Spagnum moss

It’s aphid season again.  I’m keeping a close eye on my wall as I’m already spraying it when I see aphids.  Fortunately they gravitate to some plants more than others and I check those plants daily to make sure they’re free of aphids.

In my close study of the wall I found it had gained sphagnum moss!  How cool is that?!  I’ll keep an eye on it to see how fast it spreads.  This is pretty exciting!

Fish and nacent water lilly pads.

We have water lilly pads surfacing.  That must mean it’s spring . . . or something like it.

Crewel needle chucked into the drill press. Crewel needle

I have a short hand awl I like to use for opening holes for hand stitching.  It’s got a nice slender shaft and the hole is ample for accepting needles carrying 7-strand waxed linen.  The problem with using it is the amount of time the process takes.  Punch three holes, sew three holes, punch three holes, sew three holes.  The left foot took me two days as my neck would wear out from fighting the awl out of the hole once I managed to get it into the leather to make the hole.

Some really bright guy on the Crispin Colloquy (shoemakers list) used a drill press to punch leather. The drill press wasn’t running, it was used as a press (leverage).  Insert the tool into the chuck (he was using a three gang chisel punch) and pull the lever.  Instant hole. I thought it was such an exceptional idea I just had to try it.

It took less than five minutes to punch all the holes I needed for stitching the shaper to the midsole for the right shoe.  There’s no way I could have done the job that easily or quickly with my hand awl.  I had previously marked all the holes so jumping from one to the next was a breeze.

The crewel needle I used held up really well to being chucked in the press.  I didn’t turn the drill press on to see if I’d managed to chuck it completely straight.  I don’t know how much the difference in symmetry was an issue.  It worked and that’s what I needed to happen.

Angel Wing and Napolane or Snow Man Spotted Angel Wing

I got my new begonias in the wall yesterday.  They arrived in rough shape, which I think is to be expected when live plants are shipped.  The box was a bit smooshed.

In the wall I’ve got two angel wing, two that are pale silver (Napoline and Snow man) and a couple that have curly leaf edges (Curly Annie and Curly Eyelash). There are even two that are a combination of all the above . . . okay, maybe not the Angel Wing bit, but a pretty green spotted or ringed in silver. I’ve also put two small plants that broke off from the parent in the gutter to hold them over for LouAnn’s wall.

I didn’t put all the new begonias in the wall.  Of the dozen I received I still have four in pots.  I’ll put those in LouAnn’s wall as well.

Warming up after an outdoors foray.

I think I’ve finally got a solution for keeping Chuck relatively comfortable.  Fleas have been driving him nuts.  I had a flea collar on him for a while and that did nothing noticeable, even when  I sprayed him with Cedarcide each time he came in.  The Cedarcide helped, but it only kills the fleas that are on him and does nothing to discourage more from jumping on.

The combo that appears to be relatively effective (I hope) is a combination of Ortho’s Home Defense sprayed on the rugs (one application lasts for ~12 months), Zodiac Flea and Tick Spray on Chuck (good for ~2 months) and a quick once-over with Cedarcide when he comes in from outside.  No, I am not going to try and treat our property for fleas.  I have free range chickens and we have 12 acres.  Between the chickens and the property size, treating the outdoors for fleas is not a reasonable idea.

There remains a very small amount of scarring on Chuck’s right eye which doesn’t significantly impede his vision.  I think the surface of the eye has healed as much as it’s going to.

Updated overflow

I updated the overflow drain on the larger bog filter tank.  I’m still using electrical conduit elbow, but it’s 1½”, not 1″.  The outlet pipe is also resized for an 1½” tee-less connector.  I enlarged the hole in the piece of perforated drain which keeps the roots from plugging the conduit.

I’ve been finding more uses for inner tube.  This plumbing change includes a piece of bicycle inner tube for connecting the two pieces of pipe together.

The only thing I wish I’d done before assembly was to paint the conduit black, but once the water hyacinth is added to the tank the leaves will hide the gray.

