December 11th

 our Meyer lemon tree - last year's Christmas tree.

 Lizzy girl

Preserving Round-up 2013

 Bombay chile pickle

 cilantro chutney 2.0, fermented chile pickle (back row), roasted salsa, zhoug, Emeril hot sauces (front row)

 purty

fermented chile pickle

Cilantro Chutney 2.0

 Gooooood. I made a different recipe before. This is better. It's from My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichaporia King. It's supposed to also have a little fresh mint and cumin, but I didn't use them.

~3/4 c coconut cream (top of can of coconut milk) (she calls for fresh grated coconut)
1 bunch cilantro
3 green chilies
2 cloves garlic
1t salt
1/2 c lime juice
1/2 T palm sugar

blend.

keeps a couple of weeks in the fridge

40

I'm 40. Whatever. I cooked alot that day. We had a party a couple of days later. Sweet

 steel cut oats

 straining the turkey stock from the thanksgiving carcass

 yogurt + Oregon blackberry jam

 roasted salsa, batch #4 this year

 mac and cheese with cauliflower

 party. there are pics with other people but I decided to leave them out, privacy crap and all. really fun, though; and Sara made the pizzas so I was forced out of the kitchen and interacted with everyone ;) Sara also made carrot cake, my fave, and there were lots of lovely sides and drinks. good night!

 ginger beer + whiskey. good

Ojai interlude

 a little artsy-fartsy

Thanksgiving 2013

We stayed local. Beach was nice, I over cooked the turkey, but bagel stuffing was amazing, sweet potatoes from the garden were good, and Sara made apple pie and 2+ pumpkin pies. Bagel stuffing seemed like a fun/funny idea given the overlapping Hannukah/Thanksgiving thing, but it was superb and I think it should always be done! Only changes made were no carrots and doubled celery, and dried porcinis in the stock rather than fresh muchrooms.

 Sands beach, pre-food

 out of focus, but you get the idea. Sara is good at making pie from scratch.

 my plate

 lots of food, not alot of space

 finished apple pie

 damn auto-focus choosing the wrong subject, but I like the expression

 apple pie in apple bowl

 a la mode

Sara also made 2 full sized pumpkin pies and a couple of baby ones with extra custard and dough. Oh! This was fully from scratch, she baked a kabocha squash to get 'pumpkin' puree.

Bagel Stuffing (in case the link dies)
3/4 c onion
1/2 T garlic
1/3 c carrots
1/3 c celery
olive oil
2c mushrooms
rosemary
oregano
2 whole wheat bagels
3/4 c stock

saute first 4, then add mushrooms and herbs, then bagels and stock. let sit for at least 2 hours. reheat.

RIP Nelson Mandela

I lived in SA 1987-1989. I remember talking to the other kids in school about apartheid. Everyone agreed it was wrong, but they were worried that a switch to black rule would result in mass killing of whites (as had happened in Zimbabwe), so didn't know how/when apartheid could end. It amazed me that he was released from prison less than a year after we left. And not such a bad transition to full democracy given the history of SA...

two nice NPR remembrances of him. one, two

Patagonia Worn Wear

They've been doing nice things with encouraging people to buy less new stuff. I'm not sure how that works with them sending out catalogs once a month but whatever.... Here's a link to a nice little movie about some people and their old used Patagonia clothing.

Mozz Making

we've made it a couple of times, kind of a hassle but worth trying. additionally, my food pics often stink, and those were no exception. this dude's pic, on the other hand, is clearly awesome.

Good Eats / AVclub

very long, very good article on the Food Network show Good Eats.

walking around the world / npr

 great story. the above photo is admittedly a bit confusing, check out the caption

Gardening Tips, made in the shade...

My shady plot is always tricky to deal with, this could help:

on growing plants in the shade.

JTree Halloween 2013

The annual escape from IV trip. Fun; good photography, too. Full D600 album, full D200 album. Highlights were my first go at night photography / light painting, and star trails with the D600. I used the D600 on days 1 &3, the D200 on day 2 to save the D600 batteries. That's the limitation of digital, dead batteries = no love.

 the pink house near Barker Dam, 16mm

 backlit, 16mm

 shadows

head shot #1

 soon to be a s'more

 Sara carved this there, we even cooked up the trimmings

 View from our campsite at Belle. Satellite (or airplane...) trail + stationary stars, f8, ISO 6400, 30 sec

 headlamp, boulders lit with lights from opening the car trunk

 more from the satellites of love

 back to the rocks

 star trails, fire light, f8, ISO L 0.5, somewhere around 20 minutes

we were really looking forward to this, but they just changed their hours and are closed on Sundays. Boo. Sara eating an almond butter & jam.

To keep things neater the D200 highlights are in a separate post.

Jtree Halloween 2013 #2

Photos from Day 2 with the D200. Morning at Belle campground, a hike in the Wonderland of Rocks.

 Morning, Belle campground

 funky self portait

 cat's claw

 different macro flavors

 not a Sara bee

 wonderous rocks

head shot #2

 late summer rain --> wildflowers in the fall!

 mortar hole and pictograph

 white balance issues, c'est la vie