Sunday, December 13, 2009

Sweet potato and Butternut soup!


It's a pretty basic soup base...
Good for the nice crisp weather of late fall and the very best in the cold of winter!




2 onions, chopped, and sauteed in butter and olive oil
Once the onions are transparent, add four or five cloves of fresh chopped garlic
Add:
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 largish sweet potato, peeled and chopped
Add:
Boiling water to cover
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Black pepper
1 teaspoon dry basil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
other herbs to taste (thyme, oregano, bay leaf)
Chicken or Vegetable stock, one of those containers or a can (about 12 ounces).
Light or heavy cream can be added once you have the heat off, (about 8 ounces).

Simmer the veggies, until the potatoes are tender.

I use a hand held wand blender, and just carefully mix right in the stock pot. You can also use a blender.

I like to put creme fresh, or yogurt in a little circle around the bowl. A little trick I learned form my daughter, who makes a garlic soup that is a pain in the ass to make but taste like it was dropped straight from the kitchens of heaven!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Cousins and Cake!

Just a few more pictures of the Birthday Skye Girl and her party cake...
Last year she had Tinkerbell...this year she wanted Silvermist....
Am I a sucker or what?
She loved her cake....
She got her Gator Golf and the Cupcake Maker... all and all a very happy Skye Girl!
You can't really tell, but the cake has glitter sugar on it....(pixy dust)
And Mooooosy....you got some 'splainin' to do......







Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Skye Girl Turns Four!

The princes of the house is now officially four!
Her own personal little 4 inch cake!
















The cake to share! Happy Tuna!















Her last day of being three, we took her to the pub for some yummy grub!













Sorren and mommy making pizza!























































Decorating the cakes with Nana.














Eating yummy Sorren's yummy pizza!
Just what she wanted!
Bath time with Princess bubbles!












I love you mommy!











I got bubbles on your face mommy!











But I don't want to go to bed!


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Sewing?

Who me?
Remember that obscenely expensive sewing machine that I have?
The one I occasionally dust?
I actually used it today!
I know, don't fall over and die form shock!
I somehow ended up with a little Nikon and needed a case....so I made one...
I know what a novel idea! Someone who knows how to sew, has said machine... and an extensive and rather obscene amount of fabric, and I used some of it!

Results..













Well, the bag is a bit big, but I like it, and I even made a little pouch for the extra batteries and flash so they doesn't scratch the screen.....

Yeah me!




Sunday, November 29, 2009

Cabin Closed 'till Spring!

It is with a heavy heart and very cold feet that I say fare well to the cabin in the woods till spring is well on it's way. We cleaned and winterized Monday and Tuesday, and locked her up...We will probably make a day trip up when the snow is thick so the baby can play, discover the joys of sledding and snowball fights, and freeze her little bunny butt off....And the great white fisherman has said his farewells to the lake and the fish as well.... we have a freezer full again, and were very generous in the giving away of the rainbow fishes! So until spring has sprung....I stay south!
















You can even see him in this one....yes,
I'm guilty of knitting in the car....
better light at the time....

Our Second Thanksgiving or Turkey Day 2.0


It is really hard to get them all in one place for very long, let alone get a photo of it!
Thanks Kristen, you did a great job!
L to R: Sean (Chantelle), Theo, Phoebee, Me, and Claire.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Spookabales and gouls

A few Halloween pictures:
Tinkerbell and her"date", cousin Sean the Spiderman! Pumpkins, the poor cat Chin in a dress, she was not happy! Chany and Jerry in their costumes, and Zombie Walter, and the"other" Tinkerbell.






































Monday, September 14, 2009

Me, boy, dog beach...the perfect day




























I took Vadim to China camp beach yesterday....
Chewie wanted to come too...
They played in the water and got all stinky and sandy and wet...
So all and all a great day at the beach....
You can just see them both grinning ear to ear!








Thursday, August 13, 2009

Fire scare at the Turkan Cabin!

These are just a few of the fire trucks that were on the scene at the cabin today...
Around noon we saw the neighbors out in the street and heard FIRE!!!!
It was up on the hill behind us... pretty scary stuff....
Trucks began to roil in with a few Sheriff cars to keep the traffic up the hill down...
The fire was very handily put out and not allowed to spread. It was contained to a wooded area and no homes or cabins were in danger... No one was injured either witch is really a good thing all around.
So that was our excitement for the day,,,,
We had a spontaneous lunch of egg salad sandwiches, chips and soda with the neighbors while watching the helicopters fly over from the Russian River to the fire....
I hope that the big fire south of us is contained soon, and no one gets hurt...
I hate the summer fire season...
I can't take credit for the great pictures...
That goes to niece #2 Laryssa!














Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Postcards from the Cabin


















I have been lucky enough to spend the last few weeks out of the searing heat of Phoenix, in the cool sweet pines just south of Flagstaff. I took alot of pictures, got some knitting done and spent lots of hours entertaining the grand kids....
We went Geocaching (http://www.geocaching.com/) with the kids, we took two of them to the Highland games (http://www.nachs.info/) and let them run around crazy in the woods....
All in all we had a great time......


















Fort building 101
Taking a break



See, I'm having fun!








Twilight reading marathon and sleeping on the deck......






Face painting at the Highland Games......





































Sorren likes Alex Beaton.... she know lots of his songs... Nana sings them to her.....








Not too sure of the Wicked Tinkers.... they are really wild and loud... but she likes them!









Grandpa's favorite part... Belly Dancers!













Baby Belly Dancer!






Garbage Bag Swiming????? I don't get it, but they had fun and played for HOURS!!!!!!!














My best freind Linda and the giant thistle!

































Geocaching finds!












































































Bubbles on the deck!
















Crafting.....

















Siblings Hiking........
















Can I get lost now Nana? I have the GPS!!!!!!!