Willows in pea gravel filled pots

I couldn’t leave the corkscrew willows in the upper biofilter tank.  The hydroton grow medium is not heavy enough to keep the willows upright and in the tank when the wind blew.  I knew putting them there was a temporary solution.  Yesterday I implemented a more permanent fix.  The willows are only in the water for this summer.

The half-gallon pots have recycled window screen in the bottom to keep the gravel from migrating out the drain holes.  The willow trunks are held in place against the side of the tank frame by truck inner tube pieces and staples.  The pots are held up against the side of the tank by cord hangers over hex head screws.  Everything can be easily removed when it comes time to plant the willows out after they go dormant this fall.

Glory and litter

Now that all the other plants have been moved out for the summer, I can get a good picture of the gutter begonia in all its glory and litter.  This is the dichotomy of prolifically flowering plants indoors.  The litter is non-stop but so is the beauty.  Click the image for the full impact.

Two stalks showing and many more in the works. Another plant showing a blossom stalk

The Cape Primrose has started it’s continuously blossoming cycle.  After the initial single blossom stalk, each new leaf will produce at least two stalks with two blossoms per stalk all the way through the summer.  Unlike begonias whose blooming period comes and goes, the Cape Primrose will just keep producing gorgeous blossoms.

The plant showing the single blossom is one of two or three.  If you click on the second image you will see a new stalk starting on another plant.  If you look closely you can see the base of the blossom stalk comes out of the base of the leaf.

The wall has gloxinia in it as well.  I don’t know if or when it will bloom.  The fun is in watching to see what happens.

I've lost one spider plant at the top. I have others in the gutter I can put in its place, I just need to do it. The hoya is finally showing gwoth. The small leaf is new.

The wall is doing really well.  The gutter begonia is ridiculous and the floor is littered with discarded pink petals.  The flowers are appearing in a slow wave from the bottom of the cascading growth to the top.

The avocado all have multiple roots, though no stalk has appeared.  I am expecting to see that feature shortly.

The hoya has finally started to grow.  This is a very promising sign.

I got an email from Keith at Rex Begonias.  My plants should be here today or tomorrow.

I’ll be filling in some of the empty spots in the next couple days.

Our local market had pork ribs on sale.  I had just picked up my stainless Presto pressure cooker from Walmart and was primed for a meal I could cook in my new toy.  Barbequed pork ribs sounded perfect.

The book that came with my pressure cooker had a recipe for barbequed pork, but I didn’t have all the ingredients AND some of the recipe ingredients are things I can’t eat so recipe ad lib was required.  The result was FABULOUS.

Here’s what I did.

I added one cup of water and 3 pounds of pork ribs to the pressure cooker and cooked it for five minutes.  That’s misleading.  If you’ve ever used a pressure cooker, you know it takes a bit of time to get up to temperature/pressure.  You start timing from that point, not from the point where you stick it on the stove.

After five minutes I set the pressure cooker in the sink and ran cold water over it until the pressure released.  I drained off the liquid (saved it for our dogs’ dinner tonight) and added 1-10 oz can of Safeway brand Southwest Style Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles, 1/4 diced onion, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup xylitol (birch sugar safe for diabetics), 2 tbsp maple syrup and 3 roughly chopped roma tomatoes.

After the pressure cooker came up to temperature/pressure, cook time was 10 minutes.  At this point you have to turn off the heat and let the temperature/pressure drop without any quick cooling.

After the pressure released, I pulled the pork out and reduced the sauce, stirring occasionally with my whisk.  The pork was served cubed with the sauce on top.  OMG.

With this I served oven fries.  Wadly cut two potatoes in wedges.  Ideally, 1 potato per person and 8 wedges per potato is good but go with what works for you.  Put the wedges in a bowl and toss in freshly ground pepper, sea salt, basil and olive oil.  Toss this combination and lay them skin side down on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.  Cook at 400° to the done-ness you prefer.  I like them golden brown ~30 minutes.

This was easily the best meal we’ve had in a while.   It was awesome!

To this I will add . . . this recipe produces a fairly chunky barbeque sauce.  If you want a smoother sauce, puree the ingredients before adding them to the pressure cooker.

Our cabin by the lake

LouAnn gave Terry a cedar cabin for his birthday.  We’ve moved it around trying to find the perfect spot.  I think we’ve got it!  Not everyone has a cabin by the lake!

