Glorious Summer Weekends

The work week seems to take forever, dragging along, but finally it's the weekend - time for the happy dance!

Weekend Things

It was a busy but beautiful weekend here in the mountains....the best part being that I was NOT WORKING!!  Well....not working at the office, anyway - but let's face it, there's always a ton to do around the house. And after being in the office every weekend for what seems like forever I was one busy girl around home this weekend!

And I was happy as a clam. 

I kicked off the weekend with a lovely evening with my sweetie on Friday with dinner out at a local brewery. 

Followed by dessert at home.....

Just look at those beautiful chocolates - and I'll tell you, they taste even better than they look!

Busy as a Bee

Did you know that Deborah means BEE in Hebrew? 

Via

And that I'm allergic to bees? Well, wasps and yellow jackets anyway...we haven't tested it on bees yet, thankfully!

And I have a postcard on my fridge that is covered in bees?

And my older daughter loves the symbol of the bee?

And both of my daughters love honey but I can't stomach it at all? The smell makes my stomach turn instantly. 

Are you wondering where I'm going with all this?

I'm just trying to tell you that I've been as busy as a bee all weekend.....which is really nothing unusual for me! There are always a million things to do around here!

But I've missed being here and sharing with all my blogland friends! So I wanted to come by and give you a littler recap of what's been going on in my busy bee life.

This was a rare 4 day weekend for me, which I am so very grateful for. Thanksgiving was absolutely fabulous - my sister and brother in law are the best hosts and we always have such a fun time when all 7 of the cousins get together! Such a wacky bunch they are, but my sisters and I get such a kick out of watching them all interact together. The youngest cousin is 8 and the oldest 25 (but acts like 8!) So you can just imagine the goofiness when they are all together!

Friday was HOT here on the mountain top - it was weird weather, topping out about 60 or so, probably more in the sun. 

Via

I tell you, it was tough to get motivated to start decorating for Christmas!! But we put on some nice Christmas music on Pandora and browsed around for some inspirational images online and got started. 

Via

I would love to share some photos with you but apparently my camera is away on vacation right now. Ahem. No comment. 

I'll give you just a tiny sneak peek:

Remember when I bought this? It has the prime location on the tree this year, front and center!

So, the inside of the house is nearly done....I have a bunch of boxes of Christmas decor I haven't used in years that I need to look through and figure out what to keep, what to toss. That will get started today. 

And the outside? I don't really know. I don't like ladders....not even stepstools. I have zero sense of balance. 

I remember painting the hallway in my apartment in the city a number of years back and was on the 3rd step of the stepstool and fell completely backwards with my head landing in the paint roller tray....which of course was full of paint. 

Yup. That's me. The original spazzmatazz. 

So I tend to stay on the ground whenever possible. 

Whatever I do to decorate outside will be easy peasy. And idiot proof. 

Aside from decorating the inside on Friday (which WIPED ME OUT!) it's been non stop around here. Saturday was the last farmer's market/holiday market of the year - see you in May! It was lovely - live music, beer tastings from a brand new local brewery, tons of baked goods, the last produce of the season (mushrooms, garlic, onions, potatoes) and lots of preserved goods. Also local beef, pork, and chicken from two different farms - all organic, grass fed. Wreaths, paintings and photographs from local artists, pottery, hand made soaps and jewelry - you name it! Great day! 

Some of those potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, onions and beef went into a beef stew last night - mmmmmmm - leftovers went home with my sweetie for his lunch today as well as another meal for two that I popped into the freezer. That will be a treat on a snowy mountain evening!

I used this recipe from Once Upon A Chef as a base...only with half as much wine, no water, twice as much broth. And some crushed tomatoes instead of tomato paste....about a cup....because they were already open. It was GOOD!!!!

Via

I also made turkey stock from the Thanksgiving turkey carcass that my sister sent home with me. Same general idea as the chicken broth - just obviously replacing the chicken carcass with the turkey. I only used about half the carcass - the other half is in the freezer for another batch. I started it yesterday around 4 pm and it needs to go at least 24 hours - I'll strain it sometime either this evening or tomorrow morning. 

And the final ripened batch of the giant tomato harvest is on the stove simmering right now, in my easy peasy tomato onion butter sauce. 

I have to admit - I'm kind of glad to be tackling the last of the tomatoes....after all we've been using fresh tomatoes in a million meals since about July! On the other hand, I'm kind of sad, too - supermarket tomatoes just don't compare. Not even close. 

