The pies of pies

I make an awesome apple pie.

No, really, I do.

At least that's what everyone tells me.

Recently, I was solicited to make an apple pie for one of our neighbors. He is a solid guy that snow blows our driveway and lends us any kind of tool imaginable. It was time for a proper "thank you".

I used to make pies for the restaurant and some weeks I would make 6 in one week. It used to be stressful, but now that I'm not doing it under a time crunch, or in a kitchen with 6 other people, I find it therapeutic.

I don't know what I would do if I didn't have this device.

Because sometimes you can't find your rolling pin.

Never trust a person that puts the filling in haphazardly. 

Don't worry, this isn't the pie we gave to the neighbor. I just forgot to take an "after" shot of the one last night.

Dumb phones pt 2

Last week (or was it the week before) I had a post about dumb phones and how I'm thinking about dumping my smart phone to be more in line with a simplified life.

Someone wants to help me out with this idea, and gave me a phone I could have.

We got a package returned to us at work (we ship out rental equipment) and this was in the box:

Gotta go, Snow's calling.

This book...

A friend suggested reading this book. I checked it out at the library and can't put it down! It's an easy read with lots of information and diagrams and pictures. Go go box garden!

Off the grid

My aunt and uncle have a "cabin" just north of Gettysburg.

I say "cabin" because as you can see in the pictures, it's a bit more than that.

Photo credit Bill Paxson

Photo Credit Bill Paxson

These pictures were taken in late spring/early summer. It's more white and a little less green this time of year, but I wanted you to see what it looked like.

We call it the cabin because growing up the only part that was there is the blue building. It is a simple, two bedroom one bath log cabin. My aunt and uncle bought it years ago and have spent the last 20 years fixing it up, adding on, and totally revamping it. My uncle is a carpenter/handy man and loves a good project. There is a total of 8 structures on this property, 7 that he built from the ground up. The addition (the white building) is shaped like a light house because that's their "thing." They love all things light houses and growing up, I used to make my school art projects involve light houses so that I could give the final project to them.

As a kid, my brother and I would spent summer and winter days at the cabin riding golf carts around in the woods, going to the "top of the world"(an orchard atop a very large hill and once there you can see for miles) and swimming in the pond at the bottom of the hill. 

There is no cell reception or internet at the cabin. There are just acres and acres of woods and trails and basic television (if it's not raining too hard).

As I grew older, I didn't go as much. I took friends up here and there, but for most part I took a break. I was too cool for my own good in high school and couldn't imagine not having AIM for a whole weekend.

Now that I'm even older, I realize that it's the best kind of vacation to take. I can go completely off the grid. I can leave the noise that we've grown so accustomed to and hear nothing but silence.

Lately, I've been interested in learning how to build things and become more self sufficient. Sure, we live in a world where that isn't really necessary, except I feel people my age (myself included) are mostly helpless when it comes to doing anything without technology.

This weekend I got away for a little bit to recharge and work with my uncle a little bit. There was no plan, I just wanted to keep gaining experience and who better to learn from than an expert! My aunt and uncle have always offered to teach us things that they know, so I finally decided to take the up on it.

The addition of the cabin is built mostly from local resources. The wood comes from trees on their property that they cut down, used their homemade sawmill, and made boards from the trees. 

I didn't make it as far as building a house this weekend, but I did cut down my first tree and chop wood for the wood stove. It wasn't easy, but after a few swings, I started getting the hang of it, and loving it. 

Below are some videos (proof) that this smart phone toting, technology driven 20 something can actually do things the way they used to be done back in the day without the help of a youtube video.

The first day's load, we had almost double the second day

In the background of the videos, you hear my uncle say something like, "Yeah, look at that John Wesley!". That is a shout out to my brother. He used to help my uncle out a lot when he was younger. He'd go up to the cabin for the weekend and help lay foundation and chop wood, but that was during my years where I was too cool. Before I went up for the weekend, my brother was joking around and giving me a hard time about not knowing what it was like to REALLY work at the cabin. So although I had a lot of fun, and plan to go up soon to do it again, my motivation was partly because I wanted to prove to him that I could do it.

Dumb Phones

I've had a smart phone for a LONG time.

Too long.

I thought I was important before I was 20. Now, at 25, I realize I'm not that important. Not important enough to need access to my email and facebook 24/7. In fact, I'm also finding that I don't desire to be that important.

I guess that's not really true. There is a part of me that desires that, or else I wouldn't be so hooked to my phone. But since I can't find a way to have a smart phone and not be attached to it, I think it's time I get rid of it.

