four thank you's

First to Leigh, who let me have full range of her cilantro and rhubarb gardens while she's out of town.  (Watering her chickens was a much too easy trade for gorgeous rhubarb.)

Second, to my fabulous family who sent me a Food Saver a few years ago.  It makes it SO easy to freeze produce without the burn.  Yesterday, I had to go into baking overdrive, and it was nice to dash to the freezer and grab a couple of pumpkin packs.  If I haven't given a glowing endorsement to using homemade pumpkin puree over what comes in a can, well, I will soon... cause it's true.  Nothing beats homemade.  And nothing beats that Food Saver.

And a thank you to the handyman who encouraged my going overboard with the pumpkins last year; there are plenty in my freezer now!  He helped keep an eye on my pumpkins when I was out on fires last summer and even let me raid his plot for more pumpkins during my processing frenzy.  I hope he feels the return on all my raiding now - I made pumpkin pie and pumpkin ice cream for a Grand Canyon photo-swap potluck last night.

(He's pictured with this year's tomatoes.  It's the next "overboard" thing.  Those are half of the health kick hybrid.  The other half are in another plot, and he and I both have hanging tomatoes, too.  Pasta sauce, here we come!)

Last, but not least, my sister, Leigh, has given me all kinds of fun gadgets for the kitchen - one of those is this super-handy Magic Cup measuring cup.  I was making berry-rhubarb pie yesterday, and have I mentioned I'm terrible at making crusts?  Well, the handyman said yesterday's was supposedly, "my best crust yet," so maybe I'll keep trying if progress is being made.  I quit buying shortening in sticks because there was just so much packaging.  Now I get it in the big tub, and it's pretty darn easy to measure with Leigh's Magic Cup which I had never heard about until she tossed it over and said I could keep it.  I have a totally awesome big sister.  



The Magic Cup is perfect for peanut butter, honey, shortening, butter, molasses, nutella - if it's gooey and you have to measure it, the magic cup works.

four great places for dinner in Missoula

I haven't been doing much cooking lately. I'm settled. I'm rested. I'm not traveling or dealing with super-stressful situations. There are no excuses (even with the other day's bread knife debacle.)

But, I just haven't felt like cooking.

Lucky for me, there are some fantastic places to get dinner in Missoula.

First, my absolutely favorite: the Iron Horse. Some day, I will post on all of the wonderful attributes of my favorite blackened salmon caesar salad, but for now, I will just simply mention it. There are fantastic sandwiches and desserts, and their sweet potato fries are an absolute delicious indulgence.



I know MacKenzie River Pizza Company is a chain and they're about as trendy as the Iron Horse, but I can't help but really like them. They don't have that nation-wide chain feel, and they're food is always pretty good. Especially their greek salads - PHENOMENAL feta salad dressing. I really should just spend the $$$ to buy their dressing from their restaurant instead of ordering salads, but I always balk at the $5 or so containers. Another good thing to order? Pesto Fenceposts. They go great with that greek salad.



Then there's Tipu's Tiger (or just "Tipu's"). Everything is fantastic if you can tolerate spicy foods. If not, I hear it's kind of a drag, but my palate likes it hot so I eat pretty much anything they serve. Also, I rarely order fried foods, but it's a habit at Tipu's. I can't turn down the samosas... and I warn you not to try to make me else the beast will emerge.




This last place is quickly approaching the Iron Horse's long-standing status as my favorite. It's Biga Pizza (pronounced "bee-gah"). It's got a great atmosphere, and you can bring your own beer and wine which is a huge plus. I almost never order wine with food because it seems so expensive, yet good wine/beer is one of those things that I love to enjoy with food. So, I bring my wine with me to Biga's, and I almost always order the Vesuvio sans salami with one of their perfectly dressed caesar salads.



Now that I've sat and pondered my list of favorite places to eat, I'll take a tissue and dab up my drool and go find something in the refrigerator to gnaw on.

four blogs for cooking inspiration...

There are TONS of blogs for cooking, and I've been scanning a few of them lately. Judging by the last however-many posts, my world has been mostly about gardening these days. Since I haven't had time to be creative, I've been drooling over these blogs... waiting for my break so I can get back into the food swing-of-things.

The Noble Pig is kind of a hodge-podge of cooking and wine

 stuff. She's actually working on developing a vineyard in Oregon - how cool is that?

I haven't made anything off the Smitten Kitchen blog yet, but I go there just for the pictures.... Food's never looked so good! Some of the recipes off this blog are at the top of my list once I try again to be creative with meal-time.

