The Last Leg! And, Rice Three Ways

To the migrating and traveling and those that wish they were,

After a few days in Washington, fellow military wife Seafoam and I set our sights on lands more southern and climes more warmern.

We were heading to California!

Our travels to the Eureka State were significantly less eventful than our last trip.  With less than 1,500 miles to our goal, this was going to be a straight stretch.  With our schedules most happily cramped by our respective husbands' request for our presence, we had to rush to get everything done that had to be done, and all of our belongings packed and ready to go.  With the gracious help of family, we finished prepping for the trip by 10:30 on Friday morning.  They saw us off on our way, my mom including several sealed packages of chocolate chip cookies for the seamen and a Handy Dandy Travel Bag of Chocolatey Goodness for the wives ... We jumped in the car with bowls of rice on our lap for breakfast, and a container of chopped watermelon from my cousin, the Mamakawa.  Yum!

These little ones are growing so fast, I just can't keep up!

I didn't have a map out - for the first part of the trip, we'd be going through several hundred miles of familiar backyard territory, and I wouldn't need pointers until we started looking for a hotel for that night.

Yes - again, we had been bribed by my parents with Hotel Cash to stay the night somewhere Safe and Sound ... Thanks, folks!

"I don't care if you just stop and shower, or take a nap and then get back on the road," my mom said, "as long as you stop!"

We made pretty good time and chewed up six hundred miles, going through Washington and Oregon and into California with gas and restroom stops few and far between.  At the California border, we chuckled at the green sign along the road that modestly announced it was 796 miles to the border of California/Mexico. This is no small state.  We crossed the mountains in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and arrived in Redding, California around 10:00 PM, stopping for gas and a few Starbucks double-shots.

We had Sacramento in our sights for nightfall, and by the glowing light of the sun-visor-mirror lamp, we glanced over the map and started thinking about where we would stay the night.  At first we considered Dunnigan, a town roughly five hundred miles from our ultimate destination, and just north of Sacramento ... but then I realized we'd have to drive through SacTown traffic first thing in the morning, and waste several precious hours.  I proposed we find a place just south of the City of Trees to save us the trouble of traffic - fortunately, unlike with our Wyoming experience, we were able to find a hotel with cheap rates just south enough of the main city to avoid traffic snarls.

We whizzed through Sacramento at night and arrived at our hotel at 115 in the morning.  We put a little over eight hundred miles in the books and were only four hundred and seventy miles from the end of the road.  We checked in, hit the sack for a few hours, and in the morning we showered and left by 6:45 AM.  Of course, before we got on the road I had to feed the one and only pet I am allowed for now - my sourdough starter, donated to the cause courtesy of Miz Carmen - friend and kitchen extraordinaire!

A good wife is never without a little bit of starter ... even if it means hauling
a jar of feeding flour and a jar of sticky, fermenting dough across the country! 

We had to take a detour before Bakersfield and got back on the interstate just before Ventura County.  We climbed Sawtooth Mountain with relatively little traffic, but that wasn't to last long.  Whereas on our last trip we could drive for hours and hardly see another car, once we hit the outskirts of Santa Clarita we were welcomed by a flood of hot, metallic traffic.

After driving at just under 80MPH for several days, over four hours of less-
than-20MPH traffic was a tough, rubberized pill to swallow!

Even great sixteen-lane highways cannot capacitate the overflow of mechanized travel in the great city of Los Angeles - and don't be deceived by the name!  There were few angels to be seen, unless they were fallen ones!  Drivers here are cutthroat - a double-edged knife that perpetuates itself into necessity because, unless you also learn to drive with little regard for life and limb, you won't even make it out of the driveway.

We made one stop in Los Angeles at Seafoam's auntie's house, and unloaded a few things from the car to make room for husbands.  I fell asleep on the dining room floor for a few minutes (I know, what happened, right?!) and then we sucked it up and got back on the road to travel another two and a half hours south (our drive, which should have taken half that time, was heavily impeded by fellow travelers!).

The original Silver Man

We greeted our husbands with joy and spent a happy weekend with them, driving back up to LA on Monday to stay with IncrediMom and the family during the week.

But why, you ask, is she called IncrediMom?

She is still reeling from the answer ...

