ROCK UPDATE
Since I posted my blog last week I have had a chance to get some of my rocks painted and placed for people to find them. I have hidden three down at the park close to our house (Kissel Park), but so far no one has posted them on the Yakima Valley Rocks Facebook page as having been "found." However, I know someone has found them because they aren't at the park anymore. I am hoping they eventually get posted so I know where they have traveled. I have some more ready to hide, but I am going to place those at a different location. Most members of the group post a picture of their rocks to the group before placing them, and they give hints as to where the rocks can be found. Lots of moms with little kids monitor our group page and then take their kids on excursions using the hints to help them find the rocks. I think this is a really fun activity to do with kids, and it gets them outside. Some of the kids have even started painting and hiding rocks themselves. Below is a picture of all the rocks I have painted right now, although a couple in the picture are not finished yet.
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| Some of these rocks are going to be "keepers" |
CHOCOLAT CHAUD
As part of Linda's birthday celebration this year, I decided to make some real hot chocolate, also known as Chocolat Chaud or Parisian Hot Chocolate. She had mentioned that she wanted to try it some day, so I figured this would be a good time. We finally had the opportunity to do it this past week, but let me tell you, it was worth the wait. I found a basic recipe on the Serious Eats website, another one of my favorite cooking blogs. I made some adjustments to their recipe to suit our tastes, and here is the final recipe that I made.
CHOCOLAT CHAUD
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 pint whole milk or 8 oz 1% milk and 8 oz half & half
3 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
2 ounces 60-70% bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
In a small pot combine the cocoa, sugar, and salt until melted. Add the milk and both kinds of chocolate. Heat this over medium low heat, stirring often, until everything is melted well and hot, but do not bring to a boil. Use a whisk to even out any lumps in the mixture. Pour into small cups and serve.
I must say this was the best hot chocolate I have ever had! If you can't drink it all in one sitting (we couldn't), put it in a container with a lid, stick it in the fridge and reheat it whenever you want it again. I imagine it would stay good for 2-3 days.
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| These cute Starbucks mugs were just the right size, 3 oz. |
BEGIN THE GARDEN
This past week I finally got the chance to make a start on the vegetable garden for 2017. I planted my garlic bulbs and also three different kinds of lettuce. I still have two other kinds of lettuce to plant, but I am going to wait another week so I will have a staggered crop. I was a bit disappointed to find out that what I thought was Elephant Garlic appears to be just regular garlic. I will know for sure when I harvest in late summer. At any rate, it will be better than having no garlic at all! I would include a picture but at this point it would just show dirt, LOL!
OUR WALK
For our walk this week we decided to see if I could make it all the way down to Tahoma Cemetery, which is not too far from our house. We are constantly searching for a good place to walk during the summer when it is so hot. We figured that the cemetery would be a good place because there are lots of huge trees there to provide ample shade. So, on Tuesday we walked to the cemetery, and just when we got there it began to hail little tiny balls of ice, the largest ones being about the size of a pea. I had my camera with me but the hail stones were so small you wouldn't be able to see them if I had taken a picture. Our walk got cut short due to a line of dark clouds heading our way. Still, we found out that I had no problem walking that far, in fact we would have walked around some if the weather had cooperated.
SPRING FLOWERS
Spring in Yakima is very pretty, especially after having had such a long, snowy winter. The weather here has started warming up in fits and starts, but we had one day this past week where it was warm enough to sit outside. We got our chairs off the back porch, put them under our tree, and sat outside to have our afternoon tea. The view was absolutely gorgeous!
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| We were joined by the Black Cat Ninja |
While we were sitting under the tree we were serenaded by a little bird. Summer Girl seems to have enjoyed the concert as much as we did!
That's all for this week. Stop back by next week for more adventures in the Northwest!
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