Sunday Puzzles A Mother's Day Cryptogram

 Happy Mother's Day to everyone! Sorry this is a bit small and a bit late.  Hope you have a lovely day.

In The Garden With The Vegetables (Spoiler Alert The Beet Did It).

 I must say after a long winter of reading and eating bon bons, getting a garden planted in spring is a lot of physical work. 

Hoisting trays of plants and dirt.

Using my trusty Groundbreaker to hack roots out of my raised beds so I can plant in them.

Moving lawn furniture around.

This week, I hacked out a place in Raised Bed One for two rows of fingerling potatoes. They were all sprouting like mad so I didn’t “chit” them ( a word that raises my hackles somehow so I more often rebel as not and don’t chit). Pictures when I find them. 

I’ve been using my camera rather than my iPad which continues to inch toward death.

I did use it today to take a picture of Raised Bed 3 which has three kinds of peas, five shallots in a row, a large number of red onions in a row, and three lettuces I purchased last week while plant bingeing.

Why yes, I did over plant those peas. This bed is a target for creature attacks. It could all be dug out by morning. For sure if there’s an undetected rabbit in the yard, he will get those lettuce.

Needer, rabbit boy. I planted only three lettuce here and the others from the packs are off the ground in pots. The lone strawberry I purchased so far is in a pot. The three beets I purchased are in a big bowl that I can move into a shadier spot if need be.  I saw a recipe for pickled beets this morning by chance. Grow, little beets, grow!

First Line Friday May 6, 2022

 

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1532/1532-h/1532-h.htm

What’s Cooking May 5, 2022

 I love the cabinet in this picture. It looks like it has plenty of storage and charm but doesn’t take up much space. 

My original plan for Mother's Day was to order pizza and work in the garden all day.  We are now having a roast chicken, corn, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy and coleslaw. Cupcakes and cookies for dessert.

How oddly difficult it is to find a roast chicken recipe that doesn't have you somehow stuffing or loading on lemons.  Lemon and chicken aren't a flavor match for me.  I think in my head it's like a mini turkey.

 

Reading through a number of recipes I decided to follow most of the directions for Dinner Then Dessert's Perfect Simple Roast Chicken.

 

https://dinnerthendessert.com/perfect-simple-roast-chicken/ 

 

Starting out your chicken at 425 then dropping to 375 after 12-15 minutes seems a consensus to seal in the juices.  Trussing the chicken sounds awful, but it apparently helps the baking process by holding heat in.  She mentions lemons but I'm ignoring that. What fun things we learn while cooking.

 

I find myself putting adorable little kitchen charms in my China cabinet. Not so many as this.

I hate to be that person who finds recipes and immediately tweaks them, but in the case of macaroni and cheese, I've tried so may variations and none are very flavorful, no matter how nice the cheese I use is.

So, Baker By Nature's "Extra Creamy Stovetop Mac and Cheese" had great ingredients, but I really like my macaroni and cheese baked, so I didn't make it on the stovetop.  

 

I halved the recipe, and used Penne Pasta which I'm favoring for mac and cheese these days. 

I didn't have whole milk and used 2%, and used Havarti cheese I had on hand rather than Fontina.

This is the delicious, tasty, creamy mac and cheese I've been searching for.  I would just cut the cayenne pepper back in half once more, to 1/8 tsp, as it is quite "warm" at 1/2 tsp.

May The 4th Be With You

 Enjoy the day, you will.

Book Notes May 3, 2022

 Coming this fall, the sequel to Terry Brooks Child of Light.

Read Louise Penny's most recent newsletter:

https://mailchi.mp/louisepenny/2022may-newsletter

 

I placed my votes this weekend for the Anthony Awards which will be given out at Bouchercon. Very exciting!

Congratulations to the Edgar Award Winners!

https://crimereads.com/mwa-announces-the-2022-edgar-award-winners/ 

 

No book review today!  I'm enjoying Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos, but am still early on. It will be ready next week with two other books, so we'll make up for lost time.

Gardening Goals For May 2022

 

There are many other fine details, of course.  Perennials will also go in pots briefly (I hope) until I'm certain there isn't a rabbit in the yard this spring to devour them.

It goes without saying that weeds need to be under control by month's end as well, because if you go into June with them, you'll never catch up.

I was looking at some older pictures of my garden and there are always a few things I'd like to do again:

Find pink daisies!

 

I should use my DOA in The Garden "logo".  I need a new "DOA" skellie to dress up for the garden. The one above had a large floppy head.  

I gave my sister 99 percent of my daylilys, and now I'd like to collect a few again.  I looked for a couple of varieties I had particularly liked and no one has them.  Many nurseries I used to order from are no more.  I will keep looking.

 

My garden hasn't been quite as cute, the last couple of years.  I need it to look more like this.

 

I need to find a caladium for this pot :)  Miss that Beagle Boy in the background.

 

I've had this in the house waiting to freshen the paint for quite awhile.  Isn't it so sweet?

Librariandoa's Cipher Sunday Puzzle May 1, 2022

 Welcome to the merry, merry month of May.  Here's a cipher puzzle to warm you up!

Librariandoa's Sunday Word Finds The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

 

Sunday Puzzles: A Mother's Day Word Find

 Why, yes, it is a week early for Mother's Day. This is Word Find Week in the puzzle rotation, though, and the theme is perfect.  It also gives me an opportunity to make a collage of my mom's pictures and of Reading Moms.