'Nother One!

Meet the newest member of our (supposedly shrinking) family

Crummy pictures, but so be it.  I have always had a weak spot for orange and white kitties.  Always.  We were not able to keep cats alive on the busy country road that we lived on growing up, so we stuck to dogs after awhile.  But I loved kittens.  So not long after I was married, a 3 week old abandoned orange and white kittie found its way into my purse and snuck into our little rental house in Southern CA.  Tigger was the first of many Orange and whites over the years.  In the last maybe 10 years I have opted to not have male cats, as no matter when we get them neutered, they tend to spray their foul smell at the most inappropriate places.  Which means any place at all, in my thoughts.  I haven't had an o&w cat for a long time, so have been keeping my eye out for a female one.  Every time I find one, it is a male.  Unbeknownst to me until recently, almost all orange cats are male! Last Thursday I was at the pet store buying crickets for my Leo the Leopard gecko and I happened to glance at the big cage near the counter where they keep their kittens.  "Oh!  You have an orange and white little kittie!", I exclaimed to the cashier who was busy counting out 30 crickets for me.  "Yes!", she responded, "And the neat thing about this one is that it is a female!".  That had my name written all over it!  But I did not want to buy her impulsively, so I ripped myself away from her and told the woman that I would go to the library, and I might be back in a bit.  From the parking lot of the library, I called Darrell at work, and asked him to talk me out of something.  Instead, he named half a dozen reasons why I should buy the kittie.  I listed a few reasons why it was a bad idea, so after making sure I wanted talking out of this, he agreed, but said it was up to me.  Sooooo........

What a cutie pie she is!  Purrs, cuddles and likes to be right by me :-}  As always, the big question for me is what to name a new pet?  I am leaning towards Sammi or Josie.  Any thoughts?  Or suggestions? (I've had a couple of Pumpkins already).

Corn Triplets

I rarely grow a good crop of corn anymore, but his summer, cool as it was, produced one of my best harvests of the vegetable!  An odd thing, many of the stalks produced 2-3 ears with some of the separate ears having 'extra' ears attached to them!  A phenomenon that I have never seen before! It was some of the tastiest corn we have ever eaten :-}

Summer Wedding

I had been diligent in the past to blog each memeber of The Elite Eight when they get married.  In this summer's lack of blogging, I missed posting Danny and Rachel's wedding.  However, in mid August these two exchanged vows in Olympia. Danny is the first Brevick of those eight boys to be married. It was a beautiful wedding, with a delicious dinner reception in Lacey. Best wishes go out to you!

Pumpkin-Walnut Biscuits

I have had a request to share the recipe for the pumpkin biscuits I served with the last blogs soup.  Though the recipe calls for walnuts, I omitted them.  Nuts in muffins seem appropriate, but not in biscuits.  A texture thing, I suppose.  The recipe comes from a Pumpkin Cookbook by DeeDee Stovel.

Pumpkin-Walnut Biscuits

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1 cup unsweetened pumpkin

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse a few times, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Dump the mixture into a large bowl and stir in the nuts (if using). Stir in the pumpkin and mix until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Scrape the dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times, adding a little more flour if it is very sticky.

4. Pat the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick circle and cut biscuits with a 2-inch round biscuit cutter.

5. Place the biscuits 1 inch apart on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, until risen and lightly browned.

Chicken Poblano Soup

Okay.  I have a new favorite soup again!  This one comes from Tracy, a woman that works at the city with Darrell.  They had a soup potluck one day last week, and Darrell came home raving about this Chicken Poblano Soup he had.  It went quickly and was the first pot emptied.  So I told him to get the recipe and send it to me, which he promptly did :-)

Chicken Poblano Soup

· 1/4 cup olive oil
· 3 large carrots, diced
· 2 large onions, diced
· 5 stalks celery, diced
· 1/8 cup minced garlic
· 2 to 3 small poblano (or jalapeno) peppers, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
· 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, or more to taste
· 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, or more to taste
· 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
· 3 quarts chicken broth
· 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
· 3 cups diced grilled chicken
· 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
· 1 cup all-purpose flour
· 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, or more to taste
· 1 cup heavy cream

· Optional – you can add diced potatoes to make it more hearty. We also added corn.

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, poblano or jalapeno peppers, salt, white pepper, cumin, and thyme. Sauté for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the chicken bouillon. Add the chicken broth and cilantro, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Stir in the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until the chowder is thick and the chicken is heated through. Shortly before the chowder is done, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes to cook the flour. Do not allow the mixture to brown! Ladle 1 cup of the hot liquid from the stockpot into the skillet, whisking constantly.

When the first cup of liquid is incorporated, add another 2 cups of liquid, 1 at a time. Pour the mixture in the skillet into the stockpot, whisking to blend. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes longer, or until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the hot sauce, then the cream, and serve.
 
Apparently Tracy also had some homemade tortilla chip strips to serve on the top, so we made up a batch for our own.  They really add to the texture and taste!
 

Just cut some corn tortillas into thin strips and deep fry.  Salt if desired, and serve.

Of course, what fall soup meal is complete without a batch of pumpkin biscuits?

 

We had a delicious Fall Sunday dinner!

Thanks, Tracy :-}

Alas! The Evening Grosbeak

Although I have neighbors not too far away that say they have evening grosbeaks at their feeders all the time, I spotted my first one at my feeders last Friday! Not a great photo, as I was far away with my point and shot camera, but proof that one was finally here!

This little fellow is a male Golden-Crowned Kinglet that I think must have fallen out of his nest.  I found him on the grass up near the raspberries as I was picking today.  Everything is SO late this year......... the raspberries, flowers, the baby birds hatching......... thanks to the cold summer.

"Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes."
- Abram L. Urban

Zucchini-Corn Fritters

Darrell came across a Corn Fritters recipe in the October bon appétit issue that he modified a bit and cooked up for us.  They are really delicious!

Zucchini-Corn Fritters

2 Tbs olive oil

1 cup packed grated zucchini

3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

2 tsp chopped fresh cilantro

3/4 + cup flour

1/2 cup + 2 Tbs corn meal

2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg, whisked

Heat olive oil is a large heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add zucchini, cor, onion, and thyme and sauté until corn is slightly softened, about 3 minutes.  Stir in cilantro and let cool.

Whisk flour, corn meal, baking powder sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk milk and egg in a small bowl to blend; whisk into dry ingredients. Add zucchini mixture; fold just to blend. Chill for 30 minutes.

Using either a deep fryer, or canola oil in a deep heavy pan, heat the oil up and spoon batter into oil by heaping spoonfuls.  Fry until golden brown, turning once. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper towels.

We dipped ours in Darrell's homemade BBQ sauce, composed of Ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne peeper, chili powder, brown sugar and apple cider vinegar.  VERY GOOD!  You may use whatever dipping sauce you desire.

Apple Raisin Bars

My Kindred Spirit friend, Terry, agreed to be a guest blogger and share her delightful recipe:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups diced apples

3/4 cup raisins

of course I added twice the cinnamon it calls for

using brown sugar only gives it a wonderful flavor

I used gala apples instead of golden delicious

calls for only one and a half cups of apple

obviously I love apples ! I'm sure I doubled the amount

getting ready to stir in the apples

and the raisins... at this point its important to taste as much of the dough as you want to.... if you're a dough hog lilke I am

spread it evenly in a greased 9x13... then lick the spoon

and the beaters.....

viola ! tasty treat with Fall apples

just one more bite for me....

and one for you........

Heat oven to 350, spray or grease 9x13 pan

Whisk together dry ingredients, then with mixer, blend the remaining ingredients except apples/raisins, gradually add flour mixture, then stir in apples and raisins, spread in pan, bake for 35 minutes... however with all the apples I added to it, I had to bake it about 50 minutes until set in middle. Cool and cut in to bars. YUM !!

Repeat Pumpkin Pizza

This is for the good folks at Darrell's workplace.  I blogged the pumpkin Pizza in 2009, so click on this link if you want to see it :-}

http://squirrlyscribblings.blogspot.com/2009/10/pumpkin-pizza-with-gorgonzola.html

Palm Springs Aerial Tram

We rode the aerial tram up to the top of Mt. San Jacinto.  A big fire from earlier in the week made the view a bit hazy, but it was spectacular none-the-less!

It was amazing to find a forested wilderness at the top of the mountain! 

In 1973, 38 years ago, Darrell and I rode this same tram with a couple of college buddies.  I recall very little of it, except the tram car, such as the one on the left.  Now they have just two Swiss made circular tram cars that hold 80 people each.  The bottom rotates so that everyone sees the views from all the angles.  Pretty unique!

Palm Springs Air Museum

Next to the airport is the Palm Springs Air Museum, which is home to many WWII relics........ planes, motorcycles, helicopters and other memorabilia. 

We were able to go inside of this B17 Bomber/Fighter plane!  Fascinating!  The bottom right photo shows the gunner pop-out on the top of this massive plane, that held two gunners.

The nose of the plane had room for two gunners to operate from. 

Under the belly of the plane there was a rotating ball that one gunner squeezed into to shoot from. 

The ammunition in the bottom left picture loads automatically from a ammo box that housed 9 yards of bullets that fed into the guns.  When the gun operator asked for more ammunition, he always received "the whole 9 yards", supposedly where this idiom came from!   The B17 was one amazing shooting machine!

Plane that carried the paratroopers. 

Helicopters 

Motorcycles

 Riveter.  Misspelled, sorry :-S

 We watched a movie about the WASP's, or Women Airforce Service Pilots, that was quite interesting!  This was the symbol for that branch of women, though they were never recognized as true military personnel until long after the war was over.  One very intriguing thing we heard was that one of their duties was to fly in a small plane with a banner trailing 30 feet behind them for the sole purpose of target practice for the infantry personnel !  Their planes were hit time and again, but since women were literally dubbed 'inconsequentail' to the war effort, no one was concerned.  So much for all those Rosie the Riveters as well!  Inconsequential, my foot!  Mostly the job of these women was to deliver all of the different planes as they were built to wherever they were needed, oversees or on US turf.  Check out this link for more interesting information on the WASP's! 

Palm Desert

We stayed at Marriott's Vacation Club in Palm Desert, next to Palm Springs.  It was beautiful, sunny and over 100 degrees every day :-}

Notice the palm tree in the photo on the left.  It is fake, used to camouflage their WiFi receivers!

This little waterfall was right outside the porch of our condo.  Very soothing......

Sights from our back porch........

The Other Side

The end of September saw us flying to Palms Springs to visit Darrell's family, as well as catch some intense sunrays:-}  A few brothers live in the Palm Springs surrounding cities, and his mom and a couple of other brothers live in the Loma Linda area.

It was good to see everyone, as it as been four years since we have been down south!

Family Gathering

This past weekend we drove down to Oregon the visit my brother and his wife who were at my sister's home visiting our father.  They are home on furlough from Africa.

Ginny, Shirley, Dad and Ken 

Ken and Julie 

Steve (Ginny's husband) 

Bethany drove up from her place to join in, so we celebrated her 25th birthday together!

Julie and Bethany

It was a great visit with family, as Jodi and Kari's families also joined in!