Vision Quest, or ??

I have come upon what this photo shows many times before. Quite often actually, when I worked for the Forest Service. It always gives me pause as I ponder who left it there and why? It definitely looks like a landmark of some sort and I know that people even in this day and age go on their own personal "vision quests", so to speak. It's interesting.


My husband and I were out exploring our local area as we often do. I enjoy sharing with you some of the beautiful and interesting things that we see...if we only take time to really look. Like this beautiful lichen encrusted rock and stump.


I love lichens. They are so colorful. I have seen some incredible colors of yarn that were dyed with lichens. They are sun-activated dyes. In other words, the color only changes when you take the yarn out of the dye pot and put it in the sun. I have never done this kind of dyeing, I just know about it and hope to try it someday.

This messy looking affair is actually someones home. A Packrat! They seem to be busy sort of creatures and oftentimes you can find strange objects that they have hauled back to their nest. Like shotgun shells, pieces of aluminum foil, chunks of plastic. All treasures to them.


This nest was not as big as some I have seen. Packrats seem to continuously make their nest bigger. I have seen some that were well over my head in height.

Eventually, we returned to our faithful steed and headed home...

Crisp Fall Apples

It's apple season here in the Pacific Northwest. And if you're like me, you are always looking for new ways to use fresh fruit in season. Today I am posting my very favorite recipe for apples. It's called Apple Crisp, it is VERY easy to make and is so delicious you will want to double the recipe. This recipe comes from "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook". It is my all time, tried and true cookbook. If I was on a desert (or dessert hee hee) island and could only have one cookbook I would choose this cookbook...no contest. And no,...this is not a paid advertisement for them.
Here is what the finished product looks like.


Interested? Here is the recipe:


APPLE CRISP

Topping:
6 Tbsp. All purpose flour
¼ Cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
¼ tsp. Salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and softened (NOT melted!)
¾ cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Filling:
3 lbs. Apples (6 to 8) peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest

Topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, gran. Sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together. Add the butter and toss to coat. Pinch the butter chunks and dry mixture between your fingertips until the mixture looks like crumbly wet sand. Add the nuts and toss to incorporate. Refrigerate the topping for at least 15 minutes before baking.

Filling: Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the apples, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest together and place in an 8 inch square (2 quart) glass or ceramic baking dish or 9 inch deep-dish pie plate. Distribute the chilled topping evenly over the fruit.

Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is deep golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving.

My note: It is important NOT to melt the butter. It changes the consistency of the topping. Also, I have used just plain sugar in place of the brown sugar when I didn't have any on hand with no problems. I think I also tend to put a little more of the nutmeg in because it is so yummy in this recipe.

It is also best served warm, with a dollop of whipped cream.

Thrice Warmed

They say that when you gather firewood you are warmed three times. Once, when you cut and load it, twice when you split and stack it, and the third time when you burn it in your wood stove. It's true!

Today we went out, for the second day in a row, to get a load of firewood. It was a nice drive, with some nice scenery.




You can see that there were a few patches of snow left from a recent snowfall.

We arrived at our wood gettin' spot, which is in an area where there was a forest fire a few years back. Lots of dead trees and you can stay in one spot and get a full load. Here is my husband doing his job.


And here is my job. I have to get this...


Over there,... into the trailer.


So, we worked for about two and a half hours...


Until we had our load of wood.


There's me. I'm tired. I'm smiling because we are done for the day and ready to leave!


Here is our pile back at home after it is unloaded.


Okay,... that is once...