Greetings from Hawaii

Just kidding! 

We're stuck at home, as is most everyone right now. So instead of whining about Hawaii, I've been working on a Hawaiian style New Year's Eve dinner. 

The idea, and essential, inspirational ingredient came from Sunnie, one of my ceramic class buddies. She was the one who introduced me to custard mochi, a delicious dessert found in Hawaii. The first time I had it, I wanted to embarrass myself by eating the entire thing (or rather, I wanted to eat the entire thing and not get embarrassed), but somehow managed to only have seconds. And maybe one tiny little slice more.

Trouble is, you can't make custard mochi without sweet rice flour. Now try finding that during a pandemic. Sunnie did, and gave me a box. Thank you, Sunnie!

What else is on the menu? 

Rum punch

Spare ribs with huli-huli sauce

Ginger carrots

Green beans braised in coconut milk (I absolutely love coconut milk. I would probably eat braised dirt if it were simmered in coconut milk.)

Rice, naturally, followed by

Custard mochi for dessert.

And finished off with a very slow waddle around the neighborhood. 

Happy New Year to All!

Covid Families

Toasting Marshmallows, Nov. 2020

With the first lockdown in March, we started "Drinks in the Driveway" with a small group of neighbors. No masks back then, although that changed soon enough, but socially-distanced seating was mandated (easy to measure since the driveway is only seven feet wide).

Strictly bring your own, including your own chair, although one set of neighbors started to store their chairs further up our driveway, rather than lug them across the street each time. Just a group of soon-to-become friends gathering in the early evening.

Over the summer, we became the "Porchaholics". We sat on our porch steps and our neighbors would arrange their chairs and drinks in our tiny front yard. People walking past on the sidewalk would pause, chat, wave, or sometimes just shake their heads and move on.

With the cooler weather, we switched back to the driveway for the occasional campfire. For the first one, I stole my neighbor's little Smokey Joe® grill (it had been sitting in her driveway untouched for nearly ten years. Honest, I did tell her that I was going to walk off with it, and she didn't even notice until I was ratted out.), arranged a few sheets of newspaper, an egg carton, a bit of kindling and small branches in the base. Also, since Safety Sam is a member of our household, a large bucket of water was placed nearby, just in case. One match, and the party was on. 

As of this week, these little gatherings are no longer allowed until early January, at the earliest. But I am hopeful that once this current lockdown is over, if it isn't raining (please, please, please rain already!), we'll be able to meet up once again with our new family. 

Thanksgiving for Two

 Unusual. Uncertain. Unsettled. Unpredictable. All these adjectives that have been applied to the pandemic over the past months now apply to this Thanksgiving as well. 

But I am avoiding: Chaotic. Turbulent. Challenging. Troubled. Complicated. And a few other words like that because one meal, no matter how special, just ain't worth that level of bother. In fact, here we're going with "unusual" to such an extent that pork ribs and roasted (homegrown) potatoes are the featured items on the menu. Yumm!

So let's all aim for that other pandemic word - Safe - and have a wonderful time with whomever, be they virtually or really there, is across the table from you.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Feasting on the Fennel

October 21st

Ms. Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) showed up one morning and simply started eating. And eating. And eating some more. 

Luckily, she seems to like the fronds far more than the bulbs, so we are able to share quite easily.

Unless she keeps eating. And eating.

At some point (three to four weeks, they say, so it looks like we have a way to go) she will stop eating and form a chrysalis.

Then it's another ten to twenty days before a gorgeous butterfly emerges. The race is on!

October 25th

 

October 30th

The fennel variety is Perfection, and I have had good luck growing it in the fall. It may even be featured on the Thanksgiving menu this year. Unless of course, she eats it all.

It's Going To Be a Very Quiet Winter Around Here

 Princess died on Saturday, October 3rd, 2020. She was not quite eleven years old.

She was loved. 

A "Small Disappointment" Grows Up

My dissatisfaction with the squash crop this year has only grown larger - to the tune of 23 lbs. and 16 lbs., respectively. There would have been even more of these orange "disappointments" if we hadn't eaten the youngsters and sucked down most of the blossoms.

With Halloween on the no-no list at this house, and my lack of appreciation for pumpkin pie, I might have to dig deep into the cookbook shelf for ideas of what to do with these two.

Nonetheless, they are awfully cute, and certainly gave the neighborhood kids a little thrill.

Matchy-Matchy

I bought this fabric for Princess a while ago, to help prevent her from being so successful at wiping out our local feathered residents. And it has worked pretty well.

So when I went looking for some fabric for my own "save-others" outfit, it was obvious that this was the best choice. And besides, it matches just about anything I could find to put on. Every single sweatshirt in the drawer and probably everything in my closet. Not that I've been anywhere near the closet in the last few months - dressing up just doesn't seem to happen much these days...

