Happy Halloween

Here is blurry image of a smashed newt.  I hope you enjoy this most glorious sunday.

The Perfect Scone

For some time now I have been on the quest for the perfect scone and have come to the conclusion that the only way to get it is to make it myself.  The only exception would be the buttermilk raisin scones at this Chicago bakery.  I loved their scones, don't get me wrong, best scones in the city.  But the only way to truly enjoy a scone is warm from the oven and I was only able to experience that once from Lovely.  

In the spirit of the season here is my favorite (vegan) pumpkin scone recipe:

You will need:

31/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2-3 tsp cinnamon (or ginger)

1/2 cup sugar (I use brown sugar)

1/2 cup margarine (Earth Balance)

2 cups (1 can) pumpkin puree

1 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 4:25ºF.  In a large bowl cut margarine into sugar with two butter knives.  When the mixture is crumbly stop cutting and add dry ingredients.  When adding the dry ingredients I have not yet found one order that works better than another so I simply add it all and issue a few more gentle cuts with the butter knives to mix everything together.  

This is important: If you choose to use real butter grate it into the bowl with a cheese grater.  Do not pre-melt butter, or margarine, and use it straight from the fridge.  Scones are not cookies and the butter or margarine does not need to be room temperature. 

Add pumpkin, and cranberries or raisins if you choose, to bowl and mix with a wooden spoon.  Initially it will appear that you have too much flour, just keep mixing and you will end up with a beautiful orange dough.  It is important that you do not over mix the batter.  Over mixing will give you flat, boring scones.

Prepare a flat counter top with flour and roll out the dough.  I always divide the dough in half, so that that have two distinct batches, and roll it out with a floured rolling pin into a circle.  I keep the dough at about an inch thick and then slice it into wedges with a butter knife.  Scones are not round, they a triangular.  A round scone becomes a biscuit or a bready cookie.  

Cook for 10 mins.  They shouldn't leave any uncooked dough on a testing knife, they will rise and the bottoms will be firm but not burnt.  Transfer them from the baking sheet to a cooling rack and try one after it cools for a few minutes.  But don't wait too long, warm scones are one of my favorite things about autumn and baking.  Serve to your friends and enjoy!

I just discovered the macro setting on my digital camera so I have included a few images.  And remember, the perfect scone is one you make yourself.

Confessions of a Jacket Junkie

Let me just say that living with a jacket addiction isn't always warm and cozy.  I have a serious problem. I'm not exaclty sure when all of this started.  It may have been last year when I bought my first Mountain Hardwear fleece and North Face shell.  Gateway jackets.

It doesn't help that I receive regular emails from Patagonia, Moosejaw and REI informing me of their 20% off sales.  I thought I could resist until today.  Today I found an REI catalogue buried beneath junk mail and bills filled with information about deals of up to 60% off.  This mega deal is dangerous and I don't know if I have the will power to resist such reduced prices.

Lately when I come across sales like this I have been telling myself that the item has to be something I will still want to wear in 5 years.  This helps me eliminate a handful.  Then I give myself a fixed price that I cannot exceed, depending on the item itself and its original retail value.  The whole point of this, after all, is to save as much as possible while still feeling satisfied with the purchase.  Thus far the method has proved effective because I haven't made any online purchases this season, despite the low prices.  Another round of eliminations.  Obviously the product has to have use value, such as keeping me warm or dry or, ideally, both.  And, finally, the article must look good.  Seriously.

Right now I am preparing to move out of state to a place where it rains almost every day, so I know I won't be purchasing down anytime soon.  Helpful.  Instead I'm in the market for all things waterproof!

Quinoa!

This first time I remember eating qunioa I was in college, living in a Chicago neighborhood dominated by Puerto Ricans.  That was a fun year.  Those were the days when I was still vegan (trying to be gluten free) and ate mostly black beans, brown rice, mangos, bell peppers, onions and jalapeños.  The cheapest and best looking products at the nearby market.

Every few weeks my roommates and I would make the extra effort to go to Trader Joe's for novelty items like pumpkin butter and rice bread.  It was there that I decided to purchase my very first box of qunioa.  I returned home and promptly prepared a serving for my dinner.  I remember treating it just like rice, which was a huge mistake at the time.

Even though quinoa has the same water to grain ratio as white rice, and roughly the same stovetop time, it does not contain as much flavor.  When left plain quinoa is quite bland - at least I thought it was at the time.  Similar to tofu, you must add your flavors, making it taste exactly the way you want it to taste.  Of course,  I left it plain and ate it for dinner that night.  I was not impressed.

