Happy Trails

Garden Jewels

Last year the radishes in our garden did not fare well at all.

I can't say that about this year. Aren't they gorgeous? Like little jewels, and they taste terrific, too! 

Day Off

It's mid afternoon, and I'm sighing with contentment as I sit down to write. I took today off. A nice, simple, uncomplicated day alone at home, doing the things I love best. 

This morning I enjoyed eating my breakfast (cereal with fresh, organic strawberries) in the backyard, admiring our recent handiwork while observing the progress in the garden.

Salmaan and I are both particularly proud of the new fence we installed around the garden. It may look like it was easy, but it wasn't. I have to say though, I really did enjoy taking out my frustrations on the fence posts with the large rubber mallet we purchased for this job. Talk about cathartic...only thing was, I got a little carried away, and Salmaan almost burst about fifty blood vessels as he wrenched some of the unlucky few back out of the ground. He was a good sport about it, though.

I used some of these in my lunch today--see below--yummy.

The radishes were the first things to come up. I'm hoping I'll have better luck with these than last year. I think I got better seeds this go round, so we'll see.

This is a row we're particularly excited about--a half row of fennel, and a half row of swiss chard--both first tries for us. On the far left, you can JUST see the row of leeks--another veg of first impression. I wish they were all a bit further along, but I know I planted late, so we'll see how they do. Regardless, the fact that they came up is quite encouraging!

And now, what I've been waiting to share for nearly a month!

Introducing, Ms. Suzie Q. 

This is my birthday present. My amazingly generous husband's brainchild, with a contribution from my parents. I. Am. In. Love.

The pedals on Ms. Suzie are dreamy. They're smooth and soft and don't make any noise. I love the color of the wood grain as well--New Zealand Remu. 

I have to admit, I've been getting to know my new wheel for a little less than a month now. It arrived in a huge box that couldn't be hidden, and Salmaan couldn't say no to my pleading eyes. He helped me put it together (an education for both of us in all of the parts of a double treadle wheel), and stood back watching while I went nuts and marveled at how quiet, smooth, and just generally gorgeous it was. 

I'm on my second batch of roving--here's a sneak peak: This is over 8 oz. of merino in the Lady Cluck colorway by Sheepish Creations.

Most of today has been spent plying. The first of what I think will be two skeins is hanging drying right now, and I'll have a go at round two in a little while. I'll share my first completed skein with you in another post, otherwise this one might become a bit epic!

Lastly, here's a shot of my delicious lunch before it was quickly devoured.

You'll never guess from looking at this (or tasting it) that it's only 5 points on Weight Watchers. A great day off, and it isn't even over yet! Happy Friday, everyone!

Discovery

This past weekend we did some work around the outside of the house. I was standing near the gas tank for our fireplace, spooling the hose, when I noticed that there was an awful lot of flotsam and jetsam stuffed into the lid of the tank. We carefully opened it, and peered into what we soon realized was a very cozy, organized space.

Cool, yeah? 

I'm not sure what they are, but given the markings and how the nest was made (lots of moss and dog hair-- and I was wondering what happened to River's fluff when I furminate her on the back deck), my guess is either chickadees, or cow birds. I'm hoping for the former, as the latter are not so very nice. We're going to keep a close eye on the nest and its contents, as the bird dog that lives with us has a tendency to get a little zealous in her curiosity and instincts (read squirrel story below). 

Discoveries have been happening indoors as well, but more on that later!

Happy Hump Day!

New Creations

It's a rainy day here at Chez Sherando, which means a lot of things:

1) I'm on my third cup of coffee, it's nearly noon, and we had an incredible breakfast. 

2) muffins will be made today

3) some cleaning will get done

4) there will be general laziness (punctuated by fervent knitting), as well as a visit to the gym to be concluded with a soak in the hot tub. 

Here's the new breakfast creation:

That's a toasted slice of whole wheat boule topped with homemade herb mayonnaise, bacon, a deliciously ripe avocado, sliced romas, and two fried eggs. It was incredibly good. I love avocados. I'll have to think of what to call this, because it will be showing up on the menu again...