Corkscrew willow in upper filter. Terry's antique toy trucks look great on the shop deck.

I had a lovely visit with my brother Dan and his wife Vala yesterday.  They live far enough away that I don’t get to see them often.  I was gifted with some corkscrew willow cuttings which I’ve stuck in the upper bog filter until I can get them rooted and ready to plant.

Wintered over and new plants out in the bog filters 3 gallon buckets ganged for flooding the grow beds Missing end cap allows the near bed to flood more.

It’s still too cold for starting seedlings outside.  The water in the tanks has finally reached 55° which means we can start feeding the fish, but that’s still a bit too cold for plants to grow vigorously.  Within the next two weeks that should all change.

I put the plants I’d wintered over in the laundry room out into the bog filter tanks.  I also stopped at JMH Gardens and picked up some penny royal, fairy moss and some kind of pond bean.  I can’t remember what Jill called it.  I’ll ask when I go back in a couple weeks for the water hyacinths.  I’m pretty sure “bean” is right, but given how I’d managed to mangle all the other things I purchased (fairy frost is a fabric not a plant), I’m feeling a bit less confident at the moment.

Instead of rock in the upper (smaller) bog filter I’ve added hydroton this year.  The lighter medium will facilitate the take-down of the filter in winter.

The grow bed plumbing is finished with the exception of one 1½” end cap.  Three 3-gallon buckets are ganged together using tee-less connectors and 1½” pipe.  Terry painted the buckets black which will facilitate warming the water over the next few weeks.

Once I’ve got the new end cap drilled with holes and installed the flood depth can be fine tuned.  I’ll plant the beds with seedlings the first of June if the water’s warmed enough.

Blossom stalks showing their heads

As well as the begonia that’s being so showy with it’s clusters of pink blossoms, the Cape Primrose is also stretching into spring.

I’ve been working on a marinade for beef for a while.  I’ve finally got something I really like.  It’s soy and gluten free, low in sodium and really delicious.  The recipe will season two steaks but might stretch to three if the portions are smaller.  I can comfortably treat two rib steaks or three New York strip steaks with this recipe.  It would probably do steak for beef kabobs for a family of four.

Grate ½ a large bulb of elephant garlic using a fine grater.

Grate ¼ of a large yellow onion using a large grater.

Add ½ teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper and two tablespoons each of Lee & Perrin Worcestershire Sauce, red wine vinegar, maple syrup and Organic Tailgate Rub by Morton and Bassett of San Francisco (garlic, rosemary, pepper, parsley, thyme and marjoram).

Mix all that together thoroughly.  Add two tablespoons of olive oil and mix.

Put the marinade and steaks in a gallon ziplock bag.  Press out the majority of air and seal the bag.  Massage the bag until the steaks are thoroughly covered with marinade.  Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.

Take the steaks out of the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature.  Take the steaks out of the bag and scrape off all the marinade bits and dry the steaks (I use paper towels).

I cook these in a cast iron skillet on medium heat in butter until rare to medium rare.  Cook yours per your preferred method and degree of doneness.

Lining stretched and drying Inner tube added after drying to hold lining in place while trimming and gluing Trimmed, lifted and glued Glued and set to dry Rasped and ready for filler

So here’s where I’m at on the second pair of “real” shoes.  These are oil tanned bison outer and vegetable tanned kangaroo lining.

I sewed the upper and lining pieces together then joined them via a row of stitching around the opening.  The rivets I got with the speed lacers where too small so I sent them off to Albert at Sunshine Shoe Repair for rivets to hold on the speed lacers I got at an online shop specializing in fittings for those who build S&M harness and clothing.  <wince>  What can I say, it’s where I found them.

After a good soak, I stretched the lining over the last and nailed it in place.

After it dried I added a ring of inner tube to hold the lining in place while I denailed, trimmed and glued the lining to the insole.

After the glue had dried I trimmed off the excess and rasped the bottom to a fairly regular surface.