Mrs H
twitter.com/_mrs_h

Rice Three Ways
Sometimes we make these simple meals from a pot of rice that we cook in the morning and work through all day.  Usually, the rice is made up of a mixture of half brown, half white; but of course, whatever is convenient or preferable to you will work perfectly.  

Cook rice according to package directions, or in a rice cooker.  Always rinse rice at least three times with cool water before cooking.

Breakfast:
Fill your bowl with hot rice.  Sprinkle with a tiny bit of white sugar, or to taste; pour in cold milk (cow's, almond, soy, or otherwise) as you would with cereal.  Buongusto!

Furikake, a dry Japanese seasoning, can be purchased as a vegan condiment,
or it may be purchased with the more traditional ingredient of dried fish

Lunch:
Fill your bowl with hot rice.  Sprinkle to taste with a selection of the following - all, or just a few: shoyu (soy sauce), hot sauce (I prefer Louisiana Hot Sauce - Tabasco just doesn't cut it for this dish), furikake, and if you wish, coarse sea salt or garlic salt.  Cram a pile of tortilla chips into the rice; generously spoon chunky salsa over the top.  Bon appetit!

Dinner:
Make the seasoned rice we just had above.  Cook a piece of meat and place it on top (optional).  Coarsely chop onions, bell peppers, and green beans; saute in olive oil and shoyu.  Serve on the side or over the rice.  Enjoy! 

IncrediMom made breaded, fried chicken to go with our seasoned rice

More Snacks in a Cup

Bonjour mon ami,

Sometimes one finds oneself cooking in a situation where one does not have a bowl, when one would normally be required. 

This is okay; no need to worry.  

We can always make do.  

Fill a cup with fruit and put it by each plate for a refreshing side-dish, perfect
for an outdoor summer dinner.    

Earlier, I illustrated for your humorous edification how to eat salad out of a skillet - the skillet was not hot, of course!  Always, always eat and serve food with style, no matter the circumstances! 

Back home, dinner goes outside on the patio for a balmy summer evening

Click to look closely at her face - and you will laugh when I tell you that she
had no idea my cousin was hiding there with the board ... 

Now, to the message of today.  

My dear Mr H loves himself a bowl of Jell-O, chock full of fruit.  Back home, I would make parfait cups filled with the wobbly treat and put them in the fridge, and he would eat them for a snack.  This method came in handy while living in a hotel, when we had no large bowls for Jell-O, anyway.   

We also had no real cups, so I used plastic ones.  I had a small pan to boil the water in, so I also used that pan to mix the Jell-O powder.  

Jell-O Cups 

1. Fill cups two-thirds with fruit: mixed berries, grapes, bananas, and other soft fruits cut into bite-size pieces.  Do not use highly acidic fruits such as pineapple, oranges or kiwi - the Jell-O will not set. 

2. Prepare Jell-O as instructed on the box.  To hasten the process, instead of cold water use ice cubes (one cup cold water = one cup ice cubes).  Pour the liquid Jell-O over the fruit to fill the cups. 

3. Let set until firm - enjoy!  To turn into a delightful dessert, top with whipped cream.  

Since I was using plastic cups, I used the ice-method mentioned above to make
sure the Jell-O did not melt through the cups! 

Bon appetit,

Mrs H
twitter.com/_mrs_h

Our Last Stop Before the Next Stop!

Dear affectionate homesteaders, and light-keeps in towers around the world,

Our trip home was truly, for the most part, uneventful.  We enjoyed a few discounts based on our military status - thank you to the patriotic Americans who are supporting our husbands in this way!  And speaking of patriotic, Seafoam the intrepid islander got to read a map off the hood of a car - she squealed, "Look, I'm American!"

She never had to read maps before - but now she can scout out the next town
and find a hotel there like a pro! 

She also learned why gas stations have those window-squeegee washers.

"I always wondered why somebody would want to wash their car window at a gas station!" she enthused, taking pictures as I squeegeed the smattered bodies of bugs from the windshield.  I'm guessing that, driving on an island, you'd routinely wash your car long before you hit a thousand miles.  "This makes perfect sense!"

It was refreshing to visit home.

my little sister and I visit a fountain.  I advised her to NOT stay dry ... 

Fortunately, she listens to her big sister!

Sometimes we don't know how much we love something until we leave it, because we never had to love it before - it just existed as a part of us.

