I can feel it coming...

My summer is your winter:

Yes, I can and do go outside, but it's better if I don't.

     I hear of people up north just getting their gardens started and half of my garden is already fried and the other half is showing signs of heat exhaustion.

     The heirloom Boston Pickler cucumber was disappointing.  Initially, the cucumber output was promising but the moment the temps hit the upper 80's, it was over.  I let one cuke go to seed and I'll try it next year under shade cloth.

     Luckily, I put up a few jars of refrigerator pickles before the end.  I gently experimented with my last batch, meaning I didn't put in too much of any one ingredient so that the pickles would at least be edible after the experimental flavors seeped in.

Introducing...Southeast-Asian-Style Cucumber Pickles

     I don't know if it's a novel idea as I did no pre-Googling and went about the process with my mental blinders on.  I'm sure it's been tried before, probably by people in southeast Asia, but I like living in my fantasy world where I introduce so many new ideas to mankind.

     I added a stalk of lemon grass, a couple of kaffir lime leaves, a small slice of ginger (didn't have any galangal), hot pepper slices, and garlic, plus an extra teaspoon of sugar to the brine.  

We shall see.

     The gardenia bush is distracting me from my dying cucumbers.  As you can see, it is not receiving the proper nutrients to keep its leaves from turning yellow.  I've tried all the recommended fertilizers.  I think the gardenia doesn't like living under the towering angel trumpet tree.  I'm going to keep the angel trumpet branches trimmed back and see if that helps.  Still, the spindly, weak shrub churns out a handful of velvety, perfumed blossoms every year and for that, I am grateful.

     The Mexican gherkins (tiny watermelon-looking things in the pic above) have been producing well. I've already pickled 2 small jars of them and am working on a third.  They taste like little cucumbers.  I'm hoping they will self-seed around the yard next year.  The cherry tomatoes with the green stripes are starting to ripen, as are the tiny cherry tomatoes that now volunteer each year.  I've been missing real tomato taste.  Bring it!

     In the alternate "food" universe (which I am embarrassingly familiar with), I saw these in the store:

What on earth is this all about?

     I stared at this product for a long time, trying to wrap my mind around the bright colors, the faux Greek font, the word "artificial" emblazoned above the flavor, and the thought process behind taking something so yummy and good, which has already been diluted by our market (fat free?!) and somehow creating this product out of it.  

     I'm one of those "amphora half-empty" people and I predict these will be on clearance shelves at your local grocery store by summer's end.

     In my house, the inverse of the yogurt cake is the yoga tape.

(a review)

     The reason I've done so little yoga in recent years is that the practices on my favorite DVD's are an hour long and I can easily talk myself out of that.  I've ordered some inexpensive used DVD's on Amazon but didn't find an instructor that clicked with me.

Until I found Shiva Rea!

     This DVD is definitely for intermediate yoga practioners.  Her style is athletic, challenging, yet also features a variety of flowing, free-form elements.  Completely new to me and just what I needed to reignite my love for this type of exercise.  AND, most importantly, I can choose from her preset practices which range in duration from 30 minutes to an hour or I can go to the "yoga matrix" screen and put together my own practice by choosing separate elements, depending on my energy level and time constraints.  I freaking love it!  I am challenged yet not overwhelmed; I'm doing yoga more than ever and feeling the results.

     I don't know who you are, Shiva Rea, but your yoga DVD gets 2 thumbs up!

     After that effusive recommendation of an ancient form of exercise which originated in India, I admit that the coming summer months will see me practicing it in the AC.

     Here's a photo of a yogic pose by a Floridian without AC:

Trust me!  You don't want to go there.

I ain't got much...

   ...but I've got my stories.

     I took a trip to Sedona, AZ in 2002 and following my vacation mantra that "I can't see everything but I'll see what I can," (maybe more of a koan than a mantra), I decided to visit the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, AZ.

