Wish List

On this gray, chilly, winter day, when Nick and I are exhausted from hosting company yesterday and I am trying to keep the gloom of the outside from coloring my mood, I thought it might help to put together a list of the upcoming projects I would like to tackle in the coming months.

On the one hand, this is a little depressing because all of these projects will cost money, and between the new puppy and the holidays, I don't have any.  On the other hand, it's something to look forward to....eventually.

So in no particular order, here we go:

• Repaint the guest room.  You remember, the bubblegum pink room?
  
  
  
  Yeah.  That's gotta go. That's getting repainted Hollingsworth Green.

 

• Obtain an actual guest bed for said guest room.  All we have to offer our guests now is a queen inflatable airbed, and I am getting the distinct impression that if we don't replace it ASAP people are going to start declining our invitations to visit.  Nick's parents have a four-poster full wooden bed frame they're not using that they have kindly offered to us; now we have to get the mattress.

• Paint furniture for the guest room.  My lovely mother-in-law invited me to peruse her attic for unused furniture, and there was a wooden chest of drawers and little side table that will be as good as new with a fresh coat of paint.  I think I will be experimenting with Annie Sloan chalk paint for those, since there's a store in Old Town Warrenton that carries it.

• Repaint our bedroom Yarmouth Blue.

• Turn the cheesy "pantry" and "laundry" decal door insets in the kitchen into useful chalkboard door insets. 
  
  
  I'm planning to have a calendar and to-do list on one door, and a menu planner and shopping list on the other.  We'll see.  Still exploring the various options of chalkboard paint versus contact paper versus whatever-else-is-out there.  Am also hoping it won't make the room too dark, but I think we can avoid that.  Besides, I can always paper over the glass inserts with black construction paper first to get a feel for what it would look like.

 

• There are some other projects we'd like to tackle, like painting the bathrooms (stark white is not my style).  Additionally, Nick found a website that shows you how to build a beautiful farmhouse dining table, and if he can score a Kreg Jig for Christmas, I think he might do that.  Or he's going to build us an entertainment center.  I forget which one is going to be first.  And then...built-in bookshelves in the front room!

Mezuzah

Thanks to my parents, we now have a gorgeous mezuzah adorning the front of our home.  It serves as a reminder that the home is a sacred space of love and respect, where we can enter and leave the rest of the world behind.  In today's world, that is a very, very important thing.

Holiday Decor

Since we live in a multi-faith household (me the Agnostic Jew and Nick the Agnostic Quaker/Protestant), winter holiday decorations can be a fun chance to mix and mingle traditions.  Right now we have a few winter items (garlands), and my Chanukah decorations are out.  Once Chanukah is over we will phase in a few more Christmas-y things.  For example, I splurged at Crate and Barrel a while back on votives and bought three different colors.  So right now, the votives accompanying the mantelpiece garland are blue and silver (Chanukah); in a couple of weeks they will be red and silver (Christmas).  It's fun!

 

 

 

My peace garland - made it myself!  It's a pretty blue color that didn't photograph too well.
It's reversible, so the "peace" message is also visible from the front of the house.

 

 

Broccoli!

We have bebbeh broccolis!

That is all.

Setting Boundaries

Nick and I have been talking for a month or two now about having a portion of the backyard fenced off.  Not to provide privacy or wall the neighbors out, but to provide a safe place for a dog to play off-leash (we did not have a dog at the time).  Many folks out here have beautiful paddock or split-rail fencing, and we really liked the look of both.  We had a large local company come out and give us an estimate, but it was significantly higher than we were looking to pay, even with interest-free financing.  We were feeling a bit discouraged, but once we adopted the puppy we had extra motivation to start looking again.  A coworker of mine recommended Triple-K, a smaller local company that she had used and was pleased with.  Their estimate was significantly less, and Nick liked the guy they sent out.  So they came out Tuesday morning, and by the time I arrived home from work at about a quarter to seven Tuesday evening, we had a fenced backyard!

