Adjusting...

Part of the adjustment after moving somewhere new is getting used to a new community.  As long as I can remember, I have lived with my family in sprawling suburbia - in several states mind you, but still similar settings.  We always lived in neighborhoods with hundreds of houses (or so it seemed at the time), with grocery stores and gas stations and libraries close by car, a mile or two or ten away, a few close enough to walk to if you planned in advance.  But still, the area was... sprawling and full of people.  After living in Fairwood for over 14 years, we would run into people we knew occasionally when we were out and about - maybe even three people at the grocery store.  But the community was big enough that you could easily go somewhere and not recognize anyone, and it was normal to live, work, and play in three completely different communities surrounding Seattle.  Last year when I was living at home in Fairwood, I worked 40 minutes North in Bellevue, coached for a youth symphony 15 minutes South in Maple Valley, attended church 10 minutes East in Kent, and played in an orchestra that practiced on Mercer Island (25 minutes North) and performed in Seattle (40 minutes Northwest) and Burien (30 minutes Southwest).  

Then in June, I was welcomed to Deer Park, population 3000.  To some extent, the situation is similar.  Many people live in Deer Park but work in Spokane, which is also sprawling.  But the many miles of farmland and rolling pasture separating the two cities seem to make Deer Park more isolated from the big city and connected as its own small community.  It is not unusual for us to drive into Spokane once or twice a week to go to a big store like Walmart.  But when we are in Deer Park, life is definitely "small town".  

We live in a neighborhood of sorts.  But in small town fashion, everything is right here.  We can walk to the doctor and dentist in three minutes.  It takes just as long for us to walk to the post office to get our mail (no mail delivery! - a first for me) as it does to get in the car, start the engine, back out, drive down the street, park the car, turn off the engine, and get out.  Last week, I hopped on my bike from home, ran three errands-bank, grocery store, and redbox-and was home again in a matter of 20 minutes, including travel time.  Some times we even walk our water bill down to City Hall and hand it in over the counter to save a stamp.  It is rather convenient, I must say!  

But the part of small town life that continues to shock me is the people.  I have only lived here 4 1/2 months, but I see people I know everywhere!  Two weeks ago, Caleb and I went on a 1 mile bike ride around town late one Saturday afternoon to go to the farmer's market.  It seemed as if almost every person we passed by yelled out "Hi Caleb".  We ran into 6 different families that we know.  An older couple called out from the doorway of the butcher.  We met a couple from church in the grocery store parking lot and they showed us their new rental car.  A group of kids on bikes hollered from the pizza parlor porch.  We felt like celebrities!

When I walk into the bank by myself to deposit a check, I just hand it over to the teller, no deposit slip required.  They know who I am before they even read the check.  It will be hard to adjust to the waiting in line and filling out deposit slips if we move out of town someday!  

What still continues to surprise me is going to the library, trained as I was to use the automated self-checkouts on the other side of the state.  I feel like I am bothering the librarians when I want to check out, but they don't seem to mind!  In fact, when I walk up to the counter, they automatically retrieve any DVDs I may have on hold, before I open my mouth to tell them my name, as well as the ones for my husband...and sister-in-laws...and brother-in-law...and mother-in-law...and father-in-law :), even though I don't have a clue what their card numbers are, and they let me check them all out for them!  I feel like I'm spying on other people's lives when I go to the hold shelf to retrieve my books, because everywhere I glance I see names I recognize - today just glancing at two short shelves looking for mine, I saw holds for three families from church plus the middle school principal's family.  As I got in the car, I began to mull over the idea for this post; on my home, I stopped in at the post office and ran into a homeschooling family I know from Homelink.  Just recently, I also encountered at the post office the principal from Homelink, the youth pastor from a church in town, and the senior pastor from a church in town, all whom I know by name.  That reminds me, the first week I lived in Deer Park, I had a doctor's appointment, I showed up (and got called Mrs. Fatt instead of Stapp because of receptionist's phone transcribing mistake!) and the doctor said she had seen me walking with my husband to the grocery store the night before.  Small town!  

We enjoy the sense of community here - we stop and watch five-year-old soccer matches at the field when we bike by, we frequent the farmer's market, we play ping-pong with the local teens who hang out at the community youth center after going to high school football games every once in a while.  It is a unique feeling to feel connected and a part of the community.   

Well, I'm still getting used to this whole blog-writing thing, so this may have been a rather boring post to read.  Hopefully though, it was insightful about suburbia girl adjusting to small town girl!

