Lelo in Nopo

Of writing, memories and magic time

2013-05-17T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hey, what happened to my blog? I used to write about gardening, canning, cooking and things here. I suppose I wrote about them because there were so few others who were too. But today the web is thick with full time talented bloggers taking gorgeous photos of their food, crafting wonderful recipes, gardening every day and writing plenty of how-tos. I love reading them. I think blogging has been a way for me to document my own learning and discovery, and I refer to my own blog when I'm trying to find a favorite recipe. Like spinach enchiladas. Or scones. But the newness has settled, I suppose: it isn't 2005 anymore.

Writing my monthly column over at PQ Monthly has helped me focus my editorial voice a bit, while growing to include my work with personal essays. And that's where my heart's at. This tapping into my inner voice, and allowing it to flow through my fingers onto the screen. I journey through memories of scent, feelings, explorations and emotions. I love when the stories come easily, but respect that it's not all of the time. When they do come, it's early in the morning, when the world is quiet, and my foggy brain from sleeping begins to awaken with a cup of coffee. It's before I do my to-do list, or speak a single word that day, or venture out into the world. I'm most in touch with my inner voice then, and perhaps my dreaming mind. I wonder if it's a transition from slumber to alert that makes for these times.

Whatever it is, I respect it. It was in this time I wrote my most recent column, joining memories of a childhood place with current explorations in the forests of Oregon. And a haunting photo of a conejo—rabbit—being rescued from a wildfire in Southern California. You can read it here.

Quick fix gardening

2013-05-06T09:42:00.001-07:00

Is there such as thing as a quick fix when it comes to gardening? A friend was lamenting last night to me about weeds growing in and among river rock. We determined they're experiencing both deep rooted weeds growing from underneath the river rock, and annual weeds blown in by seed atop the surface area. It's a messy situation with no easy answer. I'm not fond of delivering that news. But it's something I've come to realize the more I garden.

It's the same with the ab buster or thigh master. If you want a six pack or thighs of steel, it's going to take hard work, not a gimmick.

And thus my latest column over at PQ Monthly is out and about, themed this month about tools and items that are must-haves in the garden, and those that are a big waste of money and time. You can read it here.

Save your money, and invest in time spent in the garden. It delivers more than any quick fix. It's also good for your soul, mind and body. Remind me I said that as I curse the sneaky blackberry that returns year after year in the far corner part of the garden, okay?

The crotchety gardener, Pinterest, and me

2013-04-04T12:07:00.001-07:00

I love Pinterest. I hate Pinterest. Anyone else feel this same duality? Pinterest is filled with images of ridiculous overly twee crafting/recipes/nail art, while delivering visual loads of ideas and eye candy for fashion, design, gardening and the like. Love/hate. I suppose it's really about curation, a word I have come to love more and more.

I'm finding the negative voice inside of me when viewing many gardening images on Pinterest. The reality of things, and what may look lovely for a photo op, in reality, is ridiculous to maintain, impossible to obtain in the first place, or completely wrong for the climate I live in. It's making me roll my eyes and guffaw out loud at the screen.

Not wanting to be a negative ninny, I never comment like this on Pinterest. Instead, I'm saving it all for here on my blog. You are welcome.

Let's get to my crotchety gardener review of Pinterest garden-tagged items, shall we?

How to turn stairs into a death trap:

Now imagine the reality. After one month, the sedums grow above the step and you break them off every time you descend and ascend the stairs. Aunt Matilda trips on one and breaks a hip, and you spend hours carefully tugging out the weedy clover, popweed and even grass that like to grow in there as well.

Palette gardening and the living wall:

See those tiny areas of soil between the water loving planks of wood? See the plants plucked in there all twee and sweet? Fast forward to a hot, dry summer and you tied to a hose every single ding dong day frantically trying to keep them alive. Don't even think of going away for a few days or you'll return to an UNLIVING wall of dried up, sad plants.

Color coordinating your clothing/tools/flowers:

I've filed this one under Fakegardening.This cannot be real. You want real? Let's take a photo in my garden...hold on while I take off my mismatched muddy gloves and grab my neon orange handled trowel to dig out that bright yellow dandelion growing right there at the base of my hydrangea. And yes, I see that dead branch in there. I'm getting to it!

