Feeding My Curiosity

Spring Bees!

2010-04-03T14:15:00.003-04:00

Happy day!

I'm proud to report that my bees have made it through their first Cambridge winter.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

2010-02-18T09:00:00.003-05:00

These biscuits are Belle, Sadie, Elsa, Rudy & Lilly tested. I started with the recipe below, then realized that any mix of natural ingredients mixed in to form a workable dough will work. (Try banana adding banana and more whole wheat flour or bacon and parmesan!) I also substituted cornmeal for some of the whole wheat flour in a batch.

Ingredients:

1 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. rolled oats
1 t. baking powder
1 C. peanut butter
1 large egg
milk, enough to moisten

Directions: Mix ingredients together well. Form into a ball, roll out to 1/4 inch thickness with a rolling pin. Cut into desired shapes, place on cookie sheets and bake in 350 oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Cool on rack and air dry.

glass blowing at Snow Farm

2009-11-21T22:12:00.003-05:00

Snow Farm, in Williamsburg MA (near Northampton), hosted an artists' sale today--pottery, glass, jewelry, wood turning, textiles.

As a teaser to their weekend and week-long programs, they hosted a glass-blowing demo today, seen here making an ornament. It looks like I knew what I was doing.

Virtual Jam Swap with UTHC

2009-11-05T09:50:00.004-05:00

Aimee Bourque at Under the High Chair is featuring 25 scrumptious, sophisticated and stunning summer and fall jam, jelly and butter submissions in the 2009 Jam Swap.

Check out my Red Pepper w/ Tequila recipe!

There may still be time for one more batch of jelly this season.
On Saturday I'll pick some rose hips on the north shore and see what I can make from them.

I'll keep you "post"ed...

Fall in Cambridge

2009-10-25T21:07:00.003-04:00

Every morning the last two weeks I've reminded myself that I'm grateful for fall in New England.

Cape Time

2009-10-14T13:19:00.002-04:00

It doesn't get better than "Cape time" in Chatham. The beach, clamming, a hike...

Harvard Polo

2009-10-05T08:58:00.002-04:00

I went to my first polo match, Harvard v. Yale, on Sunday afternoon at Myopia Polo / Myopia Hunt in Hamilton, MA. College polo is 3-on-3 in an arena, played in 4 7 1/2 minute chukkas (periods). Congrats to the Harvard team who won, 13-11.

Newbury Street

2009-09-27T18:55:00.002-04:00

You never know what you'll run into on Newbury Street. On Saturday the School of Fashion Design had a sidewalk trunk sale--selling samples, drawings, mannequins and hand painted silk scarf "seconds."

Eat Local: Concord Grape Jelly

2009-09-23T11:55:00.012-04:00

The smell of Concord grapes always reminds me of the fall and Sunday visits at my grandparents. This quintuple batch of jelly was made with Concord grapes from an arbor on the patio at the Masters' Residence in Pforzheimer House. We didn't even make a dent in picking them, so I'm recruiting a new batch of jelly makers for this Friday afternoon.

I should mention that jelly making is a full contact sport. But it went quickly--with Alex, Amy and Felicia, we made 36 pints (plus some extra) in less than 3 hours!

Great Night at Fenway!

2009-09-17T22:40:00.001-04:00

Blackbird Nest

2009-09-06T09:52:00.009-04:00

On my trip to Peterborough, Ontario back in June, we discovered a blackbird nest in the charcoal grill. There was really no way to move the nest--it filled the whole grill. After our short disturbance, the mother never returned. I collected the nest and brought it back with me with the idea of creating something like this. It's crocheted from two strands of 100% wool, with some of the original nest materials woven and tucked inside. To finish it, I felted it in some hot soapy water.

The Fruits of their Labor

2009-08-16T21:43:00.019-04:00

Nancy came by this weekend to help me figure out why I have a "beard" of bees at the hive entrance every night. It's like there's not enough room in the inn-- even though I added a shallow "honey super" a couple of weeks ago. By taking the hive apart and looking at the frames, we found that the bees haven't built out a bit of the comb in the shallow super at the top, and have instead been storing the sugar syrup below. (The idea of this was to feed the young bees who do not yet go out an forage for nectar and encourage them to focus on building wax.) Apparently it has been too hot this week for my plan to work. Upon inspection, we found lots of brood, so the queen is strong and doing good work, and a full frame of honey on each end. We'll just leave them to work out the space issue on their own. There were two full frames of honey in that box--one on each end--so I harvested one.

Extracting the honey was an unbelievably sticky mess--clearly a once a year "hose down the kitchen when you're done" job!
The full set of photos are here.

Francestown, NH wildflowers

2009-08-14T23:19:00.009-04:00

1. heal all, 2. goldenrod, 3. white and purple phlox, 4. cardinal flower, 5. wild geranium,
6. spotted touch me not, 7. bull thistle, 8. rose canpion, 9. joe pye weed, 10. wild aster,
11. blazing star, 12. queen anns lace, 13. birds-foot trefoil, 14. rose hips, 15. blue vervain,
16. common tansy, 17. red clover, 18. harebell, 19. boneset, 20. orange hawkweed

These are all flowers I photographed last week on a short walk around Jim & Sue's farmhouse in Francestown, NH. I've included the common names--please let me know if I have any wrong.

