Foggy blanket and ocean mist

A reflection piece. Perhaps because I had a very vivid dream of my hometown last night. In it, I had gone back to the high school and was shocked and disheartened by the decrepit buildings and overgrown weeds. I was saddened knowing that when I lived there, it was a source of pride to tell people that I had grown up in this picturesque and quaint little coastal village in Northern California. 

All time time I would be told just how lucky I was to be there. And at the time, while I knew it was beautiful, I never fully grasped just how special it was. Ask anyone who spent any part of their childhood there. It was just an extraordinary sort of place.

This morning, in an effort to relieve my anxiety of my dwindling town, I spent a few minutes googling Mendocino trying to find recent pictures; anything to prove to myself that it was as beautiful as ever. In my most recent visit (which I am embarrassed to say has been over three years), I couldn't wait to show my then boyfriend (now husband) all of my old stomping grounds. I wanted to take him to the bakery where my friends and I would get our morning tea and bagel as well as show him the cute little jewelry store where I worked for a summer. I wanted to show him the "fancy" tourist restaurants that none of us locals could afford to eat at, but where we all knew at least half of the staff. I wanted to brag and show him the view of my high school and the little French shop where my mom worked as a bookkeeper for years and years....All of these things I was so excited to show him. And you know what? Only one was not as I remembered. My beloved bakery had changed hands and while it was similar, it wasn't quite the same. However, one thing in all wasn't too shabby.

I remember excitedly pointing out the spots on Lansing Street that they had shut down during the making of The Majestic and how cool it had been that Jim Carey was in our town. In fact, he paid a visit to the little store my mom worked at and did quite a bit of shopping; unfortunately, mom wasn't at work that day :(. 

Top of Lansing Street looking down into "down town". 

Almost an exact replica of the view of town from my old high school. 

One of our favorite things to tell visitors was that it was absolutely normal to see Christopher Lloyd walk his dog around the football field and track at the high school. Every day. His house was just down the block. So many neat little things that made our town special and unique.

Mendocino holds a special place in my heart. To me, no matter where I live, it will always be home. The crash of waves and damp coolness of the fog will always bring me comfort. I have a fear of enclosed tight spaces, however the envelopment of fog all around me has never once made me feel uncomfortable. To me, instead, it is like a reassuring blanket. It quiets everything around you and allows for time to think. To this day, seeing fog instantly takes me back to happy memories where all is safe and good in the world. 

Mendocino evening. This image is not my own. 

Movin' on up!

The dogs are moving up. Seriously. A mere three months ago, they had a tiny dog yard up in Grass Valley. Enter: Loma Rica House. Suddenly they find themselves with an acre of play-space. Yippee! The downside being that now they can get to full speed and both seem to be suffering (never at the same time of course) from hip/foot pain. This is what happens when you barrel roll over the top of your four legged friend. This past weekend, hubs and I decided to shift gears with our layout. Originally, we had planned that we wanted to have a huge garden right next to the barn. After allowing our chickens to scratch in that area for the past few weeks, we have discovered that the previous owners must have used part of that section of the yard as dumping grounds. We have unearthed cans and pieces of metal galore. Gross. NOT what I want to grow my veggies in.

Ponder, ponder, ponder....Ah-ha! Let's flip flop the placement of some of Chad's project trucks and the garden...Trucks don't care if they are sitting on top of metal. In fact, they like it! The long and short of it is that we decided to extend our yard (ie dog yard) quite a bit to include placement of the trucks. My garden will now be able to be viewed from the kitchen and the back deck which in all honesty, is much better.

Looking from current yard to new yard. Just removed the gate

Remainder of the old fence used to fix the fence in the next picture

Recycle, reduce, reuse! Fencing repaired with pieces from other fencing which was taken down

Other side of new dog yard looking back towards the barn and the house. Hubs is setting up sprinklers so we can get it nice and green :) 

 It was a long day, wrestling with fence boards, maneuvering barbed wire and man-handling the hog panels....but it's done! While I didn't actually do much (see, I can be honest), I did stay out with the boys all days and document as well as help carry things. I even attacked some fence boards with a drill (eh-hem). Earning my keep ;).

After being in the sun, we were ravenous and nothing sounded better than burgers. Unfortunately, I had no hamburger buns AND the buns I had made and frozen a few weeks ago were long gone. I had found a recipe online for self-proclaimed "40 minute hamburger buns" and figured I may as well try them out. The verdict? Pretty good....A little heavier than I would have liked, but good flavor. I will try them again and experiment with adding different things (such as whole wheat flour though I know that will increase the weight of them...). Work in progress.

