Join me on an exclusive adventure with other wonderful people, learn some new outdoor skills, and experience a weekend that you’ll never forget.

Here is the skinny…

The When & The Where:

The weekend will take place on September 21-23, 2012 at the beautiful Montana Sporting Club in Belt, Montana.

Weekend Includes:

• Outdoor bonding with yours truly and other fabulous folks, and lots of s’mores
• 2 nights and 3 days accommodations in a luxury log home with moss rock fireplaces, granite counter tops, cowboy chic furnishings, and stunning views
• Tasty chef-prepared meals from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon
• Clay Shooting on a world-class sporting clays course to help you perfect your shot before you head out to hunt
• Horseback Riding in the beautiful Montana countryside. From horseback, you’ll enjoy some of the best views Montana has to offer–during trail rides through narrow canyons and Coulees, herding cattle or even barrel racing, if you please
• Fly Fishing in some of the best fly fishing streams in the state of Montana
• Bird Hunting with a guide and trained dog. Montana has long been recognized as a leading destination for upland bird hunting. It’s common to shoot several species of birds the same day, and you will occasionally shoot more than one species from a single covey rise. Not only will you find large covey of birds, you’ll be hunting in absolutely stunning settings
• Scenic ATV ride through canyons and up to scenic look outs to catch a glimpse of Montana’s wildlife, including Elk, Deer, and Antelope
• Optional ground transportation to and from Great Falls International Airport, (unless you’d like to rent a car and see the sights)

Who Should Sign Up:

• The weekend is open to women with all experience levels, from newbies to seasoned veterans of the outdoors. Women are welcome to bring their husbands, partners, fathers, brothers or other favorite man. Since some rooms are double occupancy, you would need to be comfortable sharing a room with your male guest.
• Anyone under the age of 18 must be joined by a guardian.

Space is super duper limited so if you’d like to join us, go ahead and reserve your spot via Eventbrite as soon as you can. I’m looking forward to meeting new friends and hope to see you there!
For more information and to purchase tickets click on this button:

I had a bit of a deck that went out into a creek and loved it. But it needed something a bit more lush and romantic to feel truly finished. I had this one spot in particular along this fence that needed plants, and I couldn’t find a planter that was the right length and height that didn’t cost a bazillion dollars.

Then one night I was having a meal at one of my favorite local spots called Contigo, and I noticed a nice long and tall planter… quite a lot of them actually, all around the restaurant.

“Where did you get those?!” I exclaimed to the restaurant people.

“Oh, the restaurant owner built them himself,” the restaurant people replied.

I got up from my picnic table and walked over to the planter in the parking lot and inspected it. Then I circled around it intently. Then I circled around it some more.

“I can do this!” I exclaimed again to the restaurant people.

“Okay, here’s your pig brain pâté,” they said.

And so I did it. I made my own planter. And while I’m not a carpenter by any means, and I encourage all of you carpenters to add your recommendations in the comments section below so we can improve upon this version, I thought I’d show you how I did it, in case you want to take matters into your own hands too one day, and make a planter for a few dollars, rather than a few hundred. Here goes!

Full directions are at the end of this post, but in summary you will need:

• Two, 2 x 4 x 8ft pieces of lumber, both cut so that you have a total of 4 pieces that are all 27-inches long
• Sixteen, 1 x 4 x 96-in pieces of white pine lumber, each cut at the end so that you have 16 pieces that are 83-inches and 16 pieces that are 13-inches long (Note: they are technically only 3 1/2 inches wide even though they are called 4-inches)
• One, 2 x 11 x 79-in piece of board (you may have to find something slightly longer and have it cut at the end)
• Box of 2 1/2-in nails
• Stain and polyurethane combo, or paint
• Paint brush
• Plastic garbage bags or plastic drop cloth
• A level
• Optional: a handsaw, if you don’t have your wood already cut for you by the store where you purchase it
• A measuring tape
• A pencil

I made my life a little tricky because I had this big piece of wood already leaning on the side of the house and I decided to build around it. It turned out to be very hard wood and slightly warped, so if I were to do it again I would get softer fresh wood and start new.

The home hardware supply stores will cut your wood for you in most cases if you tell them dimensions… or you can measure…

And cut the wood yourself.  It makes your muscles very, very nice. At least in one arm.

