Giant, Hairless Raccoon

That's what the chickens may think I am.
I went to Liz's and let them out this morning. But I could not figure out where their feeder is, so I didn't feed them (Liz was home, just not up yet). They followed me around, glaring at me and bwaawk bwaawking at me...getting all up in wing at me.
Then I took the one egg they'd laid and left.

Proud Parent of a Soldier

Mensa Boy has that sticker on the back of his car. I don't have it on mine yet. My car is too dirty to stick stuff on right now.

Riley is safely ensconced in Basic training at Fort Jackson. I just received the letter with his address. He's in Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment. Here is his address:

Pvt2 Porter, Jack R
Company Delta Platoon 3rd
1/34 In Regt
Fort Jackson  SC  29206

Family day is July 28
Graduation is July 29

We can follow his regiment on facebook. Here is the address:
http://www.facebook.com/134AlwaysForward

28 Years? or 20 Years and 11 Months?

Happy Anniversary, Mensa Boy! 28 years ago we got married at 11 o'clock in the morning. It was about this time that one of our groomsmen said that he thought WE were picking up his tux! What a fun day we had.

Every year I ask MB this question "So. It's been 'x' years. How many years does it feel like?" And he always answers the question with a number that is smaller than the actual (some could say he's sucking up!). This morning his answer was "A little less than 21 years."

It seems like that to me, too.

And now we are off for a quick trip to the beach. I can hear him filling the cooler with ice, and he's done most of our packing. Neither of us, when we moved into that roach-infested apartment in Eagan, Minnesota, ever would have dreamed that we would someday be living in sunny South Carolina, heading to the beach for our anniversary.

Love you, Bob.

Supper: Vegetables in Garlic Sauce

VegetablesinGarlicSauce
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

From China East, the only Chinese restaurant whose food I will allow the guys to pick up. After Taylor and I spent the afternoon on the football field in the 90 degree heat waiting for the Class of 2010 to GET A CLUE (!) we were not interested in any sort of supper-making.

We are both a little scorched tonight. I have sunburned the tops of my feet. Since Commencement will be outside tomorrow, who knows what we'll eat for supper?

Stay tuned.

Suppertime: Trail Mix

TrailMix
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

oh. I'm sorry. Did yesterday's post lead you think I was actually going to COOK supper and photograph it every night? Ain't gonna happen. Most nights, yes. But on nights when I go to yoga usually I just eat leftovers or a sandwich or, in this case, trail mix.

I make this mixture up with a bag of Harris Teeter unsalted dried fruit and nut mix, some roasted salted almonds, and then whatever other dried fruits I have on hand. I make a quart or so of it and we eat out of that all week. Tonight I'm having about 1/2 cup of it with a nice glass of late harvest Piesporter Riesling.

Suppertime: Penne with Chickpeas, Feta and Tomatoes

PenneTomatoesFeta
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

I made this recipe from the March 2010 issue of Cooking Light. This is my own photo, though.
The recipe took only about 20 minutes to put together. We had a side of fresh green beans with it to round out a pleasant, vegetarian meal.
I have to say, though, that I should have simmered the chickpeas a little before using them. Canned chickpeas always seem a little too al dente and I've never really done anything about that. I don't know why. I think it's a paradigm I need to shift. I've just always used beans as they are out of the can, figuring they are cooked just right. But the other day I made another meal from a recipe on my new favorite food blog, Herbivoracious, and he also commented on chickpeas being too firm. He suggested simmering them a little before using them. I was much happier with the result. Incidentally, I'll do that recipe again and post it. It was delicious!

This post is the beginning of what I plan to be a daily supper photo. We'll see how long I keep that up. My plan is to shoot whatever my evening meal is each night. I'll give the recipe (or in this case link to the one I used), tell how long to make it, and mention anything else I think you might want to know.

ILHS Class of 2010

Here they are. Well, I'm quite sure this isn't all 144 of them. But here is the Indian Land High School Class of 2010. Many thanks to photog Tim Champion for doing the post processing. He took a photo I thought was a lost cause, put a background on it, and recolored a hideous yellow shirt blue.

This class was much less cooperative than '09. It was seriously like herding cats. And because they are such a rowdy bunch, I kept getting administrators in the way because they were standing too close to the group, trying to mitigate any disturbances that might occur.

So this bunch graduates Friday, May 28. That's five days from now. A lot will happen to me between now and then. I'm cleaning out their files so I can give them a lot of papers to keep, working up grades and transcripts for everybody, shuffling and re-shuffling diplomas. Just a lot of stuff.

In other news: Mensa Boy had a good conversation with an organization that fights human trafficking. They are interested in having him serve on their board of directors. He's pretty excited about that. It's a way he can be involved in this issue without changing jobs or having us move anywhere. Nate has been accepted to Winthrop University for the fall. It'll be sad for him to leave Erskine, but Winthrop is a much larger school with more opportunities. It's also a public university, so the cost will be considerably less (along with the fact that he can live at home).

