My Papa

I recently found out that my Papa, who lives in California, has cancer. Luckily, it appears to be in Stage 1 (yay!) and is confined to one nasty tumor. He'll be having surgery soon, and he and my step-mom, Marie, and their sweet little dog, Angel, will need some assistance. My sisters and I will be taking turns helping out.

Papa loves to mug for the camera. As soon as he sees someone ready to take a picture, he must hear an invisible director yell "Action!" He's been this way for as long as I can remember. Our home movies are quite entertaining.

Here he is doing the Fish Face. Everyone in our family had to learn how to do it.

      Acting drunk on Father's Day 2010.
      I think he'd had about three sips of
      beer.

I'm not even sure what to say about this one.










I do have some "normal" pictures of my Papa. If you ask him, he'll  suppress the urge to mug and smile like a regular person. This was taken on Father's Day, 2011.

Here we are right before I moved to Idaho.













And this is my Papa and Marie on his 87th birthday. What a good lookin' couple!

My Papa's been the best dad in the whole world. I'm more than ready to be by his side as he rides over this little bump in the road. Cancer - get ready to have your butt kicked!

A Bit of Bandon

Back when we were still planning on building a house on the Bandon property, we had several trees cut down to clear the lot. The largest of those trees was a Port Orford Cedar that was already starting to die due to a soil fungus. It still had plenty of great wood in it, however, and we planned to use it in our house. Here it is on the truck, along with several neighboring trees.

We had the trees taken to a nearby mill, where the bark was stripped and the trees were milled into cants. There they sat for years, drying, while we waited to build the house. Then we decided to move to Idaho and sell the Bandon property. Now what to do with all of that wood?

We had it shipped here to Idaho a few months ago, and our friends Gary and Patti are graciously allowing us to keep it at their local log furniture/gift store.

We plan on using it to build our greenhouse and chicken coop next spring. We also plan on having Gary build several pieces of furniture for us.

He already built us this beautiful Adirondack double glider out of some of the Port Orford cedar.

It's nice to know that we were able to bring a bit of Bandon with us here to Idaho. Every time we sit in the glider, walk into the greenhouse or go check on the chickens, we'll see that beautiful Oregon wood. Right now, though, I can't wait for the first frost to knock out the yellow jackets so I can actually enjoy that glider!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

I guess I should qualify the title: these are a few of my favorite summertime things. I'm sure that I'll have a whole new set of favorite things for autumn and winter.

Since we moved here at the beginning of winter with snow already on the ground, we really had no idea what kind of flowers were already planted. This spring and summer, the whole yard erupted in color.

We really appreciate that the former owners loved flowers and gardening. We got to just sit back and enjoy it. Well, we had to water, but that was a small price to pay.

Of course, seeing the first fawns of the season was a thrill. We finally got a picture of the doe with the three fawns. We're not sure if they are all hers, but they hung around together for awhile.

And every time I see our big handsome buck in Bruce's Backyard Bistro, I am both grateful that I live here and dreading the start of hunting season. Hide, Bucky!

We started making sun tea this summer. I just love this photo of the sun tea with our big dragonfly. I'm thirsty.











Before the yellow jackets invaded and I became a shut-in, we would often walk down the road after supper to our neighbor's place and feed carrots to their horses. Here I am with Samson (brown) and Miss Glory (white). Miss Glory is pretty shy and timid, but Samson will stick his nose right in the carrot bag!

We're close enough to Montana that we can call this Big Sky Country, too. Our frequent summer thunderstorms provide spectacular air shows starring clouds and thunderheads.

Look closely and you'll see a small plane that just took off from the airstrip just north of our subdivision.

Bruce and I like to find faces, animals and objects in clouds.
Do you see the duck head? How about the puppy? And the old man with the long nose, bending over and getting kicked by the donkey leg? That's a tough one. What else can you find in the clouds?

Bruce likes to put peanuts out on the decks for the squirrels. It's not only good for the squirrels, but it also provides entertainment for our dogs and cats. 

Of course, cats are always a favorite thing around here.

About a week ago, a bunch of wild turkeys showed up. It happened right after a visit from an old friend and neighbor from Campus Commons. Coincidence? I think not.

And finally, my most favorite thing: seeing my hubby outside working on a project, which is one of his most favorite things!

I somehow always manage to get this view. Or maybe he somehow always manages to show me this view!

