Propagating Plants – An Update

gardening

It has been a little over a month since I propagated the lavender and blue potato bush. I thought I would write an update at how this process is going. My first post on this can be found under gardening and is titled Propagating Plants.

First of all, I want to say that I have been very diligent about watering the plants. They are on our potting table and I have been sure that they are taken care of in the mornings and are never dried-out. I have done nothing more to them than watering them.

From the beginning, all plants looked fine. One of the blue potato bush plant’s leaves started to wilt not long after being planted. I did not panick. It still looked alive. However, last night, I think reality has hit. The plant’s stem is dry looking and I think it has reached it’s end. The other blue potato bush is thriving. Last night I was so happy to see that new buds are forming on the plant. A sure sign of happiness!

Looks like the end…
Thriving!

The lavender seems to look pretty much the same as when I planted them. I guess that is a good thing. All seem to have attached themselves to their new soil.

Hopefullly, these cuttings will continue to grow and someday be able to be planted in the ground. I will keep posting every now and then on their progress. As always, Happy Gardening!

My Take on…Lunch in Paris

Book Reviews, Cooking

I decided to read Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard for a fun summer read. After all, if I can not get to Paris, why not read about it. From the first chapter, I was suddenly transported to Paris.

Lunch in Paris is a memoir slash cookbook. Bonus! The book starts with Elizabeth (an American from New York living in London) meeting a Frenchman for lunch in Paris. They had met at a conference in England. This was a weekend visit that would ultimately change Elizabeth’s life. I will not give out all the juicy details. I will leave that up to the reader. I will, however, say that this book was delightful. It was a good choice for a summer read. One that I did not want to put down.

Elizabeth comes across as very likable and funny. Besides being a good book and making me feel like I was in Paris, the book also has recipes. Since I love to cook this is a treat. But not only does it have recipes, it has lots of recipes. I am talking recipes at the end of each chapter. I am talking more than one recipe per chapter. As many as three recipes per chapter. The back of the book also has an index of the recipes for easy reference.

Luckily, when I finished reading Lunch in Paris, I could keep my summer vacation in France going. I had also purchased Bard’s second book Picnic in Provence. So now I am following Elizabeth to the French countryside. My take on that will be out shortly.

So, if feeling the need to escape quarantine, pick-up a copy of Lunch in Paris. Not only a good read but a cookbook to boot. There is even a recipe for Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Mint. Super! I still have a few zucchini flowers in the garden. This time I know to check for bees first. As always, Happy Reading!

Building a Garden Tuteur

gardening

My husband and the kids are doing projects together this summer. I said, “Hey! How about me? I want to do a project too!” So, I got in on the deal. The project I chose to make with my husband was a garden tuteur. Tuteur is French, which makes it sound that much more appealing. It basically means stake or support. It is put in the garden to support climbing plants and vines but also for an aesthetic element to the garden.

The above is a sketch I did of the finished tuteur in our garden. I wanted a color that would complement the orange and lemon trees in our yard and also the lavender. A bright tourqoise stain was chosen. We chose to stain instead of paint the tuteur so it would not peel. Love the bright fun shade!

To make the tuteur we followed the building directions at: https://sheholdsdearly.com/diy-french-tuteurs-garden/

The tuteur was really pretty simple to make. It involved cutting boards on the table saw then using a mitre saw to cut the angles. Pieces were assembled using weatherproof wood glue and screws. We built the tuteur in two sessions. We stained it in two sessions as well, letting the stain dry overnight inbetween coats.

Of course, I say this was pretty simple to make only because I have a husband who has built a thing or two in his day and knows what he is doing. I’m sure if I tried to build this on my own it would have come out all lopsided and wonky. A BIG thanks to my husband for our great summer project! As always, Happy Gardening!

Making Croissants

Book Reviews, Cooking

As I have said before, my kids and I are cooking together this summer. So my teenage son made a couple of requests of foods he would like to try to make with me. One being croissants. Ambitious! I was in.

