Christmas Wreath

This Christmas, I used a lot of natural materials in my Christmas decorations.  We had a six foot Frasier Fir, a 20 foot garland, two wreaths, and five poinsetta plants.  This morning, I woke up and planned the natural material for next year's holidays.  Here a bunch of links if you want dream a little yourself.

Wahmhoff Farms Nursery in Michigan  They have beautiful trees and the price is not too bad.  They also drill a hole up the middle of your trunk so you can use a special easy-to-use Christmas tree stand.  Generally all your have to do is line up the hole in the trunk with the nail in the middle of the stand- and viola!  Christmas tree is up.  They don't have delivery information.

Christmas Farms in Michigan.  They also drill the tree up the middle to use with the new stand.  They are the highest price of these links, but they deliver free and have a real variety of fresh greens.  It would not be too difficult to spend $500 here- but it would be a one of a kind Christmas.

Christmas Tree Farm in Minnesota.  They have a variety of trees and wreaths and have a delivery fee calculator.  They also have north woodsy stuff like birch decorations, maple syrup, and wild rice.

Then I decided to see what was available down south.  Found Green Valley Christmas Trees- the Frasier Firs here are grown in North Carolina.

Then found out that you can get herbal wreaths at Williams Sonoma.  Then watched the video about Creekside Farms and all I saw was FUN RETIREMENT!  Can you imagine the joy of growing pretty fragrant things and then bunching them all up into a wreath that would last forever!

Next followed lots of links on how to make herb wreaths, the realization that I had tons of old grapevine wreaths for all occasions and herbs that needed to be cut and voila- Mary Rose's Garden Angel Wreath!  Hope that this ages gracefully!  More to come...

Peanut butter vegetable soup

One of my new favorite web sites is Thy Hand Hath Provided.  I love web sites about things that people are trying- especially people that are committed to living off the bounty of the earth in their back yards!  On their menu plan for today they had a recipe for peanut butter vegetable soup.  It matched a lot of the things that I had in the refrigerator that needed to be used up before my next trip to Cheyenne's tomorrow.  I added a lot more to this recipe and also used fresh herbs from my garden.  This is a great thing to do with all your extra bounty from the earth.

This is my adapted version:

6 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. butter
4 cups beef broth
2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed
1 large egg plant
ground white  pepper
1 large canned  diced tomatoes

1 bag baby spinach

Handful of fresh basil

Handful of fresh parsley

Handful of fresh thyme
3/4 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, cook carrots, onions, egg plant and garlic in melted butter until onions are tender. Stir in broth, sweet potatoes, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until sweet potatoes and carrots are tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, spinach, herbs and peanut butter. Stir gently until peanut butter has completely dissolved, spinach is wilted and tomatoes are heated through. Makes about 8 servings.

Carrots, egg plant and onions were diced into 1/2 inch cubes.

Sorry I can't supply pictures, lost my camera power adapter again!   I'm eating it right now and it has a wonderful creamy, rich flavor.  I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

Singing With The Angels

Technically, everyone in every church choir is singing with the angels.  After all the liturgy tells us that when we sing Holy Holy, that we are joining with the never-ending choir of angels and saints eternally praising God- that in fact the whole community is joining in the song.  But when you sing with a group of people who deeply believe every word that they are singing, who try with all their might to create a choral sound, who have a church that supports the choral ministry, and an amazing director who knows how to get the most out of ordinary voices and who keeps us on our toes- it really feels like singing with angels- and in the midst of them- it sounds like we're singing with the angels.

The Festival of Lessons and Carols is a wonderful tradition where the meaning of Christmas is explored through a series of nine Bible readings beginning from the fall of Adam and Eve through the birth of Christ.  Among the readings are dispersed Christmas carols and songs- sort of like a musical Jesse Tree.  Christmas is a great time to review how mankind got to the birth of Jesus. 

It's free- so if you can make it to St. Paul's in Tampa- and if you would enjoy this kind of event- it will well be worth your time.

Here's to a wonderful holiday season for you and yours!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Did not take many pictures this weekend.  Here are the 6 best:

Our mini-Thanksgiving dinner for just Rob and I.

Macy's parade (from the TV set)

Setting up the Advent wreath

Three sisters just keeps on growing!  The beans look like the healthiest.

Tomatoes and cabbages

My tropical garden this morning.

