Birthday Roses

From a friend at work

Garden

Beginning

When peas were small

Before the tomatoes were born

Cucumbers replanted

Peas

1. Egg crates are the best to raise seeds in
2. Place the crates next to a heater if you can, and not a vent kind

3. Put one seed in each space. Even if some do not come up you will have plenty that will.Otherwise you will have multiple seeds and you will have to thin them.

4. When re-potting do not remove the egg crate. If you disturb the roots it will stunt the plant's growth. It may even destroy the plant.

5.  Thin by cutting the plants, never separating roots

6. If you know a plant will grow fast you can plant the seed in a bigger container otherwise you will have to replant right away

7. When planting use rocks to separate the soil from the plastic pot.

Gardening supplies:

http://www.highmowingseeds.com/

http://www.cowpots.com/

http://coastofmaine.com/soils-barharbor.shtml

Notes:
Seed Cascadia peas 2 weeks before planting. In 2 weeks they grow tendrils and attach to each other.
Plant cucumbers mid-May
Tomatoes end of May

More Notes:
Replant seedlings per schedule. They have trouble growing outside if they spent too much time indoors.
Tomatoes seem to grow better when you do not thin them but not sure.
 

Almost spring

Kugel

This is a lovely mix of butter, milk, sour cream, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, apples and of course noodles.

Chocolate covered strawberries

The chocolate starts hardening up after a while so you have to work fast.

Today I went knitting ..

I went knitting today. I am still working on my mom's sweater which I started here and continued here and here.The knitting lady was very nice and fixed a hole in my dad's sweater. I also started on the neck and got instructions for the end of the sleeves. I want to say I miss the place but I no longer have an attachment to it. It's official .. I have no interests.

Notes:
I forgot that you have to split the neck into 4 pieces, even out the stitches for each interval by either increasing or decreasing and pick up stitches for the neck. Neck should be 8 inches. I know I will forget tomorrow so I will note it here. Also you connect the shoulders by holding them together on the wrong side and doing each side going in from the edge. I went all the way across today and had to undo. I don't get upset anymore. I had to go home today to get a 16" #6 and wasted forty minutes.

Guacamole

This post is dedicated to my friend Maya. A very long time ago she gave me my one and only cookbook where this recipe came from and for the longest time this is the only thing I knew how to make in addition to Salat Olivye. This recipe came out so good that for a while based on this dish alone I was under the misconception that I could potentially be a great chef had I happen to know more then two recipes.

To make this guacamole you will need 4 avocados, 1 medium sized lime, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, tomato, some green onion and cilantro. I usually use 2-3 pieces of green onion and a fist full of cilantro but you can use as much as you like or as little as you like. The avocados have to be soft but not too soft. Here's a how to tell if your avocado is soft enough. The original recipe calls for jalapeno chiles seeded and minced but I never put them in. I am originally not from the U.S. and had no exposure to spicy foods growing up. As a result I have a very hard time using ingredients that set your mouth on fire.

Begin by cutting the tip of the avocado to remove the stem end and then cut the avocado in half while leaving the pit intact.

Take a large knife and hit the pit in the center far enough so the knife is stuck. Twist the knife to remove the pit from the avocado and then remove the pit from the knife. Be careful with the knife when doing this step so that you do not accidentally slice your hand while removing a particularly stubborn pit. Repeat  for the remaining 3 avocados. You can also remove the pits by using a spoon or even your hand but then some of the avocado flesh remains on the pit and it's not easy to scrape it off. Besides you look way cooler doing the knife method especially if you have an audience.

 Using a spoon or your hands remove the green flesh from the inside into a bowl.

Cut the lime in half and squeeze out the juice. I like to do it through a strainer but then sometimes I don't so whatever you feel like doing. Take a potato masher and mash the lime juice with the avocado.  I am very fond of my potato masher but feel free to use a fork if you do not own one. You can mash the avocado fine or leave chunks depending on how you like your finished product to look like.

Add 1  1/2 teaspoons of salt and mix everything together. Salt pretty much makes or breaks this dish so be precise.

Chop the green onion, tomato and cilantro. I try to chop everything very fine. If you want to be a little extreme you can put the chopped tomatoes on a paper towel so it will absorb the juice. This prevents the guacamole from having a  puddle of water at the bottom of the container after it spends a day in the refrigerator. However every time I do this I feel like this borders on the absurd. After you are done (!) blotting the tomatoes with the paper towel add the chopped ingredients to the avocado and  mix everything together.

Find a nice bowl to put the guacamole in. Preferably something that would compliment the green in the guacamole. You are done.

 Bon Appetit!

The End