Camping photos

Camping this weekend was really fun, and it turns out that it wasn't too hot up in the 'mountains' of South Carolina.  It was in the 60s at night and maybe upper 80s or low 90s during the hottest part of the day.  We had no plans for the weekend...we hiked when we wanted to hike, sat in the shade and read when it was hot, went for a scenic drive because it seemed like a good idea, and cooked excellent food!  It was great.

The visitor center at the park overlooks a small lake and has a great porch for relaxing.  It also has a nice view of Table Rock, the namesake of Table Rock State Park.

This weekend, Seca did something she's never done before.  Our first night in camp, we arrived at about 8 pm, set up the tent, and started a small fire.  By 10 pm we were ready for bed.  It had been a long drive (about 4 hours) and Seca was sort of nervous all day while I was sorting gear and loading the truck.  So when we crawled into the tent, we figured she would be tired.  We didn't expect her to dive into her bed, sprawl out and almost immediately fall asleep.  She didn't even open her eyes when I slid her over so her butt wasn't laying on Steve's sleeping pad.  She never lets us do that.  It happened again the second night, after a day hike, a drive, and some relaxing.  Just after dark, Seca walked over to the tent (which was closed up) and was trying to push her way in.  She never wants to be in the tent without us.  She was one tired dog (but she is 11 years old, so that's ok).  Here she's cashed out on the hard ground after a hike.

We hiked a short loop (1.9 miles) on Sunday afternoon.  The path follows a small creek and there are about a dozen small waterfalls.  By the time we were done it was getting pretty warm outside and the water looked really inviting.

 Steve is showing off the hobo pie he made for lunch.  We have an ongoing debate about whether they are 'hobo pies' or 'pudgie pies'.  My vote is for hobo pie, especially the dessert variety.

Camping!

We're finally going camping!  Steve has to work Saturday, but we both took Monday off so we're heading up tomorrow afternoon and will still get two nights out.  Table Rock State Park is about 4 or 4 1/2 hours "upstate" which mean west, but also up into the hills.  We've been there once before and it's a really nice park with a little lake and several hiking trails.  The weather for Sunday and Monday is looking like high of 88-90 and lows of 67-70.  If it's too hot to hike, we're going to swim and relax and cook gourmet camping dinners.  We'll post pictures when we get back!

Motorcycle ride & hot days in Charles Towne (and whining)

I'm trying really hard to think of reasons to like Charleston right now.  They have good restaurants.  There's lots of cool reptiles and amphibians living here.  The winters are pretty mild.  There are beaches close by.  Charleston has all that going for it and I'm still wishing we lived somewhere else.  It's hot here.  And it's flat.  And the insects (mosquitos mostly but also cockroaches) are relentless (and just plain gross for the cockroaches).  When it starts to get this hot and humid (it was 78 at 7 am this morning and will be well into the 90s today, and all week, and all month, through September usually) I really struggle.  'What should we do today?' gets harder to answer because all of the fun outdoors activities like hiking and kayaking and even motorcycles trips get less fun as it gets hotter.  By the time the ocean temp hits 88 at the beach, it's not even refreshing to get in the water (or in the kayaks).  Grrrrr.  I don't want to be stuck indoors watching movies, and even cooking gets less appealing when you don't want to heat up the kitchen or stand and sweat over a grill outside.  I'd rather be somewhere cold, where we could at least go for a walk with the dog.

Because it was *only* 78 in the morning, we went for a motorcycle ride, leaving just before 8 am.  We headed north towards the Francis Marion National Forest, which is definitely a forest, but still not very exciting for a motorcycle ride.  In my opinion, the best rides usually involve at least two of these things - interesting scenery, twisty roads, and a scenic overlook/destination.  Unfortunately, most of the roads around here are very straight, and very flat.  The forest was pretty, but lacks anything truly scenic.  We did end up in McClellanville, which is a small town on the water that was largely devastated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989.  It's a very cute town, and it fulfills the "scenic destination" requirement.  We got home just before noon - 4 hours and about 140 miles (and three short stops) later.  Our thermometer outside said it was 104 at noon, but I think it was reading too high, since it was probably only 93-95.  It was fun.  I'm glad we went.  But I'll happily take any ideas for things to do in weather like this so I don't go crazy before October arrives!

Our final destination before turning back for home: McClellanville, SC.  It's scenic, right?

New toy night.

I bought another one.  Tell me what you think.

Our morning, without words...

 

 

Cheddar jalapeno bread

When I found this recipe online, I mistakenly thought it was a recipe for a quick bread.  I probably wouldn't have made it if I had read the instructions, but since I didn't and I had already gone out to get cheese and jalapenos, I figured I had better suck it up and make it.  In the end, it was very easy to make and absolutely worth it.  Actually, there aren't enough superlative words in the English language to adequately describe how this smells while baking or how it tastes.  It's superduperdeliciouslyallIeverwanttoeatfortherestofmylife good. This bread might also work really well in muffin/bun form, which I may try next time (because there WILL be a next time).  The biggest hurdle for making this is allowing for the time to rise.  You can't decide you want it for dinner at 6 and it's already 4 pm.  But, the best things in life take time, right?

I didn't wear gloves chopping the jalapenos, and I usually regret it later...'round about the time I try to take my contacts out.  And another note: our oven is 50 degrees off!  50 degrees!  How is this even possible?  If you don't own an oven thermometer, go buy one today.  Seriously, why risk ruining such cheesy jalapeno perfection? 

