Late-winter 2017

It was a fairly mild winter, so the apple trees were looking pretty good as they budded. There was no late frost, so they were looking good for October apples. At some point Briggs got a notion to bake a cake, so he did. It came out fine. I was reminded of the time Eli got a similar idea. Without Eli at home, food consumption is different but things still manage to disappear regularly. I came home one afternoon to a flurry of activity in the back yard. A hawk had gotten a critter and was trying to finish it off. Mostly flying leaves and feathers, but I was cool if a bit gruesome.

Wildfire

The big news around here happened at the very end of the month. A homeowner burned some debris on Monday evening. On Tuesday a wildfire broke out, supposedly as a result of blowing embers. Whatever, the fire raged in the woods in Ridgecrest, about a mile from us. I saw the smoke from church as I sent the younger brothers home with my mom. Libby got a couple of photos later in the evening. Ultimately the fire burned about 750 acres, one home totally, with a handful of others getting some fire damage. The second photo is a couple of days after the fire was out, right outside our house, looking northwest between Ridgecrest and Montreat.

Libby was in California for a work-related event for a few days in February. She got a couple of cool plane pictures for the boys. She was in Newport Beach, and went to the shore and got videos of a whale cavorting in the surf.

On March 14 I celebrated Pi Day by making a quiche for breakfast, and a spaghetti pie for lunch. The plan was for chicken pot pie for supper, but I was pied-out. I did manage to make my 4th pie, a dessert buttermilk pie to end the day. We had the 3rd pie a day later for supper.

Food porn

Briggs is turning into somewhat of an accomplice in taking pictures of food around here. (He's also a big fan of selfies.) These are a couple of shots he took recently. First the the aftermath of a plum and amaretti crumble, using a recipe from Nigella Lawson. Next is a bowl of chicken paprikash. Both Eli and Briggs are learning that though the meal may be new, different, exotic, spicy, gooey, crunchy, etc, I generally don't serve them anything that really tastes bad. We're waiting on Calvin to get to the same point, but we're hopeful he will.

Garden, summer 2014

I was a little more ambitious this year with the garden, adding zucchini and squash to the usual mix. They have done well, but have been crowded, and have crowded out other things like the cabbage and cucumbers. I'll have to move them next year. I also tried onions again, and they did next to nothing. I think maybe the dirt is too compact for them. I put in a bunch of potatoes and they have done well. Now that I am bringing them in, I am putting green bean seeds where they have been in the garden. I missed the prime time to plant lettuce seedlings, so I had to start lettuce from seed; it's just now starting to look like something. Nothing to harvest yet though. Here are some photos of veggies and meals from the garden so far this year.

Lentils with zucchini and beef satay, a very tasty dinner.

Three varieties of potatoes: purple, Yukon gold, and white. I've used them to make fried potatoes for breakfast and potato salad.

First little cabbage: I picked it small so none would go to waste. Reds are right behind the whites.

Sauteed vegetable medley: zucchini, squash, tomatoes and onion.

Pumpkins early in the season. They are now beginning to turn orange.

Two great tastes that taste great together

The last time we had pizza a couple of weeks ago, Briggs got onto the topic of his favorite foods. Those are pizza and chicken nuggets. The next day when he was suggesting (as he does every day) what he wanted for supper (always either pizza or nuggets), I suggested a "chicken nugget pizza." He was stock still in his tracks! He barely could comprehend a meal of his two most favorite things at once. We agreed that next time we had pizza his could be a chicken nugget pizza.

Tonight was the night. It was heightened by the fact that the nuggets had dinosaur shapes! One half was "his" pizza; the other was Eli's usual pepperoni. FWIW Libby had green pepper and ham; I had barbecued chicken and red onion. Next stop for Briggs, the virtues of "tastes great; less filling!"