Pussywillow Mystery

Day 98: A few days ago, I solved the mystery of why my pussywillow has so few catkins every year: Steller's Jays think the young buds are very tasty! I caught Mr. Steller in the act of eating them, pecking at each one to remove the husk and then gobbling down the tender center. While this wasn't exactly what I'd planned when I planted the tree, I'm glad to see that it has more than a purely ornamental purpose.

Mice In My Mail

Day 122: "Love to eat them mousies! Mousies what I love to eat. Bite they little heads off, Nibble on they tiny feet!" The artwork was one of Kliban's stylized striped cats playing a banjo, if memory serves me correctly (it didn't...it was a guitar), and the creator's whimsical words have stood the test of time in my memory. They were on a checkbook cover I owned some 30-35 years ago, and sprang back into mind as soon as I opened the box today. It came from one of my best friends who just happens to go by the nickname Mousie. Trust me, I will have no compunctions whatsoever about biting they little heads off, but I think the tails (satin cord) are a bit thick to use as dental floss after.

Perfect Popovers

Day 290: It's a well-known fact that I don't like to cook. If a meal takes more prep time than five minutes and if it's going to dirty up more than one pan, I can't be bothered. The exception to my avoidance of culinary excursions is baking. If I do say so myself, I'm a good baker. I've been making my own bread for more than forty years, and cookies are the mainstay of my diet. As such, I am no stranger to creating puff pastries such as creampuffs and eclairs, but popovers were a new adventure. Having been introduced to them during a trip to the east coast several years ago, it followed that sooner or later, I'd have to make my own. To that end, I purchased a heavyweight Silverstone popover pan. It arrived today, and here you see the results, minus two which I gobbled while they were still hot.

There are many recipes for popovers on the internet, and about 50% will recommend preheating your oven. I followed "Joy of Cooking," a cookbook which has never let me down. I substituted powdered milk for whole milk (something I never have on hand), buttered each cup and dusted it lightly with confectioner's sugar ("to give the popovers something to stick to," per "Joy"). The recipe said it would make nine, and that proved to be quite accurate. A little less than a quarter cup of batter went in each cup. Every popover rose to crispy perfection and slid right out of the pan. Since I had to have a split one for the photo, I only had six left to put in the freezer for later treats!

Baking Day

Day 64: Is there a more homey fragrance than that of baked goods hot from the oven? The aromas of buttery spritz cookies and nutty "birdseed bread" fill my house on this cold December day. I got a little ahead of myself with this project. I don't usually start baking until St. Nicholas' Day, but the chill in the weather wanted something to cut through its bite, if only psychologically.

To my way of thinking, baking is a spiritually uplifting occupation. It is impossible to be downhearted when creating cookies, or dismal when handling bread dough. The golden warmth of crust and crumb brighten the kitchen and the soul. When the garden lacks gaily colored flowers, let the sideboard bloom with plates of spritz dipped in crystal sugar, festive and bright, and don't let Jack Frost put a damper on your cheer!

Let's Do It Again!

Day 50: That was so much fun, I decided to do it again! Yep, my project for tomorrow is another batch of cranberry-orange marmalade. Like I said, it's my favorite preserve.

For those of you who'd like to try this delicious concoction, I'll provide Certo's old recipe which is no longer included in their jams-and-jellies booklet. It is more work than basic jelly or jam, but it does not take hours like preserves. The original instructions simply called for covering the marmalade with melted paraffin. I recommend processing in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes.

Wash and sterilize 9-10 half-pint jars and rings by boiling for twenty minutes. Leave in hot water until ready to fill.

2 oranges
1 lemon
1 pound fully ripe cranberries
6.5 cups sugar
1 packet Certo liquid pectin

First, prepare the fruit. Cut oranges and lemon into quarters. Remove seeds. Pull peels off and set aside. Grind the fruit segments finely in a food processor or blender. Slice the peels wafer-thin. Combine the ground segments and the peels with 1/8 tsp. baking soda and 1.5 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cranberries and return to boiling. Simmer for an additional ten minutes.

Measure out five cups of this processed fruit into a very large saucepan. Add the exact amount of sugar specified in the recipe. Place over high heat and bring to a rolling boil, boiling hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and quickly stir in Certo pectin. Then skim and stir for 7 minutes to prevent floating fruit. Skim off as much foam as possible.

Ladle the marmalade into sterilized jars and seal according to lid manufacturer's instructions. Process in a water-bath canner for 10 minutes. Remove from canner and set jars on a towel, out of drafts, and listen for the sound of lids merrily plinking as they seal.

Makes approximately 8 half-pints (but boil extra jars just in case).

Birdseed Isn't Just For Birds

Day 32: Put away the Cheez-its, Wheat Thins and Ry-Krisp and join me for some birdseed! Millet crackers are delicious, especially when slathered with real butter. It's been a while since I made crackers, and home-baked can't be beat.

The recipe for these nutty delights comes from Linda Foust and Tony Husch's cookbook, "Crackers!" It is out of print, but can occasionally be found through Amazon or your local used book dealer.

You will need
1/4 cup whole millet
1/2 cup millet flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
5/8 cup (1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp.) milk
1 Tbsp. honey

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Stir together the millet, flours and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Warm the milk and honey in a small saucepan and add it to the flour mixture, blending to form a dough which holds together in a ball. If necessary, you may add a little more milk.

Divide the dough into two portions and roll out on a floured surface. You want it to be thin (no more than 1/8 inch, or approximately as thick as the diameter of a millet grain). Cut out circles with a cookie cutter and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick each cracker three times with a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes, then turn crackers over and bake for an additional 8-12 minutes or until medium brown. Serve with butter and enjoy!

Mine!

Day 198: The seagulls in "Finding Nemo" have nothing on this guy! He gets very cross when you try to take his Angry Birds gummy candies away from him!

As I confess my Angry Birds addiction to more and more of my acquaintances, I discover that many of them also enjoy the game, and even like this black bird best. He's the one who gets the least press, though. Excluded from any package of fridge magnets I have yet to see, omitted from the array of Easter candies, at least he appeared as a stuffie which, in a moment of impulse, I purchased. For the record, he is the only Angry Birds stuffie I own, although other bits of merchandise are sifting into my collection a little at a time. That said, the gummies were a gift from Kevin, who got me started on this silly, wacky, goofy game. And guess what? He's in there, in grape flavour! Gonna be hard to eat those...