Ooopsi Photo...23º

Many times when taking photos with my iPhone, I inadvertently move the settings to video, square, pano, or sometimes I just get a photo of the floor, ceiling or heaven forbid a crotch shot!...(as my daughter calls them)...Looking through Photos this morning I see a one second video of a snow scene...I liked the looks of it so I figured out how to trim it and then take a screen shot of it and save it as a regular photo into my favorites...But now as I try to publish it in my blog, it will not work...So all I have to show is yesterdays dinner....DARN...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Snow Scene

Chicken, Yam and Salad

Winter returns...25º

Another weather advisory is posted on our local weather...Looking to possible "inches" of snow over the next 3 days...Will it be a repeat of earlier storms on the valley floor or will most of it be higher in the mountains?...Fergie, the local ski area, is having a great season and this could keep them open for a few more weekends.

I'm hoping that this storm wears itself out before next weekend as 10 of us ladies have tickets for a musical at the Elgin Opera House...It would be nice if we can all enjoy "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" without worrying about road conditions...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Nachos Supreme, our latest in comfort food.

Noodles, Cookies...20º

Memories pop up on Facebook, a photo of noodle soup, taken from my blog of February 2012...I follow the link and find a photo of cookies as well...Am I a creature of habit or is February just a good month for comfort food?..This week I repeated myself making noodles and cookies.

Winter is a good time to cook and experiment, usually I do turkey and noodles but this week it was beef and noodles and the cookies instead of just chocolate chip had peanut butter added...Yesterday the leftover beef/noodles was turned into a stir fry (veggies added) for another dinner and the cookies sampled warm from the oven before bagging them for the freezer.

I managed to sort another sack of books, before succuming to a book called "Roots and Shoots," all about gardening with children and another "The Complete Book of Herbs."...They kept me entertained until a notice on my computer said that the book "The Bridge Ladies," is available on libraries to go...I read this book until 9:30pm without falling asleep, must be a good one...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Back at it...21º

You would think that snowy days would entice me to sort more books, chase more dust and get rid of more clutter...But in reality I sorted through some books and came up with more reading material...So in my comfortable recliner, I watched the storms out the living room window, and read the hours away...Comfort food simmered away in the crockpot (flank steak covered in onions, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and red wine)...I finished the book, "The Inheritance" by Charles Finch in time to make the dough for homemade noodles, which we smothered with the flank steak and rich succulent gravy.

It snowed overnight and maybe more will fall today, but this morning I will fill more bags with books and get on with the sorting and cleaning before water therapy...Then after a dinner of leftovers I will read again...Herb is outside clearing walks, so I must get moving...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Still Winter...30º

After a few warm, sunny, spring like days last week, the talk was all about the first buttercup, sprouting daffodils and buds starting to swell...It has been a crazy, beautiful, miserable, magical winter...And guess what, folks, it is not over yet...Remember it is still February.

After snowing off and on all day yesterday, we got up this morning to a snow covered world...More of the same is predicted for the rest of the week...I seriously doubt that we will have another foot of snow that sticks around, any time soon, but the 2 to 3 inches like we got last night will probably replay several times before we have real spring weather.

Yesterday after write group and water therapy, Herb and I had beef barley soup and toasted tuna sandwiches for our dinner...Then we whiled away the day reading our books and watching the storm from a toasty warm living room...Spring will arrive but instead of being right around the corner, it is down the road apiece...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Holiday...39º

After one retires, holidays, weekends and other days of the week all run together...For those still working, Monday holidays seem to be a special treat...Many times the reason for these "special holidays" is forgotten and they are enjoyed as a mini vacation from the drudgery of the everyday work place.

Now when I was a child, eye rolls everyone or deep sighs or now is the time to recede into ones self but appear to be listening as Oma blathers on!

Holidays such as George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays were looked forward to by students because even though we attended school on those days we celebrated!...We learned about the history of our country and that George Washington had wooden teeth, that he chopped down a cherry tree, his wife's name was Martha, he wore a white powdered wig and funny clothes, but also that he was the first president of the United States of America...We recited the pledge of allegiance with renewed vigor, sang the national anthem (off key) but with all our hearts and souls.

On Abraham Lincolns birthday, we learned first of all that he would never tell a lie, thus the phrase "Honest as Old Abe."...He came from humble beginnings, was a wood cutter, loved to read books and married a woman above his station, named Mary...The Civil War was fought during his presidency and Congress passed the 13th amendment that abolished slavery while he was president....He was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Fords Theater...We memorized his famous speech, "The Gettysburg Address," understanding little of its meaning...We sang songs written long after his death such as "God Bless America," and "America The Beautiful," also off key, but understood phases like "land of the free," and "land that we love."...We celebrated our leaders and learned to love and be proud of our country.