Don't You Just Love It

In their great wisdom, the all-knowing people at Blogger have decided to roll out a New Blogger. Right now, with no take-backs, and an unreachable tech support team. Excuse me, but aren't things tough enough without having to be the guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) for someone else's brilliant idea?

So I probably won't be posting much for a while, or at least until some of the more obnoxious shortcomings of the new regime are fixed. 

Happy August!

A Small Disappointment

Tromboncino

There have been many great disappointments and sadnesses this year, and thankfully, this is only a small one. Literally.

I plant tromboncino squash every year, with great results. Enough squash to share with passers-by on the sidewalk (boy, were they caught off guard! Some have even come back to thank me. And one time I received a small pile of heirloom tomatoes in return.).

But this year, well, the package said it was tromboncino, but what came out of the ground wasn't even close. I don't think it's even the same species:

New Squash

Yup, short and round. Hard to tell if it's more short or more round. Hell, even the plant is kinda short and round.

I suspect that someone had a late night encounter with a pumpkin and didn't tell anybody until it was too late. To my relief, they taste just fine, grill up nicely, and as a bonus, produce the largest, brightest gold blossoms I have ever seen. Lots and lots of blossoms each morning.

So this year we're focusing on the blossoms - stuffed with ricotta and basil, gently simmered over shakshuka and last night's new fav, blossom and feta cheese fritters. With zucchini soup, of course.

Surreal

A flower for these times. May I present the White-veined Pipevine (Aristolochia fimbriata), which almost could be classified as a "splurge" if I hadn't grown it from seed. Yeah, not much money, but quite a bit of on-going attention - it took a full year to get them to a reasonable size. And then to bloom.

Even though these little plants are native to Brazil, they can serve as hosts for the Pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor). Although you would probably need an entire field of them to satisfy a crowd of hungry caterpillars.

Payoff

Yellow-faced Bumblebee

She's back! For at least 12 years, I haven't seen, smelled or heard a single bumblebee in the yard. Other varieties of bees, yes, but nary a bumbler.

In the past few years though, I've been working my little trowel to the bone, adding pollinator-friendly plants and always hoping that some of my new neighbors would be in the bumblebee family. And credit where credit is due - at the same time that I was adding new and enticing food sources, my neighbor ripped out a "food desert" of juniper bushes and replaced them with California natives. Her choices have also certainly helped in this effort.

Now I am very aware that there are other, seemingly bigger health and social issues at play right now. I am simply trying to find a small bit of solace where I can, even if she only weighs less than a tenth of a gram. As Thor Hanson points out in his book, Buzz: the Nature and Necessity of Bees, the world can live without humans; unfortunately, it will have a very hard time without bees.

Volunteers of Oakland #5

I once asked a friend who was encouraging me to grow potatoes exactly why I would want to do such a thing. Her reply: "Do you like Easter egg hunts?" I couldn't really answer because it had been such a long time since I had gone foraging for colored eggs. But I do now grow potatoes and understand better what she was getting at.

So what happens when one of those potatoes does a better job of hiding than you do of finding?

That potato stays in the ground and freely grows yet more potatoes (perhaps out of sheer loneliness?).  And we are rewarded with fresh roasted potatoes for dinner.

We are All Birdwatchers Now?

Or so many news outlets would want us to believe. And not just those services oriented to birdwatching.

Sooooo, if you have a bit of free time, are completely exhausted by attending to every little nuance of the news cycle, and want to see a bit of nature in action, I have a few ideas.

Peregrine Webcam Screenshot

First, and this has a time deadline because those little fluff-babies are growing by the minute, visit the webcam focused on the peregrines nesting on the UC Berkeley Campanile:

UC Berkeley Peregrines

Three babies, one bad egg (over in the corner) and all the little birdie eating and pooping you can or don't want to imagine.

Next:

Feathered Photography

This guy takes absolutely beautiful photos of western birds - he roams all over Utah and occasionally other parts to see them (right now, he too is in lockdown so it's pretty local). Sometimes he can go on a bit too much for us non-camera geeks about specs and stuff, so just look at the pretty pictures and forget about the rest. That's how I handle it each morning over my first cup of demi-decaf.

Or just wander through your neighborhood (face covering in back pocket). Because there is so much less traffic, and because you can't easily go out with a friend, you may simply focus on seeing and hearing.

Trust me, not only is this way easier than minding your own sourdough starter, but it also doesn't take up any space on the kitchen counter.

A Work in Progress

Some people are cleaning out the closets, but that doesn't spark any joy for me. Besides, where would I even store the stuff except back in the closets, given that Goodwill is closed? Instead, I've been heading out to the garage for a little mosaic work. I swear, by the time this lockdown is over, all my cactuses will be very well-housed.