End of a nice work day...Homemade hamburger buns to go with Meatball Burgers and Spicy Green Chili Chicken Burgers. Yum!

I am super excited to start adding fruit trees down in that dog yard along the fence line (added privacy AND food. Score!). We checked out the local nursery and found great options. Time to start saving up.

Back to the grindstone. Heading to the store after work today....SO excited about the huge meat sale Raley's is having (what does that say about me???). It's the little things, right? Stocking up makes me happy.

Peace Out :)

Calm before the storm

I have taken to writing my blog entries in the morning before work. I have found it just doesn't get done if I try and complete them at home; seems there are always about a million other things I should be doing. I greatly enjoy my few minutes before my co-workers get here where I can quietly catch up on emails and take a few minutes to reflect. This week is especially difficult for me because we are unveiling a brand new student information system to the school sites and I am responsible for training and implementing it. The first day of school was this past Monday and things seemed to roll out well. However, the real challenges are still ahead of me. Once I get everyone to at least grasp the whole concept, I should be in a better place. Until then, I feel like I'm being pulled in 37 different directions with expectations from everyone; no one wants to believe there could be another site that is as important as theirs. Lucky for them, they only have to worry about their one site. Me? I have 18 to be concerned about.

I'm going to allow myself to wander for a few minutes. Call it an escape if you will. Or, an update to how my weekend went and what happened around here!

First, we got some renters for our pasture. YAY! Finally we're not the weirdos down the road with 14+ empty acres. Our neighbor across the street has two mules and a horse that needed some new terrain and guess who just happened to have availability? The other exciting thing is that in September when he picks up his cows, he's dropping about a dozen or so onto our property. DOUBLE YAY! We will look like we belong out in the country!

Walking our new guests to their abode

Barry, who is a little intimidated by his size, feeding ER an apple

Our horse buddy, Dandy 

Right at home doing his job...Eat down the grass!

 We have greatly enjoyed having the animals on the property. Each night we go out and feed them the apples that have fallen from the trees. They were especially thrilled when we decided to give them a few carrots from the fridge. Such silly creatures. Their first day, they started galloping all around the perimeter of the pasture; just crazy circles! They are like big dogs. I'm told by hubs and boys that when they go out to work on irrigation, they are followed closely. I guess Chad had quite a parade going when he was on the tractor; turns out the three big guys wanted to be where ever he was. Silly.

View out my kitchen window

 I just love my blue glass. Wanted to share it with you. That's all.

Homemade Chicken Stock

 Sunday morning I made my first batch of homemade chicken stock. YUM! Smelled amazing. Just like fall (which is my ultimate goal ALWAYS). After simmering for several hours, I strained the stock and cooled and put in gallon freezer bags. And now I have three gallons of homemade stock. On top of that, I went through and pulled off all the meat and shredded it (I used bone in chicken breasts). Who has 5 quart bags in the freezer full of yummy shredded chicken? This girl!

PW Chicken Tacos. A mountain of them

 My family has become accustomed to PW (Pioneer Woman) tacos. They are amazing. Not low fat. But so good. This is a shot of them getting ready to be dressed at the table with our garnishes (I would have killed for some fresh avocado). You can find her recipe here.

Gingerbread topped with lightly sweetened cinnamon whipped cream

Last, but certainly not least, I decided I was going to FORCE Fall to make an entrance at my house. While the chicken stock was simmering, I got inspired to find a yummy spice recipe. I settled on Williams Sonoma Gingerbread (see recipe here...this isn't the exact recipe, but I couldn't find the one from my cookbook at home. Close enough). Oh-Em-Gee. I'm a huge lover of spice and molasses so this was right up my ally. Throw in that whipped cream and it was simply divine. Definitely a keeper.

So I suppose the time is up for my little detour from the real world. Back into student information systems. This weekend I'm hoping to attack freezer cooking, but we'll see. Need time to come up with what exactly I want to plan for.

Peace Out :)

Internet...Can't live with it, can't live without it

My disappearing act was not by choice. On Wednesday afternoon, I came home and wanted to check something on my beloved Pinterest only to find that the stupid internet wouldn't connect. Instead, I was given a message instructing me to contact my provider. So, with a huge sigh, I relented and called them, knowing this was going to be a hassle.

