Stoneview

Change of address

For those who have been very patiently waiting for trip pictures there's a slew of them over on Flickr here. We dropped Dan off at college, visited family and a few national parks and then more family before arriving home again on the 31st. There's been a lot going on since then and posting will be less frequent this fall but when it does happen it'll be on a new blog here. I've only managed to move things over and it still needs a lot of work. I need to learn how to use the new setup but for the moment it's taken a back seat while I deal with college boy who wants to drop out and join the army asap. This blog will officially close on the 23rd when I cancel my account. Hope to see you over on the new one!

Take two and call me in the morning

Yesterday I made a batch of peace blueberry conserve that just about finsihed up our lovely peaches. We'll take the last few on the road with us today. We are heading off to take the boy to Missouri for college, visit relatives and generally have a bit of vacation. Back in two weeks!

Peaches

Yesterday we went to pick early season peaches lest we miss them while we are away for the next couple weeks. I've never done much canning but I decided it's high time to learn and the success of the blueberry syrup spurred me on. Yesterday I decided to try a batch of peach butter. I bought a large water bath canner and a food mill . I guess I didn't wash the food mill thoroughly enough as some grease was still on it as I was grinding up the peaches so the first batch had to be discarded. The second batch turned out very nicely and smells lovely.

Another visit to the rail trail

Having fully recovered from our last visit to the Nashua Rail Trail we pulled out the bikes again to enjoy another lovely sunny day. This time we made the trip a good deal shorter in hopes of preventing another shoulder flare and so far it seems to have done the trick. Yesterday was quite hot (well for this summer anyway) but we were out early enough that it was still bearable and there was a nice breeze. I do need to find myself some proper shorts as I again ended up with some uncomfortable abrasions. It also seems like my tires need pumped up each time as they were a bit too flat making it tougher to ride than it needed to be. The Canada geese were hopeful we'd toss them some bread when we stopped for a drink but quickly realized none was forthcoming and turned tail for more fertile feeding grounds.

Swappin'

Our fall sock swap is fast approaching and at the rate I am currently knitting it's long past time to get busy with this. As usual, if I show colors I'll give myself away so we'll make do with black and white, okay? This was the first incarnation of the sock I am designing for my pal. When I saw who I had some ideas immediately popped to mind and I ordered yarn. I'd forgotten to look at my charts first though and when I actually started knitting I realized I needed a different weight of yarn so more was ordered. On the next attempt I realized if I included all the elements I wanted my sock would turn into a knee sock so it was back to the drawing board again. I'm working now on the third incarnation of the sock which looks nothing like this photo. I'm almost ready for the heel and things finally seem to be clicking. My goal is to get through the gusset before we leave on Tuesday.

In the kitchen again

I made an interesting blueberry bread yesterday. I wanted to clear some things out of the fridge since we are heading out next week to drive the boy to Missouri for college and we'll be away two weeks. This bread finished off a bag of Trader Joe's blueberrys and used some of our freshly picked ones as well as cleaning out the sour cream and creme fraiche and then helped use up a few more eggs. For dinner we had quesadillas with onion, zucchini, peppers and andoille sausage and a side of tomatoes. Everything but the sausage and tortillas came from the farmers market, yum!

Blueberry Bread

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
7 ounces flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cake spice
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream together butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 egg. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cake spice. Add dry mixture to creamed mixture and combine thoroughly. Transfer to a 10-inch springform pan and spread across the bottom.

Pour the blueberries over the dough and shake the pan to distribute evenly. Combine the remaining ingredients until well mixed and pour over the top. Bake about an hour or until edges are lightly browned and the custard is set. Cool completely.