Late summer vegetables…
… every week – wonderful food grown locally!
Three hours of gentle rain on the 24th.
And then some cool, refreshing days.
Mornings getting darker.
We’ve had heat and smoke more than cool.
It has been exhausting.
End of August.
It is still hot, although upper 80’s, NOT 90’s thankfully!
It is very smoky.
My 3 air conditioners and 2 fans run for 20 hours out of 24. (***Note: I am extremely thankful that I have the A/Cs and fans AND that I can pay the electric bill – It wasn’t as bad as I feared for July!)
BUT.
I realized this morning, that although I will certainly be glad when it gets cooler and the air clears and fire danger lessens … we are in a routine that works for Bear, Auggie and me. When I shut off the air conditioners and fans and open the windows, we enjoy the quiet and the cool morning. We go outside. We try to get 3 or sometimes 4 walks in before the sun gets high enough to heat things up. I do any cooking or baking with the windows open.
Once it warms, the house gets closed up, the air conditioners and fans are back on – I go to work, Bear and Auggie mostly nap.
Late afternoon, as I am fading a bit, Bear gets up. We do a very quick outing to the edge of the woods and then back in the cool house for a treat. A little play time as I fix supper and by the time we’ve all eaten it is starting to cool enough for a slow walk in the woods.
We take a longer walk about 8:00 when it is even cooler and many times there is a light breeze.
Back in the house, a final treat all around and we settle in for sleep.
It is a slower routine in the heat and smoke.
While it is most definitely not my favorite season, I am able to enjoy this summer pace. We are comfortable – mostly :) ! The fresh produce from local growers is at its peak and I am loving every bite of the local bounty.
It is nearly mid-August. Fall is on the horizon. But every day is a gift of time with Bear and Auggie and I am grateful for this time.
According to an article in the local paper, July was the Fifth Hottest July on Record . We had plenty of days in the 90’s but some of the upper 90/100 forecast did not come to pass so YEA!
Still, I am happy that we’ve cooled a little, although part of the reason for the cooling is smoke from fires in Washington, British Columbia and Montana.
BUT!! – they are saying that there is a chance that some of the monsoon moisture hitting other parts of the Rocky Mountain West, just might make it into our territory. THAT would be welcome!
Meanwhile …
A broccoli rubble beetza! The sweet roast beets go nicely with the salty broccoli-asiago cheese mix.
On to a non-vegetable treat: ice cream.
Early last Summer, I saw No-churn Birthday Cake Ice Cream from In Jennie’s Kitchen . I have an ice cream maker so I took the easy route and churned it. The cake mixed in with the ice cream, absorbing some of the cream is very good! I made it several times. Last year I made it with a bakery white cake but this year I took it up a notch and made it with Mel’s Kitchen Café Mel’s Kitchen Café Lemon Blueberry Cake .
The other thing I like about the recipe is no eggs. I am not a fan of the custardy ice cream base even though that is supposed to be the best and according to gourmet recipes … the more eggs, the better. Jennie’s recipe is heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla … plus the cake. I’ve been using the cream, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla base in various ice creams and not only do I like it, but it is almost too easy.
Then one day I wanted ice cream but did not have heavy cream. I did have cashews and I have often subbed cashew cream for heavy cream in recipes. I gave it a try and it worked and I liked it. Heavy cream is mostly fat and while cashew cream has fat it also has protein and fiber. Probably more than you care to know…
This week’s ice cream is to be vanilla-mint with chocolate brownie crumbles in lieu of cake.
The cashews soaked for about 4 hours and then a whiz in the Vita-Mix…
… and we have cashew cream.
Ready to mix the ice cream: cashew cream, sweetened condensed milk, peppermint extract, a wee bit of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
The container and utensils go in the freezer when the ice cream goes in the maker.
Thirty minutes in the ice cream maker and we have the base.
Mix in the brownie crumbles and freeze. The brownies are Mel’s Kitchen Café Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies .
Vanilla mint ice cream with brownie crumbles. It’s pretty good :) !!
Back to vegetables.
This weeks box and extras: purple onions, zucchini, tomatoes, new potatoes, cucumber parsley, braising greens, lettuce mix 1/2 cabbage and the extras being a whole cabbage and red beets with greens. More good eating this week!
And a post would not be complete without some help from Bear (so tired!) and Auggie.
Flathead Cherries are IN season!
Some years ago, I purchased 20 pounds. It was not a completely happy time with the pitting, etc.
Twenty pounds of cherries is a lot of cherries and I guess if I had to travel far to get them and/or the $$ savings was GREAT, I would … might do it.
I’ve been buying about 2 pounds at a time.
