Jessica

Black Mountain Hike

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Black Mountain 8/20/16– 6.1 mi. RT

Brody and I set out for our second solo hike ever last Saturday. It was supposed to be gorgeous weather, so in order to avoid the crowds on this fairly popular hike we left the house early, arriving to the trail head by 8:00 am.

We hiked this mountain as part of the Fire Tower Challenge, making it mountain No. 5 out of 30. I realize we have a quite a way to go, but so much of my hiking time this year was thwarted by my busted shoulder. It feels really good to get out to the woods again and I can’t wait to get a few more under my belt in the coming weeks.

This hike was fairly easy and provided some great views. While the actual top of the mountain has limited views and an inaccessible fire tower there were plenty of stops on the way up and down to check out the gorgeous Adirondack Mountains and Lake George Below.

We chose to do the whole loop making the hike a little longer but allowing us to walk down by a small lake so Brody could cool off in the water. He seriously loves swimming, and was in the water before I was even able to get to the shoreline. While he was happy just swimming around on his own we took a short break from the hike to toss him some sticks in the water.

We made it back down to the car just before noon, making the whole hike, stops included a little under four hours.

I’m happy to say that even with months of being fairly inactive I wasn’t incredibly sore afterwards. I think this was a good trail to start back on and am looking forward to the next peak.

Blackberry Pizza with Ricotta & Basil

By Jessica

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The black berries are coming into season around here. I was lucky enough to have a coworker that has more than he can eat and donated a few to our household. These guys are so big and juicy that we couldn’t get enough. Typically I like black berries all on their own, but I thought it would be fun to play around with them and try them in a recipe.

I stumbled on this recipe and new I had to make my own version. I mean pizza is always a great idea in my book, and then you add in basil and fruit and it’s like it was made just for me.

I added this in as an appetizer at our last pizza night with the Shauber’s and it was a hit all around. Not the kind of thing you’d really love as a meal all on its own but it was a fun appetizer that I’m pretty sure everyone enjoyed.

Side Note: It goes really well with a crisp glass of white wine.

Blackberry Pizza with Ricotta & Basil

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

½ a pizza dough recipe (for a 6 inch pizza)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup fresh blackberries, halved
1 cup mozzarella cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese
½ cup ricotta cheese
2-3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Roll out the dough onto a flowered baking sheet.
Drizzle the olive oil onto the pizza dough and use a pastry brush to spread it evenly over the pizza.
Spread half of the black berries evenly over the dough.
Top the berries with mozzarella, and parmesan cheese until coated evenly. Carefully spoon small dollops of ricotta over the pizza. Top with the remaining black berries.
Place the pizza in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. The cheese should be melted and bubbly, and the crust golden.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the basil.
Serve immediately.

C&G August

By Jessica

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So since we missed July completely your gonna get both July and August’s C&G posts. It’s my blog – I do what I want.

July

The squeaked in a mini vacation at the beach.

She started a new job.

He started work on the deck.

They went through some tough times with the loss of a family member.

The month ended with his birthday.

August

They got to see a ton of old friends at an awesome wedding at a winery in the Fingerlakes.

He kept working on the deck and started planning for hunting season.

Many garden walks happened.

She spent some much needed time with friends and preserved a LOT of produce.

I’m Coming Out about My Dreams

By Jessica

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Ok guys I have something to admit to you.

I don’t know if you’re necessarily going to be surprised by this but I feel like I need to get this thing off my chest before it eats me alive. I’ve been apprehensive about admitting this in a permanent place on the internet, you know because my parents and bosses can see all of this, but the reality is that I’m being silly. Dreams are meant to be thrown to into the wind and chased down.

So that’s what we are doing here; tossing it out there to see what the world has to offer us.

I want to be a farmer. Not just a farmer, a homesteader, better yet a permaculture homesteader.

I know you’re shocked. All my time spent outside, home cooking, and natural living discussions haven’t tipped you off or anything.

There’s a little catch, however; it’s that we have neither the land, money nor knowledge to do this.

But, but, but you can’t hold down my dreams!

It sounds pretty anticlimactic, right? I have this big awesome dream and no way to make it happen. So now what you ask?

I’m still working on this part.

Aren’t we all?

