Sunday at Seven

Ouch.

2012-01-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

Time for another update. I have realized by writing this posts that I'm down to about 3 things to talk about: running, jewelry, and food. Yikes. I better mix things up a bit. But FIRST:

Running: I ran 8 miles today. Can you freaking believe it? I can't. And I actually pretty much ran the whole way...slowly, staggering, waddling... but it wasn't walking. I am hurting. Bad. The sad part is that that is still only 2/3 of the distance of the half marathon. But I suppose once you're hurting, what's another 5 miles, right? (whimper, whimper). 27 days till race day! Whoo hoo.

Jewelry: January sales have been abyssmal, but I suppose that might have something to do with the post-holiday guilt, debt, etc. I stopped at the little store in town and dropped off some new styles - this is the first time I have "refreshed" the inventory since I dropped off the first shipment in September. It was nice to get some of my old designs back. I missed them! I also picked up a check for December sales, which was $54 for 3 pairs (they take out 40%, which I think is highway robbery, but hey, I think it's kinda cool I'm in a store, so I just suck it up). Then I spent $35 at the store on other local stuff...mead, bread, a pair of earrings, a cookie...gotta support my local peeps after all!

More jewelry: My goal is to get 100 items for sale on etsy, soon. I'm at 71 now. I don't know why I want to do this other than the fact that I feel like the more things up there, the more likely someone will find something they want. I have no idea if this is a legitimate marketing technique or not, but it's my goal anyway. I'm enjoying my kiln, but the clay I need to make things is very expensive. As in $61 for 31 grams. That has to be more than cocaine, right? Then, once you're done, you have to polish it, and polish it some more, and buff it, and burnish it. Zoiks! It's a lot of work. The stuff is really cool, but I can't really sell it for much of a profit after the materials and labor. But it's nice to add it to my repertoire, and it allows me to get into glass fusing one of these days.

Speaking of which, my studio (aka basement) is coming along. I've finished the 3 major walls and I would say they are ready for painting. I have a few tricky areas left, which will take a few weekends, I"m sure, but my philosophy is that I must keep moving forward. Even an hour of work every weekend advances the project. Dad is coming in 2 weeks to help with the electricity and Jon has agreed to "talk" about the trim. Baby steps. Maybe one day I'll actually get him to DO the trim. We'll see.

Ok, moving on to FOOD: I made shrimp creole last night from the gumbo shop cookbook, using Maine shrimp. Oh My God. That has to be my most favoritist dish in the entire world. I love it. It's amazing. It takes forever to make, but it is so worth it. I even used the whole stick of butter this time (I ran 8 miles!)

Er uh... I must have something else to talk about. Well, I am taking this Dale Carnegie class through work. It's kind of a public speaking course and I guess it's supposed to help you be more positive and social. We'll see. I've had once class and I learned how to introduce myself. That alone was worth $1,700 of my company's money. "Hi, I'm Larisa (pause) EBinger."

Samara and I are planning our trip to France. Ok, she's doing most of the planning, but I'm taking part in the excitement.

I'm purging the house of anything not nailed down. I am totally into simplicity. I'm thinking tatami mats and pillows. Nothing else. We've been making weekly trips to Goodwill and it feels SO good.

Ah! I am almost ready to make some mead! I borrowed a carboy from a friend of mine. This week, I'm going to buy yeast, yeast nutrient, and something else, and then, let the magic begin! I won't actually have any drinkable mead till next year, but I am excited nonetheless.

Reading: Great expectations. Dance, Dance, Dance. Dale Carnegie.

I guess that's all. : )

Yes, mom, it's an update

2012-01-10T05:02:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been a while. I'm a busy lady! But I suppose it is time for an update.

Ah... January. Time for goals and resolutions and lists. That's what I love about winter. You can plan, plan, plan, but don't really have to do anything! This is my favorite time of year to start planning totally unrealistic projects for the garden. I'll build a labyrinth! Ok, probably not.

Anyway, what's been going on? I ran my best time ever in a 5K on Sunday. 30:09, which is slow for most people but totally insane for me. That's under a 10 minute mile! Whoo hoo! My next goal is to get under 30. But first I need to finish the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon. I've been training steadily and have run 6 miles on my longest run. In the next few weeks it will increase a mile each week... 7 miles this Sunday...8 the next..then 9 and 10. Then 13.1 for the actual race. I'm excited about the trip because we are also going to stay in Charleston for a few nights. I booked us a nice hotel on the water. For some reason I feel like I will fall in love with Charleston, but we'll see.

In jewelry making news, I'm getting my kiln today! First on the agenda is working with Precious Metal Clay (PMC) in fine silver. I'll be able to do some wicked cool things. Eventually I plan to get into glass fusing too, but I need to control my costs for a while. I'm also planning on moving my studio down to the basement so I have more room and less carpet for beads to fall into.

Books: I'm reading Great Expectations on my ipad, which I am enjoying. Also reading Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami.

That's about it! I'll try to update more often (mom.) : )

In Bavaria

2011-11-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

Well now we are in regenburg Germany. It's been unseasonably co
D in a region where seasonably cold is bad enough. We've also been outside a lot. Logistically this trip has been very interesting. Low water in the Danube due to a dry fall. We've had to be bussed to a few places and actually just arrived at the ship we signed up for. We were on a different ship for 3 days and then we were bussed from Passaic to regenburg today. It put a bit of a damper on things but hey, we are in Bavaria! So no complaining here. I mean some of our travel companions may be complaining but I'm not mentioning any names. :)

Anyway, I adored vienna. It's unreal how opulent and gorgeous and utterly beautiful that city is. It's like a movie set. They set up these giant Christmas markets where they sell crafts and pretzels and gluwein, which is a hot red wine. Needless to say it is delicious. We mastered the Viennese metro system and even got ourselves to the concert house for a string quartet, because everyone knows that you must hear live music in Vienna. It was quite an experience. We toured schonnbrunn palace, which was the summer home of the hapsburgs. So beautiful.

Then we went to melk, by ship and experienced some scenic cruising. Melk Abby was amazing. Most things are in the baroque style, which is th heaven on earth style. In other words, unbelievably opulent.

Today we were in Passaic, stranded in the cold for half a day. Most attractions closed for the winter so we walked up to some giant medieval fortress. Steep climb so it kept us warm. Drinking lots of wine and even talking to strangers. That's actually unavoidable because of the seating situation T meals, but so far it has been nothing but pleasant, surprisingly enough.

The ship is really nice. The cabins are more sophisticated and elegant than ocean cruise ships and there are less than 200 passengers so it's not total
Y overwhelming. The staff have been very good and I have to give credit that I am still having a good time despite the change in plans.

Anyway, I have not been able to figure out how to upload pictures so I guess I will wait till I get home. Auf weirder sheen!

Oh my achin feet

2011-11-19T08:03:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Budapest! Despite the fact that I am spoked to be on the Viking prestige river cruise right now, I am actually
Aging on my bed at the very nice Corinthian grand hotel with aching feet and a bottle of cheap (very cheap!) red wine. Apparently it has been a very dry fall and the river is too low to get the ship from Vienna to Budapest. Viking has booked us an extra night here and tomorrow we are all being bussed to vienna. We'll have less time on the ship, obviously but more time in Vienna, so I am ok with it.

We've had a busy few days in Budapest and I feel
Good that we covered most of the sites I wanted to.

We have toured st steven's basilica, walked down andrassy ave many times, went to the house of terroir, which is a museum about what happened to the Hungarians during the nazi and then soviet occupation. Jon enjoyed that. Today we saw the art museum,then I dragged Jon to the public bath house, which was quite an experience, then we walked over to look at the parliament bldg and then toured the opera house, which was really nice. Last night we went to dinner in. Uda, which is on the other side of the Danube. It's pretty over there, but there seems to be more to do in pest. Overall it's been a nice and interesting time. The people are not very friendly, but Jon is telling me not to dwell on that. He's being very zen.

I will try to post some pictures in a little bit, and as time permits I'll give more details about what we have done so far. Having a lovely, if a bit tiring time!

cha-cha-cha ciabatta

2011-11-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

I've spent a lot of time baking lately, and I've been disappointed in the results fairly often. I made a 100% whole wheat loaf last weekend which was a bit of a dud. It never really rose, despite the fact that I stuck it right in front of the propane fireplace (right next to Thomas). This weekend I made a sauerkraut rye loaf, which turned out ok. It's definitely a different flavor, a bit heavy though. Last night, I made the biga (that's the starter) for a ciabatta loaf and I have been working all day on this loaf of bread...literally. Ok, so mostly I just let it sit, but I did have to deflate it and stuff. So finally, it is done, and I have to say, it is delicious!

Here's a photo:

I had it for dinner with olive oil, pepper, and parmesan cheese.

Last night I also made a winter vegetable soup with barley and shredded cabbage. And tonight I made blueberry muffins. Tomorrow, my friend Peggy is hosting a LoveLarisa party at her house for brunch, so I thought I would bring some muffins over too. I'm not expecting a huge turnout, but it was nice of her to offer and I'm sure it will be fun anyway.

I didn't have to work today because it was Veterans Day, so I took the opportunity to start planning our vacation next week. There's not really much to plan since it's a cruise and everything was pre-booked, but I planned out our itineary anyway, along with a budget. The nice thing about this vacation is that I paid for it in February. Now it's just incidentals and a few meals, though that adds up pretty quickly too. I'm getting pretty excited, mostly about Budapest and Vienna. We are definitely going to go to the thermal baths in Budapest. Other than that, I still don't really have anything planned. Oh well. I'm going to Reny's tonight to do a bit of last minute shopping for the trip.

Not much else going on...basically just wanted to post a picture of my ciabatta. I know, my life is riveting. : )

Snow!

2011-10-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

So, apparently we are supposed to get our first nor'easter of the season tomorrow! And I might be the only one excited about this. Jon is very upset. I tried to explain that we lived in Maine...! But no, he refuses to accept snow in October, even if it is nearly the last day in October. He's out frantically taking care of the bees, trying to get them covered up. I am making a pizza. More on that later.

But, first, let me tell you about lunch. Yes, I'm going to be talking about food, and not much else, until Spring. I made red lentil soup with the tomatoes I froze over the summer. Most of you are already aware of the recipe I'm talking about...the famous "Eat to Live" lentil soup recipe, where you cook red lentils in water (I use some "better than bouillion" to add a bit of flavor) for 30 minutes, than add tomatoes and celery and cook another 15. It's so simple and yet you would never know how rich and yummy it tastes until you try it. This time though, I decided to give it a bit of a mexican flair. I didn't put the celery in, though I did add onions and garlic at the beginning (I guess I always do that). Then I made cornbread. And then I topped it with cheddar cheese and avocados and threw in some tabasco sauce. Yum! Here's a picture:

Tonight, I am experimenting with a whole grain pizza dough. I'm running out of white flour and though I just got back from Hannaford, I couldn't find a little basket so I could only buy what I could carry, and between the wine and the moisterizer (2 of winter's most essential products), I just couldn't lug a big ol bag of king arthur around... SO, I have buckwheat flour in the pantry (why, I can't quite recall), and whole wheat flour, and oh, even a bit o rye flour, and some vital wheat gluten (I don't even know what it is, and yet, I have it). So I googled a recipe and found one, that also included soy flour (which surprise, surprise I do NOT have), so I altered it a bit. It's attempting to rise right now.

I intend to put some mashed up butternut squash as a "white sauce" that I had frozen last year...time to definitely get rid of last year's stores! Then I'm going to saute up some garlic, onion, broccoli, and bok choy and put that on top. First, I am supposed to bake the crust for 5 minutes (don't let me forget!) and then I'll top with some mozzarella cheese...anything else I should put on? Oh! I do have a few shitake mushrooms. I can't make anything without putting mushrooms on lately.

I'll post a picture soon. I know your'e on the edge of your seats.

What else? I bought a light weight jacket from Reny's tonight. A Woolrich. The Woolrich brand really started twinkling in my eye once I saw it in the Sundance Catalog, the king of catalogs full of things I can't afford. The chance of finding a deal on a Sundance product at Reny's got me all excited and I lost all perspective and spent $130 on a not very wintry coat. It's red and plaid and has a hood. And I DID need a mid weight jacket. I won't bore you with all my rationalizations. The fact of the matter is: I spent money and I feel guilty about it. And yet, now I have a nice jacket. End of story. (Yes, this will keep me awake at night with buyer's remorse.)

I made some pretty awesome earrings today. If you haven't friended LoveLarisa Jewelry Designs on Facebook yet, please do. You can even find a 15% off coupon. I've decided to buy a kiln for Precious Metal Clay in January. I'd like to do it now, but I think I will start actually tracking things in 2012..you know, things like sales, and material costs, etc. for tax purposes. So I hear I can claim my expenses and get some sort of a credit or something. But of course, then I have to pay sales tax and income tax. Sounds complicated I KNOW. But if I can deduct $1000 for a kiln, then I suppose it's worth the time trying to figure it out. Besides, the cost of the materials and stuff really adds up, so it might be to my advantage. And I plan to make A LOT of sales next year. Retirement Here I Come!

Well, that's about all the news from B-ham. We are going on our European River Cruise in just a few short weeks. I'm wicked excited. Hey, and now I have a mid-weight jacket to wear on my vacation! Yay, rationalization complete. No remorseful sleepless night tonight!

will post a picture of the pizza soon.

Fall cookin'

2011-10-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

So fall is here...finally! We had a bit of a heat wave, which I wasn't very happy with. I've noticed the last few summers, I'm pretty much ready for fall by September. I don't know why... I guess I've just adapted so well to northern climes that I can't take the heat even for 3 short months.

We're definitely in a state of heavy bounty right now. Between all the things I canned and froze and a ton of potatoes and onions and garlic from mom & dad and now the winter CSA, I am in total cooking mode. My goal: To not waste one single morsel of food.

We got some leeks from the CSA this afternoon so I'm making some potato leek soup. We had some cauliflower left from last week and a gorgeous bunch of broccoli so I'm roasting that with some leftover cabbage in the oven with olive oil, lemon, and garlic. I would take photos my camera's battery is recharging...

Last night I made veggie reubens. I sauteed some white button mushrooms with spinach, and then layered it onto a Pepperidge farm dark german bread with some homemade sauerkraut and provolone cheese. I totally forgot about the dressing. I was going to make some russian dressing with mayo and ketchup and relish, but I forgot. The sauerkraut stole the show, for sure. Next time, I think I will use Swiss cheese instead.

I also recently made a broccoli and tofu dish from my vegan cookbook. I marinated the tofu in lemon juice and that was supposed to create a fake kind of feta. It was pretty good.

We went wild mushroom foraging this afternoon... actually Jon is still out there. We found a few things, that I need to identify. Most exciting was a bears head tooth (or something like that) that Jon found. I'm pretty sure that's edible. It's probably past it's prime, but still..it was kind cool. Found some other stuff too, though not sure if any of it is edible.

We put some sugar water on for the bees. I think the pink hive is doing fine for honey. The purple hive (according to Jon, who has been coordinating this effort) has been sucking upl the sugar water, which means they need to make more honey for the winter. We've got another 6 weeks or so before we put the tar paper on, so they shoudl be ok. Technically we should give them fumigilin, which is to treat intestinal parasites. If we can get over to Rick's we'll get it, but we've been pretty light on treatments. I hate to give them all these chemicals, and yet, I'm not ready to let them all die off of disease eitehr, so we're doing sort of a half way approach. So far, so good.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet or not, but on 10/24 I'm going over to my ex-boss's house (Adam) and he's going to show me how to make mead. He is an experienced home brewer and has all the equipment. Originally I was going to buy it all, but I already have so much stuff around the house, and how often am I really going to need it? Hopefully the mead will turn out good. \

Anyway, the soup's ready!

And so begins the 4th quarter

2011-10-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

So at work, we set quarterly goals called "10 in 90s" which is top 10 goals for the next 90 days. Of course, at work, I never really meet these goals because I am just trying to keep up with my work that I never really get to those illusive "big picture" goals. BUT in my personal life, I can set whatever goals I want and focus exclusively on them. ha ha. Yeah, right. But anyway, I set them anyway. I already erased my 3rd quarter goals, but I met about half of them, like:

Successfully training for and completing a triathlong
Trying stand up paddle boarding
Enjoying our Maine vacation

I did not:
Lose the weight I wanted to
Go on 3 kayaking trips this summer (only one)
Finish drywalling the basement...

But that's what's the 4th quarter is for. SO. On the white board for the 4th quarter is:

1. A plot, an outlet, and a kick-ass first chapter in my novel! (my much neglected novel)
2. A kiln. Which means saving enough money to buy one.
3. My regular savings goal, which I won't divulge here, but which will allow me to support my hubbie during his nursing education. Suffice it to say, that it is half my take home salary.
4. Drywall completed. For realz this time.
5. Lose some weight... for realz this time. 15 pounds to be precise.
6. AND... be featured on the etsy home page for my jewelry. Once again, that's www.etsy.com/shop/lovelarisa

So speaking of LoveLarisa, it's actually going really well. I made 2 sales at the store this month. They take a 40% commission, which in my opinion is highway robbery, but hey, it's not like I'm making a living anyway. I've been focusing on "getting out there" mostly. I continue to make a fair number of sales from friends, family, and work colleagues and my major source of revenue has been from lovelarisa parties. I've had a few offers to host these but it's been difficult to keep my inventory up. So right now, I'm in rebuild mode.

What else? Well, our October continues to look as busy as our summer. I have a wedding tomorrow and a mushroom class(!) Sunday. Monday is a holiday, so I plan to make jewelry all day. I have metalsmithing classes and tutoring and I plan to sign up for a half marathon in the spring... Anyway, time to make some earrings.

My first tri!!

2011-09-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Oh my god... I can't believe I actually did it. Since I'm beyond exhaustion at this point, I will give the 30 second recap:

-I had an awesome moral support team with Jon and Lois (who cancelled a family event and got disowned by her sister to be there with me). I'm pretty sure I couldn't have done it without them.
-The swim utterly sucked. I went in confident and after 10 minutes I was sucking wind and never recovered. So I did the doggie paddle the whole way and guess what? I got there eventually.
-The bike was ok. I think I went faster than I normally do, as I should during a race. I'm still waiting for them to post my official times.
-The run was ok. I alternated walking and running since at that point I was pretty much toast.
-The damage: bloody ankles since I didn't get enough sand and water off my feet before putting on my bike/running shoes; extremely soar calves - I think from the doggie paddle - extremely soar legs and butt. Ok, actually at this point I can barely walk. But it was worth it because I am so freaking proud of myself right now. Looking at the pictures, I actually can't believe that I did it and made it through. Here they are:

Me in front of my bike in the transition area. This is where you lay out all your things and get ready for the next event.

Looking pretty hot in my wetsuit and swim cap. Oh, I should mention that the triathlon was at Biddeford Pool, which is very close to Kennebunkport (actually the bike course did go through Kennebunkport) and it was such a beautiful course. And it was a perfect fall day.

Coming off the swim portion. Notice how I am alone. That's because everyone else had already left. hahahahaha... Wait, look! is that a head in the water behind me? Or a buoy? Oh damn, I think it's a buoy. But there WERE at least 2 people left in the water. I swear.

