Project Vehicles

A few days ago, a friend texted me to ask if we would like to buy the old Jeep they had in their shed. It is an OLD Jeep--1965, I think?--and the engine had seized several years ago, so it was just sitting there. They really wanted to get it out of their shed, and remembered my eldest son's interest in it when he saw it last year during a trip to their house to pick peaches.

These vehicles are relatively rare, and they were selling it very cheaply. A. couldn't say yes fast enough to that. 

We towed it home yesterday.

So jaunty.

Unusually, this Jeep has actual metal doors, a hard top, and a metal back, so that when all those pieces are on, it will be a fully enclosed vehicle. A lot of these just have canvas or plastic or whatever for the top and sides.

Obviously, this is going to be a lot of work to get in working order. The middle son is very enamored of it, though, so by the time he's old enough to drive in three years, it should be ready to go. Not that you can go very far in it--I doubt it would go any faster than 50 miles per hour--but I guess it would be good for hunting or whatever.

In the meantime, A. and the eldest continue to work on the brown truck.

There it is. It's definitely brown. It's a 1982 4X4 Dodge Ram, for those who care. And yes, I had to ask A. what it is.

This is waiting on I think a carburetor--but don't quote me on that--and then it should be running. This son can actually get his provisional license in just a few months, so it's good this one is almost ready to go down the road.

Getting a driver's license in our house apparently means you must be willing to work on a vehicle several decades older than you. 

I'll stick with my new(ish) Honda, though, thank you.

One of these things is not like the other . . .

Snapshots: Toilet Legends

A couple of random kitchen shots this week . . .

When I make my collard salads, I put just a little bit of maple syrup in the dressing. The collards can use the sweetness. Last time I was preparing the collards, there was just a tiny bit of maple syrup in the syrup pourer*, so I just took off the top and was very pleased to find that the upended pourer fit perfectly in the salad dressing jar to drain out.

Drip drip.

The quantities of food I purchase these days come in very large containers. These would be awkward to cook with regularly, so I spend a lot of time decanting from giant containers into more-manageable ones. As I did with the molasses I got this week.

Between gingersnaps and homemade barbecue sauce, I go through more molasses than your average person.

I took a picture of my cart of groceries this week, just because there weren't very many--I'm anticipating a much bigger stock-up trip to Walmart soon--and I was betting with myself that it would still be more than a hundred dollars.

It was, but mostly because I bought alcohol. Without that, it would have been ninety dollars.

This was right next to the front door of the fancy hotel I stayed in last week.

Correctly identified by the son with me as the Virgin of Guadalupe. That's Juan Diego kneeling.

Having something like that outside a random hotel is so New Mexico.

I purchased a new toilet this week to replace the one in the adults' bathroom. The box was one of the more intriguing things I've seen in awhile.

There's a lot going on here.

The scatalogical motto I can see, but why did a toilet maker name their company after a Roman statesman? Then I looked it up and discovered that Cato is said to have met with an Egyptian king while on the toilet, to convey disrespect. Oooookay.

We don't yet know what a "destroyer flush" is, but I guess we'll see when A. installs the toilet.

And last, flowers!

I used apricot branches in this week's altar arrangement. I felt like the background needed to be darker and more solid to show up better on the altar.

It looks better from farther away, so I think it will work.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

 

* I actually bought one of these maple syrup dispensers like they have at diners. We use maple syrup a lot, and these really are the best and least-messy way to pour it.

Friday Food: Experimental Dutch Pie

Friday 

Short version: Ram chops, leftover chicken, rice, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I had actually cooked these ram chops the day before when I had grilled pork chops and chicken, just because there was still a lot of heat still in the coals and I had the ram chops mostly thawed already. I only seasoned them with salt when they were on the grill, so to re-heat them, I put them in a skillet with barbecue sauce.

Saturday

Short version: Pizzas with ranch dip, apple crisp with cream

Long version: Bread baking day, on which I almost always steal some of the dough to make something else. This time, that something was two half-sheet-pan pizzas: one just cheese, one with pepperoni and pickled onions.

I had to leave just before the pizzas were ready to take out of the oven to pick up a child, so I left A. to take them out and serve them. This is why there was no vegetable.

I spent literally an hour and a half peeling, coring, and slicing apples to make two apples crisps and one pan of baked apples. I ended up with an actual blister on my right index finger from the paring knife*, but I figured I'm just working on developing my apple callous. A worthwhile callous to have.

The smaller crisp was for my friend who watched our three children when I was out of town and A. had to do something for work.

I over-processed the topping in the food processor, and I almost scorched them when I stuck them under the broiler at the end, but they were still delicious.

That much butter, sugar, and spices will cover a multitude of mistakes.

Sunday

Short version: Ground beef and bean burritos, cucumbers, cake

Long version: I had more ambitious plans for the ground beef I thawed--meatloaf, which is, yes, not all that ambitious--but then it was hot and I didn't want to run the oven. So instead I made the quick 'n' lazy burrito filling of beef+canned beans+salsa+spices.

The cake was actually the Bonnie Butter cake I entered into the fair. The judges only taste a very small bit, and then we pick it up at the end. I stuck in the freezer to use later, which I did this night by layering it with strawberry jam and whipped cream. This cake makes a superior shortcake, although I thought this combination was a little too sweet. It needed less sugar in the whipped cream, and probably something a bit more tart with the strawberries, like rhubarb. 

Monday

Short version: Chicken, corn bread, tomato salad, ice cream

Long version: I found frozen fancy organic, free-range chicken breasts on deep discount at the store awhile ago, so I bought several packages for the freezer. I used two of them this night. This is a lot of chicken. Ten pieces, to be precise.

I went to the effort of pounding them thinner with my rolling pin, figuring they would cook faster that way. They were all salted and seasoned with garlic powder and paprika before being browned in a skillet and then finished in the oven with barbecue sauce while the cornbread was baking.

Two seared, eight to go.

A few minutes into eating, A. asked me where I got the chicken. This always means there's something wrong with it. He told me it tasted strongly of bleach or detergent. One child agreed it tasted funny. The rest of us had no idea what he was talking about. I didn't taste anything off--except that I oversalted them--even when I tasted his piece.

He insisted that no one should eat it, though, so we didn't. I did not throw it out, however, instead waiting to see if any of us had a bad reaction to it. No one did, and A. later realized that he had used his nasal spray for allergies just before dinner, so that was probably interfering with his sense of taste.

I also added a bit too much milk to the cornbread, so it was too soft. Overall, not the most successful meal. That's the way it goes sometimes.

The tomato salad was really good, though. As was the ice cream I let everyone have as a reward for getting through the first day of school.

Tuesday

Short version: Re-combined leftovers, cheese quesadillas, radishes, big oatmeal-raisin cookies

Long version: There was a lot of the too-soft cornbread left, which I crumbled up and fried in lard before adding to it the rest of the taco meat, plus the rest of the grated cheese left from the burrito toppings. This looked like it might not be enough for everyone, which is why I quickly made a couple of quesadillas with flour tortillas.

Another of my very photogenic offerings.

I made the cookies for the younger children's school snacks. When I make oatmeal-raisin cookies, I always make at least one really big cookie for everyone. A. remembers these from his childhood, and for some reason, even those who are not fans of raisin cookies will eat them in a giant form. I make them about the size of hamburger patties when I form them. They spread when they bake, so they end up being very large cookies, indeed.

Wednesday

Short version: More leftovers

Long version: I'm not even working, and here I am serving leftovers like I'm coming home from a long day. Mostly that's because I do not waste food, so yes, leftovers will still feature in my kitchen even if I have the time to make something new every day.

This time a couple of people had the leftover taco meat+cornbread, to which I added some of the rice I had made, and everyone else had the leftover chicken, plus some rice.

A. tried the chicken again to see if it really was the allergy spray, and we all watched avidly as he took a bite. "Tastes like chicken," he said. Alrighty then.

I had one my collard salads that repel the rest of my family so much:

With chicken, tomatoes, feta, and apple.

Thursday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, mashed potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, Dutch apple pie with whipped cream

Long version: I have never made a Dutch apple pie before. It's an apple pie with a pie crust on the bottom, and a kind of streusel on the top. Half my family loves pie and half loves crisp, so I thought this might be a good compromise. I kind of used this recipe, except I didn't use the pie crust recipe and I didn't measure anything for the apple filling.

I baked the meatballs in the morning while the pie was baking.

Dinner and dessert.

I should have made the potatoes earlier and just re-heated them at dinner time as well, so I wasn't boiling a big pot of potatoes and water when it was already hot in the kitchen, but I didn't. Oh well.

