Handmade for the Holidays - Bringing you a Week of Etsy

The holidays are here ... hooray. Of course, this means many of us will be undertaking the task of gift shopping for friends and family.

I encourage you all to shop local, and support your local mom and pop merchants. As the daughter of a retired shop owner, I know that the holiday season can make or break a small retailer. A heavy ringing of the register in December will ensure that the shop can carry itself through the lean January and February retail landscape.

I also want to encourage you to support handmade craft vendors. I am a big fan of Etsy and have found all manner of delightful handmade goods for myself and to give as gifts over the years. If you are not familiar with Etsy, you can think of it as a giant online craft fair. The primary focus at Etsy is on hand crafted goods, with a few vintage items thrown in the mix.

For the next week, starting tomorrow, I am going to feature some fun gift options that can be found at Etsy. Each day, starting tomorrow, I will post five to ten gift ideas in each category. The goal is to feature some great artisans and crafters and to get you to consider supporting their work ... and no, I do not get any sort of kick back if you buy from these people, or anyone else on Etsy. This is just my way of encouraging handmade for the holidays.

Here is the line up. I hope you will check back each day to see what I have for you!

November 25 - Gifts for the Home
November 26 - Gifts for Him
November 27 - Gifts for Her
November 28 - Gifts for Travelers and Map Geeks
November 29 - Gifts for Kids
November 30 - Gifts for Pets
December 1 - Gifts for Your Sweetie

Fall + Photography Fun

Welcome to November. Not sure how that happened so quickly, but here we are. It's feeling very fall-ish in our neck of the woods. Wearing sweaters in the house, putting the fleece "jammies" on our skinny dog and turning on the heater. Bob even made a fire the other night, using some of the wood from the tree we helped cut down.

The fun news around here is that a few days ago I found out that I won a month of one-on-one photo coaching from the talented Catherine Just. It happens that Catherine was our wedding photographer eight years ago. I would check in periodically on her web page  to see what creative projects she had going on. When I saw this contest roll around, I thought, hey, I'll enter it. When I found out that I had won, I was very excited. Woo hoo. I do not have a fancy camera or anything, but my goal is to do the best I can with what I do have.

Oh, and a little tangent here, Catherine actually had a photo published on the cover of National Geographic. So, as a geographer, that is like "the coolest thing ever". I know my geography geek friends will back me up 100% on that feeling. Anyway, she is the real deal when it comes to photography. On top of that she is incredibly intuitive and has a great energy about her. Needless to say, it really is an honor to be getting this opportunity.

So, this whole thing really is perfect timing, as I find myself sitting at the desk too much these days and not getting outside nearly enough. Dare I say, that, after living here for over a year, I am starting to take all this natural beauty granted.  For those of you who have made the trek up (or down) to visit us, you know first hand how spectacular the environment is here.

My project with Catherine is to really work on telling the story of the place around me, to not only to focus on the large landscapes, but all the small details that make it special. This means getting out on a walk everyday with the camera and really slowing down and observing things. We are only a few days into it, but I can tell it's going to be a great month.

#51 - Make a Two-Tier Cake + Frosting From Scratch

OK. I have a confession. I am approaching 40 years old (rather quickly!) and I have never made a cake from scratch. Don't get me wrong, I've made cakes before, but was always helped by my good friends Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines. So, when I was putting my life list together last year, one of the things I added was making a two-tier chocolate cake and frosting from scratch. See, life lists are not just all about sky diving and wrestling bears and stuff like that.

This past weekend I decided it was time to roll up the sleeves and give it a whirl. I figured I would start with a classic recipe for cake, so I went with this Hershey's recipe at this link. The only substitution I made was using Ghirardelli cocoa powder instead of Hershey's.

Directions were easy and the batter came together just fine.The two-tier aspect of it was a little stressful, as there was some sticking to the pans when the cakes came out of the oven. Fortunately, it was not anything that the frosting could not cover up. Yes, frosting covers a multitude of sins. The finished product was a little "rustic" in appearance, but tasted great.

With that, I am checking this off the list!

Still Loving the CSA

This is year two of participating in the local Community Supported Agriculture program from OZ Farm. I wrote last year about our CSA and shared some photos of the bounty.

When I went to pick up our CSA box yesterday, I was overcome by a sense of gratitude when I opened the box. It was packed full of so many wonderful things. I was feeling thankful for the farmers who worked to produce the veggies and for the right natural balance that needs to happen for the productivity to occur: rich soil, sun, and rain.

It's too easy to be disconnected from our food. I love knowing I can go to the Farmers' Market and talk to the actual people that are growing, picking and prepping my weekly CSA box. Dirt under their nails, sun-glow skin and all.

