Thanksgiving and a Whole Lot More

There’s one thing I failed to mention in my last blog post that was inconsequential at the time, but as it turns out was the beginning of the end. Let me explain. Several years ago Verne’s brother Keith made it his mission to help Verne restore a ’52 Chevy truck. For over a year he spent a half day most weeks working with Verne on the project. Often he would take something home with him to continue his work, such as a fender or some other part. He would then return it in a few weeks repaired, primed and painted. My job was to plan a nice lunch each week as a thank you. His favorite lunch was my chili and corn bread. As the truck neared completion I figured Keith might ask me for the recipe. At the time and unknown to all but close family members, I used a chili seasoning mix called Billy the Kid Chili Mix, which was developed by Carroll Shelby (the car guy) and apparently had been a first place winner in numerous chili cook-off competitions. Well, out of necessity (too embarrassed to admit the truth of using a packaged chili mix), I set out to develop my own. It’s a blend of about a dozen Penzey’s spice, which are then added to the meat along with a bottle of pale ale and thickened with masa harina. There’s a bit more to it than that, but those are the basics. The truck was finished and as I expected Keith asked me for the recipe, which I was pleased to share along with my own container of Moser Chili Spice Mix. He was none the wiser and apparently never noticed a difference between the Billy the Kid and my knock-off mix, which is far superior to the original. It’s a winner. Not officially (like Carroll Shelby’s), but amongst the Moser clan (Verne and I in particular) it’s the best, Numero Uno.

Lauren has loved chili, all kinds, since she was a little girl and is one of my best customers. I sent her home from her October visit with containers of the mix for her own use as well as enough to make a batch of chili to be entered in a Nike Chili Cook-Off event mid-month. An opportunity to have my chili independently judged? This was exciting. To make a long story short, our chili won and she was given the first place award, a cutting board with the words “2017 Chili Cook-Off Winner.” Lauren told the story of her chili cook-off win at Thanksgiving, giving no credit to the creator...Me. I guess what goes around, comes around. In hindsight, it’s a little like my Billy the Kid chili scam. Nonetheless, I want the kudos. I want the first place award. I want the cutting board. My advice to you, Lauren, is nail it down, because it may just end up coming home with me next time we visit!

Our 2017 Thanksgiving celebration was much the same as previous years. The feast included the same family members (Verne and the girls, Scott and his family, and Jana’s boyfriend Andy) and was in the same location (Lauren’s Portland condo) that we’ve celebrated the holiday for the past few years. Lauren’s “Give Thanks” banner was hung on the wall and we decorated the table with the same colorful runner that we’ve used for the past decade. We even reused Lauren’s adorable centerpiece and paper trivia turkeys from last year. Our menu was also unchanged with turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed corn and two different pies, pumpkin and Jana’s favorite pecan. There was one thing, though, that made this past Thanksgiving unique and it involved the turkey. A friend of mine, now writing for the Upcountry News, wrote her November cooking column on spatchcocking a turkey. The term was vaguely familiar to me as I’d read the same 2014 Bon Appetit article she referenced in hers. Only difference was she read the article and actually spatchcocked her turkey that year and has continued preparing it that way since. She was so enthusiastic about the process and result that I decided I wanted to spatchcock our turkey. Just to familiarize you with the process, it involves removing the backbone and flattening the fowl before roasting. For those who lack a sharp boning knife and the skill to remove the backbone, Jan suggested asking a butcher to “spatchcock the bird.” After more reading about the process I decided to take her advice.

Do you find the term “spatchcock” offensive (to the point of being laughable)? Well, I do. And Lauren did. As I live in Volcano, 650 miles from New Season’s Market where we’d ordered the turkey, and she lives across the street from it, the job of talking to the butcher about spatchcocking was on her to-do list. I’m glad it was, because Lauren’s hilarious story about the hesitant, jaw-dropping look she got from the butcher when she asked if he could “spatchcock” and the similar response she received from the woman in charge of turkey orders, had me laughing for a week. The funniest part of the story was when the woman said to her with a smirk, “Do you mean you want your turkey butterflied?” We had no idea!

