Coconut, Christmas, Cows

Hiya folks. I hope everyone is doing fine and returning to normalcy after Christmas craziness and the fact that 16 tons of snow were just dumped on every acre of land from sea to shining sea. We had a mellow holiday here in Cali. We opened gifts live over speaker phone with my family in Illinois and then cooked a glutinous dinner and pigged out. It was an easy relaxed day.

I whipped out a batch of ambrosia macaroons the other night. It was my first try at making macaroons and it was so much easier than I had guessed it would be. I am a hard core macaroon junkie and always assumed that they would be a tough cookie to crack in a home kitchen. I was ever so wrong. You can kick out a batch without even knowing what the heck you are doin'. The hardest part is the waiting.... waiting for them to cool and set up in the fridge. Here are my pics from the baking seesion and the recipe follows taken from epicurious.com.

Before baking...


and after...

Ingredients and Preperation

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel
• 3 large eggs
• 24 ounces sweetened flaked coconut (about 6 cups firmly packed)
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Line 3 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar and salt; beat until blended. Beat in orange peel, then eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in coconut. Drop batter onto sheets by tablespoonfuls, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake macaroons, 1 sheet at a time, until golden on bottom and browned in spots, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely on sheets.

Using fork, drizzle chocolate over macaroons. Chill on sheets until chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes.

I took advantage of my friend Brook's kitchen to bake in since they were away for Christmas. The space we have in the trailer is obviously not ideal for projects like this. I thrill at the opportunity to spread out over real actual counter space and the ability to use three cookie sheets at once!




I am pretty sure the cattle did not know or care that it was Christmas. It was business as usual for them. Eat grass. Poop. Eat grass. MOOOOOOOOO! Chew your cud. Stand around. Whatever. They did not get any new Wii games or an iTunes gift card or rainbow striped toe socks. They don't care. They save their money. Smart cows.



We still have no idea what our next move is or what our plan of action for 2009 will shape up to be. We are kicking around several possibilities. Each idea is completely different from the next. It is possible we may head back to New England... or maybe we will become light house keepers on an island in Lake Superior. Or perhaps we will finally allow Rudy to join the circus (his big dream) and Billy and I will escape to South America (my big dream.) Over the next week or so we should shake out the details and figure out what we are gonna do.

Happy New Year to you all. Be safe and don't shoot an eye out with a party popper.

Solid Foods!

Today marked the first day since I got this cold that I have felt like eating anything other than weak brothy soups. Does that not sound appealing? Weak brothy soup equals delicious. Bleh.

So anyway I started the day off with a bowl of kashi which I think shocked my system enormously. Nothing like going from broth for 5 days to consuming 42 grams of fiber in one sitting. We are sticking with the breakfast theme for the day and having biscuits and gravy for dinner. We found a recipe in Vegetarian Times magazine and have been wanting to try it because it uses lentils as a meat substitute. We love making sloppy joes out of lentils so this idea appealed to our tastes as well. Here is the recipe.

Biscuits & Gravy
Serves 8 | 30 minutes or fewer

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup diced carrot (1carrot) 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp rubbed (crumbled) sage
2 1/2 cups low-fat milk
1/2 cup Annie’s Naturals Cowgirl Ranch Dressing
8 whole-grain biscuits or 4 English muffins

1. Bring lentils and 3 cups water to a boil in 2-qt. saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 30 minutes or until just tender. Drain, and set aside.

2. Heat oil over medium-high heat in large skillet. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bell pepper, carrot, and garlic, and cook 5 to 8 minutes more, or until vegetables are tender but not mushy. Stir in flour, black pepper, paprika, mustard, red pepper flakes, and sage; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring after each addition. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, whisking constantly, until gravy comes to a gentle boil. Remove from heat, and stir in ranch dressing and drained lentils.

3. Split biscuits or English muffins. Lightly toast English muffins, if using. Place biscuits on plates, and top with gravy.



The only thing we tweaked was that we added some salt, a few good sized pinches of it and I think the next time I would up the amount of lentils to two cups. Other than that it was really quite good. The gravy is really smoky and has a nice subtle heat to it from the peppers and paprika. Oh and we threw some parsley on top at the end for freshness and color. We used whole wheat english muffins this time but on a more industrious day I would definitely just whip out some fresh biscuits. Of course that adds tremendously to the calories in the dish but what the Hell.

