Monday, October 18, 2010

Here's to You Robert A. Tidwell Hacky Sir

The Olsen's biggest, funnest, newest summer project happened around July. It ends up the hole in the backyard, which used to serve as a retention pond prior to city-wide gutters, still has a purpose. For some blessed holy reason, underground spring water flows into it during a few precious summer months. Usually, by the beginning of summer (and the end of spring) it's a soggy mess, but this year? It just kept a flowin' like honey in the Promised Land.

See. No swampy crap. Full-fledged pond. The Mister and I? Well we's gots right dern excited.

So in blur of euphoria, The Mister of the House called up some dude that owns a trout farm, who has a big truck with a tank, and a son to help do the job.

We purchased 50 trout, knowing that our un-lined little pond was operating on a wing and a prayer. But the memory of having to go fishing in the backyard was worth the risk.

The water was cold (like trout thrive in) and was full of little snails they like to eat. So into the water they went!

Before long we thought we needed to christen our new thriving pond with a name. It was then I reminisced my sweet innocent Idaho Days and hanging out with my bestest friend Kristi.

Here we are getting college credit while camping, hiking, swimming, and backpacking. You had no idea you had it so bad right?

So the thing is, Kristi lived on 241 Steiner Avenue, a little dead end a few blocks from "the college". Her papa taught English, and in those few and free summer months, he was the handyman. I watched every summer as he built a pond with a pump. Created a rock waterfall into the pond. Build a deck around the pond. Painted the fence, trimmed the trees, and even raised an existing backyard shop by several feet to fit his camper.

He wrote (and still writes) poems, and in a lovely and endearing British Turn, named his piece of property "Mellow Wood".

He was adorable!

I saw him just this past summer at his son's art exhibit. It was like old times, except now I longer have a tan, don't sleep well while I camp, and an a wimp. Oh, and someone vital to the mix was missing...but other than that, just like old times!

And so we thought it only fitting to name our little trout pond "Mellow Wood Pond". The Mister even tracked down an old piece of barn wood for me to paint the name on.

And dammit that thing dried up before I got my sign painted!

So Mr. Robert A. Tidwell Hacky Sir, I chomped a trout in your name and when that pond comes back next year it will once again remind me of yours and my days with Idaho Summers. And since your Mr. English Professor, would I say your and my days...or yours and mine days? That last one was just messed up right?

At any rate, your Mellow Wood lives on in the fresh and cold underground spring feeding into my dirt and my soul.

Good things are precious because they are fleeting it seems...

Labels: Apache Avenue Memories, fun with nature

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Garden Recipe: Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

There's so many garden recipes I have been cooking up lately to use up our fresh garden produce, but I have hardly had a second to post them on the blog. For now? Here's a new family favorite: Spaghetti Squash Lasagna. It's adapted from some magazine pullout from long ago, but you can really just fly on the cuff with this one.

I recommend cooking option 2, simply because it cooks more thoroughly and evenly. If using the microwave, just make sure that the squash is all the way cooked. Pierce with a fork and stick the entire thing in the microwave. At the end of cooking, pull out the fork again and check for tenderness. Then you cut it open, throw away the seeds and gross strings around the seeds, then scrape the flesh out into a bowl.

So cook it up, scrape out the flesh, and season to taste with butter, salt, pepper, and italian seasonings.

We used pork that we raised in the backyard. I have to admit a few things: we definitely eat meat more sparingly now that we raise our own meat. And B) never been much of a piggy eater but this pork has been a delicious protein boost in the home.

So we're about to start our layers. Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray, then we're ready to go.

Mostly mozzarella, with a sprinkling of full-flavored italian cheeses does the trick nicely. I love to buy the already grated canister called "Mario Batali Italian 4 cheese blend". Sam's Club has it and it has aged provolone, asiago, parmesan & romano shredded cheese. This will add a lot of flavor to the dish.

You repeat the layers twice *with the exception of the last layer of cheese. Save that for the last 5 minutes of cooking*. Got it?

