Ireland Plant Identification Fun

I found some cool looking plants while I was out hunting for Nettles in the field behind our apartment here in Ireland.
I am not sure what any of it is just yet. If you know, let me know. Otherwise I will look them up when I get home.

Makers Workshops

I am thinking about running some Makers Workshops. Possible topics include building a bike trialer, simple paneirs, baking yeasted bread, rainwater harvesting, natural floral decorating, etc. Could be fun!

Bits of Spring

Great news! There are lots of little green shoots showing in the garden! Looks like they might be Narcissus and other bulby things. So exciting

Weekend Project!

I have been in a home-making mood lately and finally indulged it with more than a good thorough cleaning. Per usual, I rearranged our bedroom! Then I realized that our platform bed still needed those hanging lamps its been asking for since.heaven only knows.
So off I went to Home Depot. Using two of those swag kits for ceiling fans, I rigged up some pretty swell hanging lamps! I am not quite as pleased with the lamp shades…they still need some work, but not bad for using what I had laying around. In all, I spent about $30!!! Sweet.

Crappy photo quality, but awesome lighting!

Breaking the Silence

Its been pretty quite around here. Think of it as winter hibernation. Not that my life has been quite.  The year started off fast and has not slowed. Sia and I have been working hard- him with school and me with the office, client projects, my graduate ambitions, and the typical family stuff. Nothing to complain about, its all good…its just a lot.

I have been feeling the spring fever. Things here are browner than anything I have ever seen in my life. I hear though that the spring will be beautiful (well, isn’t it always?)

I think that this is compounded by the feeling that my new home still feels a little unsettled. That will go away eventually, but it sure would help if I could hang things on the walls. On the contrary, my windows are filling up with green, growing things. I planted some lettuce, basil, peas, peppers, radishes and tulips! Hope is about to bloom! And I cannot hardly wait.

Found

Look what I found at a local junk shop! I don’t remember the name of this technique, but its reductive with the ink scratched off in various ways to make the image. I love architectural art. Now…what to do with it…
I am thinking maybe some modifications are needed. Any suggestions?

Fun Stuff

My yule-tide travels have almost come to a close. I am in Wharton with mom for a few days more before I fly home to my joonam, whom I miss terribly. Next year, we must take our holiday in the same state at least.
While here, I have checked in on the few belonging I left in Texas for our big move. There is not a ton, but most of my book collection is filling up two closets, much to the annoyance of momma-chan.

I am trying to figure out just how much I can take back with me. Besides the books, there is some garden-booty (seeds and rose hips I pillaged), an old copper kettle I love, some other kitchen odds and ends, lots of tiny shiny, and a few paintings. Hmm, how’s it all gonna fit in my one little bag? Oh yeah! I bought a new one at Wharton’s best junk store!
As eager as I am to get home, I am sad to be leaving the familar winter heat. I never appreciated like I do now. Here there are still roses in mom’s gardens, and I spent hours picking up pecans. In Cincy, even the Euanymis (spelling?) is frozen. I feel sorry for the Eskimos. How do you do it?

Cheeky little birds

I maintain a small birdfeeder on my front porch. That is, it is a feeder for small birds and many many of them. As it is winter, I consider it my neighborly duty to make sure there is food for them, but the other morning, there was an incident.

Usually, it take about 4 days for them to clean out the feeder. As soon as the last seed is gone, one of them sits on my doormat, inches from the door, and cheeps. Now this cheep is obviously meant for me. Not only is his position suggestive, but the volume he puts into this cheep is far more than you will ever hear when they are conversing among themselves. He obviously finds me to be hard of hearing or dense. Long and loud, he always calls me when I am in the living room. I think he stands guard or something.

I find this highly amusing, so rather than always keeping it full, I usually will wait to refill the container until I am summoned. On Wednesday morning I realized that the feeder had been empty for a few days but I had not yet been called upon for the remedy. Nonetheless, I could here little voices on my front porch. On my way out for work, I investigated.

I keep the feed in a bucket on the front porch. The lid is fairly heavy, yet somehow some bird had managed to move the lid enough to enter the bucket and push about 50% of its content out onto the porch! I guess they grew weary of my little game.

The Amazing Creamy and Delicious, Stick-to-your-ribs, Leftover Turkey Soup

We went to a Thanksgiving Dinner with several of Sia’s classmates who, like us, are far from home. They call themselves the orphans. We had a great time.

As it goes with these things, much of the great bird was left uneaten. We divy-ed it up, with Sia and I claiming the carcass. This thing was huge and still loaded with tasty bits.

Today I peeled much of the meat off the bones. The carcass itself was too large to fit in any pots I have so I just threw the meat and a single thigh bone into some water and simmered it for a good 2 hours. Oh, delicious stock. I was dreaming of a cream-based soup with lots of wild rice and mushrooms. I love curry so of course there were hints of that in the mix. Actualized, it turned out to be fantastic!

Here is the recipe (I usually do not measure, so these are estimates):

• 5 cups of stock with enough meat to measure 3 cups, and more stock in reserve.
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups wild rice, rinsed
• 1 large carrot, cleaned and grated or sliced thin
• 1 medium onion, cut into chunks
• 2 Tblsp butter
• (1) 14 oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 14 oz milk
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tsp celery seeds
• 2 Tblsp curry powder
• 1 Tblsp paprika
• 2 Tblsp flour
• 2 handfulls of button mushrooms, washed and quartered
• cilantro

Bring the stock and meat to a slow boil. Add the rice and celery seeds and cook about 30min, stirring frequently. Rice should not be quite finished but chewy. Keep an eye on the amount of liquid while the rice is cooking. Keep it soupy, do not let it get too thick or dry out. You can add more stock at any point if you need it.

Once the rice is chewy, add the carrots and stir to incorporate. Let boil another 10min or so.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a sauce pan and saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the onions to the soup while reserving as much of the butter in pan as possible. Mix in the flour a little at a time until the butter and flour form a smooth, thick paste. (You probably will not need all 2 Tblsp of flour.) Toast this mixture a bit over low heat until it starts to smell nutty. Using a ladle transfer some of the soup broth to the sauce pan and blend with the flour until it can easily and smoothly be incorporated to the broth in the pot. (The point is to make sure there are no clumps of flour hiding in your soup.) Add to broth in pot and stir well.

Lower the heat to a simmer. Pour in one can of cream of mushroom soup, then fill the empty can with milk, swirrel with a soup to get the last bits of mushroom soup from the inside of the can, and pour into the soup. Stir well.

Add the curry powder, paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Cook until the rice is about done, then stir in mushrooms. Let them simmer about 10min. Just before serving, stir in the cilantro, or serve as garnish in each bowl.

Enjoy!!!

Weekly Menu:

It is a nippy 27 degrees outside as a prepare to head off to the supermarket. I am wimpy and not up for braving the FM this week. Sia cannot join me on account of finals. Not going to need much in the way of produce this week anyway. Here’s the line up for a week promising busy-ness and snow:

• Creamy Tomato Soup with grill cheese sandwiches
• Veggie Soup with Rice- based on Persian taste, I will share soon
• Pumpkin Moli (from What’s Cooking, I cannot wait to try this!)
• (Un)Fried Chicken with Creamy Potatoes- uses yogurt (a combo I love)
• Pizza

Additional baking planned:

• Naan Gerdooee – really simple Persian cookies
• Breads- Challah, Basic Farmhouse, and Rye

Its gonna be a great week.