Red :)

It's always been such a fun color. My mother-in-law loves it, and when we have family pictures, red is the color of choice.  I can't complain, really.  When I was in high school, I wore a red shirt to French once and my teacher (from Brooklyn, NY.. go figure) told me:
"Ooh, Anne! La couleur rouge va tu bien!"
and we didn't argue with our Mme Sacco..

Red is great for many things, though. It goes so well with black, and brown, and white. It fits perfectly on a pepper and on my mixer.  I can't think of anything better to dress my dutch oven with (especially when it's also sporting a fig chicken inside), and strawberries, raspberries, cherries, apples, and watermelon just wouldn't be the same in a different color.

And would you know it? I am getting red tomatoes, now too!

It started a week or two ago:

and now we're here:

I almost don't want to pick them, because it makes me happy to have ripening tomatoes on my vine..

But I suppose I have to harvest, even if it's only two little tomatoes.  What's the point of growing food, except to eat it?  When we get our farm someday, I'll hopefully have my hands (and buckets and pockets and apron front) full of food to harvest.

Hopefully.

However, there is still hope for the rest of the summer! See? I have buds on one of my other plants!

There are, in fact, three buds, but I can't get close enough with my lens to show you all three. You'll just have to trust me :)

In the meantime, happy eating!

Summer's Roasted Vegetables

Someday, when I have my own garden, I want to carry heavy laden baskets full of fresh vegetables into my kitchen, to be prepared that night and gobbled up by eager mouths.  Someday, I want to know which foods go best for what season, which foods are most practical, so that I can eat in line with what the earth can give me.

We will have fresh fruit and ripe squash all summer and into the fall, and we will have hearty root soups and whole grain breads in the winter.  In the spring, we will enjoy the precious tidbits of little delicacies that only Spring in her perfect weather can provide.  Each season will have its own favorite dishes and menus, and each dish will conjure up memories of the seasons.  Hand in hand. They go together like sisters.

or cousins :) 

My sister Summer was named after my Daddy's first crush, Princess Summerfall Winterspring from the Howdy Doody show.  These weren't my sister's vegetables.  And it's not her recipe, either.  But all these veggies tend to make their appearance in my kitchen around summertime, especially the garlic scapes and zucchini, and it feels distinctly summer-ish to me. So, it seems fitting that the recipe belongs at least to the season, if not to my sister, and the Princess :)

In any case, it's also quite variable, and very simple.  I've written out what I used below, but you can substitute any of your own favorite vegetables and seasonings.

Serves 4

Ingredients
olive oil
1 medium onion
1/4 small red cabbage
about 8 whole basil leaves
4 medium to large whole beets
1 large zucchini
about 1 c garlic scape pesto
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium dutch oven (mine's 6 quarts and I had plenty of extra room), layer vegetables as follows:

sliced onions
cabbage, thinly sliced
basil leaves (laid evenly over the cabbage)
drizzle of olive oil
chopped beets (mine were big chunks--they don't have to be bite-sized--and I didn't even peel them)
pesto (spread as evenly as possible over the beets)
zucchini (halved and sliced)
another drizzle olive oil
sprinkle of thyme leaves
salt and pepper

Cover the vegetables and bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, or until the beets are tender. Serve it up as a side dish if you like, but we served it as an entree, with quinoa and a honey-dressed salad to go with it.

Delicious!

Substitution Ideas


Instead of red cabbage, basil, beets, and zucchini: green cabbage, potatoes, and/or turnips, mustard sauce, and carrots/parsnips on top (St. Patty's day in a pot!)

Instead of onions, substitute leeks, sliced in dollars, layered thickly on the bottom.

Rather than zucchini, use eggplant, sliced in rounds or chunked.

Instead of garlic scape pesto, use basil pesto. But make sure it's nice and garlicky! The acidic garlic is a nice complement to the beets and cabbage.

Use butter instead of olive oil.

Add Herbes de Provence instead of thyme and/or basil.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless :) Enjoy!

