Wow!  Has it been this long again.  I started the following post back in September.  Funny, it's too good not to share.  

It has been an eventful week.  Sunday started it off - I got off early so I could watch the Seahawks and Niners play.  Mother Nature had another idea - how about a serious thunderstorm with sudden winds at 55mph, hail, rain, blowing dirt, blowing gravel, and lightening.  It took 3 of us to hold the RV awning down so it wouldn't blow away - in the meantime the TV we were sitting outside watching the game on got soaked.  

Bob, our friend Jeff, and I got soaked to the skin trying to get everything taken care of outside.  After we all got dry clothes we decided to get dinner ready and watch the game inside.  Of course our fun wasn't over the power went out and when it came back on we remembered . . . you can't run the oven and the front AC unit at the same time.  Whoops.  Breaker flipped and the back AC on, oven back on, and sub sandwiches in the oven. Game time.  

Of course you had to know that food would be involved!  Jeff brought dinner - Italian sub sandwiches from a local store.  I opened them up and tossed the soggy lettuce and tomato, then spread them with this wonderful spread. 

To make the "Jeffwiches" I opened a 1/2 pint jar of the peppers I pickled last month (oh these babies aren't going to last long!) drained them, and added them to the food processor along with 1/2 cup of Gertie's artichoke pesto.  Simple way to really make a store bought sandwich shine. If I'd been thinking I would have added some feta cheese to the spread.

I wrapped the sandwiches in foil and put them in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes.  They were so good!  I was too tired to take a picture of them . . . sigh.

This week I'll start canning tomatoes and pickling some habanero peppers from our little bush.  I know it seems crazy to "can" all this stuff in heavy glass jars when we are planning on hitting the road - but having a supply of wonderful goodies is going to be worth the weight.  We have pickled beets, raspberry jam, pepper jam, pickled peppers & pickled jalapenos so far.  It'll be nice this winter to open a jar of summer.

We've also got several pounds of home made bacon in the freezer.  It'll go fast, but we're taking the smoker on the road with us so we'll be able to make more.  There's also the chance that we'll make new friends to share some of our treasures with. 

Habaneros - fresh from the garden just waiting for the pickling
solution.  Bob will enjoy these over the winter.

It looks like we got really busy with the canning, packing, and getting things ready to go while working . . . It was hard work, sorting what would stay at the Golf Course to wait for our return and what we'd take on this new adventure with us.  We knew that we were coming to California, we wanted to be close to my oldest daughter so that we could give her a hand when she needs it.  We wanted to be closer to my youngest daughter, our Grand Children, and old friends.  

More to come on our new adventure in CA.

Dereliction of Duty . . . Again

It occurred to me today that it has been so long since I've posted anything that I wound up spending half the day trying to log in to Blogspot.  A computer crash lost all my logins so it was a challenge - until I suddenly remembered.  Then I discovered it's been almost 2 years! Of course, this was going to be a blog about our travels . . . and so far we haven't done much of that.  It was also going to be about the food . . . and there has been a lot of that!  

Living in an RV offers it's own set of challenges to people who LOVE food and love to grow their own food.  This year we expanded our "garden" area and the results are wonderful.

 Our jalapeno plant went nuts on us and produced enough peppers (so far) for some pickled jalapenos and some pepper jam. We also had enough to add some to some wax peppers our lovely Niece Kim gave us for some more pickled peppers.  If you can imagine canning anything in an RV "kitchen" you will understand how precious each of these jars of home made goodies are.  I've got raspberry rhubarb jam, and pickled beets all done. 

Beautiful Porchetta!  Seasoned with fresh sage pesto.

Our expanded garden area also has, at last count, 6 or 7  beautiful butternut squashes growing.  Bob and I love butternuts so we are pretty happy about that.  There are so many wonderful recipes that can be made with them   I can't wait for the first roasted butternut - just cubed, tossed with some olive oil, salt & pepper, and some herbs from the garden (thyme and sage), the roasted at 375 until tender and the edges are caramelized.  It just screams fall to me & It would be perfect with Porchetta, hot and crispy out of the smoker!   Bob makes a perfect Porchetta - lightly smoked and crispy skinned with juicy pork rubbed with a sage pesto straight from our garden.  

As summer winds down my mind begins to think of all the wonderful fall foods while we're still feasting on the summer bounty. Our tomatoes are still loaded, the herbs are still lush.  

The golf course is beautiful in the afternoon sun!

Sage Hills Golf & RV Resort has to be one of the most beautiful places we've ever lived.  It's like an oasis in the middle of high desert farms, surrounded by sage brush and tumbleweeds.  I just thought I should share the view out of the kitchen window of the motor home.  I love the changing view - the sunsets and summer skies reflected in the pond are beautiful.