Candy roaster squash under way

So as of today, here's the arrival at the surface of the candy roaster squash plants.

Outdoors

And inside, in a pot in the kitchen

I had to revert to old blogger to get photos. New blogger isn't working with photos today. 

Germination!

The Roma tomatoes have sprouted! This morning no sign, this afternoon a cast of thousands. The excitement is uncontained.

These were old seeds, not sure how they'd do. But,  as you see, they were undaunted.

 

Now to keep them alive. Damping off is the next challenge. But meanwhile I'm happy.

Sage in bloom

Look at those flowers. I must study the botany of sage.

Rescued from the mower

This bearded iris grew totally lopsided, and today my neighbor thought it was a matter of time before it was mown. He'd lost one that way. So he cut it and brought it to me.

It's elegant now that it's not lying in the grass.

Road trip!

All the way to the bookdrop

 at the library

 in the next town! I was actually nervous about driving, doing so little of it these days.

But we did it, and returned the books which I wanted out before I forgot they weren't mine and lost track of them.

My nervousness was not helped, on the way home, by a loud clang,a flash, and an alert on the dashboard to tell me: routine maintenance due soon. What drama queens design these ideas? I nearly went off the road with shock.

However, home again.  Breathing quietly.

Planting new life, to honor Memorial Day

It's the holiday to honor war dead, for readers from other countries, for whom it may not be familiar.  We have a pathetic apology for leadership in the White House right now. But we still have plenty of people with principles and courage, doing their best to seize back our levers of power.

Meanwhile, still under isolation, we're marking the day in different ways.

Mine is to honor life, otherwise what were our forces fighting for? And today it took the form of planting seeds.

Thai basil, descended from the plant an Indian friend gave me years ago when they moved away, and I've grown it and saved seeds every year since. Italian basil likewise from saved seed. One more if my donated squash seeds, to see how it compares with the outdoor start. Roma tomatoes, from the collection of a friend who died and whose seed collection I've shared around, to people with real space for gardening. Roma's my favorite of all tomatoes, makes great sauce and jam.

So, the kitchen is more populated than ever, and this is good light,  also a place where I will be sure and see how they do. And the pots are full of memories.

I hope you have a good day.

There's also non-food

Just to show I don't think exclusively about food, I've got some recommendations of things to watch and read.

For years I never mentioned food in here, figuring nobody would be interested, I'm not some famous chef whose name sells high end equipment, just a person who likes to eat well, nothing special.

 And for a long time I used this,  originally general purpose, blog as a place for friends all over the globe to check in as Handsome Partner's health deteriorated until they finally got to follow along our path through home hospice till his death, then the online memorial I organized. This saved them calling when I needed to keep the line open for doctors, nurses, physios, and saved me  from giving out the same bulletins over and over.

 I got very grateful notes and emails from people who said that usually people are excluded from hospice if they're not family, and it was comforting to be allowed to know more. I never showed him, to preserve his privacy, after hospice was declared, showed what he could see instead.

 But before that, I would post pictures of him looking at books and letters from blogistas, and enjoying having the Dollivers around, and the cats, and sitting out with me on the patio in good weather.. He enjoyed our meals till very late in his life, though I had to be inventive to make food he could navigate as a quadriplegic with very limited use of his hands. The goal was good food, presented to be eaten with a fork or spoon,  one handed, but still adult meals.

Then once in here, I mentioned something I'd cooked and I was surprised at the response. People did like it. I still don't teach in here, or make very specific suggestions, just talk about what I've done, and include the spills along with the thrills. So it's more fun knowing that people enjoy.

I'm really a desert island person: I'd make art, grow things, cook, on a desert (or dessert!) island, anyway. It's not about an audience. But appreciative readers are definitely welcome. Especially people who suddenly pop up and say, oh, I just thought I'd mention I've been reading in here for years!  I have no way of knowing who follows via anything other than the follower list on blogger. But there are several other ways of following which don't refer back to me.

So thank you all.

Now, what I've been reading.

