Eternal Hippies A Year Homemade and Beyond

Last Saturday evening we video recorded our set up and enjoyment of our fire pit. I have to edit the raw footage before I post it, so hopefully that will get done in the next week. But on to last night's dinner. I loosely call it Mexican Inspired Casserole. Mondays are full of errand running and spending time with Mom. In the morning I went to Kroger for weekly fresh fruit/veggies, then on to see Mom. She wanted me to drive her around Cherry Grove to see the marsh and the lovely houses. Afterwards she wanted ice cream. Once I got her back to her assisted living facility, I headed home to start dinner and do laundry. First up, start soaking rice. I measured out the rice needed, put it in a mason jar, added a teaspoon of white vinegar and filtered water. I let it sit for about 2 hours. While the rice soaked, I started my (get this...) Mise en place. Hey, I watch Food Network too! Also, I put a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in my warmed cast iron skillet. When the ...

It's the last weekend of January and for us it looks like we will have mild temperatures and rain on Sunday. Why do I mention this? Two words: Fire Pit! We've seen many ready made fire pits The one we use, though not pretty during the day, is beautiful at night! Growing up, Joe's dad always took this type of fire pit when they went camping.  I like it because it re-purposes what would be otherwise junk, the size of the fire can be easily controlled and it looks so cool! It's the inner metal drum from a washing machine. Since we live at the beach, our yard is basically sand. We just cleared a spot and placed it on the ground. But if we were to take it with us, we would make sure it is placed on cinder blocks or bricks to prevent an uncontrolled burn. We also keep a spray bottle filled with water and the garden hose nearby, just in case. I hope to post a video of us setting up the fire pit and enjoying it. Crossing fingers!

Sitting here at work, not much going on. The phones aren't ringing (I'm a receptionist), no functions, and my work is caught up. I've read the news, researched homes for sale, read my favorite blogs/watched vlogs and checked my email. As I sit at my desk here at work, I can see the Atlantic Ocean. My place of work is right on the coast. My desk sits in the lobby and when the ballroom doors are open, I have a wonderful view of the ocean. The ballroom has huge windows that span two sides of the room. I get to watch dolphins swim by, birds diving for fish, vacationers walking the beach and waves crashing in a rhythmic fashion. Every so often different types of boats/ships pass by. It seems that life goes on out there and I sit here and watch. It's beautiful and ever changing. I get to work just as the sun is rising over the ocean and at the end of the day I leave just as the light is fading and the water turns from deep blue to grey/brown. Sometimes in the morning...

So I made coleslaw several days ago and now I’m getting are tired of it. Can’t really freeze it and I don’t have farm animals to enjoy it. What to do? Stir-fry to the rescue! Yes, I simply place the leftover coleslaw in a strainer to drain. While draining, I go ahead and fry some uncured bacon cut into small pieces and cook rice. Typically, I rinse the rice before soaking the it in filtered water and a teaspoon of white vinegar for at least on hour.   After soaking, I drain and rinse again. Then I use a rice cooker to cook the rice. So for today, as soon as I get home I will start soaking the rice. While the rice is cooking and the bacon pieces are frying on our cast iron skillet, I cut up half a green bell pepper and a zucchini into bite size pieces. I have some left over chicken I pulled from the freezer to add to the dish. Now for the fun part. After the bacon has cooked through, I drain the bacon fat into a mason jar. To the bacon in the skillet I add the b...

Last Sunday, before I took Mom out, I made homemade coleslaw for this week. I tend to make too much, so we eat on it for 3 or 4 days. Last night it went with steamed uncured beef hot dogs and tonight it will go with grilled fish. When I was making the coleslaw, I tried to film it. You'd think I would have dusted off the tripod and digital camera, but no! I thought I would just use my phone...Dropped it twice, once into the coleslaw mix! Good thing the food was intended for our consumption only! The coleslaw I made: 1/2 head of a big cabbage, organic 3 carrots, organic 1/2 onion, organic 1 cup or so mayonnaise 1 tablespoon white vinegar 2 tablespoons raw sugar, organic 1/2 teaspoon dill weed, organic 1/4 teaspoon parsley, organic 1/2 teaspoon pink salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, organic 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder organic, optional Wash and pat dry veggies. I don't peel carrots anymore. Too much waste, so I just rub the carrots against each other under water to...

Good day to you! I am feeling guilty/reflective today. Going over my goals for January, I see that I still have a lot of work in this last week of the month. Here are the goals: My Goals for January 2018  - Stop eating out/ordering take out - this is going well, except that I forgot to take into consideration that my mother and I have an ongoing promise for me to take her out to lunch once a month. Joe works as Manager On Duty once a month on a weekend day, if that makes sense. For Jan. is was last Sunday. I had planned on taking her to a local restaurant, but it was closed for the month. We live in a resort area and winter is a slower time so many local places close for January through mid-February. I ended up taking her to Mellow Mushroom for a small Greek salad and pizza. Mom took the left over salad and I took the pizza. Joe had the leftover pizza for dinner while I nursed a sore tummy with broth. It's interesting how quickly my digestive system became used to homemade...

So since I am already in a camping frame of mind, I thought I'd mention how we ate during our camping trips. For the most part, we cooked our own meals. Some times on the open campfire, but also used our Coleman stove, grill and oven. We had a spiral bound notebook that we noted menu plans for the trips we took. With the menus in place, we packed the ingredients needed for each meal, then back up ingredients so we could be flexible. In the notebook we inventoried all items we brought. We packed all food in plastic storage containers and numbered them and inventoried each container. 2 containers had all of our cookware, plates, kitchen cleaning items, mugs, knives, forks, spoons, bags, etc. We learned that raccoons love apple cinnamon instant oatmeal. We got raided in Mass. and at Kings Mountain. Now we store our food in the van. We just leave the cooler and non-food storage containers out in the shelter, stacking the containers on the cooler to discourage furry thieves. S...

Posting those Kings Mountain Campground videos on YouTube yesterday got me longing to be outdoors again. I am hoping we can have a camping adventure in February, perhaps to Huntington Beach State Park or Little Pee Dee in Dillon. I like the idea of camping at all of the state parks here in South Carolina that offer campgrounds. So far we have camped at Kings Mountain and Myrtle Beach state parks. Loved, loved, loved Kings Mountain ! For the most part, the ranger station was well stocked, but they were having trouble keeping firewood in supply. The campsite itself was fairly level. The roads were gravel. The squirrels were aplenty. Lots to do and the fact they have the historic farm with CHICKENS! Awesome! Oh, and they offer hiking and other stuff.  The above pictures were taken at the Living History Farm Look how close we were to the closed bathhouse!  The one issue with Kings Mountain was the bathhouses. We chose a campsite close t...