Anyway, we sat down and exchanged our gifts to each other tonight and we thought we'd post a quick photo of Abby in her gifts.
That's right, it's pig mittens with a matching pink scarf!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love,
David and Abby
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Merry Christmas!
Yes, yes, we know that we haven't blogged in nearly two months. We've been pretty darned busy. And besides, we haven't really done anything blog-worthy.
Anyway, we sat down and exchanged our gifts to each other tonight and we thought we'd post a quick photo of Abby in her gifts.
That's right, it's pig mittens with a matching pink scarf!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love,
David and Abby
Anyway, we sat down and exchanged our gifts to each other tonight and we thought we'd post a quick photo of Abby in her gifts.
That's right, it's pig mittens with a matching pink scarf!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love,
David and Abby
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Snow! and the Fridge/Freezer Project
This is what we woke up to today.
That's right, it's two inches of snow on the ground. If that's not enough, the forecast low for tomorrow morning is NINE DEGREES! So we've decided that we're not going to go and sit outside at the farmer's market. I guess winter is here.
Also, here's an update on our Fridge/Freezer Project. (For those who don't remember, we're trying to eat as much as possible from our fridge and freezer to make room for Pvt. Charles Lamb.) This week we've eaten pork enchiladas made from some beer braised shredded pork we had in the freezer, leftover tortillas from WFD, and a homemade green enchilada sauce made from these beautiful farmer's market tomatillos.
We've also had pork chops (from the freezer) with spaetzle and braised cabbage, a pot of chili made with leftover WFD bell peppers, canned tomatoes from the pantry, and shredded beef from the freezer. We weren't very good at taking food pictures this week. Sorry about that.
Keep warm everyone!
Love,
David and Abby
That's right, it's two inches of snow on the ground. If that's not enough, the forecast low for tomorrow morning is NINE DEGREES! So we've decided that we're not going to go and sit outside at the farmer's market. I guess winter is here.
Also, here's an update on our Fridge/Freezer Project. (For those who don't remember, we're trying to eat as much as possible from our fridge and freezer to make room for Pvt. Charles Lamb.) This week we've eaten pork enchiladas made from some beer braised shredded pork we had in the freezer, leftover tortillas from WFD, and a homemade green enchilada sauce made from these beautiful farmer's market tomatillos.
We've also had pork chops (from the freezer) with spaetzle and braised cabbage, a pot of chili made with leftover WFD bell peppers, canned tomatoes from the pantry, and shredded beef from the freezer. We weren't very good at taking food pictures this week. Sorry about that.
Keep warm everyone!
Love,
David and Abby
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Hot Sauce and Snow!
This last week we realized that we were coming close to a day we had been dreading. We were almost out of our favorite hot sauce that we had carried back from Belize three years ago! We haven't been able to find it here in Missoula and we don't really want to pay the shipping to order it. So we decided to try to make it ourselves. We checked out the ingredient list and found a recipe online that uses the same ingredients. Here's (almost) all the ingredients. We've got carrots, garlic, onions, habanero peppers, and a lime. Not pictured are some salt, water, and vinegar.
We sweated the onions and garlic, added the carrots and water, and simmered until the veggies were soft. Meanwhile, we seeded and rough chopped the habaneros and blanched them in some white vinegar.
Finally we put the veggies, habaneros, vinegar, lime juice, and salt in the food processor and pureed it all together. We thinned it out with some extra water to the consistency we were looking for and got some pretty darned tasty hot sauce.
Oh no, snow!
On Wednesday morning, we looked out our front door and saw snow on the mountain tops!
We admit it wasn't a ton, but it was snow never the less. We're not ready!
Keep warm everyone!
Love,
Abby and David
We sweated the onions and garlic, added the carrots and water, and simmered until the veggies were soft. Meanwhile, we seeded and rough chopped the habaneros and blanched them in some white vinegar.
Finally we put the veggies, habaneros, vinegar, lime juice, and salt in the food processor and pureed it all together. We thinned it out with some extra water to the consistency we were looking for and got some pretty darned tasty hot sauce.
