Kitchen Obsession

I have recently had two experiences that have deepened my love for cooking and eating.

~The first was triggered by reading a few books. My dad had given my Micheal Pollan's Omnivore's Dilema a few years back. I devoured it.....wishing the whole time that I was part of a book club reading the book because I just had to talk about it. This summer I enjoyed his Botany and Desire and In Defense of Food. Coupled with Barbara Kingslover's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, another moving reading experience, I found myself even more driven to grow more food, meet more farmers, preserve more season fresh foods, and enjoy the eating experience with even more gratitude and joy than ever before.


~The second experience also stemmed from reading, but in this case, finding and mildly obsessing over a food blog Smitten Kitchen. Like a teenager who posts magazine photos of her favorite hunky tv star all over her walls, I am in a state of infatuation. Seriously, words cannot describe the anticipation and eagerness with which I sit in front of my computer and type the url into my browser with hopes that she has posted a new recipe/photos/story.

There is this sort of cosmic connection with this glorious blog and myself. Case in point; we came home from blueberry picking with gallons of berries and a birthday party to attend. I looked at my Smitten Kitchen... taa daa... a divine recipe for blueberry bars! And let me tell you, people who enjoyed my bars at the party asked, "Did Alex make these?" Now, my brother in law, Alex, is the neighborhood baked goods guru, so what a compliment to me! Weeks later we were overflowing with roma tomotoes, check out old trusty Smitten Kitchen, and what do you know...a recipe for roasted tomatoes. And were those ever delicious! Other highlights have included the perfect mohito for the perfect summer day and the most moist zuchinni bread ever baked.

So last night I experienced yet another cosmic blog phenomenon. I had been heard complaining that in order to make my sweet iced coffee (I prefer iced over hot any day of the year...what does that say about my personality? Am I the ice queen?) I had to turn the stove on to boil water. Now that just seemed wrong to me. So, as you have probably guessed by now, as I was browsing around on the internet last night (after a sniffling and tear filled viewing of the speeches from the National Democratic Convention), I found that Smitten Kitchen, in line with my cosmic blog expectations, had posted a recipe for Cold Water Infused Iced Coffee. Praises to the powers that be and a huge hallelujah! I am in heaven! It is simply the best way I have ever had coffee. It is like she reads my mind, hears my desires, and delivers like Santa Claus.

http://smittenkitchen.com/

Her recipes use ingredients that I have on hand and that I love. Her stories inspire me straight into my beloved kitchen. Her photos capture the beauty of food. I am in love. Now if I can only find a way to keep my computer safe while it sits on the kitchen counter in the midst of measuring cups, mixing bowls, oils and vinegars, fruits and veggies.

Supporting Local Business

On Saturday, Nimuae and Soliel set out to Stone Mountain Farm Road to try to make some money. They set up a booth that took care of two necessities; lemonade and origami. Their prices were decent, despite increasing fuel costs and the general state of the economy. A quarter could get any neighbor traveling along the rural gravel road their choice of a glass of lemonade or a small piece of art. They served every customer with a smile and a genuine southern thank you. And all of our neighbors, bless their hearts, found themselves either thirsty or in need of some origami.

Take notice of the overflowing money jar sitting on the table. Yes, that is a five dollar bill. Our local fireman forked over $5 for some lemonade and a smile! In the end, the girls walked away with $14! Remember, we live down a rural gravel road! Unlike kool-aid stands in my day when every family traveling to or from the little league games held at the park down the road stopped by for a warm glass of kool-aid (we could not figure our how to keep ice from melting in the dry SLC heat).
After sending the boys up with a couple of quarters to buy a drink, they quickly realized that the girls were capitalizing on an open market. So they sat up in the upstairs bedroom for an hour or so with their guitars, practicing. Soon the lemonade and origami stand was joined (with no complaint from the girls) by a guitar stand. For a small donation, the boys would play any interested neighbor a little ditty. At first, the girls felt sorry for the boys, feeling that they may not make any money, so they started spending their money at the guitar booth! By the end of the day (they were out there ALL DAY), the boys had made a whooping $6 each!


