A Different Life II

[Lily&Me]

Now that is a gorgeous loaf of bread.

With vegetable beef soup from my freezer, it’s what’s for dinner.

[Camper Crazy]

Maggie, you are right about that loaf! I enjoy reading your food posts. One foodie to another. )
Your pictures always make me hungry.
CC

[Lily&Me]

Thank you.

I haven’t tasted it, yet, but I’m sure it’s yummy.

Good bread is life sustaining.

Everyone should know how to make it, in my opinion.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I have become an omnivorous reader of the New York Times and the Washington Post the past couple of years, maintain an online subscription to both and they are the first things I read with my coffee each morning.

This is a particularly good editorial in the NYT today...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/o...e=articleShare

It discusses overprotective parenting, and contrasts this to the study of medical science our phenomenal health care providers have had to master...learning to embrace hardship, endure, and perform well in spite of massive stress loads.

From the editorial:

“There is tremendous value in knowing they can wake you up in the middle of the night and you can still make a good decision,” says Adina Luba Kalet, director of the Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education at the Medical College of Wisconsin.”

What we in the business refer to as “learning to think on your feet”...which is a process, not an event, and a skill not everyone learns.

Good for we adults, good to teach our youngsters coming up.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I always notice roses on anything, of course, so this split of wine caught my eye earlier this week when I was at the Meier store here in town.

Also on sale, I bought two.

Having consumed one in modest glasses over three evenings, I wanted to save the bottle...thinking maybe for Edisto sand.

I mean, look at these.

The stopper is pale pink glass, and the bottom a rose.

Tho this is not good wine, and I won’t buy it again, I will have this lovely bottle.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

I stopped buying Lily those big rawhide chews because she wanted one every day, and would eat every last morsel.

I agree, and so often those rawhides come from unknown places, China?
I was surprised, but Molly got a piece of antler as a gift. She chews it every day. It never seems to get much smaller. Maybe an alternative to rawhide.

[Lily&Me]

I only buy rawhides made in the USA the past several years, after Lily got sick from some I bought that were made I believe in China.

I’ve bought her antlers, and they have been given to her, but she has no interest in them.

She likes rawhides that she can consume , tho these I bought the other day are only slowly diminishing in size.

That may go back to her once-I-was-a-starving-dog days.

Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

Good morning Maggie we've got our "miss Maggie bread" loaf going in.

[Lily&Me]

Hi there, and that looks pretty good!

It is another warm-ish and sunny day here.

I have washed all my windows, inside and out...easy enough to do when you are one story...and begun the process of getting Preen down and feeding all the plants/shrubs.

I have found I am completely out of Preen, and almost out of MiracleGro, so will need to put on my mask and make a trip to a big box store tomorrow.

Nothing seems to have gotten badly frostbitten, with all of our weird weather lately, so hopefully the lilacs and other flowering bits and pieces will not be edged in brown this year.

Spring seems to have sprung, pandemic or no.

Maggie

[Goal15]

Maggie

Bread looks so good.

I really need to bite the bullet and try to make some. We have a Lodge cast iron Dutch oven that sits in the AS in its original box that would be perfect.

Dana

[Lily&Me]

It is good, and so easy.

As satisfying a kitchen cooking experience one can have, in my opinion.

Before I gave my sourdough starter a last small feed and then sealed it up to put in the freezer, I baked this yesterday.

I used half coarse whole wheat flour, and cut the sugar by using 1/2 Splenda Brown instead of one of the cups of sugar.

I don’t keep alspice, so added a little nutmeg and a bit more cinnamon and cloves

I also baked it in the three-long&narrow-loaves pan I have preferred for years for banana bread. Not cake, more like applesauce spice bread.

I didn’t get a picture, but it came out beautifully and was delicious...now each loaf cut into sections in my freezer to be consumed for breakfasts over the next couple of months.

The smell of it baking, too, was heavenly.

Sourdough Applesauce Cake

1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar

Cream, then add 2 large eggs and beat well.

Add 1 1/2 cups active sourdough starter and 1 1/2 cups chunky applesauce.

