Autumn Color Week :: Orange

I love the color orange. Next to green, brown and white, I may say it's even a favorite color of mine. But I'm learning through photography that I like it much better as an accent color rather than the main even. Each time I look at a picture of our living room, which walls are a naturally orange toned knotted wood, it just feels like too much orange for my taste.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately as winter approaches. I'm anticipating the amount of time I'll be spending indoors with Burl and I'm really feeling like I need a brighter change in our home before the start of winter. There's been a lot of discussion between me and Alex as to whitewash over the wood walls or not. He thinks it'd be a shame to strip them of their natural color, and in some respects I do as well. But one has to feel comfortable in their own home, right? And a brighter, more neutral palate would make me feel so much more comfortable. Would it make Alex feel less comfortable though? I really don't think so. He's a stubborn one, that husband of mine, and has a hard time seeing my vision. But as hard as it is for him, he always, always admits to me when I'm right. And I think with this one I'm right.

Here are some examples of the look I'm after. Of course my home is much, much smaller, but you get the idea. Much better than all orange, don't you think?

Autumn Color Week :: Green

Here's a recipe and a little green for you on this rainy (at least here in Seattle) Tuesday.

Jalapeno Pesto:

2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 cups cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 chopped green onions
1 jalapenos
2 cups parsley
the juice from 1 lemon

Puree all together. I originally used this as a dipping sauce for crab cakes back in the when I still ate fish. Now I use it on rice, pasta, or as a dip for a variety of dishes.

Enjoy!

Autumn Color Week :: Yellow

These are two slightly-varying varieties of Asian pears from the trees in my parent's yard. My mom and I are planning on canning them later this week or next. I've been doing a lot of food preservation this year, but until now have been avoiding doing any canning. My freezer is full and I've done dehydrating, so it's time now for some canning.

With many of my Flickr friends, I'm playing along with Poppytalk's Autumn Colour Week. Play along with us! Or at least visit the Flickr pool for some beautiful fall inspiration.

My Birthday Hat

My friend Georgia gave me some beautiful handspun yarn for my birthday back in July. Here's what I created with it. I originally made this hat, but it was way too big on my head . So I re-knitted this simple little hat. This may just be one of my favorite knitted projects yet. It was super simple, I didn't really follow a pattern, and I was able to customize it to my small head. And the chunky yarn with big fat needles made the project go so fast. I finished this hat in only an hour or two, and I only used half of the skein. You gotta love bulky yarn just for that reason, such quick and satisfying results.

An Autumn Scarf

I finished this a couple weeks ago, it was a pretty quick knit. I used a simple fan and feather pattern available (for free!) here. The yarn is handspun BFL in "Shades of Earth" colorway from Spincycle Yarns. I've had it in my stash for sometime and have been waiting for the perfect project. This was it. I love the colors and the lightness of the finished scarf, I think it will be perfect for the upcoming autumn evenings. I'm not sure if I would use a variegated yarn again for this type of lace pattern, I think the medley of the colors somehow take away from the texture in the pattern. But I still think I'll be enjoying this scarf for a long time.

Welcoming August

Despite the heat, I always enjoy August, because it means Autumn is just around the corner. This weekend was spent doing various activities to welcome in this beautiful month.

::The start of an easy and (hopefully!) quick new project for Fall. Details to be revealed in their entirety soon.


::Full-body dips in the Pacific Ocean.


::Enjoying the first of our tomato harvest.


::Visiting a knitting garage sale. So. Fun.


::Finding new ways to prepare our zucchini. This roasted zucchini soup was loosely based on the curried zucchini soup recipe found in the Cafe Beaujolais Cook Book. Love these books! The soup was good, but I'll be tweaking it some more.


Welcome August!

Zucchini Harvest

Our zucchini yield this year is plentiful. I'm trying to use all of what we've grown by baking, cooking, freezing and preserving in any way that I can. My friend Susan Foster's Chocolate Zucchini Bread has been our favorite, although Burl would rather try to feed his to the dogs.

Chocolate Almond Zucchini Bread

3 eggs, 3 c. flour

2 c. sugar 1 tsp. salt

1 c. oil 1 tsp. cinnamon

2 squares unsweetened chocolate ¼ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. baking soda

2 c. grated/shredded zucchini 1 c. almonds, chopped

Mix eggs, sugar & oil. Melt chocolate over hot water & blend into egg mixture. Add vanilla and zucchini. Sift all dry ingredients together then add into zucchini mixture. Add almonds. Spray two bread pans & bake 1 hour at 350. Makes two large loaves.

Next on our list to make, Curried Zucchini soup, Zucchini muffins, and Zucchini Creole. And we still have plenty shredded and chopped in the freezer for use during this winter.