Goal achieved

Ever since I started my own vegetable garden 18 years ago, I have tried to grow butternut squash. Butternut squash is one of my favorite veggies--- I enjoy it roasted, mashed, pureed into soup. I roast the seeds drizzled with seasoned oil to enjoy as a snack. In addition to the taste, I also like the longevity of the squash. I can stock up at the farmers' market when they are in season and then enjoy them for months.

My real goal, though, was to grow my own. Year after year I tried, sometimes starting from seed, sometimes buying seedlings. Every year I was thwarted. Seeds would fail to sprout, seedlings would grow spindly and die. One year I had a plant grow to maturity and produce one tiny squash. I went away for a few days and when I returned, the plant was dead, the tiny squash shriveled. Gophers had eaten away at the roots.

I gave up for a few years. Some things just aren't meant to be. I grew other things, but not butternut squash. It was just too demoralizing. But then Man of the House built raised beds for me for Christmas and I decided to try again.

The plant grew vigorously, but despite all the blooms only one developed into a squash. I watched it every day, keeping my fingers crossed. After a while I became cautiously optimistic that it might survive. The tomatoes peaked early and the peppers flourished, and slowly, steadily, the one squash kept growing.

I harvested it a few weeks ago. It is a little small, but healthy, a nice, heavy weight for its size.  Thanksgiving is coming up and my first squash will make an appearance at the big meal. This year I will have an additional blessing to be thankful for-- getting to achieve another one of my gardening goals.

Tidying

I was all set to start on my to do list last Monday when it hit me-- the sudden, overwhelming urge to tidy.

I didn't, alas, have the urge to clean. There is a distinct difference between tidying and cleaning. Tidying is putting things in order, eliminating the clutter hotspots in the house. Cleaning is the scrubbing, the dusting, the vacuuming and mopping.

The house has several clutter hotspots. One of them is my office, which becomes what my mother would call "The Pilot Room". You know, pilot here, pilot there. I hadn't tidied the office since Mama de la Casa's visit and that disorder made it all too easy to just throw stuff in there that I didn't know what to do with. The room was virtually impassable.

The office was the worst, but there were other areas: the hall tree where mail had piled into an eight inch tall stack, the "landing spot"-- the kitchen counter where I leave my purse and lunch bag when I get home from work, the bedroom dresser which became a clothes' magnet. I systematically worked through them all and others. I stopped to admire my work when I had cleared each area and then immediately jumped into the next. I finished, but the tidying energy was still strong.

So I treated myself to a Netflix show (not, as you may image, Marie Kondo's show) as I sorted through the endless stack of filing, putting papers into their designated folders. I pulled old bills and outdated paperwork for the shredding pile.

At the end of the day, I wandered from room to room, reveling in the neatness of the house. Gretchen Rubin says "Outer order leads to inner calm". I concur. A day was a worthwhile investment to have a space that is tidy and organized and my psyche enjoys the results.

I have never been able to figure out what brings on these moods. Is it a feeling of "Enough is Enough"? Was the Moon in Virgo? Was I subconsciously avoiding working on a more important project? I don't know. I just know that I am grateful to have had the chance to take advantage of the mood and reap its benefits.

Success at last!

I love butternut squash. I love it in soups, roasted, mashed, in salads. I save the seeds and roast them to sprinkle on salads or to eat as a snack. It's my favorite winter vegetable.

For nearly 20 years I have tried, unsuccessfully, to grow my own. Some years, the plants were sickly and failed to set fruit, while other years they thrived until they were suddenly stricken with some disease or infestation. I stopped planting multiples and confined myself to one plant.

One year, the plant flourished and set fruit, several miniature green squashes. Success was within my grasp! And then I went away for a week and when I came back, the plant was dead, the little squashes shriveled and gnawed on. When I pulled the plant out of the ground, it came away easily. Gophers had eaten the roots, probably even as I was getting into my car to hit the road for vacation. I was utterly discouraged and gave up on growing my own butternut squash.

This year, I decided to try again. I expected it would follow the same path of failure, but much to my surprise, this beauty survived to maturity. I checked on it every day, cautiously allowing myself to hope.

This weekend I harvested the lone squash. It is perfectly healthy, feeling heavy for its size, smooth and symmetrical. These squash last a long time, so I am leaning toward cooking it for Thanksgiving dinner, perhaps roasting it with a spiced maple syrup glaze. I will save the seeds and roast some of them, but will save a few for next season. My hope has been renewed, maybe next year I'll double my harvest and get two squash!