Washing the sand off my feet (poorly) and getting ready for the bike ride.

There I go.

Here I come. Back from the bike ride (14.85 miles or something)

And off on the run.

And done!

Yippee! The clock says 2:09:54, but my wave on the swim, didn't start until 10:09, so I think my final time was about 2 hours. My goal was 2:15 - 2:30 so I totally crushed it! PLUS, I was not the last one!! I was seriously worried about that.

Me with Lois

That's me at the end rinsing off and trying to chill my muscles so they didn't get sore. Guess that didn't work. : )

OH yeah... one more thing

2011-09-16T15:39:00.000-07:00

I made some corn and zucchini salsa too. I had it with haddock tonight and it was really good.

Oh Honey!

2011-09-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

We picked up our honey from Rick tonight and put it on the scale...drumroll please.....63 POUNDS! I had estimated we'd get about 50, so bonus! I am definitely going to make mead now and use 10 pounds for that. If anybody wants some, just let me know. We'll be jarring it up in the next coupla weeks. Now, we just need to treat the hives for mites using formic acid, then put the entrance reducer on to keep away mice, etc. and then put tar paper on in November and leave them alone till Valentine's Day, when we'll give them some sugar.

So the triathlon is tomorrow. I laid out everything I needed and did a dry run of the transitions...swim to bike, bike to run. So I put on my wetsuit, etc. and ran around the yard, taking everything off, and getting into my bike stuff. Thank god we live deep in the woods, because I'm sure I looked just a little bit foolish. Jon is coming with me and my very good friend Lois is coming too. She is a triathlon veteran and is actually the person who encouraged me to try this in the first place so I am SO HAPPY she is coming. We're going to leave here around 6:30, get to Biddeford around 8 and the race doesn't start till 10. I just want to be sure I get parking and have a chance to get situated, and that there is still time to back out of the swim if I need to (though I don't expect to). I'm actually really excited about it! Tomorrow I will be a triathlete!!

I'm back!

2011-09-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a very busy summer and I haven't had a chance to update this blog in a while. Everyone agrees the summer went by too quickly, was too busy, but was wonderful. And I agree. So what have I been doing?

- I've been making tons of jewelry and selling it anywhere and everywhere, including the Phillips Farmers Market (1 sale), a LoveLarisa party (10 sales), Etsy (2 sales), Friends and Family (many sales), cool new local store that was desperate for inventory (none that I know of so far). I've got two more LoveLarisa parties in the works and plan to shamelessly promote myself at my "real job" during the holidays. I'm still loving it, and still realizing that one day I will need to get better at the "business" side of things...but not today.

- I've been training for a triathlon. The one I was training for coincided with a terrible cold, so I ate the $85 entrance fee and signed up for a different one, the Mainiac, on September 17. I did a "dry run" actually a wet run, ha ha, this morning and realized that I am utterly terrified of waves, which is unfortunate since this happens in the ocean. I looked at last year's times and realized that I will likely be the very last person finishing. And I'm pretty unprepared for the bike and run too. But do you think I'm going to give up? Hell no! I'm just going to go all in, totally unprepared and learn how NOT to do it next year. ha! No big deal.

-What else? Well I've been to 2 weddings, gone kayaking once, hiking a few times (Mount Blue and the Appalachian trail near Phillips, I discovered wonderful strawberry and blueberry sources in the Farmingon/Phillips area and the chest freezer is stocked! I've also got pickles and jam and saurkraut brewing. The kraut has been going for 3 weeks and I just checked it and I don't think it's done yet. It's still pretty crunchy. I'm going to give it another week and check it.

-I ran in the Bowdoinham Chicken Run 5k yesterday morning with Jon, my friend Lois and her friend Heather. Lois, a seasoned runner, said it was the hardest 5K she's ever run. There were definitely a lot of hills. Anyway, I finished in 34:22, which is a little slower than my last one, but not bad considering the course. There was also some off road parts on the course, but it was very fun and I got an awesome T-shirt!

-We pulled off the honey last weekend and dropped it off at Rick's for processing. Haven't heard back yet but I think it will be roughly 50 pounds. Jon thinks it'll be more like 100. We'll see. The new pink hive had gorgeous combs and honey. Very neat and tidy. One medium super filled. We put a shallow on top but they did nothing with it. They started early and had it all filled by end of June than nothing. Rick said a lot of people said that and he thought it was because of the lack of rain. The purple hive also had one medium super but with some brood in it. The shallow on top has some honey in it that we need to take off. We're going to cut it out for comb honey. When we pick up the honey from Rick, we'll buy what we need to treat them for mites and then in November we'll wrap them in tar paper and will leave them alone till spring. I'm sersiously considering making mead, though it will take 10 pounds of honey to do it. We should have enough to sacrifice toward that experiment.

Here's some pictures of my dinner, etc.(on a separate note):

Roasting some cherry tomatoes that Mom & Dad gave me today! Yum!

My roasted cherry tomato and brocolli "pizza"

Not quite ready sauerkraut

Making tomato sauce with the tomatoes Mom & Dad brought

Too hot to do anything

2011-07-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

so why not update a long-neglected blog? Ok, first, why does the heat make everyone angry? Is it because when you get angry, you get hot, so just being hot makes your brain think you're angry? Something to ponder as I try not to murder Jon...

anyhoo... I wanted to give everyone an update on my canning/freezing/food preservation activities as they are one of my favorite things about summer.

We picked roughly 35 quarts of strawberries and filled the freezer with gallon size ziplocks of frozen strawberries, mostly tops on. We've gone through a few gallons already in smoothies, but there's still plenty left for the winter. My plan is to get raspberries and blueberries, but I don't know when and I don't know where. The signs are up, but...ok... I admit it... I hate picking those things. It takes forever and it's just so painful. One year Jon's mother found a place that was selling 10 pound boxes of blueberries that we froze. But I haven't found that since.

Anyway, I got 8 pounds of pickling cukes at the farmer's market and made 8 pints of bread and butter pickles. I made 3 pints last week using red onions so they turned a little pink. oh well. This year I used the recipe in Better Homes and Garden. Maybe I used that recipe last year too... I hope so, because they sure were good last year! I also want to do some dill pickles or at least some refrigerator dills...hopefully the farmer who comes to my work on Tuesdays will have them this week.

8 pints of strawberry jam.

4 half-pints of dandelion jelly.

And that is my harvest so far. In addition to the berries, I want to get lots of fresh corn and freeze that too. And lots of tomatoes to make sauce, salsa, etc. with. Maybe some canned roasted red peppers. I'm growing some peppers in some pots on the porch.

What else? Well we went on our first kayak outing of the summer today with one of Jon's friends. We went to the New Meadows river in Brunswick, which is a tidal river. We put in at the mysterious Sawyer Park (much talked about the location seemed to be a secret - I figured it out though. It's right next to the New Meadows Marina on the Bath Road, just past skillin's greenhouse.) It was really pretty and we saw lots of ospreys. We didn't go to far...maybe an hour out until we found Thomas Point Beach. I wanted to find some sort of a landmark before we turned around. The boys were tootling hard core.. a little slow for me... but it was fun. I got a sunburn.

I pruned my roses today. I have one that is out of control. I just deadheaded it. Every year I have to look up how to do it. So you prune to just above the 5 leafed leaf below the bud. I can never remember if its the 3 leafer or the 5 leafer. it's the 5.

Got a new pair of running shoes from TJ Maxx, and a biking outfit from Dick's. I got padded bike shorts. They look a little ridiculous, like I stuffed a bike seat in my shorts actually, but hey, if there's one thing I've realized about being athletic...you just can't care what you look like. That's a fact. There is no room for vanity when it comes to this stuff.

And I didn't even talk about jewelry! Good night.

Strawberry Bounty!

2011-06-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

We got a hot tip that the strawberries would be ready to pick this weekend and sure enough, Friday morning I saw the sign! We had a wedding to go to this afternoon in Damarascotta but the strawberry field opens at 7, so we were out there by 8 am, rain and all. I actually wasn't too upset by the rain because there's nothing worse than strawberry picking when it's hot and sunny (in my opinion). The fields were WONDERFUL and full of beautiful, delicious, ripe, big berries! In one hour we picked 25 quarts! The total price: $56.

We froze 16 quarts in 8 big ziplocks, green tops on and all. Now that we have the Vitamix, we can make smoothies with the berries with the tops on. It pulverizes them so you can't taste the tops and they have lots of Vitamin C in them. We saved 4 quarts for me to make strawberry jam with in the morning and then we'll hull the rest and freeze some and eat some fresh. More than likely we'll go back and get more. Last winter we were out of frozen berries by December due to all the smoothie eating. Then we had to buy them the rest of the winter and that sucked.

Here's a few of our bounty.

A few weekends ago, I rode in the Kennebunks Tour de Cure - a bike ride that raises money for diabetes. I raised $85 thanks to generous family and friends (mostly family). I wanted to get one "race" in before my triathlon just to get used to riding with other bikers around. I did the 25K ride, which is about 15 miles. It was kind of a cold rainy day (we've had a lot of them lately), but it was a nice ride through the pretty (tourist-ridden) town of Kennebunk. There were parts that were low-traffic, and then they sent us right through the middle of town, which was a mess. I had to get off my bike and walk since the traffic was so bad. Then the route took us right by the beach and the ocean and that was really pretty. It was very well organized and there were 3 rest breaks. I took advantage of them and had some snacks and drinks. I was good until about mile 10. Then I really just wanted a nap. But I kept going. Then I fell. Then my brakes started squeaking. Then my brakes kind of got stuck in the "on" position. Then I finished. I survived. But I was tired.

That's me in pink in the middle.

I also swam in the ocean for the first time to train for the swim part of the triathlon. I really liked it! Me and two of my coworkers went to East End beach in Portland with our websuits. It was frigid on my hands and feet but they did eventually adjust. I just got used to the water...didn't do too much swimming. I have less than 2 months to go and I'm getting a little freaked out. I need to step up my training program, for sure.

Other than that, it's the same old stuff...making jewelry, trying to sell my jewelry, tutoring, working, watching Jon study, gardening, beekeeping. Well it's a busy life, but it's a good one. Having a good summer despite the crappy weather.

A Perfect Summer Day in Maine

2011-05-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

Spring has totally sucked so far. If it hasn't been raining, it's been so gloomy and overcast that I wished it would just rain and get it over with. I woke up to another gloomy gray sky this morning. I went jogging (ok, mostly walking) around 10 and it was gray, muggy, and warm. and then...then...the sun came out! A light breeze blew... Summer has finally arrived! I went out and did some weeding, watered some plants, laid down in the grass. It was wonderful.

After I got too hot (ha ha!) I went in to make a rhubarb pie. We got some rhubarb at the b-ham farmers market yesterday. I've never actually made a rhubarb pie before, and actually not sure if I ever even eaten a rhubarb pie before. But I do love local food and I do love to try new things. So I found a recipe online here and gave it a shot. It was a success!

First, this is the first time I've made a pie crust from scratch and it's actually been good! Yay! I think the key is adding enough Crisco and adding enough water. Once I figured that out, it was easy! (and delicious).

With the extra dough I made some dandelion jelly tartlets. What a wonderful spring treat! Also delicious.

To me, the pie tasted essentially like apple pie made with tart apples like macintoshes.

These are my yellow mountain lupines.

Bee hive supers that I painted today.

Kale we got from the farmers market, hoping it will grow in the semi-shade.

The periwinkle and lawn

Vermont: It's Green

2011-05-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

and mountainous...hence the name: the green mountain state. I don't know who gave it that nickname, but I totally support it.

So, Jon took me to Vermont for my birthday (a week early) and it was just lovely. I'll give you the blow by blow. Why Vermont? Because I've never been there. And because we had a coupon!!

We left B-ham around 11 am on Sunday and Jon planned a whole itinerary for the drive! I was so impressed. Usually on vacations, I do most of the planning. I LIKE planning, but sometimes it's a lot of pressure to choose things. Maybe they'll be boring. Maybe everyone will hate it... You know how it is. And me, I'm pretty much pleased with everything, so I'm easy to plan for.

First, we drove down to Biddeford and got off on 111 (I think) and over to 202 (?...something like that). I've never been over that way. We went through Alfred and Sanford, Lebanon, then into New Hampshire. Around Northwood, NH, we got hungry, so I pulled into the first little cafe I saw. It was called Susty's, and much to our delight, it was vegan! Now I'm not really a vegan, or even a vegetarian necessarily, but I get a lot of anxiety about eating meat that I don't know where it came from, or who prepared it. So usually, on the road, I try to go for the meatless options. This place made it easy. I got the spicy hummus wrap and lentil soup. Jon was adventurous and got the Soysage bomb. Yum! I even had bread and butter-less butter.

Moving on, we went to the Shaker Village at Canterbury. The last Shaker here died in 1992, but apparently there are a few remaining in Maine. I've actually driven right by the one in Maine (near Poland) but have never stopped in. Anyway, we went on a tour and I thought it was very interesting. They were basically communist celebates (is that a word?) who focused on living self-sustainably. They hit their peak in the mid 1800s, but since they don't have children, they've kind of died off (sort of a fatal flaw it seems).

This is the Shaker Meeting House. This place was gorgeous! Can I be a Shaker now?

Then we went to Concord because Jon needed a good pair of comfortable dress shoes. He found a place called Joe King's, which was a total mecca of shoes. It's a dangerous place for me to be, but luckily, we got there 20 minutes before closing, so I was able to resist. Jon didn't though. He bought a pair of clarks.

This is the view from our room.

Around 6:30 we pulled into Brattleboro, which was our destination. We stayed at the historic Latchis Hotel, which is a 1930s era art deco establishment. The room was nice and clean, nothing fancy or anything, but totally acceptable. there is also a historic movie theater in the hotel. Our package included 2 nights, a movie, a $50 dinner at a local eatery, a bottle of local wine, some shampooey type stuff... all for $250 or something. I thought that was pretty good. The hotel is also located right on the main drag in Brattleboro, walking distance to tons of cool little shops.

Monday we drove to Bennington, through the mountains, which was fun and very pretty. Drove past a trailer park in Woodford Hollow, which was about the cutest place I've ever seen in my life. If I lived in a trailer, it would totally be there. We tried to go to Robert Frost's house (one of many, I gather) but they were closed. A sign very casually "closed today." Grrr. There was a giant phallic symbol in the mountains there, some sort of war memorial. And we got lunch, and saw some covered bridges.
Covered bridge in Bennington. According to the lady at the visitors bureau "they are all the same." We saw two just to confirm, and she wasn't lying.

"Closed today."

Giant Phallis of the Green Mountains.

Main movie theater at the Latchis. This is where we saw Pirates.

That's me! The janitor gave me a quick tour this morning while Jon was eating breakfast.

Terrazo floors circa 1930 something.

Local wine and cheese in the hotel room!

What else? We saw two movies (Pirates of the Caribbean and Thor - I highly recommend Thor). I did some shopping at a bead store called Beadnick, which pretty much hit the Brattleboro vibe. It's a total hippie town. I started layering my clothes in strange ways and teasing out my hair (not really! but I did stop blow drying it) just to fit in. Even the old people dressed like hippies. We also got 1 gallon of Vermont maple syrup for $75 and some delicious local cheese from Sugarbush farms, which went fabulously with our free white wine (which was actually pretty good for local wine).

I guess that about covers it. Sometimes I prefer the unplanned vacations where you have no expectations, because then you can just come across some unexpected pleasures. The weather was a little dreary - sort of like it's been in Maine. But as I write this, the sun seems to be poking out for the first time in weeks so hopefully it will stay!

I suppose it's time for a post

2011-05-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted here though I HAVE been posting fairly regulary to earrings365.blogspot.com. Truth by told, I haven't really been doing much other than making jewelry. But I can give a quick update:

Well, right now I have some pumpernickle bread in the oven, so that's pretty exciting. If I remember, I'll take a picture when it comes out. I just made the recipe that was on the back of the rye flour as King Arthur didn't really seem to have much in the way of rye flour recipes. It called for whole wheat flour in addition to the rye, but Ididn't have that so I just used white flour. Interestingly the recipe called for molasses and, are you ready for this, cocoa powder! Dessert! Yay!

What else? Although I really, really need to be training for the triathlon I'm doing in August, I'm not. I went for 2 mile run this morning and it was all I could do to not stop walking after the first mile. I"m outta shape man! I have a 5K in early June and I'm not even ready for that. I DID go for a 6 mile bike ride last weekend on my new bike, just up to the end of the White Road and back. I'm glad I conquered my newly found fear of the bicycle (formed as soon as I got on my new bike and realized it was inevitable that I would eventually fall off or crash). It was fun. I forgot how fun bike riding was. Swimming I have done virtually none of, but I hope to get to the pool tomorrow.

Not much else going on. Work is stressful and I think my Fridays off are numbered. The garden is looking pretty and I want to go out and start foraging but there are just too many things to do.

Oh! We went to see a guy named James Hollis speak last night for the Jung Instititue. We've both read a few books by him, mostly having to do with "finding meaning in the second half of life." I thought he was very interesting. He read a quote by Rilke that goes "the purpose of life is to get defeated by ever greater things." I like that. When you're afraid of failing, you don't even try, so why not just accept the fact that failing is ok, and go for it anyway? I'm all for that. The triathlon coudl be a perfect example of that. : )

Well, that's all. I just finished some birthday earrings for Samara. I'm going to get her one more thing and ship it off. We're taking Mom & Dad out for Mother's Day tomorrow.

Oh! One more thing - we are thinking about refinancing the house once again. In my "dream book" one of my dreams is to get the house paid off by 2020. If we refinance for 10 years, that will take us to 2021, a few years closer than we currently are looking at, plus we'll save $10-$20 K on interest. It would mean a bigger mortgage payment during Jon's lean nursing school years, but I'm hoping to get a raise soon so maybe we will be ok. I'd just really like to get this monkey mortgage off my back.

What a Weekend!

2011-04-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, am I exhausted! What a jam packed weekend we have had:

We got our bees yesterday! The Ebinger-White household, and Penelobee and the Lavender Ladies are pleased to welcome Queen Aphrodibee and the Pink Ladies!! (raucous applause!)

We picked Aphrodibee up along with new beekeepers Jill and Kevin (their queen's name is Lady Gaga). We paid our $80 for the queen and 10,000 of her closest companions and got to watch the bee installation demonstration we critically missed last year. We even got to do a practice installation, by "we" I mean Jill, who got stung. I felt much better about the installation this year, partly because I knew what to expect, and partly because I'm just more comfortable around bees.

We got them home, and the pink paint had just barely dried, but we set the hive up and put the girls in. For a mid-April day it was C-O-L-D. I was in charge of the queen this year (as I was last year) but I did much better. I very calmly took the cork out of the CANDY end of the queen box and stuck her in between two frames, candy end up. Yay! Success. There was some stress, mostly felt by Jon, since he didnt' get all the bees out of the box. In theory, they would all eventually go into the hive on their own (guided by the queen's scent) but since it was so cold, some of them hunkered down in their foodless, queenless dive of a home. I said "let em figure it out or let em die," but I'm sort of heartless, so Jon didn't listen to me (luckily). He devised some sort of convoluted contraption that quite possibly saved a good portion of them. Some are still being stupid, but whatevs.