Lauren's Thanksgiving Banner

Pretty table setting with little origami boats filled with candy

On Friday we all went to OMSI for a special exhibit called Illusion. The topic had such potential, but left all of us confused and disappointed. The curators missed their mark! In fact, I came closer with my optical illusion selfie photo below. We went on to Hair of the Dog for a couple of hours of cards (Asshole, what else?) and then dinner at Thai Peacock, which is becoming our go-to restaurant in Portland. Besides having the best Thai food in the area, it’s located within walking distance of Penzey’s and across the street from Powell’s Bookstore. It doesn’t get better than that.

#joyceselffie #optical illusion

Scott and his family left early Saturday morning. We three girls headed for Smith Tea for a class on creating our own black tea blend (Lauren’s birthday gift to Jana and an un-birthday present for me). The class started with a general discussion of tea followed by a tasting of about a dozen black teas. We then each created our own blend combining our favorite black teas with an essential oil, such as Bergamot (the oil that gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavor) or Black Currant, which I used, and herbs. We taste-tested the result and adjusted our blend as desired. It was an interesting experience. In general, I’m not fond of black teas as I find most of them too astringent (a tea term I learned in class), but having the opportunity to taste and compare the different black teas from various countries allowed me to narrow my likes to Pu’erh, a fermented tea from China. There is no better way to narrow the playing field for a product (beer, wine, olive oil, or whatever) than a side-by-side taste test.

Friday tea at Smith's with Ini

We finished our weekend with dinner at Laurelhurst to celebrate the girls’ birthdays. There has been something so special about the girls’ shared birthday. They always begin their big day with a call to each other (so sweet), just as I imagine twins do. Being so close to Thanksgiving, we are always together on or near November 29th and our weekend together always includes a birthday celebration. One of our favorite stories told and retold is that of their first shared birthday when baby Lauren put her hand in the cake, upsetting her three-year old sister, who wasn’t keen on sharing the cake or the attention. We’ve enjoyed thirty birthday celebrations since then and they’ve all been filled with love, laughter and shared memories (and presents, of course). Life is good.

Waiting to be seated at Laurelhurst

December started off with a weekend visit from Jeff. A couple of times each year he combines a business trip with family visits. This one included a few days in Los Angeles, where he got together with Jana and Andy for dinner, and ended his business mid-day Friday in San Francisco followed by a short drive to Volcano for a two-day visit with us. Jeff and I talk on the phone each week, typically Thursday or Friday afternoon when he’s driving home from work, but that’s never as good as our in-person time together. We spent Friday evening catching up with lots of humorous stories about Trish and the boys. Most of Saturday was spent in the barn as Jeff’s mission was to help Verne with the ’50 Chevy pickup and prove it with pictures. He has been involved with this project since he was 13 years old. This has got to be the longest auto restoration in history.  

As Christmas approaches, I’m reminded of one of my favorite holiday movies, Love Actually, and its theme song, Love Is All Around performed by Bill Nighy, because love seems to be all around us. Last week we attended Jandy’s (Jana and Andy’s) second annual holiday party in LA. This year it was much more than a holiday party. Surrounded by friends and family, Andy proposed to Jana. And, she accepted. It’s official, our daughter is engaged to be married next year. Two others near and dear to us, Maria (once a daughter-in-law and later a daughter) and Ruben, were married in November. Here are a few pictures of the bride and bride-to-be. It warms my heart to see the girls so happy. Ruben and Andy are two lucky guys!

 Jana showing engagement ring with Raelin and Lauren

Ruben and Maria wedding

A few random pictures...

