a new start

 

Life has been extra topsy turvy the past few weeks. I am sitting in my old bedroom at home in Illinois and trying to figure out how it came to be Christmas so suddenly.

Ben and I have said good-bye to our airy apartment and the mountains of southern Oregon. My field position reached its end and we made the decision to pack our cars and drive home not only for the holidays but for good, until one of us finds a new job. It's dangerously easy to get sucked into the frustration and discouragement of the job market, and I hope that we will find out what we're meant to be doing soon. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my first Christmas out of school and trying hard to get used to the strange feeling of having nothing in the works for the coming new year. No new semester to jump into, no job to go back to, the future is only open space waiting to be filled with events and changes that I can't see yet. A strange feeling.

sparkly cranberry muffins

Happy December!

I am SO excited for holiday season, and am currently trying to balance my cravings for holiday baking projects with my attempts at a vague "between holiday" detox in which I chug ginger lemon tea, start to put running back in my life, and eat lots of produce. We'll see how it goes....

I had lots of fresh cranberries left over from my epic Thanksgiving apple-cranberry pie and decided to make muffins, a kind of healthier spinoff of the Jiffy cranberry bread mixes I grew up on. The muffins turned out even better than I had hoped for, and they look so cute and festive studded with the bright red cranberries. The sugar topping is essential to balance out the tartness and add that bakery-style sparkle! I'm kind of obsessed with these.

Sparkly Cranberry Muffins

adapted from Joy of Cooking

Yields 10-12 muffins

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup sugar (can use up to 2/3 cup)
• 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
• zest from one orange
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons"big" sugar for topping (i.e. sanding sugar or turbinado. I used Sugar in the Raw brand.)

Preheat oven to 400*F. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk together wet ingredients in a large bowl. Dump the dry ingredients into the large bowl and gently mix until JUST combined (with muffins it's ok to still have dry clumps and streaks in the batter). Spoon into a greased or paper-cup lined muffin tin. Fill tins to the brim for big muffins (will make ~10) or 3/4 full for regular sized muffins (go big or go home). Sprinkle the tops of muffins with sanding sugar and bake for 20 minutes, or until tops of muffins are lightly browned.

You could probably bake this in a bread tin as well, but the baking time would double.



a Thanksgiving post

Lately I've been thankful for

• the changing seasons and wrapping up of the field season
• having an awesome family who is there for support when life hits a lull 
• holiday time! and twinkle lights.
• Thanksgiving potlucks with friends 
• the GIANT SPARKLY PIE that actually made it out of the oven...homemade crust and all
• Jillian Michaels workout dvds
• being able to share a little apartment with Ben, even if we have no furniture
• the end of my job coming soon. because I need a life sabbatical

we made it to the big trees and Pacific

Ben and I made our pilgrimage to the redwoods. Yup, my life is one step closer to being complete. We drove drove drove through southern Oregon and into California until the road suddenly dove into the redwoods, such a sudden boundary of forest types that it literally takes your breath away. This is the forest of fairytales and dreams: deep, dark, enormous, covered in ferns and shadowed by the enormous trees. My poor little camera couldn't really take the dim lighting until we made it through the woods and across the marshy grassland estuary to the shore, where we sat on driftwood, drank peppermint tea with mini Snickers and watched the waves roll in. What a day. We ended up hiking more than ten miles without seeing anyone really. I can't wait to go back with a better camera someday!

fall scenes from the past few weekends

The recipe you HAVE TO MAKE this weekend.

Chewy cinnamon sugar carmelized bites of deliciousness...

 Obsessed with sunny hikes

 Rapids on the Upper Rogue

 What fall looks like in southern Oregon

Local wine tasting and farmers market

Sugar pine decorated for Halloween

I am getting a huge back-stock of photos that I haven't posted yet oops. Well, here is a sampling of the highlights of my life lately. It looks like I spend all my time outside, but that's because I am going to spare us both from scenes of me in my pj's and messy bun laying around reading Ken Follett (completely addicted to his new book Fall of Giants, dramatic juicy historical fiction). Which is how I spend the other 50% of weekends. At least this weekend. 

p.s. make the monkey bread. it is soooooooo worth the time.

autumn state of mind

 

I didn't intend to take a fall break from blogging, but I apparently just did. Oops! Fall is officially here now. The clouds have set in and there is a beautiful dusting of snow on the highest mountains in my watershed. Ben and I are discovering that the heating system in our vintage apartment basically consists of ancient space heaters inserted into the walls, and you have to fiddle with the circuit breakers to operate the ones downstairs. Ohhhh boy. Luckily I have a lot of fleece and a new thermos!

