summer road trip: day 2

We began the drive in Garberville, Ca. and ended it in Florence, Or. In between we wandered a bit, viewed a lot of creatures and saw some spiffy towns...

Life in a-go-goland is a tad bit chaotic right now.  Posting may be more sporadic but we're all good. The mama a-go-go had a hospital scare and we have houseguests and there are some others things in the works...hopefully by September things will be smooth. For now, you get a slideshow of sorts of all of our vacation days. Cheers!

road tripping recovery

We just returned from a ten day road trip up to Oregon, across California, into Nevada, and back home again. There was a lot of driving. A LOT of it. There was also some crafting, thrift shopping, berry picking, shell collecting, scrabble playing, museum going, camping, and a lot of wanderting and hiking.

There was also picture taking. Goodness. SO MANY PHOTOS.

So as I eke out time for editing in between family visits, daily errands and chores, and oh yes...packing for our upcoming move, I will attempt to get some posts up about our summer adventure. The above montage is a peak at day one which mostly involved seven hours of driving with a stop to refuel both dear Eleanor and ourselves. We ended our evening in Garberville, California resting our weary noggins at the Sherwood Forest Motel.

I still have far too many photos to edit and garlands to find so I can mail those out. So much to do and so so so little time to NOT panic about it all. Yikes! Have you had any fun summer adventures?

little bits of happy

cronuts in the morning

cronut love

While I do definitely own up to a sweet tooth, I have to admit that donuts are not really my thing. At least, not your average run-of-the-mill donut. It is probably both a good thing and a bad thing that we live within walking distance to a magical donut shop. I've written about SLO Donut (or SLODOCO for those in the know) before, mostly when Ander and Zaza come visit as that is out thing...donuts...at SLO Donut where you can decorate your own bit of baked goodness to your heart's content.

morning hearts

Of course we went and sweetened up. The donut stop was necessary as we spent the morning making pom-poms and mornings making pom poms can sometimes take the oomph outta you. Banana glazed donuts, apple fritters, and even cronuts can help with that. Cronuts you ask? Why yes, there is such a thing and it is sweeping the donut nation from NY to CA. SLODOCO's cronuts are lovely and flakey and much to our surprise creme filled! I'm still working through that sugar shock but it was all good.

Iced coffee was also important. In this case it was a latte....

Not usual suspects for me (I usually do 2 donuts)...though this ended up being my meal for the day until late in the evening when we had dinner. Here is a savory stuffed croissant, cronut, and devil's food cake. I do love a good devil's food cake.

The light was simply too pretty to not get all snap happy!

The chalkboards are always fun, even if there are far too many comments from hosers who think they are witty. We have yet been able to find the chalk. I wonder if it is a bring your own deal?

eat dillydilly: cranberry wild rice salad with sautéd artichole hearts {plus awesome berry glaze}

On the way home from Maker Faire back in May, we car travelers passed the time by creating a list of ingredients that would be fun to cook with. We decided to create an ingredient club of sorts where once a month, everyone prepares a dish or two utilizing two ingredients that were selected at random. Our first meeting was in early June in it was a blast!

The ingredients for our first meeting were cranberries and artichokes. Now, if we want to get super creative we can use both ingredients in a single dish but we don't have to. Say a future ingredient selection was sardines and peaches...I suppose that could work but I'm not sure I want to go there (though now the noggin is turning and thinking).

From classic artichoke dip, artichoke stuffed turkey breasts, and steamed 'chokes with cranberry hollandaise to cold potato soup with cranberry creme fraiche it was a food frenzy! The other folks in the group are pretty fancy in their cooking. Bread from scratch and all that jazz. I at first was super intimidated and tried to find fancy dishes but being that I am not a super fan of artichokes really I decided to figure out something I do like and make that is tasty and adaptable. I began with cranberries and thought of savory dishes and then it hit me...wild rice salad!

So that is what I made, a wild rice salad with sauteed artichoke hearts and cranberry cherry glaze. I don't have photos of the process but I an list the recipe below...have fun!

Wild Rice Salad with Sauteed Artichoke Hearts and Cranberry Cherry Glaze

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked wild rice
1 cup cooked basmati rice
juice and zest from a small lemon
1 small red onion chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries 
1 can of artichoke hearts (not marinated)
3-5 cloves of garlic crushed
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

While rice is cooking, add a plug or two of olive oil to a heavy skillet and turn heat on medium. Add your crushed garlic and stir to incorporate into the oil. While keeping an eye on the temperature of the skillet, open and drain artichoke hearts. Squeeze out excess moisture with clean hands and coarsely chop. Add to hot skillet and stir until coated with oil and garlic. Continue sautéing until artichokes are somewhat browned. Set aside to cool.

Once rice is cooked pour into a large bowl. Stir to combine the two. Add juice and zest from a small lemon, chopped red onion, and cranberries. Stir until well combined. Add artichokes hearts, stir and taste. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed. Serve with a spoonful or two of cranberry cherry glaze.

Cranberry Cherry Glaze

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup no sugar added cranberry cherry juice
3-5 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt

Combine ingredients into small saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon until the back of the spoon is coated. This glaze thickens up and resembles an orange glaze for orange chicken. We have used it on our rice salad, with pork chops, and as a sandwich spread. It would probably be even better with fresh or frozen cranberries for your Thanksgiving dinner!

and suddenly i was overwhelmed with weepiness

...it was weird. I had packed three boxes for the move, mister is in a packing panic and I am certain we have plenty of time but his manic panic is freaking me out and so I promise to pack a certain number of boxes per day to keep him chill.

So, I had packed my boxes and tried on some pants and made a pile for cutting up. I gathered up some magazine pages to see if I could find pins for them, poured a jar of ice water, snagged a favorite supermarket cookie for a snack, popped in one game of candy crush (oy) and got to pinning and planning for next week's road trip.

I hopped from one page to another, doing my multitasking (and slightly ADD) dealio when I decided to look up a recipe that would top my favorite supermarket cookie. I'm scrolling through pins on pinterest and suddenly my breath catches and I want to weep.

No trigger unless you count Cookie Monster...not a one. Though I have been anxious all day, jittery and headachey and a big old worry wart but I have also been happy and goofy (have I told you that I pose for traffic cameras) and had a divine visit with a friend and a tall cup of my favorite coffee.

So that's how I roll. I am in the middle of a course of antibiotics and steroids...maybe those are messing with my mojo. I don't know. We're in the middle of packing for the new move and packing for a road trip. Things are a little techy and off but not so awful on the flip-side.

And it's back..this worry and weepiness...maybe I'm just really sad I haven't been able to clear all the jelly....