The Stuff of Memories

Every once in a while you have a perfectly normal day, but in that perfectly normal day is the stuff of memories.  Today was just such a day.

Another 8 inches of snow fell overnight, insulating us in perfect silence.  The beauty of the forests dressed in white is awe inspiring, setting the backdrop for a positively Currier and Ives winter day.

After the boys (Knight and Master) headed off to the shop, the children and I got to work on school and cleaning.  We had our chores finished quickly and the school load was light so we thought of a few fun things to do while we watched the snow fall heavily around the house.  Snack and I decided to try our hand at homemade marshmallows since we hadn't done that before, and it sounded like a fun afternoon project.

Freshly cut marshmallows

Next time I'll use a smaller pan so that the marshmallows are thicker

While the marshmallows set up we whipped up a batch of Welsh cakes to have when the guys got home from the shop.  It turned into regular celebration when my parents (my Dad had been plowing snow ALL day) joined us for coffee, tea and Welsh cakes.  Such festivities!!!!

Snack, shoveling away

Snack and Calvin digging a tunnel

In between baking and merry making, the children spent their afternoon digging snow forts and walk ways.

Hot cocoa with freshly made marshmallows

Our perfectly normal day was truly the stuff of memories!!


Homemade Marshmallows

3 T unflavored gelatin powder
1/3 C cold water
3 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 C water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 C cornstarch
1/3 C powdered sugar

Soak the gelatin in the 1/3 of a cup of cold water in a small bowl and set aside to swell for 10 minutes.

In a large saucepan dissolve the sugar in the 1 1/2 C of water over low heat, stirring constantly.

Add the swollen gelatin and dissolve.

Raise the temperature and bring to a boil.

Boil steadily, but not vigorously, for 15 minutes without stirring.

Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl, or mixer and add the vanilla and beat the mixture until very thick and white.

Spray a 9x13 pan (or 9x9 for taller marshmallows) with non-stick spray and pour the mixture into the pan.

Let set completely - about 2 hours.

Cut into square and dust with the mixture of cornstarch and powdered sugar. *

* I found it easier to use a dough cutter to cut the marshmallows rather than a knife.  Super easy with no mess!




Welsh Cakes

2 C flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
pinch salt
1 C butter, cold
1/2 C sugar
2/3 C currents (optional)
2 eggs
4 T milk

Whisk together the dry ingredients (except sugar).  Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until mixture resembles course crumbs.  Stir in the sugar and currents (if using).

Make a well in the center - add eggs and milk.  Using a fork, mix until the dough comes together.

Roll the dough out until it is the thickness of your little finger.  Cut out with a round, fluted cookie cutter.  Heat griddle (medium).  Spray with cooking spray (or butter), unless you are using a non-stick griddle.

Bake approximately 3 - 4 minutes.  Flip over and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes.  Sprinkle with sugar (or slather with butter and jam).  Serve warm.

Whispers of Winter

Unlike Little Shouse on the Prairie, where winter roared and bellowed, winter at Caer David has come to us in whispers, enveloping us in a perfect Narnia.  Softly falling snow and brooks bubbling through frozen ledges of ice have replaced the ground blizzards and rafter shaking winds.  Days huddled inside by the wood stove have been replaced by treks through a gloriously bedazzled winter wonderland and al fresco hot cocoa enjoyed beside a roaring bon fire.  The savage roar of the elements has been replaced by the gentle whispers of winter.

The snow has boxed us in and given Caer David a cave-like atmosphere

Our window tunnel

Miss Serenity stirring cocoa with one hand and making whipped cream with the other

Preparing the motoring basket

Homemade S'mores cookies....

Chicken salad sandwiches.....

Coffee cake and oranges!

Almost ready!

Heading to the bon fire

Getting set up - we even have music!

A perfect time to enjoy each others company

Even the dog was invited!

With his famous "Smarl"

The alcohol burner is keeping the cocoa warm

And the treats are ready

Hot cocoa with fresh whipped cream!!!  Yum!

Dad brought his coffee to the cocoa party!!!

We have so enjoyed living back in the mountains after what seems like a lifetime's exile.  We have wondered at the quiet beauty and drunk in the life-giving, soul-feeding presence of this place.

I hope winter is whispering its life-giving beauty into your soul.  Enjoy it's quiet solitude.

Happy New Year!

We are ringing 2016 in with beautiful weather - a positive winter wonderland!  This week has been sunny and cold, with diamonds glistening off the snow and our boots crunching with each footfall.  We have been playing in the snow until our noses get red and our fingers grow stiff, coming in only long enough to toast up by the cookstove and then we are off again, enjoying our unusual (calm) winter weather.  The near-constant winds have stilled long enough for us to truly delight in our snowy-white fairyland and has allowed the trees to keep their winter cloaks.

