They call me Ellie May...

For once laziness pays off!

2011-10-26T18:13:00.000-05:00

My garden just gave up and died during our summer heat wave and drought (except for the crabgrass - I have a record crop of that). Since the onions never reached eating size before they shriveled, I just assumed they were dead and ignored them.

Well, when I finally got around to weeding a week or so ago - with the weed whacker - I noticed an oniony smell. Sure enough, my onions had send up nice baby onion plants! Since I need to till and plant cereal rye, I dug the baby onions up and planted them in the big raised bed, along with garlic, spinach, carrots, beets and dinosaur kale. I'm not sure I'll be able to eat any of these things over the winter, but it should give me a head start on the early spring garden.

The house is progressing, but the garden is toast

2011-09-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

This summer has been absolutely brutal. We set records for the number of consecutive days over 100F as well as for the total number of days over 100F. In addition to that, we're also experiencing a severe drought. I started losing most of the annual garden plants in July and now even some of the long-term plants have died off, including my beloved raspberries. We're most likely going to lose some trees, too. I really hope we break this drought soon.

But, despite all that, the house has come along nicely. The outside is finished, aside from painting the doors and pouring the driveway, and we're currently getting ready to paint the interior. The things we are currently lacking are the counter tops, the plumbing and electrical fixtures, the propane tank and the septic system. But other than those minor issues, it's a house! ;-)

And we're FINALLY building our house!

2011-06-04T15:25:00.000-05:00

We moved to the shed almost five years ago with the intention of building a house once we were settled. Besides the fact that we tend to take our own sweet time in making decisions, life also threw a few roadblocks in our path along the way. Add to that the fact that the shed is just comfortable enough that we didn't feel panicky about getting something built and it was four years before we even had a set of plans finished. "Procrastination" is our word for the day, boys and girls. :)

Here's the goal:

And our current progress:

Those leftover lumber bits are going to make great raised beds!

In an effort to marry our dreams to our finances, we're doing standard 2x4 construction and making it as energy efficient as possible, with foam insulation and low E windows. We're also putting in a wood burning stove for supplemental heat, since we have an almost endless supply of dropped branches from the woods around here. We'll also be doing a lot of the interior finish work ourselves, to save some labor costs. In theory, the builder will be finished sometime in October, but we'll still have some work to do after that.

Neither of us have ever been involved in new construction before, so this is very exciting stuff!

Solar baked blackberry cobbler

2011-06-01T09:03:00.000-05:00

After being disappointed with my previous solar cooker, which didn't get hot enough for baking, I pounced when I found a good deal on a Sun Oven. The Sun Oven is capable of temperatures up to 400F, allowing my baking addiction to live on through the summer months. In theory, at least.

I did a few practice runs with meals with good results, so yesterday was going to be the big test for baking: a blackberry cobbler for the hubby. I set the oven out to heat up, prepared my cobbler, placed it in the oven and... clouds. It had been a bright, sunny day up until that point, so I was just sure it would be a good day for baking. Alas, the clouds were here to stay, so the cobbler steamed along at about 250F.

Pale and un-puffed shortcake crust

Since we're in drought conditions right now, I guess I should have tried to make those clouds rain by washing my car or hanging out some clothes. I did water the garden thoroughly beginning at 6:00 AM. That really should have done it!

Ah well, the steamed blackberry cobbler wasn't exactly what I was trying to create, but it wasn't too bad. I mean really, how bad could blackberry cobbler really be?

More on May gardening

2011-05-21T16:15:00.000-05:00

We finally had some rain last night! About 3/4", which made everything in the garden all cheerful and perky this morning.

I have one Mortgage Lifter tomato growing in a container. It was languishing in the pot ghetto until I noticed that it was setting fruit, so I plopped it into a large pot I had been given. The plant hasn't grown much and is now randomly turning yellow and dropping branches (which is exactly what happened to last year's ML), but it is loaded down with smallish tomatoes and they are beginning to ripen. I have another ML planted in the ground and it is the tallest plant in the tomato patch. I'll save seeds from that one, but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy munching on these:

Mortgage Lifter - first ripe 'maters!

This year's volunteer tomato crop has been pitiful, but I finally found one trying to move into the tomato patch. It's from the area that had Sungold last year, so I'm curious to see what it turns into. Now I just have to find a spot for it...

Volunteer #1

The squash plants are all growing nicely and beginning to bloom. So far I have gray zucchini, yellow scallop, yellow straight neck (which I don't really like, so I'm not sure why I plant it every year) and Delicata growing and I planted some seeds for spaghetti squash and pie pumpkins in amongst the corn. They are taking their own sweet time germinating, so we'll see if any of them come up.

Gray zucchini

Yellow scallop squash

Oh and the sneaky tomato plant (Blondkopfchen, aka "Little blonde girl") that forced itself into a pot by the door is now blooming. According to what I've read, they are yellow cherries with a point on the bottom, similar to Riesentraube, but very sweet. I bought the seeds just because I liked the name. Just don't ask me to pronounce it. :)

Blondkopfchen blooms

May garden report

2011-05-15T15:14:00.001-05:00

I've been working really hard on reviving the garden this year after battling the drought and root-knot nematodes last year, along with the Invasion of the Giant Weeds. According to what I could find, allowing the soil to dry completely (or even better, solarizing it), then adding copious amounts of organic matter can really help knock down the number of nematodes present in the soil. I also read an article this past winter about an organic fungicide (Actinovate) that had been shown to work on nematodes in field trials, so I sprayed that on the soil this spring. So far the garden is doing much, much better this year and I'm hopeful that we'll be enjoying lots of home grown produce this summer.

Lazy Wife and Kentucky Wonder pole beans

Eggplants, peppers and Christmas pole lima beans

Tomatoes

Inigo, included because he's so darned cute. :)

It's tomato planting time!

2011-03-22T21:31:00.001-05:00

It's amazing to me that a plant can go from a tiny seed to this in under two months and in a couple more months, these will be giant vines (hopefully) loaded with fruit.

My tomato obsession is reaching a peak right now and I'm looking forward to BLTs, salsa, pasta with fresh sauce, tomato and mozzarella salad, sliced tomatoes with S&P... Essentially I think about tomatoes all day long and once and a while I even dream about them. There is a slight chance that I have some sort of problem. :)

I'm growing all open-pollinated varieties this year, some of which are saved seeds from last summer and some are new (to me) varieties.

Varieties for 2011:

1. Aunt Ruby's German Green
2. Aunt Ruby's Yellow Cherry
3. Amish Paste
4. Mortgage Lifter
5. Pruden's Purple
6. Black Krim
7. Atkinson
8. Orange Oxheart
9. Arkansas Traveler
10. Great White
11. Pineapple
12. Ananas Noire
13. Riesentraube
14. large fruited cherry
15. German Pink
16. German Johnson
17. Green Zebra
18. Black Prince
19. Rutgers
20. Julia Child
21. Gary Ibsen's Gold
22. Cherokee Purple
23.Big Rainbow
24. Big Red
25. Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red (not sure if this one will make it)
26. Old German

I think I'm forgetting a couple, but I'm drawing a blank right now. Some of these will be single plants, just to see if we like them and others, such as Rutgers and Amish Paste, will be planted in groups to freeze for future use. I will also plant extras in an attempt to thwart the tomato-stealing squirrels! Grrrr!

I had hoped to start planting today, but it was so windy I was afraid they would all just be beaten to death. Hopefully tomorrow the winds will be calmer and I can start getting these in the ground.

Edited to add:

I knew I forgot a couple!

27. Boxcar Willie
28. Mule Team (I think this one may have been blown to death by our 40 mph winds this week)

A playdate with Myra (aka Learning to sew)

2011-02-09T21:59:00.000-06:00

Several months ago I decided I wanted to learn to sew, with a long term goal of making quilts. After mentioning this to my father-in-law, I was given the sewing machine that belonged to my mother-in-law and I set out to find a cabinet for it. I found a cabinet with a machine in it on craigslist and made arrangements to go look at it. The machine wasn't working properly, but I liked the cabinet and made a lowball offer. The seller accepted, so the machine and cabinet went to my mom's house for short term storage.

Well, it turned out that this machine, a Singer 500 "Rocketeer" was the sewing machine Mom coveted back in the early 1960s. Mom called me daily with updates on what she had found in the cabinet, how she had cleaned it, what features the machine had and (most importantly) that I had to get the machine fixed. When I didn't immediately run it to the shop, she started calling her friends to come over to look at it and get their opinions on whether I should take it to the shop ("Yes!" was the unanimous opinion - though that's not really fair, since Mom bribed them with cookies).

One of the items Mom found in the cabinet (and probably my favorite) is the original bill of sale. A woman named Myra purchased the machine new on May 9, 1962. It reads:

Machine: $299.50
Cabinet:       67.50
Trade-in:     -60.00
Total:       $307.00

Down payment: $100
Amount owed:    $207
24 payments of $10.12
For a total cost of $342.88

According to the DollarTimes Inflation Calculator, that would be $2,468.15 in 2010 terms. That was quite an expensive purchase for 1962!

While Mom was poking through the cabinet, I discovered that my other sewing machine (a Singer 301A) is a 3/4 sized machine and won't fit in the cabinet unless I buy a special cradle. I also read that many quilters like the 301A because it is lightweight and portable, so it can be carried to quilting groups. So, I gave in to Mom's pressure and took the big machine in to be fixed.

Now Myra (in honor of her first person) is up and running and I am trying to figure out what's what on her. It would probably make more sense to start on the simpler machine, but I haven't taken that one in for servicing yet (it's been sitting in a closet for a long time, I think).

Myra, in all her space age glory

For my first project, I decided to make a pillowcase for the queen-sized pillow I bought by mistake a few months ago. The standard pillowcase I've been using didn't cover it completely. The silly dachshund fabric I purchased to practice on doesn't match our sheets, but this pillow is always under the coverlet anyway, so why not?

The completed pillowcase

In retrospect, I'm not sure a diagonal print was the best choice for a beginner, especially a beginner that discovered there were no straight pins amongst all the stuff in the sewing cabinet. But I was determined to sew something, so I just managed with what I had on hand. I'll worry about perfecting the next one. :)

Detail of the fabric

Sourdough and seed starting

2011-01-27T18:31:00.000-06:00

Obviously I've fallen off the blogging wagon, but I'm gettin' back on today!

The fall garden is still producing at a trickle. The collards are doing very well, as are the cabbages (no cabbage heads yet), spinach and tatsoi. The broccoli has a little freeze burn, but we should be harvesting the first flowerets in the next week or so. The broccoli rabe, lettuce and radishes froze, but the dinosaur kale, carrots and rutabagas are still slowly growing. Corn salad is another one that has made it through the cold, but I don't care for it, so I've been feeding it to the rabbits. Ironically, the snow peas were crushed by the snow and only one vine is alive. I guess I'll have to plant some more.

I've been taking advantage of the cold weather to indulge my baking habit. This year's obsession is sourdough and I think I've finally managed to get a good healthy starter going. As a matter of fact, I have 2 healthy starters going: regular white flour and rye flour.

White flour/whole wheat flour loaf baked under a metal bowl

Rye sourdough baked with steam at 425F. It was a little over-proofed, so no real oven rise. Very tasty, though!

A close-up of the crumb of my first attempt at a sourdough baguette.

Even though it doesn't seem possible, it's time to start tomato plants. I'm trying to use all open-pollinated varieties so I can save the seeds for future years. I've heard that if you grow a variety for several years, saving the seeds and replanting, you'll develop a strain specific to your soil and growing conditions. Sounds good to me!

Paper pots planted with tomato seeds.

