And on that note...

I've lost that blogging feeling.
Obviously.

If you really need something to read right now, I'd suggest some Rowdy Kittens.
Castles in the Air.
re-nest.

A book.

Or get up out of your chair and go do something.
You're on your own with that one, but I'm pretty confident there's something else you should be doing right now.
Something better.
Detaching your butt from that chair would be a good start.
And don't go turn on the television.
Really do something.

This is your life, after all.
Do you really want to see yourself staring blankly at a computer when the whole thing flashes in front of your eyes one day?

...and go!

Something to think about...

How Green Is Your Internet? from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

Of course, I'm not doing much to help by offering this, as well:

Do What You Love - Afton from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

Growing...

I'm still here. 

I'm just outside.

 Much to our surprise, our rhody is actual starting to bloom. The poor thing has had a rough life (planted, swamped, transplanted, hacked way back--all in less than a year) and my heart leapt when I saw bright pink starting to bust out of the buds. 

 I was pretty sure it was a goner. 

Resilient little sucker.

 Garlic is starting to put off scapes. 

Must. Be. Patient.

 Peas!

 Two little rows of them!
And we're adding another row this weekend. 

 Strawberries! We planted three different varieties this year and they're all taking off. 

 It's a tiny flower now, but it will be a tasty berry soon enough. 

 Bloomsdale spinach. 

We're going to need another row or two, at least. 

 Bordeaux spinach--again, we'll be planting another round this weekend. 

 Itsy bitsy Chamomile

 Peppermint

 Spearmint

Are you getting that we're growing our own tea here?

One of the onions we planted last fall. I couldn't resist. I had to see how big they've grown. It was the runt, anyway. And it was delicious. 

 Gave up the goldfish because we can't recycle the mylar packaging and totally rocked some homemade cheddar crackers. No surprise--they're far more delicious and extremely easy to make. Now I just need a tiny cookie cutter...

When I am inside, I've been reading a lot of this: click
And this: click
And this: click

And that's about it for now.

Winning!

My desire to frolic about on the intraweb has waned drastically over the last couple months. It started with No TV Tuesday and the very appealing concept of a digital sabbatical. More and more, I find I'm less and less entertained by the shiny baubles of technology. It's not a bad thing. It's a fabulous thing, really.  Stepping away from the computer means, for me, stepping back into my day. My house. My garden. My projects. My daughter. My husband. My life.

My life.

What would it be like if we didn't have (gasp!) an internet connection? Can you imagine?! I try. I've definitely cut waaaaay back on the amount of time I spend in front of a screen of any sort. Checking my email one afternoon, I realized very little of it was from actual people--the majority was advertising and sales. Sales for things I don't need with links to more things I really don't have any interest in perusing. In a fit of tears (seriously), I systematically unsubscribed from nearly everything that was cluttering up my inbox and I can't begin to tell you how liberating it was to cut those cords.

This is my life. These are the days that make up my life. Why on Earth have I been spending so much time clicking it all away when I could be doing something? And I'm being pretty hard on myself here, because I don't (didn't) spend all that much time online. I still managed to accomplish a lot with my days. What I noticed, though, was a deeply engrained habit of "just checking". Email. News. Blogs. Weekly grocery ads. Any random thought that needed further clarification. And it wasn't making me feel good. So I stopped. Well, I'm stopping. It's a process.

Now...now I am beating the jeepers out of my to-do list. The collection of sites I actually pay attention to has dwindled until they can be counted on one hand. I'm reading so much more--in fact, I find I crave time to read a book more than I yearn to watch a movie lately. I'm imagining, in full color, what it would be like to completely disconnect and live outside of town. To raise a child with books and gardens and seasons, rather than Elmo, iPads, and days full of often fruitless tasks that do nothing but lead us further and further from feeling genuinely satisfied.

So, what's left is for me to find a balance. I do get some satisfaction from writing, but I'm not super thrilled that it sometimes feels like an obligation. We can't run away and build a life in the hills just yet, so I'll just have to bring the hills down to the Valley floor for now. And we haven't won the lottery, so the epic cross-country tour and the EuroVan will just have to wait. In the meantime, there are plenty of amazing things for us to do right here at home. And I will write when I feel like it.

 And I will cook.

 And step outside...

 ...to take a very good look...

 ...at all the extraordinary things...