Lauren in LA for Jandy's holiday party - working remotely, or remotely working

Verne standing next to an interesting tree in LA

Verne and Girls ready for dinner at Maccheroni Republic

Google It! and Other Ramblings

My favorite quilt from 2017 NW Quilting Expo

We’re still working our plan to get the old place spiffed up and ready to list for sale. It seems like yesterday that we bought “the property” and built what has turned out to be our dream house. “Yesterday”, in this case, was 1992. Over the past two months we’ve re-roofed the house and garage (no more blue tarps draped over the skylights) and we’ve painted and re-carpeted our bedroom. Important improvements, but not the kind that are noticeable to anyone except us. The roofing is a darker shade of brown-black, but within a few weeks it was covered with pine needles and oak leaves and looked much the same as the previous roof. We are enjoying the new carpet, but honestly it’s just a clean version of what we’ve lived with for the past two decades.

Speaking of flooring, I do have an interesting story about our wood floor. In preparation for company over the Christmas holiday last year I decided to have the carpet in the basement cleaned. I scheduled the appointment with a nice old guy I’d used in the past and his son, who is learning the business. They hadn’t been in the house five minutes before we had our first mishap. I had left up a pet gate between two of the rooms and the nice old guy took a header when he tried to step over it. In an instant several things went through my mind…Why hadn’t I removed the pet gate? Had I renewed our general liability insurance policy? Would it be enough to cover a permanent disability caused by the head injury? Is this nice old guy going to end up with our house? I was genuinely concerned for the man, but admittedly my thoughts kept returning to the financial repercussions of my stupidity. Within a few hours we had our second mishap of the day. After the carpet and furniture was cleaned, the nice old guy and his son began removing their equipment, including a long hose that fed the water from their van to the downstairs basement. When the final length of hose was removed from the entertainment room, they pointed out a white spot on the floor about 18” long and shaped like a snake. Water had apparently leaked from one of the hoses and either the moisture or chemicals (which they claimed they hadn’t used) had left the white mark in the middle of our beautiful Brazilian cherry wood floor. Confident that once dried the mark would no longer be visible I assured them it was no problem. What else could I say? It felt right and assuaged some of my guilt over the earlier header accident.

The white snake-like mark didn’t eventually dry and disappear. We have lived with it for almost a year now and it is again time to deep-clean and prepare for the holidays. I have considered possible ways to remove the mark, including sanding and refinishing the area and, even more invasive, replacing the dozen damaged boards (a suggestion made by Barron’s Floors in Jackson). Before going forward with such a drastic (and costly) measure, we experienced what I can only describe as a miracle. Verne got on his trusty iPad (the one he didn’t want) and searched on “white spot on wood floor”. He found several YouTube videos made by people who have had similar problems. Apparently, the white spot is caused by moisture trapped under the floor finish. Solutions included drying the spot with a heat gun, hair dryer, or iron. Verne started with a heat gun, which very slightly damaged the finish before the heat gun died. He next used my hair dryer, which resulted in the same results – slight damage to the finish and its eventual demise. Neither were effective. He next tried my iron heated to a high setting and applied over a light-weight cotton towel. We watched as the snake-like mark disappeared. Completely. It was like magic! No sign of it remains. I am convinced that the answer to just about every one of life’s questions can be found by Googling It! Next time we won’t wait a year.

Near the end of September, we did take time off from our work at home to make a trip to Portland for the Annual Northwest Quilting Expo. We’ve made this trip every year since Lauren relocated to Portland to attend law school. It is always inspiring with some years better than others…like the 2014 show when the theme was Portland Bridges. This year featured a quilt artist from Montana. Her applique collage work is original and distinctive with its whimsical use of fabrics and hand-stitching. The final quilting is simple with horizontal and vertical lines. I’ve included a picture of her work below.

2017 NW Quilting Expo

2017 NW Quilting Expo

The next day we attended a harvest festival sponsored by OMSI. (Reminder: That’s where Lauren volunteers and gives a half dozen submarine tours each month.) There were 40 or 50 stalls, including local farmers and artisan food and drink vendors (all offering tasters and demos) and non-profit groups like 4H, Master Gardeners, and Master Food Preservers. A highlight was a family that raises alpacas and had set up a petting area with a half-dozen of their animals. OMG! We (that would be me) came home wanting an alpaca or two. Another item on my bucket list!