Anyway, it looks like a little Caribbean village out there. See?!

Most of them seemed to settle in pretty well and they were out flying today, despite torrential downpours and biblical winds this morning. Jeez! I thought the house was gonna blow away!

The power went out so we headed to our home away from home, the Senator Inn Spa and went for a run, got a massage (a rather painful, but excellent one) and a sauna, and then met Mom & Dad for dinner at Cloud 9, the restaurant at the Sentaor Inn. I got the wild mushroon ravioli and the ever excellent gingerbread cake. Yum.

I also made lots of earrings, which I will no longer meniton here (or I will try not to anyway), but I have posted some pictures at earrings365.blogspot.com.

We also went to an interesting lecture at the Jung Institute in Brunswick about Goddesses. It turned into quite a fascinating discussion about who else but Lady Gaga! Imagine a bunch of 60+ scholars getting all excited about the Lady! Ah yeah... it was quite a scene.

Easter eggs for sale

2011-04-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got back from a lovely trip from Virginia where I saw my two beautiful sisters...and sold them earrings! Yay! My first 2 sales. I also have a new design, called Easter Eggs in a Silver Basket... I'm posting them here since damn Etsy charges me for my listings, and until I make a few more sales, I'm into some steep overhead already with all my supplies. Here they are:

Just a reminder, my etsy shop is at http://www.etsy.com/shop/lovelarisa. I know, I know, all I talk about is jewelry. It's all I think about! All I dream about! But bear with me, I'm sure I'll have something else to talk about eventually. For example, we are getting Colony 2 of bees on Saturday. I primed the new hive tonight. We're still building out the frames and then I'm going to paint it pink. We're a little bit behind the 8 ball, but we'll have it done and ready for the new pink ladies on Saturday. I'll take pictures!

A little obsessed...

2011-03-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

So I've created a few new pieces for my new Love Larisa jewelry collection (thanks Mom for the name!):

These are made from 16 gauge copper wire and 5mm blackish green serpentine beads I liked them at first, but now I think they're kind of ugly. They are soooo this Tuesday.

I made these tonight, so I'm much higher on them. The love affair usually lasts about 24 hours. These are sterling silver rings ($10) that are about an inch in diamater. I've wrapped them with tiny (2mm?) agate beads and sterling silver (26 gauge) wire. They're more understated than ones I've been making lately, but I guess that is ok.

Yeah, these ones rock. I wore these to work today and got a few compliments. They're quite large and I call them my "solar system earrings" becase they sort of look like a planet and rings. They look much cooler when they're dangling because the rings kind of move around. I bought the sterling silver rings pre-made, though I think I could probably have done them myself (though I have yet to master soldering). A green ceramic bead is in the center and light green Austrian Swarovski crystals up top and sterling silver components.

These are actually my favorites so far even though I made these last Sunday. Whoa! I know they are not perfectly shaped, but I kind of like that about them. These are made with 18 gauge half hard sterling silver filled wire. They were actually quite easy - it's just one piece of wire plus the earring wire.

I have one more pair in the making - made with sterling silver chandelier components, tiny garnet briolettes, and a red Swarovski crystal up top. I should have these done by tomorrow (if not tonight.). I also got a great new earring book called "Creating Beaded & Wire Earrings). So excited!

In other news, I had my first tutoring session yesterday and it went wonderfully! I had a great rapport with my tuttee and now got the initial logistics and introductions out of the way so I feel really good about continuing on with that.

And finally, I officially registered for a triathlon in August called the Preservation Triathlon in beautiful Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It includes a 500 yard ocean swim (which should be interesting since I don't think I've ever actually swam in the ocean, and at this point can't exactly even swim in a 4 foot deep pool!; a 14-mile bike ride (which should also be interesting considering I don't actually own a bike and have certainly not ridden one in about a decade. HA HA HA HA); And a 5k run, which even that at this point is looking a little iffy... But hey, I've got at least 4 full months, so it's all good.

Help me think of a name...

2011-03-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so now that I have 3 whole pieces of jewelry in inventory (see below), clearly I need a name for my jewelry company. My idea was to call it The Fair Goddess (I don't really know why) but Jon already poo pooed it. In his exact words he said "I think you need to work on that." So fine. I DID think of some names for different collections though. Based on ferrets I've loved and lost, the fun, funky, more affordable line (made with mostly beads and non-precious metals) will be called the Zoe Collection. While the Sterling Silver collection will be called the Isabella Collection. This does not mean that Isabella was a better ferret than Zoe, Zoe just sounds more fun. In order to get all of my ferret names in there, I will obviously have to have a line for men called the Anthony Collection, and an Egyptian inspired one called the Cleopatra Collection. Anyway... so if you think of something good, let me know. I like the idea of goddesses, but don't NECESSARILY want to peg myself as a pagan hippie weirdo.

Here are a few pieces I did last weekend. They are made with 100% Sterling Silver and Russian Serpentine beads.

For these pieces, I was inspired by the Earring Design Book, which uses a lot of bead wrapped wire. I'd like to try out some different techniques, so this morning I looked on firemountaingems.com and browsed their design gallery to get some ideas. It's turning into rather an expensive hobby, but I'm having fun, so who cares?

In other news, I think I will soon have a client for my literacy tutoring. I had two choices, and chose a young lady who has a cognitive disability. I'm a bit nervous, but have been studying my materials all weekend, trying to get organized. This is pushing me out of my comfort zone, but I think that's a good thing to do every now and then. Besides, I can't just sit around and make jewelry all day long.

And finally, I booked the Danube River Cruise! I'm bummed that nobody from my family wanted to come with me, but I understand. It's a little pricey and probably not everyone's cup of tea. Luckily, Jon's family likes me better and his parents are coming with us. I'm also trying to talk my friend Lois into coming with us too. I'm super excited, but we're not going till November. But it's always good to hvae something to look forward to. Well, I've been up for 3 hours, which means it's about time for a nap. yawn!

Goin' Fishin'

2011-02-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

I finally fulfilled my dream of going ice fishing and it was ALL I expected:

- cold
- unproductive
- cold

ha ha! But I had a wicked good time. Next up: Smelt Shacks!

But first, some pictures. I met Mom & Dad for a lovely lunch at the Post Office Cafe in Mount Vernon. I had a Mediterrean panini (very good) and a Maine Root RootBeer. Dad had a Reuben. Mom had some sort of chicken sandwich. All good.

Then, we took a few steps out the door to some funny sounding lake...like Megundecook (Not really that, but something equally silly sounding and starting in an "M" I think).

There was only one other group out there in a little ice house (or whatever they're called). We toughed it out without the benefit of heat and wind protection because that's just how we roll.

Here's a picture of me using the ice auger. It's heavier than it looks!

And here's a picture of Dad doing a much better job.

Isn't it pretty?

Here's the hole - no fish came out of it. Oh well!

Hey Y'all...or Love from Savannah

2011-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Alas, my Southern Vacation is coming to a close. I'm 10 pounds heavier (at least), have arteries clogged with butter, and I'm pretty sure I'm now diabetic, but hell! I've had a great time. A quick recap (mostly about food):

Thursday: Dinner in Hilton Head at the Crazy Crab. Mixed plate with crab cakes (Jon's pick for best food on the vacation), mahi mahi, and shrimp (which I'm pretty sure was local, as was the crab). Washed it down with a margarita. Yum. 4 stars.

Friday: Saw our hotel for the first time in the daylight. We stayed at the Westin Port Royal, which was fabulous in every way. Drove to Beaufort, SC (proncounced byoo-firt). Cute down, nice houses, met a lady from Maine working at the visitors center. She'd been in Beaufort since the 60s, but was happy to talk to people from Maine anyway. Had lunch at the Magnolia cafe (veggie burger). Very good. Weather a little chilly but sunny and beautiful.

Saturday. Did I mention that Hilton Head is beautiful? It's a beach town, but they've really made an effort to keep some (actually quite a lot) of woodland, etc. They have kind of a convoluted traffic pattern, which is supposed to be aesthetically pleasing (and is) but makes it confusing and nearly impossible to find anything at night (no lights, no neon). Anyway, Jon ran the half marathon in record time, and I set a baseline for a 10K. My goal was 1) to finish without dying and 2) to finish in less than 70 minutes. I reached both of those goals and had a good time doing it too. Next: a triathlon for me and a marathon for Jon. For lunch - the Atlanta Bread Company, which is like Panera, but maybe a bit better. For dinner - the Westin had a seafood extravaganza with Alaskan snow crabs, shrimp, a bunch of other awesome things. It was amazing.

Sunday: Drove to Savannah. Finished the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" just in time. If you're going to Savannah, I would highly recommend reading it. It's non-fiction that reads like fiction, with a murder thrown in too. We had lunch at the Pirate's house, which is a legitimately old building with an actual Pirate history. Of course they milk it for the tourist dollar, but for a tourist trap, the food was fantastic (I had a fried green tomato BLT, Jon had a salmon BLT) and the atmosphere was really nice. They gave free tours, but we lost our Pirate-speaking guide so we just left. I think she didn't like us because we wouldn't talk like pirates. : ( We stayed at the Sheraton 4 points, which was nice and in a pretty good location.

We toured a house called the Sorrel-weed house, which has been featured on some ghost show and some HGTV show. Didn't see any ghosts, but satisfied my need to tour a house (something you are supposed to do in Savannah). For dinner, we went to the Moon River brewpub in an attempt to not eat anything fried for once. Got some local beer (I had the porter - it was good) and I got a hot veggie wrap. Yummy and pretty cheap. Then we did a ghost tour. Savannah is supposed to be America's most haunted city. Plus, I just like ghost tours, ok? Didn't see any ghosts though.

Monday: Drove out to Bonaventure cemetery, which is a beautiful old cemetery (featured in Midnight, which is referred to in Savannah as "the book.") Took some gorgeous photos, then went to eat lunch at Mrs. Wilkes boarding house. This is a famous Savannah institution where you get a phenomenol Southern style family lunch. You all sit at communal tables and it really does feel like you're eating in someone's home. You don't order - they just bring out the friend chicken and about 20 different bowls of side dishes, like creamed corn, collard greens, mac & cheese, etc. etc. OMG, it was so good. Especially the chicken. Jon was a big fan of the sweet potatoes.

Then we wallked to "the book" gift shop, which kind of sucked, but I bought a Xmas ornament there anyway. Then we passed the Mercer house, which is where the murder in "the book" takes place. It's now a museum, but I didn't feel like taking a tour, so instead I took a picture. Meanwhile, we were accosted by Jerry the hairdresser from "the book" (and "the movie). He insisted on us having our picture taken with him, which was cool. He was pretty drunk, but a friendly drunk. We also met his "publicist" who lived just a few blocks down from where I used to live in Alexandria, Va. Small world. Anyway, the Mercer house is absolutely beautiful, as is the city in general. All the squares, the Spanish moss...ahh, it's really a lovely town.

We stopped at a candy shop and got fudge and pralines. I bought a picture. We had some pepto bismol. Then for dinner we went to Uncle Bubba's Oyster House, which is owned by Paula Deen (if you don't know who she is then just SHUT UP), and her brother. Compared to the rest of the amazing food we had on this vacation, it was kind of ehh. More pepto.

Anyway, that's about it. Heading home tomorrow. I'll post some photos tomorrow. I'll be happy to see tom and gerry and to be home, but will not be happy to go back to work or to see that god forsaken snow. The weather here has been just about perfect. Sunny and in the 60s. well, that's all. Bye y'all!

It's Snowpocalypse!

2011-02-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

Snowtorious BIG... Snowzilla! Yeah, there's a lot of snow out there. In fact, I don't think I've seen this much snow since my first winter here. It looks like Siberia out there. The good news is...I've been working from home, which leaves lots of time for bread making (wait for it...)

This was actually taken yesterday, before the STORM OF THE CENTURY, but you get the idea. Snow, lots of snow. Then a little more snow. And probably a storm on Saturday.

But first, I'm waaayy behind in my blog posting and have to tell you about our trip up (through?) Tuckerman's Ravine in New Hampshire. Sounds scary, right? It WAS! (even if I was the only person who thought so). We started out at the Pinkham Notch parking area and then proceeded to go uphill for 2 hours in the snow. Here's a recap of our conversation. Jon: "I'm so fit! I could do this for hours! I'm not even winded! C'mon guys!" Jill: "Let me tell you about my latest batch of soap" (also not even winded). Kevin: "Don't worry, there's a bridge up ahead, and when we get to the bridge, we're kinda sorta maybe halfway there." Me: ......... (That's me not being able to talk because I can't breathe). Anyhoo, we stopped for lunch (soup and cupcakes lovingly prepared by Jill) and everyone talked me into going a little further. I'm glad I did, because it was GORGEOUS. I would love to go back in the summertime when I'm not quite as afraid of slipping on ice and skidding several thousand feet to my death (Note to self: work on fear of heights and fear of slipping on ice). Anyway, it was a lovely time. As usual, I was the least fit person trying to keep up with everyone else, but that's how I like it. It's like owning that 1970s split level on a block of mansions (no offense Ursula! ha ha! I know she doesn't read this, so it doesnt' matter). Of course the best part was hanging out with Jill and Kevin. Jill even gave us some more soap, which brings the tally to Jill: 3. Samara: 1. C'mon Samara, you can still catch up!

Jon and I have both been incredibly busy this month. He has started school (Anatomy & Physicology 2) and is also training to be a hospice volunteer. Not to be outdone in the do-gooder category, I've been training to be a literacy volunteer. Ok, quick vote: What's better, helping someone read, or helping someone die? Read! I win! Just kidding... I totally admire him for doing it. It takes a brave soul. But anyway, we're both exhausted from the busy schedule. I have 2 trainings left and then I get placed with my "client," which I think sounds a little weird. Can't he/she just be my "tutee" (since I"m the tutor?).

In other news, I got my kitchenaid mixer last Friday and I've already made 4 loaves of white bread! Today, I made some Indian Flatbread (Roti from the King Arthur Flour cookbook), which didn't actually require the kitchenaid (yes, I was a little bummed). I'm in a bread mood for sure. Actually, I'm in an eating mood, 24/7.

This is the Roti. It's basically like naan bread. The picture doesn't do it justice.

I'm getting excited about our Hilton Head/Savannah trip. Reading "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and some travel books. Looks like lots of ghost tours in Savannah. Goody goody!

Oh! One more thing I forgot to mention. Gerry had 4 more teeth pulled. Poor little guy. He's recovering well now though, and it only cost us $470 (!?!). Oh well... who needed Savings anyway. He was worth every penny.

Wait, one more thing.. I know, I know. Look at the earrings I made! Pretty, huh? I know that one is bigger than the other. Details, details.

Handy household tip of the day

2011-01-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of good useful information to share. Today, I really want to talk about my Rubbermaid Produce Savers. These things are awesome (and no, I'm not getting paid to say that). They're like normal tupperware containers, but bigger and they have a little shelf on the bottom, under which you put water. It sort of like the same concept as a salad spinner (and actually a salad spinner DOES work well for this purpose too). The point is that most produce goes bad because it gets dried up in the refrigerator. Of course, if you DON'T put it in the fridge, it will go bad even quicker. The produce saver, however, raises the humidity within, so the produce is preserved. It works amazingly. I keep spinach sometimes for weeks in the fridge. It works for lettuce, chard, berries, you name it. Anyway, it's wonderful and I just wanted to share that. I'd take a picture of it if I wasn't so lazy. Maybe later.

And we're off!

2011-01-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't posted yet in 2011! How terrible. I will make up for it with a long, rambling post right now. It's actually been quite an exciting year already. Jon keeps saying that 2011 is a doomed year, but he's just in the throes of winter blues, so I'm ignoring his forewarnings altogether. I still think it's going to be a great year.

I got laser eye surgery on the 5th...10 days ago. I can see! I do have a slight infection in my right eye, but more on that later. First, I want to tell you about the procedure. One word: SCEERY! They gave me valium, but not enough, because I was utterly terrified. It went fine, even though I had a terrible cold at the time and every time they said "LARISA, DON'T MOVE!" I suddenly had to cough. that was stressful. Everyone says "it's not PAINFUL, it's just a bit uncomfortable." I suppose that's true, though I would like to know exactly at what point major discomfort becomes pain. Anyway, it was FAST and I'm thrilled with the results, so no regrets whatsoever. I've already totally adapted and think nothing at all about waking up in the morning and being able to see the alarm clock! Pretty darn cool. The worst part of all, though, was that I couldn't wear eye makeup for a WEEK, which was really more traumatic than the actual surgery. Jon told me I looked weird and that, in 12 years together, he was pretty sure he'd never seen me without eye makeup on, which is probably true. But we all survived that nightmare. Now, I have 3 more days of antibiotics (hopefully only 3 more days) in my right eye to take care of a teeny tiny infection, and hopefully all will be good after that. They're still a little dry too, but I guess that is normal.

We also went to a Patriots/Dolphins game in Foxboro with Jill, Kevin, and some of Kevin's family. I love doing things with Jill and Kevin because they are the absolute best host/hostesses around. I mean, who else would think of Champagne Mimosa's for a tailgate party? WHO? (nobody). It was fun even though the Dolphins didn't score a point while we were there and I got hit by a sausage.

We had a snowstorm on last Wednesday. Got about 15 inches here in B-ham. That was nice because I got to work from home and take naps and stuff. Now it's still white and pretty out there, but very cold. I guess it was negative 7 this morning. When it got up to 2 above, Jon decided to go out for a run. I have a 4 mile run on my training schedule today, but I'm either going to wait for it to get above 20 or else just go to the gym tonight and do it on the treadmill. Less than a month till my 10K! My training is going well except I missed a few days last week because of the afore mentioned terrible cold.

What else? Mom & Dad came down last night and I made them Shrimp Creole from the Gumbo shop cookbook and Corn Maque Choux. It was very nice, and Dad brought me an anvil! And a ball peen hammer! And a soldering iron! SO EXCITED! Of course, I'm using all this stuff for jewelry making and cant' wait to try it. But first, I need to do some drywall mudding. Which I keep avoiding. Can you tell?

And here's a picture of a turkey at the bird feeder:

Goodbye 2010! See you...

2010-12-31T19:22:00.000-08:00

um, never again! I love New Years. Not the partying, or the drinking, or any of that crap. That's for the young folk. I love the fact that the holidays are over (gasp! Did I say that out loud?) and that the shortest day of the year is over and the days are getting longer, and I can look back over a year and say it went decently well.

This year DID go decently well. It took a minute for me to remember what happened, but once I did, I realized it was another stellar year. Jon and I put a list together (we do love our lists) of good things that happened in the past year:

Got our bees and produced 22 pounds of honey

Jon started school and got As in all his classes

Larisa ran 2 5Ks and got intrigued by Triathlons

Jon ran a half marathon and improved time in beach to beacon 10K

Jon dropped below 9 minute average pace running

Joined a pool, started swimming and improved quite a bit

Larisa paid off her mini

We had a lovely beach vacation in Rehoboth with Ursula, Dave, kids, and Samara

Jon got a new job

Larisa read 29 books

We bought a vitamix and started drinking green smoothies

We bought our pellet stove

We’ve partially completed finishing our basement

Larisa got two massages

We made lots of canned and frozen food: pickles, jam, dilly beans, pickled beets, applesauce

We increased our net worth due to our frugal lifestyle and a decent stock market
Larisa found a plot for her novel!

