Playing with the new toys.
and the research thats going with it. RECIPIES - need to find good ones..

holidays have been fun and we recieved (& bought) some fun new toys.
one is called an Instapot - its a small (6qt) pressure cooker. less bulky than my pressure canners. (love them but they are rather large for day to day use)
so have gotten to play and so far am loving it
homemade mac & cheese and tomato soup..

now, mind you i could do these without this fancy critter..
BUT it was fast and easy and 'one'pot cooking.. so rather fun :)

i intend to use the thing at LEAST 3times a week for something.. going to see if i follow through on that lol but i LOVE soups and this baby shines for soup

oooh  ooooh did i mention the BEAUTIFUL kitchen-aid immersion blender (in Turquoise!!!!) that we got? perfection for blending the tomatoe soup -- heavenly!

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another 'fun' trinket.. little mini waffle maker..

we had a Large Belgium waffle maker - awesome beast - big and heavy. for only two of us - overkill - so it now resides with the kids & their kids!!  this little baby makes a single waffle just the right size to pop in a toaster.. so made a batch of batter - made breakfast for gr son & us and Still had enough batter to make then freeze about a dozen of them. will try them in the toaster when i have the littles here.. WAY better than buying frozen waffles at the store.. these i can make ANY time. :)
(i add extra eggs so higher nutrition too)

so much fun with 4 pretty gadgets :)

number four isnt a cooking pretty but a sewing one.. half way thru a marathon assembly line sewing session (making xmas gifts for 5 gr babies) the old machine up and died.. seriously dead.. it literally started screeching & then jammed. -- soooo not good.
hubby took me to wally world (plan was to give up and hit the toy aisle..3 days before xmas ya know)
but dear man took me over to the machines and said check them out.. then bought the one that seemed the most versatile for what i sew.. OH MY..

so gadget #4 was really gadget #1 lol & it came home and helped me finish all the gifts including small ornaments for all the grown ups.. its a Lovely little machine with lots of potential use..
sqeeeeeeeeeee!!!

midnight musings...

shade  and shadows
shadows and shade

have you ever noticed how the sky is lit affects how you perceive things??
or perhaps this is a desert thing....

on a clear day - a really clear day,  -- coming down the mountain road from the high desert to the low, the hills that stretch out across the valley from me, look as tho drawn in various shades of pastels that someone has then taken their thumb to, smudging and softening the edges.
surprising when the light itself is sharp & harsh.. this is the time one feels like you can just reach out and touch them, so lightly do they float in your vision.. one could believe that walking up there would be a gently quite stroll thru undulating hills & dales..

have seen paintings done of these hills, where the shades of lavenders & pinks are so rich they catch your breath, have heard people see such paintings and state mountains dont look like that!.. well sadly maybe their mountains dont.. but if you are lucky enough to be out at sunrise or just before dusk and the sky is lit just so.. for a few mesmerizing moments these colors will astound you..

there is such beauty here, there is such ruthlessness here.. both in the same breath.. a gut punch in perception at times

on a hazy cloudy day where the sky is patchy and shades of grey, i look at those same hills and they are sharp & clear, jagged edged as tho claws have caught them and pulled them asunder.. those curves no longer seem inviting when you can notice the sharpened outline of jagged teeth  even at this distance they are formidable and unfriendly...

i often hear of foolish souls who look up on those hills on clear days, thinking oh what a lovely day and lovely spot for a bit of hiking - just an hour or two.. and they take little or no supplies or precautions.. little knowing those hills bite the unwary. they all to often swallow them whole and Maybe someday will spit them back.. maybe..

for myself i Love these hills in all of their moods. i used to drive to work at sunrise and watch the pink shadows work their way up the mountain sides..i love their moods and i have a deep and abiding respect for their ways.. i have climbed a number of them, slid down too many rough bits of rock and sand, camped on the rim of arroyos, even poked my nose in a mine or two (not a smart move i admit)

as the sun would rise i would watch the great horned owls winging their way towards the foothills & their sleeping sites for the day.. have often noted a coyote or 3 quietly trotting back to where-ever their current den was to wait out the heat of the coming day.. have had the privilege to briefly share my day and my life with bobcat, desert fox, raven, raccoon, puma, packrat, cactus wren & roadrunner diamond back, sidewinder, chuckwalla, Coopers hawk, Kestrel & more.. i have been incredibly lucky and perhaps even blessed by them..
so many humans are utterly oblivious to the sheer number of wildlife that reside here.

knowing always that for all my love of these places, they do not love me.. they may seduce the viewer, entice them to come be 'one' with the desert. but for most its a false promise and is never ever a safe one. love the desert but NEVER forget she is a harsh mistress and will kill you as easily as she can provide food and shelter for those who pay attention..

thats another secret of our hills.. humans think they have 'tamed' the desert.. the desert meanwhile laughs and thumbs its nose at us knowing better..
the desert is fragile tho and easily damaged often beyond saving in places,

but in the overall scheme of things, its most likely that it will still be here, moving in its slow and stately (most of the time) rhythms - the hills will continue telling their stories even if its only to the mountains and the winds --
Long past when humans have gone the way of the neanderthals & dinosaurs...