I found a recipe for croissants in the cookbook: Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery and Cafe by Joanne Chang. Chang said that after visiting France with her husband, she wanted to perfect the bakery’s croissant recipe even more. The recipe in her cookbook reflects her efforts at doing so. There are no pictures, just descriptions of the steps, which can seem complicated, but are well written and tested by Chang. She warns that one needs to start making the croissants two days in advance. Really? Yes, really. It is a time consuming process, however, most of that time is spent waiting for the dough to proof, so one can go about their day while the dough does it’s work.

The picture of the finished croissant in the cookbook looked mouth-wateringly good. This is what we were striving for, not the soft, American grocery store version. We wanted the crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, French version. After spending two days in the kitchen, my son and I were nervous when the time came to pop them in the oven. We did not want to burn them. We knew they had the potential for being grand. They had puffed-up into the most amazing looking croissants. We both had moments of joy making these croissants. I remember the ah ha moment when after making a slit in the top of our first croissant and spreading it into a y form, it rolled into a perfectly shaped croissant. A high-five was given as we excitedly formed the rest of our croissants. So, this was not something to risk in the baking. We stayed close to the oven, watching and waiting.

Ready to go into the oven.

I was nervous that the croissants seemed to be browning a bit sooner than expected given the time left on the timer. As the recipe said to bake them a total of 30 min plus or until golden. They were golden but what about the insides? This was our dilemma. We decided to tent them with foil for the remainder of the cook time. All turned out well. The croissants were delicious and got rave reviews from the family. They were crispy and flakey on the outside. On the inside, the tender and chewy layers could be seen as well as tasted. Oh yum! Am I in Paris!?!

Perfection!
The inside with a bit of jam.

If wanting a good French croissant, I highly recommend picking-up a copy of Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery and Cafe by Joanne Chang. While this recipe does seem like quite a task, it is actually very easy to make, just time consuming. The dough can be made in a stand mixer. The steps of folding the dough with the butter (I bought European butter for this recipe.) were easy and the dough rolled-out nicely (I used my pastry cloth.). Most importantly, the were DELICIOUS! As always, Bon Appetit!

Lemon and Fleur de Sel Butter Cookies Review

Cooking

Thanks to fellow blogger Stephen, I was introduced to the blog Chocolate and Zucchini, the site of Clotilde Dusoulier. How funny that I actually own her cookbook, Tasting Paris, but did not know of her blog site. Anyway, I was looking through recipes on her site and came across the recipe for Lemon and Fleur de Sel Butter Cookies. As we have plenty of lemons on the trees and were gifted some Fleur de Sel when my daughter went to France last summer, I thought this would be a nice summer cookie to try.

I thought that the cookies were very simple to make. They were whipped up in a food processor in no time at all. They did, however, need to chill for an hour. So if making this cookie, be sure to give time to chill the dough. These cookies really do need that chill time or they would be very hard to work with, as the dough softens quickly. After rolling out the dough and stamping out the cookies, they baked for the minimum time of 12 minutes. The cookies were then iced as per Clotildes instructions, using a pastry brush. Genious! I have always iced cookies with a knife and what a mess that can be. I really loved the pastry brush method. I will be using this on my other recipes in the future.

The Lemon and Fleur de Sel Butter Cookies had a very mild lemon flavor. Just a hint really. The cookies were soft yet according to my daughter, “looked hard”. They were very light and flakey. A perfect texture really. Yum! They make a perfect cookie to serve with tea or as a light summer desert on a hot evening. As always, Happy Baking!