The pie was delicious. I liked it way better than regular apple pie. I don't often take the trouble to make pie because it is an investment of time, particularly apple pies that require all the peeling, coring, and slicing of apples. These apples needed to be cooked even longer than the hour the pie was baking--this is common with the varieties of apples we tend to get here, which are very firm and somewhat dry--so if I make it again, I'll par-cook the apples before making the filling.

It would have been better with ice cream, but the only ice cream I had on hand was mint chocolate chip. With apple pie? No, thank you.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

* I had done the same thing the previous two days as I worked on getting apple slices in the freezer, so it's really more like six hours of working with a paring knife that will raise a blister, I guess.

Kristin Homemaker

School started for everyone yesterday. The whole family got all loaded up on the school bus to begin their new year, A. driving and everyone else slumped in the seats, resigned to their fates. (My children do not like school.)

Except for me. I did not get on the school bus. I will not be getting on the school bus, because I quit my job there. 

Last week I had to fill out some forms that asked for my occupation. I wrote "homemaker."*

Of course, the maker of our home is what I have always been, it's just that I did that in addition to working at the school two days a week as an educational assistant (teacher's aide). 

But now, all I am doing is at home. So what am I doing now? Let me show you what I've done so far this morning!

Still doing tub laundry. Our washing machine is still in for repairs, waiting on a "control board," which sounds intense. Thank goodness it's still under warranty. The repair guy said maybe another week. I'm taking that as another two weeks.

Watering the garden and picking tomatoes, yay!

Softening butter in preparation for making oatmeal cookies for the younger children's snacks.

Later I have to go to the village for a bank visit. Maybe I'll finally get around to vacuuming my filthy floors.

But if I don't get around to it today, I have tomorrow. And the day after. 

I don't anticipate having a problem filling my time, and it's such a relief to have the time. Some might see this as a demotion, but I see it as a great increase in my quality of life, as well as my family's quality of life.

* I prefer this term to housewife. Housewife can just be a wife who sits around the house. Homemaker describes much better what I actually do. I really have made and continue to make our home, which requires skill and a lot of work.

Snapshots: Away and Home Again

Because the city I went to this past week is a hot one, the hotels there tend to have better rates in the summer. That is why I reserved a room at a much nicer hotel than I would usually stay at.

It had a particularly spectacular pool, which we could see from our window.

This hutch made me laugh. If they were trying to cultivate an intellectual environment by having books on it, they should have put more than one on each shelf.

Every room had a Keurig coffee machine, so I made my coffee when I got up early and then took it out to the lounge area to drink so as not to disturb the sleeping son. Well, any more than I did running a coffee machine five feet from his bed.

This hotel had actual ceramic coffee mugs, which I enjoyed very much.

I did try to read one of those books that were on the hutch--I no longer remember the title or author, but it was something about a very witty high-society private eye in Palm Beach--but one chapter was enough for me. It was pretty bad.

We stopped to see a friend on our way home the next night and stayed in a small town. Our lodgings there were a rather eccentric sort of bed and breakfast that A. has stayed in before. To get to our room, we had to climb a very steep and very curvy iron staircase outside.

Definitely not ADA compliant.

Our room was quite spacious and nice, although it's very clear from the decorative choices that an older man runs this place.

Lots of red curtains, and very unfortunate polyester bedding.

My coffee the next morning was courtesy of the bakery that's just a block away.

It's a Mexican bakery, so I also got an empanada de manzana--an apple turnover--for the boy who was still sleeping.

My walk back to the lodge took me on a street right next to the acequias that make this place so green.

Acequias are systems of water channels that were brought to New Mexico via the Spanish, who in turn learned the methods from the Moors. They are a very old method of irrigation here, and are (obviously) still used.

The drive home was a few hundred miles of this.

New Mexico really is a startlingly rural state.

Waiting for me at home were the many apples A. picked from Rafael's tree the day before I left.

Five gallons of apple slices in the freezer so far. Next up, canning.

Of course I must share with you this week's flowers.

This was actually last week's altar arrangement. All the flowers were pulled from my fair entry.

Straight sunflowers on the table.

A. brought me some down-the-hill flowers mid-week. It was almost bedtime when he got home, so I just stuck them in a jar on the table until I could get to them the next day.

Very dramatic, but a wee bit large for a table we eat at.

A more practical table arrangement.

Later supplemented by some flowers A. found in the pasture while he was chaperoning a horse ride.

And last, this week's altar arrangement, waiting for the altar.

