Shannon Hale Interview and Goose Girl Giveaway

About a month ago, Katie contacted Shannon Hale's agent and arranged to interview Shannon after the Book Festival on Saturday. During the signing Katie tried to find a place with good lighting, but since the library closed at 6 pm her options were limited. Even though the lighting isn't the best the interview is great.

Summertime Pasta

I posted a new recipe on my recipe blog.  It's delicious, much better than it looks.

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

I decided to pass along some noteworthy items from other people.  The first - Utah Mom's Life.  This blog is hosted by my niece, Cindi Braby.  Her posts feature guest appearances, recipes, tips, sources and giveaways.  Right now she is giving away a family four pack of tickets for free admission to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.  That includes the Magnets, Motors and the Mind special exhibit.  Skip on over to this site, enter the contest and have a look at the posts.  Be sure to leave a nice comment - it will pick up your spirits and I'm sure it will tickle Cindi.

My next section mention is THE BAD!   Last night I was watching The Biggest Looser, one of two shows that I watch faithfully.  I was so appalled by the language that I ended up turning it off.  I wrote the channel complaining of all the bleeps that did little to hide from my mind what was being said.  Today I discovered I was not the only viewer who was upset.  Check out Candleman's blog, LIVE AND LEARN.  He is issuing a ban on the show and the sponsors until they do something about the language.  He hopes that enough people will join him and the show will get the message that we want to watch but we won't until they clean things up.  If you agree, stop over and leave a comment.

And last the Beautiful.  Katie has started a new vlog where she reviews her books.  I think it is really awesome and thought you would like to know about it.  Here's her introduction.




And here's her first review:

Isn't this a fun way to hear someone's thoughts and opinions about the books they've read?! And you see what I mean by beautiful?   You can find her at http://www.youtube.com/katesbookclub.  Or if you are on the YouTube site you can type in kate's book club into the search engine to find her.

Summer Summary

Since I didn't recap Jun and July and now August is over I decided to do a whole summer wrap-up.

June

6 - Mark was in town.  We went to dinner with Mom, Shaneen, Steve & Verona at Don Pedro's.
9 - BBQ with the family
16 - Opening night for 7 Brides for 7 Brothers; Katie has a part.
18 - John's birthday.  Katie and I went to a summer reading program class where we learned different patterns for folding paperback books.  I didn't feel guilty because most were yucky romances.  It was fun and we made several over the next week to give to the library for a huge mobile they are going to hang.
21 - Father's Day

Books Read:
The Texicans by Nina Vida
1st to Die by James Patterson
Split Second by David Baldacci
A Second Look by Lisa Scottoline
Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman

Netflix: 
Boston Legal Seasons 2 & 3
Victoria Albert
Bramwell Season 2: Disc 1& 2

July

4 - Fourth of July Celebration - We held our traditional BBQ for both sides of the family who live in the area or who were visiting.  After hamburgers and wonderful potluck dishes we watched the fireworks from our front lawn.  Some of the group walk over to the park to watch them.  It was an especially pleasant 4th.
7-9 - Mom, Candleman, Katie and I went to Cedar City to visit Susan and maybe see a play at the Shakespearean Festival.  Dinner with all the cousins from Northern Utah at the Pastry Pub.  Candleman and Katie saw Secret Garden.  Went to Corey's one evening.
10, 11 - Candleman, Katie and I drove to Las Vegas to see Alyson.  We had a wonderful time visiting and playing games.  We went to 3 different Barnes & Nobles bookstores looking for their special $3.99 books. Sounds crazy now, but it was fun. Lunch at On the  Border and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  Drove down the strip and saw the fountains going.  That was neat.  The strip doesn't seem anywhere near as bright as it used to so maybe they are saving energy for the good of the planet.  Couldn't believe how many people were crowding the sidewalks and streets.  Absolutely amazing!
12 - Back to Cedar City and another good visit.
13 - Candleman's birthday.  Ohhhh...he is getting so old!  We stopped in Provo and bought him a ukele for his birthday.
15 - BBQ with some of my side of the family.  Nothing like burgers on the grill.
24 - Dinner with family at Steve & Verona's.
27 - Went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  It was good.
31 - Petersen reunion in Layton.  Lots of fun.  Mom, Mark, Susan, Shaneen, Cassie, Kevin, Kristi, Ronnie, Candleman and I attended from mom's part of the family.  On the way to Layton we stopped at Zupa's for lunch.  It was fabulous!

