“You Seem Happy Here – Are You?”
The landscape designer and I met last year as she toured our garden and helped us identify the plants we have in our garden. She had great ideas, and gave us a lot of help caring for a mature garden. She suggested we live with our yard for a year, and then decide how we want to move forward.
It was the best advice. What looked like a wreck of a garden after last year’s very cold winter came back back with a vengeance. We had fabulous plants, plants the birds and bees and butterflies and hummingbirds all loved to visit. We had a chance to visit other gardens and to see what we like. This year, we have more of a plan, and this lovely lady who has been gardening in Pensacola all her life, helps us fine tune our plans.
We’ve been going around the yard, figuring out where to put a pomegranate tree, a lime tree, a couple hydrangea bushes.
“You seem happy here,” she starts, “Are you?”
“You sound surprised!” I laughed, thinking how many moves I’ve made, and how I really like living near our son, his wife and son. We’ve been here a year now. I make friends slowly, but I actually have a few now.
“I wasn’t sure you would be able to handle the heat,” she confided.
I laughed. “I can’t. There is this wonderful thing called air conditioning. When it gets too hot, I don’t spent much time outside. I’m doing fine.”
It’s been almost a year since we bought the house here. It seems like so much longer, so much has happened. Last night, AdventureMan made a fabulous Bermuda Fish Chowder. Our son’s wife and little Baby Q came by for dinner while our son waited in line at Best Buy for a new iPad2, wooo hooo. He came by as soon as finished the purchase. Life is sweet, and yes, I think I am happy.
Smokin’ in the Square: BBQ in Pensacola
One of the most fun weekends of the year, and after weeks of beautiful weather, Saturday dawns cold and rainy, and the big barbecue contest and the big Pensacola Mardi Gras Parade are scheduled for this day. Fortunately, the skies held back until late in the day, and both barbecue cook-off and Mardi Gras were a big success.
AdventureMan and I hit the cook-off after a spring vegetable growing class out at Garden Gate Nurseries. Oh, what fun. People from all over the barbecue-ing states of the nation competing to produce the best barbecue. Heaven!
Live music at the fest
This is what we had to eat – Tennessee Tacos; pulled pork with baked beans and cole slaw on top of a flour taco shell, with your choice of barbecue sauce. YUMMMMMMMMM.
Sugar Cookies Rolled in Coconut
Sugar Cookies Rolled in Coconut
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped red and green candied cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup flaked coconut
Directions
1. In mixing bowl beat butter or margarine until softened, add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the milk and vanilla and mix well.
2. Add the flour and beat until well mixed. Stir in the cherries and pecans.
3. Shape into three 7-inch long rolls. Roll in the coconut to coat.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Cut rolls into 1/4-inch slices and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes or until done. Remove to a wire rack and cool.
Christmas Cookies – Check!
This is a time of the year when I count my blessings. And yes, yes, it isn’t the only time of the year, LOL, any opportunity will do, but of all the weeks in the year, the week before Christmas is my favorite.
You know me. I’m a front-loader; when there is something I need to have done, I do it right away so it doesn’t hang over me, growing daily because I am dreading doing it for having put it off. For me, just do it. Then it doesn’t have time to grow!
I will admit, I am still doing some small unavoidable wrapping, but the gifts are mostly bought and/or figured out.
Because I remember what it was to be a working wife and working mother, I volunteered to bake extra Christmas cookies, so my daughter-in law wouldn’t have to worry about it. When you don’t HAVE to do it, it’s fun!
Every year I learn something. This year – and trust me, there have been many many years of baking Christmas cookies – I (gasp) followed the instructions, and used a paintbrush to put the glaze on. Holy Smokes. HOLY Smokes. Had I known, had I trusted, my life would have been so much easier. Friends, if you are painting a glaze onto sugar cookies – use a paintbrush. It works like a charm.
Tiny Pecan Muffins:
I tried a new recipe for the Russian Teacakes; they taste delicious but I like them better when they are balls, not more like cookies:
These are new this year, and so easy I think I will do them every year. They are a sugar cookie, but you make them in rolls, chill them in the refrigerator, then slice and bake. Sooooo EASY! 🙂
These are the hardest, the Rosettes, which you make one by one, standing over hot oil with a metal rod and form, but they are everyone’s favorites, and they are a family tradition, so I do them every year:
For photos of the process, and for recipes for rosettes, you can click here.
Onion Soup of the Pfalz region of Germany
I am printing this just as I found it. The thrill to me is that I can read it and follow it! It is from a blog called ‘Grandmother’s Best Recipes in the Pfalz’ and today I am making Pfalzerzuppe! (It is a onion soup made with creme and a little caraway seed; I often used to eat it at Neuleiningen Castle, in the Bergschanke restaurant.Zwiebelsuppe
“Zwiwwelsupp”
Zwiebelsuppe ist nicht gleich Zwiebelsuppe. Oder auf pfälzisch: Zwiwwelsupp is net wie Zwiwwelsupp. Die nach diesem Rezept ist jedenfalls sehr delikat und würzig.