Oh no, snow!
On Wednesday morning, we looked out our front door and saw snow on the mountain tops!
We admit it wasn't a ton, but it was snow never the less. We're not ready!
Keep warm everyone!
Love,
Abby and David
Thursday, October 1, 2009
More Updates!
Here are some more updates including more hiking, Wadeberries, a new sign, Portland, OR, and a hay maze. Whew!
Hiking around Missoula
Here are some photos from two hikes Abby and I made around Missoula a few weeks ago. These first two are from a trail that goes along the Clark Fork river just off the U of MT campus. First is an osprey on its nest across the river from us and the second is Abby in front of some nice scenery.
These next two are from a trail that runs up the backside of Mt. Jumbo (for those who've been to Missoula, it's the mountain with the big "L" on it.) They're just us in front of a nice view of the valley. In the picture of me, I'm in my newest homemade kilt!
Wadeberries!
They say that poverty is the mother on invention. With Abby’s one and only brother turning 30 on Sept. 30th we were faced with a problem on the gift front. We are a little light in $$ these days. (We are still able to eat! I swear Mom, Gram, Barbara et al) But fancy gift money, alas there was none. So we decided to make Wade jam for his birthday, but not any jam, blueberry/huckleberry jam. We named it Wade-berry. I hope he likes it. Happy 30th Wade!
WFD Sign
Abby got a sign for her car windshield from a printer that's in the barter network that she belongs to. We applied it ourselves, and now everyone driving around Missoula can see who's in front of them.
Portland, OR
Two weekends ago, we drove over to Portland, OR for a little getaway. Aunt Martha and John and the girls were also in Portland for a wedding, so we were able to meet them for dinner on Friday night and again for breakfast on Sunday morning. It was great to see them and get to hang out and visit! Here are some photos of us at the riverfront.
On Saturday morning, we headed to the farmer's market on the Portland State University campus. It was a rainy morning, but we had a great time. The produce was incredible, and there were people sampling their hard cider, wine, and fruit sodas. We also tried some artisanal cheeses and had an incredible breakfast of biscuits and gravy, pumpkin bread, and lamb sausage in a blanket with cranberry mustard. Here are some pictures of the produce.
On Saturday afternoon, we visited a few breweries and a distillery. My favorite brewery was called Upright Brewing. They make some really cool beer and have an interesting brewery set up including open fermenters in a positive pressure room. We got to chat with the brewer about his brewery and his beers. It was a great experience, but unfortunately his beer doesn't make it to Missoula yet. The Clear Creek Distillery was really interesting, too. They make a bunch of different fruit brandies and liqueurs. We brought a small bottle of their pear brandy home with us. Here's a photo of their fruit crates stacked up outside the building.
We ate dinner at a great little restaurant called Navarre that was recommended by our friend Sarah Thomas. We sat at a table on the sidewalk and watched Portland go by. We couldn't decide what to order, so we chose the "you feed us" option of three courses with wine pairings. Everything was delicious and we'd recommend it to anyone going to Portland.
After dinner we drove over to the world-famous Voodoo Doughnuts and got some dessert. We each got a maple bacon doughnut and Abby also got one with Cap'n Crunch and I got one with Froot Loops. They were quite a treat.
On Sunday, we went to Saraveza for the Packer game. It's a bottle shop all decorated with Wisconsin memorabilia. It was a great place to watch the game--even if they lost. I was also able to pour some free samples of Big Sky beer for the customers. It's funny how friendly people are when you're giving them free beer!
Sunday afternoon we visited Portland’s rose garden where they grow a ton of different kinds of roses. They have prize winning roses, heirloom roses, and experimental varieties, too. Here are a few pictures.
We ate a delicious barbecue restaurant for dinner. As a bonus, they had our favorite beer from Upright Brewing on tap so we could enjoy it one more time before we left. For dessert, we picked up a petite fours from Pix Bakery, yum!
Hay Maze
Last weekend, we went out to the Missoula Hay Maze. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we had a great time going through the maze. We even found our way out! Here we are deep in the twists and turns of the maze.
