Happy Independence Day
We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable 4th of July. We will be barbecuing, watching fireworks and we’ll put on a DVD after that. Click on the eagle to see a larger view.
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Archive for Food & Dining
Campsite Setup in Palm Desert
Our absence from posting here is, in part, due to our recent excursion to the People’s Republik of Kalifornistan. A necessary evil, since we want to keep in touch with our new grandson face-to-face in his first years so he knows who we are. We have been to this particular campground just about every month since grandbaby’s birth last August.
Bob took this image of the campsite after getting all the stuff out for grilling steaks and corn on the cob. This menu requires both camp grills since there are six steaks and six ears of corn to prepare simultaneously. The one grill hooks into the RV propane tank and the other, smaller grill, has a small bottle of propane attached. One grill for corn and one for the tenderloin steaks.
The baby’s first birthday is next month and, of course, we can’t miss that event, so we’ll be out there again in a few weeks. All of the traffic, the obnoxious politics out in K-stan and the hot weather at near sea level in the low desert this summer notwithstanding, it is worth the minor discomforts for us to be able to go to see this wonderful new addition to our family.
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Independence Day 2016
We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable celebration of our independence on this 4th of July. As for us, we cooked bacon cheeseburgers and roasted corn on the grill outdoors and later will be watching baseball on TV and the fireworks afterwards. We might be able to see some of the local fireworks launched from Sunset Park about five miles to the west.
Click on the eagle to see a larger view.
Lemon Harvest
It has been quite cool here for the past several nights. We actually found some ice topping one of the rain barrels this morning. It was then that we decided to harvest the lemons from our little lemon tree. The tree will be covered afterward to prevent any frost damage.
This harvest was a bit smaller than last year, but there are plenty of lemons to provide for our needs as well as for giving away to one of the senior care centers. One of the ladies on the staff makes lemon pies from scratch, so they appreciate them.
As for us, we will be skinning a bunch of lemons for Limoncello, and freezing “juice cubes” to be used as needed for cooking this coming year. Click on the image to enlarge.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
We have so much to be thankful for this year. We’re in good health, blessed by God’s bounty and have a wonderful extended family.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and to yours!
CB&D
Indications of Summer
It’s still 17 days to Beltane, the mid-point between the Vernal Equinox and Summer Solstice, the latter of which is still sixty-some days away. The daily Low and high temperatures are on the increase and the local supermarket is already carrying summer-seasonal products as shown in the image above. These are all signs that summer will soon be here.
Now, don’t get us wrong; we like the triple-digit temperatures and the fact that all of the snowbirds are gone. The roads and the aisles in the supermarket are clear of the ’snow zombies’ as we like to call the town’s itinerant winter population.
Plus, I like the Summer Ale.
Lemon Blossoms
It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were harvesting lemons from our little tree by the RV drive, but now the lemon production cycle is already starting again. I took this photo of one of the fragrant blossoms being pollinated by a honey bee today. Click on the image to enlarge.
We had intended, and still intend, to trim much of the tree back to eliminate some of the dead branches and suckers low on the trunk and in the ground. If we happen to lop off a few blossoms in the process, it probably won’t make that much difference in the yield this fall. We had way more lemons than we could use last season and gave a lot of them away.
Of course, we will be making more Limoncello and freezing lemon juice in ice cube trays* to keep until needed for cooking, etc. We’re looking forward to our next lemon harvest.
* Freeze the juice in trays, pop the cubes into a bag and keep in the freezer until you need some juice, then take out only what you need, keeping the rest frozen.