I’m just happy to have a life goal again. There were a few years after college where I was just working, just getting a paycheck with no real idea of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

Slowly this idea of living off the land started to creep into my mind. I’ve always had a garden and grew up in the country but what I really wanted to do was go a step further and create a homestead where there are goats, chickens, maybe a pond with some fish and honey bees. It all sounds so right for me. I want to be outside everyday, even in the blistering cold and I want to grow stuff.

Luckily Chuck is pretty supportive of all this, though he’s not too sure about all the animals, he just wants the land to hunt on, and he really does enjoy the garden. We can figure out our happy medium when we get there, since we are no where near there yet.

So how does one attain such a lofty goal? Well, you work toward it slowly.

We are working to pay down the mortgage on our house, because equity will help us get the land. Learning more about gardening, raising animals and butchering them. Working on small projects that will help us get there. Reading all the books, watching all the videos and practicing, a lot.

It might take us years to get there, hell we may never get there, but we are going to try.

Right now we have a good house, on a little lover a half acre in the burbs. We may not be able to keep all the animals but we can start with the garden. We can start to build this place up into a pretty awesome foodtopia. It’s already on its way after all.

I’ve been devouring permaculture books lately and am starting to get a really good idea of what I want to do with this little patch of earth that we have. I started drawing up some plans for what I’m hoping the future of our house will look like. I’m not sure how long we will be here but I’m hoping to make the best of our situation right now and look forward to the future.

We have a lot to combat in this space, lack of sunlight in much of the yard, very bad soil, lots of wildlife and a tiny budget, but I have faith that we can make it work here.

I’m really excited to try.

How to Host a Dinner Party without Losing your Mind

By Jessica

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Hosting dinner parties is an activity that is meant to be a fun and relaxing, though I find a lot of people find it stressful. I think most people generally enjoy themselves at the dinner party but really loath the preparation and cleanup part. I’m here to tell you that there is no need to stress out about any part of it.

This post is all about my method of throwing dinner parties in a fun and casual way so that you can enjoy yourself and stress less.

Keep it simple – obviously, but it bears repeating, often. A simple 4 course meal (appetizer, main dish, salad & desert) is perfect for nearly any occasion, and depending on the main dish you may not even need that many courses (think tacos people they make a great dinner party).
Plan the meal a few days to a week ahead – this gives you plenty of time to hit the grocery store and any other specialty stores before the day of the party.
Prep as much as possible ahead – Make whatever you can a day or two ahead and store it until the night of the party, things like sauces and salad dressings are better when the flavors get the chance to mingle anyway. In the winter sometimes I cook an entire stew the night before so that it has time to rest and mingle, then it just needs to be heated up and served with sides.
Choose menu items that you know – being comfortable with the food is important to reducing stress. Using tried and true recipes means that you are more likely to know what to do in an emergency when you run out of cream for the sauce or you drop an entire steak on the floor.
Choose different methods of cooking – if you want to cook everything the day of and you want it to all be done at the same time choosing 4 dishes that need to bake at different temperatures for varying amounts of time is not wise. I like to have something in the oven, something on the stove, something premade, and something that doesn’t require the stove (think salad or cheese plate).
Don’t overthink the décor – Yes social media tells you that you need the perfect table cloth, with matching linen napkins, dishes and flatware, as well as name cards and centerpieces. The truth is – ain’t nobody gonna care about that. People aren’t there to be overwhelmed by your décor (unless you only invite bloggers). Your friends want to see you, eat good food and have good conversation. Having a standard set of dishes, napkins and a table cloth are really all you need. If you want centerpieces, a couple candles or a bouquet of flowers will do just fine.
Let the cleanup be – Some people may not agree with this idea but I like to leave the cleanup for the next day. Who wants to be up until 2 am doing dishes? Put those suckers in soapy water and leave them till morning. I also like to use a table cloth because tossing it into the wash is so much easier than wiping down the table. If you’re skipping all the other fancy stuff this should be all you have to clean up, so relax and have another glass of wine instead.
Don’t worry about the entertainment – Good friends can always find things to talk about, however if you are looking for some fun games to play I made a list. Just don’t overthink it, let your guests take the lead.

Now that you’ve had all my tips I thought you might be interested in some of my favorite diner party menus. As always these are the tried and true favorites that are served in our house often.