Sisters and Soup

It might not feel like fall around here yet (or ever) but with Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, I have begun eating like it's fall. And fall food is great- in season squashes and pumpkins turn into gnocchi and risotto and obviously pie, just to get me started. The big cans of pumpkin are on sale at my grocery store, and I had used half for my favorite, beautifully orange cornbread. I had big plans for lunch on sunday with the other half- super fast pumpkin soup.

Then, just before I started cooking, my sister, Emily, called. We talked about our usual favorites, frisbee and family and friends, but our conversation, as it frequently does, finished up on food. We love food. It's like a religion in our family, that's why Thanksgiving is such a great holiday. Emily and I love to get together to window-shop at grocery stores and farmer's markets and talk about food. So Sunday, I wasn't surprised that she was excited to tell me about the great recipe she had just put together a few days earlier. I was slightly surprised, however, when her brilliant discovery turned out to be quick pumpkin soup!

Great minds do think alike. Pumpkins (and other fall squash relatives like Butternut and Acorn) are perfect fall foods. They are in season, often locally grown, fresh, and they keep well without refrigeration. The Produce Bible, a cookbook gift from my mother (I told you food was as close as my family gets to religion, right?) refers to winter squash and the most versatile of all vegetable. Which is saying a lot for a book dedicated to the versatility of vegetables. Sweet, savory, soup, sauce, or stand-alone, squash can do it all. The beautiful orange color of the flesh is from the cartenoids, which are a powerful antioxidant. Winter squashes are also high in lutein and zeaxanthin, which are all also antioxidants, as well as more easily pronounced vitamins like C, iron, zinc. High in fiber, pumpkin is filling as well as nutritious and delicious. (It rhymes, i couldn't resist, sorry). If you're starting with an entire squash, you can clean and roast the seeds, which are packed with protein. If you are too lazy to cut and peel and roast (or boil in soup) fresh pumpkin, there is a sale or large display of canned, pre-pureed pumpkin at a grocery near you this week, guaranteed.

So how did my soup turn out? Fantastic. Emily's was spicier (she likes it hot) and served once as soup, and once, spiced with curry, over rice. I stole the curry flavor, but served mine with sweet corn stirred in and a side of homemade bread. My recipe is ready to eat in only about 15 minutes. Saute onions and garlic. Pour on half a quart of vegetable stock (leftover, in my case, from last week's spinach and lentil soup) and stir in the canned pumpkin. Add some frozen sweet corn. Consistency should be thickish. Season with salt, pepper, ginger, curry, and garam masala if you've got it. Once it's all hot, it's ready. Simple, seasonal, and sister-endorsed.

Concertina Climbing

I scrambled to the top of the park's Black Mesa at work this morning. With super-steep slopes and a broad, flat top, this black formation juts out of the lake shore landscape, imposing enough to entice the soil surveyors to describe the unique soil type on top. And, wherever the soil scientists went, Teague and I must follow and count the plants in their wake.

But the soil is not the point. The point is that on the broad, kansas-style flat summit that rewarded our strenuous, rocky climb, we met a snake. We chased him around for a bit, trying to make introductions and take pictures, but he wasn't having it. It is my botanist's opinion (armed with field guide) that it was a Racer, Coluber constrictor. He was fast, anyway. But, more importantly, he was on top of this mesa. We barely made the climb, how the hell did he?

My first theory was that he had wiggled free from the talons of a raptor flying above the mesa, but he seemed too....intact....to have survived such an adventure. So he must have climbed. Or his mother did, at least. Now, I know that snakes live in the mountains, I've seen my share of rock-dwelling rattlers this summer. I also know that snakes can climb trees, I've seen the hognose snakes in Virginia (Heterodon platirhinos), short, fat, pugnacious fellows that sun in the tree branches alongside the creeks. They are hard to miss, because if you startle them, paddling past in your canoe, minding your business, they may jump in to join you, and not sociably.

But how do snakes climb up mountains? The answer is known the herpetologists and perhaps their friends, is called Concertina movement. As opposed to the traditional snake motion, the aptly named serpentine glide, and it's sandy variation, sidewinding, concertina allows the snake move vertically. She stretches her head up as high as she can, and slides it into a position where her ventral scales can grip on the surface. To enhance her grip, she pulls her midsection up tightly, to wind a lot of scale-surface area onto the rocks. Then, she uses this firm grip to pull up her lower body, and lastly springs her head upward again, looking for her next, higher hold.

Sounds like a tedious process, but it also sounds a lot like how I climbed the Black Mesa. One good move at a time, at least in the steepest parts. Snakes, despite their lack of limbs, are actually showoffs in the range of motion category. They can slide, swim, climb, and in fact, fly. Well, to be totally honest, they only glide. But several species in southeast asia are known for jumping out of trees and flattening out their ribcages to hold onto a draft as they serpentine-squiggle through the air. Apparently they have adapted to get pretty far with this technique. Maybe my racer didn't even need to climb?

Nesting

I have unpacked my car. Completely. People could sit in the backseat. Comfortably. After 8 months of being half-packed/half living out of the car, it is incredible to be moved out of the Honda. However, I am struggling to deal with the new sensation of driving somewhere and not having something I need in the car, forgetting that I left it at home.

That's right- I have a home. I have a roommate, Amorita, who is awesome, but works an 8-6 schedule for the Parks Service, so I will often have the place to myself. She has been living in her Subaru recently, so we understand each other well. Also, now I have a friend with 4-wheel drive! We have two bedrooms, with excellently comfy carpet, which is fantastic since I am sleeping on the floor, two bathrooms, a nice kitchen, and a living room. It's a lot of space for two girls with no furniture. I'm already feeling settled in my bedroom, the maps are up, the music is on...

I spent a few hours on saturday morning garage sale hopping, where I managed to equip my kitchen for less than $10. I am in love with my 25 cent toaster and my 50 cent coffee pot. Mmmm breakfast. Several of my coworkers have generously loaned me their unneeded furniture, so I've recently inherited a dining table and a futon mattress that i need to go pick up. We've got camp chairs, homemade art, and the spider plant, besides, so frankly, I think we're pretty pleased with ourselves.

I'm living right in
View Larger Map'>Boulder City, NV which is right next to the the park where I am working (Lake Mead National Rec Area) so that I am just a quick bike ride to work. Except that my bike is in the shop this week, with a stretched chain and a bent rear axle, but next week it will be a short ride to work. It's a nice town, calm and quaint, the only town in Nevada without gambling and a moratorium on growth. A 10 minute drive through the pass and you reach Vegas' suburban sprawl. It's nice to be separated from the city by the mountains, but it's easy to get there for frisbee games, rei, barnes and noble, trader joes, and obviously, high-class prostitutes.

Although Lake Mead (the reservoir above the Hoover Dam) is kind of gross, surrounded by invasive salt ceder and filling up with silt, the upland around it is beautiful, and increasing in area daily as Vegas sucks down it's only water supply. My job is mainly to drive and hike around the park, establishing long term vegetation monitoring plots, sometimes low on the rolling gypsum hills, sometimes high in the pinyon pine and juniper mountains, and everywhere in between. There's tons of great backcountry to play in, without the rules, permits, or crowds of people that most of the National Parks have. Beyond the park, there's great mountains calling from just a short (by western standards) drive in any direction. So, I'm pretty excited to be settling in for the winter. So many great places to play, and a shower to come home to. I am spoiled rotten. You should come visit- there's plenty of space on my new floor!!

(Friends from ENLC, Brett, Keith, and Joanna enjoying an afternoon hike at Lake Mead)

Election Day

As known as, Come On Ohio, Don't Fuck this Up Again Day

I'm nervous. I'm not special. Everyone is holding their breath, crossing their fingers, drinking beer and watching the news waiting for the right results to come in. Every state I've lived in recently seems to have a knack for election drama- the famous swing states and democratic disaster, Ohio and Florida, are maybe trying to make amends this year. Virginia, solid, almost southern Virginia, might even be a swing state this year. And here in NV, well, it's interesting. I met two men on Mt. Wheeler who told me that even their black neighboor told them that electing Obama would be the worst thing this country could do because they'd never be able to trust another black man again. The neighboorhood here, sign-wise, is pretty even. I've met a surprising number of liberals too. In fact, parked next to me at the library, at this very minute, is a truck with not one but two "Republicans for Obama" sticker. Hope.

New States

I have conquered the south!! Okay, probably not, but I did at least drive through a bunch of states that I had never previously been to- Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. Take that Rand McNally!! Not only did I drive through these states, I even got out of the car occasionally to fuel up on gasoline (look at my carbon footprint grow!!!) and coffee. And take pictures as proof:

I'm seriously proud of myself- it at least gave some sort of meaning to the endless interstate driving. Arkansas was surprising pretty- the fall colors just starting to come into the Ozarks. I was less than enthralled by Oklahoma and Texas, but there were lots of wind farms to add some positive cheer to the flat, bare landscape. The rest area in texas actually had an informational display dedicated to windfarms- past and present- so I learned some things while I stretched my legs.

It feels great to check so many states off my list. I might even visit some of them again- on purpose. It would have been nice to have more time to hike around the Ozarks, now that I know how inviting they are. New Mexico was cool, it felt strangely like a homecoming to reach the desert again. And Albuquerque was a pretty fun city too, once I got through the suburban sprawl and tricky traffic- I wish I could have explored around there a bit longer as well. Finally, As I drove into Flagstaff, the San Francisco peaks looked down on me with a mountainous pull to my hiking heart after the miles of flat. But I was closing in on arrival, sucking down my last tank of gas, and put the pedal to the metal for the Hoover Dam. Which was a monstrosity again this time. But- the good news is that after this ridiculous road trip- I only need 5 more states to complete the country- Louisiana, Idaho, Montana, and the Dakotas. So let me know if you want to plan a trip in any of those directions. In the future, that is, when I have the time and energy and money to afford to travel again.

And now, after 6,600 miles on the road this month (Damn) to move the 315 miles from Ely to Boulder City, i have finally arrived. I immediately pulled into to the Boulder Dam Brewing Company a for a much needed beer- their BlackCanyon Stout hit the spot. Then it turned into two or three as I realised that it was a Halloween party and I was the only lame one without a costume. I tried to tell people that normally I'm cool but I was just dressed up as a lame person for Halloween, but I don't think they believed me. I met up with Teague and met his girlfriend Jen, and they are kindly letting me stay on their floor while I search for a home. I am dying to unpack- I've hit a crisis point and I just can't live in my car any longer. So, wish me luck in the home-hunting and my first day on the new job!