First raised bed in the garden

2010-10-18T16:58:00.004-05:00

I had intended to build raised beds last winter, but never got around to it. This year, after battling weeds, root knot nematodes, weeds, stink bugs, squash bugs and more weeds, I've decided to move my garden up a little higher. Maybe it won't help with the bugs, but at least I'll be able to run the mower between the beds if the weeds get out of control again.

Farm Boy and I (but mostly Farm Boy) spent the better part of Saturday building the first bed, which is 4'x15'. I filled it in with topsoil from around it, added some mineral sand, crushed eggshells and 150 pounds of composted cow manure, then crammed as many plants into it as possible, including broccoli, cabbage, collards, lettuce, corn salad, tatsoi, snow peas, beets, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips and spinach. It might be a little late for a good fall garden, but they weather was so nice I had to try. :)

Sorry for the bad photo. It was too bright out to see the screen.

We have chinquapins!

2010-09-30T10:49:00.006-05:00

Or chinkapins or Allegheny chinquapins or dwarf chestnuts or more specifically, Castanea pumila. Whatever you want to call them, I am happy to have them growing here, especially since I was tempted to buy a couple this spring when I saw them on sale at Bob Wells Nursery.

Farm Boy and I noticed the funny spiky balls yesterday while walking the dogs. We actually walk past this spot every day (and have for four years!), but two small trees among 7 acres of big trees have to really work to stand out to us unobservant humans. I have to assume that this is the first year they have fruited, because I really don't think I could have missed this:

According to what I've read, the chinquapin is a great source of food and shelter for wildlife and the nuts were once extremely popular with people, as they are much sweeter than chestnuts. I'm not sure why they have fallen out of favor, except that they are so small and a little difficult to collect.

Originally we only noticed the one tree, but there are two trees a few feet apart. One is shorter with multiple small trunks and the other is a single trunk, about 4" in diameter at the base. They are mixed in with American beautyberry and some (annoying) rattan vine. We'll have to see if we can get that cleaned out a little bit to let the chinquapins form a nice thicket.

The foliage is dark green, glossy, toothed and...

apparently, very tasty. I noticed there were chunks were missing from many leaves, then spotted this guy. Another reason I'm happy to have chinquapins: they are a larval host plant to the orange-tipped oakworm moth.

I spent a few minutes liberating some nuts from the husks. Even when they are fully opened, it can be a painful operation. I've read that they are really good roasted, so we will have to try that with a few. The rest I'm going to try to propagate, since they are a fairly rare - and in many areas, endangered - species, due to chestnut blight. The chinquapin isn't as susceptible to the blight as the American chestnut was, but it can still be severely damaged by it.

Goodbye summer, hello fall.

2010-09-25T18:02:00.006-05:00

Well, it was a rough summer around here, so let's hope the fall brings better things. On a positive note, though, we still have hummingbirds and I adore hummingbirds! They're beginning to head south for the winter, but at the peak I was putting out 16+ cups of sugar water a day. I'm not sure why they like this particular spot so much, but I'm glad they do!

Revenge against August (aka, solar cooking)

2010-08-11T15:13:00.010-05:00

I've been interested in solar cooking for a couple of years now. Originally I had planned to make a solar cooker - or rather, I had intended for Farm Boy to make me a solar cooker! - but since that never made it to the top of the project list, I broke down and bought one this summer.

The one I purchased is the SOS Sport, which essentially functions as a slow cooker, except no electricity is required and it doesn't heat up the kitchen. When reading about the various models, I had assumed that this one could reach the higher baking temperatures that the Global Sun Oven achieves if the reflectors were used. But the instructions recommended that you don't use the reflectors during the summer because the higher temperatures could melt the lexan lid. Because I am a baking addict, baking bread without suffering heat exhaustion indoors was one of my goals with the solar cooker. Unfortunately, my attempts at bread so far in the Sport have yielded nicely risen, tender bread with a soft, pasty crust. Seriously pasty, like my legs in January (okay fine, they are the same shade in August!). I prefer dense, crusty, artisan breads, so I will primarily use the Sport for what it excels at, slow cooking. I am saving my pennies to buy a Sun Oven, though, to fulfill my baking desires during the heat of the Texas summers. Plus, it feels a little like I'm sticking it to the electric company when I use the sun to cook my meals.

To date I have made two loaves of bread, two batches of purple hull peas, green chile stew, a whole chicken (lemon scented) over rice, chicken legs over rice, a crustless quiche, creamed corn, eggplant dip, roasted eggplant and roasted spaghetti squash. Everything has turned out very well, except for the less-than-stellar bread, which required a few minutes in the toaster oven to improve the crust. I might try the bread again, but put it in the oven earlier in the day to see if that will let it brown.

The quiche, cooking in the sun, at 250F. The clamps are my own special addition. The clips that come with the Sport are really tight and hard to use.

Fig and Cornmeal Cake with Buttermilk Glaze

2010-07-22T09:22:00.003-05:00

My sister gave me a sack of fresh figs the other day and after eating some of them, I started wondering if they would be good in cake form. I imagined a dense, moist cake with a sticky glaze, slightly spicy but not as potent as a true spice cake. After looking through a few cookbooks and doing a few web searches, I ended up making up my own hodgepodge recipe, based on the Fig and Cornmeal Cake recipe in the book, Cake Keeper Cakes. Here is what I came up with:

Cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
scant 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh figs
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9" round cake pan (I use Baker's Joy for this).

In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and mace. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Stir in the lemon zest and buttermilk. Add the flour mixture in three additions, stirring until just incorporated each time. Stir in the figs and pecans.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top of the batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for a few minutes, then remove from the pan and cool right side up on a wire rack until completely cool.

Just before serving, transfer the cake onto a cake plate and poke holes over the entire surface of the cake with a skewer or fork. Pour the buttermilk glaze over the cake and let soak in briefly. Slice and serve.

Buttermilk Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour over cake.

The results: It was quite nice! The buttermilk glaze really makes it, in my opinion. I'm also experimenting with mace, after learning that it was my grandfather's secret ingredient in many of his baked goods (he had a bakery). Spork's first bite yielded a garbled, "Ohmygod!" so I took that as a positive review, also. :)

My new addiction, Mexican White Rice

2010-01-17T14:51:00.003-06:00

Normally I'm not a big rice eater, but I have become hooked on a recipe given by Patricia Jinich of Pati's Mexican Table on Paula Deen's show. I've made it several times now and someone always asks for the recipe. My version is slightly modified from the original, Mexican White Rice with Fried Plantains. I use butter in place of the oil and leave out the celery and plantains all together. I'm sure the fried plantains would be tasty, but they are hard to find here. Butter, of course, always trumps oil and honestly, I've never really seen the point of celery.

By the way, Pati appears to be a really nice person in addition to being a mighty fine cook. I sent her a question about a recipe on her website and she answered me within a few minutes on a Sunday afternoon.

Mexican White Rice
modified from a recipe by Patricia Jinich

Ingredients:
2 Cups long-grained rice
3 Tablespoon(s) butter
1/2 Cup finely chopped white onion
4 Cups chicken broth
5 sprigs fresh cilantro
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 Teaspoon kosher salt
2 whole serrano chiles

Directions:
Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the rice and fry over high heat, stirring softly for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the onion and stir, from time to time, until the rice begins to change its color to milky white and it sounds and feels heavier, as if it were grains of sand, about 5 more minutes.

Add the chicken stock, cilantro, lime juice, salt and chiles to the rice. When the mixture starts to boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat to lowest setting and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is cooked through and the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes.

If the rice grains don't seem soft and cooked through, add a bit more chicken stock or water and let it cook for another 5 more minutes or so. Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit covered for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the cilantro and chile. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve.

Notes:

I like to tie the cilantro in a bundle using kitchen string. It gives a pleasant cilantro taste to the rice, but you can remove the wilted cilantro after the rice is cooked.

I've also found that if you slit the serranos lengthwise they impart more flavor into the rice.

Scotch eggs for breakfast

2009-09-07T10:11:00.004-05:00

I've had a hankerin' for scotch eggs lately, so I fired up the deep fryer this morning and whipped up a batch. I used this recipe, leaving the flour out of the sausage mix and using panko bread crumbs for the golden brown and delicious crunchy outer coating. I made a dipping sauce by mixing marmalade and spicy brown mustard because using marmalade made it feel all breakfasty.

The recipe made 4 eggs, but both Spork and I decided that one each was plenty for brekkie. Now we have leftovers just perfect for a cold snack with beer.

Nom, nom, nom!

More adventures with deep frying

2009-08-12T08:41:00.003-05:00

My parents are from North Dakota, so deep frying is not in my genetic makeup. My mom makes homemade donuts, but everything else was made in the oven, even French fries. I've worked really hard to overcome this deficit and I'm slowly getting better. My ultimate goal is to be able to make some awesome fried chicken. I've seen some improvement in that area, but nothing I've deemed picture-worthy.

These little gems, on the other hand, were pretty darned fab!

Yes, that's right. Those are deep fried mashed potatoes! Spork had seen some on a blog and casually mentioned them about 47 times. I made some mashed taters the other day and when he casually mentioned them once again, I took pity on him and gave it a whirl.

I rolled the leftover potatoes into small balls and placed them in the freezer for a while (I left them in longer than I intended - I was aiming for 'firm' an ended up with 'frozen solid'). I dipped each ball in beaten egg, then rolled it in panko bread crumbs. I set the fryer for 360F and fried until GBD. They were wonderful! A crunchy, golden shell (panko crumbs are great - how did I live without these?) filled with warm, creamy mashed potatoes. Mmmmmm!

Turkish bread

2009-07-24T08:59:00.001-05:00

For some reason I've been on a real flatbread kick lately, so when I found this super-easy recipe, I had to try it.

Turkish bread

Ingredients:
2 Cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon salt
3/4 Cup plain yogurt

Directions:
Stir all the ingredients together, then knead until an elastic dough is formed. Place in a bowl, cover, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Divide into 8 rounds and let rest briefly. On a floured surface, roll out to 1/8" thickness and dry fry in a cast iron skillet or cook on a grill, allowing both sides to develop some dark brown spots.

NOTES: If the dough is too sticky, add a little flour. If it is too dry, add a little more yogurt.

Results: Excellent! The bread actually keeps well, stored in plastic, for a couple of days. It's not quite as pliable the second day, but I think a little experimenting on reheating methods would fix that.

Ellie May's spy cam

2009-07-20T18:18:00.007-05:00

For my birthday, Spork gave me a really cool present: a Moultrie game camera. The camera is made to be mounted outside and can capture both still pictures and short video clips. In daylight, the images are color, while the nighttime ones use an infrared flash, yielding black and white images.

The camera is intended to be left in place for months at a time, but I can't stand to let it go for more than a day or two before I have to grab the images and see who has passed through. I've had it set up pointing at the bird baths, the bird feeders (thanks to the nifty clamp that Spork made) and at various places in the woods.

So far we've had lots of birds, raccoons and foxes. I'm hoping to add opossums, skunks and deer in the future. I've even set up a bribery station in the woods with a feeder block and a salt block. When I have some intriguing fruit leftovers, such as melon rinds, I put those out near the feeder block, for extra enticement.

Bathing cardinal family

Banditos!

Enthusiastic blue jay

Chickadee

Baby cardinal and wren

The camera makes a slight shutter sound. There were about 20 pictures of this baby cardinal giving the camera a suspicious stare.

Male red-bellied woodpecker

Downy woodpecker and wren

Firefox looking for some din-din

Firefox pounces

Pioneer Woman's Gazpacho with Mark Bittman's Spicy Broiled Shrimp

2009-07-07T18:19:00.007-05:00

I discovered today that I cannot say gazpacho. I can make gazpacho. I can spell the word. I can "hear" it in my head. Alas, what comes out of my mouth is a different word all together. Perhaps my proficiency at industrial grade swearing has taken a toll on my pronunciation skills.

