Mt. Hood, Part 1

After the Thorp/Westermeyer wedding, we went backpacking with the siblings of the bride and groom (Allana, Chris, and Stephen) and the father of the bride (Dr. Westermeyer).  We had a wonderful time, and kudo's to the Westermeyer's for being willing to go tromping off to the woods with us so soon after Allie's wedding.  Here are snapshots with mostly people as the main subjects.  The scenic pictures are coming in the next post.

 Barry packed this watermelon up to our campsite.  We then cooled it in a rock "bathtub" that Allie and Allana had made in their younger days.

 We all were greatly amused by Chris's hiking outfit.  

Christmas 2012

I'm trying to do a better job of posting my pictures closer to the time in which I actually took them.  I'm still working to get caught up on pictures from, ahem, 2 years ago.  But you see,  I have a hard time processing some of my most favorite images because I find them a bit intimidating.  So forgive me when I post age-old pictures, but this post is only one month old!  I was going to post pictures from this past weekend (shocking, I know!) but when I uploaded them, I found pictures from Christmas which I had completely forgotten about.  You can see more on my tumblr blog (you have to go back a few pages) but here are a few that I took with my real camera :)

Christmas was absolutely wonderful, but absolutely too short.  The more time we spend here in Loma Linda, with the stress and intensity that comes from full time medical school for Barry along with his many other commitments (Street Medicine, a Masters in Bio-ethics, grant writing, etc...) combined with my full time work as a nurse, plus part-time Masters work, it really starts to get old after a while.  We don't mind being busy, but when you're so busy that you can't stop to truly enjoy each other, when friends grow fainter because you are always studying, then you start to long for a slower pace.  We got to enjoy a blissful week of that slower pace over Christmas and it was just wonderful.  We're here for a reason and we don't regret that, but we are oh so thankful for family and true warmth that Christmas brings.

Ends and Beginnings

It's the end of blackberry season.  But also the beginning of many things; cooler weather, apples at the market, fall canning projects, sweaters and mittens (eventually....), apple pies, school....  And Margie has come to town!  Which makes me very happy indeed!  We have already had many culinary adventures together!

We've made:

Multiple thai noodle dishes :)

Roasted Tomato Soup (with cashew cream to make it vegan!)

Whole Wheat Garlic Knots

Plum crumble bars

Here's a few pictures of THE blackberry spot with Margie picking.  :)

Lately

Backyard peaches, fresh mint, a hammock hung over a bubbling creek, dam building, fresh peach pie...  Simple joys that have been our friends these past few days.

Plus, a bonus - the newlyweds!

Autumn Abundance

I know that it's winter for many of you, but it's still Autumn here in SoCal.  We have been super than excited to pick our first few tomatoes from our garden.  For those that have hear our gardening woes, you will understand how awesome this is for us!  And for those who haven't, yes - we should have had tomatoes long ago.  But we are just now getting them and for that, we are very thankful!  The other fruits include persimmons and either tangerines, clementines, or tangelos (we can't figure out which they are!)

On friday, I turned 20 pounds of this....

...into four loaves of this!  We're enjoying it immensely!

Purple Bounty

Birthday Apple Fritters (Vegan)

Once a year on my birthday, it is tradition to make homemade donuts.  This year, I made apple fritters, and they were blow-you-away good.  I made two batches - one vegan and the other non-vegan.  We then conducted a randomized and controlled study where we compared the vegan batch with the non-vegan.  It consisted of Barry closing his eyes and me feeding him.  He couldn't tell the difference and no one else could either.  I'm including the recipe below, but I only recommend that you make these once a year.  More often than that might get you addicted ;)  I also suggest that you invite lots of friends to help partake of the feast.  They are too good not to share!

Vegan Apple Fritters

Adapted from Lara Ferroni

400 grams flour (I used both cake flour and all-purpose.  Next time I'll sub in some white whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
75 grams sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons Smart Balance or vegetable oil
1 large or 2 small apples, chopped into small pieces (I used Honey Crisp and they were DELICIOUS!)
5 tablespoons applesauce
1/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
High-heat vegetable oil (canola, safflower or peanut) for frying

cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar or doughnut glaze as desired

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and spices. Add the butter to the flour mixture and work in with your fingers to break up the big pieces. Add the apple pieces, and stir to coat.

Whisk the applesauce, soy milk, and vinegar together, and add to the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. (I had to add quite a bit of flour here.  I indicated an additional 100 grams of flour in the directions but feel free to add more if the dough is still very sticky.)  You should have a dough that resembles scone dough… so it’ll will hold together but likely be a little sticky.

On a well floured surface, with well floured hands, press the dough out into a 1/3-1/2 inch deep round.  Cover, and let the dough rest while you bring the oil (2″ deep in a pot) up to 350F.

When the oil is hot, cut the dough into small rounds, about 2 inches in diameter.  I just used a spoon and my hands.  And I used plenty of extra flour here.  Don't aim for perfection, they'll look great regardless! 

Fry for 1 minute on one side, flip and fry for a minute on the other.  Turn over and repeat if they are not yet turning brown.  They should be a medium golden brown. Check the oil temperature often - it tends to cool off with each batch.

Drain the fritters on a rack above a paper towel, until cool to the touch. Then dust in cinnamon or powdered sugar or glaze with your favorite doughnut glaze (I used a cinnamon glaze. Yum!)

Friday Evening Supper on the Lawn

Just a few snapshots from last night's supper with friends out in our backyard.  In case you are wondering, we served the following:

Coconut Cream Trifle

Fresh zucchini and cucumber pasta salad

Rustic basil and walnut pesto with warm, homemade baguettes

Zucchini bread

Watermelon

Cherries

Coconut Cream

1/4 c sugar

8 tsp cornstarch

2 c coconut milk ( the rich stuff in the can)

1 tsp vanilla (or the seeds of one vanilla bean)

Mix together sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in coconut milk and heat over medium heat, whisking often until thickened. Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla and set aside for 5 minutes.  Pour into a glass bowl and press plastic wrap or parchment paper on top to prevent skin from forming. Chill before serving.


Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Beanilla.