The best eggnog ever

The other day, my son Rob handed me one of these and told me to taste.  What I tasted was Christmas- the very best, creamiest, frothiest, most perfectly balanced egg nog that I have ever experienced in my life.  This recipe is definitely for adults- and definitely a once or twice per year drink.


 This is the ingredient list:
3 oz pasteurized eggs
3 oz sugar
6 oz heavy cream
1 oz dark or aged Jamaican rum
1 oz bourbon or rye whiskey
1 oz cognac
freshly grated nutmeg

Here is the visual:

And here is how he measures the ounces:

We used natural pure cane sugar.  If we are going to use sugar, Rob won't have anything but pure cane sugar in the house.

Besides the wonderful symmetry in the measurement of these ingredients, there are three secrets to preparing this drink.  The first is to continuously whisk this mixture as you incorporate the ingredients.  The second is the order in which the ingredients are added to ensure that the mixture doesn't curdle.  The third secret is to 'cure' the ingredients- let them sit a few hours in the refrigerator so that the alcohol has a chance to meld and ensure that the eggs are OK.  We used pasteurized eggs (you can tell them by the P on the shell) but the technique is ancient- George Washington cured the ingredients in his recipe for days.

This is for two double old-fashioned glass servings.

Start with the eggs.  Previously Rob proved to himself that 3 oz of eggs was 2 eggs.

Whisk them until they are yellow and creamy looking like this.

Slowly incorporate the sugar a bit at a time, whisking as you pour.

It now looks like this.  Now add the cream slowly, whisking as you go.

It looks like this.  Now is the time to measure out the brandy, rum, and whiskey.  Add them slowly whisking all the way like the rest.  It might be slightly more important to whisk at this stage to keep the alcohol from cooking the eggs.  Now grate nutmeg to taste and incorporate that too.  Put the whole mixture into the refrigerator for a few hours to cure.  Rob tried one without curing and declared that it was just not as good.

Just before serving, whisk it all up again (the ingredients may separate), pour into glasses and grate fresh nutmeg on top.  Heavenly...

What can you do with eggplant and feta?

The two things that I was most anxious to use out of all the products I bought at Cheyenne's yesterday was the fairy tale eggplant and the fresh feta cheese.  It dawned on me that these were compatible ingredients so did a search on eggplant and feta recipes.  The most interesting one to me was an eggplant and feta cheese dip- we had some tortilla chips left and needed a flexible meal today.  Then I decided to see if Pioneer woman had a similar recipe- and she did - Baba Ghanoush- but without feta cheese.  So this recipe is like both of these but distinctly my own.

Decided to try my own step-by-step pictorial recipe.  Here it goes:
Start with these darling little babies:

Collect these other ingredients: green onions, bell pepper, flat leaf parsley, basil, feta cheese, garlic, lemon, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pierce the eggplant all over with a fork- otherwise they will explode and that will be a mess!  Lay them out on a cookie sheet, place the pan about 6 inches below the broiler, and broil the eggplant until charred and the eggplant is soft.  You need to check them every 5 minutes and turn them over several times with a pair of tongs.  Recipes recommended getting them very charred but I gave up early because these little babies got very soft long before the outside was that black.  Mine looked like this:

Of course, they started out with black ones, so mine might be just as charred.  Cut the eggplants open and scrape all the insides out into a bowl.  Add 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1/4 cup of olive oil.  It should look like this:

Now add 1/2 cup of feta cheese

1/4 cup of green onion

1/4 of a large bell pepper- I liked the yellow one.

1 tablespoon of chopped parsley

and 2 tablespoons of chopped basil.

Mix this up all together.


This made enough to put into two custard cups.
Rob and I enjoyed this with tortilla chips.
Imagine a greek salad dressing that was spreadable and creamy- that's the flavor of this dip.  Might be nice with some black olives added- Rob had his with a half jalapeno pepper.

So that is what I did with fresh feta and fairy tale eggplant.  Good experiment.  Will do it again sometime- especially if Rob is not eating with me- he ate it but thought it was a little strange- which is OK because eggplant is a new experience in our home and this is a girlie recipe anyway.

Bounty of the Earth

Went to Cheyenne's Country Thangs yesterday.  It's close- about a thirty minute trip and I found a route with a pretty drive.  You don't have to buy a membership but it is very reasonably priced- but if this week is any indication, I might need two at a time!  This is what I brought home. 

I love this place- it is exactly what I was searching for- and more.  Not only is it a source of organic locally raised food, but also a great gardening resource.  They do not grow all of the food themselves- they partner with a several local food growers- but all of the food that they put out was just beautiful.  It was so beautiful that I just had to take a picture of my haul home.