Yesterday was a good day--we had planned to go kayaking, but I got on a roll on my BGM Ulmus, and Salmaan was kind enough to be cool with me knitting all day until it was done. And, it is! Here's a shot of it blocking last night.

This photo doesn't do the colors justice, which is why I'll be waiting for a sunny day to post FO pictures of this. It's dry now, and is hanging over the back of my knitting chair. I can't stop looking at it. You know that feeling you get when you make a new recipe, and the finished product ends up looking as good or better than the photo in the cookbook? I'm feeling that kind of pride right now. It's a cool thing. 

Here are some pics I took yesterday of progress in the garden.

I harvested the last of the beets. These will be roasted up on a weeknight this week. We're going to have them with goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts. 

the peppers are coming in.

And of course, we're practically swimming in squash and zucchini right now.

Salmaan made some delicious raita with cukes out of the garden on Friday night--we had it with the Indian lamb meal that we love. That raita was so good, I could have eaten it by itself by the spoonful. 

Hope your Sunday is relaxing, and punctuated by the gentle patter of rain on the windowsill.

Suggested tunes:

Long Time Traveller by The Wailin' Jennys

Living in Twilight by The Weepies

Goodbye, Apathy by OneRepublic

Lately.

It has been pretty quiet lately, here at Happy Trails. June was a "big ball of suck" as far as relaxing is concerned, and I just haven't found the time or inspiration to sit and write. However, many exciting things have come to pass at work, in the kitchen and garden, as well as on the needles. Projects are nearing completion, and while I don't normally post about WIPs, I can't resist sharing some photos of projects that I am truly ecstatic about.

Awhile back, Kirsten from Through The Loops came out with a shawl pattern that I couldn't wait to get my hands on. There were a few skeins of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in the stash that I had purchased a few months prior, and felt that two of the colors would really look nice together. They did, and I'm thrilled. My first Ulmus is nearing completion, and while the border is taking me FOR-E-VER, I am enjoying watching it evolve, row by row.

Impatient, as always, I already have another one on the needles. I'll post a pic of it once BGM Ulmus is complete.

In other exciting news, I turned the heel of my first sock this past weekend!!! 

I have always been intimidated by sock knitting, and while I have bought numerous books on the topic, I just didn't feel confident enough to try to do it on my own. So, I signed up for a sock knitting class at the Orchardside Yarn Shop in Raphine, Virginia. Carol Smyer (owner, and knitter extraordinaire) taught the class, and it was great. Two Sundays in a row, 6 hours total, she provided some delicious snacks, and it was only $45--what a deal!!! My Mom also took the class, so that made for a good time, as well. The first Sunday she didn't know I was coming, and it was fun to see her so surprised (this yarn shop is about 2.5 hours from where I live). I then followed her home and got to share dinner with her and Dad on Father's Day. The second Sunday, Salmaan and I drove down together, and met Mom and Dad at the Rockbridge Winery for a tasting and a picnic that ended up being pretty darn fabulous.

Dad made some incredible grilled vegetarian sandwiches on artisan bread. They included portebello mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, roasted bell peppers, and smoked gouda. I cannot WAIT to duplicate these on our own grill (hopefully as soon as this weekend!) Salmaan made a delicious pasta salad with herbs out of the garden, and a light vinegrette--perfect for a summer picnic. I contributed freshly brewed iced tea, and a reduced fat cheesecake topped with some lovingly homemade strawberry rhubarb preserves. A vendor there and some workers in the tasting room also enjoyed that we made too much of a few items, and it was fun to share.

After that, we all headed to the LYS--Mom and I to knit, and Dad and Salmaan to sit by the creek that runs through the property, and catch up. I had some issues with the heel flap initially, but left at the end of the 3 hours with two heel flaps completed, and one heel turned. I have been working on each sock a little bit at a time since, and am excited that the pair will be done at almost the same time. Can't wait to post about the pattern, yarn, process, etc. as soon as they're done! There will be more socks in my future.

A few other projects are on the needles as well--simple mindless garter, and I anticipate they will be ready to share soon.

