Birds and Snow

I had been wanting to take pictures of the birds in our yard and I finally got around to it. It was so cold that I took these from the breakfast room indoors.

The Most Amazing Garden Blog--I Am In Love With It

I accidentally came across Matt Mattus blog Growing With Plants. He has my dream garden. I am amazed that he works full-time as a Director at Hasbro and has the greenhouse and garden that he does. The pictures are amazing. He has such a creative eye for design and color.Growing With Plants is worth a visit. He started to blog in 2006 and you have much to enjoy. I am just trying to figure out how he does it. Of course his  April 27, 2013 post titled -Behind The Scenes-- made me feel a little better--I guess.

How would you like to have his greenhouse?

Look What is Growing

It may be Winter, but my Meyer Lemon and Orchid have produced a lovely Winter surprise.

Roasted Butternut Squash

I am off today and we are supposed to have more snow. I had a delicious cubed butternut Squash from Earth Fare. So I decided to make some for tonight. It is a simple recipe- cinnamon, salt, maple syrup and brown sugar and olive oil. But the challenging and somewhat dangerous part it cutting and peeling the squash. Once that is done you have to cut into cubes. If you would like the recipe I will post more detail. The great thing about this is you can make this ahead.

Antique Ornament Wreath

I love the antique ornament wreaths that I have been seeing on various blogs over the past few years. I first came across these at Georgia Peachez. Rumor has it that her wreaths go for up to $200. So I started to rummage through our old ornaments and decided to try my hand at making a wreath. I assumed that given my other commitments it would take weeks before I would get the thing completed. Plus, I started to look for silver garland to wrap the form with a few weeks ago. I was lucky to find 3 packs at Walmart at the bargain price of  97 cents. The only other items I bought were the wreath form and a few tiny ornaments for filling in the small space. All in all, I spent  around $7.00. Everything else I had.

Here is the finished product and frankly it only took about a couple of hours to make. It really is much more attractive in person and this photo does not do justice to the final product.

TWD: Baking With Julia-Chiffon Roll

This chiffon roll is delicious, but it required a lot of kitchen equipment and pots and pans. I pulled out my hand mixer, food processor and kitchen aid mixer, plus multiple bowls and pots. This is a dessert
that one would make for a special event. The filling has a walnut chocolate paste added to whip cream. The walnut chocolate paste was made by adding walnuts to the food processor, along with a little oil, and melted bittersweet chocolate. Whip cream was then folded into it. The recipe stated that it served six, but those servings were way too large. I cut the roll into twelve servings.

The chiffon cake with the filling prior to rolling it.

The finished product.

Snow and Seed Catalogues

We are supposed to get more snow on Sunday and then a cold wave should start to come through. That is a perfect chance to look through all the seed catalogues. Baker Creek and Territorial Seed are in reach as I blog. However, at the end on the 2013 season, I purchased many packs of seeds at 90% of. Zinnias, carrots, basil, lettuce, radish, and others. So I may not need to purchase much. With that said, I would love to try something new in the vegetable department. Any ideas. Last year my new adventure was garlic and it was a great crop. What new seed adventure should I try in 2014?

Last year, when I ordered seeds from Baker Creek over the phone, I started up a chat with the rep from the company and he sent me their book on heirloom vegetables free of charge because I was so interested in gardening. That is the advantages of placing an order by phone: real conversations can be so much more fun and interesting versus ordering over the Internet.