Dirt, Wine & Gratitude

I long for summer.  Let me be her...knee deep in crops.

It was 68 degrees in southwestern WY today, an absolute marvel of weather and season.  I spent the early morning getting life's business out of way so I could get out in the garden and prep for this year's crop of herbs, tomatoes and flowers.  Yippee!

Quick memo on why I even have time to spend in the garden on a week day.  I was hurt on the job the end of December of 2011.  I finally had the surgery I needed 2 weeks ago.  I'm on the mend but won't be able to go back to work for 6 to 8 more weeks so it's strange but SO wonderful being close to my garden everyday and even more strange to have thawed beds in March.  I finally arrived home and put on my boots first thing.  I spent 5 hrs clearing last years garden out, watering the compost pile, raking leaves that were frozen to the ground in October and soaking in the sun.  My body was tired, my knee hurt, I was dirty, hungry and thirsty and having the time of my life.  Lord how I've missed this!  I belong in the garden, my DNA must have dirt and manure in it.  For me, all things point to the garden, it's my true north.

Ironically enough, my initial plan for today's blog was somewhat of a frolicking correlation between gardening and drinking Jargaritas :)

Because there's something to do with warm days and hard work, that a cold drink just makes sense at the end of a long day.  But after my long day in the garden and a 1/2 bottle of Sonoma's best, I find myself in a happy, mellow mood and all I want to do is get Zen and wax poetic about life and dirt.  We get a little crazy here on Friday nights.

Simply stated, I love dirt.  I love the sun.  I love hard work.  I love seasons, even the endless brown one.  I love watching the robins come in to bathe in the birdbath, I love knowing that our grand-babies can crawl across the lawn and into flower beds, safe to discover nature because we garden organically.  I love that my daughters and sons have gardens of their own and that somewhere along the way, they understood.  And...last but not least...

I love sipping a libation in the garden after a day's worth of labor.  I just do and soon, I'll do that jargarita post!  

All it all, it was a very good day in the life of me and a few dirty robins.

 Have a great weekend y'all!

XOXO! 

Rebecca

A Time for Pansies...

(Hearts Ease)

aka:  Viola, Pansy

Spring is here, but it hasn't sprung for all of us.  

Where I live, we're smack in the middle of the ridiculous season.  Relatively warm during the day when the sun shines bright but still cold at night.  For gardeners, this is sweet torment especially now that the days are longer.  It's time to plant something darnit! Seeds are nice but after a long winter I want/need/require instant gratification.  All I ask is for a little COLOR! 

This is the perfect time for pansies!

I'd say that pansies are the equivalent to Prince Charming, they appear at Home Depot just in time to rescue the cranky, color deprived damsel in distress from pinning 9,987,999 pics of flowers and blowing up the Pinterest servers.

Suffice it to say, my pansies landed at our local Home Depot and this is how I spent my morning after I donned my nano puff, wool hat and gloves.  

Notice the collective browns surrounding the flat of pansies?  So, I gathered tools and beverages and hit the dirt.  This particular whiskey barrel had a combination of last years (dead) annuals that needed to be removed and the dirt freshened.

Do your eyes hurt yet from all the brown?  Welcome to my life.

Just for kicks...

Pansies belong to the Viola family, a large genus of about 500 species that also includes hardier but smaller-blooming cousins such as garden violas and perennial sweet violets. 
Some pansies have a delicate fragrance that's more easily perceived in the early morning or at dusk. Those with yellow or blue flowers have the strongest scent.

After I cleaned out last years flora and fauna, I skipped to the compost pile to get a shovel full of compost to help "freshen" up the whiskey barrel soil.  It's not necessary to replace a pots soil every year but it is a good idea to freshen your pots with new potting soil or better yet, compost.  Because we have to water pots often during the summer, nutrients leach out quickly and need to be replaced by "freshening".  

 My color fix.  My Zennnnnnn.

Pansies are indeed a feast for the eyes in early Spring when Mother Nature is being ridiculous.  They can withstand light frost and even a dusting of snow and last through the summer if grown in part shade.  They prefer a cooler Spring to the warm Summers and if you are OCD like me and mine and keep the spent flowers pinched off, pansies will reward you with an abundance of blooms!  

Go forth and propagate the earth (with pansies).

XOXO!

Rebecca

March 27 & 28

March 27- Potato Pancakes

 I made potato pancakes for lunch. Yummy. :)

 March 28- 3 cows. 50 horses.

Yeah. Lilia and Amalia like their horses.

Salted Honey Butter Popcorn & Diet Coke

       Yin
       &
    Yang


A most perfect blend of yes and no, war and peace, black or white. 


Stay stupid, stay thirsty my friend. Know balance and the mother of all snacking partnerships.

Salted Honey Butter 

Popcorn

2  Tablespoons melted butter 

2  Tablespoons honey

4  C. popped corn

Salt to your liking.

In small saucepan, melt the butter, stir in honey.  Pour over popped corn and star to taste!

Be kind and share.

XOXO!

Rebecca

P.S.  Big thank you to thefauxMARTHA.

March 25 & 26

March 25- Doodle

I confess. I was doodling during prayer time at church. ;D

March 26- Bud

Some of the trees are starting to bud.

The Lion House: Coconut Cream Pie

It was a beautiful day in Wyoming and I felt human again.  So human in fact, I made a pie.  We love cream pies, we are mad for cream pies.  Not everyone in the family likes to make them though.  I think my sister JoAnn and myself are the only designated cream pie makers.  Truth be told, custard is time consuming, pie crust from scratch is too but when the two come together...Oh man! Oh man!

We have a particular favorite cream pie recipe, an oldie but a goody from Lion House Recipes.  It was published in 1980 and my cookbook looks every bit of 32 years old. 


The Lion House resides in Salt Lake City and is a restored, historical home of Brigham Young.  The ground floor of the home has been turned into a kitchen where the most fabulous comfort food imaginable is served.  


When The Lion House Cookbook was finally published we drove from California to Utah to buy one, just for the cream pie recipe.  Possibly a slight exaggeration...but next ski trip to Utah, that book was mine.


And I'm going to share it with you...because it's so good...custard is pure happiness and, it's my birthday soon.






Basic Cream Pie


5  T. cornstarch
1  C. sugar
1/4  t. salt
2 1/2 C. milk 2% or whole
3/4  C. half and half
3  egg yokes
2  T. butter
1  t. vanilla
1  C. whipping cream


1 baked pie shell

Combine cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan.  Heavy bottomed pan is best.

Add to dry mix:


2 - 1/2 C. milk 2% or whole
3/4  C. half and half

Stir and cook over medium until smooth and thick, stirring constantly.  I let mine come to a slow bubbly boil for about 2 minutes before the next step.  It's important to stir constantly at this point so the custard doesn't begin to burn.

The next step is to pour a small amount of the custard in with 3 egg yolks and mix with a fork or whisk.  Pour the egg/custard mixture back into the saucepan and cook another 2 to 3 minutes.  The egg yolk is going to thicken the custard.  You're almost done!

Now it's time to remove from heat, add 2 T. butter and 1 t. vanilla, stir.

Your custard is complete and ready to receive 1/2 cup coconut shreds, pour in and stir.

Fill a pie shell and chill for 4 to 5 hours.  When ready to serve, top with whipped cream...decadent combination I tell you.

I had a house full of family waiting for dessert tonight.  What is it about a homemade pie that can fill a room?  Well worth a little extra effort in my book!

XOXO!


Rebecca

Camp Wander is Under A Rest (Ha, get it?)

I'm so sorry, but I need to take the weekend off from my beloved blog, Camp Wander. With a combination of post op knee surgery and a bit of a flu bug...I need some extra rest I'm afraid.

I just might have to share my experience with essential oils and healing sometime next week.  I've been doctoring myself with several and have been so impressed.  I love essential oils!

Thanks so much for checking in, I'll be good to go very soon...I promise!

XOXO!

Rebecca

March 23 & 24

March 23- Raindrop

 Fog + Rain = Gorgeous.

 March 24- Snowflake

This is a necklace I got at Bible School in like, 3rd grade. Hence the missing sparkles.

Girl Power!

  Let's have ourselves a conversation about Girl Power.  Oh Heck Yeah!


Recognize the iconic graphic above?
I though you might.

I want to feel like this little girl looks, everyday.

I'm a great believer in the power and strength of women.   In my heritage, there's about 29 hell raisers, I'm proud to say.  Tab drinkin, party girls who stood tall and strong in the face of adversity.  They stuck together, they were sisters united and God help the man or kids that tried to interfere!  Strong women are so COOL.

Secret of Success.

Well, let me tell you how I zeroed in on today's subject.  I spent a fair amount of time today researching material for an upcoming blog post.  I bounced around from blogs to Google to newspapers and magazine articles until I felt dazed, and a little hungry truth be told.  Food bloggers...curse you!


I found the information I was looking for but, I also saw something in the process that was very disappointing to me.  I noticed a common thread in many blogs and some articles that were written by women about women.  


