March, 2010

Weed Woman to the Rescue

I’ve been trying for years to get these sensitivity plant seeds to grow with no luck whatsoever.  Then my Mom, affectionately known as The Weed Woman, suggested I try putting the seeds in a wet paper towel in a plastic baggie and setting them in the sun for a couple days.  Needless to say, it worked like a charm and I am now the proud mother of several sensitivity plant seedlings (as evidenced below)!

It was a good thing I tried this trick with a bunch of the seeds because about half of them were duds!  This is a good technique to use on old seeds of dubious expiration date.  It’s so disheartening to plant and water and sun your seeds and have nothing pop out of the ground.  This method speeds the sprouting up and eliminates those days of heart wrenching worry.

I’ve now got a new batch of purple beans in my mini-greenhouse.  I secretly think these are magical beans – because they’re purple, the beans are a special glossy red, and the box says they grow really tall.  My suspicions were further confirmed by Weed Woman Herself, who assured me that they turn green when you cook them!  I’ll keep you posted on further magical properties as I discover them…

UPDATE:  It should be known that Weed Woman is an endearing term Mom earned for her extraordinary weed arrangements, which I’m positive are the envy of even Martha Herself.

OH MY GOD, THE BLENDER!!

Luca bought me my very first blender a couple of months ago. I’m embarrassed to admit that it’s been sitting in its box in our bedroom until yesterday when I got a craving for crepes. Let me just tell you, I’ve never actually owned my very own blender. I’ve used other peoples’ blenders:  in college to make mudslides and daiquiris and whatnot, and in Las Vegas I accidentally broke my roommate Jen‘s blender making chocolate soy milkshakes..I must admit that I’ve been suffering from blender envy for a good decade now.

For the inaugural run of the blender, we made crepes – and I can assure you that it was a liberating experience.  Since then, we’ve been experimenting with a variety of crepe recipes, and our favorite so far is one adapted from the King Arthur Baker’s Companion.  (Julia Child‘s was too heavy – too eggy and too buttery for our tastes).  This version makes plenty of crepes for two people craving something sweet and satisfying.  It’s quick and easy (though the cooking part can be a bit stressful, but after the first couple, you get the hang of it).  We like to fill our crepes with nutella or lemon and sugar.

Ingredients

1 cup AP flour
pinch of salt
6 oz milk
2 eggs
1/4 stick of butter, melted

Method

1. Dump all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth.  Let batter rest 30 minutes.
2. Heat a small pan and lightly grease with butter.  Holding the pan in one hand, pour in just enough batter to barely cover the surface of the pan.  Make sure to rotate the pan as you pour the batter in to evenly distribute the batter.  Allow to cook until the edges start peeling away from the sides.  Using your fingertips, quickly flip over and cook for another minute or so on the other side.
3.  Slide your crepe onto a plate, fill and roll or fold into quarters and voilà!