Easter. Eggs.

Anyone familiar with cascarones?

     They're real eggshells, dyed super-saturated colors, and  filled with confetti, hecho en Mexico, and they only appear at WalMart for a few weeks before Easter.  This is the first year the package didn't feature a cartoon of one child smashing a cascarone on another child's head (which I appreciated because what else would you do with them?).  A dozen cascarones cost about $1 so I always buy 3 dozen for the stepsons to enjoy on Easter.  

     I'm not suggesting that cascarones don't cause fights and minor bruising, but I'm usually inside relaxing by the time that happens.

     A couple weeks ago, one of my hens laid a lunker egg.  Here's what was inside:

     Two, count 'em, TWO yolks!  Not that amazing but fun to see, nonetheless.  This 2-yoked egg is sitting on an Indonesian rice crepe called a hopper.  Diana sent me the recipe to try and it's very tasty but requires some planning as the batter consists of rice flour, yeast and coconut milk and must rise for 2 hours.  Good for slow-paced mornings.

     The week after the 2-yolked lunker egg appeared in the henhouse, I found a tiny follow-up egg.

     Eggs this size never have a yolk so I used my German egg blowing device to empty and save it.

     There were some other tiny eggs laid in my yard...

     This nest full of Carolina wrens didn't hang around long after hatching.  Seems like they fledged in a couple of weeks.  I checked out their nest after they were gone and it's TIGHT; very comfy and cozy.

    There used to be a dachshund in the middle of this fur.

     Lilly is feeling a little less cozy these days, after her haircut, but if I don't clipper her woolly outer coat every so often, she's a burr magnet.  

I got creative with my own grooming.

     I wish I could find the original Sally Hansen metallic polishes I was obsessed with in the early 2000's.  They had a solid metal finish whereas the current metallic polishes are more of a glitter look.  Still, I dropped $2.78 on Sally's Xtreme Wear in Celeb City and my craving is satiated.  It all started when I recently watched the movie The Counselor and I couldn't quit staring at evil Cameron Diaz's silver metal press-ons.  Sleek!

     I walked these silver toes to the post office and FINALLY requested actual stamps for a letter to Germany.

     It took forever but the result is so great!  I asked the postal employee why they don't have a program that spits out stamp combos from their existing inventory and he replied that they used to but it was discontinued.  Dang cutbacks but I'm sure that was one of the least-used programs at the USPS.

     Back at my farmlet (I'm adopting that term even though I don't earn income from my produce), I tried freezing a batch of kale for the first time.

     I only consume kale in smoothies or wilted on the stove so hopefully the texture after I thaw it won't be a problem.

     The little guava tree is covered with blossoms for the first time since I started actually caring for it.  I might have guavas this year!  I might have lots of cucumbers this summer, too, and I plan to make refrigerator pickles.  Natasha is my dill connection.  Check out her amazing dill!

     I'm going to freeze some, dry some, and plant some seeds.  

And until I can make my own pickles, I've been enjoying this dill pickle relish:

     I like the old-timey look of Mt. Olive products and they were the only company I could find in the area that produced "sour pickles" required for a friend's Oklahoma style potato salad.  This dill relish has probably been around for awhile but I've found it at last, just in time to make some Easter egg salad.

Tale of Two Kayaks and Other Boating Adventures

     There is a great kayak shakeup going down at my house.

     My kayak needs have evolved over the past 8 years.  In the beginning, I just wanted to fish,

and I had some success...

...but now I'm all about finding fossils in the Peace River

and that requires a kayak smaller and lighter than the barge I am currently hauling all over south central Florida.  I decided to sell my other 2 rarely used kayaks and put that money towards my dream river kayak: wide enough to hold gear and feel stable with a trolling motor attached and light enough that loading it onto my truck wouldn't be such a hernia fest.

     I contacted a friend who lives on a lake and has teenagers to see if she wanted to buy my 8' surf kayak.  Sold!  That little yak went to a loving, stable home:

     I posted my other kayak on Craig's list for $200 which is what I paid for it 4 years ago.  It was filthy and didn't have an unbroken rigging on it anywhere; it had led a rough life under my watch.

It sold within hours.

And was back on Craigslist within hours:

     Yes, he doubled the price AND suggested the buyer clean it themselves!  I don't feel bad, though.  I do not enjoy the Craigslist process so selling it fast is ideal and how can I complain about getting exactly what I paid for it after 4 years of abuse?

     I am now hunting for my perfect fossiling kayak.  I know how to wait...

     I recently set off on a very different kind of boat: a casino cruise ship.  Four hours of drinking and gambling trapped on a casino ship is not my idea of fun but it was a great internet deal which I got as a Christmas present for Mike.

     We set off on a sunny day but the seas where 2-4 which is OUT of my comfort zone.  I was dreading feeling seasick when I spotted this sign:

     Not affected by alcohol and only $7? I had to have a set!  Mike patiently followed me to each of the ship's several bars until we found what was apparently the last package of Sea Bands on the ship.

Whew!