My Latest Adventure

T and I got some herbs last week.  I've had herbs before and.. they lasted a little while, but I couldn't keep them going.  Is it possible to keep herbs in pots for several years?  Do you just have to invest each spring in new plants unless they're in the ground?  Ah well, we're trying it again this year :)  Right now, they look bright and sunny on our window sill in the kitchen, smiling in the afternoon sunshine.

Our other adventure, though, is that we got tomato plants.

I've never grown any of my own food before (I know, you're thinking "and you want a farm?!"), but we all have to begin somewhere, and I figure inside plants are "a very good place [for me] to start."  One of the three plants we bought has two green tomatoes on it, so if nothing else, we'll hopefully get those two :)  Though I think I see one little bud emerging on one of the other plants.  Does anyone have any tips on growing tomatoes?  Like how often I should water, etc? I'll be sure to keep you posted on our progress as container-tomate-er farmers :)

Also, I think I want to do a weekly pictures-only post.  I haven't decided what day will be best for it--maybe Monday? since that's usually a kick-start sort of day.  But know that it's in the works.  Isn't that exciting? :)

Missing You

north cascades
Originally uploaded by Seattle Miles

Dear Pacific Northwest:

I miss you and you're beautiful! I hope to see you soon...

A Waif-Away-From-Home Thanksgiving

Because T and I were in town for Thanksgiving this year, we decided to invite to dinner any of our friends who were unable to go home for the holidays.  A collection of waifs (first definition).

Now, that's not to say that we (or our guest) don't have any friends in Boston. Obviously not since we had 11 people for dinner last night.  But it's hard not to feel like a waif when you can't go home for Thanksgiving.  It was good to be surrounded by friends :)

We woke up early to get a good start on our day.  The best start, actually--we went to Mass.  What better place to begin the a eucharistic feast (as in: eucharistein--to give thanks) than by celebrating the Eucharist?  What a blessing it is to have our Lord in our midst, so clearly and so readily.

Refreshed from the Feast, we headed home and I started prepping the turkey.  We got a 21 pound turkey from the same farm where we get the rest of our (naturally raised, grass-fed, wholly organic and sustainable) meat.  It was a beautifully huge bird. And it was running around, happy as a... turkey.. just one week ago!  I used the maple-butter recipe that Momma used for Viv's Golden Birthday dinner last year.  Truth be told, I think I overcooked the turkey.  But the gravy was pretty tasty, and even overcooked turkey makes great leftovers.  Better overcooked than underdone, right? Finally, this is only the second turkey I've made. I'm not ashamed to admit I can keep improving :)

We also had apple sausage stuffing. I made a double recipe (well, we need leftover stuffing for our leftover turkey, right?).  I used a sour dough bread and did half ground beef/half sausage for the meat.  This was the highlight of my Thanksgiving.  I've never had better stuffing (sorry, Momma).  It was delicious!  We finished one (13x9") pan last night and T and I finished half of the second (13x9") pan for lunch today... so try it :) It's pretty tasty.

I also made (coconut milk) scalloped sweet potatoes, which were also very scrumptious.

Next on the menu: cheese (mmmm)

(no further description necessary, right?)

So are you wondering how we fit 11 people at our table?  We got two additional folding tables (raised with corks stuck in their legs (and still a little too short)) and put them next to our bitty table.  It was a squeeze, but we managed (and hey, we're all friends, right?).   The magic of squeezing is Friendship!

Again, a big thank you to our parents who have so graciously completed our china service for 14. The crystal was a wedding present, too.  We are indeed very blessed :)  Someday, probably when we have our farm, I'll have a big dining room with one table that can seat all our guests and you can all come over for a meal.  We will use the china and the crystal and have a good ol' traditional sit-down dinner and stay up chatting late into the night.

Which is what we did last night.  Our last guest didn't leave until after 1, and I (for some silly reason?!) decided I needed to start the turkey stock.  I picked all the meat off while our guests were still chatting and got the bones in the pot soon after they left.  What took so long was bringing the pot to a boil before reducing it to a simmer.  At 2 o'clock in the morning (this morning!) I turned off the lights and headed to bed.

