Happy Valentine's Day 2015

Garden flowers for a housewarming gift 

Because I woke up crazy early on this Valentine's Day, I thought I'd post some pictures I've taken of  vases with beautiful garden flowers.  On this cold (22 degrees) windy and dark morning, hopefully this will be a little pick-me-up for us both.  That and a cup of hazelnut coffee and thick warm socks...

As a reminder:  click on one photo and you can easily slide through close up photos for a almost near experience.

Fragrant bouquet

Spring cutting.

Lilac and peony arrangement

Roses from the garden

Fall mums

A paperwhite alongside my 2015 valentine tulips

Sometimes little is better

Roses fresh from the vine.

A simple lily and greens are perfect

A single clematis

Sometimes simple works

One of my favorites

Not So Much About Gardening

A few observations that may stray off the garden path:

ü If your kids and grandkids don’t remember giving you that knickknack, you’re safe to donate it to the thrift shop.

ü To teenagers, grandpa will always be a geezer until they have car trouble.

ü John Marx, The Dispatch, is the best stand up comic that never hit the stage.

ü I’ve never met a contractor who understands the emotional tie a gardener has to their plants.

ü The old saying, “The older I get the more I realize my parents were right.” should be, “The older I get the more it doesn’t matter who was right, we move on – hopefully with dignity.”

ü When the dandelions take over your yard, pretend you’re cultivating them for healthy eating.

ü People who put down a young person for lack of a particular talent are telling more about themselves than that young person’s talents.

ü Vitamin D from sunshine helps make strong bones.  Another blessing from gardening.

ü If I could live my life over again, I wouldn’t.  It’s a one-act play and I’m shooting for a happy ending.

ü A person has to prove they are really a gardener if they have good-looking fingernails. 

ü If you’ve never had one health related problem as a result of some gardening effort, you just didn’t put your heart into it.

ü Immaturity is only cute if you’re under 3 years old.

ü There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that tops a shower and drink of cold water after working in the garden.

ü If you supervise people and hate going to work everyday; I guarantee your employees hate your going to work everyday, too.

ü I have a wave of insecurity if I find I’m walking in my garden without my camera.

ü I’m really thankful interior decorators haven’t brought back burnt orange, moss green and brownish gold flowered couches. 

ü I appreciate my parents’ tolerance when I went through my “hippy” stage.

 

ü Does anyone but me find the sound from a “water feature” distracting to the point irritation?

ü If you’ve never slow danced to a 1950’s song, you don’t know romance.

ü On a day when it was below zero, the lady in front of me at Wal-Mart had on pink Capri pants OVER long thermal underwear.  I was in a good mood the rest of the day.

ü We have a bit of a superiority complex when we live in areas of the country where you can die outside during bad weather.

ü No matter how much caulk is used on an old house, it leaks when the wind chill is zero crazy. 

ü On really cold winter days, if you don’t have soup you’re just not American.

ü Taking your personal first world problems too seriously makes one look uninformed at best and callously self centered at worst.

ü There’s something so Midwest rural when an area weekly newspaper lists the school's lunch menu under the feature “Area Dining and Dancing”. 

ü Humor should be everyone’s cup of tea.

ü I will eat the stalest left over Christmas cookie after midnight.

ü Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend but a good pair of pruners ranks right up there.

ü Does the many graphic murders on TV dramas every night validate Americans are only entertained by inhuman cruelty against each other?

ü Scientists may unequivocally prove sugar kills brain cells but I may never be able to give up candy and – well, whatever it was I was going to say. . .

Note:  Pictures are just random shots with no particular meaning to the story. 

Orange You Glad

Every grandchild learns this knock-knock joke early in life:

"Knock, knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who?

Knock, knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who?

Knock, knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who?

Knock, knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"

Which takes me to oranges as a wonderful enhancement to dishes you may have not considered. Since few of us in the Midwest bother with raising oranges as a house plant, we must buy and envy our southern friends who may have them in the backyard. But either way, oranges are our friends.

My new orange favorite is with chocolate. Those long orange jelly candies covered in dark chocolate started this craving. I then started adding to other confections. I use both fresh juice and zest (the orange layer of the skin.) If I have some left, I store it in a zip lock bag in the freezer for next time.

I have some great orange flavoring from "Uncle Billy's" in Galesburg and "Farm King" in Kewanee. There are alcohol based, alcohol free or oil based, and bakery emulsion. All have a place and all are subtly different. Look for those without any chemical ingredients if you want the best flavor. Chemically developed flavors tend to leave a strong bitter aftertaste whereas natural flavors leave a clean fresh taste.

They used Blood Oranges in this one.

I especially like orange icing on chocolate cakes and cookies.  Orange seems to pull the chocolate flavor into a better realm.

Orange also brightens the flavors of berries and other fruit.  Mix a little zest into a pie and the other fruit flavors expand.  Don't over zest or it can mask the other fruit's flavor.

Orange juice as well as any acidic food can be used as a meat tenderizer.  Realize it will impart some of the orange flavor into the meat unless it's only a portion of the overall marinade.  It's especially flavorful for meat in Asian dishes.

A bit of orange zest and juice will brighten the flavors of vegetable dishes.  Green beans, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, kale and other leafy greens are some of the best.  

Oranges are often used in punches and as mixes for wine sangria, martinis and some cocktails.  Here's one of the fascinating ones currently "The Rage" in high end bars:

Whiskey Sour

From:  Martha Stewart

This would serve at least 20 in coupe glasses 

or 10 in larger glasses

1 Cup - fresh lemon juice

4 Cups - fresh orange juice

Ice

Maraschino Cherries, drained

1 Cup - Triple sec

2 1/2 Cups - Whiskey (most use Bourbon)

Very thin orange slices

Mix lemon and orange juice with ice until very cold.  Add Triple sec and whisky.  Stir to mix. Take out ice using slotted spoon.  You don't want this mixture to sit with ice melting.   Pour into glasses.  Add a few fresh ice cubes.  Garnish with cherry and orange slice. 

Orange you glad to know this?