Snapshots

Hi! Yes, I do still exist. This seems to be a trend. I post a bunch of stuff, then disappear for awhile. This disappearance is really less about me being a delinquent blogger and more about me being sick and then busy as a result of being sick. Anyway, this post will invariably be long, because instead of posting 16 mini-posts, I'm going to just post a miscellaneous bunch of stuff at once.

~~~1~~~

The last time I posted was way back in September, and I was sick for then entire following week. Then I got put on antibiotics and spent another week recovering. I missed 5 days of work (well...technically it was only 4, because I was silly and went in for a couple hours on a couple different days even though I was feeling horrible.). When I finally went to the doctor, the diagnosis was a great combo of flu-sinus infection-bronchitis. Yuck! No wonder I felt terrible.

~~~2~~~

I have a new blog in my sidebar! And...you guessed it...hence a Blog of the Week! The new blog is called Heart of the Mission. It is written by my dear friend Nettie, who belongs to a awesome group called InnerChange. She's going to be sharing stories about her life in the crazy city of San Francisco, CA! So stop by and visit her occasionally!

~~~3~~~

I am sitting here in the middle of making Chai Latte Cupcakes. The recipe is from a book of vegan cupcake recipes that I received as a shower gift from Ruth and Nicole. No, I haven't gone vegan. But since I'm just starting to try the recipes, I want to see how they are going to work with both non-dairy and dairy ingredients. So I'm making 2 batches...one with soy milk and yogurt and the other with cow milk and yogurt. I don't think it should make a big difference, but it will be an interesting comparison.

In case you were wondering how I can blog "in the middle" of making cupcakes...well...I'm at Steven's place, and so I discovered that I'm missing some of the spices I needed (ground cloves and cardamom). I asked if he had them when we were at the grocery store, and he said yes. When I actually got to the baking part though, I discovered that what he actually had were whole cloves and coriander. Coriander and cardamom are not equivalent. So he's out buying me spices, and I'm blogging. (Actually, he just got back, so I'm going back to cupcake making. I'll be back to finish this post shortly...)

Okay, the vegan batch is cooling and the dairy batch is in the oven. These cupcakes are topped with a dusting of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg after they are completely cool. They smell pretty tasty! They aren't too hard to make. The most "complicated" part is almost-boiling the milk and steeping black tea in it for 10 minutes. Otherwise, very easy.

I'm making these cupcakes to take to potluck at the office tomorrow. No, Steven and I aren't going to eat 24 cupcakes all by ourselves.

UPDATE: After a taste test, both versions are very good. The vegan version was a touch fluffier while the dairy version had a stronger flavor of the spices and tea. I don't know if the fluffiness was due to the different ingredients or due to the fact that the batter sat with the leavening agents in it for 30 minutes while waiting for the final spices.

~~~4~~~

Tomorrow is Columbus Day, which means that our offices are closed. It is not a holiday however. It is a staff inservice day. So in the morning we are doing True Colors training, which should be interesting. Then we are having potluck. The afternoon will be devoted to office/file cleaning and departmental work. We are going to be doing some long-range (read: 3 months) planning and Garden Show planning. Then maybe I will do some file cleaning. I have 3 file drawers of stuff, and I can probbaly throw away some of it.

~~~5~~~

This past Thursday-Saturday was State Master Gardener Advanced Training Conference. (Why do conferences always have such cumbersome long names? Seriously. Maybe they have doubts about their own value and importance?) So I was in Manhattan, KS with the other Hort staff, 50 of our MGs, and a bunch of other MGs and Hort agents from around the state. I taught a class about edible flowers on Friday afternoon. Most of the classes I attended were not very earth-shattering or exciting. A couple of them were well done. But they were also on a level for the Master Gardeners, not professional horticulturists. I did discover that one of the other hort agents, who we characterize as a "turf guy" actually loves tree fruit. And I spent 15 minutes sharing about growing potatoes and what exactly are "new potatoes" with one of the other hort agents.

~~~6~~~

This week is moving week. Yes, I'm moving...again! I'm actually sick of moving. Rather, I'm sick of all the details involved in changing your address. My address isn't really changing this time, just my apartment number. I'm moving from Apt. 624 to Apt. 903 at the same address. So this may be your notice. I'm moving from my one bedroom, third floor apartment to a two bedroom, first floor apartment. The theory is that after Steven and I are married, we will be able to fit all our stuff in...or at least stack a bunch of stuff in that second bedroom, er...storage room. So we will have a guest bed, you are welcome to visit us. We just make no guarantee that you will be able to find the bed.

~~~7~~~

I'm teaching the vegetable class of our MG Basic Training this coming Thursday. Hopefully I will encourage a lot of our MGs to think outside the box regarding growing vegetables. I'm also planning to make a salad for the lunch potluck with a bunch of veggies from our demo garden. We have some very tasty Watermelon Radishes out there that I think will really set off a salad. The Cucamelons are finally producing, and we still have a few cherry tomatoes on the vines. I think I'll be able to get a good salad out of it.

Okay, I guess that's it for now. I'll try to get around to more updating later this week.