This and That

Amaryllis Lemon Star

 I've really enjoyed having bulbs in the house for the winter.  I'm not sure why 

but the amaryllis got a really slow start and even though I planted them a week before

Thanksgiving, the first one didn't bloom until the end of January.  

This Lemon Star variety put on an amazing show with two stalks

blooming at the same time.  The other amaryllis bloomed while I was sick so I didn't get a photo but it's sending up a second shoot so I have another chance.

I started the yellow paperwhites at the beginning of February

and they should be opening in the next week.

The snow has melted away and the Endless Summer hydrangea are starting

to reveal themselves... a little crushed.

Since this is the first winter we've had a heavy snow since planting them, it'll

be a good test to see how they handle the heavy snow pack.

I dropped my Lumix camera when I was out taking pictures during Hurricane Sandy.  It limped along, with grinding sound each time I turned it on and the lens extended itself.  It finally succumbed to its injuries after taking pictures of the Christmas tree.  I've been on an austerity program trying to save money for the house so I borrowed a camera from a friend...which I proceeded to drop after doing the door knocker photos.  Oops.  It's doing okay but I'm going to have to buy two cameras now.  

Then my computer died in January.  I'm hoping I can get all of my photos off the old hard drive but they may be lost.  When the computer started to act up, I was at least smart enough to e-mail myself  some of the photos I had taken for future posts (like the last soup post).

I thought I might hang it up but I decided I'd miss you all so much.  I got a new MacBook Air (which I love) but I'm having a terrible time with iPhoto.  Does anyone use iPhoto '11 and have trouble with cropping?  It's driving me crazy.

I'm trying to get the house spruced up for an appraisal and I'm going to try to refinance.  If you have a mortgage, have you looked at interest rates?  Lenders have gotten much more strict since I bought the house but I'm going to give it a go.

You may recall I had taken off the bathroom door to strip it and I never got to it before the weather turned cold.  There sat the door in the bedroom all winter.  I had stripped to this hinges, door knobs and backplates so I rehung the door and replaced the hardware.

I kind of like the crusty backplate and I'm love with the Bennington knob

I found under about 10 layers of paint.

See the damage to the ceiling from the roof leak?  Not too bad but it's the first thing

I notice when I walk in the room.

I'll do a better repair later but I just painted it and it's barely noticeable.

I just hope the appraiser isn't a follower!

I'm embarrassed to show this.  When I painted the bedroom floor, 

I had to keep the door closed to keep the cats out so I wasn't able to paint the threshold.

And I did nothing about it until today!

Ahhh.  So much better!

I don't why it took me five years to figure out I should add some track lights to the kitchen.

I have only one light in the middle of the room and it's sometimes difficult to see what I'm cooking when it's dark outside.  What an inexpensive way to add a lot of light.

Some of you noticed the modern chair in the photo of my nautical inspired Christmas tree.

The chair is one of a pair that a friend gave me when he was buying new furniture.  I thought

the modern pieces would be an interesting addition to the living room but it's unfortunate they're too deep to have them at opposite ends of the coffee table.  I'd have to buy a smaller coffee table.  When something free requires buying something to make it work, I'm not sure it makes sense.

Toward the end of last summer, my neighbors had a fire in their house.  It was a scary day but it was nice to see neighbors pull together to offer whatever they could to help them get through it.  When I found out they needed a bed, I offered my guest bed.  While it seems like a big sacrifice, I had been considering getting a new bed for the guest room so it seemed like a perfect fit.  All of this goes to explain why the twin spindle bed has been moved to the guest room.  I love how it looks and would like to get a new queen-sized version in this style.  Do you know anyone who makes one?

That's what I've been up to.  How 'bout you?

Tom Ka Soup II

To celebrate 100,000 hits on my first Tom Ka soup post, I thought I would do a sequel.

This Tom Ka recipe is vegan but don't be scared!  It's just as delicious as the first version.

I didn't attempt to replace the flavor of the fish sauce with something else--it's just not possible--I've totally reworked the recipe.  I think it still has a very "Thai" flavor profile and is every bit as delicious.  

Tom Ka Vegan

                                   1 carton vegetable stock (4 cups)

                                   1 14 oz. can coconut milk

                                   1 stalk lemongrass

                                   1 4-inch piece fresh ginger

                                   1 bunch cilantro

                                   1/2 large yellow onion

                                   1 lime, juiced

                                   1 tablespoon sriracha or red curry paste (+/- to taste)

Use any combination of your favorite chopped vegetables including:

Pea pods, sweet peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes,

broccoli, carrots, sliced onions, scallions, baby corn, cilantro, basil, fresh ginger, etc.

For more substance you could also add tofu or rice vermicelli. 