Once I learned that the flavor must be controlled, however, everything changed.  Now, three years later, I love the high protein/low fat seed and use it in my cooking several times a week.  Lately I have come across the use of qunioa in sweets and baking.  Last night I made stuffed bell peppers with quinoa.  The recipe is simple, delicious and extremely popular:

Prepare 1 cup of quinoa, when finished set aside.  Chop half of a white onion and saute in pan with a splash of olive oil.  Chop 2 sticks of celery and add to pan.  Add cooked quinoa when onions and celery have cooked.  Toss in 1 handful of roasted sunflower seeds, 1 handful of raisins, 1 handful of dried cranberries and stir.  Add salt, pepper, tumeric and curry to taste.  Stir!


Simultaneously steam 4 bell peppers (I happened to used green).  Stuff with qunioa conglomerate.  Serve warm with a fresh salad of chopped romaine and spinach with blue cheese and a light olive oil/rice vinegar dressing.  Enjoy!

I have not included any images because it is difficult to take appetizing pictures of food AND I ate the leftovers for lunch.

Long Beach

Went to Long Beach last week to hang out with Snoop Dogg and go to Disneyland to attempt a free solo first ascent of the Matterhorn.

San Francisco Giants

Giants beat the Phillies last night.  We are in the World Series!

Stole my sister's Giants t-shirt and wore it while I watched the game.  Highlights include the delicious tacos we ate during the 1st inning, the brawl that nearly broke out mid game, Lincecum and, of course, the win.  Giants v Rangers Wednesday night.  Standing room tickets at AT&T Park are going for $550.

Primo Down Jacket

Someday I will own this jacket.

California General Election

Every vote counts.

So Long, Farewell

Today is my last day of work at the school.  It has only been one quarter but I have come to know some of the students, especially the nine who came down the Rogue River, and I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn't going to miss them.  They are not my friends but I am interested in what they will make of the remainder of their high school careers and beyond.

I have already received hugs, worried looks and vocal concerns about who will replace me.  And not to say that I am a vital contributor to this school, I merely monitored the study period.  However, I would like to think that my presence was refreshing for a handful of students.  In other words, at least I'm not another middle aged person standing over them making sure they are on task.  Instead I am a twenty-something standing over them making sure they are on task.

When I first thought about going to grad school I told myself that if I ever became a teacher I would never work at the high school level, that college would be better.  Teenagers, however, are quite amazing.  The students at this school have changed my attitude and I can clearly see why some people dream of teaching.  Though I doubt I will ever become a certified academic instructor I am certain that I would enjoy being involved with teenagers in the future, as part of some sort of job description.  My only stipulation is that I waive the classroom setting and interact with them in an unconventional learning environment, such as outside.

This experience has been informative, meaningful and stressful at times, and and much as I will miss this school I am ready to move forward.  I feel like an important part of this experience was its ability to help me do just that.  I am prepared for the adventures that lie ahead (and I know they will be great).

High Sierra Tents

Lyell Canyon, 2008

Middle Young Lake, 2009

Rephotography: Adams and Watkins

Even if you don't care about photography chances are you have heard of Ansel Adams.  If you don't recognize his name you would recognize his photographs of Yosemite.  Many people who go to Yosemite Valley visit the Ansel Adams Galley and for good reason, his photographs are crisp (in that f/64 way) stunning and iconic.

But there was another man who photographed the Valley long before Adams.  His name is Carleton Watkins and his images of Yosemite helped establish the Park that exists today.  Their views of the Valley may be similar, even the same, and both men even worked toward conservation of Yosemite.  Lets not forget Watkins and his contribution to the protection of one of the most beautiful, and most photographed, places in the world.

More Yosemite work by Carleton Watkins.

Scars

Bingham, UT

Eureka, NV

Carlin, NV

Flood of 1983

Several summers ago during a family road trip across the Southwest I requested a stop at Glen Canyon Dam.  I had just finished reading The Monkey Wrench Gang and was determined to see the structure that Edward Abbey's infamous gang dreamed of destroying.

Glen Canyon Dam in 2008

In the spring of 1983 Lake Powell filled to the brim as warm temperatures melted more snow than was expected.  The excess water forced an enormous amount of pressure on the dam, seriously testing the structure's ability to withstand nature.  Now, I am no engineer and I won't pretend to be, but from what I can understand the spillways at Glen Canyon (and Hoover Dam) are similar to water pipes and are not designed to operate while full of water.  But as water levels rose in Lake Powell the spillways had to be used and with all the spring run off from upstream they were completely full, sending 120-mph jets of water out at the bottom.

