Tour 2

Today was the 2nd garden tour of the season.  This one is specifically to feature our daylilies.  In a way it's a harder tour than the 1st one which featured the entire gardens, because these people know their hemerocallis!

When we prepared for this tour, we ignored the weeds and "fluffy" hedges.  We focused solely on the daylilies themselves.

Each individual plant was deadheaded and trimmed neatly.  Any yellowed leaves were inspected for bugs and disease - their yearly plant "physical".

I gave a sincere talk to each one of the flowers, encouraging them to bloom brightly and look really happy.  I think it worked.

Since the season is running about 7 days ahead of schedule this year, our visitors were able to see some of the later blooming daylilies that normally aren't out during the tours.

And since most of my daylilies are historic plants, which most people don't collect in this area, they were able to see blossoms that they had never seen before in person.

And, of course, this particular daylily is only in our garden (and 2 of our friends - it was their wedding gift).  This is the one that my DH and I registered.  That makes it pretty special.

Since we plant several new cultivars of daylily each year, some of them are blooming for us for the first time this year.  It's always exciting to see them popping up in the gardens - adding their splash of color to the rest of the blooms.

Some of the colors are quite vibrant - they look as they are swallowing the sunshine.

We had some wonderful folks stop by to view the gardens and had some serious talks about our hemerocallis collection.  (Yes, some people take this quite seriously!)  But we also had a lot of fun meeting people that we only email during the course of the year.

My DH and I love our garden tours - and there were hundreds of flowers putting on a great show today - but I'm glad we're done with them for the season.  They are a lot of work, preparing the gardens and all.

I think that next weekend we're going to do something a bit simpler - like maybe just mow the lawn.

Start of the Summer Season

The first party of the summer season was tonight.  We had a lovely time with lots of friends, good food and, of course, a rousing game of cricket.

Having never been to a cricket match before, I am not sure of what the terminology is - but I can say that a "jolly good time" was had by all.

Fortunately, there were some folks who knew the game well and they volunteered to umpire and coach for both teams.  Hats were passed out - it was Red vs Blue - and the game was on!  It our game, we had 2 wickets - little sets of 3 sticks setup in a row with 2 tiny sticks resting on top of them.  The pitcher (bowler) tosses the ball towards the wicket and tries to knock the tiny sticks off of it - meanwhile, the batter (batsman) tries to hit the ball away from the wicket so he can then run like mad back and forth between the 2 wickets - all the while carrying his bat.  This was all explained in great detail - and we all promptly forgot everything except hit the ball and run back and forth.

Some of the players had the advantage of growing up in cricket playing towns - they hit the ball long and scored run after run.

 Each hit was cheered and the batters did their best while the outfield scrambled to get the ball back to the closest wicket.

But of course, you had to carry the bat for it to count as a run - Blue lost a few points over this little detail.

Of course the dogs had to get into the game - there was a ball being tossed around!  It was a challenge to keep the play going on when the 4-legged outfielders would "fetch" the ball back to the wicket.

But there were distractions enough to keep them busy so the 2-legged players could keep the action going.

By the end of the game (and I still am not sure how it was determined that the game was over), the Blues won the day, the dogs took to the field to play and the humans took to the tables to eat.

We had a simply wonderful time.  It was a great start to the summer season!

Party Train

What happens when you stick people together on mass transit for hours at a time day after day after day?  That's right - they come up with every reason to celebrate!

Usually we get pizza, but this was a special birthday celebration and we wanted to give the birthday girl something she had never had before - White Castle hamburgers.  One of the best thing about Manhattan is that if you know where to look, you can find practically anything.  We got the crave.

I haven't had White Castle hamburgers in forever, but I couldn't remember why.  I am a hamburger aficionado.  I like them a lot.  I figure that my vegetarian brother more than makes up for me being able to eat hamburgers - so there's no guilt at all and you have to love that.

The "crave case" turns out to be a really good way to keep the burgers warm, by the way.  We didn't open them until we were out of the city and the little sliders were still hot.  It has good heavy duty cardboard.  The birthday girl loved them.

Also, a single White Castle burger is like eating 1/4 of a real hamburger, so even my train buddies who are not fans of eating an entire meal on the way home to dinner were able to enjoy a hamburger snack.

The burgers flew out of the box and down the hatch.  They were as good as I remembered.

Then about 2a.m. I remembered one more thing - the reason why I don't have White Castle too often at all.  4 Tums later, everything was okay again.

But note to self: if you're going to eat White Castle, make sure you have antacid around because you're not used to eating fast food!

