ChocoMom

Those green produce bags are wonderful to have, esp. in the summer. When I gather veggies from the garden, I pop them in the washed out bags and store. As for the plastic grocery bags....those things are like gold in this house. They are magical foot warmers for us Yoopers. After putting socks on, we slip the grocery bags over our feet, then put on our boots. I cannot tell you how wonderfully warm those bags keep the tootsies! My kids use them for lunch bags, and deposit trash in them from their cars. My husband takes them fishing, and puts the fresh catch(es) in. They also make wonderful packing -stuffing for fragile type items. The glories of plastic grocery bags! As far as the "I shall never again.....".... let the chickens roam in my garden. I thought, since I wasn't yet finished planting, it wouldn't hurt to let them offer some fertilizer here and there. . No plants with produce are coming up yet. But those little beasts actually dug up and ate my seed potatoes! NEVER have I seen them do that! Grrrr. I need to get the fishing line and do the lower ring around the garden.

This morning, while sipping coffee, I finished off the left over pastry creme from yesterday's eclairs. YUM!

Wanted some pastries with the coffee this morning, so I made eclairs.

I was happily surprised at dinner tonight. I am suffering from allergies and a fever, so my son, the 'king of ketchup', offered to cook steaks for dinner. WOW! I ended up with a perfectly seasoned porterhouse, med-well. Absolutely delicious! Sorry - no pics. I ate it too fast. The child has a new job here at home now.

Given our climate challenges, I am only planting seeds and seedlings now. In addition to the 36 potato hills, I've put yellow beans (Beurre De Rocquencourt), Cantare green beans, New England Sugar Pie pumpkins, Waltham butternut squash, Bush buttercup squash, Spaghetti squash, Baby Blue hubbard, Golden Hubbard, Table King acorn squash, and a little bit of non-gmo sweet corn as a border around part of the garden. I'allergic to corn, so this is for the chickens and turkeys.) There are carrots, beets, tomatoes, and zukes to go.Maybe some other stuff if I can find the energy to do it.

I don't drink much real pop anymore, but when I do it's usually Faygo: Diet cream soda, rock n rye, root beer or ginger ale. I am kind of a fan of 2 flavors of La Croix fizzy waters ... Key Lime and Mango. The grapefruit isn't awful either, IMHO. One of my kids tried those Sparkling ICE brand diet fruit sodas....and the Pink Grapefruit is addictive. I also liked the Peach/Nectarine and the Lime. I think there are 10 or so flavors- most of which I've not tried. Not sure if it counts or not, but the no-sugar Redbull is quite helpful when coffee is just not enough, and one is in need of a "jump-start".

Sometimes I peel them, sometimes I don't. But, I do sprinkle the slices with salt and let them sit for a while. (I think that process sorts out some of the bitterness.)Then pat them dry, and use them to make eggplant parmesan, or in ratatouille. My kids especially love them. Now, if I could only get the damn things to grow this far north!

Chicken spinach roulade over asparagus/cheese risotto

It's a med-light caramel. Somewhat pipe-able, if kneaded for a few minutes in the piping bag. I ended up using Q-tips and a soft-tip dental tool to clean out the square molds, but those cotton make-up removal pads work vey well on the dome molds.

@Jim D. Thank you! I was experimenting with green sphene cocoa butter from Chef Rubber, and an alcohol based gold spray I found on Kerekes. (I wanted the Pavoni gold spray, but could not figure out where to get it in the US.) I sprayed the cavities with the green, and while it was still fluid, gave a little shot of the gold spray on top of it, then a little shot of air from the airbrush to make them blend together. I was going for a marble-sort of look. I used it with a turquoise also, which looks pretty cool. I'll have to find a pic to post. Honestly, I wasn't sure it would work. But it wasn't bad for the first try. A little of the gold residue stayed in the cavities. That particular flavor, (the pear PdF and caramel) worked extremely well together. They went out to the taste testers, and the results were unanimous....the pear tastes like pear, and marries well with the caramel.

The chickens are in overdrive right now- we have close to 100 eggs, so I decided to use at least part of them and make a pavlova. The whipped cream is flavored with a bit of cherry, and some vanilla.

No pics at the moment, but I hoed 36 hills in the garden and planted red, yellow, and white (Idaho) potatoes this afternoon. Cooler temps, wind and partial sun made it pleasant to work out there- with minimal bug interference. Always a plus! I'm late in planning where I want to put things- but it will come together eventually. We're about to get stormed upon, so I shall take pics when it is sunny out again. Loving all the turtle pics! We have turtles galore down at the farm, so I will keep a look out when I drive down again.

The first pic is my newly plowed (for the 6th time) garden, complete with electric fencing and a small entrance. Fishing line will go around the lower level to keep my chickens out. The next pics are some of the flowers in the front of the house. The white iris were from my Gran's house. I dug up some tubers after the fire so I could replant them. It worked! The lupines were taken from our farm, and plunked in the front area by my hubby. I did not consent to that location- but they've taken well, so I guess they stay.

