Clafoutis mania!

A few weeks ago, I read a book about an American who goes to France, learns to cook, becomes a cookbook author, and lives in a converted medieval convent. Along the way, Ms. Loomis dots the narrative with  lots of delicious sounding recipes, and now I'm absolutely hooked on clafoutis. What's a clafoutis? It's a  fabulous dessert concoction, part firm custard crossed with sweet omelet dashed with fruit tart, minus a crust, and since you all know, I HATE MAKING PIE CRUSTS!

So far, I've made:

raspberry clafoutis,

dark cherry clafoutis,

and apricot almond clafoutis.

These desserts are fabulous ways to use an abundance of summer fruit, and they only take 20-30 minutes to cook in a 350 degree (F) oven. They also make a terrific summer breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee. Here's my simplified recipe:

Clafoutis
2 cups fresh fruit (berries, apricots, cherries, apples, whatever!)
3 eggs
1 cup milk (I've tried these with both 2% and almond milk, both worked)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or other flavoring to fit the fruit. For example, I used almond extract with the apricot)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (or cinnamon, or other baking spice to fit the fruit)
1/8 tsp salt
powdered sugar (optional)
nuts (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a pie dish. Scatter sliced fruit at bottom of dish.
2) Beat eggs until frothy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour over fruit. If using nuts, sprinkle on top.
3) Bake 20-30 minutes, until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
4) Finish with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, if desired.
5) Enjoy warm or chilled. (Some folks like to top them with fresh whipped cream or ice cream. I like them without. You decide.)

Next on my clafoutis list; banana walnut!

Besides baking desserts, we also make some very awesome pizzas to use up some of our garden herbs for dinner on Saturday.

This one is Kalamata olive, shaved ham,  feta cheese, and freshly picked  oregano. The other pizza got eaten too fast to even snap a photo, It was a Margarite with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh parmesan, and just picked basil. There were no leftovers for the new fridge this night.

Sunday was a super low tide (-3) due to the Super Full Moon phenom, so we put on our grubby sneaks and rubber boots and headed to one of our local Puget Sound Beaches.

 Alex and Ari discussing the finer points of beach ecology.

 Julie Ann getting sandy and salty in a tide pool. Here I was pointing out nudibranchs (really cute and colorful sea slugs) to another beach explorer.

 Anni wondering if there's any possibility of lunch or ice cream or ice cream for lunch.

 Ari being super animated after finding a lions mane jellyfish alive in a shallow pool, way cool!

 Alex and Julie Ann  checking out the Dungeness crab while Ari continues to gaze at the jellyfish.

A scallop shell amongst the seaweed. All told, we saw lots of cool beach life as we explored. We saw gulls and an osprey, a wriggling gunnel fish, clinging sea stars, lots of anemones, multiple species of nudibranchs, a red velvety sea sponge, mussels, dock shrimp, five kinds of crab including a very well appointed decorator crab, a squid egg pod, an armoured chiton shell, a moon snail shell, live clams, and baby sea urchins.

Then Anni finally got her wish. We had a car picnic along side the beach. The rain had moved in by then. It was cheesy chive (from the garden) scones, ham sandwiches on market rolls, pasta salad, baby radishes (garden), strawberries (garden), and blueberry ice tea. Yum.

Summer Fun!

Yesterday was the summer solstice. I celebrated the day by spending it in Seattle with future farmer Ari and her pal, Toni. We started out at Pike Place Market at the Crumpet Shop. I went for one with green eggs and ham, while Ari preferred hers with lemon curd. Next, it was a hop across the street to Starbuck for some fuel for the day.

We met Toni at SAM's (Seattle Art Museum) hammering man sculpture. The featured exhibit was modern minimalism. Lots of the art work was labeled as untitled. So, we had great fun giving them all names. My personal favorite was Horde of Angry Bumble Bees for a canvas of yellow splotches and black zig-zags.