All in all, I'd say it was a tremendous success.  For dessert we had a chocolate pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, a blueberry tart, a traditional pecan pie, a chocolate pecan pie, an ice cream cake, and ice cream.  Frankly, with a spread like that, who cares if dinner was a success? :)

If we are in town next year for Thanksgiving, I hope we can host another gathering.

And next year, I'll make a better turkey.

Happy Feast, everyone!  (and to all a good night)

Ginkgo!

When I'm walking in the city, I tend to keep my eyes mostly downward (no one wants to step in city-puddles or forgotten dog poop).  But whenever I see a ginkgo leaf on the ground, I try to find the tree.  I gravitate toward them. Ginkgo's are my favorite.  I'm not sure why.  Every time I see one I smile :)

Maybe it's because they're considered a living fossil, being so old and completely unique?

Maybe it's just because they have funny-shaped leaves?

Maybe it's because they tend to lose their leaves all at once?
(leaving tiny, wistful, golden fans all along the sidewalk,

making any walk home enchanting and inspiring)

Maybe it's the bright, fiery yellow they turn when it gets cold?

Maybe it's the odd way they branch out and sprout leaves?

Whatever it is about ginkgo trees, I just love them.  I think that, along with apples trees (!), we're definitely going to plant some ginkgo trees on our dream farm.  Along with Japanese maples.  I know we are planning to have our farm in the Evergreen State, but that's no reason why we can't have pretty fall colors around, too. In fact, that's my favorite way to have it--I love the perennial green of the coniferous trees (the Boston Gray state of affairs all winter leaves me hungering for some good ol' pine trees!), but I just eat up all the bright fall colors in New England.

When I was in college, during the fall, I would routinely detour along Nora Avenue because the whole street was planted with deciduous trees--oh the flames! It was just breathtaking.  I want a lane like that coming up my farm driveway :)

So here's to fall, in all it's dwindling autumnal glory, and pretty yellow ginkgo trees :)

On Food... and other things

I have been thinking about food a lot lately.  And by "lately" I mean more along the lines of the past several years.

I don't know precisely when it started.  Perhaps when I got married? maybe when I stopped eating at the campus dining halls? or maybe when I left Momma's homemade meals and went to college?  But thoughts have been ruminating in my head for some time, and I think I have recently come to a few conclusions.

Two particular books helped solidify these conclusions: Nourishing Traditions and Omnivore's Dilemma.  The first I received as a wedding/first anniversary present from a family friend (whose husband is a doctor) and the second I borrowed from T's parents, after they read it. There were many other influences and  nudges along the way, but these two books were the primary drivers.

I don't want this to turn into a debate about nutrition or "the way things should be," or even the way things were "in the good ol' days." I don't want to sound like a nut :)  But still, I do have some very strong opinions about food (unfortunately, anyone who's come over for dinner at our house knows this. I can get... a little carried away).

And so, to the point.

First of all, food is nourishment for our bodies. People want to stay alive, right? So they eat. Good. But the nourishment food offers us, as community beings, isn't only physical.  In many ways, food can nourish us spiritually, too.  John Paul the Great's theology of the body teaches us that there are physical realities that point to spiritual truths.  I think that food (at least to some degree) is the same way.  Good food, eaten in the company of good friends, bringing back good memories, creating new memories, etc., etc., can nourish our souls just as much as the cells in our bodies.

For my birthday two years ago, I received Cold Weather Cooking.  [I highly recommend this book.  Not only are the recipes fabulous but the stories that Chase adds to the recipes make them tastier, somehow.]  We all have our favorite cold weather recipes that remind us of something.  I love soups.  Anytime it's rainy or cloudy or cold outside, it's a "soup" day for me.  It warms up the kitchen and it warms up my body.  Who's to say it doesn't "warm up" my soul, too? Served at a big table, in a warm house, with warm-from-the-oven bread, and surrounded by friends--is there a better recipe for a happy evening? And what about that favorite dish your Mom always made? Why else would it be called comfort food if it didn't bring comfort?

My point is this: food is important stuff. It should be held in high regard. It should be respected.  Pollan has a great description in his book of a microwavable can of soup that's been "re-designed" to fit in the cup holder of your car.  Ooh! the innovation! the convenience!  :Þ  I can't think of a better image to demonstrate the drastically low place food--real food--holds in our society today.  Everything else in our lives these days is fast-paced, erratic, busy, bustling, and frantic.  Let food be something comforting again..

