4.18.2009
I'm so glad we elected this man!
GOOD JOB AMERICA!!!!!!
also i'd like to point out that one of the rail lines set to be revitalized is the pacific northwest corridor, serving eugene to salem pdx seattle and vancouver BC! can you imagine how amazing a lightrail train would be? we can rebuild it better than it was before! smarter! faster! stronger! cheaper! amazing. we would be able to head up to canada in like, less than two days, involving no bullcrap bus transfers and stinky chemical toilets. omg y'all. omg.
4.11.2009
4.08.2009
recycled lanterns...
recycled lanterns! i'm going to scrub the paint off later so you can't tell they're just old beer cans- and then hang them up in the flowering quince next time we have a garden party, to make things a bit more festive. got the idea from these folks and their site also features a step-by-step instructable for making apple cider using nothing but some clamps, two boards, a pillowcase, and old 2 litre bottles. and apples, obviously. it actually doesn't seem like it would turn out too bad. i think i'll try it this fall.
4.07.2009
i'm all covered in dirt
today was a very busy day in the garden! we got new beds dug! when i say that, i mean that kyle dug new beds, and i followed him with a trowel digging out roots and rocks and blackberry vines. it was hard work considering we were hacking them out of 50 year old lawn with some pretty resilient grass. you wouldn't think grass would be that hard to get out of the ground, but it is.
it may be a small area, but it's one more area that ISN'T useless, boring lawn, and IS producing food, and that's a fine victory, any day!
also kenney came over last night and brought some of his delicious homemade beer with him. he brought an IPA and a heff and they were both wonderful and rich and... creamy? can beer be described as creamy? i think maybe it can.
dinner was just okay last night, not one of my more shining acheivements- the theme was "crepe your pants!" and so for dinner i did sour cream potato and sweet corn crepes with cheese melted on top. i meant to throw on applesauce but i clean forgot. too bad, i think it would have added some much needed flavor, as they were pretty bland. and for desert i made fresh furit filling for the insides, and topped them with ice cream, caramel sauce, and FLAMING CHERRIES. basically i just made a batch of cherries jubilee and dumped it on before lighting. but guess what. when you dump it on the ice cream, the ice cream mixes with the brandy and so it didn't all burn off, so they tasted VERY strongly of booze. which was okay with the fruit, for instance the cherries and plums, but the crepes themselves were vile and whiskey-like. not so good. looked beautiful, had great presentation value, though. also we ate dinner outside at the picnic table with funky little tea light holders shaped like lotuses for light, and everyone was so happy because of the nice weather, i don't think anyone really cared about being served a big old plate of alcohol for desert. plus this is not really a group which will say no to alcohol in any form, if you know what i mean, and i think you do (my friends are drunks)
that's all for now! tomorrow we plants the tomatos and transplant the chives! also hopefully finish the lattice work on the patio so i can plant the hops! i think the raspberries died! oh well!
it may be a small area, but it's one more area that ISN'T useless, boring lawn, and IS producing food, and that's a fine victory, any day!
also kenney came over last night and brought some of his delicious homemade beer with him. he brought an IPA and a heff and they were both wonderful and rich and... creamy? can beer be described as creamy? i think maybe it can.
dinner was just okay last night, not one of my more shining acheivements- the theme was "crepe your pants!" and so for dinner i did sour cream potato and sweet corn crepes with cheese melted on top. i meant to throw on applesauce but i clean forgot. too bad, i think it would have added some much needed flavor, as they were pretty bland. and for desert i made fresh furit filling for the insides, and topped them with ice cream, caramel sauce, and FLAMING CHERRIES. basically i just made a batch of cherries jubilee and dumped it on before lighting. but guess what. when you dump it on the ice cream, the ice cream mixes with the brandy and so it didn't all burn off, so they tasted VERY strongly of booze. which was okay with the fruit, for instance the cherries and plums, but the crepes themselves were vile and whiskey-like. not so good. looked beautiful, had great presentation value, though. also we ate dinner outside at the picnic table with funky little tea light holders shaped like lotuses for light, and everyone was so happy because of the nice weather, i don't think anyone really cared about being served a big old plate of alcohol for desert. plus this is not really a group which will say no to alcohol in any form, if you know what i mean, and i think you do (my friends are drunks)
that's all for now! tomorrow we plants the tomatos and transplant the chives! also hopefully finish the lattice work on the patio so i can plant the hops! i think the raspberries died! oh well!
4.06.2009
After the long hiatus!
Eliazbeth has returned from Central America! Here are some of the ong-going goings-ons you and I both missed.
Michelle Obama planted a garden at the White House! Damnit, Michelle, I just love you so much. You are such a kick-ass lady.
Did you know that Michelle also gave the first lady of France an acoustic guitar upon meeting her? And broke protocol to give the Queen of England a hug? Did you know that she's the same height as me?
Here's a great little animated video about the history of gardens at the White House. It's really great.
Speaking of gardens, I can see Kyle outside working on the garden right now! The plastic has been put up on the greenhouse, and right now he's digging a bunch of new beds along the fence.
