Cooking frenzy

What a beautiful day we're having! I hate to brag, but this time of year makes the summer heat more bearable, it's 82 degrees, my dwarf peach is blooming, spring is springing. I'm harvesting broccoli now, and my purple cabbage have little heads on them, should be ready in a couple weeks. The chickens are laying about a dozen eggs a week, just enough to enjoy regularly but not too much. I'm planning a garden, hope to get it rototilled next weekend.

OK, I've been up to interesting things in the kitchen. Last week I decided to try my hand at soap making. I opted for an olive oil soap- better on our skin. Not cheap, but cheaper than the spa type you buy in the store that's made with olive oil. I added citrus essential oil and oatmeal to the mix as it was being stirred and cooling. Stirring took the longest, it takes very little time to mix and heat, but a long time to blend it properly and get it to the right consistency. Once I poured it into the mold, it had to sit overnight before it can be cut into bars. Now they are sitting on the shelf, curing for 3 weeks before we can use them. Can't wait to see if they're worth the time and effort! Today I'm making more hand cream- they are yummy, with shea butter and coconut oil, really moisturizes nicely.

I also created a cookie recipe. For most people, cookies are pretty easy, flour, sugar, baking soda and chocolate chips. What, they make cookies without chocolate chips? Not at my house! I have to grind rice, both brown and white rice, then blend it with tapioca flour, potato starch, and I like quinoa flour- gives it a nice nutty taste. Once all the flours are mixed together, then I can start baking. I make a big batch of home ground flours, then mix them together for a 'master mix', so I can use it for bread, cookies, etc. Anyhow, I used a "Allergy Free" cookbook for part of the recipe, then went to my good ole Betty Crocker cookbook to get the taste I like the best.

The result is chocolate chip cookies made with a no-wheat flour blend, fresh egg, oil, applesauce, oak honey and of course chocolate chips and oatmeal. They are a dark cookie, but boy they taste good! Wheatless flour mixes tend to be drier than regular flour, and I have to use more wet ingredients in order to have a good product. Then, I eat myself sick on them- that's a requirement, I'm sure. If anyone wants the recipe, leave me a comment and I'll post it later. I'm sure you could use regular wheat flour instead of master mix, and with applesauce, honey and oatmeal, it's pretty healthy for the family.

Robber's Roost

I went hiking with a couple friends on Saturday- so exciting! We drove north of Sedona up a dirt road for several miles, then followed a dirt track another couple miles to the head of the trail- high in the foothills there is a hill that is mostly red rock and shale. It has caves all around it, and we hiked to the east cave first. It's an easy hike, luckily, since we are three out of shape "mature" women. There is a bit of climbing/clambering involved, walking on the bell-shaped part of the red rocks to reach the cave. It's worth it though, that cave has a 'window' hollowed out of the rock to the south. It's red rock arch in the making, but for now it still has a foundation of stone at the bottom. I climbed through it to walk around the ledge for a little ways, but it's a pretty sharp drop off, with sheer cliff face straight up. It's a manageable climb around it to explore further, but I thought I'd save that for another day. We only met 2 other hikers up there, and they were leaving as we were arriving, so it a nice quiet place... Although we did get buzzed from a military plane. The guys came right up to the cave, banked south, so I waved at them, I'm sure they could see us, I could throw a rock and touch them. Course, I wouldn't throw a rock at a military plane! Janet told us a friend of hers was in the cave fasting, heard this horrible rumbling noise, felt like an earthquake. The next thing she knows, she was face to face with a helicopter! It dropped right down to the mouth of the cave for the tourists to get a view- they were all surprised to see each other!

The cave is big enough for a good size group, it has a fire pit in the sand and room to sleep if you wanted to spend the night. Janet tells me there is a water pond at the top of the hill, but we didn't climb up there. She has spent many days there, fasting and singing with her group. She's part of a Native American church, and she sang some beautiful songs while we were visiting. She also cleaned off some of the graffiti left by others. there aren't many petroglyphs in there, but what is there gets obscured by newbies. The cave has several corn grinding metates worked into the cave rock. There is a small round hole ground over the centuries, but it's too small for grinding meal, and I'm not archeologist enough to recognize what it was used for. Janet says this was a 'woman's cave', which makes sense when you see the 4-5 grain-grinding indentations.

Before we left the hill we walked around to the west cave, which has a whole different feel to it. Janet has seen mountain lions over there, and believes there is a den at a cave lower on the hill. It's a brushier side of the hill, lots of oak and manzanita. The manzanita is blooming right now, it's beautiful and smells so good. I definitely had the feeling we were being watched, and the closer we got to the west cave the more the hairs on my neck stood up. We walked into the cave and quickly saw lion tracks all over the south end of the cave, not fresh but certainly recent... That was enough for me, Janet and I booked it out of there. She doesn't know it, but I was brandishing my walking stick back and forth behind me, just trying to be a bigger, more threatening target. That sucker was stalking us, or at least following us, and I have no intention of being dinner.

The weather was beautiful, in the high 60's, perfect for a little hiking. The caves are only 1/2 mile or so from the parking area, and the view is spectacular- red rock country all around. The road is rough, I'm glad we took the truck, but certainly passable with a high clearance vehicle. Good friends, great views, perfect day.

Mingus Mountain Menace

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a wonderful plan for the day- our brother-in-law Rich, Nic, Gina, David and I were going to Prescott, drive up the Thumb Butte Park road to the mountain overlooking my old ranch, have a picnic, spend a few hours in Prescott. David and Rich drove Mom Farr's car over, to leave it at the Honda dealers for some maintenance work, then we'd meet them there and go for the drive in our truck, since it has four wheel drive and the ranch road can be rough.

Nic and Gina took his car, and followed me across Mingus Mountain. There were a lot of rocks on the road, falling from the cliffs, and there was a spray of rocks on a tight curve, the worst of which hit Nic's oil pan. Something about that little Jetta and rocks don't mix, it struck and hit it's mark and within seconds he was losing oil. Again-it happened last Sept. too! I went back to pick them up, we drove on into Prescott, picked up David, Rich and a car dolly. Needless to say, there was no jaunt up to the ranch, no leisurely picnic. Nic was pretty bummed out, as was I, but at least we were able to pick up the car pretty easily and get it back here. Gina and Nic made it to their Valentine dinner on time, Adele had a good time with Mom Farr, all in all not a terrible day, just not the one we planned!

Ode to Sugar

Sugar passed away last Thursday, it's taken me this long to be able to talk about it. She was the sweetest dog we've ever had, and it was hard to let her go. She was 15 years old, and didn't get sick until 2 weeks ago, then she just dropped so quickly. David and I took her to Airpark Animal Hospital in Cottonwood, they were wonderful. She gently went to sleep, and then we brought her home to be buried. Those that know me know I don't get very mushy about animals, but Sugar was special, and we all miss her.

Questionare

Have you done any of these?... Just copy and paste this to your blog and highlight or Bold the ones that you HAVE done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train- rode one overnight, didn't sleep!
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitchhiked- once
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run- no, tried many times
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported by ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class- no, but a defense class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (bought plenty)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check- oops!
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades- one of my goals
75. Been fired from a job- for being pregnant! Go figure
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone- 3 or 4
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book- working on it
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Killed and prepared an animal for eating many times
87. Visited the White House.
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someones life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous I used to work for Robert Redford
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake- been there, didn't swim
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Flown in a hot air balloon