We have an abundance of tomatoes right now, so I decided it was time to try Pioneer Woman's Gazpacho (gaz-PAW-choe, gauze-paw-choe, gauze-paw-CHOE, gauze-pawch-OH... ARGH!) , since Spork had sent it to me asking why I'd never made it. In my defense, the recipe was only published a month ago - hardly a sign of slacking, in my opinion. Of course, being chastized hurts my little feelers and probably means I should bake something. Or buy some ice cream. Or both. Ice cream is Spork's Achilles' heel. It is my best weapon in the battle of the wills. (Did that sound evil?)

One of the suggestions in the PW recipe was to add a grilled shrimp to each bowl of gazpacho. That's 'a' as in one. One shrimp. Who eats one shrimp? That's just crazy talk, that is. I suppose I finally found a fault with the glorious and wonderful PW. I won't hold it against her though, because I went ahead and prepared two pounds of Mark Bittman's Spicy Grilled or Broiled Shrimp. Two pounds for two people. That's more like it! Normally I (or Spork) would grill it, but because of The Incident, the grill is temporarily out of commission. I went with the broiled version.

Results: Yum! I was worried that it would be too salty with the tomato juice, but it's very light and fresh tasting. I didn't have any celery, so I substituted 3 serrano chiles (What? Doesn't everyone substitute serranos for celery?). I also used some diced jalapenos in the reserved chopped veggies. With both of those chiles, there was a little bite to the soup, but nothing overpowering. I will definitely make it again.

The berries are becoming more cordial

2009-06-07T16:03:00.009-05:00

Today was the first weekly shaking of the berry cordial. Spork and I pulled it out of the cabinet this afternoon and noted a few changes from last week: the vodka has become pinkish, the blackberries have turned red and the raspberries have turned white. The sugar at the bottom of the jar was almost completely dissolved, too. One shake down, seven more to go.

Before shaking

After shaking. Note the white raspberries.

We are harvesting more berries than we can eat right now, so Spork resorted to freezing some for future use. I broke with cobbler/pie tradition this week and baked a clafoutis (or flognarde, since it's made from berries). It is one of the best smelling things to have ever graced my oven. It was yummy, but I regretted not having some vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Crusty, oozy berry goodness

The garden is finally beginning to produce. It's been a strange spring - even the farmers' market produce is behind. I've only had one bird-pecked tomato so far, but lots of yellow wax beans, summer squash and eggplants.

Ichiban eggplant showing flea beetle damage on the leaves

My butterfly garden, while messy, is very bloomy. I can't get enough of the passionflowers, which I find to be almost hypnotic. I originally grew them only because they are larval host plants for gulf fritillary butterflies, but now I love their complex flowers.

Passiflora incarnata

Bee balm with one of the skipper butterflies

My sister, Terri, has two new puppies, Taz and Buckley. It's great for me because I get to play with puppies, but my shoes aren't destroyed in the process. The pups are 1/2 schnauzer and 1/2 catahoula. The rescue group Terri adopted them from told her these would be small dogs, but Buckley has the feet and legs of a Clydesdale. Mmmm-hmmmm. They are mighty cute, though.

Taz (front) and Buckley, with hand model

Birthday goodness

2009-06-02T20:43:00.012-05:00

This year's birth celebration (I celebrate for a week, minimum) started out with a bang. Spork's uncle Joe, expert kayak builder and chess guru, had emailed that he was sending some sunflower cuttings so when I went to the post office and found the Key of Joy in the mail box, I was very excited. When the Key of Joy revealed a 5 pound package, I thought I might need to pick up another jar of rooting hormone on the drive home.

Helianthus debilis, aka beach sunflower

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the package contained a tiny bag of sunflower cuttings and a really cool piece of wooden inlay, which Spork later told me was called an intarsia.

Cutest birthday intarsia ever

I am so tickled by this! It was a complete surprise to me and I am so touched that he went to that much effort for me. Bonus points all around: 1) it was a surprise 2) it was a surprise that came in the mail 3) it was a birthday surprise that came in the mail and 4) it has a kitty on it! It's the best! I smile every time I look at it. :)

On the culinary front, Spork asked me what kind of cake I wanted and I requested a coconut cake with lemon curd filling. He donned his manly Triumph apron and made the entire thing from scratch, right down to the lemon curd! It was so good that I volunteered him to be the official cake baker from now on. For some reason, he didn't seem to relish that idea.

Spork's coconut cake (with lemon curd filling)

My girl Daisy helped me open my presents. Then moved on to shredding random papers.

After many days of cake (in addition to Spork's cake, Becky provided a super-evil raspberry amaretto cake and my mom made a red velvet cake), I couldn't face the idea of cobbler-ing the enormous quantity of berries that had accumulated in the refrigerator. It was time, I decided, to try my recipe for blackberry cordial, slightly modified to mixed berry cordial (blackberries, raspberries and boysenberries).

Day 1 of the mixed berry cordial

For this recipe, you pour a cup of sugar into the bottom of a large jar. Top that with 4 cups of berries (washed and patted dry), then pour in 4 cups of vodka. Place in a dark cupboard for 8 weeks, shaking once a week. Strain through a sieve, then through a coffee filter. Store in glass bottles.

I've never made this before, so I overlooked the bit about 8 weeks of waiting and shaking. I'm sure it will be worth it, though.

Just for John: Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

2009-05-17T16:02:00.002-05:00

I thought for sure that John would show up, fork in hand, on Saturday night when we cut into this ridiculously luscious pie. It's a graham cracker/pecan crust (made with a whole stick of butter!), topped with a layer of cream cheese whipped with sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice, topped with a layer of cooked blueberries. It was good last night, but even better for breakfast today.

See John, it was with authority when I wrote that Spork is only 99.99% evil. I am pure evil! ;-)

Cobblers, critters and rose rustling

2009-05-12T10:46:00.013-05:00

The first cobbler of 2009 has been baked and consumed! It was made from the wild trailing blackberries, aka dewberries. The dewberries produce in the time between the strawberries and the "tame" blackberries. The upright (not trailing) wild blackberries are also producing, but they are... ummmm.... less than desirable. We have dubbed them vomitberries, if that gives you an idea of their flavor.

Dewberry cobbler

The "tame" blackberries are absolutely loaded with green berries, just beginning to turn pink. I use quotes around tame because for the most part they are huge plants covered with wicked thorns and they send up baby plants in every direction, 12+ feet away from the mother plants. Some of them are also sending out more blooms. I'm not sure if these will make berries, since they are so late, but you won't hear me complain if they do.

Chickasaw blackberry bloom

The raspberries are also covered in baby berries. The raspberries are interesting because they produce twice on each cane. Here in Texas they produce on the tips of the new canes in the fall, then again the following spring lower on the canes (the tip is dead by then). My understanding is that up north the canes don't produce in the fall on the first year, but instead produce twice in the second year - tips of the canes in the spring, followed by the lower branch berries in the fall. Either way we get two harvests of raspberries a year and that is a very good thing.

Baby raspberries

Once again we are sharing the stuga with a wide assortment of lizards, skinks, snakes and frogs. We have many green anoles, including this guy, who guards the water hose. He does not approve of my use of the hose, as evidenced by his liberal use of the stink-eye.

Green anole

This little guy was hiding in my compost container (aka, plastic Folgers coffee can) when I brought it in. When I set the container on the counter, he jumped out and it was an exciting few minutes while I battled Lucy and Daisy for his capture. Fortunately for the frog, I won the battle and he regained his freedom.

Green tree frog

I have been wanting to try rose rustling for a while, so I was happy when I noticed a rose growing from a mound of unkempt shrubs in front of an abandoned gas station. The rose had sent up large arching canes dripping with dark purplish/maroon flowers right through the center of the shrubs. I was so excited to find one I could rustle, that I planned for a week exactly when I would do it. Then when we got there, I chickened out at the last minute and Spork had to run over and do the clipping! He was very cool about it. I think he has a future in stealth crimes, as long as he doesn't have a plan that involves following whispered instructions.

Unknown purple/maroon rose "liberated" from the abandoned gas station

It is most likely Dr. Huey, which is commonly used as a root stock for grafted roses, but is also a pretty climbing rose in its own right. I won't know for sure until this one takes off (if the rooting is successful, that is).

Liberated rose in its fancy mouthwash bottle greenhouse

Finally, I received a surprise delivery of gardenia cuttings last night. Yay! I've been wanting to try gardenias and growing your own from cuttings or seeds is the most fun way. It's funny because the best part of gardening to me is fussing over the baby plants up to the point they really take off and grow on their own. Once they become part of the landscape, I'm pretty ho-hum on them and usually I have more babies in the queue or at least added to my list of plants to try.

Gardenia cuttings soon to be added to the nursery/plant ghetto

This is the time of year to be outside!

2009-04-14T10:37:00.009-05:00

I can hardly stand to be inside right now. The weather is pleasant and the bloodsucking mosquitoes are still scarce. I do tote my camera around most of the time, so maybe pictures will help explain why I'm not here much.

Here is the asparagus, beginning to get bushier.

The bearded iris are beginning to bloom. I don't know the name of any of mine, but I find their complexity very appealing.

A bud from one of my new roses, Perle d'Or

Another of my new roses, the very confusing Mlle. de Sombreuil, labeled incorrectly in the US as La Biche. If I've interpreted everything correctly, this is a tea rose that can be trained as a pillar. It was one of my $2 Chamblees clearance finds.

The lovely China rose, Old Blush. I planted 3 of these in 2007 and they've really taken off this year. There's something nice about knowing that people have been growing this rose since the 1700s.

Asparagus Lesson of the Week

2009-04-01T20:02:00.002-05:00

Since Lorie is so fascinated by the asparagus in it's native environment (aka, "the ground"), I thought I would post a few pictures to enhance her experience. :) It's hard to get a good picture of it with all the green in the background, but let's see if this helps.

Here is a shot looking down the length of the row. Can't really see it, can you? It will become more "ferny" over the season, so later pictures will be better.

From Garden 2009

Here is Spork, helpfully holding the top end of one stalk of asparagus. Still pretty hard to see, but you can get an idea, since he is 6'2".

From Garden 2009

And here is Spork offering his services as Hand Model again, giving some scale to the photo. This particular variety, Jersey Knight, is very robust. Unlike the grocery store asparagus, these mondo spears are still crisp and tender.

From Garden 2009

Real Sporks eat quiche. And they like it.

2009-03-26T20:32:00.004-05:00

I've never understood why "real" men wouldn't eat quiche. You take what is basically an unsweetened custard, add some fillings, cheese and herbs, then bake it in a pie crust. What could possibly be bad about that?

My asparagus bed is finally mature enough to harvest a small amount, but I wasn't sure what to do with just a little asparagus. This morning I happened to see this recipe being made on Today and thought I'd give it a whirl. The original recipe called for a pound of asparagus, which I didn't have, so I filled in with spinach and herbs (parsley and thyme) from the garden (along with a leek from the garden - brag brag).

Results: Yum! I will definitely be saving this recipe.

This was my first experience with fresh-from-the-garden asparagus. It's a lot lighter and fresher tasting than what I've bought, almost like snow peas. And even though the stalks I picked were about 2 feet tall, they were very crisp and tender. I like growing my own! I'm looking forward to trying more asparagus dishes in the future.

Even more spring!

2009-03-25T11:57:00.003-05:00

Have I mentioned that I'm a fan of spring? I'm not sure. In case I haven't, let me just tell you that I love spring! Love it, love it, love it!

Signs of my favorite season are popping up all over the place. First, we have the dogwoods. They seem to bloom "big" every other year here and this is one of the "small" years, so we only have 25 or so blooming. I know, poor us! But, even though it's a small year, they are still pretty.

From Spring 2009

The wild dewberries have been blooming for a couple of weeks now and this morning on the dog walk, I spotted the first baby berry. Cobbler season, here we come! (Not to mention I plan to try making blackberry cordial this year - tipsy season, here we come!)