I think that we’re finally caught up on our blogging. We promise we’ll try to do better in keeping up with it.
Hope everyone is well.
Love,
Abby and David
Hiking around Missoula
Here are some photos from two hikes Abby and I made around Missoula a few weeks ago. These first two are from a trail that goes along the Clark Fork river just off the U of MT campus. First is an osprey on its nest across the river from us and the second is Abby in front of some nice scenery.
These next two are from a trail that runs up the backside of Mt. Jumbo (for those who've been to Missoula, it's the mountain with the big "L" on it.) They're just us in front of a nice view of the valley. In the picture of me, I'm in my newest homemade kilt!
Wadeberries!
They say that poverty is the mother on invention. With Abby’s one and only brother turning 30 on Sept. 30th we were faced with a problem on the gift front. We are a little light in $$ these days. (We are still able to eat! I swear Mom, Gram, Barbara et al) But fancy gift money, alas there was none. So we decided to make Wade jam for his birthday, but not any jam, blueberry/huckleberry jam. We named it Wade-berry. I hope he likes it. Happy 30th Wade!
WFD Sign
Abby got a sign for her car windshield from a printer that's in the barter network that she belongs to. We applied it ourselves, and now everyone driving around Missoula can see who's in front of them.
Portland, OR
Two weekends ago, we drove over to Portland, OR for a little getaway. Aunt Martha and John and the girls were also in Portland for a wedding, so we were able to meet them for dinner on Friday night and again for breakfast on Sunday morning. It was great to see them and get to hang out and visit! Here are some photos of us at the riverfront.
On Saturday morning, we headed to the farmer's market on the Portland State University campus. It was a rainy morning, but we had a great time. The produce was incredible, and there were people sampling their hard cider, wine, and fruit sodas. We also tried some artisanal cheeses and had an incredible breakfast of biscuits and gravy, pumpkin bread, and lamb sausage in a blanket with cranberry mustard. Here are some pictures of the produce.
On Saturday afternoon, we visited a few breweries and a distillery. My favorite brewery was called Upright Brewing. They make some really cool beer and have an interesting brewery set up including open fermenters in a positive pressure room. We got to chat with the brewer about his brewery and his beers. It was a great experience, but unfortunately his beer doesn't make it to Missoula yet. The Clear Creek Distillery was really interesting, too. They make a bunch of different fruit brandies and liqueurs. We brought a small bottle of their pear brandy home with us. Here's a photo of their fruit crates stacked up outside the building.
We ate dinner at a great little restaurant called Navarre that was recommended by our friend Sarah Thomas. We sat at a table on the sidewalk and watched Portland go by. We couldn't decide what to order, so we chose the "you feed us" option of three courses with wine pairings. Everything was delicious and we'd recommend it to anyone going to Portland.
After dinner we drove over to the world-famous Voodoo Doughnuts and got some dessert. We each got a maple bacon doughnut and Abby also got one with Cap'n Crunch and I got one with Froot Loops. They were quite a treat.
On Sunday, we went to Saraveza for the Packer game. It's a bottle shop all decorated with Wisconsin memorabilia. It was a great place to watch the game--even if they lost. I was also able to pour some free samples of Big Sky beer for the customers. It's funny how friendly people are when you're giving them free beer!
Sunday afternoon we visited Portland’s rose garden where they grow a ton of different kinds of roses. They have prize winning roses, heirloom roses, and experimental varieties, too. Here are a few pictures.
We ate a delicious barbecue restaurant for dinner. As a bonus, they had our favorite beer from Upright Brewing on tap so we could enjoy it one more time before we left. For dessert, we picked up a petite fours from Pix Bakery, yum!
Hay Maze
Last weekend, we went out to the Missoula Hay Maze. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we had a great time going through the maze. We even found our way out! Here we are deep in the twists and turns of the maze.
I think that we’re finally caught up on our blogging. We promise we’ll try to do better in keeping up with it.
Hope everyone is well.
