Holiday Movies!

So it's the time of year when I start watching a plethora of holiday movies.  Most are obvious; others, for whatever reason, I've associated with the holidays.  I can't possibly put them in order of favorites, they all make my heart happy in lots of ways!

1.  The Muppet Family Christmas -- I bought this bad boy on VHS from eBay I was so desperate for it!  (The above video is this movie...in full length!  You're so lucky!)

2.  Home Alone 1 & 2--duh.

3.  The Santa Clause--The scenes in the North Pole are just too good.

4.  Little Women--The one from the 90s with Winona Ryder.  It was only in the last couple of years that I got over Jo not marrying Teddy.  Mostly because I read the book, but now I love Friedrich.  Really, the origin of Team Edward vs. Team Jacob comes from this story: Team Laurie vs. Team Friedrich. 

5.  Holiday Inn-- good ole fashioned fun.   

6.  Home for the Holidays--This is actually based around Thanksgiving and a dysfunctional family.  

7.  Santa Claus--Quite possibly the real Santa.  

8.  The Family Stone--Now this feels like a real family.  

9.  The Muppet Christmas Carol--Okay this is my favorite.  I actually think this take on the classic tale is better than any live theater performance I've ever seen...yeah, I said it. 

So it looks like most are distinctively holiday based and I could go on, but long posts tend to bore me.  haha.  

Happy Almost Friday!

Girls Season Deux

Completely addicted to this series.  I've already watched the trailer for season two...more than a couple times.  What?  Yes.

The Friend Wall

This is probably my favorite wall of our entire apartment.  I like to call it our friend wall.  I've just tacked up a load of pictures, mostly of...friends!  I used to want to have all our pictures in frames and just load up the wall...but then I ran short of money and just started pinning them up there.  I like lying on the couch and scanning one picture then the next thinking or feeling about a particular event or adventure.  An adjacent wall hangs all of our family pictures.  It just feels good to see and think about so many people who we love and have shaped our lives.

There are some crazy changes happening this month and it's good to lie back and soak in all the people and places that have gotten us to this apartment.  The one bedroom apartment with a yellow kitchen in an orange house. 

Gobla! Gobla!

What a busy time last week was!  This happens every year, Thanksgiving comes and bam!  Holiday season is upon us! This year I gave people the chance to buy home baked bread for their holiday meals.  The picture above is the completed orders!  It was a busy busy couple of days, but I loved it.  

The note people received in their bread orders

Lefse making

In addition to familiar breads I bake weekly, I also offered Finnish pulla bread and lefse.  Pulla bread is a sweet bread that tends to be a bit denser because of the butter, milk and eggs used.  I baked a couple extra for me because of their tastiness.  Lefse is a Norwegian soft flat bread that you spread with butter and then sprinkle with sugar, brown sugar, or simply jam.  These babies are addicting.  Ross helped me with the production line of that.  My parents borrowed me the lefse making tools and Ross helped me with the production line.  They are pretty labor intensive, so having a partner was key!

Graffiti-ed sign by Ross

Once baking and delivery was done, we prepared for hosting Friendsgiving 2012.  It's exactly what it sounds like and so much fun!  Our little one bedroom apartment hosted 13 people and one cat.  A highlight to the party was our pumpkin keg!  We carved out a hole and slipped a bag of wine right inside.  I probably drank out of that guy more frequently just because it was too cute.

Phil relaxing during the party

The bar...note the pumpkin keg

Any one?

 So after playing host and eating too much food at our family Thanksgiving, I'm back to getting life together.  We have a lot of changes happening in the next month and I have lots of lists to make and things to check off!  I'll be telling of those changes soon:) 

Happy Early Winter!

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning to a festive season and the start of winter!  It's cold and a bit snowy here.  We are spending time with family this weekend and had a busy busy week preparing.  So, forgive me for the absence.  Be back next week!

Phil!

Seriously Philipe, I can't get enough of you.

Ode to George

I'm back from the mini road trip!  It's amazing how fast a week can fly by.  I spent some serious time looking out the window seeing the southwest.  Such a distinctly beautiful environment.  I had lots of time to ponder, daydream and write out ideas.  Now that I'm back, life is in full swing!  With Thanksgiving next week (holy smokes!), I'm hopefully going to sell some of the lovely breads that I make in our little apartment.

