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Travels with George and Marta

Journeys in the Botanical World

Travels with George and Marta
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Road Trip

Travels with George and Marta Posted on July 26, 2014 by martaAugust 27, 2014

On the Road

The car is packed. The playlists are done – Western, selection of classical to celebrate the morning and another for staying on the mountain top. It was fun putting together the lists. I went through a bunch of Western Movies from the 50’s and a few more modern. I like it and should be good while viewing the vistas from the lookout (Western Playlist on Youtube). The classical runs the gamut of Peer Gynt, Daphne et Chloe to Night on Bald Mountain and Force of Destiny.

The fires are still burning in Oregon but they are starting to be contained. There are a couple east of the lookout now so it may affect the vistas. No further lightning forecast but it is going to be hot hot hot (mid-90s). If it is clear, we are hoping for some spectacular star watching in the dark sky. I downloaded a couple of apps for star watching and identifying the peaks.

Eastern Oregon Beer Run

We’ll head out tomorrow over Snoqualmie and stop in Yakima for a picnic lunch (~2.5 hrs). Then on to Pendleton where we will stop for a brew at Prodigal Son Brewery. We’ll stay two nights in Baker and plan on stopping at Barley Brown’s Brewery – a GABF winner. We won’t be able to make Terminal Gravity in Enterprise.

Then we’ll move on to the Fall Lookout taking time to drive the Elkhorn Scenic Byway past Anthony Lakes climbing 3,500 feet of elevation in 10 miles and eventually over Elkhorn Summit at 7392 ft and then dropping down into the John Day River basin passing Prairie City and John Day. We will stop at 1188 Brewing in John Day for a late meal until traveling up to the lookout for 3 days.

Posted in Oregon, Travel | Tagged EasternOregon, FallMountain | Leave a reply

Eastern Oregon Bound

Travels with George and Marta Posted on July 18, 2014 by martaSeptember 2, 2014

Near John Day Sheep Rock

We are off to Eastern Oregon in the next week or so. I had come across this cool Forest Lookout Fall Mountain when I was planning for our trip to the Steens two years ago. I love this . Something really appeals to me to stay here.

We are planning on driving down to Baker Oregon and staying two nights. My stories I heard growing up in my family was my great grandmother and grandfather ‘came across the plains’ before settling in California. I want to visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and maybe even walk in some of the ancient ruts.

We will move on to the lookout for three nights. The lookout is pretty ‘luxurious’ as far as lookouts go – electricity, stove, refrigerator, futon. We will have to bring our own water and most of the campgrounds around don’t have water either. We may need to go into John Day which is the closest city. I checked Verizon’s data plan and it look’s like I’ll be off the internet grid. Maybe I should have gotten AT&T.

I am a bit nervous due to the tremendous drought in the west. Wildfires have been breaking out all over Oregon and Washington. I have been monitoring the site and so far nothing really close to the lookout other than the a couple in the Waterman complex. But things can change so quickly. It will probably be a very smokey stay.

From the lookout will move on to Bend for two more nights and stay at this VRBO rental. Looking forward to some good beer.

Posted in Oregon, Travel | Tagged EasternOregon, FallMountain | Leave a reply

Garden in July

Travels with George and Marta Posted on July 16, 2014 by martaJuly 16, 2014

Echinacea 'Julia'
Echinacea ‘Julia’

We are having a long stretch of near record dry hot weather. Our garden is starting to show the effects along with keeping G busy watering. I am actually loving it even though the first couple of days which almost reached 90 was a little tough. There seems to always still be a cool breeze.

The grass had gone dormant which is typical. We have not had as many salvias come back as in the past. The Basjoo Banana is not as robust this year. It had sprout back from the ground this year due to the cold freeze early in November last year. The Gunnera is gone but the Melianthus strangely made it through. We also had one Echium pininana survive and bloom this year. Brugmansias are blooming. G thinks the secret to early blooms is not to prune it back when we store it- the blooms come when the stems branch and it takes a while to branch if you cut them back.