Now I need to add the filler, a piece of leather the thickness of the lining leather.  Once the glue holding the filler in place is dry, I’ll build the shapers.  My butt stitching is improving and I hope to have a not too lumpy shaper over which the outer will be stitched down to the midsole.

I’m using 7-cord waxed linen thread for the hand sewing bits.  I’m using nylon upholstery thread for the machine sewn bits.

Upper tank with hydroton

It’s still too cold to put out any of the biofilter plants I’ve tried to winter over but it is time to get the tanks in and circulating.  This upper tank is foam.  I got it at a year end sale two years ago for $10, a great buy.

Last year I used a tee-less fitting and a piece of rubber hose for the upper tank outlet.  All last summer I had issues with the upper tank overflowing due to a too small outlet with penny royal root blocking the flow.  I’m hoping I’ve solved some of that with this year’s setup.

I pulled the tee-less connector and inserted a tapering vacuum cleaner wand extension pipe into the hole.  After determining I would get a good seal, I pulled it out, trimmed it accordingly and reinserted it into the hole.  No sealant was required to give a good water tight fit.

This change allows better outlet flow and the mean level inside the tank is lower decreasing the chance of overflow.

What you can’t see (I’ll drop the water level and get a snapshot before I put the plants in) is the 3″ PVC pipe that keeps the hydroton out of the outlet and inside the tank.  The pipe is one foot long with a 45° angled end.  This angle fits over the outlet and is fastened to the tank with a 2½” screw.  The other end of the pipe is a straight cut which is covered with a piece of 30% sun shade cloth.  The length of the pipe has saw kerfs to increase the ability of water to enter the pipe.

Patrick's private wall - aquarium is under the floor (glass) and is 6x8 meters.

Here’s a great thing to share with you, a video of  Patrick Blanc giving a presentation on vertical gardens at the California Academy of Science.  The video is an hour and a half long and is broken into parts.  I didn’t have any trouble with buffering, so give it a try.  He talks about all his walls, what was good, what was bad and includes maintenance, inspiration, plants he used, insect control, maintenance . . . it’s well worth watching at least once if not more.

Blossoms everywhere.

I’m going to miss this plant when it goes into LouAnn’s wall.   It’s so robust and beautiful.

Bug stuff

This is just under the upper rim on the outside of my upper biofilter tank for the outside aquarium.  Anyone have an idea what buggy thing this is?  Click the image and enlarge.

I know it’s buggy, just not what flavor of bug.  Whatever was inside the mud or exudate shell is no longer there.  The outside is covered with round . . . they can’t be seeds.  They might be eggs but they aren’t like any egg I’ve ever seen.  They’re round with a tiny dimple in the face.

Half-buried tank, two grow bed trays. back side of the grow bed. Note flush bottle. When the water reaches a set level in the bucket above, it then overflows into the tubing feeding the coke bottle. When sufficient weight is reached, the bottle pulls on the cord and flushes the valve in the bucket. A small hole in the cap of the bottle allows the water to drain out and the cycle repeats.

This is my new setup, sans the second bucket.  I am waiting on tee-less connectors to add the second bucket to the dump tank (existing bucket).  I’ll use a short piece of 1½” plastic pipe near the bottom of the buckets to connect them.  The two buckets, connected together, will give me the volume I need to fill both beds in a single dump.

Here’s the list of parts.

• 2 five gallon buckets – mine used to contain pickles and were obtained from a local deli.
• 1 pump
• black tubing running from the pump to the bucket (visible in the top picture as the black loop to the right of the bucket and in the bottom picture).
• 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank (buried to first step in the tank side).
• 2 mortar mixing trays (the 8″ deep ones).
• miscellaneous scrap lumber – none of this lumber was purchased new.  I’ve got 4×4 for the four legs (mix of pressure treated and cedar – it’s what I had), 2×6 for the between post supports and 2×4 for the top plate on which the tray rims rest.  The bucket rests on a notched 3×4 and a notched 2×4 held up by 2×8 scraps screwed to the tray frame.
• a handful of 3″ decking screws
• 1 toilet flush valve.
• 1 16 oz plastic coke bottle (flush valve counter-weight).
• black tubing to feed flush valve counter-weight bottle (visible in the second picture – connects to a piece of aluminum tubing which inserts through the bottom of the coke bottle.
• miscellaneous hardware including a collection of stainless nuts and washers to act as the flush valve weight (offsets the weight of the plastic bottle so the flush valve flap closes completely).
• Plumbing parts – some 2″, some 1½”.
• Tee-less connectors to gang the buckets together.  I never order enough tee-less connectors.  They are the first connector I reach for when I have to fasten pipe to pipe or insert pipe into something.  I could have replaced the 2″ tee with a tee-less connector for less than a quarter of the price of purchasing a 2″ tee.