I wish I could say the same on this day, because no matter who is president our country is in one big mess!...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Progress...50º

My readers will be happy to know (I think) that Herb loaded 4 sacks of cookbooks into the car on Tuesday morning and Pam helped me carry them into Soroptomist...The ladies there were delighted to see the cookbooks and said I could bring more anytime.

My plan kind of snowballed on me when, since I got one corner cleared out, and thought, would this be a good time to have the carpets cleaned?...I anticipated having a week to do more cleaning...But instead the carpets got cleaned yesterday and we made an impromptu trip to Costco and came home to carpets drying and days ahead of us of more cleaning, sorting and rearranging.

Since we remodeled our house over 20 years ago, I have loved our living room, but lately it seems to be overloaded with stuff and tends to suffocate me...So maybe I can clean out more drawers, fill more boxes and bags and help Soroptomist give scholarships and do community projects...Sometimes I still think I would like to do a yard sale, but not sure that will ever happen.

Pam went with us on our road trip yesterday and we shopped at Winco, Walmart and Costco...Ate a lovely lunch/dinner at Tomato Brothers and were back home and unloaded by 4pm...It was a good day.

The wind is blowing like crazy this morning, I got up at 3am, scrabble games are done, coffee is finished, it will be light soon, another day begins...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Life is Complicated...25º

I had good intentions yesterday to sort my collection of cookbooks, keep only the ones I love the most and put the others into a bag for Soroptomists...I started in a corner of the living room where cookbooks are arranged in old wooden crates...Many of these books were purchased at yard sales for mere pennies, a few I payed full price for, thinking I just had to have them.

The problem is, that I also have another collection of cookbooks in the kitchen and I actually use them for an occasional recipe...Most of them are cookbooks that have been in my cupboards, some for almost 56 years, a wedding gift...They have been loving packed in boxes and moved from Idaho, to Utah and then to Oregon...The are well worn, dog eared, smugged with butter and dough until some are nearly unreadable.

The ones in the living room are less loved, I have read through them, looked at the colored photos and have occasionally dusted them over the years...when dusting, I would again flip through them, thinking WOW that looks and sounds good, but it is doubtful that I have made a recipe from their pages!..That is why I started with them, I can fill that Soroptomist bag.

So yesterday with my mind made up I pulled up a chair, faced the books, dusted their tops and pulled one after the other from the shelf...Then I made the mistake of opening one...It was all down hill from there, I have books strewn on the floor and didn't even empty one crate...But on my journey yesterday I visited, France, Tuscany, Mexico...I inhaled the smell of rustic loaves, slurped the juice of exotic fruit and hungered for vegetables fresh from the ground...I never left the house, It was a delightful day...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Mostly Cookbooks.

OOPS...16º

How could I come away from our dinner club, featuring Mexican food, without a photo...Don't know!..I didn't even get photos of the fried ice cream (as Herb scooped out the ice cream and I rolled it in crushed corn flakes), or the making of the chocolate and caramel sauces, before the dinner.

So using your imagination we were treated to our choice of margaritas, appetizers of fresh guacamole, two kinds of salsa and assorted chips...Enchiladas and rice for the main course, and made from scratch refried beans...Finished up with imitation fried ice cream (no deep fat frying for me).

I promise to do better next time...Sun is already shining at 7:15am...YES...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Ice dams, Floods, Mud slides...27º

We feel very fortunate to live where we live...So far the worst issues that we have dealt with is shoveling/plowing snow often, (good exercise) ice dams on our roof (taken care of by the warmer temps and rain)...For other people in cities/counties surrounding us they have had copious amounts of snow, plus wind (blizzard conditions), collapsing buildings, closed freeways as well as secondary roads...Now the warming trend is causing ice dams in rivers, followed by major flooding in Union County, east of us into Idaho and north into Washington, just to name a few places.

Yes in Wallowa County we have had some buildings collapse and city roads made impassable, for a time, with frozen slush...Our main road 82 was blocked most of the day and night by a mud slide but has now been cleared for normal but cautious travel...Highway 3 to the north was also partially blocked by mud and rocks...Luckily they were relatively small slides because it wouldn't be good for Wallowa County to be totally cut off for any length of time...Yesterday we had a bit of sun, most of our snow has melted and last night the county was illuminated by the full moon...I know it is too soon but thoughts of spring are on our minds...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Tamales smothered with home made chili, 

comfort food is still on the menu.