Two hours later, I was still on the phone with them, being juggled back and forth (by that time, I had talked to EIGHT separate people). Mind you, frustration was at it's limit. Here's how the conversations went:

Networking Tech (henceforth known as NT): Ma'am, is the light green now?
Me: No, it's still red.
NT: (pause)...I see it's still red. Can you please disconnect the black power cord and wait fifteen seconds then plug it back in.
Me: (eye roll) Ok, did you do something different? This didn't work the last four times we tried it.
NT: Is it working now?
Me: Don't you want me to wait fifteen seconds? Ok, I'll plug it back in...Nope, still blinking.
NT: I see there is a problem in your area with connect.
Me: (biting tongue) Oh? Well that would certainly explain my lack of internet connection.
* Insert variations of the same scenario for the next fifteen minutes * 
NT: Ok ma'am, I'm going to have you unplug your modem and wait fifteen minutes. After that, plug it in and try to surf. If it doesn't work, unplug it and wait three hours then try again. If you still can't connect, call us back.
Me: Ha. Ya. Ok. Thanks a lot. Click. 

That was the advice I got. Seriously. So of course it didn't work three hours later and I was absolutely not ready to give up the rest of my evening to be on the phone with them. So I tried again the next day after returning home from work. This time, I was only on the phone for 45 minutes. I told the new tech was the previous tech had told me in terms of troubleshooting. He said that was the worst advice he had ever heard (finally!!). After a short few tests, he decided a tech would need to come out. Cool. Yes, bring on the big guns! But no! Only available on Saturday or Tuesday. And are you ready for this? On Saturday, they need a window of 8am to 8pm. A twelve hour window??? That is just crazy talk.

Needless to say, the tech did come out. Turns out it WASN'T our fault and that some sort of animal had eaten through the wires. YAY! No extra charges for us! And, now our internet works better than it did before.

Long story short, by the time I actually got internet back, the boys were so starved to watch Firefly on Netflix that my computer was hijacked and not seen again until this morning when I picked it up off the table and headed to work.

But, I did have a productive-ish weekend around the house. Stay tuned for photos. Let's just say new renters for the pasture and a taste of fall in the air (at least in my kitchen).

Peace Out :)

Pile o' Corn Dogs and Fancy-Pants Potatoes

Food should be fun. At least, in my way of thinking. I'm all about trying to cut calories, eat heart healthy and be conscious of my fat intake. However, there are some things you just can't skimp on. And fun, in this instance, comes in the form of corn dog bites. If you are looking for a whimsical, blue-day-fighting, make you revert to childhood, comfort food, this is your new favorite. Paired with my Fancy-Pants Potatoes...and a huge Chef Salad, not too shabby a meal! 

Pile o' Corn Dogs

Yet another picture.... 

Fancy-Pants Potatoes

See the yummy toasted tops?

.

The genius of this meal (if I do says so myself), was that I made tons of extras so now I have the potatoes prepared and frozen individually so that all I have to do is pull a few out, thaw and toast up again. Same thought process with the corn dogs. Around our house, there are nights when I don't want to cook (what???)...we call those Yo-Yo nights (You're on your own). Instead of buying the extremely expensive and less healthy (is there a "more healthy" corn dog?) Foster Farms from the freezer section, now the boys just heat up the ones I already made! Ta-Da! Convenience food at it's best. 

Yes, there was a salad. No, I didn't take pictures. But they were big. I made the boys (hubs included) eat a GIANT salad before they could have their heart attack inducing other dinner. Tricky mama. They were close to full by the time they got to corn dogs and potatoes!! And THAT is how you cut down on the calorie intake :). 

So wrapping up; food should be fun. Food shouldn't be a chore. I think it's important to have the little indulgences every once in a while. No, it's not great for you but neither is ice cream and you don't see me cutting that out! Everything in moderation balanced with solid eating habits is my mantra. 

I thought about posting the recipes I used (I would have to kind of fudge as I don't measure when I cook/bake), but didn't know if a.) anyone is even remotely interested and b.) Don't want anyone to assume that I necessarily know what I'm talking about....this is just how we do it in our home. Feedback please!

Forgot to check my meal calendar before I left for work this morning....so dinner is a surprise! Which reminds me, I never shared a picture of my Family Organization Center. Finally finished it (for the most part). Tonight. (And you can believe me because I've been following through with my promises!).

Peace Out :)

The Barn...and assorted fruit

There really aren't too many pics available on my phone of the property thus far. I mainly haven't had the time to run around outside snapping the pictures. That and it's been so crazy hot, no one in their right mind would spend more than 3 minutes outside by choice. Tops. 