As the main cook in our household, I take food seriously.  I want to feed my family good things that come from a good place.  I want them to be happy with the food they're eating and I want them to be healthy people.  I want them to have a good attitude toward food and to love it without obsessing over it.

I value the traditions that I have inherited with the types of foods I eat, even the little ones. Having certain foods at certain times of year, for instance. The grocery store has been the death of eating seasonally.  It seems the only thing we get seasonally now is candy (ever notice you can never find Candy Corn in February?).

Another example: I like to sit down to eat my breakfast (heck, I like to eat breakfast)--no on-the-go breakfast bars with a latte in a paper cup for me, thankyouverymuch.  And I like family meals--even though we're just a family of two right now, I try to have a sit-down meal every night and chat about our day.  We pray whenever we eat, thanking God for His gifts (T usually adds: "which Annie has made") and asking for that bounty to continue.

So, because we need to eat to survive, food has a very central place in our lives and culture. That should be acknowledged (in a healthy way).  No gluttony (as in: more is always better). No starvation (as in: food = enemy of my figure).  This doesn't mean we can't have decadent foods, but it does mean that those foods have their place and shouldn't be super-sized out of it.  Hold on to eating traditions.  Keep a good balance. Make good food.  And eat it in the company of loved ones.

I have more to say but I think this is enough for one post :)

So Close...

and yet, still somehow, so far away...

[because finding time in our schedules (even for a weekend trip), and (unless we could pitch a tent on the beach somewhere) finding room in our budget just makes fun trips like this a little too far out of reach. Maybe someday we'll just buy an island and construct our dream farm there :) That sound like a good plan?]

'Tis the Season

That is, it's the season for strawberries! I am so excited to have a farm someday and grow my own strawberries. This dessert was a real treat for us last night--so light and refreshing, but so satisfying! Ingredients: Fresh Strawberries 1/4 c plain yogurt 2 T sugar 1 tsp vanilla Combine yogurt, sugar (you could use maple syrup or honey if you wanted), and vanilla until smooth. Place in bottom of shallow serving dish (a long skinny one would be very elegant, good for a buffet. I like my triangle one, too). Place strawberries in yogurt mixture and serve. Tasty :)

All You Who Have Been Baptized into Christ

...have put on Christ! Alleluia! 

Today, the Sunday before the feast of Theophany (Christ's baptism in the Jordan--and the revelation of God as Trinity), Kristiana Noelle Clayton joined the Christian family through the holy mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation, and Eucharist. 

It was a beautiful Liturgy, and it was so good to be back at Ss. Cyril and Methodius. I forget how beautiful that church it. It's much more plain than St. John's in Seattle, but still quite lovely.  Kristiana was a delight to behold! She was only a little squirmy for the "churching" and if she cried very much during the baptism or Liturgy, I have forgotten about it--they would have been very little cries anyway, since she's still such a little person. Alexander, too, was pretty good. For a recently de-throned toddler, he was exceptional, actually. He even posed for some pictures with T and me after Liturgy! What a handsome little boy! 

It was great to see Fr. Bill again, and catch up, albeit briefly, with the other members of the parish we haven't seen since we moved. After chatting for a while, T and I headed to Rockwood Bakery with Liz--one of the neatest women ever! Although we've talked to her frequently since we left Spokane, we hadn't actually seen her since then. And Rockwood Bakery is a fabulous place to spend time with good friends--more good food :) The two go so well together! 

This evening we drove north through snowy streets to The Grandparents Clayton's house :) for an open house, where (naturally) we saw MORE people we haven't seen in a while. Cute babies, happy smiling people, good food, cool toys... what a wonderful world. I had a lot of fun following Alexander around and playing with him :) He's a really cute kid. Someday I hope the Clayton's and the Black's can live closer.  (I also hope we have kids for their kids to play with, too.) Fortunately for us, we get to see the Clayton family again tomorrow for breakfast!  

