Catching up

It's been a while since I posted. School has started and Kanga and Tigger are going to the same school know. For Peach Days they had a float with the school kids for the kid parade and Kanga hadn't had a chance to do it in previous years. I drove in to work so I could be home sooner and we got them loaded on the tractor trailer and they had fun. We gave Kanga a two-way radio so we could keep track of her and she had a little too much fun with it. They're behind the American flag.

We also celebrated Roo's and Angel's birthdays. He hasn't started walking yet, but he's getting bolder.  He is a delight most of the time, but he has gotten particular about how he sleeps. People talk about having a routine with your kids and he is so insistent on his that he won't go to bed any other way. He can be very funny when he is tired though.

 As per the tradition, I handed out the Lion House Cakes and Cupcakes book and Angel choose what I was going to make. Roo couldn't communicate what he wanted (and he might have shredded the book) so when Angel couldn't make up her mind between a couple, I just made one of her options into cupcakes. A co-worker asked if the the recipes in the Lion House book were difficult or complex. Not really. A lot of them call for a cake mix - Seriously. So Roo got devil's food cake cup cakes with whipped cream topping (I was also supposed to put toffee pieces on it, but figured he wouldn't notice if they weren't there). Angel, on the other hand got a chocolate cheesecake with Oreo cookie crust. That wasn't a mix and I was right proud of it. No picture of the cheese cake, I was too busy eating it every time it came out.

This Saturday, I was very domestic. I made pear honey - an equal mix of pear, pineapple, and sugar cooked until golden (in color) and bottled. The pears were from our own tree. I'm pretty bad at getting them when they are all ripe but the process softens up any of the harder ones. I worked on them all day, listening to an audio version of Pride and Prejudice, It was a good production and made the time go by a little quicker. After I ran the first batch I realized that I didn't have enough pint jars to process it all. I called a few people who we've swapped jars with in the past and even had Angel, while she was running errands pick up an extra dozen. In the end I had more jars then I needed, but I had it all done. I went through twelve pounds of sugar and about about about the same number of cans of pineapple in order to process my box of pairs. But we ended up with over 42 pints of pear honey.

This is just when when I had started and realized that I was going to need more bottles. My own mother used to bottle green beans, pears, peaches, cherries, salsa, and applesauce. A lot of times she would do it while we were at school, so I don't remember helping out very much. There is one year when she made it abundantly clear that we were going to help her bottle pears, no arguing. I wasn't prone to argue about helping her, but was surprised at her insistence. That's because pears are a lot of work. you have to peal and core them before you can do anything with them and they are a funny shape with makes things interesting. This year I felt like I got into a groove and think I found the best way to go about it. Wash the outside and cut it in half. using a vegetable peeler work right to left (I'm right handed) pulling the peeler towards you. Using the pear corer, which you can find in your local art/craft supply store under the tile of "clay molding tool" (shown below), remove the stem, core, and any pits or blemishes. Repeat on the other half. And repeat for the next pear, and the next, and the next, and the next..... You get the idea.

Amazingly my hand and back didn't ache like they have in past years. I made an effort to alternate sitting and standing at the sink and I was moving between the sink, stove and bath canner, which was on the deck on the propane stove. As I was in the the middle of it I told Angel that I thought that canning is one of the most rewarding work efforts you can do. It's also really cool when what your canning is your own produce. I gave away a total of nine pints to those that I borrowed jars from and still came out with over thirty-three pints. My dad, who introduced us to pear honey and gave us the recipe, said that it looked just like the way his mother's and grandmother's did which made me happy.

Dinner fit for a royal family

Sunday dinners tend to be special. We use the stoneware plates we got from our wedding. We have time to prepare something nice, and there isn't normally anything that is make us rush it. Often we'll even open a bottle of sparkling cider just to increase the special-ness. Tonight Kanga even said that she was pretending to be a princess during dinner. The conversations were, "Sire, would you pass the butter please?" Princess Kanga, I would be delighted to." We were a proper royal family.

