How did we end up here?!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Year's Day Hike 2011

Last New Year's Day we headed up the canyons at 6,000 feet for some sledding. This year it was off to our usual haunt, Zion National Park, for ringing in 2011.

On the west side of the tunnel, headed east:

Approaching the west entrance to the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel.

The tunnel is 1.1 miles long and was completed in 1930. Mr. Mamie always wants to drive through, whatever other plans we have in the park. Why? Well, because he is a direct descendant of the families that originally held title to the land that now comprises the west entrance and visitors' center of the park! A cousin (hi Lois!!!) told us recently that the steps to the homestead house are still visible, which we didn't know and are anxious to go check out). Mr. Mamie's mother grew up in what is now the park. When we got married next to the Virgin River in the park, it was in a location that was in view of the fruit orchards planted my Mr. Mamie's ancestors. So, Zion is special to us not only because of it's amazing beauty and adventure, but because of Mr. Mamie's family ties!

Fun with the camera in the tunnel!

More camera-in-the-tunnel hijinks.

East side of the park, Canyon Overlook area:

A little stroll through a snowfield:

This is a little field that has a path down into a wash we we have hiked through several times before (summer and winter). Today it was too icy to make the drop down into the wash, so we had to stay up above.

Mr. Mamie is standing at the top of the path down into the wash. Too icy!

West side, up-canyon, at the Temple of Sinawava:

On the Riverwalk trail headed into The Narrows:

We mostly hung out and stomped around by the river. The trail was both icy and surprisingly busy - lots of Asian tourists and cars from California. All in all, a nice (though COLD!) day, and a good way to start 2011.

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Oatmeal Bread

As my three regular readers know, I have two breads that I make almost weekly: Wheat Bread and Amish White Bread, both from Tammy's Recipes. These have been our "go-to" staples for a couple of years now, since we discovered that most store-bought bread has both added soy products (to which Nephew is allergic) and high-fructose corn syrup (which we would just prefer to avoid). The wheat bread is awesome for almost any purpose, and is my stand-by for peanut butter toast. Mr. Mamie occasionally likes a white bread sandwich, and I won't eat a grilled cheese on anything else (other than that, we mostly try to stick to the whole grain breads). I do modify Tammy's recipe for wheat bread by subbing in some wheat germ and vital wheat gluten flour, and by adding flax seed meal. Sometime I will get around to posting the exact measurements for those changes. In the meantime, if you want a nice, smooth, eatable-every-day wheat bread, click above to get Tammy's recipe.

Last week I wanted to make something slightly different. I started with an Oatmeal Bread recipe that came from the Hillbilly Housewife site, then modified the ingredients and the method slightly. The results were yummy - a little denser and heavier than my usual wheat bread, but definitely up to the task for ferrying butter and boysenberry jam (photo above!) to my mouth!

For most of my yeasted loaf breads, I start the process in the bread machine and then bake in the oven - that is how I made this Oatmeal Bread, and that's how I wrote the directions.

Oatmeal Bread

1-1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
1-1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
2 tablespoons flax seed meal (I use Bob's Red Mill)
2 tablespoons instant dry milk powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup dry oatmeal (I like either Coach's Oats or Bob's Red Mill Organic, but I'm certainly not above Quaker or even The Walmartz house brand!)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (which is incredibly cheap if bought in bulk at Costco, and incredibly expensive if bought in little packets or small jars at the grocery store!)

Add the ingredients in the order listed into the bucket of the bread machine.
Run the machine on the "dough" cycle. On my machine this lasts for 90 minutes.
After the dough cycle is complete, transfer the dough to a greased bread pan. Turn the dough a couple of times so that the whole surface is greased.
Set the bread pan in a warmish place to rise and cover with a loose tea towel. Let rise until the dough is at or just above the rim of the bread pan.
Put the bread pan in the oven AND THEN turn the oven on to 350. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, the top of the bread should be nicely browned. Loosely cover the loaf with a sheet of aluminum foil, then continue baking for another 10 - 15 minutes.
Remove bread pan from oven and brush the top with about a tablespoon of melted butter, if desired. Let bread pan cool on wire rack for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove bread from pan and place loaf on wire rack. Cover loaf loosely with a tea towel until completely cooled (of course, you can cut a slice or two or five to eat warm!).

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Our December Snow

At the beginning of Christmas vacation we were dealing with ennnnnnnnndless rain that was causing flooding concerns and other problems. Ugh! The second week brought cold-shiver-shiver-cold and even snow to our slightly lower altitude (we're at about 3,000 feet, but go 30 miles up the interstate and you're in an alpine landscape at 5,800 feet). Up there, they have deep snow through the winter; down here, we get it maybe three times and it doesn't last long.

Here are some shots from the local surroundings on December 30th.

At home: