Happy Trails

Inspired

 

It has been a while! Let me catch you up on what's been going on around here...mostly focusing on the weekends, as that is when we have the most fun.

The past few weekends have been really wonderful in a lot of ways. There has been some sleeping in, and coming downstairs to the fire going, with the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the air. (Salmaan always rises before I do).

Two weeks ago on a Saturday morning Salmaan was lounging on the couch with a pile of new cookbooks looking pleased as punch. He treated us to 7 new tomes full of inspiration, and after a nice fluffy omelette full of ham, cheese, and assorted veggies, we cuddled up on the couch and read for hours, taking notes and sharing things that excited us along the way. And you know where we're going from here, yeah?

 

First up, a wonderful new way to use up leftover roast chicken (which we always seem to have a lot of, week after week). These quesadillas quite frankly rocked. We dressed them up with a dollop of sour cream, some ribboned romaine dressed with lime juice, and a bit of salsa. Mmm.

That following Sunday morning I woke up at 4:30, and couldn't get back to sleep, thinking about how much stuff I wanted to make. By 5:30 I gave up, and Salmaan and I made a batch of Curtis Stone's homemade Granola (which was fantastic--just go a little less on the initial baking time).

Homemade chicken soup was finished up and packaged away in the freezer for a day either of us has a cold and needs some comfort, and then we made a delicious brunch, consisting of poached egg inside of a crisped proscuitto cup on top of sauteed spinach and a toasted whole wheat bagel (also from Curtis Stone's cookbook).

It was our first time poaching eggs, and it turned out nicely. If we ever open a B&B, this is going on the breakfast menu for sure. For dinner we made Jamie Oliver's Mushroom Risotto.

Yes, yes, I gave risotto another try! We made this on Halloween night, and the risotto itself was quite delicious. The specialty grilled mushrooms on the top? Surprisingly not delicious. Not sure if it was the total lack of fat (oh butter, how I missed you), or too much citrus (he advises to dress the grilled shrooms with lemon juice and herbs), but it wasn't workin' for me. The base recipe, however, I would definitely make again, and butter up some bellas or shiitakes for the big garnish.

This past weekend both of us were feeling under the weather. In fact, we've both been fighting off a cold for about a week now. Instead of taking the chicken soup out of the freezer, we tried a new recipe--Tyler Florence's chicken tortellini soup. SO GOOD, and just what we needed. 

I pulled this out of the freezer last night, and it hit the spot for a quick and soothing dinner.

We've had a couple of friends over on the weeknights lately, and that has lead us to some new recipes that we will try again. Ina's new book just came out, and I made her turkey meatballs.

Very good. Her new book is a bit repetitive--not a ton of new ideas, really. But I like Ina and her sensibility, so it's fun just to read through it.

The next to last weekend in October, my parents came to visit us. They stayed the weekend, and we had a fantastic time. Saturday we went to the Powhatan Festival of the Grape, and sampled some tasty Virginia Wine.

Despite my ageeb looking face in this photograph, I really was enjoying myself...especially when we visited our favorite virginia winery--Horton.

Love this shot of my parents.

They really helped us with a lot of stuff around the house that weekend, including a raised bed that I'm very excited about:

Dad and Salmaan busted this out in only a few hours. The garden really went to hell this past summer (partly the terribly hot weather/water restrictions, partly my waning interest, partly the fact that the squirrels and chipmunks stole most of my yield), so it was time to scale back. I'm going to be using this solely has an herb garden, and we're going to seed the rest of the garden area with grass seed. We also took out the blackberry bushes, as I think I was only able to get about 15 berries all season, and they honestly weren't very good. Come Christmas-time (and my "extra" paycheck), we're going to sign up for a local CSA. I mean, have you seen the Rooster's blog? I've been inspired, and want to give this a go. 

Dad and Salmaan fixed some of our gates, too.

We may have put them to work, but we fed them well. Salmaan grilled up a beautiful beef tenderloin.

The dogs had a fantastic time, too. They couldn't have enjoyed the extra attention more.

As you can see, JJ is getting bigger every day. It's so cool to see the changes. His fur has gotten longer and CURLY, which is adorable, and his personality is really starting to be apparent--he dotes on River constantly.

