What I'm watching

This is a lovely movie about friendship made for kids and set in Cuba. Big thumbs. Very interested to see if Miss G likes it.

Creativity

If there is any theme or thread running through this blog one is about beauty. I try to share things I think are beautiful....people, art, plants...celebrating what is beautiful and good about life. A diary that others can dip into.

For those who know me, I have long loved art (drawing, painting, pottery, etc.) since I was a child. In my ongoing effort to walk the path of beauty I (finally) enrolled in an art class. A drawing class to be precise. I scoped out every continuing ed art program and found one at the Pacific NW College of Art. Tonight was the first class, and it was fabulous. It has been YEARS since I was in a drawing class, and the teacher exceeded my expectations and memories. He got at the emotional side of creating art, the harsh inner critic many battle, and ways to work around or through those obstacles.

I walked out of the class smiling to myself. My creative self.

This is going to be an interesting and fun journey.

Cocina veracruzana

Mexican food is incredible in its rich diversity, and it's too bad that most people in the US think of cheesy enchiladas or dry taco shells filled with ground meat as the best that country offers their bellies. Each region (and sometimes towns) have their own regional dishes and is defined by the local ingredients. At its most authentic it is very healthy, although you can eat at a US Mexican restaurant and probably only get a small side of lettuce (if you are lucky).

I've had the wonderful chance to travel the breadth of the state of Veracruz, a long narrow state with a coast that faces the Caribbean, mountains with coffee and a whole town full of brujos or witches, and beautiful lakes.

The food of Veracruz is as amazing as the state it reflects - a lot of seafood, a cultural blend of Caribbean, African, Indigenous, and Spanish influences. One of my all time favorite Mexican cookbooks is Zarela's Veracruz, which is part travelogue and 100% cookbook.

Many blog posts back I talked about getting two plant starts from a nursery via mail...the hoja santa or holy leaf, which is a popular herb in southern Mexico. No idea what makes it holy, but I suspect there is a good story behind the name. The 2 plants are happily growing the patio, and I finally harvest a few leaves for a Zarela recipe "Pampano en Acuyo." Actually it translates in my kitchen to Red Snapper in Acuyo or Hoja Santa. In Oaxaca it is called Hierba Santa. So many names for a very pretty culinary herb. This easy fish dish is wrapped in foil and chopped up leaves, which are eaten like a green. You add in some onion, garlic, olive oil and jalapeno chiles. Zarela advises only making this dish if you have fresh hoja santa, as there is no substitute for this aromatic herb.

Another factoid about Veracruz for your next Trivial Pursuit game, did you know that jalapeno chiles come from Xalapa, a lively university town in the center of the state?

Fun stuff

So after having a particularly tough 2008 I decided very intentionally to make 2009 a particularly good one. I can't undo or erase the hard things, but I can certainly focus on the good things in life....my family, my health, creativity, and living in such a beautiful part of the world.

Yesterday was one of those days packed with good things. We started out by trying something different and new - kayaking in Scapposse Bay area. It was only my second time kayaking, and Federico's first time. He is a total natural in a kayak, which kinda of surprised me. I struggled a bit figuring out how to steer the darn thing, but a patient guide helped me learn a "rudder stroke." That did the trick. It was beautiful to be on the water, we saw great blue herons flying overhead....and it was definitely a good workout. We are jazzed to do it again and bring Gladys along. We stopped by a cute roadhouse to eat lunch. Later on we got to see a beautiful performance of poet Cindy Gutierrez (no relation) who channeled Aztec poets with her own poems accompanied to music on traditional Indian instruments.

We ended the day at Common Ground for a soak in the hot tubs under the stars and sauna. It was so relaxing and nice to just hang out without having to do anything....just be.

Garden in bloom

Every year I plant new flower seeds, and every year there is some lovely new delight (and a few disappointments). Here are the fantastic cosmos that were planted....love the fuchsia color. They are so bright and tall you see them 1/2 down the block.

Here are some of the green tomatoes (planted by a bird, not by me). These tomatoes will eventually find their way into a can, as I learned to do last night. Those pretty purple asylum were also planted by seed this year, and this a dependable favorite that I always want in the garden. Pretty, fragrant, and attracts beneficial insects.

Blue ribbon

So as a die hard feminist, who would have thought I would take up canning in midlife? Not me.

With then again, I didn't see myself as a gardener either, or stepmom...life is full of good surprises and unplanned gifts.

I took a fun canning class today through the City of Portland. It was held at Grand Central Bakery, and we got to can pickled green tomatoes, which is great...because I have a fair amount of them right now, and not enough hot sunshine to ripen anything. Besides learning the how to of canning, we got to eat yummy turkey and cream cheese sandwiches featuring the pickled tomatoes, plus a delicious bundt cake made with apple butter, which we also learned how to make....

