If I were a carpenter and you were a lady...

... would you marry me anyway? Would you have have my baby... If I worked my hands in wood,
Would you still love me? Answer me babe, "Yes I would, I'll put you above me."

Yes, I have discovered another reason that I am glad I married my husband... he can apparently build beautiful things! We have been needing a good coffee table for the living room but have not wanted to buy one.  About a month ago, he found some wood in the barn (yes we have a huge barn)

and since then he has been sneaking out there on rainy days, using a small hand saw and a box of nails.  I finally was allowed to see the completed table yesterday and I was totally impressed. Check it out!

He used an old crate for the base and sanded down these beautiful green planks to form a bottom shelf.  Isn't he handy?  The whole project cost less than $5!

... and it looks great inside.  Stay posted for his next project.

Garden update! I added the following to my garden this week: tomatoes (heirloom, cherry red, and a basic sandwich hybrid variety), cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, red and orange bell peppers, basil, rosemary, romaine lettuce, mint and nasturtiums.  So excited to see how they all come out! 

And of course, no post would be complete without a Lupa update...

Sleeping... on my purse

playing

playing

sleeping

looking adoringly at Brandon

look at her legs!

TOO CUTE FOR WORDS

and one of the whole crew... a sleepy bunch!

Well it is nearly 4 p.m. and this post has taken me an hour.  I am a slow blogger and am off to the yard.  Brandon has gone off fishing and I am hoping he comes back with dinner!

If you were a fisher... and i were a blogger... :)

Anya

Salads from the Garden

I used the beautiful kale from my garden to make a fabulous raw kale salad the other night.  Here is the recipe:

Fresh Kale Salad

Salad Ingredients:

Fresh kale (4 to 6 cups)
2-3 T. pine nuts
Shaved Parmesan cheese




Dressing:

Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
3 T. light olive oil
Generous pinch of hot pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic
1/4 t. salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Mash or mince garlic cloves and using a mortar and pestle ,combine with salt to form a paste.   Add other dressing ingredients and whisk to combine.  Toss kale with dressing.  Toast pine nuts in toaster oven until a light brown.  Keep a close eye on the pine nuts while they are toasting as they burn easily.  Serve and top with shaved Parmesan.

Eat and enjoy! 



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Here is another garden creation using mixed Asian salad greens, cilantro, chives, and dill from the garden.  I added some mango, blackberries, toasted pine nuts and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and tossed with a basic homemade balsamic vinaigrette.  Wonderful.

Lupa moves in! and notes on a rainy Saturday

Lupa moves in.... and notes on a rainy Saturday

So last Thursday I was driving back from the gym and saw a sign for kittens just down the hill.  I told Brandon we had to go... can we please just go look? He said if we did we would never come home without one... he was right.  But this one was just too cute! and we have been wanting a dog but decided it was too much for Betsi who is 14 and might not handle the trauma of replacement very well.  Lupa is gray with some white coloring in the face and belly and she has a wonderful personality.  She is fearless with Sasha, who is terrified of her (despite being at least 5 times the size) and keeps coming even in the face of the hissing and really deep growling Sasha has mastered in the few days since Lupa's arrival.  Every day they get closer though... soon they will be friends... I hope!

OK enough talking, meet Lupa!

She LOVES Brandon... 

 She suicidally sleeps on the ledge of our loft despite all efforts to get her to stop...

She loves this one kitchen chair... (don't ask me why)

(clearly an acrobat)

Oh.. yes and she wants to eat EVERYTHING.

So cute!

So Saturday was a rainy day here and one of those days you are thankful for the excuse to stay inside.  I had my group run at 7 a.m. (I joined a running club to help me train for the Hudson Mohawk Marathon in October) which was 8 miles - the rain let up for the first 45 minutes and then started again just when it felt great.  Then I picked up Rhubarb at the store and yes, you guessed it...

...I made Strawberry Rhubarb pie... Lupa also loves this by the way...

While in the kitchen preparing the pie, we had a visitor..

The animals relaxed and enjoyed the rain

...and the garden continued to grow!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!  Wow and me not a computer person.  This blog arose as is a solution to the problem of wanting to share pictures (especially of our new kitten, Lupa), thoughts, recipes, poems, etc. with the people I love without resorting to the social networking world of facebook, of which I am ever weary and deeply uncomfortable.  So here we go! Anya broadcasting live from Voorheesville, NY.

Background...
 
For those of you who don't know, we moved to Voorheesville, a small town in the countryside outside of Albany, NY last February, after living for nearly six years in Brooklyn.  This is a GREAT CHANGE for all of us.  "Us" being me, my husband, Brandon:

Sasha (aka "kitty") and Betsi (the dog):

The new house is on 9.5 acres, and is built from 5, 100+ year old Albany area barns.  It is very cool...

More to come soon! Stay posted.