On a separate side note, one of our three chickens has died.  George.  I got back Thursday night and Ross had said that she was acting weird.  I then spent all of yesterday feeding her water every half hour.  However, when we woke in the morning, she had passed.  As we're heading towards a life on a farm and goals of homesteading full time, it was good to cross this avenue.  How do we see animals?  I always feel emotional towards things passing in this world.  And even if we have animals solely as sources of nourishment, I will always feel when they leave our lives.  I spoke with my parents who grew up on farms and they said animals just die sometimes.  Seemingly, it's that simple.  We have some ideas on why she got sick and died, but I won't go into that here.  So, we gave George our thanks for being a great chicken and helping us in our goals of homesteading.

Here's our lovely George on the fence!  Such a beautiful bird!

 Now, tonight we're off to see this show at Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre.  We've never been, so we're excited to see what the place and show hold!

I hope your weekends are going well and everyone is excited for Thanksgiving!

New Orleans to Los Angeles!

Well, I'm off on a little spontaneous trip this week!  I left yesterday for New Orleans!  I'm meeting a friend to help drive a van back to Los Angeles and it should be nothing short of an adventure.  To top it off, it's my twenty-great birthday today!  I feel it's appropriate to start the year off with travel and this is one of my favorite spots.  Ross and I lived here while we were house parents for a gap year program.  It was only two months, but it was enough to get in our bones.  This place has magic.  Once I landed, I felt like bouncing in my seat like a five year old!  I didn't.  But now I am.  I'm about to wash my head and head down to Cafe du Monde to start off this new year.  I haven't even looked outside yet and I'm already considering moving us down here:)  Here are some pictures from when we were here in 2009.  I can't believe I haven't been back since.

Jackson Square in French Quarter

 Lower Ninth Ward

 Lower Ninth Ward.  Where houses had stood.

A wonderful man we met from the Lower Ninth.  This sign was in his home...says it all.

 French Quarter.  Why are you so beautiful?

 We lived in the Upper Ninth Ward.  Some street art near our place.

So, now I'm actually squirming to get out of the house.  Enjoy your weeks and be good to each other!

Have a Peaceful Weekend!

Picture from our travels a couple of years ago.  Read it here.

Oh Phil!

This is Phil sitting inside looking out the kitchen window.  Torture, pure torture.

1st Snowflakes!

It snowed in Minneapolis today.  Nothing substantial, but it instantly brings me indoors to the warmth of the oven.  We keep our apartment extremely cold, so anytime the air gets chilly outdoors, I pull out the recipes and bake.  Today I did just that!  I love how the heat of the kitchen brings people and cats towards it.  And then the bonus of delicious smells wading through the house.  I can smell the brown sugar and butter working magic as I type.   I can't deny that a little excitement ran through my body when I saw the fluffy flakes.  It means more baking days are ahead.  Well, I'm off to eat an obscene amount of cookies.  Happy almost weekend!

Chicken Bath

Ever wonder how a chicken stays so purty and clean?  Funny enough, they take dirt baths.  All the dirt that they get up in their feathers keeps them clean and mite or lice free.  Now, I realize I'm a little obsessed with my chickens, but I find this video of my backyard friends amazing.  This video is only of Skinny Lynnie (black and white) and Red Legs (the red one), George was in the nest working on an egg.  Enjoy!

 

An Addition to the Kitchen

Early last week, I finally sent out an email to close friends telling how my passion of bread baking is now accessible to them!  They can buy their very own loaf of bread I bake from my little yellow kitchen in my little orange house.  It's taken me at least two months to actually send the email.  Why?  Because in the back of my head there's this little voice that says things like, "Do you really think people will buy that?  Do you really think your bread is good enough?"  I finally had to slap it and just send the email.  What's the worst that could happen?  No one buys any.  Well, a couple of people responded and I was pumped!  Then the other worst happened...every single bread I made, failed.  I'm not joking...six loaves in a row.  Not done completely, over-proofed, looked butt ugly, just failures.  I kept telling myself this is a test, one of many I'm sure, to see if I will push through and I'm pushing through.  I collected myself and decided I was rushing it and needed to rethink my recipes and approach.  Therefore, I bought this:

 

It's a game changer.  My first scale!  I am now trying new recipes using weights as measurements and so far so good.  This was the first bread I did with the new love of my life (the scale). 