In closing I would like to ask for some help from the internet at large. If you are reading this before the close of business on Christmas Eve do me the favor of throwing a little focused positive energy toward the fact that my family's Christmas gifts are missing in action. I shipped them out via USPS priority mail on the 16th and the box has not arrived on my Mom's doorstep yet. To say that I am pissed off about it does not really come close to covering it. I thought shipping the stuff out with 8 days to arrive at it's destination was sufficient. I would like to pee on the face of the post office. Or at the very least I would like to openly slander them here... Post Office... YOU SUCK. I will only take it back if the box shows up on Mom's front porch tomorrow morning.

Uhhh, Yuck.

Internet... I am sick. It's a cold or some such thing. It is causing my body and my head to feel like they are made out of toxic play dough laced with slug poop. I am officially on day four of this germy journey.

Since I have been laying about the trailer for three solid days doing nothing but drinking enough tea to sink a battle ship and I don't have any exciting tales to tell I thought I would throw together a post linking to some of my fave blogs and sites. A few of these are already links on my side bar but maybe you have never clicked through to check them out.

First up is Sarah who writes a blog "Yes and Yes." I can't even remember who found who first but she links to me and I link to her. Sarah is an optimist (revisit the title of her blog for direct proof) and is inspiring to read. She loves to make lists and she has a great sense of humor. And she loves cheese. Nothing wrong with that.

If you are in need of a good laugh head over to the LIST OF THE DAY. Allow me to introduce you to the first list I ever stumbled upon... a list that caused me to laugh hard enough to require several tissues to mop up my tears. Click HERE. I think that list will hook you. If it does not then you are never allowed to come to my blog again because the your funny bone is clearly missing or broken.

If you are searching for a perfect gift for your good friend Spock or for my Dad, Think Geek is the perfect place to find something. Last year I got my Dad this shirt from the site...


For your home office where you may be busy writing your own personal blog here is an inspirational poster for you....



If you can't read the text it says...

BLOGGING.
Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

And my personal favorite items they offer on Think Geek are the GIANT MICROBES. You can choose between microbes like Gangrene, The Plague, Malaria, Ebola or even just a simple old stomach ache. Cute!

I have to throw some love to Etsy. I can't do a links post without including a few of my favorite new shops.

Sweetie Pies Delights is a shop that will ship to you (or to a person of your choosing as a gift) freshly baked sweets that are absolutely to die for. They have a huge list to choose from and I would not mind at all working my way through the whole list. Word on the street is that their Red Velvet sandwich cookies are seriously delicious.



You know you are somebody when you can pull off wearing a piece from The Urban Rose shop. This designer's pieces are off the charts cool. She takes vintage jewelry and creates the most fabulous assemblage works I have seen. Example...



And another example...



Like I said... you know you are somebody when you can actually pull off wearing one of these spectacular show pieces. I just love her work. Take a spin through her shop to see what other treasures she has!

I have also really been coveting artist Michelle Ramin's drawing. I love her style and palettes.








I always find myself shooting photos of these very things she has a tendency to draw... the water towers, silos and quaint small town visuals that we sometimes take for granted.

OK. That's it for me. My head is swimming with giant microbes of my very own. I must retreat back to the bed and convalesce.

Donkeys and Dolly

Yeah. Here on the ranch we let the babies handle things. All the ranch hands are toddlers and they wear red velvet. It works out. It's a little like having a crew of Oompa Loompa types running your chocolate factory.



Here you see Taylor explaining a few things to Sassy and Ollie. It probably had something to do with the fact that they tried to trample Rudy yesterday.... I will say that Rudy started it by harassing them. The mules took his attack and turned it right around on him. Serves him right. Rudy has a real problem with controlling his feelings of aggression toward the larger four legged animals on the ranch. We are trying to teach him anger management but so far it is really just pissing him off even more.

I don't have too much to report here. It has been pretty mellow and Billy has been painting while I work on various crafty stuff that has been on the back burner for a long time. I will say this... last night we watched what could possibly be THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE, "Rhinestone." Somehow we sat there and watched it all the way through even though there were moments when I had out of body experiences induced by toxic levels of bad acting and dialogue. The movie has Dolly Parton in it which is what carried me. I have sort of a sick love for Dolly. I remember being mesmerized by her when I was a kid and I suppose the effect has never quite worn off. I don't have a sick love for Sly Stallone and he is also in the film. In fact he just sort of makes me sick. Allow me to shave a few years off your life by offering up this clip from the movie for your possible confusion/revulsion/enjoyment...

If you just made it all the way through that clip then I am both impressed and dismayed. But it is almost like we have just become blood brothers having both seen it and survived. I am sorry I did it to you but I could not bear the weight alone.

