Designing in Life

Baltimore Oriole – The Bird, That is!

There have been quite a few of these beautiful birds in our yard for about a month.  I never see one before I hear its song.  The male is brilliant orange, and when you find him in a tree, you wonder why you hadn't seen him before.

The female is not as bright orange, but beautiful none-the-less.  The Oriole's nest is woven from grasses, is very strong (even though it doesn't look it) and hangs from a branch.  It's not very big which leaves you wondering how mom and babies fit into the darn thing.  This nest is hanging from a tree in the front yard.

 We had an unbelievable storm the other night, as the weather transitioned from 90 degrees to the low 70's.  There were 60-70 mph gusts of wind, and I was sure this nest would be gone.  I was wrong – it's still there and by the looks of things, the babies are still in there.  You've just gotta love Mother Nature!

Bento Boxes

Do you by any chance take your lunch to work with you?  If so, do yourself a favor and either purchase a Bento Box or pack your lunch like you have one.

Over the years my granddaughters have given me an assortment of lunch bags.  All have served their purpose well, and all have been used on a daily basis during the work week.  For Mother's Day I received my very own Bento Box.  Chloe (granddaughter #1) has been taking her lunch to school in one for many months.  It comes home cleaned out every day.  Seems kids love an assortment of colorful foods, and well, I guess I do to.

Inside are small containers you fill with your food.  The key here is "small."  One of them is a double, so I put my salad or leftovers in that one.  Then I have some celery sticks,  fruit salad, some times some crackers, really, whatever I think I might want to munch on.  I know I'm eating less (only a half sandwich will fit in the double one, so I'm not eating a whole sandwich like I used to.)  I've started putting all of Nick's lunch (yes, I do make his lunch) into small plastic containers which resembles the Bento Box.  Here is a site that will give you an idea of how someone is filling their child's box for lunch.  Hmmm, I wonder how a tofu pup octopus would be in my Bento Box?

Back Home – Back to Work

I spent last week in Jersey City helping with Chloe and Phoebe.  Beth had her knee operated on, and with 4 floors and 3 sets of stairs, a 4 1/2-year-old and 1 1/2-year-old, well, she needed a little help.

Beth is doing fine, I'm happy to report, although she found out on Monday she will be on crutches another 5 weeks.  Jim has to be out of town because of work in early June, so looks like I'll go down again to help.  Tiring?  You bet, and I loved every minute of it!

I was a bit too busy to take a lot of pictures, and Phoebe was a bit too busy to stand still to have her picture taken.  However, I did get Chloe to take a picture of Phoebe, which you will see below.  Here are some photos.

The patient with her brace and crutches enjoying her back patio.

The clematis was in its glory on the back patio.

I promised Chloe she could have ice cream for dessert if she'd let me take a picture of her. She looks so much like Beth at this age.

Phoebe investigating something that arrived in the mail.  She just doesn't stand still for very long and I'm just not quick enough to get a picture of her sitting still.

This is Chloe's shot of Phoebe.  She was standing still.  We'll have to work on getting her face into the shots.

Sorry, no pictures of dad this time 'round.

Focaccia

I love bread.  It's that simple.  Elimination of wheat from your diet leaves you few choices in the bread department, or so I thought.  I've been able to buy spelt bread at the grocery store, and I can't really tell the difference when it comes to toast or a sandwich.  But, I want more than toast or bread for a sandwich.  I want some homemade delicious bread to have with a pasta (rice pasta of course) dinner.  So I found this recipe and made some substitutions and additions.  This is what I got:

It was downright delicious!  It was not hard to make.  If you're already a bread maker, it's a breeze.  If you're not, it's a good first try at making your own.  It only rises a half hour, and it seems it would be hard to totally fail. 

The dough ends up being a bit sticky, so the addition of flour when you're kneading it is very helpful  Not too much, not too little when you add it.  I also opted for less cooking, so less crunchy.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon white sugar (3/4 teaspoon agava nectar)
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (or spelt flour)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ – ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon or more Italian seasoning  (I also added and extra teaspoon of dried basil)
• optional – chopped cured black olives

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve sugar (agava) and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with flour; stir well to combine. Stir in additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all of the flour is absorbed. When the dough has pulled together, (this is where I added the olives) turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly for about 1 minute.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
5. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface; knead briefly. Pat or roll the dough into a sheet and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the dough with oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and dried herbs.

Bake focaccia in preheated oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on desired crispness. If you like it moist and fluffy, then you'll have to wait just about 10 minutes. If you like it crunchier and darker in the outside, you may have to wait 20 minutes.

This recipe will go into my cookbook.  Don't hold your breath though.  It's just in the thought stages!

The Beauty of May

Today would have been my mothers birthday.  Every year around this time, I would try to make a trip to South Jersey to visit her, and celebrate her birthday and Mother's Day.  It is a magical and beautiful time of year there.  The spring-flowering trees are all in bloom.  In particular, the dogwood trees.  You can drive anywhere  and see dog wood, azalea and rhododendron in bloom, along with a plethora of spring flowers.

The sky was incredibly blue today, which made a perfect backdrop for the flowering spring trees here.

So as we celebrate the continuing beauty of spring, I celebrate the memory of my mother.

Early Planting

The frost date in my neighborhood is around May 26.  That means don't plant too early.  Cold hardy vegetables, however, can be started in late April.  My peas are in.  There is 1, yes 1, poking it's little green head up.  I'm hoping there will be more.

It drives me crazy to look in my trash can and see so much plastic, so I decided to plant some romaine and fennel in some of the lettuce containers. (do we really need lettuce in a plastic clam shell?)  I'll plant some zinnias in a couple of them this week.

This is what I did –
Take a philips head screw driver and carefully make holes in the bottom of your plastic clam shell, by gently turning the screwdriver back and forth until it pokes through.  Make about 5 holes.

Fill your clam shell with potting soil, (the kind meant for garden vegetables) plant your seeds and water gently, but thoroughly.

Close the lid and put outside in the sun.  You now have a mini greenhouse.  It's a good idea to open the lid once-in-a-while to allow some air into your greenhouse, keeping it from getting too warm.  The window box behind the clam shell has lettuce growing in it.  I keep a box of lettuce on the back porch for easy access. 

Someone mentioned to me today that they thought there were far more dandelions than last year.  After digging up about 500 of them out of the garden yesterday, I tend to agree.

Hope you're growing something right now that you'll be able to munch on later!