I'm working on a project, too- the patio. Until yesterday, the patio had a picnic table and benches, a whole bunch of firewood, and really gross grey paint on the floor which was peeling to reveal red underneath. Well NOT ANYMORE BABY. I've been pressure-washing off the grey paint, and I'm going to paint a cool trom de leis (sp?) of an Oriental rug in the middle, and hang up hammocks. It's going to be mad tropical.
Also I'm putting up lattice-work on the South side of the patio, to try and a) use that sunlight for something, ie, growing hops, and b) create some nice cool shade during the hot part of the summer, so I can chillax in my hammock in a dark little den of coolness.
Tonight we're making crepes. Savory crepes for dinner, sweet crepes for desert.
I went to Word of Mouth with Kenney yesterday for breakfast. The owners live right across the street from us! How funny. They seem like really sweet people (I only met the lady) and I guess they used to own Busick Court too. I got the "Heavenly Veggie Hash" which was huge and delicious, it comes with two eggs and huge thick slabs of Cascade Bakery bread. Good prices, too. Offcenter Cafe is going to have to STEP UP.
My aunt Jamie is the owner of Queen of Tarts Baking Co (see sidebar for link) and she is eligible to win a couple of the Best of Salem catagories! It would help her out ENORMOUSLY if I could get a couple of people to go to the Statesman Journal website and vote for her! If you've never eaten at her cafe, you are seriously missing out. It's in the basement of the public library. She used to work as a baker for the Conditeri but they wanted her to use cheaper ingredients to keep the prices down (like margarine instead of butter- ugh) and so she quit and opened her own place. It's really wonderful, the sandwiches are huge and fresh and original but the baked goods are where she really shines, the scones and cinnamon rolls especially. And the Marionberry handpies. She uses fresh local organic ingredients whenever possible, getting a lot of her produce from the Farmer's Market and even picking her own blackberries for the episode of Living Culture she was featured on (which you can view here) and as if that wasn't amazing enough, she built her business all by hand. She's self-taught and she had two small children when she decided to become a baker and by God, she became a baker. If you know Jamie, you know how typical of her that is. She doesn't have any advertising budget for her cafe, so it would really mean a lot of she could win one of the Best of Salem catagories so go and vote for a local, independant, woman-owned, local-food serving delicious bakery!
We adopted a kitten from the Humane Society.
Michelle Obama planted a garden at the White House! Damnit, Michelle, I just love you so much. You are such a kick-ass lady.
Did you know that Michelle also gave the first lady of France an acoustic guitar upon meeting her? And broke protocol to give the Queen of England a hug? Did you know that she's the same height as me?
Here's a great little animated video about the history of gardens at the White House. It's really great.
Speaking of gardens, I can see Kyle outside working on the garden right now! The plastic has been put up on the greenhouse, and right now he's digging a bunch of new beds along the fence.
I'm working on a project, too- the patio. Until yesterday, the patio had a picnic table and benches, a whole bunch of firewood, and really gross grey paint on the floor which was peeling to reveal red underneath. Well NOT ANYMORE BABY. I've been pressure-washing off the grey paint, and I'm going to paint a cool trom de leis (sp?) of an Oriental rug in the middle, and hang up hammocks. It's going to be mad tropical.
Also I'm putting up lattice-work on the South side of the patio, to try and a) use that sunlight for something, ie, growing hops, and b) create some nice cool shade during the hot part of the summer, so I can chillax in my hammock in a dark little den of coolness.
Tonight we're making crepes. Savory crepes for dinner, sweet crepes for desert.
I went to Word of Mouth with Kenney yesterday for breakfast. The owners live right across the street from us! How funny. They seem like really sweet people (I only met the lady) and I guess they used to own Busick Court too. I got the "Heavenly Veggie Hash" which was huge and delicious, it comes with two eggs and huge thick slabs of Cascade Bakery bread. Good prices, too. Offcenter Cafe is going to have to STEP UP.
My aunt Jamie is the owner of Queen of Tarts Baking Co (see sidebar for link) and she is eligible to win a couple of the Best of Salem catagories! It would help her out ENORMOUSLY if I could get a couple of people to go to the Statesman Journal website and vote for her! If you've never eaten at her cafe, you are seriously missing out. It's in the basement of the public library. She used to work as a baker for the Conditeri but they wanted her to use cheaper ingredients to keep the prices down (like margarine instead of butter- ugh) and so she quit and opened her own place. It's really wonderful, the sandwiches are huge and fresh and original but the baked goods are where she really shines, the scones and cinnamon rolls especially. And the Marionberry handpies. She uses fresh local organic ingredients whenever possible, getting a lot of her produce from the Farmer's Market and even picking her own blackberries for the episode of Living Culture she was featured on (which you can view here) and as if that wasn't amazing enough, she built her business all by hand. She's self-taught and she had two small children when she decided to become a baker and by God, she became a baker. If you know Jamie, you know how typical of her that is. She doesn't have any advertising budget for her cafe, so it would really mean a lot of she could win one of the Best of Salem catagories so go and vote for a local, independant, woman-owned, local-food serving delicious bakery!
We adopted a kitten from the Humane Society.
Matthew and Fiddlesticks
I HAVE A COLD.
I will put up some pictures of the new vegetable beds tomorrow afternoon, stay tuned, folks.
