Quick Quiche

Today's blog begins with a story.

Years ago I was the advisor to the middle school French Club.  We met in the library each week, and I tried to come up with a variety of activities to have fun, learn French, meet all the students' learning styles, and provide a wide variety of experiences.  One day we had an information scavenger hunt using the library resources (this was pre-Google).  The list of questions included things like:

What are the colors of the French flag?

Name three countries that speak French,

Find a recipe for quiche.

What is the tallest mountain in Switzerland?

All of a sudden, booming across the library was, "My damn, what kind of quickie do you want?"  The librarian fell off her chair!

How to make an easy, quickie quiche.

Gather the equipment:

cookie sheet

muffin tin

whisk

pitcher

peppermill

knife

cutting board

And the ingredients:

2 cups cream, 6 ounces Swiss cheese, 10 ounces spinach

 

Don't forget the four eggs!

chop the onion 

Squeeze excess moisture out of frozen spinach.

Add the spices:

black pepper, nutmeg, cayenne pepper

Mix everything together.

Half fill the muffin tin.

Add crumbled bacon if you have some.

Or ham - or mushrooms - or none of these.

Fill the muffin tins.

Bake at 425º for around 30-40 minutes.

It's done when the centers jiggle but are not soupy.

Serve!

The USA Pan cooking pans are all great.  I have two muffin tins and two bread pans and a mini muffin tin.  They have a non-stick coating of some kind, so you do not need to grease the tins for cupcakes, muffins, quiches.  And because they come out so easily, you do not need cupcake papers.

USA Pans are fairly expensive.  When shopping for some things I use Amazon Warehouse.  That's where they get returns.  Sometimes there are flaws, but usually the flaws do not affect the usage.  For example, the original packaging may be missing.  https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=usa+pan&i=warehouse-deals&ref=nb_sb_noss_2  You might get a deal - 

Lisianthus

It's a long winter!

D ordered quite a few seeds, including seeds of a plant new to us: Lisianthus.  The seeds are pelletted because they are exceedingly small.  You pick the tiny pelletted seed up with a wet toothpick to put on the soil.  These seeds are super picky.  They need extreme moisture to germinate and need warmth.  

This picture (February 17, 2021) may have seven seedlings of the fifty planted.  They are very very tiny.

They grow very, very slowly - perhaps they will double in size in a couple more months.  Reading the facebook pages and gardening guides, it becomes clear why people buy plugs rather than try to do their own seeds.

So we broke down and ordered plugs:   https://farmerbailey.com/collections/lisianthus/products/lisianthus-mariachi?variant=40960527379

Lisianthus Mariachi

Also ordered Snapdragon Rocket https://farmerbailey.com/collections/snapdragon/products/snapdragon-rocket

and Statice  Qis mix

https://farmerbailey.com/collections/statice/products/statice

The first attempt at removing them was using a pencil.  

They are ready to go into the garden at this point, depending on weather.  On May 20, we did not have any frost in the long term forecast, so some of these were planted. These are mostly destined to the cutting garden.  That's a garden of flowers where any number can be removed for bouquets.  In this way, the balance of flowers in the other gardens is not affected by picking flowers for the house. These plants are amazingly slow growers.  The first stunning flower appeared on August 4. On August 7 , the second bud opened. On August 8 we incorporated it into a bouquet with white snapdragons and white zinnias. A few of the plants were put in the front yard, but most of the 56 plants were put into the cutting garden. The cutting garden has dahlias and snapdragons on the left.   Lisianthus is in the middle, with the first pink flower at the far end (along with fallen red snapdragons). To the right are liatris and strawflowers and gladiolus. On August 14, the pink lisianthus opened. The lisianthus is stunning with sweetpeas. And the sweetpeas make bouquet fragrant. Lisianthus has no scent. Will we grow these again?

Hermès Scarf - Bride de Cour

Many Hermès scarves have a horse theme.   The company was originally a leather-goods maker, with a specialty of horse gear.

