And now onto our regularly scheduled program......

 

The Festival is done!  I have been enjoying the ability to schedule my own day's events.  

It was a great event, and I believe we experienced a record breaking turn out.  We sold out of many of our pastries, including the tsoureki (sweet bread).  The items we have left over will be given to our GOYA chapter for a fundraiser they have this coming Sunday.  We made way too much baklava cheesecake, and not enough kourabiedes.  Why do the popular ones have to be the ones that are so darn messy?  There's no getting away from baking those without powdered sugar on your clothes and shoes.  I think we also had chocolate dipped paximadia left over too, which is surprising.   

 

 

This is the scene before the official opening....which doesn't include the variety packs, or the two refrigerators packed with the cheesecake.  

I also had greeting and single baklava sales duty.  Wow, it was really busy on Sunday, when supplies of everything else were running low.  It is a bit exhausting.  

**********

Not sure if it was stress or allergies, but I have had these ugly red splotches on my neck and face.  The dermatologist has theories on what could be causing them, so I had more biopsies this past Monday.  They are tiny punch biopsies, but you should have seen the dressings I walked out with.  Ugh.  In the meantime he gave me an rx for a cream to put on twice a day until they get the results from the lab.    Luckily they disappear if I wear makeup, so I don't look like a plague victim, haha.
 

Of course, we have all the International Balloon Fiesta traffic, and beautiful sights like the splash and dash.  From what I gather, it is not easy to do!  This is not my photo, but it is taken here in Albuquerque.  We are all grateful for the rains we had weeks ahead of the event, as the Rio Grande is not so grand when it's dry, and it has been dry for months.  

 

 

I tried my hand at making Japanese milk bread (named so for the obvious ingredient, haha).  It is, well, different.  You take a small amount of flour, water and milk and put it over a low flame, stirring until it is thickened, and once cooled you add it to the rest of the dough.  It looks like 4 small loaves squished together into a loaf pan, and that is exactly what you do.  Not sure if it's a traditional process, or if it contributes to the structure of the dough, but it's yummy.  Soft on the inside with a thin crispy crust.  I will try again, but this time I'll be more mindful of getting the mini loaves closer to the same size....not that it makes any difference in the taste!  

 

****In today's mail, was a wonderful letter informing me that our current Medicare Advantage plan will end as of December 31st.  Our immediate reaction was panic, but after a few hours of discussion with them, and other Advantage plans, we felt a little better.  I won't be able to see the primary care that has been seeing me for years, but truthfully I was beginning to feel less thrilled in the past couple of years.  The main problem is medications.  Because I just recently refilled the most important ones, I won't be able to refill them toward the end of December.  So, right after my new plan (which I haven't chosen as of yet) goes into effect, I will be scrambling to find a new primary care to have these prescriptions refilled.  I'm contacting my physician to see if there is anything that can be done, but as far as I understand it, the insurance won't refill a prescription if they determine you have at least a week's worth.  And as the stress wears off and my brain starts working again, I think of my hematologist and a couple of other doc's I see occasionally.  The thought of changing all of those physicians makes my skin crawl.  

 

Isn't getting older so thrilling?  I asked the representative from our current plan why they decided to terminate their plans ~ because it isn't just our plan but all their plans.  And of course, it's money.  Not surprising.  

 

Here's hoping I can fall asleep tonight!!

 

Love, 365 

The runner/jogger rant.....

I have a bone to pick with runners.  I am not sure why, but they seem to think they have the right of way, regardless of traffic lights, or how narrow the trail is.  

 Today I drove to the grocery store to buy onions that I need for a recipe.  As I pull into the right turn only lane, I notice a guy running on the path along the road.  I didn't really think much about it, I just noticed him.  As I approach the intersection, I also notice that he has the "don't walk" sign, and I have a green light, but apparently all traffic has to stop for this douche bag, so that he doesn't have to stop his run.  Seriously!  I was turning and he runs right in front of me.  I hit my horn, and he has the audacity to turn and hold his hands up in the universal "what?" expression.  