Last weeks weather was another story altogether!  Our plans were to leave on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with my parents.  Our bags were packed, our truck was loaded and then the blizzard began.  By 4 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, our driveway had drifts four feet deep and only our Landcruiser was able to traverse its depths.  Maid Elizabeth parked her car at lunchtime and knowing that we were in for some weather, I delivered both she and Master Hand Grenade to work, planning to pick them up at the end of the day.

A small drift, just forming

Master Calvin making a trail through the snow

Unfortunately, the weather grew worse and as the sky darkened, a dear, sweet elderly friend drove up our almost impassible driveway.  After delivering Christmas cheer, he attempted to drive back down our drifted driveway, became confused and drove right off our driveway into a huge, snow-filled ditch.  Sir Knight's attempts to pull him out were of no use - he was buried in the snow so deeply that we knew we would need big equipment to get him out.

We called a neighbor for assistance and he and his son-in-law drove over to assess the situation.  After almost suffering the same fate as our elderly friend, our neighbor drove back to his house and started up his 100 horsepower tractor.  Within minutes they were back, first with a snowplow-equipped Jeep, followed by the tractor.  Half-way up the driveway, the Jeep was buried in a drift, unable to move.  The tractor made its way around the Jeep, plowing snow as it went, until it almost reached the truck, when it too, became buried in the snow-filled ditch.  We now had a pickup, a Jeep with a snowplow and a 100 hp tractor stuck in our driveway.  Night had descended upon us, the blizzard was wild, it was the day before Christmas Eve and we were landlocked at Little Shouse on the Prairie, with no way to make it to the road. 

Our children had finished work and begged  rides home with friends and tromped up the nearly impassible driveway on foot.  It took a good bit of time, with a blizzard raging and snow drifts piling high, but they made it in time to grab shovels and help in the attempted driveway evacuation. 

After burying his tractor, our neighbor went back home for the big gun - a dozer.  He drove up the driveway, plowing a huge berm of snow as he went, made it about 300 feet, and his dozer died.  Apparently the cold weather didn't agree with the battery, so Sir Knight unhooked our generator battery (which is always freshly charged), wired it into the dozer, gave it a crank and the dozer, once again, roared to life.  Within 30 minutes, the dozer had pulled the Jeep from the snowbank, drug the tractor from the ditch and finally managed to extricate our elderly friend's truck.  After 3 1/2 hours, our driveway was cleared of vehicles, however, it was left utterly impassible to anything without tracks.

Can you see the driveway?

The cavalry's here!

The dozer clearing and the grader widening

Christmas Eve morning, our working children met friends at the foot of the driveway and hitched rides to work.  Sir Knight was stuck at home, not able to get his service truck out of its parking spot.  Our neighbor with the dozer planned on plowing our driveway that afternoon (just in time for us to leave for my parents) and another neighbor offered to clean and widen the driveway with his grader (we have the BEST neighbors!).  And then, the unthinkable happened.  Another well-meaning neighbor attempted to plow our driveway (with his small pickup) and promptly got himself utterly and completely STUCK!  With the clock ticking, our little children in tears and our driveway impassible, we knew our Christmas trip was over before it even began.  But then, a big yellow grader began a slow ascent up our driveway, heading for the pickup, ready to pull him out.  And. Then. The. Grader. Got. Stuck.  REALLY!  After a quick walk back to his house, and our neighbor drove his self-loading log truck to the end of our driveway.  He extended the loading arm, grabbed his grader, gave it a yank and pulled it out of the snow.  After the grader was free, our neighbor chained it up and pulled the pickup out of the snow.  Finally, all of the vehicles were (again) out of the our driveway.  About that time our neighbor with the dozer showed up and began plowing us out.  The dozer plowed, the grader widened and cleared and by 3 o'clock on Christmas Eve, our family was packed in the Landcruiser on our way to the Grandparents!  It truly was a Christmas miracle!

A driveway!!

Off to Grandpa and Grandma's!

Over the course of those two days we had more big equipment on our driveway than the road crews did on the highways!  As stressful and frustrating as our driveway ordeal was, it was also a beautiful reminder of unwarranted grace.  Our neighbors didn't "owe" us anything, yet they came to our aid out of the kindness of their hearts.  We have no possible way of ever repaying them, but they didn't expect payment. They were neighbors in the purest sense of the word, and they left us praising God for them. 

