blog updates!

Hi friends!

As you can see I am finally getting my bloggy up to speed with the times, and making it a bit user friendly and useful for you and me both! Hope you enjoy the new pages and find it easier to navigate through my recipes and reviews.

adventures in Jacksonville

Weekends are my favorite. 

I usually get a three day weekend by working four 10-hour days, but this week I worked Friday too so I can meet Ben for a mini-vacation in Austin next weekend (!!!) Fifty hours of fieldwork equals one exhausted Anna, but I still felt compelled to get outside today. I think I am addicted to hiking.

I've started a Saturday routine of taking mini-trips with myself to get to know this gorgeous part of the country I've dropped into, and also to simply kill time. {It takes serious effort to avoid feeling lonely when living by yourself in a brand new place}. Today was a visit to Jacksonville, an adorable historic town dating back to the gold mining days. Pretty trails, 19th century architecture, lush gardens, and blue skies. For the rest of my life when I think of Oregon I will think of oak and madrone woodlands and hot hot sun on the mountains.

book review: prodigal summer

(pic and book here)

I think that one of the best things about being done with school is the ability to read for fun, guilt free.  I don't have a TV and spent a few weeks without internet as well, so I have really been pounding out the books this summer! This book has been my favorite so far, by a long shot. Barbara Kingsolver is one of the rare authors who can write a compelling and juicy piece of fiction that completely sucks you in and entertains you without losing the quality or depth of the literature itself. Prodigal Summer, true to its name, is a perfect summer read. It is essentially three mini-novels-in-one, following the lives of three completely different characters throughout the course of one summer in southern Appalachia. 

There is the crotchety old man (ala Up) who is lost after the death of his wife, trying to navigate a modern and changing world while laboring on his life work of hybridizing a blight-resistant strain of American chestnut...and worrying about what will happen to the trees after he is gone.

There is the reclusive Forest Service woodswoman who lives alone up the mountain, looking after the wildlife and making an amazing discovery that is threatened by the (attractive and younger) wandering hunter who walks into her life and disrupts her solitude.

Finally, there is the young entomologist from "the city", who finds herself stranded on a farm and healing after a tragedy, struggling to fit in with the tight-knit family who has owned the farm for generations, and also trying to assert her own independence and realize her dreams. 

The stories of the three characters overlap, and you can see how their lives are beginning to merge towards the end. This book will probably change the way you look at the natural world, and is definitely worth a visit!

recipes from this week

 [Birdseed Bars from my kitchen]

 [Burger pic from ohsheglows]

Since I spend ten hours every day tromping around the forest for my job, by the time I get home for dinner I am STARVING and EXHAUSTED (aka cranky). I've been doing a pretty good job of stocking up on huge batches of food over the weekends so I can just heat something up and shove it in my face while I skype Ben. Very romantic, I know.

This week I came across two ridiculously delicious recipes on the web, both of which I've been eating all week without that overdosage feeling that leftover pasta or lentil salad can give you after the third or fourth day. And both recipes replace a more expensive, less delicious store-bought alternative. Hooray!

First of all, we have Birdseed Bars from The Musing Bouche. I eat a ridiculous amount of bars in the field and love them (except for the weird protein bars that taste like dust), but buying granola or especially my beloved Clif bars gets a bit pricey after a while. This birdseed bar recipe makes a huge pan that is lasting me at least two weeks. The bars hold together pretty well, are chewy/crunchy, taste like a cookie, and are all around amazing. Make them. I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I would note that you should check them after 30-35 minutes in the oven (I baked mine for 40 minutes and they were on the verge of overdone-ness). The beauty of the recipe is that you can add whatever mix-ins you like, to get whatever flavor combo you want. I did the traditional nuts/seeds/raisins/chocolate (but I am thinking hazelnut carrot cake in the near future).

Second, I have been in the market for a good veggie burger recipe, since the over-processed-soy nature of store bought vegburgs kind of creeps me out. Angela from Oh She Glows (one of my favorite healthy food blogs) has hit on a winner this Perfect Veggie Burger recipe. Seriously guys. I am obsessed. Ben is worried about me, and he (the carnivore) probably should be because I don't know if I can eat meat again after these burgers. The burgers take a little bit of time to throw together, but you can make them on a Sunday night and have 8-10 burgers to freeze for later. They have a huge variety of ingredients (not just beans!), and cook up more crunchy and solid than typical mushy veg burgers. Also, they are pretty dense and will keep you full for a while. 

