Thursday, March 25, 2010

Under The Big Top!

This last week was terrible!   If you have never had to have your house fumigated, I do NOT recommend it!  I think if I had known how hard it would be, I would have let the termites eat the whole house!   We had to remove every single food item from the house.  Two fridges and two freezers, the entire pantry, and every bathroom item, such as tp, kleenex, medicine cabinets, lotions, potions, medicines, etc.  WHAT A JOB!!!!  AWFUL!!
 So off we went up to beautiful Big Bear for a few days while our house looked like Ringling Bros.,  Barnum & Bailey's Big Top.
The ride up was gorgeous!  There is still so much snow.  We had to go the back way so it was fun to see a little different scenery.
It was nice and cold.  I even had to put the hot water bottle underneath the covers to warm the bed!!!
Erika and Noah came up the next morning to visit.   Noah LOVED putting peanuts out for the scrubjays and then watching them from the window inside.  He stood up on an ice chest, and laughed and laughed!  I think he could have done that all day long!
We were reading the paper on Saturday morning, and there was an article about a new shop in town called the Copper Q.  It was a high end kitchen store, with cooking demos , cooking classes, gourmet coffee shop, specialty kitchen gadgets, pottery, copper pots, VIKING cutlery  and appliances..... OH MY!!!  I could not WAIT to go!  We showered and headed into town to see this candyland for cooks!!   I gasped upon walking up to the beautiful shop with windows dressed in cooking finery!  The handle to the double doors as you entered the shop sported a huge " Copper Q"  The name comes from the name of their oldest daughter, Quinn. It was decorated so tastefully, with every kind of cooking goodness in every nook and cranny!
  Greg got in line to order us each a coffee and muffin, and we were there just in time to sit in on a cooking demo.  The pastry chef was demonstrating Abelskivers.  A Scandanavian cake like donut, that is cooked in a very hot cast iron skillet on the stovetop.  Oh how I wished I had my camera!!!!!  The demo was fun and we got to sit at the beautiful island enjoying our snack while watching the chef cook.  Then of course we got to eat them!!!   I wanted to buy an abelskiver pan but they had sold out.  We did however, buy a new dutch oven.  We have Le Creuset dutch ovens, and we love them, but we wanted to try the LODGE brand, and they had a beautiful green one in the right size so we bought  it to make homemade bread over the weekend.
Greg got straight to the bread making when we got back to the cabin.  We wondered how it would turn out in the altitude, but it was perfect.
Later on that day we went to Kmart for a few things, and I came across a pan that was identical to the abelskiver pan used at the cooking demo.  So we bought it, and I made abelskivers the next morning.
At the demo they provided us with a copy of the recipe.  The only problem making them was no mixer in the cabin. So I improvised and used the blender.  It worked okay.


We took Noah to the zoo.  I think he enjoyed that.  


We were dreading our return home.  Putting everything back was a full day chore.   Actually two.  Luckily we were able to use our neighbor's fridge/freezer since they were out of town which helped a lot.  We used their garage to store all of the non perishable foods and bathroom things.  I also had to remove all plants from the house. And soak the perimeter of the house to try to save any plants that were along or around the house.  We still lost a bunch.  And had to remove any and all plants on porches and patios. So those were put into wagons and placed under the trees in the grove.  And being the bird lover I am, I had to remove all feeders from around the house and yards too.  This was like moving!!!  YUCK!
Lugging all the food back into the house, didn't go very smoothly.


Let's just say that between the stuff we tossed due to expiration, and the stuff I broke, I had a rather large grocery bill this week!


Boy am I glad that's over with!  Maybe next week will be more fun?  I sure hope so!

9 comments:

everyday katie said...

I Was hoping the new kitchen toys would make up for the pain of fumigating. But then I saw the pictures. That looks like such a horrible hassle.

Your green pan is darling. I LOVE dutch oven bread. And your abelskivers are making me jealous.

Debbie said...

Oh Kris we went through this a few years back and your right, it is just a nightmare of hassle. Thank goodness it is all behind you now. Your bread looked yummy, but the abelskivers look truly scrumptious. I would love a few days in Big Bear. That was at least nice. Have a wonderful week-end. = )

Genn said...

Love the color of your new dutch oven! That is really pretty. And those abelskievers look delicous. I bet they were good. I wish we made it up to the mnts. It looked so pretty and fresh.

Hope your kitchen is feeling back to normal now! What a nightmare.

Pam said...

What a nightmare - I am so glad it's over.

I love my Lodge Dutch oven - I use it all the time.

Diane said...

Loved the Dutch Oven.....hope it will live at the cabin.

Kristi said...

Oh my gosh, what a nightmare Kris! On the bright side, those abelskivers look amazing!

When I saw that picture of the mess of food on the floor, I felt so bad for you. What a pain. I hope all is back to normal for you!!

Katie said...

What are abelskivers? Is it a fried pastry?
I too loved that Green Dutch Oven pot, so cute & love the name Quinn!!! It's Jonathan's middle name ;)
Hope you get your house put all back together!

Kelly said...

yea, that doesn't sound fun to me! but big bear looked like fun! and your breads, those donut things... mmmmmmmmm!

deb said...

ableskivers,try them with raspberry sauce ....omg, they have them everywhere in Solvang.....and they are the best ever, you will get hooked!
YOU need a vacation after all this work girlfriend..or at least a day at Glen Ivy and a good massage!