...that are happening in my life.

Speechless

I have, as it were, lost my voice as of late. Sitting down to write, I find I struggle to keep my thoughts focused and I believe my time would be better spent on the things I always feel I don't have the time to accomplish. They are mundane things--laundry and the like--but they are the things that will keep me on my feet at the end of the day when I could be (should be) sitting, relaxing, taking a breath.

Since I am obviously going to be less than entertaining, here are some people who actually have something to say...

Rowdy Kittens This site has been a tremendous inspiration as Mr. Mallard and I have spent the last six months methodically sorting through every single little thing in our household, determining what we really need. And when I say need, I mean need. It has been a ridiculously liberating process, full of purging and revisiting and purging some more. I can't recommend it enough.

Re-Nest & The Kitchn As part of the Apartment Therapy family, Re-Nest  and The Kitchn have provided me with altogether too many hours of pretty pictures and useful information. Ohdeedoh and Unplggd are equally enlightening, as are the house tours and decorating ideas at Apartment Therapy. Really, I live in a tiny town and these sites give me access to the ideas and inspiration I won't find by walking down Main Street. I can find a gas station and a cigarette shop, but I won't find this: click.

Crunchy Chicken This site makes me realize our pursuit of a low/no-impact way of life isn't crazy and the comments are evidence there are others like us out there. We are not alone! viva la revolucion!

...and that's all you get for now. The laundry needs to be hung, the living room straightened, granola needs to come out of the oven and I need to go enjoy the momentary hush that has fallen over Casa de Mallard before we launch into the noisy, possibly rainy evening ahead.

DIY Chalkboard Table

I could have sworn I had a Before picture of this little table, but I don't, so I'll just tell you a little story, instead. Once upon a time, we went to a garage sale and paid seven dollars for a slightly battered/obviously loved pint-sized table and chair set. The table and chair set then experienced a long period of neglect as it sat in the cold, messy garage, waiting patiently for us to do something (anything!). 

Unable to watch the little table suffer another moment, Mr. Mallard scuffed up the surface with some sandpaper and put three coats of chalkboard paint on the top, followed by a couple coats of some baby blue paint on the legs. You have to let the chalkboard paint dry for at least three days before you use the surface and you also need to prime it with some chalk. Just make sure you read all the directions and be patient. Very patient. And while it comes in about a dozen different colors, we went with the classic Schoolhouse Green. 

Chalky good times!

Evidence of a successful project: I can't get her to step away long enough for me to take a picture of just the table.

There are still some touch-ups to be done along the edge of the chalkboard part, but the Biggest Girl was going to lose her little marbles if she didn't get to use her table, so we handed it over. And don't think the chairs will be forsaken--no, we've got plans for those, too. Mod Podge-based plans, even. Using the time frame for the table as a basis, we should get to the chairs sometime before, oh, Halloween.  

The leftover chalkboard paint will be put to good use, as well. In an effort to reduce our post-it consumption, we will eventually make a chalkboard to hang in the kitchen. We've also got a wall in the garage that's just aching to be painted and I can see a chalkboard being very useful in a garage. 

So, there you have it. Twelve bucks for a quart of awesome paint and the Biggest Girl has a chalkboard table. Now we just have to resist the urge to chalkboard paint the entire interior of the house. This stuff is just too fun.

Homemade Applesauce

Gather your bruised, battered, not as great as they once were apples, along with one lemon.

Or grab about three pounds of organic apples next time you're at the market--nearly any variety will do, so just get whatever's on sale.

Peel those apples.

Core them by slicing off the two big sides and then the two little sides that remain. 

Rough chop the apples.

Fill a stock pot with your peeled, roughly chopped apples...

...and about a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and about 1/4 cup water. 

Note: If you will not be feeding toddlers, try using bourbon instead of water. 

Oooh...saucy applesauce!

Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the apples are soft enough to pierce with a fork. This will take about 20-30 minutes, depending on the type of apple and the size of the chunk.

When they are soft... 

..blend 'em up with a hand mixer to your desired consistency. Leave some chunks, if you like. If you plan to use the applesauce for baking, puree until smooth. Now's the time to season it, as well. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves...just add a little at a time until you're satisfied with the flavor.

Victory!

Pour it into freezer containers, leaving a little room for expansion. Stick it in the fridge and then move it to the freezer once it's completely (and I mean completely) cooled. 