We also got an amazing deal on a red Banana. We went to the Home Depot up in Everett to shop for a new stove. We couldn’t resist checking out the plants. It is a super store and the nursery had an excellent selection of plants. We picked up a Miscanthus sinensis ‘Cosmopolitan’ and Echinacea ‘Julia’. And out in the parking lot were pallet loads of red bananas, some about 3 feet and other about 5-6 ft. And the sign said 50% off! We could only fit one of the 3ft plants in the car but what a steal at $10.00!!

Dry front yard
Look at the Echium!

Driveway bed
Driveway bed

Red Banana
New Red Banana

Red Banana
Isn’t that a great deal – $10 for the banana. We will dig it up come October and try to winter it over in the garage

Banana Basjoo
Basjoo Banana

Agave pots
Agaves potted up and getting some summer sun

Aeonium arboreum 'Atropurpureum'
Former window boxes

Aeonium arboreum 'Atropurpureum'
Aeonium arboreum Atropurpureum

Shade bed
Shade bed – Mahonia gracilipes,
Arisaema taiwanense, Aristolochia macrophylla

Hosta bed - 'Patriot' and 'Fragrant Bouquet'
Hosta bed – Patriot and Fragrant Bouquet

Hosta 'Fire and Ice'
The newest host – Fire and Ice which we got at Portland Nursery

Salvia patens
Salvia patens

Salvia forskaohlei
Salvia Forskaohlei

And two photos taken a while ago of the Echium pininana

Echium pininana with hummingbird
Note the hummingbird feasting. They loved it.

Echium pininana

Posted in Gardening | Tagged Gardening | 1 Reply

Vegetable Garden 2014 – Update #2

Travels with George and Marta Posted on July 11, 2014 by martaJuly 15, 2014

Veggie Garden 2014 -July 11

The weather has heated up and we are in our summer mode. June was great and July has been even warmer. We definitely had summer arrive before the 4th of July – although the 4th was cloudy.

Everything is doing great except the peas and cucumbers. Total failure this year. We are going to have to figure out if there is a way to grow peas without disease. Our beds in the back are all infected. We had to get new seeds for the cukes since two sets failed.

Lettuce has been doing great as has the radishes. Zucchini is coming on. Strawberries were outstanding this year. Tomatoes are getting big. Potatoes have filled up their pots and the corn is way over knee high.

Veggie Garden 2014 -July 11
Tomato pots looking good

Veggie Garden 2014 -July 11
Oregon Star getting big

Veggie Garden 2014 -July 11
Gypsy Peppers

Veggie Garden 2014 -June 30

Veggie Garden 2014 -July 11

Look at how fast the corn and green beans are growing. This is just about 2 week’s worth of growth.

Veggie Garden 2014 -June 30
Green Beans June 30th
Veggie Garden 2014 -July 11
Green Beans July 11th
Veggie Garden 2014 -June 30
Corn June 30th
Veggie Garden 2014 -July 11
Corn-July 11th
Posted in Gardening | Tagged VegetableGarden | Leave a reply

Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Travels with George and Marta Posted on June 29, 2014 by martaJuly 5, 2014

Cherry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

My favorite summer dessert is ice cream or sorbet. I purchased a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker a couple of years ago and it was one of my best appliance purchases. Just freeze the canister and you have ice cream in 30 minutes.

I also love the recipes in Jeni’s Splendid Homemade Ice Cream. I bought it back in 2011. I haven’t made that many of the different flavors but the base vanilla is the best.

I wanted a Vanilla base with cherries and chocolate chips. I used the idea of roasting the cherries with a little sugar from her Roasted Cherries and then layering with the vanilla chocolate chip. It was perfect.

Roasted Cherries

20-30 cherries, pitted and halved
1 1/2 TBS sugar
1 TBS bourbon or amaretto (optional)

Heat oven to 400 debrees. Combine cherries, sugar and bourbon in baking pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes until fruit is soft watching carefully so the sugar does not burn. Remove, cool and chill. You may want to cut into quarters or smaller pieces otherwise the cherry pieces will be large and potentially icy.

