Mission: PDX

Kyle and I got back very early Monday morning from a whirlwind of a weekend trip to the City of Roses.

If you haven't yet heard, we'll be moving to Portland this fall. Both Kyle and I are super excited to be moving back to a city and do the urban thing for a while. While we love Whitefish and hate to leave a place where you can be hiking, mountain biking, or skiing within minutes of our door, we are ready for a change of pace. It feels like the perfect time in our lives to live it up!

So this weekend was all about exploration. Scope the neighborhoods, check out the public transportation, and most importantly - find some really good food.

(digging in at Pok Pok - Kyle was like a little kid on Christmas morning;

at the Screen Door for brunch - totally worth the wait)

I wish I had taken more pictures of some of the places we went. We had some awesome desserts and pastries (my fav) as well as food and drinks. We even managed to watch a little of the Grand Floral Parade outside of our hotel room, and caught glimpses of the City Fair going on and some smaller street fairs. There were definitely not enough hours in the day to see everything we wanted, but we will be back!

Oh yes, we can

A little back story: Last fall/winter we had 2 students at the clinic, Jamie and Amanda, who were interested in learning to can their own jam. I had plans to do so anyway since I was out of stock, so they came over for a "canning party" before going cross country skiing one Saturday. We successfully got the jars all filled and processed and sealed up, but they never quite set up like we had hoped.....so we ended up with strawberry sauce instead.

Well, I've had the jars sitting out, waiting to be poured back in to the pot and fixed up, then returned to the jars so that they can be eaten. However, for the last 6 months they've just been sitting there, taunting me, teasing me with their sweet goodness while I keep putting off the re-do.

So anyway, I FINALLY corrected the recipe and have been enjoying some delicious homemade strawberry jam - on my very own homemade bagels, nonetheless. One of the most rewarding baking projects to date! They're really not that hard to make, if you find the right recipe. I'm sure they'd be even better if I used the recipes that call for overnight proofing and whatnot, but hey, I like to keep things simple.

So then I had the canning bug...and some cucumbers to use up... so I went for it and made some pickles. Another pretty easy task, just a little time consuming. But, ta-dah! Pickles that cost almost nothing that taste better than the store bought kind.

Saving the environment, one loaf at a time.

I told you I had projects going on, so here's numero uno: bags.

I've been following a woman's blog about reducing household waste, which has been a goal of mine but something I've gotten away from recently. I was inspired to start up again, and my first task was to make bulk shopping and food storage bags.

I have been baking bread a lot more lately, but the problem has been in how to store it. My loaves are too big for most plastic bags, which I don't want to use anyway since they ultimately end up in the trash after a few uses. And I hate to use plastic wrap because I feel like the plastic seeps into the bread and gives it a funny taste. I had been using foil but, again, it ends up in the trash can.

Solution: fabric bags.

I know, I know, seems counter-intuitive to store a baked good in a breathable bag, but it actually has worked pretty well so far! Yes, if it's left in the pantry for over a week it gets hard, but we don't often go past that long before it's all eaten up (toasted homemade bread with butter is one of my many addictions). And it holds up great in the freezer, too. Who'dathunk?

I also took an old sheet and some laundry bag material and sewed up some bags for bulk items at the store. My goal is to significantly reduce the amount of packaging I take from the store, so I'm buying most things in bulk (flour, oats, even chocolate chips and pasta) and from the bulk produce. To go even further, I take my own bulk bags instead of the plastic ones at the store. I write the numbers down on a piece of scrap paper (usually a receipt from the previous trip) and have the tare weights of the bag written right on the fabric. So far it's worked great! When I get home, I just put it into glass jars for storage.

It was great to break out the sewing machine and be creative again. Having projects definitely helps my sanity in this wet and cold Montana spring.

I'm baaaaack!

For anyone who is even still following this practically abandoned blog.....

It's making a comeback!

I've taken quite the hiatus, but I think it's about time to resurface. I've been hard at work creating, cooking, baking, sewing...all sorts of fun projects lately. And what better way to keep a tally on them than to archive it on this here blog.

And with the weather finally getting nicer and nicer it's about time to head into the wilderness and see what kind of trouble I can't get myself into.

I know I'll have stories to tell.

So you can look forward to some new posts, as well as a little blog facelift action to come!

It's good to be back.

Seasons change, and so do we.

You know how you get to that point where too much has gone on to know what to write about so you put it off but the list just gets longer and longer so you want to write less and less?

Welcome to my blog!

My household has grown since we spoke last. Kyle (and I) adopted a little orange fluffball of a kitten last month. His name is Remi, short for Remoulade Wellington Toots McGoo Big Kitty Belly Little Pretzel Peanut Monkey.

And he's freakin' adorable.

Zoje, though getting more comfortable with the idea, was not so stoked about him. He pretty much plays the little brother card to a "t", but at least they run around and chase each other for exercise.