I invested in the Kindle complete and very funny, works of E.M.Delafield, all the Provincial Lady books, also finally started reading Cider with Rosie, then installed Laurie Lee's whole autobiography, three volumes. And you see Basho and Jane Austen there in my permanent  holdings, says she grandly. All very much worth reading.

And I found Monty Don much more interesting and less irritating in his series now on YouTube, on the Secret History of British Gardens, than in  his gardening series. He's still a bit over the top and spraying superlatives all over, but the production is high end, and he's properly miked.

  It's a four part series, one episode per century of gardening history, architecture, design, and plant discovery, starting in the 17th century.  Unfortunately too late to cover the best of them all, Cecil, Elizabeth the first's minister, adviser and great garden designer, who brought Tradescant, great plant explorer  and propagator, into his circle. Tradescant already had a flourishing career, but Cecil's nod didn't hurt. Anyway, this series is good stuff.

Then there's the vlogging couple who do videos on castles in Wales, much less sophisticated, one camera, couple of handheld devices, but very good, because they're engaging people, not at all acting for the camera, just being friends showing you interesting buildings and their history. I follow their YouTube channel Mostly Castles.

So that's some of what I'm doing.

Planting for the squash harvest

Nice gentle rain today, warmish, so I decided to celebrate the holiday with the first squash planting. Candy roaster squash courtesy of kind friend who saved and gave away seeds.   Just a few of them in this pot.

I can't safely put them in the ground in the small amount of unoccupied space I have, because the landscapers will weed whack them off as soon as look at them. And putting them in an unprotected pot (5qts fills this pot, in case you wondered how far 5qts goes, answer: not as far as you hope) is an invitation to squirrels to plunge in and destroy everything.

Soooo here's the result. Trying to get string around and tied when the screening kept leaping up was one of those I could use a third hand kind of things. So clothes pins first, pinning to the rim, then string.

N

 We'll see how this works.

 The place I set it is where another pot used to be, so the ground is free of other plants. The roots will go through the bottom of the pot, the vine will sprawl around and climb the fence. At least that's the plan. I may add add duct tape. I bet Monty Don doesn't have to use duct tape, but we won't mention it.

And as long as we're nosing about, here's a shot of most of my outside storage closet. You can see the floor because at the moment my stepladder and big broom are next door, conscripted into the Great House Painting. The deal is that neighbors can borrow anything in here as long as I know where it is, and bring it back once the job's done. On the left, a bit out of range, is a crate of spades and hoes and rakes.

And now that I've been laboring outside in the rain, it is stopping and sunshine is breaking through. 'twas ever thus.

Paneer 101

Diy cream cheese. I spooned  the last of the whole milk yogurt into a cheesecloth-lined sieve over a bowl, lid on, and left it overnight in the fridge.

And here's how it went this morning, ending in the last of the lentil bread with a spread of cream cheese for breakfast

Nothing wasted. The whey will go into soup.  The crumbs from breakfast lentil bread out for the birds.

Damp and warm this morning. After I tossed out the crumbs, I stood at the window breathing the lilac scent and the smell of damp earth, listening to the birds arguing, and was glad all over again that we chose this house.

The season on the move and dangerous liaisons

This morning, the honesty is developing the seed pods I planted them for. See the seeds developing in there? Eventually I'll have the seeds to replant and the silver disks to add to my collection.

The sage is blooming again, doesn't happen every year, and of course partly sprawls right across the gate where it's likely to be beheaded if I forget and sweep open the gate from the other side.

And the lilac, from two doors away, the scent drifting into my bedroom this time of year. From this close, it's powerful. I get a lovely waft of it when I sit out to read and knit and stitch. Which I did yesterday.

Under a blanket. I was determined to have Tea Outside. Complete with nut tart, which was very good.

In the course of making those caramel nut tarts, a dangerous thought occurred to me. The caramel was just a stage short of toffee. You don't want it hard crack for baking.

 But I thought, having mentioned Heath Bars, my favorite: I can make my own Heath Bars! This could be my undoing. They're just thin hard toffee in a chocolate covering. I can make that. I have a candy thermometer, even. Annnnnd, I can sprinkle sea salt over the covering before it hardens. I can add chocolate bits to the shopping list.

Longtime readers will remember when I made a batch of Pop Tarts. Really a pastry jam sandwich with water icing to decorate in lurid pink, a bit too much color there. They were wonderful, and I have refrained from making them again, not exactly a nutritional powerhouse.

Back to the Heath Bars. Rationalizing busily, I could make just a small batch, quite harmless, really, and I'm Worth It...watch this space.

Field notes

Azalea madness

Pavement art by local homeschooler

Updates and new capers

Update on the HASfit  workouts: I'm faithfully doing them every three days, and picking different ones each time, to stay interested. At first I could only do the weight related reps for a limited number. And now I can do the whole workout just as shown. Weights no problem. So that's an advance in strength and stamina. Just to encourage anyone who's trying them.

And that yogurt pizza dough I made recently and froze part of as a kit? It thawed fine, tasted as good. So a second pizza worked.

And I wanted to see if it would be good for tarts, and to use my rarely used muffin pan. So I made a batch but this time used whole milk yogurt, and it was light-years easier to handle than the fatfree which was all I had in the house last time. And this time I refrigerated it while I had lunch, that soup in the background. Tomato, kidney bean, macaroni

I had no fruit for making jam, wondering what to make tarts with exactly, and thought, aha, nuts! Looked up recipes for caramel nut tarts. They all involved a tart tin which I don't have and anyway I really fancied the individual tarts. So I went ahead, halved the baking times as a guess, which worked. You prebake at 375f, then fill, then bake again at 400f.

Whole yogurt instead of cream, into the caramelized sugar, which took a lot longer than the 10 minutes in the recipe to turn color. Into it went the yogurt, honey (local, raw), butter, vanilla. They did warn that when the cream/ yogurt was added there would be a big reaction, and there was, but I was standing back. Then all the nuts, I had cashew and walnuts, but I expect it could be any old nuts, and spooned it into the tarts. 20 minutes at 400f and done.

No pictures of the caramel making, needed all focus on the boiling sugar and safe addition of other ingredients.

The pastry made exactly 12 tarts, using my crumpet tin as a cutter.

Interestingly, despite the sugar, this is quite a healthy dessert, what with yogurt and nuts and an absence of salt. Anyway that's my story. But I also refer to Heath Bars as Health Bars, so there's that.

A bit fraught, but bravely smiling through..

The last couple of days have been, well, reminders of how I'm a helpless prawn of fate, but so brave and plucky, and my arm is getting tired from all this back patting.

I had an appointment at the auto dealership for today to get my temporary tags replaced and State inspection decal attached and generally get legal. There had already been a 60-day grace period added to the statutory two weeks for newly purchased cars, which was almost up. Despite nervousness and multiple instructions from handsome Son to remember my mask and gloves, and walk about outside while waiting, I was all set with all dox.  Then suddenly the motor vehicle folks announced on Twitter yesterday another 60 day grace period. Whereupon I canceled my next day's appointment, figuring probably safer in July, if hotter, and I'll have located the AC by then.

Mentioned this to handsome Son last evening as he delivered groceries in exchange for dried and folded laundry, still no lead on a dryer. And he said, oh I spoke with them today about my inspection and they said the State is out of decals. The vital thing you need officially on the windshield to show you're legal. Just as well I canceled. Evidently the State is not printing decals, probably because all the nondealer inspection stations are now covid test sites, I guess they thought no need. Never mind the thousands of other locations to get inspections, I guess. But it might explain the additional grace period.

Moved my routine doctor appointment from Wednesday to late June, seeing no reason to check in and tell her I'm perfectly fine, when she can't do any of the tests and measurements and prodding and  what's the point. Her nurse agreed but insisted If That Changes Call Us. Which I undertook to do.

So far so good. I thought fine, I'll use the time saved on these trips  to open the outside faucets  for the season and set up the hose and water the thirsty plants. Spent an exciting time finding and getting the hose screwed on to the faucet outside. Then I trotted upstairs to turn on the shut-off to that line, kept off in winter. Did I mention that the builders put this shut off behind the water heater in the back of a tight closet, in the dark, upstairs?