Reading about the requests for certain foods while in nursing homes brought back some funny memories. I never felt guilty-not one little bit -for what I did for my Gran. This was my Dad's mother, born in 1898, who taught high school chemistry, physics and math, sharp as a tack right up until the end. She taught me how to make fudge, how to bake bread/cakes/pies/cookies, how to make stock - how to cook pretty much anything. She was amazing, hilarious, brilliant.....and stubborn as a mule. She went into the convalescence center when she was 93. She had broken her hip, and trying to hobble around on a walker was getting dangerous. I used to work at that center, doing clinical work for music therapy, so I knew most of the staff. I visited often, and she'd ask me to sneak in a bag of my chocolate chip cookies for her to nibble on. The food wasn't horrible there, but she wanted some homemade sweets. Right or wrong, I figured at that age- she can have whatever the hell she wants, and I'd bring her the cookies. She was so cute about eating them. As we sat there, chatting, she'd pull the blankets up close to her chin, bite the cookie, smile, wink, and hide it under the blanket so no one else could see. After she finished her "contraband". she would promptly brush her teeth. When she died at age 96 1/2, she still had all her original teeth. And, as heartbroken as I was- losing my best friend, confidant and mentor, I was comforted by the fact that I made her last few years on earth a little happier.

Pistachio -lemon creme in 72%

@Pastrypastmidnight.. Thank you! I used Notter's formula for pear PdF. The tartaric acid helps tremendously in making that pear flavor "pop". On a scale of 1 to 10, my own palate indicates around a 6 or 7+/- on the pear flavor. In contrast with the caramel, it balances well- and you get just a bit of a tang from the pear. I do wish it was a little more tart (like the wild strawberry PdF), but you can definitely tell that it's pear. I hope that helps some. If you want to try it, I suggest cutting the batch either in half, or quarter it. I did only a half batch because I didn't want to end up a whole bunch leftover. I still have to get a couple of them out to my trusty taste-testers for more feedback, but that's what we've got so far.

Pink with white splatter: Strawberry PdF/Strawberry creme in 72% Sphene Green with matte gold: Pear Pdf /Vanilla bean caramel in 38%

My kids and I are all Rice Krispie Treat addicts.. like @kayb- I, too, would eat the whole batch if left alone. (They should call them "cocaine krispies", IMHO.) Side note: some years ago, I recall being all ready to make a batch (or so I thought), and then discovered I was out of Rice Krispies....BUT I had some Fruit Loops... So I swapped cereals. The kids LOVED the Fruit Loop version. I was so amused, I tried it with Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles. I have to say its much easier to eat the Pebbles, than the loops and puffs. But they are all so darn tasty!

Well....today, my daughters limed my garden and hubby just plowed it! YAY! My seeds arrive tomorrow. I can't do anything until June because of the frost...but I can plan! ..... And, it will give this *#!@$%^& knee time to heal. ( I'm in a lot of pain at the moment, and quite angry about this injury.)

Well I am overjoyed! Found out that Meijer's signed a letter of intent to purchase some acreage up here, so inside of 18-24 months, we should have a new grocery store, and Walmart will FINALLY have some competition. And, boy do they need some competition! They've been gradually increasing prices beyond what our locally owned stores charge for same/similar items. Reading on another thread, someone was purchasing Great Value heavy whipping cream for around $3.14 at their Walmart. Same stuff here is $4.28. With as much as I use making ganache, (and in coffee, desserts)- I was upset to see that price difference. I know there is some fluctuation based on location, but that seems a little ridiculous. Boxed.com is still my go-to delivery store for the non-perishables, and their in-house brand, Prince and Spring isn't too bad! In fact, their coconut oil is fabulous and was a terrific price. They now have a rewards program where one can earn points that translate later into dollars. You can build them up and apply them whenever you choose. Still no Aldi's and no Trader Joe's nearby. But at this point, I am happy just knowing we have another option coming.

My knee is still sore from that tiling incident last week. Just not wanting to stand up and cook this morning, so here we are:

@Avachocolate Absolutely STUNNING work! And, Welcome! Can't wait to see more. Would you mind sharing what the flavors are inside those works of art?

I did. He drove to the gas station, bought a bottle, and brought it home. (Face palm.)

Spending too much time on Pinterest sometimes yields a funny....

I threw in the towel today. Last night, I made a lovely chicken scampi over angel hair pasta. Despite the yummy parmesan-garlic cream, that doggone kid " Mr. Master-Ketchup-Chef" still squirted a side of Heinz next to it. I give up. So, tonight, I made panko-breaded chicken strips, crinkle cut fries, and pan roasted brussels sprouts with scallions.