These are the posts that will rise and hold the slats… you’ll see…

This is the base pine frame… I liked pine because it was cheap and soft.

This is going to hold the base board I have lying around.

Like so. Then it is going to get hammered on all corners for security’s sake.

Then in go the posts on all four corners.

Use a big heavy hammer my friends. Those light dinky ones are no use. Some more daring people might even use a nail gun. But they scare me so I stayed old fashioned with my trusty hammer.

So this is where we are now (wave to my Big Green Egg).

I need to work on my hammering skills. But mostly you can see that having a slightly warped base made it hard to keep things in alignment. Learn from my mistakes friends!

You can see at the far end that the pieces aren’t attached yet. They’re dangling. It would help to have a second set of hands help you hold up one end while you hammer the other. You’re going to have marks on the wood to help guide you but it still helps to have a second set of hands to steady things.

When all of the slats are attached, it will look like this!

That’s when you get this out.

You could use paint too, but I liked the idea of sealing it against the elements and also giving it a little stain.

You’ll want to use a few coats until it is the color that you want. You don’t really need to do the inside because it will be covered.

Then you’ll let it dry overnight. And then you begin to line it with planters fabric.

You want to make sure you’re liberal with it and overlap the lines so that it limits leakage.

Then you should add a few large rocks to the bottom if you have them so that it helps with drainage.

Then get out your soil. Fill it 3/4 of the way up, add whatever plants you desire, top it off and water, water, water.

I planted bamboo and since taking this picture, it has turned into a giant, lush, green wall. I love it, it makes me feel like I’m in a jungle.

The planter is not 100% perfect but that’s why I like it… it’s 100% mine.

You can make one to fit your space and customize the size accordingly using the same technique. To make one just like mine…

You will need:

• Two, 2 x 4 x 8ft pieces of lumber, both cut so that you have a total of 4 pieces that are all 27-inches long
• Sixteen, 1 x 4 x 96-in pieces of white pine lumber, each cut at the end so that you have 16 pieces that are 83-inches and 16 pieces that are 13-inches long (Note: they are technically only 3 1/2 inches wide even though they are called 4-inches)
• One, 2 x 11 x 79-in piece of board (you may have to find something slightly longer and have it cut at the end)
• Box of 2 1/2-in nails
• Stain and polyurethane combo, or paint
• Paint brush
• Plastic garbage bags or plastic drop cloth
• A level
• Optional: a handsaw, if you don’t have your wood already cut for you by the store where you purchase it
• A measuring tape
• A pencil

To plant:

• 1 roll of planters fabric
• 6-8 bags of planting soil

Directions:

1. Create a frame for the base by hammering together two 83-inch  pine pieces with two 13-inch pine pieces so that you have a narrow rectangle.
2. Drop the bottom 2 x 11 x 79 piece of lumber inside the frame. Hammer the frame into the base piece on all corners.
3. Add the four 2 x 4 x 27 pieces of lumber, one at a time to each corner so that they stand upright. Hammer them in on all corners so that they stay secure.
4. With a measuring tape and pencil, mark the posts where you will add additional slats. Start at 1/2-inch above the frame pine board and mark 1/2-inch, 3 1/2-inches, 1/2-inch, 3 1/2-inches, etc until you reach the top of the posts. This will tell you where to nail the pine slats and ensure that they are even. You will be left with a slat that is 1/2-inch above the posts which looks nice.
5. Begin nailing in the slats on all sides, making sure the pine boards go in the spaces that have been marked for them. It will help to have a second set of hands to help you hold up the one end while you hammer the other. Or a good clamp will work as well. Keep going until you’ve hammered in all slats. It may take a while if you’re hammering by hand rather than with a nail gun. Take some ice tea breaks and know that you’re getting some good arm muscle.
6. Once it is fulling hammered together, lay some plastic garbage bags or drop cloths around the base. Stain the wood with a sealant so that it doesn’t get water damage. I combo stain and polyurethane is an efficient way to make it look finished and protect it at once. You really just need to focus on the outside, since the inside will have planter fabric and plants. Let it dry.
7. Once dry, line it with planters fabric, drop rocks at the base for drainage and fill with dirt. Plant away!

