Cheesemaking: Farmer's Cheese With Chilies

After the farmers cheese was prepared, I added finely chopped parsley and colorful hot Thai chilies - red and green - then pressed the cheese as is done with paneer. It was served as an appetizer, with rye crackers. I added crushed chia seeds to the rye cracker batter, then rolled out the dough and cut a round shape with a cookie cutter.

On a cold rainy day there is nothing like soup! I made split pea, and topped it with crushed rye bread crumbs.

I've not done much bloggling, I'm just too busy. I'm upgrading the house, painting, patching and repairing. Cleaning, removing clutter. It will take a couple of months to do the whole house, but that is my goal - with new living room furniture replacing our old furniture which was shredded by our cats. Over the years I've patched and glued this furniture, seeing no reason to upgrade as long as kids and cats were in the house. Now I can tackle these upgrades!

I've been watching 'House Hunter's International' on the HGTV channel. It has featured the restoration of old buildings in Italian villages. I found rustic Italian dwellings online, and have imagined just a bit of touchups to restore modern livability. I'd keep them authentic, with just a few upgrades.

This old stone house is wonderful, and it has a side yard with a tree.
This is also a favorite. And, if I lived in one of these Italian villages, what would I be doing? Making cheese and crackers, and Split Pea Soup.

I took only one photograph on our trip to California - this one.

Four Days in Pismo Beach, California

Over the years George's brother Dick has kept a notebook of his trips to the Pacific Northwest. It documents our canoeing trips. This was our third visit together this year. Now we came to attend the memorial service for Dick's wife, Diane.

Cynthia prepared a memory collage while George and I cleaned Dick's house in preparation for a family gathering.

Dinner was served in the evening, followed by the memorial service.

All family photos of the gatherings are in our Flickr Account. I enjoyed this little fellow, who greeted us from the top of the stairs.

We enjoyed marvelous seafood at this little cafe, then walked through the El Moro Elfin Preserve nearby.

The Preserve features maritime chaparral, sand dunes, and a pygmy oak woodland.

Workers picking produce grown in the valley - the colors of the fields were so vibrant!

Dick took us to the music shop where his son Brent works.

We spent one sunny afternoon hiking throughout the dunes on Pismo Beach.