And.. to conclude a lovely (lovely!) day, T and I went to David's pizza for dinner! What a treat :) 

Then T was good enough to take me on another walk through GU. On our first walk, we didn't get all the way to campus, so tonight we walked around all our old "haunts" again. We love that campus. If Taylor ended up teaching there and we got a farm 45 minutes out of the city, I could deal with that. And before we ended our walk, it started to snow. It hasn't stopped yet. I hope we're not snowed in tomorrow! (And, in a way, I wouldn't mind being "stuck" in Spokane for another day or two or three) 

And life is good. Praise God! 

Maine III

Well, so much for seeing the sunrise. We woke up on time--and got out of a nice, warm, squishy, comfy bed to brave the moist cold outside--and drove up to Cadillac Mountaion this morning. I imagine it would have been something wonderful and magical like the picture above, but, because it was cloudy and misty and rainy, it looked more precisely like this:

Yet even though it was cold and windy and we didn't get a golden sunrise today, we still made it up there! In fact, the ornament we chose from all the possibilities was a little magnet picture (we'll take the magnet off) of Cadillac Mountain. Maybe we can pretend it was a bright sunrise or something :)

After our cold adventure, we quite understandably went back to bed. We slept for another hour or two until breakfast was ready and then headed downstairs for another yummy meal (this morning they had banana muffins; yogurt parfait; and a tomato and pesto quiche with bacon and toast or sour cream cherry waffles). 

T read more of the Lord of the Rings to me while I packed up all our clothes and shoes and the things we had purchased in Bar Harbor. Once we checked out of our dear little inn, we roamed around looking for a picnic lunch to bring with us into Acadia. T saw most of it yesterday on his run, but I hadn't seen any of it yet! We got some sandwiches and said farewell to Bar Harbor...

Acadia, though, was simply beautiful! The trees that had started to turn were on fire with color! We drove into the park on the loop road and parked to take a short hike along the shore path. It as lots of fun to scramble over the rocks along the shore. If I go to the beach, I prefer rocky beaches by far (rocks have a harder time getting into the places sand seems to find so easily!). It was a perfect afternoon for hiking--sunny, cool, breezy. Most of the time driving was spend with the windows down (both for the fresh air and being able to take pictures).

How beautiful is God's creation! It is amazing and humbling to be in the midst of such beauty--especially in contrast to the ugliness that humanity so often creates.  I appreciate most of the accomplishments of mankind, but I want to be closer to the earth, closer to nature. I want to be more Hobbitish ("If you take my meaning, Sir," said Sam)! I think one of the main reasons T and I want a farm someday is that it is easier to remain grounded (yes, pun intended--grounded literally and figuratively) when one works so close to the earth...

The drive home, as you can imagine, was filled with more Tolkien. By the time we reached the outskirts of the greater Boston area, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli had long since tracked Merry and Pippin to Fangorn where they met Gandalf the White; battle had been waged and won at Helms Deep; and Gandalf rode to Isengard to make a peace offering to Saruman--whose great black tower of Orthanc was a pillar in a sea of flotsam and jetsam inflicted upon it by the roused Ents.

Now we're home, all unpacked, ready to get to bed--all before 10 pm! It's been a wonderful weekend, and we are very glad to have been blessed enough in our married life to be able to go! But we're also glad to be back in our own home, our own bed, our own blankets (most especially my supernifty buckwheat pillow!).. our own little corner of the world.

Here are my pictures from the weekend: 

The Maine Thing

Here is Taylor's album: 

2008-10-14 Acadia and Bar Harbor

(There, Kayleen--I got all the many lables in from my first short post!) :)

Maine, Part II

Sunday, Sunday! With a golden morning to greet us! The only reason we set an alarm this morning was to ensure that we woke up in time for the complimentary gormet breakfast our inn serves. I must say--it's well worth waking up for! The breakfast room here is bright and sunny, and the food was great. A nice way to start our day! 

After breakfast we walked around town some more, stopping here and there to browse in the various shops. There were lots of sales this weekend since it's close to the end of the vacation-er season. We got mugs to brew our loose leaf tea one mug at a time, so we can have good tea at work. 

