A New Year and A New Lens

Yesterday, I started the year off right by playing with my dreamy new macro lens out in the front garden.  It's a Canon - EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens if you're curious.  My (sweet) Pirate encouraged me to make the splurge instead of buying a new couch for our empty living room.  Someday, I will decorate our living room, but for now, I'm having a blast playing with my new lens.  (Hey, if you know anyone who is trying to get rid of a dane sized couch in my area, let me know!)

Grass seed head

I tried My Pirate's method of messing around with my new toy before reading the instructions.  It was fun!  I have plenty of reading to do and tutorials to watch.  A new mysterious world is opening up to me in my garden.  

Rugosa rosehip

I'm normally not one to participate in New Year's resolutions, but this year I've decided to pick a theme.  My theme is focusing on health.  I'm going to focus on becoming stronger than the life I live. And focus on continuing to create a healthy garden with organic practices.  

Rugosa Rose leaves

I'm really happy to see 2014 in my rearview mirror.  It was a tough year filled with migraines and personal/artistic growth. 

Dinosaur kale leaf

Next week, I'm meeting with the Hazel Dell School and Community Garden Coordinators to plan our upcoming garden season.  And I'm going to volunteer in the MG greenhouses, propagating plants for the Mother's Day weekend plant sale.  Next week, my 2015 garden volunteering season kicks off!  And I feel ready after a quiet December.   

So, have you made any resolutions for you and/or your garden?  I'd love to hear about them!

Golden Oregano seed head

My Ten Favorite Photos from 2014

It's that magical time of year when we get to take a step forward into a fresh new year.  But, before we hit the refresh button I'd like to take a look back at my ten favorite photos from 2014.  

Snow Day  

(February 6, 2014)

Snow days are a treat here in Vancouver, Washington.  I spent the day trying to capture pictures of snow flakes falling in my garden while the neighborhood played in the snow.  I like the quiet mood of this pictures.

Snow in Grass

February 6, 2014

Snowflakes clinging to grass blooms have a delicate beauty.  

Splash!

February 9, 2014

I captured a splash on my thawing rain chain.  I took several hundred shots to capture this one splash.  

Taffeta Blooms

March 15, 2014

My active garden season officially kicks off with the spike winter hazel, Corylopsis spicata, bursting into bloom.  I like this shot with the sweet scented tassel-like flower unfurling on a cloudy day.

Violetto Glow

(July 15, 2014)  

I fell in love with the Violetto Artichokes that I planted in My Victory Garden.  I took many pictures of the two blooms as they unfurled.  I loved the contrast of the sharp jagged purple artichoke against the soft bokeh of the evening sun.  The unprocessed version of this shot was one of the fifteen finalists in the Oregonian's annual garden photo contest.  This version was published in the December issue of the NW Creative Arts Magazine.

Bronze Fennel 

July 15, 2014

Bronze fennel punctuates my garden with its soft fine foliage.  I like the contrast of the evening light and purple stems of the fennel.  

Unfolding

July 19, 2014

I took this shot of the Violetto artichoke bloom as an afterthought while I was working in My Victory Garden with My Pirate.  I'm sure glad that I did!  It was selected to be in the Oregon Farm Bureaus's 2015 Calendar.  I received 20 calendars that I shared with my friends and readers.   

Tetrapanax Jungle

August 15, 2014

I looked up while weeding and realized that the Tetrapanax papyrifer 'Steroidal Giant' is the jungle in my front yard.  I grabbed my camera and snapped this shot.  I like it in black and white because you focus on the structure of the leaves and stems.  A gorgeous plant.

Ladybug on Fennel

August 15, 2014

I took this shot for my Beneficial Landscaping Powerpoint that I presented to the 2014 WSU Clark County Master Gardener Class.  The ladybugs binge eat fennel pollen before they mate and lay their eggs in the aphid colonies in my garden.  Just one more reason why I use organic practices in my garden.  

Sunflower's Sunset

September 18, 2014

I took this shot out in the community garden at Pacific Park.  I was harvesting tomatoes out of my plot when the clouds suddenly broke and the colorful sunset poured through the garden.   I also liked the symbolism of a bloomed out sunflower gazing at the sunset.    

Dane Gaze

November 22, 2014

Barnaby likes to pose for the camera especially when I'm holding a treat.  I like how his whiskers, mouth, and jowls are in focus.  I cropped out all the drool.  

Thank you for taking a look back through the year with me.  Tonight, I picked up a new macro lens(!) and look forward to exploring flowers and insects in my the garden.  Please stop by the lovely host of the My Ten Favorite Photos of the Year meme, A Tidewater Gardener.  And JMG Galleries also has a great favorite photos of the year project that I'm going to participate in.  

What is your favorite photo that you've taken this year?  I'd love to see it.  Happy New Year!

Where's the Cornmeal?

This fall, My Pirate’s work schedule shifted from traveling out of town four days a week to an in-town local route without a long commute.  After years of us living opposite hours, now he gets up at 5:30 in the morning to go to work and he’s home every night for dinner.  I’m thrilled to have him home with me!  I really am, despite all the adjustments we’re going through trying to adjust to our new schedule and our expectations.

For instance, today (Christmas Eve) it took me an additional 20 minutes to make the custard filled cornbread because I couldn’t find the cornmeal. My Pirate has been systematically reorganizing the kitchen one cupboard at a time while I have my hands full with something else, like cooking dinner.  He reorganized my spice cupboard a couple of months ago and threw out anything in a baggy from the bulk section.  And last week, he reorganized my baking cupboard.  I’m not messy, I assure you.  I used to know where everything was at by feel and now I’m lost in my own kitchen.  

My baking cabinet.  See, it didn't need any reorganizing!