So from bottom up layer: half squash, half meat, sauce, then cheese. Now repeat but save the last layer of cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then sprinkle last layer of cheese and bake for 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes.

Garnish options: Fresh Parsley
Other options: add chopped olives with your meat layer.

Enjoy!

Labels: garden, recipe

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Writhing With Joy

I am currently in my harvest paralysis. In the corner of the kitchen lies a basket of corn, picked 5 days ago, still waiting to be shucked, boiled, cooled, cut, bagged, and frozen. I'm signing it off as a starchy mess to be sent to the chickens.

However! Celebrations are in order partly because I actually got most of my corn into my freezer, and it was still tender, delicious, and sweet.

I'm not sure if my absolute joy and honestly is coming through in this photo. Seriously, about 75% of my two outside rows of corn presented gooey chewing worms having breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the garden. By the end, I had a cereal bowl half-filled with worms forked out of the corn, which were then thrown to the chickens (seriously, are you thinking you need chickens yet? They are awesome).

Last year? I probably would have been a little grossed out by this, and maybe disheartened that the corn was diseased or something.

This year? It was proof of good food insurance. It was a little annoying, but evidence I had grown organic food...as opposed to science.

Earlier this year we watched the documentary "The Future of Food". It was fascinating! I learned about the basic operations of genetic modification of food as well as the green revolution and the use of pesticides and herbicides. Then I learned that there has been developed corn that is actually registered as an insecticide. Every kernel has been genetically modified so that any grub, worm, or bug that eats it will die!

The result? Beautiful unblemished corn that looks healthy and ready for dinner. Which makes humans delight to eat it, because it's so pretty and because we are not worms. Also, science tastes delicious as opposed to food. Mr. Twinkie even told me so.

So this year? I delighted in my worms. I killed them quick with help from my chickens. We cut around the mess they made on the cob. But in the end, I knew my corn was food...not science.

Please watch this clip from the film. It's really long, but the part about corn is between minutes 5:00 and 6:00.

Enjoy!

p.s. sometimes I eat science. I try not to, but it happens. Cinnamon bears people!

Labels: garden, responsible agriculture

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Happy To Announce

It's a harvest moon, and for the very first time...

and it was delicious!

Labels: garden

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Last of the Travel Greens

Good eye Jenna. I did not in fact prove my greens for my Derry Day, but I definitely did eat, and it definitely was amazing. Thanks for noticing, now here's my proof.

I'm funny right? When we got back to Belfast, we followed the "locals recommendation" for fish and chips and this was the honking plate that was placed before me. They didn't ask if I wanted ketchup. They didn't ask if I wanted tartar sauce. There was only 2 condiments on the table: vinegar and salt. I wanted to be an authentic Irish Lass, so I didn't ask for anything else.

We compared the breading on the fish to a flaky but slightly sweet donut breading. And because I'm a fan of salt and vinegar chips, it all worked out quite deliciously.

Later that night we ate at a restaurant called The Barking Dog. It was there I really did eat my salad for the day. It was wonderfully named a "Rocket Salad" and was simple and delicious. Three ingredients: Greens, Parmesan shavings, Balsamic Vinegar.

But seriously, could any salad undo those fish and chips I had earlier in the day? I don't think so.

Fish and chips regrets? Definitely NOT.

Labels: FreshGreens, travels

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Praise to the Man

The last full touring day of our trip we headed to....hmmm, what should I call it? Legally known as Londonderry, historically known as Derry, and from what I can tell, you can remain somewhat neutral as long as you simply refer to it as "The City of Derry". This is the place where Bloody Sunday occurred decades ago, and has been a porting city and immigration stepping stone for centuries. Such history!

Derry has the blessed curse of being a perfect porting city in the midst of ancient fighting monarchs. Thus, it is the only walled city in all of Ireland. This ended up being an extension of my political history tour that occurred throughout this trip.

From my city walking tour, this was the bottom line: Gaelic natives live on water. English businessmen drool over porting abilities. Move in as neighbors, but soon try to keep the natives out. Fighting Irish kick butt. English leave. Later, London merchants return (this is the 1600's by the way) and this time invest in a big fat wall to protect their investment, and start to make bank on global ports coming into their hands. With the backing of the royal monarch, and to show the investment coming from across the water, the city name is changed from Derry to "Londonderry".