This is not a normal temperature. What does it tell you that I'm looking forward to only being at 101?

 When we closed escrow, we knew there were lots of fruit trees on the property. However, because we were coming off winter and, let's just be honest here, neither Chad or myself are what one would call "tree experts", we patiently waited to see what would come. How lucky were we to have such awesome fruit already there and mature??

One of our few "full sized" plum trees

Teeny, tiny olive on our HUGE olive tree. Really not sure how we're going to get them down. 

One of two heavily producing apple trees

Very old grape vines that are growing along the front fence

Originally, we thought this was our only cherry plum tree. Ya. Right. Maybe the only one within 20 feet from the house. 

You have heard mention of my bee-you-tiful barn. It is adorned with a gorgeous Crape Myrtle and in the spring, there was a wonderful yellow rose bush that was also climbing the fence next to the barn. To the left of this picture is where I will be setting up my garden. In about 10 years. You know, when life slows down. To the right is the biggest patch of rosemary known to man. Which soon will be a much smaller patch. In fact, it will likely be non-existent. Whoever owned this house before us seriously loved their rosemary. It's everywhere. Ev-ery-where. 

Rustic

 Last on the tour today will be the front yard. The picture below was taken just after we finished adding the fencing. That was a hot day too. Of course, that's also when my frame of reference for hot was that it was 102 outside. I'll take 102 right now.

Front yard complete with fencing

We need to add quite a few different fruit trees. We didn't get a picture of our Asian Pear or Apricot tree. Also, there is a Kumquat tree, but we don't know if it's producing as we missed the cycle this year. I'm in the market for more pear trees along with cherry. Wouldn't reject another apricot and/or peach. And pluot. Oh yum, I love me some pluots. And mandarin. And lime. And lemon. That's all. That's not too much, right? Anyone know of a good place to buy trees that aren't tiny? And don't require a second mortgage?

Peace Out :)

I told you I'd post pics!

Pause for effect....Ta-da! I told you I'd get them one way or another. Now, I must beg for forgiveness as the quality is not what one would consider wonderful; the words sub-par or mediocre come to mind. But, that's what you get when you are using a camera on your phone. I have yet to set up my point and shoot camera with this computer. Somehow feels so daunting a task. That or I'm lazy. That is certainly an option as well.

Here go my pics. Be excited.

Really.

Homemade English Muffins. That's right....Cooking on the cast iron

 English Muffins were first on my list of things to attempt. Of course, I was absolutely unwilling to go to all that effort and make a ton if they weren't any good. Silly me. They were amazing. Now I have to make eleventy-billion (yes, that's a LOT) and freeze them. However, I will make them smaller next go around. Because they are homemade, they were a little denser than the store bought ones and therefore, more filling. Which is good. Oh, and they made awesome individual pizzas.

YUM! Cooked English Muffins!

Mmmmm....see how pretty they are all brown and crispy?

Soft crusted sandwich bread. Suuuuper yummy

Sandwich bread is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to save money. Buying bread can get expensive unless you want to eat that white sponge cheap bread. And that is really not even bread. This is way better. And can be made as white, wheat or buttermilk. Or multi-grain. Or honey-wheat. Or rye. Or sourdough. You get the picture.

Homemade hamburger buns topped with parmesan and poppy seeds

Made a TON of these and froze the buns before I cooked them. Now all I have to do is pull out the number I need for dinner and let them thaw and rise....Stick them in the oven for about fifteen minutes and voila! Fresh hamburger buns! And, no wasted extra buns. Because I never have 8 people at the house.

Buttermilk biscuits about to head into the oven

I love biscuits. With butter. With honey. Just plain. These were mainly for my work breakfast.

Breakfast pizza! Biscuit crust topped with sausage and cheddar cheese. Excellent quick morning breakfast :)

Going to tweak this recipe. Used turkey sausage in an effort to lighten the calorie load but of course hubs figured it out. Next we will use regular fat-filled sausage. May try pepperjack though. He likes spicy.

Cheeseburger wraps grilled then frozen for lunches

These I am very excited about. The technique is just about as simple as it looks. I took ground beef and browned it. Added salt, pepper, onion, Worcestershire, spicy mustard and ketchup and combined in the pan. Next, grabbed extra large flour tortillas and put a little shredded cheddar cheese in the middle. Topped with a spoonful of the beef mixture and rolled like a burrito. NEXT, I went to the George Foreman and laid those bad-boys down and let them flatten and brown. Portable cheeseburgers! And they reheated beautifully. In fact, Chad has eaten all the extras I put in the freezer. Time to whip up some more!

