bee creative

cleaning the fridge

Found a block of cream cheese that needed to be used and a pint of cream.

Half of the cream went into peanut butter pie.  This recipe is pretty similar.  I used a recipe from Colophone Cafe minus the crust.  A 1/2 pint canning jar makes a great single serving.

The other half of the cream was used to make mustard. 

I also made freezer pickles.  The recipe was from Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard, which is a favorite canning book.  This recipe is the same, just larger.

Minimal heat used for all cooking today.

 

temperature

This is block number two for "good enough."

Thinking about warm and cool colors.

About taking temperatures, 100.4 F is the magic number. Above that children and staff need to be at home.

Made peach yogurt popsicles today. 

As usual, Lola got the last bite.

tasty

Out of the dryer, I think they are beautiful.

The latest hard to find item...canning jar lids.

Someone told me they were $10.00 a package online...I had to go see and yes indeed they are.

Pasta + spinach and tomatoes from the CSA + walnuts + provolone (local!) + prosciutto (a rare treat that I actually like best fried crisp) = quick, tasty and easy dinner

It's a beautiful, quiet (except for the Stellar Jays, Anna's Hummingbirds, and crows) evening on the porch.

 

Wishing everyone a beautiful moment...

 

 

spinning involves just the right amount of tension

This morning I saw a comment that bothered me.  It was a comment that closed doors and shut down conversation. And then independent of that, Jude wrote a post that has thoughts tumbling over thoughts for me.

I thought at first that what I wanted to write about was motivation. Why we do what we do? How do we live our lives?  The ethics and politics of our choices. I am very curious about this and it is important.

But what is really bothering me, what I have kept coming back to over the last few months, is the art of conversation. How do we have conversations about important things where we disagree? Respectful conversations, to learn from each other. To be able to hear each other. How do we live with someone, work with someone, when we disagree with them? 

How do we create the tension that is needed to hold something together, but not so tight that it snaps? 

Maybe one answer is to just keep trying.

 

 

 

 

 

strawberries

If you have access to a dehydrator and a basket or two or more of strawberries I'd recommend dicing them and drying them. 

They are so good.

cauliflower "rice"

Chop cauliflower in food processor until fine; fry in olive oil with a smidge of salt.

When tender, grate in some Parmigiano-Reggiano (there is no local substitute).

Eat.

#119 One hundred and nineteen days

Hello, how are you?

It's been 119 days since I started with that question. 

Good enough, not fine. 

I don't say fine anymore.

Sometimes tired.

Sometimes discouraged.

Sometimes happy.

I have been angry.

There have been some really hard days, some of the hardest ever.

And days that were joyful. 

Sometimes I say, "I am really happy to see you."

I picked 119 for the "19" in COVID 19.  At the start I thought mid August, it will either be over. Or not. We aren't even close to over.

This morning I read an interview on NPR with a coronavirus researcher, Vineet Menachery:

"He'd be surprised 'if we're still wearing masks and 6-feet distancing in two or three years' and that in time, the virus could become no more serious than the common cold."

I have a plan for a new quilt:

6 feet by 6 feet in size.

Sort of log cabin type squares. They will be crooked.

A blue square for each center because when I think of a color for breath, I think of blue. 

19 pieces of fabric per square.  The fabric can be repeated in other squares but only used once per square.

There will be hearts in the mix somewhere (19?).

No new supplies other than thread. 

No time limit, but I will aim for one square per week.

Working title for now: "good enough" (for a category).

The colors will be joyful.

 

 

#118 ideas

I had an idea.

And then I had more ideas.

And now I don't know.

It's easy to get paralyzed by ideas. 

Maybe tomorrow I'll know.

#117 dessert

I am cleaning the freezer out. 

It should have been done in March.

Tomorrow I need to figure out what to do with the frozen cranberries.  Maybe a loaf of bread.  There is a really great recipe in Molly Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

For tonight there is berry crisp with yogurt topping for dessert. 

It will be breakfast too.

Some projects are like dessert.

I started a poncho because I just had to see what this yarn would look like.  (This is why I should never guess how long it will take me to finish a sweater.)

It's going to be sweet...

#116 the sweater & something sweet

A pledge: I will never guess how long it will take me to finish a sweater ever again.

Could I finish it this weekend?  Yes.

Will I? I couldn't say...

The something sweet:

We've had baby bunnies in the preschool garden.  One of the children found this one eating green beans.