Oh wait. Here's a photo from Pinterest of a typical workday in my garden. Yours looks like this, right?

This is a perennial "gardening" favorite on Pinterest:

I think it would look great next to this:

Oh no wait. This one:

I love alliums, and the fun form and playfulness they bring to a garden:

Hey kid! Hands off the alliums!

Nothing says I Love to Garden!!! like a dirty pink bra:

What would Pinterest be without words plastered on walls, clothing, or on pots?

Okay okay. I'll stop. You get the picture. Aren't you glad you're not here when I'm on Pinterest? Good news, I'm mainly using it as a place to curate things I see from around the web. Feel free to guffaw at my boards here. Oh Pinterest. You crack me up. Not really.

What do you see? A dreary grey day or a scene filled with lush moss and lichen?

2013-02-15T10:58:00.002-08:00

I realize I haven't shared much in the way of my thoughts for the new year, yet alone my word for the new year. I have been writing about them, just not here on my blog. For the past year, I've been writing a monthly column called, Cultivating Life, over at PQ Monthly. This past month, I wrote about gratitude, and the powerful force of training your brain to practice it.

If I’m to add a new practice to my day, this year it will be the act of practicing gratitude, and I’m doing that by picking up my camera. Not my iPhone camera, but my digital camera. The day of the Newtown shootings, I turned off all media, shut down my social media, and picked up my camera. I carried it with me and looked at the world in a different way that day. It helped me see beauty in little things — like a bright blue sky, the pattern of my leggings combined with the tile floor, and how the steam curls from a freshly poured cup of hot tea. It took my eyes, and my brain, to a different place when it would have been so easy to have been overcome with grief and shock, and I learned that contemplating life, composition, pattern, and the world around me is a form of meditation when using my camera.

You can read the whole thing here, and about what happened the year I decided to say "no." It was transformative, and enlightening.

Wordless Wednesday. Theme: Anticipation

2013-02-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

What kind of gardener am I? I'm not going to any garden shows this year.

2013-02-12T10:28:00.003-08:00

I know. Can you believe it? No garden shows for me. Not the Seattle show, not the San Francisco show, and I didn't go to the Portland garden show either. Instead, I'm reading all of my fellow bloggers reviews and take-aways from their own time there (thank you for that!). But I have to admit. I have no desire for a fountain made from three Weber grills.

What I did instead? Actually worked in my own garden. There's so much to be done out there, and with a stretch of days without rain, we seized the opportunity and got to work.

This may not look like much, but it was a big difference:

We probably cleared 7 or so beds this size, and filled the back of a pick up with yard debris.

There's still much to do, including several more beds in the front of the house to clear. Wisteria to prune, bushes to prune, and roses to hack. But damn it feels good to be out there. I'm getting a jumpstart on the garden this year. Let's hope the weeds aren't too.

February is the cruelest month

2013-02-04T09:30:00.002-08:00

I've often felt February is the cruelest month. Short, dark, grey, cold and dreary. We often see little if any of the sun during February in Portland, Oregon. The winter greys weigh heavily on my shoulders, and I do have an arsenal to combat the tough month. My tools:

exercise—cardio boosts my mood, and combined with blaring of my favorite music while doing cardio is even better
vitamins—multi vitamin plus Vitamin D, fish oil, and calcium
lightbox—I use the the small GoLite for 20 minutes early in the morning while checking e mail, my calendar, and schedule for the day.
escape—to Mexico, Hawaii, or even Southern California. Go to the sun if it isn't coming to me.
give in—hibernate in blankets, escape into a TV series (hello Downton Abbey)

But most importantly, get outside as much as possible. I'm not a fan of walking in the rain. I'm just not. I've been a Portlander for 20 years now, and I haven't given in that much. I mean getting out during bouts of non-rain. And if a moment of sunshine occurs, by god, do whatever you can to be out in it.

This is what it feels like to Portlanders when the sun comes out in February:

We are but moles who are blinded by the glowing orb in the sky.