     Armed with my Wonder Woman placebo wrist bands, I was ready to PARTY!  But only for as long as the $20 of included casino credit lasted.  

     I watched a few of the games played at tables with "dealers".  It all looked like some kind of sorcery, everyone so focused and superstitious.  Here's a nice shot of the roulette dealer telling me to stop taking pictures:

     Finally, I found my groove by parking my butt in front of an old-school video poker machine at one of the bars and drifted into a haze of OCD and gin.  Sweet!  I didn't stop playing until this screen popped up:

Bummer.

     I managed to play the whole time on my original $20 of credit and even cashed out with $10 which I gave to the very patient bartender who not only had to fend off the increasingly creepy comments of the increasingly drunk males in her vicinity but also had to say things to me like, "Yes, you look good in that hat."

Not creepy; just silly.

     I am a landlubber at heart and was happy to spend the next day on the beach, recovering and surf fishing,

but I'm hanging onto my Sea Bands, just in case.

      

Fully clothed and terrified

     I spent last weekend in a hotel which gave me access to cable TV on a Sunday night, which gave me access to a marathon of "Naked and Afraid."  I'm fascinated, first and foremost, that this man and woman who have never met have to spend 21 days in the wilderness NAKED.

So many questions and thoughts running through my mind...

     But they also have to try and survive off the land and the land is very foreign (Fiji, Madagascar, etc.).  The contestants on "Survivor" get rice and then have to compete for familiar foods.  The contestants on "Naked and Afraid" can eat as much as they can find but there's not much and nothing is familiar.  I watched one couple ruin perfectly good anaconda meat, TWICE, because they kept overcooking it.  I wanted to scream at the TV, "You are naked!  And you are afraid!  That meat was done when you killed it!" 

     When I returned home, I noticed all the happy cactuses in my yard.  I occasionally entertain the idea of eating my cactuses but no one seems to be able to ID the edible ones for me and since I don't have a PSR (primitive survival rating) resting on the outcome, I'm not going to experiment.

     Lots of new growth on this bad boy and it does have a juicy look.

Even if this cactus were edible, too much work!

I just got this start for $5 at the flea market in Mt. Dora.  More painful plants for my yard.

All my potted cactuses, aloes, and agaves are decorated with oxalis.  I hate oxalis.

     It's such a pesky little weed but a gardening friend told me years ago to shrug it off; ignore it.  

I try.

     Oxalis is, however, edible (for any worrywarts out there, yes, it contains oxalic acid, but seriously, how much oxalis are you planning to eat?!).  I suppose I should gather it and toss it in salads but it's more fun to feed it to the chickens as I weed my pots.

     Better than eating my yard is bartering my yard for prepared goods.  I gave 3 calabazas to a neighbor from Trinidad and she returned a couple hours later with a container of spicy Caribbean-style pumpkin and a bag of fresh roti (pictured above), still warm and soft from her kitchen.

     I tried to candy whole orange peels like the one I bought from the Fiesta mini mart.  Don't they look lovely?  I sharpened my melon baller with a file to easily scoop out the insides.  But the finished peel makes my  mouth burn which is what happens EVERY time I try to candy citrus peel.  

Never again!

     The temperatures have jumped into the 80's so I threw some shade cloth over the kale but it still looks a little wilted in the afternoon.  I trade eggs for chicken-sitting when I'm out of town and I hope to keep sweetening the pet-care pot with kale as long as possible.

     Speaking of eggs...

Ouch!

Somebody laid a lunker!  

The egg in the middle is significantly larger than all the others. 

     And last but not least,

the dendrobium farmeri that I bought from Krull-Smith orchid growers in Apopka, FL, has bloomed!  I am hopeful that I can keep this plant alive.  Please!  My other dendrobium like this (all gold flowers) has 5 spikes that I didn't notice until today and they are each about 5" long.  Not sure how that happened because I check it almost every day, but I'm not complaining.  The plant adds a spike of blooms every year.  Last year it only had 4 which were all eaten by rats before they could bloom.

You heard me right.

It is what it is.

     Needless to say, that won't be an issue this year so I'm looking forward to a beautiful display.

     My hunger for "Naked and Afraid" has been sated for awhile (3 episodes every 6 months seems to do the trick) but I'll still be considering ways to eat my yard.

Fiesta Mini-Mart: a review

     One of my first big international trips was to Mexico in 1987.

That's me doing a handstand on an ancient sacrificial altar at Chichen Itza.  

     

     That trip cemented in my mind an impression of what it means to be "on vacation" which remains  with me to this day.  Subsequent trips to Latin locales including Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua only served to reinforce that feeling.

     So when I wandered into the Fiesta mini-mart in tiny Bowling Green, Florida last weekend, I got that sweet feeling of being "on vacation".  

     The Fiesta market services a large population of agricultural laborers.  I walked in to salsa music, a ceiling festooned with piñatas, and a selection of goods ranging from Guatemalan-made leather work boots, canvas orange picker bags, 3 brands of chorizo (as well as many other food items), rows of various flavored horchata drinks, etc., etc.