This is one of my favorites - and I think one of yours, too. At least every third or fourth blog I browse has a link to the Pioneer Woman's site. I've eaten several of her recipes now, and at this point, I'd pretty much endorse anything on there. She's funny, she's crazy, she's got remodel projects and horses and cows and photo tips and a unique perspective of life on the range. Definitely one of my blogging heroes.

This last gal is some one I found a while ago, and I think she's amazing. Beyond cooking, AfricanKelli's got all kinds of fun projects, political commentary, and interesting photos. She has what looks like great community meals each week, and I've thought on more than one occasion, "I wish I lived in Arizona!" Since I'm here in Montana, I'll just cruise by her blog every now and then for dinner inspiration!

Quick add: Angela at the Painted House just posted today about going vegan (as part of Erin's Mama Monday food theme).  I just started looking through her recipes tonight, but they look really tasty... I plan on more exploring over at her food blog, Dinner's Ready.

four bags I'd really like to buy (and other etsy favorites)...

I've got a batch of coffe ice cream batter chilling in the fridge, but I'm too pooped to fix the pics that go with the recipe.   So, while I feel guilty about not writing on gardening or cooking, I thought I'd let everyone in on my quest for a new bag/purse/thing-to-hold-everything. Like the composter that I still haven't actually bought, I'm sure I will analyze this for way longer than I'll admit. But, I like to feel sure about things, and I really like ALL of these purses. So... I'll stare at them a while longer.   I'm new to the etsy thing so I might even have to explore some more.  

Out of all of these bags, I could probably use something like this the most.  I don't really have anything for the "I-need-a-tube-of-lip-gloss,-my-wallet-and-my-phone" kind of night out.  I have more of the "there's-so-much-room-surely-I-should-take-this-too" bags.  Redrubyrose has quite a few cute little clutches....

The Wine Tasting Weekend bag was definitely my favorite. There aren't actually any for sale since Paco and Lupe is sold out... but, my wish list has this bag on it with the little feet things that are on P&L's Tiramisu bag. What really got me was that I think I could fit enough stuff for an overnight in the bag without feeling like I'm lugging a humongous carry-on around. I don't really take that many overnight trips, but isn't consumerism all about the unnecessaries? (and besides, I really don't have a compact gym bag.  Um... that's a terrible justification.  I usually let my dog drag me along the river for exercise.  Maybe I can't have this one...)

The giraffe bag from Sarah Jane Designs was actually late to make the list, but as soon as I saw it, I couldn't help but really like the bold design and the size. (see above comment about not having any small bags.)

This one from Lula Ballou was another favorite. There were several, fancier or more business-like messenger bags at Paco and Lupe, but I really like the versatility of a bag that can have a purse strap, a shoulder strap, and backpack straps without screaming, "I'm functional and useful! Buy me because I make sense in so many ways!" If I'm carrying a legal pad or the company macbook (which I really hope to be assigned to permanently), over the shoulder is fine. If I have my humongous, fifteen-pound Dell from when I started grad school, my back aches after two blocks with the strap over one shoulder. I also like the versatility of getting to pick the fabric that I like - but I think that's supposed to the the etsy-appeal... the sky's the limit and it's worth the effort to ask!

So, there were some other etsy folks that I thought I would mention. If you're looking for clothes or hats, these gals have some cool stuff: sweet charlotte and piper and paisley. Enjoy browsing! (then buy!)

(ps I really need to change the name of this blog to "a blog for cookin', gardening, and whatever else I feel like writing about.")

four things keeping me sane today...

 I've already been mocked for the random nature of this suppsed cooking and gardening blog.  I have great plans to change my banner tagline to a more inclusive statement that will let me write willy-nilly on whatever moves me.  As it is now, I will still write willy-nilly, but I will apologize for my wandering blog (but that apology is only good till the banner gets changed).

Tough week at work.  Tough tough tough.  The countdown to the Grand Canyon reminds me that it's all worth it, but I am going to need a vacation before I take a vacation at the rate I'm going.  Nevertheless, there have been some things I've particularly enjoyed this week as my stress-o-meter registered some pretty high readings...

First, my haflingers.  Even since I've known Erik, he's talked about getting a pair of boiled wool slippers.  I heard about it last Christmas, and had I been a good girlfriend, I would have gotten them for him this Christmas.  Alas, I am a great girlfriend (if i say so myself) and got him something even better.  Much to his luck, he also has a great sister who got him gift card to go get the slippers.  We went to Hide and Sole here in Missoula, and unfortunately, they didn't have anything he liked in his size.  He saw these, though, and loved them.  Not only were they marked all the way down to $20 (from $89) because all of their friends had been sold months prior, but they were also in my size.  Guess who got herself a pair of slippers?  I did feel a little guilty... we're still on the search for a pair for him.  This week, they've been keeping my toes warm.  Did I mention it was a tough week?  A good 

pair of slippers always helps.

