I’m a horrible blogger

I haven’t posted a thing here since July. I have good, totally valid reasons but just the same I feel guilty for neglecting this place.

Since the last time I posted Fenix turned 2:

J built Fee an awesome play kitchen for Christmas:

and I got pregnant again:

I’ve also been cooking up a storm, volunteering with an event planning committee for an amazing org called Open Arms and spending lots of time with Fee who is going thru potty learning and transitioning out of the crib. Like I said, we’ve been busy!

Rice saved my camera

We were camping this past weekend at Dosewallips. If you live in or near Washington state, it’s a wonderful campground. It is right near the Hood Canal and the Dosewallips river. Just a 5 minute walk from your campsite to either.

We had fun playing and splashing in the very shallow part of the river near the campground:

Fenix was surprisingly fearless about wading into the river which was nice. He had fun trying to skip rocks with J.

Then rather suddenly the cord slipped from my wrist and my camera plunged into the river, not unlike Fenix in this picture:

We didn’t panic – J waded right over and took the camera from me and removed the flash card and batteries. He waded to the shore and used a towel to dry it off as best he could and then he and Fenix consoled me as I sat there sulking.

Luckily we brought a box of rice with us to the campground (side note – leave some rice and a can of beans in your camp kit for a quick easy camp food). The rice was important because J and I have both read in various places on the internets that if you drop an electronic device (cellphone or camera) into water, it can be saved by doing this:

1) immediately remove the batteries, sim card, flash card, or any other accessories
2) dry the device with a soft, dry rag or towel
3) wrap the device in a couple of paper towels. you can hold the paper towels on with a rubber band
4) place the device in a large plastic container with a tight fitting lid or a large ziploc bag
5) add enough raw white rice to the bag or container to completely cover the device

wait a few days (don’t try to turn on your device!)…….

After a few days you can take your device out of the rice and try putting the batteries back in to see if it will turn on.

It worked for us and mind you, my camera was ON when I dropped it in the river. Also had the water been salt water, this exercise would likely have been futile since the salt left behind after the water evaporates is corrosive. It would have destroyed the internal workings of my camera eventually even if it was working after initially drying out.

Summer life, close up

While pining for a true macro lens for our Canon 10D I realized that my little Canon Powershot actually has a macro setting built in. I still want the real macro lens but what I discovered will keep me entertained in the meantime.

For taking close up shots with the Powershot there are two things – a digital zoom that goes up to 2x and then a macro mode setting that can be accessed from the camera’s manual mode.

We were outside playing in the sunlight which is the perfect light for picture taking and it dawned on me that I have no pictures of my engagement ring so I started messing around to see what I could get:

You can see that it has been some time since I’ve had the thing cleaned but the photo is sharp enough to show the detail (and the tiny strand of dog hair!). I am very much in love with the milgrain and filigree details in this ring. The original center stone fell out a couple of years ago and we had it replaced by the great people at Green Lake Jewelry Works. We opted to go with something that was the same size as the one I had lost because I really think that anything bigger would overwhelm the setting.

I also really like the scalloping on the sides of the ring, it’s not a detail that I’ve seen often on engagement rings:

After playing around with the ring I moved on to other things… living things. Here’s a close up of a very drooly toddler mouth:

Then onward to some moss growing on our apple tree:

And finally some wet toddler toes fresh from the wading pool:

I can’t wait to play around with this more. For those of you who are seasoned macro photographers, try not to laugh.

Experiments in fermentation

This has been a summer of fermentation. That sounds utterly disgusting when I read it out loud but I promise, it’s not.

By sheer coincidence, J and I planned similar gifts for each other for Mother’s and Father’s day. I gave him the gift of a day learning how to brew beer and he gave me the gift of learning to make wine.

For the wine, we went in halfsies on a batch with some friends. In the interest of full disclosure this is not the true art of fine wine making but really just carefully following some instructions laid out by a person at a shop that specializes in this sort of thing. I’d still like to try doing it under more traditional circumstances and I’m hoping that will happen in the next couple of years but for now this was an adequate facsimile.

The wine is a shiraz and though we’ve already bottled it, it won’t be ready for drinking until December. As we were bottling I couldn’t help thinking how this would have been the perfect thing to do for wedding favors or if that’s too big of a budget for your wedding, maybe just as gifts to your wedding party and the parents? Either way, as far as the spirit of handmade weddings goes, this would be perfect. I’m only slightly bitter about the fact that I didn’t know this could be done until well after my own wedding was behind me.

We named the wine Dos Niños in honor of M and Fee since they are the whole reason for that Mother’s Day gift.
Notice that on the label, the little ‘n’ in Niños is missing a tilde. The fellow that was typing out the label for us was not computer literate (to be kind) and we thought it easier to just write the tilde in with a sharpie after the fact.

Now regarding the beer, I found a place close to our home which serves as both a supplier to the home brewer and a place to buy beer (you can bring a growler and have them full it up or stop in at their pub and enjoy a pint right there) but also a place to learn the art of brewing. Better still, if you are a seasoned brewer you can also reserve time to use their equipment to brew your own.

J went with a porter after trying several varieties made from one of the shop’s tried and true recipes. He will bottle it some time this week or next and it should be ready sooner than the wine. Certainly in time for late summer barbecues, camping trips and picnics. I can’t wait!

As it happens, the shop where J brewed his beer offers a similar service for making wine though that is not where we made ours. Should you be so inclined as to embark on your own fermentation experiments here are the details:

For making beer or wine:
Gallaghers in downtown Edmonds, WA

For wine only:
Classic Winemakers in Lacey, WA

Crib love

*Swoon*
Look at this beautiful crib from Culla Sinuè:

I’m not in the market for a crib right now and I haven’t a clue what this one costs but it’s a masterpiece as far as baby furniture goes. Doesn’t it look just like an egg shell? How perfect.

