Grape Picking

Tonight Joe picked our first batch of grapes. Some of them started to drop, though there are still plenty of green ones for later days.
Two grocery bags full and heavy...
Then came the tidy work to do. We sat at the kitchen table to take off all the stems.... We weighed total 10 pounds of grapes with stems off. A good start. We're cooking the grapes to get juice tonight. So I can start our grape jelly making tomorrow.

Grapes... Almost Ready

Joe's grapes have started to color. The vines are covered with so many leaves that you have to stick your head to see the grapes! Maybe by the end of this month we'll be able to can grape jelly again.
And look at the tall sunflowers. We really hope they get to bloom.
There are much smaller sunflowers that survived the chipmunks, too. They take a long time to grow and bloom, but the bright yellow flowers are so cheerful. I love them.

Tortilla Press

Ta-da! We got ourselves a tortilla press last weekend when we were in Green Bay. Of course, I had to try it out as soon as possible.
Even I can crank the handle by myself (unlike when Joe had to press between two cutting boards as hard as he could).
The side kick for our home-made tortilla for dinner that night was grilled pork steak marinaded in home-made Adobo sauce.
They may look a bit rough and imperfect....
But they were chewy and flavorful on their own, I decided that our corn tortilla was the main dish.
Maybe next time I'll try making flour tortilla.

Zucchini Bread

'Tis that season... when we seem to get more zucchini than we know what to do with them (a very good thing we didn't even attempt to grow any ourselves). And these are the huge ones. I decided to make a batch of zucchini bread today. I used a recipe with a hint of cardamon and coffee along with crashed pineapple.
I think I need to make at least two more batches to use up the rest of zucchini!!
The bread turned out very good. A lot lighter than expected. I might really have to make some more zucchini bread.

Gyoza from Scratch, Skin and All

Yesterday we had Joe's dad over for teriyaki chicken dinner. I was determined to make some pot stickers, but needed to go out to buy a package of wrappers. I took my chance with a nearer store in the opposite direction from our usual grocery store in the city. Of course, they didn't carry them. And I was too stubborn to drive all the way into town. I decided to make my own gyoza skins, for the very first time.
Mine turned out to be a lot stretchier and soft than the store-bought kind. I probably put a bit too much water. But then, it would have been harder to handle if it were dry. I halved the recipe, too. I couldn't imagine standing there to complete all 40 round wrappers!!
I was really worried my wrappers were too soft while filling and shaping the pot stickers....
But they were GOOD. I mean the slightly chewier wrappers were actually good. Joe's teriyaki chicken was very, very good, too. Still, the three of us easily finished the plate of genuinely home-made gyoza!
For dessert I had baked a WILD apple pie the night before. Made with the bag of wild apples we picked in Ironwood.
Being served a la mode was a very good thing, because wild apples are not quite sweet as store varieties. Like the rhubarb in spring, wild apple picking only comes around once a year, maybe every other year, depending on the weather and condition. I just have to REMEMBER to safely double my sugar for enough fruit to fill my deep pie dish. But who can resist something that fresh and wild? Especially when you can say you picked from the tree yourself!
P.S. It sure feels like autumn....

Reunion with Tak

This week we went to Ironwood to see Tak, to catch him during his very short stay there, about 36 hours total. The main outing was to hike at Presque Isle River State Park.
That one whole day we had to spend with Tak turned out gorgeous.
Even our tour included a real live deer in store at the end of our hike!
Having crossed a suspension bridge, we came out to say hello to Lake Superior.
Then, while Judy was preparing our dinner, we took a sport car ride out to Little Girl's Point, another spot by the big lake.
Tak riding in a Miata... a rare chance Tak wasn't taking pictures of the rest of us!
Just before dinner Tak got to experience his first wild apple picking by the house. What you see in the photo is a city boy not sure of his place in the wild!
Even got to use a professional looking apple picker!
Finally sitting at the dinner table on the deck to relax and enjoy Tak's company. It's hard to believe it had been almost 10 years since Tak was in Ironwood.
P.S. Dear Tak. Please stay longer next time, so we can take you out shooting, fishing, to State Fair, etc.....

This Week's Projects

The Duke, our new old car, needed breaks done. Joe had purchased all the parts needed and set out on his project this week. Though having had to go back to the store to buy a particular size socket (he thought he had) and exchange some parts (wrong size), Joe completed all four breaks in a couple of evenings.
I watched him take apart break parts (springs and pins and all) and was amazed by the complicated mechanism. To my non-mechanic's mind, Joe's project looked like a brain surgeon's. The car runs and STOPS good now. Thank you, Joe!!
In contrast, my projects didn't get completed. I have two oil paintings that I really need to finish. This one below is almost done.
The Lake Superior painting is coming along, even though I started a lot later than the other one. I still have some work to do in the foreground water. Ah, water... how do you paint water?
Tonight we are taking a little break. We are going to drive the Duke with brand-new breaks up to the Copper Country (2 hours away) to have dinner.