Zutaten:
- 10 mittlere Zwiebeln (onions, middle sized)
- 500 ml Sahne (cream)
- 1 l Hühnerbrühe (chicken stock)
- Pfeffer, Salz, Kümmel (pepper, salt, caraway seed)
- Butter
- 2-3 EL Mehl (flour)
- 1/5 l Weißwein (aber bitte Pfälzer Wein!) (white wine, Pfalzer white wine, PLEASE!)
Zubereitung:
Geschälte Zwiebeln kleinschneiden und in Butter nur ganz leicht anbräunen. Mit dem Weißwein ablöschen und zur Hälfte einkochen lassen. Das Mehl darüber streuen. Die Brühe und die Sahne hinzugeben und ca. 20 Minuten köcheln lassen, dann abschmecken.
Tipp:
Am Ende des Kochens noch drei Eigelbe mit etwas Sahne verrühren und unter die Suppe ziehen, dann aber nicht mehr aufkochen, sondern gleich servieren.
A Day in Flomaton, Alabama
All we knew when we started the day was that we wanted to explore a little bit north of Pensacola, maybe even up into the part of Alabama that is across the state line to the north (as opposed to the part of Alabama that is across the state border to the west). We thought we were having a very boring day until we wandered into Flomaton, and AdventureMan discovered a railroad museum.
Flomaton is at the very top of the map:
The railroad museum was also an older house, now the museum, and an older 2 room cabin out back, moved from its original location. Here is a recreation of the old front parlor:
The Railroad Collection room:
The log cabin was out back of the house, and had two women spinning wool into yarn on the porch, who very graciously allowed me to take their photo:
Inside the log cabin – we were told the couple who lived in this cabin had 12 children; they slept on the floor on pallets at night:
At the museum, there was a flyer about “Back to your hometown weekend” in Alabama, which just happened to be that very weekend. The town was full of returning people, there had been a parade and fireworks the night before (three former homecoming queens told me about this) and there was a street fair to celebrate Home Town Flomaton. 🙂
It was nearly lunchtime. We could smell Barbecue. The street fair was just a block away and there was parking right there, right by the fair. It was so much fun:
People were so kind and so helpful. This young woman was grinding corn, and we speculated that it must have been a great modern invention, and a real time saver, when it was invented. A woman passing by said she remembers her own mother using the same machine; all the corn was then taken to be ground, and stored in large airtight bottles in a dark ‘keeping room’ with preserves and food to get them through the winter.
This band was playing blues, gospel and country music, and they were pretty good!
As we stood and watched the choir, another woman welcomed us, and told us we really needed to see the new library (it was gorgeous!) and if we hurried, we could catch the Raptor Show at Otter Point. A Raptor Show!
Inside, there was a butterfly house, and several displays of local natural life:
There was also a wonderful hiking trail out over the wetlands, well maintained and beautiful:
The Raptor presentation was very well done, informative and funny, on many levels. They had a large audience of children, who learned a lot, and also adults like us, who also learned a lot. The bald eagle’s beak is deformed by PCB’s, which, although banned back in the 1970’s, are still present in the environment in quantities high enough to cause birth deformities. The only reason they were able to adopt the bald eagle, a protected species, was that while he can hunt, he cannot tear his food apart with his malformed beak.
It was a day full of gracious hospitality. People were so kind to us, and went out of their way to make us feel welcome and to explain what we were looking at. For a day that started with no clear goal, we felt like we had been abundantly blessed by happening across this beautiful October day in Flomaton, Alabama.
Marrakesh Vegetable Curry
We served this with couscous, but it would be every bit as good with rice – or even just plain. It was so delicious that AdventureMan said he wasn’t hungry any longer, but that he couldn’t stop eating it. It is SO good!
Marrakesh Vegetable Curry
Ingredients
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium eggplant, cubed
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tablespoon sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/4 cup blanched almonds
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 1 cup orange juice
• 10 ounces spinach
Directions:
1. In a large Dutch oven place sweet potato, eggplant, peppers, carrots, onion, and three tablespoons oil. Saute over medium heat for 5 minutes.
2. In a medium saucepan place 3 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, turmeric, curry powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and saute over medium heat for 3 minutes.
3. Pour garlic and spice mixture into the Dutch oven with vegetables in it. Add the garbanzo beans, almonds, zucchini, raisins, and orange juice. Simmer 20 minutes, covered.
4. Add spinach to pot and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve!
Joe Patti’s Fresh Seafood
We have died and gone to heaven. At a time in our life when fish is a very good thing, we have come to another place where seafood is plentiful and delicious. (Kuwait and Qatar were also fish heavens 🙂 )
We have often eaten at Joey Patti’s, but had only glimpsed the Joe Patti outlet next door. Oh WOW. While I will still be buying at Maria’s because it is so close to where I live, Joe Patti’s is what Michelin calls “worth a trip.” They have wild salmon, cut into steaks, my all-time favorite. Good salmon, seared, cooked just through, has a moist, buttery taste I crave, with none of the high-cholesterol drawbacks of butter. 🙂
Joe Patti’s is HUGE, and full of seafood. Not just seafood, but anything associated with seafood, like spices, like prepared seafood salads, like condiments, and cooking equipment. Even some great palate-cleansing gelato. 🙂
Here is how you get there:
Food Shortages?
