More adventures with deep frying

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!

Ellie May's spy cam

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

Birthday goodness

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.

A hallmark moment

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.

Bragging on my raspberries

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!

A Triumph-ant weekend

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.

Notice of Pending Legal Action

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