No added sugar and no grody preservatives.

It freezes well and it's simple to make.

This will be the reason we finally get a giant chest freezer next fall. 

Our regular program won't be seen today...

...because I am ridiculously uninspired and the ice cream in the freezer has been calling my name since it got home this evening. In the place of actually writing something, I give you the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness. If you need to, you can click on the picture and it will pop up in a bigger, less squint-inducing size. Study it. Live it. I'm going to spend the weekend attacking the list of half-finished projects that's been following me around for weeks (months, really) and celebrate by eating something delicious. Deeelicious.

Homemade Coconut Milk

 Before

After

It was a dark and stormy night. Seriously--it was supposed to snow, if I recall correctly. I opened the cabinet to grab a can of coconut milk and my poor cupboard was bare (of coconut milk, anyway). Woe is me! It wasn't the type of night where a challenge was an exciting adventure. Noooo...it was the type of night that had me totally losing my mind in the kitchen while the Biggest Girl ran around, wailing and shrieking and very obviously feeding off my completely frazzled vibes. Mr. Mallard, meanwhile, wondered how both his ladies could spill all their marbles at the same time and assured us both we were not only pretty, but also very capable women. Using his superhero-like powers of being awesome, he managed to save us all from perishing of fits.

In the process of restoring calm, we discovered we can make our own coconut milk. Silver lining to the freakout! woohoo!

You will need:

1 to 1-1/2 cups hot water

1 cup unsweetened dried coconut, preferably organic and sulfite free

Heat the water, but do not let it boil. Pour the water over the coconut and let it steep for about 30 minutes. After steeping, use a blender or hand mixer to pulse a few times before blending for a minute or so. Slowly pour the resulting coconut mess through a fine mesh strainer, stopping from time to time to squeeze the moisture out of the coconut that ends up in the strainer. 

That's it. You're done. Less water will give you a creamier milk, while more water will, obviously, give you a thinner milk that's well-suited for soups, curries and the like. 

And here are four reasons you should give this a whirl:

1. The coconut milk you make will be soooo much tastier, thereby rendering whatever you're making that much tastier. 

2. No can to recycle. Buy the coconut in bulk and you eliminate the need for packaging. Use a reusable container when you get your bulk coconut and you'll be rockin' a zero-waste coconut milk.

3. No preservatives to help stabilize the milk while it sits in the can for a couple years means no preservatives in your culinary masterpiece. Plus, you won't have to worry about what might be seeping into the milk as the lining on the can degrades over time. BPA--it's in there!

4. It's incredibly inexpensive--about fifty cents per batch. Each batch makes roughly a can and the good ones go for about $2.45 here. That means I've got $1.95 to blow on a fancy scone the next time I'm near the bakery case and feel the need to reward myself for simply making it out into the world. Perfecto. 

Picture of Peas

I wanted to write something today, but my ability to concentrate is completely nonexistent. It's almost storming outside and it's got me all giddy, hoping it turns into a gnarly rain/ice storm that paralyzes the town, but doesn't knock the power out. I'm talkin' snow day, people. Snow day! Come on, Universe...we could all use a break. I've even got a chicken to roast...

So, I'm going to go stare longingly out the window and attempt to will the weather to do my bidding. 

In the place of having something to say, I give you one of the best pictures I've ever taken:

Do have a lovely day.

The Very Best Cornbread

Adapted from The Sunset Cookbook
Makes 9-12 servings
Printable recipe here: click

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8- or 9-inch baking dish and make sure you use real butter to do it. Don't cheat and use cooking spray because it's just that important you use real butter.

Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs and then mix in the buttermilk and melted, cooled butter. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and then scrape it all into your well-buttered baking dish.

Bake for 20-25 minutes--until the bread starts to pull away from the sides just a bit. Let it cool slightly, slather it with more butter and scarf it down.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days.

----------

Not at all dry, totally rich, fabulously dense little hunks of delight, this cornbread. I've tried a lot (a loooot) of cornbread recipes and this is the one. This is it. This is the Mother of All Cornbreads. I dare you to find something better. I dare you!

Note: simply adding bacon to this recipe does not constitute victory.

And it stays delicious for two days. Two days!

