Cool

We had some thunder, lightening and rain last night but nothing too bad.  Today is glorious and cool, almost chilly.  I wore my long lounge pants around the house and actually closed all the windows and lit a candle.  It was a lovely day to bake so I made a loaf of chocolate zucchini bread and a loaf of French bread.  I picked everything out of the garden that was ready...including the first eggplant!  There were 4 tomatoes that needed to be used up so I dinked around in the kitchen all afternoon and made a fresh marinara sauce to go with the breaded and fried aubergine.  I used my new Greek seasonings and just swooned as I ate it.  Self control was exercised because I ate only half of it so I can have the rest for lunch tomorrow.  I'm going to poach some eggs in the leftover sauce and make toast from the French bread for Eggs In Purgatory.  Num NUM.  I've been so busy and anxious lately with the new job and it felt so good to just play in the kitchen for an afternoon.

Dave was a good husband today and last weekend for driving me to the state fairgrounds and waiting in line with me.  Today we dropped of some kringlas I entered in the baking competition and last weekend I took in my knitting.

We were there 10 minutes after the place opened and this was our place in line.  You can see Dave standing there and the line goes halfway down the block and around the corner of the Creative Activities Building.

This is the view of the line behind us!  Can you believe that?  I only entered one thing and if we'd arrived any later and saw the line at it's fullest, I would have opted to just decline and not bother for one kringla entry.  At least the weather cooperated.  It was a lovely blustery sunny day so it was tolerable.  Last weekend it was so hot I had sweat rolling down my back and all I was doing was standing.  I baked the kringlas yesterday and was thinking to myself of all the people across the state who must be baking in preparation for today.

On the subject of food, look what came in the mail yesterday!!!  This is a spice blend made by a woman from Mason City.  I used to buy it from her at the farmer's market when I lived there.  I bought 2 big jars last summer when I was home visiting Melissa and Brenda.  So far I haven't been home this summer and was almost out so I called the lovely Dilo Johnson.  She mailed me two big jars worth of seasoning less the cost of the glass jars and labels.  I make foil-packet grilled veggies all summer with this seasoning.  Fried green tomatoes and eggplant aren't worth eating if they don't have this on them.

I keep forgetting to post these pictures and I've been busy starting a new job and haven't blogged in a while.  Here's the latest update on the mailbox yarn bomb at my local Cub store.  This was the spring/St. Patrick themed bomb.

The most recent bomb is a summer/4th of July motif.  I enjoy checking this every time I'm there.

Baptismal Towels

 My dear friend Melissa is making plans to baptize her daughter and I volunteered to make the baptismal towel.  My mother made up this pattern for the towel and the embroidery motif.  She used to make all the baptismal towels for our church and when I was in Jr. and Sr. high school, I made them as part of my community involvement for 4-H and NHS. 

 I hadn't done hardanger in a coon's age and I can tell my eyes are changing!  Holy cow!  Hardanger is not difficult, but you need to be able to SEE where you are stitching!  My mother has all but retired from hardanger (she does beautiful work) due to eyesight and gave me a banker's box full of hardanger fabric.  I've made a couple of these and am listing them in my Etsy shop.

And I don't think I've formally introduced you...this is Zak.  He is my brother's 3 legged beagle we are fostering for a year or so until they build a house and get out of their townhouse in Duluth.  He is a sweet dog and we've all made the transition from 1 dog to 2 fairly well.  Fortunately, we are kind of halfway between Duluth and the rest of the family so he sees his old family quite a lot.  Here he is watching them drive away out of the front dog window.  Unlike Lopi, who would just try to lick and play with an intruder, Zak is a watch dog.  Any unusual sound or people walking on the sidewalk across the street or activity outside and he is loudly baying.  He keeps a close eye on things which is nice when you're home alone.

Herbs

 I am really enjoying my herbs again this summer.  They did well last season but I kept them in the downstairs screened in porch and the slugs would get after them.  This year I'm keeping them up on the deck.  They are getting great sunlight so I have to water them every day but they're doing great.  This location is great for cooking because I can just pop out onto the deck instead of running downstairs for them.

