Strawberries!!!

As promised, I remembered my bloggista manners and actually took pictures as I dealt with some strawberries yesterday! Huzzah!!

So, as I mentioned in my last post, Kyle and I went strawberry picking last weekend, which I was really thankful for because I knew he'd be stressed and not really in the mood to do anything fun because he's been doing so much not-fun stuff lately; getting his Jeep fixed, paying lots of bills, getting the house moved into, taking care of the yard, etc... But with very very little pushing, I convinced him that he should relax and do something fun... that was until strawberry picking day dawned a balmy 90 degrees. We went anyway, armed with water battles and with promises of ice cream right after.

We picked 16 pounds of strawberries, ya'll!!!! Strawberries are heavy, it didn't seem like 16 pounds, but that's how much two baskets weigh. By the way, I don't even know where my camera is to have taken pictures at the orchard, sorry. Here's some other people at the farm we went to having fun:

 
So this is Shady Brook Farm!

 There's lots of stuff to do there, and they're huge on kid stuff, there's stuff for kids all the time!

And of course, there's lots of strawberry fields. They also have pick your own apples, blueberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, peaches, pumpkins, raspberries, tomatoes and watermelon. They also make their own wine and have all sorts of herbs and cheeses and a market with a deli and an ice cream shop. It's pretty awesome there, but not so great on a 90 degree day with no wind. Nonetheless, like I said, it was still a successful day because we walked out of there in a little over an hour with 16 pounds of strawberries.

So anyway, I've frozen about 2/3 of the strawberries, because it's just too many to eat fresh. Kind of sad, but I'll probably make stuff out of the frozen ones anyway. I didn't have dry ice like Alton Brown suggests, but I do have a FoodSaver, so hopefully they will thaw relatively well. Speaking of Alton, it's his inspiration I used to make a tasty concoction with the remaining 1/3 of the strawberries:

I macerated the strawberries so they could be used in any number of applications. Macerated strawberries is easy, watch the video. I made it a lot harder on myself by losing my wine opener kit. So I used the ole' push the cork all the way through method... it didn't go well:

Wayta' go!! I also got it all over myself and the counter and the floor, but the ceiling was the best. It put me in mind immediately of Eddie Murphy and Daddy Day Care, when he takes the kid to the bathroom and the kid says "I missed!" which is exactly what I'm going to tell Kyle to break the tension.

AnyWAY! Wine is breathing, break out the software:

Strawberries of course! And as Alton recommends, I did NOT go out and buy a strawberry huller, I used my trusty dusty star tip from my piping kit:

It is an excellent alternative and does not damage the rest of the berry, but if you have squishy berries, you might squish them while trying to insert the tip and twist it. I had mostly firm ones, so... not to brag or anything...

Moving on, the recipe for the macerated strawberries is just the strawberries (pretty much however many can fit in the container you're using, red wine (acid to stop the strawberry flesh from consuming itself), honey (you know what that's for), and lemon zest.

Alton didn't tell me this, but I think that a sweeter red works best, because you don't want it too dry or tannic, then you'll only taste dry red wine, and your berries will be oaky instead of crisp, but what do I know?

Moving on again, I do NOT, however, own an egg slicer. I don't think they exist anymore... Who uses an egg slicer still?! Don't anyone answer that. I sliced every single one of those strawberries (there was also another tray that I didn't take a picture of) by hand:

(I got really bored, but I pressed on!) Then you just put the strawberries in a container with the wine and the honey and lemon zest... Alton also says pepper, I have nothing against pepper but I completely forgot it. All in all, I used all the wine and filled two half gallon containers with macerated strawberries. Phew.

It took me about two hours, all said and done, and I made one hell of a mess. But then I did a little dance because I have a garbage disposal now! Yippee!!

So, after all that, I went to bed, but when I got up the next morning, I instantly thought that I must do something with those strawberries, it would be a travesty not to! Of course, what's the best dessert/breakfast involving strawberries?! Why the short cake of the berry straw, of course! I had Bisquick! I made biscuits! I had shortcake!!

Beautiful yes?! So the only mistake I made was that I had heavy cream but I thought that it would be a healthy alternative to use Greek yogurt instead of whipped cream. It was a bad idea, it actually made the whole thing too sour. The berries in wine is already a little sour, don't make it worse for yourself. I had good intentions but I'll be sticking with some sweetened, whipped cream next time. Other than that, anyone that knows me knows that I hate fruit on bread or fruit in my jello or fruit on anything basically. I eat food as it is, and I eat fruit as it is, I don't usually like to mix fruit with anything... ANYTHING!! But this was awesome, I ate it all. None for you.

And Alton goes on to explain my next recipe, which I cannot wait to try:

But I'm visiting family this weekend, so hopefully I will be able to make strawberry summer pudding when I get back home! Also when I get back home, I'll take pictures of the new furniture too, promise, and thank you Lara Ann for reminding me that I didn't give credit where credit was due! Our furniture is from Bassett. Next, I need to find a rug for the living room... thus begins the new saga.

If anyone has any strawberry recipes for me to try, send them along!!

