The camellias in the front yard are looking pretty right now. I guess that’s one nice thing about renting a home. Normally I would never buy or plant a camellia. I know the flowers are pretty, but the rest of the year, the plant is just blah. Nothing I’d ever pay attention to, but I’ll certainly enjoy the benefits while they hang around. Might as well, since they are here to stay.

In other news, I’ve been having multiple mail and comment moderation issues, so if you have emailed me in the last couple of weeks and I haven’t replied, please email me again. The problem has been fixed, but I’m afraid I might have missed a couple emails. And if you have commented and it isn’t posted yet, email me and let me know.

I’ve been doing some serious cleaning today. I spent this morning scrubbing the oven and polishing the counters. Sometimes I don’t know what the point is of this. It gets dirty the very next day. At least it feels good and clean for five minutes or so I guess? It makes me feel a tad bit better, but not really. Anyone know of a good eco-friendly cleaner that gets off grease? No matter how much I scrub the stove, I still see a sheen of grease. It bothers me to no end, but I’ve gone so long now without using products containing bleach or petroleum that I don’t want to cave now! Vinegar, baking soda, and castille soap have not managed to work on grease.

I know this isn’t the most exciting post I’ve ever produced (are any of them really?), but I’ve been having bad luck with picture taking these last few months. Maybe I’m just not as focused…I don’t know. I’ve made a few good eats these last couple weeks, but haven’t been able to produce an adequate picture to show you so I’ve been quiet around here. Although, I found a new cooking blog that has made me want to really get to work in the kitchen again, so hopefully I’ll have something to show for all the work I know I’ll put in. Doesn’t whole wheat cranberry-rosemary bread sound good? Or what about chicken, olive and lemon soup? I think I’m going to make the soup tonight, along with pumpkin spice cupcakes for dessert. I roasted my sugar pumpkin last night so I’ll be all prepared today. Let’s see if I’ll manage that and math homework (test tomorrow! yay!).

Hope you all are well.

So lately I have been trying to eat locally. Not all locally, but I am making a more concentrated effort. I’ve discovered that there is a farmer’s market every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all reasonably close by. I also recently discovered a food co-op in Sacramento if I need it. It’s not as difficult to swing eating locally as I thought it would be. It helps a bunch living in the bountiful Sacramento Valley in Northern California. I can find almost any produce that I would normally eat, locally. Even kiwis!

My backyard garden is tiny (very tiny), but already I have used my harvested herbs on a regular basis (lot’s of pesto) and although our veggies are not close to sustaining us, it’s nice to have a meal every now and then featuring something that was raised right in our backyard, like today for instance.

After my visiting family went home yesterday, I was left with loads of food in my kitchen. So I had to use up some of it and quick! I decided that I would make a mish-mash experiment meal with whatever leftovers I could find. I still had a bag of fresh black eyed peas, corn on the cob and onions from the farmer’s market on Friday, also some tomatoes were ripe enough to harvest from the backyard. I boiled the corn and cowpeas together and then sauteed them in olive oil with quartered tomatoes, diced onions and garlic. While that all was going, I cooked brown rice in vegetable broth and more diced garlic. I mixed all the food together and served it hot on top of a bed of baby greens. It was a mighty fine lunch. Joe even had a local snack today of sliced cucumbers from our backyard. He let them soak overnight in white balsamic vinegar and sliced jalapeno. Yum!

And look what we discovered last week!

I had wondered where those two robins had run off to. Apparently raising a nest full of children! I can hear them peeping away right now.

I tried this zucchini orzo recipe from Barbara Kingsolver’s book- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’d have to say it was very tasty (a far step up from Pasta Roni, which I have been guilty of making often in my past) and so simple to make. Have an over abundance of zukes? Receiving some as gifts from friends? Now you have one more recipe to add to your arsenal.

I enjoyed my zucchini orzo with a simple salad of baby greens, lemon juice and cotija cheese and spicy refried black beans also sprinkled with cotija cheese (I really like that cheese, can you tell?). Ridiculously simple, ridiculously good.