I have to add as a sidenote, this port was essential in keeping supplies to U.S. soldiers and allies during World War II.

So all this background evolves into centuries of Us vs. Them; Protestant vs. Catholic; Monarch vs. Republic.

Here's some photos walking along the wall. For decades British Soldiers patrolled these walls. You can see plants growing into the wall, and a quaint church just within the boundaries. It's also the elevated view that said soldiers killed 14 unarmed protesters in 1972. It was just this past June (2010) that Prime Minister Cameron apologized and admitted the soldiers killed innocent victims. That would be almost four decades after the fact. Our tour guide, a man in his 60's, practically cried when he spoke of the relief the people felt knowing the truth had finally been declared.

Here you can see a collage of Derry.
* The closer you get to "Londonderry" you see the "London" part crossed off the road-signs.
* Throughout Norther Ireland, most of the stained glass has been blown out. Here is some stained-glass windows in the civic building that were re-built in the 1900's. The city of Belfast has original stained-glass only because they took them out and hid them in a farmer's field for years.
* This famous statue is in a roundabout. It depicts a Protestant and Catholic reaching towards each other, but their hands are not touching.
* You can see this Loyalist community with curbs painted red, white, and blue-with the bold declaration that they are still Under Siege!
* This quaint courtyard begged for me to be an Irish Lass living in an apartment with a yellow door. So cute!

For me personally, I marveled at this centuries old religious and cultural history. I don't know that I feel educated or swayed to take one side or the other, though it is clear that one group was severely marginalized economically and socially. And yet the marginalized group later held a reputation for being violent and deadly in their retribution, and so some of the empathy becomes tempered.

I marveled. I wondered about my own religious identity and culture. I am Mormon. Although young in history (mid-1800's), the Mormons endured severe backlash for their beliefs. They built communities, then fled them as mobsters turned them out. They were burned out of their homes, their women were raped, their leaders were murdered in cold-blood. The Governor of Missouri even issued a legal decree stating it was necessary to kill and "exterminate" the Mormons. They left the boundaries of the United States, and settled the barren west. They sought redress from the U.S. President who stated "Your cause is just, but there is nothing I can do".

It seemed to me, with such a violent past, that my own religious heritage could have incubated an intense anti-government, Us vs. Them culture. I don't mean to compare the oppression that occurred for centuries in Ireland/England with the relatively young history of the Mormons, but it left me wondering.

What was the difference? Why did I come upon this violent Irish history and feel like a compassionate outsider unable to relate? Why did I wish they could feel safe, patriotic, and community-linked as I do in my city, neighborhood, and country?

Then I realized why this violent and unjust heritage didn't linger in the modern Mormon culture.

Quite simply: We have a prophet.

And because of Priesthood and Prophets, preaching patience and perseverance, forgiveness and hard work Mormons became famous for good citizenship in countries throughout the globe, even countries that cast them out and treated them like an infestation of bugs.

This isn't a neener neener Ireland post, just do this and all your problems will be solved, but I think it just might have something, or everything, to do with the difference. I feel relief for the relative peace occurring in Ireland, the breath of fresh air for people excited to move on.

But mostly I feel gratitude for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After all, there is nothing quite so tough....as gentleness.

For a taste of inspired counsel, watch this:

[An embedded video from another website was here; it is no longer available.]

Labels: religious musings, travels

Monday, September 27, 2010

Leaving London

My salad for Thursday, September 16th was a cute little guy from an Italian Cafe inside the London-Stansted Airport. By the way, if you ever fly into London and you see 3 airports available, just be aware that Stansted is an hour and half bus ride away from the actual London. By the time I was eating this salad, we had had a very uneventful day "tourist-wise", but I had already experienced a dangerous sway of emotions. The Mister too.