Mix and add
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each cloves and allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons each salt and baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar

Add
2 cups flour
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts

Spread into 2 greased cake pans or loaf pans. Bake @ 350 degrees til done.


Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I called my favorite local, family owned garden shop this morning, wanting to pick up some grass seed and maybe look at perennials.

They are open, for online or telephone orders and curbside pickup only.

This place has been around for decades, so really doesn’t have the parking nor physical layout to accommodate a drive-thru business in these unusual times, so they have taken over a closed business with a modest parking area across the street and moved a lot of things there.

They have seven marked spots in the lot, each with a sign giving a number to text your name to so they can bring you your order.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Business is down, but they have adapted and are still up and running.

I’ll go back in a week or so for impatiens and whatever perennials I pick out...also maybe one of the bandannas covered with tiny roses they sell in there that the woman had over her mouth and nose when she brought out my seed.

Scarves that can be pulled up when needed seem to be the current thing.


I have four prayer shawls completed and waiting to be dropped off, but haven’t called them since I’ve been home. I’m sure the nurses, social workers and other staff are working, but I don’t know if the office is open.

At any rate, tiring of prayer shawls I have been working on using up my stash of cotton yarns, thinking I will take a bag of dishcloths, potholders and scrubbies to Goodwill when I can...they can sell them, whatever they get will be better than nothing, and I can keep my fingers busy with an at rest something to do.

Right?

Stay safe out there.

[Lily&Me]

April 25th, a cold and rainy day, calling for a fire in the wood stove.

[Hittenstiehl]

Seasonal dichotomy, you are lighting a fire in the beautiful stove and we are trying "not" to turn on the air conditioning this weekend for our first 100 degree day.

[Lily&Me]

Wow.

I built a fire again this morning, too, as we had a lot of rain yesterday and last night, so it was cool and damp when we got up.

There is nothing that takes the damp and chill out of the air like a wood stove.


But, today the sun is shining and things are going to dry up a bit, and we are due to have a high near 80 next weekend, but in the meantime we will have lows in the 40’s and I’m sure there will be more morning fires.

Pulled the wood rack out and cleaned good behind it before refilling this morning, because it’s the time of year to move things and do a good cleaning.


I planted wild geraniums in an area in the back a couple of years ago, and four of those 8 or 10 original plants seem to have survived and are up, so I bought some more cuttings online this week and got them in the ground...rather, the mud...this morning, so we’ll see how they do.

A really beautiful perennial, that I hope will eventually fill that bed.


Called the Izaak Walton Inn this morning, wanting to talk with them about my reservations with the kids in two months, but they are closed due to the virus until May 1st.

I haven’t given up all hope of going.


Going to my sons for dinner today, for the first time since February as we went onto stay at home orders in Illinois just a few days after I got back from Edisto.

They have been isolating, I have been isolating, and none of us have been ill, so as a group of 6 who will not be doing any hugging we should be safe. Once they return to church and the kids begin seeing their friends, that may be a different story, but we are a ways from that here.

We are at 88 cases in my county, with 3 deaths and 1 person at this time hospitalized, so things seem to be settling down, tho our Governor has extended stay at home orders thru the month of May.


Wild geranium.

[Goal15]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Wow.



I built a fire again this morning, too, as we had a lot of rain yesterday and last night, so it was cool and damp when we got up.



There is nothing that takes the damp and chill out of the air like a wood stove.





But, today the sun is shining and things are going to dry up a bit, and we are due to have a high near 80 next weekend, but in the meantime we will have lows in the 40’s and I’m sure there will be more morning fires.



Pulled the wood rack out and cleaned good behind it before refilling this morning, because it’s the time of year to move things and do a good cleaning.





I planted wild geraniums in an area in the back a couple of years ago, and four of those 8 or 10 original plants seem to have survived and are up, so I bought some more cuttings online this week and got them in the ground...rather, the mud...this morning, so we’ll see how they do.



A really beautiful perennial, that I hope will eventually fill that bed.





Called the Izaak Walton Inn this morning, wanting to talk with them about my reservations with the kids in two months, but they are closed due to the virus until May 1st.



I haven’t given up all hope of going.





