Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Quick Ricotta Gnocchi (or my FIRST food post!)

I'll admit it. I am an addict.

Addicted to food blogs that is, with one in particular.

Molly Wizenberg is a foodie, a blogger, journalist, author and now restaurateur with her husband Brandon Petit. Molly was responsible for one of the best-loved food/life blogs around, Orangette (http://orangette.blogspot.com/).

Two years ago the couple opened Delancey (www.delanceseattle.com), a woodfire pizza spot in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. She is funny, candid and her recipes hit the spot. Basically, Molly is a food blogger goddess and I worship the counter on which she bakes.

In her book, A Homemade Life, Molly shares her recipe for slow-roasted tomatoes.

I just had to try it because:

A) the recipe calls for 4 ingredients,

B) tomatoes are cheap and in-season and

C) I am Sicilian and 2/3 of my body is literally a mixture of olive oil and tomatoes. It's genetic.

This is a weekend recipe, as it takes 4 to 6 hours to complete,

but it is WELL WORTH THE WAIT!

This recipe makes a LOT. You'll be surprised how many dishes you will want to which you'll want to add some of these sweet little guys. In the last few days we have added them to burritos, eggs and pasta salad. They are a great way to spruce up an otherwise "blah" dish.

Rinsing the tomatoes, just like my momma taught me.

Tomatoes sliced in half and tossed lightly with olive oil.

Tomatoes spread on a cookie sheet, sprinkled with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

Sure, these little guys don't look pretty, but they are absolutely irresistible.

As you can see, many of them disappeared before I could take a picture.

To highlight the sweet flavor of the tomatoes, I made a recipe from another favorite blog, Budget Bytes. This was the first gnocchi recipe I have tried. It was easypeasie (is that how spell that?).

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/08/easy-ricotta-gnocchi-258-recipe-065.html

Mmmm...slow-roasted tomatoes

with ricotta gnocchi, fresh Parmesan cheese and basil from the garden.

WARNING! Collapsing Snowfields!

My fellow frugal friend Rachael and I promised each other that each month we would pile into the car with a day's worth of snacks, the camera and the GPS and visit a part of the Puget Sound we have never visited before.

Just over an hour from Seattle, this weekend's destination was Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest's Big Four Ice Caves.

Nestled in a valley, the caves are created by the melting snow from the mountain peaks above.

The water from the melting snow creates waterfalls and rivers within the mammoth ice banks. As the water flows through these hidden channels within the ice, it melts more of the ice and creates the caves.

The pictures below were taken by Rachael.

In the height of summer their is still plenty of ice and snow (FYI, those small dots are people).

Waterfalls that then disappear back into the ice, creating the caves.

Approaching the other-worldy looking mouth of the caves, visitors are blasted with cold air some 20 degrees cooler than the air around it. Fog pours out of the entrances, which are about 6 feet tall.

All one hear's at the foggy front door is the perpetual "drip drip drip" of the melting snow from inside.

The beautiful ceiling of the ice cave (reminiscent of a cathedral) is created by way the melting glacier drips off...forming these peaks and basins.

Light broke through from the snow field above the cave.

Filling our water bottles with ice cold glacier water. DELISH!

To begin planning your own adventure, visit http://www.wta.org/go-hiking.

There is Fun (and Frugal) Life North of Seattle: Day Trip to Everett

Saturday morning I treated myself to a road trip to the historic North End neighborhood of Everett for their 3rd Annual Garage Sale Day. What fun it was!

Over 100 families participated. There is no ticket or entrance fee.

All are welcome to just stroll down the tree lined streets and browse the sales.

The neighborhood is filled with historic homes and well worth a walk on a normal (non-garage sale) day.

I spent less than $10, and picked up three new books and some vintage yellow dishes.

For the dates of next year's garage sale day, visit www.northwesteverett.org.

But what i really wanted to share with you from that morning is my discovery of a beautiful P-Patch tucked between downtown Everett and the waterfront.

A P-Patch is public land that has been set aside for individual's from a community to have a small patch of land to bring their own gardening dreams to life. In an urban area, P-patches can be one of the only resources available for citizens to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers.

I stumbled upon Everett's Bayside Bicentennial P-Patch. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons! The space is no wider than two of the car lanes of the highway racing beside it.

The gardens are beautiful. Each patch is obviously well-loved and cared for.

In a strange way it felt like my dog and I were visiting someone's home as we strolled through. Each patch so personalized.

Instead of falling to disuse, becoming an addition to the parking lot beside it, or just another example of inner-city decay, this small piece of land has been used to build and sustain the community around it.

A few things...

Lavendar fields in Sequim, WA. HELLLOOOO Gorgeous!

No weekend is complete without a trip to the neighborhood library

Vintage yellow beads and a homemade card for a friend's birthday.

(beads, estate sale find, $1.00, ribbon and letters leftover from the holiday gift wrapping frenzy and old scrapbooking supplies)

Big sky out on Dungeness Spit and Wildlife Refuge

Stopped by local farm for fresh honey, spotted this old silo

Have a good week!