It took me an afternoon to take apart the old single-bed stand (I needed to reuse the legs and some of the shorter lumber) and another afternoon to construct the new two-bed stand.  You cannot see it from the picture, but there is a 2×6 that supports the center of the beds underneath going from left to right.

It took another afternoon to get the new bucket and flush assembly put together and get the tray flood plumbing set up.

I still need another 100 liters of hydroton.  It should only take another 50 liters (1 bag) of hydroton to fill the beds, but I want to increase the size of the gutter for my plant wall so want some extra to ensure I have enough.  Until I get the additional hydroton, I’ll let the beds cycle and build the nitrite/nitrate eating bacteria colony.

The new and updated dump bucket The roller assembly gizmo hanging on the side of the bucket. Note the notch in the bucket collar to accommodate the gizmo. The outboard end of the gizmo assembly. Note the notch in the lid to allow the lid to (mostly) set down on the bucket. The back side. Note the notch in the bucket collar. Stainless long necked bolt.

Yesterday was a  beautiful day, mild, sunny and quiet.  Wadly was off visiting family and I had the peace to putter to my heart’s content.

I managed to get the dump bucket for my grow bed rebuilt.  This time I added a genius gizmo for the flush counter-weight assembly.  This crafty  gizmo was the happy confluence of circumstance and available parts and it all started with the proximity of the flush valve to the edge of the bucket.

Because my 5 gallon buckets have a lot of ridges and raised lettering at the center I mounted the flush assembly against the side of the bucket.  This gave me a smoother flatter surface for sealing the toilet flush valve to the bucket and, by mounting the toilet fill assembly next to the side of the bucket, I was able to reduce the distance between the rollers that lift the toilet flush flap and support the flush valve counter-weight.  I saw the lock assembly for a sliding window sitting on the bench ready to be taken out to the aluminum pile to recycle.   That started the mental wheels turning and I was able to scrounge the remaining parts to pull this gizmo together.

The new roller carrier is small, requiring one small notch in the bucket collar for installation and support.

The rollers are from the bottom of a sliding glass door.

The bolts holding the rollers are stainless.  I have no idea where they came from.  Whenever we disassemble something for recycling, we take any potentially interesting small hardware and stick it in one of our multiple cabinets with plastic drawers.  We had this particular bolt type in two lengths.  The shorter was twice the length I needed but they do a perfect job.  The additional bolt sticking out is more of a design statement than a flaw.

The holes in the center of the rollers was just a bit smaller than the circumference of the bolt which allowed the bolt to be pressed into the roller assembly.  A bit of judicious encouragement from my rubber mallet did the trick and the rollers are now pressed onto the bolts.

The holes in the aluminum slider window lock handle were just slightly smaller than the threads on the bolts.  Because the piece to receive threads was aluminum and the bolts were stainless,I was able to force screw the bolts into the holes to create the necessary threads in the aluminum carrier.  You see what I mean about a confluence of circumstance?  The bolts were the right size to press into the rollers and the holes were the right size to accept threading from the bolts.  Kismet.

Each bolt has a fiber or teflon washer and a stainless washer to ensure proper spacing for the roller.

The rollers aren’t stainless and aren’t designed to be out in the rain.  Terry painted them for me to help keep the rust at bay.  As to the bearings, an occasional squirt of WD-40 (water displacement 40th formula tested) keeps rust in check and the rollers turning smoothly.  the arrangement allows the cord to be lifted off the rollers and the roller assembly to be taken away from the tank/growbed assembly for maintenance.  At some point I’ll make a plastic cover for the roller assembly to keep the rollers drier.

