Okay something is now getting the geese/goose eggs. I found one outside the chicken yard with the top broken off and the insides gone. Turkeys were in the lower field today and the dogs and I went down and checked the creek. Pretty high but the bridge is safe.
My neighbor Steve (who gave Judi all those cherries last year) asked me if she was ready to can again. They gave a jar of Judi's apricot cherry jam to somebody and I guess she was eating it straight out of the jar. Steve's kinda wife Raquel said that everything Judi canned with the fruit was amazing. I'm telling you Judith if there weren't so many health restrictions, you should be selling your jams.
Since I am having so much trouble bouncing back healthwise, Raquel gave me a bottle of probiotics. I have no idea but she swears by them. So, I will go online and see what I can find out.
Today has been warm and all the windows are open. We finally got into the 60s.
Dee just as soon as Murray is onboard and baking, you must go in and buy something.
Judi will be here soon. She's probably either near or in Denver at this moment, ready to hop onto the flight to the Springs.
Tory on the other hand enroute to Denver--she lands way late tonight, bound for Costa Rica with Robert. Hmmmm!!! Watch her blog single with bath. Tom's off playing pool. The 'boyz are rioting in the paddocks. We bring them in at night--maybe Judi's first task? No, maybe not. That could be a bit cruel. Don't want to do that. Sending love to all.
I get busy and forget to read the blog and then....WOW!! I'm a great aunt again to an absolutely beautiful little girl! My son will be a baker chef at a really spectacular sounding new restaurant!! Predators are having free rein (and reign) at the farm because the borzoi aren't there (it's so nice to think we may be needed)!
Tom really loves his new job but...my or my, what a change to our lives. We are trying to maintain our same level of activities and it's turning out to be somewhat challenging--all fun but pretty busy too. Sixteen hounds don't sit quietly waiting to be waited on and they don't really care that their servants have just completed a day's work elsewhere!! I suspect Crystal thinks her days and nights are suddenly filled to the brim too--lots of empathy with her at this moment.
We depart the house shortly (not until I finish this note!) KC's Snaps (me) has a gig on a ranch east of here. The Rhodesian ridgeback club are testing their hounds for herding instinct. Sighthound? Herding instinct? Believe me, I'm not sure what I'll be imaging--hopefully not a hound bringing down a sheep or two. We'll see. It will be a day under a hot sun and cold breeze off the mountains. Tomorrow, we are competing in a straight race in northern Colorado. Three of Kazan's babies are up there. They were whelped in August. I'm hopeful that they are typical puppies from him---full of desire for the chase and blazingly fast. We'll see.
Love to all--I'll be seeing Judi in a couple days (yahoooo) and then in several weeks, I'll be there for Murray's graduation celebration (yahoo again!!)
Jewish Delicatessen will feature inspirations from around the world,
homemade in the Pacific Northwest
“Eat something!†- Jewish Mother
Mercer Island, WA (March 21, 2011): Food is a central part of Jewish identity, and in America, there is nothing that embodies Jewish food culture better than the delicatessen. Stopsky's Delicatessen, opening in May on Mercer Island, aims to revive and modernize the deli by taking the best of Jewish cuisine and updating it with the fresh ingredients of the Pacific Northwest.
Stopsky's will celebrate and serve Jewish dishes from around the world. Classics items like pastrami, corned beef, matzoh ball soup, kreplach and kugel, rye bread, challah, and rugelach can be enjoyed either in the restaurant or at home. The majority of these products will be made in-house using locally sourced, sustainably grown, organic ingredients whenever possible. We call our approach "Tradition, Updated."
The restaurant will provide seating for 36, and be open initially for breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch. Dinner will be added later this year. In addition to dining in, patrons will be able to order many of the menu items for take-out, or purchase a wide variety of specially selected products in the retail section. Stopky's will also feature the exclusive, artisanal espresso.
A strong creative team has come together to reinvent Jewish delicatessen in the Pacific Northwest. Overseeing the kitchen and front-of-house is Robin Leventhal. Robin was the owner/chef of the acclaimed Crave Restaurant on Capitol Hill, and was a cheftestant on Season 6-Las Vegas of Top Chef as well as a chef instructor at New England Culinary Institute. Andrew Meltzer, aka "the bread maven," will oversee the bakery. Andrew co-founded the Columbia City Bakery where he cemented his reputation as a master of a variety of breads and other baked items. He taught at the Culinary Institute of America and is a master at braiding challah.
Owners Jeff and Lara Sanderson decided to open Stopsky's Delicatessen to celebrate family, heritage and community through food. In a return to his roots, Jeff named the restaurant in honor of his grandfather and great uncles. In 1905, Gilbert Stopsky and his three brothers arrived in America from a Jewish village outside Kiev, Ukraine. Wanting to assimilate to pursue the "American Dream," they changed their name to Sanderson. Stopsky's Delicatessen celebrates the Stopsky family's journey in America and reclaims the name with pride in this history and traditions behind it.
Stopsky's celebrates everyone's heritage and will bring people together through the experience of great food and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. An entire wall will be dedicated to presenting heritage photos celebrating the past and present. The entire community is welcome to contribute photos of their ancestors or of meaningful events celebrating Jewish life (weddings, holidays, bar mitzvahs). Photos may be submitted to heritage@stopskysdelicatessen.com and will go on rotating display.
Stopsky's Delicatessen will be located at 3016 78th Ave. SE on Mercer Island, in the Islandia Shopping Center, right next to Island Books. For more information, contact Jeff Sanderson at jeff@stopskysdelicatessen.com.