We've been doing a lot of walking and running lately. (Winter carb craving requires exercise.) And Saturday began with fog that then emerged to brilliant blue skies and sunshine. We ventured to a favorite park for our regular loop, and the sun did two things. 1. I could barely open my eyes in the brightness of it all; and 2. I was filled with a happiness of such great proportion that I verged on the edge of crying with gratitude and joy. Gratitude and joy to simply be healthy, out in the world, with the person I love most in the world, experiencing a brilliant day. We did two loops through Cathedral Park, instead of one, weaving under and around the glorious St Johns bridge.

This may sound very silly to people who don't live in the darkness of winters like we do here. A recent Portlandia episode captured it perfectly.

And so it was this Saturday: we were living inside a Portlandia episode. The thrill of sunshine, the brightness of it all, the awakening of our lives from the blue air and dark grey.

I'm going to get through this winter thanks to moments like these, and my arsenal listed above. I'm also counting down the days to Maui.

Farm Hussy is my new favorite name

2013-01-05T10:23:00.001-08:00

Source: smartchickscommune.tumblr.com via Finkiyaya on Pinterest

Thinking of Dave Brubeck today

2012-12-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

Dave Brubeck, the legendary jazz musician passed away this week. I've had Take Five in my mind ever since. Three years ago I wrote here on the blog about his influence on me as a musician growing up. It's a sweet piece you can read here if you like.

Because I could possibly watch this all day long

2012-11-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Rose-Tu and her brand new baby girl born today.

Food photography and styling sure has changed since 1974

2012-11-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

Dark, moody, foreboding meat slice anyone?

Apologies for the center fold.

Pancakes and the overuse of quotation marks

2012-11-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Can you smell the enchiladas? Can you smell the pancakes? Can you smell the enchilada pancakes?

There's the pancakes-disguised-as-enchiladas aspect, here, but the example of having a lot of fun with the Aunt Jemima recipes is great. The flavor's bright as Old Mexico at fiesta time—and the simple figurines establish an intriguing table theme that salutes your imagination. This idea is catching on in Hollywood and along Park Avenue. Oh, to be a copywriter for this one. Fantastic.

Maybe you're more of a hot dog and pancakes person. You're in luck with this one...

Those are slices of hotdogs with pancake batter poured over them. The copywriter got excited writing... Serve immediately with hot syrup or barbecue sauce...and yell "'Penny-Cakes' ahoy!" The copywriter loved extensive use of punctuation. And quotes. Or should I say "quotes."

You might be surprised to know these "recipes" come from this booklet:

Because pancakes aren't unlimited, they're "unlimited."

Because we all need more photos of cute dogs

2012-11-27T15:00:00.000-08:00

Diego is cute, right? He recently had to have his hair cut short due to his dislike of having me brush him. That means he gets matts and voila! Off it goes. He's wearing lots of fleece and seasonal sweaters to keep him warm until his hair grows back in. Also, he says "woof" in a greeting to you all.

#1 on the high tech wish list of every home cook...

2012-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

...in 1974. It's a conversation piece. No really, that's its name. The Frigidaire Conversation Piece. But I'm not sure if I'm most intrigued with all of its high tech features, such as the cassette tape player and recorder, or its design featuring shelves "elegantly trimmed with the look of teakwood." Oooh la la.

Honey, there's a message for you in the fridge. Just press play.

Blooms from the garden this time of year

2012-11-25T19:01:00.002-08:00

We had a very simple bouquet at the Thanksgiving table this year. The flowers and berries evoked softness in my heart as I picked them from the garden. The hydrangeas came from the row of white hydrangeas planted in memory of Wink, who we lost almost a year ago. The berries from the gorgeous beauty berry, evoking the memory of gorgeous Picasso, who we also lost this year. They both joined us as we gave thanks to all that we have, even if they are but memories and love.

Four things I'm craving right now

2012-11-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

I really want some chia pudding and chia with juice. Probably because I just read this article.
Here's a recipe I wrote for my column a few months back for chia pudding. You should make it.

And for some reason, I'm craving kale salad. I know. It sounds weird. But it's the truth. Look at this and tell me you're not too.