The Shredder

A few weeks ago, the paper shredder I've had for years stopped working. Well, that's not entirely true. It would work just fine in reverse, but when I fed it paper to shred it didn't respond at all. I cleared the paper out as best as I could, but when I switched it on, it remained unresponsive.

Since it still ran in reverse, Man of the House suggested turning it upside down. That, unsurprisingly, didn't work at all. I had had the shredder for 15 years, so it was probably time for a new one. I set the shredder aside and started the search for its replacement.

I began working toward one of my 2020 goals a few months early. For the next year (and perhaps permanently going forward) I will be making most of my purchases on the secondary market. With the exception of a few things such as underwear and shoes, I will search for what I need at thrift stores, garage sales and on-line second hand venues.

So I made the rounds of my favorite local thrift stores. I found a few options, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to buy any of them. I went home to take a final look at my shredder.

With a fine gauge crochet hook I fished out bits of paper from the teeth of the shredder. Some of them were jammed in tightly and it took some effort to fish them loose. I would occasionally run the shredder, but it still didn't start.

Finally, I got one last bit of paper out and when I flipped the switch the shredder roared back to life. I fed it papers and it chewed through them as always. I was back in business.

This experience makes me more interested in learning how to repair and maintain the appliances I have. Yes, I could have picked up a good shredder at the thrift store, but it is even better to not make the purchase at all. One day the shredder will be dead for good, but the longer I can keep it out of the landfill, the better.

Fourth Quarter

This is my favorite time of the year. The summer heat (not that we had much this year) is cooling down and the light grows softer and more golden in the afternoons. In the morning, I feel a refreshing crispness in the air.The farmers' market is still full of peppers, eggplant and basil, but there are also the first winter  squashes. The abundance is intoxicating and I revel in all the dishes I can make.

After the pleasures of summer, it is a delight to feel a renewed call to discipline and planning. The rest of the year will be busy, with a cascade of holidays, so I get out my beloved Filofax and start planning so that everything will get done. I dream of projects to bring to fruition and revive plans that had been set aside to pursue summer activities.

This year, I am aided by an unexpected change. For the foreseeable future I will be working four days a week instead of five, with (of course) a corresponding cut in pay. It's a sacrifice, to be sure, but I see potential:  additional time and energy to work on the projects that bring me joy and satisfaction.

One of those projects is to revive La Dama de la Casa. I now have Mondays off so I plan to write a blog post that day. I will continue to focus on simple living and the joys of making, as well as some philosophy and unexpected topics. A few years ago a friend urged me to write about my wide range of enthusiasms so I will finally take her up on it. I hope you find my ramblings interesting and inspiring.

Eating during Wartime

This weekend I attended the opening reception at our local agricultural museum for an exhibit on the role food and agriculture played during the World Wars. I saw this poster, which dates from World War I and was instantly struck by how timely the advice was. It could have easily been written this week by Michael Pollan or a devoted locavore or even La Dama de la Casa!

These are all excellent points. Even in peacetime, it is important that we treat what nourishes us with respect and care.

So I came home and inspired by the example of the wartime damas de las casas, I made  yummy pork fried rice with leftovers and local veggies, topped with a sprinkling of chopped green onions from my backyard herb garden.

Duster Socks

 

I recently ran out of the cloths that attach to my floor duster. I had recently scored five skeins of my favorite cotton yarn and decided to knit up a few replacements. I modified a pattern I found on line.

The new "socks" grab plenty of the dust, cat hair and flotsam and jetsam that accumulates on my hardwood floors. When I'm done, the socks go into the wash to be cleaned for the next cleaning day.

Whenever possible, I prefer things that don't leave La Casa once they've arrived. Food, for example. I hate to throw away anything edible. Any veggies that are too tired for soup go into the compost bin to become soil for next year's veggies. I develop meal plans that use up all the meat products we buy.

I didn't use many duster cloths and I know that it won't make a significant difference in the landfills if there are a few fewer.  It is more a mindset shift to go to reusable cloths. And I like having a quick and easy knitting project!

Produce Exchange

Several years ago, I was intrigued by a flyer in Santa Barbara for a produce exchange. Not long after, I read an article in the newspaper about a local produce exchange. I was warmly welcomed into the group and began sharing veggies and herbs from La Casa.

During the growing season, we meet once or twice a month at a member's house. It's like the fishes and loaves-- it seems like members leave with more than they brought! We discuss gardening issues, share announcements of gardening events, and then share the bounty of our gardens. Several times a year we have a potluck, usually built around a theme. Last weekend, members of the group met to make dozens and dozens of tamales for the holidays.