Bouchon

A few days ago Billy and I drove up to Yountville which is a small town just up the road from Napa in the heart of wine country. Yountville is known for it's restaurant scene. The famous French Laundry is there among others. We had lunch at Bouchon which is one of the world reknowned Chef Thomas Keller's restaurants. It was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Actually... Billy proclaimed he had the best mussels he has ever eaten in his entire life. That is really saying something because Billy has eaten a ton of mussels and at a lot of legit places in New England. I had the Gnocchi a la Parisienne which was insanely good.


We kept our meal simple and on the cheap... we did not have wine or dessert or any extras. UNTIL... we went next door to the Bouchon Bakery where we bought one of their famous pistachio macarons and a bourbon pecan tart to bring home. People... I am gonna have to drive back up there this week in regard to the pistachio macaron. It is going to be a real problem for me. How dare those people feed these items to the innocent public? I would have been better off had they shot crystal meth directly into my eyeball. I regret that I did not shoot a photo of the unassuming looking little "cookie" before devouring it. It really does not look like anything special. In fact if you were going on looks alone you may think... "Well, there is a bland and boring looking little pastry." Do not be decieved. The macaron is pure evil. It is as perfect as a pastry could ever hope to be. If I do indeed drive back up there (tomorrow) to get a few (hundred) more of them I will share a visual with you.

After lunch we drove around to just site see the area. The landscapes and vineyards are really gorgeous. The mid afternoon sun was not doing me any favors for taking good photos but I did get this surreal looking shot of a vineyard from the side of the road.



We may be the only visitors in the history of Napa to come here for an extended stay and not visit a single winery. It's not that I don't appreciate the concept or the wine or the tasting or the whatever of it all, it's just that we are kind of lame and lazy when it comes to doing stuff like that. Ask anyone who knows us and they will most certainly report that yes... Billy and Bethany are lame and lazy. Socially anyway.

Screeching Halt

So. Sometimes in life things tend to come to a screeching halt. Quite unexpectedly. This is the way I would like to describe the past week of our life and our time in Carmel. It came to a screeching halt. In a nut shell.... I quit my job at the gallery for reasons I will not elaborate on here, we pulled up stakes and drove outta there, trailer and all. Nothing scandalous happened.... it was not a life or death situation or anything, it was (for a variety of reasons) time to take a breather from a scene that was getting way crazy and bizarre with the people we were surrounded by. You may ask.... "What people? To which I would have to respond.... "THE people".... that is all I can say.... there were people... and they were surrounding us with weirdness.... so we left. I was sleeping with one eye open, you know, that kind of thing. Now you may ask the question... "Where did you go?" Well, we came back to the cattle ranch. The ranch owned by my old friend Brook and her husband Mike. These are two people who will most certainly not surround you with any kind of weirdness. It is respite from all the things that were driving me nutso. It is a place where the main bits of action on a daily basis are things such as what you will see here...

You may see some cows runnin' in the fog. And if you feel like it you can run with the cows or after the cows. No one cares. Well, the cows may care, but from what I can tell so far they don't really seem to hold a grudge.



Or you can see some curly headed two and half year old silliness out on the front lawn. You can also get right in on this action and no one cares. It is encouraged as a matter of fact. Act silly... run crazy. It's all good. And it seems to help if you are wearing fancy new patent leather shoes for this particular activity.



This is Riley. She is smart as a whip and very funny. I may have to have my name officially changed to "Beff" just because she has put a serious shine on the sound of it for me.

We do have to keep a sharp eye on Rudy here because he tends to get covered from head to toe in cow shit if we don't. He loves it.

So what next? We are going to hang out here for a few weeks until after Christmas and then we are up for grabs. We cannot decide where to go or what to do. These are the moments when I am pretty glad that our home has wheels and the options are as wide as the horizon.

OK. Sorry this was a scattered post. It's late and I am goofy. I just wanted to update you all on the current status of scene. I will try to get back to normal posting again this week.

A Late Day List

Hey there. I hope none of my friendly readers were injured in a shopping mash up today. Some crazy stuff went on out in the streets of the USA. It's ever so confusing to me why and how people get so electrified by the concept of a big sale at a department store or a toy store or ANY store that it is worth getting out of bed before the sun rises and then kicking some lady in the shin to grab the latest gizmo out from under her sweaty grip. I mean... I won't say that I have not acted a bitch at a yard sale or two in my day but come one people. Things have gone off the wonky deep end when we are trampling each other at Walmart because of a sale. Recovery from such behavior may not even be possible. What's next? Cracking the barista at Starbucks upside the head with a blunt instrument for not leaving enough "room" in your "Venti" coffee? Or is that already happening and is a newly accepted form of social behavior that I just don't know about? Could be.

