An Embroidery Day

Hello, everyone.  It's a clear, cool day here in South Texas--none of that frozen stuff around. In fact, this is the kind of spell we call "Chamber of Commerce weather " because it's so pleasant. 

After much fussing and nagging myself, I have gotten the work zone of the embroidery machine cleared off enough for work. 

Today for the first time I am using cotton duck for an embroidery and it's a dream! It is more stable than most fabrics I have embroidered on and the stitches are coming out good. 

It's thrilling to be back at the embroidery again.

Two new finishes

Hello, everyone.  Last week's cold weather didn't kill everything,  thank heaven. There is one pretty badly crisped basil that lost its cover during the first night. We gave it a new cover and generally improved all of the covers for the second night, and it seems to have survived after all.

All of this stay-inside weather has encouraged sewing. An orphan block became a pillow cover. 

Also some little pieces of trimmings turned into a Barbie doll sized pillow.

The quarter is there for size. 

Little quick finishes like these are just encouraging. Also they get fabric out of the sewing room.

Cold Weather Makes Us Work

Hello, everyone.  We had a lovely day today, weather wise, but it's supposed to get cold here for a few days. By cold, I mean freezing.

Basil plants

Tomatoes

Cannas, mostly

Potted cacti and some amarillis pots

The avocado tree has to make do with what I can reach.

Various pots. Some are Caribbean tree cactus.

When we heard the weather forecast, we remembered that we still have a few incandescent lights strings. (The one between the tree and the potteded cacti is LED, but it connects to an incandescent string. And it's just lying in the grass.) We put the strings out tonight, and we're planning to add old-bedsheet tents to hold in the warmth.  The tree, which has some strings wrapped around it, is too big for a tent.

All of y'all who live in snow-digger country, try not to laugh too hard!

Thinned the radishes a little today

Hello, everyone. We have been having a beautiful day today, with sunshine. We are also having the south winds that precede another cool front. Winter has finally arrived, I guess.

I dug out two of the white radishes today so the others can have some room.

This is the larger one. I use them in tortilla Espanola in place of potatoes. I also used them in the garlic shrimp on toast that was pictured recently. 

There are also a lot of green tops, which are good in Brother Victor's radish greens soup. (From _Twelve Months of Monastery Soups_ by Brother Victor Antoine d'Avila-Latourette)

These are the long, Japanese type of daikon radish. They're said to be good for loosening up tight clay soils.

An open-faced sandwich

Hello, everyone.  There are projects underway, but none is ready to show yet. There was, however,  an experiment in the kitchen. 

This is an open-faced sandwich with garlic shrimp and daikon on toast. It was delicious. 

I cut up and salted the radish to ease out some of the excess water. Put oil in the pan to warm up, then started cooking the radish pieces. When they were well along, added a pouch of frozen Costco garlic shrimp and let them all cook together.  At the end, dolloped the shrimp mixture and sauce onto toast slices. Yum!

I don't have proof of it, but I think the radish pieces are lower in carbs than similarly sized potato pieces.

Christmas season is winding down...

Hello, everyone.  Christmas is not just one day, it's a season. Today is Twelvth Night, Epiphany, the classic end of the season.

Happy Three Kings' Day, everyone. 

If you have a party with the Rosca, may you find the little baby hidden in the cake.