A Room With A View

My apartment doesn't look out onto much--other people's apartments, mostly, the parking lot, and an edge of Rock Creek Park. (I've seen the view that others across the hall have--it's beautiful!).

But sometimes, I catch glimpses of beauty through my window.

And no, I'm seriously not talking about that girl whose window looks directly through her living room into her bathroom, with the door wide open and the light on while she does... Whatever it is that she does.

Not really the vision I'd like to share here. I'd rather share the windowsill tomato plants of the girl who lives next to the naked bend-over-in-the-bathroom-with-the-blinds-wide-open girl.

I would like to think that these tomato plants were inspired by the greenery I have in my apartment. I also hope that this isn't the same person who wrote the note saying "I don't care what you're growing, but turn your lights off or close your blinds." I mean, why couldn't that person close his/her blinds instead? I moved the lights to the corner, sure, but even so. Passive agressive notes, anyone?

I'm inspired by this rooftop garden next to my building. The photo is fuzzy, and the rooftop is obscured by reflections of my own plants through the window, but to be honest, I can't see it much better in person. Even so, I can make out some sort of cucurbit, tomatoes, okra, and bunches of herbs in pots.

One of the questions is how does the gardener get on top of the roof to care for the plants? That little bubble-dome-hatch? Does s/he fly in using a jet pack?

These, and many more, questions have been left unanswered for far too long.

These people are, however, the exact people we hope to attract to the DC State Fair next month. This, here, is urban agriculture.

Bloomin' Edibles

In the winter, I requested seed packets from Renee's Garden to trial indoors. The company graciously provided, and although I have had a bone broken a few times and various events that take me away from my apartment for weeklong periods at a time, some of the plants have survived!

The star at the moment is, naturally, the "Super Bush" tomato. The leaves may be sparse (I trimmed the plant in an attempt to curb the spider mite population upon my return from Nova Scotia), but it has flowered! And, as you can see, my beard-trimmer technique (although it works) leaves behind little hairs everywhere.

Maybe this time I'll get almost-ripe tomatoes before November?

The "Bush Slicer" cucumber, however, has had a rough time. It's flowering, but it's ridiculously young and small. Beside the big spider mite issue, maybe it is overwatered? Maybe it needs more light? I am not convinced that the flowers will reach maturity and yield anything edible, but I'll see how far I can take this baby! (As you can see in the background, my Alternanthera dentata pulled its dramatic leaf-dropping act while I was away. I swear, if I don't water those plants every day, they up and throw a tantrum on me.)

Nova Scotia, Scenes Of Beauty

As I mentioned, I was in Nova Scotia for about a week at the end of June/beginning of July. I didn't have much opportunity to gallivant around at gardens, take macro shots of pretty flowers, or buy any new plants (although I seriously considered it!), but there were occasional opportunities to capture snapshots of that which Nova Scotia is truly adept at: creating natural beauty.


These little shrooms (?) were growing on the deck at the groom's parents' house, in Enfield (near the airport). They're very striking! But they're probably not a good sign of structural integrity. Also, I almost fell through the deck.


This little planting is in front of the Beveridge Arts Centre/Library at my university. Really, the only reason I photographed it is because apparently the inuksuk was rebuilt (for a fourth time?) in a less easily damageable place! The first few times, the larger inuksuit built on campus were vandalized by students or run over by snow plows--this one seems quite happy where it is! I'm a big fan of inuksuit for some reason. Maybe it's because they are one of the few nature-related things that have continued cultural relevance nowadays? I mean, I guess they probably only do if you're from Nunavut. But even so. I like them.


This is a parking lot in Wolfville. For serious. I love this parking lot! In the background at the top, you might be able to just barely make out the top of the chimney where all the chimney swifts live.


Here's a blurry close-up of the poppies in the parking lot.


