 |
| Raindrops on Aeoniums |
We've had quite a bit of rain this week. It rained almost all day on Monday and part of the day on Tuesday. The garden got a good soaking. Several roads and intersections in my neighborhood got flooded, but, we were okay. I was glad that I didn't have to drive anywhere, though. Wednesday was a sunny day, but, there is more rain in the forecast for Thursday.
Things have been pretty quiet at my home, so far, this week. I've been taking it easy due to sciatica pains, doing minimal housework when I feel up to it. My current project is mending an old quilt.
On Monday, daughter had the day off (Presidents Day holiday) and she did some cooking and I cleaned the kitchen a little bit. In the evening, during a break in the rain, daughter took the trash cans to the curb for pick up in the morning.
I brought the trash cans back in on Tuesday afternoon, when the rain had stopped, and took the above photo of the raindrops on the aeonium plants. There weren't any raindrops to be seen on the one rose that was in bloom, but, the rain had beaten down on the flower and it had gone from this:
a.jpeg) |
| Rose - Before the Rain |
To this:
.jpeg) |
| Rose - After the Rain |
We had very heavy rain on Tuesday night, but, Wednesday was sunny. Gardener friend M was here to tidy up the garden a bit and he did some weeding and clearing. He brought us a slice of his homegrown pineapple he harvested:
 |
| M's Homegrown Pineapple |
It was delicious. I served him a bowl of the zuppa Toscana daughter had made and he enjoyed that.
I baked another loaf of no-knead bread:
 |
| Bread |
I really need to lower the temperature when I'm baking because my oven tends to get too hot!
I also baked some sugar cookies:
 |
| Sugar Cookies |
We had bread and beef curry for our evening meal and cookies for dessert!
 |
| Bread and Beef Curry |
I am grateful for:
- The rain!
- M's help with the garden
- M sharing some of his pineapple with us
- My new Dutch oven to bake crusty bread
- Making cookies with my daughter
- M's help with the garden
- M sharing some of his pineapple with us
- My new Dutch oven to bake crusty bread
- Making cookies with my daughter
My joyful activities include baking and gardening.
Since Thursday is forecast to be another rainy day, I plan to stay indoors and do a few things around the house. I have been tidying the linen closet, on and off, recently; maybe I'll finish tidying it on Thursday. There is just one last shelf to do.
How is your week so far?
All of your pictures of food are making me hungry-especially M's pineapple. :)
ReplyDeleteOops! Sorry to make you hungry, June. :) M's pineapple reminded me of Nathalie (who used to live in Florida and grew pineapples in her garden; she stopped blogging a few years ago and I miss her!)
DeleteI like the no knead bread ... You will soon find the right temperature for the crust you want
ReplyDeleteThank you, Angela. The recipe I followed said to bake the bread at 450F, but, I think I will try baking it at 425F, next time. :)
DeleteYou make some amazing food!
ReplyDeleteThe rain sounds really refreshing. It's worrying when there's flooding, because if I understand it, you're not really set up for rain there and so it could cause problems. It's always better to be safe than sorry when driving.
Thank you, Lyssa.
DeleteWe need the rain, but, when we receive a lot of rain in a few hours, it overwhelms our drainage systems. We had lighter showers today and it was better.
Don't you just hate it when the rain knocks down the flowers? Poor rose! M's pineapple looks so much more colourful than the ones that make it to our supermarkets! I was interested to see from the photo that the little artificial plant "growing" in a pot in my powder room is an aeonium. Of course I do not need to research care, a quick wipe over is sufficient. I baked a slightly over crisp crust to a bran loaf today, and I don't know whether the temperature given in the recipe was wrong or the length of time for baking. It said 1 1/2 hours at 350°F. I took it out before the end of the time and it was well done. I think that I should have guessed that it needed checking sooner. It was a community cookbook that I've had for years and never tried that recipe before. It is good, though, so it could be tweaked.
ReplyDeleteYes, the rain had beaten down a daylily stem and the first stem of freesias, in addition to the rose. I picked the daylily stem and brought it indoors to place in a vase.