It was so very worth it!

It Pops!

I had heard about them, but until today, I had never encountered one in real life.  What is it? It's a cake pop!

You take some cake and mix it up with icing then form it into a ball, stick a lollypop stick in it and dip it in chocolate then decorate to your heart's content.  Sprinkles, swirls, anything goes.

I could not believe how incredibly overpoweringly sweet these were.  I am not shy when it comes to sweets - especially baked goods - but these were so totally over the top chokingly sweet I could not believe it.  It was like eating confectioner's sugar bombs.  I could not finish even one - shocking!

I think these make a wonderful presentation - so cute! But the balance of cake/icing has to be ever so carefully done or what could be a wonderful little cake bite becomes a gagging mouthful of sweet.

I took a survey from my friends - none of whom had had a cake pop before either.  They all loved them!

Could it be that my taste buds have finally had enough cake?

Nah! Never gonna happen.

It's An Honor Just To Be Nominated

My friend pointed out that I have been nominated for the Bloggers Choice Awards in the categories of Best Blog About Stuff, Best Food Blog (they must not have tried the chili!), Best Hobby Blog and Best Humor Blog.  I'd love for you to vote for my site - if you think it's worthy - if not, you can vote for other worthy sites!

Cool!



Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day!

Hummus

Who knew?  So much happiness from one little can.  Easy and delicious.  Did I mention easy?  I speak of homemade hummus.

You can make it fancy.  You can add stuff - roasted garlic, olives, chocolate chips, lemon zest, whatever you'd like.  Or you can make it bare bones plain.

I made it bare bones plain this weekend.  Just the basics.  Just pure goodness.

Just the thing to munch on when you're watching your Dear Honey's football team play in the finals.  Even though it should have been your team.  Because your team had such a great season.  And your quarterback had all those first downs all by himself last week.  And your team put so much heart into the game.  And it's not fair.  Because it really should have been your team - and not your Dear Honey's team.  And if they were playing today, the other team would be going down - big time!  Because my team could most certainly kick their...  But I digress.

So here's what you need:

1 can of chick peas
1 Tablespoon of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/8 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Open the can of chick peas.

Pour it into a pot on the stove and bring it to a boil.

The skins on the chick peas will start to pop off.  It's done.  There will still be some liquid left in the pan. Don't toss it out - you may need it.

Use a slotted spoon to get the chick peas out of the pot and put them in a bowl.  Add the minced garlic.

Add the lemon juice.  And add the salt.  Normally I would also add some tahini - 2 Tablespoons, but I forgot to get some tahini when I was in the city, so I'm skipping it.  It'll still work.

Start mashing it up.  Keep mashing it up until it is the consistency you want.  I like mine with a few chunks of chick peas in it, so I use the potato masher.  If you like yours perfectly silky smooth, you may want to do this in a food processor instead of a bowl.  Or you could still use the potato masher and just get rid of some of those feelings about having to watch your Dear Honey's team in the playoffs.  I guarantee it will come out as smooth as silk quicker than you can say "Touchdown!"

Drizzle in about 1/2 of the olive oil and mash it some more until it is all mashed together.  If it is too thick, add a teaspoon or so of the liquid left over in the pan (not more olive oil - you'll need that in a minute).  I wanted mine a little thick, so I didn't add any liquid.

Put the hummus in a serving bowl.

Pour the rest of the olive oil over it.  It not only adds a little more flavor to the hummus, it acts as sort of a sealant from the air so the hummus doesn't dry out.

I went a little crazy and dusted it with paprika.  I'm just a wild child when it comes to hummus.

Warm hummus - nutty, lemony.

That's the good stuff.

Football Finger Food

Chicken fingers with a creamy spicy dipping sauce make a great decadent treat for game day.  Although we don't eat a lot of fried foods for our everyday meals, when it comes time for the playoffs, the crispy succulent tidbits have a way of making it onto the menu.

The great thing about chicken fingers is that they can go from a plain salt/pepper to a hot and spicy buffalo wing coating just by changing the finishing sauce.  And they're super quick to make.

This recipe will make a very lightly coated chicken finger.  Just enough coating to hold the seasoning onto the chicken - not a heavily coated super crunchy chicken finger.

You'll need:

Oil for frying
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Cayenne pepper
Milk
Chicken strips
Mayonaisse
Spicy Mustard
Horseradish

Pour some oil into a frying pan and let that heat up.  I'm reusing the pan that I made the sausage in and leaving those little bits in the oil for some extra flavor.  You don't need to use a lot of oil here - this isn't deep frying, it's pan frying.  So only pour enough oil in to come about 1/4 of the way up on a piece of chicken.  Less is more here.

