FALL THINGS.

Fall in the Bay Area is a beautiful thing. The weather is warm and sunny, the air smells heavenly, the produce is incredible. I just want to hang on to it for a really long time...

We have been trying to organize a building hang out for a while, and we recently did. A potluck dinner, some wine, and some pumpkin carving. It was really great to get to know the others living in our building a bit more. Our friend Lars, hosted the little shin dig. He cracked me up. You see, he is from Norway. When I asked if we could carve pumpkins at his party he said "sure". He even stopped me in the hall one day the week before. He asked what size pumpkin he should get and where he should buy it. I advised him. He said "okay". I started to walk away and he asked one more question: "What is pumpkin carving?". I thought that was fairly adorable. So, we showed Lars what pumpkin carving is all about. He did a great job--he was quite serious and dove right in!

Raf and Lucas played some Norwegian chess-like game that Lucas got while in Norway. A tribute to Lars' heritage while he in indulged our American tradition, I suppose. :) Dorothy looked on and supported us with our carving ideas. It was all pretty darn cute.

I think they turned out nice! Too bad it is so warm here right now that they lasted for less than a week. Now on to making our Halloween costumes and treats for Halloweira (our made-up Capoeira/Halloween celebration) this week...

Raf's folks came out for a visit a couple of weeks ago. We had a terrific time with them, showing them around a bit. We took a day trip out to Napa, did some wine tasting, and then had a picnic lunch with some food we purchased at an Italian deli. It was so good and such beautiful weather. I wish I had taken more photos, but I guess I was just enjoying it and forgot. One thing that made the trip (for Raf and me, anyway) was climbing a fig tree on the fancy property of a fancy winery to pick a bag full of figs that they were just letting fall to the ground and rot. His Dad may have been a little embarrassed :) but it was well worth it...Black Mission figs for a week--yum!

Turnbull Winery's property.

The folks looking cute in front of this old car.

PERSIMMONS!

I love foraging. This city has so many trees that are just full of fruit that no one picks. On a walk home the other day I discovered a persimmon tree in front of a house that appears to be vacant. I brought it home and looked up what type it was. It is a Hachiya persimmon. I have only had Fuyu, which you can eat hard, kind of like an apple. Apparently Hachiya are very astringent and gross tasting until they are SUPER ripe (like wrinkly skin ripe). You are supposed to wait until they are at that stage, then cut off the tops and eat the flesh with a spoon. I guess it is pudding-y. And apparently super good in baked goods and as jam. Hmmm....

HOMEMADE SEITAN!

This recipe is not for the gluten intolerant or for those who don't like to get their hands messy while cooking. It IS for those who love delicious seitan on the cheap and easy! Holy cow, the first time I made this I couldn't believe how good it was. And seriously, you can make a ton of it for under $10 (including all ingredients!). AND it freezes well, AND it comes together super quick, AND you can add it to just about anything you want a meat-like consistency for, AND it is super high in protein...whew! The first time I made it, I shaped it into little bun-sized sausages. They turned out great, but I ended up just cutting it up for other recipes anyway, and it was way more time consuming wrapping each individual one up. This time I created a handful of mini "loafs" about the size of my fist. It saved time and tin foil. I will just cut the cooked seitan into the shapes I want to use for cooking later (strips, cubes, slices, etc.) before freezing. The seitan takes on the shape of the tin foil as it steams. It is pretty neat. You can change the spices in any way you see fit--I think there are probably a million possibilities you could create with different herbs and spices. I stick with the old tried and true Italian sausage spices, but I keep it on the mild side--feel free to experiment and spice it up! Also, keep about an additional cup of vital wheat gluten nearby when you are making the dough, you may need to adjust, depending on how wet or dry the dough ends up. You should TOTALLY make this stuff--seriously! It is great in fajitas, casseroles, stews, risotto, pasta dishes--you name it. Yum!

You will need:
-tin foil
-a hand masher
-a large bowl
-a steaming apparatus (I use a mesh colander in a pot of water and a steaming basket in a pot of water)

SEITAN RECIPE (adapted from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz):

(makes 8-10 fist sized (or smaller) loafs)

-1 15 oz. can of white beans (I used Cannelini)
-2 cups of vegetable broth or water
-2 Tbsp olive oil
-4 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
-3 cloves of garlic chopped (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
-2 3/4 cups vital wheat gluten (I buy mine super cheap in bulk)
-1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
-3 tsp fennel seed
-1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
-2 tsp oregano
-salt and pepper to taste (I only add a couple shakes of pepper)

In a large bowl, mash the white beans until they are a refried bean consistency. Add all other ingredients (in order listed), then carefully mix with a fork until it comes together as a sticky dough. Add a bit more vital wheat gluten if the dough is still very sticky. It should be somewhere between sticky and bread-like. Divide the dough into 8-10 mini loafs. Prepare the tinfoil according to what shapes you plan to make. You want to make sure the foil will completely cover all of the log. Put the log on the tin foil, wrap/roll around it, and seal the ends with little twists (like an old fashioned candy wrapper). Carefully place the logs in the steamer (it is okay if they overlap a bit, but I wouldn't stack them too much), add water, and steam for 60 minutes. Check for done-ness: they should be firm and cooked all the way through. If they are still really sticky inside, steam an additional 5-10 minutes. When they are done, carefully unwrap them, let them cool, and cut them how you would like for use or for freezing. If using right away, I think they are best crisped up a bit in a frying pan first or baked in a sauce in the oven. If freezing, put the cut (or whole) seitan on a cookie sheet and freeze for a couple of hours. Pull the frozen pieces out and put them in a plastic freezer bag for later use. Now go make a seitan casserole or stew or something, would ya?!? :)

***Note! This time around, most likely because the loafs are larger than the sausages I had made before, the cooking time was quite a bit longer. If you poke at the loaf in tinfoil and it feels squishy, keep going until it is firm. Or you can take it out and carefully cut it to check the middle. It shouldn't be doughy at all--firm and meaty all the way. You can keep steaming it until the right consistency is achieved--just make sure you don't run out of water. I am pretty sure you could steam them for a long time and they would still be okay!