From Spring 2009

Another sign of spring I think a lot of people miss is the emergence of the mayapples, Podophyllum peltatum. They look like a plant plucked from a fairy tale and I always imagine bands of leprechauns and other tiny magical creatures living under them.

From Spring 2009

Alas, the creatures I'll most likely find beneath the mayapples are snakes. I'll just have to pretend it's something magical living under there.

Brussels sprouts redemption

2009-03-20T17:57:00.002-05:00

Once again, the Brussels sprouts have failed to produce sprouts. Well, one plant did, but it developed such an aphid infestation that I decided it made more sense to chuck the plants than to keep trying to eliminate the aphids. This particularly valiant Brassica specimen must have felt guilty over its lack of productivity because when I pulled it up, it presented me with a potato.

A hallmark moment

2009-03-17T20:10:00.005-05:00

Anyone who has ever been the recipient of a card from me knows that I don't do mushy. Cards should have some bite to them, in my opinion. I even search for mean get well cards. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.

Today was our 14th anniversary (St. Patrick's Day wedding in Vegas - yes, we are that fun!) and Spork presented me with what may be my favorite card ever.

Spring is springing

2009-03-08T21:27:00.003-05:00

That Christmas song has it all wrong. Spring is the most wonderful time of the year!

Here at the stuga, we have a small stand of baby redbud trees. This is the first year they have really bloomed. They are going to be gorgeous in a few years.

From Gardening

I've never looked very closely at redbud blooms. I was playing around with the macro setting, trying to capture the bees, but this butterfly scared them off.

From Gardening

The ground here is covered with wild violets. They have a nice scent when in direct sun.

From Gardening

Another of our wild flowers, rose vervain (a type of verbena).

From Gardening

A not-so-wild strawberry bloom.

From Gardening

Asparagus. This year we are allowed to eat some of it!

From Gardening

And our favorite harbinger of spring, the dogwood!

From Gardening

Jealousy

2009-02-17T13:43:00.003-06:00

There I sat, sipping a refreshing beverage at Spork's sister's house this past Sunday, when I happened to look out the window and see a hummingbird on the feeder. A hummingbird. In freakin' February. I, Ellie May, friend to all things furry or feathered, don't have any hummingbirds. But Spork's sister has hummingbirds. How can this be? It's not fair! I cry fowl.

P.S. Please excuse the poor picture quality. I only had Spork's phone to use as a camera.

Cruciferous transmogrification

2009-02-08T15:30:00.005-06:00

Last fall, in a desperate attempt to produce Brussels sprouts in my garden, I put in 18 plants. They were a mix of some I had started from seed and a pack of plants purchased from a local garden center. Somehow, out of 18 plants, only 5 are still Brussels sprouts. The remaining plants have been transformed into broccoli. I've heard of fish that can change gender if there aren't enough of both sexes for reproductive purposes, but I've never heard of plants switching cultivar groups within a species.

With the miraculous conversion, the aphid attack which has stunted my Brussels sprouts plants, and the 9 other actual broccoli plants in the garden, the forecast is once again looking bleak on homegrown sprouts. But I sure do have a lotta broccoli...

When good bread goes bad...

2009-02-03T20:43:00.003-06:00

Tell 'em it's 'focaccia'.

I got cocky and thought I could make a double batch of sourdough. That means mixing it by hand because my mixer bowl isn't large enough to handle 7+ cups of bread dough. I did something wrong (so very wrong) and ended up with a large, ever-expanding glob of really wet dough. I tried to form 2 loaves, but ended up with one mutant monster by the time it "rose". I use the quotes because while it expanded on the sides, it actually became shorter in height, much like the women in my family do as we age. Ah well, while it wouldn't win any awards for presentation, it did taste very good.

Some of the best news ever!

2009-01-26T10:26:00.002-06:00

I subscribe to an email newsletter sent out weekly from the author, Susan Wittig Albert. In her China Bayles mystery series, the main character, China, has chucked her big city lawyer career in favor of running an herb shop in a small Texas hill country town. The books contain a lot of Texas lore and herb/plant trivia, which I enjoy as much as the mystery itself.

Anyhoo, in today's newsletter, Ms. Albert gave me two pieces of extremely good news. First, tomorrow, January 27, is National Chocolate Cake Day. Second, chocolate is an herb with more antioxidants than red wine!

I am going to ignore the refined carbohydrate issues that the cake presents and think of it as an herbal remedy to all that ails me from here on out. I read it on the internet; it must be true.

A blast from the past. Literally.

2009-01-11T16:02:00.005-06:00

In searching for a cd version of my dad's favorite album ever, the Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band's Sour Kraut in Hi-Fi, I stumbled upon an mp3 of one of the songs and had some immediate psychedelic flashbacks to my youth. I fear it may explain some things about my sense of humor and, unfortunately, some of my musical tastes (or lack thereof).

If you're brave enough, give it a listen. It's best listened to when you're about 2 good German beers into the evening. Try to stay tuned at least until the singing starts, so you can get the full effect.

Stars and Stripes Forever mp3

Shockingly, this gem hasn't been released on cd.

The sourdough starter has finally done my bidding

2009-01-07T09:15:00.007-06:00

A while back I sent for a sourdough starter and started experimenting with making bread leavened exclusively with the starter (no added yeast). The first two loaves tasted fine, but both of them burst along the lower edge.

Nice side:

From Food

Split side:

From Food

I asked some expert bakers for advice and the consensus was that, with this particular recipe*, most of the rising happened in the oven and the outer crust dried out before the inside of the loaf had fully expanded. The suggested solution was to add a pan of hot water to the lower shelf in the oven and to cut fairly deep slits in the top of the loaf right before baking.

Because of poor planning, I had to refrigerate the partially-risen loaf overnight, which is actually good for flavor and texture. In case you need some baking trivia, that is what creates the dark, pebbly texture on the crusts of many artisan breads.

Results: It worked!

This time, along with the heavenly aroma of baking bread, I actually had a pretty loaf of bread. It's also awesome tasting - a tough, chewy, crackly crust with a moist, almost buttery interior. My only regret is that Spork and I made a significant dent in it the very first day. Next time I will make enough for two loaves.

Mmmmmm!

From Food

* My variances from the original recipe: I only needed about 2.5 cups of flour - 3 makes a very stiff dough with my starter. I omitted the oil/margarine and just added enough water to make a slightly sticky dough. I also baked it longer, about 55 minutes total.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T10:39:00.003-06:00

Here's hoping that 2009 is a happy and prosperous year (and perhaps a little less stressful than 2008)! <imagine the sounds of cheering and blaring noisemakers> Happy new year! <clink clink>

And for those that tune in to look at food pictures, here's the apple pie I made for Christmas.

Woohoo! Surprise package!

2008-12-19T09:12:00.000-06:00

I know this will forever ruin my carefully manicured cool image <*shut it, Spork*>, but I love getting packages in the mail. If I get one that I know is coming, life is good. If I get an unexpected package, life becomes almost unbearably great. So imagine my utter joy when I went to the post office to pick up a package that I knew was coming (because I ordered it) and got a bonus package to boot! I ripped into that bad boy so hard that the padding from the enviro-friendly envelope flew out and stuck all over my dark blue shirt. It was worth it, though, because the package contained a new cookbook!

The book was Swedish Cakes and Cookies by Melody Favish, sent to me by Swedish friend, Christina.

I've bugged Christina for Swedish recipes from time to time, so she's well aware of my cookbook habit (addiction just seems like such a harsh word).

The book is filled with pictures and recipes for all sorts of delightful cookies, little pastries, cakes and sweet breads. I've already picked my first experiment, a braided sweet bread made with cottage cheese and orange zest, drizzled with a powdered sugar glaze. Yum!

I think I have finally done it

2008-12-16T22:19:00.006-06:00

This is it, cinnamon roll nirvana! Tender, rich, gooey and dripping with frosting. I even managed to get all of the ingredients in this time. Yes, the salt, the raisins and the nuts. It's practically a cooking miracle.

I usually bake my cinnamon rolls on a cookie sheet, but I opted to use a 12" round pan this time and I liked it better. The inner rolls stayed soft, so less crust. Yes, this was definitely a winning batch. I took them to share with my parents, but Spork wouldn't let the leftovers to come home with us. It seemed so wrong to just abandon them like that.

Oh man, look at that! I want another one now!

I'm working on writing up the recipe, since a lot of it exists only in my head. I now have a lot more respect for cookbook writers - it's hard getting every detail written out.

I wondered why my cats were so into the holidays

2008-12-13T09:51:00.003-06:00

It's just another part of their nefarious plan for world domination, which will be accomplished through the strategic placement of hairballs.

more animals

Oops, I lied!

2008-12-05T19:25:00.002-06:00

Yesterday when Big John asked if I had cooked anything interesting lately, I said no, but that wasn't exactly true. My mental storage was filled with Thanksgiving food, which while tasty, isn't exactly blog worthy (except the Red Rooster, which is always a hit). Outside of Thanksgiving food, I've been experimenting with sourdough bread leavened entirely from the wild yeast in the sourdough - no yeast added. I became a nutso fan in San Francisco, where everything seems to be served in sourdough bread of some form. I tried to create my own starter a few times, without success, and finally sent off for a dried starter. Carl Griffith's starter, in case anyone else wants to give it a go.

I've made 2 loaves so far, as well as some pancakes and a batch of biscuits. I rated the biscuits as "Meh," but the pancakes were pretty good. The bread, on the other hand, was really good. Both loaves were mighty fine taste-wise, but both of them split along the bottom edge, which made them sub-par in my obsessive-compulsive eyes. I posted a plea for help on a cooking forum and have a couple of tricks to try next time: 1. Slash the loaf deeply right before baking and 2. Add a pan of hot water to the oven during baking, to keep the crust flexible. I'm going to try tip #1 first, since the crust on the last loaf was bread perfection - crispy, crackly and a little carmelized. I don't want to lose that, just keep it from exploding along the bottom.

Pretty side

Split side

Hooked on queso

2008-11-23T19:21:00.005-06:00

In my pre-Spork days, I didn't care for queso. I know, I know! What was wrong with me? I have no reasonable explanation to offer. I just didn't like it. I didn't eat fries or potato chips back then, either. Fortunately, Spork helped me to see the light. Unfortunately, I seem to be making up for all those lost calories now by regularly indulging in all my newfound favorite foods.

We had a light frost yesterday morning, causing my pepper plants to shrivel up and die, so it was time to use up the last of the peppers. My entire veggie drawer is now full of poblanos, New Mexican chiles, sweet Italian peppers, pimientos and a new variety I tried this year, Holy Mole. I couldn't fit the 4 pounds or so of jalapenos and serranos in, so I'll be drying them and making chile powder.

However, I decided to use my windfall to indulge in my newfound love of queso and make this recipe from Homesick Texan. I've made it before, so I took the liberty of adding a little breakfast sausage (how could that possibly be bad?) and I used salsa instead of the tomatoes and cilantro. Spork thinks my cavalier attitude towards recipe directions is reckless, but I'm not afraid!

Results: Yum! It was totally worth every single calorie. But now I need to go sleep off my cheese coma.

Thanksgiving just got a little more kick

2008-11-18T11:22:00.003-06:00

Woot! I have had an official request to bring Red Rooster to Thanksgiving this year. Red Rooster is much better than the casserole I was asked to bring. The last time I brought it, I ended up with a giant metal palm tree bird feeder.

Here's the recipe, in case anyone else needs to brighten up their holiday:

Red Rooster

Ingredients:
3 Quart(s) cranberry juice cocktail
12 Ounce(s) thawed frozen orange juice concentrate
4 Cup(s) vodka

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients and freeze in a large plastic container for several hours, or until slushy. (It won't be frozen solid.)