Don’t even let me get started on the refrigerator and the constantly hiding chunk of Parmesan. 

And on another front, My Pirate expected a gourmet dinner every night of the week after he got home from work.  I had spoiled him for so many years on his other route.  So, I’ve had to ratchet his expectations back down to reality.  

When he was out of town, I’d eat a bowl of soup or salad or some leftovers on toast.  I was content. When I served him my weeknight dinner, he mistakenly thought that I had just served him the appetizer.  Um…no.  So, I’ve reeducated him on the romance of sharing scrambled eggs and toast for dinner.  And he’s a quick learner for the most part. But, I on the other hand, am lost in my newly organized kitchen of wonders.  I think that it’s only fair that I now reorganize the tools in the garage.  Don’t you agree? 

And where did I find my medium grit cornmeal you ask?  Why right behind the bag of raspberries in my kitchen freezer.  Where did you expect that I’d find it?

Now, once you find your chunk of parmesan, I recommend this recipe for quick gourmet addition to your favorite bowl of soup or appetizer.

Parmesan Crisps 

from Bon Appetite magazine

The parmesan crackers are a gorgeous addition to any bowl of soup.  The trick is to have a Silpat ($20), a nonstick pad to put in your cookie pan.  

• 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan--splurge on the good stuff!
• red cayenne pepper and dried herbs like dill 

Heat your oven to 375 degrees. Make three mounds with the freshly grated parmesan on the silpat in the cookie sheet.  Add a pinch of dried herbs like dill and a shake of red cayenne pepper.  Bake for 7 to 10 minutes until they form a crisp wafer-like cookie.  Remove from the oven, cool, then serve.  

Pheasant Tail Grass, it's my favorite plant in the garden (this week)…

My favorite plant to photograph in the garden right now, Anemanthele lessoniana, is actually in The Cove, My Pirate's garden bed.  I don't know how he sneaked it by me when we went plant shopping at Xera Plants.  But it is shining during the short days in our December Garden.

Anemanthele lessoniana, Pheasant Tail Grass

My Pirate loves this shot.

Pheasant Tail Grass, Anemanthele lessoniana, where have you been all my life?  I've lusted after many plants but never one in The Cove.  I'm going to have to pick up a couple or six for my garden beds!

The Xera Tag reads:  Pheasant Tail Grass is a stunning clump forming semi-evergreen grass from New Zealand.  Leaves turn black/green in spring and summer then take on tints of bright orange and red which holds through the fall and winter.  Pendulous inflorescences in summer.  To 2 feet tall and forming a clump as wide.  Full sun to light shade in regular soil.  Slightly drier conditions intensifies the affect.  Occasional water.  Cut back hard after a cold winter.                               Zone 8a (10 to 15 degrees)

This is a great winter interest plant!  So add this plant to your spring wish list and maybe I'll bump into you plant shopping at Xera Plants.  I still giggle with delight every time that I shop there!  And don't forget to stop by our lovely hostess of the favorite plant this week meme, Danger Garden!  

P.S.  Thank you for voting for my Violetto Glow shot in the Oregonian's Peoples Choice garden photo contest.  I lost by 12 votes last night to a gorgeous Japanese Maple shot.  I'm so grateful for your support and votes.  Thanks!!

A Sip of Christmas Spice

Several weeks before Thanksgiving, I looked into my garage fridge at a leftover bottle of vodka and a thawing container of homemade cranberry chutney and decided to mix the two together just to see what would happen.  I imagined a cranberry chutney flavored liquor to serve as a Thanksgiving themed martini.

It didn't turn out like I expected.

When I shared a sample of the cranberry chutney infused vodka at Thanksgiving with My Kid and his lovely girlfriend, he blurted out, "This tastes like Christmas."  And we all nodded in agreement.

The vodka picked up the sour pucker of the cranberries and sweet spice of the crystalized ginger and turned a beautiful shade of ruby red.  This infusion is superb added to a hot cup of cider or cold cranberry juice and seltzer for a Christmas party.  What cooking experiments have you tried lately?

cranberry chutney infused vodka

Hot Cider with Cranberry Infused Vodka

• 1 cup of hot cider
• 1 shot/3 tablespoons of cranberry infused vodka

Combine the two ingredients and enjoy.

Cranberry Chutney infused Vodka

• 1/2 cup of cranberry chutney--recipe at the bottom of the post
• 2 cups of good quality vodka

Combine the two ingredients in a canning jar.  Place in the fridge and stir once daily for three days to a month.  Taste test it along the way.  Ours tasted just the way I wanted it to in a week.  Then, I strained it through cheese cloth and put the ruby colored infused vodka in a clean jar.  I store my infused vodka in the fridge. 

Hot cider with cranberry chutney infused vodka

Cranberry Chutney

from The Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

I've made this chutney with all the jam jar remnants in my fridge.  The jam flavor doesn't matter so much as making sure that you sort out the bad cranberries.  You can find crystallized ginger at Chucks and New Seasons. And I purchase my dried cherries at Trader Joe's or Costco.  The chutney will be runny on the stove-top but it will thicken dramatically as it cools.

• 24 ounces apricot, strawberry, or raspberry preserves
• ¾ cup white distilled vinegar plus 1 ½ tsp raspberry preserves
• A pinch of salt
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ cup Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
• 2 bags fresh cranberries, sorted
• 1/4 to ½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 ¼ cups dried tart cherries

In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together the preserves, vinegar, salt, cloves, and Grand Marnier; then place over medium high heat.  Stir it regularly as it happily boils for 15 minutes until it thickens a touch.  Then turn the heat down to medium and add the cranberries.  Cook until you hear or see a couple of cranberries pop.  Add the ginger and cherries.  Stir together.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature before serving.  The chutney will thicken as it cools.

Yield: 8-10 servings