Monthly Archives: June 2012

96 and Going to Havana

Posted on by Laurie

Officially, the high in Manhattan (Kansas) yesterday was 96 degrees F; but the official temperature is taken at the airport outside of town, and is always lower than what you’ll find recorded on any thermometer in town. According to ours, it was 101. Downtown, we experience heat reflected off streets and buildings and generated by equipment. In fact, different neighborhoods, even different properties can seem to have their own miniature climate zones. The back yard of the house on the corner near us, for example, is always a few degrees warmer than ours because it receives more reflected heat from the brick of Seven Dolors Church.

With the hot summer temperatures – though not as hot as they are likely to get later in the summer – one of our return guests surprised us yesterday with a bottle of Cuban Havana Club rum. When someone shows up at your door with such a gift, and it is so very hot, what can you do but make Havanas, sit on the front porch, and relax?

Havana

recipe from The Art of The Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the Classics, by Jeff Hollinger & Rob Schwartz

1 1/2 oz. Gosling’s rum

3/4 oz. Cointreau

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

Splash fresh orange juice

Dash of Orange bitters

Edible Flower for garnish

Line the rim of a cocktail glass with sugar. Combine ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker, shake, and then strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with flower.

(As you can tell from my photos, I was too tired yesterday to strain the cocktails, but I enjoy the pulp from the fresh fruit anyway … and it was so hot, we really wanted ice. And obviously, we substituted rums.)

Hydrangeas Living on the Edge

Posted on by Laurie

At the edge of our next door neighbor’s property, just touching ours, are two hydrangeas. Jean – a previous owner of that property  and the woman who planted these bushes – told me that they are Nikko Blues.*  To show their intended color, Nikko Blues require applications of acidic fertilizer when they are grown in alkaline soils such as we have in Kansas. Unless the ph of the soil is lowered, the color of Nikko Blues is unstable, ranging all the way over to dark pink. No one fertilizes the bushes next door anymore. Nevertheless, they have a beauty of their own. Unlike their showy true blue relations, these are subtle and sweet-looking, blooming away in the shade. The photos below are ones that I took yesterday. They are all of flower clusters on the same bush.

* To be honest, I am not certain that these are Nikko Blue Hydrangea bushes, though I am inclined to trust Jean. I have been reading up on the subject on hydrangea identification and am thoroughly confused. These are most definitely not Oakleaf, Lacecap or Annabelle Hydrangeas – which leaves Mopheads and Paniculatas. (Nikko Blues are Mopheads.) The leaf formation rules out the Paniculata family; but the flowers open white and then turn a pale pink or blue, which would seem to rule out the Mophead family. Plus they don’t seem to have a full “mophead” – though I suppose this could be due to growing conditions. If anyone has any thoughts on identifying these bushes, I would be happy to know them. We have 6 hydrangeas in our yard, but I don’t consider myself an expert hydrangeas at large. Whether Nikko Blues or something else, I am always happy to see these bushes in bloom.

The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Get: Thank you to Beyond the Green Door

Posted on by Laurie

Kenley and “L” from Beyond The Green Door have nominated me for an Illuminating Blogger Award. Thank you! I am so very pleased with the positive response that A Taste of Morning has received. I work hard on the blog and yet sometimes am amazed that anyone has discovered it. There are so many wonderful bloggers out there with interesting ideas and beautiful images. I am delighted to be a part of this community. I learn much both from putting together my posts and from those of the blogs (such as Beyond the Green Door) that I follow. Thank you again, Kenley and L, for your support in nominating me for this award.

The rules: (1) thank the person who nominated you for the award; (2) share one random thing about yourself; (3) nominate five other bloggers that you think deserve this award.

One Random Thing About Me:

My favorite color is aqua.

Five Illuminating Bloggers:

For the Love of the South

Acorn in the Kitchen

Small House Big Garden

Tea Foodie

Bebe’s Kitchen

Thank you to these bloggers for your efforts and for sharing your ideas and images! And thank you again to Kenley and L!

Maneki-neko (good luck figurine) image.

