RIP Silas

We lost our Silas on August 9th. The picture above is from August 5th. He became ill not long after we lost Saffy and it soon became clear that he had nose cancer. We kept him as comfortable as possible on antibiotics, steroids and pain killers. We made the most of the time we had left. He kept trying so hard. He was so happy to spend time in his paddle pool near the end. We miss him so much!!

RIP Saffy

I'm so sad to say that Saffy died yesterday. We had a scare last February, so we were lucky to have an extra 11 months with her. Here are a few of the last pictures I took of her, from after a snowstorm on December 30, 2012.

Sweets

I've continued to cook from issue 61 of Donna Hay mag, most recently trying the spiced stewed plums. They are so good over vanilla ice cream, but have other uses too. I'm actually tempted to glaze some grilled chicken or pork with the plum syrup!

James has begun to eat small portions of banana, so I will need to make things with banana so none goes to waste. This morning, I made The Domestic Goddess's (Nigella) banana muffins while feeding James. It was good to do some baking first thing as the temps will be soaring to the 90's later. Summer is here!

New Favorite Dishes

Issue 61 of Donna Hay is sure a good one! I've made the Spiced Lemon Chicken also shown in my last post a couple times now. Most recently, I made Donna's Black Bean and Tomato Salsa to go with it and love the flavors of it. I've had it with the chicken, Greek yogurt and avocado as pictured and for leftovers had the same combo just without the chicken. I think I'll be making it all summer!

Summer Cooking

On a recent trip to the bookstore I bought Issue 61 of the Donna Hay magazine as I was excited to try a number of the summery recipes that are so beautifully presented. Tonight, we had Spiced Lemon Chicken with rice pilaf for main course and Plum Clafoutis for dessert with a dollop of vanilla ice cream melting over it.

I have ingredients ready to make another sweet, the Pineapple Coconut Loaf, but intend to make other things too. I will let you know how they turn out. Is anyone else cooking from this issue? Let me know your recommendations!

I definitely give five stars to tonight's recipes!

A Mobile Test and an FO

I managed a knitting project this week, Mini Jubilee Bunting, but I'll actually use it for the 4th of July. There are 7 little flags, each about 4 inches long. The inspiration is from Let's Knit mag and The Flitter Knitter and a free bunting pattern.

I strung the flags with attached I cord which is something I've been wanting to try for awhile and worked nicely here.

I'll have to edit this later to add links. I'm not sure how and James wants to touch the screen too which is making this tricky!

Indoor Seed Starting

Here are many of my small sized seed packets, somewhat organized. I am not good at keeping seed packets neat, but must try to do better so I know what I'm saving from year to year and use up older seeds first. Fortunately, nothing is older than 2011 at the moment.

I am so late starting seeds this year. Normally, I start them around March 15th and I had been thinking about starting some of the slower peppers a week or two earlier than that. This year, I sowed on April 29th! I know I won't have early harvests, but I think they will still grow and have plenty of time to mature. They should get a quicker start since the basement is warmer this time of year. In fact, the heat mats probably won't even be running much (they have a thermostat). And, I won't be tempted to put seedlings out too early and have the usual concern about cold nights.

Peppers (sweets and hots). I'll probably plant some of these in the hoop house so they have a longer growing season. From past experience, the habs, lemon hots and hole mole peppers will probably need the extra time and warmth.

Tomatoes

Eggplants, raab and room for more...

I keep thinking that I should have managed to start the seeds on time despite having a new baby, but it's easy to say that now that I am getting sleep again. With feedings every two hours around the clock, I couldn't manage much else at the time!

I may sow some greens and herbs in the remaining space indoors, but most of my next sowing will be in the prepared pots waiting in the hoop house. Also, I need to do some direct sowing in the hoop house!