Let me know if you try these bars/burgers, and if you like them as much as I do make sure to go back to the original blogs and give Tania and Angela some love for their culinary genius!

oregon country fair

Last weekend revolved around a roadtrip to the Oregon Country Fair, where my crewmember Clem has had a booth to sell his photography and reclaimed redwood furniture for the past 28 years or so. I don't really have words to describe the experience; my friend kind of hit it with "circus meets hippie-fest meets Renaissance Fair." The fair itself is composed of a maze of pathways built into a forest, lined with double story booths selling crafts and food, pretty much everything you could think of and then more. The sensory assault is overwhelming--color, smells, music. And the most happy and friendly people that aren't strangers, but instant-family. Even though the atmosphere is crazy, I was left with a feeling of quiet calm at the end of the day, and the strange muted sense that I hadn't even touched the surface of this three day human kaleidoscope.

rosemary and sea salt roasted almonds

Hello friends!

Did you have a fun 4th of July weekend?

Since I left all my friends and their barbecues 3,000 miles behind, I had an incredibly relaxing (aka lazy) weekend that featured a massive Netflix marathon of The City, which I was much too busy senior year of college to watch when it  aired back in the day. What was I doing instead of watching The City and drinking champagne with my roomies? I do not know. I figured reality TV was just as American as fireworks and beer, right? All I can say is that Whitney is way too sweet for her cutthroat industry and friends. 

Aaanyway, 

I also bought an enormous bag of bulk bin raw almonds to roast! Roasted almonds are one of my favorite snacks, and it's easy to convince myself that they are super healthy and versatile.

I thought rosemary would be delicious with them, but if you are lucky enough to be growing your own summer herb garden, feel free to experiment (oregeno+garlic, lavender+salt/sugar, etc...)!

Homemade roasted almonds would be perfect to serve at a party any time of year, or make for yourself in any quantity. Just be careful to be in front of the oven the entire time to catch the nuts before they burn.

Rosemary Sea Salt Roasted Almonds

Ingredients:

-raw almonds (check the grocery store bulk bins, should be around $5/lb)

-olive oil

-sea salt (because it's trendy. or regular salt.)

-fresh rosemary 

Preheat oven to 350*F. Dump your almonds in a single layer in a baking sheet or cake pan. Pour a couple tablespoons of oil over nuts, and use your hands or a spoon to evenly coat them. Sprinkle generously with salt and chopped rosemary. Bake for 8 minutes, stir, and bake for 5-10 more minutes, checking constantly. Nuts will be roasted when a few are splitting, but before they look dark/burnt. [See picture, taken after roasting] When in doubt, take them out!!! They will get crunchy after cooling.

summer wishlist

photo

This isn't really a wishlist as much as it is a wish item.

I need an ice pop mold, stat.

Think of the frozen possibilities...

life on the other side of the country

[Rogue Valley--my new home for now]

I can't believe I have been in Oregon for three weeks already. Today is the day I FINALLY got internet installed in my big empty apartment ! I also can't believe it took me that long to get settled and connected to the outside world. Gah. Work is exhausting but fun and makes the days fly. I am doing field research for a big restoration project with the Nature Conservancy in beautiful forests filled with fir, pine, and Pacific madrone trees. I feel so lucky to be able to work outside, hiking for a living, and be in control of my schedule.
Slowly but surely life is coming together again after months of craziness this spring. Writing a thesis, getting engaged, graduating with my masters degree, and moving 3,000 miles across the country with only what I could stuff into my little Ford Focus has made this year the most life changing yet out of the 24 I have experienced, and it is only half over!!! I feel grownup and (almost) fearless, and I am SO happy to be done with school, at least for now. Having the time to just reflect on life and do some deep thinking on where it is headed as well as on the present day is extremely satisfying in that existential way, and I have gained a lot of confidence and optimism in the past few months. I am learning that a lot of hard work, opportunity-grabbing, and risk taking is what life is about.

Happy July!