I harvested so much basil from my garden that I just had to make pesto. Last season I made pesto with a food processor and it turned out fine. It wasn’t the most amazing thing I’d ever had. I was about to make it that way again this year, until I found the more traditional method Heidi had written about. It involves hand chopping all of the ingredients. It sounds time consuming and not worth the extra effort…it’s all going to taste the same anyways right?

I thought that, but I was still curious. I have this habit of imagination left over from childhood that I never got rid of and hand chopping various herbs takes me back to making “potions” as a child. Whatever ingredients you can find -mash, chop, or grind with a stone you picked up off the ground and voila! You can make any magical potion you need. Same goes with buying cream that comes in the little glass milk jugs. It’s fun to feel like I have a milkman. I’m weird.

Anyways, I ended up making the best tasting, best textured pesto I’ve ever had. Erin even seconded it’s tasteworthiness. The chopping didn’t take very long and I wouldn’t have much noticed if it did. The process was enjoyable. I felt as if I had much more control over the end result.

I used the yummy pesto in our steak sandwiches which consisted of whole wheat rolls, fried flat iron steak (on a cast iron pan over the bbq), green bell peppers, lettuce, Crème fraîche, and lastly, the pesto. I’m anxious to try a vegetarian version of this. Zucchini comes to mind, Anna has been making delicious looking meals with them. I’ve been thinking next time someone hands me a free bag of zucchini (I know that will happen this summer) I think I’ll bread some slices and fry them up as a meat substitute…or maybe fried eggplant? I’m expecting around 8 from my garden in a couple more weeks. Yum.

I didn’t get to eat at many good restaurants in England, but we did manage to find a very traditonal tea place in Shrewsbury to have breakfast. I had scrambled eggs on toast with tea and Joe had scones and toast. The eggs were rich and creamy and the toast was quality wheat bread. It was perfect.

So now that I am home I have been on an English food kick. I made scrambled eggs on toast, but they didn’t measure up to what I had experienced in Shrewsbury. While my scrambled eggs are very good, they weren’t curd-like enough. They weren’t milky enough. I’m not really sure how to make them the way that they were.

Today I tried my hand at baking scones and this time I think I was right on. I was just so sad that no one was home to enjoy the pure zen-like experience of the first bite. I laughed at myself because I banged my hand on the table. I had to stop myself from moaning. Seriously. I had always laughed at Daisy Martinez of Daisy Cooks! because of the ridiculous display she makes after the first bite of the meal, but I think I understand now. It can’t be avoided.

I made lemon cream scones from Beth Hensperger’s book, The Bread Bible. I substituted half of the all purpose flour with white whole wheat flour and made sure to use very high quality cream. The scones were topped with crème fraîche and lemon curd and I can’t stress this enough, use those two toppings! It’s so perfect that way!

Last night we had Joe’s oldest niece spend the night so she could go to “Take Your Kids to Work Day” with him today. Joe, as you may know, works as a computer programmer at Intel. I have no idea what activities they are doing right now, but I assume it’s similar to when I went to “TYKWD” at her age. I was about 11 when I got to go to my stepmom’s work at Raytheon. It was a blast. I got to see lasers in action, get dressed up in a clean suit and use microscopes. And the best part of all was that I got to go do all that while most of my classmates were in school. I guess they finally changed the date to June so that missing school wouldn’t be a problem. Boo!

I got up early this morning and made bacon and pancakes for them. Not something I regularly do for others, but it’s so much more rewarding having someone else eat and enjoy the breakfast I’ve made for a change. I think I’ll have to invite her over more often!

So since Joe wasn’t going to come home for lunch like he normally does, I ate a quick and light lunch (since we barely have a thing to eat here, it’s basically a foraged lunch. I really need to go to the grocery store today). It was varied and simple, but filled me up just fine. Crackers and pepper jack cheese, strawberries, herb salad, home brewed iced tea and a homemade chocolate chip/walnut/oatmeal cookie. Perfect! Who says you have to always whip up something fancy? I think I’m with Poco-Cocoa on this one!