After SAM, it was time for lunch. We walked south along 1st Ave to Pioneer Square and finally arrived at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant. It's a really cool old place where lots of the jazz greats have played (including one of my favs, Ray Charles) and new artists abound. While waiting for our order, I pulled out a pad of origami paper and we tried our hands at folding a frog, butterfly, and bird. Toni was the only one to get hers done before the meal arrived. Toni and I both indulged in jambalaya; while Ari ordered up the Catfish and hushpuppies. All came with warm and tasty cornbread. It was Southern delish!

Then we headed back north to Pike Place. The girls had serious Manga to check out; while I had groceries to collect at the Spice shop, Italian deli, Parisian bakery, and Chinese bun stand. By the time we were done, we were tired, in need of another coffee, and ready to face Friday rush hour.

I spend the evening of Solstice in my garden contemplating the upcoming full moon. The garden was alive with sounds of birds and bees and the fresh smell of all the flowers we've interspersed between the fruits and veggies.

Today, was our Saturday farmers' market in Redmond. We've been going there for years. Today, we picked up a cucumber, cilantro, tomatoes, green onion, cherries, lettuce, peapods, and shallots. Every week the market has a different theme. Today was mustache day. Here's mine:

Hmm, I think I look a bit like Hercule Poirot.

I spent the rest of our beautiful sunny day in the garden: watering, harvesting, weeding, etc. Here's today's bounty:

lemon balm, chard and kale greens, basil, our first Marionberry and blueberries, a few remaining black currants, chamomile floweres, chives, parsley, strawberries, oregano, calundula floweres, borage flowers, raspberries, lemon oregano, and nasturium flowers.

I used the parsley and chives in a big patch of cheddar chive scones for our picnic tomorrow. The flowers, some of the berries, and herbs went into my lunch salad, delish!

Hope your summer solstice was a lovely one.

A day in the life of the Funny Farm

Today, I thought I'd write about daily life down on our Funny Farm.

David is our fearless early riser. He makes sure everyone else gets up and gets going. Sometimes, he even wakes up before the chickens.

Speaking of which, here are the girls, Claudette and Henrietta. They are always awake by 7am, but sometimes, one of them has the urge to lay an egg at 5:15am, groan!

Why is this boy smiling?

Because that big pile of Canadian rocks isn't going to fall on his head? No, that's not it. It's because he doesn't have to get up at 6:15 every morning to get ready for high school! And because now, he's no longer a middle ground junior, he's a mighty SENIOR! This photo is from our February trip to Vancouver, BC. It was cold!

I'm usually the next one to make an appearance out of bed.

Once, breakfast is going, it's time to wake up Anni and Barkley. Here's Anni awaiting a cup of tea, and Barkley hoping she drops something yummy on the floor.

Almost last to make an appearance at the breakfast table is our recent graduate, Ari.

Hmm, maybe that's because she was celebrating her graduation and acceptance to the University!

And finally, we have a family member who only graces us with his presence when it fits his feline fancy.

Yep, you guessed it, Alchemy the cat.

Today, was Alex and Anni's last formal day of the school year, although we believe in year round learning; so we'll all keep our minds busy with summer activities. This morning, Anni and I potted up some Marigolds for teacher gifts, and then we were off to speech and OT appointments. This afternoon, all the farmers went in search of a new dog food for Barkley. The old brand was not agreeing with him. While we were at the pet shop, we found a pal for our lonely goldfish, Squeak (the big orange one).

Squeak's pal, Bubbles went to the giant fishbowl in the sky after a swim bladder illness that caused him to swim upside down, quite happily, for the last 3 months of his fishy life. Squeak has been kind of droopy since. Now, he has a new pal, a comet goldfish. The funny farmers have dubbed him (or  her) Eros after the asteroid due to make a close pass by earth later this year. They seem to be getting on swimmingly.

Today's weather took a turn back to normal Pacific Northwest fare; some sun, some clouds, and some rain.

