Update on the seedlings

Remember the seedlings? Well they've grown!

 

 

 

 

Those are the beans at the lower level. The upper level mostly had marigold.

 

Those two plants with the big leaves - they're summer squash! Don't they look handsome?!?! All the others are marigolds.
The plants seem to be doing fine. We do wish we'd planted them earlier but given that this is our first year from seeds I think it's ok.
 

Where'd you go Bernadette?

I don't know how I came upon this book. Probably I searched books similar to Sex Lives of the Cannibals and this was one of the suggestions. Whatever it was, I'm so glad that I got to know about it! It is such a pleasure to read this book!!! The story, the author's writing style, her humor - everything is just awesome! Oh and not to mention that the story is set in Seattle! Brownie points for that :)

The story is about a family - Bernadette the mother, her husband and her daughter. Bernadette is shown to be socially awkward and her husband with his position and his bank account - the envy of all the women. The book abounds in Bernadette's antics which keep you entertained. Her behavior is strange to the extent that her husband thinks that she should be sent to a caring facility! However before he can do that, Bernadette disappears! What ensues is engrossing and adds an element of mystery!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! The way the author writes makes you feel that you're right there with the characters of the book and her sense of humor is just amazing!
 

The Timekeeper

I've been quite a fan of Mitch Albom's since Tuesdays with Morrie and then Five people you meet in heaven. So it was no surprise that when I came to know about this new book from him I tried to get my hands on it!

It's a nice book - not up there with the other two but it's ok. Using a fable the author illustrates the importance of time. The story begins with the person who invented measurement of time and that was like opening Pandora's box! Once people could measure time everybody was complaining something or the other about time - either there wasn't enough time in the day or that it wasn't the right time, so on and so forth. Little did the inventor realize the hazards nor the implications. To make teach him a lesson he's sent to Earth amidst two diametrically opposite people. One who thinks there isn't enough time and another who thinks there's too much of it.

My summary probably sounds a little confusing but I'm trying to divulge as much as I can without telling everything. The story is more like a fable or fantasy.

My favorite quote from the book:

It's never too early nor too late. It is when it is supposed to be.

 

Seeds springing into seedlings

This year we're trying to plant our vegetable garden right from seeds - yes that's a big risk we're taking and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! To add to our experiments all our seeds are heirloom seeds - good luck to us!

Like the vegetable garden, for germinating the seeds too we followed the instructions given by Mel in his SFG book. For the containers, as you can see, we used some disposable bowls and yogurt containers. DH drilled some holes in all of these. It took at  least a week for the first sprouts. Since NW is on the colder side, we kept them inside the house.

Spinach seeds

Cherry tomato, stupice tomato, summer squash, zucchini, basil and oregano

Marigold

Bush beans

When waiting for these seeds to germinate, I realized that it's not only the investment of money that worries you. When you invest your time and energy in something it's equally important to you. I read somewhere:

Don't read a child about miracles, plant a garden.

That is so true. One day you see a seed. Another day you've leaves coming out of it. It's like magic.

Coconut cookies

DH and I both like coconut cookies. When I was a child, my dad used to coconut cookies from the bakery. They were the most delicious coconut cookies I've ever had; and now I keep searching recipes for coconut cookies that would recreate the magic. Recently I found one that looked quite like what I wanted so I gave it a try. I

Here's the original recipe. I halved the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened (I could only find the sweetened one so I used that) shredded coconut
• 1 large eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add the coconut. Mix well so the coconut is well-coated with the butter.
3. Beat the eggs with a mixer on medium speed just until blended. Add the sugar and beat on medium-high until the mixture is light-colored and fluffy. Combine the butter-covered coconut gently with the egg mixture and mix well.
4. Drop the batter onto the parchment-covered baking sheets and press down gently on the mound until it is relatively flat. A teaspoon of batter works well but you can make them smaller or larger adjusting the baking time accordingly. Keep about an inch (2.5cm) of space between each cookie, more if you aren’t flattening them. Bake for 7-10 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle the tops of each cookie with a pinch of the fleur de sel. If the cookies sit and cool too much the fleur de sel won’t stick. You could apply the salt before baking but since it dissolves so quickly you will lost the visual effect of the beautiful crystals and the pleasant crunch when you bite into one.  Slide the entire sheet of parchment with the cookies intact onto a wire cooling rack. As soon as they are cool, put them in an air-tight container otherwise they will lose their crispness.

Peanut brittle

 

 

In India we've something very similar to Peanut brittle, called peanut chiki. This is a popular sweet in our house and always in demand. Unfortunately the chiki that we get at indian stores is not that great so I was motivated to make some at home. Back home, the chiki that you get in stores is crisp but the ones we make at home is soft in texture; and I've never figured out how to get it to be crispy. So this time I decided to try the American version - peanut brittle. Was it a breeze to make?!?!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanuts, if you've roasted ones then that's good otherwise follow the directions below to roast them
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter

 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 F and put a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in it. This helps the baking sheet keep warm so that when you spread the brittle on it in the end, the mixture doesn't cool immediately; and gives you more time to spread.
2. Put the sugar and corn syrup in a pan and heat using medium high heat.
3. If you need to roast the peanuts, then put them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. If it's roasted to your satisfaction then stop otherwise continue roasting in 30 second intervals.
4. Remove the coverings of the peanut and split them in half. If you want you can also coarsely chop them in food processor.
5. After the sugar syrups has come to a boil, add the peanuts. Stir often.
6. Put a drop of the sugar syrup in cold water (I used refrigerated water). If the drop hardens to a hard candy, then turn off the heat.
7. Mix in the baking soda and butter. This needs to be done quickly so that the mixture doesn't cool down.
8. Take out the baking sheet from the oven and spread the mixture on the lined sheet. The mixture cools very quickly so this needs to be done fast.
9. 
   Let the mixture cool.
10. Break the brittle into pieces.
11. This brittle is certified delicious! :)

Private by James Patterson

It was after a long time that I read a James Patterson novel and I was expecting to be totally thrilled and immersed in it. Sadly that did not happen. In fact a third into the novel and I felt like I was watching Criminal Minds where some psycho killers had gone ahead and committed some murders. The only difference here was that there were a couple of other stories going alongside which made more sense.It did get a little more interesting after half way.

There are a couple of mysteries being solved in parallel in this novel: a match fixing which could blow away careers if confirmed, the murder of a wife and the only suspect is her husband who happens to be the investigator's best friend (yes that's his only claim to fame!), the trouble that the investigator's brother is in and the threat calls to the investigator. I don't know why people have highly rated this novel. To me the only thing that made it worth reading was having so many stories together.

It's a light read and would be good if you've nothing else to read or do.