 Books Read: 
Relentless
The Inconvenient Adventures of Uncle Chestnut


Netflix:
Boston Legal Season 4 & 5
Monk Season 7
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Bramwell Season 2: Disc 3
Changeling

August

18-22 - My niece, her husband and 6 kids and her sister-in-law and her 3 kids were all staying at Mom's this week.  J & J took their nice camper down for some of them to sleep in.
20 - Candleman bought 3 milk cans over the internet for a lot of money! so he could fix milk can dinners.  Tonight he tried it for the first time.  There were potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onion, corn on the cob and kielbasa sausages that are layered and then cooked over a camp stove for 1 1/2 hours then dumped in a big trough or metal tub.  He made so much that we invited the whole crew back for dinner the next night and still had oodles left over.  Jenny brought her luscious rolls.
21 - All Debbie's crew and a bunch of local family members hiked to Jone's Hole to play in the waterfall.  Sounds like they all had a blast.  Candleman and Katie joined the fun but I stayed home to enjoy the peace and quiet. 
22 - Brett & Angela and Cassie came out and we all met at Mom's for sloppy joes.  Shaneen must do something 'secret' to hers because they tasted especially good.  We played the name game and had tons of fun.
30 - Candleman made Ebleskivers in his new cast iron Ebleskivers pan that I kidded him about buying.  They were so yummy.  Looking forward to having those often.  He got very proficient at turning the little bundles of goodness.

Books Read:  
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (highly recommend - this is book 3 in the series)
Receive Me Falling by Erika Robuck
The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner (really liked)
The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block  (highly recommend)


Netflix:  

Doubt
Northern Exposure Season 5
Eureka Season 3: Disc 1 & 2
Eli Stone Season 2
Scarlett
Bramwell Season 2: Disc 4
The Closer Season 4

Overall Impressions:
I have loved this spring and summer.  It's been cooler and wetter than most which made it great for enjoying the backyard.  I really don't want summer to end, although it's always nice to get in a more set routine in the fall.  Our tomatoes have produced and I'd like to go on enjoying them for several more months, along with the squash.  I hurt worse than I ever have the first part of the summer but the last half has been basically pain free.  It's been heaven!  I do love autumn I'm just not ready for it so soon.

The Hare Hilton

Earlier this summer Candleman was on a shopping trip with Megan in tow when they saw some bunnies in a cardboard box being sold for only $5. We already had a small hutch at home so they bought two - one for Jeff and one for Megan. They are both black and to our untrained eyes they look identical. Jeff named his Light Saber and Megan named hers Angel, Daisy, Flower, Darkness, etc. depending on the day. Papa promised to build them a bigger hutch "one of these days."

"One of these days" came towards the last half of July and continued on until the middle of August! My backyard looked like it had been taken over by the school's woods class. Tools, saws and paint cans took over the patio, covering both picnic tables and the glider. Sawdust was everywhere. Parts of the rabbit hutch lay all over the yard. I couldn't water and the grass grew brown and bare where it was daily trampled on and overgrown where it wasn't. It was a sight to behold. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures - maybe because I didn't want to remember it. I'm sure now that pictures would have just brought a smile and a nod of disbelief.

Talk about a nod of disbelief! Just look at that hutch! I t has two stories with a refreshment center in both. There are four front doors and a magnetic swinging door into each of the separate climate-controlled burrowing suites, which come complete with hay and baskets and are totally insulated. Even the front doors are insulated and have weather-stripping to keep out the cold. The front doors on my house are not anywhere near so weather-proof. We're talking bone chilling drafts all winter long. I've gently mentioned that to Candleman. He agreed, but hasn't been even tempted to fix my doors. :( I may have to take matters into my own hands.

The day finally came when the hutch was completely built and painted. The day the grandkids had been looking forward to for 3 weeks. It was decorate the hutch day.