Stir and scoop the mixture into punch cups or wine glasses.

Notes: I usually use rum instead of vodka, generally a combo of gold rum and vanilla rum. All I have right now is 151, so I'll be buying some new supplies. I don't want Thanksgiving to be that exciting.

Omnivore Meme

2008-11-13T09:04:00.001-06:00

This is a a fun meme-you know the routine post this list and bold what you've eaten. Some blogger somewhere decided that these are the 100 things every omnivore should eat before they die. I'm copying Lorie (again) who copied webfrau who thanked jww for this.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese - I bought some once, but couldn't make myself taste it!
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - unfortunately!
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - I skipped the cigar part
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips - but I don't see the point
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis - no, but I would try it
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost - ick, ick, ick! I think I'd rather try the roadkill
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Har
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Looks like I'm at 59%. Hopefully I'm being graded on a curve.

Get thee to Jason's Deli and order a JB's Best Bagelini

2008-11-11T14:05:00.002-06:00

Warning: Shameless plug ahead!

Spork and I ventured out in the rain today to try an awesome new sandwich at Jason's Deli, JB's Best Bagelini. It consists of turkey, provolone, guacamole, pico de gallo and (I think) a spicy aioli, all combined on a bagel and then pressed in a panini grill . It's served with blue corn chips and a really tasty fresh salsa. Yum! I snarfed the whole thing in record time, trying hard not to growl every time someone walked past the table.

Now for the "truth in marketing" disclaimer: My nephew, Jeff, is the mastermind behind this sandwich and it won a Major Award* in a Jason's Deli employee contest and is now on the menu board in all the restaurants. I think it's only available for a limited time, but I'm not sure about that. So just to be safe, you should probably jump in the car and go get one right now!

Footnote:
*If you're not enough of a fan of A Christmas Story to get the Major Award reference, then shame, shame on you...

Coconut cake #1

2008-11-04T09:27:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to bake something every Saturday in an effort to:

improve my baking skills
NOT bake (and eat) something on the remaining days of the week

My informal rule is to bake on Saturday and share with others, if possible. Whatever is remaining on Sunday night gets a free ride to the trash can.

I took a cake decorating class last year and while I thought it was fun, I don't actually like decorator frosting, which is composed of shortening, powdered sugar, flavoring and food coloring. I just don't like the taste or texture the shortening gives it. You can make a similar frosting with butter, which tastes a lot better, but it melts too easily to pipe well. Especially for a slow-poke decorating newbie like me. Soooo, my current goal is to be able to make very tasty and (hopefully) pretty cakes with real frosting. From scratch, that is, since I'm not too fond of the mixes I've tried, either.

Sometimes it's hard ~~being so picky~~ having such refined tastes.

I am a coconut fiend, so I decided to start with a coconut cake. I used a basic cake recipe from my 1947 Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (which I guiltily admit that I bought for my mom as a gift and then ended up keeping). I used half vanilla and half coconut extract for flavoring and since it is apparently assumed that I add booze to everything, I went ahead and boozed this one up. I made a simple syrup from water, sugar and coconut rum and brushed it lightly over both (baked and cooled) layers of the cake before I frosted it. It's what Julia Child would do. Julia is my hero, even if she did get stuck in a chimney once, which is a pretty idiotic thing to do. But I nearly died on a treadmill, so who am I to judge? Stupid margaritas.

I frosted the cake with "Fluffy White Frosting" from the same cookbook, which is just a version of boiled or seven minute frosting. I used coconut extract in the frosting, but I think vanilla would have been a better choice. I then coated the whole thing in toasted coconut. Oh, and I also added some toasted coconut between the layers when I frosted it.

Taste results: I have to say, it was pretty darned good! The cake is very tender and slightly coconut-flavored (I was worried I might have overdone it between the extract and the coconut rum). The frosting is, as the name implies, fluffy and white, but is mild enough to let the coconut shine. Some of these egg-white frostings turn sticky on humid days, but this one remained, well, fluffy and white even a day later. My one complaint is that the cake recipe was intended for 2-8"x2" round cake pans and I have 9" cake pans, so the layers are a little thin. It seems to me that a trip to the restaurant supply store could fix that problem right up!

Finally, here she be, my little coconut cake.

A fun way to waste a few minutes

2008-11-01T18:02:00.003-05:00

In case you need to know what the Billboard #1 song was on the day you were born, now you can find out at The #1 Song on This Date in History website.

Sadly, mine "Everything Is Beautiful" by Ray Stevens. If it had to be a Ray Stevens song, I wish it could have been "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival" or maybe "Erik the Awful".

Finally, a brush with greatness!

2008-10-30T20:26:00.004-05:00

Daisy and I didn't win a major award at the Howl-O-Ween costume contest, but we did get to meet Bill and Star and we got their autographs. And unlike some dogs, Daisy didn't try to attack the celebrity while she was performing!

My first pumpkin pie

2008-10-29T09:34:00.003-05:00

I found pie pumpkins at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and, consumed by a fit of D-I-Y cooking inspiration, I bought one. I finally got around to roasting it last week and made a pie over the weekend.

About midway through the actual pie construction, I realized I didn't have the evaporated milk the recipe called for, so I substituted heavy cream. In my world, all recipes are made better with heavy cream.

For those, like myself, who haven't had a pumpkin (and FYI, that's pronounced PONkin) pie made from fresh pumpkin, it is a fluffier pie than the canned version. The flavor is a little brighter, too. Everyone was convinced that I had added some sort of booze to the recipe, with guesses ranging from whiskey to Bénédictine, but I had not. Sheesh, you sneak in one Jack Daniels pecan pie to Thanksgiving and you get a reputation!

From Food

Here is the recipe I used, from my stained and battered copy of The Southern Living Cookbook:

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 unbaked 10-inch pastry shell

Directions:

Combine pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, egg yolks, spices, and salt in a large mixing bowl; beat until light and fluffy (NOTE: I used a food processor for this). Add evaporated milk; mix just until combined.

Beat egg whites until foamy; gradually add sugar, beating until stiff. Fold into potato mixture. Pour filling into pastry shell. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 45 to 50 minutes or until set.

Cool. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

Mexican mint marigold is a hit, but what IS this thing?

2008-10-24T19:30:00.010-05:00

Earlier this year I planted Mexican mint marigold, which can be grown here in Texas as a replacement for tarragon. It actually does taste fairly close to tarragon, though whenever I plant something experimental there is always a part of me that is absolutely sure that the plant is mislabeled and what I'm growing is actually poisonous, hallucinogenic or something else undesirable. That's the problem with growing your own food, at least for someone who reads too much Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

My MMM is now blooming, so I went out to take some pictures of it's purtiness. It was in full sun at the time and the nectar was obviously flowing, because it was a nectar-feeding-species bonanza. A blooming Golden Corral for insects. There were bees, bee-like things and butterflies, all swarming around. The nectar must have been good stuff because they were willing to let me take pictures. It was Friday afternoon. Maybe they were having happy hour.

Bees

Metallic green bee?

Variegated fritillary, I think

And now, what the heck is this? Is it a bee? A bee fly? Something that managed to sneak in from an alternate universe? What???

Pretty cars

2008-10-22T21:06:00.004-05:00

My first car was a 1966 Mustang. A 289 V8 bored out to 302 with a 4 barrel Holley carb and a finicky 4 speed manual transmission. It was Wimbledon White with Dark Ivy Green Shelby stripes and a parchment and white Pony interior. It was a great car, especially for a 16 year old girl. Driving a shiny, growly muscle car gets you a lot of attention from the boys!

My second car was a 1984 ex-Texas DPS highway patrol Mustang. That car was fast! It could also corner like nobody's business. When I first got it, it was painted a drab taupe color (they called it bronze, but that name is definitely too ambitious) and it still had the cop spotlights on the front. It was funny watching people slam on the brakes when they passed me on the highway. My dad had it painted an obnoxious orangey-red (Porsche Guard Red, I believe) and had the spotlights removed. It was a pretty sweet ride. The only weird thing about it was that the rear tires wore out every 5 to 6 months. Never could quite figure that one out... (*scratches head in bemusement*)

Anyway, all of this is to say that I *love* cars. Especially older sports cars. So whenever I hear of a car show nearby, I try to go, which led Spork and I to Lindale over the weekend. It was a beautiful day for a drive in the Triumph and there were quite a few cars there to ogle, around 200 or so. It was billed as a classic car, motorcycle and tractor show, but there were only 2 motorcycles and 2 tractors (Spork felt ripped off! He also felt the British cars were underrepresented.). There were also quite a few modern cars and while I'm sure the owners have put in a lot of work in them, I'm there to see the old cars.

Sadly, my camera batteries died immediately upon arrival, so I had to resort to my cell phone for pictures.

Here is a very nice 1966 Mustang. Want.

From Lindale Classic Car Show

A 1930s something-or-other. I think these cars are pretty, but I'm useless at identifying them.

From Lindale Classic Car Show

The coolest car at the show was a 1926 Rolls-Royce that is still regularly driven today. It was parked by a Ferrari, but no one was paying the Ferrari any attention. Poor Ferrari guy.

From Lindale Classic Car Show

Nothin'

2008-10-12T18:12:00.002-05:00

I've felt about as eloquent as an angst-ridden teenager lately. My only response to the question, "What's going on, Ellie May?" has been an unimpressive, "Nothin'" I'm pretty sure I'm sporting the bad posture to go along with the 'tude, but at least I'm not rolling my eyes. Only because I can't actually roll my eyes. I can cross them, but I can't roll them. Someone please explain that to me.

In an effort to combat angst-ridden-teenager syndrome (ARTS), here I am back at the old blog. Let's hope I can think of something to share.

This morning, we went to the weekly brekkie at my parents' house and my niece, Traci, was there with a new friend, Queen Elizabeth.

Queen Elizabeth is only four weeks old, but the mother dog stopped taking care QE and her siblings. Traci's boyfriend, Jeremy, is apparently a soft touch. He took pity on poor little QE and brought her home to care for. They already have one white schnauzer, His Most Supreme Royal Highness Roose, so they'll be a matched set when QE is a little bigger.

Tired Roose

This afternoon, Spork and I took Arlo and Daisy for a power walk through the woods. I was in the lead and since I have a tendency to watch about 9 feet ahead of me while I walk (if you grow up with farm animals - you watch where you step!), I saw something up ahead of me, but it took about 3 more steps before my brain registered "snake, copperhead"! It was a big one, too, between 3 and 4 feet long. Spork and I scared it off the trail and took the dogs home, but when we went back to detach its head from its tail (a headectomy?), we couldn't find the snake. Spork was prepared with a pitchfork and a hoe, but I was armed with the camera in the hopes of getting a picture.

On the way back from the failed snake assassination/photo shoot, I stopped to admire the leaf cutter ants and their new domain.

Taking leaf parts back to the mound

All the sandy spots are part of the ant hill

The ants are big, maybe 1/2-inch long and their colonies are huge. This one is about 12 feet in diameter and they've only been building it since this summer. They used to live on the land behind us, but since we are just so awesome, they moved in with us. That's right, ants dig us.

Finally, even though something has eaten all the foliage off my roses (I suspect deer), Double Delight managed to give us a bloom this week.

See, that was just one day's worth of adventure. Not sure why, "Nothin'" is all that comes to mind lately.

A Sporktastic birthday weekend!

2008-09-19T14:41:00.007-05:00

Okay boys and girls, be sure to wish Spork a happy birthday this weekend. I will leave out the specifics about exactly what year he was born, but let's just say there sure are lots of reading glasses scattered around the stuga and my childhood pictures are in color!

Happy birthday Spork!

