Houston to des moines

Train departing...
Then.....eeerrrrrt.  Thunderstorms close airport.  Stuck on the runway.

Destination: Clear Lake, Iowa

We are at SFO waiting for Kathy. Turns out we all got the same flight Houston to Des Moines. Sarah does LAX to Houston too.  Then we all head into Des Moines.  We rented a large car. Hope it seats six.  :-)

Here's your trivia question, why Clear Lake?  What's special about Clear Lake?  All correct answers will be automatically entered in the grand prize drawing. Multiple entries are qualified!

Volcano National Park, Hawaii

This is inside the crater in Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii.  The crater itself is about 2 miles wide.  It's absolutely incredible to imagine rock in liquid form, and then cooling again to rock, but here it is.  Apparently, at one point, 400 feet thick, of molten rock.  Off in the distance, you can see our gang, getting near the edge of what was molten.  In the foreground is a beautiful bush, which has decided to grow in the middle of rock.

This is us, on the crater.  You can see what's called the bathrub rim, as high as the molten lava rose.

Here you can see the surface has cracked.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but we're standing on lava rock.  There is virtually no dirt, and yet a couple plants and bushes have found places to live.

A fern.

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Olivine from the surface.  Olivine was created and embedded in the lava during its dynamic phase.  We found these crystals in chunks of lava as well as loose.

Olivene in lava.

Sarah likes the rental.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Dublin, Ireland

This is Gogarty's.  A traditional Irish pub just down the street from our hotel on Temple Bar road.  It's over by Trinity College, and a couple blocks from where Obama will speak tonight.  I slipped in here on my own, and soon got swept up in the celebration.  It was packed, playing the traditional songs, and I met so many great people, including the band.  Yes, a little River Dance exhibition as well.  Very fun.  A great place, and a great evening.  I felt home.

Today, Obama is in town, and last week it was Queen Elizabeth.  I very big week for politics here.  On another note, it was a en epic rugby championship, where Leinster's home team snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat.  I'm not an experienced rugby fan, but even I was caught up in the miraculous recovery from a 5-22 halftime deficit to an outrageous 33-22 win.  Absolutely incredible, and the young Jonny Sexton was the hero.  Christian, all I could think of, was you.

Guinness is a big part of this city, and country I would say.  It's a celebration, a way of life.  We toured the factory.  It's such big business (the beer and the tour), they've converted the original factory into a lavish museum of sorts, with a 360 degree-glassed-in bar at the top of the 7 story structure.  A great vantage point overlooking the city.

There's plenty of culture here, as well as a distinguished literary history.  Moira, here's to you.  A little tribute to James Joyce, with a couple of readings this week.

This is to you, Mike and Kathy -guess the sir name :-)    We were out walking around and coincidentally ran into this place.  As it seems to be everywhere, a very friendly, unassuming atmosphere.  I could get used to this.  Okay, I am used to it.  We had a good chat with the bartender, who shared much of the bar's history, including Hillary's visit a couple years ago, as well as some details about how some of the literary greats used to hang out in our very midst.

 As it turns out, our cabbie from the airport was a tour bus driver a few years ago.  We were lucky to get a bit of the blarney on our way in.  The flags on the front of the hotel are with respect to President Obama's visit today.  He'll be speaking about a block from our hotel.  You can see an inkling of the security involved, with the street barriers in the foreground.  In the distance you can see a spire, I have to refresh my memory on what it commemorates.  Something like 600 meters tall!

A tiny vision of the security detail in the city.  I heard 10,000 officers.  They've been building the stage, and blockades since we've been here.  An amazing amount of concern for the safety of the US President.  The bartender said it was even more-so for the Queen's visit a couple days prior.  The first visit of the queen since Ireland declared her independence some 140 or so years ago.  Truly a momentous occasion, and those who've discussed it, were moved, and very positive about it.  One of the highlights, a bow by the queen in the Garden of Remembrance.  She also started her speech in Gaelic, another genuine heartfelt moment for the locals, and I must admit, even made me a little emotional just hearing about it.  (Moira, Sarah, quit giggling!)