The first step was to put hand prints on the front doors of the bedroom suites. As usual, Papa decided if a little was good a lot was better. He slopped on the paint! We got him toned down after a bit.The inaugural color was yellow - 2 yellow hand prints each. Next came blue, followed by red and black. You can see that Candleman has got his technique down by now. Jeff is painting the top sections and Megan the bottom.

After all the hand prints were completed the kids moved on to the back and side. Jeff is painting a yellow truck and Megan is starting her rainbow.







The kids changed places so Jeff was on the side and Megan doing the back.


Every once-in-awhile the bunnies would come out and casually watch the process. I think they are very happy with their new home. I'm happy because a few days after the paint dried Candleman recruited a crew of 5 good, healthy, strong men to move the hutch off the lawn and to it's foundation next to the potato tower and the back fence. Several problems became apparent with the new location - the side and back artwork doesn't show and Megan & Jeff's dog barked at the bunnies a lot through the fence. Luckily, she has tired of the bunnies or become used to them enough that their hopping around doesn't bother her anymore. It remains to be seen if the bunnies will make it through the winter in their insulated bedroom suites.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

I have learned a new method of preserving tomatoes that I absolutely love. Absolutely!

Last spring when I was planning my garden I did some internet searching for recipes and preserving techniques. I was thrilled to find this one. It's so easy, not mess, not time consuming, and the results are delicious.
This works best with Roma tomatoes. Taking a leap of faith (because I hadn't tried this yet) I purchased and planted 8 Roma plants in the spring. You can tell which squares have tomatoes because they also have marigolds. (Click on the picture to see better)

The picture on the right shows my lovely tomatoes 3 months later. I have been so pleased with the tomato production this year. Already our yields have been tons better than other years.

Back to the reason I'm writing this post - oven roasted tomatoes. I have made 3 batches so far and am very pleased with how they've turned out.

I mentioned they were easy. Oh, yeah! Just wash those babies, slice them in half, cut out the stem, and place, cut side up, on a oiled cookie sheet. I just brush on a little olive oil. Stick a few garlic cloves among the tomatoes. I don't think this seasons the tomatoes but the roasted garlic is delicious. Then drizzle a little olive oil over the tops (about 2 tablespoons), sprinkle with salt and pepper, some fresh or dried herbs, according to your preferences. I've read that dried herbs will flavor the tomatoes more but I have fresh in the garden so that's what I used. Since I am going to be using the tomatoes in different recipes I don't want them to be seasoned strongly with herbs - I'll wait to season the dish.

I was making the second batch while Candleman was working at the kitchen table. He commented on the luscious smell of the fresh rosemary (I think it's one of my favorite smells, too) so when I had the pan filled I showed him how pretty it looked. He insisted on taking a picture. That man knows how to win my heart!

After all that work *smirk, smirk* you simply slide that cookie sheet into a 200 degree oven and let the roasting go for 8 - 11 hrs. Your house will smell divine - okay, not divine like when brownies are cooking, but mighty good in a homey, earthy sort of way.

When the tomatoes are roasted to your satisfaction, let them cool at room temperature before putting them in the freezer right on the pan. After an hour or so, put the tomatoes in a freezer bag. The pre-freezing makes it so you can pull out only as many tomatoes as you want to and refreeze the others.

My first meal using the oven roasted tomatoes was one Katie suggested. She had ordered Chicken Alfredo with Sun-Dried Tomatoes at a restaurant and was hoping we could duplicate it. We cooked the chicken, used store-bought Alfredo sauce and served it over noodles, but first we did a number on that bottle of alfredo sauce. We added roasted garlic (big, big help), seasoned it with some fresh basil and oregano, added fresh pepper and after it was warmed we added the roasted tomatoes. The sauce is a little pink after stirring in the tomatoes, but it was delicious! I can't wait to make it again this winter with some of those flavorful tomatoes from the freezer.

Another recipe I'm dying to try when it's colder - no rush, mind! - is Roasted Tomato Soup. If it's as good as it sounds I'll share that recipe.

In the meantime, if you have an abundance of tomatoes (I've read that you can use any variety) or can get your hands on some, you might want to try Oven Roasted Tomatoes. I wish I lived where there was a farmer's market cause I'd be putting up lots more. Here's to another month or two of good harvest.