Merry Christmas 2010

The tree is decorated.

Presents are loaded underneath.

We're at Peri's for Christmas Eve.

The table is set for dinner.

Menu:

Cream of Broccoli Cheddar Cheese soup.

5-Cheese Ravioli with vodka tomato sauce.

Lobster Ravioli with brown butter sage sauce.

Prime Rib with garlic grilled asparagus.

Peri does not eat potatoes, so dessert looked like foil wrapped baked potato.

It was actually vanilla ice cream with cocoa powder, topped with icing like butter.

Whipped cream and green sprinkles looked like sour cream and chives.

Christmas Morning finds us at Frankie's house.

The tree is loaded with lovely ornaments.

Under the tree is Frankie's new bike.

After presents, we enjoyed a wonderful brunch:

Menu:

Potato-Leek soup.

Cream Chipped Beef in Toast Cups

Assorted breads.

A variety of interesting cheeses and meats.

The ride back home was uneventful. The chickens had laid 18 eggs in our absence. Their water stayed fluid. The cat came in for a warm dinner. All's right with the world.

Good Eats in Delaware

Dinner in Delaware

We spent a long weekend in Delaware. One of the treats was finding good food that is different from what we can get in our home area or fix ourselves. We were able to find some super meals at sensible prices. Always a winning combination.

Our first night, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. It is located in a strip mall, with checkered plastic tablecloths. Their specialty is Pho'. We had no idea what to order and the young waiter advised us.

According to Wikipedia, "The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts, and peppers that are added to the soup by the consumer."

We chose seafood versions. Both were excellent. The bottom one is spicy. The round things are little pillows of tofu. The dish of lime, bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, and basil are to be added to taste by each person. The restaurant webpage is: www.phonhuvu.com.

The second night, we chose an Indian/Pakistani restaurant, The Tandoori Grill.

Once again, we had no idea what to order, so we took the advice of the counterman.

This picture shows a spinach and cheese dip and naan. We also ordered a goat curry. Both were excellent. The restaurant website is thetandoorigrill.com, but I have not found it to be working.

The next day was spent at the Hagley Museum, (http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/) learning about the DuPonts and gunpowder. It's a very interesting museum. There is a gunpowder demonstration - startled me! Also a machine shop demonstration. The Sunday School House had an interpreter and offered the opportunity to write with a quill. Workers labored six days a week, and the only day left for education was Sunday - it is not a religious school, but an opportunity for the workers to learn to read and write on Sunday.

The foreman's house also had an interpreter, but since the house is the same age as our own, there was not much interest on our part.

Lunch was a treat. We usually dread eating at a museum because of the cost and the quality. We usually pack a picnic. This day was different. We had checked out the menu, and it sounded good. http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/hagley-belin-house-menu.pdf We had grilled cheese and soup.

The soups (turkey chili or corn chowder) were homemade and delicious. The sandwiches were made on excellent bread.

But the real treat for this trip was the visit to Woody's. We had been there before and loved it.

This night was no exception. We did not make reservations, since, even though it was Saturday, we got there at 4:15. Oh, my, the place was packed! There were very few empty tables, and by the time we finished our dinner, the wait for tables was really long.

The tables are covered with butcher paper. There's a cup of crayons, in case you want to doodle. We ordered crabcakes with twice-baked potato and coleslaw. Also crab imperial with fries and coleslaw.

We really enjoyed this delicious meal.

The restaurant website is: http://www.woodyscrabhouse.com

We will be happy to take any suggestions you may have for where to go next!

Beans, Beans, Good for Your Heart

It's fall, and time to harvest the beans.

We grew fewer varieties than other years.

The best tasting are the Good Mother Stallard.

The weather has been fantastic,

so it's fun to sit in the sun and shell beans.

The Good Mother Stallard beans make an outstanding sausage bean soup.

Italian Sausage

Onion, celery, carrot, chard, kale, chicken stock, beans.

Another favorite is Tiger Eye.

This year we grew Scarlet Runner Beans,

just 'cause they're fun.

The bean-blossom is red,

hence the name.

Hummingbirds love the flowers.

Here's a little female.

She went from blossom to blossom.

~

The beans are an amazing purple color.

The beans are now finishing drying on cookie sheets.

The dining room table is covered!

No idea why pictures did not come out,

so I reposted them.

I just love the mallows.

They just appear.

They bloom from the end of daffodils until frost.

We tend to have about 10:1 Pink:White.

They make a great cut flower, too.

Lets Try Again - Pictures not showing up.

September 25, 2010

Today was a glorious fall day.

The temperature was in the 70s, and it was clear and breezy.

The Michaelmas Daisies are spectacular.

This honeybee thinks so, too.

Milkweed has started to release the seeds.

That's always magical.

Amazingly, we still have not had frost!

Alas, the tomatoes succumbed to late blight.

We were able to get some to ripen,

so it's better than last year where we got zero tomatoes from 35 plants.

~

There seems to be a problem with uploading pics.