Mass at the local parish was at 11. It was a good Mass--the priest had a deep, booming voice, that was great for chanting the parts he sung. The church was beautiful, too--simple but very striking and lovingly cared for. 

After Mass, T went for his run in Acadia while I moseyed around town some more, looking for Christmas gift ideas (there were a few shops that were Christmas All Year type store), hoping to find an ornament T and I could take home. We like to get a Christmas ornament from the places we visit. We have a beatiful glass ornament from our honeymoon, a rock from the Ginko petrified forest in WA, a collectible stamp from June Lake, etc., etc.  I got a $10 fleece sweater and a $5 tank top, too. I love sale season. 

After moseying, and T still on his run, I went back to the inn and knitted myself a scarf. It was nice to just sit and be quiet and enjoy breathing, living... I had the windows open and watched people outside, enjoying the fresh air. Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons (because I like cold weather!), but it's always struck me as odd that it's also a season of such vibrancy and life--when things are preparing to go dormant or hibernate for the winter! Before too long, though, it started to get chilly so I closed the windows and turned on the stove in our room :) I think I want a stove or fireplace like that in our Hobbit house someday.. Besides, I didn't want the room too cold for our MASSAGES that afternoon. That's right--T got us both massages for the weekend. What a thoughtful husband :)

After a fabulous run and feeling great, T got back just before my appointment, and was able to settle down before his. The massages were great, very relaxing and energizing at the same time. During T's massage I went downstairs to the very comfortable sitting room and had a good phone chat with my folks. 

Dinner toinght, at Cafe This Way was SO GOOD! If the food yesterday was less than exciting, today's food made up for it easily--especially this dinner. Oh, my. I got fish and chips with a twist. The chips were sweet potato chips, and the fish was ahi tuna, breaded and pan fried medium rare (I'd never had medium rare fish before--it's all been cooked through or sushi!) and I loved it. It also came with mashed butternut squash and broiled asparagus on the side, which was superb.  Every bite was wonderful. 

Then, as we usually do, half way through eating we switch plates! T had ordered Asian salmon on seaweed coleslaw with mashed potatoes and mashed butternut squash, which was really good too :)  

The atmosphere of Cafe This Way was quite enjoyable. T and I were seated in a little corner of the room next to bookshelves filled with old and varied books. Momma--they even had the Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley cookbook! They had children's books and games for little ones; they had philosophy, poetry, essays, bad novels, good novels, classics... We loved it. 

We also ordered a slice of Maine Blueberry pie (al a mode) to go. We still had a wonderful bottle of wine in our room with truffles to munch! We headed home and had a little picnic on our bedroom floor, sipping wine, munching pie and truffles, and enjoying the un-hurried leisure of vacation. 

We read a bit after dessert, but now it's time for bed. Tomorrow we're waking up before sunrise and driving to see it from the top of Cadillac Mountain. Hopefully the threatening clouds cooperate. 

Concerning Hobbits

"Their faces were good-natured rather than beautiful, broad, bright-eyed, red-cheeked, with mouths apt to laughter, and to eating and drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted."

I have recently refreshed my interest in Hobbits (to be expected when one sits in on a class concerning the philosophy of Tolkien). I want to be a Hobbit! I'd probably be most like the Fallowhides, who still loved the peace and quiet, but were fond of adventure and knowledge and learning (most Hobbits prefer genealogical books to others, especially books with information they don't already know). I want to live in a Hobbit house, with bright round windows and a big round door.

My Hobbit house would have lots of green and yellow in it, those being favorite colors of most Hobbits (and me too!). There would be no stairs in my Hobbit house, though I'm not sure it would be actually underground, like the smials of the real Hobbits.

If I had a Hobbit house, it would always be full of good food to share with everyone who visited. And, no matter when you visited, you would always be invited to stay for one of the six meals common in Hobbit households (breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, (tea,) dinner, and supper). There would be lots of laughter and smiling, too :)

We would have (at the very least) a nicely tilled fruit and vegetable garden, maybe even a full farm with goats and chickens and wide green spaces to enjoy. We would wear shoes only when necessary.

