Fly casting lessons

I can't really remember how long ago it was...3 years, I think.  It was a day spent searching out new blogs when I came upon one named Knitting Mania.  When I found out that Pat and Chris were building their dream home in Montana, I knew I had to read further.  Yes, it was within miles of where we spent each summer.  Long story short, we have become great friends.  Though we only see each other in the summer, we do correspond during the rest of the year.

So last night we were invited to dinner at their beautiful home.  One small request was that the trout give them some fly fishing lessons.  He was more than happy to teach his beloved sport of fly casting to Chris and Pat.

Chris actually caught on quite quickly.....

As did Pat.

The Trout left the rod behind so that they can practice, and in a couple of weeks, they will come over to our modest travel trailer for dinner and a walk down the stream.

A Blogger Meeting in Drummond

Well, it is time to get back on schedule.  Even though my balloon went Pftzt...things are getting back to normal.  The Trout is doing well, though full strength is still a few weeks off.  With his staples removed this week and post-op check with the surgeon, he has rules to follow, but we both are doing well.  In fact, I went with him yesterday as he leisurely walked a trout stream for about 1/2 hour.  It's a good thing!!

My week started off with such fun.  I drove to small town Drummond to have lunch with a blogger friend from Oregon who was passing through Montana.  If you were in grade school like me in the 50's, I am sure you also had a "pen-pal."  I had several from Japan, Pakistan and Cuba.  There were long times between letters, but such excitement to read what others, my age, were doing in different countries.

Meeting Diana and Pete was like that pen-pal experience, only I would call it "blogger-pal."  Diana and I have been corresponding back and forth for a couple of years now.  When you read a blog on a regular basis, you really get to know the writer.  We started talking like we had just seen each other a week or so ago.

The Trout was not up to having lunch with us yet, so he missed seeing this friendship grow.  We hope to change that next year and meet up again with these delightful friends.  Diana and Pete are quite the gardeners and live in a beautiful part of our country.  If you do not know her, I hope you will check her blog, "Voice in the Garden" and see the magic they have performed on their property.

Diana and Pete, thank you so much for the friendship.

Such great bread!!

On my "to do" list for quite some time was Ann's bread recipe from her fantastic blog,
Thibeault's Table.  If you have not looked at Ann's blog, take a moment.  I have admired this woman for quite some time.  Her recipes sound delicious, are delicious and her photography is the very best!

I baked one loaf today and was very pleased with it.  The other half of the dough is in the refrigerator waiting for me to make Flammkuchen sometime this weekend. 

Ann, I don't know why I waited so long to try this.  Oh yes, I do.  I knew I would keep on eating it until it was gone because it tastes that great.  Thanks!

Tuna with a Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce

This is another favorite recipe of ours that I have not blogged about yet.  We have been making this cream sauce for tuna since 2002.  It is that good!!  It was found on Epicurious  at that time.  In the past, we have even used this sauce on salmon.  Today, we vary it somewhat, because a trip to the big city was just not in the cards.  So, instead of fresh shiitake mushrooms which I saw last week at Whole Foods....darn...we are using Portobellos which are really, just as tasty.

The recipe is for 6, but we are cutting it down for the two of us.  Other than changing the mushrooms, we follow it exactly and it is always a winner!!

Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce

6 6-ounce tuna steaks, each about 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons peanut oil

3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, chopped
8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Preheat over to 200 degrees F.  Sprinkle one side of tuna steaks with pepper.  Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy, large skillet over high heat.  Place tuna steaks, pepper side down in hot oil and sear 2 minutes.  Turn tuna over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about 2 minutes for rare.  Transfer tuna to rimmed baking sheet to keep warm in oven.

Add butter, sliced green onions, cilantro, ginger and chopped garlic to same skillet and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Mix in mushrooms and soy sauce and simmer 30 seconds.  Add whipping cream and simmer until sauce lightly coats back of spoon, about 3 minutes.  Stir in lime juice.  Spoon sauce onto plates; arrange tuna atop sauce.  Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro springs, if desired.

The Trout says this sauce would taste great on anything.  I know some of you do not like cilantro.  I truly believe there is no substitute for this herb.  As you can see by the photo, we did throw in a few shrimp because we just love them!!

Before I finish this posting, I would like to introduce you to a most wonderful blog.  Living Tastefully
is a delightful blog written by two sisters, Eileen and Susan.  They come from my part of the world...a small German village in Iowa.  We went to high school together although they both are a lot younger than me ..sigh.  Susan is the antique collector and Eileen is the baker, chef.  Together, they do beautiful things. They both have a love of Germany and France.   Eileen's pastries would rival any French Pâtisserie.  Take a moment to stroll through beautiful photographs, humorous stories, fantastic foods and home decorating that will awe you.  Tell them Susan sent you.  You won't be disappointed.

Spicy Chicken Soup--Round 2

Every time I make this wonderful soup, I am reminded that I should make it more. Blogger friends Dustye and Chris shared this recipe with us last year. It is a simple recipe, a very good recipe, and it should be made more often.

We woke up to a dusting of snow this morning in the mountains. I believe it was 31 degrees during the night. It all disappeared by 9 a.m., but it did stay below 50 all day. So, this soup with just what the doctor ordered.

I will link you back to my previous post of this soup and recommend you try it. It is excellent, especially when the weather gets a little colder.

The link to my previous post is here.

The best potato dish

My photo is not the best, but I just had to share this wonderful potato dish. I found it on blogger friend, Cathy's blog, Wives with Knives. Cathy got the recipe from another blog I read, Moveable Feasts. I used a borrowed cast iron skillet from my neighbor since there wasn't one in the cabin. It was square, but I made it work. By the way, the second time I made it, the onions were browned a little more and it looked a lot better. Unfortunately, it disappeared before a photo opportunity.

