by Krista | Apr 23, 2015 | Autumn
“Each of us, when our day’s work is done, must seek our ideal,
whether it be love or pinochle or lobster à la Newburg,
or the sweet silence of the musty bookshelves.”
O. Henry
It’s been a Lots Of Work To Do sort of week. Bottle-feeding our orphaned baby goats, planting winter crops, writing, cooking, photographing, more writing, and collecting the last of the Autumn harvest.
It’s good work, satisfying work, but boy am I glad to reach the end of each day and climb into bed and get cozy under the blankets with a good story.
One of the good things about cooking and photographing for a writing assignment is that Bear and I have heaps to eat at the end of it. Tonight we got to tuck into all sorts of nibble-y bites, including far too many pretzels dunked in a roasted garlic yogurt dip. It sure hit the spot after getting back inside from doing chores in the cold Autumn wind.
Bear and I continue to plug along writing our medieval cookbook. Today we baked spelt bread rolls over the campfire and they turned out beautifully. We were so excited. 🙂 Tomorrow I get back to writing and cooking for the Spices section. I love seeing whole spices, like this mace, that I’ve only seen in powdered form before. The history of food is so fascinating to me, and I can’t wait to see this book come together.
Now it’s time for me to retreat to the “sweet silence of the musty bookshelves.”
What is the best book you’ve read recently?
by Krista | Apr 21, 2015 | Autumn
It’s been a beautifully restful weekend, quiet and cozy with rain falling gently. We’ve cocooned ourselves in as the unseasonable warmth of our Autumn has given way to cold harbingers of the Winter to come. We’ve unpacked flannel shirts and cozy slippers, sweaters and woolly socks, spoiling ourselves with homemade cocoa and hot coffees and all sorts of homemade bread.
Bear and I have been steadily working on writing, photographing, and developing recipes for a medieval cookbook. Over the past week we have tackled the bread section, photographing homemade flat breads, flour-dusted rustic loaves, and sturdy trenchers, like the one below, that would’ve been used to hold stew, soup, and any other type of meal.
The overcast, rainy days have been ideal for such endeavors, and the bread has been scrumptious accompaniment to big pots of ham black bean soup, creamy carrot dill soup, and shaved stacks of double-smoked ham.
This weekend was more than just a time for resting and baking, it was also time for restoration. Time to step away from projects and to-do lists and spend hours tucked up in bed reading or cozied in under blankets to watch movies. It’s amazing to me how well our bodies respond to a holiday, no matter how short or simple.
On restorative weekends like this, I make food that serves well as leftovers, giving me the opportunity to truly relax without worrying about cooking or menu planning. Quiche is one of my go-to choices both for its simplicity and adaptability. As long as you’ve got eggs and milk, any number of ingredients can be added to make something delicious and hearty. This week I chose ham and tomato quiche with lots of sharp cheddar cheese. Our butcher makes a rather marvelous smoked shaved ham and my garden provided a bowl full of sweet cherry tomatoes in bright yellow and shiny red. Equally good served hot or cold, quiche is an excellent thing to have on hand when cooking is the last thing you want to do.
What is your favorite go-to meal for restful weekends at home? xo
by Krista | Apr 15, 2015 | Autumn
Autumn weather is here at last with stunning beauty. Chilly mornings where slippers and flannels are essential, followed by exquisite golden days of rich sunshine and cool breezes. I feel like I’ve come back to life and it is marvelous.
Bear and I have been working hard on the farm pruning trees, chopping wood, planting winter veggies, and using up the remains of last year’s bounty from the freezers so we can start filling them again with homemade sausages, frozen vegetables, and baking.
We’ve been bottle-feeding two orphaned baby goats and look forward to each feeding. They are the sweetest little girls and make us laugh every day.
Our geese, ducks, and chickens have slowed down their laying, ready to hunker down for the cold months. Each time we find a new egg is cause for celebration.
In my downtime I’ve been making wood-burned necklaces for my Etsy shoppe, building up my stock for the medieval markets we’ll be attending in just a couple of months. It’s such a lovely break from hard labor, turning pieces of wood, beads, and stone into little works of art.
Today we took a break from our labors to wander through one of our favorite thrift stores to see what we could find. My treasures are this darling little pottery mug and a bag full of nearly-new cookbooks and gardening books to inspire me.
Our dessert this week has been a fresh strawberry tart with vanilla cream in a whole grain crust sweetened with dark brown sugar. Simple, delicious, and just the edible cheer we need to keep us going through our chores.