With all that said... here are the first few sites I would like to throw out there as really legit and meaningful alternatives to spending your hard earned dollars on items of planned obsolescence of future landfill fodder.

The International Rescue Committee

"Founded in 1933, the IRC is a global leader in emergency relief, rehabilitation, protection of human rights, post-conflict development, resettlement services and advocacy for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression."

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OXFAM




"Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 120 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice. We are an affiliate of Oxfam International."

Go to Oxfam Unwrapped for great gift options!!!

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SEVA FOUNDATION




"Seva Foundation started as a small group with a big idea, and the idea was this: To be fully human, we must translate our compassion and concern into useful service.

That simple statement conveys something about the nature of compassion that is expressed in most spiritual traditions around the world — that compassion is not just about helping those less fortunate than ourselves, it's about the realization that we are all connected as one human family.

That sense of compassionate service motivates all of Seva's work, as we build programs that support people around the world in their efforts to build healthy communities."

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All three of these charitable organizations rate highly at Charity Navigator so you can donate with knowledge that you are not paying for a new Prada bag for the CEO to carry on her private jet.

I am going to do a few posts with links to some of my favorite ETSY sellers this weekend too. Buy handmade! ETSY has such an amazing array of goods that I bet you could do all your holiday shopping on the site without ever setting foot in a big box store the whole month of December or beyond.

Cheers!

Hi folks! I hope everyone had a nice cozy holiday. We sure did. I pretty much spent the entire day cooking. I had not planned on spending so many hours in the kitchen but the frangipane tart I made for dessert was a really time consuming project. I should have made at least the tart crust yesterday. Lesson learned. Anyway... we had one of the best Thanksgiving dinners we have ever made. I am so glad we deviated from the old stand by menu. I am so over the rubbery old Tofurkey thing.

People... as soon as you can stand the idea of sweet potatoes hitting your palate again hurry and make THESE. They were seriously good shit. My tempeh turned out better than any I have ever made before too. I think the different was in the fact that I marinated it for like three hours then baked it for about 45 minutes in a stoneware dish. It was fabulous.

I snapped just a few quick and messy pics before we sat down to eat. I was so freaking hungry that I did not have it in me to do any better than these...




I have to give cute plate credit to my neighbor Ann... the biscuit plate in the above photo is hers. She delivered it to us yesterday full of freshly baked cupcakes and cookies and after we demolished those (Ann is a seriously amazing baker) I secretly used her plate for my biscuits tonight. The plate will go back to her in the morning with a slab of my tart riding on it in thanks.

I am happy to say that almost half of our dinner ingredients were locally grown. See those toasted nuts on the sweet potatoes up above? Local! So was the chard, the chives, and the green beans. The pecans I made the tart out of were so fresh they were just wonderful. So... on to the tart!



I have to admit this was one of the hardest things I have ever made... mostly because I do not own any of the recommended equipment such as food processors etc to make the thing. And more so because I have crust phobia. I am always fatalistic about crust. Crust in my family is no small thing. Crust matters. Your ability to make kick ass crust is a large part of whether or not you get to keep your star hanging on the family tree. You could tie my Grandma's hands behind her back, squeeze lemon juice in both of her eyes and light her pants on fire and she could still kick out a pie crust that would bring tears to your eyes with it's flaky goodness. So, that being said I have developed a bit of a crust centered fear factor. I may have conquered it (at least on a low level) today with this confection though! It turned out just fine. Delicious even. I felt that I was keeping the torch lit for the women of my family.

I had promised to do a listing of alternative gift ideas for this Christmas in this posting. It is gonna have to wait until tomorrow. I am too tuckered out to think that hard tonight. It's time to slide in to some pj's and lay like a fat old sea lion on the bed. I will post the gift links tomorrow afternoon for sure.

Good night y'all!

The Tide is High

Apparently the tide has come in as far as my posting on this blog is concerned. It was out.... waaaay out for quite awhile there but now it seems to have come in. I have been seized by a need to share with you every meal we make and eat. I guess it inspires us to cook our asses off and achieve fabulous results because if you are going to take a picture of it to show to everyone it had best look edible.

I am off work again today and since it is raining we are just laying low at home for the whole day. When I say it is "raining" I should elaborate and say that it is drizzling an annoying, weak piddly rain. I wish it would RAIN. I have yet to see it happen here in California. If I am going to be trapped indoors for the day I should at least benefit from the sound of rain falling heavily on the roof of the trailer. I will say that with every tiny dose of rainfall we get things are greening up out here. Here is the view out my back bedroom window. The first thing your eyes will meet with is a huge hideous telephone pole and wires but if you look beyond that you will see our little section of the valley. Earthbound Farms is down there as is a ranch with a huge horse corral. It's a really pretty view if you can get around the pole.



