Hike to Observe the New Moon

The New Moon last night was a tiny, tiny crescent and the dear husband and I took a tiny road trip to Simi Valley and hiked up a trail to catch a glimpse.

Too bad my camera's resolution is not sufficient to share the beautiful sight with you here. In the photo at left, there should be a tiny, tiny sliver of a moon... but alas no luck in sharing. What might be evident, however, is that the views were very nice.


This is one thing I love about living in California. I know family and friends have a difficult time understanding why I would want to live in such a crowded place where everything is so expensive and the air quality is so poor....

But the photos at left pretty much sum it up...

This short hike was maybe 11 miles from my front door. It only took us about 15 or 20 minutes to reach the trailhead after leaving home. And the weather was PERFECT. ... just enough chill in the air to make the climb very comfortable and a light jacket welcome when the sun went down.























What this means is that we can literally have a regular Sunday ( at our house, that means I went to church...).

I came home and cooked a full-out old-fashioned Sunday dinner (this happens almost every Sunday. What is it about church that makes me so hungry??? I bet my Mom is reading this and laughing right now because she remembers(!) as soon as the final "Amen", every Sunday, the first words out of my mouth were ALWAYS, "I'm Hungry".)













In the oven above were Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes, Homemade cornbread (yes, I said homemade... no mix here) and slow cooked pinto beans. The cornbread was probably the best I've ever made. (Katya, I have YOU to thank for that!) The secret to the best cornbread, is baking it in a cast-iron skillet. My best friend gave me a set of cast-iron skillets for my birthday and I've been faithfully seasoning the set every chance I get and it has paid off in great cornbread.

As most Southern cooks know, the best way to make cornbread is to float a thin layer of cooking oil in a cast-iron skillet. Heat it in the oven at least until the oven has preheated. Yesterday I put the skillet in the oven at the same time as I began baking the scalloped potatoes, so it probably heated for about 30-40 minutes. When it was time to uncover the scalloped potatoes for browning, I added the cornbread batter and it sizzled and fried a nice crust on the bread immediately. After 20 minutes, the cornbread was ready and the potatoes browned sufficiently to serve.

I noticed that Sunday dinner had a lot of carbs, but then again, we both had plenty of energy to hike up the mountain to watch the crescent moon.

=)

Happy Monday everyone!

Aunt Melissa