This is not the first time I have had interactions with runners with the very same attitude.  We were walking the dogs in the foothills.  Cactus and goat head stickers everywhere.  The lanes are narrow, and we have to walk single file.  There really isn't any place to move over.  I hear something behind us, and it's a young woman running the trail, yelling "runner!"  "runner!".  I guess she expected us to stop and move out of her way.  Which we did that one time, but no more.  The next runner we met, I looked them right in the eye and kept walking.  This time, the woman stopped and let us pass with the dogs, and I thanked her for her courtesy.  

I just don't get it.  Cars need to pull over?  Dog walkers have to pick up their dogs and move out of the way?  

If you know any runners, please ask them why they should have right of way in every situation, because I am really interested.   

Love, 365 

Surprise, surprise!...............

The yiayia I discussed in my last post surprised me today ~ she proclaimed that my tsoureki was as good as hers.  I was truly honored.  It sounds like I will be making the tsoureki on my own for most of the time, unless she feels well enough to come.  She has been making the tsoureki for the past 50 years ~ as long as we have had a Greek Festival at St George.  I guess she wanted to make sure she was handing it over to someone who could carry on with it.   

The funny thing is that I am no spring chicken.  I will be going through the same thing in the future, looking for someone to take it over.  We now have around 250 loaves to sell at the festival.  

 

We are going to Cloudcroft, New Mexico the week after the festival.  It will be wonderful to get out of town for a few days.  

It is a cute, quaint little town.

 

It's beautiful.....we will have fun hiking around.

We are also visiting White Sands, New Mexico, which is not far away.  

 

I am so looking forward to this trip!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Love, 365 

Where to start?...

 

After watching Ben Shelton play against Carlos Alcarez and winning, and against Frances Diafoe and winning, I figured that he could take the US Open.  And perhaps he can!  He did lose the first two sets against Zverev, but he is keeping up right now.  In order to win he would have to win the next 3 sets.  That is a LOT of tennis.  I would love to see him win.  

Three weeks from now I will be working at the Greek Fest...I signed up to volunteer to work at the pastry booth Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I am going to get my olive oil soap on Friday, because they always sell out of my favorite scents.  I will probably eat pastitsio this year, I need to try something new.  Have a beer.  Enjoy watching the Greek dancers.  

At some point in time I volunteered to chair the tsoureki baking.  I did not quite know what I was signing up for.  It is a slog ~ getting there around 7:15 am, so the dough will be ready at 10:30 for other volunteers to come and braid the bread, put on the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Then it needs another 45 minutes or so to rise.  Then bake.  Then wait for it to cool down to a minimum of 90 F so we can put it in bags.  I probably won't get home until 4:30 or 5.  It's a long day.  

One of our yiayia's (Greek name for Grandmother) used to do this job.  But her health began to fail, mostly her knees and back.  There might be other issues I'm unaware of.  She is a true yiayia ~ takes no prisoners.  She went to Greece for 3 months this summer (I believe for medical care since it is somewhat free there) so I made the first 3 batches without her.  I am now wishing I had done them all without her.  She criticizes my efforts.  I called her last week to schedule the last batch, and she asked me to take one of the frozen loaves out of the freezer so that she could taste it!  Last year she told me that some of her friends said my loaves were not cooked.  Bullshit, I say.  I used an instant read thermometer to make certain that every pan of bread reached 200 F.  If she says anything negative about my bread this time, it will be the last time I chair it.  I am done with not being appreciated, when it is so much work.  And I know how to make bread, dammit, I've been making it for 50 years.   

The biggest problem?  I'm not Greek.  If I were, I don't think she would act this way.   I try, I really do, to understand where she's coming from.  She has a problem with letting it go, and her friends tell her she needs to be in charge.  But none of them know how, or don't want to put in that much effort.  So, we'll see what happens.  