Also. Downton Abbey, series 1. Love, love and love.

It's the time of year for my favorite seasonal ice cream. Peppermint. Candy cane. It is what it is people, and it is delicious.

And there is your random post.

A beet salad that doesn't suck

2012-11-23T20:26:00.004-08:00

I like my beets somewhat simple, but with a few strong flavors, and I never, ever, never, like my beets from a can. I like them roasted:

We had a delicious beet salad I made for Thanksgiving, and I didn't even follow a recipe. Rebel! I've been making it long enough, I know what I like, and it's really pretty easy, and a great salad for a holiday meal, because it can be made a day ahead and kept in the fridge.

I like the earthy flavors of beets combined with the strength of rosemary and the brightness of orange. It's a wonderful combination around the holidays, using the bounty of California's citrus harvest along with an herb hardy here in Portland, and root vegetables plentiful during these dark days.

Roasted beets with rosemary and tangerines

4-6 beets (a mix of gold and red is pretty)
5 tangerines
3 T olive oil
2 T vinegar (I used a wildflower vinegar I had on hand, because I wanted a little sweetness)
1 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 large shallots
1/4 cup feta crumbles
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Scrub your beets under running water. Trim off the ends. Place in a casserole dish with cover, along with 1 inch of water. Roast in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, check with a fork: if it easily goes into the beet and out, it's done. If it's still hard, keep roasting. It may take 45-60 minutes, depending how large your beets are. Remove from oven, and remove from dish to cool on a cutting board.

Meanwhile, make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar and olive oil. Peel one of the tangerines, and squeeze the juice into the vinegar and olive oil, whisking it all together, salt and pepper to taste. Toss in the rosemary while you're whisking. Remember, grind the pepper until your arm is tired. Then you know it's enough for dressing.

Slice the shallots and saute in a little bit of olive oil until soft. Set aside.

Once the beets are cool enough to handle, slide the skins off, then cut into 1.5 chunks, approximate. Toss beets with shallots in bowl of dressing.

If preparing ahead of time, cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve, toss the beets well, then add 4 tangerines, peeled and separated into slices, then cut into halves. Sprinkle in feta crumbles. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Yes, the obligatory thankfulness post

2012-11-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

I've never said I'm thankful for my health before, but on today's Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my health. I'm thankful to have such a healthy, strong body, and one that I honor by eating well and physically moving it. After shedding so much weight in the past two years, and putting a little of it back on, I realize that it's an ongoing continuum, and for many of us, a struggle of finding and staying at our ideal body size.

But I'm trying to listen to my body, and honor it. My body says it really loves being pushed to the limits with cardio work, even if the first ten or twenty minutes it wants to fight with me. My body is stronger with the training I'm doing with a personal trainer, and I'm finding I'm really strong. No, I'm really strong. And it aches less and moves faster in the world with strength training.

My body is responding. By migrating towards the things it loves: exercise, vegetables, calmness, and not so much focus on what it shouldn't have (carbs, sugars, cookies) I'm finding my body much prefers the carrot and will give a big middle finger to the stick approach.

With that said, we ran the Turkey Trot today. Do not let the fun name fool you. It's a 4 mile run — longer than a 5K which is 3.1 miles — and while it's downhill in the beginning, it's all uphill the way back. In fact, the uphill is an equivalent of 47 flights of stairs (thank you to my FitBit for telling me that!). Much of the uphill we walked, but in the end, we completed the race in 54 minutes, a minute better than our time last year.

Post run:

I'm so thankful for a body that allows me to do this. For strong legs and feet that can power me forward, and for all in my life that allows me to honor my body through healthy living. Even if it's hard sometimes, I'm coming to learn that the difficulty only lasts a little while, and that I'm strong enough to keep on pushing through it.

Just don't ask me how my thighs are going to feel tomorrow.

A low stress, no pressure holiday meal. This post is the opposite of that.

2012-11-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

It's almost the big meal day, and in 1935, this lovely little book was published, so as to help all brides with homemaking.

Chock full of tips and tricks, the rules and guidelines contained within are absolutely daunting. So when faced with setting the table, here is some help for you...