Who knew I'd miss the familiar clouds and rain after weeks of sun and warm climates?  But I did.  It was delightful to visit with family, even though I hadn't even been gone all that long - only a few months.

On our drive home, we had passed thousands, millions of Americans. Covered hundreds of miles.  Drove through big towns, little towns, big cities, farming land, grassland, deserts, mountains, forest, suburbia.  As I looked out the bug be-spattered windshield I couldn't help but think of my husband, many miles farther, working his tail off with the Navy.  He was there, so you could be here.  He was working, so you could take a vacation.  His job ensured your farm, your children playing in the backyard safely, your church holding services publicly, your ballot going in the box on a Tuesday.

I know he wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.
Neither would I.

Seafoam warned me she is going to steal Mr H's dog, who is cared for and
lives with Mr H's loving parents with a "brother" dog named Max and some cats.

The road-weary Kia gets an oil change, a thorough vacuuming, and is washed
to a sparkly shine!  It's a double blessing to have a dad that'll pay my way
home in hotels, and a dad-in-law who will get me back on the road in one piece!

We had planned to stay in my home for a little while - maybe two weeks - but I received a text from Mr H that changed my plans.

"Could you be here by Saturday?"

My husband sent me this message at 4:00 in the afternoon on Sunday, the day after we had gotten home.

I sent him a return message that of course it would be possible, and I would run it by Seafoam.  I found her in the kitchen just getting off the phone with her husband, Mr T, and when I told her, she filled me in on the rest of the story.  Mr T had been telling my husband how he wished we would be there sooner rather than later. "Do you think they could be here by Saturday?" he had asked.  My Mr H apparently told him: "Watch this ... they'll be here."  He sent me the text, I dutifully sent my reply, and apparently played right into their hands.

This meant we had to leave by Friday - morning, preferably, but by noon if we had to, since we had a lot of packing to do in between!

A family dinner of bean soup, Irish soda bread, and a WWII chocolate
ration cake with butterscotch frosting, all eaten around the kitchen table
 with enough rabble-rousing to compete with a rousing rabble! 

My baby cousin enjoys his yogurt just as much as
the next guy

Fortunately, we got it all done - we weren't going to miss out on our next adventure!  And we would make it to California not a day too soon.  We got to do a little babysitting - and let's just say this babysitting made my mischievous yogurt-covered baby cousin look like a walk in the park.


You really won't guess what's coming next,

Mrs H
twitter.com/_mrs_h

A rustic loaf of Irish soda bread is the perfect pairing for a soup or stew
dinner.  The Irish came up with it as a quick, hearty bread that they could
make for dinner after a full day of working without waiting for it to rise; this
principle still works today!  Serve plain, or with butter or cheese. 

Hitchcock Himself Can't Compare

Dear watchers of the twilight hour and burners of the midnight oil,

We had made it to our motel in Big Timber by 2:30 in the morning. Seafoam had toppled into bed and I wearily crawled into mine.  I was so tired I could barely see straight, and I was sure I'd fall asleep immediately.

Of course, that didn't happen.

Some motels are creepier than others.

No, there was no Hitchcockian fear of the elderly lady who had sleepily given me the key to my room after I had awakened her by pounding on her door per her instructions earlier that night.  While brushing my teeth in the bathroom I had observed a quaint spider skating around in the bathtub, but there was certainly no knife lurking in the shadows.

In fact, the room was very old-fashioned and rustic, and there seemed to be nothing malignant slinking about. It was in truth this old-fashioned rustickness that most likely set flame to the wick of feverish thoughts that plagued my only half-lucid brain.

there are those that would argue my brain is at best half-lucid - on a good day.
Don't listen to them.  Book lernin' ain't ever'thin.

Yes, for some reason at this witching-hour I was lying in bed with my body screaming in hoarse anxiety at me, pleading eloquently for sleep, but my agitated mind began to imagine little red bugs oozing from the fabric of the old mattress and leaking across the sheets, nibbling on my skin and sucking greedily at my blood.

That little old lady looked pretty feeble, I thought.  There's no way she comes in here at strips these beds down every day.  I'll bet out here in the country, they just say, "Nah, 'honly bin slept in sivin or eight times, hern won't mind if hisn skin cells are a-flakin' off in thet thar sheet."