It's a great way to supplement the produce I don't grow in a manageable quantity. Through the generosity of my fellow exchangers, I've learned new gardening techniques and tried fruits and veggies I had never tried before. It's a wonderful way to build community and share the excess (especially herbs) that might end up in the compost bin.

In our last meeting, a member brought lots of Granny Smith apples grown on her property. I have been longing to make apple pie and this was a great opportunity to stock up on lots of pie-worthy apples.  La Casa is going to smell heavenly on a chilly autumn night!

Frugalista Date Night

I've always been a frugal girl. The dictionary defines frugal as "economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful". My personal definition is "wisely and thoughtfully using one's resources". I worked hard for my money and it's only right that I should honor that expenditure of energy by using its fruits in a thoughtful and resourceful manner.

Being in between jobs, it is more critical than ever that I use my money resourcefully. But I don't want that to mean boring food. Food is one of my great pleasures in life and I have been making a game out of finding ways to eat well on a slimmer budget.

Last weekend I made yummy beef tips and mushrooms in a creamy sauce over egg noodles. I baked the butternut squash I got at Produce Exchange for a side dish, picked lettuce and herbs from the garden for the salad. For dessert I baked cookie bars which I served with a scoop of the ice cream I'd gotten free for donating blood. I did a rough estimate, calculating that the dinner, including the surprisingly yummy cheap wine I'd gotten at Trader Joe's, came to $10 for two! Show me a restaurant where two people can get a delicious entree, side dish, salad, dessert and a glass of wine for $5 each! We didn't have to make reservations or worry about drinking too much before driving home. Oh, and for another 75 cents, we got the evening's entertainment courtesy of our Netflix membership.

Oh, and the leftovers of the butternut squash made a satisfying soup later in the week when mixed with the chicken stock I'd made last month and frozen. I added the lentils I made for Sunday dinner and added fresh picked sage from the garden. I finished the soup with a hearty dollop of half and half and had lunch for two days.

What is your favorite frugal yet satisfying meal?

Routine business

Because my days are less structured right now, I have to be especially vigilant so I don't slip into slothful ways, spending hours on the Internet looking at cute animal photos. This time off is a great opportunity to try new things and tackle projects I have never been able to get to. I am also starting a small business to generate some revenue. So structure is very important.

Last week I codified my morning routine. I have found that if the day starts in a structured way, it is more likely to remain so. I get up at a certain time (challenging now that it is getting chilly in the mornings and the cats like to pin down the covers around me), then follow a few steps. These create the track that keep my day aligned with what I need to accomplish.

The Morning Routine:

1. Write down my dreams. I have a pretty lively dream life and for the past year have been writing them down in hopes of learning from them.
2. Write in my diary. I always wake up with some topic I want to write about, so I take advantage of this to scribble for a few minutes.
3. Read improving literature. For 5-10 minutes I read something written to improve my life, whether physically, spiritually or psychologically.
4. Check on the garden. I take my coffee and stroll outside for a few minutes to see how the "green children" are doing. It is a good way to start the day, breathing in fresh morning air, listening to the birds chatter and sing. If possible, I do my morning routine outside to maximize the energizing effect of being outside.
5. Review my to do list. This way I know what's ahead and can determine the order of the day.
6. Visualization meditation. I spend 3-5 minutes simply visualizing my ideal life. I recently started doing this and was surprised how often I found things I could do immediately to move my life in the direction of my ideal.
7. Read the paper, eat breakfast. Simple enough
8. Tackle one item from my to do list. If everything else goes to Hell in the day, at least one item got checked off!

I'm not the only one who swears by a morning routine. Here are some links to other writers on their morning routines and how you can improve your own:
http://zenhabits.net/habit-4-my-morning-routine/
http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/my-morning-routine
http://alifeofperfectdays.blogspot.com/2012/02/create-amazing-morning-routine.html
http://lifehacker.com/5537478/top-10-ways-to-upgrade-your-morning-routine

Summer Garden 2012

The summer veggie garden is winding down. The tomatoes are pretty much done for the season. Yet the peppers are just getting started.

My veggie garden was better this year than it was last year, but still not the best it could be. The soil at La Casa is pretty clay-ey and veggies often struggle to grow, even with plenty of amendments and fertilizing. So I tried more containers this year and that's where I had my greatest success.

I have several "salad bowls" going. I plant lettuce seeds every other week and that keeps us in salads. I also had great success with growing basil from seed-- something that fellow gardeners tell me is difficult to do. However, I learned long ago not to rest on my gardening laurels. My first veggie garden at La Casa produced a prodigious yield of basil and tomatoes and I smugly proclaimed myself a gardening genius. The next two harvests were downright pathetic and I was suitably chastised. Pride goeth before a fall...

