Close to the gulf coast

One of the greatest joys I have gotten from living in Houston is the fact that the gulf coast is only 1 to 2 hours away just south of small towns like Clute, Lake Jackson, and Freeport. The short drive allows me to take the opportunity to visit this dynamic environment at least 2 times a month. I get great joy out of this because the coast is filled with all the things I love- water, fish, birds, vegetation, and geologic processes. Whenever Matt and I visit the coast we normally go to Surfside Beach, a quiet beach community away from the clamor and crowds often encountered at Galveston, TX. There are about 20 miles of open beaches that are open to the public where you can drive feet from the waters edge, park, and then relax by fishing, wading, swimming, kayaking, or just plain sitting. Matt visits a lot more often than me- leaving at 4 in the morning with his fishing poles and kayaks. Sometimes i go with him to just watch the sunrise and focus on the waves slow movement into and out of the coast. Every time I go there I wish I had 2 things 1) a shorebird id guide and 2) a seashell id guide, both things I could pick up at a used bookstore if I remembered.

This weekend was a little different- Matt explored Matagorda peninsula and really liked it, so he took me there. The peninsula is 51 miles long and is crossed at the mid-point by the Colorado River. It is a strip of land separating the gulf from Matagorda bay. There is beach access and hardly anyone is there, which makes the beach quite a bit cleaner than most of the other beaches.



Even though it is clean, there is still quite a bit of interesting beach trash for those who love collecting (a place my grandpa would have loved visiting). The trash ranged from televisions, hardhats, plastic shipping crates, and balloons- lots and lots of balloons. I think one of the main reasons it is a less visited beach is that beach access is slightly more tricky. The sand is cleaner and can be very fine at places making it hard to drive without a 4wd vehicle. my favorite parts are the groups of brown pelicans that take to flight whenever you get to close to them. For a second you feel as if you are flying right by with them. There are also oyster banks that are slowly being eroded by the waves. So I sat looking for shark's teeth and shells most of the day, in addition to helping Matt spot fish. I didn't find any exciting shells or teeth, but Matt caught several lady fish, whiting, and a black tip shark.



I love this little secret vacation spot close to home.

Well I got my yarn package!! Thanks Karen. My secret pal is from Washington and she got me some lovely linen yarn-- something new and different. The yarn has a great texture and is a beautiful color. She also gave me some great lavender honey and a pillow case from Red Barn Lavender farm in Ferndale, Washington. In addition, she gave me a packet of suggested patterns. I look forward to tackling the tank top lace pattern after I finally finish my Prayer Shawl for the UUMC 'made with Love' ministry. (which for some reason is taking me a long time to finish).


Here are some pics and I hope to continue doing yarn swaps in the future-- they are exciting and get me connected to new people around the US working on knitting project. These both inspire and motivate me.

Yarn Swap #1

I noticed as a member of Ravelry that there are several groups that come up with and participate in yarn swaps. I wanted to join in on one because it looked like a great way to meet people. Of course the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be fun to start my own yarn swap with friends of mine who were not on www.ravelry.com

So I talked with my friend Brooke, who lives in Madison, WI and was a former roommate and great buddy of mine while I was doing my master's degree, to see if she would be interested in co-hosting a Yarn Swap. So we both e-mailed the friends we knew who knitted and came up with a small group of 6 people who showed interest. Three people were friends of mine and three people were friends of hers-- so we had eight in total. Now I know this is small, but i think it is a great way that friends from my part of the world (the south) could meet some knitters in the great north and northeast. So we picked a 'theme'-- knitting in the summer-- made a survey of questions, and exchanged names and addresses. The packages should be leaving the houses this weekend and arriving on everyones doorsteps sometime next week. One of the things we wanted to emphasize was local products and quick summer projects.

So I finally have my package put together and will be sending it off on Monday. Here are some pics. It is for someone who loves BBQs in the summer and gardening.

It includes: 1) a chipotle pepper marinade purchased at the arts market and made in sugarland, TX, 2) some lotion samples made in the woodlands, TX, 3) some of my favorite tea, 3) some spicy cajun seasoning not to be without!, 4) and some fall seed packs. I also made some stitch markers to go with the bamboo and silk/bamboo crystal palace yarn. Even though my knit buddy requested local or reused yarn I couldn't help but get her some bamboo yarn since she had never used it before....a special treat.




I hope she enjoys and pictures of my secret package to come!