What I found very entertaining about the whole thing is that we made tinfoil dinners, as known as "Hobo dinners." So as we forked out carrots, potatoes, turnips, and chicken out of the tinfoil wrappings on our stoneware plates we chatted like affable gentry, enjoying the meal and the wonderful weather (as seen through the windows).

It was a very nice day. We spent parts of it outside: swinging, reading, and talking to neighbors. I'm glad the kids enjoy playing outside. I went to fly Skippy, but the batteries in the remote needed to be charged. I'll have to fly him later. All in all, it's been very nice.

Mornings and a nice surprise

Angel and I get up early most mornings. With a 40 minute commute and ourselves pules two kids to get ready it takes a while to get out the door. I usually don't have too many problems getting up around 6:00 am as my sleep schedule has been go to bed at 12:00 am and get up at 6:00 am since I was in high school. It doesn't mean that I am running on all cylinders, but I get generally get myself out the door with Angel and the kids in tow at 7:10.

Despite the occasional lack of sleep my mornings tends to be the most productive time for me. In college I scheduled as many of my classes that I could between 8:00 and noon. Afternoons is when my body starts to slow and at 2:30 is when I generally need something to pep me up. I've learned that working out helps me stay alert. This is even true for my weekends. I get the most done between 8:00 and lunch, be it house work, or yard work. Afternoons are when I play games with Angel or the kids. I've recently taught Kanga and Tigger Uno. A bit ambitious when the box says ages 7 and up, but if they do well. Evenings are for reading, playing the piano, maybe watching a film or a show (off DVD since we don't have a signal). When I have classes I usually do that at night after everyone is asleep.

As a teenager, we rose early so Dad could catch the bus on weekdays. Saturday breakfast was served no later than 9:00 so you were dressed and ready by then (for the most part) if you wanted to eat. Sundays had church at varying times, so you never knew when you would be getting up. I never understood how friends of mine could sleep in to noon or even later. If I wasn't out of bed by 10:00 it felt like my body could not physically lie there anymore and would throw itself out. Sleeping in for me is anytime after 7:30.

We had church a little later than normal - it was stake conference - and so Angel and I were enjoying some extra time in bed when we heard the kids up and about. We've trained them well. While I have to get them out of bed at 6:30 on weekdays, they are generally up by 7:00 on the weekends. This means that we sleep in at our own risk. We could hear them running around. Normally they will grab a yogurt to eat and then play, but today they were all over the place. At one point we even though we heard the chest freezer in the basement open and close. I finally rolled out of bed and was coming out of our bathroom when I saw Kanga carrying a small bedside table into our room. I looked at her funny and she said, "We made Mommy breakfast in bed." Sure enough after setting the table next to our bed she pulled in one of our breakfast trays with a bowl of cereal (about 1/4 cup with a few drops of milk), a tortilla and some tortilla chips, a small boxed milk, a set of pop tarts, and a Popsicle. We were both very surprised. Angel pulled the tray up and started eating her breakfast in bed, just like the kids wanted. It wasn't bad, although the kids asked if they could eat the tortilla. I can't say that I'm against them showing this kind of initiative.

Eating in Boston

I've been advised to say that you shouldn't read this if you are hungry.

One of Angel's and my favorite things to do is try new restaurants. We enjoy the settings, the feel, and the food that we can enjoy. Boston did not disappoint. While breakfast was standard (Boloco - a very good burrito franchise) and lunches were basic fare (Burger King or the food court at Fenieul Hall), we had some excellent food and fun at dinner. I am not one to take pictures of my food and so, with one very notable exception I have no photos to post here. All I have to say about the hotel's restaurant is that they wanted $18 for a hamburger and they charged the same for the continental breakfast.

