The Bloom

Apple Blossom.  It's flower.  It's the fragrance of one of Dawn's dish detergents.   It was sung about by the Andrews Sisters and later by Barry Manilow.  Here in Winchester, VA it is much, much more.

In 1924, the first year of the Apple Blossom Festival , apples were the livlihood for many of the residents of the area.  Now, most of the orchards are gone leaving behind things named after apples; a mall, schools, numerous businesses, housing developments...

But the first full weekend in May, we still celebrate the apple with the Apple Blossom Festival.  More than a festival, it is a quest; for the best parade seat, for the perfect funnel cake, to see which vendor sells fried Oreos, to get to another party you were invited to and hate to miss, to win yet another goldfish on the mid-way that will die before the next weekend, for a parking space,to get to the circus in time to see the elephants raise the tent, for a ticket to a sold out event, to actually speak to a celebrity, to get your little darling picked to be a princess and ride one of the floats, to find time to get to see/do/enjoy as much of the carnivalparadefoodmidwayconcertsfoodluncheon

dancecircusfoodfoodfood as possible.

To others, it is a quest to just find peace and quiet in all the madness.

Just Beachy

I love flying in the morning fog.  The way the fog rolls over the mountains, looking more inlets at the beach than mountains.  It all looks different up here.

When we landed in Palm Beach, it was raining. Ironically, in my hometown it was in the high sixties and sunny.  My sister said it had only rained two evenings in the whole three months she had been there. Oh well, I only had about 24 hours here so I wanted to make the best of it.   I told my mom to put on her walking shoes and off we went.

The drive from the airport to the beach was quick and easy.  We passed everything from houses that were being protected by good old chain link to houses that had everything but a moat protecting the inhabitants from the riff raff. 

The sky was ominous, but I ventured onto the beach anyway.  There was no way I was coming this far and not getting Florida sand between my toes.  I shared the beach with a sea gull and a coconut.  I think everyone else was tired of the wind blowing sand in their eyes.

No trip to Palm Beach is complete without a trip down Worth Avenue.  I was surprised how few people were out shopping.   A quick cup of coffee from Starbucks and we were off.  The most unfortunate thing I found out was that they roll up the sidewalks of Worth Avenue between 5 and 6 o'clock and it was already 4 o'clock. Thank goodness I was able to find my way to Tiffany's before closing time.  Daughter dearest has been wanting something from there for years.  I think if I put a cough drop covered in pocket lint, a used tissue and some stale gum in a Tiffany's bag, she would have been happy. Fortunately, I found a very affordable and adorable necklace instead.  After finding out that I have very good taste in purses (the cheapest I liked was $1750), we finished out our limited time browsing.

My mother had stayed at The Breakers a few years ago and since it was just down the road, we decided to go there for supper.  Before we went to eat, we went on a self guided tour of the main floor of the hotel.  Their shops were closed (after all, it was after 5).  We went in and out of banquet rooms, talked to chefs and guest service people.  I took lots of photos.  It was so large that we were up and down the hallways and often didn't see a soul.  I think we could have brought in our sleeping bags and spent the night in a hallway and no one would have noticed.  Since we didn't bring them along, we just had supper and left.  

The next morning we went for a quick drive through the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.  It was a whirlwind tour so I don't have any great photos.  This video will give you a good idea of what it's like.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agY0aTMvEjI 

Unfortunately, all I saw was mud, golf carts and a few horses.  Maybe next winter...

After the equestrian center, it was back to pick up our luggage and off to the airport. Even though I only saw the sun for less than a minute in my 24 hours there, it was still worth the trip.  The foliage is spectacular.  The beach is beautiful.  The houses are amazing.  And I'm sure my purse is still waiting for me to come purchase it on Worth Avenue.

Blowin' in the Wind

I am officially tired of winter.  There has been almost no snow, but there has been an incredible amount of wind.  There have been mornings that I was sure I would wake up and find a witch under my house and a bunch of little people singing in my back yard.  

Living on one of the highest hills in town, it seems to be windy here at times when it is not windy anywhere else.  When it is windy everywhere else, it's positively cyclonic up here.  The mulch has blown off my flower beds and gone who knows where.  I have to wait till I see the truck coming to take out the recyclables or they will blow down hill - a blizzard of cans and bottles.  

The good new is, I  think spring is coming.  