Put the flour - about 3/4 cup, garlic powder - a teaspoon or so, cayenne pepper - 1/2 teaspoon (or more!), salt - 1/2 teaspoon, and pepper - 1/4 teaspoon into a bowl and mix it up.

Pour a cup of milk into another bowl.  Wash off the chicken and pat it dry.

Dip the chicken finger into the milk and pull it out - let it drip for a second or two.

Now dip the chicken finger into the seasoned flour mixture.  The flour will stick to the chicken in a really thin coating.  Shake off the extra flour.

Place the chicken finger into the hot oil.  You see how the oil is sizzling a bit as the chicken goes in?  That's what we want.  Also - notice how I put it in so the part nearest goes down first and the part away plops in last?  This way if it accidentally falls off of the fork and splashes hot boiling oil all over the place - one of those places won't be on me.  Because then there would be burning and pain and hospitals and bandages - and I would miss the game.  I don't want to miss the game.

Flip them when they get lightly toasty on the first side - not too toasty looking because they will cook more as you cook the 2nd side.  In the picture you can see the 1st side comes out darker than the 2nd side, but I assure you the chicken is cooked to perfection.  When the 2nd side gets lightly toasty, pull them out and place them on paper towels to drain off any excess oil.  For larger batches I would put them on a rack to drain so I don't have to use tons of paper towels, but for this little batch, a single paper towel handles the job nicely.

Now for the sauce.  Simple. Simple. Simple.

Spoon out about a 1/2 cup of mayonnaise into a bowl.  Add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Add to that 1 1/2 tablespoons of spicy brown mustard and a tablespoon of drained horseradish.  Mix it all up.  You're done.

Chicken fingers and spicy dipping sauce.  Tasty, crunchy, spicy deliciousness.

We really enjoyed this finger food menu for the big game.  The chicken fingers were delish and flew off the plate.  The sausage stuffed potato skins also went fast.  For an added kick, we drizzled the spicy dipping sauce on top.  Finally the cheesy olive biscuits finished up the trio of finger foods as a salty, cheesy bite (also great with the dipping sauce!).

So that was "dinner" - chicken, biscuits and potatoes served up as finger foods.  Not very balanced, but oh so very good!  And yes, we did eat our vegetables later on in a nice salad - with the remains of that dipping sauce for dressing!

Biscuits and Butterflies

Last night I made olive cheesy biscuits as part of the football fare.  I based them on my girlfriend's sausage and cheese biscuit  - sort of.

She always makes these delicious sausage and cheese biscuit hors d'oeuvres when we pop over.  They are so delicious!  She says to just toss in some cooked and crumbled sausage along with some cheese into a quick biscuit mix and pop them in the oven.  So quick, so easy.  Right.

Well, I've tried making her sausage and cheese biscuits and let me just put it this way.  My dog won't eat them.

It reminds me of my butterfly bushes.  I say "bushes" because there have been a few of them over the years.  My Dear Honey likes them, so I tried to oblige by planting one for him.  It died.  For three years I tried to get one to grow.  They died.  Finally I asked one of my gardening friends how they got their butterfly bush to grow.  His response, "I just stuck it in the ground and it grew."  I think this is a case of the butterfly bush all over again.

Anyway, back to the biscuits.

You'll need cheddar cheese, chopped olives, black pepper, some biscuit mix and some milk.

I used a cup of biscuit mix.

Toss that into a mixing bowl.

Take about 2 ounces of cheddar cheese.

Grate that up into the bowl with the mix.

Get about 14 green brined olives - the ones that come in the jar are fine.  That's what I used here.

Coarsely chop those up and add them to the mix.  Also add in a bit of pepper.  Leave out the salt though - the olives are salted enough already.

Add in the milk.  I used about a 1/3 cup of milk, but I didn't add it all at once.  Pour in about half of the milk and give it 3-5 quick stirs to mix it up.  It's a biscuit and you always try to stir biscuit dough as little as possible or they turn into hockey pucks.  And hockey pucks are not very tasty at all.  If there's still dry mix in the bowl then go ahead and add more milk.  You don't want it too gooey here, so go easy.

Here it is all mixed together.  There's a little bit of dry clinging to the side of the bowl - that's okay. 

Drop heaping teaspoons of the mix onto a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 450-degrees.  The bottom should be golden brown.

And there you have it - olive cheesy biscuits.  They're as easy as growing a butterfly bush - or so I'm told.