My basil is doing AWESOME now that I know how to pick it properly.  Last year I didn't know what I was doing and picked it all wrong so it never bushed out and I had almost a dozen spindly little basil plants.  This year I'm having to make an effort to use it in things because it is doing so well.  I hope I can keep some through the winter.

I love love love the combination of fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil leaves.  The greatest and simplest panini you'll ever eat contains all three.  When skewered onto a toothpick together, they are a great snack and an elegant appetizer.  I salt and pepper my tomato pieces, assemble them and then drizzle some garlic oil over them.  Num NUM.  These are store bought cherry tomatoes and I can't wait for garden fresh. 

I tried my hand at our first 2 quarts of spicy garlicky pickles yesterday.  Brenda would always send these home with us and I'd have to hide them from Dave for 2 weeks so they'd have time to actually pickle in the jars.  I used the same brine as the pickled green beans.  Each jar has 4 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and 1 small sprig of dill weed from the garden.  Brenda used sliced jalapenos and never used dill so we'll see how they turn out.  These cucumbers are from our garden too.

Dave drove me to the Axman so I could look for some glass bottles and that store didn't disappoint.  I think these are blank Heinz ketchup bottles but they're just perfect.  I made some flavored vinegar with white wine vinegar and rosemary sprigs from the deck.  The herbs have been in there a little more than 24 hours and you can smell the rosemary.  I'd like to try dill or maybe a garlic variety.  These bottles would work well for infusing olive oil with garlic too I think.

Mindekirken

 When my parents were here, we all attended the 11:00 service at Mindekirken.  It also happens to be the service conducted in Norwegian.  I haven't seen my dad that excited since we drove to Decorah to see Kong Olav in 1987. 

The church itself is not far off I-94 so I think even I could drive myself with my Garmin.  I haven't seen that much rosemaling, hardanger, klostersomm or photos of the Norwegian royal family in one place for a long time.  It was utterly refreshing to hear Norwegian candidly spoken throughout the church.  We met the pastor before services and visited with several parishioners, many of whom were native speakers.  We enjoyed the service which included music from Grieg and Scott Joplin.  We stayed for coffee afterwards and visited with more churchgoers and some visiting native Norwegians.  In Iowa it is guaranteed the reigning King will always visit Luther College and the Vesterheim, but in Minnesota, he will always visit Mindekirken.

 After services and lunch, we ventured over to Norway House which is a new cultural center on the same block as Mindekirken.  The traveling exhibit is festdrakter-not to be confused with bunads-by Lise Skjak Braek.

 These are not bunads.  Let there be no mistake about that.  They are beautiful dresses based on bunad design but are not in fact folkedrakt.

 I was excited to see the exhibit because I bought a book of hers years ago on Ebay, "Brud I Tiden". 

The exhibit also featured paintings by Anne Langsholt Apaydinli.  They also featured dresses based on bunads and were colorful and surreal.

All the dresses were available for sale.

Garden Goodies

 My parents stayed with us over the 4th and Dad is always so helpful with garden and yard work.  He is quite the gardener himself so his input is always welcome.  It was ungodly muggy and hot on the 4th and I went out to pick peas for our lunch.  I wasn't even exerting myself.  I sat on a 5 gallon bucket to pick them and had sweat RUNNING off me and my glasses fogged up.  I hate this weather!

 We picked enough for a dish full for lunch.  I sauteed a chopped onion with some cubed ham in butter and then steamed the peas with them in the same pan.  Dee-lish.  We only really had enough for a large serving that one time.  Since then I've picked the fat pea pods as they develop and we just open them and eat them raw.  This year I put in dowels with wire running between them for the peas to climb but they just fell over and we had lumps of pea plants.  Next year I'm going to set up some metal edging fence when I plant so they are held up.  I was recently watching a BBC Tudor special and learned that before the potato was introduced to Europe, they would plant fields of peas and that was their main starch.  I don't know how they survived after our fussy crop of peas!  I love those BBC recreation shows by the way.