But it's time at this point to have a little break from dealing with the garden harvest.....it was a long, busy season. 

And a long, busy weekend. 

Mountain Mama needs a nap. 

Puttering

It's a damp, cold, miserable kind of a November day in the mountains today....but I don't really mind that much. It's a good excuse to be indoors doing one of the things I love most on my day off - puttering. 

I love when I have a rare day that I don't have to go anywhere. Nowhere. No deadlines, no timetables, no schedule. I can just putter around my house doing bits of this and that. 

At my leisure. In between checking out blogs and rambling around the internet. 

Best kind of day EVER. 

I started my day with a cup of Cappuccino, as I love to do on my day off. Super awesome weekend treat to myself. Perfect way to start my morning. 

After feeding the birds I made a nice weekend breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheddar, a side of crispy bacon, and raspberry white chocolate scones. Decadent! And no, I didn't make the scones - my sister brought them when she came to visit a few weeks back and I froze the leftovers. Yumzers!

After washing up the pans I decided to make Sunny Simple Life's Homemade Bleach Cleaner - it was so easy to make! 

I took everything off my kitchen counters, sprayed them down with the cleaner, let it sit for about 15 minutes while I bounced around blogland, and then wiped them down. They came out great!! And I really feel like they are SUPER CLEAN - I'm always a big fan of using bleach to kill any germs. And I am one of those people who actually likes the smell of bleach so that's a plus. It definitely killed the smell of the bacon in the house which is a big bonus for me!!

That went so well I decided to try out Sunny Simple Life's Super Frugal Easy Way to Stretch Your Laundry Soap. 

Sunny Simple Life

I have to tell you, I'm very impressed! I ordered the Fels - Naptha Laundry Soap on Amazon  since I don't have a dollar store around here but even at the Amazon price this is is most definitely a super frugal easy way to stretch the laundry detergent. I got two bars for under $6 and I think they will easily last me for MONTHS!

I was a little worried about how it would smell since I have never tried this product before...I thought perhaps it would smell like petroleum jelly or similar. Nope! Lovely fresh citrusy smell - I'm lovin' it!!

The stretched laundry detergent is getting the first workout on the fur-babies blankets. Even if I just use this "stretched" detergent for sheets, blankets, comforters, bath rugs, towels....the stuff that doesn't really get stains but just needs freshening - it will still save a ton of $$$ on laundry detergent. Thanks, Sunny Simple Life!!

My next task was to blow off the deck and deck stairs - I have such a great blower that I love - as a matter of fact I bought a bunch of their garden tools when I bought my house. I didn't want to have to mess with gas/oil mixtures, winterizing machines, etc. I read about the WORX brand tools somewhere and had to give them a try. 

Via

I have to say I'm very pleased with my little blower. It's so light and easy to use - even my daughter who is about 90 lbs soaking wet has no problem using it. When I beg her. 

Anyway. 

I wanted to get the leaves off the deck so I could put down these mats and stair treads I got from Improvements Catalog. 

Via

I ordered 6 stair treads and 2 mats for the top of the stairs. Let me tell you - those mats are HEAVY!! I had to have my daughter help me carry them up the stairs!

Here's how they look on my stairs - I'm loving them! These old wooden stairs get mighty slippery and I was nervous we were going to tumble down them in the winter. 

My sweetie will have to figure out how to trim that bottom one to fit around the moldings - I don't even know if that's possible - they are so thick and heavy, made from recycled tires. 

I'm really happy with them! And I was just finishing up this little task when a storm blew in with mixed rain and snow....so I ran into the house and put on the kettle for a cup of tea. 

Brrrrrr. 

My next project is going to be in the kitchen - I'm trying out a new recipe that has been up on my fridge for a while - Slow Cooker Gigante Beans with Tomatoes and Pancetta from Alexandra's Kitchen. 

Alexandra's Kitchen

I'm going to start with this recipe but adapt it (as I usually do with recipes) to suit my needs - I am going to use fresh tomatoes to use up some more of the billions of green tomatoes that are ripening slowly in the dining room. 

And bacon instead of Pancetta, since that's what I have. 

Doesn't this look absolutely scrumptious?? I love her blog....you should go check it out!