Two pounds is a very manageable quantity and by the time I’m done pitting, I am happy to be done but it is a quick chore.
There are cherry stands along the road on my way into Bigfork.
It is fun to stop and chat and get some cherries.
And today, it is the last day of July … AND tomorrow is August 1 which is day one of my birthday month. Hoo-Rah!
It is still hot and except for a 24-36 hour period … Tue afternoon until Thu morning cool off (back door cold front per NOAA), 90’sF are still the forecast. But it will be August and not July.
Onward!
It is 7:31 p.m. as I start this post.
I have not had my supper.
I have 1.5 hours of work yet to do.
But, dear Lord, it has been a Good Day!!
This morning, I had to go to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to renew my driver’s license. Despite receiving a card that alerted me to my expiring license AND an unexpected bonus of now the DMV does renewals by appointment … AND making an appointment months ago … I had faint hope of things going well because … the DMV.
In nearly 40 years of having to deal with the DMV, I have had maybe one time where things went lickety-split. Typically it has been a show up, get a number, wait-wait-wait, deal with a crotchety-crabby person and FINALLY come away with whatever.
But, today … I arrived for my 8:00 a.m. appointment at 7:45. There was shade parking for the Jeep and Mr. Bear. I entered a new building to see a small crowd. Oy-vey! It is a 30 mile drive and I needed the facilities and WOW – they were beautiful. The new building was not fancy but it was light and clean and pleasant. I returned to the area by the inner door to the DMV … more folks. I asked: “Does everyone have an 8:00 a.m. appointment ???”. No, but 3 of us did.
At 8:03 a.m. the DMV doors opened to a reception person!!! Prior DMV involved entering a waiting room with a counter beyond and the aforesaid crochety-crabby persons behind the counter did NOT even make eye contact with any new arrivals. A number thing was just inside the door. Various signage referred to various documents to be filled out. Gah. But this morning, the reception person quickly asked “purpose, appointment?” and gave appropriate paperwork and direction. I was ticked off the appointment list, handed my form and about 3 minutes later was the first to be called for processing. Hoo-rah!
And then!!!
And then, I proceeded to an actual chair in front of a desk and was dealt with very professionally and efficiently – so efficiently that I was back in the Jeep and headed for home at 8:15 a.m. with my temporary renewal license … permanent license to be mailed to me tout suite!
Good Grief.
Smallish town Montana, acting like the big leagues.
I was thrilled.
It set me up for the whole day.
All the rest of the day as I worked and took care of Bear, Auggie and me … I kept thinking that what I thought would be a gruesome start to the day turned out to be so pleasant.
A good day!
https://instagram.com/p/BVVYmXmhr3q/
So, that is my FAVORITE Instagram photo to date! I took it with my laptop webcam. I had Instagram open and Auggie was snuggling with me and he looked directly at the screen/camera … I HOPED – so I clicked and caught us. There is a lot of “noise” but I kind of liked that and thought it made the photo look a bit like a painting plus it disguised some 60-something wrinkles…
Whatever – I love it!
What I do not love is Facebook. I think it is the absolute worst user interface and horrible terminology. I guess “poke” has been removed. Still. Yuck.
Off the soapbox mostly.
Instagram is owned by Facebook … I think. I had an Instagram account for a bit and finding out the connection to Facebook, I deleted my Instagram.
Gah … but I have an iPhone and an iPad and they play so nicely with Instagram. And my favorite blogs do Instagram. AND, I have watched the BBC series “Shetland” and become enamored of the Shetland Islands and there are some phenomenal Shetland Island photographers!
And so I caved once more because it allows me to do quick “posts”. A blog post can take from 30-60-90 minutes. Instagram … well it can be Instant!
The photos in the Instagram feed display a bit of whatever I include in the caption. If you click on a photo, you will go to the Instagram interface and see the entire caption. If you view on a compatible device and the multiple image icon is displayed, you can view the several images by swiping left. AND, if I figure out the video thing, and the video icon is displayed, you can view the video – YEA!…hopefully.
If you LOVE my Instagram feed, the best way to see everything is to sign up for an Instagram account and then “Follow” me. You do not have to post if you don’t want to, but an account allows you to follow me and anyone else you might want to as well as seeing full captions, comments/commenting, watching video and seeing multiple images. And if I ever get to doing the “Live” and/or “Stories” you could see those also :) … think Auggie and Bear in the woods…
I still find it incredible that many people follow hundreds and are followed by hundreds/thousands/millions! It is not the followed by but the following that is astounding to me. How can a person be interested AND have the time to follow hundreds…
A mystery.
I digress.
My primary point was to explain the Instagram feed and options to view my Instagram.
Happy Wednesday!