I bought my ski pass last week. Possibly selling my skis and buying some new ones over the next few months. There was snow on the mountain yesterday, and the temps this week won't get over 62 according to the experts. Winter, here we come!

Kyle is in Illinois on a month-long "tour", if you will. He's playing some shows there while business is slowing down here in Whitefish during the shoulder season. Go and see him if you're around and have a free night. He's good, I promise! (Listen and find out where he's playing here.)

Went camping and saw Dave Matthews at the Gorge in Washington over Labor Day Weekend. Had a bear scare but made it out alive and well. Gosh I love camping!

Had another bear scare last week mountain biking on Big Mountain. Turned a corner and there he (or she) was! 30 feet is as close as I hope I ever have to get. Good thing I was going slowly uphill, and not flying downhill!

I'm coming back to IL next week for Kristina's wedding. Going to be a short trip, but really looking forward to seeing old friends and spending time with family.

Ok, I think we're caught up now! Happy autumn, everyone.

Columbia Mountain is evil.

Went on another hike yesterday. That made a total of 42 miles in one week for me. Whew! No wonder my legs feel like rubber today...

Kyle and I attempted to get to the top of Columbia Mountain, which is just outside Columbia Falls, which is the next town over. It sits between the town and Hungry Horse Reservoir, and is apparently one of the most strenuous day hikes around. Of course, we didn't find that out until after we suffered through it.

The trail is made up almost entirely of switchbacks. If I never encounter another switchback it will be too soon. (Okay, not really, but holy uphill there were a ton!) We trudged on for 3 hours going straight up, until our legs finally just gave up on us. That's like being on the stairmaster for 3 hours -- it sucked. We didn't quite make it to the top, but both of us were weighing the end and it just didn't seem to make up for the means, so we stopped and turned around. It was frustrating enough to keep seeing the ridge at the top but not feeling like you were getting any closer to it.

So what comes up must come down, and we certainly did. It only took us about 2 hours to get down but it felt like an eternity because our legs were already tired. We jogged quite a bit because it was easier than trying to slow ourselves down but the rock underfoot was loose so we slid several times. I was never happier to see my car at the end than at the bottom of the trail.

Check out the rest of the pictures here.

So how did we recover? With a fabulous meal on the patio at the Lodge, watching the sun set behind the lake, listening to some live music. Perfect way to end the day, even if we did just fall asleep as soon as we got home!

Today, we continued the recovery process by taking a dip in Murray Lake, just a few miles outside of town. What a gem of a spot! The water was deep and bright blue, pretty darn clear, and not nearly as cold as Whitefish Lake. Not to mention there were only a handful of people on the entire lake so it felt nice and secluded. Definitely going back on hot days to cool off and catch some sun.

Bakin' and bikin'

I'm spoiled.

I have a live-in chef. His name is Kyle. He makes pretty much all meals but breakfast and dessert (yes, dessert is considered a meal in this house; and both of those are my specialty).

And I love it.

But when I get a chance to shine I take full advantage.

The ever-popular berry tart, my new summer fave.

Lately I've gotten the baking bug. Luckily it has been unseasonably cool the past week or so, and so the oven has been runnin' full steam on my days off.

See, I have this list written down of things I want to do this year, and it's a reference for me when I'm sitting around saying "I'm bored" (I know, hard to believe that happens here where there are so many things to do, but sometimes I need a little reminder to get me off the couch...). On this list are a few foods that I wanted to hand-make instead of buy, like bread and jam. I made jam before and it was actually really fun and satisfying, AND I haven't had to buy the expensive all-natural, organic jam like I used to at the store since last fall -- even better!

So this week I decided to tackle high-altitude bread baking. Whitefish is at about 3,000 feet which is just at the cut-off for needing to adjust for altitude. So I found some recipes online and gave it a shot.

First attempt - ehh not entirely stoked at the final product. Especially since the loaf rolled off the counter onto the floor and just about busted into pieces (by some miracle it stayed together...) when I was dumping it out of the pan. The flavor was nice and nutty (100% whole wheat) but it didn't rise much so was really dense and short.

Second attempt - voila! More yeast and kneading and the thing rose to the heavens! AND the second recipe didn't have any oil so FAT FREE (though more honey next time, definitely more honey).

So of course I HAD to make some blackberry jam to go with this delicious bread. I found a recipe (by the way, the bread and jam came from http://highaltitudecooking.blogspot.com) that didn't require ANY sugar, just honey, berries and citrus, and used gelatin instead of pectin. Good and good for ya, even better!

AND to top it all off I made a zucchini and yellow squash quiche. My very first pie crust and very first quiche. Not too shabby, and quite tasty!

I don't know how long this kick will last, but both Kyle and I are enjoying it while it does, that's for sure.

And oh yes, I had a nice trail ride the other night and just wanted to share, once again, why I love Montana. (Though I could have done without the black and blue leg from tumbling end over end down the singletrack after attempting to go over a huge log...but that just comes with the territory and my penchant for hurting myself).