Welcome to the family, Anna K! You will be loved, supported and taught by a multitude of us, your relatives. We will annoy you, make you laugh and, without question, make you cry. We are so glad you are here! The world is a wonderful place!
Hi! I'm the newest member of the family! I look just like my mom!
Anna Karen Lloyd was born today at 11:15 a.m. - 7 lbs, 14 oz. Mother, dad and baby doing fine. Grandma Stephanie probably hasn't stopped crying tears of job since the birth. Birth was natural no drugs. Saw a picture of her and she looks like Crystal. Do not know if she has hair or not.
Tiffany, Judi, Max, Charlie and I were at the farm where Judi made a tamale pie for all of us. Charlie swam in Rock Creek and looked for wildlife. I found 3 goose eggs. Two of the eggs were laid in the mud in front of the chicken house and one egg was inside the pen by the blackberry bush. Judi tried floating the eggs and determined they are fresh. At least 2 of the 3 eggs are fresh left before she tested the 3rd egg.
Tiffany is at the farm for a couple of days and loving it. I went out this morning and next to the chicken pen were the remains of a wild turkey. What ever took out the turkey (it was almost by the gate and next to the fence) ate all the meat off its body leaving very large feet, a skull and some bones. I think the geese are probably next up because what ever took out the duck and the wild turkey must be pretty big, brave and hungry.
Tiff called me a couple of hours ago and she heard the turkey in the lower field making a lot of noise and were in a tight formation so we think something was probably after them. Where are you hunters when we need you. Is it illegal to shoot coyotes and/or cougars. Maybe it is something even larger - say a bear. Yippee.
The sky is very very black out tonight. I keep waiting for either a tremendous downpouring of rain and/or hail. The moon is supposed to be very large tonight but don't think we will be seeing it.
Theresa's ship is back out. I pulled up some news articles re the U.S. ships involved in the Libya attack and hers doesn't appear to be one of them.
Crystal is really on countdown and the baby should be here in a week or so. First child so I would go with or so.
Hope you are all having a good relaxing weekend.
I am one step away from calling Gil to come take a look at my computer. It is having problems AGAIN.
Great job on the marathon. You guys all look so great. I wish I could have joined you because it looks a lot of fun. And no I would not be doing a full marathon. My knees are not so great anymore, not that they ever were.
Just want to let you all know that anyone who wants to stay with us is more than welcome. Sid and I would love to have family visitors, truly. I will make sure Sid is on his best behavior, perhaps I should start training him now.
We have a sofa bed in the foyer, a living room with a sofa and an extra bedroom with two full bathrooms so please feel welcome. We were planning on going to the wedding - sounds like it will be lots of fun.
The biggest challenge with weddings as far as I am concerned is that you actually have to find a nice dress to wear that you can stand seeing yourself in. For being a seamstress' daughter I sure have a not very positive attitude about formal dressing right? It's really not so bad I am just really picky about these things. I always feel like nothing likes quite right, I think it is called a lack of patience for shopping.
No worries I will get over it. Men are lucky, they just get to wear suits, I mean how bad can one look in a suit.
Congratulations to Murray, Tory and Diana. I am really impressed with all of you. Good going.
I got back from CA today. Had a wonderful but fast trip. Met Meredith's husband to be and he gets my stamp of approval. I like him very much.
Meredith's grandmother had passed away and was buried on Friday in Ridgecrest and on Saturday, Joe and Lisa had a wedding shower for Meredith and Jason. About 25 people were present (most of the 25 were my brood). Joe, Steph, Tina, Gina and Al were present along with the cousins and other people. Meredith downloaded a bunch of the pictures taken at the shower and once she posts them, I will tell you where to go to see the shower pictures. Maxx was also present but when it came time to take a picture of all the cousins together he had gone outside and missed being in that particular picture. About 7 of my grandchildren were present (Meredith, Devan, Grant, Alexis, Maxx, Crystal and Christopher). When we get together it is always a lot of fun and gets rather noisy. I did not say that this is a quiet, dignified event.
KC and Tom you will be getting a wedding invitation when they are finally printed. Mere is hoping that all of you that can will attend. Sid, you and Sandra must attend because she is very attached to you guys and will be heartbroken if you don't. Sid and Sandra do you have room to put Judi, me, Steph and Al up the night after the wedding? The wedding is May 21 and I think some of us will be flying in Wednesday or Thursday and spending the night at the hotel in rooms reserved by Joe and then flying out on Sunday or Monday. So, we need a place to lay our heads on Sunday. Joe is thinking about having a brunch on Sunday in New Jersey so that we can all visit because we probably won't get much of a chance at the wedding (not yet firmed up). I think the wedding will be about 5 p.m. and the reception to follow at same location.
Crystal is due in about 3 weeks and is looking very pregnant.
Judi came over to my place and babysat the dogs. They didn't seem too impressed that I was home so she must have done a very good job. The side benefit was that she organized my food cupboard and now I can actually see what I have. That is a bonus.
I have a cold in my head (a present from Ridgecrest) so I am going to bed and huddle under the covers.
Murray, Tory and I are all participating in a trail run on Sunday. Gulp! Murray may have opted for the 10 mile, or the marathon and 50K run option, but Tory and I are doing the 5 mile run. The 5 mile run has 750 feet of elevation gain! Oh woe is me! We have to share the trail with horses, so Tory had the brilliant idea that if we got too tired, we could hop on the nearest horse and ride to the finish in style!
