Intentional Stones

One functioning piece

After leaving town again Friday and returning without kids, (Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa), we homeowners came back to Do Stuff! In fact, out combined to do list is terrifyingly large.

Today was spent shopping. I very much got tired of shopping. This usually doesn't happen when I've got a big project in mind.
To save a little money, Adam's doing the electrical work. He's feeling pretty good. The stove is complete, and the fridge could go back.

If...
It fit.
We think the Guys will have to redo a bulkhead they put in for the cabinet. It's not high enough. Measure twice fail. We need to confirm with a ruler, we'll do that later.

Next Adam's Running new electricity for the dishwasher, disposal, and my Coffee Shrine. I'm impressed.

Out annual week without kids is going to involve non-stop projects, work and cleaning. I'd regret the lost chance to travel to places the kids aren't old enough to enjoy, but it feels so good to be working together and getting stuff done.

-Simbelmynë

Kitchen surprises (nightmares?)

There's my poor gutted kitchen. The appliances are staying in place while the cabinets are refinished and we have guests in and out.

At least that was the plan until this morning. Adam walked in and has a thought. "I wonder if that grey stuff is asbestos?"

Ummm....

A bunch of Internet searching left us just as concerned and uninformed. Could it be some kind of wood that's grey from being exposed to plaster? But Adam had been curious about the wood floor the workers found under a couple layers of linoleum, so a hardwood expert swung by to give us an estimate on the possibility if refinishing that and took one look at the mystery material. "Did you know that there's asbestos in your walls?"

I ran out for staplegun supplies, thick plastic sheeting and respirators so nobody has to breathe the stuff.

I think we'll be staying out of the kitchen entirely until it's all encapsulated.

Old houses are full of joy! (please excuse my sarcasm)

-Simbelmynë

Another remodel, oh joy

I've been a bit tied up.

Our kitchen has long been a big time eyesore. I'm not a fan of wallpaper and mustard appliances. Nevermind the tiny fridge and the mobile dishwasher taking up a big piece of the tiny floor and getting in the way. The fronts of drawers are falling off, and the hidden table (which we can't spread out because if the dishwasher) is horribly scuffed.

Tomorrow, they start to fix this problem. The picture is my poor dining room, which will serve as our kitchen for the immediate future.

On a slightly coincidental note, my Uncle, my father's brother, passed away last weekend. We almost had to reschedule the kitchen. We're working with the same contractors for the bathroom project, and that started just before my dad died. It's a tiny bit odd.

Anyway, I plan to blog things happening in the kitchen in the next week. It won't be quite as exciting as the labyrinth. But we're removing the tiny powder room and creating a half wall and passthrough, completely opening up the kitchen.

I'm a happy camper.

-Simbelmynë

Snowmageddon 2010 at the Aulick's

It fell so prettily on Friday Night

Saturday morning clearing the 20 inches of snow was not as pretty.

We decided to have fun with it though.  It turns out a leaf blower will not help with this much snow.  It was worth a try!

Tunneling is a kind of snow fun we don't get very often. 

Friends of ours were without electricity, and therefor heat and internet, so they've been at our house for the duration.  Their neighborhood is one of the last to be plowed every snowfall, so they're not eager to return. 

Once the major roads were cleared, we used the Subaru to go to Costco.  So even if we're all a little cabin feverish, we're well stocked.  I've been cooking like crazy.  Waffles, pasta salad, our guests even brought a turkey from they'd been thawing when the power went out.

I think I need to make myself shovel extra tomorrow.

Hope you're keeping warm.

-Simbelmynë

P.S.  I've completed a few Hearts to Haiti!  Please help us raise money for Doctors Without Borders so they can be there to help as many injured and homeless people as possible.  I will make as many hearts in as many styles as people want.  All proceeds from the sales of these items will go directly to Doctors Without Borders.  Thank You!

My daughter complements me

She's Baking now, let's learn to clean up!

This was a math exercise, but my Princess has been boldly going where I don't like to-Baking Land!  Together we can whip up a pretty good meal.

Sleepy Saturday Snack

I needed to take a jewelry marketing break, so here's what I had for lunch today, after sleeping in for the first time in months:

I guess I'm developing some Pittsburgh after all.  I wanted potato and cheese pierogies, so we found a recipe (ok, I changed it a bit, since it called for 2 cups of milk, and I couldn't find anywhere that was appropriate.  I think I ended up using about 3 ounces) and made them.  NaCraMaMo had me so busy I wasn't cooking as much last month. 

It's good to be back.