I don't like Ike

2008-09-16T12:55:00.002-05:00

Ike passed right over us this past weekend at tropical storm strength. The original prediction called for a category 1 hurricane level when it hit our neck of the woods, so we were happy with a tropical storm. Here at the stuga, we lost a few trees, one of which took out our power pole and landed on Spork's tractor. I think I'll leave that story for Spork to tell. We all know how he feels about his tractor.

Since we were without power, we spent a few nights crashing at the homes of others. I'm grateful for the hospitality, but I'm also glad to be back in my own world of Tivo and teh innernets.

Overall we were very fortunate. I've been without news since Saturday, but I know Galveston and parts of Houston are in pretty bad shape. I can't imagine what the people from there are going through.

A smote hickory tree.

From Miscellaneous

Poor Tilly the Tractor.

From Miscellaneous

Bragging on my raspberries

2008-09-04T09:49:00.004-05:00

The raspberries we planted last spring are doing great and are producing about a cup (or more) of raspberries a day right now. Yesterday we had so many that I wondered what we should do with them. For about one-tenth of a second I thought, "We should share these." Then I came to my senses and thought, "I should bake something!" As further inspiration, Spork's sister, Becky, sent me an email that it was national eat a second piece of dessert day. That sealed it. I did some googling and the first recipe I found was Chocolate Raspberry Cobbler. Yep, that did it.

From Food

Results: I would call this a crisp, not a cobbler. Not that there's anything wrong with the crisp, it's just not a cobbler. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips for the chocolate and added 2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar to the raspberries. It was still a bit on the tart side for me (I might try 1/4 cup of sugar next time), but Spork liked it tart. The semi-sweet chocolate and raspberries were a fabulous combination, though, and I would definitely try it again, but probably not if I had to buy the raspberries at grocery store prices. I would use that money to buy raspberry plants!

Ellie May's animal-filled Labor Day weekend

2008-09-02T08:31:00.005-05:00

Late Sunday afternoon, I let Daisy out to survey her domain and I stood looking through the window so I wouldn't end up doing something productive on accident. After a few minutes, I realized I was staring at a deer and that Daisy, with her superior canine senses, hadn't noticed at all. I went and got Spork so he could see, too, and when we returned to the window, there was an adult and twin fawns. Spork ran to get the camera, but by they time he returned, only one of the Bambis was still in view.

Yesterday morning we took Arlo and Daisy for their daily walk and when we finished, we found out we had been followed home by two dogs. At first we assumed that they were neighbor dogs out for an adventure, but now we're pretty sure they were abandoned. They have that haunted look that homeless dogs get and even though it's been raining all night, they are still sitting outside our door.

The black and white dog is a neutered male of undetermined pedigree. The other dog is a female golden retriever and appears to be fairly old. They are both really sweet and submissive, to the point that Arlo intimidates them.

I understand that sometimes circumstances can force someone to find a new home for an animal, but I have no sympathy for the slimy kind of person that just tosses them out to fend for themselves. I've been taking care of their discards all my life and I am beginning to get bitter about it.

And yes, we fed them. How could we not?

Good food, no proof

2008-08-25T19:39:00.002-05:00

I tried round 2 of Taco-fication this weekend, but I completely failed at capturing photographic evidence ($#@% margaritas!). My sister, Mary, was offended that she had not been invited for the original taco-fication, so we invited her over to make amends. We had chicken tacos, topped with cabbage and cilantro (tossed with lime juice), homemade taco shells (deep fried and puffy) and I even went all out and made a batch of roasted tomatillo salsa. But I have not a shred of evidence to offer. Oh wait, I do have a picture of Mary (not taken on taco night). Hopefully that will suffice.

The opposite of doves

2008-08-20T14:07:00.003-05:00

Who needs a stinkin' bird of peace when you have hummingbirds? This is much more interesting!

Some things to like about August

2008-08-16T12:34:00.004-05:00

For August, the weather has been fairly pleasant so far. We've had a few really hot days, but today for instance, it's just after noon and a chilly (by Texas summer standards) 73F. I could get used to this. Unfortunately, it is August and I'm in Texas, so I know it won't last.

There are a few good things about August in Texas, however. First, the hummingbirds that will migrate further south for the winter are gathering here to fatten up for the trip. Right now we have about a dozen fighting over our two feeders. I have put out between four to eight cups of sugar water a day for the last few weeks. I love these little monsters. They are the terriers of the sky!

Second, the raspberry plants are putting out their fall crop. Honestly, I'm a little confused by this, since technically seven of the nine original plants are supposed to be spring-bearing only. I'm eating a few raspberries every day, though, so you won't hear me complain. About the raspberries, at least.

Third, since we have had rain recently, some of my roses are blooming again. This is Flutterbye, which is a relatively recent introduction that never shows up for sale in nurseries. I really don't understand that because it is a cast iron rose, very disease-resistant and drought-tolerant. The blooms start out yellow and turns an orangey-pink. In the spring it is absolutely covered with blooms for weeks on end. Mine is still young, but I'm hoping that it puts on an equally impressive fall show.

And fourth... Well, it may be stretching a bit to say I count this in my "good things about August" list, but it did amuse me. I found this green lynx spider in the blooms when trying to photograph Flutterbye. He became really irritated with my attempts to get a good macro focus on him. This wasn't the best shot to showcase his hairy legs, but it does show his green color better than the others.

Taco-fication

2008-08-09T09:05:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, while grocery shopping, I noticed a package of meat labeled carne picada. It appeared to be shaved steak of some sort, so I wrote the name down and googled it when I got home. I didn't really find much, so I decided it was up to me to do the experimentin'.

Since Spork and I both like going to taquerias, I wanted something along those lines. My goal was more Mexican than Tex-Mex.

Since I was in a lazy experimentin' mood, I started by marinating the beef in Goya Mojo Criolla marinade. I saw some guy on tv use it for fajitas. No, it wasn't a cooking show, it was a home improvement show, but one of the guys on the crew did all the cooking and it looked gooooooood.

We have a lot of peppers ripening in the garden right now, so I sliced up the sweet ones, along with an onion, and pan-fried them in butter with a little fajita seasoning. Normally I would use Goya Adobo with Pepper for the seasoning, but there appears to be some boycott in this town on that particular spice mix. Who doesn't like adobo seasoning?

For adornment purposes, I had limes, avocodo and cilantro. I also made a little batch of pico de gallo to go with it.

I gave the tortillas a good blistering. Can't stands 'em raw!

Then I fried the meat in batches (and an absurd amount of butter), cooking it pretty hot until the marinade steamed off and the meat took on a nice char. I made sure to spill some on the stove, too. Have to leave something for the sous-chef to clean up.

Time to eat, baby!

Spork made himself a little princess taco. See how it's all dainty and cute? It's okay, though, he made up for it by having several princess tacos.

I, on the other hand, overserved myself. I stuffed mine so full I had to force it closed with my fork. And yes, I did exactly the same on the second one.

Overall, I was pleased with the way the tacos turned out, however inauthentic they may be. Next time I'll either buy a smaller package of meat or divide it up into smaller quantities. Two and a half pounds of shredded beef is a lot to cook at once*.

*Spork did not feel that the quantity was a problem.

Time for some whine: it's hot!

2008-08-03T13:43:00.004-05:00

The temperature has reached 100F here the last few days, which forced me to make ice cream. Originally, I was thinking coconut, but I happened to mention an Irish coffee ice cream recipe to Spork and that pretty much ended the discussion. It turned out pretty darned good, too.

Usually when it gets this hot, the roses take a siesta and save up energy for a fall bloom. However, this pretty guy surprised me with a bloom yesterday. I guess his name is appropriate, considering how well he has adapted to the heat. Here, let me introduce you to Charles Darwin, aka Chuck. :-) It's a nice Austin rose with a wonderful scent and pretty, cupped apricot blooms.

Are there any hummingbird experts out there? This one, a female ruby-throated showed up last summer. She will perch to drink, then go limp, with her wings and tail splayed. Her head will loll to the side or sometimes will flop all the way back, bill open and tongue hanging out. Other hummingbirds will buzz her, trying to get her off the feeder, but she is oblivious. After a few minutes, she shakes herself off and flies away. I was amazed when she showed up again this year. I was sure she wouldn't survive the migration.

Any theories?

My worst test score ever

2008-07-27T20:30:00.003-05:00

Hmmm, I guess it's a good thing I didn't live in the 1930s because apparently I would have been a pretty crummy spouse.

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

Go Bill and Star!

2008-07-26T14:00:00.001-05:00

Have you been watching Greatest American Dog on CBS? We don't watch a lot of reality shows, but we're making an exception for this one because two of the contestants, Bill and Star, are local. When Daisy was in obedience school*, Bill and Star came out and gave a demo of all the things it was possible to teach a dog. Star seems a little out of her element on the show so far, but when we saw her in person she was fabulous. So go watch some tv and cheer Star on!

*Despite what Spork says, Daisy did graduate from obedience school. She even took home 2 major awards.

The food police are going to arrest me

2008-07-23T07:24:00.001-05:00

I've committed some serious violations in the last few days. First, I baked these cinnamon rolls for a birthday breakfast over the weekend. Fortunately, someone else kept the leftovers so I didn't have to eat them. Though before they were claimed, I did wonder what cinnamon roll bread pudding would taste like.

Last night, in what can only be described as a felony offense, I made Pioneer Woman's husband's favorite sandwich and as a side dish... Weeeelll, you want to take a guess? You're right! Those are deep fried green beans! Because there was fried food involved, Spork even donned an apron and fried the beans while I made the sammiches.

And for the record, the deep fried green bean is a good thing!

In an unrelated topic, here is a gratuitous picture of my girl, Daisy. Her life is hard.

Breaking free from the cooking rut

2008-07-20T20:22:00.004-05:00

I've been stuck in a rut with cooking lately. Sure, I've made some desserts (the cobbler chronicles) and baked a few things, but our main meals have been same-old, same-old. Bo-ring! So tonight I channeled my inner Emeril and kicked it up a notch. I went with an Indian theme and made Rogan Josh served over rice with peas and cumin, topped with a tomato relish. Yum!

I forgot to take a picture, but stew-type foods are not the most photogenic anyway. But trust me (trussst in me!), it was really good and it took about an hour for my mouth to quit burning. Good times!

I haven't decided yet, but my next cooking adventure will be either Thai or Lebanese cuisine. And hopefully I will remember to take a picture.

Sort of a book review

2008-07-17T23:09:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading one of the most disturbing books I have ever encountered, John Grisham's The Innocent Man. Normally I don't read true crime books, but my sister (another bookworm) recommended it, so I gave it a chance. I read a lot and I read some pretty macabre fiction, but this is one of the few books that has given me nightmares.

For the uninitiated, it is the story of several men wrongly convicted of capital crimes in Ada, Oklahoma, and their struggle to be released from prison. The main character, Ron Williamson was innocent and had also previously been declared mentally incompetent by the state, yet he was still tried for capital murder (with no real evidence) and given the death penalty. He spent ten years on death row before finally being released.

I have always thought along the same lines that all the men in this book did: if you are innocent and you tell the truth, everything will work out in the end. Not so, apparently. Even after DNA evidence cleared two of these men, the district attorney was still working on ways to re-convict them. How could it possibly be better to the DA to have the wrong person in prison rather than to just admit he was wrong? What a twisted logic.

I am glad that I read the book and it is definitely a story that needed to be told, but I can't say that I enjoyed it. I do have a renewed respect for The Innocence Project and the people in the legal system who were willing to stand up and do what was right. But my belief that justice will eventually prevail has definitely been shaken.

Lawyer up, if you ever find yourself being questioned. Lawyer up fast. That is what I learned.

