Overall this was a very good week. Walks, Jenny Lane, cooking, weather, it was all good. You can see that the sunflowers are very tall and just starting to bloom. I think this one is close to 10 feet tall, certainly way over our heads. We lost two when the hurricane came through a couple of weeks ago but the rest have good strong stems and withstood the assault. They circle the vegetable garden holding their heads up high as if to say “well done Moses, it’s a good garden” which it certainly has been.

Update on Jenny Lane

We made a huge step forward this week in the exterior of the house. The project involved removing the garage door some weeks ago and closing in the space with walls and a new window. For some time we have lived with the construction look. The siding, which is cedar siding, the only really good thing about the house, had been removed very carefully and stored for when we needed it to patch up the various spots on the outside of the house. It is very fragile to work with and John had to be very, very careful when he removed it. There was usually one or two boards that splintered but overall he did an amazing job. Once this is painted you will never know that it hadn’t been this way all along. The window trim was also started which you should be able to see on the big windows. The windows to the left of the front door are new but they don’t have any trim and they still have shutters. Those will be gone shortly. The side of the house where we replaced the small garage windows with larger ones was also sided and other than a coat of paint, which it is quite ready for, it looks great.

You can actually see back to the bonus+ room which is waiting for its matching window sometime this week or next. This is the room we didn’t know we were going to get and will likely become an office for Katie and an overflow guest room. It is off the back of the new bonus room (formerly garage) and therefore is called the bonus+ room.

Emergency Repairs

We had two crises this week both bathroom related. We woke up Monday and discovered that our shower had sprung a major leak into the laundry room. John did some detective work and discovered, of course, that the pipe IN THE WALL was leaking, running down the wall and along the floor into the laundry area. Luckily none of this has been renovated yet and the floor is still cement. However, it needed to be fixed. Our wonderful contractors showed up with all sorts of equipment to pull the pipe out and to affix a new piece to it and thus stop the leak and allow us to use it again. The second was really a crisis averted. When we bought the house the master bedroom did not have a shower but only a tub. We had a temporary shower installed in the faucet. What we didn’t know was that the surround for the tub was simply thin plywood painted white. It looked ok but it wasn’t. We began to worry about it leaking and this leak would impact the ceiling in one of the rooms that we had already renovated. We needed to fix it before it became a real problem. So we ordered a new surround for the tub and it was installed this week. The pictures speak for themselves. We were lucky because we weren’t far off having a real big crisis on our hands. By the way, I learned that straight white vinegar is what you use to get rid of the mold. It is the only thing that actually kills the spores. So it smells like a french fry place but the mold is gone and the shower is once again safe to use.

Walking Was Back on Track

My best week of walking in a very long time. My heel problem (Plantar Fasciitis) is well on its way to being mended. I got some new shoes from Hammacher Schlemmer – referred to me by my walking brother – and they have turned my life around. I do not wear them walking but only when I am not walking the trails. I wear my brace, use my hiking pole and off I go. I managed five walks for 21.6 miles with my average time going from 23.06 min/mi to 17.58 min/mi. I was thrilled. I haven’t seen anything like the times I was getting this week for months. It feels really, really good. It is pretty much back to my training times for when I was racing over a year ago. Yippee! The dogs and I had some great walks with stops for them to have some really good swims. It is hot enough here that I have to make sure we have water available for them when we do these hikes. They love the Blackwater River and I’m happy to have them swim in it.

The Family Baker

I am not going to say much about this except that we have another baker in the family. Our granddaughter, Libby, announced she wanted to bake this week and we just happened to mention that peaches were in and that peach pie was her grandfather’s favorite pie. This is what she produced and it tasted as good as it looks. Served warm with vanilla ice cream. No, it is not on my diet but sometimes you just have to!!!!

A Recipe For You

This is our Kate’s adaptation of a Cookie & Kate Crunchy Thai Peanut & Quinoa Salad. We didn’t have any quinoa so we used couscous which was delicious. We used our own garden carrots and lovely purple cabbage. Very colorful and delicious. Here is the recipe or you can click on the link to go to her page.

INGREDIENTS

Salad

¾ cup uncooked quinoa or millet
1 ½ cups water
2 cups shredded purple cabbage
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup thinly sliced snow peas or sugar snap peas
½ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup thinly sliced green onion
¼ cup chopped roasted and salted peanuts, for garnish

Peanut sauce

¼ cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I love ginger so I used 2 teaspoons)
½ lime, juiced (about 1 ½ tablespoons)
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Instructions

• Cook the quinoa: First, rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh colander under running water. In a medium-sized pot, combine the rinsed quinoa and 1 ½ cups water. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer the quinoa until it has absorbed all of the water. Remove the quinoa from heat, cover the pot and let it rest for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Set it aside to cool.
• Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce: Whisk together the peanut butter and tamari until smooth (if this is difficult, microwave the mixture for up to 30 seconds to loosen it up). Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth.
• In a large serving bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, shredded cabbage, carrot, snow peas, cilantro and green onion. Toss to combine, then pour in the peanut sauce. Toss again until everything it lightly coated in sauce. Taste, and if it doesn’t taste quite amazing yet, add a pinch of salt and toss again. Divide into individual bowls and garnish with peanuts.
• This salad keeps well, covered and refrigerated, for about 4 days. If you don’t want your chopped peanuts to get soggy, store them separately from the rest and garnish just before serving.