Love,
Abby and David
Monday, September 28, 2009
Private Charles Lamb
David and I finally broke down at the farmers market and bought a lamb. A whole lamb all for us. David is calling him Private Charles Lamb (its a MASH reference). To provide room in our freezer we need to eat all of our odds and ends to make room. The fridge and pantry are also collecting odds and ends rapidly. We have initiated our Fridge, Freezer and Pantry Challenge.
The challenge: Make the most delicious meals we can by using only what we have on hand.
The rules: We may purchase fruits and vegetables (for fear of scurvy), and staples. Otherwise its what we have on hand until we can see the back of the fridge and freezer.
Dinners for this week: Roasted Tomato and Italian Sausage Ziti. 100% on hand. Ziti pasta, ricotta, fresh mozzarella, 3 links Italian sausage, balsamic roasted tomatoes.
Green Pork Enchiladas - 100% on hand. Tortillas, onions and tomatillos (from farmers market) shredded slow cooked pork shoulder, corn and shredded cheese (freezer)
Purchases: Bag of sugar, bag of onions, bag of potatoes.
We'll keep you posted on how we do. Sounds yummy to me!
The challenge: Make the most delicious meals we can by using only what we have on hand.
The rules: We may purchase fruits and vegetables (for fear of scurvy), and staples. Otherwise its what we have on hand until we can see the back of the fridge and freezer.
Dinners for this week: Roasted Tomato and Italian Sausage Ziti. 100% on hand. Ziti pasta, ricotta, fresh mozzarella, 3 links Italian sausage, balsamic roasted tomatoes.
Green Pork Enchiladas - 100% on hand. Tortillas, onions and tomatillos (from farmers market) shredded slow cooked pork shoulder, corn and shredded cheese (freezer)
Purchases: Bag of sugar, bag of onions, bag of potatoes.
We'll keep you posted on how we do. Sounds yummy to me!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Lots of Updates--Part 2
Here's the second installment of updates, enjoy!
David's Gelateria(By David)
I decided that we should make use of our ice cream maker this summer, and I found an absolutely terrific recipe book. It's called "Making Artisan Gelato" by Torrance Kopfer. We've only tried two recipes from it so far--blueberry and pistachio--but they were both fantastic. They're the first homemade ice creams we've made that don't freeze into a block of impenetrable ice overnight. I highly recommend the book to anyone with a home ice cream maker! Here are some photos of me making pistachio gelato last week.
First, here's a photo of the raw pistachios toasting on the stove and the milk and most of the sugar heating up.
Once the milk came to a simmer, I added the pistachios, simmered for 15 min, removed the pan from the heat and steeped for an hour. Then I pureed the milk and pistachios in the blender and let it steep another hour.
Here's the milk and pistachio puree heating up to 170F along with the beaten egg yolks to temper into the milk.
Once they were tempered together, I stirred them until the custard coated the back of my spoon. The finished custard went into an ice bath with a little heavy cream to begin chilling, and then into the fridge overnight to let the flavors marry.
The next day, I stirred in some vanilla extract and poured it into our ice cream maker.
I packaged it in 8oz containers so it would be easier for us to eat some without the rest getting all melty and then icy when it refreezes.
It's some pretty darned good pistachio gelato if I do say so myself--and I do say so!
Visitors from MN (by Abby)
In other new on our way home from visiting folks in MN and WI I got a call from my friend E who I went to Stout with. E is a flight attendant with Northwest and I have been bugging her to come and visit us in MT since the day after we moved here. She called and announced that she would be visiting us the weekend after we got home from our Midwest adventure. She had told her folks about her trip to MT and they decided that they wanted in too. It ended up that E’s dad got bogged down at work and couldn’t make the trip so it was David and me and the Hanson ladies.
We had a great time hiking, shopping, eating, and drinking far, far too much wine. It was so great getting to know Mrs. Hanson better, and getting to sit on my patio and have some much needed girl talk over a bottle of wine...or two…or three with E. She and I took wine classes at Stout and in Spain together and had a blast recalling those crazy college days over some vino. Here is a photo and E and I on a hike in the Rattlesnake. Don’t we look outdoorsy?