As we sat down for blueberry pancakes this morning, we had a little business talk. We covered the basics; finding ways to make a profit while keeping your costs low, the importance of customer satisfaction, the need to not over-saturate your market, etc. They were all receptive and quickly launched into new ideas for next weekend; including song and dance performances, coffee or iced tea, kindling for wood stoves in the winter, clay figures, cookies.
Looks like we have a couple of young business women and men in our hands.
Maybe they can start pitching in to help cover our overhead!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

We are lucky enough to be in the path of the remnants of Hurricane Fay and all of her rain! This could mean the end of the drought for us...that is what we are hoping for. It has been pouring and pouring and pouring and it probably won't let up until tomorrow evening. Just look at all that water streaming off the roof!
Here we see David in his undies digging trenches to divert the rivers of rainwater away from the house. The undies and flip-flops combo is his official rainwater diverting uniform. cute, isn't it?

Imaginary Camping Trip

Nimuae, Gita Pi, and neighbor Soleil, set out on an imaginary camping trip this week. Alex and Kelcey had a tent set up on the land for Kelcey's mom who was visiting last week. After Linda left, the girls quickly made it cozy with blankies and stuffed animals. Soon it turned into a full fledged campsite.

Here they are "roasting marshmellows," actually left over pancakes from breakfast.
Complete with the occasional shout of, "ohhh, I like mine perfectly golden," and "not quite ready."

colored leaves take the place of flames....
afterall, we are in a D-4 (on a scale from 0-5) drought and we respect the burn ban.

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us!
On the afternoon of August 18, 2000, David and I were married on the beach of Maui in the company of our family and a few friends.
Today we celebrate 8 years of happy, healthy, full-of-love marriage!

We looked through our archives today to see if we had a cd of the photos so I could share them here, but we did not. So I took some photos of our photos. Pardon the quality.

Andrew Stireman, David, Tim Ditter, Makawao D, and brother Alex

me and my mom

David's dad Alex, David, and my dad Scott

Maria, sister Sarah, and the bride

David's mom Kathleen (Nene) and Noah

our families from Utah and Chicago

.....and the reason for my giddiness today! my new and so beautiful ring! I few months ago I was stung by a bee on my ring finger. I had the common sense to take my wedding ring off before my poor finger started swelling. But the crazy thing is that it has not fit since. I have tried and tried to jam it onto my finger and it will just not fit! Not wearing a ring has been getting me down...I have felt like I was missing something. Then yesterday Meredith and I went shopping for her birthday and I came across this ring that fit me like a glove and made by heart skip a beat. So I bought it and gave it to David to give to me today. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever had on my finger.....and it sparkles and glistens and makes me so happy!

Too busy to blog? Give the girls the camara.

Nimuae and Gita explore photography as an art form and a form of entertainment. Since I am slave to my computer with the big Southeast Women's Herbal Conference coming up in only 6 weeks, I celebrate both the time that the girls are happily playing and the quick and simple blog entry that the photos will create.....

Celebration on the Big Ivy River

On Saturday we packed up the camping gear and headed north of Asheville to our dear friends Sarah and Dave's housewarming party. We had been looking forward to this weekend since early summer. Sarah and Dave purchased an old homestead on the Big Ivy River last year and have been working hard on transforming it into a modern, thriving homestead for them and their children. We joined friends and family from all directions to celebrate with music and great food (including pork roasted whole-hog style and, a food first for me, creole shrimp and grits for breakfast!). Here are some photo highlights....

Nimmy enjoying the river with a small Gita in the background

Introducing....Noah on drums

girlfriends....Shelley, Sarah, and I

Dave using his tractor to haul camping gear back up from the field

Gita and her friend, Ruby, enjoying a bubbly morning

Dave and Sarah's house and the leaning tower of David

paddling an air mattress down the river....Banyan, Natara, and Nimmy

my dear friend Eliza and I

Noah and Banyan taking a break

Cupcakes, Calzones, Pesto, and Mohitos

After a long day in town on Friday, I felt inspired to put my kitchen to another domestic goddess test. Would it be possible to bake 24 cupcakes for the party we were going to the next night...and since the oven would be on for the first time in weeks, shouldn't I also make calzones for supper?......and the basil in the garden is very ready to made into pesto.......and after buying a bag of limes on super sale at the grocery store, I had images of mohitos floating through my brain. Could I do it? Could my kitchen handle the challenge of baking, cooking, drink making, and processing the harvest...all at the same time. After some encouraging words from Kelcey (who really wanted in on the pesto and mohito action) I threw on the apron and started the magic!

The cupcakes (chocolate with cream cheese filling) turned out spectacular....

Sausage and garden fresh basil and tomato calzones were made even better with a spoonful of fresh pesto on top.....

We made about 9 batches of pesto before running out of nuts and oil....with plenty of basil to await a trip to the grocery store.....

and it was all fueled by mohitos....muddled mint fresh from the garden, plus equal parts fresh lime juice, simple syrup, and rum......the perfect summer cocktail!

So my kitchen was buzzing with activity while the family ate yummies and watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony. I am so proud of my kitchen that I designed and helped build. It is perfect! And it inspires me to take domestic goddess challenges. What more could I ask for from a kitchen?

The World

I love the world

By nim

I love the world and the world loves me.

Watch after the world and watch after me.

Cool world and cool me.

Play world and play me.

Sleep world and sleep me.

Wake up world and wake up me.

Read a book world and read a book me.

Simmering Summer

We are praying for rain. We are having a very dry year and our spring (our sole water source) is proof. In our 6 years up on the land, we have never had the spring dry out or the creek run at a trickle. As of yesterday, we are down to a very slow drip. We are very conscious water users and we understand how lucky we are to have cold, delicious, fresh spring water bubbling up from the earth. Hopefully we will look back on 2008 and remember the extreme drought, and remember the fear we felt when we thought the spring might be drying up. Hopefully we will be remembering this when we are sitting in our hot tub or natural swimming pool, with the creek bed full of water. But for now, we are mildly concerned, saving water as much as possible, and praying for rain!

Here are some summer photos that help me be grateful for some of the other faces of summer without dwelling too much on the negative:

Beautiful sunny sunflower in the garden with buzzing bumblebees

basil basil basil plus a little nim

hula hooping and children

sweet sleep

music, dancing, drumming, merry making

5 little ducklings in a row
Noah, neighbors Soliel and Banyan, Nimuae, and Gita

From trellis to jar

It is early August which means one thing in the Carmona household....it's time for making pickles. Yet every year I wish that canning season was late October or early November when the extra heat in the house would be welcome. Instead, I put on the outfit with the least amount of fabric, crank up the fans, pour myself a cold icey drink, and get ready to sweat!

Pickle time crept up on me this year. I think I am still in denial.....my internal clock has been exactly 6 weeks behind since the beginning of 2008.....I just don't believe it could be August already. Anyway, we got home from a "nappy walk" (gita falling asleep in her stroller while David and I get 20-30 minutes of conversation and exercise) and found Kelcey and Lili in the garden. She said she was out there just to dare the rain (we are in severe need of rain...more on that later). But she ended up entering into one end of the cucumber trellis and exiting the other with arms full of cukes. We saw the task at hand, rolled up our sleeves, and pulled cucumbers that were eager to become pickles. In lieu of a basket or bucket that would hold the cukes on the way to the house, I wrapped pounds and pounds of cukes in my dress and made the ascent from the garden. Needless to say, the photos that David took when I got to the backdoor are quite amusing, seeing as 90% of my dress was serving as a cucumber bag, while the other 10% desperately tried to cover my unmentionables!

We stored the cucumbers in a cooler for the evening and then got started on the mission this morning. Two big changes have occurred in our pickle making world....1) our neighbors, Meredith and Kevin, have a dishwasher! Sterilizing the jars is much easier, and 2) we actually have a kitchen! I have canned in trailers, school buses, temporary kitchens with coleman camping stoves.....but now, alas, we have a real kitchen....I feel so grown up!
"Why is there a photo of a hawk on your pickle blog," you may be asking. Well, I was so excited to document the whole pickle process on film and then enter the photos onto the blog. But turns out David took the camara to town with him today. To his credit, he did come home with a photo of a hawk.....so I may not have photos of jars filled with garlic cloves and dill, or photos of Kelcey, Alex, and I chopping cukes and canning, or even photos of the 6 kids that were at my house today watching Gnome Mobile while I was in the kitchen (all while the lighting was beautiful). Instead, I have a photo of a hawk who really wanted to make his/her debut on Five Carmonas.
So, 2 huge pots of brine plus 18 jars and lids plus fresh dill, garlic cloves, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and mustard seeds...and taa daa.....yummy homemade, shelf stable, love infused pickles!