ODDFELLOWS & CO.

Humans; Eating, Not Eating.

Joining along with this thing again.  

Making plum jam for a crostata. Think I may need to have real Italian bones to get the recipe down. I will keep trying though.

Making calendula-eucalyptus gardeners soap.  Sold here.  Feels good to be back back at it.

Dad's bread. Perfect, always.

He delivers in the flour bags.  Genius.

Make your own kitchen in an apple orchard.

Garden haul.

Weekly menu planning.

Mostly we eat tacos.

My tea from debris.

End of summer garden flowers.

Garden Haul

PINK + YELLOW

Some folks have asked about subscribing to the blog.  I'm not sure if you've tried or not,  but I think I may have figured it out.  On the right there is a box "Follow By E-mail". Type in your email and you will receive a confirmation email.  Maybe this will work, maybe it won't. 

Life is a mystery.

The dog days are back.

Early in the season my dad said "You never think you'll have enough cucumbers until you have too many." He was correct.  I am living his wisdom.

Dean and I made a promise to each other we would make a blackberry crisp every week until there were no berries left to pick.  So far we've kept our promise.

My ma had a birthday and her friend Kitty came to help celebrate and they seared up some mean scallops.  We laughed a lot.

Seamus brought over his famous bread salad.  It's my mom's recipe. He inherited her bread salad skills. Now that we are adults bread salad means more than just bread and dressing. It used to be my birthday dinner every year. Also crab.

I made an ice box cake.  This was a popular cake in the 20s and 30s but I don't know anyone who has ever eaten them.  Maybe because they were popular almost 100 years ago?  The cake consists of layers of "Famous Chocolate Wafers" and whipped cream.  Chill the cake overnight and the cookies transform into cake. The end product tastes like cookies and cream ice cream or an ice cream sandwich, but cake form.  I used this recipe and listened to this.

Dean had a birthday and we celebrated.  Mostly I made a lot of delicious foods.  I think this the main way I show my love. I caught Dean and Sawyer having a dance party.

The dog days. They are back.

Listen Up!

I love a good interview.  The right person can draw interest out of nearly anyone.  Terry Gross, Ira Glass, Marc Maron..  I value a good listener.  I think, no matter how humble or shy, everyone wants to be heard. Asking good questions is really hard to do.  It's a skill. It's a learned skill.  Something I am constantly working on and trying to get better at. You have to listen to ask good questions. People aren't born good listeners. Some people never learn. 

I have a new hero.  Anna Sale.  She is the host of a new podcast, Death, Sex and Money.  She asks the right questions.  I've listened to every single one.  Each one is a little gem.  I especially enjoyed the interview with Jane Fonda and the The Senator One. The episode "I Married The Gay Father of my Child" inspired me to continue expanding my idea of 'family' and to be open to endless variations. Life is weird and hard and unfortunately we live in a culture where the norm is to raise our babies somewhat alone. Hopefully this is shifting. 

On a completely different note, I love:

this article on Goodnight Moon

and

this roasted cauliflower dish

(The photo above was taken 4 years ago in Woodard Bay near Olympia. The year that Dean and I shot 10 rolls of kodachrome film before the world stopped processing it.)