Tips:

1. Make a sketch of your planter and the dimensions first so you have a clear picture of how it will look and where all of the pieces will go.
2. If you buy your wood from a large home repair store like Home Depot, they will cut your wood for you to your desired dimensions so you don’t have to do it at home with a hand saw.
3. Use a soft wood if you plan to hammer by hand and use a heavy hammer to give you some weight when you bang the nails in. A dinky hammer won’t take you far and you’ll have a tired arm.

Enjoy my friends!

But like all of the thrifty women on Grandma P’s side of the family, I have an aversion to throwing things out. One tip, if you’re in my situation, is to freeze your spices. So I’ll be doing that in the future when I have too much of something. But what about those odds and ends that I rarely use and don’t want taking up my freezer space?

For example I rarely use onion powder or garlic powder in my home cooking, but there are times when I am recipe testing and need a bit of it here and there.

It’s never too late to change my friends, and here is my new way:

The bulk section of the grocery store is my new best friend.

While recipe testing recently I got just the amount I needed. See?

No more plastic or glass containers taking up space and full of herbs and spices growing stale. I can just stack these neatly in a little basket and be done with it.

And look at what it costs? 10 cents here, 12 cents there… and because you’re rotating them at a faster rate, life and food is sure to taste fresher.

That’s my tip ‘o the day, my friends. My spicy solution. Find a bulk section near you and you won’t be crushed my an avalanche of spices no more.

Over ‘n out.

p.s. Tip #2: It’s of course best to buy spices whole and grind them yourself for added freshness! Especially ones you’re storing for a long time… in the freezer of course… in bags from the bulk section… okay, over n’ out.

I had never tasted oryx before, nor had I ever hunted it, but I can tell you that it is an antelope from Africa that has been introduced to certain parts in the U.S. for game hunting. It can be an expensive thing to hunt oryx, and since I tend to be more of a local woods girl than a big game ranch hunting girl, I had never had the opportunity to hunt oryx. Until, I randomly did a book signing and cooking class and a lovely man brought me some!

It was delicious. It had the following characteristics:

1. It was dense, more dense than elk or venison that I had tasted

2. It was flavorful and very “red,” meaning you have to be a hard core red meat type of person I imagine to be down with the flavor

3. Even though it was dense it was also tender, and although it was very lean it was very juicy. This was helped by the fact that I was eating the backstraps.

Here is my recipe for oryx fajitas that I put together. You could easily make this with venison, elk, beef or your other favorite protein.

You will need: peppers, onions, mushrooms, cheese, tortillas, cilantro, avocado, limes…

…and oryx! Or some other protein.

Season your meat well on both sides with salt and pepper.

Get two skillets out. In the first, add the onions, peppers and mushrooms in a bit of oil over high heat. Season well with salt and pepper to help release the juices.

In another skillet, heat some oil over medium-high heat. Sear the oryx on one side for about 3-4 minutes until nicely browned.

Turn it over and brown on the other side for 3-4 minutes more. You want a nice pink inside so that you can taste the true flavor of the meat.

Remove the meat from the pan and let it rest for at least 5 minutes to help retain the juices.

Slice it up into nice pieces, whatever thickness you’d like for your fajitas. Also chop up the cilantro and slice the avocado.

By now, the veggies should be getting nice and soft. Toss them every so often to help them cook evenly. You want them to be super soft in my opinion which will take 15-20 minutes.

Then you build your fajita. You can lay all the components out on a plate so that you can have a build-your-own-fajita buffet.

First, the meat.

Second, the veggies.

Third, the cilantro.

Mm, I’m getting hungry.

Fourth, the avocado.

Fifth, a good dose of lime juice.

Pile it all on. You could even add pico de gallo here, or salsa or whatever else suits your fancy.

Gather it all up…

My stomach is growling.

Take a nice big bite.

And don’t get so hungry that you forget the cheese like me! The cheese is necessary.

Give this a try guys! Cinco de Mayo is here and wild game fajitas are a fun way to celebrate.

Here are some places that will mail order antelope and other exotic protein, plus I sell some fun exotic meats in my shop:

• Exotic Burger Collection
• Wild Boar Sampler
• Broken Arrow Ranch
• Fossil Farms
• Exotic Meats and More

It also helps me find my way. I’m known for being lost… a lot. GPS often fails me. So I wear a compass!

