My new lens!

You would think that I would have been screaming about it on my blog a few weeks ago! I've only been whining and coveting one for months! So much has gone on since then that the I GOT A NEW LENS!!!!!!!!! post went on the back burner. But I've been putting it to good use as evidenced by all the pictures of late. It's a Tamron 18-250 and I am just tickled to have a wide angle, macro, and telephoto all in one! I've been having a smashing time playing with it. It's been a long time coming and I'm so grateful to finally be able to expand into a new realm.

Makes me think of diamond brooches.

Annuals that actually grew this summer!









I finally got some decent shots of Huz's new office with the wide angle. I wish the mountains were visible out the window. 'Twas a misty day.

The HOLD PALIN ACCOUNTABLE RALLY video!!!

PASS IT ON!!!!

What a FABULOUS turnout!!!! Both the rally and the dynamic speakers were high energy, inspiring, heartwarming,....what an amazing group of people. I am so PROUD to be apart of this community and this state!

Thanks to Alaskans for Truth, our prolific Alaskan bloggers, uplifting speakers, and determined rally-goers!

FOOD! GLORIOUS FOOD! meme

I friggin' love food, from Cap'n Crunch to caviar so I couldn't help but indulge my senses with this MEME I found at We Welcome You to Munchkin Land.

The Omnivore’s Hundred

Below is a list of 100 things that every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life(NOT!!!). The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. I kid. Don’t worry if you don’t recognize everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results.

I've tried 63 out of the 100. If it goes against my ethics or I get vomity just reading the word, I'm not eatin' it.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht –“It’s so nice on a hot summer day!”, Mom would say. Ew. I only liked the pink color of it when you swirled the sour cream around.
10. Baba ghanoush –MA, my BFF introdced me to it. Also, one of my dog’s nick-names. I don’t know why.
11. Calamari –always rubbery..but why do I always try one?!?!?
12. Pho – Pronounced “Fuh”- LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!!
Especially the take out at Pho-King and Pho-Q.



13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi – cumin, ick.
15. Hot dog from a street cart-NYC’s finest!
16. Epoisses –I’ve tried SO MANY cheeses. Not sure on this one.
17. Black truffle –in a sauce. One might mistake them for chocolate truffles.
That would be bad.


18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes-BLUEBERRY wine by BARRY. One of the bottles blew up in the basement.
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras –uuuugh-GAG-bluh-GAG-urp-burp-Gag-retch-you-know-the-rest…
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche –Si! In high school Spanish class
28. Oysters –with Stoli and caviar…yum me

Once, at Humpy’s, I ate one that was still moving. It’s fun to gross out Ma! and Dea!


29. Baklava- Ma! introduced me.
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas-good for snackin.
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl -yaaaaawn
33. Salted lassi - I’ve had lassi, but not salted. Anyone ever have a Bhang lassi?!?!? Me neither.
34. Sauerkraut- I.Hate.It
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O- Oh, I’m sure, at SOME point that night on my 28th B-Day.
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail – Not into bones and meat Jello!
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects



43. Phaal – But I do like a HOT challenge!
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more –Huz is a single malt scotch coniseur/collector. I have wee sips. Band-aids…burnt electrical wire…echk.
46. Fugu –NOT into a DEATH challenge.
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut-We OD’ed on them on night in Florida.
50. Sea urchin - NO! Beautiful flowing flower of the sea…
51. Prickly pear- ouch. In Montana



52. Umeboshi –with my wasabi peas
53. Abalone
54. Paneer-yummy! Theres a place in town that serves food of the Himalayas..need to go there!
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal-enjoyed TOO many of those in my early 20’s.
56. Spaetzle –At Nature Lady’s house
57. Dirty gin martini –at that trendy place in Missoula.
58. Beer above 8% ABV- We brew our own! Huz has won many awards and I’ve won one, too! For my cardamom brew, The Om!
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads - YIKES! I almost answered yes! See 67.
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst – I don’t know. I MAY have had this at Nature Lady’s house!
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs – Oh, HELL no. SCOOT would break up with me !!!!!!
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake- Hello! I’m in love with a former pastry chef/baker!!!


