Crab Pot Bounty

Today my mom and I set out the crab pot rigged with a frozen turkey leg in the hopes of capturing some dungeness crabs. When we first brought the pot up there was no luck, but thankfully, a neighbor in a nearby boat said that in order to attract any crabs we would have to use smashed up clams instead, which he so graciously supplied. When we pulled it up a second time, much to our surprise, there were 8 crabs! One nuzzled their way out right before we brought the pot in the boat but I could tell he/she would have been far to small to keep. 

In Washington State, in order to keep and eat the crabs you catch they mush be male and the shell must be 6 and 1/4 inches across. Out of the seven we had left, 4 were keepers! Now personally I am not a fan of any kind of shellfish but just the feeling of catching something was an award in itself. 

To be completely honest, I think crabs are super creepy and just being in the same boat of a pot full of them makes my heart pound and my skin get goosebumps. The worst torture would be putting me in a small space with a crab. Hunter (the cat) agrees. He inspected the bucket full that was on our back porch and decided that he was in no mood for sushi.

Later my mom cooked them up and I cleaned them and they are all ready for eating tonight! A bunch of family is coming over to the cabin to visit before my parents leave. I am making some homemade pasta for everyone and my mom already made some homemade rhubarb pie (which we may have accidentally had a small taste of this morning..). The weather is perfect and I don't think I am quite ready to say goodbye to my parents yet. But I can enjoy their company as much as possible until then!

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Banana Muffins

MMMMM 

We had tons of bananas here, far too many to eat before they went bad so we made banana muffins. Personally, bananas are my favorite fruit and also my mom's least favorite food, she can barely even stomach the smell so I was very surprised when she asked me to bake these muffins.

They tasted absolutely delicious and I now have my first recipe for my recipe stash. Below is my first go at a GIF! (all pronunciations are welcome). I am super excited that I made something really good, my mom and aunt are teaching me how to bake and cook to prepare me for real life haha.

Here is the link to the recipe and I would suggest adding 1 to 1&1/2 cups of chopped walnuts or pecans for added texture and flavor.

Enjoy!

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Blackberry Picking!

Today whilst sitting on my bed, tortured with the boredom of being probably the only person under 50 in the 20 mile radius surrounding me, I figured I would go pick some blackberries!

Just the other night, I was walking with my mom and on the way back we ran into a full grown female deer and she walking right up to me (well about 5 feet away from me) and I think if I had an apple she definitely would have come eaten out of my hand. Instead I picked some nearby berries and threw them to her and she chomped them up. The berries were super ripe so I figured I would use my spare time to go and try and pick enough for a pie! 

The beautiful berries themselves.

If you look close enough you can see the millions of tiny splinters in my fingers. SO WORTH IT THOUGH.

My beautiful bounty of berries.

I love the connection you get to your food through gathering it yourself. It feels as though you have really earned your beautiful dessert especially when blood and sweat is shed (are shed?). My english teacher aunt is visiting so I am suddenly hyper-aware of my terrible grammar. Tomorrow we are baking the pie for a few friends as a gift and I am so excited for them to enjoy it!

Also Panic! at the Disco is coming out with a new CD in October and I am beyond excited! Here is one of their early releases and when they go on tour you know who will be first in line for tickets (this girl)!

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Dad's Birthday Dinner

Yesterday my mom and I both spent the entire day in the kitchen. Now, I don't know how to cook necessarily but I can follow recipes and I am getting better at eye-balling it and such. But I was not prepared for what we did yesterday. I started peeling the stems off of basil and spinach at 11am for the homemade pasta we decided to make. From then on it was cooking all day. It was a very cool experience overall. It was also exhausting. Having a genuinely home cooked meal is a pretty special deal and takes a lot of time and effort.

Homemade spinach, basil fettuccine in alfredo sauce (recipe here) we also added in chicken, carrots, and mushrooms after this picture was taken.

My beautiful little pastas, so much blood sweat and tears. But next time it'll be much easier now that I am more seasoned at it (seasoned hehe).

And to finish off a perfect dinner, my mom made a delicious mint chip ice cream brownie cake with Andes mints and fudge.

All in all it was an absolutely delicious dinner and dessert and even more so a beautiful evening spent with family and friends. I was so happy to make my dad that delicious dinner. He is a year older, but he still has a long way to go. 

When I was finishing up high school he had just gotten a job in San Diego. He lives there during the week and comes home every weekend, I never knew how important he was until he was barely there, doing what he has to do for our family. Just his presence in the house makes everything so much better. Now that I pretty much live in Washington, maybe when he retires he will move up! I can dream.

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Happy Birthday Dad!