Outsider's Café

We like to plan our road trips, but mealtimes are difficult to predict.  Without fast food (either because we're electing to keep away from it or it's not available), we have to explore towns to find a good place to eat. 

Adam's my hero in this, he's always willing to stop in and ask somebody, a gas station attendant, someone at the local info center usually can recommend a good local restaurant.  I'm a bit shy about talking to people.  If I'm already doing business I'm not so bad, but I don't like just walking into a shop and disappointing the employee. 

Anyway, on the way to Bateman's Bay for our first beach trip, we found a local treasure. 

The Outsider's Cafe in Captain's Flat, NSW was  right where we needed it after we took a very long route.  And it turns out we were very lucky, since the restaurant and art gallery are only open 3 days a week!

You walk into the quirky looking shop-front, into what looks like a parlor, complete with fireplace.  And you're absolutely surrounded by art.  Off the entry is a medium sized dining room with doors onto two patios and another, smaller indoor dining area  The patios are surrounded by gardens with flowers and larger statues and the pavement is decorated with glass mosaic. 

Your waiter is the artist himself, and his wife is the chef and cook.  The food is fresh, creative and delicious, the art interesting, challenging and beautiful.  Off the parlor is the artist's studio area, and they invited us to walk around and explore, seeing the materials, inspiration and unfinished works.  They talked to us about their restaurant and their art.

And it warmed my heart when Persephone and Hawthorne gave voice to my most secret desire to build a place like this of their own when they grow up.  A place where people can enter into my world and enjoy creativity and hospitality.

-Simbelmyne

(photos for this post are pending due to technical issues)

Food Funk

Looking at my food habits lately, I'm need to strengthen the good ones and shed the bad.  It's a little confusing when I think about it.  It's not that we're eating different things, so much. 

Ok, I've been more creative with new ingredients and trying harder recipes.  But it's more than just content.  So I'm going to list the foods that had me in a funk.  And then the food I'm making now with the changes.  I'm sure I'll think of more as soon as this post is up.  Well, we'll see...

Food Funk Items	What I've done differently
Pasta and sauce	Fresh pasta and home made sauce with a salad and bread (sometimes home made).
Stirfry	Great for Trying out new veggies
Enchilladas	Make fresh salsa and grate the cheese myself
Lentil Dal	Experiment with garam masala and curry mixes, use different types of lentils and beans.
Meat Loaf	Used it in the gross-out dinner (to sculpt), make my own breadcrumbs
Broiled/grilled meat	Practice with new sauces and marinades, make with potatoes or rice dishes, work harder for a vegetarian savory dish with the meal.
Soups	Always a chance to use up extra ingredients, but I've learned more about making broths to make the base of the soup better.
Bread	Only buying the good stuff from the bakery and sometimes making my own. Also, we've found an awesome butter.
Nachos	Use only with the home made salsa, make sure to have beans, peppers and other stuff to spice them up.
Tacos	More fun with sautéed vegetables,
Chili	Making my own chili powder
Pizza	Tasty cheese (this is a medium white cheddar common in Australia)-working on blending it with parmesan and mozzerella
Lasagna	The old standby is really good, but experimenting with different veggies and found the most amazing ricotta cheese. I'm also thinking about making my own ricotta
Rice	Pilaf, quinoa, bulgar wheat, couscous
Potatoes	get better at pan frying them, experimenting with garlic and cheese in the mashed potatoes
Green Salad	New veggies for different mixes, being more careful to select the dressing for the veggies in the salad and matching the entree. New salad dressings
Savory and non green salads	More variety, making my own mayonnaise if I want to use it, trying different vinegars, just using these more
Chicken Nuggets	I'm trying to think up adult dishes that go well with these, since Nytesong has given me an awesome recipe to make them myself. Not that grownups can't enjoy nuggets, but...
Veggie burgers	Finding the perfect recipe and creating my own! And I even made my own buns last time.

The other part of the food funk comes from our delight at eating in restaurants. Here's stuff I didn't even think to try at home:

Curry
thai basil
salad dressings
barbeque sauce
pastries, cakes and cookies

And snacks: (I haven't even begun to work on many of these but they will be great fun with the kids)
crackers, cookies, yogurt, jellies, popcorn, candies

I have three main sources of inspiration, if I'm not craving a particular dinner.  Either I look for something random, through a website or app.  I let other people decide for me-I let the kids decide or I ask whichever random person I'm talking to.  Or the grocery store can present me with the tastiest looking thing I see.   

