Holy Smokes!

I can't believe how much time has flown by since I last posted anything. Sorry! I have been super busy, but have lots of fun pictures and have been multiple places since last time - Seaside Oregon, Tucson, Arizona...and now back to Pullman.

I promise to write stuff soon...but gotta work on that pesky Senior Paper rough draft, which is due Thursday!

Country Signs

As a budding photographer, I am learning to try and capture with my camera what I see with my little eye. It's definitely not easy, but it is lots of fun! On our recent drive around the Palouse, I saw a bunch of great old signs that needed to be captured on digital film. It was amazing to see all these great signs, especially the painted ones. These are actually pretty common in the area, even though I don't tend to see them on the westside. In fact, after our trip I realized there a few we pass all the time in town that I just stopped noticing. Sad to take for granted such great artwork.

The first sign (Lentil Producer) is my absolute favorite picture! I am so proud of it. We were driving along a backroad in the middle of wheat fields (yup, not lentil fields*) and I saw it on the side of a building attached to a grain tower. I yelled out for Keith to turn in, and he made a sudden turn. I jumped out of the car to take the picture. It turned out terrific and I am so happy that my little photographer eye saw it. By the way, be warned: there will be more pictures on this bloggy. I love my camera and am really trying to learn to take better pictures. But hopefully it won't be too overwhelming and will add to my blogging posts. And let me know what you think of these photos via the comments section!


*After living for so long in the Palouse, I can finally tell the difference between wheat fields and lentil fields. And I know different breeds of cows. And I enjoy country music. Take it as you will.

Garden Update!

This just in: we have bunches of baby tomatoes growing. On multiple tomato plants. Impressive! This is in spite of pesky aphids that I have tried to blast off with the hose, which should work according to a quick Google search. We are so thrilled that these plants are doing so well.

Now I have delusion of grandeur for future garden possibilities: cucumbers, squash, strawberries, and even corn! Crazy I know, but I am inspired. Of course, seeing a neighbor tend a real garden has also given me the aspiration of a green thumb. Of course, if I was smart I would only choose things that I can make into a pie, thus smartly tying in two hobbies together. But who wants that kind of forethought? Besides, it would fun to have fresh veggies to have Keith cook up. Note: Keith would have to cook them...unless I wanted to ruin my crop with my cooking.

How is the rest of our garden going? So kind of you to ask! Yes...AND we have peppers!!
'

I think they are jalapenos, but I really can't remember what type of peppers we bought. But they are growing and look pretty good. Too bad Keith and I have no idea when to know when they are "ripe". So either they'll taste great or be little balls of explosive fire. Sounds like fun! Anyone up for some mystery-intensity salsa? Our cilantro is in the process of going to seed (oops), so that means we will have corriander soon too. How exciting! Who knew 'going green' would be so fulfilling!

Cooking Shows are Evil

If you ever watch cooking shows, you know what I mean. Just add these few ingredients, that everyone should have - presto & alakazam - a fabulous meal in under 30 minutes. Of course, I never have all those ingredients and never, ever have all the tools they have either. So this means at least a trip to the market, if not to our shiny Bed, Bath & Beyond. (remember: small town so this is a big deal that we have one!). What has triggered this out burst, you may ask? Watching a cooking show (Simply Ming) where they made all these fantastic looking tempura. Yum!

As a novice cook, they inspire me to try things that I would never think of trying. I've tried making tempura once before, and it was...well, okay. It turned out to be such a mess with batter and oil splashing everywhere too. Luckily, Keith stepped in and made the remaining tempura for me (which of course was significantly better than mine). Now back to my rant - after watching this show it has reignited my desire to buy the most useless and space-wasting kitchen appliance ever - a deep fryer. I love the idea of being able to control the temperature of the oil, keep everything neat, and make frying things so much easier. And supposedly you can store the oil in it too, but seriously that sounds like a mess.

Every once in a while I will see a show or a recipe and feel the urge to run out and purchase a deep fryer. For some reason it sneaks into my mind that it is this one appliance that will launch me from a hit or miss cook to one that really knows what she is doing with all those random spices and ingredients. And I blame cooking shows for giving me such hope. I have even looked and lusted over them at various cooking stores, but thankfully reason always wins. But if I didn't watch these darn cooking shows, with their three course meal made in minutes I wouldn't feel like such a goal would be so reachable.

So you must think I hate all cooking shows. Not true. There are two that are worth their spit. One is Good Eats with Alton Brown. If you have seen it, you know why I love this show. If not, here's the best summary of it: sarcasm + science + food. Seriously a must watch. The best cooking show ever? My O'bachan*. Watching her cook and present a five course meal gives me hope of putting together my own fabulous meal. Then she teaches me recipes that are yummy and insultingly easy that even I can manage. My favorite lesson was when she asked if I knew how to make rice. Of course! Have I not been making rice since before time?!? Apparently not the correct way, and after a short lesson now I can make the BEST RICE EVER. Seriously. I may not always be able to make a full meal, but I can now make the best rice you'll ever have.

The conclusion of my rant: Cooking Shows are Evil, but O'bachans are Saints.

*O'bachan is Japanese for Grandmother.

FYI

For my bestest friend Cecilia - I added a subscribey thing to the left-hand side. I don't know how it works or really what it does...so let me know if anyone has problems with it and I'll try to figure it all out. Most of all, thanks for reading about my oh-so-non-glamorous life!