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.
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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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
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.
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.
On Friday, I got out a bunch of asparagus that we put in water to keep it fresh in order to make some asparagus soup. When I got the bunch out, I noticed that one of the spears was much longer than the others and another was already showing signs of sprouting as well.
The largest spear had been growing in the measuring cup I use to hold the bunch while we’re getting ready to use them a few days after buying them in the produce department at the supermarket. I can’t recall seeing any other asparagus spears doing this well (if doing at all) in the shallow water in the cup.
The bottom line is that I chopped up all of the asparagus in the bunch, added some savory ingredients and some bread to thicken the mixture. I then put the mixture in the blender to render a nice aromatic mix. I topped it off at the serving table with some pancetta (Italian bacon) as a garnish. Needless to say, it was a very tasty and healthy late lunch soup that we enjoyed on last Friday.
Yes, I’m good. Click on the image to enlarge.
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We don’t normally go out on the weekends, but today we had occasion to drive to the post office and then to deposit a check that came in the mail at the bank. We also did some shopping while we were in that end of town (Old Wickenburg).
As we drove through the old section, we noticed a lot of two-wheelers parked at the cafes downtown. We hear the bikes on the weekends from home, but rarely get to see some of the nice motorcycles in person. This bunch of bikers were enjoying some of the great Mexican food available at the only Mexican restaurant in old downtown. Click on the image to enlarge.
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