And now we begin a new year with hearts overflowing.  A very happy new year to you all!

Snowflakes & Hubbard Squash

It has been a rather dreary, snowy November.  The snow is wonderful but then it is followed by rain, which makes it dull and dreary.  In order to combat the gray days we enliven our little shouse with laughter and industry.

After the busyness of canning Miss Serenity's deer, we embarked on a new endeavor - Hubbard Squash.  Hubbard is HUGE!  A fierce-some squash, Hubbard is definitely not for the faint of heart, but, because they are so large, they yield a plentiful harvest.  With visions of pie and decadent squash bread floating through my head, I pressed forward to the goal and slay the Hubbard.

The tricky part, when dealing with a large squash, it cutting it open.  More than once I considered resorting to a hatchet to breech the rind but, in the end, I just hacked it open with my largest butcher knife.  After slicing it into pieces, I scraped the seeds out, cut it up into smaller chunks and arranged it on foil covered baking sheets to cook in the oven. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour at 400° to render the squash soft and ready to mash.

Finally broken into!

Scraping seeds

Cut into chunks ready to bake

Once the squash had been cooked, Miss Serenity and I scooped it out of the rind with spoons and put it in a huge bowl (we cut off, and discarded, the thick skin that develops on the squash as it cooks).  Our 25# Hubbard yielded about 16 cups of prepared squash.  What I didn't use immediately, I left in chunks and put in the refrigerator for later use.

Soft and ready to scrape from the rind

A bowl of squash

Pureed in the blender and ready for anything

As I mentioned, I had pie and bread on the brain and so I went to work.  Maid Elizabeth made a delectable pie crust as I mixed up the squash for a pie.  As the pies were being prepared, Miss Serenity went to work on bread.  Everything was ready at the same time, so into the oven went two Hubbard Squash Pies and three humongous Decadent Squash & Chocolate Chip loaves.  Oh, the scents that wafted through my kitchen!  There is nothing like dreary weather, a cozy shouse and wonderful smells mingled with wood smoke to make my heart go pitter-pat!

Rolling the crust onto the pie pan

Ready for filling

And to the oven

Decadent squash bread, ready for the oven

As the pies and bread baked and I cleaned the kitchen, the children gathered at the table for one of our "first snow" rituals.  Armed with scissors big and small, the children folded, cut and snipped the most beautiful of creations - paper snowflakes.  As each child held up their masterpiece for me to behold, I applauded their genius and encouraged yet another flake.

A stunning creation

Princess Dragon Snack is quite pleased with her scissor work!

Each one is unique and different - just like our children!

Swaying gently in the breeze of the fan

Finally, the paper cutting frenzy ceased and the children cleaned up the billions of snippets of paper that littered the floor.  After the paper was cleared, Maid Elizabeth strung thread through each snowflake and hung them from the tracks of our garage door (yet another benefit of living in a shouse!).

And so, we welcome winter - with paper snowflakes and Hubbard squash.

A Lot of Pie Crust 
1 egg
1 T vinegar
1/2 C ice water
4 C flour
1 T sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 C shortening (or butter, or lard, or a combination of any)

Beat the egg with the vinegar and water.  Combine the flour, sugar, salt.  Cut the shortening in with a pastry cutter.  Add liquid a little at a time until the crust forms a ball.  Work dough until smooth.  Either roll right away for put in the refrigerator for later.

This recipe makes enough for 2 double crust pies, with leftovers!

Hubbard Squash Pie
2 1/2 pounds of Hubbard squash - cut into chunks and seeds removed
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 C heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T salted butter, melted
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 400°.  Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Arrange squash on lined baking sheet.  Roast in preheated oven until the skin is browned and flesh is tender, about 45 minutes; allow to cool before handling.  Remove flesh from squash using a spoon.

Reduce temperature on oven to 375°.  Place 2 cups of squash in a food processor and process until smooth.  Add the brown sugar, eggs, cream, pumpkin pie spice, salt and butter;  process until smooth.  Pour the squash mixture into the pie crust.  Bake until the filling rises, about 1 hour.

Decadent Pumpkin (squash) Bread
1/2 C butter, softened
2 2/3 C sugar
4 eggs
2 C pumpkin (or squash)
2/3 C water
3 1/3 C flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
2/3 C chopped walnuts (optional)
1 1/4 C chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together;  beat in eggs, pumpkin and water.  Blend in dry ingredients; fold in nuts and chocolate.  Divide and pour into 2 greased 9"x5" loaf pans; bake at 350 degrees for 65 minutes.