Guinness surge.  As the nitrogen escapes, it creates a cascading surge.  A very unique and delicious aspect of the famous beer from Ireland.

Kicking It Up a Notch in the Garden

The landscaping is really taking shape.  Here you can see the patio and the new stepping stone path and many of the new plants in and ready to go in.  I hate to say it, but I think we've been in some sort of construction on the garden on and off for about a year!  Okay, fine, 12 years.  If you would have asked me back then, I would have never guessed we would have ended up here.  Each little phase was more than I had hoped, and we've had easily 5 phases.  That said, I've been really happy with the results of each, so I guess I can use that overused phrase, it's all good.

The nectarine finally grew some leaves, and just budded here.  Do you think I'll get any fruit the first year?!?  We'll see.

Anyways, we've been very busy in the garden.  What's to come:
Moving roses, what not to do (and we did it anyway).
Clearing the weeds in the lower terrace
Nursery plants in
Drip and spray irrigation
Stepping stone path
Veggies in
Herbs
Lighting
steps
retaining walls
plans and matrix

Identify this caterpillar on my new Fuji apple tree.

Identify this moss on my concrete block retaining wall.

Summer squash in my new lowest terrace.

Ellie guarding the hot peppers

This is the first tier of veggies.  Ellie is now in the 'landscape' area.  I lost some square footage to landscaping, but gained a bunch in the lowest tier, where all the trees are.  Shown in the foreground are hot peppers, medium hot cherries.  Further back, top are radishes, coming in fast.  To the left of them are rocket salad.  Further back and taller are basil bushes.  I planted one of those guys from Whole Foods.  Trader Joe's sells them too.  They went sort of pale in the planting process.  Not sure how to avoid that.  Behind them, you can't see the strawberries.  In the foreground, you may be able to see a couple strawberries too.  On the lower tier, you can see some tomato cages.

Kirsty Ellie Moira Fig Peach

This is looking the other way on the lowest terrace.  For reference, the wood retaining wall to the right is 3 feet tall in the corner where the girls are.  You can see the slope of the hill beyond my garden.  It's about 12 feet wide at the end, and about 60 feet across the back, and about 5 feet wide at the narrow end. 

This is looking South.  You can almost see all 7 fruit trees lined up on the left.

Meyer Lemon and Mineola Orange Marmalade

I'm pretty excited about this marmalade for a couple reasons.  Why?

• It's an awesome combination of sweet and bitter
• We've got an abundance of Meyer lemons
• Sarah made this before, and this time, Kirsty and I did it on our own
• I learned how to extract the pectin from the fruit

 I looked at a bunch of recipes, and found some helpful tips on a few of them.  Most of the recipes were looking for a much lighter amount of fruit.  Somehow, it just didn't seem right, so I went above and beyond.  When Sarah made this recipe, she added a couple Clementine oranges, which added some complexity to the flavor, and I really like how it offsets the color of the lemon.  I just got some organic Mineola Oranges from our CSA.  They've got a thicker skin, a very dark orange rind, giving it a stronger bitter bite, and the deep color contrast.

What's good about this marmalade over others?

•  We used a lot of fruit.  About twice most other recipes.  It's rich.
• We combined lemon and orange, adding flavor and color.

I've been intrigued with the idea of canning, or making jams.  We've made a few berry jams, with berries from the farmer's market, so this was kinda cool, essentially the ingredients came from our harvest, and of course, the sugar.  We even extracted the pectin from the fruit, which is doubly cool.

You really don't need anything special to make this recipe, although a couple tools are handy.

• Cheescloth
• Candy or instant thermometer
• Jar funnel
• A couple large pots, 1 for sterilizing, 1 for cooking
• 7-8 canning jars with 2 part lids (8 oz jars)
• Tongs - there are special jar tongs.  I don't use them, but might be nice to have.