What's For Supper - Quiche

I started making quiches about twenty years ago. Back then, I would buy a frozen pie shell and fill it with broccoli, mushrooms, cheese and egg. Over the years, I experimented with other vegetables and cheeses, and started playing around with different herbs. A couple of years ago, when Bruce discovered he had become allergic to gluten, we thought we'd have to give up on quiche. Then we discovered the brand Gluten Free Pantry and their  Perfect Pie Crust.

 Hallelujah, quiche was back on the table!

The recipe below is just an example of the many quiches I make. Use it as a template and substitute your favorite veggies, cheese and herbs for the ones I use here. Have fun and be creative! Just make sure you make enough that you have leftovers. The quiche tastes even better the next day.

My quiche pan is about 1 1/2" deep and 10" in diameter. If you have a smaller pan, adjust the ingredients accordingly (or make a mini-pie with the leftovers!).

Note: if you're making a pie crust from scratch, make the dough about an hour before you want to assemble the quiche and chill it in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:
One pie crust
1 red onion
Salt and pepper
8-10 mini sweet bell peppers
1 9-oz. bag baby spinach
1/2 t. fresh nutmeg
About 1/2 c. crumbled gorgonzola
About 2 c. grated gruyere
8 large eggs
About 1 c. milk
About 1/4 c. water
1 t. dried tarragon

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the onion in half and slice it into very thin half moons.

Caramelize the onions over low heat for about 20 minutes. Add some salt as they cook.

Don't move them around too much. I know that's hard for some of you (me included), but just let them cook on their own and that wonderful, dark, sweet caramelization begins to happen!

You only have to flip them over once or twice during cooking. Once they're caramelized, turn off the heat and let them sit.








While the onions are cooking, cut the tops off of the peppers and take out the ribs and seeds.

         
             Dice into 1/4" pieces.

Saute over medium heat in olive oil. Add some salt and pepper as they cook. Once done, place in a bowl and set aside.









Sort through the spinach and take out any bad leaves. Tear off any long stems. Rinse the spinach and drain, but don't dry. Place as much of the spinach as will fit into the same saute pan you used for the peppers. No need to add oil - the moisture left on the spinach after rinsing will steam it.

Keep stirring the spinach as it wilts, and as it shrinks and makes room, add more spinach to the pan.

Once all of the spinach is in the pan, add some salt and grate about 1/2 t. of fresh nutmeg on top.

Keep stirring until all of the spinach is wilted. Turn off the heat.











Tilt the pan, move the spinach to the top and squeeze it with the back of the spoon. Then spoon out all of the liquid in the bottom of the pan. Set the pan aside to let the spinach cool.

Time for cheese! Get your gruyere and gorgonzola out.













Break your eggs into a medium sized bowl and beat them slightly. I tried a Pioneer Woman trick for the first time, and I liked the way it worked. Pour the egg mixture into a strainer set over another bowl, then stir the mixture as it falls through the strainer. The strainer will keep all of the tougher egg particles (aka yucky white gooby stuff) from getting through. Makes for a smoother, creamier egg mixture.

To the eggs, add the milk, water, salt, pepper and tarragon. Mix well. Boy, I love the smell of tarragon. I would use it in every dish if I could. Tarragon in tacos? Maybe not.








Finally, pull out that dough and place it in the pan. (The Gluten Free Pantry dough doesn't roll out well - I just place the ball of dough in the middle of the pan and squoosh it out to the sides with my fingers). I spray the pan with vegetable spray first, even though the dough has a lot of butter and shortening in it. I don't want one crumb to stick!

First layer: those luscious caramelized onions.

Squeeze any remaining liquid out of the spinach, then spread over the onions.

Next, spread the peppers over the spinach.

It's so pretty!

Ready for the cheese! You can use more gorgonzola, if you like. Just remember, a little goes a long way!

Last step of assembly: add the egg mixture. Slowly pour it all over the top. Once it's all in, use a fork or spoon to gently pat down the ingredients, tilting the pan a little to evenly distribute the egg mixture. 

OK, I'm getting hungry now. Carefully place the quiche on the middle rack of the pre-heated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden, the top is browned, and a toothpick comes out just moist.

Gimme some of that!  Well, you should let it rest for at least 15 minutes, then you can dig in. And, like I said, it's even better the next day, so if you can stand it, make this a day ahead of when you actually want to eat it. But I dare you to wait!

Some of my other favorite quiche ingredients are: roasted red potatoes (sliced or diced); mushrooms (roasted or sauteed); broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, shallots, leeks; herbs de Provence, thyme, marjoram, sage, basil, Italian parsley; feta, parmesano-reggiano, mozzarella, cheddar. Mix and match, improvise, have fun! Use what's in your garden and pantry. Supper is ready!