Tuesday, June 29, 2010

family trip to california


(my mother and her mother)
Some photos from my trip to California:
Grandma Nancy and the family at the Newport Beach Temple for Briana's first time. It was wonderful to be there all together. I'm so excited for Briana. My mom was also sealed to her parents in the same room where Adam and I were sealed last year. It really was lovely to see again the temple where Adam and I were married.

Two sisters:

Me and my Dad:

Briana and Dad:

Everyone at the beach:

Ian's room; he loves the ocean and fishing.

Lu made delicious Cambodian Spring Rolls for Ian's graduation party:

Ian's Graduation dinner:

My two handsome brothers:

Sunday, June 20, 2010

skirts


Yay! A sewing day. Saturday was the best day in a while. I was wanting to make some new skirts to wear next week when I visit my family for Ian's graduation and Briana's first time to the temple.

I really like gored skirts. When the identical panels are sewn together, they create a beautiful and flattering shape. I used a shabby but beloved 6-gore skirt to cut apart and copy the pattern. Then I made two very different skirts from the same base pattern by varying the skirt length and amount of flare at the hem.

I love how they both turned out and that I can dress them up or wear them casual.

Adam could tell I had planned to do too many things before I left town (as usual) so we spent an entire Saturday with me sewing and Adam making pizzas while we listened to the Lord of the Rings audiobook. It was so fun!!!!

Friday, June 18, 2010

mushrooms!


I found some mushrooms right in our own (neighbor's) backyard!

It's an Agaricus, but not an edible Agaricus, which is unfortunate because for a second I had visions of cast iron skillet pizza with goat cheese and mushrooms...YUM!
But I'm glad folks at work could get it straight. It wouldn't have been deadly poisonous mistake, but the inedible Agarics will give you a mighty stomach ache and "spring cleaning" as someone put it :)
The feature I overlooked was the staining. Many mushrooms will stain or bruise certain colors, a feature that can be used to identify groups of mushrooms. In Agarics, there are edible specied that stain red and inedible species that stain yellow (this is the simple version to illustrate a point...you need more information than staining alone!).
I cut the stem and it slowly turned red, and the mushroom had a general favorable "mushroomy" odor, like some of the edible Agarics.
But, later, Joe scratched the base of the stem and it turned yellow, and when he broke open the base of the mushroom it smelled like chemicals - a sign of the inedible Agarics.

You can see in this photo the red stain when I cut the mushroom on the right, and the yellow stain where it was scratched near my thumb nail.
I had incorrectly looked for the indicators and thus misread the signs.
Oh, and never figured out exactly which Agaricus this was, but we think it was one of the yellow staining fall species that came out early because of the strange rainy weather .
Lots to learn, lots to learn...

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Boletes


The Spring Boletes are out!
One of the awesome perks of working in a mycology lab is that you get free mushrooms. Joe, one of my bosses went out collecting and said there were over 50 lbs of spring boletes (Boletus edulis group) to be had. He got as many as he wanted and generously gave me a bag full.

Aren't they cute!!!! "Porcini" means little piggie in Italian...I'm pretty sure :)
I blanched half of them for freezer storage and made a delicious porcini polenta with the rest.
First I sauteed the mushrooms in butter and milk (didn't have cream) and added salt, parsley, and a little thyme.

Then I made polenta with 1/4 cup of onions. When it was cooked enough, I stirred in the mushroom mixture and grated Grana Padano (or parmesan) cheese.

Delicious!

Monday, June 14, 2010

dutch oven!

We finally bought a dutch oven. We love it!

Adam was an excellent dutch oven chef at the Ward Family Camp Out over the weekend.
We initiated our new "black pot" with chocolate pineapple upside down cake

and Mountain Man Breakfast in the morning.

Here are some photos of the group:


One curious boy found this beautiful blue snake!

Friday, June 11, 2010

another dogwood


Here is another interesting dogwood I just saw today.

It bloomed a lot later than the others.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

mushrooms!

Yahoo!
My mushroom bags went crazy while I was in the Caribbean.
Here is the Hericium (Lion's Mane) busting out of the filter patch:

The Oysters were going crazy, too (no photo...) and here are the Shiitakes:

I poked holes in the bags to allow increased Oxygen flow which should stimulate fruitings.
I'll keep you posted.= :)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Punk Rock Flea Market


We are back from the Caribbean!...and what is the first thing we did?
We sold bags, headbands, mending services, stinging nettles, toast, and beans and rice at the Seattle Punk Rock Flea Market! hahahahaha!


Don't forget the free water...

And Popsicles!

What a way to spend the day :)
It was fun and now we have some friends in the Seattle punk rock community.