Lemon Beehive Cake

2009-08-14T07:58:00.002-04:00

I don't think you can go wrong with lemon and honey. Last week when I was out with Debbie, I found this cake pan at Williams-Sonoma.
The recipe that came with the pan is excellent.
In fact, I think I'll use it for the cupcakes next time.

Photo credit: Thanks Felicia!

Francestown, NH

2009-08-09T21:18:00.007-04:00

It didn't take much for me to talk Jim McCarthy into taking me fly fishing on Saturday night.

There's a small pond connected to a stream behind their farm house in Francestown, NH that is stocked each year with trout.

This is the brown trout that he caught before the sun went down and the bugs got the best of us.

Lowell Quilt Festival

2009-08-09T21:15:00.003-04:00

I met up with Sue McCarthy at the Lowell Quilt Festival on Saturday. This quilt was made by Catherine Harnish from Methuen, MA from 63 neckties and 6 denim shirts that were given to her to make a quilt for a friend whose step father had died.

Beach Day

2009-08-07T22:13:00.005-04:00

It was a perfect beach day, spent at Fourth Cliff in Humarock/Situate, MA--an Air Force recreation area.

What's Blooming Today

2009-08-02T15:06:00.006-04:00

This week in the neighborhood, I found (my?) bees on globe thistle, russian sage and echinacea (purple cone flower).

Red Pepper Jam with Tequila

2009-08-02T14:21:00.019-04:00

In June the last two years, I've joined my family on a week-long "fishing trip" to Buckhorn Lake in Ontario. After finding Kwartha Country Wines last year, I made sure to head back again--they have a really great tasting bar and gift shop. In addition to making traditional red and white grape wines, they have a quirky selection of wines made from Ontario fruit, including rhubarb, pumpkin and maple syrup. Most of all, I have liked their wine jellies, and have brought home a merlot wine jelly and red pepper jam with tequila each year. This year the red pepper jam was gone far too soon, so today I went about recreating it. I think I came very close.

Red Pepper Jam with Tequila
2 red peppers
3 serrano peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
1 1/4 C. white vinegar
5 C. sugar
2 pkg. liquid pectin (Certo)
1/3 C. tequila

Seed and roughly chop the red and hot peppers, pulse in food processor until finely chopped.
Heat peppers and vinegar in a 4 quart pot, bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes .
Add sugar and return to a boil for 5 minutes.
Add pectin and tequila and boil again for 1-2 minutes.
Remove from heat and skim off foam.
Fill sterilized jars and process according to the manufacturer's directions. (I put the sealed/filled jars in a boiling hot water bath for 10 minutes.)

From this batch I made 7 weck small tulip jars (1/5 liter each).

It seems to me that how many of the serrano / jalapeno peppers you use is a judgment call. At first I only used one of each, but I tasted with the vinegar and sugar, and it seemed to need more. When I open these in a week or so, I think I'll have a better idea if I over did it!

I serve this on crackers or thin slices of toasted baguette with a mild cheese. I love the sweet-spicy-creamy balance and the cheery color.

Making jam yourself?
Join the virtual jam swap hosted by"Under the High Chair"

An update from UtHC...

Festooning Bees

2009-07-27T17:32:00.003-04:00

Even after I added a second hive body a few weeks ago, the bees had been bunching up at the entrance in the evenings. So last week Nancy helped me open the hive and move frames of brood up a box to encourage them to "move in" to their new addition. It has helped, but some of the bees are persistently at the hive entrance, and a lot are there through the night. When I checked this morning, I found a string of bees dangling from the landing board. This is called festooning. When we rearranged the frames, I had seen bees linked up together across the spans between the missing frames--like a garland. It is a normal part of young bee behavior to link together in this way when they are secreting wax and making comb. I was a little surprised to find them hanging off the bottom board, but who am I to tell them to move?

Clamming in Chatham

2009-07-22T21:06:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, Shelly was nice enough to teach me how to dig for clams on Cape Cod. These are large hard shelled quahogs, and we dug about 30 in less than a half hour. There was a whole incident with my rubber boots getting suction cupped in the mud before I gave up and went barefoot. I ditched the rake too, and end ended up just feeling around for the clams with my foot. I'd recommend sticking with the gloves though--I also had a run-in with a horseshoe crab, which has vary sharp claws.

We made made stuffed baked clams with these. The recipe calls for steaming the clams and then chopping them in the stuffing--very quick and easy. I've heard that trying to pry open the live clams can be really hard, and dangerous to boot. Shelly and I agreed that you might want to substitute a dried stuffing mix for all or part of the breadcrumbs recommended in the recipe--to your liking.

Bees in the Neighborhood

2009-07-21T08:52:00.004-04:00

I can't say for sure these are "my" bees, but they were all out working within a couple hundred yards of my house this week, so it is likely.