THE GRAND PUMPKIN EXPERIMENT & not quite disaster

Now, understand, i AM a pumpkin-holic - I love the stuff!!!!!!!!
soooo.......
We canned pumpkin this weekend, pureed & dehydrated or froze puree. froze seeds for roasting later. sounds like a REALLY productive weekend doesnt it??

and it was.........
sort of.
at this point i am counting the weekend as "INSTRUCTIVE" rather than successful..first and foremost somehow i missed the memo that two medium lg pumpkins will give you more than 18cups of puree!!!! and that 2 LITTLE ones will FILL 10pints of pumpkin chunks.
yikes.. -- so now you can understand when i say i made a Major miscalculation when i talked my friend into getting 19 med lg pumpkins...

sigh.... FIRST mistake..
Second mistake - the Reason we bought 19 of them was the price (or rather LACK of price) you know that old saying 'you get what you paid for?? yea.... that...
these apparently were rather on the 'old side' -- not great texture - not great taste - not great smell when cooked..
Third mistake (besides how many) DID NOT take into consideration How HARD it is to cut and peel a pumpkin (tho the 2 little ones were easier to peel) ESPECIALLY if you dont have top of the line knives.
her son was taking bets on who would cut themselves first.. happily he lost That bet.. the worst part is both of us have Carpel Tunnel problems and just do NOT have the hand strength for this kind of project. i for one, if i am feeling this crazy ever again will need someone Else to cut them for me.
Fourth mistake.. dehydrating pumpkin (again sort of) - the dehydrator i picked up at a thrift store Works
and works well. got 5 small sheets of dried pumpkin after about 18hrs........
and i tried several trays in the oven as well which again kind of worked.. the oven was on nearly 18hrs.
and they are SORT of dehydrated. one tray was near burnt & the other two still a bit leathery-
i gave up at that point.. none appeared edible..------------------
Good to know things here: Dollar tree had packages of 10 sheets of parchment paper for $1 and they are just about PERFECT for this sort of thing.. DT also carries cheesecloth at a buck a whack.. good to know.
and btw Aluminum foil under the puree - Bad idea.. wont come OFF the dried puree..
so about 5 SMALL sheets of dried puree to run thru blender to powder it.. ALL that work and ALL that time for about maybe half a cup??? not seeing a good return on this one..
so what do we have to show for ourselves... 26 pints of pumpkin chunks.. 6 bags of pumpkin puree in
freezer (at 6cups per bag) maybe?? half a cup of powdered pumpkin?? and a gallon bag of seeds for
roasting..
all very bland/near tasteless but will, we think/hope, blend well with store canned pumpkin to stretch it and we will add spices etc to make the many pumpkin things we love to make.
and did i mention the TWELVE pumpkins we DID NOT use???
(that a very nice lady wanted for HER pumpkin plans even tho i TOLD her our results.. hopefully she will
have a better overall result..

November 2, 2016

have been feeling - kind of off today, not sad exactly just.. i dont know...

last night i was rocking & cuddling the baby while mum & daddy were at a class. i still call her the baby but she has been four yrs old a whole 2 weeks now... :) == anyway we were rocking (she wasnt feeling good) and she complained about feeling like she was sliding off of my lap.. the baby is getting too big ;(... for grandma's lap sitting... sigh...

while we were rocking i realized how much i was missing MY baby.
youngest of our two wondrous daughters.. 

who turned 25yrs old today..
oh my goodness when did THAT happen!!!

how i miss those rocking chair moments. and having her more than half the state away wasnt helping.. am most incredibly proud of our girls and this one has put herself back in school to obtain her masters so we are very proud of her hard work.. in that she is very much like her sister.. :) how did we get so lucky???

but i am missing her.. am missing those cuddle & rock together moments when she was little- am missing hearing her laugh at silly jokes. or playing her music or all the small things a mom misses..

Happy Birthday sweetheart mom & dad are cheering you on.. and missing you too...