-Simbelmyne

(Sorry if the table is ugly looking.  I made it myself and my HTML is very halting)

Cooking without recipes

With the new perspective of completely different food circumstances, very close access to anything I need, different climate offering different options and a sudden change in seasons, I found myself thinking in completely different ways about food. 

Now, I've been feeling in a rut for a very long time.  Every time I looked in my fridge and shelves, I'd find the same ingredients.  I'd use the same recipes and make the same meals.  Not that they were bad meals.  But we were all getting tired of them.

Well, the first month we were here, I had no cookbooks and no internet to look up recipes.  My brain was my only resource.  It's long been my habit to cook based on the needs of the ingredients, rather than by formula from a book.  My favorite cookbook is Cooking A to Z by Jane Horne.  It's attraction is the simple breakdown of ingredients and techniques alphabetically, with excellent recipes to illustrate each idea. 

Having used this resource for a while, I've memorized a bunch of foods and techniques, and I can cook a decent variety of things.  I'm accustomed to pulling out the book, just to check everything.  (to the point that the pages are sticking together and one of the covers of the paperback is torn off)

So, I just dug into my memory, trusted myself and let go.

And I've found a whole new world of food.

I've been able to make things I've always made-Fettucini Alfredo, Tomato sauce, Lentil Dal, my Enchiladas.  Along with totally new ideas- slow cooked barbeque chicken, squash and potato soup and  ginger salad dressing. 

I've been going to the store across the street almost every day, and choosing the tastiest looking ingredients, sometimes letting the kids pick, sometimes going with a flavor I craved.  We've branched out into theme foods (no, you cannot see pictures of the Gross Me Out dinner, let's just say, my husband couldn't eat it!).  We've varied ethnicities, cooked more dishes per meal, and generally enjoyed our food much much more. 

Now that I've got access to the internet, I've been checking out new spices and ingredients. I've been listening to the Splendid Table podcasts,for ideas of things I'd like to try and foods that might go with a wine I've had my eye on. I even bought an e-book of Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, a delightful resource for mastering some foods that sound gourmet, but really are the foundation of all good food.

I feel like I've entered a whole new level of cooking.  That month without the backup of resources gave me a new confidence in my knowledge and skills.  I never thought I would, in the course of an ordinary day, decide to bake dinner rolls.  But there I am, trying the recipe on the back of the yeast package, and then tinkering with it a little to make hamburger buns.

The only downfall?  If I go back to shopping once a week and buying staples, I fall right back into the habit of never knowing what to cook, and not enjoying the process or the result. 

I guess I'll just have to keep finding the time to be spontaneous!

-Simbelmyne

Alpacas?

Were we jetlagged?  Maybe, or maybe just tired, hungry and a little stressed.

There we were, on an unfamiliar highway.  And we needed lunch and a restroom.  I've recently developed a habit of following random landmark signs.  (All the fault of the US National Parks Service Passport)  I noticed that the way sign had a castle next to the town of Berrima, so there we stopped. 

What was the first thing we noticed upon arriving? 



A wonderful, homey little shop and café welcomed us under this sign.  When I'm super hungry, I tend to get a bit nervous about unfamiliar food.  What if I don't like it?  But I relaxed the second I walked in.  I've gotten so used to cafés in the US with mostly sweets to nibble with coffee.  This place offered quiches, sandwiches and savory pies.  All fresh and delicious looking. 

The more I wander about in Australia, the more I'm finding this to be common.  Real, hand made baked goods, not processed stuff!  Heaven.

Once the bodies were satisfied, we could move onto important things:
Handicrafts.

The little shop next to the café was a treat for us all.  Beautiful, intricate sweaters, weavings and rugs for me to appreciate.  Toys made with alpaca hair for the kids and local lore for Adam.  Adam started a conversation with the shop owner about alpacas in Australia and it turns out they've only been here for 20 years.  They also had roving and yarn.  I couldn't resist a little gift for a knitting buddy.

It turns out that there's wine country between Sydney and Canberra.  And we were right in the middle of it.  I'm going to have to come back for wine.

Berrima pushed me in many directions.  It's obvious that fresh food is abundant here, where winter is extremely mild.  I'm resolved to avoid packaged, pre-prepared foods for my family.  I'm working on my knitting and looking for projects that are quick and useful.  Maybe once knitting's more habitual, I'll be ready to spend the extra money on some alpaca yarn.  And I'm going to learn more about wines while I'm here.  We'll be sharing a bottle a week, even letting the kids have a sip if they want!

Definitely a good welcome to Australia

-Simbelmyne