Ikea Hack Bookshelves

The books. We have so many stinkin' books. Big books, little books, daytime books, bedtime books, books we've read a thousand times and books that are queued up for the days that lie ahead. In the meantime, I've been losing my mind just a little, trying to find a way to store all these books in a neat and orderly fashion. 

Problem area: Biggest Girl's room. This corner by the rocking chair was just sad. At only 22", the little wall just wasn't big enough for a bookshelf. 

No es bueno. 

 That's more like it!

 Two Ikea spice racks--painted in a shade called Totally Cool--make the most awesome bedtime book bookshelf ever. 

Pretty great, eh?

Seal of approval.

I wish I could claim the idea as my own, but the inspiration came from a post on Ohdeedoh. I do love these little shelves, though, and I keep looking around the house to find more places to put them to use. I'm not only thrilled the books are off the floor, but also impressed we managed to accomplish the task without adding another piece of furniture to our lives. woohoo! 

Total cost: About $13 for the shelves and the sample quart of paint. This total does not include the gas it took to get to Ikea or the piles of hot wings it took to soothe our battered souls after navigating Ikea. At noon. On a Saturday. 

Special Weather Statement

The language in the following Special Weather Statement, issued by the National Weather Service in Portland, kind of made my day:

145 PM PST FRI FEB 11 2011
...A RETURN TO A MORE ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN OVER SOUTHWEST
WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON STARTS THIS WEEKEND AND CONTINUES
THROUGH MOST OF NEXT WEEK...
AFTER A RELATIVELY BENIGN WEATHER PERIOD THAT HAS LULLED THE AREA
IN TRANQUILITY...MOTHER NATURE WILL SHAKE THINGS UP AGAIN.
THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF POTENT WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL PUSH INTO
THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. THE MAIN COLD FRONT WILL BRING RAIN TO
SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON MAINLY LATE SATURDAY AND
SATURDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT WILL STALL AND THEN LIFT BACK NORTH AS A
WARM FRONT SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT FOR MORE RAIN. THIS WILL GIVE
MORE PRECIPITATION TO THE AREA THAN HAS BEEN SEEN IN A COUPLE OF
WEEKS...BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR ANY RIVER FLOODING.
SNOW LEVELS WILL DIP A BIT SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY BUT STAY
ABOVE THE PASS ELEVATIONS OF THE CASCADES...WITH SOME DECENT
ACCUMULATION EXPECTED AT SKI RESORT LEVELS...BUT THEN RISE AGAIN
BY SUNDAY NIGHT.
ANOTHER POTENT FRONT WILL APPROACH MONDAY AND MOVE THROUGH
SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON MONDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL
PRODUCE MORE VALLEY RAIN AND POSSIBLY SOME WIND ALONG THE COAST...
WITH SNOW LEVELS LOWERING INTO THE COASTAL MOUNTAINS AND CASCADE
FOOTHILLS TUESDAY. THE ASSOCIATED COOL UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL
THEN BE OVER THE AREA THROUGH AT LEAST WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY FOR
MORE SHOWERS AND RATHER LOW SNOW LEVELS. THE SNOW LEVELS MAY
POSSIBLY LOWER TO AROUND 1000 FEET OR SO. ACCUMULATIONS ARE NOT
EXPECTED AT THE VALLEY FLOOR DUE TO THE LOW LEVEL WIND FLOW BEING
ONSHORE.
STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND THE LATEST FORECASTS AS THE
WEATHER TURNS MORE ACTIVE...AND AS THE TIMING AND INTENSITY OF THE
EXPECTED SYSTEMS BECOMES MORE CERTAIN. THOSE WITH TRAVEL PLANS
OVER THE CASCADES NEXT WEEK SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR WINTRY
DRIVING CONDITIONS.

The benign weather and the lulling us into tranquility (it totally did) and Mother Nature shaking things and such--it was just good reading. The compost has been emptied, recycling taken out. Still have to put away the outside toys and I'd like to sweep. Batten the hatches, boys! There's a storm a-comin'! I keep looking for it to peek over the Peak and creep it's way into our backyard. Nothing so far. Rest assured I'm going to huck a shoe at a weatherman if the wind is whipping tomorrow.

It was a cool 60 degrees today (versus a warm 60) and I'm finding I feel irritated I don't know more about foul weather gardening. Can I plant something? Do I need a cold frame? When can I do something about the white flies I know are on the way? How early is to early for strawberries? Let me grow some peas. Spinach? Come on. Peppermint? Pleeeease.