The recipe can be found at: https://cnz.to/recipes/cookies-small-cakes/lemon-and-fleur-de-sel-butter-cookies-recipe/

I am Now a Three Song Gal

life

It has been a while since my last ukulele post. Yes, I’m still strumming. I am starting to understand the music a bit better. (Thanks Honey!) I think reading the music is actually my biggest hurdle. Since my first post, I have started playing with tabs. This does make things a bit easier in some ways. It helps if I know the tune of the song before playing, so I know if I am holding notes long enough. I am now playing more than two songs pretty well. I guess I will now consider myself a three song gal. I can play America the Beautiful the best. I am quite proud of this one actually. As they say, “Practice makes perfect”. My latest addition to my repertoire is Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman. I am also learning some others, including Aloha Oe, but I can not play them well enough to count them in my repertoire. So, for now I am a three song gal. I guess I better keep practicing! As always Happy Strumming!

What! I Missed Another Reason to Celebrate!

Cooking, life

What have I been doing? I totally missed the one year anniversary (June 7th) of my blog, Another Day With Julie! My followers know that I love to celebrate my milestones. Celebrating those milestones usually involves a yummy cake. Well, belated or not, let the celebration begin!

We have zucchini in the garden. Maybe too much zucchini in the garden. So this cake will not only help me celebrate, it will help me use up some of that zucchini as well, because I hate to waste food.

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, sugar, salt, and applesauce with a spoon.

Add flour, cocoa, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix.

Add chocolate chips and zucchini. Mix.

Pour the batter into a greased 8″ x 8″ baking pan.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until toothpick comes out somewhat clean.

Can serve with powdered sugar sifted over top.

I like this cake served a little warm. Look closely at the photo. See the melted chocolate chips, still shiny and gooey? Yum! My husband said it reminded him of a chocolate lava cake.

*Recipe adapted from http://www.balticmaid.com/2011/08/healthy-zucchini-brownies

Thanks to all my followers and viewers on Another Day With Julie! Without my readers, there may still be a blog, but what fun would that be. As always, Happy Baking, Happy Celebrating!

At Home Haircuts

life

I have been giving at home haircuts for YEARS. It started way back when I was a teenager in high school. I would watch the hair dresser cut my hair and copy it when I needed a trim. I had a short, layered hair style back then, so a lot of cutting was involved. My brother even let me cut his hair and yes, give him an at home perm.

Fast forward many years later and I am still cutting hair. This is mainly due to the fact that whenever I go to the hair salon I always like the way I looked before I went in better than when I come out. Also, the prices are pretty expensive, especially if I just need a little trim off the ends and my bangs. Honestly, I can do that at home.

So, while in quarantine, I am not stressing about my hair or my family’s hair. I have also been cutting my children’s hair for years. The only person in our household that was going to the barber was my husband. He would never let me cut his hair, until quarantine that is. I was so extremely happy when he asked me to cut his hair and even happier when he asked for the second and third time. I do enjoy cutting hair!

Some tips from me…WARNING….I am not trained in any way to cut hair…just a personal hobby…so anything I have written may work for me and my family but do not come crying to me if your hair winds up looking wonky. We have all given and received a bad hairdo from time to time. It will grow back. Hats are also a wonderful option. But really, what a better time could there be to try this. If quarantining properly, hardly anyone will see the outcome anyway.

A couple of very important things to remember when trying to cut hair on your own… First of all DO NOT cut hair with regular scissors, school scissors, pinking shears, sewing scissors, embroidery scissors, garden scissors, nail scissors, etc… Do not use any ‘bonus’ scissors that may be included with cheap clipper sets. They are not quality scissors. When cutting hair (if wanting to look good) a good quality pair of hair shears is required. Think beauty supply store. It will be well worth the investment.

There are some very good videos on you-tube on how to cut hair. I recommend watching a few to get the idea before diving in on your significant other’s hair. There are also books on home haircutting that may be worth a read. I DO NOT recommend trying to cut bangs if there were not bangs to begin with unless some research is done first. Too many bangs are not a good thing. The hair needs to be sectioned properly before cutting. Short bangs are not a good thing. When I cut my bangs, I cut them wet but I allow for shrinkage. When hair drys, it is a bit shorter. I pull my bangs straight up pulling them between my index finger and my middle finger and cut straight across. This does not give a straight cut. When hair is let down, it will be slightly longer on the ends. This is because the head is curved. Think rainbow but not so dramatic as that. If cut straight across the eyebrows, temples would be showing a bit too much. My husband cuts the ends of my hair. It is difficult to cut the length of one’s own hair. Not saying it can not be done, but not an easy task.