********sorry, sort of went on a tangent there.

I haven't put any mouse traps out for a month, and haven't seen any evidence of any ~ until a yesterday.  So, I guess I'm back to putting them out again.  My tomatoes look terrible, but there are still tomatoes on them, so I guess I'll keep going until the first frost (unless they up and die).  There is one plant that hasn't really done well all summer, and I might yank that one.  But I still have 2 more that are ok.  I am ready to plant lettuce and spinach, but I'm waiting for the weather to cool a bit more.  All the recommendations say mid Sept., but it's still too hot.  I am excited to try it though, I've never tried lettuce before.

 Zoe is having her 3rd birthday on Tuesday!

Love, 365 

  

 

Morning glories!....

After months of trying to successfully grow morning glories, finally have growth and blooms.  I will start them in pots next year and then transplant them.  

I don't buy many plants from Lowe's but they had pots with black petunias in them, and I just had to!  They are so pretty.  The first time I had ever seen a black one was in Denver.

 

I took a pound of these garden tomatoes and made salsa yesterday.  Last night had Greek village salad and a toasted pita.  The tomato plants look so ugly by this time of the year ~ several of them are 5' high and all tangled.  I try to remove extra branches, but it still looks ugly.  They are not producing as many tomatoes either, but once the weather starts cooling off, I think they will put on more fruit.  

 A sunset photo I took recently.....

I recently had my skin cancer check with the dermatologist, and the area on my nose that I had been worried about proved to be basal cell carcinoma.  Ugh.  I have an appointment in late October for mohs surgery (they slice and examine the cells until they get everything).  Although I would have preferred to get it over with, I am glad I won't miss working/volunteering at the Greek Festival.  I also had the fun mammogram yesterday.  Ugh.

I saw on the news we will have13 new special shape hot air balloons for the Balloon Fiesta this year. 

 

These two designs are from Brazil.  

 We baked the last of the paximadia on Tuesday, and today we'll begin baking the baklava cheesecakes.  They are really popular.  I like them, but the phyllo dough doesn't stay crisp very long.  Soon all of the baklava we order from a Greek bakery in Florida (of all places), and thankfully there are other volunteers that package it.  It is so sticky and messy.  It seems like we just started baking and now the festival is a month away!

Our neighborhood and surrounding areas are having new fiber optic cable installed.  It is a real mess, and noisy.  Romeo is irritated because the workers keep blocking our driveway.  This morning it was completely blocked, so I went out with my phone and took a photo of the information on the side of the truck.  Next thing I know, the truck is gone.  I sure hope they finish quickly.

We have also heard of black bears being spotted in the neighborhood, mostly from security cameras.  Romeo told me there was one in a lawn chair, but I couldn't find that one!

 

You know fall is coming when we start seeing bears around.....

Love, 365 

Cooler temp's at last......

At last, my marigolds are blooming along with zinnias.  I'm still waiting on my 4 o'clocks, but I'm thinking perhaps in another week or two.  

My garden is doing well, and I expect my tomatoes will ramp up a bit without the blistering heat.  My basil is going great guns!  I will let one of the plants go to seed, and keep using the others for village salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, red onion, chopped fresh basil, dried oregano, a bit of fresh ground pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and a nice chunk or two of feta.  

Regarding the mice: I have not had one for 4 days running!  Either they have found other accomodations or there's a lull in the number that are making nests between the fences.  I do not doubt there will be more.  I do have two pests right now as I have hornworms eating at the tender vegetation of my tomato plants.  One night I found 5, and I had 3 a couple of nights ago.  Seeing the small branches without leaves is a dead giveaway.  They aren't as easy to find, unless you go out at dusk and use a uv flashlight to spot them.  They glow a light blue under the uv light.  

 

We've also had a lot of mosquitoes (apparently they are living in the grass) and my ankles were hit many times the first time I went out without repellent.  What a challenging year!

Tomorrow I pick up the second batch of peaches, so my weekend will be quite busy canning.  So today I'm chilling in hopes to have lots of energy to get me through the day!  I'll be canning slices and making some peach jam too.

Have a great weekend, and may your weather be fabulous!

Love, 365 

Killing fields.....the mouse edition.

 

Yeah, I know these are rats, not mice!  But it so perfectly represents the armageddon that is currently going on in my garden.