A flower tower.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Raising Cane's On the Road

Friday 

Short version: Repurposed leftovers, cucumber

Long version: Second day of the county fair and also the second day of a nasty heat wave, which meant little motivation to get in the kitchen for me. Luckily, we had enough of the leftover ground beef/bean/rice skillet from the day before to use as burrito filling. So that is what I did. 

I even turned on a burner to make toasted burritos, which I thought was very brave of me. Ahem.

Saturday

Short version: Half-hearted pasta

Long version: Last day of the fair, and another hot one. This is always a long day, and I always bring a cooler of drinks and snacks for the long day sitting at the fair grounds. In the morning, I had made pasta using a quart of meat sauce I found in the freezer, plus grated asadero from the freezer.

I actually used the pasta pot at first to make pudding and then yogurt, because I had almost a gallon of milk to be used promptly.

First . . .

Second . . .

Third.

And all that before 7:30 a.m.

No one was very hungry when we got home, thanks to all the snacks and the heat, but some of them ate a little pasta before we left for the dance.

Sunday

Short version: Re-sauced pasta, green salad with vinaigrette, chocolate pudding with cream

Long version: The previous day's pasta really needed more sauce. There was a lot of it left, so I made more sauce for it using an entire 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, a couple cloves of garlic, the few collard greens and the parsley I brought home from my fair entries (blended in), and cream. 

Much better.

Monday

Short version: Fried bean tacos at home, Raising Cane's chicken on the road

Long version: I left this day to drive to a not-close city with one son, leaving A. with the other three children. He made his special tacos for them, which involves canned refried beans and cheese in corn tortillas that are then fried in lard.

The son with me was very happy to see a Raising Cane's chicken restaurant near our hotel. I had never been there, or even heard of it, but it was pretty good. 

Tuesday

Short version: French toast at home, sushi and curry on the road

Long version: French toast is another of A.'s specialties, so that is what they had at home. Son and I stopped for the night in a small town to visit a friend and we went to a Thai restaurant somewhat nearby that had some sushi rolls. 

I do not eat sushi, so I got curry. I've never ordered curry in New Mexico, but I should have predicted it would be way too hot for me. Can it be otherwise in this Land of Chile? I ate some of it mixed with a lot of rice, but it definitely burned.

I also got a glass of red wine, but only because they didn't have any white wine.

Wednesday

Short version: Hamburger steaks with milk gravy, rice, tomato salad, ice cream

Long version: We returned from our trip around 1 p.m., after having stopped at the grocery store on the way, of course. There I had purchased one of those 10-pound rolls of ground beef, which is what I used to make the hamburger steaks. These are just highly seasoned ground beef in large, thick patties. I made gravy for them with cornstarch and milk.

I was most excited about the tomato salad. I came home to find quite a lot of ripe tomatoes, and I had just purchased asadero cheese--my mozzarella substitute--at the store. Those, along with basil from the garden, thinly sliced onion, and a vinaigrette, comprised the salad.

So good.

I also got the ice cream at the store. 

Thursday

Short version: Grilled pork chops and chicken, grilled bread, corn on the cob, ice cream

Long version: Yet another thing I bought at the store was starter fluid so I could finally use up the charcoal without building an actual fire. It was very hot this day--95 degrees--and it seemed like a good day to grill. I had only one package of sirloin pork chops, so I also took out a package of chicken breasts. These were way too big, however, and would have taken forever on the grill. Which is why I cut them in half both lengthwise and crosswise. 

I marinated both kinds of meat in a mustard vinaigrette. Marinating helps a lot with relatively bland meat like this. But I still served it with barbecue sauce.

Did I get the corn at the store the day before? Why yes, I did.

I had made chocolate chip cookies in the morning before it got hot, but the older boys had their first day of classes this day and informed me they got cookies at lunch. So I offered them ice cream, instead, which they were happy to accept.

Refrigerator check:

Messy, because I just threw everything in when I got home on Wednesday and haven't organized it yet.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

The View from the Bench

Right outside our porch door, we have a big wooden bench that A. made some years ago. If I can manage to sneak outside without anyone following me, I can enjoy some peace and the view from the bench*.

I particularly like sitting there as the sun is setting, or even after it has set. The light lingers almost an hour after sunset, because it's so flat here.

To the west (ish.)

And the other way.

There are some benefits to living a hundred miles from anywhere, and the bench is one of them.

* Not that I object to their company (usually), but anywhere my children are immediately becomes less peaceful.