This is an attempt to solve the problem by re-saving the post

Chickens are Entertaining

I was shelling beans,

but the last time I sat on the wall, it was corn.

With corn, there are lots of bits for chickens to eat.

The chickens came over hoping for something good to eat.

Alas, no good food today.

~

The cucumbers wilted shortly after the kids were here.

D cleaned the area, and the chickens think he did it for them.

It's a great place for a dustbath.

And it makes it easy for Tommy to find them.

Apple Pie from our apples.

Apple Pie
from our apples.

I used the Apple Pie by Grandma Ople recipe from allrecipes

with a few changes.

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

I used a bought crust, added cinnamon and nutmeg.

It just came out of the oven, and we can hardly wait!

It smells good!!!

Sausage McMuffin, Three Months Later

Well, at the end of the school year, I just put my things aside, and I never emptied my bookbag until today.

I was surprised to see a McDonald's bag. It didn't smell, so I assumed it was empty.

Wrong.

I think I must have bought two and only had time to eat one Sausage McMuffin way back in June.

Now, three months later...

No smell. No mold. Rock hard.

Even after the most humid summer on record.














What does that tell us?

Corn - Mandan Bride

D picked the Mandan Bride corn a few days ago.

The guinea fowl had been having a wonderful time in the cornfield, taking dustbaths, and knocking down the stalks, and generally making a mess.

It was time. . .

Aren't the kernels beautiful!

There is only one ear of red.

Several ears of blue.

The variegated one is nice, too.

They are now strung on wire, hanging on the porch to dry.

There are a few more that are not quite ready.

We'll pick them next week.

Tomatoes have started!

This morning we picked the first Howard German tomatoes.

This evening we added two more:

Cherokee Purple and Golden Queen.

They are heirloom tomatoes, and the flavors are fantastic.

Our tomatoes are grown from seed we have saved.

(Seeds for many are available from SeedSavers Exchange.)

~~~

It's time for the summertime favorite:

Raw Tomato Sauce for pasta.

Tastes best over buttered angel hair spaghetti or linguini.

The ingredients:

Tomatoes

Basil

Parsley

Garlic

Pepper

Olive oil

Serve at room temperature over buttered pasta.

Mandan Bride

D planted a vintage corn.
It comes from the Mandan Indians of Minnesota and North Dakota.

The plan is to dry it and to grind it up for the chickens.
You may notice a nibble. I decided to taste it.
It is not at all sweet. It is dry and mealy.
It almost tastes like corn meal already.

First Tomato!

Hooray! The first tomatoes!
These are Howard German, a paste tomato.
Delicious!

These are the first tomatoes in TWO YEARS!

Last year, all 35 plants were destroyed by late blight.

It had been a very wet, cool summer.

This summer is perfect - warm, sunny, just enough rain.

~~~~~~~~~~

On another note:

Tommy has discovered that the orchard is full of "balls" to play fetch with,

and you can eat them, too.

So at 5:30 this morning, he and D were playing.

Needless to say, I missed it!

Keets are out.
The hen yard was getting crowded, so D chased the keets out.
They are 10 weeks old. They tend to hang out together.
I hope they are devouring lots of bugs!

The reason for the overcrowding?

D was able to get 12 hens and a rooster.

They are buff orpingtons.

They have the reputation of being broody,

being good mothers, and

surviving cold winters.

They are beginning to settle in.

The first hens were getting old, and we were getting

only about 3 eggs a day. There should be more now.

Hummingbird Moths

Hummingbird Moths
Hemaris thysbe

have arrived.

They are one of the few moths that are out during the day.

They are often mistaken for a hummingbird.

They like the same plants.

They are out in the day.

They hover.

These flowers are monarda (bee balm).

It's a favorite of the hummingbirds and the hummingbird moths.

They are also partial to phlox, and I have seen them on petunias.

Today I picked Swiss Chard.
This is a rainbow variety, with stems in yellow, pink, red or white.
I sliced it and cooked it with a little olive oil.
Tonight, I'll freeze it in soup-sized portions to use in the winter.


And D reminded me to take a picture of the first pepper beginning to be red.
I didn't notice until I downloaded -
There are eleven peppers in this picture!

Insects are enjoying the wonderful flowers.

This poor guy is quite tattered, but is finding lots to drink.

This Virginia ctenuchid moth is happy, too.

The bees love the centaurea.

And the honeybees like the milkweed, too.

The Garden 7/9/10

The garden is becoming very interesting.

The Scarlet Runner Beans have begun to bloom

Some of the grapes have little bunches.

Not enough for wine, this year, but perhaps some jelly.

The cabbage is ready for picking.

Now if I could only figure out how to make coleslaw the way D likes it.

These are cherry bomb peppers.

It's been so hot and dry.
Peppers love it.

The Jalapeños are a bit behind the others.

The garlic is almost ready to harvest.

The lilies are in full bloom,

as are the daylilies.

The world is a mass of color.

And we had such a wet June that even with

10 days of no rain, everything is still lovely.

The English Bluebells are volunteers.

They appeared one year, and self-seed.