We stained the house ourselves and saved oodles of money

We became semi-vegans and flexitarians

We went to Bermuda

We hiked the Appalachian trail (a tiny portion of it, anyway)

We kayaked the Androscoggin River from NH to Bethel, and around Swan Island in Richmond

I took Samara kayaking in B-ham and she liked it!

Samara and I hiked Bradbury mountain and got a little bit lost

We went to the Balsams

Larisa went to a Jimmy Buffet concert

Larisa started making jewelry

We went cross country skiing in New Hamsphire

Pretty good, huh? I've got even bigger and better plans for 2011, like finishing my novel and selling it for 1 million dollars. Other stuff too. I have tons of vacation time saved and am not working fridays, so I should have time to focus on the things that are important to me. Anyway, good times. It's amazing all the stuff you can fit into a year if you know what's important to you. Hope you had a great one too!

Happy New Year!

My latest 5K

2010-12-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

There aren't many road races in Maine in winter. Last Saturday, I found out why. I had signed up for the first annual Brewers 5K. A few things appealed to me about this race:

I wanted to test myself before the 10K I signed up for in Feb. and the timing turned out good for this one. My official training begins on Dec. 20 so I needed something to get me through till then
You get a free pint of beer at RiRa Irish pub after the race (though perhaps it wasn't really free after you factor in the $20 registration fee)
And a buffet
And a bunch of fun people from work were doing it
It was Jon's birthday and I thought, what better gift than showing him how healthy I am

Here's the rough sequence of events of the actual race day.

The rain started at 10
The downpour started at 10:30
I was soaked by 10:32
My hands went numb at 10:40
My feet went numb at 11
The race started (Half an hour late) at 11:30
I finished exactly 33 minutes and 20 seconds later - crushing my personal best and my goal for this race.

Ok, so it was completely miserable, not just for me but for Jon too. At least I got to eventually run and warm up. I was so wet and cold and miserable, but I was also very proud of myself for sticking it out and actually finishing. I did not walk at all, which is a first for me, and my time was good (for me).

Here are some links to photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainerunningphotos/5254812137/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mainerunningphotos/5255420904/in/photostream/

I'm the one in the pink rain-absorbing fleece sweatshirt and blue, non water-resistant hat. Yeah, Ms. Prepared, I am. Looks fun, huh? The pictures actually don't do it justice.

Anyway, that was my weekend.

And yes, the beer totally made it worth it. Best beer of my life, in fact.

A Different Kind of Diet

2010-12-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

I found this website tonight: http://www.thegreatamericanappareldiet.com/. I won't say I "stumbled upon it" as it was more deliberate than that. I think it's sort of interesting.

Tonight as I was driving home, I had an epiphany of sorts. It was kind of vague and pretty hokey, but it was something to the effect that we, as moderns, like to think we are some evolved form of our paleolithic ancestors. But in reality, we're exactly the same. We've found better, easier access to high calorie food (look where that's got us), and a bunch of things to spend our excess money on, but really, we're in the same exact survival mode as they were. The point of our existence is to move, find food, stay safe, and help (or hinder, I guess) others from doing this.

I passed a Medical Center - where they care for people so they can get moving, looking for food again. A map company - which helps people get to where they're going. A car dealership - same deal. A restaurant. A motel. Our needs are really very simple.

And then I started thinking about our own household budget. With Jon starting school in the next 15 months or so, we're going to have to pare back considerably in order for me to pay all of our bills. In fact, I WON'T be able to pay all the bills, so we need to save a cache for the gap that I can't cover. We've put together a pretty bare bones budget and we've talked about how hard this might be for us. Now, we're not big consumers (I don't think so, anyway). I don't have a fancy phone, expensive clothes, or even cable TV. But I piss away a fair number of dollars each month on things like wrinkle cream and shoes. I always seem to need more clothes and I spend probably more time than I should (usually at work) looking online for newly reduced wardrobe items (at least I only buy things on sale!)

Anyway, back to my ephiphany... I realized how silly something like buying clothes is. Clothes are meant to keep you warm and protect you from the sun (and hide your private parts from the Puritans, I suppose). I have MORE than enough clothes to last several years - I'm sure of it. So, I've decided that I am just not going to buy any new clothes for an entire year. Caveat: with the possible exception of underwear and socks. And maybe pantyhose. No exemption for shoes, or even handbags. I just plain don't need anything. Other caveat: If YOU want to buy me clothes, that's more than ok. Shirts: Medium. Pants: 10. Shoes: 9.5.

That's all. Now who's with me?!? (everything is more fun to do together - Samara - we could start another blog. : ) )

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

Oh how I love saying that in the British way. It makes me sound so very continental! Anyway, I have much to report on. I actually have two reasons I write this blog. First and foremost, to entertain my loyal readers. I honestly have no idea how you would keep occupied without me! You're welcome! It's my pleasure, really.

But secondly, it's so I can keep track of annual events...things like the number of pints of strawberries picked, when the crocuses bloom, when Samara comes to visit. THAT kind of thing. So in that vein, it snowed today! Sure, we've had a few flurries here and there, but we had a good inch or so in B-ham today. It snowed all day in Portland but those silly city snowflakes just melted. Amateurs! Here in the country they're stuck down good, nice 'n slick like! Luckily I carpooled with Jon in his Hyundai, which is handily equipped with snow tires.

In other news, we got our Xmas tree yesterday. I was afraid we wouldn't be able to find one small enough for our liking. Small trees are a) easy to transport b) easy to put up c) quick to decorate. To my surprise, I found a spot with trees even SMALLER than I require. There were some tabletop size ones that I might explore for next year. This year, we got one that is approximately 6 feet tall, which by tree standards (I think) is quite small. At any rate, it fit right in the back of the Subaru, with the door closed. Perfect. I got it for $25 at a lot by Cap'n Mike's in Brunswick on the old Bath Road. A little pricey perhaps, but sometimes you have to pay a premium for small (Isn't life in America ironic?)

In other news, I made pickled beets! They are so pretty! You need to cure them for 3-7 days (I'll give them 7 just to be safe), but I can't wait to try them. I know Mom will find this ridiculous, but I actually like beets. Quite a bit. The only problem with them is that they are so darn hard to prepare. You have to cook them forever, and then peel them, then get your hands all red. Ugh! So I figured pickled pickles would be perfect - I could make a big batch and then just open them up and enjoy them whenever. This particular recipe came highly rated on the footnetwork.com web site. It's by Alton Brown. Of course, I didn't have the exact ingredients, so it probably is nothing like that recipe. But whatever. They're pretty.

What else? Well, we're moving along with the basement finishing. Here's a picture of the process. If anyone is really enthusiastic about drywall mudding/taping, let me know. I have volunteered to tackle this project single-handedly, as I would truly like to learn how to do it. But if I get helpers, I wouldn't turn them away.

And finally... a Trader Joes has opened in Portland. If you don't live in Maine, you probably don't quite understand the signficance of this. For me, it comes down to cheap wine, known in wino circles as "2 buck chuck," though it's actually $2.59, which makes me think of the line from the Bugs Bunny movie (the Robin Hood part) where Daffy says, "Actually, it's a buck and a quarter quarter staff, but I'm not telling HIM that." ha ha ha ha ha hah!

Ok, that's all... happy Xmas!

3 Sisters Squash

2010-12-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight's selection from the 1000 Vegan Recipes cookbook.....(drum rollllllll)

3 Sisters Squash (Have I already blogged about this one?) I made this once before but used chipotle peppers, which were way too hot. So this time I toned it down with about a spoonful of green chilies. It's in the oven cooking right now. I'm not entirely sure what kind of squash it is. Maybe a pumpkin. It came from the CSA.

101 things update

2010-11-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

On June 5, 2008, I came up with a list of 101 things to do in the next 1001 days. These included some big goals (finish first draft of novel), things I wanted to make a habit of (flossing teeth), little things to get me out of my comfort zone (talk to a stranger), and fun stuff that I've always wanted to do but never got around to (smelt fishing). I was laying in bed this morning and thinking that those 1001 days must be getting close to being up. I checked, and my end date is March 2, 2011. So that's good... enough time to still crank out a few.

I've updated my list here with current information. So far, I've accomplished 36 of them. Some of them were cancelled for one reason or another, so I don't think they actually add up to 101 anymore. But I've organized them into categories: things I still think I accomplish, things I still want to accomplish, but don't think I can get done in the timeframe, things I think I probably already did but forgot to record, and things I'm not crazy about doing. So here's my new list. I'm focusing on the first set and am going to try to crank these out this winter.

By Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Things I can realistically do and still want to do

1. Volunteer at least once to be a literacy tutor

2. Donate blood at least 3 times (6/18, 9/15) Found out I was anemic. (No longer anemic)
4. Go smelt fishing

7. Do 10 real pushups with good form

9. Buy a complete outfit purchased from thrift stores (got the shoes 11/10)

14. Attend a church service (not sure why I put this on, but whatever, I'll still do it)

22. Ride on the back of a motorcycle

27. Buy a piece of original art for the wall

29. Finish the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain video

30. Learn Sumi’e

33. Attend a dance performance

34. Get my 401ks consolidated

36. Start a conversation with a stranger

50. Make a new list of 101 Things by the time my 1001 days are done

60. Take a poetry class or study on my own. Write one really good poem.

61. Write a song.

64. Go ice skating

66. Go snowboarding

67. Go to the rock climbing gym

73. Watch a sunset from the beach

84. Don’t use any electricity for an entire day (this doesn't count heating, hot water, or things that run all the time like the refrigerator)

89. Don’t accumulate any new plastic bags for a month

90. Don’t buy any non-consumable material items for an entire week

94. Organize a girl's poker night

99. Participate in a protest or some other public deomonstration (doesn't have to be political)

101. Learn to play “my heart asks pleasure first”

Things I suspect I’ve already accomplished but didn’t record

49. Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables every day for 5 consecutive days

54. Make something homemade or write something for every member of my family

56. Take a dance class and then dance in public (starts 9/13)

81. Become a vegan for one week

Things I still want to do but not sure how I’m going to accomplish within time period

52. Play music live with other musicians

57. Visit 2 states I’ve never been to before (possibly Vermont and New Mexico)

58. Ride my bicycle

74. Go to a football game in a stadium I’ve never been to before (baltimore?)

Things I’m not sure I want to do

80. Go to a networking event and get at least one person's card

26. Try every restaurant on Portland Dine-Around (Acropolis, Bruno's, Bugaboo Creek, Cloud 9, DiMillos, Dogfish Cafe, DuckFat, Eggpectation, Fajita Grill, Freeport Cafe, The Ginger Pad, Gritty McDuff's, Pancho Villa, India Palace, Joseph's by the Sea, Le Garage, Longhorn, Mims, Miyako, MJ's, Muddy Rudder, On the border, Parker's, Pedro O'Hara's, Ricetta's, Richard's, Rivalries, Royal River Grillhouse, Sebago Brewing, Shere Punjab, Silly's, Tugboat Inn,

Puttin' the Bees to Bed

2010-11-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well, our first year as beekeepers is coming to an end. After what I consider a pretty successful first year (22 pounds of honey, 2 stings, and no major disasters), Jon has wrapped them up for winter. Mom and Dad brought up some tar paper and Jon made them a snug little winter home. Ok, so it looks a little like Moodyville Trailer Park, but whatevs, they'll be warm.

I'm not one to criticize, especially when someone else is doing the work, but if there was a slight design flaw in this, it's that there is no way to open up the top. Which is why we have the contraption on the left side of this lovely fuzzy photo. This is a feeder I put up since it's supposed to be warm for a few days and I started freaking out that they might not have enough honey to get them through Feb. we've been instructed to start feeding them on Valentine's Day with sugar water, so they have to make it that long. Sooo... I jerry-rigged this little sugar water feeder so they can make themselves a bit more honey before they really hunker down for the winter.

We were also supposed to give them a crisco patty to help with the mites...bbbuuuuttt we didn't. Hopefully they'll be ok. We're total amateurs and I hope to god that we don't kill them all. They seem like a pretty strong colony, so I'm hoping for the best. This winter I'm going to educate myself a bit more so we really know what we're doing next spring. We will have to do some kind of swarm control - either by dividing the colony (2 hives, yippee!) or another thing that sounds more complicated.

Anyway, thank you girls for a fantastic year and delicious honey! Everyone I know will be getting a good portion of it for Christmas. It all has chrystalized but you can just stick in the microwave and it liquifies again. Apparently that's a sign that it is good quality, high-pollen honey. So no complaints anyone!

Sweet Potato, Black Bean Tacos

2010-10-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, folks, here it is. The best recipe I've ever invented. This will satisfy the veganite, but it also has a smoky meatiness to please the carnivores in your household.

1 Sweet Potato, cut into little cubes
1 can of black beans, or soaked and cooked black beans
1 onion
1 garlic clove
Several tomatoes
Chili powder
Salsa
And the secret ingredient: Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (1 from a can).

Saute the onion, garlic, and sweet potato until it looks good. Throw in the chopped up tomatoes and the chili powder and one cut up chipotle pepper (they are kind of spicy, so use your discretion - 1 seemed good for me, though my nose was definitely a-running after a few of these tacos). Add enough salsa (or more tomatoes) to keep a good consistency. You don't want it runny, as it will need to stay in tact on the taco. Cook it for quite a while, even until the sweet potatoes get a bit mushy.

Ok, now you need some good quality corn tortillas. I used some small, super thick ones from La Tortilla Factory (Actually they were from Hannaford, via La Tortilla Factory). Heat them up according to the directions (basically throw them in a hot frying pan for 30 seconds on each side). Top with condiments of your choice. I used shredded lettuce and another dollop of salsa. These are GOOD, people.

And now, for dinner, I'm using the leftovers (I ran out of tortillas) to make a soup. I threw it into a saucepan, added about 4 cups of water. I was going to add some "better than boullian" but I think it's flavorful enough that I don't need it. Then I put in some frozen corn. It looks and smells amazing. I dollop of sour cream or some cheese would be ideal, but Jon is still in the "purist" stage of being a vegan. I'm trying to talk him into a more Mediterranean version... meaning, use animal products as a flavoring but not the main dish.. a little bacon crumbles on the squash soup, a bit of cheese in the soup, that kind of thing. Meanwhile, he has bought a Vitamix and is investigating "green smoothies," which appear to be smoothies made of spinach. Is it time I called for HELP yet?

Anyhoo, I also whipped up a batch of cornbread (pronounced cone-bread, the southern way) and am enjoying a glass of some rather cheap red wine. My stay-cation (why do I keep using that word when I hate it?) is coming to a close, but at least I'm well fed. I'll post some pictures if I remember. Bon Appetit!

A Fall Sunday at the Library

2010-10-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about fall is that the library is open on Sundays again. It's such a great place to just chill and forget about all the things I have to do. My mind and psyche need some time to get excited about the possibilities instead of constantly being bogged down by stress.

Things I did in the library in 2 hours:

Worked on my novel - did 2 character sketches and realized that if I ever finish this damn book it is going to be SUCH a bestseller

Read/did some book-related research on farming in Maine. I'm reading A Small Farm in Maine. It's about some yuppies from Boston who move to Maine and start farming.

Read the latest issue of Mother Earth News, where I saw an ad for a $250 push mower that I'm thinking of getting Jon for Xmas, despite the fact that he has said over and over again that he does NOT want a push mower. Also read an article about chickens who are bred for meat and the fact that when they are raised in crowded, hot, stressful conditions, their immunity goes down and so they are much more likely to cause food-borne illness when eaten. Also, some great gardening articles - what a good magazine!

Read half of the latest issue of National Geographic Explorer since the cover story was on Istanbul. I've been reading Graham Greene's "Travels with my Aunt" and it has gotten me excited about traveling again. I never did get to the cover story but read a quick (they are all quick in that magazine) article about Sedona and something about horse trips in the west. Nonetheless, my next trip that I want to plan is a walking vaca in England along Hadrian's Wall. You can walk all the way across the entire country from one coast to the other. I need to do some research on that next week.

I'm telling you - the library is such a great resource. It makes me wonder why I subscribe to all these magazines and buy books from Borders and rent movies from Netflix. We actually pay ($65) a year to be members of the Brunswick libary, but it's worth every penny.

Anyway, I'm day 2 into a 9 day STAY-CATION (I really hate that word so I'm not sure why I just used it). Looking forward to dinner with the 'rents tomorrow and then a gardening extravaganza with Mom. I'm totally cut out for the retired life.

Vegan Pizza!

2010-09-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Our household is getting more vegan by the day. Jon is becoming a bit of a maniacal running man so he's a little obsessed with nutrition right now. And me, well I do love a good fad AND a culinary challenge, so I'm all over it too. Last night I made whole wheat pasta with beet greens and mushrooms. Tonight, I made vegan pizza! (psst: It's basically just pizza but without cheese on top).

I made the crust with 1/4 whole wheat flour and the rest regular flour, then put on mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, green peppers, an onion, and then topped it with a bit of olive oil and some oregano.

Voila!

Happy Fall!

2010-09-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Fall is officially here! The leaves just started turning this weekend and they are beaYOUTiful! My busy life continues and I have decided to embrace the business, since it's all good stuff. I'll relax in February!

Last weekend we went to see Jill and Kevin in Gorham. We planned a one-way kayak trip down the Androscoggin River from Shelbourne, New Hampshire, to Bethel, Maine. It's about a 30 minute drive, so I'm not sure how far it is in miles. My guess is about 15. Anyway, it took us 4-5 hours of paddling, plus time for lunch and time to drop the boats off and then go drop a car off in Bethel. This was actually our first successful one-way paddle. We tried it once before but realized we had left the keys to car #2 in car #1 at the start. So we had to turn around and paddle back upstream. tee hee! Life's an adventure. Anyway, it was a gorgeous trip. I got the feeling that certain members of the party were getting a little tired toward the end, but hey, if you're not tired, what was the point anyway?

Jill & Kevin. They packed us BLTs for lunch and then we stopped for a cupcake break with Jill's amazing red velvet cupcakes with vanilla frosting.

That's me hitting the rapids.

Me and Jon and aforementioned cupcake break.

Once we got back, we went to dinner at a super cute little pub called Saalt, right in Gorham. The food was fabulous. I had a french onion soup and a veggie panini. It all tasted very fresh and hearty.

And THEN, the highlight of the trip was sleeping on the fleece sheets in the guest room. Oh My God. I'm gettin' me some o' them! So comfortable!

I always wait too long between posts and then make them too long, so I'll try to wrap this up quickly without leaving anything out. We got 22 pounds of honey...took it off the weekend after labor day and then put the formic acid on to treat the bees for mites. Jon and I both hate to medicate them, but since we know absolutely nothing about beekeeping at this point, we decided to just follow directions. Next, we need to treat them for intestinal parasites, and then in November pack em up for the winter.

And then Mom came up and did such a wonderful job weeding. Now I can look out my office window at the birds and the bees without the stab of guilt and self hatred that I was feeling before. Thank god! The garden still needs some work before the first snow falls, but hey, I'm a busy girl.