This week we got a spaghetti squash, Brussels sprouts, fingerling potatoes, herbs, braising greens, kale, chard, salad mix and cinnamon heirloom apples.

I roasted the potatoes with some garlic salt, pepper, and Italian spice blend with olive oil.  Brussels sprouts just get a little olive oil and salt/pepper. The chard went into our morning eggs and I will probably do stir fry dishes with the kale and braising greens.  The spaghetti squash is also roasted and I will probably incorporate it into a few dishes. It's fun to try new recipes or tweak the old ones to incorporate the weekly CSA goodies.



Potatoes and sprouts waiting to go in the oven.



Spaghetti squash out of the oven. Sweet goodness!



Soup for When It's Sweater Weather

We are getting into sweater weather here on the Northern California coast, which means it is also the perfect time for hearty soups. Earlier this week I pulled together a vegetable + cheese tortellini soup. This will make a big pot and, depending on your family size, plenty of leftovers for lunches.

Here is the general recipe I followed.

Ingredients

• one medium-sized onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 10 leaves chard, chopped
• 1 15-ounce can white kidney beans, rinsed
• 1 15-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
• 6 cups vegetarian broth
• 2 cups dry cheese tortellini (I used the ones from Trader Joe's)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Shredded Parmesan for garnish

Preparation

1. Drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of  a large pot. When oil is headed, add onions and cook for 3 minutes.
2. Add the carrots and celery to the pot. Continue to saute for a couple more minute. You are wanting the veggies to soften up a little bit.
3. Add the chopped chard to the pot and cook a little to wilt it down.
4. Add the can of rinsed beans, and the fire-roasted tomatoes, and 5 cups of broth.
5. Bring everything to a boil and then turn fire down and let simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Add the dry tortellini and the final cup of broth.
7. Let simmer for about 10 more minutes or until tortellini plump up. Don't overcook, or the tortellini will fall apart.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in a bowl and garnish with Parmesan. Enjoy!

If you have fresh tortellini, you could drop those in at the end ans just cook less. You could substitute spinach or kale for the chard. Regular kidney beans or black beans would also work in this recipe.

Hello Husqvarna

Yesterday, we earned a new "rural skills" badge ... we used chain saws! Sometimes I feel like such a city girl when I write about these new things we are getting to experience while living "in the country". Folks, if you have never used a chainsaw, it's pretty damn fun, and only a tiny bit scary.

My Rotary friend, Howard, had a dead tree that needed to come down. He invited us up to help, with the promise of some firewood. So getting tree down involved many yards of rope, one diesel Dodge pick up and two chain saws. It started with Howard pitching a rope up into the tree and tying it around. Bob and Howard then cut through most of the tree and made a notch. The rope was then tied to the truck hitch. I was in the truck driving slowly forward while Bob did the final cut on the tree.

The tree came down, but lodged in another tree.

It took a few more rope maneuvers and truck tricks, but it finally fell all the way down. I think I even let out a little hoop and holler when it was finally all the way down. Afterwards we sawed off all the side branches and then cut into large sections. These would later be split for fire wood.

 

So, now Bob has chainsaw envy and I think he wants one of his own. For me, it felt good to do some physical labor and have something to show for my work. Often times my work is phone calls and writing and I don't often have something tangible for weeks. After just a few hours, we nearly had firewood! What a nice feeling.

A Story from Chile, Circa 2000

During grad school and a little bit there after, I worked at Le Travel Store in downtown San Diego. It was a fantastic shop with exposed brick walls filled with awesome travel gear, maps, guide books plus interesting staff and cool customers. I got to help people outfit for their trips and also hear all sorts of great travel stories. My parallel parking skills greatly improved during that time too, as I was always trying to squeeze my car into one of the "informal" free spots in the East Village, back when you didn't go east of 8th Avenue, for fear of who knows what.

Anyway, Joan, the owner, recently posted a link that showed their web page as it looked in 2000. At the bottom of the page was a link to some emails I had sent from a trip I took in 2000 with Matt Daniels, to go visit our friend Chris Carter in Chile. They were fun to read, and I figured I would share one below.

What I love about the specific story is that it's a great reminder to be open to new experiences when you travel.  Here is the story, as it was sent int an email, it's called Fresh Mutton.
_____________________________________________________
 email from: Sophia Habl
subject: Fresh Mutton
date: Tue, 01 Feb 2000

Thursday was one of those days when you wake up expecting to have just another enjoyable and possibly uneventful day - yet when you finally crawl into bed, you are totally stumped at how the day unfolded. We had a slow start to the day, still tired from the boat ride. Matt had met two Chileans on the boat, Fabi and Pilar, who were going to the same town as we were. We all agreed to meet at Cafe Ricer for coffee the following night.

