Pies--YUM!

When I was a younger woman and still trying to decide what to do with my life, I worked with my Mother and Father in their restaurant business's, the whole time wishing I was doing something else.  Anything as opposed to the smell of burgers, donuts, coffee, etc., would have been a mighty nice replacement.  There were only two smells that I could abide, a beef roast all covered in thyme that Dad would cook for the Tuesday special, and Mom's pies in the oven baking--every other day or so!  They were deemed to be the best in SLC, though she detested the task of making them each day.  The last straw for her was one specific November when it seemed as though all of SLC had ordered at least two pies apiece for Thanksgiving, and filling the orders darn near put her under.  She vowed never to make another pie and completely quit making them for a few years.  Now at age 91 she is still baking them for her card playing friends.

Her pie crust was made by "feel" and not by recipe and she insisted that success was due to the warmth and TLC in her hands which translated into flaky crust.  After that November, I was never sure there was any TLC in her hands or feet for that matter!  Anyhow, try as I might, I have no particular feeling in my hands and don't get the same result.  This year, while she was staying with me for a couple of months, we had some good times in the kitchen making pies together trying to get the "feel".

I follow a specific crust recipe which I pull from my trusty cookbook purchased during a cooking class that is personally signed by one of the authors.  Since lemon meringue has always been my favorite, I have practiced and fine tuned a version from the book that is very lemony, holds up in the fridge without "weeping" (if there is any left when Ken is around) and is one of the best I have had.

Last year we celebrated Ken's 70th Birthday with about 100 or so friends here on the farm.  Although there were about 150 assorted homemade cupcakes, (made in a frenzy just days prior), he never got over the fact that there was no lemon pie.  So this year for his birthday, you guessed it, lemon pie........Life is good!

Here are pics of some of our favorite pies

Fruit Tart

Bourbon Pecan 

Lemon Meringue

How To Cure Winter Doldrums

I love the farm and all of the daily activities required to keep "things" up, but PULEEZ, there must be more to life than suffering from the winter doldrums while the rain and snow grace us with their presence.  What is retirement all about anyway, if not to spend all of your children's inheritance traveling across the globe instead of waiting for Spring???

People talk about the great escape to warmer climates in their motor homes etc., and how much they love the experience.  Most of these people are seniors who have retired and have the luxury of doing whatever they want.  You know how we all think we are still young....(until we look in the mirror) well, Ken and I wondered if we were old enough for this lifestyle and decided we'd better see for ourselves.  So, this was our first year in joining the "snowbirds" who go south to the warm areas in Arizona all decked out with their big rigs and every accessory known to mankind.  We set out for Parker, AZ as a final destination; two quads loaded on the back of our big bad truck and 30 foot toy hauler in tow.

The trip started on the Oregon coast with our good friends "The Rawlings" who caravaned with us towing their trailer and camping four days in the beautiful Oregon Parks.  Picture this, seniors who think they are youngsters zooking up and down the beach on quads--we must have been going at least 5-6 miles per hour!  Who said the only people who ride hard and fast are the younger generation.

The next leg of the trip took us to the California coastline and our favorite spot high on a cliff with the ocean roaring below.  We usually open all of the windows and drop the ramp at the back of our toy hauler to hear as much of the ocean music as possible.  Unfortunately for us though, this time a chilling foggy mist prevailed and alas, we were forced to sleep in silence.  Hooray, we awoke to see the sun the next morning and decided to stay another night.  As luck would have it, we were rewarded with one of life's daily miracles....one of many beautiful sunsets!

We made the long haul into Parker AZ, where other friends were waiting for us to join them.
Arriving in Parker, AZ was a real culture shock.....rigs of all makes and sizes were packed in side by side like sardines in a can, all lined up on the Colorado river.  Each evening, promptly at 4'oclock, we were treated to a parade of pooky pups on leashes being walked by their parents, cocktails in hand.  As they passed by, the dogs were all acknowledged by name, but nobody knew their owners names.....go figure?  We watched them for a few days and figured out they were walking to the bar; a fun place built on a swaying dock on the Colorado river.  Every evening a different special was offered at prices that could not be ignored.  So, when in Rome........Friday night all you can eat fish and chips for $4.99.
There is plenty to see in the desert.  For instance, we were driving along one day and off to the side of the road were 5 wild burros.  Now, I have traipsed around the globe to many exotic, far away places, but have never seen wild burros.  I've hung around with a few wild asses in my life, but never a burro!  Yeehaw!