Kale-- delicious, forgotten greens

So when I moved to Houston I decided I wanted to try to support the farmer's markets in the area. Unlike, Baton Rouge, Houston has a lot of farmer's markets, but I have yet to be as impressed with them I am of the Red Stick Farmer's Market. It may be that the red stick market was so close and so full of people and vitality. Zydeco music in the background and old farmers selling traditional Louisiana fare such as file, pecans, greens, Louisiana satsumas, strawberries, blueberries, and fresh gulf shrimp. I just loved the produce. So I assumed the produce in Houston would be similiar-- but it has its differences. More focused on peppers and salsas, texas citrus and grass-fed beef. Even with the close proximity to the gulf there is an amazingly high degree of disengagement from the fresh gulf coast culture and seafood. So after my disappointment with the farmers markets I looking into other ways to participate in the local produce.

So I discovered the Central City Co-op. This co-op is great. It is a local, organic co-op (http://www.centralcityco-op.org/). I won't go into the details, but you can purchase weekly co-op shares (I got a small) and pick up the shares on wednesday. The first (and only so far) share I have picked up contained 3 potatoes, 1 onion, 2 apples, parsley, 1 cucumber, lettuce, carrots, and last but not least- kale.

Now I am pretty unfamiliar with Kale. In fact, I don't think I had ever cooked it before. So immediately Matt and I looked for a recipe, excited about adding another green to our diet. Kale is in the Brassica family (includes cabbage, brussels sprouts,and collards) and is rich in vitamins (such as A, C and K) and minerals. It is a dark beautiful green color and has a sweet, savory flavor.

So, in short Matt and I (mostly Matt) modified a recipe found on epicurious.com- Fettuccine with sausage and Kale.

Ingredients included:
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 lb hot turkey or pork sausage, casings discarded and sausage crumbled
* 1/2 lb kale, tough stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped
* 1/2 lb dried egg fettuccine
* 2/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
* 1 oz finely grated Pecorino Romano (1/2 cup) plus additional for serving

Our modified or added ingredients include:
* mushrooms, sliced
* pepper (I used a sweet carmen pepper from my garden, but an orange or red pepper would add both color and flavor)
* shallot or small white onion, chopped
* 2-4 tablespoons of tomato sauce
* red pepper flakes for flavor
* instead of chicken broth we just used the water used to blanch the kale and cook the noodles in. The noodles we liked in particular are these all Amish Naturals garlic parsley noodles.

We followed the remaining steps as followed:

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook sausage, breaking up any lumps with a spoon, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, blanch kale in a 6-quart pot of boiling salted water (I didn't salt the water) , uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove kale with a large sieve and drain. Return cooking water in pot to a boil, then cook pasta in boiling water, uncovered, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander.

While pasta cooks, saute onions, pepper, and mushrooms in skillet that sausage was cooked in. Then add kale and sausage to skillet and sauté, stirring frequently, until just tender, about 5 minutes.
Add tomato sauce and boiling water that was set aside. Eventually combine pasta and any additional reserved cooking water to skillet, tossing until combined.

Serve and sprinkle cheese on top.



The meal is delicious and healthy and is now on my permanent list of recipes. This could also be cooked without the sausage and be just as flavorful!

More gardening

So I am finally getting things a little more organized in the outdoor container garden. This weekend I worked on adding an additional, re-purposed piece of furniture as a container for some cucumbers and okra. First let me say that I had almost run out of the fuel to get these plants and this container off the ground and completed. I was inspired by my visit to the Quality Feed and Garden Company store on N. Main St. near the Houston Heights. This feedstore is awesome-- like stepping into the parts of Arkansas my family grew up. They had ducks, chickens, and parrots, and pigeons, and fancy chickens, and feed, and more feed and lots of vegetable plants. So I bought 6 cucumber plants with the help of the owner ("Do you burp after cucumbers? Then you don't need the burpless") and 6 okra plants, and this beautiful purple basil-- mmmm.

After the plants were bought I was committed. So I took this wonderful coffee table/record holder my dad made over 30 years ago. I remember growing up with this coffee table, eating dinner, storing books in it. For several years it held my aquarium- the one where the goldfish committed suicide by jumping out of the tank (all three together- like beached whales) Then for several more years it held a tank full of mice, then when I was 21 my dad got me Dolomite- my White's tree frog. He and I have been together on and off for 10 years. I left him in a 3rd grade classroom when i lived in Wisconsin, but when i moved back to LSU reclaimed him and put his terrarium on this coffee table. Anyway-- I thought I could fix up the table and put Dolomite's new tank on it (pictures of his new home to come), but instead I just decided to re-purpose it. So I sanded, spray-painted, and then stenciled it.