The past month wasn't the greatest for me, which is why I've been missing here. Nothing in particular happened, but I've been in a mini life rut and my energy has been mysteriously gone. I think a lot of that was due to the change of the seasons... I don't really deal well with transitions, although I always feel better on the other side. The warm, dry, sunny days of summer will be missed, but a large part of me is happier because of the cooler weather and darker days. I can relinquish the anxious desperation that comes with sunshine to GET OUTSIDE and see the world for the calmer satisfaction of relaxed, cozy "inside" things.

Last weekend my parents came out to visit, which also refocused my perspective on current life and grounded me a little bit. As the oldest of four, it is extremely rare to spend uninterrupted one-on-one time with them.  It was nice to explore the area, eat at nice restaurants, and start talking about the wedding that is happening in less than a year now !!!  For the first time, I am excited about wedding planning because concrete ideas are being set in motion and I don't feel so alone about the whole process. Thank you Mama and Papa :)

This is the first autumn that I've been out of school, and it marks a pretty big life transition into the "real world." Like I said, transitions aren't my favorite, but I don't think the changes will ever stop washing over us. And even though I long to feel settled and feel more financially secure I know I can't miss out on this time of growing up and seeing the country with no pets or kids attached. I am learning patience and trying to appreciate each day (sometimes successfully).

Well, that pretty much sums up life lately. 

Except for how working in the woods has sucked with the cold and rain, and has given me a nasty cold that is also draining my energy. Someday I will do a post on where I work, because it is pretty unique.

 I am excited for the weekend and lots of rest!

san francisco

Ben and I took a roadtrip down to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend (I know, I know, I am way behind in blogging, alas). This is one of the cities that I've always had on my mental list to visit, almost legendary in the way I pictured it, and so it was pretty surreal to just hop in my little car and drive there. 

Highlights included:

-delicious tacos in the Mission

- disturbingly dirt cheap Pashmina scarf shopping in Chinatown

-walking. so. much. walking. 12 miles one day...

-an epic pilgrimage to Mama's for brunch

-exploring Golden Gate Park

-eating ten pounds of noodles every night for dinner at hole in the wall Chinese restaurants

-hazy views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge

-parking and transportation adventures galore

-crashing at 9 pm every night with wine and House Hunters (we can't hang like we used to)

Despite the beautiful blue skies featured in a few of the pictures (taken during the 2 hour period where it was sunny), the cool mistiness was a nice change of pace from the bone dry 95* it has been in southern Oregon for the past month. At least according to Ben, Mr. "It's so refreshing!" As for me, I could not acclimate to the weather, which was kind of hilarious, and my hair expanded three times its normal volume. Give me my sunshine back!!! The perpetual island of fog was freaky. I think this city might be the most geographically AND culturally unique of any I've been to so far. One of those places where you feel like you're in an alternate universe or different country, much like Texas (but totally different than Texas).

Many many thanks to our amazing friend Lauren for housing and touring us!

carrot cake oatmeal

The temperature is supposed to be in the 100's here all through the weekend. Indian Summer whaaat! Even though I have an outdoor job, I eat oatmeal for breakfast year-round (addicted) and assuming that your September is feeling a little bit cooler than here, I'll share my latest recipe.

I am always looking for ways to sneak veggies into breakfast, because it makes me feel soooo healthy and virtuous for the rest of the day. I like sweet breakfasts over savory, so this is sometimes tricky (and usually involves green smoothies), but this oatmeal is pretty good too.

Carrot Cake Oatmeal

Serves 1

Approx. time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

-one carrot

-1 cup water

-sprinkle of salt

-1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (NOT instant)

-a pinch of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves

-mix-ins and toppings such as golden raisins, chopped/canned pineapple, coconut, hazelnuts, walnuts, etc.

Bring the water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a small pot. While the water is heating, grate/shred the carrot and add to the pot. When the water reaches a boil, stir in the oats, spices, and raisins (if adding). Let the oats cook for about 5 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Add the rest of your fruit/nut mix-ins, top with milk (almond milk is good on oats), and eat with coffee.

 

crater lake adventures

Little tent in the Big Woods

Old-growth Douglas fir

Chicken sausages, homemade pita bread, and grilled veggies with thyme. I am a camp food chef

Misty views off the Rim Road around Crater Lake

The lake: deepest in the US

Benanna

Endless forest

View from Mt. Scott

We climbed a mountain

Fire lookout. (Or watchtower of Rohan?)

Indian Paintbrush

Twisty whitebark pines

Dr. Seuss flowers

So happy

Our first official Oregon Adventure together was a raging and beautiful success. I am getting sad that fall weather is hinting more and more. Send me more endlessly sunny and warm days for camping!

This last week of August has been exciting in good and bad ways. The highlights include the death and resurrection of our fridge, and Ben snagging his first little Oregon job. An impressive feat considering the super crappy job market and economy here. Yay!