It is depressing to dispose of dead mice, caught in my traps, day after day!  Today was the first day in 5 that there weren't any mice in the traps.  I was surprised.  It is possible that one set off one of the traps but managed to get away.  My hairdresser was telling me about these traps that basically electrocutes the mice.  But really, $39??  That seems a little pricey, but she did say that it beats finding a mouse still alive with it's leg caught in the trap.  "shudder" I sure hope I don't have that happen, but I now know that it's a possibility.  I haven't been keeping track, but I figure the number is somewhere around 20+ since I started setting the traps.

Occasionally I find a trap that has been sprung with no mouse in it.  But they are certainly very sensitive.  We have been having very windy evenings ~ storms all around but we aren't getting any rain, darn it ~ and I suppose that a leaf or a wood chip could be blown onto it.  At least I haven't seen any nibbles on my fruit.   

This is my only living aunt.  I love this photo of her, even if it is not a current one.  She is a funny lady, she came with my Mom for a visit, and I caught her washing all the caps of my condiments.  Catsup, mustard, etc.  I just went about my business and let her. :-)

She is now in hospice.  At 95 she has had a long life.  It is sad to know that I won't have any living aunts or uncles when she passes, which I expect will be any day.
 

We did manage to make nearly 300 tsoureki in July.  Now we're working on koulourakia.  We manage over a thousand at each bake.  We sell a lot of these cookies, along with kourambiedes and paximathia.  Paxi's are next, and I love making those.  Especially taking home the broken ones!  I can make them at home, but it has been so hot lately, I am loath to turn on the oven.  I have also put baking sourdough on hiatus for the same reason.  This has been one of the hottest summers on record, and I believe that is true for many places in the northern hemisphere.  Ugh.  I am so ready for fall!!

It is funny, there are many different recipes for tsoureki.  Some of my volunteers commented that their yiayia's never put sesame seeds on their loaves.  Some use orange zest (we do) and some use other spices.  Maybe it's tradition?  Recipes handed down through the generations, made to their tastes I suppose.  I see the same for paximathia and koulourakia.  

Now, I hope I don't find any mice in my traps in the morning.  

Love,365
 

Morning glories and mice......

 This spring I planted some morning glories that I sprouted from seed....I remember my disappointment the next day when I came out to water them, and all the leaves were gone.  I assumed I had some kind of bug, like the baby grasshoppers I was seeing everywhere.  I put plastic cups over the next group I planted, and I had them on there quite awhile, but they didn't like that and wouldn't grow.  So I took off the cups and the next day ~ poof! ~ all leaves gone, just a little green stem sticking up. I sprayed.  I put out traps for the pill bugs (because they were eating my marigolds).  I resigned to the fact I would not have morning glories this year, and moved on.  I did keep a net tent over the freshly sprouted flower mix I put in one part of the garden.  But eventually the zinnias were bending over due to the tent. 

Then one day I saw something like this:

That was the day I knew that the pest I have been battling was not six legged.  I got out my mouse traps.  Three days in a row I had a mouse.  I continued for a few more days, but I haven't had anymore, and I hate loading the traps so I quit putting them out.  Luckily I haven't had any more tomatoes being munched on.  But today my neighbor who knew my sad morning glory story gave me a dozen morning glory seedlings.  So I am trying again, but I will set a trap or two just in case more interlopers join the party.

The fence behind my garden has our old wood fence, and about 8 inches behind that is our neighbors fence that she had built because one of her rescued dogs was constantly jumping the fence into our yard.  So, there's that bit of a gap, and that is where they had made their home.  And munching on my seedlings, apparently.  

I hate to use traps, and Romeo asked if I wanted a catch and release trap, to which I said no.  Where the heck am I going to release them?  I can just see myself walking up the hill to the foothills with a cage and a mouse in it.  

At least I finally know what has been feasting on my garden plants.

Love, 365
  

No is easier to say than yes, but I seem to have trouble with the "no" word.....

