Monday; pleasure;

© Photo/ this morning in my garden;  Roses are red...and my favourite poem...

Morning

♥  by: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

The mist has left the greening plain,

The dew-drops shine like fairy rain,

The coquette rose awakes again

Her lovely self adorning.

The wind is hiding in the trees,

A sighing, soothing, laughing tease,

Until the rose says "Kiss me, please,"

'Tis morning, 'tis morning.

With staff in hand and careless free,

The wanderer fares right jauntily,

For towns and houses are, thinks he,

For scorning, for scorning.

My soul is swift upon the wing,

And in its deeps a song I bring;

Come, Love, and we together sing,

"'Tis morning, 'tis morning."

Link  Poetic Takeaway's;

Friday; bye, bye...

Enjoy a nice weekend;

♥

Happiness can not be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute
with love, grace and gratitude.
Denis Waitley

©Photo Ts

Thursday; Satire; my stinging pen;

Nature and its extraordinary beauty;   Bud of Hippeastrum flower, my garden, September 2o12

♥

Oh, yes, my fingers are itching,  but trust me,  I am not to be taken seriously on Thursdays.

What shall it be today? The trash can is full and it should not be a problem to find a dirty deal to expose.

What about the crusades, they are in high favour with hoi oligoi.

The war drums are beating in high favour of invading an other country, the lies are  rampant, the noses are itching and growing every day.  

Hoi polloi has to be persuaded  to blow a fake  bugle and hate the “others”

The newest crusade is well on the way to conquer  what and whoever is in the way to the new world  order. Iraq and Afghanistan have already seen the power and violence of the crusaders riding on white phosphorus.  Even the little stretch of Gaza has seen the might of the crusaders, killing and destroying  to their hearts content. Go on you knights of  lust for oil, money, land, blood and power, sharpen your drones your nuclear warheads and prey to your gods to bless your hands dripping with blood of people who have not invaded your countries, killed your loved ones, stolen your land, your countries wealth, destroyed your countries ancient treasures. 
You have always stolen and plundered under a flag, called  for god and country, always send the poor lads to their death in the name of honour and democracy. There is no honour in warfare, in killing the other. There is no honour in dying for a country. The only honour is in peace and friendship.
 You have always lied and played the saviour when in fact you have been the destroyer.

1095 November 27 Pope Urban II called a great council of clergy and nobles to meet at Clermont in France called the Council of Clermont. He called for a crusade against the Infidels.

Now,  the pen is blunt, until next time.  Peace and Love, have a good Thursday.

©Text/Photo Ts


Link    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32469.htm

Wednesday; Seville Oranges;

I walked down into the wild garden and saw that the Seville Orange tree was full with fat, round oranges, ready to be picked. Next day Fabrizia and I went to harvest the golden orange bounty.

We filled 2 buckets and she insisted to carry them up the hill,  home.  Her little arms straining, but her stamina  and perseverance did not let her give up, at it is quite a steep way up,  until she had them right at the door. They were standing around a few days as other task were on the menu.   I juiced them and cooked them into Jelly instead of Marmalade.

the big ones weighed 400 g 

I made 2 liters of juice, these were quite juicy, as generally Sevilles are not as juicy. 

The jelly turned out well,  a tart sweetness with a hint of bitterness. 

2 liters Seville orange juice,
1,2 kg white sugar, cooking time about 40 minutes. I think if one used commercial pectin the cooking time  would be around 20 min.
A small bag filled with some pips from the oranges, the pips help to produce the pectin.
The jelly just got the right consistency , perfect....I am amazed myself!


©Text/Photos Ts


Link   Poetic Takeaway's; a trivial world of words.

Tuesday; the time has come..

Photo/ Hippeastrums from my garden;


To pick some of these...at this time of year they pop up everywhere in my garden,  velvet, dark red, pink and white, striped and plain, their flowering enthusiasm is enchanting.

©Photo/Text Ts

Link

Poetic Takeaway's;

Monday; I agree...

Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.

Henry David Thoreau

©Photos/my garden;

Links

Lavender & Vanilla;

Poetic Takeaway's'

Sunday; super lemons;

Lemons from Diane's lemon tree; each weighed 400 g, super lemons! 

Diane said:" The tree had gall wasp infection and had to be pruned and cut down under the graft. Generally  after that the tree produces "Bush lemons" quite rough looking. The tree grew back as a bush lemon with long thorns on its branches, but with these smooth, huge lemons;  a wonder of nature!

I had not made a lemon cake for a long time, so  these lemons came just at the right time to  be used to bake a cake with fresh lemon peel and the juice.

Lemon peel;

The lemon skin was very smooth it could not be grated, but the bamix does it quickly  and finely, as the lemons could be peeled easily without the white membrane clinging to the skin.

I divided the amount between two 18 cm round cake tins and stuck the two together with a light lemony butter cream, the cake was also made "drunk" with some lemon juice and icing sugar.

The cake is very light and luscious, fragrant with lemon juice and lemon peel.

I never use the full amount of butter and sugar, so it is not overly sweet.

The recipe is from an old Betty Bossi Backbuch.

I changed the amount of the ingredients and the look of the cake; the original has no filling  and is baked in a long cake tin 28-30 cm long.

Here is the original recipe with the amount  I used in (  )

"Drunk" Lemon cake;
Ingredients;
250 g butter  (180) 
250 g sugar   (150)
5  eggs           (4)
3-4 tbl sp. lemon juice to make up for the fifth egg)
250 g plain flour
2 teasp. baking powder
1 pinch of salt 

mix butter and sugar until creamy, add eggs mix until light and fluffy, add plain flour and baking powder and pinch of salt. fill a long cake tin or divide mixture in two small round tins. The long tin needs about 50-60 min at 180 C, always check with a needle in the middle of the cake! The small tins need about 30 minutes together in the middle of the oven, also at 180 C.

"Drunk" ingredients
1 dl lemon 
juice
100 g icing sugar
mix well together

Butter cream;  about 100g unsalted, best butter, icing sugar and lemon juice, enough to make a spreadable mix.) 

Make many holes into the cake with a knitting needle and pour the juice slowly over the cake to absorb.
It sounds a lot of work but it is actually easy and quickly done. 

©photo/text Ts