Julia Child’s Birthday Dinner
On August 15th we celebrated Julia Child’s Birthday with a meal Julia herself would have been proud of. We made Julia’s Roast Chicken (which has onions, lemon, herbs in its cavity, and is then smeared with a whole stick of butter) mashed potatoes, and beautiful green beans. We watched our DVD of “The French Chef” and watched Julia make the perfect omelets and watched as she used a saw to break down a whole swordfish. Where in 1960’s you could find a whole swordfish in Cambridge Mass? I have no idea. Or where the housewives in the Midwest were supposed to find one as they watched her show on PBS is anyone’s guess. But God love her. We hope all of you had a great Aug 15th, and toasted Julia’s 97th.
Don't worry, there are more updates coming shortly!
Love,
Abby and David
David's Gelateria(By David)
I decided that we should make use of our ice cream maker this summer, and I found an absolutely terrific recipe book. It's called "Making Artisan Gelato" by Torrance Kopfer. We've only tried two recipes from it so far--blueberry and pistachio--but they were both fantastic. They're the first homemade ice creams we've made that don't freeze into a block of impenetrable ice overnight. I highly recommend the book to anyone with a home ice cream maker! Here are some photos of me making pistachio gelato last week.
First, here's a photo of the raw pistachios toasting on the stove and the milk and most of the sugar heating up.
Once the milk came to a simmer, I added the pistachios, simmered for 15 min, removed the pan from the heat and steeped for an hour. Then I pureed the milk and pistachios in the blender and let it steep another hour.
Here's the milk and pistachio puree heating up to 170F along with the beaten egg yolks to temper into the milk.
Once they were tempered together, I stirred them until the custard coated the back of my spoon. The finished custard went into an ice bath with a little heavy cream to begin chilling, and then into the fridge overnight to let the flavors marry.
The next day, I stirred in some vanilla extract and poured it into our ice cream maker.
I packaged it in 8oz containers so it would be easier for us to eat some without the rest getting all melty and then icy when it refreezes.
It's some pretty darned good pistachio gelato if I do say so myself--and I do say so!
Visitors from MN (by Abby)
In other new on our way home from visiting folks in MN and WI I got a call from my friend E who I went to Stout with. E is a flight attendant with Northwest and I have been bugging her to come and visit us in MT since the day after we moved here. She called and announced that she would be visiting us the weekend after we got home from our Midwest adventure. She had told her folks about her trip to MT and they decided that they wanted in too. It ended up that E’s dad got bogged down at work and couldn’t make the trip so it was David and me and the Hanson ladies.
We had a great time hiking, shopping, eating, and drinking far, far too much wine. It was so great getting to know Mrs. Hanson better, and getting to sit on my patio and have some much needed girl talk over a bottle of wine...or two…or three with E. She and I took wine classes at Stout and in Spain together and had a blast recalling those crazy college days over some vino. Here is a photo and E and I on a hike in the Rattlesnake. Don’t we look outdoorsy?
Julia Child’s Birthday Dinner
On August 15th we celebrated Julia Child’s Birthday with a meal Julia herself would have been proud of. We made Julia’s Roast Chicken (which has onions, lemon, herbs in its cavity, and is then smeared with a whole stick of butter) mashed potatoes, and beautiful green beans. We watched our DVD of “The French Chef” and watched Julia make the perfect omelets and watched as she used a saw to break down a whole swordfish. Where in 1960’s you could find a whole swordfish in Cambridge Mass? I have no idea. Or where the housewives in the Midwest were supposed to find one as they watched her show on PBS is anyone’s guess. But God love her. We hope all of you had a great Aug 15th, and toasted Julia’s 97th.
Don't worry, there are more updates coming shortly!