The ABC's of every successful hostess scare the bajeezus out of me. Talk about pressure! I love this bit...
"Her husband watches her with quiet pride. The smooth way things are handled, the luxurious appearance of his table, the obvious pleasure his friends and business associates take in his hospitality, and the surprisingly good time he has at his own parties."

But here's the reason for today's post from Cupid's Book. The handy guide for setting your table. I'm sure we'll all be using this tomorrow for the Thanksgiving table:

So simple, right? I'm right on it. You're welcome.

A little realness, a little gratitude

2012-11-20T19:58:00.002-08:00

I try to practice gratitude every day. For awhile, I kept a gratitude notebook, jotting down things in my daily life, as they crossed my path, that I was thankful for. It's easy to fall away from this practice, and find yourself sliding into the other side of sarcasm or complaining.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, found that your happiness increases with your ability to note the things in your life you can be grateful for. It's this constant attention, a noting of kindness, goodness, beauty, and joy in the little things that brings deep satisfaction.

I think being attentive to my garden and the little things I can note daily, helps me be better attune to this. Being a photographer helps train my eye to see and frame the beauty of what may be right in front of me. Meditation silences the busy-ness, and brings a grounding to open my senses to the world around me. Intense exercise does the exact same thing as meditation. Funny, isn't it?

I had a moment of beauty today. Having spent many nightmare trips to the grocery store in the days or hours leading up to Thanksgiving, I experienced a true Thanksgiving Miracle today. I did my Thanksgiving shopping at my local New Seasons market. Known for its atrociously small parking lot with small and difficult-to-maneuver parking spaces, I was prepared to see a not-so-pretty side of my fellow humans. It was a full lot, but I was easily able to wait for a woman loading her trunk to then back out, and take her parking spot. Not so bad, I said to myself, as I hustled into the busy store just two days before the big turkey day. Aisles were not crowded, staff were readily available and happy to answer questions. And when it came time to check out? No line. And a checker who was kind and fun to chat with. (We chatted about the tastiness of the No Pudge Brownies I was buying. Not for Thanksgiving!) But here's the creme de le creme. As I went to leave, I could see the deluge that was happening outside. Buckets of rain were pouring from the sky. Buckets. Drenching water flowing like a river from above. I'm not exaggerating. And at the door? A New Seasons staffer, in a raincoat slicker with a walkie talkie and a big giant umbrella, offering to escort shoppers to their car. My groceries and I made it to the car without getting drenched, and as I wished him a happy Thanksgiving, he took my cart to return to the store.

And that, my friends, is what I'm grateful for today.

My Twinkie Rant

2012-11-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

Our connections to foods of our childhood can be powerful, though not always healthy ones. I've written about my love of Jello, but honestly, it's not so much as a food source, but as a cultural mapping to my family and grandparents. I get it.

But the recent media attention around the closure of Hostess, leaving Ding Dongs, Ho Hos and Twinkies about ready for removal from production, is a little surprising. It's not like these are products that have stayed current with the times. Let's look at the content of a Twinkie:

Enriched wheat flour, sugar, corn syrup, niacin, water, high fructose corn syrup, vegetable and/or animal shortening – containing one or more of partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed and canola oil, and beef fat, dextrose, whole eggs, modified corn starch, cellulose gum, whey, leavenings (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate), salt, cornstarch, corn flour, corn syrup, solids, mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, polysorbate 60, dextrin, calcium caseinate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, wheat gluten, calcium sulphate, natural and artificial flavors, caramel color, yellow No. 5, red #40

I have a hard time accepting that something with the above ingredients is worth saving. That's a lot of crap. And so is the whole "blaming it on the unions" line. If there's anything to learn by this recent "news story" is that a really great way to increase sales of your crappy product is to threaten to close.

End of rant.

Planning your Thanksgiving salads

2012-11-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

Salads. The word evokes fresh greens, vegetables, perhaps fruit: light and refreshing. What. Not this?

My pamphlet on salads suggests in full black and white glory that your guests can select their own salads from a salad bar. Hopefully your salad bar has more color than this.