So what's left to do? Well, just for the weather to warm up so that I can move the Staphelia gigantea into its new home.

A Nod to the Future

Growing plants from seeds is a small act of hope (these days, one might say the same about going to the grocery store). Hope that with care, attention and a bit of time, a garden will provide ample rewards.

For the past ten years, mid-March has been my time for starting the warm weather seedlings - think tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. They need an early and warm beginning to be big and sturdy enough by mid-May to survive outdoors.

Yes, I know that you can buy plants at the nursery. But I also know that you can't always count on finding what you want, especially this year when so many nurseries are now closed down. Nor can you rely on them being disease-free.  So I plant my own.

Amish Paste Seedlings

Odessa Market Peppers

Two weeks ago as I was loading up little pots with potting mix, I had no clue that this might be the year when it could be very important to start seeds at home. I can't claim to be smart, only stuck in my ways. And a bit of a Nervous Nellie.

I am not alone. Seed companies are being hammered by a surge in demand from a new crop of Nervous Nellies. No worries, though - there should be plenty of seeds this year; getting them into your hands is simply going to take longer.

Anecdotally, two of my neighbors are starting new gardens. One poor soul has to battle a stand of ornamental bamboo. I'm impressed with his fortitude - it's been five days and he's still working on it.

Happy Gardening!

A Few Favorite Seed Suppliers:

Fedco
Baker Creek
JL Hudson

Grounded

My friend Adrian used to get "grounded for life" by his mother when she thought his transgressions were sufficiently serious. Right now it looks like we are all in serious trouble, perhaps even life-or-death for a few, which is why we are staying at home. Truth to tell, it's also raining (hallelujah!), and most things are closed down anyway, but that hasn't really been part of the decision-making process - except maybe for not taking a hike today.

So what to do except wash your hands, wash them again and then find something else to do. 

I started with the 2020 Census. It only took four minutes to complete - it must have been the short form - and now no one will be coming to the door to nag us. I suppose taxes are something else I could be doing while grounded at home, but that seems a bit too much like real punishment. 

And there is the hearty minestrone soup in the slow cooker, something that is always good for a rainy day, whether or not you are supposed to stay away from the world.

One family member is just going to sleep the time away - nothing new there, actually.

And I have a big, new book to read. I'm not in love with the cover, and the print is mighty small, but there are lots of pages to help make the time pass. I loved the other books in the series, especially the audio versions, but I can't say much about this one, yet.

Birdhouse w/o Its Top

So, one day down, and who knows how many more weeks of at-home days. The only big-little regret I'm having is that my ceramics class is cancelled, and I was so very close to finishing up a new birdhouse. Except for the top needing a bit more work, it's all ready to be fired. But I expect that it will all be waiting there when it's prudent to go out again. 

Five Years Later

It was a beautiful day at Gray Lodge, although a little too windy to be outside for much time. So no watercolor painting for my best guy this time around. We even ate lunch in the car.

But the birds didn't seem to mind the wind at all. They were too busy eating their own lunches.

Traffic was, well, traffic, even on a Monday holiday. So next time, say in the next five years or so, we will be leaving even earlier. Nothing like breakfast in the car...

King Tides: They're Coming For You

King Tide at César Chavez Park, Jan 11th, 2020

This weekend you have the chance participate in the California King Tides Project simply by taking a walk along the shoreline with your camera. Friends, family and/or a furry walking companion (on a leash, of course) may add to your pleasure, as would lunch out afterwards, but are not at all required. Or you might attend one of the many events around the bay instead.

A "King Tide" occurs when an alignment between the gravitational forces of the sun and the moon create an exceptionally high tide. And the California Coastal Commission wants you to help document it this weekend - February 8th and 9th - so the youngsters of the future may see how the shoreline once appeared. So be happy that the weather is supposed to be clear this weekend or you could get really wet.

Don't forget to check the tide charts for wherever you might be photographing.

Politics At Home

While some of us here were watching the debate, the rest of us were writing letters to would-be voters in key states. Or in the words of Vote Forward:

"Send a letter, a warm note, good feelings, to someone you don’t know — but who needs to hear from you. That’s right — write a letter to a constituent in [a GOP-held] district, a registered Democrat who doesn’t always vote, and tell them, as a FRIEND, how important it is for them to turn out."

It's easy, it's fast, it's effective, you don't have to leave the comfort of your own home, although you do have to buy stamps (yes, that dreaded trip to the post office). Or you can join up and write letters with others; often there are letter-writing parties - they usually serve snacks, but you still may have to buy stamps. However, most parties are on the weekends, and somehow that rarely works out at this house.

So with impeachment underway, and an election around the corner (I'm exhausted already), somehow  handwriting letters to strangers seems normal.