Happy Birthday, peppers!

Our first seedlings are up!


The fish peppers won the race, being the first up and open. Our bell peppers, chili peppers, ground cherries, and grass (the ornamental kind!!) are up as well, but still folded up and barely above the surface. So we spent some time today turning our mudroom into a greenhouse to get these beauties under light.

We planted our peas in the garden a couple of weeks ago, and hopefully they will be popping up soon, too. It has been really wet and rainy, though, so I hope they aren't all rotten. Oh well, if they are, we'll just try again!

Since we had to hang the shop light for the seedlings, the bundle of dried cilantro that had been hanging from our mudroom ceiling for months (6+?) finally came down. So here I am collecting all the seeds from it, which we should have done 6 months ago:


And it wouldn't be a cold, wet, house-bound Saturday without a fresh loaf of bread:

Lisa's new secret weapon: wheat gluten.

Instant gratification

Last Monday I finally hung the hummingbird feeder that Jen and Dwight gave me for Christmas. I'd wanted one for awhile; we have hummingbirds year-round so winter is the prime time to help them out with a little artificial nectar.

I hung it just outside my office window so I can watch any that come to feed while I'm working (I love distractions), but realized that is not the optimal place for a feeder (out in the open, direct sunlight, etc.). I figured I'd give it a shot anyway, and if I had no luck, I'd move the feeder to another spot. It may take a while to attract them, but I was willing to wait.

Work has been really busy, and I've barely been at my desk for more than a few hours at a time. But to my surprise, the very next day I caught a glimpse of a hummingbird checking out the feeder! I finally got a photo of her yesterday:


I've been watching her flit in and out, about every 5 minutes or so mainly in the late morning. I figured it was just the one bird, until I saw this:

A male! So I at least have 2 birds using my feeder, and on a pretty regular basis, too.

And yes, I spent about 20 minutes looking out the window with the camera poised at the ready. The neighbors probably thought I was trying to spy on them.

How to make Lisa's naan

Here's Lisa's naan recipe:

Whisk together:

2 cups flour (all purpose or bread flour)
3/4 tsp. salt

In separate bowl, combine:

3/4 cup soymilk (lukewarm)
1 packet active dry yeast
pinch of sugar

Add to liquid ingredients:

2 tbsp. buttermilk (you can make this adding ~4 drops of lemon juice to 2 tbsp soymilk)
2 tbsp. butter, melted

Add all liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix by hand and then knead for 4-5 minutes. Dough may be sticky. Place dough in an oiled bowl, spray top of dough with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1.5 hours at 70-80 degrees. If your house is too cold, you can microwave a mug of water until it is boiling, then place the bowl of dough in the microwave with the hot water.
Close the door.

About 20 minutes before the dough is ready, chop about 1/2 cup of onion and 2 cloves of garlic and saute until soft but not browned.

Preheat oven to 475F.

Punch down the naan (literally).

Place a cookie sheet in oven for about 5 minutes before baking the naan so that it is hot.

Cut naan into fourths. Working with one at a time (covering the rest so they don't dry out), on a lightly floured surface, roll out the naan so it is about as big as your hand. Spread approx. 1 tbsp. of the onion mixture evenly on the naan. Fold it over, and then roll it out so that it is teardrop shaped and about 8 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. Brush melted butter on top and bake 2 naans at a time for 6-7 minutes.

Makes 4 naan. Serve warm.

This was adapted from recipes in the Joy of Cooking and feed yourself (cucinabodanza.blogspot.com)

The most wonderful time of the year

I love this time of year. Not because I haven't broken my New Year's resolutions yet or because we get a day off for ML King Day. It's the time of year that kind of creeps up on me, especially given it is still cold outside and pretty much all green life is dead. I sit down one quiet Saturday morning, take stock on what needs to be done around the house and exclaim, in complete surprise, "it's time to plant seeds again!"
In just 8-10 short weeks, it will be warm enough to plant our quickly growing seedlings outside. Which means we have to start them growing now. Not everything needs an early start, but enough that the whole operation becomes quite the to-do at our house.

So yesterday I got our first flat started, and set it on the dryer to stay somewhat warm.


I'll get another one started soon, but we are still waiting for some of our seeds to be delivered. The fact that we have only 2 flats this year, plus a few pots (that are living in the fridge right now for the all-important cold treatment) is an amazing feat for us. Check out our craziness from just 2 years ago:


Four flats never seems like much at first, but once things start growing and are moved into bigger pots, they take over. I think we are finally getting the hang of what grows well (and have toned down our enthusiasm to grow EVERYTHING) that we can now focus our energy on a few select varieties.

We'll post more as they start to come up....it's so exciting! (Feel free to comment on my dorkiness....)

Meanwhile, Lisa has been very busy in the kitchen. She coined yesterday the "Day of Bread" and had been looking forward to it all week. She started by making a couple of loaves of french bread:


We have a very busy work week ahead of us, so in preparation we made sure we had lots of easy meals planned out in advance. Lisa made pizza crust and even topped it so all we have to do is heat it up:


She finished up by making naan (indian flatbread) for dinner that went really well with the spinach artichoke dip she also made. I know, it has dairy in it. Sometimes we cheat.

Cats behaving badly

Never leave your glass unattended at our house...

Apparently 3 water bowls are not enough for Lu. Or maybe she was hoping we were into the gin.

Today I noticed this:


Caretta had scratched and chewed her way through the Saran Wrap to nom the top off our apple bread. How do I know it was Caretta? Oh, I know.