On the work front, today marks ONE YEAR that I have been working in my office, as a prosecutor. It's a cool thing. I've received my evaluation, I am done with my one-year probation, and I'm feeling decent about my performance this past year. I have come to realize that it's called the "practice" of law for a reason, and every day I become more confident in my ability to learn, adapt, and grow in this career. I feel lucky. For every mistake I've made (and there have been a shit-ton-load) there has been someone to pick me up and brush me off. And those people aren't limited to my colleagues in the office--the defense bar here is really exceptional. While the stress of this particular field sometimes gets to me, most days I come home feeling satisfied, and know that my work has made a difference. And while the stress sometimes sucks? I've come to realize that it only makes the wine taste more savory, the gym more satisfying, and the needles more enticing. I'm in a good place, and I'm thankful for it.

In the middle of June I was out of town for a week at a conference for my job, and after having eaten crappy catored food, and the occassional restaurant meal for SEVEN DAYS, I came home READY for some creative home cooking. Salmaan and I jumped into the kitchen, and some cool things have been coming out of it.

We found this recipe for babaganoush, and true to its title, this is the best babaganous recipe I've tried (and I've tried a few). The only thing I did differently was to use a hand blender to puree the eggplant after it was peeled--I'm not a huge fan of the stringy texture you get, otherwise. It is AWESOME with kalamata olives and lavash or naan bread.

We also made some tabouleh for the first time, using this recipe from Emeril's show, Emeril Green (I like this show because it focuses on healthy, local, organic ingredients, and he makes a lot of ethnic dishes). I would use this recipe again, but would cut the cracked wheat in HALF. We also ended up soaking the CW for twice as long as Emeril recommends.

One weeknight, we roasted up a ton of veggies and made Giada's Pasta Primavera--super good, we'll be making it again (next time hopefully with veggies from the garden).

Salmaan's Brother Rat, Jason, was in town last week for a conference, and we enjoyed making a new meal with him as our guinea pig. It's a Barefoot Contessa Recipe--Lamb Kebabs with couscous, grilled cherry tomatoes, and red onions. AWESOME. We're trying it again this week with beef, and I plan to take pictures the second time around. I highly recommend, especially for company--the meat just marinates overnight, is quickly prepared on the grill, and the couscous cooks up in a snap.

Things have been shaping up nicely in the garden--lots of little (and BIG) surprises the past few weeks.

We harvested our first round of beets this past weekend, and have been enjoying them ever since as sides and in salads. I plan to pull up the rest this weekend, before they get too big. Perhaps we'll make a beet salad with goat cheese? I've never tried that before, but have read that it is a classic pairing. The green beans are coming in nicely, and the cukes are creeping everywhere--threatening to choke out other rows of produce. This weekend we're going to put up a trellis to contain that a bit. I have more squash and zucchini plants than I know what to do with, and man, they are growing like wildfire! Last night I went in and harvested our first bunch--last time I looked, there were only blossoms, and I walked out of the patch with an armful of green and yellow goodness. I think there is some ratatoille in our near future, for sure. The pepper plants have some promising blossoms, and the tomatoes are doing really well--just waiting on them to ripen up. All in all, a very exciting turnout for the first year. I'm already thinking about expanding the garden next year, and planting some eggplant, peas, and rhubarb. You can't get any more local than your own backyard. ;-)

That's what's been going on lately. I'm off to work on those socks.

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!

Dining Room DONE!

Well, I finished the dining room yesterday, and must admit I am quite pleased with the result! I took my Mom's advice, and it really paid off. She suggested that I take an item that I loved, and was totally inspired by, along with me to the paint store, and use it to help me find the perfect color. Guess what I picked:

 

Yep, no shocker there. ;-) I found a color almost immediately using this skein, and after bringing a swatch of it home, and hanging it on the wall for a few days, was totally convinced we had found the perfect color.

It took me the whole day to do this project on Friday, between taping, (luckily I didn't have to prep the room, Salmaan helped me out, there), cutting in and rolling. It took two coats. Here are some shots I took during the process.

The room before paint, all taped out and ready to go:

 

After the first coat of cutting--looking better already!

 

And here we are, all done!

So here's our Malabrigo inspired dining room. We're excited to finally set up the wine fridge tonight in its special corner, and are even more excited for the dining table and chairs to arrive so we can finally use this space! Hopefully there will be at least one finished room to share by the end of the weekend. Happy Saturday.