I cut the boys hair dry. I use a clipper with comb attachment to cut the hair around the sides and back of head. I take the comb attachment off and finish the neckline and sideburns with the clippers minus the attachment. I cut around the ears with scissors and I finish the top of the head and bangs area with scissors, blending into the sides. I do this by layering the hairs by taking hair between my index and middle finger and pulling straight up for the top of the head and then straight out for the side and the part between the top and side at an angle. Before using the clippers (each time) apply a drop or two of lubricating oil (meant for use with clippers) on the blade. This is important in maintaing the quality of the clippers.

Curls, waves, cowlicks can all be a bit challenging. I find it easier to cut long hair wet, especially if there is any wave to it at all. Having said that, waves do shrink-up hair when dry so be careful not to overdue the cutting or the hair will be much shorter than desired. Sometimes a few extra cuts are needed to get a cowlick or curl to behave. For me it is just a learned process.

With Covid-19 still hanging on, I am glad that I am not afraid to tackle my family’s hair needs. I have asked for a barber pole and chair that lifts and spins but have been denied. I little dream of mine. Oh well…maybe some day… Happy Styling!

I Have Earned My Wheels

life

As I mentioned in my earlier post ‘Learning to Skateboard at My Age? Why Not!’, I have taken-up skateboarding. It has become an almost nightly thing with me now. My husband was sweet enough to gift me my own board. I no longer have to borrow my son’s board. I have my own wheels.

The skateboard was not bought as a complete, but in pieces that we chose and then assembled. I not only got a lesson in how to ride, but how to put together a skateboard as well. Needed are a deck, grip tape, trucks, risers, wheels, bearings, and screws. Oh, and two handy guys that know how to put this all together. Of course, one can just get it assembled at the skate shop. But then the guys do not get to have any fun.

I really like my new board. It is a super smooth ride. Thanks guys!

My board. Sweet!
My adorable bear cut-out grip tape! This grip tape comes in goofy or regular. I’m a goofy.

Fun Little Paper Mache Craft

Projects

I saw these cute little “bell” people and decided I had to get crafty. Some were made of ceramics and some I think paper mache. I decided to make my little bell person from paper mache. But I needed company, so I asked the kids if they wanted to make one as well. Everyone was on board.

We started by making a form to paper mache around. Ours were wadded up paper and fruit stuffed into a ziplock bag. Next, I poured glue into a yogurt container and added water to thin the glue and gave it a stir. Then we all tore newspaper into strips, dipped into the glue mixture, and squeeged the glue from the paper with our fingers and arranged the strips around our forms to create a bell shape. A few coats of this is recommended.

My son making the form for his person.

I then used magazines and paper mached the colored pieces onto the bell as if I were painting the piece. In this way I did not have to paint the piece in the end. I did paint my little guy’s facial features when he dried with black acrylic paint.

The kids decided to paint their guys with acrylic paint instead of using magazines. After they dried overnight, we put on a coat of clear varnish. Then it was time to string them up. I strung my little guy but his feet kept hitting each other and turning around. My son, on the other hand, had a perfectly aligned little man. So I asked him to string mine for me. He also finished his sister’s guy as well.

These bell people did take a while to make. However, we were having such a good time that we really did not notice just how long we were at it until we had finished.

My little man.

I really liked how my little man turned out. He makes me laugh. He is so cute. I have hung him above my desk so I can look at him. As I am writing this, I am amused that he is such a good dancer. With my fan blowing on him he has quite the moves.

My son’s man. So sofisticated.
My daughter’s man dressed in swim trunks.

We had fun using our imaginations to create unique guys with interesting personalities. Let us know what you think. As always, Happy Crafting!