Like everything this year, Halloween was different. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, I’d still planned to dress up for Halloween just to participate in my office remote costume contest, but when a migraine struck midweek, leaving me feeling achy and tired for the next few days, I no longer had the energy. I’ll just have to save the idea and supplies for another year. By the weekend, I was feeling mostly back to myself, a good thing too since we’d had a mountain of mulch deposited in our driveway courtesy of a free service Andy discovered - ChipDrop. Since I first mentioned my plan to convert a large area under our two apple trees into a new flower bed through the magic of sheet mulching, Andy argued that ChipDrop and their promise of ~20 cubic yards of free woodchips would be the perfect solution, and while I initially had doubts, he of course turned out to be right. Still, it turns out that a pile of wood chips almost as tall as me takes a lot of time and energy to spread around so my mother-in-law’s offer to come help with our project on Saturday was greatly appreciated. With her help, we were able to complete most of the project in just one day. Of course, even covering an area of around 450 square foot in a roughly 6 inch deep layer of wood chips barely made a dent in Mt. Mulch, and even now, many weeks later, we have a least half left. Still, no regrets. We’ll get through the pile eventually, and it’s hard to beat free!
Read moreLife: Week 42
In a year where so much has changed, it was such a relief to have my favorite fall tradition preserved, even in it was in a smaller scale. In a typical year, usually on the second or third weekend in October, Andy's extended family will gather for to pick apples and press cider on Vashon Island. This year, it was just Andy and me along with his dad and stepmom, so we had lots to do. The upside was with only four of us there to make cider, Andy and I went home with more cider than we have in years. Yet another thing to add to our stash of treats in the freezer! Speaking of freezers, with overnight temps for the weekend dropping below freezing, our Saturday night spent sleeping in the pink palace was a frosty one! We really put our sleeping bags to the test, but thankfully with the hood fully cinched on my - 15° rated mummy bag I stayed mostly comfortable. Sunday morning, it took us quite a while to work our way out of bed to restart a fire in the woodstove so we could heat water for breakfast. When we finally ventured outside, we were greeted with a bright but windy day. Along with the main event of cider, Andy and I had hoped to find some chanterelles since we'd found some last fall. Sadly even with the help of some friends who’d joined us for a day of foraging, as a group we only managed to find two chanterelles. The lack of fungi (at least the edible sort) combined with the biting cold put a bit of a damper on our day, but still the loveliness of a sunny fall day among the towering old growth maples surrounding us made it hard to leave. Eventually, as the shadows began to lenthten, it was time to head for home.
Read moreLife: Week 41
With family stopping by Saturday afternoon for what could be one of our last backyard meals of the year (at least the last one that won’t require lots of blankets) I finally had the excuse I'd been waiting for to bake our homegrown apples into a pie. They did not disappoint! After realizing I don’t have a standby apple pie recipe, I went with this one, and while I didn't have tapioca flour or starch, I really didn't think the pie needed it. While I don’t see myself baking another of these pies to eat all on my own, I’m definitely looking forward to adding this recipe to my seasonal pie repertoire! In addition to the pie, we made pizza, including one topped with butternut squash, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and prosciutto - definitely a new favorite! The flurry of social activity on Saturday aside, it was a quiet autumn week, spent mostly indoors keeping cozy as the days shorten and temperatures start to drop. For the moment, I’m really enjoying the feeling of slowing down and bundling up, but I worry that I'll struggle through what is likely to be a long, lonely winter. It may be time to revisit some of my favorite Alpine Trails Book Club reads like The Nature Fix, The Little Book of Hygge, and Forest Bathing to prepare myself!
Read moreLife: Week 40
After stockpiling delicious seasonal homegrown and foraged foods over the past weeks, this weekend was spent cooking and baking. For dinner one weeknight, I made the incredibly comforting cheddar rice from this cookbook using the last of the paste tomatoes from my garden. Another night, we had a meaty skillet pizza, using up the last of a large batch of pizza dough I’d stashed in the freezer. After watching the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off Friday, Saturday was all about baking. There's nothing quite as good as fresh baked bread, still warm from the oven, and the white bread with poolish from Flour Water Salt Yeast has become my new favorite. It’s basically baguette in a loaf form, and I've finally baked it enough that it’s begun to feel easy and familiar, something I can throw together on a lazy weekend with what feels like little effort. Between steps in the bread making process, I also made a tart, using upsome of the pounds of alpine blueberries we’ve harvested over the past weeks. It’s mostly improvised, so sadly I have no recipe to share, but then I think these berries are delicious in any form, so really no recipe is needed!
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