Going to my sons for dinner today, for the first time since February as we went onto stay at home orders in Illinois just a few days after I got back from Edisto.



They have been isolating, I have been isolating, and none of us have been ill, so as a group of 6 who will not be doing any hugging we should be safe. Once they return to church and the kids begin seeing their friends, that may be a different story, but we are a ways from that here.



We are at 88 cases in my county, with 3 deaths and 1 person at this time hospitalized, so things seem to be settling down, tho our Governor has extended stay at home orders thru the month of May.





Wild geranium.

It’s 81 here in East Texas this afternoon but all in all I’d just as soon be sitting in front of a nice wood stove or fireplace.

Dana

[rmkrum]

Hit 90 degrees plus the last few days in the Southern California area. We’re running minimal air conditioning in the afternoon when it gets unbearable for the first time this year.

[Lily&Me]

Rain again today, and of course still on stay at home orders , so I’ve been cleaning things.

Wood stove season is about over, and carpet steamers are coming next week, so I took all of my glass pretties down, washed them and returned them to the newly cleaned windows in the front.

These are serious dustcatchers, but I seriously love them and so 3-4 times a year I just give them a wash.


Governor Cuomo in his briefing this morning had a huge display up of some of the thousands of homemade masks that have been made by people around the country and sent to New York City. Nice.

People want to help, want to fill a need and to let others know they care about what is happening and what people are experiencing.

He also said something to the effect that sometimes it’s the people who lead first, while government follows.

I’ll remember that one.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

So today I’m dealing with some small home repairs, after successfully getting my hot water heater re-lit...all by myself.

Apparently, per a youTube video on Honeywell hot water heaters, if you crank the heat up on them too high they have a tendency to go out.

That may explain why I have had to re-light it twice in recent memory.

But, I got it done, on my hands and knees with a small flashlight, and without a man’s help.


Then, I had a bag of baby spinach needing used, so made this recipe today from the NYT that I’ve had for awhile, and it was delicious.

I made an ordinary white sauce with 2 cups of 2% milk, rather than using 2 cups of heavy cream, because I had the milk.

I used orecchiette, also added about a cup of pasta cooking water to the sauce. You could add cooked chicken to this, and it would be yummy.


“Baked Spinach-Artichoke Pasta
by Aaron Hutcherson, cooking.nytimes.com

Yield 4 to 6 servings
Time 40 minutes

Toss spinach-artichoke dip with pasta, and it feels right at home on the dinner table. This recipe, which nixes the traditional cream cheese for a blend of salty Parmesan and heavy cream, is prepared on the stovetop and requires only 10 minutes of active cooking before it’s slid into the oven. As with any baked pasta, the key is to cook the shells until pointedly shy of al dente and to toss them with a sauce that seems excessively wet, as the pasta will tenderize and the sauce will thicken in the oven. These ingredients skew classic, but there is infinite room to riff: Swap in chopped kale or mustard greens in place of the spinach, experiment with cheese combinations, stir in mustard or caramelized onions or top with crumbled bacon.

Ingredients

Kosher salt
8 ounces medium pasta shells
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
10 ounces fresh baby spinach, or frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
2 cups heavy cream (1 pint)
4 ounces grated Parmesan (about 1 cup)
Black pepper
4 ounces grated mozzarella (about 1 cup)

Preparation

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high. Turn down to medium-high, and cook the pasta according to package instructions until 2 minutes short of al dente (the pasta will finish cooking in the oven). Drain and reserve.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the spinach little by little until wilted, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped artichokes.
Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir in the Parmesan until melted. Remove from the heat then carefully stir in the cooked pasta, or transfer to a large bowl to mix together, if necessary. The liquid might appear wet and loose, but it will thicken up as it bakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Transfer the pasta to a 2-quart casserole dish or individual casseroles or ramekins. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and bake until bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Broil until browned in spots, 1 to 2 minutes, if desired. Let cool slightly before serving.“


The sun is shining, wind is blowing nicely to dry the ground some after all the rain we’ve had, and I think that spring is here to stay.

Maggie

[OTRA15]

Interesting NYT article about earlier French virus case in December FYI:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/w...#link-78ef9faa

Cheers,

Peter