….Found on mocoloco.

Living room rehab

Somehow over the course of the last year or two our living room has gone in a direction that I’m not entirely happy with. Things evolve from a functional perspective and you accumulate more stuff. One day you look around and you wonder how it all ended up that way.

To that end we’ve decided to wipe the slate clean and do something different with the space. Not entirely different because we do like the over all feel, just something less cluttered and more clean feeling.

We jettisoned the love seat that we had and bought this sofa from a really cool couple that posted an ad for it on Craigslist:

this was taken before we sold the loveseat

We have another sofa – this microfiber sleeper sofa from Dania:
Veneta sofa

It’s a nice piece of furniture but it doesn’t quite fit anymore so I listed it on Craigslist today. In the meantime Jason hit up our favorite Goodwill and found a gem – a vintage burnt orange chair. The orange plays off the green of our walls nicely:

it's pretty low to the ground so even Fee can climb into it easily

Once we sell the sofa it will make room for an ottoman of some kind. We are hoping to find something that will compliment both the chair and the new sofa.

Home grown

We planted a pretty big garden of fruits, vegetables and herbs this year. I’ve always been a fan of keeping a small garden at home but it hasn’t always been a possibility with the various apartment dwellings I’ve lived in since leaving my parent’s home in NJ. Now that we’ve settled into our homestead (and I’m not pregnant and lazy or an exhausted new mom like I was for the last 2 summers) we got back on the gardening bandwagon and built some nice raised beds (thanks J!).

one of the 3 raised beds that J built.

We planted most things from seed as you can see from the pic above. We get seeds from Territorial Seed Co.The rest was from small starts and a few organic dutch baby potato buds bought at the nursery . The garden has:
Red beets (I wanted golden but they were out of stock).
Rainbow chard
Kale
Spinach
2 kinds of Strawberries
Walla Walla Sweet onions
Scallions
Chives
Arugula
Oregano
Cilantro
Fennel
Rosemary
Dutch baby yellow potatoes
Sugar pumpkin
Summer squash
Butternut squash
Basil
Mesclun salad greens
Red cabbage

the day the seeds arrived

Seattle has had unseasonably warm weather for the last 2 months and I really must credit the success of our garden to that. 29 days with no rain and near record breaking high temps make for very happy plants apparently. We kept our plants well watered in the interim thanks to rain barrels (So worth it if you have a house!).

Here’s the garden just a few weeks after planting (from seed remember?!):

a bright green flourish of kale and salad greens.

We’ve already harvested some of the kale – the tender, young leaves taste different than the mature ones – many of the herbs and just today, a few fragile and very fragrant strawberries:

the urge to eat them the very second that I picked them was overwhelming.

I’m really looking forward to harvesting the rest of what we’ve planted – especially the pumpkins!

summer oatmeal

The words summer and oatmeal aren’t really a great pair. When I think oatmeal, I think of cold winter mornings where the only thing that can warm your core is a big bowl of cinnamon spiked oats. Well I eat oatmeal almost every day so it was important for me to able to adapt the flavors to fit with my mood and the season. Also keeping it different keeps me from growing completely tired of it.

A couple of months ago I was flipping through an issue of Sunset magazine and they had a recipe for a hawaiian themed oatmeal concoction. That got me thinking about what I used to do back in the day when I had more time on my Sunday evenings to do things like prepare for a week of meals. Ahh the good old days.

My take on this ‘hawaiian’ oatmeal has a light and summery flavor that really evokes the upcoming season while still providing the heartiness of oats that I love so much.

summer oatmeal

Here is what you do:
Make the dry oatmeal mix (this will make about 4 servings):
2 cups of old fashioned oats
4 tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons sunflower seed kernels (unsalted)
2 tablespoons slivered almonds (also unsalted)
couple of dashes of salt

I keep the dry oatmeal mix on my desk, dump out the desired amount into a bowl and add the wet ingredients.

To make a bowl of oatmeal, mix together in a microwave safe bowl:
1/2 cup of oatmeal mix
2 tablespoons of crushed pineapple
1 cup cold water

Microwave on high for 2.5 – 3 mins. Most of the water will be absorbed and the oats will be very soft.
Add a couple of splashes of milk (cow, soy or almond works) and honey to taste. Eat and enjoy.

If you want to do this on the stove top you should boil the water first and then add the pineapple and oat mixture to the boiling water. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the oats are tender. Finish with milk and honey as indicated above.

My new site is live!

I’ve been busy ya’ll. Lots of big things happening at the McG household. Today I am celebrating the launch of my new website – Phoenix Birth Services. Please hop on over there and have a look. I am offering birth doula services to expecting families in the Seattle area. You can learn more about the services that I offer on the site. Feel free to drop me a note if you want more information.

pretzel logic

So my little sister was here with her friend last week and wouldn’t you know that I learned something new from those two! Homemade soft pretzels! I needn’t go on really because who doesn’t love those? I know that I have your attention just by saying the words.

Well in the interest of completeness, I’ll add that the recipe that I love is from smitten kitchen (not surprising)  you should try it. It’s not too tedious so don’t be intimidated. The boiling is an extra step but a very simple one, certainly nothing that you could really screw up. I did two things differently than the recipe:
1. I eliminated the egg wash, it doesn’t change the flavor and I didn’t care about having the crust look shiny
2. I brushed the pretzels with a little bit of melted butter when they came out of the oven. Not traditional, I know but it added a nice flavor to them.

Soft Pretzels ala Smitten Kitchen

And now for the money shot:

soft pretzel logic