In the Garden

Daniel is growing tomatoes under this overhang next to the house and they are doing really well.

One of the stalks grew right up into a crack in the overhang, took a sharp turn and continued growing out of the crack.  

 We tried tugging at it, but it is firmly planted in that crack.  Pretty cool!  

 Just to the left of that light green tile is a tiny baby tree that Daniel planted with hopes of turning it into a bonsai in the future.  So far, it's doing well.  

The air feels a bit fallish around here these days.  Puts me in a sweater-crocheting kind of mood.  

Aloha Ramen

It was an Aloha Ramen kind of a night last night.  Tonyu ramen is a favorite.  With its creamy white tofu base, and pickled red ginger, corn, cabbage, and green onions, what's not to love?  It tastes like Hawaii.

Aloha!  

Peach Pie

I love peaches and I love peach pie.  Last week I made a vegan pumpkin pie filling, which I will post soon.  I had one frozen whole wheat crust left over, so decided to fill it with some delicious organic peaches from the market.  

Ingredients:

- pie crust (mine was store-bought)

- 6 peaches, sliced 

- 1 Tbsp white sugar

- 1 Tbsp whole wheat flour

- 1 tsp cinnamon 

- 1 tsp powdered ginger

Stir the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and ginger in with the sliced peaches:

 Here is the crust I bought at Ballard Market:

 Plop the peaches into the crust and bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes or so.  

 I didn't have a top crust, but it still tastes amazing.  Of course, make your filling any way you like it.  Some recipes call for tapioca, or other thickening ingredients.  I just sprinkled in what I had in the kitchen.  I think it would be good to throw in some fresh ginger for a little zip!  

Life is short!  Let's make pie!  It makes the world a better place.  

520 Pontoon

The 520 floating bridge is being replaced as the old bridge is getting old and tired.  Last night I was watching the news and they said the first pontoon was going to go through the Ballard Locks within the next hour.  I grabbed my camera and got there in time to see happen.  It was pretty cool! 

Here is a time lapse video of the pontoon going through the locks.  I'm down there!

Then I walked to see the salmon, and there are a lot right now.  

Goodbye pontoon!  See you again one day!  

Mount Dickerman

Mount Dickerman was the toughest hike we have done so far this summer.  We gained around 3,700 feet in just over 4 miles.  The view at the top was worth it though.  Mountains everywhere we turned, and sloping meadows of wildflowers.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip:

 We all cracked up when my brother whipped out his battery-powered fan at our resting stop.  Not a bad idea really.

 Made it to the top!

 It felt like we were on top of the world:

 Dean's POG slushy tasted better than anything I could imagine:

 High-altitude/fatigue/normal goofiness:  

This was our 6th hike of the summer!

Snow Lake

This week's hike was to Snow Lake.  We hoped to make it a little further to Gem Lake, but there was too much snow in the way.  When the snow is melted and the blueberries along the side of the trail are ripe, we'll go back and get the full Snow Lake Trail experience.  Calling all cousins!  And Aunts/Uncles/Friends.  This one would be a perfect one to do with us!

Oops:

They are watching the cutest little pika scampering around on the rocks.    

Veggie Hummus Sandwich

This is one D-licious sandwich!

Ingredients:

Use your favorite vegetables.  We used:

-tomato

-onion

-cucumber

-carrots

-mixed greens

-multigrain bread

-hummus

-dijion mustard

-mayonaise 

 I love hummus, so I piled it on both sides of the bread.  My sister's sandwich here has hummus and mustard on one side, and mayo on the other:

 Load up the vegetables in any order:

So good!