My desk is littered with these cans.  I have tried SO hard to stop drinking soda - I think it's the most difficult thing I've ever tried to do (much, much harder than grad school).  I'm a little suspicious of natural sodas and how they claim, or at least imply, they're better for you.  Nevertheless, anytime I can avoid high fructose corn syrup, I go for it.  It's really creepy how much of that corn syrup ends up in our foods - sometimes I wish I didn't know how much bad stuff there was out in the world.  Like corn syrup.  And clowns.  And 55 hour work weeks.

Has anyone listened to Raising Sand?  Everything I read says Alison Krauss and Robert Plant are an unlikely duo, but when you listen to this album, it's hard to believe they haven't spent their whole careers singing together.  I heard "Please Read the Letter" on NPR and had to chase the rest of the album down - that song stuck with me and wouldn't let go.

Lastly, unlike with beer, I've never been much of a wine snob.  I refuse Budweiser and Missoula's favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, in favor of the microbrews, but I've always been more partial to the $5 bottle of wine than the $15. It started when I took a wine tasting class in college.  We sampled $5 a bottle wines, and we sampled $100 bottles.  I rarely found that my taste buds could tell the difference - I simply liked what I liked.  Fast forward nine years and one, year-long website project that I finished three weeks ago.  I felt I needed to celebrate and spent $14 one of Penfold's Shiraz.  I absolutely loved it.  Turns out, there are places to get Penfold's cheaper than $14.  If you see it in your grocery store, you should give it a try.  I've tried a bunch now, and they're all really good.  I've been thinking about it all day...  

With that, I say happy happy Friday.  I'm off to pour a glass of wine and start making cupcakes. 

four things I'm liking today

Okay, I said I'd share more about eko compost. I can't really vouch for what's in it, although the website provides some amazing information about what constitutes good compost and how much is their product.

Last spring, Erik and I took a trailer full of green waste to the eko compost facility here, and purchased a cubic yard of eko compost for $24 that went right back into the empty trailer. (I'm going to have to double check that figure...) It took a little less than a cubic yard to fill my raised garden beds, and - Holy big produce, Batman! - my pumpkins and zukes were huge! Now, in case you haven't figured out that my haphazard way of doing things when I cook actually applies to gardening as well, I will mention that I know very little about gardening. Which means eko compost rules. I have no idea how expensive it is by the bag or where you'd go to get some, but a similar product is worth it. I'll let you know if it's just as good this year, but I'm kind of counting on getting a couple of years out of that dirt. Now I just need to get my own compost system working so I can keep that dirt rich...

Bennington Potters is a company out of Vermont that sells machine-pressed, hand-finished pottery. Meg and Ambrose deserve credit for finding these folks for me; they registered there when they got married. I have always loved the idea of having handmade pottery (this is close), and I waited and waited because I kept thinking that if I got married, I'd admittedly copy Meg and Ambrose and want to register for pottery dishes and bowls and such. Well, fellas, the pressure's off - I've gone and done it and I'm getting my dishes. I got a set of four dinner plates from my mom for Christmas, and I think they're the cat's pajamas. The nice thing about this company is that even though they do utilize a pressing machine to make their products, real people finish them. (as opposed to fake people, I know). Their stable business model means that their basic colors will be available for a long time (and I may need a long time before I'll actually be able to get that wedding registry!). So, I'm starting out with some dinner plates, and every once in a while, I'll add a little bit more to my collection. I can't get them all at once, but it sure beats waiting around and pining for a proposal just so I can have my dishes. Boy, I'm realizing I'm bordering on the ridiculous today... or am I past bordering and just downright ridiculous?


Moving on... I did finally get into Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for working with your photos. Erin posted an action on her website, and after trying hers out, I'm totally hooked. Sometimes the book feels painstakingly slow, but I feel like I'm beginning to understand how much more photoshop has to offer... it's a whole new world!

Lastly, I was craving cookies, and there are none in the house. I found an Attune bar in the fridge, and it totally satisfied my craving. My packaging looks different than theirs, but I honestly have no idea how long it's been in the fridge; I suppose they may have made a change. Anyway, their tagline says, "Keeps Your Body Humming." I think I'll leave it at that...