Here's today and yesterday's garden harvest:

 Yesterday: strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, nasturtium flowers, calendula flowers, borage flowers, mixed greens of chard, mustard, kale, and arugula, mint, cilantro, and lemon balm.

Today: strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, nasturtium flowers, calendula flowers, chard, baby radishes, squash blossoms, and sage. These are pretty typical harvest for early in our season. We are also harvesting lots of chives and oregano. 

Our tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, beans, cucumbers, and pumpkins are just beginning to fruit up. I can hardly wait. Here's a photo of last year's final tomato harvest, once the weather had claimed the foliage. We ripened all the remainders indoors!

What do we do with all this garden goodness? We cook of course! Here's Monday's dinner:

Baby potatoes (farmers' market) with parsley (ours!) sauce, local sole fillets sauteed in butter (local dairy) and chives (ours), cucumber (farmers' market) salad with nasturtium and borage flower petals (ours). It was delish!

We've been working using lots of stuff in our aging and temperamental fridge which has been slowly dying since last fall. Tomorrow (keep your fingers crossed) our new one should be arriving! After multiple attempts to resurrect the old one, we've decided it's time to give it up and invest in a new energy efficient model. Now, are veggies will stay nice and fresh! Yippee!

And since we like to end on a sweet note, after dinner and clean-up this evening, we make cookies!

These delicious little morsels are mini chocolate chip butter cookies with local WA walnuts. Yummy!

We're BACK!!!

Hi Everyone,

As you might have noticed, the funny farmers have been long gone from the virtual farm. We had a sad year last year as both my parents passed away within a few months of each other. We needed time to be nonfunny for awhile, but now the year has turned, the sun has finally reached Seattle, and the garden is in full bloom.

So what's up with the funny farmers?

The big news is Ari graduated from college with her Associates degree in arts and science, with a concentration in anthropology, last night. She was so excited at the commencement ceremony! And today, she received her acceptance letter into the University of Washington Anthropology Program. She was ecstatic! It seems like just yesterday she was the smiling Buddha baby in my arms.

Alex is about to become a Senior his high school. He is enjoying the challenge of the International Baccalaureate program and is busy checking out colleges to see where he would like to go after graduation. In April, we took a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, so he could check out Stanford. What does he want to be? At the moment, it's a toss up between an eco-green architect and a medical illustrator. And speaking of this baby, my cuddly teddy bear boy is now taller than me by a few inches.

Anni has caught up to Ari in height. She has had a busy year working on all her goals and many, many activities. Her latest passions are art, baseball, and cooking. She's been learning and growing  with a great crew of folks all year and continues to make many gains. This summer, she's doing yoga, swimming, and going to cooking camp. Anni is also the funny farm energy monitor and recycling goddess.

David continues to go to college. He only needs a few more classes and he'll be the next college graduate the family. He's very interested in sustainable business practices.  I'm busy from dawn to midnight, keeping the place from falling down. I also joined a local yoga studio and gym to keep fit,and as always, I continue to write lots of stories and dance. In my spare time, I'm learning all about herbal medicine (as I sit sipping elderberry tea).

Once again we've expanded the organic garden and are currently growing 92 different varieties of fruits, veggies, and flowers. This year, we're interspersing the flowers all around the veg to encourage lots of bee activity. After a winter break, our chickens  became inspired and started laying eggs again. Henrietta and Claudette are getting on; so we hope to add a couple of younger birds to the coop over the summer. Barkley, the wonder dog, continues to keep the garden free of squirrels and most crows. Alchemy, the cat, sits and gives him disapproving looks from the deck. Bubbles, the fish, could care less.

Speaking of summer, we've also begun the season of home improvements. Or geriatric refrigerator has been slowly dying for the past few months. On Monday, the new one finally arrives, yahooooooooey! Then, it's painting season! And eventually, we really, really, really have to clean out the garage. Do we really have to! I don't want to! No, no, you can't make me! We'll I guess I'll have to force myself. Someone out there probably can use some those things we're not, and it'll save resources. It's not easy being green.

Pictures to come!