Freezer cleanout

June 1 marked the official start of hurricane season.  Last year was very calm and I'm hoping for more of the same this summer.  However, I worry about losing power or having to leave suddenly(-ish) and what that would mean for our freezer full of food (I'm less worried about the fridge since we don't usually keep it very full).  Now, should a hurricane loom, I'm sure we could throw one heck of a hurricane party, invite the neighbors over and grill/bake/cook/eat up everything in the freezer.  But, in an effort to plan ahead and to also keep food from getting too old, we're slowly trying to reduce the quantity of food in there.  So tonight for dinner, I've made spinach and feta ravioli that used up some wonton wrappers (makes good quick ravioli) and a block of feta cheese.  We paired that with some fresh tomato sauce from the tomatoes I've picked.  I also found a recipe for cheddar jalapeno bread that looked amazing, so I baked a loaf to accompany dinner (see next post). 

To make the ravioli I mixed frozen, chopped spinach (drained very well) with crumbled feta cheese and fresh oregano.  I spooned a teaspoon of the mixture onto each wonton wrapper then used a dab of water to seal each wrapper into a triangle.  I cooked several at a time in a covered non-stick skillet with a bit of Pam and a couple of tablespoons of water to help steam them.  Once cooked I set them all aside and assembled a simple sauce.

I chopped the tomatoes, put them in a strainer, then sprinkled them with about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt then let them drain for a couple of hours while I did other things.  I wanted them to loose some of their liquid so the sauce wouldn't be runny.  Using the same pan from cooking the ravioli, I heated 1 teaspoon of olive oil and added three cloves of chopped garlic, cooked for a minute, then added the tomatoes and basil.  After another 1-2 minutes I added a splash of balsamic vinegar and put the ravioli back in the pan.  This would have been excellent with some fresh, crusty bread.

Mini garden

I'd love to have a big, beautiful garden full of vegetables and herbs, but honestly, I'm not much of a gardener and my attention often wanders when it comes to big projects that don't have immediate payback.  That said, I did pull together a bunch of pots of herbs and a couple of tomato and pepper plants...Somehow that seemed more manageable back in March.  Fast-forward a couple of months and we're in full-on summer, with tomatoes ripening every day, just from the two plants we have.  Because it's so crazy hot here, we water them at least once a day, sometimes twice.  The other benefit to a potted 'garden' around here is not having to work in the dry, sandy soil.  The soil in our yard is so bad that the trees and shrubs in our back yard grow UP into our compost pile.  All those roots make turning the compost really difficult.

Here's our picnic table full of herbs and vegetables.  The busy-body neighborhood ladies (there's some in every neighborhood, right?) walk past it every day and have stopped me in the street with compliments.  We've got two kinds of basil (Thai and Italian), thyme, oregano, rosemary, mint (two pots), a dill forest, two kinds of peppers, and two "container" tomatoes.  Oh, and an amaryllis. 

The tomatoes are getting eaten by...something.  Anyone have any idea what?  I left one on the vine, hoping that whatever it was would focus on that one and leave the rest alone, and that seems to be working.  It starts out as a small hole, then looks like this after a couple of days:

Our peppers are getting really big!  I don't remember what kind they are off the top of my head, but I think they'll eventually turn some color other than green.

Our dill forest.  I didn't thin out the seedlings, as you can see.  It doesn't seem to be hurting the dill much however.

Totally unrelated to our garden, I made the best pulled pork pizza on Sunday.  Pulled pork on a pizza sounds weird but they put it on everything down here (think nachos and baked potatoes) so I figured it would also be good on a pizza.  It was.  :)

Some before and after photos

In April, Steve and I spent several evenings and one long weekend painting the living room, dining room, kitchen and main hallway in the house we rent.  Yes, I know, why spend money on a house you don't own?  Because it had the most awful colored walls, that's why.  After we ordered the new couch, we decided a couple of bucks worth of paint and some new picture frames wouldn't break the bank.  And what a difference it made!  The walls went from a putty yellowish-beige to a soft grey.  The couch is a dark chocolate brown.  We pulled out some photographs we've taken in our travels during the past nine years, and framed them.  Overall, I think it looks fantastic.  We're not done.  I need to add a few more things to a couple of walls, and we'd really like to upgrade to a flat panel tv...some day.  It's a work in progress, but so far I think it's a success.

Here are some before and after photos.

We painted the walls and ceiling (ceiling is white).  The Ansel Adams portrait on the left is now on the wall just to the right.  The chairs are replaced by the new couch, and the tv is now in the center of the wall, not the corner.                                                                 Before

 

After...we still need to hang the map, which switched places with the Ansel Adams.

 

The next task is to get a flat tv and stand, so we can get rid of the dvd shelves and have everything more flush with the wall.  I also want to paint the chest and get some decorative pillows for the couch and chair.

This is a 'before' shot looking towards the dining room and hallway.  You see the map on the right which was moved to the left wall.  

After: now the wall where the map used to be looks like this and we added a picture of us and of Seca.

 

Seca is 'helping' and eyeballing the couch.  She's not allowed on it, but will get on it if we leave for work and don't put her in the kennel or block it somehow.

I don't have a 'before' picture of the eating area.  I'm standing in the kitchen and the hallway is to the right.  I don't love the picture arrangement here, I think the black frames and black matting on two of the pictures are too heavy and unbalanced.

 I love how this arrangement of pictures turned out.  It took a long time to measure it all out and get them hung up with the correct measurements.