July 10, 2009
My parents are back in Florida, John and I are trying to get used to always being home (not out on dates), and Ruby is trying to get used to not having her adoring, always-ready-to-play grandparents around. I have a feeling I’ll be on a slow blogging schedule here. Ruby apparently wants to be potty-trained (I’m sure you all wanted to know that), so I’m spending lots of time chasing her diaper-less bottom around with rags and cleaner saying, “It’s okay, all kids pee on the floor when they’re learning” and trying really hard not to say, “Can we just please put a diaper on?” and watching her sit on her little potty wishing something, anything would happen. These are the days when working in a cube sounds like a really good idea. Good times.
Um, anyway, I’ve updated the blog banner and links, including a link to lots of recent videos of Ruby (and more to come soon) like my current favorite.
We’re loving our summer CSA this week:
Yellow banana fingerling potaotes
carrots
lettuce
cucumbers
Walla Walla onions
beets
spinach
basil
zucchini
garlic
eggplant
green bell pepper
baby onions
cherries
tomatoes
We made an incredible pizza one night with pesto, tomatoes, garlic, feta and olives. We couldn’t get enough! Ruby loved dipping her crust in “dip sauce” (olive oil).
July 2, 2009
My parents are visiting from Florida this week. Ruby and I met them and my aunt and uncle at the coast for a few days, which was gorgeous. John stayed home for work and to remodel our bathroom. I’ll post pictures soon of it all.
Before I left for the coast, I went to a friend’s baby shower. I made this chocolate layer cake for the shower from the book ChocolateChocolate. I couldn’t decide whether I should make cupcakes or cake, but I just got this cake stand and wanted to use it, so that made my decision.
Sorry the picture is blurry. I took a couple just a few minutes before I was picked up for the shower and it disappeared fast once we got there.
I also made a couple of these baby bandanas for a drooly, teething baby. The pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for Baby, a book I just got and love. Here’s Ruby modeling one.
Our CSA was great this week:
yellow banana fingerling potatoes
carrots
cabbage
cherries
lettuce
zucchini
cucumber
Walla Walla onion
radishes
Italian parsley
tomato
June 25, 2009
We’re all on the mend now. Ruby’s tooth is half-way through the gum. Her teeth are ridiculously slow. John and I are back to normal. We had a restful weekend. John planned to go mountain biking on father’s day, but decided to just take it easy at home instead since he wasn’t feeling 100% yet. We ate our way through the day. My sister laughs that all of our celebrations revolve around food and its true. I made him cinnamon-oat pancakes with strawberries from the garden for breakfast. We had chocolate chip coffee cake in the afternoon, he grilled and I made burger buns and honey cornbread for dinner. We were stuffed by the end of the day and I was wiped out. We did manage to find some time to walk down to the river and hang out a bit enjoying the sunshine.
Our CSA this week:
potatoes
garlic scapes by elisfanclub
carrots
lettuce
swiss chard
strawberries
cilantro
garlic scapes
beets
onion
cucumber
We ate this for dinner with snow peas from our garden, carrots and garlic scapes. I highly recommend it!
June 21, 2009
Oh, it has been a week around here. One of Ruby’s 2 year molars is breaking through which makes for lots of crabbiness. There have been messed up meals, struggles, and just a general sense of frustration around here. Thursday John came home from work early with the flu. He slept as soon as he walked in the door, woke up briefly to try to eat, went back to bed, and woke up again just in time to say good night to me as I crawled into bed on the couch. We checked his temp then – almost 102. He is much better today, now I’m fighting it off. Obviously I don’t have it nearly as bad as he did. Fingers crossed that Ruby stays healthy.
We’ve been outdoors as much as possible to get fresh air and stay away from germs. We’ve harvested pounds of strawberries, a bunch of snow peas and garlic! Lots of new garden photos in flickr.