The teacher held up my can as a "blue ribbon example" with genuine pleasure to the class, due to the distribution of liquid and veg. I felt like a first grader with a gold star from the teacher....

Update

Well, the yellowjackets are officially gone. It was rather exciting to have someone in a full beekeeping suit in the front-yard at night with a large industrial vaccum sucking up yellowjackets. I learned that yellowjackets nest in the spring and like any small hole in the ground for nesting purposes. Note to self, fill up any holes by next spring-time!

The other update is about my foot. There has been some turning point in the healing process. I noticed at Kahneta when bounding up the water slide staircase barefoot over and over and running after Gladys....yes, running. None of it hurt. My foot felt normal. I started zumba dance classes on Tuesday, and ditto...no pain. It was far different when I was taking the same classes 3 months ago. Plus during cool down I'm now able to balance on the surgical foot alone, which I couldn't do before. I was even doing some of the jumping steps, and no still no pain.

All I can say is YEAH!!

Really smart approach

Garden invaders

I have been waxing poetic about the joys of pollinators in the garden all season long, right? Now I get to face the dark side of pollination. A nest of yellowjackets has invaded the front-garden bed....

I discovered their nest when planting up all the winter garden veg starts, and I was digging around for a place to stick a kale plant when I noticed a few bees swarming up angrily. Then I had one who was clearly angry and flying around me....I backed up and thought it would go away, which it didn't. Then it landed on my wrist and bit me. Painful and scary....like someone hitting you when you weren't expecting it. I yelped and ran, because the bugger wasn't dead (sign that it isn't a bee), but was coming back for more. At first I thought that we could co-habitate, but I realize that these insects are agressive and occupying primo real estate in the front yard, where we walk all the time. Where I'd like to safely plant more plants.

So now the removal strategy kicks in. I've found a local bee expert who will come in and take them out without chemicals, and he arrives tomorrow night. I find this very exciting and interesting (and also annoying). Stay tuned for more updates and maybe pictures.

A weekend to remember

As we gird ourselves for the rainy months to come, we are taking full advantage of the glorious days of fall that Oregon provides. This weekend was one of those....

We headed east to Kahneeta Resort, located on the Warms Springs Indian Reservation in the high desert of central Oregon. This is our second trip, after a equally lovely September weekend last year. Note to self - this is worth starting a family tradition. Their web site is fun, since it offers a pool cam......

http://kah-nee-ta.com/

The trip takes you through the Mount Hood National Forest, which is beautiful and worth a visit all on its own. Then the scenery changes altogether -- sage, juniper, mesas, and wild horses.

So many highlights:

Horseback riding on Sunday morning
Swimming in warm water from mineral springs
The fantastic twisting water slides that Gladys finally got me to go up (I adored it and somehow my fear of highs was nowhere to be found!)
Being able to run and play and tag w/o any foot pain
Roasting marshmallows over an open fire
Sleeping in a tee pee
Visiting the fantastic museum in Warm Springs
Getting to be around lots of indigenous people who run the resort....Native people are alive and well....
Getting a sunburn in September!

Using up pears

Our very sweet neighbor and my sis gifted us a lot of pears. This means that I got into action with recipes. I've got a fabulous one from New Seasons that has used up all of my sister's pears...Gluten Free Crisp. It is easy, fast, and delicious. She loved it, and so did Fede.

1 cup of oats
1 cup of GF flour mix
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of chopped nuts
1/2 stick of butter cut up in pieces
pinch of sea salt
2 lbs of your favorite fruit, chopped up small
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 t of nutmeg
greased baking pan that can hold the fruit

Mix all the dry ingredients well and then add in butter and crumble up with your clean hands. Sprinkle onto the chopped fruit (which is laid out in the baking pan). Bake at 375 until bubbling and yummy.

Eat with vanilla ice cream.

Wow.

Garden update

September is a really good month in the garden....lots of blooming and harvesting going on. As a lover of all things floral, here are 2 of my favorite things in the garden right now. The "Don Juan" climbing rose is not quite a year old, and look how tall and lovely it is. The roses last a long time, and they smell lovely.

The dahlias are a little weird this year, as they have done this odd thing where they dip into a deep V shape, rather than growing straight up. I also got more foliage than flowers. I have no idea why, and I'm not fussing too much because look at the awesome flowers I'm getting! See how the flower is so close to the ground? I've got ground-cover dahlias this year.

What I'm listening to

I adore Marta Gomez, a Colombian singer who uses traditional melodies and instrumentation with the most beautiful lyrics, which are out of this world. I admit, this song is sad...but so lovely it is a sweet sadness.