And of course when you think of salads you think of aspic, right? Chicken, ham, chicken and olive, we have you covered.

Oh it's so depressing. Let's live a little and have some color. Here you go....

Everything is better with Jell-O.

Do you need more inspiration? There's always the famous Holiday Cheese Salad.

Dare to be different with your holiday meal!

2012-11-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

I know in a recent post I introduced you to the fine recipes for Ham Loaf in Blanket and Roasted Squirrels. But you could really step it up a notch by planning your holiday meal to be...wait for it...

(I love what constitutes a foreign dish in days gone by.) Okay, so you love Mexican food like I do, right? Here's a winner for you...

Basically you boil the crap out of some green peppers (I'm imagining bell peppers), butter up some cooked onion, mushrooms (from a can?), and ham (because nothing says Mexican food like ham), and add some brown sauce to the mix. Brown sauce? According to my researcher on the topic (thanks mom!) it's a butter, red wine, beef bouillon sauce with tarragon and thyme. I guess in 1935 you just had brown sauce on hand. Perhaps you make it while you're boiling those bell peppers.

But the creme de la creme, or should I say, muy sabroso, ending is serving it all on toast.

I wish I had a photo of AdRi's face when I read this recipe to her. I bet it's the same face you're making right now too.

Guilt through leaves

2012-11-16T20:28:00.004-08:00

Alas, we have yet to pick up our fall leaves.

Go ahead. Throw stones. Rocks. Mock us as necessary.

The street cleaners came through this week and I was wrecked with guilt.

And to the school children, I am so sorry. I am so busy with work, and my partner works full time away from home, and we have not gotten to the leaves. But then I pause and look at them. How beautiful, how gorgeous, how capturing-the-time they are. It is autumn here in Portland, and we do our best with the bounty.

It is a gorgeous time of year. Stay in the moment. See it for what it is. Fleeting. Decaying. Amazing. We are so lucky to be here, aren't we? Yes, yes we are.

Planning your meaty Thanksgiving dinner (in 1965)

2012-11-15T21:34:00.001-08:00

Let's say the year was 1965, and you were faced with Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps you wanted to forgo the traditional turkey, throw caution to the wind, and live a little. "Let's do something different this year, honey" you would say to your husband. "Let's!" he would reply, and am I the only one picturing him wearing a mock turtleneck? See, I knew you were too.

So off you go to your stack of pamphlets, and of course you start your menu planning with "250 ways to prepare MEAT." So many options, so many choices. But there it is. On pages 24 and 25, there they shine.

The ham loafs.

Silence.

What. You don't love a ham loaf? Ha!

(back to 2012 for a moment)...AdRi and I love playing the "which would you rather" game, listing two things, both pretty terrible, against each other, forcing the other to choose which of them they'd choose if they had to. It can get pretty painful. But wickedly fun. So when faced with, "which would you rather" and the three different ham loafs listed in the book — Ham Loaf, Ham Loaf in Blanket, or Jellied Ham Loaf—after making a face of disgust, went for the Ham Loaf in Blanket. We have a winner!

(back to 1965)....So it's settled. Ham Loaf in Blanket will adorn your Thanksgiving table this year. Here is the recipe. (I'm sure this will soon be wildly pinned all over Pinterest!)

Ham Loaf in Blanket
1 onion, chopped
Bacon drippings
2 cups finely chopped cooked potatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked ham
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper
Baking powder biscuit dough (made with 2 cups flour)
Brown onion in drippings, add potatoes, mix well and combine with next 5 ingredients. Heat thoroughly. Roll biscuit dough into rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Shape hot ham mixture into a loaf and draw dough up over mixture to form a roll. Press edges of dough firmly together. Slash top, bake at 425 F 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with Mushroom Sauce. Serves 6 to 8.

But wait. Flipping through the book, you realize perhaps Ham Loaf isn't the answer this year, because you've found this:

...
I have a large collection of vintage cookbooks and pamphlets. As the holiday season approaches and we're collecting our recipes, I thought it would be fun to take a look to the past menus of those who've come before us and take in some retro fun. Bon appetit!