sugar & pepper

it was easy but it tastes like yogurt

I just dove into a large offering of Panne Cotta and I have to say, Ms. Garten, that this was really easy (mix two, heat three, add bean seeds and mix all together) but it tastes just like the Brown Cow Vanilla Yogurt with cream on top which I buy at Whole Foods for the girls.

Is it me or should it taste like fancy yogurt? And now that I have about 2 quarts of the stuff, who is going to come over and help us eat it?!!

The real trouble here is that I think the Panne Cotta has got the yogurt beat in the calorie department by about 10 to 1. This stuff is just BEGGING to jump onto my hips!!

I am most happy in California~

When it feels like we are living anywhere but California.

After almost 10 years of living here, it still doesn't feel like home to me. I love some of the people some of the time, many of the places most of the time and hate the traffic all the time. The view from our back door is so pleasing and calming and so very NOT California, however. It is soothing and calm, relaxing and invigorating. It is the result of hard work done and hard work to come.

Perhaps that is the work of life: To make wherever you live your home. In spirit, body and mind. For me all those things are connected best when I see the laundry on the line, the chickens in their yard, the geese asking for food and the girls feeding birds, talking to birds or playing with each other.  

I am finally at the stage with this house where I can do some sewing. Do some laundry and have a place to put it. Make pancakes. Create the home I've wanted for oh so long. I am so happy and so blessed to be here, with our sweet little family~I think it is just the idea of California being more like SoCal that bothers me a bit. Sometimes I want to fit in a bit more (or a LOT more). And sometimes I'm fine being the family that creates and prospers in being an anomaly in California more often than not.

Thank you, California, for making me stretch. Now, if you can just get something done about that giant deficit and the state of public education, I'll consider us staying for another decade. Peace out.

wacky cake, baked with ease

It is my habit, upon entering the library, to peruse the New Titles section each time. I am especially keen on the Non-Fiction section, it being the source of books on knitting, sewing, gardening, crafting and oh so much more. Today I was under the spell of the cooking gods, as they showed me the way to *both* The Craft of Baking and All Cakes Considered. I had read much about each of these in different reviews and spent time perusing them on the bookshelves at the store but had yet to crack open the pages in my own...kitchen.

Without further ado upon entering our home, I sped through All Cakes Considered. I stopped for a long visit at the "...Introduction to Cake Baking" then paused at "All about Pans" and finally tuned into the recipes. This is a collection to be proud of, Melissa, and I'm happy to be a part of your cake world. Each recipe has a wonderful story or comment to go with it, tips along the way for doing some things new (I'd never thought of separating an egg through my fingers before, and though I'm not likely to try it, as I was taught the "crack the egg in half and use each half back and forth to coax the whites from the yolk" method but was duly impressed that there was indeed more than one way to separate an egg) and some things the "old" way. Not much to be improved upon folding techniques at this time, I'll say.

Big sister in the kitchen, practicing her technique

We were in search of a chocolate cake and since we'd spent the last of our milk on our morning waffles, we had to go with something simple. Upon which we found:

Mary Carole Battle's Mother's Wacky Cake: Chocolate Cake with Less Fuss

serves 8 to 10~from All Cakes Considered

Bake in a 9 inch square or round baking pan

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

6 Tablesoons vegetable oil

1 cup cold water

In an 8-inch- or 9-inch-square cake pan, sift the dry ingredients. Make three holes; pour the vanilla in the first, vinegar in the second, and oil in the third.

Pour the cold water over the mixture, and stir until no longer lumpy. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. If desired, top with seven-minute frosting.

This cake is really wonderful. A nice refreshing chocolate taste, something that will have you hankering for more and not overwhelmed with the "too much" that chocolate cake can sometimes bring. Soft, moist and best of all, easy!

girls, girls, girls!

We have officially started our farm! And the work that comes with it~building coops, reinforcing shelter, catching chickens and more. We had a great time traveling a bit North to find Split Rail Farms and a very large number of laying hens to choose from. We picked six: Mustard (shown here with big sister), Sugar, Pierre (shown with Papa), Providence and Lewis & Clark. That gives us: 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Black Australorp and 2 Ameraucanas.

We picked six: Mustard (shown here with big sister), Sugar, Pierre (shown with Papa), Providence and Lewis & Clark. That gives us: 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Black Australorp and 2 Ameraucanas.

We are looking forward to some farm fresh eggs in the near future and we're also looking for a farm name!

hope for all

We are in a hotel room for the second day, hoping for a few things:

relief from the lice that have invaded our family

success at readying our tiny home from the upcoming El Nino winds and rain that are headed our way

the ability to share with our children the hope for recovery in Haiti and the need to support the country as best we can. This, tempered with the desire to continue helping those in need in our back yard.

Some of the things that we are supporting, physically or otherwise:

craft hope : for you crafty mamas! make two of your next project and share the comfort and help Haitians at the same time

clinton foundation : also here are links to other organizations coordinating need

don't say si! say oui!

We're suffering from a muggy, nasty few days here in the Bay area, the likes of which we have not seen in a long time~In order to better deal with these long, laborious days, we've taken to watching TV. Yes, we do not have a TV hooked up to actual cable or anything fancy like that (and I'm still surprised they haven't kicked us out of the country, much less California).
At any rate, we're happy to spend our evenings watching old episodes of the Pink Panther. They are funny, clever and include a cast of characters that are hard to replicate nowadays. 

We're enjoying these through our Netflix account, taking full advantage of their Play instantly feature. It comes right up on the computer screen and we just watch from there! So easy, so fun and still so no commercials!

More Pepper, please

I got a call today from a dear friend of mine who had been scouring the blog looking to show her friends more about our family. And of course we all know that Pepper is a main feature, not only of most every meal we eat, but also of each day we enjoy. However, my dear friend pointed out, he is no where in the blog! So, Sugar and Pepper was coming to your table with no Pepper.
No longer, my friends. Here is our sweet Pepper in just a few of his finer moments...with sugar added, of course :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming and going, you are always there for us. 1,2,3 girls love you more each day~