It is three-rail split rail fencing with galvanized mesh wire along the inside so that animals cannot go between the rails.  From a distance you cannot see the mesh, and close-up it still looks pretty good!  Along the left-hand side of the home our neighbors already have a fence, so we ran ours across to meet theirs but did not double-up on the fencing.  There is a gate at the back of the fence that opens to the rest of the property.  Facing the street, we have a single-width gate on the right side and a double-width gate on the left.  The double-width gate is so that our tree guy can get his cherry picker into the backyard the next time we want some work done.  The fence comes up to about halfway along the house; between that, the large front yard, and the slope down to the street you can't see much of the street from the fenced yard, meaning that if and when we do leave Westley (the pup) alone in the yard he won't find much in the front to bark at.  Not that our cul-de-sac has much traffic anyway.  In the back the fence does not block the view of the trees or the little creek at the back of the property.

We (and Nick especially) are very excited!  He's already planned what scrubby areas we should clear out to open them up for additional sunlight, gardening, and a potential chicken coop.  Westley loves being able to be off-leash, and he has already figured out what the gates are even though they've only been there for four days!  He and I were in the front yard this morning and when he wanted to go to the back he trotted right up to the gate and sat down, which is what we are making him do any time we go in or out of a door.

I grew up used to fences that were five or six feet tall and blocked any view.  This is very different.  I think I like it better.  This sort of fence wouldn't work in Los Angeles, though - it works better when you have a larger, more rural property.  Good thing that's what we've got!

Garden Salad

My last post commented on how pleased we are that the garden is still doing well despite the late season and cold weather (it's dipping below freezing some nights).  Tonight we are enjoying a salad in which the lettuce and radishes come exclusively from our garden!

Don't worry - I cleaned the dirt off first.  ;-)

In addition, Nick has informed me that at long last, there are baby brussels sprouts and baby broccoli heads sprouting from our young plants!  We weren't sure if they would get enough sunshine this fall to actually make any edible veggies, but apparently they did!  Now I just hope they keep growing through the winter so we can keep eating.  Perhaps we'll plant some kale - that's supposed to grow well in the winter too.   Huzzah veggies!

Garden Update

Nearly two months ago, I posted about the greenhouse made from plastic sheeting, PVC pipe, and branches from our backyard that Nick built in an attempt to extend our growing season into late fall.  Is it working?  You tell me.

We are currently eating the radishes and some of the lettuce, while carefully watching the carrots , broccoli and brussels sprouts and crossing our fingers.  Not bad for an experiment!

Old and New

Today we picked up our first new piece of furniture for the house, and we love it!  A while back we stumbled upon the work of Kenn of Shenandoah Second Wind at a local antique shop.  We fell in love with his beautiful coffee tables, made of reclaimed wood, and for Nick's birthday his parents kindly financed the creation and purchase of one.  It took about a month to build, and today we brought home the new purchase.

It is made of reclaimed wormy chestnut that was originally used in an early 20th century building; Kenn will be sending us the provenance shortly.  Isn't it gorgeous?  Plus, now I have somewhere comfortable to put my computer mouse and keyboard.  Now we just have to keep Westley from chewing on it...

Introducing.....Westley!

There have been essentially no new developments on the home repair/crafting/building/gardening fronts for a while.  This is for multiple reasons:

1. I have somehow injured my back/neck/shoulder and have been experiencing some pretty severe muscle pain; it's about all I can do to get through a workday at the moment.
2. With Christmas and Chanukah coming, finances are being re-prioritized.
3. Finances are also a little tighter for another, even more exciting reason: our new puppy!