     

     I approached the deli counter and was about to bust out my high school Spanish when the older woman serving the food quickly circumvented a confusing interaction with a güera by calling over the smiling cashier who switched effortlessly between Spanish and English.  

     I still managed to ask, "¿Tiene tenedores?" but next time, I'll make sure to sneak up on her before she can escape!

     The most intriguing item for me was a plate of candied fruit covered in plastic wrap on the counter by the cash register.

I purchased a candied orange peel for $1.

The whole orange peel with the insides scooped out.

It was yummy and fun to eat and health regulations be damned!

I'm not sick yet (fingers crossed).

As soon as I got home, I bought a bag of organic oranges that I'm going to candy.

     I must admit, I initially shunned the Fiesta market because they don't offer pay-at-the-pump gasoline so I never made it into the store.  Now I plan to stop there whenever I'm in the area for treats and a mental pick-me-up.  

¡Viva las vacaciones!

This is not as scary as it looks.

     It's a nifty device (made in Germany) for hollowing out eggs.  You only need to make one tiny hole (kit includes a small hole-boring device) and you don't have to black out trying to create Easter keepsakes.  I ordered this from Surma, a store catering to crafters of Ukrainian-style decorated eggs. 

     I attempted the Ukrainian wax-resist decorating technique exactly one time which was enough to understand that it would not be my mode of artistic expression.  But the egg blower is a blast!

Kale: it's what's for dinner!

I couldn't be happier with my Ragged Jack heirloom kale.

     Looking at this beautiful handful of greens, I already feel sad for wishing it could go one like this all summer but even though the catalogue blurb says this kale can withstand higher temps, we all know they don't mean Florida-high temps.  Oh well...I'll enjoy it while I can.

     I'm almost done transplanting the cukes and cherry tomatoes and I set my pigeon pea seedlings out in my new "Pigeon Pea Bed" (ta da!) so now there's nothing to do but wait.

     With the hardest chores out of the way, I can enjoy a Florida spring:

Tabebuia blossoms carpeting my drive.

Stunning (albeit slightly alien) bromeliad blooms.

Wha-what?!

My first pineapple in a looong time!  

My mouth is watering for the treat that is only, like, 8 months away.

One sad camellia bloom (that brown edge was there even when it was just a bud).

Still trying to figure out camellias...

A Venezuelan orchid that smells like ass.

I post pics of this every so often. I bought it years ago at an orchid show and out of all the orchids I've killed, this one persists.  

And continues to smell like ass (fly pollinated).

This spring orchid does not smell like anything,

and that's ok.

Every year I get one of these desk calendars via a friend of my sister's.  It's exciting to sort through all the patterns.  I eliminate the ones I'm not interested in, then eliminate the ones I'm not advanced enough to figure out, and that leaves me with a solid handful of projects to knit throughout the year.  The eliminated patterns are passed on to other knitters.

     I'd like to take this time to say, I miss stamps.

     I know they still exist but asking a postal worker to decorate a letter or parcel with the beautiful building blocks of their very trade is akin to pulling out a checkbook in a long line at the grocery store: nobody's happy about it.

     My German pen pal (yes, since 1981) takes the time to cover every missive that's sent through the postal service with these amazing stamps.  Despite my mental promises to do the same, whenever I'm  at the head of a long line at the post office, the computer always spits out another bar-coded abomination (strong word for a postage sticker but I think it applies) before I can work up the courage to ask for actual stamps.

     Next time!

     It's late and I'm craving dessert but looking at this scary picture cures my craving.  Whenever I see ice cream at the store that is welded to the shelf in a Thing-like block of frost, I demure.  Summer is coming and I'll reconsider then.

Pool Safety

     

     I pass this store at least once a month but never take the time to really consider their product line.  Finally, a red light and a photo. 

Stand your ground in your pool?

     And another strange juxtaposition...

     Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine a combination of my favorite series of science fiction books and my favorite pastime yet here it is:  a Dune-inspired knit hat.  Intriguing but I don't want to wear a hat that reminds me of a sandworm.  Maybe it's just me...

     A spring break visit by my sister and her family was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some local activities that I don't usually make time for.

A visit to an orchid grower.

Several of the growers in the central Florida area allow the public to visit (call for times/appts).

     There are some deals to be had and the sheer quantity and variety is amazing.  

     The end result is a trip to Goodwill for an old suitcase and some creative packing techniques to get sis back to the midwest with her swag.  And yet another pic where I wish I knew how to photoshop some makeup onto my face.

     I had heard tell of a West Indian restaurant in Orlando and when I mentioned it to my sister, she was excited to give it a try.  We spent some time in Trinidad and Tobago many years ago so the menu would be a trip down memory lane.

I didn't recognize a dang thing!

I remember roti, doubles, and goat so I ordered that and had them add "pepper" to one of my doubles. Spicy but yummy!  The flavors brought it all back.  And they had a TV that was playing a cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.  A very enjoyable lunch.

I made sure we got to the beach so the kids could get up close and personal with nature,

and with NASA

Love a "stay-cation"