Roscoe's Garden

We planted a little perennial garden around Roscoe's final resting place.  I chose flowers that are as bright and flamboyant as Roscoe was and, hopefully, hearty enough to bloom again for years to come.  So far I have planted four different flowers:

Echinacea (Coneflower) Generic "Mix" but this one is red

The tag says "Shasta Daisy" but hmm... 

Gaillardia (Blanket Flower) "Arizona Apricot"

Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) "Moreno"

In memorium

Roscoe, appox. 2001 - 2013

Honeymoon

We just got back from our big trip to NYC, New York state, and New Jersey.  

Sunday was the first day, in which we went to the City for a walking tour of the Lower East side, complete with noshes (such as pickles, halva, and fried plantains...to name a few).  We found dinner at a little place called Eatery, and then we went to see Avenue Q, which was light-hearted and hilarious. Most salient feature of the show: Bad Idea Bears, whom I quote: "You need to do something for you. Buy some beer! Yeah, buy some beer!"...and..."Why don't you play a drinking game? They are a recipe for fun."

Monday: We went to Central Park and generally walked around the City.  We also had high tea at the Russian Tea Room, which was a lot of fun and kind of over-the-top.  Our server had a delightful Russian accent, and we enjoyed a wide array of finger sandwiches and pastries...the best scones we had ever had.  We also walked on the Highline and had pizza from a restaurant with a coal-fired oven for dinner.

Monday: Central Park

Monday: Dan in Central Park

Monday: High Tea at the Russian Tea Room

Tuesday: We went into the City for lunch at a ramen cafe and shopped around Soho before going to our cooking class entitled "Vegetarian Dinners for Everyone."  We learned to make four dishes: Ratatouille, Moroccan tagine with couscous, Farro with roasted vegetables and goat cheese, and Smoked black bean and butternut squash soup.  We were introduced and reminded of some good ingredients to use at home, smoked paprika, fancy sea salt flakes, golden beets, and fennel.  We also learned some useful techniques to use at home.

Tuesday: Lunch in Brooklyn at Chuko Ramen (cra-mazing Brussels sprouts appetizer plate)

Wednesday: The plan was to go to a Chinese hot pot restaurant in Flushing Queens for lunch.  I should mention at this point that I had motion sickness for most of the trip.  I got it on the plane, the bus, the subway, and the taxi.  By Wednesday, I was feeling sick just thinking about taking the bus, but I really wanted the hot pot.  Enter Aunt and Uncle Bad Idea Bears, whom I quote: "Borrow our car...Driving to Flushing is so easy...Just take the Cross Bronx Expressway, and then you'll be there...It would be a great adventure...You don't want to be on the bus for 1.5 hours, do you?...Besides, it would be so much fun to drive...YAAAY!"  

So I drove and Dan navigated to the hot pot restaurant in Flushing.

Wednesday: Hot Pot

Thursday: We borrowed the car again to go upstate to Woodstock and Rhinebeck.  We had pizza for lunch in Woodstock.  The weather was beautiful, and we just enjoyed walking around the area.

Friday:  We visited the Roosevelts in Hyde Park.  We started at Eleanor's cottage and went to the FDR presidential library in the afternoon.  We could not get reservations online for the CIA before the trip, so Dan called in the morning.  Somehow he was able to get a reservation for the last table for lunch service.

Friday: Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage at Val-Kill

Friday: Reserved the last table for lunch at the CIA (whole wheat crepes with quinoa chili filling)

After lunch we went to tour the FDR estate and presidential library.  The presidential library is under construction, so we could not see FDR's wheelchair or Eleanor's knitting needles, or any other possessions or memorabilia.  Our tickets will be honored for free admission in the future, but I'm still disappointed that I didn't get to see the knitting needles on this trip.

Friday afternoon: FDR presidential library and grave sites of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt.

-吴碧芙

Cowl Mania

	L to R starting with top L: Clever Cowl, Blended Cowl, Fuyu Cowl in grey and "Bonsai," (middle L) Fuyu Cowl in natural and "Dragon Dance," Maurice Cowl, Maurice front view, (bottom L) Marice back view. I have been making a lot of cowls lately.  I never really wanted a cowl before, but something suddenly changed, and now I can't stop making them.  The most recent is Maurice, by one of my favorite designers.  I actually bought the pattern--also something I almost never do--as part of a trio (The Short-Row Stripes Cowl Trio).  The second and third cowl patterns have not been released yet, but after finishing Maurice, I have nothing on my needles.   To be clear, these are not all for me, and one has already gone to its intended recipient. -吴碧芙

Birdhouse in your soul

Recently Kavi has become a usurper.  For three years, Roscoe was the only one who would dare sleep in the fabric birdhouse my mom and I made for inside their cage.  For the past month, Kavi has been sleeping there every night.  If Roscoe is clever and gets to the house before him, Kavi sits on the perch below and bites Roscoe's tail.  While Roscoe is happily eating popcorn, Kavi sees the window of opportunity and captures the coveted spot. 


So we decided to make some cage improvements over the weekend.  We got small amounts of nice-looking fabric, and I made a pattern out of newspaper.  Cut.  Sew.  Iron.  Repeat.

It turned out to be kind of a rag-tag compilation because I hate the amount of precision and technique needed in sewing.  It doesn't hang straight.  It pulls in weird places.  I thought the sewing machine would break from sewing through multi-layered parts of the house.

But it turns out that birds don't care about technique, whether seams are straight, or whether the colors really go together.  I'm not planning to show this as a 4-H project or anything.  Birds just care about whether or not it functions, whether or not it's scary, and whether or not it will collapse while they are inside.  I guess it works, it's not too scary, and it appears structurally sound because Roscoe slept in the new house last night, while Kavi slept in the old house.

...And the order of the universe was restored.

-吴碧芙

Take 2

Our second attempt turned out better, especially on the frosting front.  On the cookie front, incomparable because I just bought a sugar cookie mix and called it "done."  

For the frosting, we pained on watered-down royal icing in white.  Then, we piped on runny royal icing in green and blue.  They turned out awesome!  

Just for the record, we used two types of brushes to paint the base coat on the cookies.  One was a boar bristle 1" basting brush made by OXO.  The other was a silicone basting brush that we have had lying around in the drawer.  I went to Michael's again and I did see some small brushes made by Wilton, but I had already talked to the experts at the local kitchen shop, who said a basting brush would work, and they were right!

-吴碧芙

Incredible

...but inedible.  Our first attempt with Royal Icing went rather well.  I made the dough last night and baked the cookies this morning.  The tester cookies we tried ended up being very dry--like cardboard dry---like chip-a-tooth dry.  

The dough did not come together like it should have, it looked like little crumbles, and I needed to add water.  It rolled out like normal, and it baked nicely.  I probably should have made a gingerbread house out of the dough, based on how structurally sound the finished products came out.  

I wanted the type of icing I had on a cookie at a wedding of two of my classmates in 2003.  Some internet research showed me that it was probably Royal Icing, and I wanted to try it out. 

I got a few icing implements, including bags and a tip, meringue powder, and white-white icing coloring.I watched videos and read recipes online.  I considered many techniques, including piping and flooding and painting.  In the end I couldn't figure out what type of paintbrush would be foodsafe (none of the websites told what type of brush they were using/recommending).

I suppose we will try again with sugar cookies this time.  I would like to paint, if I ever figure out what kind of brush to get...ideas appreciated on that front...

-吴碧芙