It is probably just psychological, but I swear I feel especially energized when I eat a salad made from La Casa's garden produce. So I have started the winter garden, sowing radish, carrot, beet, arugula, spinach and lettuce seeds in a raised bed of my own design to keep the goodness growing.

Flexible

My first batch of yogurt in the bargain yogurt maker turned out beautifully! Slighly tart, satisfyingly firm, it was just right. I have been eating it for breakfast with fruit or jam and granola mixed in. I'll make another batch this weekend.

My pantry is evolving more towards having items that have multiple purposes. The gallon of milk can be used for cereal, for adding to coffee or for making yogurt. The flour in the fridge can be made into pizza dough or zucchini bread or used to thicken a sauce. The vinegar provides brine for pickles as well as an effective cleaning agent. This way I minimize the number of items I have in the cupboards while maximizing the potential uses. It may take a bit more time, but I really like the flexibility.

Another way in which I am evolving towards flexibility is in cooking. My errands yesterday took longer than expected so I didn't have sufficient time to make the dinner I had planned. I flipped through my dinner binder and found a quicker recipe. Then I swapped out the tarragon for basil, the white wine for red, the Northern beans for kidney beans and added bell peppers. The result was just as delicious as the original and it was good to use up what was already on hand instead of making a dash to the grocery store.

Digital Housekeeping

During this break I am tackling many organizational projects, going through stuff and tossing that which is no longer needed. Earlier in the week I tackled the hall closet which had become jungle-like in its configuration of boxes and random items. I removed everything from the closet, went through all the boxes, ruthlessly culled items and as soon as I emptied a box, I ran to the recycling bin, broke down the box and tossed it in before I could weaken. The closet looks incredible now.

There is another form of clutter that I think we are all afflicted with these days. The problem is this clutter is largely invisible. I am talking about the files we accumulate on our computers. I save images and interesting articles that I will read some day and then promptly forget about them.

So today I am sitting with my laptop, opening files that haven't been touched in a decade, organizing articles and images, deleting mystery files and occasionally unearthing gems. Unfortunately, when this organizing task is done, there will be no visible sign of it. But it will still give me a secret satisfaction, knowing that my laptop's hard drive is as organized as the rest of the house.

Romapalooza!

A local pick your own farm has an event every Labor Day weekend where people can come and pick Roma tomatoes for 25 cents a pound. I've done this event three times (I call it Rompalooza), each time picking more tomatoes.

The first year my mother and I picked 30 lbs and made red sauce, which I froze. Last year I picked 62 lbs of Romas and canned 18 jars of red sauce and whole tomatoes. This year, with the help of my mom and a friend, I picked 79 lbs and canned 44 jars of red sauce, salsa and whole tomatoes. That, I think, is my limit. We did three five hour canning sessions over the long weekend and I was pretty much sick of tomatoes by the end of it.

Ah, but come winter time, it will be such a treat to open a jar and inhale the summery goodness of rich, ripe Romas! They will be a delightful addition to pasta, to stews, to pizzas and to chips. I've given away a few jars and love to be able to say, "I picked and canned these, I hope you enjoy them".

Pick your own at Underwood Farms: http://www.underwoodfamilyfarms.com/

A great article on Romapalooza: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/sep/02/hundreds-pick-their-own-tomatoes-in-moorpark/

A yummy canned salsa recipe: http://www.countryhomecanning.com/Salsa_Canning_Recipe.html

I should have been thinking of winning lotto numbers

One day when Mama de la Casa was visiting us, we went thrifting. I took her to a thrift store I really like but haven't been to in a while. We were wandering the aisles when I suddenly mentioned that I had been thinking of getting a yogurt maker. I've tried making yogurt in the oven, with uneven success and I thought an actual yogurt maker might help me achieve more consistent results. I turned a corner and lo and behold, there was a yogurt maker for $3.00! It was amazing! I wish I had been thinking of winning lottery numbers!

I scooped up the yogurt maker along with a few other treasures and brought them home. I went on line and found the owner's manual for the yogurt maker. This is yet another reason why I love the Internet-- I didn't have to let the lack of a manual deter me from getting a bargain.

I'll be making my first batch of yogurt this weekend and will be sure to report how it turns out. I have plenty of jam, fresh fruit and walnuts to mix in to it.

Do you have any great thrifting stories? I'd love to hear them!