This is Westley.  He's twelve weeks old, a male neutered Lab/Pointer cross.  The rescue thinks he may have a little Spaniel in him too.  He was the smallest in the litter of six puppies, and the only yellow one (all of the others are black and white).  He is also the only one born with a natural bobtail (ie. it looks as though his tail has been docked).  Westley (or "West") is very sweet, a little shy but not fearful, and came with kennel cough and a trifecta of parasites: hookworms, coccidiosis (a GI protozoa), and demodectic mange.  I am more concerned about the kennel cough than anything else, but have him on broad-spectrum antibiotics and so far he's doing reasonably well.  He is already crate-trained and almost-but-not-quite potty trained; he has had a couple of widdles in the house but nothing major.

Westley has also done surprisingly well with our resident kitties!  The first night he came home (Friday) he growled at them from his crate for about half an hour on and off, but since them he has shown nothing but polite interest.  He wants to play with them but does not bark or chase, and if they turn and walk away he gives the equivalent of a puppy shrug and goes back to whatever he was doing.  They are also responding well.  Pippin is a little afraid of him, but most of the time his curiosity overwhelms his fear, as you can see in the photos below.  Perrin seems to really not care one way or the other, although they both get frosted with me when Westley gets a training treat and they don't, so they're getting extra cookies now.  Neither cat seems severely anxious and their stress-related urinary conditions have not flared up (*knock on wood*).  They are still getting lots of love from us, both with and without the puppy present.  Pippin is on the couch with me as I write this post, kneading a blanket and purring away, while Perrin naps in the sunroom.  We are not letting Westley through the kitty door into the sunroom, and soon he'll be too big to use the door anyway, so that will remain a kitty zone.

We have only had him for two days, so this is all very new to both him and to us, but so far everyone is getting along and seems relatively content!

And now....photos!

Pippin really wants the rawhide chew.
Westley doesn't seem to care, which is great!

 Sitting in Nick's lap with his new giraffe toy.  He loves it!

Officially too cute for words.

Rainy Day

Hurricane Sandy greeted us yesterday with a good deal of rain and some seriously high-speed winds.  I was able to leave early from work to get home before the storm hit its peak, since nearly all of our clients had called to cancel anyway.  We did lose power at about 8:30 last night, which was not restored until thirteen hours later, but we had plenty of candles and board games with which to entertain ourselves.

Settlers by candlelight!

When we ventured out this morning we discovered that the cause of this was a pine tree that had fallen across one of the nearby cross streets, taking power lines with it.  Thankfully, we made it though with no damage more serious than the loss of my squirrel baffle on the bird feeder.  Our newly raked lawn and clean driveway are now covered with wet leaves that must be cleared in time for Halloween tomorrow, but that is a small price to pay.   The tiny little creek at the very back of our property is not so tiny at the moment, though.

I (and just about everyone else at work) was actually given the day off today due to the storm, so once we had determined that we had no leaks or structural damage, I took the opportunity to get a few things done around the house.  I reorganized the bookcases in the front room to my liking, and moved in a small table to make it a more guest-friendly space.

You may notice the pumpkin in the window in the last photograph.  I had to bring my pumpkin inside because the squirrels are eating it and ruining the carving.  Furry little bastards...

Today's other project was adding handles to the drawers and cabinets in the hall bathroom.  The lack of handles has been bothering us, because the vanity is constructed such that there is very little space between the drawer facings and it is actually difficult to get one's fingers between them to open a drawer.  A few weeks ago we bought hardware that coordinated well with the existing hardware, and it has been sitting on the bathroom counter waiting to be installed.  Today we actually got it done, and it looks pretty good!

Before

After

Culinarily Overambitious

Nick's grandfather, who lives in Vermont, owns a quince tree.  Or perhaps two quince trees?  Regardless....Nick's parents were visiting him recently and asked us if we would like any quinces.  "Danielle would be glad to have whatever you and Jim [grandfather] don't want," my husband told her. 
"Are you sure?" she asked me.
That should have been my first clue.  But I, awash in dreams of quince ice cream and membrillo, a delicious quince paste that I acquired a taste for in Spain (try it with Manchego cheese and Marcona almonds), said, "Absolutely!"  Never did I dream that when they came to visit this past weekend they would be bearing this:

I honestly had a little trouble lifting this bag.