Nova Scotia is full of these views. This is Cape Blomidon in the distance, on the Bay of Fundy. This is the view from Old Orchard Inn, where the wedding reception was held. In other words, this is basically what I saw from my backyard every day when I lived in Nova Scotia.

Beautiful.


This is a picture of the Cape from near the dikes. Or is that dykes? One is large mounds of earth, the other lesbians. Confusing the two is a running joke for students in town. Especially when you're walking past "Old Dike Road."


This is a portion of Willow Park, at the eastern edge of Wolfville on Main Street across from the kids' skate park and the closed PetroCan. It was built to commemorate Canada's centennial way back in the when.




I had a picture of this fountain and willow tree (from a different angle and with a good chunk of the membership of the Classics Society dressed up as different gods and goddesses arrayed around the tree and fountain) on my credit card for a long while. It does hold a special place in my heart!

The following are scenes from a car. I mean... Can you imagine? I would adore being able to look around at this while driving, rather than seeing eight lanes of traffic or just weedy deciduous trees or tons of buildings everywhere.








Gosh I miss Nova Scotia.

Foodie Fights: Coffee Caramel Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

Go Vote Now!

Voting is closed, and I came in second place--only three points behind first place! I call that a wonderful victory. Thank you all for your votes, and I hope you try these yourself!

Alright, folks, I posted twice in a row about plants. Now it's food's turn!

I signed up for another Foodie Fights competition: sweet potato and coffee. One is one of my favourite food items, the other is my favourite beverage. How could I not sign up to cook something and be judged on the basis of the "yum" factor and my photography?

Well, the "yum" factor turned out to break the chart! But don't take my word for it--decide for yourself on the basis of these mouthwatering photos! (Also, don't forget to vote starting Tuesday.)

I had a hard time deciding what to cook. Sweet potato scones with a coffee glaze? Sweet potato gnocchi with a savory coffee sauce? Sweet potato coffee cake with coffee in it somehow? Maybe just coffee candied sweet potatoes. Everything sounded good and simple (because I couldn't really think of anything more complex), but nothing really jumped out at me.

Until I came across this blog post with a recipe for Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls. I was all like "Hell yeah!" I adapted this recipe only slightly in order to include the coffee (I also substituted agave nectar for corn syrup and cut down the butter in the filling by half because I was using coffee in it--besides, five sticks of butter in this recipe? For serious?). Let's get on to the recipe!


All of my ingredients! Sweet potatoes, pecans, egg, butter, heavy cream, agave nectar, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla, yeast, buttermilk, fair-trade locally roasted (in Nova Scotia...) coffee from Just Us! Coffee Roasters & Co-Op, and sugar. Used but not pictured: salt and orange extract. Pictured but not used: powdered sugar (dead centre!). I just assumed I would need it, having made regular ol' cinnamon rolls before, but this recipe didn't call for powdered sugar at all!

To start, peel and cube the sweet potatoes and boil them for about 10 or so minute to soften them. Drain and mash with a fork--it should be easy! While the sweet potatoes are cooking, mix 1/2 cup warm water, 2 packets yeast, and 1 teaspoon sugar in a bowl and let sit for five minutes. After that, I used my food processor to combine 1/2 cup flour into the yeast. Then I added my 1 cup sweet potatoes, 1 egg, 1 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 stick melted butter, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt, and (instead of 2 tablespoons grated orange rind) a few drops of orange extract. I combined all that until smooth, then started adding 5 cups of flour in 1/2-cup increments until I got a nice dough.


Here's my nice dough! I used Pam cooking spray to grease the bowl and then sprayed the dough, too. I stuck it on my bed (because I have 12 inches of counter space), covered with a towel, and let it rise for about an hour.

While the dough was rising, I prepared the filling for the rolls. The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup melted butter, 2 cups brown sugar, 1 cup chopped pecans, and 2 tablespoons cinnamon. I wanted to include the coffee into the filling--I thought the caramely cinnamon flavour would go well with a hint of bitter coffee. So, instead of 3 sticks of butter, I used only 1 and 1/2 sticks and added about 1/2 cup of coffee.


