randuwa

Thursday, July 21, 2016

New Stamps!

The USPS has been over the top busy issuing commemorative stamps in the past couple of months. One of the recent offerings is a sheet set to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of our National Parks System. The have chosen 16 parks to represent the whole. Some are in pristine rural areas and others in urban places. They include parks in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C. and Wyoming.

Would I have been responsible for the design, I would have nixed the paintings in place of all photos for the Grand Canyon National Park, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, and Bandelier National Monument. And two, I would have switched out Carlsbad Caverns National Park with Mammoth Cave National Park for more geographic diversity (and New Mexico already has a stamp on the sheet). But still: They are beautiful! The four I have also highlight represent the ones from the sheet that I have also visited.

Thai Pork Patties!

A lovely gift out of the blue for my friend Donnamarie of this wonderful little cookbook precipitated this adventure. And it's results were pure gold!

I love how this author also give you options--the very sorts of things I would do on my own, but so many cooks fail to consider. It's your dinner--adjust accordingly! For example: I didn't choose to fry them. I cooked them in the oven. 450˚ 5 minutes on side A, 5 minutes on side B. 3 minutes back on side A. Then I turned on the broiler. Continued with side A for 2 more minutes, then side B for 4 minutes, watching to perfect level of char.

The side "salad" is made of red rice noodles, with carrot, purple cabbage, scallions, peanuts and Thai basil leaves. On all scores and wonderful meal!

And a day later? Another great meal. Thai Pork Pattie sandwich!

Sunday, July 17, 2016

South African Memory

My friend, Sharon, recently sent me a picture of myself from a trip I took back in 1989 when I visited her and her husband in southern Africa. They were living in a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa at the time and together we visited a range of places in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Her gift got me digging for some of my own pics and re-remembering of one of our little adventures.

Ah, how old pictures stir the memory. During my extended visit to South Africa, my friends (and hosts) planned a couple of adventures for us to enjoy. One was a getaway to a Bed & Breakfast on a homestead outside of Worcester, South Africa.

The farm was set in the middle of a great valley (pic #1) and was first established by Dutch colonists in the 17th Century. The family lived in a modest contemporary home on the farm. They converted the original structure, built in the 1690's to a guest cottage. It was small and cozy and very well appointed. it was so much nicer than those original inhabitants could have ever imaged, but still it was awe-inspiring. Like being allowed to spend a night on the Mayflower replica in Plymouth, Massachusetts--only it wasn't the replica!

I seem to remember that the ground floor was divided into two rooms: a sitting room and a bedroom. Through a trapdoor in the wood plank ceiling with the use of a crude wooden ladder, you could access the attic, and the owners of the B&B had made that into a second sleeping space--the space I slept in. It was too small for me to stand up in except at the apex (I'm 5'11"), and the ceiling of the space was the roof!--the underside of the thatched roof. Talk about super cool! I remember laying there on the little bed and listening to the sounds of the valley. The night was filled with insects chirping nearby and Baboons calling out in the distance.

After breakfast, the farmer took us up a rough dirt road to a point along the edge of the valley (pic #2). We disembarked and then began the most amazing hike. He guided us up a ravine carved into the side of the valley by millennia of rainfall. As we hiked, the path went from expansive to narrow following the rut created by a stream. Sometimes we would encounter a pool that reflected the layers of pre-historic geography and present day flora (pic #3). At one point we found the skeletal remains of a baboon left in the cleft of a rocky outcropping.

Eventually, we reached the plateau and were able to look back down into the crevice of the earth we had ascended (pic #4). And along the way there were encounters with the national flower of South Africa in it's natural setting. The proteus flower is like none other, and it is magnificent (pics #'s 5 & 6).

Finally, this is a picture of my friend Sharon (pic #7), who was one of my hosts on that trip with the ravine and valley in the background.

Some want everyone to think the world is a scary place. But I know that it is scary. And amazing. And beautiful, interesting, historical, geological, biological.... Filled with people and animals and plants who are overwhelming benign, helpful, generous and gracious. That's my experience...and I'm sticking to it!

Happy Buddha's Garden

Scenes from my Circle Garden in the back yard and the Asiatic Lilies in particular.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Another Bird

The first bird, in fact, in my 1930 published Birds Field Guide is for the Carolina Paroquet. A bird that's been extinct for nearly as long...

Jewelweed

My favorite indigenous summer wildflower.

Fruit Cobbler

Easiest recipe ever!

1) Melt a stick of butter (unsalted) in a medium sized baking dish.

2) Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 tbsp baking soda, and pinch of salt. Add 1 cup of milk and mix, but not too well. Pour into dish with butter.

3) 4 cups of fruit--I used peaches, mango and pineapple. With 1 cup of sugar in a sauce pan heated and stirred until fruit is bathed in syrup. This combination formed so much syrup that I didn't use all of it. Place the fruit evenly into the batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

4) Bake at 375˚ for at least 45 minutes, and sometimes longer. Use the toothpick test to make certain the dough has set. For this one, it baked for 75 minutes to cook though.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

From a "Tasty" Video Inspired Concoction...

From My kitchen to you!

Step 1: Assemble the ingredients: Crescent roles (16), Prosciutto, Mozzarella cheese, Pepperocini OR Banana Pepper rings, fresh Basil (with nice big leaves), Ham (I preferred Smoked), Provolone cheese, and Salami (again, I preferred a nice Hard Salami).

Create a "Compass Rose" of the crescent rolls. I will admit, I HATE crescent rolls from the canister. They are sticky and stretchy and hard to manage...but the promised outcome drove me to endure this.

First layer: shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Second layer: Banana Pepper rings.

Third layer: fresh Basil leaves.

Fourth layer: half slices of Hard Salami.

Fifth layer: folded thin slices of deli Smoked Ham.

Sixth layer: folded thin slices of deli Prosciutto.

Seventh layer: half slices of Provolone cheese.

Final treatment: sprinkled salt and freshly ground pepper.

Fold the limbs in to create a "wreath".

Back at 375˚ for 30 minutes (not a minute more!)

Allow to cool for 15 minutes and transfer to a serving platter. I added a dipping bowl of Olive Oil and Italian Spices. In retrospect, I might have filled it with a marinara sauce.

On a scale of 1 to 10? Somewhere between a 7.5 and 8. It would be well received at most parties and casual gatherings like game days or poker nights or kids sleepovers.