Love,
Abby and David
Lots of Updates--Part 1
We have quite a few things to put on the blog, so here's part one:
Way back in the last week of July, we drove down the Bitterroot Valley to go on a scenic hike to the Blodgett Canyon Overlook. It started off a little shaky with a sign at the trailhead warning about an aggressive mountain lion that had chased some campers from their campsite that week. We read the info on what to do if we saw a lion and got all prepared to look big and throw things, but we didn't see it. Here are some photos from the hike, including lots of wildflowers and the scenic overlook at the end of the trail. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.
This last photo is a grouse we saw on our way down from the overlook. It's right next to the nearest tree trunk. It's much easier to see if you enlarge the photo.
The first week of August, we went home to Wisconsin to see our family and friends.
More adventures to come in a few days, and then we'll be all caught up! Finally!
xoxoxoxo
Abby and David
Way back in the last week of July, we drove down the Bitterroot Valley to go on a scenic hike to the Blodgett Canyon Overlook. It started off a little shaky with a sign at the trailhead warning about an aggressive mountain lion that had chased some campers from their campsite that week. We read the info on what to do if we saw a lion and got all prepared to look big and throw things, but we didn't see it. Here are some photos from the hike, including lots of wildflowers and the scenic overlook at the end of the trail. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.
This last photo is a grouse we saw on our way down from the overlook. It's right next to the nearest tree trunk. It's much easier to see if you enlarge the photo.
The first week of August, we went home to Wisconsin to see our family and friends.
And what a whirlwind that was! After driving 21 hours, straight we collapsed at Abby’s Aunt’s. We got up; feeling very jet lagged, and went to visit Gram who was feeling a bit under the weather. 4 hours later we were in the ER with her. We were all terrified at the possible scenarios that were being thrown at us by ER doctors who looked younger than me. David and I were happy to be there for hand holding and supporting my aunt and little cousins, and eventually my mom and dad who drove to MN. She came through it and is recovering at a rehab facility. She’ll be back at her usual digs in no time. I told her it was quite a stunt to pull to avoid a humiliating loss to me at Old Maid (My grandma never loses Old Maid, she is so cute and little but deep down is a card shark)
With Gram out of the woods by Saturday PM we were able to keep our date with my friends from college. We hit Bucca’s and then went to a bar in uptown. Here are some photos of some of my favorite people doing what we do best. (Eating too much…Drinking too much… Laughing too loud…)
The one of David and Leigh I think should be their Christmas card. Aren’t they the perfect brown haired couple? How adorable! Oh wait he is my husband! SO in retaliation the blondes had to step it up.
After our crazy weekend in MN we headed home to Wisconsin.
David headed off to hang out with his folks in GB and I stayed in Shawano with my folks. While in Shawano my friend Zac took time off from getting his PhD to hang out with my folks and me. As our adventure/project du jour we went blueberry picking and made scrummy blueberry jam.
Mom and I made Zac work for his supper, but we had lamb chops that night, so it was worth the picking and jamming. Doesn’t he look so domestic in the photo of him jamming? The next Martha Stewart for sure!
Other excitement from Shawano was that I found a bat in my room, or he found me by dive-bombing me. Dad and I fearlessly (ok we were both a little freaked out by Batty) took on the bat and cornered it in Wade’s old room. We swooshed him out the door so he could play with his bat friends. A few days later my folks had another bat in the down stairs of their house. My mom thinks its because she has been reading books about vampire this summer!
Creepy!
Here we are with my folks at the chef’s table in the kitchen at Chives. Aaron Rodgers has sat at this table so we felt especially honored that we were allowed to sit there too.
While home we also enjoyed having lunch with David’s Grandma, celebrating Don’s (David’s dad’s) 70th birthday, hung out with David’s best friends from high school, and their wives, and David and his mom went to see the new Harry Potter movie. Thank goodness I didn’t have to go and pretend to be into wizards ;) David and I also played a little pac man at the Spinning Wheel, a Shawano institution for the best perch fry. Chris beat both of us by about a million points, but he has had a few more years to hone his skills.
We had fun at home, but it was nice to be back to our quiet lives in MT.
More adventures to come in a few days, and then we'll be all caught up! Finally!
xoxoxoxo
Abby and David
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