Happy Valentimes Day!

Snowpocalypse = Baking

We went outside last night after it finally quit snowing and we ended up with 26". This means that we aren't going anywhere any time soon.

So, what to do when you are stuck in the house all day? Bake something! I decided on bread. This is the recipe I used and I think it turned out great




Bread dough after the first rise.






Dough after the second rise, ready for the oven.






Finished loaf - yummy!

Snowpocalypse 2.0 - Part 2

We went outside this morning for a little while to try to shovel out the cars before they got too deep and this is what we found. This was at about 11:00 this morning and it is still snowing.

I thought I would do a ruler in the snow picture like I did last time for comparison purposes. I stuck it in there as far as it would go and it completely disappeared. That was a two foot level. I imagine that we will have about 30 inches when it finally stops later tonight.

They called and canceled church in the morning, so we'll be sleeping in and taking it easy. Assuming that my sister-in-law can get out of her neighborhood in the four-wheel drive (not possible today), we'll go over in the afternoon and dig out my mother in law's driveway and sidewalk.

Snowpocalypse 2.0

This weekend we are supposed to get our second 18" plus snowfall this winter. The first was a novelty. The second one, not so much.

I went to the grocery store last night for our regular weekly shopping because I knew that I wouldn't be able to get out this weekend to do it. Snow panic, coupled with the Super Bowl, made the Giant even more crazy than I anticipated. This is a picture of the check-out area in my store. Fortunately, every one was very polite and there were no fist fights over the last of the milk, no cart bumping or anything.

It started snowing around 10 this morning and is not supposed to stop until about 10 tomorrow night. Sometime tomorrow I will get the yellow ruler out again for a snow measuring update. I haven't been outside today, but I am guessing we have about 6" right now.

The House Hunt is Back on

I know, you are all saying that you didn't know it was on in the first place, let alone that it was off.

Jim was indulging my favorite form of free entertainment - going to open houses. We were doing investigational shopping, just to get a feel for the market here, what neighborhoods are like, that sort of thing. We figured that we would sell the condo and move to a single family home.

It turns out that we have negative equity in the condo. Unfortunately, Jim bought at the top of the housing bubble and we all know what happened to the bubble. So, we figured we were stuck and the search was off. Plus, we were seeing places that we really liked and weren't ready to make an offer yet and that was just depressing.

So, we quit looking for a few weeks while we did more research. We concluded that I would see what sort of mortgage I would qualify for on my own (the condo is in Jim's name only). So, I am meeting with some bankers to see a) if I qualify for anything and b) what price point I should be looking for. If I get good news back from the bank, we'll go back to looking. We plan to keep the condo as a rental property until the market recovers enough that we can sell and break even.

Fresh Veggies without the Work

Today I bought a share of a garden.

Bull Run Mountain Vegetable Farm is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, providing fresh, subscription vegetables grown on a family farm without chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers.

A CSA is not for everyone. Most Americans plan their meals then buy their food. A CSA is the other way around - you get the food that is ripe and then plan your meals around what is available. This means no tomatoes in June or October but all the tomatoes you can eat in late July through early September. It means no salad in August but plenty of greens in June and October.

In other words, with a CSA you are getting vegetables and fruit as they are locally in season. You are getting vegetables, herbs and fruits that grow in this climate and you are getting them when they come ripe in this area.

This a radical departure from the international food distribution system that most Americans have become accustomed too. The average distance that the food in your grocery store has traveled is well over 2000 miles. With the CSA, the vegetables travel less than 40 miles from the farm to my table.

For 19 weeks, from June to October, I will get a box of whatever veggies and herbs are in season that week. The farm is out near Manassas and they will bring the produce to a pick up location near DuPont Circle. I ordered a peck, which Bull Run says is enough for 1 or two people, and it averages out to about $22 a week, which is about what I normally spend at the farmers market in the summer. For an extra fee, you can also get fruit (which in Virginia means peaches and a million varieties of apples) and fresh eggs.

Some of the items from last year's crop were broccoli, cabbage, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, okra, tons of peppers, potato, pumpkin, salad greens, squash, string beans, sweet potatoes, tons of tomatoes, radish and zucchini. Herbs included garlic, basil, chives, oregano, lavender, parsley and sage. A couple of weeks, they even had local honey.

It will be bit of a cooking adventure, too, since I won't know what is in the box until I get.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

It started snowing last night around 8:00. It is still snowing and not supposed to stop until late tonight. This picture is of a ruler stuck in the snow in the middle of the yard (not in the giant snow drift behind our car) and it is a good 18".

We went out a little while ago to dig out the cars before the snow got all packed down and icy, so that we would have a small chance of getting them out by Monday. Here is Jim shoveling the sidewalk in front of our building and me standing knee deep in the snow behind our car.

It's been kind of nice being snowed in. We slept late today and now I am making bread. We are going to get all the laundry done today, too.