That common thread was to criticize, minimize and discredit the work of well known, successful women.  Martha of course, gets the brunt of most.  I confess, just the other day I wrote that I was scared of her, scary Martha.  In truth, she's so brilliant she's intimidating to me.  In my defense, it was all in fun.  I would never attempt to reduce or discredit her accomplishments and triumphs!  The woman has risen above every obstacle, even jail time and even made some tasty lemonade out that great big bowl of lemons.  


Why is it the great American past time to focus on imperfections and shortcomings of others?  Why is it so hard to celebrate and revel in the success of others?  Women can be particularly vicious.  I just don't like it!  Come on...give credit where it's due, it's good Karma.

Successful women like Martha, Oprah, Ree - all women of substance.  
Not perfect!  

But you've got to admit, they're damn strong.

Speaking of the Pioneer Woman haters.  What a hateful, sharp tongued bunch they are!   So many women on that platform casting the first stone and influencing others to do the same.  It's shameful and embarrassing really.  Can't they see the futility of this?  These succesful women are smart, strong and ambitious...they will keep rising to the top because that's where they belong.  Those who would degrade, misinform and slander will always, ALWAYS sink to the depths of ordinary and miserable.  

My point is this.  We need to stick together, support each other, lift each other up instead of the opposite.  There is enough opportunity for all of us to shine brightly...like little shiny foreheads rising in the ranks of greatness.  As women, we carry the brunt of the load in life.  I truly believe we are the strong ones, sent to make sense of this crazy planet.  We simply need each other.


I bring this to your attention because it's my hope that we'll all make a better effort to embrace differences, to show gratitude and to mentor other women who may be struggling.  We all have our moments and we all make stupid, really STUPID mistakes but that's part of the truth and light process.  Falling on our face from time to time is a good thing, IF we learn from the scrapes and bruises.  Don't blame someone else for those battle scars, own them!  One day, depending on our choices...those same scars can turn into our badges of honor and, we should wear them proudly.

Truth and Light my friends...is always a good idea.

XOXO!

Rebecca

P.S.  Happy Birthday No. 1 son, I love you!

March 20, 21 & 22

March 20- Flames

We've got the sap from the maple trees cooking down over a fire.

 March 21- Blossoms

Spring is here early this year. ^_^

March 22- Chickens

Some of Lilia's chickens.

French Toast: Camp Wander Style!

Earlier in the week, I shared Pancakes, Camp Wander Style.  If you missed it, take a minute to click on the link and learn about our secret ingredient to a fluffy stack of blueberry pancakes.  

For today we're going to finish the skillet breakfast sweets series with French Toast!  

Just in Time for the Weekend!  

The heart of a sweet breakfast, now where's the bacon?!

The goods.

A loaf of good bread, fresh or a few days old
3 eggs
3/4  half & half
Splash of orange juice
1/4 vanilla
Cinnamon for sprinkling
Powdered sugar for sprinkling
Maple syrup


And of course:  CW highly recommends using a cast iron skillet.


If you don't have one yet, it's time to go shopping!  They're very inexpensive and can last decades if cared for properly.  In fact!  We're still using one that Rustic bought in the 70's for his camping adventures in WY.  Trust me, they get better with age, like me!

Cast iron does age well.  Me? That's a big negative, Ten Four.

While we're on the subject of cast iron skillets...it's time to start warming yours up.  It's best to give your skillet about 10 minutes to get good and hot.  I like to start mine at med/low because very soon, you will be adding a pat of butter and you don't want it burn for the love of Paula Deen.  

But, you do want it to sizzle when it hits your skillet.

Slice enough bread for your needs, a generous 1/2 inch thick.

Break 3 eggs, pour in half and half , vanilla and just a splash of orange juice!

Whisk together.

Start putting your slices to soak in the egg mixture.

Melt a couple pats of butter.

Here we go!  With enthusiasm, place the eggy slices in the hot bubbly butter and prepare for a great breakfast.  Especially, if you serve bacon along side because seriously, bacon with French Toast covered in maple syrup is a killer combo and make children, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends and strangers happy campers!

  

Bubble, bubble and sizzle...

As your French Toast approaches perfection, sprinkle with powder sugar and a bit of cinnamon.  

Keep warm in the oven on a big plate while you finish the rest of your slices.

God bless cast iron cookware!

Enjoy your weekend, it's almost here!  Spend some time preparing a delicious breakfast for yourself, your family and friends...it's such a great way to start the day!

XOXO!

Rebecca... feeling french and craving bacon.