 Beans!  Pickled dilly beans!  I have been dying to make these for months!  My childhood best friend was Alitza Rueber and she and I were 4-Hers together.  One year she took dilly beans to the fair.  I can remember eating them for lunch when I'd stay over and I liked them but they were a little too dilly for me.  In the last few years, my dear friend Brenda has been fooling around with canning and she inspired me to start dabbling in it myself.  She makes AWESOME spicy garlicky homemade pickles.  Why couldn't I try the same with green beans for a hot version of dilly beans?  I used this recipe and hastily canned my first single pint of them.  It seemed like a waste firing up the canner for a single pint jar but I was working all the next week and wouldn't otherwise have time.  I picked all the viable beans so they wouldn't develop into monsters by the time I had days off and canned my first jar. 

I had enough for a pint but not enough to completely pack the jar which was OK.  My sister sent me a packet of dill seeds for my birthday and I'm growing it in containers on my deck.  I used the tiniest sprig for my first attempt.  The heat comes from dried red pepper flakes but Brenda uses sliced jalapenos.  The recipe calls for a full teaspoon of pepper flakes per jar but I used 1/2.  It also says to wait a full week, preferably two, before opening the jar.  We opened it 6 days later when the John's were here because I couldn't wait but also because I wanted to test the recipe.

They were delicious and even with half the red pepper flakes, they were still plenty ha-cha-cha!  Dave's parents sent over a bunch of beans from their garden and I picked all the new viable beans in the garden and canned 3 pints before my weekend night shift nap. 

Here is my awesome niece Annika trimming the beans for me.  She helped me with a lot of baking last week while they were here.

I love the view from the top of the jar.  The dill looks like seaweed.

And raspberries!  Beautiful plump ripe raspberries! 

 We've been going out and picking the ripe berries every day and storing them in the freezer.  Let me rephrase that:  I pick and store the berries but Dave EATS them!  ;)  We already have 1 1/2 pints in the freezer and tons more still developing!  The Ramsey County Fair starts on Wednesday and tomorrow I'm taking all my knitting and sewing and Wednesday morning I have to get up early to bake and then take that to the fair.  I am taking those raspberry hand pies in the "other" lot of the pie category.  I'm gambling on that because it will either be a refreshing unique pie entry...or it will be disqualified!  We'll see!

 I've always wanted a lilac bush in my yard.  Next year I am going to bake cookies and knock on my neighbor's door to barter lilacs for cookies.  In the meantime, I am making due with our glorious shrub rose bush in the front garden.  It started blooming this week and the scent wafts through the front windows and stops you in your tracks. 

And Houston...we have pea pods!!!  We planted peas in a different area of the garden.  In last year's spot, they sprouted, waved a little white flag and shriveled up.  I don't know if they like this new area better or if we improved our soil.  Last fall we emptied all the garden containers into the soil and added grass clippings and all the leftover potting soil.  Whatever it was, I am thrilled with things so far.  We had an earlier start this year too because Dave's bowling field trip was a month earlier.  We're also going to get a great raspberry yield I think.  Last year we didn't get any because Lopi chewed off all the branches in the spring.  Since then we've been pushing them through the fence as they've developed so she can't get to them.  I water every day and am eagerly awaiting the first berries!

Veggies--but not from our garden...

I started working on our garden in the beginning of May.  Dave turned it all up for me and we were able to plant peas and green beans early.  We bought tomato, eggplant, butternut squash and pepper plants and put them in shortly after.  Then Dave's parent's sent over a bunch of kohlrabi and cucumber seedlings.  We started zucchini and spaghetti squash from seed and just got those in the ground this week.  We're trying the tomatoes and all the vine veggies in a different area of the yard so we can use the garden proper for the peas, beans, kohlrabi, peppers and eggplant.  We also have a raspberry bush on the garden fencing. 

