From Garden to Table

The tomatoes are rolling in, folks. Last weekend I had to do some serious pruning after almost three weeks of neglect, and the plants have thanked me with mounds of red beauties every other day or so. Fun. Our tomato plants are so tall that I had to pound a nail into the top of the fence to tie them up to it. I'm already trying to figure out a better way to arrange them next year.

We have also harvested quite a few cucumbers (lots of Greek salad these days!) and one more zucchini. After all the talk about our giant plants, I'm sad to say that they are not doing well. The fruits get about four inches long and then start to rot out. Suggestions, anyone?

Still, we did get a nice on on Thursday, so we had a home-grown dinner of feta crusted tomatoes (heavenly) and goat cheese-stuffed zucchini (also really yummy). I think tomatoes are going to have to be the whole main course for the next few weeks. We went to the farmers' market this morning and discovered that we aren't the only ones rolling in tomatoes, as they covered the tables of stand after stand. Makes all that spring work worth it!

Blackberries, Two Ways

Many moons ago, before we went on vacation and lost all track of time (literally, and now we are trying to go to bed at 10 tonight in order to get back in the swing of things), we went on a little blueberry/blackberry outing with friends from church. Into the freezer the berries went in their neatly labeled bags (of course). It was clear that the blueberries would be used to improve Missy's morning Smart Start and add the key touch to applesauce-blueberry muffins on a regular basis. But what, Jason asked, can you do with blackberries?

Clearly, at least two things. First, this weekend I made a blackberry pie to take to Dawn and Brian's, to welcome them back to Virginia after a long summer away from us. I have eaten a lot of blackberry pie in my day, as my grandparents' farm was full of them, but I had never made one before. To complicate things, I tried my hand at whole wheat pie crust. Shaanti made a delicious apricot pie a couple weeks ago with whole wheat (or, as we have taken to calling it, "ww") crust, so I used her recipe. For the record, she is way better at it than me. A few years back, I went through this "make it from scratch because I can" phase that included a stint in pie crust making. Oh, how I hated pies for a while there! Then I discovered the way my Grams made delicious pies...with the beautiful rollout pie crust from Safeway. So now I make my grandma's pies.

That being said, the pie wasn't terrible, and perhaps next time I'm home I'll have Shaanti give me a pastry lesson.

After the pie was more or less a success, I tried my hand at jam making. I am more in tune with jam, which simply requires mashing fruit, mixing sugar and pectin, and purchasing fun little kitchen accouterments like freezer jars. The jam is sweet and tasty and perfect on my ww English muffin. And I have sort of redeemed myself in my own eyes for my inability to be a competent pastry chef.

There are a few other uses for blackberries, of course, not the least of which is as a lantern. Okay, not really, but when I was young, my cousin Shanna and I (who still have a reputation for being extraordinarily...imaginative, shall we say?) would put blackberries in old milk jugs, shake them up, and pretend that they would light up so that we could see our way to the other house for bed at night. It always sort of surprised and disappointed me that they didn't.

Random Thoughts for Friday

1. We are so not over jet lag. I seriously thought I would have to peel my eyelids off my eyeballs in order to open them this morning. I deserve what I get, after having read until a quarter to one last night. I'm just not used to going to bed early anymore. Or, obviously, getting up early.

2. Is it pathetic that, now that they finally have some more dark chocolate Snickers bars in the convenience store downstairs again, I have been buying them up two or three at a time, in hopes that whoever stocks the shelves down there sees how popular they are and keeps them on hand at all times? (Don't worry, Kaylyn, I got you one!)

3. My coworker just went outside to eat her lunch. You have no idea how exciting this is. The fact that any sane, decent person would choose to be outside at noon in August in DC makes me want to dance a little dance. It is 81, sunny, and blissfully unhumid. Lurve it.

4. I have a small dilemma: school starts on Monday, which means that summer is officially over, but recess doesn't end until September 8, which means that summer is officially not at all over. The responsible side of me--the one that declared every year of school that I would start doing my homework in full and on time this year--says that I should gracefully accept the end of my freedom. But then I remembered that there was a reason I garnered a reputation in college for being able to write an 8-page paper in five minutes or less, and it certainly wasn't because I did my homework "in full and on time." Hey, I'm pushing 30, it's too late to teach an old dog new tricks. Summer it is.

5. Question: How much do I not want to respond to the phone call from the guy who "doesn't want a form letter." Answer: So much.

McCall

Considering we still have one more phase of vacation on which to report, it should feel like vacation lasted a blissful forever! We managed to fly back to Boise earlier than expected on Thursday and then drove up to McCall for the annual Bunn Family weekend. This was Jason's first official Bunn Family Event (for the significance of that, compare: Jason and Justin are the only grandkids on both sides, but I have at least 50 cousins--and more than a dozen aunts and uncles--on just my mom's side of the family!), and he came through with absolute flying colors!


It would have been hard to not have fun, though. Not only did we get serious quality time with the nephews (are you noticing a trend here?), but we got to hang out with my cousins and aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters and parents, all of which was wonderful. The weekend was full of glow-in-the-dark croquet, fishing (Jason caught his first fish on his new fly rod!), shooting, batmitton, hot-tubbing, a glorious Jane Austen movie marathon, and sitting around the table talking about what we had read most recently. We also got to view some old black-and-white silent home videos of my mom and her family growing up. I don't know which was better--watching them parade around in their 1950's and 60's outfits, or listening to them argue over who was whom!