The last few mornings I have been enjoying my breakfast outdoors while the weather is still tolerable. The garden gets my extra attention since I’m not dying to come inside and get away from the heat. It’s nice because I can listen to everyone go about their lives- someone is sawing wood, the new neighbor arrives home on her bike and greets her pet, the other neighbor’s little girl is crying again, insects are buzzing and chirping, and a multitude of birds are singing. The past few days that I have been outside, I’ve seen two robins inspecting our tiny back lawn, looking for worms no doubt. I wonder if they are a couple. One always stays a little bit longer than the other, usually to stare at me quizzically. As soon as I put down my knitting to stare back, he flutters off. So I have taken to pretending to not notice him inspecting me so he’ll stay longer. That’s when he starts to hop a little closer.

Yesterday I went to Placerville to shop for used books. They have a sizable used bookstore on the main street that has tons of great books, a much better selection than anything here in Folsom. I intended on buying some sort of bird book so I can more easily identify the more obscure birds seen in our yard. I bought “The Private Lives of Garden Birds” by Calvin Simonds. I first read the chapter on robins and found his narrative to be right on. He writes ” As it is, they [the robins] are merely puzzled to find me outside at an hour when they expect to have the garden to themselves.” I now wonder about all those perplexed looks that the little robin gave me the other mornings. He did look quite surprised to see me.

This morning I made lemon muffins (which, by the way, are excellent!) and sat outside intending to capture a photograph of this robin, but perhaps my eagerness put the little robin off. I heard every sort of bird song known to man, and saw hummingbirds hovering around too, but I did not see my little robin. Mr. Simonds later writes “birds are very sensitive when they are the object of human attention.” he goes on to say ” so it’s to your credit with your robins that you are frequently seen, yet mostly preoccupied with your own affairs”.

So I didn’t capture a picture of my little garden friend today, but maybe I’ll get lucky eventually. I’ll have to remember to be preoccupied this time.

I made banana bread last night.

I’ll leave you with the beautiful voice of Nina Miranda.

I would have posted last night but I was wiped out. To celebrate International Knitting Day yesterday, I invited a few knitting buddies over for, of course, knitting, and some snacks. I went overboard as usual with the food and made too much. I really need to work on cutting back. I decided to try out some new recipes (although, isn’t there a rule about not doing that?) from a couple of cookbooks recently purchased. I made focaccia bread from The Bread Bible, shortbread cookies from Super Natural Cooking, and a chocolate & zucchini cake from Clotilde’s new C&Z cookbook. I had Joe cook the “nuggets of happiness” (so deemed by his coworkers) which consist of a small chunk of chicken and a slice of jalapeno wrapped in bacon, skewered and cooked on the bbq. Of course there was a much needed assortment of fruits and veggies because uh, meat and sweets can get a bit heavy on the stomach.

I was surprised that everything turned out pretty successfully. I think my favorite was the Ginger- Amaranth Shortbread from Heidi’s new cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. They were deemed after a taste test, a hybrid of shortbread and gingerbread cookies. We didn’t even get to the C&Z cake because it was just too much food. So I’m sending off a slice to Joe’s parents today (along with a few pieces of shortbread!) so it won’t all go to waste.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

My crane from the Paper Crane Project came in the mail today. I won’t be submitting these though. I have a few ideas of some pictures I want to take with it, but I have to find some time to go out to where I want to take the pictures. Hopefully I’ll be able to later this week.

I thought I’d give you all the link to the pancake recipe I found. It is ridiculously basic, but it’s so good! The recipe is perfect all by itself (oh! except I used butter instead of shortening!), but would probably work well as a base recipe for more interesting pancakes. Maybe substituting some of the regular flour with white whole wheat flour or adding bananas or blueberries. I’ll be experiementing with these soon!

I froze the pancakes from Sunday so I could enjoy the leftovers this week. It’s so easy to pop right into the toaster oven…the things Eggo can get away with! Did you know they sell boxed pancakes that you can zap fry in your microwave? Why spend $4 when it’s so easy and cheap to make them yourself and freeze them? Another item sold at grocery stores that bothers me is bottled cinnamon and sugar. Do we not have the time to mix it ourselves?? We’re being sold so much packaged convenience that it’s hard to remember how easy a little inconvenience can be.

And that’s my rant for the day. I’ll be back with some happiness later. Hee hee.