Wow!

Yeah, I know! It's been, like... forever! Right?! Well, I been busy!! Just kidding, I mean, I have been busy, but I mean I'm kidding 'bout getting angry with you for questioning me. I just came back from a conference in California. Luckily, it has not made me renounce the East Coast, that'll just never happen. I was with my buddy Emily though who is from the West Coast of Canada and it made her homesick for the West Coast, and she was all trying to push her 'West Coast is better' beliefs on me.

Bah!! I say BAH to that! (I'm kidding of course, she is too nice to push her beliefs on anyone)

Anyway, it was foggy and chilly in the mornings and then the sun burned off the fog and it was gorgeous. but East Coast (Mid Atlantic to be exact!) wine is better than CA wines... (how many readers did I just lose?) And I prefer to watch sunrises.

OK, now that my foot is firmly lodged in my mouth, wanna' see pictures??? Of course you do!

Our hotel was right on the state park/beach in Monterey, CA. These are the morning shots, foggy, chilly, but we still had to enjoy the beach a little.

The sand was fantastic! Super fine and warm and white.

Emily being goofy...

Ashley following suit.

The water was also surprisingly gorgeous. I told Emily I still love my brown, murky Atlantic :)

Ending the morning the way it's supposed to be ended ;)

This area had some amazingly dazzling trees.

It has those trees with the fuzzy stuff hanging off it... that's as eloquent as I can be about that.

Fuzzy trees, and sweet rustic road signs. Also, the only other thing that makes me jealous of these amazing year-round great temps; succulents just growing everywhere!

 Succulent bushes!↑ Someone's succulent garden ↓

One of my favorite pictures ↓ Not sure what happened to this poor cypress tree, but some pretty crazy force bent its two largest branches at almost 90 degrees. It looked unreal.

 So I had to come back to the beach and take sunny pictures as well :)

 Pretty sick, right?

OK, so one afternoon, we all went on a tour of 17 mile drive, a famous trek through Monterey that follows the coast of Monterey Bay and has all sorts of great little monuments. The one below is not a good example but way back in the background is Bird Rock.

There were some fantabulous beaches where seal pupping happens, and the seals are very well protected by the state while they pup, so that we as fur seal lovers can continue to go 'Awwwwwwwww!!!!' at fur seal pups for years to come.

So as a result, this is sometimes the only types of pictures I could take of some of the beaches:

Still pretty heavenly...

This is the Lone Cypress. No, not the huge impressive one in the forefront, the lonely one in the background on a cliff all by itself. It's been there for about 250 years! That's what's supposed to be impressive about it, because as far as looks go, I saw a hell of a lot of cool, impressive-looking cypress trees in Monterey, but this is one of the only ones that's been around for forever.

Tons and tons of scary/awesome cliffs with smooth, pretty rocks, wind-beaten trees, and succulents and moss growing all throughout the cracks. And of course the Pacific lookin' pretty.

My phone died before I got a good picture but behind these live trees is the Ghost Tree:

I was so upset that I didn't get a good picture of it, I got a stock photo because you have to see it:

There's controversy over which one is actually considered the Ghost Tree, that tall one in the front, or that little bent one on the right in the background. The tall one is my favorite though. These trees have been so weather-beaten that they lost all their bark and leaves and branches. They look creepy but awesome.

What's amazing is that these cypress trees seem to grow best in this salty sea air and soil but they also get warped and look crazier than any other tree I've ever seen. They were everywhere so I had plenty of 'wow!' moments.



Finally, our last evening, we had a gala dinner at the Monterey Aquarium. Now, I don't know how I keep managing to go cool places with an almost dead phone, but I only had enough battery for a few pictures, and this guy was my favorite.

We caught this octopus in a rare active state, he climbed all over the place, and we caught him on film!

I loved this Aquarium, it was featuring jellyfish, and behind glass, I looooove looking at jellyfish.

(Yeah, that's not my picture) They also had awesome hammerhead sharks and otters (buggers were sleeping the whole time we were there :( ) and a huge 'please touch' area where we played with manta rays and starfish and little sharks. oh, and abalone!

This isn't a great picture but I wanted to impress how big they are. They basically look like a cross between a snail and a clam (because they have more clam-like shells but only on the top of their bodies, the bottom is a big sucker that they slither around with like a snail), and they can be about a foot long! Their shells are gorgeous like oyster or mussel shells on the inside, only gorgeous-er!

Anyway, they liked to sucker to our fingers, they were awesome. So I also did a lot of work and networking and listening to lectures while in CA, but that's the boring part not worth talking about. We're still on track for moving into our new house, inspections and haggling over fixing stuff is done, we're just patiently waiting now for the end of May!

Meanwhile, I still have no word on whether or not I've got a job after grad school and thank you notes are still not done! Lots to do, but I'll be around!

Eleven Twenty Five Eleven: The girls get pretty!!

So while the guys got ready, obviously the girls were already well on their way. We went even earlier in the day to a salon in Lancaster to get our hair done (all except me, 'cause I'm easy like that) and got to Riverdale a little late.