The first night we took a walk into the North End, a portion of Boston that was the home to many Italian immigrants. The place is covered in small Italian restaurants, many if them initially started as family businesses. Italian food is some of my favorite. Pasta, pizza, and the Italian soups are so good and filling. We decided to try one called Antico Forno Pizza Restaurant in Salem Street. They specialized in brick oven cooking, using it for both their pizza and as a way of preparing their pasta dishes. Many dishes will spend time in the oven after being assembled as the final stage of cooking. I ordered the Rigatoni Salsiccia which consisted of rigatoni pasta with sausage, marinara sauce and ricotta cheese. My family knows how I eat - shamefully fast - and so it is no small complement when I purposefully put my fork down between bites to savor each and every mouthful. I describe this as "Put the fork down good." Interestingly enough, Italian dishes tend to have this effect on my more than others and this was certainly "Put the fork down good." The restaurant won a "Best of Boston" award last year in dinning and are well towards another. We left full and very satisfied.

The next day saw us trying two new places. The first was a chocolatier recommended to us by one of Angel's coworkers. L.A. Burdick is located just up from Trinity Church south of the Public Gardens. In addition to delicacies Burdicks sells some of the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted. Made from chocolate shavings it has a rich, full flavor that doesn't just taste like a melted chocolate bar (which I have tasted), but adds something additional to the flavor. I tried both the dark and the white chocolate flavors while Angel let me sample some of her milk chocolate. The dark was my favorite, as I really love a strong chocolate flavor. Angel enjoyed it so much that her souvenir of choice was a large cup and saucer with their name which included a bag of their hot chocolate mix.

That night we tried a recommendation of one of the other conferences attendees, a delightful restaurant called Fire and Ice on Berkeley street, not far from L.A. Burdick. The dinning experience is one on an experimental kitchen where you choose the ingredients and then they cook it for you. The name is derived from the ice that keeps the individual ingredients cold and the the large (8 feet across) circular grill where you watch your food being prepared i.e. where they fire it up. While you wait you can see what other people put together and can chat with those around you. The ingredients fall into four areas: American (beef, ribs, hamburgers and hot dogs, potatoes, BBQ sause), Latin (Curizo, fajita, lime, peppers, onions, chilies), Italian (pasta, meatballs, marinara, garlic, parmesan, scallions, oil and vinegar) and Asian (egg and rice noodles, bock choy, ginger, teriyaki, tofu, pork and sausage, calamari and shrimp). They also had a salad bar. Many ingredients were glutton free and it was easy to build a vegan or vegetarian meal if you wanted to. I mixed rice noodles with chorizo, Italian sausage, and pork then added onions, green peppers, scallions, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. For a sauce I used a Asian sauce similar to teriyaki but a little milder but then peped it up with a mix of chili powder, sesame seeds and black pepper. The over all effect was taste and left that tingle in my mouth from the two different sausages. It's buffet style so you can mix and match to your hearts content. As Angel pointed out, "if you don't like it, it's your own fault." While waiting for the food to cook she chatted with some Chinese exchange students hoping to get into MIT and I met a man who was celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary that night. The whole experience was a lot of fun, combining a chance to try new foods with a fun opportunity to meet new people. We both agreed that we would love to have a Fire and Ice here at home.

Our last dinner was the best. This was for several reasons. While I had been looking forward to trying The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant of no little renown, I didn't think that we would need to call ahead. When we tried to get a table the next available one would be available in three hours. We could have sat at the bar, but we wanted a more private table for our last night in Boston. A little discouraged we set off to fin something else. We ended up at a little place called Finale located in the Park Plaza building at the point of Columbus Street (my view out the window was looking right at the sign.) It became clear that Finale specializes in desserts, holding an award for "Best of Boston - whoopie pie." However, they had a respectable selection of entries as well. Ironically, we didn't get a secluded table, but we were both hungry and thought it looked good. About a year ago my sister and her husband ,EA and Jate, introduced me to Hell's Kitchen. While I just watched the one season I was blown away by the creativity and artistry of the chefs. Since then I've wanted to try a meal like they put together with different flavored, served in a deliberate and artistic manner. Finale provided that. I had a roast chicken with a cake of polenta covered in a corn and avocado salad. The flavors blended nicely and I found myself very satisfied with the flavors I could enjoy depending on what parts of the meal I combined. We ordered our meal as a special with dessert attached and I tried honest to goodness Boston Cream served on a vanilla cake with a taste of gelato and cherry almond florentines and three mini whoopie pies. It was wonderful, "put your fork down good." I completely understand how they won the whoopie pie award. The final complement to our evening that night was due to the proximity of the tables to each other. We had learned that many Bostonians are open and very friendly if your sharing space with them. At lunch we spend almost a solid hour in conversation with some people who shared our table with us. At dinner as we were waiting for our food the couple next to us commented that we must be newlyweds. It was fun to see their reaction when we replied, "Oh, no. We've been married seven years and have two kids." Again we were able to converse for ten minutes or so while we waited for our food and they finished their drinks. They were a charming couple who had been married for 25 years and had sneaked out for dessert and needed to figure out what to feed their 15 year old. We were both very happy with the food, the company, and the atmosphere. So without further words, here is the only picture of food I've had any desire to post for public view - the Boston Cream from Finale. 

Laying up food for the winter

My mother has always canned and bottled food. Growing up we considered it a crime against the family if we bought jam or salsa as those were two of her more prolific stored foods. When we moved when I was ten my parents scouted out houses and found one with raspberries, boysenberries, strawberries, and apples and were were so excited about the jams, applesauce, etc that we could do. Peaches and pears are the two staple fruits she does and she often would do most of the canning while we were at school. Pears were the one exception. I have vivid memories of my mother telling us that our schedules were booked on the day it was time to do pears. Peaches, jams, salsas, and just about everything else she could do on her own. But pears were a group effort and we were all needed. My mother didn't "book" our schedules much, but pears were scheduled every year.

So you can imagine my trepidation when I decided that I was going to can pears this year. And not just any pears, but pears from our own tree. I originally thought of doing pear honey - a mix of pears, pineapple, and sugar (in equal quantities) that my father has done before - but I decided that I could can our modest crop and then have them all year round. Canned pears are one of my favorite fruit. Many times I even prefer them to fresh, but that depends on ripeness of the fresh pear.

We got quart jars from my wife's grandparents, as well as a bath canner cage - we had the bath canner. I looked up the instructions for canning in my Better Homes and Garden's cookbook (14th edition). I still have my 11th edition that I bought when I left for college. I tend to use them as my first "go-to" cook book for everything. The problem this time was that I basically said that I shouldn't can pears the way I've seen my mother do it for years. A quick phone call to my mother took care of that. After running to the store for some more lids, I saddled up to start canning.

 First I washed and peeled them, which generally takes the longest time. The common problem with working with pears is that it's hard to get a whole crop (or box) that's ripe all together. This was about how many pears I had to work with, but you'll notice they range in color from green to yellow. Depending on how ripe they are you can skin them by blanching them, but often you just have to take the skins off by hand, with a sharp knife. Then you core them and slice them. My right had is still feeling a little cramping.

 Next of course, you put them in jars, add a sweet syrup (we used a 2 C. water for 1 C. sugar), attach the lids and put them in the bath canner. Reading up on a few things I learned that you use water to better transfer the heat to the bottles and, consequently, the fruit inside. I learned from my parents long ago that canning is far more comfortable in warm weather when you have a Camp Chef stove you can put it on outside. I was glad that I didn't run out of propane partway through, but even had enough for our fire pit to cook dinner over.

 After you pull the bottles out, they cool and create a vacuum inside the bottle which seals the lids. We had one that didn't seal for some reason - so we're eating those pears, but in the end we got 10 quarts of pears for this next year. I'm also glad that we were able to preserve a lot of fruit that would have otherwise gone bad. These bottles were the first batch we did and they all sealed.

This picture was from earlier that day. Tigger and Kanga were playing with the neighbor's pets, a couple of dogs and a couple of cats. I like their cats. 1 - because they're not bad mousers. 2 - they're pretty friendly. and 3 - they aren't mine. 

So Excited!

You know the saying, "Simple minds, simple pleasures." That's a pretty good description of me most of the time. Those who know me understand that the reasons I get excited are not always the most exciting to others. You have been warned!

