Don’t try to read my mind, it’s scary in there.
August 6th and August 9th, 1945 should remain etched in the American consciousness as these dates have for the Japanese. Little Boy and Fat Man, nuclear bombs created by some of the greatest scientific minds, were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We should be appalled at what we have done, and be resolute to never let such a thing happen again.
Well, knitting and crocheting. Click on the image to see a larger picture and details on how I made the items.
The baby blanket is complete:
The baby hat is complete:
And with Heather’s help on Sunday (THANK YOU!!), I am now officially a sock knitter.
Just don’t ask me how many times I had to frog the danged thing! I think I’m set now, and I think I have enough stitches to fit on my foot. 
I made ice cream tonight! I have had this urge to do so for AGES, and I finally broke down on Monday and bought the machine. I bought some decent but not fabulous peaches 
from Guadalupe Farmer’s Market (the ones last weekend were SO much better), and some organic milk from Gentle Strenth Co-Op, and away we go!
I had to take it out of the maker before it was completely done, because I didn’t compare the recipes in the manual to the one below closely enough, so there was a little too much mix in the mixer. It’s sitting in the freezer now, but I did test it first. YUM!
From Texas Cooking:
Texas Peach Ice Cream
In a bowl, using a potato masher or wooden spoon, break up the peaches with the sugar and vanilla until coarsely mashed. Stir in the half and half. Taste and add more sugar if needed. [It will taste sweeter when it's done, so I found the 1/4 cup to be plenty.]
Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
Dairy should be a pretty easy task for me here in Arizona. Note the key word: should.
Shamrock Farms is self-described as “the largest family-owned and operated dairy in the Southwest”. They produce lots of different dairy products, including milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, whipping cream, ice cream. The problem? I can’t stand the way their milk tastes.
Creme de la Moo is a dairy cooperative in Queen Creek Arizona. Creme de la Moo produces organic raw milk and milk products. CdlM has recently had some difficulties with the buying cooperativeUnited Dairymen of Arizona (UDA). Apparently, UDA has liability concerns about buying and distributing (?) raw milk. More of the story can be found here. I’ve been reading about raw milk, and to be honest, I’m not convinced of the health benefits, and I’m not convinced of the safety of raw milk. Even though scientists don’t believe that Mad Cow disease can be transmitted by milk, I think I’ll stick to pasturized organic milk for now.
Apparently there is another local dairy that bottles their own organic, pasturized milk, but I can’t seem to find the product. The Gentle Strength Cooperative apparently carried Freeman Farms milk in 2001, but I didn’t see any such thing in the dairy case. I’ll have to go back and investigate.
I do, however, have a source for fresh, organic eggs. A friend of mine has a brood of various kinds of hens and brings eggs to our monthly gardening meetings. They’re quite good and I trust the source (he’s a master gardener, etc).
So, I still have work to do on the dairy question. Stay tuned!
With all of the rain on Tuesday and the flat roofs that we seem to think make sense out here, the roof on the Food Bank collapsed. Please consider donations of food or money. You can donate at any M&I Bank or online.
Thanks to Pam for reminding me to post this!
Yeah, I should have hung around knitting for a bit longer tonight. Not that it really would have made a difference. It is RAINING here! Those of you who don’t live here probably won’t understand why this is a HUGE deal. Let me explain.
Phoenix gets very little rain over the course of a year (approximately 6.5″ average for the last 9 years). Much of it happens during Monsoon Season - which is now. Because of this, we get rather excited when it rains. I know, you’re thinking to your self, “What?? Monsoons in Arizona?? No, I don’t think so.” Well, think again. “Monsoon” has to do with seasonal shifts in wind that brings severe changes in moisture. Add that to the fact that our climate is considered “sub-tropical” and you have a monsoon. Read more at the National Weather Service - Arizona Monsoon.
I finished 3 books this week: Lost in A Good Book, The Half Blood Prince, and Never Let Me Go. Each was well written and kept me turning pages. They all had their good points, but some were better than others.
Lost in a Good Book is the second of four (?) in the Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde. Fforde continues the story of Thursday’s adventures in bookjumping, saving the plots of books, and attempts to save her husband from having been time-slipped and existing only in her memory. You have to have some knowledge of history and of books to fully appreciate these books and Fforde’s wit, but I think they would be fun and entertaining, even if you had no clue.
That said, I read a review recently that indicated these books are intended for adult and teenage audiences. I have a hard time believing that today’s teenager would really be interested in reading these books, but I guess that is the grumpy old lady in me.
Book 6 in the Harry Potter series, The Half-blood Prince, was engrossing and entertaining as usual. I wasn’t surprised by the ending, but I think there is so much more happening than we know about yet. I can’t wait for number 7!
Never Let Me Go was good in the sense that the writing was fairly well done, and I wanted to get to the end to see what happened to the characters. If I had known what the plot line was really about before I started it, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. Now that I’m done, I’m glad that I read it, but the subject matter was kind of difficult to read about and not get outraged. It’s an interesting perspective on where we could be in 50 years, and yet, it all took place in the 20th Century.
Yesterday was the first day of the Local Food Challenge, and it was an interesting day. I had stopped by the Guadalupe Farmer’s Market on Saturday to scope out the available local food. (This was after I found out that the Scottsdale FM is gone - the space is for rent and no one answers the phone.) I was kind of worried about finding anything relevant at the GFM because in the past it had been more than 50% from California.
I discovered that the new manager/owner(?) is looking to incorporate more local and organic foods into the produce that they sell. It’s interesting though, there is quite a bit more local food (not necessarily organic) than they used to have. Something I read online suggests that this guy is the new owner, and the old owners have moved to Mesa and opened Guadalupe Farmer’s Market Too. (I can’t wait until that turns into a legal battle!) We chatted for a bit at the counter, and I mentioned to him that I was really supportive of local and organic foods.