I heated the butter, coffee, and sugar in a pan to create something of a syrup. I wanted it a little thicker than I got it--I think I could have used even less butter, maybe a bit more coffee, and reduced it further to create a stronger coffee flavour in the rolls.

After the syrup became thick (and before the butter and sugar left the solution, becoming chunky, as happened when I tested the syrup the night before), I stuck it in a bowl with the 1 cup chopped pecans and 2 tablespoons cinnamon. I couldn't stop myself from "sampling" it every once in a while--it was way too tasty!


Once the dough finished rising, I punched it down and kneaded it a little. I attempted to roll it out into a rectangle, but it could have used a bit more punching, I think. It was very thick and fluffy, but I think it is supposed to be? Anyway, I got a fairly rectangular shape. The recipe calls for a 10-inch by 18-inch rectangle.


Once rolled out, I coated the dough with the filling. One of the reasons I would adapt my adaptation is because this made a huge mess! The filling was pretty liquidy (y'know, because it's half coffee and melted butter) and ran all over my counter. So I rolled the dough up right quick (from the top edge first, folding over the un-filling-coated edge last) and sliced about 11 rolls (I think you're supposed to get 12, but I like mine thick, apparently) before the filling could run all over the floor.


With the leftover filling, I liberally doused the rolls after putting them in a greased 9-inch by 13-inch pan. Then I stuck them in my oven, which I had preheated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, for 10 minutes.


While they were cooking, I prepared the glaze (in the pan on the bottom right). I debated just using the powdered-sugar-with-water standard glaze, but then I decided to actually follow the recipe. I put 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup agave nectar (instead of the recipe's corn syrup), and 1/4 cup butter in a pan, stirring constantly over pretty low heat until reduced and thick (but not so reduced and thick that it became chunky). Then, I mixed in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 cup heavy cream.

This glaze tasted almost exactly like those soft-chew caramel candies, except it was pretty liquidy. When I pulled the buns out of the oven (as seen here) to coat them with the glaze (which is supposed to soak into the buns before cooking a bit further), I realized that my buns are huge and fluffy delights of sugary goodness! (Or, that is, they had risen and I was scared the glaze would just drip over the sides of the pan.) So I drizzled the glaze on them not as liberally as I had with the filling, baked for another 10 minutes (until a fork I stuck in the test bun didn't come out gooey), then coated them again with glaze and served with coffee.


Oh so delicious! A lot of the filling found its way to the bottom of the pan, creating a coffee-caramel-flavoured bottom on the buns, which was amazing! The citrus and sweet potato worked well together in the dough, and the caramel glaze sealed the deal. I ate four of these the night I baked them, and another two the following day (I brought half of the batch to a committee meeting potluck I had--everyone was very complimentary about them!). The coffee and sweet potato flavours were evident, but not overpowering. I think they actually worked splendidly together in this creation, but next time, I might emphasize the coffee flavour and make the buns a bit less sweet, a bit more savoury--a side dish instead of a dessert, maybe!

Srsly?

I'm almost speechless (that's a big fat lie, I can never keep my mouth/fingers shut/still). I ran across this Black Mondo grass at Garden District weeks ago, and every time I stumble upon the photograph, I keep re-shocking myself. A four-inch plant for $14.99? For, like, a bit of grass? For reals? I mean, even on eBay, small divisions go for $10 or more, with shipping and handling.

I found a lot of blog and message board posts via a Google search of "why is black mondo grass so expensive?" that all ask the same question. People seem to shrug and just accept it, buy a plant or two when perennials are discounted, and then divide them a few years down the road. Maybe that's why they're still so expensive despite being fairly popular plants? The intricacies of the horticulture trade yet escape me! But I would not turn down someone who would like to offload a little Black Mondo grass onto me!