Chili Colorado Smothered Burritos. OMG. 

This was my baby. My one true love. It was just that amazing. And I don't even really like shredded beef. I found the recipe on Pinterest (of course) and adapted it a little to our family. I believe it called for stew meat or something equivalent, but I had a small roast in the freezer, so I used that instead. I cut it into large chunks and stuck it in the crockpot with a can of enchilada sauce (medium) and a small can of spicy enchilada sauce along with a few beef bouillon cubes. For my family, I added garlic and onion powder (Chad doesn't like "chunks" in his meat...so I disguise everything by using the ground up versions), chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes and a dash of jalepeno/chipotle rub I have in the cabinets. Let that simmer all day, then when I was ready, grabbed HUGE tortillas and took the meat out of the sauce and shredded it. Dolloped some refried black beans on the tortilla, some meat then jack cheese....Rolled, smothered in the enchilada sauce that was still in the crock-pot and added more cheese. Stick in the broiler until bubbly and hot. Add some homemade Mexican rice on the side?? Divine. That's all I have to say about it.

So it does make me a little proud that these were the pics from my crazy cooking weekend I wrote of a few posts back. The pictures are just a little behind, but now you know I was telling the truth. Now that this new-fangled (spelling??) contraption - i.e. phone with camera and computer - are hooked up and speaking to each other, I hope to be more diligent about keeping y'all updated on my goings on. 

Er - Ongoings? 

What I'm doing. There, that works. 

Phew. I'm tired. 

Peace Out :)

The boy is home!

Ah yes, we are complete yet again. We picked Ethan up from the airport last night after being gone for the past two months. Is it possible that he grew a foot while gone? I am rapidly becoming the shortest in the family. I've still got a few inches on him, but I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of his seventh grade year, he passes me up.

We spent much of the night last night pouring over his treasures from his adventures with Papa and Bushia. What a great time he had! All kinds of stories to tell us along with an awesome array of new weapons to add to his collection; he's quite the outdoorsman. As I type, he and Barry are off in the "back 40" trying to determine exactly where they are going to set up camp for their last few days of summer. Since we started looking at this house, all they could talk about was "surviving" in the forest behind the pasture. And seriously, why not? While we aren't permitting a fire, there is PLENTY to keep them occupied. As of late, we have discovered 6 more cherry plum trees scattered throughout the pasture and forest as well as wild grapes and all of the blackberries a person could EVER eat. Of course, they are determined to hunt and catch something. *Shudder*....the very thought creeps me out. Ground squirrel just doesn't have the same appeal as a nice piece of chicken.

In an effort to keep the heat out of the house today (eh-hem....107 degrees, thank you very much),  I cooked our pizza on the grill outside. First time trying this, though I've heard oh so much about it in all of it's trendiness. I understand the thrill now! Although, standing on the deck outside in the heat of the day brings all new meaning to "slaving over a hot stove". Cus I was dying just a little. But it was really good. So I'll look past the sweating and burning of eyebrows. Just kidding. Eyebrows are still intact.

Boys just returned from their trek outside. It would appear that the camp spot has been determined and the plan is set for the morning. They are equipped with top ramen (which they will eat raw), jerky, granola bars, water and soup which they plan to heat in the house then stick in thermoses to eat at a later date. Never mind that fact that we are expecting triple digits all week. And loads and loads of fruit. ALLLLL they can pick. Hiking to and from the camp spot in this heat has left them smelling...er - divine. I can only imagine after two or three days. Ay yi yi!

Until then....

Peace out.

Sadness

....Not at anyone other than me. And not really in a totally serious sense. Just annoyed that no matter what my intentions are, I can't seem to remember to blog every day (or even every other...). That weekend of excessive food was fairly productive...working on trying to get my instagram pics up and going. Did a lot of experimentation with different breads....mainly because I like baking but also because I had most of the ingredients on hand and bread seems to be pretty expensive. Tried "the perfect sandwich bread", English Muffins and Hamburger buns. Also, threw in some Chili Colorado Burritos, buttermilk biscuits (frozen for eating quick breakfasts), breakfast pizza (biscuit, sausage and cheese) and Hamburger Wraps. YUM! Freezer is nicely stocked and now I have a few recipes I really like and will use again....For example, the English Muffins. I made only a small batch because I wasn't sure how they would turn out. Now I know!

Working on my family organization center (I just now dubbed it that). Almost finished creating my meal choices as well as chore lists, white board and mail center. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Peace out :)