Where have I been? Where am I going?

Last week Jared and I decided to embrace an opportunity to buy a home and so we are moving to Salt Lake City, Utah in about three weeks.

The suddenness of the out-of-state move has put me in a strange, strung-out mood which I haven’t felt in a couple of years.

Daily, I am getting a lot done and yet feel as if nothing is being accomplished.

So far, we’ve decided on using ABF U-Pack to move our things. It costs the same or less than a rental truck and they drive for us. I’ve also gone ahead and paid our last’s month rent, sold a LOT of extraneous valuables (1976 Dodge Tradesman, iBook G4, furniture, etc.), and filed our taxes. All of the utilities have been canceled and pre-paid where possible. Jared and I have packed about thirty boxes already.

I’ve also set up a shop on Amazon.com to sell smaller things which we don’t want/need: http://www.amazon.com/shops/sleepies

So we are packing up and moving on to our next adventure. I can’t wait to see what awaits me in Utah. I’m also trying to enjoy as much of this California spring-time as possible.

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Wine Tasting at Drytown, Convergence, Nine Gables

Amador County is home to over thirty wineries. Yesterday, Jared and I went wine tasting with a couple of friends, and we only got to three of them. The weather was spring-like with crisp clear air. This was my first trip to Amador and the landscape is beautiful.

Our first stop was Convergence Vineyards, which was hosting a “soups ‘n’ sips” tasting. One of the soups was cheeseburger soup, a first for me!

After sampling their sparkling wine, white wine, red wine, and a port, we left with the 2006 Mourvedre and 2007 Gnarly Vine Zinfandel. I really liked the light berry and smoke flavor of the Mourvedre. Jared was so impressed with their reds that he chose the Zinfandel even though it wasn’t available for tasting.

Next we stumbled upon Drytown Cellars. We had so much fun here chatting with the owner, Allen Kreutzer, and discovering a new varietal, Malvasia Bianca.

I really liked how the tasting room was not a tasting room at all, but a counter with stools inside the winery. We tasted many white wines, a couple reds, and a dessert wine. We left with the 2008 Malvasia Bianca, which has an amazing floral flavor.

Allen also suggested we try what he calls “the baby maker” - Kirigin Cellars Vino de Mocca - a California grape wine with coffee, orange and cocoa. Jared and I bought some of this as well, but we’ll stash it away for later.

Our last stop was Nine Gables Vineyard, and by this time my poor tongue was quite burnt out on sampling so many great wines. We tried a few wines, and I was immediately impressed with the almond flavored sparkling wine. In addition to the sparkling wine, we also bought a bottle of the 2006 Merlot.

I didn’t get any pictures at Nine Gables, but I suppose that is just a good reason to return.

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Eat your (radish) greens!

Gardening has taught me to use the whole plant. It just seems wrong to me to plant a seed, watch it grow, rip it out of the ground, and toss over half the plant away. Hence cooking with radish greens. I love radishes, which grow one bulb from one seed. They spend so much energy producing beautiful, leafy green tops that it’s tragic to throw them out - even if it’s on the compost pile.

Radishes (like most vegetables) are full of nutrients. They are a very good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin C, Folate and Potassium. In addition, it’s a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Magnesium, Copper and Manganese. The green tops have all of these nutrients, plus more Vitamin C, Calcium and protein.

Because they are slightly hairy and have a strong peppery and sometimes bitter flavor, I like to chop the leaves finely and add to raw salads. Since it’s been cold out, I sliced them thinly and added them to a cooked salad.

Red cabbage sauteed with elephant garlic and radish greens

This is really quick and simple to make. I chose elephant garlic, because it has a sweeter flavor which balances the strong flavor of the radish greens.

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
2 cloves elephant garlic, halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise thinly (see Notes below)
1 small red cabbage head, cut into 1/2 inch slices and quartered
1 small bunch of radish greens, chiffonade

Method
Heat the oil and salt over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic until it begins to brown. Add cabbage and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow the cabbage to brown a bit. Next add the radish greens and cook, stirring frequently, until they turn bright green and wilt: about 1 minute. That’s it!

Notes
If you can’t find elephant garlic, use less garlic. Mince it and caramelize it over slightly lower heat.

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Puppytron seems happier

I am so proud of the puppytron. Crate training has been improving slowly but surely. Today was such proof that we’re on the right path with our dog.

Today, Jared and I took Rhys for a short walk around the neighborhood. Then, we locked him in his crate, fed him dinner, and went out for about an hour and a half. When we got home, there was no whining! He was in his crate, happy to see us but not crying or whimpering.

Big step! So we were able to let him out and spend time with him right away instead of waiting for him to calm down.

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My Second Feral Kitten Rescue

There is a colony of stray and feral cats living in our neighborhood. About six weeks ago, Jared and I rescued three feral kittens from our yard. We took them in, because we wanted to socialize them, spay/neuter them and adopt them out to permanent homes. All of this is in an attempt to minimize the number of unwanted kittens in this world. Every day, shelters put perfectly healthy and friendly cats and dogs to sleep for a lack of loving, permanent homes. Not spaying/neutering can only add to the problem.

Our neighbor graciously offered to adopt one. One of them had an injured leg, and she took him in. Unfortunately, he died just a few hours later. She then adopted another kitten, leaving us with just one. It’s much easier to socialize a single kitten, because then all it knows is humans.

It took about two weeks for the kitten to let us pet her and hold her. After that, though, it was extremely easy. She let me pet her belly and lift her up without clawing or biting me. We kept her for another four weeks just to make sure she was friendly and tame.

A couple days ago, I posted an ad on craigslist.org with some photos and the response was overwhelming. I am so thankful that there are so many people out there willing to take in a kitten. Overall, it was a very fulfilling experience, despite the numerous scratches, two bites, and many cat/dog fights.

Here she is! (Click the photo to be taken to my Flickr page, where you can see more.)

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