So many hobbies!

Maryland prep continues

These are the freezer bag meals that I put together Saturday.  The cans are full of chicken.  Sheri joined me and we got our dinners ready for our upcoming camping trip.  We decided to each try two of them for lunch and to split them, to see if we like those recipes.  I have to tell you, I wasn't expecting them to be that good.  I was hoping but I was erring on the side of caution so I wasn't too disappointed if they were terrible.  I was suprised at how good they were.  Sheri made Ginger Lemon Chicken and I made Bacon and Cheese Pasta.  They were surprisingly tasty.  Dinners should be pretty good in Maryland.

One of the things I learned is you can make your own instant rice if you own a dehydrator.  All you do is cook the rice, then spread it out on trays in the dehydrator until dry.  You can use some pretty tasty rice and make instant rice that tastes so much better than the instant rice you buy in the.

Just to add some variety and veggies to future meals, and 'cause I felt like playing, I dried a sweet red pepper and a small zucchini along with the rice.  The dark bowl at the bottom is the rice.  Just add hot water and I have rice with my dinner.  I can't wait for Maryland!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I had supervision the entire time:

New camping toy

The new camping season is coming up fast.  Since Sheri and I are going to be doing Freezer Bag Cooking at Maryland this year, I thought I'd make up a couple cozies for our meals to sit in while they cook.  Each cozy (I made one for each of us) has Insul-Bright sandwiched between the outer fabric and the inner polar fleece lining.  Insul-Bright has a mylar layer that reflects heat back to the source.  It's can be used for hot pads and such.  As soon as the freeze-dried and dehydrated foods I ordered arrive, we'll start playing with new recipes and give the new cozies a work out.

Sweet Chocolate Peppers.  They should germinate in the next couple of days.  I hope.  I've discovered that just about the only way I can eat sweet peppers, and raw carrots, is with hummus.  For some reason, eating them raw by themselves gives me heartburn. 

So far, the garden plan includes grape tomatoes (I'll start those seeds in another couple weeks), green beans, the peppers and possible a zucchini.  I need to find someone who'll sell me a bale of straw so I can both mulch the veggies and feed my compost bin.  I hate weeding so mulching is a necessity.  The problem I run into, as I'm sure many people do, is I'm oh-so enthusiastic about gardening in the spring but when the hot summer rolls around, the last thing I want to do is be outside pulling weeds or tending plants.  So, definitely, mulch.  The rest I'll have to figure out as I go.

Wooster, OH

What will I remember about the Great Lakes Fiber Show?  It was HOT!  Oh, and the thunderstorms that blew through Friday night and nearly blew out tents down.  Happily for me, my tent didn't leak a drop (I highly recommend Eureka! tents).  That's my tent on the right.  Rhonda and Sheri's tent, the one on the left, however, leaked like a sieve.  That's Rhonda's cot back there, drying out.  During the day Saturday, it was at least 90F and probably hotter.  Sunday as we were striking camp, it was 95F.  Poor Sheri got a heat-induced migraine and spent most of the ride home trying not to throw up.  There's a reason people usually camp in the spring and fall.  It's much more comfortable.  To be fair, though, it did cool down at night and we had nice sleeping temps.  All in all, we probably won't be going back to Wooster.  The festival was nice but it was lacking something that I couldn't put my finger on.  Oh, and while there were nice showers, there was only one nozzle which was for the hot water.  The cold one was missing on all three showers.  Believe me, that last thing any of us wanted was to take a hot shower.  The whole thing was very strange.  Here's hoping the Michigan Fiber Festival in August is a little more comfortable.

I don't get it.

I had yet another person at work look at me with horror when she found out I go camping.  My immediate co-workers all agree “camping” means staying in an RV… with a TV, DVD player, etc.  I don’t get it.  And, frankly, I feel kind of sorry for them.  Being outside with all that fresh air is fantastic and roughing it a little makes you really appreciate a dry house and a hot shower.  Heck, we don’t really rough it when we camp since we always have bath houses and I have my air mattress.  Regardless, camping is FUN and I sleep like a rock at night.  We do it as much because staying in hotels is expensive as because we like it.  I'd rather spend my money on much more fun things.  Still, these people consider it a horrible hardship to do what my friends and i do.  I know, I know… to each his own.  I just don’t get it.

Camping!

 

Galen's all dejected because Mom's going CAMPING!  I leave today and I'm totally psyched!  I'm taking a couple of soap-making classes, a spinning/dyeing silk class and spinning bunny.  I'm far more excited about the classes and the camping than I am about the actual festival.  It's not like I need to buy anything.

The sun is back!

 

Few things make Seli happier than baking in the sun.  She was very happy this weekend.

The 3-ply Cormo yarn became a 2-ply over the weekend.  The third ply would have taken too long to spin.  Naturally, I forgot to take a picture of it before dumping it in a bath.  I'll try and remember to take a picture tomorrow before I box it up.

I put my tent up yesterday which was no mean feat on a windy day.  It's a four-person tent which means when flat, the darn thing acts like a sail.   Even after it was completely up, it was blowing around the yard.  Definitely going to have to stake it or it'll end up in the next camp site. 

 

I've looked for biodegradable dish soap but the closest I've found was soap that, once dumped in a hole in the ground, can be broken down by natural bacteria in the dirt.  Maybe that's the stuff I'm looking for.  Anyone know?