That is a standard-size shopping bag full of quinces.  Full.  At this point it occured to me that I might be slightly in over my head.  But did I let that slow me down?  No way!

The quince, if you are not familiar with it, is related to apples and pears.  It is a rock-hard, bruised little fruit with a fabulous perfurmed aroma of pears and flowers and I don't even know what else.  They smell AMAZING.  And they taste delicious, but only after cooked.  You can't eat these raw.

So I decided to cook them.  What I should have done was to prepare and cook 1/3 to 1/2 of the quinces to make membrillo and quince syrup, while saving the rest for next weekend to make...I don't know, something else.  What I did was to prep and cook all of them Saturday night.  This was not my smartest idea ever. 

The quinces have a core at the middle, like that of an apple or pear, that you don't want to eat.  Way too hard and far too tart.  So after you wash them and remove any fuzz (like peach fuzz but less), you have to cut them off the core.  Did I mention they are like little rocks?  Some recipe call for peeling them but it's really not necessary.  So I chopped, and chopped, and chopped.  Thankfully, my husband let me borrow the gigantic stockpot that he uses for homebrewing.

Before and after chopping.  I chopped for hours.

Who gets a blister chopping fruit?  I mean, really.  That's just sad.

I am very glad that we have the compost pail now, because I filled it twice over with quince cores and I would have hated to throw those out.   Anyway...

Cooked the quinces in water to cover until they had softened, about 30-45 minutes.  Then I pulled out the quinces with a slotted spoon and pureed them. 

This puree is the basis for what becomes membrillo, but here I finally exercised some discretion and decided that I was not making both quince syrup and membrillo in the same day.  So the membrillo went into the fridge for the meantime.

The cooking liquid at this point tasted strongly like quince, and was just as tart.

For the next few hours, I slowly simmered it, adding sugar gradually to adjust it from eye-watering tart to merely lip-puckering tart.  You don't want to know how much sugar it took.

 

As quinces or quince juice cooks, it gradually turns in color from yellow to a deep orange or ruby red - a beautiful color!

 Nearly there...

Done!

There is enough natural pectin in the quince that the liquid thickens up nicely into a lovely syrup that can be used make ice cream, add to drinks, put into foods, etc.

After sterilizing some jars and lids (with Nick's assistance since he's more experienced at canning), I finally got to sit back and enjoy a job well done.

I foresee quince ice cream at Thanksgiving.

Here is but one of the giant trays of membrillo I made the next day....

this is totally turning into Christmas presents.

And that is the story of how I managed to use 13 pounds of sugar in one weekend.

Yes.  Pounds.

Preparing for the Storm...Maybe?

Nick and I have not exactly been battening down the hatches in preparation for Tropical Storm Sandy and the "monster storm" she will apparently be bringing.  Our forecast includes heavy winds and rain, with a flood warning from this afternoon through Tuesday.  Heavy winds could bring down a tree, so we could potentially lose power, but we already have more candles than we know what to do with, as well as a pair of flashlights.  We don't have a generator but we're not about to run out and get one.  We are, however, very glad that Nick had a tree guy out to take down the dead trees in our backyard a couple of weeks ago.  There is also the possibility that a tree could come down and block the street, but that will either happen or it won't; there is no point in worrying about it.  The tiny little creek at the back of our property could flood, but even if it does, the 100-year water mark is nowhere near our house, so we're not concerned about that.

So instead we've been going about our business.  Yesterday his parents came over and helped us rake the front and back lawns and clear the driveway.  They even brought their own rakes!  Very kind of them.  Then we cleaned up and went wine tasting at a couple of local vineyards, which were absolutely gorgeous this time of year.  I am also impressed at the quality of photos that our camera takes from a moving car.

 

 

At Hume Vineyards

 

 



 

 

At Chateau O'Brien

 

 

At Stribling Orchards, adjacent to Chateau O'Brien.