The cost of smoking

2008-07-14T20:33:00.004-05:00

Normally I let Spork do the ranting, but over the weekend while we were buying a stand for our replacement tv, I glanced up and saw that the price of a carton of name brand cigarettes has gone up to $50. I actually yelled, 'FIFTY DOLLARS!" and startled the poor cashier. Ages ago, when I worked in a grocery store, I couldn't believe people were willing to shell out $20 a carton, but $50? No way!

Now don't get me wrong, all the PC-police that want to tell other adults what they are allowed to do with their own bodies can just get bent. But my inner cheapskate nearly fell over and died at the thought of $5 a pack cigarettes. Yowza! I guess I finally found the one benefit of suffering serious migraines during adolescence: I couldn't stand to be around any type of smoke, so I never once tried smoking.

$50!?! Great googley-moogley.

Bye-bye blackberries, hello salsa! (And other miscellaneous ramblings)

2008-07-07T19:59:00.006-05:00

We've gone from harvesting berries to harvesting peppers and tomatoes, here at the stuga. This was our first batch, a nice pico de gallo. I also made a batch of roasted tomatillo salsa, but didn't think to take a picture until after it was all consumed (there might have been some beer involved). You'll just have to take my word on its awesomeness. And oh, it was awesome.

There was a group birthday party on my side of the fam over the weekend. Since there are so many of us, we batch them to keep from going insane(r). My birthday was included, but us old folks let the youngsters, Kyle and Emily, do the candle extinguishing.

Earlier this spring, I bought an unlabeled rose (a pity purchase - who else would take it?) and have been admiring its unnamed blooms all season. I finally ID'ed it last week after spending a ridiculous amount of time on the gardenweb rose forums.

Insert silvery trumpets: Dum da da dum! I present to thee the hybrid tea, First Prize!

We are still seeing our foxes fairly regularly. We know now that there are two (mother and baby), but the only pictures we got of them together are pretty grainy. Baby is big enough that we can't tell them apart unless they are together (and baby is being chastised). So here is one of 'em, chowing on some birdseed.

And since you asked so nicely... Yes, that is the bottom of my palm tree bird feeder pole, prominently featured in an issue of Birds & Blooms this year. Thank you for noticing!

Today is National Gingersnap Day

2008-07-01T07:04:00.001-05:00

Who knew? Apparently I've gone my entire life without celebrating a whole slew of national food holidays. Why, in June alone I missed:

National Candy Month
June 3 Donut Day (1st weekend in June)
June 7 National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
June 14 National Strawberry Shortcake Day
June 16 National Fudge Day

I wonder if any of them are considered work or school holidays? July 11, National Blueberry Muffin Day, should definitely be a day off, primarily because July 10 is National Pina Colada Day. I'm really miffed that no one told me February 22 is National Margarita Day. I would have celebrated the hell out of that one. I'll probably abstain from August 28, National Cherry Turnovers Day, because of a personal aversion to cherry filling, but I'm so there on November 12, National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day! I'm especially looking forward to December 30, National Bicarbonate of Soda Day. I'm sure the parties will be effervescent.

Fun with scanners

2008-06-28T16:37:00.003-05:00

For the last few weeks I've been working on a little project for my parents' 60th wedding anniversary. I sneaked into their house while they were at the gym (which makes me look great - the nearly-80-year-olds are working out and I'm doing a B&E) and "borrowed" their boxes of old family photographs to scan for use in a digital picture frame. Compared to the amount of pictures I take, my parents were hardly photo-prolific, but over 60 years the quantity begins to add up. I used only a small fraction of what I found, but I still ended up scanning about 500 pictures.

If you've done a little mental math, you'll realize that I was a later in life surprise baby. (Take note, boys and girls, that pill is only 97% effective!) Because they were both in their early 40s when I was born and because of the tunnel vision of youth, they always seemed "old" to me, so it's been a lot of fun seeing them as kids. I know that generation - children during the depression, teens during WWII - matured earlier than kids now, but they were still only 19 when they wed. So young! And yet, at 19 my dad had already served 2 years in the Marines. I couldn't even decide on a hairstyle at 19.

All in all, it was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. I've gotten a lot better at touching up photos using GIMP and I found some really great treasures to add to my own photo gallery. I also found some absolutely hilarious pictures (*cough* my siblings' hip 1970s garb *cough*) as well as a few that need explanation, such as my mom at a party with a lampshade on her head. I don't believe she's ever mentioned that party...

Here are a few examples of my findings:

Young Mom and Dad, while they were dating. Aren't they cute?

Teenage Dad being a goof. I also found out that my grandparents sent this out as a Christmas card that year. That explains a few things about our family's sense of humor!

Auntie Jean and Uncle Carl, Christmas, circa 1966. Don't they look like they're having a blast?

I have to find out the story behind this picture!

And finally, a few examples of how I got the nickname Ellie May...

Blackberry cobbler epiphany

2008-06-22T10:59:00.006-05:00

My brain finally kicked into gear last Thursday and I remembered which cobbler Spork liked so much last summer. He threw me when he said it was shortbread-y. It was actually a cobbler topped with a shortcake, from my old 1948 Betty Crocker cookbook (have I ever mentioned my cookbook collection? ). Spork's mom has that cookbook and I was trying to help him recapture his youth by making her cobbler recipe. Unfortunately, that wasn't the recipe she used, but it turns out that Spork really liked the shortcake. Personally, I still really dig the crisp, but I also loves me some shortcake, so this is one we can agree on.

Again, for your salivating pleasure, I provide photographic evidence:

Results: For this recipe, you cook the blackberries, sugar and cornstarch in a small amount of water before baking. This results in a thicker syrup, which I like a lot better than the watery texture of some of the other recipes. I think a little orange or lemon zest would have been a good addition and I almost used orange juice instead of water, but I was trying to follow the recipe (for a change). This one was really nice - let's hope I can remember it next summer.

Days of Our Blackberries

2008-06-16T13:31:00.003-05:00

Seriously, if berry season doesn't end soon, I'm going to look like this cat from lolcats:

Despite my fear of weight gain, once again we tried another cobbler recipe over the weekend, Pioneer Woman's blackberry cobbler #2. It's all in the name of science, of course, but I didn't realize science was so calorie-laden. Or does science make it calorie-free? Ah, if only...

That's homemade buttermilk ice cream, too

Results: This one uses lemon juice and lemon zest in the berries, which was a nice touch. Since our berries have been on the tart side (it's a trade-off between letting the berries fully ripen and getting to them before the birds snag 'em), I added extra sugar to the berries. The biscuity topping is not very sweet, but you do sprinkle the top liberally with sugar before baking. Over all, I still think I like the crisp best, but Spork is still longing for "the cobbler you made last year, the short-bready one". Unfortunately, I don't remember which recipe I used, so the search continues.

For some different berry news, I picked my first yellow tomato Saturday. I had to beat a wasp off of it with a stick to get it, so I'm pretty proud. I did scream like a little girl when the wasp held onto the stick and started crawling towards me, but I feel like I have permission to scream at that point.

And if that's not enough berry excitement, Spork and I headed to the farmers' market Saturday and picked up a flat of blueberries. Doesn't this just scream 'pie'?

This spud's no dud. It's the Sultan of Starch, the Uber tuber!

2008-06-13T20:17:00.007-05:00

Spork went out and dug about half the potatoes the other day and at the time he raved about The One Gigantic Potato. He raves (and rants) a lot and I did see some good sized potatoes on top of the pile, so I just said something like, "Mmmm, really? The world's biggest red potato? How nice." And then I left the taters in the oven to dry the skins out a little bit.

Today I finally remembered to put the potatoes up and lo and behold I found the behemoth of Spork's latest rave.

Here it is next to a tennis ball:

And next to a regular potato:

Oh wait, maybe that's not a regular sized potato:

Okay fine, for truth-in-advertising purposes, the tennis ball is really one of Daisy's little baby tennis balls. And as an aside, isn'tDaisyjustthecutestthingever??? (you have to read that in a gushy mental voice)

But still, it's a big honkin' potato. I'd say it weighs at least a pound and I'm not sure, but I think I heard a faint growl when I put it in the fridge...

One day, two graduation ceremonies, 100 miles apart

2008-06-09T08:15:00.003-05:00

Being the awesome uncle and aunt that we are, Spork and I attended two marathon graduations on Saturday, one for Kait (local) and one for Risa (road trip). We actually got invited to go party after the second one, but we're old and it was night-night time.

Kait and Becky

Marisa

The blackberry chronicles, part 3

2008-06-08T14:02:00.002-05:00

For a change of pace, I decided to try making a blackberry crisp using a recipe I found for apple crisp. I liked this one a lot. There is more fruit and less juice, though Spork thought it could use a higher crisp-to-fruit ratio. I have to admit, the crisp part is a bit addictive.

Oooh, pretty!

2008-06-04T14:48:00.005-05:00

Believe it or not, earlier this spring I found a rose that I just had to have. The two humongous blooms on it, which lured me in like a siren's call, were promptly knocked off in a thunderstorm later that afternoon and nary an orange petal has been seen since.

Yesterday, however, Tropicana finally showed Spork why she came home with me.

Mother Nature strikes again

2008-06-01T21:26:00.004-05:00

Our resident red fox paid us a visit today. I happened to be looking out the window as he came trotting by. He stopped just long enough to eat a strawberry, then moved ahead with whatever mission he was on. I was able to get a few snapshots of him this time.

He needs some theme music to go with his jaunty walk. Da da da dee dee da da da dum!

Num num num - strawberries is good

On the road again. Da da da dee dee da da da dum!

And for the record, despite what Spork says, I did not bean Foxy Loxy in the head with a rock. I hit him in the leg when the rock I threw took a bad bounce. If I had wanted to bean him in the head, I would have beaned him in the head. Ellie May has very good aim.

A fox visit wasn't enough nature for one day, however. As I was admiring the fox pictures on the camera screen, I saw a wren right outside the window staring intently at something on the ground. It was another snake, coiling up in the chain link fence. What is up with all the snakes this year?? I tried to get a picture of him, too, but he took off as soon as he saw me. Spork says this may be the same snake he saw once before (Snake #2 on the list).

In food news, we tried a new blackberry cobbler recipe over the weekend. This one was more of a traditional cobbler, made with pie crusts and lots of sugar and butter. Mmmmm, butter... I liked it better than the first cobbler (sorry, PWC!) and would probably just stick with this one in the future, but according to Spork we are obligated to try all the cobbler recipes we find. In the name of science.

Girl meets grill

2008-05-29T20:06:00.007-05:00

For some reason I am highly amused by oddball metal creations, so I was very happy today when I came across some funky grills at the local hardware store.

Orange longhorn cow grill

You can sort of see a pink pig grill in the background

I had a few moments of believing that my food would taste so much better if only I had a grill like this. I held that thought until I lifted the lid and saw the $1599.99 price tag. Ah well, I guess I'll have to find some other way to make my food tasty. Perhaps marinades...

Mmmmmmmmmm!

2008-05-24T19:45:00.004-05:00

The Pioneer Woman Cooks is my fav-o-rite food blog and I drool over it regularly. Now that the blackberries are starting to produce (and because I thought last year's cobblers were pretty sucky), I turned to PWC for help. As usual, she did not fail me. She actually has 2 blackberry cobbler recipes, so obviously I'll have to try both of them. I mean, really, one of them might be better than the other. I have to know. It would be unscientific to do otherwise.

Here is blackberry cobbler #1 :

Alas, I don't think this recipe is The One. It's more cakey than cobblery, in my opinion. That's not to say it wasn't good, just not what I'm looking for. So the search continues...

Cooking notes for this one: Like Spork, the berries were a little tart, so I might add a little sugar to them next time. Also, I should have used a deeper baking dish because the batter oozed over the side and I was forced to take the cake out halfway through the cooking and eat the golden brown and delicious crunchy bits so they wouldn't burn onto the pan (the whipped cream wasn't ready, either, so it was a real sacrifice). I also learned that this is technically a clafouti (or flognarde, since it used blackberries) and not really a cobbler.