I used the lemon grass and ginger...

...the stems of a cilantro bunch and one half an onion to flavor the

vegetable broth as the base for the soup.  I've made this three time using three different vegetable stocks and they're all a little different.  The best version was the Pacific vegetable stock that was heavy on the carrots which made it sweeter.

Peel and slice the ginger, chop the lemon grass, onions, cilantro stems and simmer them in the vegetable stock for about 30 minutes.  Turn off heat and let cool before straining the broth.

When you're ready to serve the soup, return the broth to the pot, heat to a simmer and add coconut milk, sriracha (or chili paste) and lime juice.

While the broth is heating, chop up your vegetables and add them to serving bowls.  Here I've used pea pods, button and oyster mushrooms, sweet yellow papers, baby corn and julienned ginger.  I would guess it's about 1-1/2  cups of vegetables.

This amount of broth will make four good sized bowls of soup (using a little more than one cup of broth per serving).  

To garnish, I mixed some sriracha with some toasted sesame oil and drizzled the red oil on top of the soup and topped with some micro basil.

The broth is really aromatic and feels very restorative.  The spice from the sriracha feels great on the throat if you're feeling a little under the weather.

I hope you enjoy!

The Roof

Before getting up on the roof to do the hard work, I spent a few minutes walking around with my camera to find a few pristine bits of snow.  They don't last long in the city so they're precious.  These were two drifts along the fence just off my back porch.  Despite the hassle caused by so much snow in one night, it's nice to stop and see the beauty that nature can create.

At the back end of my attic there's a little trap door that provides access to a flat roof over my bedroom and the bathroom with the claw foot tub.  The door is about 1-1/2 feet above the roof and the opening was almost completely occluded with a snow drift.  So there was about four feet of snow on the roof.

It's always scary getting out there with so much snow already there.  All I can think is that I'm

going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  But with rain in forecast, I can't risk letting any additional weight sit up there. 

There's just no graceful way to get out there.  It's usually kind of dive.

Just as a safety measure, I try to stay in the middle and throw the snow into my

yard on both sides.  

As I get within six feet of the edge, I kneel down just push the snow over the edge.

And it's nice to take a few minutes to enjoy a view of the neighborhood

that I otherwise never get to see.

 

I signed a contract a few weeks ago to replace the roof.  It's an expense I wasn't

anticipating and unfortuantely the bathroom budget is being partially reallocated.

I've known the roof was at the end of its life since I moved in.  It's never leaked until

recently and as you can see there are shingles missing.

I had a few shingles missing but the winds from Hurricane Sandy tore off several

more and I had a leak in the middle bedroom upstairs.

I was hoping to avoid this job because it sets off a chain of events that I just can't tackle 

all at once.  This old chimney that goes through the edge of the roof will eventually come down to make way for new kitchen windows.  But taking down the chimney to do the roof means work on the siding and new kitchen windows.  To add new windows, I need a variance.  The variance also includes plans for a new window outside the new bathroom and new french doors on the back porches.  If I apply for and get a variance, I have one year to complete the work.  So until I have the savings for all that, I've not wanted to do it.  But the roofer and I debated the problem and we agreed that the chimney will be lowered just enough to repair the eave and finish the new roof.  It'll look stupid until I can finish the job but what's wrong with looking a little stupid?

I'm going to be using architectural shingles--the roofer uses

Certainteed--and they dropped off the samples so I could pick a color.

There are several nice grays so it was harder than I thought to pick one.

I chose Colonial Slate that has little bits of both red and green.

I think it'll look nice.

A few weeks ago, I had a second leak during a heavy wind and rainstorm so

I'm glad this is a project that's going to get taken care of in the short term.

 

I just need the weather to cooperate.

Blizzard

Thanks to everyone for the get-well wishes.  I was down with the flu for about five days.

It wasn't the sickest I've ever been but I guess I was lucky.  I've heard from people who were sick for a few weeks. 

We got about 28 inches of snow literally overnight and I was feeling well enough to get

myself shoveled out today.  I took some before and after photos to share.

This was the first time I've ever seen a front-end loader plowing the streets.

We were lucky compared to many who have no power and others on the waterfront whose

homes were flooded and/or destroyed by astronomically high tides last night and this morning.

We're expecting rain on Monday which will add a lot of additional weight to the snow that's up there so I have to get up my roof tomorrow to shovel it off.

Just another winter day in New England.

Please Excuse Me

It got me.  

 

The flu hit on Wednesday.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

 

I'm just starting to feel normal again so please excuse me while I convalesce.

 

  Photo from one of the topairy houses at Snug Harbor Farm in Maine.

I'm pretty sure it's tea tree and it just makes me happy.