My friends in Kuwait are complaining about the price of tomatoes. The price of tomatoes in Kuwait?? Can a Kuwaiti cook without tomatoes?? 😉
I remember when suddenly, rice, a reliable cheap staple, suddenly went through the roof, and then, disappeared from the shelves when India announced a shortage and refused to export Indian rice. Kuwait, and other Gulf countries, announced they were buying unused farmland in other countries to insure their food supplies. But tomatoes? I thought everyone in Kuwait grew tomatoes, at least in winter.
And then, today, I saw this article on creeping food shortages:
Another lackluster monthly jobs report took center stage Friday. Stocks rallied, and government bond yields remained at rock-bottom levels as investors anticipate more action soon by the Federal Reserve to drive down interest rates even further.
Reports about how much slack the U.S. economy still needs to work through — like unemployment — understandably get the spotlight. But investors may be overlooking an even bigger story as the developing world stages a sharp rebound: Shortages of items like food and commodities are once again becoming a major concern.
Prices for agricultural commodities spiked so much on Oct. 8 that they triggered daily movement limits on the Chicago exchange. Options markets saw prices for commodities like corn soar more than 13% during the day following reports of supply shortages around the world.
Commodity-oriented exchange-traded funds like the PowerShares DB Agriculture (DBA) leaped as well. The ETF surged almost 10% over the previous week, with more than 6% of the gains registered on Friday alone.
Supply and Demand Discrepancies
A sharp shortfall in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s corn production forecast, due to poor weather patterns, also helped set prices soaring around the world. U.S. corn crop yields would come in 4% short of prior estimates and drop to their lowest levels in 14 years, the Agriculture Department said.
Fears of commodity shortages in the face of surging global demand are leading to export-slashing. Ukraine announced a sharp cutback in the amount of commodities like wheat and barley it would allow to be shipped out of the country. The likelihood of a major discrepancy between supply and demand have led to surging prices worldwide. European wheat prices rallied 10%, with other commodities, such as soybeans and cotton, climbing as well.
Still, investors should be cautious because commodity prices are known to be extremely volatile and difficult to put a price on.
Fundamental Forces
Nevertheless, rising prices are creating alarm about humanitarian concerns. Morgan Stanley (MS) and the U.N. have warned about the prospects of a rerun of the 2007 food crisis that slammed the developing world.
See full article from DailyFinance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/poor-crops-soaring-demand-currency-wars-a-recipe-for-food-sho/19667693/?icid=sphere_copyright
As we drove across the United States this summer, we saw acres and acres of US farmland, unworked, for sale. Farming is a tough life, and fewer and fewer families are still farming. It’s scary and sad.
Flounders in Pensacola Beach
“We’ll have to take you to Flounders.” our Pensacola friends said, and we wondered, because we hadn’t seen Flounders on our trips to the beach, and we hadn’t seen it advertised. One day we Googled it, found it on the map and headed for the beach.
They don’t seem to need to advertise. Even if there is a parking spot in the parking lot (not a given) you are likely to have to wait. Even on a weekday, when you think no one else will be there. And what a very cool place.
The place looks beachy, there are usually people sitting out front, waiting, and you can see this huge boat, The Flounder:
Now that the temperatures have dropped about ten degrees, the entire restaurant is open, and it is heavenly. If it gets too hot or too cold, there are garage-door-like barriers against the elements, but for most of the year, Flounders can stay open to the sea breezes.
Prices are reasonable, portions are too big, service is quick and friendly without being overly intrusive. There are volleyball courts, a landing and a large area for children to play in.
We’ve seen a lot of birthday parties at Flounders; children’s and grown ups. 😉 They are owned by the same group that owns McGuires and Crabs: We Got ‘Em. Each of those restaurants has a unique menu, and we really like that each has such GOOD food.
So for our first visit, there are two MUST-ORDERS; to test a Florida seafood restaurant, you have to try their Seafood chowder and you have to test their hush puppies. Both were spectacular and memorable:
They were so good, in fact, that less that a week later, we went back for more.
We also had appetizers for lunch; I had the Baked Parmesan Oysters and AdventureMan had the Fish Tacos/Nachos. Both were SO good. Worth a trip across the bridge, which only takes maybe 20 minutes from our house. 🙂
The next time we went back, we also tried the Fish and Chips – very very good, served hot and crisp, lightly battered, tasty fish – and a slice of the Key Lime Pie, which was also very good, although not quite as tart as we like it.
Not only would I go there again in a heartbeat, but keeping a gallon of their chowder in our refrigerator for dinner sounds like a winning idea to me.
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