This is so much easier than any scalloped potato dish, and I think it tastes so much better. Surprisingly, all the cheese that is used just kind of disappears into the potatoes to flavor them way over the top!!

Potato, Walla Walla Onion and Gruyere Galette

2 1/2 tablespoons butter
12 sprigs thyme
1 large sweet onion, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
3/4 to 1 pound waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced (I used Yukon Gold)
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup Gruyere, grated
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated
sea salt and cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the butter in a 9-10 inch frying pan over medium heat. (Cast iron works great). Add the thyme and onion and cook for 5 minutes. I did not turn over the slices of onions. Just browned them on one side. Place the potato, oil and Gruyere and mozzarella and salt and pepper into a bowl and toss to combine.

Top the onion mixture with the potato mixture and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Turn upside down on a large plate. Enjoy.

We are adjusting to beautiful Montana!!

We are in Montana and adjusting to the change in our lives. The mornings are very cool (this Floridian thinks COLD). See the steam coming off the lake this morning at about 6 a.m? The air is crisp and refreshing. By late afternoon, the temperature can be up to mid 80's. I believe it got down to the low 40's this morning. I have put up the thermometer today to keep track of the temps. It is something my father always did and I guess I inherited this trait from him. I want to know what the temperature is before I take the dog out in the morning. It makes the walk much more enjoyable because I can dress accordingly.



Last year, The Trout and I met up with Pat and Chris, Californians, who are building a beautiful home right out here in Montana where we have been spending the summer for quite a few years. I first met Chris through a blog she writes entitled "Knitting Mania". We met last night to reconnect and had dinner in a lovely restaurant in Philipsburg. Because we read each other's blogs during the year, we just walked right into the present as if we had never left.

Below is the view Chris and Pat from their new home. I know many of you saw the full moon last night also. Isn't it amazing? The moon for all to see and everyone sees it in a different setting.

We drove about 3300 miles in 2 weeks until we reached our destination, Montana. We were fortunate along the way to visit my brother, both daughters, dear friends, a cousin of the Trout's, attended the wedding of the son of our dear friends and stopped to enjoy the beauty of our world.

Below you see the beauty of the Painted Canyon in Teddy Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. We were so pleased to see that the land was quite green. It is a great spot to stretch the legs and absorb all the magnificence before us.

Things are different for us now. We are now connected to the Internet with broadband access, so I am much more diligent in using my minutes. I am not reading as many blogs as I would like to, but still getting a good dose of "blogger friendship" every day. The Trout is already out, his second day of fly fishing. I have my books to read and some "messed up" knitting that I need to correct, and some knitting that has been severely neglected. Life slows down and it is a good thing.

Florida + California = Montana!!

So, when a blogger from Florida (me), meets two bloggers from California, bring along the husbands to celebrate Chris and Pat's 26th anniversary, the fun and laughing never stops.

This is Chris, above picture, from Knitting Mania.

We are eating dinner at a great restaurant in Philipsburg, Montana, The Philipsburg Cafe.

Chris and Pat are slowly building their retirement home in Philipsburg. They come out a couple of months every summer to continue the work. I would guess we'll see a lot of each other each summer. So great getting to know you, Chris.

This is another blogger friend from California, Dustye from Dustye's Kitchen.

Dustye and her husband, Ed, have been friends of Chris and Pat's for quite some time. It's been fun getting to know them as they are spending some time out here in Montana helping Chris and Pat with their new home.

Dustye, I'm sure we'll connect and I am thrilled to have a new friend to place FARKLE with on Facebook.

As you can see, I did not give the guys much of a chance to look up. They were very busy eating this wonderful meal set before us.



So, here we have the three bloggers. Isn't it amazing how the Internet has brought us together? We look forward to getting to know each other better in the future.

Another new blogger friend

What can be more thrilling than meeting a fellow blogger. Well, I did that in July when the Trout and I met The Milk Man's Wife. Now I have topped that. The Trout and I went into Philipsburg, Montana, for lunch today and I met blogger friend number 2, Chris from Knitting Mania.


Chris and her husband are from California and are step by step building their retirement home out here in Montana. We are looking forward to sitting down with them sometime this summer to share a bottle of wine and to get to know each other. I find it so amazing that the computer has the capacity to bring so many people together who would never meet otherwise. You can get to know people rather well by reading their writings every day and they in turn, get to know you. I am just loving it! Oh by the way, check out the background of this picture. It was taken in the little shop where Chris is working. We talked so much, didn't even browse around. Will have to go back.

We made a little stop on the way home to check out some more Montana rental property. We could probably manage alright in this place, but not too sure if we want to get involved with the neighbors. It just might get to be a stinky situation.

We have such great new friends!

All right! I am doing the unimaginable! Schnitzel and Trout met the MilkMan's wife and the MilkMan today and everything clicked perfectly. What wonderful people and we met lots of the family also. The boys are are such handsome young men. Beautiful children! I got a cute picture of The Trout holding Milk Dud. This little child is just oozing love. They treated us like the best of family and we had so much in common with the Norwegian and German ancestry. We talked and laughed like we were friends and family forever. We got to see the dairy farm where a newborn calf had just been born today.

These are dear, very hard working people who live life to the fullest. And for an ending to this beautiful story...hold on to your hats...a picture of the MilkMan's wife on the left and Schnitzel on the right. This is when blogger friends meet for the first time and connect because they have so much in common. We already miss you Heidi and MilkMan, and really hope to see you again in the fall. And Big Son, I do promise to show you pictures of the trout that The Trout catches in Montana. Take care, dear friends. We have had a wonderful afternoon with you, our new friends.