Let me set this up for you: we had two hours to get our hair done, it took longer than two hours, we got to Riverdale maybe a half hour late, and then it took about an hour to get the ceremony space ready and go over last minute stuff with the coordinator and officiant and DJ. So now I've got an hour and a half until the ceremony... to do three hours worth of ready-gettin'! Already a little panicky...

Our makeup artists were already there (as well as Ben, duh), so they got started right away on my sister and Keri while I went over last minute stuff with our coordinator/DJ/officiant/future husband:

They looked awesome sauce! Our makeup artists consisted of a lovely young woman and a charming, flamboyantly gay guy, who was awesome. But eventually, the former lovely young woman got her dirty mitts on me... People, I had stuff to do... How long is this going to take?

 

Love this picture of me and my Mama. Look how pretty she is!!

 

She and I were the smart ones who wore button down shirts! Someone's been doing their homework!

Already getting impatient... Mom's almost done. I definitely should have done this myself...

Flamboyantly gay guy makes funny comment, breaks tension.

At least Ben has the sense and skill to make a photo opp out of it. But this is getting out of hand.

Anything interesting on my phone?

Must have seen something to make me laugh. Maybe it was just Ben horsing around behind me:

OK, this is getting ridiculous, and at this point, I remember that our processional order has completely changed since the last time I talked to our DJ. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't bother, just play something, but I knew I could trust Nick to get this right, and I knew I could trust that he wouldn't hold it against me if I was disgustingly nit-picky about it. So someone found Nick so I could take my mind off how long makeup was taking... Oh, you see that Mia is now getting her makeup done... why aren't I done yet?!

 
 Also, see the gift on my lap? I needed to get Kyle his gift as well... and we're running out of time.

Not sure how I have it in me to still see any humor in this at this point... I think Keri went to deliver my gift.

I think I'm almost done at this point, but at this point, I've completely given up on the prospect of getting to take pictures with the girls before the ceremony or pictures on the balcony. I think I was too happy in general that it was my wedding day and I felt the way I was supposed to... But in hindsight, I'm beyond pissed makeup took AN HOUR! At this point we have a half hour to get dressed and get down to the ceremony... no extra photos... :( no balcony... :(

At least Mia looks gorgeous!! Now please go find some alcohol. It's time to squeeze Ashley into a dress!

I'm very happy that we have so many pictures of this, and that my mom and sister are the ones who helped me.

 

Ben, again, making excellent use of the mirrors!

 

 
Love how the dress looks from the side.

It took a long time, but only because they couldn't find the top hook. The dress was loose on me, I'll come back to that later, believe me.

 

Next Mama helps me with my garters (that she made!); my New (I wouldn't normally have made garters a 'New' but since my mom made them, I thought the wedding gods would make an exception, just for me). You can see my Old sitting next to me; my crappy, old dependable, cheap Payless purple-y loafers! I put on my Blue next; the blue emerald necklace my parents got me for my 18th birthday. I forgot to tell Ben that it was significant, so he didn't get any close-up shots of any jewelry.

Next came my hair flower, which I needed a lot of help with... and which took me a long time... so we have lots of pictures of it :)

OK, Mama, help!

Miracle-Worker-Mama got that thing in there so good it didn't move for the next several hours!

OK, so unfortunately, at this point, we have to get moving, but I remember that Keith came in with a gift from Kyle forever ago and I forgot about it till this point.

I told him not to get me anything because he paid for 75% of the wedding, but, when does anyone ever listen to me?! Why should I expect my soon-to-be husband to do so??

Just kidding, but seriously, he got me a very beautiful strand of pearls, very sneakily (he got it from the same jeweler as all our rings came from, so he was always using 'picking up or cleaning our rings' as an excuse to go there and order things).

I love them, I wear them anytime we go out someplace nice, but I couldn't wear them just then (and I knew he knew this) because it meant a lot to me to wear the necklace my parents got me for the actual ceremony. The pearls would keep nicely for the reception.

This was how I became not a two-dress bride, as is the trend now of course, but a two-necklace bride!


At this point, my mom surprises me with my Borrowed; a beautiful, dainty little hanky that my great grandmother made. Now, I was actually pretty blown away by this, especially because she told me she thought it would be too old or fragile for me to use since she also used it in her wedding! She waited until just a few minutes before the ceremony to break it out. While it was all very dramatic and touching (which I don't think my mom intended for it to be) it was also too short notice for me to turn to Ben and say "Quick, get pictures of all this stuff!" My Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue pretty much came together at the last second.

Shooooo! Got all that?? Again, thanks for sticking around, I know I wasn't this eloquent with yesterday's post about the boys, but what could possibly have been going through their minds?! They had plenty of time! We're at T minus minutes now and I need a drink. Thanks to Mia or Ben (I never did figure out which took care of this, but thanks), we had a whole bottle of white wine brought up from the bar... I would have chugged it all if they had let me...

We settled for a nice cup full. I didn't have as many smiles anymore, I was officially getting a little nervous...Next, Kyle and I manage to get in a few individual portraits before we finally see each other!