Everything is looking so much more promising than last year!  I have turned into my dad because I find myself daily wandering around in the yard just looking at the garden progress.  He did that every day when he came home from work.  We'd hear the van pull into the garage and it was always a good 15 minutes before he actually came into the house because he was out looking at the garden.  This morning I was out first thing with Lopi and this frog scared the bejesus out of me!  I didn't really see him but I saw something moving at my feet!

While I was snooping around the garden, Lopi started barking and pawing at this poor turtle.  This is the first one we've seen in the yard this year. 

Dave went fishing this afternoon and I had supper waiting for him when he got home.  I had 2 store-bought zucchinis that I peeled, hollowed, brushed with garlic olive oil and salted before folding them up in foil with some rosemary cuttings.

I'd been marinating some chicken thighs all afternoon.  We skewered them up with mushrooms, onions and red peppers.  Any more I always buy chicken thighs because they are cheaper and are more moist and flavorful.  We got this recipe from the honey stand at the state fair.  The marinade is 1/2 c. oil, 1/3 c. honey, 1/3 c. soy sauce, 2 crushed garlic cloves and black pepper. 

I  got very lucky with my husband because he knows how to grill.  There is nothing like grilled veggies and meat.

My sister and her family are coming next weekend so we can all go to the water park at Valley Fair.  I put together 32 little apple hand pies using apple slices I had in my freezer.  They came from my sister in law's acreage and my mother in law sliced, vacuum sealed and froze them.  I made 2 little cobblers out of the remainder of the apples and the scraps of the pastry.

Num num!

Stitching

The Ramsey County Fair starts July 15th and I have a few more things I want to finish up to enter.  I start working on fair projects in January because by then all my Christmas projects are over and done with and because I just can't wait for fair season.  A new category I'm going to enter this year is embroidered kitchen towels.  I've made quite a few of these as wedding shower gifts because it is tradition.  My mother says that a measure of prestige in her day was how many sets of embroidered flour sack towels you got as shower gifts.

Here are the two towels I stitched to enter.  Colonial Patterns put out these transfers in their Stitcher's Revolution line.  They also make the classic day-of-the-week-kittens-doing-ironing-and-laundry transfers, which are vintage and charming in and of themselves, but I just LOVE these new designs.  I have at least 20 envelopes of pattern transfers in a variety of designs.  The last time my nieces were here, we worked on these together.

I think the honey bear in this one kind of looks like TED the bear from the movie!  ;)   Sublime Stitching is another company that has some awesome transfer designs and supplies but I have never ordered from them.  I looked just tonight and they even have Moomin designs!

Colonial Patterns also puts out these colorful vintage inspired sturdy towels with these woven stripes.  I bought a whole slew of these with Joann coupons when I still lived in Iowa and they are a pleasure to work with.  I've bought up plain flour sack towels here and there when I see them and over time, they discolor.  These striped ones don't and look so crisp and sharp.

I really do enjoy stitching these because they are like coloring books for adults.  This is my box of flour sack crayons!  My mother bought this for me as a kit of floss/cards/case when I was around 12 or so kind of because I begged and pleaded for it.  She didn't want to buy it for me because she was just sure I'd use it for about 10 minutes and move on to something else.  At the time I wanted it for friendship bracelets and other small projects but I've continuously used it and added to it ever since.

This is a shoebox sized tote of floss grouped by color in snack size zip loc bags that a co-worker gave me.  It was his grandmother's and he gave it to me when they were dealing with her estate.

This is a literal shopping bag of floss that my aunt gave me left over from school projects.  I've taken this bag to girlfriend get togethers and my two nieces have dug through it looking for friendship bracelet colors and we haven't made a dent in it yet.  I have enough supplies to stitch flour sack towels til the end of time!

On the garden front, the peony bush my dad brought us is starting to bloom.  It is a good thing I took pictures of it when I did because we had heavy rain the next day which knocked all the petals off the blooms!

Here are the glorious pansies he planted around our tree in the front yard.  Pansies have always been one of my favorite flowers and I love seeing them every morning when Lopi and I go outside.