68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe – Isn’t it illegal?
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill – Oh, now COME ON…..Something would have to of gone terribly wrong in my life...
76. Baijiu - Had a lil taste when using it to make liquors. Hic.
77. Hostess Fruit Pie –see 55.
78. Snail –Yee,haw! ‘Scargots-N-beer!
79. Lapsang souchong - Wasn’t he the guy who shepherded Sir Edmund Hillary up Everest?
80. Bellini - And he was a guy who owned a “jewelry shop” in Madison, CT.
81. Tom yum - I don’t know that guy…
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky - These guys really have some funky snacks.
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers – Just lovely on a salad of gourmet greens… I nibble on the Nasturtiums we grow in the summer.
89. Horse- ...HELL-to-the-NO.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam - Regrettably
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa – sounds intriguing!
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano- Mi Casa in Cabo San Lucas…the bomb. ~sigh~


96. Bagel and lox – Best from the 2nd Ave. Deli-NYC. Once, Huz’s former boss shipped them up to the bakery for some catering gig. I was in heaven.
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee-Maybe? I tried SO MANY coffees at Butterfly Herbs in Missoula, MT.
100. Snake- Why bother when there’s chicken?


Why aren’t Rocky Mountain Oysters on this list?!?!? Ate one in Montana!

Nature Table

SUMMER...

INTO FALL...

My first attempt at a needle-felted mushroom

Pickin' Blupers

Sunday was a good day to get out with our dear Friends and go berry picking. I was need of some fresh air after being holed up on Saturday and we knew it would probably be our last chance before the berries start to turn. Our Friends, the Prof, Nature Lady, and their kids W and T came up for dinner and we headed down the road for blueberries. We've enjoyed picking blueberries with our friends for years. Usually we try to get in one good hike up onto the mountainsides or valleys for berries but this year the weather held us back. And as I said in my last post, everything autumnal is transitioning so fast. We were lucky to have gotten out Sunday to pick the last of the berries that were a bit beyond their prime. I think it became more of a time to enjoy the misty afternoon and each other then it was a serious berry harvesting!

It seems like yesterday when these kiddos were just pre-schoolers and a toddler.

Now, they are 2 teens and a tween.
It has been so wonderful to watch these kids grow through their many stages together in the comfort and depth of strong friendship.

...as evidenced below!

Playing "Smash the berry...then each other."

I smell a Jerry Crisp recipe comin' on....

FALL EQUINOX

"Come, little leaves"
said the wind one day.
"Come over the meadows with me, and play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold.
Summer is gone, and the days grow cold."
Soon as the leaves
heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering,
one and all.
Over the brown fields
they danced and flew,
Singing the soft little songs they knew.

~George Cooper

Teeny Tiny shroomies! I can just imagine a minuscule village of sprites in there!



Nature Lady is holding some yummy bolete mushrooms we picked at Eklutna lake

Red and green and wine entwined. Our Fall has burst into life quite quickly but is following suit with all the erratic weather of the seasons this year. It's brilliance is already being extinguished by a great deal of rain , wind, unusually chilly weather, and the distraction with absurd politics! We've been in a scramble to experience that slowing down of days, the progression of the summer's fruition coming to an end- but it's happened so fast! Last year's magnificent Fall(the best I've witnessed yet)allowed us so many active days of marveling in the changing of colors-the leaves took their time through that glorious metamorphosis of color, each day bringing a slight variance from the day before. Now, the leaves are spotting, fading and decaying so rapidly that if we miss a day, we miss so much of that transformation. Last Fall we observed the birth and death of various mushrooms and fungi, we breathed in the smell and touch of that ubiquitous crisp air, and it afforded us the leisure to enjoy so many Fall and harvest time activities and crafts.... I'm disheartened that this season is slipping by before we have had much of a chance to review the knowledge we gained from last Fall and embark on a fresh journey into new Autumnal perceptions...

But, as always, we will try to make the best of it , perhaps learning to see in new and different ways. Maybe what we are offered is a paradigm shift for reasons yet to be revealed.

Either way, the world is turning, time continues forward in and out of the seasons. As we travel with those rhythms , we wish you all a joyful Equinox!