The kids and I fancy ourselves Harvard students...

Signed up for another EdX course today (currently finishing up a course on comic books).  This one is Science & Cooking and is being offered for free by Harvard. The kids are I are going to be doing the course together.  I have no idea what we'll get out of it but hopefully we'll accidentally learn a thing or two.

Dinner:  I decided to go ahead and pick the peas early so that I won't have to deal with so many right before we leave.  Sauteed them up with some broccoli, asparagus, and zucchini.  Threw in some fresh basil, pinch of kosher salt and a splash of lemon juice - not too shabby.

Also went with the easy option for protein.  We get these at Costco.  They aren't anywhere near as good as salmon cakes but for a reasonably quick meal option (25 minutes from frozen) they aren't that bad.  Speaking of Costco - anyone else feel the kick to the shin when they upped the price on the Udi's bread?  Love the larger loaves of bread though.  Too bad they aren't all that size that's what she said.  Perhaps this will be the push we need to try making bread again.

 

I didn't end up getting a picture of the finished product because I got distracted by this little lady getting herself all gussied up for no other reason than it made her happy.

 

Honey? Super!

Got the honey super added this morning.  Didn't end up taking the camera to get shots inside the hive because I had a smoker issue and well...  lets just say they bees have been happier.  Good news is that I somehow managed not to get stung and the bees seem no worse for the wear.  Found and clipped two Queen cells, saw good brood patterns, and lots of honey stored.  I'm taking these as good signs.  Every time I see a queen cell I am tempted to divide and conquer and start a new colony - haven't been brave enough yet.  Always open to hearing the experiences and opinions of others on the matter.

Here are some pictures and videos of the ladies telling me where to go after adding the super.

Enjoy!

Sun Tea and Beekeeping

A day full of vacation prep, sun tea making, errand running, beekeeping, and we still managed to squeeze in time to play in the water.  Tomorrow I will be adding the first honey super to the backyard hive.  I decided to go with a 10 frame medium deep super and to stick with the black plastic foundation.  I'm planning to take the frames to someone with an extractor this year so plastic foundation seemed the best way to go.  Next year I'll try my hand at some cut comb honey.

OH yeah... I have bees now.  That happened while you were I was away.  They are super amazing wonderful creatures and I just love to watch them.  I never would have guessed that being in the middle of a bee hive with tons of buzzing while wearing a suit that makes me sweat gallons would be a relaxing, meditative activity for this little ball of anxiety.  Love this crazy life.

Here are some fun pictures from our day.  With any luck I'll be able to catch some pictures and some video at the hive tomorrow.

     

Herb Cubes

You might want to take a step back...  I'm attempting something I saw on Pinterest.  We always end up with more fresh herbs than we can use - what an awfully wonderful problem to have.  With the extra basil I'm making herb and olive oil ice cubes.  I'll have to come up with a good excuse to use one of these soon to see if its worth preserving the rest of the herbs this way.

I used kitchen shears and cut the basil up and distributed it in the ice cube tray and then topped them off with olive oil.  Put the tray in the freezer and the next morning I had herb cubes.  I chose to reuse an ice cream container to store them, hopefully that is a choice I won't regret.

 

Garden Marinara and Rice

It is getting to be the time of year when veggies are all I can think about.  Last nights dinner ended up being a mix of roasted veggies in some marinara sauce served over rice.  Even Sydney ate it and she claims to hate cooked vegetables.

True to form I measured nothing so this is a guesstimation :

1 head of broccoli florets chopped into bite sized pieces
10 spears of asparagus chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 container of sliced mushrooms
1 small Zucchini
1 onion
about 1 1/2 cups jarred marinara

preheat oven to 350.  Place broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms and zucchini on a baking sheet.  Coat very lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Bake for 30-45 minutes.  While those vegetables are roasting saute your onion in about a tablespoon of butter.  Be sure to use a pan large enough to add your roasted vegetable to when they come out of the oven.  Once the onion is soft and starts to caramelize add your marinara sauce and let them simmer together.  When your roasted vegetables are done add them to the pan and coat everything with sauce.  Serve over rice.  If you're smarter than me you will have set your rice cooker up right after you put the veggies in the oven so that everything is finished at roughly the same time.  Pro tip:  remember to turn the rice cooker ON.

Evening in the garden.

Spent some time this evening tiptoeing through the garden.
So much to love about this time of year.

 

 

Water bending garden warrior 

Black Eyed Susans, one of my favorites.

Had to redirect these pumpkin friends to keep
them out of the neighbors yard.

Feed me Seymour!

Hey...

Remember when I used to have a blog?  Remember that blog challenge from 2013 that I never finished?

Well, here I go again...  Once more, with feeling!