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2 cups whole milk
1 TBS + 1/4 tsp cornstarch
1 1/4 cup cream
2 TBS corn syrup or inverted sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
3 TBS cream cheese.
1 Tsp vanilla or 1/4 tsp almond extract

Set aside 2 TBS milk in small bowl. Combine with cornstarch – set aside.

Combine remaining milk, cream, sugar, cornsyrup and bring to boil over medium heat. Boil for about 1 minute. Stir in the cornstarch/milk slurry and bring back to a boil. Combine with cream cheese. Stir in flavoring. Cool and chill.

When the milk mixture is chilled, melt 2 oz dark chocolate and set aside. Churn ice cream according manufacture’s directions. Just before it has finished, drizzle melted chocolate into ice cream to create flakes.

Layer vanilla ice cream with the cherries. Freeze for at least 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Posted in Cooking | Tagged Dessert, IceCream | Leave a reply

New Bellevue Botanical Garden

Travels with George and Marta Posted on June 24, 2014 by MartaDecember 27, 2014

Bellevue Botanical Garden

The construction has finished and the new Bellevue Botanical Garden is now open.  The plants have not changed but there is now a wonderful educational center, improved parking lot and entry.  We visited this weekend.

The perennial beds are in full bloom. The summer flowers are just coming on.  We loved the summer bulbs (lilies and irises) that were in bloom.  We can not wait to go back again in a couple of weeks to see the next wave of blooms.

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Entrance water feature

Bellevue Botanical Garden
A variety of vines are planted at the base of the wall – should be stunning when they have grown.

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Rain garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Shady part of the garden filled with lovely green foliage – love the textures

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden

A wide variety of different bulbs are planted – from lovely species Morea and Gladiolas to the stunning 8 foot Cardiocrinum giganteum.

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Morea alticola

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Crinum

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Gladiolus species

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Martigon Lily

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Bellevue Botanical Garden
Cardiocrinum giganteum

Posted in Gardening, Local Sights | Tagged SeattleGardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Travels with George and Marta Posted on June 16, 2014 by martaMarch 8, 2015

Adelman Peony Gardens

Less than a mile from Schreiner’s Iris Gardens is Adelman Peony Gardens. They have a wonderful small display garden. We visited on May 31st which is mid-season but some of the best blooms seemed to already be over. We did enjoy several including my favorite of Dolorodell and the Itoh hybrid Bartzella. We are still kicking ourselves for passing up the 25% off Bartzella at Swanson’s earlier in May. It has been going for $70 at many places. We could have gotten it for just over half.

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens

Posted in Gardening, Travel | Tagged Gardening, Oregon | 2 Replies

Schreiner’s Iris Gardens

Travels with George and Marta Posted on June 16, 2014 by martaJune 16, 2014

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

I have always had a soft spot for bearded iris. They were my mother’s favorites. “Flags” is what she called them. She would get so excited when we came across someone who was giving a bunch of rhizomes away. We had groups in our yard that would inevitably be pulled out by my dad. He just couldn’t see their value since they bloom for such a short time.

We had some in our garden about 10 years ago. The grass grew up in their beds. The cutworms and slugs would decimate them and we got rid of them. But we’re ready to try again.

We took an overnight trip to Portland at the beginning of June. Originally the plane was to visit a couple of nurseries (I can’t believe we still have not made it to Cistus) and a couple of craft breweries. But I remembered a couple of recent posts of the iris and peony growers near Salem. Heck, it is only 35 more miles.

We decided to make Schreiner’s Iris Garden our first stop. We left Edmonds shortly after 8am and stopped shortly after 9am for breakfast in Centralia. Service was slow and we didn’t get back on the road for another hour and made it to the garden by noon.

The day was sunny and warm – perfect for strolling in the garden. It was the last open weekend for the garden and the irises were not in their prime but still wonderful. It was a riot of color – blue, white, gold, purple, tan, brown. I did not bring a note pad so I didn’t get the names. We’re getting ready to put an order in. We’ll probably start with a starter collection.