Harvest Festival

Alpaca at the Harvest Festival

Black alpaca

Mid-October Lauren came home for a visit that just happened to coincide with Verne’s birthday. Lauren has enthusiastically agreed to help us declutter and organize (based on the KonMari method) in preparation for moving sometime in the next year or two. We had much planned for the weekend, so limited our tidying time to a small part of the house, the laundry room. While it took longer than I expected, the decisions to keep, trash or donate are coming easier as I gain experience in this method of organization. Or, it could be it was easier because I feel no great attachment to old bedding saved for the occasional overnight guest or the dozens of old towels saved to be used as cleaning rags. This common-sense insight really isn’t mine. Marie Kondo’s book recommends beginning with the easy stuff and leaving the hardest, memorabilia and keepsakes, to the end. By then you’ve learned to “let go”.

Besides decluttering the linen closet and laundry room, we had two big goals for the weekend: visit Apple Hill and eat our first apple fritter of the year and make Lauren a costume for a Nike Halloween competition. And, celebrate Verne’s birthday. It took us two trips to Apple Hill to get our fritter. We drove there reasonably early Saturday morning, but not early enough to miss the obscene traffic and the thousands of other people visiting the place. At 10:30 a.m. the normal exits were blocked and traffic on Highway 50 was routed 8 miles past the turnoff for Apple Hill. We agreed the apple fritter would have to wait and drove the hour home. Disappointed! By then it was noon and we’d lost half the day. Lauren and I started making her costume. I told stories of all the clothing I’d made over the years and bragged about being an expert seamstress. By that afternoon I was sweating and swearing as I worked with the fabric we’d chosen: a slinky satin and a stretchy snakeskin fabric. They slipped and puckered and fought. By that evening I’d given up all hopes of producing an artisan piece of clothing.

We woke up very early the following morning determined to repeat our trip to Apple Hill…this time arriving at 7:30 a.m., before Hilltop opened and before the crowds arrived! Success. No people. No lines. The apple fritter was all the better for having waited and made such an effort. We went on to a second favorite stop, Boa Vista, and bought apples and cider and memorialized our trip with pictures in their pumpkin patch. We had it to ourselves. Definitely worth the early hour we’d arrived.

Lauren, Daddy and his apple fritter

Verne with two old witches

 Alone in the Pumpkin Patch

Lauren with Daddy and a Scarecrow

Once home we returned to the Costume from Hell! Time was short and I’d given up all hopes of perfection. My approach would be one of shortcuts and improvisation. Afterall, it was just a costume. A piece of clothing that would probably only be worn for two hours. Once. Another four hours and it was complete with trim, belt, and harness. Did I mention? Her costume is for a Sand Snake Warrior from the show, Game of Thrones. The other members of her work team will be dressing as other characters from the show. Below is a picture of her costume. She’ll be wearing brown leggings and brown knee-high boots with it and will be carrying a whip.

Sand Snake Warrior - Check out the biceps! 

We finished our weekend together by celebrating Verne’s big day with dinner at Taste in Plymouth. There is no better food in Amador County! 

Verne's 76th

October is almost over. It's looking a lot like autumn here with the deck covered with yellow leaves. One final celebration of the month included a Fall Dinner with Vera and Will (married in May 2017) and Maria and Ruben (to be married next month). We had my favorite slow cooker comfort food, Deconstructed Pot Roast, followed by a marmalade cake with whiskey custard sauce. The dessert was my second attempt to come up with a winning finale to our Christmas dinner. I've got to work on the presentation, but the taste was excellent. Here are a couple of pictures...Vera and Will had just come from a 4H Halloween event, thus the interesting attire.

Ruben and Maria

Will and Vera

Working Our Plan, Summer 2017

Amador County Fair, July 2017

Amador County Fair, July 2017

I can’t blame a busy calendar filled with travels and entertainment for not having blogged in three months – just a shortage of inspiration. Outside of two or three trips to Carson City to clean out two storage rooms each the size of a single-car garage filled with documents from Verne’s days at Hayes Engineering and a half day spent at the Amador County Fair (that hardly counts as entertainment), we’ve been homebodies this summer only leaving to grocery shop. 

