Thursday, August 2, 2012

A Hike, Baked Potatoes, A Garden, and Girlfriends

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Jessica.

She liked the outdoors, carbohydrates, vegetables, and her friends. Just like any normal teenager. (Well, and shopping - but that doesn't go with this post.)

Luckily, all of these things were incorporated in my weekend and the last few days!

I have been seriously wanting to go on a hike since I got physical activity back (which I'm still super excited about!), and I am so happy to have been able to hang out with my awesome friend, Kerri!

Check out her Camelback!

Kerri picked me up at about 2:00 Sunday afternoon, and we headed out on a great trail with cool 18th century "ruins." I thought that smack in the middle of the day was an odd time to be hiking, but the shade from the trees made it feel fantastic out!

It was a fairly moderate hike, and I quite enjoyed stepping over the rocks around the river. It was most definitely a beautiful view.

 

Proof of hundreds of years of erosion:


After crossing a small section of the river, we came across the ruins. Kerri said this was most likely an old paper mill.




From the inside:


And from the opposite side, up the hill:


Kerri and I marveled over what this would have looked like 150 years ago.



There was a huge cicada shell directly in front of me in this picture.


It really was a wonderful time, and a pretty moderate hike, so I felt great afterwards. We did stop for a snack break in the middle, and I had a Clif bar upon returning home.
When I got home, it was time to make dinner - and it was Baked Potato Night! The Madre and I made homemade salsa - all the veggies (besides the onion) were fresh from our garden!

A myriad of tomatoes that we boiled for a minute and then peeled:


 In go the other half of the tomatoes, and half an onion:




Blend, blend, blend away, but don't puree. (Hey, that rhymed!)



Then we needed some jalapenos (pronounced juh-lap-e-nohs) from the garden, so the Madre and I picked some fresh from our garden.



We were also psyched that our green beans are growing! There's a ton of them! We both squealed with excitement when we noticed them.


Back to the salsa, I added in about 5 or 6 smallish jalapenos, the rest of the tomatoes, garlic powder (we would use fresh garlic if we had some), lime juice, and salt (none measured). I blended it so that there were little chunks, but you can blend it to your desired consistensy. Then pour into a bowl and serve, but it's much better if you refridgerate it overnight.



We obviously didn't have time to refridgerate it, so it was a tad bubbly, but still spicy and delicious! Salsa is so versatile, so you can add anything you like. Cilantro seems to be popular in salsa, but I hate the taste of cilantro, so...none for me!

For Baked Potato Night we had a selection of maiz, frijoles negros, queso, cebollas, y salsa.


Contrary to popular belief, white potato = delicious + nutritious. Don't ignore the white potato, I beg you.


This was definitely a feel-good dinner. It had that filling, warming, comfort-food feel and taste, but it was still nutritious. Pshyah.

Monday, my lovely chicas came over for a last summer hoorah.







Then.......off to school for me! Sophomore!

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