Choice Morsels

Clathrus Columnatus (Stinkhorn) Ever seen a Clathrus Columnatus growing in your mulch bed or lawn? They're a funny little fungi common to the Gulf Coast, though they've been spotted as far north as Pennsylvannia. They frequent my mulched beds, especially when we've had a lot of rain. When I first saw one, I had to look it up to see what the little stinky thing was! This mushroom's common name is "Stinkhorn," and it's called that for good reason. It emits a mild stink to attract flies, which is how it disperses it's spores. (Most of the black specs in the photo are flies of various sorts.) It's bright orange colored and has this funny architectural form comprised of 3 loops or "columns." Usually about 2 to 4 inches tall. My other picture today is one of my garden art extra-large teacups filled with baby Hen & Chick succulents and some moss that has moved in. The mix of pea gravel, Chicks & green moss just looked so...

When I used to work at the flower shop, one of the ladies I worked was always baking different kinds of cakes. Cakes I'd never heard of, like Hummingbird Cake or Orange Slice Cake. Since I have a sister who likes Orange Slice Candy, I looked up a recipe for Orange Slice Cake to email her and that's when I learned more about it. What Orange Slice Cake is, is an old-fashioned cake popular in the Deep South during the Christmas season. Baked in a bundt pan, it's Southern version of a fruitcake, but with orange slice candy, nuts, dates & coconut and none of the usual candied fruit.  It's also typically an heirloom recipe passed down from one generation to the next.  I've decided I want to try making one sometime in January and am going to put the recipe here, because my blog is also my "recipe box." That way, when I am ready to make it, I'll have a ready-reference for the recipe! Orange Slice Cake Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened ...

Here on the Florida Panhandle, winter has been mild so far. Jack Frost hasn't killed anything yet. Most notably, my Bell Pepper decided it felt like a second wind this autumn has several Peppers on it's branches right now! I'm trying to keep it protected on cooler nights and well fertilized, until I can harvest what Peppers it has . Out back, the promise of future heads are starting to show on the Broccoli and I have tons Cilantro happily  sprouting in a large pot! Winter usually means lots of Mexican cooking! **** That's it for today!

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Not the movie. Reality. The Mama Kat blog post topic today is "Write a post inspired by the word "Frozen." In January of 2014 we had a deep freeze here in north Florida. Everything was coated with ice and heaped with ice crystals that looked like snow. Roads were closed. Schools closed. Kids and adults got out their cardboard boxes and giant black trash bags to use to "sled" down the high arched bridge between Okaloosa Island and Destin that was frozen solid. After all, no one owns sleds in Florida? I ran outside with my camera to capture frozen vegetation around my yard: Here's a shot of my ice-coated Hens & Chicks: You'd think being frozen would kill them, but nope. They just thawed out and kept going. So did all my iced-over herbs. They just thawed out, unfazed. The Cedar tree out front got thoroughly iced: Finally, a shot of some red cabbage I had growing that year thick with ice-crystal "snow": It w...

Hubby told me a couple weeks ago he'd ordered a surprise, something in the way of a Christmas outdoor decoration. Last weekend it arrived: He knew I admired for years a display in front of a local business  something like this that was just the word "Joy" with a manger scene in the "O." So, he got this for me.  The letters and manger pieces are made of metal and the manger pieces & star just clip on. The red letters are glittery red and are propped up in back. Simple, attractive, yet is flat and stores easily in the box in came in. I don't want any outdoor decor that's a storage problem. What goes up has to come down, so we keep it simple. No decorating the whole house.  We probably need one of those lazy-man laser things the make your house "appear" decorated with lights. This week was also my birthday and I like to celebrate the occasion personally by buying some flowers and arranging them in a vase. One bundle of s...

The Mama Kat blog writing prompt today is, "Share a Quote I Love." I love cats. I especially adore our oh-so-very personable cat, Sunni, so I decided to share 3 of my favorite cat quotes from Pinterest: #1) "There are few human experiences quite as magical or memorable as being "chosen" by a cat. We adopted Sunni from a no-kill shelter on the Air Force Base. Actually she adopted us. She responded to myself and Hubby in a way the shelter worker had never seen her respond before. It has like she decided, "Ah-ha, I've found my people." At that point, she made a visual connection to us and would act over-joyed as soon as she would see me walk into the cat room at the shelter for the couple visits I paid her before we officially took her home. Then, as soon as we got home, she expressed her delight to be with us by running back and forth between us to be petted by us, purring really loud and giving our arms and hands little love-licks.  ...