Wanna go on a little tour? Part I

Welcome to the tour of the camp!  Today is Part I: Outdoor Sights.  As you may remember from yesterday's post, Mr. P is currently residing at this camp while he waits for me and our stuff to move up to VT.  So come join me on the sights that I saw during my little visit last week:

This is the camp entrance.  To the right is where you walk in from the car.  To the left is a barrier and then a cliff!  However, there is a huge benefit to being on top of a cliff--a great view!  (And I'm not joking about the cliff part.  The name of the road is "Cliff Dwellers" and my little Mazda Protege can only get up the grass driveway with a running start!)

This is your view to the right.  You have to walk up and over this hill to get back and forth to the cars/camp.  

This is the deck and was the location from which I took the first picture.  This is where most meals are eaten since there's not a lot of room inside the camp and because, well, there are just awesome sunsets!   Past Mr. P's bike and to the right is where we have the bonfires.  And do you see that structure in the background?  Well, look at the next photo for details...

This is fondly called the "Love Shack", because you would only spend a night in this place if you were in love!  It is a neighboring camp which Mr. P's parents now also own.  When the camps were first built, they were super close together, so when this one went up for sale they jumped at the chance for a little more land.  As you can see, it is in quite the state.  However, they keep it standing so that they could put another structure there in the future if wanted.  If they were to take it down, you would not be able to rebuild.  Gotta love building codes!  

This picture gives you a better idea of how the camp is on the cliff.  There is a road separating them from the lake, but you can't even see it so there are unobstructed views.  

Now that's what you call a sunset.  Yay for summer! 

Stay tuned...Part II:  Indoor Sights is coming soon!





Big news from our little household

Some of you already know, but Mr. P and I are about to move to the great state of Vermont!  I know, are we crazy or what, moving NORTH!  However, the area to which we are moving is absolutely beautiful--on Lake Champlain, Adirondacks across the lake, Green Mountains behind you...  We are super excited (except for the fact that there is not ONE SINGLE TARGET IN THE ENTIRE STATE...but don't even get me started on that one.)  Our movers are coming on Monday, but we don't yet know when we'll get into our house, so we might be temporarily located until then. 

Mr. P has been working his new job in VT since April and has been coming home on weekends.  He's been staying at his parents' camp on a small lake about 45 minutes from his new job.  Last week I took the opportunity to go up and visit him since I was finally done teaching for the school year.  It was a fun few days. 

So, stay tuned because I have a few posts planned about my trip.  Get ready for a tour of the camp and the lake! 



Sweater I've been meaning to blog about...

I finished this sweater back in April, but have been lazy about posting it.  It is called the Oatmeal Pullover and is designed by Jane Richmond.  She is a young, hip knitter/designer with lots of fun patterns.  I have many of them in my Ravelry favorites! 

This sweater was fun to knit, but I did have some issues with the sleeves.  They don't quite fit 100% right at the shoulder, and then I didn't quite knit them as long as I wanted.  I also didn't knit the body long enough either.  Normally I have issues with garments being too long in the torso and then they create a big bulge over my jeans/belts/etc.  Ugh...I hate that!  So I decided to knit this to the right length for me, but it ended up too short!  However, for my first adult sweater, I guess it didn't come out too bad.  At least I love the color.  I would definitely try this one again, but with a different yarn.  I wasn't a fan of the way the Lion Brand Chunky came out in this pattern.  

Here are some pics:



Trying it on for size...before sleeves were added



Completed!

And here is another blogger/knitting superstar, SouleMama, who also made the Oatmeal.  I LOVE her version--I find myself coveting the color and the yarn. 

What I Ate Wednesday post...

For this WIAW post we will be concentrating on one particular recipe that I have become quite fond of:  Honey Whole Wheat Bread.  I found this recipe via summer harms.  She makes lots of yummy foods and always attempts to make them healthier.  This recipe is a bit crazy, though, in the fact that it uses three different types of flour:  all purpose, whole wheat and white whole wheat.  (I will risk sounding like a geek by mentioning that I have still a fourth type of flour in my cupboard:  bread flour.  There used to be a time when I thought that flour was flour.)  So anyway, I made this bread for the second time over the weekend and it tasted as good as I remembered.  I did exhibit some self-control and waited about 20 minutes before cutting into the bread in order to allow it to form a "crumb".  Mr. P and I enjoyed it with some butter (only the real deal for this bread) and then for some sandwiches. 