     It was definitely about the journey as all I got to see of the mine was the warehouse shop but I bought a small selection of their famous robin's egg blue turquoise beads, some of which I incorporated in the necklace pictured at the top of this post.

http://www.sleepingbeautyturquoise.info/

     I still think about the tortilla chips fried in butter that we had for lunch that day.  Dang!

     It was on a very different trip that I got this crazy looking fork...

     I was in a rural area of central Canada when I met a couple who make the most amazing kitchen implements out of hardwood maple.  I bought a few items but they aren't suited to the Florida climate and this fork is all I have left.  It was languishing in a cabinet until I recently acted on my waffle cravings.

     WalMart waffle iron for $9.96 and, surprise!, a box of gluten free Bisquick.  Suddenly, the little maple devil fork had a purpose: pulling waffles off the non-stick surface of the waffle maker.  Success!

The Bisquick gets one thumb up for at least trying and one thumb down for that weird underlying taste that I find in many gluten free products.  I'll keep looking.

     I haven't been to Italy, YET, but I finally found a delicious Sicilian recipe for the cucuzzi I am growing in my garden.

     A very simple "stew" of cucuzzi, potato, tomato, onion, garlic, basil, olive oil and salt that perfectly balanced out the slightly cucumber-y taste of the cucuzzi.  I desperately needed a recipe that worked for me as the vines are churning these things out at an alarming rate.

     I would like to take this moment to announce a personal landmark:

I washed my truck.

     Unfortunately, no amount of soap and water can wash "1995" off of the old Ranger but it's an improvement.

And what about those chickens?

     I recently saw a FB video of a child hugging a compliant chicken.  Only a few of my chickens will tolerate hugs and they fidget the whole time.  When I got them, they were young enough to imprint on me but old enough to know that I wasn't a chicken; they would have preferred to be mothered by a hen.  They follow me around, get underfoot, and submit to the occasional hug but they don't love me.  Whenever children visit I make sure they hold a chicken so they can get that experience.  Both sets of my grandparents were farmers but they no longer had chickens by the time I came along.  The only animals they had were big scary cows and big scary hogs; nothing to hold but your breath as you walked past the pens.

     Another uneasy alliance in my yard is between the birds and dogs.

Here's a pic of the redheads hanging out together.

     They all know that I represent food and that they are in competition for that food.  The dogs are more afraid of the beaks than the chickens are of the sharp teeth and that is a system that could end badly for the chickens but, hey, Can't we all just get along?

     My travels, nowadays, are financially restricted to the state of Florida, and mostly my backyard, but I'm still compiling stories.

Brooksville, Florida, at the end of the day...

     Current circumstances place me in Brooksville, Florida on a regular basis.

For the most part, I don't like it.

     Recently, however, I decided to take a walk and explore the old heart of Brooksville, which does have a certain amount of charm.

The residential streets in this part of town are a luscious example of rampant Florida plant growth.

I would love to do this with a bromeliad but my yard came sans mature trees.

Oh, the years I spent in Missouri trying to grow moss.  It's unavoidable in Florida.

I appreciate the wealth of family-owned eateries to choose from in Brooksville and I try to patronize them whenever I am in town.  I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that many of them are owned by the same family.  

      There are the usual signs of decay but that happens everywhere...

Back on the side streets I came across a surinam cherry tree:

     Not specifically from Surinam, not a cherry, and listed as an invasive exotic.  That's 3 strikes.

But...

they are edible and I don't think they are quite as invasive this far north due to a lack of cold tolerance. 

 I gathered some seeds.

      I would string up a hammock in the tower room of this house.

And now, for the strawberry pot to end all strawberry pots...

It's a monster!  And it looks like you could actually grow a crop of strawberries in it.

I think it is currently being underutilized. 

     The problem with Brooksville, Florida is, at the end of the day, you're in Brooksville, Florida; a little too far off the beaten path without quite enough assets to make up for the remove, and home of the most aggressive red light traffic cameras I've ever had the misfortune to tangle with.

     That being said, I have about 8 more years of weekend visits  so I'd better make the best of it. 

     Maybe reviews of local eateries...