If you’re wondering what I used to extend the overflow tube on the flush valve . . . it’s a vacuum cleaner hand wand extension pipe.  We’ve got a shelf under one of the benches that gets all the plastic pipe chunks we might need for a later project.  Wand extension pipe is just plastic pipe and the taper makes them perfect for fitting onto other pipe or into openings of not exactly the right size.

Gutter fern Two more different new ferns

The new ferns seem to be doing okay.  I have a couple that are more vigorous, but they are different varieties so the differences in growth are easily explained.

The gutter fern is a delicate thing when compared to the stems of the Hawaiian begonia (Ricinifolia Immense).  The stems of that particular begonia grow to be bigger around than my thumb. The other two ferns aren’t as big as my original wood fern, but they’ve just gotten started.

Increased growth on heliocereus

It’s been almost four weeks since I changed the watering frequency for the wall. The difference is really starting to show.

The heliocereus is putting shoots out of its shoots. It’s acting like it’s spring!

The peperomia is finally producing new growth both at the base and at one of the nodes on one of the stalks.

And finally, the wood fern shows the most dramatic difference. The part of the frond that had grown prior to the water frequency change looks really stunted. The part that grew after the change looks very different.

Peperomia is finally showing some life.

Change in a single frond shows the biggest impact.

Outer shaper molded and trimmed. Ready for sole trim and rhino-coating.

I’ve got a pair of shoes in the works.  I don’t know how successful this design will be.  The upper is a single layer of bison and all the support is built into the insole. The single pieced shaper is stitched through the bison layer.

The sole still needs to be trimmed very close to where it joins the upper.  Once the sole is trimmed, I will reinsert the last, get the shaper wet and reshaped.  This will close up the awl holes I made stitching the shaper to the upper.

Once the shaper’s completely dry I’ll paint bed liner over the shaper and the side of the sole.  The end result should be a funky looking sneaker.

There are two things I didn’t do that I probably should have.  I didn’t add a welt around the ankle opening.  That may have been an error and only time will tell.  This is something I can go back and do if I feel I must.

The second maybe oops is, I didn’t stitch the outer sole to the shaper before applying the shaper to the upper.  The one person I know with the machine to do that has developed a really mean case of early onset Alzheimer.  <wince>  Sadly, avoid is the name of the game there.

The side rings are to accommodate a strap that goes around the back of the shoe, through the side rings and across the top of my instep to secure the shoe for heavy duty things like running after horses.  The strap under the foot is, I believe, too long, but I won’t know for sure until I wear the shoes for a while.

Yesterday I rebuilt my aquaponic system to accommodate an additional grow bed.  The single tray I used last year was just not enough.  I have switched out the gravel I used last year for hydroton (expanded clay balls) so (theoretically) the beds will be light enough to move inside when the weather grows too cold to sustain growing.  A single bed filled with gravel would require four muscle men, a pygmy goat and some special equipment.  That so won’t work for portable beds.  With hydroton I should be able to lift the bed onto a rolling cart for transport indoors.

Now that I’ve got two beds to flood, last year’s system won’t work as is.   Two beds means at least twice the water volume.  I will gang together two 5-gallon buckets to make up the required flush volume.  By ganging buckets together using a short length of 1½ pipe and tee-less connectors, I can supply the volume for both beds using my existing fill and drain system bucket.

So far I’ve got one tray filled and water cycling through but I have more to do before I’m ready to consider planting. I need to cut new piping for the drain system.  I want the system to flash-fill the beds so I don’t have to rely on an auto-siphon for drainage.  That reduces the complexity of the system and reduces the parts needed to get additional beds attached to the system.

The tank’s water temperature is still below 55° [brrr] but if I’m going to get a head start on the season, I need to get my beds functioning mechanically now.  To get the beds up to temperature a little more quickly, I’m thinking of installing a solar water heating system for the tank.  We’ll see if I manage to get it done before the tank gets up to temp.

Months ago I made seafood bouillabaisse a la Julia Childs.  The leftovers were frozen in two-person sized lots for later use.  I’ve managed to put them to very good use.  I’m making seafood chowder using the frozen stock.