Additional qualification for the Volunteer Personal Assistant position: Must be a walking encyclopedia of gardening knowledge and folklore (very important). Master Gardener certification preferable.

In the meantime, while the rest of the nation has been washed away and/or buried in snow, we've had a mild, barely needed my gloves type of season. The past week has been the same week we have every February--the one that tricks us into thinking spring is here before it dumps buckets for the next three months. It's different this year. It's earlier. And it's making me realize just how much gardening brings you back to the very simple things in life. Is it going to rain? Can we dig in the dirt? Just let me plant something! I want to see things grow!

For the first time in my adult life, I'm actually looking forward to summer.

I'd appreciate a good storm first, though.
I'm not done baking.
And I'm kind of in love with my sweatpants.

Great Backyard Bird Count

If you're looking for the perfect excuse to sit quietly and stare at a tree the weekend after next, I'm here to help. It's The Great Backyard Bird Count! It starts a week from Friday and you can participate as little or as much as you'd like. It's an "annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent."

Minimum time commitment is 15 minutes and you don't have to be an experienced bird watcher to participate. You don't even have to be in America--Canada is taking part, too. Even if you only know the name of a single bird, you can just count that one. Is this getting easy enough for you, yet?

Dig around their website a little: click. You'll find tons of information about past Bird Counts and step-by-step instructions on how to participate this year. 

viva la birdies!

Things that have worked

 The Biggest Girl has moved away from the plastic kid bowls and into Fiestaware. I only wonder why I didn't do it sooner. Yes, the ever-looming possibility she may drop one (a green one!) exists, but she's old enough to learn responsibility and truly seems to appreciate eating out of the same dishes as Mom and Dad. She uses the salad plates as dinner plates and the smaller bowls for oatmeal (lots and lots of oatmeal). When the meal is over, she takes her dishes to the kitchen and then washes her hands. It's pretty amazing.

 Vegetable Lasagna with Butternut Bechamel

I found the recipe at one of my new favorites, The Kitchn. We had some squash in the garage that was threatening to go all rebel on us, so I cooked it up, froze some of it, and used the rest to make this delicious, nutritious bit of lasagna delight. It's strange, at first, to have a non-tomato based lasagna, but it does a great job of being unapologetically sweet. And it's got chard! Perfect meal for late winter crops and, since there's no meat, it's also great for Meatless Monday. 

 Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Bread

Also roasted, pureed, and froze some pumpkin the same day as the squash. I kept some out and made an extremely tasty pumpkin bread. The recipe made two loaves, so I put cranberries in one for the Biggest Girl and chocolate chips in one for Mr. Mallard. I got the best of both world when I made a tiny sandwich with a slice of each and ended up with Pumpkin Cranberry Chocolate Chip Walnut Bread. de-lish. As soon as I remember which recipe I used, I'll get back to you. 

 I am making a potholder. Just saying that reminds me I need to finish it, asap. It's for another contest at Prudent Baby--this time the prize is a badass sewing machine. I was feeling super confident until I saw the most recent entries. Holy moly. These folks can sew. It's inspiring and soul-crushing all at the same time. 

I left the house and hung out in a new backyard for awhile. 

It was just what I needed.

 I taught a good friend how to sew this past weekend. And I didn't yell at her a single time. I also didn't rip the project out of her hands and tell her I'll just do it myself. I was patient and kind and encouraging and this is good news for anyone who has to/wants to work next to me in the kitchen. I am learning to be patient while other people learn. I'm proud of her for bustin' out some adorable curtains the same day she sat down at a sewing machine for the first time ever and I'm proud of myself for knowing enough to teach her how. We're a good team. 

 The Super Bowl was a sort of whatever incident here at Casa de Mallard. I did make a White Chili that was delicious, though. It wasn't as chili-y as we thought it would be, but it was tasty. Tonight, we'll be scarfing it down as a quesadilla filling on homemade tortillas. I will be very honest with you here: the homemade tortillas are not the result of a passion for cooking from scratch. Nope. They are the result of my absolute lack of interest in leaving the house for just one thing. And so I will make them. 

I also made the most delicious cornbread I've ever had in my entire life, but I have to go get dinner started now, so the recipe will have to come later. 

Mrs. Mallard, out!