Here are some of my prizes:

My new baby cabbages- also have a tomato plant.  What do you think of a planting container with cabbages and tomatoes?  Think I'll get a pepper plant next week to go with them.

And here are some fairy tale eggplants with some jalapeno peppers, an avocado, and a coconut.  Looked up the fairy tale eggplant and found that these are great patio plants!

Made Rob some guacamole last night.  Have no idea what I was doing but took this little avocado, added one of these huge peppers, some green onion, juice of 1/2 lime, a handful of cilantro fresh from my garden (looks like I might need a new cilantro plant soon- we're harvesting this one a lot), some freshly ground cumin seeds, a little salt and pepper.  Rob thought it was just delicious but a little hot.  Next time need to use 2 avocados!

And in MY garden- we have a new birth- looks like the third sister is coming forth!
Here is the planter today:

And here is the closeup of my new little one:

For good measure, we gathered up all the recycling:

And brought it to the USF recycling center:

Have a great day- enjoy your portion of the earth wherever that might be!

A Light Rain

Yesterday, I was able to catch a light rain.  It might not look like a light rain- but this is what one looks like in Tampa- this was a 15 minute storm.

Here is the rain coming off the roof and hitting the pavement.

And here is what the backyard near my garden looked like:

The side of the building:

The river near the storm drain.  The run-off from this drain feeds the pond that I have shown you on some of my walks.  That pond then filters the water that feeds the Hillsborough River- so that the river stays clean.

My three sisters must have loved the rain because here is what I found today:

And here is a better view of the new leaves:

As far as my sunflower basket goes, it looked a little tired this morning, so I took every stem out- trimmed away all the dead leaves and flowers, turned over my oasis, and put everything in new again.  Doesn't look like I need anything new yet.

Top of the compost looked great- getting a little heat- but the compost tea had a sulfur smell, so know that I need to do a better job of aeration.  Went into my storage bin looking for containers and found a lot of pots that needed to be filled.  Lots of work for the weekend...

Construction everywhere?

I took this picture more to show what is not there- there used to be a shopping center visible through those two buildings- and now there is a blank canvas- interesting to see over time what goes there.  That's one of the things that I like to do- even in my work- is to look at the same thing over and over again- and then note what changes and what stays the same.  This is from my complex near my car.

Another thing I did yesterday was take pictures from the car while waiting at stop lights- something productive to do with the three minutes- it has to be a long light to turn on the camera, find a shot, zoom in and shoot- so it doesn't make sense to do it unless you start at the beginning of the light.

This is at the corner of Riverhills and 56th Street looking towards the river.  There is construction there.

Ten minute drive away- on Bruce B. Downs at the entrance to USF across the street from the University Collection.  More construction.

Nature's construction project- adding leaves.

And here is the mint and the sage rebuilding themselves- think they like the compost tea!

Doesn't seem to be any more construction here- but wait until I start to get my Christmas things out this weekend!

And those are the pictures for today from Mary Rose's Garden!  Enjoy your day!

The last of my power

Until a few minutes ago, had not been able to find the battery charger on my camera for several days now.  These were some of the photos I took yesterday anyway.

My neighbors garden:

Just love to look at this.  Maybe I should be thinking of an ornamental.  On the other hand, I don't have such a lovely rail to support it.

This is a simple compost system I am trying- just an old trash can with a drainage hole- trying to save what drains to use as compost tea.  Watering it, turning the top 6 inches, and adding ground vegetable matter every day- seems to be working.  A tree toad choose this for his home- so there is a friendly little habitat in here- try to catch him in a later photo.

 

 

Three sisters 11-16-11

Hall table 11-16-11

A little refreshing...

Monday is the day that I teach faith formation.  Didn't take my camera with me so light on the away photos. Dropped off my Blue Box (Pirates of the Caribbean) and picked up a mini-floral package at the store to refresh my flowers.

This morning I replanted my new thyme plant.

And was pleased to see the progress that my three sisters made.  Planted a few more corn seeds- hoping that this is the missing sister.  Also hope they come up!

Getting late.  Hope to turn one of my pumpkins into pumpkin bread tonight- that is if the TV doesn't capture me first!

Need to remember to title my posts each day.  Do you like the format of the last few days?  Want more information, or stories, or botched recipes?  I'm sort of enjoying taking my camera around my day and see what catches my eye...