Taylor is winding up his freshman year and did really well with his Algebra EOC. 91! We were very pleased. And Riley called home last weekend and talked for quite some time about his first week at Basic Training. He was mainly bored, but I'm sure by now the Army has solved that problem for him. For several days he was just waiting in lines a lot and not really doing anything else. "Oh, and they are NOT CAREFUL about how they shave your head," he said. "A lot of guys are BLEEDING around here!" Hopefully we'll get his address soon.

We'll make a trip back to Minneapolis at the end of July.

Strawberry Pie

Strawberry Pie
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Strawberries are in season in South Carolina and of course a quart is not nearly enough. The next step up is a gallon, which is too much to buy and just eat. So I made this strawberry pie. I adapted the recipe from "The New Joy of Cooking."

First, the crust. I made a pat-in-the-crust of:

1 1/2 Cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

8 Tbsp butter, softened, cut into chunks.

2 Tbsp buttermilk

In a food processor, mix the flour and salt, add in the butter. Process til crumby. Drizzle the buttermilk over top, process until everything is wet. (the original recipe called for heavy cream, which I don't have).

Press into a 9-inch pie plate, prick with a fork, and bake for 15 minutes or so in a 400 degree oven.

Filling:

6 Cups cleaned and stemmed strawberries. Puree 2 cups in food processor.

In a saucepan combine:

3/4 Cup Agave Nectar (or 1 Cup sugar)

1/4 C cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

Whisk in

1/4 Cup water (or 1/2 cup water if using sugar)

Stir in:

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tblsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Bring to a simmer over low heat, whisking constantly. Allow to simmer another minute.

In the baked pie shell, arrange 2 cups of the strawberries (cut them into uniform-sized pieces), pour over half the cooked glaze, then the remaining 2 cups of strawberries, and the remaining glaze. Refrigerate until thoroughly cold.

I suspect the original pie, with the refined sugar, has a clearer glaze. I just suspect that.

Mensa Boy & Wanda

Bob&Wanda
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

We had a few minutes last night to take photos of the chicks. I'll post more later. Here is a shot of Mensa Boy and Wanda.

Bear & Sheryl

Bear&Sheryl
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is the closest Bear has gotten to one of the chicks and she's handling it quite well. This is the last chick to receive a name. I think it will be Sheryl. It was Mensa Boy's idea. Of course.

Wisteria

Wisteria
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

South Carolina is draped all over with Wisteria now. I know my mom complains all the time about how allergic she is to it, but it doesn't bother me at all. I'd much rather have this than Lilac, which just the mere scent of can send me into paroxysms of sneezing. Lilac doesn't grow here. Aw shuuuucks!

I shot this on the walk into 40-Acre Rock last Friday. I struggled with the greens in Photoshop, but every time I got them looking the way I wanted, the wisteria got odd-looking. Then I remembered the greens actually were kind of yellowish.

Araucana

Here is a link to Willow Hill Araucana Farm in Washington state. My friend the chicken breeder says Amelia is an araucana.

Amelia (Earhart)

Amelia
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Introducing Amelia. She is the first of my 4 chicks to receive a name. That's because she's the first to show us a personality. And that personality is calculating and desiring flight!

She was looking up at me last night when I went to check on them. At least, I thought she was looking at me. But then I realized, as she swiveled her head around, that she was looking at the top edges of the box. Then she just took a little hop, flapped her wings, and flew straight up at me! She came about 4 inches from the top of the box before dropping back down.

I need to ask my friend Rick again what kind she is. We picked out 4 chicks yesterday afternoon. I'll keep them here for about a month and then we'll introduce them to bff's flock. They will live there with her seven.

Our yogafarm is coming along nicely. The beds are all turned and Mensa Boy is finishing framing in the ones that needed it. We'll start planting greens pretty soon, and we'll start the other seeds in pots.

Three more chicks need names.

A Miniature Field of Red

minifieldofredcropped
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Another photo of flowers from 40 Acre Rock. There are little tiny colonies of these flowers everywhere. I had no idea at first what they might be, but then I got to wondering if they might be some kind of sedum?

40 Acre Rock

BlueFlower40AcreRock
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

What a cool place! We drove to the very southern end of Lancaster County yesterday afternoon to explore 40 Acre Rock. (It's really more like 14 acres, guys)

It's just a big granite outcropping right on the edge of the Piedmont and Sandhills regions of South Carolina in the Flat Creek Preserve. It's pretty well hidden in the a wooded area. This is intentional, apparently, because of its delicate ecosystem.

We stayed mostly on the rock, where we saw amazing displays of swamp jasmine and a few small sedum and wildflowers. I took my Canon Powershot point & shoot because it has a macro setting. (I don't have a macro lens for the Nikon. Yet.) That's how I captured this closeup of this little blue flower. Carter, if you are still reading. let me know what this is, ok?

