Mountain Musings

The Garden in Winter...I Mean Spring

We awoke this morning with about 5 inches of new snow and a forecast for more today, but the sun is out brightening the day and making the Valley a beautiful place...so I think this storm is now past us.

Oops..maybe not. Edited to add: It furiously snowed all day!This day will be a busy one! Hannah and I are packing to leave for South Carolina tomorrow...and bringing Granny back home with us after Easter. Yay!

This will be a fun week of visiting my sister for her birthday, getting together with a South Carolina blogger for lunch one day, attending the Living Gallery production, and traveling another two hours to visit a blogging family that I've never met!

And, of course, pictures to follow next week of all our South Carolina adventures.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday weekend and a worshipful Resurrection Sunday.

~Deb

First Day of Spring Luncheon

Today marks the first day of Spring...and what better way to celebrate than to invite a friend over for lunch. 

As our doorbell rang, the fierce wind on top of our hill nearly blew our guest off the porch...in other words, it wasn't very spring-like!

Our Spring Luncheon Menu:

• Baked Potato Soup
• Toasted homemade bread
• Fruit Platter
• Red Velvet Cheesecake

Sarah was trying out a different cheesecake recipe to see how we would rate it as another possibility for this season's Farmers' Market. We liked it fine, but it lacked the Wow! factor...just a so-so cheesecake.

But it certainly looked pretty with the red velvet swirling throughout:Thank you, Jean, for helping us make a memory on this first day of Spring, 2013!~Deb

A Week of Recipes

Last week I was assigned to make all our evening meals, like Sarah did for our family last month. I enjoyed planning out the menus and included many new recipes to try. It was a task to come up with foods that the whole family would enjoy, especially since most everything sounds good to me, but I think it was mostly successful.

I mentioned before the week started that there would be at least 3 different nationalities represented in my cooking, so everyone was curious to see how the week unfolded. Each morning I would post the menu on the refrigerator, so that everyone would know what to (hopefully) look forward to, rather than it being a complete surprise.

Monday's Menu:

• Jamaican Jerk Burgers 
• Mango Pineapple Salsa
• Grilled Carrots
• Butterscotch Pie

The first day of the week was going to have the warmest temperatures, so I chose that night to grill outside.The burgers were spicy, basted with this sauce, and to stick with the Caribbean theme I made a cool pineapple/mango salsa to top them. While the hamburgers were grilling, a foil packet of carrots were also easily roasted alongside.  

Tuesday's Menu:

• Kung Pao Chicken over Rice
• Roasted Veggies
• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (delegated to Sarah)

This was a fun and relatively quick meal to prepare. In years past some of us have enjoyed ordering Kung Pao chicken at restaurants, so I decided to create it at home. An authentic ingredient missing from my version was Sichuan peppercorns, but the substitution of red curry paste gave it some heat. Roasted red peppers and broccoli went well with this Chinese dish. 

I made this recipe for lunch midweek, using the last of the butternut squash from our 2012 garden, and Wednesday night we had various leftovers.

Thursday's Menu:

• Gnocchi with Prosciutto Sauce 
• Italian Garden Salad
• Breadsticks
• Chocolate Mousse

Italian night! Gnocchi are homemade dumplings/pasta, many times made with potatoes, although the beginner recipe I followed called for ricotta cheese. It was fun and easy to do, as pasta-making goes. I ended up making enough for about 15 servings, so we have been enjoying it for additional meals, too. The tomato sauce for this main dish (similar to this) was inspired by some of my grampa's favorite recipes that he wrote out for me long ago. Prosciutto, Italian cured ham, was stirred into the seasoned sauce. 

The special dessert was somewhat of a Pinterest fail....it didn't look quite as cute as the original. I put aside the star tip and spooned the creamy chocolate mixture into bowls. It still tasted good.

Friday's Menu:

• Meatloaf Cupcakes
• Green Beans
• Cheddar Biscuits
• Applesauce

When your main dish is a "cupcake" (sprinkles included), you have a complete meal! The meat took a shorter time to cook than if I had baked it as a typical loaf. It was topped with mashed potatos and broiled. 

Saturday's Dessert:

• Fruit Platter with Cookie Dough Dip

Sunday's Menu:

• Spicy Chicken Lentil Soup
• Irish Soda Bread

I put the ingredients in the crockpot to cook most of the day, and it was close to being ready when we got home from church that afternoon. Traditional Irish soda bread has just 4 ingredients, and we ate the crusty loaf with our soup, it being St. Patrick's Day. Sarah wanted to make a green dessert, so later that evening we sipped on Coconut Lime Floats. 

And that wrapped up my one week of cooking. Granted, if I were normally cooking every day, I would have included some simpler stand-by meals, but I wanted to pack in as many new recipes to experiment with as I could into this special week. There are a few more I want to try...maybe once Granny returns and can join us!

~Hannah

Highland Maple Festival ~ Friends ~ Quilting Day

After reading the last post, did you guess correctly that I picked both options and crammed all the fun I could into one day? Yes...a sliver of both please! :)

I decided to go on an adventure over the mountains and spent a half-day at the Highland Maple Festival over in Monterey. It definitely wasn't as crowded as most years because of the rainy weather, but I met up with some friends (planned and unexpected!) which made it all worthwhile!