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Schreiner's Iris Gardens

Posted in Gardening, Travel | Tagged Gardening, Oregon | 2 Replies

Vegetable Garden 2014

Travels with George and Marta Posted on June 15, 2014 by martaNovember 2, 2014

Vegetable Garden 2014
Beet and carrots

This has been a great year.  It has been warm but not too hot. We got a lot of rain early in March and April and then somewhat regularly in May and June.  The weeds are going crazy but the vegetable garden also loves it.

We have the usual vegetable. Some old and some new varietites.  We are growing Monte Cristo pole beans instead of Blue Lake.  The Blue Lakes have been terrible the last couple of years.  It turns out that the hybrid is failing and several people are reporting the flat stringy pods like we have had the past couple of years.  The bush beans are the same varieties, Maxibel, Soleil.  We have some Gold Marie Romanos.  Bodacious corn again, carrots, beets.  We have 3 potatoes; Yukon Gold, a red and a russet.

Lettuce is going crazy.  We bought the starts back in April and have been harvesting heads for the past week.  The radishes are ready.

We changed the way we are growing strawberries.  We are hanging them from baskets in the greenhouse to protect them from slugs.  We also are growing Hood which is a bigger strawberry.  We have harvested our first pint today.

Here’s the update.

 
Vegetable Garden 2014
Lettuce when planted April 8th

Vegetable Garden 2014
Getting closer – May 22nd

Vegetable Garden 2014
Today’s harvest

Vegetable Garden 2014
Radishes

Vegetable Garden 2014
Lettuce and Monte Cristo Beans

Vegetable Garden 2014>
Corn

Vegetable Garden 2014
Hanging Strawberry Pots

Vegetable Garden 2014
Today’s Strawberry harvest

Posted in Gardening | Tagged VegetableGarden | Leave a reply

Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet

Travels with George and Marta Posted on June 10, 2014 by martaJune 11, 2014

Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet

I have been searching for a good strawberry sorbet. Many of the ones I have made previously have frozen very hard without a smooth texture. The trick is to get the right amount of sugar to water ratio. Strawberries are mostly water so it makes it even more challenging.

If you web search, you will find several articles recommending using a saccharometer to measure the sugar. Recently Fine Cooking (June/July 2014) had an article about floating an egg which also is mentioned in the previous link and in this article from Zoe Bakes.   I’ve also read several articles that mentioned using corn syrup or another type of inverted sugar to create the smooth texture.

I’ve tried floating the egg without much luck so I’m still in search for a good method. But I’ve used more corn syrup in my latest batch with good luck. It may be the secret.

I do not have a specific recipe but here are amounts that I used in my latest batch along with a couple of links for reference.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet

Simple Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Combine water and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar.  Pour into glass jar, cool and refrigerate.

Rhubarb puree:

2 stalks of rhubarb (about ½ to ¾ lb) ends trimmed and stalks split in the center and cut into ¾ pieces
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar

Combine rhubarb, sugar and water in a pan and bring to boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the rhubarb easily falls apart.

Cool for 5-10 minutes. Puree in a blender until smooth. Press through a fine mesh strainer to remove pulp. Rinse blender and strainer with ¼ cup of simple syrup. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Strawberry puree:

1 pint ripe local strawberries, hull, quartered

Puree strawberries in blender. Press through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds. Rinse blender and strainer with ¼ cup of simple syrup.

Prepare Sorbet:

Combine rhubarb and strawberry puree. Stir in ½ cup simple syrup and 2 TBS corn syrup. Cover and chill ~ 30 minutes. Stir in 2 TBS of St Germain or other liquor of your choice.

Process the puree mixture in ab ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The sorbet will be soft. Place in freezer for several hours for firmer texture.

Here are a few other links:

Rhubarb Sorbet from Simply Recipes
Rhubarb Strawberry Sorbet from Scoop Adventures
Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream and Sorbet from Savory Simple

Posted in Cooking | Tagged Sorbet | 1 Reply

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