Windy/Rainy...38º

A hard rain and wind woke me at 2am...Flood warnings are posted for the county...Passing the time from 2am to 5am is tricky...I did scrabble games, thanks to the people who stay up later than I do...I opened a "pickling book" in my Library to Go account and have been immersed in the world of sauerkraut, kimchi and all kinds of pickles and fermentation...I found it interesting that raw sauerkraut has many health benefits, but much less, if any, once it is canned or heated in any way...For the last few years I have fermented my sauerkraut and kept it in the fridge to cook with sausages for a hearty winter meal...I like the texture of it much better than after it has been processed...But everything I read on the internet says for maximum health benefits in should be consumed raw...Darn!..Actually I do eat it and like it straight from the jar but not a meals worth, only an occasional mouthful, like you would eat a pickle.

Compared to the world problems this is a very minor dilemma but it has kept my mind occupied as I try to figure out how to make a Ruben sandwich or Sauerkraut and sausages without heating the sauerkraut...And the wind continues to blow and the rain comes down on Barton Heights, one more hour to daylight....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Ready for the Refrigerator.

Crazy Wind...38º

Mid afternoon yesterday the wind started blowing hard...It had been gentle, then gusty most of the day melting snow, the water running off the roof, ice dams disappeared...But not too long before dark the wind started blowing really hard and continued into the night...It shook the house, rattling windows and doors...Over the years we have learned to keep things cleaned up on our property, have cut down large trees, after the wind blew the tops out of them, a warning...We have survived some hellacious wind storms, but still consider ourselves lucky as it is nothing compared to a tornado.

It is calm this morning, snow melted by half, looking very dirty and forlorn...Ice is still covering every surface and streets are a foot deep in slush...City crews have been working nights and weekends trying to make the streets at least passable...We have snow/rain forecast for today...Luckily we have no reason to leave our house and maybe by tomorrow I can get to water therapy...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

A Good Day...37º

Yesterday was bread baking day at our house...It has been awhile since the last one...What with making SD biscuits several times, having waffles or pancakes for dinner and also having several loaves of bread in the freezer that were not one of my best efforts...Herb has slowly been eating his butter and toast, a slice at a time of the "not so good bread."...Some of it is getting passed on to the little birds and quail that have stuck around for this crazy winter, after all they have to eat too!

I like to get an early start when making my big batch of bread and for this I use the Bosch mixer...Dumping 4 cups of water, 4+ cups of active sourdough starter, adding several scoops of bread flour, several scoops of whole wheat flour and the last of the flax meal in the bag...(Ooops that was a lot of flax meal, oh well too late now) Add Tbl+ of salt, a glug or two of molasses and yes I cheat a bit as I sprinkle in 1 Tbl. of instant yeast...(This will be 10 pound batch of dough and I'm afraid to rely on sourdough alone to make it rise, hence the yeast.) I pulse the mixer several times to mix the ingredients, without blowing flour all over the baking center and then let it mix for about 10 minutes, adding more bread flour until I have a very stiff dough...Now I pull the dough out of the mixer onto a floured surface where I knead it by hand, making sure the dough feels just right...After greasing the big tupperware bowl with bacon grease, I plop the dough in, turn it over, so every surface is well greased, seal the lid down and leave it to raise...An hour later I punch the dough down, it is springy and elastic and will raise one more time before I make it into loaves...I made traditional loaves, a round loaf and a long french loaf...The house smelled heavenly, the bread tastes sublime...(Must have been that extra flax meal!)...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Loaves in the oven, almost done.

I've found that making a double loaf

in a bread pan works, as a half loaf

is just right for Herb and doesn't

get stale.

Long loaves come in handy.

Round loaves look like real sourdough!

February slipping by...36º

On Groundhog day many years ago a community dinner was held at the Joseph Civic Center...A fund raiser, dinner consisted of all you could eat sausage (groundhog) and pancakes...They featured sausage made by Floyd Kennedy and were fun dinners visiting with friends and neighbors but eventually ran their course and probably ran out of volunteers, then Floyd passed away and the dinners are no more.

I've always thought Groundhog day was a rather silly celebration other than eating out, not having to cook and also a break in a long winter...Never had much faith in the myth of some obscure groundhog seeing his shadow back east was going to predict out winter out west!..But we have always stuck with the tradition and had hog in some form for dinner on Feb 2nd...This year it was ham served alongside sourdough pancakes...I made my own version of SD pancakes, using double the amount of very active SD starter combined with flour, salt, sugar, oil and just before dropping dough on the griddle, I added a pinch each of soda and baking powder, gave it a quick stir....How nice they were, rising on the griddle, toasty brown, soon to be covered in butter/peanut butter and topped with homemade jam...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Cooking

Ready for the toppings.