Last night we were enjoying the beautiful, post-rainstorm weather and I was playing Traffic Jam while sitting in the shade of our fruit trees. As I was sitting there it occurred to me and Angel that we had no idea when we should pick the fruit. She checked the USU extension site and started describing what the fruit should look like. I was thinking, "Hey! Our peaches kind of look like that. Hey! Our apple are about that color. Hey! The pears are kind of how they described them." So, we started poking and prodding (or rather pulling and gently squeezing) and ended up with a decent collection of peaches and apples. The pears were not quite ready to leave the tree, but they will be soon.

 We brought them in and made a fruit salad for dinner. I was also able to prepare the remaining peaches for freezing/lunches. We need to research additional ways of preserving fruit as we have limited experience and time to do it. Freezing is easy and we love putting the frozen fruit in smoothies for breakfast or milkshakes. I often silently thank Darpa and Muscles for their wedding gift of a nice blender whenever I make a breakfast smoothie. Darpa is quite the master of "blender" drinks and so felt that every couple should have a good blender. I'm looking forward to putting them in my drinks. We'll have to look into it a bit more, but I think we will need to thin the peaches early in the season. The largest we found on our tree is smaller than my fist (which is a decent size) but most are about the same size as a large apricot.

That is easy for the peaches, but the pears and apples don't freeze well. My father often makes (or helps my mother make) Pear Honey, a mixture of pears, pineapples, and sugar that you cook down and bottle. It's great on toast and other breads, and I imagine that it wouldn't be a bad marinade or dessert filling/topper. That is what I would like to do with our pears.

We happen to have three apple trees and they appear to be different varieties. We believe that one is a gala apple, but don't know what the other two are (one looks like a green delicious). Angel wants to do fruit leather and I would love to do apple butter or apple juice concentrate. We'll have to borrow equipment either way, so we'll see how many apples we get and what we can do.

We are very excited about having fresh fruit and have been hoping to get fruit trees in the past. Moving into a house with fruit trees was an added bonus. This weekend is Peach Days in Brigham City and it's kind of cool that we have a peach tree as well. So excited!

I'm sitting on my back deck watching clouds float over the mountains to the north of us. It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon after attending church. I do feel truly fortunate to live in such a wonderful area with such lovely views. We bought this house back in October and were not able to enjoy the deck or back yard before it got too cold and the snow flew. Now, the kids are playing with cars below us, the neighbors are sitting and chatting, and the birds are singing. It is still a bit chilly, but very manageable and very pleasant. I'm also using the opportunity to copy over Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight onto my iPod so I can listen to it on my way to work. That is one advantage of a 40 minute commute. Not that there are many.

Both my mother and father will write a letter detailing the events of the week to the family members that do not live nearby. I know that many of their letters contain the phrase, "As I thought about what to write about this week." As I see this blog as something similar I too had the opportunity to think back on this week and contemplate what to write. I hope that as this blog is accessible to me in many places and in many ways, I'm hoping that as things occur I'll be able to jot things down so I won't have to remember. But for this first week, it did take some contemplation. After some thought It occurred to me something I could share that grandfather might find worth writing down.

I learned this last week why you need to keep your grill clean. I enjoy barbecuing chicken and particularly enjoy putting the sauce on it after it's been on the grill for a while. I won't show you a picture of the grill in it's current state as I am a little ashamed that it is as bad as it is. I was planning on cleaning it yesterday, but the weather was bad and there were several other things that needed to be done. However, I will need to clean it before I can use it again because last week when I did use it we ate zombie chicken.

I lit the grill and laid some aluminium foil on it in an attempt to keep the chicken from adding to the mess and put the chicken on it, closed the lit and went inside. The problem was that the residue at the bottom of the grill had started on fire. I didn't think this would be a problem and had adjusted the propane accordingly. What I didn't know was that the smoke caused by the fire was really dirty smoke. When I came back to check on the chicken ten minutes later, I was met by a sight I can only refer to as zombie chicken. The meet was grey and flecked with black bits. the grill smelled of burned charcoal (no that is not redundant) and overall it just looked unwholesome. Need less to say, I turned the grill off and we put the rest of the chicken on a pan on the stove. In the end it all tasted good, but you can be sure that I will clean that thing before I cook on it again.