Plus, it’s a nice accessory. The one I have is from my friend Wenderly. She gave it to me as a gift and I can’t get enough of it. I was trolling the internet looking for others out there and here is what I’ve found. Mine has a white face with black lettering, but it turns out there are so many other options.

And I think they would make a great gift for a fellow or a lady.

Check ‘em out!

52mm Compass and Clinometer

50mm Brass Compass

58mm Antique Brass Compass

These are all from this place on Etsy: Sema ECE Shop

Brass Compass Necklace

From the: Pinar Mavituna Shop

Compass Earings. Though you would have to look at your ear in a mirror for them to give you any kind of direction. Rather complicated. But stylish!

These are from: Green Tree Jewelry

Miniature Brass Compass Necklace

From: Gwen Delicious Shop

Brass Compass Necklace

From: Manic Muse Shop

Compass Ring

From: Out of the Blue Shop

I think a good compass is a girl’s best friend. Plus, it’s fun to feel like a sailor. Check these out on Etsy, I bet there are more that I didn’t find, so feel free to post links in the comments!

I was just in L.A. to make meatballs with Jimmy Kimmel. So I thought I’d give you a play by play of the behind the scenes action of my trip. It was… trippy. A trippy trip.

I stayed on Hollywood Boulevard. That in itself makes it a trippy trip because you can walk along Bugs Bunny’s star for example.

This is where I stayed. The Roosevelt Hotel, though I think I might start calling it the Roosevelt Night Club. I’ll explain why in a minute.

They are especially known for their very glamorous pool. Which turned out to cause me some problems. I’ll explain why… in a minute.

My first stop was a dress rehearsal at the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio. A girl’s gotta practice where she’s making her meatballs.

Look, it’s my name!

Past my name was a very swanky dressing room.

I’m thinking about installing one of these in my office, what do you think?

While I pondered that I went to do the dress rehearsal. It was great and very fun and the producers and crew were extra awesome.

Then it was time for hair and makeup. And that is when I realized what I’d done. Ya see… I’m pretty fair skinned. And I thought I could just sit out by the pool on the phone with all of the other nicely tanned girls and everything would be alright. But as I sat in hair and makeup I saw my skin starting to grow red.

“Uh oh,” I said to the two lovely ladies in charge of hair and makeup as I looked in the mirror in horror.

“It all happens so fast,” said the nice makeup lady.

And with that, she got out a thing they call an airbrush and hosed me down. It was kind of fun actually. A light mist of makeup that evens out your skin color. I’m thinking of installing one of those in my office also.

Then I strolled back to my swanky room. And I started getting text messages from friends far away demanding pictures and a play by play.

“I got hosed down with an airbrush!” I told them. “See?”

I blew them a kiss, snapped a picture and went to see about the snacks that had just been lovingly placed before me.

Snacks! I love snacks.

But my friends demanded more pictures.

“I’m busy eating cauliflower and dip!” I texted back.

And then I sent them this.

Then I got a knock on my door and one of the coolest camera men in the world came in and asked if I would be an honorary member of their Gunday Monday club where they eat wild game and drink wine.

“Oh my gosh you are so very cool, and yes I would love to be a member and I might move here now so I can be an active participant!” I said.

He gave me this green badge. I am going to sew it onto my jacket.

And then the show started! I watched from the room until it was my turn.

I also watched Jimmy scale the walls which is my favorite part of the show intro.

It’s a nice super hero suit.

And I loved this guy, his sidekick Guillermo. He ate a raw meatball.

And the band was rockin’. I actually started dancing when I got out there.

So was the audience.

Jimmy chatted with the audience a bit. Everyone was in good spirits.

Jimmy started the show talking about my book which was pretty hilarious… the most amusing line: “It’s as if Wolfgang Puck and Sarah Palin had a baby.”

Lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt was there talking about her fun new show The Client List. They brought a piece of the billboard from her show out which caused quite the stir…

Here it is… can you tell which part it is? They were going to send it to her grandma.

Then it was my turn.

I’m going to let these pictures play out like a flip book because there are many of them… it’ll be like you watched the show!

Good start Jimmy.

(He’s so funny).

Wild boar!