Today, I ran a 5K as part of a triathlon relay team. My boss was the swimmer and a colleague from IS was the biker. It was a trail run, so all in the woods, which was nice. Lots of hills, so I did quite a bit of walking and felt like I nearly died. Oh well! 38 minutes 30 seconds, which isn't great. I'm going to ramp up my training program and really try to start improving now. We've planned a February trip to Hilton Head, SC, where Jon is going to run in a half marathon and I've signed up for a 10K (6.2 miles). So I have some work to do.

This is me waiting for my biker to get back so I can start running.

This is the before picture. I was all pumped up and happy.

And the end. What a wimp! It's only 3.1 miles for chrissakes!

Well, that's enough for now. Must be time for a nap!

Me and my fancy muh-sheen

2010-09-06T17:46:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so we decided that we finally needed to stain the house. It's been 5 years, which is what the builders said it would take for the wood on the house to look like crap. Actually here's what the builders and everyone else said to us when we told them we wanted wood, yes REAL wood on the side of our house:

Oh, no, you're going to regret that.
Why would you want wood, you can have vinyl... just hose the crap all off when it gets dirty
That's a pain in the a** to put up....pain in the a** to stain... you don't want that!

What did we say to the cynics?:
Jon: err, umm... Larisa, we should talk about this
Larisa: No! Never!

So we have wood siding on our house (I won! Hee hee!) And five years have gone by. And somehow I got it in my head that it would cost $5000 to stain it (I still tend to think that's a conservative estimate). Now, we're poor. Let's face it. I'm a copywriter for a non-profit organziation and Jon's a wannabe nurse with schooling ahead of him. So clearly, we dont' have $5,000. But no biggie, because we love pain. Actually we ADORE pain and misery and agony. It's in our blood.

So we decided to stain the house ourselves. And now I'm getting bored with the story so I won't be able to make it sound good. But it was painful, and misery filled, and we're not even done yet. But we had help (thank god!). Jill and Kevin pitched in and they are TOTAL troopers. But the BEST thing? We got to rent this killer machine from Home Depot. It goes up, it goes down, it goes in every which direction, usually at frightening heights! It was scary! It was thrilling! Jon got scared so I had to do all the staining! I got scared, but kept going becuase I'm AWESOME!

Here's a picture of me in all my awesomeness":

Notice how I am alone. But "whatevs" ... How awesome is this?

A neglected blog

2010-08-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer, and I haven't had much time to post, but I'm sure something has been happening. How about a summer recap? (cheers of encouragement). Ok then!

Well, we went to the Balsams in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. This a schwanky little resort in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire that we can in no way afford to go to, but did anyway. About a 3 hour drive from home, it was close enough to be comfortable...and yet far enough away to be relaxing. It was all inclusive, so all meals were included, most notably some suuupppperrfantastic dinner meals. The first night I got fresh steamed Maine lobster. Holy delicious god of yum. Why on earth did I resist lobster for so long? All the wasted years... the empty wasted lobster-less years of my pathetic life. Why ME?

Anyway... there was also a game room with ping pong, board games, Ms. Pac Man (My FAVORITE), a billiard room (where I realized Jon was not so bad at pool, and I was), a swimming pool (where I realized I LOVE to swim but really have no technique), loads of hiking trails (where we bit off more than we could chew, and yet found a lovely lovely mountain lake), tennis courts (which we did not use), a putting green (where I practiced my magnificent putt putt skills), and a lake where we paddle-boated (yes, I'm making that a legitimate verb). Good times, nice people, lovely lovely mountain setting. Too much food. Awkward tipping scenario, though. (I hate awkward tipping scenarios).

Then of course there was the trip to Bethany Beach, Delaware, with Ursula, Dave, the kiddos, and Samara. We flew into Baltimore, rented a car, and navigated by OUR NOSES ALONE all the way to the beach. It may not have been the most direct route, but hell, it's better than using one of those "GPS" Muhsheens. Life's an adventure, man, and I'm so OVER technology. The beach house was loverly. We got our own downstairs pad with a separate bathroom and all. We saw giant waves. We saw Dave rescue people from them. We saw lifeguards rescue other people from them. We played putt putt (I won), we went outlet shopping (I bought), we went the Dogfish Head Brewpub (I drank). Samara came, choosing perhaps as circuitous a route as we did? We went to the beach, we read novels, we got wet up to our knees, Dave made fabulous meals. The kiddos were sweet and wonderful. We drank wine, had fun, played board games (I DIDN'T win). It was a really great weekend.

And THEN... Samara came to Maine. Seeking to recreate a successful sea glass hunting trip in the Biddeford area several years ago, we got lost, missed low tide (sorry!!) and found no sea glass. We did, however, find the ocean, and what more could anyone want? We went hiking at Bradbury Mountain in Freeport (also got a LITTLE lost there), and kayaked in the Cathance River in B-ham. We tried to go to Runaround Pond in Durham, but got the ol' runaround when the summer's dry weather left it merely a puddle. Then we went to the Sea Dog, cuz that's how we roll, yo.

What else? Well, we also went up to Phillips, of course, and stayed at the Chateau de Chat (cat house) for a night. No moose... still have never seen a #@*%8 moose! But we hiked the Appalachian trail (not the WHOLE thing) and went to Piazza Rock, which was super cool. A glacier moved this monolithic rock so it is hanging in midair on 3 sides. We crawled into caves and I realized I still have a fear of heights. I'm fine climbing UP rocks, but climbing down is terrifying. It was a 1.8 mile hike each way, but felt much longer. There were alot of up hill sections and I had just caught a cold (in fact I think I had a fever). But I'm a trooper if nothing else, so I didn't complain. I thought it was gorgeous and now I want to hike more in that area...perhaps even go up Saddleback itself, though I guess that's a long hike.

So that's the summer in recap. I've also canned pickles and dilly beans, and have worked a lot of overtime, done NO work in teh garden (it's a disaster), and read lots of book (see my Shelfari link on the right). I'm also training for a 5K race. Yesterday, I ran 2.5 miles without stopping, which is a big milestone for me. It felt great.

Hope everyone is having a great summer. It's almost over, but I'm looking forward to fall. We're restaining the house (ourselves) and finishing the basement, and hopefully getting some weeds pulled, brick walkways put in the garden, putting up the japanese lantern that mom & dad so genersously gave us, etc. And then winter is going to be SWEET, because all I'm going to do is drink red wine, take naps on the couch, and ... well, that's all.

Jam Math

2010-07-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

Summer's bounty is here and I've been collecting it. We managed to hand pick 32 quarts of strawberries ths summer - 16 quarts per trip. I think strawberry season is over, but we're well prepared for winter already. We have 9 bags (18 quarts in the freezer) and I made 16 pints of strawberry jam. We've already gone through some of it, because it's so damn good!, but we have plenty left for winter. I just have to resist the tempation to give it all away.

Anyway... I always assumed it was cheaper to do these things yourself... pick strawberries, ,make jam, etc. But the thought that I was doing all this work and NOT saving money started keeping me up at night. Though the non-monetary benefits I think make it worthwhile anyway... 1) I get a kick out of making things 2) I know where my food is coming from and 3) I reuse all the jars from the jam from year to year, so no waste!

But what about the money? I decided to do the math.

The recipe I have calls for 2 quarts of strawberries, 1 packet of pectin, and 7 cups of sugar. So...

A 5-pound bag of sugar costs $2.99 and you can get 11.25 cups out of it. So that's $1.86 for 7 cups.
2 quarts of strawberries at our local pick your own cost approx. $3.25
A Twofer of pectin costs $4.19 so $2.09 each

So each batch of 4 pints of jam is costing me $7.20. That's $1.80 per pint; $0.90 per half pint; $0.1125 per ounce (for comparison purposes). This doesn't include the cost of the jars, lids, labor, or electricity. Pint jars cost about $0.83 each, but you can reuse them every year. Mine are already bought at this point, and technically I should factor something in here, but that's getting a bit complicated, so we'll just ignore that for now.

The verdict:

Smuckers Strawberry jam in a 32 ounce jar (giant) costs $3.49. That's $0.109 per ounce - cheaper than mine, but it is also made with high fructose corn syrup, and is in a jar so big that it will take you a year to get through it.

The Smuckers Orchard, which is actually made with sugar and is the one we usuall buy is $3.59 for 12 ounces, or $0.299 per ounce.

As you can see, mine beats the real sugar variety by 18 cents per ounce!

Now I'm anxiously awaiting blueberry and raspberry season so I can add a little variety to our jam pantry. This coming winter is going to be ssswwweeeeeeeetttt!

Exciting Things Happening

2010-06-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well...(deep breath)...it's been a BUSY summer already. I've gone to a Jimmy Buffet concert, I've gone to New York City, I've had more than five nights where I stayed up past nine pm. WHOA! Craziness. I think, I hope, that things are settling down a bit so I can get caught up pulling weeds in the garden and deadheading my roses, and taking copious naps during the weekends.

This weekend, the strawberries were out so we made our way to Fairwinds Farm in B-ham and picked 16 more quarts (we picked 16 last weekend too). So far, we have 9 2-quart bags in the freezer and 16 pints of strawberry jam made! This summer I am determined to "put up" lots and lots of preserves for the winter. Next our pickles and corn and applesauce and tomato sauce. Ohmigod! Soooo exciting.

Other exciting things...this weekend is the Brunswick Library Book sale. First of all, let me just put in a plug for the Brunswick Library. We pay $65 as a couple to "belong" to the library and it is worth every penny. It is the best library in the state of Maine. Anyway, I spent about $11 on books yesterday and got 10 books, plus one for Jon (mooch!). I got some writing books, some travel books, a novel by Paul Theroux, a book about Russia, and some other random stuff. I need a new bookcase to take care of teh overflow. Dad??

And finally...saving the best for last here... I got a water filter for my shower! I started to notice that every time I showered away from home, my hair looked good. And whenever I showered at home, my hair looked like crap. I deduced that it was all the iron and sediment in the water. So yesterday I bought a water filter that fits on to the shower head. Plus we have a filter where it comes into the house. So it's essentially double filtering the water for my hair. The result: Well, it was a big frizzy mess today, but whatever. It was humid. I'll let you know tomorrow if it improves. Because I know you're on the edge of your seat.

Kayaking Trips 2010

2010-06-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday marked our second trip in the kayaks this year. Jill and Kevin were down here visiting and we decided to go on a trip around Swan Island. We launched from the Richmond public boat landing and headed North (I think?) around the island. We left a little after low tide, around 9 am, thinking that would help us along the way. We started out happy and slow, chit chatting and enjoying the calm water and overcast day. Then, on the opposite side of the island, we realized that we had underestimated how long the trip would take. We kept paddling and seemed to get nowhere. We'd see what we thought was the "end" of the island and paddle for 30 minutes to find out that there was more to go. We cheered when, after 3 and a half hours, we did actually reach the end. Once we rounded the corner, the tide did help us and we finished up in an hour or so. We saw a TON of eagles and despite weather reports of rain, we only got a bit of drizzle during the first hour. The water couldn't have been better. I have never seen such calm water in the Kennebec and there were hardly any motorboats around. It was pretty much ideal! The whole trip took about 5.5 hours...longer than expected, but pretty, fun, and with good company!

Here's some photos:

Juvenile eagle in a tree. One grown eagle swept down right in front of us and tried to catch a fish. Then it tried again. I think Darwin might be getting that eagle soon... if you know what I mean.

If you look in the center of the photo in the mass of green, you can see a flowering wild rose. Pretty! That's Jon in the yellow kayak in the background.

Just a shot of the clam water and I think that's Jill in blue and Jon in yellow.

You can't really see it that well in this photo, but in the background is Richmond. For the majority of the 5.5 hours, we couldn't see any buildings or houses, so we were anxiously awaiting the Richmond "skyline" and were happy to see it!

A few weeks ago, we went on the Cathance river. Leaving from the Bowdoinham public boat launch and going right instead of left (which we usually do, which takes you to Merrymeeting Bay), we decided to explore the Cathance River, not knowing how far we'd be able to go. We went for at least an hour in one direction before heading back. It was a very pretty trip. It was a windy day, which there seem to be a lot of recently, and was actually the day that 2 girls died on Casco Bay kayaking from Peaks island. Definitely not the kind of day to be on the open ocean, but ok on the river. Though even where we were, there were actually waves! It was so sad about those girls. Luckily Jon is Mr. Safety and we are decked with every known saftey device, plus he keeps an eye on the tides and winds, etc. It's definitely a different story when you're on the ocean, and I've certainly been scared before. But anyway, here are some photos of our trip:

That's me!

Lunch time. We packed some Italians from the B-ham country store. There weren't many places to pull over, but we finally found this rocky beach.

LIke I said, it was a bit choppy. That's Jon over there in yellow. There was a huge difference from when we set out at low tide. This pictures was I would guess close to high tide. It was like a different place on the way back! It became a big river! Very pretty ride!

Nature...kicking my a** once again

2010-05-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

So I had a four day weekend. I thought... Ok, I'll yank up all the clover in the front bed on Friday, then I'll write my novel on Saturday, stain the house on Sunday, conquer the world on Monday...

So what really happened:

I pulled clover, and more clover, adn yet more clover on Friday. The sun beat down on me. When I closed my eyes I could still see the demonical twists and turns of the clover runners hiding beneath the soil. Oh damnation! I hate you clover! I looked around after 4 hours of labor and there was still clover everywhere.

Then, I looked at the inlaid brick edging I had done (the one pride and joy of my never-to-be-completed garden) and a damn turtle had dug up all my handywork just to lay her eggs. DAMN nature!

Weeds, eggs, turtles... I can't compete. If I was retired, I bet I would have a garden to die for. But I'm not retired. I have a few days here and a few days there... and so I just have to let go and accept the fact that I can only do so much. One day, I wills sell my novel for $50 thousand and I'll take a month off and pull clover and relay bricks, and it will all be glorious for a few minutes.

But anyway... I also got around to planting seeds in my raised beds. I planted some tomatoes in bed #2 and some herb seeds in Bed #1... I put the seed packets in order on my ledge by the door so I would know in what order I planted everything but Thomas E. Cat Ebinger White had to knock them all over, so I'm not so sure anymore, but I think they are planted like this:

'Amish Paste' tomato

'Peacevine cherry' tomato'
Chamomile
Rosemary
Calendula
Hyssop

Let's see what comes up, because I do NOT believe in babying my seeds. They need to be tough to survive around here.

Also, I have lots of pretty irises coming up:

Novel Writing Update

2010-05-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

Work day 3 back from vacation and I'm more motivated than ever to finish this novel so I can get rich and famous. Boy this 8 to 5 stuff is so NOT for me! I scrapped about 4 rough drafts so far. I get to the point about half way through where I either don't know where the story is going or I just lose faith in it or I get a much, much, much better idea and have to explore that instead. I'm at about that point with the draft I'm currently working on, but am feeling better about it than usual.

On the drive home last night after a good workout, I had about 16 epiphanies about life, the universe and everything. I couldn't wait to get home to write them all down. I took one of those giant post it flip chart things and transcribed all of my brilliant thoughts. As much as I love computers, I just have to do things manually. I hate scrolling down the screen. I like to see everything all in one place at a glance.

Since I'm pretty far along in the book, I don't want to start over, so I've decided to write down the ideas for now and figure out where they'll fit in during the first rewrite. I wrote all of my scenes down on index cards, then wrote all of my new ideas, and then shuffled them around till they made sense. Then I taped them to another giant post it thing.

Like this. Then I can untape them and move them around if I reorganize or add new scenes. And I can see at a glance what has happened and what still needs to be written.

So the plan is to writing and finish the book "as if" the rest of the book was already as I want it to be. I've got to keep the momentum going. If I can write a scene a night for the next several weeks, I should be done with draft #1 by the end of June! I'm pretty excited about how it's coming along. I've been working toward this goal for a long time, and it's taken me a while to figure out what processes work for me. Every writer has a different approach I'm sure, but I think I'm finally getting there. It definitely helps to have a loose outline of where the plot is going, with the understanding that some things will change along the way. For me, index cards are working well.

I also have notes on the wall about basic plot structure and index cards of the major characters and their relationship to each other. It's nice to be able to glance up and see this stuff.

In the meantime, since I suppose I can't quit my job yet, I'm exploring advertising options on this blog. I got a $100 gift card from google to try Adwords, so I'm giving that a shot. If you're new here, welcome! Please come back and even better, see those ads on the left? Click on one! It'll make you feel good! Plus, I'll make about a penny if you do. One penny closer to freedom!

And with that, I'm off to my not-so-neat-and-tidy (but workin' for me) writing room with my new favorite drink, the dark & stormy, to go find some inspiration.

Bermuda Memories

2010-05-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

We're back! I know you are all sitting on the edges of your seats waiting to hear what we did on our Bermuda cruise. So here's a quick recap:

Ate too much
Spent too much money
Got sunburnt
Got sick of people
Smelled a stinky cruise ship toilet for a few too many days

But I suppose there were some good things too, like

We went snorkeling and saw a coral reef. The water was FREEZING! Ok, it was 69 degrees, but it felt freezing! This is my 3rd time snorkeling. The first time I was terrified, the second time I was terrified, but also had fun. I was convinced this would be the time I decide I love it. Insteaad, I decided that it's really not for me. There's something very odd about it. You feel like you shouldn't be able to breath, but you can. It throws me off every time. Next time, though, I'm trying Scuba!

We also went on a glass bottom kayak tour and that was AMAZING! We saw the same coral as we did snorkeling, but from the comfort of a tandem kayak. IT was a beautiful day and the water was just incredible. It's like 16 different shades of blue and green AT THE SAME TIME. We also toured a nature preserve and learned a little about the native flora of the island. There is a Bermudian Cedar (which I think is a type of juniper like an Eastern Red Cedar or something, but don't quote me on that. It did have little blue berries though). The people on the island are making an effort to eradicate non-native plants and reintroduce more of these cedars.

One day we decided to tour the island on our own. The ship docked on the end of the island where there wasn't much going on. Though we soon discovered that not much was really going on anywhere else either. But it was fun discovering that. We took a ferry to the capital city of Hamilton. We toured a fort and that was kind of cool. There was a moat and pretty flowers. Apparently it was never used because by the time it was finished, it was out of date. That seems to happen a lot.

Then we took the bus to St. Georges, which is the historic part of the island - the part first settled. We did a self guided walking tour, which took about 10 minutes. It was pretty. Then we took the ferry all the way back to "Dockyard,," where are ship was.

Oh! We also went to the Botanical Gardens. They were very pretty. Most impressive were the people that worked there taking naps on their lunch breaks. My kind of place! Can you imagine gardening all day, taking naps, AND getting paid for it? Crazy!

What else? We went to a pub called the Frog and Onion and I got a porter and fish & chips. Yum. We bought some rum cake. Guess that was about it. All in all, wow, what a pretty place. If I was rich and wanted to lie on a beach for a week, I would totally go back. IT's very clean, no poverty to be seen, no one bugging you... it's very chill. Maybe just a touch boring though (sorry!)