COLLAGE.

So, I taught a collage class at UC Berkeley's campus Art Studio for six weeks early in the semester. It was really fun and I had some wonderful students, and it was a great experience for me to teach adults (although I miss my middle school students like crazy!). The classes are open to Berkeley students, but also to the community. My students had very little art experience, but they churned out some amazing work! I was so impressed...We used a technique that I love to teach which really develops drawing, color palette, use of line, shape, space, etc. I hope I get to teach this class again in the spring!

Catherine made this amazing boot collage. I love the shapes, text, and simple color scheme. She struggled a bit with trying to find the right subject matter, but once she found this she just went to town with it and I think it turned out so great.

Valerie's cat. I think it turned out so cool. She used this awesome textured paper for the fur and I love how you feel like you are really looking out a window. Not to mention the fact that the cat has such a personality. She ended up not loving this collage (which I think is crazy! :) but did some abstract ones of her own at home, which she enjoyed much more.

Adean's Eiffel Tower. I was so excited when she brought old train and city maps to class from her trip to Paris. It just made the finished piece feel so authentic and personal. Raf loves how the maps mimic the lines and texture of the structure. I agree, it gives it really good visual interest without being too fussy. It has such a mood, I can almost feel a gentle breeze and the sun shining.

Adean's work in progress. This is the beginning of a collage of her two daughters. I think it is going to turn out cool--great use of visual texture and recycled materials!

YOSEMITE: PART II

The second half of our trip are mostly photos from Mariposa Grove, an incredible Giant Sequoia Forest. This was our favorite place. These trees were seriously magical. And gigantic--no, really-- 300 feet tall, about 40 feet in diameter, and thousands of years old. The entire grove had such a peaceful, spiritual feeling to it. At one point (in a wildflower meadow surrounded by Giant Sequoias) you could hear and see the honey bees buzzing around, doing their jobs. It was just beautiful. I included lots of pictures of us next to the trees so you can see the scale. Oh, and there are a few more pictures from our mountain climb too...

When we go to the top, I sat on a large rock and was startled when one of these little cuties scurried by me. Then I looked around and noticed they were everywhere. I was fascinated by them. They move really fast and climb trees too. I'm pretty sure they are called Blue-bellied Lizards, and they are pretty common in California.

Another amazing view of the mountains and the valley.

Half Dome.

On the walk to Mirror Lake (which was also peaceful and amazing), we came across this giant, tipped over tree. The roots were pretty cool to see.

Mirror Lake, but mostly dried up at this point of the summer. There were just these little, ice cold wading pools, with the mountains reflecting into them. Lovely. When we were hiking here, it was about an hour and a half until sunset. We saw a sign on our way in that said we were entering mountain lion territory. We walked back to our car in the dark, and I was so freaked out, thinking that for sure a mountain lion was stalking us...but we made it out safely!

"Grizzly Giant"! The largest in the park.

HUGE!

The pretty wildflower meadow.

Way back when (early 1900's?), the park was trying to encourage tourists to visit, so they cut a hole in the middle of this one, and fit a car through it for promo photos. Total bummer, but it is thriving!

Sweet moment in the meadow. The sun was so perfect and listening to the bees could put you in a trance. I wanted to just cozy up on the ground and take a nap...

Crazy, right? This one was hallowed out from a forest fire.

"Faithful Couple". Two sweetie trees grew together over the years and that is what they named the tree.


The end. :)

YOSEMITE: PART I

Raf and I adventured in Yosemite this past August. We had been wanting to get out there ever since I moved here over a year ago, so it really was a special treat. And wow, that place is incredible! It is only about three hours away, so we are hoping to make it at least an annual trip. There is really so much to see, and the park is huge, so we could really use more time there. Anyway, we stayed in a little cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and drove about an hour to the park both days. We spent full days there, and did a lot of hiking and exploring. I have a lot of pictures, so I'll break it up into at least two posts! Here we go...

Cute little cabin.

Good morning!

El Capitan.

Bridal Veil Falls.

The bottom of Yosemite Falls. This area was crawling with tourists (and in my worry-wart opinion negligent parents up the wazoo--seriously, people let their tiny kids crawl around very dangerous areas!). It was a really hot day, and we (and a million other people) climbed down into the rocks where the freezing water ran through. We dipped our feet, but it was so cold you could only leave them in the water for a minute!

We found this cool spot. Literally, it was about ten degrees cooler here. Raf took this picture because he liked the geometry of it.

Ahhhh....cooling off.

A nice nap on the rocks.

Off on a steep hike up the mountain! This was maybe halfway, but probably not even close. It was winding and a fairly strenuous climb, and there were little flies eating your face the whole way up, but it was TOTALLY worth it...

See? Spectacular! These photos do not even come close to doing this view justice. Holy cow...

Part II coming soon...