The internet is two fold for me. I LOVE Google. Everything about it. I even don't mind that they save my information and then pull up my searches for me so that it's easier for me to find what I already looked for. (That ladies and gentlemen is how lazy I am, but more of that in another post)

I love "Googling" things. When you say, "I wonder how long it would take to skip from New York to San Diego?" I immediately respond with, "I'll Google it."

My 2nd most loved app (right after Facebook) is Google Maps. I can look at maps all day, in fact, I usually do.

Access to those tools is appealing and useful to me.

But, besides that, the internet is usually a black hole for my confidence. Not always in the way of appearance. Usually it comes byway of comparing where I am in life to others; single vs married, buying vs renting a house, career path vs a job.

A little radical? Sometimes. Irrational? All the time.

I've always wanted to be the best. Not at anything particular, just the best. Not just that, I also want the whole world to know. I'm not a private person and sometimes that's good (for the sake of transparency and openness) and sometimes it's downright annoying. Even to my own ears.

With all that said, the point of this post is not to beat down on myself. It is to say that I realize that constant access to everyone else's lives (or least the perfect ones they display on social media) is not always healthy for me.

I think it's time I move on-er uh, move back? I'm talking, back to 2004, to a time where phones were used for talking, the occasional game of "snake" and had cool names like "razor". I'm ready to be freed from the binds of constant comparison and spend that time living my own life.

Here's to finding more ways to simplify life.  *cheers*

Process-less Food

I have spent a good portion of my life being sick. I have been to countless doctors, some who believe me and others who didn't waste any time on me. The symptoms are plentiful and generic; frequent fevers, chronic fatigue, sore muscles, achy joints, headaches, the ability to have bronchitis for 9 months straight. You name it.

Well, after a lot of frustration, copays, prescriptions and no answers, I gave up. I gave up on conventional medicine to solve my problems. Instead, I started looking at my habits and the way I was living life.

I first changed my sleeping habits. My body has always needed at least 8 hours of sleep a night. Even as a kid, if I got less, meltdowns would happen. Big meltdowns. As I remember this and specifically remember my mother's threats of "no more sleepovers if I'm going to come home acting like this", I decided to put the amount of sleep I get at night as a priority. I always get 8 hours, and sometimes that means going to bed at 8 or 9pm.

I realized that I eat a LOT. Most of it was not good for me. So I tried to tackle this task. I am stubborn and a little lazy when it comes to changing habits, so I knew that starting small and building was the only way I would be successful.

First, I gave up caffeine for a couple months. It was hard. I had a headache for a month straight. I saw some change, but not enough to figure that that was the only issue.

Next, I eliminated gluten from my diet.

This one was tough, but after a month or so, I noticed big changes. More energy, less achiness and fewer headaches.

After more reading and I was convinced that it wasn't as much about gluten or sugar or caffeine as much as it's about the overly processed stuff. My grandmother raised her children eating bread and butter and mashed potatoes and my dad is one of the most in shape people I know.

Why did he get to eat all of that "crap" (by today's standards) and turn out okay?

Because it wasn't processed.

I'm not talking about buying organic, I'll take it one step farther. I'm talking homemade, home grown, processed only in the home food. I don't usually believe in the "organic" movement. That food touches a lot of hands and conveyor belts and without being there in person, I can't say for sure that it is organic. (There's my trust issue coming out).

I realize that is not a revolutionary post. Clean eating is all the rage right now.

There is the rule of thumb that when grocery shopping, you should stick to the outside perimeter or the store. I abide by this for the most part. And I have noticed the difference. When eating breads and sweets, I eat only ones that have been made by scratch by someone I know.

I believe that the way of previous generations is the way to go in regards to food. Heck, I feel that way about fashion and music as well.

With all of that to say, this is partly where the inspiration for the blog started. I want to have a place to record recipes I have found and take notes about transitioning to a simpler life.

Gardening

Last year was my first real experience with a garden.

I loved it.

I was working at the restaurant when we decided to tackle the 40 already made boxes that we had in the front of my house (I lived next door).

My dad sometimes kept a garden while my brother and I were growing up. Whether we had a full garden or not, we ALWAYS had cherry tomato plants on the front yard.

I look forward to the planning and organizing and simplicity of it. Gardens are a lot of work, but for now, in the middle of the winter, I choose to live in a dreamland where crop killing stink bugs and weeds don't exist.

Even in the right mood, I find weeding enjoyable. It's a rewarding and gratifying task as the before and after is usually drastic.

Here is a look at the garden we had last year in front of my house. I plan to plant a lot of the same vegetables and herbs this year.

Spaghetti Squash taking over

Jalapenos! 

I'm not a huge fan of Basil in it's raw state, but I enjoy Pesto

Signs I made for the garden. LOVED this project and I loved the convenience of having one outside of each box.