And that's pretty much what's been going on at Chez K. A fair amount of knitting has been accomplished as well, but that is for another post. I'm off from work today, hence the time to write--and hopefully posted about some FO's! 

 

First Work Day

First full work day for the little guy today. Salmaan will come home at lunch, but still, it's a long time. My heart is breaking a little.

 

Team K, Now 4 Strong

Brought the little guy home yesterday. There's lots to tell, but I'm going to wait until I get more pictures (which means, until I master the manual shutter setting on my cannon--it should happen soon enough). Suffice it to say we're all settling in well, and he is just too cute for words.

 

FO: Lady Cluck Merino

I finished this project about three weeks ago, but was waiting to share it until it was given to its recipient--my Mom, for Mother's Day this past weekend.

 
This was the most fiber I've ever spun in one sitting--8.3 oz. of merino from Sheepish Creations. The two sets of roving were dyed at the same time, but one definitely had more yellow in it than the other.

This project represented the first time that I split the roving down the middle, and was super careful to spin each half in the same sequential order to get a distinct striping effect. I loved spinning this. It was so satisfying to know that when my Mom saw it, she would understand and appreciate how much time and love I had put into it for her. I think that she was pleased!

8.3 oz yielded 379 yards total. There were three skeins, 137, 113, and 126 yards, respectively. I think it's a DK weight yarn, although I need to get one of those WPI tools so I can start to be sure.

I loved how it was cheerful without being garish--the result ended up looking surprisingly earthy to me.

I included the Milkweed Shawl with the yarn, thinking that pattern would show off this yarn nicely. Can't wait to see it all knit up! Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
  

Oh, Hai!

We are pleased to introduce the newest member of our family, Jayden Ravine. I have been DYING to share this process with everyone here in this space, but there were a lot of "ifs, ands or buts" involved, and it wasn't until today that it was all a sure thing. 

We made the financial commitment back in early September of last year, and waited with fingers crossed that the litter we chose would "take". (Actually, when we reserved River, that litter didn't take, and we were able luckily to bump over to the reservation list of another litter, and so were blessed with her in more ways than one). 

Well, this litter DID take (as we found out in January), and this little guy, along with one brother and five sisters, was born on March 29, 2010. We had first pick of the boys, and decided we would make the drive down to Shalgo Farm to make our selection in person today.

We spent about an hour with all of them, and visiting with Jackie and George. After a while though, one of the little boys particularly started to grow on me.

There was a gentle energy about him, which actually is something that really attracted me to Salmaan when we first met. We also thought his energy would be a great compliment to River's. I looked at Salmaan, our eyes met, and we knew it was the right fit. We brought River with us of course (see her in the background), but interestingly, she wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with the pups. Even after we picked the little brother and tried to introduce them, she just wanted Daddy-love. I don't think she would have been interested even if we had dipped the little guy in peanut butter. That's saying something.

Jackie convinced us not to worry, and assured us that this behavior was completely normal. It was great to be able to talk to her one on one, and she was full of words of wisdom that I know will help us when little Jayden comes home.

For now, though, he's going to stay at the farm, chill out with his siblings and graduate from Puppy Kindergarten. We'll go get him in the latter half of May, and I'm sure there will be much to share when that comes to pass!

For now, I'll leave you with one more shot of that adorable little panda bear face!

 

FO: Crepe Myrtle Scarf

Finished my first FO for a family member made out of my own handspun--and I have to say, it feels...MORE when the yarn was drafted by your own hand!

More loving, more giving more...I dunno, just more. This is the Crepe Myrtle Superwash Merino from Pigeonroof Studios that I posted about earlier. It didn't take long for me to cast it on to some #9 needles and knit away in simple 1x1 ribbing.

 The fringe is Madelinetosh DK, in the colorway Magenta. 

I love long fringes, although I can't say I've ever made a scarf with fringe before. I can imagine Little Niece (the recipient of this gift), twisting the strands in her chubby little fingers as she is driven home from Memma's (daycare) on a cold winter's evening. It's comforting, somehow.

