January 28, 2024- Week #10- It is melting.

Welcome to Week #10.

 

Last week I was waiting for it to get to 30 degrees. That happened, bringing cloudy skies and fog. The temperature difference all week (high and low) was about 5 degrees. But it has been a little above freezing. Yesterday it got to 41 on my phone.

Slowly the snow and ice are melting. Mostly the roads are clear. On Friday, Julia and I went to Cedar Rapids for business. The interstate was fine, even though there were perhaps a dozen cars in the ditch.

The ground is appearing. It is in those places on the south side of the house. I looked and I did not find snowdrops. Maybe tomorrow.

The warming continues. There are 40's in the forecast. And here comes February. It is time to really get to the seed planting.  

Last week in the contest was Week #9

The winner is a spirited contest was the double bloodroot.

The full vote was

Way to go group. The 48 votes was a high for the year. Find another person or two to vote. Maybe we can get to 50. It is always so good to hear from you. 

This Week- Week #10

#1 Colorful dwarf Iris

 May 6, 2023

I lost the name of this early gem. I liked this picture to show you how bearded iris can occasionally put out a fourth petal. The petals are  called  "falls."

Somehow as the snow melts it does not seem like it will be so long until the little iris will start their show.

#2 Pink Lupine clump

 May 17, 2023

I have little lupine starts coming up now. (Inside of course.)

#3 Red Oriental poppy

May 26, 2023

Such a wonderful red.

This is a wonderful red Oriental lily called Beauty of Livermore. There was one of these Beauties up the street 40 years ago. We spent a decade trying to identify it and then find it and then having it bloom.

Oriental lilies do want sun. The come back each year but do not particularly get bigger or spread.

#4 Pink Phlox 

August 26, 2023

Phlox are sort of a volunteer in my garden. They self seed and then join with late summer plants like coneflowers and lilies to present some great combinations.

#5 Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

 September 18, 2023

This is one of the splashier flowers in the garden. It is epiphyllum hookeri. Epiphyllum is the genus. Hookeri is the species. It is native to central America. 

One thing that distinguishes this plant from the other epiphyllum is that it blooms throughout the year, including right up until frost. I have tried to bring it inside while in bud in the fall. It usually does not bloom.

The flowers open in the evening.  Unlike oxypetalum (Night Blooming cereus) is will stay open throughout most of the day.

Like all the orchid cactus, it prefers dappled shade (don't we all.) I always want to throw them outside in the spring. I do have to wait for the leaves on the trees to come out, which in some cases is after the frost free date. If they are brought out too soon and get too much direct sun, they will sun burn.

Bonus pictures

Here is the flower in profile.

Right Now

This is an orchid named Stenorrhybchos speciosum. It is packed up to go to orchid shows the next few weeks. Our local orchid club has people who go to shows around the midwest on weekends. When they go they take all nice blooming orchids from club members. 

This weekend the show was in Minneapolis/St.Paul.

The plant is about 10 years old. This year it had 13 spikes, all full of little red and white flowers.

These next two pictures are of kale in the front yard, yesterday. The snow had melted enough that they emerged. Pretty tough plants, those kale.

Here are some seedlings that were started on January 1. They are lettuce  and lupine. 

I will start the Shirley poppies this next week. I have just started bumping the plants up to slightly larger pots.

This slipper orchid is getting ready.

Julia's recipe

Chicken with onions and mushrooms

This recipe from the NYT purports to be like French onion soup, which is a bit of an overstatement, but it is really good. What's not to like about chicken and mushrooms and onions? The onions and mushrooms are cooked until they are well-browned. The chicken is marinated briefly and then everything comes together. It takes maybe 45 minutes and is very tasty.

The ingredients:

4 cups thinly sliced onions;

4 cups sliced cremini mushrooms;

1-1/2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken thighs;

3 tablespoons olive oil;

1 tablespoon wine vinegar;

2 tablespoons fresh parsley or dill;

1/4 or so cup grated parmesan cheese;

some fresh spinach; and

                                                                                                        kosher salt and pepper.

The ingredients for the marinade:

2 tablespoons olive oil;

2 tablespoons wine vinegar;

2 teaspoons honey;

1 teaspoon dijon mustard;

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes; and 

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

I mixed up the marinade in a big bowl. 

Next, I trimmed the chicken thighs (extra ribbons of fat) and cut them into pieces of about 2" square, but not worrying about precision.

I added the meat to the marinade and stirred it around.

Next, I cleanded the onions and sliced them into thin half moons.

The recipe said to arrange the onions into a single layer in a big (12") skillet. No oil, but that made me nervous so I added maybe 1 tablespoon of olive oil and probably 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some pepper. I cooked the onions on medium-high for about 5 minutes, stirring every so often. 

I bought sliced cremini mushrooms. I would have bought whole mushrooms, but we were in blizzard mode and presliced creminis is what was available. 

The mushrooms were fresh, although sliced, which saved me a step. 

I rinsed the mushrooms and then added them to the onions. I think the thing in my hand is the mushroom box. 

I added a bit more salt and pepper and let the mushrooms cook for another 5 minutes or so, stirring from time to time.

Mushrooms and onions cooking away.

A still picture of the same stage of cooking. 

When the mushrooms began to turn brown, I added the rest of the olive oil (2 tablespoons) and stirred the mixture around for another couple of minutes until everything was browner and softer. 

When the onions and mushrooms had cooked down, I pushed them to the edges of the skillet and added the chicken.

I used a slotted spoon to fish the chicken out of the marinade. I set the marinade aside for a few minutes while I stirred the chicken around in the center of the skillet so it would cook. 

When the chicken was mostly cooked, I added the leftover marinade (there wasn't much) and stirred everything together. 

The recipe did not include spinach, but I thought something green would be a nice addition. I had spinach. Kale (tender, not tough) or arugula would be nice too. 

I stirred the skillet to wilt the spinach.

I put the dish in a nice serving piece. Then I added some chopped dill (a coupld of tablespoons) and the parmesan cheese and sprinkled the last tablespoon of vinegar over all. 

I had white wine vinegar. The recipe called for sherry vinegar. That would certainly be nice.  I had dill. You could use parsley or leave the herbage out altogether. 

We served this over a dollop of rice. We had some leftovers; they warmed up nicely. Great for lunch. 

I think the proportons of chicken to mushrooms and onions could be changed. The proportions above were great. I think more mushrooms and onions and less chicken would also be fine. Say 5 cups each onions and mushrooms and 1 lb. chicken. I would not reduce the marinade as it flavors the final dish as well as the chicken. 

Odds and Ends

Temperature maps

This is from January, 2024

What to expect in February?
Here was February 2023. Notice the steadily rising averages.

Here is February 2022

I am feeling a little more positive about elections this year. How can they elect someone with an $83 million dollar verdict against him?

Of course there is emerging the fact that trumpf prefers Putin over NATO and the Ukraine. I thought there was a word for that, which I am avoiding actually righting down.

Then there is the fuss at the southern border. The repubs would apparently do nothing to try to fix it. What is different is that some of them actually will say that now.

The lines are being drawn there with the governor of texas being prepared to defy the US Supreme Court. It is in the name of self defense. 

But in Iowa we still have the legislature and the governor. I read somewhere where she was the least popular governor in the country.

One bill in Des Moines at the moment would require the singing of the national anthem in public schools, every day. On patriotic days you would have to sing all 4 verses.

Pray for peace and for reconciliation. I so much want to believe that we can find common goals somewhere. 

Philip