No rest for the hardworking

As I mentioned yesterday, Jeremy and I went to Oregon last week. We stayed with my mom for 4 days and she had an incredible list of things she wanted help with. She just moved in October and it takes awhile to get a house set up.

But perhaps more importantly, she had outside projects to do so she could start putting in her garden. Two things stood in her way. One, this gazebo:



and two, this line of tall arborvitae tree and a 6 foot high chain link fence:



My mom had started clipping the trees a bit, but that's all she had gotten to.

Jeremy got to work right away taking the shingles off the roof. (Hey! haven't we done this before??)


I clipped some more of the trees and got the first part of the fence down.


Jeremy got most of the roof off and I started dismantling the walls. (Surprise! There's a hot tub in there. A friend of my mom's is taking it away.)


Then Jeremy came over to help me with the tree project. Nothing like a little chainsaw action.


Then the roof came all the way off.


And the rest of the walls and most of everything else.


We finished taking down the trees and chopping them up. Jeremy also had to take down another tree in the front corner and a line of boxwood hedge next to the drive. All just to get that hot tub out of the yard! Actually, mostly because my mom doesn't want anything around that isn't bearing food or is shading garden areas.


We made an incredible pile of salvaged wood from the gazebo and wood from the trees (which she'll burn someday)


We also took down a big rickety grape arbor and I chopped up piles and piles of dead grape vines. We're pretty happy with all the work we were able to get done - especially because of the weather. It was supposed to rain the entire time, but I think it ended up only sprinkling a little bit.

Christmas, part III

Yes, it's my last Christmas post. Last week Jeremy and I went to Oregon to spend some time with my family. We had a Christmas exchange on Sunday when my brother and Grandpa were around. We also gave gifts to my brother for his birthday. And, we did a ton of work for my mom. She just bought a house in Salem and is attempting to turn it into her own urban farm. More on that later.

I just wanted to show the other gifts that I made for Christmas.

For my niece Amaya I made a little quilt that was called "Baby Biscuits" in the book I found it in. You make all these pillows and sew them together.







Here she is enjoying her bell toy more than the blanket - but I'm sure someday she'll notice it and like it. =)


I made a quilt for my sister too. I've made one for my younger sister and brother and a couple for my niece. I've been meaning to make this one for years and I finally got around to it. (I took it to Kansas for Christmas and, with a little bit of help from others, it was quilted in 12 days!)






My little sister got this wristlet (as they're calling them) and a book by my friend Peggy Parsons.


I made these hot pads for my grandpa. They're based on the classic Danish hearts, but I made them in blue since red seemed kind of girly for my g-pa. He liked them.


I made fleece pajama pants for my brother and brother-in-law and a bag for my mom - but I forgot to take pictures of them!

My little sister made me an awesome bathrobe and pajama pants. I was pretty surprised. I've been making pajama pants (and a robe once) for the guys in my family (and my sister once) for years. Maybe 4 or 5 years. This is the first time someone made me something so that was really cool.

So, Christmas is over for another year...but I'm already planning and thinking about gifts for next year. You have to start early when you make things!

Freezer challenge: bacon, corn, chipotle peppers, chicken stock!

Okay, it took us half an hour of looking at these photos and discussing things to figure out what on earth we had made with these ingredients. But then we finally remembered (and we only made it a week and a half ago!). Jeremy found a recipe for Cheddar Corn Chowder. It originally came from The Barefoot Contessa cookbook, was adapted by some blogger over at Pink Parsley, and then picked up by Saveur magazine (which is where Jeremy found it).

Jeremy of course adapted it yet again!

Cheddar Corn Chowder
(adapted from Pink Parsley, who adapted from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa cookbook)

• 2 ounces bacon, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon tumeric
• 2 1/4 cups chicken stock
• 2 1/2 cups creamed corn (or whole kernel corn)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 lb sharp white cheddar, grated
• 2-3 tbsp roasted chipotle/pablano pepper paste
• 1 tablespoon corn meal

Cook the bacon in a large stockpot over medium-high heat until crispy, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon and transfer it to a paper-towel lined plate. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and butter to the fat. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the corn and cook, stirring frequently, 3-5 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add the heavy cream then use a blender or food processor to blend small batches of the chowder to break up the corn (only puree about half to 2/3 of the soup).

Allow to simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cheese, chipotle peppers, and cornmeal. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. If it is too spicy, add more heavy cream or chicken stock. Allow to cook an additional 5 minutes.

