Breakfast on the Beach

I'm not a beach person, and I hate summer weather. The Wrangler's job requires us to live in Southern California, so we live at the beach because we get some cloud cover now and then, and temps generally are not as warm as inland areas. In the midst of longing for rain, fall foliage, and snow, it's easy for me to forget that there are worse places to live than Laguna Beach.

This weekend Wrangler and I took advantage of the May Gray and had breakfast on the beach with some friends. The rare overcast skies kept a lot of the tourists away. Our little Jack Russell lounged on the boardwalk as we munched on almond bear claws from Scandia Bakery. I guess this is what it's all about.

Urban Chickens

The urban chicken craze is undeniable.  In the past two weeks alone I've read articles on urban chicken coops in at least five mainstream magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post. Apparently, chickens do not require much space, are easy and inexpensive to maintain, and control pests in the garden. A hen lays about an egg a day, so you only need to keep about three to five chickens if you want a dozen fresh and delicious eggs a week. The Wrangler thinks he could stamp out world hunger by giving each person a chicken.

Many cities, including New York City, allow backyard chicken coops. Ordinances typically limit the number of chickens and impose maintenance and fencing requirements. Roosters, which are fairly noisy, often are prohibited. However, a rooster is not necessary (you don't want the eggs fertilized) if you're keeping chickens for the fresh eggs and not for the meat.  

Our neighbor keeps chickens. We see them outside scratching around in the garden in the mornings and early afternoon. The coop is cute and appears to have an ocean view. This is Laguna Beach, after all.  

Loafing Around

I don't know if it's the organic unbleached flour or my homemade honey butter (organic cream, gently shaken in a jar for 10 minutes then drained and rinsed of the buttermilk, mixed with a tablespoon or so of local Laguna Beach honey), but the three+ hours for rising and re-rising was worth it. I can't stop eating this bread. On the other hand, the artisan-style bread made from refrigerated dough that I wrote about yesterday is much more practical for weeknight dinners. It's ready in one hour versus four. But I think I might try to bake traditional loaves every other Sunday.

Artisan Bread and Vintage Stoves

The Denver-based Six-Button Cowgirl recommended the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois), which is premised on the fact that pre-mixed, pre-risen, high-moisture dough keeps well in the refrigerator. Thus, there's no need to make fresh dough daily in order to have fresh bread daily. The system works. I mixed an initial batch and didn't need to proof the yeast, knead the dough, or fuss with the rest-rise-punchdown-rise process. Each day I cut off a portion of the refrigerated dough, allowed it to rest about 40 minutes, then baked it for about 35 minutes. It was easy and enjoyable to do while making dinner, even after a long day in the office.

I prefer traditional loaves over the sourdough-like texture and flavor of artisan bread. But any kind of homemade bread tastes better than store-bought. I guess the real challenge comes from the fact that I have a vintage O'Keefe & Merritt stove, which is beautiful but not always practical. For example, I can't fit a turkey in it. I also can't fit a pizza stone in it--and artisan bread should be baked on a pizza stone. I used a cookie sheet but the bread came out too thick and crusty. I'm going to bake traditional loaves in bread pans to see if a perfect crust is worth the three extra hours.

Fiddler on the...Beach

I'm now the proud owner of a fiddle, of all things. I'm still working on the guitar, and I thought I'd give the piano a try someday. Buying a violin wasn't on my radar until this morning.

After reading the book Made from Scratch (see my blog entry from May 6), I started following the author's blog. This morning, she asked if anyone wants to learn to play mountain music on the fiddle. She'll teach a class if at least 10 people are interested.

She recommended purchasing a 4/4 student violin on ebay for $50. Done and done. It looks like there are about 20 of us who bought our violins on ebay this morning, so lessons are a go.

Dusty Trails

Riding through vineyards on a hot Tuesday morning in Temecula, I was 70-some miles--but worlds away--from the office. Ahhh.

"I'm telling you for the last time, there aren't any cows here"

I'm packing for a mini-vacation that will include a short and leisurely ride on horseback through vineyards. I just dug my Frye boots out of the back of the closet and was thinking about the last time I wore them this past January. I was with the Six-Button Cowgirls on a mule ride to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

The temperatures at the top of the canyon hovered around 30 degrees. The trails, which are narrow and run right along the ledge, were icy and snowy. About a quarter of the way down, the weather started getting better and the trails were dry. By the time we reached the bottom of the canyon, we had beautiful autumn-like weather. Although we weren't fans of the icy trails and cold weather at the top, I think January was a great time to go. We were the only riders assigned to our wrangler, so the trip was like our own private tour of the canyon.

As we plodded along on our trusty mules, we were surrounded by scenery straight out of an old western movie. We felt like the ultimate cowgirls (and may have said so a few too many times, prompting our wrangler to protest that we were nowhere near any cows).

The Cleaning Lady

Sunday mornings I volunteer in the Animal Husbandry department of the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. As an aquarist aide, my job primarily is to clean the fish tanks, which is as glamorous as it sounds. I also prepare delicious meals of raw chopped squid, shrimp, and sardine fillets for the animals. These include an eel, an octopus, a huge sea hare, sea stars, little sand sharks, rays, skates, sea cucumbers, and giant lobsters. Mmmm, lobster.