What keeps you plugging along when you have lots of work to do? xo
Strawberry Tart with Vanilla Cream
Ingredients:
1 pint strawberries, washed and trimmed
1 tub sour cream
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Crust:
1 cup whole grain flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Mix all crust ingredients, add a little flour if too soft. Press evenly into 9-inch tart pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until crust is golden brown.
3. Gently blend sour cream, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth. Do not whip or it will get too runny. Chill until crust is cooled.
4. Let crust cool, remove from tart pan and set on serving tray. Spread sour cream mixture in the bottom of the tart shell, and top with strawberries.
5. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.
by Krista | Apr 13, 2015 | Autumn
I love mindfulness, meditation, stillness, whichever word you wish to apply to moments throughout the day when, no matter what you’re doing, you stop, close your eyes, slow and deepen your breathing, slow and steady your heart rate, and linger in a place of physical, mental, and emotional peace until you’re ready to return to the world with a strengthened heart and restored spirit.
I like that you can take this practice with you anywhere, like a secret weapon, ready to pull out whenever life goes wonky or people give in to their mean side or your body just decides to feel frazzled.
But I also love those precious moments when you can steal away to a place of peace, a place where the very surroundings calm, steady, and ground you.
Like the beach.
Last week my friend Ann asked if I’d like to accompany her to Brisbane for the day, so we packed water bottles and snacks and headed over the mountains to the coast. We popped into bead shops and thrift stores, European delis and Greek food shops, and took a few moments away from our errands to have fish and chips at Wynnum Pier with my friend (and Ann’s daughter) Lizzie.
It never ceases to amaze me how even an hour at the beach can restore your spirits immeasurably, and linger with you long after you drive away.
It was sheer bliss to feel hot sun on my face and shoulders, salty breezes tossing my hair this way and that as we found treasures in the sand like this banksia cone. I’d never seen banksia before I came to Australia, and I find it incredible that the cheery and soft yellow blossoms above become these equally beautiful cones.
We watched people wading in the water, kids screaming with laughter, others strolling quietly along the beach lost in their own thoughts.
I found a seagull feather and watched boys racing each other through the trees, gasping for air as they shouted, “Again!”
I love the air at the beach, so fresh and cool and briny, especially as Autumn deepens and the fierce heat of summer dissipates.
Bear and I often talk about retiring to the beach, finding a little spot just for us where we can fish and look for treasures in the sand and potter away at our crafts and projects. But we always return to our beloved farm, a sense of belonging and welcome engulfing us as we descend over the mountains to the rolling hills of the Darling Downs.
For now we are happy for jaunts to the beach, for pleasurable hours sitting under the shade of palm trees, watching seagulls hop ever closer hoping for a nip at our fish and chips.
All too soon it was time to leave, to get back to school and work and chores. We took one last look at ocean waves and sand that seemed to ripple in the heat, nodded farewell to the gulls and headed back home to the people and things we love.
Where is your favorite place to go to restore your spirits? xo
by Krista | Apr 8, 2015 | Autumn
“Okay, this is the wisdom.
First, time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted.
Second, almost anything can be improved with the addition of bacon.
And finally, there is no problem on Earth that can’t be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea.”
Jasper Fforde
Bear and I were out running errands this morning, getting groceries, picking up library books, and looking at plants, when he suggested cuppas at a sidewalk cafe.
I was delighted to oblige.
While he dashed off to finish up the last of his personal errands, I secured a table in the glorious sunshine and settled in for a luxurious read of the Autumn edition of my very favorite dreamy magazine sent all the way from America by a dear friend.
The dappled Autumn sunshine, cool breezes with just a hint of bite to them, the bustle of shoppers strolling past my table, it was all so marvelous I couldn’t stop smiling.
There’s something utterly restorative about a hot cup of something in the middle of chores or errands. Suddenly the hurly-burly of life slows down and instead of going over to-do lists and trying not to forget anything, you get to sit, and breathe, and visit about everything and nothing while you watch the world go by.
It was a luxurious break in the midst of our slightly madcap day and we both stood up from our emptied cups with spirits restored and bodies relaxed.
The rest of our errands went smoothly: finding little treasures at the thrift store, having a chat with a good friend at the shop where we buy fence-building supplies, and nabbing the cutest little fern to put in the kitchen.
We arrived home tired but happy, just in time for a glass of Oma’s homemade plum wine to warm our bones as the sun set.
What do you love most about your favorite cafe? xo
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