I'll gift this to her at Christmas. I know (gasp!) I blogged a Christmas knit! I couldn't help it though...it's handspun, uBer soft, and hell, she's barely even two years old, it isn't like she reads the blog, yeah?

Perhaps I'll make a matching hat out of the madtosh--I'll keep that one a secret, promise. ;-)

Ringing in the New Year in Style

Last week we travelled to a beautiful B&B in Charlottesville called Cedar Spring Inn, and celebrated the New Year there. It was an incredible place. Probably the nicest place we have ever stayed, and we took advantage of everything they had to offer.

We arrived Thursday evening around 5:00. As it was dark, we didn't get to appreciate the beautiful views until the next day. We did, however, go out to dinner at one of my favorite pizza joints from college days. It was Vic's Pick all the way for me--and it was just as good as I remembered! Once back at the Inn, we jumped into our bathing suits, and headed out to the hot tub with a bottle of bubbly. Salmaan selected a wonderful prosecco that he had tasted at our local wine shop, and it was excellent. It was a foggy night, but as we sat in the soft glow of the tub, we saw fireworks going off just over the ridge to the rear of the Inn. It felt like we had our own private fireworks show! 

We didn't stay up until midnight or watch the ball drop, but we did have some incredible conversation. As we talked and laughed, I worked on this sweater, and thought about how much I love knitting and how lucky I am to have a spouse that supports and encourages me in the pursuit of my passions.

 It was a pleasant thought to fall asleep to. The next day we were pampered with an incredible breakfast experience--freshly sliced oranges and grapefruit, banana nut bread, and our choice of 3 entrees with a choice of meat for a side (it was like this every morning--fruit, a sweet bread, choice of entree and sides, and a never ending supply of delicious juice and coffee). We each had an omelet with sausage, and it was to die for. Afterwards we spent a good 2-3 hours by the fireside, chatting with some of the other couples staying there. It was an interesting blend of people, professions, and personalities, but it was quite pleasant. We left the Inn and had lunch at my other favorite college joint--Bodos Bagels. Food BLISS! 

Back at the Inn, we decided to explore a little. We walked around the property on the Brady Trail, which hadn't been traversed since the last snowfall. Just us and the wildlife.

It was quiet and peaceful, and as we headed back to the Inn and the warmth of the fireplace, the sun began to set.

 After that we spent the rest of the evening at the Inn--too comfortable to even leave to go out to dinner (which is saying something). Instead, we enjoyed some nibbles that I had packed for New Years Eve that we didn't end up having.

 We have to do this sort of thing more often--it was simple, delicious, and very romantic. The steam room was probably my most favorite amenity, I'd never been in one before, and it was awesome. Friday night we braved the cold (and dude, it was COLD) and went back out to the hot tub. This night the sky was so clear, I felt like we could see every star in the sky. The moon was very nearly full as well, and the combination of snow and moonlight made the whole setting glow in an otherworldly way. 

The next day we headed to our favorite wine bar, Enoteca, and had dinner at the C&O. We left Sunday and had lunch with a buddy in C'ville, and visited Blenheim Winery on the way home. This winery is owned by Dave Matthews, and I was impressed by their selection. We left with half a case and happy hearts.

It was a wonderful getaway, and the perfect way to ring in the New Year. During this time together, we laughed so much (details to come), finished one another's sentences, and found the space to be ourselves together. We're looking forward to our next visit. Hope your New Year's was fabulous as well!

Soup's On!

There has been a lot of this going on here at Chez K. the last few weeks.

A few weeks ago on Columbus day, I made homemade Chicken Soup for the first time (using the FANTASTIC recipe out of Food to Live By) and it changed my life. While I have made many a batch of potato leek soup over the years, I've never been a big homemade soup fan. I always thought it took too long, and was a lot of work for something that never ended up being very satisfying. I have been converted.