The job does have its moments. A shark threw up an unfortunate amount of water and slime into my face while I was peering into its open mouth to inspect its goiter. I've been shocked a few times while working with wet electric cords. I once developed an odd rash on my hand. I can't prove it was from cleaning out the parasites from the quarantine tanks, but I have my s'picions.

I don't know that being a volunteer aquarist aide is particularly urban cowgirl-esque, but I think it's Rainy Day Ranch material because it's definitely not a desk job.

Piece of Cake

I spent this afternoon baking and decorating a birthday cake. It's been about a year since I last decorated a cake, so I was a little rusty. I hate baking cakes (they never turn out perfectly for me), so I just used the Sprinkles Cupcake brand lemon cupcake mix but made two 9-inch cakes. It turns out that the cupcake mix makes a very dense cake. I whipped up three batches of my special homemade frosting. Cakes mixes aren't too bad, but I'm pretty picky about my frosting.

I made about 25 roses for the top of the cake, did a basket weave on the sides, and piped little drop-flowers along the bottom. The basket weave looks labor intensive but actually takes only a few minutes.

I guess the weirdest thing about the cake is that it's bright pink with tons of flowers but is for a dude.

Teardrops Are Rolling

I've written a lot about camping lately, which actually is really weird because the last time I went on an overnight camping trip, Clinton was in office. But I have just one more camping-centric entry for a while. I've decided that the Airstream requires too much of a commitment. The smallest version is about $30,000, I don't know where we'd store it, and I don't think the Wrangler's little Saab wagon could pull it. Enter the teardrop trailer. How cute are these?

They weigh in at just 500 pounds, are small enough to store easily in the garage, and start at about $5000. Some come in kits that you can assemble on your own. A top-of-the-line model is about $13,000. Most are custom built. The one pictured here is from Big Woody Campers.

Made from Scratch

Last night I bought a wonderful book, Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life, by Jenna Woginrich. I couldn't put it down until I finished it early this morning. Jenna is a 20-something urban cowgirl who works in an office by day and lives in a rented house. Like many of us urban cowgirls, she dreams of owning a country ranch with amazing views. But she's focusing on the things that she can do until she's able to quit her desk job. For example, she taught herself how to bake, sew, spin wool, raise chickens, keep bees, grow vegetables, and play the fiddle. As she states, if the world stopped, her life at home would continue pretty much as usual.

Ironically, homesteading (producing her own food, tending to her small livestock, etc.) made Jenna happier at work. So maybe all I need to do to keep the BigLaw blues at bay is get some chickens and bees...

Urban Camping

I haven't been camping since an ill-fated trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota in 1997. Since then, I've tried camping on two occasions and ended up with hives both times. I've been told that there's no such things as being allergic to camping, but I'm not convinced. At any rate, lawyering day after day has driven me to try to move past any real or psychosomatic allergies to camping. Who wouldn't dream of a little fresh air and solitude after a long week of reviewing energy services agreements?

Just as I was contemplating how best to ease back into the camping game (not that I ever was in it to begin with), our friends hosted a night of camping without the camping. They rented a campsite in Trabuco Canyon, which is just 30 minutes away. We had a delicious outdoor dinner, made old-school treats (s'mores and campfire pies), and enjoyed the company of our pets and friends as we lounged by the fire. At around 11 PM, we headed home for warm showers and a good night's sleep in our own comfy beds. Now that's the way to camp!

Art and Sea

This morning the Wrangler and I met up with some friends for a workshop hosted at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center here in Laguna Beach. The Center, which operates 24/7, rescues and rehabilitates seals and sea lions that are found injured along the coast. With over 70 sick animals at any given time, the Center relies on four full-time employees, including a veterinarian, and 80 volunteers. Staff feed each animal intravaneously four to five times a day (except for the animals that are healthy enough for competitive feeding). Two people are needed to administer food--one to secure the animal, and another to handle the feeding tube. The Center goes through 400 pounds of fish per day.

During the tour led by one of the Center's board members, we observed the staff preparing to release several sea lions back into the wild and got a behind-the-scenes look at the medical facilities.

After the tour, an artist led a sea lion clay-sculpting and painting exercise. My sea lion looks like one of those super cheesy Hallmark store figurines but not as nice.

I know that observing sea lion rescue operations and then sculpting said sea lions is not exactly an urban cowgirl adventure, but such is life when the "ranch" is in a beach town.

New Gig

I'm so excited to get this Little Martin Cowboy V. It's a laminate/composite--so it's strictly a novelty guitar. But I have a Little Martin Felix III, which is pretty much the same as the Cowboy V, and I love it! It travels well and has that Martin sound. It's the type of guitar you can bring on the subway or camping or to the beach (not that I'd play a guitar at any of those places, LOL) without worrying about it getting damaged by the elements.

The Cowboy V would be perfect for the next Six-Button Cowgirls trip. I'm disappointed that there isn't a custom gig bag for the Cowboy series. My Felix III came with the cutest gig bag embroidered with a Felix. I'm trying to think of a way to make a silk screen of the Cowboy V graphic and sew it onto a gig bag. I suspect it will look makeshift, but I'll see what I can do.