Monday, May 19, 2008

Taiwan '08

Here I come! See y'all on the flip side.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Nip 'em in the bud

Gardening is not really my thing, but I do what I gotta do to make my yard somewhat presentable. The lovely little landscaped flowerbed in my front yard has been an eyesore for quite awhile. Last year, weeds took it over, and I just turned a blind eye. This year, I vowed to reclaim what's rightfully mine. So, on Sunday, I set about clearing away the Creeping Charlie, dandelions, ivy and grass that had invaded my flowerbed. Surprisingly, I found the work to be relaxing, and dare I say, enjoyable? I'm not finished yet, but I think I made some good progress.

Before
AfterAs much as I would like to say that those plants grew three-fold just by me clearing away the weeds, alas, that's not the case. These pictures were taken a couple of weeks apart.


Rhubarb

One of the best things about my yard is my little rhubarb plant out back. It cooks up into some really tasty desserts, which is great for me since I love all things sweet. Tonight, I baked a rhubarb crisp.

Since desserts are clearly my weakness, I always look for ways to tweak the recipes to make them just a smidgen more nutritious without compromising the deliciousness. So, without further adieu, here's my tweaked recipe:

Rhubarb Crisp*
Part one
2 cups diced rhubarb
2 T. flour
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar (I like my rhubarb tart; you can adjust the sugar to your tastes)

Part two
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour (I used equal parts white flour and wheat flour)
1/4 cup oatmeal
2-3 T. margarine

Dump the rhubarb into a greased baking dish (I used an 8x8 casserole dish). Sprinkle with flour and sugar from part one. In a separate bowl, combine the ingredients from part two. Use two table knives to cut the ingredients together until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of the rhubarb. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

My rhubarb plant. I don't have a picture of the rhubarb crisp because I started eating it almost as soon as it got out of the oven.

*Hey, family! This was originally Inez's recipe from everyone's favorite yellow cookbook.