Morning after our late-night play and we head back into London(from the suburbs) with hopes of actually entering the sites that closed down at 5:00 p.m. We hopped onto the double-decker bus, then sputtered around until we were at Picadilly Square when we looked at our clocks and realized our only chance of making the bus back to the airport was to get off the bus immediately and brisky walk back to the station. This is how life goes when you are spontaneous by nature. You miss stuff! (thanks for letting me sleep in Mister).

So we hit the sidewalks. Our bus leaves in 45 minutes and we are a brisk 35 minute walk away. No time for dilly-dallying. Game on! I decide to speed-walk by jetting past the hoity toity couples dressed in wool and hats, I weave between window-shoppers and big-eyed tourists. I pass The Mister and start a mean pace.

Five minutes later I decide to look back and check on The Mister. I'm right to the point where I'm not sure what street to turn on, and want to make sure we're still together.

We are not!

I backtrack a block to see if he had to step into a store.

He did not!

I head back again and pause to look around.

No husband!

And while I like to think of myself as a strong and independent woman, capable of traveling alone and harnessing a spirit of adventure, I totally panic.

My mind races It's too busy for him to have been taken out by the London Mafia. Is there even a London Mafia? Oh crap, I have the tickets, he has the passports. We are going to miss our bus! If we miss our bus we will miss our flight! How did I lose him! If he's gone what do I do? I could call Andy & Erin (who we stayed with) and they could help me start a search. I will be on the news as the stupid American who lost her husband. I don't want to be on the news. There is people all around but I am alone. Is he okay? What happened?

Drama right? At this point, I am choking back the tears. I decide on a plan! Hurry back to the station-that's all there is time for anyway. He will be there and we will figure out what happened. right? {sniff}

So I enter a shop and ask a clerk which way I need to go. My voice is cracking and choking because of the stupid places I am going in my head.

I head back onto the sidewalk and get ready to cross the street. At this point it was been a solid ten minutes since I lost him. I look back and see The Mister of the House! He is heading straight for me and doesn't make a sound. I practically fall into his arms and I'm pretty sure I made some weird sound.

Which brings me to this: I am crinkle-faced, voice-cracking, making weird mourning sounds. The Mister is terrified he lost me as well! I mean really, what is his life without me? Here's how he looked in his total moment of panic:

You can see how the dark deep red fear totally takes over his face.

And yet his panic looked vaguely familiar.

This is why you want to be with The Mister of the House when The Titanic goes down.

What happened? I didn't lose The Mister. He lost me! He was walking ahead of me, but stopped 5 minutes after me and started doing the back-tracking crap that I was doing. He was also crying inside like a baby.

p.s. I had a death-grip on his hand the rest of the day.

Labels: travels

Thursday, September 23, 2010

London in a Day

Wednesday, September 15th marked our only full day in London. Could we tackle it all in one day? Would we feel like we had a handle on the sights, the history, or even the food? So in order to digest it all, we paid for an open-bus-tour. There were several routes throughout the city that we could hop on or off with our ticket, so it was a good way to digest the city in a day.

There's was so much I had heard of London, but without any true frame of reference. Things like Picadilly Circus, The Tower of London, and Big Ben. So I decided to sort it all out on the bus. You'll have to forgive my obvious ignorance. Here's what I learned in a glance.

Some dude built this for Queen Victoria's Castle. She did not like it. She purposely had a carriage built too wide to pass through, so it stands near some park instead. Sheesh!

like I had previously surmised.

Just after we digested the sights, we decided where we wanted to visit. Too bad the city and the busses stop running around 5:30. Hello? So like everything else, St. Paul's just got our drive-by and it's famous whispering hall will have to wait until I return to London as a senior citizen. Same goes for Shakespeare's Globe, Tower of London, and everything else. Boo!

The Rosetta Stone! When we found it in our 30 minutes inside The British Museum, The Mister of the House exclaimed This made our entire trip to London worth it!

I thought The Rosetta Stone was cool too, but the real thing that topped off the day like a maraschino cherry was a little play we got to see together- with real singers and real dancers and real chocolate covered raisins.

Labels: FreshGreens, travels