 And first it wouldn't turn, long time since I shut it. Then all of a sudden it swung open, I could hear water starting down the line and next it appeared on me, the wall and the floor. Quickly forced it shut again, mercifully it stayed shut and I called  Greg the plumber. Who was in the office, just around the corner, got here, masked, gloved and cheerful . And fixed the shut-off sharpish, tightened up the hose bib on the patio and handed me a great big invoice.

But I rationalize my peace of mind is worth it. I have plenty of flood experience in this house and I didn't need one originating from the back of a closet, behind the water heater. Brilliant builder design. I wonder if they do this stuff on a bet.

So now the plants are watered and admired. The iris, first ones, descendants of some originally planted decades ago in a friend's grandmother's farm, are almost done, see those lovely cast shadows

And the chives have flowers. I usually clip them long before they flower, so this was a guest appearance.

The little knitting experiment narrated over on https://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com kept me calm and breathing and distracted while I waited for Greg the plumber.

Ficus goes to camp 2020

Since the weather seems finally to have left the frost zone, and there will be rain later this week, yesterday seemed like a good time to haul, drag, rassle, heave, the eight foot 45 year old ficus out to her summer quarters. I first got her as a little thing, sat her on the back seat of my very small car to come home. And now she towers over me.

She seemed heavier than last year. Well, she's taller. And I'm a year older. So there's that. She can tolerate sun better than the others who stay indoors. The spot she's in gets half a day dappled sun, then shade, which has worked for her for years.

Here she's waving to her indoor friends. See her, by the fence? The living room feels twice as big now.  Outside she'll put roots through the base of the pot, and develop healthy new growth. In fall I'll have to cut her free to bring her in, and she'll do well for several  months, until she starts demanding outside again. Meanwhile the birds instantly start perching on her, and the wind and rain will groom her foliage.  It feels right.

Yesterday continued, there's more!

After the excitement of the morning's thrills and spills, I sat out to read, and woke up a while later, my audiobook considerably further on in the plot, woke up.

And realized I had nothing to go with a cup of tea. No cake or breadlike food. So I traipsed to the kitchen to study my Big Binder Full of Recipes. And found one cut from my ancient, supposedly Amish but I doubt it, book which didn't have much of interest but a couple of items, seen here. When I keep the actual good recipes from any cookbook it's surprising how few there are, but where was I?

 The book was a fairly amateurish spiral bound deal, maybe a fundraiser, which is probably why I owned it, and though some ideas were good, the tomato lemon jam definitely a hill to die on, they kept forgetting to list the ingredients.

 Only detective work as you embark on the recipe shows that they're telling you to mix in items they never listed --add the milk in three waves, wait, what milk, how much, and so on. I added notes to complete the recipe, guessing a bit, and did come out fine. I kept it, so it must have.

So with the notes, here's lemon nut bread, using butter, not shortening.

Finally while it baked, tea with the mail. One of the best mail days evah.

 One thank you note from my post office people, written by favorite carrier, responding to -- a thank you card I'd put in the outgoing mail slot! It evidently went over well. Now, do I thank them for thanking me for thanking them? This could go on.

Then, a soft envelope, expecting the seeds a friend had promised,and found not only the seeds she'd saved to share, but CASHMERE!  The raw fiber, combed from a goat, very likely the one whose portrait you see. Just a present to play with. About which more when I write it up at https://beautifulmetaphor.blogspot.com.   Anon.

Then excellent Zoom lecture via Princeton Art museum, all women, presenting on Life magazine women photographers and the  policy toward women by that testosterone driven publication during and after world war II. I think it's recorded so you might be able to find it on their website.

Mad rush to get supper in the interval between the end of the lecture and the start of my centering prayer group, what's all this free time and boredom i hear about, not much around here.

The quiet friendly meditation was just the thing after a fraught day. But technology was not yet finished with your humble blogger. Near the end of the quiet time, my tablet suddenly shut down and started a reboot. The last word, I suppose. The high tech equivalent of flouncing away.

And so, as Pepys would say, to bed.

Rereading reliable old friends

Right now I need good writing which is also funny. A lot of Georgette Heyer audio books on YouTube, listen while I weave.