Hobbit houses have to have Hobbit children (and, normally, quite a few of them; along with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandhobbits, and any other miscellaneous family members who will fit). I would love to have a whole mess of beautiful, curly-haired, little-bitty Hobbit babies running around my house.

 But did you know I already have a Hobbit husband? At least, he's part-Hobbit. He is close to the earth, has hairy feet, hates shoes, loves presents and green and yellow (but usually blue and yellow), and--most important of all--he loves mushrooms. Maybe he's Elven and Hobbitish--with his straight blond hair, slender facial features, and giant-esque height (for a Hobbit), he could well be descendant from both races!

 Also, I think my parents are part Hobbit. (Good) food was certainly a prominent feature in our house growing up, and despite all the wonderful blessings and enjoyment of good things, they are "curiously tough." They also have mountains of mathoms all over the house :) So here's to Hobbits and our dreams!

Hobbit House!!

If T and I ever build our dream home, I have a feeling we'll incorporate quite a few features from this one :) So cute! Maybe we'll even build this kind of house on the farm we want to share in the PNW!

Don't Fence Me In...

A couple of friends of ours want to buy a farm with us. It's a grand plan that we're all dreaming about. Let's see if I can explain it... **fades into wistful idealism** First, A & R were married a year before T and I were. All four of us are Byzantine Catholic. T and A both chose grad schools far away from any conveniently-located Ruthenian Byzantine churches (it's not hard to do, though, so it's not really their fault). In any case, we have ALL been missing the pacific northwest (Go Zags!), family, friends, and the all-too-typical "simple life." So, we thought once the husbands finish school, it would be fun to buy a farm somewhere in WA, build a Byzantine church on it, and raise our kids together. There are all sorts of perks to having a farm... 1) Our own garden. T loves to garden. It's been quite a trial in a condo here, where the only two plants we have in the house are an African violet and an Easter lily... We could have all sorts of plants, provided we can keep animals and bugs away from nibbling the fruits, veggies, and flowers we'd grow. It'd be beautiful! 2) Milk cow or goats. I love raw milk--it makes me feel good about drinking it, and I love that I can make my own butter, sour cream, cream cheese, buttermilk, and any number of other fun dairy products (including ICE CREAM!). 3) Lots of space for kiddies to run around. See T's note: Random Memories. 4) The best of both worlds. In the pacific northwest, the farm would be close enough to "civilization" that T and A could commute to a University somewhere to teach, and R and I could afford to stay home and be wifely. There are other things that would be awesome, but I can't list them all here. If you think I should add any, leave me a comment! 5) Birds I think it would be fun to have a "bird haven" somewhere on our farm, preferably somewhere I can watch from a kitchen window! I love to watch birds--especially the rare ones like cardinals and blue jays that don't come out so often. 6) Bees. I think it might be fun to keep bees and have our own honey. Raw, unfiltered honey is so yummy--and it smells like wildflowers! And we'd be helping support the declining bee populations in the world. Yay for honey bees. Our farm wouldn't have to be a huge farm, and we certainly wouldn't have to have lots of animals or anything. T's family had some (about 4?) goats and (I think) it was enough milk for their dairy-loving family. We could raise chickens (T knows all about them) and then we'd have 1/2 our menu taken care of: eggs, roast chicken, chicken soup, chicken a la king, chicken pot pie, etc. Basically, you can do anything with chicken. The rest of the menu can be filled in with bread we bake and fruits and veggies we grow. And after my cousin in TX starts his beef ranch, there's another kind of meat for us! mmm... R and I could home school our kids together and A and T could supplement with more-specialized subjects (haha, because it's real likely our kids will want to know more about Lonergan's personalist thomism or Plato's political philosophy before they reach college). If we succeeded in building a church on our farm, T or A could become a Byzantine priest (gotta love the East) and then we could have liturgies on Sundays with anyone else who wanted to come. Or, Fr. Joseph could retire to our farm and say liturgy for us.. or Fr. Bill when he wants to retire :) Anyway, it's a fun dream, and it's not even outside the realm of possibility! I don't know if it will ever happen, but it would be grand if it did. :D Here's a nifty blog that sounds like the same kind of thing we want to do.