Fishing, pickled eggs and more

We got Mary a new fishing pole last week, so on Tuesday after Father's Day we went up to Howard Prairie to check it out.  It is so beautiful up there!  The lake is up because of all the wonderful rain and snow we got this last winter but it is still not high enough to fish from the shore.  Maybe next year.  We will be checking out some different places in the coming weeks.  We saw some beautiful pelicans.  They are so fun to watch.  We had a lovely pic nic and then went home.

 

Rich has been making some pickled eggs.  He is using the red wine vinegar that he made with the scoby from our Kambucha tea.  He added elephant garlic and other yummy things.   

 

Then he decided to pickle some eggs with beets.  They turned out so pretty.  He also pickled some home grown spaghetti squash.  They turned out so pretty.  Can't wait to try them when they have cured.

 

Lastly we have been enjoying our summer so much.  Here is a picture of our little gardener next to my sunflowers.  I don't know which one is growing faster, the sunflowers or Mary!

 

 

We are going to have some wonderful slicing tomatoes in a few weeks.  Mary was so happy that some of her Iris were white as she wants to give a white iris to Grandma.  We just bought a mixed bag of iris bulbs this spring of purple, lavender and white.

 

Happy Father's Day

In honor of my dad, this Father's Day. These are the earliest pictures I have of my dad as he was raised Old Order Amish and they did not take pictures. This first one is him in the one room school house he went to in Oklahoma.  He is the one on the left on the top row.  He only went to the 8th grade and had to quit.  He was on his own by the time he was 15 years old.  When he was 60 he took his GED for his high school diploma and passed without having to take any classes.  So proud of my dad.

 

Here he is on his way to school on his horse.  He was 14 years old.  I am so thankful for my dad and I learned so many wonderful truths of God's Word from him. He loved to teach and share what he had learned from the Bible and had a deep desire to share it with others.

 

For Rich we gave him a new fishing hat and put lots of buttons on it.  Mary got a hat too with lots of buttons.  We got her a new fishing pole and we are going to Howard Prairie on Tuesday to go fishing.  She is so excited.

 

We took Rich and his dad out to Road House Grill for dinner.  So thankful for Rich as he is such a wonderful father to Mary, loving, guiding and protecting her.  So very thankful for Rich's dad too.  What a blessing he is.

 

An Old Fashioned Treat

Rich has been trying his hand at homemade sourdough doughnuts. He made cinnamon ones a few weeks ago for our Sunday fellowship and this last Sunday he wanted to try his favorite apple fritters.  We just got a can of the cherry and apple pie filling but you can use fresh fruit and chop it up.  The fryer is so hot it will cook the fruit no problem.  He found a wonderful dough recipe on the internet that we make up the night before and put it in the fridge until the next morning.  We use sugar to sweeten it, but you can use honey too.  We deep fry them in sunflower oil as it can take the high temps and is delicious!  Here are the pics.  After he rolls out the dough, he puts the fruit on it, he sprinkles it with flour, rolls it up and chops it up into small pieces, then pats it up into small round mounds and then deep fries on each side until golden brown and then we glaze them with a powdered sugar glaze.  They are so yummy, fresh made still warm out of the fryer.

 

 

Apple and cherry fritters ready for the deep fryer.

 

Mary was happy to see all those fritters.  Yes that is our sewing machine on the table, with a sewing project draped over it.  I am going to be sewing some fun summer dresses real soon.  She is growing so fast and we just love cool summer dresses.

 

 

Cinnamon Sugar Sourdough Doughnuts

 

Sourdough starter gives these doughnuts an extra depth of flavor and balances with the baking powder that makes it somewhere between cake doughnuts and yeast ones.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sourdough

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

2 cups flour ( I usually need 1/3 to 1/2 cup more to make the dough manageable)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup buttermilk

 

Instructions:

1. Prepare a pot or deep fryer for frying

2. Line a tray with paper towels and set aside, you will use this for draining doughnuts.

3. Heat oil to 360 degrees

4. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda

5. In a bowl mix the sourdough starter, oil, buttermilk and egg.

6. Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt to the dry ingredients and then add them to the wet ingredients.

7. Bring dough together gently with your hands.  Sprinkle some flour onto a work surface and turn dough on to it.  Knead it gently about 3 times to help bring the dough together.  (we put it in the fridge until morning)

8. Roll out to a thickness of 2 centimeters.

9. Fry until golden brown.

10. Drain on paper towel.  Toss with vanilla sugar and cinnamon sugar to coat or top with your favorite topping.

Piano Recital

Mary had her summer recital.  This year we played 2 duets together.  We had so much fun!  I am so proud of my girl.  She loves to perform for a group of people and does so well!

 

 

 

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Our Back Yard

We moved some things around in our back yard this year.  We moved our cabana frame over to this side and planted Morning Glory vines to grow up it, to make a natural canopy covered with blue flowers.  We have a big black berry vine on the other side of the fence loaded with fruit this year.

Rich planted 3 tomato plants, one cherry, one yellow pear and one slicing tomato, in the area we had our cabana.  We also have a lemon tree in a pot on the right.

We have our avocado trees on the left. 

Mack in the back yard.  To him our back yard is like a huge football field. He is such a little guy.  He sure loves to run the length of the yard and play with us.  So cute!  We have a row of sunflowers coming up along the fence.

Flowers and veggies around the back patio.  In the very front is my swiss chard.

These are all my baby roses, so pretty and vibrant.  Rich got me the orange one when we were dating.  This will mark it's 15th year and it is still going strong.