"Who would fardels bear....?"
It would appear that I would.
Spent a few hours this morning hauling branches and lengths of log from the fallen trees around the back yard and stacking them into a pile. Some of them will go into our own fire pit, but I think that some of the bigger ones would do better for Matt's fireplace, so I'll wander over at some point and offer them. Since they're deadfall, they're nice and dry already, so they should flame up nicely for him.
He took care of us this summer, so it's nice to think that we can help him keep toasty this winter.
Before I went out there, I also decided to do a little kitchen experiment....
I had a really beautiful side of salmon (for some reason, they've been selling these gorgeous whole filets of salmon at the market for the last couple of weeks, for dead cheap--one of them is featured here, that the DH grilled on a cedar plank a couple of weeks ago), and I decided I wanted to try to make gravlax. So it's sitting in the refrigerator now, coated with a cup of kosher salt, a cup of sugar, a whole bunch of orange, lemon and lime zest, some fresh pepper, and a handful of chopped parsley, all turned into a yummy paste with three tablespoons of Stolichnya Orange vodka and packed into the fish....
Once again, the piece of fish was beautiful, and so fresh that there wasn't so much as a WHIFF of fish-y-ness to it (you know a fish is fresh when you can open the package in a kitchen occupied by three cats and none of them notice), and the salt paste smelled lovely--all citrus and nom nom nom....
I can't wait to see how it does.
I could cheerfully eat my own weight in gravlax, so I'm hoping for a good yield, to be paired with fresh bagels and cream cheese.
All work has been put aside for the rest of the day, however, because we'll head over to the Scottish/Irish Festival for a little bit--maybe some brown bread ice cream and shortbread--and then heading home with fish and chips, both for us and for Mother and Dad...
Post storm, the day is beautiful, and I'm just as happy to be able to spend it with just a little of this and a little of that and no real schedule, and maybe a nap, with the cool breeze coming through the window.
I can live with all of that.
Spent a few hours this morning hauling branches and lengths of log from the fallen trees around the back yard and stacking them into a pile. Some of them will go into our own fire pit, but I think that some of the bigger ones would do better for Matt's fireplace, so I'll wander over at some point and offer them. Since they're deadfall, they're nice and dry already, so they should flame up nicely for him.
He took care of us this summer, so it's nice to think that we can help him keep toasty this winter.
Before I went out there, I also decided to do a little kitchen experiment....
I had a really beautiful side of salmon (for some reason, they've been selling these gorgeous whole filets of salmon at the market for the last couple of weeks, for dead cheap--one of them is featured here, that the DH grilled on a cedar plank a couple of weeks ago), and I decided I wanted to try to make gravlax. So it's sitting in the refrigerator now, coated with a cup of kosher salt, a cup of sugar, a whole bunch of orange, lemon and lime zest, some fresh pepper, and a handful of chopped parsley, all turned into a yummy paste with three tablespoons of Stolichnya Orange vodka and packed into the fish....
Once again, the piece of fish was beautiful, and so fresh that there wasn't so much as a WHIFF of fish-y-ness to it (you know a fish is fresh when you can open the package in a kitchen occupied by three cats and none of them notice), and the salt paste smelled lovely--all citrus and nom nom nom....
I can't wait to see how it does.
I could cheerfully eat my own weight in gravlax, so I'm hoping for a good yield, to be paired with fresh bagels and cream cheese.
All work has been put aside for the rest of the day, however, because we'll head over to the Scottish/Irish Festival for a little bit--maybe some brown bread ice cream and shortbread--and then heading home with fish and chips, both for us and for Mother and Dad...
Post storm, the day is beautiful, and I'm just as happy to be able to spend it with just a little of this and a little of that and no real schedule, and maybe a nap, with the cool breeze coming through the window.
I can live with all of that.