Glen Canyon Dam in 1983

The spillways began ejecting blocks of concrete, scraps of metal and even large pieces of sandstone as water pressure increased.  Somehow the force was so great it began ripping and tearing these objects away, carrying them through the tunnels to deposit them below the dam.  Deep inside the dam itself, where the operation rooms are full of people, shuddering forces were felt pulsing through the structure.  I heard from an old Grand Canyon river guide that the vibrations were large enough to be measured on the Richter scale.  Whether or not that is actually true, the dam shook for days.

Glen Canyon Spillways

Concerns about the sandstone cliffs on either sides of the dam eroding where high as the water continued to calve sandstone out of the tunnels.  If a leak formed water could flush from the bottom of Lake Powell, eventually draining the entire reservoir.  The lake, however, continued to rise until the water was only six feet from the top of the dam before the flood subsided.  Since then the keepers of the dam have never allowed the reservoir to reach the same capacity as it was when the flood began.

The dam may have withstood the might of the water in 1983 but that was more than twenty years ago and it would seem that only a few more floods of that measure can occur before the dam ceases to function properly.  I estimate that most dams have a life span of three-five hundred years but would say that Glen Canyon has only one hundred years up its sleeve as it perches between soft sandstone cliffs.

Hearing about this story for the first time earlier this summer as I stood ankle deep in the water at Lee's Ferry, fifteen miles downstream from the dam, was a strange sensation.  There is so much water built up behind that concrete wall and standing there below the dam, knowing it wasn't as strong as it appeared, made me feel uneasy.  I think even the Monkey Wrench Gang would be glad to know that these manmade dams won't last forever.

Tents in Art

Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, Tracey Emin

Wrapped Trees and Wrapped Reichstag, Christo and Jeanne-Claude

The Apple Orchard

Only a handful of apples were edible this year.

I miss summer.

The Gift of the Sacred Dog

It rained yesterday.  I curled up inside a quilt and revisited some of my favorite childhood books.  There seems to be a theme.

An American Childhood

Last night I finally finished reading Annie Dillard's influential account An American Childhood.  The book was recommended to me more than a year ago and I began it with every intention of having it play a major role the annotated bibliography for my undergraduate thesis.  A first I looked only for passages in which Dillard made a reference to her father or the outdoors.  Time passed.  I read very little.

Finishing the book has allowed me to understand the use of personal experience from another writer's perspective, rather than getting lost within my own.  This is not a memoir but it is from the interior, the center of the human self and soul.  This book is honest, innocent, devious, hilarious and exciting.  There are many aspects of childhood and adolescence that span all types of people and Dillard captures them in precisely the right way.

"I'd been suspended from school for smoking cigarettes.  That was a month earlier, in early spring.  Both my parents wept.  Amy saw them weeping; horrified, she began to cry herself.  Molly cried.  She was six, missing her front teeth.  Like Mother and me, she had pale skin that turned turgid and red when she cried; she looked as if she were dying of wounds.  I didn't cry, because, actually, I was an intercontinental ballistic missile, with an automatic warhead; they don't cry."


Not only can she remake the piercing frustration of her sixteen year old self but she can also tell she story of the men and women at the country club, mindlessly chinking their Scotch and crystal on tabletops.  She paints a portrait of her childhood in Pittsburgh that has even inspired an unashamed West Coastophile to return to the essays I used to write.

"Here, alas, is a child of the twentieth century."  - Madame Owens

Recipe of the Week: Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce

Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce
Serves 8-10


You will need:
7-10 tomatoes, depending on size - we used Romas from the garden
1 bundle of fresh basil, just like any you would find at the grocery store
2-3 wedges of brie cheese, depending on the size
1 package of spaghetti
salt and pepper
olive oil to taste

Note that other tomatoes, pastas and cheese (mozzarella makes the sauce like a caprese salad) may be substituted for your favorite kinds.

Boil enough water for your pasta and cook it accordingly.
Slice tomatoes into large chunks, rinse fresh basil and tear the leaves into large pieces, slice cheese into large chunks and combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with a dash of salt, pepper and olive oil and stir gently.  When the spaghettl has finished cooking, drain it and add the steaming noodles to the bowl.  Stir gently but thoroughly.  The heat from the past will melt the cheese creating a delicious creamy sauce.  Enjoy with a light salad and grilled tofu or chicken.

Chile rellenos, black beans, rice, hommade salsa and heaps of fresh watermelon were also on the menu this past weekend.

Tents for all Occasions

Enjoy a few images of tents to welcome the weekend and the beginning of October.