Christ in action

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112679029

As a Christian I'm always moved when I see people living the Word in action. I'm not particularly impressed with sermons or speeches (even though Obama's speeches do impress me) when it comes to God.

Walk the walk is my theory when it comes to religion.

So here is a moving story about a man who ministers to people in an airport....I've spent my fair time in airports around the hemisphere and never had the pleasure to run into such a man (and fortunately never been in need of help during a journey).

Heath s/care

So I've been rather quiet about the political craziness that has overtaken the nation around health care. I don't know that I can add much more to the conversation that hasn't been said.

I do want to share a smart and funny music video that says a lot...with music. Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/user/paulhipp

What I'm reading

I've been exploring Buddhism, dipping into books. I've just started a wonderful book "Anger" by Vietnamese monk Thich Nant Hahn. As someone who struggles with moments of fierce anger, I find this approach of compassion towards oneself as fascinating and tough.

What I'm loving about this book is the way the author uses the metaphor of gardening. Anger is like kitchen scraps that you can turn into compost to enrich the garden....it is not bad, but needs to be used appropriately to enrich and enlighten our lives.

He taps into the need to have awareness and mindfulness about the daily things in our lives...eating, for example. That is an area I struggle with, always moving in a rush through a meal. Hahn talks about taking 50 bites of food to really really savor and mindfully eat. 50 BITES.

Little moments of argh or ah

I do have a little garden notebook, made of paper, that I tote around to nurseries and gardening workshops. In my fit of seed planting I neglected to review my notes from the fall/winter gardening class. Alas, I read that lettuce doesn't usually make through a hard frost. There is nothing about beets started by seeds, except a recommendation to stick to seedlings late in the season. Argh.

I did hit up the nurseries today to buy seedlings of things that "overwinter." We shall see how this experiment goes. I have broccolli, cauliflour, kale, lettuce....I am realizing that my eyes exceed the amount of land I actually have to farm, but I'm sure I'll make it work or give away a few starts. $21 for a lot of starts.

Fede and a friend cleaned up the property line with a plastic barrier to keep the neighbor's grass and weeds from encroaching on our bed, which is partly shady and near the compost bin. With a narrow bare strip of pristine land I went to Garden Fever in a frenzy and bought a bunch of shady loving perennials. I am usually too cheap to buy many perennials, and since most of garden is in the sun, I am woefully clueless about the joys of shady gardening. Today was the day to break with my established routine. I spent a chunk of change, and almost all on shady lovers I never glance at, let alone buy.

Decided this stripe is my little expensive learning laboratory. I quickly dug some holes, filled with a bit of compost and watered them up, then stuck the plants in, tucked in with most compost on top. I did this all in the span of about 1 hour and 1/2. Impressive, imho.

The plants are pretty, and I have visions of them fill out the strip into a lovely green area where weeds can no longer find a footing at all. It will also make the compost area more scenic....it is the entry way to the patio, which is my last gardening frontier.

Fall planting journal

So every gardener is supposed to keep a journal, tracking planting dates, bloom times, frost dates, etc. I view this blog as part garden journal, and in that spirit, today I planted our winter garden, inspired by that fall/winter gardening class I took back in the waning days of summer.

In the former garlic patch (which was previously the pumpkin patch), I've sown a bunch of beet seeds. The variety is "Early Wonder", which takes 55 days until harvest. That is roughly around the Day of Dead, which is when I plan to be in Oaxaca. I guess I will harvest when I come home. I cannot have enough beets in this house!

I also planted Romaine Lettuce, under the maple tree and as an edging near the garage entrance. It takes 78 days for maturity, which is a longg time...mid to late November. I really need more lettuce in the house. So in that spirit I got a lettuce mix from Uprising seeds, also near the tree and tucked in near the sage plant's edge.

The chard is producing prolifically, so no need for more chard. Collards, well, they are HUGE. If we eat collards everyday until Christmas we could not eat them all. They make a lovely edge to the border, so they are just fine biding time until we eat them.

I would like to plant more kale and some spinach. I've not had good luck with spinach from seed.

Yet.

Thai massage

After Breitenbush's yoga class teacher told me that thai massage was wonderful for tight hips (an outcome of a lot of hip tightening activities over the years) I thought, I want to get myself a thai massage. It will help reinforce what I'm doing in my yoga class, plus relaxation. It was fantastic and a combo of yoga and massage - in one sitting. You do it on the floor, clothed....I highly highly recommend it. Here is a Youtube video that has a good demo.




That was my treat of the week, combined with 2 yoga classes!

I've really been working on building in relaxation into every single day. A long walk, swim, yoga, massage....I want to enjoy the ability to really use my body. Re-reading some old posts from last winter, I realize how far I've come from a walker and not being able to bath on my own.

I am so grateful for the healing process (and the resources that I have to help it along).