Making dough

I may be unemployed, but I'm still making dough. Pizza dough, that is.

Monday nights at the Casa are Pizza Night. When I was working, I would either get delivery or buy a frozen pizza at the grocery store. But a few months ago Man of the House bought a bread machine and I decided to experiment with making my own pizza dough.

I like assembling the ingredients, putting them in the bread maker and then walking away. In 90 minutes, I have enough dough to make three personal size pizzas. I can control the amount of cheese and toppings and I like the crispy texture of the crusts. We eat two of the pizzas and the third makes a delicious lunch later in the week. The dough can also be used for bread sticks or to make calzone.

Man of the House found the bread machine at a thrift store for 8 bucks. We've gotten a fantastic return on that investment. I see bread machines at thrift stores all the time now (that's the way it always happens-- I hunt for something for months, never find it, and when I finally do, that same object starts popping up everywhere!). If you don't have one, I highly recommend nabbing one at a yard sale or thrift store and giving it a try.

I have an old bread machine recipe book that I refer to frequently, but of course, there are plenty of resources for bread machine recipes on the web:

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/bread/bread-machine/
http://www.food.com/recipes/bread-machine

Additional uses for pizza dough:
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/new-ways-use-pizza-dough-10000001635058/index.html
http://www.listmyfive.com/b3aea7c5/The-Top-Five-Uses-For-Pizza-Dough

First pie and the summer bucket list

This year I made a summer bucket list. I thought of all the things I plan to do each summer, like take a nap outside or blow bubbles every day, but never seem to get to. This year, I was determined to cross each item off the list!

The biggie on my list was making a pie from scratch. Yep, pie crust and all. The perfect opportunity came when my produce exchange group decided to have a pie-themed potluck to celebrate our third anniversary.  I would make a pie to bring to the potluck!

I started later than I should. Then I realized I didn't have enough peaches. Luckily I had blueberries I was intending to make jam from. I consulted my copy of  "California Home Cooking" and started on the crust.

It was much harder than it looked. I had difficulties rolling out the dough. I was clumsy at getting it rolled out to a consistent thickness and it ended up more oblong than round. Maneuvering the crust onto the pie tin took co-ordination skills I have never developed. The clock was ticking away. Man of the House, alarmed by my muttering and swearing reminded me that I could just skip Produce Exchange. But I was determined!

The pie came out fragrant but less than perfect. I packed it carefully and took it to the potluck where I announced this was my maiden pie making venture and feedback was most welcome. The group was very encouraging and came forward with lots of good tips. I had a sliver of the pie and it was delicious, if not beautiful. Ah well, delicious is half the battle...

What is on YOUR summer bucket list?

http://www.amazon.com/California-Home-Cooking-Celebrate-Abundance/dp/1558321195/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346169078&sr=1-1&keywords=california+home+cooking

Under Pressure

A few years back, my mom gave me her old pressure cooker. She had gotten it not long after she and my father married. At first she was dubious about using it after hearing horror stories of pressure cookers exploding.  One of the sounds of my childhood is the shhhshhhing sound of the pressure regulator.

I've made polenta, cooked meat, made batches of beans very quickly. I have a small collection of vintage pressure cooker cookbooks as well as a more modern volume. I've replaced the ring and the pressure valve and the pressure cooker is set for more years of service.

I like my slow cooker, but the speed of the pressure cooker can't be beat. I like to whip up a big batch of beans Sunday afternoon and use them throughout the week in burritos, as side dishes, in salads, in bean burgers. Any leftovers freeze very well for later use. I can adjust the salt to my taste and I don't worry about exposure to BPA.

When I cook with the pressure cooker I usually first consult my big Pressure Cooking book by Ida Bailey Allen. But there are plenty of other resources on-line:

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/pressure-cooker/
http://www.food.com/recipes/pressure-cooker
http://www.gopresto.com/recipes/pressurecooking/index.php

A Little Help from My Friends

Last night, very spur of the moment, two dear friends stopped by with pizzas. I whipped up a salad, Man of the House opened a bottle of the good vino and we ate and talked and laughed.

With the ups and downs of the past few weeks, it was good to relax with good friends, to enjoy the simple pleasures of conversation and food. These are the things that make life glow.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Last Thursday, after 14 years of employment at my company, I was laid off. I had seen this coming for a while so I was not especially surprised.

We had a good run, my company and I. But now I am eager to see what is next for me. I have a book that needs to be edited and released and a ton of projects around the house to tackle. The tomato plants are starting to set fruit and the garden could use some attention. There is much to be done before I start the job search.