Then the cruise... our room was teeny tiny...or so we thought until we glimpsed peaks at other rooms that were even teenier and tinier than ours! IT was an inside cabin - no window, which meant we slept in really late every day. VERY relaxing vacation. We did some silly cruise ships things like a Murder Mystery Dinner (btw, I was the only one to correctly guess the killer, thank you very much). We ate the buffet a lot. We saw some comedy shows by the Second City Comedy troop. They were really good.

Anyway, good times... As always, I'm happy to be home. Spring has really sprung here in Maine and it is GORGEOUS! The bees seem to be happy. We haven't been able to locate the queen, but I did see some larvae in there, so hopefully that's her that's laying the eggs or else they've gone ROGUE! Uh oh...

Great week off. Not looking forward to the double-u word (how do you spell W anyway? And why isn't it called a double vee?) But I won't think about that for now. I'll post photos later or you can see them on Facebook.

Tootle-oo.

Bees, bees....LOTS of bees

2010-04-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

We FINALLY got our bees today! It's been weeks and weeks of anticipation. This morning we went to our last "bee class" to see a demonstration of putting the package bees in the hive and lo and behold, we somehow missed it. Oh well... hopefully our bees communicate better than our fearless bee teacher. At any rate, we picked up our package, our hive tool, and some meds for the bees and took the girls home.

When we were paying, I said rather despondently "I guessed we missed the demonstration! Woe is me!" and a nice lady who seems to work with the bee people said she had videotaped them putting the bees in the day before and let me watch the video. We had already watched a few videos on you tube and it seemed about the same. So we went on our merry way, me feeling a little less than confident and prepared. Jon seemed to be feeling ok about it though.

So we got home and I had a snack so I'd be at my best. I don't function very well when I'm hungry. Jon went out and lit the smoker and seemed to be a real natural at it. You know... men and fire... (eyes rolling). Anyway, so we put our veils and hats on (our guy says that's all we need) and get to work.

Here are the bees in their package. They seemed a bit lethargic.

I filmed some of this on my little digital camera, but I won't add the video now. I want to edit it a bit so I look more brave. More to come on that later.

So Jon opened the package and pulled out the canister of sugar water, crushing a bee in the process. : ( Then he pulled the queen out, who was in a little cage. Unlike in the video, where it looked really easy, our queen cage was COVERED in bees. LOTS of bees. And a bunch of other bees flew out of the package too. Yikes... this wasn't going well.

Jon finally smoked the bees off the queen and gave it to me to uncork her cage. There is a cork and then sugar candy that the bees eat out. The point is that it takes a day or two to get her out of the cage and by that time, the bees are acclimated to the hive (I guess?). So I didn't have teh right tool and I may have gotten the cork out from the wrong end. I DON'T KNOW! It was stressful! There were bees crawling all over my hands and stuff and I just freaked!! Oh well! I shoved her into the hive and hoped for the best (Don't worry... we'll check on her tomorrow and if she's still stuck in her cage, I'll make Jon get her out).

Anyway, the next step was to pour the rest of the bees into the hive on top of the queen. Holy moly! Jon is braver than I thought, and WAY braver than me. This was scary. There were bees EVERYWHERE. Buzzing around my head, landing on me. They were all over Jon. It was INSANE. I just backed away slowly.

After that, we just watched them as they went down into the hive. Jon smoked them and that helped. Oh, I also sprayed them with sugar water when they were still in the package to calm them down. Once we took the queen out they got a bit agitated. When they finally got down, Jon put the inner cover on, then put a pail of sugar water on top for them to eat and then another box and the outer cover on top. All in all, a total success! (no thanks to me).

They settled in for a while and then in an hour or so they started orienting themselves to the hive. They'd come out, look around, go back in. Then, they started cleaning up. All the bees that died during transport and got dumped in the hive were carried out and dumped outside the hive. Jon sat out there for hours and hours just watching them.

Now it's 6 pm and they're all inside. Hopefully they're drinking the sugar water and starting to build out their wax honeycombs. Once the combs are built, the queen can start laying eggs. Once she lays eggs, it's 3 weeks till they hatch and then we'll have even more bees! I think we have about 10,000 now. At the height of summer, we'll have up to 80,000! Yikes!

We'll check on them tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Spring Update

2010-04-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well, first... an update on the sauerkraut, in case anyone was wondering. The crock cracked (that's fun to say) so all the liquid seeped out without me realizing it. I kept putting more brine in and then I came home to purple, foul smelling juice all over the countertops. Oh well... no worries. I'll try it again some other time.

Just got back for a weekend in DC. It's really pretty down there with lots of things blooming. The kwanzan cherries were in bloom...the yoshinos on their way out. The dogwoods hadn't really started yet. It was kind of "chilly"... in the 60s and 70s. Anyway, some highlights from my trip:

Had some margaritas with Jennifer in Ashburn. Said hi to her kids.
Ordered ZPizza and drank wine with Samara
Had brunch at La Madeleine with Athena and her 1 year old daughter.
Tried to snuggle with Samara's cats (almost succeeded!)
Had two delicious meals prepared by Dave (pasta and an indian feast)
Flew kites by the Washington Monument
Bonded with my nephews
Wandered around National Airport as they shut half of it down and wouldn't let me out
Discovered that both of my sisters are ISTJs in the Myers Brigg personality profile, much to Samara's chagrin.

Here's some photos:

Colin

me flying kite

tourist shot by the monument

me and superman

Back in Maine, it's an early spring. The daffodils are in full bloom as is the forsythia. The poplars are starting to leaf out, and so are the lilacs.

Fun with lacto fermentation (saurkraut making)

2010-03-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you're up to your ears in cabbage? You make saurkraut! Saurkraut is actually very good for you. It goes through a process of lacto-fermentation, which creates those good microbes that wage war with all the bad microbes in your body..sorta like yogurt.

I got a hold of my German-American grandpas saurkraut recipe and decided to give this a try. I actually only had 2 cabbages on hand - one green, one red, so hopefully it doesn't matter that you mix them. The only ingredients are cabbage and salt. Using a combination of questionable math skills and women's intuition, I guestimated the quantity of salt to cabbage. The recipe said to layer the cabbage, pack it down with a masher, and then a layer of salt. There were no details about how thick or thin the layers of cabbage or salt should be though. So I guessed.

I started with 2 cabbages, about 1 and a half pounds.

I layered into it a stone crock and mashed it down with a masher, then put a layer of salt and repeated. I used 1 tablespoon of salt for the whole batch, parceling it out little by little per layer.

Then I covered it with a clean cheesecloth and put a wooden cover that Dad made for me. Then I weighted it down with a full olive oil bottle. You're supposed to keep it weighted down.

I had a dream last night that I checked on the saurkraut and it was bubbling and gurgling and oozing fun colored scum. Alas, I checked on it today (Day 1), since the instructions said to check on it each day, wash the scum off the cloth, etc. But nothing was really happening yet. It didn't even smell bad. Maybe I packed it too tight and no air at all could get to it? Or maybe it just takes a few days. The whole process is supposed to take 10-12 days. Patience, patience.

Today, we're building our bee hive. I'll post more pictures on that later.

Bee Stuff Has Arrived!

2010-03-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

We picked up the lion's share of our beekeeping supplies tonight. We got:

1 hive stand. This wasn't really necessary but it looks nice and gives the bees a place to hang out in the summer.

2 brood boxes, with frames and wax (we have to put these together ourselves)

1 super box, with frames and wax. This is the box the honey goes in.

2 helmets and veils

a sugar pail

a bottom board, inner cover, outer cover

Smoker

Can you say "EXCITING!"? I can. Exciting!!

Some photos:

Beeman Jon

The supplies

The wax. This is what the bees start with and they build out the wax combs from this.

Less than a month till we get our bees! Before then, we need to build the hive and assemble the frames, paint it, situate it, figure out how to use the smoker... lots to do!

Maple Syrup Tapping

2010-03-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

I've noticed quite a few people around this spring tapping maples for syrup. I don't know why I never noticed it before. Weird. Anyway, of course I want to do this. What kind of pioneer woman would I be without making my own syrup? I think it may be too late to start this year, but I just came across an article about how to do this so I thought I'd make a post and then I could look at it next year. So for anyone else out there who wants to try this, let me know if it works.

Step 1: Find a tree. Sugar maples are best. Red maples are also good. Apparently black and golden birches also produce a minty sap that you can make syrup out of, but you need a lot more of it than maple sap.

Step 2: When the days are in the 30s and the nights are in the 20s, drill a 3 inch deep hole using a 7/16 drill bit. Tap a spial in (I'm not sure what that is, but I guess I need to find one)

Step 3: Hang a clean bucket with a cover from the spial.

Step 4: Collect it and boil it down till it's a syrupy consistency. You can also boil it down to sugar.

Tonight for dinner, in celebration of the robin's return to Maine, I'm making Fiddleheads (frozen from last year) and angel hair pasta. This will be my first fiddlehead experiment so hopefully they won't kill me.

Photos

2010-03-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Here is the necklace I made. Not bad for my first time, huh? Maybe a little gaudy for my austere tastes, but what the heck, I think I'll wear it tomorrow anyway.

And here's some bread I made. White bread 101 from the King Arthur Flour cookbook. Yummy.

Bees, beads, and other things, like books

2010-03-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

I think it's time for an update. It seems that spring has sprung early this year. We've been snowless for weeks and the days are getting longer. This winter was a piece of cake! And in 3 short weeks, I get the Mini out of storage!! I miss her!

As glad as I am that winter is coming to an end, I have to say I've enjoyed the downtime. I've gotten some good writing on my novel done (still a long way to go), I've done some reading, and I've explored some interests...segue coming up. Like bee keeping, for example. We've had 2 bee classes and 2 to go. So far we have learned about the races of bees, how to make a hive, the basic tasks of a beekeeping year, etc. There's soooo much to learn, but I find it utterly fascinating. I put in an order for one package of bees, which will arrive on April 17. I'm also ordering a hive kit, which you have to assemble and paint. We briefly thought aobut getting 2 hives, but it's not necessarily a cheap hobby. In the end, we decided to see how we do with one hive this year and maybe add another next year if all goes well.

I also need to buy one of those hat things with a veil, a smoker, a hive tool, a super (that's the box that the bees make the honey in), and probably some other things that I can't think of right now.

I've also gotten into beading. Like jewelry making. I made a necklace today, which I think will go swimmingly with my Bermuda 2010 wardrobe (yet to be purchased except the purple polka dot tankini). I'll post a picture of it later and add it here. I'm too lazy to get off the couch right now though.

Reading update: Samara and I are continuing on our reading challenge. I'm in the middle of 5 books right now. Nature girl, by Carl Hiaasen; the girl who played with fire, by stieg larsen; a writing book by Patricia HIghsmith; Synchronicity, Science, and Soul Making; and Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, by James Hollis.

Larisa's Homemade granola

2010-02-21T05:49:00.000-08:00

3 1/2 cups of rolled oats
pecans - handful, chopped
flaxseed - 1/4 cup roughly
flaked coconut - 1/4 cup
1/4 cup oilive oil
1/2 cup real maple syrup

Mix everything in a bowl till it's all evenly moist. Spray a pan with olive oil spray then spread it all in the pan like this:

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Cook for 15 minutes and then turn it over with a spatula. Then cook for another 5-10 minutes, but be very careful not to burn it. The coconut or pecans (one or the other) seems to make it susceptible to burning. Or, if you weren't lazy, you could toast those two things seperately and then mix it together after the oats mixture is cooked.

this is a good recipe. The pecans and the maple syrup together are pure heaven. If I have any, I will also put squash or pumpkin seeds in here. You could also stir in any kind of dried fruit at the end. I'm not crazy about dried fruit myself.

Enjoy!

Never pay full price for anything

2010-02-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

That's my new motto. In this economy, who can afford to pay full price, especially when we all know how much things get marked up. I just got a 3.2 ounce of Vera Wang Princess perfume on ebay for $32. If I had bought it at sephora.com? $72. Ok, so it's a tester bottle, but it's the same stuff, right? Honestly. I love ebay.

I also got my favorite facial serum - SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic for a quarter of the price I'd pay elsewhere on ebay. Again, it was a tester. And a giant bottle of Kiehl's moisterizer. This one I was a little leery of. The Kiehl's label would be very easy to counterfeit and I'm still not 100% sure that it's not full of Elmer's glue instead of actual Kiehl's. I may pay full price for that next time.

Another thing: Shoes. I get complimented on my shoes on a near daily basis. Do you think I buy them at Macy's? No! TJ Maxx. And I never, never pay more than $30. (Well, ok, sometimes I do, but that's my general rule of thumb.)

Sometimes I think about winning the lottery, but then I think about how much fun that would suck from my life. No more bargain hunting. No more coupon cutting (Ok, fine, Jon does that, but whatever). No satisfaction in getting the bottom dollar price for something. That would suck. I would so hate to be rich.

Unfortunately, there are some things you can't get good deals on. Some manufacturers are Sma-aht. They control the distribution. Like Mac computers. I'd love one, but I ain't payin' over a thousand dollahs for a computer when I can get a PC laptop for $400. No sah!

Well,that's all I've got. I'm already thinking about what the hot Christmas toy for 2010 is going to be. If I can plan it right this year, I can make my Zhu Zhu Pet adventure from last year look like amateur night at the Apollo.

Cheers!

Check it out...

2010-02-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

My new pellet stove!

Go ahead...."oooohhhh"....."ahhhhhhh"

I know... pretty sexy. It's a Bosco, made in Peru or Chile or some place like that. And check out the new "hearth" too. It all wasn't cheap, but we will get a 30% tax credit next year and the plan is that it will reduce our winter oil consumption. At any rate, it's a insurance policy against rising oil prices.

Next on the "spending oodles of money" agenda is to get the room that it's in finally finished. We're having Jon's cousin (who built our house) come in on Saturday to give us an estimate. We need a drop ceiling put in, trim for the windows, the drywall finished up and mudded, a door put on, plus walls and doors for the other parts of the basement. Then vents cut in the ceiling of the basement/floor of the living/dining room so all that good wood heat can float effortlessly upstairs. We've done a few experiments and realized that the stove will pretty much maintain the set heat on the first floor. But that's enough for me. I want to cook! I want to burn!

Anyway... we're also going on a Bermuda cruise, with the logic that if we're going to be broke, we might as well do it in style. It goes right from Boston so luckily there is no air travel nightmare involved (I'm so over air travel). 2 days to get there, 3 days there, 2 days to get back. I can't believe how much I love cruises! I sort of thought I might... God I'm so white trash! And I love it! I need to get my passport renewed. It's been 10 years since I got my last photo taken. I wont' be sad to see that photo go. I look like a drug dealer in it. A fat drug dealer.

Tonight I'm making butternut squash soup, cranberry nut muffins, homemade granola, and toasted pumpkin seeds. Watch out Betty Crocker.

Snowy Day

2010-01-18T13:43:00.000-08:00

The boys wanted to go out on the porch and explore the snow. They lasted about 15 seconds before Tom started clawing on the door as if his life depended on it.

Anyway, I worked from home today, shoveled the walkway, cleaned off my car, and then stayed inside and drank hot chocolate all day. I've also been perusing my Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog and planning my garden for this year.

I'm not sure we're going to do a big garden this year, after the catastrophe with the rain. We got absolutely nothing out of our garden once the 2 months of rain had passed. This year, I'm thinking of keeping it small, staying with my raised beds out back. I have 3 set up and one more to put together. Last year I grew lettuce and herbs in them. This year, I'm trying to plan to grow things that I can't easily get locally elsewhere. My CSA provides a lot of greens - lettuce and spinach, etc. More than we can really eat anyway. So I wont' do that this year. Here's my plan so far:

Bed #1: Herbs. Thyme and Rosemary are always useful and expensive to buy at the store. Basil I can always use. I grew some last year and got some from the CSA. I made huge batches of pesto and then froze them in ice cube trays. Then when I want some, I just take a cube out, defrost it and throw it over pasta. It's one of my winter staples. Maybe some dill too, as I plan on doing more pickles this year.

Bed #2: Possibly asparagus. This is one thing I've never found locally. Ever. I know it takes some work to get an asparagus bed started, but once planted, they last for 15 years. That sounds easy. Maybe a raised bed isn't the best approach, but it seems easy since it's alreayd cultivated and I don't want to have to find a new spot and dig it up.

Bed #3: Maybe tomatoes. My CSA didn't provide a whole lot of tomatoes, but they could've been affected by the rain as well. I'd like to have a lot so I can can some, so maybe I'll devote a bed to paste tomatoes.

Bed #4: To really round out my pioneer-woman skill set, I need some cereal staples. Or staple cereals? You know, flour and stuff. I dont' have a field to grow wheat in, but I'm thinking I might grow some corn, which I'll dry and then grind into cornmeal. Fun, huh! I know!! Sorry.. I have serious latent pioneer woman gene in me. I get kinda excited.

So that's all. I'd like more squash, but it takes up so much room and I probably get enough from the CSA and the farmer's market. The thing about the farmer's market is that it seems so cheap! Cucumbers and corn I get by the dozen and freeze and pickle to my heart's content. It seems just as good to buy it locally as grow it yourself, and I have so many other things to do during the summer. I'm in a nesting phase and really want to get my house in order. Plus, there's always the flower garden!

I know, I know...it's only January!

Weekend in New Hampshah

2010-01-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

We went to Gorham, New Hampshire for the weekend to see Jill and Kevin and get some winter activities under our belts.

Here's Jon doing his "grumpy face."

Here's Jon and Jill in the Yurt we skied to. It was a 5K ski there and 5K back. A bit beyond my fitness level, but I didn't die. Though I wanted to at one point.

Our local liquor store sells these giant bottles of Riesling for $12.99. It's actually not bad wine either (or so we tell ourselves). We polished it off pretty quickly.

This is me, trying to keep my eyes open for a picture. I may have overcompensated a bit.

Pretended to be skiing for photo op. I'm not sure why our mouths are open like that. I think it's because we're terrible actors.

This is where we skied.

Excited about bees

2010-01-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

I signed Jon and I up for "bee school" starting in February. Here's the description:

"The course will cover the information you need to know to get your equipment assembled, get your bees and manage them through the entire first season including, we hope, the harvesting of your first honey crop. Discussions will include the flowering plants that benefit honeybees, races of honeybees and their attributes, the life cycle of the honeybee, and the diseases and pests that affect the honeybee. Hands on will include installing bees in the hive and assembling equipment."

I'm super excited. Not only does beekeeping appeal to my frugal side (free honey!), but it also appeals to my inner pioneer woman. I love self subsistence! We're one step closer to being full fledged hippies.

In preparation, I've been reading "notes from the hive," which mom & dad got Jon for Xmas. It's really fascinating. The first chapter covers honey hunting in prehistoric times. The second chapter is about traditional honey hunts that go on today in Malaysia. Really interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to the recipe chapter, because really it's all about the food. I'm also interested in the chapter about mead. When you can make your own alcohol, that's when you've reached self subsistence heaven.

Speaking of food, I'm on day 3 of the "no pie diet." It's definitely been a challenge to come out of holiday eating patterns and back to real life, but so far so good. I think I've already lost a pound.

Salade De Terre

2010-01-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a new recipe I invented tonight, called Salade De Terre (salad of the earth). It's like a potato salad but even better.

