Winter Preparations

We heat with wood.........and we love it!

Today was a perfect day for taking care of a task that has been put off entirely to long.  Normally we cut, split and stack wood a year in advance.  This time we are rather behind the ball.  Fortunately, our neighbor has quite a few trees in his pasture that have been drying slowly for the past three years.  He was glad to have them removed and we are glad to have them for the winter months.

The boys were a great help this year.  They each worked right alongside of us the entire time.

 The day could not have been more beautiful.  The air was crisp and invigorating.  Fall is beautiful!

A stacked cord of wood is somehow almost a thing of artistic beauty.  There is certainly a wonderful feeling of accomplishment  when you turn to look at the product of your labor one last time before going indoors.  And, oh the joy of a wood fire on a cold winters' night.  I love the inviting curl of smoke from the chimney, the scent of wood smoke in the air outside.

There's something so deep-down satisfying about stretching out in front of a fully stoked wood-burning stove on a long, dark, wind-swept winter's evening.
Wood heat, besides being such a readily available low-technology source of energy, is just plain enjoyable!

Wordless Wednesday

Great Things? or Great Love?

"We can not do GREAT things, only small things with GREAT LOVE." - Mother Teresa

Today I read this quote and the thought has lodged itself deeply in my brain............I hope, permanently.

Celebrate Life with Birthday Cake!

Celebrate with a real home-made birthday cake, please.
This Espresso Chiffon Cake with Fudge Frosting has been calling to me for weeks.  I  saw this lovely gem on Smitten Kitchen.  Read all about it here:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/08/espresso-chiffon-cake-with-fudge-frosting/
  This past weekend I had a very good excuse to make it.  You see I really needed something festive and a bit extravagant  to celebrated D's 32nd birthday.

I made it just like the recipe.............well, almost.  I only made a very small adaption by putting vanilla bean whipped cream between the layers and Fudge frosting only on the outside.

Within less than 36 hours it was gone!Yes, that is right, ever last crumb and the platter licked clean too. :-)
It was quite nice, if I do say so myself.
I would offer you a piece, but as you know, it is already gone.

But that's okay, you can pop over for a fresh bagel.  I am just now pulling two dozen golden puffy bagels from my oven, and I'll share.

Smooth Sumac

We just gathered a massive stainless steel bowl of these wonderful berries, probably about 3 gallons.  I will use some fresh and the rest I am drying in the oven on low heat for future use.

Sumac berries make a wonderful tart refreshing beverage.

When I mention making a beverage from sumac, many people think I am crazy. Quite a few people assume that all sumacs are "poison sumac." Poison sumac, however, is quite different from the true sumacs.
The true (edible) sumacs have dark reddish or purple fruit in erect, tight clusters. The surface of the fruit is fuzzy or grainy.
The poison sumac Toxicodendron vernix is classified in a different genus (along with poison ivy and poison oak). It can be differentiated from true sumacs most readily by the fact that the berries are whitish, waxy, hairless, and hang in loose, grape-like clusters. Poison sumac also differs in that it rarely grows in dense, pure stands, and in that it inhabits swamps rather than dry areas.

Now for the delicious part: "Sumac "lemonade"
The red-berried sumacs make a tart and refreshing drink. It is delicious, easy to prepare, fun to gather, nutritious, unique-and free.  Yea!!!  What could be better?
It is called all sorts of names:
 sumac-ade, rhus-ade, sumac lemonade, Indian lemonade, sumac tea and probably some other names that I have yet to hear.  Like lemonade is is universally enjoyed.
We have lots of Smooth Sumac and the preparation of the beverage is simple. The first step is to
Harvest the berries.
Sumac "berries" are really just seeds covered with a thin coating of flavoring substance and hairs. The large clusters are so easy to collect that in just a few moments you can have enough for a pitcher of wild Kool-Aid that kids will love.
You want to get the berries when they are dark red and fully mature, so that they have fully developed their tart flavor, but before the rain has had the opportunity to wash the flavor out.
A dark purple coloration usually indicates that the flavor of the fruit has developed fully; yet some of the best clusters I've tasted were light pink. Sometimes a white, sticky substance coats the berry heads; this is pure essence of sumac flavor-don't let it scare you off. I pluck about six average-sized clusters for a pitcher of sumac-ade.   
Remove any large stem peices and leaves,
Place the berries in a pitcher, pour very warm tap water over them (for Staghorn Sumac you will want to use cold water).Pouring boiling over the berries makes for poor flavor, for it leaches tannin from the stems, causing the drink to become bitter. This is also why you will want to remove any large stem peices.
Squeeeze and rub the berry cluster together with your hands, this releases their color and acid.
Leave the pitcher in a cool place for a while.  The longer the berries infuse, the stronger the drink will be.
Strain the drink through a cloth to remove seeds and hairs. Sumac-ade is pleasantly tart with a light pink color. Some people add sugar, some do not.  If you wish you can
Add just a little bit of sweetener  and serve over ice.
The tartness of sumac is partly due to ascorbic acid (vitamin C) so one also has a health incentive to drink this beverage.

The dried berries may also be used in cooking to add a tart/lemony flavor.

Note: Sumac is related to cashews and mangoes,  if you are allergic to those foods  you hould avoid it, or proceed with extreme caution.