We moved around the state of AZ and
 wound up "boondocking" near Quartszite in a beautiful area filled with cactus.  Ken's middle son Kurt and his wife Rebecca drove from CA to spend a couple of nights camping with us and update us on their recent trek to New Zealand.  We had two and half days of fun with them getting filled in on the details of their New Zealand adventure, hiking, picking up rocks, looking for gold, and riding quads.  We even enjoyed Starbucks ice cream around a campfire one evening.

Our final spot was near the border of Mexico to see Organ Pipe Monument and we wondered if we would have an encounter with illegals coming across the border since we were within 15 miles of Mexico.  We asked the camp host if they had experienced many problems with illegals in the area and he laughed and told us of course not.  You guessed it--we did.  Nothing serious, but non-the-less, I have to applaud the State of AZ for trying as hard as they do to keep the border safe.  Every other car that passed us was border patrol.  They swoop in everywhere they think there might be a problem.

Never mind about the escalating price of gas facing our fixed budget.....you can guess that we went over budget on that one.  In spite of that, the trip was great and not one that we will soon forget.  However, the jury is still out for where we will go next year--as I am not so sure we are quite old enough to do it like the real snowbirds do.  I'll just go look in the mirror again to make sure.
LIFE IS GOOD!

Sour Dough Bread

The starter used in my breads stays refrigerated for 3-7 days before it is either mixed into bread dough, or refreshed.  I like to use it for bread by the 3rd or 4th day.  Any residual starter is refrigerated and used for our special Sunday sour dough pancake breakfast, while watching CBS Sunday morning.  Not much goes to waste around here---just to our waist's!

This past year, while the kitchen was undergoing a major remodel, the decision had to be made to either give up the starter, or deal with it in the camp trailer.  The camp trailer worked beautifully for mixing the dough; baking the bread took place outside.  As luck would have it, we hung onto the pizza ovens which were used in our Blakey Island  pizza business.  The back deck looked a little unusual decorated with a pizza oven, however,  nobody saw it but us and the assorted country critters wandering about.  Oh boy, the smell of freshly baking bread outdoors trumps the smell of the neighbor's cattle yards.

Now, the kitchen is complete with two wonderful ovens that are used non-stop.  For instance, today exactly at noon, hot cinnamon rolls came out of the oven and screamed to be eaten for lunch.  Of course we were happy to oblige.....weight be damned!  Where is everyone when we need to be saved???

Life is good!

Bread Baking--"Farm Style"

So back in February, 2010, I had been experimenting with bread baking--and not just any old bread baking. It had to be artisan type.  I had not been as successful as I had hoped with some of my recipes so, determined to get good at this, I started my research and came upon an excellent article written by a master of artisan bread baking who uses wild yeast as a fermenting agent.  Organic raisins turned out to be the choice in getting my own wild yeast started since I am afterall, growing grapes that could go either way--wine or dried up and used as a raisin.  If I were one of the the grapes talking right now, I am certain that it would choose to wind up in a fine wine, as opposed to drying up and turning into a wrinkled raisin.  Wrinkles aren't near as attractive.


The starter was relitively easy to make, however, keeping it alive and healthy is another story.  Tending it is a labor of love and once it starts it's hard to walk away.  It's just one of the living things on this farm that need to be kept alive.  It has been almost a year since the lively little critter came to life, foaming and bubbling and turning plain old flour, water, and salt into the most glorious loaves of bread to come out of this farm kitchen, yet.  Well, to be honest, there have also been a few questionable loaves......I'll just leave it at that.

I thought it would be fun to post progressive pictures of how the starter looks once it is refreshed and ready to be mixed into bread dough.  So, I will stop now with all the bread blather and post the pictures which show how wild yeast starter should look. 



Refreshed Starter



Six hours later and ready for the fridge

Life is good!

A Beautiful Sunshiny Day--At Last!

When the sun came out today, it seemed to be prodding me to get this blog going.  Hopefully, this communication will enable family and friends to keep in touch and see what life is like on this grape farm.  Besides that--everyone else is blogging, so why not me?  I remember about 6-7 years ago before retiring from my job, the boss told everyone to contribute daily to the company blog.  My thoughts??  Duh, what's a blog?  Now I fully appreciate and understand the value of a blog, but also wonder where some of the diatribe winds up??

I am sitting at my desk with the sun streaming through the window---woof, life couldn't get much better, except maybe to take a walk through the vinyard.  This is the year that some key pruning goes on and if done correctly, the vines should produce a few grapes.  If the weather holds, I will arm myself with a sharp pruning tool and tackle the vines sometime in February or March.  After two years of nurturing, it seems almost cruel to now cut their precious parts, but I am determined to produce a quality grape that will feel proud when it is smashed and made into liquid bliss.

Life is good.