Coal Creek Farm » Some of my friends

Getting Senior Pictures

April — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:15:47 +0000

This is my sweet, dear friend Kiana giving Ellen some pointers before she started shooting her Senior pictures. I can’t believe this is her last year of high school. It’s crazy!

It made such a difference having Kiana take the photos simply because Ellen was at ease with her. I can’t wait to share some of them with you, they are absolutely fabulous!

I’m not sure where the past 18 years went, but it has been a great journey watching Ellen grow into a young lady. I hope this year slows down a bit so I can enjoy her a tiny bit longer.

Everyone needs a Melanie

April — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:34:35 +0000

We’re headed to Missouri to meet up with our friends Bryan and Melanie for a long weekend. The problem is our friends have just returned from a very long vacation and are still recovering from travel fatigue. Clay and I are in the thick of work, school, house project, animals…you know…life. So, the conversation I’ve been having with Melanie over the details of this weekend are pretty funny.

Melanie enjoying her enormous treat from Ted Drewes this summer.This was also the weekend that she broke her foot and kept walking around on it wearing high-heeled flip-flops.

I’m certain that the only thing we really need to pack is booze and chocolate. Booze for Melanie, chocolate for me.

Here’s the email Melanie sent me in its entirety, it was too good not to share. If you don’t have a Melanie in your life, you need to go find one.

Well at least you had a goal of intending to take a shower. I didn’t even add that one to my to-do list for the day.

How about snacks? I’ll bring almonds, hummus and broccoli, some chips, and s’mores. Can we have s’mores every night? I like s’mores. I like chocolate. I also like those cheese curds you bought last time from that Amish store. I didn’t like the pies though. Please do not buy their pies again. I will be tempted to try them and they will taste bad. I think we need an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen too. Are you bringing your dog? We are bringing a dog with us. I will also probably bring a whole slew of wrong items. We are going grocery shopping on our way down and we usually end up with an odd assortment of stuff like cereal boxes but no milk, smokies but no bbq sauce, and pork steaks but no breakfast items. It just depends on our mood as we walk down the aisles and at what point we decide our cart is full before we’ve made it all the way through the store. I’m hoping to hit the alcohol aisle first. Don’t tell anyone, but we bought Isabelle a shot glass from Cozumel because it was really cute. My second aisle will be the candy aisle. It’s all about priorities. I will buy all the candy my heart desires and I will justify it because I know that Clay will like it all even more than I do. When we get to the cabin, I will hide it all from the children. I will put it up high. Where only, well, never mind. Maybe I’ll hide it down low. This is a problem. Where can we hide the candy? I’ve seen our children all together. A full bag on candy deflates within seconds. It’s almost amazing, if it wasn’t so depressing that all the chocolate is then gone.

Pie Prep

April — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:25:01 +0000

“OMG! I get to eat pie all day!”

After staying up way too late on Friday night talking and laughing and being ornery (that story later), we all got up to see that Pam was already up getting everything ready for the pie workshop.

This is Meseidy from The Noshery, she is a culinary student in Tulsa. Her instructor and she are friends with Ree and they came down to help prepare everything for Pie Fest 2011.

This is what Pam and her daughters had prepared on Friday. Pam made little cut outs of different pie crusts using different fats for everyone to taste. Ree has a post on it today. I thought this was such a great idea, we all got to taste the different ways people make pie crust and there is a HUGE difference when it comes to using different fats. I will never stray from butter and Crisco, that’s what I’ve used and I’ll continue to do so. Pam uses a really high end butter that she orders from a restaurant, I don’t think I’ll ever get to that point in my pie making.

Pam makes slab pies for many of her customers. They are just beautiful. I informed Ellen that she will have pie at her graduation in the spring, because who wants a cupcake tower when you can have slab PIE! Pam made an apple pie which won her $1000 in a contest, a summer berry pie which I thought was hands down the best pie I’ve ever eaten and a chicken pot pie.

The table was set with all the ingredients the guests could use to make their pies: fruits, cheeses, herbs, olives, meats, and Ree Drummond were just some of what could be plopped in a crust and baked.

Little Evan and Charlie were busy swapping slobber stories.

This is Pam with Tiffany talking pie strategy. Tiffany is a chef from Tulsa, she teaches culinary classes at a college. I really enjoyed talking with her and Meseidy about food and about what famous chefs they enjoy. Tiffany is not a food snob, she just loves good food whether it’s 5 star cuisine or made in grandma’s kitchen. She told me she rarely cooks for her family unless it’s something simple and rustic. Kind of like when you’re married to a landscaper, but your yard never gets mowed. Guess what Tiffany’s husband does? Yep, landscaper. I had to laugh, good thing I’m not married to an architect, cuz it would be a little embarrassing if our porch was caving in or if only one light bulb worked in our dining room. Wait. Never mind. I guess it’s true that when professionals come home, they leave their work at the office.

The girls and Evan waited by the window eagerly awaiting the guests. No, not really, they were watching ranch dogs, Charlie and Yo-Yo, bounce around in the yard.

The guests started trickling in around 8:45am. Ree did introductions, “This is Ellen, she thinks she lives here.”

After everyone was properly introduced, Pam started the workshop with an eager class awaiting their pie instructions.

Pam is the mother of 7 children and she’s home educated most of her kids through high school. She’s also a profesional potter and baker. Fleur Cakes is the name of Pam’s wedding cake business. I think she makes the most beautiful cakes I’ve ever seen. She decorates them with natures bounty, check out some of her cake photos. Pam also makes pies for a lot of weddings and parties and in her spare time she makes billions of apple turnovers for a farmer that sells his apples at a farm stand, the farmer gives her all the apples from his orchard. I don’t know when she has time to breath.

Alyssa, Tiffany, Meseidy, Katie, Ellen and I worked in the back ground cutting more apples, making more pie dough, prepping lunch and washing dishes. The benefit was we could sneak in and out of the kitchen as much as we wanted and take nibbles of food without having to make a pie.

We may have goofed off a little bit too, I’m just sayin’.

Okay, that’s all I can share today. I think Ellen dislocated her shoulder yesterday playing basketball, so I need to get her in to the doctor. I started chopping trees down yesterday and I have a huge mess to clean up in our yard. Clay took half the day off to catch up on farm work, so I better get off this computer and save the world!