Vampires, Friendly Farmers, and the Quest for Immortality

From the farmer's market to the exotic delights of the Asian grocery store, I felt I'd been there and done that. I was bored. I didn't think anything in the produce section could surprise me anymore.

But then I met these little guys at Bastyr University's Farmer's Market.

They are called garlic scapes.

Garlic and I go WAY back. I use garlic in anything...everything!

I'm SICILIAN for GOD SAKES! Isn't garlic just part of our genetic composition?

How did I miss these sweet little curly qs?

I just had to know more about my new little friends. I quickly paid my friendly farmer and dashed to my computer to learn more about this mystery veggie.

Basically, scapes are the stems of the garlic plant. We typically eat the root or bulb of the plant, but the stem is also quite delish.

Did a bit more reading, and it turns out, garlic has rather a scandalous reputation historically both as a both as a force for good and evil across civilizations.

(WARNING: Much of my casual research comes from Wikipedia--take it all with a grain of salt!)

In the account of Korea's establishment as a nation, gods were said to have given mortal women with bear and tiger temperaments an immortal's black garlic before mating with them. This is a genetically unique, six-clove garlic that was to have given the women supernatural powers and immortality. This garlic is still cultivated in a few mountain areas today. (I checked on eBay and Craigslist...no luck finding it...sorry ladies).

There is an Islamic myth that considers that after Satan left the Garden of Eden, garlic arose in his left footprint and onion in the right.

In Europe, many cultures have used garlic for protection or white magic, perhaps owing to its reputation as a potent preventative medicine. Central European folk beliefs considered garlic a powerful ward against demons, werewolves, and vampires. To ward off vampires, garlic could be worn, hung in windows, or rubbed on chimneys and keyholes. A practice of hanging garlic, lemon and red chilli at the door or in a shop to ward off potential evil, is still very common in India.

In both Hinduism and Jainism, garlic is considered to stimulate and warm the body and to increase one's desires and arousal.

Harvesting garlic, from Tacuinum sanitatis, 15th century.

The irrational fear of garlic is alliumphobia. I definitely understand. Schnuzzling with your special someone after they've eaten an extra large garlic and onion pizza single handedly can be HORRIFYING!

Garlic Scapes can be incorporated into a meal like you would use asparagus. It's not hollow, so don't expect it to be like a green onion. Here are links to a few bloggers and their scape recipes. Enjoy! Try not to get too horny while eating them.

Pan Browned Polenta with Sauteed Braising Greens and Garlic Scapes

http://boulderlocavore.blogspot.com/2011/06/summer-csa-and-pan-browned-polenta-with.html

Flash Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes with Garlic Scapes and Chives

http://foodandstyle.com/2010/07/02/flash-sauteed-cherry-tomatoes-with-garlic-scapes-and-chives/

Garlic Scape Pesto

http://soupbelly.com/2009/07/10/garlic-scape-pesto/

Extreme makeover...70s chair edition...

Found this nasty old chair at a Goodwill store this spring.

Faded orange stripes and mystery oil stain (barf) included in the $2.99 price.

The lines of the chair are quite feminine and graceful, the rattan in good shape.

Seat cushion redone using my trusty (and extremely rusty) old staple gun,

and some drop cloths run through the wash a few times to soften.

Spendiest part of the job was the reusable stencil from a great artist, Janna Makaeva from CuttingEdgeStencils.

Janna's stencils are in a class all their own--especially some of the vintage patterns for larger surfaces (like the master bedroom of my dreams).

I'll definitely be buying more of her wares in future.

http://www.etsy.com/people/CuttingEdgeStencils?ref=pr_profile

the best gift ever...EVER....

Tim's brother and sister in-law sent us Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover.

For those of you who have never picked up one of his books, Dave Ramsey is THE guru of personal finances. The Total Money Makeover is a no nonsense program that encourages people to eliminate all of their debt in order to live a cash-only lifestyle and achieve wealth and financial freedom.

No, this blog posting is not sponsored by Dave Ramsey.

I started reading The Total Money Makeover three days ago, and in that time I have begun a complete transformation of my personal finances. I will be out of debt in 12 months. That's right folks, 12 months.

In the last three days I have managed to ...

cut $600 out of my annual budget,

save $1,000 for an Emergency Fund (Baby Step #1 of the Total Money Makeover),

schedule a garage sale,

sell books to a local bookstore,

and put some old unused china up on eBay.

To top it all, Tim and I have decided to begin the hunt for a cheaper apartment that we can stand to live in for a year. Shaving $250 off of our rent each month would save us upwards of $3,000 each year.

In what ways would you "downsize" for 12 months in order to get yourself out of debt?

Over the next 12 months I will attempt to transform myself into a lean, mean, budgeting machine! I need all of the support and encouragement I can get--and some creative brainstorming about how to live EVEN lovelier on EVEN less!

I am grateful to Michael and Heather for extending a random act of kindness our way, sending us this modest looking hardback black book. Who knew a book of less than 250 pages would transform my perspective of my own wealth potential, AND give me such hope?

Following in Michael and Heather's generous footsteps, I have passed the book on to a dear friend of mine. I hope it provides she and her family with the same hope it provided me.