It's good for my budget.  The flower department at Martin's keeps getting my money. I'm hoping if I buy enough flowers, it will encourage Spring to hurry up and get here. The same way that I hope if I buy enough plastic tubs and organizational items, I'll become organized.  And if I buy enough exercise videos, I'll be skinny.

Nine more days..........Spring!

Chuck Norris is one tough cat

This is Chuck Norris. We rescued him at about 4 weeks old from by a dumpster. After 2 days we realized his bottom jaw wouldn’t open more than enough for him to get his tongue out. We took him to the vet who said he had an injury to his growth plate. He told us if we hadn’t found him, Chuck would have starved to death in the wild and that he had to be incredibly tough to have lived this long. That’s why we named him Chuck Norris. 

The vet put him under anesthesia and broke down the fibrous tissue in the jaw surrounding his damaged growth plate so he could open his mouth. He did this at least once a month for about 6 months. Chuck could eat (drink) pureed foods only. His bottom jaw didn’t grow, it just stayed baby sized and locked over to the side.   

In December, the vet was going to cut the tissue to give him free movement.  When he was intubating him, Chuck's jaw broke.  After he recovered, we noticed that he could now eat kibble.  It has been 3 months since then and Chuck is better than ever.  Who would have thought a broken jaw would be the cure...

Gone fishing

What a turn around from last week.  Last Saturday the high was 47 but it felt much colder.  Today, 73.  Of course, wonderboy wanted to go fishing.  Last week, he sat by the lake and saw only one other person going out to fish.  Not a good fishing day, but he enjoyed the quiet.  When I picked him up, his hands were so cold they hurt when they were thawing out.  

Today, when I pulled up, there were so many people heading toward the gate that it looked like opening day at Kings Dominion.  The only difference was that every other group of people brought a dog.  They fired up the grills and filled the pavillions.  Kids covered the playground toys like flies on cow poop.

The only ones who didn't think spring had sprung were the ducks.  Last week, there were 2, today 3.  I guess the rest are still South.  Do the ducks know something we don't.  Perhaps it is not spring at all. After all, it is just March and in March, the weather can be crazy.  Sixteen years ago on this coming Thursday, we had the "storm of the century" on the east coast.  I can remember the day because it is the day wonderboy was born.  My blizzard baby.   Now he's 3 months away from getting his driver's license.  Like Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

Say Cheese

March 6 and 73 degrees.  I'll take it.  I am hoping to get outside to spin today.  Last night I finished plying the batt I spun the night before.  

But before I head outside, a little baking needs to be done....

 

On the Pillsbury Bread flour bag, it had a recipe for Cheese'n Carrot Sandwich Buns. It seemed like an odd combination to me, but interesting enough to try.  When I told my bff what I was going to make, she only had one word.  Why?  

In the words from Baby Mama....You know why!    

Ok, not really.  I was intrigued with the recipe. 

Since the original recipe made 18 rolls, I just made 1/2 a batch.  That way, if they turned out horrible, I only had to feed 9 rolls to my dogs.  

The recipe can be found at:

http://www.pillsburybaking.com/Recipes/Details.aspx?recipeID=3613

The rolls rose very nicely.   I was glad I used 2 baking sheets so they had plenty of room.   As I baked the, they grew even larger.  Definitely sandwich sized.  The carrot and orange zest flecks provided a nice color as the rolls turned golden brown.

End result?  Delicious.  They are not too heavy.  No overwhelming cheese or carrot flavor.  It's a keeper.

Bagel, Schmagel

By golly, I did make bagels today.  I don't know why it seemed like something that only a professional should do.  I guess because I've heard people say they've baked cookies, cakes and a few brave souls have even baked pies.  I don't know that I've ever heard someone say "I baked bagels today".  

I'm here to say, "Why the heck not!"  I used a recipe by John D. Lee that I found on the net.   It was so much easier that I thought.  Some of them, while mostly round, were somewhat lumpy.  My butt will probably look mostly round and somewhat lumpy if I continue finding such good recipes.  

You've got hot buns

Today I decided to try making pretzel rolls.  The new Kitchen Aid is hardly broken in so I need to put the rest of the normal daily things aside and bake.  

After searching the net, I decided to make Bretzel Rolls (Bavarian Pretzel Sandwich Rolls) from a recipe on recipezaar.com.  It is the first time I made a roll that needed to be cooked in boiling water with baking soda prior to baking.  I need to buy salt with a larger crystal before I make these again, but otherwise, these are heavenly.

Next, I want to try bagels.   I love baking.  If only the activity of baking burned a significant amount of calories.