All in all, it took about 4.5 hours from start to finish, and the house smelled tremendously good. The aroma brought back memories for me: late mornings on Saturday; Dad would be sitting at the kitchen table with his notebook--wearing jeans and a ratty old sweatshirt. His curly hair would be wiry and tousled, not having showered yet that day. He would watch cooking shows for hours, taking notes and writing out recipes (this was YEARS before the internet, food network, etc.). Meanwhile, a homemade soup would be simmering on the stove, with a lemony bunch of parsley from the garden sitting on the wooden cutting board, ready to be thrown in at the very end. I never really appreciated the hard work of it all until this month--or the quick comfort that can be achieved from a savory spoonful. That was one memory, and the other, my Granny. Nothing specific...just a home filled with earthy slow-cooked goodness. That was my Granny. Good things.

Last weekend I made up a batch of Mexican Albondigas soup (again, another recipe out of Food to Live By). I had made this previously last year (albondigas are mexican meatballs), but had used ground turkey. This go round I substituted ground sirloin, and the difference was marked. From now on, I'm going beef all the way with this soup. 

We shared this meal with a co-worker who stopped by to haul away that tree that busted our deck. Turns out, it made him very happy to have free firewood. The next day, we tried a new recipe out of Fine Cooking--French Onion Soup. It was time-consuming to caramelize the onions (and honestly, they could have steamed a bit longer), but the time and watery eyes were WELL worth the wait. Gorgeous.

Next up was Parker's Beef Stew out of one of Ina's cookbooks. Salmaan took the lead on this one, as he normally does whenever wine, beef, and potatoes are involved. This was an incredibly hearty stew, and although many of the same components were present, I felt it was totally different from the bourguignon we made a few weeks ago. The presence of the potatoes and peas were wonderful, and there was a richness to this dish that was completely different from the other.

And last, but definitely not least, we enjoyed this wonderful concoction this evening. Amy is often posting about dishes she's tried from Smitten Kitchen, and so I finally visited and checked it out. I will be back again, and again...and...well, you get the idea. This soup was excellent, and truly fit the bill for what was in the pantry. We used the acorn squash we purchased at the orchard a few weeks ago, and surprisingly, had just about everything else on hand. It's strange how your staples as a cook change as you evolve. Lately, mine have been butter, cream, french baguette, gruyere, and chicken stock. Perhaps this new trend would account for the extra pounds I have been carrying around the last few months. ;-)

At any rate, grab a great recipe, and get to simmering. It does a body (and soul) good. Soup's on!

Breaking Ground

This past weekend the parental units came down for a visit. Salmaan was in Chicago visiting his family while Mom and Dad and I tackled the task of creating a garden in our backyard. It was an exciting time, especially since Dad brought down my Granny's tiller, and used it to create our veggie patch. My Granny, Vivian, had a HUGE garden, and the most amazing ability to make things grow. The use of her tiller was a good omen, I think. At the very least it was emotionally significant for me. 

The first task was figuring out where a garden would have the most success, which was a little tricky since we've never seen the house in a season with leaves. However, I think we chose a good spot, although it wasn't one of the two that we had initially discussed. We made a quick and dirty border with some fencing, and Dad got right to work. 

It was hard work, and I'm grateful that my Dad was here to do it. He must have tilled that ground 7 times, not to mention how much work went into raking out the sod, and amending the soil. Mom and I made some trips to the home and garden center, and also did some sprucing up around the outside of the house.

This area was probably my favorite. These plants are called Phlox, and eventually they should creep over the entire space around the mailbox, which I think will look awesome.

It was a really great visit, and incredibly productive. In the end, we planted chives, radishes, scallions, and two different kinds of lettuce. Later there will be squash, zucchini, rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, cilantro, green beans, beets, and of course, tomatoes. I am VERY excited. Here's the garden, nearly all done.

We also created a nice fenced out bed for some berry bushes: two raspberry and two blackberry. I learned a lot from Dad this weekend, from fertilizing to planting.

While coffin-like in appearance, I know that this bed will yield healthy, happy life in the future, and hopefully next year we'll realize some berries! The fencing has actually worked really well to keep River's prying paws out of the dirt, which is a blessing.

We started another new venture a couple of weeks back--a compost pile!!! I've been wanting to do this for AGES, and was incredibly excited when we finally got a composter. This was our yield after just a few days:

And a few weeks later, here we are:

As Dad noted, you can really observe from all of this that we cook. A lot. I love it. The fact that nothing goes to waste is awesome. 