Shortly after arriving at the cafe, Fabi said that she had mentioned us to her brother and that he wanted to invite us over to his house for some food after we finished our coffee. This is a prime example of Chilean hospitality. We had only known these people for a couple of days, and they were inviting us over.

Matt and I agreed that would be fun. An hour later, Fabi´s brother, Oswaldo and some of his friends arrived. We piled into the back of a truck for a cold and damp ride to his house. (It rains 365 days a year in Coyaihque!!) On the ride to Oswaldo's it became clear what the dinner was all about. We were first going to get a sheep, have it slaughtered, and then take it back to the house to roast. Okay, keep in mind it is already 10:00 at night! Before we go for the sheep, we pick up onions, cilantro and lemons from Oswaldo's house.

By the time I had translated to Matt what was going on. . . Surely we would not actually SEE a sheep getting slaughtered. Oswaldo, riding in the back of the truck picked up on our concern and said that it was a quick death, a shot to the head. He positioned his hand like a gun and held it to his temple, making a mock gun firing noise. I was imagining a woolly little sheep with a bullet hole between two big, brown, innocent eyes! I am a city girl, I can't handle this!

We arrived at a house on the edge of town. A small hand-lettered sign in the front yard said "We sell sheep." The yard was darkened except for a bare bulb on the porch. Oswaldo called out a hello and a fellow appeared. He wore jeans, a red flannel shirt and, judging from the two HUGE knives on his belt, looked to be in the sheep killing business. We entered the main yard. The sheep seller's wife and son appeared from one of the buildings and said hello.

I scanned the yard. Two fat but scruffy dogs eyed us. Several sheep skins were stacked on a pallet under a cherry tree. On a line hung some sort of chunk of organs and intestines. Good, I thought, he already killed the sheep; we'll take home some neatly-wrapped lamb chops. WRONG!!! That is when I saw the sheep lying on its side, four legs bound with thin plastic twine. It tried to raise its head to look at us, but appeared to be tired and defeated.

We stood around for a while making small talk. Matt and I looked at each other, looked at the sheep and looked back at each other. This was definitely a travel tale in the making. Fabi soon emerged from the house, carrying a bowl of chopped onion and cilantro.

The sheep killer asked who wanted to help. This would be the person who would hold the bowl under the sheep's neck to catch the blood that would soon pour from the jugular. The helper could not be a pregnant woman or the partner of a pregnant woman. It was believed that being so close to the death would cause the woman to lose the baby. The sheep killer asked if Matt or I were interested, but we respectfully declined. I did not want to feel the moist breath of a sheep on my hand right before it died.

Eventually one of Oswaldo's friends agreed to help. The sheep killer moved the sheep to the block. He positioned the sheep's neck over the edge, above the bowl. He pulled two knives from his belt and began rubbing them together. The sheep killer squatted back down and lifted the animal's head so the neck was fully exposed. With a few quick passes of the knife, the wool was removed and a patch of pale sheepskin glowed under the light. He paused and then with one skillful sweep of the knife, bright red blood began to pour into the bowl. After about 20 seconds, he snapped the neck of the animal. Blood continued to pour, but at a slower rate. When all the blood had drained from the animal, David (the helper) began to stir the mixture.

We moved from the yard into a side work room. A light was flicked on, and for the first time I could see what exactly was in the bowl. The blood had coagulated into chunks which looked like flan. Onion and cilantro floated on top. Several lemons were squeezed into the bowl and then a few spoons were passed around. The sheep killer took the first spoonful and Oswaldo the second. Then they eyed Matt and me. Matt took a small chunk and slurped it down with a lemon chaser, no apparent disgust on his face; so I figured I would go for it as well. I balanced a chunk the size of a large postage stamp on the spoon. I squeezed some lemon on it and, with a big gulp, stuck the spoon in my mouth. The chunk sort of settled on my tongue. I began to chew and that is when my throat felt like it was going to close up. I thought, holy shit, five minutes ago this was warm blood pulsating through the veins of a woolly little sheep. My throat constricted even more. Finally, I told my self "mind over matter" and swallowed.


Later I would learn the dish is called ñiachi and is a regional specialty in that part of Patagonian Chile. It is a powerful concoction that is reputed to increase virility. The men continued to eat the ñiachi. Matt and I declined a second serving. We lingered around for another 15 minutes or so, the amount of time it took for the sheep killer to skin, de-head and clean up the body.

The rest of the evening passed in a haze of roasted and smoked lamb, served with fat tomato slices, warm bread and lots of red wine. At some point during the evening, it was decided that Matt and I should learn the cumbia - a Colombian dance. Good food and drink make the feet move with ease, and soon the cramped kitchen was filled with movement and laughter. I have no rhythm!! The evening wound down with some tea, and a ride back to our pension at 4:00am.

Yeah, sometimes you never know how the day will unfold.