.  It is the time of year it should be coming into grocery stores.  Not this year.  I can get bean to bar chocolate made in house but I cannot buy romesca.  I am thinking seeds will need to be started soon.

As I said before, I like roasted veg.  But roasting veg leaves a lot of very edible veg after cleaning.  I also found some wrinkly potatoes and moldy onions in the refrigerator.  Once I cut off the mold, into the soup pot everything went.  Browning happened.  Water was added.  A long slow simmer took place.  This vegetable broth was created.  It looks like it should be meat broth but it will cook beans well and it will thin soups well. 

The documentary Wasted got me going back down this path.  It is a good reminder that we all can do more to cut down food waste.  I highly recommend it.  Chickens are being also considered to eat more of the leftover food as well as producing eggs.  There is only so  much vegetable stock the freezer can hold.  Now that the apartment has a tenant, there is someone around most of the time to help care for livestock.  Rabbits are being considered as well but they are just more of a meat source not a way to limit waste.

sourdough vanilla everyday cake

Since I started making sourdough everyday cakes, as soon as a cake is gone I am told we need cake.  When I was at my parents, I told this story.  My brother was there and said of course you always need cake in the house!  I did not realize there were such strong feelings about the topic.

But everyday cake is a good thing.  I think I mentioned I was working on a vanilla and I think I figured it out.  My regular frosting vanilla cake did not translate well.  And according to Koda Bear, birthday cake is only frosting cake!  He is adamant about this!  So having the frosting cake recipe is a good thing.  It does translate well to buckle.  But I had to tweak to get the vanilla.  It turn out well.  

I have been asked to have a cake rotation.  There is one more I am going to try.  A rift on Dorrie Greenspan's lemon spice traveling cake.  It is what she calls it.  But it is not going to have five eggs in it!

What can I say?  This is just a good basic vanilla cake.  Similar to a pound cake.  It travels well.  I like it toasted as if it is a bread, with butter.  It would be something that would go well into a lunch box.  And since we take food with us every where, I know this.  This is definitly a comfort cake not an exciting cake.  But I like comfort cakes better anyway!

sourdough vanilla cake

Note:  The sourdough I am using here is 100% by volume.  That means I use one cup of flour and one cup water to make it.  If you use a sourdough that is 100% by weight, 100 grams flour and 100 grams water, or whatever it takes to make a cup, increase the milk to one cup.  I used Smitten Kitchen's everyday chocolate cake as a starting point, truly.

1 cup sourdough

1/2 cup olive oil (mine is very fruity so sometimes it tastes like I am eating more a banana bread)

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons vanilla

1/2 cup milk or water

2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour (you can use all purpose here) 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Butter and flour a loaf pan.  I bought the Vardagen loaf pan from Ikea.  Is is 5.25 inches by 3 inches by 12.75 inches.  It holds 1.9 quarts and works perfectly.

In a large bowl, put in the starter.  Mix in the olive oil, egg, and vanilla.

Sift in the flour and baking soda. I usually have some bran from the flour that needs to be dumped into the compost.  Add the salt. My salt is a very coarse grind which is why I am not sifting it in. 

Mix well

Pour into the loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour.  

Check to make sure the cake is done by inserting a knife and it comes out clean.  The cake will also have pulled away from the edges.  let the cake cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes, if not 30.  I always have someone who cannot wait.  If you do not let this cake cool in the pan, it will collapse from its own weight.  Still very edible but there is usually a bit that gets very dense.  Obviously, I have done this in the past.

 

It is good vanilla cake.  Not very fancy because that was not the goal.  Good for a snack with tea.  Toasted with butter.  It is one of those that seems to make life better.

just trying to get caught up

This weekend was all about getting caught up.  I am not caught up yet but I am closer.  There were three bowls of dough going at one point.  Cake, bread, and mjurstat.  Tacos for dinner!  Bread for eating.  Lately, there just has to be cake.  I tried a different one which is also good.