I know it was hard work, Mom and Dad, but thank you! Hopefully you were well fed, and enjoyed your time here as much as I enjoyed having you!

Surprises

There have been a lot of them these past few weeks, and while I fancy myself someone who is becoming a bit jaded and therefore not often surprised, I have recently really enjoyed the unexpected, which includes but is not limited to the following laundry list of both little and big things.

I had a tooth extraction and bone graph this past week. Long story short, a root canal I had a couple of years ago didn't do the job, so the tooth had to come out and my jaw bone had to be prepared to take an implant. As my dentist so gleefully explained (as I became more and more nauseous), a titanium post substitutes as the "root" of the fake tooth--and titanium is the only metal that actually binds with bone--this was discovered during numerous tests on rats when scientists discovered they couldn't remove a bunch of rods they had stuck through those poor test animals. *Gag*--totally gross. Although, thanks to my unfortunate friend, Ratatouille, in about nine months I get a nice shiny fake tooth that will hopefully last me for the rest of my life. That's way cooler than a rodent that can make a vegan gourmet peasant dish, yeah? Anyways, the nice surprise was that it wasn't nearly as horrible as I had feared (I was seriously terrified) and hopefully pretty soon the pain I've become quite used to will become a distant memory. Oh yeah, and Valium before dental procedures? Definitely my new friend.

Salmaan and I finally took the plunge and committed to a vacation in Portland at the end of April to visit my best buddy, Mandy. It was a little scary to commit to such a big trip amidst budget cuts, but once the tickets were booked, we each got incredibly excited, and I think that feeling of anticipation hasn't subsided, despite it having been a few weeks since we committed. PDX, here we come!

On a related note, a wonderful surprise came along the day I had my surgery--through pain-killer haze I received a call from Mandy (yes, Portland Mandy) asking if she could crash at our place THAT NIGHT!!!!!! She had come into town just for a few days, and we were lucky enough to see her, which was really awesome. It was July since we saw her last, and while the visit was short, it just reaffirmed that she's one of the most strong, beautiful, intelligent, and courageous people I know, and we're lucky to know her.

We made apple pie for the first time ever. It was good.

 

We also made incredible Coq au vin, a new chili recipe, and there are more new recipes in the works, including some type of granola to be featured sometime soon.

My sister, brother-in-law, and Little Niece came for a visit this past weekend. In a word, it was awesome, and just seeing Avery so much bigger, and more developed in her speech and motor skills was incredible. Not to mention the fact that she's absolute PERFECTand beautiful. She seriously redefines the word Precious. I made her a new hat for her first visit to Auntie Lala and Uncle Sully's, and thank goodness it fit! (Baby Thorpe was quite the failed experience over Christmas, although Amy very sweetly stuffed it onto her head so that they could have a Mommy/Daughter Thorpe picture to share with me):

 

This is much improved, and quite adorable if I do say so myself:

 

We had a great visit, and it was really fun to share the new house with them, and of course, cousin Mardi (their boxer, who gets along really well with River). Here are some more shots from the visit.

 

Btw, this is a sneak peek at the kitchen, which is really pretty much finished. Salmaan and I spent about three days in HGTV HELL painting that room, as we discovered that the pale yellow we chose to cover up our initial choice of Eastern State (a mental hospital Salmaan worked in) grey, would take not two, not three, but FIVE FRIGGIN' coats to cover. Ouch. More pictures to come of that, and a couple of other rooms that are nearing completion!

 

 

Some sweetly surprising things about that visit were when Gary looked at Amy and tenderly said, "Avery looks like you today." and kissed her head. And when Avery laid her head down on Amy's shoulder, needing comfort as she was sleepy and it was time for her nap, and watching Amy melt as Gary dove for the camera to capture the moment. Parenthood suits them, really well.

And lastly, the most recent surprise was a Snow Day on Monday. We got 8-10 inches, and I got the day off! I haven't had a snow day since HIGH SCHOOL, so it was a pretty big deal. AND, I got some more knitting done, which will be posted just as soon as it is blocked....Adios--hope you've had some pleasant surprises lately as well!