Archive for ‘November, 2012’

The river walk

Bear and I often go to a river access…actually a slough access – a slough that feeds into the Flathead River which feeds into Flathead Lake.

It is a fishing access with two boat ramps.

It is one of the places Karl and I frequented.

It is one of the places where I have taken photos in all seasons, in various light and of various views.

Today, with Bear and no one else around…

A wintry looking sky…deceiving…it has warmed quickly after several cold days. The sky looks wintry due to a foggy-mist from the quick warm-up.

From various view points…

the river walk.

Joyful things

At the “late” hour of 6:00 p.m., it is now full dark.

But, this morning and all day, the sun did shine…

I tell the herbies to stand tall and look to the sun and take it in. The real thing is always the best and it is in short supply at 48 North in the Winter!.

With the sun shining, I mixed a bit of my new favorite condiment: pickled stuff. I started with pickled onions. Last week I added some fennel and this morning some english cucumber. The “pickling juice” is apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and mustard seeds. It is a difficult recipe…mix the juice, pour it over thinly sliced stuff, let sit for several hours – stirring it every time you walk past it.

After awhile, I put it in a jar and stick it in the refrigerator.

It is great on a sandwich…I mean GREAT! Everything softens, sweetens, tangs and intensifies.

It is also good on greens. I like to massage some olive oil into a bit of kale, throw in some quinoa, toss on the pickled mix and let it sit in the frig. When I’m ready to eat it I add some avocado and apples, peaches or berries…maybe some sunflower or pumpkin seeds. It is good.

Bob aka Mr. Grumpy – took his sun with a bit of dryer heat.

Bear had his partial sun with a treat after a morning walk.

Sunshine, good food, time shared, joyful things.

Our Thanksgiving Day

Yep, I completely wrecked the turkey. I’ve had and made great turkey and ok turkey and it is really pretty hard to wreck one…overcooking is one way and that is what I did. It was a smallish, fresh turkey and I prepped it like I do a fresh chicken and set the timer at what I thought would be the halfway mark. But the halfway mark was already too late. Bob, Bear and I all had some of it – I actually roasted the bird the day before TDay…and although it certainly didn’t taste “off” as in tainted, it just did not taste good and I realized it had never smelled good and I dithered about what to do. Thinking I was just disappointed and my taste might be off I thought: gravy! But eventually in some moment of angst, I wrapped the whole bird up and put it in the trash. And I wasn’t sorry the next day! And the thought of turkey did not appeal.

Plan B.

Plan B was actually my original Plan A. Looking at the turkeys when I first went to buy and thinking about the lack of room in both my refrigerator and budget – and it was just me so I could have what I wanted…I thought buffalo (bison technically) – VERY American West. My mother had just given me a recipe for a buffalo meat loaf that she and Bill liked. AND – I recently purchased a meatloaf cookbook:

The Meatloaf Bakery is a restaurant in Chicago and most of the loaves are shaped into individual servings in pastry shapes: cupcakes, pie wedges, etc. and topped (decorated) with pipped mashed potatoes.

The change from turkey dinner back to meatloaf was easy to accomplish, but I admit to an initial loss of confidence. If I could wreck something as simple as a roast turkey, could I still make meatloaf….or pie???

I relaxed, got my kitchen mojo on…

…enjoyed the process…

And all was well.

It was a balmy (for late November) 44F.

We were all outside most of the afternoon

I didn’t make meatloaf cupcakes but I did make cheesy-garlic red mashers, smothered my piece of meatloaf with them and browned the potatoes under the broiler. Garden green beans with cherry-basil-balsamic syrup on the side. I was happy and full.

Bob, Bear and I hope all had a Happy Day.

Let the season of holiday madness begin :) !!