Abalone

 bowl with a abalone design

Years ago my family did a lot of camping that involved diving for abalone. You can no longer dive for abalone for many reason. :( Hopefully one day the abalone population with get healthy enough that my grandchildren will get to experience it. 

Saw this little bowl and made me think of all those camping trips. I haven't been camping in years and I do miss it. If I was brave enough, I would really like to do some van camping. Solo camping for a woman comes with its own safety challenges. I know it can be done but I would still like to have a really big dog as my co-pilot!

Aptos means Gayle's

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Went to Aptos early this morning to pick up my MaxSold auction winnings. More on that later. 

I left early because Hwy 17 can get back up very quickly. Good thing I did as there was a pretty bad accident. I planned to stopped at Gayle's for breakfast knowing I was going to get into town early.  I decided to splurge and get a breakfast sandwich. I also picked up some things for dinner (shrimp and artichokes) and yes I got a few cookies. :) 

I won a lot of small kitchen items which may seem a silly as I have down sized so many times.  Since I'm cooking in so many different kitchens while I'm dog sitting, it would be nice to have my own tools. What I liked about this lot was the mini Cuisinart food processor (I use to have the big one, which was always too big), the immersion blender and hand held mixer. Everything is very portable and easy to pack.  The coffee maker was the only thing I didn't need but it's scheduled to go down to the Carmel house as a back up. 

Dutch Baby Recipe

Well I just had to try this dutch baby recipe. It's a very basic recipe but it turned out pretty good. I didn't quite understand why you had to use a blender but I'm guessing it's to fill it with air. It's a flour based recipe so it's not something I can eat a lot of but I'm sure the boys will like it. 

I only topped it with cheese because why not.  I kept it simple for the first go around. I want to get an idea what other toppings I could use in the future. It has the texture of mochi cake so now I'm wondering could I make it with rice flour? 

Fresh Ginger Root

You know you live in an area with a lot of Asian grocery stores when you can find ginger this size. :)  

I like to make lemon, honey and ginger for my morning tea. I prefer my tea because even after it cools, you can still drink it unlike like coffee.  After I'm done with my tea I throw all the lemon and ginger into my smoothie, makes it nice and tangy. :) 

I've been trying for years to grow ginger but still haven't any luck there. I almost had one started last year but it didn't make it past its seedling stage. Fingers crossed I can get one to grow this year!

Nuka and tsukemono hunt is on.

Yes, I read cookbooks, it's a thing.  

I almost picked up this canning cookbook when I was down in Carmel. A church close to house has a sale every week so I made a quick stop. I had really good luck last time I shopped there so gave it a shot. Didn't have a lot of time since I was on my way home. I'm glad I didn't get it. A copy came into the Happy Dragon and I got to really check it out. The only thing I found interesting was the one recipe to make Nuka - Japanese fermented bran pickles. It was something my family made when I was young. I remember only being able to see over the edge of  a really big crock - yes it was a  very big crock. After reading the recipe it sent me down a rabbit hole of looking up tsukemono recipes.  There is one cookbook that I'm now on the hunt for. It was printed in 2005 and I'm sure out of print. I'm not willing to pay Amazon prices so I'll be searching for it when I go out thrifting. Wish me luck!

Another score from FabMo!

I find the most interesting fabrics at FabMo in Sunnyvale! This is a light weight canvas that I plan to use with the PVC chairs I made for the boys. $10.00 for 2 2/3 yards, which is a total deal! Now I just have to think of what to do with all the left over fabric!

FabMo is getting more quilting cotton fabrics from crafter's stashes. So if quilting is your thing, you should check them out. If you can't make the in person store sales, you can always shop online which is what I do. 

Mini tea set from Portugal

One of the many goals I had when I started volunteering at the Happy Dragon was to get the prices lowered in the houseware section. Not because I'm a reseller but because of the negative reviews the store gets about the high prices. The volunteer who was in charge of the housewares wasn't IMO an experienced thrifter. She would Googled/eBay everything which not only takes a lot of time but gives you a false sense of value. That causes a  very slow sell through rate so we would run out of space as the donations came in.  Well I guess she got tired of all the complaining and I don't blame her. Now that the store has a paid manager on staff, he didn't agree with her pricing either so she stepped down.  The new housewares volunteers understand what a fast sell though rate means and in the long run will make the store more money. 

 Ok, so why the photo above. The store gets a lot of junk drawer donations. Way too many small things to process fast. One box came in and it was going to go out for .50 for anything in the box.  I spotted some good stuff so took the box home to process. This mini tea set was in that box. All the parts were there and undamaged! It cleaned up really well and now can be priced for $20. Mainly because it's a complete and unusual child's set. 

It was worth taking home and processing all the good stuff out.  The really junkie stuff is going to be lumped together and sold as one lot. 

Where did all the sandy go?

It has been perfect shorts weather here in Carmel. There isn't much beach with all the big storms that have come though and there's definitely no walking the whole beach anymore. I've been told climate change is the reason. 

It use to be a very rare occurrence to have the whole beach wiped out but now it's happening every year. I hope the sandy beach comes back for the holidays. Still it was a very warm and sunny day today. There's a bench at one of the points I sit at and soak up all the sea air and get my dose of vitamin D. :) 

Baby Quilt Score

You don't see many baby quilts at the thrift stores. I picked this one up during their 50% day so only paid $20.00.  

I know the tread is neutral and non gender colors but I like the bright fun colors of this one. I was surprised that my daughter wanted it as her favorite colors are black and white. 

I picked it up thinking of sending it to her cousin but they're one of those trendy type, with a gray and beige color scheme for their kids. Now the debate is who do I send it to? 

Peaceful Carmel

My morning view today

It was a last minute decision to come down to the Carmel house. There is a one week break from my dog sitting gig and the house was also open. On top of that I was able to get an appointment with my dentist for a cleaning while I'm here. Yes, the stars lined up nicely for me!!!

It rained hard here yesterday but today it's bright and sunny. I enjoy the rain when I'm here because I like sitting by the fireplace while I work, so either way it's a win!

I'm finally getting around to gathering up all the recipes I've picked out from all the cookbooks I have. The goal is to get everything into  binder so when the boys come out for the holidays we can meal plan a little bit better. Of course that also means I have to practice making the recipes to make sure they will work down here at the Carmel house. It's a very old and tiny kitchen so planning ahead is helpful.     

Too Cute Cow Mugs

Do I really need another mug or bowl? No, I don't but these were too cute to pass up! They reminded me of my mom and made me smile. Her lucky charm was a brown spotted cow. These aren't quite brown but close enough. :)

On my way down to Carmel I planned to stop at a few thrift stores. Normally I would have gone straight to the house but this time I didn't pack any food that need to be refrigerated. I think this is a first for me! One of my stops was going to be Costco for gas, so I knew I could just pick up whatever I needed there.  

Last Chance Mercantile is on the outer rim of Monterey so I stopped by to check out the puzzles - $2.00. Everything else there is way over priced. It's so far away from Carmel, it's not worth making the driving back to it. 

Found these mugs at The Helping Hand thrift store in the barnyard center. Just way to cute for me not to bring home ($4 each) before I sell them off. 

That's a little cow bell on the bottom of the mugs. 

Honey Dust

I've been watching the show "Spring Baking Championship" and someone used honey dust. Of course I've never heard of it before so I looked it up. 

Since my dehydrator lives at Buzz's house I decided to give it a try. 

It was a total failure as I can only guess the tray shelves aren't level. I did level the outside of the dehydrator but that wasn't enough. The honey slipped over to one side and dripped down creating a hot mess. Not 100% sure it's worth the time (takes two days to dry) to try it again.