I've included some photos of the baking process.  Although they aren't as pretty as Summer's photos, I hope you enjoy the step by step pictures!

Just mixed dough

After first rising

After second rising

Cooling

Time to eat!

What I Ate Wednesday

Phew, I'm just getting this post in under the wire!  I figured I better throw up some pictures since I've been delinquent for a few weeks.  Will you forgive me if I don't link up the recipes at the moment?  How about this, send me a comment if you're interested in one of the items and then I'll do another post just with those recipes. 

(Yes, this is a secret ploy to get more comments...)

 America's Favorite Pork Chops (yes, they are called that, and no, they are not difficult to maket), green beans, Far East toasted almond rice pilaf

 Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins--made these with fresh rhubarb from a friend's garden!

 Fruit Salad with a special twist :)

Homemade grilled pizza--used Artisan Bread recipe, ham and pineapple.  Loving that combo!



What I Ate Wednesday

We now pause for a break from our normally scheduled programming of What I Ate Wednesday (because honestly, who wants to see pictures or hear about the chips & salsa + cereal that I ate for dinner this week??)...

Today I will be sharing with you a new recipe that has inspired me.  In an attempt to eat a more filling breakfast, I swapped out my normal Smart Balance for peanut butter the last few days.  It seems to have done the trick and tends to get me through to lunch without too many cravings.  However, the thought of eating peanut butter every morning, no matter how small the amount, just didn't seem too healthy.  (never mind the chips & salsa for dinner)  So I decided to branch out to almond butter.  I recently saw some naturally ground almond butter at the grocery store and, at least in my mind, that seems better than peanut butter???  Can anyone verify that?  So I splurged, because, mind you, all-natural peanut butter, despite having fewer ingredients, is most definitely more expensive than the ones jammed full of bad stuff!  Go figure! 

This morning was the trial run of the almond butter and I was super excited considering my almond kick of late--roasted almonds for snacking, almond milk for drinking...  Well, I'm sorry to say that I was severly disappointed.  It was totally chunky, not very spreadable and totally stick to your mouth!  However, I was still trying to rationalize my $5 purchase, and thought, "This isn't so bad." 

Then, in the afternoon I open my Google reader to find one of my favorite bloggers, Sheena of The Little Red House, posting a recipe for almond butter!  Wow!  This gal has awesome recipes and they always taste good...and are good for you!  (Can you say homemade fruit leather in apricot & strawberry, for example?)  Needless to say, I can't wait to try it out.  It seems so do-able and the pics look a lot more appetizing than what I put on my toast this morning. 

photo via The Little Red House, Sheena Jibson

Now, what to do with the original almond butter....

What I Ate Wednesday

Believe me when I say that things have been crazy around here!  Due to that fact I feel justified in the following two items:
1) I'm not posting much about what I ate
2) I'm not posting anything else at all these days

I do hope to be putting up some more of my recent knitting in the near future.  Maybe when I'm actually home for a weekend!

And now for my pathetic What I Ate Wednesday post...

Since I'm in the midst of my coaching season, and since we were on the road a few days last week, and since I wasn't home all day Saturday, you will have to make do with a post about one of my favorite sandwich joints.  The Shortstop Deli is located in Ithaca, NY, aka the home of Cornell University.  Any future students out there?  Well, this place is open 24/7 and boasts that they have been serving customers for the last 275555 consecutive hours!  Amazing!  Anyway, their food is great as well.  In an effort to avoid fast food, I took my tennis team there last Monday on our way home from a match with Ithaca High School.  Although there is a bit more of a wait and increase in price from Subway, I think it is well worth it.  The subs are made to order with little room for error as you fill out a form upon entering the establishment.  You circle all kinds of options such as bread, hot, cold, meat, types of cheese, fixings, etc.  This helps avoid the awkward shuffle in line as you follow an employee down the line answering a million questions about what you want on your sub.  Plus, there are just way more options.  Some of the athletes may or may not have complained about not getting to eat off of the McD's Dollar Menu, but I at least can rest assured that I did my part to encourage healthy (er) eating.  Jamie Oliver would be proud!