Here are some pictures to document my day. First, here's the local Monterey Courthouse lawn where several vendors set up their wares:Some of the crafts for sale included knitted goods, birdhouses, primitive wooden carvings, and mushroom logs:
I stood for quite awhile and watched the guy carving wooden baby rattles...very interesting since he carves the little rings right on the spindle: I struck up a conversation with the man selling trees since Jonathan recently planted some apple trees for his bees, so this booth was very interesting to me:Two local shops in town, Morning Glories and Moonflowers and Wool Becomes Ewe, were delightful to browse. The garden shop is always on my list of musts when I visit Monterey, but it was my first stop at the yarn and fabric shop: The quaint yarn shop looked old-timey and very interesting--especially when I spotted the barn quilt on the side of the building. Barn quilt = must be good!This shop was small but fun, and being around beautiful fabric definitely qualified as celebrating National Quilt Day! After I finished my shopping, I headed back to where I was parked and ran into old friends we knew back in Williamsburg. In fact, Mary taught our kids to read music and play recorders many years ago. They live in the Monterey area now and were helping with the Maple BBQ Chicken: And...here are my friends from my hometown of South Boston and the ones I made the trip over to the Festival to see:We tried and tried to phone each other throughout the morning so we could meet up, having no clue that in such a small country town the lone cell tower would be overloaded and calls couldn't go through!

I finally gave up all hopes of running into them and was headed back home when I decided to try to call one final time...lo, and behold, the call connected! They were on one street corner, and I was on the opposite! What fun to get to talk at least for awhile!

Here's a partial view of the main street in Monterey looking back east, the direction I headed home:Back home again, I settled in for a cozy afternoon of sewing and worked on the first red block in my Block of the Month class in honor of National Quilting Day! It turned out better than I expected.

If I had a design wall...this would go on it!What a very full day! I hope you enjoyed going with me to the Maple Festival!

~Deb

National Quilting Day

National Quilting Day is recognized on the third Saturday in March each year; this year marks the 22nd annual celebration.

What will you do to celebrate? Visit your local quilt shop and buy some fabric? Start a new project? Invite friends over for a quilting bee? Teach someone to quilt who doesn't know how? Or how about organizing your sewing space?

All of those ideas sound like fun...well, except for organizing your sewing space--that sounds like a lot of work to me!

We're expecting a rainy Saturday here in the Valley. It's also the weekend for the annual Highland County Maple Festival...which I usually attend.

I can't decide whether to drive over three mountains in the rain to get there...and meet a friend and her husband from my hometown who will attend for the first time this year.

Or...stay home, get cozy, and sew and celebrate National Quilting Day.

I guess whatever I decide I'll post pictures on Monday. What do you think I'll do?

~Deb

After the Storm...

We finally have internet back!!

The snowstorm this week in our area of Virginia stole our power (thankfully only for most of one day and only for one meal cooked outside on the grill), but we also lost our internet reception for three days...no current news, weather forecast, recipe-checking, reading blogs, or ability to answer comments and emails.

These pictures are especially for Granny. She should be glad she's with my sister in South Carolina now! Our neighbor's house is somewhere behind those snow-laden trees: And below is our driveway that Jonathan and Sarah worked many long hours to snow-blow. In the distance it curves left and goes down a very steep hill which they cleared:It snowed a foot and a half before stopping! Sarah was pleased to finally see some real snow this season, to say the least! Some fun downhill sledding for her but also lots of shoveling--so why does she like this stuff with so much work attached to it??!

With no return of electricity in sight, here's Jonathan making a path to the grill so Sarah could grill some pizzas for us: The Elliott's Knob transmitter supplies our internet reception and was out of commission from the storm. That little snow path winding upwards, top left of the photo below, proceeds higher and higher up the mountain until you reach the transmitter.

Hannah took this zoomed photo out of her bedroom window. Anyway, all that to say...we're sure glad someone finally reached the peak and restored power up there:Today was our very first Saturday Sampler Block-of-the-Month class for this new season. Yes, if you hadn't spotted the 2013 Projects button on the right sidebar yet, I signed up for another year. You knew I would, right? Thankfully, there was no problem getting out of our subdivision and to class today.

Here's the first Show and Tell this month...a lovely purple and green quilt from a previous Saturday Sampler class a couple of years ago. I took that class and still have this quilt top to make! I think I'll hop right on it...after I finish this past year's Saturday Sampler.Anyway, we had an interesting class with lots of newbies participating this year. The red fabric packet we received for the first block was just gorgeous--but the instructions looked quite confusing actually, and I can't wait to tackle it this week. Yes, this week and not the night before next month's class!

That's been our snowy week and my Saturday in class. And, thankfully, Tom is finally home tonight from working the storm outages.

All is well.

~Deb

Rosemary's Ready

My hardy rosemary plant has stayed green all winter, but since we're expecting up to 20 inches of snow overnight through Wednesday, I thought I'd cover up the plant to protect it from the weather until spring actually arrives....

