House Finch family

A few weeks ago, Matt and I bought a couple of hanging baskets with red Impatiens for our front porch. Not a day or two after hanging them up, a finch pair showed up and decided that one of the baskets would make the perfect place for a nest. We watched them build their nest over a few days (providing scraps of wool and yarn, which they ignored for the most part), and then chronicled the family for the next couple of weeks.  Below are the photos of the chicks -- it was awesome to see them grow and change so quickly!

Here's dad, keeping a close eye on me

And here's mom, about to carry something to the nest

Four pretty blue eggs

Just hatched! At this point, it was hard to tell which end was what, but they all slept in a little wiggly pile (2 days old)

This little guy opened his eye for a few seconds to look at me, then fell back asleep (5 days old)

Starting to get their feathers (9 days old)

They've all opened their eyes and peep loudly for a snack whenever mom or dad shows up (12 days old)

Getting crowded! (12 days old)

Right after this was taken, they all decided to abandon the nest and jump ship.  They nestled themselves in the dirt right next to the nest and spread out (13 days old)

Starting to look all grown up! (17 days old)

This was the last we saw of the chicks, and they started leaving the next one by one about a day after this photo was taken.  I heard them peeping in the tree shortly after they'd all flown, but since then it's been quiet.  Good luck, little finches! (17 days old)

Bolinas Pirate Shack

This past weekend we decided to take advantage of Stacey's short time off between teaching quarters at Stanford and get away for a few days. We stayed in a "Pirate Shack" on the coast in Bolinas, CA, which was part bohemian bungalow and part greenhouse.  We managed to beat the rain for most of the trip, so we were able to explore the Point Reyes coast without getting too wet.

Facing away from the ocean, looking at the cottage from the path leading up to it

Inside the cottage, honeysuckle making its way over to the canopy bed

Bougainvillea snaking its way around the cafe table in the corner

The Pirate Shack was filled with colorful odds and ends

View from the deck

The backyard

Flowers blooming next to the outdoor shower

Echium blooming along the edge of the property

Downtown Bolinas has a handful of little shops and a cafe or two

Tide pooling along Agate Beach

Point Reyes Lighthouse, where we looked for whales but didn't see any

Tons of Douglas Iris in bloom all along the hillsides

Point Reyes has an incredible diversity of plant species

These red and green succulents were everywhere

Lots of orange lichens, too

The full collection of photos lives over here.

Mustard!

We headed up to the city yesterday to take a class in mustard making with good friends.  The class started with a blind taste test of 6 different mustards (ranging from the artisan to the generic), and then local mustard expert Kelly McVicker took us through the basics. She shared some of her recipes, and we each got to experiment with two of our own mustard recipes. We won't know whether the results are edible for a few more days, but so far so good!  

 

Our mustard varieties from left to right: white wine honey, red wine rosemary, Lagunitas Maximas IPA, deli-style spicy brown


UPDATE:
Results are promising!  We ground up the mustard last night, and they look (and taste) like the real thing! 

Favorite Hike

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and perfect for an afternoon under the redwoods, so we headed out to Butano for one of our favorite hikes.  We love this park, not only because it is beautiful, but also because it always seems to be deserted.  We took our time investigating the banana slugs (194), newts (10), lichen, and fungi along the trail. The complete set of photos is here.

Sunday brunch

Matt and I were lucky enough to get a mushroom-growing kit for Christmas last year (thanks, mom and dad!).  We've been anxiously awaiting our first crop of mushrooms, and on Sunday we decided to do mushroomy brunch in celebration.  Matt baked some no-knead bread to go along -- heaven!

Matt's No-Knead Bread:

3 cups unbleached flour (loose, not packed)
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups warm water

Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients in a bowl -- preferably a bread bowl or dutch oven. Warm the water for about 40 sec in the microwave (you want it to be pretty warm but not burning hot to the touch).  Add the warm water, all at once. Mix with a wooden spoon. Eventually you'll get an evenly consistent, super wet dough. Once the dough is evenly mixed, cover with saran wrap (or lid) and let sit for 12-24 hours. Dough should double or triple in size and be covered in bubbles. Lightly flour a cutting board (not waxed paper! We learned this the hard way), and gently scrape the dough onto it. It will be stuck to the sides of the bowl, so you'll have to scoop it out with your fingers. Get it out in one piece, and try to squish it down as little as possible in the process. Grab one edge at a time and quickly pull out then fold over on to itself. Do this 4 times (12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock). Again, don't punch down the dough. Loosely cover with saran wrap and let sit 1-2 hours on the counter. 

Preheat oven to 450F with dutch oven inside, lid off for faster heating. Once preheated, go another 15-20 minutes to make sure dutch oven is evenly heated. I normally just wait 30 minutes from the time I turn on the oven. Remove dutch oven. Scrape dough off board into dutch oven, don't try to pick it up. It doesn't matter if it doesn't land right in the center, looks ugly, etc. Immediately put lid on dutch oven, then transfer back to 450F oven. Cook for 35 minutes. Remove lid. Cook another 5-10 until nicely browned. I've been going until some of the little cracked bits are just starting to burn. Remove from oven, and dump bread onto cutting board or cooling rack. It should fall right out. Cool 30 minutes before cutting.  Devour with butter and/or honey.

Garrapata State Park

We weren't going to let the first long weekend of the year slip by without a day trip, so we headed down to Big Sur to check out Garrapata State Park, a relatively undeveloped park with a barely-noticable entrance off of Hwy 1.  This park is part chaparral, part desert cactus garden, and part redwood forest.  The borders between ecosystems and microclimates are abrupt, and often the trail led from one straight into the other with almost no transition zone.  We did an easy hike along Soberanes canyon before heading back to the trailhead.

 

Winter colors

Hearts!

Cactus fields

Old Craggy

Fog rolling in

Picnic lunch