Beets - boiled, peeled and quartered
Potatoes - boiled and quartered (a colorful variety is nice)
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 celery, sliced
Cain's mayonnaise (or similar good mayo - do NOT use Miracle Whip or I will hunt you down and kill you)
Salt and Pepper
Dill
Celery seed

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and serve. Good warm or cold.

Happy New Years!

2009-12-31T15:21:00.000-08:00

Another year has gone by (blah blah blah crap about it being a good year a bad year, etc. etc. etc.)

Anyway, I'm having a "party" tonight, if you can call 4 people a party. Maybe more of a get together. Since, in my white trash way, I LOVE to have a theme, this year's theme is Ski Lodge Party!

The Food
Cheese and Crackers
Veggies
Beef Stew with Dumplings
Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream

The Drinks
Hot chocolate with Kahlua, Chocolate Liquer, or Peppermint Schnapps
Hot Buttered Rum
Hot apple cider with rum
Giant bottle of really cheap Riesling

The Activities
The Wii (courtesy of our guests)
Board Games
Endless hours of witty conversation by our clever hostess (that's me, obviously)

The Photos (pre party)

Happy New Year!

Happy Winter Solstice

2009-12-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. That means that we're now on the upswing and every day from now until June 21 will get longer and longer. : ) So even though we still have a long, cold winter ahead, it makes me happy to know that "the worst" is over. Besides, I have so many things to be grateful for. Including:

I found the one locksmith in Maine who actually wanted my business. The Subaru is back in action and I'm ready for anything.

I got a bumper crop from the CSA tonight. Carrots, onions, leeks, celeriac, pie pumpkin, delicata squash, kale, garlic... I'm planning out what to make with all this good stuff. Here's one idea: http://www.cooklocal.com/?p=2050 I think I'll make this for Samara if she likes all the ingredients. I'm also making this tonight: Roasted delicata squash from here: http://cupcakepunk.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/roasted-delicata-squash/

I'll see 4/5 of my family very soon (and hope to see the rest in the spring)

I'll have a few days off of work

We all seem to be in good health, free of swine flu, heart disease, etc. etc.

I got a bottle of champagne at work today (I'll bring it for Xmas)

I've got my Xmas shopping done, my cards out, and I'm ready to kick back and celebrate the season, blah blah blah. : )

I have TWO (count 'em TWO) invites for New Year's Eve. Not bad for a 35 married chick who spends most her time at the library, eh?

Merry Christmas! What are YOU grateful for? (Hint: I'm trying to encourage comments on this blog. That means YOU.)

Baking Therapy

2009-12-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

I wrapped up my Christmas baking today. I officially never want to eat again. Between all the sweets available at work and all the cookie dough, brownie dough, cake dough, etc. that I've eaten as I've made things for work functions, presents, etc.... I basically want to barf at the thought of food.

Here are the treat bags that I've made for all the special people in my life. If you don't get one, I don't like you.

In an effort to clean out my pantry of anything sweet, I also made these chocolatey cookies.

Last night I made shrimp fried rice and caramelized brussels sprouts

If you're wondering what my kitchen looks like....

Remind anyone of a certain Potato-Onion Blintz episode?? : )

Anyway, it's snowing here, though it's supposed to only be a dusting. I hope so, since I still don't have an mailto:*#@#%%&*( AWD vehicle. After trying 2 subaru dealerships and getting 2 different keys (none of which worked), and calling USAA and AAA roadside assistance (to no avail), I still have no key to my car. I've printed off a list of about 20 Maine locksmiths who I am going to call first thing tomorrow and beg and plead for one of them to come out to my home and make a damn key. Very frustrating. Between Christmas hecticness and the 2 hours of sunlight we're now getting at this latitude, I have zero tolerance for stress. I'm ready to hibernate for the rest of the winter. I'm taking my blankie and my red wine and am going to curl up in a fetal position under the bed. Wake me when it's spring.

Maine ranks #10 of states with the happiest people

2009-12-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

Check it out...

The happiest states:

1. Louisiana

2. Hawaii

3. Florida

4. Tennessee

5. Arizona

6. Mississippi

7. Montana

8. South Carolina

9. Alabama

10. Maine

Apparently the data was collected pre-Katrina, so #1 may be skewed, though don't you find it interesting anyway? It's still one of the poorest states in the nation! If you ask me, this list has more to do with urban/rural than anything else. Let's face it, living the country rocks. I love it. Though I do suspect the data was collected in the summer and not when it's 3 degrees outside (like now for instance). But Alabama? Really? I lived in Alabama and um... yeah...not so much. (Scary) Also note that most of those states border the ocean. ..... .... Montana? Really? As an aside, Montana is the only state on the list I've never visited. Perhaps it's nice. Maybe like Maine, without the ocean and the weird accents...

On other notes, I had my last piano lesson tonight. They were raising the rates, so I decided to cancel and just study on my own. As a goodbye gift to myself, I bought a book of sheet music called "20 best power ballads of all time (or something like that...too lazy to look up the real title). All my favorite songs from my formative years are in this book, including:

Every rose has it's thorn by Poison
November Rain by Guns n roses
I remember you by skid row
Open arms by journey
But best of all... Sister Christian by NIght Ranger!!!! OMG! Holy favorite song of all time!

You all may be getting an invitation to a hair band recital in the spring. Big hair and lighters required.

Storybook

2009-12-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

For all those fellow aspiring novelists out there, I found a great free opensource novel writing software today. It's called storybook. Just google it and download it for free. Samara, I know your New Orleans adventures are just waiting to be written down. Mom and Dad - come ON! I knew you have some stories.

I'm changing my plot and characters daily but have a lot of hope in this new software. It's really helping me organize my scenes and characters, etc. The only downside I see is that there's nowhere to take notes... which isn't that big of a deal since I can just open Word and take notes there.

Anyhoo, that's all for tonight. I was home sick with a cold and now I'm waiting for Jon to get home with my Campbell's chicken noodle soup. Hmm hmm good (btw, thank god for copywriters. Otherwise, I'd have to think of my own thoughts for chicken noodle soup. Who has the energy for that when they have a cold?)

So Maybe I'm No Martha Stewart

2009-12-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

I'm having a little shindig for Jon's birthday..nothing major, just inviting the fam up for a cheesecake and appetizers.

I"ve never actually made a cheesecake before. I'm assuming it's not "normal" or at least not "ideal" that a giant split formed on the top of it.

The only saving grace is that I'm going to be smothering it with cherries, so maybe no one will notice. I could also cut it before anyone gets here and just offer the non chasmed pieces.

I also made sausage rolls. I remember these as perfect little appetizers from my youth. Again, never actually made them before. These are not as perfect as the ones I remember. But they taste ok.

And finally, I decorated the house for Xmas, since we dont' get many visitors and I want to get the most bang for my buck from my Xmas decorations.

Tom seems a little distrubed by having a tree in the house.

Well, the guests should be arriving in less than 2 hours, which gives me just enough time to have a nap, do my hair, and get started on my first cocktail.

Another option for the low budget diet...

2009-12-09T13:29:00.001-08:00

gobble gobble.

Living High On the Shrimp

2009-12-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

With the prospect of supporting two people on one salary (mine) looming on the horizon, I've cut our grocery budget from $125-$150 to $75 a week.But that doesn't mean we're starving, though I am exercising some creative "non-expense related food opportunities"....aka gorging on free food at work (and elsewhere). I'm doing my best not sacrifice my values and integrity for a few bucks off. That means I'm not going to Wal-mart, no matter how cheap it is. My secrets?

Coupons. Duh.
Planning meals for the week (or two weeks). As Mom said, if you can avoid going into the store, you can avoid spending money. Get what you need and get out. And reduce the number of trips.
Shop around.
Buy local, in-season items.

To illustrate the last two points, tonight we made our first trip to Gilmore's Seafood in Bath. It's a little out of our way, but we were already in the neighborhood since I had to stop at the Subaru dealership and have them cut me a new key to my car (since I lost my only one...doh!... The good part? It only cost me $6!) Anyway, they had fresh Maine shrimp (it's Shrimp Season OHMIGOD! The very very BEST thing about winter in Maine SOEXCITED)...um, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, they had fresh Maine shrimp for $0.99 a pound and shrimp meat for $5.99 a pound. That's way less than other places (uh hum Hannaford excuse me). Though we would "normally" get the shrimp meat already done up, we opted for the whole shrimp. What a bargain! I've already got the ingredients for Shrimp Creole ready to got. We got 10 pounds, which the very cute, very young...what was I talking about?... um, guy there said would amount to 5 pounds of shrimp meat... So that's a pound of shrimp meat for $2 essentially.

We also got two HUMONGOUS crab cakes for $3.50 each, which we had for dinner tonight. Ohmigod, SO delicious. I know, I know, I'm overusing the CAPS LOCK on the keyboard tonight, but I can't control myself. Here's a picture. The best part: They are pre-fried, which means I didn't even have to pay for the oil! Whoa. I just warmed them up in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or so and then broiled them for a sec and crispy, sparkly, yummy crabcakes.

Sorry, I didn't think to take a picture till I was halfway into it. If you think that's gross, I'm really sorry for you. My colorful side dish is sauteed swiss chard, straight from Farmer Ben's greenhouse tonight. God I love living in Maine!

In other news, we're expecting a big snow storm tomorrow. I'm planning on working from home so I'm not too worried about it. And now that I actually have key for the car I put snow tires on, I'm all set.

I'm also brainstorming ideas for getting rich. I'm listening to a book called "the four hour work week" and this guy seems to think it's rilly easy. I'm all for that. Apparently the secret is exploiting workers in third world countries and therefore ruining the US economy. ahh... gotta love capitalism. It's just so sustainable.

My first 5K

2009-11-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

I "ran" in my first 5K this morning... a Turkey Trot in Cape Elizabeth. It was a beautiful fall day... temps in the 40s and i finished in a personal best time of 35 minutes. That's slightly slowly than the pace of a crippled dog on heart meds, if you were wondering : )

Anyway, a 5K, for those of you not familiar with the metric system, is just over 3 miles, and I jogged the whole way except for a few seconds when I thought I would die. Go me!

Oh, Jon also ran in the race and had a personal best too... 26 something or other. bah. Now we're off to Winners Sports Pub to eat nachos, drink beer, and watch the redskins beat the cowboys. Go skins!

Sorry there's no photos. Unlike Jon's first 5K when I went out and photo-documented that exciting event, nobody did that for me. Sigh...

Hey you Virginians...

2009-11-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

What the F is going on down there?? A Republican governor? Really? (eyes rolling)

Chicken Soup!

2009-11-01T09:54:00.001-08:00

hmmm..

what else is going on?

Well I spent all day yesterday scouring the discount stores in the greater Portland area and found nothing good to buy and sell on Ebay. I've also realized that I will probably not get rich by reselling stuff I buy at TJ Maxx on Ebay. However, I do have a $75 bid on a Mauviel saute pan that I bought for $69. So a $6 profit.... for about 20 hours of work.

Jon and I have an idea for a new blog, our new get-rich-quick scheme. More to come on that later.

I'm working on my new novel, An Apocolypic Comedy, and have rewritten chapter 1 four times already.

I went to Borders yesterday and bought Ralph Nader's new novel "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!" The premise is that a group of megamillionnaires and billionnaires, a la Bill Gates and Warren Buffet decide to use their ridiculous wealth to save the world. I know... HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! All that money is doing much more good sitting in some rich guy's bank account as half the world goes hungry. Every idiot knows that. (what, me bitter?)

Anyhoo... Happy Sunday and Happy All Saints Day, whatever that is.

Working on this song

2009-10-14T17:36:00.001-07:00

...from the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack. I sound a LOT like this guy... a lot.

A new career..

2009-10-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm getting into the resale industry....buying things cheap and selling them high. First item on the agenda: finding the hot Christmas toy of 2009. Jon says I'm selling my soul and becoming a Capitalist Pig, but hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I won't reveal what I KNOW is going to be the hot toy for 2009, but I can tell you, I'm about to bid $60 for 4 of them on ebay right now...hoping to sell them for $100 a piece come December 15th or so... bwa ha ha ha... I'm going to be RICH!

Florida Vaca

2009-09-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

3 words and phrases for Florida in September

1. NOT cool and fall-like as I expected (guess I didn't need my fleece after all!)
2. Rilly rilly Hot
3. Actually, quite sauna-like

Some photos....

View from our hotel room. That's Fort Lauderdale Beach (with A1A in between).

Beach umbrellas.

Landshark stadium. This is where the Dolphins play. Jimmy Buffet, who also owns Landshark Beer, recently bought a portion of the team and the stadium, so now everything is Jimmy Buffet themed at the games. On a side note, I did try Landshark Beer...it's something akin to Bud Light with a slightly different after taste. ehh.

Sand Art, football style.

Palm tree. Never seen one of those before have you?

Local lizard. Scared the bejesus out of me as I was looking for the potty.

Lighthouse on Key Biscayne. We had lunch here. I had the shrimp creole and we watched my diet coke dance across the table. It's the next You Tube sensation. If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZl1BD1XwQo

"I enjoy long walks on the beach, talking about literature, cats, but most of all wearing cheap ugly skirts I bought at Target because all I brought to Florida in September were 3 hot pairs of jeans. Call me!"

Is that a water spout?

Our hotel. Highly recommended. 4 stars.

Sad players about to lose the biggest game of their lives. Actually it was a really good game. It was just the ending that sucked. But it was fun for me to pretend to be a Dolphins fan for a day. Fins up!

Beach.

Awesome recipes I love

2009-09-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

Eggplant sandwiches

Ingredients

1 eggplant, peeled and sliced (you can either slice them in rounds or on the long side) slice them about a 1/4 inch thick or thinner

Grate mozzarella cheese on the smallest setting

Mayonaise (Cain's is the best if you can get it. If not, get something of good quality)

Garlic

Good quality mustard (grey poupon would work)

Good buns

Good tomatoes

Directions:

Brush the peeled and sliced eggplant with mayo and dip in cheese. Put on a greased baking sheet and broil on both sides.

Mix the mayo, mustard, and garlic for the sauce. Slather on toasted buns, add a slice of tomato and then layer on the broiled eggplant.

Yum!

Gas-free lawn mowing

2009-09-07T13:14:00.001-07:00

...or at least gasoline free. Girls, a little to the left please. There's a big clump of grass growing between the begonias.

Anyway, we're back from our Alaska cruise. It was wonderful. I wasn't sure if I'd like cruising, but it definitely had some things going for it, such as:

* an endless supply of food. I don't have a big desire to eat mountains of food, but I do like to know it's there when I need it. Finding food is usually a cause of anxiety and marital disputes on vacations. Not this time.

* a comfort zone. I have to admit, it was nice to come back to a familiar place of comfort after a day of exploring a new place. Ok, it's the wimpy way to travel, but it was nice anyway.

* there was a lot to do, but nothing so great that I didn't feel guilty laying around taking naps and catching up on my reading. This was the most restful vacation I think I've ever taken.

* it wasn't overly expensive, but we were also pretty vigilant about not going crazy.

* it was easy and we got to see amazing places without much exertion or planning.

* it was also pretty exciting. Definitely a new and different experience.

Things I didn't like so much:

* too much food. I know this contradicts the one above, but let me explain. We ate in the dining room only once because with "anytime dining" there was always a long wait, and if you didn't make reservations before 6 am, you couldn't get in till 8:15 at night. The one time we did go, the food was really good, but there was way too much of it. So whereas most people go to the buffet so they can eat as much as they want, we went to the buffet so we could eat as little as we wanted. And you know me, I can eat.

* ok, I know I'm a stick in the mud. But some of the things going on were really silly. and people really seemed to enjoy them. In fact, the sillier the things were, the more people seemed to like them. I'm talking about things like martini demonstrations (and I like martinis as much as the next girl), charades, stuff like that. It doesn't sound so weird now that I'm writing about it, but you just had to be there. I could've lived without all that. But the good thing is that the ship was so big that you could always escape the silliness.

* no control over your own schedule. I would've liked to have seem more of Ketchikan. We were only there for a morning and our "crab feast" excursion took up the whole time. Same with Victoria, BC. We got there at 7:30 pm and left at midnight. I'm not sure what the point of that was.

* I got a bit tired of people, but like I said, you could always escape.

Alaska tidbit: Did you know that there are no roads going into or out of Juneau? There is an ice field to the north, the ocean to the west, and mountains to the south (or something like that). The only ways in are by plane or by boat, and apparently both are very expensive. Weird, huh? And it's the capital.

Ok, and for the part I know you're really waiting for. Here's a picture of a glacier:

This is Sawyer Glacier, one of 3 we saw up close. This one the cruise ship drove right up to in a place called Tracy Arm Fjord. This was 1/4 mile away. It's hard to fathom how big the glaciers are unless you see something man made next to them. This one is the equivalent of 30 stories high. Of course, this one, like all of them, are retreating because of global warming. Better see them while they're cold! ha ha.

I like bread and butter...

2009-08-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

I like pickles and jam. I like them even more given the fact that they are the only things I have canned to survive the upcoming apocalypse. I had big plans to can tons of tomatoes and corn, but we (along with everyone else in Maine probably) have the most pathetic, non-producing vegetable garden in the entire history of the universe. I'd post a picture of it but it's just too pathetic. We might have 3 small ears of corn growing, no non-rotting tomatoes. The jury is still out on the squash and the 2 potato plants I planted.

But thank god for other local resources. With the strawberries we picked locally at Fairwinds Farm in Bowdoinham, we froze several gallons and I made strawberry jam for the first time. I used the recipe in Better Homes and Garden and it turned out awesome. I wish I'd made more as we go through a ton of jam and even though I didn't try to figure out the math, I'm pretty sure it's much cheaper than buying store bought jam.

I also bought some pickling cukes at the farmer's market and canned 4 pints of bread and butter pickles. Yum! I bought a ton more this week and plan to do some canning tomorrow night or Saturday. We go through a ton of pickles too, so I think this will save me some money too, thought I don't expect them to last too far into the fall.

What's this..

2009-08-06T17:10:00.001-07:00

pretty pink wildflower? Anyone know? It's new to my driveway this year. I can't find my Summer and Fall wildflowers of New England book and it's driving me nuts! Mother - did you take it? If so, I want it back!

And what's this stuff? It's up overhead where it's usually gray and water is coming from. Maybe this is the mythical "blue sky" they talk about in books? I wonder...it's kind o' neat. I think I like it.

Don't get attached, Larisa. "Nothing is permanent" as the Buddhists say.

Here's my "dwarf" tree that is threatening to take over the house.

I love this tree. I don't care how big it gets. I'm never cutting it down. Ever.

My favorite weed: Queen Anne's Lace

Boneset

Tansy!

an overwhelming success. And yes, I do mean "overwhelming."

My cottage in the woods

Me and My Mini

2009-08-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I have nothing else going on in my life. : )

Blueberry Chocolate Surprise

2009-07-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

I scrounged for dessert tonight and came up with this delightful concoction:

1 wedge of Chocolate bread from When Pigs Fly Bakery, defrosted
Frozen Blueberries
Dash of Godiva chocolate liqueur
Whipped cream

Throw the bread and blueberries in the microwave to heat up and get the juices flowing. Add the liqueur, heat a little more, add whipped cream. Yum-E.

I'm sure it would be even better if everything was fresh. I'd just toast the bread and heat the blueberries up over the stove.