Here was our CSA haul this week:
potatoes
tomato
basil
carrots
cucumber
spinach
Walla Walla onion
scallions
tatsoi – a green we stir-fried tonight with tofu, carrots, snow peas, and a peanut soy sauce
lettuce
strawberries
June 18, 2009
I had a hard time doing this, but I thinned out our dwarf Liberty apple tree a bit recently. I read here that this will keep the tree healthier and hopefully provide us with more apples in the long run. It’s just so hard to pull immature fruit off the little tree when there’s not much there to begin with. But I trust the experts. The article sources John’s department head, Anita Azarenko, who also runs La Mancha, an apple and cherry orchard nearby with incredibly delicious fruit.
In other garden news, our strawberry plants are going nuts this summer. We put them in last year, got some fruit, but not a ton. They probably tripled or quadrupled in size over the year. John collects a big bowl of berries every night that we’re eating all day long, in strawberry shortcake, making jam and freezing for the winter.
June 14, 2009
Look at these cute napkins that arrived in the mail from my friend JA! I love them.
photo by Twin Ravens Press
Our last Meet Your Maker show was fabulous. I bought these cards from Twin Ravens Press that I love. Our next show is July 3rd. (We’re accepting applicants now!) It will be outdoor and indoor and a lot bigger. Can’t wait!
June 13, 2009
I made this little smock for Ruby’s birthday. I used a pattern from Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules book and it was great! It was the first time I sewed on a curve and used bias tape and both went pretty well, for the most part. I used some leftover fabric from a project my mom made for Ruby when she was born.
Unrelated, I read two books recently that I really enjoyed. I’ve been reading a lot of Mary Oliver’s work lately and picked Our World at the library which is written by her but is full of photographs by Molly Malone Cook. It’s beautiful – the photos, the poetry, and the touching love that was evident throughout the book.
I love, love, love Maira Kalman’s books. I have several of her children’s books that I adore. I read Principles of Uncertainty in an afternoon and really enjoyed the artwork and little stories she shared throughout the book.
Have any of you read these books?
June 8, 2009
We had a wonderful birthday weekend for Ruby. She absolutely loved her time on the coast and is constantly asking to go back. Here’s a video of her on the coast. We hear this often as she falls asleep:
“Airport, nooo, new (we went to Newport), old?, nooooo, new, ocean, yeah, run run run run run.”
I love getting these little insights into her head.
We stayed at a little bed and breakfast/tea room that allowed Ruby to stay (probably because we were the only guests there that weekend). It was perfect, Ruby could sleep in our room while John and I read and knit in the parlor. John posted a video here of the tea room and Ruby taking tea.
One of my friends had a birthday a few days before Ruby and I sent her my favorite homemade granola packed with love.
The stamp on the bag is from S.Jane.
June 6, 2009
This week, we picked up our first CSA box! We went back to our old farm, Gathering Together, this year. We were super excited to see what we’d get and to have fresh food. We’ve been able to harvest a bit from our garden already – spinach, broccoli, strawberries.
Here is what we got this week
fresh garlic
carrots
cucumbers
bok choy
Purple Viking potatoes
rhubarb
lettuce
photo by marinegirl
I made a rhubarb coffee cake with whole-wheat flour from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook which was so delicious. It was light and moist and you’d never know it has whole-wheat flour in it. I was really surprised. This photo is not mine, we seem to eat these things much too fast to wait for good light for a photo.
Ruby is finally eating up her vegetables again. It’s been a struggle the past few months, which was a surprise after she ate them all last summer so well. Now we know why – they just weren’t fresh enough. Ha! She’s a food snob already. I have no idea where she gets that from.
June 3, 2009
Recently one of my friends posted a handmade challenge on Facebook. The first 5 people who responded to her got an item handmade by her within the year. The rule was, if you signed up, you had to return the favor and make 5 items to give away as well.
I made this apron for one of my five responders. She recommended the book Simple Sewing to me, which I love, so I wanted to make something from it for her.
This Friday is the next Meet Your Maker show! Come out and support your local crafters.