Since it's for my mother and father, I'm doing everything I can not to eat it.  Next up is beer bread!  

This is a link to a Ted Talk about shame, definitely check it out if you ever have that voice in your head telling you you can't.   After watching it...slap the voice.

I forgot...shocking.

Here is Phil's picture that should have been posted on Friday.  Oh well!  Even though he's wrapped in a blanket, he looks pretty surly.  Oh Phil.

 

It has hit freezing points over night here and I officially had to turn on the heat.  I guess it's time to put away my summer clothes!  Enjoy your Mondays!

The Knoll

Like everyone else living in Minnesota, I think fall is a season of magic.  There's no more excuses for looking longingly at those light weight sweaters in the back of my closet, I can pull them on now.  And I believe one of the best pairings of those coveted sweaters to be a picnic.  Ross and I have been pretty avid picnic-ers this summer because there are so many inviting spots in Minneapolis.  This is now one of our favorites, the knoll at Gold Medal Park by the Guthrie Theater.  

I loaded up the baskets of my bike with pumpkin curry soup, a travel mug of hot water for tea and a cupcake to share.  I like to make picnics as simple as possible so I won't be discouraged each time I want to go on them.  You can create a perfect picnic with just three little items: soup/sandwich, tea/wine, and a small dessert.  Throw in two bowls or plates with utensils and you're ready to go!

So, we laid about and daydreamed (shocking really) and watched as a bald eagle kept soaring right in front of us along the Mississippi River!  Magic!  

So, get out there and have yourself a picnic because it's time to celebrate fall!!

Philipe Fridays

I think it's necessary to post a picture of our other roommate Phil, short for Philipe (French not Spanish), more often than I do.  Therefore, every Friday I will do just that.  It seems to me that one either finds cats hysterical or not.  So, if you don't...I suggest skipping Fridays here on Golden Flea. 

Here is Phil taking a nap on the stool.

How to Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree!

This is a pie pumpkin.  You know all those cans of pureed pumpkin on your local grocer's shelves?  Well, you can make your own with just a little extra time!

Using a sharp knife, cut your pumpkin in half.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Scoop out all the inner gloop and seeds and set those aside.  

Put your cut sides down on a rimmed baking sheet.  I left my pumpkin with the cut sides up and it made the pumpkin dry out a bit.  Next, throw that orange guy into the oven and let bake until the flesh of the pumpkin is soft (use a fork to check).  If you insert your fork and it feels like the flesh is still hard, keep it baking for another 5-10 minutes.  This should take around 40- 60 minutes to bake.

Next, take your trusty spoon and scoop out the soft flesh of the first half pumpkin and put it directly into your food processor.  Puree until smooth and no more clumps are present.  Repeat with other half of pumpkin. 

If you're using your puree in a recipe, you can refrigerate it for a few days.  You can also put it in your freezer for a couple of months.  When I took my puree out of the fridge, there was some water on top.  Some websites recommend pouring that off before using the puree, however, I just stirred it back in and my recipes turned out great.  

Now, if you have chickens, give them the rind.  My ladies went wild!  They had their beaks covered in pumpkin.  Here is Red Legs checking me out, Skinny Lynnie is eating some of the seeds I gave her, and poor George missed the action because she was laying an egg.  

Speaking of pumpkin seeds!  With your leftover seeds, you can roast them for a tasty treat.  I used this recipe.  They were gone by the end of the day:)  

Happy Friday!

Week 1 Meal Plan...a little iffy.

Well, this whole Radical Homemaker job is really keeping me busy!  I've been a baking machine and did a lot of studying today.  I'm reading a lot on farming right now and I'm constantly hitting the limit of books allowed to be checked out at the library.  Luckily, I have a few librarians on my side who override such things as "too many books."  

So here is my Week 1 of meal planning:  

It looks slightly chaotic, right?  I figure I must start somewhere though.  And obviously I'm not great so far because half of my days are empty.  It's really only dinners that hang me up.  My breakfasts are consistently the same.  I've already made changes to my Week 2 and will post that outline soon.  But here's what I've been baking...