Ingredients

3 pounds Meyer lemons

2 each Mineola oranges

4 cups sugar

5 cups water
1 cup meyer lemon juice

Sterilize

Sterilize the jars and lids in a large pot full of water, enough to cover the jars.  I put both parts of the lid in the pot to boil.  I've noticed some say it's hard on the rubber seal.  I haven't had a problem, but I haven't made that many batches.  Boil about 10 minutes, then dry on a clean towel.  Use tongs so you don't get anything on the sterile jars and lids.

Chop the Lemons

While the jars are boiling, start cutting up the fruit.  For the marmalade, we cut 1/8-1/4 inch slices, then cut out the membrane from the center, and cut into wedges.  We also cut off both ends of the lemon, and removed all the seeds. Keep all the trimmings, especially the seeds in a pile on the cheesecloth.  

Lemons boiling on left.  Sterilized jars, lids and holders on towel.

Boil

Combine the fruit, juice and water in a big pot.  Tie up the seeds and membrane in the cheesecloth, like a teabag.  Add to the water.  Bring to a boil and cook until the rinds are soft, and not chewy.  About 20 minutes.  Keep stirring.  If it seems like it's sticking to the bottom, add another cup of water.  I had to.  In fact, I didn't stir enough and had some rinds burn or at least brown on the bottom of the pan.  Oops.  

Boiling the fruit and 'teabag'.  Keep stirring!

Remove the 'teabag' of seeds and so on.  Let it cool.  That's got your pectin you'll squeeze back into the pot, once it's cool enough to handle.

Wrip up the seeds and membranes to make the pectin "teabag".

Add sugar

Add the sugar and return to a boil.  Once the teabag is cool, squeeze the cheesecloth bag into the boil.  I got about 2-3 Tbsp of really thick white juice from the bag.  You want to keep boiling until the temperature increases by 8 degrees (F).  If you don't have a thermometer, there are other ways you can tell if you're done.  One cool method I read about and used, put a plate in the freezer.  Drip some sauce on it.  If it gels enough to see it hold up when you push your finger in it, it's done.  If it just drips, it's not done.  Keep stirring the whole time with a wooden spoon.

Pour into jars

Use a ladle, and fill jars wthin a 1/4 of the top.  I got 7 jars from my batch.  Make sure the rims are clean, as well as the jar threads.  Put the lid on, then screw the lid holder down.  If you still have the other pot full of hot water, put the filled jars in the hot water, and return to a boil for 10 minutes.  This kills any bacteria.  Let cool and store in the fridge or in a cool dark place.  It should store for a year, I've heard.

Enjoy, especially on toast.

Saturday workout PCC

This was the 3rd Saturday morning workout at PCC Master's.  I swam the one prior, at 7:15am in lane 6, the farthest right.  It's my least favorite due to the wall, along over half our lane.  It's not forgiving, if you drift in your lane a bit.

It was a fast fun day.  I even kept up in the 2:50 200M  and the 100 M at the end of the workout, I held a good 1:20 pace, without draft.  A nice workout!  And, great to see Damon and Bill in the pool.  Damon's not been swimming much, but still had good speed, at least compared to me.

Jib Jab
I have been missing the Saturday workouts.  Mostly 'letting myself off' instead of having something else going on.  Bill said he's working on improving his speed too, and said adding 5000M on Saturday is helping.  I'm going to give it a try, although I got in about 3300M today.

PCC new landscaping

Finally, we are re-landscaping our backyard, so I've been trying to notice gardens I like.  This one is subtle, but nice.  I like it.  Why?  I am not totally sure.  It's simple.  Nice vegetation.  Not over filled or sparse.  Contrasting colors.  I like the spiky guys, and the little variegated bush.  It's got a little purple flower on it now.