Last Week, I Did Say We Needed Rain

10:00 a.m.

I haven't had to worry about watering the garden this week, but at what point do I start building the ark?



It's been raining for 4 days straight. Last night's weather report warned that it might drop more rain on us than Tropical Storm Fay.


2:00 p.m.

There was a break in the rain. The sun came out. Blaze was able to go play on the swing and DH and I went for a walk to look at the garden and the lake.

Our first tiny eggplant is growing:


This little lizard was staying out of the wet grass by sunning himself on the new bamboo trellis Blaze and I started building last week, but haven't finished yet




The storm knocked down a tree, which is now blocking one of the dirt roads that lead into the student gardens.


The water level in the lake was a bit high


This monstrously large snapping turtle swam right towards us as we stood on the lake shore, looking at the water. I guess it thought we were going to throw it food (feeding the animals in Lake Alice is against the law).



I was actually very glad to see this little alligator again. I'm pretty sure this is the same one that was in our garden, so the last time I saw it, it was waiting to cross the street between the gardens and the lake on a day when the traffic was particularly heavy due to graduation.

8:25 p.m.

So, I guess, I now know where to find a couple of the animals when I have to start loading the ark. It's started raining again.

Dreaming of Summer Vacation

The school year is winding down and students and teachers alike are feeling kind of burned out. Here are a few scenes of Middle School students from this week that prove my point:








There are only two weeks left until Summer break.

Field School Begins (sort of)

University of Florida Archeology Field School at Kingsley Plantation

Pre-season prep. : Doing enough grocery shopping to feed 17 students



Last summer the students discovered the plantation's sugar mill and this summer they will continue working on that, but they also have some new projects.

This is the slave cabin they've been working on for the past 3 summers, but they will be finishing it up soon and moving on to another cabin.



This is the next cabin they will be excavating:



They are also trying to find the slave cemetery.

This is where they believe it may be:


The high-tech side of modern archeology: Ground Penetrating Radar





Students at work:





Processing artifacts while singing along with a Disney Princesses CD




It's been raining like crazy for the past couple days and there are flood warnings for the Jacksonville area, so they have sent the students and my husband home until next week.

To read more about Kingsley Plantation:
Kingsley Plantation

Corner View: Coffee

The rest of the apartment is sleeping as I begin my day, drinking my coffee and staring into the computer screen. I frequently do not get enough sleep and this is when I work on my blog entries, so if they are ever (or always) incoherent, this is my excuse.



The coffee is essential to my existence. I take it with milk and sugar or milk and hazelnut syrup, although lately I've started putting a scoop of vanilla ice cream in my coffee because I figure that covers the sweetener and the cream and is quicker than doing them separately. There are many mornings when coffee is my only breakfast.

Starting to wake up. The cup is almost empty and I am awake enough to play with the special effects on the web cam.

For Mother's Day, DH gave me a shiny new coffee maker with a built in  grinder, so there's not a lot of motivation to go out for coffee, but once in a while I still do.

When we were in St. Augustine over the weekend, we went to Crucial Coffee.





Crucial Coffee is in a very charmingly rustic building near St. George Street, the main Old Town shopping district. There is only one table inside, but there is a very nice garden seating area outside.




The vast selection of coffee drinks on the menu will make your head spin. DH and I both ordered a frozen mocha, since it was very hot outside, but then we were presented with a long list a types of frozen mochas we could choose from. There weren't many other customers, so the woman behind the counter wanted more of a challenge and encouraged us to be more adventurous.



I finally settled on a Blackforest Mocha (cherry and chocolate), but DH stuck to just chocolate.



The walk-up window on the other side of Crucial Coffee, for people on-the-go.

My oldest daughter has become quite a coffee connoisseur (addict) while she's been away at school, but she is spending the summer at my mother's house, and my mother doesn't drink coffee.  I have started assembling a coffee gift basket to send her for her 20th birthday in June. 

Finally, if you are a fan of letterboxing, there is a letterbox hidden in one of our small locally owned coffee shops here in Gainesville. Check here for details:
Coffee Culture

Sit back, enjoy your coffee, and tour the world with the rest of these Corner View participants:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana, denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e, janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa, britta, virgina, april, rebecca b, kyndale, sunnymama, karen, kristina, angelina, sophie

Wonderful Things to do With Left-Over Coffee

In preparation for tomorrow's Corner View about coffee, I decided today to post my favorite recipes that use coffee as an ingredient. 

Ten years ago I was a cook and barista at a small Middle-Eastern Cafe called Cafe Taza (it isn't there anymore) in Columbia, Missouri. During that time, I bought this T-shirt to wear to work:

I still have the T-shirt, but it's almost worn out.
It was while working at Taza that I learned how to make my favorite summertime drink:

Frozen Mocha (frappuccino)


Coffee ice cubes (freeze leftover coffee in ice cube trays)
milk or cream
chocolate syrup

Fill a blender about 3/4 full of coffee ice cubes (about 24 cubes).