I don't know how much people bathe in Montana.
Do they even have bathtubs in the mountains?

That's more or less what I thought, anyway.  On a desperate impulse I leapt out of the blankets and lay on top of the colorful, woodsy-themed quilt.  As if that would really do any good, I was to later scoff at myself in the safe morning light.  I pondered going out and bringing in my comforter from the car, but then I shuddered at the thought of the infestatious little creatures weaving their way into my personal blanket, and scattering once I put it back in my car.  No, no, I must freeze on top of the quilt during the Montana night.

You ever have those weird dreams that seem to meld with real life, and you wake up and fall asleep at least a hundred times and can never quite discern reality from the figments of your imagination? Small wonder I woke up in the morning with sunshine sneaking in around the 1960's green curtains feeling as though twenty head of wild cattle had trampled across me throughout the night and then the farmer's wife had put me through a clothes ringer and strung me up from a clothesline to dry until sunlight.

These are old pictures of the motel, but it looks pretty much the same now as it
did then.  Kinda reminds me of Crazy Horse ... 

Morning finally did arrive, and Seafoam and I showered leisurely and repacked our things.  There was, of course, no sign of bedbugs.  The rascals apparently never showed their beady little faces during the night.  We left the motel by 9:30 in the morning and, despite encountering patches of chip-seal roadwork all along I-90 through the rest of Montana, made it to Idaho by 3:00.  Since the Mountain Time/Pacific Standard Time zone runs along the border of Idaho, we immediately gained an hour and traveled back in time to 2:00.  (Seafoam started repeating herself, which was how I knew whenever we hit a new time zone.)

We reached Spokane, Washington by late afternoon and spent a delicious evening not driving, relaxing with close family friends, going out to dinner, and staying up late playing games with dear girlfriends.

Possibly the fever 'n auge that hit me in Montana finally reached Seafoam ...

They tell me I was too far gone for help.

It can be hard to explain her behavior anyway.

It is a blessing to have good friends that will take you in for the night!

This is how those wild islanders make breakfast.

We left Spokane the next morning after a full night of rest and recuperation, and made it home within a few hours.  Another trip in the books!  We planned to rest, recover, visit, pack, clean, exercise, see the sights, and leave for our next trip within two weeks.  

That, of course, didn't go quite as planned.

Mrs H
twitter.com/_mrs_h

Ten Years Ago Today

It was sunny outside on Tuesday.  Mom told us all to finish our oatmeal, and then come to the living room so she could tell us something.  We kept prodding her for information because she seemed so serious, we thought we were in trouble.

We finished our oatmeal and went into the living room, where she quietly told us that two tall buildings in New York had been hit by airplanes, and collapsed.  With people inside. 

I recall trying to imagine being inside the building, feeling it crumble.  I couldn't; I tried to imagine being on the ground, knowing my family was in there.  I couldn't.  We recorded it in our Book of Centuries.

Where were you that day?

I remember laying in bed that night listening to my radio, picturing in my mind the firefighters and iron workers climbing through the dusty, mangled metal.  I remember when they pulled some men out, and I remember waiting for them to find more.  Hoping against hope.

What is your vivid memory from that day? 

Quick Breakfast: Yogurt Parfait

Dear briskly bustling people who have lots to do,

Seafoam and I threw these yogurt parfaits together when we were still in Illinois, heading off to an early morning baking session with the mysterious Mrs S.  They are simple and scrumptious!

I especially love this treat after a workout session, or when I have to go somewhere early in the car - it's pretty portable!

Yogurt or protein smoothies are my favorite after-swim snack!

A clean locker is a happy locker.

Navy Wife Breakfast: Yogurt Parfait

Greek style plain yogurt
Honey
Granola
Chopped fruit or berries (I used Bartlett pears)

Fill a cup or bowl 1/3 with the Greek yogurt.  Drizzle with honey (more if you like it sweeter, less if you like it tangier).  Cover thickly with granola; top with fruit to fill the cup.

Enjoy!

Bonus Yogurt Tip!


A delicious way to eat yogurt in the summer is to throw the single-serve containers in the freezer.  Frozen yogurt, anyone?

Here's to high-culture living,

Mrs H
twitter.com/_mrs_h