Sunday 7 July 2013

Things I Have Learned Recently

Apparently I have an inner foodie

I decided to try a recipe from Facebook, titled Coconut Custard Pie. I chose coconut milk for the milk, and substituted coconut flour for all-purpose flour.

I ended up with coconut cake. I went back onto Facebook and the picture with the recipe looks like cake. So, I guess my substitutions weren't to blame. But I found the cake a little dry, considering that I'd been expecting custard. I decided I should make a sauce to go with it.

I looked up a gluten-free recipe for caramel sauce and picked up ingredients while out and about. That's when it hit me - I never considered just buying caramel sauce. That's where I think I might evolving into a foodie. 

The caramel sauce was easy to make and is yummy.


That tall mystery plant in my backyard is not goldenrod

It's a tall hedge mustard. One of the ladies in my stitching group identified it from a photo. The flowers smell flowery, not mustardy. Some websites call it a wildflower, some call it a weed.

Snow peas like to reach out and grab everything but the numerous stakes and sticks I've put out for them

If they have to, they'll grab onto a stick. But they really like grabbing onto each other, nearby blades of grass, nearby pots of herbs, and tall hedge mustards. I've started clipping branches off of the tall hedge mustard before the snow peas drag it down and cover it.

That's not moss, that's thyme

Bit by bit, I'm introducing moss and thyme into the garden. For interesting textures, and as part of the fairy/rock garden evolving in the shady section. Irish moss has been transplanted around the stepping stone my sister made for me. Scotch moss is in the fairy garden.

I bought wooly thyme last weekend. Today, I was cutting some long grass in the shady section with clippers. Underneath the grass was ... thyme. Wooly thyme. Conveniently, right next to the fairy garden, so it will be incorporated with it. Last year, I thought it was moss. This year, I know what it is. It must be from someone who lived here before.

Johnny Jump-Ups love to jump

I found some growing amongst my periwinkle. Pretty! And according to Wikipedia they are also called heartsease.

I should give up on growing sweet peas in clay pots

They thrive better in plastic pots, where the soil doesn't dry out so quickly.

My stitching meetup group continues to be awesome

This week, I learned how to cast on longtail style, and how to knit in the round. The ladies are very eager to answer my questions and to show me. Which is a lot easier than trying to figure those things out from YouTube videos.

Labyrinths continue to be cool

I hosted a meetup by the Silver Springs Labyrinth, for the ladies of the stitching group. Only one showed up, but she loved it.

This was my third time walking it. It was astonishing how quickly the cosmos gave me an answer that allowed a bunch of mental puzzle pieces to suddenly click into place.

The pleasures of an open kitchen window

When I bought the house, the screen for the kitchen window was down in the basement. I couldn't figure out how to install it. I installed the screen door for the patio door and that was good enough. I never opened the kitchen window, because I didn't want bugs to fly in, and for ginger cats to jump out.

When all of the windows were replaced in March, the kitchen window got a screen. But I didn't open it.

If I'm going upstairs to do something, I don't like leaving the patio door open with just a screen, it doesn't feel safe. After I hung a suncatcher outside, I realized the solution - open the kitchen window! Fresh air while feeling more secure. And the curtains I made flutter in the breeze and look pretty.

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