This will be tomorrow's dinner. From what I read it's even better the second day - and this means no cooking for me tomorrow evening, which frees me up to run to the market after work. 

Perhaps. If I feel like it. 

Depending on how my Monday goes. They aren't always good days. . 

Tonight's dinner will be roasted chicken in my new best friend  - which I absolutely adore, by the way. It's been over a month now since she came to live with me and I tend to reach for her first before any of my other pots. It heats up so evenly, cooks beautifully, and cleanup is an absolute breeze. I'm so thrilled. 

Martha Stewart

So, spiced roast chicken, sweet potatoes, stuffing, carrots from the garden - who's in?

Happy Sunday, Friends!!

The Monkey & The Moo

Remember yesterday when I showed you all the cool stuff I got at Home Goods? 

Well the Monkey decided that this little Moo Cow was hers and hers alone. 

And she's pretty much obsessed with it already. 

She gets extremely attached to her things. 

She'll hug it and kiss it and squeeze it all over....

And Heaven help anyone who wants to take it away from her. 

The Moo Cow even stuck around while the Monkey ate her dinner. 

Thankfully my old girl, Lily, was quite content to keep pulling all the stuffing out of Duckie.  Poor Duckie. 

I hope your evening was as much fun as ours!

Happy weekend, folks!

Crazy for Cappuccino

Weekends are for cappuccino - without a doubt. It's my little treat to myself on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And vacation days. Basically any morning I don't have to jump out of bed and run to the office. 

My sister came for a visit recently and I made her a cappuccino and she looked around my kitchen in confusion, wondering how I made it.....without an expensive cappuccino machine. 

So...I thought I'd share my little secret with you, my blogland friends!

I start with my Moka pot. Don't look too closely at it - I don't follow the instructions NOT to put it in the dishwasher and the metal has discolored. Oh well! If the discoloration bothers you, make sure you don't put your Moka pot in the dishwasher. If you are like me and don't like to hand wash dishes unless you absolutely have to.....go ahead and pop it in the dishwasher. It doesn't change the flavor or performance one bit.

Note: The 6 cup Moka pot is a big fat lie - this makes 2 cappuccinos total! If I'm alone, one of them goes into a mason jar for an iced cappuccino treat midweek. 

I also use a can of Illy Moka,  my milk warmer, and my fast froth. All total I spent about $55 for my equipment, as opposed to anywhere from $250+ for a cappuccino machine. The coffee is about $15 per can on Amazon, but a little cheaper if you buy 2 cans at a time. And since I only make this on the weekends, one can lasts me about a month. 

Ok, here we go. 

Unscrew the top of the Moka pot from the bottom and remove the coffee filter. 

Fill with cold water up to the level of the valve, shown on the front of the bottom of the Moka pot. 

Set the filter back into the base of the Moka Pot and loosely fill with coffee, Don't pack it in, but fill it to the rim, clean off any  mess around the rim and screw the top portion back on. 

Put your Moka pot on the burner with the flames reaching to the edge of the bottom of the pot, not coming up around the sides. 

At this point I usually feed the birds.....because it takes a few minutes to start brewing. 

The coffee will start bubbling up through the middle of the Moka Pot, and pooling in the upper portion of the pot. 

Now it's time to start warming the milk. I use organic fat free milk and it works perfectly for this. 

Fill the milk warmer about 1/3 full of cold milk and put on a low-med flame. Keep it stirred - nobody likes scorched milk! You want the milk hot but not boiling. 

Take your handy-dandy Fast Froth and place the whisk part into the hot milk. Turn it on and move it up and down in the hot milk to aerate the milk and produce a beautiful froth. I keep the pot tipped slightly to the side while doing this, which seems to help aerate the milk. 

Keep an eye on the Moka Pot - when the coffee stops bubbling up through the middle turn it off. 

I drink my coffee black during the week but my cappuccino? I like one teaspoon of organic raw cane sugar. I put the sugar in the bottom of the cup first, and then pour in hot milk from the milk warmer. Stir to dissolve the sugar. 

Now add half the coffee from the Moka pot. Stir again. 

Top off with foam from the milk warmer, spooned off the top of the hot milk. 

Add a sprinkle of cinnamon and tell everyone to leave you alone for a little while. 

Sit in  your favorite chair next to the fire, grab a magazine or your iPad or whatever makes you happy, and start your day off right. 

What's your weekend treat to yourself?