I have also been doing a lot of crocheting for my Etsy shop.  Hats and cowls mostly.  When I need to sit, like with my tweaked back, I sit with yarn and a hook in my hands.  I do try to spin about an hour a day as well.  There are only so many hours in the day and I seem to fill them well!

My back is healing and I hope to get a quilt basted this week.  I might not be able to crawl around the floor for very long lengths of time.  I am also hoping to get another fleece washed but again it is back dependent.  There is a lot of lifting involved.  I just have to be careful about the weights.  I know the tweak is due to a twist and not a lift but that does not mean I do not need to be careful.

I was hoping to go gallivanting this weekend.  But I do not think I will be able to sit very long and since I would be doing all the driving . . .  It is the curve in the road in life.  I have enough other stuff to do.  Thinking about chickens is part of it.  Thinking about trees and what else to grow in the garden is part of it.  Documentaries and science books have been reinforcing ideas recently.  It will be interesting to see where I go.

Idyllwild

Koda Bear was promised camping.  We went to Idyllwild, California and stayed in a state park there.  The other campground we had stayed in Mount San Jacinto State Park was closed for winter.  I was pleasantly surprised on how nice it was.  Especially since the campground was two blocks from "downtown" Idyllwild.  It is a very small town.  Population of 1500 without day visitors or tourists.

We got there and set up the tent.  When we got there, it was not too late but we were all tired.  Koda Bear had fallen asleep in the car.  We just crawled into bed.

The next morning was chilly.  But there was tea and oatmeal.  The day warmed up quickly.  We lucked upon a festival for kids where all the fire departments in the area were presenting.  Koda Bear thought that was great.  He dressed as a fireman and did the obstacle course.  Played games and colored.  Sat in a fire truck.  I am not sure how impressed he was with the fire truck because it was green and small.  He has sat in a red larger fire truck in Lehi, Utah.  He still talks about Lehi, Utah.

We took the day fairly slowly.  We spent almost two hours in a playground.  There was a bakery snack.  The skateboards came out.  Fallen leaves, pine cones, acorns, and pine needles were collected to make slop.  It is from a Gerald and Piggie book.  S'mores were made after dinner over a small fire.  I controlled the fire because the boyos would have made a bonfire and we would have been up all night.

The next day, we hiked up to Suicide Rock.  And back.  12.5 miles in total because we started at the campground.  Koda Bear did really well.  I did have to pull him up at times but he ran all the way down.  The last half mile his feet were coming out from under him though.  Another bakery visit seemed to help that.  

The hike was longer then I expected because the map does not take into account all the distance.  The internet description of distance is better.  I thought the internet description of moderate was a good description of the hike.  Which I felt was more of a walk.  But other people were making it out to be much more difficult.  And we were told it was a difficult hike.  It made me feel like when a nurse in the past has told me something will hurt a bit.  No, that means it will hurt a lot! 

To me, this was not a difficult hike.  It went up!  It went down!  It was long.  It was very pretty.  I was told it would have been better if there had been a bakery at the top.  

After the hike, camp was broken down and Koda Bear was taken back to the Tall Short Person.  There was school Monday morning.  But it was so good to see him.  He is very missed.

North Cascades gallivanting

Part of the traveling last week was head to Washington.  We wished to spend some time on the mountain and see my parents.  Washington had one of the coldest and wettest winters on record last year and one of the driest summers on record.  So what does it do when we are there, it rains.

I did get to walk with my Mom when it was fairly dry.  This is where this sunrise comes from.  Fog of the Snohomish river.  But the mountain was a bit damp and chilly.  There is currently not a heat source but there is a dry loft.  It has no walls.  

We went driving through the North Cascades.

I did not realize that it was known as the American Alps.  Or at least that is what the sign on Highway 20 to Winthrop said.  On the eastern side, we even so snow falling but the ground was too warm to stick.

It was one of those pretty why nots.  Winthrop is a little town.  Orientated a bit to tourism and being outside.  We had a picnic lunch overlooking the river and I bought my Interagcencies pass.  It was a good day even though we drove more.  I just enjoyed the view.  Next time, I might request more of a hike though!