strawberry and rhubarb shortcake

I had a great day! I checked off most of the weekend tasks and also got in a trip to Greensgrow! There I bought so much fresh produce including a pint of strawberries and four stalks of rhubarb! I had to make something awesome! Exclamation points!

Now I do not really like pie crust and I like making it about as much. I looked in the vegetarian cookbook for a recipe for shortcake. I saw one make with walnuts, but I figured I would modify the recipe to what I already had. Here is what I came up with...

Shortcake:
1 cup of roasted pumpkin seeds, unsalted
1/4 cup of flax seeds
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
8 tbsp butter
1/4 cup (approx) coconut milk

Filling:
1 pint sliced strawberries
4-5 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
1/3 cup sugar

Special Tools:
Food Processor


I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I combined the pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sugar, and rosemary in the food processor and turned it on until it was ground to a cornmeal consistency. I then added the flour and baking powder and ran it again until mixed. I cut up my butter and added it to the mixture with the processor on and continued to process until the mixture started to come together. At this point I added the coconut milk while it was running until a ball started to form. I dumped the ball into a pie pan and pushed it into the sides. I tried to make the bottom thicker to hold the filling.

For the filling I slices up the super ripe strawberries and chopped the rhubarb. I combined them in a bowl with the sugar and stirred until the sugar started to dissolve.
I poured the filling into the pie pan and baked it for about 40-50 minutes. I could tell it was done by checking the rhubarb with a fork. When the fork was able to go through it without any resistance it was done! I let it rest for about 30 minutes before serving it.

And oh man was it good. I had been jonesing for a strawberry and rosemary desert for a while now (ever since I saw a desert pizza like this in Better Homes and Gardens) DJ and I ate it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I am sure my vegan friends could substitute any number of solid fats for the butter, so go crazy!

pinch pot

At Circle of Hope, we often create things together in solidarity, in worship, and in joyful expression.  This season is Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit filled the members of the early church. Here is how one member named Luke described it in the book of Acts:

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.


We created pinch pots two weeks ago out of clay. They were fired in a kiln and this week we placed a lit candle in them to give to another person. We were passing the flame onto someone else. I'd like to think that it represented how the early church received this gift and freely passed it to others so that everyone could have the Holy Spirit.


Here is the pinch pot that I received:

Sometimes I feel like the art that we do can be cheesy, but this spoke to me. I love how the point of this art direction was not to make something to take home for ourselves. The point was to make something with our hands to give away.

hot dog truck

The Memphis Beer Garden is OPEN! DJ and I went on opening day on Saturday and yesterday. I had the Surf which is like a Vietnamese Hoagie but with a hot dog and my favorite the California Uber Alles (pictured below) which is like a California Roll with a beer battered hot dog!

my mouth waters just looking at it

CALIFORNIA UBER ALLES

Our healthy diet is definitely in trouble! Seriously if you are in Philly anytime this summer you should check this place out! 

interview season

It is that time of the year again. Interview season: from now until August.

I had a phone interview today and I think it when well. The next step is a demo lesson. I get to actually go into the classroom with students. It is so much easier to show how you will teach than to talk about it.

Hopefully it will all end well and I will be employed by the start of the new school year!

masters

I got great news today. I am accepted into the Masters of Special Education program at Saint Joseph's University. The process felt so drawn out, but I think it was because it was out of my hands. I am excited and scared and nervous and I don't know what. I am mostly worried about what else: money. I am hoping that I will get enough financial aid and not have to take out too many loans. I am however looking forward to getting back into an academic rigor.

spring terrain

I just finished helping a friend, Jenna, with a sewing project from Terrain. I wasn't familiar with their store so I looked them up online and I found some really cute things. Here are some of my favorites.

This cuff is made of oxidized metal. It looks like a cross between turquoise and robin's eggs.

They had all the supplies to make your own terrarium. I love how this one looks like spring.

And my favorite: oyster mushrooms in a box. Its really a growing kit you can put in your kitchen and snip to add to a delicious meal.

Either way I am glad to be done with the project. We finished all of the banners before the deadline and with our sanity still intact.

Lent

For Lent this year I have decided to schedule in some creative time which has always been hard for me to do. I tend to have sporadic bursts of creative energy but they fizzle out before I am able to complete anything.

I am focusing on embroidery because it is so easy to think of an idea and execute it within a day or two. Here are some of the projects I have completed so far

more projects to come!

Spring is here

So now it is Spring. Lent is going on, but it is on the upswing. I am excited for break and Easter. In celebration of that DJ and I turned the raised bed in our back yard. We planted red lettuce, mustard greens, dill, fennel, swiss chard, and pansies. I felt so alive to be outside all day.

No pictures of the garden yet, but here is a picture of Noam Chompsky.

new year...and?

So the holidays are over and the getting back to business has set in. I went through a lot over the short break from Philly life.

DJ and I are always learning from riding together in a car. It is a tight space where one person must be in control of where both are going. The problem is that both of us don't like driving or have an opinion about the other's driving. It gets very intense and I cannot run away from the situation like I usually do when a conflict arises. We have come a long way, but when emotions run high, it never fails that I cry at some point.

I also got sick with something that I haven't had for years...pink eye! Yes, pink eye. I caught it from a friend of my sisters who is staying at my mother's house. I contracted it in my left eye and treated it with homeopathic eye drops. After 3 days it had gone away and I thought I was in the clear. Nope. Two days later I felt the itch in my right eye and woke up the next day with a crusty eye. This time I treated it with antibiotic drops from the clinic. Did the trick (I hope!)

I have a few things to be excited about in the new year. My younger brothers are both going to have babies. I have already started making quilts! Also DJ got some beer making supplies for Christmas. I can't wait to see what he brews up.

October

I am often stricken with migraines from being a woman. Today is one of those days (worse because it also made me nauseous.) I had to stay home and sleep it off, which is often the only remedy. This poses several problems. I also called off work Monday because my husband was sick. I am having this argument in my head. "Two sick days in one week is not so great," says one side. "You never call off so they know that this is just one of those serious situations," says the other. Reading them now, I guess that both can be right. I just makes me wonder if I had gone to work today, would I be better or worse at this moment. I would probably be worse. There. I answered my own question.

October is my favorite month. The leaves, the cold weather, camping, hiking...all of these things invoke some deep emotion within me. I feel childlike and grown up at the same time. I want to play in the leaves and ponder the closing chapters in my life. The summer season of my wedding is over and it is now fall.

My husband and I wanted to get married in October. Frankly, if we had the balls to just do it last year we probably would have, and had our families after us for the rest of our lives, too. We didn't elope. We also didn't wait until our favorite month to get married. There is a little part inside of me that is sad that we didn't wait. We went to a wedding this weekend and that little part came to the surface. DJ and I had a fall wedding in June instead.

So we are going to take a vacation (a second honeymoon if you will.) Camping when the leaves are turning, when the nights are cold so you have to snuggle. good times.