Oh, and remember when I mentioned one of my favorite new jewelry designers here called Key of A?

Well she custom made me a necklace for the show, and I am obsessed with it. It matches my bracelet. So thank you wonderful Key of A!

Talking about crossing my fingers so that airport security doesn’t confiscate my frozen animal parts in my suitcase.

(Apparently Jimmy is quite a good cook).

Reading out some of the recipes from my book.

Another amusing moment… about how I eat squirrel and such.

I think he was saying that if you are what you eat, then animals from the streets of L.A. would taste like cigarettes and I was saying they would probably have a smoky flavor.

Then I started imitating a Coot and explaining what it was. That’s me paddling with my hands…. oh dear.

Then Guillermo got in on the action. He had never had wild boar before.

He was looking at us with concern. In front of… the billboard…

“Boar balls!” Jimmy Kimmel exclaimed.

Catch! He threw one over to him. Raw.

He took a taste. Raw.

I indicated that I hoped he didn’t get trichinosis. Then we dropped them in the pan.

Homemade sauce is the best!

So is fresh pasta.

And so we tasted.

Then he said something funny about my book and I laughed like a goof.

Then, after 8 minutes it was all over!

It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a TV show.

And I even got a sweatshirt.

And then I got escorted to watch the Jason Mraz concert which was part of the show.

Except I didn’t sit here…

I sat here. On a couch on the stage.

Then, when it was all over, I went back to the Roosevelt which had become a full fledged night club. I walked into the lobby where there was a team of little people wearing sleeveless tuxedos. And they were very, very angry about something. I think a riot was about to break out.

So I made my way to the elevator.

Then friends starting calling because they were watching the show from other time zones. And even though I never have watched myself on TV I decided to watch since I had had so much fun. Except I had to prop my eyelids open and made it all the way through Jennifer’s interview and promptly fell asleep. I woke up an hour later and I had missed the whole thing!

Luckily there is the internet. And friends who take lots of pictures of the TV and send them to me.

After a few meetings which required a lot of driving through amazing palm trees… I made my way back to my beloved Austin.

I sat at my favorite hotel and had this.

It was such a fun time, but there’s no place like home.

If you’d like to watch the segment you can go here.

And the wild boar meatball recipe is here.

Thanks for all of your lovely notes and support. I love ya 4-eva.

I’ll post about my time there and the hilarity that ensued as soon as I sleep for two days straight, but first, I want to share the meatball recipe that I made so you can make it for Sunday night dinner! These are what I made with Jimmy Kimmel on his show, and they were tasty.

You will need: ground hog (or pork), Marsala wine, heavy cream, ricotta, butter or grape seed oil, diced shallots, eggs, minced garlic, dried oregano, salt, freshly ground black pepper, chopped parsley, chopped basil, bread crumbs, and your favorite tomato sauce (homemade is even better!).

Combine all of the ingredients except the butter/oil and tomato sauce in a large mixing bowl.

The cream and Marsala wine are going to add a heavenly texture and flavor. Pour that in while you mix.

Mix until everything is lovely and uniform.

Melt butter in a skillet. Grape seed oil will also work very nicely.

As it heats, make small 2-inch balls with your hands, making sure they’re nice and compact.

Brown them on all sides in the skillet, turning often so they stay round.

Tip: If you want to insure that they stay nice and round you can refrigerate the meatballs before you cook them!

Pour in your sauce. Mmm, sauce.

Tip: If you have time, make your sauce from scratch by using plum or crushed tomatoes, or tomato puree, seasoning with herbs and garlic, and letting it simmer on the stove top for several hours. It will smell like an Italian grandmother’s kitchen, and there’s no better smell my friends.

Let the meatballs simmer in the sauce for about 15 minutes. Cover the pan so that the flavors meld.

Serve these luscious meatballs over your favorite pasta or just on their own. They’re so delightful. And if you can’t find wild boar you can definitely make these with regular pork, or a combination of beef and veal.

And if you’re looking for a source for wild boar meat, I sell some lovely exotic meats in my shop:

• Exotic Burger Collection
• Wild Boar Sampler

Enjoy my friends!

View part 1 of the cooking segment here and part 2 here.

And get her recipe here!

The squirrels were gnawing most voraciously on a yellow fruit, many of which had dropped to the ground.