Billy Goat Gruff, Amador County Fair

For ten years now we’ve had a two-year plan to downsize (do the math and you’ll understand why this has become a family joke), but it’s only been recently that we’ve decided to make moving a priority and started working our plan with a vengeance (that word might be a little strong). At the top of the list is Verne’s barn. Actually, the contents in and around Verne’s barn. As I wrote in my June blog, his last big barn project is the 50 Chevy pickup restoration. I’m pleased to report Verne has made significant progress on the restoration spending a few hours every day working on the old truck. Occasionally I even help when he needs a second set of hands. Mostly, I just keep a watchful eye on him, encourage and take pictures of the progress. 

Had I known the complexity (and expense) of restoring the old basket-case, I would have emphatically supported Verne when he tried to discourage Jeff on the idea. We’re too far into it now to look back, so we just plod forward taking each new problem as it comes. There’s not a single thing on this old truck that doesn’t need some sort of repair or replacement. It had 20-years of hard use on the farm in Washington, has been moved a dozen times over the years, stored outside in less-than favorable conditions for its entire life, and was literally in pieces when this project began. The best part of the truck is the engine as Verne had it restored 30 years ago by a former automotive client when he was working as a CPA in SoCal. As for a current status report, the engine, transmission, radiator and exhaust system have been repaired (if needed), painted and assembled, installed and secured to the chassis. The cab still hangs from the rafters in the barn, but the firewall has been sanded, primed and painted with the body color (blue) this past weekend. The wheels have been primed and painted and will be re-mounted this week. The next job will be to lower the cab onto the chassis, secure it, and at that point the pickup will again be mobile and we can push it in and out of the barn to complete its restoration by next spring. That’s the plan anyway.

Attaching driveshaft

Painting the firewall and rims

This past week I woke up one morning from a nightmare. My heart was racing from the stress of it. I was in a classroom with about a dozen master food preservers. I recognized one person and she angrily told me that I had signed up to teach that morning’s public class, but nobody had agreed to help me with it. One by one each MFP walked out leaving me alone with a pallet of fresh meat (getting warm and spoiling) in the middle of the room. Weird. (Doubly weird because during my involvement with the MFP program I’ve never taught a class on preserving meat.) I don’t need a shrink to interpret my dream. From my training during the spring of 2014 to my last assignment in June 2017 when I was coerced into teaching a fermentation class at the MFP statewide conference in Davis, I have been consumed by all things related to food preservation. It has been a rewarding experience and I’m a better person, in general, for having participated in this volunteer program. But, enough is enough and I decided earlier this summer that it’s time to recharge and refocus my energy, get back to my hobbies that I’ve neglected, and actively work on our plan to downsize. While I resigned from the MFP program July 1st, I haven’t given up food preservation entirely and have still managed to put by several dozen jars of food this summer. Rather than out of obligation and duty to the program, it has been by choice. I’ve had fun experimenting with new flavor combinations and teasing the rigid boundaries set by the MFP program. I believe two new variations of fig jam made with pears, peaches, and white wine and a French prune plum jam with Ruby port will prove to be family (and friends) favorites.

I’ve used some of the extra time I've gained from giving up my volunteer work to reacquaint myself with my sewing machine and have been working on brainless, but satisfying, projects that use up my stash of fabric. Anyone who knows me (and my stash) knows that it will take more than a few small projects to use it up, but every little bit helps! An expensive problem with the electronics on my long-arm quilting machine has kept me out of the cabin and away from quilting all summer. That’s probably okay, because without air conditioning the cabin, my studio, is not a happy place when it’s hot. As of this week the Gammill is repaired and my plan is to begin working on the backlog of quilt tops. Stored in an armoire, some have not seen the light of day in years. Once finished, I’ll have to decide whether or not I should keep the long-arm machine. At this time, I’m not sure how the 10-foot table (an integral part of the long-arm machine) fits into our plan to downsize as it requires a dedicated room with a minimum width of 12-14 feet. A house with a basement? Or a great room? That’s a decision for another day.