And there's the paper type of book, too. I have all the novels of E M Delafield. You know, the Provincial Lady series, full of comic characters whose counterparts we know in real life. Doesn't matter that she's writing from the viewpoint of a specific group at a specific time in English history. Her characters live. She's the writer Nancy Mitford thought she herself was.

So after a debate with another aficionada, i realized I got two characters mixed, and decided it was time to re-read.

Pulled out The Provincial Lady, opened it and it exploded into many pieces.

 Glue fatigue. I had been putting favourites onto my  Kindle  before the virus suddenly changed everything, including donations to the Little Library. So I decided this was a sign to continue, and see if I could get a  Kindle version of the PL. Checked and found that Amazon not only was offering the lot, all five for .99c, a crime, really, such a price for such work. Anyway not only that, they said I had a 99c credit.

 
 So her entire oeuvre is loaded now at a cost of zero.That was last evening.That was then.


 This morning came auto related tests and challenges. Starting with braving the post office to send back the old car plates to the mvc. Trying to understand each other through masks and Plexi shielding, we managed more or less. Sign language a bit.

Then, back in the car, I noticed the gas gauge hovering near empty, since I haven't added any in the few weeks I've had this car. Soooo to the gas station, now down to two pumps, oriented parallel to the road. Managed to get the car situated near the nozzle, it being differently located from my old car, though thankfully on the same side.

 Then to find the gas cap release. Then to push, pull, turn, until finally it opened. With the door opened, dark down there. Then, door closed, struggle to locate window opener. Finally able to ask for gas. NJ doesn't permit anyone not employed at the station to pump gas. There's a funny back story to this having to do with the gas station owners'  lobby and liability.

Theeeeen on the way home, a sudden big alert, beeps and display telling me the keyless remote was nearly out of juice. Bar diagram showing barely a breath in the battery. Which was news to me, that it even had one, let alone it was nearly dead.

Long struggle short, several YouTube videos later, plus credit card, screwdriver, thumbs, knife all employed to "pop"(!) the fob open, remove battery, discover, amazingly, that I had a replacement in that drawer of all sorts of stuff, reassemble it all, snap it shut, noticing the mechanics in the videos had mitts like Godzilla, easy for them, anyway, tested same, works fine.

 I also discovered you can still unlock and drive the car even if the fob quits. so the keyless idea is just some engineer's toy, really. None of it's intuitive, though. There's a key hidden inside the fob. And a backup starting chip. Those of us in the know will show you, for a small fee.

Much learning this morning. This afternoon is about weaving and drinking tea, to Heyer's Bath Tangle audiobook. Later a Princeton Art museum lecture. It's all go.

Multitasking rules

So the same setup works for workouts and for play-ins. As you see:

You might say music and movement if the term hadn't been used by more famous people..

Artisanal pizza

So I wrote a long post about the pizza caper that happened today, complete with pix, comments, valuable historical insights, priceless bon mots, and after 45 minutes' labor, my tired dothery finger jerked down and hit delete. Which it did. All except the title.

So after some loudly expressed dismay, I remembered my mantra: it's a chance to do it better.

So here we are. I found a recipe using yogurt and flour for pizza dough. They used self raising. The one time I tried it, i found it too salty. So here I used ap and subbed half a tisp salt and baking soda, works fine.

It's delicate dough, wants to stick and tear, so it looks a bit artisanal. And there's enough for two small pizzas, one to cook on top of the stove, one in the oven.

I had the idea with no shopping possible, so here's the cast of characters, some invention required

Once you've mixed and kneaded and rolled and persuaded the dough into the sizzling oiled cast iron, I used some spicy oil left from another recipe, good time for it

Then you flip it once browned, which is no time at all

Add the toppings, clap on a lid, and in a couple more minutes you're done.

 And I have a pizza kit for using the other half of the doings, dough wrapped in plastic bag

And the debris YouTube doesn't want you to know about.. there's also the floury surface I made the pastry on.  For a "quick" meal, this certainly created some cleanup.

I'll report back on the number of stars it gets.