July 2013August 2013 September 2013

08/31 - Lake Angeles Trail

We've been having some changeable weather lately with rain and wet and then sunny and dry. The Lake Angeles Trail takes one through a variety of climes. Here's a photo of a gateway into the sun and mist of our local forest.

Gateway

Keywords: lake angeles, weather

08/25 - Crespiou

Every summer we seem to wait forever before we can make crespiou. Crespiou is a multiple layered omelet, each layer made with two eggs and a choice of farmers' market fresh vegetables. It really isn't worth making unless we can get enough variety to make at least four layers, but this year we made five.

Yeah, some of the pictures are arty, but then, this is dish is a real work of art.

Heirloom zucchini & Cherokee Purple tomato

Pine nuts & basil in olive oil

Pan fried potatoes

Zucchini & onions with thyme

Green beans with herbs

Red peppers & anchovies

Potatoes & purple onions

Tomatoes, pine nuts & basil

Zucchini & onions

Green beans with garlic

Crespiou

Keywords: food, summer

08/16 - Ground Cherries

We had heard of ground cherries, but we had never seen any. Supposedly, they look like tomatillos, that is, they have little chinese lantern husks on each of their fruits. We found some on sale at Nash Huber's farm store, so we bought some and tried them. The most obvious difference is that ground cherries are golden yellow, not green. Ground cherries don't taste like tomatillos either. Tomatillos are tart, while ground cherries are sweet. They actually taste something like a cherry with a coconut richness.

Apparently, ground cherries, tomatillos and chinese lanterns are all from the same genus, Physalis. The fruit of the chinese lantern, apparently, does not have much flavor, so it is unlikely to turn up at the local farmers' market or fruit stand. (For more on ground cherries, check out this article at Seedsavers.)

Some ground cherries

A closeup

Keywords: food

08/11 - The Farmers' Market

It must be summer, at long last, they're selling summer squash. They're also selling mustard greens, scallions, collard greens, potatoes and a host of other things. At Clark Farm, Mrs. Clark gave us the details on their most recent chicken adventure, so we bought a couple of hard won, hard plucked birds and a chunk of pork roast with the skin on. We're going to try and make an almost porchetta. Spring Rain Farm, it turns out, is selling turkeys. You have to call and order one, so we're going to do that soon.

We've got to start taking more pictures at the Farmers' Market.

Keywords: farmers' market, spring rain

08/05 - Lillian Camp

We recently surprised ourselves. We took what we expected to be a modest walk out from Whiskey Bend, but rather than punking out at Michael's Cabin, we made it all the way to the Lillian River.

When we started, we were sure we weren't going to get far. We didn't even bring a bottle of water, but as we hiked along we realized that we were much less tired than we expected. Surely, the 400 foot climb from the cabin to the first crossing would leave us exhausted. No, it didn't. How about continuing to the overlook. That should tucker us out. Nope. Well, the second crossing was right there, then over the bridge and through the stunted forest.

We were absolutely certain that by the time we reached the junction where the trail starts its descent to the Lillian River we would be barely able to stand. Instead, we were eager to head down and check out the rushing blue waters.

The return walk went just as well. Yes, we were tired when we got back to our car, but not anywhere near as tired as we had expected. It was a great hike and, all told, a pleasant surprise.

A cool, bright day

The Lillian River one way

and another

Fern forest

The view from the overlook

Keywords: elwha

July 2013August 2013 September 2013