It's Just Peanuts

I am awake early again today. Still a bit rocky from the lung infection. Still moving kind of slow, but determined to get over it once and for all. The antibiotic is all finished up. Hope to see the doctor on Thursday this week if Richard has the day off. You see, Richard got a full time job at Walmart! Hooray! He has worked hard and is always willing to go in early or whenever they need him, so he deserves it. Nice to have a bit of job security. And he enjoys the job.

He leaves for work at 9:30am and I sit on the bed, watching the news and deciding what to do with my day. Make peanut butter. Periodically the local library clears out old books and last summer I found a Food Processor cookbook for a whopping 50 cents. A couple of Christmases ago, I used a gift card and bought myself a 500 watt Black and Decker food processor. I used it a few times, once to make some wonderful Latte Shortbread, once to make a disastrous loaf of bread. I've made pastry in it - with mixed results. But since finding this book, I have wanted to try several things in it.

Today is peanut butter day. I bought some salted peanuts a few weeks ago, before I got sick, and pulled them and the recipe out. Two cups of peanuts; process 5 to 6 minutes; store in fridge. That simple. There is also a recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies I want to try, using a cup of salted peanuts, but don't know if I will do that today. It DOES appeal to me though.

After the peanut butter, I decided on making some Brioche in the Bread Maker. Yes, I do have a Food Processor Brioche recipe to try, but wanted to get the dough going in the bread maker so I could make Richard some Whole Wheat dough in the food processor. This time I used the chopping blade to mix the dough rather than the plastic dough blade, which is absolutely useless. The dough turned out good, mixed up in about a minute, then hand kneaded, or as they refer to it in the book "toss or turn it over 9 to 10 times". Now it's rising on the table, so he will have fresh bread for dinner too.

The Brioche dough finishes its first rise in the bread maker. I decide to make one loaf of bread with half of it and put the other half in the fridge for tomorrow, then make some sweet rolls with it.

The Brioche bread and Richards whole wheat turn out really good. If I sound amazed, it is only because I wasn't sure about the whole wheat made in the food processor. I have had a bad experience making bread in it before, but I guess I have it figured out. Anyway, he enjoys it. And I LOVE my Brioche. That is the most versatile dough. Maybe I will just keep experimenting with it to see what I can make, then write a 1001 Things To Make With Brioche Dough cookbook, grin.

After dinner, which I admit I did not cook - Richard brought home burgers as I wasn't up to much by then - I made some more of the Cheesecake filling in the food processor. Gosh but I think I am addicted to it.

Kate phones late in the evening to say she has decided to come up for a visit. Hooray! Can't wait to see her. She will leave after work on Monday and be here for dinner. We are going to have a Bread Machine Bake Off, as she is bringing her bread maker. What fun.

We take the dogs out for one last go at the garden yard, but Mason refuses to leave the deck. Earlier in the evening he had really been barking at something he saw in the driveway through his patio door. The girls went crazy, running back and forth to the door, sniffing at it as if something or someone was there. I locked them up and checked, but found nothing. Maybe whatever it was spooked him. Maybe that's why he wouldn't go into the yard.

Or, maybe he just didn't have to pee.

The Ladybug and the Tiger Slug

Summer is back after a week of rain. The Valley is basking in sunshine and so is the garden yard and so am I. The Bichons and I wander out in the yard at our usual 10am, check the mini pea and bean patch by the shed first. I look for and find the two peas that managed to survive the Mole People so far, hidden beneath bean leaves. My mind notices that there is one pea from each of the two varieties that got planted, from about 100 pea seeds in all, that have survived - one seems to be doing well, one not so well. By now I have become quite philosophical about it all and give a shrug.

The kids suddenly alert that "der be Monstahs inna yahd!" I walk over to the fence where they are, looking towards the big pear tree and see cute little Island Doe Mule Deer and her adorable twin fawns. Richard had mentioned seeing them on several occasions, the most recent of which was over at the barn. What he saw goes to prove how truly clever deer are. He heard sounds coming from the corral, and knowing the cattle were all out in the pasture, went to check to see what was going on. He was surprised to see the twin fawns there. The doe had put them in the pen for safekeeping while she was off looking for food. They were running back and forth, but made no attempt to jump out. He left them alone so as not to frighten them

I wander back to the garden boat to roll up the beach mats and shower curtain. The boat is lush, no other way to describe it: tomatoes everywhere, the remaining pea plants with pea pods filling out, zucchini starting to form, flowers blooming. Honey bees are buzzing everywhere I look. Meandering around, I come to the Fern leaf Dill. There in its heart, as busy as can be, is a bright, orange Ladybug. She is gorgeous against the green foliage and yellow blossom of the dill.

My Garden Boat started out as an experiment. I knew I could get flowers to grow in it - after all it is just a big flower pot - but wasn't sure what, if any, vegetables would thrive. Now I have my answer: tomatoes - check; jalapeno peppers - check; peas - check; yellow zucchini - check; onions - check; beans - check; herbs of all kinds - big check; and of course flowers.

I move around the far side where the corn has tiny cobs forming silk - 1, 2, 3, 4...scrunchy face! The slugs have been here eating the silk from one of the tiny corn cobs. My eyes go slitty and shift from side to side looking for more slug evidence. There, a Tiger Slug! I quickly pick and flick him over the fence and across the drive.

Time for cappuccino. We wander back inside.

It's afternoon now and I am a baker. Yes, I am still trying to figure out the recipe booklet for the new bread machine. I found a great Brioche recipe on the Internet - the one in the booklet has incorrect measurements - that I changed a bit and mixed up in the machine. I decided to make Cinnamon Raisin Brioche, and when the dough was finished it's first rise in the machine pan, I pressed it out on the counter into a rough rectangle, slathered it in brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins, then rolled it up to form a loaf. Oh the dough is soooooo silky it can't help but be delish! And the aroma of it baking is mouth watering, to say the least. My mind is abuzz with variations on a Brioche theme.

While it bakes, we go back to the garden yard to do more gardening. The watermelon plant I put in 2 months ago has failed to thrive so I brutally yank it out by the roots and toss it over the Disco CD fence - an appeasement to the cute little Island Buck Mule Deer. In it's place I two zucchini plants that have been sitting on the potting table for a while. I'm curious to see how they do.

It's evening now and Richard comes out to help put the garden boat to bed. As we work, I tell him about the corn silk and the Tiger Slug and what I did to the slug when I found it. He gives me a smirk as he walks away, saying "Are you sure that was a good idea? I mean, with the way your luck has been running with critters around here...now his Tiger Slug buddies will probably come in the night to avenge your attack on him!"

I snort. "Yeah, righ..." I start to say and then I flash on an army of Tiger Slugs and Black Slugs squiggling through the fence to the garden yard, some dragging their deceased slug brother on a litter, while others brandish mini garden implements and still more carry flaming torches to light their way. I give my head a shake. The stuff of nightmares.

Still...I don't think I'll take the dogs out in the yard after dark for a few days.

You just can't be too careful.