Then add 1 Cup of milk and 1/2 cup of chocolate syrup. Blend until smooth. Serve in tall glasses.










My favorite chocolate cake recipe also calls for coffee:

This was Blaze's Birthday cake back in December. He said he wanted cupcakes and a big cake, so I made the little tree shaped cupcakes to go around the main cake (his birthday is St. Nicolas Day).




Crazy Cake

1 1/2 Cups unbleached white flour

1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup oil

1 Cup left over coffee that has cooled

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix everything together, leaving the vinegar as the last thing to be stirred in, because that is what activates the leavening. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

This recipe makes only one layer of cake, so it will need to be doubled if you plan to make a large sheet cake or a double layer cake.






My Mom's Tiramisu Recipe


2 Packages of Lady Fingers Cookies

2 1/2 Cups of strong coffee

1/2 Cup coffee liqueur

9 eggs separated

1 3/4 Cups of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 1/2 pound of Mascarpone cheese

1 Cup of finely chopped semisweet chocolate

1/2 Cup of sweet cocoa powder



Mix the cold coffee and the liqueur in a large bowl. In batches, dip the cookies in the coffee mixture. You want them to be moist on the outside but still dry on the inside. Beat the egg yolks with 1/2 of the sugar until the mixture is thick enough to form a long ribbon when you lift the beaters. Add the Mascarpone cheese and beat for 2-3 more minutes. Set aside. Beat egg whites, adding the remaining sugar a bit at a time, until they form stiff peaks and have a glossy sheen, about four minutes. Gently fold the egg whites into the Mascarpone mixture, until the mixture is all the same color. Add the chopped semisweet chocolate and gently fold into the mixture. In a 9 inch by 17 inch glass baking dish, assemble the dessert. Layer the bottom of the pan with soaked cookies. Top with a layer of the chocolate-Mascarpone mixture. Repeat the procedure to make one more layer. Using a flour sifter, cover the top of the Tiramisu with a thin layer of sprinkled cocoa powder. Place the Tiramisu in the refrigerator and let it rest for at least 5 hours, but it's better to let it sit overnight. Serve.


Note: You will notice there may seem to be enough of the mixture to make a second, smaller Tiramisu. This usually never happens to me because I always keep tasting to make sure that there is enough sugar and chocolate. By the time I am done, there is just enough for only one pan. Don't laugh. It will happen to you too!

Hands-on History Lesson

From May 6th through May 18th St. Augustine, America's oldest port, was visited by reproductions of two of Columbus' ships, the Nina and the Pinta. They were docked at the St. Augustine City Marina, right next to the Santa Maria restaurant.


Saturday, we toured the Nina and the Pinta and ate at the Santa Maria.

The Pinta is a fairly new ship, but the Nina has been around for 17 years, and although I had never been onboard before, I have taken pictures of it in at least three other places over the years.

















I tried to convince Blaze he'd make a good cabin boy, but he wasn't interested


We also watched The Freedom sailing into dock



Blaze and I both now have sun burns, but mine is the oddest burn pattern. The wind kept blowing my hair in my face, so the only part of my forehead that is fried is the center part which looks like a bright red "U".









This was Blaze's favorite thing about the restaurant. The waitress brought a basket of stale bread and bagels, so we could feed fish and birds through this little hatch on the windowsill next to our table.




My food was good, but my favorite thing about the restaurant was getting to watch a school of dolphins playing while I ate.

I also tried a new food,

blackened alligator



It was surprisingly good. It really does look and taste like chicken. DH had told me it was good, but I had been skeptical, so after telling me "I told you so", he started referring to it as "chicken of the swamp".

Doll Party on the Pirate Ship

Joy at the blog So You Know How We're an Art Family posted a very imaginative tiny dinner party her daughter had set up and asked if other people would join her today (Friday) posting pictures of their children's animal/doll/blanket dinner.

Blaze was excited about this idea and chose what dolls he wanted to come to a party on the pirate ship.

This has become a truly motley crew!





Sorry the picture quality is so bad. It was taken using the computer. I have ordered a new camera, so that DH and I can each have one. It is supposed to show up today, so I am anxiously awaiting the UPS truck right now.

In the meantime, if you want to see how we made the little toy stove the sailor up on top is using to cook, the post is here:
http://overthecrescentmoon.blogspot.com/2008/11/unplugged-challenge-kitchen.html

Our other doll related projects are listed on the side bar under the title "bendy dolls", even if not all of them are "bendy dolls".