I knew it

2008-05-23T07:52:00.001-05:00

Oh sure, the cats will deny it, but do pie charts lie?

more cat pictures

Well, that idea didn't work

2008-05-19T11:30:00.000-05:00

Apparently making a public list of snakes does not deter them after all. I ran into this guy right after the dog walk this morning.

The best ID we could come up with is some sort of ribbon snake. It looks like the terms "ribbon snake" and "garter snake" are used interchangeably in different regions. The Herps of Texas website lists the one in our area as Thamnophis proximus proximus, but doesn't give it a common name or have a picture.

And since you're asking, why yes, that is my asparagus bed he is slithering into. And yes, he did end up disappearing permanently in the strawberries. Isn't that just perfect? Now I know there are 2 snakes hiding out in there, just waiting to get me.

Something new and some things old

2008-05-17T14:55:00.003-05:00

Last year we only saw one teeny-tiny nonpoisonous snake here at the stuga. I thought that was just about the right number of snakes to see. Zero, of course, being the perfect number. Unfortunately, my feelings of security were false, because this year we've already seen four. I've decided to add a list of all the snakes we encounter here in stuga land (in the sidebar to the right). I'm hoping that by going to the effort of making a list, I won't see any more this year.

I guess I'm a copycat once again, because this time I copied Spork and moved some of my old googlepages stuff over to Blogger. In my defense, he copied me (after I copied Lorie) by moving to Blogger. So I'm a copycat of a copycat of me. This is beginning to feel like an infinite loop.

The garden keeps growing

2008-05-15T09:00:00.002-05:00

Growing in size, anyway. I happened to catch a new shipment of roses being unloaded last week at one of the big box stores, and pretty little Europeana caught my eye, then found its way my cart. I'm amazed at how far a potted plant can jump in an effort to go home with me.

Europeana

I also took a trip to a local rose grower this week with my sister, Terri, and my mom. I did great sticking to my plan of only buying a Charles Darwin and a Duchesse de Brabant, until I got to the checkout and noticed the clearance section. Stupid clearance sales, they get me every time! I picked what I am hoping is an Ebb Tide. It had no tag, except for the $5 price marker, so it's a little like buying a lottery ticket. Maybe a slightly higher chance of winning, though.

The climbing Don Juan I planted last month is putting out some whopper blooms already. Isn't he pretty? I like to imagine him speaking to me with Antonio Banderas's voice. "Hello, my darling. You look so lovely today. Come a leetle closer and give me a kees."

Don Juan

The edible garden plants are doing great, too. Spork dug up the first potatoes of the year Monday (because I had already had enough fun with nature that day). We ate 'em boiled with lots and lots of butter.

Other goodies from the garden this week include dill, broccoli, onions, snow peas, strawberries and blackberries. The blackberries are just trickling in, but I sense a cobbler in my future.

Mother Nature is trying to kill me

2008-05-13T09:00:00.004-05:00

So yesterday we get ready to take the dogs for their morning walk and I point out a spiderweb by the door to Spork. He says, "Yeah, I poked at that with my foot yesterday." I look a little closer and notice that it is a black widow. Spork digs it out and smashes it repeatedly with his shoe until it's just a greasy spot on the floor.

Later that day...

I probably haven't mentioned this before, but I keep an old plastic cup from Andy's Frozen Custard* in my bathroom to water my plants. I decided to water the plants, since it was Monday and all, and found this inside:

Since there's nothing to provide scale here, he's about 2 inches from leg tip to leg tip.

I jumped. The spider jumped. That made me jump and almost drop the cup. I, of course, took it to Spork to see him jump, but he just said, "Spiders are cool." Harumph, I guess he didn't recall the morning spider puree incident.

About 6:00 PM...

I'm outside doing the garden thing, preparing the soil to plant some okra. I take my garden fork (a threek, technically) and pull the mulch back towards my flip-flop clad feet and this pops out at me:

My reaction was a swearing fit audible only to dogs. Then I realized that it was "hiding" from me. Snakey apparently thought that if it couldn't see me, I couldn't see it because once the tiny little leaf covering its head was removed, it took off like lightning. Unfortunately, it took off into the garden, so I know its still in there... Somewhere...

So what's up with Mother Nature? Is she pissed off at me because I didn't send her a Mother's Day card? How can I make amends?

*If you haven't been to Andy's, it's freakin' fantastic!

By popular request, I present Lizard McGuire

2008-05-12T12:54:00.005-05:00

Lizard McGuire is a fence post lizard that lives in the rock pile by my irises. She (for some reason, I get a "she" vibe off of her) moved in last spring when she was about 1" long. As long as she's sitting on top of this rock - her sun rock - she's pretty brave, but if you come across her on the ground, she is so outta there.

My sister, Mary, is trying to hook Lizard McGuire up with her lizard, Nubby. Nubby lost his tail in a tragic accident. There may be legal action in the near future.

Homeland Security

2008-05-08T16:22:00.004-05:00

I can't begin to express how safe I feel knowing that I have two ferocious guard dogs to keep us safe here at the Stuga. They are absolute beasts, their senses honed to perfection. Nothing could possibly slip past them and commit harm to us or our property.

Let's peek out the window and see how they are sharpening their skills today...

Yankee Invasion

2008-05-04T19:50:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we had some relatives from the North Country visiting. The two aunties, Jean and Dolly, plus Jean's husband, Uncle Carl (Uncley just doesn't work!) came and stayed for a few days. Overall it was a fairly low-key visit, but there was a lot of fun visiting and catching up.

Here is a picture of Jean and Jeff. Jeff is supposed to be about 5 years old, by the way. How did he get so big?

In gardening news, my transplanted passionflower is starting to bloom. I love these silly flowers. I originally planted them purely as a larval host plant for the gulf fritillary butterfly, but the blooms are just fascinating. This particular one is Passiflora caerulea.

I'm also getting quite a few blooms on my baby Flutterbye rose. I'm not sure why it's not more popular. It grows quickly into a large shrub with glossy foliage and pretty color-changing blooms all summer long. What's not to like?

Irises and roses

2008-04-25T20:36:00.003-05:00

A couple years ago, one of my neighbors asked if I would like some bearded irises that someone had given her. I said sure, because I rarely turn down a free plant. When we moved, I dug some of the irises and replanted them without ever marking down any of the colors. They are finally blooming again and putting on a much better show than ever before. The yellow one was a surprise to me, which makes me think they didn't bloom well in the clay soil at our previous home.

And yes, I ended up buying a Double Delight rose ($8 - what a bargain!) and it has already put out a bloom for me. The flower itself is really pretty, but the best part is the scent - it's the rosiest smelling rose I've ever met.

A Triumph-ant weekend

2008-04-20T13:29:00.004-05:00

The hubby, Spork, is long-time Triumph lover and has had his beloved TR6 since 1983. Last Wednesday, in a series of fortuitous coincidences we happened across a bunch of Triumphs in the parking lot of a local restaurant. We went in, despite our shaggy appearances, and found out that there was a regional Triumph convention in town for the weekend! They invited us to join in, so we did. Spork posted all the pictures he took here, so I'll just throw in one for fun.

In case you ever run into a bunch of British sports car nuts gathered in a group, I learned that the men do not like you to refer to their cars as "cute". They want them to be called "sexy" instead.

Someone stop me, please

2008-04-17T10:17:00.006-05:00

I have become addicted to roses. So far this year I've planted 6 new ones, in addition to the 5 I planted last year. I have one more in a pot, waiting to be planted. And now some rose fanciers are telling me that I absolutely, positively cannot live without adding a Double Delight and a local store has roses 20% off this week. Did I mention that I'm also rooting some cuttings from a couple antique roses? Aaiigh, I'm hopeless!

If anyone wants to join me in my madness, the varieties I currently have are:

Old Blush, I have 3 of these planted to (eventually) screen the backyard of the house next door
Mutabilis
Climbing Don Juan
Climbing Fourth of July (my favorite)
Flutterbye
Chrysler Imperial
Tropicana
Lady X
Kordes Perfecta
an unmarked pink hybrid tea, that forced itself on me in a moment of weakness

Here's a picture of a Fourth of July rose in bloom. Don't you want one, too?

I'm not as bad as I've been told

2008-04-13T11:28:00.002-05:00

People keep referring to me as The Devil, but I think this proves otherwise:

You Are 26% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well.

In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

Just call me a copy cat

2008-04-11T20:55:00.001-05:00

I like to think of myself as original, but I had to be like Lorie and move over to blogger. I wonder what she's wearing today. Oh, I hope it's jeans and a t-shirt so we can be just alike!

In my second attempt to be just like Lorie, when I heard that she had made the onion straws from the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog, I had to make them, too. OMG, they rock! We had them as a side dish for blue cheese burgers. Yum!

I haven't quite figured out everything that can be done here, but at least I got the first post loaded. Hopefully I'll get the hang of this soon.

2008-04-10T13:56:00.002-05:00

Fresh strawberries from the garden. Fresh strawberries served on rum-soaked pound cake and topped with cream. Life is good.

Warbirds

2008-03-24T17:00:00.001-05:00

We went to the airport today to see the old warbirds from the Wings of Freedom Tour land. The planes on tour include a B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-24 Liberator, a B-25 Mitchell and a P-51C Mustang. My dad is a hard-care airplane nut and was a Corsair mechanic in the Marines, so some of his affection for these old girls has rubbed off on me. Love the sound of those big ol' engines!

A good year for dogwoods

2008-03-22T15:02:00.003-05:00

The dogwoods are blooming big again this year. Spork did an informal count on one side of our property and counted 87 blooming trees. It's a pretty impressive show, but my camera skills don't do them justice.

It's a dirty job...

2008-02-27T20:06:00.002-06:00

So sometime last summer, the show Dirty Jobs came to our town and filmed an episode about installing a roadside billboard. Since it's one of my favorite shows on tv (and because Mike Rowe is so hot), I feel I should have been notified beforehand. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but we did drive by the billboard this week and I talked Spork into stopping long enough to get a picture of the place Mike Rowe had once been.

Sigh.

Notice of Pending Legal Action

2008-01-15T10:09:00.002-06:00

Attention Spork :

Re: The malicious destruction of personal property of and attempted bodily harm of Ellie May.

Be advised the preponderance of the evidence available* clearly demonstrates the willful and malicious activities of Spork, who while driving his goat truck, Sally, on the morning of January 15, 2008, did hereby back into Ellie May's flower pot and uproot her pansies. Furthermore, Spork planted a deadly I.P.D. (Improvised Poisonous Device) to be detonated when Ellie May uprighted her pansies, as Spork knew she would do forthwith.

This infringing action constitutes a deliberate form of harassment and ill-will by Spork and Ellie May seeks restitution for her pain and suffering and emotional distress.

Sincerely,

Anita Sumonay

Attorney at Law

* See photographic evidence below

Broccolicious

2007-12-02T14:12:00.002-06:00

Look at this broccoli! Look at it! I grew this baby and you know you're jealous! We ate it steamed and buttered, alongside blackened catfish over pecan rice. Before you get too snarky, notice that I am holding a knife in my hand...

Bird feeding, Stuga style

2007-05-06T20:15:00.001-05:00

So last year at Thanksgiving I asked my brother-in-law, Jimmy, if he could build a birdfeeder pole that would keep the raccoons off of the feeders. He says to draw him a picture. I draw (pathetically) a vertical pole with a 5-pound coffee can around it and an X on the top to hold 4 bird feeders. As the night went on (and the tasty beverages flowed), the plans got grander and it ended with, "Wouldn't it be great if it looked like a palm tree? hahahahaha!" Well, yesterday this oilfield pipe and car panel sculpture showed up! I now have the coolest birdfeeder pole EVER!