Crape Myrtles After the Rain

Posted on by Laurie

Along with almost everything else in the garden this year, our Crape Myrtles have now started blooming about a month early. After the mild winter that we had in Kansas, the die-back on the Crape Myrtles was almost non-existent. Some years the die-back is quite severe and we have to cut the trees/bushes to the ground. We received 1.27″ of rain last night. This as made everyone happy, especially the farmers, as prior to that we had received only .01″ of precipitation this month. With the garden all wet this morning, I tried to get a couple of pictures. These are of are buds and blooms on Crape Myrtle “Royalty” – one of my favorite plantings.

I’ve Been Inspired By … Blueberry Gin

Posted on by Laurie

For those of you who haven’t yet discovered it, Boozed + Infused is a wonderful and creative blog by two sisters – Alicia and Eileen. Its theme is preserving seasonal flavors by infusing them in alcohol and, of course, tasty ways to then enjoy those infusions. Alicia’s Blueberry Gin inspired me to give it a try  and to try it out in some original cocktails.  Thank you, Alicia, for letting me share! (Alicia, by the way, says that she got some of her inspiration from Post Prohibition. Isn’t it great how inspiration works?) I tried several recipes made with the Blueberry Gin. I loved Alicia’s Blueberry Pieball cocktail. Of the cocktails that I created, my favorite was Blueberry Gin & Tonic which, by the way, would make an excellent cocktail for the 4th of July. Have you any 4th of July favorites?

Blueberry Gin: Two Methods. 

Boozed + Infused’s Method

2 c. frozen blueberries

2 c. gin

granulated white sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1/2-inch cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

Cook blueberries in a saucepan for 5 minutes, lightly crushing them as they cook. Pour into a 1-qt. jar, add the other ingredients, screw on the lid to the jar, and shake well. Let sit for 1 month, shaking occasionally. (I got impatient and tried the gin in cocktails after a week and a half. It was already very tasty.) Strain and filter. (Alicia says to use a colander, cheesecloth, jellybag and coffee filter. I just used a fine mesh tea filter, but maybe after the gin sits for a whole month more aggressive filtering is needed.)

A Shortcut Which  Will Do in a Pinch to Make Cocktails.

1 c. 100% Blueberry Juice Concentrate (I used Dynamic Health Laboratories brand, which I had bought to make the ice cubes called for by Alicia’s Blueberry Pieball recipe – because I couldn’t find plain blueberry juice.)

5 c. gin

2 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a glass jar. Shake well. Chill until serving.

Blueberry Gin & Tonic

4 oz. blueberry gin

3 oz. tonic water

1/2 oz. lime juice

slice of lime

Fill a tall glass with ice. Add gin, tonic water, and lime juice. Stir. Garnish with slice of lime. Enjoy!

Let the Inspiration In

Posted on by Laurie

The Let the Inspiration In Challenge

I’ve gotten so that I love skimming through blogs looking for beautiful photos, tempting recipes, interesting articles, and stopping to read the ones that I like . There are so many posts that I have made a mental note to go back to. Oh, but when? I have so much to do. Yet, I recognize that I will be missing something in what these talented people – whose works I like – are writing about unless I take the time to actually let it move me to do something; and I would like to make that effort even though I’ll never get to everything. Hence my challenge to Let the Inspiration In! (If someone else is already running such a challenge, I guess that we are just thinking alike.)

If you want to join me, the details of the challenge are as follows:

(1) Once a week for a month, try out something inspired by a post that you have “liked”.

(2) The category could be cooking, gardening, photography, art, fitness, wellness, travel, etc. … but nothing crazy or dangerous.

(3) Don’t necessarily attempt to duplicate what the blogger did. For example, you might make a recipe exactly as directed or you might substitute ingredients. A photograph of a bird might make you want to go out and do some wildlife photography … or even write a poem. An article about travel might inspire you to plan a vacation.

(4) When you try something out, in one of your posts acknowledge the people who inspired you and post a comment on their blog(s) to let them know. (If you don’t have a blog of your own, just post a comment.)

(5) If you find the challenge fun, do it for another month!

If you try it out, let me know. I’d love to hear from you!

Rosy-Fingered Dawn: Downtown Manhattan, Kansas 5:30 a.m.

Posted on by Laurie

A few weeks ago I posted sunset photos from a recent trip to the Adirondacks. That motivated me to try to get some sunset or sunrise photos from here in Manhattan. I took these pictures about one block away from the B & B, before making breakfast. It was a peaceful morning. My goal now is to get out to some different locations over the summer to get more photos from the bookends of the day. If you look carefully at the bottom two photos, you can see American flags lining Poyntz Avenue and in the window of the mall at the end of the street. The city has put these out in preparation for the 4th of July.

It is going to be a lovely day!

Photos From Master Gardener Tour

Posted on by Laurie

Sunday was a busy day.  Fortunately, I was able to make it to the local garden tour organized by  Riley County (Kansas) Extension Master Gardeners. I was only able to visit three of the wonderful gardens before having to make it home to check-in guests, but I did get some nice photos that I hope you will enjoy! (By the way, if anyone has suggestions as to how to present the photos in my posts, I am open to advice. I had received some comments early on in my blog that my photos took too long to load. So I have been saving them as smaller files, but sometimes they appear a little grainy.)

Onions, Sweet Onions

Posted on by Laurie

I’m not usually one to go into a swoon over onions; but they just looked so good at Farmers’ Market on Saturday that I came home with a bag full of little vidalias. Then I said to myself, “Bill hates onions … what on earth am I going to do with these?” The answer, I realized, could certainly be found in Ruth Spear’s The Classic Vegetable Cookbook – first published in 1985, and amazingly, still available. When I found Ruth’s recipe for Confiture d’Oignons, I knew that it would be wonderful.  However, I didn’t have any sherry vinegar in the house, so I substituted balsamic vinegar which I just love the flavor of.  This made my confiture much darker colored (a dark brown instead of amber) and stronger flavored than it would have been if I had followed her recipe exactly.  Also I added a small chenzo pepper when cooking the onions, just to add a little heat.

What does one do with onion marmalade? All kinds of things: serve it on crackers with cream cheese or chicken salad; serve on French bread; mix it into sour cream or Greek yogurt to make onion dip; serve with grilled portobello mushrooms; serve on top of meats in place of grilled onions; use to create gourmet burgers or sandwiches; add to sauces near the end of cooking; use in onion tarts; and, well, that’s all that I came up with for now. My husband ate about 6 Onion Marmalade Canapes before I told him what the topping was. Bill liked it! He liked it!  The next night we had it on bison cheeseburgers and he declared them outstanding. Yeah!  The onion dip with potato chips was really good too! (Photos below.)

Confiture d’Oignons (Onion Marmalade)

(makes about 1 pint)

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 lbs. sweet onions

1 small finely minced chili pepper

1 c. dry red wine

3/4 c. granulated white sugar

1/3 c. balsamic vinegar

pinch of salt (or to taste)

(1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

(2) Prepare onions. Cut the ends off and peel. Cut in half lengthwise, then thinly slice. Add olive oil to a large skillet and warm over medium-low heat. Add onions, separating the sections as they soften up, and cook until translucent and lightly golden. Do not brown onions.

(3) Meanwhile, make syrup. Add wine and sugar to a small stainless steel or enamel-lined pot. Stir. Bring to a full boil and cook until the wine is reduced to a syrup or reaches 230 degrees F. on a candy-thermometer. Stir in vinegar. Stir syrup into onions. Add pinch of salt.

(4) Finish cooking. Pour onion mixture into a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish. Bake for about 1 hour or until mixture reaches a thin jam-like consistency, stirring mixture about every 15 minutes. Be sure not to burn the onions. Pour into a clean glass jar, being careful not to splash marmalade on yourself. Close jar with a lid and allow to sit at room temperature until cool enough to refrigerate. Marmalade should keep for about 3 months in the refrigerator.

Onions at Saturday’s Farmers’ Market

Onion Marmalade Canapes

Onion Dip made with Sour Cream and Onion Marmalde

Bison Burger, Monterey Jack Cheese, Confiture d’Oignons

Saturday Morning Farmers’ Market Photos

Posted on by Laurie

After we finished serving breakfast this morning, Nicole and I headed out to the downtown Manhattan Farmers Market. It is open on Saturdays and is only about 4 blocks from The Morning Star. I made sure to remember my camera this time.  Enjoy the photos! (In my next post, I’ll share the recipe for what I made when I got home.)