Going for Broke

2009-07-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

We booked an Alaskan cruise for late August. I guess this will be our 2010 vacation since it will deplete any savings that I didn't spend on the new wheels. But you only live once, and I've always wanted to revisit the state of my birth.

http://www.princess.com/pb/itineraryDetails.do?voyageCode=5928&trade=A

That's the link to the cruise. We're going on Princess Cruises. I've never been on a cruise, but I think it has potential to be fun. The nice part is that you only have to unpack once and most things are paid for. The bad part is that you're stuck with the same 1,600 people for 7 days. Oh well!

Meanwhile, the airline switched our return flight home from 12 noon to 7 pm and Jon has been talking to numerous robots, listening to vast amounts of muzak, and calling various numbers trying to get this resolved. Well, I guess the airline industry doesn't thrive on customer service.

P.S. To add insult to injury, I've been listening to the hold music for half an hour on speaker phone and they only have one song: a staticky, badly looped Canon in D. And the call center is clearly in India. Thank you United Airlines. You're completely useless.

Mini!

2009-07-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Here she is....

Randomness

2009-07-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

No photos to post, but I'll give an update on my busy weekend anyway.

Saturday
Started with a run/walk and then went to Latin Dancing lessons. We're getting a little better. Paulina, the beautiful Russian instructor, keeps telling me "relax Larisa!" and "move your hips" and "bend your knees" and "relax!" sigh... so I'm uptight, so what?

Um, then what? Oh yeah! I went and bought my nightfire red mini with black racing stripes, which I mentioned very presciently in this post. You can't call that anything but fate because that is a very rare color combo and it just happened to show up 15 miles away from me. I love it. : ) Her name is Mabel, but I won't pick her up till Thursday eve. I'll post a picture then.

Then, dinner at Petrillos in Freeport with Jill and Kevin. They regaled us with tales of all their trips around the globe. I talked about Mabel. We ate pizza. It was fun.

Sunday
Red sox! Took a bus trip with Jill, Kevin, Jack & Judi, and Jon of course, to Fenway to see the Sox. Very exciting! Gorgeous, perfect day, though after 6 hours in the sun I was feeling a little overexposed. I did wear sunblock this time (unlike my trip to the Sea Dogs earlier in the summer). The sox won 5-0.

Monday
Went for run/walk and just to prove that I'm a REAL run/walker I ran/walked not only in the rain, in a thunderstorm, but also through hail. It's true. I won't mention the fact that my "personal trainer" told me there was a 0% chance it would rain and then led me out into the middle of a thundercloud before he took off on his "real run." So I ran back in the hail. No biggie. Refreshing!

And well, despite the hail storm, it looks like the beautiful Maine summer is FINALLY here. Not to jinx it or anything. My red oriental lillies are blooming. I'd take a picture but its' getting dark and I think I'm getting pneumonia (did I mention I ran in the hail?). Time for a shower.

No Lilly Pads Yet...

2009-07-08T15:52:00.000-07:00

but another few days of rain and I think I'll look into my options for aquatic plants. For now, my land plants are doing ok despite being peed on for a month.

Stella!

Calla.

Peony. Gorgeous and finally blooming. Unfortunately they're hidden behind my 8 foot high tansy (see next photo).

Tansy is the one on the left and middle. I can't wait till it flowers. I know it's a weed, but it IS the weed garden. I need to research some medicinal uses for it... I know I read something but I can't remember where.

Blueberries! They'll be ripe soon!

New raised bed. I just need a little more soil. God forbid I get a project done all at once. Instead I like to drag it out as long as possible. Eventually I will plant more poor basil and oregano in here and maybe all the herb seeds I so optimistically ordered in early spring.

Other than that, there are weeds everywhere including a 2 foot tall thistle growing in the middle of my juniper patch. The vegetable garden looks like crap. Too much rain, too many weeds, too cold. It sucks. Thank god for the CSA.

Day 32 of Great Flood

2009-07-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Arc is nearing completion. So far I only have one pair of animals - cats - a scruffy black mangy thing and a maladjusted tabby. Unfortunately both are males so there goes the chance for survival of life on our planet.

SOMEBODY PLEASEEEEE MAKE THE RAIN STOP!!!!!!!!!!! I'M GOING TO DIE.

I don't care if the sun don't shine...

2009-06-30T16:53:00.001-07:00

cuz it's strawberry time! We don't need the sun to have summer. We just need strawberries.

Nothing says summer like that big sign on the River Road that says "Strawberries U Pick 2 miles." Despite constant downpours, we went out on Sunday to start stocking our freezer full of winter stores.

We dressed for the winter. Damn, how did I snag that sexy husband?

I got all my canning supplies ready for making jam, which I haven't done yet and now have frozen all the berries we picked. Oh well, I'll just have to go back.

At least it wasn't hot.

We got 19 quarts and froze 18 of them. Had strawberry shortcake every night this week. Going back for more this weekend.

Does anyone see the point of twitter?

2009-06-26T10:37:00.001-07:00

Because I don't.

Thoughts about Iran

2009-06-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

Headline “Obama Condemns Iranian Violence.”

Well that’s all fine and good and I think it’s right that he condemns the violence, but should he do more? In my view, no. What the hell is this crap about Congress voting on it? Um, earth to Congress, that is not your country.

1) The US has as many corrupt politicians, probably as many rigged elections as any other country
2) If the same thing were happening here, what do you think would happen? Maybe something like what happened in Vietnam. Peaceful protests turned violent by the police.
3) Today, Americans don’t care enough to get out of bed, put a pair of grey sweat pants on and go out and demonstrate about something they believe in. Instead they turn on Dr. Phil and grab their Teddy Grahams.

I think it’s absolutely wonderful that Iranians are taking this into their own hands. You have a suspicious election, you go out and protest. No, we don’t need to intercede. They can handle this. Not that we have the military resources to go into YET ANOTHER country anyway.

I am tired of the US meddling in other countries affairs. Would we want Canada’s Parliament voting on what was going on in the US? No, of course not. Our war mongering neo conservatists have done enough to get us involved in areas where we shouldn’t be. I just hope that Obama can retain his hands off policy and let the Iranians figure this out for themselves.

Random thoughts and pictures

2009-06-22T17:00:00.001-07:00

Someone build me an ark, the rain won't stop. My corn isn't sprouting. Jon's Honda died. Bah!

But Jon ran in another 5K and bettered his time by 2 minutes. And that having poison ivy and being violently ill a day before the rain. Good for him. I celebrated by eating crepes with him at the Merry Table Creperie on Wharf Street in Portland (yum).

That's him, looking like he could die. I don't blame him. I was just sitting there in the rain and I felt like crap.

Here's my writing desk. This is where I drink martini after martini, agonize about my plot, and get no real writing done.

My verdict on the duck eggs... : (~ (that's me vomiting.)

Because it's all about the food

2009-06-17T16:25:00.001-07:00

We picked up week 3 of food from our CSA last night. We got more spinach, more lettuce, turnips, and beet greens. They had radishes, but I already had 2 bunches left from week 1 and 2, so I passed on them. We also picked up a dozen duck eggs for $6. I even saw the ducks that laid them. What's that I hear? Someone saying "duck eggs, eh? hmmm..." Ok, so I'm a little bit skeptical too and perhaps just a fraction of a percent maybe a little grossed out, but hey, you only live once. Apparently they are quite high in protein, which is good since I'm basically living on lettuce and martinis right now.

Here's a photo. They're actually quite beautiful.

And to try to put a dent into my radish stash, I made Larisa's Radish and Romaine on Crusty Italian Bread. The romaine is from my badly neglected lettuce bed, where the lettuce is now the size of Romania. I spread the bread (I used Hannaford Rosemary Boule, which is rilly rilly good), with lots of butter, then sliced up some radishes... some big some small some red some white, then slapped on some romaine, a little more (ok a lot more) butter and voila! Tasty sandwich. It actually was really good.

I also made these cookies for a baby shower. Aren't they cute? You just melt some chocolate chips in the microwave then dip oreos in it, then put a Teddy Graham on top.

I think that's all the food news, other than to report I got a great deal on Ben & Jerry's at Hannaford last week. $1.99, limit of 4. I've already gone through a pint of mint chocolate cookie and a pint of pistachio pistachio. I'm starting to wonder if maybe it's NOT the lettuce that is making me gain weight. Maybe it's the radishes.

An update

2009-06-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

So I've been really busy being stressed out at work, reading books, preparing for piano recitals, trying to eat a ton of lettuce each day. So here are some pictures to make up for my lack of writing.

Here's me at my absolutely disastrous piano recital where I managed to forget a song that I have been working on for 14 months and could literally play in my sleep. Oh well! Who needs pride anyway? At least I made the rest of the kids (I was the only adult) who had minor flubs feel better about themselves. And hey, my hair looked good so all wasn't lost.

And to prove I have absolutely no pride whatsoever, I'll post a hideous picture of me at an LL Bean moonlight kayaking trip. This was before the sun set obviously, on a very very windy, choppy night in casco bay. We had a tandem kayak and as you can see Jon is looking very dashing and composed as I get walloped in the face by ocean spray. It's cool... I'm a tough chick.

And here is a picture of our first bounty from our CSA. Between their greens and the lettuce I'm growing in my raised beds, it's a miracle I haven't turned into a leaf of lettuce. In fact, I manage to be gaining weight. Not sure how that's possible. It must be something about turning 35.

Vegetable Garden Is In!

2009-05-31T15:41:00.001-07:00

We finally got the vegetable garden in. We planted 6 Brandywine heirloom tomatoes, 6 roma tomatoes, 6 butternut squashes, 3 spaghetti squashes and 2 types of corn (from seed).

I spent a $31 on plants and $30 for manure. I'll have to keep track this year to see if I come out ahead or not. I don't really care either way since nothing beats grabbing fresh food right from your own garden.

Blue flags are blooming and my garden irises are startign to bloom too.

Not sure if I already posted a picture of this, but stage 1 of my brick edging project is complete!

Check out my new blog

2009-05-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

http://mastersomething.blogspot.com/

Because I know you can't get enough of me!

Oh honey...

2009-05-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Jon got a honey connection at work and we scored some comb honey, beeswax and all. I toasted an english muffin and just spread it on. Pretty tasty and just cool to look at too. I'm considering getting some bees of my own next year as part of my "preparing the apocalypse" plans.

The lilacs are in full bloom and smell fabulous. The two I bought last year are small and didn't bloom this year, so I snagged one from the neighbors. Don't tell!

And to continue my theme of ending a post with a cat saying something funny.....

Thomas says "Kpow!"

Crocheted cupcakes, cellulite cream, and dumpster diving

2009-05-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, it was quite a weekend! My birthday is still 5 days away and yet I've already received many great gifts, including:

This awesome crocheted cupcake...

Cellulite cream. I won't post a photo because you can imagine for yourself how awesome that is...

Plus some cool earrings and a Borders gift card, with which I bought so many new books that I couldn't carry them all home.

Also on my Memorial Day trip to Virginia....

I met my new nephew Colin.

And I went dumpster diving with Samara. I was able to snag this Milk of Magnesia bottle. I just googled it and it is worth anywhere from $5-$10! Not bad for my first time.

Oh yeah... and Margie says "Mwah!"

Better Late Than Never

2009-05-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

The fact that I've turned into a full-time couch potato (actually more like a desk chair potato), that hasn't stopped Jon from reaching his fitness goals. He's now an official "runner" since he ran his first road race in the Mother's Day Sea Dog 5K. I went to cheer him on. There were over 2,000 people in the race and it started outside of the minor league baseball stadium in Portland, Hadlock Field, and ended inside the stadium itself. Here's some photos:

"Before"

Festive drummers

And they're off...

Look for the vague figure in black beneath the Hood sign...

Pale head crossing the finish line...in under 30 minutes!! Not bad for a 5K virgin.

But now on to more important matters, like the Argentinian Malbec I picked up after a particularly trying Friday:

Yum. Red wine makes it all better, doesn't it?

Quebecois Sugar Pie

2009-05-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

I love Quebec City. It's one of my favorite places in the whole world. The people are wonderful, the scenery is amazing, and the food is absolutely fabulous. Best of all is the Quebecois Sugar Pie (Tarte au sucre). I've looked high and low for a sugar pie recipe but I've never found one that sounded right and I've never attempted actually making one. But tonight, after a very stressful trip to the Brunswick Hannaford (I can't handle that big city shopping...way too many people), I picked up my free copy of Fresh magazine and lo and behold, on page 25 is a recipe for Tarte Au Sucre, translated as "Maple Syrup Pie." I question this translation since even though I don't know French, I know "sucre" means "sugar."

Anyhow, I was pretty excited. I would share the recipe with you, but that would violate copyright law, so just email me and I'll send it to you. But first, you should let me try it and I'll let you know if it tastes authentic. I always assumed it was made with maple sugar, but this recipe calls for maple syrup and light brown sugar. I don't know if that is the authentic way to do it or not. Then there are eggs and heavy cream, a little floru, salt, and an egg yolk. (do you think I just broke a law by telling all that?)

In the garden, everything is popping up. I have a gorgeous red trillium blooming and daffodils everywhere. I have a sickly bleeding heart that has never looked well but insists on comign back year after year and looking pathetic. Tons of other things are leafing out...roses, barberries, daylillies, lily of the valleys, lupines...my weed garden is full of weeds of the intentional and unintentional variety. Some photos:

Mama Daffodil and the kids

Pink Charm daffodils. These are expensive ones from Brech's. If I could die from something being too precious, these would do it for me. SO CUTE! AAHHH!

Red trillium. Wow!!! I don't even remember where I got this from. I may have dug this out from out back of the trailer we lived in years ago. Or maybe I bought it from the B-ham plant sale. Can't remember...but just... wow!!

China Girl holly I mentioned before. Yuk. Should I chuck it or what?

I found some gorgeous azaleas or rhodos (can't remember) called Blue Barons at Home Depot. They are stunning. I think I'll buy them for the front bed to replace the PJM rhodos I plan on ripping out. The problem with my rhodos is that I haven't covered them in the winter and they've been completely whipped on by the snow and ice. I pruned 2 of them drastically last year and now they just look stupid. They are also in the way of the water spigot, so I'm trying to formulate a better watering situation. I may buy 2 blue barons to replace the 3 PJMs. Or just 1 and then some low growing stuff to put by the spigot. I dunno. Tomorrow if it doesn't rain I plan to continue with my brick project, despite the fact that some varmint dug up all the sand.

Looking for signs...

2009-04-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

What I really wanted to post about tonight was 1) My "pink charm" daffodils, which are the cutest darn things ever and are now prolifically blooming in my front yard and 2) My sick China Girl Holly, which I think has winter burn or something and I wanted Mom to tell me what it is (brown leaves...looks like it's dying), but, alas, the battery on my camera is dead and needs recharging, so I must look elsewhere for posting ideas.

So... I'm reading this book called "The Power of Coincidence: How Life Tells You What You Need to Know." I'm really into this whole synchronicity thing. Too many meaningful things in my life have happened by chance and coincidence. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. So lately I've been looking for signs that I'm on the right path in various aspects of my life. I'm getting clued in to my universe and I'm looking everywhere for signs. So I thought I'd share some of my favorite places to look for clues.

1. Your horoscope (duh)
2. License plates...they can tell you a lot
3. Signs in front of churches...I like the vague ones you can read any meaning into

Well, those are my top 3. I'm keeping my eyes open. Lately I've had synchronicitous moments regarding mushrooms and cleaning crews. What does it all mean? I don't know yet, but I will let you know when I figure it out.

What a spring!

2009-04-26T13:18:00.001-07:00

Spring this year has been so nice! We haven't had snow since mid-March and I feel like we're getting started with everything sooner than usual. I've got my raised bed in, I've got my brick project started, and today we went out in the kayaks for the first time. We brought our wetsuits but with temps in the high 70s, we didn't need them.

The plan was to put in at the launch site in Brunswick and paddle down the Androscoggin to Merrymeeting Bay, then up the Cathance to the launch site in B-ham, where we left a second vehicle. I liked the idea of a one-way trip, but unfortunately it didn't quite work out.

Here's us starting out.

This is a picture of Jon being a total drag-ass. My god, let's get this show on the road already!

Here's Jon with ducks flying over him.

We stopped for lunch at Mustard Island, which was a little less than halfway there. At that point, Jon realized that he left the keys to the truck in B-ham in the glove compartment of my car in Brunswick. Whoopsie. So we turned around and paddled against the current, but it wasn't a big deal. The wind was at our backs and the tide was high. It took about twice as long to get back but the sun came out so it was actually nicer on the way back.

hmm... enjoying that Veggie Italian from the B-ham country store.

This was an inlet just past Cow Island. It was a nice respite from the wind and full of ducks. Very nice.

So our first kayak adventure of the year was about a 4 hour adventure. I'm fairly certain I won't be able to move tomorrow. To recover, Jon decided to go for a jog (!?!?) and I'm enjoying a glass of Bogle Petite Syrah (because clearly I'm the sane one). I'd like to get out in the garden and do the million things that need to be done (weeding, fixing my trellis, planting more crooked bricks, mulching, etc. etc.) but tomorrow is already Monday so I'm just going to relax. Cheers!

Happiness is...

2009-04-25T18:19:00.001-07:00

..digging your flip flops out of the closet

...on an absolutely perfect Maine spring day...

... and finding a good garden project to work on.

This is my front yard.

I did a lot of work over the last several years of weeding the front "yard" area, planting periwinkle, mulching, and trying to keep it weed free. The biggest problem is that even though I use an edging tool to edge it a few times a year, there's a lot of "weed creep," as I like to call it. Without constant diligence, the clover creeps over into this area. So, I thought the best solution would be to build an inlaid brick barrier between the yard area and the "lawn" (otherwise known as mowed down weeds).

I started with 20 bricks, 2 bags of sand, and a new trenching shovel (love it!)

I dug a trench, pulled out the sod, laid down some sand, and tried to make the bricks straight. The first 5 or so turned out ok, but once I watered it down, it looked like a mouth full of crooked teeth. I think I'll have to dig them out tomorrow and reset them until they are somewhat straight.

Oh well.. it wasn't hard, it didn't take long, and once I get it done to my satisfaction I think it will be great. I need to buy about 40 more bricks to finish this area and then I want to go all along the rose garden, then do a brick walkway to the "weed garden" and then eventually to my future herb garden. I have big plans.

For this year, I've given up my plans for the field stone patio and have instead decided to buy a trailer to hitch up to the scoobaru. That way I can get mulch and compost and manure at will without having to borrow the father-in-law's truck. I may also give up my plan for the herb garden this year and focus on keeping the garden I have in order.

But tomorrow we're going off on our first kayaking adventure of the year so I may not fit any gardening in. It's only April 25 and there's already tons of things to be doing in the yard. Acckkkk! +

The gardening year begins..

2009-04-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day in B-ham today...high 60s and I was outside working in a short sleeve shirt.

I got my raised bed set up and planted with spinach, romaine, and red leaf lettuce

I also planted some pansies in my window boxes and in some planters on the front stoop

And I made potato, parsnip, and onion latkes with our first batch of tubers from our CSA. They were good but I can feel my arteries clogging already.