Summer 12: The Happenings

so, needless to say, it's been awhile since i've posted anything.  i have been delinquent, yes, but it's because a lot has been going on! dan and i took a big trip to south korea from july 15th-july 24th, and the weeks leading up to that excursion were full of activity and non-cookery.  indeed, the extent of my cooking this summer is best represented by the following picture:

no, those are not home-made waffles.  yes, that is a home-sliced organic banana.  yes, i definitely meant to spend way more time cooking and chickening and gardening and writing this summer, but alas, it has not been.  now i have two weeks left before science teaching starts again, and so we'll see what happens. here are a couple things to catch up on...

this sweet little chicken was in our lives but briefly. back in early june, she (mighta been a he) was acquired as a new flock friend after the untimely demise of dear twitter.  everything was going great (for like 2 days) until she met the SECOND snake to plague our coop this summer.  turned out that snake had a taste for more than just eggs, and so she was murdered.  in a fit of hammurabian rage, the murderous snake was also murdered.  it was not the most shining of TUF moments.  but, live and learn and live.  she wasn't even around long enough to get a permanent name, so she will live forever in my memory as "Lil Bitz."

earlier this summer, we took another trip to Port Aransas like we did last summer, and stayed at the same place, although it's now called Amelia's Landing. this time we brought both dogs, and they were salty beach dogs for the first time!  great fun was had by all, and though there was a plethora of beautifully scary and goopy man o' wars (men o' war?), no one got stung.  yay for the beach!







i have no pictures of this at the moment, but we attended my beautiful sister's wedding shower in dallas july 14th.  she's getting married on september 2nd, and i'm the MaidTron v.2012 of honor.  ("matron" sounds too...well, matronly. and old and fat. and i'm trying to avoid those kinds of connotations.) i also partied (gently) at her bachelorette shindig on july 28th.  i am so excited for my darling closest relative's celebrations!  and i'm so honored to be her MaidTron.

then of course came the Big Fancy Trip we had been planning for some time, to South Korea.  thank goodness for the family and friends who looked after our zoo while we were gone.  a dear friend from school took all the rodents and reptiles into her BRAND NEW HOME for the 10 days, a responsible kid from the neighborhood was on am and pm chicken duty, another dear friend from the neighborhood and my beloved uncle came to check on the cat and house, and the dogs got to go to camp at the Canine Hilton down the street.  what with all the animal accomodations, we needed to make this one count.  AND WE DID!

huge market close to hotel in seoul

seoul street art

beautiful architecture

awesome hair and beaches in pusan

secret buddha

it really was an amazing journey.  and so, two more weeks of summer vacation!  what else might happen?

how about this enormous stick bug that dan came in to tell me about AS I WAS TYPING THIS VERY POST?

TUFcation Musings and Marvels

happy june!  school's out, new science teaching job on the horizon, loose ends tied up, ready for new adventures in frolic and farmlife.  we decided to take a quick jaunt down to the coast for some beachery (debeachery?), and wound up first in corpus christi, then port aransas, boat drinks in hand.  thanks to sara and tim for fledgling farm-sitting!  it is lovely to know that weekend getaways are still possible, even with zillions of pets, thanks to generous friends.  i thought i was being pretty cool when i said, hey, keep any eggs you find!  but they were already farm-sitting for another friend with some 20 chickens, and had already collected a dozen from this way TUF-er TUF!  they are good totally urban farmers themselves, with some lovely tomato and pepper plants growing bushy in the back yard.  i am thankful for the people i know.

we stayed the first night with some dear old friends who are in the process of opening a restaurant in corpus, and then we drove up to port aransas for a lovely evening spent right near the beach.  by chance we found a fantastic motel with an aviation theme; the inn-keepers were pilot people, and each well-kept room referenced a moment in the history of  aviation.  we stayed in the Women Pilots room, which featured pictures of many lady aviators (who were COMPLETE BADASSES) from the early- and mid-20th century.  of course there were some pictures of the most famous Amelia Earhart, but she had her very own-themed room!  these two women caught my attention the most--i may need to do some more research.  such. badasses.

The motel also brought free breakfast to our door in the morning, which consisted of some locally-concocted apple fritters, coffee, and juice.  i highly recommend The Harbor Inn if you're ever in port aransas!

we also ate at The Venetian Hot Plate, where i partook of an incredibly fresh-tasting, locally caught fish called a 'triple tail.' this mahi-mahi-esque (ha!) fish came grilled with a roasted corn and tomato relish, which wasn't very italian until i got to the wonderfully garlicky risotto.  and the bread/olive oil RULED.  as did our whole little seaside vacation!  i didn't even get sunburned this time, and the swimming was soothing.

on the way to and from the gulf coast, i found some new amazement in the vast fields of crops that line highway 37.  of course, anyone who's ever been on a road trip has seen, and even may have dozed off to, the miles and miles and acres and acres of fields of food crops.  but for some reason, even thinking about the care and time that goes into small-time vegetable gardening makes me gape at these huge fields.  they are both awesome and terrifying: who and/or what harvests all that produce?  who/what keeps it pest-free and weeded?  how much water does it take, what waters it, and where does all that water come from?  i realized i didn't even know what crops i was seeing as we passed by.  i am reminded of the reason why i started all this TUF business--i want to feel less removed from food.

so now we're back, and i'm ready to devote some time to becoming TUF-ier.  next post will feature some new cooking conquests, like zucchini muffins!  i still want chicks!  stay tuned...