Old Man Winter is Here

Finally, we got a decent amount of snow last night. I think we are totaling 4 inches this morning. Yahoo! Bring it on. I’m ready for the glittery white stuff to frolic and play in. Alta is opening this Friday, unfortunately the Marcoccia family wont be making an appearance, as we have some important people to see in New York. That’s right we are packing up as I speak and driving across the Mississippi. It’s going to be an adventure, baby, dogs, and all. Stay tuned…

Here’s some pics of our little winter wonderland.

New Favorite Song

Gary came across this excellent Paul McCartney song the other day “Heart of the Country“. He was excited to discover such an excellent melody as was I. Maybe this will become the Marcoccia theme song. We do want a little farm someday. I love the beach video with Sir Paul and his original true love Linda very sweet.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DqMl0shEtw[/youtube]

I’m totally getting into these youtube clips fun stuff…

oh, and here is a little bonus poem/rant of Gary’s…

Can’t trust the machine. Rotten food consumed by helpless babies
with families that can’t afford to pay for anymore than the big
grocery store brands. Time to farm it up. Be sustainable. Don’t
rely on semi-trailers hauling rotten spinach and meat 2000 miles
to make you sick, or die.

We’re coming to farm it up my friend. Here is a preliminary 3-
year plan I am spewing out as I type…this outlines our
migration to the heartland of my youth. A place with forests
and lakes.

• Year 1:
  • Potatoes & tomatoes galore to get the soil conditioned
  • Install coup and bring 12 Hens on board, with one Rooster
  • Prune legacy fruit trees and berry bushes
  • Get annual herb garden in the ground
  • Dig root cellar for Potato stock
  • Fence in 1-3 acres for livestock
  • Establish relationship with local food co-op
  • Register booths at ALL market’s within two hour drive
• Year 2:
  • Purchase rootsy flat bed truck for market trips
  • Embrace more heirloom varieties in garden
  • Bring sheeps and goats on board in fenced acreage
  • Expand free range chicken farm for co-op
  • Build outdoor clay oven
  • Sing to fruit trees and berry bushes with Ellie
  • Harvest first season of sheepwool and goat milk
• Year 3:
  • All of the above, plus add annual summer trip to Alaska, where I’ll return with 65 lbs of smoked and frozen wild Salmon

Yikes for these Guys!

Gary shared this video the other day of Sage Cattabriga-Alosa (former Peruvian Lodge dish dog) following Matt Collins while mountain biking in Southern Utah. Sage is a fellow Alta skier who has mad skills. It’s as though his skis are a part of him. Skis or bike, he’s as smooth, stylish and talented as they come. My jaw dropped when I watched this with Gary. There are moments of this clip where you can actually feel scared for them without too much effort 🙂 Very impressive.

Notice the exposure on both sides of the single track most of the way down. These are definitely “no fall zones.”

Enjoy Dirt Spineology…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAqt141eJAU[/youtube]

Thankful

We had a wonderful holiday yesterday thanks to our friends Tom and Julie and their family, who shared their Thanksgiving feast with us. Oh my, what a spread it was! and a pleasure to meet Tom’s parents, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. It was nice to be in a family environment.

What I’m Thankful For…

• My husband who is dedicated to working hard to provide for me and Ellie and is very patient with me and my little moods. I love you G
• Our beautiful healthy daughter who has brought a whole new dimension to our lives and makes our hearts soar.
• Our family- parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who provide so much love and support we would be lost without them.
• Our dogs who are loving companions (Chip) and trouble makers (Adah)
• Our gang of friends who we can be silly, creative, and adventurous with. We have a good tribe
• Our health

Gobble Gobble goo and Gobble Gobble giggle

As I sit here and type this Gary and Ellie are watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ronald McDonald just floated by and Gary made sure to introduce him to Ellie as “Dirty Ron”, Gary’s favorite reference to McDonalds. Yesterday Ellen watched patiently as I baked some pies. I guess I’m not that skilled at multitasking because it was a trick to watch over the babe and get the pies done, by the end of the day I was a bit frazzled. Picture the classic women in the kitchen with flour everywhere her hair a mess and the baby crying. We persevered and the pies are turning out well so far. I have to bake them today so they are fresh for the taking. I went with the traditional flavors Pumpkin and Apple. I like to put a little twist on the pumpkin pie and make it with a gingersnap crust. I also like to use fresh ginger in the filling. I must admit I borrowed the gingersnap crust recipe from Letty, Debbie, and Steve at the Deer Valley Bakery. I do love to bake, and I spent three years in the bakery at Deer Valley. I don’t know maybe Steve can correct me, but I was feeling pretty confident in my baking skills by the end of my three year term. Yesterday humbled me a bit, though. I just can’t pull it off as well in my home as I did in the awesome professional DV Bakery. I think it’s a psychological thing and I am my worst critic. I did do some things right, stuff my brain absorbed at work and stuff I like to do at home, I’ll share them with you…

• Mise en place It’s French meaning “everything in its place”. This is key for pulling off any project. It’s all about prep in the bakery we would gather the ingredients we needed and prep things first like zest lemons, peel apples, cut butter, and so on. I also learned to mix all the dry ingredients together first.
• “Clean as you go is the sign of a pro” Letty always used this catch phrase and it’s true. Nobody likes to work with a messy baker. At home I try to always have the sink ready to wash so I can clean off my utensils and use them again instead of pulling out another bowl and another spoon and having a huge pile of dishes to deal with at the end of the day. Take a break and clean between each phase of the recipe make the dough then clean, make the filling then clean, put them together then clean. You can never clean too much. Oh how I long for a dish washer. Actually, it’s a little therapeutic to slow down and wash the dishes in the sink.
• I like to add a bit of whole wheat flour where I can. For instance the crust for the apple pie uses 2 1/2 cups of flour so I use 2 cups white and 1/2 cup of whole wheat. I think this adds some nutrition to the pie. Be careful when altering recipes though too much whole wheat flour can make the dough tough. I also like to use flax seed when appropriate that stuff has good omegas, and we can all use some omega in our diet.
• Go to the source. Use a real pumpkin, fresh ginger, fresh fruits etc. This sounds like more work but it doesn’t always have to be if you Mise en place and plan ahead. I roasted a pie pumpkin on Tuesday peeled it that night and whalla I have fresh pumpkin instead of pumpkin from the can.
• Finally, don’t forget to eat lunch. I made the mistake of working right through lunch yesterday hence the frazzle. It pays to sit down and make a well rounded lunch instead of snacking on the sugary treats you’re making. That way you keep your wits about you and you wont be spent by the end of the baking glory.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.