An apple galette adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  The top picture is when it was heading into the oven and below is the final product. 

Next came this cracked wheat bread that truly took me all day to bake.  The initial rise of the starter was a minimum of four hours to a maximum of 24!  I let it sit for about six hours, but there was more resting time later.  However, it was worth the wait because I think this was the best loaf of bread I've ever made.  Chewy texture with a crisper crust.  I'm already excited about breakfast to throw some apple butter on!  

Tomorrow is a day of pies.  I will be roasting a pie pumpkin and making all the pie crusts.  People say making pie dough is easy...but I don't know if I trust them.  I'll let you know!

Cheers to Friday!

Well, my camera is currently broken.  I believe I have to send it in...so I haven't been able to document goodies that I've been making.  I also want to show you my first week's plan of meals.  It's a pretty mangy outline, but I understand it.  Plus, I want to document the progress I make in meal planning.  Should be interesting!

As for goodies, I made some pretty addicting pitas from the also addicting Smitten Kitchen blog.  To go with it, I made some tasty baba ghanoush from here (what's the correct spelling?  Yeah, I don't know either).  Both were very easy, so give it a try this weekend!

Go grab yourself a glass of wine...I already did.  I will leave you with some recent pictures from my roomies and the city in which I live!    Happy Weekend!  

Phil in a box.  Never gets old.

This picture makes me chuckle to myself...do you see Red's head sticking out the side?

 My new nephew who I get to babysit tomorrow!

Ahh, Minneapolis...I love you.

Ohio Bound

 

Just a quick note to apologize for the lack of posts this week.  I am out in Ohio for a fundraiser event in Ohio and visiting Ross's family!!  I will be back in the life lessons next week.  I have a lot on my list to get canned and to start learning and I am ready to get going!  

Image found here!  Pretty cool site.

Creating Opportunities!

 

This week is the beginning of a whole new chapter of my life book.  You see, last week was my finale at the restaurant where I had been serving.  I've been serving for a while now and I'm just feeling a bit burnt out.  I love the aspect of being amongst people constantly, but I am ready to turn in another direction.  So, I gave my two weeks and voila!  Here I am.  

What am I doing next?  It's going to be a mash-up of baking, writing, meal planning, gardening, and money management.  Let's just call it a Radical Homemaker education.  I've put things like reading classics and learning to sketch on the back burner to things like...learning how to not spend all of our money.  Solid first step I think. 

To be honest, I haven't had much reaction to my next leg.  I don't think people are that shocked that I've got to venture into a territory that is more Devon-like.  With that, I will be putting things up on the blog that may be applied to your life too, if you so like.  I will share the good and bad about cooking, how to meal plan, and again...how to not spend all of your money.  When I'm not doing that, I will be pouring over inspiring Mark Twain quotes to keep my mental stability up and avoid wondering, "what in the hell am I doing?"

Now, when people ask me what I do for work, I'd love to tell them my new slogan:  

"I'm making my own goddamn opportunities!"  

It sure does say it all, huh?  However, it may be a bit too harsh to say that to my favorite librarians.  Instead, I'll smile and say, "I'm self-employed right now."  And if they really want to know what that entails...I'll start talking about Radical Homemaking:) 

Photo from here!

Salsa time!

After I submitted my breads to the Minnesota State Fair a couple of weekends ago, I went straight down to my mother's house to join in making and canning salsa.  We both have small gardens, so going in together with vegetables is a much better process for us.  I still had to buy bulk in Roma tomatoes and a few onions.  But it was well worth it!  

I like doing a lot of my canning with my mom because she's been doing it for years and knows what can and cannot be changed in a recipe.  I recommend anyone interested in canning this summer to find a person with the knowledge of preserving to show you the steps, plus it's just nice to be sweating in the kitchen with someone else:)

In the end, I got 16 pints of tomato based salsa to last me through the winter.  Let's hope so at least...we eat salsa like it's candy here. 

P.S. My mother got her recipe from the Minnesota Extension online.  This is the link to their homepage.  They have all kinds of recipes and things to learn about preserving.  Enjoy!