After the box was dry I went to the hardware store and bought some 'straw' lining, lined the bottom and filled 2 cubbies with a slow release potting soil and peat mix and planted my cucumber plants.
Tomorrow I will get more soil, and plant the okra.

Now to chart the growth of the vegetable and wait for the bounty.

Spring distractions

I had these grand plans to write a blog about the stuff I do-- the food I cook, knitting projects I make, science I find exciting, but in the end I have realized I just don't enjoy being a how-to person or guide-to-_____ person. I just talk about things that are on my mind. Even knowing that nobody is really reading what is on my mind. So maybe this is just an outlet for me. I would love to inspire people, but think I may not be inspiring. I have no original home projects, my recipes are only slightly altered recipes from the original, I don't write original music, my knitting projects are taken from books, magazines, web-sites. So once again I do things half-heartedly. So often I wish I had an amazing passionate drive to do things and leave a mark in this world. I am not sure where I read this or heard this, but apparently humans have a drive to leave a legacy of themselves on this earth. Be it a child, an idea, an art, touching someone's life, etc. What if you don't have this desire to leave a legacy? Does this make you less 'human'?
I don't have this desire very often- I mean it sounds grand, but all and all I just wanna fade away. I don't mean this in a depressing sense, in fact I am so content. I find such beauty in everything around me, that really I would just rather that beauty engulf me and overshadow my existence.

Today I spent all day in my backyard planting plants into containers for my little container garden. I am so amazed by plants- so much more so than I am by mammals. Everything from their reproductive processes, their evolution from sea to land, their diversification to fill and compete in diverse ecological niches. I love that they provide food and/or beauty and that during the spring they burst forth every year like a symphony reaching a crescendo of vibrant greens. I love this about spring. This is what harkens a renewal, not anything humans have ever done, no religion, no industrial creation, but nature itself. So this Easter I think I really understood the meaning of the season-- what happened that humans became so far removed from the natural world that they always think in terms of the afterlife-- what about the amazing life that is lived and breathed on this Earth. The blooming, sprouting, sweet beauty of nature.


I will probably document the progress of my potted plants-- maybe something sweet, delicious and beautiful will come from it. Even if it doesn't it has already provided me great joy.

A visit to California

I have always wanted to visit the Californian wine country (along with the Argentinian/ Spanish/French/etc.) so as a little treat to myself for finishing my PhD I decided to make a trip out of it. Matt and I weren't really sure where to start, but I think we did a pretty good job and will probably go back since we have done some trail blazing.
Day #1- Benziger winery
Benziger is a beautiful winery in the hilly valley of a small volcano that was active prior to the 1907 San Fransico earthquake. It is located close to the little quaint town of Glen Ellen and just down he road from the Jack London State Park. All in all a beautiful setting and I would recommend it to anyone. I particularly liked their 2006 Pinot Noir made from grapes grown in the Russian River valley, the 2005 Port, and the 2006 Reserve Chardonnay. I especially liked the winery tour. This winery is a certified biodynamic winery, meaning that it goes beyond organic in the sense that all their practices try to be self-contained and use all aspects of the environment. I especially liked their usage of compost tea (a practice I have been meaning to investigate and learn for myself). This was a great little winery to begin with in the Sonoma Valley.

During our trip our homebase was this cute, hidden away B&B called Beltane Ranch. I loved everything about this place. It had such character and charm and was removed enough from the towns and highway that i felt like I was visiting a less traveled country-side.

The moment we stepped onto the grounds I felt like I was in a peaceful spot. The grounds were beautiful and were abound with olives trees, grape vines, horses, and cows. The ranch immediately gave the feel of a southern antebellum home with it's full wrap around porch and moss covered oak trees. I also loved that it lacked a TV and phone in the room, making it more of a little escape. In addition, the ranch house was ours for the night, being the only guests. This is one place I would love to return to.
That night for dinner, Matt and I went to the Glen Ellen store in town, bought a bottle of wine and dined at The Fig. I had a delicious meal of Spring lamb stew on couscous and Matt had the special which was a duck entree. Everything about this place was nice. I only wished i would have gotten the baked goat cheese- but alas.