DeleteM's pineapple looked great, didnt it? It was a bit tangy, but, very tasty.
You have an aeonium, too! Those artificial succulents look very real, don't they?
I'm glad you took out the bran loaf before it became too crisp! 350F sounds about right, but, 1 1/2 hours sounds too long. Most recipes for banana bread or zucchini bread call for 50-60 minutes of baking time. The no-knead bread had to be baked for 30 minutes with the lid on and another 12 minutes with the lid off for the crust to brown. I think I will check it after 9 or 10 minutes, the next time.
Lots of lovely food.
ReplyDeleteThat poor rose looks positively drowned. I hope it revives itself!
Thank you, Sharon. The rose didn't survive; I noticed the first rose petals on the ground, today.
DeleteWhat a shame about your rose, it's a beautiful colour.
ReplyDeleteYour food looks so good and so does the pineapple. I haven't eaten fresh pineapple for a very long time.
I do hope your sciatica will ease off soon. It's a debilitating thing to endure Bless. Take care,
Angie x
Thank you, Angie. The rose is a dark red and one of my favorites.
DeleteEvery now and then, the stores have a sale on fresh pineapple and I buy one as a treat, because my daughter doesn't like canned pineapple.
Thank you, Angie; I, too, hope the sciatica pains will go away soon!
Yay, rain! And your bread and sugar cookies look delicious.
ReplyDeleteI hope your discomfort is beginning to lessen, Bless. Suffering with Sciatica is miserable. Xx
Thank you, Jules. The bread practically vanished and the cookies are disappearing, too! I'm ready for the sciatica pains to vanish, too! :)
DeleteYour first photo with the beautiful green 💚 and the raindrops is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteYou are a great cook.
Thank you, Linda. I love how fresh and green the garden looks after a good shower of rain.
DeleteI do enjoy cooking (when I'm in the mood to cook). :)
I hope your sciatica pain has lessened and you find some comfort.
ReplyDeleteI think your bread looks very good.
Did you adjust the temp for the sugar cookie baking? They don't look like they were in too hot of an oven.
I bet that fresh pineapple was delicious.
Thank you, Debra. The sciatica pains seem to come and go; they tend to be worse in the mornings when I first wake up.
DeleteThe bread was very good and we finished it in record time! :D
Yes, I lowered the temperature for the cookies and reduced the baking time, too.
The pineapple was a bit on the sour side, but, I enjoyed it. :)
We have rain today, too, but it is mixed with sleet and sporadic snow. I am ready for Spring! I made sugar cookies the other day, too. So good!!!! xo Diana
ReplyDeleteOh, rain with sleet and snow sounds pretty bad! It's sunny, here, today and I'm enjoying the pleasant weather. :) Sugar cookies are yummy, aren't they?
DeleteIt's been raining here for days. Everything is waterlogged and our clay soil is very slippery. I wonder what will have survived when I get back into the garden. A couple of years ago I lost some bulbs and a peony - they just rotted away. :( There are two days of sun forecast for next week, so let's see.
ReplyDeleteYes, you had mentioned something like 40 days of rain! I can't imagine! I hope your garden thrives with all the rain. M had asked me, recently, if I knew of anyone who grew peonies; apparently, one of his other clients wants to grow peonies in her garden. They will grow in our climate, but, they won't flower because they require several days of chilling to bloom and we don't get cold enough for that.
DeleteSo much delicious looking food! I've been reading about how one of the best things we can do is have a lot of variety in our diets, especially with fruits and veggies. I think you have the most variety I've seen!
ReplyDeleteThank you, hannah jane. I, too, have read about the need for a variety of plant food in our diets. I tried to do that, consciously, a year or so ago, counting the different plant food in my weekly meals, trying to get up to 32. It was difficult for me because you could count each plant item only once and I would often eat a certain plant food over several days. For example, if I bought a bunch of bananas, I'd have a banana a day for 3 or 4 days, but, only the first banana would count towards the 32 varieties. But, it was an interesting experiment. :)
Delete