Let's get to the food. This morning Billy made a fritata in his new cast iron skillet with artichoke hearts, caper berries, red pepper, spinach and ricotta cheese. We ate it with some really crusty sourdough bread and it was delicious.



There is something so wonderful about any food that you have browned under the broiler. I think burnt edges are one of the joys of eating. My Dad is crazy for stuff that is burned up. Maybe I got it from him. When I was a kid and my Mom was cooking something like a lasagna it would always stay in the oven until the edges were good and burned up. Once you have gnawed on chewy, cheesy lasagna edges you can never go back. Or maybe you can... all I know is that I cannot. The only problem with this is the additional waiting time for stuff to come out of the oven. It's the 5 more minutes factor. It's torture.

Billy is working on a new painting and I thought I would give you a peek at the beginning phase of his work. This is a view of the tonal under painting. After this dries he will go back to it and start applying the color. Using this style of under painting helps achieve proper color value and gives nice contrast and light in the finished piece.



I will try to remember to post a photo of the finished painting. I am off to crawl into bed with a book. I think I am going to reread 100 Years of Solitude. It is one of my favorite books I have ever read but it has been a good 8 or 9 years since I read it. It deserves another go because I know that I will discover things reading it again that I missed the first time around. I just finished up with Jim Harrison's latest titled The English Major. It was great. I love his writing. I can enthusiastically recommend picking up pretty much anything he has written. You will not be disappointed especially if you love the outdoors, food, sex and simple living without a lot of bullshit trimmings. He presents a lot of woodsy, old school characters who are faced with dilemmas based on the insanity of modern life. It seems to me that he lives for fishing, big home cooked meals, good wine, good books and women. He also loves dogs, bear and birds. Nothin' wrong with any of that.

My next post will be a listing of my favorite charities and alternative Christmas gift ideas. With Black Friday looming right around the corner maybe I will inspire you to stay home this Friday and send a little of your money off to Oxfam or the IRC instead of to Best Buy or Macy's!

Butter Anyone?

Today was my day off and we had a fun day of walking the beach with Rudy, going to the Pacific Grove farmer's market, shopping for Thanksgiving day dinner fixings at Whole Foods and then coming home to have dinner and bake.

The farmer's market was great. We got fresh, local strawberries, grapes, rainbow chard, persimmons, green zebra tomatoes and tons of nuts like hazelnuts, pistachios and pecans. I am thrilled to still be able to get fresh picked organic produce in November. Hallelujah California!

We put together our menu for Thanksgiving. This year we tried to do something a little different. We are both totally over the Tofurkey thing and decided to skip it completely. Instead are making a tempeh dish for the main course. Our menu plan is as follows...

Maple Grilled Tempeh with Mushrooms, Green Beans and Quinoa
Baked Coconut Sweet Potatoes
Sauteed Rainbow Chard with Garlic and Mushroom Broth
Buttermilk Biscuits with Black Pepper, Sea Salt and Green Onions
Cranberry Pecan Frangipane Tart

I have linked to all the recipes above and you can see them by clicking on each line. The chard recipe resides inside my own head so I cannot link to it.

Tonight I christened my new tart pan by making a honey, lavender and sea salt shortbread in it. Can you say BUTTER? Jesus. I ate two smallish slices of it and I now feel like I may throw up a clod of lard the size of a football. Don't get me wrong... it was really, really good. It's just super rich. The recipe is simple... it's just sugar, flour and butter, lots and lots of butter. When it comes out of the oven you brush the top with honey, sprinkle on sea salt and lavender buds and pop it back in to the oven for three more minutes. Here are a few images to get your heart racing...





While your heart is racing ours are clogging and churning from having eaten this stuff. It's ridiculous to even being eating things like this but hey... what can I say?

Today I stopped in at Diggity Dog which is a shop where you can spend thousands of dollars on dog toys, dog clothes and dog treats. It's a store for crazy people. So in I went. The result was the purchase of a toy which I have been longing to buy for Rudy for months. He destroys any kind of plush toy we give him in minutes so it is really hard to find something that will last for awhile. I think this one may do the trick, plus it's super dumb looking which is always an added bonus. It has triple thick, quadruple stitched layers and is stiff as a board. Cross your fingers for me that he does not eat it up and spit it out any time soon.





I also bought him a red and green plaid Christmas collar with huge jingle bells on it. Yes. Like I told you... the store is for crazy people. Stupid people who are also crazy, like me. Anyway... it will be fun to make him wear it around town for the next month. We had to pimp his holiday style.