Puppy Love

2009-07-20T21:49:00.001-04:00

The time must be right, because Anthony & Chris are getting a golden puppy. She's 4 weeks old. Since dicisussion on her name seems to continue, I'll hold out on an announcement. I think the photos say the rest.

Meat Eaters Only: Texas Slow-Smoked Brisket

2009-07-14T23:49:00.011-04:00

This winter I decided to serve brisket at a dinner party. As I searched for recipes, I learned that there are two completely different approaches to brisket--one I think of as Jewish, the other Texan--both take all day. For the dinner party I went with a recipe from Ina Garten--brisket with carrot and onion. It was a great choice for serving 12, and it turned out great, but I vowed that I would try the other version come summer.

Here are the results. I used a dry BBQ rub from Saveur magazine, and their instructions for a slow-smoked brisket (the Texas issue, July 2009). After marinating in the rub overnight, it calls for building coals on one side of the grill and placing the brisket over a pan of water on the other side of the grill. Keeping the grill in the 225-250 degree range for 4-5 hours was a little tricky, but I got the hang of it after awhile. Then you wrap the brisket in foil, cover it with beer and cook it for another 2 hours before letting it rest for an hour. It was an all day project, but not labor intensive. Completely worth it.

I also made the grapefruit sheet cake from the same issue of Saveur--yum! Photos next time, I promise.

Photo credit: Thanks Mario!

Tall Ships

2009-07-13T21:43:00.004-04:00

I spent the afternoon on Sunday at Sail Boston, checking out the tall ships in the Boston Harbor. The photos are from aboard the Kruzenshtern, from Russia.

Marzipan Bees on Honey Lemon Cupcakes

2009-07-08T09:28:00.011-04:00

Inspired by Jasmine, Confessions of a Cardamom Ad dict, and Couture Cupcakes, I've brought together baking and bees.

I started with plain marzipan and added yellow gel food color, rolled oblong shapes, piped melted chocolate, and added the sliced blanched almond wings.

So much fun!

Bees and Pollen

2009-07-05T11:34:00.006-04:00

Honey bees collect pollen because it is protein-rich food for them.
The ecological byproduct and major bonus for us is that they cross-pollinate plants. Without bee pollination, most fruits, nuts and vegetables we rely upon for food sources would not "set fruit."

When the bees return to the hive, I can tell that some are loaded with nectar (the sugar-rich fluid they extract from flowers and turn into honey). The nectar-loaded bees are slower and heavy, and sometimes miss the landing board on their first attempt.

Others, are returning with pollen. They have visible lumps packed to the hairs near their hind legs (think bicycle pannier). I had read that pollen comes in a range of colors, depending on the plant source, but had only seen yellow-gold until today. Look for the red spot near the center of this photo.

The Sour Cherry Project

2009-07-04T22:09:00.015-04:00

4th of July and sour cherries just go together.
With the rainiest June ever, I was a little surprised that they were ripe, right on schedule.

I drug my ladder over to a neighbor's front yard, and before I could stop myself, the result was over 4 quarts.

They found their first home in this tart.

And then in this jam.

Have I mentioned that I'm ga-ga about these Weck canning jars?

I have a few left, and am thinking homemade ice cream...

About the Bees...

2009-07-04T18:16:00.026-04:00

There have been lots of questions about the bees, and many can't
(or don't wish) to come visit, so I've created a place to share their story. I'll use this space to post photos and write about my varied and sometimes manic interests of the day.

First, here is the "package" in which my 2-3# of bees arrived on May 30. Inside, there was a can of sugar syrup (food for the trip) and a queen, in her own compartment.

I picked up my package of bees from Nancy the Beekeeper in Woburn.

The queen was accompanied by 4 "attendants." She was marked with a blue dot of paint so a beginner like me can find her. More on the queen later. Mostly I just try not to disturb her--she knows how to do her job. I also pray I don't squash her, because if I do, the whole colony is doomed.

This is a Langstroth hive. Each box is open at the top and bottom and has 10 frames of wax foundation (imprinted with the hexagonal design, which the bees use to build out comb. They make babies and store food in the comb. The frames are spaced apart for bees to build comb and leave their favorite 3/8" "bee space" to move around.

Each box--the lower ones called "hive bodies" the ones stacked above called "supers" are like a filing cabinet. You can move these frames around like files. The unit has a base, inner cover and outer cover. The people at the container store would love this--lots of accessories and ways to organize and expand.

I sprayed them with simple syrup through the screen of the package, removed three of the frames, and literally dumped them into the hive. It turns out that they can't really fly away or sting you when they are wet like that.

For a month now, the bees have been building comb, collecting pollen and nectar, the Queen has been laying eggs, and the nurse bees have been tending them. Since gestation is 21 days for worker bees, the first batches are being born now, and things are getting crowded. They were due for an addition, so on Saturday, I added a second hive body.

The top short box is actually empty except for a feeder jar with simple syrup. It's good to have on hand when bees are setting up a new hive.