Jonathan had built 2 cold frames for me last winter, so I took one from against the south side of the house and put it directly into the garden over the small stand of rosemary.

Now the fresh rosemary nestles inside the cold frame amongst the drab brown of the other spent herbs, waiting for the snow to fall tonight.

A lettuce mix in one of our raised beds had spent the cold months under the other of my cold frames. I picked several leaves to bring inside while I was out taking photos.

Trimmings from the tallest stalks of the rosemary plant found a home in the windowsill, and hopefully they will develop roots to be replantable outside.

What are your gardening chores this month?

~Hannah

Quilt Festival ~ Let's Sew All Day! ~ Part 3

After the all-day Quilt Festival and a much needed rest that night, we awoke the next morning to a rainy Saturday. The outside weather didn't dampen our spirits as the morning was filled with a sense of anticipation of how much sewing we'd get done on our selected projects.

My friend, Chris, outdid herself with all the cooking while I was visiting. Here's the delicious breakfast that awaited me when I came downstairs--quiche, fruit, yogurt, and muffins. Thank you, Chris! Next on the itinerary: Race to the Berninas!

Here I am sewing sashing on the twelve Saturday Sampler Blocks of the Month from the class I just completed at Patchwork Plus. Before I left on this trip, I had taken time to cut LOTS of strips, blocks, etc...everything I would need to ensure no hold-ups and lots of sewing time: Here's my photographer--John, a 12-year old Texas Ranger and the youngest of Chris' ten children, who kept us company throughout the day. I really wanted to bring him home with me after the weekend was over--he makes the best freshly-squeezed orange juice! Thank you, John!Chris worked hard and accomplished a lot--completing blocks for her block-of-the-month projects and a piano border for a table topper! Towards the middle of the afternoon we took a quick break for some fresh air and headed to her local quilt shop, Nancy's Calico Patch, which was only a few minutes down the street--how convenient!! And there was so much beautiful fabric and quilting inspiration inside:This shop displayed antique sewing machines just like my local quilt shop. Quilt shop owners must all be collectors of old Singer machines:Well, of all the inspiration and "eye candy" that I saw at the Quilt Festival...and of all the beautiful quilting fabrics that I saw in the quilt shop...I have to say that I was the most excited over this last picture I'll show you more than anything else from the weekend.

Chris' design wall in her sewing room which displayed all the blocks she's been working on encouraged me the most. Take a look! Aren't they all just gorgeous?! I'm longing to do every one of those blocks! I'm sure some of you quilters will recognize most of these blocks she's been working on.

Included on this wall is the Fat Quarter Shop's Mystery Block of the Month using Vintage Modern by Bonnie & Camille (far top right); blocks from the Sew Red for Women block of the month (top left and bottom); and four blocks from the Blogger Girls block of the month (the red/white/blue blocks, left middle rows).

I loved all of my adventures while I was away, and I hope you enjoyed traveling along with me to Williamsburg, to the festival, and to my quilting friend's home! I certainly had a wonderful, wild, quilting weekend!

~Deb

Quilt Festival ~ Excitement ~ Part 2

And we continue (see Part 1 here) our wild wonderful weekend...

Friday morning a wintry mix greeted us as we began our day...hmm...let's get on the road quickly and get to the Quilt Festival before the roads are too bad! It was a messy day outside, but inside--ooh, the excitement of all the quilters could be felt! This was going to be a fun adventure!As we entered the large arena, the crowds were already there. We decided what our plan of attack would be and made our way to the far left aisle to start our walk through the vendor booths. So much quilty goodness to see!Below my friend, Chris, and her mom are standing in front of a beautiful house quilt which was my favorite...until we saw the more elaborate quilts later in the day: Like I mentioned...lots of quilty goodness everywhere to entice you: Antique quilts were for sale. These booths interested me because I love antique quilts: Exquisite quilts, like the one below, were being raffled throughout the Festival. I would love to have taken one of these home...but I think I'd rather spend my dollar for a sure thing: What do you think of this whimsical quilt? It's a small wall-hanging named Red Solo Cup...and yes, red solo cups were placed into slots made for them in the quilt...unusual:Here's my friend, Chris, standing in front of my favorite quilt in the show. The name of the quilt was either Mexican Fiesta or Red Fiesta--not sure. It was intricate and beautiful! Here's an upclose photo of just one part of this quilt:

And here's one of the white glove ladies showing us all the quilting on the back:Below is the Vintage Linens vendor booth. I always think of my sister when I see stacks of vintage tablecloths. They are all just lovely but quite expensive: I saved the Best in Show quilt award until the end. This is definitely not your average run-of-the-mill quilt. Check out these horses! Did you notice that the method of quilting produced words on the quilt? Oh, my! Look closer: Well, I have many more pictures, but I'd better stop there! We had a super grand time, and I'm so thankful I was able to attend.

Do you know that I didn't buy a single thing?! Although I think the lady selling the vibrating pillows (which were for backs and feet) would have had a purchaser if she'd been located in the last aisles at the end of the day! Whew!

Just before bedtime, Chris and I set up our machines and got out our blocks and strips and readied our areas to sew the next day. Stay tuned for the next part of my weekend adventure ~ Part 3!

~Deb