This lovely Hermès scarf is titled, "Bride de Cour," which translates to "Court Bridle".  It was designed in 1969 by Françoise de la Perrière.  

(She also designed Les Voitures a Transformation and Cuivreries)  

I have no idea how or when "court bridles" are used.

But I loved the color of the scarf.

The copyright C in a circle is used from 1972 to 1989.  This scarf has had the care label removed, so I am unable to date it more closely than that.

Like all Hermès scarves, this drapes and ties beautifully.

To see the other Hermès scarves I have blogged, click here.

Garden in the First Half of July 2021

In the first half of July, the garden is lush, dominated by lilies, day lilies, drumstick allium, delphinium. 

At the bottom of the picture (above) and a yellow marigold, yellow dahlia, and on the right, leaning over the grass is a drumstick allium

The picture (above) has purple delphinium, lavender delphinium, orange calendula, lilies, yellow marigolds, a red daylily and an orange daylily.

The dahlias and marigolds are beginning.  The zinnias have not done much yet.  Below is a red daylily with a white delphinium,

:~:

 I thought these bugs were the cutest little things.  They look like fairies!

Then D said they are "Woolly Aphids" whose favorite job is destroying apple trees.

:~:

We have had a lot of rain this year.  I wonder if that's why the lilies are so magnificent.

Years ago, we bought an investment house that we called "The Flower House."

The house had been lived in by an old woman who loved to garden, but the gardens had been neglected for a couple of years and were becoming quite overgrown.  While we were clearing the woods, we were amazed when we saw this:

We had never seen it before.  It is monarda didyma, also called bee balm.

This magenta one is quite special!

The lavender version is called Oswego Tea.

It is in the mint family, and the leaves are fragrant when touched.

Hummingbirds love it, and so do hummingbird moths.

We have two shrubs that we knew are hydrangea, but they never bloomed.

What a shock - one bloomed this year with four flowers.

I never heard of blue and pink on the same plant, but we're loving it!

Alas, we do not know what coaxed them into bloom.

Apple tree, lilies, and bench.

Between the apple tree and the bench is the strawberry and garlic garden.  You can see the garlic scapes bending over.

The first snapdragon was July 13.

The drumstick allium has lasted the entire month of July.

  

It is constantly covered with bees and wasps and other little pollinators.

The first lupin we have grown!

To its left is the seed head of a giant allium.

The big leaves are hollyhocks that will bloom later in the month.

The blue-green leaf is cerinthe.  It will bloom later in the month, too.

The strappy leaves that look like grass are daylily leaves.

The first sweet pea bouquet was July 2.

The leaves are hosta and spotted leaves are pulmonaria.

The sweet peas are still blooming in August!

The second half of the month brings spectacular dahlias and snapdragons.

Check back. . . 

2021 Garden Pics

March

April

May Part 2 and Part One

Part one of June

Flowers of June

Part two of June

To see 2020 garden pics:

Second half of September

September 1st half.

Second half of August

First half of August.

2nd half of July.

First half of July garden.

Garden at the End of June

And the first half of June is here.

You can see the end of May, 2020, here.

Here is the first week of May

Daffodils 2020

The middle of April is here.

First week of April.

La Clé des Champs - Hermès Scarf #2

 A year ago I got a scarf, La Clé des Champs, in lovely pastel shades of damask silk.  It is one of my favorite scarves, although it is well worn.  I was tickled to find another with a gray border.

The scarf was designed in 1965.  It was reissued in 1990 and 1995.  Hermès stopped producing damask fabric in 2001/2002.  This gray one is a more recent iteration, and it is not a damask fabric.

Some other differences are the location of the artist signature, Fr(ançoise) Faconnet.

. . . 

And the Hermès Paris.  The early one does not have a copyright mark.

{Update 11/17/22: After two years of searching, I found the copyright mark on the older scarf.

. . . 

Like all Hermès scarves, this drapes well and is fascinating to study.

Hard to believe - the last Hermès blog post was four months ago!

To see the other Hermès scarves I have blogged, click here.