I needs to go back there. Again and again. There are hiking trails in there and apparently even a small waterfall. The rock itself has a bit of graffiti on it, but not as bad as I expected. I suspect the local conservancy has effectively shut down most of the abuse by local teens and rednecks by shutting off the unpaved road that takes you to the rock. You have to park and walk to get in.

Peach Tree Blossoms

PeachPollinationCropped3.30.10
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Things are bustin' out all over here in SC and that means many of my friends and family are suffering from allergies. YogiLiz is rubbing her eyes and Taylor is sneezing his fool head off. My car has it's first of many coatings of yellow pollen. Today we noticed that I have hand-print shaped pollen on my car windows. Apparently the pollen just adhered to the oils of the hands that had been placed there.

Thursday night we went on a shootout, intending to start with the peach trees and end with the full moon. But by 9:15 I was ready to bag it from cold and fatigue. On the way home we did see the biggest, most fantastic orange-colored moon I've think I've ever seen.

Spring break started at 3:30 yesterday afternoon and I'm hoping there will be many shootouts in the coming 9 days, as well as many asana practices, plenty of time vegging on the patio or porch, and maybe a nap or two thrown in.

Happy Easter everyone. He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

The Much-Maligned Bradford Pear

BradfordPearMarch2010
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

They are gorgeous. For the week they are in bloom. Then they just turn into a dumb ole non-specific tree. Contractors like to plant them in new neighborhoods because they grow fast and are showy when they bloom. And they bloom in early spring, when lot of folks are out shopping for houses.

But the trees are not very strong. After they are full grown they can be easily blown over in a bad storm, particularly ice storms. And then you've lost a mature tree and you have to get it taken out and start all over.

But they sure are pretty right now.

Chasing Sunsets

31910skyNo1
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

You really have to chase to get good sunset shots here in Indian Land. Ones that don't have power lines in them. I took this on at the high school. It was a bit late by the time I found the spot to shoot from.

Yesterday I ate chicken pot pie for supper. eh. I made it for the guys and then went to a library board meeting. By time I got back it was late and I was hungry enough to just grab. I think as chicken pot pies go it was probably pretty good. But I didn't enjoy burping up chicken after that. Maybe I am becoming a dyed-in-the-wool vegetarian. At any rate, I'm sure it will be while before I try poultry again. And just the smell of beef kind of puts me off. Too heavy.

Tonight I had a massage after school and then dinner with my jazzerfriend Terri. Long, long conversations. Good for the soul but now I'm tired.

The March to Geezer-dom

Since January, when I became a vegetarian, I've been taking a multi-vitamin that was recommended by my massage therapist. I do feel great these days and I don't know if it's the vitamins, the veggie diet, the yoga, meditation, or whatever. But I do not want to change anything and risk going back to be a tired old hag. So I bought another bottle of vitamins yesterday at Earth Fare.

"Hey Liz! These senior vitamins are $7 less than the other ones and they are for 50 and older!"

"Hey Liz! Read these two bottles, will ya, and see if there is any real difference. It's way to much info for me to take in."

"Gee Liz, you'd think they'd make the print bigger on the senior bottle."

After studying the bottles, she announced that the senior vitamins seem to have more Vit D and the herbal ingredients are a little different but seem to be after about the same results. So why not?

No. I did not get an AARP discount. I didn't ask and it wouldn't have done any good anyway, since my AARP SPOUSE MEMBER CARD WAS STOLEN WITH MY WALLET! argh.

We finished the afternoon baking two batches of vegan cupcakes...carrot and chocolate. Both extremely delicious. We did have one minor snafu with the carrot cake ones. We had overfilled the muffin cups, so they adhered to the tops of the cups in the pan and had to be cut out. This made some of the tops pretty loose. We'd been dipping the chocolate ones in the glaze and, without thinking, scooped up a carrot one and tried to dip it. The entire lid came off in the bowl of frosting and we had to fish it out!

But all was not lost. We just got it out and mounded it on top with the frosting. I think it actually looked like on of the best ones.

This recipe was on a website Liz found. It's essentially all vegan cupcakes, all the time. It think it's this one.

It's a Vision Thing NOT!

"Thing is," I told Mensa Boy, "I can see just fine."

"'parently not," he said. And then went on to point out that I can just get the eyes enhanced fairly inexpensively with the Ophthalmologist that did the Lasik and then just move on.

"Thing is, I can see just fine." I repeated.

And that's what the optometrist said too. "I don't know...your eyes are 20/20," he said. Could be a problem with the machine, a problem with the operator. No ideas.

Back to the DMV. My 6-minute wait of last Friday was just a pipe dream today. I waited almost an hour before it was my turn.

But now I have a license again. I can be identified. I. Am BONAFIDE!