And on an unrelated note, Caleb cooked a delicious Spanish Chicken and Rice Casserole tonight for dinner.  He would like me to note that he did tweak the recipe a bit by omitting the pimento, using brown rice, and substituting home-grown green beans for the bell pepper.  Highly recommended!      

Pizza Dough

Well, here I go with another recipe to share.  This is one I have been using for a couple of years, but I am inspired to share it because it is one of my absolute favorite, fool-proof recipes (which says a lot for a yeast bread!).  Plus, my Mom is currently teaching my youngest brother how to cook and I thought I might convince them to try this recipe since Tim tasted its results when he visited.  


Here is why I love this recipe so much:
1. It takes so little time to make compared to most yeast bread recipes, yet without sacrificing in quality.
2. It uses simple ingredients I usually always have.
3. I can mix up the dough one day and bake it the same day, or the next day, or three weeks later and it works just as well any way!  Has anyone else ever tried to bake frozen homemade yeast dough for rolls or something and come out with a freezer-burned dense brick when it is all thawed and baked?  This has happened to me many times, but NOT with this recipe (granted, these are not rolls).  


Make-Ahead Pizza Dough (adapted from www.finecooking.com)
2 packages active dry yeast
3 cups very warm water
8 cups all-purpose flour (or sometimes, like today, I use half whole wheat/half all-purpose)
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside.  Mix together flour and salt in a mixer bowl (if you have a mixer - I use my Kitchen Aid).  Using a dough hook attachment, add the water/yeast mixture and oil in a steady stream.  Once all of the flour and liquid is mixed together, scrape the soft dough onto a floured surface and knead into a mass, incorporating all the flour and adding more if needed.  No, you do not need to knead the dough at this point. Cut into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a tight, smooth ball.

To use immediately:
Let rise about 45 minutes in a warm place (turn your oven on for a few minutes to warm it up, then turn off).

To use tomorrow:
Place dough balls on a baking sheet lined with a floured dishtowel.  Cover with plastic wrap, leaving room to expand.  Let rise in the refrigerator overnight and remove 15 minutes before shaping.

To use later (up to one month for optimum results):
Place dough balls in ziploc bags and freeze.  Transfer to the refrigerator the night before use, OR to the counter 1 1/2 hours prior.

Shaping and Baking
Press each dough ball into a flat cake, generously dusting each with flour.  Roll out until it is your desired thickness, about 9" across.  Add pizza sauce and toppings of your choice.  Bake at 500 degrees F on the lowest oven rack for about 8 minutes or until edges are golden.

Toppings Caleb's way: Start with a base of Tuscan Traditions brand hot spicy red spaghetti sauce, top with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, bacon, pineapple, and massive amounts of sliced onion, sprinkle Italian seasoning, and (the most important part, he says) generously sprinkle red pepper flakes.

Topping's Elisa's way: Start with a base of homemade alfredo sauce (or ranch dressing), sprinkle garlic powder over the sauce, then add onions, garlic, chicken, fresh diced tomatoes, and green onions.  Top with a very generous sprinkling of additional garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

Harvest Cooking

When the two neighbor boys came to the door with a sack full of fresh-picked fruit from their apple tree, I was thrilled to do some fall cooking to store away for the winter.  Right now I have half of the apples stewing in the crockpot for applesauce, but Sunday I made apple pie filling.  I had never made filling like this ahead of time - I usually just slice fresh apples, toss them with sugar and cinnamon, and pop them into a crust-lined pie dish, but I was pleased with the moist results of this stove-top recipe.

Apple Pie Filling (adapted from allrecipes.com)
18 cups thinly sliced apples
lemon juice
8 cups water
4 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Right off the bat, I refused to peel the apples.  I grew up using an apple-peeler-corer-slicer contraption, which worked well on apples just the right size.  Left to my own devices (aka a knife), I opted to leave the skin on, especially since the apples I was working with were very small and would take a long time to peel.  And, as my Dad would say about potatoes (and I'm sure must be true of apples as well), most of the nutrients are found right in and beneath the skin, so why bother?  For those of you who are wondering, the filling turned out great despite my lack of peeling.  I urge you to do the same and save yourself the work!  

As you slice the apples, toss them in a bowl with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown (although the cinnamon tints the filling brown later, so I'm not sure if it really matters except perhaps the lemon draws out the apple flavor).