This one is really easy, but it does require some basic cooking skills.  Other than making sure the seafood is ready to add, the rest of the work is chop as you go.

In a sauce pan on medium heat, melt 2 tbsp butter.  Chopped three slices of bacon and add it to the pan.  While that’s cooking, dice a quarter of a large onion.  Before adding it to the sauce pan, stir the pan’s contents.  Layer the onion over the top and do not stir it in.

Chop 1/4 each of a red and a green bell pepper.  Before adding these to the sauce pan, stir the pan’s contents.  Layer the peppers over the top and do not stir them in.

Grate two well washed medium carrots, skin on (remove both ends).  Before adding the grated carrots to the sauce pan, stir the contents.  Layer the carrot over the top and do not stir.

Grate two smallish well washed yukon gold potatoes, skin on.  Knife off any bits whose look you don’t like before grating.  Before adding the grated potato to the sauce pan, stir the contents.  Layer the potato over the top and do not stir.

If you have frozen bouillabaisse, plonk the frozen lump down on top the grated potatoes and put a cover on the pan.  Turn the heat down just a little and keep an eye on the liquid level in the pan as the bouillabaisse melts.  You’ll want to pull the still frozen lump out when the liquid level reaches the right height (visible but not covering all the contents.  Stuff the remaining frozen lump in its container and stick it back in the freezer for your next foray into seafood chowder.  If you don’t have frozen bouillabaisse to add, use Kitchen Basic unsalted seafood stock.

This is the point where you will need to add tomatoes if you’re going to.  Adding tomatoes is completely optional.  You don’t want a lot of tomato, just enough to brighten the flavor.  Two smallish tomatoes or one large tomato should be adequate.  Remove the skin and chop.  Stir into the contents of the sauce pan.

It shouldn’t take very long for the potatoes and tomatoes to cook.  You’ll need to add your seafood shortly. Once you add the seafood, stir it as little as possible.  The more you stir the more you’ll break up the seafood.

Here’s the scoop on choosing seafood for this recipe.  You can add almost anything.  I bought a 16 ounce package of mixed seafood on sale ($1.99) at the market a couple weeks ago.  It had squid, cod, octopus, shell-less clams and muscles as well as some fake crab (which I chose not to use).  Half the mix, with the judicious addition of a dozen shrimp and a dozen small bay scallops, made an awesome batch of seafood chowder.

You can use salmon.  You wouldn’t think to use salmon in a chowder but it’s truly excellent.  Whatever fish you use, make sure you debone it.  You can use whole clams and mussels (well washed) as part of the mix.  I usually have  frozen tilapia on hand.  I cut the fillets across into 1″ strips and add with shrimp and scallops.  Whatever you decide to use, use a variety and add enough to make it a hearty seafood stew.

Here’s the bit on adding the seafood to the recipe.  Once all the veges are cooked through, you want to stir in the thawed and/or fresh seafood.  Turn off the heat, cover it and let it sit for about 20 minutes.  The residual heat will cook the seafood through without overcooking it.  Overcooked octopus is like chewing on rubber.  Correctly cooked octopus is delicious.  Some seafood loses it’s texture when overcooked, becoming mushy.

At the end of the 20 minutes, stir in up to two cups of milk.  I used almond milk, but whole or 2% milk works great as well.  Fold the milk in very gently and only add as much as you think you want.  Adding cold milk stops the cooking process to ensure the seafood isn’t overcooked.  Be careful stirring.  You don’t want to break up the pieces of fish.

This seafood chowder recipe, depending on how much seafood you add, will give five or six people a nice sized bowl.

LouAnn and I went to the Guild’s Sew Daze yesterday and I got the binding on my sunset quilt.  LouAnn’s taken it home with her to stitch down the binding.  The quilt is beyond beautiful.  The quilting is gorgeous, the colors are gorgeous.  I’m going to enjoy sleeping under it.

I’ll get a new picture of it at the next meeting.

Pink begonia blossoms

The begonia falling down from the gutter has lovely pink blossoms.  The begonia in the gutter has a long stalk of white blossoms.  Spring must be here.