Serve hot with garnishes of bacon and extra cheddar.


The amounts are kind of funny because Jeremy halved the original recipe. In fact, he usually uses recipes as general guides and adds/deletes things as he feels led. So I'm not sure if you made this dish with these amounts that it would turn out the same way! But in any case it was very tasty. So much so, that we ate all of it before taking a picture of the final chowder!

And we were very proud of it because of how many freezer/pantry/refrigerator items it used: bacon, onions, chicken stock, corn, and those hot peppers. Even the cornmeal is stored in our fridge!

Freezer challenge: roasted red bell peppers

Okay, so the bell peppers were the only thing to come out of the freezer, but this dish also included kohlrabi which we found languishing in the back recesses of the fridge. So, it kind of counts.

This is based on the tofu scramble which Jeremy learned about when he worked at the Seward Cafe.

We had a half pound of tofu left over from another dish so Jeremy cubed that and marinated it in a mix of tamari, fish sauce, and sesame oil (for 2 or 3 hours). He peeled and sliced up the kohlrabi and steamed it till it was cooked. We don't have a wok so Jeremy did his best in our copper frying pan. He browned/cooked each of the vegetables in the frying pan on their own, then set them aside, and he did that with the tofu too. (Jeremy is now telling me that you don't want the vegetables & tofu in the pan at the same time because then the pan is cooled too much and there wouldn't be a good sear on everything. So, batches.)

Once everything was seared/browned/cooked, he threw it all into the pan to warm up for a minute and poured in the marinade to make a bit of a sauce. Then it was served over rice. Holy cow. This was very tasty!

Freezer challenge: strawberries

We have a lot of strawberries in our freezer. From 2008! We didn't get through them in 2009 (we didn't even freeze a new batch) and we're still eating them. In fact, our freezer kind of smells like strawberries.

I find that strawberries are better fresh, not frozen, and I don't really like them in most baked dishes. They just turn into giant, wet, slimy, blobs inside muffins or scones.

But, they make excellent and very tasty smoothies.



Jeremy makes our strawberry smoothies with strawberries, heavy cream, vanilla, maple syrup, and one egg (from our chickens of course). He kind of throws things in and blends until the consistency is right - so I don't have much of a recipe.

Mmmmm, tasty!

Freezer challenge: tomatoes, kale, bell peppers

What do tomatoes, bell peppers, and kale all have in common? They all live in our freezer!

For the next couple days I'll update everyone on our freezer challenge progress.

First is Jeremy's take on vegetarian lasagna. Jeremy' isn't a big pasta fan so I think this only had two layers of lasagna noodles. He made his own red sauce with our frozen tomatoes and frozen roasted bell peppers, and some of our onions and garlic that have been stashed away. The green layer is a mix of ricotta and kale from the freezer, blended up in the food processor. Then of course lots of mozzarella sprinkled over the top.



Voila! Vegetarian Lasagna (obviously so good it didn't need a side).

Goal setting

When you're working on a big project like this house, it's helpful to set goals. You have to take things in smaller pieces and accomplish one thing at a time. Otherwise it is too overwhelming.

A week ago Jeremy started putting the wood paneling up on the ceilings. A week later, we've almost made our goal of getting the ceiling up by the end of the weekend. (There are only a couple more boards to put up to finish it.)

Of course, our other goals last week were to get the ceiling done by Friday. Then to get it done Saturday, then to get it done by the end of the weekend. So now I'm pretty sure it will get done today! Flexible goals are important.

So here's Jeremy finishing the ceiling on the bedroom side:



And then I painted the whole thing...


...while Jeremy got to work on the study side...


Then he finished that side and I painted it too


Back to the bedroom side, and Jeremy is just finishing up with that little ceiling part at the front of the house.


We got an idea from the wood guy about cutting an angle off the pieces of wood when we had to line them up. This makes it match more with the tongue-and-groove style. It's an extra cut to make, but it looks really good. Here's a detail shot - the horizontal groove is what the wood came looking like. The vertical groove is what Jeremy cut for where those two pieces of wood met.


Hopefully today Jeremy will start working on the west wall, but we've only got a couple days to work on that because we're heading to Oregon for Christmas with my family. When we get back next week there will only be a couple weeks before Jeremy gets started on mushrooms. And then we've got to start planting seeds for the garden. It's going to be even busier around here - if that's possible!