Fill a large pot with 8 cups water and heat on the stove.  Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and spices and whisk into the water as it heats.  Bring to a boil and stir constantly while boiling for two minutes.  Add the apples and return to a boil.

Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the apples are tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Cool for 30 minutes.

You can use some of the filling immediately, like I did, and ladle it directly into a pie shell.  I was having difficulty with my pie dough this time, so instead of struggling with the top crust, I packed the dough into a ball, refrigerated it for an hour while I was gone, and used my large-hole grater to shred the dough on top of the pie in German apple pie fashion before dusting with cinnamon sugar and baking as normal.

 The recipe said it would make around five pies, but I used nearly a third of the filling to make one.  It could be that I didn't pack the apples tightly enough when I was measuring, or that I just like to pack my pie shells full of more filling than is normal.  I froze the rest of the filling in two plastic containers.  Once they had frozen solid, I popped the blocks of filling out of the containers and into gallon freezer bags so that I could use the containers for other uses in the meantime.

As a side note, the apple pie recipe I have used in the past makes pies that taste best hot, fresh out of the oven.  This one, however, was even better cold the next day because the filling was so moist.  I'm not sure I'll make them the old way again.  Enjoy!

Signs of Fall

Leaves turning colors

Homemade zucchini bread

The return of scarves and mittens

Cinnamon rolls

Stormy skies

Crocuses?  Yes, a whole row of them recently sprouted in our flowerbeds to our confusion.

Summer Snapshots

Summer for us began June 4^th, 2011.  Not only was it a magnificently glorious, sunny day, but it was the best day of our lives so far as we gathered with over 250 family and friends to commit ourselves to each other before God.

As we drove off from the wedding, we began our honeymoon road trip.  We spent the first night in downtown Seattle at the luxurious, historic Sorrento Hotel after a near-death (not really) experience on the Seattle waterfront involving a horse and a dog the size of a horse (story to be told at a later date).  The next day, we drove a couple hours to the Olympic Peninsula, where we spent three days on Marrowstone Island at the Honeymoon Cabin, a beautifully decorated little house nestled in a gorgeous foresty setting.  The best part was that the kitchen was fully-stocked with generous supplies for us to cook breakfast, bake sweet treats, and grill steaks!  

While on the island, we also enjoyed a 10 mile bike ride, along the way visiting the beach and historic Fort Flagler.  From there, we took the Port Angeles ferry onto foreign soil where we explored Victoria and took another ferry to Mayne Island.  While there, we stayed at the Oceanwood Country Inn and explored the island via moped.  We traveled back to my parents' home and crossed the state two days later to Deer Park.

We welcomed my brother Zach and his friend Andrew for the 4^th of July weekend.  Caleb’s family has organized a God and Country concert for the past thirteen years on 4^th of July, involving their entire family plus dozens of church and community musicians to make up a chorus and orchestra.  Zach and I have driven over to participate in this concert for the past three or four years, so it was different this year to be hosting Zach instead of traveling with him.  We had an old-fashioned picnic at the park during the day, then performed in the evening and watched the town fireworks.

In mid-July, Caleb and I hosted a Backyard Bible Club at our house, assisted by two ladies from our church.  Spread out across town, our church hosted Bible clubs at three locations in different neighborhoods to take VBS to the kids.  Caleb led the games and music while I taught the Bible lesson.  On our highest day of attendance, we had thirteen kids participate and a daily average of about seven.  

Overlapping a few days with the Bible club, my eight-year-old brother Tim got to come visit us for a week by himself.  We had a blast together and the week flew by as we worked in the yard, swam at the pool, and experienced many amusement park rides for the first time at Silverwood Theme Park (thanks to sister-in-law Rebekah for winning free tickets!).  As a hostess gift, Tim brought along some green bean seeds which he planted for us and of which we are still reaping the harvest.

At the end of July, Caleb and I led our church youth group on a mission trip to Rathdrum, Idaho.  We helped with Vacation Bible School, service projects, and a youth outreach event. 

Not long after arriving home from the mission trip, we left town again, this time to help staff Odyssey Children’s Camp.  Caleb headed up the music and recreation portions of camp while I led the 3^rd grade girls Bible study and operated the video projection system.  Although we were exhausted, we had a lot of fun!

August was a month of car searching and job searching. In-between, we enjoyed soaking up summer—fresh corn-on-the-cob, evening bike rides, concerts at the park, church picnic, and young adult group camping trip.  And now it is October!