 

I am not sure when this photo was taken, but other than the brick wall out front being stuccoed, it's pretty much the same.  It was built in 1950.  Other than maintaining the outside,  the inside has had various upgrades over the years.  It is quite beautiful.  

So, here is where I spend most of my time if I'm not at home.  

I am not exactly certain when I volunteered to help with organizing the icons in the Sunday School building.  No, wait ~ that's right, someone called me and asked me if I would like to take on the project.  For some crazy reason, I said yes.  I had absolutely no idea what I was taking on.  

I actually started the project almost a year ago.  The icons (see below if you don't know what I'm talking about) are mounted on a set of wooden runners that are the length of the building.  Well, here's a photo of what I'm talking about.....

 

Although these particular icons aren't very tall, there are some that take up the entire space between the runners.  There is also a sheet of plexiglass that fits into the the runners so that the icons don't fall out.  

That was one of the main problems: the wooden rails had warped somewhat and now the plexiglass panels fall out, as there is more room between the top and bottom of the rails due to that warping issue.  Our priest said he could get more plexiglass panels that would fit ~ but I haven't heard anything since.  So, I ruminated over how to solve this problem, and after talking it over with one of our parishioners that is a carpenter, she agreed to meet me there one day, as she had an idea.  Her idea was to bolster up the rail so that the plexiglass fit again ~ not a bad idea.  Not perfect either, but it worked for most of the panels.  

The next part of the project was to put these icons in order of their feast date.  (So usually it's an icon with one or more Saints in it, and on a particular date, we commemorate them.  Usually on the date of their martyrdom, but sometimes its for something else.)  There are about 65-70 million icons.  Ok, there aren't that many, it just seems like it.  I did go to work on putting them in order, but I unfortunately picked a date during summer Bible School for the kids.  I did get some stuff done, but it was so chaotic I decided to come back another day, haha.  

I could have (and probably should have) gone back the next week, but being me, I kept finding reasons why I could do it later.  I did meet up with a friend and we worked on one part of it, but there is still a lot more left.  I want to finish it next week...no, I need to finish it next week, because it's become the definition of albatross, and it's always on my mind, driving me crazy.  

I think that there is a sign on my back that says "sucker".   

Just remember, there is always a sucker out there, just don't let it be you.....

Love, 365 

I hope you all had a great 4th!....

 

The smallest hollyhock in the yard ~ and the only white one!  So far I have a purple one, two pink ones, and this white one.  I cut down the tall hollyhocks, they were just too leggy and not very attractive.  I tried my best to keep seeds from falling all over, but......

This is a small example of what happens when you jiggle the stalk too much.  So, no doubt I will have new ones this fall.

 

Bake From Scratch key lime cookies.....

This strawberry is huge compared to my other plants....it's a new variety called "seascape".  I will probably replace the other plants when they are no longer producing.  It was really sweet and good!

 

 

The last Greek mountain tea plant.  You can see one of the dead ones just above it.  I suppose if I can get it to grow big enough, it might self seed for the fall or next spring.  Come on, baby!! Grow!

 

I canned the apricots I bought, and they turned out good.  Really tasty on plain yogurt.  Had some issues when I decided to change the type of pectin I use, but I have it figured out.  I was so exhausted.  I have 14 jars, more than enough to share and enjoy.

 

 Looks like Abe knew exactly what he was talking about.  Did anyone watch the documentary?  It was really good......

 

 It has been a super busy day, so it's time to just chill now!  I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, 365 

Roadrunner 101...

 

They are fascinating birds.  They can fly, but mostly they run around ~ hence the name.  I think they are super cool because they remind me that birds are relatives of dinosaurs.  They are reminiscent of velociraptors!  You can go here : https://newmexiconomad.com/roadrunner/ if you are interested in a brief description of our state bird.

They are not shy, and once they figure out you aren't going to chase them (or sic your dog on them), they will come fairly close!  Romeo said Nike came right into the garage when he was out working in the front yard.  

Well, no excuse not to know about roadrunners now!  I really enjoy seeing them around.

Have a fab Saturday!
Love, 365