Thank goodness the strange widgets have gone away for now! Soon you'll be seeing a whole new look here at the Squash House. I can't wait!
In the meantime I've been busy.
Here is my completed March Winds BOM from Kathy Schmitz. I'll be sewing all the blocks into one quilt rather than making little quilts from each month. The birds are little applique pieces that come in the kit. At first glance I thought the colors weren't going to be to my liking, but now that it's done, I like it a lot!
When we were in Napa we shopped in several places we had not been on prior trips. One of the most fun stops was Rancho Gordo in Napa. They grow heirloom beans which we were told don't have to be soaked as long as ones you buy in the supermarket. Here is my loot from the store. I adapted their recipe for chocolate chip cookies from their blog and will show you those next using some of these ingredients. Also, I made chili using the Pinquitos - it was wonderful!
The day we arrived in Napa, Robert took us to the Oxbow market place for lunch. It reminded me of a smaller version of the Granville Island market in Vancouver, B.C. We had some wonderful, healthy tacos from one of the vendors here. Had we not been so full from lunch, we would have stopped at this vendor's eclair booth for dessert!
There are many stores in Napa that sell olive oil and various related products from olives grown around the valley. This is one of them.
Check out this tea seller!
Here is a look down one end of the market. I'd like to spend more time here on our next visit.
I've had the bug to try bread from sourdough starter for some time now. I think it comes from reading King Arthur Flour's blog! I ordered some sourdough starter, took a couple of days feeding it, and tried making their rustic sourdough bread yesterday. While it doesn't quite look like the picture in their blog post, it tastes pretty darned good!
I was quite pleased how even the texture was, too! Mr. Squash and I indulged ourselves with a pot of butter and a couple of knives as soon as it was cool enough to slice!
Stay tuned for my new look - there might even be a giveaway involved.