On Monday, we headed back down the mountain and to the airport. I could fill an entire blog post with our horrendous, unanticipated red-eye flight back to Baltimore (the not-close airport), but Jason says I should stop complaining. Let's just say that we were flying the unfriendly skies and then be thankful that, as a result of being bounced around the country, we came home with many more frequent flier miles than we would have otherwise received. How is that for silver lining?

3.

Just three years ago yesterday, we were doing this. Yesterday, we celebrated with some Golden Gate biking and a delicious dinner of Istrian food at Albona Ristorante. Istrian cooking combines Italian traditions with Croatian flavors, which we found both appropriate (we spent our honeymoon in Croatia) and delicious. Both the intimate atmosphere and the unique and tasty food--and the annual viewing of the wedding slideshow--were a perfect tribute to three years together.

The San Francisco Work Out

Sometimes when we travel, I think maybe I should get up early and go to the hotel fitness center or go running or something. Ha. So hardly ever happens. And in San Francisco so unnecessary. Here is how we've been whipping ourselves into shape the past few days.

On Sunday, we hiked up and down San Francisco's hills, just for fun.

On Monday, we walked the length of a reeeeeally long Golden Gate Park, just to see the windmill at the other end.

On Tuesday, we biked across the foggy Golden Gate Bridge, just because, well, we'd never done it before.

We did a lot of other things, too, like riding on two cable cars that broke down, walking down the curvy part of Lombard Street, finally going to see the new Batman movie (mmm...), deciding that we don't really like Pier 39, strolling down the streets of Chinatown, and sitting in a stagecoach at the Wells Fargo Museum.

Phew! Legs: aching. Noses: sunburned. Selves: happy. And of course, after three days of such serious working out, we totally deserved this...

Deliciouso, San Francisco.

Happy Birthday, Jason!

For his last birthday in his twenties, Jason had his first experience with In-and-Out Burger. Not a bad way to celebrate 29! (The Ghiradelli's chocolate later in the day didn't hurt, either.)

Big Sur

Ah, vacation! We had this ideal plan for relaxing in Monterey for a few days before heading to San Francisco to explore the Bay City: sit by the pool with a book or two, drive the Pacific Coast Highway down to Big Sur, and sit by the pool some more. Oh, except it's freezing here. I actually had to buy a fleece jacket that says "Monterey, California," just to keep my teeth from chattering on Friday. Oh well, we've never been opposed to lounging in hotels and watching the Olympics.

Highlights of our time in Monterey include: our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (loved the jellyfish);

A gorgeously sunny drive along Route 1 (complete with antipasto picnic and gi-normous vulture soaring right overhead)

...and, of course, eating strawberries while reading by the pool, once it finally warmed up a bit (I was reading this, but I should have been reading this).

It wasn't a warm, lazy beach visit, but it was a cozy beach visit. We ended the day yesterday with a visit to Carmel Mission and a good Italian dinner in Carmel-by-the-Sea. On to San Fran!

Nephews!

We finally got to meet Baby Troy on Wednesday! He is so sweet and little, and I got to hold him for an hour while he slept and his mom and Shaanti and I watched another episode of "Five Mile Creek." He also got to bond with his Uncle Jason (who got into Boise early and actually got to meet him before me!)

Meanwhile, just when you think Cole couldn't get any funnier, he does. He and Jason spent a long time "dunking it" on Cole's little basketball hoop in the living room. Cole does a mean basketball slide. He started to pass the ball around the room while we all lounged around, and when we'd ask him to whom we should pass it next, every time he would point at himself and say, "Cole!"

Out of the Office

Last Friday was my favorite day of the whole year--the day that Congress goes out of session for August and I get to stick on my "out of office reply," trade my high heels for khakis, and do the work of the good people of Idaho IN Idaho. Insert fist pump here.

A couple of my colleagues and I did a "water tour" across southern Idaho, visiting canals, irrigation systems, dams, and river conservation projects. The latter was definitely the favorite, since viewing the river projects required taking a boat trip down the river, where we got a pretty awesome view of a bunch of bald eagles and a pretty sweet bull moose.

On the way home, we took a detour off the freeway to visit a geothermal energy plant near the Utah border, and since we were already out in the middle of nowhere, we just kept going on the dirt road and ended up at the City of Rocks. There are lots of things I love about Idaho, and one of them is the random places that still look just like they do when pioneers were wagontraining their way west 150 years ago. Perhaps an Oregon Trail roadtrip (via car, of course!) should be in the works?

So not the same thing.

So, it's true that I'm sort of into vampire novels right now, and while that doesn't exclusively mean the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer (because this book is definitely going on vacation with me), I confess to having read them all. In very few sittings. They are addictive little suckers, I tell you what! But can I just say right here and now that, despite what this Washington Post article says, no one in their right mind should compare them to Harry Potter. And that means that if you are showing up at Borders tonight to get your new book with vampire garb on, I shun you. (Also, and as a side note, let's just ignore the fact that the Post even dared to mention "Twilight" and Jane Austen in the same sentence.)

There. It's out. Now I can read the new book in peace and with a clear heart. Especially since Andrea emailed yesterday about this. Seriously, I feel all tingly and lightheaded in anticipation. It doesn't even have to be good (though how can it not?), just the fact that something Harry Potterish exists that I have not yet read brings warm fuzzies to my heart. It is like anticipating a nostalgic visit with an old friend.

Speaking of nostalgic reunions with old friends, we went and saw the new X-Files movie last weekend. It was hardly proper to see it without Casey and Jenny, but still, it was nice to see our friends Mulder and Scully again. While nowhere near the inevitable perfection of a new Harry Potter anything, the simple existence of a new X-File, no matter how unXfileish it was, made me happy.