I was curious.

So I wandered my way over and this is what I saw, dangling from the trees that up until now I hadn’t paid much attention to.

What were these strange yellow jewels that the squirrels loved so much? The ripest ones were a dark golden color and were dropping to the ground.

I picked one.

I rolled it around in my hand.

I contemplated it.

I rubbed off the white fuzz until it was smooth and shiny.

I realized that what I was thinking and what I was about to do was probably a risk. And so I should say, don’t try this at home, but… I have a streak in me that cannot be stopped sometimes.

And so I took a bite.

This isn’t a tree that is familiar to me, being that I’m from the Northeast where we don’t have such tropical looking things. And in that moment I decided I needed to take a horticulture class.

I should also mention that my friend was visiting me from out of town and watched in horror as I took a bite.

“It was nice knowing you,” I said with a wink.

An hour later, I was still feeling perfectly fine. Then I had some more friends come over for a barbecue and word got out about the strange fruit I had eaten.

In that moment, we were divided into two distinct factions. Those that said, “heck, I want to taste it,” and those who looked at us in horror.

One person did pretend to pass out because it was April Fools Day, but I didn’t get too concerned.

Then a bright fellow in the bunch decided to do some research to see if we were all going to have to take a trip to the emergency room. He did some research on his hand held thingamabob that seems to always have an app for everything.

And lo and behold he found a picture of the exact fruit we were eating.

It was called a: Loquat.

Apparently, it is originally from China and is sometimes called the Chinese or Japanese plum.

And even better, you can make: loquat wine, loquat jam and jelly because of its high pectin content. They also soothe the throat.

Amazing! I was the owner of a fruit tree! So you can guess what I did…

I picked these babies and didn’t look back. Why should the squirrels have all the fun?

Here is what I did with them.

I made an herb syrup and I invented the word “semi-syrup” since it wasn’t a true simple syrup, there was more water than sugar, about 3:1.

Then I grabbed a handful of fresh herbs that I have growing: thyme, sage, and oregano.

Dropped it all in a pot and gave it a stir.

Added my loquats.

Brought it all up to a simmer, turned off the heat…

Covered it partly and let the liquid come back to room temperature.

As it cooled the loquats absorbed the herby sweetness of the syrup. And they peeled very easily by hand, though you could use a paring knife (but it’s not as fun).

I slipped the skins off of them one at a time…

And used my favorite jars in the world… well equal to the mason jar: Weck jars.

And I piled the peeled, poached loquats into them.

Then I ladled some syrup in through a small strainer until it reached the top of the jars.

Then for good measure and for whimsy I dropped a few extra sprigs of thyme on the top for appearance sake.

They looked lovely and the flesh of the poached fruit tasted vaguely like almonds, but sweeter. And tangy too.

It was magical, unlike anything I’ve tasted.

I plan to serve these with a dollop of creme fraiche or cold thick cream or ice cream.

Sometimes moving to a new climate will bring delightful surprises. Of course, if you don’t have loquats near you, this recipe will be great with pears or peaches.

And that my friends, is the loquat lowdown.

Well this is what I did with them…

You’ll need some landscape fabric to help you keep the drainage even in the box. That’s easy to find at a large garden supply store.

Here is the box I used… it’s a larger variety, but you could also find old crates from a variety of places like:

• A wine store
• A grocery store
• A thrift store
• A farmers market

I went with these because they’re a bit larger. And I liked the fun ink branding… for a brand of cantaloupes it seems.

You’ll cut your planting fabric so that it can fill the planter with enough room to hang over the edges. You may need to cut two lengths and overlap them so they cover the full width of your planter.

Then you’ll need a good bag of soil, which you’ll fill up about 3/4 of the way.

Then tuck in your plants!

Any excess fabric you can tuck into the sides so it looks neat.

I’ve been watering mine every seven days with Miracle Grow and I already have little tomatoes budding.

This is a lot less ambitious than I was with the garden at Tulipwood last year, where I planted 20 + varieties of fruits and vegetables. This year, I’m focusing on about 8 things, plus a bunch of herbs.  This method would be perfect for you if you’re in a space with less land the way I am right now.

Give it a try! It’s super super easy and fruitful. Get it? Fruitful? Harhar.