Hi, everyone!
I try to be a patient little lion, but it’s getting hard to keep waiting for spring! We’ve had rain or snow practically every day in April!
Yesterday we had snow flurries again!
When it is dry enough to go outside, it’s so cold I need to bundle up! I think the crocus and daffodils feel the same way. They don’t like to open when it’s barely above freezing! Grandma puts coffee grounds around the tulip sprouts to keep them from getting nibbled, but they’re barely sticking out of the ground! I found another crocus that isn’t where it’s supposed to be! Grandma says she thinks the squirrels dig up the bulbs and rebury them because they look a little bit like acorns.
Since I was already dressed to be outside, I visited the stump of the big crab apple branch that fell down. Then I went to look at the ivy patch in the back yard where Grandma and I planted all the daffodil bulbs last fall. The new daffodils are beginning to come up, but it’s taking them longer than the daffodils that were already established. Grandma and I were afraid that Harlan-san’s workers might not see them when they come to do spring yard cleanup! I helped Grandma rake that part of the yard border, then Grandpa put up a rope to mark off that area. I had to look very carefully to help Grandpa figure out where the new plantings ended!
Now that the mixer has new grease in it, Grandma said we should do some inside cooking projects! Last week, we made pasta dough in the mixer so Grandma could make a teeny tiny lasagna! After we mixed the dough in the mixer, Grandma and I had to knead it by hand until it was elastic and smooth. Then we let it rest before we rolled it out. We made noodles that were just the right size for our pan! Grandma let me help layer the sauce and cheese and noodles. The pan was really full when we got done! Grandma put an aluminum foil collar around the pan so the layers wouldn’t drip out in the oven. The lasagna was yummy AND it used up two kinds of leftover cheese that Grandma had in the refrigerator!
This week, we made a coconut lilikoi tart for Grandma and Grandpa to take to their church dinner group tonight. Yesterday, I helped Grandma roll out the cookie dough she’d made in the mixer to be the tart crust. We made a big tart, like the one we made for the travel dinner, and a little tart for somebody in the dinner group who doesn’t like coconut. When we made the cream filling, we filled the little tart before we added the coconut for the big tart!
The cream filling needed to chill overnight before we put the lilikoi filling on top. This morning we made the lilikoi filling. That used up all our passion fruit juice left from the travel dinner! I helped Grandma toast the coconut topping. After we spread the lilikoi filling over the tarts, I put the toasted coconut on the big tart.
Today, we even had some sunshine! The weather person on TV says we’re going to get warmer weather, starting tomorrow. I hope so!
Love,
Lion-san
It’s sunny over by Casa Larga, too! Hope the sun works to warm us up, so we can put away our winter clothes! Grandma Sue
We’re hoping for warmer weather later this weekend. Joe-san said maybe we’ll have snow this winter! Sometimes rainy and cold days provide a good excuse to stay inside and cook but he likes to cook anytime.
Hello Lion-san and Grandma,
We too had some crocuses pop up singly in strange places where we had planted them and I suspected transfer of the bulbs by some critter. Our Master Gardener who cares for our gardens sent me this note re: those crocuses:
Hi Betsy,
What I found about the crocus popping up everywhere…. tommy crocus (Crocus tommasinianus) are known to spread quickly, especially by re-seeding, and are said to be critter resistant. “Ruby Giant” is one cultivar that struck me as familiar. Looking back through my records, I found that we planted 20 C. tommasinianus ‘Barr’s Purple’ on 11/15/13 on the edge of birch and magnolia gardens (10 each side). If you check your records you might find that we’ve planted ‘Ruby Giant’ in the front garden. ” I need to check on the name of the crocuses planted longer ago than 2013 that keep coming back each year and see what kind they are. The 2013 plantings haven’t shown many blossoms this year or maybe they are still covered with leaves. Great Aunt Betsy
Hi, Great Aunt Betsy! Grandma and I looked up Crocus tommasinianus (snow crocus). We think we have Dutch crocus instead, because they don’t seem to spread where they’re planted.
Love,
Lion-san